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Once, a very long time ago, a venerable and wise dragon from the Palace beneath the Sea washed ashore. His name was Tobirama, the Dragon Who Brings the Rain, and he was traveling to his brother’s home on land, for his brother had left the sea long ago for the love of a pure and righteous woman. The wind had told him a child had finally been born to his brother and his brother’s wife, and Tobirama was determined to pay his respects and meet his new family, as any diligent and dutiful younger brother would.
At first, all went well: rain falls everywhere on this earth, so Tobirama had some familiarity of the territory he was traversing. Although many dragons believe the land over the sea to be rather dreary and dull compared to their marvelous home, Tobirama was not one of those types, and the chance to see lands he had only sensed through falling raindrops was an exciting prospect. He traveled for quite some time, through city streets and rolling plains, over hills and mountains and even a few rivers as well, and all the while he spoke to the people who crossed his path and learned much of the world above the sea.
One day, while walking through a bamboo grove, Tobirama heard a child crying. Dragons, as a rule, are all rather soft-hearted towards children in need, and Tobirama was no different. He paused but a moment before hurrying towards the sound of tears. He walked deeper and deeper into the grove, and presently entered a clearing at the heart of it. But the clearing, to his surprise, seemed empty, even as the crying continued.
"Hello," the dragon called out. "Can I help you?"
At his words, the crying abruptly stopped, although Tobirama could still hear the sound of faint sniffling in the background. A young voice dolefully called out, "Unless you’re a magician, I don’t think you can help me."
"But I am a magician—or at least, I am a dragon, which may as well be the same thing. So why don’t you tell me your problem and I’ll see how I can help you," Tobirama coaxed, a faint smile on his face.
At those words, the air not six feet from Tobirama shimmered like the shallows after a fierce storm before suddenly falling away, revealing a young boy standing in the grove. He had curly black hair and expressive black eyes and a face made for smiles more than frowns, and he was wearing what looked like a miniature set of formal armor, lacquered in black and white. He was, in short, adorable, and Tobirama was very hard pressed to keep a straight face as the boy circled him for inspection.
"Well…you don’t look like a dragon to me," the boy said seriously. "Aren’t you supposed to be bigger? And scalier?"
"As I said, I’m magic. Just as you can hide from the naked eye, I can transform from one form into another. But-" and at this point, Tobirama raised one hand, for the boy was opening his mouth to speak, "—before we continue, we should introduce ourselves like the civilized people we are. I am Tobirama, a traveler from the Land beneath the Sea. And you are?"
The boy’s name was Kagami, and he was very, very lost. But that was the least of his problems.
"And then she forced everyone to march out to the palace of the Queen Mother of the Southern Sky," Kagami said, on the verge of tears once again.
"She forgot to hypnotize me because I’m so little, and I got away to find help, but I haven’t found a single heroic warrior or enlightened monk so far, and I have no idea who else can face down a goddess."
"Neither heroic warrior or enlightened monk can do anything against the goddess of the moon; she’s far too powerful," Tobirama said grimly, mind whirling with the new information. "She’s specifically called for war against the Queen Mother of the Southern Sky? Just her?"
"Well, her and her family," Kagami said, sniffling. "I think she and her husband just had a baby girl? I guess the moon goddess really hates babies."
"And she’s hypnotized and transformed your whole flock to act as her servants in this way?"
"Yes," the boy cried. "I don’t know why! We never did anything to her."
"You were there, that’s all," Tobirama said with a distracted hum, before abruptly kneeling in front of the little boy. "Climb on my back, we have places to be."
"I couldn’t possibly!" the little boy protested, totally scandalized. "You're a dragon from the Palace of the Queen of the Land Beneath the Waves, it's just not done!"
"You can and you will," Tobirama responded, the faintest edge of impatience in his voice. "The moon, the sun, the storms: none of these can be destroyed without a catastrophic effect on this world and the people in it. But I am the blood of the Queen of the Land Beneath the Waves, and there are more ways to win a battle than simple destruction."
"But what does that even mean?" Kagami said with a sniff, having climbed on Tobirama’s back in the meantime.
"It means we need tools for the battle ahead of us," Tobirama said firmly, and with a shake of his head, he transformed into a creature of white scale and red feather and flew into the sky, Kagami still clinging to his back.
There are a thousand-and-one temples dedicated to the Sage of the Six Paths throughout the Land over the Sea, and every single one of them claims to hold a treasure from the days of miracles, taken from the hand of the master himself. Tobirama knew better, of course, and instead of flying to any of the famed and storied shrines of old, Tobirama flew north, into the deep and mountainous wilds where humans rarely tread. He flew for hours through the cool and misty clouds, ever mindful of the small weight upon his back, before finally landing at the foot of a dark mountain. With another shake of his regal head, Tobirama transformed yet again, condensing from one form to another.
"How does that work?" Kagami asked curiously as he scrambled down Tobirama’s back. "If that’s your real body, why do you use this one?"
"Ah, but who is to say this isn’t also my real body?" Tobirama questioned, amusement ringing in every vowel.
"That doesn’t make any sense", Kagami declared forthrightly. "You can’t have two bodies."
