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The link is also in the synopsis
<<<>>>
Emma walked away, satisfied. She could tell she'd gotten under Mizuki's skin. Her green hair flowed freely down her back, swaying with every step.
'I shouldn't push him too far... but I have to separate them.' Her thoughts were clear, calculated. 'The only way I survive this is if he falls for me. And that won't happen while she's still around.'
Emma had quickly realized that Kaoru and Mizuki had feelings for each other. She was confident that Kaoru had been attracted to her from the moment they met, and she assumed that, once Mizuki was out of the picture, Kaoru would act on impulse and drift toward her instead.
She made her way to the communal kitchen, where the camp's cook was serving meals. One of her old crewmates, Sorgu, was working there now, peeling vegetables.
"Hey, Sorgu. How are you? Have you seen the others?" Emma asked, handing him her plate.
"Oh, hello Emma. I'm fine, actually. They don't treat me as badly as I expected," he replied with a tired smile. Sorgu was lean, with barely any muscle on him. He placed a chunk of meat on Emma's plate, then scooped some broth from the pot to fill it.
The food didn't look appetizing. In fact, it looked downright miserable. But Emma already knew from experience that the Takimura camp cook somehow turned the most basic ingredients into unexpectedly delicious meals.
"Sorry, Emma. You're holding up the line, please move forward," Sorgu said gently. His words were polite, even kind, but they stunned her, and her eyes narrowed.
'Did he really just use my name like that… and then basically told me to move along like I'm in the way?' A flash of anger crossed her face. Emma stepped aside with clenched teeth, keeping her gaze locked on him the entire time.
'It took them only a few days to change how they treat me. Ungrateful rats,' she thought, her jaw tightening. If looks could kill...
Slowly, desperation began to creep in.
For so long, Emma had managed to survive any situation using her looks, her cunning, her charm. Schemes always worked in the end. But now, everything she tried had failed. Nothing seemed to be working anymore.
She sat down at one of the tables, staring at the mix of carrots and onions swimming in her bowl, spinning in circles as they ran from the spoon chasing them across the broth.
Her thoughts were interrupted when someone sat directly across from her, uncomfortably close, given how many other tables were still empty.
The girl's presence was disturbing. Her face was even more expressionless than Emma's, and her long crimson hair looked like it had been cut from fire. Her eyes were deep red, shaped like gemstones - large, polished rubies. Freckles dotted the bridge of her nose and forehead, giving her a childish look. But the cold, dead weight in her gaze killed any hint of cuteness.
Emma instantly felt uncomfortable. Not because the girl had chosen to sit beside her, if anything, she was glad someone wasn't avoiding her, but because of her presence. The overwhelming aura of chilling despair that clung to her was almost tangible. Emma briefly considered standing up and eating somewhere else, but Akane spoke.
"Leave if you'd like."
Her voice was soft, pleasant, even, but there was no warmth behind it. It was cold. Detached.
"Are you okay?" Emma asked before she could stop herself, shrugging awkwardly, already half-regretting not accepting Akane's offer to walk away.
"No one here is okay," Akane replied, her tone as still as her expression. "We've lost too much. And we're going to lose even more." She muttered under her breath. Those last words were not for Emma, but rather an involuntary eruption of her inner thoughts.
She dipped her spoon into the broth, then broke a piece of bread and brought it to her mouth. She chewed slowly, gracefully even.
Emma watched her, trying to make sense of her.
'Did she lose someone important?' she wondered, catching the obvious hint of sorrow in Akane's eyes as they got unfocused again, drifting to some faraway place. Akane didn't speak again. She just ate, embracing the silence.
Eventually, Emma lowered her gaze and took a bite of her own food. Two girls sat at a table, surrounded by voices, but utterly alone.
<<<>>>
"Mizuki, don't let her get under your skin," Kaoru said, patting her shoulder gently as they sat side by side on a fallen log in the forest. "That's exactly what she wants."
"I know," Mizuki murmured, swloly drawing circles in the dirt with a stick. There was something soothing about the shape, something oddly enjoyable about its symmetry.
"But… she's right, isn't she?"
Kaoru exhaled, shrugging. "Well… we will be sinking ships. People will suffer because of it. But we don't have a choice. We're under attack, and those people belong to the nation trying to wipe us out."
Mizuki nodded, still focused on the ground. Her brows furrowed as her stick traced another curve while she kept sorting her thoughts out.
"I know all that," she said, finally looking up and meeting Kaoru's eyes. "It's not like I'm going to change my mind or hold back just because of a few feelings."
She smiled, sadness slowly taking hold of her face, and her eyes began to shimmer with unshed tears.
"It's just hard for me. My village, my family… everyone I knew was massacred by shinobi. And now I've found a new home. With Shin-sensei, and…" she hesitated, blushing slightly, "…you."
Kaoru felt a soft warmth bloom in his chest at her words.
"Even so," she continued, "part of me wonders if by following this path… I'm making other kids go through the same pain I did. I know so many people have lost someone they love. You, Sensei, Akane… you all lost your parents. And Lady Suiren gave her life for our village and clan just weeks ago."
Even though Mizuki still kept her original last name after being adopted by the Takime clan, she wore the clan's symbol proudly on her back. She genuinely felt connected to them, she was a member of the Takime clan in every way that mattered.
She paused for a moment, then asked quietly:
"Kaoru… do you think we'll ever be able to live in peace? Or is fighting and death all we'll ever know?"
Her gaze was soft but heavy, burning into Kaoru's cheek. He felt her eyes on him, but instead of discomfort, he found himself basking in the words she had said minutes ago. There was something sweet in her voice when she said he was important to her, something that made his stomach ache in a way he didn't want to shake off.
