Second Meeting
"Where have you been?" Izuna asked him, tone filled with reproach, clutching a creased paper bag in his hands.
"Away," Tobirama replied curtly, sighing. It had been a month and the Uchiha boy was still invading his retreat.
"Well, no matter," Izuna snapped as he shoved the paper bag towards Tobirama. "Here."
"What is it?" Tobirama asked curiously. "Don't tell me you caught that lizard."
Izuna huffed. "My brother brought me konpeito ," he said. "Saved you some."
Tobirama opened the bag with difficulty. Half of the sugar candies inside were crushed in a sticky, colourful mess. The rest had fused in a sugary mess on the sides of the bag. "…thank you," Tobirama said blandly.
Izuna huffed. "I carried them with me for a month ," he snapped accusingly. "Where were you? My brother doesn't believe me anymore," he finished plaintively.
Tobirama shrugged. "Busy."
"You have to come tomorrow," Izuna ordered him as he jumped up, patting his clothes to get rid of the dust and left in a hurry.
Tobirama did not answer. He did not intend to go back, but Hashirama caught him on the way to their compound, somehow honed in on the sweets and demanded to know where Tobirama got them from.
"The river," did not seem an acceptable answer for his anija so he had to promise to take his brother to the place he got them the next day.
When they got there, Izuna and an older boy almost Hahsirama's age were already waiting.
Izuna jumped up, eyes sparkling. "See niisan," he shouted while pointing at them, "he's real!"
Hashirama and Madara drew up short when they saw each other, warily sizing each other up. Tobirama sighed. He sat cross legged on the riverbank, leaving them to their posturing.
Izuna's brother broke the stalemate. "I'm Madara," he announced quite aggressively.
"Hashirama," his brother smiled. "And Tobirama," he added, gesturing to him.
Tobirama hissed as he whirled to look at his brother.
Izuna laughed. "HA!" he exclaimed with glee, "This is why you did not want to tell me your name? It's so lame," he crowed.
Tobirama scowled, crossed his arms and turned back to the river, ignoring them all. He heard Madara scold his brother, Izuna rebelliously mumbling something then he heard shuffled footsteps behind him and Izuna's reluctant apology.
He did not acknowledge it and continued watching the river.
An awkward silence, or blessed silence, depending on the person, descended on the company until his anija started skipping stones on the water, followed by Madara which, he saw with hidden glee, positively sucked at it, and Izuna who kept cheering his brother and booing for Hashirama, thinking that if the gallery was loud enough, the result would be different.
Finally, Izuna came to him. "Let's have a match!" he yelled, feet braced apart.
Tobirama took one pebble and made it fly over the water, incidentally hitting Madara's stone and making it sink. Izuna screamed and lunged for him, and it quickly became a full on brawl between the four of them, as Madara and Hashirama jumped immediately in the fray.
At the end of the fight, Izuna had a bloody nose, Tobirama a black eye and anija and Izuna's niisan were best of friends.
The betrayed look Izuna threw at his older brother vindicated Tobirama, but he wisely left before Izuna could focus on him again. The boy was worse than a leech.
He managed to sneak into the compound undetected and meditated morosely on the destruction of his private space, deflecting questions about his black eyes. "Sun got in my eyes and I hit a tree," he informed his father without blinking.
Third meeting
"No," Tobirama said without turning.
"But otouto," Hashirama whined, "Izuna keeps asking about you."
"I don't care."
"He misses you."
"I don't."
"He sent you this," Hashirama insisted, pressing a small box into his hand. Tobirama opened it. Five inarizushi were stacked inside, their aburaage covers droopy and way too sweet and sticky.
"I don't like sweets," Tobirama replied, giving it back.
"Inarizushi aren't sweets," Hashirama argued. "And I'm not taking them back. Get them back yourself."
Tobirama tsked, put the lid back, secured it and went to the river. Izuna and Madara, of course, were both there.