"I only have one body, not two," the mighty dragon agreed as he walked towards the trees. "But instead of discussing the metaphysical basis of magical transformation, perhaps we should focus on the people we are about to meet."
"Whoever lives here?" Kagami asked, peering the wilderness around them. "It’s so empty…"
"Well, I do." The voice that answered was self-assured, for all its youth. There, in the branches of the second-tallest tree, was another young boy. He was looking down on Tobirama and Kagami with unabashed curiosity from his perch atop the needle-tipped bough. "But I think the greater question is why a dragon from the Palace under the Sea would come to the land of the Dream-Eaters. Isn’t this a bit out of your way, Master Dragon?"
"No more than any other place in this foreign land," Tobirama replied. "But I confess that my companion and I came on an errand. I’m searching for Takara-no-kimi. Would you mind guiding us to her?"
The boy was silent and still for a long moment; Kagami fidgeted as the pause grew longer. Suddenly, the other boy leaped from the treetop to land in front of Tobirama and made a short bow. This close, Tobirama could see the tell-tale signs of an incomplete transformation: the boy had gotten the face and hair right, and even the number of fingers, but his eyes remained an unnatural yellow color, and the pupils were slitted like a cat's. Tobirama didn't say anything, for he had no time to waste on sulking children.
"Sure, I’ll take you. I can’t guarantee that she’ll see you, though," the boy warned before turning away towards some hidden path, and Tobirama nodded in understanding as they followed.
The boy led Tobirama and Kagami through the underbrush at a quick pace, and soon enough, they reached their destination: a ruined and wasted abbey. The threshold of the gates still stood, but no doors hung; the main hall had fallen, and the reliquary was halfway there. Only the bell tower still stood, unmolested by fire or storm.
"Wow," Kagami whispered. "What happened here?"
"War and time, that’s all," a woman said as she stepped out of the shadow of the main hall. She was tall and thin and dressed in the simple clothes of a supplicant, but something about her aura felt dangerous, like a trap ready to snap close on an unwary hare. "I admit, I’m surprised: I never thought to see a dragon in this lonely haunt. What can the Dream-Eaters do for one such as you?"
"You are Takara-no-kimi, are you not?" Tobirama asked acerbically. The woman snorted in assent, and Tobirama bowed his head in respect, gritting his teeth all the while. He’d heard tales of how infuriatingly casual the Dream-Eaters could be; it was disappointing that the stories were true.
"I am Tobirama, a dragon from the Court of the Queen of the Land Beneath the Waves. I’ve promised my young friend here that I would aid in him rescuing his family from a witch, and to that end, I’d hoped you could aid me," Tobirama said, trying to sound humble instead of impatient.
"You say a witch, but I think you mean a goddess," Takara-no-kimi observed sharply, brushing strands of black hair out of her fierce eyes. "The moon ought to be waxing, but instead it’s already turned dark. She must have descended once again—in search of her lost treasure, I suppose."
Tobirama nodded.
"But if you seek to break a hypnosis, it’s true you’ve come to the right place," the dream-eater said with a sigh. "Follow me, Master Dragon—Danzo! Stay with Master Tobirama’s companion, give him a tour of the place."
Without bothering to see if Danzo would do so, Takara-no-kimi turned and began striding for the reliquary, her long legs eating up the distance. Tobirama waited a moment to ensure Danzo took Kagami’s hand and started tugging him around, then followed after her.
There was a door into the bell tower, but it led down instead of up. Tobirama walked in single file after Takara-no-kimi, careful to step only where she stepped as they went further into the earth. There were no torches, but it was unnecessary: both of them could see in the dark.
Several moments into the walk down, Takara-no-kimi spoke for the first time since they’d entered the tower. "So what brought this latest expedition from the most incurious of the ladies of the Heavenly Court? She usually doesn’t bestir herself for just anything."
"The Queen Mother of the Southern Sky has just given birth to her first child," Tobirama said evenly. Takara-no-kimi hissed through her teeth.
"Ah, a twist in the old tale! I suppose the child is a daughter? Yes, the lady of the moon is so very possessive of her place in the hierarchy of heaven. Another star in the sky would not sit well with her—and for this new star to be her hated sister's get…"
"Yes, you understand the way of it," Tobirama replied, and Takara-no-kimi laughed, her eyes flashing golden in the darkness.
"Still, it's strange," she murmured in response, before trailing off into an introspective silence.
It was quiet between them for awhile. Down and down they went, deeper and deeper into the ground. At last, the dream-eater stopped at a landing and forced open a sturdy door. It was exactly as Tobirama expected: an armory, but not one most would recognize. No weapons filled the room; no armor was racked for battle. Instead, the room was filled with every manner of lamp in the world. Takara-no-kimi scanned the room in an instant, before sighing irritably.
"Not this one," she snapped before closing the door and turning back to the stairs. Another turn of the stairs brought them to another door, and she did nothing more than open this one halfway before shaking her head and closing it. Tobirama saw a panoply of temple bells in that room, all inscribed with the symbols for exorcism. Two more rooms passed in exactly this way, filled with sutra scrolls and shining mirrors, before Takara-no-kimi found what she was looking for.
"Ha!" she barked out a harsh laugh as she looked into the fifth room. "I knew it was down here somewhere."
