"It has to be somewhere around here…" said Maki, eyeing her surrounding area. She had her son in her arms and her young daughter by her side. Older Tsunade wanted to come too, but her mother told her to stay in case something happened at the village that she needed to know. The ponytailed girl was looking around with her Sharingan too, trying to find something, but after nearly a whole day watching, they haven´t found anything.
"Why can´t he live in a normal house like everybody?" asked the younger female, tired of looking around. Then she felt stupid, of course her grandfather didn´t live in an ordinary place! He was a wanted missing ninja! Then he noticed something. "Mom, there is a half-hidden opening there."
"Yes, there is" both women entered through the cave entrance and peered inside curiously. In the inside a lonely old man and a plant man heard them coming. Zetsu recognized the chakra immediately, damn and he thought he had gotten rid of all the brats! He was about to go and get rid of her like he did with all her brothers, but Madara noticed the known chakra first and begin moving towards it.
"Who is it?" he asked when the intruders were close enough to sense him. He got up with difficulty (years made some things difficult) and glared with his Sharingan at the entrance. "Identify yourselves before…"
"Don´t you recognize me?" a feminine voice came from the entrance. The chakra was so known, warming something inside of him that he has forgotten so much ago… along with everything that was important to him. "So much time has passed for you not to recognize me… mother?"
"Iohime?... No, Maki… what... wait, you know everything?"
"Yes, I finally returned to you as my siblings did" she got closer. Tsunade, that was walking behind her with the baby in her arms moved along. "And I brought my children so you can meet your grandchildren"
"Children?" Madara looked at the young girl then at the baby. He reached his arms so he could get a hold of it. "Can I?"
"Sure" Maki passed her child to her mother, letting him hold the little thing. This made the older Uchiha smile. When was the last time he held a baby? Otohime… yes, when she was a tiny thing and Izuna has just given birth to her. Oh, the smile on his face… just like this it made him remember when he held his own children in his arms. They were just tiny babies… Maki was the calm kind, at least for the few hours h got to hold her. Byakuya was a fussy one, always wanting to attract his attention. Sorato was quiet except for when he was hungry, then he showed he had a good pair of lungs. And Izuna... he was the only one he got to keep and was a little needy, but not as much as Bya. Well… his eldest son was always clingy to him, so… "He seems comfortable with you. I didn´t know you knew how to hold a baby."
"Of course I do! You have three younger brothers and a niece I have to raise!"
"Three? I thought they were only two"
"They used to be… when we were in Konoha" he bounced the child, looking lovingly at it. "I was expecting a last one when I left, his name was Izuna. There are some pictures of all of them in there…" he signaled his shelf, made of stone, where laid some frames and an old book, probably a photo album. "Along with you and the kids they are the only thing I have left"
"So this is where they went" she picked up the book and started passing the pages. In the first one there were two familiar ones, playing in the woods back in the village. They looked happy, something they have never been at their father´s house. She smiled and passed a finger through the faces of her brothers, thinking about how she could be so stupid. He could definitely see Pochiri in that young brunette and Ahou in the other… but the names suited them better. "They seemed happy"
"We were… even if it was difficult to live" accepted the old man. Since Otohime has gone sick he has never felt anything again, just a void were it used to be a hearth. But now… he could sense that bit of what he has lost coming back to him.
"Difficult?" she asked confused. "The people back at the village are very nice and the Uchiha clan is not that bad. I bet that even if you didn´t have that many missions or the elders decided that your clan needed a change of leadership, you got a lot of help from them in…"
"Nice?" Madara laughed in a way that suited more the evil mastermind he was known to be than the dotting mother and grandfather he was acting like. "Oh, my child, you are so naïve… but it´s okay, you have always been sheltered by your father and his legacy, the only thing I could really thank him for."
"What are you saying? I know the people in the village and they would never…"
"Whatever you say, baby, just… when you go back don´t tell anyone that you are my daughter" he warned. "You are better without them knowing"
"Why? I´m not ashamed of my heritage!"
