2Disclaimer: This story utilises characters, situations and premises that are copyright Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Shonen Jump and Viz media. No infringement on their respective copyrights pertaining to episodes, novelisations, comics or short stories is intended by KuriQuinn in any way, shape or form. This fan-oriented story is written solely for the author's own amusement and the entertainment of the readers. It is not for profit. Any resemblance to real organizations, institutions, products or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All plot and Original Characters except for those introduced in the canon books, manga, video games, novelizations and anime, are the sole creation of KuriQuinn. (© KuriQuinn 2016- )
Author's Note: This isn't exactly new, but it was only posted on tumblr. Since tumblr is now doing stupid things and I'm worried I might lose my stuff because their system for flagging inappropriate content is complete shite, I'm backing up everything. Ao3 and Quotev will have my NSFW stuff, as well as the Dreamwidth account I've linked to tumblr. Everything else will be uploaded here, FFnet and wattpad.
Warning(s): Highly recommended to read Samsara and Pretense and Scion before reading this.
Kanna kneels in a patch of dark, loamy earth, pulling away weeds that choke the newly sprouted seeds. The sounds of birdsong and whispering wind fill the air, punctuated by grunts of effort from the men training in the courtyard. She adds a whimsical little hum of her own, trying to distract herself from convoluted thoughts.
Across the yard, her father-in-law is mired in musings of his own, frowning as he trails patterns across the smooth sands of the garden. Now and then he brings his handkerchief to his lips; though he hides it, she knows blood stains the fabric.
Kanna straightens and signals to a servant to fetch the master's tea and medicine, wondering if he will listen to her if she suggests a rest.
Without warning, Hagoromo gives an agonised gasp, and clutches his chest. Before Kanna can react, his legs crumple beneath him.
"Father!" she screams.
In an instant, the courtyard is a flurry of activity, as white-clad disciplines and servants alike rush to his side. Kanna follows as fast as she is able with her altered centre of gravity.
"What's wrong?" she cries, pushing through the huddle of men and falling on her knees by the old man's side. "Father! Is it your heart?"
"Indra…Indra, my son," he murmurs, staring into the sky at something she cannot see. "What have you done, my boy?"
Fear, like a dagger of ice, enters her hear—her father-in-law can see where most cannot, and with Asura escorting Indra's wife, Shachi, back to him—
What if…? No, he would not…
"What have you seen?" Kanna whispers. "Is Asura alright?"
Hagoromo's eyes focus once more on her.
"He…he lives…" Kanne releases the breath she did not realise she was holding, but true relief is beyond her reach. "But…my daughter…"
He is not addressing her.
"What about Shachi?" Kanna asks, trembling. "And the child? Did something happen to them? I knew we should not have let them leave in her condition…"
But Hagoromo shakes his head, wordless, tears leaking from his eyes and turns away. It is as if the truth is too much for him, and Kanna's own eyes water, imagination running wild with scenarios. When it becomes clear that he will say no more, the students lift him from the ground with care and carry him to his quarters.
Kanna follows at a distance, intending to sit by his side, and wait for him to wake, to tell her what has transpired.
But Hagoromo does not speak.
An aura of despair emanates from him, falling over her too as she tends to him throughout the long days that follow. A general sense of confusion and terrified apprehension overshadows her days and nights.
Asura lives, but perhaps something injured him? Or someone? Or something horrible befell her sister-in-law and the child she carries? And what is Indra's involvement in this? For all the monstrous stories she has heard of him, of what she has seen him do, surely he would not…?
There are no answers for her, and the one who might give them seems incapable or unwilling. He drifts in and out of a forlorn sleep, but when his eyes are open, they do not see her.
Kanna refuses to leave his side. Her maids tempt her to eat, but she has no appetite; it is only for the child beneath her breast that she consumes what they give her, but it all tastes like ash in his mouth. As days turn into weeks, the first stirrings within her belly are her only comfort.
Until the morning that Asura returns, trudging through the gates of their mountain home with the weariness of a traveller that has ringed the globe. Kanna is outside, basking in the fresh air before returning to Hagoromo's side, when she sees her husband's approaching figure.
Then, she is running toward him, throwing herself into his arms with every bit of force she can muster. His hands fasten on the sides of her face, tipping it upward so he can kiss her. There is a desperation in the gesture that might scare her if she was not mirroring the same need back to him.
