Tears of The Storm and The Howl of a Wolf (Ryuko)

As the Seraph of Lightning moved through the village of the Kumogakure on his way toward the Royal Palace, carrying the body of his wife, Yenn. The storm would strike upon the village. Lightning would flash and thunder roared across the countryside in a funerial dirge that the creature Tamwyn had wanted to bond one day, Raijū intended to not let be missed. The storm was not particularly threatening to the people of the country. It was however loud, and bright, and rain slashed down from the sky as wind howled. For all the world seeming to come out of nowhere. Tamwyn allowed the storm to overtake him long before he reached the royal palace and as he approached the gates the sentries upon the outside would raise hands to stop him. Not from any distrust of him, but because it was their jobs. "Lord Tamwyn, with respect sir, you cannot simply call upon the Queen while she's holding audience!" The guard would yell over a peel of thunder. The 'Lord' being in respect to his aristocratic position within the village. Still, the Seraph did not stop. His aggrieved yellow eyes turning toward the man and making eye contact. The guard would not flinch, or take a step back, such things were signs of weakness and such weak individuals would not be responsible for providing protection for the Queen.

However it would be lying to say that the man did appear tense when their eyes met. Tamwyn's voice when it came out came between bouts of thunder. As if the storm itself was ensuring he would be heard. Which, given Raijū's influence within it. Was actually more likely than not at that moment. "She'll see me, she would want to with this. So either you open those doors and move. Or I will." He would say, his stance, bearing, and inflection those of someone who was not attempting to boast or talk down to someone. Simply someone stating a fact, like that water was wet. Or the sky was blue. The guard hesitated, before speaking again. "Compromise, let me send my second inside ahead of you to warn her you're coming. So that anyone in audience is not shocked." He would say, prompting a nod from the Seraph. He had expected no less and the second guard at the door would move inside, moving at their best speed into the palace and toward the Audience Chamber. The Palace was a large affair and the chamber was down a fair sized hallway with two guard checkpoints.

Tamwyn gave the guard a slow five count, shinobi were expected to be fast after all, before beginning to walk with a solemn, funerial stride into the building. The first guard holding the door open before closing it behind him and maintaining his post as was required. The white haired man stepped through the corridor dripping water upon the ground as he moved. The storm had overtaken after all. His hair was a wet and ragged mess and the bundle in his arms was wet too although with his cloak wrapped around it the corpse within had actually not been soaked. He approached the first guard station and neither stopped him. They simply maintained position, backs straight, senses alert for danger. Each other station was like that as well and he had never actually seen the guard running in before him meaning the individual had probably made it to the Audience Chamber before he had even begun his walk. Still he walked slowly, giving Ryuko time to take measures, move people if necessary. She would have heard he was bringing in a corpse shaped bundle. The guard would not have left that out, it was the most important part of sending them after all. Tamwyn himself could have come in and sat in Audience anytime he wanted more than likely given his Jounin status. So long as he was respectful of course.

Coming in carrying a corpse however was less than respectful but he also would not be stopped and the first guard had recognized this. The guards of the Palace also couldn't stop him if he really wanted to make a push at it and the man had known it. Tamwyn wondered how much of his 'compromise' to at least warn Ryuko he was coming and what he was carrying came from that knowledge. In the end, it did not matter in the least. The Seraph wanted to be angry then and there in the Palace. Wanted to roar out his rage, but he could not. Not while he held her, all he did was walk, and ignore the tears silently trailing down from his yellow eyes as he stepped. The final set of guards did not move from their positions, or avert their eyes. However both did, in unison, saluted him as he moved past them. He saw their fist hit their chest out of peripheral vision but he did not return it. Could not after all but that wasn't the point. Tamwyn wasn't aware of what was on the docket for the day in the Audience Chamber so he did not know how much of a shit show he was causing and frankly. He did not care one little bit. Protocol be damned at a time like this. He reached the end of the corridor and at the guards in front of the doors into the Audience Chamber opened them without a word. Allowing him entry while ensuring they did not force him to wait for it to be opened.

Inside he walked, and his eyes did not deviate from what was before him. No one else in that room mattered to him at that moment. Anyone with any shred of respect for what they were seeing would keep their mouths shut regardless. Tamwyn was well known throughout this village. He had been too part of the war for anyone not totally out of sense with the world to not know him. With that knowledge of him came with the cold, hard fact that there was only one body this size that he would be carrying. Only one body that could be meaningful enough to him to come to the Royal Palace and interrupt the Queens Audience. Some say that a man's sanity is a frayed and fragile thing, and no one looking at him that was not exceedingly powerful wanted to be the one to try to test that theory with him at the moment. No one spoke, if anyone was even in there at all. But Tamwyn would do nothing to hide his silent tears. Outside of the window, a peel of thunder, and a bright flash of lightning illuminated the portal. Giving an eerie similarity of the day he and Yenn had returned from Moonspire with news of the attack. 'Why does it seem every time I come here I've lost something?' He would think to himself. Eventually he would stop at the foot of the stairs that led to the Queens Throne, if he got that far. Regardless when he was sure he had the attention of the woman he had come here to see. To speak to, he would speak. Three simple words that held every ounce of grief, every shred of rage, every bit of venom. The village had failed his wife, and him in his eyes.

He had given everything for the village, turned himself into a trained killer for it. Fought prominently in a war for it. Did everything he could to bring more power to the village no matter the risk to himself. He had died in the goal of achieving strength to protect it. Yet none had even bothered to check in one the woman he had left behind. None had even bothered to make sure she was okay. His tone held all of that pent up grief and anger, and shoved all of it into three words. "Eight months, suicide." He would say, his words accentuated by another peel of thunder.

