Kakashi couldn't help but notice Madara rub at his neck again as they ate. He had a sour look on his face and muttered something under his breath. Kakashi nudged him with his foot under the table, making him look up. "Something wrong with your neck, Dara-chan?"

Madara shook his head and then winced from the movement. He sighed frustrated. "My back and neck are just a bit sore from my last mission. It'll go away on its own. Don't concern yourself with it."

Kakashi rolled his eye at him. What if I want to concern myself with you? They'd come a long way in their relationship from Madara demanding his head when he arrived in this time period with a stolen sharringan to this content friendship they had now. But Madara still had some of his walls up – Kakashi did too, but Madara was vigilant against anyone trying to take care of him.

Knowing the answer, he offered anyway, "I could give you a massage?"

Kakashi tried to not smile at the pink that tinted Madara's cheeks as the man replied with a scoff, "Stop acting foolish, Kakashi. I'll be fine."

"If you say so," Kakashi conceded and followed Madara out of the small restaurant when he stood up.

Madara was obviously more affected by the soreness in his muscles than he'd like to let on. Kakashi could see it in the way he walked, in his movements as they spared. But any time he voiced his concern, Madara would shrug it off. So, a couple days later when Madara's face would still scrunch up in pain any time he so much as moved his neck, Kakashi had had enough.

They'd just finished some training and were walking over to the packs they'd brought for lunch, when Kakashi did a swift kick and gracefully tripped him. Madara landed on his back with a soft thud. He glared up at Kakashi and moved to sit up. "Kakashi! What the hell!?"

"Take off you vest, Madara," Kakashi tried to make his voice sound soft, but he was sure it still sounded like an order to Madara.

He was surprised when Madara didn't argue and simply sighed, shedding himself of his light red armor. "If it will make you stop fretting over me like a mother hen, then fine."

Kakashi went to kneel behind him with a chuckle. He grabbed Madara's mane of hair in one hand, pieces still falling away as he moved it over his shoulder. It always looked so out of control and chaotic, but it was actually quite soft. Madara didn't exactly relax under his touch, but Kakashi could feel that he trusted him. Madara wasn't the type of man to show his back to just anyone. It made Kakashi smile underneath his mask and he brought his hands to Madara's shoulder blades.

Madara had a lot of knots up and down his back and Kakashi almost wanted to tell him to go to a medic so they could relax them all. He did the best he could as his hands roamed the expanse of Madara's strong back. "What were you doing to get your back to become like this?"

Madara glanced at him over his shoulder before replying, "One of the allied villages had an attack that left entire buildings in shambles. I went with the team to retrieve bodies and rescue anyone who was stuck under the rubble."

Kakashi hummed in reply with a thoughtful smile. It was always reassuring to see the softer side of Madara, so different from the hateful man he'd encountered in his own timeline. The more he got to know Madara, the less he wanted to see him becoming that person. He didn't know if there was anything he could do to stop it from happening, but he'd try and keep Madara from hate for as long as he could. He wasn't sure if it actually had anything to do with him arriving there, but lately Madara had been more open-minded towards Hashirama's compassionate way of leading. So, Kakashi was hopeful he wouldn't lose Madara to madness.

When Kakashi got to Madara's neck, he leaned forward as Kakashi's thumbs massaged the muscle there. Kakashi noticed that Madara had closed his eyes and had a small smile on his face. It made his chest feel tight and Kakashi felt a warmth flood through him. The spark of heat gave him an idea and he gathered a small amount of chakra in his fingertip before lightly pressing it against a muscle on Madara's shoulder blade.

Madara instantly flinched away from him and then turned to look at him, rubbing his back. He stared at him in surprise. "What was that?"

"Did it hurt?" Kakashi asked and glanced down at his hand, where electricity rolled around his fingers. It was something he'd been wondering about for some time since Naruto had healed him during the war. If normal chakra – not that Naruto's was anything close to normal, but it wasn't medical – was able to heal, then with that logic, could his? He wasn't naïve enough to think it could do anything like Naruto's, but he wondered if a controlled spark could soothe muscles. He'd heard about something similar being tested in the Mist before he'd left. Though, that had been done with actual electricity and not chakra…

Madara paused before answering like he was trying to think it through, then told him unsurely, "It just felt odd."

Relieved he hadn't hurt him, Kakashi motioned for him to turn around again. Madara did so and Kakashi pressed his fingertips against both of Madara's shoulder blades. He sent a small pulse of lightning chakra through him and Madara gasped. Kakashi felt that hint of worry again and asked him, "Still doesn't hurt?"

Madara shook his head and moved his muscles. He chuckled. "That actually made it better I think."

Kakashi smiled and stood up. "Mah, well, I think that's enough for today. I don't' want to push it and shock you to death."

He held out his hand to him and Madara took it in his letting Kakashi pull him to his feet. He met Kakashi's eyes and his hand lingered before he let go. "Thank you, Kakashi."

Kakashi felt his heart skip a beat and he nodded with a smile. "Of course."

"See, Dara-chan? You're less tense as you walk. If you had only taken me up on my offer at the beginning." Kakashi sighed dramatically beside him as they walked back to the village.

"My muscles eventually would've untightened themselves," Madara couldn't help but tell him, still feeling a bit of his pride. But when he glanced at Kakashi, who cocked an unimpressed eyebrow at him, he relented, "But I appreciated…the massage."

They walked in silence for a moment and then Kakashi suddenly said, "I'd like to take care of you, Madara, if you'd let me."

Madara felt his heart beat out of rhythm and looked over at Kakashi in surprise, but he was stubbornly keeping his eyes on the road ahead of them. He shrugged and brought his hand to scratch at the back of his head, something Madara noticed Kakashi did whenever he was nervous. He continued, "You have this problem where you don't let anyone else help or take care of you. I know it's because of how you grew up and you have this sense of pride. But…you can lean on me."

Kakashi's feet stopped, making Madara realized they were at the fork in the road where they went their separate ways home. Kakashi finally turned to look at him with that creased eye smile of his and Madara melted. He'd grown a strong affection for the man beside him and he was slowly realizing there was more to it than he'd thought. Like a lot of things Kakashi did, his words had thrown him off balance. But they also gave him a comfort he hadn't known he'd been looking for.

He took a step towards him and brought his hand up to hold Kakashi's face. He watched in amusement as Kakashi's eye widened the slightest fraction as he leaned forward and placed a kiss on his cheek. When he pulled away, he held back a chuckle at the pink that was now hinting at the edge of Kakashi's mask.

"Okay, Kakashi, I will. Thank you." He gave him one last smile before turning away from him and walking in the direction of his house.