He plucks the instrument again.
Yes, much better. He sets the tuning wrench next to him, and places his hands over the strings.
Slowly, he eases into a gentle mellow tune, one reminiscent of light winds across open plains, of swaying leaves and lazy, unhurried clouds, of the teasing caresses of the sun's ascension at dawn.
It was his favorite, and the melody rings bittersweet in his mind.
Quiet shuffling noises and a silent curse muttered under held breath disrupt the music's flow. An intruder was persistently making their way through the numerous seals and wards he'd placed in the way. Madara sighs.
“I don’t know why I even bother with all the roadblocks…” He mumbles to himself.
He can sense a figure slowly ascend the stairs onto the pavilion where he was. From behind a pillar, Hashirama peaks his head, pouting. "...why'd you stop?"
Madara hasn't even noticed that his hands now hovered over the guzheng, clawed nails hooked beneath the strings but frozen in anticipation of... He's not sure exactly what. Old habits, if he had to guess. He exhales slowly and eases back into the melody.
Hashirama sits a few paces to his left. “Arent you just full of surprises, Madara?” he teases playfully. “You never told me you could play!”
“Because I couldn't,” Madara replies, “I just had a lot of time to learn.”
“Well, you’ve gotten excellent”
“I’d say my skills have become passable.”
Hashirama reels back, then shuffles a bit and starts exaggeratedly looking up and around. Madara gives him an incredibly unimpressed scowl.
“Oh just checking if the sky is falling.”
“...Why would the sky be falling”
“Because I don't think I've ever heard you be humble about anything. Ever.”
As soon as that last word leaves his mouth Madara chucks the tuning wrench at him, but Hashirama playfully dodges out of the way and lets out a warm hearty chuckle.
“Sorry sorry… I'm just pleasantly surprised. I never took myself for a guzheng guy. But I think I'd like to hear more.” He leaves the implied suggestion hanging in the air.
Madara snickers. “You should have heard Izuna play, he was-” He stops abruptly, expression turning dark and sullen. “-he was actually good at it”
Hashirama immediately stiffens. “Madara-”
His lover raises a hand to silence him. “It’s fine Hashirama,” He says, despite the tired and distant look that clouds his eyes, locking away his heart where Hashirama can't reach.
He opens and closes his mouth, words failing him miserably in offering any kind of comfort. Izuna was the wound in Madara's heart that never stopped bleeding.
Madara exhales slowly. “I’m fine. Really. Stop looking like a sad dog.”