Chapter 51 | The Guardians of the Time Sphere III
Madara left his clansmen an hour after Mio and traveled straight to their meeting town. He arrived the following morning after running for several hours without rest.
Madara rented a room at an inn under an alias and waited. He did not see Mio arrive until the second day. She found him on the street. He had gone to collect information after he discovered the town received travelers from various parts of the continent with interesting details about the state of their respective countries.
"You're late," he told her.
"I did not have a choice."
"What were you doing?"
"I had things," she answered dismissively. "Private things."
"What?"
"This doesn't concern you, Madara!"
He huffed.
"Is there anywhere we can go?" she asked. "Somewhere we can speak?"
"I rented a room, but there's a restaurant down this street if you are hungry."
Mio chose the restaurant. She mentioned it would be a better idea to be seen as a couple of travelers like most of the people that went through the town than two suspicious figures huddled around. Inside the quaint establishment, Mio chose a table in the center that sat against the wall. She dragged the chair back noisily and let her bag drop to the ground with a thud as he took a seat across her. He drew a map from his belongings and handed it to her.
A boy in a long apron approached them and offered to bring them something to drink. Mio asked for water and he wanted red tea. The boy left and returned quickly to deliver their drinks. He went over the items on their menu when Mio asked and she ordered more than he thought her able to eat, but she put that idea to rest the minute she started on her fifth dish.
Once the boy came to take several empty plates from the table, Mio smoothed a map over the vacant surface and stopped him from going.
"Do you know if there are any glass shops near?" Mio asked, standing next to him.
"There are many in the Wind Country," the boy said.
"What about going up to the Lightning Country?" Mio drew a line, pointing out a route for the boy to peer into the map. "Through here."
"There were traveling merchants heading to the Grass Country, I think I might have heard someone there was good with glass."
Mio smiled. "Thank you."
The boy grinned and walked off, casting a glance in her direction as he went.
"What are you doing?" asked Madara, tired of watching her in silence.
"I'm making another dummy sphere," she told him. "A Time Sphere. Another one, exactly like that one."
"For what reason?"
"I have a plan." At his disgruntled appearance, she added, "A good one."
"We are supposed to be searching for our guardians, not hunting down gaffers to make you another glass sphere," he reminded her. "Who is the guardian closest to us? You can tell who is who, can't you?"
"We are traveling towards the Lightning Country," she said, drawing a line from their position to the country in question where he faintly sensed the pulse of a guardian. She reached to touch the sphere, wondering as she wrapped her hand about it why it did not burn her as it had him when he was not Shugosha. "Vision Sphere. That voice is…Taiga's—you gave the Vision Sphere to Taiga?"
"You seem upset," he pointed out.
"The Vision Sphere is a torture device," she told him. "If you were going to give Taiga any sphere, it should have been something completely harmless, like the Life Sphere."
"Give me the Life Sphere, I'll trade with him, you can take the Vision Sphere," he replied.
"I don't have it."
Madara stared dumbly. "Why did you suggest it?"
"I was giving you an example. You cannot assign guardians at random. You have to find someone suited for the sphere and its power."
"Is this the same criteria you used to make Senju Hashirama one of your guardians?"
"I am not going to discuss the guardians I chose."
"Uzumaki Nako mentioned something," he started. "She said the Senju have two artifacts. Who is the other guardian? Which is the sphere?"
"Is that Uzumaki carrying my Climate Sphere?"
"Who apart from Hashirama did you assign a sphere?" He pressed, hoping she did not speak Tobirama's name.
Staring him directly in the eyes, she spoke the white-haired bastard's name. "Tobirama." She ended it with a worse revelation. "I gave him the Universe Sphere."
"Are you a fool? They are our enemies!" he snapped.
He was the one she traded him for in the Sun Country. It bothered him to know that in her weakened state, she ordered Yayoi away from herself to save Tobirama. That Senju's incompetence brought the Universe Sphere to Nishiki and put them all in danger.
"They are your enemies if you would like, but they are not mine," she said firmly. "The Senju clan are allies to the Kuronuma clan."
"You're an Uchiha."
"I am not asking you to make peace with them," she said, furious. "I am not asking you to do anything for them. I am asking you to help me gather my guardians so that we can return home. Do you think I want to be here?"
She did not let him answer. "I don't. I want to be home. I want this to be over. I want to bury my grandfather. I want to breathe because I feel like I am suffocating."
Mio sank down into her seat and took a shuddering breath. "I have a plan," she repeated.
Madara did not respond, only waited for her to elaborate. He was furious.
