To everyone who reviews, sends PMs, etc: thank you. I have been working on this story continuously for the last six years. We have gone through major life events in that time, much like many of you. Some of them have had a major effect on my ability to write at times. I just wanted to take a moment to say how grateful I am for the feedback and interactions I have had with you all over the years. I committed a long time ago to not abandoning this story and it brings me great joy to know that some of you have the same commitment.
As of right now, things have settled down enough that I believe I will be able to post chapters relatively often (can't commit to a set schedule at the moment). Hopefully at least once a month. Definitely more than once a year in the future.
Please feel welcome to send me any questions or comments related to the story. That feedback is such an important part of the development of how I focus the content chapter to chapter and a huge encouragement to me to hear from people. Helps me feel like I'm not just screaming into the void, lol.
So private message, review, etc. If you have a question but don't have an account, leave a guest review and I'll answer in the prescript before the chapter. For reviews or PMs, I'll get back to you individually as soon as I can.
Thank you and I hope you enjoy this next chapter as much as I liked writing it. XO, Ponchoninjax3
"Time for another break," Beki hopped out of her chair.
Ren's face was half buried in a book. She had been groaning for the last fifteen minutes about how boring and dry her book was. it had just enough important sounding information peppered in the pages Ren couldn't lightly skim the huge blocks of text. Upon Beki's declaration of recess, Ren gleefully leapt over to the wall of curiosities beside Beki.
They began rummaging around, looking for something new and exciting amidst all the strange weapons and mysterious curios. There was a stack of oddly sized and shaped shields, including a small silver buckler with a large green stone set in the upper third. Behind it was a large silver one with a red bird on a blue field pointing at a trio of golden triangles toward the top. Beki shifted a few more aside until she stumbled upon a glass case containing a peculiar stone mask. It had been concealed carefully in a depression in the wall. Beki would have missed it, save for the briefest glint as the light caught the glass just so. It took a few minutes to finagle it from its position. Once it was free, Beki held it up for a better view.
"Whoa." Ren popped up from between Beki's legs, earning her a glare Ren ignored. "That's a creepy piece of work."
Beki scrutinized it through the glass, turning over the container as she examined the contents. It depicted a glaring face. A raised portion ran up the forehead that reminded Beki of a scorpion's tail. A curl was carved to the side at the top of this segmented section. The odd details at the top of the mask were quickly forgotten when she spied the two sharp fangs at the corners of the mouth. As she continued to observe the strange specimen, Beki observed a set of claws on hinges tucked into the back of the mask.
"What the hell?" Beki's eyes narrowed. "How are you supposed to put this on? There's no hooks or holes for a tie. Just these sharp looking talons."
"Is that blood?!" Ren squealed, pressing her face against the glass.
Beki unlatched the top and reached into the case. Her fingertips had almost brushed the strangely smooth stone when a familiar voice stopped her in her tracks.
"Hey!" Yuki came barreling down the stairs. "Don't touch that!"
Beki had jumped at her mother's demand and closed the top automatically. Yuki snatched the case out of her hands and shoved it back to its secret spot.
"We already have enough problems with the Maidens, we don't need male supermodel vampires running around on top of it," Yuki grumbled as she replaced the shields in front of the cache.
Ren and Beki exchanged a look. "What?"
"Don't worry about it." Reika had descended the stairs unnoticed during Yuki's scolding. "Have you found anything about the problems we've been having, Ren?"
Ren shook her head slowly. "A lot of strange things have happened at the shrine over the years. Nothing quite like what's been going on now."
Wordlessly, Reika motioned for the party to follow. She reached behind a bookcase and felt for a moment. There was a loud click and hinges groaned as the case swung away from the wall, revealing a secret door beyond. Beki had been aware there was a secret study somewhere in the shrine. She had been looking at books on that shelf just an hour before and never would have been the wiser.
Reika opened the door to the head priestess's study and led them inside. It was a plain space, the bare basement walls covered with faded tapestries and a slightly less musty tatami mat on the floor. The low black lacquered desk was littered with scrolls, tomes, and handwritten notes. A pile of cushions in various sizes and thicknesses formed a nest behind the desk. There was a matching black lacquer cabinet and a few bookcases of varying heights scattered around the room.
