An Unexpected Romance

Chapter 42

Chikako sighed, she was sitting by the waterfall that Tobirama had made for her so long ago. She missed him terribly. She remembered the day he had created it like it ws yesterday. She had wondered when he died if it would fade away but it hadn't.

The day after he'd built this waterfall the peace arrangement her father had created with their marriage had fallen apart. Her father had died and another clan leader had stepped up to take over the village, kicking anyone loyal to her father out. Takao, her brother by her father's mistress, had come here. That was when they had discovered that he was, in fact, an Uchiha.

In fact it had been Takao who had helped smooth things between the Uchihas and the Senjus, his friendship with Tobirama helping a lot. After Madara had died he'd been active in the clan helping them find their place in Konoha and he had worked diligently to get the academy working, even serving as a sensei for a time.

Her mother had married Shikaya Nara and spent many happy years with him before he'd died. She had given him two sons and though Shikaya had passed away a few years ago her mother lived with her son and helped with her grandson Shikaku. She was very happy and Chikako was pleased that her mother had found peace.

Chikako let a heavy sigh escape her. Many of the people she had loved most were gone. Just her mother remained from the Iwa people who had come to Konoha as refugees, and one of Takao's boys. Everyone else had died either from old age or the war.

She missed them all but she missed Tobirama the most. When he had died in battle she had felt his warmth go out and she had known that it wouldn't be back. Unlike her mother she didn't have the comfort of children. The child she been pregnant with when the Iwa refugees came had miscarried. She had given him a son later but he'd died in the war just as his father had.

She sat close to the waterfall and let the water run over her hand. When she touched the water sometimes she could remember Tobirama's warmth and how they used to sneak off to the water to be alone.

She remembered that day years ago when she'd sat by the Iwa waterfall and wondered what her life would be like. She'd worried that the arranged marriage she knew her father would make for her would be a burden. That the man she would marry wouldn't love her.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

The peace and strength she had found in the stony waterfall in Iwa had been replaced by Tobirama, a ninja warrior of the Senju clan who was as strong as a rock and who used water as his weapon, both for war and peace.

She lay down and rested her head on the ground, allowing her eyes to close. She'd had a good life, even if it had a rocky start. Her marriage to Tobirama had been the best thing to ever happen to her. As she lay there she could feel his warmth again.

When she looked up, he was walking towards her, smiling, with his arms stretched out to hold her. "I've missed you so much, Chika."

She rose and walked towards him, understanding that he'd come so she could rejoin him. Behind him in the distance she saw all her loved ones waiting for them and she put her arms around him, kissed him and turned to walk towards them. "I've missed you too."

It was Hiruzen Sarutobi, Tobirama's student and the Hokage who'd succeeded him who found her. She looked as if she had fallen asleep with her hand in the waterfall that Tobirama had put there for her. She was where she wanted to be once again.

(A/n: yes I know this last bit doesn't fit in with Tobirama's end, but hell it's a tearjerker.)