Info on Kyou's Mangekyou will come with the next chapter. I'm still writing it, but it will probably be up some time this week. All three chapters were gonna be one thing, but my faint heart trembled at the sight of the word count. So, here you go. Three chapters. :)

She did not apologize at the funeral.

This is largely because she didn't go to the funeral. Her mother had asked her to stay in with her, since she was still too weak to even cross the house unaided, and, really, how could she say no to that?

So, she didn't see her baa-chan at the funeral. Hadn't seen her, in fact, since the day her father died. A week ago. It was horrible. She was horrible. A horrible, evil knot was tying itself around her heart and threatening to kill her for being horrible. Every time she thought about going to see her grandmother, it just got tighter. What would she say? 'Sorry for calling you out for being an enabler for an abusive asshole even though I know you were probably abused too and have no other frame of reference for normal behavior'? That wouldn't work. Nu-uh.

So, she said nothing, and the noose around her heart sat there, an ever-present reminder that she made an old lady cry and didn't even say sorry. And she called Satan evil.

Even Satan had never made his mother cry.

Fuck~.

It was even harder to feel bad about avoiding her grandmother when doing so made it easier to focus on training. If she was training then she was busy and it's not her fault if she's too busy to seek her out, right?

Right?

It was totally her fault. She was the worst grandchild in the history of the universe. Both universes. All of them! Gah!

These horrible emotions were exactly why she was beginning to enjoy training her Mangekyou. She only used it for an hour a day, fully aware of how it would eventually affect her vision if she wasn't careful. Still, that hour was fast becoming her favorite time of day. It was such a relief to be able to take a step back and analyze her feelings without drowning in them. She was also viscerally aware that she only felt that way because she was able to turn it off and on at will. It'd probably be a very different experience, otherwise.

"You're getting better at establishing criteria for deactivation," Warai said as she lay panting on the surface of the pond. "That ability leaves you too vulnerable to outside control. I don't suggest using it until you have total command of if and when it's active."

That was another thing. When she first used Kairi, she only deactivated it when Junsuke-jii asked if she could. The next couple of times, it was Warai's interference which had her turning it off. At that point, she was ready to abandon the damned thing altogether. No power was worth the price of her autonomy, no matter how much she trusted the people around her—which was not at all, with the notable exceptions of Warai and maybe Madara. It took her longer than she cared to admit to realize that she could set limitations on the stupid, self-naming ability. It was a little embarrassing, though…

"You know I agree with you," she told her hyena sensei, rolling over onto her stomach and propping her head up on her hands. "I just wish I could train it for longer without going blind."

"That is an unfortunate drawback. I wonder what causes it. One would think that your eyes would be specially built to withstand the stressors of the sharingan."

Yeah. You'd think.

"I think it might have something to do with the increased chakra input in the optic nerve," she said with a sigh. "But I can't exactly look into my own brain, and I'm not sure who I'd trust to do it for me."

No one. She'd trust no one. Even the people who bore her no ill will had the unfortunate habit of trusting people who did.

This was where some healing jutsus would come in handy. Why the fuck hadn't anyone figure them out, yet? It's not like the Senju had a monopoly on medicine, right? Her baa-chan—oof—used all sorts of salves and tinctures when treating her injuries, so the Uchiha had at least a minimal understanding of the human body. With the sharingan, it seemed obvious to her that they'd have an advantage in treating internal injuries and detecting illnesses like cancer, but no. The whirligig of doom was for combat only.

So were tampons before women got ahold of them.

Looked like a woman would have to repurpose the sharingan, too.

Men, so useless.

"Ne, Warai-san," she said, pulling herself up into a lotus position, hands reaching for the sky in a spine popping stretch. "Do you know anything about yin or yang chakra?"

The hyena cocked his head, black ears swiveling. "No. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." She'd have to figure it out all on her own, huh? Nothing new. "Have you thought about what I said last time?"

He snorted, laying his massive head on his paws. "You mean using suiton to manipulate the water in plants? I don't know where you got that idea, but it's probably impossible. While it may be easier to sense the water inside a plant," he blew harshly at a leaf, sending it fluttering through the air. "You must remember that a plant is alive, and, as such, has chakra. In order for you to take its water, you would need to override the plant's will."

