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"Senju no Usagi-!"
That, Touka thought, was definitely the wrong thing to say.
The alarmed cry of the foreign shinobi was abruptly cut off when a torrent of water courtesy of one pissed off and - going by the surrounding reactions - completely unexpected Tobirama Senju vaulted him up in the air. The poor fool hit the dirt with a pained grunt a good distance away and did not get up.
Touka had to admit that Tobirama could get viciously creative when pissed off and as always it was a sight to behold. That is if you weren't on the receiving end of one of his sour moods. Living with the spare heir of the Senju clan taught one to watch for his bad temper. A survivor's instinct some of the outsiders would clearly not be granted.
The companions of the foreign shinobi flailed around in panic at the display of Tobirama's battle prowess before scattering off like a flock of pigeons, carrying away their fallen comrade and abandoning most of their belongings in their mad dash for their lives.
"Stupid people," Tobirama scoffed at their hasty and disorganized retreat, arms akimbo and the hereditary Senju pout firmly in place.
"Pfft, shows what they know," she joined the conversation, adding in good cheer, "I've yet to see a rabbit as foul-mouthed and bad-tampered as you."
The look Tobirama send her way in reponse to her attempt at a joke could curdle milk.
There were few words that could raise Tobirama's hackles and rabbit was definitely one of them. Touka remembered (quite fondly) a very young Tobirama with his milky-white tuffts of hair, pale skin and big wine-coloured eyes that set him so much apart from the rest of the family. She also remembered how Lady Senju used to call him her little bunny and Usa-chan because of that then. And she remembered how it had later become Usagi-kun when some of the clansmen had forgotten that Tobirama had had an actual name; or just plain rabbit when people were looking for something to pick on. Children could be so cruel sometimes, but in Touka's opinion adults should know better, too.
The rabbit moniker was the bane of Tobirama's existance. As he grew and learned how to bite and scratch and punch the number of people willing to call him that to his face dwindled significantly. That did not mean that calling him rabbit did not bring back to surface those old resentments.
With the actual fight over before it could even began Touka moved on to the next interesting thing and started picking through the sbanfoned loot. It was all standard stuff, but she found a shabby-looking notebook full of shinobi info cards. She verted through the pages out of pure boredom and barely held in the spit at what she found.
She was a fool to think that Tobirama as high-vented as he was at the moment would miss her misstep. He quickly divulged her of her new acquisition and looked up what had had her in stitches.
By the grimace on his face she could tell that he had found his profile picture. With all its evil beady-eyes, bird's nest of white hair and teeth sharp enough that even a Mizu no Kuni swordsman wouldn't be ashamed of. Then his eyes fell on the profile description. Touka could tell by how suddenly the atmosphere around them became charged with chakra.
He ripped out the page, crumbled it in his fist and set it on fire. An overkill, but Tobirama could be as dramatic as his brother when he was in a snit.
"I wanted to keep that picture," she whined in the spirits of ongoing dramatics. "It might have not been your most accurate portrayal, but you had to appreciate the artist's flair."
"That's not art. That's slander," he snarled. "I will kill them all."
"But kin of mine, there are worse things to be called," she tried to console him. The thought that he should stop being a whiny-baby and put on his big boy's pants remained unvoiced. "Remember dear uncle Iron Balls Hiro? And that was not used as a creative metaphor."
Nope. Touka's honest attempt at being supporting while stirring Tobirama away from his path of vengeance proved ineffective. Tobirama was primed and ready to burn down (or would flood down be more accurate in his case?) the world as they knew it.
Touka sighed in defeat. At least he could appreciate that he did not look in the public eye like a one-eyed, overgrown, black hedgehog like one Uchiha Madara. And after today's display she doubted that anyone in their right mind would dare to call him Killer Rabbit to his face.