Madara's intended is a very difficult man to find, and an even harder one to catch, but today he thinks he's finally going to manage it.
Perhaps it's not the most honorable thing to hunt his future mate when he's so clearly exhausted. The blue armor he usually wears is covered in dust and flecked with something that might be mud but is probably blood and his chakra -- the deliciously dangerous stormy ocean that had alerted Madara to him in the first place -- has been reduced to a sliver of it's usual depths. When Madara had landed in front of him in the middle of tiny winding road through the woods and presented the rope that signaled his intention to hunt, as he's done four times before now, his intended did not sneer or scowl like he's done before, but set his face in a determined line and turned to flee without any delay.
It's the fastest he's agreed to give Madara a chance to hunt him so far. Maybe he, too, is getting tired of drawing this out for so long.
But even so, even exhausted as he must be, his beloved is clearly not willing to go without some kind of a fight. He's fast, possibly the fastest shinobi Madara has ever seen. If it were just that, Madara would have found a way to catch him by now, but his beloved is clever, too. He uses justu that Madara has never seen before, and he sets up traps and false trails good enough to fool even the sharingan. The one time Madara had managed to get close to him without him noticing, he'd watched him get down to the level of a child and explain in just a few sentences how to manipulate chakra -- so elegantly simply that a civilian child was able to stick a leaf to themselves in just a few tries.
And he's beautiful, too. The pinnacle of the fierce, wild grace of the Hatake -- the lean, lithe, muscle, the silver hair, and unusual for the clan, red eyes that may as well have bewitched Madara the first time he set eyes on them.
The first meeting had been a surprise. A dusty town on the edge of wind country, where Madara was stopping for the night. He'd cast out a sensory net, not expecting to find another shinobi caliber chakra signal for leagues, only to find a heaven-sent storm, sedately walking the street outside. He'd captured the sight with his sharingan before consciously thinking about it, and decided he was going to try to hunt him near immediately afterwards.
The Hatake, for all they are reclusive, have been loyal Uchiha allies for nearly as long as they’ve existed. They share many of the same traditions after so long, and they recognize -- no, prefer -- that a marriage be sealed with a hunt. A proof of prowess and ability that they are worthy enough to rival their spouse. In Madara's mind, a man who looks like that, who wears a fur mantle in the middle the desert, couldn't be anything but a Hatake.
He'd fumbled through his pack for the red silk rope he kept stuffed in the bottom for just this occasion and leapt from the window to land in front of him.
"This Uchiha Madara wishes to hunt." He'd said, brandishing the symbol of a future marriage in his beloved's face. There had been a wide eyed moment of shock, and then -- he'd turned, and he'd ran. He'd accepted the suit.
Madara had chased him all throughout the town and into the sand dunes, until night fell and until the sun started to rise again. They clashed a few times-- sword on sword, gunbai blasting away thrown kunai, and incredibly, a match for his fireballs-- his beloved's master of suiton turning out to be so powerful that he can summon water even in the desert. The entire time Madara had never, not once, got close to catching him. To tying them together and claiming him. He'd lost him when they'd hit a cliff dotted with cave systems, and by the time Madara had figured out his path, he'd been long gone.
It only made him fall harder.
Now, his beloved stays low to the ground in a clear effort to conserve chakra, darting from one bit of cover to another as Madara follows him from the branches above. Normally he would have tried to fend Madara off with a jutsu by now, but he seems to be saving his chakra to put on a burst of speed every time Madara gets close enough.
Madara's advantage only grows the longer this goes on, and his future mate knows it. Yet he knows that if given enough time his beloved will find a way to slide out of his clutches yet again. Madara, too can use his chakra to gain a burst of speed, but his stamina far outstrips that of the man he's chasing, especially now. He's had his fun with the hunts, but it's time to end this tonight.
The tree branch he launches himself from splinters and cracks from the force of his leap. His intended puts on a burst of speed as well, and so Madara matches him. They quickly reach the point where Madara needs to activate his sharingan to keep his footing as he flies past trees.
His quarry does stumble, but even exhausted his reflexes are quick enough to turn that into a sharp change in direction. But he loses speed where Madara doesn't, and in an effort to slow his pursuit, twists and tosses a brace of senbon.
