Sorry it's been taking so long to update, I've still kinds had writer's block, and I've been really busy with school, sorry to all of you who have been wanting me to update (╥﹏╥)
Yuyan's POV
There's no way he'll make it, just look at him!
Arriving before the great storm that would lead me to my homeland, the thoughts of the 9th expedition party returning played in my mind. Here he met his demise, the man who was like a brother to me, along with other clan members back when I was small and had no worries in the world.
I'm sure you can work something, you're the best medic of the clan! Can't you just try something that'll make him better?!
It must have all went wrong there, or at least that's what I remember. Everything was fine before the expeditions and the return of the 3rd search party occurred. They all blamed us, my family and mostly my father, and from that he just accumulated more and more stress throughout time.
No! He can't die! T-there's no way!
There are things I sometimes don't recall from my life back then, but this day in particular, I do remember. Yumiko went crazy when she found out Masaru wouldn't make it. After all, she did truly love him.
Why?! Why didn't you protect him?! This is your fault! All your fault! You should have kept him safe!
Yumiko, in her grief, blamed Ren for his death, she pretty much lost her sanity after attempting suicide twice. She really didn't want to live without him. Though Ren also did claim to have protected him once, which was why he had also returned wounded.
However, it wasn't the bitter memory that made me quite reluctant to walk through that giant storm, it was what Ren had said about it.
I-it was terrifying, the storm was just huge! And apart from that there were these monsters who gave me this weird name I-I don't remember, and said I wasn't to be touched!
I wondered what he was talked about back then. Monsters? A weird name? And ordered not to touch him? It was all strange, everything about it, but I had no clue these past years, no idea whatsoever. Crossing the storm, I had plenty of time to revise the past, remember certain things about my family.
Most of them were memories regarding the final months with them. Of course, they weren't the best.
Or actually, not good at all, for that matter
Yumiko went into a deep depression, blaming Ren for Masaru's death, him and my father blaming themselves. The return of the third search party caused quite an uproar in the clan, before its massacre, they planned a coup de etat and went through with the plans unexpectedly.
Amongst them was Chiaki's older brother, who killed him in this process. Once again, the other clan members blamed him for being careless about people as radical as they were. Along with our family who mourned such a young boy's death, especially Ren and I, him who saw Chiaki as a little brother, and me who only had him to console when times were hard and as a child who was gullible enough to have a crush in his cold attitude. He was kind sometimes though, and I think it was the fact that he had a soft spot somewhere down there that made me attracted to him.
I shouldn't dwell on this so much right now, I had a duty to carry out right now.
At first the storm wasn't scary or anything, all it was was extremely windy with sparks of lightning here and there. Nothing to worry about there.
However, going in further, the storm was raging everywhere. I could've sworn lightning almost hit me about seven times. It was hard to tell where exactly I was going sometimes. The path ahead was dark or shrouded by the ongoing storm, it seemed there was no way out of it.
After a while I began to feel a little short of breath, I was definitely not use to this high pressured area since it was in such a high mountain range. The dizziness almost became too much for me to handle before I came up with a plan:
The storm around here is caused by high pressure like any other typical cyclone would. But if there was maybe a balance in pressure of some sort, that could solve all my problems. Something that would lower the pressure around here would be useful, so why not use fire?
Wasting too much chakra wouldn't be great, so I took it upon myself to call Homusubi since he was not likely lonely up in Ryukyu anyways.
"Kuchiyose no-AAH!" before I could even summoned him, Homusubi just came swooping in through the thick clouds. "W-what are you doing here?!" I shouted through the noise.
"I was around the area and felt you nearby, so I thought I'd drop by to see how you were doing!!"
I sort of pondered at it for a moment, "Homusubi, why exactly are you around here?"
"Ah, this is where I work!"
"Work? I've never heard of this."
"Never mind that actually."
I decided to ignore it since I had other matters to deal with, "I need you for something, use you're strongest fire jutsu, direct it to the sky, please."
"My strongest? Are you really sure about that?"
"Yeah, towards the sky," I nodded.
"Alriiiight, whatever you please." Instead of breathing it through his mouth, he took a deep breath and slammed his claws on the ground. Suddenly, pillars of flames began to erupt from the ground, from what I could see, there was hundreds of them all over the place.
From this heat, I was finally able to breath from the drop in pressure. Seeming to have balanced it all out, the storm stopped and left only a heavy drizzle and a cloudy sky behind... And now I was sweating ew.
"Oh so that's what you were planning, nice thinking!"
"Thanks! This will make things a lot easier!"
"Want a ride?" Homusubi asked.
"I can't, I have to cross this t be acknowledged by.."
