Days passed, turning into weeks. Halloween came and went with some annoyance and some rather embarrassing situations. I shuddered as I remembered Halloween night. Everyone questioned who or what I was supposed to be, causing me to feel ridiculously embarrassed. I was going to kill Beth in her sleep at the next chance that I got. I was also stupid enough to watch The Grudge at an ungodly hour at night with Madara. I nearly wanted to piss myself a few times and I had even latched onto him once in my frightened stupor. He roughly shoved me off the couch when I did, muttering something about the movie being fake and that I was a complete moron. If he was scared, he never showed it.

Recently, I wasn't sure what was happening to me whenever I was around him. I chalked it up to me slowly losing my sanity…for real this time. To be honest, I felt like a little school girl stalking after her professor because she had a crush on him. I began noticing little things that I hadn't before. Whenever he was nearby, I would take small, brief looks at him out of the corners of my eyes. I felt my face heat up whenever he brushed by me in the hallway. I couldn't hold a conversation with him as long as I used to before I turned into a stuttering mess. My heart would start beating wildly whenever I took him out someplace to go since I felt bad that he had to stay in the house most of the time. I took him to the park, the library, and the art museum. No matter where he went, he always seemed to ooze this refined grace about his figure.

He was perfect in every physical way. I always knew he was gorgeous, but it wasn't until I took a closer look that I realized how gorgeous. Despite being rather faired-skinned for a Japanese man, his clear skin seemed to accent his hidden nobility. His hair was soft and silky, the kind you'd want to run your fingers through for ages. He was strongly built, but not six feet tall like some guys where you'd have to stand on your tiptoes just to reach his shoulders. His eyes were the color of charcoal, a color you would never see in most humans. Yet the shade seemed to fit his character, secretly hiding the inner turmoil he felt inside.

He was a complicated man. He wasn't the type to reveal personal information about himself based on what I had seen so far. He seemed to be the type of person who hides all their feelings behind mental walls that he built himself. I would know since I did the same thing. It was to protect oneself from being hurt emotionally. In a world with constant battling and emotional strain, it was probably all he's ever known.

I had set myself a goal when I realized that. I was going to come in like a wrecking ball and tear those walls down!

…Okay, maybe not like a wrecking ball, but I sure as hell was gonna try and get through to him. The real him behind all those walls. There had to be more to Madara Uchiha besides the arrogant and jerkish Clan Head he made himself out to be.

I opened the door to my home, feeling completely drained. The days of juggling college and work was taking its toll on me again, not to mention my mind was constantly worrying about leaving Madara home alone all the time even though he had proven multiple times that he could take care of himself. It had gotten colder since it was now November and Madara had not been taking to the weather very well at all.

I spotted him on my couch, reading The Da Vinci Code. I had borrowed it from Kayla. She worked at the local library, so it was a dream come true for her; she was literally in literary heaven. When I asked her about any good "page-turners", she had suggested Dan Brown and Clive Cussler. In the end, I decided on Brown's famous The Da Vinci Code. Madara liked to read, so I figured it was the one of the few things I could do for him. It was the first time I had seen him in the past few days. He had taken to disappearing during the times when I was home. I figured he was purposefully avoiding me since he couldn't stand me. That or he didn't like being confined in the house for extended periods of time. I believed it was a mixture of both.

I looked him over as I brushed my bangs out of my face. He was dressed in a sweatshirt, wearing long black pants and a pair of my blue special fuzzy socks that I normally wore whenever my feet got cold. A blanket was draped around his form and his attention was focused on the book he was reading.

"Wow. Are you really that cold?" I asked him.

"I'm not cold; I'm freezing," he snapped back in reply.

"It's maybe thirty degrees outside," I deadpanned at him.

"The Land of Fire doesn't get cold like this. I'm not used to it," he explained, never bothering to raise his head and look at me.

"You're in a whole lot of trouble once winter comes along," I said as I took off my coat. "Depending on what the weather decides to do, the temperature could range from twenty degrees to below zero. And the snow! Oh, god, the snow and ice!"

"Snow?"

I jerked my head back to him, gaping at him in disbelief. "You're kidding, right?"

He raised his head from the book, his face set in a neutral expression. That meant he wasn't kidding.

