I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings [SSM]

[Seijin]

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,
When he beats his bars and would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings –
I know why the caged bird sings.​

Staring at the ceiling, Umashi yawned as he leaned back in his chair in his newly minted office. The rebuilding of the Hokage Mansion had happened quickly enough and with incredibly ease all things considered. Musing as he was, he looked over to the ceremonial outfit that was hanging up on the far wall of his office. In less than days worth of hours he'd soon be married to Yomi and enjoying a brave new world with her. It seemed like just the other day that they had met, and yet he was expecting that everyday would feel new and fresh with her as his wife. Attempting to focus, he'd turn back to the paperwork before him in an attempt to finish the last bit and to get some rest before the next days festivities.

Jokingly Yomi had reminded him to sign a prenuptial agreement and though the thought hadn't ever crossed his mind, Umashi did find that it would be best if he did legally update his legal affairs prior to the wedding. A man of great wealth, Umashi whistled as he looked over the amount of money that he was valued at. It was a far cry from the amount that he was worth when he was still working on the slavers ship. With a few strokes of his pen he'd signed all of his wealth over to his spouse and any future children equally. He and Yomi had talked about children but the matter had still be left on the table. For them, focusing on each other was the key to a happy family life early on.

Moving on to the next document, though a Hokage could will their position to a spouse or descendant, it was highly frowned upon by the village council and something that was only used in the most dire of war times. Though the words had never been vocally spoken, Umashi was sure that Yomi recognized the interesting predicament being married to the Hokage would put her in. Simply put, most would only ever see her as an opportunist who was looking to snatch the hat of the Hokage from out under him. Unfortunately or rather fortunately, Yomi was a village Sennin and as one she was legally able to take the mantle of Hokage if anything ever happened to Umashi.

Wishing to be impartial, Umashi pondered on the thought of who would succeed him if he were killed in the line of duty. Would it be Yomi or Takeshi. The picking of one over the other would cause all kinds of backlash considering their less than warm relations. Trusting her more, Umashi would love to have Yomi succeed him, but then the question would become could she handle it emotionally if Umashi was no longer around. Even yet still, Takeshi also had what it took to be Hokage, even if Umashi sometimes doubted his ability to see past the moment. Putting the Uchiha clan head as the Hokage though would no doubt cause concern considering the fact that Takeshi was also a well beloved member of the ANBU.

Still, with even those two to consider, there was also quite technically Kenshin, who despite not being a branch Sennin, was still a Sennin recognized by the state. Could a local hero be the Hokage if there was no right or wrong choice between the branch Sennin? Leaving the box blank for a moment, Umashi quickly made a decision that he figured best for the village morale wise, even if it was sure to put Yomi in a tough predicament. Trusting in his soon to be wife to be strong in a time of turmoil was a gamble that he'd take every time if he could. Even if she would have to step down, Umashi trusted that in the period of his passing that Yomi would be a voice of reason and the choice that would most likely lead to the perception of a calming security unlike her Uchiha counterpart.

Sighing and leaning back in his chair, Umashi put his pen down stretched his arms. Working as late as he was, he knew that he'd need these documents quickly handled properly in order to make sure that they went into effect immediately. Yawning, he soon expected that he'd be asleep dreaming blissful dreams and with that knowledge he got up to take the quickly sealed documents down to his secretary office. Appreciative of people like her, Umashi didn't know what he'd do without the woman who worked tirelessly beside him day in and day out. The fact that she worked these long hours just to make sure that he was never without the ability to enact action legally was a feat onto itself. As far as Umashi was concerned, she was just as important as the village Sennin.

Finding her sorting through academy records as when he got to the bottom floor, she greeted him with a smile and a nod as he motioned towards a cup of tea sitting on the edge of her desk. "I made that for you!" Her kind deed didn't go unnoticed as Umashi thanked her before taking a sip, she'd made it exactly as he liked it. Also one of the few who knew about the secretive wedding, in the morning, Umashi decided to make small talk with her before going back up to his office. "So, are you ready for the big day?" Laughing the woman shook her head and put a finger to her chin in order to appear to think on the matter. "I don't know . . . I think that my dress might be a bit too big, or is it too small? Heck, is it even the right color?"

Completely left without anything to match her clever womanly wit, Umashi froze with a funny look on his face before shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts away. Bursting into another fit of laughter, the woman shooed Umashi off. "Good evening Hokage-sama, get some rest. Lady Yomi would kill me if I allowed you to stay up any later!" Taking his night time tea and his cue, Umashi hurried off back to his office upstairs. His thoughts all over the place, Umashi made his way to his office without thinking much about anything in particular. It was while completely not overly concerned about who or what might greet him that he opened his door to find a red haired woman bathed in flames facing away from him in the middle of the room.

 

[Seijin]

Loosing his grip on his teacup, Umashi didn't have time to wonder if he'd missed the sign of light emanating from the room or if he should have smelled the smoke before the whole world froze as the woman turned around and greeted him with a waiting smiling on her face. "Lord Hokage, we've been waiting on you!" Without another word the room was bathed in a blinding light as Umashi soon found himself standing on the stone face of Yamaguchi Kami, the first Hokage. Looking over the whole village, Umashi found the woman floating at his side. Looking beyond where they were, the woman pointed towards a darkness in the night.

