Author's note: Sorry for the wait! Thanks for everything you've all had to say! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Warnings: Possibly language and a bit of descriptive wouds.
Word Count: 5,580
Sakura was so happy standing alongside Tobirama, right hand gripping his inner elbow, watching as Madara and Hashirama sign the peace treaty. She tugs on his arm, grinning up at his impassive face. He glances down at her for a moment before looking back up at the scene in front of him. Sakura rests her head against the middle of her older brother's arm, closing her eyes and listening to Hashirama softly talking to Madara about the alliance. They've been talking for a while when Sakura felt that someone was staring at her.
She opens her eyes and looks around for who was looking at her, which was a good portion of people, since she was the only girl there. Even if she was told not to come along, she would have come anyway. Or, at least she would have tried, and probably got lost on her way. Then her brothers would have to go looking for her and now was the time for celebration. Not looking for the missing little sister of the Senju clan leader.
But, she digresses. The person that's looking at her the most intense is Izuna Uchiha, standing behind Madara. Sakura locks eyes with him and tilts her head curiously, blinking with childish innocence. Izuna's face is hard and set, staring right at her, as if deep in thought. He's standing upright easily enough, his back is straight and strong. His pallor is still pale and he still has dark circles under his eyes. As soon as Sakura saw him, she knew that there was something deeply wrong with the slightly older boy.
She knew that he was still tired from his injury, it had only been a few days, but there was a worn, obviously upset look on his face. Sakura didn't think about it much at the time, but she began to wonder if perhaps she was called in to help the younger Uchiha brother too late. She may have saved his life, but what did he really lose along the way?
Looking at his face now, Sakura has an aching feeling she knows what that is. She just hopes that she's wrong. But every time her eyes flicker up toward the younger Uchiha brother, she worried that she may be right.
The breeze this day blew right through Sakura, making her shiver and pull closer to the warmth of the white haired man next to her. Even wearing his armor and short sleeves, he was warm next to her. Even if goosebumps appeared across the flesh of his arm as a particular cold breeze passes over them, his body still remained warm against it.
He must have felt Sakura practically trying to fuse with his arm to block out some of the cold, because he extracts his arm from her grip and wraps it around her shoulders, pulling her close to his side. Sakura presses her cheek against the cold metal of his armor and she wraps her arms around his waist, all the while his eyes remained on the two clan leaders and his face remained impassive. Her kimono wasn't thick enough to keep the cold out, but it also let the warmth from Tobirama seep in.
Hashirama and Madara both sign the treaty and climb to their feet, stepping around the table to stand before each other. They reach out and shake hands, staring at one another with barely contained excitement, for both of them. Though Madara's only shown in his eyes. Sakura was watching first hand as both of their dreams were becoming reality. Sakura couldn't be more happy for her eldest brother. And for everyone of both clans who had long since dreamed of this day.
Everyone claps respectfully, eyeing each other from the ten feet that separate the two sides, bridged only by Madara and Hashirama's hands wrapped around one another. After they let go, Hashirama insisted that the Uchiha come and join the Senju for a celebratory dinner, on the Senju. They were a bit hesitant, on both sides, but Madara agreed and so the Uchiha had no choice but to come along.
Sakura helped the other Senju women prepare the feast, running errands for them left and right. Sakura was just as excited as the rest of the clan. They were worried too, that this was all too good to be true, but Hashirama was so confident, so sure, that it was difficult for others to not get excited in preparation to the feast later that night. If everything went well, then both clans would be uprooted and move to an area of both clan leaders approval and start building a home there for both of them to live.
Sakura was relieved from preparation when all that was left was cooking and other things she wasn't trusted to help with, which was fine with Sakura, because it gave her the opportunity to look for her brothers. She found them in a meeting with the Senju elders. She grabs the edge of the window sill of the elevated building, jumping up to be able to see inside.
"I mean no disrespect by this, Lord Hashirama," one of the elders says, resting his hands on his thighs, "but don't you think it's premature to allow the Uchiha into the compound like this? I understand that we signed a treaty, but isn't it a bit too soon?"
Hashirama stares at him blankly, humming softly deep in his throat. "I don't think so," he admits. "I think this is a long time coming." The ten other elders in the clan stare back at Hashirama with obvious dislike for his words.
