Tobirama | illusions 》

9.

Welcome back

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The ground below was black. As was the sky.

I was blind. And cold.

My body was floating, drifting aimlessly inside the darkness. There was no light to show me the way, nothing to ground myself onto. I was alone.

Then a quiet voice whispered into my ear.

"I've found you"

I gasped, and suddenly the air filled with red light, and I was covered in its rays. Crimson, blinding sunlight. Was I in hell?

Before me stood Madara, and I was suddenly paralyzed. Definitely hell.

"You cannot hide from me Yuzuki."

"Leave me alone." My voice cracked, it hurt to talk.

"Yuzuki...dear cousin...stop running from me."

"Stop obsessing over me!"

"I'm trying to keep you safe. Come home."

He took a step forward, and the ground rippled below his foot. Were we standing in water? I still couldn't move which sent alarm bells off in my head as Madara slowly started to close the distance between us.

"No, Tobirama is keeping me safe now. You failed that task when you decided your own goals were more important than my freedom!"

"You can't stay with him, he's not one of us Yuzuki."

"What do you mean?" Us? Are we different species or something? I cringed.

"He's not an Uchiha cousin, he's an outsider, you don't belong with him."

"He's my friend. He's helping me." He's the only person who has shown me genuine kindness in months.

"Helping you? Why would he help you? He just wants to use you for his clan, exploit you! Those Senju snakes."

"That's a lie. You're lying."

"He's killed us Yuzuki, he's the enemy."

"No."

"He killed Izuna."

"Stop."

"He wants us dead Yuzuki." He was face to face with me, and my head tilted up to meet his gaze without my control. "Come back home, I want to keep you safe. Safe from him."

"Madara...I can't."

"I'll find you Yuzuki, you can't hide forever, you'll slide back to me. Just watch."

"Madara...please just...move on...we have grieved...please don't make it worse. We're trying to build peace. Isn't that why we moved to Konoha?"

He ignored me.

"If you don't come with me, he'll die."

"No...no more death please Madara. I'm begging you."

"Goodbye."

"NO!"

There was nothing. Nothing but darkness, a heavy weight lifted off my chest. I was floating again.

~~~~~

I awoke with a gasp.

Next to me I saw someone sit up, their blurred figure turning towards me in panic in the morning light. I didn't say anything, only stared at them with shocked eyes, breathing in and out heavily.