Miya found her former kidnapper outside in the nearby woods. The idiot was alone, practicing katas. She leaned against a tree, arms crossed over her chest, wondering when he'd take notice of her.
Or maybe he already did.
She didn't take kindly to being ignored.
"A sloppy Uchiha." she taunted him. "I have lived to see it all."
If he recognized the jab, he didn't show it. She decided, however, that him stopping in the middle of his training was inviting enough.
Not that Miya needed any invitations in order to speak.
"Don't you have anything better to do?" he asked her instead, glaring hotly.
The first kunoichi hid a smile, pretending to take his words into consideration. "Hmm, let me think about it..." With a finger tapping her chin several times, a habit she gained over the years whenever mocking people had been needed, she answered flatly. "No."
His glare did nothing to faze her. She had seen worse. Her own, for instance, was much scarier. Miya sympathsized with the Nara now. Waiting for people to realize the obvious was painful.
As if he was able to read thoughts, Daisuke regarded her suspiciously.
"You didn't tell Uchiha-sama."
Took you long enough. she snorted inwardly.
"Death is too easy."
The real struggle was life.
Miya continued. "Even though I believe Madara would have tortured you first." Did she think too highly of herself? Maybe, but Daisuke didn't know what was what.
Hell, she didn't. Madara had always been an enigma to her. As for their bond...it had so many shades that she lost track of them all.
"Why didn't you tell him?" he asked.
She gave him a lazy smile in return for his trouble. "I have my own torture methods."
He sneered at her. "I thought you were against torture, oh mighty shinobi."
Miya shot the kunai she had been twirling around her finger. It grazed Daisuke's ear, prompting him to hiss in pain. "It's kunoichi." she corrected him sharply. "And the torture I have in mind is the psychological kind. I have listened to my Yamanaka friend long enough to learn a trick or two."
His eyes widened, fear showing before he could have hoped to mask it.
A smirk creased her lips.
"Relax, baka." she chided him, amused. "Though their clan jutsu aren't kekkei genkai, they still demand some requirements to be met. Specifically, a will of steel and advanced chakra control. Luckily for you, I happen to lack the latter."
"That wouldn't be the only thing you lack." he retorted.
Miya ignored him. "You will live in fear. You will wake-up every single day, wondering 'Is this the day I get my arms removed from my body?' Or 'Is this the day I get burnt alive?' "
Daisuke rolled his eyes. "Jokes on you, hime. I already do. It's called war." he explained as if she were a toddler.
Miya fired another kunai, this time missing on purpose.
"Mark my words, Uchiha. This war will end before spring comes. Your torment? Won't. Not until I decide it." she pushed herself off the tree to circle him. "You will become paranoid. Maybe you will snap and kill yourself even."
Daisuke scoffed with the characteristic superiority complex his kin was so known for.
"You are delusional."
Miya shrugged her shoulders.
"Only time will tell. In the meantime, I need you and your two friends to do something for me."
He laughed.
"And why would I do that?"
"You look like someone who wants to live. Do this, and you get more days or who knows, maybe I'm cruel enough to just toy with your mind and never tell Madara what happened. You'd live to see your son grow and cheat on your wife again." she paused. "Refuse me now, however, and the outcome is crystal clear."
A pregnant silence followed her statement.
Daisuke's eyes bore into hers.
"What do you want us to do?"
Miya's lips curled upwards into a satisfied smile.
She stared down at the empty parchment spread all over her desk, fighting the urge to chew on the writing feather. The redhead glanced helplessly at the quill, gaze shifting back and forth.
What do I write?
Miya covered her forehead with a hand.
Scratch that, to whom do I write?
Her parents were out of the question, obviously. She didn't feel ready to converse with them just yet, even through letters. Hashirama and Mito...
She was still pissed at them. Besides, they'd be against anything she came up with.
So, that left her with...
My suitor.
Shinki was by far the easiest to reason with, a sharp contrast to her own difficult way of being. The Nara would understand, he always did. Miya needed him to delay the message to her family. He was much more tactful, for starters.
That, and he could help her tou-sama see the snakes that surrounded him before it was too late.
Her mind made up, Miya took a deep breath and started writing.
Haikei Shinki, heir of the Nara clan.
I apologize for my absence. I know you and the rest must have thought the worst of it. Your fears are only half-justified. It's true I suffered many injures. Because of my weakness, the Uchiha managed to kidnapp me.
I played them and reached Madara. I'm his prisoner, yes, but he has done nothing to harm me. If anything, he is the reason why I'm still alive. More than that, he is willing to consider my side of things.
