"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," Izuna says, bouncing on his heels in the doorway of Hikaku's house. He's such a child. "We're going to miss it!"
Hikaku laughs and shakes his head. "The sun hasn't even set yet," he replies, even as he shuts the door behind him and locks it. "I doubt we're going to miss it."
"You never know," Izuna says, faux-seriously. "A bird could come down from above and take us out!" Which. Is that something Hikaku should be worrying about? It's certainly never happened to him.
Then again, Hikaku's dealt with plant monsters so perhaps it is better to be this early and worry about missing it. "Is your brother and his partners going to be there?"
Izuna pulls a face because he's an actual child. Hikaku ignores him, as usual. "Unfortunately," Izuna grumps. "To be fair, though, it wouldn't really be a family gathering without them. Tobirama is coming as well. Touka did decline however."
That's only mildly upsetting. Whilst Touka is sane in the worst of ways, Hikaku has found a begrudging friend in her. Solely because she's often at the family meetups between the Uchiha and Senju Clans—though she goes willingly whilst Hikaku often comes because he's forced to—and the only other option is to third- or forth- wheel with Izuna or Madara's partners and just. No. Just no. Really, Hikaku has no want to deal with all of that even if Tobirama generally avoids public displays of affection and Mito has decorum.
What he's grateful for and simultaneously hates is that Tobirama views all of them as family and so is less restricted in his actions around Izuna, and Mito will occasionally let go and get tipsy enough that her decorum bleeds away from her. As a result, Touka is the one Hikaku spends time with. It's also why he's perfected his aim with grapes and other small items of food.
"I suppose," Hikaku says. "What am I meant to do without Touka there though?"
"Not flick grapes into people's drinks? Avoid tossing nuts at people and pretending Hashirama caused the tree to do it?"
"I mean you fell for it. And the grape thing was only figured out last meetup, so really we've been doing rather well in my opinion. What makes it far more entertaining is that Tobirama definitely knew and said nothing."
Izuna pouts. "He's so meant to me. I can't believe he did that to me. What I can't believe is that Hashirama actually thought it was him who did it!"
Glancing sideways at Izuna, Hikaku raises an eyebrow. "I can certainly believe that," he says. "You know how he gets about his plants and what they do—or don't do—with him. The overgrown garden turned training ground is a very good example of that."
The once-garden is now the most dangerous training ground in Konoha, not only because of the plants which have a mind of their own but somehow the ecosystem has decided to become deadly as well. There are tigers in there the size of summons! It definitely should not be a thing and Hikaku never wants to know how it happened. If he can go on ignoring the whole thing, it's better for his mental health. It'd be even better if he could burn the whole thing down, but unfortunately he's banned from doing that. Solely because it would make Hashirama pout and Madara would then feel sad and Izuna doesn't want to deal with either of those two things.
If Hikaku ever has to deal with the training ground, though, he'll light it on fire and no one will be able to stop him. He's certain a good number of Konoha will cheer him on—though that might be because of their slight pyro tendencies.
Meanwhile, Izuna has a fully-body shudder at the memory of the training ground. "Why couldn't they claim it as part of the Senju grounds?" He asks, despairingly. "Life would be so much better."
"You have your brother and Touka to blame for that. Also that group of Nara-nins." Which. Had been strange. Nara are known for their general appearance of laziness, but those Nara had delighted in the overgrown garden of death plants. They'd had the time of their life. Hikaku, on the other hand, has dealt with enough death plants in his life and wishes to deal with them no more. He hasn't been very successful with that, but he has hope.
Not much hope. It decreases with every day Hashirama talks about a new murderous plant, but it's still there.
"Is there anything planned for tonight?" Hikaku says, a few moments later. Usually, their meetups have something planned. He's been told very little of this one, just what to expand that evening.
Izuna shakes his head. "Not really," he answers. "Dinner. Picnic. The others might do something, but I'm just here to spend time with you." He flutters his eyelids, looks like an absolute idiot, and yelps when Hikaku upsets his balance.
"If you saved your flirting for your boyfriend and watched your footing more, we'd have less noise complaints about rooftop travelling," Hikaku says conversationally as Izuna catches up to him.
