40 | The Death of Kings V
Mio stayed indoors sleeping in her restlessness and dreamt her nightmares when sleep was deep enough and waited in silence and solitude for Taiga to send word that might eliminate her confinement. There was nothing to do inside but eat, sleep, and catch glimpses of the outside world through certain strategically placed windows even though the rainstorms had obscured the exterior lands of Uchiha territory with a pale mist and unending sheets of torrential rain. She was turning into a laze on purpose because Madara was growing visibly annoyed by her reaction to his restrictions, to which when confronted about them she had always assured him that they had no effect on her with an honest "I don't have to listen to you" that silenced him.
Madara had gone away to a deal with a problem with another clan, whose name she hadn't caught. She was too busy ignoring him and secretly wishing him a safe excursion in her head to say anything. She was angry about his intention to keep her holed up in Sachiyo's house.
That had been a week ago. In that week, Izuna had sent word to the compound in a coded message that had spoken of Kuronuma Nishiki's lack of movement in the Earth Country and the rumor that Mikazuki Gouki had reentered the continent. She had kept the thought from her head, but it had resurfaced in her sleep where she had had no way to escape it and the people that haunted her.
That afternoon as the skies thundered mercilessly and the rain pounded over Sachiyo's house, Mio sat in her room using the opportunity to exercise her meditating skills. Despite her persistence in lounging, Mio had occupied most of her time in uncovering the secrets of the artifact that made her Shugosha. She learned that through the feeling of fear and an increased dose of chakra, she could erect an automatic barrier to protect herself. She tested the amount of chakra necessary to strengthen it and make the dome around her larger. It made for an exhausting pastime, but it made the days seem shorter and she appreciated that when she had been limited to Sachiyo's house only. She kept busy as she waited.
Mio knew Yayoi was sitting outside her room peering in through a thin aperture. Her persistent looks came in between her and her concentration. She made no move to walk in or attempt to speak to her, so after a series of failed meditations, she finally turned to the direction of the door.
"What is it?" she asked calmly.
Yayoi strolled inside the room, as she had expected her to do from the start rather than sit outside looking through a crack, and sat in front of her. "You have officially become a woman," the priestess began, snatching Mio's hands and holding them clasped between hers. She sounded strangely proud for someone that had opposed the idea on the island. "I thought I might give you advice. This is a new world for you; I have a wealth of experience—years of it. I mean, the last thing you want to do is mess everything up and lose him. I mean what if a more beautiful woman tempts him and he leaves you without a second thought."
"But Madara chose me," Mio said, the confusion knitted in her eyebrows.
"Yes, he did, but Mio, you haven't seen every woman in this world, one of them could be the one," said Yayoi, dreadfully serious. "And you, you end up being the stepping stone that starts their relationship."
Mio was suddenly upset. "What?"
The priestess nodded. "Yes."
"But he wanted me," she said weakly. "He told me."
"That's what men always say," Yayoi said dismissively. "They say it to every woman—" She must have seen something in her expression because she faltered and quickly changed the tone of her voice. "But this is Madara! He's not like that! I didn't even think he liked women—" The horror increased in Yayoi's face. "I mean, not that I think he liked men! I just—" And she dug her hole deeper, looking deflated. She sighed and fixed her eyes on her, a newfound strength in her eyes after fumbling for composure. "You have to make sure he's happy, Mio. So happy he never strays because if he strays, you'll have a real problem getting him back."
Mio frowned, though confused by all the mumbling Yayoi had done; she had a reply to her words. "If he strays, I won't want him back."
Blinking, Yayoi smiled weakly, "You won't?"
"He is mine," she assured her, "but if he one day decides that he does not want me, I won't stop him. I won't stop him from wanting other things. He can do as he wishes with his life, but his doing so should not inadvertently control mine."
Yayoi opened her mouth to speak, but at that point, Mio was unable to hide the shame she felt after speaking those words. "This has to be worth something," she continued, her chest tightening like a fist. "This has to be worth hurting him." She understood that the morning after the two had reached a medium on the subject. It wouldn't do if the emotions he stirred in her were the result of curiosity and impulse colliding. She wanted it to be more than that. Feeling the cold settling in her body, Mio lowered her eyes. "It can't be youth or impulse, it has to be real, but I don't understand it…and I have fears—"
The priestess sprang out of her seat, rushing out, and Mio swallowed down her words, the crushing reminder that Yayoi had never been on her side when it came to either Madara or Izuna made her feel foolish for having said such things to her.
She dropped back onto her side, hearing the thud of the Time Sphere when it fell to the floor. It rolled into view, the mist slowly in its rotation around its inner surface allowed her to peek at the object it hid. She distracted herself from her guilt-ridden thoughts by wondering about that peculiar, round item of the sphere, having seen it as nothing but the center that distributed the chakra it took from her to the nine other artifacts. It had its hidden powers, but she had yet to understand the meaning to its existence apart from her knowledge that it was meant to protect. Madara had tasked her in discovering it, but she had had that pending in her mind long before when Musashi had told her the purpose of the spheres and their creation had become a cluster of expectations created by the Shugosha that held it.
