This chapter goes out specifically to all my readers who are so amazing and patient when life pulls me away from updating consistently. You understand the effort I'm putting into this and encourage me to keep taking my time, and that means so much more than you all might know. Much appreciated.


The sunset was stunning cast across the seemingly endless expanse of sea. A spill of warm purple and deep orange blanketing the waves made Sakura feel small, yet so awed.

She hardly noticed when Junko put the bowl of fish stew in her hands, if not for the strong aroma wafting up to her nose.

"Keep a tighter grip than that or you'll spill!" she chided, and Sakura instantly cupped the bowl more firmly. As more stew was passed around, everyone gathered together in a circle of makeshift seats. She noticed the cats were prowling, their eyes gleaming hungrily.

"Pay 'em no mind," Inoue scoffed, getting up and tossing over a bucket of fish heads. The cats dove with the ferocity of true apex predators, claws out and yowls of triumph issuing from their throats as they tore into the scraps. Sakura watched for a minute, faintly disgusted as they gnawed the lifeless heads with gusto—right down to the glassy eyes—and then turned away.

Junko was coming back around with mugs, and Sakura was sure she knew what the contents were. 'Isn't there anything else to drink besides alcohol on this ship?' But when she accepted her own cup with a tiny smile and peered in, to her surprise the clear liquid had a minty smell and green sprigs floating around in it.

"Mm," Yurine sipped from her cup with a smile. "The mint water really is refreshing."

"What's this?" Gintaki exclaimed, water already dribbling down the sides of his face as he drank and talked.

"It's what ya lot shoulda been drinkin' a long time ago." Junko glared around at them sternly. "Easy ta make and better for ya." Seeing that everyone had a cup and a bowl of stew, she finally took her own seat, crossing her legs and beginning to eat.

Sakura finally took a few sips for herself, the cold temperature and tasty flavor washing down her throat. It beat having to constantly burn alcohol from her system for the next few days, and Ino had ranted that lemon water and mint water were good for dieting and clear skin. None of those alleged benefits mattered now, in the grand scheme of things, but it was so refreshing in comparison to what she could be drinking…

"Bah!" Joben briefly made a face, but a quick scowl from Junko and whatever protest he was preparing to make died on his lips. He sipped innocently from his mug, glaring as his crew snickered. "Traitors, the lot o' ya…" His excited eyes finally met with Sakura's and he cleared his throat."We're all good n' settled now,"

Several murmurs of agreement echoed him. "So tell us about what happened on your mission—"

"Everything!" Kazu interrupted, cats eagerly crowding close to him as his squirming nearly caused his stew to spill. "Start with how many people ya killed!"

"Is that appropriate?" Yurine gawked. She sat between her brother and Inoue, cradling her bowl on her lap. "I…I mean he can't be more than seven—"

"I'm nine!" Kazu screeched in outrage. This time, some of his stew did spill when he jerked, and the cats lapped at it instantly. "And I wanna hear all the gorey details!"

"Well, 'fore we get to talkin' about gore, ya could tell us why we didn't meet yer friends first time 'round." Junko suggested.

Sakura exchanged a cautious look with Izuna, then the Yuhi siblings. How much could they reveal? Izuna's face was calm as he dipped his head in an almost imperceptible nod, bringing a spoonful of stew to his mouth.

Yurine's red eyes, pale enough to be dark pink in the fading sun, were wide and anxious, but trusting. Kureno simply winked, eating around one of his usual charming grins. They were all leaving the decision to her, all of them trusting in her judgement. Madara was the only person preoccupied.

Wedged between Izuna on one side and Ai on the other, he sat poking at the fish chunks floating in his stew, his expression settled somewhere between trepidation and longing. He had to be hungry, Sakura suspected, but some innate pride kept him from just eating like the rest of them.

Turning her attention back to the expectant crew, she decided telling them the story of the mission could serve as a valuable test. Soon they'd have to return home and repeat the mission details to a much tougher audience. If they were going to mess it all up, it was best to do it now.

At worst, the seafolk would take anything unbelievable as embellishment, imaginative additions to crank up the excitement. Sakura laughed a little under her breath. The last few months trapped in this strange new world drummed into her head quite thoroughly that fact had a way of being more colorful than fiction, when deities were involved.

"It was supposed to be a two person mission," she started. "But things got out of hand pretty fast and we needed help."

