It was painfully evident that somehow the dark creature was familiar with the baby. If he was being honest, he didn't look like a vicious warg and wolf hybrid, but an animal with a bond, almost as if she was part of his pack. It might have been adorable if it weren't for the simple fact that he was so evidently a half-warg.

Legolas didn't know how to handle it.

"My damn soft heart is going to kill me one of these days." Legolas thinks, a voice almost too much like his father's echoing in his mind. Lowering his bow and clearing his throat, the elf surprised both beings.

There was only one thing more surprising than a warg playing with a human baby, Legolas thought, and that was a warg protecting the human baby. The wolf growled directly at him and the blonde watched curiously the odd interaction between the little girl and the hybrid.

She gave a happy little squeal at the sight of the elf (totally ignoring the beast baring its teeth at him) and ran towards him, babbling in that strange language he'd heard from the Shadows. The little girl had exotic features, straight, dark brown hair, vivid brown eyes, pale skin, and delicate traits. The elf kneels to the little girl's height, keeping an eye out for any sudden movements of the canid and listening to the child communicate at an impressive speed. She stopped, curious, lively eyes looking up at him expectantly.

Legolas smiled apologetically and gently shook his head. Even if she didn't understand his words, it would still be some comfort for her to hear someone talking, he supposed.

"I'm sorry, little one. I do not understand you."

She frowned and tilted her head, confused, but there was an intelligent glint in her eyes as she pointed to herself:

"Eiko! Ei-ko!"

"Smart child."

He pointed at her and repeated "Eiko", before pointing to himself.

"Legolas."

"Le...le...go...lego..." She spoke slowly, hesitantly and then said:

"Lele!"

He snorted and smiled at the nickname, giving in that it would be hard for her to get his name right at her age. The blonde was trying to figure out how to make the girl answer his questions, making a few gestures at her and then a pained expression.

"Are you hurt? With pain?"

She began to make gestures as if trying to imitate him, and Legolas sighed as he realized that the child thought it was some kind of play. He tried to ask about her parents, even asking in other languages, but the only words that seemed constant were "Rini", "Kaka" and "Kana".

He looked at the strangely quiet wolf.

"You wouldn't know how to take me to her parents, would you?"

The creature didn't respond to him, of course, but he felt a flicker of hope rise as the wolf began to move. He felt a touch on his hand and was surprised to see the little girl confidently holding his hand and pointing at the wolf.

"Rai show the way. Come on, Lele."

She opened her arms and very, very carefully, he picked her up in his arms.

"She's so small." He reflected, an affection already infiltrating as she leaned her head on his shoulder without any hesitation. The heir found himself for a moment contemplating the complete trust placed in him, the fragility of the life he was carrying, and the feelings of protection and tenderness that such a young life caused him. As one of the youngest elves in Middle-earth (something his father and other elders of his kind seemed particularly keen to remember), he had never had the chance to carry a baby before and the only children he had seen in his 1909 years were of other races. The elves of Mirkwood hardly felt safe to conceive in these times, most of them patiently awaiting the call of the sea and seeing no reason to prolong their stay in Arda. Before long, after Legolas had given her some fruit that he knew to be edible, the baby was asleep, and the elf felt a mixture of happiness and sadness, knowing in his heart that this was one of the few opportunities he would have to take care of a child.

Kana knew something was wrong the moment she caught sight of Riki's nervous posture and guilty eyes.

"What happened?" Kana asks although she is almost sure of what occurred when she doesn't see or feel Eiko and Raijin.

Riki stares at her, guilt etched on his face.

"I… lost her. I lost Eiko-chan."

"You what!?" Katsuo yelled at her side and it was a sign of her displeasure when she didn't even complain about the noise when she ignored him.

"Fuck. Damn, Riki! One thing, I just needed you to do one damn thing!"

Kana ignores the bubble of despair that grows at that information, at how quickly things are spiraling out of control because she realizes the boy is looking at her like she's going to convict him of an unspeakable crime. She can almost guess the kind of sentence he expects and that's what deflates her anger, preventing her from hurling words that hurt him even more. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and exhales, doing this a few more times before the blanket of coldness familiarly covers her.

Inhale.

"It's a mission. It's just a mission. No emotional attachment, no despair, a rescue mission."

Exhale.

Kana opens her eyes, indecipherable, numb, all feelings sinking to the back of her mind. At that moment, she stopped being Kana the Uchiha. Now, she was Kana the shinobi.

