"MADARA!"

The cry is shrill in the still air, bouncing off the rocks of the riverbank and practically deafening the boy who had once been lounging carelessly in the sun. He most definitely did not yelp at the assault on his eardrums, but he did clap his hands over his ears with a theatrically big wince.

He sat up from his relaxed position, glaring across the sparkling water at the figure rapidly sprinting toward him with the biggest, dumbest grin he'd ever seen.

"Moron!" Madara snapped, quite expertly ignoring the loosening knot in his chest at the sight of his friend uninjured and just as obnoxious as usual. "Wanna yell a little louder next time?! Let the whole damn world know where we are?! And you call yourself a shinobi!"

Hashirama froze mid-step and nearly collapsed in the middle of the river, crouching down in a dark cloud of depression like the complete idiot he was. "You're right, of course I should be quieter, that's the mark of a true ninja, and being that loud puts us in danger-" The quiet mutterings of despair had gotten old a long time ago, and Madara had to resist snapping something that would make the situation worse; Hashirama wasn't like his little brothers, who snarled and bit like rabid wolves and often gave as good as they got when caught in an argument. No, Hashirama folded up like a collapsed tent and drew into his own little world of guilt and self-pity.

Hashirama was weird, but in a good way, and if you wanted him to cooperate the right way you couldn't yell at him. Too much. Madara still ended up yelling more often than not, but it was the thought that counted, right?

With a roll of his eyes and his arms crossed disapprovingly like his father's often were, Madara cast the odd excuse for a shinobi a calculating look and fought off an exasperated sigh. "Okay, okay, enough of that. What was it you were yelling so loudly about? It better have been for a good reason, or I really will kick your ass today!"

It was like flipping a switch; one second squatting on top of the river like an overgrown frog, the next Hashirama was bounding the last few feet to the shore, grin bright as the sun and not even a hint of depressed gloom anywhere on his person.

Weird. But good weird, mostly.

When he touched down in front of Madara, Hashirama cast him a smaller, secretive sort of smile, the one that promised something interesting during their spars, and despite himself Madara found his heart kicking up a little at the thought.

"I figured out the most amazing jutsu yesterday!" Hashirama gushed in a near whisper, evidently taking the lecture on shinobi being quiet to heart, making Madara lean forward a little to hear him properly.

His arms stayed crossed, but Madara could admit the eyebrow rising above his left eye was a bit curious. "So? Are you going to spend the whole day yelling about it or are you going to show me?"

The grin became impossibly bigger, as if he'd been waiting for just those words; spinning around, Hashirama flashed rapidly through a set of hand-signs Madara didn't recognize, crouching close to the ground as he did so. Against his better judgement, Madara crouched beside him, arms finally dropped to his sides as he watched the concentrated flush on his friends' face.

Very, very slowly, one stone in front of them shifted. Another trembled before following its brother and falling away.

Any sarcastic comment Madara could have offered was quickly stifled by the tiny sapling quickly growing out of the ground in front of them, sprouting leaves and thin, gangly branches even as it barely reached the height of their knees.

It was kind of impressive, he could admit that in his own head at least, but there was no need for Hashirama to get so excited about something so tiny; to prove just that point, Madara flashed through his own set of seals and spat a tiny fireball right at the leaves on the mini treetop.

The flash of light and smoke broke Hashirama's concentration and he fell backward with an indignant cry. "Madara! What was that for?!"

"You grow excellent kindling, Hashirama," Madara pointed out, holding his hands out in front of the little fire to warm them as if it were obvious. "Now we can have bonfires anywhere we want!"

A wordless cry preceded a tackle Madara saw coming from a mile away, but he didn't bother dodging; he just laughed loudly on the way down.

A/N: Kid-Mads and Kid-Hashi, back before the angst started. Ah, good times.
~Persephone