Chapter 14: Moving Forward

And you know what, Tobirama was right. Things were gradually okay. Since their talk by the river, Hashirama and Mito had been meeting regularly to discuss the divorce cordially. It was like things didn't change between them, with their usual banter and inside jokes. Though the painful reality still lingered in their minds, they were doing their best to move forward together.

"Just take it all! The house, the appliances, the furniture, all of it!" Hashirama said eagerly.

"Hashirama, no!" Mito responded as she tapped her pen against the paper sitting on the table in front of her.

Hashirama and Mito met up for lunch to enjoy a meal together and discuss the divorce. Mito looked like her usual self again, with her long red hair tied up in her two buns and her face full of color. They had been discussing many things, and were agreeable on everything thus far. When they finally reached discussions regarding belongings, their house became something they just couldn't agree on.

"Why not?" Hashirama asked.

"Because it's your house too, and you should consider taking it as well."

"But you should take it! It's okay. I don't need any of it."

Mito gave Hashiram a look: Really? Mito sighed, tapping her pen a little faster now while trying to figure out how to reach a consensus with her stubborn soon-to-be ex-husband. "I just don't think the decision should be that easy. It was yours before we got married and moved in together. And if I take it, where will you stay until you can get another place?"

Hashirama hummed. "Where will you stay until you can get another place?"

Mito grew silent. He had a point. She came to Konoha from the Hidden Eddy Village whenever her marriage with Hashirama was arranged. Staying in that house was all she knew. It's not like she had a backup place to stay, but maybe she could find one.

Hashirama continued after a moment of silence. "Seriously, Mito, please take it. Don't worry about me. You need a comfortable place to stay. Plus, Konoha is still pretty new and we're still actively expanding our housing to accommodate our growing population. I don't want you to worry about finding a place to stay. I can just stay at Tobirama's until I figure something out."

Mito pouted. Ugh, he makes a solid point. She then raised an eyebrow. "And Tobirama's okay with you staying with him?"

Hashirama smiled. "Why wouldn't he be?" Though Hashirama hadn't really discussed this with Tobirama yet. But, surely he'd be agreeable to it, right?

Mito burst into laughter. "I just know you're stressing that man out," Mito said jokingly.

Hashirama chuckled while scratching the side of his cheek. "He's fiiiine, he's fiiiine," Hashirama said as he waved his hand dismissively.

Mito's laughter slowly calmed down and she bit her lip. She wouldn't mind taking the house, but it held too many precious, yet painful memories. Too many memories of her time with Hashirama, memories of what she thought would be forever. She wasn't sure whether she'd be able to keep living there. "Okay, putting the house aside for now, how about appliances?"

"You keep it."

"Hashirama! Not even your precious kitchen tools?" Mito blurted as she leaned forward, anticipating Hashirama to backtrack.

Hashirama shrugged. "It's okay, I don't need them. I can always replace them. You keep them, Mito."

Mito pouted. She could see why Tobirama had to go with him to most of his meetings. Hashirama was the type to probably give other villages free access to Konoha's assets if he wanted to. "Okay, Furniture?"

"You keep them."

"Your garden in our yard?"

"You keep that one, I have multiple."

Mito's eyes narrowed. "Your clothes?"

"You keep— Actually, I'll take those," Hashirama responded while flashing a sheepish smile.

"That's what I thought," Mito responded while writing on the paper in front of her, she couldn't help but grin. "Well… it's funny that this is the most of our problems I guess, you know, since we never got around to having kids."

"Yeah…" The smile on Hashirama's face slowly faded.

They both grew silent. Kids were something they'd always talked about. They both wanted to have kids in the near future but never got around to trying for them because they were focused on settling as a married couple and building up Konoha. The silence lingered between them until Hashiama finally broke it with a sigh.

"You know what, let's do this. How about we both have equal custody of the house and everything in it, and just decide what to do as we go? I trust that we'll be able to handle things cordially in the future should we have to address who should keep what."

Mito smiled. "I like that!" She jotted down the agreement onto the paper.

