Madara picked up the habit of wearing gloves when he was fifteen years old. It wasn 't so much a desire to protect his hands, already calloused by years of holding various blades, as it was a desire to protect the nebulous being out there in the world somewhere. It was a personal decision that his soulmate had felt enough pain without the world knowing about it for hours afterward. Madara wore gloves to cover the letters on the back of his left wrist which displayed the most recent strong emotion his soulmate had experienced, already weary of seeing the word 'PAIN ' written there so often.

Covering the area did nothing to stop himself from peeking underneath several times a day. Each time heat flared in his wrist Madara took a moment to peek under the hem of his glove, smiling or frowning as the word changed. His favorite was seeing 'EXCITEMENT ' stamped across his skin for hours at a time. It became a favorite game of his to try and guess at what his soulmate could be doing.