"…Snow is basically frozen rain. You'll see it eventually."

"Hn," he grunted as he returned to reading his book.

I sighed. What was with him and the "hn" grunts he kept giving me? Antisocial jerk! If he kept it up, I was going to find a way to strap him down to a chair and make him get a Sonic Rainboom of friendship to the face from My Little Pony; screw the consequences!

I could only hope that he wouldn't be like this with my family on Thanksgiving Day.

He slapped his face, attempting to keep himself awake as he nervously ate his food. The feeling of paranoia had been with him for weeks now. No matter where he went, the eyes of others seemed to bore into him. It felt that they knew his secret. They knew of his betrayal. They knew that he was cause of letting such a great mishap to happen.

He dropped his fork, his hands shaking from a mix of insomnia and fear. He fumbled to keep the utensil in his hand. He quickly gave up on finishing the rest of his meal, quickly paying for it as he rushed out the door. He knew he couldn't stay in one place for long. If he didn't keep moving, they would find him. But he couldn't leave now. Not yet. Before that happened, he had to find the item he had lost. The item that was stolen from him off the unruly streets of the city he was in.

If he didn't…only untold destruction could result from it. Should that happen, his conscience would never let him live it down. The guilt would be too much. He knew that person. He knew exactly the kind of monster he was. The untamed beast within such a man would surely cause the end of many lives.

"I knew I should have been a janitor…" he mentally complained. "I don't get paid to worry this much!"

He fingered the familiar cold metal in his pants pocket. He had been trained to kill should the need arise. He would do anything to prevent such a disaster from happening. Anything.

With a winter coat zipped, his hat and scarf in place, he moved out into the cold streets and began his search again.

"Okay! Breathe in! And exhale! Breathe in! And exhale!"

"What are you doing, you idiot?"

"Oh, I'm just trying to calm myself down! No need to worry!"

Bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit, and you know it, Lilith. I was frantically brushing my hair in an effort to get my family's reaction to Madara off my mind. Would they like him? Would they hate him? Most likely the latter, knowing my luck. Why was I such an idiot!?

I dropped my brush, feeling frustrated that my hair was not cooperating with me. I decided to just fuck with it. I pulled open one of my bathroom drawers, looking through my hair accessories. I spotted something hiding way in the back. I pulled it out, feeling nostalgia wash over me. It was a bright red headband; my favorite thing to wear back in the good old days of my childhood. I hadn't worn it in years, deeming the thing to be far too childish for me to wear nowadays. I looked at my hair again, feeling like something was missing from it. Despite my better judgment, I decided to put the headband on. It slid nicely on my head, as if nothing had ever changed. I twirled my hair nervously, feeling rather silly about the fact that I was actually happy to have it back on my head again.

I opened the door, running into something solid.

"Oof!"

Of course he had to be standing right there.

"Will you stop running into me?"

"Then stop standing in the perfects spots for me to run into you!" I retorted, rubbing my sore nose. "There's a good thing and a bad thing about you being in great physical health, Madara. You're strong, but your muscles are rock hard. I'm going to break my nose one of these days, I swear."

He scoffed at me, turning his head away from me. He was wearing a plain long-sleeved grey shirt and blue jeans. I wasn't going to harp on him for not dressing up. I didn't buy him anything especially fancy in order to save a few bucks.

I grabbed his arm, leading him to my closet. Once there, I let go of him and began digging through my winter stuff. I threw him a Red Wings hat, a black scarf, a coat, and some black gloves. If he was cold enough to wear a blanket inside the house, he was going to freeze his nipples off outside. I pulled out my favorite black winter coat with the fake fur outlining the hood and a pair of earmuffs. I was used to the weather, so I wasn't going to need to bundle up as much. I slipped the thing on before going to play "Dress-Up" with Madara. He looked rather silly once everything was on, but better to be safe than sorry. I didn't want him getting sick out there. You wouldn't have been able to tell he had long, spiky hair since it was hiding in the coat and under his hat.

Once we were all ready to go, it was time for the long drive out of Detroit to my parents' home. They had left the city long ago. Despite it being a complete dump of a city in the present day, it was a much nicer place back when my mom and dad were kids. It was their home, but that home got ruined by scammers, drug dealers, idiotic mayors, and many, many other reasons. I had the heat on full blast in the car for Madara's sake. Even though I was dying of heat stroke, he was still shivering, though less than before when the crisp November air first hit him.

