The new future [Moro and Ayumu]

[Takaki Saeko]

Mood Music​

To: Santaru Tagiushi Moro, SOD; Kogami Ayumu, SOD

From: Morishima Haruka, Office of the Grand Commander

Message Body: Agents Tagiushi and Kogami are to report immediately to the Office of the Regent Commander for further instructions. This is a Class S priority.

Signed: M. Haruka, Taichou, Acting Regent Commander of the Kumogakure ANBU

She felt wrong sitting in that chair. She felt disgusted and guilty, and a wave of self-loathing swept over her whenever she gazed at the interior of the now-bare office. They had been away in Kelmura when it had happened. When the unspeakable had happened. When the world had come crashing down. Objectively, she knew that nothing could have been done to prevent it. To prevent Takayama from doing that, or Santaru Rin from…

Haruka shook her head, to clear the fog from her head that settled in as a self-defense maneuver whenever she grew too distraught to function. But the reality was, that she was now sitting in the chair of the Regent Commander in Rin’s former office – a position she did not belong in.

Technically, however, she did – after all, with the deaths of Shimada and the Sennin, as well as those of multiple senior members of the existing officer corps as a result of the debacle with Enishi, she was now literally the highest-ranking member of the Ansatsu Tokushu Senjutsu Butai. It had all happened too damned fast.

Upon their delivery of the forge a few days ago, they had all been raised in rank, and had decided to go out to Squint's to celebrate. It had been a joyous time, even if they had all mutually agreed to never discuss that particular mission again. Kelmura was safe from the opening of the Hellgate, the marriage papers had been shredded and scattered, the rings quietly donated to charity, and Moro had his natural tooth in place, courtesy of a quick root-canal on the way back to the village. The next morning, she sleepily raised her hung-over head from the stifling warmth of Moro's bed to an ANBU intelligence officer informing them both that Takayama Shimada was dead and a traitor, that Sennin Takaki Masao had been taken into custody by Bear Country, and that Santaru Rin had committed honorable suicide, along with most of the high command. She was now the Acting Regent Commander. The shit had hit the fan. Congratulations on your promotion, Morishima-taichou...

“Ma’am-“ began one of the other officers present, a recently-promoted buntaichou. Haruka forced herself to smile and gesture that she was fine. That everything was fine. She felt the exact opposite. Like she wanted to tear out of the starchy beige dress uniform she wore, with its stupid hat, and run down the halls to somewhere, anywhere else. Moro, Ayumu, where the hell are you guys?

 

[Tagiushi Moro]

The previous night's revelry laid long forgotten in the newly appointed Buntaicho's mind as he stood over the pallid, pale, blue-lipped corpse of Shimada Takayama in the morgue of the Sileo Tempestas.

Ol' Murderface. They both deserved it, in their own way. But not you. You'd been out of the field for so long, and deservedly so. However, this is no time for esoteric existentialism, as you knew better than anyone to ask 'why' is pointless. I've come to say 'You've earned your rest, friend'. For the sake of country you've earned the name Judas, your honor, dignity, and name stricken from the Compendium. But I know the truth. I know you wouldn't do something like...that. Fuck the facts. Masao had been lost to us for awhile now, but not like this. Fucker is probably off being pelted with rotten fruit somewhere instead of cleaning up this mess. Moro knew, through his desperate bitterness, that Masao was in fact the person left to pick up the pieces of this farce.

"Tagiushi-san, it's time. We've been here too long alr-" Moro's messenger-turned-aide urged him, forced into his new role due to the squad captain's lack of compliance, cutting himself short as Moro turned away.

"Fine." The hollow finality of the word echoed through the otherwise empty room, but nothing could wash away the sour, coppery stench of unfulfilled promises, and blood.

Conversations stopped as he passed others in the halls. Between the successful retrieval of the forge, the subsequent promotions, and then the sudden gaping holes in their ranks, nobody really knew what to make of themselves anymore, least of all the SOD, who apparently were the talk of the corps. Even the ANBU were not immune to the ever-grinding, constantly churning rumormill. Moro, who had been a mempo for nearly a decade, had been far beneath anyone's notice before the Makoro incident. Now it seemed anyone who had ever heard of the SOD blamed them for the current situation, due to previously being under Masao's directive, and that anyone who had ever even taken a class with Takayama now cursed the man's name. Fools and ingrates, the lot of you his eyes spoke in a glare to any gaze his own grey orbs met.