"Shame ya couldn't a called us," Joben sighed remorsefully, eating two hearty spoonfuls of stew. "Samplin' every tavern on Mino was fun but not as excitin' as I was expectin'."

"The cap'n jus' wants an excuse to put his sword through somebody's belly," Gintaki said slyly, cutting the rugged man a look. "Relive his glory days a bit."

"I get plenty o' glory now," The captain snipped. "And I'd thank you sorry lot to remember who runs this blasted thing."

"Aye, Junko!" someone jeered.

And everyone burst into peals of laughter as the cook flexed her leanly muscled arms and Joben's cheeks flushed under his beard.

Sakura smirked around a sip from her spoon. When the laughter calmed, a relaxed energy hung over nearly everyone on deck, and Sakura leaned back on her seat, just watching the horizon change colors.

"But tell us what happened after we left ya," Kazu urged. "Did you really meet Iwanagahime?"

"Uh, no," Kureno drawled, his blonde brow rising in an unamused grimace. "Try legions of the dead."

Loud gasps went up from the surprised crew.

"The dead!" a woman shrieked.

"The tales are true; always knew they would be…" A man rumbled.

"But if wasn't Iwanagahime what did it, then who?" Inoue questioned.

"Apparently," Izuna cleared his throat. "Stories are a little…misleading in that regard." They waited with bated breath, leaning forward impatiently. "It was a shinigami."

Another eruption of noises and confusion.

"No, no!" Joben bellowed, waving his arm. "That's all wrong! Go back tah the beginning," he said, pointing a thick finger in Sakura's direction.

The chattering mellowed, and in that instant she had everyone's attention. Even Madara, who seemed to have been hesitantly starting to eat shot her a goading look as if to ask what she was waiting on. Setting the stew aside, Sakura tried to settle into the role of storyteller, knowing what they all really wanted was a performance, and not a simple, perfunctory narration.

"I knew something was wrong the minute I stepped on the island," She told them honestly. "There was so much hostility the air was hard to breathe,"

ASiT

By the time the story had reached its zenith, Madara was feeling impatient. He should remember as much as anyone did, since he was one of only two people there from the beginning. But as he listened to the medic holding everyone on deck utterly spellbound, it became obvious that he wasn't going to suddenly recall anything from before his accident.

And really, Izuna couldn't be more overt in his worrying if he tried. At least five times his brother had cast him woeful glances, his face even sadder under the light of the lantern set in the middle of the circle. Madara understood he was something to be pitied now, a shadow of his former self clinging to the scrabbles of information he'd been fed, but it didn't mean he wanted to be privy to that look right to his face.

They had all just heard about his unfortunate encounter with the boulder responsible for his current state, and even Haruno had looked pained as she described digging him out of the rubble after the acolytes had all fled. One person's pity was bad enough, but to suddenly be confronted with it pressing down on him from all sides…well needless to say it was too much. He had his pride, and he always would.

Madara got up as gracefully as he could manage, wandering away from the group and toward the other side of the ship. Eventually their voices all faded, and he knew he was truly as alone as he could be within the limited space of the vessel. The stars were hovering up above— so small, so distant, but so radiant. On a night so full of them, like this one, even the moon was outshined. Eternal beauty, totally unattainable.

Some faraway fragment of a time long passed scratched at his mind. It took a while to fully form, and even then he was unsure of details. He saw a stern man, dark-haired and scowling with sharp eyes. He could see himself, a boy with the roundness of baby fat clinging to his face, kneeling in the grass and taking off bloody armor.

A small Izuna dressed in battered armor of his own approached him, followed by three boys even smaller. Their features were faded, their faces lost. Only Izuna's face, his haunted, fearful eyes, were a crystalized outline in his head. Izuna was…was he even eight? Why were they all so young? The only constant he could see, the one that tethered the past to the present, was the unchanging face of the moon he gazed upon, and the many winking stars that had soothed him, even back then.

Madara knew without question he was truly a shinobi. The skills the goddess returned to him belonged to a warrior who had trained from youth, and not a man who had lived a peaceful, sedentary life. The weight of that was only just now registering. He hadn't gotten his skills, his battle-efficiency, simply from training, had he?

It had to be put into practice at some point. When he…when he killed.

He'd taken his first life as a child. In his soul, Madara knew he'd had blood on his hands longer than he could hope to remember. Especially now.

