Returning Home

Kamado Akina’s POV

( “-open-air detention facility, with Kamado Akina as sole detention officer-” )

I breathe a small sigh of relief as the door to Itachi’s house closes behind us all.

“ Thank you for letting us stay here, Itachi. ” I murmur, Genya and Kyojuro almost asleep against my sides as they toe off their shoes.

“ Hey , you helped bring some desperately needed clarity to the spy field.” He snorts softly, looking exhausted and ashamed, and I want to light things on fire. “Besides, until Tsunade can file all the paperwork needed for us all to become regular shinobi, this is the best option we have.”

“ Ha! ” I snort, shaking my head softly, “ I doubt it. The most politically solid option, maybe, or the safest politically explainable option, perhaps, but best ? No. ”

Itachi stares at the ground for a moment. The house is silent, save for the soft breeze through the old seals on the windows.

“ This isn’t how it was supposed to go, how it was supposed to end. ” Itachi murmurs, I feel tears rise to my eyes, and Genya gently leans into me a bit more, mumbling something about food under his breath. “ I wasn’t supposed to live this long, Akina-san. ”

( Yeah. Ditto, kid. )

I inhale deeply, the house smells of dust, tears, sweat, and blood.

“Do you want to cry about it?” I offer Itachi, “Or do you want to do something about it?”

Genya and Kyojuro manage to be sat up at a table long enough for Itachi and me to sweep a space in the living room clean for them to sleep in, and then we just start from there.

We rip up molding tatami mats, throwing them out so we can mop and sweep. We dust and wipe shelves and tables and I mop the walls because of the buildup (Itachi laughed when he saw it, until he saw the difference, and joined me in mopping the walls.)

I carefully removed pictures from damaged frames and asked Itachi if we should keep and repair the frames or just toss them. He tosses almost all the frames, but we keep all the whole glass. We manage to clean the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the hallways that connect them, and one bedroom before Itachi is too tired to continue and suggests we stop.

I tell him to go to sleep, and that I’ll cook something in the meantime.

Technically, I am cooking.

(I’m cheating, using a low temperature in the oven to slow-boil some root vegetables and heavy meat.)

But I am cooking!

I am also cleaning (and snooping through) Itachi’s father’s office.

( What the fuck is a Mangekyo Sharingan? )

I look down at the journal in my hands, gently dumping the pages upside down, and carefully thumbing through them to remove the dust. It seems slightly newer than the others and has a different handwriting.

( Who the fuck is ‘ Taijima ’ Uchiha? I’ll have to ask Itachi at some point. )

I scowl as I gently flip back to the page I was reading, finding some form of training for this… Mangekyo ? But scribbled in the margins-

( Deterioration? They make it sound like the Mangekyo rots or otherwise destroys the person as they use it. )

I pause as I turn the page, and find a familiar face staring back at me.

“ Oh. Oh no. ” I drop the journal, it clatters against the desk, the small, achingly familiar smile peering up at me- “ No. No . ”

(- “Why would you need our names?” The twin boys peer up at me curiously, and it’s both annoying and completely adorable how earnest they are about it. “You’re never going to see us again, Miss~”

“But I have to get you home, don’t I?” I tease, gently pinching them on the cheek, they pout at me. “I should probably be able to tell your parents which of their kids has made them worry so much!”

“Togakushi! Myoko!” Someone nearby shouts, they immediately look panicked as I smirk, “Where are you!? Godammit, this is the last time I bring you to the shrine, you brats!”

“They’re over here!” I call smugly, grabbing them by the back of their collars as they try to run, “ Don’t you try to run away ! You’re going right back over to… Oi! Are you their big brother or their uncle or what ?”

I turn around and find a knife in front of me.

“Release my-OW!” I slam my leg into his groan as hard as I can and put both boys over my shoulders, “GIMME BACK MY BROTHERS!”

I pause, already halfway up a tree, their tiny fists (I think they’re five, maybe six) beating against my back, but not really hurting me. I turn to face the weird boy where he’s crumpled on the ground.

