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Izuna walks the lantern lined streets of the town he’s been sent to.
It’s not too often that he gets sent to pretty places. In his experience most places requiring shinobi help cleaning up their dirty secrets aren’t nice places at all. But the small town just past the boundary of fire country is beautiful and full of life as a festival brings out the townsfolk and visitors from all around.
His mission isn’t even hard, a simple escort to and from the festivities. It’s a simple gig and one the Uchiha would normally pass on but the man is a friend of the clan and of Tajima's in particular and honestly Izuna isn’t going to ask more questions than that. Not when Tajima had settled a hand on his shoulder before he’d left and told him to make sure he took good care of said friend.
It was gross and unsettling and he isn’t thinking a second longer on this particular aspect of his father’s life. Gross. Ew.
Shaking his head, Izuna takes in the festivities around him. They’re still mostly getting set up at this time of day, though some booths are already open.
“You’re that Uchiha boy, aren’t you,” an older woman calls out to him and Izuna inwardly grimaces.
He doesn’t think it’s good to be all that known, even all the way out here but it seems their client has a big mouth and has seen fit to blabber about his escort. And father probably wont do a damn thing about it seeing as he’s his ‘dearest’ friend or whatever.
“I suppose I am,” he says, walking over to her booth. “I don’t suppose you could keep that to yourself hm?”
“Oh don’t worry,” she waves his ask off with a smile. “Kenji is a friend, we go way back. He always has an Uchiha escort when he’s out this way. It used to be that father of yours who came here with him. I think he hopes now that one of you will find love out here.”
“Huh, why is that?” Izuna wrinkles his nose at both thoughts.
“Because this is a love festival,” the old woman laughs, shaking her head at him. “To celebrate finding love, lost love, love that could never be.”
She sighs wistfully and Izuna’s resolves softens if only a little. It’s very doubtful he’ll find anything close to love out here but he won’t mock her beliefs when it clearly means something to their odd little town.
He’s also very decidedly not going to think of father’s friend and the things she’s said about the festival.
“Here,” she takes his hand and shoves a bracelet into it. “Take this. You never know who might end up with the matching one. Just a silly little tradition, you don’t have to marry her.”
“Right,” Izuna looks at it and nods. “Thank you.”
Slipping it onto his wrist, Izuna makes a quick get away when as a group of girls approach the stand seeking out bracelets of their own.
He doesn’t spare the thin thing against his wrist any more thought as he finishes his tour around the festival area.
Laying out on his futon that night, Izuna's hand is held over his head as he inspects the bracelet he'd been given.
It's nothing at all fancy, just a dark blue cord tied as a double slip knot to fit it on any size wrist. The small dark blue bead almost matches the cord itself. Easy, simple, cheap to make. He's sure there are a dozen girls out there with a matching one.
Manufactured love meant to bring about a fun few nights at the festival.
He doesn't mean to be a pessimist and it's not that he doesn't believe in love. Izuna very much believes in love, but he doesn't want it himself.
No.
He wants it. All Uchiha want it. It's just--
Sighing, Izuna drops his hand over his eyes, his thoughts trailing off slightly. It's hard to admit weakness, even just to himself. Love scares him, terrifies him actually. He can, and regularly does, face down one of the Senju's top shinobi and yet he can't bring himself around to the idea of love.
Then again, he's seen what familial love can do, how much it can hurt and how deep it can cut. He saw what loving Hashirama Senju did to his brother, how much it's hurt him to have loved someone outside of their clan so deeply only to have to walk away.
It's something Izuna isn't sure he wants for himself.
Settling on his side, he looks at the bracelet again. He can't risk it, he should burn it. No one out there is meant for him and even if they were some silly trinket given to him at a festival isn't going to bring them to him. It's silly. It's stupid.
Rolling his eyes he drops his arm again so he can't see it and closes his eyes. Sleep is alluding him and it's all this damn bracelets fault.
Stupid old woman, stupid town, stupid village.
Sighing, he forces his mind away from it all.
He'll get to leave again soon and once he's back home, he's sure it won't be long before he's back on the battlefield. These rare lulls in battles rarely last for long and they're due for another fight. He'll get to see Tobirama, get to clash with him, and maybe if he's lucky the Senju will have invented some new jutsu for Izuna to spend weeks getting to know and trying to unravel.
