Chapter 47 | The Death of Kings XII

Senju Tobirama slayed all enemy shinobi he encountered and moved swiftly through the castle to reach Mio. He noted an increase in shinobi, not only of members of the Mikazuki clan, he saw others from different clans, some whose signature he did not recognized, but whom he came upon and fought and learned their strengths as a collective. He was challenged by members of the Motou and Mikami clans. The nearer he was to reaching the pulse of his artifact, more shinobi appeared to face him.

He survived every fight, though not without sustaining a fair share of wounds.

He reached the site where his artifact should have been, where Mio should have been. He rushed in expecting her to run out. He sensed her moving, but when he stood before a courtyard filled with wisteria trees barren of their lush bright flowers, he felt a chill strum down his spine. The open-sided verandah sitting across from him held two mugs of cold tea and a kettle. There were droplets of blood on the ground and near it sat the Universe Sphere, turned upside down.

It was a trap. He saw it all too clearly now, but it was too late. He had already fallen for the trap. He had the moment he set foot inside the courtyard. He had the instant a sharp pain pushed through him and the blade of a sword appeared protruding from the center of his chest.

Tobirama cursed.

A hand ran over the top of his head where it clamping down and tugged his head aside harshly as the blade ground against his insides.

"Did you come here for your Shugosha or your sphere?" asked a woman beside his ear.

He gnashed his teeth, tasting the blood as it spilled from his lips.

"You found the Senju?" called a voice behind him. Shortly after, Mikazuki Gouki walked across the courtyard towards the verandah.

"Here for your wife?" said the woman behind Tobirama.

Gouki said nothing as he walked up the three steps onto the verandah. A servant slid the shoji doors apart and Nishiki walked out with an unconscious Mio in his arms. She was limp, her face was bruising and bloody, the front of her clothes was also stained red.

"What did—?" Tobirama coughed up blood. He took a haggard breath, unable to finish his sentence when he felt the woman twist the sword to silence him.

Gouki took Mio from Nishiki and pulled her body over his shoulder. He cast one look in his direction before walking away.

Nishiki stepped down from the verandah, took the artifact from the ground, and came to stand in front of him. What Tobirama failed to pinpoint before he had now. The strange feeling he had upon meeting the Kuronuma had everything to do with the fact that he was his predecessor.

The two of them stood face-to-face, the sphere sat in Nishiki's hand where it continued to siphon from his chakra as well as the Kuronuma's. Nishiki had power over the artifact, Tobirama felt that, but he was not the only one.

"You have given me quite some trouble, Senju Tobirama," Nishiki said. "You have your Shugosha to thank for prolonging your existence, but it won't be long now. You will weaken and the sphere will be mine as it should have remained."

The blade was drawn from his body and he was pushed down to the floor onto his knees. His hand shot up to his chest, blood quickly left him. His vision hazed, his body weakening. He would bleed out. The weight of his body dragged him to the floor where he remained, fighting against the pull of exhaustion.

Tobirama raised his eyes to Nishiki, who suddenly looked away. He sensed something.

"What is it?" asked the woman, who came into view. She was slender with long red hair and a bloody sword in her hand.

"Do not kill him," the Kuronuma said. "Do not touch him. I will kill him once it is time."

"What is the point to keeping him alive?" she demanded. "Kill him and the sphere is yours."

"If you killed Motou Yayoi at this time, you would solely govern the sphere you share, that is your impression," Nishiki said. "However, the act needs sufficient preparation. If you killed Motou Yayoi now when she holds more power over your sphere, the sphere will reject you as its guardian and trade your life for hers. You should know this, Ayuka, it is one of Kiyohime's laws."

"Do you think the witch trusted me with the inner dynamics?" the woman called Ayuka snapped. "She did not trust me!"

"She did well in mistrusting you," the Kuronuma replied. "Look at what you have done with her spheres? Look around you, Ayuka, at the mess you have created and the people you have involved." He took her by the jaw, a gentle clasp. "You could not be happy with what I gave you."

"You have given me this," Ayuka said strongly. "We can save this world, Nishiki, because of you…I am able to save the world like I was supposed to."

Nishiki turned away as Tobirama's vision continued to darken. He could only distinguish the presence of others through their voices. Even then, he was fighting against falling unconscious. If he let the darkness take him, he abandoned his fate. He risked dying, but he learned something as he had lain still on the ground bleeding into the white courtyard. He held more power over the Universe Sphere. If he died while holding more power, the sphere would kill Nishiki to trade his life and return him from death.

