#even under the red armor madara wears purple. STOP WITH ALL THE FUCKING PURPLE!!!! MADARA'S SUSANOO WAS THE PRETTIEST BLUE

[lecliss]

I miss when Sasuke's primary color was blue. I've never been a fan of the color purple for him.

[raendown]

Just the one picture for this week but @thetoxicstrawberry always manages to keep it super interesting! I love this week’s art!

Pairing: MadaraTobirama Word count: 2794 Story summary: Accidents happen, right? But not usually for Tobirama. When an experiment goes awry, he is left taking care of Madara in a new furry form. As the small dog works his way into his heart, Tobirama finds himself reluctant to turn him back.

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

Chapter 13: Bare Your Teeth And Come To Heel

Madara’s morning started with the sound of Tobirama’s heartbeat beneath his ear. When he managed to shift and look up he was met with Tobirama’s sleepy smile and a gravelly ‘good morning’ which never failed to send pleasant shivers down his spine. They ate breakfast together with Tobirama, who was somehow already coherent enough to pick up the thoughts he had put down the night before, telling Madara about the experiment he planned to work on that day. Madara listened to his partner speak, understanding perhaps a generous three-quarters of what the man was talking about, and smiled like the smitten fool he was.

They parted ways after their morning meal, though not before Madara pulled Tobirama in for a kiss, which turned in to a second kiss, which ended with himself pressed against the kitchen counter while Tobirama ravaged his mouth. He came away dazed, leaving the house with a slight fumble in his step and a goofy expression he wasn’t aware was there.

Before taking care of anything else Madara returned to his own home to shower and dress himself in fresh clothing. Since Konoha had been built and he had gotten used to not having to constantly be ready for battle, he had reluctantly stopped wearing his red armor every day in an effort to show the people that he did truly believe that this peace could last. He had instead taken up the habit of dressing in the traditional high collared robes of his clan, usually in a shade of purple. Today his fingers deviated from their usual paths and only after he had donned his clothing did he noticed he was wearing black pants and a purple kimono shirt. It was an outfit similar to what Tobirama typically wore and he wondered when he had even acquired such clothing.

Thinking that he would match his partner, if only in style, made him grin. He decided against changing again and set about taking care of the laundry that had been building up over the last while. As clan head it would have been certainly within his rights to ask a lesser member to take care of it for him; it was a common chore for the Uchiha children to wash the laundry of their elders. Madara, however, had never liked the idea of another person handling his dirty underthings. He always had the sensation of someone else’s hands upon his body when he wore the clothes afterwards and ended up rewashing them himself anyway.

He barely had enough time to finish his task before he needed to leave again, heading towards the meeting hall on the western side of the compound where he was scheduled to meet with some of the elders of his clan.

When he arrived he was satisfied to see Elder Kazuhiko keeping his eyes lowered respectfully. Evidently the old man had learned his lesson from their last encounter. He was not satisfied in the slightest to see Izuna present as well, arms crossed as he leaned back in his chair and both eyes closed tightly in a manner which did not speak of being tired. The entirety of his body language screamed ‘fuck off’ to anyone who looked at him and Madara could already smell trouble from the doorway.

“Madara-sama,” one of the other elders greeted him. “We thank you for meeting us this morning.”

“Hn.” Madara stepped further in to the room with a stony face, his eyes on his brother. They had all gathered around a large meeting table and Izuna’s seat was almost directly opposite his own, giving him the perfect view of the younger man’s reaction when he opened his eyes and took in Madara’s appearance for the first time. His left eye twitched and the muscles in his jaw jumped as he ground his teeth.

“Disgusting,” Izuna growled. Madara narrowed his eyes while the aged lady next to Izuna laid a hand on his arm.

“Peace child,” she said. “You have brought your concerns before us and as is proper we shall bring them to your head of clan. Let us do this in the correct manner.” As Madara slid in to his seat the woman turned to him with a genial smile. “A member of our clan has brought their concerns to us, Madara-sama, and they directly involve you. We requested this meeting to address those concerns, if you will hear them now?”

Madara was grinding his own teeth as well when he bit out a formulaic reply, “I will hear them.”

“Uchiha Izuna has brought to us the concern that you have been negligent in your duties to your clan. He states that he has observed you being intimate with an individual who is not appropriate for one such as yourself. He is worried that this person has undue influence over you and will encourage you to make decisions which go against the morality and spirit of the clan.”

