All the games mentioned are real and exist. Next update on Monday.
Compass of thy Soul
Kita is in fact late for naginata practice. She however does not have to apologise, because Izuna is there waiting with the group and immediately addresses her:
"I take it Madara stayed over?"
"He fell asleep by the iori," Kita agrees, choosing not to reveal the additional details.
"Kita-chan, I know he sleepwalks now," the fifteen-year-old says impatiently, "and since I didn't wake up half-suffocated by my clingy overprotective older brother like has been happening almost every night for the entire past three months then you must have. Father mentioned he wasn't worried when Madara didn't come home last night so he certainly knows what happened; I'm just here to make sure your lovely teacher doesn't penalise you for wrangling our beloved but currently somewhat high-strung clan heir before breakfast." He grins at Naka-sensei, the expression not quite as sincere as usual; he looks terribly tired under that veneer of determined cheer. "I'm sure all the clan's sensors noticed him wake up; I certainly did."
Izuna is getting decent at short-range sensing now that he meditates regularly; Kita believes his range is something like thirty metres, which certainly spans the distance between the clan hall and Hikaku's house. Madara's range is shorter –maybe five metres– but considering neither had any talent for it at all when they started, it's still impressive. Not that noticing Madara when he loses control of his chakra presence genuinely requires a person to be a sensor.
"Please don't tease him just yet," Kita requests gently. "He's stressing about the funerals."
"Hey, I know my brother," Izuna objects mildly. "I can hold off until he's unwound a bit. See you later, Kita-chan."
He strolls off. The lesson begins as though it hasn't been delayed twenty minutes by the Outguard Head's second son. Nobody comments on the implication that Madara has spent the night in her bed. Then again, they're betrothed; he's kind of expected to be there, despite her not being fourteen yet to his almost seventeen. Gossip is however unlikely to surface; Izuna has made sure of that.
In between the funerals Tajima-sama goes over all her decisions on the financial side, making her defend some of them and talking to the clan elders several times, but ultimately approving of all of them. Even the out-clan apprenticeship, which she was genuinely worried about; it seems 'bringing new skills into the clan' is a valid argument and her speculation into the possibility of specialised Uchiha ceramics made with clan fire techniques –potentially including armour– are interesting enough for him to allow it.
She and her candidates for external training will have to gain his approval first next time, of course.
Kita suspects his leniency party hangs on the sheer profit the clan has made off all that stolen tea. He knows that was her idea and it has placed them in a more stable position than they've been in since before Tajima's father led the Uchiha. They have a highly respectable stockpile of iron, have increased their food security with livestock and fruit trees, her idea of having the clan's widows raise silkworms will reduce the drain that supporting them places on the clan's coffers and her seals are what made it all possible.
He's going to expect her to produce something new and profitable in time for next year too. She is unfortunately going to have to disappoint him there; hopefully the disappointment will convince him that she is an unambitious homebody. All she wants to do this winter is catch up on her weaving and let out Izuna and Madara's coats again. Izuna isn't growing as fast as Madara, but he is most definitely much taller than he was in the spring. The thing is that he's still only about the same amount taller than Kita as he was before, because she has grown too. She let out her own yukata before putting it on in the summer and let out all her kimono at the same time, so they would fit in the autumn.
Madara is almost the same height as his father now. Once let out, his coat will be full sized. He doesn't seem to have finished growing yet, but Kita hopes he stops soon. Much more and his coats will require additional material to account for the width of his shoulders, which means she will have to rework the patchwork lining to account for it.
Winter is quiet and very, very cold; Madara appreciates it because not even the Senju are going to try to fight in this weather. It's so cold that sparring and training is done inside the strategy hall in squad groups rather than in the training fields, which never happens even when it snows.
There's no snow this year though; it's just bitterly cold and windy, with everybody huddling in their homes for warmth. Madara spends most days in Hikaku's house, which is smaller and less draughty than the clan hall and full of cousins besides. Izuna usually comes over too; Kita cooks, spins and entertains Hijiri, Hidaka and little Benten with all manner of stories, most of which Madara's never heard before. They're wild and weird and frequently a little confusing in layout; the inside of her head must be a really strange place, for her to come with all of these.
He also gets to watch her take out Hikaku's coat and stitch seals into the pile of new coats that her mother and little sister bring over one morning; eight-year-old Naka –why do so many Uchiha parents call their daughters that? It gets so confusing– chatters happily with Kita about painting coat linings and sashiko quilting as the older girl admires the coats and warmly praises her efforts. Kita spends all of that day in the kitchen with her mother; Madara doesn't really blame her, but it still means that it falls to him to keep his brother and cousins entertained. He ends up teaching them several card and dice games, which goes down reasonably well despite Hidaka only being four and Benten being three.
He leaves out the gambling element that is the reason the Outguard plays these games at all; for the children winning should be enough.
Every single day Kita bundles up Hijiri, Hidaka and Benten in so many layers they look like miniature sumo wrestlers and sends them outside to run around the compound with the clan's other children for an hour, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Madara is somewhat terrified by the sheer energy of his younger cousins, but also deeply relieved that Kita knows what to do with it all. After their runs in the chilly outdoors his cousins are mostly happy to listen to stories, nap or play indoor games.
Kita invents a few amusing games for them to play, drawing them out on paper then explaining the rules. Madara spends many, many hours rolling dice and then marching his game piece along a grid, climbing up ladders and sliding down snakes according to where he lands. There is also a game where players collect paper flatfish parts in matching colours according to what number they threw on the dice in order to assemble entire fish –Kita always wins at that one despite never cheating– and another one with a meandering little squared path through a garden where if you land on one of another player's pieces you send them to be 'locked up' until they either throw a six with the dice or somebody else gets locked up, because the 'tower prison' is only large enough for one person at a time.
Hidaka and Benten especially love that one. They shout 'off to the tower!' and giggle every time somebody gets landed on. Kita actually makes a little origami tower to stand on the paper for that game, just big enough to sit a game piece in the top of it.
Izuna tries everything to beat the fish game, including fairly blatant cheating, but Kita still wins every time. Madara suspects she's been blessed by all seven of the Lucky Gods, because nothing else makes sense. Nobody wins at dice games like that!
He gives Kita a mirror and stand for her birthday and she cooks inarizushi and gives him a book on the history of falconry for his; he's told her about his hobby but not actually shown her his birds yet. Madara immediately resolves to rectify his oversight; falconry is an expensive pastime –most of his allowance as clan heir is spent on making sure both his birds are well-fed and suitably exercised while he's off running patrols or doing other clan work– but he really enjoys it and his father approves because it is exclusively the purview of the nobility. The Uchiha are a noble clan, so they should exercise their privileges.