Madara had left his gunbai and even his armor in an effort to outspeed his prey. He has time for two signs to muster a fuuton to knock them off path. One needle still ends up sinking into his arm, but he barely feels the sting as he pulls it out with his teeth.
That move slowed his beloved down so much that Madara is nearly on him, now. He drops from the trees like a meteor. His intended forms a hand sign, but too late. Madara crashes into him, sends them both skidding through the dirt. He makes a grab for one hand, threading their fingers together to stop the hand signs, and pins the other arm down with his knee.
Beneath him, his prey is wheezing for breath, tense and shaking, eyes squeezed shut in place of the focused determination of before. Madara grins, triumphant, and wastes no time in pulling the rope from his pocket and binding their hands together. One loop around their wrists for the husband, one for the wife, one for the gods, and a shinobi tight knot because that's what they are.
"I've finally caught you." Madara croons, shifting his weight so he can straddle his new wife's hips and grab his other wrist with his hand instead. His breath is coming in pants, too, and though it's mostly from the chase, it's also from the way the one he's been fantasizing about for over a year now is now splayed out under him, pinned down, claimed and his. Even smudged with dirt and bruised and with his hair sticking to his face from the sweat, the chosen one of his heart is still the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.
"You were such a good hunt." He leans down to nuzzle a red-lined cheek, "So good. I hope my determination convinced you."
He presses a kiss to tense lips -- they don't become pliable and open to him like he's fantasied about night after night, though it draws out a tiny noise. Madara draws back a touch and shifts his hips -- surely, to have drawn it out this long, his wife must have some of the same ideas for how the capture was going to go. But the body under him only goes more tense, his breathing stuttering to a stop.
It occurs to Madara only now that he'd ambushed his beloved after what looked like a hard mission, despite that having been part of his plan. He curses softly.
"Wife? Are you hurt?"
That draws another noise from the body under him, and those beautiful -- incredulous -- red eyes open to meet his, only to instantly snap away to focus on his chin.
"Wife? You must have confused me for someone else."
"I most certainly do not. You're my wife." Madara tugs at the hands he'd tied together not a minute before, elation at succeeding in the hunt quickly draining away, "If you wanted it to go the other way around, you should have tried your hand at hunting me."
That pretty face shows no sign of comprehension, and Madara scowls.
"And if you didn't want this at all, you could have stopped accepting my hunts! Or written a letter asking me to stop! Something!"
The man under him scoffs, "I was under no impression that you would listen to anything I had to say."
Madara snarls and presses his weight down, forcing the air out of his prey.
"I don't know who got it in your head otherwise, but I respect my allies. I can't do that if they lead me on."
His wife's response is a high, wheezy, "…Allies?" A pause, a struggling breath, "What clan do you think I'm from?"
Madara's building rage immediately crystalizes into dread.
"...You're not a Hatake."
The white-haired head under him shakes slowly, lips pinched into a thin line.
...Ah.
Madara hesitates for a moment, then lets his weight up, and letting his wife shift into a sitting position -- though he keeps the grip on his arms tight and his legs pinned down.
"You… Know what a marriage hunt entails?" He asks carefully.
His wife's head shakes again, red eyes roam over him, uncertain and untrusting, and his entire body is painfully tense.
"Only that they exist, not much more."
…So all this time, Madara had been chasing down someone who had no idea what he was up to. Who probably thought -- probably still thinks -- it would end poorly for him, once he was caught.
This, he resolves, will be a funny story they remind themselves of on their anniversary. Nothing more.
"Well the short of it is that now that I've caught you, we're married. You're my wife."
"That seems like an unwise way to handle things." The reply is immediate, and blunt, "Especially considering the chance for misunderstandings with clans that don't practice hunts."
Madara raises an eyebrow. He wonders if his wife thinks he can find some way to weasel his way out of even being hunted and caught.
"That hardly matters. The Uchiha are a noble clan, the daimyo recognizes our marriage customs. He'll side with me."
"I didn't mean the daimyo." Madara's wife responds, witheringly dry, having apparently already abandoned his fear -- ah but that's part of why Madara is still so enamored with him, even now, "It's a bad idea because it will make the war between our clans unbearable."
