Chapter 38 | The Death of Kings III
In his head, he had killed him a thousand times. The day he had decided to keep to his promise came with a rush of adrenaline and the reminder of her fear-stricken face coupled with a plea. He would have turn against the entire room if she had insisted, but he had willed himself to move because he had remembered her in the candlelight asking that he believe in her strength.
He believed in her, who had done nothing but make rash and stupid decisions since she had arrived to the island and yet remained a threat to Motou Ayuka. He had seen the power contained in that sphere she wore around her neck, had seen her touch the poison grime on the island without it burning the skin off her bones as it had to the shinobi that had once followed him through the dead forest. He had no doubt that whatever the other two artifacts she held did, she had complete control over them, and so he had cast away his worry of her after exiting the hall.
He had sent Taiga and Yayoi to find Takuto, asked Kyouya to deliver a message to Ito Kayami and Uchiha Otoya so that the two could be ready for the attack when it came. Killing Enki would not be an easy feat, not in the idea of putting a knife through his heart but in the fact that it would give Ayuka the means to attack the Uchiha and Ito clan, both clans which had proven too difficult to control. She had wanted to create alliances to amass shinobi—there was power in numbers—but her ability to control their actions had steadily declined since Mio appeared. Izuna had asked Kayami to ensure the Ito clan would protect Mio and he had asked Madara to do the same. The appeal had gone over well, the Ito clan held a grudge against the Mikazuki clan whom were united with the Motou clan through blood and they had no interest in seeing their plans come to fruition. Neither did the Uchiha clan, not when it involved the Sanbi, Mio, and her artifacts.
Madara had caught Ayuka watching him as he crossed the courtyard, almost in anticipation of the threats he'd made against her and her country at Mio's expense, but she had turned away and had stepped into her temple with a sudden indifference that had annoyed him, her son not far behind. If he had a way to describe Mikazuki Gouki, it was that everything was beneath him and he saw that he had inherited that from his mother. The one conversation they had shared in his first stay had been a laborious one for the man, one that had no interest in a child half his age. He had expressed himself the same when he had returned his artifact with only the knowledge of it having been taken from his mother, as if even orders from Ayuka held no importance and that following them was another chore—all beneath him. In every subtle action, he had seen it.
He had turned around and had stalked after Enki, encountering Kyouya on his way. "Have Mio's things gathered and sent to Jouichirou's ship," he had ordered, and at his shinobi's skeptical look he had elaborated, "The man owes me a favor, he will do as I say. You will see that Mio makes it off the island and to the Fire Country. Take her to the countryside and do not leave her side until I relieve you of your duties."
Kyouya had gone away.
Madara had continued into the castle tower until he had reached Enki's inner chamber—an elegant room filled with ancient finery that smelled of incense and spirits—after having disposed of his shinobi guards under the cover of silence. And he had entered as quietly as he had slain his men, sliding the doors shut with a light snap.
Enki had whirled around quickly, holding a pipe in his hand. At the sight of him, the tension in his body had dissolved. He had the audacity to wave a dismissive hand as he tucked kizami into the small metal bowl at the end of his smoking pipe. "If you have come to beg for the girl, you are wasting your breath," he had said, lighting it with the end of an incest stick he pulled out of the burner. "She is to be my wife. I will have her how I want."
Madara would have wrung his neck, wrapped his arms around his fat neck and twisted until he heard it snap, but he had known that that would not be enough to sate him. Knowing that he had no care of the fact that he had asked seven men to have Mio tried. He would have her abused and tortured. Madara had no patience to stomach the lengths Enki had gone to humiliate Mio and for what reason?
No matter the reason, his actions had no justification.
He had no desire to hear reason.
Madara had drawn the sword at his belt and had watched Enki visibly stiffen at the sound. The man had once made a name for himself when he had fought his own wars and not had others done it for him. He had been a force, a source of power when the Motou clan had been known for being strong enough to hold their own against the Uchiha clan, but he had given it all away for a woman he grew bored of and his overindulgence.
"What do you intend to do boy?" Enki had challenged. "Avenge the honor of your whore?" He had laughed. "She so innocently shied away, claiming she was pure, but I am not blind. Ayuka warned me about you, I thought it would be Izuna, I was certain it would be him, but she knew that it would be you. He hides the truth well, she said. She had to glimpse at your bloodline to see it." The humor had lingered in his voice, but he had lowered his head. "I have been a pawn from the start, an idiot she could control, a stepping stone. You think a Shugosha as powerful as Shinra comes forth from Motou blood? There are few powerful, ancient clans left in this world and I can name them all in a single hand: Uchiha, Senju, Uzumaki, Kuronuma, and Sarutobi. Shinra is heir to two of those clans."
