Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Blood drips down his neck, the collar at his throat and and the shackles at his wrists and ankles pulling at the scabbed over wounds every time he shifts.  

He would not break. He would not betray his pack sister. He would not betray his brother. He would not betray his clan.  

He spasms as the lightning jutsu burns through his body, but he does not give them the satisfaction of hearing him scream.  

He would not break. He would not betray his pack sister. He would not betray his brother.  

He does not scream as the whip comes down again and again, pain jolting through him with every strike.  

He would not break. He would not betray his pack sister. He would not betray his brother.   

He does not scream as they break his legs, the sickening crack of breaking bone hiding his grunt of pain.  

He would not break. He would not betray his pack sister.  

He does not scream as the knife scrapes across his ribs, gritting his teeth and spitting in the man's face as he finishes carving words into his chest.  

He would not break.He would not betray his pack sister.  

He does not scream as the knife digs in, the wind sharpened blade ripping into his flesh.  

He would not betray his pack sister.  

He does not scream as they shove a small battered child into his cell, curling around the shaking cub and giving what little food and water he has.  

He would not betray his pack sister.  

He does not scream as they brand him for throwing himself in front of Kagami when they came for him, the white hot pain in his shoulder stealing his breath.  

He would not betray his pack  

He does not scream, instead dragging in as much air as he can before they shove his head back under the water.  

He would not betray his pack  

He does not scream as they try to drag his cub away, paying no attention to their grip on his hair as he bites down and rips.  

He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack  

He does not scream as they force the muzzle on him, lightning wracking his body every time he tries to open his mouth.  

He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack  

He does not scream as they string him from the ceiling, his body weight and gravity pulling harshly at his dislocated shoulders.  

He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack  

He does not scream as they throw him back in the cell while the fever wracks his body, the muzzle shocking him every time he tries to comfort his cubling.  

He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack He would not betray his pack  

He does not scream as Kawarama, Itama, and Kagami beg him to save them, tears falling and his throat scraped raw from days without water.  

Kagami Kagami Kagami Kagami Kagami Kagami Kagami Kagami Kagami Kagami Kagami Kagami   

He does not scream as the entire base shakes, curled around his little cubling and too weak to even lift his head.  

His cub His cub His cub His cub His cub His cub His cub His cub His cub His cub His cub His cub   

He howls in rage as hands try to drag his cub away, snapping and snarling as the muzzle shocks him again and again before it shatters.  

cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub cub 

Tobirama screams as the collar is removed and thousands upon thousands of lights force their way back into his mind before everything goes black.

Chapter Text

Madara snarls, paying no real mind to the fighting surrounding him beyond dodging and yanking his clansmen out of the way of attacks they hadn't seen yet.

They had become complacent with fighting the Senju when they weren't on missions. Grown too used to having ‘established rivals’ in skirmishes like this and knowing what their opponent was planning. It was going to get them killed if they didn't shape up and stop acting like samurai.

He stalks through the battlefield, headed straight for the wall of the building his little cousin was being held in.

He hadn't taken a huge fighting force with him on this raid. But he had likely taken more than he'd needed for the rather small number of shinobi said to be holed up in this place since there had been rumors about the White Demon being in the area. It had been nearly two months since then, but better safe than sorry because he hadn't been spotted much since. He wasn't going to take any risks with Kagami’s safety, especially not since he was likely already hurt with how long it had taken them to find the bastards.

As he reaches the wall he considers for a moment. It would likely be safer for him in the long run if he found another entrance and snuck in, but he could feel with his rather limited chakra sensing that Kagami was likely only a room or two away. And while there were enemies headed his way, it would take them several minutes to get from one side of the complex to the other since most of the shinobi force was tied up battling his clansmen. 

Wait, what was-

He pauses for a moment and sends his chakra flicking out in another ping, double checking to make sure that he was right.

There was someone else with Kagami.

Their signature was incredibly faint and their chakra vaguely familiar, but there was definitely someone there. And, based on what he could feel from both Kagami and the other person, despite the incredible amount of pain they were in, this person was still trying to protect his cousin.

Well, it seemed he owed someone a debt. He rather hoped they lived long enough for him to be able to pay it.

The outer wall comes down with a thundering crash as Madara shook out his hands. He didn't use Doton often but it was always good to keep his skills sharp and it would have taken a lot longer to do the same thing using Katon.

He steps through into the complex, moving towards where he'd last felt Kagami, stepping lightly in case there were any traps that hadn't been taken down with the wall. It wasn't too likely, but you could never be too careful.

The shift between hideout and cell block is sudden when he finds it, and slightly jarring as he steps through a door and is immediately surrounded by cold stone and dark metal.

It was dark in the cells, the only light coming from the open door behind him and a tiny barred window at the other side of the room.

“Kagami,” he calls quietly, struggling not to growl at the stench of old blood and fear that pervades the place.

There’s no answer but Sharingan red eyes stare out at him from the corner of a cell before they quickly duck away again.

Oh his poor baby cousin, activating his Sharingan for the first time in a place like this.

The door to the cell is locked shut but that isn't going to stop him.

He gathers chakra in his hand, wraps it around the lock and pulls.

The metal breaks easily away from the frame and he pays it no more mind as he lets the chakra fade and pulls the door open.

“Kagami,” he calls again. “It's alright now, we're here to help you.”

Again he sees Sharingan red eyes peeking out from behind a dark shape.

He steps forward, hoping to see a little better and make sure Kagami knows it's him.

Silver white?hair, for all that it's grimy and matted, glints in the low light.

Again he steps forward, now able to really see the ragged form of the person curled around Kagami.

A rumbling growl echoes off the stone walls. Like a wolf was waiting just out of sight and breathing down his neck.

He freezes, abruptly realizing that he was going to have to be very careful if this was a Hatake. The rumored man-eaters never took well to being separated from those they considered theirs, and especially not when children were involved.

“Hey, easy, it's alright,” he tells them both in what was hopefully a comforting tone. “I’m not going to hurt you. We're going to get you both out of here.”

The growl quiets slightly but doesn't stop.

“Kagami,” he calls, “little cousin, we need to get the two of you out before more of them show up. Do you understand what I'm saying?”

The growl trails off entirely and the possible Hatake shifts, white hair shifting with them. A pair of fever-bright red eyes stare him down and he abruptly remembers the rumors about Tobirama Senju being in the area.

Everything stops as he meets those ruby red eyes though, and his breath freezes in his lungs.

His entire world shifts , two steps off from before and yet all the more beautiful for it. A clarity to… everything that he couldn't even begin to describe. 

It was as though everything was both sharper and softer at the same time. The hurt he hadn't even realized weighed him down getting lighter and more bearable. A clarity and quietness to his mind that he hadn't realized he so desperately needed.

White hair, red eyes, and pale skin burn themselves into his mind, the protective fury and feral intelligence shining through even while the man was half out of his mind from prolonged torture. 

He was beautiful.

‘Oh, you are the Center of my world.’ Some distant part of Madara thinks.

The rest of him is too enraged at the sight of the muzzle digging into his Center's face and the collar practically embedded in his neck to think of anything but getting him and the kid out of here before ripping whoever had done this apart

There's a clamor of running feet and shifting rubble behind him. Far too many to have been the force he'd felt before.

Chapter Text

Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger 

His cub was in danger.

His claws flash as he slashes the throat of the enemythreatdanger that tried to steal his cub away from him. The Bad Thing is sharp in his mouth, hotcoldburning pain lancing through his jaw as he bares his teeth and snarls.

He throws himself at the next one and takes it to the ground, automatically trying to bite and rip, only for the hotcoldburning to spark over his skin again.

The metal of the Bad Thing creaks as he bites down. His claws slash this enemythreatdanger’s throat too.

More and more of the enemythreatdangers fall to his claws, the Bad Thing creaking more and more as he tries to bite and tear.

Another enemythreatdanger moves towards them. One that he recognizes . This one had hurt his cub before, had made him bleed and laughed when his cub had been afraid.

The Bad Thing shatters, its pieces falling away when he spits out the metal and he throws his head back to howl in victory.

The enemythreatdanger tries to move towards his cub. It would not hurt his cub again. It would regret ever trying.

His bloodstained claws dig into the chest of the enemythreatdanger while his fangs rip out its throat, wrapping around the pulsing muscle behind its ribs and yanking . 

Enemythreatdangers continue to pile in through the door. Most of them get taken down by the Not-ThreatFamiliarKnown that had also claimed his cub as Pack and his fire, though a few get past in ones and twos.

Not-ThreatFamiliarKnown’s lightenergychakra is… different from the light of the enemythreatdangers they both fight, and he's not sure why. It was hard to feel any of the lights right now, even though his memories told him that he should be able to. Not-ThreatFamiliarKnown also seems to be trying to avoid him and the cub with his energy.

He doesn't like that. He doesn't know why , but he knows he doesn't like that.

Two more enemythreatdangers get past Not-ThreatFamiliarKnown.

One tries to get to his cub, it’s sharppainweapons drawn.

He bites into its arm, the sharppainweapon in that hand dropping to the ground and it slashes at him in turn, the other sharppainweapon cutting deeply into his face.

Blood pours from the wound, but it dies messily under his claws while it tries to scream anyway.

Where had the other one gone?

He looks around for it, only to snarl and leap as it tries to get behind Not-ThreatFamiliarKnown. He wouldn’t let it hurt his cubling’s Pack.

This one also draws his blood, the longer sharppainweapon digging into his shoulder.

His jaws snap closed on its throat as it drops the sharppainweapon . Its hands try to form the baddangerouspainful signs, its lightenergychakra building, but he rips his head back before it can finish.

Blood fountains from its throat, its hands falling still as its light flickers out.

He darts back to his cubs’ side in the corner, picking him up by the scruff and darting back to Not-Threat’s side.

He barks at his cub, telling him to stay put behind Not-Threat. Not-Threat would keep their cub safe.

He considers the battlefield for a moment then darts into the fray, leaping up and onto the back of one enemythreatdanger before his teeth crunch down on its neck and he jumps to the next as it crumples.

He continues darting in and out, taking one or two of the enemythreatdanger down every time he does.

Fireburningpain suddenly licks up his back, startling a yelp from him as he whirls to face the new threat.

Before he can move to attack, though, Not-Threat’s chakra slams down over the room, knocking all the enemythreatdangers to the ground.

Several of the weaker lights go out.

Not-Threat’s lightenergychakra , his favorite chakra, WarmthWood-SmokeLeatherPrimroseFur , settles over him and he struggles not to purr .

He rips out the throat of the enemythreatdanger that burned him anyway.

He moves back to Favorite’s side, claws slashing and cutting any of the enemythreatdangers throats that are still moving on his way. 

He sniffs at their pup, looking for injuries and, upon finding nothing new, chuffs at Favorite to pick the cubling up. Favorite could protect the cub better than he could right now without his chakra.

Favorite picks up their cub and says something to him. He isn’t sure what Favorite says, but it makes the cub calm down and smell less like fearpainworry so it probably wasn’t anything bad.

He looks up at Favorite, waiting for orders on what to do now that all the enemythreatdangers were deademptywithout-light .

Favorite looks down at him and says something, a strange look on his face, but he can’t quite understand the words.

He can almost understand, the words sounding familiar, but his thoughts are slow and muddled now that the battle is over.

Favorite says something again, clearly looking for an answer, before shaking his head and gesturing towards the door.

He walks to Favorite’s left, protecting the arm that held their cub, as they walk out.

The bright light hurts after so long in the dark cage they’d been trapped in, and the sunlight burns when they walk out into it. He keeps his eyes shut tight as he and the cub both whimper, hoping to avoid the worst of the pain.

A light runs toward them, yelping something that has Favorite growling. Under the growl he hears the soft schink of drawn metal and knows it isn’t Favorite.

His eyes snap open and he snarls , claws darting out as he throws the light away from Favorite and their cub. The light goes dim, but doesn’t go out. It’s not a threat now, but it might be later.

He lets his eyes fall closed again once finished, the pain stealing his concentration. He shifts back towards Favorite, senses on high alert for any more threats.

Another light moves towards them a second later, this one much slower and more cautious. Its chakra is familiar, almost like how Favorite was, but not as much.

Favorite says something, the words garbled by the sudden ringing in his ears, but still notably relaxed, and the new light says something back, sounding just as calm.

He moves as Favorite keeps walking, the familiar light keeping pace.

There are even more lights up ahead, tense but relieved as Favorite moves closer with their cub in his arms.

It’s less bright as they get closer to the group, something tall trees? above them blocking out the painful light.

Favorite walks right into the middle of lights and he forces himself to follow, unwilling to let Favorite and their cub be alone among so many unknowns.

Questioning voices shift and overlap, overwhelming him as he stays close to Favorite’s side. Slowly they taper off and move away, Favorite answering each one.

Another voice comes towards them and asks something, this one sounding distinctly concerned, and its light reflecting that concern.

Favorite answers in a low tone, also sounding concerned.

Why was Favorite concerned? What was wrong? Was Favorite hurt? Was their cub hurt? What had he missed?

The concerned light suddenly touches his neck and he jolts back, pressing close to Favorite and growling with fangs bared.

Favorite places a gentle hand on his head, voice soothing as his chakra wraps around him for the barest second.

The concerned light slowly reaches toward him again and he reluctantly allows it. Favorite didn’t think it was a threat, so it probably wouldn’t hurt him.

The weight around his neck is pulled away with a painful jerk, and for a moment everything is fine.

And then there are just lights.

So many, too many , lights!

They burn him up, consume him like fire , as his awareness stretches farther and farther away.

There’s too many! He can’t see, can’t hear, can’t think with all the lights. They’re pulling at him, pulling his mind apart -

Distant shouting, a brief but heavy weight of WarmthWood-SmokeLeatherPrimroseFur , and then darkness.

“ What did you do?! ” Madara snarls as his Center drops to the ground screaming, a hand already wrapped around the healer's throat.

“Co-llar,” she gasps out, clawing at his hand. “K-ept chak-ra sen-sing off. Need-ed to ge-t it o-ff hi-m.”

He lets her drop, taking a single deep breath before scooping Tobirama up off the ground.

The man goes limp in his arms, screams finally dying as Madara’s chakra wraps around him on instinct.

Chapter Text

Madara looks up sharply as Healer Fumiko steps into the room.

“What’s happening?” He demands, only barely managing to keep from snarling.

The healer winces. “Well Madara-sama, there are some… complications in our healing of Tobirama-Sama.”

“If this is because of his history with-” he growls.

“Not at all, Madara-sama,” She reassures him quickly. “Everyone involved in Tobirama-sama’s healing knows he is your Center, sir, and we are doing our utmost to heal him. It’s just that- Well-”

“Well what ?” he snaps.

“He’s fighting us, sir.” She tells him bluntly.

“He’s unconscious ! He shouldn’t be able to fight anyone!”

“We know that, sir, but he’s doing it anyway.” She tells him. “If you would follow me, please, I can try to show you and explain.”

“We’ve never seen anything like it.” Another healer, his cousin Kenta, begins as he enters the room that had been set up for his Center. “What he’s doing shouldn’t be possible ! It would take truly prodigious chakra control to do what he’s doing even while awake ! It’s almost like he’s trained himself and his chakra to fight against anything foreign in his body even while unconscious, and he considers our chakra foreign while we’re trying to heal him.”

“We think you might be able to help us though, Madara-sama,” Fumiko continues. “Because Center bonds are proven to be at least partially two-way, and he’s already proven that he doesn’t see your chakra as a threat, so we think you might be able to, well, sort of coax him into not seeing our chakra as a threat while we heal him.”

“And how exactly am I meant to do that?”

“Just wrap him in your chakra and keep him calm,” a third healer, Emiya the head of the healing halls, explains as she gestures to the chair at the side of his Center’s bed. “He trusts you, and we’ve already seen how your chakra calms him when you aren’t even trying, so as long as you don’t fight us or think any of us are threats to him, neither will he.”

He stares down at his Center for a long moment, pain and rage mixing as he takes in just how battered and hurt his person was.

And yet, despite it all, he was still beautiful in a way Madara could barely find the words for. There was a fierceness about him, a sort of vicious intent to him that; even when bloody, bruised, beaten, and unconscious, didn't fully fade.

He takes up his position at Tobirama’s side, carefully and tightly wrapping his chakra around his Center before signaling to the healers that he was ready.

His chakra was a lot at times, he knew, but his Center just seemed to relax into it.

He could feel Tobirama’s injuries like this, the way the man's own chakra gathered around and through the various wounds as if trying to heal himself.

Most shinobi had a certain level of self healing above the average civilian simply from having a usable amount of chakra constantly circulating in their bodies, but this was… different than that. More effective. More active in a way Madara couldn’t even begin to describe.

It was concerning, if he was being honest with himself. That his Center was injured without enough time to fully recover so often that he subconsciously tried to speed up his own healing with chakra.

Madara had done his circuit in the healing halls, as all main line shinobi were required to even if they didn't end up being particularly good at it, but he’d never seen anything like what his Center was doing.

He understood what the healers meant now too, about Tobirama fighting them. Every time one of them moved from one injury to another his Center’s chakra would bristle and try to snap at them and he would be forced to send waves of calm through his own, telling Tobirama without words that the healers were trying to help him, not hurt.

He falls into a sort of halfway meditative state as he does, focusing solely on his Center and keeping him calm as the healers worked on his many, many injuries.

Madara half wished he could go back to that compound and burn the entire thing to ash. It was a wonder his Center had even been able to stand with how injured he was, much less fight the way he had when they’d rescued him and Kagami.

