Private Twenty Long Years Apart [Chiyoko|Private]

[Uzu]

It was the last thing Toushin had wanted to do, but he was left without options. His constantly flailing at the spy network his daughter had set up would only get him so far, and when he needed it most the Assassin King had finally hit a wall. With the return of Chikamatsu Shin on the wrong side of things, Uzu knew he had only mere days before the planned rebellion to enact a strategy to ensure the former Kazekage didn’t interrupt their coup. He needed to get back into Chiyo’s meticulously planned spy network, or else wouldn’t be able to set up emergency fall back plans set up with Sousuke; or other plans if those failed due to Shin’s return. He, rightfully, assumed that Chiyoko had just been patiently waiting for her father to pour all of his chips onto her hard work to trap him into a situation where they had, to meet up. With a simple phone call she had halted all of his progress and work; with a simple phone call she could allow it all back.

The temptation to use an extremely public place had been incredibly tempting. To say Toushin was sweating bullets at this meeting was putting it lightly. Twenty, goddamned years he had pretended to be dead for her sake only to find she was far beyond the clutches of any of his perceived enemies; and anything that slipped past her guard had to contend with the defacto leader of the Toraono. While he had little to no love for Michino, the assassin had long since learned to respect his martial ability. Chiyo, clearly did as well. In the twenty years away not a single hair of her head had been harmed. In fact, it seemed the opposite as the Uzumoreru Princess had managed to corral the bag of cats that was the Toraono women into respecting her. Many of them had attempted to fight for her lover’s hand, believing her “out of clan hussy status” to be far below the Toraono bloodline - it took exactly one “honorable combat,” to prove otherwise.

The place selected for the meeting was an old run down bar that doubled as a safe house for her spies. It offered privacy they needed in a back room. The walls, floor, and even ceiling were all one big concrete box with a single round table in the middle made from cheap wood. Placed onto that table was a bottle of the finest tequila in all of Suna: Dripping Diamond. The light source for the room was a single, slightly swaying, lamp that hung from a hook on the ceiling. Ventilation in the back far too small for anyone to fit through was the only source of oxygen as the door itself sealed with an airlock to prevent sound escaping. The floor themselves were stained with a rustic brown in spots; indications of torture. It was clear what the room was used for, and that he had trapped himself - such was his desperation.

Toushin was a man who planned for the future. Without his daughter’s spy network he would have to rebuild and that would take money and, most importantly time, that he did not have. So he paced back and forth waiting to see if Chiyoko would even answer his summons, or if she was going to send a proxy. Or just straight up kill him by filling the room with poison. Or…just kill him with her own hands. All the cards were on the table with this meeting as he had no idea how his violence prone daughter was about to react to seeing him, now nearly the same age as her, standing in her safehouse to ask for help.

By the Kami, how the times had changed…

 

[Chiyo]

With the creaking of the door, the rumble of activity coming from the bar abruptly dropped to silence. The silence was soon broken by the sound of high heels on stone floors. As Uzumoreru Chiyoko crossed the dingy bar straight to the bartender she waved her hand absently, silently commanding the others to resume their….whatever. Immediately they turned back to each other, but the tone had changed and their eyes kept shifting over toward the petite woman.

Striding up to the bar, an eyebrow raised to the large man behind the bar which prompted him to give a respectful nod in greeting before speaking in a low rumble, “Yes, ma’am, he arrived just a bit ago and I showed him to the back room.”

A curt nod followed before she simply walked away toward the aforementioned back room without a word, her throat had closed knowing her father was but a few steps away after all this time. Toushin would hear the clack of heels in a threateningly measured tempo growing closer and closer until they stopped just outside the only egress to the concrete box his daughter had chosen for their long-awaited reunion.

On the other side of the door, Chiyo’s hands were clenching and unclenching fists around the fabric of her black sheath dress as she struggled to keep her emotions in check. The night before had been spent trying to convince herself to stay calm and let the man explain himself, but it was hard. As her eyes clouded black, she watched his form come into focus, the wall between them fading into the background. He was clearly nervous too, the way his blood pounded in his veins, but he should be. He had left her, again, this time for twenty godsdamned years. Nevermind the fact that she had mourned him for every one of those years, thinking him to be dead, murdered. On top of that, was the seething hatred she had held for Ryuu Tama, though he certainly still deserved as much of her ire as the man she was here to see.

Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she allowed the black blood to recede and took a deep, calming breath before she forced herself to grab the door handle and step inside. Golden eyes raised to look at the old man, but she couldn’t bring herself to launch into the tirade thought would come. Even given their frequently fraught relationship, Chiyo had missed her father. There he was, mostly whole - though his body and face were much younger than he had been the last time they were together. And…was he taller too? Even with the 4” heels she wore, she still had to tilt her head more than she remembered.

Of course, she didn’t look as old as time would have normally made her either, but appearing to have regressed in age rather than simply not aging was somehow strange, but familiar. Yet another thing to be angry at Tama about.

Her anger at the blond giant was an entirely separate matter, and she pushed the thought away. In its absence, however, the anger at the silver-haired man before her didn't rush in to replace it. Instead, it evaporated into nothing as she took the last few steps toward him and, with a small jump at the end, threw her arms around his neck in a tight embrace. As the lump that had formed in her throat cleared, she whispered “This doesn’t mean I forgive you…but I missed you.”

 

[Uzu]

Standing in that room pacing back and forth felt like an eternity. Here was the self-proclaimed ‘kind of assassins;’ terrified of a single woman. An unwavering stalwart wall of a man that seemed to be phased by little-to-nothing was biting on the nails of his organic hand. The mechanical one had already accidentally broken one of the chairs when it gripped the back of it, twisting the metal into a position that made it impossible to sit on. His heart was beating so loud now that it was all he could hear.

In his twenty years away from Sunagakure, from the life he had once lead and died for, the assassin had more than enough time to reflect on his wrongs. One of those wrongs, perhaps the biggest, had been his daughter. Not there near enough, rarely anything of an actual father figure aside from being a tormenting mentor, and after a certain point in life just bregrudgingly accepted her faults instead of working to help Chiyoko better herself. The girl didn’t have to be an assassin. She didn’t need to create an extensive network of spies and killers…but these were all lessons he gave her. His imparting wisdom as a father to his child had been “always look out for yourself, and keep tabs.”

What kind of terrible, paranoid life had she lived with that kind of advice?

He didn’t fear for his death here. He feared for the monster he had created. To see his child warped into a monster as he had been in his previous life. Lies, subterfuge, and death…was that all he really had to offer her? Uzu knew he also didn’t deserve a second chance, and fully intended this one uncomfortable meeting to be their last; it was to be expected. How could a man come crawling back from the grave after twenty years of death and mourning and expect to still be called Dad?

The clicking of heels, slow and with purpose, slowed his heart to a stop. Toushin ceased breathing, his lungs held tight with a final breath. The clicking stopped, and the door handle turned. It took every last inch of his willpower to not bolt the moment that door cracked a little. To not turn, gnaw off his arms, and try to fit through that vent in the back. He was more terrified of confronting his past sins in this one instance than he ever could have possibly thought. Yet seeing her step through the door took the breath from his lungs.

For a split second, he swore that was Kitani.

Chiyoko had grown into a beautiful woman, and had taken the best aspects of her mother. It was the silver hair that made him realize that this was, still in fact, his daughter. Her golden eyes floating in a sea of black just like his own. The way she held her body as he had taught her - always ready for combat. Even now her form was both rigid and supple, ready to react at a moment’s notice. She took two steps towards him, he took one back. Her face screwed up at the last second, and with a jump to meet his newfound height, flung her arms around his neck in a hug.

Uzu was stiff as a board, his back a rod of steel. What foul trickery was this?

But nothing came. No dagger in his back. No whispered words of vengence in his ear. Just the quiet sobs of a child who had desperately missed her father. Finally letting down his guard, Toushin wrapped his organic arm around her waist to return the hug, his mechanical one gently holding the other up so as not to accidentally crush her as he had the chair. Tears, actual tears, welled in the corners of his eye. Her scent wafted up, and for a brief moment she was a six-year old again begging for his attention. A full on sob racked out of the assassin’s mouth before he dropped to his knees, pulling her in closer as tears streamed down his face freely,

“I am so sorry,” was all he kept repeating for a moment, “Sorry I couldn’t save your mother. Sorry I left you alone for so long. Sorry I couldn’t stop the cancer. Sorry I didn’t tell you what Tama did…I just…I could not ruin your life…”

[mft]

 

[Chiyo]

Chiyo’s always tense body finally relaxed as she felt strong arms wrap around her, her own arms squeezing tighter still. Realizing the stoic Uzumoreru Toushin was actually crying was a revelation. As far as she could remember, she had never seen the man shed a single tear. Even when he learned his wife had been killed, all she saw from him was rage. As her father dropped to his knees before her and actually started to apologize, her mouth popped open for a moment until his words sank in.

