Hey, Hi, Hello

Welcome to chapter one of 'Believe In Me', a MadaPein story I mentioned I was writing at some point in time. I've forgone all warnings to myself that I shouldn't be writing this until I get my two short stories done, as well as at least five prompts for The Flame done and up to chapter twelve or thirteen for Indebted and five written for TMK's sequel. I haven't all of those self appointed goals (in fact, I have completed a grand total of one of them), unfortunately for me. Fortunately for who ever enjoys MadaPein short stories involving a little bit of violence, along with humor and the long road to rockstardom, I can't control myself or deny my writing impulses. Oh well, more yaoi! Thanks go to lostintheabyss- she'll be helping me a lot with this story! 3

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Madara-chan or any others involved in this fic, unless specifically stated within the text. T/-\T
WARNINGS: A sadist and a stutterer, with a bonus of blood, violence and cussing.

~BELIEVE~

If I had to pinpoint a day this all started, I would say it began when I saw the bruises on Konan-chan's arm.

It can be argued that it was really the day I changed myself from Madara to Tobi, or maybe the day Konan-chan got that asshole boyfriend. But the day the little switch in me was flipped from retarded little Tobi to the real me, the one I'd pushed so far back into my head it didn't resurface for a decade and a half, Uchiha Madara, was the day everything changed. I was Uchiha Madara from that point forward, the one who didn't like boyfriends who hit their girlfriends, or for anybody to hit their significant other, and especially if said girlfriend was Konan-chan. The one who would make sure the boyfriend remembered his place and was so scared of touching a girl, violently or not, he wouldn't be able to do so for the rest of his life without thinking of the exact moment I found out.

It's lunch time, a few days before Christmas break started in. A thin blanket of snow covered the ground, and it was freezing fucking cold outside. I wasn't really sure why Pein insisted upon us sitting outside for lunch all the time. It didn't matter why, not really, because I was still freezing my ass off, despite the fact I was sandwiched between Deidara and Kisame and wearing three sweaters. Konan sat across from me, tapping her hand against her thigh. She forgot her coat at her house and Pein was retrieving an extra he had in his car for her. Her worthless boyfriend wasn't far away, just visiting with a few of his friends.

I wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for the way she stretched her arms out to get the hoodie Pein offered, or how she put it on. She smiles gratefully, telling him thank you. Her smile is forced and her voice sounds a little bit tired, an imitation of the tinkling, pleasant sound that it used to be. Pein shrugs his shoulders and tells her it was no big deal. She stretches her arms out above her head, beginning to pull the hoodie on. Her shirt sleeve exposes a little stretch of skin just below her shoulders. A dark, blue-ish hue discolors the skin there, the shape of fingerprints on her arm.

That was the exact moment Uchiha Madara came back. My mind put together the pieces- the bruises the shape of Sakon's fingers, the way she's seemed so upset lately, and the way she tensed up when he touched her. All the outside noise quiets down, a dull roar growing in my ears. I focus in on the her arm, though the hoodie's on and her bruised skin concealed. I feel bile rise in my throat as my brain conjures images of her cowered in the corner, desperate to protect herself from him.

My gaze flickers to the dumb little bitch that was about to be in a hell of a lot of pain. Sakon. I stand, squeezing my elbows in a little bit to get past Kisame's bulk. The rage tinges my vision red. I look back to Konan-chan. She's looking back at me, like she's beginning to sense my fury. "Tobi-kun, what're you-"

"He won't hurt you anymore. Promise," I utter, voice dropping down to its natural level. Her eyes widen and she knows, knows exactly what I'm talking about.

She rises to her feet, shaky and unbalanced. "No, Tobi, don't you dare!" I ignore her words, brushing past a bewildered Pein. Heading toward Sakon. I tap his shoulder. He spins around, a slightly annoyed smile on his face. He opens his mouth to speak.

He doesn't get the chance.

I hit his nose with ease, deadly force behind my blow. Blood spurts from his nose, his hands automatically clutching his nose in an effort to stop the bleeding. It was broken. The snow at his feet is sprinkled with little crimson dots. He doubles over, groaning with pain. I knot one of my gloved hands through his hair not more than fifteen seconds after hitting him, slamming his face down onto the hood of the nearest car. He falls to the ground, splayed out on his back. How pitiful, I think, my booted foot putting just enough pressure on his throat to make him feel uncomfortable.

"If you ever touch her again..." I leave the threat unspoken, glaring down at his form. Some of the blood from his nose gets into his mouth, and he coughs a little bit. The sight would have been more enjoyable if my gaze wasn't still clouded with red.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," he croaks out. There's no one talking around us, everyone just shocked speechless. Good, I wanted this to stand as a warning to all who heard of it that making the same stupid decisions Sakon was making would reap similar consequences. I didn't approve of any form of domestic violence and wouldn't stand by as it happened.

