Senju Destinies

The Senju forces stood in a clearing near cliffs that fell into a valley.  If Tobirama was inclined towards sentiment, he might name this place “Final Valley”, because it would be the final valley his rival would ever see.  He had spent the entire time between getting home from the Naka river the night he’d seen the girl there and preparing to leave for this battle perfecting his secret weapon.

Flying Raijin.

His new jutsu literally bent space and time.  Izuna wouldn’t escape this time, and nothing could save him.  His thoughts went to the Uchiha girl then, as he felt her chakra sweep their group.  Losing her little brother would probably break her heart, but she had a soulmate she could lean on.  She would probably be fine.  Just because she spared lives and was good didn’t mean her brothers or the rest of her clan did the same.

He stretched his sensory net out.  He made it four miles out and felt nothing.  He pushed farther.  Five and a half miles away he was starting to hit his limit, the feedback from so much area coverage was nearing painful levels.  He waited.  Finally the Uchiha group crossed into his net.

“Five and a half miles.  They’ll be here in the next couple minutes.  Their numbers are less than ours.”  Hashirama gave him a tense nod.

The Uchiha stepped onto the field and Tobirama’s eyes immediately zeroed in on the girl.  She was in the middle, between her brothers, and her head was held high.  His heart beat a little faster and he scowled at the feeling.

She had a soulmate, she wasn’t his and beyond that, she was an Uchiha.  He shouldn’t have such a reaction when seeing her.  She and her brothers stepped forward to meet him and Hashirama in the middle and as they drew closer he subtly inspected her.

Her hand was wrapped around Izuna’s wrist so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.  Taking in more details, she had abandoned her usual armor -or really lack thereof- for a thick leather chest plate, and she had her daggers attached to her hips instead of her lower back for the first time in probably two years.

This was the most threatening he had ever seen her.

He scanned her face, but found exactly what he had expected; nothing.  She was a master of the Uchiha blank expression when she wanted to be, it was her eyes that gave her away.  When he finally met her eyes with his his heart could have stopped.  She was scared.

He had never seen fear in her eyes.  He’d seen sadness, laughter, defiance, he’d even seen a brief flash of anger when one of her brothers had been injured.  Fear was something new.  He didn’t like it.  It made him want to take her in his arms and protect her.  He didn’t know what to do with that.

So he focused on Izuna instead.  She had let go of his wrist and he was rubbing it to get the blood flow back, so Tobirama could assume she’d had that grip on his wrist for longer than just the time they had been in the clearing.  Other than that, it seemed like not much had changed with his rival.  Yet.  Something significant would change soon.

Suddenly the girl’s chakra was in an uproar.  Her sensory pulses had stopped entirely and instead her chakra was swirling violently through her body.  He shifted his eyes back to hers and the world dropped away.

Pain.  Sorrow.  Fear.  Anger.  More pain.  Through all the emotions flitting through her eyes, pain was the most prevalent and still her Sharingan stayed inactive.  It brought his question from the night by the river to the forefront of his mind.

Why would she use her Sharingan there, but not here when she was so obviously -to him at least- scared and hurting and angry?  Then there was a spark of determination.  Her hand shot out to catch her twin’s and she grabbed hold of Izuna, her eyes still locked with his.  He could still feel the storm of chakra rolling through her and couldn’t help but wonder what happened for her to suddenly react like that.

She tore her eyes from his and suddenly he was free of the spell.  He turned to his brother who was moping, apparently Madara had declined peace again.  If she was going to be that distracting he was going to have to shut her completely out during his battle with Izuna.

She was through speaking with her brothers and the battle began.  Izuna charged him with more force than normal, apparently something had upset the youngest of the Uchiha siblings.  It still wouldn’t be enough to save him, but it would keep their last battle interesting until he got bored.

Touka was keeping the little witch busy, she seemed to be off her game and that worried Touka more than anything.  She’d never seen the Uchiha girl distracted, but when the girl nearly got hit twice in a row with blows that never should have come close she couldn’t stay quiet anymore.

“You seem distracted today, little witch.”  She hadn’t meant to sneer, but figured it was off put anyway by the tiny smile.

“Must be getting sick, Touka.  Careful, I don’t want you to catch it.”

Touka laughed, the little witch’s sense of humor had grown on her over the years.

“Only you would worry about an enemy catching a cold from you.”

Touka saw the girls lips twitch, but it still seemed like something was off.  She wasn’t as snarky as usual.

“I hate to break it to you, little witch, but you’re stuck with me when you’re this far off your game.  I can’t have someone else catching you off guard.  I’ve been trying to beat you for so long that I don’t care if it takes you being sick for me to finally land a blow.”  Touka knew the girl would hear her for what she was saying: she was worried and she wasn’t going to chance anyone else not holding back against the only Uchiha who deliberately saved the lives of her enemies.

The full smile that came to her face was proof that she’d gotten the message.

“If anyone was to take advantage of my distractions, I’d be glad for it to be you.”  How typical of the little witch, Touka mused with a snort.  Their friendship, if that’s what it could be called, was a strange one.  Just trading snark back and forth on a battlefield, but it was welcome all the same.

“Careful, little witch, with words like that people might start to think the Uchiha have hearts,” Touka said with a smile.

