Kindling

Madara and Astrum had been through a lot together. Of course they had, they were- mostly- the same person up until they got their Mangekyō and even then the Mangekyō didn’t cause true Separation, more like…fracture (and yes, Madara had spent more than a few morose nights thinking over what that meant about what Mangekyō did to the soul that it caused such damage to the daemon bond – there was a reason he pushed for less of his clansmen to get the evolution than his father had), but though they had been through a lot together there had been very few things that had been harder than forcing peace down his clan’s throats. Oh most of the younger Uchiha were fine with it- eagger even- but with the Elders and Izuna dead set against him it was only Togakushi and his certainty that Tobirama Senju would help that made it happen (Madara would never stop being grateful to the albino for saving his littlest brother even at cost to himslef- because those had been Senju that attacked Togakushi so it must have cost Tobirama to save him- and it had softened him to the stern faced younger man long before he had a chance to get used to working with him) and the cost had been…substantial.

Across the table Togakushi sighed and stood, clasping a hand on Madara’s shoulder as he cleared the plates for Madara to wash, Izuna’s leftovers in the fridge turning his stomach (he wanted his brother back; yes, Izuna was a brat, yes he was a bit of a warmongering dick and Nemesis held a grudge like no other, but….he was Madara’s brother and Madara missed him). “Don’t think about it too much” Togakushi said softly “Tobirama-sama feels bad for making you feel bad and – well I don’t think his people skills are very good, if you just tell him what you want it will probably go better. I’m guessing he does better with clear communication.” Which, yeah, that fit, Tobirama did seem to miss a lot of social cues, Madara could work with that he was just glad – Astrum shifted closer and rested his heavy chin in Madara’s lap, looking up at his person with dark-golden eyes, “I am glad he isn’t suspicious of us” the tiger daemon rumbled “I didn’t like wondering about that and thinking he didn’t instead of just being that bad with people.” Madara hummed in agreement, stroking his daemon’s head and staring into the distance, it really was good to know that Tobirama wasn’t suspicious of him like so many; just, awkward, apparently. And not feeling very well, hmm, Madara did have a good headache tea and Hashirama was always going on about how bad Tobirama’s tea was so maybe – after all Tobirama had been feeding him lunches and helping with his paperwork, it was about time Madara paid him back a little.

“We could bring him some of the headache tea” Madara murmured to Astrum, smiling a little at the reassuring rumble of his daemon (without Astrum at his back he wasn’t at all sure he would have been able to make all this happen) “it seems fair after everything he has done for us even if it was awkward. It’s too bad we can’t lighten his load, not with Hashirama and all that he does for the village; without him the whole place would fall apart.” Astrum snorted in agreement, shifting unhappily and growling low in his chest, “His brother should be helping him more, Hashirama-“ but Madara held up a hand, well aware of his daemon’s thoughts on the Senju head and far too tired to get into it again, especially since he wasn’t as sure he disagreed as he used to be. “I don’t – please let’s not get into it tonight ‘strum, let’s just focus on Tobirama instead, yeah?” Astrum grumbled at that but settled again and let it go to Madara’s relief, allowing the conversation to change to Tobirama and what they could do for the younger man.

The next day Madara slipped into the tower early, grimacing at feeling Tobirama already there even though he was in the records room and not his office which left it open for Madara to slip in and drop off his tea – wondering where the elusive cheetah daemon was at the moment as she was almost never visible even though Astrum said she almost never left Tobirama’s side (except when she was slipping him food apparently). So Madara slid in and then out, frowning a bit at the stark emptiness of the office which had almost no personalization whatsoever, not even the Senju equivalent of the large decorative uchiwa that hung on Madara’s wall (which, had come from Hashirama yes but the older Senju had said that he had gotten the idea from Tobirama hadn’t he?) or a few pictures on his desk; just mountains and mountains of paperwork. That…couldn’t be healthy, there wasn’t even any bed for Tobirama’s daemon! Madara frowned deeply, rather unimpressed with the Senju’s ability to care for himself; Togakushi was right, Tobirama needed a keeper and less work. Could Madara find him an assistant? Not a Nara, they were smart enough but not motivated enough but maybe….hm, Yamanaka? That could work, or – wait, what about Llamrei Izumo? She was young and clever and seemed quite impressed with Tobirama if a bit over proper. Hmm, Madara should send a runner for her and see if she would take the position.