Turns out I was right to suspect my own people. The messenger tou-sama had sent never made it here. The Uchiha knew nothing of its existence prior my arrival. There is still hope for peace between our clans.
I sent some scouts to the borders and beyond. I have a sneaking feeling that we will be fighting another war soon. It's important that we bury the axe and work together. We can't defend our land if we are stuck fighting a war amongst ourselves.
The following reality is something I hate thinking of, but I must ask nonetheless.
Had tou-sama and Hashirama made it back? What of the others? Are kaa-san and Mito alright?
Are you?
I'm sorry, again. I wish I could promise you my safety is one hundred percent guaranteed, but I'm no liar and your mind is far too briliant to believe in certainties.
All I ask is for you to trust me.
This is so much bigger than us and between you and me...I'm terrified, dammit, but if I look back now, I'm lost. I didn't get this far only to quit.
Please take care of tou-sama. I know the Nara are impartial in this long lasting feud, though I sometimes wonder if our courtship helped tip the scales in the Uzumaki's favor.
I need you to be my eyes and ears inside the The Land of Whirpools. Nobody will suspect you. I know I'm asking for a lot, and I won't hold it against you, should you refuse.
Do it for the world of shinobi if you won't do it for me. Be safe and stop being so lazy.
Keigu,
Uzumaki Miya, Princess and Heir of Uzushiogakure, The First Kunoichi.
She rolled the parchment, sealing it with both candle wax and one of her best seals. Instead of doing it so no one could open the letter, Miya did the opposite.
Anyone could open it, but only Shinki would get to read the real message. Less suspicious that way. The Uchiha weren't able to break the seal.
Her kin might. They were renowed for it, after all. Just her luck, to be born among the elite of fuinjutsu.
Think Uzumaki, think.
Would the old geezers dare to read a letter that was for her future husband's eyes only? Granted, Shinki had yet to propose, but still, everyone in the Land of Whirpools knew of their courtship.
Miya didn't want to risk it, though.
The idea her brain just managed to come up with was...unholy, to say the least. Not that she had a better, more dignified option.
She could almost hear her sister Mito, scream. You sent a whore to your suitor?
Her lips curled upwards into a smirk that was both sad and defiant.
I made sure she is less prettier than me, don't worry.
Mito would be at a loss of words, shake her head and laugh...or tell their mother (it was anyone's guess, really). Miya would bet on the latter. She was still upset, of course. How could she not be?
She also missed her terribly. Mito had been right about one thing, hard pressed as she might be to admit it.
Killing does change who you see when you look in the mirror.
Miya could hardly recognize herself these days. When had she become this
unscrupulous plotter? When had the sight of people in pain stopped making her flinch? When had she started feeling good about hurting them?
Her hands gripped the letter tightly in order to strengthen her own resolve. For her home, there wasn't anything she wasn't capable of doing or becoming.
Miya left the room, marching towards the location she had heard the brothel to be at. It was early in the evening and the place was already crowded. There were so many women, waltzing from one table to another, switching back and forth between men like they had them all wrapped around their little fingers.
Fortunately, they dare not engage in any sort of activities other than flirting and the occassional butt slap or stolen kiss. The air was heavy with sake and another smell she'd rather not think about.
Bold as she was, even Miya wasn't immune to the wrongness of where she just stepped foot into. But she was a woman on a mission. It'd be a cold day in hell before she let anything, or anyone stand in her way.
Some of the men were already watching her, if the sudden glares she just got from the girls were any proof. Shinobi were predators, after all. Easy women could only hold their attention for so long.
It was to the difficult ones they tied their fate to.
And Miya was the most difficult woman of all. Or at least that's what her mother always told her, anyways. Uncomfortable with the attention, she rushed to the first Geisha she spotted.
"It's been some time since I have had a woman in my bed before."
She nearly choked on her own saliva. Miya took the woman's hand and pryed her fingers off the front of her dress.
Play along for now, dummy.
A nervous chuckle escaped her.
"I would like some privacy for what we are about to do next, if you do not mind."
She felt kind of bad for faking attraction to the Geisha when she only felt pity and a sense of admiration for the woman's strength, at most.
"As my lady wishes." the she gave her a secretive smile that would have probably charmed the dress off a different woman and the pants off any man, before gesturing with a hand to the staircase.
Miya tried for a smile in return. It was clumsy and very low on the seductive scale. She lead the way, choosing an empty chamber after interrupting a love making that she'd rather forget ever witnessing.
Distantly, she thought she heard the sound of a kami's laughter.