One quiet hour later and I was pulling into my parents' driveway. I was happy when the cool air hit my heated skin. I walked over to the other side of my Prius, smiling smugly through the window as Madara glared at me.

"You know you'll freeze out here if you stay in the car," I said knowingly. "Come on. You'll have fun."

"Part of me sincerely doubts that," he grumped as he forced the car door open, hitting me right in the shin as I attempted to get out of the way. I silently cursed as the pain blossomed on my leg. "Let's just get this day over with."

"Okay," I whimpered through the stabbing pain on my leg as he followed me to the front door. I knocked three times on the door before pushing the doorbell. A few seconds later and I was pulled through the open doorway and crushed within someone's strong arms. I heard that someone coo as their hand ran through my hair.

"Hi, Mom," I coughed out as she continued her strangling of me. My mother was about as tall as I was, wearing a black apron over her white top and black skirt. She had the same brown hair that I did, only it was currently tied up in a bun. Her brown eyes gleamed happily in the sunlight.

"I'm so happy you're here!" she said, letting go of me and allowing me the access to the wonderful element known as oxygen. "I haven't seen you since your little…episode a while back."

"Everything's all good, Mom," I said comfortingly. "I'm fine. If it wasn't for—"

"So, where's the boy you mentioned?" she interjected, peering over my shoulder and finally seeing Madara for the first time. "Is that him?"

"…Yes," I answered. "He's kinda—"

"Hush, now! Come on in, both of you! I don't need you two freezing your toes off while I'm busy yakking," she interrupted me again, ushering the both of us inside.

The smell of cooking turkey assaulted my nostrils, making me want to dive into the food already. I began taking my coat and earmuffs off when my mother took a closer look at Madara. He was giving her an odd look as he slowed in his removal of his winter clothing. The next moment made me want to kill myself. My mother had gotten right up to him and began pinching his cheeks! Pinching! His! CHEEKS!

"Oh, he's adorable!" she cooed, making my jaw drop. He's twenty-six, not five! The words "adorable" and "Madara" should never go together in the same sentence!

"A-a-a-a-adorable!?" I shouted in disbelief. "MOM!"

My mom stopped her squishing of his cheeks to go over to me. "Well, I think he's simply precious. I think he'd be a good match for you, sweetie."

"MOM! I told you before: he hates me!"

"He can't hate you that much if he was willing to spend the whole day with you and the family," she replied shrewdly. "Trust me, Lilith. Call it a mother's intuition; he's a keeper, I can tell."

"Mom…" I moaned, a blush staining my face red. I turned to Madara. "I am so sorry, Madara. I didn't know my mom was going to act like this…"

"Muh-dar-uh?" she repeated with some difficulty. "Is that some oriental name?"

"Yes. To be exact, he's Japanese. And it's pronounced 'Mah-dar-ah'. Stress the first syllable, not the second. It doesn't sound right when you pronounce it that way."

"Really?" she said, hands on her hips and eyebrow raised. "He looks nothing like the Asians I've seen."

"Don't you have cooking to do?" I deadpanned at her, hoping to get away from her antics.

"Oh, the turkey!" she shouted in a panic as she ran to the kitchen to save her potentially burning turkey dinner. I shook my head at her.

"Typical Mom," I sighed. I turned back towards my personal leech. "I am really sorry about that."

"It's fine," he said, rubbing his sore cheeks.

"Please, don't kill anyone," I told him, my hands pressed together in the universal sign of begging. "I know they may be annoying, but I love my family dearly."

He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "It's not like I can even if I wanted to."

I blinked. "So, you feel no murderous intent towards my mother even though she treated you diminutively?"

"No. To be honest, the blatant idiocy is quite refreshing," he said. "It reminds me of my friend back home."

"You mean the idiot you keep referring to?"

"Yes."

"Who's an idiot!?"

I shrieked as the voice shouted in my ear. I placed my hands over my beating heart before slapping the laughing man upside the head.

