Finally Home

The Hogokage’s office in the Unseen University was not as big as the private audience chamber of the Royal court. Still, it had Iwagakure rugs on its oaken floor, elaborate wall hangings, and golden-tinted windows that gave it a sense of intimacy. Or so Shina believed.

Sapphire blue eyes watched as guards urged a gaunt figure into the room. “Spirits of the air send us back Hoshigakure’s favorite son,” Shina said and placed a smooth, lotioned hand in front of her face, feigning surprise.

There was a frantic game of broken telephone from the moment that person walked past the great bronze gates of Hoshigakure. Watchmen whispered to another, friend to a friend, children to their parents, and soon the news fell upon Hoshigakure like summer rain.

He looked older, thinner somehow, but in front of her stood Arashi Tekiatsu, covered in mist and grief. The last known surviving member of the Tekiatsu clan of Kumogakure, one of the founders of Hoshigakure, Prince of Haven, and bane of Grima’s Jaws.

Also, the bane of rogue’s Queensguard if you count Meryn Trent. Albeit Meryn Trent screamed giant fodder to Shina, the old knight reminded her of the larger-than-life character that comes across as a foil only to be defeated effortlessly. Though his sword’s abilities were impressive, Arashi’s cloud release rendered them useless during their fight.

“Tell me, my Former Prince, how does it feel to walk among us common folk?” She asked as she lowered her hand to show a set of perfect white teeth.

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The native of  Kumo seemed to recognize her barely. Arashi Tekiatsu, despite his brilliance in battle, was as thick as a castle wall. But Shina knew who everyone in Hoshi was, not personally, but she preferred it that way.

Of course, some were superstitious and claimed she knew what they ate for breakfast a year ago. That was absurd. Shina could only go as far as a week back; it did not matter from then on. Besides, there was no such thing as a poison mixed in someone’s breakfast that would take more than that to show its effects.

From one of the pockets of his dirty coat, Arashi magicked up a letter. The seal of purple wax was noticeably broken. The brunette did not need to check for its authenticity. No letter sent from Hoshigakure would ever reach its recipient without Shina knowing first.

“The pen is indeed mightier than the sword to have brought you back. News of both a wedding and pregnancy then; congratulations are in order,” Shina smirked and offered him an empty seat. Arashi stood so stiffly it looked as though he had a kunai up his butt.  As fun as it would be to leave him standing for the rest of the meeting, even Shina was not that true.

Once Arashi took the seat, she called the name of a young acolyte outside who brought them two glass cups of wine sweetened with fruits. 

“Don’t ever tell our Lord Seventh that I offered drinks while on duty.  Ayato is an honorable person who loves to hear the sound of his voice, as much as he enjoys brooding while looking at the horizon. Quite a lot like you actually.” Perhaps Arashi would receive that as mockery. If he said anything to it, Shina would only shrug. We all need to be mocked from time to time, lest we start to take ourselves too seriously. 

“Before we reinstate you in your proper rank and assign you the duties in the Chuunin Exam. Are you certain that you are back for good?” The Acting Kage asked him. 

Past Certain, hopefully. There are so many times a village shinobi can wander the world before being labeled a broken man by his people who have started wondering what has become of him.

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Shina sucked in air through those perfect white teeth of hers as the aftertaste of the wine burned her throat. Shina had heard from Denkiteki that the last Tekiatsu had died no more than a day after the Kumogakure takeover by Youka called the plague master. That did not seem so long ago to the Acting Kage. 

“This is Florent wine, Hoshi’s finest, savor it too much, however, and you end up bedridden for a week. Speaking from experience," She placed her half-empty cup on the desk, and her blue eyes searched his. There were no records of another Tekiatsu besides Arashi alive, but there were rumors of at least one.

“Lord Arashi Tekiatsu of Hoshigakure.” The brunette said, excited. “The man who left as a prince and returned a lord. The singers will make a verse or two in their songs about it. I could arrange with Ayato to give you lands and a keep for you and your family to start a new life. After a failed coup, the properties of the traitors who took part in it have been forfeit to Hoshigakure, most of them in good condition too. ”

Exquisitely manicured fingernails, painted in a purple shade, drummed on top of the mahogany desk of the Hogokage. She used the back of her free hand to rest her head.

"Now Chuunin Exams so close to your wedding could be tiresome. Then again, all marriages are tournaments on their own, I suppose." Shina grinned at her wit, but her sapphire eyes remained cold. 

“There is a team of our Genin that could benefit from a mentor. Their names are Yamaguchi Kouma, Yuuma Fujiwara, and Tsunayoshi Hatake. I think that no one can stop a fight quite like you, Arashi so that you could have an active role in the Chuunin exams as a proctor. However, before you take up any of the roles that fit your proper rank of Jounin, I think you ought to start with taking a fresh pair of clothes. You never learned to dress like a prince for all the time you spent in the royal court. You were never quite like Arata." 

If Arata ever crossed the castle's gate, a roar of sound would go up. The foot soldiers and townsfolk would cheer as he rode past, cheering for their sweet prince, for Akihana's blood, with the embodiment of ideals racing beside him. However, Shina realized with a dull ache; this would never become a reality. And she would rather focus on the son of Akihana, who returned.

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“Disgrace.” Shina pondered the words, touching her thin lips. “He was that and worse.” The brunette admitted. Valen had defected in the middle of the night like some thief then came back to hold his own home at swordpoint. 

“That degenerate believed everyone in the city to be as dirty and corrupt as he was. He promised those who joined him the sacking of Hoshigakure riches and power.” Shina said, and her shoulders seemed to stiffen underneath that. Her brow was forming down to what appeared to be a frown.

