Hi again! Thankies for reviews and stuff, so lovely to read my emails! Ah, chapter 3. More playful banter from Izuna coming up for you, and of course there's Yukiko being...well Yukiko which tends to annoy Madara anyway especially after last chapter's erm...disagreement with swords. So read, review and enjoy

Chapter Title: Heavy Hangs The Albatross from Alesana (Seriously their album The Emptiness is one of my favourite albums of all time XD)

Disclaimer: I woke up this morning only to discover I still don't own Naruto :( Just my wikkle OC Yukiko Ginhana in all her shiny snowy whiteness (She'd hate it if you actually called her Snowy I thinks.)

~ The Detective Prince

Chapter Three

There's Nothing Left For Me To Lose Except Confusion...

Yukiko woke up in a bed, she could hardly believe it. She hadn't quite sussed out who the owner of the bed was though but she did know there was a dull pain coming from the back of her head and a burning pain in her left arm.

Ah...Realization was a harsh mistress sometimes.

Realising that you decided it would be a good idea to cross swords with the ruthless leader of an army of warriors the likes of which could only be matched by the Senju...That was a very bad thing to realise.

Part of her wanted to throw the bed sheets over her head and curled up underneath them, hiding like a small child but before she could even attempt this plan the door to the expansive room opened and Izuna Uchiha walked in.

"Ah, you're awake. Good..." he looked out of the window "afternoon, Yuki-chan. How're you feeling?"

"I'm...fine," she lied with a sigh. She managed to sit up with no problem but guessed that with concussion like she had, standing wasn't a smart plan. But wasn't it one of her 'not smart plans' that gotten her into this mess in the first place?

"You feel like crap, I get it. How about some food?" his cheerful nature was lost on her though. Whatever spark she'd had in her eyes had been dulled, perhaps by a broken pride.

"Where's Kiyoshi?" was all she muttered to him. He tilted his head to one side.

"It's in Madara's room,"

The Uchiha quickly left to retrieve it.

However he hadn't spoken to Madara since he'd left the evening before and he was pretty sure his brother wouldn't be in a good mood and definitely not in a mood to hand her back her katana just yet.

Izuna slowly crept into the room, Madara sitting at his desk writing.

"Brother!" Izuna chirped.

"What?" his tone was much more harsh than usual.

"I've actually come to get something, not to bother you this time," Izuna changed his own tone accordingly; it was light and had a hint of vulnerability to it, resembling how he had sounded when he was younger.

"Get whatever you need then get out of my sight,"

I'm not in your sight I'm behind you... He thought to himself with a smirk. Izuna quickly grabbed Kiyoshi from next to the desk and turned to leave when Madara grabbed his wrist.

"And what..." his eyes narrowed "my dear brother, do you want with that?"

Anyone else would have been intimidated.

"It's for Yukiko; she won't talk unless she has it. She hasn't told me that but naturally I noticed this earlier, you do still need that information on the Senju...Don't you?"

"Whose side are you on?" Madara growled.

"It's not a matter of choosing sides, Madara, it's a matter of getting that information or not, am I right?" his brother had no argument to this and relinquished his grip.

Izuna darted out of the room before the older Uchiha changed his mind about letting him go.

When he got in it seemed as though Yukiko was still trying to figure out whether it was worth trying to stand up yet or not.

"I have Kiyoshi, Yuki-chan," he threw her the blade and waited for her reaction.

"Izuna-san..." He knew the blade was the key to getting her to talk. "I still don't understand why you're trying to help me," she sighed.

"I'm not, it's just the last person to come here under these circumstances got killed by Madara a week later. I wanna break that record, I'm aiming for a month,"

She looked up at him, glaring. "Did you stitch my arm up?"

"Oh that? Yes I did, aren't I nice? Well actually Madara told me to...You were quite hazy for a while though. I'm going to go eat, I'll bring you back some food," he walked out the room but it wasn't until he got to the end of the corridor did he realise she was following him.

