Melancholy

Chapter One

-Friendship-

Izayoi walked down the streets of Konoha, her long ebony locks falling around her as she pulled her twins in each hand towards the school district. "Aren't you two so excited to start primary school?" the Uchiha beamed, looking down at each in turn.

"Yes!" the small girl cheered, seeming to brighten, her stormy grey eyes shining with eagerness. Her hair was the same black all Uchihas had, though on the right side she had a white streak from her roots till where her hair ended in the middle of her back.

"What about you Kurogané?" Izayoi asked, looking over at her boy on her other hand. He looked similar to the girl, only he had soft jade depths and his black hair was cut short and jagged. He also had a white streak, but his was on the left side of his head.

He looked up at her, not seeming as happy as his sister. "I guess so." He said.

"You'll be in class with your cousins Sakimori and Ryousuke." Their mother tried to encourage him. "I bet you'll have lots of fun with them."

This only made him scrunch up his face slightly. "But Mommy, I see them all the time."

"Well…" she blinked, before smiling once more. "You can make new friends too!"

"Zuzu has a better chance of that than I do." He muttered, looking down at the ground as they continued to walk.

Izumi giggled. "I bet you can at least make one friend Kuro."

Kurogané looked over at his twin. "But I don't want to make a friend. I just wanna be left alone."

"But friends are nice." She frowned, looking at him with sad, wide eyes.

"Now, now." Izayoi chided, sensing a fight brewing. They stopped when they finally came up to the primary school and went in, getting their class assignments. Izayoi walked her children to their class, kissing her daughter's head before the girl ran inside. The dark haired woman kneeled down in front of her son and gave him a sweet kiss. "Are you going to be good today sweetie?"

He pouted slightly. "I'm always good Mommy."

"I know…" she smiled, searching his gaze. "But be nice. You never know when you could be someone's special friend."

He stuck his lower lip out as he sighed. "…okay." He said, almost unwillingly as he looked off. Then he glanced back at her, meeting her identical gaze. "You're going to come back and get us, right?" he asked. "You'll be here the minute it's over?"

"Of course baby." She promised. "I'll be right at the gates when you get out."

"Okay." Kurogané said, giving her a small smile now that he was assured she would return. He hugged her, getting up on his tippy toes to kiss her cheek. "Bye Mommy, I love you."

"I love you too baby." She giggled, snuggling against him before releasing him. "Now go have fun my big, brave boy." Izayoi smiled, patting his butt to get him into the class.

He stuck his tongue out at her, still smiling as he went inside, though it vanished the moment he knew his mother could no longer see him. His jade eyes scanned the room, taking in all of the bright colors and laughing students, and he instantly knew he was going to hate it here. The room was complete and utter chaos, since everyone was running around and playing with the toys. Kurogané gave them an odd look, and instead chose to walk over to the tables at the other side of the room. Hanging from the back of every chair was a nametag, the same thing being taped to the table close to the center in front of where the chair was located. Finding where his name was, he felt a small sense of relief when he saw that they had placed him next to his sister. At least two weirdos wouldn't be on either side of him.

The ebony hair boy pulled his chair out and took a seat, waiting for class to start. "Kuro." Someone said from beside him. The dark haired boy glanced over to see his cousin Sakimori standing there. He sat down beside him and smiled, his dark locks the same Uchiha color, though the tips were highlighted with white. "You made it."

"Yeah." He sighed. "Zuzu took a while to get ready because she couldn't decide on what to wear."

Sakimori chuckled. "Kairi was so mad this morning cause' she didn't get to go to school with all of us."

"It's not that exciting." Kurogané said.

"I'm kind of excited. It means we're that much closer to the academy." His grin widened and then pointed across the table. "And me and Ryousuke are right across from you."

His jade gaze slid across and he saw his cousin's names on the wood. "Great." He said, though he didn't sound excited.

"Don't sound too down about it Kuro." Sakimori nudged him happily.

"Alright class." The teacher called, looking around at the bustling kids. "Let's circle up and start off class with an exercise to get to know one another."

The young Uchiha sighed and got up, going over with his cousin and sitting down on the carpet with everybody else to make a circle. A blonde boy came up to them then, his forest green eyes alight with happiness. "Hey Kuro! I was wondering when you'd get here." He laughed, sitting down on the other side of his cousin.