The fifth room was filled with nothing but incense burners. Tobirama stood at the door as Takara-no-kimi went inside, watching curiously as she went straight to a particular table and lifted one burner up. It was a lovely thing made of bronze in the shape of a magpie, and the dream-eater inspected it critically before nodding once and tucking it under her left arm.
"This will do for your purposes," she announced, and as she walked back to the entrance of the room, she picked up a bundle of incense sticks laid out on another table. Her shadow fell on the wall behind her, twisting into a monstrous form. Tobirama averted his eyes; some things are not meant to be seen.
"I would offer you a mirror, but they’re only good for spell deflection, not casting a goddess back into her place," Takara-no-kimi said offhandedly, bangs falling back into her face. She held out the incense sticks to Tobirama, and after he took them, closed the door to the room behind her before jogging back up the stairs to the surface. "I think the sea is a traditional choice, isn’t it?"
"Yes, it is," Tobirama said, smiling thinly. "I’m only worried about drawing her out after the crows are freed."
"Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that at all," Takara-no-kimi said with a scoff. "My neighbors make the most delicious food in the world; I’m sure they’ll have something to tempt even her rarefied palate."
And indeed, the dream-eater's neighbors did make the most delicious food in the world.
"Master Dragon, you should eat more," the lady of the house scolded. "You’re barely more than skin and bones!"
This was manifestly untrue, but to the Akimichi, Tobirama may indeed have come across as a bit…flimsy. But in truth, anyone would when compared to a family of people as broad and strong as the trees.
"Oh, leave him alone, Lady Yoko," Takara-no-kimi murmured, not even lifting her eyes from the bowl of soup in front of her. "If he eats one more bite, he may very well explode."
"And yet you still eat, Takara!" the Lady Akimichi said with gentle amusement. "But your point is well taken. Master Dragon, let’s adjourn to a more private setting. I’m sure we have much to discuss regarding the movement of the moon."
Tobirama got to his feet and followed the Lady Akimichi. Behind him, Takara-no-kimi had moved on the sweet dumplings left on the table.
The main house of the Akimichi compound was warm and comforting, if a little shabby. One of the innumerable Akimichi cousins had told Tobirama they had lived there for ten generations, and it showed, but it was a charming place nevertheless. There were people everywhere within the halls, all of them cheerful and bright, and Tobirama watched with more than a little amazement as the Lady Akimichi navigated the halls without touching a single one of them. Lamps were lit at regular intervals, and the shadows had no home here—and everywhere, the kiyobu cho was blazoned on the walls and doors in maroon and gray. Eventually, she opened up one of those very same doors, and they exited onto the back porch. Kagami had been secreted here most of the night with Danzo and one of the Akimichi boys.
"Ah!" she exclaimed. "Just who I was I looking for. Torifu, do you have any of those sweet honey-and-sesame dumplings left over? I shouldn’t like to bother your mother to make some more of them for me."
"Yes, Grandmother," the boy said obediently before he pushed over a single leftover dumpling. Kagami watched it go with a tragic look in his eyes; Danzo didn’t look much better.
"Thank you, my dear," the Lady Akimichi said. "I’m almost certain your cousin Satoru has a supply of ginger candy hidden in his sock drawer. If you go now, you might be able to ferret it out!"
Torifu nodded with great determination, and with Kagami on one side and Danzo on another, the three boys ran back into the house with nary a look behind them.
"That was a little unkind, my lady," Tobirama said mildly.
The lady in question only shrugged. "Satoru needs to get better at hiding his secrets if he wants them to remain secret. Now, follow me—not much longer now!"
They walked along the porch together and the Lady Akimichi finally stopped by another exterior door—locked with a seal. Puzzling, in a home with no apparent security measures. She unlocked it with a prick of her thumb, and slid the door open without ceremony, motioning for Tobirama to step inside. Once there, Tobirama felt his eyes widen, for the room was a fully functioning apothecary. Judging from some of the equipment, which not even Tobirama could not name, this was an apothecary the likes of which Tobirama would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the world.
The Lady Akimichi had immediately gone to a storage chest and began sorting through it. Three aprons, seven pairs of goggles, three mismatched work gloves and a badly cracked lens later—
"A-ha!" The Lady Akimichi made a short exclamation of glee, and held out a worn, ragged basket. "I knew it was in here somewhere! Now, where did I put my mortar and pestle?"
The red-haired woman carefully put the basket on a table next to the dumpling her grandson had given her, and then rummaged around in another lab station, producing a mortar and pestle in short order. Then her hands flew like lightning towards the chest of many drawers against the wall behind the workstation, pulling out ingredient after ingredient, most of which Tobirama couldn’t name. He still averted his eyes—some secrets were not meant to be shared.
"Oh, my dear, you can watch if you want," the Lady Akimichi said absentmindedly as she began grinding some ingredients in the mortar. They looked oddly reminiscent of butterfly wings. "You wouldn’t be able to replicate it even if you tried."
I’m entirely certain I could, Tobirama thought, but, well, dragons are prone to great hubris as well as great kindness.
Within a few moments and the addition of a few more ingredients, the Lady Akimichi had made a thin paste. She then filled a syringe with the paste and without further ceremony injected it into the sesame dumpling. It was the work of a moment, and then she carefully placed the dumpling in the worn basket before covering the top with a kerchief.
