One shot Naruto

N/A: Tobirama / Myth - In which your soulmate leaves colorful footprints that only you can see.

I was supposed to be doing something,He thought idly. There was somewhere he was supposed to be today, but it surely couldn't be half as important as the work in front of him. He had no desire to abandon his project when he was so close to achieving it.

His reluctance to move may have had something to do with the fact that he'd been awake for three days straight, two and a half of which he'd spent locked in his personal laboratory. He liked it here. It was soothing, comforting, quiet. His brother had built his lab especially for him, with reinforced walls to cover up any scientific flaws and tinted glass ordered from the Land of Wind to keep the sun's rays away from his more delicate experiments. Most importantly, the reason he liked his lab was because there were no people in it.

Tobirama rubbed his face with one hand, feeling the stubble in his palm, and refocused his eyes on the scroll in front of him. He'd been tinkering with the seal he was trying to create for weeks and was so close to making it work that he could practically taste it. With this, he would fly, almost literally. Sunshin was so imperfect; it frustrated him with its pitiful limitations. Once this seal was complete, if it worked the way he intended, he would be able to move faster, go farther, and fight better. Just thinking about the things he could accomplish made him dizzy.

When he blinked again, he realized his hands had been moving without him really paying attention, and he continued working on autopilot as his tired mind drifted away from the task at hand. He looked down at what he'd created, tilting his head to see it from different angles. Then his eyebrows rose to his hairline. It was perfect. His work had paid off.

He was so engrossed in his work that Tobirama didn't even sense the approaching chakra signatures until the door suddenly opened outwards and he looked around to see Hashirama walking in with that disappointed look on his face that said Tobirama had gotten too caught up in his work and missed something important again. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a woman following him, but after rather peripherally noting that she was incredibly beautiful, he waved her off. This was excellent. His brother had arrived at just the right moment.

Hashirama opened his mouth to say something, probably something about scolding him, but Tobirama interrupted him, shoving the scroll into the older man's chest with wide eyes.

"Take this," he demanded. Hashirama stopped abruptly, reflexively taking what was being handed to him.

"Oh…"

"Now go." Tobirama made a shooing motion with his hand.

Hashirama frowned. He'd obviously come here for something, but Tobirama didn't have time for that. Didn't his older brother see that this was important?

"Go, let's go!"

"I'm... I'm so sorry," Hashirama sighed, turning to the red-haired woman with him. "But it'll be faster to get her attention if we just humor her for a minute."

More intrigued by the scroll than anything else, the woman followed Hashirama as he walked off back the way he'd come. Tobirama watched the door close behind them and then sat very still, marking time in his head and mentally keeping an eye on his brother as he walked further and further away from the laboratory. Once that familiar signature had reached a good distance, he clasped his hands together in an unfamiliar set of seals.

The world melted, blending into a plane of pure white for a single instant. Then he felt something reach into him and grab him, pulling him forward through space and time, and suddenly he was standing in another room of another building.

Hashirama gaped at him, the scroll falling from his hands. Tobirama caught it with a triumphant smile. It had worked! His free hand ran through his hair, probably making it stand on end, and he stood as straight as his aching back would allow. The hiraishin was finally completed. Weeks of effort, and he had in his hands the very thing that would change the fate of the clan wars. He was still riding high on the wave of triumph when he looked up to smile at his brother, only to stop at the sharp look he was receiving.

"What?" he asked, puzzled. "That was great work." Hashirama sighed at him.

“How can you be so observant on the battlefield and at the same time so blind when you're conducting your experiments…” the older man shook his head and then turned to his companion. “It's not always like this, I swear. He just… loves his job.”

“Fascinating,” the woman replied, though her words weren’t directed at Hashirama. “Did you create this yourself?”

"Hai." Tobirama took a moment to wonder why he was there and finally came up with it.

Hashirama had been sending letters back and forth with the Uzumaki clan for months, discussing the possibility of a political alliance through marriage. His bride was supposed to arrive today. Tobirama realized it was what he was supposed to be doing instead of creating seals. This must be her. She would make any man a happy husband, he mused, if looks alone were the requirement. Her hair was the same vivid red as the mark on his own face, pulled back in two buns with paper seals dangling from each. Her face was aristocratic, delicate yet fierce, and there was piercing insight in her liquid-black eyes.

"Handsome and intelligent, a most pleasing combination." The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. "You seem to have had an eventful evening, so I suppose I won't criticize your current lack of observational skills."

"Brother," Hashirama complained with a desperate look. Tobirama raised an eyebrow, wondering what the two were talking about. He was perfectly observant, thank you. Hashirama leaned forward and hissed, "I didn't lead her to you, she led me to you!"

"And how would she do that?" Tobirama asked softly. Both his brother and the Uzumaki woman looked at him for a long time, Hashirama's eyes falling on the ground. Tobirama followed their gaze. "I... oh."

“'Oh' indeed,” the woman said with a kind of indulgent amusement in her voice.

Now that he was looking, he could see that the floor was decorated with delicate red footprints that extended in a path from the door toward the center of the room, ending right where the beautiful woman before him stood. His brain might have been tired, but it was still functional enough to extrapolate from there: upon arriving at the clan compound, this woman had seen her own footprints, invisible to everyone else, and followed them back to her laboratory.

He imagined he must not have made a stellar first impression then. He probably looked a bit like a mad scientist with his messy hair, stubble, and overly large, tired eyes. He'd caught his own reflection before at times like this, and the first word that usually came to mind was 'deranged.' Add to that the fact that his first words were to bid his visitors farewell without a proper explanation, and Tobirama felt regretful, maybe even a little remorseful.

Only after all of that had sunk in did he realize he was excited. His soulmate! If only he could see the colorful footsteps, that made this woman his soulmate! Her head snapped up again with a look of astonishment that earned laughter from both observers.

“Your brother tells me your name is Tobirama. I'm Uzumaki Mito. It's a pleasure to meet you.” The intelligence in her eyes was only complemented by the steely undertones in her voice. This woman wasn't easy to convince, I knew that. She approved greatly.

"Myth." He rolled the name off his tongue, savoring its bittersweetness. "I'm sure it'll be more pleasant after I've showered. And a restful night. And shaved."

“That can wait. Tell me about this stamp. You created it yourself! What resources did you use? What vectors is it based on? I can see the base element, but what inspired you to choose it? It's so unexpected.”

Hashirama blinked in bewilderment, unable to follow the conversation. Tobirama, however, was watching Mito ask him questions, warmth gathering in his chest. So she was interested in seals too? Unbelievable. He knew soulmates were supposed to be inherently compatible, and yet he'd never been able to imagine anyone who was so obviously perfect for him, even when they'd barely known each other.

"Ah, well," Hashirama muttered to himself as Tobirama and Mito got lost in discussing things far above their heads. "It's still a political marriage if she marries the second heir." He watched the two of them talk and smiled to himself. He could only hope that when he found his own soulmate, she would accept him as readily as she had his brother.