Chapter Text
"What is going on?" Hashirama looked at his once best friend and then at his younger brother. He reached out with his hand, ready to heal Madara from the visible injuries, but the man shrank back in a way that was completely out of character for him. Hashirama paused and stared in his friend's eyes, just about visible through the hair and blood covering most of his face. "Madara, don't you recognise me?"
"No, he doesn't," Tobirama said, his tone grim. "He doesn't recognise anyone." Madara's fingers were clenched so tightly in Tobirama's haori that his knuckles had turned white.
"Tobirama, what happened?" Hashirama asked as he watched the leader of the Uchiha clan, his brave, brilliant friend, cower away from Hashirama.
"Back away first, I think you being an alpha isn't helping matters." Tobirama waited until Hashirama moved back, though not before sighing theatrically. Madara did relax when Hashirama was further away though. "Bloodline thieves. They took his eyes and induced his heat." Hashirama looked at Tobirama and then back at his friend. He had noticed that Madara's clothes were ill-fitting but now he realised that he had seen that exact shade of blue in Tobirama's wardrobe.
"I hope they're dead already," Hashirama said mildly.
"If they weren't dead before I sealed their bodies, then they suffocated," Tobirama said practically. Hashirama hoped at least one of them died that way. "I retrieved his eyes and healed them as best as I could when they were in the sockets but he's definitely going to need an Uchiha medic."
"His heat has resolved," Hashirama said in that same kind of mild tone he couldn't stop using. "Were his eyes always two different sizes since you retrieved him?"
"He gets the occasional waves of fever and scent increase but nothing prolonged enough to call a heat." Tobirama took a deep breath. "I believe he may have had a small stroke, possibly from the heat inducers. Maybe from the suppressants I'm assuming he's been on."
"Considering the best guess was on Madara being a beta, I'm going to say yes." Hashirama looked at his friend again. "Is there any way I can heal him?"
"We can try to bathe him," Tobirama said. "If we get rid of the scents of the alphas and the blood, I think he'll be more comfortable and thus, more likely to let you heal him." Both of them grimaced at the other as they realised that bathing was definitely going to involve the two of them.
"Oh, he's going to hate this," Hashirama said under his breath.
Tōka, their cousin, was also an omega so she was drafted into the bathing and promptly started asking the difficult questions.
"So, why are we healing the leader of our enemy clan?" she asked. Despite her questions, she did help to fill the wooden tub Hashirama had just created. Madara couldn't be washed the usual way, so they were hoping dumping him in a warm tub of water would work just as well. "Why aren't we simply killing him and being done with it?" Hashirama knew he could not answer that question to Tōka's satisfaction so he waved at Tobirama. It was difficult because his back was turned to give Madara some kind of privacy but he managed.
"Izuna is even less likely than Madara to work towards peace, especially if his older brother dies on Senju lands," Tobirama said. "And while removing a powerful fighter like Madara from the board could be beneficial, it would only be if Hashirama worked to fill in the gap." He grunted. "Look, Madara, I have to take the clothes off to get you washed. I can get you a clean set afterwards."
"I won't, by the way," Hashirama said cheerfully over his shoulder.
"Yeah, I think everyone got that with your little playfights," Tōka said in disgust. "You know, when Madara's back to himself, he'll probably be happier if you helped out rather than me, Hashirama." There were the sounds of a scuffle and Tōka hissed. "You owe me so much for this, both of you."
"Can't," Tobirama answered for them both. "Madara gets nervous when Hashirama is close by. Even healing him was a step too far."
"But he's okay with you?" Tōka asked. "Okay, Uchiha, let go of Tobirama's sleeve and then we get the clothes off completely. Or hold his hand instead, that's fine."
"I got him out of that hideout," Tobirama explained. "Madara, do you want to stand? No? Fine. I'm going to lift you into the tub, do not try to drown me." There was the splashing of water and when Tōka told Hashirama to turn around, he found a screen had been put in place. He could see shadows behind it but nothing else, though using chakra he could pinpoint where everyone was. Madara's chakra was smaller than he had ever felt it and he really, really hated everything about this. Except maybe for the fact that Tobirama rescued his friend.
"You can do his hair while I get the rest of him," Tōka said sweetly to Tobirama. All she got was a grunt in reply. "What are you two going to do about the rest of the clan? Are they going to be so forgiving of us healing an Uchiha, particularly this Uchiha?"
"They want peace as well," Hashirama said, because it had taken years of badgering the rest of the clan about the benefits of a peace treaty, but now nearly all of the clan were in agreement. Or they were just happy for Hashirama to shut up, but the result was the same.
"Peace is one thing, using resources on healing Uchiha Madara is another," Tōka pointed out. "Right, Madara, this is going to be an incredibly bad job of cleaning but at least your scent will be better. Do not bite me."
"Not if we use him as a hostage of sorts." Hashirama almost rounded the screen in his panic. "Anija, do not come around here."
"A hostage! We can't do that, that's not something we've ever really done."
"Not to mention the Uchiha are not going to be happy when they ask for proof of life and we have to tell them this." Tōka's voice sounded softer now, more concerned. "Who did you say did this?"
"Bloodline thieves. Dead now," Tobirama replied shortly.
"Good." There was silence between them, only for the sounds of splashing water. "Apparently Uchiha Madara likes having his hair washed, who would have thought," Tōka said, now sounding amused again.
"Gods, he has so much of it," Tobirama said, sounding distant. "I don't mean a hostage like what would normally do. I mean, we call a ceasefire based on how I came across an injured Madara and didn't kill him. We talk terms, Madara stays here as a hostage but also to heal. Nothing is going to be finalised until Madara's himself again but at least we can have some agreement in place while Madara is out of it."
"And if they don't agree to a ceasefire? If they call our bluff?" Tōka asked.
"Then we keep him until Madara can negotiate for the Uchiha himself," Tobirama said plainly. Hashirama had always admired that part of his brother which could look at things so logically. He made the world so much less complicated and easier to handle sometimes. There was the sound of more splashing.
"Your hair's done, Madara," Tobirama said. "Pass me the towel, Tōka."
"Here you-- oh, so we're done with the bath now. Careful, you're gonna--" There were the sounds of splashing and then a crash and Tobirama grunting in pain. "Or you could flatten my cousin. That works."
"Anija, can you go and get some clothes for Madara," Tobirama said, sounding strained. "I believe he's done with the bath now." Hashirama had the urge to circle the screen and see what kind of position Tobirama and Madara were in that was making Tōka stifle laughter, but he did as his brother asked. There was a possibility of peace on the horizon and the possibility filled Hashirama with hope, even as his worry for his friend and his trepidation over the Uchiha’s reaction warred within him.