"What was I misunderstanding? Why didn´t he…" the Uzumaki clan patriarch was rambling while he walked in front of his wife and some other members of his clan, all of them as disappointed as him. They all wished for their princess to be married off to the Hokage and were so sure that they were going to achieve that… the women, for their part, were calm. The Lady especially. "Why are you so calm? The best marriage proposal for our daughter has just vanished before our eyes!"

"He was never interested in our daughter in that way, my dear" the woman answered matter of factly. Other dams around her were as calm as the Lady. They noticed right away that the Shodaime was interested in other young woman, a very eligible young woman, and didn´t abridged false hopes.

"How can you be so calm?! The best candidate for husband has just slipped from our child´s hands and you just stay there?! I don´t know where this failed, I was so sure that she had him! But…" he turned to his wife. "But you never believed it… why did you…?"

"My dear husband, a woman, specially one with experience as I, can tell when a man is looking at another woman with the eyes of love. I could tell from the first moment that the Senju boy was not courting our Mito, but just being polite for political reasons. The eyes he made when looking at the Uchiha princess otherwise… it was clear that he already made his choice."

"The Lady speaks with the truth, milord. A woman can indeed see this things, unlike a man" one of the present councillors added, bowing his head. "It´s a womanly ability we cannot hope to match."

"Yes, yes…" the clan head finally felt into a chair, where he managed to calm himself down. "Now we have to decide our next course of action. Mito might not become the wife of the Hokage, but that doesn´t mean all our efforts in coming here should go to waste. There are… other things we can do."

"What are you talking about, milord?"

"My dear daughter made good friends with the Uchiha princess, now the fiancé of the Shodaime. Perhaps we can gain some benefits from that" he rubbed his hands. "She can introduce her to important clan heads, heirs and ninjas of status, including her successor as Uchiha clan head" his spouse rolled her eyes. He was already planning other marriage? How desperate. "and if all that fails, Tobirama Senju is still a suitable candidate for husband."

"You speak with the truth" another of the old councillors talked, not getting up from his seat. "But for that to happen, the princess has to keep cultivating her friendship with the bride to be despite the crossed feelings she might have for her."

"My wife will talk to her and discuss the matter with her highness. I believe that once she overcame the anger over her broken hearth, she will be found level headed enough to play her role" the Lady once again rolled her eyes. Why were men so stupid in things of the hearth? A broken hearth was not healed from morning to night, that takes time. However, he was right in one thing. Their daughter was a princess, and like one, she had to be level headed enough to play her role in favour of their people.

"I will talk to her tomorrow, first thing in them morning" her husband opened his mouth to tell her to talk to the girl immediately, but she silenced him with a hand. "Tomorrow, I said. She needs tonight to recover"

"As you wish, my dear" meanwhile, other clan was having a conversation similar to this, just more… surprised. Hideki communicated in a very rushed clan meeting the councillor asked for as soon as he returned home. The ladies in the room were looking at each other, not knowing what to say.

"Madara… I can´t believe it" another elder said, dragging his wife while he walked from side to side of the room. She was getting exasperated, but managed to stay silent. "Between all women… Madara managed to attract the best candidate to husband? What did she do?"

"You know, I heard some rumours about he courting her" one of the younger women said, remembering something. "Someone saw him buying women´s kimono and going to her house after that"

"He visited a maiden without supervision? That´s unheard of!"

"But nothing happened and he is willing to marry her, there is nothing to be worried about. Rumours will die soon after the engagement is made public, the people in Konoha would just assume that there was a chaperone inside and we allowed him to court our clan princess, just kept it in secret because the Senju wanted him to marry the Uzumaki girl" the one that talked nodded. "Don´t correct it and everything will be alright."

"I beg to differ" the eldest woman in the room talked, a stern look on her face. "Our clan head can be a beautiful woman… with the proper beauty treatment. But it is concerning that she never received the same preparations that our girls. She doesn´t have the knowledge to become a wife or to administer a household… nor anything" she gave them a glare, which made the men cringle. "And this cannot be. The pride of the Uchiha clan is on stake, we can´t give away an unfit bride."