"That's not due to me," Izuna immediately protests, shouting his words for the whole of Konoha to hear, which proves Hikaku's point quite nicely. At Hikaku's pointed glance, Izuna pouts and forcefully drags his voice to a whisper. "It's not due to me," he hisses. "Those complaints are about footsteps not- not shouting!"
"It was about noise. Like the noise of someone falling onto the rooftop—or off the rooftop, as the case might be."
"I- Yeah, okay, one of those might've been my fault. I have no defence."
Hikaku hums, a smile curling onto his face. It had been pretty funny. It's not often that Izuna falls off the rooftops thanks to Tobirama distracting him by smiling.
Actually, on second thought, it's kind of often. It happens often enough when Tobirama smiles, though few people notice that.
"But," Izuna continues, "if we're talking about dumb things we've done, you don't want to start with me. I know some stupid things you've done too!" That's certainly true considering the high number of things Hikaku's done in Izuna's presence. However, Hikaku has also been in Izuna's presence when he's done stupid things so, really, Izuna probably doesn't want to start this.
He portrays all of this with one look. It's pretty successful.
"Okay, no! No. I have way more on you then you do on me. Or. Well. You might have more on me but yours are way worse! They should count for like… two of mine. Maybe three." Izuna pauses. "How many do you have on me?"
A laugh escapes Hikaku and he leaps off a rooftop and heads towards one of the open training grounds on the outskirts of the village where all of them usually meet. A shout comes from Izuna behind him and Hikaku speeds up, just a little. As a result, he may or may not race Izuna there. If he does, he's certainly not going to say anything about. And, if such a thing did happen to occur, it's pretty obvious he won.
Well, would've won if Izuna hadn't cheated like the cheating sack of shit that he is. Using ninjutsu to trip up your opponent is not allowed! As Izuna hadn't kept the sacred rules of racing, then Hikaku would be honour-bound to gain his revenge by shoving Izuna into the river to swim with the fishes. Not that that happened, of course. Hikaku would never.
He records the scene with the Sharingan to remember it forever. Madara does the same which really shows how aligned their feelings are on this. Izuna definitely deserves to be thrown into the water more often.
"I hate you," Izuna says as he shakes off the water, drying himself with fire chakra. "Actual hate. I am a seething ball of rage and will get my revenge."
"Can't get revenge on revenge," Hikaku says. "And that was my revenge on you for cheating. So, you can't get me back."
"Bullshit," Izuna says, with eyes wide in betrayal. He turns to Madara. "Tell him that doesn't count! We're ninjas. Of course I used a jutsu to help me."
Out of all the people he could have turned, he turned to Madara. Which. What does he expect Madara's answer to be? Izuna seems to realise this just before Madara speaks, already pouting. "That counts."
"You're the worst brother," Izuna says. "Hashirama is now my favourite brother."
At this, Hashirama looks very enthusiastic and Izuna doesn't grimace, but it's clear he wants to. According to him, Hashirama is 'too loud, it's the worst'. Considering Hikaku has caught them having a sleepover and braiding each other's hair and gossiping like a pair of civilians at a fish market, he doubts it's true. For the gossip, if nothing else.
How do two ninjas with such work-heavy positions even get that much gossip? Who tells them all these things? Really, they have a better information network than the clan, and the clan's been working on their information network generations.
Stupid charismatic leaders.
As the sun sets, the food is shared and drinks are passed around. Hikaku lets himself switch off, dialling down his alertness. He's safe here, with his family and their partners. It's… a good feeling. It reminds him of sitting in front of a campfire in the Uchiha Clan years and years ago, sitting with his siblings shoulder-to-shoulder. The warmth envelops him and he slides away from wakefulness to sleepy contentment.
"Ooh, it's going to begin soon!" Izuna says, but he's waved off by the others.
Hikaku, on the other hand, lifts his head, blinking with eyes that feel like they're trying to close and not lift again. Which is rude of his eyelids. He wants to be awake for this. He rises to his feet gracefully and yawns. "Let's go sit down over there then," he says, jerking his head to a space away from the trees where they can actually see the sky.
Izuna bounces to his feet, wobbling only slightly, and drops an arm over Hikaku's shoulders. "This is going to be great," he says. It definitely will be. It's so rare that Izuna gets to actually stargaze when some celestial event is going on. Far more often, he doesn't know it's happening or he's busy doing something. The last time he'd actually done this… would've been when a brother other than Madara had been alive.
