Chapter 44 | The Death of Kings IX
There was no feeling in his body only the hum of numbness, though he remembered there used to be pain. There was no sight only darkness, a frightening yawning darkness—a hollow existence. He was no longer conscious of his unconsciousness only that it had come with a string of nightmares. A man with green eyes that pierced through darkness like the one surrounding him standing in the center of a cottage, the blood running down his large body glistened in the moonlight cascading down the hole on the roof. A woman's body lay upon him, positioned protectively over him, growing colder with every step the man took forward. Around them were the severed remains of a man. There a foot, there an arm, and there an empty face lying tilted on a head separated from its body. And his chest was governed by tightness, by painful numbness, by an awareness of inevitability and death.
His breath was shallow, his body too paralyzed to remember how and when to breathe.
And then there was rushing darkness and the death of Kuronuma Eito. He saw a pale neck sliced by steel. He witnessed a smile upon the Kuronuma's face. He remembered him as a formidable opponent, quick and crafty.
The visions continued. Different visions he began confusing as his own, but he learned to separate them. Especially when the visions showed him himself through the eyes of another, by the river skipping stones in painful ignorance, in battle with his body splattered in blood and a gunbai in his hand, or beside him running across water with the Sanbi rampaging in front of him. He lived every one of those moments as if they were his own. When he learned to separate his from theirs, he heard voices that called to him.
More prominently, he heard hers. Mio.
—Madara.—
Ringing. Her voice was ringing. —Madara.—
There were other voices but hers was the loudest. Louder and louder it rang like a warning. He sensed something was wrong, but he could not move from the prison of this darkness.
—Madara!—
He lost himself between consciousness and unconsciousness.
—Come find me.—
.
.
The voices were no longer in his head. He heard them all around him.
"Why isn't he waking up?" Izuna. He recognized his brother anywhere. "You gave him the antidote! It was supposed to work! You checked it! It worked! Lest that Uzumaki switched it! Did Tobirama ask you to switch it? The bastard would!"
"I never even thought of switching it!" A female argued. The Uzumaki, he presumed, though he was less concerned with the topic of the conversation than the fact that there was an Uzumaki in their midst.
"Then you admit you would have, had you the opportunity!" Izuna accused.
"Why can you not take your arguing outside?" Yayoi complained. "Shin-sama left me to meditate and to meditate, I need quiet."
"He left you meditating five hours ago." Takuto chimed in. "You should be so immersed in your meditation that you should not be bothered by the arguing."
"Nobody asked you!"
"Are we certain he is not dead?" Taiga. He wondered when the older man returned from his mission before he began wondering when Mio might take part in the conversation.
"His breathing is shallow, but he is alive," Takuto answered.
"What about the antidote?" Izuna demanded.
"It worked. His breathing is shallow!" the Uzumaki argued.
"Shallow breathing answers nothing!"
"You should be thanking me for bothering to make this trip!" the Uzumaki shouted. "I came fully aware the antidote was for Uchiha Madara. I could have smashed it in the ground and left him to die, but I decided to come! You should be thanking me!"
"The reason you have the antidote is because of Mio's sacrifice," said Yayoi.
Sacrifice. The word alerted him.
"Oh, he isn't dead," Taiga remarked. After a small pause, he continued, "He moved."
"Was it because I said Mio?" asked Yayoi.
"Maybe he can hear us?" Taiga suggested.
"Madara, if you do not wake within the next several hours, I'm going to smother you," Izuna threatened.
"There will be no smothering!" Yayoi exclaimed. "You don't come near Madara! He's Shugosha! You're not allowed to touch him. Go away, unworthy one!"
Shugosha?
Mio was Shugosha.
"Threatening to smother him won't wake him. He needs to do that on his own," Takuto said.
He could not be Shugosha.
The next Shugosha was her son.
The son had the power to change the succession line, not Mio.
His consciousness wandered back into the darkness.
.
.
"Kuronuma Nishiki and Motou Ayuka are in the Earth Country." Taiga's voice reached him first as he resurfaced.
"That is never a good sign." Kuronuma Shinya sounded dire. "We should take cover from the upcoming natural disaster."
"Now is no time for your jokes, Shinya-sama," Takuto berated. He paused, but then continued in an exasperated tone, "Why are you in here? Madara needs his rest and I need to finish this antidote!"