The longer Beki stared at this seemingly nondescript room, the more unsettling it became. The tatami mat and walls bore suspicious splatters and stains from a dark liquid. The decorative paintings on the lacquered cabinet depicted scenes from hell, the tapestries the most graphic illustrations of the deaths of the Three Maidens Beki had ever seen. Growing up in a culture that could safely and unoffensively be called "morbid", these scenes causing Beki pause meant at best the images were in poor taste.
Odd curios were tucked into the bookcases and on every available flat surface. Beki spied strange skulls, cruel and overly ornamented knives as long as her hand, and jars whose contents looked suspiciously like viscera. Crystals that glowed softly in the gaslight and rocks covered with roughly hewn runes. Beki's eyes fell on the handwritten notes on the desk. Diagrams, intricate geometric designs, and script she'd never seen before.
This wasn't the usually harmless curiosity about the paranormal the locals had. This was the occult, straight up forbidden arcana. It went against everything the shrine had ever taught or represented.
Ren approached a bookcase littered with tattered scrolls and what appeared to be a human skull. "All these trinkets and baubles… did you pay for them with blood?
"Did we ever consider that this," Beki gestured vaguely at the space. "May have contributed to all the spooky crap going on around here?"
Yuki for her part was staring Reika down. The intensity of her gaze was drill on bone. "How long have you had this collection?"
Reika seemed to see the space for the first time. "I…We have always housed these sorts of things. My personal study of these subjects was to enhance our understanding-"
"You two," Yuki took both girls by the shoulders and shoved them bodily out of the room. "Go upstairs. Get outside."
"Mom-" Beki began but the look on her mother's face stopped her in her tracks.
"Do not disobey me." Yuki's jaw was set. "Go. Now."
The two girls began to mount the stairs slowly, so when Yuki turned on Reika they were able to catch a few words. "Blood ritual", "forbidden", "defiling the dead", and most startling of all, "necromancy" were overheard. Beki searched Ren's face for answers. Ren for her part had blanched and seemed to be in a mild state of shock.
"Did you know?" Beki asked.
"Do you think," Ren turned and stared at her from haunted eyes. "I would have stayed in this hellhole for even five minutes if I knew my sister was dabbling with forbidden jutsu?!"
The two picked up speed, as if Reika's ghosts were gaining on their tail. Once they were outside, Ren turned and looked at the shrine as she paced.
"Maybe that's why you're here, maybe we have to burn this whole clown show to the ground." Ren threw up her hands. "Everything good this has ever stood for, any worthy works our ancestors have conducted, are all gone now. This thing has turned into a portal to hell. That's the only logical explanation for everything. Reika has been messing with powers beyond her control and has brought half the underworld up on us and-"
Beki halted Ren's circuit with a hug. "It's okay. It's going to be okay now. If anyone can figure out what to do, its my mom."
A few minutes later, the sound of heavy footsteps stomping up the stairs drew their attention. Yuki came outside laden with a colossal armful of objects and scrolls. She threw them unceremoniously on the ground, turned, and put her hands on her hips expectantly. Reika followed a few moments later, shame plain on her face as she dumped a similar pile on the one Yuki had just deposited.
"Go get the rest." Yuki clapped dust off her hands. "I'll get the fire going."
"Yuki, these are ancient scripts. Some of them are irreplaceable-" Reika protested and Yuki grabbed her by the collar.
"You had people killing themselves after you brought this shit here. This should have never been written down. Your responsibility as head priestess is to cleanse and destroy evil," Yuki gestured at the pile. One of the runestones had rolled close to her foot and she recoiled as if it were a snake. "You used your position as an excuse to indulge in an unhealthy fascination. Whatever is going on here, this definitely made it worse."
"It is not an unhealthy fascination!" Reika stamped her foot. "I was trying to learn, to fight these evils-"
Yuki said nothing. She stood, arms folded with a look of utter disbelief. "There is no excuse, Reika. Even when we were young you were a little too interested in the dark arts and the paranormal. This isn't delving into the woods on a misty night looking for fox fire. This isn't staying up late sharing scary stories. This is blasphemy."