The blast doors to the Sennin's office parted, and his tail took his leave, his goal accomplished with a sigh that even Moro was not spared from.

"You sign a missive with her title? You overstep yourself as usual, Haruka. Takayama's body barely lies cold and Masao is gone, more than likely dead, along with..." He couldn't keep the notes of grief out of his voice. As dead as he felt inside, sorrow welled up from some hidden reserve and threatened to overwhelm him with its unyielding reality. "This is her room...It isn't right. We shouldn't be here. She's coming back you know. She's bringing Masao back to us. After everything that has happened, she wouldn't just leave." He trailed off in a desperate plea, knowing that the last people he could convince were those standing in this room. What a pathetic, wretched thing he must seem, washed up after the pair's night of drunken debauchery and hedonistic celebration. It was too much. If the only comfort left to him now was spitting lies to convince himself, even for the briefest of moments, then so be it. He would gladly take it. He dared any of the puppets standing in this room to correct him. He had not forgotten himself but neither would he be censored. Not here, not now.

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Ayumu had been woken up to the news in the morning. So much bad news, all at once. Any elation over his promotion was just a distant memory now. How could he be excited about anything with so many dead and Masao in peril as well? He felt sick as he stared blankly at the officer who had entered his small Sileo quarters to inform him of all of this. He took a few steps back then lowered himself on to his couch, his hand over his mouth. Even for a hardened shinobi, this was hard to swallow. 'That's bullshit, Takayama was no traitor,' he thought, his mind shifting through the information he had just been fed as the one who informed him also added that he was expected in office of the Regent Commander. Santaru Rin's office. 'She commited suicide? That woman?' he thought, grasping at his hair as he stared at the floor, trying to understand. Apparently it was out of shame, trying to restore some honor to the branch after Takayama and Masao's actions.

"What bullshit," he said after the man left, shaking his head. How could that improve the situation at all? They needed her to figure things out like she always did. They needed her to fix things, put together a team to go and rescue Masao and the other captive. The thought never even crossed Ayumu's mind that any of the nonsense about betraying Kumogakure and killing the King of Bear Country could be true. He would admit, he didn't know Takayama as well as he wished he could have, but Masao- there was no way. Ayumu looked up to the man when he was Vice Commander, even when he left the ANBU. He picked up a pillow beside himself and flung it across the room in a fit of anger, knocking over a lamp near his bedside. "Dammit!" he shouted, standing up. There was no time for him to think about all this, he had been summoned in the missive left behind by the messenger. He went to change in to his formal uniform, including his brand new insignia which almost felt like an empty gesture now.

---

As he walked through the hallways, he had more time to think now that he had calmed slightly. It was signed by Haruka, apparently having been named the replacement for Rin for the time being. He knew she was capable, despite her joking, but it still felt odd to see her name with that title. There were a lot of whispers traversing the halls, rumors flying around haphazardly. Everything seemed so chaotic, much different than Ayumu was used to seeing the Sileo. Soon, he reached the office of the Regent Commander, an office he had visited not long ago for a briefing on his last mission. He paused outside, taking a moment to compose himself. He wondered why he was being summoned now. To be fair, even if he knew Haruka, he was still just an ANBU Mempo. What was he needed for? Moro, sure, but him? As he went to push the doors open, a man walked out looking relieved to leave. Ayumu brushed past him and entered the room quietly in time to hear Moro speak.

The pain in Moro's voice hit Ayumu heavily. He hadn't been prepared to hear that. Moro was always jovial or serious, but never disheartened. Ayumu fought back tearing up as he slowly approached the desk, behind Moro. He was talking about Rin coming back, bringng Masao back, saving the day. Everybody in the room, including Moro, knew that wasn't going to happen. As his voice trailed off, Ayumu raised his hand and gave Moro a pat on the shoulder before letting it fall to his side again. What else could he do? He could hardly comfort when he was grieving himself. There was something else to be discussed though. "Masao's not dead. He wouldn't die even if you killed him," he said impulsively. "We're going to send a team for him, right? I want to go," he continued, not even thinking of what he was saying. At last he realized that he was speaking out of turn. A Captain and the acting Regent Commander were present, and here he was talking without having been addressed.

