Author's Note: This chapter was published at the same time as the previous one for the sake of not breaking up this arc since the two chapters were originally written as one. This chapter in particular is VERY long compared to the others so grab your popcorn and get comfortable!
A Disclaimer: A historical figure is mentioned in this chapter that you may recognize and may have already connected with Avurin. His name is used in the story loosely, not intended to accurately represent him as he was in life - this is a fanfiction about ninja as it is. Don't expect continuity in that regard.
A WARNING: I do not usually add chapter warnings, however this particular chapter has mentions of nonconsensual sexual acts, actions that are considered psychological and physical torture, and mentions of insanity. Miscarriage and other dark themes around forced pregnancies are also mentioned. If you do not want to read anything involving these topics, please skip the journal entries that are written in italics near the end of the chapter as well as the paragraphs in between. You can enjoy the story without reading them, if needed. This is likely the only time I will include a specific chapter warning.
Chapter Note: The Okita Estate and its secrets… based on a real place! Notes regarding the inspiration for the estate are included at the bottom of the chapter for those interested. Chapter Song: Infra-Red by Three Days Grace
...
Traveling with Kakashi was easy in Avurin's opinion. He listened to her ramble throughout the journey, occasionally offering his input and teasing her when he felt like it, he read Icha Icha Paradise at night by the fire, knew exactly when she needed breaks throughout the day, but kept the pace she had set on the first day, and always joined her in her sleeping bag each night to hold her. He was proficient in wards and he didn't hesitate to put several around the perimeter of their camp each night that would alert him immediately if there was an intruder, so neither of them had to take watch and lose sleep during their travels.
As they approached the area the estate was in, Kakashi started scouting ahead at regular intervals and Avurin checked their surroundings for chakra signatures. They grew more tense as they approached the estate, things seemingly too calm. As the tension grew, conversations were short, limited to whispers and hand signs as they continued to survey the areas they were moving into. Their pace slowed and they were careful with their steps. The estate came into view on the end of their third day of travel, a low, crumbling rock wall surrounding the expansive plot of land that a mansion sat on, unassuming and peaceful. They observed the land the estate sat on, watching for any activity for several hours. Avurin felt the ache in her shoulders and thighs from crouching on one of the high tree branches overlooking the property as Kakashi assessed the property from different angles, sticking to the trees forming a ring around the cleared area.
"Everything seems clear. However, I did notice the smell of death near the Southern wall. I couldn't find the source, I just know that the smell was rather strong so it's been there a while. It may have been inside of the wall. We'll have to check it out when we move in." Kakashi whispered. Avurin nodded, her stomach rolling at the thought of finding any bodies on the estate. There shouldn't be any reason for a body to be present. She couldn't feel the presence of anyone else nearby so it was likely the house was empty. Kakashi gave the go-ahead and they walked down the overgrown path towards the front gate of the estate. The wall was low enough to easily jump over, possibly just to step over if someone was tall enough. It couldn't have been more than four feet high. However, something was telling her not to try.
As they approached the front gate, a small wooden gate with a faded emblem on the front, Avurin pressed her hand to the wood but didn't push. A golden light pulsed from the emblem and Kakashi gestured for her to look at him. His visible eye barely contained his shock.
"Your eyes are glowing like they do when you use your Kekkei Genkai. I'm not sure if you should talk while you're touching that." he told her. She nodded and focused back on the emblem. After a moment, the glow faded and the gate opened without her even pressing against it. She hesitated for a moment before stepping past the gate. Looking to her right, she noticed wards lining the inside of the wall that were all glowing gold as if activated by her presence. She looked back at Kakashi and shook her head, holding out a hand so he wouldn't follow her. Walking to one of the wards, she took in the intricate details carved into the stone wall. It was old, ancient really. She didn't know the first thing about wards but she knew these wards were far more complicated than the ones at the Hatake compound.
Taking out a scroll she'd brought for taking notes, she quickly copied the design of the ward on the paper, taking care not to put any chakra into it. When she finished, she brought it back to Kakashi and showed him the design with a furrowed brow. She wouldn't dare speak while her Kekkei Genkai was activated, she couldn't accidentally force Kakashi to comply with a request, no matter how simple. He pulled his headband back to reveal his Sharingan, tomoe spinning as he absorbed the details of the ward.
"It's old, very old, and very complicated. It was intended to protect the property from anyone that didn't carry Okita blood. I've seen similar wards in older family compounds within Konoha. I don't think it was ever intended to be reversed or deactivated. If I had to guess, it'll kill anyone who walks past the wards without an explicit command by an Okita to enter the property. I could be wrong, but we need to be safe. Your Kekkei Genkai is still activated, likely triggered by the wards." Kakashi said with a sigh as he pulled his headband back down. She stared down at the design and bit her lip. That had to be the reason for the body on the other side of the property, especially if it was just behind the wall.