He could not move his arm far enough to reach one of his weapons, nor did he think he was strong enough to kill himself fast enough. His muscles were starting to stiffen. The Mikazuki used poison in their weapons. It did not surprise him to think he was poisoned.

"Where are you going?" demanded Ayuka, the sound of her footsteps distanced.

"My brother is here," Nishiki answered, retreating.

"Nishiki!"

"Have the Senju boy removed from the courtyard," Nishiki ordered. "Take the Motou clan south. Kill anyone you believe poses a threat. I will activate the sphere when the time is right."

"Let me take care of Shinya!" the woman shouted.

"Do not fear for my life, Ayuka," Nishiki said, assuring her, "I have no intention of forfeiting it to my brother."

Mio regained consciousness with a start, jolting at the feel of a damp cloth wiping the dried blood on her face. She tried to raise her body, pushing herself up by the elbows, but a strong hand pushed her back onto the plush bedding. She searched above her, straining to see who was pressing the cloth against her face, growing panicked. Her head pulsed and felt heavy. Her entire body was strange, quaking as her skin grew tepid.

"You are edgy."

She recognized that voice. Uchiha Hiryuu.

She attempted to sit up a second time, but he kept his hand firmly on her shoulder keeping her in place. She needed to get out. She could not be in the same room as Hiryuu. Not with their history. She deliberately ruined his connection with Sachiyo believing he was to blame for the murder of her parents. She had had information her mother and father had hidden that showed he had been in communication with shinobi with the slash crescent carved on their flesh. She had assumed his part in the death of her parents had been much larger than what it truly had been.

Hiryuu had blamed her for losing favor with Taiga's grandfather, Eijiro. He had blamed her for many things and had been vicious towards her henceforth. It had never been a surprise. He had wanted her dead from the start. He had tried to turn all who would listen against her and had caused a rift between her and Madara, who had been suspicious of her for several years after Hiryuu had gone away.

He had been doing the same with the Mikazuki in the Earth Country and many had horrible opinions of her because of it. He had made her a villain in a situation she never chose to be in. She had come into her position out of necessity, but she had not asked Gouki to kill his wife and leave his son without a mother. She had not enchanted him. She had not come to sow discord.

Mio's breathing quickened as the cloth fell beside her head and his hand move to her neck. She did not dare move. She was starting to feel strange and she knew it was her exhaustion and the starvation catching up to her. Or perhaps, she had worried herself to sickness. Maybe she was overdue for another imbalance. She had avoided using any Kuronuma techniques to circumvent it, but that could have been her problem. She probably needed to find a medium so she did not grow ill so often.

His fingers curled around her neck slowly. "I should have killed you that day in Sachiyo's home," he began, his scarred face heavily shadowed as he leaned forward to meet her eyes. "It would have been easy. You neck was smaller. I would not have needed to apply too much pressure to snap it."

Weakly, she began to claw at his hands, her throat shutting at his grip tightened. Fury blazed in his eyes. "You have done nothing but spoil my plans," he spat. "You think I will allow you to be saved?"

She found herself blinking away tears as darkness begun to creep from the corners of her eyes. She opened her mouth, but only gargled sound.

She couldn't breathe.

Her fingernails dug into his skin, drawing blood. His grip tightened.

Something warm splattered atop her face and his hands loosened. She focused on his face to see the tip of a sword protruding from his neck being drawn out slowly. He turned quickly, choked out an incoherent word and dropped to the floor, revealing her savior. She gasped for breath, coughing when she took too much of it in, bending over.

Gouki came to her side and placed a hand on her back, but she moved away from him like a wounded animal.

"I have no intention of hurting you, you are my wife," he said as if that would be enough. "War has been declared against us by Uchiha Madara. He is coming for you."

She wanted to cry because it sounded like the truth after what Ayuka said before Nishiki knocked her unconscious, but too much happened in too little time. She sat with blood on her face, dried and fresh, and Hiryuu on the floor, the life leaving his body quickly. She did not understand Mikazuki Gouki's intentions, but he protected her from certain death, traded her the correct antidote against his mother's orders, and killed his mouthy subordinate after he had accused her of being Tobirama's lover. He said he would protect her honor, that he would not hurt her because she was his wife.

