Second Guess
It was a moment that Tobirama had second guessed himself, a change in his daily course of activities and research. He was always thinking of things logically and when he made a choice, he was hard to redirect. What was this choice? Not leaving the strange chakra signature he felt by the river alone was the first time he changed his mind on a choice. He was going to spend the afternoon practicing his katas. (And ignore the hunger pains he felt as he was excluded from yet another meal after Father was displeased with him for not striking his brother in a spar.)
"Chichue, what good will it do to hurt him? Can I not just tell him where I would have striked?" Which, is what he had done at firat. Till his father grabbed him by the arm and twisted until he was on his knees, ready to cry.
He had helped make the schedule of the scouting rotations so slipping past them was child's play. And so what if he laughed silently at the irony that he still was a child? After all, kids will be kids.
He ran through the trees, as silent on the branches as a 7 year old could be.
"Look for soft branches and avoid the wrinkled tree it is connected to, for even the strong branches on them will make the trunk creak."
"Yes Kaa-san."
He shook the memory, avoiding the ones he knew to be a bad tree. A trim pattern on the branches being something only a Senju would know to avoid. A burn is going to need to be done here soon, the foliage is getting a bit high.
What he was not expecting was another child sitting by the river, the other side of it.
"I see you, you're not hiding behind green with white hair like that whoever you are." Tobirama decided to play dumb a bit and climbed down the tree like his brother's would.
"At least I tried. You're just standing here in the open. Why?"
"It's rude to not tell someone your name before asking a question."
"Fine, Tobirama." I wonder if my clan relation is as obvious as his… Tobirama internally laughed. He took after his mother, a spitting image of her as she used to say.
"The space between doors? What are you, a hallway?" Tobirama threw a small water jutsu at him that got him soaked.
"And it's rude to make fun of someone's name. Let's see how great yours is then."
"That was a jutsu- you're a shinobi!" The unnamed Uchiha said
"What of it? You're one too. A Uchiha."
"I didn't say my clan name!"
"Yeah but you look like one, your chakra feels like one too. And you still haven't told me your name oh honorable Uchiha."
"You're a sensor? Aren't you like five?"
"I'm seven!"
"Then why are you so small?" Tobirama looked at the ground at that question. Father had taken meals from him whenever he disobeyed.
"Don't wanna talk about it." His stomach said otherwise as it growled.
"My name is Madara and I'm 10."
He didn't respond to that. Even if Madara said it in a kind voice, one that was no longer used at Tobirama.
"You should go home kid, it's mealtime. Someone is bound to be looking for you."
"You're not the boss of me." He tried his best to glare but Madara wasn't fazed.
"I am older though, and will be grown up first. So, you should listen to me." Madara said with a confident smile and a hint of play in the tone..
But just imagining anyone turning into another grown up had Tobirama upset.
"And? All the older people are stupid."
"What?"
"All they want is more fighting, more pain, and when you don't listen they beat you and keep you from eating. So no, I don't care if you're older." If anyone said he was pouting, he'd deny it instantly.
But when his stomach painfully growled again and he grabbed it to try and soothe it, he saw the look on Madara's face. Anija looked at me like that once, now he thinks me too harsh. He wasn't sure why but seeing a look like that, knowing it could go away again, he ran. He scolded himself for bursting his emotions out like that, he had been so good at hiding them. Even Anija stopped asking him what was wrong each night. The grown-ups started calling him cold, and calculated and he was left alone. (He liked that because it meant less punishments.) He didn't need the company. (Even if he desperately craved it.)
Then he tripped on a vine in the foliage- that needed to definitely be burned now- and went tumbling.
The pain was no worse than his father's punishments but he just sat there and cried into the dirt. Cried the tears of a child who longed for his gentle mother, gone too soon after blessing them with Itama. Cried for the happy family he thought he once had before his father lost his wife and became bitter at the world and the children she left him with. Cried for the pain no child should endure from hunger. Cried for the love he was denied. Tears he had bottled up, that he thought had stashed away permanently. "Emotions will get you killed Tobirama! No son of mine will show such weakness!"
A hand landed on his back and he went to attack through the tears but his arm was grabbed and he stopped when he saw it was Madara.
He's not sure why he broke down further into the older boy's arms, or why the boy sat with him and let him cry into said arms. Madara soothed him like Tobirama soothed his brothers.