"What are we going to do?" asked Hashirama to his friend, snuggling closer to the fire they set in a cave to keep warm. "Madara? Are you listening to me?
"Yes, but I have no idea. I have never survived on my own for a full day, let alone the rest of my life… and please don´t call me that, remember that the ninjas that are expelled from their clans lose their right to use their names"
"I know but…"
"But nothing, they threw us up without even a name or last name to get money being a soldier for rich people" stated the former Uchiha, shaking his head. "We need to get out of here now, not only the Senju and the Uchiha will be looking for us, but other clans that wanted an alliance or money from them"
"So basically everyone is our enemy. I don´t like that" the brunette hugged his legs. He didn´t like to fight even when he needed to, now that he was technically free he didn´t want do it… but it was necessary. "I will protect you"
"Stupid idiot, I don´t need protection. I will be the one to protect you" smiled the raven. They weren´t enemies anymore, they were friends… or more than that. They were brothers. "We can go to the Land of Water…"
"Why the Land of Water?"
"Because it has ports and it´s easy to set sail and get out of here. I heard histories before of lands far away from the Elemental Nations and I believe… we could start over in one of them. Maybe get a nice house and a life without fighting?"
"That would be good" smiled finally the easy going child, but then something crossed his mind and the happiness was gone. "I will miss Tobi"
"And I Izuna, but they decided their destines when they turned their backs on us. Or don´t you remember your brother trying to help your dad to kill you? Mine did nothing for me when those snakes took me away or when dad saw me at the river…" a sound alerted the two kids. In a minute they were on their feet, scanning their surroundings.
"Wow, Ma… dude, your eyes changed!" the former Senju pointed out. The raven took his hands to his eyes and realized it. The pressure and emotions from that day awoken his Sharingan. Even if he wasn´t part of the clan anymore… "Awesome!"
"I told you, it was you who needed my protection" said the boy with a mock. He felt a chakra close and grabbed his friend´s hand, it was better to run. "We need to move now!"
"What´s happening?!"
"The Uzumaki clan is here, they must have heard about your banishment and wants to make sure the traitors are dead" hissed the former Uchiha and kept running. They wouldn´t be able to sleep until they reach the Land of Water.
-A few days later-
The two kids were dead tired and beaten when they arrived to their destiny. Both of their clothing was torn and dirty, very unlike a Senju and an Uchiha. They both have newly healed injuries, made from the lot of fights with the enemies they ran into in their way. It has been a blessing that the brunette mastered the healing techniques besides his battle ones, aka the Mokuton, and was able to heal them.
"I thought we were never going to lose them"
"We didn´t lose them, idiot, just gained some time" the raven said, Sharingan activated and sensor skills working, something his friend sucked at. He moved his aching body towards the port of the city and nearly felt when his weakened legs threaten to give up. "Don´t stay there and pick up a boat, we need to leave"
"We need to eat something" reminded him the former Senju. Both of their stomachs were howling, already in their limits. The other put a hand over his middle, yes, they needed food and water or were going to die in their way to the sea.
"Okay, let´s steal something from a market, but after that the boat" the brunette nodded and they head off to the stands. Even in their weakened states they managed to reunite food to satisfice both of their stomachs and ate quickly, like it was a banquet and not some fruits and uncooked vegetables. "Put this on" ordered the younger one, putting a cloak over the other´s head, covering his head and face.
"Why? A ninja would be able to sense us even with this"
"But a normal person no and better be safe than sorry" answered him, drinking from a bottle he stole from a traveler. "I will go for the water, you take care of the food."
"And the boat?"
"That one" the raven signaled the little wooden thing that was near them. "The others are too heavily guarded for us two in our current condition"
"Okay, meet here in an hour?"
"Got it"
-Half an hour later-
The wood boy was dragging a basket full of fruit when a man with red hair stood in the middle of the market. He hid his face and tried to go, but then he started screaming at the crowd that he was looking for someone:
"I am searching for a traitor to the Senju clan! And he is surely here in this town! Don't worry, if you cooperate you will be well rewarded. Tell me where he is and I will give you money! Hide him and suffer the consequences!"