"Yuki-chan, I suggest you stay in my room or you might run into my dear brother and then I can't be held responsible for what may happen," Izuna's voice was suddenly riddled with a darkness she hadn't heard from him before. Or had she?

"He can't kill me..."

"He terrifies you,"

"So do moths but I don't get anywhere hiding away from them," Yukiko reasoned with a shrug.

"Moths can't hurt you," he turned around and walked towards her.

"I've seen some pretty big moths,"

"You've still got concussion..."

Her eyes widened suddenly.

"Get back to his room before I drag you back there myself." Madara snarled from behind Izuna. She opened her mouth to say something before abandoning the idea and retreating.

"And that was necessary, brother?" he asked, turned to face Madara now.

"It is if I wanted to talk to her," he paused and looked at Izuna with a menacing glint in his eye "without your influence," before Izuna could protest Madara had walked off.

Yukiko laid down on the bed, untying Kiyoshi from her side. She felt lonely all of a sudden and knowing she couldn't ease her loneliness the way she usually did added a lot more sadness to her situation. It was strange that it was the first time since she'd been captured she had felt alone, it wasn't an emotion she was used to feeling either as a person who normally surrounded herself with others.

The door opened and she expected Izuna to walk in, she didn't even bother looking up.

"Ginhana," that dark voice like a rumble of thunder had her sitting up instantly. "I trust you won't raise your sword against me this time," he said as he grabbed it from the bed and unsheathed it.

"I...I won't," was all she could muster up as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"It's been a while since a woman thought she could attack me, I couldn't even recall the last one who did although I'm certain she ended up dead," he said it so coldly and his voice held no emotion whatsoever. But one look told the kunoichi that he wasn't lying at all.

"I see..." Madara glanced at her, their eyes locking for a moment before she looked away.

"No, you don't. If you did you would be on your hands and knees begging for forgiveness,"

"I wasn't raised that way," her tone was barely a whisper. Without warning he gripped at her hair so tightly she felt as though he was ripping it out of her already throbbing skull.

"You'll have to learn to be that way if you expect me to keep my temper enough to let you live," a dark threat, enough to make her gasp.

"But..."

"When someone doesn't give me the respect I deserve I tend to forget...who they are and they usually end up dead, regardless of whatever I wanted from them in the beginning," no, that part was definitely the threat.

The Uchiha stood up, throwing Yukiko to the floor. Her eyes fell on Kiyoshi who was still in his other hand.

A part of her, a very big part of her, wanted to shout at him to let go of her sword and to just kill her however she had no strength at all to defy him.

"You know what I want from you. Either beg me for forgiveness or hand over the information I desire for you, Ginhana,"

"Stick with me; it'll all work out..."

Did she have enough faith in Izuna that if she chose to do neither it would all work out? Was she really foolish enough to let him lead her astray? She would be the one playing with fire if it went wrong and Madara was a fire she would rather stay far from.

"I..." she hesitated even though in her mind this decision was as clear as day. "I apologise for my actions yesterday, Madara-sama, however I can't promise you that's the last time it'll happen,"

Wrong. That was the wrong way to apologise and in her mind she was screaming at herself for it.

Why! Why couldn't I just say sorry!

"What?" he dragged her up from the floor and glared straight into her fearful eyes.

They say that if you push a frightened animal too far it'll turn on you. Madara just seemed to keep pushing though, confident in his ability to keep her under control somewhat.

"Please let go of me..." Yukiko pleaded, feeling as though her heart would explode in her chest if it started beating any harder.

"You need to start learning who you're dealing with and where you are. You're not some stuck-up clan leader who inherited her clan out of a pure bloodline," he snarled, the anger in his voice set her off trembling again.

He threw her down onto Izuna's bed when there was a knock on the door.

"Madara, you've got some people from the Azuri clan wanting to talk to you," Izuna walked in, apparently completely unfazed by the scene before him.