"I... I'm sorry, I'm speaking out of turn," he said, stepping back and placing his hands behind his back, standing up straight. There was more he wanted to say, but he needed to respect the station of the two here. He needed to hold back the emotion. He took a deep breath, and slowly let it go to calm himself once more. Takayama and Rin may have been lost, but there was still hope for Masao. He wanted to help him. For now, they would find out why Haruka had summoned them. He held out hope it was an assignment to go after Masao and the other captive.

 

[Takaki Saeko]

As she had expected, Moro’s entry could be compared to the descent of an angry dragon, wounded and down to its last health bar, but still more than capable of putting on a truly epic rampage. Accusing her of overstepping her bounds on this matter? Haruka’s knuckles turned white as she balled her right hand into a fist. Prick! I’ll make you pay for that, she fumed internally. But the matter she had called the two of them here for today was more important than making Moro restock every crate of ammunition in the Sileo twice over.

“Buntaichou Tagiushi. You WILL maintain the decorum expected of your rank,” growled Haruka, rising from her chair. “Of COURSE I know that this isn’t MY office. I HATE sitting in this chair, pretending to be anything close to her! Don’t you think I KNOW that?!” she spoke, simmering anger under a thin veneer of composure. Only Ayumu’s arrival prevented the burning in her eyes from becoming a full-on river.

"Masao's not dead. He wouldn't die even if you killed him," said the newly-anointed mempo. "We're going to send a team for him, right? I want to go," he said, almost childish in his desires. Haruka stole a painful glance over to the young man, biting her tongue to quell more tears.

“I’m sorry, mempo Kogami, there will be no rescue operation. Sennin Takaki himself specifically forbade it, and so has the office of the Raikage. This is essential to maintain peace with the Serene Kingdom. There’s nothing we can do but pray,” she said, shaking her head. Before the young mempo could press on, she cleared her throat. “Buntaichou Tagiushi, Mempo Kogami, I’ve called you here for several reasons. As you well know, we were all recently informed of the…honorable suicide of Regent Commander and Sennin Santaru Rin, the alleged treason and resulting death of Vice Commander Takayama, and the sentence of life imprisonment in the gulag of Naraka for Sennin Takaki of the Main. In addition, once again we are bereft of a senior officer corps due to the honorable suicide of two division Taichou,” she said, breathing deeply before continuing. “According to protocol 10-B of the Codex Ansatsu, the Regent Commander must designate a new chain of command in the case of extreme circumstances like these. Before Santaru-sama left us…she drew out a missive that I must show you both,” she said, signaling to one of the others nearby.

By the hand of Santaru Rin.

To the Shogun of Kaminari no Kuni
To the Kage of Kumogakure no Sato
To the Lords of Kuma no Kuni
To the Santaru Clan of Kumogakure no Sato

I, and I alone, assigned Takayama Shimada and the individual ANBU to arrest the treasonous Kaminarijin at the Asuza Incident. As I write this final missive, I assume those men and women whom I originally assigned are ignobly dead, and their imposters rightfully executed. It is for the crimes of the assassination of Kuma Heika Haninozuka Nikolai, the treason of my Vice Commander Takayama Shimada, and the failure of the observation team to intervene that I disembowel myself. I beg of you whom receive this letter to accept this act in compensation for what is lost forever.

My final will to the disposition of my assets, assuming the execution or exile or transportation of my husband, Takaki Masao, is that they be devoted to the establishment of an independent center as previously described in communications with Raikage Hayata Shin.

The head of the Santaru Clan shall be Tagiushi Moro. I shall not be denied in this, as the clan is feeble and the failures of each successive Santaru head drive us toward extinction.

I lay my final recommendation...