"My lord, surely you've thought this through a little more thoroughly," one of them offers, trying to bait the young leader into explaining his mysterious plan they seem to believe he has.
Hashirama taps his chin, tilting his head to the side before shrugging. "No, not really."
"Lord Hashirama..." there were some murmurs from the elders as they exchange looks.
Hashirama turns his head a bit, his back to Sakura and the window. "What are you doing, little blossom? Do you want to come in here?"
Sakura jumps again, looking in at her brother's back, smiling. Tobirama, who was to Hashirama's right, turns to look at her. Hashirama stands up and walks over to the window and reaches down to grab Sakura under the arms and picks her up, easily pulling her through the window. Sakura wraps her arms around Hashirama's neck as he carried her over to the table and sat, placing her between himself and Tobirama. He puts his arm around her shoulders and she leans against him.
"What about you, Sakura?" Hashirama asks, looking down at the pink haired girl. "Do you like having the treaty with the Uchiha?"
Sakura nods, smiling brightly up at her eldest brother. Hashirama smiles down at her, pleased.
"My lord," another elder says, "I think it goes without saying that we are all pleased about the treaty finally being signed, but we are making ourselves very vulnerable by already opening our homes to the Uchiha. How can any of us be relaxed in such a situation? I fear that there will be hardly a celebratory atmosphere tonight."
Hashirama looks around the room with level dark brown eyes. Even though he was one of the youngest in his family line to become clan leader, Hashirama has shown great ability to lead and nearly unmatched skills on the battlefield. No matter how goofy or unthinking he may appear, there are moments of great intensity from the eldest Senju sibling that can somber up an entire room. This was one of those moments.
Everyone just stares back at him as he quietly looks around the room, making eye contact with everyone before smiling brightly. A big toothy smile that brightens up the room. "Then it will be up to us to pick up the slack, won't it?" He pats Sakura's arm encouragingly. "We all wanted this to happen and it finally has. Never look a gift horse in the mouth! They may be able to relax better if we show them we aren't afraid or worried."
No one could dispute that, but it didn't appear to make anyone feel much better. Not really.
"Hashirama is right," Tobirama says, crossing his arms over his chest, "work hard to be accommodating, but keep vigilant. We all want this treaty to work." There are some murmurs of agreement.
"Is there anything else that we need to discuss?" Hashirama asks, looking around the room.
"Izuna is sick," Sakura says softly, wrapping her arms around Hashirama's mid-section.
Tobirama stares at her with narrowed red eyes. "What do you mean? Didn't you already heal him? Is there something still wrong with him?"
Sakura nuzzles a bit into Hashirama's side before looking over at Tobirama. "Wound gone. Damage remain."
"Something wrong inside of him?" Hashirama asks, leaning back a bit to look down at her. "Is it something that the Uchiha healers can fix?" Sakura shrugs.
"What's wrong with him exactly?" Tobirama asks, turning to Sakura. "I noticed he was staring at you during the treaty signing today. He did seem to be a bit... out of it." His eyes narrow a bit.
Sakura reaches her hand out for her older brother. Tobirama looks at it for a moment before reaching out and grabbing it, wrapping his larger hand around her smaller one. Sakura probes his chakra with her own, pulling a bit to the surface. His light blue chakra, all misty like water floats around him in intricate swirls, a testament to how calm and relaxed he was.
Sakura's covered in her light purple chakra, just staring at him with knowing eyes.
Tobirama's eyes stare at their hands with an impassive look on his face, trying to decipher what she was saying. It's Hashirama that spoke up, "His chakra? There is something wrong with Izuna's chakra?"
Sakura nods. "No more control...I think." She burrows into her elder brother's warmth, looking up at him with bright green eyes. "I'm sorry."
Hashirama pulls her close, kissing the top of her head. "It's not your fault, little blossom. You did what you could to help him. It's because of you that he's alive now."
"Yeah," Tobirama says slowly, eyebrows pulling together. "But at what cost? Uchiha and Senju are similar in their pride in their abilities as shinobi. Izuna is the younger brother of the clan leader, to no longer be able to control his chakra is probably one of the greatest forms of insult for a shinobi. I'm not sure I would want to live unable to control my chakra."