"You should be… or at east is what the others think" he sighed, handing his grandson back to her mother. "You don´t know the things they used to say or do to Bya and Sora" his face lowered when he remembered all the pain they suffered in Konoha… and that man. "He never stopped them either"
"Hum? Are you talking about my father?" Maki asked in confusion. Yes, she remembered her father. She and Hashirama had a very good relationship when the man was alive. The girl can accept that her mother was angry with him to the point of wanting to kill him, he has done pretty bad things to him, but she thought that with time the argument between her parents will die. And she was here now, didn´t that solve the problem? "Look, I know he isn´t the best of people… everybody seems to believe that, but he was human and…"
"Maki, look… I don´t regret having all four of you, it was the best and probably the only good thing in my fucked up live" said Madara, shutting his daughter up with his words. "But I do regret having you with him… in fact I regret sleeping with him and even being with him. I know his genes were needed to make you and your brothers but… Hashirama was a mistake I´m not willing to commit again, should he ever come back"
"Being with my father was a mistake? Why?" she asked, but he never answered. He was immersed in those dark memories where he was mentally abused by the village, trying to raise his son while he suffered of ostracism and discrimination. And their father did nothing… he knew about it and did nothing! That was the so called love he always was talking about? He couldn´t see it, not for him or for their children. Had he loved them…
"You know what happened to your brothers, no?"
"I… I was there when he killed Byakuya" she answered. It had to be a terrific weight on her father´s soul, because after that he began to deteriorate. And she remembered her brother´s dead body, bleeding into the earth. "It was horrible"
"Not much for him, I guess" he put a hand on his hearth. "He managed to do this"
"You weren´t there to know" the woman said. "After what he did he woke up in the middle of the night screaming for you, saying that he was sorry. Sometimes I even caught him talking with the sword, calling it Byakuya and asking it if he had delivered his message to him"
"He did… eh? Had he been a good lover and father maybe he wouldn´t have lost his mind" the older raven crossed his arms. The frown on his daughter´s face told him that she didn´t like how he was talking. Maybe she did have such a deep connection to her dead father. "Tell me, Maki, do you hate me?"
"No. I think you are an expert at keeping grudges, but you are my mother and you love me, that´s all I can ask from a mother" she smiled again. "Mito was a bitch, I lived as her daughter for so much time and can´t be more glad of not being her true kid"
"Really? Wouldn´t you prefer your honorable stepmother and her titles and…?"
"She is a bitch" assured the younger Uchiha, sitting down. "I´ve known you for less than a day and I already know that would have been a wonderful mother for me, better than she was" she looked at her lap. "My brothers were right, how could anyone in their right mind chose such a spoiled little princess having already a treasure like you?"
"That reminded me a lot of Bya! And your father was an idiot, he have always been, even when we were children and played rock skipping"
"You were friends at childhood?"
"Yes, he never told you?"
"I think uncle never let him"
-In the very past-
"Open the door" asked Hagoromo, knocking on his son´s door. Indra opened after he noticed it was his father, trembling from head to toe. He was so scared, but most of himself. Has he been just a second away to actually do what that creature wished? The older Ootsutsuki smiled at him. "Don´t worry, it´s not your fault."
"How can you say that?! I was about to… to…" he started crying. The white haired man sighed and hugged him while Asura walked out of his hiding place, putting a kunai away. But that doesn't mean he wasn´t worried, in fact he was very worried for his nii-san. "You should lock me away, I could have…"
"Shhhh, Indra, it´s not your fault, it´s mine. Thanks to me you have been living a nightmare and now your mind is having some side effects, like injuries that has been not healed" he caressed his son´s hair. "Don´t worry, it will be okay"
"I´m weak…"
"No! you are human and that´s all. You don´t need to go through this alone, we are here to help you" Asura joined too, smiling in a soothing way. "Now, what were you doing without Asura outside your room? Something worse could have happened."
"I… needed to be alone… and hate enclosed spaces"
"Why so? You never seem to have a problem with them before…"
"I… remember when the doctor made those tests to me? I already knew what they were for" he confessed, startling both his father and his brother.
"Indra… did you…"
"I lost it in the first few months"
"How old were…?"
"Fifteen" he let his tears lose. "It happened when you were away with Asura training in mount Myoboku. I didn´t tell you because I wasn´t sure if I wanted to keep it or not, but… they came for me as soon as you left. And then… it was horrible! I thought I was accustomed to them hurting me by then, but I haven´t seen a thing!"
