Hashirama
Beach Is Better
"You've GOT to be screwing with me!"
Madara stuffed his hands further into his pockets and said nothing.
"Say it again, dude! Say it again!" I said, tugging his arm.
He sighed.
"I just said it, why-"
"Just say it again, with a straight face. I have to make sure my brain didn't just implode."
He sighed again, but this time it was much longer and more exaggerated.
"My favorite song's 'I'll be there' by the Jackson 5, stop bugging me, okay?" He muttered.
I almost collapsed on the railroad. I kid you not. I wouldn't even have moved if a million ton train with twenty nine boxcars was barreling down my way. He scowled at my doubled over laughter.
"Shut-up, okay?! My Mom used to make us do this stupid church band thing before she got all stupid..."
"Wait a second." I said, recalling the guitar I was messing with in his room. "You said that wasn't your guitar!"
He crossed his arms.
"Well, they didn't originally buy it for me..." he reasoned.
"That still doesn't explain how that's your favorite song!" I pointed out.
"We played it A LOT, okay?!" He retorted.
By that point I was literally rolling around on the train tracks.
"Just lay off me about it!"
"Well, you can't blame me!" I exclaimed. "Who would've thought Madara Uchiha would spend his time practicing R&B songs on his guitar for church practice?!"
I could've even get through that whole sentence without bursts of laughter. That's how hysterical it was.
"Is that why you're always M.I.A afterschool? Too busy crying your eyes out to Stevie Wonder?" I asked him.
"I never said I cried!" He shouted at me. "I never cry!"
"Oh shit! We got a bad-ass over here!"
Finally, at wits end, he pounced on me, pressing me down against the deep brown metallic tracks.
"Tell anybody and I swear I'll kick your ass from here to friggin' Mother Russia." He said.
But even though I'd seen him practicing boxing and was pretty sure he really could kick my ass to the Soviets, hell, even past the Soviets and straight to the freaking moon, I wasn't worried. Somewhere deep inside me, I doubted he could hurt me...even if he wanted to. So I just laughed in his face as he held his fist over me.
"Okay, I swear I won't tell on one condition." I said.
He frowned at me, probably really wanting to yell 'no conditions' and just punch me but like I said... He wouldn't do that. Doesn't it suck when you know someone better than they know themselves?
"What?" he asked, letting go of my shirt.
"Sing to me." I told him.
The expression on his face was even more priceless than anything that had happened up to that point.
"Hell no."
I gave him my straightest poker face. The straightest one I could muster after all that laugher... And he slowly broke.
"Ugh! Fine!" he said. "But on my time. And where no one can see us."
"Deal." I said, grinning.
With my ear pressed against the cold metal down there, I could feel all vibrations. Even the vibrations coming from my own voice. The tracks seemed to be rumbling slightly. I pressed my ear closer to it and then grinned.
"Train's coming!" I declared. "Hurry, we have to get to the hills."
I jumped to my feet and pulled his arm, he dipped slightly grabbing up the backpack he was carrying with him which he'd dropped to threaten me.
"Hills?! For what?"
"So we can hop on!" I told him.
His eyes widened in a comical kind of way and I grinned at him.
"Scared?" I asked.
"N-No! What? It's just...that's...crazy! Do you want to kill us?"
"I thought you said you trusted me!"
I glanced behind us, seeing the train gaining on us. With the large, baby blue sky nestling over us with its sun just beginning to take its fall down to a sunset, it didn't need lights. It was clearly visible in its big, black shaped horror crunching toward us like a hoard of angry wolves. We ran up the hill side which only put us around floor level with the base of the train.
"How the hell is this even going to work!?" Madara shouted over the blaring horns of the train, driver probably wondering if we had a death wish.
"My little bro and I used to do this all the time to go see my Dad where he used to work!" I shouted back to him. "The train isn't really going that fast yet since it just got out of the station less than a half a mile ago! If we keep running, it's not hard to grab on!"
"Your Father knew you were doing this!? What the hell kind of crack-pot family-"
But before he could finish his insult, the train began to come up next to us. I saw the first empty box car coming up and decided it was best to jump as quick as possible, besides, the train was about to go over a bridge and if we didn't, we'd lose our chance...or end up at the bottom of the ocean.
"Come on!" I shouted.
I outstretched my hand, reaching for the railing on the side of the open box car, which freight trains like these normally left open, and then jumped. It was a good four feet away but I was able to grab on and hold. The wind whipped my hair back fiercely and I slid down the railing, reaching to swing myself around and inside the car. I watched as Madara pulled one of the straps of his backpack across his chest like a messenger bag and continued running progressively edging toward the train.
"Hurry!" I shouted, looking at the impending cliff.
He followed my gaze and then, seeming to curse loudly, jumped. He didn't take the time to measure out the distance and jump a bit farther up than the railing and so he barely caught on, grabbing onto the base of it, just above the wheels. He quickly swung in and skid toward the center of the boxcar.
