WAP Chap. 7

There was really only one option, and she was fast enough to take it. Dirt swirled around from the force of how fast she'd moved to be in front of Tanjiro. Aiko smiled directly into the child's face, hands cupped on both sides of his cheeks to block his peripheral vision. Even on her knees, her body was big enough to block him fully.

Thud.

The force shook her chest and made her jolt forward. A rain of blood plinked down in a staccato behind her. Her expression didn't change. She leaned in close, like she was telling a secret. "Tanjiro kun, there's candy in my kitchen," she said confidentially. "Grandma Kasumi is outside, right? Please ask her for help finding it and sharing it with everyone." She swallowed hard.

He gasped. "I can? Candy?" He bounced on his heels, thoroughly distracted from whatever had made him follow her. "What kind of candy? Is there a lot?"

"Go ask Grandma Kasumi," Aiko repeated. She took a shallow breath. "Thank you. You're such a good boy."

He crowed "yes!" and tore away from her.

For a few heartbeats, Aiko didn't move. Her body would still be protecting the child until he got a little further away, and she needed a moment to breathe. Then her hand curled around a stone. With an ugly snarl, Aiko stood and wheeled around.

Her eyes found the archer instantly. She remembered where he'd been, she just needed to put her eye on him to aim for his forehead. She put a little more force than was truly necessary into her throw, fucking furious.

There was a thunk she heard even thirty yards away. The man she'd hit slid bonelessly off his horse, graceless as he suddenly lost balance.

She didn't wait to see the aftermath.

'If any of them get past me, they're going to run down that little boy.'

Aiko moved, blazing with chakra under tight control. The next moments were a blur even for her. She landed on a horse and slapped his rider with uncharacteristic viciousness, then vaulted over his head to push another in the small of his back. She slapped an angry hand on every man present in a matter of seconds. She was standing behind the ground before they'd managed to do anything more than shout in surprise.

"Die," she said, cold. And she tugged on the explosive seals she'd just planted.

Screams tore the air. But only a few.

She dug her footing into the ground, connecting with the soil. She felt the warmth of the Rinnegan as she raised the earth into a bowl around her prey. She could hardly call them opponents, pathetic as they were.

Now the horses screamed too, kicking and bucking in their panic. Aiko watched darkly from the lip of her cage as one horse unseated his dying rider and another trampled his head.

'I'd like to just leave them. It won't take that long.'

Unfortunately, this mess would be audible from the village. Aiko mastered herself. She cast out a genjutsu, ordering for calm.

As always, it was a brute force effort that shouldn't be used on anyone she loved. But it worked on the horses. They stood docile.

The samurai calmed as well, but that didn't stop the moaning. Humans weren't designed to cope with the level of pain involved in a surprise amputation.

'If I had a sword, mercy killing would be easier.'

Aiko spared a thought for what Mayumi must be thinking. But she didn't let it stop her from jumping down into the little pen of horses and soon to be corpses. Efficiently, she pulled off helmets, put her palms to either side of a man's temples, and twisted to break his neck.

The man who'd shot her still had one foot in a stirrup.

There was a whistle. Aiko didn't look up at Mayumi.

"That went straight through." The kunoichi sounded impressed.

Was she talking about the rock Aiko had thrown?

Dispassionately, Aiko nudged at the man's head with her foot. When it lolled to the side, yes, she could see grass through his forehead.

She went back to her work. There were two more to finish off.

"You gonna be fine?" Mayumi was following her. "We should probably do something about that arrow." She sounded impressed. "I can't believe you're still standing. I'm a little warmer on your cult than I was ten minutes ago, gotta say."

'I wish Sasuke was here. Getting this out is going to suck.'

Aiko contorted to get her hand around the arrow stuck in her back. She gave an experimental tug.

It pulled cruelly at something in her chest and sent white hot pain to her brain.

Okay then.

She changed tactics. She shoved. There was a sick scraping feeling as the arrow head caught on a rib, but it came out her front. Colors danced in her eyes. She carefully stopped pushing before it could puncture her clothes.

Mayumi let out a horrible wounded sound. When Aiko glanced over, Mayumi's eyes were wide and disbelieving.

Well. Too bad for her.

She focused on her own problems again, pulling on her front to open the collar wide. When her skin was bare, she pushed the arrow through just enough to break off the head. She let the arrowhead drop to the ground.

Mayumi cursed. "Please stop, this is disturbing." She alighted behind Aiko. "Let me."

Aiko dropped her head and grimaced. The feeling of the arrow shaft being pulled out of her back made her head spin. She gritted her teeth and dug her fingers into her face, trying to focus on breathing.

The worst of the pain passed. She swallowed hard. When she breathed, the smell turned her stomach. It stunk like a slaughterhouse.

Mayumi cleared her throat.

"I'll walk it off," Aiko said. She swiped blood off her chest onto her forearm, scowling at the mess. There was no saving this shirt from another bleach. "I'm so tired of doing laundry. I didn't think this life path would involve all this laundry."

Maybe she'd gotten just a little bit spoiled being Kage.

There was an awkward silence from Mayumi.

"Really, it's fine," Aiko insisted. She tugged her top closed again, giving up on reducing the blood. "I just need to drink some water and relax for a while."

Mayumi kicked at the dirt. "What are you going to do with… all of this?" She gestured vaguely at the corpses, warhorses, and the big earthen trap they were all in. "I think the next visitors will find it somewhat inhospitable."

'I don't really care.'