"The capitol is in the Earth Country, Nishiki and Ayuka are there," Mio started. "There are three guardians in the Earth Country. I can sense three guardians in the Earth Country. I cannot be certain who each one is, they're too far, but they are there for a reason. Nishiki and Ayuka are not stupid. They would keep their weaknesses close while the rest of us are pitted against one another to fight. Tobirama and Yayoi must have more influence over their respective artifacts than Nishiki and Ayuka, so they must keep them alive."
"Would it not be easier to kill them?"
"Due to Kiyohime's succession laws, they would be at risk of welcoming their own deaths," she answered. "A predecessor can challenge his or her successor for control of the artifact they hold. It is supposed to be non-violent. If a successor that holds more power is killed by the predecessor, the artifact will kill the predecessor and trade their life in favor of the successor."
"Nishiki and Ayuka cannot kill Tobirama or Yayoi because they would die instead?"
"Yes. The artifact goes to the strongest."
"You think they are holding them captive in the Earth Country?"
"Yes, until they can win over their control of the artifacts. However, we are uncertain of the conditions they are under and are unable to gauge who is stronger amongst them, so it is better we rush this journey to collect the others."
"We can go straight to the Earth Country," Madara said. "You are Gouki's widow, you would not be denied at the entrance. We can end things quickly. Nishiki is powerful, but so are you. If we work together, we can defeat him. They can't afford to kill us."
"Yes, but we are not impervious. They can beat us within an inch of our lives. They would capture the people we love and torture them in our place. We need the support of our guardians. Nishiki and Ayuka use spheres. They use Kuronuma jutsu. This is their world to control. We do not know the inner functions. What we can do is move around and gather information, we can learn what we do not know, and we can gather the others who might know something we do not. The artifacts are stronger together than they are apart."
"We got to the Lightning Country for Taiga, then," Madara decided.
"But first we head to the Grass Country for the gaffer."
"We go directly to the Lightning Country. Taiga moves too quickly for us to take any detours," he stated. "You can find gaffers in any country." He left his seat. "Are you done eating?"
"Why?"
"We are going. If we travel now, we might make a faster trip and increase our chances of finding him in the Lightning Country."
Mio carefully folded the map and returned it to her bag. She gulped down the rest of her water as Madara left money to cover the bill on the table. He waited for her outside and heard the boy bid her a good journey. She thanked him politely and met him outside.
They traveled through the Fire Country using a merchant's route Mio recognized on the map. She made it a point to avoid shinobi clans, stressing that anyone that died while the Universe Sphere was activated would be dead when it was inactive. Madara understood. Nishiki could have easily turned their allies into enemies, so he agreed to her terms when it came to moving from place to place. However, he disagreed with the pace. Using this particular route meant they had to walk it like everyone else as it was rarely empty, though when it was, they ran through it.
On the eve of their third traveling day, the Lightning Country's border seeming an eternity away, Mio charmed an old man with a horse-drawn wagon. He offered them a ride in the back with his merchandise and even shared his food. His trip was short, only another town over, so he had rations to spare. His wife had packed him a big lunch having expected him to be gone longer than he would be.
Madara was sure they heard the man's entire life story for the umpteenth time as they sat around a fire on the side of the dirt road.
"What about you?" the old man asked, staring at Mio across the fire.
"We are looking for someone in the Lightning Country," Mio answered, delighting the man.
"A relative?"
"A cousin, yes," she said smiling. "I worry he might be gambling again."
It amazed him how easy she lied. The conversation ended when Mio found a way to return to the old man's stories about his family. She knew how to keep him talking to avoid speaking of themselves. Seeing that made him see what she had been doing all along. Keeping him from asking unnecessary questions. Madara wondered when he had become so thoughtless that he had been blind to her actions.
The following morning, the sky was full of red smoke.
"Another three executions." The old man whistled low as if to stress a point. "Have you heard?"
"What?" asked Mio.
"A thief swiped the Emperor's artifacts and sold them to a couple shinobi clans that don't want to give those back though the Emperor, himself, ordered his army to find them and bring them back." The old man folded his arms over his chest. "Except, it's proving difficult. The shinobi that have the artifacts—they say they're magical, these artifacts, and one's even a dragon's eye, too—aren't jus' any old shinobi. They've got that one that build's forests, they says he's a powerful one. The only one that can stand against him is some shinobi with red eyes, they say that one's a downright savage." As he said this, he noticed Mio look in his direction with a hint of a smile. "There's also these white headed ones from the Swamp Country, oh, those are a scary bunch. Nobody dares travel up there…cannibals. The lot of them are cannibals. Rumor has it they've got this giant of a man, captured by the capital—thank the gods—"
"Who was capture by the capital?" Mio asked quickly.
