Chapter 41 | The Death of Kings VI
The subject of his inevitable demise came up during breakfast to the backdrop of Sachiyo's growly voice saying, "Serves you right, you pariah," alongside her grandfather's dismissal of the topic in its entirety. He learned to avoid it and did so whenever she or Takuto brought it up. Speaking of it was off the table, no matter how much they tried to slip it in every conversation. Their questions went unanswered, and so, they started training.
However, Mio had been faced with the inevitability of parting with a few of her artifacts, and while she debated on who to make a temporary guardian, Shin put Takuto through the motions, which turned out to be a fancy term to beating him bloody until the sun rose. Takuto was tasked with healing himself mid-battle given that he was a medic and vulnerable in any dire situation and he needed to minimize the damage dealt to him. For two hours straight, he was banned from avoiding any attack leaving him in a terrible state by the time Madara and Izuna emerged from their home.
Mio sat with her artifacts tucked inside an open bag she had on her lap when the two approached.
"Is this fight supposed to be one-sided?" asked Izuna, pointing in the direction of the fight.
"Fights with that man are always one-sided," she answered, acting distracted so she would seem indifferent to Madara's presence. She was frustrated with him for not telling him, and herself, for not being able to say it either. She hadn't been prepared to tell him anything, only to hear him say something about it, and while she contemplated it, she couldn't find the courage to admit it.
"Will you be doing the same?"
"No, I don't know what he's planning to do with me." She sealed her bag shut. "I'm taking recommendations for temporary guardian positions."
"Have you considered Saori or Hibari?" Izuna suggested.
"But I just met them."
"Get to know them. They're trustworthy."
"What about Taiga?" said Madara.
"I don't trust him."
"You don't have to. He's a temporary guardian," he said. "Don't give him any power."
"I don't control who gets power."
"Maybe you should learn."
She grimaced, pushing herself off the moist grass. She rummaged through her bag and thrust the calligraphy brush into Madara's hands. "Don't think of returning this to me again."
"You aren't healing fast enough!" shouted Shin.
Mio cringed at the sight of another wound rupturing over Takuto's left shoulder and watched his ongoing struggle to avoid another of Shin's attacks as he simultaneously attempted to use the blood spilling from the wound to cauterize it. He managed, but received a terrible blow to the head, delivered by the back of Shin's dagger, that knocked him off his feet.
Shin assumed a neutral stance as he wiped the sweat from his brow and sheathed his dagger. "Good work, Takuto," he told the beaten Kuronuma, who was breathing haggardly lying on his back. "We'll continue in two hours. Until then, spar with Izuna."
Takuto sat up as Shin handed him a jug of water. He guzzled it down for a whole minute before taking some water and splashing it over his dirty face.
Her grandfather approached them, not a scratch on him, and faced Izuna. "You're up."
Izuna glimpsed at Takuto hesitantly. "Should he be fighting in his condition?"
"I'll be surprised if you could take him in his condition." Shin laughed. "There is nothing like fighting a Kuronuma that feels cornered. They're vicious. So, I suggest you don't hold back."
Izuna walked off to help Takuto back onto his feet.
"I'm going to need the two of you closer to the house." After saying so, Shin directed them to the exact spot he wanted them around the muddied backyard. "This is perfect. Now, Mio, give me your artifacts."
"All of them?"
"Save the Time Sphere, but yes, all of them," he said, holding out his hand to take the bag she offered.
She reached for her earrings and placed them atop his palm, feeling strange without them dangling from her ears. The Black Sphere with the Life Sphere sealed within it had been the first artifacts she ever possessed. She felt a little naked without them, but all the same, without them, she felt lighter.
"Takuto mentioned you can work your shield," he said, staring at her expectantly.
"Yes."
"Perfect." He took the sphere into his hand and turned it until its surface caught the sunlight and reflected it back to her face. "I want your complete focus on the sphere, understand?"
She nodded.
"Madara, over here." Shin gestured him a little further away, not too long a distance. "You have one task and that is to destroy that building behind her."
Madara stared at him in disbelief and Mio opened her mouth to shout, but Shin continued, while looking at her. "You're going to protect it by any and all means possible using that sphere."
"There are people in that house!" Mio shouted, prepared to fight it.
"Think of it as incentive," Shin said with a shrug, turning to Madara. "I can see the doubt in your face, but look, I'll show you an example. Ready Mio?"
With only those last words to serve as a warning and a blur of hand seals, Shin released a torrent of black water from his mouth directing it towards the house and in the split second her heart was in mid-jolt, she erected a barrier, clear but iridescent in the sunlight, that took the brunt of the searing attack. She heard the sound of the boiling water sizzling against the surface. The remaining force of the technique was deflected back to her and it knocked her to the ground.
She scraped her arm after landing and skidding across the muddy backyard, the grime soaked into her clothes and clung to her hair. Her heart was pounding as she raised her body onto a seat, wiping her face clean of the mud with a gasp of breath.
"See, perfect reflexes," Shin said admiringly, wiping the edge of his mouth clean. "You have nothing to worry about, now try it."
Her grandfather moved out of the way as Madara took a couple steps back to stand directly in front of her. She braced herself for a painfully exhausting morning as she stood, the mud squishing noisily beneath her feet.
"Concentrate, Mio," called Shin. "Concentrate on expanding the shield and fortifying it or it won't hold."
