DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS/PLOTS. I ONLY OWN MY OC'S.

"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."

-Winston Churchill

First Death

After he finished eating the inarizushi, Madara and his siblings decided to play their version of Ninja until it was time for dinner. Of course, the two four year olds were already half asleep by the time they were sitting at the table. It was, after all, a full day of running and excitement. All the twins could do was to move their food around their plates during dinner. Izumi attempted to eat a part of a fish, but half way through raising it to her mouth the fish fell from her chopsticks, making everybody sitting at the table laugh. The brother's hurryingly finished their meal so they could put Izuna and Izumi to sleep. After Arata and Katsumi fell asleep next to the twins, Izumi and Izuna were still awake, waiting for Madara to tuck them in.

"I'm sorry we didn't get anything for your birthday." Izumi said to her older brother.

"It's alright, today itself was the best birthday present I've had." Madara said with a smile. After kissing his little sister on her forehead, he turned to Izuna. He pulled up the blankets around him and kissed him on his forehead. Standing up, he looked at his siblings that were already asleep. "Goodnight guys, I love you." Sliding the door closed, he swore he heard a whisper from Izumi.

"I love you too Madara." Little did Madara know this was the last day they would be all together as a family.

Waking up, Izumi felt like it wasn't a going to be a good day, unlike yesterday. She looked to her left to see Izuna already gone, something that confused her. Her brother didn't say anything about leaving early in the morning. She could sense her older brothers all in their own rooms, so that ruled out that he was out training with someone. Izumi placed her hand into his futon and it was still warm, meaning he left only a few minutes ago. Standing up, she shivered at the cold air that hit her exposed legs and walked over to her closet to see Izuna's winter jacket gone.

"What is he doing going outside?" Izumi said to herself. Looking through the window, she could see the faint imprint of her brother's shoes on the ground. Quickly changing her clothes, she quietly snuck out of the house to follow her brother.

As she followed Izuna's footsteps, she failed to notice how much deeper and deeper she was walking into the forest. She was getting scared though, that was for sure.

"I-Izuna?" She said, hugging herself. Looking around, she realized that she didn't know where she was. Izumi looked down at her feet and still saw Izuna's footsteps in the snow. She was determined to find out where her brother went, even though Izumi already knew one thing. She was lost, and Izumi was pretty sure her brother Izuna was too.

As she continued going deeper and deeper into the forest, still following Izuna's footsteps, Izumi started shivering from the cold.

"Izuna? Where are you?" She called out every few minutes. Looking up at the sky, she realized how long she's been outside. Her brothers were probably worried about them.

With every snap of a twig, Izumi could feel herself getting even more and more scared.

After walking for a few minutes, Izumi noticed a slumped body in the snow and automatically knew who it was. "Izuna? Izuna?!" She ran forward but tripped on a root that stuck out of the ground and landed on her ankle. Spitting snow out of her mouth, Izumi stood up and tried to take a step with her right foot, but she felt pain go through her whole leg, causing her to cry out. She was only a few feet away from her brother, she couldn't give up now! Taking a deep breath, she continued limping forward until she finally reached Izuna. She kneeled down and checked her brother's pulse.

"Izuna, wake up! Please!" Izumi cried out, shaking him. She could feel tears forming in her eyes, she was so scared. What would she do if he died? She would be lost without him! Izumi heard a twig snap behind her, causing her to turn her head around. She pulled out a kunai that she kept in her jacket for emergencies like this. "W-Who's there?" A man Izumi didn't know stepped out of the darkness that surrounded the trees around her while chuckling.

"Well well, isn't this just my day? You two are the famous twins, the twins of Tajima and Aiko, aren't you?" Izumi saw the man smile at her. "This day is just going great for me." He took a step forward and Izumi saw the gleam of a sword in his hands.

"D-Don't come near us!" She said bravely, putting the kunai in front of her. Izumi planned on protecting her brother, even if it costs her life. The stranger raised his arms above him and she saw the sword come down. This is it, she was going to die.

Izumi screamed as loud as she could for her brothers, wishing they were here to protect Izuna and her.

Then, there was nothing.

Madara

Madara stood, talking with his father when a lone shinobi came bursting through the gates, clothes soaked with blood. He looked around until he saw Tajima and ran towards him. Startling Madara, he hid behind his father.

"What is it Yahito?" Tajima asked.

"The Senju-" The man coughed into his hands and when he removed them, blood fell from his mouth and hand.

"Somebody get an Iryo-nin!" Tajima yelled out to the people that surrounded them. "What are you doing standing there? Now!" Madara looked around and saw someone running towards Kenji, the clan's head iryo-nin's, house. Tajima placed his hands on Yahito's shoulders to support the man. "What about the Senju?"