"Tobirama," Izuna shouted in greeting, waving enthusiastically. "Did you like them? Niisan helped me," he said proudly.
Tobirama shoved the box into Izuna. "The rice is undercooked, the covering is soggy and too sweet and it has no sesame seeds inside," Tobirama informed him.
Izuna's lip wobbled then he burst into tears. Arms crossed, nonplussed, Tobirama waited for the crying fit to end.
"Otouto!" Hashirama gasped, aghast.
"It is true," Tobirama replied. "I won't lie to make him feel better."
Madara frowned. Izuna looked at him with tears in his eyes and a murderous expression. "Apologise to niisan!" He yelled as he lunged after Tobirama. He quickly jumped away, trying to evade Izuna's punches and kicks.
When Izuna started to throw rocks at him as well, Tobirama had enough, so he closed the distance between them, using his greater height and weight to wrestle Izuna to the ground. The boy was wriggling like a snake, and despite his natural advantages, Tobirama was struggling to keep him pinned down.
"You have to acknowledge your mistakes if you want to improve," he informed the Uchiha.
Izuna screeched and managed to hit him in the groin. Tobirama gasped from pain and collapsed, while Izuna managed to shove him aside and climbed on top of him, raising a sharp rock to his face. Finally, Madara and Hashirama intervened, both to his own brother.
"Tobirama, apologise," Hashirama ordered.
"I was not in the wrong!" Tobirama shouted back, incensed.
"You belittled someone's earnest efforts and returned a gift while insulting the giver twice," Hashirama replied, unusually severe. "You were in the wrong."
Tobirama ducked his head. "But I was right," he mumbled.
"And you're older," Hashirama continued disapprovingly.
Tobirama looked at Izuna. "Next time don't leave the aburaage in the dip so much," he said. "And put sesame seeds in."
Izuna screeched and made to grab him again while Madara's arms encircled his brother's torso, holding him off. Not able to move, Izuna resorted to kicking rocks in his direction with surprising accuracy. One found his tibia and he yelped in pain.
"I guess he doesn't miss me anymore," he concluded to his brother and turned to leave. A bit of pain was not so steep a price to pay for peace and quiet, he thought.
"Where are you going?" Izuna screamed. "Come back here, you cunt!"
Tobirama whirled back to the kid, dumbfounded at the language. Hashirama gasped. Madara's grip slackened from surprise and Izuna tackled Tobirama to the ground.
"Did you fight?" Itama asked them later worriedly.
Tobirama grimaced, pulling at his split lip. "No," he grouched, "we just fought the hordes of darkness."
Fourth meeting
"No," Tobirama said categorically.
"But you did not even listen!" Hashirama exclaimed.
"I won't accompany you to the river, the forest, a random rock formation or on a walk. I do. Not. Want. To see Izuna again. And I don't want to see him even if he apologises," he said firmly as he saw his anija open his mouth to protest.
"Otouto," Hashirama started. Tobirama scowled. "You are being childish," he declared.
"What?" Tobirama shouted. "I am being childish?"
"Yes, you," Hashirama stressed.
"…you're not making me go," Tobirama said.
Hashirama just threw him a disappointed look. Stupid anija. He was not being childish. And he would demonstrate it.
"Fine," he bit out.
Hashirama gave him a sunny smile.
At the river, Izuna did not greet him with his usual enthusiasm, a fact that irked him more than he cared to admit.
"I apologise for hitting you with a rock," Izuna said woodenly when they came face to face. On the side, Madara and Hashirama watched them like two hawks.
"I apologise for pointing out your cooking mistakes," Tobirama replied stiffly.
Izuna scowled up at him.
"Let's spar. Taijutsu," Tobirama suggested, ready to diffuse the situation. Izuna agreed enthusiastically and finally, finally they could communicate properly as Izuna did not mind when he corrected the boy's waza .
