3.4k words without AN, also i want to make a poll for what the 3rd love intrest should be. Next up is the Bright blond babe with 4 cm bigger than Tsunade somehow. Source - "Reddit and Trust me bro"
Also my Discord is - Roqjn if yall want to connect with me for any reason at all. Might make a poll in a discord idk guys give me ideas.
He stepped to the side and gestured toward the doorway with quiet politeness.
"After you."
Mabui studied him for one brief second, then moved.
The moment they passed into the corridor, Ay's voice sounded behind them.
"Tenrai."
A figure flickered into visibility near the far wall, masked and kneeling so quickly it was hard to tell whether he had been hidden there the entire time or had just arrived in a blur of movement.
"Sir."
"Follow them. Make sure they are safe."
The masked BOLT captain bowed once. "At once."
He vanished in a lightning shunshin, leaving behind only a brief wisp of static-bright light.
Antares did not turn around, but he felt the corner of his mouth twitch.
Of course.
Antares, with his juvenile sensory abilities granted to him from the Uzumaki genes sensed the Masked BOLT operative within the radius of his sensing capabilities.
"Because one layer of supervision clearly was not enough, clearly." Antares muttered quietly
The hallway beyond the meeting chamber felt quieter.
Not because it was empty.
It was not.
Servants moved with lowered heads. Guards remained at their posts. Polished wood gleamed beneath the lantern light, and the last warmth of evening still clung faintly to the estate walls. But compared to the room they had just left, it felt lighter. Less suffocating. Less like every breath had to be approved by someone older and more politically dangerous.
Antares walked beside Mabui close behind in silence for the first few moments.
Not too close.
Not too far.
A servant followed several paces behind. Somewhere above them, or beyond the roofline, Tenrai was almost certainly shadowing the path.
Nothing says promising beginning like supervised movement and an ANBU/BOLT captain in the trees, Antares thought.
The eastern garden opened before them a moment later after going down the big elevator.
It was quieter than the rest of the top floor of the Administration Building. A long stone path curved through trimmed grass and flowering shrubs that cuts into 4 separate directions North, East, West, And South.
Moonlight touched the surface of a small pond near the center, turning it into silverish reflections over the water. Flat stones rested half-submerged near the water's edge, and a low wooden platform overlooked the pond beneath the hanging branches of a maple tree. Beyond the garden walls, the night opened wider, and there right bellow, impossible to ignore, the great blue tower of the Administration building at the heart of upper Kumogakure and looking down from "The Garden" which is absolutely massive with 30 ft tall trees and beautiful ponds with wildlife like birds and critters inhabit the massive forest designed as a park called "The Garden".
Even from one of the surrounding peaks, it dominated everything.
Half a mile of steel and blue painted stone made to show the wealth and strength of Kumo, rising from the mountains like a man-made oval super building with pillars and bridges that looked like it was holding up the sky itself since the building was so stable being so high above that it towered over the mountain in the surroundings. Around it, the upper peaks of Kumo were crowned with clan compounds, noble estates, bridges connecting everything, heavily guarded paths, and layered terraces carved into the heights. That was Kumo and its territory, built upon the blood and bones of many ninja, an old shinobi power built upward reaching into the clouds.
AN: The holy glaze of kumo :D
But Mabui was not from here.
House Ryosuke ruled from the capital as the Daimyo's family of the Land of Lightning, far from Kumogakure's mountain heights. Older power. Court and Economic power: A different kind of center altogether.
Which only made her standing beside him feel stranger and more deliberate. Something not real.
'3 years later and I still can't cope with the fact that I'm in this world. It's been my favorite world to explore as a teen but too many dangers lurk in the shadows. Only a few pose a huge threat like Madara who controls the Mist and Black Zetsu who has clones all over the nations. At the moment Obito shouldn't be born ill around 1 or 2 more years' though Antares while strolling next to Mabui
Mabui slowed near the pond and stopped.
Step Step Shuffle
Antares stopped beside her.
For a second, neither of them spoke.
Then Mabui exhaled softly. "I did not think you would ask for this so quickly, to speak to you in private"
Antares glanced at her with a teasing smile. "You almost sound disappointed."
Her eyes shifted toward him, and there it was again, that tiny almost smile that never fully committed itself.
"I did not say that."
"No, you didn't?" he said. "You said it like you were testing whether I had a reason."
