Rewritten
3rd Person’s POV
Two boys sprint through the forest, dodging trees, plants, and weapons.
“Y’know,” One of them pants, Sharingan spinning wildly, “This would be a lot easier if the scroll weighed less then we did.”
“Don’t let the Council hear you say that.” The elder replies, grunting as he catches it again, he sighs quietly, “Or Nii-san - he’d burn the meeting hall down again. Repairs are getting costly.”
“-fucking Uchiha-” They hear in the distance, followed by a large ripple through the earth,
“Ooh~” The younger gives a weak, mocking cheer as the elder rolls his eyes and throws him the bag containing the scroll,
“They finally remembered they know Doton?!” He asks sarcastically, “What? Does it take him three days to shit, too?”
“Language, Kuro, Dad has ears everywhere.” The younger scolds worriedly,
“We are in the woods, Togakushi, we are being chased down like prey animals, and we aren’t in Uchiha lands!” Kuro lists off, Togakushi rolls his eyes, “If I wanna let slips a fuck or two, so fucking-”
BOOM
“-la da dee~” A voice sings, high and sweet, “La da dee doo~”
Both the child-hunters and the children sent on a retrieval mission are coughing, lying in piles of ash and dust as a figure skips to them from out of the distance.
“La da dee me, la da dee you~” A girl with a dark brown braid thrown over one shoulder, no older than ten skips forward, dressed in a strange robe, white with black trim and strange, tomoe-shaped markings. “There’s only me, there’s only you~”
She reaches Kuro and Togakushi first, who are breathless, wheezing, and are gasping for air quite wetly. She tilts her head, a white mask in the shape of a dragon resting on her face with no visible attachments. Her eyes are a familiar shade of chocolate.
“Hello~” She sing-songs, “You look terrible~”
“W-Who-” Kuro grunts, lifting a kunai, their eyes curve up slightly, and they gently grab Kuro’s wrist as the child-hunters begin to rise. “-are-”
They gently push the kunai back to Kuro, laying his arm across his chest.
“I’m a friend.”
The ground explodes again.
“I’m a friend to all children.” The screams start, blood spraying overhead, vibrant and clear due to the Sharingan, but she doesn’t hesitate to pull out their medkits. “Now tell me where it hurts.”
Kunai fly past, knicking his clothes, and piercing his skin. Shuriken thunk into trees, missing him by inches.
“Damn those Senju-” He leaps over a tree, but drops, hunkering down behind it instead of bounding ahead like the rabbit they were hunting him as. “-treating me like some prey animal!”
“Would you like some help?” His eyes narrow, but a hand touches his thigh, and he looks down, his eyes widening as the girl with the dragon mask - some of the braver Uchiha started calling her ‘Ryuuka’ after she sent home a lost child with a flower crown - but she tilts her head as the Senju shout and scream and storm closer on feet that shake the forest floor like earthquakes. “I am a friend to children.”
“We know.” He says, but hesitates - until an ax hits a tree in front of him, with a head almost as large as his torso - and then he swallows strongly. “My name is Kou-”
“And you are the Heir to the Uchiha - eldest of Taijima-dono’s five sons. I know.” Her eyes curve up in a smile, “Do you accept my help, child?”
“I accept-” She disappears, sinking into the fallen tree like a ghost.
“HEY! WHO GOES-” Screams erupt, nearly in sync with the fountain of blood splatter, and Kou closes his eyes.
“Amaterasu, please don’t let Izuna or Madara ever have to suffer through these screams.” Kou prays, quietly, under his breath, and clutches a kunai to his chest like it’s a holy object - anything other than a last defense as some sort of yokai or oni tears through flesh like a game.
“~Come here, Senju-san~” Ryuuka croons, “~You’ve been such a - ha ha ha - such a ~brave~ child-hunter~ Don’t you want your reward?”
“Amaterasu, let them rest peacefully in whatever death they have chosen.” Kou begs, the final scream cutting short with wet, hollow-sounding crunch, Ryuuka giggles in a strange, deep voice that cuts off to a soft, gentle one. “Please, Sun Goddess, let them be warm, wherever they are.”