"Surely" suddenly they were aware of the problem. "We thought she would never marry and gave her the same instruction we give most boys. She doesn´t know how to do the simplest of house works, which a married woman should dutifully do"

"We should amend them immediately" the oldest Lady in the room. "Nanako-san, you were the closest to Nanami-sama when she lived. Because of that, it´s your duty and honour to prepare her daughter for marriage in her stead" the mentioned woman nodded. "Don´t worry, we will help you with this duty, you won´t be alone."

"What concerns me is that Madara-sama never showed any kind of interest in womanly activities or marriage, I couldn´t dare to think what the news of being engaged would cause in her" she cringed. "The reaction will be anything but unfavourable for us."

"Then we will have to contain her" the matriarch said with iron determination. "That girl knew that this could happen someday and it´s our duty to give our stemmed Hokage a good wife." The lady got up. "Leave her to me, I know well how to tame a wild girl."

"As you wish"

"On other notice, I have heard that she has been seeing the Uzumaki princess. Is that true?" a young raven woman nodded, having seen them in front of the kimono store. "From now on I want the interaction between them limited. Only the Sage knows what the Uzumaki will try now that their hopes of engaging their princess to the Shodaime failed."

"Do you think they would try to sabotage us?"

"Hell has no fury as a scorned woman, remember that well"

-The next day-

"Good morning" Madara growled when she was woken up by an overly happy older woman, she tried to return to sleep, after all she planned to train later, but apparently Nananko-san had other ideas. "Come on, darling wake up. We have much to do, starting with a change in your dresser. I have so much to teach you…"

"What?" the clan head started rousing. Since when the women of her clan wanted to teach her something? They always tried to stay as far away from the "wild girl". In fact, the only one who tried to teach her something was her mother. And it was only so she knew how to cure her own injuries in the battlefield and mend her clothing. Otherwise… well, she was more close to her father and brothers for her battle prowess.

"Yes…" her surrogate aunt sat down next to her. "You see… last night something changed, something that we haven´t thought would ever happen" the younger Uchiha´s face was becoming more and more angry, so she decided to speed up. "Someone asked for your hand in marriage."

"WHA?!"

"Yes, I couldn´t believe it when I hear it either" the woman made a melodramatic gesture. "We all were surprised, even the council. But the proposal came from a very good party, so they agreed immediately, so… you are now engaged."

"They… I…" a growl of anger, which made fear creep in the poor female´s soul. "Who was the man that asked to marry me?"

"Ehhhh… the Shodaime" the younger raised an eyebrow. Really? Hashirama, her childhood best friend and confident, asking for her hand? That has to be wrong in many ways… but at the same time… didn´t he ask her about marriage the day before? Yes, she remembered that. So he was asking because of that… Even more rage felt her hearth and she got up from bed, changing in a second and walking to the door. "Where… where are you going?"

"Where do you think? To go find that idiot and give him a piece of my mind" the woman sighed before falling to the ground in defeat. Meanwhile, an enraged Uchiha wandered through the village, scaring all the people out of their minds. Children hid behind their mothers and people got out of her way. she finally reached the place she was searching for, the Hokage Tower. The woman practically ripped the door from it´s place, leaving it on the floor before ascending. The door to the Hokage´s office was kicked down and she entered, noticing right away that Hashirama went to work in his battle armour. Good, so the idiot actually had a brain cell.

"He… hello, Madara" tried to salute her the Shodaime, trembling a bit. He has never seen a person so angry in his life, let alone an angry woman. That was actually the scariest part of this meeting. "Ho… how are you today?"

"Fine… if not for an idiot that went around my back to ask for my hand in marriage" she growled, walking towards him, engulfed in fire… at least in his eyes. He thanked for his wisdom in wearing his battle armour to work and quickly walked away from his so important paperwork to avoid it getting incinerated. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I… let´s bring this conversation to a less flammable place" he ran away before hearing the answer, knowing that she would follow him to kill him. The brunette finally stopped in the training grounds, his fiancé appeared in front of him in an instant. "Look… don´t kill me before I explain myself, okay?"