His fingers found purchase in a tight grip against the railing as he leaned forward and looked at the black, tranquil sea. Even in the moonlight up above, he couldn't see his face, but he had a suspicion that his mask was starting to slip, so that was likely for the best. There'd be too many questions etched into it that he couldn't get the answers to.

Like a fish desperate to be released into the safety of open water, the memory tried to wriggle away from him. Or else it was an eel that not only fought for its freedom but had a nasty sting in retaliation for daring to disturb it. The memory of taking a life was that elusive somehow, but all at once, never far from the surface.

Even if he didn't remember the numbers, or their faces, or the gasps of their last breaths, he had slain them. That didn't change because he couldn't recall it. Just as the moon and the stars in the heavens didn't change. Madara sighed and the night swallowed up the sound even as his breath hit the air and turned into a white cloud. What if the reasons he'd taken their lives from them, ended up being ones he couldn't completely reconcile with?

It was just like he'd declared before. Shinobi life really was overrated in hindsight. He left the ship deck with that firmly settled in mind. He found his room with no help (a small conciliation to his fractured memory), and he ignored the half dozen cats who had found it too. They weren't the problem at present. Nothing was more of an issue that there was one cot and Haruno's bedroll and five of them expected to cram together for the night…

Haruno…Haruno had lied to him. She must have! He didn't like life at sea. Because the only feeling he could muster for this situation was sheer indignity.


Sakura's gaze cut nervously around the room. Yurine, Kureno and Izuna stood just as stiffly around her, no one willing to meet eyes with one another. After all the fanfare over the story of their mission, after exhaustion had finally settled over them all, it was time to retire for the night. Life hadn't exactly been simple and gracious lately, though. Why, Sakura griped silently, should it start now?

Her bedroll and the cot in the corner. That was all they had. Five of them and two places to sleep that weren't the floor meant that they'd inevitably have to squeeze in together, and they all knew it. Maybe that was why Madara had taken the easy way out, crawling into the cot and sprawling out to ignore them and the situation. His naked back was to them, the sheets resting down at his hips. He couldn't be more obvious if he started fake snoring.

The flickering light of the candles mounted into the wall were still burning bright, so they had more than enough brightness to look this awkward situation in the face whether they wanted to or not.

"Well," Kureno said meekly, "We could…we could draw straws?"

The timid suggestion snapped Yurine out of her stupor, and she turned on her brother with a pinched brow, her eyes heavy with tiredness. All of them really just wanted to be able to go to sleep already.

But unlike a certain Uchiha feigning slumber in the corner, they had to be adults and settle this first. "How would that even help?" she groaned, pulling at her hair a little. "That would only make sense if someone was willing to take the floor. And after the past few days I've had, I deserve better than that." She finished her declaration with a resolute nod, and that was that. Their only suggestion was tossed aside and they were back where they had begun.

"Madara's going to have to stop deluding himself with the belief he's getting an entire cot to himself and move over to make room; it's as simple as that." Izuna announced, loudly enough so that there was no way his brother hadn't heard. Sakura thought she saw the muscles in his back twitch, but she couldn't be sure.

"You men folk can cuddle up," Yurine sighed. "Sakura and I…well, we're ladies, so it's only natural that we'd share." The blonde kunoichi inched closer to Sakura as she spoke, until she was gripping Sakura's arm almost possessively.

The rosette couldn't hide her sigh of relief, already soothed by the idea. Yurine was right. And there was no awkwardness sleeping next to another girl. Trying to rest side by side with any of the other three and she was sure her soul would just ascend right then and there.

"That's fine by me," Sakura managed a tired smile. "My bedroll's right here…" She started to move toward it with Yurine still wrapped around her arm, even her feet sluggish so when the blonde's own feet moved forward they bumped at the back of Sakura's heels.

"Hold on, sister dear," Kureno cut in, pulling Yurine aside by the arm as she walked past him. Now thoroughly agitated, she shoved back at him, shooting him a glare that perfectly conveyed how little patience she had left.

"What now, Kureno?!" The Yuhi siblings had at least a four inch height difference, Sakura estimating Yurine standing somewhere at 5'6" to Kureno's likely 5'10"; but when she squared up to him like an angry cat with its hackles raised, no one would believe they weren't evenly matched. "I'm tired, I'm annoyed, and I need my beauty rest!"

Kureno, more acquainted with her moods than any of them, nodded rapidly, knowing better than to provoke her in such a state. Still, despite looking like he'd rather keep his next words to himself, he raised his hands with a loud gulp, opening his mouth, "The three of us…us guys…we won't all fit on that one cot. We're not as small as the two of you and honestly, it looks like Sakura's bedroll is the most accommodating."