[1]

From the depths of the palace sitting in the heart of the audience chamber on her throne Ryuko could see intensity of the storm that was raging outside though the reinforced windows. Storms were a common sight in Kumogakure but she could sense in her bones that something wasn’t quite right about this one even if she couldn’t put her finger on why that was. She was in the middle of a meeting about the logistics of sending a scouting team out to the land of Hot Springs. The objective was to find a new location to rebuild Yugakure and so far progress had been agonizingly slow.

There were mountains of post war cleanup needing to be done. Tributes to the dead to arrange and medals to honor the living among a whole host of things that demanded her attention, especially with Shimiko stepping down soon. It was all almost too much to bear. The Queen was working fanatically trying to resolve the issues one after another as fast as she could. The sooner she could stabilize the situation the sooner she could go looking for Nozomi. If she just up and left now the recovery effort would grind to a standstill, with the amount of refugees they had at hand, not moving forward wasn’t an option.

When a guard came in to warn her about her disciple Tamwyn’s arrival she quickly cleared the room of all civilians. The ninja in the room hardened by the war might be able to stomach the sight of a dead body but she didn’t see the need to subject noncombatants to such a gruesome sight. The only thing she could do now was to sit there majestically in her state dress as she prayed to Hakkin that her student wasn’t bringing her the body she thought it might be.

Logically speaking the only reason he would barge in like this carrying a corpse would be if he had located his wife Yenn. According to what Shimiko had told her recently, Yenn was presumed missing in action after going out on a mission several months ago and not returning. The Anbu search teams that had been sent out hadn’t had any luck locating her and the rescue mission had to be called off due to incremental weather. At that moment the Queen had assumed the worst but prayed for the best. Alas it seems her prayers were not to be answered as Tamwyn uttered three words that sunk into her guts like a stone.

Of all things that Yenn could have died from it had to be Suicide… Why, why had she done something so foolish when she still had so much to live for? Her husband might have been gone but she still had their children to look after. Could the grief from Tamwny’s loss have combined with a bout of postpartum psychosis mixed together into a fatal cocktail? Without being able to ask Yenn herself Ryuko would never know the answer.

A tear rolled down her cheek as she bit her lip in frustration hard enough to draw blood. She had worked so hard to bring Tamwyn back, to reunite him with his family only for his family to be torn apart anyhow. He and Yenn were such good people, didn’t they deserve to be happy? It was as if the universe itself was playing a cruel joke on them. Or was this simply nature’s way of balancing the scales for her performing such an unnatural act as bringing back someone from the grave.

Ryuko wanted to bolt from her throne and find Arisu, to demand that the Kiri princess bring back Yenn and reunite the lost couple once more but she knew she was in no position to be making such an insolent request. She understood that bringing Tamwyn back had been a special one time favor, one she still owed Arisu a marker for. Resurrection was not something even an Otsutsuki could do casually or often. Even if Arisu could bring back another lost soul so soon the price would be beyond what Ryuko could afford to pay.

“I suppose that I should not be surprised. Leave things to the Seraph of lightning to accomplish what our Anbu could not.” Ryuko said dryly, causing one of the masked members of the audience to bristle slightly at the perceived insult that he wasn’t up to the task. It looked like he was about to step forward and speak but the Queen shot him an angry look cowing him back into place. If only they had done their job properly a little storm wouldn’t have stopped them from finding Yenn sooner.

Perhaps it was a bit unfair to blame them for that though, the storm had been so intense that they had sent one of the village’s strongest Inazuma to quell it. With Lei gone there were scant few members qualified for the task. It was sad really how in recent years some of the village’s most revered clans had fallen on such hard times. With the war still raging then they had few personnel to spare on long odds search and rescue missions to begin with. The fact they had spared a team at all spoke to just how well valued and loved Yenn had been to the village.

Rising from her throne Ryuko walked over to Tamwyn and attempted to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. She hadn’t known Yenn long or that well but she had liked to think of the woman as a friend and a member of her extended family. In her view anyone that was important to one of her students should be important to her as well.

“Thank you for bringing her home. Is there anything I can do for you?” she asked, her voice full of concern. If the loss of Yenn hurt her this much she couldn’t even begin to imagine the amount of pain that Tamwyn must be going through at this moment. So many what if’s flashed though her mind. What if she had been here to help Tamwyn fight the Wolf, would things have gone differently? What if she had returned sooner and been able to console Yenn?

The problem with what if’s was that it was useless to dwell on them for too long. As far as she knew nobody had the power to turn back the clock and pick a different path. Even if you could, it was the past that made you who you were today, changing it would invite a paradox with untold consequences. She might not have been able to be here for Yenn but all she could do now to make things right was to be there for her student.

[1]

As he stood there, holding onto what remained of Yenn he would watch as a tear streamed down Ryuko's cheek. It would be hard for the man to not feel angry at that. Because part of him laid some of the blame for the death of his wife at this woman's feet. However her words and the following response from the ANBU would draw his ire far more effectively for that moment. The masked individual bristled at her comment of him doing what the ANBU could not and Tamwyn too would see the man appearing as if he was about to step forward to speak only for Ryuko to stop him with a look. He was after all more perceptive than her in terms of his surroundings. His burnished eyes turned toward the masked individual like twin cannons and he directed no small amount of rage at that individual as he spoke. "Oh no, do go ahead and explain how the villages elite failed to find her. Do you know how difficult it was? All I did was pull the mission file and go to the mountain range specified in it. It took me a few days because unlike Yenn when she went I didn't have a giant storm cell to use as a designator for where I needed to be. However when I did find her she wasn't particularly well hidden. I literally tripped over her on the path. So do tell me how the villages elite failed to find her for eight months when all it took me was a few days? Did you even go? Or did you spend the time doing other things? Inclement weather doesn't work as an excuse for two thirds of a year." He would say, his words coming out angry and fast, he was even yelling as he reached the end. So uncontrolled were his emotions at that point.