"I´m all ears… for now" she tapped on her arms, letting him know that the time he was living was borrowed and very VERY short. "Come on, explain yourself"

"I… I have always been in love with you" he blurted out, happy to finally being able to voice his feelings. His female best friend raised an eyebrow. So the stupid Senju always fancied her, eh? Always and she without knowing. Well, now she knew and she was going to slap those feelings away from him with a good right hook. "I wished to ask for your hand for so much time now… I even proposed the truce between our clans just so I can get your clan´s approbation to marry you"

"Yes? Because I think you actually excluded me from that proposal… intentionally" the Uchiha made emphasis in the last word.

"Well, I asked you about who will you marry yesterday and you answered that maybe a person like me…"

"That was an hypothetical situation, you fool! I wasn´t talking seriously!" she attacked first, knocking over the door of the training ground and setting it on fire. Hashirama looked back in worry, now fully aware that despite being here they were a treat to the village. He then started running again, guiding her as far away from populated area as he could. "Come back here, you idiot! Stay in one place so I can kill you!"

"No so you can harm someone!" she sighed and followed him at a slower pace. He was right, they could harm someone if they stayed there. The two finally arrived at a place that was great to talk… or to fight. "Madara, please, I don´t want to harm you. I love you, I will truly devote my life to make you happy."

"I don´t need a male to make me happy" she said, getting into fighting stance. She has been a clan head and a military leader for so much time that she practically forgot she was a female… or had until recently. But, obviously, that didn´t matter. "I am not losing my freedom or my position."

"Madara…"

"And I am not marrying you!" her Sharingan was spinning wildly, taking a scroll out of her clothes and preparing for a very serious fight, armour and everything. Hashirama, for his part, took out his katana and secured his scroll to his back. "I will regain the right to do whatever I want with my life this moment, the only way I could now that the council decided to hand me over to you. Sorry, but you have to die here."

"That´s an archaic tradition, you know" the Shodaime raised an eyebrow, knowing he was going to have to fight over the right to marry the woman he loved… and to keep his live, because he liked to be alive, thank you very much. "And you know what is going to happen if I win?"

"You don´t have change" she smiled. "And I know. If I lose and am still alive, then I will marry you. Win-win situation… for one of us."

"I seriously don´t want to do this…"

"Too bad… I do!" she launched herself to combat. Hashirama dodged and moved his hands, forming a forest with the firm intention to grab his wayward fiancé and held her still until she gave in… which would take a lot of time, as she was the most stubborn person in the whole world. Unfortunately she chopped the weeds with her scythe and launched forward, Susanoo forming around herself. "BATTLE ME, GODDAMMIT!"

"I don´t want to hurt you!" he said, nervously. Madara was the love of his life… why the hell did he felt for such a woman? Well, she was the only one that truly understood him. and she was so pretty in his eyes. "Why couldn´t you understand?! I don´t want you to renounce anything! I just want to make you happy!"

"As if I need…" she pulled out a scroll and bit her hand to use a summon. "a man to make me happy!" a roar was heard and the Kyuubi no Kitsune appeared. He sweat dropped. Seriously? She could summon a Bijuu to battle? Damn. "Yes, even if you were living in peace, your arms at home, I continued to grow stronger. I am the Shinobi Demon after all!"

"You liked that name too much, you know"

"It´s better than the new one" she shook her shoulders. Hashirama had to agree, whoever that called her the Battling Maiden surely didn´t know her… and was going to be given a sound beating. "Where was I...? Oh, yes! I was going to kill you!"

"With a Bijuu? I thought you were going to use your Susanoo or something like that" he commented, as Madara never liked to use summons in battle, confident on her own strength.

"Ah, I forgot" she covered the orange furred vulpine in a battle armour, she herself in the headpiece. Shit, he surely should have kept his mouth shut. "Thank you" she smiled… yes, him and his big mouth. "Say goodbye to live… BECAUSE YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!"

"Madara, please, listen to me…"

"Less talk and more fight. Kyuubi, attack!" the female commanded and Hashirama made some hand signs. A giant wood statue appeared, with thousands of big hands ready to strike at the fox. The Bijuu charged one of his bombs (inwardly thinking that this was so familiar for some reason) and fired. Hashirama jumped and dodged, seeing the sun getting down. Great, he spent a complete day out of the office. Tobirama was going to kill him.

"Let´s finish this before he got the idea to tie me down to my dam chair" he created another wood creature, centring in the battle. He had no opportunity if he continued thinking about meaningless stuff. "Come here, Madara! I will show you what I can do! And in the end… you will marry me!"