She wanted, no, she needed Kakashi to come with her, she wasn't going to leave him outside of the wall for the week they would be there. She needed a second pair of eyes to witness the secrets that would be found in her family home and she wanted to share this with him. Bringing her eyes to look into his own, she contemplated how this could all go wrong in less than a second if she didn't do this properly. She took out her brush that she'd used to draw the ward design and wrote a question on it, holding it out to him.
'Are you sure you want to do this?' the note said. Kakashi scoffed as he looked around at the clearing around them, the walls, and finally the mansion behind her.
"Well, it is my mission to protect you on your mission. Do it." He spoke with certainty, no fear in his voice. She trembled as she put the scroll and the brush away. She thought about using one hand in the hand sign she usually used for performing the jutsu but decided against it, knowing her jutsu was already activated if her eyes were glowing. She reached over the threshold of the gate, taking his hand in hers.
"I give you permission to enter the gate. Please follow me into the mansion." As she spoke, she felt the familiar warm feeling in her throat along with the terror of using this power on Kakashi. His visible eye lost all awareness as he stepped forward, still holding onto her hand. She held her breath as his foot made contact with the path on the other side, followed by his other foot. She tugged his hand and he followed her, eyes glazed as he walked with slow steps. As the gate they'd walked through shut behind them, she swallowed the lump in her throat. He was alive and was complying with the order to its completion. His assessment of the ward hadn't been incorrect. They needed to get into the mansion.
She kept a firm hold on his hand as they walked down the pathway to the front door. She noticed that the body Kakashi had smelled earlier was not the only trespasser that had attempted to get inside the property, there were several piles of clothes and bones scattered along the inside of the wall. She didn't distract herself with the worries of who they could have been, she had to get Kakashi into the mansion so the command would relinquish its hold. She'd specifically included getting him to follow her into the mansion as an extra layer of precaution, just in case the wards wouldn't allow him to wander the outside of the property without the invitation inside of the mansion itself.
As they approached the front door, she was surprised to find it unlocked as she turned the handle, pushing the door open and bringing them both inside. As she had hoped, Kakashi's eye immediately widened as awareness came back to him and he put a hand to his head, looking at her in wonder. She nodded and let go of his hand.
"Your eyes aren't glowing anymore. I think it's safe for you to talk again." he whispered. She cleared her throat and used a test phrase she'd used in the past to verify if her jutsu was truly deactivated.
"Find me an orange," she muttered. He looked at her, visibly confused at the question, and her shoulders slumped with relief. "Sorry, it's a phrase I used to use to make sure the jutsu was deactivated when I was still figuring out the details of it. If it wasn't deactivated, you would have searched for an orange for a little while or gotten one out of your pack. Usually it just confuses people if they're reacting normally. God, I never want to do that to you again." She was rambling and her hands were shaking. Kakashi was quick to grab one of her hands, holding it firmly.
"You did what you had to do. It wasn't unpleasant. It just felt like I was asleep and dreaming. That's all. No harm done." She shook her head at his reassurances. She knew her power was terrifying to those that didn't understand it. Very few people fell under that particular jutsu and still had their lives afterwards. That reason alone was why so many people in Konoha were terrified of her.
"Those dreams are usually nightmares for the people that experience that jutsu, Kakashi. It doesn't feel right to use it on someone I care about. It won't ever be 'okay' to me. Let's just forget that it even happened. We have a mission we need to get started on." She pulled her hand away and turned away from him, ignoring the stinging in her eyes. In front of her was a large main room with an imperial stairway leading to a half-landing, splitting two ways to lead to balconies overlooking the main entryway.
She could see the doors on the second level that likely led to bedrooms, offices, and other private rooms, as well as hallways that led further into the home. She prayed that one of them held the information she was looking for, even if she had no idea what exactly she was looking for. To her right, a small doorway was left open that led to a small sitting room. To her left was a more formal sitting room that had a large archway leading into it, obviously decorated and open for more esteemed guests. She could see doorways on both sides of the stairs as well, likely leading to more main rooms of the home.
