.
.
"Why won't you wear a flak jacket?" Hashi asks. It's after their battle and they're sheltering in the lean-to, putting away their weapons. Madara shrugs.
"I don't like the feel of it. I prefer the heft of our old plate armor."
"Eh..." Hashi frowns. His plate armor had gotten destroyed when he first invoked the Rinne Tensei on himself.
She hands him the two handkerchiefs in her pocket - hers and the one she had forcibly taken from him earlier. He rolls them up and stuffs them in their bag.
Their battle was an elaborate form of "Capture the Flag." They would both each start with their own handkerchief: the goal would be to try to steal the other one. It was a genius modification and a practical way to ensure they'd both go all out without having to try to kill the other. "You may have gone all out, but I did not," Madara says.
Hashi raises her eyebrows. "Oh?" she says. Madara smirks.
"I could summon an asteroid and completely decimate this valley if I wanted to."
Hashi remembers - Madara often brags about the two asteroids he summoned when he fought alone against the shinobi alliance. She zips up their bag.
"Ne," she says, straightening. "Can you stop those asteroids mid-air, once you summon them? Or do they just slam into the earth once they're there?"
"Of course I could stop them. I'd have complete control over all of them."
"Well..." she rises, dusting her hands on her knees. "Do you want to try it?"
"Try what?"
"Summoning an asteroid or two. See if I can stop it?"
Madara cackles, excited. "Hashirama, even you will not be able to stop it. I wield the power of the gods!" He looks absolutely giddy at the thought. Hashi grins.
"Try it," she says. Madara's face splits into a psychotic grin.
He throws down their sack of weapons and strides out toward the center of the valley. Clapping his hands, his Susanoo flares around him, all at once splitting into threes, its hands also in a summoning position. There's a sudden gust of wind, the rain starting to fall in harsh sheets, and suddenly the clouds part, and the asteroid comes hurtling toward them.
Hashi claps her hands. "Mokuton, Kajukai Kōrin!"
Trees explode violently through the earth, their trunks rapidly expanding to the same width and breadth as the asteroid coming toward them. The asteroid slams into the branches but more tree trunks shoot upwards, reinforcing them. The ground shudders and a second asteroid crashes into the first, but the trees bow, holding steady. A cloud of dust and pollen rises up around the flowering forest like smoke.
Madara starts laughing, delighted and unhinged. "Splendid! Splendid! Of course you are the only one who could take me! The power of the gods and you stopped them with your stupid trees!"
"Hey. My trees aren't stupid," Hashi says, but he shoves her against the wall of their lean-to and kisses her hard, grinning against her mouth.
It's a secret quirk of their marriage, and something Hashi had long suspected even before they got together - that every time he's beaten by her, he gets incredibly, uncontrollably aroused. Hashi laughs, throwing an arm around him as he drives into her with a punishing rhythm, grinning against her neck and shoving her against the rocky floor.
"You know, most men would feel threatened by this," Hashi says. They're lying sated beneath a blanket, Madara's head resting on her chest while she cards her fingers through his hair, thoughtfully. She hears Madara scoff softly.
"Most men are idiots. Only a genius of my caliber could appreciate it."
Hashi smiles. They kiss and settle against each other quietly.
The sun shines brightly the next morning, and Hashi follows Madara down the trail while he hitches up their pack. She carries his battle fan - it's lighter than her summoning scroll, and while Madara would prefer to carry everything, she insisted she help.
They walk back, the dirt road to the village dappled in greens and yellows, the streaks of hazy sunlight coming through the canopy of trees.