"I your dreams, asshole" she put her hands on her hips. "Kyuubi, another one. Destroy that damn wood statue as if it is a china vase… NOW!"

"Yes… let´s go… MADARA!"

"HASHIRAMA!" the clash was epical. The earth started shattering because of the powerful explosion they caused, creating a Valley. The river started to fall though the recently made cascade.

"Let´s see who is going to win"

-Few hours later-

"Ha… ha…" Madara finally had his opponent where she wanted him, smiling when she delivered her final attack. unfortunately for her, the man kneeling in front of her was a clone, a very realistic wood clone. She looked was confused for a moment, which Hashirama used to knock her completely out. The woman was stopped from touching the ground by the arms of her fiancé, who kneeled down, worn off.

"You surely are another think, the only one that could be by my side" he caressed the raven locks, looking at her with absolute passion. He sat down there, on the battlefield, resting and waiting for her to wake up. It was well past dawn when the female started opening her eyes. "Rise and shine, sweet hearth"

"You are an idiot" the Uchiha grunted, biting her lip. "the only good thing is that… you are powerful. Powerful enough to stood your ground against me and a fucking Bijuu together, something that shouldn´t be even possible…"

"Shhhh" he put a hand on her lips. "You shouldn´t be talking"

"And you shouldn´t be alone with me, even if we are engaged" he was surprised now. She accepted him as her fiancé so quickly. "Why do you look surprised? I lost, and even if it pains me to accept it, I practically gave my word that if I was still alive after that battle, I will marry you. And I always uphold my word."

"You are talking about it as if it was a condemn to death" he sighed. "Look, Madara, I don´t want to force you to do anything you don´t want, even if it pains me. I just want to make you happy…"

"I don´t need anyone else to be…"

"For God´s sake, Madara! You are alone and I know it! I want to be by your side because I truly love you and it hurts me to see you that alone and sad and… and… sour!" her eyes widened. Did he really noticed how much she was hurting inside? Since Izuna´s death, she couldn´t… she just… "I love you and… just give me an opportunity to make you love me, to help you."

"I… have been a clan head for so long… I don´t want to lose everything I have achieved on my own because… because I got married" she finally admitted, looking a bit down, with blushed cheeks. No one ever talked to her with such a passion… with such feelings to her. "The… the clan…"

"I never asked you to renounce anything for me" he smiled wickedly. "Leave those assholes in your council to me, I will not let them take anything from you" she returned his smile, suddenly feeling better. "And if I ever need some help, I will definitely call you. If me alone can inspire terror, then together we are an unstoppable force."

"Are you trying to conquer me?"

"I will always try" he was about to kiss her when someone arrived. Very unwelcome guests, especially because it was his brother and other members of his clan… oh, there were Uchihas too.

"Aniya! I heard you and…" he then looked around himself, noticing the amount of destructions around him. "What the HELL happened here?!"

"Nothing, just a fight between a recently engaged couple"

"Nothing? Nothing?! This place looks as if a Bijuudama exploded just over it!"

"Three"

"What?"

"It was three Bijuudamas and two other attacks… I believe that those were Hashirama´s Ashuras stepping on the land" she yawned, stretching a bit. For the Sage, she was so tired. "Well, I guess we already set our differences apart."

"Set your differences apart? You practically trashed a land!" the albino shouted, putting his hands on his hips. "Besides, you shouldn´t be together alone even if you are engaged to each other! It shows a complete disrespect for the rules and I don´t want to hear the Uchiha´s complains about you!"

"Do me a favour, asshole, and shut up"

"You… you…" Tobirama bit his lip, glaring at his future sister in law. He promised to himself to be there in every one of the dates the couple was allowed to have by their clans until the wedding. Just to make sure that the Crazy Demon didn´t kill his brother… or keep the idiot in his place. "Let´s go back to the village before I lose my patience. Hand her over to her clan, aniya. And you, keep quiet"

"Stop giving me orders, I´m not your servant nor your brother´s wife yet. I don't have to listen to you."

