Of course he knew that, Sango had been gone now for what five... no six years nearly. Just like Shichi had been gone for eight, maybe nine. Juu for a little less, maybe six or seven. Not that time passes well or easily, he did not know exactly how long ago it was in terms of years, he had been left alone in the great black pit for four'ish years as well. Time was passing him by at an alarming rate. Probably felt like a year to Roku, maybe a bit longer. For Taro, more like eight. But even then, it had been years since he had seen any of them, all capable and strong women. Some he actually respected, which was why they never dated -- it was hard to date a woman he respected.
"Yes, Mikaboshi was given power as a peace deal between the Kazekage's family... so I can't disagree with your anger there. This village used Ancients to increase their power. At the same time, whether you were aware or not, we were force-fed Ancients in the Sovereign Academy to make us what we are now... we accepted, or were forced to accept, the power of those monsters to make us. Whether it was the Academy or this Village, both hold that stink."
Roku tried to explain the Kazekage's process but there would be no way for the Sennin to rectify his former master's sin. Taro shook his head, weary in the darkness. His pale eyes glinted from the hint of light the narrow slit in the door provided. One that he saw on occasion open a crack. Those outside were curious, or full of fear. "Your Kazekage opened his door, his home, his people and his secrets to monsters that used to dominate us. He opened the door to a being that ate us like you or I would a side of beef," Taro replied. What he said somewhat eloquent considering his station and his lack of education. He had not come to this conclusion on his own, he was far to simple. "They did not have to force me to take their 'gift'... their 'curse'," Taro continued perseverating between the two for a moment. Being a hybrid, if by birth, Ancient Lord gift, Nao's technique or the Fatalist Method, being a hybrid came with draw-backs. "I was born this way," Taro claimed. He was not lying, a flicker of light as the slit in the door opened to spy the conversation within. One that should have been in confidence cast enough light to remind Roku of what Taro was. He had seen it before, Taro's flesh was wrong. It looked like his flesh was made of metal, because it was. Yes, what witty comments he could have about being 'rock hard' and having a 'real set of boulders.' "A Kirishii," Taro seemed to spit when he said the word. Like so many other words it had power. It told a tale, a single word described his family's history. "A monster."
The Kirishii were once gladiators of the Flame Court under Lord Homura who would fight in great battles. Homura was a creature of war and conflict, of passion, blood and fire as were the members of his great and dangerous court. Victory, forging the perfect warrior and having a great battle drove Homura to create the Kirishii. Men and women alike, reformed through his power and strength and rage. They took on many of the physical traits of this terrestrial court -- their bodies hard as stone for greater endurance, their fists like great boulders and their step like a mountain on the move. The Kirishii were cursed to live in a world of limbo, not man and not Ancient, too wise to be among the beasts and too deformed and strange to find their place among either race. While they aided humanity in their way for liberation at Godsfall, in the time thereafter the Kirishii retreated to the wilds.
"But there is a difference between the Kazekage and the Diamyo," Taro persisted with a long breath. "We destroyed the Ancients by consuming them, this village allowed Mikaboshi and surely others like him to not only proliferate but given a seat of authority." Humanity did not mean much to a man that was never a man, not truly. His parents were half-breeds and his parents before that were as well. He was better than most, not really able to pass but not nearly as aberrant as the rest. Of course his beginning in the world of civilized man should have started with a cliche my parents wanted another life for me so left me here. Such a tale would define his parents as short-sighted and cruel. No, he was but a pebble when his parents died, his mother during childbirth. There was a reason the Kirishii line had not weakened as human blood overtook the Kirishii -- his mother was fully human, this was why he looked almost human. The process of birthing a boulder boded poorly for the woman, a unique person perhaps that truly loved his father or so he hoped as he never knew the girl, she died of a hemorrhage hours after his birth. He was seen as a miracle child, glistening like gold - lovely. He was passed around in those early years from distant human relative to distant human relative until none of them wanted him any longer, then it was the life of a street rat for him.
