Chapter 19
A funeral was held two days after the explosion, for one Shinji Sato and his little brother, Deidara Sato. A medium sized group of individuals gathered, dressed in their black attire. Mr. Watanabe and his family of his adult son and elderly wife. Tengu was there, Emi and Kaito also gathered, saddened and angered over the loss of their friend who they only barely started to rekindle a relationship with.
Mr. Sasaki stood there, tired in his eyes as he remembered all of the times Shinji visited his small shop because he was happy for solving some strange problem, upset for the same issue, or just needing a warm meal after a mission. The twenty something year old bao shop owner rubbed the tears away just as they gathered in the corners of his eyes.
Shinji may have acted as though he were years beyond them, but Kaito was still five years his elder and looked at the boy in a different light. He had witnessed his first day in the academy and became that strange child's friend. 'Just this, enigma of a brat, one so stupidly smart it was aggravating, just showed up one day and took over the classroom.' no tears fell from Kaito, just a fond memory and a small smile.
Hideo stood quietly in the middle of the crowd, the only thing separating him from everyone else being his orange hair. Tengu was one of the first responders at the site of ground zero and having seen the explosion himself, he knew there would be no body to recover. 'Fifty seven injured people… thirty two men, fifteen women and ten children, all suffering from either ruptured eardrums or lacerations from all the glass. In the initial panic, everyone thought we were under attack and called for immediate retaliation. Now, the battle for Kannabi Bridge is slated for tomorrow morning.' his eyes narrowed at the small, empty coffin, 'Whatever it was that really happened Shinji, I hope it was worth it.'
Mr. Watanabe was a crumbling mess, only held up together by his son and wife. He may have been a market stand owner dammit, but he watched that boy grow into a young man with a good head on his shoulders from when he was four to their last…meeting. 'The last time I saw him he slipped me something!' For the moment, Mr. Watanabe dried his tears and felt around in the pockets of his aged denim jacket.
Feeling his large hand wrap around a small, rectangular shaped object wrapped in paper and tied with string. Deciding to keep the object in his pocket, recalling Shinji's last words to him, 'I will keep my family safe Shinji. Don't you worry bout a thing.' The tears resumed once more as his wife consoled him.
Emi felt empty, she heard the sorrowful cries of that older man, but couldn't find it in her to feel anything. She was hurt over the loss of her friend, sad that they would never see each other again but she just couldn't cry. 'You saved our lives, and on the very same mission, you almost died. I thought that would've brought you closer to us but…it didn't. You still shut us out, even after everything that happened. I'm so mad at you and yet, I still want you here.' Emi's face scrunched as angry tears rolled down her face. Kaito noticed her crying and put a hand on his shoulder, only to be respectfully denied.
She was the first to start walking away, with Kaito following. Hideo gave one final scornful look and disappeared in a fit of speed. Leaving only the Watanabe family, Mr. Sasaki, and a large figure who was hooded in a black cloak, standing just off to the side looking at the small casket.
'You could've just left the village, under the dead of night. No, it was broad daylight when you set off that bomb. I believe you were sending a message, what that message is I don't give a damn. You injured too many of those you once swore to protect.' Under the hood was a red mask covering the man's face, with angry brown eyes that bore down on the empty box. 'If there was any person in that explosion, there would have been some kind of signature afterward, but there wasn't any indication of a person being in that explosion at all.'
Han had deduced Shinji's plan and stood there staring at the casket, "You could have destroyed my village. For that, I will find you." Han growled out under his breath. Under his cloak, shaking with rage, Han stormed off, leaving heavily armored footprints in the mud.
Mr. Sasaki was the last one to leave, offering one final prayer for Shinji.
Three days in the sky have left the boys tired. Shinji didn't really need the sleep, but riding on the back of Fukihana like this without a saddle left him sore. Deidara had entertained himself with sculpting little clay creatures.
"You think this one looks like Fukihana?" He asked as he looked at shinji, hair whipping behind him. Turning his head, Shinji looked at a simplistic clay creature that did resemble fukihana, if slightly. "Oh and watch this hmm!" deidara announced excitedly.