"Shinra?" Madara had questioned. "Is it not Shinya you speak of?"
"Shinya is her grandfather," Enki had answered, looking over his shoulder to the red eyes boring down at him. "Shinra is her son." He took a drag of his pipe and blew out a string of white smoke. "To be that man, to be that man's father. He could give you the artifacts by simply willing it. He only needs to think you worthy, she said and filled my mind with the idea that I may be that man. I will not be that man now that you have come to kill me, but I am wasting your time. Precious time."
Madara had raised his sword. He had intended to torture him until he had grown bored of it, but he had wanted to silence him then.
Enki had grinned. "Ayuka will not have what she desires most. Not if those men have her first. That Shugosha will not exist and he will not be yours."
He had made a clean cut across Enki's neck and had felt the warm splatter of blood across his face as his head went airborne. It had hit a wall and had bounced over the tatami.
Madara had kicked his body over and had stepped over it to reach his head. He had stared upon his face frozen in shock and terror. The fool had not anticipated his death would come too soon, he had probably imagined Madara would have continued asking questions and prolonged his life.
He had no intention of divulging any of this to Mio. He had found no satisfaction in killing Enki, not as he had anticipated, not when he had killed him a thousand times in his head, not when he had wanted to tear him apart limb from limb until there had been nothing left to pull off. He had not gone to her with Enki's head seeking anything.
No, he lied, he had gone to make a point of his death. He had dropped his head before her to show her that she had planned to do something stupid and that he had put an end to it. He had thought she would have realized it on her own, but he had found her resistant, angry, and confused. She had been helpless.
Madara watched Mio tie a new sash around her waist with shaky, clumsy fingers and still he remembered killing Enki.
"I need to find Takuto," she announced, growing frustrated with the knot that she nearly tore it apart. "Enki took him and—"
"I sent Taiga," he told her, keeping his distance from her.
She avoided meeting his eyes. "I don't trust him."
"Yayoi is with him."
"She hates Takuto."
Madara turned her towards the door and pushed her forward. "You are meeting Kyouya," he said. "Do you remember him?"
"I'm not going without Takuto," she said, resisting.
"You are not staying here."
"I have things to do on this island! My artifacts are here, Takuto is still a prisoner," she reasoned, twisting around. "You are here and I—"
"We are not arguing over this, you are going!" he ordered.
She flinched.
"Kyouya will take you to the Fire Country. You are going to stay with my grandmother," he said, and watched her shake her head. "I will send Takuto to you with all of your artifacts."
"And you?"
"Worry about Izuna, not me," he said, had done it unintentionally and seen her eyes drop to the ground, as Kyouya appeared at the broken doorway. Madara gave Mio another push forward and looked to Kyouya. "Go now."
She shot a final look at him as she ran on behind Kyouya.
Shinobi were fast approaching and he knew they would be after her. He turned to meet them with a kunai in hand and his Sharingan activated. He swept through them with ease, sensing more running in her direction. Kyouya would steer clear of them, but there were too many to avoid completely. He rushed after them, feeling the ground tremble as he turned a sharp corner to the exit. The doors wide open, he saw Mio jump kick a Mikazuki shinobi through three walls of freshly erected stone. More were running to her, targeting her, shouting orders among them was a Mikazuki leader, warning them all against spilling her blood.
He rushed past her, climbing atop the rubble with his hands together. He drew back as he molded the chakra inside his body before unleashing a giant orb of flames at the army of Motou shinobi, offering Kyouya and Mio the opportunity to disappear.
He jumped straight into the battlefield. Even he hadn't anticipated something of this magnitude would result from the death of a man that was not loved by his people, let alone respected by his shinobi. Nobody cared for him. Even he knew that in the end he was a pawn to further Ayuka's twisted scheme.
.
Madara knew the moment Mio had boarded the ship and by that time, there were few enemies standing up against the Uchiha and Ito clans. Yayoi rushed to his side, Takuto and Taiga not far behind.
"Ayuka-sama is going to kill you!" she shouted.
"Not if we kill her first," Taiga commented, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
"You three will stay away from her!"
"I'm not trying to kill her," said Takuto, looking a little battered. "She's the one trying to kill us."
"She is defending herself!"
"Do we need her?" asked Taiga.
"I don't think we need her," Takuto agreed.
