"It's been a while since you've been by, Tobirama," Aroka greeted cheerfully as the said man entered the room, her eyes not quite meeting his.

"Hashirama has other business to tend to, he sends his regards," the Senju stated flatly, taking a seat across from the woman. Much to his relief, she had kept her suffocating chakra away from him again.

"I don't know if I would call taking care of a toddler 'business' but ok…" she shrugged. "So what brings you back here?"

"The Uchihas have been acting more offensively than usual. We've suffered two ambushes in the past week as well as a raid on one of our supply lines. We need to know why they've become more aggressive and what they're planning next," he explained.

"Ah the Uchihas, I've noticed their bold actions lately. I'd like to help you, I really would, but you're not very good at listening to my advice, are you?" Aroka tilted her head pointedly.

"What do you mean?"

"Last time I told you that if you wanted peace, one thing you absolutely could not do was kill Izuna."

"So?"

"So why were you fighting him just a few weeks ago?"

"We only clashed briefly when he wounded one of my generals. I wouldn't have killed him."

"Actually you would have," she countered accusingly, "And bad things would have happened because of it. Thankfully I sent Madara there before you could-"

"You what?" he interrupted, eyes narrowing, "You know Madara?"

"He came looking for me again and-"

"Again? You've met him more than once?"

"Calm down, that was only the second time. I had to convince him to go find Izuna before you could ruin our chances at peace."

"Why did he come looking for you?"

"He wanted to know if I was helping you and Hashirama in the war."

"Does he know about your abilities?"

"Mhm. Sent one of his men to spy on me a few weeks ago. I'm still not quite sure where he first learned about me, though."

"If he knew we had been in contact with you then he must have been watching us as well, we need to find out how he's been doing so... What else did he say to you?"

The woman didn't respond, not seeming to hear the question, instead her eyes were darting randomly around the room.

"Aroka, what else did he-"

"Shhhhh!" she held a hand up. For a moment, her eyes seemed to trace an invisible line.

Suddenly, she leapt to her feet and made a beeline for the door, pulling him up as she did so.

"What are you-"

"This way!"

She swung open the door and gave Mila a nod before sprinting in the other direction, still keeping a solid grip on Tobirama's arm.

They sped through the wooden walkways, dodging the occasional servant as they ran much faster than he thought she was capable of. They had made at least half a dozen turns before the woman stopped in front of a faded sliding door. Pushing it open, she dragged both herself and her confused companion inside before slamming it shut behind them.

The first thing Tobirama noticed was that they were in a storage room; the space was filled almost entirely with wooden spinning wheels in different states of disuse. Although the room itself was not particularly small, the dust-covered wheels took up most of the area, leaving only a few feet of open space by the door.

He watched Aroka's eyes dart around sporadically before she breathed a loud sigh of relief.

"Are you going to tell me why I'm in here?" he raised an eyebrow at the out-of-breath woman.

"When I went to speak with Madara a few weeks ago, I couldn't let anyone know so I had to sneak away from Mila in order to get to him. When she realized I was gone, she went to Toru for help. Now, Toru's always been a little overprotective but he really didn't like me going off on my own, ever since then he's been lecturing me about "the dangers of being alone outside" whenever he gets the chance."

"And what does that have to do with hiding in a closet?"

"He just came back from a trip to another village, he's looking for me right now and I am not going to risk getting trapped in another one of his speeches," she huffed in determination, "No one ever uses this closet, especially not Toru, there's no way he'd think to look here."

"He's right. You shouldn't have gone to speak to Madara."

"He doesn't know I spoke to him, he just thinks I wandered off."

"Regardless, it could have been dangerous."

Aroka blinked and turned to him incredulously.

"Not you too..." she groaned, "I wouldn't have gone if it was going to be dangerous. Plus, I'm fine, aren't I?"

"If you had gotten hurt, would you have been able to tell ahead of time?" he asked with arms crossed, already knowing the answer.

"...no... but I didn't get hurt! Besides, I wouldn't have had to go find him in the first place if you'd stayed away from Izuna like I told you to," she countered sharply.

Tobirama sighed, shaking his head.

"Fine, just tell me what I'm supposed to do about the Uchihas' attacks," he stated, only vaguely remembering why he was here in the first place.

"Don't do anything, I'll take care of it. They'll stop soon as long as you don't ignore my advice again," she glared, "That being said, you're not going to encounter him again for quite a while, so don't go looking for trouble and you'll be fine."

"Hn. Is there anything else I should know?"

Aroka's eyes flickered around for a moment.

"Oh, this might be something," she realized, eyes landing on an invisible spot, "But I can't say anything else until I take a closer look at it."

Tobirama nodded, though not quite sure of why that was, and turned his attention towards the door.

"When can we leave?"

"It'll be a while."

"How long?"

"You should probably make yourself comfortable," she smiled sheepishly before taking a seat on one of the dusty stools.

Sighing audibly, Tobirama reluctantly followed suit, settling on one of the many small wooden seats behind him.

"So how has Hashirama been doing?" Aroka asked curiously.

"The child is taking up most of his attention these days. He has paid little mind to the affairs of our clan."

"I assume you do most of the work, huh?"

"Unfortunately."

"That's too bad, being busy all the time… How is your clan liking our silks?"

"The villagers seem enjoy them. The monthly auctions have become quite the spectacle."

"They must be selling quite well then! Have you tried one yourself?"

"No. I have no interest in such things."