"I was."
'Fair enough.'
Antares looked past the garden toward the blue tower in the distance below them.
"It still looks ridiculous from out here."
Mabui followed his gaze. "The Kaminari tower?"
He nodded. "Half a mile tall, sitting in the middle of the peaks like it owns the very sky."
"It nearly does," she said quietly.
He glanced at her. "You don't sound impressed."
"I am," Mabui replied. "We in the capital do not build upward like Kumogakure does.We in the capital spreads outward, not into the clouds."
Antares huffed softly. "So to you this all just looks loud."
That earned a faint curve of her lips.
"No. Just very shinobi."
That actually got a quiet laugh out of him.
Good. She had some life in her after all.
For a few moments they stood in silence, the kind that was careful rather than awkward. Antares let his gaze drift over "the garden" and the mountains beyond, buying himself time.
He had asked for this conversation because it felt necessary.
Now that he had it, he realized something obvious.
He had no idea how to start if he wanted honesty from her.
'Congratulations', he thought. 'You challenged a political heavyweight to talk to his daughter, got the girl into a moonlit garden, and now all you need is the ability to speak like a normal person.'
He let out a quiet breath.
"Mabui."
She turned fully toward him. "Yes?"
"I'm going to say something blunt."
"I had already assumed that."
A small smile touched his mouth.
"Good. Saves time." He paused. "Do you resent me?"
She did not answer immediately.
Not because she was offended.
Because she was thinking.
"At this moment?" she asked.
"Yes at the moment."
"No." She said
The answer came cleanly.
No hesitation. No softness added to protect him.
Antares nodded once. "All right."
Mabui studied him. "Do you resent me?"
"No," he said. "I resent the situation im 3 and being shipped into a political marriage."
"I haven't even started the academy" he vents a bit
Her shoulders loosened, just slightly.
He noticed.
Of course he noticed.
She was composed. Very composed. But she was not made of stone. Neither of them was. They had simply both spent the last hour pretending better than most. As children of important figures they were taught noble etiquette and trained to not embarrass our parents by giving away too much.
Antares moved toward the wooden platform and sat on its edge, resting his forearms loosely on his knees. After a brief pause, Mabui sat as well, leaving a respectful space between them.
Not far.
Just enough.
The pond rippled softly below them.
For a while Antares watched the moon's reflection distort on the water and thought about how absurd his life had become.
A past life half-remembered.
A future almost too clearly outlined.
A fiancée sitting beside him because two powerful families had decided their blood, influence, and usefulness were more valuable combined than separated.
And somehow this is still going better than I expected.
He tilted his head slightly toward her.
"You were honest in there."
Mabui lowered her gaze to the pond. "So were you."
"I was trying to keep myself from getting tied to a contract built on vague words and promises."
"And I was trying to keep myself from becoming only a name on that "Vague" contract."
He turned to look at her properly then.
That line had weight.
Not childish rebellion.
Not dramatics.
Just the truth.
Mabui kept speaking, her voice quiet and even.
"My father is not cruel. He is practical and analytical. That can feel similar when you are the one being arranged." Her hands remained folded neatly in her lap, but her fingers tightened once before relaxing. "I understand why he did what he did. I understand why your father accepted it. If I were only looking at the matter as politics, I might even agree with all of it."
Antares gave a humorless smile. "That makes two of us."
She looked at him. "And yet?"
"And yet it still feels like being boxed up, labeled, and shipped off in formal language."
That got the smallest shift from her, almost laughter.
"That is a very inelegant way to put it."
"It's accurate."
"It is."
They sat with that for a moment.
Then Mabui asked, "When you looked at me in that room, what were you thinking?"
Antares blinked.
That was not the question he had expected.
He could have lied. Said something polished like a noble would. Something convenient.
Instead,
"The first thing?"
"Yes."
"I thought you looked calmer than I felt."
Her eyes widened a fraction.
"That is not what I expected you to say."
"What did you expect?"
She hesitated.
"Something about duty. Or politics. Or whether I would make an acceptable first wife."
Antares let out a low breath through his nose. "Althought we are still kids that was in there too, eventually. I'm not going to pretend I don't understand what this arrangement means. But the first thing I thought was that you looked like you were trying very hard not to let anyone decide how you felt; for you."
For the first time since entering the garden, Mabui looked caught off guard.
Not badly.