Madara's mind runs blank for a long moment, but not so blank that he doesn't tighten the grip on his wife's wrist when he tugs at it.
"…What clan are you from?"
He doesn't need an answer at this point, not really. The fact that it's a clan his is at war with narrows down the options by quite a bit, and the way his wife's eyes refuse to meet his, as though it’s an involuntary reflex…
"Senju." He grits out, after Madara fixes his glowing red stare on him. And it's a true answer, it must be, there can be no other, and yet…
"How? I've never seen you on the battlefield. With skills like yours that's a negligent waste."
Another tug at the grip on his wrist, on the rope, and his wife even wiggles his hips -- a reminder of what Madara was, and frankly still is, looking forward to so badly. The man under him scowls, but he stops struggling -- or more likely, has decided to bide his time, for now.
"…The previous clan head decided that my skills were more suited elsewhere. The current one saw no need to rectify that."
Well, that must makes Hashirama a bigger fool than he'd always known, but Madara at least knows how he's a fool and knows how he can use it. He scans over the man under him again, mind racing.
Senju. Senju. Madara has no intention of letting his beloved go, which means he's ended up with a wife that will likely be a hostage instead of a partner, and having seen how clever he is, he's unlikely to remain the former for very long. It's as bad as it could possibly be, and yet…. There still remains an opportunity for something.
"How important are you to your clan?" He presses, suddenly urgent., "Are you high ranking enough that this could be an alliance marriage?"
The body under him startles red eyes flying wide and locking with his before tearing away again. There's a long moment where there is only silence -- not even any wind in the trees, and all the wildlife has been scared away from their chase.
"…You're serious?"
Madara leans in again, mad grin growing, and his wife does not lean back even as their foreheads knock together.
"Did you forget how long I've been chasing you for? I'm not going to give up my wife over some stupid war."
There's a choked sound. Unbelieving.
"You'd make peace with the Senju for…"
"You." Madara agrees, "If you'd tell me your name."
His wife takes a careful breath in, and out. Madara can feel the way that he's willfully forcing the tension out of his body, the way he's giving in, even if its not in the way Madara really wants.
Ah, well. It will come in time.
"Tobirama." He chokes out. "Clan heir."
Oh, it's perfect. He's perfect.
"Tobirama." Madara echoes, "Tobirama Uchiha ."
Money wins wars.
That's the rational excuse for why Tobirama has never seen a true battle. Money wins wars, and missions make money.
There are hundreds of little irrational reasons why his father, and then his brother, kept him away from the large fights between the Senju and Uchiha-- His coloring, the morale of the rest of his clan, his skills being more suited for other work, because it's not safe -- Tobirama has argued against all of those. But once he had taken over balancing the clan's ledger, once he saw that the money he took brought in one mission what some of his kin would work months for. Saw how that money was spent on vital supplies that the clan would have struggled without, and, well…
He does not love his work, but that was when Tobirama was finally convinced of it's importance.
As he's gotten older, Tobirama appreciates more and more the anonymity afforded to him by his father's planning and his clan's superstition. To the world at large, Tobirama Senju, if he is even still alive, is a sickly second son, kept confined to the compound for his own health, and hardly capable of even molding chakra. And the white haired man who often leaves the Senju compound in the dead of night, the one who takes on the sort of high paying assassination and sabotage missions usually considered too high risk for clan shinobi to be caught doing, is not Tobirama. He is not even a Senju. He's no one at all.
So he doesn't worry about Madara Uchiha being in town when he arrives. He plans to use it, in fact. The man's presence -- in both personality and chakra -- are large enough so that they will be a reliable shield for the mission Tobirama is here to do. And if the Uchiha gets blamed for the fire that's about to burn down the warehouses of a clan that's been suspected of secretly trading with the warlords of Wind, then that's even better.
That's how this is supposed to go, anyways.
Madara is rumored to be a powerful sensor in his own right, so Tobirama has opted not to suppress his own signature too much as he makes his way up the street. A shinobi is far more likely to pay attention to someone who acts as though they have something to hide. If Madara does notice him, it's likely that he'll choose to observe rather than engage. Tobirama's intel suggests that the man is returning from a diplomatic mission and should want to avoid unnecessary fighting in order to avoid ruffling the feathers he'd just taken the time to soothe.
