Aiko WAP 23 PREVIEW

She hated to think it because it was a lazy comparison, but Hashirama reminded her of a tree. He was absolutely huge.

'Why does the guy named 'pillar' have the exact build of one? He could quit the Shinobi thing and professionally hold up ceilings.'

She had been led to the middle of the Senju compound. The streets were eerily empty. She could only assume that people had been told to go indoors to avoid her. The clan head was the only person waiting outside for her.

Aiko tried not to visibly react. But it was hard not to stare. He was powerfully built. Madara had been big enough, but Hashirama was in a different league altogether.

'What are the Senju eating?'

"Priestess," he greeted. His dark brown eyes were somber, his voice low. "Welcome to our home. Let us speak in the privacy of the shrine." He had one of those voices that rumbled in your bones. He had changed out of his daily clothes into something that was clearly meant for company. A hint of his wrist peeked out of the long sleeves when he gestured for her to follow him up the winding stone staircase up the mountainside.

Aiko fell in step without comment. She lifted her face up to peer at the clearly maintained path to what must be the Senju's main shrine. It had been recently swept and the grass pulled from the steps. A trio of slugs raced slow glistening lines up the water drainage slope at the left side of the stairs.

Hashirama wasn't what she'd expected. He was grim and serious, more than anything else.

'Of course, the last time I met a Senju I told him that they were welcome to a mass grave. That might have set a different tone than I'd hope for.'

The man who had led her to the clan stronghold was following at a respectable distance. She couldn't hear him, but his presence was a steady hum in the back of her mind.

'Is Tobirama gone, or hiding from me?'

Aiko wondered about it as she cleared the last stairs and followed Hashirama towards the main shrine building.

'He might have been uh, uninvited from diplomacy. It's hard to think of a way to describe that meeting that would make him seem like a good pick for friendly conversation with me.'

Therefore if he showed up, she could probably assume that they were going to have to fight.