Hashirama's sunny smiles on the way back irritated him to no end, as well as the fact that his behaviour apparently had made Izuna once more stick to him like a limpet.
Worse, from then on, Izuna would demand they met regularly, and bullied his anija into making sure Tobirama would be there. When Tobirama managed to give them the slip, the damn Uchiha managed to find him sooner or later, eyes sparkling, screeching triumphantly. Tobirama was a sensor , how did the kid manage to take him by surprise every time?
Tobirama resigned to think of it as training, and when he really had enough, a well placed insult managed to make Izuna storm off sulking for a while, without fail.
And so, four years passed.
Fifth meeting
Of course, at some point they would be found out, Tobirama reflected. He had not expected it to go this way, though. Hashirama went to meet his friend a bit too frequently, so of course, their father got wind of it. He didn't tell Tobirama anything, as Tobirama had covered for his anija too many times. No, he got Itama to come with him.
Now, he saw Izuna and Madara's father, along with Madara himself, on the other side of the river, weapons drawn.
"Uchiha," his father said.
"Senju," Tajima drawled in disgust. He looked like he wanted to say more, but his next words were drowned out by Izuna's scream.
"Tobirama!" He shouted. " Did you know?"
"It was obvious from the first meeting," Tobirama answered honestly.
Izuna howled and launched at him, sword drawn. Tobirama met him, and felt the impact travelling from his hands to rattle his clenched teeth. Izuna was quite strong, but looking into his face, Tobirama saw him crying. "Traitor," Izuna hollered as he attacked again, his moves even faster.
"We were never allies so it makes no sense for me to betray you," Tobirama argued back.
At this, Izuna gave a wordless scream of rage as his eyes suddenly went red.
Tobirama quickly closed his eyes and felt Izuna's kick connect into his midsection, throwing him back. He twisted his body and hit the ground rolling, but no following attack came. Izuna had not pressed his advantage.
"Izuna!" He heard Madara shout with worry. Tobirama cracked an eye open. Izuna was doubled over in pain, hands covering his eyes. Madara and Tajima rushed to him, while Hashirama swept Tobirama off and left with their father whose expression was thunderous.
Tobirama belatedly realised that notwithstanding his anija's friendship with the Uchiha, Izuna had activated his sharingan because of Tobirama.
"Father," he said firmly, "the Uchiha are crazy."
His father did not seem inclined to listen though, so Tobirama found himself grounded.
"I am going to kill Izuna, resurrect him and kill him again," he muttered darkly. And because he said what he meant, he started researching a jutsu to do just that.
Three years later, Tobirama heard Izuna's screeches from the other side of the field. "…pestilent corpse, you flatulent dog, you pest ridden rat, you son of a whore!" Izuna howled as he rapidly closed the distance.
Well, it was clear who his opponent was, Tobirama reflected as he quickly made a suiton to wash off the kid's dirty mouth. Really, three years and he was still going at it?
As soon as Izuna approached him, still yelling invectives, he kept searching for Tobirama's gaze, as if he would he stupid enough to look at someone who had their sharingan activated.
Still, Tobirama stole a glance when he thought he could get away with it, and his eyes widened as he met Izuna's black eyes. Suddenly, the sharingan activated again, one tomoe becoming three.
"TOBIRAMA!" His father thundered from the side.
"Not my fault, chichi-ue !" Tobirama protested as Izuna started levelling their battlefield with his sharingan. Literally.
Fifteen years later
"I hate you with every fiber of my being, you double faced bastard."
Tobirama sighed. "Is this how you wish to start every meeting, Izuna?"
The Uchiha smiled with teeth. "You lying cunt, you fork-tongued piece of shit, you-"
"Let's just get on with the Academy Curriculum," Tobirama sighed tiredly.
Izuna slapped a box on the table. " Oyatsu ," he grinded out through clenched teeth.
Tobirama looked at the stacked inarizushi inside and blanched. " Fuck."