I opened my mouth about to joke about how hard he was making it even though it was so easy when something caught my eye. Having pulled one of the straps of the backpack across his chest, it left the other one dangling behind him. As he pulled himself in, I could see it... One of the constantly moving pegs on the bottom of the train came up...and almost in a blink of an eye caught it. He was scooped off of his feet with the force of the train slammed down onto the floor of the train. I was running, before I could even process what was happening, I knew I had to get to him. My mind didn't even know what was happening but I knew it would launch him out if I wasn't fast enough.
I dove, grabbing his ankles and holding on as he was whipped across the floor and toward the open boxcar door about to be flung out just like I had predicted. But with the way the bag was across his chest, as the thing kept moving, it flipped up and over his arms, wrapping around his neck. His hands were busy trying to pry it off but with the train moving at breakneck speeds at that point, there was no way it was possible.
I lifted my head, processing the information and that if I didn't act soon it was going to kill him. Either it would strangle him to death or snap his neck... Either way... Either way... I pulled myself across his body, and grabbed the leather straps just as the train moved over the bridge. The upper part of Madara's body was already out of the train being pulled down toward the wheels where the strap was caught.
Everything was happening quickly. I saw the water beneath us. The millions and millions of miles. The panic on his face. His fingers scratching at his neck. The strap tightening. For a second, or maybe even a millisecond I considered finding something to cut it with, then remembering that it was a train... And train had sharp pieces jutting out of them all on their own, I grabbed the edge of the boxcar door, which, like I expected had a sharp jagged piece. I pulled on the door, trying to hold Madara's body in place and felt a yell bursting from my lips as I dragged it and slammed it across toward the other side. The door slammed closed, tatters of the strap fell and Madara weakly pulled the rest from around his neck and lay on his back, just being content enough to breathe.
I grabbed him.
"I'm sorry. Shit. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." I heard myself saying.
I knelt in front of him pulling him into my chest and hugged him.
"It really wasn't supposed to happen like that. God..."
It's like that life moment where you think someone's going to die, hell, you know they're going to die and it's almost like you flash their life in front of your eyes for them. I hugged him tighter and found myself whispering apologies over and over again.
"I'm really sorry."
He pulled himself back momentarily and rubbed his neck sorely. There were deep red marks across them, like someone tried to strangle him. He continued breathing heavily for a second and then, he gazed at me seemingly shocked as a tear fell and hit his cheek. I didn't know where the tear came from. But when I rubbed my face with the back of my hand, it was drenched in tears.
"What the hell are you cryin' for?" he managed to mutter.
I couldn't even respond. I just felt so sorry and grateful for his life at the same time. I couldn't even really understand why I felt so strongly. I mean, yeah, if he died I'd probably feel sort of terrible but with the way I was acting... It wasn't like I'd be tried for murder.
I found myself reaching for him and hugging him again. He didn't pull away this time. Instead he leaned against me until his breathing settled and then sighed.
"You're such a wuss." He told me.
"I thought you were going to die."
And as I said that, I realized I didn't want him to die. I really didn't.
I let him go and he reached for me, wiping one of my tears away.
"If I ever died, it certainly wouldn't be in a stupid freak accident like this..."
I wiped the rest of my face dry.
"...Really..." I said for no reason in particular.
"Yeah. I'll probably die of old age or something." He reassured me.
"...Didn't you say you'd die first in war?" I asked him, raising my head.
"Well, if 'Nam's still going on by the time I'm eighteen then, maybe..." he said, then he shrugged. "But that would only happen if you went to war, too."
He cracked his neck and the boxcar darkened, showing we'd gone into a tunnel. I thought about what he said for a moment.
"...Me? What do you mean?" I asked.
It was silent for a moment. In all the darkness, I wondered if something happened and I reached for him. My hand touched his thigh. He was still there. Slowly, his hand lifted and covered mine.
"Nothing. Just that... I'd probably end up doing something stupid." he said in a quiet voice.
Something stupid? And even though he didn't explain it. I caught his train of emotion and I knew what he meant. Something stupid like... He'd risk his life for me. I found myself frowning because he was such an airhead. With everything that had just happened, I'd rather be the one sacrificing my life for him...
Then, suddenly, his hand was gone, the light was back and he got to his feet, walking over to his backpack, which thankfully for him, wasn't ripped to shreds.
I wanted to think about what he said more but he was already picking up the bag, seeming to weigh it in his hands and that caught my curiosity more.
"Hey, that reminds me." I said, pointing. "Where did you get that from?"
"Are you dense? I've been carrying it this whole time."
"Yeah but why? What's inside?" I asked.
He grabbed the boxcar door and pulled it open, a cool breeze whipped inside blowing our hair back and nestling our clothes.
"It's my brother's." he told me. "It's kind of funny that me bringing it would end up almost killing me... Kind of like... My brother wants me to come home."
A shiver went down my spine. I couldn't see what his expression looked like since he was facing outwards.
"Madara..."
He turned around and rolled his eyes at me.