“ If these are your brothers , why would you point a knife at me!? ” I shout at the idiot,

“ Because I thought you were kidnapping them , you crazy person! ” He shouts as I glower at him, and he seethes, still crumpled in a heap on the forest floor from the cheap shot. “Do you even know what clan we’re from!?”

“No - and why would I care? What era do you this is, exactly? The Heian? Be real.” I sniff as I settle his twin brothers on my hips, “Have you two ever jumped from a high place before?”

“Yeah?”

“We do it a lot for training - why?”

“Hold on tightly !” I hold them close easily aiming for the small, frigid puddle next to the road, and they scream as I leap. I cackle madly as we hurdle through the air, they cling to me like tiny bear cubs as I land, the earth dents and cracks under my feet, the freezing water splashing up and over us in a tiny wave and making them shriek and squeal again. “EEHH! Let’s do it again!”

“Again! Again!” They scream and cheer, curling up close-

Pain.

“KUROHIME-NEE!” The twins wail, I blink spots out of my eyes, the leaves fall slowly off the tree branches above me, and I am lying in a cold puddle. “SHE WASN’T HURTING US!”

“They’re telling the truth, nee-san.” The idiot from before grumbles, limping a little as I turn my head, but he’s alone as he comes closer to that side of me. I turn my head the other way, and a girl a little older than me is FURIOUS, she cracks her knuckles at me as the twins sit by her feet. “She wasn’t hurting them and they weren’t in any danger with her.”

“ She’s a Senju. ” She snarls,

“What’s a ‘Senju’?” I ask, my head rings a little - kind of like that time a bear cub managed to swipe me, or when I stupidly copied Mom and headbutted that boar - and I think Dad called the weird spots ‘auras’ once and said they were symptoms of a concussion. “Sounds like someone sneezed in the middle of a word.”

“She’s funny!” One of the twins' cheers,

“Didn’t you see how she leaped?” The girl growls, and the twins hesitate, I try to push myself onto my elbows, but the boy from earlier places a hand on my shoulder. “ Don’t be stupid, Madara. ”

“If she’s a Senju, then she’s clearly a civilian Senju, who’s out of the compound for the first time in her life. ” He argues grumpily, I look up at him, and he hesitates. “ Fire’s balls, Kuro, you gave her a concussion. ”

“And? She clearly could’ve done a lot worse to you three!” She points towards my feet, and I already know what she’s talking about.

I already know I’m a freak of nature.

“Are…” I hesitate, but… “Are you saying these, these ‘Senju’ can do the same things I do?”

My voice cracks a little, and they all go still.

“...what…what’re you talking about?” The girl still looks angry, her hair all bristled up, and her arms still crossed, but her eyebrows are pinched weirdly, and her mouth is downturned now. “Any shinobi worth their salt can do that-”

“I’m not a shinobi, though,” I mumble, the two oldest siblings exchange looks, and the twins crawl over to me, one of them wipes blood off my eyebrow. “My father burns charcoal, and my mother grows medicinal herbs. We live up the mountain.”

“I thought the mountain was abandoned?” The boy mutters, confusion softening his tone, “It's too close to our border with the Senju, it’s too dangerous. ”

“That’s one reason, kids.” I jerk heavily, and they all jump, but a bigger, warmer hand touches my head. “Kurohime, what have I told you about thinking before punching?”

“I thought she was kidnapping the twins, Otou-san!” She protests as he sighs, and I flop back down, looking up at their Dad as he gives me a gentle smile.

“I apologize for my daughter’s temper - though you seem to have done a number on Madara, yourself?” He seems amused over it if nothing else.

“He pointed a knife at me, I thought he was trying to hurt the twins.” I mumble, “Sometimes bad people move through the mountains - they try to take children who aren’t theirs, try to disappear them into the snow and rain and mist and leave no trace.”

I frown heavily, eyes focusing on the sunlight mottling through the leaves.

“I always find the traces.”

“It’s because you’re the right size.” He tells me, gently running a hand through my hair, I wince as he finds the sore spot that his daughter must have hit, “You’re about the size the children must be - so you can find where they would try to leave those traces. Which means you can also find disobedient rugrats .”

