The news reached the castle within a month of Madara's death.

There was a riot rising, with the goal of killing the king, hoping that would disturb the country so much it would be made easy to invade.

My father and his captain and soldiers had to make war plans, and as the crown prince, my father asked me to attend.

"Why is he here?" his captain said, rudely pointing at me. "What can he offer?"

My father looked at him with dark eyes.

"If it weren't for the fact that you're my childhood friend, I would have your tongue cut off", he said.

Tobirama, always by my side, clad in his armour, stood next to me. He wasn't required to have his helmet on, but I had asked him to.

"I will be too distracted", I had said and smirked, making my two fingers walk across his chest to his mouth so he could suck them. "I don't have the capacity to keep my eyes off you. I'm mentally disturbed, remember? Everyone in the country knows that." He had snorted, which sounded funny with my fingers in his mouth. I had smiled, come up to kiss him.

I blinked myself back to the room as I felt Tobirama tense up next to me, his hand flinching as if longing to grab his sword to cut the tongue off the captain himself.

"This will be our battlefield", my father began, pointing at the great map of the area around the castle painted on the large, square table of the gloomily lit meeting room. "It's a valley where we can enter from one side, and there's a cleft in the cliff opposite. Our plan will be to corner the enemy, force them into the cleft, that is hardly wide enough for two horses. There, they will have no chance."

I furrowed my brows.

"I wouldn't do that."

I didn't know where the words came from, but they were out of my mouth before I'd had the chance to filter them out. My father stared at me. Tobirama had turned to me as well; I could imagine his face beneath his visor. The captain smirked. The other captains looked like it was Christmas. I realised they were waiting for me to embarrass myself, and would take great pleasure in that. 

"Do you have a better plan?" the captain mocked.

I furrowed my brows; might as well roll with it. I pointed to the valley.

"The worst thing you can do is underestimate your enemy", I began as I built myself a picture in my mind. It was clear nobody in the room had expected me to have an actual explanation; their mouths were open, making them look like a group of screaming seagulls. I hated seagulls. "What will happen when they're cornered is that they will retreat into the cleft, just as you say. But you have forgotten what's behind the cleft." I pointed to the open field behind the valley. "The enemy is not stupid, and they have maps, too, and they will have thought about the risk you'll force them into the cleft as it's such a basic, simple war strategy." If anyone was offended by what I said, they didn't say anything. "The enemy will have men there. And once you're done killing everyone in the cleft of, those men will enter the cleft from the opposite side and do exactly the same thing to you as you just did to them. And where are your spare men?"

The room was so silent, you could hear a pin drop on the other side of the planet. I looked around. The soldiers were all still looking equally stupid.

"How..." My father's captain looked at my index finger, clad in a platinum ring with black diamonds, pointing at the map. "How did you figure all of this out?"

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"By thinking", I said simply.

"How dare-" the captain began, but Tobirama's hand went to his sword which made him shut up.

"So, Izuna..." My ignored the situation that had occurred between the captain and Tobirama. He cleared his throat; of surprise or of awkwardness of having been outdone by his son in front of his captains, I didn't know, and I didn't care. I was still upset with him for not having defended me better when my mother spoke behind my back. "How do you suggest we do instead?"

These men are really dumb, I thought. In reality, they weren't. These were some of the most educated and experienced war strategists of the country, perhaps even the world, all in one room. It was just that I was, humble as it may sound, much smarter than them.

I looked down at the map again.

"You ambush them." They must understand what I mean. I looked up, but when no-one interrupted, I continued. "You use half your force to initiate a battle in the valley. They will see your number is low, so they will relax. But the rest are already up the cliffs surrounding the valley. You reach them by going through the cleft, so you need to come well before the enemy so they do not notice. Then, when the battle has begun and they believe they have an advantage, you shoot arrows and throw spears from above."

"But won't they notice when we start attacking from the cliffs and just come through the cleft to battle us on the cliffs as well?" the captain, who now seemed to respect my opinion, asked.

I frowned. I had thought of that, of course, but now, a plan was forming in my mind.

"I... Might have something for that. Give me a few days. Let's meet again the day before battle."

As soon as we exited the meeting room, Tobirama grabbed me harshly by the arm and dragged me along with him.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He didn't answer. I saw him pull his helmet off, but didn't look back at me. Was he angry? I really didn't like it when people were angry at me. And I especially wouldn't be able to stand it if he was angry.

"Tobirama, what-"

"Shut up", he murmured.

I swallowed.

He opened the door to our rooms and closed it behind us. Then, he took off his armour, breathing heavily. He was wearing black trousers and a turtleneck that clung to him. I couldn't breathe.

Then, he put a hand to my chest and shoved me into the wall, leaning in dangerously close to me.

"What the fuck was that?" he asked.

Somehow, I didn't feel threatened at all. Actually, I felt very, very safe. 

"What do you mean?" I asked, genuinely wondering.

"Where did you learn war strategy?"

I dared to look up at him. I had never seen a man so hungry in my entire life. It struck me that he was hungry for me. It caused a cascade of frothy waves to swell in my stomach; it felt wonderful.

"I just... Think?"

"You just... Think."

He leaned his forehead to mine. I leaned mine to his. We had our eyes closed; we needed only touch to communicate. He took my hand, fingering my ring a little, put my hand on his heart as he knew it calmed me down. I counted his heartbeats, simultaneously clocking fifteen seconds, multiplied it by four to get his heartrate in beats per minute. It was sixty-four.

"Tobirama", I said.

"Mmm?"

"I really want to sleep with you, but... Give me time."

He took a step back.

"Izuna..." He looked horrified. Had I said something wrong? Had I misread the entire situation? Perhaps, he didn't want to sleep with me at all! "Izuna, Izuna, Izuna..." He took my hand, pulled me in for a hug. "I don't want you to put yourself through anything you don't want to do. Ever. Even if I never get to... I mean... Izuna, look at me." I did. "Even if it's never, then it's never. I value one second in your company more than I would value a hundred years sleeping with you."

I hugged him so tight then. I loved him, God I loved him.

"I struggle with expressing emotions", I whispered. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

Tobirama knelt then, took one of my hands in his. He squeezed it three times.

"This", he said. "This means 'I love you'. If you struggle with words. Whenever you're ready. Squeeze three times."

I looked down on our hands, my small, slender one, clad in the ring on my index finger, small in his thick, callused. I squeezed three times.

"I love you", Tobirama said.

I squeezed three times again.

I released him, pulled my shirt over my head.

"I still want you to touch me", I whispered.

His face softened and he shuffled closer, pulled my trousers down.

He was still on his knees.

"May I use my mouth to touch you, my prince?" he asked.

I put my fingers in his hair and forced it down.

He chuckled.

I leaned my head back and moaned.

The sucking sounds he emitted were infuriating.

When we went to bed that night, his knees were bruised.