Without checking with Kakashi, she made her way to the sitting room on the right. It was obviously a private sitting room, likely for the residents to use when they weren't entertaining any guests since the door could be closed to prevent any visitors from venturing into the room. She would be more likely to find private information in that room than in the rooms intended for entertaining guests. As she walked across the main room, the wooden floorboards creaked and she carefully listened for any cracks, however nothing concerning made itself apparent. While the home was old and there was a light layer of dust on everything, the interior had been very well cared for while the residents were still alive and it appeared structurally sound.
As she walked into the private sitting room, she mused that it looked more like a well-lived-in normal-sized living room. Blankets were neatly folded on one end of the couch inside and trinkets littered the fireplace mantle. There were a couple of bookshelves against the wall next to the fireplace, given the room a comfortably cluttered feeling. A teacup sat on the low table inside, a ring of brown on the inside telling her that it had still been full of tea when it was abandoned, the tea long since evaporated. The air was slightly musty and the windows had a layer of dust that made it difficult to see outside of the home. Walking to the fireplace, she took her time to look over the trinkets littering the mantle and smiled when she saw a doll of a kitten curled up in a basket that could easily fit in the palm of her hand, appearing to be asleep. It had been made with soft fur pressed into what was likely felt or another cloth material, looking soft to the touch.
Next to the kitten, she saw several vases, a kunai that looked like it had seen better days, and a dusty framed painting of an older man and woman, smiling as they stood in front of the home. Tearing her eyes away from the painting, she turned back to the rest of the room to see Kakashi staring very intently at a black and white drawing of a tree on the wall behind the couch. Walking closer to the drawing to stand next to him, she noticed that each branch on the tree had a name.
It wasn't overly extensive, but she could see on the trunk where one name resided. Souji Okita. A famous samurai who dedicated his life to the Land of Fire during the establishment of the elemental nations, well known for never losing a battle during the period of constant wars as borders were fought over. In the end, an unknown illness took his life. Before he'd died, he'd had three kids, two sons and a daughter. It was thought that Souji had a Kekkei Genkai that gave him an advantage in battle, making him the war machine he was known to be, but it was never confirmed and Avurin's parents had never mentioned that the Okita clan was derived from Souji Okita.
"Well that suddenly makes sense." Kakashi's voice cut through the silence with a light laugh. Avurin found herself smiling dryly at the comment.
"Yeah, I guess it does. I wonder how current this is." she muttered as she looked towards the tops of the tree branches, where the newest members of the family had been added. As she scanned the branches, she finally found a name she recognized. Kaito Okita, her father's name. If this home had belonged to her great-grandparents, then they had been alive long enough to update the tree when her father was born.
Tracing the branches back down from her father's name, she took note of the names of her grandparents before landing on her great-grandparents. Jiro Okita and Miyumi Okita. She'd never met them or even heard of them, but she felt her heart swell at the newfound knowledge of her family's names. As she followed several branches of the tree, she started to notice a pattern. Most of the branches ended much shorter than her father's, either because they didn't have kids or they had died before having kids. Several may not have even married. Only two other branches went as far as her father's branch did, giving her hope that she may have some living relatives from those branches.
She wished she had a way to record the information on the tree quickly, there was still so much of the house to explore and she didn't want to spend several hours drawing out the tree or writing everything down in a way that she knew she'd be able to understand when she got back to Konoha. She looked to Kakashi.
"I want to find a way to write this down that isn't confusing. I may have a couple of cousins that are still alive that I could reconnect with. Remind me to come by for a few hours while we're here to record this. I don't want to touch anything or remove this from the wall." Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her and then chuckled, lifting his headband to reveal his Sharingan.
"No need. I can memorize this with the Sharingan and recite it to you when we get back home. I'm sure there will be more here than just the family tree." She stared at him in shock and her eyes narrowed as some of his past behaviors suddenly made sense.
"You use that to record things often, don't you?" she started. He seemed to realize his mistake and scratched the back of his head with an apologetic look.
"Mah, only sometimes when there's something I want to remember. You know, menus at restaurants I like or mission details…" he trailed off as her glare didn't falter.
"And little moments with certain girls you like, huh?" she pressed. She'd noticed that eye trained on her several times now, starting on certain afternoons back at her cabin. There was no other reason for that eye to be out, he had to have been using it for that purpose. "And you didn't think it would be important to mention while you were ogling me with that eye over the last few weeks, did you?" Her tone grew hard and she felt her walls coming down, effectively cutting off any affectionate feelings she could have for the Jonin in that moment. How could he have done that? She had no way of knowing he could record those moments and he'd just watched her, recording her anyway during times that should have been private.