"That's rich, coming from you. Your parents were heretics!" Reika scoffed. "No one mourned them, Yuki. The priestesses only took you in because they thought your ice mutation was divine retribution for what happened to the rest of your family!"
After a moment Yuki shook her head and considered Reika as though she were a stranger. The moments stretched. Reika's face sank, her righteous fury gone, as it settled in she'd uttered something that would have been better left unspoken. "Yuki, I-"
"How long did you know?" Yuki's tone was dangerously measured.
Reika blinked rapidly. "You…wait, you knew? When? How? The head priestess only told me when I was-"
"You think a trick door could stop me from learning what I want to know?" Yuki cocked her head. "That if there were dark, unspoken secrets, like what was done to my family, I wouldn't have hunted it down?"
"Wanting to become head priestess makes no sense, then." Reika shook her head. "If you knew, then how-"
"An inquisition, Reika. A bloody retribution, weeding out the unfaithful that lead the flock astray." A zealous light flashed in Yuki's eyes, enough to make her own daughter recoil involuntarily. "Exactly what's waiting for you if I don't see sincere repentance."
The trio were dumbfounded, all for different reasons. The façade had slipped and the real Yuki was showing. It was terrifying how they all intrinsically knew Yuki's twitching fingers meant she was looking for an excuse. One wrong move and ice claws would cleave flesh.
Yuki snapped at Reika and motioned to the pile. "Dig out anything with information on the Three and the shrine."
Timidly, Reika stepped forward and began to sift through the tomes, scrolls, and loose papers. Yuki began thumbing through materials, tossed some at Ren and Beki, and began reading through a thick book bound with peeling bark.
There wasn't anything useful in Beki's book. Yuki was fixated on what she was reading, so Beki stepped forward and began to sift through the pile. One scroll drew her eye. It looked ancient, even when compared to the other old dusty works. The edges were frayed and the paper severely discolored with age. Beki picked it up gingerly, careful of the crumbling edges. She unwound the stained scarlet ribbon and carefully unrolled the scroll, releasing a cloud of dust and the fragrance of old incense.
Daggers wedged into her skull with enough force to put Beki on her knees. The image on the paper held her gaze in place, compelled by some unseen force. The edges of Beki's vision blurred from the searing pain in her head as the painting seemed to grow. It swelled, filling her field of view and emptying her mind. It was the portrait of a corpse. Pale purple-gray skin, the white hair of a demon crowned by strange curved vertical horns, and dressed in black and white burial clothes. Grotesquely beautiful facial features were marred by the abnormal: ruby rosebud lips and a delicate nose were overshadowed by the presence of the eldritch eyes. The figure bore the vacant stare of the dead. Clouded over eyes that drew the eye up to the last horrible detail: a scarlet eye that parted the forehead vertically. The Eye peered through the paper like a window directly into Beki's soul.
The longer she stared, the stronger the hold of the Eye became. Beki could feel it drawing her in despite her body remaining motionless. The stabbing sensation in her head became more intense as it concentrated. It began all over her skull, then shrank to the front half. From there, it localized to the space from ear to ear, and from her nose up to her crown. As Beki watched, her heart sinking into her gut, the picture seemed to take on more depth. The dimensions of the figure became more pronounced as the light and shadows shifted and flickered. Every fiber of Beki's body was screaming, her mind desperate to flee, but she wasn't even able to close her eyes.
A thought skipped across the surface, briefly registering before it turned to vapor. Whatever this thing was, Beki was never meant to see it. It was not of this world. The very image, the knowledge of this being's existence, was beyond what Beki's mind could comprehend. She could feel her thoughts fraying at the edges as her mind shorted out. It felt like blowing a fuse. Beki was completely paralyzed as the insight blossomed, forcing everything else out in an attempt to contain this knowledge in a container never meant to hold it.
Beki's vision tunneled further. She shuddered as her name was whispered by a strange voice in her mind, whimpering internally as everything that had ever been or would be was smothered silently. Like a flame under a glass, fading until only a glowing ember remained. Once it was consumed only smoke would remain.
The paper was snatched away. Free of the glass, the ember burst back into flames.