The days Madara does not visit his cousins he either spends with his father discussing inter-clan politics –Kita has cultivated the connections with their allies to both disperse the tea and stock the clan using the funds earned from selling it and his father is reaping the benefits– or goes hunting with his goshawks. He coaxes Kita into joining him on a half-day hunting trip after his birthday; she is awed by the birds and respects their personal space, but it's clear by the end of the afternoon that she doesn't find it as thrilling as he does. Probably because she's not the one doing the actual hawking, which is fair enough; Madara found watching his great-uncle to be exciting when he was younger, but it wasn't until he got to actually fly a bird that he was hooked forever.
She doesn't dislike his hobby though, and she likes the birds enough to ask if she can try to draw them from life. Her first attempts aren't great –she reuses the back of those for kanji practice later, much to his amusement– but it's a great excuse to stand around in the woods and dote on his birds, feeding them with a lure so Kita can sketch them on the wing, and one of her later ink paintings captures his favourite goshawk's silhouette on his glove so perfectly that he begs it off her to hang on his wall. He does a few sketches for her himself; it's much easier with a sharingan-sharp memory and he's a decent artist. Unlike Hashirama, who insisted his terrible stick figures were art.
Madara also spends quite a bit of time on winter evenings drinking tea and pretending to read while Kita weaves. She claims not to be very good at it, but given the Bishamon tortoiseshell pattern cleverly woven into the pale green-gold silk under her fingertips he thinks she's under-estimating herself. She certainly focuses on her weaving far more tightly than she does on her embroidery, but that might just be lack of familiarity; he knows she's been sewing since she was six.
It's oddly humbling, watching bolts of kimono and obi fabric come together out of so many miles of fine green thread. He hires out his warrior skills to bring in money to the clan, but Kita is making something with her own two hands which will bring in significantly more than a solo retrieval mission. She finishes her weaving in late February, just as the weather changes abruptly from bitterly chilly to surprisingly warm, then immediately picks up needle and coloured thread to embroider one of the obi, complete with a detailed design drawn on washi that she meticulously traces onto the silk.
It's a picture of a goshawk on the wing, all of its markings meticulously rendered and each wing feather outlined. Madara abruptly wants to kiss her.
"You're embroidering one of my birds on an obi?"
Kita glances up at him over the pinkish thread she's threading her needle with. "They're beautiful birds," she says, like that's explanation enough. As though she hasn't created this pattern from scratch after spending hours standing outside in the cold sketching his grumpy feathered drama queens, as a way to spend time with him and be supportive of his hobby, and is now planning on spending even more time stitching one of said birds onto a piece of clothing she might even wear.
"Yes, they are," he agrees, throat tight. "Are you going to sell it when it's finished?"
Kita glances down at the delicate, intricate lines drawn across the silk on the frame in her lap. "I'm hoping it looks good with my purple kimono when it's done," she confesses. "I need a less formal obi and the colour scheme for this is suitably light and subtle; contrasting shades of pale and charcoal grey on the underside offset by the yellow eyes and claws and the brown of the head and wings. I might add a few fleeing pygmy woodpeckers to the short end section and on the side of the waist, for a bit more interest."
Madara gives in to the urge, shuffles over the tatami and kisses Kita's hair just above her ear. "I think that would look very elegant and austere." Perfect for a tea ceremony in fact, as clothing for those is supposed to be plain and subtle, so as not to distract from the event itself.
"We'll have to see," Kita says idly, making her first stitch. Madara hopes this year's missions are more piecemeal; he wants to watch her make this, see it grow under her needle and come to life, not have to leave her behind for six months and come back to find it finished.
Ohabari-oba is pregnant. It's not particularly noticeable just yet, but Kita has watched Mama go through four pregnancies and she knows the signs. She wonders if Ohabari-oba has confided in her husband regarding her condition yet or whether she is keeping it to herself until after he returns from the escort mission he is on. The tea merchants the Uchiha spent last spring robbing blind have this year approached the clan to hire them to protect their wares, so newly-sixteen Izuna is out leading his first mission with his new uncle as part of his squad.
Kita has a feeling that there are very much hard feelings on the merchants' parts there, but also a pragmatic recognition that if you want the ninja on your side, you have to hire them first. She suspects playing tea-escort will turn into a regular request for the clan; matcha is highly lucrative and the only people who are going to agree to attack a caravan protected by Uchiha are Senju.
Senju who also have a bone to pick after last year's humiliation. They won't attack a merchant caravan unless hired though; they're too proud to resort to banditry.
Spring this year is warm and luxuriant and everybody has recovered from the bitter rains of two years ago, so there are many more mundane missions being offered to the clan: escorting goods to market, chasing down thieves, locating runaway daughters, burning rice stubble to enrich the ground for fresh planting in May and acting as witnesses for contracts.
The Uchiha do a surprising number of contracts. The local civilians feel that having a shinobi clan act as guarantor will prevent the other party from defaulting, and that the Uchiha are a noble clan means they are also universally literate; any warrior can read through a contract to make sure nothing has been snuck in by the scribe without both parties' consent. This far away from the capital, with the land-owning and administrative samurai inaccessible to the common man, shinobi clans end up doing a lot of the intercessory stuff.
A few samurai land-owners' over east and south is the land belonging to the Akimichi, who are far more accessible and personable towards their tenants. The Uchiha rarely get called out that far, and only in cases of contracts between Akimichi tenants and other civilians who have Uchiha patronage; then each side hires their own shinobi and everything is signed and counter-signed.
There's stiff competition in the upper ranks for those missions; Akimichi food is second to none. The Akimichi are a noble clan and so treat with the Uchiha in a manner befitting such, regardless of the occasional clashes on missions.
The main problem with having so many mundane missions is that towns and villages under Senju influence border the ones under Uchiha influence and there's a substantial amount of overlap due to how close their clan lands are to each-other. The usual peasant method of hiring a shinobi is to grab one in passing on their way to or from another mission –generally offering food or other goods to make up for the delay– but merchants and minor officials will send messengers, generally choosing one clan or the other according to their own goals and intentions.
For instance, if a mid-ranking samurai discovers that his daughter is allowing a Senju shinobi to court her, he is likely to hire Uchiha to 'bodyguard' her, knowing that this will likely lead to the death of the Senju in question and allow him to marry off his daughter without further interference.
Of course such a thing would also lead to increased hostility between the two clans, but that wouldn't be the client's problem. They'd got what they'd paid for.
Kita wants to bang her head against a wall sometimes over how blatantly the clan lets itself be played, blinding themselves to the truth out of anger and arrogance and petty spite. At least she is gradually managing to introduce Madara and Izuna to the concept of cui bono, although she doesn't expect Izuna to do much with it. He has a massive irrational blind spot where the Senju are concerned.
Izuna detests the Senju as a whole for the deaths of his youngest brothers, murdered in their beds aged five and three. It is a wild and terrifyingly formless hatred that is all irrational screaming and probably has some form of self-loathing at its root, seeing as Izuna was nine when his baby brothers died and nine-year-olds are both unconsciously self-centred and tend to think in absolutes. And Kita says that as somebody who has been nine not so very long ago; she remembers not understanding why she had to use the -sama suffix for Izuna when he was so bratty.