“As well as…this one, drawn in her own blood…” continued Haruka.

for my replacement as Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushou Butai Sennin is Tagiushi Moro Buntaichou; it is my will that he carry on my work in securing all of the lands of the peninsula, not merely Kaminari no Kuni, a g a i n s t t h a t w h i c h w o u l d d e v o u r u s a n d a l l o u r g e n e r a t i o n s

“She wanted you, Buntaiuchou Tagiushi, to lead the ANBU after her, as the Regent Commander. And in her writings, we have also found that she desired to name Kogami Ayumu as the future Grand Commander of the ANBU, when he was ready,” said Haruka, showing them excerpts of Rin’s journal logs. “It was her hope that you, Moro-kun, could serve as a good example to you, Ayumu-kun, so that you might be strong and capable when the day came. Ayumu-kun is too young, I agree, but one day…” said Haruka, wiping her eyes. “So thus, as Acting Regent Commander, I formally appoint Kogami Ayumu-kun to the position of Vice Commander of the ANBU, and cede my responsibilities to the new Regent Commander and Sennin, Tagiushi Moro.”

 

[Tagiushi Moro]

The only thing that allowed him to bite back his retort was a comforting hand on his shoulder. Haruka looked past him and visibly calmed, he did not have to look to know it was Ayumu, his guess confirmed moments later with the unique audacity of the statement. He smirked wanly despite everything. Talk about role reversal.

"You're right Haruka-san. I'm sorry." He was about to tell the new mempo to speak freely, as it might be his last chance in quite a while the way the SoD had been progressively scrutinized. Inexplicably he felt they would soon be under the microscope completely, far beyond hope of escape.

With what was said next, Moro turned to face Ayumu, "You would dare defy the orders of the Raikage himself?" Their eyes locked momentarily. Not in front of the 'Regent Commander', dingus.

The pit in Moro's stomach sank ever lower with each proclamation of how those he held dear were now lost. By the time Haruka spoke of replacing two division commanders, it was all he could do to not lose his shit completely. They all knew Haruka would have to assign a new emergency protocol in regards to chain of command, but what in the world did that have to do with the two of them? He was eager to see the letter, to read Rin's last words in her own voice in his mind's eye, but as he began to read, he wished he hadn't.

His stomach bottomed out completely and he was barely able to choke back the bile that welled up in his throat as he briefly skimmed the bloody letter, clearly written with her finger and not a brush or quill. Moro could even make out traces of Rin's smeared fingerprints in the 'lighter' individual characters near the end.

_____

He collapsed into the closest chair, the knuckles of the first two fingers of his right hand wedged firmly between his teeth.

No. No no no no no no no. Nooooooonononono. Absolutely not. Raiden above, Shinbatsu himself and Jesus Akira Saito PLEASE no.

He looked again at Ayumu. As heavy the weight that was now crushing Moro's chest was, the burden just placed on young operative, nay, Vice Commander Kogami's shoulders couldn't possibly compare.

Moro might have proved that he had the mind to lead. Calm decision making skills under pressure, analytical logistic ability, a penchant for being able to detach and view certain things objectively and make the right call to balance the scales as they teetered.

But he now knew, and apparently Rin, Rin who had oft-times been able to worm her way into and know Moro's lizard brain better than he himself knew, had also known he had no stomach for it. This was why she succeeded to him the head of the Santaru clan, high command of the ANBU corps, and the attached senninship.

The highly neurotic, overly observant and forever cynic twenty four year old had never felt so...small. So infinitesimally unimportant and nonexistent. His entire future: life, career, and death were now laid out before him with prismatic, crystalline, pellucid clarity, like some Academy family tree project all students were forced to do in their tenure. His fate, although for most of his life, pledged to the Raikage's service in body, mind, and soul, was now completely and utterly no longer his own. He would've laughed at the sheer helplessness of it, but it wasn't even slightly funny.

As binding as these new shackles were, even post introspection, it still paled to the ominous proclamation that the operative-turned-Vice-Commander before him would some day be Grand Commander. It was up to Moro to succeed where even Rin and Masao had partially failed: to restore the corps to its once former glory. Cold logic took over where emotion currently failed him.

"Captain? I guess? Whatever. Haruka-san, you are hereby formally promoted to Division Commander of Strategic Operations until further notice. As I officially have no idea what the fuck I am doing, until things calm down-if ever-we're going to keep it familiar. As Vice Commander, and more importantly, future Grand Commander, Kogami-san, you act as my hand and voice unless I am present. Understood?" Moro met each of their eyes in turn.