Even if he does decide Tobirama is worth confronting, it should reasonably start with a demand for an explanation, not --
Tobirama had been aware of the man's presence in the building he was passing by, had felt the twist of chakra, but had not thought that it had been a signal that he was about to launch himself from an upper story window to land half a building in front of Tobirama.
"This Uchiha Madara," He said, dust billowing from his landing, and lit from behind by the orange of the setting sun, "Wishes to hunt."
He holds out a fist full of red silk rope and he speaks, and his intention is clear enough.
Tobirama isn't a great diplomat at the best of times. Faced with the Uchiha clan head declaring his intent to hunt him down and capture him, Tobirama sees only one real option.
He turns, and he runs.
He'd hoped, futilely, that the Uchiha had only been attempting to scare him away, but he keeps up his pursuit out of the borders of town and into the surrounding scrublands. He keeps close, forces Tobirama to think on his feet. Any moment of hesitation leads to a clash between them.
It's been a long time since Tobirama has met an equal in a fight, especially considering he tends to try and avoid them entirely, but Madara…
Madara is stronger than him. If he wasn't trying to keep his attacks non-lethal, to subdue instead of kill Tobirama isn't certain how much of a chance he would stand. Truly, Tobirama is lucky that Madara had enough hubris to announce himself beforehand. The difference in their skills should make him scared for his life, but such an emotion is useless in a situation like this.
The thrill that he actually feels is equally useless. He has to survive before he'll be able to examine how to use this experience to better himself.
The longer the chase goes on, the more Tobirama is convinced that the Uchiha attacked him on a whim. He spits fireballs when Tobirama's greatest skill is with water, giving Tobirama an easy opportunity to slip further away, and he's clearly underestimated Tobirama's speed, because he's not able to close the distance between them before Tobirama finally reaches some respite. A network of caves dot the cliffside, interconnected but near-impossible to navigate without prior knowledge -- or a seal that helps its user focus on the minute differences between the natural chakra present in stone and air.
Tobirama loses him there, in the caves, and does not return to the town he got chased from until Madara is long gone. The whole situation has left him dirty, exhausted, and annoyed, but perhaps worst of all, it's left him curious.
He can handle the fact that Madara Uchiha has forced him to shift up this mission's timetable far better than the idea that he'll never get an explanation for such strange behavior.
To his credit, Hashirama doesn't interrupt Tobirama while he gives his mission report. In fact he sits in silence for a long moment after Tobirama finishes speaking, the crease between his eyebrows growing deeper the more he thinks on it.
"Well I'm glad your mission went well. As for Madara…" He trails off, worry shining in his eyes. Tobirama looks away.
"As much as I believe he has no way of knowing my identity, the fact that he decided to tell me he was going to catch me before trying indicates that he thinks it's a point of pride."
Hashirama hums, his chakra swirling in tight, nauseating twists.
"I don't know what to make of the fact that he tried to take you alive though. As far as I know, the Uchiha don't really take prisoners." He frowns so hard that worry lines appear around his mouth. "I'm worried about why they would start now. Perhaps we'll have to be more careful about the missions you go on."
Absolutely not. Tobirama is certain that if his brother had his way he wouldn't go on any missions at all. He's always going to think they're too risky and dangerous -- that's why Tobirama does them.
"We're already as careful as we can be." Tobirama counters, "Now that I know of the risk, I can take care to avoid Madara and his clan entirely. And we can't discount the idea that he doesn't know, and my identity was not a factor in why he wanted to capture me. We don't know enough details."
"I guess we don't." Hashirama agrees with a sigh. "And I know you're already careful, I just…"
Something seems to occur to him as he trails off.
"Tobirama?" He says suddenly, "What did his expression look like when he was fighting you. Did you notice?"
Tobirama did, and chalked it up to that hubris that caused the man to announce his intentions.
"…He was grinning."
For some reason that answer makes Hashirama's chakra uncurl from itself, though the worry still remains etched in the corner of his answering smile.
"Why?" Tobirama asks.
