Hideki's grip on his knife tightened so suddenly that it broke the handle.
The two men sat in silence for a while, as Hideki put down the knife in his hand and reached for another. They went back to their work chopping the vegetables as Hideki took a big inspiration and said: "That asshole will never get his hand on my daughter. She is a Senju, she belongs with us not them. I will make sure that Tajima and his father get that, even if it is the last thing I do."
Butsuma gave him a dry look: "Don't do anything rash. This hotheadedness of yours is what's making me have doubts about what I'm about to ask of you. As for your In-laws, they are a problem will have to deal with in the battlefield and that's it."
Hideki gave a laugh, but his childhood friend knew that his words went in one ear and out of the other.
Trying to change the subject, Hideki asked: "So what is it that you want from me anyway?"
Butsuma had finished with his work so he put down his knife and looked at his friend seriously: "It's about my sons. The hostilities will probably start around six months from now, and I expect that we will start needing to send the children as support in about a year. They will probably not do any actual fighting, just work with the logistics department, but from our own experience, you know that they will need a little bit of skill to survive that. Unfortunately, I'm too busy to train them myself, so they have to rely mostly on what they learn at the school with the other kids. I try to free up some time every week, but it's not enough. And I will only get busier in the upcoming months. You know how it is, with…"
Hideki gave him a big grin as he interrupted him: "My friend, you're rambling again. Get to the point, will you?"
Butsuma rolled his eyes: "My point is that I want to know if you can add the three younger ones to your training sessions with Hashirama. I know that training three other kids is a lot, especially that two of them still haven't learned all their basics. But I'm really worried about them. I want them to have the best shot at coming out of this alive, so they need to train with a capable teacher, and you have done a great work with Hashirama. So, what do you say?"
Hideki grinned even wider: "Honestly, I'm appalled that you even have to ask. Of course I will teach your kids! They can join in whenever we have a training session, and if they want to they can join in on Yume's training sessions too."
Butsuma smiled sincerely: "I will let you work out the details. I'm sure they will be trilled. The younger three have been a bit jealous that their older brother gets to have a teacher all for himself, on top of having a rare kekkei genkai."
Hideki gave his friend a mocking smile: "Oh look at you, all worried and full of fatherly love. You know, if you showed this caring side to your kids instead that grim face, maybe they will like you better."
Butsuma started frowning again, and the two friends went back to their usual bickering.
A little bit further away, the kids were all sitting by the lake.
After having been forced to join them, Yume had decided to imitate them and rolled her pants little to dip her feet the water, but that was all she was willing to do to fit in the group. She made sure to leave a clear space between her and them, refused to say even a word of greeting, and just stared straight at the water.
Obviously, the situation became a bit awkward as seconds ticked by, so Hashirama tried to break the ice: "Don't you have any fishing equipment? If you do, you can join our little competition. We are trying to see who can get more fish. But to be entirely honest none of us had any luck so far. We will be lucky if we get enough food for everyone present."
Yume slowly turned her head to meet his eyes. She hadn't styled her hair in the same creepy style she had in the morning, but her ponytail was still pretty loose, leaving a few strands of hair to hide a bit of her face.
Her heart was beating a little faster out of anxiety and a bit of excitement. This was the first time ever someone around her age invited her to join in any type of fun, and his brothers didn't look like they minded that much, so she was seriously considering it.
Taking a big gulp, she stood up and walked a little bit further into the lake. She didn't have any fishing gear, but she knew of a way to fish that was even more fun than whatever the boys were doing. From the pouch hanging on her belt, she got out a kunai, and focused on the water around her.
The four brothers were a bit at a loss, while they were looking at her. All of them understood on different levels that Yume was the weirdo of the clan, and her actions were proving that fact even more.
Suddenly, she flicked her writ faster than anyone could see, the kunai left her hand and went to lodge itself in the shallow waters. She walked fast to where the kunai was and picked it up, along with something that the boys weren't able to identify thus far.
When Yume was finally back near the group, she happily put down her fish in the empty basket intended for it and gloated a little bit: "First point for me."
In her head, her tone might have sounded cheerful, but her expression and tone in real life didn't really match, and it awkwardly came out as a dull matter of fact statement.
The boys were stunned to silence for a second, and then Hashirama spoke up: "That was awesome! Your way is definitely more efficient than ours."
Kawarama spoke up with a bit of an indignant tone: "You have a kunai? You are younger than me and you're allowed to have your own kunai? How is that fair? I'm only allowed to borrow one from anija for training, and even then I have to give it back!"
Yume didn't think that she had the necessary social skills to answer him so she chose silence, while Tobirama retorted coldly: "That's because your aim is terrible. We can't allow you to handle a sharp objet on your own if you can't even throw a ball straight. Truly a disgrace for a shinobi."
