#spirits au

Madara knew a spirit once. An unusually present one, who’d happened to visit the mangroves growing along the strait between their island and the mainland. They’d been childhood playmates, running through the trees and brush without a word spoken, just laughter.

In hindsight, he wasn’t sure his wooden friend could speak.

But that wasn’t the point, the point was that he had recently received news of said playmates marriage.

Apparently a nomadic clan had passed through, and their heir had accidentally proposed to the mangroves spirit. Apparently there was some confusion at first, and with his friends habit of bursting into tears or attacking people into hugs, he didn’t doubt that for a second.

He’d only met them once, on a trip to the mainland, and they both seemed so happy together. But more than that, the village had flourished.

The mangroves on the mainland were larger than on the island, but since their marriage the villagers had been able to harvest three times as much, as the whole area bloomed with his happiness. The village chief had been so happy he had given the two of them an estate a little ways from the village, closer to the mangroves themselves, and had hired Mito into the government for her technical mind.

Which brings him back to his current issue. For generations the sea had been slowly swallowing the island, and recently it had been even worse. They’d hardly brought any fish in, their main source of food and income, and the shorelines had been getting dangerously high durring the tides.

They had tried just about everything. And that was perhaps why he was even considering this. He had a whole island to look out for, his clan alongside a few other small clans and a whole village of civilians.

With a heavy sigh he closed the ring box in hand, holding his mother’s ring. It had been his grandmother’s before her, and on and on since nearly the foundation of his clan. And he was gonna throw it into the sea.

“For the record, I still think this is a terrible idea.”

Izuna had been very supportive thus far.

“I know you think this is the only way, and the elders can be very pressuring, but come on.”

“What do we have left to loose Izuna.”

And with that, he stood up and set out for their clan’s private section of the beach.

He felt a strange combination of silly, and bone-achingly serious. He supposed it all depended on whether this worked.

Nevertheless he settled himself onto the beach, and set the box down just within the waterline. He watched the waves crest around it, six, seven waves. Then the water washed over it, and the box was gone.

He waited nearly until sunset, the sun dipping just below the horizon, when he finally got his response. He looked up at the sound of a particularly harsh wave, his eyes widening as the water rose up.

The wave rose and swirled into a column, before fading to seafoam in the shape of a person, neither distinctively male or female. They stood still for a moment, before turning their bone-white gaze onto him.

They moved slowly, almost drifting along the water, their feet never passing below it. The closer they got to shore, the more they visibly struggled, and Madara rushed forward to help, the two of them almost-embracing in the seafoam-edge.

He watched in muted awe as they reached for his hand, his mother’s ring fitted to their finger, and pulled it up to their mouth. They had two rows of fine, sharp teeth, which promptly bit into his hand.

The pain started him, and he tried to pull back on reflex, but they held fast, pulling his bleeding hands up to their eyes to color them red, like his mouth now was.

He stood there, eyes wide, transfixed as they filled two cuts on either side of their face and one on their chin, before pulling their hand to their skin, his blood diluting to give it just the barest hint of color.

When they were done, their other hand brushed over the wound on Madara’s, and the cut vanished with the sting of salt.

They looked at each other for a long moment before he cleared his throat,

“Hello. My name is Madara Uchiha. I’m…” he hesitated a moment, “your husband.”

The spirit’s icy expression softened ever-so-slightly, and they gave a small nod. Madara made to lead him back towards his home, only for them to stumble once out of the wet sand.

Madara carefully set his hands around his bride, waiting long enough to see any hesitation, before sweeping them into his arms and carrying them the rest of the way.

Izuna was in the living room when he got home, eating dinner. He gaped at the sight of Madara and the spirit in their doorway.

Madara carefully set them down on the couch,

“Izuna, can you grab them something to wear?”

The seafoam had made them a light underlayer, but they would need something more substantial for the night.

Izuna nodded and ran off, and Madara took the chance to sweep into the kitchen and plate up some of the fried rice his brother had made, and a glass of water (did his bride even need water? Since he was kinda made of it?), and presented the plate to them.

Izuna came back with some of his clothes, which would hopefully fit his bride’s slighter frame better then his inevitably wouldn’t, and he helped them get it on before they turned back to the food. (They didn’t drink the water.)

After that, their eyes began to drop, and after his long day on the beach, Madara himself was tired too. He found feel Izuna practically vibrating with questions, but he ignored him.

He held out his hand,

“Would you like to retire for the night?”

His bride gave a small nod, and he helped them to the bedroom. He gently settled them onto the bed, and felt their eyes on his back as he readied himself for sleep.

guess who's working on another au without developing the other au they have?? you'll never guess

I have some ideas for it but basically it's where all of the scugs are like spirits (I'm normal about religion and mythology I swear) and some are angels, some are simply just spirits, and others are demons

It's gonna be something kinda like the dating sim but I added lore