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unoislazy · 5 months

Text

‘Til The Caged Bird Sings

(Part 2)

Mizu x Mixed! Fem! Reader

Content Warning: Contains violence and mentions of SA

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Mizu stared at the blood left on the floor, her entire body trembling in fear and anger as the possibilities of what could’ve happened to you zoomed through her head. She shook her head to snap herself out of it, if something had happened to you then she would only have a certain amount of time to get to you before the situation would be made worse. Mizu looked around for anything that might’ve been left behind by the idiots who thought it a good idea to mess with you of all people. The last thing she had found was a torn piece of clothing which just so happened to have a crest on it.

It was a symbol she had seen before but she did not know the name of the gang.

What Mizu did know was that they were known for their careless assassinations, the trafficking they partook in, and their want to take out anyone who they deemed to be too ‘impure’.

She had never run into them personally but she had assumed they had been hired by someone to get to you… but why now? After all these years?

And why would they go after you?

She felt guilty for not being there to save you, she could’ve stopped this from happening if she had just stayed by your side.

Now wasn’t the time to get stuck on the ‘what ifs’. She had a chance to save you, so she needed to act now. She quickly dawned her old disguise, the one that she hadn’t used in years. She never needed to, she was comfortable enough around you to not hide who she was. She put on the old yellow tinted glasses, tying her hair up in the old hairstyle she used to put it in, her loose clothing disguising any part of her that might’ve been considered feminine. Lastly she put her wide brimmed hat on and grabbed her sword, giving one last look at the extremely messy house before embarking on her quest to find you.

She might not have known who exactly had you, but she at least knew where to start.

Mizu traveled by horse from town to town, eventually making her way to a town that was a bit of a ways away from your home village, the only thing she could focus on was the anger that continued to flow throughout her. Ever since she had met you, you two had never been apart for more than a few hours at a time, and even then you were no more than a two minute walk to the other partner. Mizu couldn’t help but be clingy, she had gotten so used to every single person who had a role in her life leaving her at one point or another and she feared that you would do the same, so she never left you alone. She enjoyed your company, she appreciated how you treated her, she loved doing things with and for you, she loved you. She loved you with every part of her heart. She didn't think it would be possible for her to ever truly claim that, but you gave her a feeling no one else had ever done.

You accepted every part of her just as she had done for you.

She was happy with you.

She especially loved when you two would just spend time under the stars together, whether you sat in silence or you would share your secrets with each other, it didn’t matter to her. One of her favorite memories with you was the day she had actually realized she had feelings for you. She denied it hysterically but she remembered the exact moment it hit her.

You were just doing your own thing, minding your business and working as you often did, before you had gotten up claiming you were going to go wash off in a water source that wasn’t too far from the house. At the time, Mizu didn’t pay much attention to you, she was more focused on just gettin healed and continuing on her journey but what had caught her attention was how you looked as you walked back through the doors of the house.

You were mostly covered up but that didn’t matter considering she was more focused on your face. You were still drenched, the water droplets left from your time in the water slowly dripped down your face and down to the uncovered parts of your body. Your hair was a bit of a mess, it stuck to your face haphazardly but your hands had gently brushed it away. Mizu was staring and she was staring hard. She couldn’t take her eyes off of you and despite her several attempts to, her eyes always found a way to wander back over to you. Her attempts only continued to fail as she tried her best to act like she didn’t even notice you had re-entered the room.

The way she had felt in that moment confused her but it also managed to get under her skin by a significant amount. After all, desire was beyond the need of her purpose, she needed to stay focused and continue with what she had set out and vowed she would do. She had been so consumed by the ideas of bloodshed and death that even the thought of settling down was something she wanted to avoid all together, but you had shown her that she was more than the sword she held, she was not a demon, she was a person just like anyone else.

Mizu looked back at that memory with a slight fondness, although it was quite an awkward moment for her, it was the exact moment she realized she was changing. For better or worse she couldn’t tell at the time, but now she knew it was for the better. Just because she had made that vow didn’t mean she always wanted to be seen as a bloodsoaked monster, all she wanted was to be looked at and not regarded as a devil.

