Necessary Corruption 15 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Kejmur

-VB-

Necessary Corruption

Chapter 15: Heartbeats

-VB-

It’s been over a year since I have been to my homeland, and while I did not want to leave the Land of Waves so early, I had to.

This meant that I had to take a gamble.

To see if my attempts at courting her had swayed Tsunami into joining me.

Honestly, this was a lot more anxious than any other time. Sure, my father’s death was the lowest point of my life, and claiming dominance in Southern Land of Rivers was exhilarating. Never in my life had I been so … nervous. Never in my life did I dread a rejection.

But.

I needed to know.

I hid my nerves as I walked up to her house. I wanted this to be just about her and me. I didn’t want her to feel pressured, and as such, I left all but two of my guards behind and those two were hiding in the shadows.

I saw Hatake walk out of her house, and felt a stab of jealousy and pride.

The idiot didn’t even know how valuable Tsunami-san was. He lived in the same house as her because he was hired by her father to provide her entire family with protection, but as days went by, I became more and more convinced that the mystique of the shinobi I had were just lies.

I see clearly now that none of my retinue were any less than the ninjas. Those “genins,” the lowest of the ninja ranks, existed in a state far beneath any of my combat specialists and even some of the support retinue.

(I had to get that blonde genin some good gifts for being so open with me).

I may be reaching beyond my station, but I wondered.

Could the Land of Rivers become something … more?

I wanted to know.

I wanted to embrace such a future.

Perhaps…

I sighed as I digress within my own mind again just after seeing Hatake. I must be really nervous.

I put up a smile as Kakashi eye-smiled and stepped aside, no doubt ready to go and see how his genins were doing. With him out of the way, I went up to the door and knocked.

Or would have if Tsunami didn’t open it first.

She blinked when she saw me. And then she smiled a happy smile. My heart melted.

“Takanori-dono!”

I wished that she would be amenable to calling me something more familiar. She’s refused so far.

“Tsunami-san,” I greeted with a smile of my own. “Would you mind if we talked in private?”

She looked surprised by my question and nodded. She closed the door, slipped on her sandals, and walked with me. At the very least, I was happy she was comfortable with me.

“What did you want to talk about, Takanori-dono?” she asked sweetly.

… Was I fiddling with my fingers?

Oh God, I was fiddling with my fingers.

I took a shuddering deep breath.

I felt so vulnerable.

I stopped. Secluded as we were in the woods and away from people, I was ready to open up to her.

“Tsunami.”

She stopped when I called her name without the honorific. She looked at me kindly.

“I have to go back to the Land of Rivers,” I told her slowly, and she understood and seemed sad. “And I want you to come with me.”

Now, she looked really surprised, eyebrows high up, eyes wide, and a hand over her nearly gaping lips.

“Taka-. No, Jin-s-. Jin. Are you … sure you want me?” she asked quietly. She looked sad. Why did she look sad? “I’m a widow. A twice-widowed woman.”

Of course, I wanted her. I didn’t care that she was a widow and had a kid. Inari was a decent kid, if a little pessimistic.

“I am asking you, yes.”

“... But what if I don’t want to?”

My heart froze.

She stuttered out quickly. “Not because I don’t want to go with you, I do!”

Now she blushed and embarrassed, and I felt … safe? I felt better, certainly.

“Then…?”

“But every man I’ve married died horribly. I don’t want to see you die, too.”

I blinked. “Wait, you think that…?”

“I don’t think I’m cursed, but a pattern does exist.”

I snorted. “Tsunami, I have over a hundred ninja-like retinues ready to defend me to their last breath-” and I wasn’t kidding about that. “- and a few of them can even perform some miracles that even ninjas can’t do.”

Because one of the latest retinues to join me could apparently resurrect people as long as they had half of the body.

“Even so…”

I turned to her and gently took her hands in mine.

“If you believe that bad things can happen, then let me take a share of that burden. Will you come to the Land of Rivers with me and marry me?”

Her eyes teared up and she smiled happily.

“Yes.”

I smiled. I laughed. I hugged her and she hugged me.

And then, out of passion, I kissed her.

For a moment, she didn’t respond.

And then she did.

-VB-

Kakashi knew that he was intruding on a very special moment for the two, but he wanted to gather information and he had.

Lord Takanori’s declaration of being in possession of a hundred “ninja-like” retinue did not make him feel good about the future.

A hundred ninjas was a serious power, especially for a lord of a land that lacked a ninja village. In fact, Kakashi was sure that one hundred average chunins from Konohagakure could easily set up a small hidden village in the Land of Rivers.

This information needed to reach the Hokage-sama ASAP, especially since Konohagakure had ties to the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers.

It wouldn’t do for Konoha to let one of its allies lose power, hmm?

Kakashi did not notice the shadows watching him. The shadow will remember this.