"I'm kidding." He told me. "The truth is, my brother said if anything happened to him...and he didn't come back. He wanted me to give his stuff a proper send off."
I cocked my head.
"Why?"
He shrugged.
"Beats me. I don't even know what's in it. All I know is it's supposed to be the stuff he would've taken with him if he escaped to Canada."
I walked up to him and we both looked at the bag in his hand.
"How much you wanna bet it's a bunch of playboys?"
He scoffed.
"You're such an idiot!" he said, shoving me.
But then, we both looked at the bag suspiciously. And then looked at each other. And then back at the bag.
"Open it on the count of three." I said, grabbing the other side of it. "One... Two..."
Suddenly, the breaks to the train screeched. We were knocked off of our balances and grabbed the handles to the boxcar doors to not fall. I poked my head out of the window and grinned.
"Looks like we're here!" I cheered.
Madara leaned over my shoulder.
"Where?"
"KECB." I said, phonetically pronouncing it like: "Key-Cee-Bee"
Or better known as Konoha East Coast Beach, right at the very edge of Eastside Konoha. Not having a car sucked because the freight trains took a really roundabout way to get there but I was just so stoked that we were there.
"This is gonna be so gnarly." I said.
The train began to trudge to a stop.
"As soon as this thing stops, we're going to have to book it." I told him. "The guys who usually run this thing are real assholes. Always warning us about the 'danger' and whatnot..."
"I wonder why..." Madara replied.
I could smell the scent of sandy, salty beach-ness in the air. I tapped my feet anxiously. It had been so long since I'd been there I was literally itching to go. It was taking all of my willpower not to just launch myself out of the damn boxcar, roll down the hill and sprint over there. I could see it, just over the trees, the white, sparking sand and the bright blue water beyond with the crisp, cool blue sky kissing the waves of the horizon.
"Why are you so damn excited?"
"Trust me! You're going to have SO much fun!" I told him.
The train finally stopped and I grabbed his hand and propelled us both out of the car, not even giving him a slither of a warning. Luckily, he was agile enough to land on his feet. I tugged his hand hard and we ran down the hill, crossing the open, lightly littered forest and sprinting across the parking lot where people were pulling their beach chairs, balls, umbrellas, sand toys, toddlers, books, or anything else that was extra baggage and unnecessary for REAL beach fun out of the car and walking toward the sand.
"Wait. You're passing it." Madara said, looking out at the waves and all the people swimming in the water. "Aren't we going to the beach?"
But that was the public beach area. Where I was taking Madara, what only a couple of people knew about, was the really private one... The one where the biggest tallest waves hit the shore and all the best sea creatures show themselves. The one where the REAL fun happens.
"Hell no! That's for commoners!" I joked.
We continued running until we got to the end of the shore where a really, really tall rocky cliff blocked us from the rest of the beach.
"What...now...?" Madara asked, breathless at having to run.
"Secret passage." I told him, wiggling my fingers mysteriously. "If I remember correctly, it should be over here somewhere..."
"Oh great... Now, we're guessing." He complained.
We walked a couple yards up the bank until I found it, a narrow but visible if you were close enough, gap in the cliff that was just wide enough for a human of average size to slip through. Especially ones as short as we were.
I slid my hand into his and led him.
"Here it is! This way!" I yelled.
My voice echoed, bouncing off the sides of the mountain as we inched our way through. He glanced backwards at all the funky beach people and turned to me curiously.
"No one's really found this place before?"
"Well, they probably have." I said, shrugging. "But they wouldn't be able to hang out here anyway."
He blinked at me.
"Why?"
"Because you can only get in...if you can get in."
At that point, he could've been wearing the national dunce cap on his head and STILL wouldn't have looked more clueless.
We emerged from the rock coming up onto another strip of beach, it wasn't as long as the first one because it was closed off abruptly by another rocky cliff but it was cleaner and somehow more serene. It was like one of those places in the world that you could literally feel God putting his paint brush on. Almost like, going there, gave you a sense of wholeness no other place could. I turned to Madara, whose eyes were wide watching the waves crash against the bank.
"Pretty, huh?" I said.
He shrugged.
"I guess..." But the way his eyes wouldn't leave the water, I knew he felt the same thing I did.
"There's someone I want you to meet." I told him.
Up the rest of the sandy bank, there were gates. The gates were actually apart of the Land of the Waves Aquarium in East Konoha. They always left them unlocked so that, whenever they wanted to, they could let the sea animals out into the real ocean and let them hang out for a bit and come back in. Since before I could even remember, I'd known about it.
"My Dad used to take my little brother and me here." I told Madara. "This was like my entire childhood."
"A beach?" he asked dully. "If that was your childhood, I should call child services."
We walked through the gates, open like I expected them to be and then approached the outdoor bar and grill behind the Aquarium that people usually had lunch at. Because the Aquarium usually closed at like 6pm, I knew it was closed. But the workers stayed late into the night.
"He has everything." I told Madara. "So, we have to meet him before we can play."
"...Everything? All of what?" He asked. "And who?"
