#itatobi

File this under; "okay, hear me out..."

Summary:

What could you possibly want to meet with me about, outside of attempting to kill me."

What Tobirama says next chills him to the bone.

"I have one of your clansmen," he says lowly. "He's got quite the tale to tell you."

Izuna doesn't know what to make of a clansman from the future who, despite everything, still wants them to build the village.

Itachi has sacrificed a lot. He feels entitled to a bit of a reward.

+++

Chapters: 4/? Fandom: Naruto Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Itachi Characters: Senju Tobirama, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Izuna Additional Tags: Warring States Period (Naruto), Alternate Universe - Reincarnation Summary:

Itachi wakes up to a strange, unknown family, in a strange body, and must find a way to navigate the situation he's found himself in - and live the new life he's been thrusted into.

ItaTobi for @officerjennie! This ship needs way more love. I really hope you like them :D

--

Holding their hands up together, measuring his own spindly fingers against the spidery length of his lover’s, it always made him smile. Only one man could have skin paler than his own and Itachi couldn’t help but think it entirely unfair that Tobirama had a free pass from all the jokes about needing to get out in the sunlight more.

“What are you thinking about?”

“You could probably crush my head with just one of your hands,” he mused aloud. Underneath him, Tobirama titled his head as best he could when they were already shoved up so close to the arm of the couch. 

“How...romantic?” 

Itachi shook his head with a smile. “My thoughts do not always need to be romantic. Nor do they always need to have a purpose.” Pressing their palms together a little more tightly, he relented. “I was just thinking that I like how our hands look together.”

A startled noise slipped out when the fingers he was studying shifted to the side and braided themselves between his own, gripping tightly to steady him as Tobirama rolled their bodies. He blinked to find himself trapped tightly against the back of the couch but it was not a bad place to be. Not with Tobirama so solid and large with the muscles of his arm standing out so prominently where it took his weight. 

“Funny that,” his lover rumbled. “I was just thinking how much I like seeing you. Any part of you really. Preferably free of clothing.” 

(ง'̀-'́)ง

---

“Mmmm, you’re distracting me.”

Itachi pulled back just enough to let their noses brush together, running his fingers through the fur clasped around the nidaime’s shoulders. He’d just stopped in to drop off some paperwork but something about being able to lean down to kiss Tobirama had just been irresistible.

Not that he usually minded needing to tilt his head back to get a proper look at the other. It just so happened that being able to tilt Tobirama’s head back instead had Itachi’s eyes darkening with interest.

“I could always come back later, if you wish.”

Tobirama clicked his tongue, eyes flickering towards the missive he’d been reading through when Itachi had come up behind him. It wouldn’t be him if he didn’t at least consider the offer; work and research often took the forefront of his mind and consumed his days to an unhealthy degree by many people’s standards.

His own priorities had often been seen as skewed, so it was something that had never once bothered Itachi. If anything, Tobirama’s dedication to his studies and to their village was one of the first things that had drawn Itachi towards him in the first place.

But Tobirama decided to surprise him today. Instead of going back to his work, he turned, Itachi sharply intaking a breath when he found himself rather suddenly settled into the man’s lap, having been picked up and moved by those rather muscular arms as if he weighed nothing.

“Not necessary. I do believe I quite like you right here.” 

“A good distraction, then?”

As an Uchiha, pride had been forced into his nature. No matter how he tried to shake it off he knew nothing of asking for help - not even in his darkest hour did he ever consider the possibility that a ghost might be able to save him.

It wasn’t until his days were drawing to an end that he thought to ask. Blood coating his palms, his throat and lungs raw, breaths shaking at the helplessness that had overcome him. His own body fighting a war against him, time slipping like the liquid between his fingers.

The ghost had a name. It felt heavy on his tongue, tasted like a lie. Familiar. Weighted. Cutting into the silence of the room about him, nothing but the empty space of the hostel to hear it or his pained gasping.

“Oh, child.”

Itachi’s head jerked to the side, poor vision making him squint up at the figure next to him. A soldier of war clad in dark blue, his armor scuffed and worn. Face pinched with worry, dragging the glowing tattoos on his cheek further inward.

He could not sense him. But the man defied that fact by existing in his presence, bending down to place a cool hand against his burning forehead, the red mark on his wrist glowing as well.

“You should have called to me sooner.”

Ghosts were creatures left best in wives tales and fantasies. And yet here, in the presence of one that should not be able to exist at all, Itachi felt safer than he’d ever before - and fell weeping into the arms of Konoha’s watcher and protector.

-suspicious squint- How do you know my two weaknesses? WHO TOLD YOU???

(it was me, wasn’t it?)

—

Out of all of the people in Konoha who he could’ve suspected to be a hoarder of  cute things, Tobirama would have never been on that list. The man was quite vehement about his dislike for small animals, going out of his way to avoid them at all costs, getting a pinched expression every time they happened to walk past a tiny puppy or a stumbling kitten following its mother about.

It came as a rather shocking surprise, then, when Itachi came home to find their living room had been turned into a kitten play den. At least a dozen of the little critters tumbling over each other, a few much smaller than the rest sitting in a padded and cozy box while they mewled away, their stubby tails stuck straight up and their legs hardly able to support what little weight they had to them.

He side stepped a few of the larger ones carefully, though one managed to attach itself to his leg and claw up to his shoulder as he made his way to find his partner. When he did manage to find Tobirama, he was swaying on the spot in the kitchen, his fur pelt wrapped up in his arms like he was swaddling a baby as he hummed away some tune Itachi could swear he’d heard the man’s brother sing to his children.

“Tobirama-san?”

At his name, the man froze. He turned his head ever so slowly after a moment, pink dusting his cheeks as he stared pointedly away from Itachi. “I’ve asked you not to call me that…”

“Our house isn’t being turned into a cattery, is it?”

“Catteries are awful inventions - no animal deserves to be kept in such small cages!” Tobirama clenched the bundle closer to his chest, still not turning to face Itachi fully. “…and. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“There must be at least thirty kittens in the living room, Tobirama-san.” Another cat came meandering past him then, one that looked to have recently given birth if her size and belly were anything to go by. She jumped up on the counter and started cleaning her face, looking exhausted but still proud in that way all cats were.

“…they must have snuck in while I wasn’t looking.”

Ignoring the fact that the living room had clearly been set up for the little ones, Itachi let that one go, stepping forward to try and peer around Tobirama. “What are you holding?”

“Nothing.”

His little bundle gave a rather small noise, and Tobirama instantly cooed at it. Now that Itachi could see the front of him, he saw that there was a bottle in one of his hands - and the tiniest paw he’d ever seen found its way out of the fur and into sight for a split second.

“What a predicament, then.” Itachi reached out and gave the mother cat some love scritches, smiling softly as the kitten on his shoulder rubbed against his head. “I suppose if they went through all that trouble to sneak in, we can’t exactly get rid of them.”

“Of course we can’t get rid of them.”

“Of course.” He slid right up to Tobirama’s side, leaning against him. “I did spend a lot of time with Nekobaa when I was younger, and helped her raise several litters. Maybe I could help more abandoned little ones in the future.”

“…if I ever see any, I’ll bring them home. For you.”

For his partner’s benefit, Itachi didn’t protest that statement. Instead, he just leaned on him further, petting the little paw still stuck out from the fur bundle with one finger, wondering how on earth Tobirama had hidden all of these cats from him for so long.

—