Behind closed eyes, she saw Izuna, proving no distraction was enough once the thought was ingrained into her head.
Yayoi returned in the same rush that had taken her from the room and with a loud thump placed something before her.
Opening her eyes, Mio recognized the wooden box sitting before her eyes and slowly rose to a seat finding the familiar wears on the smooth surface from the years it had spent hidden beneath the floorboard. She left it behind nine years ago because of what it represented, only to have asked for it to be brought back to her and meet with the news that it no longer rested underneath the floorboard where she had last seen it. Now it sat in front of her again, delivered to her in the unlikely hands of Yayoi, and her mind went blank as she took it into her hands.
She found no words as she opened it and found her treasures. Throughout nine years, she collected gifts from her parents, gifts that arrived on her birthday from wherever they would be at the time. She had cherished them, though some were small and inexpensive their value to her was immeasurable, and she had been devastated when she believed she had lost them. When Okimi had given her the silver band she still wore, she feared she would lose it because she had lost these, and yet, there they were before her.
She noticed other items among those she remembered and when she counted them, there were nine, each she recognized emerging from a different area around the continent as the others had, only it had not been her parents collecting them. She started pulling each out, holding every item in her hands long enough to admire its details and feel, and setting them aside. She particularly lingered on a wooden carving of a canary with its smooth surface and accurate depiction, the carving was perfection despite the fact that it was a bird.
Her mother and father's letters were underneath everything. She picked one up and stared down at the writing. She had forgotten their handwriting. She had forgotten their faces. In her nightmares, they were ghosts. Ghosts had no need of a face. That saddened her. She remembered her mother, proud and strict, and her father, powerful and bizarre, but she realized that she only remembered them as they were the night they were killed—her mother listening to her reciting a book by memory, her father chopping wood before her mother's body lay atop hers cold, shielding her, and her father in pieces around her. The day cursed by death and ambition. The box, their gifts, and their letters were all she had left from them that wasn't a terrible nightmare.
And she missed them.
"How do you have these?" she spoke, alas finding her voice.
"Madara left them to me for safekeeping," Yayoi replied. "He wanted to keep this from his brother, so he gave it me, but Izuna found out that he kept something that was yours. One of the paint bottles broke. It ruined my dress."
"There are new gifts here."
"Forget everything I said earlier," Yayoi told her. "Madara collected these over the last four years, he returned with something new every time he left the island and added it to your collection. I have been watching him long enough to know you are not an impulse. He would not sacrifice his brother's happiness for an impulse."
Her heart skipped a beat.
"Let go of your fears because they will only get in the way, take it from me, I'm experienced."
Mio smiled with tremulous lips, grateful for the conversation.
"But, please don't hide this from Izuna," Yayoi suggested. "You can't hide this from him. You can't pretend he will stay away forever because he will be coming back and he needs to hear it, though he already knows it."
"Did you read the sphere to tell you that?"
"He's been watching you and Madara since you were younger. He was there when Madara sat at your side after you arrived to the island and he saw the way you look at him, I don't need to read anything to see it in his face. Whether he accepts it is another story."
"I never asked for it to be this way," she said, averting her gaze.
As she said this, she knew Madara felt the same about the matter. That it was mutual regret and guilt and shame because they could not feel the way they were supposed to. She adored Izuna, he was the first person she trusted after her parents' death, but she did not feel that powerful emotion that drew her to Madara. She did not see Izuna and feel her breath hitch and never unhitch, there was never that intensity that left her body tingling. It wasn't his lips she wanted on hers or his hands touching the length of her back and brushing the hair from her neck. She never thought of the little details with him, only that there would be a marriage and she would be a dutiful wife—a good, faithful wife—that would live to adore him more than anyone else.
"You don't choose who you love, only if you want to be with them," said Yayoi, reaching to pat the top of her hand. "That's what Saori always says."
Upon feeling the priestess' hand settle atop hers she knew what she had been intent to deny before. It was the same connection and faith she had felt when she knew the Power Sphere belonged to Hashirama and the certainty that the Universe Sphere was meant for Tobirama and the faith she had with her grandfather's choice in Madara, as well as Takuto and Okimi's sphere being kindred.
She stared into the woman's face. "You'll be my Fate Sphere guardian."
Yayoi blinked, drawing back her hand immediately. Speaking these truths probably reminded her of Ayuka wanting to kill her.
Yayoi quickly gathered herself. "I should get going," she said hurriedly. "I'm supposed to meet Takuto for my next lesson."
"Yayoi," she called, the priestess froze at the entrance. "Thank you for talking to me. I'm sorry I have spoken out of turn. The last thing I wanted was to upset you after you took the time to talk with me."
The priestess turned around with a smile and it looked terribly sad. "Madara should be coming back soon, maybe today, maybe tomorrow," she said cheerfully. "You should make use of that feminine charm of yours, I'm sure you can convince him to let you move around the territory again."
"How do I do that?"
"The same way you attracted him to you, only ten times stronger!"
Mio tilted her head curiously, not fully comprehending how she had attracted him to her.