Who? Well, basically my second Dad, of course!
Madara
Hawaiian Surf
We approached the "Hawaiian Themed" tent with the grass skirts and wooden posts painted onto the backboard and Hashirama knocked on the bar table. Someone moved in the back stock room where they were probably busy putting away the blenders and cooking supplies after work was over and began walking out.
He was a big guy with brown skin, a thick mustache and long, almost waist length brown hair.
"Oh Queen Mother of God in Heaven, if that isn't who I think it is!" the voice exclaimed.
I looked over at Hashirama who was keeping a straight poker face.
"Who do you think it is?"
He paused momentarily, seeming to think it over.
"Huh... Maybe I don't know who it is."
He turned around, grabbing the broom and beginning to sweep.
"Uncle! It's ME!" Hashirama shouted coming from around the corner.
He grabbed him, lifting him off of his feet and giving him a hug.
With a man that huge, hugs are like bear attacks...
But Hashirama laughed as he set him down and ruffled his hair.
"Of course I knew it was you, bruh!" he said, then he looked him up and down. "Wow... If it isn't my little busy body, Hashirama..."
He glanced over at me.
"Is that what Tobirama ended up looking like after all these years?"
I frowned visibly.
"If he suddenly stopped being albino, then maybe!" Hashirama replied.
Both of them burst into side splitting laughter and I was very, very quickly starting to see the family resemblance.
"Wow, it must've been ages." He smiled. "How are you holding up?"
"Groovy!" Hashirama replied.
"Gunshot! Gunshot! So are you here to pop some waves or what, bruh?" he asked him.
"Yeah! I want to show this shagadelic dude how it's done."
Shagadelic? Christ, and I was just beginning to think he wasn't out to get me...
"Well, we got real primo waves on this bank, bruh." He said, grinning at me. "I think you'll have some fun, even if it's your first time."
First time? Now I'm certain he's out to get me... What the hell does he want to do anyway? We could've gone to the community pool for swimming...
"Actually, now that I think about it, you bros actually showed up on a pretty righteous day!" Hashirama's Uncle declared.
"What's going down?" Hashirama asked.
"They're about to let your buddies out into the water." He told him.
I didn't think Hashirama could get any more excited than he did at that point.
"You psychin' me?" Hashirama exclaimed.
"No way, bruh! They actually might've let them out already. You should go back to the bank and look around. You know they'll come near the shore if they smell people." His Uncle said, then he cocked his head. "I'll go in and go check for you and while I'm in there, I can get your boards out, too."
But before he was even finished speaking, Hashirama was already pulling the jacket I gave him off and reaching for his jeans.
"What are we doing now?" I asked him.
"Something even BETTER than I thought!" he exclaimed. "If they let the guys out, this is going to be killer!"
"Who are the guys?"
But he was reaching for me, pulling my jacket off my shoulders.
"Hurry up, Madara. It's gonna be mondo cool. I promise."
I sighed, letting him pull my jacket off and then slipping my jeans off after it. We both took our time unbuttoning our shirts and put them all on the bar table.
Hashirama put his hand over his forehead, shielding his eyes from the sun.
"I think I see them! I'll race you!"
I set my backpack carefully atop all of my clothes and sprinted after him. Our feet slapped against the grass and into the sand as we neared the bank and it wasn't until Hashirama started wadding out into the water that I saw what he was heading toward.
"...Dolphins?"
"Yeah!" he shouted.
When the water came up to our waist, the bank nosedived, forcing us to tread water. Strangely, I expected the water to be cold. My experiences with large bodies were normally cold but it was surprisingly mild.
"They see us." Hashirama said.
Oddly, I found myself suddenly feeling sort of apprehensive. I never really liked animals. Not even house pets.
The first dolphin swam right up to Hashirama, allowing him to pet it and give it a large hug.
"His name's Itama." He told me.
...The wheel chair kid?
"You named it after your baby brother?"
He nodded.
"Itama was never allowed to come with us when we'd visit Uncle here. So, we named him after him."
Of course he wasn't allowed... Not even just the fact that a kid without the use of his legs can't swim, but just because of how we even got there. The train jump alone would kill any sane person... It almost killed me.
Another dolphin swam up and Hashirama hugged him, too. When he let him go, he swam over to me and with an extremely large mouth and wide eyes, seemed like it was expecting something of me. So, I reached over and stroked his nose.
"His name's Kawarama." He said.
Kawarama? That's unique.
I opened my mouth to ask why but Hashirama leaned up on Dolphin Itama and grabbed his fin.
"Grab his, too, like this." He told me.
I reached up and put my arms around it.
"Okay! Hold on tight!" he hollered.
"Wait, what's going to-"
But before I could even get the words out, a flourish of whitish blue flooded my vision. My fingers slipped, I almost let go out of surprise. The dolphin had sprinted off and started propelling itself out toward the water at breakneck speeds. I used my upper body strength to pull myself further up it's back and raised my head.