"We'll finish this later," the leader promised, throwing down Kiyoshi before leaving the room. Izuna looked over a dark expression on his face

"He has every right to be angry at you...after all," there was a heavy pause as he took in a deep breath. "It was your mother who killed our parents,"

"What?" she shot up in horror, her mouth hung open in shock. There was a silence for a moment before the corners of his mouth slowly curled up as he tried desperately not to smile.

"That look on your face...It's absolutely hilarious! Oh! Wow! You actually took me seriously! I was joking, I swear!" he burst out laughing, leaning back on the wall for support.

"That's a cruel excuse for a joke," she muttered, picking up her sword and placing it back in its sheath.

"So, what's with the sword? I mean you just seem to be totally dependent on it," Izuna asked after finally calming down.

"Kiyoshi is a very important relic to our clan, the diamonds encrusted into the middle of the blade shine even in the darkness and are said to be infused with the souls of all the clan leaders that came before me," Yukiko explained, staring at the pure white sheath it was kept in.

"So you're clinging to the memory of your mother and father in that sword? There must be something more to it, not that I'm familiar with parental love like you are. Our parents were actually killed a few months after I was born," Izuna interrupted, sitting on the edge of his bed next to her.

"Who raised you then?"

"Madara did, all by himself. He never asked anyone else for help; I think it would've been shameful in his eyes if he couldn't cope with his own little brother," he crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling deep in thought.

"Am I supposed to feel sorry for him? Is that what you're trying to get me to do? My clan was wiped out," Yukiko clenched her fists tightly, her knuckles paling.

"Ha, nothing I can say about Madara will make you soften up to him. I just wanted to let you know why he is what he is. You know who hard it is to control a clan as well," Izuna reasoned, playing his with hair again.

"It's hard however I wouldn't do what he does. I'd never treat someone like nothing more than a piece of meat. I'd never slaughter another clan for something like information on a rival clan. Doesn't he want peace?" she was thinking about all the morals her mother left behind for her to follow, Madara had systematically gone against each one.

"Oh, more than anything my brother wants peace. Peace only comes after a fight though, Yuki-chan. And now...You have to eat," he pulled out a pork bun from his pouch and handed it to her.

"I'm not particularly hungry..."

"You've barely eaten and you were knocked out for like 4 days!" Izuna exclaimed. "So eat before I force you to eat! And before Madara realises I lied to him!"

"What?" Yukiko stood up in outrage, touching the seal on her stomach. "You lied?"

"I thought it was getting a bit rough in here. Besides...You shouldn't use that tone with him..." Izuna's eyes narrowed and his voice was tinged with a sinister tone again.

"Tone? What tone?" she muttered, looking down at the bun he'd given her.

"It doesn't matter," he stood up, patting her head. "But like I said, I want you to last longer than the last one. So don't anger him...For a month just do whatever he says except give him that information,"

She shrunk away from the Uchiha her crimson eyes filled with apprehension. "For a month I should just do whatever, just for your own game,"

"And for your life," he added, the gentle expression returning to his angelic face.

This guy...Toys with his brother and other people like it's nothing...and does it with a smile as well. Father you always warned me about men like that but wasn't Mother the same?

"Which will end as soon as I give him the information?"

"Which I assure you it won't, I feel as though you're much too entertaining too let that happen. To attack Madara, the strongest shinobi the Uchiha have ever seen and a man who, if the Senju were out of the way, would conquer this world without breaking a sweat...That takes a lot of bravery," Izuna laughed again.

"I didn't do it out of bravery, I did it out of self-defence and pride," the kunoichi whispered, taking a small bite of food.

"Like reasons ever matter! As Madara always says 'It's results that make history'!" he declared with an overwhelming yet faked tone of pride, as if to mock Madara's own. Yukiko glared at him.

"That's a stupid thing to say. Without reason then there's no point fighting," she scoffed with another bite.

