CH_8.3 (268)

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———

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Motohiro wasn't the only stop on Takuma's itinerary.

He mulled over the decision to visit the Kumi family's estate until the very last moment because he was under no illusion that he would receive a warm, much less a civil welcome after he had murdered Gyon in cold blood. In anger, he'd left behind a gruesome scene that he regretted and the purpose for his visit was to face what he had done.

He had to do it alone, so Takuma chose not to bring his team along despite their offer.

The front gates of the estate were guarded by a single man sitting on a stool. He stood up when he saw Takuma approach, who was covered in bandages and had a soft cast on his arm.

"What do you want?" asked the guard.

The guard didn't recognise him. Even though he had been at the estate previously, not everyone had seen his face.

"I'm here to meet your leader, Hoshiguro," Takuma said calmly.

"Yeah, don't waste my time, kid. If you want to fuck around, do it somewhere else. No one's in the mood for your bullshit."

"Inform him that Takuma, the Hidden Leaf shinobi, is here to meet him."

Takuma looked at the guard and saw a deep fear appear in his eyes. He subconsciously backed away and knocked over the wooden stool he was sitting on, startling himself in the process.

"I-I...I—"

"Relay the message. I'll accept whatever response he gives," Takuma said slowly so as not to startle the guard further. "Go on now, quickly."

The guard slowly approached the door, all the time facing Takuma; he didn't want to turn his back to him for fear that he would die if he turned his back and sprinted the moment he was across the small door in the larger gates.

Takuma sighed and picked up the fallen stool to sit on as he waited for someone to come and see him. They made him wait an entire five minutes before the Kumi lieutenants came to fetch him; he didn't mind the time as he understood they would be apprehensive about inviting Gyon's killer inside. The lieutenant didn't look scared, but Takuma could see that his entire body was tense as he walked beside him—just like the guard, the lieutenant didn't want his back facing him.

The walk from the front gate to the destination was silent. The lieutenant was stiff in fear. Usually, Takuma would've inquired about Hoshiguro's health to get a feel for the meeting about to happen, but he didn't feel like doing that and stayed quiet.

The lieutenant asked him to wait outside when they arrived at a room before stepping inside and closing the sliding door behind him. It didn't do anything as Takuma's trained ears picked up the conversation inside. He picked up at least three people and heard the faint sound of the rustling of bed covers that told him Hoshiguro was inside.

He gathered his thoughts about what he would say to the man while he waited for the lieutenants to call him in.

Four Kumi lieutenants were present in the room; two stood next to opposite walls, while the other two stood in front of a translucent screen backlit with some sort of light source casting the shadow of a man lying down on a futon.

Takuma hid a bitter smile. Hoshiguro couldn't be clearer that he wasn't welcome in his house. There was a singular cushion placed a distance in front of the screen, and Takuma sat on it, tucking his knees below his body. The lieutenants were weak enough that it was fine to put himself at a disadvantage by sitting down even when he was injured.

Takuma opened his mouth to ask about Hoshiguro's health, but the words died on the tip of his tongue. His heart began to race as he was hit by the realisation of him with full force that he was sitting before the father of the son he had murdered. Regardless of Gyon's decision, which led to his demise, a parent's love for their children wasn't something that could be erased or forgotten so easily.

He felt his lips dry up, and the things he had decided to say all evaporated—nothing he could think of was the right thing to say—he had no idea what to say to a grieving father when he was the one to cause that suffering.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

The words escaped his mouth as the silence in the room made him hurry up. He didn't regret killing Gyon—not one bit—it was justified after he was betrayed twice, and the second time directly caused Motohiro and other brave people to suffer under torture because of Gyon's greed. He wanted to give out justifications but knew it would only anger the people in the room.

"... I remember telling you," Hoshiguro spoke from behind the screen, his lying silhouette shifting slightly, "that when bigger nations like yours wage war, smaller nations like mine are forced to serve as battlefields, and the moment Yu was captured, it was destined to be a battlefield... It came true, didn't it? My city was turned into grounds of battle—and I lost my son, my only child, in that battle. I lost my legacy, my heir... and I can't do anything to take revenge against his killer as he sits before me." His voice was weak because of his frail condition, but it couldn't stifle the intense emotion in his words.

Takuma bowed his head, unable to say anything in response.

"He made a mistake, and you killed him for it," Hoshiguro continued, his voice growing hoarse, "and the people I call my family hid the news from me for two days because they were worried about my health because I was... weak. I did not know that my son was dead for two whole days because no one told me—not one person—and I wasn't able to get off this damnable bed to find it out on my own."

Takuma turned to glance at the lieutenants as they bowed their heads in shame. It seemed there was a lot more going on than with the Kumi family; alas, it wasn't something he was going to get involved in.

"I don't know why you came here, shinobi," said Hoshiguro, unwilling to even call Takuma by his name. "I don't know why I invited you in—perhaps I was afraid that you'd kill more of those I love if I denied you, or perhaps it was because I wished to scream in your face... unfortunately, I don't have the energy to even raise my voice."

The words hurt Takuma.

He was a killer, there was no denying it, but a mindless killer he was not. Hoshiguro's words implied that he would kill if he was slightly displeased. His image in the old man's eyes had plummeted to an abominable demon. It felt unfair because the man he had killed caused so much harm to the resistance trying to save the city—and now he was being made to feel guilty about it.