Hashirama was giggling like a friggin' broken record. I looked up and was somehow, startled by the perfection of what I saw. We were speeding toward the horizon, which the sun was progressively making it's way toward. The sky was just beginning to cast a bit of a pinkish hue. The cool, water, flowing up on either side of me splashed flecks of the ocean onto my face and my hair blew back in the wind.
I felt a smile spreading onto my face.
This actually... Is pretty fun.
"Hold your breath, man!"
And with that split second's notice, the dolphins dove under the surface, I just managed to get a little bit of air right before it. The animals shook fast, speeding like a bullet when they were actually underneath the surface and I opened my eyes in the blue-green world they knew as home and directed my eyes toward Hashirama. He grinned at me and I found I was smiling back.
The dolphins surfaced again and when we came up, I could see the Aquarium people waving to them to return to the little tunnel that led inside the property. They came back near the coast, dropping us off before they headed back.
"Bye guys!" Hashirama called.
Drenched in water and dripping like dogs, we walked back up the beach bank and over to where our stuff was. Lying against the barstools next to it, were two large surf boards.
"Yes!"
"Wait... Wait..." I said. "Surfing!? That's what we came here for?"
"Ain't it groovy, bruh?" His Uncle said, popping his head up from where he was in the storage closet again.
I'm seriously beginning to see the half Hawaiian in him...
"This is my board." He said, showing me.
It was white with bright lime green, light blue and yellow stripes across it.
"Yellow is my favorite color." He told me, as he pushed the other board toward me. "What's yours?"
The other board was red with deep purple and white checkered marks over it.
I shrugged.
"I like a lot of colors. Sometimes I like red and blue. Sometimes I like purple." I told him as we walked back.
"Red and blue? Like fire and ice... Fits you perfectly."
I rolled my eyes.
"Purple is that kind of color that's really harsh and deep seeming, but then when you look closer you realize it's just a pansy." He said, thoughtfully. "Hmm... I wonder who-"
"Shut-up." I interrupted him.
He smirked at me.
"Come on, the waves get super gnarly around this time!"
I chased after him as he splashed in, running up to where the water came up to about his waist.
"Okay, get on." He positioned his board and then straddled it with his legs hanging out over the sides.
I copied his position and shook my hair out of my face.
"So, now what?"
"Wait for a wave."
That shouldn't be hard, seeing as how the tide is already pretty heavy.
"But first I have to teach you how to do it." He said.
I looked out toward the horizon as he spoke, watching the incoming waves.
"It's all really, really simple. First you paddle out with your arms, wait until it's coming up right behind you, pop up, and then ride it." He told me. "Four simple steps."
"You say 'ride it' like that doesn't have five steps all of its own." I pointed out.
He shrugged.
"Not really." He said. "Just keep your balance and if you feel like you're going to wipeout, jump off on the sides... Not in front of your board. It could wrap back around and mess you up."
"What does 'pop up' mean?" I asked him.
He got into a flat position on the board, lying straight down, and then 'popped' up by thrusting his legs down and jumping into a standing position.
"When you paddle out, you have to be flat. But when you ride it, you have to be up like this. So, you have to pop up." Then he pointed at me. "Try it out."
I slowly got down into a lying position and then, like he did, pushed myself up... But my hands slipped on the board and then the next thing I knew the waves were crashing over me. When I came up for air, Hashirama was basically drowning, he was laughing so hard.
"I wish I had a freaking video recorder!" he exclaimed. "This has to be the first time someone's ever wiped out without even being on a wave!"
I shook my hair out and vowed silently that I would learn how to do it even if it killed me. Which it almost did. We went out, riding our boards across a couple tiny waves, which nearly drowned me, and paddling out to one five foot wave, that I actually road for a moment, until the wave crashed and the movement made my board flip up and almost behead me.
"Well... For a beginner, you're... Uh... Well, yeah, you suck pretty bad." He said grinning.
But for another hour or two, we kept going at it and with every single time it seemed to get easier and easier. Keeping my balance was the only hard part and once I'd gotten that down, I glided on all the small waves like they were nothing. Hashirama jumped onto me, sinking us both down into the water as I road up to him.
"I knew you could do it!" he shouted.
"You're going to drown me!" I exclaimed.
He grinned, pushing my board toward me and letting me go.
"So am I right? Are you having fun?" he asked.
Putting my hands on the board in front of me and looking at the whimsical expression on his face I couldn't help but nod.
But it's not a lie. This is actually... A LOT of fun.
He laughed.
"That's good. With all the times you wiped-out..." he said, then he shrugged. "I guess some people just can't be prodigies like the rest of us."
"Will you shut the hell up?!" I yelled at him as he laughed.
Something caught my eye and I splashed him.
"Why don't you catch that big one, if you're such a prodigy then?" I challenged him.
I had been watching that wave progressively get larger and larger and smirked as he looked at it with wide eyes. As he got down into position and began paddling out, I realized his eyes weren't wide out of fear, they were wide out of excitement. He paddled quickly and I realized then that he'd always seemed to have a certain level of body strength about him. It wasn't enough to win against anyone in a fight but it was noteworthy... For someone who spends all their time drawing pictures.
