It started happening rather suddenly, Tobirama had noticed that Hashirama had started to grow distant. And he was not entirely sure why, Tobirama could not recall doing anything that would cause his brother to do this, and the last time it had happened had been when he brought father to the Naka River. But that had mostly been Hashirama falling into a depressed state, where he had not really spoke to anyone. So Tobirama did not think it had been entirely directed at him.
But this time, Hashirama was not spending as much time around him. He was not speaking long before excusing himself, they had all been tired lately, the skirmishes with the Uchiha had picked up more, and Madara's attention had been more on Tobirama than it had been Hashirama…. Maybe that was it? Was Hashirama upset at him because Madara's attention had been stolen? But Hashirama was not that shallow, he knew his brother… So, it did not make any sense.
Tobirama pushed it off for now, they were getting ready for another fight with the Uchiha, so he didn't have time to sit and think long on it.
_
Tobirama was shocked, as was the rest of the clan, and by the time they arrived back at the compound, he could hear the whispers.
He was holding the knife that had been tossed at him by Madara, which pegs the question. Why was Madara throwing knifes at him? It was very fancy knife too… He knew Madara liked dramatics, but to try and take him out with a knife that had jade on it…. Why?
The whispers were that Tobirama had to have done something to make Madara mad.
Which was the thing, what did he do? He was not going any harder on Izuna than he has been, he did not want to hurt Madara's brother at all. (He had the biggest crush on Madara, not that it mattered. But he did not want to hurt those who he cared about) So he knew he had not harmed Izuna in any way, he had made sure of that. So why was he throwing such fancy knifes? He was utterly confused. And at least he was not the only one, Hashirama had looked terrified, because the idea that Madara wanted his brother dead?
He had never seen his brother look that way. But still, the confusion as to why Hashirama was distant from him came back?
Or was Hashirama just afraid that Tobirama had done something.
That was the thing that took root in his head.
_
Every skirmish since then had been the same, Madara tossing knives at Tobirama, more pretty ones…
And the clan was starting to get worried, and Hashirama was growing more and more distant. (Or so it seemed, he just was not like his normal self. A little excited, but that was it.) And Tobirama could not at all figure out why any of this was happening. Sure, they were all a little stressed, but that did not mean that Hashirama had to go off and pull away?
Or maybe it did?
Tobirama found himself sitting in his room when he had returned home, his eyes staring at the ceiling. His mind was going over everything he had done to Izuna in the last six weeks, and his mind was coming up with nothing. Absolutely nothing that he could think of.
'Because I do not want to hurt Izuna, I know what that would do to Madara… And I do not want to hurt him…'
A slow sigh left his lips, he did not always have nervous ticks, but he had found that he was chewing his lips a little bit more lately. A small act of anxiety, he noted. He was not new to anxiety, and he felt it often when they were pushed into a hard spot. Which they were now, with the Uchiha wanting to at least fight once a week.
"I didn't do anything." His mind finally lamented. "Nothing. I did nothing." He breathed. The stress of fighting… fighting a war that Hashirama did not want to fight anymore. Something that he backed fully, he backed anything that Hashirama wanted to do. And peace… He had a lot of ideas already written down, things that would help with Hashirama and Madara's dream of peace. Of a village where no children would have to die again. That is what won him over, after having felt Kawarama and Itama die. He did not want any more children to have to die like that.
He knew that Madara and his brother would need to have someone more levelheaded to help them, which is why he started things. Like tax, and pluming. And protection, they would need to be able to team ninja together, and from all clans, to make the playing field easier for them all. They had to make sure everyone trusted each other.
The idea seems so surreal, but it was nice as well. A place where they would be safe.
He blinked his eyes as he pushed himself to sit up. He needed to go and speak with Hashirama, he needed to understand how he didn't… He did not do anything to Madara, or Izuna. So, he truly did not understand why Madara had suddenly decided he wanted to take him out. (It hurt to. To think the person he loved, and had sought comfort from, even if it was only his chakra, wanted him dead).
