My head still throbs as I walk down the dirt path in front of me. The party after I finished my ceremonies was, well, insane. It was my first time having alcohol outside of using it for cooking.
And I'm a total lightweight.
The summons teased me relentlessly. I couldn't even make it back to the Uzukage tower to look at that last genjutsu seal. But it was worth it. The summons were extremely excited. They had so much fun. And I did, too. It was a nice end to the past week I had filled with studying and ceremonies.
My cheeks still flush at the reminder of my second ceremony and I try to push it away from my mind for now. I'm starting my training with the masks today and the last thing I need is to be distracted by is that.
"You're late," Kairi huffs as she sits on a branch outside of the Mask Storage Temple.
"You say that like you're surprised," Ichika says from her spot on the ground by Kairi. "After yesterday you should know she's going to take forever-"
"Ichika!" I screech. The mountain lion throws her head back as she laughs.
"You were already blushing!" The mountain lion says.
"I'm still hungover!"
"Yeah, that's what it is," Kairi mumbles to herself.
"I passed out as soon as I got home last night while you were still partying 'ttbane!"
"Didn't say anything about this morning, though," Ichika whispers up to Kairi.
"Oh my god you're worse than Ensui!"
"Of course you'd bring up a Nara~" Ichika teases. I freeze. My brain practically short circuits with memories of a messy black ponytail and pale skin from my dreams last night.
"I was right!" Ichika hops up from her spot on the ground.
"You were not 'ttbane!" I throw my hands on my hips and lean down to look at her. She gives me a feline grin before she turns to look at Kairi.
"This is so much fun."
"If you keep this up, I'm going to go tell-"
"Don't you dare," Ichika growls as she pounces on me. I scream as I try to fight her off, but it doesn't work. She tosses me around on the ground and I can barely keep up because I'm laughing so hard. When she finally decides to show me mercy I look up at Kairi as I struggle to catch my breath.
She just shakes her head at us.
But I can feel her amusement through our connection.
"If you children are done playing," she finally says. "Kikuko can get to her training."
"Let's do that!"
"Don't think you've heard the last of this, little hime~" Ichika says.
"Kairi, make her stop!" I whine as I stand up. Kairi ignores both of us and instead flies into the temple. I pout at Ichika as she turns to follow the seagull.
"So mean," I huff as I start to walk through the entryway. Masks hang on either side, much like the wind chimes that were strung from the doorway at the women's temple. Ichika told me that the men's temple was the same and that their ceremonies were similar to the women's.
When I enter the temple, I'm immediately overwhelmed.
The walls are the same black charred wood as some of the other more guarded and sacred places in Uzushiogakure. This is the main temple in the village. It's the place that symbolizes the Uzushiogakure connection to life and death.
I don't know why I'm surprised that the inside is chaotic.
Maybe it's because the women's temple was so toned back in Uzushiogakure standards. Not that I disliked it, it was perfect for what it is for. And maybe that's the case with this temple, too.
But it's just so disorienting.
All of the walls are dark charred wood. But that's the only constant in this huge room. The only straight walls are the ones to the outside. All the walls on the inside are curved. It's like I'm walking through a maze as I try to find Kairi and Ichika.
I find myself getting lost as I look at the masks that cover each wall. Some masks are blank, but while Root's masks are pure white, these masks are completely black. They almost blend into the walls.
Other masks are painted with bright colors.
Some seem to depict animals like the Anbu masks in Konoha.
Some masks are decorated with geometric designs.
The closer I get to Kairi and Ichika, the more elaborate the masks become. Some have straight lines, others are curved. All of them are practically covered to the point that you can't see the white of the mask.
But then the next layer I step through, the masks change again.
They're covered in seals.
Many are genjutsu seals, some meant for concealment, some meant to obscure the wearer's form, and some are meant to project a different image. I find a few masks that don't have genjutsu seals, but instead they're offensive seals. Seals that would kill the person wearing the mask.
"These were often worn by Anbu," Ichika says as I feel her against my leg.
"Is it like the seal that Konoha Anbu are given?"
"No," Ichika says.
"But these seals would kill them-"
"If they weren't from Uzushiogakure," Ichika says. "They made their barter the second they put their mask on for the first time. If they had to use it, they had to make a new mask."
"So these are all masks that didn't have to be used," I say as I brush my hand against one.
"Correct," she says.