He gets caught up in the ebb and flow of the younger man’s chakra, his racing thoughts finally, blessedly , silent after seeing his Center so hurt and being unable to do anything.

“Madara-sama?” Emiya asks a short time later, shaking his shoulder slightly.

He grunts in response, not letting his attention waver.

“We need to re-break Tobirama-sama’s leg, Madara-sama. We've already given him an anesthetic, just in case he's more aware than he seems, but it was specifically broken and then partially healed to ensure that it would heal incorrectly. So if he ever wants to regain full function it will need to be re-broken and healed correctly. It won't take long,” she explains, seeing the grimace on his face at the thought of his Center in even more pain, “and we will heal the break completely to ensure there are no complications, but it does need to be done as soon as possible before his muscle memory starts to shift now that he can move freely. This should also be the last thing we need to do for now, everything else can wait until both he and you have recovered.”

He growls lowly as he considers the situation, suddenly wishing that everyone involved in that miserable place had suffered for far, far longer than they actually had.

“Do it,” he grunts out, letting a heavy but gentle hand fall onto Tobirama’s freshly healed back and willing his chakra to drape even more thickly over the man as he does so.

His Center jerks in pain as the bone breaks despite the anesthetic and Madara only barely manages to keep from flinching at the whimper that follows the harsh crack .

Once it’s healed however, Tobirama slips into a much deeper sleep, pressing as much of himself against Madara as he can.

Tobirama wakes up feeling more well rested and clear headed than he has in a very long time.

He doesn’t permit himself to move though, doesn’t let his breathing change, or his chakra shift even the slightest amount out of the lazy circuit it always falls into when he's unconscious.

He turns his attention to his other senses, focusing on sound and scent over his sensing to keep his chakra still.

The harsh chemical smell of  a healing hall hits him first, overwhelming all other scents in its oppressiveness.

The sound of soft breathing, like someone meditating or asleep, hits him next. The faint, muffled, sounds of movement in another room right after. There was at least one other person in the room with him, then, and more right outside.

Guards maybe? But this had to be some sort of trap if they were. No self respecting shinobi would sleep in the presence of a possible enemy. Most of his own clan didn’t trust him enough to let their guard down and sleep in his presence.

His last memories of before he had come to be, well, wherever this was, were fragmented and hazy, but he distinctly remembers feeling Madara’s chakra before he passed out. So it was likely that he’d been captured by the Uchiha, then, meaning such a thing made even less sense.

He was rather thankful for it, honestly, even if he didn’t understand why they had let him live instead of taking him out while they had the perfect excuse. The Uchiha as a whole didn’t believe in torture for torture's sake, and Madara was a good man, so at least if they tortured him it would be for something he’d done or something he knew rather than because they wanted to hear him scream like half the bastards that had caught him before.

The sudden reminder of his previous captors sends a jolt of dread down his spine.

Where was Kagami? Where was his cub?

No, not his. 

Kagami had a family, had a clan that wanted him and was willing to fight to get him back and keep him safe.

…a clan so unlike his own.

Something shifting at his side brought him out of his thoughts as it sent a subtle puff of scent into the air. Coal-dust, and smoke, and something unique to cubs that hadn’t fully developed their own scent yet.

Oh, that was where Kagami was.

This was looking less and less like a trap, and Tobirama had no idea what to do with that information.

He turns his attention inwards, just to ensure he hadn’t been caught in a particularly powerful genjutsu.

He carefully scans his body, taking note of the lack of restraints and how his injuries have been healed. Even the broken bones that should have affected his function long term had been re-broken and set to heal correctly.

Why had they done that? Surely it was smarter to leave a known enemy weaker so he couldn’t turn against them?

He pushes the thought away, turning his mind back to his scan and moving deeper to scan his chakra for any foreign influences.

Not even chakra restraints, really? Did they think he was too weak to be a threat? Was that what was going on?

His breath freezes in his lungs at what he finds when he pushes those thoughts aside.

That wasn’t- that wasn’t possible. The chakra he felt connected to his own like a gossamer thin thread couldn’t possibly be what he thought it was.

Uchiha Madara couldn’t be his Anchor. And even if he was, there was no way the other man would have accepted the bond instead of rejecting it outright.

Maybe he didn’t know what it was? The Uchiha weren’t known for their skills as sensor nin, after all, and the existance of Anchors wasn't widely known even among most sensors.

But that still didn’t make any sense ! It wasn’t like Madara could be unaware enough of his own chakra to not notice the bond that had formed between them, and even then he would have to have been open to such a thing in the first place!

The Uchiha would never have been open to such a thing with him. He was well aware of what people thought of him White Demon, ghost, monster, warmonger, heartless, Freak and Madara had more reason than most to want him dead with how often he fought Izuna.

“Bira!” A quiet but bright voice whisper yells, pulling him firmly from his thoughts.

He couldn’t have stopped the soft smile that pulled at his lips if he tried .

“Hello again, cubling,” he rasps out, opening his eyes.

He needed to stop doing that. Kagami wasn't his, wasn't his cub no matter what his ridiculous instincts were saying.

“Bira, you’re awake!” Kagami beamed down at him. “Are you okay? Do you need anything? And did you see, did you see? Mada-shisou saved us just like you said he would!”

He hadn’t quite said that, he knew. He had said that Madara would save Kagami , not both of them, but close enough he supposed.

His eyes roam over the boy's form, noting with some dissatisfaction that he was still far too thin.

The baby fat on his cheeks was much less round, his wrists thin, and his lips cracked with dehydration after so long with little food and water.

But it was still so much better than he had been in that dark cell.

Lips cracked but not bleeding, wrists fragile but not bony, cheeks thin but not gaunt.

He was grateful for that more than anything else.

A door clicks open and he's pulling Kagami to his side before he can even think, a quiet growl rumbling through his chest as he angles his body to hide his pup from whatever new threat was going to try and hurt them.

A healer walks in, her slightly lighter than typical chin length hair and darker skin than the usual pale Uchiha complexion speaking of mixed blood.

“Ah, it’s good to see you’re awake, Tobirama-sama. I am Kenta, one of the three healers that have been looking after you.” She says, actually looking pleased. “I will let Madara-sama know you’re conscious, he’s been very worried about you.”

He stares after her in confusion. Why had she looked happy to see him awake? No one looked happy to see him except Touka. And now Kagami he supposed. But Madara was worried about him? 

Worried he would escape? Or die before he could be useful? 

Or maybe him keeping Kagami safe had actually-

He pushes that thought away before it can fully form. Now wasn’t the time for fantasies, no matter how much he wished they were true.

The door clicks open again and the Uchiha clan head steps into view.

Tobirama barely manages to keep himself from blinking in shock. Had Madara been waiting outside? Or had he run here from wherever he’d been? It hadn’t even been a minute according to his internal clock, and it was almost 6 in the morning. Though it was possible that that was what was incorrect after so long held captive.

“Good morning,” Madara greets, a beautiful smile on his face that had Tobirama struggling to breath properly.

And it was real too. The happiness of it lighting up his whole face and making his eyes crinkle at the corners.

What could he have possibly done to make Madara look at him like that ? They were enemies! Madara probably hadn’t even known who he was before-!

Kagami’s bright voice pulls him easily from his spiral.

“Mada-shisou, Mada-shisou! Look, look, Bira’s awake!”

And Madara’s smile just gets brighter .

“So I can see.” He turns to Tobirama. “Are you doing alright? Do you need anything? You were badly hurt when we found you, so let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

Tobirama struggles not to stare . What was going on? Was he dead? Was this some kind of last dream, hallucination, thing his mind had concocted to give himself peace before he reached the Pure Lands? Why was Uchiha Madara looking at him like he’d hung the stars in the sky and asking if he needed anything?

“Oh- um, yes. I’m- I’m fine,” He finally manages to stammer out. “Th-thank you for the uh, the offer.” 

“And for rescuing me, as well, of course.” He adds quickly before he can forget himself entirely. “Most would not have in your place.”

“Of course,” Madara responds. “You’re the reason my cousin escaped mostly unharmed after being held captive for so long. We couldn’t just leave you after you risked so much to keep him safe.”

Madara turns back to Kagami before he can even start formulating a response.

“You need to go back to your bed, Kagami, the healers are looking for you and your mom should be here soon to see how you’re doing.”

“But Mada-shisou, it’s my turn on watch!” Kagami protests. “What if the bad guys come back and try to hurt Bira while I’m gone?”

Tobirama’s heart hurts at the genuine fear in the boy's voice. He was so young , he shouldn’t be so anxious and on guard for threats. Especially not while at home in his clan compound.

“Tell you what, little spark,” Madara says gently, a soft, understanding look on his face, “How about I take over watch for you so you can go back to your bed and rest, huh? How’s that sound?”

Kagami’s eyes narrow. “You promise you won’t let Bira get hurt?”

“I promise.”

Kagami holds out a fist, his littlest finger up. “You pinky promise ?”

The larger man wraps his own pinky around Kagami’s smaller one. “I pinky promise, no one will hurt him as long as I draw breath.”

Oh, Tobirama was fucked wasn’t he? If he hadn’t already been harboring a growing affection for Madara for more than a decade , he certainly would have now . Strong, intelligent, honorable without being stupid about it, unfairly attractive, absolutely incredible chakra, and kind to children? Why did the Kami have to be so cruel? To create the perfect man and then make it impossible for Tobirama to know him as anything but an enemy?

“Okay,” Kagami says, more than a little sullen, before wrapping his arms around Tobirama’s torso in a hug. 

“I’ll be back soon Bira, promise.” his cub whispers.

He squeezes gently back. “Stay safe, cub, and get better. I’ll be alright, I promise.”

He hopes that’s a promise he can keep.

Chapter Text

Madara sighs as the door clicks closed behind Kagami. It hurt to know his little cousin was still so scared even after they’d gotten him out, even if he did understand it.

He turns back to his Center, relieved beyond words to see the man awake after the three days he’d spent unconscious.

“Was there something you needed from me, Uchiha-sama?”

“Madara,” he responds without thinking, eyes catching on the way the other man’s hair was falling into his face and how it set off the red of his eyes. “Please, call me Madara. And I’d like to talk to you if you feel up to it.”

“I am at your mercy, Madara-sama, if you want to talk, we will talk.”

He flinches at his Center’s words. Right, Tobirama had barely even been conscious since they’d rescued him, much less aware. The man probably thought he’d traded one prison for another.

Madara moves to be more firmly in his Center’s line of sight and bows deeply.

“You have my sincerest thanks as both Clan Head of the Uchiha and Kagami’s secondary guardian for saving and protecting Kagami as you did.” He tells the man, genuine affection slipping into his voice without him intending to. “He is dear to me, and most would not have even thought to do so in your place. It is thanks to you alone that he survived long enough for us to rescue him at all, much less for him to have remained largely unharmed as he was. Should you require anything from me, I will do my best to accomplish it, whatever it may be.”

Tobirama stares at him, head tilted in an almost animal confusion.

“You would give me a boon so great for something I didn’t do for you?” His Center asks in wonder.

“The fact that you didn’t do it for me makes it all the more noteworthy. You protected Kagami, not because he was an Uchiha, nor because he was dear to me, but because he was a child. And you did it with no thought of reward, or even of your own survival.” And that knowledge hurts to think about, to know he had come so close to losing his incredible Center before he’d ever found him. “And for that you have my eternal gratitude.”

It’s true, he realizes. Even Izuna had reconsidered all he knew about Tobirama in the face of how much he’d suffered protecting Kagami. Even if he hadn’t Centered on Tobirama upon finding him protecting the boy in that cell, he’s certain it would still have changed his opinion of the man for the better.

“May I sit?” he asks, gesturing to the seat Kagami had vacated and waiting until he receives a nod to do so.

Oh, that might have been a bad idea. At least for his ability to form words and not choke on his own tongue. 

His Center was somehow even more beautiful up close. Frosty lashes framing ruby red eyes. The red of the markings on his face offsetting his pale skin. The way his hair shadowed his face as it fell into his eyes. Was that the red of his markings on his neck too? Oh, that was dangerously unfair. He was gorgeous.

“-lright, Madara-sama?”

He blinks back to himself and tries not to blush. 

“Uh, y-yes. Yes, I’m alright. My apologies, I got… lost in thought.”

“I see. There was something else you wanted to talk about, I’m assuming.”

“Yes, actually, if you wouldn’t mind.”

There’s a look in Tobirama’s eyes that Madara doesn’t quite recognize. “I don’t mind at all,” the man says softly.

“I find myself undeniably curious,” he begins, unsure how else to start but hating the need to be so formal with his Center. “How did you come to be in the position of protecting Kagami in the first place?” Who did Madara need to kill for allowing his Center to be so badly hurt?

Tobirama’s face tightens as his lips twitch down into a grimace. He opens his mouth to reply before closing it again without a word, something painful flashing across his face as he does so.

Even worse than he’d thought, then. It wasn’t like the man to be so openly expressive around people he didn’t trust.

“I would prefer to leave that topic for another time if you would be so kind, Madara-sama,” His Center mutters, an almost pleading note in his voice.

“Of course, I’m sorry for bringing it up.” he says, genuine regret filling him. He hadn’t meant to make his Center upset. “Are you willing to tell me how long you were captured for?”

“That would depend entirely on the date, I’m afraid. I lost track of time after a while, I’m very rarely clear-headed while being so cut off from my sensing.”

Madara fights down a blush. Duh! Of course, Tobirama didn’t know the date, he’d just been held captive for who knew how long! “Right, my apologies. It’s about nine days before the summer solstice.”

Something quiet and brittle and so very, very hurt flashes across his Center’s face, almost faster than Madara can see it.

“-ths.” Tobirama mutters, eyes shut tight and his voice near inaudible.

“Sorry?”

“It’s been almost three months,” he says slightly louder. “I left a week before the spring equinox.”

“And your brother didn’t come looking or send anyone after you when you didn’t report back in on time?” He asks in shock. He couldn’t even imagine being so cavalier with Izuna’s life. Izuna was the last of his family, the only brother he had left, he knew himself well enough to know he would do truly terrible things to keep him safe.

His Center flinches and ducks his head. “Br- Hashirama tends to leave me to my own devices when he has no need of me. He likely forgot that I wasn’t just running missions or doing his paperwork for him unless he required something of me. He might not have noticed at all if Touka didn’t tell him.”

Madara hisses in outrage, clenching his teeth to keep from snarling. He was going to make a lot of people wish they’d never even heard of his Center. Hashirama included if necessary.

“Touka?” He asks instead of pushing further. He didn’t want to make his Center even more upset than he already was, especially since he seemed to be getting tired. He didn’t know who this Touka person was yet, but he knew he had to meet them just from the soft smile their name brought to Tobirama’s face.

Tobirama nods tiredly, that soft smile still there even as his eyes drift closed. “Cousin,” he tries to explain, “sister. Pack, y’know? Family.”

He hums softly in thought, not wanting to disturb the man when he was so clearly exhausted.

His Center's breathing softened and his shifting chakra slowed. He was asleep again.

Madara settles back in the chair, more than a little shocked that the man was so willing to sleep in his presence, despite their respective clans having been enemies for so long.

The rage from before sits hot and bitter in his chest. It made him so incredibly angry, hearing the hurt and betrayal and grief in his Center’s voice when he spoke about how long he’d been captured. And the way he called Hashirama by his name when all reports he’d heard of the man said he called him Brother or Anija did not say good things about their current relationship.

He forcefully turns his thoughts to something else, wanting to avoid waking his tired Center with his angrily twisting chakra.

Could he have been right, when he thought Tobirama was a Hatake back in that dark cell? He’d never heard any clan use the word pack in place of family like he did when talking about Touka except the Hatake and the Inuzuka. And even the Inuzuka at their worst didn’t seem to have the sheer feralness that his Center had shown while he protected Kagami. And Kenta had briefly commented about Tobirama growling at her when she first walked in. How he’d pulled Kagami behind him and used his own body as a shield, which certainly lent itself to the theory. The Hatake were well known for being even more protective of children, pups or cubs as they called them, than most clans after all. They even beat out the Uchiha in that, which was really saying something.

It was an interesting thought at least. Perhaps he could ask his Center when he was next awake.

And speaking of his Center being awake, he really needed to figure out a way to explain the Center thing without overwhelming the poor man. An Uchiha’s devotion, and particularly his devotion, was… too much for most people, he knew. More than a few of his clan had fallen to the Curse or simply fallen because they had no one to give their devotion to .

He himself had slipped further down that slope than he would ever admit to anyone. His devotion was too much even for most Uchiha to bear. It was why he’d thrown himself so readily into leading the clan. Even Izuna and Hikaku found him to be too much if he didn’t have something else to distract him.

A quiet knock at the door pulls him from his darkening thoughts, and he glances at his sleeping Center to be sure the sound hadn’t woken him.

The door clicks open a moment later and his first cousin Honoka ducks into view.

She nods at him as she moves fully into the room.

“He’s the one that protected my baby?” She asks softly.

He nods back, happy that the woman he thought of as an older sister didn’t seem afraid of his Center.

“Kagami adores him,” she whispers, a soft smile on her face. “I’ve never seen him take to someone like that before. So protective and adoring and engaged.”

A smile tugs at Madara’s lips in turn. “He made me pinky promise that I would take watch and not let ‘Bira’ get hurt before he’d go back to his bed and let the nurses check him over again.”

“That doesn’t surprise me in the least.”

