The morning light filtered through the bamboo blinds, casting stripes of gold across the tatami.
When Mei woke up, the spot beside her was cold.
She bolted upright, her yukata sliding off her shoulder to reveal the dark bruises and love-bites from the night before.
She was alone.
A wave of panic hit her.
Is he gone? Did he just leave me here? Before she could spiral, the door slid open. Saiki walked in, carrying a breakfast tray.
He was wearing a simple robe, looking relaxed and entirely unbothered.
"You're awake?" he said, setting the tray on the low table. "Wash up and eat."
Mei let out a breath of relief, though she was mortified by her own anxiety. She hurriedly adjusted her robe and sat at the table.
They ate in a thick, awkward silence.
Once the meal was finished, Saiki looked her in the eye.
"I'm giving you two choices. First: I send you back to the Mist. Second: You follow me back to Konoha."
Mei's hand froze on her chopsticks.
She looked up, a flash of panic in her emerald eyes. "You... you don't want me anymore?"
The question slipped out before she could stop it. Her face turned neon-red.
Saiki smirked.
"It's not that I don't want you," he said calmly. "But I'm being honest—I have several women in Konoha. Tsunade, Kushina, Nono'u, Tsume... If you come back with me, I don't know how to explain you to them."
He paused. "And besides, the Mist is currently a headless corpse. The Mizukage is dead, the Swordsmen are gone, and the leadership is gutted. Right now, the Mist needs a leader more than I need a maid."
Mei looked down, fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve.
He was right.
The Mist was at its most vulnerable. Without a Kage or elite defenders, the other villages would swoop in like vultures to tear them apart.
She was their greatest remaining talent. She was the destined Fifth Mizukage.
Her duty was to rebuild.
But looking at Saiki, her heart was a battlefield.
This man had killed her friends. He had broken her home. He had taken her innocence.
She should hate him with every fiber of her being.
So why did her heart flutter when he spoke?
Why had she stopped resisting last night?
"I... I don't know..." she whispered.
Saiki chuckled. He stood up and moved to her side, kneeling down to look her in the eye.
"Mei Terumi," he said, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Shouldn't you hate me? Why does it look like you've fallen for me instead?"
The bluntness was a knife through her secrets.
Mei's face went from pink to a glowing crimson.
"I... I haven't..."
"Really? Then who was the one clinging to my neck last night? Who was the one whispering for me to be gentle?"
"STOP IT!" Mei cried out, nearly in tears. She tried to push him away, but he caught her wrists.
Saiki's grin widened. He knew he had her.
The line between hate and love was thin, and when physical intimacy overrides trauma, things become beautifully complicated.
"Answer me. Do you hate me, or... do you like me just a little?"
Mei began to shake. She squeezed her eyes shut as tears fell.
"I... I don't know..." she sobbed. "I should hate you... you killed everyone... you ruined everything... but..."
But last night, when you held me... when you kissed me... when you showed me that tiny spark of tenderness... I felt safe. In the face of his absolute power, her pride and her struggle had been proven useless.
When she finally stopped fighting, she found a strange sense of belonging in his arms.
Was it Stockholm Syndrome? Or just the biological urge of a woman to submit to the strongest predator?
She didn't know. She only knew that the thought of him leaving made her ache.
"I see," Saiki said, releasing her hands. "Then you choose the Mist."
"WAIT!" Mei grabbed his sleeve.
Saiki looked back at her.
"If... if I chose you... would you truly keep me?" she asked with a desperate finality.
Saiki was silent for a beat. "Yes."
"And... the others? Lady Tsunade? Kushina? Won't they be angry?"
"They will," Saiki admitted honestly. "But that is my problem to solve."
Mei stared at him for a long time.
Finally, she let go and bowed her head.
"I... I will go back to the Mist," she whispered. "My people need me. I can't abandon them."
It was the choice of a leader.
Saiki nodded. "Good."
The answer hurt. She wanted him to beg her to stay. She wanted him to say "I won't let you go."
But he didn't. He respected her choice.
I suppose he has enough women. One more or less doesn't matter to him. The thought filled her with a bitter jealousy.
She suddenly lunged forward and kissed him.
It was a hard, demanding kiss, full of resentment and a possessive hunger.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to merge her body with his.
Saiki responded instantly. He pinned her against the wall, his hands finding her supple, youthful mounds.
In the morning light, they became entangled once more.
This time, Mei was the aggressor. She wanted to leave her mark on him. She wanted him to remember her forever.
She wrapped her legs around his waist as he hoisted her up.
The future Mizukage was a natural. If not for her maidenly tightness, Saiki would have thought he was with a seasoned veteran.
Her slender waist twisted and buckled as she rode him with a frantic intensity, her moans echoing through the thin walls.
After the final "irrigation" of the morning, Mei lay limp in his arms, her face a mask of satisfaction and sorrow.
"You can still change your mind," Saiki whispered.
Mei shook her head. "No. Send me back. But... once I rebuild... once I am the Mizukage... you must come for me."
Saiki smiled and kissed her forehead.
"I will."
An hour later, they stood on the shore of the Land of Water.
The Mist village loomed in the distance, shrouded in its eternal fog.
Mei was back in a clean uniform Saiki had bought her. Her hair was tied up, her professional mask back in place, though the high collar struggled to hide the marks on her neck.
"This is as far as I go," Mei whispered.
They stood face-to-face.
"I'm leaving," she said.
"Mm."
"Will you... will you miss me?"
Saiki looked at the hope in her eyes. "Yes."
The word was enough. Mei stepped forward, pressed a final, light kiss to his lips, and turned away.
She walked into the fog.
Saiki watched her until she vanished.
Last night was an impulse. But he didn't regret it.
Following his heart—that was the Dao.
He turned and ascended back into the clouds, heading for the Land of Fire.
While Saiki was flying home, the news of the dual defeat of the Cloud and the Mist hit the world like a hurricane.
Konoha: Tsunade slammed the report onto her desk, her body shaking with adrenaline.
"We won... we actually won!" she sobbed. "The Cloud has retreated. The Mist is broken. We survived!"
Nara Shikaku and the other commanders shared looks of pure disbelief and joy.
"That brat..." Shikaku laughed. "He's a monster. Two battlefields ended by one man. He's written himself into the history books forever."
Iwagakure: Onoki sat in silence for a long time after reading the news.
"Two strikes for the Raikage... the Seven Swordsmen erased... the Mizukage dead..."
He rubbed his temples. "Order the retreat. Pull back thirty miles and cease all hostilities."
"But Lord Tsuchikage! We have the advantage in the Grass!"
"Advantage?" Onoki sneered. "Against a god like that, numbers are a joke. Do you want the Stone to be the next one erased?"
Sunagakure: Rasa and the Elders stared at the same report.
"Elder Chiyo," Rasa said, looking at the old woman. "Your thoughts?"
"Stop everything," Chiyo whispered. "Cease all expansion. The Sand needs to sleep. Until someone finds a way to kill that boy... the era belongs to the Leaf."
Land of Rain: In the underground cave, Black Zetsu reported to Madara.
Madara smiled a hideous, withered grin.
"Excellent... the stronger he is, the more perfect the plan. Every power has a weakness. His... is his women."
"Lord Madara, the next step?"
"Wait," Madara closed his eye. "Wait for Rin Nohara and Saiki to return to the village. Then... we strike."