"Tobi..." Sakura says softly, not liking what her brother was saying. She frowns deeply.
Hashirama doesn't appear to like it either. "I understand," he says grimly. "But I don't believe death is the only way. Life doesn't have to revolve around chakra. Just because you don't have it anymore doesn't mean your life is forfeit. I don't like hearing you talk like that, Tobirama."
"I know you may not," Tobirama says, keeping his voice even, "but it's the truth of life. It's impossible, perhaps only to me, that having this power and losing it, is a lot to just lose. I'm not going to say that I would just end it or anything, but it would be hard to live without being able to control my chakra and do the things that I had been able to do all my life."
"But it shouldn't have to be this way, I know that it would be hard," Hashirama says slowly, then his eyebrows pull together, "I suppose I wouldn't be able to imagine how it would be being unable to use my chakra, but I'm sure there are other things in life worth living for. Chakra and shinobi life isn't the only things."
"I understand that, brother, but for me, at least, I don't think I'd want to live without being able to use my chakra," Tobirama says, squeezing Sakura's hand tightly, but looking over her head at Hashirama. "If I am unable to be a shinobi, there is literally nothing left for me. I have no other skill sets outside of shinobi life nor do I believe I would be able to learn any at this point in my life."
"It's never too late to expand your horizon, Tobirama," Hashirama says, voice rising a bit in distress. "It might be unbelievably difficult but people live without having access to their chakra each and every day and they make it through it."
"The only people I've ever met that don't use chakra is either a choice of theirs or they were born without it," Tobirama says sharply. "It's one thing to chose to live without it and to not have it at all opposed to having it and losing it. There is a colossal difference."
Hashirama's mouth snaps shut as he stares at Tobirama, looking greatly unhappy, almost pained by his little brother's words. Sakura's eyes tear up, not wanting to think about her brother ending his life over the loss of his chakra. Sakura would sooner fix what's wrong with Izuna rather than listen to any more of this conversation. Dallia's death hit Sakura hard as a little girl. If anything happened to Hashirama or Tobirama, Sakura would be inconsolable. These were her brothers. Her family.
She doesn't want to lose either of them.
Like Hashirama said, Sakura had no idea how to imagine life without chakra. She didn't use it a lot, but it was something that was always there. She can't imagine it suddenly being gone. She can't imagine Izuna's pain if he really has no more control over his chakra.
"Let us agree to disagree, brother," Tobirama says slowly, staring at Hashirama, seeing how obviously upset the older man is. "I'm sorry, that's not what you want to hear. The lucky thing is that we don't have to deal with it. Neither you, myself or Sakura, have that issue."
"But Madara and Izuna do..." Sakura says softly, sniffling loudly with a few tears sliding down her cheeks. She never would have brought this up had she thought this would be where the conversation would turn to.
Tobirama finally looks down at her, letting out a long winded sigh. "Come here," he says gruffly, unhappy as well, tugging Sakura's hand until she pulls away from Hashirama to settle against Tobirama's side. He pets the top of her head, murmuring an apology into her hair before looking up at Hashirama and apologizing to him as well, which he accepts with a nod and a wane smile.
"What will be done about Izuna Uchiha?" one of the elders asks quietly.
Hashirama shakes his head. "I don't know. We have to wait until Madara brings it up, I suppose. He and Izuna are the only ones that can decide what to do." The gathered Senju look around the room at each other, no one knowing what else to say, other than to just wait. And no one appeared happy about that.
Sakura wipes the rest of her tears away and looks up at Tobirama, climbing up onto her knees to wrap her arms around Tobirama's neck, whispering to him. "I don't want Tobi to die."
Tobirama pets down Sakura's hair. His face is impassive but his voice is soft as he says, "I'm not going to die now. Don't worry yourself with that. I'm fine, you're fine, Hashirama's fine. Everyone's fine for now."
Sakura lays her head down on Tobirama's shoulder, eyebrows pulling together in worry, remembering the look on Izuna's face throughout the entire treaty signing ceremony. "Izuna isn't..." Sakura whispers, closing her eyes.
The Uchiha showed up about an hour before nightfall. Just as predicted, they were tense and on edge, looking around the compound with curious but weary eyes. The Senju clan set up many sitting areas and laid out the feast, and put up torches for when night came. In the arms of some of the Uchiha women were bowls of some of their own food to add to the feast.
