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Hashirama’s chakra lashed out as he laid his brother down, creating a few clones — just because the Kage Bunshin was forbidden didn’t mean he didn’t learn it — to help heal Tobirama. He forced his chakra into Tobirama’s body, part of it feeding his chakra coils and another manually pumping his heart. He gathered all of Tobirama’s remaining chakra and trapped it within his brother. It wasn’t the safest thing to do, as with Tobirama’s weakened state and close death, it could overtax his body, but it was the only thing he could think to do. And he’d be damned if he didn’t try something.
“Hashirama! Let me help you!”
He ignored Mito, focused on making Tobirama’s body continue to respond. He was not going to lose Tobirama. Not when he can stop it. Not when he was his last little brother. He scanned his brother's body and bile rose in his throat. They literally tore his skin off.
“There’s a knife wound that’s infected,” one of his copies hissed. “Multiple knife wounds.”
That wasn’t good, but not unexpected. With what he saw walking in, and the amount of time that had passed, he wasn’t surprised that he would have infected wounds.
“Hashirama!”
He growled. He would need help. But he didn’t want their help, he didn’t want anyone near his baby brother in his weakened state. He knew Tobirama wouldn’t want anyone to see him like this . But Tobirama needed help, and he’d be damned if he prevented Tobirama from getting it. He forcefully reined his chakra in, forcing it to focus on Tobirama’s body, focusing it on healing. Tobirama’s chakra was circulating again and he was breathing by himself again, but he didn’t want to risk it, just in case his body decided to take a turn for the worst. He covered Tobirama’s body in a protective layer of chakra, eyes flickering from one wound to another and damn it. There was so much to do.
One of his clones was focusing on Tobirama’s hands. Another was focusing on his center, healing the deep cuts there, another mending the broken ribs. Hashirama let out a breath and started on his face, glancing up at Mito when she knelt beside Tobirama.
He watched as she ran her own diagnostic scan, hearing as she cursed lightly, hands inspecting the infected cuts — Hashirama thanked every god there was that it wasn’t yet septic — before he felt her push a little bit of chakra in to investigate the wound more thoroughly. He looked away from his wife, focusing on watching his little brother's face. It was twisted in pain, tear streaks highlighted on dirty skin. His tattoos had been carved off and looked like they never healed. He ran a hand over Tobirama’s blood matted hair, smoothing it out of his eyes as he mended the skin over. How the wounds didn’t become infected, Hashirama didn’t really want to know. They had to of did the most basic of first aid to keep Tobirama alive to keep-
Hashirama beat the anger back. It wouldn’t do him any good at the moment. He had to keep a clear mind lest he accidentally kill the others with him.
“Give me some of your blood,” Mito ordered, cutting through his darkening thoughts.
“Cut me,” Hashirama said. He didn’t want to leave Tobirama, even if it were only for a split second. He had to keep him alive, had to make sure he was alright. He didn’t flinch when a kunai was pressed against his skin, nor when the blood was wiped up. Tobirama went through worse. That was nothing. He didn’t ask any questions as she applied chakra. He let out a small breath of relief when the infection started being beaten back, healed in a few seconds. Mito started healing the knife wound itself before going to another.
“We have company!” Izuna yelled. Hashirama separated another part of his chakra and built a thick wall of wood in the hall. He didn’t mind the sudden screams, he found.
“Anija?”
Hashirama jolted, meeting Tobirama’s fluttering eyes. “Conserve your energy, otouto,” Hashirama said soothingly. “You’ll be alright. Anija is here.” He smoothed a hand over Tobirama’s ragged hair, smiling softly down at his little brother. Tobirama’s eyes cracked open before he nodded, wincing when he took a deep breath. Hashirama laid a hand over his eyes, making sure there wasn’t any damage there. He knew people found his brother's red eyes unnerving and a few even threatened to cut them out. He let out a breath of relief when there was nothing wrong with them outside of the normal. He really needed to get those prescribed glasses.
He carefully stabilized his little brother as much as possible, the cord around his heart unraveling slowly. His brother was safe now. He was with him. Hashirama wouldn’t let anything harm his little brother anymore. “How are we going to get through?” Madara asked. Hashirama spiked his chakra in warning, glad when Madara stopped walking towards them. As much as Hashirama trusted Madara, he wasn’t having anyone else that wasn’t necessary for his brother's continued survival. And Madara wouldn’t be able to help.
“Leave that to me,” Hashirama replied stiffly. Like hell was he going to let his brother become injured through a fight.
He watched as Mito drew a seal on Tobirama’s chest, eyes darting to Mito’s when Tobirama fell limp. His chakra swelled threateningly. Was he wrong to trust Mito? His wife? “This will keep his chakra circulating and blood flowing,” Mito explained, either uncaring of Hashirama’s threatening chakra or explaining because of it. “He’s in a temporary comatose state to conserve energy,” Mito said. “I’ll take it off once we reach a safer location.”