Izumi squeezed between her cousin and her brother, smiling happily. "This is so cool. I love primary school." She told them all, practically bouncing in her seat.

The teacher clapped her hands once more, silencing everyone. "Now everyone, we have a special treat. We actually get to have four Uchihas in class with us, how lucky are we?" she smiled, looking at the four adoringly, as did everyone else.

"Hi everybody!" Ryousuke waved, giving them all a bright smile.

The only female Uchiha blushed, placing her hands over her cheeks swaying as she giggled. "Oh my goodness! Already so many followers."

Sakimori had a huge blush on his cheeks as well, though he stared down at the ground, fumbling with his fingers. Kurogané just crossed his arms, staring out at all of the kids who were looking at him and his family and daring them to try and talk to him.

The teacher walked over and pat Kurogané's head. "Now, now. Turn that frown upside down, or may the fuzzies and bunnies tickle you to death." She giggled, walking around once more. "Alright, now let's start the name game with the Uchihas. You say your name and something you really like and then move to the next person by tapping their knee."

"My name is Uchiha Ryousuke." The blonde boy said with a smile, deciding to begin the game. "And I like making my mommy smile."

Kurogané's lips thinned. "Uchiha Kurogané." He said.

Their teacher blinked. "Kurogané, you need to say something that you like as well."

He just stared at her. "I don't really like much of anything." The ebony haired boy said simply.

Izumi poked him hard in the side, giving him a small glare. "I'll tell mommy on you."

He glared back at her, before returning his gaze to the class. "…dango."

Ms. Tamataki seemed confused. "Dango?"

"He likes dango." Izumi clarified for him, before smiling at the class. "My name is Uchiha Izumi. I love looking just like a princess and my daddy and coloring and playing with my cousins and-"

"Izumi," Ms. Tamataki laughed, "I think that's enough."

"Zuzu is also Kuro's twin!" Ryousuke announced excitedly, wanting them all to know. "She's the younger one."

She nodded, leaning against her brother. Sakimori smiled at them before facing forward, his blush returning to his face as he realized everyone was looking at him. "Um…uh…" he stammered, only growing more nervous. "M-my name's U-Uchiha S-Sakimori…" he fell silent, his eyes widening. "I like reading." He squeaked out, looking down in embarrassment as he breathed out in relief now that it was over.

Ms. Tamataki smiled at them and clasping her hands together and looking at her other students. "Alright, now who's next?" she asked.

Kurogané held in a sigh as the other kids took their turns and said their names and what they liked. He didn't really pay them much attention, mostly because he didn't care. So instead, he decided to pass the time by thinking about when his mother would come and get them. Maybe if he acted happy enough to see her she would buy him some dango. Because now that he'd said he liked it, he really wanted some.

A soft voice reached his ears then and he perked up, his pale gaze moving across the circle to one of the girls in his class. She had short black hair, though her bangs were long and framed her face perfectly, with dark emerald green eyes. "My name's Tanaka Viletta…" she paused for a moment as she tried to think. "Um…" she seemed a bit nervous, because she didn't know what to say, until a small pink came to her cheeks. "I like dango too…" she said softly.

He blinked, looking upon her with interest. So he wasn't the only one who didn't know what he liked, and had gone with dango? Not to mention she spoke rather softly, meaning she didn't usually speak. They finished out with the rest of the class then, the entire activity taking much longer than Kurogané would have liked. But he didn't mind, because he just continued to stare at the Viletta girl. And when they were all done, their teacher clapped her hands. "Okay kids, now go and find your names at your desks and we'll begin our coloring activity."

"Yay!" Ryousuke hopped up, practically bouncing over to his chair. "I love coloring! Coloring is the best!" he smiled.

Everyone got up and hustled around, trying to find their names and then sitting down at their seat. Kurogané was the first in his, since he avoided talking to anyone and sighed, not looking forward to the rest of this afternoon. Until the girl named Viletta sat down wordlessly at the other end of the table he was at. Once everyone was seated their teacher passed out the boxes of crayons, placing two at each table for the kids to share. Ryousuke immediately grabbed one of the boxes, opening it up and pulling out the ones he wanted to use first.