Adorning a look of concentration, the clay creature began to twitch before it came to life. The little creation began to fly a little, but at these speeds and altitude it resulted in little more than the creature having a crash course with inertia.
"While it hurts my pride to say so, I am beginning to grow tired." Fukihana breathed out to shinji who in response, rubbed the spot behind her ears in thanks.
"Hey, three days is impressive. You did great. Start heading down, we should be far enough from Iwa to have one hell of a head start." Shinji informed his summon who nodded in agreement, beginning the decline. When they first lifted off, Fukihana brought them above the clouds as that was the best natural camouflage one in the air could have. Now though, as they crested beneath the clouds, Shinji saw first hand just where they were in relation to his former village as they flew over the remains of Kannabi bridge.
"Woah what happened down there?" Deidara asked as the destruction was evident to the boys, Shinji stared down at the debris of the bridge as the smoke billowed upward into the sky. He looked remorseful before he tore his gaze away from the destruction.
"Iwagakure just lost the war." Shinji answered his little brother in a solemn tone. He shook his head and directed Fukihana as they looked for a proper area to land. Recoiling from shock for only a moment, the boys sat in silence. Shinji came to terms with his actions, knowing that there was no turning back at this point and continued to direct Fukihana to a better area to land.
The rest of the flight was silent as the trio landed in a small rocky clearing in an evergreen forest. Weather in this kind of environment could change at any moment, so Shinji wanted to get a headstart on making a camp.
Shinji was the first to hop off Fukihana, with deidara carefully climbing down. As soon as everyone was off, Fukihana gave one hell of a stretch with pops being heard rippling through her back. "Flying for three days really does a number." she complained before trampling the ground and laying down with a yawn.
Summoning a few clones to help out with some firewood gathering while Deidara set up a decent sized rock circle for them to use. As the boy finished, he sat near Fukihana and continued to sculpt his clay resemblance of her. After a few minutes of uninterrupted silence between them and Deidara sculpting, he gained a proud grin as he proudly showed off his sculpture.
Fukihana inspected the creation with her focused gaze as she squinted. "Hmm. My beak is a little long but other than that it looks wonderful." she gave one more nod of approval as she looked out into the forest for Shinji and his clones.
"I'll get it this time hmm." deidara said with a familiar smirk and a nod before once again continuing with his sculpting. Fukihana looked over his shoulder as he worked.
"I must say, you must be quite strong to execute an explosion like that." Fukihana commented to Deidara as she watched shinji's clones begin to return. She could see with her exemplary eye sight the blonde child's head begin to swell. "But let me say this." she gained the attention as deidara looked up to see her serious expression.
"Headstrong warriors have always lost their lives young, do not be among that count." Fukihana narrowed her eyes at deidara who dropped a little of his pride at the warning. He kept sculpting his clay creation, but at a slower and more methodical pace.
Shinji and his clones returned to them and placed a pile of dry firewood in the stone circle as the rest was piled nearby. A fire was started as night began to fall on the trio and with the night falling, snores were heard as Deidara fell asleep on fukihana. He would wake up knowing the all white manticore is a great snuggle buddy.
Shinji stared into the flame, snapping and crackling of the dry wood filling his ears as the smell of burning pine met his nose. There was an odd sense of comfort that washed over him, something that reminded him of his past life.
Gaston sat at the edge of the fire pit he made for himself and his horse, Cricket, and listened to the wind blow through the trees and trampled out the fire. As Cricket began to wake up, Gaston stood to his full height and stretched his muscles. Neither he nor his horse were as young as they used to be and as his knees popped, he brushed off some of the grass sticking to Crickets mane.
"We aren't as young as we used to be boy." Gaston added with a quiet chuckle, Cricket seemed to chuff in agreement. Grabbing his saddle, Gaston brought himself on the back Cricket who began to trot out of the forest they rested in. The trees began to grow more and more sparse until Gaston left the forest and came out onto the main dirt road leading to Novigrad.
While on the road, Gaston remained quiet as he did most days now. There was simply not much for him to say anymore. His brothers in arms had fallen or disappeared years ago with the last he heard from any of them was Varric going off to Toussaint. Now, only he and Cricket remained as the remnants of the Manticore school.