"I will live a long time," Taro admitted. "Even in a hell like this. And so won't you." A lesser man would have been dead. Even a lesser hybrid truly. Taro was an exceptional creature, even if he saw it otherwise. That was what Nao saw as well.
The Kazekage's insurmountable errors did not end there, with the elevation of the Ancient Lord to the seat of Sennin. He was awarding demons and foreigners with the same boon. So short-sighted. So foolish. Taro saw it as the ultimate betrayal of humanity.
"The cat people? Yea, not a fan of them either... but who in the hell would kidnap the Daimyo's daughter..."
Taro simply glared at Roku from the darkness. "We know it was you, well, not you in particular. But it was one of you," Taro claimed. There was very little evidence but that was exactly the point, Shouki was guarding the room personally. He admitted to harming the girl, but claimed she was intact when he sent her to bed. General Shiro was not the sort of man to lie, he took great pride in his violence. All they had was a small hole drilled from the outside, the dust on the floor told them it was an outside job. The lack of a struggle, the girl could fight. She was by no means on par with her older brother, but she was a capable teen, well young woman by now. The evidence was circumstantial mostly, there was not a Sovereign that would dare take her. Sound was about to have her and the Otokage was not a man to be crossed. The denizens of Wind Country, for the most part lacked shinobi skills -- not everyone was chakra sensitive. The Merchant lords would have leveraged her kidnapping by now if one of them was seeking the throne, the Diamyo would have denied them their victory but if they were foolish enough to take her, then they would have been foolish enough to try. That left Sunagakure, the logical culprit. "But if her fate is anything like mine, I have a feeling she is in a corner someplace forgotten... much like me." Taro reasoned, he was not wrong really. Sango was somewhere in Sunagakure, after the girl was taken and nearly killed she was placed in the Omni Prime. She was prevented from leaving, not that taro had any way of knowing this of course.
Where would Sunagakure have put her -- the most logical place you would place a girl claiming to be the Diamyo's daughter: the Asylum. An easy place to lock someone away. To forget about them. A place where they can scream and cry and threaten but could not do anything more. A place where nobody would believe her and Sunagakure's terrible secret would be secure.
"Juu was captured by that monster, Mikaboshi."
Admission of something at the very least. Under Mikaboshi's thumb for that long? Taro let out a shuddering breath, yes he was in physical pain upon hearing that. "I hope she is dead then," Taro concluded in a dejected voice. For Juu there were fates worse than death, such as consumption. Such as being turned. She, like Taro were exceptions -- neither of them had undergone Nao's procedure. Juu had other means of acquiring power, or so she claimed. She was strong, something that he could not deny. She used to claim that her power came from him... not just him alone, but everyone. That she took a little bit from everyone and everything, if it had life she could consume it. She was never willing to share her secret and Shouki certainly tried. The Jashinist had some unique means of extracting anguish from others. She would rather die than share, and die she nearly had. Rangers don't talk she would claim. If you want a chat, find an Oracle, She never elaborated fully on what either phrase meant, but she was a strong advocate for bloodline purity so they did not get along and she believed that every Ancient had to die along side the humans that loved them. She was a radical before she ever joined the Sovereign but she claimed that she was nothing exceptional in terms of zeal. Just, the rest of them did not want to sully themselves in a place full of mutts and half-breeds.
"Even a bitch like her does not deserve that," Taro was angry. his fist balled up tightly, his jagged nails dug into his palm. She wanted him dead, most of the Sovereign dead in fact. That was why she did not travel with them, she could not stand their stink.
"However, from my brief chat with her it seemed like she was different than us... I don't know, seemed like she was holding something back that maybe even you weren't aware of..."
"So... you had access to her?" Curious. He left her in his hands. What a monster. Something boiled inside of him, he had been broken a long time ago or so he thought. "I know her secrets," he claimed. She would not forgive him for this trespass. "She is a pure human," he announced matter-of-factly. "Something that people in her region believe in maintaining," he continued. "Those of us of mixed blood... of pure Ancient, do not deserve to live. As far as she is concerned my... our existence is a threat to the human race, one she only tolerates because full-blooded Ancients exist still." It was ironic, he did not even have to lie. She had other secrets as well, ones that he was privy to but as long as she was in Mikaboshi's grip that Six could apparently access he was not going to be as willing to spill. She was an enigma because she did not belong, at least with the known pieces on the table.