After a few deep breaths he spoke again. "Don't respond to that. Because if I hear a single excuse come from behind that mask of yours people will whisper of what I do to you in response. Does Shimiko know of your incompetence? I can't imagine her allowing such failings in any ANBU squad under her command." He would say, the last bit meant to be unanswered. He had no illusions that Shimiko herself would have been fully capable of finding Yenn had she gone. A part of him, one looking for people to blame, wanted to be mad at her for not going. However the trained shinobi, the war veteran knew that was not reasonable. Still, it was hard not to. Once he had finished speaking to the ANBU who had foolishly drawn attention to himself his eyes turned back to Ryuko. "Part of me blames you and Seigi for this too Ryuko-sensei." He would say, using the sensei form of address despite them being in Audience Chamber. Normally he was good about referring to her as '-sama' in front of others in public because as Queen that was her proper respectful title but this time he did not care. "You left, you disappeared the night we brought news of Moonspire. You left us during a war against everyone and the man left in charge did little during the altercations and even less afterwards. You forsook the very vow you took to protect the people of this nation mere months after giving it. I gave everything for this Kingdom. I was the very first to kneel before you when you became Queen. Fought tooth and nail to protect Iwagakure when everyone else had either left or had fallen. Played a pivotal role in the winning of the trenches. Tried to gain more power by fighting a chakra beast who dwarfed me so immensely in power that even Shimiko wasn't able to help me survive my first mistake of the fight, and in that fight I gave my life. I was only in it for the sake of the village. Yenn didn't want me to do it, didn't want me to fight Raijū. I did so anyway because the village, the kingdom, needed all the strong fighters it could get. I did so anyway in order to try to protect the woman I love. Yet when I fell to the beast the leadership failed me utterly in the one thing I could have ever asked. Where do I seek justice over this? To whom am I able to turn? Who am I supposed to have trust in if I can't even trust those in charge anymore?" He would say, his voice cracking with the emotional strain as tears continued to fall down his eyes. He turned his gaze toward the window as another bout of lightning and thunder crashed through the landscape. "Do you feel him? We still have a bond. He won't ever acknowledge me as a partner. I lost the fight and by his own rules he will never fight alongside me again. However a bond like that cannot be broken by something as trivial as death. He feels my pain, feels my anger. He brought this storm. Out of shared anger and pain because of our bond. As well as grief of his own. This storm is Raijū's dirge for her." He would say solemnly, his gaze turning back to Ryuko as he began to gather himself again.

When Ryuko thanked him for bringing her home he would shake his head vehemently. "This place was never home to her. Her home was in the forests. Her home was with me wherever we might be. She had made such things clear to me time and time again and I would do her a great dishonor to say she was incorrect. As such I'm keeping her. I'll have her sealed into a scroll to preserve her and when I find a suitable place for her to rest I will lay her there myself." He would say, she wouldn't want to be buried here in the village. Honestly, he would rather not bury her within the Land of Lightning. He didn't know where he would take her, however he would take her somewhere in nature. Somewhere nice, that she would have loved. When he thought of that his eyes turned from Ryuko, unconsciously seeking a place within the room. They fell upon it and he felt a stab of pain in his heart. Not physical pain mind you, but emotional. His eyes had fallen on the place Yenn had knelt as she threw up when Rini and Shimiko had played the Moonspire tapes in the Audience Chamber. He turned his eyes from the place. Darting them back to Ryuko desperately, there was no emotional attachment there except for grief and anger. He couldn't deal with any memory of Yenn.

What then did that mean for his return home? Or going to the market? Which they had done multiple times together? How was he supposed to live within this kingdom, speak to people who had known her and function normally throughout it all? He couldn't, that's how. Opening his mouth and closing it again once or twice before speaking he would finally get the words to come out through the emotional torment that had been renewed. "I can't stay here. I can't stay anywhere she was. Besides, the only person I can seem to trust with what matters to me is myself. With that said I wish to buyout my own commission in the Kumogakure military. I wish to disassociate myself with the Kingdom of Thunder as much as is allowed and leave to travel on my own. Eventually I might settle down elsewhere but I heavily doubt it will be within this kingdom. I do wish to renew my knowledge of what techniques I have learned although I would not learn anything new. Although I understand outright denial or hesitance in that regard given what I'm asking overall. What price must I pay in order to be able to do so?" He would ask, his voice raw and hoarse after speaking with so much emotion.

[2]

If looks could kill Tamwyn would be dead several times over from the glares he was getting from some of the Anbu.   It seems they were not taking very kindly to being talked down to by someone who in their view had merely gotten lucky in his search.  Thankfully after the Queen’s silent rebuke they remembered that they were consummate professionals and didn’t budge an inch even in the face of Tamwyn’s vitriol as they silently weathered his verbal storm of abuse.  

Ryuko for her part knew her disciple was speaking more out of grief than anything else.  Not everybody could detach themselves from their emotions, holding them at arm's length well they thought things out rationally.    Part of her was sometimes scared at how calm she could be in most instances since she could turn most of her feelings off and on like a light switch.  She wasn’t perfect at it but It took a lot for her to really get worked up which came in handy for situations like the one she was currently in.

