Kindling

Four; respect the cat’s space. Make sure that there was safe space, not only with him but from him, but make sure there wasn’t too much space which could lead to just as much trouble and confusion. With that in mind Madara was careful not to change too much too fast, still keeping enough caustic comments to let Tobirama feel like he was on stable ground (though he couldn’t bring himself to continue with disregarding Tobirama’s presence and feelings, not now that he knew so clearly that there was more to the man, a vulnerability was too precious to take advantage of that way). The other thing Madara did was start looking into Tobirama’s living situation, trying to make sure the man did have a safe space he was in complete control of that counted as safe – which unfortunately led to where he was now, interrogating Hashirama about the way he just barged into Tobirama’s spaces to make sure that Hashirama was thinking about what he was doing and how it might be affecting his brother (Hashirama was a good man, but he could be…thoughtless, Madara knew, he wasn’t sure if it was the dreamer in him or the mukoton or both but gods knew Hashirama could be careless with those around him).

“-and how does Tobirama feel about that Hashirama? Have you considered whether you are just bursting in on his safe spaces and make it so he has nowhere to retreat too? Or does he like having you come visit him and suffocate him with your hugs?” Hashirama stared at him, jaw dropped and eyes wide and looking rather like a surprised frog. “Um” the Senju spluttered “why do you care?” Madara rolled his eyes, “How about because I noticed a few things about Tobirama that rather worry me- including his reaction to praise, which is not right Hashirama-, how about he is very valuable to the village and deserves to be recognized for it – which he is not, how about he is intelligent and diligent and deserves better Hashirama. Which is something I shouldn’t have to tell you for fucks sake! Especially when your brother is shocked to even be thanked” Hashirama winced and looked down, twisting at his fingers for a long moment.

“I – you’re right, you’re right. Tobirama…” he scrubbed at his face and spoke into his wide brown fingers “I’ll think about how I interact with his space, if nothing else I can at least knock and give him warning- I don’t want him to think I don’t want to see him!-, it just. It” Hashirama looked down at his hands, picking at his nails and drawing in a deep breath “Father…Father didn’t like it when I thanked Tobi or told him he had done anything well or – he never wanted us to act like brothers, he thought that we should be more like clan head and his right-hand and not – affection wasn’t welcome in our home and Tobi got, got punished by Father and I – by the time that Father died I was so used to it that it never occurred to me until so much later that I just didn’t – didn’t know what to do about it anymore” Madara looked at his friend and waited, there was something else Hashirama didn’t want to say, Madara could see it, as much as he was burning with anger at what had happened in their history (and heavens, didn’t that put so many things in new perspective) “and I…he doesn’t do that much, no more than he has done before, right?” Hashirama looked up at Madara pitifully and the Uchiha bit his tongue to keep from snapping back.

Carefully Madara closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, modulating his breathing to keep from raging at Hashirama, which would do nothing productive, however much he wanted to. “Hashirama. Your brother has done far more than I like to think about, both for your clan and for this village; or did you think I didn’t notice that all the treaties were in his hand? That all the infrastructure here was made by him? That he is more than half the Hokage whoever wears the hat? Tell you what, I’ll take Tobirama with me on a short mission and you can tell me all about how it goes for you without your brother here to cover your ass!” Madara’s voice echoed around the office, his last words sharp as the crack of a whip. Hashirama swallowed hard and shrank a little back into his chair, picking at his fingers again as he nodded meekly. With a huff Madara turned and stormed out of the room, his anger a simmering roil inside him the way it got when he truly felt wronged- or that someone he – that someone else had been-, quickly he sorted through the mission docket in his head as he stomped his way to Tobirama’s office, knocking briskly and only just waiting for an answer before he barged in.

Tobirama blinked up at him in clear surprise, blinking a little and straightening slightly as he eyes sharpened on Madara as he registered the Uchiha’s anger. “Madara?” the Senju prompted carefully and the older man bared his teeth at him, snarling “You’re coming with me, we have a mission” Tobirama’s eyes narrowed slightly but it soothed Madara’s temper a little to see the albino start tidying away his tasks anyway. “And where and why are we going? How will Hashirama get through it without both of us? The village will fall down around our ears, you know this” Madara nodded, his snarl turning into a nasty smile as he purred “Exactly”.

Madara could tell that Tobirama was curious about what Hashirama had done to anger Madara badly enough that the Uchiha was leaving him to struggle on his own but besides a few token protestations the Senju didn’t say anything about it and followed Madara out of the village calmly enough (something that made him no small amount of smug), not even questioning when Madara told him the details of the mission and it became clear it was far beneath their pay grade. The only real argument he had was about how much of a mess they were going to have to clean up when they got back which both of them knew would be substantial. Still, Tobirama wasn’t as relaxed as Madara would have liked- which would have been a lot to ask for and he knew it- so that night when they made camp Madara pulled out his secret weapon; a small sachet of tea, specifically formulated for Tobirama’s taste and calming properties – and maybe something a little extra for the headaches Madara had figured out he got, probably from his sensing (five; providing a calming aid to your new cat can help ease the transition and prevent the creation of new triggers so long as the cat feels safe).

By the time the tea was brewed and Madara was- slowly- sipping on his cup Tobirama had picked up his own and was taking much larger swigs, a blissful look on his sharp face. “Don’t drink it too fast” Madara warned “it has a bit of a calming effect- and works on headaches- but I am guessing you don’t want to get too calm right now” Tobirama hummed, clearly pleased with the warning though he only slowed his drinking a little and the herbs were clearly acting on him. Not enough to dull his reflexes or anything, just enough to make him feel a little calmer and more settled and therefore in the perfect mood for Madara to do this “Your stamina is very good, I know you had a long training yesterday and your still going well today, its impressive”. And Tobirama froze, red eyes going wide and a flush spreading delicately over his cheeks; but, blessedly, not looking hunted the way he sometime did with anything like this. Madara rolled his eyes to hide his pleasure and sipped at his own tea, “Oh come now Tobirama, you hide it well behind your near perfect chakra control but I am not Izuna, I can tell you have less chakra then the rest of us and that you can stretch it so far and use it so exactly is impressive”. And oh gods, the blush spread farther, curling over his ears and down his neck (Madara wondered how far down-) as Madara watched, but Tobirama looked like he was fighting not to squirm and Madara didn’t want to push him too far, so eventually he leaned forward to stir the fire and changed the subject, pleased with the results so far but willing to take is slowly. After all that was step six; be patent.