They were still pretty young when they discovered they were soulmates, the two babies of five siblings and both born with a bleeding leaf on their left shoulders. When their ages were both still in the single digits neither of them understood why the adults always shook their heads with sympathetic frowns upon learning they had matching marks. Soulmates were supposed to be a good things as far as they understood the idea and they had already decided to be Best Brothers Forever. So what was the problem?

It wasn 't until Madara hit puberty and tried to kiss another boy his age behind the dining hall that they realized the downfall of their connection: that neither of them would ever be able to seek a sexual relationship, that they would never know the touch of another 's hand upon their bodies. They would never learn to kiss and they wouldn 't know what it felt like to fall in love.