Chapter Text
Tobirama was sitting on the sofa in the living room with his head in his hands for what felt like hours. His mind was racing with questions. Most of them circled around the accusing thought of How the hell could you be so oblivious? While it was true that Tobirama was more prone to ignoring most people entirely, this was Madara. He definitely wasn’t a stranger. Tobirama didn’t bother to argue with strangers, after all. So that fact that he didn’t pay attention a lot of the time wasn’t an excuse at all.
His mind was unhelpfully giving him mental images of his past with Madara, showing him eyes that now looked haunted. The split-second jumps that the Uchiha constantly made at loud noises. The sadness on his face whenever he had to go home. He remembered the way that Madara would constantly thank his mother and father for allowing him to stay over. He could see the concerned looks that his parents always casted Madara’s way.
He felt himself getting angrier and angrier now that the symptoms were so blaringly obvious. If he hadn’t been so busy trying to convince himself that he felt nothing at all for the insufferable Uchiha, he probably would have paid closer attention and would have connected the dots himself a long time ago.
He sighed, hating how bitter regret tasted on his tongue, as he looked up wearily at the wall clock. Madara had been gone for well over two hours. He bit his lip uncertainly. The only person’s house that he would have gone to when he was this upset would be his younger brother, Izuna. Tobirama and Izuna were on pretty great terms, but there was a good chance that the younger Uchiha was upset with him as well. Even if that was so, Tobirama figured that being cursed out by him would be worth knowing how Madara was doing.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket, clicked on Izuna’s number and listened to the phone ring. He picked up after a few moments.
“Hello,” came the lazy greeting. Tobirama blinked in confusion and pulled the phone away from his ear quickly to make sure that he hadn’t dialed the wrong number. He saw that the contact name read Izuna.
“You’re not angry?” Tobirama asked incredulously right after he brought the phone back to his ear.
“Why would I be angry?” Izuna asked curiously. “Did Toka play another prank on me? I swear, that girl is so vindictive. All I said was that her—”
“I don’t know about that, and I don’t really care about what you said to my cousin,” Tobirama cut him off. “Have you heard from Madara?”
“No,” Izuna said slowly. “Should I have? Is there something wrong?”
“We got into an argument earlier,” Tobirama said quietly. “I…I made some assumptions that I shouldn’t have, and it really upset him. He showed me…something, and then he left.”
There was silence on the other end of the line, and Tobirama started tapping his foot in impatience. After a few moments, Izuna finally spoke. His voice was quiet and his tone sad. “He showed you his back, didn’t he?”
Tobirama went to answer, but the words got caught in his throat as he memory of the grotesque map of skin flashed in his head. His silence was answer enough for Izuna, who sighed. “How long has he been gone? It’s snowing pretty bad outside, he probably just pulled over on the road and waited for it to slow down before going again.”
“Two hours,” Tobirama replied. “I’d call him to check on him, but I know that he isn’t going to answer me. His face when he left was…I don’t even know how to describe it, Uchiha. He’s not going to want to talk to me for some time. Can you just make sure that he’s alright and let me know?”
“Yeah,” Izuna said. “I’ll call him right now.”
“Thank you,” Tobirama said before he hung up and put his phone down on the couch next to him. He felt his entire body tense up in anticipation while he waited for Izuna to call him back.
He just sighed and pushed himself to his feet, knowing that he was just going to drive himself insane if he just sat there and did nothing but wait. He slid his phone into his pocket and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a pack of ramen noodles out of the cupboard as he walked. His stomach was squirming too much to eat, but he figured that he’d be alright after Izuna called him and said that Madara was fine.
It was just taking so long because Madara was telling Izuna about his problems and the younger was trying to comfort him. He put some water inside of the pot as he was trying to convince himself of this and put it on the stove putting the noodles inside as well. He leaned against the counter and pulled his phone out anxiously, silently demanding that Izuna call him back and give him a report on what was going on.
As if the other man heard his pleas, his phone rang with Izuna’s caller ID. He immediately answered it and put it to his ear.
Before he could say anything at all, Izuna’s worried tone hit his ears. “He’s not answering. I don’t know what’s going on. The phone keeps going to voicemail.”
Feeling his resolve harden in his chest, he said, “You stay where you are. The snow is falling too heavily for you to drive. It started snowing pretty heavily before he left. If he pulled over, it’ll be closer to where I’m at. I’ll go and look for him.”
“You just said that it’s snowing too—”
“I’ll walk if I have to,” Tobirama told him. “This is my fault, and I’m going to fix it.”
Silence rang through the phone for a moment before Izuna sighed. “Thank you, Tobirama. Please be careful. I don’t think that Madara would be able to forgive himself if something happened to you.”
“I’ll be fine, just—” his phone beeped, and he cut himself off as he pulled it away from his ear and looked at the screen as it lit back up. His brother was calling.
He frowned, but told Izuna that he was going to put him on hold for a moment. There was a good chance that Madara had called Hashirama as well. Tobirama wondered why he hadn’t thought of that before. He answered his brother. “Hello,” he said.
“Tobirama,” Hashirama sounded as though he was in tears. At that noise alone, his heart clenched and his entire body went cold. There was no way that Madara’s disappearance and refusal to answer the phone along with Hashirama’s tone was a mere coincidence.
“What’s happened?” Tobirama demanded, straightening up.
“Madara’s at the hospital. He’s been in a wreck.”
