Izuna was inconsolable.

He cried and cried, tearlessly as was his only way, and Tobirama could do nothing but hold him.

"What's wrong?" he murmured softly. "Baby, tell me."

It took a long, long time before Izuna could speak, and when he did, he broke Tobirama's heart. He broke Tobirama's heart by speaking of the one thing Tobirama had worked his entire life to suppress.

"We lost our life", Izuna wailed. "We lost our life together. We could have had so, so many years if I had just talked to you! If I would just have let you talk to me! We could have shared so many great things together!"

Tobirama didn't contradict him. He didn't say that he understood. Instead, he sat down, pulled Izuna to him so he sat in his lap and held him.

And he talked. He talked about the life they could have had together, created an entire story of their lives, a fairy tale. He told Izuna that the next time they would meet after the first time they had made love, they would be shy, but then, Izuna would be the one to take initiative, and they would have one another again. They would meet every night in the cave and make love, carefully at first, then they would explore, themselves and one another and also the two of them together, tenderly yet hungrily. They wouldn't tell anyone but others would notice; Hashirama and Madara and the people that were important to them, but mostly Hashirama and Madara, and the work of the four of them would have brought peace between the clans and there wouldn't be an issue with a Senju and an Uchiha in love.

And with that, they would grow. They would grow with one another, training together, protecting each other from any harm. Tobirama would never, ever let anything bad happen to Izuna, and Izuna wouldn't let any enemy come close to Tobirama. That would ensure that they grew old together, and Tobirama would tease Izuna for his white hairs, mainly because Izuna couldn't do the same thing back as Tobirama's hair was already white, but the salt-and-pepper beauty would instead tease the white beast endlessly for being a few months older.

They would retire from their respective parts of war, take on more political roles that Izuna would hate, but Tobirama would kind of thrive doing. But Izuna would have other assets, such as cooking, making their now-shared home cosy and warm and welcoming, and Tobirama would love him for it.

They would retire more and more, travelling together, see more and more cultures, learn more and more about the world together until finally, at the end of their years, they would lay more and more in bed next to one another, enjoying their home, maybe a cottage now, in a big, soft bed.

If he were to choose, they would die on the same night, but Tobirama knew that life wasn't fair, and that that would never happen; an angel like Izuna deserved it, but a monster like him didn't. In Tobirama's story, Tobirama would be the one who died first. This was, Tobirama explained, not because he wanted to make it fair, to have Izuna live without him just like he had been forced to live without Izuna. No, he could never think like that. Instead, it was because he had lived without Izuna, and knew he couldn't take it, that he just couldn't muster. And he believed, no, he knew, that Izuna was much stronger than he was and would be far better at dealing with being alone. But shortly after, Izuna would follow, in his sleep, stepping over to death on cloud-light feet to join the man who had loved him all his life who was waiting for him in the nothingness that was the afterlife to love him there as well.

Tobirama had disappeared so much into his fairy tale, he hadn't noticed that Izuna had stopped crying. In fact, he hadn't noticed anything around him; not the sky having gone entirely dark, not the moon that had introduced itself over the horizon, not the sound of the crickets that had started up their choir around them.

He looked down on Izuna who was sitting in his embrace, but to his surprise, Izuna didn't look sad. Izuna looked happy.

"Thank you", he whispered, put a hand on Tobirama's cheek. His skin glowed in the moonlight; even the dullness of death couldn't hide Izuna's beauty. "That felt... good, I think."

Tobirama combes his fingers through Izuna's hair; even if it had been many years, he remembered exactly how it had felt, and it once more struck him that all the had dreamed of but never believed possible was happening. How many times had he asked for just a minute with Izuna?

And Tobirama had also felt what Izuna had felt; that story had felt good. Even if it could never substitute the magnitude of what they had missed, it could bring them some comfort, and right then, for Tobirama, it was enough.

"How long time do we have?" Izuna whispered, snuggling closer to Tobirama in his embrace.

Tobirama buried his face in his neck, enjoying the scent of him, intermingling with the scents of night.

"I don't know. It's a world war. I'm sick of war." He thought of something then. "Izuna... We're not controlled. I mean, me and the other who were reincarnated with me. But you..." Izuna smiled up at him, and he suddenly understood. "Madara." Izuna nodded. "Madara wanted you to be able to talk to me."

He put his finger beneath Izuna's cheek then, tilted his blind face up to him. Izuna parted his lips for him, unconsciously, albeit seemingly willingly...

Before Tobirama could kiss him, Izuna stood up. The Senju almost groaned in frustration but apparently, making him frustrated
was exactly what Izuna wanted because he smiled as he stood in front of the steep cliff side, beautifully silhouetted against the moon, and slowly, very slowly, undressed.

First, he bared one shoulder, then the other. When his chest became bare, Tobirama stood up and moved instinctively, desiring to take a nipple into his mouth. But when Izuna heard him move, he stopped him by just lifting his finger; that was the power the lithe Uchiha had over the Senju beast.

"No", Izuna said mildly. "Sit down. I can't see you, but I want you to see me. All of me."

Tobirama stepped back, hissing discontentedly, as the blind beauty let his white robe fall to the ground, followed by his trousers. When Izuna stood naked, ready, delicious, he touched his own skin, let his slender hands travel over his chest and thighs in a way that made Tobirama lose his mind.

"Izuna..."

When Izuna grabbed himself, he moaned, and Tobirama took the final step towards him, took him his arms.

"Tobirama..." Izuna whined, lifted his face up to meet his lover, their lips so close they could feel the warmth of each other's breaths, their lungs creating a symphony.

"You can still see me", Tobirama murmured to his lover's full lips.

Izuna understood what he meant, because he lifted his hands, tentatively at first, then placed them on Tobirama's lips, as lightly as if they had been the most fragile butterfly. He let it slide over the albino's lower lip in a way that made Tobirama shiver. Izuna felt it, lifted his other hand, placed it on Tobirama's stubbled cheek for support.

And he explored his face, saw with his fingertips what his eyes could no longer, over his brows and to the creases around his eyes, feeling all of the signs of age that Tobirama had been so ashamed of, not because he was vain but because he had felt it had forced him further away from Izuna but now, now it brought them closer than ever.

When Izuna felt over Tobirama's chest, Tobirama took off his polo. He looked down on the smaller man with a serious expression in his white brows as his chiselled chest and taut stomach was explored by Izuna's able hands, and when Izuna gasped at what he felt, Tobirama thought of all the times he had dreamed of Izuna coming back to life to see the body that grief had made him create.

"You're beautiful", Izuna whispered. "You've always been beautiful but this..."  He leaned his palm over the Senju beast's sternum. "This suits you."

And Tobirama Senju grabbed the face of Izuna Uchiha with both hands, bent down and kissed him.