Kyou looked at the algae encrusting the stones at the bottom of the pond. "That doesn't sound too hard. It's just a plant, right?"

Warai huffed again, clearly laughing at her. "Try it then. See what it does."

She pursed her lips at him. He was goading her, fully expecting her to fail. If he thought she couldn't do it, odds were she probably couldn't, but she wasn't gonna let that stop her.

She got up and walked over to the shore and plopped down onto the grass beside him. She found a dandelion, perfectly round with fluffy white seeds and activated her sharingan.

He was right about the water. After training as long as she had to find and control the vapor in the air, it was easy to find the water running through the plant's stem and root system. He was also right about the chakra, though she had to strain to actually see the delicate network. As expected of a dandelion, its reserves were much smaller than anything she was used to seeing. It had them, though. A chill ran through her, chasing the horrifying realization that, should Kaguya ever truly resurrect, everything would die. Even the dandelions.

Thank god for Naruto.

She reached out with her chakra the way she did when condensing water from the air, calling to the liquid inside the flower. It ignored her, going along its merry way up and down the stem. Rude. She kept trying, tugging and pulling at the water, but it stayed where it was, held in place by cell walls and a vascular system perfected by millions of years of evolution. Plants were older than humans, older than the sharingan, and older than chakra. There were probably dandelions when Kaguya first ended up on the planet, their design unchanged in all the generations since chakra's introduction.

It was still a dandelion, though. She could snap its stem easily. Babies could do that. So how was it resisting her?

She held out a hand and watched as water answered her call, the floating molecules coming together at the coaxing of her chakra. Liquid pooled in her cupped palm, proof of her mastery over her element. What was the difference between the water in the air and the water in the dandelion? Surely it wasn't just the meager chakra reserves contained within the plant.

If it was, then her entire plan was moot. She knew Hashirama would start using the mokuton in combat, soon, if he wasn't already. The powerful kekkei genkai relied on a mix of doton and suiton chakra, and she'd kind of hoped she'd be able to take advantage of the suiton half to render the ability useless. Like Katara and the swamp tribe in Avatar! Honestly, she took way too much inspiration from Avatar.

If she couldn't even assert her will over a flower, how the fuck was she gonna do it to Hashirama?

She bit her lip, pride lighting a fire in her heart.

Fuck yeah, she could over-power Hashirama! Fucking pansy as bitch! He only got anything done because Tobirama was there to support him! Plants ain't shit without water!

She reached out to the dandelion with renewed vigor. The plant had pores, right? They had some fancy name she forgot the instant she turned in her last biology test ages and ages ago. That's how they breathed, or some shit. Naturally, the flower had a vested interest in keeping the water inside it. It would die without it, after all.

That was a sacrifice Kyou was willing to make.

The plant had chakra, but so did literally everything. The pond was rife with it, filled with fish, amphibians, and teeny tiny microscopic organisms, but that wasn't all. The water itself carried chakra, the spiritual energy pulsing just beyond Kyou's reach. She manipulated water by replacing that residual chakra with her own, turning the water into an extension of her ambient chakra field. There was no way she could do it with the entire pond—not as she was now, anyway—but the little bit inside the dandelion…

That was fair game.

She stared at the dandelion, her eyes stinging as she refused to blink. The force of her concentration had her chakra glowing, a visible tentacle of power reaching out for the innocent flower. It was actually kinda freaky looking and she made a mental note to use it to scare Izuna sometime in the future, when she wasn't trying to prove the magic talking hyena he was wrong to think she couldn't use the magic system of an entirely different universe.

Huh.

Separating the water's chakra signature from the plant's was harder than she anticipated, given how integrated the water was in the plant's anatomy. Her head was starting to hurt from the effort, but she managed it. All she had to do next was—.

Wait. The water's chakra, rather than giving way before hers as it did when she pulled water out of the air, was instead forcing hers back, rushing up through the weird tentacle and turning it an even brighter blue as it went. She watched it approach her, mind blank as she struggled to understand just what exactly was going on and—!