"I mean, I use it for things I just really want to commit to memory. It's not like I can show it to anyone else. I just… sometimes it feels like you'll just disappear again and maybe I won't ever see you again and I try to commit certain things to memory… I'm sorry…" he explained with an ashamed stutter as he stared at the ground, carefully avoiding looking at her with the eye. Her anger still simmered but she stomped it down for the sake of not forcing him to dig the hole any further. Crossing her arms and sticking her nose in the air, she huffed.
"I get it. Still, you could have told me sooner. I'm not sure what exactly you have committed to memory from being around me, but finding out after the fact isn't exactly pleasant. I'll know from now on, though. I won't hesitate to blind you if you use it to remember anything embarrassing. It's fucking rude. You probably already have something embarrassing on me that I'll never be able to wipe from your memory." Her words lacked the bite that she felt but the message was clear.
"I'm sorry. For the mission though, it is pretty important for me to use it. I can commit anything about this mansion to memory for you. I committed the gate wards to memory as well for future use if you ever need them. I can do the same thing with books. It takes a lot of chakra but I'll use it for the mission. Now that you know, you can tell me to stop anytime I decide to use it."
"Fine. Take your time with the tree and let's get moving. We're only in the first room."
"Yes, m'lady!" She swatted him.
"Don't say that! God, you're ridiculous." Her angry muttering continued as she opened a door that branched off of the living room. She was surprised to find a quaint kitchen on the other side, the counters yellowed from age and dust collected in the corners. "Huh, weird place for a kitchen… and small for such a large home." she mumbled as she looked around the area. On the other side of the kitchen, an archway led to another room where she could see another door leading outside and an opening to the left, likely leading to a larger room in the home. If she had to guess, the larger room was the room the doors next to the stairs opened up to. She would wait for Kakashi before moving out of the kitchen.
She started opening cabinets as she waited, finding old cans of food and average dishes that had small chips in them, mugs, teapots, teacups, and several other normal kitchen items. There were also ornamental dishes that were likely passed down in the family since they were packaged very carefully so that they didn't touch each other, likely not used for anything other than royalty coming by the home. She saw a pantry door and opened it, surprised to find it completely empty. There was a panel at the back of the pantry, seemingly just a decorative panel built into the wall, yet something was off about it and she found herself investigating further.
When she pushed on the panel, it clicked and opened quietly without even a squeak in the hinges to reveal a narrow staircase. Eyebrows raised and eyes wide with shock, she backed away from the secret entrance. A mansion with a secret hideaway in the back of a pantry was never a safe mansion. The likelihood of tripping a trap raised drastically with just that one discovery. Kakashi chose that moment to walk into the kitchen, standing behind her as she backed up, running into him and tripping. He caught her quickly and looked into the pantry she had just backed out of.
"Is that a secret door?" he asked. She nodded, not really trusting herself to speak. Why did her family need a secret door? Was this the entrance to the room with the clan secrets hidden away? Was it that easy? Kakashi made sure she was back on her feet before poking his head through the doorway, humming lightly to himself before stepping inside to take a step up the dark staircase. He looked back at her. "Do you have one of those glow sticks that were given to us a week ago? The ones you can crack to make light?" She quickly shuffled through her kunai pouch and produced one of the sticks.
They were a new scientific development that had been given to shinobi for mass use, however they lasted for several hours and were considered a liability on the field since they couldn't exactly be put out like a torch and gave away positions if they weren't properly hidden. They were good for a situation like this one, however. They had a very low chance of running into enemies and would be in the home for at least a week, a glow stick would be more of a help than a hindrance, especially if they were trying to avoid traps. Kakashi cracked the glow stick, shaking it a few times until it started to glow a bright green light. He held it up as he looked up the stairs.
"There's a tripwire about halfway up and a seal on the wall shortly after that. I'll deactivate the wire and look at the seal before we touch it. Be careful coming up behind me." he told her as he took a few more steps up the stairs, leaving her field of vision. She pulled out another glow stick, cracking it and shaking it to reveal an orange one. She'd asked for several colors and hadn't bothered to sort them, she liked the fun of never knowing what color she'd get if she ever needed one.
She stepped into the hidden stairwell, looking up to see Kakashi bent over one end of the tripwire. She had a perfect view of his backside and had to fight a blush. She'd just berated him for possibly ogling her and recording it to his memory so this just made her feel like a hypocrite. He was a very attractive man and that fact was not lost on her, despite how embarrassed she was to be openly staring at him as he worked on disabling the trap. He hissed suddenly and yanked a finger away from the wire as it gave, disabled with a little bit of trouble.