He's about to collapse on the grass and lay down when Hikaku places down a blanket. "Good thinking," Izuna tells him as the wet grass likely would've been very wet. Izuna's already soaked his clothes enough for one night.
"That's why I'm here," Hikaku answers, humour lancing his reply, and Izuna tries to reach out and mess up his hair. Unfortunately, Hikaku dodges and Izuna's balance is not the greatest at the moment, and he decides to crumble gracefully onto the blanket instead. He shifts, so he's laying sprawled on his back and staring up at the stars.
"They're so pretty," Izuna says. He knows a few constellations and traces them in his mind. The enteral campfire. The little fox. The protector. It's seems impossible—the brightness of the stars tonight. They dot the sky, millions and trillions of them. They're so small and so far away and the darkness is so vast. But, even in comparison, Izuna doesn't feel that small. He feels like he can reach out and touch the stars, can hold them in his cupped hands and swallow their warmth. He can't, but he thinks he can imagine what it'd feel like.
It'd be awe-inspiring, a little. Warm, most of all. It'd glow and be bright and fill him with joy. It'd be exactly how he feels right now, just with a star involved.
"Mmhmm," Hikaku mumbles next to him.
Rude. Here Izuna is, pouring his thoughts out, and Hikaku just hums a boring response. He raises himself onto an elbow, leaning towards Hikaku to tell him just how rude he's being when he realises the other is almost completely asleep. In the face of that, Izuna can't hold onto his irritation and lets it go as he flops back onto the blanket.
"Lift your head," he tells Hikaku, nudging him. Hikaku groans, opening his eyes and lifting his head. Izuna shuffles over so that Hikaku's now resting his head on his shoulder. "Much more company."
"Mm," Hikaku says, eyes shutting seemingly against his will and Izuna can't help but smile. "Thanks."
Izuna returns his gaze to the sky, just in time to watch the meteor shower begin. Light streaks across the sky, so far away, but Izuna swears he can feel their warmth where he is. It starts in his sternum and fills the rest of him, inch by inch—and, no, it's not just the alcohol speaking either.
Laughter rises somewhere to his left. He can hear Madara above all the rest, Hashirama's snorting-laugh almost the same in noise level. Beneath that, there's Mito's soft chuckling and Tobirama's huffs of laughter. Izuna smiles, staring up at the sky. This, he knows, is peace. Laughter. Family. Love. He could hardly imagine a better life and, if it exists, he doesn't want it. He's perfectly happy where he is, even if Hikaku is making his arm fall asleep. But overhead, the stars are bright and his family is laughing nearby and Hikaku is resting and happy. What more could he want?
No I'm not sobbing that this is the end of the series. I really am sad though, I'm going to miss it and all of you. I've deeply enjoyed the last few fics and how soft and lovely and full of love they were. Someone mentioned that "I'll keep watch" is a love song and it's so fucking true and I am forever in awe of how well they identified that.
We get a little bit of humour again, to tie things up nicely. We also get a lot of development since character-wise but also in their relationships - such as Touka and Hikaku's friendship. They have a great time causing chaos and getting away with it during family meetups.
Also Tobirama and Izuna's relationship has been very funny and I totally see Tobirama waiting for Izuna to realise and Izuna not realising.
I hope you enjoyed everyone's interactions in this and the little slice of life we get as well. Hikaku's interactions with everyone else, Izuna's interactions with people and his lack of blackmail against Hikaku.
Me, dropping in Izuna's love for the sky and the stars out of nowhere. Let me just sprinkle some love in there. Definitely not because I love them (though I know like almost no constellations and these ones are all made up).
Aww fuck, they're so cute I'm dying. This is just so warm and I love it. It's so soft and happy and they're just loving and I'm-
Well, this is a great ending I must say, I'm pretty happy with it. I hope you all enjoyed it AND I hoped this inspired you to take care of yourself and those around you. Drink that water. Eat something. Sleep a reasonable amount of hours. Stretch if you've been lying down for a while.
I wish you all the best in this new year, few days as we may be into it. If you want to reach out, you can find me over on tumblr, and I'll also be around on Discord and there's a server if you want. Though it's technically focussed on another series of mine, but will switch over to just general writing when I finish that one.
Sending you all of my love and I hope this year treats you kindly. You deserve it.