Kindling

Mito had a woman’s pride; deep and true as any fjord, but settled and swift as any fire, overwhelming and swirling as the wind but firm and sure any mountain, she didn’t need tell the world of her strength and like any of her sex she knew the power that came from perfect submission (there was so much to be gained if they thought you would spread your legs at their whim), she knew that bowing and kneeling and holding her tongue and speaking softly would get her farther than any jutsu, and she knew that Tobirama must trust her knowledge (it worried her a little, too see the dark twin of her power in red eyes, she…. liked Tobirama- how could she not after sitting in on meetings almost everyday he was in the compound and watching him through her hair- and it worried her to see that he knew her. He knew that she was playing dead and he himself didn’t seem to be playing). He had to trust that she would play at being a broken spirt, if he didn’t than letting her get away with what she was would be insane, not when it was so clear that something was going on in the Senju main family. It was with that in mind that she sat demurely in front of the sliding doors to the room of small water, she had been called to Tobirama’s presence a while ago and had been waiting ever since; movement made her peek up a bit through her hair just in time to see that tall figure of the clan heir storming down the hall standing at his true height the way he almost never did and with a dark sharp edged look in his face he swept past her without even a look. The doors slid open roughly  and she had a chance to see into the dim room where she could almost make out a slim shape on the floor and a dark metallic scent before the door slid shut and hid both brothers again; Mito smiled a little behind her hair, it seemed they were determined to underestimate her and however she might be growing to like them they were still the enemy so she felt no shame at all for stretching chakra- the thin trickle she had- to her ears and to slip past the silencing seals (she had been a sealing master longer than she had been anything else).

Feet moving over the floor and a soft hiss of breath, “Tobi… you can’t keep doing this” Hashirama’s voice was tight with worry (she frowned), a cough “What would you have me do? Things are moving faster now.” The younger Senju’s voice was a shaking ruin (that scent, not- not blood right?) and there was a sharp inhale. “Well, it could be worse, at least it’s mostly clean and physical” Hashirama sounded defeated, something Tobirama must have noticed “We’re not out yet, it can still work. We can still keep our Promise” his voice was gentle with his brother and there was a hitching breath like a sob (….what?) “I hate this” the older Senju’s voice was bitter and twisted in on itself, almost hidden under the sound of fabric moving and the soft clink of a jar. “You’re about to hate it more” Tobirama said, sounding tired; Hashirama hummed a little and for a moment there was nothing (tending to wounds?) “What happened?” he asked after a minute and Tobirama’s voice was cold and perfectly calm as he replied “He is starting to wonder what I am doing with Mito. He doesn’t think forcing her to act like a maid is demeaning enough- ow!” “Sorry, sorry little brother, I’m sorry-“ “-it’s fine, I like her too. He must have been speaking with Her again to get so angry, She’s not happy with him at the moment.” “Tobi-!” “Hush, it’s not that bad. Right now it’s just about Mito, I – I told him I was keeping her untouched for you.” Dead silence, shifting fabric “I’m sorry brother.” Tobirama’s voice was shaking a little “you know he would never think it of me, not after – well. It was the only way to get his attention off of her and it’s hard enough to keep him away from Madara and Izuna and after the thing with Kagami I can’t – I just – “ the younger Senju sounds like he was going to have a panic attack Mito realized with horror. “Shh, hush little brother, it’s ok, I’ll figure it out, she’s smart, she’ll play along, I’ll take care of her, you need to take care of you.” Tobirama started to protest “No Tobi, you’ve taken on too much, I’ll-“ a sigh “damnit I wish Madara could get a muzzle on his brother. I hate seeing you stick your neck out for the brat like this.” there was no real anger in Hashirama’s voice, just deep exhaustion and an edge of defeat that Mito feared.