But he had to make sure that his brother understood this, because in the last three weeks, the more Madara tried to throw these knives at him, (it had been three, a jade knife, a sapphire knife and a ruby knife, he had taken each one of them, even if the ruby knife had slice his leg when he tried to turn) the more Hashirama seemed to back off. And he did not understand why. Did Hashirama really think he did something? Was Hashirama's trust in him that fickle, that he would think that Tobirama would risk his Madara's dream like that? Did Hashirama really think that little of him. Regardless, he needed to go and speak to Hashirama, he had to make sure Hashirama really believed him (He didn't know what he would do if his own brother didn't believe him).
So he moved out of his room, carefully closing his door and moving to Hashirama's office, where he knocked on the door and waited until he was invited in. Opening the door, Tobirama went inside to see Hashirama, trying (and failing) to do work. "Brother?"
Hashirama made a sound, showing he was listening.
"I hope you know, that I truly didn't do anything to anger Madara, I have no idea why he is suddenly trying to take me out with these knives-" to try and show that his clan currently had the upper hand in trade, by showing off jeweled knives, and trying to stab Tobirama with them, was a bit much in Tobirama's opinion. But Madara always liked dramatics, and so it was not too shocking to see it.
Hashirama glanced up at him and nodded lightly. "Sure, Tobi." He said lightly to him.
Tobirama felt himself stiffen, the tone sounded almost dismissive, was Hashirama dismissing him? He swallowed slowly. "I would hope you would believe me-"
Hashirama breathed slowly. "I do." His voice was level, calm.
But his attitude and posture spoke another story. He was dismissing Tobirama. Not listening to his words. Tobirama tensed, his brother thought that he did something. He had seen Hashirama act like this when the last person who had lied about starting something with the Nara…
Tobirama had to try and force himself to breath. His own brother did not believe him. "I'll leave you." He said stiffly.
Hashirama gave a half nod as he stared down at his paper. (He felt so ill-)
_
Tobirama stumbled back to his room.
His mind did not know how to handle this. The last time something like this had happened, the person who had stabbed the Nara man. (To try and pull at the Uchiha) Had been banished.
Would his brother banish him? Banishing him was as good as killing him, sending him out to be slaughtered by the wolves.
His door closed behind him and he had to force himself to breath. Panic was new to him. He has never panicked about anything. He didn't want to hear Hashirama banish him. He didn't want to hear the words out of his brother's mouth. (It would hurt too much). So, he went around and started to pack the very few things he kept. Some clothing, the knives Madara had thrown at him… He did not know why he kept them, other than that Madara had owned them before.
He had to leave first. As silly as it sounded, he had to keep at least his brother's memory untainted from anything like that.
His eyes moved to the sun outside the window, good, it was almost sundown. He would be able to slip past the patrol rather easily. His took in a deep breath, calm. He would need to be calm if he wanted to get anywhere near the border. He clipped his fur pelt to his armor; he was ready to leave. His small pack was easily hidden with in his armor as well.
When the sun lowered enough to cast darkness over the Senju compound, he slipped out of his window with ease. And once over the walls, he easily was able to run and avoid the patrols. (It helped that he wrote the schedule of the patrols, so he knew where to go to avoid them. And that was running the line of the Uchiha border. It was risky, and he knew that the Uchiha would know he was there-(Madara knew he would be there, the man was a good sensor). Maybe not as good as himself, (Yes, he was gloating just a tad bit at the thought) But he would still be able to detect Tobirama, especially with him running along the border like this.
All he could do was hope that he would be able to make it the border of fire and wave. He was headed to Uzu. Really, if he were to leave and go anywhere, it would be to where their cousin clan was. Well, that is where most banished Senju went. But there had not been a banishment since they were young.
All he was hoping for was to not draw too much attention. But even then. He knew he was asking for a lot.
_
Madara had felt Tobirama's chakra well before the patrol reported in.
Tobirama was running along the border, he got up and gathered the necessary things he needed. Really, the clan was not entirely too keen on Madara taking a Senju as his bride, (The Elders were having an attack already about it) It's been a long time since and Uchiha married outside of the clan, and the Clan Head never married outside of the clan, ever.
Once he had everything he needed, he left to go out and find his new husband.
