~ Chapter Eighteen ~
~The Truth will always be malleable, a new, more convenient "Truth" has taken hold. The actual past long eroded to nothing ~
Silence. 'I see, not even the chains were enough to crack that mask...' His widening barrier of Adamantine chains holds stable, but preferring his Ice, Shiroyuki finds the drain on his Chakra reserves annoying.
Kyou remains still. Making no move to speak, he may as well be a statue.
An interesting reaction,' Shiroyuki is amused but also growing increasingly restless.
'I'm starting see where exactly Sakuya gets her tendency to be indecisive under pressure. Heredity is a powerful thing indeed, but this attribute is unattractive enough coming from her. From Kyou it's somehow worse? Unsightly. He's a grown adult.'
"..."
'If this flimsiness is the kind of leadership Uzushio deals with on a daily basis, it's no wonder they lost to Kumo... Unless that's just my bias... hm.'
His thoughts are morose, the ideas filled with fascinating implications but Shiroyuki isn't in the mood for introspection, "What Ifs" or speculation in general.
' Questions for another time, for now, if Father won't react, I guess it's on me.' Shiroyuki decided.
"If you're only going to stand there, I'm making the first move." Announced Shiro.
"I won't stand by and let you claim Oasis for Aika. Not my sibling's blood either." His words are deliberate, hoping to force a reaction out of "his wayward father"
'What, for Aika?' Kyou Uzumaki is jolted out of his panic-induced riviere. The Ice elemental chakra froze the air about.
' Is that why he thinks I'm here? - What am I thinking, of course he does.'
' We clearly parted on horrific terms and now here I am out of the blue. Intruding upon the beautiful life he built with... Reiji and Sakuya.'
' From his traumatized viewpoint- Huh, it's getting easier... Saying their names. Could it be that I chose them? With this "Sora" I mean.'
' The evidence suggests the half-Uchiha and I were deeply attached. I saw my own writings, the embarrassing poems.'
' I hate that I could be so sappy to anyone. It's undignified, but I was very clearly I was looking forward to their birth.'
Wanting information straight from the source, the emboldened Kyou asks quickly.
"Wait! I... Just want to talk.'
The beautiful young man bearing his blood halts. Lowering his Icy Senbon needle, Shiroyuki's delicate lips frown.
"He had to have inherited that from Sora. I'm not ugly, but this delicate, smaller-framed beauty could only be Uchiha. Kyou concluded. Already interpreting events to his decisive favor.
"Why, what could you POSSIBLY want? After all these years pretending I-" Shiroyuki seems to catch himself. "Pretending we don't exist?" Heated words that could only be the result of more than a decade of pent-up frustrations spill from Shiro's lips.
Finally certain, Kyou speaks firmly. "I had no idea. I still don't, but I promise there is an explanation."
"What nonsense-" Interrupted Shiro. Kyou Uzumaki sees that the boy's agonized vitriol could not be more clear.
"You want answers? Mother DIED for you. She took her time getting us to safety but even then she refused to accompany us. The words pierce Kyou's vulnerable heart like the icy needle still in young man's hand.
"Reiji and Sakuya don't know but, she believed to the end you would come to your senses. That you would come for us together."
"I can only assume it wasn't till the very end did she finally see there was no use. -How dare you show your face."
"I truly can't remember." Kyou defended. "Whatever my wi- Whatever Aika did to me, it must have erased that day. Everything."
Kyou's desperation is at an all-time high. His desire to "fix" whatever is happening is written all over his face.
"All I know is it was some kind of seal, Aika was always gifted in "Fuuinjutsu" but I never knew it could be applied in such a monstrous way."
~
"From what the investigation uncovered, she used some kind of overlay. Genius work, by binding it to the preserved corpse of... Sora, the concentration of power in her hybrid Uchiha/Senju veins... "
"It allowed Aika to accomplish a truly reprehensible deed. All our people were violated. Due to Aika's seal, the entirety of Whirlpool believes her lies."
' And here we go.' Shiroyuki thought victoriously.
He perfectly restrained the sneer threatening to mar his marvelously cultivated face.
'Oh Aika, who knew your abrasive, volatile side would be such a wonderful gift to me and Reiji?'
'Her pride and willingness to alienate friends family and allies for her own interests is the greatest offering I could have ever wished for.'
Collapsing to his knees in apparent horror, Shiroyuki looks all the more distraught. His Ice Senbon needle vanishes into nothing. "She did that to Mother? No, No, NO!"
"Im sorry for your loss Shiroyuki, Wagamaru, my investigator found her beneath Aika's private library."
"Then all hope is truly lost." Shiro murmured.
"What? Why do you say that?" Asked Kyou. "Surely if we cremate her remains-"
"It's been too long." Shiroyuki said in despair. " I'm no expert in Fuuinjutsu, but even I am aware the longer one is kept active through blood, the less reversible it becomes."
Even if you'd done so immediately after finding her remains... By now it's too late. Our memories of "before" are lost."
"You'll never remember... How much we loved our family." The resignation in his eldest son's voice cuts Kyou to the core all the more deeply.
Silencing his end of the connection with Reiji, Shiro knows his performance thus far has been effective, but he has a final tactic in mind.
'It would be such a shame to waste it.'