"Your mother?"
"U-uh, yeah, how did you know?"
"Just get on, she had a little lift too, anyways, the canyon is gonna come around soon and I'm positive it's a sight you're not going to want to see."
"Tch, that lady," I spat, thinking about how she made me come over here without any help. "Alright, I haven't ridden any of the dragons for a while, this could be fun!" I got on Homusubi's back and the both of us began our journey back home.
>>>timeskip>>>
"She's waiting in the village, you can probably find her," Homusubi informed, letting me down from him back.
"Thanks for the lift!" I waved and began to anxiously run.
"Good luck!" he shouted in return. I ran into the village and of course, knew exactly where to find her. Running up the small hill that once led to our house, it all felt so nostalgic for some reason, and sort of sad. It's as if everything and everyone was here yesterday, the joyous Hane clan rejoicing in their everyday life.
And of course, my instincts were correct, there she was, short black hair, a couple inches taller than me, facing the house. Our house. Instead of attacking her directly, I just stood a couple feet behind.
"I see you had some help huh?" she snickered sarcastically.
"Oh please, you had your ride too."
"Heh, guess I can't argue with that," she shrugged and turned around.
It was almost as if looking in a mirror, someone with the same facial features, only older looking, with short black hair, and soul piercing golden eyes.
"So Yuyan, do you have an answer to my question?"
"What do you mean?!"
"I asked you didn't I? Do you really hate me so much that you want to kill me?"
"Why are you asking that?"
"I want to see you answer the question with my own two eyes," she gave me a sly smirk.
I drew my sword and pointed it at her, "I hate what you did to everyone. We were completely happy without you until that happened."
She laughed rather hysterically, "you were such a child, still are actually. It's as if you knew absolutely nothing and expected the world to be perfect with rainbows and butterflies everywhere. Always such a pacifist, or pretending to be one!"
"Pretending you say? For years now, peace is what I want, what I've been striving, don't talk to me about pretending."
"Oh and who taught you that huh?" she began to walk circles around me, "was it one of those Uchihas? Itachi maybe? HAH, Sasuke?!" I scoffed at her crude laugh, "or maybe it was that other one...Shisui was his name I believe."
Immediately, I gasped and flinched at his name. "Right on the money wasn't I?" she snickered this time.
"What the hell would you know about him?! You had nothing to do with him or the Uchiha, this is between you, me, and the Hane!"
"The dead Hane?"
I swung the sword at her which she countered with her own in the blink of an eye.
So fast!
"No, no, no Yuyan, you're a little too impatient," she shook her head sarcastically. I jumped back to avoid any attack she might counter with.
"You're just like the rest of the world, everyone says they want peace and make the whole word believe it as if they're some peace god, but all their words are nothing but a facade, an illusion I should say. It's no different than a genjutsu, but I'd say this was much worse."
"Manipulation," I answered.
"Precisely! What a smart girl you've become!" I rolled my eyes, this talk was taking awfully long.
"What's your point here?!"
"People can bend your thoughts, beliefs, even your own future and your past by manipulating you with a couple pretty sounding words. The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, then you control just about anyone."
"I'm not trying to manipulate anyone, I just want to get this over with."
"That's what you want to think, that you're such a peaceful person, making yourself a victim to the world's cruelty! Everyone must think, 'oh poor her, she just wants peace and she just wants her family to rest in peace, what a nice girl!' That's what you made them all think, that we should all just hold hands and get along right?! There you go, manipulating people out of their problems, making them believe that this peace is achivable!" she shouted harshly.
I gripped my sword, wanting to just swing at her any moment to shut her up. The feeling swelled in the pit of my stomach, it was a burning sensation, one that gave me a lump in my throat, my blood boil, and my teeth grit.
"I call that being a hypocrite," she finally said, "it's right in your eyes, all your hatred for me. The goodie-goodie Yuyan Hane what wants to achieve peace is right now, challenging her mother to avenge her clan.
You don't hate what I did to everyone, you hate what I did to you specifically, and for that, you really do hate me."
"Tch," I readied my sword.
"Up until that day, you believed I was your mother who cared and loved the world so much, because that is what I always said I was and of course, you fell for my illusion. But then you realized the horrible truth, confused when I killed your father, your sister, your-"
"Shut up!!" I swung at her again, I didn't know what was getting to me, the swelling in my stomach became uncontrollable, making me want to swing and swing the sword over again.
"Wow, who knew you could be so relentless?" she teased, "guess I've kept you waiting long enough my daughter." She also readied her sword and got into a fighting stance.
The both of us charged at each other with all the ferocity possible, beginning the battle with the loud clang of metal.