"Oh? Well I guess that's one way of looking at it," he shrugged. "I, personally, don't agree with either of you. I just think that peace is a naive thing that we learn as kids. No one will ever achieve it. So tell me Yuki-chan, do you believe in sea monsters and dragons?" She was confused by his sudden question so it took her a moment to answer.

"No...They're just mythical creatures,"

"So why believe in peace? Actually let me tell you something really interesting...You'll want to hear this,"

Madara wasn't surprised that his brother had lied to him; he still took a moment to sit down in his office with his head in his hands while deep in thought.

The scroll he'd given Izuna was laid out in front of him. He reread it.

Name: Yukiko Ginhana

Position: Head of the Ginhana Clan

Affinity: Water, Wind.

Kekkei Genkai: Ice

Parents: Isamu Ginhana and Ristuko Yuki

Side-note: Both of her parents led the Ginhana clan, Ritsuko took over when her husband was killed in battle.

Land of Residency: Land of Water

This is the profile of your target. It is rumoured she is working for the Senju in order to help the assassination of the Water Daimyo. Her motives for accepting this mission, as are the reason the Senju need to assassinate the Water Daimyo, are unknown however if you get any and all information she has and to wipe out her clan then I will provide you with an army large enough to completely wipe the Senju out of history.

Hibiki Akio

Fire Daimyo

He leaned back in his chair, shutting his eyes while he contemplated the situation he was in. He needed that information as soon as possible but with Izuna now pulling the strings despite knowing what was at stake. Well he wasn't quite sure how he was going to get it from her.

The woman claimed she needed to know what sort of man he was, yet he could tell she was full of pride and still had enough fight in her to raise a sword against him.

Madara could tell he wasn't the sort of man she would come to respect, her methods and his were polar opposites. However with her attachment to Izuna there was a chance his brother could change that opinion.

But he doubted that was what his brother wanted to do. Izuna was in it for a different reason. He rolled up the scroll, placed it back on his waist and left his office, feeling calm enough to deal with the pair again.

When Madara entered the room he could feel a tense atmosphere between the pair. Yukiko was staring at Izuna as though he'd just told her he was her father reincarnated and he had a smug look on his face.

"Izuna, I don't appreciate being lied to. Get out and away from the door this time," he made no attempt to defy his older brother or even make a sarcastic comment, he simply slinked out silently.

"What's with that look on your face?" Madara snapped, taking the sword out of her hands as he approached her.

"N-nothing, he was just talking..." she replied vaguely, hardly realising he'd disarmed her. Her eyes had a glassy look to them as she looked up at him.

"Talking? When people talk they don't usually end up in stunned silence afterwards,"

"You're not shouting at me yet. I thought you were going to get me to try and respect you," she pointed out quietly.

"If you act accordingly I won't shout at you at all, you need to learn," his eyes narrowed, Sharingan activating.

"I'm not...the only one who needs to learn..." Yukiko couldn't help her apprehension, every time he was near her it was like he sucked the oxygen out of the room with his power alone and it was overwhelming. "Izuna-san told me that you fought your way to the top of this clan. That's impressive but it doesn't make up for the fact you destroyed everything I had. You see you're right, I did inherit my clan and maybe that's not fair but the majority of them didn't seem to mind," her senses seemed to rush back now, even after what Izuna had told her.

"How could you possibly know that?" Madara asked, a cocky smirk appearing on his lips.

"You know, I was raised to lead my clan hopefully to peace. These past couple of days have been horrible dealing with what you've done to me and what you'll probably do to me. But my parents taught me something invaluable that I seemed to have forgotten," her fists tightened as the life seemed to return to her eyes.

"Oh?"

