"Here, Hime," Izuna almost sang before rudely invading the flushed Hyuuga's personal space and putting more food on her plate. "You worked hard today and you look like you've ran out of energy, you need to eat more to replenish it."
Madara stifled a snort and instead picked up his cup, slowly sipping his tea as he watched the scene in front of him.
Only two days from when he almost died from a fatal wound and Izuna was already back to his feet, energetic than ever and now shamelessly flirting with his savior. It was a little annoying that he went through a lot of anguish when he watched his brother almost die only for said little brother to act now as though everything was alright with the world.
When he heard a soft sound of protest, he turned his gaze to the only other person with them.
His younger brother was right. Hyuuga Hinata looked tired. She tried to conceal it but her soft lavender eyes made it obvious. It's to be expected. After spending hours healing Izuna three days ago, she also helped heal the rest of his injured clansmen. And today, she spent many hours teaching and sharing all her medical knowledge to his clan's healers.
"Hyuuga, after you're done teaching all you can to my clan's healers, I'm escorting you back to your clan," he said calmly after putting his cup back on the table.
The woman turned to look at him so swiftly he worried she'd given herself a whiplash. "W-what?" she asked with pretty eyes wide in surprise.
"Brother?" Izuna also asked, a frown marring his face.
Madara's lips flattened as he pushed down his reluctance in giving voice to his own decision. If he had the choice, he would rather keep the Hyuuga in the Uchiha Clan territory for as long as he could. She still hadn't answered any of his questions about the time travel theory and with her more advance knowledge in healing, she'd be a great boon to him and his people. But with her innocence of any crime and after everything she's done, doing so would be an act of dishonor.
Sighing, he looked the woman in the eye and explained. "There's no reason for us to keep you here against your will. You've done my clan and I no wrong and…we in fact owe you a great debt for all the help you've given us. It's only right we return you to your family."
He watched as she blinked rapidly before lowering her gaze. "I-I can't go back to the Hyuuga," she whispered softly. "I don't want to go back."
Upon seeing the barely concealed sorrow and fear on her expressive face, Madara brows furrowed. "What's wrong? Shouldn't you want to return to your clan?"
"I…" the Hyuuga trailed off then shook her head. "I just can't."
"Then what do you want?" he asked, feeling at a loss on what exactly to do with her. Wasn't it the norm for captives to want to go home? To want to escape? The woman herself has fought tooth and nail to escape over a week ago. What has changed? Why were women so difficult to understand and prone to changing their minds on a whim?
When the Hyuuga failed to respond after a long while, Madara heaved a sigh once more. "Alright then. You may stay here for however long you wish. Once you've decided on something, just let me know. As I said, we owe you a great debt. I mean to have it repaid Hyuuga."
He then picked up his chopsticks and continued to eat. Izuna, who remained silent during the entire exchange, also toned down his flirtation and continued with his own meal.
"Make peace."
It was now Madara's turn to snap his head up to look at the woman. His brother, he noticed, has gone almost deathly still.
"What did you just say?" he asked in a quiet, careful tone. Did Hyuuga Hinata just say what he heard? Or has his hearing gone bad somehow?
With trepidation written all over her face, the woman responded softly. "Y-you said…you said you owe me, Uchiha-sama. A debt you said. A-and that you mean to have it repaid." She halted, bit her lip and took a deep breath before continuing, "This…this is what I want as payment. Make peace with the Senju Clan. Please." She finished with a deep bow.
Madara's sharingan activated along with the surge of his anger and his hands clenched and broke his chopsticks. Seeing the woman's eyes widen in fear at what transpired, he willed his eyes to go back to normal as he slowly lowered the ruined eating implements on a small empty bowl. He opened his mouth to speak when his brother beat him to it.
"Only three days ago, I almost died from a wound given to me by the bastard Senju Tobirama. You saw it and even healed it yourself. Now you ask us to make peace with them after what just happened?" Izuna questioned in a low, dangerous tone, one he normally used when faced with an enemy.
"Why do you fight?" the Hyuuga asked instead of answering, her voice soft and a bit shaky. "What are you fighting for?"
"For justice and vengeance and the survival of our clan of course!" his younger brother answered heatedly.
The Hyuuga's mouth closed and opened several times but no word came out. She reached for her own cup and took a gulp of her tea before speaking once more, this time facing him. "And you Uchiha-sama? What is your reason for fighting?"
"I fight to protect my brother and my clan, Hyuuga," Madara answered through gritted teeth, trying to control himself by keeping in mind that the woman before him has saved his brother and has done him and his no wrong.
"Justice, vengeance, clan protection and survival," she enumerated slowly. Softly. "For centuries now, generations of Senju and Uchiha warred for most likely the same reasons. Tell me, do you really still believe all those things you wanted would be accomplished by carrying on with the same pattern?"
"And what do you know about war, woman?" he bit back angrily, feeling his ire mounting despite the Hyuuga's soft voice and calm demeanor.
