Life in the Senju clan head's household wasn't as glamorous as people seemed to think it was. In fact, it wasn't glamorous at all.
The estate was quite large given that it served as both a home to the main family, and a space where a lot of the clan's internal business was conducted. It was divided into an outer courtyard and an inner courtyard. The outer courtyard was where Butsuma-sama's office was, as well as a small library with desks where the kids could work, a reception hall for big events, and a smaller but just as elegant living room where Kimiko-sama conducted her business. The inner courtyard had three wings taking a U form around a beautiful Japanese garden with a Koi pond. The left side was where the main entrance was and was basically a big living room for the family, and two guest bedrooms. The middle section was the kitchen, and the third section was by far the biggest, as it was divided into six square bedrooms, three on each side of a tiny hallway.
If Kimiko-sama had been surprised by the new addition in her house, she didn't let any of it show, and she took Yume in with the same enthousiasme she would have given a long lost daughter. Yume had always wondered how Hashirama-sama's personality could be so vastly different from his father and brother, and it turned out that he was just a smaller masculine version of his mother. Tobirama-kun liked to call him "Mama's boy".
On the day she moved in, Butsuma-sama had taken the time to personally come pick her up, and his two sons and him carried away all her earthly possessions in two measly chests. He also promised her that he would send someone later to pack up the rest of her parents possessions and store them for her until she was older.
Kimiko-sama then welcomed them at the door, and happily scooped up an awkward and fidgety Yume, dragging her with her to the innercourtyard's living room where Itama and a small feast were waiting for her.
Yume didn't have the time to feel awkward about intruding on the family's intimacy, because Kimiko-sama spent the whole meal stuffing her bowl with food, while energetically inquiring about her husband's and kids days and reporting about her own. During the whole meal, she and Hashirama talked the most, while Tobirma, Itama and their father nodded and threw in a couple of words here and there, while a beet red and stuffed Yume kept choking on her words everytime she was asked a question.
After the meal, the matriarch lost no time in taking Yume towards her new room which was at the end of the hallway, facing Itama's. The sixthroom in the hall, the one between her and the couple's room and facing Tobirama's, was kept empty. Yume later learned that it was Kawaram's old room, and that no one dared move his stuff out of it just yet, for fear of upsetting his mother once again.
That night, after storing all her stuff in the appropriate shelves, Kimiko-sama made Yume kneel in front of a pretty dressing table that was apparently dug out of storage just for her, and started brushing her hair.
Yume felt her eyes sting at the tender maternal gesture. Her mother used to do that for her before she became too sick to move out of bed. Later on, she learned how to brush her hair by herself, so as to not bother her father, but she still missed this intimate moment.
The two females sat in silence, each lost to their own thoughts for a while. When she was done with the brushing, the older woman started braiding her hair and said gently: "You know, I always wanted to have a daughter."
Yume's eyes snapped to her reflection on the small mirror, and the older woman gently continued: "After I gave birth to two sons, I secretly started thinking that I've done enough for the clan's succession, and hoping for a daughter. But I had two other boys in the end."
Having finally tied the end of the braid, she patted Yume's two shoulders and looked at their reflection too: "You know, even if I truly disliked Uchiha Akari, I still do believe that she was a great mother. And I would never try to replace her in your life. But the way I see it, you're a child without a mother, and I'm a mother who has lost a child. We are perfect for each other. So even if we will never replace those who are gone, I believe we can try and fill the void in each other's lives. What do you say? You think we can make this work?"
Yume looked at her for a split second, and then the eye contact got too much for her and she dropped her head. But Senju Kimiko didn't miss the tiny nod she gave her.
Feeling satisfied, she gave the little girl one last hug, and showed her where her futon was stored and then left her for the night.
Yume stayed in front of the dressing table for a while. Suddenly, she felt the tiny body that hadn't left her arm for a while and Kenji slithered out of her sleeve. He looked at her and, for a snake, he was quite good at reading the situation since he knew to keep his mouth shut while she gathered her thoughts and emotions.
After a few minutes, she looked at him too, her usual blank expression back, and she started: "So are you stuck here? Can't you go back home?"