"And they can't be used by someone else," I say as I look at the mask in front of me. "This looks like it has more arrays than fish in the sea 'ttbane." I feel Kairi land on my shoulder and feel a mixture of pride and amusement as she looks down at me.
"What?" I ask her.
"You're starting to sound like an Uzukage," she says, her voice light. "Already making ocean references, ne Kiku-chan?"
"More like I'm starting to sound like Hiroto-oji! Next thing you know I'm going to start calling the little kids in Kumo minnows!" The summons both snicker at my pain. I pout up at Kairi.
"How did you know they can't be used again?" She asks after she's done teasing me.
"Well, the bargain was already made, right? Kinda like the bargain that's made with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, you can only use your own soul, not someone else's."
"Good," Kairi says.
"There's two more divisions to look at before we get to the final layer," Ichika says as she pushes me to the side. I follow her lead and end up looking at masks that make me freeze. They're black with white accents that make them look like skulls. On the center of the forehead there's a black circle, and on the inside is a white sealing array.
These masks thrum with chakra. All of them have different chakra signatures like the other masks in the temple, but these are different. They're all similar in nature. The seal in the center of the forehead, in that white sealing array, it's a storage seal.
A bio funinjutsu storage seal.
A storage seal that holds live beings.
"What is this?" I ask as I wave at the masks. I don't even think about touching them. "There's living beings trapped in those seals-"
"These are the masks of the Calaveras."
"The Calaveras?" I ask as I look down at her. "Aren't those drawings or other art of skeletons that are meant to look like living people?"
"That's what they are, yes," Ichika nods.
"The Calaveras was the nickname for the Jashinist retrieval squad."
"The what?" I ask as I look back down at the mask. There's a vague empty feeling, like there's something extremely important from before I lost my memories.
"Kiku!" Kairi says sharply. I turn to look up at her and I immediately feel her worry through the bond. "I should have warned you, you've been doing so well with forgetting-" she shakes her head.
"Warned me?"
"You need to be careful in the temple, the lines between life and death are thinner hear, mija."
"I didn't mean to-"
"Of course you didn't," Ichika says. I run my hand through her short fur and try to slow down my breathing.
"The memories will be closer to the surface here, the spirits may try to tempt you with knowledge from before," Kairi says quietly.
"I'll be careful," I say firmly. "I won't go there." I feel Kairi rub her beak against the top of my head and relax my shoulders.
"Jashinists are those who worship the god Jashin," Ichika says as I start to walk down the wall of masks.
"Jashin?"
"He's evil," Kairi spits. I haven't heard her this angry since I realized Root was behind the invasion of Uzu. "He grants his followers immortality in exchange for regular sacrifices of multiple innocent lives."
"That's not equivalent exchange!" I say. I feel anger well in my chest. Those two words, equivalent exchange, have become a path to follow for me. Everything is an exchange. To complete a jutsu, chakra is given. For energy, food is consumed. For strength, training is needed. Everything is an equivalent exchange.
"You can't bargain with an innocent soul 'ttbane." In order to even think about using the Uzumaki masks you have to have at least a few missions under your belt. And you have to have made your first kill. And you definitely can't kill innocent people. It has to be to save your life or the lives of others.
And most importantly, you can't bargain with the soul of the one you've killed. You can only bargain with your own life.
"Those in the Calaveras were considered the most elite shinobi of the village," Ichika says, pulling me out of my thoughts. "They were known within the village, but outside of it, their identities were kept secret."
"Why were they known in the village? In Konoha, the Hokage and other Anbu are the only ones who are supposed to know who's in Anbu."
"In case of an emergency," Kairi says. Ichika looks at me for a second before she explains.
"Uzushiogakure and specifically, the Uzumaki clan are the main targets of Jashinists."
"They don't know about Guardians," I whisper. Ichika nods.
"They only know about those with strong life forces."
"So all of the Jashinists that have been defeated by the Calaveras, they're here?"
"No," Ichika shakes her head.
"No?"
"You can bargain with the soul of a Jashinist," Kairi says. I freeze as I look at the masks.
"But how-"
"Where do you think the Uzumaki got the label of savage?" Kairi asks.
"Other than the racism?" I ask as I look up at the seagull. I hear Ichika snort, but I continue to look up at Kairi.
"Izanami does not take kindly to those who try to defy her," Kairi says. "Jashin and his followers disregard her rules and for anyone who makes them pay, they receive a reward."