“You don’t get to pick where you go, when you go.” Kou jolts like he gets shocked, Ryuuka gives him a moment, then he looks up and finds her dripping with gore and blood as she crouches on top of the tree. “You just die, Kou-san, you die and you disappear.”
“W-wha-”
“Alive, you’re you - but being dead isn’t a state of being.” Ryuuka cocks her head, staring at him with eyes that scream of knowledge no child - not even shinobi children - should have. “Dead things don’t exist - merely corpses that used to be other things. Once your chakra leaves, you can’t come back, not as you, at least. Something else could, something close. Don’t pray for something that doesn’t exist, Kou-san, it’s a waste of air - and you still have a lot of running to do tonight, don’t you?”
“Y-you aren’t going to walk me?” Kou’s head is spinning, spinning like a top - what does she mean, the afterlife isn’t real? The priests and priestesses, the miku, they all… “You walked all the others back! Why am I different?”
“You…” She leans forward, looking into his eyes deeply, a bit of blood slides down her face, under her mask, it trickles next to her eye. “...are stronger than them. You made it further than they did, Kou. I had to ask if you needed help - you might have made it further before I had to step in.”
Something sinks like a rock in his chest as he stares into those eyes.
“A-All those, those injuries…” He murmurs, Ryuuka gives him an eye-smile and leans back, “Were you testing them?!”
“I need to know when to intervene - who needs help when, who needs help because of what, which terrain gives them trouble, what causes them to need my help.” She looks down on him, “Children grow up. If I can make it to where children remember a faceless entity who made them strong, fast, resilient…maybe these wars will settle down.”
“Madara-”
“Nice try~” She leans forward again, flicking his nose, he recoils at the smear of blood, “But I’m not your brother.Run along now, little heir. You’ll have plenty of time to overthink tomorrow.”
“With this kinda mission report!? AS AN HEIR?!” Kou screams, “MADARA, I KNOW THAT’S YOU UNDER THERE, WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR!?”
“Nu-uh~ Go home!” She pokes his nose, and everything goes dark, he wakes up to startled screams, and his father’s worried face bending over him.
“Before you yell at me, I need to scream at Madara.” Kou snarl,
“Kou, you might be a little disoriented-” Kou snarls off the location of the Uchiha Compound, the year of the reigning Daimyo, and his father’s name. “-okay then.Why do you need to yell at Madara?”
“For being a lying liar who LIES!”
“...isn’t eleven a little young for boys to start puberty? I’d understand if he was a girl, but this is young, right, Kai?” Taijima asks, stressed, and several people laugh as Kou attempts to stomp past in a righteous huff. Then Kou stiffens. “Oh, please don’t-”
Kou turns and throws the scroll he was sent to retrieve straight at his father’s face with no hesitation and full force.
“THAT’S what I’m forgetting!” Kou shouts, then turns and sprints towards the Clan Head’s house as his father rubs his new black eye and the Uchiha clan roars with laughter, “NOW I can drown Madara like the RAT he is! THANKS DAD!”
“...do I spoil them too much?”
“Okay,” Kawarama inhales deeply, gently squeezing himself a little tighter as he crouches somewhere dark and slightly sweet-smelling. “I was being chased by a squad of Uchiha, I was almost to the border, and I had shed my armor to make it faster. I managed to start the signal to Tobira, and…now I’m…”
“Hi~” The area lights up blue, and Kawarama tumbles off his feet with a short shriek, landing - no, sticky hands, covered in blood grab him. “Oh, ew, that’s gross! I just grabbed you and I’m still all covered in their blood-”
“WHO ARE YOU!? WHERE AM I?! ARE YOU GONNA KILL M-”
“Ooh! I get to cosplay Cousin Obito now!” Ryuuka comes through the wall - a dragon mask-wearing, clanless or orphaned wielder of Mokuton - comes skipping through the wall. And quickly pulls a black hood over her dark brown hair. “My name is irrelevant, ooh~ Woo~ I’m nobody, I don’t want to be anybody, I just want to fulfill my fancy-smancy plan~ It’s not worth living in this world where only despair exists, woo~”
“I-if you, ah,” Kawarama trembles as he sits up, staring at her with wide eyes as she waves her arms at him and makes ghosts noises throughout, “Said th-that normally, y-y’know, with a normal voice a-and, ah, w-without th-the ghost noises, i-it’d actually be p-pretty scary.”