Kawarama looked like he was about to burst and glared at his older brother, but the later wasn't moved in the slightest. Finally the younger one hissed: " Show off! Just because you learn faster than me, doesn't mean that you're anything special. You're not Hashirama-anija."
Things were starting to look like they would turn into a fight, so Hashirama stepped in the middle with a worried-cheerful smile: "Now, there's no need for this. You both said things that you shouldn't have, so you're even. Since we all like Yume's way of fishing, let's just go and ask for kunai from father and sensei."
Yume's small voice came from the side where she had retreated: "No need. I have more."
She took out the pouch from her belt and emptied it on the ground. Five more kunai, two wires and six shuriken fell out of it. The boys gathered around and Itama spoke up for the first time: "So cool! You have the complete set for a shinobi!"
Yume accepted the compliment silently, as the boys picked up a kunai each, and Kawarama even took the chance to get his hands on two of her shuriken.
The merry group then went into the water and started scrutinizing it for fish.
The one who got the most fish was Yume. She worked silently and efficiently, but she had absentmindedly forgotten about her isolationist tendencies for a while, and so she was in the middle of the group they were forming. It was also clear to everyone that her eyes were giving her a bit of an advantage, since she almost always spotted the fish faster and aimed more accurately.
Hashirama and Tobirama were of equal skill, and competing fiercely for second place with five fish each. Itama stood at one side, focusing heavily and only making an attempt when he was completely sure. He still missed half the time, but he had gotten two fish all on his own.
Kawarama was getting frustrated. He too wanted to compete with his brothers, but his aim was as terrible as Tobirama had described, and he still hadn't gotten anything. But he had almost planted his kunai in the feet of his brothers or Yume multiple times, almost ending the happy day in a disaster. But the good thing was that he refused to give up, and was still trying his hardest.
Yume spotted another fish and was about to go for it when she noticed that it was quite close to Kawarama. The boy was so focused on looking in front of him that he neglected his left side. She honestly thought that such lack of awareness was horrible in a future shinobi, but she kind of wanted him to have a win today too. Maybe he will like her more if she let him have it.
Deeming the risk of anyone getting accidently stabbed from letting Kawarama try again negligible, she quickly pointed towards the fish: "Look! To your left!"
Kawarama's head snapped to her, and realizing that she was talking to him, he looked to his left and saw the fish passing him by. He gave a small shout and threw his kunai, a bit awkwardly that is. By chance, the fish caught it in the head and the throw was strong enough to impale it to the ground.
The boy picked it up happily, and brandishing it he started shouting: "I got one! I got one! And it's bigger than all those you have caught so far! I got it."
Tobirama and Itama just shook their heads while smiling at him, and even Yume almost let out a smile. Hashirama went to his side and patted his back: "Good for you! You got the biggest fish! You're getting better at this."
Kawarama went to put down the fish, and the four others followed him, to count how much they got in total already. As they were counting, Kawarama looked at the abandoned fishing rods and pouted: "We shouldn't have wasted the money on these useless things! Think about all the candy we could have brought with that money. And now we got nothing!"
The brothers all looked at their equipment sadly, silently agreeing with him.
All of a sudden Yume got an idea. Barely putting her feet back in her sandals, she started running back to the house, without an explanation.
The boys watched her leave, still puzzled by her behavior, but they didn't speak up. Tobirama looked at the fish basket and said seriously: "I think if we can get ten more, it will be enough for lunch. But we should hurry; father and Hideki-san must have finished a while ago."
Kawarama pouted: "Even my big fish isn't enough?"
His eldest brother chuckled: "It might be enough for you, but we have to catch some for father and sensei too. And you know that they eat a lot more than us."
The seven years old was still unhappy about having to go back in the water: "And where did she go too? She should be helping us until the end, if she's going to eat our fish too."
Itama shielded him from the side: "You're not being fair. She caught even more fish than all of us."
The two eldest glared at him too, so Kawarama childishly pouted and mumbled: "Well, she might as well go, she really creeps me out. I don't understand why father is making us hang out with that weird girl."
Itama shyly said: "I will have to agree with you on this. She is really creepy. And her behavior is weird. I heard from Yuri-chan that no one has ever seen her smile. They say that she is incapable of it because she is an evil spirits child. Her mother was a demon, that's why her eyes are purple."
Hashirama wanted to scold him, but he didn't know how to, so he just said: "Hey, that's not a nice thing to say about sensei's daughter. She's a bit weird, but she had been nothing but nice to us. She even lent you her shinobi tools, when she didn't have too. And her mother wasn't a demon, she was just an Uchiha woman."
