There's no Izuna around when Hikaku wakes up. Instead, it's Madara who's there. Madara who reaches out grabs Hikaku's hand as he gasps into wakefulness, Sharingan spinning and heart pounding. "You're okay," he says. "You're at home and you're safe on Uchiha lands."

The Sharingan fades from Hikaku's eyes a few heartbeats later. "Madara?" He says, voice soft, and this is the Hikaku Madara rarely sees now. The one still soft with sleep. Hikaku is quiet often, thoughtful more than anything else, but this is a different kind of quiet. This is a soft thing, not coming from thoughtfulness, but just the knowledge that you're safe and you don't have to think let's you rest.

"Yeah," Madara says, voice rough. "It's good to see you awake. Do you remember...?"

A twisted expression crosses Hikaku's face, before it fades quickly. But Madara can still read the guilt in his eyes, the blame there. Shoulder rightfully, perhaps, but only because both Madara and Izuna have failed him. "Yes," Hikaku says, the word short. Sharp. This isn't what Madara wanted, but he doesn't know how to stop the guilt from eating Hikaku up. "I made a mistake."

That much is undeniable. But it's not just Hikaku's mistake to shoulder, not all of it. "So did I," Madara says, squeezing Hikaku's hand. It's not easy, because conversations like this don't come easy to him. "And so did Izuna. We let you handle our work with nothing to help you."

"But I took it on," Hikaku argues, and why does he argue? It doesn't make this easier. It's how Hikaku is, though, and Madara wouldn't change him, not for anything.

"Without official authority," Madara says, tone light to keep it from sounding like he's reprimanding Hikaku for something. "And I'm thankful for that, but we've kept giving you more work and you've just- kept it."

For a moment it looks like Hikaku might protest or something, but then he just sighs, closing his eyes and tilting his head back. "It's a lot," he admits, and Madara can feel the other Uchiha's pulse flickering rapidly beneath his fingers. Strong, but quick. Hikaku will admit his own weaknesses for a fight, but personal vulnerabilities and weaknesses are frequently another story—even amongst family. "It's a lot and I'm struggling."

Madara breathes in, holds it, and breathes out. "Thank you for telling me," he says, and Hikaku meets his gaze and he looks… defeated. Defeated and tired and exhausted and Madara hates that he let it get this far. Hates that he's partially at fault for this. "Izuna and I are working on changing things."

"You can't," Hikaku says, voice hitching slightly, and Madara pauses in confusion. "You're a great Clan Head and Izuna's a great Clan Heir but you're not-" His expression twists, the words frantic. "But paperwork isn't your strong point. What I do, what I've been doing, that's not something you can go back to doing. Not on your own time with everything you have to do now."

"We know," Madara says, voice soothing. "We know this. Trust us to know ourselves." He lets Hikaku search his face, and eventually the other relaxes. "We're not about to overwork ourselves." It takes a little bit of effort to keep his voice steady, to say it without being accusing, but Hikaku almost-flinches anyway and Madara shoves his guilt at being glad for that reaction away. It has no room here. "We're designing a new position," he explains. "Something that lets you delegate a bit more and have more authority. It won't lessen your workload, necessarily, but it'll mean you can spread it among others and not try to do it all yourself. In the clan, at least. We're still figuring out what to do with your liaison position in Konoha."

There's a beat, and then Hikaku offers, "There are a few Uchiha who could step forward into filling it. Not… not necessarily ninjas."

"Who do you have in mind?"

"A baker and a retired ninja," Hikaku answers. "A civilian and a ninja to tie the two things together. They know most of the clan and should be able to resolve situations that way, as well as reaching out to the other clans. They've been the main people I keep recommending everyone else too."

Madara nods. "We can do that. We'll speak to them when you've rested and recovered. What else do you do? That you're involved with? I think we've covered the official things."

"There's…" Hikaku trails off. Madara waits, patient. "It's not technically a position or anything. But. But all the things you create or Hashirama-sama or Mito-sama or Tobirama-sama or Izuna create… Those have to be handed down to everyone else. And you're all intelligent and unparalleled in your respective fields and on the battle field—but not everyone can make sense of it just with a scroll or more of information. And you don't exactly announce it either. That's falling to me. And to some of the others when their Clan Heads give them such orders. It's a gap in the command chain that needs to get fixed."

Rubbing his neck, Madara thinks about it. He hadn't exactly realised the gap, though now that it's been pointed out it's very clear that it is, in fact, there. And rather problematic too. For the most part, he's been busy dealing with constructing a village, calling in allies and favours and debts, and working alongside the others to implement programs and systems that will still exist in future generations. Not to mention, dealing with any major problems that come up.

The smaller problems are being dealt with by the other Clan Heads—and possibly Hikaku, Madara realises. It's a sour thought. He has no idea how Hikaku's been managing this not. Except it's obviously clear that Hikaku has not been managing.