"Ryousuke! You're taking all the pretty colors!" Izumi shrieked, trying to pry the box away from him from across the table.

"You can have them when I'm done Zuzu!" he said, yanking the box away from her. "I'm making a picture for my mommy!"

"Well I'm making a picture for my daddy!" she snapped back, yanking them towards her. "And he's way more important than your mommy!"

The blonde gasped. "He is not! You take that back you butthead!" he shouted, now using both hands and snatching it from her grasp. He quickly pulled out the last few colors he wanted before sliding it over to her. "There, you can use those, and when I am done with mine, I will give them to you." he said, scooping his small collection of crayons towards him to keep them from her.

Izumi's jaw dropped and before Ms. Tamataki could get over to them she lunged over the table with a battle cry and tackled her cousin to the floor, before they started fighting. "Children, please!" the teacher cried out, running over to them with wide eyes.

But they didn't stop, ignoring their teacher as they wrestled one another. Kurogané sighed, standing from his seat. "Zuzu, I'm going to tell dad you're not acting like a lady." He threatened. "And Ryou, I'll tell Aunt Talia you weren't sharing."

This made the two stop and look up at him with wide eyes. "What?" Ryousuke pouted. "But she started it!"

Izumi was off of her cousin in an instant, grabbing the colors she wanted that he had stolen before taking her seat once more. Sakimori just blinked, looking back down at Ryousuke. "Hey." He whined, getting up. "I was using those."

"You can only use one color at a time anyways stupid. Let her have them." Kurogané said with a tone of finality as he took his seat. The blonde stuck his lower lip out as he sat back down as well, but he didn't argue with his cousin.

"You guys are so childish." Sakimori sighed, shaking his head.

Kurogané nodded in agreement, before looking down at his paper and trying to think of what to draw. He didn't really want to color, but he didn't want his teacher to get all nosy and in his business about it. Suddenly a red crayon was shoved into his line of sight. "Here Kuro! You can use this one!" Ryousuke smiled, his earlier upset completely forgotten.

He looked up at the blonde boy. "I don't want that color." He said blankly. "I want the black one."

Ryousuke gasped. "But that's such a sad color! You need a happy one! Right Zuzu?" he asked, looking to Izumi, who was busy coloring what was sure to be a masterpiece.

"Black's boring." She nodded, though she didn't look up from her work.

"Well that's the color I want." the ebony haired boy said.

"No! You need to use a happy color!" his cousin said, grabbing the black crayon from the box so he couldn't get to it.

Kurogané's gaze narrowed. "Give. Me. The. Black." He said lowly.

Ryousuke shook his head fervently, clutching the black and holding it close to him. "No." he said once again.

"Then I want they gray one." He said, rising to reach for said color. But before he could get to the box it was pulled out of his reach. He glared up at Ryousuke. "Ryou…" he said warningly.

"Use a happy color Kuro! After that you can have the black and the gray." Ryousuke said with a nod.

Kurogané's hand clenched into a fist, but before he could lunge at his cousin from across the table, he felt someone tap on his shoulder. He looked back, seeing Viletta, who was looking off with a small blush and holding out a black and a grey crayon for him. He blinked in surprise, before reaching out and taking the crayons from her. "Thank you." he said, remembering his manners.

She nodded and met his gaze for only a moment before returning to her seat and continuing to color. He sat down as well, though his eyes remained on her. She glanced up at him, and when they locked gazes, she blushed and quickly looked back down. Kurogané smiled slightly, finally returning his attention to his paper. He began to draw then, glancing over at the ebony haired girl every once in a while to see if she was looking at him again.

When he finished using the colors, he got up and walked over to her. "Here." He said, holding them out to her.

Viletta looked up at him with wide green depths. "Oh…um…you can keep them if you want."

He shook his head. "You might need them."

She took them back and placed them back in front of her, covering her drawing with her hands so that he couldn't see. But this only made him curious as to what she was drawing. So he leaned over, closer to her face. "Can I see?" he asked, looking back up at her.

The dark haired girl shook her head, a small blush coming to her cheeks. "It's not done…"

"Then when you finish can I see?" Kurogané questioned inquisitively.

"Um…" she met his gaze once more. "Maybe?" she smiled slightly.

He nodded. "Okay." He said, going back over to his seat to finish his own drawing.

