[6]

"Where the Hell is she?" stormed Izuna, pacing around Madara's office, much to his brother's vexation. "I mean, when I called Hashirama, she was fine—"

"You mean to tell me you have Hashirama's number?" snapped Madara irritably, glowering.

Izuna ignored him. "—a little shaken up, but she was otherwise fine. The medics at the scene also said she was okay, but they wanted her to stay in the hospital overnight just in case. She should have come in by now!"

"Izuna—"

"Maybe she has concussion or post-traumatic stress! Oh God, what if that snowy-haired bastard had his way with her after all, using the elevator as some kind of sick way to get in—!"

"Or maybe she's by the door waiting for you to listen for once," interjected Madara snidely, pursing his lips. From the doorway, Kizuka raised an eyebrow at him, but thought it best to not ask him why he was being so 'civil'—at least, for Madara, it was civil—towards her all of a sudden.

"KIZU!"

"Holy God!"

Rather painfully, Izuna embraced her in a strangle-like manner. Her face gradually became a pale, unhealthy blue from the lack of oxygen. Madara sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Izuna, you may want to release Hayashi."

"Hayashi?"

"Izuna, I mean it. Look at her."

Without even looking down, Izuna released Kizuka but remained fixated by Madara. "Why did you call her by her surname? What happened to her being 'Kizuka' or even 'Miss Hayashi'?"

Rubbing her neck, Kizuka said to him, "Izuna, it doesn't matter. Did you do all of your work yesterday, or were you waiting for me to do it when I came back?" She gave him a beady stare, one which he fidgeted sheepishly under. "You didn't ..."

"Um, well, you know me ..."

"Mm-hmm."

"We all know you, Izuna," grumbled Madara, also giving him a reprimanding look. Izuna shot him a nasty glare, but then faced Kizuka again. Madara let out a silent sigh.

"I did do some of the work, Kizu."

"Some of it?"

"No need to sound so doubtful! I can work, you know!" exclaimed Izuna, feeling rather indignant. Did she really consider his work ethic was that bad? That was rather unfair. "I'm just nocturnal."

"I realised that when you went hunting for girls, Izuna," hissed Kizuka waspishly. Madara raised an eyebrow at them, intrigued. "You went clubbing all hours of the night while I stayed in and did your notes for you!" Sighing, she shook her head. "Look, arguing isn't going to that much help. I need to talk to you about something, anyway, so can we ... ?" She jerked her head towards the door, purposely avoiding looking at Madara.

Glancing at Madara first, Izuna nodded. "Yeah, all right," he called over his shoulder, "Give us a minute, brother."

"I'll give you half."

Izuna frowned. "Your humour is so bleak."

All Madara did was scoff.


As Izuna held the door open for her, the aroma of coffee and freshly baked bread overwhelmed her nostrils. They had left the office so they could talk about the offer properly over lunch, according to Izuna it was 'more professional' to have a lunch date.

Lunch date, Kizuka had scoffed. You're such a liar.

Izuna had argued back, telling her that he couldn't believe that—(an unpleasant word she would rather not repeat)—had offered her a job because she was so judgemental. Kizuka's cool reply was that he couldn't think of any new comebacks, she would definitely transfer. Afterwards, all Izuna did was sulk.

And that all led up to the point where they were sitting opposite each other, both looking rather at ease as they smiled and laughed. Laughter was soon dissolved from the atmosphere by one particular question.

"So what are you going to do?"

Kizuka placed her cup of tea down and pondered. "To best honest," she started slowly, "I haven't thought about anything other than working for you. It didn't occur to me that other jobs existed."

"So you're not going to accept it?"

Kizuka looked directly into his eyes, seeing his curiosity and worry. "You wouldn't want me to leave," she stated, "And I don't want to either. But ..."

"But?"

"I'm not sure if it's what I want to do for ever, Izuna," Kizuka looked at him apologetically. "I doubt I'll ever work for Senju and Bro, but being a personal assistant isn't how I want to spend my life. I want to live, travel the world, everything that people say they'll do but don't get the chance to."

"And what happens if you don't get to, as well? If you don't travel the world, what then?"

"I don't know." Kizuka shrugged, signalling the end of the conversation. But Izuna wanted to push for some more answers. He asked her about what she would do if something unexpected happened. "Honestly, Izuna, I haven't thought about it."

"All right, fine, whatever you say," Izuna fell silent, tucking into his hot cross bun. "How long were you in the elevator yesterday?"

A suspicious little smile crept across Kizuka's lips. "Oh, well, I spend most of the night holding onto Tobirama."

"Tobirama? What happened to 'Mr Senju'?"

