Two Leaf Fires (MadaNaru)

Chapter 14

Truthfully, Naruto did not know how to process the current landscape of confusion he had found himself within. As it were he was in a small room, comfortable, small, though larger then his previous home. Complete with a surprisingly plush futon and a window that creaked ever so slightly when the wind brushed against it. He remained inside Hashirama's home, a fact which in itself gave his mind trembles of discomfort- and indeed, a fair amount of disbelief. His life was a mess all his years, to have it be turns so drastically, yet still manage to be such a mess was impressive in its own right- and deplorable by Naruto's view. He hardly understood where he was, neverminding his status within the village.

It was as he fathomed his new gender situation that his thoughts drifted to his travelling companion, of the both of them he would be the most affected. Not merely because the world he had known was tipped to the side just as Naruto's was. No, because though the man had modern perceptions, he was a man of the past- tradition did dictate much of his thoughts. This was a time he had known, and he was accustomed to gender sterotypes and positions, and excetera, that Naruto himself did not know of, Madara was certainly far more out of his depth then he was. The spark of sympathy lit a small flame in his belly and it did not disapate even as he lay his head on the feathered pillow.

.o0o.

Morning came with a new force of wakefulness he didn't usually experience. That was a person ripping a thin blanket from his sleeping self, and physically pushing him off his futon and onto the not sun-heated wood of the floor. Then a loud laugh which tingled in at the back of his brain with recognition, nevertheless the mild pulse of comprehension at the back of his mind did jolt him into a combat ready mindset. It was not the first time one had broken into his home to steal the meager supplies he had, and upon the action of instinct he came to a reverse plank position and spiraled his body. Satisfactorily hitting an ankle as the assilent fell down with a groan on impact, and he himself pulled himself to stand from the motion.

Only to find a downed brunet rubbing at his tailbone and wincing in pain. Naruto came to fast remembrance and fresh embarrassment flushed his cheeks red, he reached down a hand to help the other man up, sputtering out apologies as the pained brunet righted himself.

"You have fast reflexes, good, thats probably a good thing." Hashirama wiggled about a little, though his praise was a little weakened by the fact he appeared quite pained from his sudden fall, rubbing his hip as he were. Naruto stepped back a faction, sheepish at his sudden reaction, having forgotten nigh entirely where he was at instinct's moment. He laughed a nervous titter, but was greeted with a kindly smile in turn nothing irate in the brown gaze of his company.

"That's alright, I'm sure you are more adapt to threatening environments wandering around in this war torn land of ours. Between you and me, and Tobirama I suppose. I used to do the same thing to my brother's when they jolted me awake much the same as I did you. Perhaps its karama taking her own." Hashirama chatted amicably as Naruto dressed, into the fine kimono he had been gifted, his back turned to the blond for a polite show of courtesy. Naruto enjoyed it, the warm conversation after waking. Many of his lost friends had complained avidly about being woken up too early -or rather not early at all, just woken up.-

Naruto welcomed the company. And the fact that someone came to wake him, without threat. Though as he thought such wondering glad tides, his hands fumbled with the stationing of the obi, he had never had the pleasure of wearing one. His experience with kimono not stretching higher then a yukata and a sash. He whined low in his throat, catching the attention of his fellow it seemed, Hashirama took a brief moment to smile in amusement at Naruto's clumsy fingers before coming to his aid.

The prospect scared him, not quite understanding how this world fit together. There was also that continual repress of loneliness as a mist within his head, that same hovering cover from the sun which he'd had most of his early life. To have tasted the sun, indulge in the company of others whom found him as a friend and not an enemy as a teen, then- snatched away from him as if by the sharp, foreboding, crack of a whip. No one here knew him, nor what he held within, and that made him more alone then before.