Mio nodded, fisting her hands at her side. She watched Madara as he drew his hands together to form the first hand seal and waited in anticipation of his attack, her arms stinging and mud running down places it shouldn't be. She knew exactly what to expect when he produced flames from his mouth and they targeted the house behind her, a yellow-red blaze swirling towards it at high speed as it expanded once airborne.
She felt the sphere take from her chakra and its barrier appear before she had a chance to activate it. The artifact erected a dome-like barrier around her. She had a moment to make it expand, the heat radiating from the flames caressing her face, and managed with great difficulty to make the dome-like barrier surround Sachiyo's house in its entirety. From within, she saw the fire rush upwards against the surface, its power pushing her backward until the flames blew over and she was thrown off her feet by the recoil.
Adrenaline was pumping through her veins. The only thought running through her head was that it had worked. At the first sign of danger, the sphere reacted on its own and tried to shield her the same way it would have had it been in danger of being stolen. However, it was draining and she realized she was standing on shaky legs as her grandfather approached her.
Shin patted her shoulder. "If you can rewire the sphere to expand to that size, you are certainly capable of adding a new skill to the artifact," he suggested, as Madara came to stand before them. "With that out of the way, it's time for you two to spar. Taijutsu only. Mio needs to practice her form and you need to practice your discipline." The two stared at one another awkwardly. "Perhaps then you'll be able to work through your frustrations without you putting your inappropriate hands on my granddaughter."
She nearly choked on her saliva. "G-grandfather!"
Madara was quick to glare at her in accusation.
Shin left them, his laugher ringing in their ears like a siren of shame. Neither of them made a mention of it and went straight to sparring for what remained of the morning. Shin returned her artifacts after Madara finished proving himself the repeated victor of their challenges, though they were struggles, and complimented the oldest Uchiha brother on his impeccable reflexes before sauntering off to stop Izuna and Takuto's fight.
Mio stalked off with her artifacts in hand to the well on the other side of the house. She drew a bucket of water from the reserve and scrubbed the drying mud off her face with the bottom of her shirt, though she struggled to find a clean spot on it. Distracted with cleaning the grime off her skin, she failed to notice she wasn't standing beside the well alone until she saw a hand pass between hers to dip into the water. She lifted her eyes slowly, whatever trance she had been in, broken, and found Madara splashing water onto his face.
He ran his hand down his neck where something caught her eye. She grabbed the collar of his shirt and tugged it down, to his exclamation, and saw a bruise, stretching over his collarbone to his neck. A deep violet color gave it a painful and soft appearance, though when she pressed her fingers against it he neither flinched nor was the flesh underneath her fingertips anything but taut. It would be completely normal to see a few contusions on Madara especially after his last excursion. However, time, place, and occupation had nothing to do with it because she had seen a bruising like this on another and with the thought resurfacing in her mind, she felt inclined to search him.
"It's a bruise, Mio, you have them, too," he said, pulling her arm forward to show the length of green bruises that had appeared.
She chased dark thoughts from her head when she heard Takuto and Izuna's voices drawing near and snatched her bag off the ground, walking past the two the second they appeared. Takuto called out to her, but she continued forward, hearing Izuna shout to his brother, "What did you do to her now?"
Everyone crept away, quiet and careful, like insects threading new territory wary of nature's vicious predators and it was so easy to see who belonged to what group. Madara disappeared in a hurry, something about Taiga sending a new message to the compound and wanting to discuss things pending with everyone, though Izuna wanted to sit him down to speak about what he had learned, hoping to use the time to unearth whatever secret his brother had buried. He decided to engage in the conversation with him before sleeping.
He wanted to believe Sachiyo and Kana as well as Saori and Hibari were innocent of any knowledge, but he had his suspicions. Sachiyo and Kana knew everything about everyone—intuition, maybe, but then again Sachiyo had taught Mio most of what espionage entailed and she would take a secret to the death just to spite a person and Kana was Taiga's sister, something good had passed down that line after all.
Saori and Hibari would know by default. Yayoi could not keep a secret to save her life, particularly those prone to cause her stress. She would have needed to confine in someone and they would be her first choice. Though he heard Yayoi and Mio were getting along, after Mio allegedly punched her in the face and broke her nose, he did not think they were at a stage where the priestess wanted Mio to know everything.
Izuna met Takuto yesterday, who Shin described as Mio's confidant on their journey to the Fire Country, and knew trying to gain a secret out of a Kuronuma would be useless. He did not plan to pursue it, however, when he entered the sitting room after lunch and bore witness how everyone found an excuse to go, Yayoi and Takuto were the last to head for the door, excusing themselves to continue the priestess's training.
"Why is it"—and the two medical nin froze at the door as he sauntered to a sitting cushion and sat—"that whenever I enter a room, everyone is in such a hurry to leave?"
A strange look passed between them before they erupted into booming laughter, as though he had spoken the most ridiculous thing in the world. He misjudged the Kuronuma seeing by the visible apprehension causing him to hunch and the fact that he and the priestess were speaking nonsense.
"Hurry to leave? Bah!" said Yayoi between fits of forced laughter.
"Nobody is in a hurry to leave!" Takuto assured him.
"So, grandmother and the Ito sisters decided to go because they have better things to do?" Izuna challenged. "And you two?"
The laughter ceased.
