aiko wap 22: clan contrast

CHAPTER 22

As soon as Madara was out of earshot, Izuna dropped part of the cheerful facade. "You wish to prevent the battle?" He was serious, but his eyes were soft. All his focus was on her. It was a heady feeling.

She stopped walking to give him her full attention. "I should try," she said.

Izuna's eyes softened. "It's admirable. But they will not listen to reason." He reached out towards her sleeve and then pulled his hand back before he could touch her.

Aiko followed the motion with her eyes. "You saw how their envoy acted. With no evidence or conversation and only a moment's observation, she accused us of a manipulative campaign."

Aiko clasped her hands together. She needed to do something with them. "I'm not worried about them," she said, not really sure what to say but uneasy with the idea of Izuna being afraid for her safety. "It probably won't come to violence."

His eyes sharpened. "But you have cause to believe they won't be amenable?"

It was a reach, but- "I encountered one of them already," Aiko admitted. Izuna's insight was a little spooky. She hadn't told Madara that.

Izuna paused for a moment. "The second born," he said. His tone was even and without any of the anger he definitely had for Tobirama. "The eldest rarely leaves their compound, and no one lesser would speak on their behalf."

Aiko had a brief moment of concern that Izuna might be brighter than she gave him credit for. "You're right," she said, and wondered if it mattered.

Izuna swallowed. She watched the motion in his throat. He was close enough to touch.

The moment hung in the air. She inhaled quietly and watched his face.

Eventually, he took a step back. "Be careful," Izuna said. He looked away through his eyelashes. "Our border with them is this direction. Do you see that treeline?"

Whatever had been going on in the subtext of their conversation was gone. Aiko listened to his directions, thanked him more politely than she would normally speak to him, and tried not to let his doubts affect her judgment.

The Senju were as integral to the culture that had made her as the Uchiha were. She'd met two who were unreasonable. That didn't mean anything about the clan as a whole.

'He's just so convincing,' Aiko decided. 'Between Izuna and Madara, Izuna has the charm and ability to persuade. They were born in the wrong order.'

She put thoughts of the Uchiha aside.

Izuna had given her good directions. Aiko could distantly feel the movement of agitated shinobi. They knew she was there, and they were probably going to come and see who had emerged from the Uchiha’s stronghold.

She would wait, unless they took too long. She blew out a gust of air and rubbed at her temples, wavering at the edge of the border. Aiko didn’t feel ready to go in yet. She didn’t really have a plan for this.

She had tried with Tobirama. She had done her best to use the leverage of her social status as a religious authority, and it had gone terribly.

‘...If he’s in the room, I need to leave,’ Aiko realized. ‘He’s going to be rude. And if he is, Izanami-no-Mikoto is going to strike him down. It would be cool if she used lightning this time. But I should try to avoid that.’

The absolute worst diplomatic strategy was to have a goddess immolate the leader’s little brother, even if he was an insufferable pedant. Aiko felt confident saying that. She was more than qualified to make bold statements like that about diplomacy, as a former Mizukage and Hokage, as well as a semi-reformed terrorist who had done some pretty heinous shit for destabilizing international relations. Like releasing three bijuu on an allied nation, for example, and helping Obito do anything but fall in a well and die.

Wow, that almost made her feel kinda bad about herself.

‘I’m good at politics, though,’ Aiko reassured herself. ‘Marrying Itachi off was a great move.’

"Hail," called an unfamiliar male voice.

The Senju had gotten awfully close without her notice. Aiko turned to survey their border guard. She found a middle-aged man fully kitted for war. He looked more like a samurai than a Shinobi.

"Hail," she replied calmly. "I wish to speak with Senju-sama."

He nodded immediately. It wasn't agreement - just acknowledgment that he had heard her. "From where do you come, priestess?"

…in general or right now?

"I minister to the village in the valley." Maybe that was what he wanted."I am called Aiko."

There. It was identifying enough if they knew about her, but humble enough to fit her role.

"I see." It was not approval. There was no inflection to read into the guard's voice. "Please walk with me, Aiko-sama."

Aiko reluctantly admired that steely professionalism. She liked having an emotional reaction, she toyed with people to get them and then she used them to throw people off guard. She was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen here.

It still felt alien to leave off her family name. She identified with 'Uzumaki' as much as she did 'Aiko'.

But she couldn't. The loss yawned open and bit at her chest again as the guard had her walk with him.

'It's being around clans that is bringing this up.'

Identifying the trigger didn't make her feel any better.

'I need to cope. It's not going to get easier around the Senju compound when I'm surrounded.'

At least she had time to prepare. The glacial pace was more than a bit annoying to her. Aiko ached to run. But that would come off as aggressive and probably undignified.

After about an hour of walking, they stopped at a way station. Calling it a house was too generous, but there was a building where two men were waiting in the shade with drinks. Aiko glanced at the table and noted that there were three place settings.

Someone had run ahead to tell the clan about a visitor, then, and they didn't care if she knew about it.

The three Senju shared a conversation with hand movements that she politely pretended not to see. Aiko entertained herself by looking at the Senju. Her escort's face was mostly covered, but these younger men were bare faced. All three of them had dark brown hair.

One was fairly young, probably in his mid twenties. He had tan skin, a broad jaw and thick neck, and a powerful build.

The other was in the vague "Uncle" age group, like her escort. He was built nearly as strong as the younger man, with similar broad shoulders. He had skin tags around his eyes and a downturned mouth.

'Izuna was right. They're not as pretty as the Uchiha. How did Tsunade-sama come from this genetic pool?'

The silly thought bordered on sacrilegious for a Konoha Shinobi. Aiko suppressed a giggle.

Ah, well. There's other things in life. They were probably lovely people when you get to know them.

'To be fair, Tobirama is pretty. His personality is shit but the face? Divine.'

"You will wait here." Her original escort turned and began to leave without waiting for her answer.

Aiko instinctively balked at the order. She forced her hackles down. "I understand," she said evenly. Essentially, her response was for the two men still looking at her from the table.

'Where does he get off talking to me like that?' Aiko wondered, not charmed by the audacity. 'Why even bother using polite forms with me if he's going to give me orders?'

Off-balance, she turned to the men who were still waiting.

…Except they weren’t waiting to introduce themselves. They’d gone back to their conversation.

Okay. She was getting kind of pissed off.