Chapter 2

Mourning

Once the boys had all left the tent, Yuzuki looked up at the medic and waved her hand to get her attention. Aiko glanced over at the girl and walked over, kneeled down and smiled softly. Yuzuki started to think of how to word her question.

'Were there any survivors from the recent massacre?' Aiko knitted her brows together as she looked at the girl. As she looked at her, she could see she was searching for any kind of hope. Instead of accepting her thoughts of the girl being a part of that clan, she answered.

"... No... There were no survivors," she said quietly. Yuzuki could feel her heart breaking. No one at all? She placed the brush down and closed her eye tightly. Tears started to run down her little face. Not one person, man, woman, or child, survived? Yuzuki was completely and utterly alone now. Aiko reached for the paper and crumpled it up. No one needed to know about the girl. She wasn't going to have an innocent killed.

"Get some sleep," she whispered softly. When she left the tent, Yuzuki cried and mourned silently to herself. She felt so powerless as she sat there in a foreign place with unfamiliar people and no home to speak of. No one but her had lived. She couldn't get it out of her mind that she was all alone now. Yuzuki ended up crying herself to sleep.

Hashirama walked over to the tent and peeked inside. The boy could have sworn he heard something. He looked at Nobu and tilted his head slightly in curiosity. He walked inside and looked more closely at his lips. The white haired boy had been murmuring and crying in his sleep. Hashirama's eyes softened before leaving the tent.

"And just what were you doing in there young man?" Aiko raised a brow as the boy looked up at her with a flash of guilt.

"I... I was just checking up on him," he answered timidly. Slowly his dark colored eyes darted over to the tent. "What happened to him Aiko-sama?" he murmured. He was genuinely confused as to what had happened that was so horrible to make the boy lose his voice and cry in his sleep. The woman's eyes softened with sadness as she walked over to the tent and peeked inside. The young girl was crying and whimpering in her sleep, restlessly moving about in a nightmare.

"I don't know Hashirama... But what ever it was...must have left him very afraid and shy," she lied. The woman backed up and patted the boy on the head. "Now isn't it your bed time? You'll have time to talk to Nobu in the morning." She then shooed the boy off to bed with her hands on her hips.

The next day Yuzuki's eyes were red and swollen shut. Her tears had spilled all night. It agitated her skin throughout the night so Aiko set a cool rag over her eyes.

"You cried all night... You must have gone through a lot." Then again who hasn't during these troubling times? But this was different. This girl lost everyone in one night. Yuzuki reached out and took her hand. She then used her free hand and pointed at her throat. She was thirsty. Aiko nodded her head and poured Yuzuki a glass of water. She let go of her hand to lift her head up and help the girl drink. Once she was done she placed her head back down.

Then one by one the boys entered the tent. Each sat down around her. Yuzuki stiffened and gripped her blankets. She could hear them, but couldn't see them. Itama tilted his head slightly.

"What happened to him?" He was sitting closer to Yuzuki's head on the other side of the futon. Aiko smiled faintly.

"I believe he finally mourned the loss of his loved ones," she answered. "His eyes are just red and swollen shut. Nothing cold water can't fix," she reassured. Itama nodded his head and relaxed a bit more hearing the good news. Tobirama crossed his arms.

"So in other words: he cried all night," he stated a bit coldheartedly. Aiko shot him a sharp glare, warning the boy to be more considerate about Yuzuki's feelings.

"He's mute, not deaf," she scolded. Tobirama backed down slightly.

"Sorry," he muttered. Yuzuki nodded her head once. She lifted the rag up and tried to open her eye. The swelling had gone down a little bit but she was only able to open it slightly. She turned the rag over and placed it back on her eye.

Hashirama was chewing on his lower lip as he sat there. "Our father would like to speak with you, when are able Nobu-kun." He didn't like the way his father was. Deep down Hashirama knew that he would only end up scolding this boy for crying. Yuzuki let out a sigh. She didn't want to deal with their father at all. Aiko looked at the boys.