"Argggggg" he growled. "It´s going to be such a pleasure to have you as my sister"

-The next day-

"Pay attention, girl" Madara was woken up from her dream by a stern voice. Nanako-san was teaching her to do a tea ceremony… or boring her to death, at least in her opinion. It was so stupid! Who needed to know that? And do they have to do it in such a way? She was feeling like a damn doll. "You have to know how to make a tea ceremony, it´s a very ancient tradition for ladies, specially ones of high status" explained the older woman. "Once you are married you are expected to do this perfectly and pass that knowledge to your daughters."

"And if I don´t have any daughter?" the still clan head put a hand on her cheek, still showing her complete disregard over the traditions for feminine members of the clan.

"If you have the venture of only bearing males, then pass it to their daughters" sighed Nanako. "Besides, all married women are expected to do this, the art of preparing tea elegantly is a skill that all…"

"Blah blah blah" Madara yawned again, closing her eyes a bit. She needed to escape or she really was going to turn crazy. Unfortunately for her, she was being watched by more than a few women. It was difficult to escape their eyes… but not impossible. She smiled wickedly, hiding it when she was offered the utensils to prepare the tea. Finally she did the tea ceremony to his aunt´s content and she retired for a bit to grab her embroidering set.

"Stay here" she looked down and then casted a genjutsu to escape her guardians. The Uchiha started running towards a place that was very known to her, the Naka River. She wanted to do something else than arranging flowers, embroidering tissues and making tea (fortunately for her she already knew how to cook, a pleasant surprise for her female relatives) "Sheesh, what a drag"

"Woow, Midori-chan, see who is there" a voice caught her attention immediately. She turned around, realizing in that moment that she was not alone. Mito was there with her maid servant, who was holding up a parasol so the princess was protected from the sun. "Long time no see, Madara-sama. I see that you have turned into a lady."

"Not really… some of my elders forced me to wear this" she admitted and sat down on the floor, something that would have made Nanako and her crew scream. "I wish I could have my old clothes, but the day after my engagement those old woman replaced my whole wardrobe for something FIT for a woman."

"You doesn´t seem very enthusiastic for that" the princess laughed before sitting down next to her, followed by the maid. Madara then picked up a stone, throwing it with accuracy. It crossed the river, surprising her companions.

"You know how to skip stones? I never learned" the redhead grabbed a stone, showing exactly how bad she was at that. "My mother considered it was undignified for a princess."

"What a coincidence, so did mine" Madara smiled, remembering the woman. "But she let me do whatever I wanted… too bad that now it´s biting me, because those crazy old ladies wanted to teach me years worth of knowledge in a few months."

"Ohhh, but… you should be happy for the wedding" tried to change the conversation the Uzumaki. "How are the preparations going, by the way?"

"I haven´t been even let near the shrine"

"Since when the bride is not able to supervise the preparations for her own wedding day?" asked Midori, surprising the two upper class women. "Ehhh… I´m sorry, miladies, I didn´t mean…"

"No, it´s okay" the Uchiha calmed her down. "Can you help me a bit?" she signalled her hair, which was pinned to her skull in a very uncomfortable way. the maid servant quickly worked to undo the hairstyle, letting the raven´s hair down. "Thank you, it was killing me. How those old hags can use it all the time, I will never know."

"They are just too used to their old ways" the princess laughed, remembering an aunt of her. "Don´t be sad, the younger generations abandoned that style a lot time ago. If you don´t like it, don´t wear it, nobody cares anymore."

"My aunt does"

"You are not marrying to make her happy" something then came from the younger woman´s mind. "By the way, I heard that you two created a new Valley in a fight. According to my sources, it´s called the Valley of End" Madara grunted at the melodramatic name. She would have chosen a better one. "Apparently it was named like that because it sealed the total end of the war between the Uchiha and Senju clans"

"It was already over"

"No with the Battling Maiden and the Shinobi God still at odds with each other" she clarified. "Even if it pains me to admit it, you were the reasonable choice to do" the redhead grabbed her ankles. "I… hope you are happy."

"I think I will be, but… are you?"

"I will be" the Uzumaki said in whisper. "I´m sorry, I was stupid. I should have realised that he didn´t see me as a possible wife, but as a good ally and friend. He was so charming…" she cried a bit "I was fooled by it… but you… he always had that special look for you in his eyes, as if you were the only other thing in the world" she suddenly turned around and grasped her hands. "I sincerely wish you luck."