Her horse continued to gallop over the grassy terrain as she held on, wandering if she would even get to you in time. She continued to wonder if she had taken too much time, she worried that once she had gotten through whatever amount of security they had, she would be too late. She didn’t want to lose you, she had lost everyone else that had come near her and she would rather die by her own hand than let something like that happen to you.

By the time she had arrived in the town it had gotten very dark. The place she had gone to wasn’t exactly familiar to her but she would have to start somewhere. She went over to one of the first men she saw, holding out the piece of fabric and asking,

“Do you know where I can find this group?”

Was it the best course of action, no of course not, but she was acting with haste. Usually when she was set on something she at least had the time to set out some sort of plan, but usually… your life wasn’t on the line.

The man that she had gone up to shook his head, claiming “I don’t want any trouble.”

and walked away. So Mizu went up to the next person, and the next but she had still been met with the same answer. There was no guarantee that this random town she had stopped at was going to have any answers but she had to at least try. At the very least she knew she was headed in the right direction.

Mizu tried one more person before she was ready to give up and move to the next town.

“Do you know where I can find the owner of this crest?” She asked, to which the woman looked down at the crest, then back up at her. She looked around her very quickly before silently nodding. Finally, a lead.

The woman beckoned Mizu to follow her into a more secluded area, and despite her better judgment she followed. She needed any help she could get, regardless of how sketchy the task to get it would be. The woman, now standing just before Mizu leaned towards her a bit, whispering, “They have a gambling house at the edge of town, rarely anyone goes there anymore out of fear of losing their money… or their life.” The woman informed her.

Sounded like every other gang affiliated house, just as powerful and unrelenting to the people around it too, considering the woman's skittishness. She must have had a run through with them at some point. She was lucky to have made it out alive by the looks of it.

“They’ve started attacking other villages, going out of their way to take out anyone they see fit. I don’t know what business you have with them, but if you value your life you’ll let it go.” The woman warned.

Mizu, of course, paid no mind to this. Her business wasn’t something she could just walk away from. She thanked the woman, beginning to walk away from her before the woman called out to her,

“Please reconsider! If they catch you, they won't stop even if you beg and plead for mercy!”

If anything, these words had the opposite effect on Mizu. It gave her even more motivation to hurry along with rescuing you. It had already taken long enough getting to this town, she didn’t want to take anymore time than what was needed.

Mizu made her way towards the edge of town, passing by the townspeople who stared as she passed by, each look given the same warning. It seemed to be silently agreed upon that past a certain point in the village, once you set foot there you weren’t coming back the same. You might come back alive, but you certainly wouldn’t be recognizable. She continued on, her face was stoic and emotionless, she could’ve fooled anyone if she had told them she was fine. However, under the surface she felt as if she was going to burst into flames. She felt as if her anger was clawing at her skin, eager to burst out and wreak havoc on anyone unfortunate enough to be near her, but she knew she had to keep her cool…

For now, at least.

Mizu kept herself hidden as she walked towards the gambling house, the entire place littered with guards and men who one could assume were there to waste their life away. She waited patiently, taking some time to memorize the movements of the guards before realizing they had left a small area uncovered. All she needed was to get inside, then all hell would break loose. Before making any moves, she first dropped anything that was unnecessarily clunky for a mission that would require a great deal of stealth. She took off her hat, her cape, the weights she wore on her arms and legs, and even her glasses. She needed to be able to perform as carefully as she could if she wanted to get you out safely, if you were even in there at all.

With as much stealth and agility as she could manage, Mizu made her way to the only unmonitored corner of the building. The grass made a very soft noise under her feet as she approached, they had boxes placed along the outside that she used to hoist herself up and grab onto the ledge. Once onto the ledge, she looked around for any opening she could find before someone would come around the corner. Luckily, one of the many doors that lined the outside was left even the slightest bit open, just enough for Mizu to squeeze herself inside.