“Like this?”
“AHHH-”
“I’m kidding! I’M KIDDING!” She grabs him quickly, before he can fall, and he stares at the ceiling, shaking a little harder this time. “Geez, kid, I know how to be scary, I’ve been scary for most of my life.”
“Y-you have?”
“Yeah, you just have to act like whatever scares you.”
“But my dad’s really mean, I don’t wanna be mean.” Kawarama says weakly, and she pauses, hard, he looks up at her. “Do you have to be mean, Ryuuka?”
“...if you have to call me something, call my Bug.” She pulls him up, “And I’m gonna tell you something, okay? I want you to only tell this to that big oaf you have for a brother - Hashirama.”
“Yeah? What’s Anija got to do with this?” Kawarama stiffens up, but Bug rakes a hand through her hair, looking away from him with a sigh.
“That dumbass is meeting up with his friend about two hundred feet from my house.” She states, “His brother - a smartass little menace a bit younger than you, who’s much too curious for his own good in my opinion - and your other, also much too curious brother Tobirama have already found me. They use my house to spy on Hashirama and his friend, actually.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Kawarama asks her cautiously, she stays quiet a moment, then sits down in front of him and opens up her robe, pulling out some snacks.
“My mother - not my Mom, my Mom was a lovely, kind, caring person, who loved me and she never deserved to die - but my mother, she…” Bug’s hand trembles, and she inhales tightly, Kawarama takes the food and Bug tilts the mask. It reveals slightly tanned skin, small marks that could be scars from throwing practice, and a whole forest of freckles high on one cheekbone. “She probably thinks she’s a good person. Nobody ever mentions what she’s like when she drinks.”
“Everybody always thinks drinking gives them a pass, don’t they?” Kawarama says bitterly, and opens up the onigiri, “Inarizushi?”
“Sorry, it was all I had - I know not a whole lotta people like it-”
“It’s okay. I don’t like it either, but I don’t hate it.” Kawarama shrugs, then opens his mouth easily, showing off the Hatake fangs he inherited from his mother.
“Oh.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing!” Bug smiles with closed lips, and eats behind a trailing sleeve, but surfaces with rice stuck to her cheek. “You have Hatake in your bloodline, right?”
“Yeah? My mom, actually.”
“...so…teeth like that-”
“Oh! I should’ve warned you-!” But Bug puts a hand up instead, and opens her mouth slightly, showing off similar points, just past her lips. “Oh!Ohh! Wait, the Hatake have a law against hitting children-”
“Does it stop your father?” She deadpans, closing her mouth, Kawarama pauses, she takes another bite of her onigiri, “Eat, I’ll walk you home after.”
“But my father has a price on your head?”
“I can walk you to a safe distance, then watch you walk to the gates, instead, if you want to avoid us fighting.” Bug offers, Kawarama nods, “It feels like Tobirama has stopped panicking, that’s good. Means he’s recognized my silence.”
“Your…what?”
“...nevermind about Hashirama, idiot will never learn anyway. Ask Tobirama about it all, okay? Bring Itama if you're feeling brave.”
Itama does not flinch when the figure leaps down in front of him, but he does cry out.
“Onee-sama!”
“Stay behind me, child.” The Uchihas back off, eyes wide, Bug-oneesama stops in her tracks, hands out for a fight and knees bent in preparation as she eyes each child-hunter in turn.
“The children-”
“-call her-”
“-the same-”
“-since when-”
“-does she save others?”
“-has she always saved them all?”
“-she’s the hunter-killer after all-”
“-she’s the friend-to-children-”
“-why would she save indiscriminately?”
“Finally decided to ask important questions, then?” Bug-oneesama asks, moving her head slightly in the way most children do when they raise an eyebrow exaggeratedly high. “Maybe ask those questions to your clan head - or, better yet, your Council.”
They immediately go pale, sweaty, and look rattled as Itama clings to her.
“Get lost, you cowards.” They flee, and Itama sobs, clinging harder as she gently leans him up against the boulder he was just collapsed against. “Itama, they’re gone, far away enough now - but Hashirama’s squad is closing in-”
“Please!” Itama begs, tears in his eyes, and Bug flinches as he looks up, “Please, Onee-sama, I’m scared!”
