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 new 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?
Tobirama barely registered leaping off of his summon and right off the cliff after his friend. He had no memory of falling like a stone and catching the teen around the waist before using Hiraishin to transport them straight to the hospital, trusting Kaida to take Tsunade back home. He will never recall how he snapped for the medics and demanding a spare room while he cradled Madara's too still body against his own, almost curling around him as though to protect him from the world.
The first thing he became properly conscious of was the twitch of leather clad fingers after a two days coma that had scared everyone to death. Tsunade had been inconsolable, blaming herself for whatever was actually happening to Madara because she had wanted to show him the Valley of the End. Hashirama had looked older than Tobirama had ever seen him when he first came to visit and found Madara in the hospital bed. Hikaku had been near hysterical and had refused to leave his cousin's side until he had collapsed just hours ago from anxiety and tiredness and was now sleeping in a cot they'd had the staff bring in for him because overprotective Uchiha tended to be irrational if they didn't wake up near whoever it was they were watching over. Kagami had sat at Madara's hip until he fell asleep last night, his head pillowed under one arm, the other hand desperately holding on to Madara's wrist to always feel his pulse.
Tobirama had not left his friend's side since he was admitted. He couldn't bear the thought of it. Madara had been under his watch when he fell. He should have abandoned their game of chase and stopped them before they reached the Valley of the Ends. He'd never thought Madara could react like that, but he figured that some memories must have been forcefully thrust upon him when he looked upon the scene of the final battle, his final resting place, the spot of his death. Madara may have been handling all of this so good so far, but everyone had their limits. Tobirama admired his young friend for only finding that limit now.
"You should sleep, Senju," the low, rumbling voice of the cat-sized Kyuubi no Kitsune reached his ears and Tobirama looked up from the fingers that had twitched as though in nightmare a moment ago. "You won't do him any good if you collapse." Kurama had not moved since he arrived, using his nine tails as a pillow for Madara's head and watching over the Uchiha as though he feared Madara might disappear if he so much as blinks too long.
Given how neither Toka nor Mito dared look away when they visited and how haunted Hashirama looks every time he has to go, it might just be the general consensus. Tobirama knew he feared that as well.
"Do you know what happened to him?"
Red eyes with a slit pupil blinked at him before Kurama drawled sarcastically. "He fell off a cliff, though I'm impressed that he didn't get hurt. Props to you for that. I thought that with you being the one to catch him and bring him here, you'd know this already, but I guess not."
"Not two days ago," Tobirama didn't snap, but his tone of voice was sort of snappish. "When you two came back to Konoha, the first time. The time you were our enemies. Do you know what happened?"
The ancient fox of a chakra construct regarded him with a sharp, penetrating gaze for a long few minutes before the Kyuubi sighed and started talking. "I met Madara for the first time while he was still wandering the nations. There was a heavy rainstorm for a couple of days. He found the temple I've been calling home for the past thousand or so years. He wanted to take shelter there. We spent a few days together, waiting out the rain, before he eventually left with a promise to return to me at least once more before his death. He was my first companion in far too long and I almost didn't want him to go. Knowing he'll visit me again had to be enough. Not all that long later, he returned but he was not himself. I felt a ... somewhat familiar presence to him. Not his, but another's. I knew something wasn't right but before I could do anything to protect either myself or Madara, his Sharingan had me under his control."
"If you knew all of this, why didn't you tell us anything? Why didn't you tell Madara?" So much suspicion was put into Madara's words of something controlling him and yet the Kyuubi said the exact same thing. When there was no way he could still be under any sort of influence from Madara since he was out cold right now.
"Because Madara needs to get back his memories the proper way, otherwise he won't remember what he did to return and why he had done it in the first place. If I'd just told Madara how we ended up in the future, he wouldn't understand the gravity of the situation, what that damnable thing wants and why it chose him. He wouldn't understand what's at stake." The Kyuubi didn't sound all that fond of the alternative to their current situation. "Trust me when I say that, had I just told Madara, he would have been susceptible to that thing's influence again and this time, he'd lack the knowledge necessary to free himself."
"So he'd done it on purpose? Whatever it is that sent him decades into the future?" He'd already guessed as much but this was the one time he had hoped he wouldn't be right. "Did he set up his living arrangements himself or was that simply his fate?"
"The extent of the Sharingan's power has never been properly tested before," Kurama said vaguely. "For your first question, it's a definite yes. As to how much he had control over, I don't know. All that I know is that his will was strong enough to bend time and reality in hopes of escaping that parasite that had trapped us both."
"Will it come back for him? If it learns he's back?"
