asoiaf!naruto; tied to the other drabbles in my other collections titled dragonless. fem!izuna.
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a raven perched on the only empty chair of the small council. a thin red ribbon tied on its leg. it meant only one thing:
izuna was dead.
their heated discussion abruptly stopped as emperor madara cursed aloud and stormed out the room. she was not supposed to go, no. but she was his commander general and crown princess. her presence was needed to quell the rebellious clan in the east. the kaguya would pay for her death, oh he would make them pay with every last soul of their bone-growing brood. dragonless he was, but nobody would say uchiha madara was less deadlier than any of his dragon-riding ancestors.
he alone should suffice.
"madara!"
he stopped, listening to her hasty footsteps descending the staircase. what does she want now, of all times?
"don't go."
angrily he turned around, pushing the empress to a wall. "you don't understand, hashirama," he hissed, the boiling rage in his chest distorted his voice, and he tasted ashes on his throat. "you don't care about izuna the way i do. they will have to pay."
"and they will pay." hashirama dared to look at him in the eye and said everything will be okay-no, nothing would be okay or the same not until madara gave them the taste of death just like they stole izuna's life.
his hands needed to destroy.
hashirama's hands slowly lifted, cupping his cheeks with trembling fingers. "madara, you're the emperor of the realm."
"don't i have the right to punish those who slew my heir?" he shook her bare shoulders. she responded by hugging him. he had to swallow back his fire.
"they're luring you out," she said softly, rubbing his back, "it is you whom they want to kill. i want them to pay for izuna's death too, but if you go alone-"
"i won't die."
"don't risk it. the realm needs you-"
"and where was i when my sister needed me?" he growled into her bare neck, releasing his fiery breath upon her skin. her passive regeneration kicked in, undoing the damage he inflicted.
madara admired and hated this ability of hers. he could never, ever truly hurt her. she would brush off the pain and laugh. even when they were against each other, she was only focused to stop the war.
hashirama saw the emperor, but not himself.
for a senju lady trained to fight the sharingan, every waking moment is a war against him, despite her belief that peace had returned to the realm.
(this blood of asura makes an ugly empress, don't you think?)
"do you want me to go?" she asked back, and it sounded like a mockery.
"you?" he laughed, incredulous. "izuna won't forgive me if i didn't go get her body home." madara put some distance between them.
"bring an army with you," she said, almost like a plea. if it was truly a plea, she'd say it as if she was standing on some pedestal built by the other half of the realm who refused to bend their knees for him.
he hated how she easily swayed the commoners, the nobles, his own supporters to join her side, and before long the entire realm had bent their knees for her. madara was the emperor, the only one acknowledged by the throne, but hashirama made it no less than a title.
anger flowed within his bloodstream; anger, hatred, jealousy and one thousand other things unnamed by the scholars. they were lost and distraught, unable to find a proper release.
there was only one way out.
"i don't need an army," he said as he pulled her into a kiss, leaving her no room to breathe.
he burned and bruised her again that night, but she merely closed her eyes and sang painful pleasures that agitated him to no end. her skin healed before he could leave his marks, while she dug lines on his back that would serve as a reminder for days.
that no matter how hard madara hurt her, hashirama would never truly tasted the pain.
and they would never look at each other in the eye.
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it was an hour before dawn when he gazed at the empress's sleeping form, and jumped out the window. the darkness concealed him as he ran towards the east. he summoned the fox when he was far enough from the palace.
madara vowed to bring izuna home, and he would.