"One down, one to go," he mumbled. She could see him wrap his finger with his other hand as he took the next few steps up the stairs. His glowstick was tucked into one of the front pockets of his vest as he used the Sharingan to assess the seal on the wall. He gestured for her to come up to him. "This one is for you. It's another Okita seal. I think this one just needs you to push chakra into it to deactivate and can be reactivated the same way later." He stepped to the side of the narrow passage as she squeezed past him, blushing intensely at how obscenely they had to press together for her to pass him, her back against his front. Why had this staircase been designed to be so small?
She pressed her hand against the seal and pushed a small amount of chakra into it, causing the seal to flicker that same golden light she'd seen in the wards of the gate before fading quickly. A click above them had both of them looking up the stairway, ready to jump into action if something had been triggered by the seal's release. After a few moments of silence, they both let out a breath and continued up the stairs. Avurin kept her eyes open for any traps, but it appeared as if the seal was the last defense. Considering how powerful the wards for the property were, she didn't want to know what the seal would have done if she hadn't deactivated it.
They found a door at the top of the stairs, unlocked. The seal had likely unlocked the door for her, causing the click they had heard. She gently pushed the door open and brought her glow stick in front of her to observe the immediate surroundings of the room the stairway had led them to. Not seeing anything concerning, she took a couple of cautious steps into the room. The floorboards in this room didn't squeak at all and a glance down at her feet revealed a firm floor without a speck of dust on it. Kakashi followed her into the room, a kunai ready in the event that they stumbled across a trap or anything worse. As she wandered further into the room, she found a bed adorned with white sheets and an intricate quilt. It was very neatly made and likely hadn't been touched for decades. Following the bed, she found a nightstand with an oil lamp on it.
Fumbling with her kunai pouch, she found her pack of matches and lit one, lighting up the lamp, bathing the room in a soft orange light. While the glow sticks were great in a pinch, their light didn't provide much for their surroundings in an open room compared to a narrow staircase. The room itself was completely enclosed, there weren't any windows and she could see the ceiling slant at an angle, indicating that they were right under the roof on the right side of the house just above the kitchen. The room was almost bare with just the bed, nightstands on both sides of the bed, and a shogi board on a low table placed against the wall. Kakashi bristled and looked around the room with a wrinkled nose.
"I don't like the smells in this room. I smell blood. It's old but I smell it. I also don't understand why it's so clean when the rest of the house is so dusty. This is… this is a slave's quarters, Avurin." Kakashi muttered as the disturbed look on his face became more prominent. Avurin covered her mouth in horror as she felt bile collect in her throat. A slave's quarters? What the hell? That had been outlawed so long ago in most of the Elemental Nations, especially in The Land of Fire.
"It's a very old home, it's possible it was built with this when slaves were still commonplace. As much as I hate that my family likely had them, it would make sense for this room to still be here even if it sat empty after they were outlawed…" Avurin choked out as she continued to take in the details of the room. "I just don't know why it's so clean… It's like it hasn't been touched since the last time someone was staying in here." She wandered to the other side of the bed, opening the drawer of the other nightstand.
Inside was a worn book with a leather cover. It looked like a journal. Carefully picking it up and opening it, she was surprised to find almost every page filled with handwritten entries. The handwriting was neat and flowing, possibly a woman's handwriting. Shutting it, she turned to Kakashi. "We'll find answers in this. Right now, let's get out of here. I don't like this at all and I don't want you to have to smell this any longer than you have to if you're smelling blood in here." She nodded to him, putting out the lamp before gesturing for Kakashi to take the lead down the stairs. She shut the door behind her and reactivated the seal on the way down the stairs. She was NOT going to leave that room unlocked while they were here. The click from the door at the top of the stairs confirmed part of the seal's function and she was quick to follow Kakashi into the kitchen.
The kitchen was dimmer than before, the sun was setting and she could feel the weariness in her bones as she tried to relax her muscles from where they were tensed, ready to fight an unknown enemy in a room that had set her survival instincts on fire. That room had been unsettling. Kakashi appeared to be doing the same, actually going as far as to pull the mask from his face and waving it lightly as if he were airing it out. He let out a whole-body sneeze and she found herself feeling horrible for keeping him up there during her short search.
"Hey, I'm going to go sit in the living room if you want to do a quick scout of the other rooms to make sure everything is safe and find a room for us to sleep. I want to see what's in this journal so maybe I'll have some answers for that room. I think it should also be safe for you to go outside if you need some fresh air in the front yard. Just don't leave the grounds or I'll have to come get you." She told him, her voice carefully even. She didn't want him to think she was sending him away, but she wanted him away from that room for some reason. The book in her hand felt heavy and she wasn't completely sure if she wanted to read it, but she wanted answers.