"Enough," she breathed out, her chin quivering and her lavender eyes filling with pain and grief that she tried to hide by lowering her lashes. "Enough to know that there are no winners in wars. There are only those who are left behind to grieve and pick up the broken pieces and then there are those who are dead—whose rotting corpses will feed not only carrion birds and maggots but also the bottomless pit that is the cycle of hatred. Whose blood will continue to fuel the wheel of violence and war. A wheel that, if not stopped, will go on spinning, crushing everything on its path, wrecking lives and hopes and dreams."
She then took a deep, shuddering breath and bravely met his eyes, "As leaders of the Uchiha, you are both in an enviable position of strength to stop and break the wheel. You both have the power to change the course of history and help build something better, something greater than what's been passed down to you by your father and his father and forefathers before him."
Finding the sorrow and hope and plea in her eyes unbearable, Madara looked away while clenching his fists under the table. All the things she said—he already knew those, damn it. He already thought of them many times since many years ago.
"Your words sound nice but you don't understand, Hime," Izuna said with a slightly mocking tone. "You think you do but...Have you ever even fought in a war? Have you watched a loved one fall in the hands of your enemies?"
"I have," the Hyuuga responded, her voice just a bit cold, making Madara turn his head to look at her once more. "I have fought in a war. I have watched a beloved brother fall just a few steps in front of me. I have helped bury perhaps hundreds of corpses. So don't look down on me and don't assume I don't know what I'm talking about."
By the end of her speech, her voice had become wobbly and her eyes had gone bright with unshed tears that she hurriedly wiped away with her sleeve.
"I'm sorry," Izuna said awkwardly, remorse evident on his face. "You're right. I have no right to make assumptions. But this conflict between us and the Senju…It's not easy…" his brother trailed off before closing his eyes and lifting a hand to squeeze the bridge of his nose.
"Of course it won't be easy," the Hyuuga agreed with a sad twist to her mouth. "Peace will never be easy, especially for us shinobi who are quick to take offense and are capable of unspeakable acts of violence. Peace is going to be an entirely different beast, I imagine. Something that will be hard to keep on a leash and will require a lot of hard work and patience. But, in the end, if we all just give it a chance, I believe it will be worthy."
…..
"Nii-sama."
Izuna called out to get the attention of his older brother who was still and silent as a statue in the darkness as he gazed at the moonlit garden beyond. Not getting a response, he closed the distance, leaned on a post and waited to be acknowledged. After a few more moments of silence, he turned his head to look at Madara.
For the first time in a long while, he noted that his brother's face looked older than it should be. They were barely more than a year apart and yet, at twenty-three, Madara already looked like he's in his thirties with the creases that were now a permanent fixture under his powerful eyes.
"You're thinking about what the Hyuuga Hime said," he guessed upon seeing the contemplative expression his last remaining sibling wore on his face.
Madara hummed, dark eyes still faraway. "What good has countless years of warring with the Senju done to us and our clan, Izuna?"
The younger brother slumped, turned his head and he too looked out over the garden. There was no need to respond, they both knew the answer already.
Fighting with the Senju has brought them nothing but death and destruction. The loss of their little brothers and their father. The deaths of so many of their kin. Their slowly dwindling clan wealth—a problem not yet fully realized or felt by the rest of their clan but one the two of them has already realized with their full access to the clan's treasury and financial records.
"You plan to make peace with Senju Hashirama and his clan then," he concluded quietly while trying his best not to let his bitterness bleed in his tone.
Granted, the Uchiha has done the same to their families and relatives but…the thought of clasping hands with the same people who have caused them so much loss—it's just so hard to swallow.
"It's like she said, brother. This cycle of hatred. This endless, pointless war. The deaths of our family, our blood. Our men, women and children. Little children! It'll never end unless we make the conscious effort to put a stop to it," Madara said with a tired sigh, one hand going up to massage his temples.
Then, turning to face him, his brother clasped his shoulders hard and in a low, rough voice added, "And you. You almost died, brother. You almost died. I saw it. You kept on bleeding and your chakra was almost non-existent and our healers couldn't do shit. If she hadn't been here…If she'd not given a care…If she hadn't volunteered…I'd have lost you too. And I'm not going through that shit again Izuna. I refuse to. Do you hear me? I refuse to go through that hell again."
Izuna swallowed the lump in his throat upon seeing the emotions that warred on his brother's face. Anger, pain, sorrow and a desperation which he feared might turn to madness if his brother was forced to suffer his loss.
"I don't think I'll ever trust the white-haired bastard. But he's not the head of his clan, nor is he the strongest, so I guess that's a boon. How about you? How much do you trust Hashirama? Would you trust him with your life and our peoples' lives?"
"I do. Trust Hashirama, that is," his brother answered with a low sardonic laugh. "And gods damn it all but yes. Yes, I would trust him with my life."
"Alright," Izuna murmured after a long moment of struggling within himself. "Alright. So be it. Let's make peace. And damn the fucking Senjus to the pits of hell if they try to betray us afterwards."