"Cub!"

Her face was pushed harshly into the ground, the dandelion's fluff filling her nostrils as she choked and gagged. Large paws held her down, claws digging into her back. Warai's cold nose pressed against her neck, sending chills through her body.

"Ah! What was that for?"

"Cub, listen to me." She froze, the growl in his voice triggering some instinct she couldn't name. "You must never attempt that again. If you do, you will die. Do you understand?"

He was serious. Super serious. His chakra was wrapped around her like a protective blanket, impressing upon her the importance of his words.

"Why not? I was just trying to—."

"I know! I know," he said again, softer this time though his teeth still scraped against her skin. "I shouldn't have challenged you like that. I didn't think you would actually be able to get that far."

"I don't understand," she whined, taking full advantage of his guilt. "What did I do wrong?"

The hyena stepped off of her and she sat up, wiping grass, dirt, and dandelion seeds from her face before turning to face him. Warai was never a particularly cheerful guy, but he'd grown rather…content over their years together. He was more confident than he was when she first signed the summoning contract, more sure of his words and decisions. In one instant, that was all gone. He was hunched over, ears laid back and eyes darting from place to place as though he expected to be attacked.

"That was very dangerous, cub," he reiterated, voice strained. "It-that-it-you triggered a transfer of nature chakra."

Oh shit.

Fuck.

Warai launched into a stuttering lecture on nature chakra and its role in senjutsu, but Kyou was too occupied in checking her body over for any sudden onset petrification. She could have died.

"This is-I-it's," Warai shook his head, looking very small for an animal twice her weight. "I need to return to the Clan. I am not prepared to teach you those techniques."

What?

"You're leaving?" Fuck, she sounded like a baby. "B-but, you never leave!"

Warai sighed and wilted even further. He reached out with his long neck and began licking at her hair, teeth gripping the strands gently as he groomed her with a fervor that was almost as uncomfortable as it was welcome.

"I'm sorry, cub," he said sincerely, rubbing his face against hers and covering her in his musky scent. "This isn't something I was prepared for when I took up my role as your sensei. It's my fault for underestimating you. With any luck, I'll be back soon."

She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his spotted fur.

"Noooo~," she whined, acting her age for once. "I don't want you to go. I won't do it again, I promise."

He sighed. "Cub, you and I both know that's not true. You're not the type to abandon a source of power so easily. I will ask you not to try it while I'm gone, though. Please, just stick to what we've already done; maybe, try freezing small bits of water. Just, don't try that again, please."

She sniffled miserably, still clinging to her friend and teacher like the child she was. He was going to leave. There was nothing she could do to stop him. Fuck.

"Ok," she said, pulling back to give the poor animal some space. "But you better come back."

He laughed, the sound so stereotypically hyena that she couldn't help but echo it. "Of course, I will. I can't leave my cub all alone for too long, now can I?"

With that, he poofed out of existence, leaving an empty space in the clearing and her arms. Her hands were cold without his body beneath them and she clenched her fists to dispel the bereft sensation.

"It's fine," she said to the empty air in front of her. "I'll be fine."

The words sounded hollow even to her.

With a sigh, she turned and trudged her way back to the village, the familiar path feeling entirely too long. Warai had been with her ever since she first summoned him, four years ago. That was half her life! What was she gonna do without him? It wasn't like the Clan had anything to teach her. She'd memorized every scroll in the archive—courtesy of the sharingan—and had already modified the ones she liked to suit her suiton. The only things she had yet to learn were the 'womanly arts' her baa-chan kept trying to force down her throat.

Maybe…she could go learn those? It'd be a good chance to say sorry.

She shoved that idea to the side, shaking her head. No, she couldn't do that. If anyone found out she was learning 'girly' things, that would lead to all sorts of questions she didn't want answered. Best case scenario, they thought she was gay. Which, kinda, but no. Worst case…

She didn't want to think about it.

She rubbed at her eyes, the sharingan still active due to her heightened emotions. She still hadn't broken that habit, huh? Damn. She kept her gaze trained on the ground as she headed toward her house, only looking up to—.

