Time to explain.

[Maikeru]

Darkness. Even as a child Maikeru had never been afraid of the dark, not really. As a shinobi, it had always been his greatest ally, even if his combat style hadn’t always been that subtle. Still, finding himself in complete darkness set his skin on edge. This wasn’t just night time he found himself in, not just the harmless shadows of twilight. No, he found himself submerged in a sea of complete and utter darkness, all light seemed to be null and void.

His crimson red eyes opened slowly to the void, slowly adjusting, allowing him to see the outline of his own hands in front of him. One question rang out in his mind, over and over again, like an unrelenting pain that stabbed into the back of his mind

Where am I?

He wasn’t anywhere in cloud that he knew of, hell he wasn’t sure there was anywhere on the planet quite like where he currently found himself. Turning, he tried to run, tried to flee towards any source of light, but his legs wouldn’t move. No, he seemed to be just floating, lost, unable to find his way home.

“So, you awake little warrior..” A deep, gravely voice rang out from the distance. From the source of the voice a small, blue flame seemed to ignite, guiding the young Uchiha towards it. “You have no reason to fear me.. I’ve been here this whole time..”

Maikeru’s body fought against the supposed paralysis, his arms shooting out towards the source of the voice, towards the light. His mind fought against himself, every nerve in his body warning him of the danger.

“Come little warrior.. Find me..” The voice rang out again, seeming to taunt the Uchiha lad. “You fought so hard for my power, now claim it! Take the power to get your revenge!”

Every so slowly the young man fought towards the source of this light, of this power. His teeth grit against themselves as he fought, his eyes straining to find the distance to his target. This seemed to continue for hours, Maikeru fighting to get closer and closer to the flame.

"Oh, babe… what did you do?"

“Reicheru?” He muttered aloud to himself, turning to find another light, this one bright pink burning behind him. “Reicheru.. Where are you!?”

His voice came out strained as if being forced out from the back of his throat, as if some source was trying to keep him from reaching out to her.

“No! Forsake them!” The voice rang out again, the blue flame growing brighter. “I am what you need! They cannot give you the power you crave!”

“REICHERU!” He roared once more, his voice breaking through the source supressing him. When his eyes opened this time, he found himself in his bedroom. His breath came in heavy pants, each breath strained through what felt like broken ribs. “Reicheru..”

The young Uchiha grimaced in pain as he sat up in his bed, placing a hand against his ribs. Yep, definetly broken. What was worse was the heavy layer of sweat that covered his shirt, causing the Uchiha to quickly remove the garment, throwing it across the room. A medically trained hand moved over his body, examining every inch of his abdomen before he reached his abdominals. His fingers burned as they touched over the new seal that Ryu had implanted there, causing him to pull away. There was a moment of regret, before he sunk his head into his hands.

"What the fuck did I do.."

 

[Saitou Rei]

"That's the question of the hour, now isn't it?"

Reicheru's tired voice rung out from the corner of the dark room in response to Maikeru's whispered wonderings. After bringing him home from the teahouse, she'd settled him in bed and stripped off his jacket and shoes before wetting a cloth with lukewarm water to place on his forehead. She doubted that this was a typical fever given the state she'd found him in, but she figured anything she could do to try to bring his temperature down couldn't hurt at the very least. From there she took up residence in the small grey armchair she'd moved into the bedroom, reading through the book on Ancient Kumogakurian she'd checked out from the library and keeping a watchful eye on Maikeru as he tossed and turned and muttered through the night.

She turned off the small flashlight she'd been using to read and stood to turn on the bedside lamp now that he'd woken. Drawing nearer to the side of the bed, she looked over her boyfriend yet again. Though there was something familiar there, it was odd to feel like she was looking at a stranger. Her scanning eyes came to rest on his right arm again. Sucking her cheeks in with a deep breath, she knew that Maikeru was in no state to answer for the onslaught of questions that rested on her tongue, so she bit it instead. Pulling the armchair over to the bedside rather than sitting on the corner of the bed itself, Rei rubbed her face and tired eyes before lifting them to meet the newly blue orbs of the Uchiha. "Are you alright?" was all she asked with a raised eyebrow, knowing full well that he wasn't really alright but rather looking for clarification from the medic on if they needed to head to the hospital… and maybe clarification on some other things as well.

[Topic Entered]

 

[Maikeru]

"Are you alright?"

Now, that was a question, wasn't it? The Uchiha let out a long, tired, beaten sigh as he placed his hands against the bed. With some effort, and grunting, he managed to move himself to the side of the bed, hanging his legs off the edge so he could sit and face Reicheru. His cerulean eyes floated up to meet hers, before closing. His face shook from side to side, silently telling her no.