They sit in silence before Honoka asks softly, “Is it true? What Kagami told me?”

He raises a questioning eyebrow.

“That he’s your Center?”

“Yes,” he returns just as softly. “I saw him, curled up and in excruciating pain but still so ready to fight and kill and die to keep what he considered his safe; even while barely able to stand and half out of his mind from what they’d done to him. I met his eyes and everything just… clicked into place. Like my entire world reoriented all at once with him at the heart of it.”

“I’m glad. For the both of you. I think you both need someone to hold on to, to keep you steady and have somewhere for all your love to go that won’t buckle under the weight of it.”

“Yeah,” he whispers, looking down at Tobirama’s sleeping face, “yeah, I’m glad too.”

Chapter Text

Madara nods to Hikaku and Honoka as he leaves the healing hall. His cousin’s would keep watch over Tobirama while he had to deal with the clan work he couldn’t put off anymore.

It physically hurt to be separated from his Center so soon while the man still wasn’t well. He hated to have to leave Tobirama’s side while he was so vulnerable. His Center wasn’t weak by any measure, of course, but he needed time to rest and recover after everything he’d endured. And Madara wanted to be there to watch his back while he did so with every fiber of his being.

And it was worse since it was before they’d managed to really talk or have any of the important conversations he knew they needed to have. Particularly the one about telling Tobirama that he’s here because he’s Madara’s Center and not because he was a prisoner. But Tobirama was asleep, and Madara really couldn’t put these things off anymore. No matter how much he wanted to. He couldn’t just leave everything to Izuna, his brother had no head for trade or outer clan politics.

Okay, so what did he have to do first? Hikaku had mentioned something about an unconscious runner at the gate, hadn’t he? He should go see what that’s about before he gets buried in all the paperwork that needs his signature and going over any missives he’d missed in his time at Tobirama’s bedside. Maybe if he does it fast enough, he’ll be back before Tobirama wakes up!

The world comes to him in snatches, quiet and drifting, as he struggles to stay awake.

“he’s the one that-?” 

“Kagami…” 

“never seen… someone like that. So-.”

“-take watch-”

“-get hurt before-”

“-nurses check him over again.” 

“-n’t surprise me…”

The words slip through his fingers and his thoughts drift away.

Light. So much light.

Colors. Blue and red and yellow and white and brown, so many different shades and strengths.

The green one. He knew that one, didn’t he? He should go to it.

It hurt him. Why did it hurt him?

It had been sort of painful before, he remembered. Not like this, though. It had hurt like too bright light, like being in the sun for too long. Like he would burn up if he stayed close for long enough.

This was like vines. Like thorns. Like whips cutting into him.

It lashed out at him again, its touch burning like fire.

Why was it hurting him? What had he done wrong?

It left him alone for a little while, and it felt like everything went dark.

The green light was so bright that it made all the others feel dim.

The green light came back.

It flickered and flared and lashed out at him again.

He didn’t understand. Why was the green light so angry with him? What did he do wrong now?

It went away again, for even longer this time.

And when it came back, it left another light with him.

He didn’t like the new light. It flickered and flared at random, striking out at him even though it never hit, and its white glow made him feel uncomfortable.

He didn’t think the green light was coming back.

Eventually, more lights appear, like the white one had summoned them. First one. And then another. More and more kept appearing, all twisting and sparking like anger. They lash out at him too, sharp and painful.

The white light goes away soon after, and his awareness narrows down to a pinprick compared to the vast ocean of before, but the new lights ask him questions that he refuses to answer. 

He won’t answer no matter what they do. Not when the answers would hurt Wind Through Wolf Fur and the green light.

He keeps refusing. They keep lashing out. Over and over and over and over.

He wishes they would stop. That they would realize he would never answer and just snuff him out.

After a long while, there’s suddenly another light with him. A little red spark. It’s small and dim and feels afraid.

Were the other lights hurting the little spark too?

No. No, that wasn’t allowed .

He would protect his Little Spark.

The lights tried to take his Little Spark from him, but he wouldn’t let them. He wouldn’t lose another of his little lights. Not like he did his Fast Water Over River Rocks and his Sunlight Through Leaves.

It would break him if he lost his Little Spark too.

His Little Spark flickers and sputters as time goes on, afraid but still so trusting. 

Why did it trust him? Didn’t it know he was a freak? A monster and a cold-hearted warmonger according to the green light that should have known him best?

His heart hurts. He misses his Wind Through Wolf Fur. He hopes she’s okay. That she won’t hurt too much when his light goes out.

His light is dimming. Wavering and quiet. He can feel it as it claws at his insides. It hurts for his perception to be so narrow. He’s tired and hurt and cold and scared. But his Little Spark still needs him, so he can’t let himself go out yet.

He teaches his Little Spark when he can. Teaches it how to warm itself with its light and how to keep it hidden from those that want to snuff it out. How to move silently and how to keep itself safe. It isn’t strong enough to get away from the other lights, not yet, but it should be enough for it to keep it shining when they smother his own light out.

He hopes someone will come rescue his Little Spark before then. He doesn’t want to leave his Little Spark all alone in the cold darkness they were trapped in. He knew the green light wasn’t coming for him by now, but maybe someone would for his last little light.

The surrounding darkness seems to get deeper as the lights keep lashing out.

It’s been a long time since he’s been away from the dark. He misses the breeze on his face and the smell of rain on the wind.

The darkness presses ever closer, and he wraps himself around his Little Spark in hope of keeping it safe.

.

.

.

He falls suddenly, flames consuming him.

His Little Spark is in his arms and there are threats all around them.

Something is happening. Something has disturbed the other lights.

He can't feel it like he should. His world is too narrow, and now more than ever before, he hates it .

He growls as a threat comes closer. He would rip out and drown every light that dared to try and take his Little Spark from him.

They get closer and closer, hands grabbing for his Little Spark. 

He bites and claws and snarls, but it does nothing. His claws are blunt, his teeth trapped behind metal where he can’t use them.

He screams for his Little Spark, agony lancing through him.

They wrench his cub away, weapons raised to snuff out his last little light.

NO!

Blood splatters as his Little Spark screams

He bolts upright, a scream still trapped in his throat.

“Bira?”

He sweeps Kagami into his arms before he can think, burying his nose in coal dark hair and the soft scent of smoke as a purr builds in his chest. An automatic and instinctual attempt at self-soothing he’d thought he’d long grown out of.

“Safe,” he breathes, fighting to get himself under control. “Safe.”

His cub leans into his hold, clearly sensing his upset.

“We’re okay, Bira, I promise.” Kagami whispers against his neck. “You saved me, and Mada-shisou got us out. We’re okay.”

He heaves in a shaking breath. 

Another.

“Thank you, cubling,” he says softly, releasing the near death-grip he’d had on the boy.

Kagami smiles up at him, an agonizing sort of understanding in his dark eyes.

They stay curled up like that together for a long time, glimpses of the rising sun visible through the shuttered windows.

“Love you, Bira,” His cub whispers as he slips into sleep.

His breath catches in his throat, remembering the last time someone had said that to him.

Remembering Itama, his cub, the little brother he’d all but raised, slowly bleeding out in his arms because he'd been too late.

“I love you too, Kagami,” he breathes, the tears he’d been fighting for so long finally falling as he pulls his Little Spark closer.

Chapter Text

She waits, silent and still in the treetops with her chakra tucked tightly away, just as he’d taught her.

A single light flickers in the branches below, just above the forest floor. It was getting closer now, almost within her range.

She would find her little brother. No matter what it took.

Madara sighs and closes his eyes against the evening light. It had been almost a week since Tobirama had woken up for the first time and while he managed to stay awake longer each time, he still wasn't awake all the time yet.

And now, his cousins had finally had enough of him hovering over his Center and cousin/nephew and had sent him to do something else. Not in so many words, of course, but it was very firmly implied when even Honoka had snapped at him to get out from under foot with his pacing.

And it wasn’t like they were wrong, he did have other things he was supposed to be doing. Especially with everything else going on. It was just irritating because he’d been regularly leaving his Center’s side to take care of the clan head duties that Izuna couldn’t, and he really didn’t want to leave again so soon.

He sighs again and pinches the bridge of his nose in an attempt to ward off his coming headache. Nothing about this situation made any sense. How had those low life traders managed to capture Senju Tobirama, of all people? Let alone keep him against his will for almost three months? Why wasn’t Hashirama on a fucking warpath looking for his last living brother? And what, if anything, did any of those mysteries have to do with all the runners that kept turning up unconscious at the gate to the main compound.

Make no mistake, he was grateful to have found his Center and have him close. Grateful beyond words that the wonder of a man had protected a child of his clan's enemies as he had with Kagami. But if it had been Izuna to essentially go missing, as Tobirama apparently had, he would have burned half of fire country off the map trying to find him and bring him home. No matter what state he was in.

A knock at the door rings through the room.

“What?”

“Another one was found this morning. The gate guard only just reported it.” Hikaku tells him.

Madara puts his head in his hands and groans before shoving himself to his feet.

“How many is that now?”

“This one makes ten,” his cousin replies, sounding just as worried and irritated as Madara himself feels.

“And no one saw anything this time either?”

“No, sorry. And this one didn’t even make it halfway to no man’s land.”

“Kami above,” he groans. “Who was it this time?”

“Makita, Tadashi-san’s son.”

“And I’m guessing he doesn’t remember anything either?”

“Absolutely nothing, just like the rest. Running through the trees after getting sent out, then nothing until he wakes up in the healing halls.”

“The same cuts as well?”

“Yes sir, just under both eyes without actually causing any damage.”

The sound of running feet stops their conversation in its tracks.

“Madara-sama!” A guard calls urgently at the end of the hall, jogging closer. “There’s a situation that needs your attention!”

“Report,” he snaps out, sweeping back the way the man had come.

“An incapacitated patrol was found by the gate guards, sir, they sent me to bring you.”

Madara bolts down the hallway. Izuna’s patrol was the only one currently out. “Are any of them still alive?”

Is his little brother still alive?

Please, please, please let Izuna still be alive.

“Yes sir, all of them.”

“ All of them?” He and Hikaku both ask in shock.

“Yes sir.”

Madara forces himself to move faster.

Madara stares at the patrol shinobi laid out in the healing hall with something like horror filling him. All eight of them, Izuna excepted, had been taken down with barely more than a scratch. Each of them had been left with a sharp, blood-red slash under each eye. A warning about what could have happened had the assailants not stayed their hands.

Izuna himself had been covered in a dozen shallow cuts that had bled sluggishly before they’d been healed, and a knot on the back of his head that had been the size of a fist.

Izuna groans softly before bolting upright, eyes wide and Sharingan swirling.

“Woah, little brother, easy. You’re alright.” Madara soothes.

“What a woman.” His brother breathes in shock.

“What?”

“The one that hit us, it was a kunoichi.”

“It was one person?!”   He asks in horror.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, Mada. She got all of us with a genjutsu, even those of us with Sharingan. She dropped from the trees and the first one shattered when my Sharingan activated, but she just kept layering them so fast it was almost impossible to break them before she had another two stacked on! I don’t think there’s anyone currently in the clan that could do something like that. She finally gave up on them when I activated my Mangekyo, but she just ran at me with her naginata instead. And she was so fast! She must have been almost as fast as Tobirama!”

Madara blinks in surprise. His Center was well known for being one of the fastest shinobi in all of Fire. He’d never met anyone but Izuna who could keep up with Tobirama when he was fighting at full strength. And even he was likely only managing it because his Center wasn’t actively trying to kill him most of the time. At least, based on what he’d seen while the man had fought beside him against the traders. Even without chakra, his Center had taken down almost as many as Madara had with it! Another few weeks of recovery to get Tobirama back to full strength, and he was certain even he himself would have trouble trying to take the man down without going for overwhelming amounts of firepower. 

“And- Madara?” Izuna starts again, suddenly sounding hesitant and nervous, “Mada, how did you know Tobirama was your Center?”

He blinks at the seemingly random question but answers anyway.

“I just… knew,” he tries to explain. “I looked at him, and it was like I saw us both staring back. Like I saw what we could be as our best selves as long as we were together. Like puzzle pieces snapping together and showing something so much greater than the sum of their parts. I don’t- I don’t know how else to explain it, Izu, I just knew.”

“Yeah,” his little brother breathes, something like awe in his voice, “yeah, that’s- that’s about what I thought too.”

“She’s-” He starts, cutting himself off before he can finish. He knew he wouldn’t have taken it well if he thought someone had doubted his claim to his Center so soon after meeting him, he wasn’t about to do Izuna that disservice.

“Yeah, she’s… she’s incredible, Mada. I’ve never seen anyone like her before. She’s like wind and fire given form, like a goddess made flesh. I looked at her, and it was like looking into the sun. Like I could be blinded by her brilliance and still feel blessed to just bask in her warmth. She's beautiful and amazing, and seeing her looking back at me like that made me want to be better for her.”

He couldn't have stopped the wild grin that grew if he tried.

“I'm so happy for you, Izuna!” He pulls his brother into a suffocating hug because he can think better of it.

“I- yeah. Yeah, I'm really happy too. Now we just have to figure out what she wants and how to get her to give me a chance.”

“We'll figure it out, Izu, I'll make sure of it.”

He needed more information. Who was his brother’s new Center? Who was this kunoichi that had somehow managed to subdue seven patrol shinobi and Izuna with only genjutsu and a naginata? And how did he find her? She obviously wasn’t trying to actively hurt them, given she hadn’t killed anyone yet, despite having many opportunities as well as the skills to do so. So what did she want?

A thought strikes him like lightning. Up until this group, all the others she had fought had been on their own. So maybe he could make her come to him.

He turns and walks quickly out of the healing halls, telling Izuna his plan and waiting for his thoughts on it before he walks out the door. He had a kunoichi to find.

The first genjutsu is placed so subtly and quickly that he almost doesn’t notice it. And even when he does, it’s unusually difficult to figure out what’s wrong.

The second, third, and fourth are quickly layered over him as he breaks it, just as subtle and strong as the first and made all the stronger by their layering.

His Sharingan flicker to life, breaking them all as he tries to find where she could be hiding.

He was in a small clearing now, towering trees on all sides, but even as he pulsed his chakra he couldn’t feel even a flicker out of place. It was like there was no one there at all.

Had she run?

It felt unlikely, he didn’t know how anyone that could match Izuna would be willing to run from a fight without really trying.

It was still odd. He wasn’t a great sensor by any means, especially not compared to Tobirama, but he could usually rely on it with his instincts and Sharingan to tell him if someone was nearby. It was incredibly difficult to hide signs of your presence so completely that even the Sharingan didn’t pick up on it.

Something slams into his back and he rolls with the blow as much as he’s able. Turning with the force of it, despite how open and exposed that makes him feel.

He whirls to face her, Sharingan spinning, but she’s already darting back into the trees as yet more genjutsu slam into his mind.

They were stronger now, more fiercely layered and complex. And even harder to break.

One catches him for only a moment before it shatters, but in that moment he sees dozens upon dozens of things flicker past his eyes.

Bright sun and blue skies. Blood on snow. Wind through leaves. Bright wings diving at dusk. Sharp ice and dark water. Lightning striking sand. Fire consuming impossibly tall trees.

It flashes through him and away again, and he reaches automatically for his Mangekyo. He couldn’t allow her to catch him like that again.

She slams into him again, moving almost faster than he can track. 

Her naginata slices through the air, so close to his face he can feel the air shift with it.

He twists to grab her, to try and close the distance so she couldn’t use the weapon so freely, but she’s already darting back out of range. 

He finally gets a good look at her in that moment, and what he sees almost stops him in his tracks.

This was… was she a Senju?

He didn’t know for sure. Her dark hair was wild, and her eyes a dark, almost gold color in the low light. Her lip paint was a deep, deep, purple. Like oleander and nightshade and elderberries. Deadly and unafraid to show it.

She felt familiar to him, like he’d seen her somewhere before.

She lashed out as his mind raced, a web of shuriken threaded with ninja wire flying at him as he tried to figure out where he could have seen her before.

He flicks through hand signs and blows out a gout of flame, just hot enough for the ninja wire to snap under the heat. He'll never forgive himself if he hurts his little brother’s Center. Not when just the memory of Tobirama being hurt made his heart pound and his chest ache.

“Where is he?” She hisses at him, speaking for the first time since their battle started.

She was looking for someone? He sidesteps the remaining shuriken but ends up right back in the path of her naginata.

The blade nicks his cheek this time, blood dripping warmly down his face as he throws himself back.

Damn, it had been years since he’d fallen for a trick like that.

She whirls past him, startlingly fast as she throws herself up and out of range of his sweeping kick.

Even now, close as she was, his Sharingan could barely track her. How in the hell was she doing that? He’d never seen anything like it. It was almost like she knew where he was going to aim, but he was certain that he’d never fought her personally, so he had no idea how.

“I know you know where he is!” She growls, swiping at him again and again. “You have to know!”

If she was this good when she was clearly so utterly furious, how good would she be when in her right mind? He found the thought both excited and disquieted him. He’d never seen someone work around the Sharingan like she did before, but at the same time, the way she was doing it felt incomplete.

He didn’t know why he thought that, but it did. Like she had learned from someone but had never used the skills in practice before.

His next blow snaps the staff of the naginata clean in two, but she vaults away before he can press his advantage.

He leaps back as a hissing tag hits the ground in front of him, but instead of the explosion he expects, thick black smoke billows from it like a high chakra Katon.

When did smokescreen seals become a thing?!

