[3]

The meeting, as Kizuka found out, didn't finish any better than it started. As Madara so obviously didn't want to be there, and made sure everyone knew full-well that he would rather be elsewhere, he had become increasingly difficult to negotiate with as the meeting progressed. Despite the fact that the meeting was only meant to last five minutes, it actually lasted for over an hour.

By the end of the day, Izuna was thoroughly mentally and physically exhausted – he'd had to hold Madara back on several occasions.

Suffice to say, he was whinging about it to Kizuka the very same evening as he had dinner round her house, which grated on Kizuka's nerves because she usually used home as an environment to relax after a stressful day's work. This evening, however, was not the case.

Eventually, Kizuka snapped.

"Izuna, he's your brother! You've known him for longer and so you should have known he wouldn't have liked to have come, seeing as he and Hashirama don't get along."

"Hey, don't blame me! Madara and Hashirama used to be friends at school until our dads found out and they weren't allowed to be friends! Hashirama's been pushing Madara to recoil ever since they began working in this industry!"

"Then why are you meeting with them?"

"Because Madara refuses to!"

"But why?"

"He's a stubborn git, why else?"

"Izuna, get serious!"

"I am serious!"

"Pfft!" Kizuka glowered at him, arms crossed. "If you're serious, then I must be having some weird and severe dream. You're smiling!"

Izuna wrinkled his nose, his smile not slipping from his face. "You're so judgemental, Kizu. I thought I taught you better than that?"

"The only thing you teach any girl is the Karma Sutra," commented Kizuka acidly, unsmiling. "Now, remind me— what?" She blinked at him. "Why are you grinning at me like that?"

Izuna scraped the last of his meal onto his fork before replying to Kizuka's question. "I taught you the K—"

"Oh, shut up, Izuna!"

He burst out laughing, unable to compose himself, at Kizuka's embarrassed expression. Crimson flooded her cheeks with immense colour as she stood up and marched into her small kitchen, dumping her empty plate into the sink. Irate thoughts buzzed around her brain as she turned the tap on. She thought that Izuna wouldn't mention their past, which he hadn't done to a certain extend as he hadn't said a word at work, but she had believed he wouldn't outside of work too. Clients wouldn't take her seriously if they knew about that.

After a few minutes, Izuna entered the kitchen. "Hey, Kizu, I'm sorry."

"It's fine," She switched the water off, adding soap. "I overreacted. You were only making a joke and I stormed out in a huff."

Izuna placed a gentle hand on her lower back, putting his plate into the soapy water, close to Kizuka's body. "It's never going to happen again, though, is it?"

Kizuka didn't reply.

Izuna nodded absently and left, bidding his goodbye from the doorway, and then disappearing to fetch his coat. The last thing Kizuka heard was her front door quietly slamming shut.

The next morning Kizuka was informed that Izuna was heading off to Yumegakure for a business conference, so she was left to assist Madara.

She wasn't in the mood to put up with his snide remarks and volatile mood swings. She had witnessed him during the first ten minutes of the meeting yesterday, before Izuna sent her out in case she saw something that would frighten her: he wasn't the least bit calm. Of course, Kizuka didn't know him well enough, nor did she see him on an hourly basis, but she could guess that he wasn't always that hot-headed and brash. But Madara didn't seem like the type to always consider the safety of others, disregarding Izuna of course.

A sneer bled onto his lips when he glimpsed Kizuka's head drooping slightly. "Why are you so tired today, Kizuka? Did Izuna keep you up last night?"

Kizuka yawned, not quite grasping the hidden meaning of his words. "No, I kicked him out after dinner. I had enough of him for one night. He was complaining about you, you know."

His brow twitched slightly, but otherwise he maintained a collected composure. "Oh really? Well, it's sad to say, but it doesn't really surprise me, if I'm honest." He ignored Kizuka muttering, 'Oh really?' and continued talking arrogantly, "What surprises me though is the relationship that Izuna tries to hide from me – the one between him and you."

Her lips became a taut, thin line as she stared hard at him. "Oh really?" Her words didn't hold any sarcasm now; they were empty.

Madara dropped all pretences and glowered at her. "Are you in a relationship with my brother, Miss Hayashi?"

"No."

"Are you lying to me, by any chance?"

"Do I look like I am lying to you, Mr Uchiha? I am aware of whether I am in a relationship or not and right now I'm what they call a 'Single Pringle'. Izuna is not my boyfriend."

"Why was he round yours last night, then?"

"What is this, a Spanish Inquisition?"

"Just answer my question, Kizuka!"

"Because he is my friend!"

Kizuka shot him a heated, venomous glare, but it seemed to miss him as his glower did not falter. "Have you ever been a relationship with him?"

Kizuka faltered. Madara noticed it, and she knew he did. There were just the details to be left lying in the open between them, left to be visible along with all the tension that had arisen between them. She just had to say one word and it would lead to a whole new world of questions. She sighed.