"No, I'm not alright.." Maikeru said, his hands coming to rest on his knees. "I haven't been alright in years hun, I just haven't been able to tell you. The.. incident, with the boys.. it broke me, it broke me really badly."

Hanging his head in shame, he rested it in his palms, rubbing it as he continued to wake up from his sleep, and his somber thoughts.

"I had to be strong, for you, for Danni, but.. something in me broke when we got here. I thought, that maybe.." Another tired sigh, "Maybe if I didn't see myself in the mirror anymore, I could face you again. If I could just not be ashamed of the face and the eyes that looked back at me, maybe I could be happy again."

He removed his hands from his face, looking up at his tired, annoyed girlfriend. His eyes looked heavy, full of sadness and dread. His hand moved to the tattoo on his chest, to the symbol of Kashima he had put there before they left the hidden leaf.

"I love you, Reicheru, I just wanted to protect you. That's why I did.. all this.." He said, gesturing to his new body and arm. "I thought that the power I had stored in Kusanagi would help me to do that better. I.. can't lose you, not that way, well not anyway really, but.. well. The point is, if even our home, our family, might try to kill us, then why wouldn't the people here? We can trust them now, but, for how long? I just.. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry.."

 

[Saitou Rei]

Slowly, Reicheru's eyes softened. They hadn't talked about the boys much since that day, and not at all since they'd made it to Kumo. She knew they'd needed to, but it had been difficult for all of them. Not just the fact of their death, but the broader implications that had haunted her every step of their journey that no one wanted to consider aloud, clutching to their last shred of hope for renewal. What reason did they have to expect Kumo to be any better? Yeah, the first look was promising, but so had been the entirety of her childhood in Konoha. Anything could happen, and with the wrong person in power, everything could flip on its head at a moment's notice. A shinobi pledges their life and service to a village with this knowledge, choosing to believe that their village would always be worth protecting, as if that was something they could possibly know.

Reaching out, she gentle placed her hand on his one normal hand. "I love you too, and that's why you didn't have to do any of that. You didn't have to be strong, or ashamed, or…" As her voice trailed off, she finally brought herself to move her hand to his newly deformed hand. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly at the cold, scaly feel where there should have been a soft warmth, but only for a moment before her features softened once more. "I didn't think of them or what happened when I looked at you. I thought of udon and dango, of the view of the stars from Hokage rock, of 'infiltration training' in Tea," the last part came with an unexpected chuckle as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. "I saw a young man I was proud of, who has overcome so much and who is going to accomplish great things. You and Danii were - you are - the only good things that came out of that place for me."

"Overcoming something doesn't mean being unaffected by it, though. It doesn't mean pretending not to be broken." It was funny, how easy it was to tell someone else exactly the thing you ought to be telling yourself. Yet, she had the feeling this was not the time. He didn't need to feel worse for doing or not doing something he couldn't change now. "So thank you, for telling me," she said with the smallest of smiles, her thumb gently stroking the blue marble-textured center of his hand. "We've gotta carry these things together. We won't make it if we don't. If we're honest and we're in it together, we're going to be okay. We've made it this far, yea?" She didn't try to offer reasons they would be safe in Cloud or why things would get better; that wasn't what either of them really need right now, was it?

 

[Maikeru]

Maikeru's own expression became pained as he watched Reicheru's reaction to his new mutation, a sense of relief washing over him as her expression softened once again. He wasn't sure if she was actually okay with it, or just really good at faking it. Either way, it was nice knowing that she wasn't going to leave him over this mistake, at least he had that. His hands tightened around hers as she spoke, grasping his fingers around her warm hands. Like her, his face became an odd look of confusion as the usual warmth and sensation from gripping his right hand around hers felt.. different. It was hard to describe how, but, it was like grabbing something with a limb that had fallen asleep. He could tell she was there, but, he could no longer feel it.

He laughed when she mentioned the heist that he and the boys had attempted back in tea, all those years ago. He shook his head at her, giving her his usual small, cocky half smile, his blue eyes having a light behind them for the first time that night.

"Look, it was an infiltration mission!" he exclaimed softly, his voice still coming in barely above a whisper. "How was I suppose to know the ANBU sennin would actually show up? I figured he'd be too busy running a branch to deal with a few students who were goofing off. Plus, you saw the way Riku was smiling while he planned it, how could I say no to him?"

