Chapter 26: Essential Oil 

??? POV  

I haven't been able to sleep for more than an hour at a time for about a week now.  

The monster has been frantic ever since the boat we were on was attacked by the "Butcher's dogs". About half of my clansmen went to fight the assailants but they have yet to return.  

We've been on the move nonstop even more than before. They've grown tired of carrying my cage as we hop from island to island, so they gave me a brief crash course on how to walk on water and now just yank me along with a metal chain they forced around my torso.  

At least the beatings have stopped entirely. They no longer possessed the energy to fend off my sloppy attempts to gut them with my white daggers and nails.  

I've become significantly better at using whatever the white stuff that comes out of my arms and hands. It is growing especially easy after learning how to use "chakra".  

I just need to wait for the remainder of my captors to wear down more. The monster and his horde are letting their hunger affect everything they do. They constantly snap at each other; the monster has had to break up a brawl almost every day. Their bodies are moving considerably slower than they were before the attack.  

It was obvious that the majority of my captors are not used to going hungry for any extended period of time but the hunger is all too familiar for me.  

I just need to be patient and strike them at their most vulnerable. It’s the only chance I have to get back to mama…  

Meanwhile on a random island in the western part of the Kanashii Ocean. 

Gengetsu POV  

*SSSSIIIGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!* 

“I’m surrounded by imbeciles! How do you not only lose track of those Kaguya savages but sustain casualties in the process?!” 

Tossing the report my second in command gave me to the side, I angrily gulp down one of my special daily concoctions.  

My jaw locks as I feel the liquid burn its way down my throat on its passage to my stomach. I let out a gasp as the pain subsides,  

“Ugh! It always tastes dreadful but the results… Will. Be. TREMENDOUS! Muhaaaahahahaha!” 

When I first encountered this horrible liquid two years ago, I was bedridden for ten days afterwards.  

Tamari cared for me the entire time but she was beyond livid at my recklessness. Luckily, I was able to avoid telling her the reason I was reduced to such a state with the lie that I wouldn’t do it again.  

I don’t like lying to my lovely lady but this will be my secret weapon to finally surpassing that withered fiend and that mummy bastard Mu.  

I can’t afford to let anyone else figure this modification out before it's complete. That old crone figured out exactly what I am attempting with one glance of my skin and even gave me unsolicited advice. 

*FLASHBACK* 

Two years earlier… 

Anger and confusion. 

Never before in my life have, I woken up so discombobulated. I essentially have been trained by my bastard father to sleep with both eyes open in both the literal and figurative senses. I know exactly where I am currently, however I have no idea how I got here.    

The last thing I remember doing was meditating inside of the Giant Clam, feeling the steam open up my pores. My very being was becoming more and more saturated with the highly flammable fluid naturally produced in the clam’s glands.  

Then absolutely nothing… 

Now I wake up in this room that always makes my blood pressure skyrocket whenever I set foot in it, my grandmother’s medical room.  

The very room I was not only born in but also brought back from the brink of death countless times inside of during my preadolescence. I will always look upon this room and its owner unfavorably no matter the circumstance.  

Suddenly I hear the door slide open. Trying to lift my neck up from the cot, I can only manage to turn slightly to see who is entering the room.  

And in steps the woman that has occupied many of my nightmares.  

“Hmm you’ve returned to consciousness faster than I expected, Lord Gengetsu,”  

Again, she continues to talk to me like I’m her superior instead of her grandson. Even talking to her is insufferable. I avoid looking at her cold gaze as Lady Hana does a cursory check of my vitals with her unique water based medical jutsu.  

“You really should have consulted me before attempting to mix the Giant Clam oil with your unique Water/Steam Body technique, Lord Gengetsu. It would have at least prevented Tamari-sama from going through the traumatic experience of having to rush a loved one on death’s door to get intensive medical attention.”  

My eyes widen and my neck slowly turns to meet the impassive beady eyes staring through me. I try to yell at her but it only comes out as random grunts and gasps.  

“The damage to your brain and nervous system was extensive. It is truly a testament to Hozuki physiology that you’re even still alive, let alone able to be mentally sound so quickly. You will return to full health within two weeks, but until then you will be stuck in bed, I'm afraid." 

She concludes her check of my vitals and walks away from the cot towards a chair against the wall. I hear the chair move closer to me and finally the old crone gracefully sits down into the chair.  

Hana's judgmental gaze doesn't lessen in the slightest, even though we are now eye level it still feels as if I am being looked down upon.  

"I had hoped that your disdain for me would be overpowered by rationality but it seems I was wrong if you decided to not seek my opinion on altering the carefully manufactured Hozuki biology that was built over centuries of research and war." 

Slowly she reaches her right hand to grab something out of my sight and pulls her hand back in front of her with a black scroll containing the Hozuki clan symbol on it.   

"It is an endeavor that many Hozuki men of the past have attempted in some form or another but none have truly achieved it. Whether it was because they died in the attempt or the result was temporary and therefore considered not worth the risk."  

Hana looks down at the scroll in her hand,  

"This scroll contains the notes of my own grandfather. Your great great grandfather was a very driven man who wanted to take the clan hydration technique to new heights but his experimentation ended up killing him. He died attempting the same exact method that almost killed you today."  

She looks up from the scroll and once again stares into my eyes.  

"Your decision to attempt your infusion while being submerged in our ancestral lake is the only thing that saved your life. You are truly fortunate to have been granted a chance to rectify your mistake unlike my grandfather. Also, unlike my grandfather, you can benefit from my fifty years of perfecting his research."  

Lady Hana gets up from the chair and places it back against the wall. Again, she walks towards the cot and places the scroll firmly on my chest before turning to walk out.  

Right before she walks out of the open door. Hana addresses me again but doesn't bother to face me,  

"Please cherish your life more. If not for the clan, then at least for that Shimizu girl. She truly cares about you…"  

With that she leaves the room and shuts the door behind her leaving me to stare at the black scroll on my chest, paralyzed and angry.  

*FLASHBACK END*  

The contents of the scroll continue to be tremendously helpful despite how much I want to deny it.  

As much as I hate the woman, I cannot deny Hanagetsuya Hozuki's medical genius. With the amount of detail on the Hozuki biology and how to open it up to new bonding agents, the procedure that almost killed me when I attempted it myself has become little more than child's play.  

It's honestly frightening how easily that frigid woman broke down what took our clan centuries to do in one measly scroll and it only took her fifty years.  

I have no doubt in my mind that few others will ever be able to contend with her medical knowledge and capabilities.  

Currently I have the black scroll tucked away in a small storage seal tattooed on my left wrist. I fully intend for the scroll to become lost forever should I die before I can completely mix the oil catalyst.  

This information can never be revealed as I'm sure it would spell the end for both my clan and I.  

Only three more years of putting myself through this torture and I'll be able to free both of us from the shackles of that old mad dog, Tamari…