Kindling

O-ai stooped down on her prey, long talons gleaming in the light as she dropped out of the sky on the heretic that had the gall to attack both of her chosen! It was an attack on Nova-sovereign-soul but it was Loch-sage-soul who had taken the hit and that got up the deep divine rage that O-ai hadn’t felt in centuries, a reminder that once upon a time her kind were the companions of warlords and fighting kings and flew over battlefields singing a song of death, oh eventually the Fenghuang had tired of war and blood and death and become phoenixes and envoys of peace and the kami’s blessing but that was not always so – as this worm was about to discover.

Blood flew in a scarlet spray and the woman collapsed as O-ai perched on her back, digging her talons in anytime that the woman twitched like she was going to try and move – not that lasted long and as the night drew on the woman stopped twitching and started shivering from blood loss and shock and still O-ai waited; eventually the Konoha shinobi she knew were on their trail would get here and take over and O-ai just had to wait.

It took longer than she had anticipated and by the time the shinobi finally arrived O-ai was more than a little restless with not knowing how Loch-sage-soul was doing; surely he would be fine, the kami wouldn’t let him die without fixing his soulbond, would they? The shinobi yelped in surprise and jumped back when he saw O-ai and her prey but he recovered fast enough and together with his bond-dog moved forward to take over, O-ai immediately taking off with a warble and winging into the sky with the shinobi’s call ringing in her mind; “We have this, go heal Tobirama-sama, I think he’s pretty bad off!” it was worrying of course but also nice to see the worry for Loch-sage-soul in the village shinobi, after all Loch-sage-soul was so sure no one in the village cared about him or would notice if he vanished. It made even O-ai ache so she turned her thoughts from that and focused on the flight through the divine winds back to the village, dropping out of the gray pre-dawn sky and winging the path of her soul to the hospital where both Nova-sovereign-soul and Loch-sage-soul were clumped together tightly.

O-ai fluttered to a stop as she landed on the open windowsill and looked at where Nova-sovereign-soul was bent over Loch-sage-soul’s hand and looking nothing short of haggard, so bad that O-ai couldn’t stop the sad trill as both looked on the edge of death (she had had no idea the wound was so grievous!). Nova-sovereign-soul’s head snapped up and when his eyes lighted on her he snapped upright though his grip on Loch-sage-soul’s hand didn’t easing the slightest and O-ai caught a gleam of color between their clasped hands. Oh! Oh, of course. Of course! O-ai could just weep with joy.

Madara stared as the Fenghuang winged her way into the room and settled on the bed at Tobirama’s hip, using her intimidating beak to pull at the sheets and bandages covering the wound on Tobirama’s side before tilting her lovely head and letting pearly tears drip from her eyes into the wound. And then- before Madara could do more than slump with relief- she turned and jabbed his hand with her sharp beak, taking advantage of Madara’s flinch to tilt her head and let more lustrous tears drip from her eyes onto the opal clasped between their hands; the jewel shining brighter and brighter as tears splashed on it and slid down onto Tobirama’s cool but warming skin. Madara’s breath caught in his chest and his stiffened, watching closely as the tears seemed to have some sort of corrosive effect on the opal and-

Crack – click

The opal cracked down the center and went dull, and at the same time Madara felt the soulbond settle into place and the already blissful wash of tender warmth doubled and tripled and expanded beyond explanation into something Madara had never even conceived of (oh, oh, this was meeting another soul and knowing you had found succor and true solace, this was safety made real and hope turned to sensation, and it was transcendent). Gasping Madara collapsed over Tobirama’s side and the fluffy Fenghuang hunkered down between them, hardly aware of if he was saying anything or weeping himself as the Fenghuang crooned a soft melody that was as close to what Madara was feeling as it was possible to get. This, this and all the good moments he had had with Tobirama, this was worth fighting for – and Madara was going to have to fight, Tobirama was not going to suddenly be ok with a whole soulbond or be over whatever had caused him to do this to begin with (whatever he had heard, whatever ‘beat into him’ meant, whatever the cold mask was supposed to protect from) but that was ok; Madara was willing to fight for them until Tobirama was strong enough to do the same, this was worth it.

Tobirama awoke to pleasure as he had never experienced before, warmth and a sense of wholeness and safety that made him whimper and arch, the painful tug in his side almost a comfort as his body tried to understand pleasure at a level it had never experienced before; the wash of good sensations so overwhelming Tobirama’s brain felt white and blank as he tried to understand something he had no context or comparison for. Feeling like he had been wrapped in a warm embrace (Madara, Madara?) and was being smothered in welcome and gratitude and – oh kami it was just too much and a thin whine slipped through his lips as tears slid out of his eyes and then – there was a hand on his face and something soft brushing over his bare chest and a rich, deep voice murmuring comforting things underlaid by a lovely melody as the voice (Madara) crooned “-breathe darling, just breathe, focus on your breath, or focus on my voice; it will abate soon sweet, just breathe-“ and desperately Tobirama did as he was told, focused on the person with him (Madara!) and the healing ache in his side until the wash of sensation faded somewhat.

It was then that Tobirama sucked in another breathe and felt it catch on another whimper, forcing out a confused “Madara?” and not understanding why that made the other man’s breathing hitch and hiccup like he was fighting back emotion. “Can y-you – can you open your eyes darling?” the Uchiha said, his voice cracking painfully and that was almost enough to force Tobirama’s eyes open, but not quite – not with how much of a mess his head still was. “Ok, ok” Madara murmured, a thumb brushing under Tobirama’s eye where he was still cupping the albino’s face (…..what? what? what was going on!?) “that’s ok, just –“ he shifted and touched Tobirama’s hand and with a jolt Tobirama realized he was touching the soulbond opal (oh); fast as anything Tobirama snapped his hand back to his chest and clutched the opal close, horrified as the pieces started to fall into place and Madara spoke again “just, why? No – no, never mind, that doesn’t matter, what matters is that the Fenghuang cried on it and solved it and – we’re bonded now darling and I won’t ask you any questions- yet- but you need to know that I am not upset with having you as my soulmate and I am going to fight for you Tobirama. I am not going to let you go, not for anything, alright?”

Tobirama shook, overwhelmed and confused and – good things like this didn’t happen to him! This, this wasn’t possible, this didn’t make sense and Tobirama- “Hush, calm darling, I want this and I want you and I am not going to let you go”- Tobirama couldn’t keep up but as Madara’s (his soulmate’s) voice merged with the phoenix song deep in the back of his head Tobirama started to think that maybe, maybe in time he would understand, maybe. “I am going to fight for us darling, I am going to fight.”