"You might have finished your training, but I have not," said Yayoi. "I had to wait for Shinya-sama to release Takuto."
"I remember Shinya asking you to rest," Izuna told Takuto.
"All Yayoi will be doing is reading, nothing overexerting on either of our—"
Izuna smiled. "They why not do it here? I have been gone for too long." He looked at Yayoi. "We haven't had a chance to talk since I returned."
Yayoi and Takuto reluctantly returned to their seats, seated rigidly and passing glances. Two blabbermouths itching to speak.
So, he started by asking the priestess about her day.
"It was good," was her meek reply. She stopped herself before asking him the same question since they spoke about it over lunch.
His grandmother had been furious at Shin for putting her home in danger and by default had grown frustrated with Madara, for going through with it and the fact that he literally tried to leave ashes in place of their home, and Mio, for not stopping the two. They were given leftovers to eat as a punishment.
Madara decided to forgo eating when he left his share of leftovers in front of Mio. He remembered the moment because Mio looked completely miserable staring down at the food before her grandfather felt enough pity to take it from her.
This was strange of Madara—perhaps Mio noticed it too—as he believed in eating regularly to maintain the body healthy for conditioning and Izuna saw that he had not bothered with breakfast that morning either. If he dared to assume, his brother skipped dinner last night as well. It was not right.
A long silence passed between them. Yayoi and Takuto looking more and more jittery with every minute.
"Weren't you going to read?" Izuna asked, the mere sound of his voice made the two jolt.
Takuto thrust a book into Yayoi's hand and she opened it to read.
The Kuronuma stood quickly. "I should bring samples," he said, and Yayoi made a noise in protest to his leaving. "I think I might have to look for them. You should come."
"Yes," Yayoi replied, starting to stand. "I need to learn how to find these myself."
There they were attempting to run away.
"Before you go." Izuna stopped them. "I want to know what happened in the Sun Country."
Yayoi tapped her chin, surprised by the inquiry. "What happened indeed?" She turned to Takuto. "What did happen in the Sun Country?"
"It was so long ago, I completely forgot," Takuto answered in a sheepish tone. "What did happen?"
"Well, Mikazuki Gouki was there," she started.
"Oh yes, yes he was," said Kuronuma. "We also discovered he is Ayuka's son."
"Yes! And that Kuronuma Nishiki is alive!"
"What else? What else? What else?"
Takuto and Yayoi seemed to be thinking hard on the subject, taking it on as a challenge they would conquer together and he knew they were merely wasting time to stop themselves from speaking the great secret. If Takuto was Mio's confidant, Yayoi was Madara's, strange as it was.
"I can continue asking you other unrelated questions, but I have to meet with the Ito clan and you are wasting my time," Izuna interrupted their whispering. "I want to know what you are so determined to hide and why Madara and Mio have decided against telling me."
Yayoi suddenly burst into tears, covering her face, and he was taken aback by her emotional distress. "Madara killed my father!" she cried miserably. "He was a terrible person, he did horrible things, but he was my father and Madara killed him!"
Takuto shot him a disapproving look as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders in comfort. "We are hiding nothing," he said. "We are simply recovering from what we survived in that country. You will have to excuse us for acting strangely and not wanting to speak of it, but you would do well in asking your brother if you want to know that badly."
Amidst despairing sobs, Yayoi added, "Or Mio."
"You heard her," Takuto said, sliding the door open and stepping out. He guided her along the way.
Izuna grimaced once the shoji screen was closed shut. He was surprised to find the two blabbermouths were better at diverting his attention with excuses than his brother and Mio put together.
Nobody wanted to speak of it. He could not think of anything that would be so terrible nobody would want to speak of it.
It had to be something he did not expect.
Izuna left the room as Saori stepped in with a wooden tray in her hands. The two collided and everything atop the tray toppled over, crashing to the ground between them, shards of the ceramic cups sprang in every direction, the boiling liquid soaked into the cracks of the wood, which made the two move out of the way. He saw the kettle bounce off the ground and roll face down, spilling what remained of its contents.
Coincidentally, his grandmother and Kana were making their way down the hallway across them. Sachiyo stopped, looked at the mess and then at them sternly. "One of you best clean up that mess," she said, before wandering off. He thought he heard her say, "Clumsy, that one," before the two erupted into light laughter.
Saori quickly sank into a crouch and turned over the wooden tray. "What fortune?" she said with a huff. "Your grandmother comes at the most inopportune times."
Izuna laughed because it was true and went to his knees to help her gather the broken pieces, warning her about the sharp edges as he watched her delicate hands throw several tiny shards into the serving tray. "As long as we keep the floors clean, she will forget all about it," he said, reaching over to grab the kettle by the handle. "I was surprised you left like the others at the sight of me."
"No," she said quickly. "I went to bring tea. I thought you three might want something warm. Hibari is fetching cakes."
"Takuto and Yayoi left."
She frowned. "Did they?" she asked, sounding forlorn about it, but at the sight of the mess in front of her, she said, "Well, it would be for the best since I already spilled the tea and broken four good cups."
"That was my fault, I bumped into you."
"I should have been paying better attention."
"I wasn't thinking at all," Izuna insisted. "I planned to hound Madara for the rest of the day."