Madara on the other hand blames Senju Butsuma personally and thinks of the man as 'my sort-of friend's horrible father,' which is a far narrower and more controlled hatred. Madara also blames the whole on-and-off war between their clans just as much and classes his baby brothers as 'casualties of war,' which makes him all the more determined to end the war for good before it claims Izuna too.
Tajima-sama was once the oldest of six. That only one brother lived to have children is not good odds and that the Outguard Head is implied to have murdered Niniji-sama over clan politics just a few years ago makes it all worse. That Madara was probably there when it happened is the cherry on top of that particular cake.
Madara being away means Kita gets lost inside her head a lot more, due to not having anybody else to talk to. She should check on her caterpillars, head out to visit the widows' silkworm cooperative that Grandma is gleefully involving herself with and try to socialise more with her peers in the main lines of the clan's various lineages; as Homeguard Head –or at least as the front for Ohabari-oba– she needs to know these people as more than just casual acquaintances she is polite to over tea.
She's fourteen; she needs female friends to giggle with, dammit.
Madara doesn't know what happened. He was only away for two weeks and now he's back there are six girls on the engawa with Kita, all chatting and giggling as they reel silk and hang the damp threads out to air in the garden. He recognises two of them –one is Eboshi's sister Misao, the other is Kiyoshi of the Raiden lineage– but having all of them glance up at him, bow and chorus 'Good afternoon, Madara-sama' as he walks up the path is really a bit much.
"Good afternoon," he manages, bowing reflexively in return. "Kita-chan?" Can she please explain what's going on?
"Ohabari-oba wants me to socialise more," Kita tells him lightly, fine silk strands twisting around her fingers as she reels them out of a bowl of water and hangs the damp thread in long loops over a set of pegs attached to a board. "Should I prepare for a lesson? Sannosawa-sensei has been monitoring my progress."
"Kita-chan, your betrothed wants to spend time with you," Kiyoshi says archly, twining silk around her fingers and picking up the bowl with her cocoons in. "Inemi, can we move to your parents' garden? Your mother's not entertaining today, is she?"
"She's visiting Yumiori-oba," the fox-faced girl who has to be Inemi replies, getting up to take hold of the board Kiyoshi's thread is being hung on. "Asami, Naka, untangle Kita-chan; Misao, would you go get Yori to help you and Tsune move the other boards? We don't want to impose on Madara-sama."
The flock of brightly-dressed girls gradually disperses, leaving Kita behind. She's wearing her pink kimono with the cherry blossom pattern, the sleeves tied back with tasuki so they wouldn't dangle in the water or tangle with the silk she was reeling, the pale green obi she wove herself around her waist, the one he watched her embroider a goshawk on earlier in the spring. He can't see the goshawk since she's facing him, but he knows it's there and one of the pygmy woodpeckers is visible just above her hip.
"Come and sit down, Madara-kun?" Kita asks, patting the engawa beside her then reaching up to untie the tasuki. "When did you get back from your mission?"
"Not long ago," Madara admits as Kita shakes her sleeves loose, conscious that he only stopped by the clan hall for long enough to strip out of his armour and protective gear and hang up his coat to air. He's sweat-stained and probably smells bad as well.
"Did it go well?"
"I completed the mission," Madara says, slipping out of his sandals before sitting on the edge of the engawa with bare feet dangling. "Partly because the runaway daughter I was chasing had married a runaway younger son that Hashirama was chasing and he didn't want to fight me."
"That sounds," Kita pauses diplomatically, "complicated."
"It was." Hashirama might be his friend but the man is so pushy. Madara hadn't realised how pushy until after learning to rein in his own chakra; Hashirama's chakra is free-flowing and suffocatingly eager, like a gigantic temple dog that hasn't noticed it isn't small enough to fit on people's laps anymore.
No, Madara is not speaking from experience there. Anybody who has anything to say to the contrary is a filthy liar, Izuna especially.
He'd had to deliberately loosen his control and push back at the idiot Senju just to keep himself from being overwhelmed. Was that what he'd been like to be around before Kita explained things? If so, no wonder his cousins had kept their distance. He must have been exhausting without even realising it. Of course his interactions with his cousins on the battlefield are generally short and to the point, but they do banter a bit in the forward bases in between clashes these days. Hashirama however still manages to frustrate him in short order.
Kita shuffles forwards until she is sitting next to him. "Want to talk about it?"
"He's just so friendly and when I point out that our families are at war he goes all sad and pouty and wails, like it's my fault for reminding him!" Madara complains gratefully, waving his hands in an attempt to express how confusing Hashirama is. "Then when I said we didn't have to fight he instantly stopped sulking and wanted to know everything I'd been doing since he last saw me and what kind of mission I was doing, like the last time we met wasn't across the battlefield and it didn't matter that he crippled Atago and Kurama right in front of me!" They'd both had perforated stomachs from being impaled on tree roots to go with the crushed bones and he'd had to slit both their throats as a mercy after the battle was over. It had hurt and he didn't care that he had Mangekyō now, it wasn't worth it. He'd fought alongside those two ever since joining the Outguard; they'd been like older brothers to him and Hashirama had tossed them both aside like trash.
"Well, you killed Senju on your mission before that," Kita points out mildly.
Madara grumbles. He hadn't killed those people in front of Hashirama; he'd killed them in front of Tobirama. Okay, so dead was dead, but it wasn't the same. Madara will forever remember Atago and Kurama's wounding and eventual deaths with perfect, gut-wrenching clarity, be forced to relive how helpless he was to do anything except grant them mercy; his nightmares were bad enough already! "Anyway, I talked about things he can't use against the clan, like my hawks, and eventually mentioned that the mission I was on was looking for a runaway daughter," he continues, "and found out that he was looking for a runaway younger son. Comparing notes revealed some interesting similarities, so we agreed to divide up our search area and both look for both."
"Did you find them?"
"Yes, they'd got married and were living with the estranged brother of the man who hired Hashirama, who was planning on making the son his heir. Of course I couldn't abduct her and take her home at that point, so the brother wrote letters for us to take back to our respective employers." Madara sighs. "I still got paid, so I guess the brother was affluent enough for the girl's father to approve of the alliance. No idea what happened on Hashirama's side of things though; I ran for it as soon as the client dismissed me."
Kita pulls out her fan from her bag and fiddles with it absently; Madara's noticed before that she's uncomfortable without something in her hands. "Madara-kun, can I ask a slightly personal question?"
"Always." He wants her to be honest with him and tell him things; he doesn't remember his parents ever having a proper conversation and it was like the house had a gaping hole in the middle of it. He didn't even realise that the hole was where conversation was supposed to be until he started spending more time with Niniji-oji and Naka-oba and saw them talking effortlessly every time they were in the same room.