"There," she said, pleased as punch. "That should be enough dumplings for every crow to have at least one."
Tobirama tried very hard to keep a look of skepticism off his face. It was clear, however, that he failed, given the hearty peal of laughter the Lady Akimichi released.
"Oh, you needn’t look so worried, dear," the Lady Akimichi said, smiling cheerfully. "I know this old thing doesn’t look like much, but the magic is still as good and strong as ever. Look for yourself!"
Tobirama carefully took off the handkerchief, only to see not just a single dumpling, but a dozen-dozen dumplings—more than enough to feed a veritable army of crows. His eyes widened despite himself.
"…my lady Akimichi," he murmured. "Takara-no-kimi was right when she said yours was the most generous table in all the land."
"Oh, that one ought to know, given how many times she’s invited herself over," the Lady Akimichi snorted. "Now, let’s return to the main part of the house. I have beds set aside for our guests, and I’m sure you’ll want to rest before your journey."
They left the Akimichi compound right as dawn touched the horizon, for although the moon goddess had left her heavenly abode, one never knew who—or what—was watching. The entire Akimichi Clan, plus Takara-no-kimi and her son, saw them off. Kagami, surprisingly enough was loathe to leave—at least, not without his new friends.
"Are you sure you can’t carry them, too?" the boy pouted, his companions doing their best impression of begging puppies. Torifu was able to pull it off quite well; Danzo, less so.
"No," Tobirama said flatly. "The only reason I’m not leaving you here with them is because someone needs to explain things to your family once we break the glamor, and I doubt they’ll listen to me. Now make your goodbyes, and then we’ll go."
As Kagami threw himself back into the crowd of muttering Akimichi children, Tobirama pivoted and bowed to the Matriarch of the house, Takara-no-kimi standing beside her. In all the world there couldn’t be a pair more different between the dark, sardonic Takara-no-kimi and the towering, ebullient lady Akimichi, but both had proven straight and true. "Lady Akimichi, I thank you for your hospitality, and I hope very much to return the favor one day."
"I thank the both of you for your assistance in the matter of the crows," Tobirama continued as he rose from his bow. "If either of you ever have a need for my assistance, only say my name and I will come."
"We’ll keep that in mind, Master Dragon," Takara-no-kimi drawled. "Try not to die when you face the dearly beloved personification of the Moon. It’s awfully hard to collect from a corpse."
Lady Akimichi didn’t do anything so coarse as elbow the other women, but she did cast a particularly piercing glance at the younger woman before turning her attention back to Tobirama. "What my neighbor means to say is we will pray for your victory, Master Dragon. I’m only sorry I could not provide you with a lure for her—but I suspect, given how the sky hasn’t turned red and begun raining blood, that the Queen Mother of the Southern Sky is well able to hold her off. "
Tobirama only shrugged. "Truthfully, I wouldn’t be surprised to arrive and find all the fighting is over. At least, I can only hope so."
With a final bow, Tobirama turned back toward Kagami, only to see the boy standing at attention, now with the addition of a knapsack bearing the Akimichi mon.
"I sincerely hope your new friends aren’t in that backpack," He said, half in jest, but the boy took him seriously, and opened it up. The pack was filled with bento upon bento, lovingly wrapped in red fabric and tied with white string. There were enough for a veritable crowd of boys and dragons, and Tobirama had no doubt the food within was delicious in every way.
"Nope, just lunch," he said cheerfully. Tobirama smiled at him a little, and then turned and bowed to the Lady Akimichi once again, and with just a flick of his hand, neatly transformed into a dragon once again, whiskers flowing in wind.
"That is a very majestic pose," Takara-no-kimi said, not even bothering to hide the laughter in her voice, and she only smirked when Tobirama blew an unamused huff of air at her face. Kagami scrambled onto Tobirama's back, pack swinging off his shoulder to bang Tobirama's flank once or twice, and as soon as Tobirama felt the boy was safely ensconced on his back, he leapt into the dawning sky.
"I really liked them," Kagami whispered a little later, the dark mountain behind them and the sun directly ahead, the fare-thee-wells of the Akimichi echoing in the distance. "They were nice."
Tobirama cannot speak in this form, or he would tell the crow-turned-boy that people often are. For all his cousins' disdain of the world outside the Palace under the Sea, Tobirama had gloried in meeting the people of the world, high and low and everything in between. But perhaps it’s for the best he couldn’t, because at the end of this journey, Kagami will return to being just another crow, and they will never see each other again.
It sent a pang through his heart, but Tobirama is a dragon, and dragons are nothing if not practical. He ignored the feeling in favor of things he could change, like ejecting one grasping moon goddess from the earth back into the heavens.
Tobirama had never seen his sister-in-law’s home, but the Fortress of the East was every bit as impressive as the stories said. The walls had the height of ten men, and the towers were thrice that, with the red banners of her house unfurled over the gates, the triple spiral of wind, wave, and fire blazoned in white on each one. But even more impressive was the fact that it was currently floating in the air, exactly like a castle shouldn’t.
"Is that normal?" Kagami said. "I've never seen one before, but I didn’t think castles did that."