"Riki, tell me the direction you last saw her and tell me everything that happened." She asked, already forming hand signals and creating three shadow clones, dispatching each one in one direction. She listens intently to Riki, already walking to where he had said and ordering them both to stay close.

"Wouldn't it be more efficient if we separate?" Katsuo asked and although he had all the determination to do what he suggested she noticed the adrenaline of the battle decreasing and taking its taxes on the boy. He was tired and with some injuries – even if not very serious ones – from the fight they had.

Kana wrinkled her nose at the thought of the two boys alone now that she didn't know Eiko's whereabouts and had no idea how Riki's dreams were linked with the rise of orcs in the forest.

"I won't be able to use the genjutsu to hide identity. But our features draw too much attention, according to Minastir... Urgh. Good old cloth mask then."

"The shadow clones are for this, Katsuo." She replied simply, pulling some strips of cloth from her bundle and handing them to both of them.

"Cover your faces."

Katsuo looked at her with concern.

"You never make more than one shadow clone. And you always leave the identity concealment genjutsu when we walk through the woods... Will it be okay? You will be okay?"

"Hm." She grunted in response, an annoyed and inconclusive tone that made Katsuo sigh.

"Kana-neechan...can you give a more conclusive answer?" Riki tried.

"Tsc." Kana clicked her tongue, a slight killing intent leaking out, effectively silencing both Katsuo and Riki.

The silence between the Uchiha children was tense. Hours passed and dusk was approaching at a fast and harrowing pace. Kana broke the silence with a placid, cold voice as if she were talking to strangers.

"Tell me about your dreams. Now."

It was the first time they'd seen her act so emotionless. It was painful to see the teenager hurling questions at Riki directly, listening with a stony expression, and acting like an interrogator rather than their guardian. Katsuo had always thought that the older one was someone rather aloof, but now he was starting to realize that before was her in her warm way, compared to what she was showing now. He looks at Riki and almost feels sorry for him, but his anger at the youngest is still very raw.

He still shudders every time she presses for more details, not caring how Riki is on the verge of tears and how he trembles with fear as he describes The Eye (as he called it), the Beings of Light, and that Song of Creation thing. She didn't seem to mind the haunted look he got as he talked about the screams he'd heard, about fire and darkness, about slimy, disgusting creatures that seemed to crawl across his skin in his dreams.

"Enough." She declares, when it becomes clear that Riki starts breathing erratically when talking about the bodies - their family, elves, orcs, dwarves, and everything that breathed. Katsuo wonders if she realizes how scary she is at that moment, totally lacking in empathy.

(She knows. And she is sorry, but she does what she needs when it needs to be done. And right now, she needs Riki to spill everything about those dreams which was a lot of genjutsu to her comfort.)

Kana simply goes her way, guiding them as if she hasn't left Riki an emotional mess.

"Hey." Katsuo whispers and squeezes his shoulders gently, the only comfort he thinks he can offer right now. Ah, Katsuo is still angry that Riki lost Eiko, but... but Riki is still his little brother, and he's still grieving, maybe more than Katsuo had initially thought. After all, if it was bad enough having nightmares of the Uchiha massacre he didn't even want to imagine what it would be like with a giant fiery eye intruding and forcing more nightmare scenes into his skull…

One of Kana's clones returns, landing in front of them.

"Eiko is to the west, with an elf who seems to be watching over her. From what I've observed, the elf represents no immediate danger to Eiko. Raijin is also guiding them towards us right now."

"Oh. Oh." The relief is palpable the moment the clone gave them the news, everyone exhaling visibly. Kana dispels the clone, along with the other two, and falters a little on the next step.

"Kana-neechan?" Katsuo calls, supporting her a little when her imbalance remains for over a few seconds.

"I am fine. Let's get Eiko."

Riki and Katsuo look at each other, worried about the small sign of weakness. After all, they clearly remember the explanation she gave them months ago as to why she didn't make more than one shadow clone at a time – shadow clones require an enormous amount of chakra.

A massive amount of chakra that Kana doesn't have.

The unmistakable cold touch of metal on the back of his neck makes him immobile. The surprise on his face lasts for less than a second, quickly being replaced by wariness, blue eyes reminiscent of a winter's sky fixating on the small figure that appeared beside him and then before him, all the while pointing her sword at him. The wolf, which until then had been guiding him, stops and smells the unknown figure.

"Give her to me." The woman said (or at least, he assumed she was a woman, it was hard to tell with the hood up, the layers of clothes, and the cloth mask covering her nose and mouth). Legolas held the sleeping child closer.

