The trip back home had been a long one, Izuna's silence had been almost deafening. Madara knew that Izuna would be withdrawn, but he did not think it would be this bad… His little brother barely even looked at him. That is why he did not understand, if Izuna did not want to do this, then why did he agree? Was he mad at Madara? Or was he mad at whatever it was that Tobirama said to him? He knew Izuna went to see Tobirama.
As it sat, Izuna has been locked away in his room for since the moment they had gotten back, and Madara was more than a little bit worried. But he did not really have the time to sit and try and coax his brother out of the room, he had to plan the wedding. Hashirama had given the Uchiha the clearance to whichever ceremony they wanted. And Izuna had mentioned to him about wanting to do the hand binding ritual, something that Hashirama seemed familiar with.
'Kawarama and Itama's mother wanted to be married by hand binding as well, I remember it well.' He had said, whereas Tobirama had heard of it, but was too young to remember.
That was a tradition that most Uchiha tried to hang on to. So, he was not entirely shocked that Izuna wanted to hang onto that tradition. And Tobirama did not seem all that bothered by it either, he looked curious. So, he could assume that the Senju had abandoned the old ways of hand binding at that point, which was not surprising, the Nara do not even do it anymore either.
It seemed as if the Uchiha were the only ones who wanted to try and keep with the old ways, and he sometimes wondered if that was holding them down as a clan or not.
With a shake of his head, he went off to go to debate with the Elders. It was a debate because the old crones could not decide on shit and continued to change their minds all the time.
-
Madara wanted to rip his hair out.
Talking with the Elders was already a pain in the ass, but now. It's worse. They are arguing over every little thing.
"Enough!" He yelled. "The Senju are being kind enough to let us put more of our own touch into this, we are not going to take it totally over! How would you like if they did that to us?!" he snapped.
Hashirama was kind and allowed them to have a more Uchiha styled wedding. But he was not going to force Tobirama into the Uchiha's style wedding gowns. Tobirama was a prideful man, he at least deserved to be allowed to wear the Senju style if he so pleased. "I will not budge on this, at all." He said to them.
The looks he got from them were worth it, they knew that had made him angry. And if he really wanted to, he could kill them. But he was not that cruel, he wasn't like Tajima.
"So, what are you saying them, Madara?" one of them asked.
And Madara could hear the suspicion. "It will go as I said. Tobirama will be allowed to wear the Senju style, I see nothing wrong with that. " He quickly noticed one of the elders, a woman, Koharu, start to protest and he held a hand, silencing her. "No, Hashirama and I have long since spoken, the Senju are not expecting Izuna to change his surname. This is a political-" he really hated the sound of it. But that is what it was. "And has said that he does not expect Tobirama and Izuna to fall in love, though if they do that will just be an added plus. But this is to show that the Senju and Uchiha can make things work." He said to them. "So Tobirama is not required to change to Uchiha if he does not want to." He said to them.
"And I will hear no more arguments on this."
The discussion was closed, there was no more they could say to try and change his mind. Because he was set on what he said, and no one was going to be able to change that. "Now, I think we need to try and coax my brother out of his room to start him for measurements of his clothing." He said to them.
He was glad to see the cringing, good, they are unnerved with Izuna. The brat is rather cruel to the elders, but the old asses deserve it really. He got up from the chair he was seated in and moved to leave the room, he would leave it to them to try and get Izuna out of his room. (If he does not chut their heads off first) A lot of people knew better to mess with Izuna while he was in a mood, and he may have sent Hashirama a letter to better prepare Tobirama for Izuna's mood swings. He did not doubt Tobirama and his brain, but he also wondered how much the other thought emotion wise, and not just what was expected? That was always the difference between Tobirama and all the Uchiha.
Madara went back to his office, he needed to get the final arrangements ready. It took them four days to get back from the land the Nara use to neutral location for meetings. So, he only had barely two and a half weeks to get this all done. It was already stressful as was, but at least at the end of it, they would have peace. He just hoped that Izuna and Tobirama would be alright in the end.