Hashirama watched as Mito wrote. He always thought she had beautiful handwriting. And this was nice, sitting with her, talking with her, seeing her appear more lively than before. "How are you, Mito? Honestly."

"Hmm… I've been… better, I guess. I'm taking things one day at a time, and things have been getting… better," Mito answered honestly. The pain was very slowly, but surely, subsiding as she gradually accepted what was happening. It was just nice to sit with Hashirama like this again, even if they were chatting about a not-so-great topic. "And you? How are you? Honestly."

"Me? I'm… doing okay, I think. Like you, I've been better. Do you have any other plans today?"

"That's good. Actually, yes, I'm hanging out with the girls this evening. I think it'll be good for me. I haven't hung out with all of them together in a while."

"That's good!" Hashirama said, relieved that Mito was putting herself out there again. He was really worried when she stayed at home all day at the beginning of this entire thing. It wasn't healthy. So now he's glad that she's been going outside more.

"Yeah, how's Madara?"

"M-Madara? Um…" Hashirama didn't know what to say. It still felt weird talking to Mito about him. "He's um… uh…"

"You know you can talk about him with me, right? It's fine," Mito reassured.

"Right, um… I just— I don't know, actually. He's been acting… weirder than usual lately, and I feel like he's trying to avoid me even more now. I've still managed to see him every day, but I don't know… Something's wrong. I know all of this is nothing new though. I still haven't given up on him. But I still can't shake this feeling that he'll disappear…"

Mito fiddled with the pen in her hand, recalling the discussion they had a while back about Madara and his… patterns. She remembered how she told Hashirama he shouldn't stretch himself too thin for Madara, and how he couldn't save people who didn't want to be saved. At the time, she truly believed that, but now she did feel a little bad for saying those words to Hashirama, especially given what she knows about Hashirama's feelings now. Plus, Mito knew the type of person Hashirama was. Mito softly sighed, "Good, don't give up on him."

Hashirama looked up with widened eyes, making eye contact with Mito.

Mito continued, "You think he's hurting, right? Then make sure you're there for him."

Hashirama nodded with a smile and hummed. He will. He will be there for him. He won't give up on him. Hashirama's mind drifted from Madara back to Mito. He thought about her potential disappearance and felt a sinking feeling in his chest. Mito actually wasn't originally from Konoha, she was from Uzushiogakure, The Hidden Eddy Village, where the rest of her clan resided. Hashirama parted his lips to speak. "You… after things between us are officially settled… will you… go back to…?"

Mito grinned. "Go back to the Hidden Eddy? No, I plan on staying here. Konoha is my home now."

Hashirama felt a wave of relief wash over him. He was aware that it was probably selfish of him to want Mito to stay in Konoha, but thank goodness. He couldn't imagine potentially never seeing Mito again.

"Okay! On to the next topic: debt," Mito said.

Hashirama flashed a sheepish smile. "Actually, can we split that—"

"Absolutely not. All of 'our' debt is your debt, and all of your debt is going to you." Mito eagerly wrote it down on the paper and mumbled, "I'm not paying for your gambling habit."

Hashirama was immediately overtaken by his habitual depressed demeanor.

The two talked further about matters regarding their divorce, and other things, until Mito caught a glimpse of the clock. "It looks like it's time for you to head out, yeah? I think we're at a good stopping point."

Hashirama looked over at the clock. She was right. He had to get going back to the Hokage tower for another meeting. Hashirama practically inhaled the rest of his lunch while they said their good-byes. Mito put the papers back into a folder and slipped it into her bag.

Hashirama stood up. "Thanks for meeting me for lunch, Mito. I'll see you later?"

"Mhmm!" Mito stood up and held her hand out for a handshake, but instead was pulled into a hug, which surprised her. Hashirama's hugs were always the best. They were always so warm and comforting. They made her feel safe. And Mito always fit into Hashirama's embrace just right. Initially hesitant, Mito wrapped her arms around Hashirama to hug him back. They finally broke and met each other's gaze.