Ok, maybe she had lied…maybe this did mean he was forgiven. Knowing he hadn’t truly wanted to stay away, but had done so out of a stupid need to protect her, made all the difference. Even still, these dumbass men would be the death of her.

Michino had even managed to convince her to hide out for a while while the rebellion ran its course. All the while keeping a thumb on the network she had managed to build up from the crumbs her old man had left behind. When would they realize she was perfectly capable of protecting herself? Of course, the giant idiot had somewhat of a point, seeing what they had done to the village, there was no telling what they would have tried had they been able to get their hands on the bride of the usurping Kazekage. Though thinking back, Chiyo honestly would have welcomed the change in routine.

With a shake of her head, small hands grabbed hold of his shoulders, manicured fingernails digging in lightly with frustration. “You stupid, STUPID, stupid, stupid, stupid man. Have you really been blaming yourself all these years? Tengokai killed mom, there was nothing either of us could have done to stop it. Yes, you left, but you did it out of this misguided idea that staying away from me would magically make everything ok. News flash, it didn’t.”

Releasing the hold on his shoulders, the small woman dropped to kneel as well, taking his face between her hands with a more gentle touch, “I don’t know how you think you could have stopped the cancer. Even that blonde bastard,” her lips curled into a small snarl on the word, “couldn’t do it at first. And above all, you are not ruining my life. I will always want you around, you’re my Dad.”

With that last statement her arms enveloped him again, her head resting on his chest. “Besides, the struggles I’ve lived through have made me who I am and I like me. It’s like Mom always said, it takes a lot of fire and hammering to make a strong blade.”

[mft]

 

[Uzu]

Looking into Chiyoko’s eyes, a mirror of his own, nearly broke him. The forgiveness and understanding in those golden irises were more than Uzu knew he deserved. He had been a fool. The first thing he should have done upon resurrection was return to Sunagakure. Had he been here, Wei might not have happened at all. He would have been strong enough to defend Shin. He would have kept up with his networks to prevent even the Oil Barrons from taking seat in the dunes. Everything wrong happening in their country right now were all things the old man could have potentially stopped. Instead, he tried to walk away from his dead life and into something new as not to disturb those that remained from the previous incarnation.

Her last words struck home like the hammer her mother once wielded. When did his child become wiser than he? Perhaps a hundred years was far too long of a life to live; he had no idea how anyone could just keep going. His life was over. It capped off. Cancer, but he defended his village as best as his body would allow. He left two apprentices to the world, his empire had all but been dismantled already, and the network of spies had long been ready to shift to Chiyo to get out from under the ANBU’s eyes. Then that asshole scientist had to dig back up his body, take his soul and shove it into a new immortal container so he could continue to live a cursed life at Tama’s whims.

At least he got rid of the immortality part, now.

Touhsin’s hug tightened for a moment as he remembered Ame’s last words to him. They were both looking over the ocean that day, seated on the front porch of their home and gazing into the sunset. Ame was holding his hand tight, a nervous look in her face at the task to come.
“You don’t have to do this, at least, not by yourself. Give me time and I can come with you, and we, can find your clan’s sword together…” but Ame shook her head. Long red hair that shimmied with a ruby sparkle in the fading sunlight.
“No…no. Do not tempt me, you butt-head. There are some things in life you can’t have help with, some things that unless you do yourself, you’ll never be able to move on. I…never got over Father’s death. His end was so sudden, and the last thing we did was argue about the type of steel I was using for an order. So, no. This blade was created by the progenitor of our clan, and I intend to find it by myself to honor both his, and the clan’s memory. I’m the last, just like you. If the Uzumoreru had something that only you could retrieve, would you call upon your Spy Network to have someone else do it for you?” Toushin stayed silent, unable to keep his gaze locked with her’s as the truth of her words struck him.
“Didn’t think so!” Her hand squeezed back, again, strong, “It’s okay though! Maybe I won’t make it back, maybe I will, but whatever happens there is one thing you always have to look for…” her other hand reached out and pointed towards their daughter playing on the beach. Even though Chiyoko didn’t share Ame’s blood, the little girl playing in the sand was just as much her child as if she had given birth herself.
“Her. No matter what, she is always going to need your support. So please, try to be kind, and try to see her side of things. I’m sure it’ll be hard but, you’re already a great father and I just know you’ll only get better. It might take…awhile, but you’ll get there!”