It was quite nice to keep himself distracted with thinking about how to ease things for Tobirama as he worked on his paperwork and Madara was more than a little distracted with passively tracking Tobirama’s chakra bouncing all over the village so it came as something of a shock to realize that it wasn’t just that Tobirama seemed to be in two places at once, his chakra literally was in two places at once. For a moment Madara sat in stunned confusion after he realized that, tracking the two separate signatures with shock and glad he had already talked to the Izumo and gotten her set up when he felt one signature vanish and the other flicker oddly and expand somewhat. What in the world-? Now thoroughly distracted Madara stood up and wandered in the direction of Tobirama’s office, knocking perfunctorily on the door and pushing his way inside; automatically looking around for the daemon until Astrum rumbled and bumped his knee – she was here then, just hiding, which was quite the feet for a cheetah. “Senju” Madara grumbled, eyes narrowing when he saw the pinch at the corners of Tobirama’s eyes as if he was in pain “you are in two places at once, explain.” And, ok, maybe it wasn’t the most polite way to ask but Madara was distracted by the untouched teapot; what, did he think Madara was going to poison him!? (When angrily asked that that night Togakushi had dryly pointed out that if Tobirama didn’t know where things were coming from he probably wouldn’t consume them, how was he supposed to know it was from Madara? Which. Fair. But still! How many times had the Senju been poisoned?)

Tobirama blinked at him for a long time, looking slightly stunned and then gathering himslef just before Madara was about to go over and check the man was alright. “Madara-sama, I – it’s a jutsu I created, like my brother’s wood clones but, ah, better.” Then he seemed to perk up a bit “I could teach you? You have enough chakra for it and should be able to handle the mental strain.” Now it was Madara’s turn to blink in confusion, wha-? Tobirama was just offering to teach him a jutsu he had made? Though, most of the jutsu on the list for the new academy was his too and he had just given those out without any compunction after all. “I – sure” the Uchiha breathed, confused but not willing to pass up the opportunity as Tobirama straightened and held up his hands, waiting patiently until Madara clued in and then activated his Sharingan to watch the formation of the jutsu.

It was…masterful, chakra heavy yes but – the clones it produced were completely solid and cognizant, a true copy of the original and the jutsu itself was a symphony of chakra manipulation; a truly stunning work that Madara would love to ask about and have an in depth conversation about the development of if Tobirama had looked any less like his head was screaming at him. Awkwardly thanking the Senju Madara glanced at Astrum who wandered forward and nosed at the tea pot, infusing it with a little fire chakra to heat it again even though it would be over steeped (that – was not an ability that he showed off very often, as showed by Tobirama’s wide eyes), “-and drink the damned tea Senju, it won’t kill you and it will help the headache you aren’t hiding that well.” Madara grumbled on his way out the door, glancing back to see red eyes widening in surprise and snapping to the teapot. Ha, tomorrow maybe Madara would bring a teapot with an uchiwa on it just so he knew where it came from; the idea made Madara snicker to himself as he walked back to his office, snickers turning to full on laughter when he heard Tobirama’s confused voice from his office as Llamrei entered with a pile of documents. Served him right!

Togakushi smiled to himself as he listened to Madara grumbled about Tobirama-sama, sounding more animated and himslef than he had in a long time as he groused about the silent war that the two men seemed to have fallen into over taking care of each other. Tobirama was still sneaking lunches to Madara and Madara had started bringing breakfast to the Tower for the Senju; in response to Madara getting him an assistant Tobirama had done the same and inflicted one right back on Madara, and furthermore it was a Kohaku so Madara couldn’t deny them as they were from the Uchiha’s vassal family. All in all it was all going swimmingly so far as Togakushi could tell and he was feeling quite good about everything; Madara was looking better, Tobirama was looking confused but less pinched and quietly pleased every time Madara did something nice for him and best of Astrum was looking sleeker and more focused. The only person that wasn’t pleased was Izuna, but he didn’t get to have an opinion, he lost that right when he wouldn’t stand with Madara in Togakushi’s mind. Oh Togakushi loved his other brother, but, fuck, Izuna could be a dick when he got his teeth in something and refused to give up no matter what; Togakushi had never seen anyone hold a grudge like Izuna and Nemesis and kami it was infuriating.