She hesitates - she looks towards the river, like it holds answers, or maybe just easier ones - then she looks at Itama.
“Okay,” Bug tells him, “Move over, I’ll sit with you until your brother comes.”
“ITAMA!” Hashirama screams, crashing to a stop that leaves skid marks on the ground, “Get away from him, you-”
“She saved me, Anija!” Itama glares at him with watery eyes, still curled up in Bug’s side, still mostly covered in blood. Bug lifts the cloth away from Itama’s face, eyeing the rescue squad warily - the way wild animals eye humans, the adults’ note, the way Tobirama has taken to eyeing their Clan Head recently, Hashirama notes - and there’s a long, pregnant silence. “...are you gonna walk me home like you did Kawa?”
“WHAT?!” Hashirama squawks,
“Kawarama didn’t have a rescue squad to fetch him, Itama.” Bug murmurs, voice soft and sweet and gentle, and completely opposite to everything the adults ever imagined. “Your brother is here to keep you safe, though - he’ll walk you home, and make sure you get to bed alright, okay Itama?”
She gives him an eye smile that actually looks comforting. It looks familiar, too.
“But I want you to walk me home, onee-sama!” Itama grabs her robes and she doesn’t flinch at the blood - something the squad does. “Everybody else you’ve ever saved has gotten walked home! Even that one kid from Ino-Shika-Cho!”
Hashirama goes slack-jaw, the adults go white, but Bug sighs deeply, tiredly, her shoulders dropping as she once again looks to the river.
“Itama,” Hashirama stops whispering, stepping forward warily, and Bug looks over at him quietly, her hands shifting to something defensive over Itama, even as he brightens up and leans towards his Anija. “She clearly wants to go home, she’s probably really tired, and wants to get to bed too. Even if she doesn’t have patrol in the morning, she probably doesn’t have anything fun - civilian kids have school and classes, remember? We shouldn’t keep her.”
“But Bug lives here - she knows where to fish to get the big ones out of the river!” Itama smiles as Bug gives him a scrutinizing look,
“Same trick?” One of the adults asks, holding up a fishing hook,
“Same ol’ trick.” Bug confirms, “Please go home, Itama.”
“But-”
“Can one of us go home tonight, Itama?” Hashirama flinches at the sentence, the adults go stiff, but Itama gets confused, “Itama, you have some siblings who are trying to not have heart attacks at the moment-”
“I got him, we’ll explain later. BYE!” Hashirama snatches Itama from the ground, Itama lets out a loud whine, then Hashirama simply tosses him over his shoulder like a sack of rice and starts running.
“Did you seriously tell our brother you’re homeless?!” Tobirama is ecstatic, Izuna spits out his tea, Togakushi and Kuro look up from practicing bandages on each other under Itama’s guidance as Kawarama starts crying from laughter nearly instantly. “It’s NOT funny, guys, Hashirama was SOBBING!”
“Dude, your brother would cry if his hair didn’t brush out properly.” Izuna states, looking both horrified and wildly amused, “But this is a tree! SHE IS HOMELESS-ow.”
“I’m also sleep-deprived.” Bug growls, lifting the paper fan of wrath from Izuna’s head, then placing the tea tray down on the table in between them. “So could everybody stop yelling?”
“You’re homeless?” Itama whimpers quietly,
“Oh, kami, she’s-”
“This tree has a roof, a floor, and I got blankets in my bedroll-”
“But do you have a bed?!” They all go rigid, “Answer me, you brat.”
Bug turns around and faces Kou, who’s pissed.
“Hello child-”
“I’m older than you, brat.”
“Two can play that game.”
“...if I apologize-”
“No more demon voice, even without apology.” She cut him off, too tired to even pretend, but she pinched the bridge of her nose from the eye holes of her mask as he drags out multiple storage scrolls from his belt. “Why-”
“Because you saved my little brothers.” Kou states, “Honestly, it’s better than Madara - he’s already waxing poetic about you.”
“Oh, joy.” Bug looks skyward, like she’s praying - everyone in the room knows she doesn’t do that, though. “Do I even want to know what he is doing that over?”
