The next night, he came back to the cave to find Izuna already training.

This time the albino didn't hide, but came and leaned against the cave wall, arms crossed. He had a half-smile on his face and why shouldn't he; Izuna was bare-chested, which was delicious. The thought that Izuna had undressed in the hope of Tobirama coming and watch him made Tobirama's mouth water.  

Izuna must have known Tobirama was there, but he didn't change anything, just kept training. Tobirama was glad of that. But when the small, black-haired man was finished with his training, he immediately came to Tobirama. He was panting, his body glistening due to the sweat, reflecting in the soft evening light that was filtered into the cave.

"Hey!" Izuna said happily, and to Tobirama's surprise, the black-haired beauty hugged him. 

Tobirama almost purred as he hugged Izuna back, and it was a real hug as well, with Izuna pressing his sweaty body to Tobirama's black clothes so he could feel Izuna's sweat on his own skin. 

"Hey, you", he said darkly. 

Izuna turned his back to him and went to the shore of the lake, undressing while walking.

"Do you want to join me?"

Tobirama did.

And they talked. They talked and talked and talked, about training and war techniques, about ethics and philosophy, about mathematics and languages. The sun disappeared and there was only starlight, leaving them in almost complete blackness, but it was as if their souls reached out, trying to touch the other's, so they were always close even if they saw one another poorly.

It continued like that. Every evening, Tobirama came to the cave. Every evening, he watched Izuna train. Every evening, Izuna would come hug him. And then, they would bathe, and they would talk, and Tobirama would leave without them having touched any more than that initial hug. 

They talked about everything, except one thing, which was politics, especially the politics between the two clans. Tobirama didn't know if Izuna's deliberately avoided the topic, but for Tobirama, it was fear that made him shun it. He was afraid Izuna would make a statement that would render Tobirama unable to feel for him as had happened with Izuna's brother, or worse, unable to leave him even if he knew he should.

But one day, a few weeks after they had started meeting, they skimmed the subject. It was Izuna who brought it up, and he did so directly, which surprised Tobirama, but also impressed him.

"Tobirama."

He could only see the glimmer of the Uchiha's warm, brown eyes above the waterline, an arm's width from him; except for the hug every time they met, they still never touched. 

"Yes, Izuna?"

"What do you think?"

He immediately knew what Izuna meant. It had happened a few times, that they didn't need full sentences, only concepts. It was as if they were part of each other's souls. Could it truly be? When they were on opposite sides of a war? Either way, he knew that Izuna wanted to know what he thought about the situation between their clans. 

"Please", he said. "You tell me first."

I can't stand going first, he didn't need to add, but Izuna knew. 

"I believe that there is a difference between Senju and Uchiha". Izuna looked at Tobirama with such an intensity, Tobirama for a moment believed Izuna did not need his red eyes to put him under any spell. "If we draw back, there will be peace. But if you draw back, you will be destroyed."

It was in that moment Tobirama Senju fell irreversibly in love with Izuna Uchiha. 

The next evening, Tobirama was walking along the river. Izuna had told him he wouldn't come as he was going to have some basic medical training with a medic in their clan. He had assured Tobirama they would meet the next evening again, but it felt strange, this evening without him.

Tobirama walked along the dry grass lining the Nakano, the river of their lands. It had been a dry period, so the water stood low, revealing a surface of cracked, dried mud beneath. Without him realising, his feet had brought him somewhere familiar; to the cave where he and Madara used to meet.

He didn't think much of it, let his feet continue take him further up the shore and into the cave.

"Where have you been?"

Tobirama jerked. He was surprised to hear the voice, but not frightened. There was no hostility in the voice, only sadness and a deep, deep yearning.

Tobirama's body immediately responded to that yearning, made him erect, searching to penetrate, to dominate the creature who belonged to that voice.

Madara...

The older Uchiha stepped forwards, half of him visible from the light coming in through the cave opening, the other half in darkness. It made him look like a piece of art.

He was naked, Tobirama realised just before Madara stepped towards Tobirama and snaked his body close to his. 

Tobirama's body responded immediately. He caught hold of Madara's waist, bent his neck down to reach Madara's lips with his own, kissed him. Madara moaned into that kiss, and it rendered Tobirama mad. They didn't move deeper into the cave but lay down on the ground, and before Tobirama knew what his own body was doing, he had pulled his trousers down, too eager to take them off completely, and thrusted himself deep, deep within the man beneath him. 

But could he really blame his body? Wasn't there something in his mind, too, that wanted this monstrous creature beneath him?

As much as he tried not to, he thought of Izuna as he took this lover of his. Being with Izuna... It wasn't an addiction, like this was. It was a choice, one that was easy to make, that felt as natural to him as making his own heart beat. When Madara clawed at his back, bucked his hips up to meet his dick, Tobirama felt no emotional joy, just deep, deep physical satisfaction. Madara's bare back scraped against the rocky ground with a sound that was incredibly foreboding. Could the deep connection between him and Izuna replace this? Did he want it to?

Madara leaned his head back and screamed as he came. Tobirama put a strong hand over the Uchiha's mouth, bit his neck to shut him up. He himself didn't make a sound, only shivered as he emptied himself inside of the man who was his sworn enemy. Madara lay panting, but Tobirama stood up.

"Where are you going?" Madara asked, sounding frightened, and it suddenly struck Tobirama that Madara must be just as addicted to him as he was of Madara. 

"Home", Tobirama said, pulling his trousers up, not giving a fuck they got wet with cum. 

"Can't you stay?"

Tobirama was silent for a while, looking away.

Then, he spoke the words that had rested on the tip of his tongue for a while now.

"I don't think I can do this anymore, Madara."

Madara stayed silent as Tobirama left the cave, didn't ask what he meant by those words because he already knew.