Madara found himself the next day striding fastly away from his own home, strain a participant unto his reasoning but hardly the true cause. By memory having taken hold he could not look upon his newly made wife lain in sheets where his bride had previously awoken him with sunflower smiles. His cowardice brought him to the Hokage, his friendship therein had aided his amelioration unto the situation -not his recovery. His footsteps were crunching the pebbles beneath, and he stared at the image it made and sighed, pinching his nose in a thought he couldn't quite grasp; yet he knew it involved a glowing smile with sapphire and aquamarine irises sparkling in his direction accompanied by the sun's radiance.

"Madara?" His mind snapped forward, finding Hashirama afore him with questioning painted across his face. A gentle smile cresting over him in concern. It faltered however, as his lips thinned and Madara could not recognize the emotion he witnessed coming over his friend; an appearance of disconcertment first and foremost, shock, fear, these things were that which he had never before been made to witness upon his friend. For they were all emotions which belonged only to a child, as they both had been taught. Thus, it both came as a surprise and confusion unto the Uchiha. "You're crying."

Touching at his face only brought proof to the statement. Despite his own mental discountment of the words, Madara could admit he had no want to acknowledge the truth of his circumstances. "My friend, you do know that its quite normal to-"

"I have no time to afford unto such weakness Hashirama, there is much which I cannot cast off unto another-"

"Madara! There is no weakness in admitting to emotion! To crying. You Alpha's all think its a show of sparse strength, its ridiculous!" The man afore him breathed deeply then, shaking in the peach lace he wore, his double braids doing much the same while his eyes wavered in impassioned uncertainty. "Naruto would agree with me." The statement did nothing to placate him, the opposite.

"Just- don't." Nothing came forth then, his head failed to work under the abrupt angered fear he suddenly held. His voice managed a quiet disposition, alas, his teeth grit to yell.

Again, the Senju took a deep -placating, breath, walking forward. "You still come home and expect to see Naru, do you not?" Silence came over both of them as a stagnant force. "It…" Hashirama scoffed to himself a slighted, bitter, smile resting over his visage as he spoke, "it is not the same, but I do love you Madara, I am here to help. And should it aid at all; I loved Naru very much, he was a good, even best friend to me." Warm hands then came onto his chest and bejeweled brown moonstone gazed up to him: A detriment as Madara knew well, he was highly attracted to Hashirama, and the guilt he had conjured for having been in need of physical attentions lately settled upon him once more as his fellow founder took to glimmering his near sensual irises into his own. Comforting chakra infiltrating his own, not near as hot as his Naru's, yet still a fulfilling warmth far better then that of his new wife. "I know I can hardly do much to comfort you, yet please, do tell me that which I can?" Desire krept upon him then, lude and unprompted. Quite carefully, he grasped the cream brown wrists and pushed the man away.

"I do not think there would be an act or word which would sooth my turmoil my friend. Lest you bring my bride back into my embrace my emote remains stale." Though despite his expectation, the Uchiha was met with a simper, and gentle hands taking his own into their tender hold. Calloused -in comparison to Naru's near smoothened palms, which spoke of little battle he'd faced; Hashirama's gave the opposing impression, as to be expected. Still, Madara found himself comforted by the rough feeling just as he had been by the tender grasp of his hanayome at night.

Then, he was lead away by the firm grip of his oldest friend, out of the village. Though a protest rested upon his tongue in hesitation he forced himself to say nothing. As it were the Amataratsu had chosen to set herself to rest and the shining colours of dusk had placed themselves onto Hashirama in a light that Madara found himself admiring the pure, untainted, beauty of. Mocha and sunlight fit well together, he supposed.

They came to the river, displaying itself as it always had, and he stared at the simple flow of the water. A rock put into his hand by a man who enjoyed playing a child.

By familiarity, they skipped rocks, failing and succeeding in near succession.