"Do you consider Hashirama to be a friend?"
Madara sagged. "Yes." May all the gods help him.
"Why do you consider him your friend?"
Because… because right from that first meeting, he'd felt like Hashirama understood. Here was a person who saw him and wanted peace just like he did. A person he didn't have to either protect or obey, because they weren't part of the clan hierarchy. "He…" Madara gropes for words. "He didn't want anything from me. He was just there. And I felt…" He couldn't articulate it.
"It's just that, and forgive me if I'm being too forward here, when you talk about him you don't sound as though you like him very much."
Madara groans, ducking his head so his hair falls over his face. "I don't." Hashirama gets under his skin like not even Izuna can manage.
"So why do you see him as a friend?"
Because Madara loves the grinning moron. Has done ever since that first time by the river when Hashirama had that terrible haircut and was crying and they'd talked honestly about how much they both wanted peace for their little brothers. He loves the man like another brother, as much as he's ever loved Izuna, and it hurts because every time they face each-other across the battlefield Madara can't see that Hashirama is doing anything to make that village they always spoke of more tangible than a fever-dream.
He loves Hashirama, will always love Hashirama; he's an Uchiha, none of them know how to smother their hearts.
Madara groans again, flopping sideways and burying his face in Kita's shoulder. "I'm an idiot," he mumbles, "and he matters to me." He can't say the words. Not when he's only just noticed that he cares that much. Cares too much.
Kita leans into him, holding him up and letting him hide as she takes his hand in hers, her fan lying discarded on the engawa beside her.
"I asked," she says quietly after a long but restful pause, "because your descriptions of him make me uncomfortable."
Madara frowns, sitting upright again to scrutinise her face. What has he said to put that uneasy note in Kita's voice?
"Did he apologise for Atago-san and Kurama-san?" Kita asks softly, meeting his eyes. "Did he at any point show remorse that he has caused you pain? Because from your description it sounds like he made you apologise for pointing out that he'd hurt you."
Madara opens his mouth to defend his friend and finds he doesn't know what to say. Hashirama… had he done that? Every time Madara does or says something Hashirama doesn't like his friend sulks and wails until he relents, but does Hashirama ever apologise?
Madara cannot think of a single instance where Hashirama has expressed regret over anything he has personally done that has upset Madara. He suddenly feels uncomfortable and exposed.
"I'm sorry–"
"Don't be sorry, Kita-chan, it's not your fault," he assures her quietly, squeezing her hand as his eyes drop to the polished wood of the engawa. "Thank you for telling me." If Madara does not hold the same importance in his friend's heart as Hashirama does in his, then Madara will have to keep that in mind and take steps to protect himself. The clan has stories about past Uchiha whose attachments were not genuinely reciprocated and the depths it could plunge them into all unknowing; now that he knows he can act accordingly. It still hurts though. Hurts terribly that he will have to weigh Hashirama's every word and deed and spend every meeting judging the extent of his friend's regard, so that Madara can limit himself to matching it and give no more.
That he has to guard his heart so as not to break himself over a man who wouldn't even notice.
"Thank you for listening," she whispers, leaning into his side and playing with his fingers.
Madara doesn't love Kita like that. But he thinks he could learn to.
Explaining to Tajima-sama in the late autumn that no, she's not going to make exploding seals for the Outguard, is so very hard. Justifying it is harder.
"I am sorry to disappoint you, Tajima-sama, but I can't make a seal that explodes. If something that has been made explodes then it's broken and my seals aren't. A knife that shatters while being sharpened is nothing but a liability."
"Fireworks explode," the Outguard Head points out mildly over his tea. She thankfully does not have to perform a tea ceremony every time Tajima-sama visits, but he is still her primary audience there. This tea however is regular brewed sencha, because he was waiting in the house's central hall for her to finish her kanji lesson with Madara. Who is now sat beside his father, cradling his own tea and watching the confrontation cautiously over the rim of his cup.
"They do not explode at people," Kita specifies. "If a firework explodes on somebody, then it has been mishandled."
Tajima-sama inclines his head. "You are unfamiliar with the rigours of the battlefield."
Kita does not know where this is going and does not trust the easy concession. The sense of impending doom in her gut is almost unnecessary confirmation.
"You will be fifteen in the winter and a good Homeguard Head needs to be aware of what the Uchiha are being protected from as well as who our allies are and how far they can be trusted," the Outguard Head continues. Kita does not need Madara's visible apprehension to tell her that she will not like whatever is coming next.
"From next spring you will accompany Outguard representatives to negotiate with allies and on trading missions to nearby towns. My son will of course join you on formal diplomatic ventures, but those of the clan who travel for trade know full well that they must be prepared to defend themselves, even though they are not part of the Outguard and thus not trained for the battlefield."
She was right. She does not like this at all. Tajima-sama wants her to experience violence, to traumatise her so she is more willing to do violence to others.
"As you command, Tajima-sama."
He is just going to have to live with disappointment.
Spring is when everything goes wrong for the clan.
Madara only puts the details together afterwards, but it starts like this: on the first day of spring, various Outguard members make the journey out to nearby villages to collect mission requests from allied civilians –generally accrued by a merchant or craftsman belonging to a family that regularly hires the clan's services to protect their goods– and bring them back to the Outguard Head for approval. Practically, it's when Outguard members who have civilian lovers or in-laws check in on them after the winter and catch up on gossip.
Taka of the Yomotsushikome lineage is the only Outguard member who currently has a civilian lover, so she takes the trip east to the small town where said lover –a widowed cabinetmaker called Sanrō– lives with his son. With her go Shōtoku and Obihiro, who have no specific lineage but are Madara's first cousins through his mother. Neither belongs to the Outguard, but with the weather being so good they want to get a head start on setting up trade. The Uchiha clan has more goods than usual –silk embroidery thread and bolts of dyed and fine-woven canvas especially, but also kitchen knives and razors due to the stockpile of iron sand granting them access to more steel than is needed for weapons– and everybody in the clan is eager to embrace this opportunity. Everybody likes to be comfortable.
Taka visits her lover, wearing her coat over a pretty kimono rather than her usual working outfit. Shōtoku and Obihiro wander up and down the settlement's only street, chatting to the locals about their intentions, and end up standing outside the scribe's house with Sanrō's older brother Ichirō, who manages a caravan that sells Uchiha charcoal, sawn timber and his brother's cabinets at Kōgei-gai and further afield.
At this point a Senju squad of five walks into town, immediately spots the distinctive Uchiha coats and picks a fight with Shōtoku and Obihiro. The locals of course make a fuss; people start shouting, Ichirō in particular. More people come out of their houses to see what the noise is about, including Taka and Sanrō; Taka is in such a hurry to intervene that she leaves her coat behind.
