Chapter 42 | The Death of Kings VII
Yayoi twisted the washcloth between both of her hands, squeezing the water tainted with blood from it onto a basin. She drenched it once more in water, wringing out the excess, and pressed the cloth to Madara's face continuing to wipe him clean while Takuto sat at the table tinkering with the blood he extracted from him and the one he took from Shinya. Izuna stood restless, unable to sit long enough without voicing what was running through everyone's head.
Outside a storm had come to settle with harsh rainfall and thunderous skies.
Mio was gone. Nothing anyone said or did would be enough to drag her back, though Izuna had persisted in accompanying her, the shock of her confession left him stunned. She loved him, but her future was Madara. Yayoi thought Mio could not have said it any better and as her eyes fell to Madara's pale face, she saw what Mio must have when she held him in her arms with her tear-stricken face. The pain tangible, even in her words, the fear visible, in the body that betrayed her emotions. She went to Mikazuki Gouki, the man Takuto described as her nightmare, and Yayoi knew what awaited her there when she sacrificed herself for an antidote. That is what she went to do, certain that an anti-poison drove her to him, because Madara was her future. She wanted him to live badly. She saw the extent of her feelings then and they were real, true enough for her to make him her successor.
"I never heard of a Shugosha with this kind of power," Yayoi admitted, reeling from the revelation. "Only her son, but…"
"Her son would have the power, yes, but it would be an inherited skill," Takuto spoke, ripping apart a dried herb that had a strong smell. "Each Shugosha awakens a new skill within the sphere. Kiyohime gave birth to them; she connected the ten spheres to her own so that she would be able to keep her guardians safe. Tamatori believed in power, but she feared the sphere could be stolen, to prevent that she rewired it to cast a shield to prevent it from occurring. Musashi was without successor, so he willed the sphere to create options. And when Mio met a limit to her power, to save Madara…"
"She saved him by making him Shugosha?" Izuna asked to be certain.
"She prolonged his life by changing the line of succession. The sphere will attempt to keep him alive for as long as it can, giving me enough time to make an antidote." He paused, a dubious expression. "Hopefully."
"She wanted him to live this badly," Yayoi susurrated, understanding, "so badly she changed the line of succession to keep him alive long enough to do something about it."
Takuto set a stoppered vial atop the table. "This is unsettling," he said, all eyes falling on him. Everyone had been waiting for him to say something since he started to work and they had exhausted themselves with asking only to be shot down. "I extracted the poison from his blood and Shinya-sama's and while they are structurally the same, there are small differences between the two that literally draw a clear distinction between the two. One was tampered with and can be tampered with further, so I might be able to change it into an antidote capable of nullifying the effects, but it will take time and I need to buy ingredients."
"But you can do it?" asked Izuna.
"I can only guarantee a cure for Shinya-sama," he admitted, at the despair in both Yayoi and Izuna's faces, he continued, "There are properties in the poison I do not understand, but if there are poison experts among your camps and they know, I might be able to work something out."
Izuna's face brightened with hope. "Kayami," he said quickly, "and we have two Uchiha medical specialists with extensive poison knowledge."
Takuto stood. "I want to meet with them immediately."
Izuna nodded, determined to still his unrest through keeping busy as he slid open the door.
"What about Mio?" Yayoi asked aloud.
They had—as if their minds melted into one—ruminated over Mio's situation, but Yayoi felt she was the only one mentioning her name and truly thinking of what she had done. She couldn't believe she was the only one worried about Mio.
"We can do nothing about Mio," Takuto said. "She has her survival instinct and we have Madara to keep alive. He is our Shugosha now. We can't worry about Mio." He guided Izuna out of the room, but paused himself, turning. "You can watch him?"
"He is stable now," Yayoi answered. "I can handle it."
Izuna thanked her as the two left her alone with Madara. She continued to clean the blood off him thinking of what occurred with Mio bent over him bawling. She had held the sphere to her forehead and had had her eyes closed as if in prayer, the tears dripping from her face. One second it was her she sensed above all, the next, Madara had taken her place when he woke with a start.
Yayoi saw strands of what would become of Mio's future and in those glimpses, she saw a Shugosha unlike those before her. Kiyohime created the spheres, Tamatori-hime strengthened them, Musashi buried their legend, and Mio…
She didn't understand her actions only that they were strange in a mysterious sort of way and that they could only be carried out by someone of her strength.
Yayoi barely understood the rare gift everyone spoke of, wondered if everything was supposed to come to her in pieces. She saw some things clearer, brighter and vivid, when they involved Mio, as it was her chakra that powered the artifacts from which her guardians drew their strength. She had seen all these strings of images that revolved around Mio as Shugosha, but she wondered if she changed everything by making Madara Shugosha. Did that mean she was no longer on the path of becoming the Shugosha Ayuka feared?
Was she walking to her own demise? Or was she pursuing a new pathway?
No, that wasn't right, Yayoi thought. The future had not changed. Mio's son was still Shugosha then and his strength came from her ability to change the line of succession.
Yayoi looked upon Madara, watching the rise and fall of his chest. Did that mean he would return the artifact to her? Could he do it? Or was that what Mio had meant to say when she said he was her future?
A name came to her, whispered distantly by a familiar male voice she couldn't pinpoint.