"Thank… thank you"

-Later-

"I haven´t had an encounter this lame with you ever" Madara commented and her fiancé didn´t have any other choice but to nod. "Seriously, this is our first date as an engaged couple and you aren´t even surprised that it is so lame? At least do something to easy the atmosphere or I might just walk away."

"Well…" he turned to see the closest table, where his brother and Nanako drank tea and ate dango. They were the chaperones, the ones in duty to make sure the couple keep the purity tradition until the wedding night. Which really killed the atmosphere. "This was not what I imagined when I asked permission to take you out to eat something together."

"And what were you thinking, good boy?" she raised an eyebrow. "You should know that those old farts were not going to let you alone with me until the wedding night, they are too old fashioned for that" she took one of the sticks to her mouth, disappointed. She had millions of encounters with Hashirama, for the Sage´s sake, and never remotely unappropriated ever happened. They should trust her by now. Both of them. "So boring…"

"I´m sorry" he got a bit depressed, thinking that probably next time they should meet in secret at the riverside… or perhaps other place, because that could be counted as a regression to childhood. He zipped on his tea before continuing. "How are you doing, by the way? Some older males in my clan has been giving me advice for marriage and it´s quite confusing"

"The old hags of my clan haven´t left me a moment of peace since you popped out that damn question" she rolled her eyes. "It could have been worse, at least I know how to cook good enough for them to leave my kitchen alone."

"Your cooking is more than good, I love your tomato soup. It´s not my favourite dish, but you prepare it with such a flavour that…" she blushed a bit. No one flattered her cooking since Izuna died. "Ehhh, are you feeling okay? Your face is so red…"

"Shut up and finish your dango, idiot" she drank quickly, trying to hide her flustered face. Tobirama stared at them, chewing the sweet very slowly, as if trying to swallow something awful. His brother… his aniya complimenting an Uchiha on her cooking skills? More over, complimenting MADARA on something feminine? The world surely was turning nuts. For her part, Nanako was pleased. Being complimented on something like a dish by her future husband was very flattering for a woman.

"I didn´t know you knew how to make tomato soup" she commented to Madara when they were exiting the establishment, smiling a bit. She herself only proved her inarizushi and miso soup before deeming her cooking appropriate and passing to other more pressing things.

"It was one of Father´s favourite dishes" she commented. "Usually it put him in a better humour, specially after mother died" the younger lowered her head. "I got used to cooking it for him and when he died… Izuna and I always had that on his birthday."

"Don´t look so down, Tajima-sama would be proud" no, he wouldn´t be, Madara thought, he would grab his sword and attempt to kill the council, all along while screaming that he would die before letting his daughter, his precious and only daughter, marry the son of Butsuma Senju. "And most girls learned how to cook with family."

"I learned taking care of Izuna, he was so young when mother died" she commented, remembering how much her little brother cried those days. Tajima was either on the battlefield or too exhausted to cook for them, so she started taking over some of her mother´s roles. "And you, Nanako-san? How did you learn all this things?"

"Well… my mother taught me herself"

-In other part-

"I don´t know what you see in her" commented the albino, walking besides his brother on the streets. Hashirama was radiant. Even if it was a lame encounter, every minute he spend with his beloved was a blessing to his soul. His happiness was contagious by everyone… except his brother. It was as if there was a bright sun just in front of a black hole. A very enraged black hole. "Really, what do you see in her?"

"What do you see in Mito?"

"She was a princess of a well respected clan who is relatives with us, which makes them completely trustworthy" he began, making the other sigh. "Besides, she is well versed in the arts of being the wife of an important person, has the proper education for a woman of her position, doesn´t go into fights as easily as that savage…"

"Yes, but I wasn´t really asking that" he paused and turned around. "What´s in her that attracts you so much?"

"What in the seven hells are you taking about?" asked the albino, confused.

"I´m your big brother, you can tell me" tried to coax him Hashirama. "What does she had that make you like her so much? Come on, tell me."

"I don´t like her"

"Come on! Tell me!"

"Stop pushing, I already told you that I don´t like her!"

Hello! Hope you liked it. I thought that maybe I should continue with the preparations of the wedding, but where to begin? Send me your Reviews!