Hours later, the smell of the swamp met the nose of Gaston and his companion as the dirt road began to turn to mud. Knowing the territory he was beginning to enter, Gaston lowered his hood and observed his surroundings with his yellow cat-like eyes. The noises from the drowners deeper in met his ears and if he heard correctly, they were joined by a water hag.
"What do you think, boy? Kill the hag or go the long way?" Cricket turned his head and looked at Gaston over his shoulder and neighed. Gaston smirked, "You know me too well boy. Stay here." Hopping off his saddle, Gaston grabbed his silver sword that had served him faithfully for the past seventy years and moved deeper into the swamp.
As expected, a group of drowners led by a water hag were traveling through the swamp making the easiest trail to follow. The hag's head twisted in Gaston's direction, seemingly detecting the witcher, however she saw nothing. Knowing something was there, she approached the direction, seeing a pair of yellow cat-like eyes residing within the bushes. A bright white light met the eyes of the hag for a moment before Gaston shouted.
"AARD!" The hag was ragdolled and thrown meters away as Gaston rushed out of the bushes and toward the group of now confused drowners. Thrusting his blade toward the first one, the silver sword slid itself between the ribs of the drowner and through its heart, ending it with one final gurgle of life. The rest of the drowners looked toward their fallen brother before looking at Gaston cleaning the rancid blood off his blade.
He held up his hand and beckoned them forth and in unison, they all rushed forward, exactly as planned. Dodging the two that jumped at him, another bit down on his vambrace, his other hand cast a red light over the face of the drowner before Gaston used another of his witcher signs, "IGNI!" he shouted as the drowner that clamped on his bracer burst into flames from the inside out.
Hearing the approach of the others, Gaston turned and in a single swipe of his blade, removed both drowners of their heads. Last few drowners starred with something akin to fear in their beady eyes. As Gaston stepped forward, they stepped back before another foul scent entered his nose.
Rolling out of an attack thrown by the water hag and sliding to a stop, Gaston egged on the monster. "Seems you're a bit stronger than most of your kind, let's see how much so." A smirk spreading across his face once again, he rushed forward and met the water hag in a clash of a silver blade meeting a staff made from human bones. After disarming the hag, he kicked the creature away before pouncing on the hag and shoving the silver blade deep within her chest, twisting it one final time. "Lackluster it appears." Gaston spoke with disappointment
Looking back at the group of drowners remaining, he watched as they all ran away tripping over themselves the whole time. Wiping his blade of the blood once more, he sheathed his blade before grabbing his skinning knife. A few minutes later, Gaston wiped his knife and put away the materials he gathered from the drowners and water hag.
Placing the hair of the hag in his pack, Gaston made to walk back to Cricket, but something alerted him back deeper in the swamp. A strange hum and a feeling unlike any other washed over him. 'What foul magic is this? it can't be good.' Gaston didn't know why, but the tremble in his hand felt like an omen. As if the tremble was telling him to turn and run, go the long way back to Novigrad, enjoy the weather with Cricket by his side and live to see Fringilla just once more.
He did not heed the call, instead he traveled deeper into the swamp, following the foul magic that washed over him, leading him to an out of the way cave where that foreboding feeling only grew.
Shinji sighed as he remembered the decision he made then, "I'm sorry boy." he spoke quietly into the flames, knowing his beloved horse would not hear his apologies.
Fukihana woke up with a yawn the following morning, stretching her body. She heard Deidara hit the ground and realized he fell asleep on her. She looked to the boy, who instead of waking up with a start, kept snoring and drooling.
"He sleeps like a rock, pay him no mind." she heard the voice of her summoner as he was looking over a map. Approaching Shinji and looking over his shoulder, she commented.
"You know, you still have yet to tell me our destination, you've only given me directions to go." Fukihana stated, once more letting a yawn escape her beak.
"At this point I'm not even sure this place exists. It's not on any of the maps I own." Grimacing, Shinji grabbed one more map and looked it over to cross reference, "but to answer your question, our destination is a village called Kachinkiri."