Smiling to himself, he drifts off to sleep, thoughts of burning the bracelet replaced with thoughts of Tobirama instead.
The festivities are only a weekend long and Izuna does his best to keep to himself now that he knows what sort of festival this is. He's moody now and annoyed and he can't quite pinpoint why the idea of a love festival bothers him so much but it does.
It irks, rubs him the wrong way, and he's not the best company to keep.
He's nice enough to stick to his room, coming out only for meals when he knows things are calm and he won't be bombarded by people begging to look at his wrist and see what charm he has. That happened all of once and he'd glared so hard at the poor girl she'd quickly scampered off.
It's finally the last day and he and Kenji will be leaving in the morning.
Needing food and to find his charge to finalize plans, Izuna reluctantly makes his way out of his rooms. Much to his dismay, but not shock, Kenji isn't in his room. Rubbing his temples in annoyance, Izuna heads outside.
This time of evening all the red and pink lanterns have been lit and are shining a weird pinkish glow into the setting sun. All the booths he'd scoped out the first day are now open and bustling with young couples and people of all ages buying goodies and trinkets and heart shaped foods.
"It couldn't hurt to have a bit of fun out there could it?" The voice next to him asks and Izuna's frown deepens. "Please Uchiha, you look like this is the worst most distasteful thing you've ever seen."
Turning he levels a glare at non-other than Tobirama Senju. Izuna's chakra rises a bit, his guard instantly up.
"Relax," Tobirama scoffs. "If I wanted to fight I would have found you my first night here. Let's not ruin their fun with our clans issues."
"Fine," Izuna huffs and reins in his chakra till it's just slightly simmering at the surface, enough that it probably only bothers the sensor next to him but that's really all Izuna is interested in anyways.
"I didn't take the Senju as love festival types," he said, breaking the silence between them.
"Oh, we're a clan of many festivals," Tobirama admits. "Though we don't have anything quite like this. I'm sure if Hashirama knew it was possible though..."
He trails off and Izuna's happy to see he looks a little horrified at the mere thought of it infesting his clan. Good. He hopes that thought haunts the Senju for the rest of his days. Maybe he'll send a secret message to the Senju clan heir telling him all about the festival just to annoy Tobirama.
"We have festivals too," Izuna finds himself sharing a few beats of silence later. "Also nothing like this."
He isn't stupid and he knows his clan would likely enjoy something similar. They're a clan full of love and maybe if the thought didn't petrify him he would like it too. He just---no, he isn't going to think about any of this while Tobirama is standing right next to him. The enemy. The stupid Senju enemy he can't even fight because it might ruin things here.
What kind of reputation would that leave his clan with? Can't even complete an escort mission without causing trouble. And what would father say? God forbid his...whatever Kenji is get caught up in their fighting and be hurt.
"We don't get to do them much," Tobirama says. "Butsama doesn't like them. He doesn't like anything remotely happy."
That gives Izuna pause and he frowns again. First off that sucks. Second off he can't fathom why Tobirama is sharing this with him. They're enemies after all. His face must say as much because Tobirama smirks.
"Harmless information," he shrugs. "What are you going to do with it? Throw a festival on the battlefield?"
"Well now there's a thought," Izuna can't help but to laugh at the idea of it. It's absurd and crazy and somehow weirdly perfectly Uchiha sounding. Maybe a good genjutsu just to annoy the man to death would suffice.
“I might actually enjoy seeing that,” Tobirama said and it took Izuna about five seconds too long to realize he was in fact making an attempt at teasing.
Giving a small laugh, Izuna let them lapse back into silence and looks out towards the festival.
“What’s the goal here Senju?” He asked finally.
“Would you believe me that there isn’t one?” Tobirama counters, earning a look from Izuna.
Did he want to believe it? Not particularly. This was Tobirama Senju, his greatest rival on the battlefield. There had to be an angle and yet…logically he couldn’t see one.
“I’d believe it, but I don’t trust it,” he answers.
“I’m here on a mission, an escort mission Hashirama sent me on,” Tobirama shrugs. “I’m bored, you’re here. Figured we might as well…I don’t know.”