Sakura's eyes trailed to her bedroll, innocently and invitingly laid out on the floor…and she realized with quickly mounting dread that he was right. Call it a bit of vanity, but Sakura had purchased a bedroll that was more spacious than strictly necessary. A tiny bit of comfort in the field. It still wasn't anything luxurious.

Flat and thin enough that it wasn't hard to feel every pebble or twig underneath her when she was laying on the forest floor, but it at least gave her the option to comfortably sprawl her body out if she chose to. Never did Sakura think she'd come to regret that decision more than she did in that particular moment. Izuna, Yurine and Kureno were staring at her flat, unimpressive little bedroll like the universe's secrets were hidden somewhere in its folds.

Madara had not so subtly shifted—was he really still keeping up the ridiculous charade?!—to face them all now, and even though his visible eye was closed, Sakura would bet her mission pay that the eye underneath his bangs was wide open and leering at her humble bedroll just like the rest of them.

The air in the small cabin shifted all of a sudden, Yurine perking up as she took a shy glance at Izuna. "I-In that case…I don't…I mean I would be alright with sharing with—" Her sputtering died as her smooth complexion was overtaken by a blush that brought out her eyes. Sakura blinked. Had she…had she missed something?

"Me," Kureno stated.

Yurine gaped. "What?" she said slowly.

"It makes the most sense. We'll take the cot. It'll still be uncomfortable," he shrugged. "But we've shared more than enough times. And I'm pretty sure the Uchiha brothers aren't going to want me between them, even if there's room." Kureno stared at Sakura's bedroll almost mournfully, probably telling the extra space he could have had goodbye. He recovered quickly though, handling the situation much more maturely than she'd expect him to, "It'll be fine."

Yurine turned slowly, facing the cot where Madara was still giving the illusion of being asleep. He was dedicated, if nothing else… "I…I…"

"Unless," Kureno's voice took a stern edge. "There's someone else you'd share with before your own brother…"

Sakura watched Yurine guiltily avoid eye contact, wringing her hands together and staring at them instead. Kureno had evidently hit his mark.

Izuna was none the wiser to the dilemma he was causing, and Sakura understood that no matter how intelligent, at some point all men were destined to be dumb when it came to the fairer sex's attractions.

"Madara, you can stop pretending now," Izuna put one hand on his hip. "No one's fooled."

The elder Uchiha sat up, stretching in a way that unwillingly drew Sakura's attentions to the many hard lines of his abdomen and the strength in each defined square of muscle. It was Sakura's turn to look away guiltily and hope no one noticed. It appeared for the moment her luck held out, or everyone was feeling too tired to call her out.

Madara didn't try to deny being caught or feign ignorance. He stared at all of them in complete boredom, his hair rumpled and wilder at the top of his head than usual. "That only solves one problem." he said, his gaze sliding to Sakura.

She fought back a glare. It's not like he had to tell her that when her heart was already beating a botched rhythm in her throat. Sleeping next to one Uchiha would have been too much, but both?

"Sakura," Izuna said gently. "We don't mind using the floor for the night." Always chivalrous, he was quick to offer an ultimatum that gave her the clearest out, and she found herself stabbed with an emotion akin to guilt.

Madara slid from his place on the cot and strolled across the room to look down at the bedroll. "The way I see it all three of us are taking the floor." He crouched and started to drag the bedroll toward himself. "But I don't think I feel like sleeping directly on moldy wooden planks."

Yurine and Kureno sat on the vacated cot in the corner, watching the show in silence.

"It's Sakura's bedroll," Izuna argued. "If she doesn't want to share with us, then we're both taking the floor."

Madara glared up at him stubbornly but Izuna held firm with a disapproving face to match. "You said you're my little brother, didn't you? But you're always talking as if you know best."

Izuna folded his arms, "I assure you that age notwithstanding, I'm not the one acting like the younger brother."

Sakura wanted to butt her head against the wall until she had a headache strong enough to put her out of her misery. Of all times to have a sibling squabble! Clearly, it was up to her to provide the voice of reason in such an unreasonable situation.

"We can just share," she interrupted, motioning with a sweeping hand at the bedroll that had started it all. "It's only for a night." A little extra convincing for her protesting subconscious. Madara and Izuna traded one more heated look and then it was all decided.

