The little bell chimed happily as I opened the door.

It was a beautiful sound, clear and welcoming in a way that made me think that no matter how many days someone spent here, they would never tire of the sound.

I smiled when I saw him behind the desk. He was wore olive cardigan that hung off one shoulder, his hair in a high ponytail, and he was assembling a bouquet of leaves. As he heard the bell, he looked up, and his face broke out into a beautiful smile, his teeth slightly crooked but very white, as if God had chosen his best teeth to create my brother's mouth but had just dropped them into his mouth like dices.

"Izuna!"

I went and hugged him.

"You look fantastic", I said.

"How the fuck did you make that bun?" he asked, pointing at my head where I had collected my hair in a high updo, some strands free to frame my hair.

"I did it without looking while cooking breakfast and it turned out pretty good so I pinned it down", I said.

"Looks fucking bridal. Now, what do you want?"

I frowned.

"Is it that obvious I'm here to ask you a favour?"

"Yes. And judging by how hesitant your energy is, I guess it has to do with that professor who, by the way, is way too old for you."

"He's not!" I exclaimed.

"He's my age!" Madara complained.

"So if you were one year older than me, I would only be allowed to date people my age?"

"Exactly!" Madara said, but I knew that part was a joke, and that he knew that I understood what he really meant. "Now, what do you want?" he repeated.

"Remember how you're actually a neurosurgeon?"

Madara had graduated med school at twenty-four, having started directly after high school. He'd started his specialist training immediately after graduating, and at thirty-two, he was a specialist in neurosurgery, which was a frightfully young age. One day, he'd lost one of his cancer patients, a young girl, on his operating table, and he'd just decided he didn't want to do it anymore. He'd taken a one-year-course to become a florist, and had run this shop for the past year. I had never seen him so happy, so I, personally, had never thought about the lost potential. I didn't, however, know how he felt about it himself. Did he miss being a neurosurgeon? Did he miss his old profession? Did he feel guilt? Unworthy?

I didn't know how he felt about ever operating again, be it now or further in the future. But I still had to ask him. And the more I explained about what I wanted him to do, the deeper the furrow in his brow grew.

"So... Will you do it?" I finally asked. 

I expected him to say no. In all honesty, I just waited for him to say no so I could move on and think of a plan B. But to my great surprise, he didn't.

"I'll do it", he said, crossing his arms.

"What, really?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"Yes. But I don't like it. The only reason I do it is because I don't trust that professor of yours, and I know if I don't do it, someone else will, and I don't want to put you in that situation."

I decided to ignore this.

"Is there one tiny part of you that want the fame? I mean, this is huge."

"None", Madara said dead-pan, and one look at his facial expression made me immediately believe him. "I just want you safe. I don't even want that professor to mention me in his papers."

I thanked Madara, hugged him goodbye, turned to leave. Once out of the rainforest that was Madara's flower shop, I took my phone out, texted Hashi.

Me: He'll do it.

The answer came almost immediately.

Professor Senju: Good job bby <3

I smiled like an idiot; he'd never called me that before.

Nor had he ever sent me a heart.

I whole-heartedly forgave him for his earlier total dismissal of having forgotten me telling him about my brother.

I took a deep breath, steeled myself.

I blipped my card, dialled my code and opened the door.

The cold immediately hit me. Had it really been so cold last time? I guessed the hidden nerves I'd felt then had made me feel cold on the inside, thus decreasing the temperature difference between my body and the room. That was what feeling cold was about really; temperature difference, not temperature per se. Now, however, I was nervous but less so, less cold, which made the room feel freezing, as it was.

I put on one of the green coats, buttoned it behind me, put on gloves. I walked to the freezer, put my hand on the handle of the lower right hatch, and opened it. Before I had time to think too much about what I was actually doing, I pulled the metal table out.

He looked exactly the way he'd done last time because of course he did; he was dead. And also frozen. This time, I dared look at him even more closely; the details of his face, the small wrinkles still visible on his skin that I hadn't been able to take in last time because it rendered him way to human. 

"Hey", I said. I expected to feel ridiculous, but I didn't. "I'm a man of science, so I don't really believe in the afterlife, but, you know, just in case..." I sighed. "Hashirama told me you were kind of an asshole. I don't think you would've liked me because, you know, I'm a nerd. And you're a pilot. I bet you had loads of sex with the stewardesses. Sorry, that was rude..." I looked to the side, smiling a little. "I didn't mean that in a bad way! I mean, you may have sex with whomever you want! Stewards, even! Are you bi? I bet you weren't. I have a pretty good gaydar but I don't know if it works on dead people. Because planes disappear from the radar if they explode or something so they don't exist anymore so it should be the same for humans, right? You must know because you're a pilot. I- Oh, sorry, this isn't at all what I wanted to say, I just..." I sighed. "I haven't really talked to a dead person before. I just wanted to give you a chance before you're turned into someone else, forever."