"Go back to your mistress, Yayoi," said Madara, looking past Yayoi to the temple entrance, which remained heavily guarded against his shinobi. "Tell them that—"
The heavy doors opened and Mikazuki Gouki stepped out. All fighting ceased. He walked towards them, his gaze fixed on him. "You are proving troublesome, Uchiha Madara," he said loudly. "You brought chaos as Ayuka predicted, killing Enki in that form."
Madara stepped forward, meeting Gouki halfway through the rubble covered courtyard. Taiga and Takuto moved along with him, wary of the Mikazuki shinobi, but Yayoi stayed behind gravely silent.
"He was a pawn," Madara responded.
"Yes, and he was meant to provoke," Gouki said, looking around in wonder. "He provoked. Look around you and see what you have done."
Enki was not the only one present to provoke.
"However, I am not here for you. I want the girl," he said, pointing at Yayoi. "We have business."
"Business?" Yayoi repeated, stunned. "I have no business with you."
"I have a job for you," Gouki continued. He turned and made a gesture at one of the priest's standing outside the door. The old man rushed indoors and emerged just as quickly, hugging Ayuka's giant scroll to his chest. He offered it to Gouki who then held it out for her. "Ayuka is losing power because her time as guardian is coming to an end. How else would a novice like Mio be able to blind her of the lives of her guardians?"
Yayoi could read the Fate Sphere, but she was not successor. Kikumi had been chosen to succeed Ayuka, but she had been shipped to the Earth Country to marry a lord's son and since the clash of Tajima and Hikaku, Madara had not heard of her.
The priestess took a step forward, a slow, hesitant one.
"I know you can read the Fate Scroll, Yayoi," said Gouki. "There are few in this world capable of taking the scroll and unearthing its secrets without equal trade. You are one of them."
She looked around her, lingered on Madara's face, surprised by all the things Gouki said to her.
Seeing as she had no intention of moving, Gouki returned the Fate Sphere to the old priest and turned to them fully. The air around him was electrifying, crackling with menace, and Yayoi was quietly submitting to the pull of it. He did not need to give her orders.
"Yayoi, stop," Madara called, and she stilled. He walked on ahead, pushing her back in Taiga's direction. He kept his eyes steady on Gouki. "She is staying with me."
"Gouki!"
Everyone looked up to the temple where Ayuka stood, the annoyance evident in her face.
"What are you doing?" she snapped, stomping towards him. "You have let the Shugosha go!" She noticed her artifact in the old man's arms and rounded on her son. "What are you doing with my artifact?"
"Mio will come to me when the time is right," he said easily. "Nishiki sent me to unearth the name of Mio's Universe Guardian."
"Mio has blinded me to the pathways of her guardians!" she seethed. "That is why I need her here!"
"You don't need her when you have this one."
He gestured towards Yayoi and the look she received from Ayuka left her cold. A silence between them spread, a thick and suffocating thing.
"You?" asked Ayuka, voice shaking with fury. She made an attempt to grab the priestess, but her son looped an arm around her waist and drew her back. "You? You are the reason I am weakening!"
Yayoi winced. "Ayuka-sama, I—"
A wild look in Ayuka's eyes took them by surprised. "You imbecile!" she yelled. "I have given you everything! I have been a mother to you and this is how you repay me! You come to me to steal! You little—"
She yanked her son's arm off and slapped Yayoi across the face with a force that knocked her to the ground. Gouki pulled Ayuka away before she did more and shoved her behind him, earning an insult himself.
"Acknowledge it, Ayuka, your guardianship has come to an end," he snapped. "Even the Fate Sphere you treasured does not want you."
Takuto gently pulled Yayoi onto her feet. She remained stunned.
"We can remedy that," Ayuka spat, drawing a dagger from her sash. "She will meet the same fate the others who have appeared to oppose me have."
Yayoi stared on, horrified.
"Mio will come to me," he assured her. "Maybe then you might treat her well enough that she rewards you with the Fate Sphere."
"What makes you think Mio will go to you?" Madara challenged.
Gouki smiled and he was gone. In a split second, the Mikazuki was upon him and a blade was embedded into Madara's stomach. He coughed blood. The pain was excruciating as the man thrust the dagger—that was now missing from Ayuka's hand—in deeper and a guttural sound escaped him as he leveled his eyes to Gouki's whose were full of humor.
"You are too weak to think of challenging me," he said darkly. "There are two people in this world that can stand against me and they are closer to death than you are at this moment."
Madara drew his own sword and swung it at Gouki's head. He felt the Mikazuki's blade leave his body as it clashed with Taiga's kunai. Madara dropped to the ground on one knee, blood splattering on the pale ground underneath him as it fell from the gaping wound in his stomach and he vomited more.