He uses one arm to scoop the twins up, squealing as they go, into his lap, where he smothers them in kisses.

“Do you know how worried your mother is getting?! It’s bad enough Izuna is bedridden with the flu! We don’t need you two running off and getting lost, now!” He scolds them, and they giggle at us all, wiggling in his grip as I grin lazily, the boy - their big brother - gently squeezes my arm.

“How bad is your head?” He asks,

“I can make it home.” I brush it off easily, but their father exchanges a look with the two eldest children, “I’ve dealt with worse on my own.”

“How about Kurohime and I walk you back?” He offers,

“We won’t let you say no.” The girl, Kurohime, clarifies with a stubborn huff, and I clap my hands over my eyes with a defeated sigh.

“ Oh , alright !” Their father lets out a low chuckle, “But we can’t fight anymore, my head’s ringing like a bell.”

“Hear, hear!” The boy winces as he stands up, “Where’d you even learn how to kick so hard?”

“You have to kick off from the tree hard or you won’t get the right moment when you swing around the tree branch to cave in the bear’s skull,” I state, not thinking, only remembering about that horrible scream Mom made, how I didn’t even wake to the shoji tearing, only to that screaming. “Even then, you might have to stab it through the heart, if it’s really strong, but-”

“I’m sorry, dear, but how old are you ?” Their father gently touches my shoulder as I sit up, and I blink a little bit, my vision spotty and swimming and my ears ringing.

“Well, tomorrow I turn twelve-”

“You’re what- ” Kurohime gets pinched, but Madara clenches my belt in white-knuckle fists, and their father draws air between his teeth.

“You…are twelve .” He says quietly, says it carefully , I turn to look at him, “What’s your name, little one?”

“I’m Akina Kamado, why?”

“Akina, you, you know that most twelve-year-olds don’t,” He shuts his eyes, and his arm tightens around the twins, who squirm a little, but watch me with eerie silence now. “They don’t fight bears . You know that , right? You said you’re a civilian, civilians don’t fight bears.”

“Yeah, but I keep my Mom up at night and my Dad doesn’t know what to do with me and my grandparents keep trying to lose me in the woods,” I admit, I gently hold my hands together in my lap pulling at my fingers nervously as I remember the defeated looks on my grandparents faces as I once again met them at the picnic spot. “My parents love me and they fear me and they don’t know what to do with me - but if I protect them, then they should at least keep me because I’m useful, right? If I prove I have morals, that I’m…”

That I can pretend to be human.

As if they read my thoughts, they all hug me.

“Would you like to come stay with us for a few days?” Madara asks quietly, “We could fix your head since Kurohime broke it-”

“CLEARLY I DID NOT !” Kurohime protests, and I giggle weakly in their pile, the twins squirm around and plant themselves squarely in my lap.

“If you want to,” Their father says warmly, “We could take you away.” )

( I stare in horror at the plume of smoke in the distance. Kurohime and the rest taught me how they used smoke to communicate long distances.

Someone is injured.

“Sensei-”

“I see it, Akina.” He is my third sensei, and he has never asked where I disappear to. He is good to me. He smiles as I place the boulder down gently next to the house. “If they need help, bring them here.”

“What…what if they…” I turn to look at him, and I can’t voice the thought of it.

The twins are only seven.

“Bring them here, anyway.” His voice steels. “We will treat them with honor. ”

Tears rise to my eyes.

“ Thank you, sensei. ”

“ Pah! You and your thanks! Go fetch your friends, child!” He throws his hands in the air, and I set off at a sprint (not my fastest, that would cause damage, that would hurt people, that… I am dangerous. )

Uncle looks up, tired and worried, and Aunt has tears in her eyes.

Kurohime is missing an arm.

“Oh, my god.” I clasp a hand over my mouth, Madara and Izuna look up, and the twins are missing a leg each. The three of them are covered in bandages. The seven of them are covered in ash, blood, and filth. “Wh-what-”

“Battle.” Aunt says blandly, “A bad one.”

I know that tone. Don’t ask anymore.

