Tobirama week: Day 1 - Family
Summary: Brothers are a curse. They are also the best thing ever.
Challenge: Tobirama week: Day 1 - Family.
Disclaimer: Naruto is Kishimoto's.
Notes: Rushed rushed rushed! And there was so much more I wanted to write... This was actually supposed to be about the consequences for Tobi of having exceptional sensory skills growing up, haha... I'll either save those scenes for another day or add them to this ficlet after the week is up. Apologies for any mistakes and generally lame writing. ^^'
Family
Tobirama Senju was born two weeks early. He was a frail, tiny scrap of a baby, with white wisps of hair and skin so pale that it could have been transparent.
The first person to see him and hold his feather-light weight was the old midwife, who shot the mother a nervous glance. The boy had just given three short gasps and then fallen silent. She would have advised the mother not to get too attached as the baby was likely too feeble to last the night, but kept from stating the obvious out of respect for the others in the room.
Witnessing the birth were the father, Butsuma Senju, proud leader of the Senju clan, and a handful of his closest advisors, there to congratulate him for the strength the newborn brought to the clan. They too kept quiet.
At the door, peeked in a wide-eyed three-year old Hashirama, who was so curious and so caught up in the wonder of having a baby brother that he did not notice the tension among the adults. He wanted desperately to see what this new person that would now be a part of his life looked like and when none of the grown-ups moved out of the way, he gave up on trying to be invisible and ran over to his mother's side.
The white hair, red eyes and almost blue skin were a surprise. Maybe all babies were like that at first, thought Hashirama, before considering that he was still the cutest thing he had ever seen. His father and mother had talked to him about how he should take care of his future sibling, but up until now it bad been nothing more than an abstract notion. Faced with reality, the promise to be the best big brother in the world took on a whole new meaning.
Regardless, as the child that he was, Hashirama's joy was all but ignored by the adults - and it was certainly not shared.
"Butsuma... please forgive me..." his mother called out, short of breath.
"At least it's a boy," the stern man replied shortly. "Well done, wife."
After that, the men left the women to take care of the rest of the proceedings, the set of their mouths the furthest thing from celebratory.
Three days later, when it became apparent that the boy would live, Hashirama was happy to learn that his brother was named Tobirama.
*
Being an older brother was not all that Hashirama expected it to be.
Tobirama learned to walk when he was ten months old for the sole purpose of getting his older brother in trouble - at least, that was what it looked like to Hashirama.
One winter afternoon, as the sun finally showed its face from behind slightly less grey clouds after a week of continuous raining, Hashirama went out to the training field for some shuriken throwing practice. The grounds were full of mud, but the air was crisp, all traces of dust having been washed away by the rain. After a week of being cooped up indoors, it felt like paradise.
The elder of the Senju boys had just finished throwing the last of his weapons when he heard something like a wet splat! behind him. He turned around to find little Tobirama sitting in a mud puddle, wearing nothing more than a sleeveless shirt over his pants, softly burbling at him and flaying his arms like he wanted to clap his hands but was not quite sure how.
Hashirama panicked when he saw the state his brother was in. He was so dirty that anyone who did not know the little albino might conceivably believe him to be as brunet as his older brother. He picked him up and ran all the way home without sparing a thought about how dangerous it was to leave his best shuriken set out where anyone might find it.
They came across their mother as soon as they stepped foot in the house. The entire settlement could probably hear her demands to know what he was thinking, taking his brother out like that and letting him play in the mud. His father's quiet disapproval was not any better either.
And two days later, when it turned out that Tobirama had picked up a cold, Hashirama spent the whole two weeks he was grounded inwardly cursing his parents for ever giving him a baby brother.
*
Tobirama's first word was "anija".
Well, actually it was "anya", but for Hashirama it was all the same thing.
Over the months that followed, he would take Tobirama everywhere he went, just so everyone in the clan could see how great his little brother was. And Tobirama, who by now had mastered walking, running and even clapping was always happy to oblige, tagging along with one hand fisted on the loose fabric of Hashirama's pants and calling out his big brother's name on command.
His big brother gave the best hugs. He could not get enough of them.
For his part, Hashirama was just enjoying every chance that he had to spend with him. After coming home exhausted and bruised, from their father's harsh training sessions or, worse, battles to the death against enemy ninjas, Tobirama's excited "anya!"s were a balm of their own. He could not imagine ever living a life without the best baby brother in the world by his side.