"DAD! Don't ever do that again!" I exclaimed angrily at him. My dad was a relatively tall man, with greying black hair which was slowly receding. He also had brown eyes, though they were darker in shade than my mother's. He pulled me into a hug, despite me being angry with him still. "I hate you, you know that?"

"And I love you," he replied cheekily. He took notice of the new face. "So, this is our mystery guest?"

"Uh, Madara? This is my dad. Dad, this is Madara. He's…an acquaintance of mine," I explained nervously, hoping to high heaven my father wouldn't attempt something stupid with Mr. Ninja.

"Ah. I heard about this one from your friend. He was your knight in shining armor during that whole incident, right?"

"Beth told you WHAT!?" I squeaked distressingly.

"Put 'er there, son," my dad said, holding out his hand. I began slamming my forehead against the nearest wall. Who says that anymore!? And what's with the 'son' diminutive!? Gawd, Madara was going to kill all of us before the end of the day at this rate!

Madara just raised a questioning eyebrow, looking between the hand and my dad's face.

"He means shake hands," I explained as I rubbed the forming bruise on my forehead.

"Oh, yeah. He's one of those oriental Ni Hao people, right? Probably never heard of that expression before."

I facepalmed. "That's Chinese, Dad! He's Japanese! Completely different countries!"

"They're all the same wing wongs in my eyes," he deadpanned. He raised his hand. "No offense. Honestly, you don't look like you're Japanese. You could pull off Italian pretty well with a nice mustache."

I snorted as I imagined a Luigi mustache on Madara's face.

"Um…" was all Madara could say.

"Come with me for a moment," my dad said, placing his arm around Madara's neck and leading him off towards the living room. "Let's talk man-to-man for a second."

Oh, dear.

I waited till they were out of my vision before sneaking after them. I spied on them from the bottom of the stairs, peeking around the edge of the wall. Dad and Madara were sitting down on the couch. Madara looked rather confused as to why he was pulled away from me to talk to someone he didn't even know long enough to do something bad to.

"Mah-dar-ah, was it?" my dad asked, to which Madara nodded. "How exactly did you meet my daughter?"

"I just dropped into her life. It was purely by accident."

"How though?"

"…I ran into her. We had an argument. She apologized and attempted to get to know me," Madara explained vaguely, lying expertly through his teeth. "She's been doing that ever since we've met."

"I see," said Dad. "Look, there must be something special about you if Lilith was willing to do that. She's not the type of person to daintily apologize to someone."

"Special?" Madara inquired. "Believe me; 'special' is far from the words she would use to describe me."

"Don't tell me you don't feel at least something for her?"

Madara placed his chin in his palms. "I don't know what to feel about her. She's…different from most women I know."

"I'm going to say this right now," my dad said, sounding unnaturally serious. "If you do anything to hurt her; break her heart, and I will personally kick your ass back to whatever oriental nation you came from.

Madara turned a lazy eye at my father, knowing fully well he could handle anything my dad threw at him.

"She's the only treasure her mother and I have left. I don't want to lose her like we lost her sister."

A dark shadow seemed to drift over Madara's eyes at the mention of Phoebe. "You don't have to worry. I have no intention of hurting her in any way. I promise you that."

I felt my face heating up at the words, even though I had a feeling it was all empty lies.

"So, kid; what do you think of her?" my dad asked cheerfully as he slapped his hand against Madara's back, causing the ninja to lurch forward from the force.

"She's…different," Madara said hesitantly, rubbing the spot that my father had just hit.

"Come on! There's gotta be more than that! Be honest, son!"

"Stop calling me that!" Madara angrily snapped before his neutral expression returned. "I'm not your son!"

"What? I gotta practice should things take a turn and you two get married!" he joked, though what he said caused the blush on my face to intensify. "Can you blame me? We want some grandkids, after all!"

A light blush coated Madara's face. "I don't like her that much."

"But you do like her?"

"Maybe…I don't know," Madara held his head in his hands. I could see he was suffering from some form of confusion and insecurity. "I have mixed feelings about her."

"Like…?"