However, as twilight came forth, a shift drifted onto both of them. As they began to come together in a fragile, careful, dance which neither had expected. Breaking tradition's grasp, the brunette Omega had found himself slowly leading the cautious moves while Madara nervously clutched upon his partner, plagued with pained reminders of his embrightened bride's warm laughter at his dancing ability mere years past -he recalled being embarrassed at the exchange, yet determined to court the bright Omega.- Now, he was more concerned with the desire he felt rising with Hashirama, the proximity was soothing, comforting, and it reminded him well of Naru's hold in the long hours whence sleep hadn't grasped either of them. It was so careful, slow, as Madara pult the tall man closer to him in an embrace, it was warm he found. Yet, it hurt, the pain strongly clutched at his heart then, and his eyes thus responded. He saw a golden hue around him then, his friend's hair became his hanayome. The imagery of the calm river and shore was blurred unto his vision, while the grasp he felt around him tightened marginally. Madara hadn't listened to the sound of the flowing water before, but he did so now in figained ignorance of his own obvious sobbing.

The village was near sparse when they returned, save for the hidden guards, and a glow of whitened hair shone over their sights with reddened eyes. Madara had chosen civility and had escorted his friend back home under Uchiha pretext, though his mind had spun with the implications their evening had already broadcast. The stars cast upon them a austere light, and the vindictive Uchiha came to wondering what Tobirama could possibly come to think of their outing.

"Tobirama? What brings you to waiting for me?" The wording sounded impatient unto his ears, quite uncommon for the brothers who typically got along.

"I heard rumour of you both going outwards of the village to be intimate, I was...concerned." Madara near growled at the implication, he felt the guttural urge rise from his chest, quite prepared to physically display his agreement to the little assistant's assessment of the situation. A snarl expressed his ire instead, in the meanwhile Hashirama had appeared enraged and flustered in embarrassment.

"That would be none of your concern regardless! However, for your information we were merely relaxing ourselves by the river as we used too!"The yell so produced had the damning effect of shaking the minimalistic barriers about them, in addition to destabilizing Tobirama's balance in its power. Before the matter could be promptly escalated, the patriarch decided to add himself into the developing fray.

"One would think you to have an intelligence in consideration of your positioning Tobirama." A glare rested over him then.

"My intelligence? One should make question of your departed bride for having wedded you."The statement had hardly finished before:

Hashirama took first action outcrying far louder then Madara had ever heard."TOBIRAMA!"

And upon Madara, it was a rather automatic reaction as Madara felt the flush arise in his mind at the insult so callously made. In previous, he had never acted upon an Alpha instinct, as taught it only brought an endangerment unto oneself and others, alas as his mentality drove him; it could not matter what, but Madara knew the world to be in full clearity around him, as his Mangekyo spun, he also knew himself to be growling at the man afore him. While it felt justified, he knew it could not be as the Hokage was attempting to calm him. He did not take notice of the head he had slammed into the ground.

By strength alone, the Hokage did manage to pry the Uchiha from his brother, in a struggle which put upon the Omega a bloodied nose and lip along with two broken fingers.

Tobirama propped himself up, a rare expression curving his visage even while his hair remained heavily stained with fresh blood and his eyes were slightly fogged from disorientation. "You had no right to him, unlike your failure, I could have protected him." Malice fragmented the normally ireful express the albino commonly maintained. While the Uchiha still struggled within the elder Senju's grasp, snarling under Alpha instinct.

Hashirama gave a sympathetic look unto his brother, though his voice remained scornful. "I did not know you were in love with Naru Tobi."

"It matters not, nor did it while he was among us, I know well enough; he adored Madara."

Madara heard nothing from the youngest Senju, a burning heat had continued crossing underneath his eyes, fire uprooted itself and a vicious underbelly revealed itself from cultivation a roughened reality Madara had never held prior to his hanayome's murder. Displaying an aid cultivated from and alpha's instinct he pulled himself free of his friend's mighty grasp. Fury surged as a tidal wave might over a bolder, yet the Patriarch walked from the conversation. However within him came a pitiful voice, that of his own bride, which he knew so well: "I don't understand, why re-marry? Had he stopped loving me?" Beneath the words, a maliceful laugh echoing as music under lyrics of sorrow. Quiet, but legible followed the sentence "Was it, Hashi?...Oh. I thought he may have-"

It cut away swiftly as it came, and Madara wondered at the clarity of his sanity.


Note: Please note that the fic: "Crimson Era" is not a sequel or prequel of "Era's" or "Mourning" It is an alternate version, its actually how I intended to write "Eras" wherein Naruto was born in the Era Of Warring States.