You and me, Hyeonmu

[Taiga]

A familiar warm liquid pooled in his mouth as Masamune edged forth from his unconscious state. His eyes watered as he tried to find his bearings, his eyes failing in their search as they were met with an eternal darkness. An intimidating aura surrounded his body and emanated forth from him. It was dark and foreboding and combined with the damp and stale air about him, whittled down his resolve and pushed him ever closer to despair. For some reason he couldn’t feel the resonance he held with Hyeonmu. He couldn’t retreat into the recesses of his mind to counsel with him, almost as if his bond had been severed.

His mind had figured out the familiar liquid- Blood. It had been far to familiar to go by unrecognized, its iconic iron taste a dead giveaway. His mouth was filling with blood, and as he regained his senses in his extremities he swallowed his screams of pain. Finally calming himself, he realized he was hanging upside down. He couldn’t remember how he had gotten here. It didn't matter though.

His stomach writhed and the seal burn, a sensation he hadn't felt since the day his fate was intertwined with Hyeonmu.

---

Perhaps the warmest night yet, the spring air was crisp and clean, the streets of Konoha were filled with bustling life. Children ran from house to house playing ghost in the graveyard while their parents enjoyed the nice weather with social drinking. No matter where one was within the village, the moon shone upon them with clarity.

The setting had been marvelous and the night alone especially spectacular for the young Senju. Though he had grown to care deeply for Saya things had not worked out. He had found himself alone in the world. He had found himself in great pain, pain of the heart, and just when things had been as dark as they could be, she appeared in his life.

Isobe Katsumi.

She was a slender girl and eighteen, two years older than Masamune. Her hair was a fiery orange-red like the sun and her eyes a warm and inviting brown tone. Unlike any woman before in his life, Katsumi had understood him. She had cared for him deeply and went out of her way to help him feel at ease when... inside... he was at his darkest depths. She was gentle and had made a man out of him.

Katsumi was hurting from the tragedy that befell her upon a previous mission, and Masamune’s heart had become a hole as his sealing made him neither man nor beast. Both alone in the world, they were united, and filled the holes of each other’s hearts over the course of the winter. With neither fit for duty they had spent days from sunrise till sundown with each other. They had shared their fantasies. Their fears. Their darkest secrets- Hyeonmu included.

Inseparable Masamune wished for the winter to never end each night as he laid beside Katsumi. This was a life that allowed him to feel happy, and for the first time, not alone. Things only progressed further and with each kiss, Masamune wondered if he could retire from the ninja life. He wondered if he could marry Katsumi and start a beautiful family with her, together in their own perfect sect of reality.

With each wish and desire Hyeonmu warned him though, that like all humans, and especially a woman who was a kunoichi, she could not be trusted. Defiantly Masamune had ignored these warnings, incapable of breaking before the beast’s malice. Hyeonmu was wrong and Katsumi could be trusted. She was his world. She was more than a playful crush like Saya or others, she was love that Masamune yearned for with the passion of a million suns.

---

This happy life didn't last forever, as the life they had come accustomed too was stolen at the whim of Konoha, and once more Masamune was reminded that he was their weapon. He had agreed to this and willingly accepted it, yet each time he was called upon he grew more bitter, Hyeonmu laughing at the fact. This time, they notified him that they were very pleased with the positive results of the past months, the boy having been incredibly stable without a single sign of Hyeonmu surfacing. This was good news and pointed to the idea that they had chosen a good host.

They also decided that it was time to push the envelope, to test his boundaries, and to begin to actually develop him as a weapon of the village. To do this, he was assigned to a B-Rank mission and placed within a selected team of Jounin. They would be traveling outside of Konoha for a slight incursion to take care of a small group of disorganized bandits. It was dangerous and could potentially awaken the beast’s latent powers in the boy, however it was a situation controllable enough that Konoha had little worry for the safety of anyone involved.

News of the mission had sent his stress level sky-rocketing, Masamune fearful and hardly capable of sleeping the night. He had not engaged in combat and he did not know what tricks Hyeonmu had up it’s sleeve to control him. Noticing his stress and knowing his predicament, Katsumi promised him that she would protect everyone and Masamune from himself. Begging to be added to the mission, her fuuinjutsu and iijutsu made her a valuable member to the team. Hyeonmu sat silent during this all. He wouldn’t need any tricks. Humans destroyed themselves without him needing to lift a single finger.

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