The snake shook its head: "Why are you so quick to kick me out? I can go back whenever I want. But I want to stay with you to see the human world for a while"
Yume seemed to frown, but then she just gave up. She would never admit it to him, but she liked the little snake a little bit, and she didn't mind his presence as long as it was discreet: "Suit yourself. But I think your mom is going to be worried."
Kenji slithered closer to her: "No,she won't. She has all of my ten siblings to think about. She probably won't notice I'm missing until Hakuja senin tells her. Our families are a lot different than those of humans. Not that your family isn't weird, even by human standards. Does this kind of thing happen a lot in your world? Is that what you call adoption?"
Yume shook her head: "No, not many shinobi kids get adopted into other families. They usually get sent to the orphanage until they are big enough to care for themselves, and then they are on their own. I'm a special case. Because of my eyes. But I don't want to talk about it."
She got up and started getting out her bedding and laying it on the floor. As she was carrying her futon out of its storage, Kenji said: "Suit yourself. We can talk about something else. For example, I have a question: Why is it that everytime the brown haired boy talks to you or comes near you, you get all flustered and embarrassed?"
Yume almost stumbled, a light blush creeping on her face as she angrily retorded:" "I do not!"
Kenji retorted back: "Yes, you do! I'm a snake so I'm sensitive to these things. Your body temperature gets a bit high and you get fidgety when anyone talks to you, but when it's that boy those variables get a lot higher. I can't be the only one to have noticed that!"
Yume chose to ignore him, and angrily set her bedding before blowing on the candle illuminating the room and getting settled for the night.
Kenji watched her do so while still asking many questions, but she ignored him. When he noticed that she was about to sleep he said: "Fine, don't talk to me! I know that I'm annoying. If you don't want me here, then I will go walk around on my own."
Hearing him, Yume sat brusquely in the dark and said: "Wait, don't go! I'm sorry, you're not annoying."
Kenji stopped on his way to the window, and tentatively turned his head back. She felt reassured to continue: "Don't go out there. If anyone sees you, they're going to try to kill you."
He made a pouty face: "But I want to see the human world before I run out of chakra and have to go back."
Yume sighed: "Then just go back. You said I can summon you right? So when I can go out of the house, I will summon you, and you can climb back into my sleeve like we did today. Sounds okay?"
Kenji frowned: "And how do I know that you will really summon me back?"
Yume dropped back into her sleeping position and said to the ceiling: "You don't. You will just have to make do with my word for now. Do as you see fit."
Silence reigned in for a while, and Yume started to fall asleep, but as she was just about to slip into the land of dreams, she felt a tiny body slide under her covers and curl itself near her hand.
In the morning, he wasn't there anymore.
After that, her days became a well crafted routine, according to the very strict schedule that Butsuma-sama subjected all the kids in his house to.
They woke up at six every morning. There were about four servants that worked full time for the family, but their main job was to take care of the outer courtyard, and help Kimiko-sama with some chores if her schedule was too busy, so the kids had a lot of chores.
Every morning the boys and Yume had to go fetch the water for drinking, bathing and cooking. They split themselves into two teams, one responsible for bringing the water and one responsible for starting a fire to heat some of it for bathing. The boys tried to be gentlemanly and let her out of this demanding task, but a good scolding from Butsuma set them all straight. To him, as long as Yume lived under his roof, she wouldn't be allowed any special treatment just because of her gender. Kimiko-sama later tried to convince them that it was his weird way of saying that he too saw her as his own.
Kimiko-sama made breakfast during that time, and they all ate together after washing up, while the father gave his recommendations for the day. Then, they all had to clean up the table, did the dishes and went to straighten their rooms as inspections happened regularly. Every two days, they also had to wash their own clothes in the garden, no matter how cold the weather got.
After that they went their separate ways.
The boys had training most of the day, and now that his teacher was gone, Hashirama had to go back to the regular training with the other boys of his promotion. Apparently, he was leaps and bounds ahead of them, but he enjoyed helping the others improve and so he acted as an assistant teacher of some sorts, while also sparring from time to time with more skilled shinobi.