He confused her. She didn't understand. She hated it. He killed her parents. He committed so much wrong against her, promised her at one point in her life that he wanted to be the one to kill her. He had told her grandfather what he planned to do with her in explicit detail.

"I will not let him take you," he promised, reaching out to run his hand over her head, brushing back her hair. "You are my wife. You are mine."

She stared up at him, unable to draw away from his touch, compelled by his words. She did not understand his actions, nor had she any intention of doing so. Her throat ached and her head was still spinning. She did not want to be his prisoner. She did not want to be anyone's prisoner. Not anymore. Not ever.

She saw the dagger hanging off his hip. He saw her looking and smirked. She reached for it, and with great ease, he swatted her to the ground where her land was cushioned by Hiryuu's body. Gouki dragged her by the leg towards the door where she fell over the expanding pool of Hiryuu's blood. She turned quick, reaching to take one the kunai that had spilled from Hiryuu's open pouch, seeing the long red lines her body had on the floors.

She stabbed it between the floorboards and forced him to a sudden stop when her body would not budge. She let go as he dropped her leg and put her hands together, attempting to remember the hand seals she had seen her grandfather use when they trained within the Uchiha's territory. She saw them, a blur of them, but she caught them all. She mirrored them, combined her chakra with the black water, and felt her cheeks grow with the boiling liquid before she spat it out at him in a torrent of sizzling tar-like water that made him recoil.

Mio jumped onto her feet and ran out the room into the hallway, hearing the sound of Gouki's voice rip through the silence. "Mio!"

She scrambled, her legs shaking, fully aware that he would be upon her in a matter of seconds. That jutsu would do nothing but slow him down. She reached to touch her earrings, activating the Black Sphere. She began to mold chakra and black water for any necessary moves she might need to retaliate. All around her there were frightened servants rushing in the opposite direction she was headed, meaning she was running in the right direction.

Her path was intercepted by Mikazuki shinobi; the trio had different shades of rose-colored eyes. Kuronuma. They were not the first Mikazuki she had seen that were Kuronuma since she arrived, but they would be the first since she discovered the clan had been made up of kidnapped Kuronuma children when it was first started.

She stopped abruptly, turning the kunai in her hand, ready to attack, but a shadow loomed over her, expanding the shadow beneath her.

The castle was seized by violent tremors. The ground beneath her feet shifted, moving like waves rolling along the surface, knocking everyone to the floor. Her enemies struggled onto their feet, but dropped to the floor repeatedly.

Mio rolled out of the way when she saw several buildings uprooted from their foundation before they were swept towards them, flung through the air by a powerful force. She covered her head protectively, feeling the residue from the decimating battle as it rushed through them. Planks of broken wood banged and several tiles smashed against her curled body.

She heard a body crash into the damaged building behind her completely destroying it. She was buried under the rubble when all movement stopped. She pushed back, feeling something sharp against her back. As she tried to wriggle free from beneath the wreckage, she felt the splintered end of a long piece of wood scraping against her back leaving long red lines of blood down the length of it. She bit back a cry, pushing forward when the weight atop her was lifted and an arm shot forward, taking her by the wrist.

Mio jerked back, prepared to fight despite the numbness spreading across her body, but she found it was unnecessary. She was pulled forward so that she could look upon the face of her grandfather, which was a bit bruised and splattered with drying blood. He grinned at her like a fool and dusted her shoulders clean of wood residue as she stared up at him, stunned. His presence made her question whether or not she was buried underneath mountains of wood, rice paper screens, broken furniture, shattered ceramics, and spilled silk from leather trunks. She saw the stone from the courtyard and bamboo plants snapped in half with their leaves floating along the winds soft currents.

She saw bodies beneath the debris, some shifting, others lying still with blood pooling underneath them and spilling over the wreckage. She snapped back, facing her grandfather seeing that the sight of destruction lain out before her eyes was the truth. She had woken from darkness to Hiryuu and she had watched him die. She had been assured by Mikazuki Gouki that she would not be taken from him and she feared he would keep his promise. She had escaped and would have been caught, she had felt him looming over her before the earth shook, rising and falling like waves before a powerful wind destroyed every building in its trajectory.

She looked in the direction her grandfather came crashing from and saw something rising into view. An armored figure surrounded by blue colored energy appeared. There were fires and spiral tar-like towers crashing into one another. A powerful fight raged in the distance and her heart clenched at the thought it was Madara and Nishiki.

"What is happening?" she asked, looking to him. "Who were you fighting?"