"You were away so long," she cries, tears falling from her eyes when they pull away. "I worried you…and with your father so ill…"
"Where is he?" Asura asks, worried but weary.
"In bed—asleep, though his eyes remain open. It has been like this for a week."
Shadow overtakes Asura's face.
"Shachi," he tells her. "She is dead."
Kanna emits a small, agonised moan. "No."
"It was Indra," her husband continues, words stilted and breathless, like he barely has the strength to find them. "He somehow—he found her, after something separated us. The others are dead…Taizo…" His jaw clenches, and she knows their friend is no longer among the living, either. "Indra took her somewhere—I could not follow, but I felt—he killed her. He had to have, it was so quick. I felt…I felt it when it happened." He swallows. "His chakra flared and blanketed the area with…anger. And pain. And then, before I could reach her, Shachi's chakra was gone."
Kanna presses one hand to her mouth in horror. The other moves instinctively to her own belly. "And…and the baby?"
But Asura shakes his head.
"I do not know," he tells her. "By the time I made it to where I last sensed her chakra, there was nothing but an empty shore. I thought Indra would seek me out after he…after she died. But he never did, and I do not understand why." He cannot hide the break in his voice. "Why would he do it?"
Kanna mulls over everything he has told her, and then a horrible realisation comes to her mind. As it does, she wonders how none of them could have imagined it before allowing Shachi to leave.
"Oh, husband," she whispers. "Can you not think of a reason? If he did not know of the child, and he suddenly learned of it after her absence? If she did not have the time to explain herself?"
Agonised horror flickers in Asura's eyes.
"No," he says sharply. "No, you cannot believe—he would have thought I—and that we—!" He falls to his knees, and his gaze goes unfocused. It has the terrifying similarity to the look in Hagoromo's eyes three weeks ago.
Three weeks ago, when he no doubt sensed Shachi's death as well.
"This is my fault," Asura murmurs.
"No!"
"Yes. It is—even if they were not acting on my orders, Taizo and the others who brought Shachi here, they did so out of their concern for me. They knew of my wish to reconcile with Indra, and of my frustration with being unable to approach him. They thought bringing her here would force that, but instead it…" He breaks into a sob now and presses his face into her rounded stomach. "I killed her."
Kanna lingers there, not knowing what else to say to comfort him. She knows that even her explanations of truth and logic will not penetrate now. For want of any other option, she can only stand there and hold her husband as he weeps.
大筒木
At last, Asura finds the strength to stand again, and they go to see Hagoromo. For the first time in weeks, Kanna's father-in-law opens his eyes, and she finds lucidity there.
"Asura," he murmurs, reaching out. "My son…"
"Father, I…I failed."
"No," the old sage says. "This was…one of the fates meant to be. I had hoped it would not come to pass, but…"
"How was this meant to happen?" Asura demands. "Shachi, dead by Indra's hand? And her child—?"
"The child lives," Hagoromo says.
"What?" Kanna gasps, shock overwhelming her relief at the news. "But…but that is not possible. Did she give birth? And so fast? If she did…she was not far enough into her pregnancy. How could a baby survive, being born so early!"
"The human spirit is indominable, even when newly formed," Hagoromo says. "I sense a tremendous force willed the babe to live."
Shachi, Kanna knows at once. Somehow, she knows the woman had a hand in protecting her unborn baby, though she cannot understand how.
"Then where is it?" she wonders out loud. "If Indra killed her because he suspected her to be unfaithful, why would he not harm the child? In fact, why would he let it be born in the first place?"
Hagoromo goes quiet, but she does not know if it is because he is unwilling or unable to speak.
"Perhaps he experienced remorse for his act," Asura suggests, a scant note of hope in his voice. "Perhaps killing her was an accident, and he regretted it when he saw the child. A link to her. Perhaps she told him and he believed her, and he took the baby."
"After killing her?" Kanna questions. "I had heard he was cold-hearted, but that…" She has no words for the man who would deliberately cleave his child from its mother. "The truth of it is clear, husband. Indra is lost to you."
"No! We just have not made him see reason yet—!"
"And do you intend to do so now, even after what he did to his wife?" Kanna protests. "He brutally took the life of the one person who loved him as much, if not more than you and your father! What do you suppose he will do if you seek him out now?"
"Now may be the best time," Hagoromo muses. "He will have all his effort before him to keep that infant alive."