"She has some guts when she's angry, which is both a good and bad thing. Despite that, she's rather insecure. She's suffered a great emotional pain, but she moves on anyway; I have to admit, I admire that about her. I don't think I'd ever be able to move on if something like that happened to my brother. She's infuriating, but she has a good heart. I hate a lot of things about her…but I somehow find myself drawn to her despite her faults. I don't understand it at all. It confuses me and I despise feeling that way. That's why I've been avoiding her recently."

I placed a hand over my mouth. He was avoiding me because he feels confused about me? Holy crap. That means he does have a heart! Madara, I have restored faith in you!

"Sounds to me like you legitimately care about her," Dad said, relaxing back on the couch. "As long as you care about her, that's good enough for me."

"…I've never felt this way before," Madara muttered softly. "Everything I thought I knew is crumbling before my eyes."

"Well, as my wife always said back in the day, 'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all'. You'll experience that confusion a few times in your life, wondering 'is this the girl for me?' and whether or not if you can keep that girl once you have her. If you do lose her, at least you realized you knew what love felt like; or in this case, you know what it feels like to like someone. I know it sounds really cheesy coming from an old fart like me, but hey; I got experience! I've lived through plenty of rejections before I met my wife. Kid, to be honest your meeting sounds sort of like how I met Amy for the first time."

"Oh really?" Madara said sarcastically, his eyebrow raised. "Your wife?"

"Yeah. I purposefully ran into her in an effort to pick her up, but she gave me a bitch-slap I would feel for years. But I was persistent. She eventually came running to me."

"Don't you dare feed him that bullshit, Steven! I'll come down there right now and give you another one of those bitch-slaps!" I heard my mother yell from the kitchen.

"Ah…wives. Can't win an argument against them, no matter what," Steven sighed sheepishly. "But I love her nonetheless."

I smiled at Dad before I went back upstairs as quietly as I could. They continued talking, but I didn't hear whatever was said. I believed I had heard enough. I saw that my mom was basting the turkey. It was already a delicious golden brown color, but I knew it was far from finished. I walked up to my mother, looking over the spread she had out: cranberry sauce, turkey gravy, stuffing, and salad. I then blinked when I realized that something was missing.

"Where's the mashed potatoes?" I curiously asked.

"Boiled and ready for mashing, but I haven't gotten around to them yet," she answered. "I still have to cook the green beans and corn, so I guess it slipped my mind."

"I'll mash them," I said happily, rushing off to get an apron.

"Thank you, Lilith."

Once the apron was on, I spotted Madara coming up the stairs. Dad must've decided to turn the TV on and watch football, something which Madara had no clue about. He made eye contact with me briefly before turning away. He attempted to go upstairs when my mom stopped him.

"Oh, Muh-dar-uh!" she called. "Be a dear, will you? Do you mind helping Lilith with the mashed potatoes?"

"Mah-dar-ah! If you're gonna say it, say it right!" I exclaimed indignantly. I closed my eyes in exasperation. "Madara, don't trouble yourself. I can do it by myself."

I blushed when I felt a hand take hold of mine, the one holding the potato masher, while another hand was placed on my shoulder. I jerked my head around, spotting Madara behind me. His expression still showed no emotion, but there was a hesitance in his posture.

"…I'll help," he said quietly.

I don't know what was going through my mind. My face felt like it was on fire, my heart jumped into my throat, and I could feel nervousness settle into my body. I let go of the potato masher, allowing Madara to take it.

"I just mash it, right?" he asked me.

"Yeah. You do that while I get the milk and butter," I said quickly as I zoomed to the fridge a bit faster than necessary. I took my sweet time looking for the condiments. I peeked at him over my shoulder. He still looked perfect to me even if he didn't have much of a clue about cooking American meals. I brought the two objects to the counter, slowly adding them in as he did the mashing.

"You two look so cute together," I heard my mother comment from the other side of the kitchen, causing my blush to deepen.

"Say anything about us being together and I will kill you, mommy dearest," I jokingly threatened.

"Dang! Sounds like someone got violent since the last time I saw them!"

I looked up from the mashed potatoes, spotting my Uncle Albert with my Aunt Flora and my cousin Thomas. They were the youngest of all my relatives, not counting my "expecting" Aunt Jenna. Little Tommy was two the last time I saw him. The four-year-old kid ran up to us, pointing at Madara.

"Why's his hair all girly, Lili?" he asked me innocently. I snorted while Madara's grip on the potato masher increased.