The confrontation slides towards a riot; the Senju aren't backing down despite the crowd of over thirty civilians now hurling abuse from a sensible distance. Sensing that everything is escalating, Obihiro nudges his brother back towards Taka, who is on the outer edge of the crowd and elbowing her way through in her very beautiful kimono.
The Senju see that the Uchiha are retreating and advance with intent towards them, throwing Ichirō aside into a wall. Outrage and fear spark chaos; some civilians retreat, others try to move forward. Sanrō advances angrily towards the man who just assaulted his older brother–
–and is summarily decapitated.
Taka screams, Mangekyō blooming in her eyes, pulls her kaiken from her blood-splattered hanging sleeve and throws herself at the Senju. Two of them make the mistake of meeting her eyes; they die quickly. The remaining three flee; Taka gives chase, knife in hand.
The Yomotsushikome lineage's Mangekyō manifestation allows the bearer to track their quarry regardless of terrain, distance or physical fitness and prevents external interference with the chaser. The three remaining Senju die, one after the other, the last one right at the gates of the Senju compound in front of Tobirama, who discovers for himself the potency of the Yomotsushikome's isolating effect. The effect ends as the last of her lover's murderers breathes his last, but Taka already has backup in the form of an Outguard patrol who saw her blaze past them and instantly sent a runner to alert the rest of the clan. More Uchiha arrive as the patrol retreats back to clan lands with Taka and the subsequent fighting is vicious, lasting almost two weeks, day and night, before settling into a tense, uneasy détente.
Taka is inconsolable; the only reason she does not follow her lover into death is that Ichirō very cleverly entrusts Sanrō's business and teenage son to her. This gives her purpose, although said purpose is to completely obliterate the Senju.
There will be no peace this year. His father however does not consider this reason enough to keep Kita at home, so Madara channels his fear and powerlessness onto the battlefield, where his opponents –well, opponent as Hashirama engages him every time– can be fought off directly.
Everything is terrible.
Kita's first duty of the spring is making a proper patchwork-lined coat for Taka-san, who as the first member of the clan in several centuries to have the Yomotsushikome Mangekyō is now her lineage's most prominent individual. As a newly-manifested Mangekyō, it elevates her lineage to just beneath the Amaterasu; if Madara had not previously activated his own Mangekyō, then the Yomotsushikome would in fact be more prominent than the Amaterasu despite Tajima-sama being Outguard Head.
Taka-san is grieving, so Kita feels bad about approaching her over something as mundane as coats. However she and her brother Omoto do both need them, and her adopted son should have a coat too even if not one with a patchwork lining as befits the head and heir of a lineage.
Kita gets around the awkwardness by inviting Taka-san and her new son over for informal tea –she will not test the woman's patience with a tea ceremony– explains bluntly about the coat custom –nominally to Teruhito, as the teen is called, since he knows very little of Uchiha customs– and offers the pattern she personally thinks would suit the new Yomotsushikome Head best: it depicts a furious woman wearing a white funeral kimono crossed right over left, brandishing a knife as she pursues Izanagi, who is tossing his broken comb over his shoulder as he flees. The comb is already sprouting into a bamboo thicket.
Taka-san hacks a laugh like it hurts. "I do like that one," she admits hoarsely. "Doesn't Madara-san have Izanagi in his coat? I've certainly made him run like that before."
Kita coughs. "I can't make Teruhito-san a patchwork coat, since he's adopted," she explains, "but he can pick one of the subordinate Yomotsushikome designs and it will be painted in his coat lining."
"I'm not a shinobi, Kita-san," Teruhito says quietly.
"Every Uchiha has a coat, Teruhito-san," Kita counters gently. "You may be adopted, but that does not deprive you of the right to wear one. However your children will only have that right if you marry another Uchiha." The clan has very specific rules about adoption, seeing as they are a bloodline clan. She produces the relevant patterns; he eventually selects one, depicting the furious woman in the funeral kimono devouring a bunch of grapes.
"I'll send my brother over," Taka-san says as she sets her cup down and leaves; Kita is grateful for the complete lack of drama involved there. Taka-san's brother is not Outguard or even Homeguard, so his coat ends up being delayed until later in the year; Kita is given a more important task to fill her time with.
Kita's second duty in the spring is to accompany Akaishi-san, Tajima-sama's second, to the capital with all the silk bolts, most of the thread and a sample of the cocoons the clan has produced. There is a tax on silk fabric, paid in kind to the daimyo, and as the clan is only now entering the market as a producer they have to present their goods to the Minister of Sericulture to be graded, authorised and approved, who will then select a certain proportion as tax. They will then be able to sell the rest to merchants who are authorised to trade in silk of that grade, or directly to private individuals who can afford it.
Wild silk is a loophole in this law; it is not 'cultivated' –even with Kita breeding her own moths– so doesn't count. Thus her silk and the money she makes off it are entirely and exclusively her own. There are also no restrictions on who is permitted to wear it, since it is not dyed either before or after being woven. Mama gets around this restriction by not selling her silk; her coats are a clan treasure and she is selling her labour, not the material itself. The occasional exceptions can be passed off as 'exchanging gifts.'
Visiting the capital of Fire is a long journey at civilian speeds and only slightly less long at shinobi ones, because shinobi are not permitted to run at high speed within the walls of the daimyo's city and there are specific ceremonial steps that must be taken when the representative of a noble clan seeks an audience with one of the ministers. There will be tea and gifts and extremely strict bowing protocols and Kita knows that Tajima-sama is mostly sending her because, with the clan being embroiled in outright hostilities with the Senju right now, he can't go himself and can't send Madara or Izuna either. Ohabari-oba has a six-month-old son so she can't go, which leaves Kita as Madara's betrothed, who can represent him effectively in this instance because sericulture is considered women's work.
A black furisode with full-length sleeves is produced, Kita is swiftly fitted for all possible accessories and assigned Inemi-chan as an 'attendant' to dress her properly and coach her in court protocol between events; Inemi-chan in is the main family of the Inari lineage. Kita packs the writing set Madara gave her for her birthday –poetry is a suitably ladylike activity and she still doesn't know all her kanji– a few scrolls of hemp paper and a folder of washi, making sure to include regular inksticks as well as two of the ones she has made herself for her sealing.
She will also be taking her naginata, as befits the daughter of a noble clan, but it is her seals that are truly her last defence, even more than her sleeve-knife.
The absolute worst part of all this is that she doesn't have a proper coat; she is not yet married to Madara, so is not entitled to a patchwork coat of her own as she is three generations removed from her lineage's main family, but her battered coat with its printed cotton lining is nowhere near suitable for an event this formal. She ends up having to borrow Ohabari-oba's coat with Amaterasu neatly patchworked inside.