He 'popped up' coming in at the wave which had risen extremely high at that point, perhaps a full seven feet above sea level, and surfed it. The wave came up and spilled over, making a sort of tube shape that he road through, grazing it like he was resting on the wings of a bird. He pulled out and away from it, just managing to escape before it folded in on itself and he skidded out toward me with both of his hands in the 'hang loose' sign and pumping up into the air.
"In your face!" he shouted. "How much do I win for that bet?!"
"Zero." I replied.
He came up next to me, grinning ear to ear.
"Wanna know something?"
I raised my eyebrows, showing interest.
"When I was younger and my Dad used to have his friends around, I used to watch them play cards all the time. So, like, by the time I was around three years old, I could shuffle a deck like six different ways."
"So you're an artist and a card expert now?" I questioned.
"More like a gambling expert. I got really good at it when I actually started playing cards for real. But Hisa got all 'concerned' and made me stop."
He stuck his tongue out.
"Mothers." We both sighed collectively.
It was silent for a moment as we drifted out toward the shore on our boards.
"...I was thinking earlier about our families."
We came up to the bank and pulled our boards after us. While we'd been surfing his Uncle came to tell he would leave the gate open for us to put our boards back but he was going home.
"What about them?"
"Your family is just as messed up by the war as mine." He pointed out.
I dropped my board and flopped down onto the bank right next to the waves where the water came up all the way to my thighs. He sat down cross-leggedly next to me.
"And... The reason your Mom's such a head is because of what happened to your brothers', right?" he asked me.
"She's not a head... She just forgot how to live without bottles."
I sighed.
"But basically... She's a weak person... All women are weak."
Hashirama smiled.
"Just because the only woman in your life sucks..."
"What about your step-mother?" I asked him. "You really think she's a strong person after your Dad's gone?"
I paused momentarily. I didn't know much about his family life but he never really praised his Step-Mother, so I took a guess.
"...No." he finally said.
And I struck gold.
He dug his fingertips into the sand.
"Remember when you asked me what I would do to get rid of evil?" he asked me.
I nodded.
"Your response was basically something like 'kill the evil', right?" he went on. "Or...more like do whatever you have to do to reach whatever goal you have to reach."
"By any means necessary." I told him.
"And you really believe that?"
Recently... I've begun to...
"Yes." I told him.
Doubt it.
"There aren't any inherently good people in the world, Locke." I said. "It's all imaginary. Fiction for little kiddies before bedtime. Everyone has good and evil in them... And usually evil wins out."
He watched me speak. I continued speaking. I needed to... Not just to cover up my doubt, but to confirm my own beliefs to myself.
"So, before the evil wins out and hurts someone. You crush it."
"What if there's a reason for the way they're acting?"
"No one ever does evil things for a reason." I replied.
"Humans are different. All of them... So, you can't just type cast-"
"Listen to me, Hashirama. Believing in humanity is the dumbest decision you can ever make. It's best to just stay away from people and avoid them. They'll just come back to bite you in the ass one day. "
"I'll keep believing."
I raised my eyes to him. The rosy, pink sunset sky was reflecting off of his eyes and causing a dandelion yellow hue to wash over us.
"I'll keep believing...if just to prove you wrong."
"Why?" I asked. "What does it matter to you what I think?"
I could feel the intense honesty there...before he even opened his mouth, I knew the truth would be spilling out.
"Because if you don't believe in humanity... Then you're going to leave me."
Leave him?
I fingered the tie on my swim shorts.
Something like that...
"You really want me around that much?"
"Do you want me around?" he countered.
I sighed.
Because he told the truth, now I'm obligated...
"You're the only person in this whole stupid town that I can talk to Hashirama. I mean, really talk to... What do you think?"
Of course I want you... Of course...
A smile spread onto his face.
"Then let's do this after school all the time." He proposed. "You could be an ace surfer by the end of this month!"
I crushed the sand in my fist. A wave washed up, covering our feet and then retreating.
"Hashirama... You know I have something to do..."
"Maybe I could come with you there then."
"No."
That was completely out of the question. The things I was capable of... I liked him seeing me as a harmless fly even though I hated for anyone else to see me that way.
"Well, can't you just tell me where you go?"
I sighed.
"I'm just busy."
"You really like those other kids, huh?" He asked me.
I turned to look at him. He was playing with his ankle leash, attaching it and removing it.
"That's who you're so busy with."
This... This guy... Could he actually be jealous?
"You tell me I'm the only one you like talking to but you avoid me all the time."
"It's not like I'm doing it on purpose." I retorted.
"Well, if it wasn't on purpose, then-"
"I'd way much rather hang out with you, okay?!" I interjected.
He looked up at me.
"Those guys are just... What we do... It's nothing, it's just..."
I sighed.
"Some stupid idea I came up with right after Tsubasa was drafted." I told him, bowing my head. "And now I'm just in too deep..."
