Spring was in full bloom in Konoha. The village sprung to life once more as sakura blossoms colored the treeline surrounding the small Hyuga clan graveyard. Only a handful of people had been interred here, Mina and her father among the few.

Sen and Sora walked silently through the graveyard, paying respects to the other Hyuga buried there before kneeling in front of the markers that bore their sister and father's names. They placed a handful of flowers on each mound and then sat by the graves in total silence.

Sen recalled old memories of Mina and her father. Times that hadn't felt anywhere damn near as confusing as the present did. She desperately wanted to hide herself in the past; however, she knew life was not to be spent in that fashion. With a gentle breath, she spoke, "I miss them, Sora."

"Me too," he whispered.

She wiped a single tear away from her eye and asked, "If Father were still alive, do you think he would approve of what Mizura is doing?"

Sora shook his head. "Not even Mother approves, but she has no influence over Mizura, so we're left to his whim. I wish there was more I could do, Sen. I tried speaking with him several times, but he refused to listen. I'm sorry... I feel like I'm letting you down."

"Stop," she ordered him. "We're bound to figure something out..." She paused, not believing her own words. She looked to her brother with pleading eyes, begging him for reassurance as she choked out, "Right?"

He lay his hand on her shoulder and sighed. There was no solution that either of the siblings had come up with yet that wouldn't lead to village-wide instability. Any deaths would most likely cause a riot between the clan of the killer and the slain. The last thing Sen and Sora wanted to do was cause Konohagakure to become war torn.

The thought of her and Madara defecting from Konoha had briefly crossed Sen's mind; however, she immediately negated that idea. She could never leave Karasu, Yama, Yuudai, or Sora. Madara would probably be fine with the idea, as he had mentioned before that Konoha was a failure, but Sen couldn't stomach the thought yet.

Of course, the boys always could go with them, she then thought. However, that idea was scrapped as well. Her and Madara couldn't just whisk three kids away, and convincing Sora to leave the village would be damn near impossible.

Even if Sora and the boys left the village with her and Madara, it would turn them all into criminals. They would be hunted down by the Hyuga and Senju and inevitably found. She trusted in her and Madara's ability to protect them; however, a life on the run was no childhood. She wanted to keep the boys out of this as much as possible. A clear path had yet to become apparent to Sen, but she would continue to think.

"Everything feels fuzzy nowadays..." Sen began rambling. "I'm beginning to lose faith, Sora, and I can't seem to stop it. When the boys asked me about the marriage, I promised them it was going to be okay... That we would figure something out... But now, I just don't know..."

"Ironically enough, certainty is a very uncertain thing. We never know what waits around the corner, Sen," he replied. "Keep your head up. This isn't over yet. We're gonna fight it, yeah?"

"Yeah," she mumbled quietly.

Sora sent his sister a warm smile and nudged her with his foot as he said, "You just need to go somewhere quiet, think for a bit and relax. You know?"

"Mhmm... Thanks for listening, Sora."

With a wink and a pat on her knee, he spoke, "It's what brothers are for."

She let a little smile appear as she chuckled softly, "Brothers... How did I end up with two on complete opposite spectrums?"

"Life's funny like that."

"I guess," she responded. "But Sora..."

He met her eyes while she searched his face, looking for the right words to say. She finally pursed her lips and whispered, "Thank you, really, for always being by my side. You've truly been my dearest friend since the beginning."

Sora's face was illuminated by her praise. He wore a proud smile and raised his eyes to the clouds. The sky began turning from its gentle blue hue into a warmer display of orange and pink. The colors mixed together as the clouds lay among them lazily enjoying the rest of their day. For a while, Sen kept her eyes up at the sky as well while it continued its descent into darkness.

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