"I will not hand this child over to a stranger. Especially one who acts like she's a child thief."

"She's not yours." The woman growled, everything in her yelling 'danger!'.

The prince blinks slowly, studying the (it seems) human before him, black eyes glowing red beneath that hood for a brief moment. Squinting at the Westron accent and the somewhat familiar way she (?) felt, Legolas took a moment to process that this was one of the Shadows. The way the hybrid was clearly comfortable with her was also quite revealing. Soon, there were two more figures following her and he could hazard a guess that they were either children or dwarves, from the little visible.

"Is she yours?" He asks Westron, cautiously and the woman nods in agreement, extending her hand in a clear sign that he must give the child away. He frowns and his mouth moves before he remembers how dangerous this female creature was, how he needed information, how much of an intruder she was on his land. At that moment, all he saw was a woman who had neglected a child.

"Then why did you abandon her? There are orcs, spiders, and other dangerous creatures in this forest, what were you thinking? This is no place for children." The elf said harshly, holding her in a reproving and sharp look, especially with that growing suspicion that the other two were also children.

She didn't answer him, just continued to point the sword, but he had no doubt that he had said more than he should have. A shiver of fear ran down his spine at the sinister energy that exuded from her, like a predator staring at its prey. Looks like he rubbed salt into a wound.

(He has no regrets, however. Children were precious, regardless of species, and the guardian's decision seemed like insanity to him.)

His eyes fixed on the other two and, as Legolas could easily sense from the forest that was his home, there was an atmosphere of anger, sadness, fear, and hopelessness about them. He swallows, hating for a second his inherent sensitivity to the beings around him.

"Kaa…chan?" Eiko says sleepily, rubbing her eyes and looking at the woman. He sees the bubbly smile on the youngest's face, fidgeting in his arms and opening her arms to go into the woman's embrace. The strange dark energy of that woman ceases as if it never existed in the first place and he might have wondered if he had imagined her pointing the sword at him.

"Eiko." A tiny sigh, which he wouldn't have caught if he were human, was the only indication that there was genuine relief in knowing the child was okay.

"Kaachan! Rin! Kaka! I fownd an elf! See? See? Cute elf! We're fwends!"

"Yes, I saw the cute elf, Eiko." She said softly and Legolas reluctantly handed Eiko to the woman. In her arms, Eiko sighed happily, snuggling.

"Lele, Kaachan. Kaachan, this is Lele." Kana arches an eyebrow. She's really going to have a conversation with Eiko about giving strangers nicknames. In fact, she's going to have to talk about the whole not trusting a stranger thing, no matter how cute and friendly he seems.

"Lele, huh?" She questions, a hint of amusement rising. He's smart enough not to give her his full name in response, not that it mattered.

Kana feels dizzy and struggles to not show discomfort or weakness in front of the elf, but she knows she needs to get out of there and rest, her chakra dangerously low from the shadow clones she made. It was one of the reasons it was a forbidden jutsu after all – too much chakra consumed, driving the ninja to exhaustion in the blink of an eye unless it was someone with monstrous chakra reserves.

So she bows her head a little and, after a pause of hesitation, she decides that she owes him an explanation, since she won't thank him aloud for taking care of Eiko.

"I know it's no place for children. But... it was the safest option. See you around... Lele."

The immortal watches as the Shadows fade into the forest and wonders what kind of life they led if the forest was the safest option for them. And all the while, the brief glimpse of black eyes (or were they red?) intrigued him. There was something mysterious about them, and oh, it was absolutely clear they were dangerous, but he wanted to know more. His heart told him this was a mistake, that his curiosity should be curbed and seen only from the perspective of a prince protecting his lands and people, but it was too late now.

He wanted to unravel the mystery behind the Shadows, the masks, and the black eyes. Maybe even cultivate a friendship. He saw beyond the enormous power they gave: an adjacent sadness they carried around them.

"What am I thinking? Desiring their friendship just because they give off an atmosphere of melancholy?"

Legolas snorted, rubbing his face in exasperation.

It was unwise to seek friendship with something so dangerous. But then again, it was also unwise for an elf to befriend a human, and off he went and did it anyway with Aragorn - and he doesn't regret it for a second.

"Oh, for Eru, my youth is showing again, isn't it? Well. I hope it's not something I regret."