If Tamwyn took a moment to catch his breath he’d likely realize how foolish he was for trying to blame the Anbu for not finding Yenn sooner.   Finding someone that was lost on a mountain range was no easy task.  The amount of ground had to cover was enormous, the terrain rough and not easy to traverse for most ninja even under good conditions let alone the seasons where incremental weather made passage nearly impossible.   It wasn’t entirely uncommon for climbers to go missing and their bodies to not be discovered for years or even decades later.    

Trying to tell him that in his current emotional state would likely be a waste of breath.   He clearly wasn’t in the mood for hearing excuses even if they were legitimate ones.  Part of the reason she had thanked him for bringing Yenn back was that even when they were discovered, depending on the elevation bodies would often be left in place due to the difficult and costly logistics of recovering them.  

Frankly speaking it was a miracle that someone with as little physical strength as Tamwyn had managed to accomplish such a feat.  Carrying literal dead weight at higher elevation levels where oxygen was thinner was not standard procedure since it could put your own life at risk.   Even for those who could seal the body in a scroll it wasn’t easy since the corpse could often be stuck to the ground frozen in place and need to be chipped out first.   Even if the Anbu team had managed to find her, retrieval was by no means a guarantee.

“The fact is Tamwyn that you literally stumbled across her.” That fact alone told Ryuko almost everything she needed to know about Yenn’s situation. “If someone as perceptive as you couldn’t find Yenn until you were literally right on top of her, what hope did the Anbu search teams have? Tis not as if they are clavoriant or can see through snow”   If they had a Hyuga with them they might have had better luck, but that would have been an impossible ask until just recently.   It was only now that the war was over that they could even think of asking for assistance.

She almost wanted to laugh that he was trying to push so much of the blame on her, as if she’d had a choice about what had happened to her.  She’d done everything she could to protect the country in her absence leaving her top of the line equipment behind for them to use instead of taking it with her.   She would have had a heck of a lot easier time in the other realm if she’d kept her gear on hand.  

He wanted Justice, but for what crime?  Shimiko had sent Yenn out on what should have been an easy mission for her partly as a way to keep the grieving woman busy.   Speaking as a Doctor herself Ryuko would have done the exact same thing since getting out in the field should have been therapeutic.    How could anyone have foreseen such a tragic outcome?

“If you wish to cast blame for this incident perhaps you should start with yourself!.” Ryuko said harshly, metaphorically slapping Tamwny across the face with her words in order to give him a much deserved wake up call and snap him out of his grief induced rage. “Nobody forced you to challenge the Raiju. You chose to do so of your own free will. ”  She said, pointing out the cold hard truth.

“Your greatest error was knowingly challenging such a mighty foe while being ill prepared.   You had easy access to bolt rings that reduce the damage of Raiton attacks and yet you did not equip one. Shimiko offered to take my legendary class shield and reforge it into Daggers for you but did not wait for them to be completed.   You died because you ignored everything I ever taught you about the value of preptime.”  

She had told him of her own entity and the work she had put into getting ready to undergo the trial that would unlock its full potential.   He’d seen her prepare for months as she worked to forge her new armor before being crowned Queen. He’d watched her scrambled to upgrade and expand her arsenal. So why hadn’t he followed her example?

Even with most of her emotions cut off at the moment she couldn’t kell them entirely and she was more than a little annoyed at him for failing to adhere to her teachings and going into the battle so half cocked.   When she had found out how Tamwyn had died and how she had been furious at him before being assaulted by waves of grief and regret at his loss.  The sadness was overturned with his resurrection but some of the anger remained.  

That cold fury was a feeling she’d locked away deep inside herself because she hadn’t wanted to upset him at the time when she’d only just gotten him back, figuring that the lecture could come at a later date.  That was a moot point now that he was already this worked up.  It felt good to finally get that negativity  off her chest.

Part of her almost wanted to smack him across the head for being such a dumb ass and doing something so reckless but she wasn’t a big believer in that type of corporal punishment.  In her experience people tended to learn better from you when you were patient and understanding with them.


“Then again that only applies if your hypothesis about her cause of death remains correct. You're making an awful lot of assumptions for someone not  qualified to conduct an autopsy.”    Tamywn knew many different skills but ijutsu was not one of them.   Even if the wound was obvious such as a wrist slash he had no way to tell if it had been done post mortem or not. For all they knew a murder was trying to cover up their tracks.    

Until all the evidence was examined and one truth prevailed it was part of the job of the investigation team to keep her mind open to any and all possibilities.  It was far too soon in the process to rule out foul play.  For all she knew that body might not even be the real Yenn.   As outlandish as that idea might be, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d dealt with something like a clone or alternate dimension counterpart.   That said Ryuko strongly suspected that this particular case would be much more mundane once everything was said and done.

“Send someone to the hospital to prepare the mortuary, I will conduct the autopsy myself.” Ryuko ordered one of the Anbu with a sweep of her hand. Sometimes if you wanted something done it was best to do it yourself. “Tamwyn, can you mark the spot you located her on a map? I want to send a forensic team in to investigate and document the site.” She asked.  Months had passed already so some evidence might already be lost but better late than never.

“In addition I hereby order a full inquiry and review into the processes used for this search and rescue operation to be completed on the double.  I want to know where we did well and more importantly where we went wrong so that next time we do better.  The only way we as a country can improve is by learning from our mistakes.   We must do better.”  Her voice full of authority sent most of the Anbu scrambling to fulfill her orders, a newfound fire of determination burning in their eyes as they went.  