Beki inhaled loudly, filling her lungs like a drowning man breaching the surface. Ren stood before her with rescuer's horror plastered across her face. Beki looked down at her hands. They hovered in the air, holding the ghost of the paper, shaking violently. Beki had no words. Her mind was still frighteningly blank from the blinding agony in the center of her forehead.
"Thank you," Beki managed a hoarse whisper. "How did…I was just looking, and…"
Her voice trailed off as her thoughts fell off the crumbling cliff in her mind.
"I heard the echo," The whites of Ren's eyes took up most of her face.
Yuki had detected their distress despite the silence. She had cast aside her book was storming over with knit brows. The questions desperately clawing their way to the surface of Beki's mind were disrupted by Yuki taking the portrait from Ren. She surveyed it with an increasingly dark expression.
"What…what is that?" Beki's voice trembled almost as hard as her knees.
Yuki shook her head and cast the portrait into the fire. For several seconds, it sat atop the logs unmarred. As they all watched in silence, the paper relented and began to take on flame.
Yuki's voice echoed from beyond the void in her daughter's mind: "Nothing good, Beki. Nothing good."
…
"Are you sure we should have left my sister up at the shrine?" Ren asked.
They had been on the road for a few days, eager to put as much distance between them and the shrine as possible. Reika had seemed to wilt after every burned book and withered with every scroll they used for kindling. The untainted histories and artifacts had been preserved. It had been no consolation for her. She had held them in her eyes, casting furtive glances at the still roaring flames, as though she wanted to complete the holocaust of knowledge. Ren had witnessed this foreign side to her sister for the first time, a facet of her personality that frightened and confused her. Through her silence and lies by omission, Reika failed Ren as both family and mentor.
All Reika's teachings now tainted, Ren felt compelled to seek truth from other sources. Perhaps under Yuki's tutelage and by research in Getsu, Ren could come to some satisfactory conclusions. That didn't erase Ren's baseline concern for her kin. Reika, although admittedly more peculiar than she originally thought, was still her only living relative. The idea of her sister alone in that shrine where so many strange and horrible events had taken place ate at Ren's heart. No one should be condemned to such a fate. Even if in some capacity Reika deserved it.
Yuki had been in a foul mood since they left the mountain. Reika had thrown herself blubbering at Yuki's feet, begging for forgiveness. Carrying on about how Yuki's absence had allowed her to go astray. If Yuki stayed and guided her, Reika could return to the right path. She need only to accept, and Reika would devote herself to Yuki completely. Repent and change her ways. There was subtext to her request and the way she clung to Yuki's legs. Double meanings Yuki hoped the girls missed. Reika had already dishonored herself with her behavior, there was no need to be crass in front of her kin and Yuki's.
Reika had brought calamity down upon the heads of those she was entrusted. Then she dared appeal to Yuki for mercy, pretending herself the victim. Misguided? Reika had been steering the boat. If anyone misguided Reika, it was herself. Only cowards shifted blame, made excuses, and foisted the confrontation of their demons on others. Such empty words in the face of a lifetime of egregious transgressions was evidence enough to Yuki that Reika could never truly change. Reika served Reika. In retrospect, she seemed to have been intentionally sabotaging things to follow her own agenda.
The decedents of the Maidens, especially Ren and Beki, hadn't been instructed in the control of their abilities. The influence of the shrine had shrunk, not replacing staff that passed away or left until the place was run by a skeleton crew. Probably all to follow her twisted fascination with the darker aspects of their calling.
Yuki realized Ren had been waiting for an answer for some time. She covered for her wandering thoughts by pretending to have been organizing her answer.
"We can conclude one of two possibilities," Yuki took on a lecturing tone. "Your sister is not responsible for the events at the shrine. By the pattern she described leading up to the deaths of the other priestesses, Reika is in the final stages. We don't know if any of the priestesses or staff that fled survived following their escape of the shrine. This phenomenon could even be contagious."
Ren and Beki exchanged a terrified look.
"So it would be dangerous to bring her into society?" Beki asked.
Yuki nodded. "The captain is supposed to go down with the ship."
"If I start developing more severe symptoms-" Ren stared at her hands but was silenced by Yuki's index finger to her lips.