—They call him Shinra. He has no mother or father. He is neither theirs nor ours.—
And with the voice came flashes of the boy, small with dark unkempt hair held in the arms of a brown haired woman she did not recognize rushing down narrow streets set between low buildings casting wary glances in every direction. She wore a band wrapped around her forehead with a metal protector that had a symbol carved into its center resembling a leaf.
Yayoi's body pulsed, her skin running hot. The images came to her in a rush, for the first time in chronological order, and made her head throb painfully. She held her head with both hands, frightened by this new development. She folded into herself, breathing haggardly, though she wanted to stop the strands running through her head from forming thoughts she couldn't contain, but she found she did not have the strength.
She rocked in her seat, eyes sealed shut.
The unfamiliar woman continued her trajectory down those strange streets as shinobi appeared running across rooftops aiming weapons at her. The boy lifted his face, pale in the moonlight, and his eyes were an expressive, sharp onyx color.
Yayoi opened her eyes suddenly and a shuddering breath escaped her. She had a splitting headache that brought tears to her eyes and a heavy weight on her chest.
—But it is his mother's eyes he possesses.—
"His name is Shinra."
She startled, eyes lifting to the entrance where Mio's grandfather stood.
"What?" she asked in a tremulous voice.
"You and I are alike," he told her. "I can draw pathways from the Fate Sphere as you can. I can sense when another is doing the same and can see what they see. You have seen a strain of a future that is yet to be decided."
"You saw it too?" she asked falteringly. "That boy—that boy is hers? And that woman? Who is that woman? What is that future?"
"That boy is of little importance—"
"Where is she?" Yayoi continued, desiring answers believing they might relieve her of the pain. She found herself feeling so strongly about the situation that her voice was coming out strained. "Where is she? Where is his father? Where are they? Why let that child be hunted? Are they so irresponsible?"
He smiled gently. "You do not listen, child," he said. "You do not understand the Fate Sphere. It is not an exact science. A person has billions of decisions to make and those decisions can make a considerable difference to what their future will be. You have seen a time that has not yet been decided in a world where the boy was left without parents as an infant. Both dead."
"Then it does not happen?"
"You must learn to control this gift Yayoi, delving blindly into any pathway can be extremely dangerous."
She knew he would not answer her, so she remained silent in the midst of her own recovery. Whatever the gift was, it had never manifested as it had that night.
"Mio and Takuto are on the correct path. The two will in no doubt become the people they need to become," he said. "You are the one lacking here. You do not believe in your gift. You fear accepting it would make you a target of Ayuka—it will, no doubt about it, but you cannot fear her forever. You need to learn control and I am willing to teach it to you…with one condition."
Senju Tobirama swore he cared little for Uchiha Mio, confessed he had accompanied her the remainder of the way to the Lightning Country because his brother had entrusted him with seeing her to safety. Whether ushering her to the Lightning Country to take the ferry to the Sun Country had been an appropriate decision, he had no care for it. He left her there to fend for herself, angrier at the truth of her words than his unbridled hatred for the Uchiha clan. He understood that under different circumstances they were natural enemies, would be no matter how many layers of peace were added to hide a past covered in bloodshed. The Uchiha were an unstable flock, one he did not want to think of ever trusting, let alone work with. There was no such thing as peace between them. He was not as blind or as easily swayed as his brother was in that respect.
The Uchiha and Senju clan were born to wage war against one another until only one remained.
However, Uchiha Mio was Shugosha to nine guardians who were each assigned a Kuronuma artifact, of which he and his brother were members, and through her chakra, which he could recognize as easily as his own, the artifacts were powered. He already had ample ability to sense anyone coming near, it had given him the upper hand in various missions, but the connection Mio unconsciously made with each of her guardians seemed to amplify his ability. He sensed Mio clearly, like one knew a person was standing nearby with a glance—he felt her as if she were always near. Hashirama sensed her as well, but not as he did.
Hashirama did not know the instant Mio had entered the Waterfall Country several days ago or her trek through the jungle that surrounded the hidden Ito village. Nor did he realize she was trudging through stormy weather towards the gate, but that had been in part to his chasing after Uzumaki Mito.
Tobirama was the first to know Uchiha Mio had entered the Ito village, though he did not admit it. He remained in his post as she arrived with her legs caked in mud and the layers of clothes she wore hanging heavily off her small shoulders. He noticed something different about her, though he was unable to place it until after his brother dragged him from his comfortable distance to congregate with their Shugosha after she had been given the time to have a proper bath and served a warm meal.
Ito Takuei was present, curious about the girl he heard so much about, but had yet to meet, and judging by his disappointed grimace, she was not as he expected. Uchiha Mio was not the ideal in her current situation. Small and thin—a brittle woman—with neutral features on a pale face that contrasted against the blackness of her hair. She looked suited for quiet work; though he knew better than to think it was her rightful place. He had seen the Kuronuma power surge through her. Lean and agile, she had a heavy hand and a skill for ending battles quickly.
Takuei had never seen her in battle.
Tobirama frowned when she regarded him with a weak smile in greeting. He saw the difference in her face and the absence of presence. "Where is your sphere, Shugosha?"
"What are you asking?" Hashirama demanded, determined to get through the pleasantries before settling his curiosities. He had wanted to know about the Sun Country badly and had needed someone to reassure him he would be participating in a war from which they had obviously been excluded. His brother had made plans. None would come to fruition.
Tobirama glared at his brother. "A simple question she should be able to answer herself."