Now that most of the crowd had left it was just The queen and her student left alone in the cavernous hall with the exception of a handful of Royal guards by the door and by the throne.   Silently and unwavering they blended into the background to the point they hardly even counted.

“As for you Tamwyan, as far as I’m concerned you have always been strong enough as you are without the beast, otherwise why would I bother to go to such lengths to resurrect you knowing as I did that you could never challenge it again?” she asked rhetorically, not really expecting any answer.  

“In the end ultimately the fault of your death lies with me.  The mistake of the student is the mistake of the master. I thought I’d taught you most everything you needed to learn to thrive but clearly I’ve still got a long way to go as a teacher.” she said in a self-deprecating manner.   Having Tamywn continue to blame himself would be counterproductive and could lead to a spiral of self destruction so she needed him to redirect it towards her because she could take it.  Hakkin knew just how she’d blamed herself for it already.  

“I wanted to bring back Damian as well but Arisu only allowed me to pick one.  Damian would have been the more pragmatic choice but I chose you anyway because I wanted to make things right. As you said you gave your life for this country and I wanted to give it back.” Technically speaking Arisu had partly made the choice for her but if Ryuko had really wanted she could have pushed harder in his direction rather than simply thanking Arisu for removing the burden of choice from her shoulders.

Deep down she would have picked Tamwyn herself if push had come to shove so it had simply been easier to go along with the direction things had been flowing naturally since that was wanted to go in the first place.   She was a weak woman who had forsaken the progress of humanity for the sake of family and she would have done the same thing a hundred no, a million times over if given the chance to redo her choice over again.    For her, choosing Tamwyn was the only correct choice.

It seemed now that the floodgates were open she was spilling her guts to her student.  Normally The Queen had better control than that but that was when things involved strangers, not one of the few people she was close to.   As someone who struggled with loneliness her circle of friends and family was small enough as it was.  Having someone she considered to be like family to her tell her to her face that he didn’t trust her and wanted to leave was devastating.  

“What more could we have done here?"   She asked earnestly hoping that she would get an honest response.  “Shimiko sent the best team she had available and they still came up short.  The only reason she didn’t search personally was because she was busy looking after your children and negotiating the end of the war.”  

“As for me when I got back much of my time was spent reorienting myself and arranging for your resurrection.  I didn’t even know Yenn was missing until Shimiko informed me just yesterday.   I’m a warrior not a scout.  I’m more suited for protecting and defending than search and rescue.  I wouldn’t be able to find anything our best Anbu couldn’t.   Even then I’m not a god Tamwny, I can’t protect everyone.  By tartarus I couldn’t even protect you”  she exclaimed. At this point she was practically rambling and wasn't even sure what she even wanted from him. Was it absolution or condemnation? Which would get him to stay in the village with her?

Why after everything she had done to get things back to normal was it all falling apart now? Hakkin had warned her that there would be days like this but that advance warning didn’t make it any easier.   Right now she needed reliable men like Tamwyn more than ever, she couldn’t afford to lose him and yet what could she do to stop him from walking away?  How could she restore his faith in her?

“You could always make him forget today.   Then you could tell him whatever you want, that you found his wife yourself months ago.   Then you could manipulate him like putty in your hands.”  thought a voice in Ryuko’s head.  She wasn’t sure if it was Rafeala or her own dark side but she shuttered inwardly at how tempting the idea was.    It would be all too easy to accomplish and yet doing so would spit in the face of everything she had ever stood for.

“I refuse to take your money Tamwyn. You’re not some Commodity to be bought and sold.”   Ryuko said strongly her voice full of conviction as if to banish the dark thoughts that were swirling inside her head.  It was all too easy to see her men as mere game pieces to be traded or sacrificed at a whim to gain a strategic edge.

“Besides, your commission ended when you died and you have yet to be formally reinstated.  Since you are a private citizen and not a member of the state military you’re free to come and go as you wish.” Sometimes if you loved someone you had to let them go.  Hopefully with time he would choose on his own to come back to her.    

Tamwyn might not fully trust her at the moment but she still trusted him not to sell her down the river.    In actuality she had already completed the necessary paperwork and had filed it hence why he had been paid for the month but seeing as she was the one in charge of all that it was a trivial matter for her to remove him from the official records.

[2]

He would feel the ANBU's glares of hatred and anger and he honestly wouldn't care. They had fucked up in this regard. Inclement weather was not in any way, shape, or form a reasonable excuse for eight months of ineffective search. Not if they were actually doing their jobs. When Ryuko commented that he had literally stumbled upon her he would snort derisively. "And yet the fact that I could stumble over her at all proved that she wasn't buried beneath much snow. I quite literally searched for her in a blizzard Ryuko. Where the snow was literally coming down. I quite literally found her on the main road. It wasn't even hard, an Academy Student could have found her if that blizzard hadn't of been going on. Yet your theoretical 'best' shinobi failed to do so? With eight months? How does that make sense?" He would reply, his tone more or less calming down overall. His inflection and pitch were becoming more reasonable by degrees although he was still nearly shaking with rage. He was coming in control of it, slowly.

Yet when she told him he should be blaming himself his blood ran cold. His eyes dilated into pinpricks of black upon a field of burnished gold and he shook with enough rage that he almost attacked her then and there. He could take her, he was damn confident of that. Her protections from Raiton would do no good against him now that he was stronger. Now he would dictate the course of the battle, not her. However he wouldn't, not while he was holding her. However the words she continued to speak only reignited his anger. Fueled his rage beyond any hope of control as she spoke of preparation. Spoke of 'everything she had taught him'. He took in a few deep breathes, his chest heaving with anger before he finally managed to get it under control and his eyes never left hers. His senses would expand outward, ready to react to any assault from the shinobi within that room. They wouldn't be able to harm him, he knew it, and they did too. But they would feel obligated to try. If they did, he wouldn't kill them. He wasn't that far gone. But still, he wouldn't let himself be attacked, especially when he had no intention of doing so.

