Chapter 87 - Hidden Relationship

It had only taken seconds. Ekyt drew his tonfas and counter-attacked with two Shadow Clones. Each one of the Ekyt’s paired off against a Swordsman and began to duel. But as the battle was happening, it became clear that these Swordsmen were of an Akatsuki level threat. Even the girl, who you could swear couldn’t hurt a fly, was buzzing around at top speed. There was no way to counter without being tricky.

Things didn’t stop there, though. While two of the Swordsmen kept attacking, the third, the deaf/mute, cast a jutsu. Ekyt strained to hear or see what it was, but he couldn’t figure it out. Although a dead giveaway came a second later.

Mist.

“Kirigakure’s signature jutsu: Hidden Mist!”

“NEJI!”

Neji turned to see that his eyes had been blinded long enough for him to miss what was going to be a critical strike. He tried to block, but his hands were knocked down by one of the cases the girl held.

SCHUNK!

As the girl stabbed, Ekyt dove in the way, catching the blade right in the stomach. He coughed up blood, but held his defiant pose.
Neji was speechless.

“Neji…Protect your girl…”

Ekyt pulled himself off the sword, wobbling as he walked. It was clear he was hardly in any shape to stand, let alone fight. The three Mist-nin took advantage of that, all three tackling him and putting their swords at his neck. Ekyt didn’t struggle at all.

“You’ve got me…let them go…” he choked out, not moving an inch.

“Geez! That was heroic, ya know? You’re not such a bad guy! But we’re gonna take you with us anyway. C’mon guys, let’s get going!”

Ekyt’s eyes bored into Neji’s. “This is it. I hated you… But for her sake, don’t drop your guard. And your eyes…you rely on them too much. Even perfect vision can be blinded…”

With that, the Mist ninja carried him away, leaving Team Gai angry and defeated.

Linda walked over to the spot where Ekyt had been held captive, cursing angrily. But as the mist lifted, she noticed something on the ground.

A blood-splattered Leaf Village pendant.

--

Yuushi had to tell Ekyt- he would be so proud! At fifteen, he was a man in the samurai world. And as such, he was going to take his wife. Kantai had said ‘yes’. She was without parents, and Yuushi felt no connection to most of his current family. They were tailor-made for each other.

Ekyt was the only one Yuushi really trusted. They had been inseparable, until their strength outgrew each other’s company. But when it came to the sword, Yuushi always went to Ekyt.

But now…

Yuushi looked up, seeing a shadow extended across the grass. It was Neji. He had something in his hand.

“Here. Your foolish sensei…Just take this!”

Neji thrust the object into Yuushi’s hands, then stormed away. Once alone, Yuushi remembered that he had something in his hand. When he opened his fingers to see what it was…

His brow began to sweat.
His knees shook.
His sword clattered to the ground.
His eyes teared.

No… His pendant… What happened?!

--

In the Hokage’s office, a lot of voices were shouting at each other. No one was accomplishing much. Naruto was shouting at Neji; Sakura was shouting at Naruto; Tsunade was shouting at them all.

“SHUT UP! WE’RE NOT GETTING ANYWHERE!” Tsunade roared.
Damn it, I need him back! He’s crucial against the Akatsuki! There must be something we can do!

“You and your ‘all-seeing eyes’,” Naruto snarled under his breath. “And your stupid ‘it’s destiny’ crap! Neji, you SUCK!”

“We have to get him back. The question is…how?” Tsunade murmured. That made everyone sit up and take notice.

Yuushi had since been briefed on what happened. In his mind, there was only one way to settle this.

“If it’s swords they fight with, it’ll take a swordsman to take them down.”

Sakura had to try hard to not phrase this in an insulting way. “Yuushi, we all want to save him. But if he, a swordsman himself, was defeated…I mean, he’s got more experience than you…I…well, I don’t think…”

“You don’t think I stand a chance?” Yuushi finished, his voice flat. “You’re right, Sakura-sempai. Maybe. But maybe I have other talents. If nothing else, I WILL find him. Whether I go alone, or with a team.”

That brought up the question of who should go.

Let’s see…a tactician, like Shikamaru would be perfect. Yuushi…yes. He can’t be stopped. Neji will have to go. And with him, Tenten. Plus a jonin or two…

“Alright, I’ve made my decision!” Tsunade announced. “Yuushi, you will be second in command. First in command- Shikamaru. Like it or not, we’ll need genius strategy to do this without causing a war. Yuushi, you’re closest to Ekyt. Neji and Tenten…and Hayate. That’s who I can spare, and that’s who’s going to go. This is closed to discussion.”

“WHAT?! COME ON, GRANDMA!”

“YOU HEARD ME!” Tsunade screamed, cutting off Naruto. “BACK TO WORK, ALL OF YOU! PREPARE TO LEAVE IN TWO HOURS TIME! ASSEMBLE AT THE GATE!”

Massaging her temples, Tsunade was left alone with Sakura and Shizune. To the two of them, she confided something. Something big. Something that, if it went wrong, the shinobi world would be rocked in a big, bad way.

--

Ekyt walked with his captors, not making any attempts to escape or fight back. It wasn’t that he couldn’t- it just wasn’t the smart thing to do. Not yet.

“So, care to tell us why you did what you did?” Okayu asked.

The swordsman didn’t seem like bad guys, really.

“…To save my student. He was going to be executed. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“Ya know mister, I don’t think you showed us any of your real strength back there. You were too busy protecting brown eyes’ boyfriend. You’re probably WAY stronger, huh?”

Ekyt didn’t know how to answer. Should he just go along with them?

“I didn’t show you much of anything back there, I guess. I have lots more tricks up my sleeve. But, to be honest, you three seem like good people, and I’d rather not fight you. Not even because I think I’d win; it’s because that you seem like the type who’d feel guilty if you killed someone.”