“That that strong, pretty, talented girl could be seduced to join the Uchiha,” Kou deadpans, Bug gags loudly, almost dropping the fan as Kou walks forward to dump the scrolls onto the floor. “Preferably by Madara himself, but I don’t think he knows what ‘seduce’ means, and Dad won’t let me tell him.”
“How stupid does somebody have to be?” Tobirama asks, raising an eyebrow,
“How old are you?” Kou asks casually,
“I’m nine?” Tobirama offers up casually,
“Wow, the Senju teach ‘em young-”
“Course we do! We’re healers!” Itama states, Kou looks slightly alarmed, “What’s that face for?”
“You’re seven, dummy, and you skipped classes-”
“Cause I wanna be the Head Medic!” Itama yells over Kawarama, “And you’re not ANY better, Nii-san - you’re eight!”
“Oh…” Kou says weakly, “Oh, they were competing.”
“Do I wanna know what makes you say that or can I live in the happy, pretend world where your fathers’ pissing matches don’t cause natural disasters and hundreds of deaths each year?” Bug asks dryly,
“I’m eleven, Madara’s ten, Kuro’s nine, Togakushi is eight, and Izuna’s seven.” Kou rattles off, Bug nods, gently running a hand through her hair, “It’s okay, you can say it.”
“Did EITHER of your fathers get a sex education?! Or did they think it was ELASTIC down there?!” Bug shouts, sounding livid, Kou gestures towards her like she just handed them money. “Your poor mothers!”
“...we’re gonna have to sneak out to come here, aren’t we?” Togakushi asks, looking up at Kou with one cheek puffed out and his nose wrinkled up like a bunny.
“Oh yeah, no question.” Kou states, “Now will one of you little shits help me find her some blankets?”
“Of course!”
“Obviously!”
“Me too!”
“I’ll help!”
“Is there room for one more?”
“I think y’all are good, and I have tea over here.” Tobirama sips noisily to prove it,
“You’re also spying on your Anija like a nosy brat.” Izuna points at him as his cheeks take on a lovely, sakura-pink shade, and Tobirama turns cherry-red in rage.
“And you’re spying on your Nii-san like a nosy brat!” Tobirama screeches,
“Boys.” Kou and Bug state in sync, already tired as Bug sets down another plate of tea and snacks. “No fighting.”
“Alright Tadpole, Lightning Bug, Dragon, whoever-you-are,” Kou flops back against her chest and she hums quietly, not looking up from her book, “You are - officially - turning sixteen years old at some point this month-”
“Oh, I already turned it.” She deadpans, all the boys - who are trying to decorate her house in preparation of winter and to give her a break, a habit they picked up after that messy first year after they noticed she was going days without sleeping to try and prep for seasons and keep them safe while they visited - all stop in their tracks. “My birthday is the sixth day of the ninth month. Didn’t I tell you that, already?”
“WHAT?!”
“Yeah,” She lowers her book to rest on Kou’s chest, and turns to look at the younger boys as he fumes at her, “I could’ve sworn I told you guys last year, at least, right? After what happened when Tobirama tried to make silent fireworks a thing using that Seal?”
“Which was a bad idea and I told him it was a bad idea-”
“Shut up, Izuna!”
“Okay!” Togakushi and Itama shove their arguing brother apart, “But what do you want for your birthday, onee-sama?!”
Tadpole blinks at them softly, her eyes suddenly darkening, almost turning hollow, very much emptying.
“It’s…” She swallows harshly, she closes her eyes, and suddenly - with her usual eye-smile - there are stress lines beside her eyes. “It’s not something you can give me, boys.”
Kou sits up quickly, twisting faster than the kids can track and cupping her face gently.
“Hey,” He says softly, “We got you, Dragon-oneesama, just say the word.”
His thumb slips into the edge of her mask, catching a tear just under her eye.
“We’ll get it, we’ll hide it, and we’ll bring it here. Like always.” He states, giving her a warm smile, bright and trusting and so, so believing. Her eyes are almost black from her broken heart.
“You can’t bring my brothers back, Kou - not like that, not to the way they were.” Her voice comes out hoarse, comes out rough and cracking, like she’d been screaming. “Only the Shinigami can bring back the dead - and he wouldn’t do that, not for someone like me.”