Hashirama let his chakra check Tobirama’s vitals and let out a sigh of relief when everything was working as it should, chakra drawing back in again. He gingerly picked up his brother, cringing at the now dry blood falling down from the cuts they just healed. He turned and marched out of the cave, uncaring of the hesitating chakra behind him. He came for Tobirama and no one was going to hinder his plan on getting Tobirama back home as quickly as possible.
He let his chakra run into the roots, feeling out where the nuisances stood before stabbing them, getting most of them out of the way. He took down the wall, roots protecting him from the onslaught of weapons before spikes overcame the cave, getting rid of the rest of them.
He cleared the path and walked out, killing any suffering person caught in his wood spikes grasp. He didn’t want any of them possibly surviving. “Hashirama?” Madara asked.
“We’ll stop at the nearest safe town to let Tobi rest,” Hashirama said. He walked down the path, uncaring of the bodies littering the ground. Who knew how many of them participated in his little brothers torture? He turned around when he noticed the group — minus Touka who had sped forward, checking the area for any enemies — slowing down. “Well? Come on now, no need to slow down,” he said lightly, turning and walking.
*****
Mito sat at the lowered table, hands settled around the tea cup, although the tea has long since gone cold. Madara and Izuna were standing along the wall, both worried and a little put off by the earlier…scenes they watched.
She empathized.
She never believed her husband to be quite so…brutal. Her brother-in-law, sure, but not Hashirama. He was always so happy, so calm, so…peaceful. She never would have thought him able to murder anyone without so much as a blink, but yet he did so. Hashirama was a believer of peace, but he had threatened and almost, or did, kill anyone in his way to his brother.
“Oh stop acting all shocked.”
She turned delicately to look at Touka, raising an eyebrow. “You aren’t?”
Touka snorted, sitting down at the table and grabbing the tea, pouring herself some. “Tobi was always more straight forward with his violence, sure. He always did stuff that seemed brutal in the open without a second thought. But we all knew it was to protect his clan, especially the children.” She huffed, “But it’s always been Hashi that was the more brutal of the two. Beneath his carefree manner, he was the one to kill any threat to his last little brother, and before that any threat to Kawarama and Itama. Actually, he was the one to kill the killers of his younger brothers.” She smiled slightly, “Hashirama is over-protective, even more so than hot head over here. He just…doesn’t care who he kills if it’s for Tobirama.” She nodded at Madara, “He would kill anyone who posed a threat to Tobirama’s well being. Has done so before too with a few of our elders.” She looked at the door which led to the room Hashirama and Tobirama were in. “He would have killed Butsuma if Tobirama didn’t interfere.”
Mito looked at the door, contemplating what she was just told. She knew that Hashirama cared for Tobirama, and went out of his way to get Tobirama to relax, to give him a break when it came to the office work. She had even walked in on Hashirama arguing with the elders on more than one occasion, and all of them had been about Tobirama. Really, she should have realized how protecting her husband was.
A silence fell over them, all contemplating what they just realized. Mito liked Tobirama like the brother she never had. He was smart, dedicated, if only a little anti-social. But once he came out of his shell, his dry humor was amazing and he was amazing with kids. Without him, Hashirama would be hopeless and this village would have crashed and burned without his political and infrastructural knowledge. And if what she just learned, Hashirama would be uncontrollable in his grief if Tobirama were to die. Maybe Madara would be able to talk some sense into him, but…
Touka sighed, running a hand down her face, “Someone needs to go back. Tobirama would be pissed if he knew all the village's powerhouses were here.”
Izuna snorted, “He’d probably subject us with his you’re-stupid-and-I’m-disappointed stare.” He sighed, standing up and stretching, “Let’s go, Anija, we need to keep Konoha standing.”
Madara looked like he wanted to protest, but luckily he thought better of it, nodding and standing up. “We’ll be waiting. Send a letter for any news.” Mito nodded, watching as they left and feeling their chakra flash away in a shunshin.
Mito sighed, looking at the door for a moment before looking at Touka. “Should we be worried?” she asked.
Touka looked at her, a hidden emotion behind her eyes. “You would be the one to answer that, Mito-sama,” she said lightly. “You’re the one who saw him up close, should we be worried?”
Mito hated that her answer was a yes.
*****
Hashirama stared at the prone form of his brother. He’s had one too many scares when Tobirama’s chakra fluctuated, too many scares where Tobirama’s chakra dipped too low to be safe. Tobirama wasn’t yet safe and he had to be here just in case Tobirama took another turn for the worst.
But Hashirama couldn’t do anything other than watch his brother and offer chakra. Who knew what those bastards put in him. And what they did to him. He couldn’t do anything if he didn’t know what was done. He healed and remedied anything he could find, but he didn’t know if they did anything he couldn’t detect. Drugs and poisons were Tobirama’s specialty, he could detect the most subtle poisons. Hashirama could only find the most obvious poisons and drugs he knew were put in a person.