What?

She threw the door open, the poor thing protesting the violence by bouncing right back and smacking her as she ran through the doorway.

"Kaa-chan, you can use chakra?"

Her mother sat frozen on the edge of the bed, her dark eyes locked on her daughter's. As Kyou watched, the chakra her mother had gathered slipped back into her system, her heart rate rising in panic.

Oh.

"Sorry!" She turned around and covered her eyes. "I'm sorry! I didn't do it on purpose!" She actively shut down her sharingan, counting down from ten to calm herself down enough for it to be possible. Stupid emotions. Stupid Warai. Stupid sharingan.

"I'm sorry," she said again, digging the heels of her palms into her eyes as tears began to fill them. "I'm sorry."

Something touched her back and she flinched, instinctively reaching for one of the many stones she'd collected over the years and performing the kawarimi. She sat in the far corner of the one room, hiding her face behind her knees.

"I'm sorry."

That…wasn't her. She could hear the soft footsteps of someone coming closer, her hackles rising as they came to a stop just in front of her. Soft hands came to rest on either side of her face, forcing her to look up.

"I'm sorry, Kyou," her mother said sadly, a frown tugging at the corners of her mouth, making her already long face even longer. "It's not your fault, sweeting."

Stupid. Why did she panic? If anyone had the right to freak out it was her mother, not her.

"I won't do it again," she promised weepily. "I didn't mean to, I swear."

Her mother crooned at her, brushing her hair out of her face. "I know, sweeting, I know. It's alright. I was just…surprised. I wasn't expecting you back so soon."

Ah, right. That.

Her lip quivered of its own volition as she struggled to keep her tears in check. "Warai left. He had to go tell the Clan something."

"The Clan?"

"Hyena's have Clans, too. Like dogs have packs."

"Hmm, I see. Well, he'll come back, won't he?"

Kyou sniffled again, leaning into her mother's gentle pets. He would come back! He had to! He was the only person—er, sentient being? Were those people?—she could really be herself around. The humans in her life all expected her to act like a child, even a mature one, and she was glad to shed that burden when around the Hyena. The summons all knew she was more than just Kyou, after all, with their weird, soul sniffing magic, or whatever.

"He will," she affirmed. "I'm just gonna miss him. He's never left me before."

"Oh, sweeting." Kyou let her mother wrap her up in a hug, stick thin arms holding her like a vice. She was stronger than she'd been a week ago, progressing much faster than Kyou had expected.

"Kaa-chan," she began, hesitant. "Are you using chakra to get better? I won't tell," she promised hastily as her mother stiffened. "I just…wasn't expecting it. The Uchiha don't train their women."

Her mother pulled back, looking her over with dark eyes the same shape as Kyou's—sharp and monolidded, unlike the rounded shape sported by most Uchiha. "Is that what Satan told you?"

It was a serious moment. She couldn't laugh. No matter how funny hearing someone else call him that was.

She still smiled, just a little.

"But, I never see any girls training."

The older woman shook her head, straight dark hair falling over her fragile shoulder. "Oh, Kyou, that's because they're being trained by women."

Oh. Duh. Wait…was that why baa-chan kept trying to teach her things?

Shit, she was stupid.

Her chagrin must have shown on her face because her mother smiled, the expression tired. "It's not your fault, sweeting. No one told you."

She shouldn't have needed to be told. As much as she reveled in her reputation as a genius, it hurt being reminded just how untrue it was. She was just…educated…somewhat, anyway.

"Can…can you teach me?"

She stared imploringly up at her mother, her patented puppy eyes at full force, but something told her it wouldn't work. The fondness her mother wore when looking at her went suddenly cold, her eyes shuttered off and distant. Was…was she not allowed to learn? Was it too late, now that she'd trained like a boy? Did that even matter?

Did…did her mother not like her? Was she just pretending?

Panic flared up in her chest as she frantically scanned the woman's face for any sign of the secret hatred she was suddenly sure she would find. Of course, her mother hated her. She was a constant reminder of all the suffering Satan had put her through. Everyone said she had his face and it was never a compliment. How horrible it must be to look at her and see him, instead.

