[Fic] deny the deep (Naruto)
- Fandom: Naruto
- Pairing: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Tajima
- Tags: Captivity, Rescue
- Word-Count: 605
- Status: Complete
- First Published: 2024-12-07
- Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and make no profit from this—it is solely a hobby for fun, with no financial compensation.
Summary:
Then again, Tobirama thinks, he thought Tajima was dead.
Notes:
written for whumpcember 2024 - Day 7: Kidnapped
Work Text:
Senju Tobirama stands above the kneeling Uchiha Tajima, and watches. Stares.
Studies.
Uchiha Tajima, covered in blood and mud and bruises, broken arm cradled to his chest, studies him right back in turn, sharingan eyes bright even in the semi-darkness of only the torches on the far wall. That he has not attacked is one thing; that he hasn't even moved is another.
His hair is filthy, Tobirama thinks. And far longer than it was the last time he saw Tajima.
This isn't what he expected to find.
Then again, Tobirama thinks, he thought Tajima was dead.
Stepping up to him, Tobirama stares down at Tajima. The Uchiha tilts his head back to keep watching Tobirama's face, and Tobirama can see the etches around his throat when the long, black hair parts. A seal of some kind, he assumes; if not that, then just humiliation. Still, Tobirama rests his hand on Tajima's dirtied cheek and tilts his head further back, eyes narrowing as he focuses. "How long have you been here?" he asks, hushed, and Tajima merely shrugs.
Jaw clenching, Tobirama takes his hand back. Tajima's eyelashes flutter, and he exhales far too slowly, far too controlled. Tobirama doesn't know what is wrong with him, but he's certain something is. He must recognize Tobirama, of course; and yet he doesn't move away, doesn't try to attack. Merely sways on his knees, blinking slowly up at Tobirama. The seal? Some drug to addle his mind? A combination?
Neither seems an impossibly, Tobirama decides. Not with someone like Uchiha Tajima, powerful even as he aged. No, to get him still and quiet like this, to remain in the prison even when Tobirama has opened the door, something must have been done to him.
"Aren't you going to escape?" asks Tobirama, carefully skirting around making eye-contact with the sharingan, and Tajima only shrugs again. Frowning, Tobirama gets his hand on Tajima's robe and pulls him up, inelegant though it might be.
Tajima sways on his feet just as he swayed on his knees, and Tobirama's frown grows harsher, eyes narrowing. He could leave Tajima, he knows. Pretend he never saw him. But---he couldn't, either. He knows how much Uchiha Madara loves his family, knows how much Hashirama wishes he had some kind of leverage to force a peace negotiation. Tajima would be the strongest kunai they've ever had, for that.
"I'm taking you home," Tobirama says and leaves the small cell with Tajima in tow, mind already spinning over the seal on the man's throat. It must mean something, he decides. Can't not.
Tajima says nothing, merely follows. But he follows all the way out of the compound, even with his chakra suppressed. Evades the guards with ease, even without Tobirama directing him. Not everything can have been ruined, then, Tobirama thinks. There must still be something to him, and so Tobirama chooses hope. He drags Tajima out of there, and through hours of walking in the forest, sending clones back to lay false trails. At a river, Tajima proves that he can bathe on his own, the seal also proving to extent over the entirety of his scarred back.
In the evening, Tobirama cooks the animal he catches, and Tajima eats on his own. Tobirama watches, makes notes of the seal, and thinks he'll have to hide Tajima when he gets him home. Just for a while; a proper chance to study the seals.
"Do you know who I am?" he asks Tajima before the man goes to sleep on the ground.
Tajima looks at him eyes burning bright red. "Of course," he says, and smiles.
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