Mio reached into the bag sitting on her lap and procured a bundle of cloths she carefully unraveled to reveal a glass sphere. Unlike the sphere he remembered hanging from her neck, it contained nothing inside. "I haven't made it yet," she told him, then turned to Takuei. "You said you knew where Mikazuki Gouki resided."
"That is the last place you should be venturing to," Takuei warned, though his curious eyes remained on the empty sphere in her hands. "There's no use starting a war if one can avoid it. Jeopardizing your safety would endanger all the Kuronuma clan's allies and with the ease the Mikazuki clan has been picking at our ranks, we will not last long enough to put an end to it."
"If you are worried about the safety of your clan, you can retreat," she replied. "I am not going to ask you or your shinobi to die for me. You are the Uchiha clan's allies—"
"We have extended our hospitality to what remains of your decimated clan," Takuei interrupted, clearly insulted. "And we have given shelter to two of your guardians along with their Uzumaki allies. The Ito clan is risking their lives because your grandfather guaranteed us peace."
Peace had not been the only thing Kuronuma Shinya guaranteed the man, Tobirama thought, exchanging a look with Hashirama.
Mio's eyes swept the room, the tension in her shoulders lessened. "I am not here to offer explanations for my actions. I came to ask after Mikazuki Gouki's whereabouts," she said edgily. She was in a rush. "If you will not tell me, say it now so I know that I am wasting my time and allow him to find me instead."
"The Earth Country," Takuei answered. "He is there standing in for Kuronuma Nishiki."
"Is Kuronuma Nishiki on the move?" she asked quickly, wrapping her sphere in the cloths.
"His intentions are unknown, but he has not made a move to invade our decoy countries," the Ito clan's leader admitted. "Though more and more of his spies have been spotted attempting to find this location. He is aware we are hiding what he is searching for. He is toying with us."
"Trust my grandfather has handled this," she replied, but after a pause added, "If he hasn't, I will do something about it."
"You were running from Mikazuki Gouki," Hashirama began, drawing her attention to him. "He wants to destroy you, Mio. All he has done is hunt you. Why do you want to go to him now?"
"That isn't important," she said dismissively, turning away from him to face Takuei. "You need not do anything for my sake, but I will ask if you would be so kind as to give me shelter for the night."
Takuei agreed, leaving her.
"You lost your sphere, didn't you?" Tobirama accused.
"What are you talking about? The sphere is right there," Hashirama said, pointing to the bundle on her lap.
"That isn't her sphere," Tobirama argued. "That one is empty. I sense nothing coming from it. Where is your sphere?"
"I know where I left it," Mio said quickly.
"For what purpose did you leave it behind?"
She looked annoyed by his badgering. He was annoyed with his own badgering. Hashirama looked on in stunned curiosity.
"That doesn't concern you," she said sharply. "I had my reasons."
"What do you intend to do with a fake?" Hashirama probed, attempting to diffuse the tension. "Has it something to do with what occurred in the Sun Country? We heard plenty through Murakami-san."
"You needn't worry for me," she answered. "You have to see that you remain safe and that you continue protecting my artifacts. I apologize I never asked if you would accept them or even had the opportunity to explain their abilities."
"I have, more or less, seen what the Power Sphere is capable of doing," Hashirama answered. The crystal necklace she had given to him did wonders to enhance his abilities. It had given him a permanent upper hand in any battle and he had familiarized with the artifact enough that he had some control over it.
She had given him a cup.
Mio looked to him with a strange expectancy.
"What?"
"I know you acquiesced with the Universe Sphere," she began, using terminology he did not understand. "Have you unearthed its abilities? Wondrous, aren't they?"
"Your cup is broken," Tobirama answered, biting back his frustration. "It does nothing."
"Have you tried to use it?"
"It does nothing!" he repeated forcefully.
"It creates worlds!"
"It's a cup!"
"Did you expect a map?"
"I expected everything but a cup," he answered. "A cup that creates worlds is ridiculous."
"It creates worlds?" Hashirama said aloud, thoughtful. Quickly, he turned to her. "Can it create countries?"
"Yes."
"Is that why Murakami-san is willing to give up his country to war?" asked Hashirama. "It's supposed to be the site of the Artifact War, no? I heard your grandfather promised the Kuronuma clan would aid in rebuilding it."
"Murakami-san is giving up the Iron Country?" she questioned, confused.
Hashirama nodded.
"Your grandfather promised an end to the Artifact War," Tobirama added. "He promised safety to his people and a gift to ensure the protection of the country for generations to come."
"Yes, it can build countries," she said after a lengthy pause.
"Isn't that incredible, brother?" Hashirama clapped him on the back, though he did not receive the response he was expecting.
"You have absolutely no idea what the Universe Sphere does, do you?" Tobirama challenged, feeling another sneaking suspicion about her.
"I am Shugosha, I know everything."
"I am having doubts about that."
"About what?"
"You are not Shugosha anymore."
"That's impossible," Hashirama interjected. "You can't stop being Shugosha, can you?"
"Is that why you're going to Mikazuki Gouki?" Tobirama continued. "He took your sphere in the Sun Country and you plan to get it back."
She did not deny it, not even in her silence.
"You think you can survive a direct confrontation?" he asked. "Even if you are still guardian to two spheres, the Time Sphere is what provided you with the most protection and that man wants you dead."