Ms. Tamataki walked around, marveling at the drawings of her students as they continued class with a few more coloring activities. Finally it was free time, for all the children to play with one another and do whatever they pleased until their parents came to pick them up. Izumi looked around, deciding what she wanted to do. She looked over and saw the girl her brother had been talking to over in the corner with the blocks, trying to build a tower. She looked over to her brother and nudged him. "What are you going to do Kuro? I think me and Ryou are going to go finger paint."

"I dunno." He shrugged, glancing over and seeing Sakimori over at the bookshelves. "I might go read with Sakimori, or just sit and wait for mom to get here."

Izumi sighed and moved behind her brother, grabbing his head and making him look over to Viletta. "Don't you want to go play with your new friend?"

Kurogané blinked. "She's not my friend." He tried to look back at his sister. "She just let me borrow some crayons."

The dark haired girl sighed, releasing him. "Well she looks all lonely by herself." She pointed out. "Maybe you two should be friends? You seemed to like her and she gave you crayons."

He frowned, watching the girl named Viletta build her tower. She did look rather lonely, but maybe she wanted to be alone? He knew that was what he would want if he were off by himself. Then he sighed, remembering that not everyone enjoyed solitude the way he did for some strange reason. "You're not going to leave me alone till I go over there, are you?" he asked, meeting his sister's stormy gaze.

She gasped, though she looked guilty. "Now why on earth would I make you do something you didn't want to do?" Izumi asked, tapping her chin with a small smirk.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll go." He said, before making his way over to the ebony haired girl. He sat down a bit of a ways away from her, making himself seem scarce as he thought of what he was about to do. He wasn't really the type of person to go over to someone and make conversation, and so he didn't really know what to do. Then he scooted towards her, slowly, and inch by inch when she wasn't looking, until he was next to her. "You want some help?"

Viletta screamed out, her hand smacking against her tower and collapsing. "What are you doing?" she demanded, still sounding as if she'd had the beejezus scared out of her.

Kurogané blinked. "Um…I wanted to know if I could build with you. Please."

"Oh." She scratched at her cheek, looking at her demolished blocks. "Do you…really want to?" she asked, glancing off with a small blush.

"…yeah." He admitted, coming to realize that he kind of did want to build with her.

"Alright." Viletta smiled, pulling out some more and pushing them towards him as she started working on her own.

The Uchiha took them, beginning to build something as well. They continued to do this, eventually combining their efforts and making one huge building. Soon parents began to arrive, so Kurogané and Viletta began to clean up their mess. When they finished, only a handful of kids had gone home, but Ms. Tamataki had made them gather in a circle to play a game. It wasn't all that fun, mostly they were just tossing a ball to one another and when they caught it they had to say the name of something that made them happy. Hence why Kurogané hated it.

One of the teacher helpers came to the door and cleared his throat, "Uchiha Kurogané and Izumi." He announced.

A hint of a smile came to Kurogané's face. Finally, his mother was here. He stood, about to run off to the door, before he glanced to Viletta, who had been sitting next to him. "Um…bye." He said softly.

"Bye." She smiled timidly, glancing off as she pulled out a neatly folded paper and offered it up to him. "Here you go…"

He blinked, taking it from her and unfolding it, revealing a drawing of the two of them sitting together and eating dango. It was all done in black, gray, and white, except for their eyes, which were their natural shades of green. He smiled genuinely, lowering the paper and looking down at her. "Thank you." he said, the expression on his face stunning his relatives, and even Izumi, since it was a rare sight indeed.

"You're welcome." She smiled back happily.

Kurogané nodded, folding it back up and putting it in his pocket before going over to the teacher helper so that he could leave. Once Izumi was there they were led away from the classroom and down the hall to the front area. Upon seeing Izayoi standing there waiting for them, he broke away from the aid and ran to his mother, wrapping his arms around her legs. "You finally came." He said, holding her tightly.

"Of course I did sweetie." The older woman giggled, picking up her son and propping him on her hip.

"Mommy!" Izumi cheered, running towards them and clinging to her side.

"Did you two enjoy your first day of school?" Izayoi asked her children, though she mostly focused on Kurogané.

"I don't like our teacher." He said, laying his head on her shoulder. "She treated me like a baby, and makes us play dumb games."

