Kindling

Madara-that-was-Indra opened his eyes in the afterlife and looked at his mother, confused a bit that she would be the one to greet him in death (where was the Sage? He had always been there before), but he had missed her and he embraced her without thought, letting her hold him very close as he tried to figure out whey he felt so cold and empty. His mother pulled back and her smile was grim and dark and Madara-Indra’s stomach churned, “Mother?” he asked warily and she licked her lips; “Madara, my son, do you – do you remember your life? -and your death?” slowly Madara nodded, shivering at the thought of – oh! it was still in his hand, the cracked dull opal making his soul quiver and ache. “What-?” he breathed and his mother closed his fingers over the stone firmly, waiting until he looked back at her and smiling bitterly again.

“In all your reincarnations neither you nor your brother- Asura that is- have ever had a soulmate before- how do you find a soulmate for souls as Astral and powerful as yours?- but finally in this life the kami created souls that could match yours and help you find your way to peace with each other and stop this mess and yet…” she sighed deeply “we didn’t figure on the cruelty of life or the brilliance of your soulmate. Asura matched with his just fine but yours…he was so wounded and broken and his scum of a father left marks on him so deep he had nothing left in the end, how could he after a life like his?” something terrible was growing in Madara’s mind “and then you….oh darling you should have watched your tongue! I know – I know you changed your opinion later but it was far, far too late by then.” No, please no “I…” “Just show me” Madara grated out, hand cupping the opal like it was a baby bird. His mother looked at him for a long moment and then nodded, turning to a mirror that was suddenly behind her in the plain expanse of water and dim shifting light.  

Konohanasakuya touched the frame of the large standing mirror and it rippled and then – Madara’s heart seized in his chest as he saw the back of a white head in the silver, Tobirama standing in front of a closed door with a hand raised to knock as Madara heard his voice come through loud and clear “-work with that heartless, cold-blooded bastard!” and Tobirama froze, going painfully still as his face drained of what little color it had and the light went out of his eyes. (And kami but he was so young and healthy and – how had Madara not missed how thin and broken he was by the end? ((thin fingers in Uchiha black hair as Reina beamed at him))) In the mirror Tobirama stepped back, hands falling limply to his side before he swallowed and turned mechanically and walked away from Madara’s office. The mirror blurred and they were in Tobirama’s lab as the Senju fished out a long silver chain and hanging at the end of the chain was a shinning, glimmering opal; in Madara’s hand the stone seemed to shiver like it recognized what was happening as in the mirror Tobirama set about – about – “No” Madara whispered brokenly, “no” he couldn’t watch this and he couldn’t look away and Madara felt like he was going to be sick, shaking with the need to reach through and stop this, stop this horror.

“Please no” Madara whispered brokenly as shinning threads became visible, “please”. His mother moved away from the mirror and braced him to keep him on his feet, whispering about why Tobirama was doing it and how it had gotten this bad and “-it wasn’t your fault, you shouldn’t have said it darling but it wasn’t your fault, he was just too broken to keep going any longer. He was trying to give you want you wanted and what you deserved – better than him”. Madara snarled at that, the idea that Tobirama wasn’t good enough stirring a deep anger in him – anger that immediately turned inwards as the shinning thread of their soulbond was coaxed out and anchored in the stone and Madara slipped through his mother’s hands to his knees with a whimper. “Why?” but he knew why, he could see why, had heard why, (“heartless, cold-blooded bastard”) why was clear in the broken look on Tobirama’s face and his shaking fingers; Tobirama truly believed he was doing the only thing he could for Madara and later when Madara started seeing someone Tobirama looked into her and talked to her and then gave her what he thought Madara wanted (and how must that have killed him? the way his fingers curled around the stone made Madara wonder what it did to Tobirama to give it away, no wonder he left as much as he could). He smiled at the children he gave Madara, the children that didn’t know him and never would even though it was always Tobirama that should have been at Madara’s side (no wonder Saburo was never enough if he should have had fucking Tobirama).

“Madara its not your fault” Konohanasakuya murmured, “its not your fault” but that hardly mattered; who’s fault was it? If not Madara then who? Tobirama? Tobirama who was trying his best and acting as he was raised to act? Who was so broken it was a miracle he didn’t just lay down and die? (Oh, no wonder Madara had died when he did, soulbonds didn’t always kill when one person died but they could and with everything- and Madara being Indra- no wonder it had killed him to have Tobirama die. He must have collapsed when Tobirama was finally struck down.) “It’s Butsuma’s fault if anyone,” his mother said and something in Madara perked up, could he do something about that? Coldly Madara pushed himself to his feet, already planning on how to find the Senju and hurt him when his mother ducked in front of him and held up her hands, “Now I agree that he deserves whatever you want to give him but I think it’s more important that you go see your soulmate now, don’t you think he has waited long enough?”

And that pulled him up sharply, she was right; Tobirama was the priority, Tobirama always should have been his priority and now who knew where he was in the afterlife or what shape his soul was in after everything? Madara needed to find him and make sure he was ok, that had to come first.