"And I need to meditate!" Yayoi added, equally fervent.
"I remember asking you to run your laps for this morning," said Shin.
There was a lengthy silence, broken only by a noisily open door.
"Yayoi! This is where you are!" called the Uzumaki. Her recognized her voice from before and wondered why nobody thought of kicking her out of their territory. "I have been looking everywhere for you! Come! Now is the perfect time for a run!"
"I will join you," Taiga said suddenly. "I need a good way to clear my mind."
"I do not know how I feel about running with an Uchiha," the Uzumaki grumbled.
"Open your eyes, child, there are Uchiha everywhere," Shin said because it was the most obvious thing in the world. "There is one there in bed dying, his brother is right next to him—he is an Uchiha too—"
"Fantastic observation, Shin-san," Izuna said sarcastically. "Do you have any others?"
"None appropriate for innocent ears," Shin answered, then continued. "You will find Uchiha to the left and Uchiha to the right. If you turn completely, you will see a sea of Uchiha."
"I will go!" Yayoi decided, only because Taiga would be going.
"Ah, if Yayoi comes, I will feel much better," said the Uzumaki.
"I will meet you downstairs," Taiga said.
He heard the shuffling of their feet and the door sliding shut.
"They captured Senju Tobirama and Uzumaki Mito," Taiga revealed. "The Uzumaki and Senju clan are planning to mobilize against Nishiki."
"That isn't news," said Takuto.
"Why did you keep it to yourself if you knew?" asked Izuna, irritated.
"If any one of you bothered to speak to Nako, she would have told you herself."
"Senju Tobirama?" asked Shin.
"Yes."
"We might as well give up hope now," Shin said dramatically. "Tobirama is the Universe Sphere guardian."
Universe Sphere? The one Ayuka wanted was that bastard Senju? He cursed and the curse echoed in the deep recesses of his mind. It had to be him.
He listened. Despite it all, interested in the direction of the conversation and wanting for today be the day when his body broke free from the paralyzing darkness. He needed to open his eyes to silence the whispers in his head and to stop the images perforating his mind through the bleakness, appearing from the back of his head. He would have to learn to control the new power pulsing through his body.
He learned to distract himself with control to keep himself from growing impatient with every new piece of news that arrived over Mio's situation. He saw it in her face when she held him, her arms wound tight around him. The tears were dripping from her face. He tried to think of a time when he had seen her crying so much, only nothing came to mind because he saw the moment she decided in her head to run to Mikazuki Gouki. He saw the recklessness dawn on her as if it was her last hope.
Perhaps it was.
He did not pretend to understand it either, though at the time he had not believed it. He expected she would be sitting beside him with the others.
He wanted to live. He thought about the Uchiha clan as the excruciating pain raked through him and did not like the idea of leaving his brother alone to lead it. He could not leave Mio alone either. He did not want her to be alone.
She was out there doing something reckless on her own. She was with Mikazuki Gouki as he had assured him…and she was terrified.
Terrified, alone, and panicking.
Endure it, Mio. She had the strength to endure it. She was stronger than she seemed, much stronger than he first thought. Endure it.
—I will save you, but you have to save me too.—
.
.
"This is absurd."
Yayoi's voice sounded distant as if behind closed doors. He sensed Takuto within the room, perhaps working silently on the antidote. Kayami and others came and went, offered him answers to his questions and guidance when he needed it. He had been working diligently in a silent space in the room for several days.
Madara had lost his sense of time and learned to measure it by the lengthier intervals in which he had been conscious of his surroundings. He came to this time to a chorus of disbelieving opinions.
"She wouldn't do that," Izuna came in support of Yayoi's astonishment. "She is terrified of the man. She would never agree to marry him."
"Mio paid the price for saving your brother's life," Shin said. "I expected no less from her journeying to the Earth Country. She should have been conscious of the possibilities."
"But Mikazuki Gouki is married to Kikumi!" Yayoi cried helplessly. "Where is Kikumi? How is she dealing with all of this?"
"They are saying Gouki killed Motou Kikumi to marry Mio," answered Taiga. "They say she convinced him to do it."
Yayoi made a painful sound.
"Taiga and I are going to the Earth Country," Izuna told them.
"Can I make a suggestion?" asked Shin, like a child about to ask permission to do something he should not.