Once inside she took note of her of surroundings, she seemed to be in someone's room. Luckily for her, no one was occupying it at the moment but there was a light coming from the other side of the wall. Someone was standing guard.

Why stand guard to an empty room?

She looked up, noticing the open spacing above the rooms, perfect for her to easily see everything happening from above. As she made her way up though, she could clearly hear some men laughing from another room over. They were the ones the guard was protecting.

She listened in, hoping one of them might have something important to say. As the laughter died down she could hear one of the men ask a question,

“So why’d you go after the demon in the countryside?” He asked, still partially laughing at whatever had been said beforehand.

“I would hardly call that snake a demon but you know what we do to the impure, one of my men had heard talk of one living just outside of Mihonoseki.” He gloated.

That’s where you lived.

They were talking about you.

Mizu waited a moment to hear what else they had to say before she would lose control.

“We were going to kill her like the rest, but my men deserved a bit of a treat every once in a while don’t you think?” He laughed and the rest laughed with him. Some of them even let out verbal cheers in agreement as they continued to share their food and drinks amongst each other.

These men… they stole you from Mizu and thought nothing of it.

They took you from her just to prove themselves better than the other.

They took you from her just to toss you around as if you were nothing more than a dirty kitchen rag.

Well that would be the last mistake they would ever get to make.

She had heard enough.

Mizu dropped down in the middle of the room, no longer caring about stealth or secrecy. The men all jumped back in shock, staring at what they assumed to be a man standing before them before drawing their blades.

“Who are you?” One of them asked, as if it even mattered.

“Where is my wife?” Was all she responded with, her eyes practically stabbed daggers in any of the men that she looked at. The one man, who she assumed was the leader of the gang, paused for a moment before erupting in laughter.

“You’re the one who's married to that half blooded demon? It all makes sense now!” He continued to laugh,

“No one wants a demon, so the two of you had to marry each other… How sweet.” He mocked, his demeanor exuded confidence, but his eyes held fear. He knew he had made a mistake but he’d be damned if he backed down now in front of the rest of the men.

“A pretty little singer she is, your wife I mean. Too bad after my men had their way she didn’t have the energy left to sing.” He bragged, causing some of the other men to snicker amongst themselves.

That was it, that was the last straw. Without even giving the men time to blink, Mizu drew her sword and attacked one of the six men that surrounded her. In a matter of seconds he fell to his knees, blood spilling out from his neck like a waterfall. The other men stood in shock and horror as they watched their friend fall before them. The leader, whos cocky demeanor had already began to melt away starred in fear before shouting,

“Move, do something! Fight!” He demanded. The other men began to attack but their attacks were sloppy and rigid. Clearly they weren’t the ones who were going out of their way and doing the attacking that they seemed to gloat about. One of the men had swung at Mizu, just barely missing her as she ducked underneath, sending a kick to his knee, dislocating it. He fell, just like his friend before him, screaming in agony. She quickly ended his crying with a swift blow through the chest, driving her sword almost entirely through him.

The guard that had been stationed outside the door had also come in to help the fight but Mizu truly didn’t take long to deal with him. Some guard he was.

She moved on to the next man who thought it wise to try and attack her from behind. As if it was rehearsed, she blocked the blow with her sword and knocked the man off balance. With one clean strike, she had given the man a large gash on his stomach area and he dropped to the ground, his eyes rolling back before he had ever hit the floor.

The two men that were left put up more of a fight than their assumed to be co-workers. One of the men had managed to actually land a blow on Mizu, luckily it hadn’t been with a sword seeing as she had already managed to disarm him by that point. He had managed to kick Mizu in her stomach as she went to swing which knocked her off balance and sent her flying by a bit. It hurt, she couldn’t deny it, but the adrenaline that coursed through her was enough for her to get up without even thinking twice about it.

Mizu lunged at the man, managed to take him out with a few labored swings of her sword, and turned to the last man and landed the final blow straight through his chest.

She then turned to the leader, his hands trembling as he held onto his sword. The man he saw before him was no man, he held the soul of a demon that bathed in blood and was fueled by anger.

