Written for the centre 'free space' square on my fluffbingo card for 2019 Q2.
My friend Kage provided the prompt for me, upon request, and that prompt was 'moonlight swim'.
Indra sighed and tugged his hair free of the branch that had snatched at the loose strands, having second thoughts - for at least the seventh time - about his absent decision not to bind his hair again on his way out into the quiet night air. He was only . . . restless. Nothing was wrong, but Indra had felt confined and bored in his brother's house, unable to sleep, and he'd hoped time out in the moonlit, peaceful night - wandering their new, peaceful home - would calm the feelings.
The rippling sound of water nearby reminded him of the small offshoot of the river that wound through this part of Konoha's expansive forests. He turned towards it, hardly thinking, weaving between trees grown insanely tall and broad - the strange, unsettling things left in the wake of the Senju brothers as they had mapped out Konoha's territories, making these lands truly theirs. Indra was still . . . getting used to them.
Both the trees and the Senju brothers - the Senju in general.
The rivers and streams winding through Konoha lands were soothing and lovely and not even a bit disquieting, however. Indra smiled as he stepped from the treeline into the clear space that spread down to the bank, watching the moonlight glint on the rippling surface of the river like liquid silver.
The ripples swirled and reversed and Indra tipped his head, half-wary already. Then more liquid silver rose from beneath the suddenly active water, and Indra's eyes widened, his mouth dropping open as silvery-white hair was followed by silvery-pale shoulders and chest - bare! - all that skin gleaming with the combined attention of the moonlight and the river. Indra swallowed roughly as Senju Tobirama turned towards him, still rising higher in the water, which clung lovingly to every muscular curve of his shoulders, arms, and chest. Ruby eyes were bright even in the thinner, washed-out light of the moon and Indra stared at the stark crimson lines, all swooping slants and sharpness, slashed across Tobirama's moon-pale skin. He looked like a fine weapon, all elegant angles, painted in bright silver and rich bloody red.
". . .Uchiha." Tobirama acknowledged, his voice low and calm.
"Senju." Indra replied, his own voice a little throatier than he'd meant. "Tobirama." he added after a moment, with half a smile. His mind was still caught and running in tight little circles around tattoos and red, so red and moonlit glimmers and he was interrupted only by the shift of Tobirama's body as he took a step closer to the bank where Indra stood.
Indra had- had known, intellectually, that Senju Tobirama was a beautiful man - even before considering those stunning, desirable red eyes, which were always so fierce - and could hardly have failed to notice his lean, broad-shouldered, defined body as he'd begun to turn up for office work in loose pants, mesh armour, and a short yukata, no steel plates in sight, but this. . .
Indra's eyes strayed down his body towards the waterline once more. This was ever so much more, and Indra found to his surprise that the muscles that had been clear to the eye beneath those short yukata were merely those most noticeable through the loose fabric on a frame fully defined by the firm curves.
He swallowed thickly, his belly clenching as he followed one nearly spiralling red slash with his eyes all the way to where it dipped low over Tobirama's ribs on one side.
"Did you need something, Uchiha? Indra?" Tobirama asked, and Indra's widening eyes snapped back up to his face. He would have given quite a lot, he thought faintly, to hear Tobirama's voice greeting him just like that every day of the past weeks they'd both been working in the new Hokage Tower. Even if he hadn't realised it before.
Indra had not, perhaps, devoted enough appreciation to that voice, but even so, he had most definitely noticed the deep, smooth tones.
"No; I am sorry to have disturbed you." Indra bowed his head slightly, keeping his eyes on Tobirama's face this time. He met Indra's eyes with only a flicker of hesitation, and Indra felt buoyed by the gesture. "I was merely talking a walk through our new home," he said softly, "I found myself restless inside this evening . . . and I find the water soothing."
"As do I." Tobirama said, with a slight curve of his lips, perhaps just shy of a smile. He shifted, the water rippling around him. "Would you . . . care to join me?" he invited.
Indra froze. Senju Tobirama just invited you to swim with him. Naked. Indra forced himself to react, smiling. He had, and hesitation would probably make him regret doing so. "If you're sure you wouldn't mind the company. . ." Indra began leadingly, and Tobirama's shoulders eased. "I would indeed."
"Be my guest." Tobirama said almost playfully, sweeping a hand just over the surface of the water. Droplets clung to his skin and the water shifted in its course to swirl about his waist as he moved.