By the time she had finished speaking Madara was nearly shaking in his chair with barely contained rage. He pulled his chakra in tightly to himself but was unable to help the sharp spikes that lashed out in the space around him, whipping the air with darkness and anger and hurt.

“I have heard the concerns of Uchiha Izuna,” he spat, grounding himself in the formality of the meeting.

“How do you respond?” It was Elder Miyako who asked, her eyes boldly meeting his own. He could see the thrill of petty glee in them. She, it seemed, did not come away from their last meeting fully cowed. She was obviously all too thrilled to have an opportunity like this to bring him down a proverbial peg or two. He was more than happy to disappoint her.

“Has Uchiha Izuna by any chance provided the name of this person of supposed poor influence?” he asked, his voice deceptively mild but with undertones which blazed so hot he might have set the very air on fire with his words.

“He has not,” Miyako replied, some of the glee draining from her eyes to be replaced with suspicion.

Madara hummed. “I shall present my reply without naming this person to prevent a bias.” Izuna’s head shot up, revealing him to be wearing a heavy scowl. “Allow me to start by refuting the claim that I have been neglectful of my duties as clan head as a direct result of spending time with this person. It is common knowledge that in the weeks following my return to the village I was not well. Any failure to perform my duties to the usual standard were a direct result of sleep deprivation and a lack of concentration due to recent memory loss. I also wish to state that these symptoms have passed and are no longer a concern. I have returned to my duties and have not lacked in them for the past week.”  

“Your reply on the matter has been noted,” the elder beside Izuna told him serenely. He nodded to her before continuing.

“To the claim that this person has undue influence over me I present the reply: hogwash. This person has no influence over clan matters and has presented not a single opinion on them. Nor have I any interest in the matters of their clan. In fact, I would go so far as to say that this person has had a positive influence on me. It would have been quite easy to observe the changes in myself over the last few days, as I am sure Izuna has done. This person has relieved me of much stress, allowing me to approach my work and my fellow clan members with a clearer head and the sort of cordial attitude I have been unable to attain in the past. This person has made me happy.”

“Your reply has been noted,” the same elder intoned, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.

“To the claim that this person will encourage me to make decisions which go against the morality and spirit of the clan I say that this is also false. Never has this person expressed themselves to be an immoral person. There have been, admittedly, things upon which we have disagreed. However, it is a lie to say that they have ever committed an act which an Uchiha would not also have done when faced with the same situation. This person is just, fair, and well beloved both within their own clan and without.”

“Your reply has been-”

“That’s enough!” Izuna leapt to his feet, his chair falling backwards with a loud clatter. “You’re being stupid! How can you stand there and sing his praises like this? You know exactly what he is; he’s a demon!”

Madara fixed him with a flat look, entirely unimpressed with how childish his younger sibling continued to be. He rose to his feet as well yet it was not him who answered the outburst.

“Him?” Miyako parroted. “I formally request that you reveal this person’s identity now, Madara-sama, that we may take all evidence in to account.”

“Evidence,” Madara said darkly. “I am not on trial and it will not behoove you to try and intimidate me by making it seem as though I am.”

“Well maybe you should be!” Izuna slammed one fist down on the table top, causing several elders to startle. “Don’t you sit there and tell me he hasn’t had any influence over you, brother! You’re even dressing like him now, for kami’s sake!”

The old woman next to him patted his sleeve as if that were meant to calm him down and his arms shook like he was only barely holding in the urge to smack her hand away. Madara glared at him, taking a moment to pull a tighter leash around his own temper and trying desperately not to respond in kind to his brother’s heated outbursts.

“The name of this mystery man, Madara-sama?” Miyako prompted him. He cast her an icy look.

“I have entered in to a relationship with Senju Tobirama. Is that noted, Elder Miyako?” He took great pleasure in watched all remaining smug glee drain from her face. Her eyes widened a little in fear.

“He can’t give you heirs!” Izuna suddenly cried. “Ha!”

“As I have already admitted a proclivity towards members of the same sex”–Madara looked his brother dead in the eye–“I declared you heir apparent several years ago and have since been keeping my eye out for someone young to train should you no longer be living or fit for the position. The way things currently stand, the second is looking more true with each day.”

“He almost killed me!”

“He saved your life!”