Takuma indeed felt bad about it because of his relationship with Hoshiguro and not because he had killed a good man. It was difficult to empathise when he wanted to defend himself—but he held it in because there was no value to it.

"Leave," Hoshiguro said, and his shadow indicated that he had turned his back to Takuma. "Your presence itself is poison to my heart. In return for killing my son, do my family and I a favour by never again approaching us..." Those were the last words Hoshiguro spoke; he remained silent from then onwards.

Takuma felt awkward, uncomfortable, and ever so slightly offended after having such words directed at him. He had been cursed at plenty by the fighters he fought in the Ring, the spectators who bet for and against him; he had been called a demon by the people he had caught and prosecuted in his time in the Narcotics Task Force—but this was the first time he had faced such cold resentment.

"I've kept my promise," Takuma said as he stared at the shadow behind the screen. "I've talked to the Hidden Steam shinobi, and they'll punish the Goharu Family for their role in supporting the enemy. The Goharu family will be dismantled and cease to exist in a few days, leaving the Kumi family unopposed in the city. The Kumi won't be blamed for the family's brief relationship with the enemy and will be left untouched."

When he had first approached the Kumi family, they had helped after extracting a promise that he would get rid of their opposition, the Goharu family. He didn't have to even do anything as the days were numbered for the Goharu family in case the city was recovered, which happened.

In truth, Takuma wanted to get rid of the chakra-enabled members of the Goharu family on his own—but after the banquet hall explosion incident, he knew he couldn't do that. He was an outsider and lacked the power to punish the people of Yu.

The lieutenants all showed a relieved response when Takuma mentioned that they wouldn't be blamed for Gyon's actions. He also noticed that none of them had shown any negative reaction to his killing Gyon; their reactions were mostly fear stemming from caring for their own lives that he could end in a snap. From the looks of it, Hoshiguro was the only one harbouring deep resentment against him, even though it was he who started all of it by pitting Takuma against Gyon to teach the latter a lesson, but it only served to wound Gyon's ego. 

Takuma could've used that point in his defence, but he didn't have the heart to rub it in the grieving man's face. There was nothing more to be said so he stood to leave but stopped at the sliding door and turned back one last time to address the wise old man who hated him more than anyone else in the world.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he repeated. He didn't say "I'm sorry" because that would mean admitting wrongdoing; instead, he simply offered his condolences.

He didn't receive any response.

Takuma walked toward the estate gates, with the lieutenant who had escorted him following him a step behind. He heard a commotion and turned to see a woman he recognised as Gyon's wife running toward him with a crazed, furious look on her face. Her hair and clothes were in disarray and her pale face was marred with tear trails.

"You demon! You took a father away from his children—because of you, they'll grow up without their father!" she yelled with poisonous hatred in her voice.

The lieutenant ran toward her and grabbed her to stop her before she was anywhere near Takuma.

"Go," said the lieutenant, "please."

Takuma stared at the woman spewing hatred at him for a moment before turning away and disappearing from the estate using the Body Flicker Jutsu. He appeared outside the estate and looked at the bright and blue sky with a deep sigh as he contemplated the wife's words.

He remembered his spiteful words to Gyon about his children when he had killed him and wished he hadn't said it.

He shook his head—it didn't matter anymore; his relationship with the Kumi family was over, and he would no longer have anything to do with them. It was better for him to put the experience out of his mind and leave them behind.

However, contrary to Takuma's belief, that connection would be kept alive by a pair of twins through their hatred for the man who killed their father.

And through his actions, a cycle of hatred had been born.

———

.

Takuma returned to the camp after roaming around the city for a while to clear his mind from the two emotionally charged conversations he had. When he entered the room he was sharing with others, he found Kameko waiting for him by his bed.

"Where were you?" she asked with her arms crossed.

Takuma sighed. "I went to meet Motohiro and the Kumi family. I left a note," he said, pointing at the piece of paper sitting on the pillow.

"Yeah, which said nothing except that you were going out and would return in a while. That literally tells me nothing. I've been waiting for you for an hour," Kameko said, rolling her eyes before her tone softened. "How was it? Meeting them..."

Takuma simply shook his head.

Kameko pursed lips and nodded in return, and he was appreciative of her not pushing him to elaborate.

"Why were you waiting?" asked Takuma as he sat down on his bed with a huff and pain.

"The ANBU-nin want to meet you," said Kameko, quieter than usual.

Takuma, who was about to kick his boots off, stopped and looked up at Kameko, who looked restless. A duo of ANBU-nin had arrived with the main forces and had participated in the battle. After the battle was over, they took custody of the captured ROOT agent. The team hadn't seen them or heard from them since then; they weren't aware of their location—and if not for Toridasu telling them that the ANBU duo was still in the city, they would've assumed that they had long left.

"What do they want?"

"They want to ask questions. Everyone has already met with them; you're the only one left."

Takuma looked at his feet. He was physically injured, and the day had already drained him mentally. A part of him didn't want anything to do with the ANBU and ROOT. Unfortunately, a bigger part of him was interested in meeting with the ANBU duo. He had seen—felt—something during his fight against the ROOT team that would've taken over his life if not for Rikku's death. He didn't think he would get any answers from the ANBU duo, but he figured it was the best starting point if he wanted to know what those memories were about.

If they wanted to question him, they would have to answer some questions of his own.

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———

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