"Thank you." Indra said, unable to quite take his eyes off Tobirama even as his focus shifted away. Indra brought his hands up to his obi, beginning to smoothly undo the knot, and bowed his head, watching Tobirama through his fringe as he undressed.
He paused and turned a little away to let his yukata slide down off his shoulders as he caught a small shift of Tobirama's attention . . . just in case he was watching. Indra rolled his shoulders and neatly folded his clothes, leaving them on a low rock with his weaponry atop them for the weight, then slipped into the water.
It was cool and the current danced over his skin as he sank into it, feet settling on the shifting rock and sand of the bottom. The river's current pulled at his hair and he wrinkled his nose - perhaps he should have pinned it up before getting into the water, but kunai were not very effective for the purpose and he had nothing else to put to such a use. Unless he felt like scavenging for a twig. He slid his hands up over his arms, one at a time, quietly splashing water over himself, then dove forwards, slipping under the surface and pushing off, swimming deeper.
He resisted the urge to move too close to Tobirama, and mostly succeeded in ignoring the pale figure he could make out underwater. He came up pushing his hair back and taking a deep breath, a smile tugging at his lips, feeling as though the water was clearing his head even more than the night walk had.
"You truly do find it relaxing, don't you?" Tobirama asked, and Indra turned fully towards him, smile widening. And Tobirama had spoken to him first, inviting further conversation, rather than simple shared space. Even better.
"I do." Indra agreed, nodding as he lowered his hands, fingertips trailing through the ripples at the river's surface. "Did you think I was lying?" he asked, slanting a look at Tobirama. "For what reason would I do such a thing? . . .to get closer to you?" he teased.
Tobirama laughed softly and Indra raised his head to watch more intently, caught by the way it softened his sharp face and the low rumble of the sound. A faint regret that he could most definitely not activate his Sharingan to imprint the sight - Tobirama, sheened in silver moonlight and river water, laughing with bright eyes, looking right at him - in his mind forever.
"No, I don't suspect you of doing anything like that . . . Indra." Tobirama said, voice light. "I only. . . Perhaps I am surprised," he said, tilting his head and running his fingers through the water - it followed his hand just a little more than Indra would have expected with the gentle sweep, "for one of a clan that so favours katon to find such . . . enjoyment in the water."
"Ah, well. . ." Indra smiled and shrugged. "You might be surprised, then. Madara has always loved our koi pond - our home here has one just like the one we grew up with - and we all enjoy swimming . . . though perhaps my brothers less than I myself."
"I stand corrected." Tobirama said, dipping his head.
"Also," Indra said, lips curling as he raised his hands and formed a single seal, "while I am perfectly capable with katon, it is not my affinity." Sparks flared around his fingers as he separated his hands, tiny bolts of lightning leaping between his fingers and crossing the distance between his palms. Indra kept a fierce hold on it as it sparked brighter across the water droplets on his skin, then opened his hands and let it dance through the air and dissipate as it struck the handle of a kunai left with his clothes. "And raiton has quite the attraction to water, as I'm sure you're familiar." he added playfully, looking at Tobirama from beneath his lashes.
Tobirama's gaze tracked from the heap of Indra's clothes back to him, a faint smile beginning - slowly - to curve his thin mouth. "It certainly seems as though you have the . . . attraction under control, however." Tobirama observed, shifting and arching his back as he raised his arms.
Indra's eyes widened and he swallowed thickly. Under control, he thought, eyes following the ripple of muscle up Tobirama's abdominals, his leanly defined chest, and arms considerably thicker with muscle than Indra would have guessed from beneath the short yukata he usually wore. All of them emphasised by the slide of water droplets on his skin, tracing the defined curvature. Indra's stomach tightened and his fingers curled under the river's surface as he tried to focus on the feeling of the current. Not hardly.
Tobirama slowly lowered his arms again, folding his hands together briefly and gesturing, the river responding by surging up in a lazy wave, and-
Tobirama looked over at him, head tilted, eyes dark beneath the shadow of his spikily wet fringe. Indra was distracted from his realisation that focusing on the caress of the water over his skin was not actually much helping with his body's reaction, and the water itself was clean and clear - hardly much concealment - and besides Tobirama was the best suiton user in- Indra cleared his throat and dove, as smoothly as he could, under the surface and all the way to the river floor.
Indra remained low for long moments, carefully regaining some calm and scolding himself for being so careless. And honestly enjoying the cool rush of the water around him as he moved . . . perhaps a little more of a current, and more unpredictable, than he would have expected there to have been naturally.