Tobirama’s breath caught in his throat. He tried to speak, but no sound was coming out again. Dread knotted his stomach up as concern made him feel as though he was going to throw up a lunch that he hadn’t eaten.
“What?” he finally managed to croak out.
“He’s unconscious right now, and his body temperature is dangerously low. I tried to get ahold of Izuna, but he won’t answer his phone. C-can you see if you can get ahold of him for me? I don’t know what to do! I’m so far away, and he needs someone with him!”
“How did they even know to call you?” Tobirama demanded.
“One of the men seemed to recognize him as the grumpy guy that takes me my lunch on the days that I forget it,” Hashirama said as he sniffled.
That meant that he was at the hospital that Hashirama was interning at. It wasn’t very far away, but it would be hell to walk. He knew that he didn’t have much of a choice, however. He just sighed and said, “I’ll be sure to tell Izuna immediately, and I’m going to get over to the hospital and see him. Don’t worry about it, big brother. I’ll make sure that he’s not alone.”
“Are you sure?” Hashirama asked, sounding concerned. “You and Madara don’t really get along all that well.”
“I’m sure,” Tobirama told him. “I’m not going to let him be alone like that.” He wanted to tell Hashirama that it was his fault anyway, but he kept that to himself. It wasn’t something that he wanted to tell his over-emotional brother over the phone, anyway. If anything, that part of the issue would put him in an even worse state.
“Thank you so much, Tobirama,” Hashirama said tearfully.
“No problem,” Tobirama replied. “Let me get off the phone with you and talk to Izuna.”
“Alright,” Hashirama said. “Goodbye.”
“Bye,” Tobirama said curtly before he ended his call with Hashirama and clicked back over to his call with Izuna. “I’m back,” he said finally. “It was Hashirama.”
“He tried to call me while I was talking to you,” Izuna told him. “I ignored it, though. Did you tell him about Madara?”
Tobirama winced, knowing that the younger Uchiha wasn’t going to take the news well at all. “He already knew,” he said carefully. “He got a call from the hospital that he interns at. Madara has been admitted there. He was in a car wreck. He has a case of hypothermia and he’s unconscious. I’m about to head out and stay with him. You come in the morning when the snow’s stopped.”
The oncoming silence lasted for so long that Tobirama had to make sure that Izuna hadn’t hung up on him. When the other man finally spoke, his voice was cold and calm. “I’m not going to say that this is entirely your fault, Tobirama,” Izuna said quietly, “but it is partially your fault. The other part is on my older brother. You two need to get your shit straight when he wakes up. I’m serious. This is going too far.”
“I know,” Tobirama said. “I’m going to fix things as soon as he opens his eyes. This won’t ever happen again. I swear.”
“Get to him,” Izuna said curtly. “I’ll get off the phone so that you can get ready. Call me when you get there so that I know that you’re safe.”
“I will,” Tobirama promised before he hung up. He turned to the stove and saw that his pot was nearly boiling over. He shoved it to the back eye and shut the stove off. He rushed out of the kitchen and into his bedroom. He hurriedly put on his warmest socks, he thickest pair of boots, and his most insulated jacket before he snatched his keys off his dresser and quickly rushed out of the house.
Tobirama swore at the temperature and grimaced at the pace of the falling snow. There was no way that he was going to be able to drive. Madara wasn’t a horrible driver, and he’d ended up in a ditch. There was no way that Tobirama was going to be able to fair any better in a vehicle. He carefully walked down the steps and started down the driveway, quickly getting used to the sound of snow crunching underfoot. Walking it is.
The trip to the hospital was a long and miserable one. Within minutes he wouldn’t feel his face. Halfway there, his feet were numb, and he wasn’t able to feel his hands. The snow never stopped falling, and it covered the sidewalks in a thick layer, making it hard to walk. By the time he saw the bright lights of the building, his calves were burning from exertion and his lungs and throat were burning from heavy breathing in such cold weather.
Tobirama was shivering profusely when he walked through the door. His teeth were chattering so hard that he just stood in the warmth of the waiting room and waited for the tremors to ease before he walked to the circulation desk. There was no way that he was going to risk talking before he had proper control over his body again.
When he felt his body calm and started to feel the burning sensation of his skin trying to heat back up, he forced himself to walk to the circulation desk. The woman looked up at him, and her eyes widened.
“What are your symptoms, sir?”
“I’m not here to be checked in,” Tobirama told her.
The look that she gave him made it very clear that she didn’t believe what he told her. “Are you sure about that?” she asked. “You might need to get checked out anyway. You look like you’re not well.”
“It’s cold outside,” Tobirama informed her coldly. He was much too anxious to see Madara to stand around, talking to her for any longer. “I’m here to see a patient that was brought in earlier from a car accident. Madara Uchiha.”
The woman gave him one last worried look before she looked down at her computer. She typed something down and he saw her move her mouse to some place on the screen. “He’s not receiving visitors right now,” she told him. “You can take a seat out here, however, and I’ll let you know when something comes up.”
Tobirama nodded.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Tobirama Senju,” he told her.
“Ah,” she said, a bright smile coming to her face. “You’re Hashi’s little brother, then. No worries, Tobirama. I’ll let you know as soon as he’s put in a room.”
“Thank you,” he said before he walked away from the circulation desk and toward the back of the waiting room. He took the closest open chair to a vent, wincing as the burning sensation intensified on his skin, but sighing in relief all the same. He would be sure to call Izuna the moment that he could feel his fingers again.