He gazed at me.
"I can be your escape... You don't have to be stuck where you are."
My escape?
I thought back to the backpack Tsubasa had left with me. And then to the drawing Hashriama did for me.
Escape.
My eyes drifted out over the ocean again. I was met with the pleasant smell of life.
My ticket to freedom.
"Okay." I said to him.
"Okay?" he repeated.
"I won't go back." Then I rolled my eyes. "Just to stop you from dying of loneliness because you have no damn friends..."
"What?! I have friends!"
"Yeah? Name one!" I challenged him.
I swear, a brighter smile couldn't have lit up onto his face. He attacked me, wrapping his arms around me and almost making me lose my balance.
"You, you jackass!" he exclaimed.
As he hugged me, I was suddenly reminded of a feeling that had been nipping at me. I was successfully suppressing it but... In the boxcar when he was hugging me, I felt kind of...strange. Like giddy. Like I was on a high no drug could ever sway me into. Like... Like I wanted his arms around me forever.
I shook my head as he pulled back from his hug.
Why the hell am I thinking of something so weird like that?
"Do you want to go now?" I asked him.
He gazed at me, the smile was still plastered on his face.
"Not really."
But no matter how hard I tried to shake it out it cropped back up in my head. This time with the kiss Hashirama had given me on the cheek. I'd basically side-stepped it at the time, washed it out of my own thoughts but suddenly, I couldn't shake the thought of it.
"Then what do you want?" I asked him.
The water washed up and over our legs again. The sun, slightly diagonal and to the right from my head shined into Hashirama's eyes in a way that made them almost sparkle. The smell of salty ocean water and fresh sand engulfed my nose. Because of all these things, I could've been distracted, or maybe I just completely ignored it, or maybe... Maybe I purposely didn't stop it. But he leaned toward me, left hand coming up, grazing my right cheek softly and touching my hair.
He wants...
He kissed me.
This.
And his were lips soft and supple, like I remembered them being, as they pressed, making a timid contact with mine and I couldn't even begin to suppress the explosion of emotion that resulted. He pulled back quickly, bowing his head slightly, like he felt guilty but then...
His eyes slowly rose to mine and I took in their chocolate brown innocence. I wasn't really sure what expression I was making or if I was making an expression at all. All I knew was that a very unique sensation was ripping through me, catalyzed by what he'd done. I could feel my face and ears getting really hot as the sensation concentrated in my pants causing an occurrence that hadn't happened to me in a long time. A pretty bad stiffy. I'd gotten it plenty of times before. But normally those just happened for no reason at all. Like when I was hugging my Grandmother for instance. When it happened like that, it was easy to ignore. But this one... One that I was almost completely certain was happening for a specific reason... One that almost had me shaking with the urge to do something I'd never even thought about before... That...was completely new to me...
His hand touched my neck tenderly, easing around the marks from the straps that were still visible.
"Madara..." He whispered.
That alone set off a new chain of reactions that I didn't even try to hold back.
Why... Why did you have to go and say my name like that?
He neared me again, lips pressing just slightly and unable to stop myself any longer, I pushed back, feeding into the suction that his mouth delivered. He licked his lips, wetting mine in the process, and kissed me again but more firmly. His bare chest pressing up against mine and he straddled me. Along with the scent of his skin, which consistently smelled like something similar to oak trees, there was also the beach, and the fresh breezes caressing our bare skin. And one of his hands on my thigh, moving ever so closely to the center of my swim shorts. And the whooshing waves, coming up and tickling our legs and even, sometimes, coming up to my waist. And the warm sun beating down on our sun-kissed skin. And his kiss. His kiss... I... I'd honestly never felt anything so... So...
He pulled back slowly. His hand stayed on my cheek, coming up to pull the lock of hair consistently covering my eyes back. He gave me one of his classic playful grins.
"Did you like that?"
I stared at him... Completely drawing a blank at how to answer and then, suddenly, I was answering before I could even process how I would answer.
"You're a queer." I stated.
It was a declaration. There was no 'question' about it.
His smile faltered slightly, but didn't completely diminish. He poked me in the forehead.
"No." He addressed me almost teasingly. "I'm Hashirama... Remember?"
He got to his feet, looking toward the eatery just inside the gates.
"Let's go take our boards back." He suggested.
I shook my head abruptly.
"I'll...catch up." I told him.
He stretched, not seeming to ponder it at all and picked up my board along with his. When he was far enough up the bank that he couldn't hear me, I ducked my head, expelling a breath of air I didn't even realize I was holding in. And of course, it was still there, positioned between my legs.
No, no, no... This can't be happening... This can't be happening to me...
But it was. And it didn't look like it was going to quit any time soon.
Go away... Come on, just go away... Please...
But more importantly than my steadily, stationed stiffy, were the thoughts I was trying to barricade from revealing themselves...unsuccessfully.
How could I have gotten so excited because of...a boy?
-About Twenty Minutes Later-
I still had a nut but the difference was Hashirama brought me my clothes and jeans do a great job of hiding even the most ferocious of mishaps...