"Is this about everyone avoiding you?" she asked curiously. At his sudden exasperation, she said, "There was terrible tension in the room during lunch, though it was amusing to see Yayoi's attempts to diffuse it. And Takuto, he's charming as well, isn't he? Yayoi thinks highly of him."
"Does she?"
"Yes, but I think she's disappointed he's young, else she would make a better pursuit of him than Taiga-san."
"Do you know anything about it?"
Saori's cheeks reddened. "Yayoi speaks of such scandalous things—"
"No, not about Yayoi," he said quickly, he could imagine the things coming out of Yayoi's mouth when she talked about men she liked. He once sat through a complete rant about her adoration of Taiga's masculinity and handsomeness and how perfectly suited they were to one another, stressing the importance of him coming to realize the perfection. "About what everyone is hiding?"
"She's been surprisingly tightlipped recently," she said. "I do believe it has to do with your brother and Mio, though I could discern nothing from either one of them, I anticipate it is grave."
"Mio used to tell me everything," he admitted, the idea of it being no more saddened him. "She seems to rely on Madara more than she does me these days."
"I was happy to meet Mio, whom you speak of so fondly," Saori said, changing the subject. "She is quiet, very quiet, but she is polite and pretty."
"But…?"
Saori averted her eyes. "Nothing," she said. "She is lucky to have so many people worry about her, to have you care about her so much. She is quite willful. You should have seen how angry she was when Madara asked her to stay indoors."
"I'm surprised she listened. Does my brother seem more overprotective of her than anyone else?"
"I don't think I have seen Madara be overprotective of anyone that was not you," she said. "It makes sense, though, you three grew up together. It must have been like siblings."
"I doubt he ever saw her as a sibling. He hated her growing up and she hated him."
"My father always said that hate was closer to love," she said, then added in explanation, "People invest a lot of time when they hate."
Izuna laughed incredulously. "Love? That's ridiculous. Why would Madara and Mio love each other? That—" The humor left him, blown out of him like a flame, because in a strange way, it made better sense than other possibilities. Still, he planned to reject the idea. "Do you think that's it?"
"What?"
"Do you think there is something between my brother and Mio?" he asked, a little too loudly.
"I rarely see them together—"
"Yes, but I left him to protect her in the Sun Country—to think my own brother—" His blood was boiling, but he was also jumping to conclusions. He needed to stay levelheaded. There was no need to make assumptions of bonds that did not exist between Madara and Mio, sure they were older and had betrayed him once before, but automatically believing there was love between them was ridiculous. Mio was a touch affectionate with his brother because it annoyed him and they shared secrets, but neither of the two was enough to build up from. "No. I'm overreacting."
"I apologize, I feel I must have spoken out of turn," said Saori sadly. "I did not mean to see you upset or to bring doubt into your mind. If you love Mio so badly that you have grown this upset at the prospect of another taking her from you, you should make it clear to her that you want more than just her friendship. Perhaps, she feels the same."
He shook his head. "I can't ask her to become my wife in a time like this. She has too much to shoulder. I would be a burden."
"Humans are terribly funny, Izuna," Saori continued, eyes swimming in tears. "Sometimes when we are trapped in a corner, when life has dealt us a harsh hand, all we want is to be comforted by the people we love. We want to feel safe, like we have a home to return to after so long a journey. Mio is going through a horrible time in her life. You should comfort her. Be her peace and quiet. Love her more than anything in this world and be happy."
Izuna stared at her as the tears in her eyes rolled down her face, perplexed by the sudden emotion. "Why are you crying?"
"Because it's the only thing I can do," she whispered. "We love indiscriminately. Sometimes we fall in love with the wrong people and we do everything in our power to find the right people, but we can't. We are stuck on the wrong because it feels right."
He reached out to pull her into an embrace, his own heart betraying a beat, and breathed in the jasmine in her brown hair. She trembled in his arms, crying quietly. He kissed the side of her head, understanding completely. "Even in a million years, I could not deserve you," he told her. "Perhaps, after those million years, I will and we could be together then."
She shook her head, pulling away. "We don't choose who we love. It happens," she told him, having said the same words to him when he had learned Mio loved Taiga. "My only expectation was that Mio was worthy of you. I have none concerning my own feelings, only that they exist but will not be acted on. You do not need to feel responsible. I will surely find a husband I will learn to love. I will be happy then and this will simply be my youth."
He did not think to insult her by offering his brother to marry her as Takuei wanted a marriage to solidify their alliance, but knew that he wanted to be certain that whoever her husband would be, he would be deserving of her.
Saori wiped her tears. "Kana-san told me Mio likes to play a card game, hanafude," she said, smiling sweetly. "You should play with her. I have a deck. Maybe she will tell you what you need to know and you will ask her what needs to be said."
Mio took the empty seat beside her grandfather on the verandah as he stared onward, dazed. Twilight would not come for another half hour, the slowly transitioning sky dimmed, allowing a few stars to shine through dispersing storm clouds, as she looked above. With everyone busy at strategic meetings, excursions, early evening walks, or lessons, Mio took the opportunity to speak to her grandfather, paying close attention to choosing an adequate time and place to ensure he could not slither away.