"Our first order of business is going to obviously be damage control. As soon as things have settled and we have some Raiden-forsaken semblance of order around here, we're going to expand, and most importantly fill the positions of the currently inactive Daitaicho. Haruka, I'm going to need you and Eru to also help me with Operational Logistics for the time being, and I will also personally take over Special Circumstances. Find. Me. Us. We. Trainees. So we have the manpower to dig ourselves out of this hole. We need the best and brightest Kumogakure has to offer now more than ever."

He gave them a moment for it all to sink in, before declaring, in Moro's mind at least, his first-completely his-decision, tone soft, "The Sword of Damocles is hereby disbanded, and ordered stricken from the Book of Current and Former Units of the Kumo Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai.

"The last thing each of us needs right now is the shame of ever having been a part of that unit hanging over our heads. Keep your patches and pins, but keep them hidden under lock and key, just as I will keep the memory and my true feelings of Shimada Takayama hidden in my heart. The flag from the operations room will hang in this office, but it will hang silently."

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Ayumu couldn't believe his ears. There was no rescue operation planned? Masao had been head of their division and a friend to them. Moro agreed, insisting they could not defy the Raikage's order. To be fair, Ayumu had not known it was Masao's and the Raikage's order not to until that moment. To his detriment, perhaps, he didn't particularly care at that moment who had ordered against a rescue- he still thought they should do it. If they had to, they could do it completely covertly, have it seem as though Masao and Kitsune broke out unaided. They could give them false identities and have them disappear. Anything would be better than letting them rot in a foreign prison. Ayumu wanted to do something, but what could he do on his own as nothing more than another ANBU? He knew Moro and Haruka wanted to do the same, but would they be willing to do what it would take? The change in conversation forced him to shelf the idea for the moment, though it stayed in the back of his mind.

Haruka spoke of the sudden empty seats of the Regent Commander, Vice Commander, and division captains . Of course, the seat of the Grand Commander had been empty for some time already. Truthfully, it seemed the Regent Commander was decided with Haruka. Ayumu thought he was starting to understand why Moro was here. He was a brand new captain, but he was a veteran all the same. Perhaps Haruka meant to make him a Division Taichou. Ayumu had no doubt he was capable of that. Why was Ayumu asked to be present, though? Before he could consider anything so ridiculous as the possibility of being made a Taichou even, his focus was zeroed in on the missive from Santaru Rin. Her final message to the world- to them. The missive was laid out on Rin's former desk for the two of them to read.

Ayumu quickly read the words, understanding immediately what Rin meant to do with her death. She hoped to take the blame entirely on herself in order to spare as many as she could. 'Commander...' Ayumu thought, his eyes moistening slightly as he paused before reading on. Moro was to be head of the Santaru clan. That seemed like a hefty responsibility, though Ayumu didn't really know or understand the dynamics of a clan. Haruka then showed them the rest, which was written in blood. Ayumu's face contorted at the thought. This had to have been written after she had already given herself the fatal blow. She had written this as she was dying. His face turned to a shocked expression as he red the last of it. Moro was to be the next Regent Commander. He was going to lead them all, having just become a Taichou himself. He didn't even have time to fully register that shock as Haruka continued, revealing to Ayumu probably the last possible thing he could have expected.

'Grand Commander?' he thought, those being the only words to echo in his mind. That confirmed it, this was just a nightmare in which several outlandish things were happening all at once. But why wasn't he waking up? Even if it wasn't now, there was no way anybody could be considering him as the future Grand Commander. Then Haruka finished her declaration, compounding the shock Ayumu was going through even further. She wanted him to be Vice Commander. Not in the future. Now. He, who was barely an ANBU, was to be placed as second in command as of that moment. Definitely a nightmare, but still he was ensnared in it. Thoughts swirled in his head, but in reality he stood rigidly still, eyes glazed over still staring at the letter. There were a few moments of silence before Moro stepped up much like he had when given charge of the last mission.

