Disclaimer- everyone knows how that goes...

First story. Just saying. Don't hate.

o()o

Ages:

Madara- 7

Izuna- 4

Fuyumi- 5

"Why doesn't she speak?"

"I've heard that she hasn't spoken a word since she was born.."

"What kind of child doesn't speak? I have never heard of such a phenomenon..."

"I wonder what Tajima-sama will do about her... Wasn't he coming to see her today?"

"Shh! Here he comes now...his two eldest sons are behind him as well.."

"Meaningless gossip is of no benefit to our clan. If you have time to participate in such pointless chatter then go make yourselves useful!" Uchiha Tajima growled.

"Hai, Tajima-sama." The group of women rushed off before they could get in anymore trouble.

Izuna stared at them blankly before saying,"...otou-sama...women are strange..."

Tajima glanced down at his son,"...don't let your mother hear you say that."

"..hai, otou-sama. May I ask why we are here?"

"It seems there was a child born a few years ago that is..deficient. We are here to...deal with it." He spoke hesitantly, unsure of himself of exactly how he should be 'dealing' with this issue.

They all came to a stop when a woman came out of a room with a little girl following behind her.

"Tajima-sama, Madara-sama, Izuna-sama," she spoke,"are you here today for Fuyumi?"

"We are," Tajima spoke.

"...Fuyumi, come out and greet the clan leader and his sons," the woman said.

The little girl behind her slowly walked out and dipped into a bow, her long black hair cascading from over her shoulders to the side of her face.

"..she does not speak at all, Makino?" Tajima asked.

"Fuyumi has been unable to speak since she was born. We have tried but were unable to get any results. She is capable otherwise though, she is able to cook and clean very well and is well versed in reading and writing. Unfortunately she is rather..clumsy at times and has not shown any signs of being good at taijutsu.."

At this, all three Uchiha males frowned simultaneously, wondering why she had been training in the first place as well.

"But don't worry! Even so she is very proficient with ninjutsu and long-ranged bukijutsu. While I don't believe she could ever fight as an active participant in the war, perhaps she could be backup at the compound?" Makino was hurriedly speaking trying to convince them not to get rid of Fuyumi, while she was not her daughter she had been taking care of her for years and would not want her to suffer because she could not speak.

"..that does sound like it has promise, father," Madara spoke up,"we do not have many kunoichi in the first place, getting rid of her would be a waste."

"...are you willing to take responsibility for her? I cannot have other members of the clan interrupting any duties she has or straying from their own duties while she is there," Tajima was amused at his son speaking up, he was normally not as keen on having to take care of things or people aside from his brothers.

"...I will. She can be my servant or something, don't let others know that she can actually fight. That should give the others plenty of reasons not to bother her if she is directly under me."

"Very well. From now on Fuyumi will be your caretaker." "What?" "She will stay in the room next to yours and make sure that you eat. Don't tell me otherwise, Madara. Some have informed me that you skip meals for training."

Fuming, Madara stomped away, Izuna in tow,"Fine! Do whatever!"

Fuyumi stared as they went away and looked up to Tajima. He then explained her duties as Madara's caretaker and then left her and Makino to pack her possessions before coming to their part of the compound.

o()o

Ages:

Madara-10

Izuna- 7

Fuyumi- 8

As time went by, Madara was unable to make any complaints about Fuyumi being his caretaker. She was silent, never interrupted him unless he hadn't eaten or something of that sort, and she wasn't useless. The only problem was how clumsy she was, tripping over nothing, what kind of kunoichi can manage to do that?

Luckily there were only a few incidents in which she was the target of unfriendly attention by other clan members which was quickly dealt with by himself.

Unfortunately for him, his mother absolutely adored her and kept trying to get him to hang around more there so that she could dote on Fuyumi, which clearly was not going to happen. Not was he going to show his father that he was irresponsible and leave her with his mother, which left him to take her around with him.

"Hey nii-san," Izuna came up to his older brother while he was throwing shuriken, Fuyumi sitting in a small patch of flowers not too far away," are you and Fuyu-nee (no one knows when he started calling her this) going to get married someday? Like otou-sama and okaa-sama?"

The shuriken that Madara was holding went flying past the target and into the woods behind it.

"What."

"Well? Are you?"

"...who did you hear this from?"

"Okaa-sama! She was talking to one of her maids earlier about it!"

"...don't listen to her. And DO NOT tell otou-sama about this either."

"Ehhh!" Izuna pouted then huffed before walking back in the direction he came from.

Fuyumi just watched them silently and rolled a flower in her hand.

o()o

Ages:

Madara- 15

Izuna- 12

Fuyumi- 13

Due to their closeness, there was a lot of unexplainable talk among the clan saying that Fuyumi was sleeping with the clan head's sons. This of course was not true and shouldn't even have become a thought but it had become a thing to talk about. Madara, after hearing about it in passing for the one-hundredth time, decided to do something about it.

"Otou-sama," he barged into his father's office, not even knocking, Fuyumi following close behind him.

Tajima looked up from the scroll he was holding and gestured for them to come in and continue talking.

"Make Fuyumi my betrothed," Madara demanded.

The other two in the room stared at him for a while in shock, Tajima dropping what he was holding.

"...why?"

"The rumors are annoying. I don't want mother to keep badgering me about her. And she told Izuna that she and I would be married. I can actually tolerate her compared to the ogling females in the clan. Pick one."

"..let me think about this for the night. Return to your room. I will have an answer for you tomorrow."

"Very well. Good night, otou-sama."

He and Fuyumi bowed and left to return to their rooms, Fuyumi trailing behind with great confusion.

She decided to ask and tugged on Madara's sleeve, when he turned around she tilted her head in question and he understood what she wanted.

"I meant what I said when I mentioned that I can tolerate you. I know that he would pester me to marry someone eventually and I pick you now. I have no need for anyone else to be by my side as my wife if you can fulfill everything that is required of you. I do not care for the fact that you are unable to speak either, it is not like you need me to help you if someone breaks into the compound.."

Once he had finished speaking Fuyumi jumped at him and tackled him to the ground in a hug, which was unlike her, but given the circumstances he decided that it would be fine this time.

"You are to never leave my side, you are forever mine and in your silence you will vow to never betray me nor I to you in any way."