The Power of the Moon

PART 51

Hanuko Uchiha slowly approached her clan leaders' house: Uchiha Madara. She had been moved by Ayumi's conviction and faith towards the village and its prosperity. Hanuko decided that she would try to talk some sense into him.

Hanuko knocked on the door, and not a second passed by until Madara had answered by slowly creaking the door. The door revealed a tired Madara. The skin underneath his eyes had been darker more so than usual. Hanuko wasn't surprised, with all the push back the Uchiha were getting, alongside the familial losses Madara had been facing as of late.

"Will you let me in, Madara-yo?" Hanuko broke the brooding silence. His brooding set of eyes fixated onto hers, slightly darkening in annoyance.

"No." Madara stepped outside, "Let's speak outside."

Hanuko had bit her lip. "A perfect monster indeed."

Madara clearly looked like he had better places to be. "What do you want of me?"

Hanuko looked down. And then looked back up to him. "I know the pain you're going through. Just listen." Her hand reached out to grip his arm, and he stared at her hand.

He shook her off of him.
"Do not touch me." The Uchiha leader sternly warned.

Hanuko sighed, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Don't leave Konohagakure. You helped create it after all, with your own hands. You can't-"

Madara interrupted her with a scoff. "The Uchiha have no place here."
"And Ayumi?! She's carrying your child! Where do you think she'll be?! You expect her to drop everything here and just leave?!"

Hanuko could tell she hit a soft spot, because Madara's expression had quickly grown from annoyed to somber. Madara looked sad, no longer bearing that hard edge he was renowned for. She decided to soak up the sight for just a little.

Ayumi deserves better than this. Madara thought to himself.

His expression grew more melancholic as the second passed.

"Oi-oi..." Hanuko looked at her leader concerned.

"At first, I was adamant on letting her come with me. I could not perceive of a future of which she could be safe in Konoha. The very own settlement I built to keep everyone - no, especially her, safe. You are right about that," Madara looked downwards to the side, "I trust you to take care of her."

"And your child?" Hanuko sharply replied.

Madara's lips mulled into a thin line.

I won't make a good father. Madara thought. He looked down to his own hands and closed them shut. I couldn't protect my own brothers. My own family. Much less my own child...

"That is none of your concern. If I leave either way, I know Ayumi will follow me, because she is stubborn. Tenacious, that she is." He placed his hands on his hips and looked at the sky. "That's when you come into play. I need you to keep her here and keep her safe. I think she could pave the way for us going forward."

"But Madara-" Hanuko's lower lip quivered. She couldn't bear to see her childhood rival actually leave the village.

"Do not bother convincing me into staying. I'm sure Ayumi somehow swayed you into coming to talk to me. There is no conceivable future for me here." Madara spoke matter of factly. "Or you either for that matter. It is okay. That is fate. I have come to accept it."

That was a lie though. No way in hell Madara could fathom accepting fate. He was going to change it.

"How could you-" Hanuko was at a loss for words. She thought she could pick up her own weight, and try to pry his heart open up a little on behalf of Ayumi, but it was proving futile. Her anger was beginning to boil, her cheeks running flush.