"That man does not want me dead," she answered as Hashirama was about to volunteer to accompany her. "The truth is, I am the only person capable of walking into their territory and emerging unscathed so long as I am going of my own volition. Motou Ayuka and Mikazuki Gouki do not want me dead. They need me…more specifically, they need my son."
"Are you with child?" Hashirama exclaimed.
"No!" she said quickly. "No! I'm not!"
"Then why do they want your child…if the child does no exist?"
Mio offered them a brief explanation of her circumstances. The curator of the Fate Sphere saw within Mio's pathways the birth of a child capable of changing the line of succession. Doing so meant the Kuronuma clan would lose control of the artifacts to another with nefarious intentions and that would potentially put the entire world in danger of their whims. She informed them Mikazuki Gouki had a stronger right to the artifacts as the son to Kuronuma Nishiki, who had been Musashi's sole successor decades ago, but that he had been passed over for another and that he would more likely become the next Shugosha through the assistance of her son.
"Anyone can become Shugosha?" Tobirama asked.
"Anyone with a decent amount of chakra, yes," Mio replied.
"And it's your firstborn that will have this ability?"
"Well, no," she said strangely. "You see, the abilities a Shugosha inherits are abilities previous Shugosha created."
"Then, you would have to create the ability in order for your child to inherit it," said Tobirama.
"Yes."
"So if you don't develop the ability, he won't have it?" asked Hashirama.
"Yes, he won't."
The conversation did not move forward. It ended with Tobirama stepping out and Hashirama following close behind as a Minako went running down the hallway with Sako following close behind.
"She will likely sneak out in the middle of the night," said Tobirama. She had done it with him once before and it had taken him some time to track her down, though he suspected finding her would be easier this time around if she indeed scampered off like a thief in the night.
"And you will go with her," Hashirama decided.
"What?" he snapped.
"You're taking the night shift, so follow her when she goes," Hashirama told him. "I can take care of everyone here."
"I never agreed to—"
"You can't think to leave that poor girl to run headfirst into danger alone? You are not that heartless—"
"That girl is an Uchiha. We are shaming our clan by even holding her artifacts," he spat. "How long before she has her clan attack us?"
"Why would she do that?"
"Our clans do not—"
Hashirama did not let him finish, shooting him a disappointed look before leaving repeating his words. He was to watch Mio, follow her when she left and keep her safe. Seeing as she made it to the Waterfall Country unaccompanied and without a scratch on her showed she was more capable of handling whatever foolishness she pursued. She did not need someone to watch her on the constant and he did not want to be the one assigned to such a job because he seemed to be the only one aware that there was Uchiha blood in her. He did not trust she would remain loyal to them as Hashirama believed once the Kuronuma's war ended.
He learned enough about her since he had last seen her, knew she had roots with the likes of Uchiha Madara and Izuna. He had heard she had influence over them, but that had seemed unlikely. There had been plenty rumors he had dismissed apart from that one, particularly those that spoke of the two brothers guarding her better than their own lives, which he had never seen them do for anyone but themselves, and she was currently in the Waterfall Country without them.
Despite his reluctance, Tobirama returned to do what Hashirama had asked him to do and remained near Mio's temporary lodgings. Sako and Minako were still with Mio. He caught a glimpse of them together. The brown-haired child was resting her head against Mio's lap and the blond woman's back was to the door. He paused in front of the aperture, the light caught in the glass sphere Mio held drew his attention to the fact that Mio was holding a smoking pipe in her other hand.
He watched her take a drag of the long pipe before drawing back and bringing the top of the sphere to her lips. She let out the smoke inside the glass sphere, white-gray it curled strangely as it sank slowly like falling through a tank of gel before it turned around a round object within it.
Sako went over to take the pipe from Mio and put it out, returning it to its container as she sank back on her haunches fascinated by the sudden glow of the sphere in Mio's hands. Minako quickly rose to a seat, curiosity brimming in her round face.
"How did you—?" asked Sako, unable to finish the sentence when the mist inside the sphere begun to spin wildly the more Mio blew into it. "This is incredible, Mio."
Mio corked the sphere with a black cord, lathered the rim with blood from her thumb, and let the glass sphere fall like a necklace in her hand. "This will be enough."
"But should you go alone?" asked Sako worriedly. "You haven't gone to see the Kuronuma clan yet. They want to see you, Mio. They have so much faith in you."
"I don't know what to say to them," Mio admitted, lifting her eyes.
She caught him staring and he stepped away from the aperture, feeling a rush. He stood silent, unable to eavesdrop from his new distance, and thought about what he had seen. She brought that sphere to life to the point the strange disconnect he felt in her presence had gone away to be replaced by the connection he had developed upon becoming a guardian. He sensed her all around him, strongly, and strove to put some distance between them, knowing no matter how far he wandered, he would be capable of finding her if she so much as took one step outside the Ito clan's village.
He reached the outdoors, stilling at the curving verandah surrounding the house where he stared onto the dirt path sitting between two homes leading into a courtyard. The Kuronuma walked around restlessly, the lot of them were uncomfortable in the rainy weather conditions of the Waterfall Country. This land did not carry the wintry conditions they were accustomed to, though the new area provided the protection they so desperately needed. They longed for the home the Mikazuki clan had destroyed where the land was covered in frost and snow as far as the eyes could see and the air chilled down one's lungs, threatening to spread into the bloodstream to freeze it. This place was not Mt. Hyōga. It was not home.