"Most definitely. After all, Madara's the first one in centuries powerful enough to do what that leech needs him to."
"And that is?" He prodded, figuring it might be the best time to ask all of his questions at once since he had the opportunity. Who knows if the fox will ever be this chatty again.
The answer, however, didn't come from Kurama. "He wants me to be the vessel for his mother." Both Tobirama and Kurama startled upon hearing Madara's weary voice. They hadn't even realized he had woken up. When he looked at the teen, Tobirama felt his heart clench. Madara was staring up at the ceiling, anguish in his eyes as he refused to meet either of their gazes. "He wants me to bring her back and feed her the chakra of the world. The first step had been acquiring the biju. He'd sent me after Kurama first because he was strongest and would be a great asset in acquiring the others. The second step was getting the second half of the formula needed in order for me to be a suitable host."
"And what's that?" Tobirama asked, fascinated and quite honestly a bit scared by what he was hearing. "And did you just say 'he'?"
"I ... Yes, he. I don't remember the name he'd given me, but he'd tried his damned best to convince me to see things his way before resorting to making me into a puppet. As for the other thing ... I don't know." Madara sounded so lost at that moment that Tobirama wanted nothing more than to wrap his friend in several safety blankets and hide him from the world that had hurt him so much already. Only he was a part of that world and he had undoubtedly hurt Madara the most when he'd struck Izuna down. He didn't know whether Madara remembered that yet. "I don't know. But I think it has something to do with the Uchiha and the Senju. And I don't like it."
"Kurama here seems to know a great deal about all of this but he won't tell," Tobirama said after a moment of tense silence, doing his best to make his words teasing.
The fox, whether he caught on to that or it was just his natural reaction, bristled. "Fuck you, Senju!"
"What does 'fuck you' mean?" All three of them stiffened upon hearing the familiar girlish voice and turned as one with dread written all over their faces to look at Tsunade, who had just arrived and stopped in her lunge for the now obviously awake Madara to as her oh so innocent question. Mito, who was the one to bring her for the visit, sent them a very dangerous smile that made even Kurama cower. After all, Hell hath no fury and all.
"Excuse his French, Tsuna-hime. It's a silly thing adults say in the future when annoyed. You shouldn't repeat it. Only naughty children say that." Madara, bless him, seemed to know how to divert the disastrous situation away from a very painful end at Mito's hand. The redhead would no doubt eviscerate both Tobirama and Kurama and use their skins for fashion accessories and a warning to others. Madara saw the look he sent him and winked discretely, a silent 'I've got your back'. Tobirama decided to treat him to inarizushi tonight. And with breakfast in bed every time he manages to go out before Madara wakes up so he can buy something that the teen would like to eat.
"What's French?" Tsunade, in the typical childish curiosity, moved on to the next question, apparently accepting the explanation Madara had given for the first one. She walked over to the bed and clambered up with help from her uncle, the commotion making Kagami flinch awake, sitting upright and blinking drowsily at them. He slumped over in relief when he saw Madara awake and alright. It truly had been a miracle that he hadn't hurt himself during the fall. "I'm so glad you're awake, Mada-jii." The little blond then proceeded to snuggle up to the wild haired Uchiha and Madara just smiled softly down at her, a hand coming to pat her head comfortingly.
"It's fine, little one. I just recalled a really bad memory." He refused to look Tobirama's way as he said that, making the white haired man uncomfortable. Tobirama, unfortunately, had a good idea about why he'd have such a reaction. Remembering any of their previous associations would have been unpleasant. At the least.
"Anything to worry about? You gave us quite the scare," Mito commented as she looked pointedly at Tobirama and he rolled his eyes before offering her his seat, choosing instead to sit at Madara's knees on the bed. That way he had to stretch only a little bit to keep his hand connected with the teen's. Call him paranoid, he won't argue against the truth. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so scared. Madara had very nearly given him a heart attack. The mystery about his status as a living person when he had felt Uchiha Madara's chakra signature dim in death several years ago wasn't helping the matter.
Tobirama had a new fear that Madara might just drop dead the second he did whatever it is that he had planned when he had apparently set this craziness into motion. He didn't know the details or conditions behind his survival or reincarnation or whatever the hell it was.
'I think I just created cause for several sleepless nights for myself.'
"Nothing more than usual," Madara casually replied, obviously not wanting to discuss the details around children. "And sorry about the scare. I'm not entirely sure what happened but it couldn't have been pleasant. How long was I out?"
"About two and a half days, give or take a few hours," the Uzumaki replied, seating herself down in Tobirama's previous seat. "Hashirama will be relieved that you're awake. He's been worried. We all were."