Yayoi caught on and with a deep sigh, she rubbed her temples before looking to her determined. "We will do something about this!" she told her. "We are going to talk tonight. Just us."
"Look at them," Yayoi whispered harshly, ripping a long strip of fabric from old clothing.
Takuto and Yayoi had been enjoying the drumming of rainfall against the rooftops inside a quiet room where he had been helping her perfect her knowledge of herbs. The old woman Kiyo had gifted him several from her collection to take out of the Sun Country and he had discovered them while sorting through his things, seeing them had given way to the idea that it might do Yayoi some good to know how to differentiate between medicinal and cooking herbs and which served as both. He had taken the opportunity to show her of his extensive knowledge, promising to find other plants the Kuronuma used for their medicine. She expressed interest in learning the contents of the green paste they used for burns, but he asked her to be patient, as he would teach her mixtures once she had firm grasp of all the herbs and their uses, as well as the spices, flowers, and plants that could be utilized for medicinal purposes.
Since Madara had returned from a skirmish outside Uchiha territory, he had made a coincidental entrance through the back of the house where Takuto had left Mio to play with the Time Sphere. She had been compliant since Madara had ordered her to stay indoors and she had since spent her time lying on the ground with her artifacts, silently regressing into an entity of silence and fortitude in her boredom.
Having overlooked Takuto and Yayoi's presence across the small yard in the other room, where the two watched with interest through the open window, Madara had failed to shut the door. The torrential storm beat against the tiled roof of Sachiyo's home, the sheet of rainfall that stamped across the small yard between the two rooms left large puddles that splashed against the walls leaving them muddied.
Madara was tugging off his armor, piece by piece, his eyes on Mio when the door of that room opened and Kana appeared to deliver a wooden tray holding two steaming mugs of tea, a kettle, and meat buns. At Madara's questionable look, Kana said, her voice reaching them faintly but coherently, "I saw you coming this way and figured that with that storm you would want something warm." She set it atop a table sitting outside Takuto and Yayoi's view into the room. "Make sure she eats."
"She hasn't?"
"Little," she responded. "I'll go prepare a bath for you."
Madara thanked her and she excused herself. He finished setting aside the last plate of his armor, but it did not help that his clothes were drenched and that he was leaving a mess.
"How long do you plan to sleep?" Madara asked, though he received no response from her.
"I don't understand," Yayoi said lowly, so her voice wouldn't carry. "Look at them. Does that look like two people happy being in each other's company?"
Takuto glimpsed at Mio, motionless where she lay. "No, that is called defiance."
"I didn't expect him to be back today," Yayoi said, crawling closer to the window. She nearly knocked over a bowl of crushed herbs as she edged closer, but Takuto managed to swipe it and other items from underneath her. She curled her hands over the bottom of the window and made an annoyed sound. "What is she doing acting like that?"
"She's throwing a fit. She hasn't been happy about staying indoors."
"It's not like she's tried to escape, nobody was going to stop her. I've seen her break arms like they were twigs, who wants to stop that?"
"She knows the reason she needs to stay hidden is to keep herself safe—you can say she has no interest in challenging that, but you can't stop her from finding it annoying," Takuto explained. "Leave them be, we haven't finished here."
"If she wants him to let her do as she pleases, she needs to distract him," she said with such obvious emphasis that Takuto laughed.
"You are joking?"
The look on her face answered his question. He quieted, careful not to let his voice carry to the other side. If they could hear Madara, he could probably hear them.
"You are not joking?"
"I am not joking."
"Mio is straightforward with what she wants. She doesn't know how to be subtle," he said. "You told her to use her feminine wiles; her charm is that she doesn't have any. She's couldn't seduce a man if she tried."
"Any woman can seduce a man with the right conviction," Yayoi argued lowly.
"She doesn't need to seduce Madara, he already likes her," Takuto told her. "She needs to be honest and tell him that she wants to run."
"Running away won't help make things better."
"Not like that. Running keeps her calm. Training keeps her distracted. Pain keeps her focused." Takuto continued crushing a pungent smelling herb into tiny specs. "There is no doubt Mio feels guilty about what happen in the Sun Country. She was actually trying to seduce your father so that he would do as she wanted."
"That was clever of her," said Yayoi, as Takuto frowned, she continued. "Honestly, she would have gotten what she wanted if she had gone through with it. My father was an idiot, he would have fallen for her ploys if she had gone into his bed. She would have had the upper hand. Ayuka had no intention of killing father because she had wanted him to be the father of the next succession line. Can you imagine a boy with that level of intelligence? How much easier will he be to manipulate? Sure, the ideal had been Gouki—"
Takuto was forced to stop her there. Everything else made sense, Enki was an easily manipulated fool, the chances are Ayuka predicted a son produced between him and Mio would have taken after him in that respect. An easily manipulated Shugosha would be a dream for Ayuka. A Shugosha that would be her grandson was a frightening thought to consider. "Gouki? As in Mikazuki Gouki?"
"What other Gouki is there?" she asked, perplexed. "Yes, him."