In answer, Tobirama flew directly towards the castle, the boy squawking from the sudden change in velocity. There was no magic barrier in place—but then again, why would there be? It was a literal castle in the sky. Within the walls was a pleasant garden filled with flowers and butterflies and bees.it was a familiar place, and it was there Tobirama made his final landing. By the time he transformed and let Kagami down, a door slammed open nearby and a familiar figure appeared, stark and white against the verdant greenery of the garden.
"Brother!" Hashirama shouted in greeting, just as boisterous as ever. It had been decades since he’d left the Palace of the Queen of the Land Beneath the Waves, decades since Tobirama had seen him in the flesh, but he still looked the same as ever: ridiculously tall, ridiculously gawky, just ridiculous in every way. Tobirama had missed him intensely.
"Brother," Tobirama responded with a small smile, and then there were no more words, as Hashirama embraced him tightly. Kagami squeaked, somehow caught up between the two. Hashirama had that effect on people.
"Tobirama, I’m so glad you’ve come. We’ve had the most dreadful trouble with Kaguya-hime! She's descended in search of chakra, and refuses to return to the moon!"
"Yes, we all saw the moon go dark," Tobirama replied. "Has she made her demands known?"
"Just the usual list," another voice replied. "The life of our newborn daughter, and all the peaches she can eat besides. Hashirama may give her one; I certainly cannot give her the other."
Tobirama turned to the new arrival and bowed in respect. It was Mito, his sister-in-law, resplendent in a seven-layered crimson robe and bearing her magic scepter with ease. The Queen of the Southern Sky was a powerful sorceress in her own right—but more than that, she was beloved of his brother, and delightfully terrifying.
"I’m glad you’re here, Tobirama," she continued, regal as a distant star. Then she smiled, and became somewhat more approachable. "This husband of mine has done his best to keep her army at bay, but we can’t think of a way to defeat Kaguya-hime without killing her pawns—and I mislike that idea intensely. Have you any suggestions?"
Tobirama smiled back at her, and drew Kagami forward from where the boy had been hiding behind his legs. "Never fear, sister; I came with gifts and a friend, and we should be able to eliminate that problem with no bloodshed necessary."
Seen from above, Tobirama could only laugh at the trap Hashirama and Mito had set for Kaguya. Apparently, Mito's castle did not usually float in the sky ("Well, sometimes it does," Mito temporized. "But it's not the right time of year for that, honestly."). Nor was it usually surrounded by a lush and verdant forest ("You know I can't help that, right?" Hashirama said with a laugh. "It just sort of appears around me!"). But together, they'd created something amazing—for Hashirama had coaxed the forest to grow in the precise form for the seals of ingathering —all 153 seals, written in negative space in a series of concentric rings, completed with a central clearing in the shape of the seal for "harvest".
"It's so clever. Mito's idea, I presume," Tobirama said slyly, and his brother's proud expression vaulted into exaggerated despair. Mito rolled her eyes at them, well used to the brothers' antics whenever they were together.
"It's drawn her pawns into the forest, away from more fruitful lines of attack," she said dismissively. "She knows the power of the golden peach is somewhere, but she can't pinpoint it with any accuracy. A forest is the obvious place to look, and the seals ensure the crows don't want to leave, drawing them further and further in—"
"But they're all right?" Kagami interrupted, looking up anxiously from his perch near the cradle Mito's servants had brought out. A golden light shone from within the blankets, and one tiny, perfect hand was grasping the boy's fingers, glowing within the shadow of his hand.
"They're fine," Mito assured with a gentle expression on her face. "The peaches my sister seeks so desperately do not exist, but there are plenty of other fruiting trees and brambles for them to gather food from, and springs for water. The worst that's happened to them is they've wandered around lost, for days, swearing at each other and at the trees."
"That does sound like them," Kagami agreed, more than a little relieved, and turned back to the cradle to coo at the baby, idly biting into a riceball from the food the Akimichi had given them. Mito watched them a few moments more, eyes unusually soft, before turning back towards Tobirama and Hashirama.
"So you have brought us a tool to break Kaguya's control over the crows, as well as a method to end their transformation," Mito said. "Combined with the power of the rune in the center of the forest, that should do nicely for getting them out of the way."
"But what about Kaguya?" Tobirama questioned, eyes intent on his sister-in-law. "Neither Takara-no-kimi or the Lady Akimichi had any tools to attack her directly, so I fear I will be of little help there."
"Oh, I'm sure that is most untrue," Mito said. "As it happens, Hashirama and I have already thought of how to cast her out of this world, and you're a necessary part of the plan."
"I sincerely hope you were not waiting for me to arrive," he replied testily, a most appalled look sitting on his face. "A plan dependent on a missing actor is no—"
"No, brother, of course not," Hashirama exclaimed with raised hands and a smile. "But Mito's plan requires both of us, and someone needs to guard Saika, just in case Kaguya has other servants hiding in the underbrush. I am glad you've arrived, though—this castle can be a bit confining when you can't leave!"