Tobirama frowned while folding his hands: "Same difference. The Uchiha are our enemy. I'm not saying that Yume is evil or on their side, but she can't really be trusted. I heard people say that her eyes are really powerful, and that if they fall into the wrong hands, they could wipe us all out. We must be cautious. Maybe the clan adults keep her away because they fear that she might hurt someone."
Hashirama was at a loss. Tobirama's arguments were always logical and he didn't know how to argue with him. Sure, he felt that the treatment that Yume was subjected to was awful, and it contributed to her awkwardness a great deal, but he also didn't know how to defend her. He sincerely believed that his father always knew what he was doing, and since he knew about the girl's isolation and did nothing about it, even if she was his best friend's daughter, then he must have strong reasons.
Maybe she was dangerous to the clan, like Tobirama said.
Still, a voice inside his mind kept repeating to him that if she truly was as powerful as people said, they should do their best to make her love the clan, so that she would protect it. With things in the state they were, he wouldn't blame her at all if she turned on them one day.
He was about to voice his thoughts out when he suddenly noticed a presence a few feet from them. He recognized it immediately and his head snapped sharply that way, his brothers doing the same too.
A little bit further away, Yume stood with a big bowl in her hand. When Kawarama had mentioned the candy, she remembered the bags of sweets her father had bought her that morning and went to fetch some. She had seen kids share their candy before, and she wanted to try it out, and see if the boys will become her friends after that. It didn't seem like they minded her presence too much, so she wanted to try her luck.
That was before she had heard what they had been saying behind her back. She hadn't caught the entire conversation, but she had certainly heard enough to understand they didn't want her around anymore than the other kids of the clan.
Time stood still, as the boys looked her way, with different levels of guilt at having been caught bad mouthing her behind her back like that.
Finally she went back to her usual self, bowing her head a little to avoid people looking directly into her weird eyes, and bent down to put the bowl on the ground. She said with her usual poker face, and monotone voice: "You said that you wanted candy. I have a lot of candy. You can have some if you want. Papa and Butsuma-sama are done. They said you have another half-hour before lunch."
And with that, she turned around and hastily left, in the direction of the house. The boys watched as she went back, and without a word to the adults, she shut herself in the house. They could already feel the glare of the father and the inquisitive looks of Hideki-san.
Tobirama finally said: "I guess this officially makes us the most horrible people on earth."
Hashirama guilty looked at the closed door, as he answered: "Yep. We truly are."
The next few hours went by awkwardly. After half an hour, the boys went back with their spoils, and the adults started grilling them. Hideki managed to force his daughter to come out for lunch, but she gloomily sat to the side and ate quietly, not bothering to look at anyone.
The boys were feeling guilty, so they were pretty much quite too. The adults did most of the talking, but they clearly knew that something had gone terribly wrong. They just didn't understand why. The kids had all looked pretty happy while they were fishing, and Hideki even dared to say that his daughter was having fun.
It was the middle of the afternoon when they finished their lunch. The boys decided to go by the river once again, to play and even try to catch something to bring back to their mother. Hideki and Butsuma still had a lot to talk about, so Yume decided to leave them alone. She knew that her father didn't have many friends because of her, and she wanted him to have a good time when he could.
Knowing that he would only worry more if she shut herself in the house once again, she went near the river too, far away from where the boys were, and sat down next to a lone tree. One of her arms hugged her knees, while she pulled at the small patches of grass with her free hand.
She spaced out for a while, but suddenly something caught her eyes.
Out of seemingly nowhere, four thin stems started coming out of the ground, and growing at an incredible speed. She watched with fascination as they grew and bloomed into four beautiful purple flowers.
A voice came from in front of her: "Purple Hyacinths symbolize regret. It's the equivalent of I'm sorry in the language of flowers."
Yume's eyes snapped to the boy in front of her. Hashirama still had his hands clasped in a seal, fearing that if he let go, the flowers would die before conveying their meaning.
He gave her an awkward smile and said: "I know it's weird that I know that, but it's a part of my study program. Mokuton is so rare that there are no manuals about how to use it. So my father and the teachers in school make me study up on plants, botany and stuff like that. To help me understand it better. One of the most interesting books I read is about the language of flowers. I think it is a nice way to say what you have to say. So I learned how to grow flowers and I give them to my mother and my grandmother all the time, and…"
Noticing that he was rambling again, and that she had gone back to ignoring him and his flowers, he stopped talking.
He bowed his head a little and said in the most sincere tone he could: "I'm really sorry. Really, really sorry. We shouldn't have said what we said. And I know that the others are sorry too. But you know how boys are, they are too stubborn to admit their mistakes willingly, and come apologize."
