A/N: Intended to be read after chapter 53.

"Breath alight in wrath,

I'm a wolf

on the attack you can,

Rap. Tap. Tap. Tap,

Sit right down alone I'm gonna dance,"

-Gira Gira, Will Stetson

Ren ate a square of pudding bread and savored the sweetness.

This wasn't the life he imagined, wasn't what his ancestors would've wanted to come of his family name, but it was his, nonetheless. He chose this.

He couldn't help a soft smile at the irony of that thought, because being strong-armed into this position was as much his choice as it was to come to Suisai with his father.

His father had seen it as a slight, an insult he'd borne with a smile and open gratitude. It was a lower position than the one he'd had in Lord Aoki's court, but it was also a chance to prove his ability to govern, to lead the people of the Land of Fire.

His father never would've become Daimyo, but Tanzaku Town hadn't been off the table.

As his first and only son, Ren knew very early on that he was guaranteed a seat at Lord Aoki's table. At least until Suisai, and then the fate he'd been raised for looked less and less certain. Then it was all he could do to be a good son and protect his family name to the best of his meager ability.

What a naïve child he'd been.

Ren ate another sweet square.

His actions would've doomed them all, and his father the most. How could his death look like anything other than a catastrophic failure to Lord Aoki?

Fork hovering above the plate, he glanced at the scars circling his fingers, the pale marks zig-zagging down the length of his hand. His hands still ached from clasping them together for days, drinking only what could be forced past his lips without disrupting his concentration, then not eating at all.

It was his punishment for the part he'd played that day—

He felt a hand on his shoulder and Kaemon's wrinkled face suddenly next to his. He was all graying hair and pretend fury.

"What's this now? The Chief himself in my bar, sitting on my stool, but doesn't even have the decency to order my food?"

"No one wants your glorified food-poisoning, old man," Ohta said, ducking inside behind him.

Ren considered the bar itself instead of Kaemon, old wood warped by older water damage. "I only wanted—"

"Eh?!" Kaemon asked, weathered hand leaving his shoulder as he spun to face Ohta. "What does an upstart who can only cook chicken and pork know about decent food?"

"—to rest my legs," Ren finished, pointlessly, because neither heard him.

Ohta sat on the stool beside him. He leaned an elbow on the bar and propped his chin on his palm. "What was that, old man? Couldn't hear you over how empty this place is."

Ren was well-versed in how ignored he would be if he tried to intervene, so he didn't. He cut his slice in more squares as Kaemon walked around the bar and pulled down a cup and a bottle of sake.

"So much attitude from the little boy that was falling over himself to gawk at Inari's favorites the other day," Kaemon retorted, pouring Ohta a glass.

"Huh?!" Ohta said, slamming his hands down on the bar as he stood. "At least I was there to welcome them. Where were you, old man? Crying alone in here because no one wants to eat your garbage?"

Really, the melted vanilla cream on top made him wish he'd taken a second slice.

Kaemon aggressively put the glass down in front of Ohta, clear liquid splashing up around the rim. "Settle down before you soil your diaper."

Ohta leaned forward. "I'll kick your old ass right—"

They all froze.

A sudden and terrible chakra washed over Ren, and there were no words to describe the experience as all his hair stood on end at once, as his senses, his thoughts, his everything screamed that he was about to die a horrible death.

He could almost feel a massive shadow looming over him, mouth open wide, sharpened teeth dripping saliva on his shoulder. If he dared turn his head, he'd be devoured—

Ohta's legs gave out and he fell backwards. Ren registered a scream outside, then the fresh scratch marks on the bar, the feeling of wood under his nails.

It was Killing Intent on a scale he'd never felt before, but then, the only time he'd felt anything like this was when Konan stood as a buffer between him and everyone he harmed.

Kaemon stumbled back into the cabinet of alcohol behind him, abruptly drenched in sweat, and Ren watched the entire thing tip backwards, glass shattering as liquid spilled across the floor.

What was—He had to—

Ren stood and his leg immediately buckled. He dropped to a knee, feet already starting to ache, but his weakness meant very little when the malevolent chakra thick enough to choke him was doing a far better job of convincing him to stay down.

He didn't let it.

Ren had no memory of standing, or of running outside. He only found himself breathing hard, leaning heavily against the doorframe, staring at a small wood carving that had fallen off the wall. It was in the shape of a woman, wings delicately made to resemble paper.

His eyes drifted up to the tailed beast in the distance, a red-eyed outline in the dark, his palace a child's toy compared to the size of it.

Kyuubi. Nine-tails. Demon fox.

Ren had been taught of jinchūriki, of course. He would have been a voice in the next Daimyo's ear, counseling him on who to choose to house the tailed beast, if there were multiple options.

But this—

It was a monster with its jaws already closed tight around him. What could he do against it?

If it had already destroyed Konohagakure, what could he do?