Leading the group was Madara and Izuna. The latter of the two looking tired and pale, but walked with his usual grace and lethality. Madara is the picture of complete and utter calmness, as is Hashirama. The two walk toward each other like they weren't sworn enemies not so long ago and shake hands in greeting. Everyone else just looks at the other side with curious yet worried eyes, not knowing how to really size each other up. It's difficult to look at each other without malicious intents anymore.
Sakura stands beside Tobirama between the two clan leaders, who were shaking hands, and the Senju elders lined up behind them. Naturally, Tobirama's face is as impassive as always, looking around at the edgy Uchiha in front of him while Sakura was grinning almost as brightly as Hashirama.
"Welcome, Madara, fellow Uchiha, I hope the travel was swift and safe?" Hashirama asks after he and Madara stop shaking hands.
"It was fine," Madara says. "Thank you for inviting us for this dinner. We greatly appreciate it. As a token of our gratitude, we've brought some of our own dishes."
"I can't wait!" Hashirama says, smiling at the Uchiha passed Madara. "Welcome, friends, please, find a seat anywhere. Clansmen, be accommodating and welcoming to our new friends."
"Hai, Lord Hashirama," the Senju clan chorus, tipping a bit of a bow, respectfully.
"Uchiha," Madara says, twisting a bit at the waist to look over at his own fellow clansmen, "be thankful and mindful of your manners."
"Hai, Lord Madara," the Uchiha clan chorus, mimicking the action of the Senju but in respect to their own clan leader.
One of the eldest women in the village, Sakura, Hashirama and Tobirama's Aunt the wife of Kotama, steps up to Hashirama. "May I announce something pertaining to dinner preparations, my lord?"
Hashirama nods. "You may, Aunt Lia."
"Everyone, the food is going to be done soon, until then mingle around as much as you can. Uchiha that prepared dishes, these long tables here," she gestures to the tables lined with food, "can hold any and all food you've brought with you, just put them anywhere. And just a reminder for my clansmen and just so you know, Uchiha, there is no eating until all the food is done, you hear?" She looks around at everyone with narrowed blue eyes.
The Senju chuckle, looking around at each other, knowing that the woman before them is legendary for beating down young men for trying to steal food before everything's done. The Uchiha look around at each other, curiously, not sure what the reaction meant.
It's at that moment that Lia turns her sharp gaze toward Sakura, eyes narrowing more. "That means you too, little princess. Should those little fingers get the itch to steal, for their sake, I hope you can reign in the urge."
Sakura's eyes widen slightly, her right hand curling up into a fist, feeling ghost pains on her fingers from a very hardy wooden spoon. Her left hand comes up to cover the corner of her eyes, trying to hide from the woman in a classical act of: if I can't see you, you can't see me. Lia looks at the young Senju completely unamused, as apposed to Sakura's eldest brother who was grinning broadly.
He lets out a hardy laugh. "Don't worry yourself, Auntie, Tobirama and I will keep an eye on her."
"Where have I heard that before, Hashirama-sama?" Lia says, looking back over at the young lord. "Regardless, thank you for allowing me to speak."
Hahsirama smiles kindly at the older woman, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "You're welcome, Aunt Lia, and thank you too. As she said, please take some time to mingle before dinner is done. Thank you, nothing more from me. Madara?"
The black haired clan leader shakes his head. "No."
So there is some mingling. Somewhat. At first, at least.
There was a clear separation between the Uchiha and Senju. They were in random little groups around the tables, some sitting, but there wasn't any intermixing of the clans. The two clan leaders, along with their siblings; Sakura, Tobirama, and Izuna, were all gathered around the head table.
"This is horrible," Hashirama says softly, eyes wide, looking around at the small clumps of the two clans scattered around the area. "There isn't a single group of mixed clansmen."
Sakura shakes her head, knowing what her brother was saying. Tobirama, Madara and Izuna all have a strange look on their faces, almost completely identical. They all look at Hashirama with shared exasperated expressions. Izuna's, by far, appears to be the most annoyed.
"We're Uchiha," Izuna says blandly, staring at Hashirama on the opposite side of Madara from the Senju clan leader. He was as far away from Hashirama, Tobirama and Sakura as he could be without leaving Madara alone with them.