With the half-moon high in the sky, she started to speak of things that Umashi was not aware of currently but that he'd soon come to know in full. "The others are waiting for you in the plane beyond. Fortunately I was able to find you before the Dark Phoenix consumed you!" Mentally coming too, Umashi's thoughts immediately went to the porcelain teacup that lay shattered at his feet before he realized just where he was and the fact that he'd just previously been in his office. "Who are you, what's the Dark Phoenix and why does it want to consume me?" Quickly scanning the skies for some sort of sign, Umashi rattled off his questions as if the flaming, flying woman was an old acquaintance.

Though he was somewhat unfazed by often rude intrusions of beings beyond his own mortal understanding, he was still rather annoyed at being yanked from his office in the dead of night without any true warning. Getting down to the point of things, he knew this to be the best way to approach situations like this until there was a better development. "The Dark Phoenix is a being of incredible power, a cosmic threat to all that you hold dear . . . beware, it approaches!" Suddenly, Umashi began to hear the village alert sirens as in the distance he began to see stream of flames quickly approaching the village.

Recognizing the call of the Gate Guards, Umashi readied himself as he quickly focused chakra into his feet. "When I'm done with this, we're going to have a chat because I'm really tired of you types hijacking my personal time!" Without saying more, he then crouched low before quickly applying a burst of fire chakra and leaping high into the sky. A technique he called boosting, Umashi continued to leap, jump and generally fall with style as he quickly made his way to village gates where he landed with an equal finesse. Though he was dressed only in his medical whites, those at the gate recognized him as they rallied to his side with shouts of the Hokage joining the battle.

Assuming a fighting stance, despite being forewarned about the danger looming ahead of him, Umashi was still surprised when a darker than black bird swooped in above them and cried out with a dizzying shrill. With a distinctive look like the night sky, when Umashi looked at the bird, he recognized a similar flame like that of the woman before, but with this creature there seemed to be all sorts of stars and constellations that danced along its frighteningly majestic body. "Read your stations! I want a barrier containing this threat ASAP!" As if understanding his words, the large building sized bird stopped hovering above them flapped its wings once, and then again before taking off towards the village beyond.

Without hesitation, Umashi boosted himself up and towards the bird, attempting to intercept it but finding that he was too slow. Chasing after it, Umashi quickly created a small orb of chakra in his hand and managing to get alongside the bird. Guessing that the Dark Phoenix was aiming towards the center of the village in order to do the most damage, Umashi made a hand sign and hastily created a large barrier of light directly in the birds way, causing it to have to change trajectory and then turn towards flying upward. Guessing at the basic spot that the creature would end up in the sky, Umashi flung the small orb of chakra at it and the closer that it got, the larger it became until it became bigger than he was. Proficient as he was in ninjutsu, Umashi knew that the perfected rasengan would fly high and true.

Instead though, the creature phased right through the attack and turned tail and began to dive at Umashi. They said that fighting fire with fire was often a better way to win. To Umashi, the logic was flawed at its core due to the obvious ramifications of a firefight in an such a place as on top of a village building rooftop. Using a simple hand seal to harness the lightning chakra within his body, Umashi quickly manipulated the gravity around his right fist as he took a few steps back before running forward and leaping up and towards the large bird crashing down on him. Clinching his teeth, Umashi put more than too much chakra into the gravitational punch before connecting with the beak of the bird. Feeling just the initial pressure of the beak against his fist, to any onlookers, the Hokage and the bird disappeared in an explosion of black flames.

To Umashi however, he landed on a far too warm bed of grass on his stomach as he heard the shrill cry of the Dark Phoenix above him before he looked up and watched it fly away. Quickly rising to his feet, Umashi watched the bird fly off as he began to take in his surroundings. The most immediate question was where was he, and the second was quickly silenced by the presence of the flying woman from before. "So you made it in one piece. Quite promising for one unacquainted with fighting the Dark Phoenix, I'm impressed." Crossing her arms, the woman began to float off slowly towards a forest beyond, continuing to talk as she did. "That was just the first part of your mission, the hardest path is yet before us."

It was then that Umashi noticed the eerie red colored sky above him and the way that the sun just didn't seem to feel natural. Walking after the woman and asking a question, Umashi hoped to get some answers. "Where are we? I'm getting married in the morning, I can't play in one of your games tonight!" Stopping only to partway turn, the woman's concerning face was only overshadowed by her answer. "What's more important is when we are . . . With all rational thought completely and utterly exposed in that moment, Umashi didn't know whether to be angry or afraid, but when he opened his mouth to ask another question, he felt the presence of footsteps behind him as he quickly turned around just quickly enough to see the but of a sword hit him squarely in the forehead, causing him to black out.

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.​

OOC: Hokage Mansion and Village Academy considered rebuilt as of this post.

OOC #2: Yomi considered the Hokage (banner and all) as of this post as Umashi is ICly considered dead/MIA. OOCly I'll take a Leaf Medic-nin banner. Council has been alerted to the change and the time span involved with this arc.

OOC: Topic left.