My Roommate Is My Sensei [Tobirama x Reader]

Part 45

It seems to take eons for realization to hit.

"Wait..." [y/n] croaks, "...you knew Ayato?"

"I know him." Touka answers, her eyes still fixed on Ayato. "He's my brother."

"What?" Truth be told, she can't deny the resemblance between the two of them; in fact, it's struck her since her very first shift at Anteiku, but how crazy would it sound if she said her new coworker looked like her ex? Kami help her—she'd never have thought that there really would be some sort of relationship between them.

Never in a million years.

"So the one who I talked to, whenever all hell broke loose between Ayato and me...was you?"

"What? We've never even met pre-Anteiku," Touka finally stares at her, confusion swarming in her electric blue eyes.

"Then who..." [Y/n]'s voice trails off as she redirects her gaze to Ayato.

"My foster...family," Ayato manages to squeeze between coughs of blood.

"Wait, what?" Her brain is demanding a shutdown; its gears are in overload. 

"We are blood siblings. But things changed after our mom died." There's a hint of a crack in Touka's voice.

She's never heard Touka talk about her background before.

In fact, none of them has.

So they leave it up to silence to nudge Touka forward.

"My dad...well, our," the siblings both flinch at the correction, "dad...tried his best to raise us during the first few years after our mom passed. But when Ayato felt like he wasn't doing things properly, he just found himself a foster family." 

"That old man was being weak!" Ayato spits. "For as long as I could remember, we were always hiding, hiding, hiding! All because he didn't want to face the bastards that were hunting us down!"

"But why did you have to do that?" [Y/n] asks.

"Well," Touka sighs, "my mother was a drug addict. And you know how that goes—inevitably she ended up in a drug chain. Debt upon debt upon debt forced her to commit suicide. And the rest is history."

For a moment, no-one can seem to find the right words to say.

"Touka—"

"It's okay," she writes it off, "the past is in the past. The debts have been cleared a couple years back, and my dad's alright now."

"That's...that's good to hear." [Y/n] feels awkward, but that's probably the best thing to say.

"Yeah," a small smile graces Touka's features. Then it disappears, just as fast as it manifested on her face, as she glares at Ayato with such intensity that could burn a hole straight through him. "Now what do we do about him? And the blond over there?"

"We're kicking Deidara out," a familiar voice booms from the doorway. His eyes still glint with a hint of cheer despite the situation. "As for Ayato...we'll be turning him in to the police."

"Which police exactly?" Although not exactly the most welcome person on the block, she still has to admit that she's glad the speaker's on her—no, their—side.

"We've taken all your accomplices down," a flash of reddish-orange joins in. "So you'd better not pull any tricks."

So many people...no, friends. All here for me.

Relief washes over her in a surge so strong and unexpected, and her grip on Kiba and Sakura tightens as she struggles to contain her tears.

"It's okay," Sakura whispers gently, patting [y/n]'s shoulder and stroking her back, "everything's all right now."

In the background, Madara throws Tobirama a smirk as he turns to leave with the two delinquents in tow. "You owe me big time, Tobirama."

"Sure I do," Tobirama doesn't even have the slightest difficulty letting the admission on. "Thanks."

Both Madara and Hashirama go wide-eyed.

But Tobirama couldn't care less.

He hurries to crouch in front of [y/n].

Her lips quiver, as if she's about to say something.

But before she can get the gratitude out, she's engulfed by his tight, warm embrace.

"I'm here." He murmurs into her ear. "You're safe now."

And it's then that the tears fall, scorching and salty, drenching his shoulder through his shirt in a matter of mere seconds.

But he doesn't mind.

She can finally release that storm that's been bottled up inside her for so long, and he's glad she chose him to lean on to.