"You're an idiot Ryuko Shizu Von Rose." He would begin, his words actually calm. His rage had taken him full circle in that moment and any that had seen him in the war when that had occurred knew full well that it was at those times that he was more clear headed and simultaneously much more vicious. "You're an idiot if you think during my return here I wasn't doing that already. You're an idiot if you actually assume that I still don't." He would say, further elaborating on the words and his eyes showing a bit of just how much pain and anger he was in. "But in response to your talk of 'preparedness' I will raise you points of my own. One, I chose to fight the beast willingly, after having discussed it with my late wife. Two, even disregarding the Bolt Rings, I died in that fight not by a lightning jutsu. But by fang and claw. He literally tore me apart, and I was still alive for a good portion of it." He would say, the final part meant to give a vivid imagery of the scene that had occurred within the mental landscape. "Absorbing jutsu would not have helped, and when he attacked me I had taken the calculated risk of deactiving my armor so that I could utilize my ninjutsu. Arguably my strongest asset. I misjudged the beasts speed, and no daggers would have saved me. So your talk of preparedness is worthless against the fact that none of it would have mattered anyway. So the point is moot. The best way I could have prepared would have been to get as much strong help as I possibly could have. Shimiko was there and agreed to help. It's a shame the woman who actually offered to teach and guide me was not. Because she chose some religious journey over the nation and shinobi she had vowed to lead and protect. I hope your next students have more of a teacher." He would say, his voice not moving an octave one way or another.

When she went on to speak of him making an awful lot of assumptions given his lack of medical expertise and that 'she would perform the autopsy personally' he snorted. "You're making an awful lot of assumptions too. Assuming I would trust you with any such thing after the bang up job you've done thus far of running the war and country. Do you intend to leave in the middle of it and let someone else have a crack? I'm not giving my wife to you Ryuko, she's mine to mourn and to see to and I refuse to hand her over. I'll have someone else I trust do the procedure. Because unless you've missed it, I no longer have trust in you." He would say, his words still calm, but no less vicious in their sincerity.

When she went on to inform him that he was a private citizen because he had never been recommissioned he nodded in acceptance of that logic. "Very well, then I will leave immediately. Despite my lack of any trust, I do not wish any here any ill will. I do hope you all will do well but I do not think I will return to the Land of Lightning anytime soon. It would take a great amount of persuasion to do so and I don't think you have it. With that, I take my leave. I'll have my wife sealed into a scroll on the way out of the city and proceed on my way after stopping by my shops for a few things." He would say before turning and leaving. Neither bowing, kneeling, or even specifically saying farewell to Ryuko. If someone attempted to stop him with words, he would simply continue. If someone went so far as to use force. He would of course be prepared to reply in kind. Given his speed however he did not think there was anyone who could actually stop in in that room. All the while the storm never stopped it's rage across the city.

[3]

[Exit]

Stuff:

[interupting Tamwyn's exit]

Ryuko heard Tamwyn snort and almost had to roll her eyes at how facetious he was being. He knew damn well that no Acadamy student could traverse that region safely without heavy duty supervision which would render their ability to search moot. And yes it might not have been hard for him to find her but he was forgetting he was one of the strongest people in the entire country. There were less than a handful of people who could keep up with him.

Long before he could attempt to leave she would counter each of his points shortly after he made them, changing the course of events enough that perhaps by the time she was done talking he wouldn’t want to go so soon after all.

“Lest you forget we had a war going on at the time. The fact Shimiko spared any man to search at all is a luxury that would not have been afforded the average soldier. The region is infamous for it’s constant and intense storms. To find someone buried in snow requires the use of probes which is a time consuming process even under ideal conditions. Those same probes put the searcher at risk of electrocution when there's lightning constantly raining down around you significantly delaying progress. Generally speaking because of those and and other factors, if someone goes missing in The Takoyaiba Mountain Range it takes years to locate them, if they are ever located at all. You should count your blessings that it only took eight months in this case. Most are not so fortunate.” Tamwyn himself was likely the only person they had around that could search such harsh conditions both safely and quickly.

Then he had the termarity to call her a woman renowned for her wisdom an idiot. Grief clouding your judgement was an excuse that could only get you so far. Some people would have gotten angry but Ryuko merely laughed internally at her foolish student. Did he think she hadn’t read Shimiko’s report? That she didn’t know how he died?

“You underestimate the value of a legendary class weapon. There are daggers in this world that can in fact block even a bijuu’s fangs. My shield successfully parried a blow from the Sword of Totsuka so your blades which would have been derived from it would be just as strong. Can you honestly say with a straight face that having possession of such a strong tool would have made absolutely no difference at all?” Ryuko asked.

Tamwyn should have known that even the smallest variable could make all the difference. Blocking someone faster than you wasn’t impossible. Having a dagger in each hand that wouldn’t break might have been enough to fend off being bitten. If he was lucky he might even have been able to launch a counter attack. Perhaps even lean into the bite he couldn’t avoid, to get inside the east’s mouth and mess it up from within.