"I think it means he likes you -- He does that when he fights me, too!"
His brother snickers at Tobirama's dubious look.
"I mean it! It doesn't mean he's not trying to kill you or catch you or anything, just that he's having a good time doing it."
"Whatever you say." Tobirama answers, droll. All that tells him is that the Uchiha is as unhinged as he suspected.
It's not as though Tobirama has to keep aware of where Madara is specifically . He's a difficult man to miss. The problem is that he doesn't keep as far away from the man as he rightly should.
He tells himself that it's simply not tenable to base his life on the unpredictable movements of one man, but he knows that's only an excuse. If he never encounters Madara again, then he'll never find out why .
So when he senses Madara on the far end of the port city where he needs to make a nobleman's death look like an accident, he doesn't act as cautiously as he probably should. Madara is on the far side of a bustling place filled with people from Tobirama's target, and would have to go far out of his way to track down Tobirama. But maybe after last time, he should have expected that Madara would.
He does not keep proper track of the Uchiha as his focus narrows down to his target, to the inn room he's staying at and the rotation of his guards. He has such a short window of timing to sneak in and make the man look as though he's slipped and drowned in his own bathwater -- without leaving any signs of a struggle -- that he doesn't have the to spare attention for anything else.
He escapes into an alley and onto a roof, unseen, except… For Madara Uchiha, who stands on the corner of the building on the other side of the street. He's been waiting -- had for some reason decided not to interrupt Tobirama on his mission -- but as soon as Tobirama catches sight of him, he stands up straight and brandishes that same rope.
“This Uchiha --”
Tobirama spins on his heel and launches himself in the opposite direction, and Madara doesn't waste a moment in pursuing him.
He escapes by making it to the harbor, pulling his chakra close, and gripping onto the bottom of a ship as it pulls out to sea. He'd really hoped to have an easier exit from this particular mission, but getting out at all was the priority.
(Hashirama only grows more concerned when he reports that encounter, but in the end there is only so much that can be done. Tobirama refuses to be sidelined, and if Madara is so intent on capturing him, then letting Tobirama finally go to the battlefield will be akin to handing him over, especially since Hashirama refuses the idea of allowing Tobirama to use himself as bait to capture Madara in return)
Their second meeting should have been enough to convince Tobirama to stay well away from Madara entirely, he knows, but all it's really done is give him more questions. How far away does Tobirama have to be before Madara will seek him out? Why announce himself? If he knows who Tobirama is, why not just kill him? If he doesn't, why put in the effort?
Perhaps most shameful at all -- Tobirama finds that he enjoys the test of skill. With the sorts of missions he goes, he rarely gets to go all out against another shinobi. There's still the thrill of danger, but… Softened, seeing as how Madara appears to be trying not to kill him. And his hunter's skill level is such that he hardly needs to worry about accidentally killing him in retaliation. If it happens, it happens, but Tobirama doubts it will.
And so despite everything he knows, when Tobirama senses his chakra signature or hears rumor of the Uchiha's location, he does not avoid him. He passes through towns where he knows the clan head is staying, takes missions killing men in the same castles the man goes to secure deals for his clan, and like a moth to a flame Madara will appear and chase, only to lose him again.
At a certain point, Tobirama stops telling his brother about the encounters. They're predictable, and so they're nothing worth making Hashirama worry about.
Hashirama would tell him he was acting reckless and prideful. Tobirama would not refute him.
Pride, after all, was what led him to dismiss the Uchiha's chakra signature lingering in the rice field on the edge of the land of a local lord as he moved to his latest mission. Madara had only ever brandished that rope at him after the mission was done, and this one was not one that was supposed to be terribly difficult.
But the merchant he was there to kill had been prepared for not just an assassin, but a shinobi, and had hired his own ninjas to guard him. Ones competent enough to not just stand around and keep watch, but to leave purposeful weak spots in their defenses, only to turn around and catch anyone who might try to exploit them in a trap.
Tobirama had come out on top, in the end, but not without injury, and not without using up so much of his chakra that he has to limit tracking Madara or risk falling unconscious.