"I'll scout the rest of the house. I don't want to leave you in this house by yourself. Stay in the living room with both of the doors closed and locked until I come back." With that, he swiftly left through the door that would take him through the sitting room and to the main room. She watched him leave, feeling confused but didn't want to ask questions. Something had really bothered him about that room, more than she was and she was still shaking off the feeling of being somewhere she shouldn't have been. Following his instructions, she walked into the living room and locked both of the doors.
The smell was getting to her too so she decided to open one of the windows, using this as an opportunity to air out the musty smell and shake some of the dust out of the cushions of the couch outside of the open window. She lightly cleaned the room of dust, careful not to disturb anything, even the teacup that was still sitting on the table. At the very least, if Kakashi didn't find a suitable place for them to sleep that night, they had this room and the couch that was in it. Once the dust was cleared from several of the surfaces and the couch, Avurin sat herself down on one of the cushions at the low table in the room, setting the journal on the table in front of her. Opening it carefully and avoiding cracking any of the frail pages, she began to read.
*Warning Starts Here*
I have been here for what feels like several days but I can't tell the days from nights without windows and I have long since lost count of the seconds, minutes, and days. Kei Okita-san, my future mother-in-law, provided me with this journal as a way to write down my thoughts in an attempt to make me feel "more comfortable." I don't understand why my future husband's family has this tradition and I pray that I am not here much longer. Our wedding shouldn't be long now. While arranged, Riku has been a gentleman during our courting and was pleasant enough to warn me regarding this tradition, however I find myself concerned at the amount of time that has passed since I was led into this room.
Avurin felt a sense of foreboding given how this was the first page of a long journal, written entirely by the same person. She turned the page and continued to read.
I don't understand what is happening. I was released from this room as the Okita tradition mentions and my wedding with Riku was beautiful. He is the only son of the main Okita family branch and no expense was spared. However, right after the wedding, he brought me back to this room and told me I needed to be here just a little longer and he would return soon. This was not mentioned when he told me about this tradition. We were supposed to move into this beautiful home with his family and start our own family here. So why am I in this room again? Why can't I see the sun and enjoy tea with his family? Did my own family know about this before offering my hand in marriage?
Avurin turned to the next page and scanned it. The woman rambled again on the next page, asking the same questions. She sounded so confused and as she reached the end of the page, the woman sounded frustrated as well. She must have been from a high class family and Riku must have been very sought after at the time. She turned to the tree on the wall and could see the funneling of the branches earlier in her own family branch where a single name stood, Riku Okita. He'd been the only child of Kei Okita and a man named Isamu Aoki.
Kei was the only daughter of the previous generation. They must have been under some sort of pressure in regards to heirs. Avurin's stomach churned as the pieces started coming together. She skimmed the next few pages of the journal before coming across the page she was hoping she wouldn't find. The handwriting had become shaky and pieces of the paper looked as if they'd gotten wet and then dried.
I didn't expect this to be a marriage of horror. I understood when I was selected to marry Riku that the Okita family would need heirs, my own mother and my grandmother had provided many heirs to great families and we are very fertile, but why would they go so far as to arrange a wedding and keep the wife as a slave? Riku consummated our marriage last night, forcing himself upon me as his parents ensured our consummation was proper as witnesses. His eyes were so bright in the darkness of the room and I had no control over my body when he did as he pleased. He whispered sweet nothings as he took my innocence from me on this horrid bed.
He promised his parents he would do this often to provide heirs. How can I endure this? How can I tell my family when this cursed family won't let me see them? Kei-san told my family that I was sent to The Land of Earth for a much-needed extended honeymoon, my family won't look for me here. I have done everything as they have asked, I have been patient. I was happy to be married into this family! I haven't opposed them once! What did I do for this to happen to me?
Avurin sniffled to herself and felt the tears running down her own face as she turned the page of the journal. She had to finish, she had to know what happened to this woman. She had started using the glow stick to illuminate the pages as the sun disappeared from view, enveloping the room in suffocating darkness. The woman wasn't on the family tree, yet Riku Okita had provided 6 male strong male heirs that had been legitimate enough to be recorded on the tree. Several of the following pages were lamenting the woman's loneliness in the room and repeated visits from Riku, each more horrible than the last. The man had been horrific in some of the accounts and Avurin had to take moments to breathe through hiccups and sobs on more than one occasion. So many of the accounts involved him using their precious Kekkei Genkai to take what he wanted and she feared her power more than ever. This woman's life was so full of anguish and pain. As she continued to read, she found the passages recounting the news of the woman's first pregnancy.