Tobirama understood that well. This was not his home either and neither was Mt. Hyōga. His home was a small village in the Fire Country in an area surrounded by tall trees with his brother and the people of his clan. There were instances he longed to return to the fleeting peace his village provided, times when he could appreciate his own bedroom and bed.
Seeing the restlessness of all who did not belong within the Ito village made him want unattainable things, things he was more than aware would be unattainable in these harsh times. The world did not seem to be heading towards peace, not with talks of an Artifact War. It was rushing straight into destruction and the harbinger was a girl. An Uchiha no less. He was almost not surprised.
He did not need to look to know she was standing beside him, her hands clutching the wooden rail of the verandah's edge. He did glimpse at her eventually, saw her tighten her grip on the wood until it started to bend unnaturally as she stared off at the restless Kuronuma hoping that they might see their Shugosha safe once more. Upon hearing of her arrival, he had heard they wanted to see her, but considerate of her travels, thought it might be best to let her rest. They believed she would gather them and speak to them, but she stood beside him instead with nothing to say.
"You make artifacts?" he asked, what he had just seen flickered through his mind.
She laughed. It was a strange sound. "No," she said. "I can't. I would die if I even tried."
He pointed to the sphere she wore around her neck, the mist inside spinning around the surface shielding whatever sat in its center. "Then what is that?"
"It's a fake."
"Obviously."
"Were you expecting a different answer?"
"An explanation," he told her, disliking her tone of voice.
"I do not have one," she admitted.
"If you go about things blindly, you call forth consequences."
"Yes, but wouldn't that stop me from ordering Madara and Izuna to attack your clan, would it?" she asked, surprising him. She turned fully to him. "I know you dislike me for being an Uchiha and that asking you to trust me would be incredibly foolish of me, but I am still not your enemy. No matter how hard you try to make me your enemy, I won't be."
Tobirama frowned, stepping in front of her. "You are correct in assuming that I will not trust you," he told her. "Every drop of blood in your veins is cursed and you cannot be trusted. The proof of it is in your eyes, you are already a fallen one."
"My eyes?"
"You awakened a Sharingan?"
"Yes," she said skeptically. "That is the proof? A Sharingan I barely use?"
"Barely?"
He had seen her use it throughout their travels. She was properly skilled with it.
"Contrary to your stubborn belief, I do not like to use it, not every Uchiha does or can," she retorted. "I avoid it."
"Avoid it?" he challenged. "You never stopped using it in my company."
"I was doing it on purpose and obviously my intention worked as you are now bringing it up," she said. "I don't have a need for the Sharingan, so you have no proof that I cannot be trusted. You would have to see that for yourself as I am right to assume you will not let me go without following when I leave tonight."
"At my brother's request," Tobirama told her so that she would not misunderstand. "If he was not so determined to see you…protected I would not—" He stopped himself short. "I do not need to explain a thing to you!"
"If you plan to shadow me to the Earth Country, do so without your artifact."
Mio took a step back, turning to look down the dirt path sitting between two buildings. She looked upon the Kuronuma children bounding across, giggling loudly, and their parents watching them from the sidelines.
He wanted ask why she wanted him to leave his artifact behind when she had told him once before that he should not think of leaving it anywhere. He wished for a proper reason for her contradiction, but when he opened his mouth, a different question escaped him.
"What reason do you have to neglect those people?"
The inquiry took her by surprise. "What?"
"Have you truly nothing to say to them?"
"What am I supposed to say?" she asked, not meeting his eyes. "Many Kuronuma died at my expense. What am I supposed to say? I cannot apologize because it doesn't make a difference. It won't bring back our dead. And I can't tell them that we are on the losing end of this war or that we are in more danger of being killed than ever before. There is nothing I can say to them that might give them hope. I cannot give them hope when I am going to the Earth Country to make a dangerous trade with the man that ruined my life. What right do I have to say anything to them?"
He found he had said enough and chose silence, his eyes on her. She visibly shook. The emotion in her voice sounded like she was more frightened.
"I am not the person they need me to be," she said. "I am not even their Shugosha."
Tobirama did not plan to be swayed by her display, but he did feel a little stupid for some of his mistrust. This girl was a mess…or perhaps, she was simply well versed in acting a role.
"You're a coward," he accused.
"I never said I was brave," she said. "I'm pigheaded and I do what I feel is right at the moment—I'm impulsive, but impulsivity is not bravery. You are right, I am a coward and I cannot face them."
Mio walked away from him and her attitude bothered him, but not as much as it irritated him to acknowledge it was a hindrance. He remained at the verandah for several minutes before he finally returned to his post watching over her. She did not leave her quarters for several hours.
She emerged then with a sullen expression and obvious reluctance as she walked to the cluster of houses within the Ito village where the Kuronuma clan were staying. He followed her there, though he gathered she would have preferred he had not. He watched the Kuronuma swarm her with elated expressions, coming at her with hundreds of questions and relieved exclamations. Many of them cried—the children especially, who seemed to idolize her for being Shugosha—recanting their experience with the Mikazuki-Uchiha massacre of their loved ones to her as she held onto as many hands as possible, listening to everyone speaking at once. The Kuronuma were a clan that never saw inner conflict, not in the recent generation at least.