A flicker of chakra has him darting back, hands flicking through signs as he forms an attack reflexively, but before he can loose it she throws herself at him with a familiar looking sword in hand.

That- Wasn’t that Tobirama’s sword?

There’s none of the caution or careful calculation of before. No, this was all pain and rage and powerful, powerful, grief.

“Where is he?!” She snarls, blade pressed lightly against his throat for a split second before he ducks away and gains some distance.

Oh. Oh, she definitely knew Tobirama. Loved him deeply, too.

His heart hurt for her. It had been three months since his Center had been captured, if she’d been looking for even half that time then-

A familiar howl sounds through the little clearing, and his opponent's head snaps up and back towards the compound so fast he wants to flinch from the sympathy pain.

There’s a look in her eyes in that moment, hope warring with disbelief, that steals his breath. 

She looked just like Tobirama had when he’d looked at Madara back in that cell. Hope and pain and grief all mixed with so much fear. Like she expected to wake up at any moment and find everything that had given her that hope had all been a dream.

The howl comes again, and she bolts past him so fast that she’s almost out of sight before he can finish turning his head.

He shoots off after her without a thought. Where the hell was she-? Wait, was she heading directly for the compound? Surely she would know better than that. 

Another howl and he almost loses sight of her entirely, only barely catching up before she hits the outer wall. What would she-?

Before he can even start to think of an answer, she vaults over the wall at a dead sprint, weaving through the many, many guards in her path like rapids over river rocks.

Gods of fire, this woman was fast!

Darting after her, fear and suspicion wage war in his chest as his brother’s Center heads directly for the middle of the compound.

Directly to Tobirama.

Could she be Tou-?

She ducks down from the rooftops two streets from the healing halls, hitting the ground on feet that he only now notices are bare. She’d been running and fighting this entire time without shoes?

Before he can get too stuck on that thought, she darts up and grabs the ledge of a window on the third floor to swing herself inside.

She freezes for a split second on the window sill, as if unable to believe what she was seeing, before throwing herself the rest of the way through.

As he lands on the window sill after her, the woman hits her knees in front of his slowly kneeling Center, staring up at him like a worshiper at a miracle from their God.

Tobirama had clearly been getting ready to go to her when she’d hit the sill, even though he shouldn’t have been out of bed with how hurt he still was. He had no shirt, no shoes, a stolen kunai shoved into a clearly stolen belt, and the tattered mission pants he’d been in when they’d found him.

“Tobi,” she croaks out, something fractured and grieving in her voice as she pulls an unresisting Tobirama into a hug. 

“Little brother,” she whispers, tears gathering in her eyes before she buries her face in his shoulder. “Oh Tobira, I'm so sorry. I’m so sorry it took me so long to find you.”

Tobirama hugs back even tighter, rocking them both side to side, a mantra of “ Touka. It’s okay big sister, I love you, I missed you, I love you, I’m so glad you’re here, please don't leave me, I love you,” dropping from his cracked lips as he fights back tears of his own.

Something in him softened at the sight. He was glad his Center had a sibling that loved him fiercely enough to do something so dangerous for him, even if it wasn’t Hashirama like he’d expected it to be.

Chapter Text

Tobirama’s eyes are drawn back to Touka again and again, even as she helps him maneuver into a chair before he falls over. 

She was really here. One of the most dangerous places in the world for a Senju to even be within sensing range of, and she’d vaulted over the wall and run to him like it was nothing.

The howls he’d let out when he’d finally lifted the first of the blocks on his sensing had been instinct. A warning and assurance. A promise that he was coming to her aid. He’d been almost to the window before he could think, and was so shocked to realize she was so close that he hadn’t even noticed she’d been fighting Madara until the man had jumped onto the windowsill after her 

Which probably wouldn’t have been possible with their Anchor bond if he hadn’t been cut off from his sensing for so long, but that was neither here nor there.

The first of the blocks had thankfully come down smoothly despite the shock, so he could now feel the majority of the Uchiha compound and its immediate surroundings again.

It would likely be several more weeks before his chakra would be balanced enough to take off the next set, and then several more after that for the last. And it was still incredibly aggravating and verging on painful for his senses to be so narrowed. But even still, it was far better than the near total deprivation of before that cursed collar had come off, or the mind melting clarity of before his subconscious had created the blocks out of sheer survival instinct.

He blinks back to himself as he hears Madara come back in, this time with Izuna and another Uchiha, Hikaku if he remembers correctly, Madara's third in command, in-tow and carrying a tray of tea.

He only barely manages to keep himself from rolling his eyes at his rival as he stares at his pack sister in awe.

If he didn't stop soon, he was going to find himself getting thrown out the window she had come in through. His sister did not take well to people staring at her ass.

“Are you well, Tobirama?” Madara asks as they all get settled around the table.

“I'm doing much better, Madara-sama, and I thank you for your concern. This is my pack sister, Senju Touka, and I thank you wholeheartedly for allowing her presence.”

“We couldn't exactly keep her out,” Hikaku mutters under his breath as he serves them all tea.

A smirk pulls at his lips, though he hides it behind his cup. No, he was sure they couldn't. Touka had never been one to accept failure, and especially not when Pack was on the line.

He stares Izuna down as the man picks up his own cup, still staring.

A twist of chakra has his rival choking on his mouthful of tea.

“Careful, Izuna,” he admonishes, voice nearly a growl as his eyes flash in warning. “Perhaps you should be paying more attention to what you're doing , instead of having your head in the clouds.”

If the little brat thought he would put up with his rudeness towards his sister, then he had another thing coming.

“Down boy,” Touka says with a laugh, “I can defend myself just fine.”

“He's being rude,” he growls lowly.

Touka slings her arm over his shoulders and he can feel his hackles dropping at her touch.

“Sorry,” he mutters to her.

“All good, little brother, I get it. Instincts are being a bitch, huh?”

“They had a cub in the same cell,” he murmurs.

He can feel her hiss as it vibrates through him.

“At least they're all dead,” she hisses.

He makes a questioning noise.

“They hurt you,” she growls. “They took you from me, with the help of that-”

She cuts herself off in a snarl before continuing.

“Of course I hunted down anybody that made it out of your slaughter, Tobira. I wasn't about to miss a possible lead on where you were.”

“It wasn’t just me.”

“It wasn’t as much Madara as you think it was, either,” she laughs. “Every second corpse in that place had your teeth or claws in em, little brother. Just cause you don’t remember through the battle haze doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”

He blinks at her before deciding to move on.

“My apologies, Izuna, my temper got away from me. It won’t happen again.”

“Wait, that was you?” Hikaku asks in shock. “You made him choke on his tea?”

“Yes.”

“But you didn’t make any hand signs, how did you do it?” Madara asks, chakra flickering in his own shock and curiosity.

He tries not to preen. He hadn’t expected Madara to be so impressed by a little free-handed water manipulation.

“Oh, if you think something like that’s cool, you should see what Tobi can do when he’s actually trying!” His sister says proudly.

“What do you mean?” Madara asks, something like eagerness flickering through his chakra. 

Wait, what? Why would he be eager to hear about something like that.

“Tobi’s been doing that since we were kids, the newer stuff is way cooler. At the summer solstice last year he made me kinzashi for the festival out of ice because I couldn’t find my good ones and they only broke like six months later when I stabbed a Hyugga in the throat with them.”

“You didn’t tell me they broke!” He protests immediately. 

“Tobi, you were-”

“No,” he responds before she can finish. He pulls water and chill from the air with a wave of his hand, crafting her an even better pair than before. He would not have his sister walking around without a backup weapon he’d made and knew could be trusted.

He forms the sticks themselves first, long and thin with deadly sharpened points, as he snap freezes the water so it would be perfectly clear.

He frowns slightly at the bubbles he'd missed in the pins' makeup. It seems his chakra control wasn't as close to his usual as he thought. How irritating.

The flowers come next, morning glory and mountain laurel twined together down the sticks and trailing curtains of larkspur and foxglove that were all left deliberately frosted. 

After that, just because he can and because he kind of wants to show off he trails ribbons of frost up over the flowers and forms a howling wolf at the very end of each pin.

He hands them to her, waiting for her judgment.

She visibly softens as he stares her down, looking over them with a small smile. “They’re beautiful, Tobira, thank you.”

“Tell me when they break this time,” he grumbles.

“I will, Tobi, I promise.”

Something in him settles as he watches her pin her hair up with them. Good, she had a backup now, and he knew they would work.

They turn back to the Uchiha as one and find them all staring in shock.

Izuna’s mouth is hanging open in shock, Hikaku looked like he was about to pass out, and even Madara was more than a little wide-eyed.

“What?”

“Y-you just- you just did that. You just pulled water out of thin air and froze it into kinzashi! Decorative kinzashi strong enough to be used as weapons! Why are you acting like that’s no big deal?!” Izuna sputters.

“Because it’s not?” He says in confusion. “They’re not as good as I would like, my chakra control isn’t as good as usual because I’m still unbalanced from being captive so long, but they’ll hold until I can make proper new ones.”

“Not as go-!” Izuna starts before abruptly taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “What do you mean? What could you possibly need even more precision for? Why in Amaterasu’s name would you train that hard for something that has diminishing returns once you get high enough?”

He blinks at the man in confusion. Did he not- did he really not know that-?

“You do know that I don’t have anywhere near as much chakra as Hashirama, right?”

“Well yeah, obviously, nobody but Mada has anyt-”

“No. No, seriously.” He tells him. “I have a fraction of the amount of chakra as Hashirama does, Izuna. I don’t even have as much chakra as you. I have roughly half the amount of chakra that you do. I need that precision to even attempt to keep up with the amount of jutsu you use in battle. And on top of that, I am the best precision healer the Senju have, of course I need perfect chakra control.”

Shit, when had he gone from thinking of Izuna as an enemy to thinking of him as an ally?

Oh, of course. The Anchor bond. Izuna was Madara’s brother and they had a good, close relationship that was important to Madara. Madara’s feelings for his brother were effecting how he saw Izuna.

That wasn’t going to be good when he had to go back to the Senju.

He’s abruptly dragged out of his thoughts by Izuna’s flaring chakra as the other man screeches.

“YOU FUCKING WHAT?!”

His head throbs.

“Will you shut up!” He snaps, bringing a hand up to his temple.

Izuna falls silent immediately.

“Sorry,” he mutters tiredly, “didn’t mean to snap. Headache from all the chakra now that the first block is down. Uchiha chakra is… A Lot sometimes.”

“Shit, Tobi, they put you in chakra restraints?” Touka asks in horror. She knew what those felt like to him, had helped him recover more than once when Father had insisted he train in them as punishment.

“Entire time,” he murmurs.

She snarls in rage, barring her teeth. “I should have made that fucker suffer for much, much longer than I did.”

“What do you mean?”

Touka laughs at his question, eyes wild and mouth stretched into a sharp toothed and manic grin.

“You have been avenged, brother mine.” She tells him. “The one who betrayed you will never hurt you or anyone else ever again. And that–”

She makes a harsh gesture and his eyebrows raise in surprise. He hadn’t known she hated Ha- their clan head that much. Her voice was a rumbling growl all the while, before continuing as though nothing had happened.

“— will never forget the pain his actions have caused you. I made sure of it.”

“Touka,” He whispers, voice slightly wary but not feeling as unapproving as he would have expected to before all of this. He hadn’t realized he’d become so distant from An- Br- Ha- him over the course of everything, either. “What did you do?”

She reaches into a pouch at her waist and drops two small sealing scrolls on the table. “The traitor’s hands,” she growls, pointing to one, “because he stole you from me. And his heart, to ensure he will never know true rest.” 

He shuts his eyes to fight back the tears he can feel building, even as something in him softens more than it already had at the sight of her. Fuck, but he loved her. She’d been his only lifeline in a clan that hated him for so long, and he just… fuck. He didn’t deserve her. But he would do his best to try to anyway.

She reaches into another pouch, snarling. “And as for that sorry, good-for-nothing excuse of a clan head that was supposed to keep you safe while I was on mission…” She places a long, twisted bundle of all too familiar looking hair in the center of the table. A small and slightly bloody square of armor that looked like it had been cut out from the middle of another, much larger, piece follows right after it. Hashirama’s armor, probably carved right out of his chest plate. Likely with him still in it, based on the sheer rage he could still feel pouring off his pack sister.

“He will never forget how much he hurt you, Tobira, how much he lost when he pushed you and your incredible devotion away. No matter how hard he tries.”

“Did you kill him?” Madara asks. 

It wouldn’t surprise him if she had, despite how much the thought hurt even after everything. It had always been very clear that she was Hatake over Senju in all the ways that really mattered in things like this.

“No,” she purrs, a vicious smirk pulling at her lips. He bites back a smirk of his own as Izuna makes a quiet wheezing sound. She was going to have so much fun tormenting the little brat. See how he did against someone that wasn’t trying to avoid making Hashi-

He cut that thought off before it could finish. He didn’t need to think about An- Br- Has- him right now. It wouldn’t help anything anyway.

“I want him to live with what he’s done. What he caused. What he’ll never get back, all because of his ridiculous pride and arrogance and desperate need for people to tell him he’s right, no matter how wrong he actually is.”

Izuna stares at her, wide-eyed. “You’re amazing.”

He barely manages to keep from rolling his eyes. Was Izuna going to do that every time Touka did something viscous and protective? Because if so, it was going to get really old, really fast.

Hikaku clears his throat and stands before he can add something appropriately derisive about Izuna’s lack of attention again.

“I believe there was a specific conversation the four of you needed to have, Madara-sama? I will be right outside should you have need of me.”

Tobirama cocks his head to the side, considering. He can feel Touka stiffening at his side. Preparing for a fight.

But Madara and Izuna were not. They very decidedly were not.

Izuna is frazzled. All anxiety and fear and anticipation and eagerness. But, for all that the emotions were similar, they felt nothing like what he’d always felt from the man before going into battle against him.

Madara was also anxious. Which, given how self-assured he knew the man typically was, was definitely odd. But not necessarily pointing towards a fight. If anything, it felt like he was worried about the conversation Hikaku had mentioned and wasn't sure how to start it.

He nudges his ankle against Touka’s under the table, a quick flash of chakra passing between them at the contact.

She settles again and he barely manages to keep his sigh of relief trapped behind his teeth. It would be a political nightmare of the highest order if she attacked after they'd both been shown hospitality and mercy by the Uchiha. And he really didn't want to deal with that on top of everything else that he was sure Br- Ha- he had let pile up while Tobirama had been captured.

Fuck, but he really didn't want to go back. He was so tired of being nothing but Hashirama's attack dog or paper pusher.

Did he even know how to be anything else?

He doesn't know anymore.

“There's something you need to tell us?” he asks politely.

“Uh, yes, yes there is,” Izuna starts nervously, eyes coming back to Touka again and again.

Madara nods his agreement and picks up the thread of conversation.

“There is something the two of you should know,” the clan head starts slowly. “It has to do with the Sharingan and how it works.”

Tobirama blinks back at his Anchor in confusion. 

The Sharingan? Why in the depths of the Hunt would they be willing to share secrets about the Sharingan to enemies? To some of their strongest enemies, at that? It didn't make any sense.

“Those with the Sharingan have the potential to find something called a Center,” Madara continues. “It's an incredibly rare phenomenon. Only a handful have been found in the last several hundred years.”

“Okay?”

“An Center is always a person,” he explains, “and finding their Center causes changes in the Sharingan of the people that manage to find them. It makes us steadier. Less prone to the madness that tends to dog the clans' footsteps because finding a Center essentially overwrites the trauma of when the Sharingan first activated with seeing your Center for the first time. It makes the things we've seen hurt less. Makes us more clear-headed. The previous memories are still there, but they're not the first thing we think of anymore. A Center becomes the Center of that person's world.”

“So sort of like an Anchor for a sensor, but more memory based instead of sensory?” He asks before he can stop himself.

“What's an Anchor?” Izuna asks.

“An Anchor is…” Damn it, why couldn't he have just kept his mouth shut? His explanation about Anchors never made any sense to non-sensors because he'd been sensing since before he could walk.  

His gaze darts to his own Anchor again. 

Well, Madara deserved to know what he'd gotten himself into, accepting a bond like that. Especially since he wouldn't have done it if he’d known what it was. There'd never been a way to separate a sensor from their Anchor without one or both of them dying, after all.

“An Anchor to a sufficiently strong sensor is a guide.” He tries to explain. “A lodestone. Something that draws us back if we start to lose ourselves. The stronger a sensor is, the more desperately we need an Anchor, because as a sensor gets older and stronger, so does their sensing. Strong enough sensors can get… lost, for lack of a better word. Get caught up in the rhythm and flow of the chakra the world generates when we spread out our senses and just… never come back. Something in nature chakra calls to strong sensors. Calls us to find something, to Hunt something, that no one has ever managed to find. We forget that we're not just an extension of the Hunt. Eventually the connection to our physical form isn't enough to draw us back anymore, and our bodies waste away while we hunt in the stars.”

Touka puts her arm around his shoulders again. He'd terrified her the first time he'd gotten lost like that. 

He'd terrified his mother, too, because he'd been so young. Most Hatake sensors don't start getting lost in the Hunt until their early teens, and even they were considered early by most metrics.

He hadn't even been 7 at the time.

“But you have an Anchor, right?” Madara asks, sounding… his chakra flickers for a moment and draws Tobirama's attention. Why did his Anchor feel afraid? And was that- was that jealousy he felt behind it?

No, obviously not. He'd never been very good at picking out the more subtle emotions, so obviously he was confusing something else with jealousy. 