"Have a great rest of your day," Hashirama said.

"Thank you, you too. Don't be late!"

"Right, right." Hashirama chuckled before he quickly dismissed himself.

Mito squeezed the strap of her bag as she watched Hashirama leave. This was really it. Their marriage was really coming to an end. She finally dismissed herself, thinking about how she could spend her time to distract her mind before meeting up with the girls later.


For the next few days, things remained pleasant between Mito and Hashirama. They continued to meet up, talking about the divorce, and other times, talking about anything. So that no one else was in their business, they continued to keep their divorce private until things became official. A divorce between the two would be big, the entire village and beyond would be talking about it, and they didn't want the pressure of the circulating news to ruin the process. So at this point, the only person who knew about their divorce was still Tobirama, and they trusted him not to tell anyone.

Mito continued to live in their shared home while Hashirama stayed at Tobirama's. She started to think that maybe she could keep living there. To make things less reminiscent of Hashirama, she tried to move some furniture around, get new bed sheets, and put Hashirama's things in places where she couldn't see them. Hashirama did come over from time to time to pick up some of his things, but it was a very, very gradual process.

"So, you're letting Mito stay at the house while you stay… here?" Tobirama said one day to Hashirama while they were having dinner at his dining table.

"It would only be right. Hopefully you don't mind?" Hashirama responded, pressing his palms together in a pleading manner.

Tobirama put a piece of fish into his mouth with his chopsticks and chewed in silence. Well, he didn't really mind but Hashirama could've asked him before making that decision. "That's fine," he said.

Hashirama's face lit up. "Thank you, Tobi!"

"Mhm."

And so Hashirama continued to live with Tobirama. He helped around the house where he could, like he had been doing anyway, but this time he's been more intentional. Truthfully, he did miss living with his younger brother. It was always interesting seeing Tobirama in his natural habitat, speaking with Tobirama over dinner, engaging in brotherly banter and petty arguments. When Hashirama got married and moved in with Mito, he saw less of Tobirama, so it was nice having this time with him again.

Things were slowly looking up for Hashirama, and his mood improved by the day. Things with Mito were better, and Hashirama found it easier to focus on the other thing that mattered a lot to him: Madara. Hashirama always felt some type of way about Madara, but these days the butterflies really ravaged his stomach whenever he saw him. However, Hashirama noticed there had been a more significant shift in Madara lately. He seemed to have even more on his mind than usual. Every time Hashirama caught Madara outside, it always seemed like Madara was walking with a purpose. Hashirama had been trying to spend more time with him, and while sometimes he successfully got Madara's attention, other times Madara dismissed himself promptly, no matter how much Hashirama tried to keep him from doing so. Efforts to get Madara to open up these days have also ended in failure.

One day, Hashirama saw Madara walking outside, and he called for him.

"Madara!"

Madara stopped and turned around to see Hashirama trying to catch up to him. He continued walking, ignoring Hashirama's call.

"Madara," Hashirama said again once he caught up to him. "Madara, yo!"

Madara said nothing, just kept walking.

Hashirama walked beside him, matching Madara's pace, refusing to let Madara get away from him. "Let's… grab lunch together?"

"Can't."

"Why not?"

"I'm busy."

Hashirama furrowed his eyebrows. What could Madara be possibly busy with? He was no longer head of the Uchiha clan. He isn't involved with village affairs anymore. And he hasn't been going on any missions. He doesn't train any students. What is he not telling him? "Doing what?"

"That's none of your business."

Hashirama pouted. "Then… I'll drop by later this evening?"

"I won't be home."

"Why not?"

"Because I'll be busy."

"Doing what?"

"Still, none of your business."

Hashirama frowned. Madara still hadn't even made eye contact with him. "Madara, are you ok—"

"I'm fine," Madara responded robotically. He didn't have the mental capacity to deal with Hashirama. These days he'd been reflecting on his reality and what's to come. He was alone. He had nothing. The pain of that reality still struck him. The nightmares kept happening. He felt like the eyes were still watching him. But, he is the savior. So he must leave everything behind and go be that savior. There was nothing left for him, and he couldn't keep sticking around, he couldn't keep letting Hashirama distract him. He focused on hardening his resolve.

