Chapter Text
Hashirama always thought of himself being good. Honestly, who wouldn't want to do good? The boy can't see himself doing anything bad.
So imagine his inner thoughts when he saw a baby animal die.
So this is how it went,
Hashirama went to the beach near the camp, where 'Tobi likes to go occasionally. He had been feeling like swimming today.
It feels better when swimming during this pretty warm morning, nothing complicated about that. Nothing bad.
So he passed the big tree, near the sand. The small grains were soft on his barefoot toes.
The horizon was beautiful, with the sea and the sun. It was a cloudy morning, and he couldn't help but imagine himself in the water, having fun.
Suddenly there was a small voice calling out. Snapped out of his thoughts, he got up and was ready to help.
Starring at the sea, the crying was coming from there...
Quickly walking forward, he sprinted to the calls. There seemed to be a small animal on the ground.
It was a kitty-cat.
Finally arriving next to it, he pushed chakra into it. Mommy once told him he was a great healer so he could, technically, help the animal.
The meows didn't stop, and the body was just so so cold. Cradling the body to his chest, Hashirama's eyes started to water. No! The animal wouldn't-it wouldn't die! The kitty might have a family that will miss him or-or maybe...
Eyes closing shut, breathing uneven and raspy, the boy kept the cat in his arms, he rocked gently. "Sh-you can do it...! Don't die yet...!"
"Plea-" Hiccup "-se"
Suddenly, the water that had been previously simply wetting the bottom of his pant-legs grew. It started attacking his shirt, then it climbed up to his middle chest.
The, probably dead, kitty was getting splashed too, so he had to be raised above Hashirama's head. Looking behind him, Hashirama's face transformed into horror at what he saw.
There was a giant wake, coming to crash on him and the small kitty. Looking down, Hashirama's eyes welled up with tears, they weren't going to make it.
Looking back up, he chocked on the sob that was threatening to come out. He couldn't, wouldn't-
Water grazed his skin.
Then, water submerged his entire being, he kept his breath wisely, and closed his eyes, holding the cat like a life-line.
After about 40 seconds - he had been counting, what else could he do? - his limbs were like stone, unmoving. Then, the urge to breath was so strong, that he inhaled with great pain.
And if possible, he felt that breathing in water was worse then not breathing at all, so very painful.
Eyes open and looking at all the salt water around him, he felt consciousness
leave him slowly... Oh so slowly...
He couldn't even understand that someone was screaming his name in the distance...
Goodbye world...
XxxxxX
And then he woke up, vomiting all the water from his stomach.
XxxxxX
A few years later, Madara Uchiha had been touring Hashirama around his compound, the big idiot had been bugging him for a while, and the whole peace treaty nonsense made him unable to politely refuse.
The brunet was tall, with broad shoulders. The man was bouncing slightly, pretty excited for the excursion. It had taken weeks to convince him, so he was understandably happy. Closing his eyes, he breathed evenly and continued guiding the Senju further into his territory.
The bystanders stared at the duo with confused stares and whispers. Luckily for them, they were hushed enough that Hashirama had no hope in hearing them. The big doof wouldn't hear a meteor hitting the earth until it hit him in the face.
They continued on the pathway, circling around a few tents and stalls. Madara, ever the good guide, pointed and named objects and people. His black hair was as ever unruly, but it fit him quite fine. It was easy to notice the difference between both of them. When he found out that he had been walking on his own, he stopped as well.
Turning his head in the direction of the other clan head, his eyes shone with curiosity. Behind him, Hashirama seemed to have frozen, eyes dulled up a bit. Mouth hanging open from a sentence that didn't seem to be going to come out anytime soon.
His entire body had stopped short and, Madara was sure that if he had been closer, he wouldn't have been able to see the Senju's stomach breathing at that moment. Hashirama still hadn't blinked, and if whatever caught his attention ended up being a threat, the brunet wasn't going to be able to defend himself anytime soon.
Actually, when was the last time he had been taken off-guard? Thinking harder, Madara was certain that it was, in fact, an impossibility for that to happen. Multiple times enemy had tried to ambush him, but it never worked. There was even a rumour about how the reason behind this phenomenon was because the wood style user could sense anyone, anywhere, no matter how tired or injured he might be as long as they were in a forest. Though, that had been proven untrue after a failed attack at sea.
One had even claimed to have heard him counting, like all he had been doing was a dance, made for perfection with minimal injured on his side. It was very scary for an opponent, but Hashirama always looks ghostly after one of those battles, not coming out for days until it passed.
Others claimed him using hidden jutsu to see the future (How crazy was that?), and one memorable time, Madara had brought it to the other man's attention. I the beginning, he had seemed amused at the assertions, but when he spoke of sacrificing to a god for the power of sight, Hashirama's smile had dimed.
Back to the present, Hashirama had been caught off guard, as crazy as that sounded, and that worried him greatly.
So, when he turned around to see the big enough threat that could have possibly scared the other, he had imagined multiple scenarios that could be something utterly scary and/or surprising.
All he saw was a ninneko.
Looking back at his equal, arguably higher up, there was obvious bewilderment in his eyes. He lifted his gloved hand pointing towards the cat and shook with fury. THIS, was why his comrade had stopped? Why did it even bother him that the brunet had done such a dumb act? Maybe, it was because he had been excited, finally able to one-up the other. He had finally gotten a weakness may be.
But now, he felt annoyed at the other and decided to inform the man. "Really? Stop messing around Hashirama! Didn't you want to see my clan so badly? "
The man in question didn't respond, surprisingly, and this annoyed the Uchiha even further. Seriously, was it so hard to simply stop fooling around, and continue along?
Deciding to humour the brunet, he started mentally counting down from ten, and restarting a few times, until he calmed down.
"Okay, Hashirama, what's wrong?"
The Senju finally got out of the spell he was under, and his eyes snapped up to meet Madara's black, searching gaze. His laboured breathing came back and with it came to his question.
"What is it doing here?"
Madara's gaze went back to the cat, innocently licking its paw, unaware of the conflict caused by its appearance. It was just your run-of-the-mill cat, and its normality was infuriating in this conversation.
The Uchiha's hand lowered and stopped next to his side. The black haired man was fully facing his companion at this point, and he angrily took the other man's shoulders and gripped hard.
"What's the matter with you?!"
Hashirama blinked confused a few times, mouth hanging open, his thoughts trying to decipher the question/accusation, and then, his eyes lit up, finally understanding what I was asking. Honestly, with how open his face was, it's a wonder he has such a great track record with difficult missions.
The Senju's face contorted into an awful grin, one never seen before, and his eyes were crinkled in fake happiness.
"I have been asking that myself for a long time."
His tone was bitter and ruff, very ' out of character' one might say. In all his life, Madara has never heard his friend talk that way. It freaked him out, to be honest.
Then, as if the situation wasn't weird enough already, Hashirama defied all expectations again. The brunet's hand came up to his boot and pulled out a kunai.
Staring at it for a few seconds, Hashirama smiled even bigger than before. Not knowing what was happening, Madara stayed still. The taller man continued his movement until the kunai is up under his neck, without interruption.
"And you know what?"
His voice was like a foghorn, nothing new really, but the dead tint to it was ominous. The voice was hard to describe but, it was a mix between gruff and breathy. The kunai was still under his chin, blood might have started to leak.
"I don't care anymore."
His hand shot up and he slumped to the ground.
XxxxxX