A small sigh left his lips as he shifted and started writing out plans that he would have to send to the Nara as well, so they were prepared for things that were going to happen as well.
-
Izuna was pissed when one of the elders came, screeching outside his door that he had to let a seamstress in to measure him. He knew it had to be done, but the old bat did not have to screech so loud that seven of their neighbors would be able to hear everything he said. He truly had no idea why Madara even kept the elder council around, it is not like their father was even alive anymore, so there was really no need for them.
But he eventually allowed the old man in with the young woman to take him measurements.
It just cemented the fact that this was happening, and it wasn't even as though he hated it, because he didn't… Not really at least. He just hated how it was happening. The fact that he was being forced to marry the person of his affections was the issue. It was not for love, and if it wasn't for the peace that their brothers wanted, none of this likely would have happened at all. He did not blame Madara for wanting peace, but that did not mean he had to agree with it as well. He liked Tobirama a lot, but he had hope that if marriage were to come out of anything, it would be because Tobirama also liked him in the same way.
He stared down at the tape that was being used to take his measurements. He had seen a few of what men and woman wore when they married, and the old coot was muttering about Izuna having to wear a mix of woman and men's traditional robes. That made him wonder if that would be the case for Tobirama as well, or if Tobirama would be wearing just the men's version.
A small sigh left his lips as he started up at the ceiling. There was no backing out of this now.
-
Tobirama had long since allowed the woman to take his measurements, it was weird watching her doing it in the most excited manor, it almost reminded him of Hashirama in a way, but then again, she was a cousin of Hashirama's mother, so- Gods, the more he thought about Hashirama's mom, he remembers stories of Hashirama saying she was just like Butsuma. And that was a scary thought.
Daichi Senju had been a kunoichi from the Land of Water, she was a terrifying woman, according to Touka. And Hashirama's words back her up as well, he was glad he had never met her.
He had sat and listen to Hashirama talk about his own mother, Yukimi Hatake, whose mother was a Yuki. She had married Butsuma not long after Daichi had passed. Hashirama was not sure why Butsuma had taken an Hatake as a bride. But he described her as nice, and only scolded him when he tried to climb into Tobirama's bassinet. Which Tobirama could understand, that was a dangerous thing to do anyways.
it was Himari they both remembered, and well. She was a beautiful Uzumaki woman, with the longest red hair. She had always worn it up, except when she was at him. She had been Kawarama and Itama's mother. But she had treated Hashirama and Tobirama as if they had been her sons as well, and their father had been absolutely in love with her. And he had died not long after his third wife had, she had died trying to kill the ones who had killed her sons.
A soft sigh left his lips as soon as the girl was done, he did not understand why he was thinking back to his father's wives. Things were different now, neither of hem were going to have to marry more than once. And Hashirama will be the only one to produce heirs now anyways. He was going to have to ask about Izuna's mother, if he would allow him to that was.
-
Hashirama looked through the fabrics that were in front of him, he had to make a choice of what shade of white he wanted Tobirama's wedding outfit to be, white and a off cream color was customary for men. Madara had said that Izuna would be wearing a mix of both fabrics. And he wondered if he should have Tobirama wear both the white/cream and green, which the green was what the woman wore. A small sigh left his lips as he sat back. He had all the fabric in front of him. He could have the green worked in there. He grabbed all three fabric and handed them off to Touka.
"Have them work in the green, if Izuna is wearing a mix of the mens and females clothing, Tobirama can wear the same. To make them have equal footing, I'm sure Izuna would appreciate it." He said to his cousin.
Touka looked at the fabric and sighed. "Fine, I don't think Tobirama will care what he wears anyways." She said to him.
And that was true, Hashirama knew. Tobirama was prideful, but he was not like their father at all. Really, hardly any of them were like Butsuma, unless genuinely pissed off. And really, hand and Tobirama had vowed to never be like their father. Which is why Hashirama stepped up willingly to the plate when Butsuma had died.
The child killings had stopped, and not long after they had stopped with the Senju, the Uchiha had stopped as well. And that was the only sign he had that Madara had taken over the Uchiha before they had met in battle. Which had only been a few times before they tried brokering for peace.
