Kindling

Tobirama ducked under the swinging arm and kicked up hard and fast, the heel of his foot connecting with the ribcage of the woman as her knife missed him by inches; a low twist put him out of the way before throwing himself up and over the swinging arm of another man. Across the room Guðrún was laughing like a maniac as she tore through their opponents, Tobirama only barely contained his grimace at the spray of blood, Guðrún had never been the most…clean of fighters unlike Tobirama who preferred to leave the blood inside his enemies if possible – it was so hard to get out of clothing, but then again that was why she always wore dark, dark red. Another knife slipped past his cheek, grazing it right below the red tattooed scars and Tobirama bit back a curse, he needed to focus, his attention had been far too scattered ever since…(Madara) and he needed to get his head in the game. With renewed viciousness he went after the suited men and women around him, he wanted this fiasco over; Tobirama had been able to avoid a show down with the Shimura and keep out of their way but it had only been a matter of time before he came into conflict (Tobirama grimaced as blood sprayed into his leg casting an annoyed glance at Guðrún and her blood soaked side of the room – he used knives as well but he kept it clean) with them and went after something they wanted; he could have negotiated with them, they would have liked him on their payrole but there was no way that Tobirama was ever going to do anything that would put Madara and the Uchiha in danger.

The albino swung his karambit across the last man’s throat in a clean slice (see he didn’t need to make a mess to kill someone Guðrún) watching as the man slumped to the floor with a dull thud; Tobirama’s lip pulled back in a disdainful sneer, what a mess. “Did you really have to do it like that cousin?” he asked, picking his way across the room trying to avoid the worst of the mess; the woman laughed roughly, “Oh don’t be like that Ghost. Or do you prefer Thunder God?” Tobirama grimaced and looked a way, he hated those foolish names, couldn’t the Uchiha have come up with better names for his him!? Talk about over dramatic names, that was Uchiha for you though. “Let it go Red Wolf” he snipped back, she rolled her eyes “Get over it Tobirama, making a mess means it will be a lot harder for the police or Core to track anything from this – can you imagine finding anything in this mess?” the albino looked around and had to give it to her, hiding any clues to them would be impossible in the blood soaked room; well, it would be very easy for them to tell that the Red Wolf had been here, this sort of mess was her calling card but they would probably not be able to tell that Tobirama had been there (and maybe that was the point, Guðrún was hard to read but it wouldn’t be that shocking, she was family no matter how tough her love).

He sighed and picked up the dropped hard drive turning it over in his hands and glad of his gloves as he pealed a bit of some unidentified organ of the hard casing “You’ll take it and clean it up? Get what we need?” Guðrún asked and Tobirama nodded, tucking it away in his pocket. He would take it to his lair and clean it up, make sure that there was nothing on it that could incriminate either of them or put the Uchiha in danger; god he was a soft touch for them. On the other hand his checking over everything before it was turned over has saved at least a few of them over the years and he could play it off as looking after his own skin; being part of anything that could be traced back to him would definitely put him in danger and all criminals understood looking out for your own skin. Tobirama nodded at Guðrún and saluted her as he slipped out of the building by way of the rope dropped from the upper window, maybe Guðrún had a point about his obsession with high places…he just always preferred to go up if he could and most people didn’t look up when they entered rooms which was a definite advantage. Tobirama shook his head a little as he pulled himself out of the building, the night air a comforting brush on his skin as he left the museum and blood soaked room behind; god he was tired, he shouldn’t be this weary, all he had been doing was one small heist- not even a hard one- and time was that he could run a good three in a day and be fine. But that was back when he was – when things were different and the words, the most important words Madara had ever said- would ever say- to him weren’t a barely healed burn on his back.

His lair (called that because he could never bring himself to call it home and it was more of a work space anyway) was undisturbed and all the traps were set the way they had been when he left; probably he was still safe here (thank heavens, he didn’t want to move, it was such a pain to have to move all his tech when his location was compromised). Tobirama dropped into the large squishy chair- the most expensive thing that he owned other than the tech- and stared at the large screens for a long moment, glancing at the screen devoted to the cameras around his lair and watching the blank screen; it wasn’t like it was going to change, no one visited him here, Guðrún might know where he lived but even if she had she had never come to see him – not a bad thing but just…whatever. It didn’t matter. Giving himself a good shake the albino plugged the hard drive into the computer and then shoved himself out of the chair as he waited for the info to load. The computer dinged slightly just as he was yanking on ragged sweat pants and a too large sweatshirt (he should really throw it away, keeping Madara’s Core sweatshirt was probably creepy especially after five years) and Tobirama dragged his hand through his hair; time to get to work, he was on deadline.

