The Lady Of The Rain(Naruto Fanfiction)

Castle of Water,Near Tanigakure,Land of Rivers, Summer-Winter 1430 PT.2

  Jomei’s future hangs in balance: she is swinging like the Hanged Man. All of my family, my father Piko the Count of St Mizuki, my uncle Ryuu of Goto, and my favorite uncle, Junzo of Goto, are allied with the Land of Fire. My father writes from our home at the chateau at St Mizuki to his brother Junzo, and commands him, as the head of our family, to hand over Jomei to the Land of Fire. But my great-aunt the Lady insists we keep her safe; and my uncle Junzo hesitates.

The Land of Fire demand his prisoner and, since the Land of Fire command nearly all of the Land of Rivers and their ally the Duke of Izumi commands most of the rest, what they say usually happens. Their common soldiers went down on their knees on the battlefield to give thanks, and wept with joy when the Maid was captured. There is no doubt in their mind that without her the Rivers army, their enemy, will collapse into the frightened rabble that they were before she came to them.  

The Duke of Konohagakure, the Land of Fire regent who rules the Fire lands in the Land of Rivers, almost all of the north of the country, sends daily letters to my uncle invoking his loyalty to the Land of Fire rule, their long friendship, and promising money. I like to watch the Fire messengers who come dressed in the fine livery of the royal duke, on beautiful horses. Everyone says that the duke is a great man and well loved, the greatest man in Rivers, an ill man to cross; but so far, my uncle obeys his aunt, the Lady, and does not hand over our prisoner.

My uncle expects the Rivers court to make a bid for her - They owe their very existence to her after all - but they are oddly silent, even after he writes to them and says that he has the Maid, and that she is ready to return to court of her king and serve again in his army. With her leading them they could ride out against the Land of Fire and win. Surely they will send a fortune to get her back?

“They don't want her,” my great-aunt advises him. They are at their private dining table, the great dinner for the whole household has taken place in the hall and the two of them have sat before my uncle's men, tasted the dishes and sent them round the room as a gift to their special favourites. Now they are comfortable, seated at a little table before the fire in my great-aunt’s private rooms, her personal servants in attendance. I am to stand during the serving of dinner with another lady in waiting. It is my job to watch the servants, summon them forwards as required, clasp my hands modestly before me, and hear nothing. Of course, I listen all the time.

“Jomei made a man out of the boy Prince Chieko, he was nothing until she came to him with her vision, then she made that man into a king. She taught him to claim his inheritance. She made an army out of his camp-followers, and made that army victorious. If they had followed her advice as she followed her voices, they would have driven the Land of Fire out of these lands and back to their foggy villages, and we would be rid of them forever.”

My uncle smiles. “Oh, my lady aunt! This is a war that has gone on nearly a century. Do you really think it will end because some girl from who knows where hear voices? She could never drive the Fire away. They would never have gone; they will never go. These are their lands by right, by true right of inheritance, and by conquest too. All they have to do is to have courage and strength to hold them, and Jiro Duke of Konohagakure will see to that.” He glances at his wineglass and I snap my fingers to the groom of servery to pour him some more red wine. I step forwards to hold on the glass as the man pours, and then I put it carefully on the table. They are using fine glassware; my uncle is wealthy and my great-aunt never has anything but the very best. “The Fire king may be little more than a child, but it makes no difference to the safety of his kingdom, for his uncle Konohagakure is loyal to him here, and his uncle the Duke of Hakone is loyal to him in the Land of Fire. Konohagakure has the courage and the allies to hold the Fire lands here, and I think they will drive the Prince further and further south. They will drive him into the sea. The Maid had her season, and it was remarkable one; but in the end, the Land of Fire will win the war and hold the lands that are theirs by right, and all of our lords who are sworn against them now will bow the knee and serve them.”

“I don't think so,” my great-aunt says staunchly. “The Land of Fire are terrified of her. They say she is unbeatable.”

“Not anymore,” my uncle observes. “For behold! She is a prisoner, and the cell doors don't burst open. They know she is mortal now. They saw her with an arrow in her thigh outside the walls of Tanigakure and her own army marched off and left her. The Land of  Rivers themselves taught the Land of Fire that she could be brought down and abandoned."

“But you won't give her to the Land of Fire,” my great-aunt states. “It would be to dishonour us forever, in the eyes of God and the world.”

My uncle leans forwards to speak confidentially. “You take it so seriously? You really think she is more than a mountebank? You really think she is something more than a peasant girl spouting nonsense? You know I could find half a dozen such as her?

“You could find half a dozen who say they are like her; she says. “But not one like her. I think she is a special girl. Truly I do, nephew. I have a very strong sense of this.”

He pauses, as if her sense of things, though she is only a woman, is something to be considered. “You have had a vision of her success? A foretelling?

For a moment she hesitates, then she quickly shakes her head. “Nothing so clear. But nonetheless, I must insist that we protect her.”

He pauses, not wanting to contradict her. She is the Lady of Goto, head of our family. My father will inherit the title when she dies; but she also owns great lands that are all at her own disposition: she can will them to anyone she chooses. My uncle Junzo is her favorite nephew; he has hopes, and he does not want to offend her.

“The Land of Rivers will have to pay a good price for her,” he says. “I don't intend to lose money on her. She is worth a king’s ransom. They know this.”

My great-aunt nods. “I will write to Prince Chieko and he will ransom her,” she tells him. “Whatever his advisors say, he will still listen to me, though he is blown about like a leaf by his favourites. But I am his godmother. It is a question of honour. He owes all that he is to the Maid.”

“Very well. But do it at once. The Land of Fire are very pressing and I won't offend the Duke of Konohagakure.  He is a powerful man, and a fair one. He is the best ruler of the Land of Rivers that we could hope for. If he were a Riversman he would be wholly loved.”

My great-aunt laughs. “Yes, but he is not! He’s the Land of Fire regent, and he should go back to his own damp land and his little nephew, the poor king, and make what they can of their own kingdom and leave us to rule Rivers.”

“Us?” my uncle queries, as if to ask her if she thinks that our family, who already rule half dozen earldoms and who count kinship to the Holy Emperors, should be Rivers kings as well.

She smiles. “Us,” she says blandly.