One week ago
Takaki Masao rolled his eyes at the letter as he presented it to Hayata Shin, who sat behind his desk in his office at the top of the Torre Celeste.
“This will firmly establish your reputation as a Peacemaker, Shin. You’ll have completed what Kagetsu Kiyo started but ultimately failed to accomplish. You’ll be the Raikage who changed everything,” he declared, a smile on his face. “We both know that Shinobi like ourselves usually only serve to keep things stagnant. But perhaps one of these days someone might point to this moment and say ‘this is when we took a step forward after thousands of years in the dark.’ I have to say, I didn’t expect it from you all those decades ago, but I’m glad that I prevented Sei from doing something stupid. Kazama Ringo would have let her, too.”
While the aging Sennin shifted between anger and general ennui, Shin remained completely austere and calculating. He was still perplexed at why Kiyoshi insisted on a weapon ban especially when shards of metal would not stop an attack from jutsu wielded by shinobi.
[
It was early winter where the temperature began to drop. The windows on the right side of Shin's office had frosted over to a gray-white tint that made the room feel darker. Fortunately, the proper ventilation system that surrounded the towers kept the room moderate. Despite the regular temperature, Shin still wore his notorious cloak that completely hid most his body like a heavy shroud covering a homeless man on a cold day.
"My reputation is the least of my concerns right now. I am more concerned with the reputation of our village. Ever since my uncle and the Kingslayers..." Shin began but stopped abruptly. "No for several years now, the common people have grown to fear us. The trust between shinobi and the country is growing thin. It is still a challenge for me to gain clients for the village. If it were not for our old connections I dare not imagine where we could be. Peace is not just a sentiment but a logical ordinance.
"Do not get me wrong, Masao, I still can't imagine that I will be the cornerstone to a new age. If I were to tell myself in the past that what I have become I do not know if he would be appalled or pleased," Shin with a chuckle.
"Now, apparently, I am only allowed one personal guard. Would you be able to accompany me?”
“Do you have to ask?” asked Masao, chuckling. “You are not only my Raikage, but also my friend. I also have unfinished business with our mutual friend Enishi. That said, I also intend to bring along the full strength of Kumogakure. After all, Chief Ambassador Tanaka and Spymaster Do are two of the major arbiters of the peace treaty. They will need guards as well, seeing as they are to serve in a diplomatic capacity primarily. I intend to bring along ANBU Sennin Kogami and Medical Sennin Isaki if they are available, as well as several members of the Merces Letifer to serve as infiltrators to root out the Kingslayer threat. Mednin Shinrya will be our medical support. I take the security of the conference more seriously than I take the convictions of the Tenouzans. I will not make the same mistake as I made when I let Haninozuka Nikolai perish.”
Later, Masao left the Torre Celeste and walked home. They would leave for Tenouza on the morrow, and there was a chance that not all shinobi who departed would come back home to the village. As he usually did after a day of work, the Sennin headed home through the snow-dusted streets of the Seki.
The manor was unoccupied when he arrived. Enjeru was likely on duty and Saeko too. Nyaruko had departed weeks prior to pursue her dream of becoming a pop idol, and now things felt unattended. He did not mind the silence, however. It came a person time to think – to collect thoughts and reflect on one’s own mortality. Silently, Masao padded up the stairs to a storage room set into the sloping, wood-shingled roof. Candle in hand, he found what he was looking for.
A small metal box opened at the touch of his fingers. In it, a small chain locket rested, its surface tarnished somewhat by age. He opened it, and gazed at the image within for a long time.
Elsewhere…
“It’s Kagetsu-sama you love, right? I can tell. Everyone can tell. The way you look at her, the way she looks at you…” Seryuu accused him. They were back in their quarters in the Sileo Tempestas, freshly off guard duty. He had just undone her bodice but she pushed him back in despair and jealousy.
“I…yes. I love the Raikage. I desire her. And no, I’ve never slept with her. She remains inaccessible,” he had said to her, both pained and relieved that she had forced this confession from him. “I am sorry, Seryuu, for everything. I will ask to be transferred to another squad that does nights so you do not have to see me again. I don’t know what else to do to apologize. I understand if you never want to speak to me again…” He turned around to leave.
“Wait. Don’t leave,” she said, grabbing at his wrist. He turned, expecting a slap or a knife to the diaphragm, only to find Kagetsu Kiyo staring back at him in Seryuu’s place. “I do love you, Enishi. Haven’t you see all of the signs? Haven’t we shared the forbidden fruit of knowledge with each other?”
“My Lady!” he gasped, falling to his knees as she smiled and approached him, her exposed torso glinting in the candlelight.
“Do you love me too?” she asked. Gently, she caressed his face and leaned over to kiss him. His hands rose and started to caress her under her remaining clothing as he kissed her back with desperate passion.
“Yes, I love you, Kiyo! More than anything!” he said breathlessly as he picked her up and carried her to his bed. Now they were laid across the sheets, him on top and her on bottom and shuddering with pleasure at each movement of their bodies. She was close, and so was he…
“So then, my love, why did you kill me?” she asked.
Beneath him, her torso was now marred with a gaping wound between her breasts and the bed became a pool of sticky crimson. Her blood covered him entirely. His hands, his chest, his face. Her gaze, formerly adoring and loving, was an accusatory, blood-smeared indictment even after she breathed her last…
“My Lady! NO! Kiyo! No, this cannot be! I didn’t mean it! I’m sorry! Come back! PLEASE COME BACK! PLEAAAAAASE!!!!!!”