Which had ultimately led them to where they were now.
Hashirama knew that marriage beyond love was not the Uchiha's style.
But if it was the only way to get to peace, and their little brothers agreed to it… He had given Tobirama all the options he could to pull out, reminding him that he did not expect Tobirama to go through with something like this if he did not want to. Despite how Tobirama acted, he knew that his little brother had a heart.
But he had been firm on his agreement to this.
And Hashirama felt a bit bad, Tobirama was always loyal to him to a fault. He had a feeling that Tobirama was only doing this because Hashirama wanted peace more than anything.
A small sigh left his as he watched Touka leave the room, just barely over two weeks and his and Madara's brothers would be married. It was a strange feeling. He settled back into his chair and looked up at the ceiling. Thinking back to a time where their dream so much easier than what it really was.
It would not be so bad if their elders were not so demanding on what needed to be done. That was always the issue, there would always be those who would not trust this peace. No matter how hard they worked at being able to make it work, putting their minds and souls into it. The elders would always be stuck in their ways, and Hashirama was aware of this. As much as it pained him to think about it, he knew there were a few that felt the same way as the elders. Whispers told him as much. But there was little he was able to do about it at this point.
They would have peace; their little brothers were hanging up their pride for this.
And Hashirama would make sure it works, for their sakes as much as for his and Madara's as well.
-
There was not a lot that worried Madara.
But as the weeks inched closer to the marriage of his and Hashirama's brothers. He found himself a bit on edge. Of course, his elders were still nitpicking. But that wasn't the real issue, he was just have anxiety, and he was not even the one getting married...
He had asked Izuna, who had finally come out of his room and started to act normal after three days.
He was currently sitting in his office, Izuna lounging off on the couch that was there, he could not help but glance to his brother every so often.
"Madara, would you work and stop staring at me? Its unnerving." Izuna complained.
Madara huffed a little bit at Izuna's words, he then threw an apple at the youngers head, and of course he caught it. He never aimed to harm his brother, but he knew well that Izuna was good. So, it was not shocking when he caught it, and started to eat it.
"Thanks for the lunch." He chirped.
Madara groaned. "Can't you go nap in Hikaku's office?" he asked him. Feeling the tick of irritation at the fact that he knew Izuna was now just being a little shit, he almost pitied Tobirama, this is what he would have to deal with, if not on a worse scale than this.
Izuna tilted his head back to look at Madara, swallowing chewing the piece of apple his had in his mouth before swallowing it. "Nope~ I have to annoy the living shit out of you before I'm married, I may not have time to do this often after that." He spoke. He did not sound resentful, something that Madara had expected, so it was shocking to see that Izuna did not feel any type of resentment, he was mentally prepared for it now.
Madara rolled his eyes. "No, you just want to do it for the hell of it." He said to him. "You know you will be able to still see me, and when the village is built, it will be easier." He added. He was excited for the village, the land they had picked was not owned by anyone, and they were given the okay to start up a village from the daimyo himself.
Izuna rolled his eyes a bit as he turned, facing Madara now. "And? I still want to bother you now." He said to him. He knew Madara would not make him leave, he never did. And he was right when Madara just shook his head.
"Fine, fine. Stay then." He said, he always caved when it came to Izuna. Even more so now, when he knew time to have his brother sharing a home with him was slowly getting closer to the end. Two and half weeks went by fast, he glanced to the date. It was already almost a week until the wedding, and they would have to leave in two days to get to the Nara's land for it…
He knew Izuna was thinking the same thing, which he could imagine that was part of why Izuna was there with him, he would always seek Madara out when he was a child and something had been nerve wracking for him. So, he was sure, in the last few days he had as a single person, he wanted to spend with his brother, because both sets of elders agreed that Tobirama and Izuna staying with the Nara was better than making either one of them go to one or the other clans.
So that meant Tobirama and Izuna only had a few days left to spend with their brothers.
So Madara wasn't going to complain to much about his brother spending time with him, because they both knew they were going to miss each other's company when they were no longer able to spend all that much time around each other, at least not until the village was built.