“What do you need me to do?” I ask softly, kneeling into seiza, my twin bokken still tied onto my back. “What do you need from me?”

“You said there is no current war here.” Uncle murmurs, the tears begin to fall from Aunt’s eyes, and he clasps a hand with his wife. “You…you said you know of only a single family who are still practicing shinobi here.”

“...you are leaving them.” I realize, Madara makes a choking noise, low in his throat, strangled and harsh.  “You… they are sleeping , Uncle, did they even have a chance to say goodbye?”

They have never explained how their eyes work, but I know they remember things with terrifying, horrible clarity.

“Kurohime did. The twins…the twins are strong enough-”

“ No. ” I growl, I feel the itch, the pull that some of the breathing techniques bring out, “ No, you are not leaving them without a chance to say goodbye! You will come back with me, and you will wait for them to wake up. If that takes all day - then so be it! They are your family , and you are their family! ”

Madara and Izuna burst into tears, Aunt cries silently, and I feel my hair rise with my fury as branches and brambles begin to build around me, poison dripping from them, vines reaching-

“Where are you staying at, Akina?” Uncle asks, voice weak, cracking, and I look up into his eyes without fear. “I know you don’t stay with your parents anymore.”

“...I moved out when Mom said she was pregnant,” I admit, guilt striking me heavily, hollowing out my stomach as I remember the relief in her eyes as she caught me on the front steps, a basket full of clothes tied to my back. “I couldn’t…she’s miscarried before and…the stress I give her-”

“Just bring us to your home, Akina.” Uncle soothes, reaching forward and placing a hand on the side of my head, “We will follow your lead.”

I take a deep breath. I do not think of Tanjiro, so tiny, with such a little nose and such big lungs that scream so loud, and I bring them to my third Cultivator.

Kurohime is carried by Uncle, Myoko is carried by Madara, and Togakushi is carried by Izuna. Aunt runs next to me, still silently crying as I easily lead them through the traps, holding them back or disabling them so that they can pass without struggle.

“Your teacher must be very good, for you to be so advanced already.” Aunt notes, wiping her eyes weakly,

“He…he is good.” I admit, but screams echo in my ears, bones shatter, bodies fall, and I almost - almost - miss one of the swinging blades. “But he is my third Cultivator - Cultivators are what we call our teachers - and…and the first one…”

“What happened, sweet one?” Auntie soothes, but I take one look at her and almost laugh . It’s so obvious that she’s going through the motions, that she’s putting one foot in front of the other - she’s officially in shock.

But hey, if it gets her mind off things.

“My first Cultivator was as good, if slightly more laid-back about things.” I calmly kick up a log and spin it, catching a volley of poison darts before they can hit anyone. “He trained me when I was nine. He…he admitted that he taught me everything he knew in six months , Auntie, and, ah, he… He died.”

“A noble death?” Uncle asks, slightly less in shock, more aware, Auntie simply humming in acknowledgment.

“A foolish death.” I disagree, slowing, almost tripping as Madara unexpectedly speeds up to run beside me. “He… There is no war here. Not one that civilians or the government know of. There are no practicing shinobi - save the one, rumored family - but, there is…a battle. It has endured for a thousand years, and it may drag on for a thousand more. The species on the opposite side is called Demon , and we, the Demon-Slayer Corps, must keep them from eating the humans who don’t know of them.”

“Your first Cultivator fell to a Demon?” Uncle frowns, “But that’s a noble death? In battle? To an enemy-”

“ Muzan Kibutsuji is no ordinary Demon.” I snarl lowly, and my heartbeat roars in my ears as we break the treeline, “He was the first of them, he is their king. Doing battle with him is certain death . Charging and screaming was foolhardy and stupid and-”

Tears burn in my eyes as we slow to a trot, and my third Cultivator opens the door as I trail off to a seething, sulking silence.

“ My first Cultivator died foolishly. ” I snarl lowly, my third Cultivator looks up at us all and blinks curiously, “I refuse to make the same mistakes he did.”

“Of course, you won’t, Akina.” My Cultivator tells me warmly, “He ensured you lived, knowing you would learn from it, even if ‘it’ became his death. You are too smart to make the same mistakes as us old codgers.”