The nightmare cursed him nearly every night. It had been more frequent and more garish since the incident at Mount Baekdu, which he attributed to the increased metabolic load put on his body as a result of the limb graft. Not having access to a real hospital in a shinobi village, he had no access to a compatible flesh-and-blood limb that other dismembered shinobi might be given by their medical corps. Hence, he had found an underground surgeon, a former mednin who himself had grown disenchanted with the way of things, to at least fashion a capable prosthesis that would allow Enishi to fight.
There was no substitute for one’s own limbs, and the robotic-looking metal arm with grappling claw at the end was a poor fit, but it was fast, and could crush an armored helm with ease. He had practiced with it long and painfully, and now he was confident that he would be able to at least deal with a certain shinobi from Cloud. It was fortuitous that he had reached this point, since the time to strike the final blow was drawing near.
Too restless to sleep further, Enishi pulled on the gi which hung on a nearby peg and slipped into it, pulling the sleeves over the metal arm that was a bit too big for the rest. Silently, he padded down the damp stone halls of the ancient fortress he had used as a base for the last five years. It was over a thousand years old, built into a cliff face to withstand an assault by armies wielding technology long-lost and yet more powerful than anything in existence today. A light shining through a nearby doorway beckoned him to approach, and he listened to the voices within.
“What about the radiation? I mean, we could be cooking our insides right now standing next to this thing!” complained Haikuno, furtively shielding his nether regions from imagined gamma rays.
“It’s fine! Weapons-grade plutonium doesn’t actually emit anything that harmful. Besides, I also want to have kids someday…” she sighed, adjusting a knob on one of the many circuit boards spread out across the floor in front of the device.
“You, have kids?” Haikuno asked.
“Well, maybe…” Marie said, her tone unusually soft…
“Like, with who?” shrugged the boy.
“Don’t make me say it…” she murmured, blushing.
“I mean, Shourai’s a nice guy, but I didn’t think he was your type,” said Haikuno, bewildered. Marie’s blush turned crimson in anger and she swiped at him with a spanner.
“B-b-baka hentai! It’s not Shourai! Eew, gross!!”
“I do have to say, you seem really distracted these days,” said Haikuno, a thoughtful expression splayed across his features. “And um, as your teammate, I want you to know that if you ever want to tell me anything, I’ll always listen. I’ll always be there for you,” he said, smiling generously. Marie cast her gaze downward as she fiddled with the tool in her hands.
“Then I’ll tell you something…after the mission,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut. With that, she whirled around and began to furiously work. Haikuno merely shrugged.
“Uh, anyway, I’m going to the can,” he said, earning a disgusted sigh from her.
A few minutes later, as he exited the washroom, Enishi tapped him on the shoulder.
“W-whoa! Boss! Hey, what’re you doing up like this? You need to rest for the mission!” said Haikuno as he tried to shoo Enishi back to his quarters. “That arm graft isn’t going to heal well if you’re constantly skulking around the place,” he lectured.
“It’s quite alright, actually,” said Enishi, switching places with Haikuno in a blur of motion. “There’s such a thing as too much sleep, after all. Rather, I wanted to talk to you, Haikuno. Do you have a few minutes?”
“Sure thing, sir!”
“Do you remember when we first met?”
“Oh yeah, I do! I mean, it wasn’t super long ago…you asked me why I was joining up, and I told you it was because I wanted to change things in Maru Maru, where I grew up.”
“And with all of the things you’ve seen, all of the pain you’re suffered and all of the friends you’ve lost… Do you still feel the same way?” asked Enishi, leaning against one of the stone walls and staring up at the ceiling. Haikuno crossed his arms, biting his lip.
“I…I’d be lying if I told you I haven’t sometimes thought twice about continuing. I miss Yukiko and Daishi, and Yuuya and Mitsuru. I also miss Kazuhiko too, and it still bothers me that when I see him next time, I will probably have to kill him,” he sighed, wiping at his eyes.
“So what keeps you from leaving? You know by now that I wouldn’t hold it against you. You could go back to your old life. If Marie wanted to follow you, it would be her choice and I would respect it.”
“Er, uh, why would she follow me anywhere?” asked Haikuno, a look of bewilderment crossing his features. Enishi raised an eyebrow.
“You really are clueless in matters of the heart, aren’t you? Anyway, I asked, what keeps you here, Haikuno?”
“I don’t have a great answer, boss. I still want to change things for small places like the one I was born in. But I also kind of realized that there’s nothing else for me out there. I’m a wanted criminal whose only skills are in assassination. My picture is pasted up in every major city, along with all the rest of ours, so forget settling down on a farm or going to school or getting a job. My best friends in the world before this – one’s a Cloud shinobi that’s sworn to do battle with me, and the other is a top dog in the Bakufuu Security Agency. I have nothing but this life, and this cause, which despite everything I’ve been through, is still the purest and most just thing I’ve ever been a part of. I’m ready to die for it because it’s more important than my life going on. And more importantly, I’m fine with killing for it as well,” said Haikuno, gritting his teeth and focusing an uncharacteristic look of resolve back at Enishi.
“Tomorrow we leave for Tenouza, where will make a stand against those who would oppress the weak. We strike a blow for equality and progress. It is something I have been ready to sacrifice my life for since I was a small child, only I didn’t know what it was at the time. If I should perish, Haikuno, I want you to do something you may not wish to do,” said Enishi.
“And that is?”
“I want you to survive. I want you to continue the fight even if all of the rest of us perish. Because you carry hope in your soul that far outshines the rest of ours, and it is that hope that will ensure that our lives will not have been lost in vain. You will carry the cause.”
“Enishi, I…”
“Don’t worry, Haikuno, I haven’t given up myself, and I’m pretty tough to kill. We’ll give them a good fight,” he said, turning back to his room. For the rest of the night, Yukimura Enishi slept peacefully.