Yume also looked forward to the day she could join them too, so that she could become stronger and protect them, but it still wasn't the right time. Her father had talked to her about a plan the clan had to make a special class for the girls, but because they were in a war, that plan got delayed. Forming a regular shinobi from scratch was a task that took a great amount of time and resources, both things that the clan lacked at the moment.
Judging from her training sessions with the boys, Yume knew that her level was on par with Tobirama, so the only reason she wasn't allowed to join in yet was that the other girls in her promotion were holding her back. She didn't know who they were exactly, but she already disliked those weaklings.
Yume stayed back in the house with Kimmiko-sama, who thoroughly enjoyed having another female in the house. She took it upon herself to teach her about cooking and household maintenance. She took her shopping, using her own money, even if Butsuma-sama had started to give Yume an allowance that made the boys green with envy. It was a tiny shunk of the money her parents had left for her guardian to use for her expenses.
Senju Butsuma was a proud man, and he would never stoop so low as to carve into the finances of an orphan,let alone the child of his best friend. He obviously could afford to raise four kids, so he had already decided not to touch a dime of what Yume had. But after a couple of weeks, his wife explained to him that the girl was having a hard time accepting their help financially, and so never asked for the things that she wanted or even needed. She explained that the young girl would feel like less of a charity if they gave her a stipend and explained the origin of the money, so that she wouldn't be too awkward.
At first she used it to try and by herself some of the basic necessities, like her favorite bar of scented soap or new shirts for training, but Kimiko caught on to her tastes quite quickly and started adding them to the household's shopping list, so Yume had to stop being stubborn.
At the moment, aside from the chunk that she saved up, most of the money went into buying Hashirama's favorite kinds of sweets and a very expensive book for Tobirama's birthday. All the adults in the household were amused by the fact that the kids really believed that no one had caught on to their secret candy contraband operation, or how much sweet little Yume was spoiling them.
The morning usually went by calmly, with Yume accompanying Kimiko wherever she went. At first many women around the clan found this new constant presence unsettling, but a couple of choice words from Kimiko-sama made them see the light.
Against her better judgment, Yume had also kept her promise and summoned Kenji almost everyday. She took him out with her when they went shopping or to visit some clansman or he happily chatted on while she was doing her chores if no one else was there.
And he usually stayed for her afternoon training sessions too. She didn't have any partners or someone to teach her, but she couldn't let herself get rusty. So she practised all what her father had taught her over and over again in the garden.
Kimiko-sama liked to watch her if she had time, but she unfortunately had no training as a shinobi, so she couldn't help her much. She usually just sat nearby on the porch with few refreshments and cheered on.
But on a particular early spring day, she wasn't doing much cheering. Yume couldn't fault her because she too was lost in thought. Their peaceful, slightly carefree, days were often cut with days full of battles. After all, they were still in a war. Enemy's kept coming from every side, and peace kept getting further and further away.
This time, they were directly facing the Uchiha clan. Yume never knew why people kept looking her way weirdly whenever the subject was brought up. She really had no ties with the Uchiha, and aside from talking about her beloved brother, his kids and a couple of cousins, her mother hadn't told her much about them. She didn't have enough time. So to Yume, the Uchiha were as foreign as any other clan.
Still, war against them was raging. Both clans were equal in skill, and anything could make a difference in the balance of power. Butsuma had no choice but to draft the kids once again into their army. They only held support roles, like bringing more supplies to a front, transporting messages, rescuing the wounded or cleaning up after a battle, but the danger was just as real.
And of course, as the clan head, Butsuma had to draft his own kids first. They had departed three days ago, and despite her lack of words, Yume knew that Kimiko-sama was very much against it. The wound of losing Kawarama was still fresh, and now she might lose more of her kids. But in the end, she could say nothing. She was a role model and she had to respect the clan head's decisions despite her motherly instincts.
Nighttime came once again, but neither made a move to go back inside. Messenger birds informed them that the final faceoff this time began sometime around three in the afternoon, which meant that the shinobi would be coming back that night.
Every single family in the clan was waiting with bated breath for good or bad news.
Suddenly, the loud voices that came with the coming back of the army were heard, and Kimiko and Yume rushed outside. Cries of relief and cries of anguish came from every side, and the streets were filled with a messy, bloodied and dirtied crowd.