It has been confirmed that Riku and I have conceived our first child together. Kei-san has been bringing frequent and lavish meals to the room as well as books to read. I appreciate the gestures, however I am still a caged animal and Riku holds the key to this cage. He has continued to whisper sweet nothings to me in my bed, praising my ability to carry his heirs and how quickly we were able to conceive. He hasn't hurt me since the symptoms began, however I still find myself pulling away from his embrace. I am very scared to lose this child. I may lose my life if Riku has another one of his fits, this time over a lost child. Something is telling me I will not be able to carry to term, something is wrong. I can feel it. I'm scared.
Avurin turned the page and quickly skimmed over it, not willing to read it word-for-word. The woman had miscarried as she had predicted, waking to find blood in the bed and Riku had beat her senseless, making her clean her sheets in a tub of soapy water he'd brought up to the room specifically to force her to do this one chore. Avurin felt sick to her core by the acts depicted in the journal, knowing she was a direct descendant of Riku and the unknown woman. She skipped ahead, finding passages where the woman announced her next pregnancy, excited and feeling as if things were right this time. The Okita family treated her well when she was pregnant and she looked forward to the treatment she would receive. As her due date came closer, Riku doted on her and was even physically affectionate with her. Unfortunately, that behavior didn't last.
I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy yesterday. They won't let me see him. I didn't get to give him the name I'd chosen either. I wanted him to be named Hiroto, but Kei-san informed me after he'd been taken from me that his name would be Yuto Okita, a more distinguished name. I had thrown a book at her and screamed at her to leave the room, a grave mistake. Riku punished me swiftly. I feel my sanity slipping each day I spend without my baby, wondering if he is being cared for properly without his mother. I delivered without a nurse, Kei-san delivered him herself and promised she would be delivering all of my future children. I am in so much pain from the birth that I find myself unable to even sleep. I will be given a month to heal before the next heir is planned to be conceived. I am so tired.
Avurin read through the next passages with care as the unknown woman recounted her next few childrens' births, each the same as the last. The baby was taken away and she was left in pain, Riku repeating his actions with her only a month later. Kei was horrific as well, growing more and more insufferable as she continued to push the woman emotionally. It was later revealed that they had kept the woman hidden from view so as to not tarnish the Okita name. Her family had been rich, sure, but they were not well known and the Okitas were considered borderline royalty at that point in time. Avurin found herself on the last page of the journal, wiping away some of her tears.
I am very weak, I have not left the bed in so long that I fear I will die soon. I have not seen my family or my children. I know it has been several years, at least six or seven. After giving birth to my youngest son, I believe I was injured and Kei-san refuses to call a doctor. I feel faint and can hardly eat. I think I am ready to die. However, I can die knowing I completed my mission. The Okita bloodline has been soiled. Out of my six sons, at least two of them will carry my very own family Kekkei Genkai. I believe them to be Hiroto and Kōji, though Kei-san calls Kōji "Minoru." They were both born with my red hair and green eyes, traits of my family, the Sasaki clan. It is likely that they will develop the Kekkei Genkai as well. I only pray that they bring peace to this horrid clan after my death. My parents knew my mission, though they may not know the horrible things I had to do to complete it. Hiroto and Kōji are undeniably my sons, they will know I completed my mission. I can die peacefully. May the Okita clan burn and begin anew.
*Warning Ends Here - Proceed with Caution*
Avurin finished the journal and gently closed it, keeping a hand placed on the back cover. Her sobs picked up again as she pulled her own hair around to look at it in front of her face, seeing the copper color shining through the brown base, knowing now where the color came from. She let go of her hair and clutched at the fabric of her pants, bringing her head down into a bow in front of the book.
"Sasaki-san, please forgive me for reading your private journal. I promise you that the Okita clan is no longer as it once was. I hope to find good words in regards to your sons and how they changed the clan for the better. Please forgive my ancestors for the pain that they put you through, leading to the end of your life. I promise to find out your name and properly add you to the family tree. As one of my past grandmothers, you deserve to be recognized for saving my clan. Thank you. I will return your journal to its rightful place when it is safe to do so." Avurin prayed, keeping her head bowed to the journal.
It was painful to read, painful to acknowledge, and painful to think about, however she hoped that her unknown ancestor had found peace in her final days as her life slipped away. Wiping her face, eyes likely red from the crying she'd been doing, she heard a soft knock on the door that led to the main room. She stood on wobbly legs and opened the door already knowing it was Kakashi from feeling his chakra signature. The sun had fully set by this time and the whole house was dark with the exception of their glow sticks.