If he wasn't scrutinizing the teen as he was, Tobirama would have missed the minute twitch at his brother's name. It in turn made him flinch. He had a feeling he knew what Madara had remembered upon seeing the Valley of the End. "He probably won't be able to visit for a few more hours. I'm usually around to make sure he keeps up with his work, but worry has no doubt made him fall behind and he knows better than to come before me until his late paperwork is at least manageable." In other words, he was telling Madara he had a few hours to process the memories and come to terms with the fact that his best friend from his past life had killed him from behind when Madara had always trusted him with his back.
The Uchiha sent him a grateful look at that and he returned his wink from earlier. Just as Madara had his back, he had Madara's.
The teen finally relaxed and settled down to get some proper sleep. It was surprising enough that the teen had stayed this coherent after just waking up, even if his coma had lasted only a little more than two days. In some ways, it was even more exhausting than being awake for so long.
"Get some rest. We'll deal with everything later."
00000
"Do you want to talk about it?" Tobirama found himself offering when Madara was finally released three days after his fall and they returned home late in the evening. He'd already treated his friend to inarizushi, so they were just sitting on the back porch and drinking tea he'd made them. Kurama had sent one last assessing look at them before finally leaving them to talk in private, probably understanding that there are things they might need to hash out between them.
Madara shook his head. "I already knew how the people saw me and I already knew you were far from fond of me. I guess seeing it was just a bit worse than simply knowing it in some general, vague fashion."
Tobirama closed his eyes, mourned and cursed his past self's stupidity and unfair treatment of the Uchiha before him. "Do you remember how Izuna died?" He asked cautiously and was both relieved and uneasy when Madara shook his head no. "Do you want me to tell you? It would put a lot of things into perspective." And probably end with him actually skewered on Susanoo's sword, but he had made his bed regarding this a long time ago and it was perhaps finally the time for him to lay in it.
"No. I ... I remembered my little brothers' and parents' deaths and that's already hard enough to deal with. I remember Izuna dying of a mortal wound, even if I don't remember the cause of it beyond it having something to do with the war against the Senju. I don't think I can take the actual knowledge of what happened to him. The memories will come when it's their time. This is something I don't want to rush."
Tobirama tried not to visibly relax. That conversation was bound to end with one of them dead and Tobirama knew he would never again be able to put a knife to Madara's throat and that had nothing to do with the fact that the other now knew how to eviscerate him before he could properly try. "In the past, before I really knew anything concrete about the Uchiha, I believed in the rumors that said the Uchiha gain power the more they hate. In proportion to that, I feared someone as powerful as you would never be good for Konohagakure. I feared you might try to lead us back into war. There was no love lost between you and any Senju that was not Hashirama, me especially. We argued all the time. I fear some of my own biased attitude after years of war and watching you go through Senju troops like a knife through air may have rubbed off on the newcomers. Not to mention that they were the ones to bring the above mentioned rumors. In short, you were emotionally unstable after Izuna's death and I was scared, plain and simple. I ought to apologize for the grief my attitude caused you, but I'm not sure you as you are can or would want to appreciate the apology. All I can say is that, no matter what, I won't make the same mistake as before."
"You are right to say I was emotionally unstable," Madara agreed after a long silence between them that was a bit too tense for either of their liking. "I needed time and everything was happening too fast and too many things demanded my attention at once. I was overwhelmed, people were expecting too much from me and always found whatever I did as not enough. I didn't have enough, if any emotional support. I was deteriorating fast behind these walls and I needed to leave. To leave it all behind lest I fall to my own madness. So I left. And that's how this whole mess started."
"It's not your fault something managed to attack and capture you," Tobirama told him gently, unsure what to say in order to comfort or reassure his friend that he shouldn't blame himself for things he had no control over. "If you had felt that leaving was your only option, it was your right to make that choice. I only wish we'd respected it more. Hashirama had sent search parties after you about a month after you left. I think it might have only driven you further away."
"I spent two in Sora-Ku. The likeliness of anyone getting to me there are very low. They are allies to the Uchiha first," Madara replied with a pained but proud and fond smile.
A safe topic, then. "I'd heard of Sura-Ku and it's ninneko. Is it truly a city with only cats? The Uchiha don't talk about it."
"Sora-Ku is an ally that supplies or stores weapons for the Uchiha Clan as well as providing us with medical and culinary herbs, sometimes even extra food resources. Or at least it used to like that for the past twenty generations. I'm not sure if Nekobaa or Nekomata kept up the alliance after I left. If they turned back the Uchiha, then I might have to go to them for a visit. Nekomata will be pissed if he learns I'm alive from someone else. He's been my partner since I was a little boy." Madara smiled as he thought of this ninneko. Though the name sounded vaguely familiar. It wouldn't surprise him if it was a boss summon. Madara would never settle for anything less than the best.