Shin wasn't looking in her direction. He was staring past her. "We have someone else to worry about."

Mio turned as Gouki rose from the rubble.

"I wondered when you would show your face, uncle," said Gouki.

Shin shrugged, handing Mio a dagger. "Did you ever doubt I would?"

"Do you plan to leave Uchiha Madara to fight your battle?" asked Gouki.

"It is always best to get rid of the little nuisances before going after the bigger ones."

Gouki grinned and lurched forward, reaching her grandfather before she had the opportunity to stop him. He swung. Shin leaned far back avoiding the hit and touched the ground, flipping backward. As he did, he kicked Gouki with a force that sent him flying and crashing to the ground. Shin landed sluggishly, his movements drawing her attention to the wound on his side oozing black blood.

"I weakened Nishiki," Shin told her, unconsciously holding a hand to his bleeding wound. "Enough for Madara to be enough to hold him back, but he has the Universe Sphere. You have to go. You have to take the sphere from him and find Senju Tobirama." Staring forward, he continued as Gouki returned to his feet wiping the blood from his mouth. The sound of Madara's name elated her, it was all the confirmation she needed, but the words that followed left her stun. "We can defeat him quickly if we work together. We can help Madara after."

Mio found the mere suggestion paralyzing. Fighting Gouki in her mind was absurd. She would never. He was too strong. Her legs were shaking. "What?"

"You need to defeat him, Mio!" he said fervently. "He has been your tormentor for nine years! He has caused you endless suffering! You must defeat him!"

"She is a frightened child," Gouki shouted, running at them. "She would not dare!"

"He is a man, flesh and bone," Shin continued, springing to meet Gouki part way. The Mikazuki shinobi clocked him in the jaw before pulling out a sword from his belt. Her grandfather drew a hidden dagger that clashed against his.

Mio watched the two fight. Gouki goading about her cowardice, her grandfather urging her to take a stand against the image her nine-year-old self had created. She took cover several times when the two launched their arsenal of dangerous techniques that slow but steadily turned the battlefield into a stretch of bubbling black water.

"This isn't about revenge," Shin shouted, sending a wave of black water at Gouki. "This is about freedom. Your freedom. He took your peace of mind. He has tormented you and has made you suffer without so much as lifting a finger. You are terrified, I understand, but you must overcome that fear! He is human and he can be killed!"

She had an important decision to make. She could revert to that child of nine who created a monster or stand up against him.

Mio drew the dagger her grandfather had given her as she saw Gouki hit her grandfather hard with a torrent of black water. She lunged at him. She would overcome that fear because she needed to be brave. She attempted to stab his back, but met with a swat that sent her crashing into the black water beneath their feet. She lifted herself, jumping back, narrowly avoiding the kunai that sank into the sizzling black surface.

She landed briefly as spiral of black water shot up from the surface at her.

He targeted her directly for the next several minutes. The extensive use of Kuronuma techniques proved redundant as they were practically immune to its deadly effects, though the force of each attack left bruises and scratches, it did not knock them down.

Mio used her speed to her advantage. The first time she had landed a hit on him, one that made him bleed, she felt the knots in her stomach come undone. She never held any expectations for such a day to arrive, not even when she decided to start a war. She imagined Gouki would die by someone else's hand and that she would not need to face him. She was still running away from him then.

It felt liberating to do the opposite of that.

He was of overwhelming strength. His punches were powerful. Each blow she took directly made her bones creak in protest and her flesh turn into a violent red contusion.

Mio spat the blood in her mouth and wiped the corner of her lips. She looked to her grandfather from the corner of her eye. He inclined his head. He looked more exhausted than she felt and she had suffered enough blows to the head to worsen whatever condition had already been creeping in, not to mention the giant scrape running across her back was irritated. She swore there was splintered wood inside the length of the wound, but she could fight despite her affliction. She worried for her grandfather.

The poison running through his system was sapping at his strength, his movements weren't as smooth as she recalled them, his reflexes had dulled, and he suffered a terrible wound while fighting against Nishiki, one she saw bleed profusely throughout their bout with Gouki.

Gouki had the upper hand. He repeatedly knocked her down, sent her crashing into the ground, or hit her with a powerful technique that threw her several meters away.

Shin was the only one with the skill and strength to fight Gouki. He had a higher chance of defeating him without her contribution. With her involved, he kept an eye on her, always securing her safety over his own. He intercepted many attacks Gouki directed at her, as many as he could while evading an arsenal of others.