I press harder with my boot. "Bullshit!" I snarl. "You know exactly what you did!" He seemed to be really panicking now, his eyes going wide and his breath becoming more labored.

"Alright, I d-do!" He says, "but I'm sorry, I s-swear!"

I chuckle humorlessly, removing my boot and crouching next to him. I take his face in one hand, squeezing his cheeks together like he was a disobedient child. "Are you scared? You're stuttering. Stop fucking stuttering. And I bet she was scared, too, right? It's time to apologize," I state, taking joy in the tears beginning to gather in the corners of his eyes. They spilled over, mixing with the blood gushing from his nose and trickling into the snow.

I release his face and stand. He struggles to stand and gain his balance. I chuckle, one of my booted feet darting out and kicking him in his crotch. He sinks back to his knees in an ungraceful pile, hands moving to cup himself. "Did I say you could walk? No, I want you to fucking crawl on your hands and knees!" I snap.

He whimpers and begins to do as I say, slowly crawling over to where a shocked Konan waits, surrounded by an equally shocked Akatsuki. He makes it over to her and stops. "Now, I want you to bow down before her and kiss her feet- no, no, not her feet. You're not worth that. Kiss the ground. And then repeat after me- I am deeply sorry for my actions."

"I-I am deeply s-sorry for-"

I kick the back of his leg brutally. He almost crumbles from the force, arms and legs shaking too much for him to hold his own body weight up without struggling. How pathetic. "What the fuck did I say about stuttering?! Now, go on."

He's experiencing fear and humiliation at this point now, and clearly regretting his decision if the pained look on his face was anything to judge by. His gray bangs look like they've been dipped in blood, the tips of them soaked. Overall, all of his hair was knotted and sticking out erratically. "I am deeply sorry for my actions," he whispers. His voice is hoarse, much to my glee.

"I will never lay a single finger upon another woman or man with a harmful intention, rage induced or not," I say, choosing my words carefully so as to cause as much humiliation as I felt like inflicting. Which was quite a bit. I didn't really like him before, and I certainly hated him with every fiber of my being. Even just looking down at his quivering form filled me to the brim with fury.

"I will never lay a single finger upon another woman or man with a harmful intention, rage induced or not," he repeats. Exactly as I said it, too, which disappoints me a little bit because I wanted another reason to kick him. Being an insolent asshole who beat up on his girlfriend should be enough, but even I knew that if I hurt him too much I would have more difficulty weaseling my way out of trouble than was worth a few extra kicks.

"I humbly offer my servitude for the remainder of my life- should you deign me worthy to be in your superior presence, I shall be there for whatever reason you may need, be it mundane or of the utmost importance."

"I h-humbly-" - a kick to his leg, at which point he whimpers in pain - "offer my servitude for the remainder of my life- should you deign me worthy to be in your superior presence, I shall be there for whatever reason you may need, be it mundane or of the utmost importance."

"I will remember this lesson until the day I die. I am not worthy of you, nor will you be given the burden of enduring my presence unless the matter is out of my hand. This excludes any classes I have with you, which I will promptly switch out of once I'm done bleeding all over the fucking place like the pitiful little scum-of-the-earth cretin and bitch that I so obviously am." He's shaking even more, and his blood is garnering an impressive pool of bloody snow. I needed to finish this up.

"I will remember this lesson until the day I die. I am not worthy of you, nor will you be given the burden of enduring my presence unless the matter is out of my hand. This excludes any classes I have with you, which I will promptly switch out of once I'm done bleeding all over the fucking place like the pitiful little scum-of-the-earth cretin and bitch that I so obviously am-m."

I slam my foot down onto his back, being careful not to hit his spine. He's forced to the ground, his face in the snow. "Kami-dammit! I thought I told you to stop stuttering, you ungrateful little shit! I could very well do worse. Now get the fuck out of here before I prove those words- and if you squeal, you're a dead man walking!"

His friends rush over and pick him up, lifting his bloodstained body and carrying him to the school. I turn and watch them go. Blood droplets mar the snow and with a thoughtful frown (not that anyone could tell, honestly) I smudge the snow before me with my foot until it turns a pink-ish color. Then I turn to face the rest of the group. They're gaping at me. I raise an eyebrow even though they still couldn't see me.

