Time Heals All Wounds
Summary: The day Tobirama died happens earlier, during Hashirama's time as Hokage when they are at war with almost every mew village but years after Madara's death. Only he didn't die. He somehow ended up in a time not his own and met a familiar face he though gone forever. Can he get back? And what of his new friend?
Waking up to another occupant of his small house other than Kurama, his pet fox he had found shortly after he had moved in, was a bit of a jarring experience for Madara. He had been living alone in this house, with no other company than his furry companion for a bit over a year now, having officially bought it some time after his sixteenth birthday, but he had been in this house since he was a little over fifteen years old in an attempt to escape his father's constant disappointment for not being the man's money and fame source and the scorn of his siblings for whom he would have once upon a time done anything for. His new guest was a surprisingly nice change of pace, even though this meant he'll have to pick up working two jobs again in order to bring enough food to the table to feed all three of them. There was no way he was letting a real life ninja go out into the world to try and work a normal job. The man would probably give himself away in some ridiculously overpowered way like in an anime or something and then the world would be chasing him for the knowledge he possessed.
Not that Madara actually knew what knowledge the man might possess, he didn't even know his name, but he knew how humanity can be towards new and unknown things. His guest would be treated as no more than a lab experiment at worst and be killed at best. At least if they kill him straight away, he won't be dissected but he wondered if his new companion agreed with that assessment.
Still, Madara was glad it was the weekend now because he wouldn't feel all that comfortable to leave a man well out of his time to himself in his home while he still had no idea how more than half of the things in the house worked. Electricity, surprisingly enough, wasn't anything new to him though he said it was rare in the Fire Country and much more common among civilians than among shinobi - the proper term for ninja, apparently - but the appliances that were run by it sure as hell were. He'd never seen a television before and had accused Madara of casting something called a genjutsu - something he had mentioned yesterday as well, now that Madara thinks about it - but had listened with rapt attention as the teen explained and was fascinated with all the different channels ever since. Madara had left him to it as he prepared an easy breakfast for them both, finding amusement in such an intimidating man making such childishly curious expressions whenever he tried to figure out why there was such a different between, say, the news reports and anime. Obviously he recognized that one was real life but the animated pictures drew him up a blank and he would not accept any of the reasons Madara gave for creating such a thing as good enough. Apparently he was a scholar through and through and his frustration with trying to figure out the deeper meaning of a silly children's show was highly amusing.
Madara had no problem spending his breakfast mildly bickering in a goodnatured fashion with his guest while Kurama glared at said guest's back, only making the albino's returned suspicious glares all the more amusing. Kurama was a very intelligent animal and he had been wary of Madara at the beginning, but he seems to have grown attached to him and the fox grew protective as well. Kurama had never been great with new faces, too used to it being only him and Madara. Their new roommate did not impress him at all and the fox made certain to show his claim over Madara as his human rather obvious, much to the white haired man's confusion and frustration and Madara's further delight.
After breakfast, Madara rolled up his futon and put it in the closet before doing some light house chores, checking on the shinobi's gear and spreading out his now clean clothes. The man will probably be a lot more comfortable in his own clothing than the hoodie and sweats Madara had given them, bought from a theft store two blocks over. He was just lucky to have anything that was a bit too big on himself or else he'd have a shinobi walking around in only his underwear, something he'd rather not see in fear of dying of mortification.
Or blushing. The man was very fit, all hard, corded muscle developed no doubt from a lifetime of training and battle.
Madara had had a really hard time going to sleep last night with the images still so fresh in his head from the time he had been cleaning the man's wound.
That reminded the teen that he needed to check up on his new housemates wound again, to make sure he hadn't pulled the stitches overnight or that infection hasn't crept in on them despite his best efforts. With a sigh, Madara grabbed his first aid kit and walked back into his living room slash sleeping room, where he found the shinobi leafing through one of his chemistry textbooks with an intrigued expression on his face. Madara cleared his throat to signal he wanted the other's attention even though he knew the man was perfectly capable of sensing him the exact moment he entered the room. Apparently he was a 'sensor', which meant he knew exactly where people were if they were in his 'sensory range' and Madara's chakra - his life energy, as the other had explained - stood out and so he always knew where Madara was at all times. Madara wasn't sure if that was cool or a bit creepy.
When ruby eyes met his, he showed the first aid kit as an explanation. "I should probably check on your wound again. Just in case we were both too tired last night to notice anything alarming."
"Oh," the white haired man seemed startled as he was reminded of the fact that he was, indeed, wounded, looking down at his side as though he noticed only then. When he looked back at Madara, it was to shrug casually and wave him away. "There won't be any need of that. I can take care of it myself."
"Like hell you can," Madara immediately contradicted, glaring at the stubborn idiot in hopes of making him submit and admit how stupid that sounded. The shinobi, of course, did't, but he wasn't giving up, either. "You nearly bled to death all over me just yesterday. There's no way you can wrap your own wound properly given the location. You'll just pull your stitches and I'll have to redo the whole thing all over again!"
