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"I don't get why you don't use it," Izuna grips the hilt and the lightsaber in his hand erupts with blue in a shade almost identical to his own. "We had classes with Master Yoda together, I know you know how to use it."
"Of course I do, but why would I bother?" Tobirama waves at the jungle that surrounds them and one of the vines reaches back, nuzzling into his hand affectionately. "There's nothing that would hurt me here. I don't even carry it anymore."
Izuna grimaces.
That's a statement which is almost certainly true given the way Tobirama had to dig it out of a drawer to show him, but it feels wrong.
A lightsaber is a weapon, yes, a tool, but it's also a statement of who they are.
They're Jedi.
Only Tobirama is not.
Or, at least, not anymore.
Tobirama and he were initiates together, grew up together. They were never in the same clan but they shared teachers, friends, lives.
Tobirama was his rival.
To know that their paths have taken them in such different directions...
"I asked about you." Izuna doesn't look at the man next to him, instead staring up at the moon in the sky, tinted with red. "After you left the temple."
"Ah, yes." Tobirama's voice is full of irony. "And did Master Yoda tell you anything?"
"Only that you were gone, beyond my reach." Izuna shakes his head at the memory. "Beyond anyone's reach."
"An interesting response, given that I told him exactly why I was leaving." Tobirama doesn't sound offended, only vaguely amused. "He always did edit the truth to suit himself."
"And what is that truth?" It's a question he's always wanted the answer to, and Izuna shuts off the lightsaber in his hand, tossing it to its rightful owner.
"He wanted me to give up all attachment, all ties to my family." Tobirama turns it over thoughtfully before tossing it into the air, letting it hang there in a silent display of power. "While you were allowed to live with your brother, to love him, I was told to give up mine."
And that's... that's the truth Izuna always feared to hear.
He takes the emotion, holding it in his heart for a moment before opening to the universe and offering it up to the Force.
"It was unfair that the rules were not the same for all, that they were different for me because he thought I had a predisposition to the dark side." The shadow that cloaks Tobirama rises, writhing with the rage his emotionless face doesn't display, but Izuna doesn't feel the need to move. "But I can't say he was wrong."
Looking at Tobirama now, a man who so clearly lives and breathes the dark, Izuna can't disagree with Master Yoda's assessment either.
And yet...
"But you're not - " he hesitates over the words but forces himself to continue. "Power hungry."
"No, never." The shadow subsides, draping itself around Tobirama like a cat winding around its owners ankles. "What do I care for power? I only wanted to be left to go my own way, I've never wanted to make anyone do anything they didn't want to do."
"Except convince your brother not to put hallucinogens in his cooking apparently." Izuna chuckles, watching their brothers sit on the wing of the ship and catching bits of their debate about what should - and should not - go into cookies.
"And not even then, not unless he's feeding me," Tobirama smirks. "He's welcome to eat poison all he wants, but it's my choice about what I put into my body after all."
Izuna doubles over laughing.
"I missed you." This man is so much like the Tobirama Izuna remembers, the boy he was friends with so long ago, despite all their differences. "I really, really, missed you."
"Well, you know where to find me now." Tobirama shrugs, but his smile is genuine if small. "You're welcome anytime, even if you're not looking for Itama to patch you up after a fight."
"I'm going to take you up on that." Izuna claps his friend on the back, grinning up at the bloody moon. "You'll see me when you least expect me."
"I look forward to it." Tobirama leans in ever so slightly, and Izuna knows it's the truth.
One that he doesn't have to be afraid of.