"Damn" it was a serious threat, no shinobi wanted to mess with the two very clans they were running from. Hiding, he ran to his friend and warned him. In a second the two boys were inside the wooden boat and setting sail, even if they didn´t have nearly as much food as they need to resist the travel.
"Are we doing the right thing? We said we would found a village and stop the war! That was our dream!" yelled the brunette in a depressive mood.
"And how do you want to do it?!" snapped the raven at the older one, that jumped scared. "There was a possibility when we were the heirs of two important clans, but not now! We are fugitives! And nobody is going to listen to a pair of missing ninja with no other help than each other!" the one talking felt tears falling down his cheeks. "Damn…"
"It´s okay, sorry" sighed the former Senju. "I know you are right, it´s just that… I have just that much faith for this to work. Maybe like that the children could actually be children and won´t be sent to the battlefield without even holding a kunai in the right way"
"Or knowing how to use a paper bomb. One of my cousins died because he didn´t do it right" pointed out the former Uchiha.
"Or knowing anything else than the bunshin no jutsu"
"Or the correct way to perform a Fire Jutsu"
"Or being more than fifteen!" they both felt to the floor laughing and smiled to each other. Dreaming about peace has been their way to cope with reality just too much time… and now that dream was lost because no one wanted to understand how two children from enemy clans could be friends.
"We are going to be okay, no?"
"Yes, we will"
-Two days later-
They were on the open sea when a storm hit their little vessel and shook it violently, threating to break the casket that have been their home for so long. The food felt from the board when they were too much preoccupied about keeping themselves inside.
"What is this?!" yelled the brunette, with one head on the edge of the boat and the other on his friend´s hand. For his part the raven was occupying himself with trying to reach the edge of the boat and keep himself inside.
"I don´t know!" he answered when finally grabbed the wooden edge and the brunette let him go. At some point they fainted. After finally woke up, they realized that they were still on the boat, that surprisingly was in one piece. They were about to cheer their good luck when realized that the food and water was gone.
"How are we going to survive like this?" they asked each other.
-Some days later-
Tatch was on guard duty on the Moby Dick, bored to his ass, when he saw something small in the horizon. The Fourth Division commander put his hand over his eyes to find out what it was. It didn´t look like a sea king or a Marine vessel, it was too small. In that moment Marco joined him, having just finished paperwork.
"Is there something the matter, yoi?" asked the First Division commander, looking in the same way his brother was doing until he realized there was something there, in the calm waters of the ever changing Nuevo Mundo. "What is it?"
"I don´t know, want to take closer look, chicken butt?" joked the cook.
"Sometimes I hate you, you know, yoi?" answered his best friend, but opened his wings and flew towards the floating object. There he found out two children dressed in strange clothes, did they came from Wanokuni? Somehow he didn´t think so. But they didn´t seem like Marine recruit either. He grabbed both of them with his claws and flew back to the ship. "It was a boat and inside were them, yoi"
"Oh…" said Tatch, poking at the brunette´s ribs. He did the same to the other one and came to a conclusion: they were starving! It was a wonder they were even alive after so much time without proper food! "What happened to this poor kids?"
"I don´t know, they could be escaped slaves or something else, yoi" Marco said. Their little rescue attracted the attention of most of the on duty crew, that were congregating to see their new ship members, making a crowd around them. It took a few minutes for Oyayi and the other Division commanders to come.
"What´s happening here?" demanded to know Shirohige.
"We found this little runts lost in a boat, yoi" explained the Phoenix, shaking the brunette child after Tatch ran away to the kitchen to grab some food for the poor things.
"Are they from the nearby islands?"
"I don´t think so… their clothing is too strange to be from there yoi, but I could be mistaken" answered the blue bird. Izo kneeled in front of the boys and shook them lightly. Finally, the crossdresser opened his own water recipient and threw the contents over the brunette´s face. The boy licked his lip and woke up.
