Kindling

Returning to Konoha after their minor appropriation mission was over was less of a relief than Madara would have guessed it would be a few months ago; it turned out in fact that he and Tobirama worked rather well together and Madara had more than enjoyed the time, especially with the help of the tea to soften both their edges and dull Tobirama’s rather horrifying trauma. Add to that the absolute mess they came back to and Madara was rather exasperated within minuets of their arrival, rolling his eyes as he looked at a Hashirama that looked like he was about two countries past loosing it. The Senju was a disaster, his normally sleek hair a knotted mess with at least- uh- four? Five, five ink brushes entangled in it. His face was haggard and streaked with ink, heavy shadows to rival Madara’s under his eyes (though his might be better now, he had slept surprisingly well while he was gone), a gnawed on lip and a wild-eyed look that made him look slightly deranged – as did his messy clothing which was also streaked with ink and looked several days old.

Tobirama laid eyes on his brother and stiffened a little, the rigidity that had bled out of his shoulders surging back in a rush Madara hated, he sighed ever so slightly, murmuring, “Oh Hashi…” Hashirama sniffed manfully, rubbing at his nose with an inky hand and smearing it further but, to Madara’s surprise, not bursting into tears. “Tobi, you’re back, I…” he trailed off, looking helpless “I wanted to have more of this done when you got back” Madara blinked, surprised and a little impressed in spite of himself.  “You don’t have too, it’s a fair amount to get done” Tobirama said softly, looking a little touched even as he strode further into the room and flipped through the piles of paper on the Hokage’s desk. Hashirama shot his brother a helpless look, “It’s a ‘fair amount’? No, Tobi, it’s a huge amount of work. I don’t know how you do it all and do it all so well – I just, you have so much, and you handle it so gracefully” and just like that Tobirama stiffened, Madara could see the tops of his ears turning red but couldn’t see his face well enough to know if he was blushing even as the albino stiffened a twitch and visibly forced himself not to look around. For a second Madara wasn’t sure what was going on until he remembered - ‘and Tobi got, got punished by Father’ oh, of course.

In a rush Madara loosed his chakra and let the searing heat of it flood the room, relived to see that the guess was right when Tobirama visibly relaxed under Madara’s intent eyes. “I – thank you brother, I – I can take it back now” the albino mumbled, shifting uncomfortably. Madara smirked a little and took over, stepping up to Tobirama’s side and taking the attention, pleased when Tobirama shifted back slightly to put Madara ever so slightly in front of him. “Finally learned to appreciate what’s in front of you have you?” Madara snarked, pleased when Hashirama shot him a look of mixed chagrin and displeasure, “Yes, yes, you two do far too much for me and without you this would all fall apart, I am a disaster without you and should be more grateful. Now please help get everything running again?” and the honest plea in his voice made Madara snort, but more than anything he was impressed that it honestly looked like Hashirama had taken what he said seriously; truly doing his best to do everything without them instead of handing it off to others (or Mito) and thinking about what that meant and that was something that Madara could be proud of him for.

Tobirama huffed softly and moved forward again to help them sort through the papers on Hashirama’s desk, finally leaving with a tall stack and gently checking Madara’s shoulder on his way out of the room. Madara felt his lips curl into a small smile but ignored Hashirama’s intent eyes on him, instead saying “So you thought about it then” pleased when Hashirama didn’t try to pretend he didn’t know what the Uchiha was talking about and just sighed, dragging a hand through his hair and grimacing when his hand caught on a tangle. “I did. It – I realized, Father is dead. I mean I knew that, but I didn’t – I didn’t think about what that meant, what it said about the world now and how I lived in it. That I could change the world now all the way down, that I could stop doing all the things that I did to, um, handle Father, or mitigate him. Kami, Mito and I have been married for years and I have never actually considered having a child, and I always said that it was because the world wasn’t peaceful enough, wasn’t safe enough, wasn’t – well, I guess I was still thinking about Father, that I had to live in Father’s world where children died far too young. And I….”

Hashirama trailed off, a deeply conflicted look on his face than made even the smeared ink less than funny. “Hashirama-“ “Madara what if I – what if I am like my Father? What if I do things his way, not because I want to but because I have no idea how else to be and especially parent?” the words tumbled out in a strangled rush and Madara hissed softly, leaning across the desk to grab his friend’s hand. “You won’t be like him. You won’t Hashi. You know how I know? I know because you listen to Mito and she won’t let you, I know because Tobirama and I will be there to help you be better even if you don’t know how, I know because your oni of a cousin won’t put up with anything like that in you and you’ll listen. I know because you are thinking about it now, I know because I trust that you are going to do the work now to really think about your life and what could be something that you learned from him that you can change now – like your relationship with your brother. I’m not going to say its going to be easy, because it’s not, but if you put the work in to unlearn what he taught you I know you will be better.”

Hashirama blinked at him and then ducked his head, breathing slightly noisily as Madara sighed and set a hand on his shoulder. It would always make him a bit exasperated that Hashirama could, and would, cry over spilled tea but when he was really upset he never wanted anyone to see him cry; another gift from Butsuma probably on second thought (it was too bad that he was already dead, Madara would love a chance to make that man hurt). Seeing that Hashirama’s breathing was starting to even out Madara started to fill him in on their mission to ease the atmosphere, relived when Hashirama finally looked up and smiled, only a little damp.

The next day Madara went to drag Tobirama out of his office to eat lunch together, rolling his eyes when he saw how deeply the albino was buried in his paperwork but pleased to see that he didn’t look too worn down (Hashirama must have done better than Madara had expected) and even more pleased that though Tobirama had to know he was there he didn’t look up or stiffen (clearly he was acclimatized to Madara’s presence now). “Tobirama” the albino looked up, blinking slightly like he was emerging into a bright light, “come on, its time for lunch now” automatically Tobirama stood, scrawling a few last notes on his paper as he did and then picking up another to read as he walked to Madara’s side and only shivering a little under the fingertips that the Uchiha rested feather light on his lower back.

Smirking Madara escorted the Senju to Hashirama’s office to eat, not bothering to interrupt Tobirama’s reading other than lightly guiding him through the touch on his back (and kami, Tobirama was so responsive! How would-). Just before they entered the office Madara leaned closer and murmured “You did well on the mission, I enjoyed having you as a partner” into the shell of a pale ear, gleeful at the way it turned red and Tobirama flustered but didn’t shrink back into his hand. Score!