Thranduil was having a rough day. Correct that – rough months. First, it was the concern that the stranger creature was a danger to their realm, then the realization that it was not just one but three or four of the same type and a hybrid warg, and then it was the realization that even their best warriors got no more than the (perhaps) number of them, a (limited) information on the magic they used - which included the very disturbing gift of looking like any of them, plus the ability to disappear into thin air - and then the good distinct feeling that they were mocking them.

In his forest.

The king sighed, looking at his subjects with a mixture of disappointment, irritation, and (deep, deep down) amusement. Those elves who had the two "mages" (for lack of a better term) captured and then lost them during the previous day's agitation, just before the attack on the woodmen.

"I suppose the pink my eyes see is not the result of a bizarre elven tendency that only I am oblivious to?"

"Your Majesty, when you said they were a threat, it was not this kind of threat we were expecting! They are a terror, mischievous plagues even more irritating than fairies and dwarves combined!"

Countless elves complain others nod in agreement, some laugh at the misfortunes of those unlucky of the time. Twelve elves, noble warriors, whose hair was dyed an outrageous pink. Those who, in previous weeks, had their skin painted midnight blue sympathized.

He had been king for many ages and he can't remember once his soldiers behaved like disorderly elves throwing a tantrum. Valar helps him, they were worse than his son when he was an elf.

He looked at his son, so far untouched by these pranks, realizing that he had probably discovered something, though he hesitated to say so.

Raising his hand, silence reigned in their halls.

"Legolas, I see something is on your mind. Share your thoughts, my son."

"Yes, Ada. In fact, there's something that occurred to me a few patrols ago." He paused, uncertain.

"Despite the numerous... attacks... these creatures were never aggressive towards us. And it is a known fact that the darkness has been mitigated since they settled in our territory: orcs, spiders and the other usual threats are now slaughtered before they get close to our people. These beings... seem to be more allies than possible enemies, my lord."

"Ah, your gentle heart bent on believing the best is both a pride and a thorn in my flesh, son. Too compassionate to be a king. Still need to learn more."

"Just because they haven't harmed any of our own doesn't mean we should relinquish their power. The very fact you mentioned is proof enough that they are dangerous, especially if it really is only three or four that do so much damage to staggering counts of orcs and wild animals that have lived in this forest longer than I have. Several elves have witnessed how lethal they can be, in the attack on the village."

The prince heeded the words, submissive to every other eye, but Thranduil was a father and he knew his son. There was more into it, something the younger one wasn't telling.

"If I may add, my king." Uriel, one of his advisers, asked to speak. Thranduil shook his head, the signal for the other to continue. Uriel turned to the prince, his expression serious but kind.

"Besides the pranks… these beings proved to be truly dangerous during the attack against the men. In all my life, I haven't seen comparable agility and their skills with magic seem to be much more than we initially thought. It was a blessing that they were on our side, not the other way around."

The older elf now turned to those whose hair was colored and finished his argument:

"We shouldn't let our guard down because they look like harmless pranksters."

Silence resounds in the room, each one absorbing the implications of those words, and it seemed to finally get to their subordinates that they were dealing with something serious.

"What reason would a being with so much power has to go to on those men's defense?" Thranduil questioned, somewhat rhetorically, but was surprised when he found an answer among his subjects.

"It appears that one of the men was a friend of such a creature, my lord."

"Interesting." He thinks and doesn't miss the way his son seems especially interested in the answer.

"We saw one of the… mages… get extremely defensive with one of the humans, protecting him from attacks, and the man named Minastir seemed to recognize the Shadow. We tried to get more information from him, but the man refused to give any information other than that he knew the mages and that they were good people. The rest of the inhabitants, those not too disturbed by the attack, denied knowing about the Shadows' identity. It didn't seem like a ruse, sir."

The king nodded, moving on to other matters of the realm, although in everyone's minds that mystery still lingered. Dismissing his subjects after the reports, he asked that his only son stay.

"You do not agree with me."

"I agree that they are powerful. And I agree that they are dangerous."

"But...?"

"I think it's precipitated for us to capture and interrogate them. They've had countless opportunities to do real harm to ours and yet… they haven't."

Thranduil frowned. Wouldn't he have a time when his beloved son didn't have some sort of grievance against his way of ruling?

Precipitate. What an outrage. His father Oropher was what then? Temerarious?

"The Third Age generation kids, frankly. Too lenient."

"Like many other things, you will find that this course of action is best for our people. With time." The king stated and saw the other stiffen, a spark of some illegible feeling that Thranduil couldn't decipher. Legolas sighed and looked at him in conflict, concern in his eyes.