They searched for a while, making sure to not go far away from the house, since they knew that the men would come look for them there.
Suddenly Yume stopped, and tugged on Kimiko-sama's kimono. She had spotted them, but they cut a very sorry figure. Her first thought was to make sure Hashirama was okay. He looked just fine, no visible wounds and no limp but his expression was miserable and tears wouldn't stop streaming down his face.
Tobirama was also in good shape, aside from a small gash on his forehead, but his expression was solemn, and his eyes were red and fighting tears. Yume had only ever seen this expression on him once: when Kawarama had died.
And finally her eyes traveled to Butsuma-sama and she felt her heart skip a beat. In the arms of their clan head, the pale body of his youngest child lay unmoving. Butsuma's expression was solemn, but you could see how his hands clung tightly to the tiny body, keeping him as close as he could.
Kimiko-sama seemed to have taken in the situation slower than Yume did, because it took her a minute before she let out a heart breaking wail and she shot toward her husband and sons.
What followed was days as sad, depressing and heartbreaking as one would expect. Kimiko-sama was inconsolable, and this time she couldn't pull herself back up even when it was time to organise the funeral. Her mother and the high ranking females of the clan took over for her. Butsuma-sama chose to deliberately spend as much time away from his home as humanly possible, sometimes not coming back for days.
The kids were left to their own devices. Apparently there were no foreseeable battles on the Senju side in the near future, so training was canceled for a while. Tobirama, just like his mother, chose to lock himself in his room, not coming out even for meals. Hashirama barely slept, and liked to walk around aimlessly. His cheerful self was definitely gone and he tended to isolate himself from others.
Yume was frantic. Of course, she too had been deeply affected by Itama's death. After all, she had lived with him for a few months, and she saw him as a brother too. But her pain didn't compare to the pain of his real family. She was able to get herself back together faster than they did, and she wanted to be useful. She wanted to help them through their pain, just like they helped her through hers.
But she didn't know what to do. Kimiko-sama's mother, who turned out to be nicer than expected, told her that there wasn't much they could do. She could help take care of them, but they had to go through their grief alone. So Yume made it her mission to take care of the grieving family.
She delivered the meals and stubbornly stayed in the room, in silence, until they ate everything. She took over as much of the cleaning duties and other chores as she could. She checked on everyone every hour to make sure that they lacked for nothing. But there was only so much she could do.
Two weeks after Itama's death, the household was still as glum as ever. For the past few days, the servants had relieved the kids of having to go fetch the water, but it looked like they too had forgotten to fill the barrels that morning, so Yume barely found enough water to wash up. Not knowing if Kimiko-sama and the boys already had their baths, she stood at the door of the storage, debating whether or not she should make a few trips on her own to fill the barrels, when a voice came from behind her: "Not enough water?"
Yume turned around to face a sullen Hashirama, dressed in gray. She shook her head as an answer.
He gave her a sad smile: "Sorry about that. Today was supposed to be my turn. Well, mine and Itama's."
Yume shook her head once again: "No need. I will go fetch a couple of buckets to get us through the day."
Hashirama shook his head too: "No, no, let me. I want a reason to go out of the house and be on my own for a while anyway."
And he turned to leave. Yume let him walk a couple of steps towards the south entrance of the house before she couldn't help blutring: "The well is in the other direction."
Hashirama stopped and turned back with a contrite smile: "I know. I just felt like going to get the water from the river outside the compound. It tastes better."
And he continued walking. Yume didn't stop him after that. She could have pointed out the fact that they tasted exactly the same, and even more importantly that he didn't take any buckets with him to bring back the water. But she knew that he was just finding an excuse to get away, and she didn't find it in herself to force her company on him.
But as the day went on, she started to get worried. She had already made several trips to the well and forced Tobirama and Kimiko to eat their lunches, but Hashirama was still nowhere to be found. So she made up her mind and walked out of the compound to look for him.
The area to cover was quite large, since he could have either gone to the lake by her old house or followed along the river all the way to the border of their territory. Since they were in the forest, she thought that it might be alright to summon Kenji and some of his brothers, that he introduced her to once they became friends, to help with the search. But just as she was about to do so, she spotted a grey clad silhouette making its way towards her alongside the dirt road.