His look returned to the pained one as he thought about those times when things were simpler when it didn't feel like the weight of the world was bearing down on his broad shoulders. His eyes flickered from the floor, back to Reicheru's own as he listened to her continue to speak. It was at this time he remembered one of the reasons he had fallen so hard and so quickly for her. She had always been so kind, so compassionate. She was the first one to jump in and help a friend, even when there was nothing she could really do about it. Even when S-rank missing nin were attacking the village, she was the first of them to jump and assist Kenshin and he had just followed behind her.

"You're right, but you always are aren't you?" He said, giving her a small pained smile. "I'm sorry I bore this by myself so long Rei, I really am. I suppose we could just chalk it up to stupid Uchiha pride. I suppose you had to expect that when you started dating an Uchiha, yea?"

His face was slowly becoming less down, less sad, as he spoke to her. She always had this effect on him, somehow able to bring him out of a slump when it really made no logical sense. Something about her just reached him when others simply couldn't, someday he'd figure out that magic behind the jutsu she used.

"Thank you. For.. understanding. For not berating me the moment I woke up. You have no idea how much I need you right now Rei, I don't know if you ever truly will. These last three years have been the best of my life despite everything that has happened, and it's because of you." He said, leaning forward to give the girl a small kiss on the cheek. "But, I'm assuming there's things you want to say to me. So, now that we've got the making me feel better out of the way.. what do you really want to say to me?"

 

[Saitou Rei]

Despite his external change, he really was still Maikeru. That half smile that she knew all too well, his animated defense of the boys' mischief, his gentle way of speaking to and dealing with her; all of these things were uniquely him. It was odd yet comforting, though the girl wouldn't put it in so many words there was a subconscious understanding that in spite of their ever-changing circumstances and the life-altering difficulties they'd been through, there were some things that could not be taken from them, some aspects of who they fundamentally were that had remained intact through it all.

Reicheru watched as his face and spirits lifted, the mention of 'three years' throwing her a bit. What a slippery thing time was. It surely couldn't have been that long since the lot of them had been roughhousing and 'sparring' in the forest. It couldn't have been all too long either since the last time she'd listened to one of Riku's crazed schemes, Katsu's flirting attempts, or Ryouju's worship sessions. And yet simultaneously it seemed it could have been a lifetime ago, her own memories sometimes being like looking at photographs from someone else's family album.

A dry chuckle escaped her lips as Maikeru probed for what was really on her mind, bringing her wandering mind back to the present. "What do I really want to say? That if you ever scare me like that again, then the village leadership will be the last thing you should be afraid of." Her smile would communicate that she was joking, while the shimmering of her eyes would indicate that she ought not be tested. Leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms, fingers pulling at the cuffs of the slightly too-large black hoodie, and putting her stocking feet up on the edge of the bed, her eyes narrowed slightly. "On a more serious note though, I do need to know, what exactly did you do back there? You mentioned Kusanagi's spirit…" looking down at his new arm, she continued, "I assume this has more to do with that than it does a fashion choice? What's going on in there?"

 

[Maikeru]

"Oh, right, I never told you how I actually made Kusanagi did I? Or about the spirit inside of it." Smiling sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Sorry hun, I just.. forgot to mention it. With the move, and all the work in Konoha we had to do.. you know with half of the village seemingly leaving or dying over night.. anyway.."

Standing from where he was sitting, feeling the soreness in every muscle of his body as he willed them to move even a small bit, he began to slowly cross the room. In the corner, the vessel of Kusanagi, his masterpiece of a blade, sat in the corner. Slowly, gently, he grasped the sheath in his hand, just as slowly crossing the room to sit across from Reicheru. Taking a deep breath, he began to slowly draw the blade as he exhaled. Sure enough, it was the blade Reicheru had fought with for so many years, but it was.. different. Visually the blade looked the same, but the metal didn't have the same sheen, it seemed dull and almost lifeless.

"So, long story short, Kusanagi is me. Or well, Kusanagi is my chakra. Basically, I forged the blade in my own chakra using unconventional blacksmithing methods. When I did that I guess a.. shard of me? Part of my personality, or my spirit I guess, manifested itself into a spirit of sorts, named Susano." Taking a break for a moment, letting all that sink in, he continued. "Well, I was going through my make over, and well, Kusanagi is very recognizable to anyone in leaf who knew me. So, the sword and I thought, what if I drew the power from it into me? It was my chakra, right?"

He looked down sadly at his right hand, clenching his chakra burn and heavily damaged appendage, he let out a mournful sigh. The blue light from the back of his hand cast a small glow onto his face as he examined, illuminating the young Uchiha's vastly changed features. His newly blue eyes looked from the hand, to Reicheru for a moment, before he began to avoid eye contact.