Hashirama looks at him, confused. "Uh, yeah..." He blinks innocently, not seeming to understand what the younger Uchiha brother was trying to say.
"We are a mixed group of Uchiha and Senju, brother," Tobirama says drolly, rolling his eyes.
Sakura nods, twirling the bottom of her bangs, smiling. Hashirama looks embarrassed, tanned skin darkening in embarrassment.
"Oh," he says, "well, there's that. But I mean other people! Not just us. Somebody needs to bridge the gap that's separating everybody. Don't you think, Tobi?"
Tobirama nods, looking around with keen red eyes. "Yes," he finally says, "unfortunately, brother, you can't just force someone to get along with other people. You just have to put them into the position where they can and hope for the best."
"Sagely as always," Hashirama says with mirth. He smiles at Tobirama, making the younger Senju brother roll his eyes. Hashirama then turns to look at Sakura, making his eyes grow wide. "What are we going to do, Sakura-chan? How are we going to help bridge the gap?"
Sakura taps her chin in thought before looking around for her friend. She spots Momo talking with two other cousins of theirs. She bounces over to Momo and grabs her hand, tugging it a bit.
"Sakura-sama," Momo says, brown eyes wide, "is there something that you need?"
"Dance," Sakura says, pulling the slightly shorter girl over to the band, who was playing softly a few feet away from the head table. They were just playing softly, making mood music. It was nothing complex or uplifting in any way, the Senju clan wasn't known for their musical talent. Sakura spins Momo around a bit, which was a bit awkward since they were both about the same height.
At first, Momo seemed a little uncomfortable, but then she just let go and Sakura and Momo were spinning around each other, dancing out of sync with the music, forcing the musicians to speed up in order to make it look a little bit better. Sakura and Momo both held hands and spin around in circles, looking at each other with bright eyes and huge smiles on their faces. They were drawing the attention of the two gathered clan members.
Sakura looks around at the curious eyes of the two gathered clans. Sakura spots an young Uchiha girl with long dark brown hair, just watching, that was about Sakura's age. She bounces over to the girl and as she drew closer the girl suddenly looked alarmed.
"No, it's okay," she says once Sakura grabs her hand, she leans back a bit, as if worried Sakura was going to suddenly going to go wild and attack her. "No, really, it's fine. I don't want to dance." She was taller than both Momo and Sakura. The pink haired girl pulls the young Uchiha over to Momo, who looked almost as uncomfortable as the black eyed girl did. Sakura tries to spin the Uchiha around, but the young girl seemed very uncomfortable as she turned awkwardly around. She appeared to wish to be anywhere in the world then where she was right then and there.
Sakura kept doing it, switching off between Momo and the Uchiha girl, until their spins were a little more natural. Then, Momo took Sakura's hand and spun her around. Momo relaxed a bit, probably because Sakura was there with her, and the two Senju girls began to dance a lot more relaxed. Sakura made sure not to let go of the Uchiha girl's hand lest she try to sneak away.
The young Uchiha looks around embarrassed but smiles a bit, trying to loosen up. The song stops and a new one starts and this time Momo and the Uchiha girl look at each other, realizing what Sakura was doing and both seem to agree to tentatively play along.
They all wanted this to work. It may be awkward and they are definitely the center of attention, but they all wanted the fighting to be over. They all lost a lot of people and just wanted to finally put their bloody past behind them. Once and for all. Sakura is so proud of both girls, regardless of how uncomfortable they both appear, that they are trying to make it work.
It didn't take long for them to get tired of just spinning around, but none of them stopped. They were going to do what they could to show Uchiha and Senju could be together without fighting. After three songs, they finally stop, too tired to continue.
They finally stop dancing, all out of breath, looking at each other. After a minute or two, Momo finally, awkwardly, holds out a hand to the Uchiha girl, smiling thinly. "Um, I'm Momo. Uh, Senju, but you probably already know that." She laughs sheepishly, it dies out a few seconds later into a strange silence befalls them. The Uchiha girl hesitates for a split second before taking Momo's hand and shakes it.
"Kikiyo," the other girl says, "uh, Uchiha." They both laugh a bit at each other.
