Author: Ri-Ryn
Genre: Horror/Angst
Chapter 4: Bailiwick
Word Count: 801
Rating: M for Mature Teens/T+
Summary: Tobirama didn't really feel the warm body slung over shoulder; all he thought of was his brother's cooling flesh and a tiny Shisui - equally cold - both in death's embrace and waiting for he and Kagami to hurry.
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Musashi Kishimoto.
A/N: I'm still working on these prompts, promise. Dedicated to the lovely Atqh16 from AO3, you're beyond kind. Thank-you for your extensive praise I'm undeserving of. I dedicate this prompt to you though it's nowhere near the quality of the one you reviewed. Thank-you.
A/N 2: - Bailiwick:** 2. (n.) a person's area of skill, knowledge, authority, or work
Whumptober 2021 Prompts; D#4: "Do you trust me?" | taken hostage | pushed
Warnings: Mental Health Issues, Angst, Tragedy. Infant Death. Human sacrifices. Horror. Edo Tensei. Death. Insanity. Codependency.
The village is on fire, billowing smoke clouding the night sky as a slew of Iwa and Kumo forces breach their walls. Civilians are screaming, attempting to flee before they too were pinned on structures via weapons or diced to moisten the compacted streets. It is a betrayal of the highest order, not even twenty-four hours since Tobirama returned with his elder brother from the five kage summit. A return that sees the bijū gifted to other villages and Mito recovering as a radical, template weapon.
Tobirama's unable to muster the falsest of sympathies, his heart dead. The body isn't right, the skin color akin to burnt ash and blood soured. Sage knew when they poisoned his Anija, when those heathens desecrated Tobirama's soul and chilled his niche emotional capacity. Hashirama would be disappointed if he knew Tobirama stands and watches rather than assisting while simultaneously crying at the poetic sentiment of their brotherly bond.
Tobirama knows its codependency born of their past.
Anija is dead, doesn't feel anything right now or know where he rests. Anija isn't the only one deceased and he will not rest alone tonight.
He's a beautiful baby born with pale skin, curly hair almost dark blue-gray rather than ebony and unique to Kagami's lineage. Shisui's eyes are a shade light enough from onyx to see his pupils and irises faintly amethyst from a nameless mother.
The coupling with a nameless woman in fire country from a nameless village had been consensual, the resulting sprout intentionally hoped for. For her safety, Kagami is grateful she decided to keep the pregnancy. He checks periodically, ensures her health throughout the gestation and retrieves his son six weeks after birth when her colostrum is long dried and a milk bank in place within Konoha.
Kagami's bloodline is despised among the Uchiha, tainted. Conversely, Kagami abhors the inbred, insular nature of his clan - refusing to take a pure blood bride to impart his strength.
'Still Waters' for Tobirama-sensei whom allowed and sanctioned Kagami's escapades for his child's birth; not to mention a vicious slight to the scorn of his clan.
Tobirama routinely absconds with his former student's progeny, lulls the tiny sapling to sleep while reading aloud infrastructure and laws or feeds the mighty warrior already displaying his father's temperament.
His last student to be refrains from dressing his personage in rice paste or mashed carrots. The Senju heir is in love, a love that crumbles in comparison only before the one Shisui's father carries for his newborn kindling.
When the village is invaded, Kagami understandably abandons his post to bring his commanding officer a body one month shy of year. Holes mark absent fangs and venomous tracks blemish the infant, eyes glazed and face contorted from a painfully benighted death. Kagami says nothing, minted mangekyō enshrining his prematurely snuffed kindling.
Tobirama loses no time to grief, his brother's body already secure. Instead he's pleased with the happenstance that if death was foretold, Shisui was old enough for the irreplaceable words.
"Rove you."
"To-ji."
"Chichi."
It will be easier to acclimate this way, Kagami having his son back.
If they dally any longer, though, everyone will die and a hindrance they cannot afford currently for Konoha is strong enough to repel this attack initiated through the benefit of an ambush.
Tobirama pleasingly tucks the corners of Shisui's blanket in, a gesture for the living. He had sewn it the day Kagami told him of the coming seedling.
"We'll need one more, before Anbu cleans up." He shifts the paralyzed intruder on his shoulder, cognizant and alive in every way that matters aside from the seal needled into his skin. "Alive."
Kagami must have a vague idea, catching glimpses of his past sensei's research, the bodies brought in with nothing to dispose of from the lab later. A blind eye turned, Kagami understands now. He never knew a festering loss until today.
"Do you trust me?" Tobirama queries, jostling the body one more time to ensure a conjoint understanding.
"…Shisui," Kagami despairs, his son motionless in his hands.
"Hashirama," Tobirama reciprocates, observing the other's tremulous inhalation.
With practiced familiarity, Shisui's sling is transferred to Tobirama and Kagami off for their fleeing materials.
The suiton master nuzzles the baby gently, setting pace for this lab where Kagami would dutifully reunite with them.
They would need a house for all four of them - his brother to be content with a raging forest, serene garden and caring for Shisui while the other two occupants worked.
Tobirama wants to move Kagami into village security and for that to happen he needs the seat of the Hokage rather than truly wants it.
Tobirama smiles, racing faster towards his lab - felicity lay ahead. It costs numerous, necessary deaths, two loves, and now two souls.
D#5: Clemency
O betrayal | O misunderstanding | X broken nose