The next day dawned bright and clear, with nary a cloud in the sky. Kagami was still half-asleep as he tumbled out of the bed he'd been tucked into last night. Tobirama impatiently helped him pull on his armor and hurried him out to the garden where they'd landed the day before, Kagami yawning in the shadow of Mito's castle walls. Hashirama was already waiting for them there, face unexpectedly serious as he looked down upon the bundle in his arms. Even all wrapped up, light leaked out around his daughter's swaddling.
"Saika is a really pretty baby," Kagami said drowsily, looking at the familial tableau. "But I don't understand why that goddess wants her dead so badly."
Tobirama, staring at that same tableau, only shrugged. "She doesn't care about the girl, she cares about the power inside of her. Everything else is secondary to that."
"Yeah, but what kind of power can Saika have?" Kagami asked, a little more alert as he looked up at the dragon. Tobirama didn't answer, and after a moment, Kagami put the question away, at least for the present, and walked forward towards Hashirama, greeting the other dragon with a smile.
"Good morning, Kagami!" Hashirama murmured quietly. The bundle within his arms shifted a little before settling down as Hashirama immediately began rocking it back and forth.
Tobirama raised one brow as he stepped beside Kagami, and Hashirama shrugged a little. "Saika is a little fussy in the morning."
"How are you going to take her to the surface, then?" Kagami asked as he stood on his tiptoes and strained to see the baby's face.
"I'll hold her, of course," Mito said from behind both of them, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Kagami, poor boy, jumped in surprise; Tobirama had to put a gentle hand on his shoulder to calm him. "Ordinarily, I would ride the winds down, but she hasn't shown any sign of appreciating that method of travel yet, so I suppose Hashirama can take us down instead."
And without further ado, Mito took her daughter from Hashirama's arms and took a single step back. Hashirama just smiled tenderly at her, before sweeping his arms up in front of his face. Between one second and the next, his form changed from that of a tall, dark man with long hair and dun robes, to a dragon coloured in black and gold, a dark brother to Tobirama's other form. He bent his great head to his wife's bright hair, and sighed a little as she looked up at him calmly.
"Take heart, my dear," she responded. "It will all be over with by noon, I'm sure."
And with those confident words, she ascended up his flank to his shoulders, settling down light as a feather. All the while, Saika never made a noise. Kagami only stared at her for a moment, before Tobirama nudged the boy on the shoulder. With a yelp, he turned around with a jump, before finally realizing it was only Tobirama and scrambling on in his less-than-graceful way.
And finally—finally!—the brothers took off together, flying off into the pre-dawn sky.
The descent took no time at all, and as the crowns of the trees rose up through the early morning mist, Kagami looked around curiously, black eyes bright in his face.
"I thought it would be a scarier forest, but it’s actually really nice," Kagami observed. Tobirama chuckled a little, and the crow-turned-boy shifted on his shoulders. "Do all your brother's forests look like this, or did he make this one special?"
"Well, we didn’t want to hurt your family, just delay them," Mito called from her position on Hashirama, the wind carrying her words to Kagami and Tobirama's ears. "So creating a pleasant maze seemed like the best solution until we could figure out how to break the spell binding them to her. Lastly, the stories don't lie: she prefers peaches above everything else, even over concern for her own safety."
Soon enough Tobirama and Hashirama landed in the center of the maze, and there, Kagami and Mito set up the lure. The magpie incense burner had a place of honor in the center of the clearing, and without further ado, Kagami placed and lit the incense, the sweet smoke curling around them pleasantly. Mito smiled and gently blew on it with one long slow breath, and little by little, the smoke spread out further and further into the forest. It had a strange effect on the whole party: Kagami began fidgeting before finally giving up and climbing the trees to harvest some peaches, and Tobirama felt a great wave of impatience crash over him, transforming once again with a restless shake of his shoulders. Even Mito wasn’t immune to the incense’s peculiar power, shifting ever so slightly in her steady stance. Only Hashirama remained the same; his eyes were still focused on the swaddled babe held in his wife's arms.
It wasn’t long before the first of the crows arrived: a tall, bespectacled woman in black armor, blinking curiously as she walked into the clearing. Behind the glasses, her eyes were hazy and unclear—that is, until they set upon Kagami, still climbing trees.
"Kagami, is that you?" she cried in a reedy voice. "We’ve been worried sick about you, silly boy! Where have you been?"
"I got lost, Aunt Teruko," the boy said without blinking an eye. "But this nice person helped me find my way back! …anyway, you look awful hungry. Want a dumpling?"
Tobirama exchanged an exasperated look with Mito: surely the crow wouldn’t fall for such ham-handed overacting? But apparently, it worked, as the woman blinked again, shrugged, and said, "Well, all right, if you have extra," before taking the dumpling.
And so it went as the hours passed and the sun rose into the sky, as crow after crow after crow wandered in, exclaimed how worried they’d been over Kagami’s disappearance, then guilelessly took a dumpling from the boy’s hand. Finally, there were hundreds of them in the clearing eating dumplings, chattering, jostling, and generally being complete and utter pests. The air was thick with the heady smoke of incense mixed with the delicious sweetness of honey and sesame. However the burner worked, it was working, because the crows were becoming more and more argumentative as they shook off the lassitude of the moon goddess’ hypnosis.
Finally, the last two crows entered the clearing. Like the others, they were tall, with pale skin and black hair and black lacquered armor. Unlike the others, they were ready to pick a fight as they arrived—well, at least one of them was.
