Title: Goodnight

Author: Tuliharja

Summary: Even Tobirama has quieted down for the night just to relax and muse about people dear to him. One-shot.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I'm merely writing fanfiction about it. I don't either own the cover art of this.

Author's note: Thank you Pyrite and Vampy Kitten for betaing this!

-Goodnight-

The clock had just ticked past midnight, yet Tobirama was still fully awake. Unlike his usual nights, he had already quieted down and was merely taking in the natural sounds of the night.

He could hear the rustling of leaves when the wind gently blew, some night animals scuffing, and how the house was creaking in a subtle manner…despite the fact it wasn't that old. Even so, it already had marks of rowdy living in it as Tobirama had through trials and errors managed to break, burn, and even wet it while coming up with new things.

It felt comforting as he gazed into the night, the village's lights twinkling in the darkness like beautiful woman's pearls. A chuckle made it to his lips as his thoughts turned to his sister-in-law and her various beautiful accessories. Mito might not have worn that many accessories, but her ornamental wooden jewelry box was still brimming with all kinds of accessories.

Some were from her relatives while others were from friends and others had been gifted by Hashirama and himself. At first, Tobirama had questioned why Mito even had all those accessories as it felt like those went to waste inside the jewelry box. She had merely told him those held precious memories.

It still puzzled Tobirama as his pragmatic mind was of the kind that things should be used and not just stored. Then again, he had a lot of things he had stored. Spanning from forbidden jutsus to ingredients to oddities and materials. Yet unlike Mito, his jutsus and materials could still serve those purposes - available for use when needed.

He supposed that was one of the things that they shared, if not counting the most obvious one that was Hashirama's love. While Hashirama's love toward Mito was romantic, his love toward Tobirama was purely brotherly. Yet even though the love had taken different shapes toward them, they still shared similarities.

The fierce protectiveness, warmth, and kindness were both common in their love. While the differences were a bit more subtle just like when Hashirama had gently taken Mito's hand into his while they had visited Tobirama today. Or the way his brother had looked at Mito like she was his Sun. Or was she perhaps his Moon? After all, people often compared Hashirama to Sun, yet the Moon reference went to Madara. Day and Night. Sun and Moon. Opposites, yet brothers in arms.

They were unlike friends, but they were still the best ones. Tobirama still couldn't quite wrap his head around their friendship, but he supposed at times only the people in the relationship could wrap their heads around it. Just like at times he couldn't quite understand how Mito tolerated his goofy big brother. While Hashirama was god-like, he could still be the biggest goofball.

Then again, it balanced both Madara's and Mito's relationship with Hashirama. As both Mito and Madara were extremely serious people -at least in public. Behind closed doors, Tobirama had witnessed a more relaxed and almost playful Mito while Madara had been almost as goofy as his big brother. At times it had felt like Madara and Hashirama shared that one brain cell that screamed at them to cause problems, much to Tobirama's annoyance.

Sighing, Tobirama leaned his head against the post behind himself, closing his eyes briefly. The tiredness was finally starting to settle inside of him as he allowed his mind to roam freely on the people important to him. Somehow, just thinking about his family, made him feel more relaxing than thinking of a new invention.

While many people thought Tobirama found other human beings a nuisance, even he sought them. Even he wanted companionship and at times just dwell around them. Just curling next to his brother that would warm him during the coldest winters or enjoying the quietness of tea with Madara or listening to Mito knit something horrible brought Tobirama this sense of peace. Everything was well and good in the village they had built.

No more children dying in meaningless manners or elderly people grabbing their nearest weapons to defend their camps while the men and women would wage war. While there were still small fights here and there, the grand scale they fought on once was gone.

In these serene moments, Tobirama could almost imagine a perfect world where there wasn't any war.

Taking in a breath, Tobirama opened his eyes to see a red moon at the horizon. It felt like it was mocking him as his brow knitted before his eyes narrowed heavily as the almost ethereal figure walked up to him.

"Did you've a nice dream, Senju?"

"Madara." Tobirama hissed as he glared up at the man whose smile was a psychotic one. His glare turned heavier as Madara crouched in front of him, seeing how Madara's gloved hand slowly approached his face.

"Don't worry, you'll soon give up...just like everybody else. Soon...you'll too be happy."

"I'll never, I'll never…"

"Goodnight, Senju."