"I have yet to meet Seven, so I'm unsure of why she'd be missing from you all... her encountering a Sunan shinobi would have been a big talking point here."
So he claimed. "So, I am known?" Curious, because that would be the result of his claim. If that was true, he would have been retrieved by now. He knew that because they would have gotten Shichi. They would have gotten Juu. For the most part the members of the Sovereign did not get along but they were comrades. It did not matter that Shouki was a sadomasochistic pervert with a god-complex, that Shi was a dangerous whore, that Ichi was a monster, or that Juu actively wished for their deaths because they had a line that none of them would cross. They would keep each other alive because they were family, bound together by pain, by hate and by intent. Each of them was unique in their own way, Shichi was because she believed that there was another way. He remembered when she left, it was her and San headed to port, there was rumors that important men would be there. "Three saw Sennin Senju take her," Taro admitted. He was watching from the sea.
Something was preventing Roku, the other Roku from striking.
"Never hurt a woman... did you know that giant resurrected worm fought a bunch of us on the surface, did you happen to see any of that? If you missed it, there was this one woman; red hair, tight body, just the peak condition of femininity... I mean the hair alone was just such a vibrant and beautiful color that you could not take your eyes off of her."
He was already underground when the fight started. Women should stay out of the line of fire, their place was in the kitchen not a battleground.
"That worm, the one you failed to save the precious babies of... impaled that beautiful woman. Last report I saw, she was still comatose in our hospital. Now, you did not do that, you did not summon that huge worm back to this world, you did not hurt her... but someone close to you did. Nao. Nao was prepared to not only kill that woman, but kill countless women and children in pursuit of what? Eggs? Baby worms?"
"Did not know we were in the business of killing babies," he grumbled. That was why Nao sent him of course, he was a sentimental lug. He was well-matched for the mission. He had no idea why Nao wanted the eggs, only that he was urged to save them. To save as many as he could. He did not need further explanation, of course if he was given an explanation he probably would not have went along with it. There was something very specific... something very unique about Barnyx. Something that resonates with the Wild Hunt and that is not to speak of the seeping corruption that diseased so many centuries ago.
"I'm glad you are malleable, Taro. It's the only reason I can trust you when you tell me that you are a hero... but I cannot think the same for Nao, the man with the sweet voice and the Daimyo. Those individuals, they take people like you, pure people, and bend them and take them to the breaking point realizing that you will either mold into the shape they want or break and be discarded. I may not remember everything, or most of my time at this point, but I am well aware that you and I saw those that were discarded.... we helped discard them."
Roku was right, he was discarded. It was not the other way around. Roku was nothing more than a broken toy. Taro did not see it that way, Taro saw it as someone who left. Someone who laid in bed with the enemy. "You don't get it do you?" Taro muttered. "You were... you weren't pretending," Taro announced as he eyed the door. The hell with whoever is there if they were listening. "You were supposed to stop this years ago," Taro proclaimed. "This could have ended if you turned one man," he was referring to Sousuke. Sousuke was the key to all of this, at least back then. The previous Kazekage had stepped down due to age, elevating Sousuke a young Kazekage without an heir to the diamond throne. Convince him to step down. Direct him away from the demons and foreigners. Sousuke's power was based off of his association with fiends, the wrong sort of friend. A problem common with young leaders such as him. He just had to point Sousuke to the Diamyo, someone older with experience to rule in his stead. The Sunahoshi back then were gone, believed dead, there was no legacy ruler. "You left and then you... you just lived like a normal person. There were people dying in that storm. people already dead," he was unaware that the storm was being run by a resurrected Sunahoshi. "We were fighting people too... getting new recruits when the weaker ones died." Taro was tired of fighting, he had been fighting for too long. He envied Roku's life.
"We survived; all of us, all the Sovereign. We are not evil, we are survivors. That, unfortunately, does not wash away our sins."
He was right on that one.