Without the mission, would they ever have picked up on something like this happening? Or would Hikaku have continued to overwork himself and exhaust himself until it got him killed?

Madara swallows the what-if and decides not to think about. There's no point thinking about what-ifs anyway. The present is what matters. Better to leave the past where it is.

"Do you have any ideas on how to fix that?" He asks because there's no simple measure that he can see. It's not as simple as installing someone to work as a go-between them and everyone else, simply because they'll still have to explain it.

At first, Hikaku shakes his head before pausing. "The ninja-rank system that Tobirama-sama's been working on," he says. "If we can separate the groups of ninjas like that, we could potentially have some in command of each division. From there, they can pass the information down amongst those groups. Dealing with civilians and everything else will be a bit more tricky. Perhaps having others in charge for them? You can't just have the clans in charge either. There's starting to be a growth of non-clan civilians and they need to have a say or things might take a turn for the worse sometime in the future."

"That's a good starting point," Madara says. "I'll bring it up with the others." He smiles at Hikaku, who smiles back—it looks to be more of a reflex than anything else though. Not anything really meant. That's not great, certainly not okay, but Madara can deal with that. One day Hikaku will be smiling back and meaning it. It just might not be today, and that's okay.

"Alright," Hikaku says, and he's starting to get sleepy again though he's clearly fighting it. And there's more Madara needs to say. Something he needs to convince Hikaku of, more than anything else.

"Hey," Madara says, tone slightly stronger to grab Hikaku's attention. Hikaku forces himself to stay awake, blinking fiercely, and watches Madara. "I need you to listen to me and promise me something, alright?"

With narrowed eyes, Hikaku nods. "Yes," he says upon realising that Madara is waiting for verbal confirmation. "I promise to listen."

Not exactly what Madara asked but perhaps that's the best he's going to get. "As Clan Head I have a duty to the clan," he says seriously, words heavy. "And you, Hikaku, are part of that clan." Hikaku opens his mouth as if to speak, but Madara cuts him off by holding up a hand. Hikaku shuts his mouth with an audible click and doesn't say anything. "I failed you by letting you get crushed beneath the weight of all the extra work that I'd been giving you. I worked alongside you and failed to notice what was happening. I am meant to protect you, as you are part of the clan and you are family, and I failed with that. For that, I apologise."

Hikaku doesn't speak, just watches him. Quiet and thoughtful and clearly wanting to protest, but still listening to Madara.

"From now on, I'm going to be better. I'm going to pay more attention and be more careful. But I'll need you to work with me too. This isn't something I can do alone. Do you understand? I need you to speak up." A frown works itself onto Hikaku's face. "I know what I'm asking isn't easy," Madara says, and the words are beginning to feel like they're running away from him. "But I need you to try, at the very least. To ask for breaks, properly, and I'll try to listen now. I won't just brush you away."

"Alright," Hikaku says, and the word is a sigh more than anything else. "I promise. But you have to listen." There's something in Hikaku's eyes, something carefully hidden away and even with how well he knows his cousin, Madara can't quite read his expression or understand what it means.

He has a feeling that it's his own fault, and that's crushing. But Madara has always had the weight of the clan on his shoulders. Adding Hikaku to that weight is nothing. It should've been done already, but Madara failed him. "I'll listen," he promises because he can't do anything else. "I swear it."

Hikaku blinks, slow and sleepy. "Sleep," Madara says, with a soft smile. "I'll keep watch."

"You always do," Hikaku mumbles, even as he closes his eyes. His breathing evens out quickly, and Madara watches, as he promised, as he has always done.

In the silent room, with only Hikaku's sleeping form to see him, Madara bows his head. The Uchiha Clan is his duty, his family, but there are only few he has close blood ties to. Izuna, his brother who he'd do anything for. And Hikaku, his cousin who lost his family even before Madara lost almost all of his. To have come so close to losing him, by his own lack of attention and negligence…

"I'll be better," he says. Not to Hikaku, but to his own ghosts who must be watching him even now. "I'll make sure he looks after himself too. I'll step up. He's clan. He's family."

There's no change. Hikaku doesn't move, just breathes slowly and evenly. But Madara thinks the air feels lighter.

I'm quite happy with this one to be honest. It was also a fun change to do Madara's POV and his own thoughts on Hikaku. The way he sees Hikaku and also the relationship between him and Hikaku as I mainly focussed on the Izuna & Hikaku relationship throughout these series (and you'll get to see both of them in the next fic I guess).

Not much to say here, but my brain's turning to goo at the moment, so. Do those self-care things like drinking water, eating food, stretching, getting adequate sleep, and so on. If you've left comments, I do promise to get around to them sometime in the next few days.