Nevertheless, Shin was always wary of private audiences and it was understandable. People went to him for information, though he never seemed to mind, lately his behavior was distant but focused. He was determined to drill whatever last knowledge he could impart with all he deemed worthy of it. She even spotted him speaking to a glittery-eyed Yayoi—who no doubt stopped listening the moment he called her name to gush about his acknowledging her existence in her head—before stepping out. Perhaps hoping to find himself alone with his thoughts or simply for the solace of the notion, either way, Mio did not contemplate the idea of leaving him to his peace. It never crossed her head when she saw him sneaking away or after he saw him sitting silently with his eyes glued to the sky admiringly.
She found herself unable to start the conversation, could not even find a new, impressive way to bring it up. She was nothing like Takuto. He had a way with words when he wasn't confessing everyone's shameful secrets.
"Should we speak of the future?" asked Shin. "I know a lot about it. I have always known more about the future than about the present. Ayuka used to live on the mountain in my youth. Kiyohime's daughter. She was her favorite." He paused. "Nishiki loved her instantly. He worshiped her, the fool."
"Why are you telling me about the past?" she questioned, only because he made a mention of the future.
"I came to apologize to you, Mio." He did not look to her, only continued to speak. "And you need to learn the truth. I am no better than Ayuka or Nishiki. Or their little abomination."
"Apologize?"
"We were one being split in two, an incarnation from a world that no longer exists," he begun. "Tatsumi. My sister. The Life Sphere was hers. I wanted happiness for her. She was supposed to have it all. I saw it in the Fate Sphere like I saw Nishiki uproot her pathways until she fell ill and died. Nishiki and Ayuka planned to build an empire where the world lived in fear, conformity, and worship. It would have been a terrible, unjust world Mio and your birth within it symbolized its downfall. Recklessly fearless, you would have put an end to their control." He paused to take a breath, to ensure she listened and followed the story. "The child came from the bloodline, mine and Tatsumi. Ayuka feared Tatsumi would become troublesome, pigheaded and restless as she was, so she took a gamble and Nishiki did what needed to be done. In their perfectly uniformed utopia, there was no room for nonbelievers. It was my line. I knew. And knew that they would come after me. I wanted to live, Mio, so badly I wanted to live. So, I killed my brother to live. It was either me or him. We both wanted to live, but I wanted to live more, you have to understand that."
She saw it in his eyes, the intense desire to survive in this world, and her heart clenched because his words could not be clearer.
"I have manipulated your pathways as much as Ayuka," he confessed, expression twisted into one of extreme guilt.
"I know," she said simply.
"I could have given you a better life, but I have led you down the worst so that it would strengthen you."
"I know that also."
"Mio, you don't understand what I have done—I have sacrificed you, my own granddaughter—"
"You did these things because you had no choice," she interrupted firmly, shocking him. "I understand that and I do not hate you for it. I do not know what world you saw in your readings, but if it pushed you into using me as a pawn, it must have been terrible."
"Mio, I'm s—"
"Please, don't apologize," she said quickly. "Ayuka has taken so much from me. My mother and father—"
"I could have stopped Mikazuki Gouki. I could have killed him before he laid a hand on your father…on Kikyo—I sacrificed my own daughter." He spoke her name with such a pitiful expression. He let his only child perish to drive her forward. "I could have stopped him, Mio, but I chose not to because you needed to go to Sachiyo—"
"Stop," she snapped, her chest aching. "St—"
"I deliberately sent you to the Sun Country to suffer because I needed Madara to be on your side—"
"Grandfather, stop it!" she said loudly, covering his mouth in the hopes that would be enough to silence him.
Still, his eyes were full of sorrow and regret.
"I don't want to hear it," she told him. "I came for a different reason."
Shin removed her hands from his mouth. "You need to listen to this, Mio," he said. "Every warning given to you of my actions was rightly made. To counter Ayuka, I have controlled every aspect of your life. I have, in a way, conditioned you into becoming this person and it was a loathsome thing of me to argue about choice only to have taken all of yours from you. I spoke to you of freedoms I never planned to allow you so that we could reach this point. We are close, Mio, to victory. We can stop Ayuka and Nishiki from abusing the artifact's powers. We can be free."
She came to ask him about something completely different, and now, she sat with her heart pounding painfully. "Even if we do manage to find victory here, others know of the existence of the artifacts," she said quietly. "And once this war takes place, they will have their proof. What are we to do then?" The question echoed in her mind and she made a realization. "No. Don't answer that. I don't want to know about the future. I don't want to speak of it. None of that matters until I—we end this internal war."
Her grandfather sighed heavily. "No matter how many truths I unearth, your opinion of me will not change? You will not be angry?"
"No," she replied. "I won't be angry. You had your reasons and I had mine. I understand what Ayuka intends to do is wrong. I know manipulating pathways in the Fate Sphere is abusing its power. I know it must be stopped. I am not giving up on ending this, but…I need you to stay." She had seen the true meaning of his words and they were crushing. All she had wanted to do was save him and she was failing at it, but that did not mean it was the end. He could still fight it. She believed that. So, she didn't need his attempts to make her hate him lessen the pain she already felt at the inevitability of his death. "I need you to be here, grandfather. You cannot leave me like you did on Mt. Hyōga."
Devastated that that might have been the last she ever saw of him, she quietly allowed the sorrow to take her as death tried to take her strength.
"You have to promise me you will stay until the end," she continued, seeing the regret in his face. "Tell me that you will see the Artifact War end and Kuronuma Nishiki defeated and that we will gather the clan and be a family. We might have to impose on Keishuu for a time, but we will no doubt pick ourselves up and be a proper clan."