When Indra surfaced again he was not surprised to see Tobirama directing the water with careless ease, nor the smooth response of the river's current as it bent and reversed and rose to Tobirama's whim. Not surprised, however the sight was. . .
Arresting.
Indra turned away again with more than a little reluctance. He slid through the water with smooth strokes as he swam, only to be startled as the water suddenly shifted him, chakra sent sparking to his muscles with half a thought before he realised it was nothing more than a stronger current moving him - and that it was painfully obvious from whence the current came. Tobirama offered an apology and a tiny smile as the current settled around him once more and Indra straightened, feet finding the bottom of the river - deeper here than where he had been, the water lapping nearly up to his collarbones.
Indra swallowed the impulse to reply that he would easily forgive much more than such a simple thing, and instead moved a little closer. Tobirama's gaze rose to meet his once more and Indra's smile widened.
"I find myself with a curiosity you are uniquely well-placed to satisfy." Indra observed, combing his fingers through one of his loose forelocks and pushing it back. "If you would be so indulgent."
"What might that be?" Tobirama inquired without any sign of reluctance - or irritation that Indra was interrupting either his swim or his practise to speak with him.
"Your brother," Indra began, and Tobirama's expression . . . shifted somehow, indefinably; Indra hid a frown and continued, if more nervously, "he came all but sobbing to mine, but I never caught what had him wailing all over Madara - save something about an experiment? And your name?"
Tobirama looked squarely at Indra once more, then laughed, sudden and startling.
Indra's eyes widened as he watched, and Tobirama sank back in the water, a half-absent gesture keeping him from going far as the river's current rippled and ceased to flow in his immediate area, the water wrapping around him supportively. "Did-" Tobirama paused with a low laugh. "Did he truly wail at Madara-san?" he asked, his eyes bright and his smile startlingly broad.
"He does not terribly infrequently." Indra informed him, amused and charmed. "I generally try and vacate the house when he is in such a mood."
Tobirama tilted his head briefly. "I cannot say I blame you, as I generally try and vacate our house when he gets into fits like that." he said dryly, startling Indra into a laugh. Though the thought of living with that . . . Indra suppressed a sympathetic shudder. "Honestly, Anija is. . . It was barely a threat and he was able to repair all the damage in a few minutes. Admittedly, the displacement shouldn't have been so large, my calculations. . ." he trailed off, lips pinching slightly. "My apologies, I know it isn't a topic of much interest to anyone but myself."
"No!" Indra said hurriedly. "Displacement? What were you working- Have you been refining the hiraishin further?" he guessed, intrigued, leaning a little closer before he caught himself.
"No. . ." Tobirama said slowly, his posture softening slightly. "I was refining a barrier seal to a specific locus. Hashirama's mokuton is . . . difficult to contain, I was hopeful that keying a seal directly to it would make the barrier more effective."
"It didn't?" Indra asked, suppressing a shudder at the memory of dodging the mokuton on a battlefield - and it hadn't even been levelled at him specifically, every battle he had been party to had seen Madara squaring off with Hashirama.
"It certainly . . . targeted wood." Tobirama said wryly, and Indra's brows rose as his thoughts darted to the possibilities that inspired. He asked the first question that sprang to mind before he could think better of it, and Tobirama looked surprised, but after a long moment of observing Indra he actually offered the answer.
Indra tentatively inched closer and asked another, distracted even from Tobirama's beautiful physical presence by picking at his thoughts. He was delighted when Tobirama let him, expression transformed into something that was both closer to what Indra was familiar with seeing - sharp, analytical, quick - and entirely new - reactive, expressive, warm - as they traded thoughts and poked holes in each others' ideas.
Indra hadn't had such an engaging discussion about jutsu theory with anyone in. . . Had he ever? He gestured, flicking water across himself thoughtlessly, enchanted by the conversation, by the way Tobirama easily caught the direction of his own thoughts and ran with them, his questions or suggestions pushing Indra to think faster and harder.
An owl hooting as it flew overhead, near-silent, startled them both, they were so caught up in their discussion. Indra looked up, tracking the movement instinctively, and stifled a laugh as the bird came in for a landing somewhat befouled by the squirming bundle held in one of its talons.
The bird flipped its wings huffily, as though irritated by his amusement, and disappeared into a hollow in the tree. Indra looked away, returning his gaze to Tobirama. He smiled slightly at Indra, and he straightened a little, returning it.