I considered the grandiosity of this. Of the fact that an artificial intelligence would be put into this man's brain. If it weren't for his will, I was not sure I would do it. At least, I hoped that was the case; that my moral standards were higher than my desire to please Hashirama.

I was afraid to ever find out.

I put my hand tentatively on his arm.

"I feel so torn. I don't know if I'm doing something that's terribly, terribly wrong. Maybe, I can rest in the fact that it's not my decision, whether it's right or not. The ethic's board has given Hashi green light."

I was quiet for a while.

"I wanted to thank you. For doing this. It's nuts, but it does have potential. I hope Tobirama doesn't take on too much of your personality because, you know, I'm sensitive and I couldn't stand it if he was mean because I'm kind of attached to him." I sighed. "So, if there is some form of afterlife, would you..." God, I felt dumb. "Would you give me a sign?"

There was nothing. What had I expected? Exactly this, in fact. Exactly nothing. Just like I didn't really expect anything from Hashi. I was just happy to pick up the crumbs he gave me. I didn't know where the thought came from, really, but it saddened me deeply.

Suddenly, the computer screen in the room blinked, and I screamed.

"Holy shit!"

It looked at it, and on it was a text.

Do it!

My heart froze to ice. I felt cold, then hot, then cold again.

"No way..." I whispered, tears of fear forming in my eyes.

Then, the text changed.

;)

I stopped dead. Then, I realised.

"Oh, you motherfucker..." I whispered.

I tore of my robe off along with my gloves, stomped out through the door, clamped through the corridor.

"You... You motherfucking, worthless, Goddamned..." I banged my card against the reader, punched in my code. "... whore-like, miserable, dirty little..." I opened the door, clamped in. "... piece of trash!!"

Tobirama the computer program stood there, inside his computer, unmoving.

"You fucking piece of work!!"

I walked to the computer, moving the mouse so the program lightened up on the screen.

"What the fuck did you do that for?! You terrified me!!!"

Tobirama wrote me.

;)

"Ha-ha, very funny!!"

Unbelievably so.

"Yeah, let's make fun of poor little Izuna, shall we not?! When he... Oh, God, you heard my conversation with Hermes?"

... Yes.

"Oh God." I hid my face in my hands. Wait, hasn't I basically confessed I kind of liked him? "That's so fucking embarrassing."

I thought it was pretty sweet, actually.

I frowned.

"Wait, why were you watching?"

One of the tasks Hashirama has given me. For security reasons.

My heart plummeted.

"Oh, God, so he'll see as well."

No.

I waited for an explanation, but Tobirama didn't elaborate.

"Elaborate." He didn't. "Please."

I've replaced the photage with film from an hour before. It's untraceable. At least to him. He'll never know."

"Why?" I asked.

Scared I'm able to disobey again?

"Yes." This computer program was rendering me painfully incapable of lying.

Even if it's for a good cause? 

"I'm not sure it's for a good cause. Now tell me, why did you save my ass by replacing the footage?"

Because I like you.

I almost choked.

More than I like Hashirama.

What did that mean? That he liked Hashirama, too? Or that he hated him and only hated me less? Neither prospect was truly appealing to me.

"I do feel terrible for what I'm doing, though", I said, not sure why I confessed my deepest fear to this computer program. "What if I'll realise it's all a terrible mistake?"

Tobirama was quiet for a while, and I suddenly realised what I'd said could've been hurtful to a person. I had basically questioned the rightness of its very existence. But if he was offended or hurt, he didn't show it.

With the information you have now, are you making the best decision you're able to make?

There was, without a doubt, a terribly complex array of emotional intelligence needed in order to pose such a question. There was no doubt; Tobirama was becoming similar to a living being.

I didn't know if I should like it or not, but I did.

"I don't know, and that's the scary part. That I have no idea even now."

Tobirama didn't answer.

Suddenly, I realised I had referred to Tobirama as "he" in my head.

"Tobirama?"

Mmm?

"Are you a man or a woman? Or neither?"

Since Hermes pronouns were he/him, I decided to start viewing myself as male as well. And it has taken on. I identify as male.

"Oh..." I said. "I'm terribly happy to hear that because I'm gay. Wait, did I say that out loud?"

... This is all becoming terribly complicated, Mr Uchiha.

God, had I offended him?

But then, the screen blinked again.

;)

I walked out of the lab with a smile on my face, as I always did when I had interacted with Tobirama.

And never when I had interacted with Hashi.