He pushes those thoughts away, instead turning back to the conversation.

“Up until very recently,” he reluctantly admits, “no, I didn't. But when I woke up after you rescued me, I noticed that an Anchor bond had formed between myself and someone else.”

“Do you- do you know who they are?” Touka asks. She was excited for him. Excited that she wouldn't lose him to the Hunt, for all that she was trying to hide it.

“I do. They dont know about the bond, however, and I am unsure how to bring such a thing up in conversation. I had not previously known it was possible for such a thing to form without both parties actively acknowledging it. It doesn't exactly sound like the most realistic thing in the world.”

“Is there any way you can make them aware of the bond?” Madara asks, that strange not-jealousy flickering through his chakra again.

“There is. It would feel… strange for them, but it wouldn't do any harm to them or to me.”

“So why don't you?” Izuna asks.

He hesitates, considers his words, and decides that honesty is probably the better way to go here. “I- I rather doubt that they would be willing to associate with me since we are from warring clans. An Anchor bond both ensures that I cannot view them as an enemy, because they are so vital to my sanity and sense of self, and cannot be broken without one or both of us dying in the process. So I do not wish to force such a relationship on them after they unknowingly accepted its formation.”

“Don't you think that decision should be up to them, Tobi?” Touka asks. She's not looking at him, though. Her eyes are firmly trained on Madara.

She knew him so well.

“I agree,” Madara murmurs, something painful streaking his chakra that Tobirama doesn't quite recognize. Not quite grief, but not quite regret or sadness either. “Should anyone come forward asking about a possible cause, I will let them know the situation, but I do think you should ensure they're aware.”

“Are you certain?” he asks, just to be sure.

“Yes.”

“Very well,” he mutters, closing his eyes.

It's the work of a moment to slip into a light meditation, and even easier still to step back into his own head and find the humming bond that felt like WarmthWood-SmokeLeatherPrimroseFur.

He tugs once, gently, and can practically see Madara jolt in his chair.

Once more, slightly stronger this time, before opening his eyes again and letting his gaze flick up to meet Madara's.

“I understand, of course, that you may not wish to-”

“No!” Madara exclaims, panic flashing through his chakra.

Pain lances through him at the rejection, and he tries not to flinch. Of course Madara wouldn't want to be connected to someone like him. He was a fool to ever think otherwise.

“No, no, I'm not-” Madara continues, “I mean, it's not that I don't want - I- Izuna help!”

“Okay, both of you need to stop panicking for a second.” Izuna insists. “Tobirama, do you remember what we were talking about? About Centers and how they're always a person?”

“Yes,” he says slowly, unsure why this was relevant.

“Madara and I wanted to talk to you and Touka about it because the two of you are our Center's. You are Madara's Center, and you, Touka, are mine.”

“Wait, what?” He and Touka ask at the same time.

Chapter Text

Madara stares at Tobirama in awe as he tries not to vibrate right out of his seat.

He was Tobirama's Anchor! He was Tobirama's Anchor! He was Tobirama's Anchor!

How was it possible that his Center just kept getting more perfect?!

Granted, the reason Tobirama needed an Anchor was terrifying, and he was trying really hard not to think too deeply about it so he wouldn't get caught up in his head and freak out.

But he was Tobirama's Anchor! Him! Not anyone else! He, Madara, was his Center's Anchor!

And the Bond! He didn't know how he didn't notice it before, but oh, now that he had! It was incredible!  

Like the chill of an autumn breeze after a scorching summer. Like rain after a drought. Like cool water on parched lips. Like an embrace after a long day. Like the sight of a loved one after so long without them.

It was coolness and comfort and safety and warmth and the bone deep knowledge that someone would always have his back. That someone would always come for him, no matter the circumstances.

It was awe-inspiring, to be so deeply connected to the Center of his world, and he had no idea how he had ever managed to live without it.

“Wait, wait, wait, explain this to me again,” Touka demands, “Tobi and I are what?”

“You are our Center’s,” Izuna responds, “and to find a Center is a sign of Amaterasu’s blessing. It’s basically the Uchiha version of all those soulmate fantasies that civilians always natter on about. Just, you know, real, if extremely rare.”

“How rare?”

“Including Izuna and I, there have been seven confirmed Centers in the last 300 years.” He tells her, eyes focused on his own Center’s form, where he was practically curled into her. He wanted to comfort the man. Wanted to assure that his misstep had been a fumble of words, not that he didn't care for his incredible, amazing, perfect Center. “Two of which were with each other, and two more were from clans we were allied with at the time. It’s incredibly rare for an Uchiha to find their Center. A hundred thousand times rarer than a member of the clan having a natural earth or wind affinity. There are periods of our history where Centers are referred to entirely as myth, it’s so rare.”

“Oh really? It's that rare, and the two of you just so happen to fucking imprint on me and Tobi like baby ducks right when Tobi’s vulnerable and I prove that I'm a bigger threat than you thought? Yeah, sure,” she snarks.

Rage flashes up his spine at the insinuation that he or his brother would ever lie about something so precious and sacred, but he forcefully banks it and beats it back. His Center’s sister was not an Uchiha. His Center was not an Uchiha. They didn’t understand just how important and powerful such a thing was.

“Touka,” his Center murmurs, “Do you think I would ever lie about someone being my Anchor? Even if it gave me an advantageous position?”

“No, of course not, you would never-!” She cuts herself off with a wince as her gaze darts between him and Izuna, “Sorry, I didn’t mean- Well, no I did mean it, but I shouldn’t have said it. That was incredibly rude of me and I apologize.”

She sighs and looks at him, meeting his eyes for the first time since the clearing. “I sincerely apologize for my rudeness, Madara-sama.” She shifts and pulls Tobirama even closer to her side. “These last few months have been… trying, and I let my anger at the circumstances and those involved influence my words. I thank you for informing us. And more than anything, I thank you for saving my brother. He is the last of my pack, whether through death or betrayal, and you have my eternal gratitude for rescuing and taking care of him.”

The last of his anger at the slight melts away.

He could understand how it must look to her. Her brother, missing and all but presumed dead for several months, suddenly alive but seriously wounded and newly captive by her clan's greatest enemies. Her clan was apparently doing little, if anything at all, to help her try and find out what had happened to the last of her family. Himself and Izuna, out of seemingly nowhere, all but inviting the two of them to stay and admitting a secret about their clans’ fabled dōjutsu that had never been so much as whispered about among even their staunchest allies.

Yes, he could easily understand why she would think it was a ruse. A trap to try and turn two of their enemies strongest against them or steal them both away from the Senju.

“All is forgiven, I understand why this would be strange for people that didn't grow up learning about Centers. And as for the two of us both finding our Center's at the same time…”

He hesitates, but decides it would be better for them all if they heard it from him instead of another source.

“There are myths,” he explains. “Rumors and superstitions about people who find their Center. It is often noted in the histories of our clan that, when multiple Centers are found at once, some large change or upheaval usually follows. The Blazing Raven and his match the Lightning Queen, the Centered Pair I spoke of before, led the Uchiha into the longest lasting peace time between us and the Senju in hundreds of years. For nearly 40 years there was no fighting between our clans, and even when it resumed it was on a far lesser scale than before and only after the two had been dead for almost a decade.”

Tobirama jolts in his seat. “The Quieting,” he whispers in shock.

“The what?” Izuna asks.

“The Quieting,” the man repeats, louder this time, as he swipes a blank scroll from Touka's belt and holds out his hand as if waiting for something. “A period of peace previously unheard-of between the Senju and the Uchiha.”

Touka rolls her eyes and hands him an ink brush with seals etched into the handle.

“There's no record in any of the clans’ documents, even the ones sealed inside the clan head's office, that remark on why that period ended.” Tobirama continues, hand moving steadily as he jots down notes in a script that Madara can't make heads or tails of. “There’s a gap of roughly a month between the last document from that time and the one that details the casualties of the first skirmish afterward. And there's nothing in any of the archives that might have come from that missing time, either. But there is a lot of information on why the period started.”

He watches in awe as his Center rapidly writes out what can only be a timeline, entirely in code, without even appearing to think about it.

“You're amazing.” It's only after the words have left his mouth that he realizes he'd spoken out loud, but he can't bring himself to regret it. He'd never seen anyone write in code so easily before, like it was their first language, and the script itself was beautiful. Sweeping curves and sharp flicks and graceful embellishments that he's pretty sure add some kind of meaning or context to the rest of it.

A flare of familiar chakra interrupts before he, or anyone else, can say anything in response.

Tobirama's head snaps up, a snarl already building in his chest. Why was his cub coming here, and why was he so upset? What was going on?

“Wait, Kagami, you can't-!” He can hear Hikaku say.

He's at the door before the man can finish, pulling it open and easily sweeping his cub into his arms.

“What's wrong, cubling? What happened?” he asks gently, absently kicking the door closed behind him.

He barely manages to get the words out before they're lost under a growl as the scent of blood hits him. He pulls back slightly, scanning his cub more thoroughly, and the sight of the darkening bruise on Kagami's face has him struggling not to snarl. Especially combined with his cubling’s split lip that was still bleeding slowly.

He was going to murder someone for this.

His cubling bursts into tears, clinging to him with all the strength his still too skinny body possesses.

“They- they said Mada-shisou was gonna kill you!” Kagami sobs, arms tight around his neck as he buries his face in Tobirama's shoulder. “An’- an’ I couldn't find Mama or Mada or Izu or- or anyone, an’ Elder Zaiaku was saying bad things about you an’ calling you mean names an’ I told him to stop but he just laughed like the bad guys an’ then- an’ then he hit me, an’- an’ I don' want you to die! You promised you wouldn't leave me alone, Bira, so you can't- you can't die! You promised!”

“Shhh, my Little Spark, everything will be okay.” He whispers, resettling the boy in his stronger arm and letting a purr build in his chest even as a wild, desperate rage pounds through him like war drums.

Zaiaku, out of every damned person in this place, had dared to raise a hand to his-!

No. Not now. His The cub came first. He would deal with Zaiaku later. He could scream and rage at the unfairness of the universe later, he had a cub to heal.

The cool, almost mint green of healing chakra comes to him with barely a thought.

He brushes gentle fingers over his Little Spark’s bruised face, something in him softening when his cub doesn't even tense.

The bruise is still forming, but it's easy enough to heal, and the split lip is even easier with how much smaller it is.

“See? All better,” he soothes, “and I promise I'll do everything in my power to stay with you. You're never going to get rid of me, even once I'm all healed up.”

“You promise?”

“I pinky promise,” he agrees. “Even if you don't see me, I'll always be watching over you. Now, do you remember what I told you about my sister?”

“Wind Through Wolf Fur?! The pretty lady with the yellow eyes that's amazing at genjutsu even without the Sharingan?” His cub asks in excitement, the distraction working exactly as he'd hoped it would.

“Yep, that's her. Did you want to meet her?”

“Can I?” He gasps, “she always sounds so cool when you talk about her. Like- like almost as cool as Mama cool!”

He can feel Touka's chakra flicker in amusement as she comes up behind him. Madara's and Izuna's do as well, though theirs are laced with nearly as much rage as he's sure his own is.

Touka's focus is on their his the cub, knowing better than anyone exactly how far he would go to keep cubs safe, even when they aren't his own. “That's some very high praise, Sparkling. I sure hope I can live up to it.”

“Woah,” his cub breathes, “you're even prettier than I thought you'd be! I thought Bira was ex-ad-gerating when he said you were so pretty, but he was right! Your eyes are gold and your hair is so long and pretty and-!”

His chest feels warm in the best way as he watches his cub Kagami interact with Touka.

He hadn't intended to tell Kagami about her while they were captured, of course. But after a certain point, he'd just had very little else to talk about that wasn't teaching or wouldn't have made the cub even more scared.

Touka was his sister, his family, his pack. He'd grown up with her, been raised with her by his mother and Mama Tsu. She was there for him when even Hashi- he had turned his back on him. She was his everything. His only remaining pack bond. The only link he'd had keeping him sane and here before his Anchor bond with Madara had snapped into place. Add on her being the only person in the clan that genuinely liked him besides the few children he was allowed to interact with, and… well. It wasn't really a surprise that he’d ended up with very few good memories that didn't feature her in some capacity, now, was it?

He moves back to his seat, the rush of adrenaline at his the cub’s distress fading quickly as he listens to Kagami ramble to Touka anything and everything.

He's quickly distracted, however, when Madara moves to sit beside him.

“Thank you.”

“Hmm?”

“For what you did for Kagami just now.”

“It was nothing.”

“It absolutely was not,” his Anchor insists. “You healed him even though you didn't have to, and while you're still mildly chakra depleted. You calmed him down faster than anyone I've seen outside of his mother. You distracted him so he wouldn't dwell on things he can't change and would only harm him further to obsess over. That's not nothing.”

“He's m- a cub,” he dismisses, stumbling slightly over his words as his instincts insist he make a claim he has no real rights to. Kagami was not his. He had a mother, and a clan, and Madara himself looking after him. He deserved better than a broken weapon that had been discarded by its wielder. “Cubs are precious no matter who they belong to, and I already failed to protect him before. I couldn't let him be so upset when I could do something about it.”

“What do you mean you fai-?”

The familiar sharp bite of Touka’s laughter interrupts before Madara can continue, and he fights back a sigh of relief.

“Hey Tobira, come here!” She calls, “Madara’s brat of a brother doesn’t believe me when I tell him you’re the strongest sensor in all of Fire. Want to prove him wrong?”

This time he really does sigh. He should have known his sister would hold a bit of a grudge for the things Izuna had said about him over the years.

“T, I’ve still got two more blocks that need to be taken down once I’m balanced enough.” He reminds her.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re stronger than every sensor in this compound, even with them.”

“Touka-”

“How far can you feel right now?” She insists. “No concentration, no real attention, no trying to push past the blocks, how far can you sense?”

He knew the glint in her eyes well, she wasn’t going to give up until she got her way.

“The entire compound and about eight miles around right now,” he admits, “I could probably reach halfway to Hatake territory if I concentrated.”

Izuna sputters.

“Damn, those bastards really fucked you up,” His sister says in surprise, anger flashing through their pack bond for all that it doesn’t show on her face. “Usually you can go three or four times that before you have to concentrate. Can you still do the same depth as before?”

He considers for a moment, double-checking through Touka as he’s certain she intended, just to be sure.

His heart hurts at the fear he can practically see. She’d been terrified for him from the moment their pack bond had been suppressed by the chakra restraints, and even now she was tense. Already anticipating another betrayal and ready to grab him and run at a moment's notice.

She presses love into his side of their pack bond when she senses him, deliberate and steady, as the depth of the emotion makes him shudder. Gods of the Hunt, he’d missed her so much.

‘Love you,’ he sends back, the effort and attention of sending the actual words along with the feeling well worth the momentary distraction. It didn’t work over long distances, but for things like this, he was forever grateful for the opportunity.

Her chakra clings to his as he slowly pulls back, the desperation and loneliness and pain they’d both been buried under for the last few months making it that much harder to pull away.

He wants little more than to burrow into her chakra and rest. To sleep curled up together like they used to as children. When they still had a full pack. When they still had others they could rely on outside of each other.

But they’re not alone right now, and despite how his instincts insist he can rest, they’re not really safe either. Just because he can’t see Madara as an enemy doesn’t mean the other man can’t see him as one.

“Yes,” he finds, “It’s more difficult than usual, but I still can.”

“That’s good.”

Izuna sputters again. “Wh- Did you say eight miles?” He asks in shock.

“Yes.”

“That’s almost halfway to the Senju compound!”

“Yes,” he says again, wondering why his rival was so upset.

“And you can normally feel even farther than that?”

“Yes, my average range without the blocks is roughly fifty miles around. I can feel the borders of Fire from just about anywhere in the country if I focus hard enough.”

“That’s incredible!” Madara says, eyes wide. “I’ve never heard of anyone with a range that large before.”

“Thank you,” he mutters as he ducks his head, cheeks pinking. No one but Touka or their mothers had ever thought he was impressive for his sensing range before. Most people thought it was creepy, an invasion of their privacy, despite the fact that he couldn’t actually turn it off.

Touka quickly pulls Izuna and Kagami back into another conversation, giving him a moment to gather himself that he desperately needs.

“Are you alright?” His Anchor asks a while later, something gentle in his tone. “I know it can be very overwhelming to be informed of something like this without any prior knowledge of Centers.”

“I should be asking you that, I think,” he remarks. “Anchor bonds are not something to ever be taken lightly. They're irreversible, unbreakable, without the death of one or the other. You are my lodestone now, one of the only ties keeping me here. And you did not choose to be, so for that I apologize.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. I may not have known what I did, but even if I had, I would still have chosen you. You are my Center, you are just as important to my sanity as I am to yours.”

“What do you mean?”

“An Uchiha that finds their Center is even more deeply connected to their Sharingan than the average Uchiha, which even at base level has an almost overwhelming effect on its user's mental health. So to lose their Center is… never good for anyone involved, least of all the Sharingan user. It’s so well known that we even have a word for it. An Uchiha that loses their Center is Center-broken or Shattered, while an Uchiha that’s defending their Center, more often than not while the Center is injured, is known to be Center Feral. A Shattered Uchiha never lives long after the death of their Center. Most go out in a blaze of glory while avenging the loss, or just lay down and die because they have no purpose anymore.”

He blinks in shock. That sounded incredibly similar to what happened to packless Hatake. Something to think about later, perhaps a topic he can discuss with Madara at some point.