"But you said Jashinists are immortal, right?"
"They are," Ichika says. "But if you can injure them and incapacitate them, Izanami will allow you to call on her with a mask similar to these. When you use this mask, she will call on Shinigami to take their soul as you either make another bargain or ask for it to be stored in your mask."
"Why would you use the favor immediately? Wouldn't you want to save it as the toll for a later favor?"
"The favor she offers, the favor that lives in these masks," Ichika says carefully. "It is the only time you are able to bargain for a lost soul not taken by the Dead Demon Consuming Seal."
"Oh," I whisper as I look at the masks. "So if a comrade dies in the fight-"
"Or if you are injured in the fight-"
"I never want to have to use it to bargain," I whisper.
"You may not have a choice, mija." Kairi murmurs. Tears pool in my eyes as the feeling from before almost burns in my chest at Kairi's words.
"I'm going to have to," I say as I fall to the ground. It feels like my insides are on fire. I struggle to breathe as I lean against Ichika. "I-it's burning! It normally feels empty why is it burning?"
"Breathe, breathe for us, mija." Kairi says smoothly. "It won't happen, we won't let it happen."
"B-but I don't know what it is, I don't want to know what it is!" My hands come up to clutch at the side of my head. As soon as the words leave my mouth the burning stops. "Maldita mendokuse!"
"Well," Ichika says over the sounds of my heavy breathing. "That was a new one, Ren will be proud when he hears it." I let out a laugh that sounds a borderline hysterical.
"Let's move away from them and this topic," Kairi says smoothly. She moves from my shoulder to balance on Ichika's back. The mountain lion huffs but doesn't say anything as they lead me away from the Calaveras masks.
This next section takes up five different walls. They're all covered in masks that look like an illustration of Shinigami.
"These masks are unused," Kairi says.
"I thought used masks would have turned a different color, right?"
"There is a separate section of the temple for masks stored outside of the village."
"There is?" I ask as I look over at her.
"We'll show you later," she says. "But this section is used for masks that anyone can use."
"Anyone?"
"Yes," Kairi says. "These masks can be used by those outside of the village, although the sister masks to those already outside of the village are with the others in the separate storage area."
"These reverse the Dead Demon Consuming Seal," Ichika says.
"Oh," I say quietly.
"The Dead Demon Consuming Seal is seldom known outside of the village, but as far as I know, no living soul outside of the descendants of Uzu, knows the purpose of these masks."
"Mierda."
"We can speak on it more when we look at the others later on," Ichika says. "You look like you're about to fall over and we have one more section." So many questions swirl through my head, but I follow Ichika and Kairi to the last section feeling numb.
We leave the curved walls and cramped spaces between them to the most open part of the entire temple. I look down at the floor to see a bright azure whirlpool in the center of the circle. When I look up, all the curved walls form what's essentially a circle. There's four of them in this section, and each of them are covered with masks that look completely different from all the others.
Each mask is completely different from the next. All of them are the typical white base, they each have a dark black surrounding the eyes, but the rest of the mask is different. There's floral designs, swirls, seals, hearts, and more. Some even have actual flowers attached to the masks themselves.
"These are the Caretas, the masks worn by the dancers throughout Día de los Muertos," Kairi says.
"The ones that welcome the spirits and send them home?" I ask as I look around at them.
"Yes," Kairi says. "This year you may make your own."
"I can?" I whip my head to look at the seagull. Ichika laughs as I spit out the hair that flies into my mouth.
"You are a Guardian, are you not?"
"I am, but to celebrate here alone-" I shake my head. I've never celebrated it before. I don't want my first time to be alone.
"I told you that you needed to restock soon, mija."
"Wait, I can-" I trail off at Ichika's nod. I squeal and run over to them. I throw all my gratitude through my bond with Kairi as I hug Ichika. "I get to meet abuelo!" I scream after I pull away from Ichika.
"I have so much to do! There's only a few weeks, I need to make a mask, find new clothes, I have to pack to travel-"
"Mija!" Kairi's yell stops my rant.
"Yeah?" I ask sheepishly, my cheeks begin to burn.
"How are you going to start on your mask when you don't even know where to go to make it?" If Kairi were human she'd have her hands on her hips with her hair flying behind her. I just know it.
"Uh, I'd ask you first?" Ichika snorts, loudly.
"Dios mío," Kairi sighs.