She attempted to take the bigger burden the next time they rushed Gouki. She threw punches he narrowly evaded. When he reached to grab her by the neck, she ducked and Shin jumped in, pushing him back with every jab of his dagger, a twisted, sharp metal he hammered into existence.

Shin slashed downward, rupturing Gouki from right shoulder to mid-torso. Gouki retaliated swiftly by grabbing him by the neck and thrusting a sword through his stomach.

Mio ran up behind Gouki, jumping and wrapping her legs around his neck and throwing herself back. She touched the ground with her hands and slammed him to the ground behind her. She dragged herself onto her feet, sweat dripping from her chin, but Gouki grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her back.

She smacked straight into the floor with a grunt.

"Mio!"

She lifted her face as Shin tugged the sword out of his body with a pained sound. She turned back to Gouki as she struggled to get away and saw him drive a kunai through her ankle to stop her. The pain shot through every part of her, pulsing like a heartbeat, and it ripped a scream from her throat.

He repeated the words, those he spoke after killing Hiryuu. "You are mine! You will not be taken from me!"

Shin kicked him across the face, allowing her the opportunity to scramble away.

She turned over, falling back with tears running down her face, watching her grandfather about to drive Gouki's own blade through his head. He stood about to end her nightmare, a vision she suspected would never come to be. She learned to live in the unfair world where her nightmares gained victory after victory. She was content having Madara, having Takuto and Izuna, having her guardians and doing her best to protect her artifacts from falling into the wrong hands. She believed that there would one day be a day when Ayuka succeeded in her plans. It would not have happened quickly. She never thought she would give up so easily, but she knew she would die and that whatever happened afterward would be up to Ayuka, Nishiki, and Gouki. But one of three would be dead in seconds—seconds that did not come fast enough.

"Stop!"

Stupidly, unconsciously, and against her better judgment, she hesitated and the blade coming down upon Gouki's head to deliver the final blow came to an abrupt stop. She stared insipidly, confused by her voice's betrayal. She did not mean to do it.

Why would she save his life? Did she feel indebted after the times he had spared hers? It made zero sense and she sensed her stupidity reaching new levels, but her grandfather had stopped. That was unlike him, too. He was ruthless when necessary and she knew, deep down inside, that he would not have stopped if she had throttled him to take the blade from him.

But he did.

Shin stopped and turned, meeting her eyes. He looked completely at peace. "Mio?"

Mio saw the blood bubbling from within his mouth spill and her eyes widened in horror. Behind him, Gouki, the victory etched in his bruised, bloodied face. Shin looked down as she did, their actions reflections of each other as if they stood before a full-length mirror, and together they saw the hand protruding from his chest and the blood spilling from it like a river of black tar that stained the front of his white clothes.

Gouki offered her a bloody smile. "This makes the set."

xl: I need to be stopped. I just need to be stopped. Like immediately.

Until someone stops me, I would like to thank these lovely people for reviewing the previous chapter(s): Loteva, Anime93, Kettobase, and Aries01xD because your awesomeness keeps me going. Shout out to my silent readers as well because I know you're there and I only hope that I am entertaining you more than I am disappointing you. I apologize for both. Thank you for any new follows and favorites because I will always get excited when either one of these happen.

There are officially 11 chapters left for this story. I actually went and did the math (and the outlines). I decided to end this story at a specific place after considerable thought, though if I had gone through with the original plans, it would not have come together as nicely as this does. However, there will be a continuation because Mio's story is far from done. You will see what I mean when you read the remaining 11 chapters. I hope this is good news and not bad news (I know how people feel about sequels). I will have more information about this at the end of the story, so take this like a head's up.

I don't want to leave you all hanging, so if I can finish the 50th chapter over the weekend, I'll post 48 on Monday (I only need to edit it again because of rewrites).

Before I run away like I should have as soon as I posted this, I want to say that I had an extra about the artifacts (what they look like, what they do, etc) for my LJ, but it'll probably be posted sometime Saturday because I haven't finished editing that "All I Wanted" chapter I have planned for today. On the plus side, the preview for the next chapter is already at my livejournal (link through my profile), so you can go check it out...unless all my scheduled entries have been backed up. In that case, tell me, so I can fix it.

Thank you for reading! Questions, comments, pitchforks mobs? Tell me about them below. :3