Once she has time again she will make herself a pretty silk-lined coat. It will have to be painted and embroidered rather than properly patchwork quilted, but she will make one! Tajima-sama is definitely going to do this again and when he does she wants to be wearing Toyotama-hime, not Amaterasu!
It's bad enough wearing an Amaterasu furisode, although it at least matches the coat; Kita thinks it was made for Ohabari-oba as well, since Tajima-sama's mother was a Yatagarasu, or else has been handed down the Amaterasu lineage for several generations.
The Toyotama lineage probably doesn't have a black furisode; it's been a long time since they've been prominent enough to need one and if there is one, Granny Fuji would have dug it out of storage once word got around where Kita is headed. However if Kita is going to be presented to the daimyo at some point –which seems likely– then she needs one and can probably commission one on this trip if she is suitably put-together. Making it about 'not wanting to appear before the daimyo in the same kimono' will give her leeway with Tajima-sama, since her having two formal furisode makes the Uchiha look significantly wealthier and more influential.
With this in mind she goes over her coat pattern collection –including her original ones, many of which are simply artistic exercises and wishful thinking– and picks out a few favourites. Having an umbrella bag of her own means she doesn't have to worry about weight and while kimono painters are artists in their own right, she does want to present a reference. Maybe she can buy some newer art prints in the capital too, rather than relying on Madara and Izuna buying them here and there when they see them while out and about on missions.
She also packs money; not all of it, but most of her own funds. Court entertaining is bound to be expensive and to create a good impression for the Uchiha she needs to be personally generous as well as when spending the clan's money.
It is possible that she will be given gifts as well as expected to grant them, but Kita is not counting on it.
The Minister of Sericulture is lean, stooped and aging, followed by a train of assistants who range from 'near-decrepit' down to 'greying but middle-aged,' which implies that in this particular ministry the concept of seniority is taken very literally indeed. Kita strangles the off-colour joke about dead men's sandals that springs to mind, bows precisely when Akaishi-san introduces her after presenting the Minister with a standard gift and does everything in her power to follow the protocol Inemi has drilled her in on the journey here.
A man this elderly is either going to be a stickler for protocol and precedence or will completely disregard it, and until he does the latter she has to assume the former.
Kita is bowed to in acknowledgement –shallower than her own bow– and invited to drink tea with the Minister while his assistants go over the entire silk shipment. Kita accepts with the appropriately humble formula and follows the Minister and his most junior assistant away from the courtyard where they were met, the other Uchiha accompanying them left behind to guard the chests of silk and assist the Minister's assistants.
No doubt a member of palace staff will appear after she and Akaishi-san have left, to direct Inemi-chan to the rooms they will be hosted in so that the rest of Kita's wardrobe can be aired in preparation for future formalities. She is not wearing her black furisode yet; this stage of the process is only at a 'visiting' level of formal, so she is wearing her pale purple kimono and the wild silk obi she has made herself with Madara's favourite goshawk embroidered on the back. Inemi-chan is dressed in a way that proclaims her a lady's attendant and is holding Kita's coat, so she will be suffering a different kind of scrutiny. Kita is not worried about Inemi reflecting poorly on her and thus the Uchiha by extension; her own part in this dance is far more challenging.
Kita is now in the lead, despite being all of fifteen. Akaishi-san is only familiar with basic tea ceremony protocol but Kita has been drilled in every single type over the past three years, including the ones that last for hours on end. Kita is higher-ranking in a noble sense and also in clan terms –the Homeguard Head is supposed to be the Outguard Head's equal– despite being less than half Akaishi-san's age, so in this context she is the Lady and he is her lowly advisor.
She has already gone over what it is that Tajima-sama wants out of this endeavour with Akaishi-san, both the basics and the optional extras that might be awarded at the Minister's discretion. For now however there is nothing she can do except wait.
And, of course, comport herself appropriately over tea. They are led across another courtyard, along a covered walkway and into a tea garden, where the Minister's last remaining assistant steps aside, leaving the Minister to slowly lead the way along the path to the tea house. The assistant then hands Kita and Akaishi-san sheets of washi paper as they pass him, which they each tuck into the wallets kept in the breast of their kimono, and a folding fan each. They will need those.
It is not quite noon and March; this is probably going to be a full formal cool-weather chaji, complete with a preliminary cup of kelp or sakura tea, a meal in several courses, a break to wander politely around the inner garden and then the main event of thick tea, followed by the thin tea with sweets and a time for informal conversation.
Kita judges that the Minister's assistants will have finished their inventory by the time the meal is over, so will use that interval to report to him. Then after the tea she will be required to answer any questions the Minister may have.
Following the tea they will be granted an interval to change into more formal clothing, then meet the Minister again in a well-lit study where he will personally examine various items from the inventory as she and Akaishi-san wait for his final judgement. There will probably be more tea, if far less formally than what she will be sitting through in a few minutes' time.
Changing her tabi in the waiting room of the rustic little chashitsu at the heart of the tea garden, Kita brings her mind firmly back to the moment. This will be her first formal tea as a guest –if thankfully only as the second guest, so she will not be required to take the initiative–and she needs to be properly tranquil and appreciative, even though sitting seiza for so long is definitely going to make her legs ache.
As anticipated, the questions arrive after the thick tea has been drunk and the tea bowl properly admired, brought into the room along with cushions, pipes for smoking and higashi just before the thin tea is served. The first question, not unreasonably, is an inquiry into why the Uchiha have suddenly decided to invest in sericulture. Kita admits that it is her own idea that Tajima-sama has generously permitted her pursue, citing her childhood fascination with wild silk moths and her concern for the wellbeing of the clan's widows, many of whom previously lacked a means of generating their own income and were thus dependent on the clan's coffers.
As the Minister's face shifts into slightly softer lines Kita realises –terribly late– that the real question was, 'are the Uchiha preparing for war.' Which… she can see how people got that idea; the thing with the tea the year before last and now staking out a corner of the silk market? It does look like a cash drive.
Kita expounds further, keeping her voice soft but letting her sincerity ring true, explaining her desire for the clan's widows to experience comfort and security –and adds a small, self-deprecating admission of her desire to attire her future husband with her own hands as befits his station– and feels Akaishi's chakra settle beside her as the Minister's demeanour becomes positively affable. She is an educated young lady of high birth, wishing to behave demurely and productively in a manner that befits her station despite having been born into an exceedingly warlike shinobi clan. She is betrothed to the clan's heir, implying that her peaceful, prosperous vision is the direction the clan as a whole is headed in, or at least would like to be headed in.
Provided, of course, that the Senju stop attacking them without cause.
Tajima-sama is an evil genius. He definitely planned this.
After the tea is over Kita sits still while Inemi-chan does her hair in a complicated and fashionable style that includes her hairpins with the hanging chimes and seasonal paper flowers, lets herself be dressed in the full-sleeved black furisode with all the under-layers and required accessories and the matching obi tied in a standing arrow knot. As an unmarried woman wearing a furisode she could technically wear a puffed sparrow knot, but that would imply she is available for marriage and she most certainly is not. So a simpler knot it is.
