Madara X2

Chapter 3

Mari sat in the living room, petting the new leopard Madara had gotten for her and glanced up at the clock with worry. The sun had set and day had given away to night and the two men hadn't given a phone call or a knock on the door. She knew they were strong and able to take care of themselves, but had they gotten themselves hurt? Perhaps they had gotten into worse trouble and been detained by the police? Her mind began to swirl with ideas of what could have caused them to be so late, to the point that she made herself dizzy and nearly fainted. She moved the leopard and stood up, looking at the door with concern. Madara had clearly told her to stay in the house and she clenched her fingers into fists. If they were, indeed, injured, they surely needed her help. Even if she sent the ninja cat, she doubted it could have the strength to pull two full-grown men to the house, and one covered in armor nonetheless!

"Its getting so late…" She said aloud before staring at the clock as images of what had happened the first night she was there, flashed in her mind's eye. The night she slept in a room different from Madara. "…I have better chances outside than in here." She said softly and pulled on a shawl, hoping they were at least on the property and perhaps just walking slow, as she unlocked the door and opened it to the brisk night air.

A gentle breeze played with the hems of her shawl and the leopard darted out first as Mari looked around at the strings of alight and colorful paper lamps that were held from tall poles to frame the way to the house and a small garden. Other than the light they gave off, there was nothing she could see with and it was just plain spooky how there was no sounds out. No chirping crickets. No soft rustle of leaves. No gentle clinking of the wind chime. "Boys?" She called out and waited for an answer. There was none. Perhaps they had competed to see who would get back first? "Madara?" She called out once more as her chest tightened while the silence thickened and she tried once more, "Tobi?" No answer met her calls for reply.

Mari stepped forward onto the damp grass and continued onwards under the gentle radiance of the paper lanterns with the ninja cat at her side, not going farther than a foot or so from the door. "Boys?" The wind rattled the tree branches in the distance as more pressure grew on her chest.

"Yeah?" A familiar voice called back and Mari trotted forward, the two men at the edge of the lane. "Something the matter?" Madara asked.

"I got really worried- neither of you had came back yet and I thought…" Mari said but let the sentence trail off only to be interjected by a chuckle from Madara.

"We are fine. Mr. Price-Diva over here, wouldn't leave until we got every discount he could manage." Madara said before shifting the large bags to his right hand and touching her cheek with his left hand, "I thought I told you not to leave." Mari smiled apologetically,

"I know and I'm really sorry, but neither of you are prone to being so tardy and I became concerned." Mari told him and Madara kissed her forehead,

"I see. I will call or inform you some other way, in the future." He told her before they all went back to the house. Mari stopped in the threshold and lingered as she looked back into the dark of the night. She couldn't help the feeling of being watched, but Madara gently pulled her from the doorway and shut it behind her, locking it securely as she looked up at him. Madara looked down at her and voiced, "I'm sorry." He said and she smiled softly, knowing he meant for keeping her locked up and that the Uchiha before her meant well. She held his hand a little and he blushed faintly,

"Lets go to the kitchen so I can make dinner." She said but stepped forward and hugged him, "Thank you very much." She told him and Madara put a hand on the wall and leaned down, looking her in the eye as she looked at him,

"If you keep doing things like this, I won't be able to keep holding back." Madara told her and she blushed, before he pulled away from her, "Go on ahead of me, and don't worry, I will do nothing in front of him." She smiled,

"I know." She said and walked off, Madara right behind her. Tobi solemnly sat in the kitchen and perked up when Mari came in, only to somber down when Madara followed at her heels. "Tobi." Mari said softly and he looked at her, "Do you think-"

" 'I could stay for dinner?' I think not, especially not in the presence of this bastard." Tobi hissed in Madara's direction as Mari frowned, "Did you really think I would agree to something like that, Mari? Honestly, how childish-" He said before Mari interjected,

"It is you, who are being childish!" And the two men looked at her. "You are being disrespectful and while in someone else's home!? Shame on you." Tobi moodily looked away before she voiced, "Please leave." And Tobi looked up at her with surprise as she crossed her arms and averted her eyes. "You have…overextended your welcome."