Yurine made sure that when she looked her way, the blonde was ready with a smile full of true sympathy. She wasn't enjoying her friend's plight, nor was she actually envious, and Sakura was grateful for the silent support.

Kureno scooted to the far end of the cot, appearing unsure with the whole arrangement. Some of his golden hair fell into his eyes and he brushed it away with a flick of his hand, cut jaw working anxiously. It occurred to her that he really was handsome, ridiculously unusual personality aside.

"Are you…are you sure you three'll be alright?" he asked tentatively. He too understood the tense predicament for her and didn't make any jokes.

"Ask in the morning…" Sakura muttered. If she made it to the light of dawn, then that meant the answer was yes. For now it was still too unclear to say.

Figuring she'd end up in the middle, she lowered her body and started to crawl to her spot, mindful of how Madara was still kneeling there... half-naked. Settling inside was awkward, her every movement stiff as she waited to feel the warmth of the two additional bodies on either side of her.

She hated how her heart was equal parts terrified and giddy. Sakura didn't relish sharing close quarters with them but, well, they were attractive and she could admit that at least.

No way around it regardless. Madara was nice to look at and so was Izuna. The heat and weight of Madara laying on top of the bedroll beside her made her turn instinctively away, toward Izuna. Oh, she really wished she hadn't!

He was in the middle of pulling his shirt up and over his head, because she'd been a fool to think at least one Uchiha kept all their clothes on while they slept. They probably thought they were being modest… When they slept at home did they take off even more?

The thought briefly sent the wildly inappropriate image of being sandwiched between two men in nothing more than undergarments slamming into her mind and Sakura dove as deep into the bedroll as possible with a muffled yelp.

"Sakura, are you sure you're okay with this?" The thin material didn't filter out Izuna's voice. When she was brave enough to peek out of her cocoon, his toned abdomen was staring back at her. Well, to be fair her head was tilted back and staring at it, but she brought her traitorous eyes zipping up to his face before they had time to truly linger on the musculature definition veering beneath his stomach into his pants.

Her heart fluttered involuntarily all over again. Sakura couldn't remember a time when she'd seen Izuna with his hair down since they'd met, but now that it was, the resemblance between the two brothers was never stronger. The Uchiha genes were a force to be reckoned with, that was for sure. The medic that had been pushed down in favor of the young woman who had once been infatuated with an Uchiha, resurfaced. If it was possible, it would be interesting to study the dominance of their clan's genetics.

Sakura ignored the way her throat constricted, noting Izuna was taking in her very warm face with obvious concern. She wanted all his attention off her at the same time she couldn't help committing the length of his eyelashes and the fullness of his lips and the perfect structure of his nose and cheekbones to memory. 'So beautiful…' It was going to be a very hard night for her.

'Hard?!' Sakura mentally squealed. Why, of all possible adjectives, had her brain supplied her with that one?

"I'm just a little cold, I guess. It's fine." That was a convincing lie, wasn't it? Because her body was the furthest thing from cold.

"My memory may still be damaged," Madara's voice rumbled from beside her, entirely too close to her ear. "But I know the meaning of cold hasn't changed. Your body heat is bleeding through the fabric." he pointed out, voice flat.

"That just means you're probably laying way too close if you can feel it!" she snapped, twisting to give him the evilest eye possible. He could have done so many things. He could have definitely minded his business. But he chose to expose her to the entire room instead! Sakura wished her cheeks didn't at least give him so much credence, but unfortunately they were still bright as fresh roses.

"The downside of this sleeping arrangement, Haruno," Madara drawled, "Is everything about it. But the closeness especially is unavoidable if you hadn't noticed."

Instead of responding to the taunt she turned angry beryl eyes to the ceiling.

There was an uneasy break that was smothering, and Sakura used it to get her breathing under control. It didn't last long because she was made acutely aware of Izuna's proximity not long after. Sensing her dismay, perhaps, he too chose to remain on the outside of the bedroll.

That left Sakura to take what small comfort she could from the knowledge that there was a barrier that separated her thin yukata from their bare torsos. It hardly helped at all. Madara was right. It could be because she was hyperaware or because size aside, the bedroll wasn't for sharing, but she could feel their warmth starting to transfer to her. Her hand itched to start loosening her clothing, but she refrained.

"We should probably be prepared for an early morning…" Kureno's sleepy voice drifted through the stillness. "Junko said something about wanting to put us to work, have us help out with ship chores or something."