Shin shifted in his seat and took her hand, rubbing the top of it with a callous thumb. She saw the black bruises peeking out from under the collar of his kimono shirt and beneath the sleeve that was supposed to hide the ones on his wrist. He shook his head solemnly. "I cannot promise you any of those things, Mio," he said, smiling bitterly. "My time here has passed. Death is near and it is inevitable. I know you are aware and that it makes you sad, but this isn't something you can stop."
"But maybe Takuto"—she sobbed, startling herself as the tears dripped from her eyes—"Takuto is good at these things. He knows poisons. He can find a cure if you'd let him and—"
Again, he shook his head.
"You said I could do anything," she blurted tearfully, squeezing his hand for comfort. "If I was determined, I could do anything."
He laughed, a sadness rung in the sound and it stayed with her. "You can do anything. Anything. Except this."
"But Madara, he also—"
"I know, Mio," he said as a trail of blood dripped from his nose. "I saw them too. However, he can be saved. You can all be saved, but you need to make a sacrifice."
She stared at his blood in fear of its significance. "Why does Mikazuki Gouki have this poison?"
"It functions the same, though Gouki developed a deadlier version that compacts the long term effects of the original into weeks. Signs of it are undetectable, even on the skin, one's heart simply stops beating," he explained, holding a handkerchief he drew from his pocket to his nose. "He has an antidote, Mio. One."
"Can it save you?"
"No. It's different," he answered, breathing strangely. "It's too different, it could kill me faster. The poisons are different. One is pure, the other is tainted. The antidote nulls the tainted, but you have to make the sacrifice."
"I have to go to him."
He nodded.
Mio stood up in a rush, the idea foreign. "I need to think—"
"He will die—"
"He says he's fine—"
"Let's talk about the future."
"I don't want to talk about the future!" she snapped, starting to walk away.
"You need to start a war! You need to bear your losses and outlive your enemies!" he said loudly, forcing her to stop. "Save the artifacts, be happy, marry, have your children, have that family you want so badly but cannot admit to wanting. Love, Mio, love and be loved. That is everything I want from your life. Happiness and love. You are my family, Mio, and I want the best for you."
She trembled with her hands fisted at her side and her eyes closed with tears dripping from them. Her mind was convoluted with too many thoughts to process. She needed time to sort them, not speak of the future.
"He is the one you love and you will not let him die."
"I don't want to talk about the future!"
And she ran.
Izuna found Mio in the llama pen, brushing back a llama's thick fur as the animal ate out of a bucket. She turned towards the entrance of the beaten at the first sound of his approach and smiled a little distantly before returning her attention to the pale animal, continuing to pet it. He held out Saori's hanafude deck to her and saw it caught her eye. Interest lit her face.
"I heard you like to play hanafude," he said, amused by her reaction. "I wanted to see if you wanted to—"
"Yes," she said quickly.
Mio accompanied him indoors to play. She sat in her silence, expertly sifting through the cards to shuffle them for their first round of play, but her eyes were focused elsewhere. Outside. She stared out the open window as a breeze brought the dewy scent of petrichor into the room and caressed her dark waves across her cheeks. She sat near, so close, yet he felt a distance widening between them that never existed before.
Lost in her secret thoughts, fighting her personal conflicts, hoping that a smile, as the one she shot at him, would be enough to hide there was so much going through her head. She set the deck off to the side where they would be able to reach it after leaving a few cards behind for their hands. He played hanafude with the Ito sisters in the Waterfall Country, it wasn't a game they enjoyed but it had been a way to pass the time between his coming and going to aid Tomoji with the wars.
He soon discovered that her distraction would not ebb with a simple game of matching cards, though she did attempt to enjoy it.
"What is keeping your mind busy?"
Mio lifted her eyes to him, a startled look. "What?"
"There is something on your mind," he said, finding her behavior a reason for concern. "I can see it."
"Ah, no, nothing too bad," she said easily. "I was thinking of temporary guardians."
"You should consider Saori and Hibari," he responded, though at the thought of the eldest sister he felt a little guilt. "They would make good guardians."
"The oldest, perhaps," she said, "but I can't be sure until I establish a connection."
"What about Yayoi? She's hated you long enough, connection enough."
"Yayoi is already one of my guardians," she told him, "though I would appreciate it if you did not mention it to her. She isn't happy about it."
"Oh?"
"Ayuka is losing power because Yayoi is her successor and the guardian I choose to protect the Fate Sphere," she replied. "It's a sore spot for her."
He sighed. "I can understand how. She worshipped Ayuka."
"Yes, and she tried to kill her," Mio finished, and then looked out the window. "I want Yayoi to be safe. Here. But I know she will go."
"Go?"
"There's a man in the Lightning Country she needs to meet."
Izuna stared at her skeptically.
Mio decided to excuse herself to think further on the subject of parting with her artifacts, but as she exited, Izuna stopped her.
"Have you tried making your current guardians temporary ones?"
She turned to him slowly. The idea had not dawn on her, he could see it in her face. "One artifact can exhaust a person. Two could kill one."
"And you are holding how many?"
"I am an exception to the rule. The Time Sphere keeps me alive," she said. "It will always keep me alive."
"Madara has chakra to spare for two artifacts."
"More than one artifact would make him an easier target for Ayuka," she said. "She has a special place in her heart for your brother."