"You speak of having respect for someone else's house, yet you say stuff like this?" Tobi demanded as he abruptly stood up. He did so, so quickly, that the table flipped over and she flinched,, but Madara acted quickly pulling her back from her estranged once-husband, "Don't get so high and mighty!"

"You're not going to speak to my wife like that, no matter how pissed off you are." Madara snapped defensively, Tobi panting as he held back more rage and Madara bluntly told him, "You heard her. Get out."

"'Your wife'? You're defending her?" Tobi snickered and Madara retorted sharply as he slid in front of Mari,

"Yes, I am! I told you once before but I'll say it again- she and everything else you claimed in my name are mine. I will no longer tolerate some two-bit hack, like yourself, to disturb her mental and physical well-being." He declared and Tobi stared at him in disbelief, "Think what you want and speak what you will about me, ill or praise, but this house and any other property I own are under her command as much as they are my own. There is no line between 'my' and 'her' dominion of domain. I had allowed you to have your little watching and your eavesdropping on our conversations but no longer. Remove yourself from these grounds, and look back if you will, but you will never set foot upon them again." Madara finished and lightly gripped Mari's hand, standing firmly in place as he glared at Tobi and watched as Tobi stormed out of the house and smashed the door on his way out.

"Madara." Mari said and he looked at her and she leaned on him before he hugged the woman to him and examined the mess his 'love rival' had made. The over turned table lay broken on the kitchen floor, the dishes and some of the groceries that had been on it were now scattered across the floor or crushed under the now useless table. There were shards of the dishes to be tended to, large and fatally small but all sharp-edged. Some type of liquid was slowly pooling out from under the wreckage and looked perhaps to be water or tea, but it was hard to tell against the ff-white color of the tile. She cling to his clothes and he gently rubbed her back,

"They're nothing but material possessions. They can be replaced." He assured her and rested his chin upon her head, "Are you hurt?" She shook her head in a 'no'. "I will cook for you and we can eat in the living room with some candles. It will be romantic, no?" He said and she let out a nervous laugh and Madara let out a sigh, "Perhaps this is the universe saying that a change of scenery is needed."

That night, indeed, he cooked and they ate in the living room by candle light. They moved to their bedroom and relaxed to watch a movie until she fell asleep upon him. In the morning, Madara was already up, in bed, reading a thick pamphlet of papers, "Madara?" She yawned and he glanced down at her before he smirked,

"Morning." He greeted and flipped a page, "I'm glad you're up. Would you mind helping me?" Mari sat up and asked, "With what?" "Oh, nothing much. Just finding a new house to live in." Mari blinked. A new place- to live? "This house is getting run down, and it's too big to take care of. Plus with your disrespectful ex and those who want to hurt you to get to me, we don't really have any other options." Mari sat up and he showed her the pamphlet he looked through. Pictures of houses were large on the page, followed by information on them. How big they were, where they were, the interior, and notes on them. "Do you like any of them? Go ahead and look." Mari looked at him sadly, "I don't want you to live in some run-down old mansion I have, Mari. I won't allow it." She smiled at his concern for her well-being and shyly snuggled up against him to look at the houses with him.

Whilst Madara wanted something on the outskirts of a village so that they could have their own peace and quiet, Mari wanted something where they wouldn't be so isolated. Madara didn't want his days ruined and interrupted by noisy villagers but Mari wanted human contact at the very least and Madara sighed, "Well…there's an Uchiha sort of Headquarters in Konogakure- The Village in the Leaves, along with one in Amegakure, the Village of the Rain." Mari looked at him and he scratched the back of his neck, "The house I have there is small, but it's also run down, so if we went there, it would only be a temporary home for this place to be renovated and fixed up. It's just dusty." Mari leaned against Madara and he rested his chin on her head, "I believe it will be good for you. With that little spat last night, I don't think you can tolerate it here anymore." She sighed and pulled away,

"I just…I am at a loss, I suppose. I do not know what to do now, I truly don't." Mari wiped her eyes, "My whole life revolved around Tobi, but he's…He's…" She sniffed and Madara tilted her chin up with a curled finger and tenderly kissed her forehead.