The group of five breathed an unhappy groan as one.

"I actually think I may enjoy learning new dishes from her," Yurine yawned. By that time the candles were starting to burn down, pulling the room further and further into darkness. Sakura heard faint rustling from the cot.

"Yurine…your desperation is starting to scare me. None of this actually increases your odds of finding love."

"Kureno," Yurine chirped sweetly.

"Yes? Ouch!" There was an audible thump as Sakura imagined him jumping up and landing ungracefully back down in place. "Did you just pinch me?"

"Good night~"

That was…one way of dealing with it.

It took Kureno a while to stop whining, but sleep must have taken them almost simultaneously because Sakura heard two sets of even breathing from their corner.

"I refuse to clean up after those cats." Madara announced suddenly. "Fish heads are disgusting on their way in. I don't need to see what happens after they've made the journey out."

"The cats love you," Izuna mumbled softly, snuggling a little further into the bedroll. Sakura held in her yelp as he rolled and his chest brushed her side. "Especially Madara."

Despite her urge to snicker, Sakura held that in too. From only inches apart, she could feel the ire rolling off of human Madara quite plainly. "Stop calling it that!"

"MadaMew." Izuna corrected himself.

Madara was still miffed, but he settled down and got quiet. Sakura expelled a loud breath, shifting as best she could without rubbing too much on either of her…bedmates. It was impossible to brace for anything other than a strange, long night.


The air was charged with the feeling of late fall. The leaves in the trees rattled, hues of yellows, oranges and reds that cast shadows along the ground when the sunlight dappled through.

Many trees were already bare, and every day the temperature seemed to drop more, until it wasn't chilly, but cold. In preparation, people had taken to bundling themselves, dressing in thicker clothing, sometimes dawning hats and scarves and anything else to keep extremities protected.

Fire Country was on the verge of another seasonal shift, and if snow started to drift down from the sky one day, Toka wouldn't be surprised. In the meantime though, she would train. Because her blood was restless and so was Tobirama's, and drawing their weapons on each other suited them both just fine.

The smallest distraction had his blade breaking under her guard and cutting at her throat. She managed to parry, not as efficiently as she'd like, but well enough to keep all her blood where it belonged. Toka leapt back several paces, weary of attempting to unbalance his blade with her own.

The fact was, she wasn't committed enough to her sword work today to get the upper hand. Not that way. So she sheathed it, watching Tobirama eye her warily, his mind already working through some analysis no doubt. But it was too late. She had him. He just didn't know it yet.

His right thigh jerked and then his leg buckled completely, his red gaze slightly bewildered as he took a rasping breath. To his credit, his knee never touched ground and he managed to right himself in the nick of time. Not that she expected anything less.

Tobirama was one of the few opponents capable of withstanding the full assault of one of her strongest genjutsu techniques. Almost anyone else would have been reduced to a quivering heap by then, their mind in tatters. Nevertheless, he wasn't completely unaffected, the shaking in his arms evident as he brought his hands together to release himself.

Toka was prepared for that, too. A slightly weaker genjutsu lay buried in the first, and when he blinked and found himself caught in a second trap, she didn't hesitate, flickering over to him and snapping her leg up in a kick that caught him under the chin. That did knock him off his feet. Tobirama let his body move into a fluid backflip, sword clenched tight in his right hand.

Toka withdrew her senbon and moved in close again, refusing to let him get the distance he needed for a Suiton attack. The slim weapons flew through the air and caught the sunlight, every needle hitting its mark. The younger Senju staggered to the side, landing clumsily as his sword slipped from his grasp. "How do you like my newest nerve agent, Tobirama?" There was no difference in station between them when they sparred. No need for formalities.

A small smirk of approval touched his lips, even as he grimaced in frustration. "Stronger than your last batch, yet not nearly potent enough to be deadly. I'd say anyone struck with these could expect a slow demise from you. Then again you always were sadistic." His body twitched involuntarily, hand unsteady as he reached for one of the senbon protruding from his calf.

Toka's red-painted mouth pressed thin, the bruise on her cheek inflicted earlier in their spar turning purple fast. "Aren't you the same?"

She felt the breeze stir the hairs pushed behind her ear and leaned away in time to avoid the kunai aimed at the back of her neck. One of Tobirama's clones stood close, glaring her down with several more kunai at the ready. "Yes," it sneered.