"One of the cannibals," the old man answered. "They say he's the leader. Serves him right, eating people that way. Oh, but they're trying to get their hands on the girl. There's a lady there that's a monster, a beast of a girl. They say she can pull the spine out of a man without much trying."
"Can you?" Madara asked, loud enough for her to hear.
Mio glared at him.
"Wonder if they've gotten rid of the giant," the old man said. "Pretty sure they will see it done before the festival."
"Festival?
"The Winter Festival. You should see it. Took the wife…"
Madara stopped listening.
Once the old man arrived to his destination and apologized to them for not going further, the two were able to travel at a faster speed as the roads were emptier the closer they were to the Lightning Country. Mio's demeanor changed, her worry, no doubt, gnawing at her over the idea that Takuto might be the third guardian stuck with Nishiki and Ayuka.
Another canon blasted into the sky and dyed it red, the smoke spreading like a disease across the blue.
Mio stayed guard that night and refused to sleep when he took over. She was lying on her back inside a tent, the flaps wide open so she could look up at the night sky through it.
"The old man was senile, Mio. He said Hashirama builds forests."
"Well, he does, doesn't he?"
"That's not the point."
"Takuto can see everything with the Reflective Sphere. It is a useful artifact to have if you want to have eyes everywhere," Mio said. "I did not think of it before, but it makes sense. They could be watching us. They could be watching us now."
Madara contemplated the fact that Nishiki and Ayuka could be looking into the artifact. "You can blind Ayuka from searching any of us out through the Fate Sphere," he said, finding her staring at him appalled. "Can you not do the same with Takuto's sphere?"
Her expression did not change.
"What?" he demanded. "What is wrong?"
"Nothing. Do you have any ideas?"
"Why don't you take the sphere back? You can do that can't you?"
Mio lifted herself onto a seat. "You can do something," she said. "I have an idea. Come here."
He left his seat to crouch down in front of the tent's entrance. She reached for the Time Sphere and he was certain she was going to heed his suggestion and take back the artifact. She took the black cord holding it in place and snapped it. She caught the sphere when it fell.
"I don't know any sealing techniques," Mio said, looking up to him expectantly.
"I know some."
"Strong enough to seal an artifact?"
He stared at the artifact, long and hard. It was powerful. Strangely powerful. An ordinary seal would not be enough. "No."
Mio rummaged through her bag and tugged her dagger free of its scabbard.
Finding her actions curious, he asked, "What are you doing?"
"Rendering the artifacts useless," she said. "If you cut off the linchpin, you cut off everything connected to it. None of the artifacts will work without your chakra flowing through to them, which will be problematic when it comes to hunting down guardians, but Ayuka and Nishiki won't be able to see us through Takuto's sphere, if they did, indeed, catch him for that reason."
"Would it deactivate the Universe Sphere?"
"The Universe Sphere isn't active. It doesn't need to be to keep things as they are since this is a different world. We would have to go activate it again to get back to our world."
Madara nodded, understanding. "So, the artifacts will be completely useless?"
"Yes, but it should not make a difference to you since you broke the Nature Sphere," she commented.
"The Nature Sphere broke on its own," he said defensively, remembering the strain he sensed within his original artifact when he activated it since he became Shugosha. "I don't think you should be activating other artifacts with the Time Sphere active."
"You are overstepping your boundaries, Madara, there have been four Shugosha before you and each one of them has had several artifacts on them and active numerous times and not once did an artifact break," she berated. "Kiyohime made the artifacts to be nearly indestructible, but you succeeded, you broke the indestructible."
"It was not indestructible if it broke!" he snapped.
"I don't know what you did to the Nature Sphere—"
"I did nothing but use it."
"I have used the Black Sphere with the Time Sphere and it hasn't broken," she argued. "Why would you break my sphere?"
"I did not do it purposefully!"
Madara sensed others approaching.
"That gave you—"
He clapped his hand over Mio's mouth, alerting her to the crunch of snow beneath heavy steps across the dirt path. He turned her face to him, meeting her eyes. She nodded slowly and he let her go.
Voices drifted to them, several of them.
"I thought I heard a woman's voice."
"Could've been an animal."
"We should look around, one girl might fetch us a pretty penny."
Madara squinted in the dark, attempting to see the figures standing in the middle of the road, but his vision only blurred. He took Mio's hand and found it gripping her dagger.