A Kage should be fair-spoken, open-handed, and as courteous as he is courageous. People say Ayato Hyuuga, the Seventh to hold the title, is one such. People like their leader brave and stupid, Shina figured, and Ayato was every bit the gallant hero; he knew how to talk and looked good with his white cloak flapping in the wind.

The matter of white cloaks reminded something to Shina.

“The last remaining of the Queensguard were slain during the battle, you should know. But your former brothers in arms were on the wrong side of it. If you hear Harold tell, he slew both of them when he caught them looting the palace.”

The acting Kage gave a sigh

“At the gates Taiji Heiji, who had been in service in Hoshigakure since its founding, stepped up during the village’s darkest hour to lead the city out of the darkness against the traitors. On his side, most notably, Yasaki Uchiha, Akabayashi Terumi, Ayato Hyuuga, and yours truly.”

Men and women of different backgrounds, beliefs and ancestry, but all answered the summons nonetheless. To uphold the ideals and fight in the name of a woman that was no longer there.

“We had found life in Hoshi thanks to Akihana, and we had all to lose it fighting against those who wished to ruin everything she worked for. 

By the end, we scattered the turn cloaks in the wind and put all the strugglers that remained behind to the sword. Valen Akari died too, but not by our hand. His demise came further down in Sunagakure when the boy decided to play a man in war." Some other Hoshi traitors escaped justice too. Making for the border of Haven and the swamps close to the shadow country. Falling in with the Jaws of Grima or getting eaten by them, depending on the innkeeper who tells the story. 

But once the dust had settled, everything returned to normal. Hoshigakure enjoyed prosperity and once again became a place that those who had nowhere else to go could call home. Like Shina and Arashi did all those years ago. 

“I’ll give you access to the files of the Genin and your own keep of choice to start your family in. And if Arata returns, I’ll send him your way too. But first I shall debrief you on your proctor duties I believe."

Arashi had the right of it. It was a never-ending task to hunt those who had claimed Valen Akari’s now-disbanded cause as their own. One that Shina had turned into an entertaining event of sorts.

“A leader can compromise himself so many times before losing the faith of his flock. There are worse things out there.” Valen’s stunt caused multiple headaches after the attempted sacking and a massive one in particular. 

“In the North, we hear reports about a group of outlaws. They raid and burn villages to the ground leaving no trace of human life behind. Fucked up shit like that. They saw their leader is a werewolf.” Shina left that lay in there for a moment. Exquisitely manicured fingernails, painted in a purple shade, drummed on top of the mahogany desk of the Hogokage.

“But it does sound like someone we know, doesn’t it.”

She pulled a folder from underneath the desk, and she laid it open to a picture of the black long-haired brute clad in full black plate armor, inlaid with gold. A gauntleted hand waved to the adoring crowd sitting on the stands and, at the same time, holding bare steel on the other hand. That day was the tourney for Queen Tenhiyat’s coronation. And the man in the picture was the winner of the melee. 

“I hope you remember Sir Axwell Florent of the Queensguard, the big strong, angry brute. Personally, I always found his wolfish grin unsettling. A year after that picture, he nearly killed Ayato and Kenshin both at the Water Gardens. Things would have been so much easier if he had succeeded with the latter. Florent became a prisoner where I’d sooner see him become a corpse. Akihana insisted. ” Shina had suggested cutting Axwell’s head off when his rebellion had ended in what he claimed blood and glory. However, Arashi’s good mother, ever merciful and gentle of heart, believed that treasonous scum deserved better.

“Now we have a werewolf disappearing from Hoshigakure...while another disappeared from it. There is no doubt this is Florent who amidst the chaos of Valen’s attack, he escaped from his cell. A half-assed shinobi named Tenma Ketsuki was the guard that day and he has been missing too since then. Some suggest Florent ate him, but I suspect he was the one who let him out.”

Shina knew there was no denying Tenma was talented and driven. He was not a loyal man, however. Tenma refused his family to join a military institution such as Hoshigakure and then didn’t abide by their teachings, once inconveniencing him. Taking up with Valen when he had the upper hand against Hoshigakure Forces, then left as soon as the tide of war turned against them.

Hoshigakure’s Prince touched on a sensitive topic between both. He gave the fuinjutsu expert prop, of course, but Shina felt her lotioned face growing dark and bitter at the memory.

“I deserved the white cloak, and I was passed over for you, Arashi. I led the vanguard and smashed the Grimma host in the rear during the Battle of Haven, where half their war chiefs and lieutenants perished or taken captive. It would have been all of them if that Red Chicken or whatever they called him had not rallied them to make an escape when the day was lost for the Grimma army.”

Shina had lusted for battle more than anything else during the early days of Hoshigakure. But it was her low birth and past that made the high lords and royalty of Haven snub her. No raider offspring shall wear the white cloak. She remembered the high priest chanting. It had taken Harold Graymane to hold her as she tried to stab the man in the throat.

“You stayed in the palace and guarded the Queen and her kin during the battle. So I suppose the title suited you in a literal sense.” Shina smiled at her wit. Sometimes she felt the world had a hidden joke that only she could understand. “Perhaps the whole incident was a blessing in disguise. I’m management now.” 

She opened her drawer and pulled out a different folder. “And as management, let me return to the topic at hand.” She pushed the file forwards. Inside it were the details the Kumo native would need, including the arenas selected by her that the events would take place and any other information he would need to proctor the Chuunin Exams, which currently occupied the priority list Major Villages.

“First, the Chuunin Exams. Then we deal with Florent.”

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