Red String of Fate

Chapter 15 - I'm going to become Hokage!

"Does it hurt?" Hashirama asked with distress, Madara glanced down at Hashirama's worried expression and smiled.

"Even though you're not the one hurt, you sure look like you're in pain." Madara pointed out with a laugh, watching as Hashirama's expression instantly turned pouty once he heard of this.

"And you avoided my question." Hashirama complained, this person's personality was so similar to Madara's that he had to keep reminding him this was Kazuki-san, not Madara.

Does it hurt? Perhaps not right now, but his heart sure ached with pain right now...

"Yes," Madara confessed quietly. "It hurts."

Hashirama heard the man's dead serious words and looked up at him with a frown, Madara met with Hashirama's eyes and showed him a smile.

All of a sudden, Hashirama felt very self-conscious of himself and looked back down at their touching hands. Madara observed every detail of this and didn't know why, but felt very happy watching this.

"What's wrong, Hashirama?" Madara leaned in and whispered in Hashirama's ears, watching as they turned a dark red.

"I'm done." The blushing Senju pushed Madara away and remained a safe meter away from the man.

"As expected of the Hokage. Extraordinary healing skills." Madara commented, flexing his hand with a genuine smile. He wondered if Hashirama had tried to save him when he'd stabbed himself, Madara felt a pang of guilt as he visualized Hashirama crying over his dead body.

Hashirama who was showered with compliments was at a loss for words and simply glanced at Madara silently, noticing the sudden guilt that flickered through the man's eyes.

"Do you want to sit down and wait for Hino-san to come to consciousness again?" Hashirama suggested, Madara agreed and dragged two chairs over for them to sit on.

"You seemed upset before, did you remember anything unpleasant?" Hashirama asked as they sat down next to one another, Madara stretched his arms and let out a sigh.

"Did you cry when your friend passed away?" He spoke without thinking and instantly regretted it as he noticed Hashirama's shoulders noticeably slump.

"Ah sorry, I've crossed the line." He hurriedly apologized but Hashirama threw him a smile.

"It's alright, I feel that I can totally open up to you Kazuki-san." Hashirama reassured him and looked down at his hands. He almost could see the red blood that dripped down from the very hands he'd promised to protect with.

"Yeah, when he stabbed himself, I broke down." Hashirama admitted, forcing a smile as he placed his hands back onto his legs.

"I panicked and I think I may have even screamed out his name." The smile slowly disappeared and was replaced with a disconsolate expression.

"I started crying and despite how hard I tried, the wound wouldn't close in time." Madara felt suffocated as he watched tears fall from the man's eyes.

"I even tried to use the second stage of my regenerative abilities to bring him back, even though I knew he was already... Dead." Madara's expression turned pained, he'd tried to do so much for him...

"But Tobirama stopped me before I used it, I am so pathetic, aren't I? I'm Hokage but I wasn't even able to save my friend." Hashirama sullenly said, tears fell down his face excessively.

"Stage two regenerative abilities?" Madara asked quietly, he'd never heard known Hashirama had two stages before.

"While the first stage is for regenerating from normal wounds, bruises, cuts. Second stage is for doing larger feats like recreating cells, attaching limbs back on, or fixing a person's chakra network." He explained, Madara heard this new piece of information and his eyes widened in amazement.