“I see. Thank you for telling me, I’d like to talk about that more with you at some point. It reminds me of some things.”

“Of course.”

They sit in a comfortable silence for a while, Kagami’s bright laughter bouncing through the room and making something in him settle.

His eyes slip closed more and more, exhaustion pulling at his limbs as the excitement and adrenaline of the very long day fades. Fuck, but he was already so tired of being tired. It grated at him, to be so useless for so long.

“Tobi,” Touka whispers.

He reluctantly opens his eyes, only for a smile to pull at his lips at what he sees.

His sister has a sleeping Kagami in her arms, their the pup’s head buried in her shoulder as he snores softly.

She hands him off to Madara, and the sight of his Anchor holding his a pup so gently has him a little wise-eyed.

Fuck, Madara was incredible. It was so unfair.

“Come on, Tobira, let’s get you to bed too. I can tell you’re exhausted.”

“I’m not a child,” he grumbles as he reluctantly pulls himself to his feet.

“No, but you are practically asleep already. And you’re also recovering from three months of captivity and prolonged torture, so I highly doubt you’re going to be able to make it more than two steps before you need some help.”

She’s wrong on that front. He makes it six steps before she needs to step in and help him.

He yelps as she suddenly sweeps him off his feet.

“Touka! Put me down!” He protests, the sudden heat of the contact almost painful, but also so comforting he practically goes limp.

“Nope,” she rebuffs. “I’m tired and so are you, and there’s no way I’m letting you force yourself to walk all the way back to the other room when you can barely stay on your feet. So I’m going to carry you because you clearly need both the help and the contact, and then we’re going to den down for the night, and we’re both going to sleep.”

“You’re staying?” But before the words even leave his mouth, he already knows the answer. Of course, she was staying, he wouldn’t be pried from her side if it had been her in his position.

“Obviously, Tobira. I’m not letting you out of my sight until you’re back at full strength. So you better get used to me being glued to your side from now on.”

He huffs out a laugh. “Just like old times,” he mutters, remembering how they’d been all but attached at the hip as children. They’d both been outcasts in their own ways among the Senju, and even if they hadn’t been, they were Pack. They were always going to be living in each other's pockets, that’s what being part of a Pack was.

“You know it. Now let’s get to bed.”

He dozes in her arms and bites back a whine when she pulls away, already missing the contact. It had been a long time since the skin hunger had hit him this hard. Not since they were both teenagers and Touka had been sent on a four-month undercover mission in Wind country.

He’d been just as bad as her by the end of that mission, and he’s not sure if she ever forgave Hashirama for letting him get that bad when she’d trusted him to make sure it didn’t.

“Easy,” she soothes as the tight whine slips past his teeth, “Just changing out of mission clothes. I don’t want to go to bed all grimy.” 

“Sorry,” he whispers.

“Nothing to be sorry for, Tobi, you know that.”

“Still.”

She slips into the bed next to him, pulling him tightly against her.

“I missed you,” he chokes out, tears gathering in his eyes as he buries his face in her shoulder. His sister was here, she was holding him, he was really safe now.

“I missed you too, Tobi,” She whispers. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Fuck, but I was so scared, little brother. I thought you were dead when the bond went quiet.”

He holds her tighter, just breathing in her scent, as she does the same for him.

He’d never been able to describe her scent to people without an enhanced sense of smell. Not really, not in a way that made sense. It was a bit like trying to describe someone’s chakra signature to a non-sensor. It just didn’t work because they had never experienced anything like it.

It was like cloves, and roses, and cinnamon, all wrapped up in warmth and something spicy and delicate that settled him in ways he couldn’t even begin to describe.

“Get some sleep, Tobi,” She tells him. “We’ll be alright. We’re safe for now, so let’s get some rest while we can, okay?”

“‘Kay. Love you, T.”

“Love you too, Tobi. More than anything. Now let’s get some sleep.”

Chapter Text

Touka wakes up to the scent and feeling of her arms wrapped around her little brother, and only barely manages to keep from sobbing.

It hadn't been a dream. He was really here, really alive. He was safe, here, in her arms. She'd found him.

She buries her nose in his hair, just breathing in his scent. Pine and peppermint. Rosemary and rain. Cold and refreshing, and yet so warm in the best ways.

She can feel the tension that she’d carried for the last few months melting away. They may be in enemy territory, but they were together again, and that’s all that really mattered.

Either they were really safe, like Madara and his brother had said when talking about being their Centers, or they weren’t. And if they weren’t, they would either fight their way out together, or die together. Those were the only choices she would allow.

She would not lose the last of her pack.

One of them dying was as good as killing them both, anyway. They were the only pack the other had. A tiny pack of two. A lone wolf was a dead wolf, after all. And a packless Hatake was a dead Hatake.

Pack bonds were what kept those with Hatake blood stable, kept them sane, especially those that had mixed blood or had been raised outside the clan, like her and Tobirama.

And their bond with each other was intense, even for Hatake. 

It hadn’t been as bad when they were children, when they’d still had Mama and Papa and Mama Kiyona and Hashirama and the cubs.

It had gotten hard when Mama Kiyona had been killed in an ambush by the Uchiha. Even harder when Mama was captured by the trinity clans and took her own life to keep their pack safe. And harder still when Papa was sent on a suicide mission by Butsuma for ‘teaching the spare to disobey’.

She and Tobi had all but raised the younger pups after that, not willing to trust Butsuma with a rock, let alone a pup. And neither of them trusted Hashirama to remember any of them existed often enough to be of much help.

But despite all their caution and training, it still hadn’t been enough, and the two had been ripped away from them one after the other.

Their bonds with Hashirama had become more and more strained over the years. His lack of understanding despite having been raised with them was grating, and his disapproval of how they didn’t always agree with him was actually painful in Tobirama’s case. Right up until they both hit their breaking points, with almost a year between them, and then it was just the two of them.

It wasn’t healthy; physically, emotionally, or mentally, to have so few pack bonds. Not for her and especially not for Tobirama, but they didn’t exactly have much of a choice.

Pack bonds were special, a nearly tangible thing that formed slowly between a Hatake and those they trusted. It was a true bond, a tie between two chakras. One with less unintentional back and forth than the records of Hatake Anchor bonds mention, or whatever the hell was going on with Centers, but no less real for it. 

And it wasn’t enough to trust another with your life, or your possessions, or your den. They had to be trusted with everything. Every part of yourself and your life. You had to be able to trust them with the safety of your pack, should the need arise. It was why pack bonds with outsiders were so rare. Most didn’t bother to try and understand Hatake instincts enough to ever become that trusted.

She shakes those thoughts away as Tobirama murmurs softly. He must have been really exhausted if he was doing that here of all places. He hadn’t done it outside of her very well protected and extensively trapped room since they were kids.

He shifts, shoulders tightening, and she bites back a curse.

Nightmare. Gods of the Hunt, couldn't her little brother just get a break for once?

She lets her chakra slowly rise to the surface of her skin, careful to keep a steady flow and not go too fast as she holds him a little tighter.

Chakra helped pull him from them most of the time. Working as a reminder to his subconscious that she was here and wouldn't let him be hurt. So did pressure and physical affection, but those were less reliable, and harder to manage without moving around enough to wake him up.

She shifts, burying her face in his neck and squeezing just that bit tighter.

The breathy whimper that leaves him makes her teeth itch. Demands she bite and rip and tear everyone who had ever hurt her little brother to pieces.

But that wasn't what Tobi needed right now. He needed her here, not running off to get revenge for him. And even if he didn't, she's not sure if she could have forced herself away from his side.

His distress wanes mercifully quickly as she counts her breaths. A sign that he hadn't been pulled too deep before she managed to catch it.

She settles, letting her chakra fade just as slowly as she'd called it up. It wouldn't do to distress him even more by moving too quickly.

Her eyes slip closed again, and she allows herself to be lulled back to sleep by her brother's slow breaths.

The next time her eyes open, it's late morning and Tobirama is already awake.

He'd moved at some point while she was asleep, turning to face her.

She smiles and sits up when she sees him staring at her.

It had always been a thing with him. Whenever they denned down, and he woke up first, he'd just sit and stare for a while.

She did the same quite often when she woke up first, having picked it up from him over the years. Just sitting and drinking in the fact that he was alive and with her.

They'd both lost so many over the years that she'd never been able to take his life for granted like Hashirama always seemed to. It was part of why she and the bark brained asshole had never gotten along that well.

“Hi, Tobira,” she whispers, suddenly having to blink back tears.

“Hi, Touka,” he whispers back, red eyes glassy. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

They move at the same moment, arms coming up in a practiced movement as they both press their faces into each other's shoulder.

Her shoulder dampens under his quiet tears, just like his does under hers.

“I'm sorry it took me so long to find you,” she whispers, shame clawing at her throat.

“I'm sorry you had to look for me in the first place,” he whispers back.

“Oh Tobi. You don't ever have to apologize for that, little brother. I'll always look for you.”

“I know. I'm still sorry.”

“Me too.”

They stay like that for a little while, just basking in each other's presence after so long without.

Even before everything had suddenly gone to shit, they hadn't had much time together recently.

Hashirama had been pushing them both hard, with lots of missions and not a lot of time to rest. Tobirama had had it worse, of course. The plant obsessed bastard had never really understood that her little brother was just as human as the rest of them, and that that meant he had limits. And worse, despite most of them needing multiple people, they hadn't been assigned a mission together in months.

She knew it was at least partially deliberate. Her former clan head had never understood pack bonds, even when he'd still been part of their pack. So he'd never understood their instinctive need to guard each other's backs.

He was much like Butsuma in that way, figuring they'd grow out of it if he ignored it hard enough.

Part of it was the fact that he was the only one of Butsuma's children that wasn't part Hatake. But most of it was the fact that he'd never really bothered to try and understand.

He’d been better about it with Kawa and Ita. But he had always had a bad habit of deciding that if something didn't line up with his world view, then it didn't matter. Or he would force it to change until it fit.

It was incredibly aggravating, if she was being honest. And certainly didn't endear him to her when he pulled that shit on Tobirama.

She takes a breath and pushes those thoughts aside for now. There was no point in getting riled up when he wasn't here.

“Everything okay?” Tobirama asks.

She smiles weakly. “Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Just… still really angry with him, you know?”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

They're both quiet for a moment before they speak at the same time.

“What were you-?”

“What happened in-?”

“Sorry,” he laughs, the quiet huff making her smile. “Go ahead, I'll ask when you're done.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

She hesitates for a moment, not wanting to ruin the mood, but continues anyway. “What happened? While you were- When they caught you, what did they-?”

He winces, hesitating.

“They wanted information, not a corpse, so you can probably guess how it went up until ou- the cub got involved.”

Her eyes widen at the near slip. “Oh shit, you got attached attached?”

He grimaces.

“I- I know he isn't mine, Touka. Isn't ours. I know he has a family and a clan and fucking Madara watching out for him, but I just- He was just so small, T.” Her brother whispers, sounding close to tears. “So small and so young, and so, so scared. Younger than Itama was when he-”

“Hey,” she tells him, reaching out to cup his face. “Hey, I get it, Tobi. He's a cub. He was hurt, he was scared, he was in pain, and neither of you had anyone else to rely on. I get it, okay? I just- I don't want you to get hurt. Especially with… everything else going on, you know?”

“Yeah,” he mutters, “yeah, I know.”

She can practically see his self-recrimination, despite the fact that he was keeping it away from her end of the bond.

She pulls him into a hug anyway.

“So, you want to tell me anything else?” she asks as she pulls back.

“It was pretty normal, as far as being a captive goes, up until the pup got involved, honestly. They wanted information, I wouldn't give it to them, they tried to torture it out of me. So on and so forth. We've both been there before, we'll probably end up there again. It is what it is, just part of the life.”

“Most captivity doesn't have you trapped in full chakra restraints, though. And they especially don't manage to hold you for three months.”

“It was only a month and a half before Kagami showed up. I'm pretty sure, at least. That's how long Kagami said it had been since the spring equinox when I asked, anyway. And that was a day or two after I got myself caught.”

“After you were betrayed,” she corrects, deciding to ignore how he was being purposefully obtuse. “Uragiri betrayed you, Tobira. He was your mission partner and he knowingly abandoned you. You did not get yourself caught.”

“I should have known better than to trust him,” he protests.

“Hashirama had you on missions with him for a month, Tobi, and nothing happened. You had been running basically back to back missions for almost three, with how hard that bark brained idiot was pushing you. You were exhausted, and he’d given you no reason to think he would suddenly turn on you. This was not your fault.”

“I knew he didn’t like me, I should have-”

“We’ve both taken a lot of missions with people that don’t like us, Tobira. That doesn’t mean we should have to be on guard for them to stab us in the back like that.”

He frowns, looking like he’s about to protest, but she interrupts before he can.

“Do you blame me for what happened to Kawarama?”

“Of course not!” He says, looking absolutely horrified. His reaction was so strong she could literally feel it.

“But shouldn’t I have been expecting an ambush? I was on a mission, and I may not be as good a sensor as you, but I’m still good. I should have been able to sense it coming, and Kawarama paid the price when I didn’t.”

“No! You were exhausted and already injured! Itsuhiro betrayed you! And Zaiaku was a decade and a half older than you, with more shinobi and more experience in battle! Of course it wasn’t-!”

She raises an eyebrow at him.

He glares back, clearly willing to argue, but she just stares him down.

“Yeah, okay, fine.” He finally grumbles, “No double standards.”

“Good. Now, you were saying?”

He sighs, and his shoulders slump when he speaks again.

“When Kagami was brought in, it got worse in a lot of ways.” He continues. “They thought I would kill him and do their job for them. He was already hurt, and absolutely terrified after everything they’d told him of me, so my… less than optimal thought processing combined with my appearance scared him at first. It wasn’t until I fought them when they came for him that he realized I wouldn’t hurt him.”

“You were already pretty deep into the instincts when he got thrown in with you, then?” She asks.

He nods. “They’re much easier to get lost in when I’m trapped under chakra suppressants. It’s why Father never left them on for more than a week after the first time.”

“Shit, yeah, I remember that. Mama Kiyona was livid when she and Mama got back from their mission. It took you months to get them fully back under control, and Mama Ki wouldn’t let Butsuma even look at you, or me and the rest, until he agreed to her limit.”

“Indeed. I had, honestly, already become rather attached to the cub by then, even though he didn’t like me. But after that, after he started trusting me, I just… I couldn’t help myself. He was so tiny, and so trusting once he stopped being scared. I- I taught him everything he could safely learn.”

“Oh fuck, he’s your student too?” She asks in shock. “Well, now we’re definitely sticking with him, even if you do decide to go back. I’m not letting you lose another student because of this stupid war.”

“Wait, what do you mean you?” 

She hesitates, jaw clenching for a moment.

“I… I probably will not be allowed back if you decide to go.” She admits.

“What, why?!”

“I may have, possibly, attacked Hashirama as soon as I realized that he’d lost you?” She says, her words sounding far more like a question than she would have liked. “And I maybe, could have, definitely sworn that if his idiocy had gotten you killed then I would come back and kill him and everyone else that had ever hurt you?” 

“You what?!” He asks in horror.

“Oh, like you wouldn’t have done the exact same thing,” She rebuffs.

“Okay, yeah, that’s fair,” he admits. “And I have done that. Or something similar, at least.”

“Wait, what? When was this?” She asks in shock.

“When you were captured by Zaiaku, of course. Why else would Father have put up with me searching for you for so long? I told him that unless he let me keep searching, I wasn’t going to use my sensing to defend the clan. He threatened to banish me, and I called his bluff. There wasn’t another sensor in the clan that had anything close to your range, much less mine. He couldn’t banish me unless he wanted to leave the clan defenseless from sneak attacks.”

Warmth infuses her down to her very bones as she fights back tears. She'd always known Tobirama loved her, it was impossible not to when they could send each other emotions whenever they wanted. But to know that he was willing to fight Butsuma, was willing to face banishment if it meant he could keep searching for her, was something else entirely.

Both of them were, and likely always would be, terrified of Butsuma. Despite it having been almost a decade since the bastard had been put in the ground.

The former Senju clan head had ruled the main house and the clan with an iron fist. His word was law, and the only one able or willing to go against him was Mama Kiyo.

Any disobedience was met with harsh punishment, ranging from difficult or even deadly missions to physical violence only just short of actual torture.

None of their parents had ever allowed him to go that far with any of their pack. But after all three of them had been killed, things had changed.

It never got as bad as the things the two of them had seen during their childhoods, but that didn't mean it was good by any stretch.

Tobirama had often been beaten or sent on honeypots or assassination missions that required the killing of children if Butsuma thought he needed to be punished. Messy missions he’d always hated that doubled as psychological torture.

She had typically also been beaten, or sent on long, messy, missions that took her away from the compound for weeks or months at a time. Nothing that ever left permanent scarring, and nothing that had a very high chance of death. Just things that took her away from Tobirama for an extended period without anyone she trusted to watch her back. Or his.

Truthfully, it was also part of the reason she'd never gotten along with Hashirama all that well, even if she'd never said it out loud. 

No one would ever admit it out loud, but the man was very much his father's son.

He was just as adamant for peace as Butsuma was for war. And for all that he kept up a smiling, goofy facade, he was just as willing to punish those that defied him. Never to the same extent, and only rarely using anything close to the same methods. But it was more than noticeable to those that had known them both well.

She'd almost ripped his throat out the first time he'd assigned her brother a honeypot. It had been the day after Tobirama had called him out for not meeting with the elders as he should have once he'd become clan head, and the order had very clearly been in retaliation.