“Perish the thought,” the little witch quipped.  She noticed the girl had stayed rather close to Izuna and Tobirama through the battle, but she wasn’t quite sure why.

Suddenly her whole demeanor changed.  The girl glanced over to her brother and Tobirama and her posture went stiff.  When she looked back to Touka there was a sadness in her eyes that Touka couldn’t fathom.

“I’m so sorry,” and then she was gone.  Touka froze.  Where the hell had she gone?

“ANEKI!”  Touka heard Izuna’s shriek and whirled around.  She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“KAIDA!”  Huh, so that was her name.  The thought was ridiculous, but Touka couldn’t quite help it.  She’d known the little witch for seven years and hadn’t been able to learn her name.

It was time, Tobirama decided.  He’d grown bored with the fight, Izuna’s anger had only kept him interested for so long, now he wanted to test his jutsu.  He smirked and reached for the seal he had placed on Izuna almost as soon as their fight had begun.  There was a feeling like being sucked through a slightly too small hole, a squishing feeling, and then he was there and his blade was through Izuna’s chest.

Except.

Since when did Izuna have a high ponytail?

Since when were Izuna’s eyes so emotional?

Oh no.

NononononoNo.

It wasn't Izuna.  It was her.

She coughed up blood.

He distantly heard Izuna shriek, heard Madara cry out something that might have been a name, but for once he didn’t care about her name.  Why was she here?  How did she get here in time?  Flying Raijin was faster than the Body Flicker, she shouldn’t have been able to beat it!

His mind was racing trying to figure out how this had happened, then she moved and his mind stopped completely.  She reached up and put her hands over his and he -Senju Tobirama- flinched.  Before he could even process that, she spoke and his heart broke.

“I forgive you.”

Even without the sudden tingling in his left side he knew.  Those were the first words she had ever said directly to him and they were his.  She was his soulmate.  She was his soulmate and his sword was sticking out of her chest.

She was his soulmate and he had tried to kill her little brother.

Her twin was at her side, lowering her to the ground.

“ANIJA HEAL HER.”  Had that been him?  It had sounded like him.  He was kneeling next to her.  When had he gotten down here?

Hashirama was sending healing chakra through her chattering nonstop.  Izuna was snarling.  She coughed up more blood, painting her lips red.  Why did this happen?  She called for her brother and Izuna immediately stopped snarling in favor of talking to his sister.

Tobirama’s soulmate.

Her voice was so faint…he had done this.  He had done this to her.

Madara had said something to him…something…

“I didn’t know…she came out of nowhere.”  Was that his voice?  Izuna’s temper snapped.

“She came out of nowhere because she knew!”  She knew?  What did they think she knew?  “She hasn’t been herself since she found out we were battling again today!  She was terrified!  We’ve never seen her as scared as she was before this battle!”

‘What did she know?’  He tried to ask but his mouth wouldn’t move and his voice wouldn’t work.  Izuna answered the question without even knowing when he turned to his brother and said “Now we know why she was so scared.  She knew I was supposed to die and decided to take my place.”

Tobirama’s world crashed.  That’s why her chakra had started freaking out before the battle.  That’s why he saw pain and fear and anger and determination in her eyes.  She had known for years that he was her soulmate.  After all this time he couldn’t remember what the first words he spoke to her were, but it had been seven years.  She had known for seven years and said nothing.

She had known that her soulmate intended to kill her little brother and decided to give her life to stop it.  NO.  No, she wasn't dead.  Not yet.  Hashirama could heal her, he had to.

Touka’s voice pulled him from his despair momentarily.

“Tobes…what happened?”  He let out a pitiful groan, but couldn’t make himself answer her.  Izuna, it seemed, had no such issues.

“He just stuck his sword through his own soulmate in his attempt to kill me.”

So it seemed Izuna knew about it too.

“Soulmate?”  He couldn’t tell who had said that but he didn’t care.  He ripped his chest plate off and pulled his shirt up.  His words were powder blue and he ground his teeth together.  If she died these words would mock him for the rest of his life.  The first and last words she ever said to him.

“Of course she would forgive you!”  Izuna screamed at him.  It was the sound of someone broken.  He recognized it because his body was aching to make the same sound and only his discipline as a shinobi was keeping the sound inside his chest.

Touka was standing behind her cousin staring at the little witch’s pale face.  There was blood on her lips and her breathing was so shallow.  To think just minutes ago she’d seen a smile on those lips and heard the girl’s snarky humor.  She never would have guessed that this battle would turn out like this.

“Tobes…what happened,” she heard herself whisper.  She’d never heard her cousin -normally so stoic and unaffected by everything- make the noise that crawled out of his throat at her question.

“He just stuck his sword through his own soulmate in his attempt to kill me.”

Izuna’s response surprised her.  “Soulmate?”  Her hand raised to press her fingers to her lips, disregarding the tingle racing up her spine as a reaction to the scene in front of her.

She never would have guessed that the girl who had never caused an injury, the girl whose name had been a mystery until a few moments ago when Madara’s anguished cry rang across the battlefield and echoed off the cliffs to their right, the girl who was her friend despite being an Uchiha…she never would have guessed her little witch would be Tobirama’s soulmate.

It seemed Tobirama had never guessed either.

Now they were all watching the one Uchiha no one wanted to die bleed out on the battlefield.  It was too much.