“You are correct that I wasn’t here for you but incorrect that I had any choice in the matter. My god Hakkin pulled me from this reality to fight at his behest” Even if she’d had the option to decline which she hadn’t, given how much of her power was derived from him she wouldn’t have been in any position to say no. Without Rafaela she’d just be an average run of the mill dime a dozen Jounin, The other kage at the time would have just walked right over her.

“Regardless of my absence I trained you to be my Champion, to be able to fight without me at your side. In many respects you are a pupil that has surpassed his master.” Physically speaking he had little left to improve. Mentally however he clearly still had room to grow.

If the two of them were to fight she knew it would be an uphill battle on her end and would absolutely wreck the royal palace and perhaps a good chunk of the village as well if they really got serious about it. The last thing she wanted was for the two of them to come to blows, the only thing she could do to persuade her student now was use her words and hopefully use them well.

“Even so If you truly needed my assistance then why did you not simply wait for me to return instead of rushing into a battle you could pick at your leisure? I’ve waited patiently for years to battle my entity and yet you couldn’t afford to wait a few months? Did you have so little faith in me to begin with that you thought I’d never return? ” Out of all her students Tamwny had always seemed the most calm and responsible to her, who knew that he’d had such a reckless side to him.

“And why shouldn't you trust me? The Country is still standing is it not? Did we not win the war? More importantly I practically moved heaven and earth to resurrect you. Normally people don’t come back from the dead Tamwyn. Does that truly count for nothing?” It was like the two of them were in a back and forth jousting match of words. His biggest mistake with Rijuu was rushing things and now he was making the same kind of mistake again with how hastily he was to write her off when all she’d have had was his best interests at heart.

“Right now I don’t understand you Tamwyn. First you complain that we were neglectant for not finding Yenn sooner and now you don't want us to do our job and investigate her death properly. Would that not be even more negleclant on our part? Yenn is a citizen of my country and more importantly she is the wife of my beloved student. Considering there’s a possibility she was murdered shouldn’t we try to find out the truth? Don’t I least owe the two of you that much?” she said, stressing her obligation to them as part of her extended family. It was only becuse she cared about Tamwyn so much that she was willing to oblige the amount of insolence he had shown her. Just about anyone else would have been shown the door already.


“Like I said before, I just want to make things right again. To repay your devotion. In order to do that I want to search for another way to bring Yenn back to life like I did for you but I can’t do it alone. I won’t ask you to come back and be my Champion again but will you accept this final mission from me?” she asked as she held a hand out to Tamwyn to shake. Normally someone would think she was insane for trying to bring back the dead but she’d managed it once already so twice wasn’t completely out of the question. Of course if he truly still wanted to leave she hadn't done anything that could actually stop him from walking out. What happened next was all on him.

[3]

Her response to his point of 8 months of inclement weather as an excuse simply fell on deaf ears. That wasn't a reality, it was an excuse. Shinobi were expected to be able to perform missions in worse terrain and ANBU were expected to be the best of them. He was aware Shimiko being able to spare anyone had been fortunate but he was also fully aware that all it took to traverse terrain that was difficult was a mild amount of chakra and a decent fucking coat. Removing all other factors from the scenario the fact remained that eight months of failure was still an egregious lack of ability that frankly Tamwyn was shocked to see in anyone from the Kumogakure military. Much less those who were expected to be the best of the best. It took years to find others because the ANBU were not sent for such individuals. Civilian organizations were unable to manage the terrain well for search parties but shinobi were meant to be stronger, better, and more capable. He wouldn't even address the idea that he had 'forgotten' about the war. He had been in the front lines of it.

Her point about the daggers caused a raised eyebrow. Two knives might have helped against fangs, but not against both Raiju's fangs and claws, no matter how good he was. Not to mention he himself had been dreadfully slow without the user of his lightning armor which he had weakened in order to utilize a ninjutsu. He might have might have been fast enough to block the fangs. But he would not have been fast enough to block both the fangs and claws and that wasn't even counting the difference between his and beasts strength. Still though he wouldn't respond, letting her make her points and not deigning to answer them. All could see he was far from being made to accept them. He was simply letting her speak because he was tired of the conversation. When she spoke of having no choice he still wouldn't respond. Waiting until she had finished everything before beginning his points. He wouldn't bother addressing the failure of the ANBU. She would never agree with him in that when they were here. The point of the daggers were moot in the end. He hadn't even been aware Shimiko had been crafting those weapons for him when he had gone into that fight and it was irrelevant to bring it up now. No, he would start with her point of not having a choice.  "So your god, that you preach as good and worthy, did not give you a choice when you left? Out of curiosity. By what right then do you have to be Queen? If your god can, and as has been amply demonstrated, does pull you away for months at a time when you're job, your duty is to lead this country then what by what right do you dare seek to do both. It's clear you cannot do both jobs given you effectively abandoned your country to fend for itself. Do you even understand how it looked to everyone else? You lost the one battle in the war you were a part of and when you left it was right after news of Moonspire reached you. You look like a coward to the world and yet you come back like you did nothing wrong and act as if everyone should just be thankful. I am thankful you had me brought back. Never believe otherwise for even an instant Ryuko. However you do not get to act like you have done nothing wrong. When you took that throne you took on the responsibility of leading this nation. Of protecting it and steering it toward it's future. Yet then you left, by your choice or not. That proves you're unable to do both jobs. The man you left behind did nothing, and that left the village effectively without leadership with the exception of Seid who did all he could and Shimiko who was grieving after your departure. Which you did so with no word of where or why. How can you accuse me of having no faith in your return when I had no idea of what had even happened to you?" He would say, his tone now calm, angry, but calm, and cold. It was clear to him that religious affiliation did nothing for oneself in the end. Belief in gods seemed to do nothing but cause harm to others or force you to do things you would not have otherwise done. Bringing pain and death alongside them.