"I doubt you will. Whatever this is, its targeting individuals who serve specific purposes." Yuki said. "You've had the nightmares for a while but they haven't escalated to physical phenomenon. Reika is having the material world affected and has been for a while. I think you're clear. Hopefully, anyway. Worst case we quarantine and I try to figure out a way to stop it."
"What's the other possibility?" Beki shifted uncomfortably. The last thing she wanted to think about was the three of them in a cave somewhere being psychically consumed by sentient, malevolent nightmares. The image of the portrait flashed in her mind, the head jerking with a violent crack as it took an impossible horizontal position. The retina of the Eye shuddered and pulsed, focusing in on her. A chill crept down Beki's spine. She shook her head aggressively to dismiss the sight.
"Reika was the cause of everything that happened." Yuki folded her arms and tapped the fingers of her left hand pensively. "If that's the case, then after destroying all those forbidden texts, the danger has passed and she should be fine up there. Give her a chance to recover some of her composure before she rejoins civilization."
"It seems silly, thinking that a piece of paper or a book could trigger such strange phenomenon. The shrine was always approached to deal with items that were perceived as cursed. Its possible that the belief those items were evil can create energy and attract occult phenomenon." Yuki spoke, half to the girls and half to herself. She was simultaneously explaining and positing possibilities in an all to certain tone.
"No, it doesn't seem silly." Beki muttered. "But I really wish it was."
"I hope Ishida has some good news for us." Yuki sighed. "I would love it if the coup in Konoha has blown over."
"I don't even know if the Five Kage Summit will have ended." Beki shook her head. "There's a lot of bad blood between the Big Five. It will take them a while to work past enough of the mistrust to actually have a discussion-"
"What if there's another possibility?" The other two had almost forgotten Ren, she had fallen so silent. "Like, if its both or neither scenario?"
A dark shadow enshrouded her face, eyes downcast as fear gripped her body. Ren spoke softly, as though afraid to awaken the dead. "What if Reika's…hobby started something that couldn't be stopped? Like uncorking a bottle of champagne. The cork can't go back inside once it's out."
"Or perhaps she opened a door that can't be closed." Yuki's grim expression matched Ren's fear with fatalistic acceptance. "If so…"
Her voice trailed off as Yuki searched the horizon for answers. "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it."
The three traveled in pensive silence for the remainder of their journey. Over the next few days, fear that the nightmares would follow them abetted. If they dreamed, they all forgot by morning, and they were as well rested as could be out in the wilds. Despite their quiet nights, all three couldn't help but notice birdsong seemed less sweet, colors less sharp, and the sky looked strangely ominous despite no clear signs of an impending storm. At first, Beki was convinced it was their own morbid mindset after the strangeness encountered up at the shrine. Yet when they came into the town proper, they found the village in disarray. People rushed about, shouting and whispering equally incoherently. There was a general sense of displaced panic that set an observer's teeth on edge. That sort of pandemonium triggered every survival instinct they had. The worst part was the lack of a face; no one would stop and tell them what enemy was afoot.
When they reached Ishida's office they found the door locked. Yuki set her jaw and furrowed her brows with concern as she spied his form through a crack in the blinds.
"What's wrong?" Beki asked.
Yuki ignored her and pounded on the door. "ISHIDA."
The voice was unmistakable, a command as much as it was a threatening growl. The tone was one Beki wasn't familiar with. It instantly set her blood to ice. Ishida threw open the door with an urgency to his face that betrayed he felt the same. He had been compelled against his will to respond, forced to meet the storm head on or to wait for it to find him.
Wordlessly, Ishida stepped aside and Yuki gained entry, the exchange seamless and fluid as a dance. Beki wasn't certain Ishida had fully registered who had been calling. It almost seemed as though he were expecting Death itself on his doorstep.
When his eyes fell on Beki and Ren, the faraway stare focused. The gloomy expression on his face didn't improve. "Come inside."
The girls entered the office, hearing the click of the lock behind them as Ishida resecured the building. As Beki's eyes adjusted to the dim light she was stunned. It looked like a bomb had gone off. Clothes, papers, spilled ink pots, an overturned cabinet, everything in complete disarray.