"Don't think about it if it's so painful." Madara told her and wiped her eyes, "Just start packing. Think of it as a long vacation." Mari smiled and held his hand, "Much better." He assured and stood up, "Bring whatever you desperately need. The village is only a day's travel and I can always buy more stuff for the house when we get there." She smiled and let go off his hand to he could leave the room and she took a few moments to herself to collect herself. After that, she got to her feet and went to the kitchen where Madara sat on the phone at the table. "Hello there." He said with a sultry little smirk as she stood shyly in the threshold of the kitchen doorway, "Can I help you?" Mari giggled a little,

"Where is the duffel bag?" She asked and he pointed towards the bedroom with a pen in his hand,

"Under the bed in the bedroom. There's one for you in the top of the closet. I'm going to call around about the house in Amegakure and renovation costs, so- Yes, Hello, I was calling to ask how long renovations take with your company?" Madara said and Mari waved to him and he smirked before giving her a half-wave and wrote down the information he was being given on a lined note pad, "Ok, and I also have home owner's insurance- I need to call my company on that one? I don't think 'Ninja attack' is really- oh, it is covered?" Mari returned to the bedroom and pulled out the duffel bag and started to fill it. She paused, not sure when they were leaving or if Madara was going to pack too and shyly went back to the kitchen where Madara still sat.

"How soon are we leaving?" She asked quietly and he answered,

"As soon as I'm done with a few more calls, we'll be going." Madara told her and glanced at her, "I'll carry the bag but we'll only need one." Mari nodded and he voiced, "The last call may take about ten or so minutes." He paused and looked at her as he put the phone to his ear, "It's Sunday, isn't it?" She nodded and he added on, "Bring an umbrella too. Yes, hello-" Mari left and continued to pack, trying not to think about anything. Madara was going out of his way to make sure she was safe in anyway he could. That was considerate of him, but they weren't married like she and Tobi were. There wasn't really a point. Mari looked at her wedding ring and it gave off a dull glimmer as if it knew it's time was over. Like it had known this was coming.

"Did you know all along?" She asked the ring sadly, "Did you know this would become of me?" The glimmer of the light reflected on it's surface died out and she took it off. She stared at the packed duffel bag, open but fill of it's needed contents. Mari stood up and took the zipper tag, her hands shaking. If she closed this bag, that was it. That would be the last brick in the wall. There wouldn't be 'Mari, The wife of Tobi Uchiha' there would only be 'Mari, the wife of Madara Uchiha'. Same last name, same lineage…but both held different meanings. She zipped it a little and her hands shook more, making her grip on it slip.

Madara wasn't so bad. He seemed hostile and aggressive, but it did not consume him, and he had other strong points, she was sure. Like how he kept Tobi from hurting her no matter what type of 'hurt' it was, and how Madara looked out for her. Tobi had done the same in the beginning- if she left with Madara, would he change too? Would he turn on her as well and try to harm her and call her names? Tears slipped down her cheeks as she gripped the zipper again before she shivered as a hot breeze brushed against the back of her neck, "It's alright." A familiar voice said and she was enveloped in a hug, and she hugged the arms that held her as the tears kept falling. "It won't take long for the house in the Rain Village. Just a few things I can do myself." He told her as she laid her cheek on one of his arms. "Lots of rain though." He said and she laughed, Madara pulling away and she turned and hugged him,

"Thank you. For everything." She told him and he chuckled.

"What are husbands for?" He asked and looked at the bag, "So, the last battle between whose wife you'll be?" Madara questioned and she nodded, "This matter isn't really for me- you call the shots." Mari looked back and stared at the duffel bag, then looked at Madara who patiently stood by with his hands lightly resting on her hips. He made no move to try and sway her decision as she stared up at him while she thought about it.

Would she be the old wife of Tobi Uchiha- or the new wife of Madara Uchiha?

Mari looked at his throat for a moment then looked back up at his eyes, "Madara?" She questioned and he smirked at her to let her know she had his full attention. "Will you do any of the stuff that Tobi did?"

"Not in a million years." Madara vowed and she smiled as he added on, "I promise you, Mari, that I will never act that way towards you or in front of you." Mari looked back at the bag.

Her hand reached over and firmly gripped the zipper.