"Hey!" The taller one shouted. "Why the hell are all of you slacking off? We’re supposed to be searching for peaches!"
A wave of groans answered him. "Piss off, Madara, I’m tired of doing that!"
"Yeah, why should we do what that crazy woman says? She’s not one of us!"
"Yeah, who is she, anyway? I never saw her hanging around until the last week!"
More and more of the crows began complaining loudly, and Tobirama noticed with amusement that many of them were growing feathers as they shouted, noses turning into beaks and arms turning into wings as they waved about. The Lady Akimichi's magic was just as strong as she'd said, and the crows were reverting to their natural form.
"I think that’s my cue to leave," Mito murmured to him, pulled a peach pit out of thin air. "Kagami, could you hold this a second?"
The boy obliged her, and as he held the pit cupped within his hands, Mito pulled Saika's hand out of her blankets, and proceeded to prick the palm of her daughter's hand with a silver pin. Hashirama made an unhappy sound, and Mito looked none too happy herself as she held Saika's hand over the peach and let three golden drops of blood fall onto the stone.
"Go ahead and drop the pit, Kagami," Mito instructed, and the boy did as she said, mouth pressed into a firm line. Hashirama nudged the boy out of the way with his muzzle, and bent down to breathe on the pit. A warm wind sprang up, redolent of the scent of peach blossoms, and within a moment, the stone had sprouted into a sapling and begun flowering, growing taller as leaves grew and a single peach developed, gleaming gold in the dappled forest light.
Mito handed Saika to Tobirama's secure embrace, before turning back around and plucking the peach off the branch just as it ripened. It blazed, a miniature sun in her hand, and Mito smiled into her husband's toothy visage before turning her face up towards the sky with a sigh. "Well, let's get rid of our unwelcome guest, shall we? Even an hour would be much too long."
And with little more than a breath, she flew into the sky with feathers of fire and wind. Hashirama took off after her, and together they rose up into the sky, blinding Tobirama with light.
"Do you really think they can defeat her?" Kagami asked in a small, distant voice. Saika shifted in her blankets a little as Tobirama looked down at the boy.
"I think that my brother and his wife can do anything they set their minds to," Tobirama replied honestly, and then winced as a particularly angry shriek pierced the air of the forest. The crows were all around them still, but they were still focused on King Crow, still wailing about his followers’ rebellion.
"Who made you king of the crows?" one woman cried out, flapping her arms so hard she made a draft. "I sure as hell didn’t!"
"You know, brother," the quiet one beside King Crow said. "I don’t remember when that happened, either. Did you pull a sword out of a stone, or something?"
The other man choked, a blotchy red flush rising on his cheeks. "I am King because I am bigger and stronger and meaner than all you—"
"Can’t argue with that last one," a crow muttered in the background, a host of sniggers breaking out afterward.
"Yeah, he’s uglier, too," another one chirped, and another wave of chuckles moved through the crowd.
"How dare-" King Crow shouted, only to squawk as his companion shoved a dumpling into his mouth.
"What?" the man said in response to Madara’s withering glare. "They’re good. Kagami brought them."
"Izuna—" Madara grumbled with a full mouth, "—where has that half-bit been, anyway? I haven't seen him for ages..."
Tobirama rolled his eyes; even without the Moon Queen's hypnosis, Madara was obviously none-too-bright. He looked down at Kagami once again. "Shall we adjourn to a better location to see what's going on?"
Kagami nodded furiously, eyeing Madara with a wary eye as the other crow sputtered and shouted even as he chewed the dumpling and swallowed it down.
So they climbed—there were plenty of trees, after all, and no tree created by his brother would ever break its boughs beneath his weight. Kagami clambered up with agility, and all around them the crows did as well, bored of teasing their erstwhile king and more interested in seeing the potential drama in the sky above.
"Kagami," one of them gasped, and Tobirama realized it was the woman with glasses, fully reverted back into a crow. "What exactly is going on? The last thing I really remember is that big fight between Madara and that wolf—"
"Which I won, by the way!" the crow in question shouted, and Tobirama resisted the urge to smile—it was King Crow himself, covered in feathers, but still man-shaped as he climbed up a neighboring tree.
"Yes, yes, you're the biggest, meanest, toughest crow to ever live, thank you, Madara," she said irritably. "But what happened after that?"
"You mean you don't remember at all?" Kagami said worriedly.
"Remember what?" Madara said, leaping for their tree with outstretched wings.
"Kagami, before you explain to your kin what's been happening, you ought to eat a dumpling yourself," Tobirama interrupted. He held a single honey-and-sesame dumpling, and the boy sighed dolefully as he took it.
"Do I have to?"
"Yes," Tobirama replied firmly, and watched as the boy took his first bite before turning to look at the sky. Above them, Mito stood on thin air, her vermillion robes a banner in the sky; his brother flew in sinuous circles around her, the both of them waiting.
"But what are they waiting for?" Madara said, squinting up at the sky. He was shrinking, Tobirama noted dispassionately. Another few moments and he'd be just another crow, albeit an unusually talkative one.
