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Tobirama kneels on the flat rocks that border this pond, touching the water with her fingers and watching the moon's reflection break into ripples of light. Most of the koi float silently, but one of them surfaces to nibble lightly at her skin before deciding that she is not food and swimming away.
The night is calm and cool, but its peace doesn't touch her, not when Madara-sama's face haunts her memory.
His shock when he saw her, when Izuna presented her, could not have been greater if she'd slapped him with a fish. If she'd had one to hand, she can't say that she wouldn't have, so it's as well she didn't.
It's not his fault of course, they ambushed him unawares, but his speechless reaction called up all the old unwelcome memories she's taken care to suppress.
It's ironic that her failure to be seen as a woman can still sting, despite the fact that she's deliberately spurned the role. Why does it matter what people call her, that they say she is as plain and boring as a bowl of rice. Rice is sustaining, the base of almost every meal, the food upon which everything else is built. The comparison shouldn't be an insult, and so she reminds herself as she pushes all that history away.
She's strong, tall, and she even deceived Izuna despite the closeness of their rivalry, so she doesn't know why he expected her to suddenly deceive his brother.
She failed of course, and it's small comfort to know that it meant his failure also. Given the results of tonight's experiment, their bet has been most conclusively settled in her favour and that's a small triumph at least.
"Tobirama." Madara-sama's deep voice alerts her to his presence on the steps of the engawa, much closer than she would prefer. "I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to apologise for," she breathes deeply, reaching for the calm she strives to customarily display, before she stands to face him. "Indeed, it is I who should apologise to you for approaching you so unexpectedly."
"Unexpected, yes." His dark eyes wander over her face, washed even paler than usual by the light of the moon. "Unwelcome, no."
"You are kind to say so." She endures his inspection stoically, refusing to flinch under his gaze, but she sees no reason to prolong the experience. "Please, excuse me."
"There is nothing to excuse," he reaches out, gloved hand hovering over her wrist as she makes to pass him by. "Tobirama. Will you listen to what I have to say?"
"Of course." She cannot deny such a request but she steps back, out of his reach.
"I wish to tell you - " his jaw sets, whether in anger or frustration she cannot tell. "You are beautiful."
Oh, now that is something she will not stay to hear.
"I appreciate your desire to assist your brother, but I do not appreciate kindly lies." She prizes truth more than that. "You may tell him that I relinquish all claim to the stakes of our bet, the knowledge that I was right being all that I need."
"A bet." Madara-sama's tone has gone flat. "You bet on me."
"No." Tobirama shakes her head, feeling the evening breeze catch and lift the short strands of her hair. "We bet on ourselves."
"Explain." His eyes spin into the Sharingan and she knows it's nothing less than a demand.
"Izuna believed his skills would be enough to make me convincing as a woman." She shrugs, knowing he'll read her as easily as she would read a book. "I was unconvinced, but not as much as I apparently thought I was." There, that should be enough of a compliment to satisfy an older brother's protectiveness, and he cannot dispute facts. "I apologise once more for making you the unwitting judge, we should have chosen someone else."
"You should indeed." Madara-sama steps forward, his hand rising to cup her cheek even as his thumb strokes over her lower lip, rubbing away the paint Izuna so painstakingly applied. "For I am not unbiased."
"Perhaps that was Izuna's plan all along," she suggests, her mouth moving against the leather in a strange mockery of intimacy, but she stands her ground. "Still, it didn't work."
"Did it not?" He raises an eyebrow at her. "I spoke true before - you are beautiful."
She does flinch at that, a sore spot that has been pressed far too many times tonight, and his grip firms. "Tobirama. You are beautiful, believe me. Tonight, and always."
"You are kind to say so." She meets his gaze steadily, a red which matches her own, and pulls away.
"Kind is the last thing I am, at least in this." His voice follows her into the dark as she retreats, denying her the peace she seeks. "You do not want lies, and so I have given you only truth."
And that... that is the most terrifying possibility of all.