Madara wasn’t pouting, he wasn’t. That would be below him, he just…didn’t know what to do, everything in him screamed out to be hitting the streets looking for his missing soulmate but if Tobirama was still around and had never shown himself before he probably didn’t want  to see Madara again (and Madara couldn’t blame him for that). On the other hand…”Major?” a soft voice asked from the door and Madara looked up at Kuro standing in the doorway hip cocked and a impassive look on her delicate face, “You know I hate it when you call me that Kuro” he grumbled at his sister and she laughed as she walked farther into the room. “Izuna told me what happened, about Tobirama” she said as she dropped into the chair across form him “he said that you’ve refused to do anything about it” Madara grimaced, “Come on Kuro, he’s never indicated that he wants to see me in all this time. I don’t want him to feel hunted, I should just let him…-“ Kuro’s eyebrows flew up “Really Mada? Really? and who was it that said they never wanted to see him again? As I recall it was you who left him with hard words-“ “He said-“ “Oh come off it, of course he said somethings he shouldn’t have, it’s Tobirama, he’s never been one not to fight back. But it was you that started it and banished him from your life, ‘You mean nothing to me, whatever we were to each other is dead’ that’s what you said isn’t it?”

Madara swallowed hard, the fragmented look on Tobirama’s face as he said the cruel words flashing through his mind. “What do you want Kuro?” he asked lowly, she sighed and sat forward, reaching to touch his hand even as he slipped it off the desk “Madara, I’m just saying that he saved your life, that he’s your soulmate, don’t you think that it would be worth trying? He not going to reach out, first not after everything. I think you owe it to him to swallow your pride and try.” Kuro said softly. Madara tipped his head back against the chair, staring up at the celling; Kuro was right, he was a different man in some ways now, less proud, more ready to humble himself for those he loved, “Maybe you’re right. I – I don’t know where to start Kuro” he murmured. Kuro smiled brightly “Just keep your eyes open brother, keep your eyes open for the shadows and don’t forget to look up – you remember how much he liked high places” Madara’s eyes narrowed on her “And is that a sister’s advice or a nudge from your Geas?” he asked narrowly, Kuro’s face went thoughtful “I’m not sure, I…a bit of both?” she said. Madara nodded, even without the backing of her Geas Kuro’s advice wasn’t to be ignored.

He nodded to her and turned back to his work as Kuro slipped out of the room; whatever happened with Tobirama he still had to keep an eye on the Shimura- they were up to something he just knew it- and the Gold and Silver brothers were headed back this way and Madara had no intention of being caught by surprise again (never mind that if he could make things right between himself and Tobirama it would probably repair Geas somewhat and that might just be what he needed to insure the brothers weren’t a threat). Several hours and reams of paperwork later the ringing of his phone startled him out of his concentration; Madara turned to the phone with a grimace as he saw the caller, fucking Hashirama. “What do you want?” he snapped into the phone, Hashirama wailed dramatically launching into a overwrought rant about how Madara didn’t love him as the Uchiha tuned him out, waiting for the moment that the Senju’s voice changed and indicated that he was finally done with his fit; “Madara, have you heard about the brothers returning? They passed through Land of Rivers yesterday, they’ll be here soon and you know they’ll be after you – they don’t like to leave people alive” Madara sighed and rubbed at his forehead, “I know Hashi, I just don’t know what you want me to do. The Core can only watch for them and then hope to take them down somewhere away from too many civilians” he said, “And hope that the Shimura keep their noses out of it” Hashirama added “at least Black Zetsu is out of the country as far as Mito and I can tell so we can focus on this.”

Madara frowned, “Why is he gone? I thought he liked to take advantage of chaos” Hashirama sighed over the phone with a crackling sound “He does, and he has a nose for it. He must have something better to go after” Madara winced “That’s not good Senju” Hashirama hummed softly in agreement and Madare hung up wihtout saying goodbye. The Uchiha rubbed at his face and tried to focus on the feel of the soft leather on his face, a problem for another day.

“Major!” the shout had Madara leaping out of his chair, one hand reaching for his coat as he stormed out into the bullpen, “What?!” Fugaku was panting in the office, his young face flushed and blotchy “There’s- there’s been an attack, the Red Wolf” he panted and Madara swore under his breath, he hated Red Wolf cases, they never hurt anyone too badly unless they were on the shady side of the law but their cases were always a mess. “Any idea of the victims?” he asked as he pulled on his coat and checked his gun, Red Wolf cases didn’t leave anyone alive, but it wouldn’t do to be unprepared. Fugaku shook his head, swallowing hard- this had probably been one of his first cases the poor kid, what a rough way to start- “There- there wasn’t- anything to use to identify anyone” Madara shook his head and strode past his young clansmen, gesturing to Mikoto and Kenshin as he left, no way was he taking Kagami on this one, he was still to young to see this sort of thing.