"Water…" he moaned.
"Here, have some" said Rakuyo, giving him his recipient. The boy immediately got up and grabbed the thing, drinking at a nearly impossible speed. "Easy, there is more where it comes from!"
"And for M…my friend?"
"We will give him too" smiled Haruta, trying to be as friendly as he could. In that moment Tatch returned with the food and the raven was woken up, but he was mistrustful and didn´t drink until one of the pirates took a sip. Then he drowned the contents in seconds.
"Where is my friend?" he asked once he finished.
"This is good!" he heard the older boy and sighed, shaking his head. The former Senju would never change, he was still so trusting, even after the pain of war. Still a child… how much he wanted to be like him.
"Come on, eat" the short commander pushed him a little bit near the food. The little one was starving so much that he started to eat immediately. "After you eat we can take you back to your home, I bet your parents are…" but when he mentioned the parents, both the boys were alarmed and entered battle stance. To the commanders surprise, they looked more like war veterans than the children they should be. "What´s the matter?"
"So this is it…" said the brunette, moving his hands in a strange way and making threes grow from the ship. "All you want is the reward for us"
"You have a reward?" asked Curriel, surprised. "You couldn´t be more than thirteen years old! It´s impossible for you to have a reward!"
"Well, we have and you are letting us go, we have no desire of getting killed" stated the raven one, with blood red eyes.
"Easy there yoi" tried to calm them down Marco. Now he knew why they were so malnourished and scared. They were outlaws at such a short age, what could they have done? Certainly not something worth the price on their heads. "We have rewards like you, see?" he showed his wanted poster. "We are not giving you up"
"How could we trust you?"
"We are not like the others you found in your escape, we are a family" said Newgate, entering that moment. "And we are not going to let some children die, believe us"
"I think… we can trust them" said the brunette, turning off his technique. "Besides the food is good and the ship too, maybe they can take us to another island"
"If you want you can stay here too, it will be safer than an island" smiled at them Haruta. "You could be our little brothers…" sadness suddenly washed over them. "Oh, don´t cry, if you accept then we will take care of you."
"We don´t need to be taken care after" said the raven, sitting on the floor near his friend and grabbing some meat. "We… aren´t children"
"You are twelve" the captain stepped in. he was already fond of those kids and their sad history, even if he didn´t know the details. They only needed someone to teach them and protect them… like all of his brats. "You need someone to take care of you. I can be your father and protect you"
"Oh, so you want us to fight, kill and die for you"
"Of course not! I only want…"
"Isn´t that what fathers always wanted? Ours did" pointed the brunette. The commanders were taken aback, where in the seven hells did this kids came from? They didn´t seem to understand the concept of fatherly love.
"They need to stay" said Tatch and Izo nodded.
"They will"
After eating the children were taken to a unoccupied room where they could sleep without problem, next to each other and no one else. Haruta took them there and tried to tuck them in, much like an older sister, but they didn´t let her. Specially the dark haired one, he seemed to be more mistrustful than his friend.
"Do you want to hear a history before bed?" he asked, threating them like normal children.
"It´s about battle? Or what not to do in there?"
"You know, just forget it. Have a good night" he was about to leave, but then remembered something. "What´s you names, by the way?"
"We don´t have"
"Oh… well, good night" and he left, more worried than before. He walked straight to Oyayi´s room, where the captain was waiting to hear about his new unofficial son´s state. The grim look in his commanders face made him worried.
"What happened?"
"They didn´t even have a name" informed Haruta, sitting down next to his father. "Whoever those children´s parents were, they only worried themselves by making them some sort of killing machines, not letting them be children. I… I´m worried, Oyayi, they seem to have murdered already… but I think they didn´t want to do that"
"It´s sad, but we could help them. Just teach those two what a true family is and heal their injuries."
"That couldn´t be hard, we just have to behave like always"
What do you think? Is it good? Reviews then!