Kindling

The first time Madara almost missed it; it was a throwaway comment that he hadn’t intended to voice and had just slipped out in his surprise and yet…. Madara had been walking down the hall in the newly constructed tower- the scent of paint and wood sap had finally faded after almost a year thank gods- when he had seen Tobirama standing front of his office frowning down at the papers in his hand and been reminded abruptly of the file on the Inuzuka that had made the negotiations so much easier and the words just slipped out without thinking “Senju, you did a good job with the Inuzuka file. Thanks” probably that would have been all of it- Madara was already bracing himself for a cold retort- except – except Tobirama froze, eyes snapping up to Madara and blown wide with surprise. The Uchiha blinked, thrown by the shock on the younger man’s face and the faint flush that was spreading delicately over his cheekbones as he stared at Madara and then stuttered something to soft for Madara to make out and ducked back into his office the door clicking shut behind him softly.

 The Uchiha stared at the closed door for a moment before resuming walking to his own office just beside the Hokage’s, a frown curling over his brow and the Senju’s clear shock seared into his eyes; that was…strange. Tobirama had reacted to a small throw away bit of praise like Madara had – had – had, Madara didn’t have a word for what Tobirama had reacted like except that his shock made something in his chest go tight and sharp; surely it was just surprise that is was Madara saying something nice, surely it was just that and not that the Senju was that surprised, after all he must get praise all the time what with all that he did for the village….right? Madara frowned more darkly at his papers, he didn’t want to care about the albino bastard, not when Izuna still flinched when he moved wrong even after a year and a half since Tobirama had tired to kill him (and then forced Madara to bring Izuna out of the compound and healed the younger Uchiha under Madara’s bloody eyes and Hashirama’s dark sharp gaze); he didn’t want to care about the person that had nearly taken away his last younger brother (Kuro, Toga…) and yet…Tobirama’s shocked red eyes blown wide as he looked at Madara flashed through his head and the Uchiha groaned dropping his head onto the desk the cool wood feeling good on his skin. Fine, ok, he wasn’t going to do anything for the Ghost, but it wouldn’t hurt to keep his eyes open and watch, wouldn’t hurt to watch and see that his suspicions were correct. There was nothing wrong with that, it was just what a good shinobi would do.

The next week was…strange, Madara watched Tobirama anytime the younger man was around- which was fairly regularly given how often the younger Senju had to take Hashirama to task about his drifting attention, which after watching was a little concerning- and other than not being able to meet Madara’s eyes for a few days (how had a little bit of praise discomfited him that much?) he acted as he always did (right? had he always been this tired? If so how had Madara missed it?) and nothing changed. Which was the problem. Madara had watched Tobirama take piles of Hashirama’s paperwork off the older man’s desk without Hashirama so much as acknowledging him, continuing to chatter at Madara while both brothers acted like it was completely normal for Tobirama to just take over the work that Hashirama didn’t want to do, he had watched the younger Senju give his brother files of information on clans, on infrastructure, treaty drafts and blueprints and more and not once had Hashirama done more than send his brother anything more than a distracted smile (even that made the Senju’s movements stutter a little). Madara had been sure that there was more and weaseled his way into going home with Hashirama one night only to find Tobirama missing and be told that the younger Senju was either still at work or working in his lab; more questions had produced the information that that was completely normal and he had watched Hashirama not make extra for his brother even as he was told that Tobirama was also working on Hashirama’s marriage treaty with the Uzumaki (was there nothing that Tobirama wasn’t somehow involved in?).

By the end of the week his had come to the inescapable conclusion that Tobirama had been that surprised by Madara’s weak praise because no one ever gave it to him. The Uchiha stared out into the dripping garden sipping tea as a faint ping of chakra told him that Tobirama was once again in the tower even though it was a Sunday; he didn’t…he didn’t know what he wanted to do, only that he couldn’t get Tobirama’s shocked wide red eyes and faint blush out of his head (it was a much better look for him than his normal tight almost frown). “Mada?” he hummed in response to Izuna’s soft call, smiling when his brother slipper out the door and dropped to sit next to Madara, leaning heavily on the older Uchiha. “What’s bothering you?” Izuna asked softly and Madara sighed, turning it over in his head for a moment “What do you think of Tobirama?” he asked and Izuna shifted against him but didn’t stiffen or pull away “I – don’t I guess. I mean, he freaks me out but he never did as I feared and turned his brain to hurting us and even he is unlikely to have been playing a game this long.” Madara frowned “Was that what you worried about with him?” he asked and Izuna shrugged “No one knew better than me how brilliant he is, is it a surprise that that worried me? If turned on the clan it would have been terrible, but he’s never done anything to indicate anything other than an obsession with work whatever that work is. He doesn’t hate us as far as I can tell, no more than he hates anyone else; so I guess…I don’t really have an opinion about him other than that he needs a nap.”

Madara grimaced, yeah, he couldn’t argue with that “Even though he almost killed you?” he had to ask; Izuna pulled back and sent him a disbelieving look “Really Madara? He was fighting me in a war, of course he took an opening when he got one; I would have done the same in a heartbeat, but I probably wouldn’t have blackmailed Hashirama into letting me heal him” Madara grimaced, that was.. very true wasn’t it “have you been holding that against him?!” Izuna asked in disbelief, eyes wide and blank on his brother “oh my god, get over it. I am and he- ugh- he doesn’t deserve you being angry at him over this” Madara sagged a little, wind taken out of his sails rather thoroughly. “Fine” he muttered, looking away out into the drizzling rain, the damp air filled with the faint clunk of the water bamboo “I’ll be nicer” and if that included seeing if he was right and Tobirama was going to react to praise like he had the first time every time well, Izuna didn’t work in the tower- taking care of clan matters for the most part- so he would never know.