She'd gone with Tobirama on the mission and used genjutsu to get the information they'd needed instead.

And even if all that hadn't been true, she's fairly certain that she still wouldn't have liked him. Simply because he never thanked, or even seemed to notice, how much her little brother had sacrificed for him over the years.

Tobira had spent months being punished for hiding the meetings between the log head and Madara. And Hashirama had all but spit in his face for it by treating saving the ungrateful bastards’ life as a betrayal.

She's pulled from her rapidly spiraling thoughts by Tobirama tapping her knee.

“Sorry,” she apologizes as she blinks back to herself, “I don't know why I keep zoning out like that.”

They both know she's lying. It always happens when she's been pushing to keep going for too long and finally feels safe again.

“We got off topic, did you want me to keep going?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Eventually the trader's realized that I wasn't going to hurt him, so they tried to take him away from me.”

“Oh,” she chuckles, “I can already tell that that didn't go well for them.”

He smirks back. “It absolutely did not, you're right. Every time they tried to take him, or take me so they could take him, I killed at least two. Usually more, and after a certain point they just didn't bother trying anymore.”

“I'll bet,” she says with a laugh.

“My memories are… hazy after a certain point,” he admits. “From, I'm assuming, a combination of malnutrition, infection, and chakra overload, as well as being cut off from my sensing for so long. My instincts eventually overpowered my rational mind, and from there it's all a blur except for sense memories.”

She wants to hit something at the thought of her brother being so hurt, but restrains herself, instead asking, “What do you remember?”

“The main things from before Madara found us are the last time they tried to take Kagami, and what I'm fairly certain was a fever dream after infection set in, but before my chakra started really healing it.”

“They waited until I was asleep,” he mutters, “almost got him before I woke up. But I stole him back, ripped their throats out with my teeth because I was holding the cub. They sacrificed four more to get a muzzle on me when they realized I wouldn't let him go, for all that it didn't actually help them very much. I'm pretty sure that's when the cub activated his Sharingan for the first time, too. The chakra was so strong when he did that I could sense it through the collar.”

“They collared you?” She snarls. Oh, she should have made those bastards suffer so much more. Such an insult was not to be tolerated.

He nods, his normally placid chakra thrashing as his rage mirrored her own. “I kept strangling them when they used cuffs with chains, and they couldn't exactly take off the chains without me escaping. So, chained collar instead. I killed a lot more of them after, so they very much regretted it. And I eventually managed to teach Kagami how to pick the lock for the chain itself. The collar had too many seals to risk it with him being so new.”

She growls quietly. “I should have made them suffer more.”

“At least they're dead.”

“True.”

“The fever dream I don't remember very well,” he says, getting them back on track. “Not all of it, at least. I remember Itama, Kawarama, and Kagami were all there. They were- they were angry with me, I think. Or scared of me, maybe? I don't know. You appeared at some point too,  but not at the start. I just remember that by the end of it you were all dead and I was begging you not to leave me.”

She couldn't have stopped herself from pulling him into a hug if she tried.

“I'm not going anywhere, Tobi.” She assures him, pushing as much sincerity into his side of the bond as she could. “There's nothing you could do that could ever push me away. And I will always do my damnedest to come back to you.”

He hugs her back just as tightly, and for all that he doesn't say anything, she knows it's the same for him.

The two of them had never needed words for things like this.

A knock at the door has her stiffening, reaching for the kunai she'd tucked under the pillow, and automatically handing the one she'd put on the nightstand to Tobi as she moves between him and the door.

It clicks open and Madara, a woman she'd never seen before, and the cub step through.

Tobirama taps a stand down against the small of her back, despite the confusion she can feel from him. They weren't here to fight then.

Good. She wouldn't be much of a match for the elder two at the moment, not without the element of surprise and a pup in the firing line. And especially not while Tobi was still so hurt.

“Good morning,” Madara greets. “We apologize for the intrusion, but Honoka wanted to meet the man who saved her son.”

Chapter Text

Tobirama considers the woman standing before him. 

Madara clearly adored her, as did Kagami. And she couldn't have more clearly been his the cub’s mother even if she'd shouted it from the rooftops.

They had the same hair, the same cheekbones, the same dimples, the same build. The same primary chakra nature even, which was surprising considering how rare lightning tended to be among Uchiha.

“Hello, Senju-sama,” she greets with a bow much deeper than his presence usually warranted. “It's a pleasure to meet you.”

He struggles not to stare at her in shock, even as he suppresses a wince at the use of the Senju name. He was fairly certain he wasn't permitted to use that name anymore. Not with how Br- Ani- he hadn't so much as bothered to look for his body when he'd been caught.

She really meant it though. He could feel it in her chakra, after being cut off from his sensing for so long. She was actually happy to be talking to him.

How strange.

“The pleasure is all mine, Honoka-san. Kagami speaks very highly of you, you've raised a truly incredible son.”

“And it is thanks to you that he was returned to me, whole and largely unharmed. I owe you a debt I can never even begin to repay, Tobirama-sama. Thank you for protecting my baby.”

This time he really does stare at her, utterly dumbstruck, as she drops into a full dogeza style bow.

That- that was a level of respect he'd never been given before. Not even when he still had Hashirama's favor, and he had no idea how he was supposed to respond to it.

Kagami, thankfully, saves him before his stunned silence can drag on for too long and become awkward or offensive.

“Bira!” His cub exclaims, jumping up onto the bed.

It's a long-ingrained habit to catch him and swing him up into his arms when he starts to tumble forward. He'd done the same for all of his brothers, and his students, and he still did it for Touka when she was injured or too exhausted to keep walking.

“Hello to you as well, cubling.” He greets, unable to keep the smile off his face. “I see you're feeling better.”

“Yeah, the healers said I can start eating fish again today!”

“Ooh, lucky.” He teases, “You'll have to tell me how it is.”

He knew that he still needed another week or two before he'd be able to get to that stage of recovery. Three months of starvation has really done a number on him, especially since he hadn't exactly been in peak form even before he'd gotten captured.

“So this is your cubling then?” Touka asks with a smirk.

“Touka,” he scolds. She was really going to push this now? While the cubs the boy's mother is right there?

She ignores him, her chakra twisting in the way it always did when she thought he was being dumb about something she thought was obvious.

“I know we were introduced last night, little cub, but everything was… rather hectic. I'm Touka,” she introduces, slinging an arm over his shoulders.

Her chakra flickers in amusement, and he has just enough time to realize what her plan is before her hand comes down on his head and starts messing up his hair.

“Alright, alright,” he protests with a laugh, trying to push her hands away without dropping his cub.

“I'm this one's older sister,” she finishes with a laugh of her own, his hair now an even bigger mess than his usual bed head.

Kagami giggles wildly, staring up at them both with eyes tinted red.

“Careful there, cubling,” he reminds automatically. “You don't want to overdo it, remember?”

He giggles again, muttering a quiet “oops,” as the spinning tomeo fade from view again.

Shock flickers through Madara and Honoka’s chakra, and he looks up.

“Is everything alright?” He asks before he can think better of it.

“Yes, of course,” Madara responds, something like relief flickering through him. “Most Uchiha that activate their Sharingan so young, and especially in such situations, have a much harder time turning them off than those that do so when they're older, or are around other members of the clan. It's a relief that Kagami is having such an easy time of it.”

Kagami giggles even louder than before and hops down from his arms.

“Bira taught me!” His pup exclaims, pride clear both on his face and in his chakra. “Bira’s amazing! He taught me a lot of things! Like how to hide my light, and how to pick locks, and how to stick to walls, and a whole bunch of other stuff too!”

Honoka smiles softly down at Kagami, clearly having been told similar things many times already, and Tobirama can feel himself blushing.

He hadn't had a student in quite a while now, for a variety of reasons, and he'd almost forgotten how liberal children could be with praise and compliments.

“You must have taught him a lot,” Madara says quietly as Kagami keeps rambling happily to his mother and Touka.

It was good that his pup was happy after so long of nothing but fear.

“He needed it. To keep himself safe after they killed me, if nothing else.” he responds absently. “I needed it, if in a different way. It was probably the only reason I managed to stay as… well, stay as sane as I was for as long as I did. It was something to- to distract me from everything, as it were. I'm sure you can understand.”

He can feel the flash of fear and pain that makes his Anchor wince, there and gone in a fraction of a second, and almost wishes he hadn't said anything.

“Yeah, yeah I understand.”

They sit for a few minutes, the silence strangely comfortable with Kagami's voice breaking it up.

“Anything you taught him that you think I should know about before he's ready to get out and terrorize the compound again?” Madara asks as his cub bounced around the room.

“Tree walking, for one. He took to it surprisingly quickly. Same with lock picking, as he said, and some of the more advanced chakra control exercises. Started the building blocks of fūinjutsu, since he wanted to try and figure out the collar, before I… lost myself. He knows better than to try anything with it, of course. He saw how dangerous it could be, done right or wrong. But he'll probably get interested again once he realizes he's safe, so you should watch out for that.”

The Uchiha clan head chokes, and he looks over worriedly.

“Wait, what was that last bit?” His Anchor croaks out.

“I started teaching him fūinjutsu?” Tobirama asks in confusion. “It's rather early, I'll admit, but these things take a very long time to master so-”

“You know enough about fūinjutsu to teach?!”  

“Well yes, I-” he starts.

“He's the only one the Uzumaki will negotiate with anymore!” Touka calls back to them with a laugh. “They like nerding out over his brain and his seals and his water mastery and all the ridiculous sh- err stuff he comes up with. It's hilarious, the elders always look like they've eaten something sour, but they can't actually do anything without risking the treaty.”

He sighs, dragging a hand down his face. He'd known Touka was listening in, he was doing the same with her conversation with Honoka and Kagami after all. It was just something they did around others. But she was still having far too much fun with all this.

It was her way of de-stressing and testing the waters with the Uchiha, but that didn't make it any less annoying when it was at his expense.

“So when you say the building blocks of fūinjutsu, what exactly does that mean?” Madara asks. “And would you be willing to teach me too? At least enough to make sure the gremlin doesn't get into anything he shouldn't?”

“Uh, sure?” He responds in confusion. He wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to spend time with his Anchor and his cub. And it wasn't like the building blocks by themselves were particularly dangerous unless you tried to learn or use them on your own. It was only once you got into actually using and creating seals instead of just reading them that things got complicated. “But shouldn't you already know-?”

The snarl that rips itself from his throat is almost a surprise as his head snaps towards the door.

There, near the entrance to the healing hall. Zaiaku was talking to Izuna. And judging by the growing discomfort in Izuna's chakra, it wasn't by Izuna's choice.

“Zaiaku’s cornering Izuna,” he growls to Touka.

Her snarl echoes his own. For all that she still held a bit of a grudge against his former opponent, she hated Zaiaku more. More than anyone either of them had ever met.

They both did.

Chapter Text

Touka only manages to keep herself from bolting for the door because of Tobirama's hand on her shoulder. Every breath of the man that had killed so many of their cubs grated against her instincts like shards of glass.

She'd known Zaiaku was in the compound. She'd known that. How could she not, with how her little brother's new cub had run to them in a panic yesterday.

But knowing he was somewhere in the compound was very different to knowing he was currently two floors below them and so fucking confident that he dared to try and corner the heir of his own clan.  

The threat Zaiaku presented to her people; to her brother, to the cub, to Madara and Izuna, makes her want to scream. Makes her hackles raise and her teeth itch as she struggles not to snarl.

But they couldn't kill him. She knew that. No matter how much his continued existence scraped against her every nerve like sandpaper. No matter how much she and Tobi had both wanted nothing more than to rip him to pieces for what he'd done to their cubs. They could not kill him.

Not without being killed themselves for the murder of an enemy clan's Elder.

Neither of them were Senju in anything but name anymore, but that didn't really matter. Not for something like this.

She presses herself more firmly against her little brother's side as she watches Madara head for the door.

“Be careful,” she calls, Tobirama's voice echoing her own. Even if Zaiaku didn’t attack, which she wasn’t all that certain about given that the bastard had the balls to corner Izuna, the monster was a tricky fucker. She had no doubt he'd use any moment of weakness against her little brother's Anchor, clan head or not.

Tobira tells him much the same, and the door clicks closed after him a few moments later.

A tense silence follows. 

“Hey Bira?”

“Yes, cub?” Her little brother responds, a soft smile growing the way it always does around cubs.

“Why don't you like Elder Zaiaku? I know he's mean, and that he says a lot of bad things about Uncle Mada when he isn't around, but why don't you like him?”

“That's a rather dark story, cub, and I don't think you're quite old enough to hear it yet.”

She couldn't help but agree. The cub didn't need to know how many of their cubs that monster had killed in his vendetta against her and Tobi.

The silence eases after that, and she turns back to Honoka.

“I had a question if you don't mind,” the other woman says.

She tilts her head, considering. The cub's mother had been pleasant enough so far, and had thanked her brother for protecting her cub instead of demanding he not go near him again like most of the Senju would have.

She hums, accepting.

“What's it like being a kunoichi among the Senju? There have always seemed to be a lot less of us than within the Uchiha, so I find myself curious.”

She blinks, not expecting that avenue of questioning at all. Tobirama growls softly for a moment, like he always does at the reminder of how the majority of the Senju treated her, and bumps their shoulders together before deliberately distracting the cub.

“I wouldn't really know how it usually is,” she explains. “Butsuma didn't believe in training women for extensive combat unless they proved themselves first. Most of the Senju take their cues from him, even though he's been dead for almost a decade, and don't bother to train them beyond the basics. Mom and Mama Kiyo obviously didn’t agree with that, being out clan like they were. Papa had always disagreed with Butsuma on things like that. His mom was an Uzumaki you see, so my experience is pretty different from the norm since I got just as much training as Tobi from the start. Being part of our pack changed things a lot too, but that's different.”

“Really?” Honoka asks in surprise. “No offense intended, but that sounds rather backwards to me. It's always been thought among the Uchiha that women need more training, not less. Especially since we're the ones more likely to be taken captive instead of killed.”

She can't help her smile as she remembers her mom and Mama Kiyona telling her and Tobi the exact same thing.

“Our moms would agree with you,” she admits softly.

Honoka smiles, “they must have been very smart women.”

“The smartest. Now I want to ask you a question.”

“Mhmm?”

“Madara and Izuna said Tobi and I are their ‘Centers’, and they tried to explain it, but I don't think I really understood what they meant. Tobi’s got a better idea about what it means, cause apparently it’s like having an Anchor, but I’m not a natural sensor, so I don’t really get it from that angle either. Do you think you could try and explain it to me?”

The other woman beams. “Oh! Izuna hadn't told me he'd Centered as well, I'll have to congratulate him! But yes, certainly. I imagine it must be very confusing to try and understand without growing up with the legends and everything. Is there anything that you do understand or should I just start from the top?”

Madara shoves down a surge of rage. Damn Zaiaku for cornering Izuna! And damn him twice-over for interrupting when Tobirama had finally started relaxing around Honoka.

He pushes himself to his feet and starts for the door.

“Be careful,” Tobirama and his sister say together.

“Even if he won’t attack you,” His Center continues, face grim as he and his sister shift even further into each other’s space. Some kind of history there, maybe? It would certainly explain some of the rage when Kagami had run to them, at least. “Zaiaku isn’t a threat to be taken lightly. He’s made it clear in the past that he doesn’t care who he hurts. Don’t let your guard down, even if he is clan.”

He nods and turns back to the door, unsure what else to say. The clear concern for himself and Izuna, from not only his Center but also the one his Center was closest to, was almost enough to make his head spin.

He shakes the thought away for now and locks eyes with Honoka on his way out. 

She nods firmly. Good, she'd be on guard in case this was some kind of trap to get him and Izuna away from their Centers.

It wasn't likely, especially considering that their having centered wasn't common knowledge among the clan yet. But given the way the Elders, and Zaiaku in particular, had been talking about Tobirama even after they'd found Kagami? He wasn't taking any chances. 

He quickly makes his way through the healing hall towards his brother, nodding to various healers as he passes. The hall was thankfully rather empty, few of his clansmen currently injured with how few skirmishes there had been recently.

The sudden spike of rage he can feel in his brother’s chakra as it sweeps out surprises even him as he slams through the last door separating the healing hall from the rest of the building.

“Izuna?” He asks carefully, surprised despite himself at finding his brother holding Zaiaku against the wall by his throat.

Izuna doesn't look at him, his eyes trained firmly on Zaiaku's face.

“If you ever so much as think,” he hisses, “about suggesting something like that again, Zaiaku, I will rip your eyes from your head and burn you as a traitor myself. Do you understand me?”

A single, slow nod.

“Good. Now get out, you have no business here.”

Izuna lets go and Zaiaku bolts.

He raises an eyebrow at his little brother.

Izuna takes several deep breaths to calm himself, smoke curling on every exhale, and he can't help but be shocked. Izuna had a long temper for an Uchiha, so to see him riled up to the point of losing control was incredibly rare.

“He tried to turn me against you,” Izuna explains, fury etched into every line of his body. “Tried to use Tobirama's injuries to make me jealous of you spending so much time with him. Tried to convince me to help him kill your Center while he was still weak to get your attention back.”

A feral, seething rage floods him. The threat to his Center, however indirect, enough to steal his breath and send his chakra twisting in fury.

