Kindling

Izuna wanted so badly to hate Konoha. He wanted nothing more than to loath this place and all its lies and the fact that he was expected to get along with the people that had killed so many of his clanmembers and kin and – but. But it was hard to loath the laughter of children in the cool night air and the joy of his kin as they found soulmates in other clans, there wasn’t all that many lies here (not even from the Freak, in fact Tobirama was a terrible leir from what Izuna could tell and never bothered with it) in fact there was less lying now than there used to be, and all those he was expected to get along with weren’t that bad and were the kin of his kin’s soulmates and – fuck, if there was one thing Izuna would never do it was keep one of his kin from a soulmate, to do so would be to go against everything that the Uchiha held clear. And now there was the Fenghuang, the divine bird swooping down out of the clear sky to bless Konoha and- to Izuna’s great pride- Madara in particular and that…eased Izuna’s fears a little; not all the way but a little, or at least told him he needed to stop hanging back and commit to their new world instead of hanging back; which realistically was getting him nowhere anyway (at least now he had a good reason to blame his change on – something that his brother couldn’t hold over him).

So now to find out that the Fenghuang had left Madara for Tobirama, for the fucking Freak, Izuna didn’t have any idea what to think. Fenghuang were divine and never wrong so clearly there was something to Tobirama – but at the same time the Fenghuang was always crying over the pale bastard so maybe there was something wrong with him? Healing tears and all, so maybe not something that made Tobirama….well, a freak; but something that was wrong with him (so Izuna wasn’t wrong) and the Fenghuang was trying to fix it, trying to fix Tobirama. So, what was it? (And how did Izuna deal with the whole village now watching the pale bastard like he was going to fall over and die, hells Izuna had even seen an Uchiha sliding snacks in their mission reports before they got put on the...on Tobirama's desk.) 

O-ai watched the pale young Loch-sage-soul slumbering restlessly, his dreams and mind unable to rest without the bond he should have shared with the Nova-sovereign-soul; the bond that he had removed in desperation (she had seen all that had passed in his dreams, a thousand different iterations and each more painful than the last), truly believing it was the only way to make his soulmate happy (and how could he not believe that?). Oh but mortals truly understood so little of the truth of soulbonds! How could they not know that the bond was not the source but the result, the result of two souls that sang their stories in such perfect harmony they became one single song that was never meant to be sundered; for though another soul might also sing harmony there was only one (and sometimes not that, this was the first time Nova-sovereign-soul had ever had a counterpart O-ai could hear) that could sing so perfectly.

It made O-ai ache to see how much Loch-sage-soul had given up for love – and it was not that he didn’t understand his loss, that much was clear to the phoenix; simply that he had done it anyway because he thought that was the only way to give his mate joy. (As though Nova-sovereign-soul didn’t watch him from the sidelines with interested considering eyes, though…he had not always done so, O-ai had seen that too.) This place was indeed interesting and more worth her time than she had at first thought, the peace that held here was held so dear by all those that lived in it that O-ai wasn’t sure she had ever actually experienced a place where peace was loved so dearly before right alongside continuing bloodshed. It remined her that she too could be a creature of fire and blood and death when needed for all that she was a symbol of peace and prosperity and in her time here she had felt more alive and moved than she had in the long centuries of her days before, it was more than enough to keep her in the Leaves – and after all she still had a sundered song to see righted if she could.

Tobirama woke to a swath of bright feathers enveloping him, as he had for the last week since returning from the mission and finding the phoenix in Konoha (he had to admit that it did thrill him to know their village was good enough for a phoenix to make it home) and as he had for the last week Tobirama took a moment to just bask in the unusual peace that filled him; dulling the aching of the missing pieces of the soulbond to an almost bearable level even with Madara being around more recently – or perhaps that helped the pain. With a jagged little smile Tobirama turned into the phoenix and pressed his face into one gold and green wing (like jade edged with gold foil) hiding his shivering pleasure like an embarrassed child; it was just so nice to be around Madara (and the other man wasn’t even watching him with distrust the way he used too! It must have been seeing a phoenix be ok with him that changed his mind, even if Tobirama made her cry for some reason) and be able to watch the older man without feeling like a creep.

And even better Madara didn’t seem to mind having Tobirama around as much as he used to and that….that was better than Tobirama had ever imagined he would have; now all he needed was to find someone to give the soulbond too (unconsciously Tobirama curled closer and the phoenix crooned gently, preening his wild white hair). Hashirama had recently mentioned that Madara had started meeting with a woman named Saburo Aburame and the older Senju had more than once hoped that Madara might become involved with her (that was always….agonizing to hear, not that Hashirama ever noticed what his speculation did to his brother) so maybe….gods, Tobirama didn’t want to do that. In his heart of hearts (that Tobirama rarely acknowledged), in his selfish little corners Tobirama wanted – wanted Madara for himself, wanted to be the one to see Madara’s eyes go soft and pleased, wanted to be the first to find white hairs in that dark cloud, wanted to be the first to help the brilliant mind work through problems, just. Wanted. It was selfish Tobirama knew but he couldn’t help it, he wanted even though he knew he wasn’t good enough and that that was the last thing Madara wanted – even if the Uchiha didn’t revile Tobirama now there was a big difference between tolerating and liking.

With a sigh Tobirama unearthed himself from the feathers and slowly clambered out of bed, once again burying such thoughts and absently touching the opal on its chain around his neck before tucking it back under his high necked shinobi blacks. It was time to get back to work and there was always more to do.