Kita is grateful for her fan. It gives her something to do with her hands.
The examination actually takes place in a room facing the courtyard they arrived in, west-facing shōji doors open wide for the afternoon sun. The assistants line up with the items the Minister requests to examine and the elderly man bends over each one in turn, running his fingers over the weave, turning the fabric this way and that in the light and scrutinising the dyed, painted and embroidered fabrics with particular care.
The skeins of thread are also examined, but less extensively, and the cocoons are barely glanced at. Kita feels that might be a good sign. She hopes it is anyway.
"Uchiha-san," the Minister addresses her. "The obi you wore for the chaji was a most unusual shade. Is it also an example of Uchiha silk?"
Kita bows and glances sideways at Inemi-chan, who immediately leaves the room to fetch the obi in question. "The obi the honourable Minister speaks of is woven from spun tensan silk," she replies politely. "Wild cocoons this one gathered herself."
The Minister's interest focuses instantly, but seems more personal than his meticulous examination of the rest of the material. He waves a hand at one of the assistants –who briefly leaves the room, returning with a small table loaded with fresh tea utensils– and the pause for tea lasts just long enough for the Minister, Kita herself and Akaishi to drink it before Inemi returns with the obi. Not being able to run –due to both official restrictions and a formal kimono– delays what should have taken minutes to almost a full half-hour.
The elderly man seems quite taken with her obi, both the slightly dappled green-gold pattern created by the faintly varying tones of the silk itself and the embroidered goshawk chasing pygmy woodpeckers across its surface. When prompted, Kita explains her betrothed's passion for falconry –another civilian-approved hobby, one considered a suitable contest between noblemen as a substitute for violence– and her desire to support him however she can, despite not personally enjoying the sport. More questions about the wild silk follow –along with an almost passing assurance that breeding the caterpillars in bulk is indeed permissible and not taxed– so much so that Kita offers to weave a bolt of it for him in the autumn, in a suitably austere and masculine pattern of course.
She does in fact already have a suitable bolt at home; her Bishamon tortoiseshell pattern is just the thing, as she is yet to make it up into a kimono. Time however adds to the anticipation and means the Minister is less likely to put the Uchiha out of his mind as soon as they leave.
The Minister actually smiles when accepting her offer, returning the obi with a haiku alluding to tensan and its embodiment of the wabi-sabi principle. Kita realises he is right and instantly praises his aesthetic awareness; wild silk is indeed irregular, simple, natural, unpretentious, subtly graceful, unbound by mortal conventions and tranquil.
Akaishi is extremely pleased with the resulting paperwork the Minister stamps for them, but this is only the beginning of their visit; they have to stay in the capital for at least a week to appreciate the daimyo's hospitality, allow time for the paperwork to be filed and distributed and most importantly to give the daimyo time to drink tea with his Minister of Sericulture and decide whether he wants to meet his guests personally.
The daimyo's wife has already made her desires clear; there was a formal invitation for tomorrow morning waiting in her rooms when Kita went up after the tea ceremony.
On the Uchiha side, it provides the others escorting the silk an opportunity to read up on the markets they now have access to, investigate what kind of prices silk goes for in the capital, buy gifts for family members and hear all the rumours floating around in all levels of society. More personally, Kita will have the time to locate and commission a kimono artist to paint her a black furisode in a suitably Toyotama pattern.
Perhaps Murasaki-sama or one of her attendants will have a recommendation?
Ten days later the Uchiha finally leave the capital; once they are out of sight of the walls Kita sags, rubbing her neck in a vain attempt to diffuse the tension there.
"I never, ever want to do that ever again," she declares, forgoing any kind of politeness as her clansmen chuckle around her.
"You should perhaps have been less successful then," Akaishi-san warns her dryly. "And not done whatever it was you did to make Murasaki-sama call you 'a dear little rose-girl' in front of her husband and introduce you to her favourite kimono painter."
Kita shuffles. The only thing that is truly hers to bargain with is her wild silk, which she stepped up production of last summer by allowing more of the moths to hatch; her oak saplings are finally large enough to harvest from and she has negotiated with those clansmen who burn charcoal to bring her fresh leaves when they fell or trim oaks elsewhere on clan land; in umbrella bags the leaves stay fresh indefinitely. Murasaki-sama had been very curious about Kita and asked all sorts of questions, so to keep herself from talking about clan things –which occupy the bulk of her experiences– she had talked about silk. That had led to the Minister of Sericulture's haiku and her tenran, which had led inexorably to talking about Grandma –since Kita was wearing the light purple kimono Grandma had woven along with her wild silk obi– and finally to offering the daimyo's wife a gift of sufficient damasked wild silk fabric to make a full court robe, come autumn of course. Wild silk is strictly seasonal.
Murasaki-sama had of course been delighted to accept. Kita suspects she has accidentally set off a fashion for it at court with her impulsive generosity. If so, she will at least be fashionable for however long the trend lasts.
"There there," Inemi says patronisingly, patting her on the shoulder. "Look on the bright side: Tajima-sama might decide to continue exploiting your wide-eyed earnestness for peace and prosperity rather than force you into a more martial role. You play the winsome lady so well."
Kita hits her friend over the head with the handle of her naginata.
By the time autumn actually arrives Kita has been sent on a range of less formal trading endeavours and been ambushed by Senju no less than three times. The seal she has been planning ever since Tajima announced his intent to send her outside clan lands works perfectly: it's a knockout seal. Applied to a person's skin it instantly makes them unconscious and they do not wake up until it is removed, and even then there is a three-to-five minute interval between removal and the return of the victim's senses.
Kita's clansmen really like it; it makes it so much easier to shut down an ambush when getting rushed by burly Senju who don't make eye-contact is no longer a death sentence for ranged fighters but an opportunity for a one-hit victory.
Kita likes her seal too, but she would like it rather more if her clansmen were prepared to just strip the victims of their armour, tie them up and leave them by the side of the road for somebody else to find rather than decapitating them after timing how long it takes them to return to consciousness. Because of course they listen to her when she wants them to respect the experimental process, but not when she points out that humiliation can be a fate worse than death.
Something for later; with how this year started, she's not surprised everybody's nerves are raw. Hopefully next season things will have settled down a little. Maybe start by suggesting they take more than just useful weapons off those killed after falling victim to her seal; leaving armour makes body identification easier and is a kind of gentlemen's agreement between clans, but it can be re-used and clothing is not much less distinctive. If they are going to take anything, it would be better to take it all. She knows suggesting that would probably please Tajima-sama –proof she is becoming more martially-minded– but her reasoning is utterly pragmatic. Every item stolen or destroyed, every armour plate and sandal, is something the Senju will have to replace, and thus spend money and time sourcing; materials, labour and time all add up. She doubts the Senju would go hungry –Hashirama can grow trees in moments so he can probably grow wheat or rice out of season if he cares to try and fruit trees would be easy– but beggaring them in other ways would be one way to stop the fighting.
