Part 2 of the Mind Miniseries.

Japan, 1228

Reader POV

I was walking in the dim candlelight to Naoya's study, my steps slow.

People nodded towards me with a bit of respect as I was not only married to their clan leader but also carrying the potential heir to the Zenin clan.

"My lady, I cannot cross into the office. I shall be waiting outside for you," my assigned maid said to me.

I nodded and knocked on the door.

"Enter."

The door closed behind me as I walked towards Naoya who was doing paperwork behind a low table.

"Servant boy, please bring my wife some calming teas."

The boy nodded and walked out of the office, neither of us making eye contact.

Once he was gone, Naoya stood up and placed his hands on my stomach in a gentle way.

"I see that you are almost ready to be born, my little heir." He spoke gently, as if he was actually excited to be a father.

"He will be born any day now," I informed Naoya with a tone void of emotion.

Naoya would've normally scolded me harshly for speaking when not allowed to, but he let it slide. "I see. In that case, I'm ordering you to go rest. You can't keep moving around like this, (y/n)."

"Yes, master."

"Now...take a seat. The tea should be here soon. I have to ask you about Akagame Helios."

My lip quivered a bit at the mention of my dead fiancé.

The servant came back into the room and poured us tea, leaving immediately.

"From my scouts, I am lead to believe Helios was the last in line for the Akagame clan. However it would seem that his older sister Mira is now the leader. Pfft. How pathetic to have a clan lead by a woman!"

I said nothing and sipped my tea in silence.

"Tell me, (y/n). You know Mira, correct? I want information on her. None of my scouts know what she looks like."

Of course!

The Akagame clan makes sure not to showcase the leader! They use a decoy leader while the real leader is seen with the servants in order to protect the royal blood.

I shrugged. "I am sorry, but I don't know what she looks like. When I was with Akagame Helios, we would meet in secret, just the two of us."

Naoya nodded and hummed. "No matter. Now...you are going to finish your tea and then we are going to take a nap."

Once we were done, he escorted me into our bedroom.

However, I began to feel awful...and everyone in the Zenin estate knew what was going on.

As the first flakes of snow fell onto the lake, a shrill cry was heard as well as the joy of the Zenins.

Zenin (y/n) had given birth to a son.

Naoya held our son with tears of pride going down his face.

"My son is born! My Yukio!"

And it only went downhill from there.

I was given a deadline to have my son ready for training from his father at the age of five.

Zenin Yukio took after his father completely in terms of looks, but he was gentle and caring.

Not long after Yukio was born, I gave birth to another son.

On Yukio's fourth birthday, he had three younger siblings-all of which were boys except the youngest.

Izumi, Hitoshi, and my only daughter Fei.

Only Fei looked exactly like me.

Yukio looked like his father as did Izumi, Hitoshi having Naoya's hair and my eyes, Fei my carbon copy.

When Yukio turned five, Naoya brought him to the training grounds to begin.

I was told to bring the other children so they could watch, Naoya explicitly telling Fei to watch what I do.

Fei was sitting beside me as I got any medical supplies ready just in case.

"Mommy, what's going on? Why can't we go play with Papa?" Izumi asked me with wide brown eyes.

"Papa's busy with Yuki, my sweet. He'll play with you later."

Izumi looked satisfied with my explanation and therefore was content with watching my bastard husband.

I closed my eyes briefly and was reminded of when my brother would be training with our father.

Flashback, age 6

"Mom, where is Dad going?" I asked my mother one morning.

My mother gently placed a towel into a bowl of warm water. "He's taking Satoru out to train, remember?"

"Why can't he take me? Satoru always tells me how Dad would take him each day to train since he was four."

"Well, your brother's cursed energy is very intense. If he can't control it properly, he'll become blind like..." her voice trailed off.

"Like Hitoshi..." I finished.

Hitoshi was my older brother but younger than
Satoru.

He was blessed with a vast amount of cursed energy
and was starting to learn how to use the six eyes technique to better enhance his infinite void, but he struggled to do so.

In turn, he was blinded and was deemed lame.

Hitoshi was distraught when our older brother Satoru would be allowed to train with our father and him confined into the Gojo palace alongside me and our mother.

He longed to feel the wind again when he rode a horse and to jump off a tree and swing on a vine to the lake.

One fateful day, Hitoshi snuck into the merchant's caravan with the help of Satoru, both of them agreeing that if they would go off on a journey to the Akagame clan and return safely.

They assumed that if he came back alright, Father who was the head of the Gojo clan would reinstate Hitoshi back to the training program.

According to Satoru, things went fine until bandits attacked.

Hitoshi was able to fight back due to his enhanced hearing and sensing, but lightning struck the ground and the noise startled Hitoshi.

The consequence was Hitoshi's death as he was stabbed and his body thrown over the gorge.

By the time the Akagame clan came to aid (as one merchant ran ahead to warn the Akagame clan), Hitoshi was dead.

Satoru blamed Hitoshi's death on the Akagame clan-especially Akagame Helios who was just a trainee back then.

Since then, the Gojo and Zenin clan hated the Akagame clan and an attack came.

The Gojos and Zenins slaughtered many of the Akagame clan and left a few survivors, leaving behind a warning.

When Hitoshi's body was brought back, Satoru blamed it on Mother and I.

"If it weren't for you two babying him, he would still be alive!"

That night, Satoru lost control of his cursed energy and almost killed me.

Mother nursed me back to health and both of us began to fear Satoru.

Papa wasn't any better and he began to grow abusive to mostly me.

And he forced Satoru's training to become much more intense to the point where Satoru would have terrible migraines and sometimes bleeding from the eyes.

It was terrible to watch.

End of Flashback

I stared down at my son Hitoshi and sighed.

I can only pray that my children will remain safe.

True I hated Naoya and his abuse, but I loved all my children.

And never loved one more than the other.

Satoru sometimes came by to train my boys with the Gojo family techniques, but never Fei.

Even though Fei was a baby, we could tell she would inherit powerful techniques from both families.

But in a male-dominated world, she stood no chance against the men who would continue to pick at her until she completely collapsed.

My boys too had it rough, especially Yukio since he was the firstborn.

Any sign of weakness was considered lame and therefore my sons had to show no weaknesses.

Yet all their weakness was the undying love I had for them, but I would never let Naoya know

Naoya found it a weakness to have affection from a mother, but like my brother Satoru, he never received any actual love from his mother.

Sometimes all it took was a tainted mind to figure out how to hide things.

Especially since he thought he had completely broken me to the point where I didn't dare keep anything from him.

_________________

God I love and hate this Bootleg Kita