The tips of her ears were burning, because of both anger and shame at this point. Miya didn't waste any time, using the small amount of chakra she could spare (damn Madara and his stupid device), into making another seal, this time a sound barrier.
Then she released the henge, revealing her her redhaired, violet-eyed, authentic self.
The Geisha nearly fainted right then and there. Miya didn't feel much better herself. Between the cloaking message seal and the sound barrier, she felt positively drained.
"Y-you are the Uzumaki princess!"
Here goes nothing.
Miya nodded with a sigh.
"I am. Sorry about earlier, it was so we could talk."
"Please forgive me for my insolence!"
And the girl who couldn't be that much older than her fell into an almost kneeling position, head bowed.
"Oh stand up for the love of..." Truthfully, Miya was secretly pleased to know rumors of her strength had spread all over. It was good. The seed she had planted was growing.
She'd see it come in full bloom no matter what.
Her hands reached out to help the Geisha stand upright again. "It was all part of my plan. If anything, I should be the one apologizing." she considered her for a moment. "What's your name?"
"Emiko."
Miya's smile was geniune this time around.
"Can I trust you to keep my secret and do something for me, Emiko-chan?"
She was almost one hundred percent positive that under all that makeup, the Geisha was blushing.
"Hai." she responded. "What do you need me to do?"
Miya pulled out the letter from between her breasts and handed it over. "Deliver this to Shinki, the Nara clan's heir. He is my suitor and I miss him."
It wasn't a lie, she did. But the letter was more business than pleasure. She took off her golden earrings next, giving those to Emiko, too.
The girl drew backwards, shaking her head.
"No, no, no...I could never."
Miya refused to accept that kind of answer.
"Take them." she insisted. "I saw the bruises on your arms earlier. Not everyone is born wealthy." her eyes briefly saddened. "Consider this a gift for your help and silence. You can rent yourself a permanent room at one of the inns in Uzushiogakure, buy some new clothes, start a new life. There is always need for medics, kitchen staff, servants and seamstresses. Shinki will help you."
Emiko burst crying, accepting the earrings and clutching them.
"Thank you so much, thank you!"
She tried kneeling again and just like before, Miya stopped her.
"Live your best life. That's the only thanks I need."
The redhead changed her appearance yet again. Straight pink hair and green eyes...the splitting image of her late grandmother, tou-sama would say if he saw her. "I must go now. You will find Shinki during noon hours on top of the Princess Kaguya hill, watching the clouds."
Emiko nodded. "I won't disappoint you, Miya-sama!"
She broke the sound barrier and walked downstairs.
Infiltrating a place was easier than leaving it, if the constant leering and remarks were any proof.
"Finished so soon, kitten?" one of them dared to grab her forearm. Oh how she wished to kick his ass.
"I'm no kitten." she spat out, picking up the closest object in vicinity...a sake bottle, and hitting him on the head with it. The Uchiha, already drunk, hit the ground with what might have been a comical 'thud'...if not for her current predictment.
Someone up there was having a field day, what with the crazy thing that happened next.
Madara was there.
And Miya who needed a getaway, something shocking...didn't really think things through. She ran over, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and smashed their lips together with all the desperation of someone who needed to escape...and all the passion of a yearning woman.
He matched her fire, as expected. She lost sense of time and place...for a moment.
Miya tore herself away from his lips, seeing the lust in his dark eyes, lust that her facade had instilled in him. The initial euphoria crashed down. She broke into a full sprint, crying and gasping. Thankfully, Madara didn't follow.
Nobody did.
She dropped the henge when nearby and only in the safety of her chambers did she allow herself to shed all the tears she had kept inside.
Kami, it felt like she'd choke on them. Madara was there, in a brothel. And nothing had ever upset her so. Except for his departure, but perhaps she had dodged a katana then.
Did you, really?
Her lips burned. They were red and swollen and she could still feel Madara's taste.
He tasted like the poison she had taken in order to get here. Detrimental to her survival...but annihilating nonetheless.
A/N: Did I just make Miya, Sakura's ancestor? You bet I did. The story is beautiful and will be explained in the next chapter...which I will try to update soon.
topsyturvy-dream: Omg, such a long review! Thank you so much for all the kind words, for being so attached to this story. I'm happy you like Miya's character. Shinki...I grew fond of him whilist writing his character and his bond with Miya. He will definitely play a big part in this story. Tobirama and Izuna do exist...the latter is already dead in my story, however, but he will be mentioned, that's for sure! Tobirama will make an appearance, just sit tight. You are an absolute sweetheart. I'm sorry for the delay, I hope you will enjoy reading this chapter at least half as much as I enjoyed writing it.