"This isn't the first time I've been alone and injured, you know," the other pointed out but Madara just huffed. Red eyes rolled and the man casually took off his borrowed shirt, making the teen squeak in mortified embarrassment, and started unwrapping the bandages with an ease that did indeed speak of much practice. "Just watch."
"Take it easy, you idiot!" Madara was at his side instantly, trying to bat his hands away but the man had already unwrapped the bandages from his middle and the boy nearly jumped away when one pale hand came up, glowing with some sort of green energy as the shinobi pressed it to his wound. To his astonishment, the skin started stitching itself back together in such a way that it indicated the same was happening on a deeper level and Madara watched in awe as the stitches came loose as the wound healed completely, leaving behind only a thin, pale scar against milky white skin. "What? How did you do that?"
"A ninja is no more than a tool in battle. Shinobi must be able to continue fighting, which is why we have trained medic ninjas who specialize in healing. If every injured soldier was unable to continue fighting, our wars would wipe us out before three battles took place," his companion explained, taking Madara's hand and guiding his fingers to touch the now healed wound. "See? All nice and healed."
"Is that where you got injured? In a war?" Madara asked in a breathy voice, still unable to believe what he had seen. The man seemed a bit winded from his own feat but he was in a much better shape than he had been yesterday, especially now that there was no wound he was risking to reopen.
The shinobi didn't answer his question. Rather, he seemed very intensely focused on Madara's neck. Oh, right. He had been able to hide it from a distance but this up close there was no way the other wouldn't see the bandages wrapped around his neck from where a kunia had just yesterday nicked his skin. This man's kunai. "I hurt you."
"It's nothing, just a little scratch." A little scratch that had made half of his normal activities just a tad painful, but nothing to cry over. It will heal soon enough, though he hoped it healed well enough until Monday so he doesn't have to deal with the school's reaction, be it his peers or the teachers.
The albino man didn't seem to agree, because he narrowed his eyes at him before Madara felt a warm tingling sensation at the place he'd been nicked and soon enough, whatever little pain he was feeling faded. The man drew his hand back just enough to take off his bandages and then calloused fingers were trailing over his neck, nary a scar from the little nick left. "There, all better."
"Thanks," he breathed, a bit out of breath as he tried not to fidget uncomfortably. He cleared his throat and figured he might as well. "You know, for someone who's pretty much well acquainted with my neck at this point, I think it's about time we had a formal introduction, if you don't mind."
The adult blinked and leaned back, startled. "Oh. You're correct, my apologies. I am Senju Tobirama, a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."
Well, he hadn't meant that formal but whatever rocks the older male's boat. "Utaha Madara." He stuck out a hand to shake - he had never been comfortable with Japan's bowing tradition - but the albino - Tobirama, he corrected himself now that he had a name - was seemingly too busy staring at him incomprehensibly. "What?"
"Utaha? Not Uchiha?"
"As far as I'm aware, yes," he replied a bit uncertainly, not sure what had Tobirama so stumped though he figured it might have something to do with the man he reminded him of. 'Hadn't he called me Uchiha Madara when we first met?' He'll have to look in to that as well as any information he might find on the Senju. He doubted there would be many historical texts about them but perhaps there will be some records that could tell them who they were and what had happened to them. He was sure his new housemate will be grateful for it. "What, someone named themselves after fans?"
"Well, given those are fans meant for stoking fire and that the Uchiha were a clan renowned for their fire natured chakra, I guess it only made sense to them to name themselves such." That ... Was not an answer Madara was expecting.
"Chakra has nature?"
"Of course. Every chakra signature is completely individual but they also have something in common. Each chakra signature has an affinity towards one of the base elements of nature: fire, water, earth, wind and lightning. Based on these natures, shinobi preform jutsus, like so." Madara couldn't keep his jaw from dropping when a globe of water appeared between Tobirama's hands out of nowhere with seemingly no effort from the man. "Each person has an affinity for one or more elements. They can do jutsus of any other element, sure, but certain elements will always come easier than others. Me, for example, I have an affinity towards water, or suiton, and if rumors are to be believed, I am the greatest suiton user to have lived so far. You, on the other hand, as well as the Madara I know are living furnaces, burning brighter and hotter than the sun. Your chakra is oriented towards fire, katon. The Uchiha Clan as a whole are partial towards fire at their very core even if individuals develop other chakra affinities as well, though so far I've never actually met an Uchiha with a water affinity."
"Okay, that's beyond cool. My brothers would freak if they met you." Not that he would ever bring Tobirama to meet his family. They'd be judgmental even before they stepped into their home and them meeting the man and they'd probably send them both to the insane asylum. "So, any idea how you wound up here, Tobirama-san."
"Tobirama will be fine and no, not a slightest clue." He frowned, obviously not liking the idea that he didn't know something and Madara considered him for a long moment.
"Well, what's the last thing you remember? Where were you, what were you doing? Can you recall what caused the wound? Was there anyone with you? Can you recall the last twenty four hours? I mean, before all but dropping on my neck, that is."