Izuna arches another eyebrow at him.
“Might as well what? Chat and get to know each other?” He asks and clearly his tone sounded dubious because Tobirama looks away and frowns.
“Fine,” he says. “Forget I even tried then. We’ll just go back to trying to kill each other.”
“Yes because that’s what we do,” Izuna said carefully. “Kill or be killed Senju, that’s the name of the game.”
“And if it wasn’t?” Tobirama asks.
The words have Izuna taken aback slightly. This is Tobirama, the fighter, not his idealist brother.
“What’s gotten into you?” Izuna asks finally, relaxing a little and leaning back against the wall. “I thought we were silently in this together against our brothers as much as each other.”
Was it wrong to feel annoyed over his rivals sudden change of heart? If a battle kicked up after he got back, was Tobirama’s heart going to be in it? Was his?
“Nothings gotten into me,” Tobirama says and Izuna is glad to hear he’s defensive over it.
Defensive he can work with, defensive he knows well.
“You’re not getting soft on me, are you?” Izuna goads further, an easy smirk on his lips.
“I’ll show you soft, Uchiha,” Tobirama growls, and Izuna isn’t expecting the hand around his wrist much less to be pulled with as the Senju steps away from their spot and into the mass of festival goers.
"Where are you taking me?" Izuna hisses, chakra simmering at the surface, sharingan spinning wildly.
"Relax," Tobirama says, as if he could do that while being drug through a group of civilians by his greatest enemy. "We're going to enjoy the festival."
"What?" Izuna digs in his heels, a press of chakra keeping him rooted to the spot-- which he kicks himself for not remembering to do at the start of this whole thing. "You want to partake in a love festival, with me?"
“Who else,” Tobirama shrugs casually, his hand moving down from Izuna’s wrist to instead lace their fingers together. “Unless you were busy doing something else.”
Izuna’s brain feels like it’s short circuiting. Perhaps his sharingan exploded and took him out with it or maybe he accidentally genjutsued himself somehow. Why would Tobirama want to do any of this with him? And what does he mean by, who else??
That one he slightly gets. Izuna wouldn’t be very happy if he saw his rival prancing around a love festival with anyone other than himself actually. Maybe…oh maybe he gets it. That’s something he needs to examine a little closer but he isn’t sure he wants to.
“You’re overthinking,” Tobirama says and when Izuna focuses on anything other than his thoughts they’re standing in front of a vendor selling pink and red mochi.
He orders four and passes two to Izuna’s free hand before tugging him onward back into the sea of people.
Izuna lets himself be guided along, slowly chewing the treat he’d been given. It’s not even poisoned, which is wild and unsettling coming from Tobirama.
“What did you mean, who else?” Izuna finally works up the courage to ask.
Tobirama glances his direction, giving him a considering look.
“When eldest brother gets his peace,” he says and Izuna narrows his eyes. “Don't look at me like that, it’s inevitable. He’s got everyone but Butsama convinced and that’s only a matter of time. We’ll need to get along, so, I’ve decided…who else would make better partners for us than each other?”
Well that’s unhinged.
No matter how many times Izuna had ever thought about partnership and love it had never once involved a Senju. In fact he’d usually forwent thinking about it and instead just circled back to fighting with Tobirama instead. Love was a terrifying thing he wanted no part of, peace and cohabitation with Tobirama seemed the antithesis of that.
Tobirama wasn’t talking about love though, was he? He was talking about compatibility and in truth there wasn’t anyone better suited to match them than each other.
It was still weird though.
Taking his hand back, Izuna eyes him wearily.
“You don’t even know that peace will happen any time soon,” Izuna says. “Father will never agree to it and Madara even less so.”
That one he isn’t sure of.
Come to think of it, Izuna isn’t sure either will disagree under the right terms. It’s been an issue for a while now, one he doesn’t like to think about too much, but he's seen both wavering in private about the merits of this war.
What is his life without war? What is his life without the constant need to one up Tobirama? More importantly why does it always come back to him?
Tobirama’s fingers close around his wrist once more and he’s being dragged along again, swept up in the press of people and blustered along beside Tobirama as he drags them to another booth.
