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Once upon a time, there was a young man named Madara who went to work in the royal household.
Most of his siblings had scattered to the winds as soon as they were of age, heading off to make their fortunes, hoping to better the lives of their family. But Madara remained, tied to hearth and home by the love he held for his youngest brother, Izuna.
Madara worked in the palace kitchens, turning the spits upon which whole animals were roasted, sweeping out the fire pits, and fetching wood for the fires. Because of this, he was constantly blackened from the ashes, and the rest of the staff refused to let him near.
Cinders they called him, and the burning fury in his eyes only added truth to the name.
The work was hard, the hours long, and Madara grew strong and muscled under its burden. At night, he would return home to his brother Izuna who was studying to be a scholar at the university, and almost fall asleep into his food before Izuna would put him to bed, uncaring of the marks his stained hands left on their threadbare white sheets.
But, unknown to him, Madara was watched.
Red eyes followed him wherever he went, though he paid them no mind, used to the glares the rest of the staff bestowed upon him.
The second prince, Tobirama, knew of Madara from the stories of a friend that he had made at the university. From Izuna, Tobirama heard stories of their childhood and praise for all that Madara had done for him.
So, watching Madara at his labours, Tobirama tried to ease his burdens.
Tobirama requested Madara's assistance less and less, and some of the nobles in the castle started to follow his example. They began to do more for themselves, poking their own fires and tidying their own rooms. But there were still places where servants were necessary, in the kitchens, serving the food, scrubbing the floors.
Madara in particular, as the person in charge of the fires of the castle, was constantly being asked to boil water for baths. Sometimes, it seemed to him that the nobility did nothing but keep themselves clean.
So, when all the castle was preparing for dinner, even he was asked to carry water for baths, dirty though he was.
After the first few times, most of the nobles specifically requested that he not attend to them, complaining of the dirt that he tracked onto their expensive carpets. But the second prince said nothing about it, and so the seneschal constantly assigned Madara to him.
It was an easier job than most, since the prince's room were not even in the castle proper at all. Instead they were outside in a small separate building, for the prince had a love of science and experimentation, and he could afford to house himself to facilitate his studies.
So Madara simply heated the water in the kitchen and then hauled it across the courtyard, pouring it into the bath that the prince had cunningly constructed in its own separate room. He didn't even had to empty it, since the water, released once it was cooled, simply emptied itself into the garden.
Madara often wished that he could avail himself of such a luxury.
And so, one evening when he knew that the whole castle would be celebrating the engagement of the heir to the throne to a princess of the neighbouring kingdom, Madara took advantage of the opportunity.
After the prince left, swiftly buttoning the cloak he'd thrown over his outer clothing, Madara stole into the bathing room and climbed into the water, still steaming from the prince's hasty bath. He scrubbed himself from head to toe and luxuriated in the warmth.
It was his downfall.
He awoke to blushingly averted red eyes and a pale hand that offered him robes of a finer cut and fabric than he had ever touched.
Hastily dressing himself, Madara fled in disorder, leaving his own clothing behind.
He did not even notice his own change of attire until he returned home and Izuna exclaimed in surprise to see him dressed in the robes of a scholar. Madara, embarrassed, hid the robes amongst his own shirts and trousers, resolved to return them on the next day and ignored his brother's many questions.
It was not to be.
For the next morning, at dawn, before the two brothers had even broken their fast, Madara and Izuna were woken to a knock on their door.
The prince had come to return Madara's clothing, now pressed and clean, and ask for Madara's hand in marriage.
The end.