He forces himself to breathe through it. There was nothing he could do right now. Zaiaku had already run and even he couldn't have an Elder executed without proof. Not without having a riot on his hands, at least. Even Izuna's testimony would not be enough without Sharingan confirmation. And he knew they didn’t have it because Izuna had both less chakra than him and a much better hold on his temper than Madara could ever even dream of. He hadn't seen his little brother’s Sharingan activate in anger since before Izuna had first fought Tobirama.

He sweeps his little brother into a bone crushing hug once he's calmed enough. He's so achingly, desperately grateful that Izuna always has his back. They fought sometimes, and they didn't always agree even on the big things, but he knows with the certainty of being each other's last family that Izuna would never willingly hurt him. And especially not like that.

He couldn't imagine it any other way. 

“Thank you, little brother,” he whispers as Izuna hugs back just as tightly.

“Always Mada, always.”

Chapter Text

Honoka could freely admit that she was biased. Others would probably have been hesitant to trust Tobirama in her place, with him being a Senju. But she can't really bring herself to care. Because Senju or not, he’d kept her baby as safe as he could at the cost of his own health and sanity for almost two months. 

She’d been so sure that the only thing Madara would be able to find after so long was her Kagami’s body, if even that. But that wasn’t what happened. They hadn’t found another corpse to build a pyre for. Instead, he’d found her little boy alive in that cell, whole and almost entirely uninjured except for a lack of food and water. And it was all thanks to Tobirama. So yes, she was willing to forgive a lot more than some wartime bloodshed as long as it kept her son safe. To say nothing of Tobirama being Madara’s Center.

She adores her cousin, thinks of him and Izu as the little brothers she’s never had. And she’s never bothered to hide that fact. So to see him already so besotted with his Center, a man that could truly match him in all the ways he'd always needed? A man that Kagami already adores? A man she herself owed a debt that she knows she’ll never be able to repay? To say she was anything short of gleeful would have been a lie.

And Tobirama's sister, Touka, was just as much of a delight. Honoka had known, distantly, that Touka would have to be an amazing kunoichi, purely to keep up with Hikaku as her most frequent opponent. The man was Madara's third in command, as well as captain of the home guard, for a reason after all. 

But knowing that, and knowing that the other woman had not only managed to break into the compound, but to fight and then outpace Madara while doing so was something else entirely.

Sure, Madara wouldn't have been trying to kill her, not with Touka apparently being Izuna’s Center, but even being able to get away while fighting her little brother was an incredible testament to her skill. Not many had the combat prowess, much less the speed, to successfully evade Madara for long.

The two were as loyal and devoted as any Uchiha. Maybe even more so. That much was clear just from seeing them in each other's presence. 

Most probably wouldn't notice beyond the surface, beyond the way they had instantly had each other's backs and were ready to fight when she and Madara had walked in. But she was an Uchiha, a veteran kunoichi, and a mother besides. It was very clear to her that there was more to it than typical battle bonds.

It was the way Touka had settled instantly when Tobirama had signaled for her to stand down, without even a fraction of a second of hesitation or doubt.

It was the way Tobirama had never once tensed or flinched when Touka reached for him, even when she clearly surprised him, despite coming out of three months of prolonged captivity and torture only a few weeks ago. She'd been held for less than a quarter of that long once, and by the end she hadn't been able to stand having even Madara or Izuna at her back, much less touching her so suddenly.

It was the way Touka had looked when she and Madara had stepped fully into the room. Ready, able, and, more than anything, willing to fight them both and die if it meant Tobirama stayed alive a little longer.

It was the way Tobirama had looked when Touka had mentioned her upbringing not being considered normal for the Senju. The growl that had rumbled through him. And the well hidden, helpless sort of rage that had been buried so deep in his eyes. The kind she’d always felt as a kid when Mada and Izu were hurting and there wasn't anything she could do but be there for them.

It was the way they were constantly touching and in each other's space, though it was so clearly platonic they may as well have put up a sign, even when having two different conversations. The way they always seemed to know what the other was thinking without ever saying a word.

It was the way they hadn't stepped out of arm's reach of each other since she and Madara had walked in the door, fully prepared to guard the other from any possible threats, no matter who they might be.

Honoka really could see herself being great friends with both of them. And she can admit, even if only to herself, that she wants to be as well. Touka is funny and competent and driven while Tobirama is resolute and brilliant and so awkwardly kind that she can't help but adore him already.

She shakes herself from her thoughts, focusing back on Kagami and the siblings.

Kagami was still gleefully chattering about everything Tobirama had taught him over the course of their captivity. He'd started on explaining something about fūinjutsu a few minutes ago, but even the simplest technical jargon flew right over her head.

She's never been particularly interested in the more finicky and esoteric ninja arts like sealing. She much prefers the solid weight of a sword in her hand and the harsh bite of lightning jutsu roaring through her coils.

It was amazing that Tobirama had managed to teach her son so much in the kind of conditions they were in. Most Uchiha didn't know anything about sealing because it couldn't be copied by the sharingan. Not without watching the whole process of writing the seal from start to finish at least. And even then, the slightest fluctuation in chakra while recreating the seal could lead to disastrous results which, while less likely to occur thanks to the sharingan, were still incredibly common.

There was a reason the Uzumaki clan was so feared. And so small.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickle as she feels someone watching her.

She looks up to see Touka looking back at her, something between concern and unease in her gaze.

“Is everything alright?” She can't help but ask.

Touka blinks, like she'd forgotten Honoka was there at all, before nodding. 

“They're coming back,” she explains. “The fucker ran like The Hunt was on his tail after Izuna turned the tables on him. He’s angry, and afraid. Probably of the consequences of whatever he just did to piss off Izuna so fast. Seems to be heading out past the edges of the compound, but I don't know the area well enough to give any specifics. He's practically at the edge of my range already anyway, the fast bastard, so I couldn't tell you any more even if I did.”

Honoka stares, awestruck. Touka could sense all of that at once? Even while upset at Zaiaku’s presence?

“That’s incredible. You can really sense all that? Even their emotions?”

“Uh yeah, it’s not particularly difficult. Tobirama taught me when we were children, so I’d be in less danger while on missions he couldn’t join me on,” Touka says with a shrug. “I’m not a natural sensor like Tobi, or even close to his caliber since it’s a conscious choice for me. But then, nobody’s really like Tobira when it comes to sensing.”

“What do you mean?” She asks. She’d heard that Tobirama was a natural sensor, of course. That rumor had been going around Fire since before the Senju had even stepped onto a battlefield. But while there had been speculation, there had never been a concrete answer on what his range was.

“I mean that I’m considered a sensing prodigy by most metrics, and I can sense roughly two miles around me, up to four if I really concentrate. Tobirama is currently still coming out of three months of prolonged torture, a complete seperation from his sensing ability, and has two internal blocks up to keep his brain from melting out of his ears at the sudden overload when the chakra locks came off. And he can still feel this entire compound and another eight miles out right now. Usually he can sense three or four times that without even needing to concentrate. He can reach the edges of Fire when he concentrates on a good day.”

“Can you really?” Kagami asks, pressing himself against his Bira's side. He was tired now and Bira had that look on his face that he didn't like.

The weird feeling in his chest leaves as he does. He's glad it's gone away again, he doesn't like it. It makes him feel like he needs to move, like he's bored, but in a bad way. Like when he could hear the bad guys coming down the hall and Bira put himself between Kagami and the cell door. When something bad was about to happen and he couldn't do anything to stop it.

That would be really cool if Bira could do that though. Maybe he could teach Kagami how to do it? Or something like it, since Bira had said that there were things he just wouldn't be able to do because their lights were different.

“Yes,” Bira tells him, putting his arm around him and helping him settle closer without making either of their wounds worse. 

He's glad Bira's able to help him with it again. There had been a few times when they'd been with the bad guys that Bira had been bleeding and passed out for a long time and Kagami had been too scared of hurting him worse to curl up with him like they usually did.

“Can you teach me how to do that?”

“I already started, cub. Remember how I showed you how to know when someone was coming down the hallway, even in the dark?”

“Oh, okay,” he says. He did remember. It had been one of the first things Bira had taught him, and it had kept them from getting caught by the bad guys while Bira had been teaching him how to do stuff with his light. “I thought it was something else, but that makes a lot more sense. That's why it hurt you when Cousin Ayuto took the collar off when Uncle Mada rescued us, right? Cause you couldn't feel them for so long and then they all came back at once?”

“That's right, cub. Good job on figuring that out. Most shinobi don't understand that natural sensors react the way we do to chakra restraints because of our sensing abilities. And the few that do don't typically bother to try and understand why.”

He frowns at the word he doesn't know. “What does ‘tip-ick-lly mean?”

“It means usually, or on average,” Bira explains. “For example, typically Uchiha shinobi have fire natured chakra, but sometimes lightning or water natures crop up. Or typically, civilians don’t like shinobi, but some do. Does that make sense?”

Kagami thinks about it for a second. Yeah, he thinks he gets it now. His Bira is always really good at explaining stuff so he can understand. He nods, suddenly really tired. “Yeah, I think so. Thanks Bira.”

Bira smiles down at him. “Get some rest, cub, I can tell you’re tired. I’ve got guard duty.”

“M’kay,” he mutters, letting his eyes fall shut.

The world slowly disappears as he drifts off to the steady beat of his Bira's heart.

Chapter Text

“But Mother, what if-!”

“No, Wakatora. I have told you before, you must wait to be called on before going to the human realm. Reverse summoning is an incredibly advanced and dangerous technique that you are still too young to learn. Now I will hear no more of this.” Ameri denies, the boss summon of the snow leopard contract settling back onto her haunches and flicking an ear in dismissal.

Wakatora’s tail lashes angrily as he walks away, even as a purr builds in his chest to try and make himself feel better.

Something was wrong, he just knew it!

“Mom said no again, then?” Sakichi asks as she jumps down from a rocky cliff nearby.

“Yeah,” he sighs, his ear flattening in distress. “But something is wrong! You know that as well as I do! Brother and sister have never gone this long without calling one of us, even on their long undercover missions.”

“I know, Waka,” she soothes, butting her head against his and licking his cheek. “And Mama does too, but there isn't anything we can do right now. It's too dangerous for us to try and reverse summon ourselves, even if we knew where they were. And Mama can't do it herself because of how powerful she is. It would be dangerous for Tobi and Kaka if she tried, especially if they're already in danger or trying to hide. You know that.”

He sighs again, tail flicking in resignation. He knew Kichi was right, but that didn't stop him from worrying. 

It had been months since they’d heard from their littermates, something that had never happened before. The rest of the leap hadn't heard anything either, which was just as surprising. Even when they were both injured, Tobirama and Touka would at least call on Sasane and Usami for help guarding and healing.

Their names were still on the contract, so they knew they were still alive, but that was all they knew. 

He wishes they knew more.

He wishes he knew what to do.

“Still nothing?” Yukina Hatake, Alpha of the Hatake Pack, asks the head of her hunting squad.

“Nothing, Alpha. We’ve searched every inch of land from here to no man's land, and haven’t caught even a whiff of her. I’m sorry,” Nanoha replies, head bowed in shame.

“It’s not your fault, Nanoha, you have nothing to be sorry for. I should a ordered a search as soon as the rumors about Tobi-cub started flyin'. Should've known better than ta trust that bark-brained idiot to take care a one of our own in such a delicate headspace. Shouldn’t a' let their bastard of a previous clan head keep 'em at all, honestly. They’d've been better off here. At least Kaka left their cub here before she ran off.” 

She sighs a moment later, sending her daughter an apologetic look. “Sorry pup, didn’t mean to dump all that on you. My mouth ran away from me again.”

Her oldest daughter sends her a soft look in return. “It’s okay Mama, I get it. Tobi and Kaka disappearin’ for so long is takin’ a toll on everybody. An’ we all know it’s been gnawing at ya even worse cause they’re Auntie Ki’s pups. At least Nakami's settlin' in well, though.”

Yukina closes her eyes for a moment.

It had been more than 20 years since she’d felt Kiyona’s bond snap that day, more than 20 years since her death. But the loss of her twin sister still ached like it had been yesterday.

She’d never forgive herself if she failed her sister’s pups too.

She looks up as something pings in her mind.

“Next patrols are headin’ out,” she says instead of answering her daughter’s unasked question. “I’m gonna go with ‘em, see if a run’ll help get me outta my head. Thanks for the report, pup. And for takin’ that letter for me yesterday.”

She leaps out the open window, unable to shake the feeling that she was just running away.

“Not a problem, Mama,” Nanoha says normally, knowing her mother can still hear her just fine.

“Another letter for you, Shikaichi-sama.”

The Nara clan barely holds back a groan.

“Can it wait?” He asks plainly. “It’s almost three and I haven’t even had lunch yet, I’ve been so busy with all these.”

“Not in the slightest,” his assistant says, sounding shocked and slightly unsteady.

He looks up, suddenly concerned.

She looked pale, and he did not like the look on her face.

“What’s with that look? Who’s it from?” He asks, holding out a hand for the letter.

She hands it over to him gently, looking at it like she would a live explosive tag.

He flips it open and almost chokes on his own spit.

“The Hatake Clan Head?!”

“Shikaichi, what do you mean the Hatake Clan Head sent you a letter?!” Inokichi asks in horror as he sits down in the meeting hall. “Nobody even knows their name, why would they send you a letter out of the blue when they’ve never even attended a clan meet?!”

“Her name is Yukina,” he says absently, reading over the letter again. “And she called herself the ‘Alpha’, not the Clan Head.”

Shikaichi Nara,

My name is Yukina Hatake, the Alpha, or Clan Head as you would call me, of the Hatake Pack. You will not have heard of me, we Hatake keep to ourselves, but I have heard enough to know that you will be able to acquire what I need.

I require Touka Senju. Alive.

You will be compensated for your time in whichever of the following ways is preferable to you, amounts to be discussed upon completion of the mission: 

Gold

Currency

Weaponry

Jewelry

Send your answer with my summons, she will wait on the edge of your territory for one week. Call for Reina and she will hear you.

You have my thanks.

“It’s a woman?” Inokichi asks in shock.

“Does this mean the Hatake are Matriarchal?” Chousuke asks. “I know there are clans in Snow that are like that.”

“No idea.”

Inokichi grabs the letter from him and he raises his hand lazily, not truly trying to get it back.

“This reads… strangely, Shikaichi.” His friend murmurs.

“What do you mean?” The Akimichi Clan Head asks.

“There’s something that’s bothering me about it,” Inokichi says, “I’m not sure what, though. It feels almost… desperate somehow.”

Chousuke swipes the letter from Inokichi.

“She’s left-handed,” he says in surprise.

“What?” He and Inokichi ask at the same time as he sits up, feeling more focused than he has in a while.

“Yeah, look at the ink. It smears to the right in a way that it wouldn’t normally. She’s obviously trying to minimize it, but it’s still there.”

“How do you know that?” He asks.

“A few of my clansmen are left-handed, it crops up occasionally.”

“Huh,” he mutters, surprised despite himself. “A left-handed woman as a Clan Head. The Hyuga are gonna have a conniption if they ever find out.”

“So are you going to do it?” Inokichi asks.

“I don’t know if I can,” he finally answers.

“What do you mean?”

“No one I’ve been able to contact has seen any sign of her in weeks. She ran through Fire like a whirlwind three weeks ago and then vanished. And she was last seen gunning for the Uchiha, going so far as to give chase when they retreated. So either she’s alive and a prisoner, or she’s dead.”

“Wouldn’t Hashirama have said something?” Chousuke asks.

“Not if the rumors about his brother are true,” he and Inokichi say at the same time.

“So you believe it then? You really think Tobirama Senju is dead?”

Shikaichi considers it. Really, truly, considers the idea.

Could Tobirama Senju be dead?

His immediate reaction is to say no. Tobirama had been a staple on every battlefield the Senju had so much as touched since before Shikaichi had become Clan Head almost 20 years ago. 

Hells, Tobirama had been the reason he’d had to take over so young. The man had raided his clan at six years old with only the help of the Senju Lion and his daughter, an eight-year-old Touka Senju. And he’d not only managed to get in and out with whatever he’d been trying to get, but he’d managed to kill Shikaichi’s father in the process.

But he hadn’t been so much as seen in nearly a year.

There had been times when he’d vanished before, but never for anything close to this long.

The longest Shikaichi can think of off the top of his head was a period of three months, nearly nine years ago now, when both the Ghost, Tobirama, and his counterpart the Demon, Touka, had vanished off the face of the earth before reappearing with an explosive fury.

They’d decimated every battlefield they’d stepped on for months afterward, going after the Uchiha in particular with an intensity that had the rest of the clans avoiding conflict with the Senju for almost a year.

Even the Uchiha had backed off for a while. Especially after the two had tag-teamed Hikaku and more than a dozen others, Hikaku being the Uchiha’s third-strongest fighter after Madara and Izuna, and taken him off the field for six months while killing all of the others with barely more than a scratch.

He still wondered what could have pissed them both off so badly at the same time.

But back to his original thought.

It had been more than twice that long now, and the Demon had been rampaging across Fire for nearly that entire time.

Which obviously meant something had happened, but Hashirama hadn’t seemed at all concerned about anything that might have been going on with his brother. Or with his third strongest fighter.

“I don’t know,” he finally decides. “There’s good reasons to go either way. The Demon has been going insane for the last three months, and the Ghost hasn’t been seen in even longer. That says a lot about how bad the situation must be. But Hashirama hasn’t seemed concerned at all, which means he’s either fine, and something else is going on, or Hashirama is a lot less concerned about both his brother’s life and his clan than we all thought.”