When Madara lands in front of him when he's trying to hurry home Tobirama is filled with dread instead of the usual thrill. He's not giving up by any means, but his options for avoiding capture are cripplingly low, at the moment, made all the more apparent when, as the darts off, Madara takes his pursuit to the trees. Tobirama knows that if he tried that right now he'd almost certainly slip -- maybe not enough to fall, but enough to lose time and get caught.
(He'd thought, just maybe, that he and Madara were actually on the same page. That there was some strange honor behind his actions, and that he might see the sorry state Tobirama was in and leave him be, until their footing was more equal, again. Apparently not.)
So he stays on the ground. Even without chakra, his speed is more than respectable, and Madara's movements behind him are easily tracked. But that doesn't help Tobirama much. The Uchiha's stamina is far larger than his at the best of times, all Tobirama can do with his is save it for a surprise attack.
But the opportunity to launch one never comes. Without chakra to steady his steps, and with his body exhausted Tobirama steps awkwardly on a tree root, and he stumbles. He tries to salvage it, to turn the movement into an attack, but Madara just goes through the rain of senbon instead of slowing to dodge.
Tobirama gets a few more steps before a weight crashes into him from behind. He calls up the chakra he'd been saving to try and body flicker away, but the Uchiha grabs his hand first, wrapping their fingers together as they both crash through the undergrowth. Tobirama's armor protects him from the worst of it, but the wind is knocked out of him as he hits the ground and his other arm is pinned at an awkward and somewhat painful angle that prevents him from moving it.
He does not panic -- so long as he isn't dead he still has a chance to escape -- but first he needs to be able to breathe , and Madara's weight on him is not inconsiderable which makes it more difficult than it should be.
The Uchiha is wrapping something around the hand he's still holding, but Tobirama doesn't open his eyes to see. He's never been close to a sharingan before, but he's been trained not to look at it, the same as any other Senju. Even his curiosity isn't enough to risk that -- he knows the dangers, if he gets caught in a genjutsu, he loses whatever small chance he might have at escape.
"I've finally caught you." Madara's voice is deep and winded from the chase. Tobirama has never heard it before.
"You were such a good hunt." The Uchiha continues. "So good. I hope my determination convinced you."
Convinced him of what ? Tobirama suppresses a jump as he feels something touch his cheek. Skin, and warm breath -- is Madara…?
He can't hide his reaction as lips brush over his. A kiss. His first, though that's hardly even relevant right now. Is that what this has all been about? Physical attraction?
Tobirama knows he can use that, somehow, but only in theory. The body pressing down on him makes his thoughts turn to static, and that makes his body freeze up, despite his training.
"Wife?" He hears, "Are you hurt?"
…Wife? Or perhaps his other theory was correct, and Madara is simply insane. He can't help but look -- surely, the Uchiha is joking, or trying to demean him.
He locks eyes with a sharingan and forces himself to look away before he can register what he saw. Nothing has changed, he senses no genjutsu, but with his current state that means nothing. But that might be better than Madara Uchiha calling him his wife and looking like he means it.
"Wife? You must have confused me for someone else."
He doesn’t have the air -- or the personality, frankly -- to plead. His voice comes out flat and wheezy.
"I most certainly do not. You're my wife." Madara sniffs, and tugs the hand he's holding into view. The red silk rope that he'd brandished at Tobirama is tied around both of their hands. Tobirama stares at it, uncomprehending as the Uchiha goes on, "If you wanted it to go the other way around, you should have tried your hand at hunting me ."
His previous good mood has been dropped in favor of a scowl, which means Tobirama has misstepped, but he now at least has more information. Madara is saying --
"And if you didn't want this at all, you could have stopped accepting my hunts! Or written a letter asking me to stop! Something!"
Accepted his hunts? Tobirama has done nothing but run at the sight of the man, and though he's starting to suspect that there is some tradition he's missing, he can't help but scoff, "I was under no impression that you would listen to anything I had to say."
Madara bares his teeth and presses him down until he can hardly take a breath at all. It makes it very difficult to think straight.
"I don't know who got it in your head otherwise, but I respect my allies. I can't do that if they lead me on. "
Well that at least confirms that he wasn't after Tobirama because of his identity. But how in the world did Madara mistake him for, "…Allies?"
The look on the Uchiha's face would be comical, in any other situation.