"That even in death, I should never cower away and hide who I am. Madara-sama, I will never respect you as a man however I do respect the admiration you've earned from your clan and I acknowledge you're a much more power ninja than I am. Simply put, you were born with something I wasn't and it's something shameful for me to admit," she paused, looking down to the floor. "You were born with talent. My parents were both talented ninja, I was proud of them but I was born average. However I still have my pride. I took pride in knowing that my clan and my parents believed in me despite being so...normal. Not everyone is born with amazing powers, Madara-sama,"

"I could have easily told you that and to have pride while knowing you're nothing special, that's naive and foolish. I would bet my entire army that you were looked down upon by most of your clan! Except perhaps the blinded women and children who didn't realise just how pathetic their honourable leader was," he laughed, the sort of laughter that shook her to the bone in fear.

"There's more to being a leader than power, it takes an awful lot of love and charisma too. You have to give people a reason to be confident in you," her voice was still quiet but she guessed it would be for quite a while yet, she'd have to adapt to the oppressive atmosphere Madara seemed to bring with him.

"The Uchiha have a reason to be confident in me. I've taken out our main threats. There's nothing more we need than power," he pointed out smugly.

"And the information sealed away in me," she added, looking up at him once more.

She actually found herself with a strange thought. He was 21, the same age as she was, and yet he'd made no inclination to marry yet. She was quite shocked that the Uchiha women (at which point she'd decided most of them had to be mad just to be part of the clan) weren't throwing themselves at his feet, or perhaps they were she just hadn't seen it yet.

Unfortunately for all his brutish behaviour, he was in no way unattractive. Quite the opposite in fact, those locks of spiked black hair that trailed down his back so majestically, all the while covering one of his eyes, coupled with his almost olive complexion and rounded near feminine eyes made him very handsome. Not to mention he wasn't dim-witted either. He was a lethal tactician and together with his strength it was no surprise at all he'd taken over the clan.

"That information will be mine," the Uchiha cut the gap between them considerable as he gently rested one hand on her neck. "No matter how I have to remove it from you, you seem to have calmed down but that self-righteous attitude will get you nowhere with me, Ginhana," he tightened his grip ever so slightly to reinforce his point.

"I've already told you it's yours,"

"Just do whatever he says, except give him that information," She had what Izuna had told her ringing in her ears.

"Why drag out the useless suffering then?" again, his grip tightened.

"Take that up with Izuna-san, not me. I'm sorry, Madara-sama but he's the one in control right now," now she really was being robbed of oxygen, instinctively grabbing his wrist as he pushed her against the wall behind.

"Tell me, right now what my brother has said to you," Yukiko gripped harder, feeling her feet no longer touch the floor she began to panic.

"I can't! I told you already!" she managed to cry out before adding "Now please just let go of me," she started to dig her nails in, desperate for air but he didn't even flinch at the pain. Instead he moved close enough that he was just inches from her.

"Say that again," Madara growled. Her eyes widening in realisation.

"You shouldn't use that tone with him..."

"Please let go of me," she pleaded again, clenching her eyes shut. She was in yet another situation where she wanted to sink into the wall, feeling Madara getting closer and closer until...

"Madara-sama! The Senju are at the gates!" an Uchiha rushed in, he dropped her immediately, throwing the sword down next to her and leaving.

Yukiko sat there trembling; she'd tried to be herself however he'd sucked the life out of her again. She grabbed her sword, still in its sheath and held it close to her as she was crying bitterly.

There was no way of denying it now, she was in Hell and the only way of escape was to abandon what was left of her mother's tattered morals.

I hate leaving Yukiko crying but if I didn't this chapter would've ended up going on and on for another like 12 pages so here seemed a good place to stop it. So, the Senju have turned up. They'll do that from time to time. XD Gotta keep an eye on that pesky Madara and lil' IzuIzu. Fun fact my hamster's name is Izuna-Wheatley. Soooo review!

Here's a new question for you though that's been nagging me a bit. Should I have made Yukiko an above-average ninja or is it better that she's 'average'? She can still hold her own in a fight she's just not godly like Madara, Izuna and the Senju brothers but still...I dunno. :S

Anyways! Join me same time, same place next week. The Detective Prince loves you very much! Nyaaaa~

Next Chapter Title: I Feel Like I'm Breaking Up And I Wanted To Stay!