"I don't understand what she sees in him," he said jokingly.
Mio laughed, thanking him for sitting down to play as she walked off. He stopped her a second time, reminded that he had wasted his time with the game and done nothing. She faced him. "I want to talk about the future."
Her eyes slowly widened. "What of the future?"
"I want to be in it," he spat, unable to say it any other way. "I want to be in yours."
"You are definitely going to be in it, I do not doubt it," she answered, clearly misunderstanding.
"I want you to be my wife!" Her face twisted into one filled with doubt and he elaborated, cutting her off as she was about to speak. "I want to make you happy, Mio. I know I can do it. I want to protect you and make sure that your son isn't born to someone of Ayuka's choosing. He can be ours and we can protect him. You won't have to worry about anything."
She stared stunned.
"Say something," he said breathlessly, after a pregnant pause.
"Please don't make me think of the future."
"Why?"
"I do not want to speak of it," she said, rounding a corner where she froze in her tracks.
Izuna pursued her to find her staring up at Madara, aghast, and when he stopped walking, she took the opportunity to run away.
"What did you do to her?" Madara asked. "I've never see her run away so quickly before."
"Nothing."
Mio sat in an empty room at the compound, determined to sleep there in place of her own accommodations in Sachiyo's home. The compound was a quiet structure at night, not a creak to be heard, and she needed the silence to reorganize her thoughts, separating them to consider in length. She wanted the peace to commit to a necessary sacrifice she, otherwise, would have avoided. She told herself that she would do the same for anyone else, and she knew she would, but her chest was erratic—in an evident state of panic like the rest of her.
She quietly meditated. She noted Madara's lack of appetite had continued into the evening and that he had other dark, painful bruises on his body. She remembered Mikazuki Gouki was confident she would go to him and she understood that she had no choice but to sacrifice herself. If he had the antidote, as her grandfather said, it could be useful to more than just Madara. It could help her grandfather if Takuto broke it down enough to learn how to make a separate cure for her grandfather.
However, Mikazuki Gouki's name alone brought fear into her soul and it was the type one didn't shake off. Facing him with people she trusted at her sides was one thing, confronting him alone was outrageous. She could not even imagine it, but she made plans to prepare herself. They wouldn't be impulses, they would be calculated movements in the hopes of banishing her fear of what would come to be.
Secretly, she left Sachiyo's home to avoid meeting Izuna. She felt the confession about to leave her lips, but in a split second, she managed to stay quiet as he admitted to wanting to make her his wife. She swallowed down her desire to get hers and Madara's relationship out in the open so that Izuna could comfortably hate them for the rest of their lives (now that she was certain he wanted her hand in marriage). She knew Madara heard when she encountered him on the way out, but avoided him on her way out to circumvent speaking about it and growing frustrated because they were unable to admit their shame.
She was not surprised to see Madara enter the room after that thought. It was not that she wished to avoid him either, but because she came to a quiet conclusion that evening and desired to be with him.
"I heard you were running around the grounds unprotected," he began after sliding the door shut.
"My grandfather left me with a task. I was only seeing it done."
"So you found guardians?"
"No, but you will," she decided, walking to him after picking up her bag. She took his hand and placed the strap atop his palm. "They are temporary, but it's important you choose wisely."
"I am not like you grandfather, I can't choose where the spheres go."
"No, but I can," she said. "I choose they go to you so that you may find them a temporary host."
He ignored the artifacts, his eyes fixated on her. "You are…distant," he said slowly. "What are you plotting?"
"If I were to be captured," she began, paying close attention to the tenor of her voice so it rang with curiosity rather than the truth. "Would you come for me?"
"You don't like to be saved," he replied.
"But if I was taken, surrounded by enemies without a chance of escape, without the hope of it." She swallowed hard, pausing to stare at the shadows crawling across his face. "If I gave up and I had nothing. Would you come for me?"
"You won't be captured, Mio," he assured her, taking her face into his hands. "I won't allow Mikazuki Gouki to come near you."
She slowly placed a hand over his heart, feeling it weak against her palm. It beat strangely. "No," she said, smiling. "I won't be captured. So, don't disappoint me." She moved her hand up to his face. "Tomorrow, go to Takuto. Ask him to draw your blood again and compare it to my grandfather's."
"For what reason?"
"Because you have not touched food, you are covered in the same bruises as my grandfather, and it makes no sense why you would have the same poison running through your veins as he does!" she said all in one breath. "I am worried—"
She froze as a trickle of blood fell from Madara's nose, and as he reached to touch it, his body was seized by pain that ripped a yell from his throat. She reached for him, bearing his weight until it dragged her down, by then his entire body was overcome by violent, painful spasms. He coughed and vomited blood.
A curse escaped him in the split second between the next wave of tremors and the last. Her mind, in a panic, could think no thoughts as she tried to soothe him in her arms.
There was supposed to be time.
Her heart beat fearfully, each hammer an increasing wave of alarm. She was terrified by the pained noises he made, the wheezing of his breath, his blood sinking into her clothes, his body cold atop her. She closed her eyes, burying her face on his chest sobbing, paralyzed by her fears. Her fear of the memory this moment brought forth and the thought of losing him because she had to think about going to Mikazuki Gouki. She had to think about it!
Why? She questioned herself then, wishing she had the power to take his pain from him.