"Shhhhh, it´s okay, we are here. They won´t hurt you again" he tried to comfort the other Ootsutsuki. "What happened?"
"The most horrible gang rape I´ve ever gone trough…"
-Flashback-
Indra walked around the compound, wondering what the hell he was going to do. He was just a teen and already pregnant, how he was going to take care of it I he keeps it? And his father, he would probably banish him from the house and they would do with him whatever they want in peace. He felt tears rolling down his face. He haven´t shed tears since the last time he screamed for his father during a rape, since he noticed he wasn´t going to answer… he hugged himself, why did all of this have to happen to him?
"Hey, look, it´s the little whore" Yami and his friends approached to him. Indra took a few steps back. He was already three months along, that could hurt his child… not that he wanted to keep it, but a rape could be dangerous for both of them. "We have been searching for you"
"Please… don´t…" he covered his belly with both hands, hiding it.
"Eh? You are begging? You haven´t done so in so much time… and it turn me on!" the teen shuddered and tightened his grip on his middle. "What is this? Why are you…?" he made a sign and two of his friends grabbed the dark haired teen´s hands, exposing his belly. "Guys, the slut is pregnant"
"Well, it was obvious that he was going to end that way sooner or…"
"No, it´s not! Hagoromo-sama is going to ask where did this came from and if he starts asking and peeking in our minds he will know everything and we will be executed! Can´t you thing a little?" the man turned to the teen. "We need to get rid of it"
"What?! NO!"
"A few punched in his gut should do the work" a bulky one on the back sad, raising his fists. It made him tremble in terror.
"Nah… why doing it in such a way if we can do it the funny way? I bet that with enough few one of us might just rip the brat from his gut with his penis. What do you think?" they cheered and followed their leader, dragging Indra along. "I know the perfect place…"
"Let me go! Let me go!" screamed the young Ootsutsuki, terrified. And he had a reason, the rapes he went trough that day were the worst he had experienced. In the end, after hours and hours of the torture, of being hit, raped and even had some big things forced down his entrance, they decided it was enough for the day. And he was grateful, because he was bleeding so much that he was sure he had lost his baby by now.
"What are we going to do? Look at him, we can´t bring him back like this!" commented one.
"We don´t have to" Yami signaled the well that was near. It has been dry for so long that no one ever approached it anymore. He grabbed some ropes and tied the teen´s hands, throwing him inside the little space. They left him there alone…
After a month the noticed of his father´s return was heard and the torturers went back to the well. Yami pulled Indra out of the enclosed space, which he was thankful for. Then they threw him a towel and cold water, to wash all the evidence away. He did so and then returned to the compound, hiding his injuries with his clothes. After a short visit to his room he went to greet his father and brother, who seemed happy.
"Did something happened in my absence?" asked Hagoromo, matter of duty.
"Hum…" he wanted to scream, to cry and tell everything to him, but even like that, even with the scars still in his body, he wouldn´t believe him. "No, anything…"
-End of the Flashback-
"Oh, God, Indra! Why didn´t you tell me sooner?!" Hagoromo hugged him tighter. He knew a pregnancy at fifteen could be really dangerous and a catastrophe to the personal life, but it wasn´t his son´s fault and the lose of the baby was probably worse than what he already suffered. Then he remembered something. "Tomorrow is the anniversary, no?"
"Yes… I´m calmer now, but even my room causes me claustrophobia this days"
"I can tell"
"Don´t worry, I wasn´t thinking about it when I got out of the room. It´s just that… that thing made me remember it. Even if he was talking to me, he was replaying it in the very back of my head… I never want to see it again" Indra got out of his father´s embrace. "I made me feel something horrible in my chest"
"Pain is always horrible and you aren´t weak because of it. You will surpass this with our help and then we will all be stronger and closer, like it should have been."
"Thank you, dad" Indra smiled lightly. "You know, some day I want to have another baby… but in the very future."
"Yes, that would be okay… in a distant future" and all of then laughed. Hagoromo was alight with that, he couldn´t imagine the world without the Uchiha… but now maybe they weren´t going to be such a hateful bunch. Maybe now they could be just normal.