"Oh come on, they're really nice."

"Regardless, I have no use for them."

"You're no fun, Tobirama."

"So I've been told."

Aroka chuckled amusedly, moving to rest a hand under her chin.

"What do you think a village made by the Senju and Uchiha will look like?" she wondered aloud.

"I don't know."

"I'd like to think it's full of life and color. Most clans can barely tolerate being near each other, much less living together, but I think Hashirama's vision would be a step towards changing that."

"I suppose that could be the case."

"You should have more faith in your brother, you know. His idea is a good one."

"Hn."

Aroka smiled and shook her head at her stubborn friend.

A comfortable silence fell between them. As the minutes ticked by they could see the light outside begin to dim, it wasn't quite nighttime yet but the moon couldn't have been far off.

After an unidentifiable amount of time in the dim, dusty closet, Aroka's eyes snapped to the door and she stood up abruptly.

"It's safe now!" she declared, sliding it open eagerly.

She was mid-step out of the room when she froze, suddenly remembering something.

"What is it?" Tobirama glanced at her questioningly.

"I… don't know how to get back..."

"What?"

"I only knew how to get here because I used my chakra to see, but now I don't know how to get back."

"Why don't you just use your chakra again?"

"Well the thing is… I'm not really supposed to be using it outside at all. It makes a lot of people uncomfortable, especially shinobi, so it became sort of an unspoken rule that I'm not supposed to use it outside my room. That's why Mila's always around, she can run errands for me so I don't have to wander around blindly.

"Toru enforces this rule?"

"Not really but the elders do. They have servants report to them if they see, or I guess, feel me using chakra anywhere besides my room. They always give me the same long speech when they catch me doing it, so I just try to avoid it all together."

"How are we going to get back, then?" he raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"You're going to have to help me out," she smiled, curling a hand around his arm, "Describe what you see and I'll do my best to remember the way back."

Tobirama glanced down questioningly at the light grip she had on him and, after considering his options, decided to go along with her plan.

Turning left, the direction Aroka was sure they had come from, the two started down the empty hallway.

Every time they passed an intersecting path, archway, statue, or anything else of note, Tobirama would point it out and Aroka would decide which direction to continue in.

...

"There's a large ceramic vase to the left."

"What's on it?"

"An image of a silkmaker."

"Mm, I don't remember one like that…"

...

"There's an open doorway ahead, it seems to lead to a garden."

"...I definitely don't remember that…"

Just a few minutes in, the pair sighed simultaneously, now keenly aware that they were rather lost.

"We aren't getting any closer to Mila, we might be going the wrong- oh! There's someone coming this way! Let's ask them!"

True to her word, a young woman stepped into view just ahead of them, a basket of herbs balanced in her arms.

"Kishi!" Aroka waved the girl over enthusiastically, "Excuse me, but do you know what part of the compound we're in?"

The woman looked a bit surprised but bowed respectfully nonetheless.

"This is the South wing, Miss, we're just outside the infirmary."

Aroka tilted her head.

"Infirmary? We must have really gotten off course," she chuckled, slightly embarrassed, "Which way leads back to the central courtyard?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know. I've only ever worked in this part of the building," she bowed her head apologetically.

"Oh, that's ok, thanks for your help! Come on, let's keep looking," She tugged on Tobirama's arm and the two continued off in their original direction.

An hour had passed and the sun had nearly disappeared, the two had still yet to find Aroka's room. The compound must have been designed as a maze, seeing that none of the areas they came upon seemed familiar to her. Tobirama had no idea the building was this big and, apparently, neither did she.

"You said there's a marble statue ahead? When did we start putting statues inside?" Aroka sighed in frustration as they blindly turned down yet another hallway, "I can see Mila's line but somehow we're not getting any closer…"

Tobirama, being the stoic man he was, didn't seem nearly as irritated by the situation.

Not on the outside at least.

...

"A bed of flowers is mounted on the wall."

"No clue."

"A garden with a pond at the center."

"Didn't know that existed."

"A row of paintings hanging on the right."

"Nope."

...

"A stone fountain in the center of the hallway."

"Wait," Aroka stopped suddenly, eyes widening, "A fountain…. is there a long crack at the base of it?"

Tobirama scanned the base quickly and, sure enough, there was a single, thin crack marring the lower side of the fountain.

"That's it! I got it! I know where we are!" she squealed, shaking his arm with pure excitement, "There should be a bend up ahead, then to right there's a bunch of doors, just past those is a connecting hall that leads to the courtyard that faces my room!" she breathed. "Come on! Let's go!"

As she had described, two rights and a courtyard later, the two had finally made it out of the maze, the familiar double doors in sight.

"Miss! Where have you been? It's been hours!" Mila gasped as they came into sight, quickly running up to the younger woman.

"We got a little lost," Aroka grinned sheepishly, "Sorry if we made you worry."

"No, no, I'm glad you're both ok," she smiled thankfully.

"Well, I think we should all turn in a little early today. Mila, please show Tobirama to his room, then you're free to retire for the day," Aroka smiled, letting go of his arm.

Mila nodded dutifully and motioned for the man to come with her.

After their footsteps faded down the hall, Aroka turned and stretched out an arm, feeling for the railing. With a few small shuffles her hand found the smooth wooden surface and, following it slowly, she stepped up the courtyard stairs towards her room.

The moment she entered, the space immediately flooded with chakra.

Aroka breathed a sigh of relief as her vision again filled with the familiar outlines.