Kindling

Tobirama drifted, stimulus slipping past him and making very little mark in the haze of opium laced pain tincture and healing chakra. He thought he felt Madara beside him, a firm broad hand pushing through his hair and sweeping it back from his face and there was no way Tobirama could stop himself from pushing into the imagined touch (“Is he awake?” “No Madara-sama, or at least not aware, not with the amount of pain medication he is on.” A pause and another comb through his hair and then a murmured “And touch starved on top of everything, oh Tobirama…”) it was a nice dream, one of the nicest Tobirama had had. He could admit- if only in a drugged up haze- that he was…fond of Madara, especially after meeting for tea every day for almost two weeks; they had more in common than Tobirama would have dreamed of and it was an honest joy to talk to someone who could keep up with him and even challenge him and Tobirama had no reason to flinch from the dreamed up touches to his hair and hands. (“when do you think you will wake him?” “Soon Madara-sama, we want to make sure everything is healed or started healing before we do though.” “And is he healing well?” “Yes to an extent, all but – Madara-sama, it’s his eyes”) The other hands that touched him were also gentler than he was used to too, not as gentle as dream-Madara but still more gentle than the Senju healers Tobirama had seen; not that he had seen many of them in his life, finding it easier to tend to his own hurts as soon as he could do so without damaging himself permanently (besides Father had preferred it). (“And the chakra binders?” “We can’t take them off until he is awake Madara-sama, there is too much danger that he wont be able to regulate the chakra influx while unconscious. But…they need to come off as soon as possible, the red markings on his body are tied to his nervous system and we think it must be some sort of sealing that he used to handle the pain and without them I hate to think what state he is in.”)

He swum to the surface and blinked dizzily at the blurry ceiling, nothing more than a white smear to his eyes. Ah. So, that was it then, he had wondered ”Tobirama!” the soft voice near him had Tobirama turning laboriously to look at the dark blur next to him and for a moment he mourned the missing sight of that cloud of smoke like hair, handsome features and almond shaped dark eyes before moving on to paying attention to what Madara was saying (it was harder to recognize him without both his sight and his chakra sense but luckily he had spent enough time with him now to know his voice – and no Tobirama was not going to admit that maybe he had spent a little extra time memorizing the older man’s voice). “You awake now?” Madara asked in a soft, warm voice from next to him; Tobirama nodded and then stopped in a hurry as the whole world swum (fucking opium), trying not to startle when a broad firm hand settled over his forehead and Madara leaned close enough Tobirama could smell his scent of cloves and smoke and then a cool wet cloth settled over his eyes and some of the dizziness subsided, “don’t move too fast-,” his voice stumbled as though he wanted to add something to his sentence but recovered and continued “you’re still on a lot of pain tonic and I’m betting you don’t feel much better under that. Do you think you can drink something? You need to if you can, you’re quite dehydrated” Tobirama made an agreeing noise and said nothing as Madara carefully handed him a cup of water, the older man stabilizing his hand as it shook and guiding the cup to Tobirama’s lips for several sips.

“We have healed most of the burns but you're probably rather tender still and it will be a while before you start feeling right again I’m told, though rehydrating will help with that.” Madara paused and Tobirama took the opportunity to wonder at the fact that he seemed to honestly be being treated more like a guest than a prisoner at this point. “I – you have my apologies for what happened Tobirama, and I swear that I had no idea that Izuna would ever do anything like that and rest assured that he will be facing the consequences of his actions. I can’t – I didn’t – I had no idea that he wasn’t treating you with courtesy and just – why didn’t you tell me?” Madara had leaned in closer and Tobirama could almost make out differences in the dark blur of his body but better yet he could smell the soft cloves-smoke again and that was doing almost as much to help Tobirama’s vertigo as the cold cloth. “I thought you knew, it didn’t occur to me that he would act without your approval.” Tobirama murmured, wondering if he could inch closer and get a better breath of that lovely scent and maybe bask in the warmth seeping off the Uchiha.

Madara made an angry noise under his breath and Tobirama froze, faintly worried until Madara absently stroked his hair without seeming to realize it as he spoke, “Well he most certainly did act without my knowledge or approval, but….he didn’t know you were an albino Tobirama, he wasn’t trying to kill you for what little it’s worth” at that Tobirama almost gaped in shock at the older man. “How did he not know I’m albino?” Tobirama asked, flabbergasted “just look at my hair and skin and my eyes!”  “Well, yes, apparently he believed a rumor that  went around that you managed to turn your eyes red to make the Uchiha mad” Madara responded with audible chagrin and Tobirama had to take a second to absorb that ridiculous idea. “How was I supposed to have done that?” he muttered sulkily, head starting to ache again, Madara laughed quietly and brought the cup to his lips again; carefully helping the albino to drink half the cup before setting it down and petting Tobirama’s hair again, “Sleep – sleep Tobirama, we’ll talk again when you wake."