Hashirama was standing at his side before he knew it and Mio was sobbing in the arms of an older woman. Everyone surrounding her hoped the ongoing conflict ended soon and they expressed high hopes in seeing her come back victorious. Their faith was placed entirely on her and realizing this, Mio slowly disengaged them wiping away her tears.
"I am no longer your Shugosha," she told them, and the shock among them was immediate. "I gave my sphere up to save someone important to me. He is your new Shugosha and he is in danger. And I want to save him as much as I want to save you all, but I have already failed you and I feel so ashamed to ask patience of you as I try to make this right."
The Kuronuma were silent and her lips trembled, her voice did as well.
"I have not forgotten this clan, you are everything to me," she continued tremulously, "but I want to save him. I want to save him so badly." Sako appeared to stand beside her, taking her hand in hers and giving it a gentle squeeze. "If I can save him, he will protect you. He will protect you better than I ever could."
Sako turned her head to Mio. "What about you?"
Mio shook her head in response, pulling away from everyone around her. She moved several steps back and told them that she needed to rest, but Tobirama and Hashirama were aware they would not see her again tomorrow though she promised they would.
She gathered her things when night fell and left the Waterfall Country.
Tobirama pursued her under the shroud of darkness under Hashirama's orders. If left alone, she would no doubt walk straight to her death, he believed that now. He doubted she had a plan. She looked to be fumbling. Fumbling and trying to save someone. The new Shugosha, she had told them all and he wondered who it was, unable to sense anyone through his artifact but her as the center of it all.
He did not deny she was talented with the artifacts. Neither he nor his brother could find a proper explanation for them. The only one able to provide them with information had been Kuronuma Takuto, but he had not divulged enough because he admitted the only thing he truly knew was their history and that they worked because Mio, as Shugosha, powered them. They lived because she lived and they held power because she gave them power. The chakra that filled the core of it had her signature. Though she claimed another was Shugosha that signature had not changed, but her influence and power over them had weakened.
She was weakening.
Tobirama came to a sudden halt atop a hill, sensing another pursing him and waited when the person in question jumped up to join him. "Mito," he called, unable to hide his surprise. The woman, Uzumaki Mito, stared on ahead aware of his mission with eyes darkened by the shadows of night. The vibrant red of her hair was also dulled in the darkness. "You should not be here."
"Hashirama-san sent you alone to chase the Shugosha into enemy territory, it was a thoughtless decision," she told him. "I offered to assist you."
"Then he won't be long to join us?" Tobirama assumed.
"He won't be coming," she said. "He said he wouldn't if there was a substitute."
At the word, Tobirama knew who that substitute would be and dreaded it when another shadow made its way to join them atop the hill. The new shinobi to their left was a prominent member of Mito's clan from a cluster of special families meant to serve others as protection. She was not the sort he liked to keep company with as she was—
"Why are we standing here?" demanded Uzumaki Nako, a lean kunoichi with short red hair. She spoke so her voice echoed loud enough that it made Mio come to a sudden halt while she was still in his line of sight and with the Uchiha aware of their pursuit, she made a quick move to disappear. Nako, oblivious to her actions, held a hand over her eyes, scanning the area. "Looks like ya lost her. We should get movin'."
She took a few steps forward. "Don't ya worry I'll take the front an' keep ya safe from an ambush."
There were people in this world with the potential to be a great shinobi, but lacked the conviction to see it done, and there were those with the conviction and potential for it that simply lacked in all things that made a good shinobi. Uzumaki Nako was the ladder—loudmouthed and graceless. He did not deny she had her talents and skills, but most times, she was like a bull in a glass shop.
Nako stepped forward and slid down the hill with a loud scream.
Tobirama tensed. "Enemy fast approaching."
He sensed several shinobi drawn to the noise and jumped down after Mito to gather Nako. The girl was rubbing her lower back when they reached her and Mito commanded her to follow. If they ran fast enough, they would be able to outrun their enemies and catch up to Mio.
He left behind traps that slowed their pursuers down, but that bought them too little time.
They reached the Earth Country border quickly, not three hours of traveling under the shadow of night, but by then, it had been too late. As soon as they stepped into the country, they were ambushed by dozens of Mikazuki and Uchiha.
Nako stood before Mito, shielding her protectively. Tobirama saw the situation for them was dire and that attempting to escape would be the more prudent route to take than facing them head on.
The Mikazuki crowd parted, giving way to a man with hawkish black eyes and a scarred face. He recognized him, Uchiha Hiryuu, a clan elder in the past and now the leader of the Uchiha allied to the Mikazuki clan.
Impossible to move with more shinobi gathering, Tobirama, Mito, and Nako forfeited their thoughts of escape as they would not manage without casualties and allowed Uchiha Hiryuu to take them prisoners. With them, they traveled through the Earth's Country difficult terrain, hidden in the shadows by the large boulders dispersed throughout the land. They were taken to an encampment where the first person he saw was Mio and before her was a man with unruly dark hair of intimidating height.
The three were dragged near by the Mikazuki assigned to handle their capture where they were close enough to catch wind of the conversation that seemed to have started mere seconds ago and continuing undisturbed by new presences.
"Ayuka was correct to assume you would come quickly if Uchiha Madara's life were in danger," the man before her spoke, grinning amusedly.
Tobirama felt himself tense. It wasn't difficult for him to put one and two together. Madara was likely the Shugosha she spoke of to the Kuronuma. That bothered him more than having a mere Uchiha girl as Shugosha. He wanted no association with Madara, not in any sense that placed him at the top of the pecking order.
