Itama had always had an eye for shiny things; it got him his father's favor when they were bright, well-polished weapons and his ire when they were useless baubles - it got him exasperation from his entire family (well, not from Hashirama-nii - he simply laughed uproariously) when he got each of his piercings, gleaming metal threaded through his earlobe and ear cartilage, even his lip and eyebrow.

The first thing that caught his eye when he met a new person was whatever jewelry they happened to be wearing, the lure of Shiny irrestistable, and it was this that made Uchiha Hikaku stand out to him: the only visible flash of metal among trigger-happy shinobi at a tense peace meeting - where visible weapons were, ah, strongly discoraged - adorning the older man's shoulder.

They didn't talk to each other for another few weeks of negotiations - too on edge, better to let Hashirama-nii and Uchiha Madara handle the bulk of it - but when they did, Itama found a quiet, understated man, easy to overlook in the wake of his clan leaders, but a sense of humor as sharp as a senbon and a sense of duty as strong as bedrock; it might have been the shine of his chains that first caught Itama's eye, but it was Hikaku himself that made him fall in love.