His grip tightened around her arm, drawing her attention to him. He could barely breathe, could barely speak without more blood pouring from his mouth. She stared at him, her tears dropping atop his wan face.
"I'll save you," she promised, reaching for the black cord holding her sphere. "I'll do everything for you to live. Please fight it."
"NO!" he snapped. "Mio…don't…"
"I will save you," she whispered, the sound of footsteps reaching her ears. "I can save you, but you have to save me too."
He no longer spoke her name, his body no longer shook though the pain remained, and his dark eyes stared absently at her.
"Please come find me," she said, rocking gently with her mouth pressed against the side of his face. She continued to cry. "I'm scared. I'm so scared of going, but it's the only way."
She ripped the cord as the doors slid apart, Takuto, Yayoi, and Izuna stopping mid-step at the sight before them. She sat with his body in her arms, holding him as one would a lover—quiet and gentle as if they would break—and covered in his blood, the fear evident in her expression. Takuto and Yayoi sensed his condition through the artifacts, no doubt. Madara was fading fast and she could do nothing about the poison until she held an antidote, but she believed in her ability to prolong it.
None of the three made a move to approach her. Perhaps, they were wary of what they did not understand. She couldn't tell.
Mio wrapped the black cord around his neck and bit her thumb until it bled to use the black water to secure the artifact. She reached for the tiny orb, whose protection she was seconds from abandoning, feeling its surface rise in temperature and pressed it to her forehead, eyes closed. She tampered with the orb enough times to discover its secrets. It became what it needed to become for its Shugosha.
She needed it to become his because the Time Sphere would not allow him to die.
Some invisible thread snapped inside her as the power was siphoned from her and given to him, yanking him out of darkness with a gasp. However, the power proved stronger and though, his eyes met hers in his delirium, he fell back into her arms unconscious. She leaned forward over him to watch the mist inside the sphere spin restlessly, sensing that its power had settled.
"What did you do?" Yayoi asked, reaching her side.
"She just made Madara Shugosha," Takuto answered, amazed. "You did it, Mio."
"There is no time," Mio said, rushing to stand only for vertigo to hit. Izuna reached for her, keeping her upright. "I have to go. I have to go."
"Go where?" Takuto demanded, moving to help Madara with Yayoi to his left.
"For the antidote," she said, stumbling out the door in her weakened state.
Izuna pursued her. "I'll go with you!" he stated. "If this is to help Madara, I'm going!"
"No! You can't come with me!" she said loudly, her legs were shaking. "If you go, I'll become a coward and I won't be able to save him—"
"He's my brother!"
"I know, but—"
"Nothing, I'm going."
"You have to protect him!"
"And who will protect you?"
"He will," she admitted sadly. "When he wakes and he is better. He will."
Izuna's eyebrows furrowed. "No?"
"He is my future," she said, the rest of her heart breaking at the sight of the despair in his face. "I love you, Izuna, but he is my future and that won't change." She was too stubborn to let it change. "I love you, but I need to go alone for his sake and yours. I do not want Mikazuki Gouki anywhere near you."
"You are going to Mikazuki Gouki?"
"Yes."
"Do you think Madara would want you to do that?" Yayoi shouted from the entrance. "He was trying to stop you from going! He doesn't want you to have another of your stupid impulses! You're doing everything wrong! What are you trying to accomplish?"
"I'm trying to start a war," Mio answered firmly, "so that we can finally have our peace."
xl: Build up for the next chapter, which I have high hopes in it turning out to be everything I want it to be. It'll be delayed, so expect to see it in 2 weeks...on a Saturday.
So, Izuna finding out wasn't too dramatic. There is a drawn out confrontational scene between the two of them that's already written, but takes place later, so there will be a follow-up. Obviously, given the circumstances, it isn't going to become anything bigger at the moment. When thinking about the moment, I always knew Mio would be the one to blurt it out. The problem was finding the right words, so that took a bit. Mio's primary struggle with her relationship with Madara, apart from Izuna, was that she didn't understand her own feelings only that they were big, so Shin can go around spouting whatever he wants, but she is not in love with Madara, though she could be. So, she couldn't say, "I love him and I'm going to save him," because she wouldn't believe that herself. However, she does believe in the Fate Sphere despite her wishes to avoid future talk (we're definitely going to break this down later) and she does believe that there is a long future for them to share. I mean, if you really think about it, it could be anything. It might not even be romantic, but she was not lying when she said he's her future and that's a huge clue to bigger things later. In the end, her saying he's her future turned into the better option.
I might write a short follow-up scene for the next chapter to continue Mio's declaration or simply start in p2 of this arc. We are literally halfway to the finish line guys! I can't wait to write these next couple of chapters!
Thank you: Loteva, crazyuser, amaya-tsuki-chan, HushedFable, Sieben Nightwing, and Aries01xD for reviewing! Also, a special shout out to those that sent me such lovely PMs after the last update! And that's not to say for the handful of new readers I seem to have attained over the last month. I hope that you can continue to find something in this story to enjoy.
Thank you everyone for taking the time to read!
Question time (totally optional): Shin talked about the world Ayuka and Nishiki wanted to create, can you imagine it? And are you curious to see it brought into the story, if so, do you think it would turn the tide towards the good guys or the bad guys?
I'll post a preview for the next chapter within the next couple of days at my lj. Bye~