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Everyone was equally as exhausted, thanking the gods that Madara was now laying flat on the stone ground, unable to jump to his feet due to his utter defeat.
Tobirama lets out a steady breath, calming his breathing unhurriedly before quietly walking towards his brother, who laid kneeling in front of this friend of his, and as if to fuel Tobirama's disapproval any further, he was fully aware Hashirama held feelings towards the other.
"You're done for, Madara." Tobirama announces without a second to spare, raising his katana above Madara's vital point but just as he tensed his arm to bring Madara to his death, his body freezes all of a sudden.
"Don't you dare touch him." Hashirama's quiet voice was heard only by the two, and he turned around to meet Tobirama's gaze, his eyes were cold and full of warning.
Tobirama's face becomes distorted, as he, with much power, returns his hands back to his sides, still in complete disbelief at such unjust treatment.
His elder brother didn't scare him.
He used his chakra presence to physically restrain him.
That in itself was enough to cause Tobirama to lose his calm and collected act.
"Anija! Now's the time to kill him, why must you bring your feelings into this?!" Tobirama demands in a raised voice, feeling his expression scrunch in displeasure as Hashirama does not even turn back around to even look at him.
"Is there... really no way in convincing you to join forces with me?" Hashirama asks in a bland tone, eyes dull as he begs Madara silently.
"Hashirama..." Madara's voice was still raspy as he took in a shuddering breath, watching as Hashirama slowly blinked, expression so depressed that he was no longer recognisable as the optimistic youth he once was.
"I just want you back, Madara... why can't you understand that?" Hashirama adds, eyebrows scrunching up as he prevents tears from escaping his exhausted eyes. "Is there really... no way?"
Madara's eyes observed Hashirama's face for a long time before glancing towards Tobirama, trying to feign ignorance to the guilt he felt as an idea came into mind, an impossible one.
"There is a way," Madara began saying and watched as Hashirama's exhausted eyes seemed to light up almost in an instant, "either you kill your brother... or yourself."
There was silence in the area, but Tobirama points out the audacity of such a suggestion first.
"Anija! Do you hear him? This is outrageous!" Tobirama reasons quickly, raising a hand to flap it around, hoping it would express how absolutely ridiculous such a proposal was. "You can't possibly be thinking of doing it right?"
"Madara... if I prove to you, if I really do it... will you really come back and agree to stop all this fighting?" Hashirama asks, completely ignoring Tobirama's increasingly concerned blabbering as he begs Madara to validate his burdened worries.
Madara did not reply for a long time but slowly opened his mouth, "yes... I promise."
Hashirama's eyes widen a little with surprise, and remorse flashes through his dark black pupils as he stands up, giving Tobirama a softened gaze as he walks over to his beloved younger brother he has treasured so much throughout all his life.
"I'm sorry, Tobirama." Hashirama mutters with a melancholic smile, black eyes watching as Tobirama starts to panic.
"Anija! Didn't you always say that you'll bring back Madara no matter what it takes?!" Tobirama yells, expression paling as he watches Hashirama actually take out a kunai to hold it in his hand. "You can't just end your life for such a stupid request!"
"You're right, Tobirama." Hashirama says, voice seemingly colder than any winter rain as he watches Tobirama's pupils roll up to reveal nothing but his eyes-whites.
Hashirama tugs the kunai out of Tobirama's throat, the only area unguarded by his armour, and gently places a hand over Tobirama's head as the lifeless Senju fell over him for a brief second before collapsing onto the ground with a heavy thud, his younger brother’s blood already beginning to dry on his hand.
"I will do anything it takes." Hashirama mutters almost like affirming it himself, completely ignorant of all the wide eyes around him before turning to one of the shocked Senju. "Clean him up and give him a proper burial, won't you?"
Whether they felt it was morally correct or not, under the suddenly very threatening gaze of Hashirama's eyes, they quickly bowed their heads and rushed over to the deceased Senju.
Hashirama then walks over to Madara, lowering himself on one knee as he offers his clean hand to the Uchiha, who was most likely the most aghast amongst them all.