"…You're not a Hatake."
Huh. Tobirama has heard the name, but he's never researched too deeply into the clan. They're Uchiha allies, he knows, fairly small,mostly farmers and shepherds, and not too politically powerful. Perhaps if he can convince Madara this was all a misunderstanding…
He shakes his head. It takes him a moment, but the Uchiha clan head wipes the dumbstruck look off of his face and eases his weight off of Tobirama enough that he can breath and sit up -- though he still keeps his limbs pinned, as expected.
It takes the man a few false starts before he asks, an odd expression on his face, "You… Know what a marriage hunt entails?"
…He's heard the name before, but only in the context of fiction. Nothing he's ever paid much attention to.
"Only that they exist." He admits, and even that's a bit of a stretch. "Not much more."
He doesn't like the sound of it -- a marriage hunt, and Madara started calling him wife right after Tobirama was caught…
A misunderstanding . He reminds himself. Now that he knows I wasn't who he thought, he will not want this .
"Well the short of it is that now that I've caught you, we're married." Madara confirms a beat later, "You're my wife."
Doubtful. And if this was somehow binding, then hopefully not for long.
"That seems like an unwise way to handle things. Especially considering the chance for misunderstandings with the clans that don't practice hunts."
"That hardly matters. The Uchiha are a noble clan, the daimyo recognizes our marriage customs. He'll side with me."
Tobirama blinks hard. There should be no reason for the daimyo to get involved at all. Madara should not want this marriage.
"I didn't mean the daimyo." Tobirama says bluntly. He may not be able to sweet talk his way out of this, so logic will have to do. "It's a bad idea because it will make the war between our clans unbearable."
Madara goes quiet for a long moment. Tobirama can see the slow spin of his sharingan from the corner of his eye. He doesn't move for so long that Tobirama jerks at the rope to test the knots, which earns him a scowl.
"…What clan are you from?"
Tobirama considers lying, but cannot come up with one good enough to defend. The truth may get him killed, but Madara will have to let him go to try.
"Senju."
Tobirama braces, but Madara only narrows his eyes. He doesn't seem repulsed like every rumor Tobirama heard about the Uchiha would suggest.
" How ? I've never seen you on the battlefield. With skills like yours that's a negligent waste."
No. He does not want to be questioned, his identity is already at risk enough as it is. But Madara's grip on him is ironclad.
"…The previous clan head decided that my skills were more suited elsewhere." He says vaguely, "The current one saw no need to rectify that."
Those eerie eyes look him over with a burning intensity. Even now, the hunger that's been in them every time Madara has chased him is so obvious from this close that Tobirama can see it without looking directly at them.
"How important are you to your clan?" Madara leans forward, pressing his weight down again "Are you high ranking enough that this could be an alliance marriage?"
What? He can't be serious.
But his face is, and the chakra simmering underneath Madara's skin, just barely felt where they touch, has the same quality to it as Hashirama's when he's being especially earnest.
Tobirama's instinct is to deny it, to say he's no one important, but the words get caught in his throat.
Alliance marriage would mean peace. Would mean his brother's dream. Madara is offering him more right now than has been achieved in generations. His identitiy is the most important thing he has, and he would risk it, for this.
"…You're serious?"
The Uchiha's lips split into the same grin that he wore when he chased Tobirama down and he leans in to touch their foreheads. Tobirama swallows hard, but he does not look away.
(The sharingan is -- beautiful. And mesmerizing. And Tobirama has more questions about how it works than he can count).
"Did you forget how long I've been chasing you for? I'm not going to give up my wife over some stupid war."
Tobirama can't find the words. Because he's the wife in question, and even the fact that he's a Senju isn't enough to make Madara let him go. It's almost flattering, in a strange, stomach twisting way.
Stupid war , he calls it. He sounds like Tobirama did when he was ten, and yet…
"You'd make peace with the Senju for…"
"You." Madara agrees, "If you'd tell me your name."
Tobirama breathes in a meditative cycle in an attempt to force the tension from his body. Escape isn't very likely, anyways. He can at least see where this goes, because if Madara isn't lying…
"Tobirama." He chokes out. He really is doing this. "Clan heir."