"I.. was wrong. The power was too much for my body to handle and.. this happened." He said, gesturing with the arm. "I tried medical ninjutsu, even the advanced stuff that Mikasa taught me before we left the village and just.. nothing works. I.. I think it's permanent Rei. I'm.. sorry. I know how much you liked holding hands. Okay, I know how much I liked holding hands."

Although he joked at the end, he did look remorseful.

"Anyway, I was in pain, so I went to someone in cloud I thought could help with chakra issues. Ryuichi and his Rinnegan. He put this.. seal I guess, on my stomach." As he said that, his fingers lazily traced over the new black 'tattoo' the covered his abdomen, the dark colors a very stark contrast to the bright neon hues of the Kashima tattoo on his chest. "From what I understand, it's sealing the excess chakra inside of it for me to release when I can control it but.. I'm scared to release it. I am genuinely terrified of what will happen."

 

[Saitou Rei]

Listening to her partner's explanation, Rei cocked her head to the side as he got to the bit about his sword being recognizable. That much was true, especially to anyone who had fought with them on the front lines of the Frost War. However, they weren't exactly wanted criminals. They'd left with the village's blessing, no one was out there looking for them. Why would that even be a concern? Shaking her head, Rei pushed away the obvious thought: 'There's something he's not telling me.' No, he was being vulnerable for the first time in ages. Now was not the time to be accusatory.

As jarring as it had been to find Maikeru in this state, as she listened to his story it wasn't all that hard to accept. This was their world, where the intermingled of spirits on the physical plane and the manipulation of the natural energy around them led to all sorts of fantastic things. A single person who could inhabit multiple bodies, shinobi who could mutate themselves to take on monstrous forms, talking giant owls... in truth, this was par for the course. Nodding as he explained, Reicheru took note of the seal on her boyfriend's abdomen. The physical markings weren't unlike those that had formed over the scrolls they'd use to bring the boys to Ine-cho, yet there was something about the style that indicated this technique was in a whole 'nother ball field. The thought drew her eyes up to the symbol the boy's had drawn up for their little gang's symbol, which they'd adopted for Kashima. A bittersweet smile crinkled the corners of her eyes.

As Maikeru quieted, Reicheru took his human hand once more, her thumb rubbing across the back of it. She too was quiet for a moment, not being entirely sure what to say. She could berate him for being so reckless; she could play the mechanic and try to fix the problem he'd created. She could do a lot of things. "I'm scared too. I don't want to see anything happen to you. But you're okay right now, and this seal seems to have it under control, so we have time to figure it out. We've faced the unknown before," she placed her other hand on his chest where the bright Kashima tattoo was, "and it's worked out. We can do it again. I'm not going anywhere, and if we've come this far together then I'm sure we can face down any giant that comes our way." A genuine smile and confidence washed over her at the thought.

A strong gust of wind, all too common here in the mountains, suddenly roared outside. Their little apartment on the fifth floor seemed to almost shake in its wake, drawing Rei's eyes to the window. Though he'd slept all day, it was still the middle of the night. "Maybe tomorrow or in the next few days we can go to the hospital, or back to Ryuichi. Whenever you're feeling up to it. I'm sure someone can get us some answers that'll put your mind at ease. For right now, you should probably put something in your stomach and get some more rest. I can heat up some of yesterday's soup, sound like it'll sit well?"

 

[Maikeru]

Maikeru's hand went to the one on his chest, the strange rock-like texture gripping over her own smooth skin. For a moment he just sat there, rubbing his thumb against the top of her hand as a small smile crept onto his face. She was right in the end, they had been through so much together, literally uprooted their lives and moved to a foreign country that that at times seems like it didn't want them. Yet, despite everything, they had always had each other.

"Thank you, Rei." He said softly, looking down at the hand in his. "You always have been way too good for me. Let's hope that illusion stays, yea?"

He joked with her, leaning forward to lightly kiss her on the cheek. With unsteady steps he rose to his feet, taking a moment to find his balance. He wasn't in pain any longer, but the lingering effects of the newly acquired curse mark, as well as the toll of the chakra burns, still coursed through his body. At his best estimate it would be several days before he was back in fighting shape, but at least he could walk for now.

"Oh, right, I was supposed to give this to you today.." He said, clicking the roof of his tongue against his mouth. "Sorry, I didn't think I would end up.. knocking myself out all day...