"Madara, let's go home now." Hashirama voices in the most gentlest of tones, a benevolent smile settling on his face.
Madara does not take the hand. Mustering his minutes worth of resting to exert himself up, he shifts back a little as if he hadn't look disturbed enough alreafy, eyes still rendering the shock as he stared at Hashirama's blood-covered hand, then up at his burdenless smile.
"Who the hell are you?" The question comes out hoarse, causing Hashirama's smile to twitch before fading in its entirety.
"No time for jokes here." Hashirama mutters, expression quickly turning dark as he lowers his hand to stand up on his feet, vigorous eyes staring down at Madara. "Let's go."
————
Madara sat on his bed for a bit, before changing positions to lay down upon the soft mattress. In fact, besides washing up this morning, Madara had stayed on the bed for the last four hours, doing absolutely nothing but pondering about his life now.
It has been two weeks since Hashirama placed him in this house, and thanks to using some sort of detection talisman or jutsu, he couldn’t take a singlr step out of the house without Hashirama being alerted of it.
"I thought it would get better." Madara mutters, placing his pale hand over his face with exhaustion. "For fuck's sake... I really don't see him anymore."
Madara raises his hand as the tears flow freely to drench the bed covers underneath him, he no longer recognised this Hashirama, this man that locked him here.
Madara finally couldn't contain the hair ripping agitation as he stands up, swollen eyes even more red after another tearing up session, so red some may think he had his Sharingan activated.
Oh, not that he's seen anyone besides Hashirama in the last two weeks anyways.
"He only comes once every dinnertime..." Madara mutters to himself, body so tired from the lack of action and exercise that he felt like he was dragging a sack of boulders behind him.
Now's my only chance.
Madara reaches the kitchen, expression unchanging as he grabs the kitchen knife from the drawer, unconsciously lifting up a finger to graze the top of it, eyes lighting up as he feels the tingling sting.
A bit of blood seeped from the small cut and he stationed it over his chest, mentally preparing himself to say goodbye to this world one last time as he began to deliver a final blow to himself, but then he heard someone knock the door.
Startled, Madara snaps out of his trance and hurriedly stuffs it back into the drawer, suddenly regaining the energy to run all the way to the opposite side of the one story building to sit onto his bed.
"Madara! I came early!" Hashirama's voice sounds from the other side of the door, sounding so elevated and joyful that it makes Madara's stomach attempt a backflip.
Ever since that incident, he felt he really couldn't understand Hashirama anymore. His body tenses as he listens to the door open, Hashirama quickly shows himself with a calm smile as he walks to the table to place down a bag of fresh food.
"How has your day been?" Hashirama asks, tone sounding light and easy-going despite his clearly fatigued expression, but Madara does not notice as he glares at the blankets silently.
"Haha, that sure sounds exciting." Hashirama responds to himself, laughing a little as he enters the kitchen, opening the fridge with slight disappointment laced in his voice.
"Madara, you should really eat more soon, I don't want you to starve yourself." Hashirama calls out, gathering the foods that have long turned bad to carry them and place them in the trash bin.
Hashirama turns around, eyes quiet as he watches Madara continue to stare at the bed in an unresponsive silence.
"Hey, Madara. I've missed you." Hashirama confesses, forcing a smile on his face as he shuffles over to Madara, kneeling on the ground and reaching out to hold Madara's wrist. "Here, why don't you place it over my head like you used to?"
Madara does not resist as he watches with emotionless eyes as Hashirama lifts his hand over to his head, but before it touches, Madara wretches his arm away suddenly, startling the surprised Senju.
"What the fucking hell is wrong with you? You trap me in this prison and then ask why I'm not eating well? Why I'm not sleeping well? WHY I'M NOT FUCKING HAPPY?" Madara roars the last sentence, expression filled with disappointment as he stands up to avoid Hashirama, who sat on the floor silently, still rendering the sudden outburst.
"D-Don't look at me like that, Madara... no need to be so angry..." Hashirama stutters in a soft voice, and yet it was trembling as he met Madara's gaze.