Izuna's eyes flashed up to glare at Kizuka, only to catch sight of her smirking at him. "You're such an idiot. I heard you this morning, Izuna, I'm aware of what you think of him." Kizuka told him, smiling, "He's still Mr Senju to me, don't worry. The fire brigade acted quite quickly, so we were out in least than an hour and a half." She purposely neglected the fact that they both went to the same gym and talked there, and how Tobirama had told her to drop 'Mr Senju' to call him by his first name outside of work.

Izuna nodded. "That's all right, I suppose."

Kizuka quirked an eyebrow at him questioningly. "Excuse me? Since when did everything have to be 'all right' according to you, Oh Wise One?"

"Since I've known that Senju prat since childhood, perhaps?" countered Izuna, smirking slightly, "Never doubt experience, Kizu."

"That, I can't disagree with," Kizuka said, reasoning, "However, I can disagree with what kind of implications experience has."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your opinion of Mr Senju could be bias," Kizuka told him, nibbling her sugary doughnut, "because of your experience."

Izuna scoffed. "Doubtful, seeing as leopards never change their spots."

"If I recall correctly," Kizuka began, tapping her chin, "didn't Tobirama say something about you going to university and still coming back a child?"

"That was him being a prick," Izuna replied shortly, "You shouldn't pay too much attention to what he says, he's a known liar."

"Says you, is that it?"


"Hello, Uchiha Corps, the Director speaking."

"Madara, how are you?"

"What do you want, Hashirama?" Madara groaned, running a hand down his face tiredly. "The deal's off, remember? I'm never sending my staff to your company again."

On the other side of the line, Hashirama laughed awkwardly. "That wasn't my fault, Madara, and I have the report to prove it!"

"Of course you do," Madara muttered dryly. He spoke over Hashirama's protests, "What are you calling for, anyway?"

"Um, well, the actual official invitations don't come out for a while, but I want to make sure you know about it before then, um ..."

"Just spit it out."

"Will you—"

"Hey, big bro, I need your help on something!" Izuna burst into Madara's office, with a frowning Kizuka stomping after him.

"Come here, you brat!"

"I'm sorry, Hashirama," Madara half-shouted, glowering at the two intruders, "I can't quite hear you!"

"Put it on loud speaker," mouthed Izuna. Madara gave him an offensive hand gesture in reply and Izuna sniffed indignantly, wandering over and sitting on his desk. Madara tried to tug some papers out from under Izuna, but to no avail. He didn't want to rip them and he only had his right hand free so he couldn't push Izuna off either.

Kizuka loitered in the doorway, watching the two brothers.

"I'm sorry, Hashirama," Madara said loudly, grabbing his pen and stabbing Izuna's backside with it. Izuna yelped and shot away from the desk. Now he sent Madara a rude hand gesture, which Madara returned. "I didn't catch that."

"I want you to come to my wedding."

Madara paused. Blinking, he stuttered, "Um, w-what? Who the Hell are you engaged to?"

Izuna raised an eyebrow at his tone and whispered, "Are you jealous or something, brother?"

Madara threw his pen at him, but missed, and returned his attention onto Hashirama's voice. "Do you remember Mito, the lady who came to represent my company during the deal?"

"Her?"

Both Izuna and Kizuka stared quizzically at him because of his disapproving tone. "Err – Madara, is something wrong?" Hashirama asked unsurely, sounding rather concerned. "Mito and I have been dating for quite a while, you know."

"Err –" Madara's eyes followed Izuna as he crept towards the filing cabinet. "Izuna's misbehaving, that's all. Put that down!"

"Oh."

Izuna dropped the file back into the cabinet and grinned sheepishly at his older brother, who in return glowered darkly at him. Kizuka sighed and signalled for Izuna to stop. Crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at her, Izuna began mouthing questions to her, remaining quiet only because he knew Madara would most probably throw a book the size of an encyclopaedia at him if he spoke at all.

"You can bring Izuna, too," Hashirama continued, "I know you like having Izuna around. With him at university, you might not have got all the time together that you would have liked, so you can bring him with you if you want. You don't have to stay at the reception if you're uncomfortable, but at least come to the wedding. You're my best friend, Madara, I want you there." Hashirama was leaving no room for argument, and Madara was sure of it.

"What date is it?"

"Err ... well, you see, the thing is—"

"You haven't thought of one, all right," sighed Madara, running a hand through his mane of ebony hair, "Do you what month at least?"

"We're thinking in the summer, maybe June," answered Hashirama. He paused, "Mito doesn't have any sisters or female cousins, and the only female relative I have is Toka. Do you have any sisters or girlfriends?"

"Why do you use the plural on 'girlfriends'?"

Hashirama chuckled sheepishly. "Well, even I can't deny you're good-looking. If I was girl—"

"Hashirama, don't even go there."


I might change the title of this story because I don't believe it suits the plot, etc. So just watch out for that. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed it! :) Ciao.