She walked towards him, he weakly tried to attack her and failed almost immediately. She gripped onto the collar of his clothes, her sword pressed up against his neck as her eyes stared into the deepest parts of his soul. The look she was giving him had instilled a fear in the man that he had never felt before. The once pompous and arrogant leader had vanished, and in place of him was a shriveled up frightened child staring back at Mizu. She glared at him, her teeth gritting together as she lowly asked,

“Where is she?”

“Who, where is who?” The man asked, his entire body trembling as if he was just an innocent bystander. One might have thought that if they hadn’t seen him sitting amongst several other men who circled around him, waiting for his orders. This answer didn’t sit right with Mizu, he knew exactly who she was talking about as her grip tightened on his collar. She neared his face, her brows furrowed as her rage began to boil over, her icy blue eyes narrowing as she asked,

“Where is my wife?” She growled. Her threatening glare made the man shrink back in fear.

“I don’t know, I don’t know. I just told the men to deal with her, I don't know where they put her. Please I’ll give you anything you want, just don’t hurt me!” The man pleaded, nearly crying before her.

Mizu watched in disgust as the man practically groveled before her for the sake of his own life, the one he thought had been invincible not even twenty minutes before. He clearly had no information, so there was no reason left for him to live in her eyes. So with a swift and effortless movement, she sent her blade gracefully gliding across his throat. Within a matter of seconds the man dropped to the ground, blood spilling out as his eyes rolled back.

He lay there still slightly twitching as Mizu watched. Without another word, she left the room, leaving almost every inch of it soaked in blood. She didn’t know if there were more men, but if they had come across that room hopefully they would just take the hint and not try and be the ‘hero’ they thought they could be by stopping her.

She searched every inch of the house, opening sliding doors, checking every floor, even checking for hidden hatches that could’ve housed something that would lead her to find you. The longer she went on the more frantic her movements became. She hoped that the things the man had gloated about were just him trying to sound much more powerful than he was, she hoped and prayed to whatever higher power that had been listening that she would find you unscathed even though she knew that was unrealistic. You had been in the confinement of this horrid place for several hours considering how long it had taken Mizu to not only find this place but also travel to it.

As she frantically searched the room she was in for even the smallest thing that could have led her to you a man walked into the room, in a very unsuspecting manner before finally spotting her. Before the man could call for help, attack her, or do anything to get her caught, she lunged at him and kept him in her grip with her sword pressed up against his neck just as she had done to his leader.

The security in this place must have been awful for her to freely walk around without really having to care about being seen. She would’ve bet money on the fact that no one had gone to check on the bloodbath she had left the leaders room in but what else could she expect, sloppy assassins, sloppy security.

“The woman you took in early today, where are you keeping her?” She demanded, his eyes held the same fear as the men before him. She wondered how they managed to get anything done if this is how they dealt with an intruder. Everyone in the town was probably too frightened to deal with them, which meant they could remain at the top no matter how weak they actually were behind closed doors.

“You mean the demon?” He asked, trying to act as if the situation he was in meant nothing to him, but his eyes betrayed him. Mizu’s grip on her sword tightened as she began to push it into his neck, slowly drawing blood. Surely he couldn’t have been so stupid to refer to you as a demon while he had someone with blue eyes staring right at him, threatening to take his life if he said too much of the wrong thing.

“Okay, Okay! She’s downstairs, in the basement, there are a bunch of barrels stacked up on top of the hatch we use to get to her.” He exclaimed, finally giving her the information she needed. She quickly slit his throat and left the room, searching every room that she could find on the bottom floor, looking for the barrels. Once she had found them, she frantically tossed them aside, luckily they seemed to be placed there more for show than anything else. She opened the hatch and made her way down below the gambling house.

The path was dark and very dingy, but she had no time to stop, she had to find you.

All she could really hear was the sound of water dripping every so often as she made her way through the hall lined with makeshift cells, most of which were empty until she saw one that had someone cowering in the corner.

The person was curled up in a ball, their head down, and the only thing that came from them was the muffled sound of sniffling.

It was you.

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