"I... I just wanted you to not run away, to actually keep your promise! If I didn't restrain you here, you would've definitely ran!" Hashirama reasons, expression hurt as he stumbled to his feet, long hair in disarray as he waits for Madara to refute.
"How can I not run?" Madara asks with incredulous disbelief. "You're crazy."
Hashirama's eyes widened, expression quickly paling as he felt his throat quickly turn dry.
"I'm not crazy." Hashirama responds, expression almost begging Madara to once again validate against his mind consuming fear. "I'm Hashirama, Senju Hashirama! The boy who was your skipping stone rival! Someone who will do anything for you!"
Madara doesn't say a word, shaking his head slightly, expression almost looking down at Hashirama in every single way, and yet, pain was stowed away in his eyes.
"Haha... hahaha-" A sudden laugh, forced and abrupt, came out of the Senju lips before he gritted his teeth with frustration, and fear.
"You're the one who told me to either kill myself or my brother! You think I didn't feel anything when I slaughtered him like a heartless bastard?! You think I wouldn't have preferred a more peaceful way of bringing you back?!" Hashirama demands, voice rising in volume as his breathing quickens, his eyes already filled with tears at this point and that surprised Madara, genuinely.
"I... I didn't actually expect you to kill your brother-" Madara tried to say, eyebrows knitting in a deep frown as he watched the tears a breath away from falling down the other's face. "I just wanted to see you show your devotion to your cause, your determination..."
"How was I supposed to know?" Hashirama interrupts with a strained plea, the tears finally fall and left Madara speechless, the words seemingly resounding in his head on loop. "Tell me, Madara, how was I supposed to know that?!"
"I-" Madara swallows the words as he watches Hashirama cover his face with two trembling hands.
"Everyday I glance into the mirror, Tobi's blood is still dried on my hand! I screamed, I cried, I tried to wash it off but it just wouldn’t come off! I look in the mirror, at myself- and I'm so scared, so scared, do you understand, Madara? I don't even know who I am anymore..." Hashirama whispers the last sentence in a broken voice, trying to wipe his ceaseless tears with his shaking hands as his eyes continue to burn all the more painful.
"All I ever desired was peace, if anything more than that, it was you... so I did it, Madara. You told me to! If I had killed myself there and done what I knew I should've done as a ‘respectful’ individual, how would I have been able to see you? How would I be able to speak to you? Ask how your fucking day is?!" Hashirama demands, Madara stands on the spot silently with widened eyes, oh how he'd never even considered the fact that Hashirama could've been suffering the whole time too.
And that blind ignorance seemed to burn a hole through his heart.
"I'm so, so tired every night, but I never forget to come visit you. To bring new food so you wouldn't starve! I even built a fucking house exactly how you'd like it! You're the one who promised to come back, you're the one who suggested such a selfish idea of a two-option trial!" Hashirama yells, quieting as he covers two hands over his face, an agonised smile shown.
"Yet you tried to escape twice, tried to starve yourself, and even in the end you would've stabbed yourself if I didn't knock soon enough..." Madara froze at his words, mouth turning dry as he felt his heart pang with a suffocating guilt.
"Tell me, Madara... What did I do wrong? What did I miss? Didn't I just do what you told me to do? Didn't I just do everything just so I can stay by your side?" Hashirama asks weakly, staggering two steps towards Madara as he grips Madara's sleeves before slowly sinking towards the floor.
Only when the room was bathed in silence and Hashirama's tormented sobs did the realisation finally sink in, and Madara also kneels onto the floor before wrapping his arms around Hashirama, wrapping him in a hug.
"We were both wrong... but I shouldn't have forced you through all that suffering, I-" Madara swallowed dryly before he felt tears escape his own eyes.
"Madara... I miss Tobi..." Hashirama muttered against Madara's chest, his tears drenching Madara’s robes damp as he cried. Madara unconsciously clenched his jaw before tightening his hold around the fragile man in his hold, feeling nothing but self loathing towards his ignorance and selfishness that drove them both to such an extent.
"I'm sorry, Hashirama... It's..." Madara bites his lip as he closes his eyes, resting his cheek over Hashirama's head in a silent beg for forgiveness. "It's all my fault..."