She never did come back, and it took another 40 years before he finally hit this moment of apology, this moment of just wanting to be back in Chiyo’s life. The day his wife’s head came back with the Ryuu Clan’s symbol brazenly stamped onto her forehead had sent Toushin into a fury that lasted twenty long years, all the way until he died, and then another twenty years of finding himself again…but Ame was right, he did eventually get there.

With reluctance, Uzu pulled away from his embrace with eyes red and cheeks stinging. He slowly stood back up, and helped Chiyo back up before taking a deep breath,
“As much as I wish I could just simply stay here and catch-up, over a bottle of your finest, there’s a war going on that needs my eyes. Coordination with the spies are paramount right now, and if I get the wrong information that could spell curtains for not just me, but our whole side. I’m…I’m still trying to regain my strength that I squandered for the last twenty years. Every target has to be perfect, from entrance to exit, and I don’t have the time for reconnaissance anymore. Will you help this old fool, one more time?”

[MFT]

 

[Chiyo]

For a small moment, Chiyo just let herself be comforted by her father’s embrace. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed it over the long years since he had died. Briefly anger flared within her again, not because he had chosen to stay away, but for the reason he had felt the need to. Sure, he hadn’t always been the perfect father, certainly over-protective (what an understatement!) but it was all borne from love and a fear that he would lose the one last good thing he had. She could certainly understand that…Uzu hadn’t just lost his wife, Chiyoko had lost the only mother she had ever known. Bright green eyes and too much red hair flashed through her memory as well, but paired with a loving smile and laughter as the three of them played on the beach together while the sun was still high in the sky. If memory served, she had been about 11 and they had spent the better part of the afternoon building a sand castle before scrambling to get some sort of retaining wall in place as the tide started threatening their creation.

Tears pricked the corners of her eyes again, wishing they could have experienced more of that. Life would have certainly been different. Then again, she probably wouldn’t have Michino and she couldn’t imagine life without him either. A sigh escaped her lips just as the elder Uzumoreru loosened his hold to stand and offered her a hand as he began to speak again.

Back to business it was, she thought as a knowing smirk found its way to her red-painted lips. Here was the proof her little trap had worked. It was pure bliss to see the old assassin find himself caught in his own daughter’s web. A web that had been woven by his own hands at that. The Uzumoreru heir had been told by her underlings about 6 months before that they suspected her father to be alive and in the village. Not only that, but he had been there for some time before they managed to learn of it and he was using her resources without a word to her.

Her fury at the time had been hard to contain, and it had taken a lot of sweet words from Michino before she had stopped breaking things. Then, once the fire had burned to embers, she started to plan. Straight capture wouldn’t work since sending anyone after him would just be a useless sacrifice. As mad as she was, she hadn’t wanted to straight kill the man either, not until she had the chance to lay into him herself anyway. The next best thing would be to render him useless and force him to contact her, so she sent out the order to blacklist Uzumoreru Toushin. To her displeasure, it had still taken quite some time before he finally requested a meeting but here they were.

Taking a moment to straighten her shoes once she was back on her feet, she stepped around her father to grab the neck of the bottle on the table. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to take this home then and we’ll open it when you save the village. You know you have to give me away at the wedding now too, so you better make it good.”

[MFT | Topic Left]

 

[Uzu]

I’ll make it the biggest wedding Sunagakure has ever seen…

The thought crossed his mind, but his lips couldn’t say it. He was still breaking out of his shell, and only responded to Chiyo’s statement with a nod. The bottle lifted off of the table did send a pang of sadness through his gut. How badly he had wanted to actually sit down and catch up nearly overwhelmed his need to complete a duty - but the gears were already moving. If Uzu stepped away for too long, then all hell would break loose. People would die; good people. A steady hand needed to cull the hidden cancers hiding among the people of Sunagakure, and he was the barber’s blade. His apprentices were already tasked with two targets, and himself with another two. Now that he could get back into the Network, he could proper plan that last hit.