Shifting in place and getting comfortable, Fukihana brought her head next to Shinji's lap. "And what's so special about this place, hm?" She asked with a slight coo in her voice.
"My mother is from there." He said as he continued to read the map, rotating it in multiple directions to gain a better understanding of the land. However, Fukihanas head snapped upward at the mention of Shinji's mother.
"Your mother? What's with the sudden interest? You've not once talked or even mentioned you had a mother." Sighing, Shinji put down the map and turned to Fukihana.
"I've been seeing flashes of her from my memories. I just…i don't know." he avoided answering as he turned back to his map. Fukihana was having none of it as she stood up, walked in front of Shinji and sat down on her haunches only to give shinji a stare that rivaled even Senkura.
"Speak your mind summoner." furrowing his brow, shinji once again denied opening up.
"Forget it Fukihana." Shinji spoke, a little irate.
"I will not. Speak your mind or I'm returning to my kingdom." Narrowing her gaze toward the golden eyes of her summoner, she only saw annoyance, but something within the boy was giving.
"Fukihana, i said-"
"I know what you said." Fukihana interrupted and stepped forward, standing over her summoner and looking down on him. "Speak or I'm leaving Shinji." Fukihana gave one final warning that silenced shinji. That silence turned very quickly to anger as he stood to his full height of four feet and five inches.
"You know what? fine. I've never once known my mother, okay? And these fucking memories of her are certainly not helping. All I want to do is just know more about her, maybe find some kind of connection. Yes, we abandoned Iwa, but not only do we need somewhere to lay low, but this is something I need to do." It came out in a single, angry breath. He did not shout at Fukihana, but he did raise his voice to get his point across which met the unseen ears of his summon.
Silent a moment, thinking about what he said, Fukihana seemed to grow angry herself. "And what of Deidara? If you do find some connection to your family, then what?"
"What are you saying Fukihana?" Narrowing his eyes he looked into the green orbs of the griffin esc manticore.
Lowing her head to level with shinji, Fukihana did not mince words. "On this quest to learn more about your family, will you forget the boy who abandoned his home for you and abandon him the same?" She looked over to the still sleeping form of deidara with Shinji following her gaze. "He's not like you, summoner. For him, there is no family to learn about, there is no legacy to be had. All that boy has, is you."
Turning her head to meet the eyes of Shinji once more, "We manticores are a proud people, but we take care of our own first and foremost." She finished before she walked over to Deidara and circled around him before laying down next to him, at the same time pushing the boy into her embrace like he was her own cub.
Brought to silence, Shinji just stood there, absorbing what fukihana said all the while his little brother snuggled further into his summon's side. 'Little brother…' If Shinji was honest, he didn't know what those words truly meant to Deidara or even himself.
As fukihana was fawning over Deidara, they were approached by Shinji who just stood there for a moment before crouching down to deidara. Fukihana watched him with a careful eye as he looked at his little brother before reaching out with his hand and placing it atop deidara's blonde head of hair. "When he first called me his big brother, I didn't really know what it meant. Still kind of don't. Familial bonds are something I'm…unaccustomed to." he took a beat before continuing as he observed the sleeping expression of Deidara.
"It seems I still have a lot to learn." Shinji let a smirk show and moved his gaze to the all white manticore, "If I ever lose sight of what's important while on the Path, I need you to promise me as my summon that you'll help me screw my head on straight. Deal?" Fukihana regarded the eyes of her summoner that stared at her, unblinking and expectant.
Silence weighed heavily between the two before Fukihana gave a single nod. "You have my word." At that moment, Fukihana noticed something shift within shinji. It wouldn't be noticeable to anyone else, but it would never escape her eyes. Shinji walked back over to his maps and continued to chart a course for them to take all the while fukihana continued to watch him.
'You may not see it yet, but i think you're going to change the world Shinji Sato. One chartered course at a time.' Fukihana held Shinji in high regard within the confines of her mind.
Deidara finally awoke a couple hours later when the sun was up past ten. Rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes, he noticed how he felt nothing but a feathery softness the entire time he slept.