"Did someone toss the place?" Ren was stiff, head whipping side to side. She scanned for an intruders lurking in the shadows with a hand on the knife at her hip.
"No." Ishida steepled his hands, then dry washed them nervously. "We have had urgent news."
Yuki's eyes flashed like a creature in the dark. "What news could ruffle your feathers so, Ishida?"
"The Big Five have declared war," Ishida raised his head. "Against the Akatsuki."
"When?" Beki caught herself untensing muscles she hadn't known she'd strained. She fidgeted with her engagement ring subconsciously as her mind raced with possibilities.
"Yesterday." Ishida tried to smooth back the hair that had fallen in his eyes but it immediately drooped again. "The Moon has pledged aid. They're trying to work out the logistics as we speak. It's expected to be unprecedented. To put it colloquially, they're going to bet the farm-"
Beki stormed towards the door before he could finish speaking.
"Where are you going?" Yuki's words pierced the air like an assassin's dagger.
Beki turned and stared her mother down. "I need to go now."
"The rest of the village will be dispatched soon," Ren grabbed Beki's wrist. "Let's wait until we get our orders-"
"The last time Gaara was up against the Akatsuki, they killed him." Beki clenched her fists and yanked her arm away from Ren. "There has hardly been a night where I haven't wondered about it. What would have happened if I had gotten to him sooner? Could I have saved him? Could I have at least been there with him, held his hand as he died?"
"He lived." Yuki put a foot up on an ottoman and leaned against it; a panther ready to pounce. "There's nothing for you to worry over."
"There isn't another old woman with a one time use resurrection jutsu stashed in a closet somewhere!" Beki glared, more at the tears burning her eyes than the people around her. "There won't be a third chance. I've lost enough people I love sitting around waiting for orders. I didn't stay when the Akatsuki attacked Suna. When Gaara was kidnapped, I dragged my heels, gathering information instead of rushing to rescue him. The same thing happened with Dad. I sat and listened and waited like a good little girl while everyone else looked for him. If I had followed my gut and looked for him myself, he might still be here!"
At the mention of Seiichiro, Ishida winced. Yuki merely leaned closer. Watching for something.
"I'm not going to sit around waiting again. I'm going, whether any of you come along or not is your business." Beki unlocked the door. "Just don't try to stop me. This is my mistake to make. If I'm going to screw up, I would rather it be for doing something rash than twiddling my thumbs."
"He's the Kazekage, Beki. How could you believe you can stand against something that puts him in the dirt?" Yuki stepped off the ottoman and shrugged. "You should keep to your own weight class, sweetie. Leave the heavy lifting to the adults."
"Did you not hear a word I said?" Beki turned, her anger flaring enough for a glow to come into her skin. "I need to be there for him. He would do it for me. If I ever hope to be of any use to him, or to anyone for that matter, I need to stop sitting around waiting for things to happen to me and take some damn control of my own destiny."
"You were supposed to be laying low," Ishida said softly, a meager attempt to lull the room back into hushed tones. His eyes flicked between Beki and Yuki. "Both of you."
"Beki is right." Ren draped an arm around her friend's shoulders with some effort. She was on her tip toes and had to drag Beki gently to the side to reach. It was physically uncomfortable, but an unparalleled emotional support. "We have to ask ourselves: what kind of bad bitches do we want to be?"
Ren looked expectantly at the other three for an answer. Yuki smirked, Ishida tried hard to pretend Ren hadn't spoken, and Beki nodded.
"It was a trick question!" Ren punched the air. "Within the question itself lies the answer: bad bitches. And bad bitches don't wait around for some twerp king with pubescent bacne who's never going to see any action, in combat or in romance, to tell us when to jump and how high."
"Alright, alright." Yuki laughed. "You had me at bacne."
Ishida's face paled as he surveyed them like circling wolves. "You're all mad. Absolutely mad."
Yuki slapped his rear in passing. "Grab your crap Ishida, we're going to war."
"You forget I'll be needed at the war table." Ishida slapped her hand away.
"Like you can't strategize in the field," Yuki forcefully looped her arm through his and shoved him towards the door. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "We'll need someone's ambassadorial privileges to make our way to the battlefront ahead of schedule."