Waiting a full ten minutes after Chiyo left, another envoy stepped inside of the stained concrete room. The bartender. The man was just slightly taller than Toushin, and potentially intimidating in size, but the assassin could clearly see through the tender’s buff exterior. The soft hands, easy look in his eyes, and half-nervous smile when he stepped in told Uzu he would die within seconds if actually locked in combat. No doubt, it was why he was tending bar at one of the safehouses. For beyond that ease in his eye was stalwart honor. Dead or not, this man would take all of their secrets to the grave first.

As he approached the bartender reached into a pocket and handed over a small golden rectangle with the Uzumoreru clan symbol stamped onto it. A literal golden ticket. It looked comically small within the gentle giant’s hand, even more so when the assassin reached out to take it. He nodded to the giant before attempting to step past him only to be locked down by a single hand on his shoulder. Strength he had not been expecting gripped his collar bone with the expression of how easily it would snap between the tender’s fingers; then a pat and Uzu was released. An younger Toushin would have killed him on the spot for such a slight, but the old man smiled instead. Chiyoko had chosen her allies carefully. A swelling of parental pride lifted his spirits as he exited the bar entirely, slipping through the nigh empty entrance like a fleeing snake and then vanishing once he was outside.

———

Three hours later and he was tired. His first hit, the captain of Wei’s guards, was not as easy as he had hoped. Rust and age was playing strongly against him. Yet he had to continue on. The next target was even more important than the last and, according to the fresh info from the Network, was highly guarded. They knew something was about to happen and had prepped for it thoroughly. As if that hadn’t been damning enough, he was also given intercepted letters between the noble and the Twins - a privy he hadn’t dared to poke at before his meeting with Chiyo. The task looked impossible, bleak even, for the famed ‘king of assassins.’

But he would push forward.

There was still a card he had up his sleeve. The ace in his kit that he had hoped to keep locked down forever, but with the challenges set before the older man, he realized there was no going to be holding back without increasing the chance of not only death, but failure; the last being more important than the previous. However with his silent promise to throw a wedding, neither option was applicable. So, the king found himself back in that old church in the Underground, staring once more at the onyx throne.

A sigh escaped him. One of frustration at his weakness that still needed to be settled. Stepping forward he focused a modicum of chakra into his hand to grip the left arm of the chair, and pulse it into the stone. Like a drought stricken land, the stone absorbed his chakra before shuddering and melting into a black pool at his feet. The other hand formed a seal to focus the chakra pooling around him to separate and reveal a hole beneath the throne before forming stairs that lead down into a secret basement. With a touch of electric chakra in his hand he lit the way forward as he descended down.

Musk hit his senses first, and then the dust of nearly forty years assailed his nostrils. His golden eyes glowed softly in the darkness, clearly unperturbed by the smell of ‘old,’ in the air. Once he reached the bottom of the staircase he stepped into a small open chamber that held a single silver chest covered in sealing, and, explosive tags. The number of the tags combined would have stopped even the pluckiest of thieves if someone had managed to find his chest. He had set them so that they worked together: if someone set off the explosives, the seals would replicate them. If someone tried to remove the sealing tags, the explosion would turn anyone attempting it into a pink mist. The chest beneath both was entirely immune to any damage, made from Takahashi Steel and a type of petrified wood that was resilient to all forms of natural damage. He imagine the chest would have outlasted all of Sunagakure if left alone…and it was a shame he had to open it.

Standing before the chest, Toushin formed six hand-seals before launching his specifically molded chakra at the treasure like a key. The sealing tags ate the explosive ones, and then fell away into useless paper. The chest without any indication of hinges to explain how it would open came apart in pieces, floating away from each other to reveal a pair of swords. Power that had been trapped for forty years exploded outwards, throwing the chest pieces to embed into the walls.

Toushin reached out and grabbed the two Ryuu Clan swords. They hummed in acceptance at the return of their master before he slung them over his back; raw power slowly filled his vessel. Muscles tightened, senses heightened, and some of his age regressed. During his journey to find and kill the man who had taken Ame’s life, he had stumbled across these two swords and fought Tengokai, Tama’s father, for them. Knowing that the man had intended to use them for ill, Uzu mastered them in combat to face off against the legendary monster before returning to Suna. There he hid the weapons, hoping to never have need of them or their incredibly addicting power ever again; but every second counted now. With their plans out into the wind before even executing them, he had to make some quick adjustments or else the village would go entirely under. Michino would die. Wei would win, even if he was assassinated.

And that was not acceptable.

[Topic Left/MFT]