"I came to make a trade," she started, opening her mouth to continue but saying nothing. Her eyes were suddenly drawn by the stoppered bottle the man procured from the inside of his pocket.
He held up a clear liquid. "You want to make a trade for this?"
"Yes," she said evenly, in her feigned courage.
Tobirama could see that she was suppressing the trembling of her body.
"A trade for that antidote and for them," she continued, waving a hand in their direction.
The man did not look. They were beneath him. His prize was before him. He cared nothing of what surrounded them.
"You have paid the price for this flask, but do you suppose you have any more to give up for their lives?" the man asked, challenging her.
"I am here, but I never promised to be anything but present," she said. "I gave no assurance that I would remain here without the intent of escape or that I would be obedient. However, if you spare them and allow them to go free, I will do what is asked of me."
The green-eyed man turned to them. "Which one of you is the fastest?"
Tobirama purposely looked to Nako, who stared at him strangely because he was the obvious choice. The Mikazuki zeroed in on her and threw the stoppered bottle to her. She caught it, looking confused, perhaps more at catching it than its contents.
"You will take that to the Fire Country," the man ordered. "Search for the Motou princess."
Nako hesitated at the prospect of venturing into Uchiha territory as it was inadvertently being asked of her when Mio spoke up, "My grandfather will meet you."
"I cannot leave, Mito," Nako told Tobirama, hoping he might reason with the Mikazuki and Mio.
"Go, Nako," Mito ordered, surprising her. "Do as the Shugosha asks. If she is an ally of the Senju clan, she is an ally to the Uzumaki clan."
Warily, Nako was allowed to venture out with the antidote in hand. The Mikazuki with them, turned away, prepared to leave them.
"I asked for their freedom as well," Mio said, forcing him to stop. The fear seeped into her voice giving it a tremulous ring.
"No," the Mikazuki began. "Your promises have only granted that woman freedom to deliver the antidote, but for these two, you will need to be as obedient as you said you would be. I have high expectations for you, Mio, do not disappoint me." To the nearest shinobi, he said, "Take the prisoners to the hole. And have someone scrub the Shugosha down. I have no desire to wed a filthy woman."
Mio was taken aback. "Wed?"
The Mikazuki turned once more. "Have you not been told?" he asked. "That son of yours cannot be born if you are not wed."
She could no longer hide her tremors. "I can't marry you!"
"You should have considered the consequences of killing Motou Enki," he told her. "Sacrifices must be made. I killed Kikumi to accommodate you. You should be grateful I am willing to go through such lengths to achieve Nishiki's goals." His expression darkened. "Else you would have been dead under Kikyo's body as was intended."
He walked away as a male shinobi took her by the arm.
Tobirama and Mito were in the process of being sent off to uncomfortably unsanitary imprisonment, but her name escaped him. "Mio!"
She looked to him, eyes shining with tears, and bowed her head as she was being dragged away. She apologized.
Apologized for what reason, he wondered. Was it because they were captured? Or because she could not trade anything for their freedom? What reason did she have to apologize to them? Why would she bother to do anything for them? He turned, hearing the sound of Mito's voice, strong and unafraid of their precarious situation. He saw her pull her arm away from the shinobi that reached for it. "You do not need to drag me, I can walk."
The shinobi gestured her further down a long dirt path with a mock bow, but his actions went on ignored by Mito who walked on with her head held high. Tobirama followed, listening to the whispers perforating through the encampment. Few dared speak the name of their Shugosha, they had been forbidden from doing so, but they spoke of her regardless and of the marriage. They spoke of her with malice on their tongues.
"The girl is an enchantress," one woman hissed. "Drove the young master to kill Kikumi-sama."
"The poor child!" another female added. "What will happen to their son?"
"He will surely be passed over by whatever heir the Shugosha provides him," one man told them.
"How much more will our poor mistress be shamed?" cried the first woman. "Even in death she will not rest."
"How long before this clan falls apart to accommodate that harlot?"
Uchiha Hiryuu stayed behind amongst the people, arms folded over his chest, and watched Mio with a smug expression, a face that shone with victory as if they had been feuding for an eternity equally matched and he won the first battle, alas. "She will be your mistress in the new world," he assured them, earning protests and sharp gasps at the thought. "Would it not be best to rid the world of her instead? She, whose mere existence has thrown your world into chaos?" He looked to them, his words enraged the people against Mio, and continued, his voice dropping low, "She is manipulative. A snake. She destroyed the unity of my clan, pitted us brother against brother, and she has come to destroy yours."
Dangerous whispers twisted around the encampment. Talk of murder and sabotage. Hiryuu fueled them all, encourage all who would listen.
"We must kill the intruder," the shinobi said, clearly and repeatedly.
Distantly, he saw Mio glance over her shoulder having heard it all, but she is not grief-stricken by the words and if she was, she does not show it. She pretends at strength, of that much he was aware. He believed she was not devoid of human emotion, and admitted, to some degree that he misjudged her as he listened to Hiryuu and his allies accuse her of being the instigator. She charmed their leader into killing his wife, leaving their son motherless, and she would continue to manipulate him until she sat beside him in the new world. He did not understand the concept of a new world, though it alarmed him to assume it had to do with the artifact Mio had explicitly asked him to leave behind, which he had not.
