Akeruseirei Hozuki
Kirigakure's Exporter
If things were different. If things were different. In another world, another life, in another time, she would have more to offer. In that world, she would have her maiden name replaced, rather than stripped from her. She would be just a bit more skilled, she would have been enough. Maybe that would change her outlook on life. Maybe she would have raised him different. Maybe she would have ended up different. Or perhaps, she was doomed to begin with. Maybe this was the path she was destined to walk, regardless of life pushing her along the way. There was no way to tell, and to dwell on the past, having it linger in the back of your mind only held you back. It was wrong to live in the past, when others were still looking at their future. She needed to look ahead, it was her job now. She owed them that much, both as her duties as a mother, and as a wife.
The barren house, even with the few tables and rugs, was heavily decorated. Not with lavish furnishings that money could buy, no. It was filled to the ceiling with memories, stories, and sentiment. Those were things they could never buy, nor give to others. They existed, and for that, they would always remain. Nothing ever disturbed their reality or their need to cling to the past in these small ways. Everything was to remain the same, even if the people were completely different now.
The aroma of mother's cooking coupled with laughter of a once warm home. It was simpler then when nothing was asked of anyone. It was peaceful to just live. But once the signs began to show, there was no more time for social gatherings, it was time to train. Perhaps to uphold his father's name, or the honor that was within his mother's blood. It didn't matter which side beckoned the activities, what mattered was neither side opposed the idea to turn from their child, hoping to make a prodigy. Maybe that was when it started, or perhaps, it all happened for a reason. But she knew better. Nothing happens for a reason. It's all complete and utter chaos.
The lingering smoke clouded not just the air, but the visions before them. They weren't looking down a hallway, but a life that could be, and might never be. All that mattered now was a dance of words, a display of art and love to solidify a future that could be, or might never be. Here, was a battle that was more fatal than the mortal end. It wasn't about living or dying. Here, those things didn't matter. Here, was where stories of the dead lived on, and the living were forgotten, and that... would be when they died.
It wasn't long before they were at the open doorway. The sliding door left open, a strange contrast to the majority of the house. A small handful of rooms that didn't match. Darker wood, paper screens and stranger furniture that was a long way from the Land of Water. It was alien, but to the woman, it was a scent of home. Stepping inside, her palm lightly pushed the boy forward to take a seat on either the chairs or pillows that rested on the ground. She moved over to her desk, covered with papers and closed books and various other scrolls. The desk sitting low as it always did, and the seats unused as it always seemed to be. It was a room that one could expect guests to be entertained by none other than her, but still, none sat in the seats. Even long ago, Chigetsu was forbidden to sit or even touch them, finding the blunt end of a rod or stick for his behavior. Yet, here, today, he was given possibly the only chance he could to sit upon them without repercussion.
"The job of a shinobi is to be unseen." she would say, her lifeless voice spilling from her mouth as her eyes traced the words before her hands. She didn't look at him anymore, she simply couldn't. "Your job is failed if you are spotted, and soon executed for your appearance." When he took a seat, if he did, would be when she looked up at him.
Her eyes would follow his face, his gaze. She would be sure her words would not fall of deaf ears.
"Don't die." she would say.