Peru, 1962

"They found us. The vampires are breaking down the gards." Tobirama says.

Madara chuckles. "Then let them come to us." He says in pride, lifting himself up in the air. He wears a suit made of complete metal armour, a red shield that covers the entire portion of his body. He magnets every possible weapon in the room—-tritons, swords, knives—-as they stand beside him. I know what that look means. I wanted to stop him but, I couldn't. None of us could.

I sit next to Mito in anxiety. I touch her cheek. She was burning, fire in her eyes. I remembered how I gazed at her for the first time, the girl with red hair and simple brown eyes. Now her chance of survival was extremely low.

Mito, wake up. We need you. I say in her mind.

"Enough with this foolishness, Hashirama. We all know what the cure did to her."

"She's still breathing, Madara. I can feel it."

Madara chuckles once more, his arms crossed. "You're too soft. Too vulnerable."

And you hold such little hope. I enter his mind, thus I see chaos and fire. But this has always been in him. Ever since I first met him in the river I knew something was a bit odd... And bizarre. Both of us lost our siblings to war. We had so much more to live for. As we sat ontop of the mountains, a day we spent for hiking, we told each other one day we'd build a school to protect the ones we love. A place where us Mutants would not have to suffer the same tormented fate again.

And we did. Much to our differences, it seemed neither Madara nor I dreamed to see our future children together... Hiding in the shadows someday, knowing one day humans would take the life out of them. Thus an alliance was forged between humanity and Mutation. I became president of the United States, and Madara was my advisor. Times I would need a friend to ponder my thoughts with, Madara would be there, as my brother, always looking after me.

We built the school in Lima, Peru. Year 1946 I was elected as president, and a year later I set out to see the tiniest structures of our dreams be brought to life.

Now all of it had come to an end.

HM School for Gifted Youngsters was the name of our beloved school. We opened our home to hundreds that grew into a thousand Mutants throughout the years. Madara became the leader, I on the other hand would visit it some time if my schedule was free. Our fathers and his strived to protect it. It was the only place we felt protected.

I was president but I saw the wickedness of the outside world and saw how men deeply fell. Murders happened, assassinations were proven to be fatal. I saw in CCTV cameras of how unfortunate dominant leaders got shot in the head. When you'd step in the stage and face many people, it was then you realized you had control over them. Many feared that control. Many feared power, and there were others who vowed for supremacy.

Those were the vampires. 1950 as I recalled it, was when the age of humanity feared the natural causes of the world. There were rumors of animal-attacks spread upon other continents like Asia and Western Europe. Witnesses stated they saw shape-shifting lycanthropes, victims reported they saw sharp-fanged draculas who magically appeared in the night, sucking blood from their victims. Madara freaked out when I told him, and we did a little research if those species have belonged to ours. They didn't.

The world is a messy place. Since then the vampiress have become our worst enemy. They turn the people against us and make them believe we are monsters—-in some case, some of us are. I look at a little boy who has hair in his mouth and whose body parts are combined with stitches.

"What's your name?" I asked, when I had been busy visiting a few children at the school. This one was hiding at class.

"Kakuzu." The boy said. It was then I realized he had cobalt eyes. "Aren't you afraid of me?"

"Fear is not the word for you, my friend." I say. "The way your body can stitch itself if an organ or a leg is removed, is what I call extraordinary."

"What could you do?"

I smile while I place a confident finger on my right forehead. I can connect with you this way. In that case whenever you feel alone, always whisper my name in your thoughts. Your head is an interesting place to linger.

"Tobirama, get all the children out." Madara orders bluntly. "Make sure they are not around when I'm angry."

"Why would I take orders from you?" Tobirama asks grudgingly.

That is another problem. My brother is a good man, but his history with the Uchiha gets a little... Outraged.

"Tobirama." I say. "Do as he says."

Madara smirks in satisfaction while Tobirama stands in vinegariness. "Where do we go?"

That is another mystery ahead of me. The vampires have destroyed everything we have in this building. Our only hope is if we manage to get through the secret passageway the children will survive. Regardless to their destination.

"Send them on a plane to Manhattan. My clansmen shall lead you into a safe house." He says. "Go there now."

Tobirama looks at me before leaving, and goes out without a word. I face Mito now. "The children. Where are they?" She asks.

"They're gone now. Somewhere safe."

"I don't think I can do this... Live like human... Oh Hashi, I'm weak."

"Jean," I say to her. When the Mutants were still in war, we hid under names to protect our identity. There was a huge number of Mutation growing in Japan. Many regions were bombed and the cities were thrown in peril. Japan itself had to stood by itself and start a fresh. It was a good thing Madara and I moved out and brought our families with us, as we held on the little children who cried for their friends. I promised myself one day I'd come back for them. "You're stronger than this. You're stronger than any mutant out there. You can fight this."

"Hope is a bitch." Madara says, his arms still crossed. He waits for the door to explode.

"We lived a thousand lives together." I say to her. "You, me and Madara."

"If I become human, I'll still be a carrier. I don't know if I will be able to hold it still." Mito says.

"Forget the fox demon. Survive this and you'll become a legend. Survive this and you'll have your name written down on history books." Says Madara.

"I don't need fame, Madara, I need my goddamn body." Mito blurts. She tries to stand but fails, gravity bringing her down.

Anxiety shots in me. The vampires are breaking into our walls. I can feel victory in their heads. They want to feast on our flesh and have our heads cut.

They don't have mercy for humans, only greed and lust. A vampire's greatest weakness is their vanity. They sleep in the daylight, rise in the night. Once I entered an abandoned hotel in France and saw how they carelessly laid their victims. Blood was smeared everywhere. On the sharp pangs of their teeth, on a table where a human corpse smelled of rot, on a newly-purchased polo Madara bought from the city. I felt certain it was the piece of Madara's clothing that had gotten him offended.