Nobody cared to hide their disdain. They simply did not care enough for Mio to do so. She was, as Hiryuu said, a snake, one that manipulates and controls and instigates. They were victims trapped in her web and there they would remain if they said nothing. Banding with Uchiha Hiryuu was the answer to many. He was someone that despised her enough for a reason he twisted to fit the mold of their misfortune. These shinobi would not pretend she was a welcomed sight, not even for their leader.
Tobirama and Mito were chained and imprisoned in a ditch strewn with rotting carcasses that drew the presence of crows. Dozens were spooked when they landed atop mounds of decomposing flesh. True to the rumors, the Mikazuki clan was known by their skill in battle, their ruthlessness, and the cruelty they showed their opponents.
The stench surrounding him was vile. It turned his stomach. The sight was worse. Inhumanity displayed in violence and broken pieces. In empty sockets and peeled skin, in headless torsos and painful sores, in devoured flesh and pink innards spilling over unmoving forms, the Mikazuki's violence floated in a sea of putrid, congealed blood. He beheld this vision once before in the Kuronuma's Mt. Hyōga.
Trekking through Mt. Hyōga with snow swirling above him he moved past the Kuronuma's yurts with their grey and white schemes turned inside out with their wooden lattices smashed into splintered remains. He went through the caves, interconnected within the mountain where the hot springs were located, and found them overflowing with desecrated bodies. He encountered many the further he dwelled searching for survivors with others too stunned to enter. He could detach himself from the moment. War brought the worst in many. He recognized the faces and names of many of the Kuronuma shinobi he discovered.
The horror had been further inside the mountain where bodies floated upon a sea of boiling blood that consumed their flesh for nourishment. He had found few survivors on the other side of the cave.
Mito held a hand to her nose, horrified by their surroundings, unable to turn in one direction without finding something worse on the other side.
Above them, the man he saw speaking to Mio, the man she would marry, crouched down at the edge of the hole. "I sense an artifact on you," he said, looking directly at him. "Vision? Power? Which are you?"
Tobirama glowered up at the man, saying nothing.
"You may keep your artifact," he told him. "It will do you no favors in this prison. However, Mio's progress here will dictate whether you survive at all. I must warn you against escape. Simply warn you. I have not decided whether to obliterate your clans would be punishment enough."
"You would not dare," Mito cursed, glaring at him.
The man grinned, rising. "Perhaps it would be enough."
There they remained surrounded by death, hanging onto the survival dangled above their heads with silent obedience.
Motou Ayuka slid apart the shoji screens and entered with a scroll in hand. She approached the pool of boiling, black water at the corner of the Ceremony Hall. It had taken days of deep concentration and an insurmountable amount of chakra, which would have been made easier with the assistance of a tailed beast from who she might siphon off, but she had managed through the use of her clan's most protected jutsu to create black water as pure as the rivers in Kurata from Mio's blood. Since the Senju cut the bridge into Mt. Hyōga, reaching the black rivers was impossible, and without the Kuronuma's Shugosha there to do her duty and keep them running, they would dry up in time.
Nishiki sat submerged in the bubbling black surface, his naked back towards her. He did not look over his shoulder to see his intruder. He remained immersed in his thoughts.
"Gouki has written," she spoke. "Mio is with him."
"And Uchiha Madara?" asked Nishiki.
"On his death bed," Ayuka replied.
Nishiki reached for a nearby towel as he rose, moving up the stone steps. The water ran down his powerful body, revitalizing him. He wrapped the towel around his waist and stood before her, towering over her. "You have done well, Ayuka."
Ayuka smiled proudly. "Gouki also mentioned he captured an Uzumaki and a Senju," she said, earning a curious tilt from her husband. "One of them is a guardian."
"One can only assume it is the Senju that holds an artifact," he said, interested.
She nodded.
"Which?"
"The Universe Sphere."
Nishiki reached for the neatly folded robe at the edge of the pool and dragged it on. He grinned at the news. His artifact was within reach. The sickness that marred his tanned body would seize once he acquiesced with his sphere again and they could be together in the new world. There would be no need to hide from one another there, nor would anyone exist with the power to cause them further suffering. In the new would they would rule.
They would be happy.
Ayuka stared up at her husband with complete adoration. "We are close, Nishiki," she whispered in her elation.
He touched her face. "It is too early to celebrate," he said calmly. "We remain at risk so long as Shinya lives."
"He is closer to death," she assured him. "I can sense he is dying. He will not last."
"And we will have our world then," he said, "but first, we should go to the Earth Country."
"Are you certain you would not want to stay here a while longer?" she asked, worried he had not replenished his strength enough to do so.
"Our son is to be married," he said, moving past her to the entrance. "I am eager to meet this frightening Shugosha. I want to see her face as she is wedded to the man that killed her mother and father."
Ayuka laughed, following him out. "She shall be devastated."
xl: I promise better chapters when finals are over. I literally just finished my research paper tonight and I am feeling physically ill at the amount of writing I had to do about a subject I did not like. I was not going to post this chapter, but I seriously needed to read over something I actually enjoyed writing to forget my research paper, haha.
The next update will be in June, probably the second week. You will get two chapters. Previews for those chapters are already up!
Thank you nightchildx and Loteva for reviewing! Thank you all for reading!
PS - I posted another Jigsaw chapter at my LJ. It's the prologue to Ayuka's story. It'll be a few chapters long. So if you're interested in reading, hop on over there.