„It makes me wonder…" Christian whispered looking at sleeping Rit.
"What does?" Tristain asked trying to find some more blankets. Because of the massacre they could not stay at the castle, so they installed themselves in one of the houses nearby. The owners probably had died in the massacre anyway…
"Solano are said to be immortal…"
"Yes, so it is said." Tristain confirmed.
"So why did so many people die? The breeding program was at its peak… there should be at least a hundred people like us running around here… But they all died…" Christian said.
"You think it was something that happened during the battle? That the enemy had some kind of special weapon?" Tristian asked.
"I don't know, but we have to find out… It might be our only chance ever…." Christian said and his brother nodded in agreement.
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In the middle of the night they woke up hearing steps… Someone was coming, and considering all what happened recently the brothers did not hesitate and took the first weapons they found in reach… The steps on the snow were getting louder, and they were heading towards this house… They moved quickly and positioned themselves on both sides of the entrance… Just several steps away… Three… Two… One… and someone reached towards the door knob and opened the door. They moved without hesitation, and the intruder had two kunai pointed at his neck… But he was not someone to mess with, one move… and the knives flew in the air, and it went to hand to hand combat… But two ninja against one tired traveler are always much stronger. The boy found himself pressed against the floor in his own home.
"Stop! What do you want?" He asked them.
"What do you want?" They asked back knowing that this house was not occupied for a very long time, probably even before the massacre.
"This is my home!" The boy told them, so they hesitantly let him go. Tristian turned on some light, and they looked at each other attentively.
"Who are you?" Christian asked.
"My name is Preston Solano-Hyuuga and I've just came back from a long term mission!" The boy told them.
"So you don't know yet?" Christian asked.
"About what?" The boy replied with a question.
"There is no clan… No longer… We don't know what happened, but everyone at the castle is dead…" Christian told him brutally.
"Oh, my God! The girls, my teammates went back to the castle!" The boy told them.
"We better go get them before they see what happened over there…" The brothers replied and the three rushed towards the castle.
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"I can't believe it… I just can't…" Ayumi cried seeing all her relatives dead. Harumi just stood there in shock , she could not understand anything, she was numb to the core… Father… Brother! Where was her brother? She saw her father's body, but where was her brother? Her little helpless brother! Who did this? She felt tears roll down her face. She ran through the rooms in the castle but he was nowhere to be found…
Then she hear a voice "Ayumi, Harumi where are you?" and they both saw Preston they could only do one thing throw themselves at him and cry in his warm embrace.
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The girls were slowly sipping some warm tea and finally cooling down after their emotional breakdown. Harumi was relieved to find her little brother safe and alive, but was really worried seeing him so skinny and starved. She turned towards the two brother who helped them and finally asked, "What happened?"
"We were stopping home from our journey to the land of Wind." Christian began. "And we noticed this boy in the woods, and as he was so cold and starved we took him with us." He paused for a minute. "When we came to the castle and found everyone… We found this house, and asked the boy." He paused again. "He said there was a battle between the joint clans and some enemy that came from the north, most men went and took part in it, only one came home. The Lord Hyuuga, and he was the one who did all that… Rit said he tried to kill him too, but some Carmicheal appeared and saved him. But Rit says that was just a dream because Carmicheal had been dead for over a year…"
"What did you say?" Preston brutally interrupted him.
"The boy said he saw some Carmicheal who died over a year ago." Christian repeated and watch in amazement as Preston ran out of the house.
"What has gotten into him?" Tristain asked.
"Carmicheal was his younger brother… We left almost two years ago… And we did not know anything happened to him…" Ayumi explained.
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He ran and ran, totally unable to believe what he just heard. He had to make sure, he rushed towards the graveyard, and into the Hyuuga-Solano part. New graves.. New graves… Everything was covered with snow so he had to stop at each every one and remove the snow from the sign… Aya Solano-Almeno-Toriyama… no... Isamu Almeno-Uchiha… no… Takeru Almeno-Hyuuga… no,no,no!.. Nobu Solano-Uchiha… Aimi Solano-Uchiha… Mami Solano-Uchiha… Masshiro… Carmicheal Solano-Hyuuga… He fell to his knees and cried, why did it had to be him? He was so young! So talented! He promised to protect him! And he failed! While he was away his beloved brother had been killed…. And he had to find out who did it…
The he looked at the graves again… Eight very young shinobi, and all died the same day… This was not normal…