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Tobirama Senju [Part Two]
Background History: Maybe there was some significance to the way Tobirama was brought into this world. Not a normal birth by most standards, but a trend that probably shaped who her son would be in the years to follow. A water birth, really, a more "natural" way to give birth and in a way that was supposed to ease pain for the mother. Strangely enough when they took him out of the water, he screamed and cried, but when placed back in his mother's arms in the tub, he quieted down. Most would say it was a mother's embrace, but that was only the half of it.

Growing up in a way that embraced the things he loved was probably easier for Tobirama than it was for his brother. Hashirama carried the burden of being the eldest son, and thus the man of the house for the future. Despite a drastic cultural shift taking place in modern Japan, the Senju family still managed to hold onto certain old ways of life. Learning his role as the younger son was a little difficult for Tobirama at first, and sometimes he had a hard time understanding why Hashirama said and did the things he did, but he looked forward to his brother being the man in charge, since he easily though that if Hashirama was in charge, then they wouldn't have to go to school, or eat things Grandma cooked that tasted terrible, and they could use all their money to buy snacks.

Tobirama didn't really dislike his father, but rather, he preferred the company of his mother and brother, finding them to both just be more soothing company. He had respect for his father, which was different than the love he had for his mother. Following the steps she'd taken with Hashirama, his mother gave Tobirama a bonsai of his very own to care for, since she'd been a hobbyist of the small trees for years and Hashirama had taken an intense liking toward them. But soon she quickly realized her younger son didn't quite have the green thumb the eldest did. This was made clear when the poor tree was practically drowned from too many waterings a day, to which Tobirama replied to with "I tried to stop, but the water looked so pretty pouring out."

It was an obsession of his, and one his mother never thought to shy him away from. Since there were many Japanese gardens they could visit, ranging from the modest ones in their neighborhood to the full-out simple decadence of a temple garden, Tobirama found that he spent less time worrying about his role in the family, and more time focused on nature, on the world around him. For a while, things were good like that. He would hang around his older brother, fetch him pails of water to tend to the plants in the backyard, and fall asleep to the sounds of his brother's voice, ranting on and on about how he could hear the trees. Tobirama never heard water speak, but he envied his brother's talent and never once doubted it's authenticity.

For the first few years of his life, Tobirama was well-adjusted, happy, and while a bit of a loner, still easily made friends on the playground. It seemed like he was set to go far in life, he was bright and had a penchant for technology, always wondering how things worked, though this wouldn't become his focus until later on. His way of seeing life was changed entirely when the divorce of his parents was announced, and for the first time Tobirama wondered about love. What it meant to love, and be loved. Why two people who were supposed to be in love only hurt each other. Being just a young child, he instantly placed blame on their father, hating him and blaming him for making his mother sad. Even though Hashirama had told him not to hate their father for it, Tobirama still did. He hated the man even more when he fled to America, though it was on the flight to see his father in his new home that his first real method of coping began.