Author's Note: Dedicated to Hime-SasuHina, for her idea and request.
Story Summary: AU. Warlord Uchiha Madara has won the battle of the magicians but his warrior magic dangerously is weak. A powerful marriage is his only hope to save his life and he sees a potential match in the seemingly innocent Hyuga heiress. The Hyuga magic is legendary. But Hinata is not as powerless as she looks and she will not bow easily to anyone…
Set in an AU around the mid to late 1800s time, because…why not?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters. I do not own the title of the fic or the lyrics contained therein. They are property of Florence + the Machine.
Queen of Peace
Chapter 1
Oh, the king
Gone mad within his suffering
Called out for relief
Someone cure him of his grief
His only son
Cut down, but the battle won
Oh, what is it worth
When all that's left is hurt?
Like the stars chase the sun
Over the glowing hill, I will conquer
Blood is running deep
Some things never sleep
Queen of Peace – Florence and the Machine
Uchiha Madara was a thoroughly beaten man, although he had not lost the battle. There was not one part of his body that did not ache deeply. The magic, the chakra, took an enormous toll on him.
Even with help from his kin, Sasuke and Obito, the battle against five nations had been tough. The other magicians had been tough, their abilities spectacular.
Madara had beaten them all, but at great personal risk.
His magic, the lifeforce that kept him alive, was almost out.
"What can be done?" Madara asked, his voice raspy from exertion. He lay on his cot, the smallest movements causing him to be dizzy and nauseous in turns. It was difficult to see with blood gushing down in one eye. He didn't have the strength to wipe it away, but it was annoying as hell.
"We've tonics, sir," Sasuke said, kneeling down. "But they are not a permanent fix."
"Marriage is," Obito said bluntly. "Well, actually, copulating with a powerful virgin on your wedding night is."
Madara had always appreciated Obito's brunt honesty in times of strife.
"Heh, that's likely. I'm going to die, aren't I?" His eyes blurred and it was difficult to see both standing over him like a mother worrying over her young.
"Maybe not. I happen to know that one of the Hyuuga heiresses has just come of age and her father is looking for suitors."
"That's contingent on me living long enough to seduce her," Madara chuckled darkly. His head swam and it took real effort not to empty the contents of his stomach.
"You will. A medic is coming with the tonics now to patch you right up. Then, we will formulate a plan," Sasuke assured him. "Rest now."
The last thing Madara saw was Sasuke's palm passing over his blurred eyes.
A month later…
Hyuuga Hinata threw a shoe at the door once her father left. More dinners. More suitors. More disappointment.
"I will not marry," she said furiously under her breath. The floor was becoming hot now under her bared foot, from her magic. Hinata knew that she should retrieve the shoe and stop the magic emanating in waves, but she remained stubbornly in the center of the room.
Breathe, she told herself, closing her eyes.
"Miss Hyuuga, I am to help you dress for dinner," her maid, Temari said as she knocked on the paper-thin door.
"Of course."
At eighteen, Hinata was more than capable of dressing herself, but her station demanded that no energy be wasted, lest her magic be triggered unnecessarily. Hinata smiled darkly, knowing her father would be pissed that she was releasing her magic.
Temari was a beautiful girl, blonde hair kept in four ponytails on her head, dark eyes bright and mischievous. She was so much more than a maid, a bodyguard and confidant as well.
"Now Miss Hyuuga, your father shall be very wroth that you're releasing your magic. What did I teach you about letting others have the victory over you?" Temari brought Hinata's shoe with her.
"That I should not let them win," Hinata answered automatically. Her magic was beginning to subside, the room returning to its normal temperature again.
"Yes. There is more than one way to skin a cat you know," Temari told her pleasantly, reaching behind Hinata for the silver hairbrush on the vanity. She steered Hinata over to her bed, settling her on the antique calico quilt, and brushing out the long, plum-dark hair of her employer.
"I know. But father will not listen. I've been reading those pamphlets you left me, about women's rights in other isles. Is it really true? That women are allowed to make their own choices?"
Hinata knew that Temari came from a different, far away land and that she had traveled extensively before being sold into slavery to her father for a debt.
"Yes, in the land where I came from, women are allowed to rule their houses as the head of the family without getting married. Your nation has been at war with them several times, bested by my ancestors."
Hinata had heard the stories before from Temari.
"Where you and your father arguing about?" Temari asked, although she knew, just offering Hinata a chance to speak.
"The usual, marrying me off to some stranger," Hinata sighed. Temari began twisting Hinata's long hair into rolls and curves, pinning them to her head. Amid the coils, Temari pinned hyssop and lavender blooms from a nearby vase with peacock feather accents. Relaxing, Hinata explained her father's newest list of suitors, starting with Uchiha Madara tonight.
Hinata didn't notice the slight pause in Temari's work, nor the brief look of fear and trepidation that passed over her maid's face at the mention of the name.
"Uchiha Madara, the warlord?" Temari asked, her voice casual.
"Yes, the same one," Hinata confirmed as she slipped out of her robe, while Temari readied her corset.
"Why is your father considering such as barbarian?" Temari asked, fingers slipping over the corset busk with ease.
"No idea," Hinata gasped as Temari tightened the laces suddenly, causing her to grasp for the edge of the bed. "I've heard of him, about his reputation on the battlefield, you know. He won this last war, almost singlehandedly against five nations."
Temari helped Hinata slip into a beautiful deep teal skirt with a deep blue bustle and rucked apron of silk. The colors radiated an echo of peacock feathers. The matching bodice was a deep blue with three-quarter lace sleeves of velvet. Delicate, pointed slippers completed the look.
"Beautiful as always," Temari told her, smoothing lines in the back. Hinata ran her hands down her corseted hourglass waist.
"Shame it will be wasted on such a barbarian," Hinata sighed.
"Miss Hyuuga, please be very careful," Temari told her, her normally smiling face now stricken pale with apprehension. "Uchiha Madara is a dangerous man."
"I will," Hinata said, squeezing her maid's hands. "We will have so much to talk about," Hinata told her, "when I return for the evening."
Keeping her face calm, Hinata picked up her skirts and swished from the room. If Temari was afraid, and she was near fearless, then Hinata knew she was walking towards a lion's den.