 Madara was a smart man for all that his temper and tendency towards flailing hid it sometimes (something he had never bothered to fight too hard; it was useful to be underestimated) and he could see that there was something going on here he didn’t understand. There was the way his clan had been defeated with so little casualties- the way most clans had been once Hashirama and Tobirama started taking the field together and keeping their father off it, before that….-, the way that most in his clan remained unharmed- especially the children who were protected by some nebulous threat that no one talked about-, the way Mito was brought into information gathering sessions disguised or not, the way that Hashirama watched his father and step-mother; so yes, there was something going on her underneath the underneath (the way the Hatake were silently devoted to the Senju brothers). And it worried him to not know what was going on, how was he supposed to keep his people safe with so little information? (when her his people started having red hair and gray, when did his people start including Hashirama again? When did he start to wonder about dark red eyes?) (when did he start worrying when he saw that look on a pale face, saw it as the slim figure turned from the crying Kagami and his eyes flicked over to Madara, when?)“You’re concerned about something.” Mito’s voice brought him up out of his thoughts and he looked up from the small dark head in his lap (Kagami had been having nightmares again, Izuna thought they were of Tobirama Madara knew better) raising an eyebrow at her distracted look, “What kept you out so long?” he asked quietly as she moved to the table shoved against the wall next to her bed and began untying her hair.

She hummed thoughtfully, collecting her words as she sometimes did before speaking, Madara waited with the patience servitude was teaching him “Every time I think I have figured out a little of what’s going on I seem to see a new tunnel, it is… frustrating to find myself so constantly reminded not to make assumptions.” He frowned following her hands as she brushed her hair out (he missed wearing his hair loose but it had become very clear after the first days here that that was a bad idea and he wore it in a knot of loose braids at the base of his neck now, however much in annoyed him to have it coming undone all the time) “What happed?” he asked. She sighed and set down her brush to face him, “I… don’t really know. So I’ll tell you what I do know first. Butsuma is getting angry that I’m being treated so well and confronted Tobirama about it so the brothers decided that it would be best to try and convince everyone that I’m sleeping with Hashirama.” Madara jerked, anger slashing through him- he had thought better!- before she waved her hand, nothing but faint confusion on her face “It will be a little annoying to have to deal with the jeering but it’s not like he’s going to try anything. Told me that he expects me to sleep in his rooms every few nights and he would send for me when he needed, I gather he is trusting my ability to put the pieces together and keep my mouth shut about what goes on- or doesn’t- behind closed doors.” Madara pressed his lips together unhappy, but there wasn’t anything to be done really and this was better than gaining to much attention form Butsuma (and it fit better with the Hashirama he thought he knew). “What else is there?” he asked, she rubbed her fingers together, looking worried “I… I don’t really know. I think that Butsuma hurt Tobirama, badly,” she snorted “whatever happened Tobirama was badly wounded and - Madara you have to do something about Izuna. Apparently Tobirama is the only thing keeping your brother- and your clan- safe.”

 Hashirama adored his brother’s brilliance and hated it in equal measure, but he hated more the way Tobirama was beginning to agree with him. He remembered he had hummed and curled farther around his sobbing brother (dry almost silent sobs though they were) trying to give some comfort “You could do anything” he had whispered, holding tighter. “It’s my fault, if I hadn’t-“ “NO” Hashirama had snapped and then forced his voice gentler “no Tobi, you didn’t- you did the best you could.” “I gave him the weapon he used to kill the entire clan when he ‘didn’t like the way they looked at him’ how is that not my fault?” and Hashirama hadn’t known how to make his brother understand that he could only mislead their stepmother for so long, that it wasn’t his fault that the monster seemed to know far more that it should about how to take something apart and put it together again wrong, that it wasn’t Tobirama’s fault when the things their Father forced him to discover in the labs he used to love were used to hurt (Tobirama might be older now but he was still so thin- still so tiny to Hashirama- and so hurt, how was he supposed to keep father away from what he wanted?). The day the Kurama clan was whipped out with Father’s abomination on a bloodline Tobirama had tried to kill himself, shattered by the pressure he was under and the abominable guilt that Hashirama couldn’t seem to lift (Hashirama never forgot what it was like to find his brother- already in pain from Father’s punishment for trying to get in between the clan and him- sobbing in a pool of blood “I killed them, I killed them, I killed them, I killed them,” and then softer and full of despair “he could never care about a monster”) and on that Day they made a Promise, a Promise to replace a dream (a shity deal in Hashirama’s mind but it meant his brother was alive, for now).