-
The run to catch up with Tobirama was not that hard at all, even if Tobirama was fast, he knew that the other male was trying to not make it easy, by going around. (He was really underestimating Madara stamina.) All it really seemed to be doing was wearing Tobirama down.
So, when he caught up to Tobirama, he wasn't shocked to hear the others shocked sound as he grabbed Tobirama by the arm and tacked him to the ground. He was just about to bring the light red rope up, when Tobirama started to sputter out apologies.
…..
What?
Why was the albino apologizing?
Tobirama was tense under Madara, and the first thing that slipped from him was a wet apology, he mentally cursed himself. Apparently, he was more affected by this than he thought. He reigned in his emotions and spoke again. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I did to make you mad. But I'm sorry." He pushed out. If he were going to die, he would rather it be by Madara's hands.
But the look of pure confusion on Madara's face made him stop. Why did he look like Tobirama had just sprouted two head?
Madara really did not understand why he was apologizing. "Wait, Tobirama, why are you apologizing? I'm not mad at you?" he was really confused. He was not mad at the younger male, not at all. He was far from mad. "Wait, why would I be mad at you?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. He was truly trying to understand why Tobirama would think he was mad at him.
Tobirama took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "The knives- You were throwing them at me. Everyone in my clan thought I did something to make you hate me-" he breathed. Even saying the words were painful to him. Just the idea of the person he had adored for years, hating him. It was almost as bad as thinking that Hashirama hated him… Which might be the case. His mind was really running with so much right now.
Madara blinked at him, his eyes widened a bit. "Oh. Tobirama, no… That wasn't the case at all." He breathed softly. He took in a slow breath and pulled out a knife. "This, is a customary way for my clan when they want to court someone, and because you accepted the three knives, I tossed to you, it was the only way I could do it, because we were on the battlefield." He said lightly. "You accepted them, so I assumed- I guess not-" he didn't get a chance to finish that when he felt Tobirama's hand grabbing his.
"Wait!... Wait." Court. Hashirama had wanted to Court him. Oh. Oh gods. That… That changed so much. "You.. you were trying to court me?" he asked softly. Oh. Well, he wondered just how far Madara's feeling went for him, did he even actually like him? Or was he just fascinated in how exotic he looked.
"Of course, Tobirama. I could never be mad at you. Ever." He said to him, he moved his free hand down and gently touched the other males' cheeks. "You are so wonderful." He said lightly to him. He could see that Tobirama was trying to keep his emotions in check.
"I—" he breathed; he was trying to speak. "Everyone thought, Hashirama thought…" he swallowed. "They all thought you were mad at me." He muttered softly. "Hashi… He... he was tuning me out. Pushing me to the side."
That made Madara tense. Hashirama did what? Why would Hashirama, the man who loved his little brother unconditional, turn away from Tobirama, surly nothing Tobirama did would be so bad, that Hashirama would ever turn his back on Tobirama… Right?
The man who grew up from that boy, saying they would have village that protected their little brothers, so they would have to die or hurt anymore, surly that man would not do such a thing.
But judging from the emotion that Tobirama was trying to him. That was the case. That was the worst case. And he wanted nothing more than to hurt Hashirama, for making his brother hurt like this.
He breathed slowly. "Tobi, do you trust me?" he asked him, he knew that this was asking a lot. The Uchiha and Senju have been enemy for so long. He held the rope up. "Bridal rope." He said to him. He wanted to take Tobirama away. Make sure that no one would be able to hurt him like this again.
Tobirama looked at Madara and then the rope. After a moment, he nodded, he trusted Madara. He knew that Madara was a good man, his chakra confirmed that much. Sure, he may have fallen for Madara through his chakra, but he knew. He knew that Madara was a good person, otherwise Hashirama would have never became friend with him.
Madara smiled, he then took their hands and wrapped the rope around them, making sure it was secure.
He would make sure no one hurt Tobirama again, especially not Hashirama.
Standing up, Madara carefully pulled Tobirama up, pulling him close to his side. He would try and fix things. He tugged Tobirama along, leading him back towards the Uchiha compound. Things would be better from now on, he would be sure of it.