Just honestly.
"And was I succeeding?" she asked.
"Mostly."
"Mostly?"
"You kept your face under control," he said. "But your hands gave you away once or twice ."
A faint flush touched her ears before she recovered.
"I see."
"You hid it well."
"That does not sound reassuring."
"It is, considering who was in the room."
That seemed to please her more than she let show.
She looked back toward the pond. "And what did you think after that?"
Antares leaned back slightly on his hands.
"That you were probably the only other person in the room who disliked being discussed like that as an asset."
Mabui nodded once. "You are correct."
"Good."
"You seem very relieved each time I agree with you." he chuckled
"Because it means I'm not being handed to someone who thinks all this is normal."
He paused a second
She was quiet for a few seconds.
Then she asked, "Do you think it is wrong?"
He considered that.
"Wrong?" he repeated. He shrugged faintly. "It's common sense dressed up in formal language. That doesn't make it feel good. It just makes it hard to argue against."
Mabui turned that over in her mind.
"You speak strangely sometimes."
Antares almost laughed. "That is the first time I've heard that you and my brother Ay are the ones I've talked to the most in this way."
"No, I do not mean it as an insult." She tilted her head slightly. "You speak like someone your age and not like someone your age at the same time."
Well, that was dangerously close to the truth.
He kept his face neutral.
"I've had a lot to think about and an expansive library to read from."
"I can see that" She said it so plainly that he could not even be annoyed.
"I would like to visit this "Expansive library" you speak of one day"
"Sure"
he risked a little more honesty.
"I do not want to be controlled," he said, eyes on the water again. "Not by clans. Not by politics. Not by expectations written down before I've even had the chance to fully become myself. But I also know enough to understand that pretending duty doesn't exist would make me an idiot and not worthy of my status."
Mabui listened without interrupting.
"So here's where I stand," he continued. "I won't insult you by pretending this engagement means nothing. It does. A lot. But I also won't treat you like a symbol that got attached to my future. If this is going to happen, then I'd rather build something real inside it than spend years resenting my decisions."
Mabui looked at him for a long moment.
Moonlight touched the edge of her face, softening some of the reserve there without removing it.
"That," she said at last, "is very close to what I was hoping you would say."
Antares let out a breath he had not realized he was holding.
"Good."
She studied him a little more. "You are calmer now than when you were in the room."
"I'm away from the room."
"That is true."
"And your father isn't currently explaining heir production like a military deadline."
A very small, very dangerous smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"That part bothered you."
"That part can bothered any person."
"I see."
"It sounded less like family planning and more like logistics."
That made her look away for a second, shoulders moving once with suppressed amusement.
All right.
That was progress.
After a moment, she spoke again, more serious this time.
"There is something I want to say clearly."
He straightened a little. "Go on."
"If I am to be your first wife one day, then I do not want the title only in name." Her gaze was steady now, all softness gone. "I understand what was said about additional wives. I understand why men of standing take them. My uncle Fukuro the Daimyo has 3 wives and some concubines. I understand why your father and mine would allow it. But if that path ever comes, I will not be humiliated in my own household and each of your future wives must respect each other and me"
Antares listened carefully.
Good.
This mattered.
"I will not spend my life smiling politely while my position is undermined," she continued. "I will not be treated as a decorative piece. I will not be made to compete for scraps of respect. If I stand beside you, then I expect to actually stand beside you as your wife, not treated as a concubine."
He nodded slowly.
"That's fair."
"Fair is not the same as agreed."
"Then I agree."
That made her pause.
Antares held her gaze.
"I mean it," he said. "I'm not promising perfection because life is messy and politics are worse, but I'm not interested in ruling a house by humiliating the people in it, especially my people. I wouldn't condone it."
Her eyes narrowed slightly, measuring him.
"You answer serious things with humor."
"Usually because serious things are annoying."
"That is not always appropriate."
"No," he said. "But it keeps me from saying something worse."
For a second she just stared at him.
Then, to his relief, the corner of her mouth twitched again.
"I will remember that."
Good, he thought. At least she doesn't think I'm an idiot. Yet.
Mabui drew a slow breath and looked upward through the branches overhead.
"I do not know what kind of husband you will become," she said quietly. "And I do not expect you to know what kind of wife I will be. But I would like honesty. Even when it is unpleasant."
"You'll get it."
"And respect."