All in all it’s not a bad way to spend the evening.
They talk a little and Izuna does his best to see Tobirama as a person. Oddly enough it’s working. He doesn’t hate his rival and it’s jarring in a way he couldn’t have ever imagined.
“Are you afraid?” Izuna asks during a lull while they’re watching everyone from the sidelines getting ready for some kind of dance.
“Of what?” Tobirama counters.
“The what if’s?” Izuna says. “What if peace doesn’t work and we end up fighting each other tomorrow when we return home? What if I get killed by you? What if…I don’t know, peace never even happens in the first place?”
There are a million scenarios going through his mind, too many to just pick one. Currently he’s imagining giving in to whatever this is only to kill Tobirama mid battle. It’d be great for his eyes but at what cost?
It’s for this very reason that Izuna doesn’t want to love. Why he wants to reject it in as many forms as he can’t. He can’t reject his family, Madara and father are already too deeply nestled into his heart for that. He can reject this though and he should.
“What if none of that happens and it works out?” Tobirama asks instead and Izuna rolls his eyes.
“I didn’t take you as the romantic type,” he mumbles and Tobirama laughs.
“Only when I know what I want,” Tobirama says and Izuna once more finds himself pulled along, this time joining the people dancing. Dancing?! It’s not even good dancing like Uchiha party’s have.
Still he doesn't leave, instead he lets himself be moved along to the music by Tobirama and he lets himself ponder the idea of this. Of having festivals instead of funerals, of having hope instead grief.
It doesn’t feel all that bad he supposes.
Turning his head he catches sight of Tobirama’s wrist and frowns.
“When did you steal my bracelet?” He asks, eyes narrowing.
“What? This is mine. Some lady gave it to me when I got here,” Tobirama says, lifting his hand away from Izuna’s attempts at snatching it.
He looks at his own wrist and sure enough his is still there, wrapped snugly around his wrist.
Well that’s annoying.
“What’s so special about them anyways?” Tobirama asks and Izuna doesn’t say. He refuses too. He’s sure there are a hundred more just like the one he got, all manufactured to promote a fake sense of belonging and love to the festival goers.
“Nothing,” he says, dropping his head against his former rivals shoulder, sharingan spinning slowly as he looks at everyone’s wrist around them. There isn’t another bracelet like theirs in sight.
Izuna doesn’t believe in fate, he’s terrified of love, he loathes the idea of change; all three seem to sit heavily on the horizon.
“What happens now?”
Izuna asks the question as he stands at the inn he’s staying in. The festival is winding down behind them and the night coming to an end.
“Depends, I guess,” Tobirama answers and this time he doesn’t come across near as confident as he did before.
“I guess so,” Izuna agrees and nods. “We’ll probably see each other before any talks of peace happen. I’ll try my best not to kill you.”
Weirdly he means it.
Standing on his tiptoes, he presses the quickest of kisses to Tobirama’s cheek before backing into the in, watching the soft smile that settles on the Senju’s face.
Returning home is a weird and strange endeavor.
Along the way Izuna’s on high alert for the Senju party but his feelings are conflicted. When he sees Tobirama again, what should he expect?
The one constant in his life is now anything but that and he doesn’t know what to make of it.
Lucky for him the trip is uneventful, Kenji talks his ear off the whole time, asking if Izuna plans on returning next year to dance with another white haired beauty. Izuna doesn’t answer, he knows he won’t—doesn’t think he will anyways…it’s very confusing.
“Izuna-Sama, you’re back just in time,” Hikaku greets at the gates to the compound, looking torn between amused and terrified.
“Is there a battle?” Izuna asks, not hiding the hopefulness in his words. Maybe Tobirama will be there and he can…can what? Try and kill him? Continue their weird banter from the weekend before? That one sounds much more entertaining.
“No, quite the opposite,” Hikaku informs. “Butsama Senju is dead, the new clan head has called for peace talks. Tajima-Sama has accepted.”
Beside him, Kenji claps him in the shoulder and grins knowingly before heading into the compound to find Tajima presumably.
Around Izuna’s wrist his bracelet sits and he imagines he can feel the slight pull of Tobirama against it. Maybe peace won’t be so awful after all.