Hashirama sighed. When Madara was like this, there was no winning. Or maybe he's just not trying hard enough. Hashirama thought about what to do. Hashirama glanced at Madara's shoulder. Lifting his arm up, Hashirama attempted to place a reassuring hand on Madara's shoulder, but his hand was swatted away by Madara's before he could do so. Madara finally looked at Hashirama with narrowed eyes.

"What?" Madara asked, his voice sounding a bit harsh.

"I know you're busy, but at least have a quick lunch with me?"

Madara paused. He really didn't want to, he refused to allow himself to. But as he looked at Hashirama, he noticed an expression on his face that always got to him. Though Hashirama probably wasn't aware of this, whenever he really wants something, his eyes get a bit wider, his brows lift slightly, and he always does this tiny pout. And Madara fucking hated how cute it was to him. Cute enough to make him fold. Madara's eye slightly twitched. Fuck.

Hashirama could tell Madara was thinking about it, so he waited in anticipation. Hashirama took that as an opportunity to examine Madara's face. He looked tired, and his eye bags were a little more prominent than usual. His face was tense, with his jaw clenched. What was going on in that mind of his? Was Madara sleeping? Eating? Hashirama just wanted him to open up, why won't he?

"I'll pay?" Hashirama added.

Madara sighed, averting his gaze. "Fine. Thirty minutes," he mumbled.

Hashirama flashed a smile. "I'll take it."

"Starting now."

"Oi!"


Madara sighed as he walked around the village. He hadn't really been in a great mood these days, not like he's ever really been in a consistently good mood the past few months anyway. But lately, he's just felt different. Maybe it was because he's been more tired. Maybe it was because he decided to no longer challenge his fate. Maybe it was because he decided to leave the village soon, very soon.

Madara surveyed different parts of the village, giving it one last look before he would leave. Konoha. The village he dreamed about with Hashirama when they were kids. The village they built together from nothing. The village that ultimately betrayed him. Madara wasn't sure if he would miss it. He wasn't sure if he ever really formed an attachment to the village. In the beginning, Madara worked hard for the village, defending the village, boasting about the village, going around to other villages to make sure Konoha received the respect it deserved. But now, he felt no such desires.

As Madara strolled around the village, he walked by the pub he and Hashirama would go to drink and vent about their troubles. He walked by the library, where he would check out books. He already returned those books he checked out recently. He walked by the Hokage Rock, where he and Hashirama would sit together while overlooking the village. He walked by the Hokage tower where they had spent a lot of their early days together. He walked by the graveyard, where a lot of their fallen rested. He walked by the Yamanaka Flower Shop where Hashirama would always drag him, and where he got Hashirama that gift. He walked by the Uchiha Police Station, where, well, he didn't want to think about that. He walked by the convenience stores, the street vendors, the restaurants and bars, the training grounds, the parks, the houses. It was strange. Though Madara thought he had no attachment to the village, he still felt a weird sensation in his chest.

Madara continued to take in the village until he felt Hashirama's presence from afar. He looked over to see Hashirama sitting with Mito on a bench. They were smiling and laughing about whatever Hashirama had just said. Fortunately, they didn't notice Madara. As Madara watched, he could tell that they were getting along now. He recalled when Hashirama had told him that things were rocky and that they weren't in good standing, so it's good to see that things were better now. A beautiful couple. A happy marriage. Good for him. This… was good. Madara bit the inside of his lip. Hashirama was just fine now. So, there was no longer a reason for Madara to stick around… right?

Madara softly exhaled. He tried to swallow back the lump that formed in his throat. This was fine. This was good. This was reality.

Madara officially decided. Tonight. He continued walking, leaving the sight of Hashirama and Mito behind. It was time for him, himself, to move forward. To go after his dream. To go on and be the savior of this world.

"Tonight, I'll leave the village."


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