"Dammit, Asou," Ishida hissed as he was bodily shoved over the threshold. "You'll be the death of us all!"
Once they were outside, Ishida reached past Yuki and pulled the door shut in front of the girls.
"Do you think I didn't see what you were doing in there?" Ishida squared off with Yuki, fully aware of the canyon between their skill levels. Principle was principle. Ishida had long suspected his end would come at the hands of this walking cataclysm and meant to die on his feet. "Why would any loving mother goad her daughter into riding off to war?! Maybe she's too naïve, still gullible enough to believe you have her best interests at heart, but this is shameless. If you're going to send her into hell you shouldn't trick Beki into thinking its her own idea."
"I have no love for war, Ishida." Yuki placed a delicate hand upon her cheek, her ageless beauty marred by the unhinged gleam in her eyes. "But the contest of it is undeniable. At the bare minimum, villages gut their retirement homes for battle-hardened veterans. They send their young proteges off in parades with fanfare, golden epaulettes, and roses thrown at their feet. The nobodies are even put to the test. War is a crucible where under heat and pressure, anyone can become the stuff of legends."
"Those veterans coach the young, use their experience to commit feats well beyond their years. Instead of rotting away and dying of old age, they will be remembered forever as heroes thanks to their glorious acts of sacrifice." Yuki's eyes lingered on the door, as if seeing the teenagers just beyond. "The young undergo a metamorphosis thanks to the inspiration of the old timers. They follow their example and square off against insurmountable odds with grim determination. If they return home, nothing they face in their lifetime will compare to the horrors of war. They learn to accept that risk and sacrifice are necessary for success. They become titans, inspiring the generations that come after. So the cycle continues."
"This is not the Chunin Exams, Asou." Ishida hissed. "You were there in the last war. Now, there is a common enemy. Do you think once the Akatsuki are vanquished the conflict will end? With men on the field, aggressive thanks to the mob mentality and a taste for blood, do you think it will stop? We're sending these girls into a meat grinder and you have the audacity to speak to me of glory-"
"Not glory. Transcendence. That is what it will take to survive in the coming age, Ishida." Slowly, the smile slid off her lips. The light in her eyes flickered.
For a moment, Ishida thought he sensed fear from Yuki. That didn't seem possible. There was nothing Asou Yukihana feared. No force on heaven or earth seemed to be able to touch her, not even death. Yet the expression lingered. Ishida found himself becoming uneasy for new reasons. What in creation could have the Yukionna losing sleep? What could be more terrible than another world war?
"Something is coming. I don't know quite what, I don't know quite when. What I do know is by the time it is finished there may be no nations left to battle." Yuki gave him an unusually respectful look. She was bringing him into her confidence. Trust was not something she gave feely and so Ishida found himself more uncomfortable by the minute.
"The Akatsuki are kage killers. If I can test myself against a force strong enough to slay one of the strongest shinobi on the planet and emerge victorious…" Yuki's voice trailed off. She shook her head and regained her composure. "Maybe I can keep my kin alive against whatever comes next. If the children can be desensitized, can learn to fight tooth and nail for their survival, then even if I fail they might succeed. In either outcome I have served my purpose and can face my husband in the afterlife with my head held high."
Ishida was silent. He had never agreed with any of Yuki's ideas but her words made a terrible amount of sense. His lingering malaise and the unshakeable sense of foreboding were justified by her warnings of ill portents. Disaster loomed overhead. They had a responsibility to prepare the next generation to stand and fight. To pass on their knowledge and experience, to lead by example, to lay down and sacrifice themselves to ensure the survival of others. That was how mankind continued. In the deepest, darkest night, during the worst moments in history, that was the light. To do the hard thing at the worst time and perish in a painful and thankless way. If that meant one kid walked away alive, if they were grateful or inspired by that sacrifice, then the adults had done their job not just as shinobi, but as people.
The thoughtful moment passed. Yuki recovered first, donning her mask of confidence before releasing the girls. Beki and Ren for their part looked frustrated. Their attempts at eavesdropping must have been thwarted by the soundproofed door. They asked no questions and the adults offered no answers. The four departed somberly into the night, unsure if they would ever see home again, much too tired to pretend otherwise.