"It'll have to wait one more day," she instructed. "He is still weak and needs to gain back his strength." She stood up and left the tent. It was lunch time and she was sure the girl was hungry, even if she didn't want to eat.

Hashirama moved closer and lifted the rag slightly. He took a sharp intake of breath and placed it back down.

"Well I guess you feel better then you look," he said. Yuzuki sighed and turned her head. She had that feeling of just wanting to be left alone. Hashirama blinked. "We are only worried about you." If Yuzuki could show it, her eyes would be rolling at him. She then pointed to were she thought the exit was. Hashirama then moved her arm, making her brows knit in anger at him. All boys stood up fast and rushed out of the tent. Aiko stopped abruptly.

"Hey! Slowly down boys." She was a nana to those boys a lot of the time. She walked back into the tent and looked over at the girl. She sighed softly and walked over to her. "You need to eat Nobu."

After a few hours of resisting eating, but eating anyway, Yuzuki woke from her nap. She forced herself to sit up straight. The cool rag left her face to show the redness and swelling had left completely. Her blue gray eye glanced around the big tent. She spotted a small mirror and crawled to it. She picked it up and took one more glance around to make sure she was alone. Her small hands reached up and unclasped her eye patch and opened her right eye. She lifted up the mirror and looked at it, examining her right eye for the first time.

It was so odd how their kekkei genkai worked. The colors seemed to be moving in an endless way, swirling and smoky, while the tomoe were spinning and moving around her pupil. This was the Fantomume. This was her clans' biggest secret. Though people had their suspicions, even their own names for it. Her mother told her, her own group called it an Illusion or Sakkaku me. They thought her clan was just going plan crazy from incest or just a bad mix of two kekkei genkai.

Yuzuki's mind slowly went back to the day she asked her mother about their eye.

-flashback-

'Tsukiko looked up from her papers and raised a brow. "What brought this on," she asked softly. Yuzuki looked down at her knees.

"W-well I just wanted to know how it activated," she said timidly. Despite her mother's rough exterior she was a nice woman and cared for the clan very deeply. The woman placed her brush down and crossed her arms. Normally no child learned anything about the eye till it activated, but in this case Tsukiko could make a small exception to the rule. She smiled a bit more.

"Fine, but no more questions till it has been activated." Yuzuki smiled excitedly and moved closer to her mother. She was eager to learn how to activate it. Tsukiko chuckled at her bright eyed daughter. She pushed some of her spiky white hair back.

"Well... It doesn't activate in the way you think it does. It isn't like the Uchiha's Sharingan; where they have to focus on activating theirs on their own, and it isn't like the Hyuugas' Byakugan where even children can use it... Ours have," she was choosing g her words wisely, "more to it. I'm afraid that yours will not activate till mine is of no use," she said cryptically. Yuzuki tilted her head and knitted her brows.

"No use?" For how young she was it was understandable that she didn't understand at all. The woman smiled and pulled the little girl close and held her on her lap.

"Well, yes. There will be a great event in your life and when that happens, it will be the last thing I see. My eye will then deactivate and turn gray, while yours activates and takes over the next generation," she explained.'

-End-

Yuzuki watched her eye closely. The white haired girl placed the mirror back were it was and put her eye patch back on. But she still sat there slumped.

'Is that what you meant, mother?' She closed her eye and felt a sting in it once again. Though the moment the tent opened she rubbed her eye and looked over to see Aiko. The older Senju smiled brightly at her.

"Ah you're up that's good. It's time to give you bath and check the wounds," she said cheerfully. Yuzuki's day just got that much harder.

I couldn't think of a better name for the chapter.

I do promise that the chapters will get longer, and more explanations to come. Also I know that her kekkeki genkai doesn't end in 'gan' I wanted it that way. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter please R&R!

and once again thank you GoodMorningFlower!