At least promising silk to high-ranking officials and the daimyo's wife has won her Grandma's eternal favour; the old lady is over the moon at getting to weave a bolt of fabric for a court robe. It has also won her additional weaving lessons; Kita can now complete an arrowhead leaf pattern, a bush clover pattern and a much more complicated clematis pattern to go with her simple checks and Bishamon tortoiseshell. What Grandma is weaving for Murasaki-sama is a mix of flowing water and pine branches –suitable for winter, so it can be worn immediately– and well out of Kita's reach, although Tateshina is currently creating a bolt of fabric with a phoenix pattern that is no less complicated.
Then again, Tateshina is terrible at embroidery. Naka is much better, if nowhere near as good as Kita was at ten. The only reason Naka is stitching up coat seams right now is that Mama had another son in April –Kita's new baby brother is called Tekari– and is utterly engrossed in him.
Fortunately for Mama, four-year-old Jōnen is happy to run errands for Papa and learn 'man things' in the forge. Yae is experienced enough now to not need watching, so Papa can devote all his attention to teaching his firstborn son his trade. Seven-year-old Midori has taken over caring for Auntie Tsuyu's chickens as well as Mama's quail and seems perfectly happy to do all the gardening and weeding as well; she is also turning out to have a real knack for cookery. Kita is thinking about enlisting her to help feed Hikaku and his siblings.
If it wasn't for the increasing number of members in the widows' cooperative, regular funerals, the injured Outguard members prowling impatiently around the compound borders as they heal and the way stress is etching lines on Madara's face, Kita could almost be happy.
After seven months of almost non-stop skirmishing in the land between the two clan compounds, the Uchiha have learned several things about the Senju. Firstly, that Tobirama's range is much, much better than a mere fifteen miles; any time Madara leaves the clan compound to head for the battlefield, Hashirama always arrives at exactly the same time. The same goes for Tobirama arriving when Izuna does and Butsuma for Madara's father. The Uchiha have therefore developed a system: their sensor with the longest range is now permanently stationed at one of the forward bases, alternating shifts with Eboshi and his crows, so that when one or more of the Senju's three combat monsters leaves their compound the Uchiha can direct their own out to meet them.
If the Uchiha have permanently lost the element of surprise, then they may as well be well-rested.
Madara understands the logic and hates it. Tobirama is on the field most days and some nights, so Izuna has to go out, and Madara refuses to let his little brother out of his sight so Hashirama is inevitably there too. Butsuma usually is not, which at least means that Father is able to run the clan and keep the front-line squads rotating so nobody succumbs to exhaustion.
Kita has made omamori containing nightmare-soothing seals for all the Outguard members, which they can slip into shirt collars while sleeping sitting up against trees and tuck into coat rolls when using them as pillows. The dreams are still sharingan-vivid and messily gory, but nobody wakes up screaming anymore. It's a relief to not relive all the horror and fury of the day in his dreams at night, even though Madara still sees every bloody moment. All who bear the sharingan do.
Hashirama is still an idiot; a thoughtless idiot even. What kind of featherbrain starts a conversation in the middle of a fight with, "Hey Madara! Guess what? I'm betrothed!" Announcing things like that just isn't safe!
Madara really has to wonder how much Hashirama actually cares about Uzumaki Mito that he casually shares her name in the middle of a fight. Then again, it could easily have been a boast; the Uzumaki are infamous for their monstrous strength in battle, their chakra chains and their sealing. Mito is unlikely to be a pushover if she's who Butsuma has betrothed to his stupidly overpowered son.
That would probably have been that, except that after burbling happily about his crush for some time Hashirama had asked him about his betrothed.
Madara hadn't meant to use Amaterasu right then. Well no, he had but it hadn't been a conscious choice. It had been the terrified realisation that if Hashirama knows about Kita, then Kita is a target –his baby brothers murdered in their beds– and then, black fire everywhere as Hashirama runs away from him, Tobirama yanked off his feet in passing by his older brother and the rest of the Senju retreating in disarray after them.
The Uchiha won the day most definitively that time, even though Izuna had to half-carry him back to the compound and it took three days for his eye to stop aching, but by the next fight Hashirama has adjusted his technique so he can somehow unmake the branches of his wood constructs when they catch fire so the Amaterasu doesn't stick or spread as it had before.
Having an excuse not to use Amaterasu is actually a relief. It's an exhausting technique, even in neat, short bursts. It gives him an excuse to refine it further off the battlefield.
"Who told you I was betrothed?" He asks Hashirama a few battles later. Kita is in the compound now, safely returned from her latest trade mission and utterly engrossed in embroidery, weaving and overseeing the necessary preparations to get the clan through the winter. Father probably isn't going to send her out again –not when she's apparently promised both the Minister of Sericulture and the daimyo's wife a bolt of her wild silk each and a messenger will be coming to collect the gifts in a few weeks– so Madara's nerves are less strained.
"Oh, my father told me!" Hashirama says brightly. "The daimyo told him when he visited the capital in June; it's what prompted him to set up the contract with the Uzumaki. What's she like?" He pouts, ducking under the swing of Madara's gunbai. "I've told you all about Mito!"
Madara wonders –again– how much Hashirama actually cares about Mito. And of course it was the daimyo; the man plays politics on a completely different level to the shinobi clans living in his territory. "She's kind," he admits eventually, blasting Hashirama with a fire technique that the idiot of course dodges, "and she wants peace too."
Hashirama beams. "Madara that's wonderful!" This time it is Madara who has to dodge and hack away at the flurry of branches. "We can really make it happen! I've not talked to Mito about peace but I'm sure she'll be interested too! Peace would be good for everybody, we just need to show it to them!"
Madara deliberately does not mention that his betrothed is already showing his clan how good for them peace would be. The two clansmen apprenticing to a potter had to stall their education in order to not get picked off by roving Senju patrols, but even just those two years of training have given them a solid enough base to build off so that they can progress on their own. Clay is freely available from the banks of the river and Father is keeping an eye on the teenagers' experiments with ash and charcoal glazes.
There also appears to be fire technique experimentation taking place with a few injured Outguard members, so as to modify the firing process. Madara's rather interested how that goes; a kiln has to maintain a very high temperature for days at a time on a limited quantity of fuel. He's tempted to join in.
Kita is also keeping an eye on things; she's actually assigned a girl to keep an eye on the would-be potters and their co-conspirators, taking notes of what they do and the results. She says it's so when things work the results are reproducible and they don't accidently end up going over old ground. Madara can see the logic there. If you don't keep track of what you've tried before, how can you move beyond it?
Not everybody has a sharingan-perfect memory after all.