I asked for an alliance. Let alone the blood that was spilled upon the soldiers who fought for the American Civil War be enough. Their leader looked at me in the eye and laughed. He told me the only way peace would be served if we would take the cure. Between the two of us, Madara had spoken first and insulted the Vampire King by calling him insane.

"You're crazy." Madara chuckled. It was the darkest chuckle I'd ever heard him say. "You, your henchmen, your pathetic vampire clan. All of you are."

There were times I wished Madara would stop talking. "Control your tongue, Madara. You don't want the two of us replacing that body corpse at the table."

"They are killing our people!"

"And they are not the only ones who suffer, my friends." The Vampire King's voice echoes. "Vampires only resolve to killing when necessary. Your blood brings death to my descendants! Mutant blood is poison. Unless if you release the burden upon yourselves and bring your kingdom down by your own hands, you will not see them fall by the fangs and claws of another."

"Hashirama, build a golden statue of me in case your children survive. I want to see myself holding a samurai when I sleep in heavens. Tell the students I died saving two orphans on a train rail that leads to Machu Picchu."

"That, my friend, is far from happening." I stand beside him. "I die with you today."

"What about your wife?"

I feel as if an anchor is thrown on my head. I scratch a finger to my feminine hair. Mito is laying down by her own, dying, I suppose.

"I don't know."

"That's the problem with you, Hashirama. You are a humble fool. The vampires would probably mistaken you as their own if it weren't for your telepathic talent." Madara says.

"Both of you are competent fools. You do realize if I become human and die, this monster doesn't die with me, right?" Says Mito as-a-matter-of-fact.

"Then it would serve as the nicest spectacle to our enemies out there."

"Madara!"

I look at Madara, who never looked at us while he spoke. He was like a statue built from the hardest decay of salt and ash. Glaring at him personally is an awe. He dated a lot of women in his younger age, and I couldn't blame him—-the Uchiha were known for their notorious reputation of pride and earnestness.

Madara had issues with the tailed-animal demons. The first time he laid his eyes on her spoke of hesitation. Madara's little brother was slain by an animal, and since then he looked down to her as an animal as well. An outsider, someone who had no part in this world.

"So, we can play a game here. Or, Hashi will take you out and kiss you at the very seats of the plane, where all children are asleep."

"This is not a joke, Madara." Mito says.

"Tell me, Mito, does this—-he aims the weapons made of steel to her—-sound a joke to you?"

My eyes pop wide. "I get your point." I say to Madara as I pat him in the shoulder. "I'll come back for you, my friend."

It's sad how it all comes to this. I left Madara and promised him I'd return. Days later as promised, I came back only to collect his corpse. Guilt consumed me as I admitted that there was not a single thing I'd expected.

I remembered what my father said. The lessons I heeded since my baby brother died. He was only seven. Children deserved no desolation but a lifetime of joviality as one day they'd grow up to be soldiers and fighters of the faculty.

Shinobi do not cry! Shinobi are born to fight and die in battle! Be grateful you even have a piece of his corpse left!

I sigh as I sit on my wheelchair, holding Madara's headband. It feels comfortable here. The trees, the sweet serendipity of Spring. I sit before the school's main entrance as though I have many encounter here.

Truth was, I always assumed I'd die before him. In an old age, when I've seen our children play together. A time when the Mutants are given peace at last is also a thought. But there was no peace for us. All this time, our actions that served for tranquility backfired. If the vampires wanted war, we would give them that.

I was left with Mito and a few other children with great abilities. The safe house was transformed into a school once more, and we built it with the name Jean Grey's School for Higher Learning. The Leaf headbands were a symbol of our pride and love for our kin. I was impeached as president when the Federate States ordered the destruction of Mutants. They poisoned the minds of every villager. They wanted to cut us down especially those with higher power, and I alone became the threat. I stepped down and vanished from the society, lately carrying on with the name Charles Xavier. I became a teacher, a professor. But most of all I became bald.

Like Madara said, hiding. Tobirama dyed his hair brown. I had the students secured during bed times and gave them certain curfews. Schools required a blood test for every student transferee since the attack at Peru, shutting their doors to us. That's why Mito and I decided to not let them go.

Mito, Tobirama and I managed to gather a large number of Mutants around South America and flew to Japan afterwards, fit enough for the teachers we needed. All thanks to Cerebro. Our children were lost. They lost path of who they really were. Which home would they go. Mito was already human; I lost the ability to walk when a vampire had shot me in the leg and exposed me to the world. To my luck, I had been in Asia. My brother was there, put an end to their lives and rescued me before any witness would show it to the media. I couldn't feel my leg since then.

As the years go by, our numbers grow. We built a school suited for Mutants with the starting point of seventh grade. Mutant blood would not be detected on a lower age. Our purpose was to teach them to control their gifts, mask them when the time comes. As of now there had been no threat coming from the vampires. My brother took presidency after me. He was the first of us to succeed the blood test that brought us hope. Hope that some day, we would be able to live with normal lives.

Tobirama called off the search for Mutants. The lycanthropes went on our side, and swore to the United States our protection. Vampires feared the lycans. It seemed that one bite of their sharp teeth would be a sudden death. Peace was delivered to all four kin. Human, Mutant, vampire and lycans. Carriers and animals disappeared on books and were yet to be discovered. I injected the fox's serum to a young relative of Mito whose name was Kushina. The Uzumaki Mutation involved longetivity in life. Whatever fate left on that girl, I leave the rest to mankind.

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