They met up halfway, and he gave her a big smile: "Yume-chan, what are you doing here?"
She was taken aback by his jovial tone. Hashirama hadn't talked that way for weeks, and she was starting to lose hope that he might go back to the way he used to be.
She shily answered: "Looking for you."
He turned to look at the sun in the sky, and dramatically exclaimed: "Oh my! I really did lose track of time! I'm sorry to have worried you like this! Let's go back, before others notice too."
She nodded and they started walking side by side at a leisurely pace. They were silent, Hashirama lost in thought, while Yume was a bit flustered. She kept trying to look for ways to start a conversation, but nothing came to her poor tortured mind. It also didn't help that, thinking himself sneaky, Hashirama kept glancing her way every two seconds, looking like he was studying her face.
Not being able to bear it any longer, she awkwardly exclaimed: "Why are you looking at me that way?"
He gave a hearty laugh: "Nothing. I was just thinking about how different you are."
Yume's head snapped to him: "Different?"
He looked at her, still smiling: "Your features. They are so different."
Yume felt a pang of hurt in her heart. She was very much aware of how weird she looked, without him having to point it out. Her expression smoothed out once again and she went back to staring at the road ahead without saying another word.
Hashirama clearly realised his mistake, and flusteredly started: "It's not what you think! I swear I didn't mean it that way!"
She still didn't answer him, but she did give him a side glance, urging him to continue.
Seeing that she was still listening, he calmed down a bit and went back to looking ahead while explaining: "You never go out of our territory and have probably never met guests from other clans so you probably don't know what I'm talking about, but here it is: I've noticed that from clan to clan, the general features of people differ widely. Like, in the clan, we all look different from each other, but as a group we share a lot more characteristics than what you might think. For example, the Uchiha have sharper looking faces. The Hyuga have big foreheads. The Sarutobi have a lot of body hair. Like a lot!"
Yume laughed a bit, her ire forgotten. But then she asked seriously: "And is that a bad thing? That I look different from the others?"
She stopped there, not wanting to add: "Like an Uchiha?"
He shook his head: "Not at all! To tell you the truth, I always kind of thought that the girls in our clan look rather beefy. Which is absolutely fine,but just not to my taste. I much prefer Uzumaki girls or even Yamanaka girls. And of course you!"
Yume blushed a deep red at that, but he didn't seem to notice. After managing to get oxygen to her brain once again, she shyly asked while glancing at him: "So you don't think that my eyes are weird?"
He turned to look at her, like if she was silly: "Of course they are weird! Purple eyes are not that common, you know! But that's what makes them special. Aside from the power that they may or may not have. I just think that they make you unique. And they are so expressive. You know, people used to tell sensei that you would be an amazing gambler, with your poker face and all, but he always said that he found you quite easy to understand. I thought that he was just bullshitting his way out of the game like most of the time, but now I think that I get it. I just have to look at your eyes to know exactly what you're thinking."
Yume begged to differ. It is true that he understood her most of the time, without her having to spell every thought to him, like she often had to, but he was far from being good at it. Tobirama and Kimiko-sama were a lot better than him in that regard. And even Butsuma-sama, after a few months of living with her, started to get her language.
In fact, she was kind of grateful that he was so oblivious to his gap in knowledge, because too many people were starting to notice that she liked him more than she should like a friend. Tobirama once called it a crush, but both consciously chose to never speak of the matter again. Kimiko-sama always giggled behind her sleeve whenever they interacted. So it was good that he was bad at reading her, or social situations in general.
Choosing to change the subject, to avoid laughing at his smug expression, she asked: "But why were you thinking about facial features all of a sudden?"
He smiled in a way that could only be described as mischievous, and answered evasively: "I was just wondering if it was safe to assume which clan a person comes from, based solely on their facial features."
She was curious: "And that made you look at me because….?"
He laughed: "Nothing. I was just trying to look for similarities with someone I met."
She frowned worriedly, and was about to push for more, when he quickly added: "On the battlefield. That I met on the battlefield."