Madara watched Tobirama slip under with quiet concern, he was worried about the albino- albino!- and it was just a good thing that Tobirama was with them now and Madara was no longer going to let Izuna be in control of Tobirama’s wellbeing. No, Tobirama had been moved from prisoner to refugee in the Uchiha compound and Madara was moving him into the main house into the room next to his and no longer even bothered to pretend he didn’t like the younger man and want him near – it wasn’t like the healers hadn’t seen him doting over the albino and taken stories back to the rest of the clan of Madara’s favor for Tobirama. Luckily that was also combined with stories about how- in vague terms- badly he had been treated in his life and what that meant about his life with the Senju and add that to the good will he had been gaining in the clan (parts of it at least) by being a model prisoner and courteous to everyone (and adorable with children whenever they stumbled into his path) and so far the clan hadn't complained. It was taking a little bit of tending and spin, but Hikaku had no problem helping Madara with it and Jiro was fully committed to making sure Tobirama was treated better in his future than he had been so far; something Madara was fully on board with. What was also concerning was that Tobirama hadn’t once mentioned his eyes, why hadn’t he mentioned his eyes?

“Madara-sama, visitor time is over” the soft call of the healer made Madara’s hand clench around Tobirama’s before he forced himself to let go and stroked the thick white hair one last time before standing to leave, it was time for him to deal with Izuna anyway.

In the main house Madara settled himself behind his heavy dark wooden desk and waited for Izuna to come in as the setting sunlight striped across the birch floor, gearing himself for what he was about to do. “Madara?” Izuna called nervously from the door and Madara waved him in, settling back in his chair as his little brother entered and sat in front of the desk. “You know what this is about” Madara said firmly and Izuna swallowed hard “Tobirama” there was a startling lack of anger or ill nature in his voice as he said the Senju’s name and the fact that that was unusual enough to note probably should have been enough to warn Madara that this would be a problem to begin with. “Exactly, your treatment of him- even ignoring the albino thing- is so out of line I can’t ignore it, though in retrospect I can admit that this is partly my fault. I never should have put you in charge of him or let it go so far – I should have looked in on you sooner rather than just trusting you with him, but the fact remains; your actions nearly killed him.” Izuna winced and looked away, tangling his fingers together and looking a like he wanted to be petulant but was too hurt by Madara’s disappointment to manage it.

“Izuna…” Madara ached to see his little brother so hurt but remined himself that something had to be done (“and his clothing Izu? What about his clothing?” “I thought he was just vain and liked to show off his money to have fancy fabrics!” “Oh my gods! Izuna if he’s an albino he probably has sensitive skin! It’s not fucking vanity, it’s for his health!”) and steeled himself to go on. “Izuna, you have acted without moderation or restraint and hurt one placed in your care for no other reason than you could, you have broken the trust placed in you as a leader of the Uchiha and the trust – the trust placed in you as my brother.” Izuna was staring at him with a slowly paling face “I cannot allow you to go unpunished for this Izuna, I just can’t no matter what my personal feelings so…” Madara gathered himself “you are removed from your place as my heir, Hikaku will be my heir and his linage is what the clan will fallow should I fall in battle. You are also removed from your duties in the clan and demoted, Kikiyo will take your place in the clan until and if you earn back my trust, I cannot – I cannot have a second that I do not trust Izuna” Izuna was white as a sheet and Madara felt sick about doing this to his brother and for anything less he probably wouldn’t have but…that was probably not a good thing.

Izuna had long been his biggest weakness and one Madara had mostly ignored in the past even when his cousins came to his with concerns about Izuna needing a firmer hand and a sense of consequences; he had known he shouldn’t but it was his brother, the last one he had and he couldn’t bring himself to make Izuna unhappy. Not until he saw Tobirama Senju nearly dead from his brother’s poor choices and not only was there Madara’s fondness for the man and the fact that Tobirama had done nothing to deserve it, but there was also the fact that this was Hashirama’s brother, and they lived in a forest! Things could have gone very badly if Tobirama had died and Izuna should have seen that.

And on top of all that was the fact that the men under Izuna’s command seemed to be adding to the problem because Izuna had let them go without any sort of consequences when they were cruel or prejudice or treated their enemies with casual cruelty. Kikiyo was looking forward to getting to work on them and making them out of the kind of people that would taunt a prisoner about vanity and god knows what else they had said; Madara had no place for people like that in his clan (not any longer) and was fully willing to let his maternal cousin deal with the needed adjustment – even if the idea that they were placed with her had those men nearly pleading for any other commander.

Unsteadily Izuna looked down at his hands in his lap and nodded shakily, whispering “I’m – am I still your brother?” and making Madara’s heart brake. It took everything he had not to stand and go hug Izuna but – no, he had to do what he had always refused to do before and set boundaries with his brother; still though, “Yes” said Madara firmly “you are always my brother Izuna, always. Everything else….it can be earned again if you are really willing to change, but that means treating Tobirama as he deserves among other things; just ignoring him isn’t enough” Izuna nodded again and bowed to his brother before standing and shakily leaving the room, Madara’s heart aching enough to make his sinus sting as he tipped his head back and blinked at the ceiling. Kami be good he hoped he was making the right decision, he didn’t have any idea what other choice he could have made.