Shinobi Isekai: Round Two

No Strings

"Zuzu," she said with a chipper smile. "What do you want?"

He scowled at the nickname. "Father sent me to tell you we're fighting the Senju tonight. We leave at dusk."

Ah. Ok.

"Thanks for letting me know. I'll be ready."

Her cousin hesitated, lingering in the doorway with a grim expression. "Kyou," he pursed his lips, looking for all the world like he'd swallowed a lemon. "You can fight Tobirama, if you want. I know I'm the one who usually faces him, but, if you want to, you can do it."

Aw. How...murderously cute.

"Thanks for the offer, Zuzu, but I'm good." She smiled down at him with a shrug. "If anything, I should get him a gift."

Izuna snorted, his face melting into a smile he was clearly trying to restrain. "Right. Just thought I'd offer. See you later!"

She waved as he ran off, laughing to herself. She closed the door and turned back to her mother, her levity fading in the face of her serious expression.

"Kaa-chan? Is something wrong?"

Her mother beckoned her forward with her hand, reaching out and patting Kyou's head as she came over.

"The Senju are your friends, right?" Her voice was quiet, but much stronger than it was in the beginning. "I...remember you saying something like that, once."

Oh, wow! That was...ages ago. It was nice that she remembered.

"Yeah, I said that," she confirmed, smiling up at her mother. "We're not friends anymore, though."

"Oh, I'm sorry, sweeting."

Kyou shook her head, her mother's hand on her head ruffling her hair. "It's fine. It would have been nice to stay friends, but our families fight too often for that to be possible. In another life, maybe we could have been more than enemies."

"War is cruel," her mother agreed, running her nails through Kyou's hair. "Children shouldn't have to throw away their friendships over wars they didn't start. You shouldn't even be fighting."

Yeah! You say it ma!

"My poor little girl. You should be at home, not on a battlefield."

Um...yeah?

"If I didn't know the fate that awaited you, I'd tell the world the truth, so you could stay here with me."

Yeah, no.

Kyou pulled away from her mother's embrace, trying her best to school her expression despite her annoyance. "What do you mean?"

The older woman sighed, taking Kyou's face in her hands and caressing it with her thumbs. "Oh, Kyou, my Kyou. You've been trained as a shinobi, so you don't know what kunoichi are expected to suffer. The things we go through for the sake of the Clan—I would never wish it on anyone, least of all you. Never you." Her voice trailed off into a harsh whisper, a manic light in her eyes as her grip on Kyou's head tightened noticeably. "Never you."

Uhhh...

"But kaa-chan," she began, nervously licking at her lips. "Don't kunoichi know how to fight?"

Ah. That made it worse. She should have just waited for it to pass.

Her mother's expression warped into something foul, her brows furrowed and teeth bared. Her grip on Kyou's face grew uncomfortably strong, nails digging into her skin. Her breathing came in heaving gasps, her entire torso moving with the force of it. Her eyes were round, pupils blown wide with whatever demons had possessed her, a thin ring of brown around a pool of black. She was looking through Kyou, now, at something only she could see, something which frightened her.