"What do you want to learn?"

Her mother's voice was cold, clinical, like her continued favor depended on Kyou's answer. Her heartbeat thrummed in her ears, echoing through her skull as she looked up at the woman—the kunoichi—before, feeling very small despite her abnormal height.

"Do you know anything about yin or yang chakra?"

The words tumbled off her tongue, filling the air between them with even more tension. Her mother's slender eyes narrowed further.

"Why?"

Sweat, actual sweat, began to drip down her face. What was she supposed to say? What did she want to hear? Why did it matter?

"I-I have an idea," she began hesitantly, using all her courage to hold her mother's frigid gaze. "B-but I need help, to see if it's p-possible. Warai couldn't teach me, so I thought…," she trailed off, biting her lip to hold back a flood of fresh tears. Why was she so emotional, these days? Was it the Mangekyou? Was it already fucking with her brain?

Shit. She was in for some serious problems, if so. The Uchiha Crazy Train was not her preferred mode of transportation, thank you very much, muchas gracias.

Her mother's hands cupped her face, the skin soft but her grip firm. Kyou swallowed, resisting the urge to flee with kawarimi again as her only remaining parent tilted her head, looking for all the world like a bird of prey.

Then, the warmth was back, a smile bringing life back to her face. "Oh, Kyou, of course I'll teach you."

What.

The shift from clinical silence to smiling assurance was so instantaneous, Kyou sat there wondering if she'd imagined it. Her mother struggled to her feet, crossing the room to take her seat on the edge of the bed, humming quietly to herself as she moved.

It…it happened, right? She wasn't crazy? Yet. The terror she felt seemed world away as her mother beckoned her forward with a wave of her hand. There was no way she just…imagined that, right?

No, she hadn't. She couldn't have. Was her mother…bipolar?

If she was, that was fine. Lord knew she had a right to a few issues after everything she went through. It wasn't like she'd hit her, or anything, and, really, she probably hadn't even meant to make Kyou feel afraid. She was probably just trying to figure out what to teach her!

Experience rationalized, Kyou leapt to her feet and came over to sit beside her mother, eagerly awaiting any wisdom she cared to share.

"I'm surprised you didn't find anyone to help you," she was saying, taking one of Kyou's hands in hers. "The Uchiha Clan are abundant in yin chakra, you know."

"Really?" She had no idea. None of the scrolls in the archive said anything about it.

"Really. Yin is the element of illusion and imagination and is typically central to any genjutsu. Do you know any genjutsu, Kyou?"

"Of course!"

"Can you cast them without using your…your eyes?"

Ah. No.

She wilted, once again earning a laugh from her mother. "It's alright, Kyou. I imagine most Uchiha are the same way."

Hrm.

If what her mother said was true—and she was inclined to believe it was—then she'd been using yin chakra this whole time without even knowing it. Or, did the sharingan not need yin chakra to use genjutsu?

"How do you know when you're using it?" She watched as her mother trailed the tip of a nail along her palm, shivering as it tickled a nerve. "The only chakra I've ever trained is suiton."

Her mother's hand stopped. "Yes, that's a good question. You should try casting genjutsu without-without your eyes. See if you can feel a difference."

That made sense. But, also,

"Kaa-chan, what's your chakra type?"

"Lightning."

Ah, yes. The second most common type in—.

Wait.

She looked up at her mother, bewildered. "Where did my water come from, then?"

Her mother didn't look at her, gaze trained on her palm as she continued tracing the lines there. "I don't know, Kyou. I don't know."

The fuck.

Was it because she wasn't just Kyou? Was Julia the water type? Was that a thing determined by souls, not bodies?

Whatever. She was too tired to care.

She slumped against her mother, pulling her hand free so she could wrap her arms around her narrow waist.

"Do you know any exercises to help with yin chakra? I'm not supposed to train like normal without Warai, but I don't wanna go back to the Clan training. My cousins are assholes."

While not strictly truthful, her words made her mother laugh again. A hand began petting her hair.

"I know a few."

Sweet! Extra time with mom! This would be so fun!