It was . . . disappointing when Tobirama moved away, catching his eye and speaking again. "I've enjoyed our discussion, thank you, Indra," he said, and Indra's smile broadened, "I have stayed out . . . later than I intended, however, and I really should return home. I have an inspection and a patrol to supervise in the morning."
"Of course." Indra bowed his head, moving towards the bank himself, though he regretted their impromptu time together coming to an end. It felt far too soon. "I . . . truly enjoyed it as well, thank you." he said, pausing at the water's edge as Tobirama stepped out onto the grass, water pouring down his body in sheets.
His long legs were at least as well defined as his arms, and the streaking lines of tattoos continued down past his hips, to Indra's surprise - far past, all the way down on one side, the sweeping curves wrapping around his right ankle. Indra swallowed, watching him walk away to where Indra hadn't even noticed he had clothing on the bank. He tried not to stare at Tobirama's ass as he bent to collect his clothes, and succeeded in following the play of muscles down his legs instead, until they were hidden away by his pants.
"Perhaps we can exchange ideas again some other time." Tobirama said, turning half towards Indra as he slid on his short yukata. Indra dragged his eyes up from Tobirama's still-bared chest in the gap of the open yukata, delighted.
"I would enjoy that very much." Indra said eagerly, hesitating one more moment and firmly quashing his arousal as much as he could before wading out of the river and to his shed belongings. He didn't move too quickly as he walked and gathered his clothes, but he was at the wrong angle to glance at Tobirama to see if he was actually watching, unfortunately.
He paused to wring his hair out, nose wrinkling, before sliding his yukata back on, tugging his hair out from beneath the fabric before he tied his obi over it. "Perhaps I should have gone the twig route." he muttered absently, huffing as he struggled to get one of his tangled, sodden forelocks out of his face and disentangled from around his ear. Not that it would have helped, since he'd swum underwater as well.
"What?" Tobirama asked, and Indra turned to him. He hadn't realised he'd spoken loudly enough to be overheard. Tobirama was moving closer, his yukata regrettably neatly closed once more - though still showing a delicious vee of his collarbones and upper chest, which had to be only just shy, Indra thought, of showing off the tattoos.
"Ah." Indra pulled out a lock of his hair wrapped around his index finger. "I didn't prepare for this, and I'm afraid I have no skill with suiton." He nodded towards Tobirama, who was now entirely dry, from his short, tousled hair to his sandals. "This will be a bit difficult to deal with, that's all."
No skill was perhaps understating - Indra had never had the opportunity to truly try, only those few suiton jutsu he had managed to catch with his Sharingan, which did not make them widely applicable.
"Allow me to assist." Tobirama said, moving even closer, and Indra's eyes widened as he almost took a step back, feeling as though something was stuck in his throat. "If you would permit. . ?"
Indra gestured faintly, inviting Tobirama to do whatever it was he would, though he wasn't sure what-
Tobirama raised a hand, fingertips pushing into Indra's hair, and Indra's breath caught as he fought not to move. Tobirama's thumb brushed the top of his ear, and then his hand drew slowly away, and Indra startled as in the wake of the light touch his hair fell smoothly around his shoulders rather than clinging to them, now dry.
"Better?" Tobirama asked, voice low, as the water seeped neatly out of Indra's yukata as well.
Indra looked at Tobirama from beneath his lashes and his newly dried and once more fluffy fringe. "Much. Thank you." He hesitated, then leaned in and brushed a feathery kiss to Tobirama's cheek. "That's quite a useful trick." he added as he pulled away.
Tobirama startled beneath the kiss, and was still stiff and wide-eyed as Indra straightened, but he caught Indra's eyes and gave a slow smile. It made the pit of Indra's stomach tighten and his heart flutter, even before he recognised the sparkle in those gorgeous eyes.
"I know quite a few of those." Tobirama said, arching an eyebrow. "See you tomorrow . . . Indra." Indra would be willing to swear Tobirama had almost purred his name, and heat pooled in his stomach at the sound. He swallowed and opened his mouth to respond, but Tobirama simply took a step back, made a single hand seal, and was gone in a flash.
Indra looked at the newly empty space where he had stood for a moment, then sank down to sit on the rock where he had put his clothes. He laughed softly, leaning back on his hands. Oh, Tobirama was. . .
Indra sighed, smile widening, feeling a little . . . giddy.