"And infant he intends to raise in his image! To hunt you both down and destroy you!" she cries. "He might have killed her, but from the stories you have told me of how his mind works, do you truly expect he will blame himself for her death?!"
"Then it is even more important that we find him and put it all to rights," Asur insists. "We have to—"
"No," Kanna interrupts. Husband and father-in-law offer her twin looks of surprise, for it is rare for her to disagree with them so openly and unyielding. She bolsters her resolve and continues, "We must go nowhere near him. In fact, we must flee this place as soon as possible. Somewhere that he cannot find us."
"Kanna, no—"
"Indra looks to his family now, the children of his line, not you. You must do the same." She reaches out and presses his hand to her abdomen. "Your life is not your own any longer. We took so long to achieve this, this chance at happiness, and it was only possible because of Shachi. It is the last—the only—remnant of her we will ever have. And I have no doubt that when he has had time to foster his rage, Indra and his children and their followers will seek to destroy even that. And so, we cannot be here when that happens."
"This is our home," Asura protests, brows drawing together.
"And perhaps one day, after years have passed and his rage has cooled, perhaps we can return to it," she placates softly, before turning her words to iron again. "But I will not let the man you call brother harm my child, or the people we protect, no matter your love for him."
She can see the struggle in his eyes. She knows that even as she asks him to do this that she is taking his already broken heart and crushing the pieces. But if Shachi could do what was necessary to protect the ones she loved, Kanna resolves to do the same.
"Knowing when to retreat, knowing when to protect instead of attack, I believe that is what true strength is," she finished. "Please, Asura…protect us."
Her husband trembles, obviously torn. Hagoromo studies his son's face with care, noting the pain of indecision, and then takes in Kanna's determined stance. Slowly, he raises a veiny hand and places it on Asura's wrist.
"Heed your wife, my son," the old sage whispers.
大筒木
Asura and his followers set to work, packing belongings with haste and organising their families for the journey ahead. It is harder to evacuate their little mountaintop community than anyone expected, especially given the fear and uncertainty in the air. Everyone speculates the reason for their flight and wonder where they will go.
Though Kanna and her family are careful to keep the exact reason for their departure a secret, they can soon answer the other question. Hagoromo's toad allies from Mount Myōboku have found them a place to settle in a distant forest valley.
"Protected and shaded by canopies of leaves and majestic hills," Lord Gamamaru tells them. "You will remain safe there for a time, and we will keep watch lest Indra and his ilk come looking."
With no time to waste, and with Hagoromo too weak to travel by conventional means, the toads allow Asura and his people safe passage through Mount Myōboku. Feet aching and ill from her pregnancy, Kanna is more than grateful that the journey to the new land will be short.
"This is the only time we can allow this," the toad tells them as they shepherd the people through the strange world of giant amphibians and insects. "This place is dangerous for humans, forbidden unless the gods choose them. It will be many centuries of your time before another human may step foot here. But for my friend Hagoromo…well, he has done much for us. We will make exceptions this once."
Weeks pass as Asura's people settle into their new home, raising houses and tilling fields. Asura works side by side with everyone, using chakra to convince crops to grow and wooden huts to spring from the earth. Kanna remains by Hagoromo's side, too pregnant to be of much help to the village, but willing to do her duty as a daughter and wife.
The old sage, though weak, does not die, but he never rises from his sickbed again.
"You are in such pain, Father," she whispers. "Is there no way for me to ease it?"
He coughs and shakes his head.
"This pain is the price I pay for clinging to life," he tells her. "It would be an easy thing, to let go, and yet…"
He trails off, and she knows the reason for it.
Hagoromo still yearns to see his lost son and still holds within his hear the hope that he will. And though it is what he desires most in the world, Kanna prays that it never, ever happens.
With the settlement soon flourishing, Asura returns to teaching. The children of their community grow older and more willing to pay attention to his lessons. Many even take up his preaching about working together in peace and protecting each other in times of danger.
Though leadership over these people was not something he yearned for, Asura is a natural and beloved leader. More than that, he is a friend, just as willing to share a laugh and a drink with them as arbitrate justice.
But there is something in his smile she never noticed before, and which is never absent from it again. Even on the night when, after a horrendous day of labour, she lays his children in his arms.
