Kindling

Touka had decided this was the funniest thing that had ever happened, ever, and the best thing was that pretty much no one else had figured out what was going on – oh, and having Izuna bring her food and things to drink in between kicking people was pretty fantastic (he was adorable, like an angry fluffy puppy). The point was that she had had no idea a month ago what was going to happen when Madara (weakly, because he was in way over his head) insisted that Tobirama keep his robe (and hadn’t that made Tobirama go a little pink, which in turn made Madara sway dangerously); it hadn’t even occurred to her that the story of this battle would spread so fast- it should have, gossiping about the Senju and Uchiha was a shinobi staple- or that Madara giving Tobirama his war robe to cover up would get shifted to ‘Madara Uchiha head of the Uchiha gave Tobirama Senju his personal war robe – one baring his crest! And Tobirama accepted it! my cousin’s brother’s friend says that he even blushed, can you imagine that! The Ghost blushing because of a proposal.’ ‘I never would have guessed that they were lovers, that must have been so hard for them! I always thought that the Uchiha head and the Senju head… but Tobirama and Madara-sama are a much better match, they must be so cute!’

But when the wedding gifts had started to roll in battlefields had to be abandoned (really, they did, the first one showed up while they were fighting- some of them anyway, Madara kept tripping because Tobirama had refused to take off his robe “its warm cousin, and it smells nice, and just, warm” and Izuna was more throwing a tantrum than fighting and eventually abandoned Tobirama to go kick Hashi some more. When Tobirama walked up to Madara- she was so proud of him for doing that- the other man had nearly had a meltdown over how Tobirama looked wreathed in smoke and wearing his crest; and that was what the Hatake shinobi had walked in on, blithely tromping through the fighting to the ‘happy couple’. After that and the “so you still hold clan spars? That’s a damn good idea!” any farther clan warfare basically fell apart and now they just got together to stare in confusion at the mounting piles of gifts and letters saying ‘so-and-so’ will visit to congratulate you in person!

(Touka loved that she was the first person to figure it out, her and Kikiyo and Izuna of all people, though others were starting to catch on slowly, at this point there was a lot of betting on when the ‘happy couple’ would figure it out.)

Tobirama was happy. It was a little childish maybe but right now everyone he loved was happy (Hashirama was fluttering around making happy noises about the clan heads all arriving in the next few days- he thought they were getting together to talk about the village after they heard about peace with the Uchiha- in between Izuna kicking his shins, Izuna was kicking Hashi and bringing Touka things- Touka was laughing her head off-, and Madara, Madara was nearby talking to a Senju kid and reveling in the fact that he wasn’t supposed to be killing anyone) and he was tucked away in his tree wrapped in Madara’s lovely robe, it was so warm and though it didn’t smell like Madara anymore it was still the nicest thing he had ever been given; he just had to give Madara his gift- it seemed like the thing to do after all, to give something back- and then everything would be right in his world. In fact, he should probably do it now before he lost his nerve or someone showed up, drat, it was such a nice tree…. Drat. He slipped out of the tree and took a deep breath, drifting over to stand by Madara (he was getting used to people watching him, he wasn’t sure what they were looking for but every time he got near Madara he could feel eyes zeroing in on them) “Madara-sama” the Uchiha looked up, his eyes still soft from talking to children and stood, Tobirama took an inconspicuous breath “I have something for you, in return for the robe, I- here” and he shoved the package in his hand at Madara who was watching him with large eyes.

Madara looked down at the cloth in his hands, it wasn’t enough to be a full robe and he could see black fur so- oh. It was a beautiful happi made out of a sleek pale gray fabric embroidered with dark feathers and edged with the wonderful black fur, “It’s- Tobirama, it’s beautiful.” He whispered, honestly stunned. (Touka dropped her head back against the tree behind her, struggling not to laugh at the poleaxed look on Madara’s face- but oh Tobira, her dear little cousin looked over the moon, like he had never expected it to go this well- and even better was the look on the face of the Yamanaka that had just walked into the Senju compound) Tobirama smiled a little at him uncertainly and it was all Madara could do to not just glomp him; Hashirama yelled for his little brother and with one last tiny smile (that expression though!) the younger Senju slipped away. “Would you like a hand putting that on?” Madara started and turned to look at Inoashy Yamanaka who was grinning at him “uh” Madara hesitated- he wanted to put it on but he wasn’t sure that he should take off any of his clan layers given he was already in another clan compound- and Inoashy laughed “Don’t look like that! We’re here to congratulate you!” Madara blinked increasingly off balance  “I-“ “I have to say I was surprised at first, but there’s no way to fake the way he looks at you, I’m glad to see you so happy cousin.” Said the Yamanaka clan head seriously “Thank you?” Madara said slowly, he… was starting to think he knew what was going on here. “I should go greet the Senju clan head and your wonderful husband- I have to say, we’re all just glad the fighting is over at this point!” and as Inoashy headed to the Senju brothers Madara’s brain melted.

(Touka would have been put out that Madara had figured it out already but the look on his face! He looked over the moon but was also making a high-pitched keening noise as his brain overheated and broke; Uchiha were hilarious.)