Yume snorted mockingly probably for the first time in her life, while looking at anything but him, and said: "It's because I'm not worth apologizing too, right? If it was anyone else, they would have, but not to me. Never to me."
The nine years old boy didn't know how to answer that, so he stumbled: " No, no, t's not like that. Please don't think like that. Really, it's all my fault. I'm the older brother, I should have forced them to come apologize too, even if they didn't want to."
Yume's face jerked to the side and he finally noticed the tears brimming in her eyes. This apology really wasn't going as good as he had hoped for.
He was about to try again, when she said in a small voice: "It's alright. I'm used to it. It's not your fault. You're just a watcher."
Huh?
He titled his head to the side and said: "I'm a what?"
Yume panicked a little bit, fearing that he mistook her word for an insult when it wasn't, so she hastily explained: "It's not a bad thing. It's what I call the people who just watch, when the others are being mean to mean. Like there are mean people like aunt Mei, people who ignore me like grandma Hanako, and watchers like aunt Maki. And you. You're not mean, to me, you just don't say anything when the others are. And that's alright. It's not your problem anyway. Honestly, I want the world to be filled with just watchers."
Hasirama finally understood her meaning. He might only be nine years old, but it broke his heart. This little girl was the same age as his youngest brother, and her world was so dark and lonely. To her people who did nothing while she was bullied were actually nice people. He felt guilt and shame when he realized that if anyone had treated his brother the way she was, he would have already beaten them to a pulp, yet he did nothing for her. He knew about her and even saw her being shunned sometimes and he did nothing about. No one ever did.
He finally went closer to her and squatted right in front of her: "Ok first of all, I think the word you're looking for is onlooker and not watcher. Watcher is a really creepy word. And second, I promise you that I won't do that anymore ok? If anyone is mean to you again, just tell me and I will help you deal with it ok? That's what friends do, and I really want to be your friend."
Now that got Yume's attention.
She knew that it was a long shot, and her Mama had always taught her to be cautious against people's promises, but she really liked the idea of having a friend. She knew that he had a lot of other friends and that he was already a shinobi who went on missions with her Papa, so he wouldn't have much time for her, but maybe they could play sometimes. Sometimes is way better than never.
She finally turned to look at him, her tears gone for right now. The slightly older boy recognized her childish and innocent interest in his proposition, so he smiled widely and said: "That settles it. From now on, we are friends."
She acted like she was thinking about it, but then she enthusiastically nodded her head.
He went to sit down next to her, and both silently looked at the river passing in front of them for a while.
Yume's heart was beating a bit faster, because she didn't know what she was supposed to do or say, now that they were friends. After a while, she decided to start with the question that had been bothering her: "So, are you scared of me too? Do my weird eyes creep you out too?"
He didn't look at her, but answered right away: "No and no."
She looked at him a bit taken aback as he continued: "Me being weirded out by you would be the pot calling the kettle black. You and I are a lot more alike than what you think. I too have a strange power, that no one knows much about. They call it a kekkei genkai, but they aren't even sure of that. Anyway, I know that people treat me a lot better than you, but when I was still learning about the Mokuton, I couldn't control properly and I hurt some people. At that time, a lot of people looked at me weirdly, some still do. Even if I'm not responsible for it, people still disliked me, because they didn't know what I am. And now they are doing worse things to you. And I hate that. People in this clan are so afraid of the unknown and the unfamiliar that they automatically antagonize it. Which to me is kind of a dumb thing to do, because if you are as powerful as they seem to think you are, they really shouldn't be making you angry."
He finished his sentence with a wide grin and a wink, and Yume actually chuckled.
It's true that once, she had heard a lady say that her eyes had the ability to curse, so for weeks she walked around trying to curse a lot of her enemies. Sadly that didn't work.
Still, talking to Hashirama was refreshing. She mainly listened to him talk about random things for the rest of the afternoon, and threw a couple of words here and there when she felt like it. Talking to him was as easy as talking to Papa.
When Butsuma and his sons had to go, Yume was a lot more cheerful than at lunch. She didn't even hide behind her father as they said goodbye. But she still made a point of unceremoniously ignoring the three youngest brothers, and only giving a shy wave at the eldest.
Hideki was relieved that the day had ended well and that Yume was happy. Now he only had to figure out a way to break the news to her about their house becoming the main training ground for the brothers over the next few months. She might be on good terms with Hashirama now, but he didn't miss the fact that she didn't seem to like his brothers. She probably wouldn't like that they will be invading her private domain, but maybe she could get used to it over time.
Before going back to the house, Yume turned to try and get a look at the four purple flowers near the tree further ahead, and a smile could been seen on her usually expressionless face.