"It's lunch time, so I'll take my break."

Quickly, she got to her feet and began to trot towards the door. Madara crossed the room in a few strides, however, and trapped her hand that touched the door handle. He breathed down her neck, deliberately unnerving her. "Mess with my brother and I'll mess with you. No whore should get a job she doesn't deserve, no matter who she sleeps with. Do you understand?"

A cold emotion washed down her spine, tingling her nerves. She shivered. She had never imagined he could sound so deadly before; Izuna always spoke so fondly of his brother. "If you think I would hurt him—"

"There's a first time for everything."

She snapped her head up and glared at him irately. "Then when will you hurt him? If there's a first time for everything, when will you start?"

Madara glowered down at her, suddenly appearing bigger and more threatening than before. Kizuka gulped back her fear and resumed trying to stare him down. Moments passed between them, ironically adding more distance to the rift whilst the intimidating closeness between them remained. Abruptly, Madara opened the door and snatched his hand away from Kizuka's.

"Take your break and take the afternoon off. Don't come back until tomorrow."

Kizuka didn't argue. She didn't want to stay in the same room as him. So she left.

Dumping her bag by her front door, Kizuka released the frustrated groan that she had been holding in for the entire walk home.

She was going to kill Izuna. No, scratch that, she'd kill two birds with one stone and go for both of the Uchiha brothers. They were as bad as each other, one was an overly flirtatious Don Juan and the other truly had a multiple personality disorder. Screw them both to Hell!

Grumbling insults about the pair in question, Kizuka stomped into her undersized kitchen and yanked open the fridge door. Inside were vegetables and fruit, alongside a carton of milk and orange juice, as well as many other items. Kizuka lifted up the orange juice, taking it out of its holder, and closed the fridge. She grabbed a glass from the cupboard she stored them in and poured a drink.

Sipping the citrus taste, Kizuka attempted to calm herself. Everyone gets a bad day at work, she told herself, it's inevitable.

Then again, a snide little voice whispered in her mind, not everyone has a boss like Madara.

Thud!

The glass hit the counter harder than she had intended, but she wasn't in the mood to think about what she was intending. Both men were getting on her nerves; neither of them acted their age! Firstly, she had one brother who was flirting with her as though the previous two years hadn't passed whatsoever, and then she had the other one threatening to screw around with her head if she screws the first brother over! She didn't know if her second problem outweighed the first or equalled with it!

Just thinking of him ... no, it was no good. The past was behind her now. She had to move on. This was life, after all, wasn't it? As much as a person could detest it and the negative fortunes bestowed upon them, Life continued, pleasant or not. There was nothing she could do that would change that.

Kizuka stopped thinking.

It wasn't working. She told herself it would, but everything was just backfiring in her face. She was weak, lacked ambition. Everything he said ... it was true.

"Don't even let the thought of him get you down."

Izuna ... what would he know? All he did in university was screw different girls each night (sometimes two at a time), make life hard, and party harder. He would never have passed those exams if she hadn't tutored him on the side; he scarcely ever showed up for lectures, so it was more than theoretical, despite his natural intelligence. If he hadn't made life so hard for himself and for her, he could have got better marks in his exam. Not that it mattered now.

"It's not a big deal," Izuna smiled brightly at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I'll still be working in my dad's company. I've got to help my brother. He'll kill me if I don't." He laughed.

"That must be nice," murmured Kizuka, studying the memory in her mind. In front of her was a rectangular picture of her friends, including Izuna, celebrating her twentieth birthday. "Having someone there for you."

Ever since she was young she had wanted siblings. At first she wanted a little sister so they could play together and talk about boys and have sleepovers and tea parties, but when her mother told her that younger sisters often steal their older sister's belongings, she changed her mind. She had wanted a brother instead.

She never got one.

Sighing, Kizuka looked up at the mono-coloured clock hanging on the wall. It was only eleven minutes past five in the afternoon. What should she do?

After a few minutes deliberating, Kizuka decided that she would try out at the local gym and work off some lingering steam. Moping and wallowing in self-pity wasn't going to do anything good for her. She would do much better if she harnessed her temper properly and used it to make her slender figure remain slender.

Casting one last look back at the clock, she briefly wondered what time the gym stayed open until. Most gyms were open until about ten at night or eleven. At least, the ones in her hometown were. She still hadn't told Izuna where she came from. She had been scared he would do something stupid if she told him where he lived. She still was against telling Izuna for the very same reason.

Rolling her shoulders back and swiping her fringe out of her eyes, Kizuka began to hurry out of the kitchen and upstairs to her bedroom. There were only two rooms upstairs, the bathroom and her bedroom. The apartment itself wasn't big, but she preferred that. It felt like home to her, then. Hurrying around upstairs took her mind off work and back home; all that mattered was that she was distracting herself from reality, even if it was just for a few hours.

In the kitchen downstairs, the orange juice carton and half-drank glass were left forlornly on the counter top.