It became a thing between us then.

He had a few hours each day when he could go out, and he would go to the top of our hill and I would be there. Or, if I wasn't, he would wait for a while and I would show up.

"Hi, Izuna", he would say, and his voice became warmer and warmer for each time. If it was because he learned more about how to be human, or if he just felt warmer towards me for each time he saw me, I couldn't tell.

"Hi", I would whisper back shyly, not daring to meet his eye.

We would sit down then, him to my left, I to his right, a polite space between us. A few weeks passed and we didn't touch for more than that first time when I had listened to his heartbeat.

Or the absence of it.

But we talked. Oh, and the talks we had. About everything. Serious topics such as politics and the climate to more relaxed things such as people who wrote fanfiction and the Kardashians. Tobirama was, of course, a cornucopia of knowledge, but he would make sure to shut off what he'd learned he should think about different topics and instead try to understand what his true opinions were.

Turned out, his true opinions were marvellous. He was to the left, thought very strongly about the rights of trans people and people of colour, and had a deep understanding about the problem of trusting governments in societies that were driven by money, while at the same time seeing the importance of economy. And he listened to my views with an open mind, asked follow-up questions that made me feel smart and heard.

From time to time, I would bring us something to eat. The first time, I'd brought filo dough rolls filled with vegan hazelnut spread I'd baked in the oven and then topped with soy whip. His eyes had widened as he took a bite, and I'd laughed at how fast he'd eaten his share. I moved on to bring home-made mozzarella sticks, marinated olives, crackers with Brie and jam... One flavour sensation for each meeting, and we would talk while eating.

Within a few weeks, I realised I had started to love this life I was building for myself, this life without Hashirama. I hadn't attended his lectures in weeks, and sometimes, I even forgot about him. He hadn't texted, nor called, and I hadn't, either. A part of me wanted answers, to know if it was true he had only used me in order to create Tobirama. In that case, did I regret doing it? Did I regret helping him? I looked over at Tobirama, so beautiful in the setting sun, not only on the outside but on the inside as well. I decided to keep enjoying our meetings without mixing Hashirama up with it.

Then one day, as we met on top of our hill, I noticed something was wrong.

"What happened?" I asked as soon as he came up to me.

"He's coded something new within me", he said.

I frowned.

"What's that?"

"My vision and hearing is being recorded so he can play it up afterwards."

He said it so casually, I didn't really flinch at first. But then, it well and truly went up to me what it was he said.

"What on Earth..." I whispered.

"I know", Tobirama said.

Not only was it remarkably advanced. The ability to record someone's vision and hearing alone was ground-breaking. I started to suspect that maybe, Hashirama was smarter than me after all. Maybe even smarter than Madara.

But what well and truly shocked me was how incredibly intrusive it was. Hashirama must know how deeply human Tobirama was at this point, that he probably needed many things that humans needed when it came to freedom and privacy, even all of the things that humans needed. Even so, he'd done something so utterly disrespectful. Did he have ethics for this?

"Then I should leave-" I began.

"No!"

His answer was immediate. And as he had spoken, he also put his hand on my shoulder. I jerked and gaped. It was the first time he touched me since I had listened to his chest. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to- I-" he begun, and removed his hand from my shoulder as if he'd been burned.

But I interrupted him this time.

"No", I said softly.

And I reached my hand out, put my fingertips lightly on his arm, let it slide down until it found his hand.

And I took it.

I pressed it softly. At first, he just stared at our hands, his eyes having found a spot they liked. His lips glistened in the setting sun as a warm breath of spring caressed our cheeks.

Then, he pressed my hand back.

"I have coded over it, rendering his code useless", Tobirama said as if that was the easiest thing in the world, which it probably was for him.

I was washed over by a sense of relief then; even if Hashirama's intellect was scary, it could never beat Tobirama's.

"But won't he notice?" I asked.

"Yes, but what will he do about it? I'm bigger, stronger and smarter than him." He looked at me. "I do worry about you, though", he said softly.

"Oyy!" I said.

He jerked, then smiled.

"Oh, God, sorry. I didn't realise. That implied I don't think you're smarter than him, right? Well, I think you're much smarter. Sorry, I'm still not used to being... Well, human."

But I just laughed.

"I find it quite endearing, actually."

"But I'm serious, Izuna", he said, squeezing my hand. "I believe he suspects we're interacting and that may put you in danger. There's something insane about the man."

I didn't know if I agreed with this, but I decided not to push the topic further.

"Wouldn't you know if that's what he suspected?"

"I'm a computer program, not a mind reader", he said mildly. "If he doesn't write it down, I don't see it. And he's stopped using that computer for mind storage."

"And what will he do if he finds out we speak? Why would that bother him?"