With the same uneasy steps he slowly managed to cross the bedroom, over to his dresser, where he retrieved two wrapped packages. It was very clear he wrapped them, from the simple brown wrapping paper to the messy manner in which the paper had been folded and taped down. Yea, Reicheru would definitely be the one wrapping presents from now on. Handing her the first one, a small box shaped package, he returned to his seat on the bed.

When Reicheru would open it, she would see inside was a small, well, box. Made of mahogany wood that had been stained dark, the box had a small slit and overhanging top lip that indicated it was to be opened. On top of the box, in silver filigree, her name had been engraved in. Or well, the shortened version she had taken since being in Cloud, 'Rei'. The inside of the box was set with a purple cloth of some sort that was soft to the touch, except for the top of the box. The bottom of the box had been separated into several sections by thing strips of cloth covered wood.

On the top of the box, where the stained wood was still present, it appeared that the crest of the Nanjirou clan had been burned into the wood.

"I know you moved your whole life here, and we didn't really have a chance to take much. After all, we came with little more than our backpacks. I know you're not huge on wearing jewelry, but, I figured every girl should have a jewelry box of some sort. As we get older I hope to be able to help you fill that, you deserve to be a princess sometimes..." He said, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Which leads to the second package."

Inside of the second package was a simple necklace, made of a thin black cord with an emblem of some sort hanging from the bottom. Upon closer inspection, Reicheru would be able to notice that it was a red half circle that seemed strangely familiar. It was when Maikeru reached to his bed side table, pulling his own necklace from it, that it would most likely click. Where his Uchiha crest had once been, instead there was the bottom white half of the fan.

"I figured this way... you can always have a part of me with you. Even when we're seperated by distance, or on missions. I wanted the most important person in my life to have a piece of the most important possession I own."

Standing from the bed, he would kiss her gently on the forehead, before starting to move past her.

"Happy Valentines day, Rei. I love you." With those simple words, he would keep walking, heading towards the shower as he waited for Reicheru to heat up the soup he had been promised.


[Topic left unless stopped]

 

[Saitou Rei]

Rei would put a hand up as Maikeru began to stand, beginning to protest until he made mention of a gift. Her eyebrows furrowed as confusion spread across her face, her mouth hanging open ever so slightly as if to speak but instead uttering some small, confused noises. She looked with her head cocked as he held out two packages, taking a moment before she took the cue to take them.

The jewelry box was elegant, though not gaudy or in any way ostentatious. It was a simple, natural beauty that Rei adored. She ran her fingers along the outline of the Nanjirou clan crest when she opened it, and then the violet cloth lining. She'd always liked that color. The girl gave her gift giver a soft smile, her eyes full of appreciation even as he mentioned how she wasn't one to wear much in the way of jewelry. "Our line of work makes those kinds of things difficult on a daily basis, though I suppose you never know when you might need to blend in at a masquerade ball," a wink before she continued, "It's really beautiful, thank you!" She leaned in to hug him (gently) before she unwrapped the second.

It would take a few moments for Rei to realize what Maikeru had done with this second gift, not because she didn't recognize the charm but because the idea that he would do something like this seemed unfathomable to her. It would finally hit her, seemingly when the Uchiha expected it to as it was then that he began to speak. Thankfully so, because as he did the girl's own throat tightened and tears began to collect in her eyes. So imperfect, so flawed was human language that she couldn't begin to form a sentence that expressed how deeply she understood the gesture, nor how much it affected her. She could only nod, allowing a tear to fall as he kissed her forehead.

"I love you too. I can't… I know how much this means… thank you." she finally managed quietly as she stood to go heat up the leftover soup. Truthfully, the kunoichi had forgotten about the holiday, nor was she sure it was something they celebrated in their new home. She knew she couldn't match the gift, especially given that it would already be late. But she had to do something.

The next morning when Maikeru awoke, he would find Rei passed out in the armchair, afraid that if she moved in the bed that she would bother his injuries, even with them being two twins and the movement mostly absorbed. There also was the risk of waking him when she did come to bed, which may have been all of mere minutes before he arose. You see, from the moment the Uchiha had fallen asleep, the tailor's niece had set to work. On the nightstand, neatly wrapped in brown paper (expertly recycled from a take-out bag they had not yet thrown out), Maikeru would find the product of a sleepless night: a braided fabric bracelet, woven entirely out of a red material that also might seem familiar to the Uchiha. Having no time to purchase a metal clasp, it instead had two strands that would slide through a loose knot, allowing the size to be adjusted - meaning it could fit on the human or cursed hand equally. A small note laid beside it, a single word with a small heart drawn beneath. "Ditto."

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