Toka spit her poisoned senbon. One, two, three… Each deflected a kunai thrown with deadly precision. The fourth pierced the clone through the chest, and it vanished in a burst of water that came spiraling toward her. Pivoting minutely, she noticed the real Tobirama had escaped her senbon, conducting the liquid from his defeated clone into an angry water dragon.

Teeth gritting determinedly, Toka let her fingers weave through the seals for her own counter-attack, a smaller but equally fierce dragon clashing with his own. The beasts snapped their jaws at each other, crashing together with the tightly held emotions of their casters behind them.

Soon the field was a sopping mess, both of them forced to seek higher, dry footing in the branches of two nearby trees. They held eye contact, no words necessary in the aftermath of what had been a sparring match filled with killing intent.

An onlooker may have wondered how they could ever claim to be allies, let alone friends from the same clan when the aggression behind their assaults would lead one to believe their intent was truly to destroy each other.

But Toka knew Tobirama needed it as much as she did, to be pushed in a controlled environment where no one would expect them to express feelings that had long been too difficult for either of them to unpack. Their understanding stretched back to childhood, a bond forged from stoicism.

Toka peered at the waterlogged earth, nodding to the white-haired man in the branches opposite hers as they worked in tandem to evaporate the excess liquid. With it, the agitation they'd been holding in evaporated too.

Toka didn't have to tell him how worried she was that Reira maintained her rebellious attitude, and he didn't have to speak a word about whatever trouble had spurred him to demand another of their brutal spars.

She wouldn't tell him to his face, but if she had to guess it was Uchiha-related again. He was hopelessly predictable sometimes, and it was no great secret he didn't agree with Hashirama's decision to allow Izuna Uchiha to go searching out his brother in Water Country.

Especially because the Uchiha clan had kicked up no small fuss that the Hokage had "sacrificed" both their heirs on a dangerous mission without properly consulting their council. So they'd watched Hashirama spend the last several days trying to placate the clan elders, ensuring them that both brothers were fine and on their way home.

Toka suspected they merely needed a reason to complain while they still could. Their heirs would return and they'd be forced to fall into line again, unable to badger the Hokage as much as they wished. Oddly, the woman acting as something of the leader in the absence of both brothers, didn't appear to hold Hashirama responsible in the slightest. He'd even explained that he preferred talking to her (although he wasn't sure to make of her constant flirtations), because she was by far the most reasonable.

She couldn't, however, do a thing to keep them all off Hashirama's back, and Tobirama noticed the sag in his brother's shoulders when he joined them for dinner each evening. In his own indirect way, Toka supposed Tobirama was only…concerned. Or the correct word could also be protective. He didn't appreciate the grief Hashirama was dealing with not only from the Uchiha elite but from "concerned citizens" who had objections that the ever-dangerous Kaguya were being allowed asylum.

Toka hopped down from her perch at the same time Tobirama did, both of them sporting a light sheen of sweat across their faces. 'Half of all issues would be settled before they arose if people were in the habit of minding their own business more.'

That was naturally too much to ask…

Tobirama tilted his head back and took in the cheerful sky. He'd forgone wearing his happuri, and his bangs were splayed across his damp forehead the same way she suspected hers were. He looked almost…at ease though. With the shine of suspicion gone from his eyes and the scowl absent from his mouth, Tobirama was just a handsome young man.

"Tea," she rasped, her voice chilled in her throat by the cold air until she cleared it. "Mei-san will have warm tea out by now."

A quiet huff brought a puff of white condensation past his lips. "She'll fuss," he said lightly.

Compared to the severity and length of past spars between them, their injuries were light today, certainly nothing that required any concern. It wouldn't stop Mei-san, the woman who had practically been a nursemaid to them and many other Senju children over the years. Of course now all of them were adults, or teenagers…or…

A slight shiver of shame ran down her arms, flashes of a girl who was always smiling surfacing. And how cruel were the gods, to give her that smile back and set it into the face of her niece? Toka stopped herself. She had to. "When doesn't she?" she returned as casually as possible.

"I could use the strength before I go face whatever…antics Hashirama's chosen to entertain himself with today."

"Heh…" Toka moved forward, her shadow drifting behind her. Tobirama's bobbed alongside it. She could tell him that Hashirama didn't need half as much watching as his brother thought he did. That the leader of the clan, Hokage of the village, and one of the most powerful shinobi of their generation, really, really enjoyed the control that came from having Tobirama hassle himself over his every shenanigan.