"How'd you sleep?" he heard the voice of Shinji ask, looking over to see him crouched over a single map and looking at him with an amused smirk.
Before even responding, Deidara rose like a zombie from his slumber and walked over to the edge of the tree line. A trickle of liquid was heard paired with a sigh of relief and it all made sense then as Shinji and his summon started to chuckle.
Finished with his business and shaking off the rest, deidara turned around, still half asleep to see his brother and his summon laughing at him. "What's so funny?" he asked but finished with a yawn as he returned to the camp and sat closer to the remnants of the fire.
"Nothing. I have our flight path all checked out if you want to go over it." Shinji offered the map to a confused deidara who just grabbed the paper and looked at it through hazy eyes.
"Uh why do you want me looking over this?" Deidara asked as he looked at the map handed to him which had black dotted lines leading to a circled area further north.
"You said your clay sculptures can fly right?" Shinji asked for clarification as he received a couple fruits from his storage scroll. Nodding along with his brother, he grabbed the dragon fruit tossed to him and held it as he spoke, "So you should know everything that goes into flying and taking into account various factors."
"How long is the rest of the flight gonna take?" Deidara asked, now awake and peeling open his fruit. Shinji tossed a couple more over to Fukihana who ate them with pleasure, peel and all. "Who knew flight was so complicated?" deidara asked no one as he squinted further at the map, trying to make sense of it.
"Should be another three days in the air thanks to fukihana." looking over to the titular manticore, he nodded in appreciation to which she responded the same.
"It's not complicated per say, but you do have to be aware of a lot of variables." the trilling of birds in the distance caught his attention. "Take birds for example, how do you think they fly?" Shinji asked his brother who put on an eerily familiar thinking expression.
"Beats me." he shrugged and took a bite out of his fruit. Shinji sighed before doing the same and biting into his own fruit.
"Their tails help them steer and their wings give them the ability to fly, but the important part is that their bones are hollow." This caused deidara's eyebrow to rise.
"What does this have to do with my clay creations?" Deidara asked as he finished his breakfast and tossed the peels into the trees.
"Clay is dense and heavy. If you want to create big things to fly…" Shinji trailed off and gave deidara an opportunity to figure out the answer. Adorning the thinking pose once again, Shinji was met with silence before it seemed to actually pay off.
"I'm gonna have to make the entire thing like a shell hmm." Deidara answered the question and was confident in his answer, which was correct given the nod from Shinji. Standing up, Deidara stretched his body before moving his hand a little and walking a bit away from camp. "I think I have enough to try one time, hm." nodding to himself, he stuck out his arm and channeled chakra through the unique pathways only he had.
The clay spat out of the mouth on his hand and landed on the ground in a single puddle which soon began to bubble and take form using the rocks in the ground for details. Finishing his work, Deidara was sweating and breathing a little harder, but was left somewhat disappointed in his work. "Damn. Well, at least it'll be one hell of a send off." he said to himself before pointing out into the distance. The mildly deformed creature listened to the order and began flying off into that direction.
A minute later, a small flash of light was seen before they and the forest before them were hit with the shockwave from the explosion. Deidara stood proud and satisfied with the end result while Shinji replayed the creations' short flight in his mind. "We'll work on it. For now, go get your things because once fukihana is all rested…" shinji looked over to the stretching form of Fukihana who began standing. "We leave." Shinji finished.
A few minutes later and the trio was back in the air, now with their destination planned, charted and well within their grasp. With the wind whipping past their ears and their hair smacking them in the face, Shinji had nothing but time on his hands. So he did what he did best and went over what fukihana had said to him and her reasoning for doing so. 'I would never abandon deidara. A village is one thing, but him? No. Never. He can protect himself, I taught him to do so, but if anyone were to hurt him…' As Shinji thought to himself, his gaze unintentionally landed on the back of Deidara's head. 'Id use my full knowledge of human anatomy to systematically dismember them.'
The next two days of travel were spent in relative silence as the trio flew with clear blue skies and barely any clouds to complain about. Deidara was entranced by the landscapes that passed them by. Forests of huge proportions, plains that were begging for an explosion and even a smoking volcano, way out in the distance. However their smooth 'sailing' would come to an end as a blizzard reared its ugly head as they entered into the Land of Iron.