“Not yet.” Tobirama and Izuna state in sync,
“Kids.” Kou glares at them,
“Stop them before they break my house, please.” Tadpole begs, all the brothers crack their knuckles in sync, “I’d like to be able to live in it a little longer, you two.”
“Alright,” Madara stares at Hashirama intently, “So your brothers are gone,”
“Uh huh.”
“And my brothers are gone,”
“Uh huh,” Hashirama repeats, and wonders where his friend is dragging him,
“And is there any chance your brothers have been hiding presents too?”
That made Hashirama pay attention.
“Okay, I wouldn’t know about Tobi, per se, since he’s so sneaky - but Kawa and Ita have definitely been hiding presents lately.” Hashirama states, “Actually, they’ve started hiding and then losing or giving the presents secretly around this time of year…recently-”
“Nine years ago.” Madara smirks over his shoulder, Hashirama pauses, “Usually blankets or shoes or cooking supplies, right?”
“Holy shit, yours too?”
“Yep!”
“Wait, your a sensor-”
“I’m tracking them right now.” Madara smirks, turning back around, “All we need to do is lose the tail~”
“The ta…seriously?”
“Dude, it’s both of us, save it.” Madara snickers, “Then we can bust ‘em-”
“How about we all ‘bust ‘em’ after I teach you idiots how to whisper!?” Taijima pounces on his second eldest with a vengeance, who rightfully shrieks in fear, but it gets muffled but his father. “I should shove you into this river to repent for this clan’s mistakes!”
“...I love you, Otou-sama?”
“Nice try, boy.” Hashirama gets thrown, and the earth swallows him into a very large hole, “Stop molesting your son, Taijima, we need to find the others.”
“Very funny - where did yours go?”
“To repent for his mistakes-” Vines burst forth from the ground, then Hashirama bursts forth from the riverbed under their feet and quickly swims up from the bottom. “...clearly I need to work on different types of motivators.”
“Escaping you is motivation enough.” Hashirama spits out, “You must be Madara’s father! It’s so nice to meet you!”
“Dude, are you okay?”
“Son, blink if you need help.”
“I’ll blink when I’m done with the patricide~” Hashirama smiles brightly at them, then glares at his father with a face just like his own, and Butsuma takes a step back before Hashirama turns back to the Uchiha with another sunny smile. “Shall we go back to finding the children?”
Butsuma starts to inch forward slowly, and since Hashirama does not immediately act on his words, the Uchiha release a breath.
“Yes, yes let’s find the kids.” Madara breaths, “And punch Kou.”
“Do you two just…look for reasons to punch each other?” Taijima sighs,
“Yes! Didn’t you do that with your siblings?!” Madara asks, cracking his knuckles eagerly-
“SHIT! THAT’S-” Loud shushing makes them all stop in their tracks, then they all turn, and a bad genjutsu sticks out like a sore thumb right as it stabilizes.
“TOO LATE, KIDS~” Taijima croons at shouting volume, several others shore up the genjutsu, “Shit, they’re doubling down.”
“Of course they’re doubling down,” Butsuma rolls his eyes, “It’s what kids do - just break it and-”
“Break it and I’ll break you.” Hashirama smiles at his father sunnily, and Butsuma finds a nice rock to focus on by his feet. “Alright guys, what’s up, why are you out here? Does your friend need help or something?”
“Their what?” Their fathers almost choke on air as all of their siblings hold out their hands to extend middle fingers at them - even Izuna and Itama.
“Yeah, they hauled a bunch of presents out here for someone today.” Madara tattles, rolling his eyes, “C’mon, at least the responsible eldest son has to have an opinion-”
Kou sticks his head out, and suddenly the genjutsu becomes soundproof.
“Would you like my honest opinion, brother dear?” His eyes hold both the Sharingan and a lot of veiled threats, Taijima goes slightly pale, and holds an arm out in front of Madara.
“Not that opinion, thank you.” Taijima says quickly, Butsuma shoves his knuckles in his mouth, but Tobirama sticks his head out,
“HEY! You said you could PRONOUNCE-” Kou shoves a hand into Tobirama’s mouth,
“It’s bad enough to teach Izuna those words, let's not teach Madara them too, okay Tobes?” Hashirama facepalms at Kou’s sunny smile and Butsuma goes sheet-white, “Why don’t you have some more yakimochi? It looks like Dragon-oneesama has just taken some more off the grill.”