"Dad… I'm pretty convinced they're children."

Thranduil stares at his heir, unresponsive, his mind going from "what?" to "how did this boy come to this absurd conclusion" to "it's not possible that all that energy is from children... right?"

"Legolas, what led you to such suspicions?"

"I've heard the laughter of children while they were on one of the 'attacks'. And wouldn't it make sense? The pranking..."

"And the orcs? Wild creatures? The battle, Legolas. Kids couldn't handle it."

"So maybe they're not all children, but some or at least one of them is. It could be a family, father. If that's the case and we actually captured them, it would affect the kids, seeing their parents arrested..."

"Enough, Legolas. I admit it would be a shame if that were true, but on the slim chance that it is, the safety of our people comes first. If there are children, we will treat them as leniently as possible, of course. But that does not preclude my duty to find out what brought them to my realm, their intentions, and why the number of orcs has increased. Am I clear?"

Legolas stiffened his face and returned to the neutral expression which Thranduil himself had taught his son to wear. Thranduil doesn't know whether to be proud or worried that he's finally mastered that expression.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The Eye wasn't going to leave him in peace. His every step was haunted by the certainty that someone was watching him, judging him, and measuring his worth. And from the distaste, It gave off the mage was not held in high esteem at the moment.

"The orcs have not yet succeeded, my lord."

The only thing that keeps him from wavering in disgust at my lord is the shiver of dread that Eye was transmitting to him now.

"But soon it will not be so. Soon, I won't need that dirty power. I will hold on for now, for the greater good."

"Don't stop until you get them, Saruman. Send orcs, hire mercenaries, do whatever it takes – I want them. Their power must be in my favor or else all my efforts will be in vain."

"So it shall be done." Saruman responds with a brief bow before withdrawing the Palantír's hand and withdrawing from his presence.

"What's so special about these kids? Why does Sauron seem so afraid not to have them by his side?"

The istari strokes his beard thoughtfully, a plan forming in his head. With a calculating smile, he decides that if these children were as important as Sauron seemed to think, then perhaps it would be a good idea to have them at his disposal when inevitably he discarded Sauron once and for all.

"And the world will be better with less of this ignoble threat."

Satisfied, he nodded to himself. As soon as he had the children, he should persuade them to come under his noble supervision. It would really be an honor for the young and, who knows, maybe even fun to have useful, practically blank brains for him to guide. A welcome change from those vile, stupid things he needed to order, who could only think of horrible things.

Everything escalated so quickly, how could she have been so careless? Shit.

Her body was feverish and her vision blurred. Kana could hear Katsuo and Riki's worried voices, Eiko's whimpering, Riki's small hands in hers. Her chakra was dangerously low, a result of that extravaganza with the shadow clones, but that wouldn't be enough to bring her down.

Poison, however? That was something else. As resistant as her immune system was against many poisons at home, it was different here. She knew orcs used poison and tried to immunize them against those poisons, but she must have been unlucky enough to have been hit by a different one.

She had made a mistake. A small scratch as she fought to defend Minastir, something she had barely felt and forgotten in the heat of the battle and the events that followed.

It might not have been so bad. With the amount that had seeped into her blood and her body fighting the poison, it would take a few days for her to recover from the poison and chakra exhaustion, but she would be fine.

Of course, this was quickly thwarted when on the second day a damn group of orcs and wargs attacked them. Still, under the effects of poison and exhaustion, she did what she could to defend the children and a small part of her still sensed that the Uchihas were doing very well in the fight (which made her so proud, not that she would admit it out loud). Of course, that meant she'd been slower and consequently had taken more hits this time, which made her dangerously ill once the adrenaline of the fight wore off.

And then came the spiders.

She remembers little of what happened before she passed out, but what she knew for sure was that she had had the craziest hallucination of her life: Riki, transforming into a bigger version of Raijin, black fur, eyes as golden as the sun, imposing and tearing apart the spiders with claws and fangs, spreading the sticky blood of the arachnids everywhere.

"I couldn't have had a more pleasant hallucination, could I?" She thinks, annoyed.

"Like that sexy blonde. Also known as The Most Beautiful Thing My Human Eyes Have Ever Seen. I wonder if it would be too weird to activate the Sharingan just to permanently etch its image in my mind? Uh... Riki, your Sharingan should be red, not the color of gold. And damn, Katsuo, will you stop hugging me like I'm dying? Please. I just want to sleep..."

Kana passes out, leaving three children and a wolf quite unhappy with the situation.