“Oh! We like you, already!” Uncle lets out a weak laugh,

“Well, I can’t ensure that your children will want to stay, or that they will be able to become Demon Slayers, or that they will want to become Slayers,” My Cultivator pauses, taking a sip of his tea as I toe off my sandals at the door and begin dragging out cots for Kurohime, Myoko, and Togakushi. “But they, like Akina, can stay as long as they wish.”

“You will protect them? Just like that ?” Auntie looks ready to cry again as she falls to her knees in front of my Cultivator, and I set the first cot down next to Uncle. “ You don’t even know us- !”

“But you know Akina.” He states simply, I pause, and turn slightly, “For someone all of fourteen, she sure has dealt with a lot. If she sees you as trustworthy - as allies - then you are allies for me and the rest of the Demon Slayers.”

Good.

I let out a soft, satisfied grunt, and then I pull out two cots and set them in front of Madara and Izuna. Auntie cries as she thanks my Cultivator, Uncle gently pets Kurohime’s head, murmuring to her gently as she sleeps, but as Izuna settles the twins, Madara approaches me.

“You,” He draws his breath in tightly like he does before he spits fire and ash when he’s too nervous or starts ranting at thunderous volumes when he’s angry. “ You didn’t have to do this , Akina-”

“You’re my friends, Madara,” I mutter to him, nervously playing with my fingers as my stomach ties itself in knots. “Of course, I had to help.”

“But this ? Taking them into your home ? Taking them into your Corps?” Madara grabs my hands, his leather gloves are worn soft, and radiate a soft, gentle heat that is so very unlike his own. “Akina, this will pull a target on you if anyone realizes what we’ve done.”

“Add it to the pile.” I smile at him nervously, he stares at me, his obsidian eyes hollow from shock and glittering with gratitude. “Seriously, Madara, this is nothing -”

Madara wraps an arm around my waist, nervously pressing his mouth to mine in a clumsy, chaste kiss. It’s all chapped lips and bumping noses and knocked elbows, but it’s soft and sweet and gentle .

He draws back, hands on my hips, eyes slightly wild as I blink at him, and it feels like the world…

Well, the world has always felt crooked, but it feels closer to right. Even as my stomach does flips and my head spins.

“ Akina? ” Madara asks stressfully, “Akina, are you-”

“ You call that a kiss? ” I demand, mouth still slightly slack, he blushes from his hairline to his collar, a sharp ruby-red that almost matches his sharingan-thingie. “ Get back here! ”

I grab him by his stupid leather-and-hawk-feather ponytail and slam my mouth against his, he lets out a muffled, startled yelp, but melts into me. Several people giggle behind me.

“For the love of Amaterasu, tell me they’re engaged now.” Kurohime whines,

“I don’t think we can risk that, darling.” Uncle croons, Madara gingerly nibbles on my bottom lip, and I can’t tell if he’s asking permission to use his tongue or if he’s silently judging my chapped lips.

Like his are any better!

I bite him back (gently) and open my mouth to him with a soft sigh, melting against him too.

This is going to be one of the last times I see him, isn’t it?

I kiss him like it’s a challenge, like when we spar.

He kisses me like he’s already won. )

( “Now that you two have made everything yucky,” Togakushi pouts up at me, and I laugh at him, but Madara puffs up like an indignant cat, “Can we have our goodbye kisses!?”

“What if I only wanna give Akina kisses right now, huh!? What about that?!” Madara pounces on him with a growl, and I roll my eyes even as my face burns.

“Hey! Does this mean you have to give her your fan?” Izuna asks, gently touching his neck, and Madara lets out an indignant screeching noise as their parents laugh.

“ I am not forcing an engagement on her! We don’t even know if it would be safe for you all to come back- ”

“Then move here later, idiot.” I cross my arms over my chest, frowning at him as he turns pink, “You’re always bitching about the paperwork anyway - and Izuna knows your Clan Laws better, you Law Shark! ”

“ Excuse you! I am a Weasel , by Amaterasu!” Izuna shrieks indignantly, I grin wickedly, sharing a look with my amused Cultivator. “I refuse to be affiliated with those Water-country Barbarians! ”

“Yeah, yeah, pack it in, Weasel. ” I lean over from Myoko’s cot to hug him, “You better whip those Elders into shape, Weasel , and prove you better than the Law Sharks of this country.”