"Are we going to go?" Hashirama asked.
I slid my arms through my black shirt and neglected buttoning it back up, just like he'd done, with his bow-tie hanging out of his back pocket.
"One last thing." I told him.
I pulled the black leather backpack I'd been carrying all that that time in front of me.
"Are we finally going to get to see what's inside?" He asked me.
Do I...even want to know?
But Hashirama didn't give me the answer. He loosened the tie on the mouth of it and stretched it wide open. Then he hesitated, looking up at me, seemingly for permission to go on.
At least he has some sense of personal space...
I reluctantly dipped my hand in and felt around. There wasn't much inside. I expected the bulk of it to be a couple t-shirts or shorts, some kind of light weight clothing, but my fingers didn't touch clothing at all. Just an assortment of...things. The first one was a newspaper clipping.
"New York Times." I read. "Vietnam War Begins."
Same year I was born.
There were a couple of other things attached, more documentation of the war. News clippings showing the death count going farther and farther up. Headlines about protests and peace rallies all over the country. Armed soldiers supposed to be protecting citizens, shooting kids at universities instead. All kinds of shit. Crude shit. Stuff that makes your heart forget to beat. On the end of it he had a note tacked: "When Will it End?" in big dripping red letters.
His guess is as good as mine...
Hashirama dug in and pulled out a framed photo. A photograph I hadn't seen in years. The photo was of two seven or eight year old looking boys, one of them carrying a pistol, pointing it at the camera with a wide grin, and the other simply making a stupid face at the camera. On the back of the frame there was a small folded up piece of paper that said: "Goodbye"
"Dude, I'm gonna kick so much Ho Chi Min ass out there!" Taiga hollered
"Yeah, you better, you've been friggin' practicing for it since we were in diapers!" Tsubasa told him.
The third thing was a rather large bright red painted toy fire truck.
"I'm going to be a fireman when I grow up. And put out HUGE fires!" Itsuya declared.
"Put out fires? Weren't you the one that stuck the match in the sofa and almost burned it down the whole house down!?" Tsubasa reminded him.
"It was an accident!"
The fourth thing was a miniature baseball super glued to an old mitt.
"Heads up, shortie!" Tsubasa called.
"Ow! Hey! I wasn't ready!" Izuna said, rubbing the spot on his head the ball dropped.
And then... The final thing. I grasped a pair of sunglasses with large angular shaped lenses and a broad rim going across the top. They were tinted a tan color and a note was taped lightly to it, almost torn off from all the jostling of the day.
The note read: "Best birthday present I've ever gotten."
"So you really like it?" I had asked him all the way back then on his eighteenth birthday.
"Hell yeah, kiddo! It's the best birthday present ever! Honestly, you know what the problem is with birthdays? People buy you all this extra crap, you know? And you never get the stuff you actually need! Like sunshades!"
"Sun glasses, dude." I corrected him.
"You want a knuckle sandwich, kiddo?" he joked. "But no, seriously. It's great. Even better that it's from you."
The note was signed: "-Thank You, Kiddo"
"I thought you said you never cry." Hashirama reminded me.
"I'm not crying!" I yelled at him.
Which was true, I wasn't crying. My head was bowed, my lips had a slight tremor to them, pulling them down into a frown and I clutched the sunglasses pretty hard but I wasn't crying.
But I've never been closer to wanting to cry until now...
Hashirama placed everything back in the backpack and folded it over. We both walked toward the shore, where the sun had, for the most part, already began its journey to the other side of the world. And with the stars as our only witnesses, tied the backpack to a couple pieces of nearby wood, made sure it floated, and put it on the waves.
"Those sunglasses..." Hashirama said, pointing.
I looked at them still clutched in my hand and realized I didn't want to send them off. I wanted to keep them in a safe place, somewhere I would find them all the time. I leaned close to Hashirama, sliding them onto the bridge of his nose.
"...Will you take care of them for me?"
It was already pretty dark, so he lifted the shades onto his hair and watched me for a moment before he nodded hard.
"Don't worry, Madara. I'll keep it forever. I swear." He promised me, all smiles.
I blinked at him.
Déjà vu... Why do I feel like I've heard that before? But I can't remember where... Weird...
We pushed it out to sea, watching as it floated, bounced, carried away.
"Come on, Madara." Hashirama said, holding his hand out to me. "Let's go home."
I pulled my eyes away from the bag, finally finding its escape with my brother's soul, and caught the gaze of the boy standing over me.
Why does it feel so right to be with you?
But I saved that question for another time, another place, another chapter in the story book called life, and I decided, just this one time, I'd do what I felt, not what I thought.
"Okay." I said, grasping his hand.
Up Next: Didn't that just warm your heart? Oh, it didn't? Oh... Well, maybe next chapter will! Hashirama begins to verbally question his sexuality while Madara starts questioning his goals in life. The boys are both faced with a choice. Him or me? Stay tuned to find out who they pick!