The ‘Swords’ seemed to agree on that.

“We inherited the swords, and we inherited the talent…” Okayu said, looking at his own bladed. “But the lust for blood…Not at all.”

Ekyt had an idea suddenly. “If I come quietly with you, and even make you look good, will you agree to leave anyone who comes to rescue me out of it? They’d just be following orders. I don’t care for my own safety- I don’t know anything anyone could torture out of me, so I’m useless to you anyway…”

Haitsuchi started to sign, facing Mimizu so she could translate.

“The sword…” she said, frowning. “He said he doesn’t know, Haitsuchi. He’s not lying.”

“I meant it. I don’t know. But if I were to give you a sword that I prize…might we call it even?” Ekyt asked carefully and clearly, in case Haitsuchi read lips. “I keep it in a summoning scroll. If it will guarantee my friend’s safety, I’ll hand it over peacefully. If all of you will keep your swords at my neck, and restrain my left art, too.”

I’m giving them every reason to trust me. I’m not going to pull a fast one. I just know someone’s going to come after me. I need to buy their safety.
Even if it costs me my own safety.

“…Hey, mister, if we didn’t restrain you, would you run?” Mimizu wanted to know, jumping up onto Ekyt’s shoulder.

“…No…no, I wouldn’t. I don’t want you to fail your mission because of me. I know what would happen if you went back without me. I really think you’re good people saddled with a bad job. People think that way of shinobi and samurai all the time.”

After a moment, Ekyt voiced aloud what he’d been thinking all along.

“But, I WILL try to escape after you’ve completed your mission. I just have more I have to do. My death is kind of…well…foreordained, I guess. There’s someone I have to take with me when I die. Neither of us can exist while the other does, so if I meet him again, I have to kill him. Then I, too, will die.”

Well, that’s a half-truth…maybe. Ekyt thought. I DO plan to kill Orochimaru with the Reaper Death Seal next time I see him…if I can’t defeat him normally. It’ll PROBABLY cost me my life. And I DO hate him…
Maybe this is one of those self-fulfilling prophecies or something?

The three Swords exchanged glances.

“If it’s not a Mist shinobi, then I don’t see any problem...” Mimizu muttered. “But still…Mister, hold still, okay? We’ve got to make this look good…”

What looked like metal prayer beads were wound around Ekyt’s wrists. They were white in color, and surprisingly heavy.

“Do you mean it, mister? Ya know, about not knowing where the sword is and all that?”

“Yes, I do,” Ekyt answered firmly. He felt a strange sensation on his wrists. It was only for a moment, though, so he assumed he had imagined it. Or maybe it was sweat. He was sweating from exhaustion now, coupled with the cold sweat of capture and awaiting death.

“There, you see, Haitsuchi?! He’s not lying! They would’ve turned red if he was!”

Ekyt turned around, wanting to hear what they were talking about. It dawned on him that the beads around his wrist must be what they were referring to. Were they some kind of lie detector? Ekyt had never heard of the use of such a thing. He and Ibikki just kind of knew when they cracked someone.

Instantly, Ekyt was thankful they took a gentle approach.

“Pardon me…it’s Mimizu, right?” Ekyt asked/said carefully.

“Yup yup!”

“Can I ask you how old you are. I know you aren’t supposed to ask a lady that, but the rules are different when it comes to a captor…”

“Oh, I don’t mind telling you!” she answered brightly, still up on his shoulder. (Ekyt was blushing, naturally- young or not, this girl was wearing a skirt, and was dangerously close to giving him quite an eyeful)

“I’m twenty-one!”

Ekyt stopped short. “Really?”

Mimizu pointed at herself. “I know, I don’t look it or act it! But mister, you don’t look or act twenty! You look fifteen, but you act like you’ve been doing this for twenty years!”

Okayu had been quiet, but it was clear he was the most deep-thinking of the three. (well, maybe Haitsuchi was, but you honestly couldn’t tell with the deaf-mute thing. Or was that an act?)

“Hey… You know, he’s gonna see the Mizukage personally. No offense Ekyt, but there’s no way he’ll let you live.” Okayu was deep in thought, speaking his words carefully. “Who was it you saved, anyway? Anyone we might know?”

Ekyt hesitated- should he tell them? In the end, he decided to come clean. “The one guy you wouldn’t know. I lived in the same village as him for years and didn’t know him. But the other one… He was a kid from the Mist. His family was murdered. I don’t know why; I’ve never asked. All I know is that his father was Kideyori Akamadori. And his name is-”

“Katsuyori?!” Okayu piped up. He got right in Ekyt’s face. “Tell me, is he okay?! Is Katsuyori okay?!”

Ekyt let Okayu catch his breath. “Yes, he’s fine. I’ve been training him, and he’s grown a lot. He has a girlfriend, a good life, and he’s a chunin. Not to mention in our Black Ops program.”

Okayu let go of Ekyt, calming down. “I see…well, that’s good. I’m…I’m glad to hear that…”

“Okayu, what’s the matter, huh?!” Mimizu asked, leaping off Ekyt’s shoulders to tug on Okayu’s arm.

Okayu reached down for his canteen. Stepping away from Mimizu, he splashed the water on his head. Ekyt backed up, ready to kick away if this was some threat. But instead, Okayu turned around to face him.

“Do you recognize me now? You didn’t see it in battle, but it should be plain as day now…”

Ekyt stumbled. The unshakeable, stoic warrior had seen his stoicism crack.

“You have the same face…And…And your eye!” Ekyt managed to say.

Okayu nodded. “That’s right. I’m Katsuyori’s brother. Kideyori Akamadori was our natural father’s name, and he was one of the Seven Swords.”

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