"Nah, forget it. It's a long way to the Sun Country."
"They pay well."
"Only if she's a pretty one. It could be a man. They pay ten percent for a man."
The man that suggested searching the premises was convinced that the possibility of it being an animal was larger than it being a person and moved on ahead. It was not until after an hour that he and Mio made any noise. They were completely still as a new storm rolled in with cold winds rushing through them, though with Mio beside him, he found himself warm. She did not even seem to shiver, like this was a breeze in a hot summer.
Mio put one of her coats on his back. The Kuronuma dressed in clothing made of wool and lined with fur. It was warm and it carried her scent.
"This does not mean I am not angry that you broke my sphere," she informed him.
"If you can make a dummy Time Sphere, you can make another Nature Sphere."
"Yes, I can, but I don't want to die making a replacement," she responded. "I don't have the kind of chakra you do. I need to be mindful of how I use mine."
"If you had more chakra, you could make more?"
"Only if I want to die." Mio ripped one of her shirts and placed the Time Sphere atop it. "It would be stupid for me to die after coming this far. Too many people died at my expense and for the artifacts. I am not going to die making more of these. Not when there are people like Ayuka that don't know how to use them."
"Then for what purpose were they created if not for power?"
"Protection. Kiyohime made them to protect."
He did not ask any other questions regarding the artifacts themselves, only spoke about what she was doing. She explained that she would create a shell around the sphere using black water. She did. She cut deep into palm, pressed her hands together in a hand seal over the sphere. The blood dripped from between her hands wound around the artifact, spinning quickly like the mist inside it until it covered every inch of its surface…until the Time Sphere was a black, unresponsive orb that no longer ate away at his chakra.
She wrapped the artifact in the torn up shirt and put it inside her belongs. "We should keep moving," she said. "We need to catch Taiga before he leaves the Lightning Country."
Madara helped her pack up her tent and gathered his own belongings, feeling lighter without the Time Sphere. Strange. It had only been his for a short amount of time, but with it, he truly felt invulnerable, without it, he felt limited.
"Is this how you felt without the Time Sphere?" he asked once they were walking on the road. "Lighter? Weaker?"
Mio was walking ahead where he could keep her in sight.
"It was strange," she admitted. "I used to endure fewer beatings with the Time Sphere…you can say I missed it."
"For that purpose alone?"
She looked over her shoulder. "I hate being kicked in the face."
"Who kicked you in the face?"
"That's a long story."
"This is a long journey."
"I am worried that you would prefer to discuss this particular subject instead of our plans moving forward," she said, then turned, continuing to walk backwards. "Nobody can hurt me. Ayuka would not dare."
"You wore that artifact too long, you think you can run around recklessly without getting killed. You're not immortal, Mio."
"I might as well be. Ayuka won't kill me. She won't dare touch me. Nobody will."
"What is it you are planning to do?" asked Madara, suspicious of her behavior.
She smiled. "Let's find Taiga."
xl: I definitely feel I should have warned you about the previous chapter, but I didn't think it was so terrible it needed a warning label and if I had it would have spoiled whatever reaction you had after reading through it. I was also planning to edit it out (and you know shamelessly post it on LJ), cause of site guidelines and all, but it wasn't as graphic as it could have been, so I decided not to touch it. I usually don't even address these things, so I'm going to pretend I didn't. It's a shame the strikethrough function doesn't work here, else that whole first paragraph would be crossed out. But you can picture it, no? Do that.
Moving on.
Happy Independence Day, America! For anyone outside America, Happy Friday! Here are your two chapters as promised! Again, I'll be reiterating what I said last week about that break I was going to take and say something and not make any promises.
Because summer is doing me dirty, I'm recovering from a chest cold and I'm over the worst symptoms of it, but since this happened and it was completely unprecedented, I have not finished the 52nd chapter as planned. I'm still taking next week off and may or may not come back for the week after. However, this depends entirely on my health. (If by some chance I find myself writing more...you can expect regular updates regardless of my health - I need something to do other than play Fire Emblem all day. See, I can do that.)
So, in short, no promises that there will be any updates within the next two weeks due to bad cold. If so, guaranteed update will be on the 25th of this month.
With that being said, there will be a preview for Ch 52 up at my LJ sometime next week. (I did write something, I just need to prepare it.)
Many thanks to these wonderful people for leaving reviews: Loteva, Kettobase, K, and TheBrokenReflection.
Thank you for reading!
And holy shit, we broke 50 chapters! D: Someone save meh!