Tobirama bit his lip a little, another oddly human thing he did, and I was suddenly struck with the urge to ask him if he was even aware he was doing it because if he wasn't, I wasn't sure I could even view him as a computer program anymore.

"I don't know Izuna. But something's up with him. And I don't like it. I don't trust the man at all."

Suddenly, he scooped me up in an embrace.

"Ohh..." I said softly.

He hugged me close, his arms around my shoulder blades. 

But then, I enclosed my own around him, leaned my cheek against his chest.

"I care about you", he said, his voice muffled as he was pressing his face against the space between my shoulder and my neck.

I smiled, beside myself. This felt so... Different from when I was with Hashirama. The relationship between me and the professor had been all about my ability to please him, of feeling I wasn't enough, of feeling like I was just a body for him to fuck whenever he pleased, and dispose of once he was done, once I could no longer provide him with anything useful. This, however... Well, it felt like...

Companionship.

"I care about you, too", I whispered.

"You shouldn't", Tobirama murmured back. "I don't exist."

"Oh, shut up", I whispered, breathing him in. He actually smelled really nice.

He held me close, let the warm evening embrace us, protect us from the outside world.

"This is nice", Tobirama said.

I hummed in agreement. 

The day after was a Saturday, and I was woken up by my phone ringing excessively.

I checked the time. It was five am.

The number was unknown, which meant I usually wouldn't answer, but in my sleepy state my mind wasn't working right.

"Hello?" I said groggily.

"Hi, Izuna."

I was suddenly wide awake.

"Tobirama?"

"Yes! I bought myself a phone!"

I laughed. I couldn't help it; the thought of Tobirama going to a store and buying something was incredibly funny to me.

"Wait, with what money?" I asked.

"Umm..."

"Tobirama..."

"Okay, I opened an empty bank account and created some! But don't tell anyone!"

I smiled at this.

"Do you have any concept on when humans wake up on weekends?"

"... No", Tobirama said guiltily.

"Well, what did you want?"

"I..." I could hear him scratch his head. "I just wanted to talk."

My heart melted at that. We met at the top of the hill every evening, and still...

I suddenly got an idea. I told him what I wanted him to do.

"What, why?" he asked.

"Just do it! Don't bring any fake money because this will be my treat."

He agreed to this.

After agreeing on a more reasonable time, I hung up and went back to sleep.

We met up at the large town square.

I saw him from a mile away, and couldn't help but smile.

"Wow!" I said as I saw him.

He turned to me, and as he saw me, his face broke out into a huge smile. Then, he eyed me up and down, and his face got tinted with something hesitant.

"Did I overdo it?" he asked,  looking down to eye his outfit.

I had just told him to dress up and meet me for a date. He was wearing a marine blazer with a red handkerchief, a light blue shirt he hadn't tucked in, creme trousers and black shoes. I had only ever seen him in simple clothes; T-shirt's and jeans and zipped hoodies. I loved his comfy everyday way of dressing himself, even if I guessed he decided clothes based on not wanting to draw more attention to himself than his size and colour already did, but this was really something else.

"You look amazing!" I said, feeling a little bad in my simple vanilla sweater and good black trousers, but pretty nonetheless as his smile shone upon me.

Suddenly, he handed me something he'd been hiding behind his back; a red rose.

"I got this from your brother's shop", he said.

I had never gotten a flower before.

"Thank you", I said shyly as he offered me his arm.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Oh, just you wait!"

We had an amazing day. I started by taking him to brunch where we had American blueberry pancakes with syrup, chocolate sauce and strawberries. Then, we went to the national museum where we pretended to be two very sophisticated students with an interest in art.

"This speaks very deeply to me", I said loudly to Tobirama, making people around us turn round.

"Yes. The artist has really captured the essence of the cheese", Tobirama screamed back.

"Yes. Very depressing", I roared back.

"Did you know the artist, Ludvig Gatzinsky, later died by choking on cheese?" Tobirama screamed matter-of-factly.

"Fascinating!!"

As we walked out, crying or held-back laughter, I grabbed his arm.

"Is it true? About the  artist choking on cheese?" I hissed.

"I have no idea", Tobirama hissed back.

We ended up walking in shops, deciding outrageous outfits for each other to try out. I had never had so much fun in my life.

As we walked in the shopping streets, one bag each after having bought each other one outfit that we actually thought was good on the other, Tobirama suddenly stopped, turned to me.

I was mid-sentence, talking about ice cream flavours I liked or the turtle I'd had as a child or something equally brain-dead when he bent down.

Ans put his lips to mine.

I immediately closed my eyes, shutting out all of the people around us that had to take a detour not to walk into us. 

He started moving his lips, slowly, hesitantly, and I kissed him back. After a while, he put one hand behind my head, and I sneaked my arms around him.

We stood like that, kissing one another, for a long time.