"But the sins of those that made us---much like your crusade against Suna, I hold that same resentment towards the ones manipulating within Sora. The Daimyo and Nao, those two are drenched in darkness and sin; they may have given us strength but at the cost they charge... I cannot forgive. I will not allow them to continue sending us, sending you, down a trail of blood. We are better than that, you are better than that, you are a hero... so in order to see that you remain a hero... I will end this madness, I will free you from your chains, and if at that time you still wish to crush this village so be it."
Roku was a hypocrite, not that Nao, the Diamyo or even taro was any better. He did not like hurting things, over the years Nao took care to make sure that Taro did not see the worst of it. For the most part it was effective, but Taro was there for his own conditioning. He had heard stories, here and there. He was willfully ignorant of the atrocities being committed. But Sunagakure was no better, not really. Death would have been kinder than these wasted years where he was left to rot and starve. And he knew that he was not alone, there were others in here like him. That is only to speak of the prisons. The people of Wind Country, they were suffering too. Sunagakure was derelict in their duties to the people they were to protect. Still, Taro was swayed, even if it was only a little.
"You need to remain malleable; do not let them break you. I cannot hold your mantra, however. I must adhere to my experiences and to the path I have been sent on; I have been twisted, smashed, hammered, battered, bruised, bloodied... I have been killed, returned, only to be killed once more... I am may very well be an embodiment of malleable, but no more. I am not here to be shaped by them or crushed by them... I am unbent. I am unbroken. I am not the hero... but with my last breaths I will do something good."
Taro took a deep breath. Roku, this Roku, was right. Being malleable meant that he was able to be molded. That he was becoming what someone else wanted him to be. He had always taken it to mean that he was 'adaptable' which was in part true but malleable had specific connotations. Words have power. A phrase that has been used many times to describe authority and dominance. Words have power in ways a sword does not. A sword cannot carve a legacy but a quill can. A word can pull at the sinews of ones' heart, elevate them to a position of power or devastate their world. Words have meaning because they convey meaning in ways that brute force cannot. Pain is a useful means of deriving compliance, but it is most often their words that we seek. Anything can serve as a beast of burden, but not everyone knows the same words -- has the same power.
The door would open, a small woman would be standing in the door. Those were not the eyes that were watching him through the slit in the door. His eyes narrowed as he looked at her. Did she replace another guard? Was she the one? No, he was certain that it was another set of eyes. Of course his eyes were on the food, he was still ravenous. A pair of apples was more than he had been given in some time but it was far from adequate. but it was gnawing at him all the same, she was not the one.
"I have to go and checkout something Taro. I will come back for you. I know you will never see me in a positive light again and some day you may very well be the one to kill me... but I am not giving up on you. You are a hero to me... and for the first time in a long time, the closest thing to family that I've had in this world. We are brothers, I see you as a brother... I need to have a chat with our father."
What was he going to so, stop him?
Roku asked about his name, well a name that he used. Taro did not know his real name. Well, it was unlikely at the very least. However, Roku did use a name that was not a number, at least it was a name he picked. Maybe his parents if they had issues. Hard to say, he never talked about them. For the most part none of them talked about their childhood, but most of them were a mess long before they became a forgettable.
"Sensou..."
What did the term Number Six do -- it took away his identity because he had a name before. If it was something his parents had granted him or it was one he chose for himself. Attached to his name, his first name would be a history... a legacy. It was something that tied him to his family if he ever had one. It was something that made him unique, better than a model number. Something that can be replaced with minimal effort like a pair of shoes. Something that transformed a boy from an individual into nothing important.
"Why did you need the worm eggs anyways? That always seemed off to me... I can't believe y'all were wanting to farm worms over in the Academy, right? So why them..."
"Good question," Taro admitted. "I was told that there was a baby nest of sandworms and that you were going to kill the babies. So I brought them back a dozen at a time." It was too hard to carry more than that, even on a wagon of sandstrider. "I saved twenty-four before you came," his voice had a tone of disappointment. Yes, that would mean that there were eggs still alive. Still intact, somewhere. Given a few days and he would have saved them all.