"Why don't you ever say these things aloud?" he said exasperatedly. "This is vital information, Yayoi. Do you know what this means? Gouki is so confident that Mio will go to him because he's going to be the next to marry her."
"He won't marry her," she assured him. "He's been married to Kikumi. She was supposed to be Ayuka's successor, but she couldn't read the sphere. Mio's the mistress." Yayoi glimpsed out the window, the storm increasing in tenor. "It doesn't matter who fathers the child. Ayuka plans to kill Mio as soon as she gives birth to it and raise it as her own."
"I imagined," said Takuto. "But I am left to wonder where Gouki's confidence stems from? What are we missing?"
The door to the room slid open noisily and Mio trudged in with a dark look. She sank into a seat at the door after closing it, pressing her back to it. The two silently stared at her in confusion, swallowing down the remains of the conversation knowing the subject of Gouki upset her.
Takuto opened his mouth to question her when he saw a thin line of blood run over her lips, dripping from her nose. She must have felt it as she hesitantly reached to touch the top of her upper lip to see it come away a reddish black. It flowed freely from there and she let out a panicked gasp that propelled him off his seat to reach her.
"I need ice," Takuto stated, seeing more blood.
"Ice?" Yayoi questioned.
"Bring me ice!"
Yayoi rushed out of the room through another entrance.
"Sit up straight, tilt your head forward," he ordered, coaxing her into the position. He reached back for one of the empty bowls he had lying around and placed it on her lap. "Don't swallow any of the blood, just spit it out in here." He reached to touch the soft part of her nose. "Pinch here."
She obeyed with a tremulous hand.
His eyes fell to the sphere hanging outside her clothes; the mist of the artifact up close was spinning at hurricane speed signifying recent use.
"What are you trying to do with that sphere?" he asked, the disapproval unconsciously seeping into his voice.
She was breathing a little erratically through her mouth. "I'm strengthening the sphere's defensive abilities," she told him in her excitement. He had heard that before, but had no faith in past Shugosha abilities being altered. "It won't just protect me from having the sphere stolen, but it will erect automatically at the first sign of danger and dissolve when it's safe."
Takuto saw that she held onto all the spheres with the exception of his own, the Senju brothers, and Ayuka's. That was six spheres to one person, he could only imagine the amount of chakra they drained in one day. "You need to find guardians for your other spheres," he suggested. "You can't be expected to carry those around forever. They drain too much of your chakra."
Yayoi came rushing back before Mio had the opportunity to speak with the ice he had asked for. He wrapped a large chunk in a cloth and pressed it to Mio's cheek.
"You are playing dangerous games, Mio," Takuto berated her, pulling her hand away from her face to see the bleeding had not yet stopped. "This is happening because you are not strong enough to handle such power."
Splatters of blood hit the bowl, sizzling right through its ceramic surface.
Takuto raised her head and saw the flow of blood had begun to ebb after holding the ice to her face. "Good, it's stopping," he said, then looked at her. She stared back at him a little disoriented, her mind elsewhere. He snapped his fingers in front of her face before pressing each thumb above both eyes, peeling them open to her discontent. "Focus on me, Mio."
Yayoi quietly sank into a seat nearby, her gaze going from Mio to him. "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing you need to worry about, just observe for now," Takuto dismissed.
They say Musashi inherited the Time Sphere after the Second Shugosha pushed her body to the limit with the artifact and it shut down. Perhaps Mio had not realized the strain because she had become so determined to make use of her confinement by familiarizing with the sphere and all its powers, but this is how Takuto recalled it had started in the stories.
Mio obeyed his light command and made an effort to focus on him. He asked her to take deep breaths as he held a hand over her heart to see that it soothed her overtime. As her heart rate returned to normal so did her clarity and his relief.
"You cannot tell Madara," she said firmly, looking at both him and Yayoi. "He cannot know. He will take them from me."
"You need to find guardians for the other spheres," Takuto suggested, holding her hands in his. "You can find worthy people to take them…at least temporarily. If you take them back before the artifact becomes familiar, they won't suffer the consequences."
"I need them still," she assured him, taking back her hands. "So don't tell Madara. I will know if you do."
"Mio," he pressed, ready to insist on the matter. "You can't—"
"They are to stay with me until I am done with them," Mio said sternly, silencing him. At the door, she turned back and spoke alarming words. "Thank you for helping me. Thank you for always helping me, Takuto. Everything you have done for me—thank you."
"There is no need for you to thank me, Mio, I would do anything for you," he told her.
She left the room.
Takuto glanced at Yayoi who stared back at him.
"Did something happen?" she asked quietly.
"No," he said. Mio had uncovered the true power of her artifact and she now tried to harness it. He had seen her erecting barriers and it had been nothing to be wary of, but she had no doubt been doing more than that. "Nothing. We should keep going. It will be dark soon."
Yayoi picked up the bowl, dropping the sodden, bloody cloth inside it. There were several holes burned through the bottom where the water from the melted ice could spill. She held it up over her head watching the droplets fall through like the rain outside, few tinted red.