Tobirama paused to think, clearly trying to remember the possible answers to all of Madara's questions, getting lost in thought. The raven haired young man found himself patiently waiting, easily welcoming Kurama when the fox nestled itself in his lap some minutes later. Kurama still wasn't giving up on glaring at their new companion but at least he seemed content to just huff in Tobirama's general direction as Utaha carded his fingers through orange fur.
"I ... I believe I was trying to get away. I was in danger, I was injured - as you no doubt noticed - and I was tired. I couldn't fight anymore and my opponents, two I think, were too strong for me in my current state at that time. I would guess it was one of them that caused the wound but that's about as far back as I currently remember. Shock, a concussion and blood loss might have muddled some of my memories at this point. The only thing I know for sure was that I wasn't what I would usually call 'far' from Konoha."
"Okay, how did you make your escape? Did you use any of your ninja arts? Because that seems more likely given your state when I found you, or the other way around."
That only made Tobirama frown more, contemplating the possibilities. "Yes, I agree. I think I was using Hiraishin, a jutsu of my own making, a sort of teleportation that works through summoning marks. I- It would have been the only way to escape such a situation but there is simply no way for it to malfunction in such a way as to deposit me in a completely different place and an even more entirely different time."
"Well, have you ever tried to test out the limits before you started using it?" Madara asked pointedly, which unsurprisingly made the other male look away with a grunt. "I suppose you never would have thought that simple teleportation could displace you in time. Who would, though? Even our science fiction doesn't mix those two and modern day writers mix everything. Do you remember if anything peculiar happened prior or during your attempt to escape?"
Tobirama regarded him for a moment. Him, not his question and Madara fidgeted. "You ask questions like a proper scientist," the Senju observed, making the boy snort.
"I don't know what kind of schooling system you had in Konoha but that's actually pretty common in schools these days, learning the proper scientific method so kids can decide early on if they're interested in science or something else. I'd much prefer working as a zoo keeper for birds of prey than be stuck in lab coats, though that doesn't excuse me from having to learn the general basic things our educational system insists on. Not if I don't want to lose my scholarship and work several jobs just to pay the bills and buy food."
"Hm, you're interested in falconry?"
"It would be a lie to say I didn't want to learn the art," he admitted with a wistful sigh, knowing chances of that happening were extremely slim. He had years ahead of him to learn the trade and employment spaces were limited. "I admire those birds, you know."
"Oh?" Tobirama sounded or at least pretended to be intrigued. Madara would accept whatever chance he gets to speak of his passion, though, so he didn't look into it nor did he look up from Kurama's fur. (If he did, he might have seen a nostalgic look on his companion's face that had no business being there as they supposedly knew each other for a day only.)
"They are mighty and free in a way I never will be. Even when in a cage, it is they that make the rules, that give demands and whose every whim is adhered to lest they wither in their imprisonment. They are loyal companions. Even if their 'master' were to die, no falcon or hawk would eat from his carcass, even if not doing so meant starvation. And you must admit that they are quite a sight in the air, free as the wind they so easily ride and conquer and their cry bring fear into every creature's very bones. So small and yet so deadly, nature's perfect hunters."
"Hm, many would say much the same about felines," Tobirama countered and Madara was surprised someone had actually listened to one of his feather-centered rants, as his father would call it, that he whipped around to stare at the pale man. "I myself prefer and am fascinated by snow leopards. They live where rarely any bigger mammals can survive and yet they thrive."
"Ah, yes, I watched a documentary about them. They are the only larger carnivores who live on Everest and have a surprisingly long tail in comparison to all of their cousins," Madara commented, watching the other man and finding that he would indeed fit with such an animal. "Though I must express my curiosity as to why we're having such a discussion," he continued, deepening his voice and trying not to snicker when Tobirama frowned at him.
"Are you making fun of the way I talk?" The indignant and offended tone in his voice only made the teen snicker more.
"I can't help it! That's such an archaic way of talking that any younger child you might speak with would look at you like you were crazy! It's really funny, but I guess it's also charming in its own way. At least when I eventually teach you how to use the phone you'll never need to introduce yourself when you call me as I'll know immediately by the way you talk." Madara leaned his elbow on his knee and grinned at his housemate, who looked both sheepish and intrigued. Something told him the latter was almost a natural expression on Tobirama, which really wouldn't surprise him at all. The man seemed eager to learn. Madara had never seen someone read a book faster than himself and this was a history textbook, full of completely new concepts that Tobirama had probably never encountered before.
"Hm, perhaps you're right. I do sound odd compared to you. Perhaps, if you have the time, you could teach me a bit more about your own environment instead of shielding me from it. I figure I will have to venture outside eventually. And what is this ... 'phone' you speak of?"
Madara couldn't help his glee. It had been a while since he had been looking forward to something this much and almost even longer since he had spoken with someone not old enough to be his parents or grandparents. And that someone just happens to be a ninja - shinobi - from the past who is utterly clueless about the present beyond the few things Madara had shown him or mentioned so far.
Something tells him his life had just gotten a whole lot more interesting.
(And a lot less lonely.)