The elder Uchiha blinked, taking Izumi's hand as they began to walk home. "But sweetie…technically to your teacher you are a baby."

He frowned. "Well she doesn't have to pat my head the way she did. She invaded my bubble."

"Little Kurogané, you must accept your bubble will be invaded sometimes. You must learn to be able to handle it." Izayoi smiled, kissing his cheek. "Did you make any new friends?"

"…kinda." He told her, wrapping his arms around her neck. "This girl shared her crayons with me, and we made a castle out of blocks, and then she gave me her picture that she made."

The dark haired woman seemed surprised, looking down at him. "Really?" she whispered, a smile creeping up her face. "You made a friend."

He met her identical jade gaze. "I guess so."

"Oh sweetie, I'm so glad. I hope you keep her as a good friend." She snuggled him, as they finally arrived at the Uchiha District and their home. "Guess who got back while you two were in school?" she snickered.

Izumi gasped and ran into the house. "Daddy!" she cried out, seeing him in the living room. She tackled him down as he stood and hugged him tightly.

Kai laughed. "Hello my princess!" he smiled, wrapping his arms around her and sitting up. He was a handsome man, with stormy grey eyes like his daughter's, and white hair, with black spikes underneath them. He kissed her cheek. "How was your first day of school? Did you have fun?"

"It was awesome! I punched Ryousuke in the face!" she smiled.

"What for?" he blinked.

She sat up and huffed. "He took all the crayons and was being a butt!"

Izayoi walked back in, shaking her head. "Well Talia's going to have a fit about this."

Kai nodded in agreement. "That she will. She's even more protective of him that your mother is of Hayate." He said, his gaze moving to his son, who was still in his wife's arms. "And how was your day Kurogané?"

"Fine." The ebony haired boy said, looking over at him.

"Aw." The Uchiha mother giggled. "Kuro, aren't you happy daddy is back safely?"

The little boy huffed, before burying his face in his mother's long ebony hair. "I knew he'd be fine. He always is." He argued.

Kai pouted. "That hurts Kuro. Why can't you ever be excited the way Izumi is?" he whined, snuggling his daughter closer.

"Kuro made a friend today daddy. She's a pretty girl," Izumi beamed, before it faltered. "Not as pretty as me of course, but she is pretty." She giggled.

He smiled down at her. "Of course sweetheart, no other little girl is as pretty as you." he nuzzled his nose against hers, making her laugh. He kissed her on the forehead, before looking over at Izayoi and Kurogané. "So who's your new friend Kuro? Are we ever going to get to meet her?"

"No." the answer was muffled, as he still had his head hidden in his mother's neck and hair.

"Aw how come?" Izayoi pouted. "I can't schedule a play date or anything?"

There was silence for a minute, before Kurogané answered. "I don't know…if I like her enough to see her outside of school yet."

"That's mean Kuro." Izumi stuck her tongue out at him before running off to her room.

He didn't even look at his sister. "Can I go practice kunai throwing with the new set grandfather got me?" he asked, sitting up and looking at his mother.

"Of course sweetie, just be careful and don't break any windows." She smiled, setting him down and watching him run off.

Once their children were gone Kai sighed as he got up from the floor. "Sometimes I just don't understand that boy." He said. "I mean, even Sanosuke was happy when he made a friend in Talia, wasn't he?"

All Izayoi could do was shrug. "He's a weird boy."

"Well I wish he'd act happy to see me." the pale haired man pouted, going over to his wife and wrapping his arms around her. "If Izumi wasn't so happy I don't know what I'd do."

"I think you'd be okay." She smiled, smoothing her hands up his chest and wrapping them around his neck. She leaned closer, pressing her front against his as she licked the shell of his ear. "After all, you have yet to see how excited I am that you're home." Izayoi murmured into his earlobe before nibbling on his neck just below his ear.

He shivered, smoothing his hands down to her rear, one of them sliding between her cheeks and rubbing her. "Well I can feel it." he smirked. "But I'd still like to see it."

"Then why don't we go unpack your things and spend some quality time together before it's time to feed the children."

"I do love the way you think." Kai kissed her. "Almost as much as I love you."

Izayoi giggled as he scooped her up into his arms and carried her off to their room to enjoy each other's company after the time away from another.