"Chief Ren," a familiar voice broke through his thoughts, a small hand tugging urgently on his sleeve, and Ren looked down. At Sayaka. She pushed her head against his arm, shaking hard. "W—What do we do?"

Ren looked past her.

He saw Ryoko and Gou standing outside Rini's restaurant, the latter staring up at the demon fox while the former had her hands clasped, praying for protection. Ohta's father, Uta, was on his knees in the middle of the road, praying for the safety of his family.

They were his people, and he was no longer the fool.

Ren patted Sayaka's head. "You need to go inside," he said, and she looked up at him with wide, terrified eyes. "Ohta was overwhelmed and might need to be woken, but he isn't hurt. Help him and Kaemon upstairs and into a room where the windows are shut and close the door. It'll keep you and them from feeling the chakra as strongly."

He hoped.

"This is chakra?" she asked, sounding very small and very young.

"The chakra of a monster," Ren answered, eyes on the demon fox. "But I'll do everything in my power not to let it near you or anyone else here. It's a lot to ask of you, but help them for me, and do it as quick as you can."

Sayaka sniffed and he patted her head again. She nodded once, wiped her eyes with her hand, and ran inside without looking back.

Ren lowered his hand. If all he could do was to use his neglected skills to hide the town from the fox's gaze, even if he had use his own life to sustain it again, he'd do it.

For all he knew, he'd die the instant he tried to mold his chakra. But if he didn't, he'd make his body last, like he'd preserved through starvation and dehydration back then.

Ren dug his nails hard into his palm, pain and the warmth of his own blood grounding him. He made himself turn his back to the demon fox. "Everyone inside—"

The world turned white behind him.

Ren spun to look at the massive explosion, the miniature moon suddenly at ground level east of Konohagakure, and then the aftershocks hit, the road shaking, cracking, shuddering so hard it threw him to his knees.

Ryoko leaned over Gou, screaming as waves of wind shattered windows, battered doors, and yanked offerings off walls.

Uta picked up a carving of one of Inari's foxes, cracked in two, and silently, dazedly tried to stick them back together, mumbling under his breath.

What could he do to protect them against—

"Chief Ren!" Tsumugi called out, specs of blood on her shaking hands, standing at the bottom of the path leading up to the inn. "Anzu—she came to me—" she stopped, shaking her head.

She was one of only a few bought out by his father who still lived.

"This chakra," she began again. "Caused her to go into premature labor. If someone could—" she couldn't finish.

Ren dug his nails in harder and forced his body back up, but Rie spoke before he could, stumbling out of a doorway across from him.

"Take me to her," Rie said, picking up the bottom of her house dress as she ran. She stopped on the bottom step and briefly glanced back. "Protect my daughter. Tell her to come when—" she looked up at the demon fox. "—if—"

"I'll see her to you unharmed," Ren said, and she swallowed hard, but hurried up after Tsumugi.

It tasted like a lie. For all he could, if he could, trick the sight of the fox, if it continued to throw explosions indiscriminately, his illusions would be of very little help.

Blood dribbled through his fingers as he turned to the others. "It's safest indoors," he shouted, and had their attention, because he never raised his voice. "Take to the upper floors and shelter in a room without windows. Keep the door closed until told otherwise, even if what you feel now worsens."

Uta stood slowly, still staring at the broken carving. "To what end? If that twisted mimicry of Inari's sacred animal comes here—"

"I need your trust," Ren spoke. "Trust that, should that happen, I'll face it myself."

Blood dripped on the ground.

Uta paused, looking him in the eye, then shuffled closer and slipped past him to go inside. "May the Great God Inari guide your steps, Chief," he said, and Ren heard the tremble in his voice.

"Wait, Gou, grandma went up to the palace—"

Ren watched Gou tug his sister inside, then turned to face the demon fox.

All he could do now was wait.

.

.

.

Ren opened his eyes to find Bashira standing over him, a sleeve partially covering her face.

It was shortly after everyone went inside that the demon fox disappeared, but he'd lingered outside until dawn.

"How unbecoming of a Chief," she said, amused. There was a long tear in the sleeve of her kimono and dirt stains around the knees.

Ren didn't move from his position on the ground. He was rather comfortable.

He heard a broom sweeping up glass, saw Sayaka picking up carvings and offerings and folding them up in the bottom of her shirt.

"And my body will suffer for it," he said back. "In the meantime, send Kuu to your in-laws in Konohagakure. I'd like to know the cause of all this terror."

"Already done," Bashira said. "Last night was the push Hanako needed."

Ren idly watched Uta haul out bits of the broken alcohol case. "So it was."

"Go back to resting," Bashira said. "I can do little against the might of the false fox, but I can direct them to clean well enough."

Ren listened to the subdued quiet around him and let his eyes slide back closed.

A/N: Vivamus, moriendum est - Let us live, since we must die