"Sakura," Sakura says, laying her hand over the two girls'. She moves them up and down doing a three way shake. She grins brightly at the two girls when they look at her. After a few moments, the two girls smile back at her. "Water?" she asks, looking between the two girls. "Water?"
Kikiyo looks at Sakura. "Do I want water? Is that what you're asking?" Sakura nods. A quick glance over at Momo. "Um, sure. Thank you."
Sakura nods again, pulling her hand away and turning around to go grab some cups with water. As usual, one of her clansmen, which in this case was Momo, explained how 'special' Sakura was. The young girl returns with the water and they all drink up, in the corner of her eye, she can see Hashirama beaming proudly at her and a single nod from Tobirama showing that he was pleased by her actions. After the show was over, the groups turned back into themselves to whisper about what they had seen. There was a few awkward glances thrown between the Senju and the Uchiha, but they also managed to share a few smiles, hoping to silently apologize for the strangeness.
Once dinner time was called, Sakura pulled Kikiyo over to the head table, sitting her beside Sakura. Momo had ditched them a few minutes earlier to go help move the rest of the food.
"I don't think I should be here," Kikiyo kept saying, looking around at the large table surrounded by the clan leaders, their seconds, and the elders of both clans. "Why are we here? Shouldn't we sit at a different table?" Kikiyo asks Sakura softly, black eyes wide in worry.
Sakura tilts her head, pointing to Hashirama with wide, innocent large green eyes. "Aniki."
"Aniki..." Kikiyo murmurs, glancing up at Hashirama for a split second before surprise and horror crosses her face. She tries to awkwardly bow to Sakura. The pink haired girl smiles obliviously, tilting her head more to the side.
"Sakura," Tobirama says, looking over at the pink haired girl, "eat your greens."
Sakura shakes her head in negative, pouting. "No."
"Do it," he says simply, taking a bite of his own, as if to prove a point. Hashirama smiles around his own bite of greens.
"They're good, Sakura," Hashirama says, chewing softly. Sakura groans loudly, looking at her eldest brother, making a pitiful face at him hoping for sympathy. Unfortunately, the long brown haired man is immune to her puppy-dog eyes when it comes to eating her food. It works every other time, so this sucks. Being ignored by her sucker elder brother, makes Sakura pout.
"Eat, Sakura," Tobirama says, not looking at her.
"No," Sakura whines. He lays his chop sticks down and reaches over with his left hand to pinch her nose closed. Sakura makes a distressed noise, wrapping a small hand around Tobirama's wrist. "No, Tobi, no," Sakura says nazily.
"In front of guests or not, I don't care," Tobirama says simply. "Hashirama may let you get away with your horrible diet, but I wont. Eat. They're good for you. You can't have any treats without eating everything on your plate first."
Sakura whines again. "Tobi," she says, "I don't want to, Tobi."
Tobirama's soulless, sister-hating red eyes stare back at Sakura blankly. "Open." With his right hand, he picks up her chop sticks and holds the little green food to Sakura's lips. Sakura shakes her head. Well, as much as she can with Tobirama's fingers pinched around her little nose. "Open up and eat, or suffocate and pass out. Choose."
"Tobirama," Hashirama says, eyebrows pulled together a bit, "don't make her pass out at the table. We have guests."
Tobirama ignores him. "Eat, Sakura," he says. "You don't get a free-b because we have guests."
Sakura groans again, but has to open her mouth to breath. Tobirama waits until she's taken a few breathes before sticking the food into her mouth and releasing her nose, pulling back.
"Don't you dare spit that out, Sakura, so help me," Tobirama mutters when Sakura purses her lips to spit the food out. She groans yet again, chews up the food and swallows before making loud, exasperated choking noises, alarming all the Uchiha at the table. Sakura throws herself backward to the floor, closing her eyes and ceases movement.
Kikiyo, right next to Sakura, looks between the two, completely unaffected brothers of the girl and the unmoving body of the green eyed Senju. "Um...?"
"She's fine," Tobirama says, continuing eating.
Kikiyo looks around at all the other unaffected Senju, eating quietly without looking at the pink haired girl. Madara and Izuna, who were across the table from Sakura and Tobirama, had paused eating and were staring with identical slightly widened eyes. They glance at each other in the corner of their eyes a few times.