"Did you believe Ayuka when she said Mio is going to be the strongest Shugosha?" asked Yayoi, the question surprised him.
He believed in Mio. He believed in the fact that Okimi and Musashi were certain that she would exceed expectations and that Mio could achieve all that she desired. However, neither Okimi nor Musashi were alive to watch her behavior as of late. They were not being put through the motions of uncertainty, fear, and worry. Her carelessness was exhausting. She was too unyielding to listen, so there was no reasoning with her.
"If she could overcome her reckless nature and if she were determined, I believe she can accomplish what she wants," he answered honestly. "Mio doesn't know what she wants. Your mistress—"
"She is my mistress no longer," Yayoi interjected, a fierce look about her.
It had slipped his mind, so he apologized and corrected himself as he spoke again. "Ayuka has no reason to fear her."
The priestess returned to looking at the bottom of the bowl, her gaze distant. "She has every reason to fear her," said Yayoi in a wondrous voice. "It is the fact that she is reckless and willing to spend her body to achieve full control that will no doubt make her the Shugosha to fear. Ayuka doesn't understand that the power she saw within her is not passed down. Every Shugosha is different, aren't they? Kiyohime the Winter Witch, Tamatori-hime, Musashi the Peacemaker."
"Kiyohime created the spheres," said Takuto.
"Tamatori strengthened them," Yayoi continued.
"Musashi buried their legend."
"Mio can only move up from there. What do you think they'll call her?" Yayoi set down the bowl, letting the remaining water soak into the tatami. She returned to her original seat where she shuddered, her skin covered in gooseflesh. "The Fate Sphere is a frightening old scroll."
Takuto nodded slowly. Her ability to read it was the frightening thing.
As promised, Yayoi snuck into her room when everyone was downstairs and started to rummage through her clothes with a furrowed brow. She went through the entire trunk and turned to her with a quizzical look. "Is this all?"
"That is what I plan to wear, yes," said Mio skeptically.
"You might as well stay naked all day long if these are your options."
"I don't want to be seen naked by everyone," she said with a frown, reminded of the Purification Ceremony and everyone's eyes on her naked body standing there in the center before a pool of water covered in water lilies. "Once was enough."
"I meant to ask if this is all the clothes you own and that if it was, you were better off naked."
"I put away my winter clothes and the silk I received in the Sun Country."
"Bring me all of it."
Mio complied with her request, digging out the pale, fur-lined clothes she wore on Mt. Hyōga and the colorful, silk fabrics she was given. Yayoi was delighted going through the new batch of clothes; she expressed a distinct like for the patterned kimono tops and fur vests she brought from the mountain.
"Is it true you sleep on beds made of fur there?" Yayoi asked, holding a silk robe patterned in camellias against Mio's skin. She had done the same with several other articles of clothing, but had lingered on this one and a moss colored robe outlined with white branches. "This is the one. You'll wear the black one."
"We slept on furs, but the beds were not made of them," she answered her initial question, taking the black robe from her.
"Put that on quickly."
Yayoi went to a box she brought along with her, turning her back long enough for Mio to slip into the robe and knot a sash over her waist. The priestess turned to look at her, nodding at her good work, before readjusting the sash.
"What am I supposed to do again?"
"You will be kind to him," began Yayoi. "Be sweet on him. Kiss him a lot. Oh, and let him touch you."
Mio felt like a virgin on her wedding night. Yayoi was the experienced relative prepping her for the moment. "How is that going to help?"
"Once you have his attention, you will talk to him, but make sure you are in a position where he cannot refuse you."
"What kind of position is that?"
Yayoi seized her by the arms and looked her in the eyes. "Come on, Mio, think. What sort of position am I referring to that will ensure in a man telling you everything?"
"Do you want me to torture Madara?" asked Mio, starting to understand, though perhaps not how torturing would help anything other than to ruin their relationship. "I don't understand how any of this will change his mind."
"Yes, you're going to torture him! You are going to offer yourself to him, but not give yourself up."
"Oh." Mio cocked her head to the side.
"Please, tell me that you understand a little of what I am asking you do to," Yayoi pleaded.
"You want me to seduce Madara?" said Mio, understanding.
"Yes!"
Mio felt she could learn a lot from Yayoi as the priestess started to give her explicit examples of what she wanted her to do when she met with Madara later while applying color to her lips.
"…If you do all that, you'll be able to do whatever you want," Yayoi concluded. "Just make sure you devote yourself into keeping him happy, understand?"
"I worry that I may be no good," Mio admitted. "I have never pleasured a man before."
"All you need to do is mind your strength," said Yayoi. "You will learn the more you try it. Don't overthink anything and enjoy yourself."
She wasn't sure she wanted to try half the things Yayoi had told her.
"It will probably be a little uncomfortable at first," Yayoi continued, "but if you continue trying it, about three more times, you should start feeling good."
The priestess didn't stay long after that, leaving Mio to her thoughts. She removed all her artifacts save the Time Sphere and her earrings, stashing them away under a floorboard she pulled out under her trunk before going to see him. She heard him earlier, walking past her bedroom to reach his, and hesitated at the door, imagining he would be exhausted after his mission. The moment didn't last long.