All in all it was working out quite nicely as far as Togakushi was concerned, Madara was even so focused on Tobirama-sama that he was letting Togakushi breathe more and as much as the youngest Uchiha understood his brother’s nearly pathological need to take care of the people he loved, he didn’t mind a bit of space to breathe and – well, Tobirama-sama could use it anyway. “Have you considered that maybe Tobirama likes you Mada?” Togakushi interjected in his brother’s grumbling as he stirred the stir-fry, there was a pause long enough that the youngest Uchiha turned to look at Madara – who was gapping at him, looking like his mind had flatlined. What in the world-? Togakushi rewound what he had said and – oh. huh. That – “I” Madara lurched to his feet as Astrum scrambled out of the way lest his tail be stepped on “He-! I-!” holy shit, Madara was blushing, like, full on blushing and frozen and looking like his entire world had been rocked and this – this was far too interesting for Togakushi to leave alone. He hadn’t meant it the way Madara seemed to have taken it but, well, given this reaction….

“Yes?” Togakushi asked innocently, turning back to stir the food again to hide his smirk even if he grieved not seeing Madara flatline so badly he wasn’t even flailing. “I don’t think it’s that far-fetched, he really was upset when he realized he wasn’t helping you and was instead making it worse; I don’t think Tobirama-sama is the sort of man to do something like that for just anyone.” Ok, Madara had recovered to the point of spluttering, that was hilarious and Togakushi loved this, this was brilliant. “He does show a distinct preference for your company too doesn’t he? Over most anyone other than his students and possibly over his brother.” “I – he – he doesn’t – does he? But – He – all the – I don’t – pretty…..” the last of Madara’s spluttering was a whimper and Togakushi glanced back over his shoulder at his brother, wilted at the table with his head in his hands as Astrum nosed at his hands worriedly. Oh. Wait, shit, Togakushi stirred the food one more time and moved it off the heat, setting it aside (it was a little undercooked, but it would be fine) and going over to his brother, crouching at his side, “Hey, hey Madara, don’t, don’t stress about this ok? If he does, he does, you have lost of time to figure out what you think about all of it and how you feel, ok?”

Carefully Togakushi stroked his brother’s long hair, Madara wasn’t a stupid man at all but there was lots of reason for him to struggle with it if he actually had any budding feelings for Tobirama-sama – the Mangekyō damage to his bond with Astrum being part of it (Togakushi had to say he didn’t mind at all not having that cursed tool having seen what it had done to his brothers; oh if he was called on to do the mercy stroke he would do it as was the main line’s duty, but he hoped he would die old and with an unfractured bond). “Don’t stress about it too much, just – let things happen, ok? He could be a good friend for you if nothing else so don’t stress it, ok?” Togakushi soothed gently, his Alexiares nudging up close to Astrum in an unusual show of physical contact (the Uchiha siblings’ daemons didn’t touch much over all but when they did it was always in times of great stress – not including the time Nemesis had scratched Astrum after peace was pushed through). The tiger leaned into the smaller Doberman daemon but Alexiares was used to it and braced to take the weight as Madara turned to look through the shadow of his long hair at Togakushi, dark eyes lost and wide. “I don’t – Izuna would –“ but Togakushi snorted, rolling his eyes and Alexiares nipped Astrum even so slightly, “Fuck Izuna. There is nothing you can do to make Izuna happy now unless you want to give up on peace when it is going so well, you and Tobirama being anything you want would serve him right for being such a brat and not learning to look past the masks were all wore in war and Mother would be deeply disappointed in him – as you well know.”

Madara winced a little at that point, no doubt thinking of their mother and her impatience with the ages old feud; she had done her best to teach them better than that and how to see past the trauma and brainwashing that prolonged war caused and – well, she would have dragged Izuna to a Yamanaka by his ear if she saw how he was acting and her Coeus would have grabbed Nemesis in his claws and shaken her for clawing Astrum. Togakushi missed her. One gloved hand peeked out and Togakushi took it, squeezing his brother’s hand and looking at the dark eyes and the faint glimmer of something fragile and new growing behind the uncertainty that filled them (he had never know that love dawning looked so like hope).