"Just like you… I don't know what the future holds," Kaoru said, eyes dropping to the half-finished circle Mizuki had been drawing. "But I can promise you one thing - I'll dedicate my life to building a village that stands above the shinobi system."
He looked up again, meeting her gaze directly.
"I can't promise I'll change the whole world. But I'll do everything in my power to make Takimura a safe place for everyone… for us."
Her eyes seemed even more beautiful up close. They were bright purple and deep like a sea, reflecting Kaoru's face and the unspoken connection between them.
'I've never been this close to her, Kaoru thought, momentarily lost in the violet.'
"I believe we can achieve anything, as long as we stay true to that goal," he continued. "Right now, we fight to survive. But one day, when we're strong enough, when others fear the idea of raising a hand against us, that's when we'll rise above this system. That's when we lay the foundation for something better. Something lasting."
He struggled to explain it fully, it wasn't a strategy or a step-by-step plan. It was emotion, belief, an impulse. A dream he hadn't yet found the words for.
"I'm the head of the Takime Clan," he said softly. "There are already too many lives I have to protect. But I want to widen that circle even more."
His voice lowered.
"I don't know if I'll ever be strong enough to make the entire world hesitate to fight me… but I've already decided that my life belongs to what I hold dear and… love…" He blushed a little before adding, "and I'll protect it, no matter what."
Kaoru looked at Mizuki's face, waiting for a reaction. But she didn't speak. She just stared at him in silence, like she was still listening.
Then she smiled.
A bright, genuine smile that Kaoru had never seen from her before.
"I'll be right by your side… i-if y-you'll have me," she said with a soft chuckle, quickly glancing away as her cheeks reddened.
And then, as if nothing had happened, she dipped her stick back into the dirt and finished the circle she had started.
<<<>>>
"Summon the Durinu clan head and Yko Uzumaki. I've got something to discuss with them," Akura ordered, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
The Oinin in front of him nodded without a word and flickered out of sight. Akura looked down at the letter in his hand once more, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.
'Kaoru… you really found something interesting.'
If it worked, it could solve Takimura's biggest logistical flaw - communication. But despite his excitement, Akura had no idea how the technique functioned or whether it was even possible to create such devices in the short time they had. That's why he needed their best blacksmith and their only fuinjutsu master.
"Lord Akura, do you think it'sss posssible to make thossse devicesss quickly enough to use them during the war?" hissed Senzui Noda, heir of the Noda Clan.
The Noda had gained considerable influence after their performance against Kiri, and Senzui now served as Akura's personal assistant. Despite his bizarre tendency to exaggerate the letter s, Senzui was a capable shinobi with huge potential. In Akura's mind, he could become a very capable assassin-type nin in the future.
"I have no idea," Akura replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "Kaoru explained it in this letter. Something about materials called… Akagan and… what was the second one again?"
He squinted, lifting the letter again and scanning the text.
"Yeah, Kurogan. I have no clue what these things are. All I understood is that one's like a liquid, and the other's some kind of metal. Let's wait for our master blacksmith and seal master, and hope they can figure it out."
He laughed, genuinely. A rare sound lately, considering everything Takimura had been through in the last month.
"Lord Kaoru isss like a blesssing," Senzui said, smiling faintly. He hadn't seen Kaoru fight, but he'd heard the stories. He knew the boy was already one of the strongest in the village.
'I'd love to spar with him one day,' he thought, eyes lighting up at the idea. 'I hope he returns soon.'
"Lord Akura," Senzui began again, but this time, he was cut off.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Akura groaned. "Your father asked me to train you, and I agreed. I'm your sensei, not your lord."
"And every time you sssay that," Senzui replied, voice full of respect, "I remind you that you are the leader of our village. You deserve the proper ressspect."
Akura sighed, resigned. He could never win this argument. He'd long accepted that Senzui was just like that, full of quirks and stubborn ideals - fixated on certain things, like the letter s or refusing to call Akura "sensei" no matter how many times he asked.
"Fine, fine…" Akura muttered. "Crazy's hard to argue with anyway."
"Lord Akura," Senzui grinned, ignoring his remark, "the day we elect our firssst Kage, I promissse I'll call you sssensssei."
Akura flinched. Hearing sensei come out of Senzui's mouth made him decide Lord was definitely the better title.
"Haha… it's alright," he said, waving it off. "Senzui, I'm planning to send you with them, so you should go warn your father and prepare. It'll probably be a long mission."
Akura wasn't trying to get rid of him, but he knew Senzui always had way too many things going on, and he'd need time to pack, prepare, and organize.
"Understood! I'll be back ass ssoon ass I can, Lord Akura!" Senzui hissed enthusiastically, darting out of the room with energetic, almost childlike speed.
Akura watched him vanish down the hall.
"He's even more annoying than Maki," he muttered under his breath, just as Yko and Brok entered the room together.
**
A/N – I love writing chapters like this. They really help me flesh out the characters' personalities, relationships, and show how they grow over time. I just hope I'm managing to deliver the emotional depth I'm aiming for.
Also, Senzui isn't lisping - he just talks like that, exaggerating his S's. Now that his speaking style is clear, I won't be writing out the extra S's every time he opens his mouth xD
I'm off to play with my kitten and tire her out before heading to bed, good night or good day, depending on your timezone ^^
Character Notes:
Emma – Desperate Schemer – "Turns out looks and manipulation don't work when no one cares enough to fall for it."
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The link is also in the synopsis