She entered, sliding the door shut behind her. She caught him in the middle of writing, sending a coded message to another in the presence of a giant bird that squawked at her upon entering.
He glimpsed at her, barely noticing Yayoi's efforts, and said, "Taiga sent back word."
"Did he?" she asked partly excited.
"He encountered Hiryuu's shinobi. Nothing more." Madara looked at her a second time, this time his attention focusing on the distance between them and her face. "Have you become tired of protesting?"
"My back was starting to hurt," she said in response to his insult. She could already see Yayoi's disappointed face when she told her they only fought and that she possessed no charm to seduce him.
He finished quickly and rose to give the scroll to the bird, sending the winged beast on its way. With the bird gone, Mio finally approached him and as she reached him, felt his hand on her face, thumb on her lips brushing across it. "What are you doing dressed in this manner?"
"I came to earn back my freedom through seduction," she replied honestly, resting her hands over his shoulders.
He grinned, gaze rapt on her lips. "Seduction?"
She drew closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck securely, and kissed his lips. Her mind went blank upon contact, allowing emotion to take over and the fact that she wanted to kiss him the entire time he had been away. She had wanted to be enveloped in his arms.
Madara drew back, staring down at her with a new emotion in his eyes that translated through her as intense desire. "Stop listening to Yayoi," he told her, pressing his lips to her ear as he lowered his voice. "It won't help you. I intend to keep you safe no matter the methods you try to use against me."
Her insides quivered as his head dipped low and she felt his warm mouth part slightly against her neck. There went her breath, hitching in her throat, and her heart, pounding in her chest in anticipation. She fisted her hands at his back, grabbing handfuls of his shirt. His hot breath snaked down her chest, his lips tasted every inch of her neck, lingering as if to savor the taste until they took her mouth again. She kissed him urgently and held him close, feeling still that it was not close enough.
She realized she was panting when they separated, chest rising and falling rhythmically. Their foreheads pressed together, entangled where they stood, they stared into each other's eyes with her face growing warm.
"Are you this warm because you're a Kuronuma?" he asked lowly, running his hands up and down her arms, further tantalizing her senses with the deliberate slowness of his touch. "Or is there another reason?"
She swallowed thickly, staring at his lips. Her temperature was warmer to accommodate the black water in her bloodstream, but the heat was rising from the pit of her stomach since he started to kiss her neck. She unconsciously licked her lips before answering, "Both."
He suddenly straightened and looked off towards the window. He sensed something.
"What is it?" Mio asked when she heard a voice echo to her from a distance.
In unison, they spoke.
"Izuna."
"Grandfather."
Not a moment later did a knock disrupt the quiet of the room and a voice called forth, "Madara-sama, your brother has returned."
"Where is he?" asked Madara.
"In the surrounding forest. He should be entering the territory in a few minutes."
Mio started to pull away from him, unable to escape him fast enough. He pulled her back and took her by the face, kissing her with a bittersweet intensity that made her want to cry. The next he looked upon her face, he said, "I'll speak to Izuna of this."
"Mio isn't in her room," another voice came from the hallway.
Her heart sank into her stomach, the dread slowly creeping in. She didn't want to see Izuna unhappy. She didn't want him to know because it would make him unhappy and she wouldn't be able to stand it knowing that all he wanted was to be with her and she repaid him by being with his brother. All the kisses and caresses felt shameful to her. She couldn't look at him as she pulled away. She didn't fully consider what would happen when Izuna returned when she had been so accepting of Madara. She put it out of her mind.
Reality finally came knocking and she was terrified of it.
"Madara-sama, Mio is not in her room," called the first voice.
"She's with me," Madara said. "Have Kana make preparations for his arrival."
When the two shinobi went away, Madara turned her around fully. "I will talk to Izuna."
"And then what?" she asked, feeling worse. "We apologize and he turns a blind eye to our relationship? He says something that is cruel that turns out to be the truth? He tells us we are insane and that we don't make sense—I could understand that because we don't." She sounded panicked. "I don't want to have doubts. I don't want to have doubts about you, but I feel guilty. We betrayed him. He won't understand what this is—I don't understand. I am barely starting to understand! What I do understand is that the way I feel with you and about you is so different. I know that when you are away, I miss you, and that when you are near, I want to be with you."
"I will make him understand," he assured her. "So keep it from your mind until I have spoken with him. None of this is your fault, you don't need to excuse yourself. I asked you to be mine—"
"And I said yes," she interjected. "I said yes knowing that I wanted to marry him if he asked and that you approved. I said yes fully aware of these things and I—we shouldn't—" She stopped herself when the door slid open and Takuto stormed in with Yayoi scrambling in behind him, both breathing heavily. "Takuto, what—?"
Takuto grabbed Mio by the arm and yanked her towards him while Yayoi shoved Madara towards the table. She didn't understand their actions until she saw Izuna rounding the corner after climbing the staircase. He was sopping wet. She wrapped her hand around Takuto's wrist tightly, making him flinch. "You said you would not be covering for us."
