"Thinking about something?"
In the dim room, Pakura sat on the bed's edge, sipping hot ginger tea from a cup, her tone carrying a hint of inquiry. Hearing this, Hii Kōri turned to look: "Is it that obvious?"
"That's why Karura worked so hard."
Behind her, Karura was wrapped in her blanket, fast asleep.
Apparently, in terms of stamina, she could never keep up with Hii Kōri and Pakura's pace. Aside from initially riding Hii Kōri triumphantly for a while, her output time was less than one-fifth of Pakura's, who'd returned midway.
"Haah... I'm always being cared for like this. I feel like I'm too immature."
"Nothing wrong with that, is there?"
With slight puzzlement, Pakura countered.
"That's not what I mean..."
Hii Kōri retied his hair and looked up at the ceiling. But from his vacant gaze, he seemed to be looking at something much farther away.
"I just feel like I'm burdening you with problems I should solve myself."
"Eh... Kōri always says things like this. Hard to tell if you're too positive or too negative."
Pakura tilted her head, then slowly walked to her lover leaning against the sink, leaned beside him in the same posture, and reached up to stroke his cheek: "Even if you don't say it, we can feel it. So you might as well just vent."
During their intimacy, both Karura and Pakura could sense that subtle atmosphere, almost like a 'confession' from Hii Kōri.
"...I used extreme means on another woman."
Mentioning this, Hii Kōri unconsciously drew a breath, genuinely feeling guilty: "It feels like I cheated."
"Wow... Kōri, so mean. Bringing up another woman at a time like this?"
Pakura's caring hand instantly turned to pinching his cheek.
"My fault."
Hii Kōri raised both hands in surrender.
"...Eh, you mean the Senju princess?"
Pakura sighed, then released her lover's cheek, somewhat melancholy looking away: "You weren't attracted to her when you did that, were you?"
"You still mind?"
"Of course I mind!"
Even as she complained thus, Pakura somehow couldn't bring herself to be angry. She viciously bit his neck, then, feeling sorry for him, licked the teeth marks she'd left.
"What woman wouldn't mind their man doing something like that?"
Pakura thought to herself that she was completely helpless against Hii Kōri—probably stuck being bullied by him her whole life—and her tone unconsciously softened.
"But for big brother and Shūko-nee's sake, I'll forgive you."
Having been quite close to Shūko, Pakura could somewhat understand Hii Kōri's feelings.
If possible, no one wants to face reality, but many things must be done. Carried by that intense 'sense of mission,' people always do things against their own reason.
"Thank you for Pakura-dono's magnanimity..."
"And you need to properly apologize to Karura too." As she spoke, Pakura's gaze swept over Karura in bed, again wondering if she was being too 'easy' on him.
"This month, this war should end completely, right?"
To get rid of that subtle self-deprecation, Pakura shifted the topic to business.
Her being able to return and be intimate with Hii Kōri was partly influenced by the 'big shots' above, but as a member of the assault force, being allowed to stand down from combat readiness itself says a lot.
As early as two or three months ago, the intensity of Suna-Konoha combat had gradually decreased. As a front-line fighter, Pakura's perception of this was quite clear.
"Probably? The ceasefire declaration should have been sent to Konoha already. The specifics might be negotiated for a while, but ceasing hostilities shouldn't be in doubt."
"After all, you captured the Senju princess. Thought about becoming a prince consort?"
"Stop mocking me, really."
Hii Kōri's tone carried helplessness. "But with her, there are some ideas I could experiment with."
His Cursed Genjutsu: Demonic Descent placed a 'tsukimono' within others' hearts, letting them see and hear 'hallucinations' only they could confirm.
To some extent, this was a genjutsu created by mixing cursed technique concepts with the formation principles of Guo cursed spirit. His previous simultaneous activation on all targets relied on a conceptual substitution similar to 'medium.'
So if he further increased the curse's intensity, targeting only one person, perhaps he could use this property to directly project his consciousness into the target's hallucinations.
Theory established, and he happened to have practical material on hand.
Tsunade—the woman whose lover he'd killed, whose body and mind he'd violated—wasn't she the material harboring the most intense hatred toward him?
If successful, once Tsunade returned to Konoha, Hii Kōri would have the opportunity to explore more through her field of vision.
Failure wouldn't matter either—just a casual attempt. Worst case, when he activated the technique, Tsunade would have her mind burned out by the Massive Curse, or simply go mad and start mass destruction in Konoha.
The only issue was whether his curse would be detected by Uzumaki Mito.
After all, she was truly a veteran in every sense, well-traveled and knowledgeable. Maybe she'd seen something similar—that Mōryō from the Land of Demons, from records, seemed quite similar to cursed spirits.
But even if detected, worst case, nothing happens.
"Wow... Kōri's expression just turned really sinister."
But at this moment, Pakura's teasing expression froze on her face.
Though every time he mentioned 'experiments,' Hii Kōri became excited like a different person, emitting such intense malice was a first.
"Don't make that face..."
Noticing Pakura's stiff expression, Hii Kōri scratched his hair, slightly hurt: "Making it seem like I'm plotting something really bad."
"Aren't you?"
"No. At least, from you and Karura's perspective, things beneficial to me can hardly be called bad."
"Hmph... is that so?"
"Of course. No matter what, I would never hurt you."
***
->Support me with power stone
->for 100 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter
***
Dive deeper into the story with 30+ advance chapters, available now on Patreon!
patreon.com/CNBLUE
If you're enjoying the novel, please consider leaving a review. Your support is crucial and helps the story grow immensely. Thank you!