Hashirama should have kept a few of those assholes who dared hurt his little brother. Especially the damn girl that tortured his otouto. He gritted his teeth, standing up and started to pace the room. He had no hope, nothing Tobirama gave him to believe that he would pull through. Tobirama’s chakra was deathly small, his skin was grayish and his breathing wasn’t even. But he had to hope, had to believe that he would pull through and survive this.
He spun around, the cold grip on his heart returning as Tobirama’s chakra expanded.
It shouldn’t do that.
It shouldn’t do that.
He darted forward, chakra encasing his little brother and trying to keep Tobirama’s chakra
in
. “Don’t do this to me,” he whispered, hands glowing green as he tried to keep the heart beating. “Come on, otouto, don’t do this to me. Stay here, stay with me,” he begged. His breath caught in his throat as Tobirama’s chakra
exploded,
seeping through his chakra and
away.
Away from his body, away from Hashirama’s.
(It had wrapped around his, giving him one last hug, one last embrace before moving away).
“No.” He stared at Tobirama as he laid there. Too still. Too quiet. He was always moving, doing something, preparing something. But now he was doing nothing. “No, no, no, no, wake up, otouto, please,” he crumpled on the bed, hands pushing chakra through Tobirama’s empty chakra coils, hoping to force his brother alive, to awaken again. If only to talk one last time, if only to hold his little brother one last time, if only to hear his little brother one last time. “Don’t leave me,” he whispered, head bowed to Tobirama’s unmoving chest.
“Hashirama! What…happened…”
“Go away,” he whispered, chakra lashing out at Touka and Mito. He didn’t want anyone here. No one deserved to be here. They need to leave.
“He…died?”
“Go away!” he snapped, tears streaming down his face as he glared at them. “Leave!”
“Okay, okay!” Touka held up her hands, grabbing Mito and pulling her back. “We’ll be outside the house keeping watch.”
Hashirama let out a sob when the door closed, head bowed and pressed against Tobirama’s unmoving chest.
Tobirama, his otouto, his last living brother, was now dead. Dead because those damn elder’s decided to take their sweet old time. Dead because they were sitting on their hands. Dead and gone.
He clenched his hands in Tobirama’s clothing, sobs bubbling out. Red, hot anger and cool grief combated in himself for a place and he didn’t know what to do. Tobirama was gone. He was supposed to outlast him! Not die before him. He was supposed to die first. It was supposed to be a peaceful death. Tobirama was supposed to be safe. But…but he should have seen it, really. How his little brother wasn’t safe from the scheming elders. How he wasn’t safe from the anger and resentment from his own clan and from the Uchiha. He should have known. But now Tobirama is dead.
“I’m sorry,” he croaked, smoothing Tobirama’s clean hair away from his face. He always hated having his hair in his face. He stood up, not bothering with drying his tears. He gingerly picked Tobirama up, walking out of the door. He would want to be buried with their younger brothers. Hashirama knew how much it hurt Tobirama when they died, even if no one believed he had a heart. (Tobirama was so torn. He had trained for hours on end when Itama died, only stopping when Hashirama forced him to stop. Hashirama had murdered those child killers for Tobirama, for Itama. He had killed the Hagaromo who killed Kawarama and left them as a warning. They never did get attacked by the Hagaromo after that.)
“Hash-”
“Go back to the village,” he ordered when he left the house. There was also some old clothes and swords they kept there just in case . It was Tobirama’s idea. “I’m going back to the old Senju compound to bury-bury Tobirama.” He cleared his throat, “Do not spread the news.”
“You don’t have to do this alone,” Touka protested. “I’m his cousin.”
“Go to the village,” he ordered, glaring at her. “As your clan head and Hokage, I order you to go back to the village.”
“That’s not fair!” Touka complained.
“He wouldn’t want you there when there were things you needed to do,” Hashirama said. “Go to Konoha, Touka.”
He stomped towards the trees, breaking into a run when he got into the forest. Hashirama hated the dead weight in his arms. At least when he was carrying Tobirama back to the guest house, he was a dead weight and breathing. His chakra pulsing and heart beating. Now his brother was…cooling. His blood no longer flowing to keep him warm. His chakra was no longer a constant in his life.
He looked forward, tears blurring his vision. He would no longer have Tobirama to advise him, no longer have him yell at him to do his paperwork, no longer have him to just talk too . Tobirama is gone now. And there was no bringing him back.
Hashirama collapsed on his knees, cradling Tobirama’s body to his, sobs wracking his body. He rocked back, tears streaming down his face as he cradled his little brother's body closer, begging him to come back. He couldn’t face the world alone without him! He needed Tobirama.
“Don’t leave me,” he croaked. “Please, don’t leave.”