"We panicked!" shouted Yayoi.
Izuna's face lit up at the sight of her and her insides twisted in her guilt. She was relieved to see him unhurt, happy to see him again after only having seen him for a couple hours in the Sun Country, but she found herself walking to him with some reluctance. She reached him and wrapped her arms around him in greeting, the weight of her and Madara's betrayal pushing her down. She felt the apology stuck in her throat as her grip around him tightened.
He let out a pained sound, patting her back. "Mio!"
She pulled away, letting her apology out and dropping her eyes to the ground. "I'm happy you are well."
He laughed lightly, holding her by the arms gently. "What are you wearing?"
Yayoi appeared with a frown, shoving Mio into the nearest wall. "Haven't you learned a thing about women? You don't insult what they are wearing," she chided him. "So, did you bring me anything from your travels?"
"You just pushed her into the wall," Izuna commented.
"I survived," Mio said, tugging her robe closed over her chest. She realized belatedly that anyone could look down her chest and cast a glance in Madara's direction as he walked past her to clap his brother on the shoulder in greeting.
Takuto introduced himself.
"I have things to discuss with the both of you," Izuna said, looking at his brother and then at Mio. "There are things you must know of Kuronuma Nishiki. We need to prepare ourselves for an attack. Mikazuki Gouki has returned to the Earth Country and they intend to invade the Iron Country in search of the Universe Sphere." His eyes lingered on Mio, a secret glinting in his dark eyes. "Oh, and Mio, your grandfather's downstairs arguing with my grandmother."
"My grandfather?"
Izuna smiled. "Yes."
Mio slipped past them and ran down the stairs, his voice reaching her from the nearest sitting room mingling with Sachiyo's. She stormed inside and watched the giant, snow-haired man turn with a stupid smile on his face. "Oh, hi."
"Is that all? You worthless man," Sachiyo huffed. "That child has been worried sick about you and all you have to say is hi? This is why Chiho left you."
"Nobody asked—"
Mio ran straight to him and wrapped her arms around him and let out a sob, the tears were an immediate reaction. "Where have you been?" she demanded, crying into his chest. "I needed you."
"Shinya-sama, you're alive!"
Takuto was standing at the doorway, his eyes looking terribly bloodshot, with Yayoi, Izuna, and Madara standing in the hallway behind him.
Shin sighed. "Come here, Takuto."
Takuto walked over and hugged her grandfather shamelessly. "Mio's been committing stupid mistakes, I tried to stop her like you asked, but she won't listen!"
Mio glared at him.
Shin merely patted Takuto on the back with a shushed, "There, there. We know how she is."
"Ugh, what a disturbing display," Sachiyo complained. "Yayoi come, help me get to my room. I cannot stand being in this room."
Yayoi crossed the room to reach the old woman and helped her get onto her feet, though her eyes were glued to Shin in a dreamy way.
"You are only bitter people love me," Shin said, hugging them tightly.
Sachiyo gestured her grandchildren away. Madara and Izuna merely stared at her, before Madara asked Izuna to accompany him to the compound and when questioned about it, he answered, "We need to talk."
"It's pouring out there," Izuna complained.
"You're already wet."
"Talk outside!" Sachiyo snapped. "And clean up this mess."
Madara and Izuna walked into another room where there was an exit into the long verandah outside.
Shin let the two of them go, placing one hand atop Mio's shoulder as he zeroed in on her. "You are discovering new power within the sphere, I'm going to help you sort that out," he said, "but we need to find temporary guardians for the spheres. You're not strong enough to carry them all. Not yet." She nodded reluctantly and saw him turn to Takuto, putting his other hand atop the blond's shoulder. "The Kuronuma needs a strong leader; I will make sure you become one capable of supporting both his people and his Shugosha."
Takuto and Mio exchanged looks and immediately turned to Shin, his words finally sinking in. "What?"
"Takuto's going to become the next fearsome Kuronuma leader and you its Shugosha; I promise once the Artifact War is done people will cower at the sound of your names. So, I want the two of you up before sunrise. I suggest you go to sleep now."
Shin started to usher the two out of the room, their protests falling to deaf ears.
"I have questions!" Mio said loudly.
"You will have answers tomorrow. Sleep. You need to be ready for tomorrow's training session."
"But—!" Takuto began.
Shin managed to guide them to the foot of the staircase and forced them into taking the first step before letting them go. Mio and Takuto turned at the same time, confusion plaguing their minds as her grandfather stared up at them with a fond smile.
"This is the end of your journey, Mio," he said, reaching to take her small hand into his. His rose eyes blinked in Takuto's direction as well. "Everything that needs assembling has and it is only waiting on the two of you. This is no longer about potential. This is about using what is already in you and using it well. I am here to help you. Both of you. One last time."
Madara dragged him outside with uncharacteristic urgency and stared at him with furrowed eyebrows, contemplating to speak whatever swam inside that mind of his.