"You cannot kill Madara!" Ayuka yelled, growing red-faced.
Taiga turned swiftly, aiming the end of his kunai to Gouki's neck, but his arm was caught and in retaliation, Gouki kicked him away, sending Taiga's body crashing into the nearest building.
Takuto and Yayoi went straight to him, the Kuronuma quick to help him back onto two feet.
Madara glared at Mikazuki Gouki, ire burning through his veins. Fast and monstrously strong. He couldn't anticipate any of his movements and that infuriated him. He couldn't think of a way to counterattack someone much faster than he, especially if he could wield the jutsu the Kuronuma were famous for. His artifact couldn't imbue his weapons with black water and if it could, he heard stories of what had happened to the Uchiha that tried to copy the power.
Ayuka's shouts went ignored. "Mio will come to me," Gouki assured them. "Until then, enjoy your peace." He started to turn, but stopped part way. "I want every Uchiha and Ito out of the Sun Country before the day is out. If there is even one shinobi or spy left on this island, trust I will hunt you until you and all your men are dead."
Mio remembered Uchiha Kyouya from her youth as one of her mother's protégés, but she recalled him differently. In that time, he had not yet grown into his prominent face and his brown hair had been much longer, but he remained tall and lean. She had never spoken to him before, not until Madara assigned him to deliver her to the countryside within the Fire Country, and even then, conversation was short and polite.
The journey itself had not been without danger. Once Hiryuu had caught wind of their departure from the Sun Country, he had his men waiting to ambush them at port, but they had defeated their enemies and escaped through the treacherous mountain ranges of the Lightning Country where they had remained for days, evading more of his shinobi.
Mio dreaded returning to the countryside knowing Sachiyo would be there. She was terrified of seeing her after all that happened, even though she knew Sachiyo had been informed that she had betrayed her on Madara's orders. She didn't know what to say. What could be said?
In the eve of a harsh storm, after Hiryuu's men had abandoned the mountain ranges to take cover from the terrible weather that preceded it, Mio and Kyouya crossed the border into the Frost Country. Using the cover of night, they traveled until they reached the countryside and the first breath Mio took within its vast plots of land and buildings filled her lungs with its wintry embrace. The lake water was freezing cold when she reached in to wash the dry blood off her face and the trees surrounding it were losing their leaves to the icy winds.
Ahead, she could see the roof to Sachiyo's home. She walked after Kyouya, watching the house come into view, different in its addition of a second story, which explained how she was able to view the tiled rooftop from the lake when she had never before.
She saw a woman exiting through the double doors holding a basket of clean linen in one hand and pushing the loose strands of brown hair behind her ear before lifting her eyes, spotting them.
Kana. Kana was the fondest memory she had of the countryside, apart from Izuna.
Kana dropped the basket, the linen rolling off the verandah and onto the muddied floor. She rushed down the three steps and waited until she and Kyouya stopped in front of her. She sucked in a breath before moving forward and drawing Mio into a hug.
Mio stilled in her arms, her heart beating a mile a minute. She couldn't speak, almost as if she had forgotten her voice.
The woman drew back, touching her hair with a small smile. "I can barely recognize you," she said, sounding a little choked up. "It's been almost four years since I last saw you, look how much you've grown." She started moving back towards the verandah steps, gesturing her to follow. "Come, Sachiyo asked to see you as soon as you got here."
Kana turned to Kyouya and thanked him, expecting him to go on his way to realize that he had no intention of leaving Mio's side. The older woman frowned. "Do you honestly think she is going to be attacked inside this house?" she asked, earning a glare. "I don't care if Madara asked you to follow her, be gone!"
"Let him stay," said Mio, attempting to ease the tension between the two. "It doesn't bother me."
The older woman huffed, but took her by the hand and led her into the house with Kyouya following close behind. The hallways were as she remembered them, the floors beneath her feet were clean and it smelled of pine and incense. She caught two girls, near her age, peering at her through an aperture between a pair of sliding doors as they passed on their way to Sachiyo's bedroom. She saw everything around her, but didn't feel she could believe that she was inside this house again. She had a firm belief that she would never have the opportunity to return and if she had it would be once time had weathered it down.
Mio was a ball of anxiety after Kana gave her a gentle push into Sachiyo's room and slid the door shut behind her, convincing Kyouya to remain outside. Mio stood uncomfortable in her filthy, ripped clothes unable to make eye contact with Sachiyo, who sat atop her bedding. The room was stuffy with heat and it smelled of powdered medicine.
"I imagined you would make a mess of things, child," Sachiyo spoke, voice gravelly. She patted a cushion next to her bedding. "Sit. We have much to discuss."