Ayumu finally looked up as Moro started talking, his eyes slowly coming in to focus. Moro began by naming Haruka as head of Strategic Operations. This wasn't a dream, it was real. It wasn't going away. Ayumu took a deep breath and released it. If this was real, he needed to be present. They couldn't have him lost in his thoughts. His eyebrows furrowed and his eyes sharpened as Moro said his name. It was real, Moro himself was recognizing Ayumu as his Vice Commander. "I... Yes. Yes, Sir," he responded shortly as he was still rebooting. Moro continued with their general plan for the immediate future. He wanted new recruits. Like Ayumu had been maybe a year ago. "We'll get records from the Academy, see who is graduating soon," he chimed in before Moro went on. Yet another shock. Sword of Damocles would be disbanded. Ayumu did not like the sound of that. The SoD being disbanded and struck from records out of shame. He wanted to speak against it, but he understood. Rin had died to contain the damage done, they couldn't cling to a name out of pride. Could he really complain? He really only officially joined once he was promoted to ANBU.

"Speaking of squads, what do we even have left? There was the training squad, of course, led by..." he said, his voice trailing off. It was led by Rin, who obviously was no longer with them. They knew that. They would need a replacement to head that squad. "We should probably introduce a new squad, to... replace... SoD," he said, hating to use that word. SoD was a necessary squad, they couldn't have an absence of a squad of that nature. Now that he was Vice Commander, he had a feeling he would be taking over a squad. As a Jounin, before joining ANBU, he had some experience with leading squads. He wasn't particularly adverse to it, but he feared how those under him would react to his catapult to leadership. Especially if they knew what he was to become. He felt sick just thinking about it.

"Another thing, can we keep the whole... "future Grand Commander" thing quiet? I don't think anybody would be happy to hear that. Enough of them won't want to accept me as Vice Commander as it is. Let's not... overwhelm them," he requested, hoping they would see the wisdom in that. He suspected they had already planned to withhold that information, but he wanted to be sure. There was more to discuss, and it would take time for things to come back to anything remotely resembling normalcy. They had work to do.

[Topic Left]

 

[Takaki Saeko]

Haruka let out a slow sigh of relief as both Moro as well as Ayumu finally accepted the grim realities of their situation as well as of their sudden, unprecedented promotions. She thanked her lucky stars for Rin. Even if the Santaru matriarch had screwed everyone over with dramatic jigai, she still found a way to cover their bases in the end. Whether planned-out years in advance or simply a slapdash result of last-minute neurosis, the old hag had found a way to set things on the course to being right again.

Although she was saddened by the fact that the Sword of Damocles was now to be stricken from the records, it was the right thing to do, at least until Takayama Shimada could be exonerated. Her trust in Moro’s abilities was already paying off. Whatever inner turmoil the man was experiencing right now, he was able to suppress those thousand screaming voices in his mind and concentrate on the present. Just as Rin had been able to for many, many years. Perhaps she’d reward the new Regent Commander later on in a way that Hoshiko Gin was unwilling to and Natsume Eru was unable to...

Ayumu was potentially under greater pressure than Moro, for if the present rested on his sempai’s shoulders, the future rested on Ayumu’s. Then again, Rin had thought that Ayumu was capable enough to actually replace her rather than merely succeed her, and the woman was never wrong. Well, Ayumu-kun, you’ve got huge shoes to fill. Much larger than I could ever have, thought Haruka, bringing out two small boxes from the desk’s drawers.

“Ayumu-kun, this is the Grand Commander’s lapel insignia,” she said, showing Ayumu a small cluster of five golden stars. “It was last worn by Santaru Ryuuto-sama over two decades ago, and one day it will be worn by you. But I agree, the day has not come yet to publicly announce your future station, so for now you will have to content yourself with the triad-star of the Vice Commander,” she said, handing it to the trainee-turned-number-two. “And Moro-kun, this was Santaru Rin-sama’s,” she said, handing Moro a cluster of four golden stars. “I never put it on, by the way. It was always for you,” she said. “So, with your permission I will take my leave to go and help out my division. Gentlemen,” she said, saluting to them.

As she walked out of the door, in a much happier mood, she glanced over at Moro, and mouthed the word pai-zu-ri… with a wink.

[TL, promotion granted!]