Absolute Nonsense

Previously...
It seemed like she would finally give into him - her mentality was cracking piece by piece. And just when she started thinking about Kagami, and whatever had just bloomed between them, they were both taken by surprise as Madara was practically ripped away from Viatrix. The latter gasped again and turned to see what had happened, for a split-second experiencing the childish fear that those bears had shown up again. However, it was something worse.
Kagami had returned.

"Touch her again and I'll break your fucking arms." Kagami growled viciously, fists clenched as he stood protectively in front of Viatrix. His blazing eyes, which looked almost red in the firelight, glared down at Madara, who had caught himself on the ground. The older of the two narrowed his own eyes, standing to face Kagami, though he was a good inch or two taller. Kagami didn't back down, though, and instead got a feral look in his eyes the closer Madara got.

"What, do you have rights to her now?" Madara growled back through clenched teeth, seeming just as ticked as the other now.

"No, but you sure as hell don't, either. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember her telling you to stop. Which means piss off." Kagami made to shove Madara, but the man barely moved an inch. His hand flew up to catch Kagami's, twisting it over his head and behind his back as he locked his arm around the other, preventing movement.

"You'd better watch who you're dealing with before you bite off more than you can chew, kid." Madara warned lowly, holding tighter as if more emphasis. Kagami grunted at the pressure being applied to his arms and began a valiant struggle. Somehow, he managed to wiggle his arm free and elbowed Madara in the ribs. The receiver of the attack coughed, releasing his grip on the other to hold his side. Kagami took advantage of his freedom to swivel around, kicking high into the air and clipping Madara on the neck. He was tossed to the side with a painful cough, landing roughly on the ground.

The fire in Kagami's eyes had yet to diminish, and Viatrix knew if she let him continue, he would cause some serious damage to Madara. So jumping from the spot she'd been frozen on, she hurried to block Kagami's path to his fallen relative, spreading her arms in a desperate attempt to withhold him.

"Stop it! You're going to hurt him!" She yelled angrily. By now, the others had rushed over to assist in the brawl - whether to help stop it or widen it, she knew not - and Rai and Itachi were by Kagami's side to hold him back. Sasuke appeared in front of Viatrix, giving Kagami a deadly look. She doubted he was trying to protect Madara, but more so to protect Viatrix from Kagami's wrath. Nonetheless, he backed off, and Viatrix took that opportunity to assess Madara, who had yet to pick himself up off the ground.

"Are you oka-"

"Why did you do that?" She was cut off by Madara's own question, his voice sounding painfully strained. She pursed her lips, frowning at him.

"I don't know." She said softly, though her voice indicated the topic wasn't up for conversation. He thankfully let it go for now as she began looking at his injuries. The one she could see looked pretty bad - his throat was already showing a large, dark bruise from where Kagami had kicked him. She had to check the one on his side, too, though, to make sure he wasn't fatally wounded or anything of the like.

She began rolling up his shirt gently, so as not to put pressure against that spot. She'd already seen him shirtless, so this was nothing. Thankfully, there was only a small red spot on the lower right of his ribs, which meant they could afford to just focus on his neck for now. Remembering who had the first aid kit, she called Itachi over, and he hurried to her side with the kit in hand, already prepared.

Viatrix didn't know much in the medical field - that was most certainly Itachi's expertise, what with him striving to become a doctor. So she sat to Madara's other side while Itachi did his thing, though her focus was concentrated elsewhere. Kagami was watching from afar, Sasuke and Rai on either of his sides, clearly trying to talk to him about something. Sasuke seemed furious, and Rai looked like a poor kid caught in the sidelines of all this mess. She felt bad that their camping trip had turned out so horrid already, and this was just the first night out. She had no doubt that the tension would be high for the rest of the trip, if they even decided to keep going and not turn back in the morning.

"Okay, you should be good for now." Itachi's voice drew her attention back to his patient, who now had a large gauze pad over the bruise. "I'll change that in the morning and reapply the ointment. It's going to swell and you'll have some trouble swallowing and talking for a few days. Don't move your head too much." Itachi instructed. Madara sat up from his position on his back, hand moving to lightly hover over the bandaging.

"Thank you." He said weakly, accepting the other's help with standing up, Viatrix following simultaneously. Itachi nodded back and turned to address Kagami.

"You need to learn to control yourself." He said sternly, causing for the kid to jump to his feet with an incredulous look on his face.

"Did you even see what he was doing to her? I was just -" Itachi held his hand up, effectively cutting off his argument. Honestly, the amount of authority Itachi had over them all was pretty astonishing. Even Madara, whom one would think would be in charge of this whole operation. Itachi had always given off that sort of vibe, though.

"You were just being impulsive. There was no need for physical violence. There is a reason I didn't intervene beforehand." He said, catching everyone off guard. So he had seen what was going on...and didn't think to stop it? Had he heard Viatrix tell Madara to stop? She couldn't see his reasoning behind not attempting to separate the two of them. "I think you may have had too much alcohol. We should all get some sleep so we'll be well rested for tomorrow. Personally, I'd like to see this trip through as we planned." Itachi continued, gesturing toward the tents.