"Where the hell did all this snow come from?!" Deidara shouted through gritting teeth as the snowflakes felt like shards of glass against his skin. Shinji though was no worse for wear as he stood on the back of Fukihana, shielding himself from the storm with his cloak.
"Just another variable Deidara, the weather is mother nature's biggest middle finger!" he shouted back with a smirk. "How're you holding up Fukihana?!" he asked his summon through the wind.
"It's…rough!" Fukihana shouted back with effort as they were hit with another powerful gust of wind. "But her highness trained me to endure through anything!" Shinji had to regain his balance then as fukihana sped up even more to get through the storm. Deidara though, he was not having a good time as he held onto fukihana for dear life.
"If i live through this, I'm getting you a damn saddle hm!" Deidara shouted, annoyed at the lack of areas to hold onto.
Minutes that felt like hours passed, taking the trio out of the worst of the storm and once again into clearer skies. The sun was beginning to set on this day and Fukihana slowed her flight down significantly, presumably to rest some. The far gentler breeze allowed Shinji to look at his map again. Looking from the map to the landscape surrounding them, Shinji realized they were only a few minutes out from where he surmised Kachinkiri to be.
"You can start to land Fukihana, should be close now." patting the manticore a couple times, he received a nod in acceptance as Fukihana began the descent. Shinji watched as the evergreen forest beneath them grew larger and larger until they were in the thick of the forest with nothing but a trail made by the local wildlife to guide them. Fukihana returned to the realm of the manticores but not after one more treat from shinji.
"We're really in the middle of nowhere." Deidara commented as he looked around the landscape. "Should we even bother with making camp?" he asked as Shinji did the same and observed their surroundings. Cocking his eyebrow at the sight of Shinji lifting his head and taking a deep breath, his question was left ignored.
"Hmm cigarettes, steam and…" he sniffed the air once more only to recoil, "a lot of perfume." a face of disgust melded into his features. "We're in the right area, that's for sure. Follow me." Without even looking at his younger brother, Shinji began walking down an unmarked path toward the smells with Deidara catching up to his side.
"Don't get me wrong, I like fruit and all, but I could really go for something hot." Deidara commented to Shinji, trying to break through the silence.
"Right there with you on that one." Both boys' stomachs made themselves known at that moment, "What I wouldn't give for a hot bowl of onion pottage right now." Shinji sighed in dismay as the forest slowly started to lighten up and the trees became more sparse.
"I don't know what that is but it sounds good right now." Deidara responded as he rubbed his belly. As the boys continued traveling in silence, a smell hit Shinji's nose that made his brow furrow and turn on his heel. Deidara looked at him confusedly in the silent forest.
"Hey what-" Just as he began to speak, Shinji's hand flew over the boy's mouth to silence him. Looking back at his brother, Shinji put his pointer finger up to his own mouth to tell him to keep quiet and then to his ears, signifying the boy to listen. As Deidara nodded, Shinji removed his hand and brought it to the hilt of his blade. To deidara, there was no noise from the surrounding forest, not even the subtle call of the birds in the trees. In that moment, he understood what Shinji meant as a foreboding feeling washed over him. He too drew a blade from his waist, a blade gifted to him by shinji which happened to be his old sword and readied himself in the stance taught to him.
The two boys waited and listened in the eerie silence for a moment, two moments until the heavy footsteps met their ears. Deidara turned as the steps finally met his own ears, however the boy would not react as he was suddenly launched from his feet and sent flying by none other than his older brother. Confusion and sadness came over the boy as he watched the form of Shinji shrink, but that was until a man with red armor charged out of the woods and crashed into Shinji, sending the older boy tumbling into the snow layered ground.
"Shinji!" Deidara screamed in anger and concern as the large man stood tall, very tall and looked down at him with a livid gaze. His fists were clenched and the snow on the ground around him evaporated by his sheer presence alone.
"Shinji Sato, you will answer for your crimes against the people of Iwagakure." Han the five tails jinchuriki of Iwagakure growled out through his mask. "So please, resist."