"Okay, we can go out one of these days so you can tell them."
"Sora-Ku is pretty much exclusively Uchiha territory," the teen said after a moment, sounding wary. "They've kept themselves hidden for us and in turn we'd completed missions for them and protected them whenever they needed us to. I'm not sure they'd let you into their territory, especially not after I left Konoha and practically hid there, as far as they were concerned if Uchiha came looking for me there. Maybe it's better if I go alone."
'Well,' Tobirama thought to himself with panic that was threatening to rear its head. 'There's a problem I would have preferred not to be the one to tell him about.'
Ever since he had shared with his family what Madara had told him about a creature that managed to capture and control him, Hashirama had made a secret decree that Uchiha Madara was not to leave Konoha's walls without at least one of them there to watch out for him and be his backup. The decree had proven needless so far but now Madara wanted to leave the village to visit Sora-Ku, a place where obviously a Senju or an Uzumaki will not be warmly welcomed, not after centuries of war with their apparently only true allies. And especially not after Madara had felt the need to flee the village for his own sanity's sake. They'd be lucky if the ninneko only scratched their eyes out. There was a good chance ninjutsu would be used if any of them tailed after Madara, even if he were to announce them beforehand. And Hikaku, as amazing a shinobi as he was, simply wouldn't be able to stand up to a force that could control Uchiha Madara. They would loose the teen again.
Madara had went and done the impossible, cheating death and somehow sending himself to a distant time and place and put himself into a situation which mirrored his own prior to his death and departure from Konoha, all in order to provide himself with the time needed to get over his crippling grief, to learn how to live as an unwanted by the people who should want him the most, to come to terms with how he wanted to continue his life and how not to forever mourn his brother's loss to the point it was driving him insane. It would all go to waste if they couldn't protect Madara outside of the village. Uchiha Madara would be captured and controlled again and this time, there was no telling if Madara possessed the knowledge or the resources to save himself a second time, to preform a miracle again. This time, Madara might be lost to them for good.
But he didn't want to say any of that and have Madara interpret it the wrong way. Their previous interactions, when Madara had been truly himself, proved that it was far too likely to happen between them. True, that had been before Tobirama swore to himself to get to know the other better but the possibility still existed and it was higher each day as Madara got back more and more of his past life's memories.
"You fear he will catch me again," Madara said, not questioned, breaking him out of his desperate planning on how to elaborate his thoughts to the teen right and making him focus on the wild haired Uchiha again. Madara didn't seem surprised or offended. "It's understandable. It's actually a very rational fear, seeing it's the most likely thing to happen. And you guys weren't exactly subtle in gluing yourselves to my side whenever I made my way towards the gates, Amaterasu forbid if I actually step out of the village; you'd be there in a flash. I don't blame you. I understand. But I can't promise you that you'll be able to step into Sora-Ku."
"Someone needs to be there to watch your back. We can't leave you alone knowing there is some thing out there just waiting for a chance to-"
"But I can," the black haired male interrupted shamelessly. "Promise you that I'll be protected and safe within Sora-Ku's walls. They're ninneko, for fuck's sake, Tobirama. And Nekomata would rather run from a dog than allow something to happen to me, which means something considering how proud he is. He's one giant fucking cat, alright? He's powerful enough to watch my back within the walls and you'll just be a Hiraishin away if you sense something is wrong. I'll even promise to flare my chakra as a signal if I notice something, even the smallest thing, is out of place."
"Fine, but only under one condition." Tobirama reached into his weapons pouch and fished out one of his marked kunai. The Hiraishin marker was, for all intents and purposes - and for a good fucking reason; it's called stealth and secrecy. No one needed to know what that seal meant or which kunai were special, thank you very much - invisible on the dark steel but it was there and a sensor like Madara, second only to Tobirama himself, ought to be able to detect its presence in residue chakra. He offered it to the Uchiha, who took it without a second of hesitation. "The marker I usually put on people or objects larger than a single hand handled weapons aren't meant for reverse summons. Keep this on you and if either of us detects a disturbance, I'll call you back and we hightail it back to Konoha full speed ahead. No complaining or questions asked until we get there. That's my only condition. Do we have a deal."
Madara nodded with a grateful smile even as he carefully tucked the kunai away into his own weapons pouch. "We have a deal."
"Then I guess all that's left is to talk to Hashirama tomorrow."
He can just imagine the dramatics already.