"No," came a chorus of replies.
"It was only a suggestion," Shin said quietly.
"If you are not volunteering your time to help your granddaughter, then we do not want to hear any of your suggestions," Taiga replied.
"I was going to volunteer to help your cause, but I see—"
"You are not going anywhere," Takuto snapped. "I am nearly done mixing this antidote for you and you want to leave?"
"You found a cure, Takuto-san?" came the Uzumaki girl's astonished voice. "This quickly? This is impressive, you would do—"
"Nako!" shouted Ito Kayami. She came again to help Takuto.
There was a loud crash followed by the sound of several things breaking into smaller pieces. A weight fell upon his chest, heavy and obstructing.
The room was tight with panic, nobody thought to breathe a word, until slight movement followed by a groan broke the silence.
"I am so sorry!" the Uzumaki cried. "I did not mean to break…everything?" She gasped. "Did I break the antidote? I am so sorry, Takuto-san!"
"You nearly fell on Madara!" Yayoi snapped.
He felt the weight on him lift. Her reaction offered him some explanation. She probably threw herself on him to keep the Uzumaki from doing so herself.
"That's not important!" Kayami retorted. "The antidote—it's ruined!"
"Phew, that is a relief," Shin said. "I had no desire to drink that ugly gray gunk."
"That is unfortunate, Shinya-sama," Takuto began, "but I managed to save that ugly gray gunk." There were sounds of relief passing through everyone, like a drawn out sigh. "And if you want to leave the Fire Country, you are going to drink it."
"It could kill me faster," said Shin. "I could drop dead this instant and it would be your fault."
"I have not been slaving for the past three weeks on an antidote guaranteed to accelerate the poison's effects."
"Is it me or have you been in a mood as of late?" asked Shin, innocent enough.
"It is you!" snapped Takuto.
"You are completely irresponsible," said Taiga.
"Hilarious coming from you. Where is your daughter?" Shin countered.
"Waterfall Country, with her mother where she is safe," the Uchiha answered. "Can you say the same about your granddaughter?"
"She's only been married, not killed," Shin returned. "And I know exactly where she is."
"Married to a monster," Yayoi protested. "He killed Kikumi to marry Mio!"
"He killed her father and mother, your daughter, as well," Izuna added.
Married to Mikazuki Gouki.
With everyone finding a flaw in Shin's attitude towards Mio's actions and situation, Madara detached himself from the conversation and concentrated on the artifacts, whose hosts he sensed so clearly.
Two sat in the room with him. He sensed two guardian-less artifacts somewhere within the building, but he could not pinpoint them, though he believed he could.
Another guardian he sensed far, with two others in a single location. That would be Mio as she carried two artifacts without the Time Sphere and there were three sitting within a reasonable distance. The artifacts pulsed, each like a heartbeat—the further away a guardian was, the weaker the beat.
She was the weakest.
This offered him no comfort. It only assured him she was alive. She could be wounded badly and he wouldn't know.
Izuna, Taiga, and Kayami left for the Earth Country.
Not long before they had gone, Shin followed after having ingested the antidote Takuto mixed together.
And he remained still in the strange warmth and darkness, within a nightmare that stubbornly repeated itself as he teetered between consciousness and unconsciousness, for the first time unable to do anything for Mio's sake.
xl: Double, double update! These two underwent so many changes, but I hope they have all been for the better. The ending was of the previous chapter was so hard for me to write. Sometimes I need to be stopped.
There are approximately 3-4 more chapters of this arc which I am writing simultaneously. I will do this more seriously starting Friday. These chapters come early because I've been stressed for finals and editing them took my mind off it. Thankfully, my last two finals are tomorrow and after that, vacation time! Vacation time = more writing! I seriously want to finish this before starting school in the Fall, so fingers crossed.
Oh, oh, oh, I had a question posted in my journal (you fill find the entry under the preview for 45) about posting. So if you haven't voted, please do. And since we're all here, I don't have a set day when updating happens (but it used to be Saturday), so does anyone have a preference? Mon-Sun applicable. XD
Next, thank you to Loteva, Aries01xD, HushedFable, and Kettobase for reviewing! :D
Also, I had this poll on my journal about Mio's marriages, so now you know the first husband. I will link it in the preview for chapter 45, which should be up by the time you finish reading this chapter, for anyone curious.