"She's pouting," Hashirama says, letting out a little laugh. "Don't worry about her. Sakura-chan," he glances over at the unmoving girl, "don't let bugs crawl in your hand again."
"You'll cry," Tobirama says, closing his eyes and eating.
Sakura shoots up, shaking her hair out panicky, feeling around for any bugs that may have crawled into the locks. "Tobi," she whines, grabbing his left hand and bringing it to her hair. "Tobi..."
He lets out a light sigh before putting his chop sticks down and turns the girl away from him to look at her hair, running his fingers through it for a moment before pulling away. "It's clean." He returns to eating.
Sniffling, Sakura turns back to her food, looking at her white haired brother.
"See, Sakura?" Hashirama asks softly, pausing with some rice half way to his mouth. "If you don't throw yourself around, you won't have to worry about it."
Sakura nods pouting, rubbing a bit of the wetness from her eyes. While choking down her food, she eyes Izuna across from her, who had lowered his eyes and was eating in silence. He appeared to be relaxed, as if there was nowhere else in the world that he would rather be. But Sakura could see the shiftiness of his eyes and every time he adjusts his weight from one knee to the other Madara glances over at him from the corner of his eye.
Sakura also noticed that both of her siblings, along with the majority of the Senju elders, kept sneaking glances at the younger Uchiha brother. Either he didn't notice, or he was effortlessly able to ignore their looks for Izuna didn't react. Sakura has to wonder if he really was unable to use his chakra. His face was pale and his fingers weren't as steady as they appeared on first glance. There was a slight tremble to it.
Right before Sakura looks away, back down to her food, black eyes flicker up to meet hers. It was in the short moments that their eyes were locked together that this horrible chill slid down Sakura's spine. His eyes conveyed a lot more than obvious exhaustion. It showed a lack of life, like he was rotting from the inside out. It's one thing to think about the possibilities, but it's one thing to look into the eyes of a man that's lost it all.
Izuna Uchiha had lost his chakra.
For the Reviewers:
1. ObsidianPhantom: Oh gosh, you are way too kind! Thank you! He's not too unbelievable? Oh no, it couldn't possibly be that good! -/- We'll just have to found out, won't we? XD You had shivers? No way! Hehe, yeah. Jaws showing up there would have been perfect. XD You'll see about Hashirama's strange reaction in the next chapter. There is so much that could be done with Izuna and Madara's characters, I'm not sure why it's not done more. *shrugs* Aww, thanks. I think I'm having too much fun with Tobirama. XD I made you like Tobirama? Yay! Thank you so much!
2. NarutoXHonoka: Thank you, I was wondering what people would have thought of that. Yes, what will Black Zetsu do, I wonder. XD Thank you so much!
3. minniemousemom: Thank you!
4. Guest 1: She's short, at fifteen.. she's probably just about five foot, maybe. Yeah, sorry about the wait! I try to update as much as possible. I like these stories! I love you too!
5. Guest 2: Thank you!
6. LightThePyre: I just thought that would be a nice little bit to add. I'm glad people like it. Thanks!
7. Guest 3: Oops, sorry. XD Hohoho, we shall see.
8. Toreh: Thank you!
9. Kiko-Maharan: It is? No way! I want to try, but I've never written lemons before so I'm a bit weary. Thanks!
10. ArwenEllesar: Aw, thank you so much for all your kind words! Oh don't worry, the love for Sakura is going to be running thin as more people are brought into the equation. Thank you again!
11. catxangel: Pff, yeah. I saw that no one else had this idea yet and I was like, "I got to do it before it's popular with everybody!" XD
12. YamieBlackheart: Madara is going to want Sakura for something. *waggles eyebrows* Haha, sorry. Thanks!
13. silverwolfighter00: Thank you!
14. Llyrica: You are welcome!
15. Kazumi Tachikawa: Thank you!
16. Mameha: Hehe, thank you!
17. I-write-for-enlightenment: Thanks!
18. moor: Yeah, I may be having too much fun, I think.
19. Blissangel91494: Thank you, very much!
20. Phelin: Thank you!
21. bribright91: Thank you and you're welcome!
22. sebabug: Oh, thank you! I take it you're reading my other one too, then?
23. Michaela77: Sorry, I altered your name, FF won't let me keep it. Forgive me!