Quietly, she obeyed and sank into a seat where she could see Sachiyo's frail hands folded atop her lap. She watched one rise and reach for her chin, guiding her eyes up to look at Sachiyo's wrinkled face. The wrinkles on her face had doubled, but the pride in it had not ebbed, and her hair had turned completely white. Her body was emaciated and weak, her hand on Mio's chin was trembling.
"If you wanted to protect those girls," Sachiyo began, "all you needed to do was ask. I would have done everything in my power to keep you safe here with my grandsons. You would not have had to worry of Izuna. You know better than anyone else that Madara would have protected him regardless of the situation."
Mio nodded. "I know."
"And yet you obeyed him?"
She stared into her dark eyes, her mind going back to the time when he had looked at her and asked that she go after Taiga to inherit his secrets. He had always been so convincing to her. He had a way of speaking that made her feel so…so—
She nodded because she couldn't say the truth. I couldn't help it. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have."
Sachiyo removed her shaky hand from under her chin. "Why are you apologizing? I know the truth," she said, then smiled. "Your grandfather took great care of you." She touched the side of Mio's face, staring into it with wonder. "I am happy that you are here, that I can see you again before this sickness takes me."
Mio took her frail hand and pressed it against her cheek as a tear rolled onto it from her eye. She didn't need to say anything.
Izuna crept along the wooden beams in the ceiling staring down into the hall where a single man sat enjoying his lunch. The man was the rumored Kuronuma Nishiki. He possessed the stature and build one expected from a Kuronuma male, evident despite his sitting position. His head was shaved, the only trace of his while hair were the contrast of his eyebrows against bronze skin, pale eyelashes, and the hint of stubble along his chin.
Shin entered the hall through the front door as if he were walking around in his own home. Nishiki paused mid-drink and stared at him with merriment in his rose-colored eyes.
"I wondered when you would come, Shinya."
"Ayuka has kept me so busy these past forty years I had forgotten you were alive, Nishiki," he said when a kunai stabbed straight through him. The clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Nishiki rose and moved about the room as if in search of him. "You have not changed Shinya," he called, his voice echoing. "Are you that afraid to face me without your precious Black Sphere?"
Izuna swept the room to find Shin sitting behind Nishiki's dinner, eating the pickled vegetables with his brother's own chopsticks. Using his Sharingan, he was able to tell that that was the real body.
"There was a girl living in this country, a native of the Sun Country," Shin begun, making his presence known. Izuna imagined he was referring to Kikumi, who had moved to the Earth Country to marry a lord's son. "What has happened to her? I wanted to see her."
"She married my eldest son," said Nishiki. "She did her duty as a wife and gave him a son. She is now dead."
"Because you saw fit to kill her. Is Ayuka so afraid of losing her sphere that she has to kill all the successors it chooses?" asked Shin, stuffing more food into his mouth. When he swallowed, he continued. "I also don't recall ever fearing you, brother."
Nishiki whirled around in mild amazement. "What is it that you have come here to do?"
"Other than eat your dinner?" Shin asked. "I came for a visit. I wanted to see you, Nishiki, and make sure the black river did not melt you away as it was supposed to when I kicked you into its current. I lost my candidacy for the sphere because of it."
"What does that matter? You did not want to become Shugosha."
"It crossed my mind."
"…And so the title has gone to a nobody," he spat.
"Her name is Mio and she is my granddaughter, respect her," Shin defended. "I don't remember you without manners."
"She is a weak child."
"Underestimating me was your downfall Nishiki, do not let that be the reason a weak child kills you next time."
xl: I definitely wanted to be that guy that split all the POVs into individual chapters just to get to chapter 40 because damn we're close, but I figured one transitional chapter was enough. The next few chapters are build up to basically more evil.
By the way, I swear I killed Enki about a thousand times until I settled for this death. It was fun up until it wasn't. Cause he dialogues (and it's not all nonsense).
I also hope that the fact that Ayuka is weakening can explain why she's been so hardcore lately. It's kind of like having an itch you can't scratch and it's there until it drives you nuts. Not justifying her actions because she obviously intended to do all those things at some point, only she's a little more patient.
Anyway, I ended up omitting stuff because it made better sense to put it all elsewhere! I'll see you at the end of next week after midterms with something more exciting. Until then gnaw on this! (Lol gnaw is such a funny word.)
As always, many, many thanks to: MoonlightArrow, HushedFable, crazyuser, CeliaSingsSongs, psychoticluv, Aries01xD, and Loteva for reviewing the previous chapter.
Thank you for reading!