It was sunny day at the Senju compound. The sky was clear enough to allow rays of sunshine touching the earth. The window wide opened. Letting the fresh morning air filling the lonely room once again.
It's been a week since Chichi-ue left the house. Anija too..
Tobirama sat behind the short table with his back facing the wall yet barely touching it. His eyes moving from left to right on each paragraph he read. He jerked up as he felt a hand firmly grab onto his shoulder "Itama.." his crimson eyes scanned on his brother.
"Tobirama anija.." his breath hitched, tears slid down his chubby cheeks, dampened his chin. His round watery eyes pleaded for help, before he closed them to prevent the upcoming tears "I can't find Kawa-ra-"
Tobirama sighed quietly "let's go find him.." it's a normal thing for the second elder brother to be there for his little brothers.Born with the sensory skill, Tobirama was very sensitive about his surroundings. He could sense person's chakra from the age of three where he was forced to play hide and seek with no one else but his own brother Hashirama. He still remember the time where he became the seeker. He only took a minute to find Hashirama hid inside an old wardrobe. It's easy for him to get inside the room but it such a challenge for three years old Tobirama to slide open the door. It was a gift for him, yet he never knew he would use it on such trivial thing to find his little brother who's playing hide and seek. But he can't ignore his crying little brother alone or else he would end up searching for the two of them.
Tobirama held his three years old little brother after he gotten up from the floor. Tiny hand in a small one. They walked out the room towards the corridor outside. They stood there for a moment.
"Kawa said that we only allowed to hide inside the house.. but-" Itama used his long sleeve to wipe his tears away. His eyes were puffy "I couldn't find him.." hiccups filled out the air.
Tobirama looked away from his crying little brother to study their surroundings. He knew that both of his brothers would play this game whenever Chichi-ue wasn't home. It's one of the best way to kill the boredom; That's what Kawarama told him, he knew where did it came from. His elder brother would sometimes join them too. And Tobirama.. he wouldn't understand why his brothers find that game interesting. Sometimes when they failed to search for the others who's hiding, Kawarama, Itama or even Hashirama would poke Tobirama to tell where them were. And it wasn't a good idea.
"Tobirama anija, are you going to tell Chichi-ue that I lost Kawa?"
Tobirama dragged his attention back to his little brother. He shouldn't keep it longer to find where Kawarama was. But he haven't sense any chakra from inside the house. Except..
"No." He was about to speed into the house when he felt something wasn't quite right. Kawarama was there,but.. "let's go" he took Itama on his arms. Itama's small hand tucked behind his neck, he sniffled silently.
"Have you sense him?"
Instead of answering, Tobirama sped-walked into the house. Kawarama wasn't inside the kitchen. But his chakra told him he was there.
Don't say..
Clutching onto Tobirama's shirt, Itama closed his eyes as Tobirama rushed to slide the Shoji door open. His crimson eyes scanned over the backyard. There's no sign of Kawarama. The training ground was empty. Three shuriken was neatly impaled into the single tree near the corridor. That's not only it. A single kunai was there too. Judging from afar, the handle of the small weapon tied around with golden string, making it glowing from the light. Tobirama knew who was it belongs to.
The third son.
"Wait here" he knelt down and put Itama down the floor as he made his way to get a closer look on the kunai. Narrowed his eyes, he studied the design of the well-made kunai. It was indeed belong to Kawarama.
"Kawarama" The white-haired Senju folded his arms. His voice was clear for anyone near the tree to hear. He looked up at the tree in front of him, then moving towards the house "Kawarama that's enough hiding, you know I can sense you"
A long shrug escaped into the air. A tiny voice came from the tall tree. Itama stood up from the floor and waddled towards his second elder brother.
"Tobirama Anija.. could a tree talk?" The three years old blinked in confusion. He knew that tree can't talk. But the voice that he heard wasn't quite recognizable, it's like it came from someone's talking with a mouthful. Or it's more into a muffled sound "Sora-baachan told us about the talking tree.." It was true. The old lady had spent her time with the boys when their mother needed help. She lived few blocks from them, anyone who lived inside the Senju compound knew her as a great medical ninja. She was the leader of the group of hundreds medical shinobi to treat their wounded clansmen. When the war arise, she would be busy and had no time to look over the boys. So it's all left to them to take care of each other "Do you think we should chop down the tree? Or else he will whisper something bad to us" Technically.. it wasn't a story. It was a poem. A long poem about nature beauty. Tobirama was there when the old lady recited her poem. No, they were all there. The brothers sat side by side with sleeping Hashirama and Kawarama. It was too unusual for Itama to deliver his attention to such long speech. Tobirama wasn't sure what had attracted his youngest brother. However, he made an assumption that among the brothers, Itama was the one who's closer with the old lady.
"We'll see.."
"Do you think it'll feels pain?" He clutched onto his brother's leg"I don't want to hurt the tree"
"Tree doesn't feel pain Itama, But someone's will.."
"I'm not a tree Itama!" shouted Kawarama "anija..." a light-brown hair boy popped out his head "Tobirama anija.." He was dangerously warping his arms around the strong branch with his hands barely met each other "help.. my leg is stuck"
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Ages :
Hashirama: 7
Tobirama: 6
Kawarama: 4
Itama: 3