"T-They were attacked…by the Kazeha clan." Tajima's eyes widened.

"Why are they in the Land of Fire? That doesn't make any sense; they're from the Land of Wind." Yahito shook his head.

"I don't know…all I know…was that one of the clan head's kids…was hurt in combat."

"I got Kenji!" Someone said. Tajima looked up to see the man running through the crowd that surrounded them. Moving out of the way, Tajima continued asking questions.

"Is that it?" The injured man shook his head.

"No… the white haired…kid was k-kidnapped… Another of…Butsuma's children." Yahito still continued coughing up blood, despite Kenji healing him.

"What does this have to do with the Uchiha?"

"I overheard the Kazeha… clan head talking about… kidnapping one of…your children. They're…going to attack us Tajima-san!" And with that, Yahito fainted in Kenji's arms. Tajima stood up and looked at the people surrounding them. He saw Katsumi and Arata standing at the edge of the crowd, but he couldn't see his twins anywhere.

"Hitomi, where are Izuna and Izumi?"

"I think they're already outside Tajima-san. There's nothing to worry about though, they know not to leave the compound."

Tajima's eyes widened when he remembered his conversation with the older lady earlier. There was no way…

"Madara, go find the twins, I need to go to the elders." He saw his son nod his head and turn run through the crowd. Turning back around, Tajima ran to the house that housed the Elders he despised so much.

Madara was confused, why did his father looked so worried? No clan was stupid enough to attack the Uchiha, let alone the clan head's children. But he obeyed his father and ran towards the house in search of Izuna and Izumi.

"Big Brother, let me come along with you." Madara nodded at Katsumi's request and continued their path to the house.

As they stepped out of their house and into the backyard, the brothers noticed two different sets of footsteps leading into the forest.

"Big Brother, you don't happen to think…" Madara turned his head toward Katsumi.

"We'll follow the path; they're obviously not in the house." They started following the footsteps that were so similar in size; it was obviously Izuna's and Izumi's.

"What do you think happened to them?" Katsumi asked Madara.

"I don't know, they probably strayed too far from the house and got lost. That's the only thing I can think of." Madara said to his younger brother.

"I hope they're okay…"

"I do too-" They heard a scream that came from deep in the forest that sounded suspiciously like their little sister. "Fuck!" He pushed chakra into his legs and started running faster, praying that he would reach the twins in time.

As they reached the clearing, the two brothers could see Izumi and Izuna slumped over each other on the ground, unharmed.

"Thank god, I was worried there for a second." Katsumi said to the older boy. Madara wasn't convinced though, why would his sister scream out for no reason? But for now, it didn't matter; all that mattered was that they were safe.

"Let's just pick them up and go." Madara walked towards the twins and picked Izuna up. "You can carry Izumi right?" Katsumi nodded his head. He kneeled in front of Izumi and touched her face.

"Katsumi-niisan?" He heard Izumi say. He looked up and saw Madara waiting for him a few feet away. Katsumi waved his hand to his older brother, meaning he would catch up.

"What's wrong Izumi-chan?" The little girl frowned, looking at her hands.

"How… How did I get here?"

"You don't remember?" The little girl shook her head. "I don't know then. But let's go home now, okay?" Izumi nodded her head at her brother and stood up, only to wince from the injury on her ankle. Katsumi turned around and bent his knees to make it easier for the girl to place herself on his back.

"Wait…" Katsumi turned around at what Izumi said.

"What?" Izumi's eyes widened.

"T-There was someone here! He was about to kill-" The little girl suddenly froze, too shocked to cry out. Standing behind her brother was the man from earlier. Izumi looked at her brother and saw a sword sticking out of his chest, his blood splattered all over her clothes. Katsumi looked at her, his eyes red with the clan's famous kekkei genkai.

"R-Run." He whispered. Katsumi feared for her life, his was obviously about to end.

"K-Katsumi-niisan!" She cried out. Taking one last look at her brother, she ran in the other direction, the pain in her ankle forgotten. The stranger slid his sword out of Katsumi's chest.

"I don't think so little girl, you're coming with me." The man quickly caught up to Izumi and slammed his hand to her neck, immediately knocking her out. "You and that white haired brat will do quite nicely."

A/N: Hey guys, I don't know if this was such a good chapter but eh, this is the best I could do! I know I just updated yesterday but this was already halfway done by the time I published chapter 2. This is a small chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it anyways!

I know I should be working on In Time, but I just COULD NOT GET THIS OUT OF MY HEAD! But seeing the amount of people that followed and reviewed made me finish this today too! xD

So until next time!~