"So, where do I make masks?" I ask as I look around us. There were no other doors that I could see when I was on the outer layers of the whirlpool made of bookshelves. This room was pure chaos. I have a sneaky suspicion that it's on purpose to keep non-Uzushiogakure shinobi out.
"Put a bit of blood on the seal under you," Kairi says. I narrow my eyes at her. I didn't feel a seal under me at first. But now that she mentions it, I do. I sigh loudly as I bite my thumb and run it along the innermost circle of the whirlpool symbol beneath my feet.
"Why is genjutsu used for everything?" I ask before the ground starts to move under me. "What the-"
Instead of standing on flat ground, I'm now standing on an incline. Instead of the symbol of Uzushiogakure under my feet, there is now a spiral wooden ramp. I look at the summons before looking back at the darkness below me and shrug.
It won't be the craziest thing I've done. I start walking down the ramp, being sure to stay away from the edge. Knowing my luck I'd slip and fall and hurt myself and that's the last thing I want to happen right now. It seems like I've been walking forever until I reach the bottom of the ramp.
This room is almost as large as the one up at the top of the ramp. The walls are the same charred wood as the top floor as well. The main difference is this space is one large open room. It reminds me of the chunin sealing room on the third floor of the Uzukage tower.
The main differences are the lack of windows down here. And the wall of masks. They all have a faint glow of white around them, but they are identical to the Shinigami masks on the top floor. I look at the masks for another moment before I turn to the rest of the room.
It's filled with individual workbenches. There are a few fuinjutsu tables at the back of the room by the supply shelves as well. Each workbench is made out of the same charred wood as the walls. Each of them has an organization box on the top for different pens and brushes, there's also different types of tools as well.
Above each workbench and fuinjutsu table is a different seashell windchime.
"Blank white masks are in every work station," Kairi says as she and Ichika enter the room behind me.
"And the black masks?" I ask as I look around the room.
"In the fuinjutsu tables," she says. I nod and start to walk to the back of the room.
"Are you not going to start on your holiday preparations first?" Kairi asks as I hear her fly through the room.
"No," I say as I sit down at one of the fuinjutsu tables. "I need to be prepared, you know? I want to have at least a couple of these masks ready just in case."
"Start with one, mija. Then you should work on your holiday preparations."
"How long until I need to head to Kumo?" I ask as I place my hand over the seal
"About a week," Kairi says.
"But it doesn't start until the thirty-first!" The black mask appears under my hand on top of the low table in front of me. I reach out and grab the white ink and a brush from the shelf on the wall above the table. I put the inkwell on the table before I turn to look at Kairi who sits on an empty shelf higher up on the wall.
"The elders will want you there earlier to help make decisions with the preparations," Kairi says as she starts to pick at her feathers.
"But this is my first time celebrating!"
"You're the Uzukage, now." Ichika says as she lays down beside me. "Get used to it, mija. They're going to be sending you letters all the time about the smallest things when you're not in the village with them."
"Please tell me there's not a lot of paperwork, though," I say as I look at the mountain lion. I see flashes of Jiji's desk filled with stacks of papers.
"Oh mija, I would never lie to you."
I sigh and hunch over the mask in front of me as both of the summons cackle. I should've said no to the hat.
"Oh hush," Ichika says after she calms down. She bumps against my leg as I dip my brush into the white ink. I stick my tongue out at her before I go back to the mask and run the brush along the cheekbones.
"Abuelito won't give me too much paperwork," I say after a few minutes.
"And why do you say that?" Ichika asks as I move the brush down the mask's nose.
"Cause' he was exposed to Abuelita's and mama's pranks, he should know mine are just as bad." A dangerous grin appears on Ichika's face as she stands up and runs from the room. "Gracias Ichika!" I yell as she runs to inevitably start planning pranks for our trip.
"You're just as bad as Kahana," Kairi murmurs.
"You wouldn't have me any other way, Kairi~"
"Yeah, yeah, now focus on your work." I force myself not to grin up at the seagull. She's just as excited as we are.
Translations!
Maldita - damn
Calaveras - skulls
Mierda - shit
Careta - mask
Mija - my darling/my daughter
Día de los Muertos - Day of the Dead, A holiday traditionally celebrated on Nov. 1-2 throughout the world by people of Mexican heritage.
Abuelo/Abuelito - grandfather
Abuela/Abuelita - grandmother
Dios mío - my god