“REALLY!? OH! YE-” Tobirama disappears back into the genjutsu, and Kou glares at them all for a moment.
“She’s turning nineteen.” He states determinedly, Taijima sighs, “She has been alone since she was eight.”
“Wait, wha-” Kou disappears before any of them can finish asking the question, and they’re left standing there, horrified.
“I take it Kou gave you a talking-to about interrupting parties.” They all jump, Butsuma grabs his sword until he can take a deep, controlled breath, and then they all turn to face the vigilante - because if they’re going to talk, none of them will call her Ryuuka, that was already agreed upon. “I’m surprised you all had enough control to not simply break the genjutsu and grab the boys away.”
“Kou saw to that very well.” Butsuma admits,
“Tobirama helped.” Madara snickers, both parents give him an unamused look, but Hashirama stares at his feet, trying to not smirk.
“I’m sorry I taught him Hebrew-”
“What?” Butsuma is furious, Taijima is confused, and both Madara and Hashirama are doubtful and gleeful about it in equal measure.
“I didn’t really think that mentioning that ‘bitch’ translates directly would get him started or that he would get far enough in a week to understand what I said when I stubbed my toe while cooking.” She continues, staring Butsuma in the eyes as his face colors with fury, “Of course, I was ten at the time, and didn’t realize that nine-year-olds could read quite that fast.”
Butsuma’s soul almost leaves his body, Taijima closes his eyes and quietly prays, and Hashirama shares a high-five with Madara.
“...why are you acting like that’s the age they met me at?”
“I’m baking all of their favorite foods when they get home tonight!” Madara fist-pumps,
“I’m buying all of their favorite foods tonight!” Hashirama cheers, Madara gives him a disappointed look, “Hey! Some of us can cook, and some of us set fire to boiling water-”
“Are any of you going to get around to the part where you explain why you want the boys back so badly?” She asks, bulldozing over Hashirama quickly, who gets offended for a moment, but moves on as he turns to her.
“Actually, if Kou’s decided they’re safe-”
“That’s how you’re wording it?” Butsuma interrupts Taijima, raising an eyebrow, Taijima, gracefully, does not stab him.
“-we’re going to leave them here and let them finish up the party.” Taijima finishes, Madara glares at Butsuma coldly, Hashirama also glares at his father, but with the silent, burning fury that his own face usually holds. “We’d love to hear about it when they get home tonight, though!”
“I’m actually a little surprised they don’t tell you about me already.” She stares at them both with warm, slightly disinterested eyes, “I mean, I’ve told them enough that either of you could cripple me if we ever crossed paths. If my Cousin Shisui were here, hypocrite that he’d be, he’d be giving me an earful about trusting people so easily.”
“Then why do you trust them?” Madara asks, she turns to him, “If you think you shouldn’t, then why take a risk?”
“Life is nothing but a risk, Uchiha.” She tilts her head, “In order to trust, you open yourself to weakness. In order to love, you open yourself to pain. In order to heal, you open yourself to suffering. Life is risk, life is reward - two sides, same coin.”
“Why risk that pain, when you’ve suffered so much already?” Butsuma asks, she looks away from them, towards a cluster of lily pads, and her shoulders hunch forward slightly.
“Someone once told me that the greatest reward was learning the love again after loss,” She looks down, into the river, “He told me that only the strongest people in the world can learn to do it - only those that prove they’re able to track down those they love in the Undying Lands.”
She almost spits out the last two words.
“You…don’t believe in the Afterlife?” Hashirama takes a step back, Butsuma grabs his belt swiftly, “How can you not-”
“My clan died in war - died to war. Instead of allocating costs to medicine, or infrastructure, or learning, they died.” She snarls, fists clenching, she draws her shoulders up straight, but instead of looking them in the eyes, she glares at her feet. “They fought till the last man standing, you know? And left the children to die on their feet like shinobi, even the newborns.”
She glares at them with fire in her eyes.
“I am a friend to children,” She snarls, a chill crawls down their backs, and there is no cheer in the air anymore, no amusement. “Regardless of clan.”