"Waiting for her," Tobirama finally responded, tipping his chin toward the figure in robes of white and silver floating down toward the earth, silver hair winding down her back. Kaguya looked wan and pale in the sunlight, but even out of her element, she was still a force to be reckoned with.
"Her—!" the crow hissed, outraged, only to subside at Tobirama's sideways glance.
"Sister, it's so kind of you to show your face to us," Mito called to the moon goddess. The distance was too far to see the expression on her face, but Tobirama could well guess at it. "My husband and I are so flattered by your generous attention, but I think it's time for you to go. But never fear: we've brought you a departure gift. Please, take it with our thanks!"
And then Mito flung the golden peach directly at the other goddess. For a moment, the world was calm and still as the peach hung in mid-air...
...and then Kaguya caught the peach, brought it up to her mouth, and took a single juicy bite. After all, she really did have a weakness for peaches. That weakness would always prove your downfall. Grown with the power of Saika’s golden blood, it was no ordinary celestial peach, but instead infused with the power of pure nature - and such power was inimical to that which came from the heavens. The peach in Kaguya’s hand exploded as soon as she took a simple bite, and set the Goddess of the Moon ablaze in never-ending fire.
"You should have waited for the banquet four centuries hence, sister," Mito said as flames rose up around Kaguya's luminous form. "Nobody likes a glutton, and coming for more than your due is just tasteless."
Kaguya shrieked something at Mito, although Tobirama couldn't make out quite what it was. Hashirama could, however, and he left his guard around Mito to fly at Kaguya in a rage. His flight drew the water from the rivers out behind him, and he circled around Kaguya over and over again, almost faster than the eye could see, creating a prison of holy water in rings about her.
"But I've given you what you wanted, and now it's time for you to give me what I want, and leave me in peace," Mito said grimly, and raised her arms above her head, sleeves fluttering. A deliberate sweep downwards, and a fiery wind swept out before her towards Kaguya.
It's been said the discretion is the best part of valour, but there was nothing valorous about Kaguya's final scrambling flight. The best that could be said of it was that she was finally gone, not to return to the world for centuries to come.
As soon as Kaguya fled back to the celestial spheres with only a half-eaten peach for her trouble, the crows turn back into crows.
Well, something like crows, anyway.
"Could we always talk?" Teruko asked Madara, puzzlement clear in her reedy voice. "Because I don't remember being able to do this before."
Madara just stretched his wings wide in what appeared to be an insouciant shrug, but Tobirama only noted it distantly, for the largest part of his attention was on one very small boy-turned-crow-once again. Kagami had taken the liberty of hopping onto his right shoulder, and was even now tugging plaintively on a lock of Tobirama's hair.
"I don't want to leave you," the littlest crow said plaintively. "Can't I come with you on your travels?"
"Kagami, I’m flattered you want to journey with me, but won’t your family miss you?" Tobirama asked quietly, ignoring the choking noise coming from Madara in the background. "After all, they did just lose you for awhile."
"No, they won’t mind," Kagami squawked, still hopping from one clawed foot to the other upon Tobirama’s shoulder. "Anyway, I’ve already fledged, it’s time for me to find my own way!"
"That is such utter bull—" Madara screeched, and the crow who’d force-fed him the dumpling—Izuna, wasn't it?—hopped away from him twice, with what looked like a pained wince on his feathered face. Tobirama could sympathize: Madara had a voice that could strip paint.
"You can’t stop me," Kagami retorted, and he spread his wings as though to fly. But instead of flying, he transformed, back into the body of the boy in the bamboo grove. He blinked, almost more surprised than Tobirama, and then punched his fist into the air.
"All right!" he shouted. "All those tips Torifu and Danzo told me paid off!"
The boy then flung himself into a bow at Tobirama’s feet.
"Please, Master Tobirama!" he pleaded. "Take me as your student! I promise you won’t regret it!"
Tobirama only chuckled before kneeling in front of the boy and tipping up the boy’s chin. He’d done a good job for a beginner: there were only a few feathers in his hair, and his eyes were red instead of black, but all in all, it was a serviceable first attempt.
"If I am to take you as a student, I think you should call me Tobirama-sensei," he said warmly, and Kagami smiled at him with stars in his eyes.
"This is all very heartwarming," Madara said, his voice right in Tobirama’s ear. The crow was deliberately digging his claws into Tobirama’s shoulder, and Tobirama felt a deep flash of annoyance at the other's pettiness. "But you’re not going anywhere with my cousin without me right along with you."
And then Tobirama does something quite unexpected: he laughs. Kagami blinks and stares, and all the other crows follow his lead, but Tobirama is not deterred—he only laughs all the harder.
"Was that meant to be a threat, King Crow?" Tobirama said, still chuckling. "I can think of better ones. In fact..."
Kagami looked at the dragon expectantly, and Tobirama smiled indulgently, still amused by Madara's little display. "How do you feel about monkeys?"
It took Madara and the other crows—all of whom refused to leave Tobirama’s side while Kagami studied under him—months to figure out how to make the same transformation as Kagami, but by then it was far too late: Tobirama had grown used to the companionship of crows. A dragon is most possessive of their friends, most jealous of their companions; he would not be parted from his amusing little pests for all the world and time.
There are, in the end, far worse people to fly with.