But deep down, Toka had a feeling Tobirama already knew. If the two were fine with their slight codependency, she wasn't one to interfere. She'd just said the world would be a better place if people kept their noses out of affairs that didn't expressly concern them.

Their shadows stretched and stretched but never snapped as they walked side by side back to the main hall of the compound. Toka was more than ready to bask in the small pleasure of some cold-weather snacks and the toe-curling heat that awaited her at the bottom of an empty cup.


Sometimes during the night, an already uncomfortable sleeping situation had morphed into pure hell. There was fishy breath in his face and a damp nose prodding his eyelid… Although it was much preferred to the absolutely horrifying discovery of a rear end directly pressed into his cheek, tail lying limp across his forehead.

The itch of fur settled under his nose made him sneeze, and he sat up with a jolt, nearly launching the cat sitting on his chest into the air. Instead it dug in with its nails and yowled in his face, unhappy with the disruption of its comfortable spot. Channeling some feline aggression of his own, Madara hissed his own displeasure and it scampered off.

The three more on him, one on his stomach and two on his legs, didn't seem as inclined to leave. While the heat of the purring body across his naked torso was nice, the evil look he was getting from the big, surly cat that had taken his name was not.

It came sauntering across the room with a sleek little tri-colored cat at his side. "Stay back," he warned, unsurprised by the hateful gleam in the beast's dark eyes. Tilting his head down to the three felines of varying colors who hadn't budged, he attempted to jostle them by twisting at the waist.

A feminine groan from his side caught his attention. "Too much hair…" she slurred, sleep still weighing heavily in her tone. As he turned, the cats finally dislodged themselves, but only long enough to let him shift onto his side. Then they were back again. And the two newcomers, the black gremlin and the little white cat with the orange and black patches and deep green eyes were sniffing at him.

He figured Haruno had been plagued by cats all night just like him. "I'm trying to get rid of them now if you don't mind," Madara snipped, not really expecting much answer.

"Not them," she sighed, wriggling around. Heat pooled under the skin of his belly when a small hand carded blindly through his hair and seized a thick chunk. Haruno tugged lightly. "You." she clarified. "All night, your hair's been in my face." Before he could decide whether or not he liked the way it felt to have her hand moving through the thick pieces that hung down around them, she removed it. "Izuna's too, actually."

Laying on his side, it wasn't hard to peer across the woman to see his brother sleeping soundly. There was an orange cat sound asleep on his neck, and a white cat wedged between his chest and Haruno's side, half inside the bedroll with her.

'Bastard…' he thought, not sure if he meant the cat or his brother. Izuna looked like the only one between the three of them who'd gotten a decent night's sleep. Even now, he slept on, oblivious to the shared discomfort between himself and Haruno—albeit for different reasons.

"Morning already?" A scratchy voice asked from the cot. The Uchiha recognized it as the male sibling.

"Kureno…why do you roll so much?" Yurine asked on a grunt.

"Is that why I kept feeling you try to push me out with your feet?" Kureno sounded genuinely curious, and Madara noted he didn't have a rebuttal to the fact that he was, apparently, a restless sleeper.

Her voice rose, indignant. "I was trying to keep myself from getting crushed, actually. And try not to sleep with your mouth open! You have fish breath from that stew…"

"Hah! Well you talk in your sleep. Want me to tell you about some of the things you mumble?" he offered tauntingly. Madara wanted to know where they found the energy and who gave them the right to expend it all at once so early in the morning when others were so clearly struggling.

Their bickering went on, but he blocked them out in favor of looking pointedly at Haruno.

"What?" she demanded, hair mussed charmingly.

"I did say the discussion wasn't over." he whispered. "You still haven't told me whether or not you're going to sprout a tail."


I had a sudden urge for the bed-sharing trope, and I had an urge to make it as funny and awkward as possible. So I did. Sakura's going to think twice in the future before she decides to buy anything above the bare minimum requirement for a mission. Hey, maybe it's thin reasoning, but it works for me so hopefully it works for all of you. Sometimes I like to remind myself (and readers) that Sakura is very much a closet perv in canon. lmao

Next chapter they'll be back on the mainland at some point and then in Konoha shortly after and there's…a lot waiting for them there. I decided to have the detailed recounting of the mission wait for when they have to face Hashirama and Tobirama. And don't worry, because the Senju brothers will be back in many more scenes with Sakura.

Don't forget to review and thanks for reading.