Kagami glared at him one last time, sparing a last glance at Viatrix before letting out a frustrated breath and heading off to his tent. A worn looking Rai followed in suit, seeming a bit reluctant to have to share a tent with the aggressive drunk. Itachi bid the remaining goodnight as he and Sasuke disappeared inside their tent, as well. That left only Madara and Viatrix in the diminishing light of the fire, which had burned down to a few embers and no longer provided the warmth it had been. Only then did Viatrix realize how cold it was outside, and a shiver passed through her, making her shudder visibly.

It really didn't surprise her when she felt his arm drape around her. For once, she wasn't going to detest it. It was cold, he was warm, and he'd just gotten the shit kicked out of him...no doubt a blow to his pride. She knew how Uchiha were; even against their own kin, it was always a battle of who was strongest. The fact that Kagami, who was quite noticeably less muscular than Madara, had been able to do this to him was probably going to weigh heavily on his mind. She continued to ponder about this as they approached their tent.

The way she saw the Uchiha, was as if they were a pride of lions. The males - the brothers - always held the strongest bonds, but that didn't mean they were above fighting each other for dominance. It was like maintaining territory, making sure everyone knew where their place was in the pride. The way Kagami saw it - and this ticked her off to no end - was that Madara was encroaching onto his territory by making advances on Viatrix. As if she belonged to him. It was demeaning in more ways than one.

Still, at least the trivial matter had been settled for the night, and they could all get a good rest before continuing on their trek in the morning. Upon entering the tent, they found their sleeping bags already there. Viatrix thought about just slipping into hers and hitting it, but she knew it would be rather difficult for Madara to situate himself comfortably in his own sleeping bag without straining his neck too much. So, despite the fact he hadn't asked for help, she eased him down onto the mat, a hand behind his head and another on his arm for support. His eyes stayed on hers the whole time, even as she released him and began zipping the bag up.

"I don't understand you." He said, his voice quiet enough not to startle her. She glanced at him, sitting back on her knees and toes as she finished and waited for him to explain further. "It's like you're giving off mixed signals without even realizing it. I wouldn't have tried anything if I didn't think you wanted it." He told her. She pursed her lips, giving him a sad look that couldn't really be seen in the dark.

"I'm sorry. If you want the truth, I really don't know what I'm doing either." She sighed, shifting to sit cross-legged beside him, ignoring the cold for now. "I've been feeling a bit off ever since this morning. Then Kagami started...doing something, and it's just really confusing." Her brows furrowed in thought. She hadn't taken the time to assess what this odd feeling was until now. And now that she was, a singular thought kept circulating in the back of her mind, though she refused to acknowledge it. At least, not yet.

She looked up again when she felt his hand on her arm. "Perhaps it would be best if you put distance between both of us for now, then. Until you feel confident in your decision." He advised. She tilted her head slightly to the side.

"But what decision am I supposed to make? I'm still trying to figure out what the damn problem is." She sighed again, running a hand through her hair. The hand on her arm tightened a little, drawing her gaze back to his.

"Do me a favour and kiss me." Her eyes widened and she tensed yet again. Paralysis seemed to be her way of responding to shock. But now her stomach was feeling all light and fluttery and she could feel heat trying to rise to her face.

"W-what?" She breathed out, not understanding the meaning of his request. She realized he'd always been blunt, but she sure wasn't expecting that.

"It doesn't have to mean anything, just...kiss me." He said; she swallowed through her suddenly dry throat. What was his purpose for asking her to do that, though? If he was getting these mixed signals from her, shouldn't that make him more wary of his actions? But then again, it would be her actions...Oh, listen to her! She wasn't even making sense to herself now.

In the end, she wasn't actually too sure what compelled her to follow his request. But all she could think was how soft his lips were when she leaned down to do it. She had no control over her eyes as they closed by their own will, and she felt herself lean closer, as if to see what other sensations she could pull from this simple action. She found she was delighted when his tongue traced the seam of her lips, silently asking for the entry she so readily granted.

Whatever happened to "it doesn't have to mean anything", she'll never know. But she hadn't a care for it, either, as she focused on the blissfully light, tingly feeling he gave her when his tongue began exploring her mouth in ways she'd never experienced before. Whatever his reasoning had been to ask her to kiss him, she was highly thankful for, and she felt as if that decision would be ridiculously easy to make later on.

When they finally broke apart for air, she couldn't help but to just sit there and stare into his eyes, now that her sight had become a bit accustomed to the dark and she could see his features more clearly. His hand came to rest on her cheek, his fingers cold, but not any warmer than her own skin.

"Thank you." He whispered, letting his fingers trail across her lips before lowering his hand. "We should go to sleep now." He added; she nodded slightly and almost awkwardly shuffled back into her own sleeping bag. Her mind was crawling with thoughts about what had just occurred between them, though she couldn't allow herself to stay awake any longer. Sunrise would be in a few hours and they would be setting off shortly after dawn. She was sure she'd have plenty of time to ponder over all this nonsense tomorrow.