Izuna had a dozen things to say about his travels. He came face to face with Kuronuma Nishiki, learned of the man and Ayuka's intentions with the Kuronuma artifacts, he had heard more of Mio's succession line, and he would be under Shin's guidance during his stay. There were many things he wanted to speak about and ask about. He wanted to know all the details about the Sun Country, Enki, Yayoi's surprising appearance, and about Mio, but he waited for his brother to speak.
His brother did not speak.
"Where is Taiga? I didn't see him when I came in," Izuna asked, hoping the change of subject would force the words out of his brother's mouth.
"He went to confuse Hiryuu and his men," Madara answered. "Hiryuu is determined to drag Mio out from wherever she's hiding to return her to Gouki."
"I heard Gouki is looking forward to seeing her again."
Izuna stood quiet after receiving no further response, his body growing cold.
"Wasn't there something you wanted to say?" he asked as he started to shiver. He wanted to have a warm bath and eat before thinking of resting. "Did something happen?"
Madara met his eyes, and suddenly, his entire demeanor changed. "I wanted to exchange information with you in the compound," he said, "but you should probably have a warm bath before you catch a cold." He moved towards the shoji screens. "I'll have Kana prepare one for you. We can talk tomorrow morning."
As his brother stepped inside the house, Izuna knew his evasive nature meant he was keeping a secret, one that he could not even tell him. He frowned, worried that it would be serious, as he stepped through the threshold. He wandered out into the main hallway, catching sight of Takuto when he kissed Mio's hands, which he held in his own, and offered her a bitter smile. The Kuronuma mussed her hair before going up the stairs. Seeing them together made Izuna felt a twinge of emotion, one that wanted to hear there was only friendship between them.
Mio whirled around, appearing to have been about to step down, jolting at the sight of him.
He wondered about her clothes. It was quality silk and quality silk molded in a provocative way on a body, one he had not overlooked when she had gone to greet him. There was something about Mio, something prettier.
"Izuna," she said, surprised. "I thought you would be with your brother."
"He went to see Kana about preparing a bath."
He caught himself staring at her neck when she spoke up, drawing his attention back to her pale face. With her eyebrows furrowed and a melancholic look in her eyes, she said, "Did he say anything?"
It wouldn't surprise him if Mio knew what his brother was hiding. They had developed a system in their youth when she and Madara shared secrets. Whatever Madara could not tell him, he employed Mio to have it done as she did a better job at being blunt and unbiased—well, a little unbiased as whenever anything affected Izuna negatively, she took his side and helped him shame Madara into doing whatever he wanted. He figured old habits were hard to abandon and that she would be telling him what Madara could not.
"He said he wanted to exchange information," he told her, "but I know he wanted to say something else."
She was downcast—the appearance of shame. "Oh."
"Did he say anything to you?"
Lifting her eyes to him, she said in a tone similar to his brother's, "It would be prudent. I hear you have information about Kuronuma Nishiki." She took another step up the staircase, changing her mind about going down. "I should be going now. Grandfather wants me and Takuto up before sunrise."
He bid her a good night with a smile on his face and watched her go, the fabric of her skirt fluttering with every step she took upward, the camellias printed on it a vivid white.
The smile disappeared from his face.
This never happened. Mio didn't keep Madara's secrets, not for long, not from him. He sensed whatever they had between them was grave; too much that they did not want to involve him. He knew exactly what they were doing. They wanted to protect him and he did not need protection.
"Cowards."
xl: Firstly, yassssssssssss, 40 chapters!
Secondly, I rearranged scenes between this chapter and the next, so more entertaining scenes happen in the next chapter. Do expect drama, though. I seriously wanted to challenge myself with a "how-long-can-I-keep-MadaMio-hidden-from-Izuna" thing going on, but we all know Izuna knows everything. Needless to say, the drama is going to be good in the next chapter. :D
Yayoi is ridiculous and I love her, but she's like there to poison Mio's innocent mind. D:
Announcement! I have these two polls running in my LJ, you can find a direct link through my profile! So, go vote and offer your opinion on them if you have one! I would really appreciate one or the other, both are, however, fantastic.
Another thing, this is my final month of school, so updates will be slooooooooooooow for the rest of May. I wish everyone experiencing finals good luck, mine aren't for a few weeks, but there's the pressure of final assignments needing to be turned in (and my procrastination needing to be stopped).
Anyhoot, thank you to these lovely people: MoonlightArrow, Loteva, amaya-tsuki-chan, ice devil cat demon, HushedFable, and crazyuser for reviewing and being such a huge motivation for my continued effort to write this story. My gratitude also goes to my silent readers because I know you're there and that, while you may not be saying anything, you are still reading...or at least I hope you are. DX
Thank you for reading!
Preview for the next chapter will be up in a couple days.
Question of the Chapter (Optional): This question stemmed from a reviewer giving me awesome scenarios about how Izuna finds out (I'm waving at you amaya-tsuki-chan) about Madara and Mio, and while I have the scene written down already, I'm curious to see if anyone has an idea. So, how do you think Izuna will find out?
If you want to be surprised, sit back and enjoy the ride. Shin is going to make a man out of everyone in the next chapter. (See what I get from watching Mulan?)
Byee~