“ I will! ” Madara wraps his arms around me as Izuna throws his head back and nearly breaks my nose, “I’m gonna make them recognize the Clan Head as an actual power again and-”

“Izuna, you’re still ten.” Uncle says tiredly, “Slow down, son.”

“ No. ” Izuna jumps up and bounds over to Kurohime’s cot to harass his father, “We can start with-”

“ Din’s balls- ” Uncle curses under his breath and I laugh, Madara hugs me, gently nuzzling the side of my face and kissing my cheek as he reaches out to hold Togakushi’s hand.

“Do you know what giving you my fan means?” Madara murmurs, I pause, leaning against him, “Really and truly?”

“I know that it would equal engagement.” I admit softly, “I know that being in an engagement would mean that you would be waiting for my father’s blessing and I would be waiting for your father's blessing. We would exchange gifts, or walk, or exchange poems-”

“You would be mine forever - for keeps.” Madara mutters shyly, his warmth subdued, like it gets when he’s focusing heavily or very, very serious about something. “I would be yours forever - for keeps. Our clan, our family especially, we don’t divorce-”

“You wouldn’t be able to get rid of me that easily anyway,” I mutter quietly, I turn and tuck my nose in by his jaw. “You think Death would stop me from loving you, Madara? I would become the Shinigami if I had to, just to be near you again.”

He blushes as red as a carnation, all the way down to his collar again, and the twins and I giggle at him.

“You would really defy the kami themselves, just to love me?” Madara mumbles, sparking and dancing inside, warm and bright and lava-intense, and so so perfect. “I’m… Akina, I’m just me .”

“And I’m just me , Madara.” I tell him, “I don’t care how little I see you. You’re always going to be that stupid boy who thought he was going to have to fight me to protect his brothers. You’re that loyal, overprotective, idiot who never looks before he leaps-”

“-leaps right into a bees nest-” Myoko adds, snickering, and I smile as I remember the incident, Togakushi lets out a barking laugh, then wincing.

“ Ooh , broken ribs, don’t laugh.” Togakushi mutters, “Laughter is bad …”

“And you’ll put up with my siblings over it?” He sighs, looking down at them with love, exhaustion, and fear . “Just…just because I’m me ?”

“I will look after them because they are them .” I pinch his cheek, he blinks at me in surprise, and the adults seem… It seems like they’re mourning , almost. “Kurohime, Togakushi, and Myoko are my friends , Madara. I will take of them, look after them because they are them. ”

Madara looks back at his father, at Uncle, who closes his eyes, takes a deep, steadying breath, and nods , like something is final.

Madara reaches under his kimono collar and easily undoes a necklace. It has a small, red and white uchiwa on it. I notice an etching of some kind on the back, or maybe a carving.

Madara places the necklace around my neck calmly, easily tightening it so that it sits under my collar, easily hidden.

“ The carving of my name will disappear if I die. ” )

I gingerly undo the necklace. I already know the answer. I know this answer.

But the Uchiwa is blank, and Madara is dead, and all I have is notebooks now.

( Togakushi became a Kakushi. She has a prosthetic that she designed to fill with poisons, weapons, and medical supplies for the job. When she isn’t on duty, she has special weights for it. Myoko became a small-town politician, and despite her husband’s protests, her children are trained to my satisfaction, last I checked. They don’t want to go through the Final Selection and are considering sending them to work for Shinobu-san. Kurohime married into the Wisteria Houses, she became a Lady of the House, and her eldest - a son named Kaen, I believe - is training to be an Ambassador between the Corps and the government. )

( What the fuck do I tell them? )

Madara is dead. I knew this. But what do I tell his sisters?

How do I tell his sisters?

( Is this the same Madara that Obito speaks of? That Tsunade says betrayed the Village? )

What do I tell them, when I return?