Aiko shrugged. "I'll put the horses with the other one," she said grudgingly. She'd probably need to expand that clearing. "Might take metal off the bodies, I miss having a sword. This armor is trash, though." She nudged at a helmet with her foot. "If a rock can go through one of these, I'm not impressed."

Mayumi gave her a pained look. "I think that had more to do with you than with the armor," she said bluntly. The Inuzuka scratched her head. "Saa, maybe you should take the bow. Fits your image better. I've never heard of a holy woman with a sword."

Aiko sighed heavily, but she didn't disagree. "People won't expect to be stabbed if they see a bow," she agreed wearily. "And I do like loot." She frowned down at the bodies. "I'll bury them when I move this soil. I'm going to go sit down for a bit. Come finish our drinks?"

"Yes, of course," Mayumi said politely. She jumped back up, onto the ridge of dirt that shielded the bloodbath from sight. "Do you need a hand?"

'I got better after a vivisection. I think I'll survive one arrow.'

Aiko tried not to scoff. "I'm fine," she managed. "Let's see if they found the candy in my house yet."

"Ah…." Mayumi looked her over. "I think you should avoid people until you clean up."

She sighed. But she didn't argue, because she really might scare the kids. Aiko crept into her own home and stripped down. She carefully cleaned up excess blood by splashing water from a bucket and then wiping. Then she wrapped up with long strips of bandages and put on her spare shirt.

'I need more clothes that aren't kimono.'

Mayumi was waiting on the veranda for her. Aiko noted that the sake supply had taken a very sharp downturn.

…Fair enough, honestly.

"Thank you for waiting," she murmured. Aiko sank down into seiza and clutched at her teacup.

She'd hit the point in dehydration that meant a pounding headache. If she'd known she was going to lose so much blood, she wouldn't have been drinking alcohol.

Grandma Kasumi saw her from down the street. The old woman stood up and began hobbling her way over.

"I feel a little bad about not going to her," Aiko said quietly. She pretended not to watch the 80 something year old lady approach.

Mayumi hummed. "I think she'd be disappointed if you did. She wants to know who I am."

"Grandmother Kasumi," Aiko greeted. "How are you?"

"I am well, Priestess. You're out of ame candy now." There were brown patches on the whites of her eyes and a milky patch over one pupil, but Kasumi-san had clever, alert eyes. They drifted over to Mayumi. "A friend, Priestess?"

Aiko nodded. "Yes. This is Mayumi-san. She helped me with our visitors."

"Oh?" Kasumi asked sharply. "We thought we heard some unusual sounds. Did something happen?"

Mayumi took over. "The Daimyo sent someone to discuss the situation," she said smoothly. "We have worked it out, I believe."

A whinny cut through the air, and then another.

Kasumi looked between Aiko and Mayumi slowly. She seemed spectacularly unimpressed.

"They gave us more horses," Aiko lied unrepentantly. "I'll bring them into town later. I'm just resting now." She smiled at the old woman, who was undoubtedly one of the most influential people in town. "Thank you for helping Tanjiro-kun and the others."

"He's a good child," Kasumi said noncommittally. She sighed and seemed to deflate, her thin shoulders drooping. "I see. Yes, I certainly could not have heard the sounds of a fight."

"Violence is never the solution," Aiko agreed piously. She ignored whatever look Mayumi gave her.

"We could never condone it," Kasumi said gravely. She nodded to each kunoichi in turn. "Lovely to meet you, Mayumi-san."

"And the same to you," the Inuzuka woman said. She seemed bemused as the old woman walked away. She raised an eyebrow at Aiko.

"They're good citizens," Aiko explained. She kept her tone light. "Loyal to the Daimyo, despite our ongoing and very civil disagreement."

"...ahuh." Mayumi put a hand to her head. "You know, I thought you picked a very weird hill to die on. Disagreeing with a Daimyo historically does not end well."

Aiko shrugged. "And now?"

"Now I think you picked a weird hill to kill on," Mayumi mused. "But the king will not be able to take your rice."

"It's kind of you to say so," Aiko said mildly. She hid her smile behind her cup.

"Uzumaki."

Aiko jumped when she startled. Mayumi met her stare with a calm expression. There was a hint of a smirk in those dark brown eyes.

"I'm just thinking aloud," Mayumi said. She put a hand on her chin. "The Uzumaki are a clan that lives off the continent, known for their red hair." She pointedly gave Aiko a look up and down. "I wonder if seals could somehow kill people on contact."

'Is this plausible deniability or just some sick power play?'

Aiko gave a non-committal hum because she wasn't sure where this was going. "Yes, they do live on an island," she agreed vaguely.

"They're known eccentrics," Mayumi added helpfully. "Very strange, bombastic people."

'Is she implying I'm eccentric or straight out saying it?'

Something twitched in Aiko's forehead. "Sounds delightful."

"They're supposed to have long lives and heal better than other people."

'That one isn't fair. Being an Uzumaki doesn't give me healing powers anything like this.'

"Good for them," Aiko said tersely. She tapped the table. "Go talk to them if you like them so much."

Mayumi barked out a laugh and shook her head. "You're not bad," she said fondly. "If you don't like that conclusion, you should probably be more subtle around shinobi."

"I will get skewered as often as I want to," Aiko snipped. She wrinkled up her nose. "Go ask the Uzumaki if they know me, if any of them have abilities like I do. I guarantee they do not."

"Of course not," Mayumi indulged. She stood and set down her cup. "I learned a lot today, Aiko-san. Please let me know about the process for joining your cult. I'm tentatively interested in seeing where this goes."