"Twins," he murmurs, staring in awe at the tiny, blanket-wrapped infants. A boy and a girl. "Not one child, but two…"
"I never imagined I could know such bliss," Kanna agrees, tired but overjoyed. "Shachi gave us the greatest of gifts. When the midwife told me one was a girl, I though…that is, with your permission…"
She lets the request fade away, not sure how to phrase it, but Asura understands right away.
"There is only one way we can repay our lost sister," he agrees, leaning in to sit by his wife's side. "You will carry part of her with you always, will you not, Shachi?"
The infant makes a complaining noise, which Kanna suspects means she is hungry. She reaches for her, and with a movement that is more natural than anything else she has ever done, brings the baby to her breast.
Asura watches in awe, still holding their son, who by now has also begun to complain. Drawing his eyes from her with reluctance, he gazes down at the tiny face.
"What will you call our son?" Kanna asks. "He will be your heir, will he not?"
"They both will," Asura says, expression dark. "I will not do as my father did. Our children will be equal in our eyes, and heirs to ninshu together." He draws his finger down the line of his son's nose. "My family has brought us nothing but grief. I want a brighter future for our children. Let us call him after your father. He was a good man."
"You never met him," she points out.
"No, but he raised you, and you are the best person I know," Asura replies, a bit of flirtatious grin on his face. His eyes soften again as he watches their daughter nurse. "I want to pass on that goodness."
"Otsutsuki Senji," Kanna muses. "It will be a challenge to live up to a name like that."
"Oh, no," Asura shakes his head. "He will make his own name." He presses a kiss to the baby's forehead and then leans over to offer the same to his daughter and wife. "And his own mark on the world."
It overjoys Hagoromo when they bring him the babies several nights later, and even musters the strength to hold them in the crooks of his arms.
"You have done well, my daughter," he tells her, offering her a look of deepest gratitude. "I sense your goodness in these two souls." Shachi sticks her tiny fist in her mouth, and Senji wraps his chubby hand around his grandfather's index finger. "And a will that burns like fire."
For a time, Kanna does not imagine it possible for her happiness to end.
大筒木
It falls apart a year later.
One of their scouts returns to the settlement bearing news. Their former home—the very mountain it stood upon—has been reduced to rubble, by a giant creature that appeared in a storm of lightning. It still burns with a fire that cannot be extinguished.
It is as if Indra somehow learned of their happiness and seeks to remind them of his wrath.
"If he followed you here, this place is no longer safe," Asura says to the messenger, face grim.
"I lead a false trail," the man says, "but if you wish it, I can return and create a distraction. My death would be a small price to pay for keeping you and everyone else safe, sensei."
"No," Asura shakes his head, staring into the distance. There is something thoughtful and pained in the set of his shoulders. "I will not sacrifice lives to my brother's anger. Only I should face that."
"You cannot!" Kanna protests, panicked at the idea that he means to disappear and once more try to reason with his brother.
"I did not say I would face him soon," her husband clarifies. "One day it will come to that, but not with our children too young to know me. I will not deprive them of their father, nor will I deprive our people of a protector. We will move again. We will move as many times as it takes to make us safe. And this time, we are better prepared." Off her expression, he sighs. "After leaving the first tie, I made sure that if there were ever a need to disappear a second time, we could do so without trouble. I will spread the word among my students to prepare—you speak to the women and begin the necessary arrangements."
There is no point in arguing, and nor does she wish it.
Soon the village they inhabited is empty. With the help of his best students, Asura uses the very earth and trees to erase any sign of their presence from those who might seek them.
"It seems the descendants of Asura are doomed to wander forever," Kanna remarks a few days later, as they stand on a hilly incline. Together they watch Asura's students and families make the trek through a rocky pass. Two strapping lads carry Hagoromo in a litter, and the nurses pass them with the twins bundled and sleeping in their arms.
Asura smiles and places his hand on Kanna's belly. They have recently learned that she is expecting another child.
"Not forever," he says. "I know it."
"How?"
"I have hope," he replies, rubbing the rounded curve of her. "Am I right, Daiki?"
Kanna laughs. "And you are so sure it's a boy."
"Yes."
"You were sure the twins were one baby. I have the stretchmarks to prov that you were wrong."
"This is different."
"How so?"
"I have a feeling," Asura grins. "Believe it."
終わり
I hope you enjoyed the story! Comments and constructive criticism are much appreciated, and very motivating—and if you enjoy my writing, want updates or just to chat, I'm on Tumblr and Twitter (KuriQuinn).
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