Challenge: Tobirama week: Day 1 - Family.
Disclaimer: Naruto is Kishimoto's.
Notes: Rushed rushed rushed! And there was so much more I wanted to write... This was actually supposed to be about the consequences for Tobi of having exceptional sensory skills growing up, haha... I'll either save those scenes for another day or add them to this ficlet after the week is up. Apologies for any mistakes and generally lame writing. ^^'
Family
Tobirama Senju was born two weeks early. He was a frail, tiny scrap of a baby, with white wisps of hair and skin so pale that it could have been transparent.
The first person to see him and hold his feather-light weight was the old midwife, who shot the mother a nervous glance. The boy had just given three short gasps and then fallen silent. She would have advised the mother not to get too attached as the baby was likely too feeble to last the night, but kept from stating the obvious out of respect for the others in the room.
Witnessing the birth were the father, Butsuma Senju, proud leader of the Senju clan, and a handful of his closest advisors, there to congratulate him for the strength the newborn brought to the clan. They too kept quiet.
At the door, peeked in a wide-eyed three-year old Hashirama, who was so curious and so caught up in the wonder of having a baby brother that he did not notice the tension among the adults. He wanted desperately to see what this new person that would now be a part of his life looked like and when none of the grown-ups moved out of the way, he gave up on trying to be invisible and ran over to his mother's side.
The white hair, red eyes and almost blue skin were a surprise. Maybe all babies were like that at first, thought Hashirama, before considering that he was still the cutest thing he had ever seen. His father and mother had talked to him about how he should take care of his future sibling, but up until now it bad been nothing more than an abstract notion. Faced with reality, the promise to be the best big brother in the world took on a whole new meaning.
Regardless, as the child that he was, Hashirama's joy was all but ignored by the adults - and it was certainly not shared.
"Butsuma... please forgive me..." his mother called out, short of breath.
"At least it's a boy," the stern man replied shortly. "Well done, wife."
After that, the men left the women to take care of the rest of the proceedings, the set of their mouths the furthest thing from celebratory.
Three days later, when it became apparent that the boy would live, Hashirama was happy to learn that his brother was named Tobirama.
*
Being an older brother was not all that Hashirama expected it to be.
Tobirama learned to walk when he was ten months old for the sole purpose of getting his older brother in trouble - at least, that was what it looked like to Hashirama.
One winter afternoon, as the sun finally showed its face from behind slightly less grey clouds after a week of continuous raining, Hashirama went out to the training field for some shuriken throwing practice. The grounds were full of mud, but the air was crisp, all traces of dust having been washed away by the rain. After a week of being cooped up indoors, it felt like paradise.
The elder of the Senju boys had just finished throwing the last of his weapons when he heard something like a wet splat! behind him. He turned around to find little Tobirama sitting in a mud puddle, wearing nothing more than a sleeveless shirt over his pants, softly burbling at him and flaying his arms like he wanted to clap his hands but was not quite sure how.
Hashirama panicked when he saw the state his brother was in. He was so dirty that anyone who did not know the little albino might conceivably believe him to be as brunet as his older brother. He picked him up and ran all the way home without sparing a thought about how dangerous it was to leave his best shuriken set out where anyone might find it.
They came across their mother as soon as they stepped foot in the house. The entire settlement could probably hear her demands to know what he was thinking, taking his brother out like that and letting him play in the mud. His father's quiet disapproval was not any better either.
And two days later, when it turned out that Tobirama had picked up a cold, Hashirama spent the whole two weeks he was grounded inwardly cursing his parents for ever giving him a baby brother.
*
Tobirama's first word was "anija".
Well, actually it was "anya", but for Hashirama it was all the same thing.
Over the months that followed, he would take Tobirama everywhere he went, just so everyone in the clan could see how great his little brother was. And Tobirama, who by now had mastered walking, running and even clapping was always happy to oblige, tagging along with one hand fisted on the loose fabric of Hashirama's pants and calling out his big brother's name on command.
His big brother gave the best hugs. He could not get enough of them.
For his part, Hashirama was just enjoying every chance that he had to spend with him. After coming home exhausted and bruised, from their father's harsh training sessions or, worse, battles to the death against enemy ninjas, Tobirama's excited "anya!"s were a balm of their own. He could not imagine ever living a life without the best baby brother in the world by his side.