Aiko WAP 35 progress

“You are not making the choices of a victor. Neither of those clans is worthy of your association. But if you choose to grant that, please do not grant them your trust” 

Aiko twitched with the effort of keeping a straight face.

‘I prefer it when people are honest with me,’ she chanted. She liked Mayumi, she respected her. So she swallowed her pride enough to listen to the criticism. “How so?” she eked out.

Mayumi looked back pitilessly, leaned up against the wall in a spectacularly careless fashion. “The Uchiha are oathbreakers and liars,” she said. “Not technically.” Her nose twitched. “They will keep faith with you only to the exact extent of the most beneficial interpretation of an agreement. They do not truly value those outside of their clan as equals, and they will never respect your Senju.”

…Aiko had a sinking feeling in her gut about the fact that the Uchiha had provided that written proclamation, unprompted. It did make a sort of sense. 

‘I don’t enjoy how that description reminds me of the Uchiha rebellion.’

“And the Senju?” she said, not looking forward to this.

“Self-involved, moralistic, and tedious,” Mayumi pronounced them. She looked as if she was smelling something unpleasant. “Petty people who love rules, but only the ones that they make.”

Aiko choked on a laugh at how accurate that was. It was uncharitable, but it did line up with her personal experience and with the history books.

“The Uchiha and the Senju have been relentlessly killing each other for generations because they both desire to be the largest bully organization, and because no one likes them enough to mediate a peace.”

Tea went up Aiko’s nose. She put a hand to her face and took a moment to assimilate that scathing assessment. “...There are people who would find it pleasant if they ah, eliminated each other?” she checked.

Mayumi cracked a smile. “There are some.” 

‘Including the Inuzuka, despite being nominal allies with the Senju. Understood.’

“The reality is that they will not eliminate each other anymore,” Aiko said, blithely ignoring the bizarre fact that the Senju disappeared in a generation and the Uchiha were massacred. That probably was just a massive coincidence and didn’t mean anything. “So, what do you do now? Is it better for you to ally with them? Avoid their notice? Leave the area?” She was genuinely interested in this as a first test of an outside opinion. Mayumi was here as a courtesy to Aiko, not because she needed Aiko’s opinion to make the best choice for the Inuzuka.

Mayumi sighed and let her head thunk back against the wood wall frame. “It’s difficult,” she groaned. Her eyes slid shut. “Of course, this does not void my clan’s agreements with the Senju for cooperation. Formally ending our relations would seem drastic to most. However, if our association continues, we have now gained the Uchiha’s enemies as well, who are numerous, formidable, and closely located.” Her tone went flat on that last bit.

Aiko winced. “I can see your concerns,” she said.

The sigh that netted her was absolutely inappropriate for company, which was how Aiko knew Mayumi liked her as a friend. “I think that I am with you,” Mayumi decided. She peeled one eye open to glare. “So you had best keep your eyes open to danger and be ready to contain and react to misbehavior. If this alliance is your goal, I will support it. But I cannot do so to the detriment of the people who are in my care.”

“I understand,” Aiko promised. She reached over to put a comforting hand on Mayumi’s shoulder. “I am touched by your faith. Thank you for your counsel. Would you feel better if I made them give you a leadership role in their new village?”

“...Their what?” Mayumi asked.