"You'll get that too."
"And patience."
He glanced sideways at her. "That one may depend on the day." he smirked
To his surprise, she actually smiled then.
Small. Quick. But real.
It changed her face enough that Antares noticed immediately.
Well. That is dangerous.
He turned back to the pond before the thought could show too clearly his small blush.
Mabui noticed anyway.
"You are thinking something."
"So are you."
"I asked first."
"Who knows."
Her smile faded back into composure, but the warmth of it lingered.
"I was thinking," she said, "that you are not what I expected."
He looked at her again. "Is that good or bad?"
She considered it.
"Unsettling."
He groaned softly. "Wonderful."
"But not bad."
That, at least, was salvageable.
He let the quiet settle again, this time easier than before.
Somewhere in the branches above, a leaf shifted.
Tenrai, probably adjusting position or reminding them both of his presence.
Antares looked toward the sound and then back at Mabui.
"You know," he said, lowering his voice slightly, "between the servants behind us and the BOLT captain lurking somewhere overhead, we may currently be the most monitored people in Kumo."
Mabui followed his glance toward the trees, then returned her attention to him.
"That sounds likely."
"Does that bother you?"
"A little."
"Same."
Then she added, quieter, "But not as much as it would have an hour ago."
That landed deeper than he expected.
He answered with the same honesty.
"Not me either."
They sat there for a few more moments, the distance between them still proper, still careful, but no longer cold.
At length Mabui turned to him and said, "Then let us begin simply."
"All right."
"My favorite color is blue, I like books, and riding and taking care of horses," she said, with complete seriousness. "I dislike loud chewing, random chaos, certain Nobles in the capital, and Darui's Laziness."
After a slight pause with a heavy tone she said "I will take revenge for my mothers death"
Antares stared at her for a second.
Then he sighed
"That might be the best introduction I've ever heard, im sorry for your lost"
She tilted her head. "Your turn."
He considered, then answered in kind.
"My hobbies are my family, training with my father, reading books and eating good food."
Tilting his head to the side "My dislikes humm, People who disrespect me, My annoying brothers antics, Getting scolded by my mother"
"I hate… I can't think of any..
Mabui gave him a look that was half judgment and half amusement.
Then she nodded once. "Acceptable."
"High praise."
"It is."
The lanterns along the garden path flickered softly as the night deepened.
For the first time that entire day, Antares felt the knot in his chest begin to loosen for real.
Nothing had been fixed.
Nothing had been made simple.
He was still engaged.
Still bound to a future he had not chosen freely but hey, can't complain
Still expected to become something larger than himself because of blood, clan, and the ruthless logic of the world he lived in.
But sitting here beside Mabui, listening to her speak not as a political asset or future title but as herself, he found that the future no longer felt like a wall closing in from every side.
It felt like a road.
A difficult one, probably.
Possibly insane.
But a road nonetheless.
And roads could be walked and traveled upon.
Mabui rose first when the distant sound of a bell carried faintly through the garden.
"The hour is ending," she said.
Antares stood as well. "Of course it is."
She looked at him, calm and composed once more, but now he could see the person beneath that composure much more clearly.
"This conversation mattered,and I'm glad we had it" she said.
He nodded. "Yeah. It did."
A pause.
Then Mabui said, "I am greatful you asked for it."
That hit harder than it should have.
He covered it with the smallest shrug he could manage. "I have to thank your father for saying yes."
"I would not rely on him doing so often."
"Trust me, that was already obvious." he stated with a shrug
That almost smile returned one last time.
Together they turned back toward the path leading inside.
The servant straightened at once. Somewhere unseen, Tenrai moved with them like a silent crackle of distant lightning.
As they began the walk back, Antares glanced once toward Mabui.
Not at the future first wife of House Kaminari.
Not at the daughter of House Ryosuke.
Just at her.
And for the first time since the proposal had been written, signed, and sealed, he thought something that did not feel forced at all.
Maybe this could work.
Not because their fathers said it should.
Not because politics demanded it.
But because, beneath all the structure and pressure, there was actually something here worth building.
AN - There is one more chapter of this but is to finish up this small arc giving some lore and character development. I wrote a bit more than expected i will release the other chap tmr. its 11:21 PM and i have work tmr :(
Thanks for all the Powerstones, i saw the contribution. I have no clue what they are used for but thanks anyways guys! XD