"What? Oh, wait. Never seen me angry, heard me refer to myself in the first person or speak like I naturally would, right?" I roll my eyes, though I couldn't really fault them for being shocked. In their eyes I was Tobi the Good Boy, a bumbling idiot who spoke with an overtly exaggerated falsetto and always in the third person. Not some sadistic asshole who was perfectly fine using violence to get his point across.

"Whoa, Tobi, un..." Deidara trails off.

"I suppose I have some explaining to do, right? Well, let's start off by saying I am not bipolar or diagnosed with MPD, nor am I more mentally fucked up than the rest of you. I just haven't liked who I really am and therefore haven't shown it. Seeing the bruises on Konan-chan's arms snapped me out of it and now I am me," I explain, shrugging my shoulders. "I'll be taking questions now, assuming you have them."

Deidara's hand shoots straight up in the air and, upon my gesturing to him, he asks, "So is your name Tobi or not, hm?"

That's actually a pretty good question, I marvel, something I wouldn't really have expected Deidara to ask. "It isn't," I reply simply.

Kisame is next. "So what's your real name?"

My gaze flickers over to Itachi. I can almost see the little wheels whirring in his head, spinning round and round as he figured me out. Then I glance briefly at the rest of the members. Hidan, Kisame and Deidara all look expectant. Kakuzu looks mildly interested along with Sasori and Zetsu. And then there's Pein and Konan, the former's gaze affixed on her. And Konan is just looking at the bloody snow at her feet with her wide orange eyes, still running through the recent events. "Uchiha Madara."

Itachi's onyx gaze narrows in on my face, like he's intent on seeing through my mask. "So you're fuckin' related to weasel bitch over there, right, dumbass?" Hidan asks, violet eyes revealing his avid surprise.

"Uh-huh," I reply easily. Itachi has a self-satisfied look on his face, like he's got it all figured out. He probably does, what with how smart he was.

"Security guards are coming," Sasori warns, looking over my shoulder. I turn to face the direction he was looking. Sure enough, three security guards approached on foot, tasers and walkie talkies drawn before them. As if communicating via a walkie talkie would grant them instant protection against a group of high schoolers with issues and, for a majority of the members, problems controlling their violent tendencies. I smirk. This should be fun, ne?

~BELIEVE~

"You're telling me Sakon tripped and fell in the ice, consequently breaking his nose and gaining bruised ribs."

I'm currently sitting in the principal's office. The office space is cramped, hot despite the fan in the corner, and it smells heavily of sake. "Uh-huh!" I chirp. Tobi was back, just long enough to speed up the process of blatantly lying to the principal about how Sakon got injured and his blood got on both my boots and gloves.

Tsunade-sama, said principal, sighs and presses her hand to her temple. Her eyes are closed and she's obviously dealing with a migraine. "Okay. Tell me the story. Don't leave any parts out."

"Hai, Principal-sama!" I state, then begin in on my quickly fabricated story. "Well, Tobi saw weird bruises on Konan-chan's arm. They looked sort of like fingerprints. So Tobi, being a Very Good Boy, went to ask Konan-chan's boyfriend if he knew why Konan-chan's arm was bruised. Tobi tapped him on the shoulder and then Konan-chan's boyfriend turned around to see what Tobi wanted. He fell and hit the ground really hard. Then the snow got all red and pink-ish. Then Tobi got brought here with Tobi's friends to tell the principal about Konan-chan's boyfriend's accident!"

She raises an eyebrow. I'm all innocent looking, my head cocked to the side and finger at my chin. Or, rather, the part of the mask my chin was under. There's a moment's pause and then Tsunade-sama speaks. "Well, it was a tragic accident. And you certainly didn't intend for Sakon to get hurt like that, so I suppose you're free to go."

I stand from my seat. No point in questioning her judgement, so I wasn't going to ask her anything. "Haiiii, Tsuande-sama~ Bye-bye! Arigato!"

With that, I leave her office and exit out into the waiting room in the office. All of the Akatsuki is there, and they look up when I enter. "So?" Sasori asks.

"Tragic accident. We're free to go," I say, shrugging. They look relieved. Konan-chan is the first to stand, and she approaches me. She looks a bit uneven on her feet, tottering slightly.

"Thank you...Madara-kun," she whispers, stepping forward and hugging me. It's a bit awkward at first, but I raise my arms and hug her back. She's trembling lightly, shaken up by all that's happened. After a few moments, she pulls away. Her eyes are watery, filled to the brim with unshed tears. Poor Konan-chan, I muse. Been through so much.

But at least she wouldn't have to deal with that sniveling, stuttering son-of-a-bitch anymore.

~BELIEVE~

TA-DA.

Hope you guys liked it. Thank you for reading /^.\\\) Please comment and vote! 3 My apologies for any spelling errors.