Yume knew that he was lying. Or at least hiding some part of the truth. But his story did hold up. They had just faced the Uchiha, and she did look more like her mother than her father.
Knowing that he didn't want to tell her more, she nodded and continued in silence.
However, after a few steps, Hashirama said with a little shine in his eyes: "You know, Yume-chan, you are the symbol of something great."
Yume's head snapped to him so fast she got dizzy. She stopped walking and so did he, but he didn't look at her, and looked at the reddening sky above them, while saying: "You're very existence is the proof that Uchiha and Senju can look past their hate and be together as partners. And with those two clans together, no one would be able to stop us from unifying the Land of Fire under one banner, and ending this horrible bloodbath once and for all. After all, if one Uchiha and one Senju can make something as beautiful as you, imagine what a lot more of each can do!"
Time stood still. Yume didn't know what to say. He finally turned to her and said with a smile: "I just shared my deepest dream with you. I know it's silly, but that's what I believe in, and I just had to tell someone, now that my decision is made. And that someone had to be you, because you're the only person I know that wouldn't make fun of me. You're always supportive of me, even when even I know that I'm being silly. And for some reason, I know that this time won't be any different."
Yume took a couple of seconds to gather her thoughts, and then she did something that only her parents ever saw her do: she gave him a big cheerful smile that was almost blinding in its sincerity, and she said: "Of course, I will support you. I will train harder, and become stronger. I will use every ounce of my power to help you reach your dream, no matter how impossible it may seem to others."
It was Hashirama's turn to be blindsided. Out of all the reactions she could have had, he least expected what she just did and said. Smiling fondly, he took her hand, and started dragging her towards the compound once again, while saying: "Silly girl, don't say such things. I don't want you anywhere near a battlefield for as long as possible. I will work on my dreams on my own. You just have to be there to cheer me up when I'm feeling down. That's all I ask."
That might have been all he asked, but that night, in the confines of her room, Yume summoned Kenji again. The little snake didn't even have time to say hello before she started pestering him to take her to the Hakuja Senin. Fortunately, the old snake seemed to have been expecting her, because Kenji was able to go back there, and then summon her with the help of his ancestor.
Standing before the throne, Yume looked the big white snake in the eye, and said with determination: "What would it take for you to teach me how to use these eyes?"
Hakuja senin took a big puff of her cigarette, and asked instead of answering: "What changed your mind girl? Just a few months ago, you wanted nothing to do with me."
Yume answered without wavering: "I have a goal now. A goal that will require a lot of power. I might need to be able to whip an entire clan into submission. Everyone, including you, keeps saying that these eyes have the power to do that. So I want to learn."
The Hakuja Senin was a bit taken aback. She was all too familiar with the humans' lust for power, but that usually required some sort of trigger. She had been keeping an eye on the girl using Kenji and his siblings, and she knew for a fact that nothing drastic happened to the girl after her father had died. So what was her motive in this search for power?
No matter what it was, the story had just gotten interesting, and the old snake was ready for some entertainment, so she said: "Very well. I accept you as a disciple and will train you for a year in the ways of the Six Paths. As for payment, just know that you will owe me, and that in the future, I will come to collect on this debt, in whatever way I see fit."
Yume frowned: "I don't care about your price. But I'm afraid it will have to be more than a year. I cannot leave the compound. In fact, I'm about to get very busy. So I will only be able to sneak a few hours every week to come here."
The snake frowned too, and made a move to look threatening: "So you want to learn for me. But, I, the Great Snake Sage, have to abide by your own schedule?"
Yume deadpanned: "It's not like you have much to do anyway. Kenji always says that you get bored here. And I will be a very serious student. I might not be able to train here, but you can give me the lessons and theoretical knowledge, and I will practice every chance I get."
Hakuja Senin turned to glare slightly at Kenji. Well, it was true that Yume's presence in the Ryushi cave for the whole duration of the training wasn't a requirement. Training her to use the Rinnegans is a diffrent from Sage training.
SIghing at how exponentially disrespectful each new generation of humans seemed to be, she made yet another concession: "Then suit yourself. But know that it won't be easy, especially that you won't be giving it your all. And it starts now!"
Yume nodded, and what followed was a very confusing hour.