"Hey, are you okay?" Kakashi asked as he walked into the room, his eyes landing on the journal. "I heard you crying so I left you to yourself for an hour or so. I assume nothing good was in that journal?" She shook her head and sniffled, walking back to the table to pick up the journal even more carefully than she had before.
"This belonged to one of my ancestors. She belongs at this point on the tree." Avurin pointed to the empty spot next to Riku Okita's name. "She's the reason I have red in my hair and green eyes. Two of her sons were born with her traits. She came from the Sasaki clan and claimed to carry another Kekkei Genkai in her final days. She called it her mission to soil the Okita bloodline with her bloodline trait. I'm not sure if she was insane in her final days since she'd gotten so sick from an injury, but it's another lead we can look into after we complete this mission. I don't know her first name, but I hope I can find mention of her when we dig further into the house. She… she died in that room after giving birth to all six of her sons in there, one after another. That was the blood you were smelling. She didn't deserve any of it, it sounds like she hadn't fought the arranged marriage and she even loved her husband before he trapped her in there." Avurin trailed off, glancing at Kakashi as she held the book against her chest in a protective hold. Kakashi didn't show any reaction to the revelation but he did put a hand on her shoulder to support her.
"Every clan has their dark times where atrocities were committed. We are not our family, much less our ancestors. Your clan has dwindled so much from this tree that I wouldn't be surprised if you were the last remaining Okita related to the main branch. Knowing her legacy and acknowledging her as your ancestor is a step in the right direction. From how close to the trunk of the tree those names are placed, nearly direct grandchildren from Souji himself with only first and second cousins existing at that point, this had to have happened shortly after the home was built. Your family may have been honoring her by sealing it the way they have, allowing her space to remain hers after her death instead of repurposing it. There is honor in that." Kakashi muttered, suddenly much closer than she remembered.
Arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind, crossing over her chest where the journal rested. She felt him rest his chin on her shoulder as they looked at the tree, Avurin realized what a massive undertaking it would be to sort through the history of most of the members on the tree. The story of one member was enough to shake her to the core, how many more stories about her family were soaked in blood and horror? She took a shaky breath, leaning back against Kakashi.
"Thank you."
...
Author's Note: This was a heavy chapter but we needed some depth. As promised, there is a story behind the mansion mentioned in this story. Feel free to skip this if you're not interested in the history, I won't be upset.
When I was young, my great-grandfather owned a home built in the 1820's in Tennessee that we spent some summers at occasionally. As a kid, the home was a mystery and was to be explored at any chance I could get. It was huge, complete with the main room with the imperial staircase, what felt like countless rooms to explore, a creek nearby to find shells and rocks, and a large yard with a gazebo that was practically out of a fairy tale. Everything in the home was made with wood, including hardwood floors that my great-grandmother worked hard to maintain over the years until her passing. She was a dollmaker in that area and was a prominent member of a local dollmaker's club as well as an organist for several years.
Since the home was built in the 1820's, it actually did have a slave's quarters. One night during a Winter Break that we had decided to visit, it was more comfortable to sleep there since it was above the kitchen where my great-grandma could leave the kitchen's fireplace on and keep the room warm from below. They had put a small bed in there for my parents and my newborn brother while I slept in my sleeping bag on the warm floor, not knowing why this secret room had existed. I had been excited about the secret passage to get into the room and my parents had brought glow sticks to play with until I went to sleep that night. Later in life, the history of that room was told to me after the home was sold. Of course, there weren't any details like what Avurin found in the room of her own family's estate, but one can imagine a slave's life in such a dark and closed off room and suddenly feel like they violated a sacred space.
The cat is a personal touch that I actually own currently. My great-grandfather gave it to me during one of my last visits at the home since I was so fascinated with it when I visited. He doesn't have a name and I still remember my great-grandpa telling me to stay quiet so I don't wake him up. I would pet the little doll as if it were a real sleeping kitten. Looking back, I think he was just smart enough to get me to be quiet by telling me not to wake up the kitten. He passed away in 2017 as a war veteran who served in the Pacific Theater during World War II and was a widower of over a decade. One of the last times I saw him, he showed me a photo of my great-grandmother that had been taken twenty years prior, telling me that he had the most beautiful and amazing wife waiting for him in Heaven and he couldn't wait to see her again. He passed away a year later.
The plot for this arc was inspired by a dream I'd had about the home and I hope it provides some depth for the story and Avurin as a character. While things are taking some dark turns, just remember that this story was not intended to be all fluff and rainbows. It was rated Explicit for a reason. We'll get back to the fluff soon!