"My trust in you was lost when you chose your religious affiliation over your oaths to your people. You expect me to still trust you after that?" He would say, she knew of his feelings toward religion, of his parents. While she was gone and they did not know why he had not felt this way. However when she had returned and the reason for her departure was known. That had changed. First it had been the Jashinist Church that had taken his parents from him. Now Hakkinism had taken Ryuko from the nation itself. Frankly, in his eyes, one was far worse in that regard and it was not Jashinists. When Ryuko commented on the idea that Yenn might have been murdered he would give her a funny look indeed. One needed motive, opportunity, and means in order to commit murder and for Yenn there was none. At least not one anyone could see and that made murder extremely unlikely. So unlikely that he didn't even entertain it as an option. Still, one didn't need an autopsy to survey the cuts and he blew out an exasperated breath before kneeling, but not in respect. He knelt to set down his wife. As he did he would speak, his voice coming out subdued now. "I mean what I said when I said you won't conduct an autopsy. I want to go, and I will take her with me storm be damned. But a look at the cuts doesn't need more than a cursory glance. Come here, take your look. Inspect the cuts, and then I will go. I need to get her put into a scroll before leaving. I don't want to argue anymore. I just want to go get my shops and other affairs in order and leave." He wouldn't even acknowledge the words of some 'final mission' he was too tired at this point. All of the emotions that had been running through him had driven all will from the man and he simply knelt there. Waiting for her to take the look for needed before he could go.

When she took her look, and gave him any form of indication she had done so he would go, rewrapping her in the cloak if necessary. If someone sealed her into a scroll for him he would give them a nod in thanks, but be otherwise unable to smile before taking the scroll and simply leaving. Not another word from him and honestly his senses and perceptions almost numb to the world at that point.

[Attempted Exit Again]

Ryuko felt disappointed in her students' lack of perspective. He was someone who had traveled across half the continent, someone who had attempted to steal the power of a god-like beast. He had journeyed through the realm of the dead and come back and still he had learned nothing from the experience.

“The Multiverse is a vast place my friend. There are beings out there capable of eating entire worlds like you or I would a snack, Creatures that can blow away entire solar systems with a sneeze.” Those were just a few examples on what was still the low end of the scale. “When faced with an extinction level event should Hakkin have stopped to ask for permission to pull me away? What good would come of letting me stay if doing so would have doomed you all?” She asked.

“Luckily from our perspective such things are typically rare, perhaps occurring about once a millennia or so.” If such things were frequent then all life would have perished long ago out of sheer probability. “Now the only threats I should be called on to deal with will be more terrestrial in nature right here on earth.” Dealing with the Sage’s Disciples seemed almost pedestrian now in comparison. They might be more powerful than her, but they only threatened to take over the continent, not destroy it off the map or worse.


“As the Queen I am the aegis between the people and all the great troubles that would break them on sight. That is my sacred duty. And whenever I fail, whenever my citizens die, some part of me is lost with them.” she said sadly. As far as she was concerned she had kept her oath.

She might not have been with them in the flesh but she had been in spirit. It was her words and actions that had inspired Shimiko to be more then just a murder machine, that had enabled her sister to become the diplomat that Ryuko had always known she could be and bring the war to a diplomatic conclusion.

The foundation she had built had functioned exactly as she had intended it to. What good was a nation if all it took was the loss of it’s leader to crumble? The reason she had sought to build a kingdom and not an empire was so that it could endure even once she was gone. She didn’t want to be one of those great men that conquered great swaths of land only for the entire thing to fall apart after she passed.

“Thank you Tamwyn, for now I am content to observe.” said Ryuko. She still had reservations about not getting to check more closely but for now she would collect what data she could in order to better formulate the proper response at the proper time. Omi had been so focused on shapeshifting the body to look like Yenn and making it hard to analyze the dna that he had gotten sloppy with some of the other tiny details.

As a trained medic, one look from Ryuko was enough for her to tell that the wounds on what she thought was Yenn’s wrists had been inflicted postmortem. Oddly there seemed to be little to no sign at least outwardly at what might have actually killed her but it was clear that they weren’t dealing with a standard suicide like Tamwyn had assumed.

The queen took a second to mull over if she should tell Tamwyn or not. Given his emotional state it would be wiser to keep quiet for the moment. Given the timeframe she strongly suspected that Yenn had been a target of opportunity during the war. Konoha had some clans that could do some pretty funky things like capture people using their shadows.

If an advance scouting party had run into Yenn up alone in the mountains they would have taken her out in a heartbeat. It wouldn’t be strange for them to make it look like a suicide to delay investigation and hide their presence in the country. With the war over and peace restored it would be tremendously difficult to seek justice at this juncture without re-sparking the conflict all over again. Best then to let Tamwyn think she had committed suicide after all then, at least until they could bring her back first so that he wouldn’t have a reason to seek revenge. He’d just gotten his life back, no need for him to throw it away so soon in a blind path of vengeance.

“I see no sign of anything suspicious.” she lied as she took a step back and called forth one of her turtle summons to put Yenn’s body away in a scroll so that Tamwyn wouldn’t have to carry her around the village on public display. Allowing him to leave in peace she wondered what her next move should be. Investing further into the death at this point seemed pointless without access to the body to gather evidence. Best then to look ahead to the future. If One Otsutsuki had the power to bring back the dead perhaps another member of the clan would have a clue that would lead her to a different method.

[4]

[exit]