Madara lost control of himself at last, angry chakra breaking free to fill the room with his rage, with the betrayal he felt. He dare his own brother throw his sexual orientation back in his face? How dare his own brother try to take from him the one thing that had finally made him happy? That had finally given him a sense of peace? From the moment Konoha had been built he’d been restless, a being built for war forced in to the role of peacekeeper. Being with Tobirama made him feel grounded, gave him a reason to keep that peace, to stay still and learn calm.

Now Izuna, the one person he had trusted to watch his back for so many years, had taken a kunai and twisted it straight in to that same back. He relished in the way the younger man took a step away from him, shock open on his face.

“Saved my life? When!?”

“Did you think it was an accident?” Madara demanded mockingly. “Did you think he missed that day? He is the pride of the Senju clan; he never misses. He could have killed you that day and he chose not to. I have wasted too many years with pointless anger on your behalf when I could have discovered him for who he truly is years ago; I could have fallen in love years ago!” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d spoken so much in the space of half an hour. And had he really only been in the room that long?

“Love?” Izuna said faintly. Madara glared, daring him to say something about it.

“Yes, love. I am in love with Tobirama. I will continue to love Tobirama. If I want to I will marry the bloody stubborn idiot and not one of you in this room can say a damn thing about it. Now.” He cast his eyes over the room, noting that many could not hold his gaze for long. “Are there any more…concerns?”

Some heads shook side to side frantically while others simply sat still, like a hutch of rabbits hoping not to be spotted by a hawk.

“Madara-sama has met the concerns of Uchiha Izuna and laid them to rest,” Miyako intoned in a shaking voice. Madara sneered at her.

Without waiting for the official announcement that the meeting had come to an end, Madara spun on his heel and strode from the room. Several Uchiha leapt out of his way when they saw him come storming down the road with such an angry expression on his face. He paid them no mind, his vision tunneled in front of him as he headed straight for the training grounds.

He tore the earth apart with a wicked doton. He razed the grass with the hottest fire jutsu he could think of, the biggest fireballs he was capable of. He tore several trees to splinters with nothing but his bare hands. He decimated the wooden boards meant for light target practice by charging his projectiles with biting chakra. He stomped and punched and kicked and screamed out his frustration and in the end he had ruined yet another training ground and felt no better for it.

In two hours of allowing his temper to run loose he had accomplished nothing more than creating another D-rank mission for the village to task to a team of genin. By tomorrow there would be children scrambling through here trying to set the place to rights again and erase the havoc he had wreaked.

Still feeling dark and angry and tense, Madara headed towards the one place that seemed like a beacon of light in that moment: Tobirama’s.

The new seals on the front door melted away at his touch, recognizing his chakra and allowing him entry. He rearmed them behind himself and made his way through the house, out the back door, and past the back gate. Even following this familiar path was already smoothing the edges of his still spiking chakra.

When he entered the workspace Tobirama had his head bent over a large scroll, painstakingly inking a very precise diagram of whatever was happening in the various glass containers in front of him. Madara stomped around the edges of the room, brow furrowed and body restless. He wanted to be here but now that he was he didn’t know what to do with himself. He looked around at all the things he kept meaning to ask about, knowing it was safer not to touch any of them until he understood what they did. Then he huffed and dragged his chair around to sit on the same side of the table as Tobirama.

He hunched over on his perch, elbows on his knees and chin resting on one fist. His mind whirled in circles around the meeting he had barely escaped without causing significant bodily harm to someone. Izuna, preferably, but he would have settled for maiming one of the nosy elders who had encouraged that farce.

Madara was startled enough to let out a small squawk when his chair began to move without warning. He clung to it and looked down to see that Tobirama had reached out a foot, hooking one of his chair legs with which to drag him closer. The younger hadn’t even looked up, still busily detailing his work with a fine brush and some green ink. When the movement stopped, his chair was right up against the left side of Tobirama’s with their legs pressed together.

He held still and tense until Tobirama’s left hand landed on his thigh, thumb stroking in soothing circles. Then suddenly he was melting, tension running from his shoulders like water and the darkness of his chakra dissipating until all he felt was empty. He expelled his bad mood with a giant puff of air and collapsed in on himself, resting his head on Tobirama’s shoulder and closing his eyes.

Tobirama simply continued to work, his warm smile going unseen. He would ask his questions later.