"Thomas, don't be rude," I scolded him. "Be nice to my friend. Say you're sorry."

"Oh. Sorry, mister!" he apologized. "Why's it so long?"

"…It grew that way," Madara stiffly responded, not even bothering to look at the little tyke.

"Oooooooooh! Okay!" the cutie said before running to a different part of the house.

"Sorry about his honesty. Kids will be kids," I said sheepishly.

"That's not the first time I've been told that by a little brat," he replied, taking out his revenge on the potatoes. "I get it from my own clan members at times."

"Come on. You gotta admit they're cute at that age despite being little brats!"

"I disagree."

"I worry for you then," I noted as I took out the electric whisk so I could make the potatoes even smoother. "You'll eventually have to get married and have kids. The parents are an extremely important part of a child's cognitive development. What would your future sons be like if their father hated them?"

"I don't know how to deal with kids. The closest I've ever gotten to that was when I was with my brother Izuna."

"Hey, at least it sounds like you liked your brother. My sister asked my mom to take me back to whatever store she bought me from since I cried too much as a baby, thinking I was returnable merchandise."

"Did she really?" he said with a smirk.

"Yep. I guess you would want to do the same to me right now."

I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing while I was talking with him. Whatever Madara was going to say next was interrupted by the electric whisk going haywire since I had accidentally put it on its highest setting. Mashed potatoes went flying for a few seconds before I turned the blasted thing off. I grit my teeth, feeling mortified as I looked at the mess I had made. I sheepishly looked at Madara, who had bits of potato stuck to his face and hair.

"I am so sorry!" I squeaked in embarrassment. "Please don't murder me, Madara-sama!"

He said nothing, still having that neutral expression on his face. He wiped a glob of potato off his cheek before putting the food in his mouth.

"It's good," he merely stated, apparently not angry that I had made a mess on him. "Different, but good. Though it still doesn't beat inarizushi."

"…Huh?" I blurted out in confusion.

"Never mind," he said as he used one of the nearby towels to pick out the bits of potato stuck in his hair.

I still felt awkward and guilty around him even as the rest of my relatives came. Grandpa Eugene, Uncle Phil, Uncle Tom, and Aunt Jenna with her new baby girl, Anna, came later on. My cousins Sarah, Sean, Sydney, and Sylvia came as well. Most of the women thought Madara was cute, which made me want to stab myself with my fork. Some of the guys joked that they wished they still had his figure and they joked about the good old days back when they did. Madara never said much to anyone, probably feeling rather out-of-place in such a happy family.

Beer was drank, football was watched, jokes were cracked, food was eaten, and we all had a good time. I saw Madara sneak off upstairs at some point. Feeling curious and a bit worried, I followed after him. Up the stairs I went, spotting him at the abandoned kitchen table. He looked a bit downcast, which was unusual. Steeling my courage despite my rapidly beating heart, I sat down next to him.

"Madara-sama? Is something wrong?"

He sighed. "I feel so misplaced here."

"I'm sorry. Beth is trying her best to find a way to get you home. I've been doing research while at school too, but I haven't come up with anything either."

"Not just that; but here, right now, with your family," he explained. "You're all so…happy. I feel like I shouldn't be a part of it despite the fact that they've been more than welcoming."

"You know what I think?" I said, placing my hand on his shoulder. "I think you're just not used to how American families work in general."

He turned an eye towards me, remaining quiet.

"I guess what I mean is that you've never had as close-knit a family as mine is. You've only really talked about Izuna. You have a massive clan and you focus more on battle prowess than the person as an individual. You strive for perfection. In my family, we're everything but perfect. But we respect that we have flaws and those flaws are what makes us who we are as people. I know you're a clan head, a mighty ninja, and a great man. But you're still only human. I guess what I'm trying to say is…embrace your flaws for once and be the person who's under the mask you've put up. I know there has to be more to you than just what you've shown me thus far."

He stared at me for a good few seconds.

"You're more perceptive than I gave you credit for, servant girl," was all he said.

"Analyze underneath the underneath! That's what my professors always hark on me for not doing!" I laughed. "I guess you're the outlier since I actually want to analyze underneath the underneath of who you are, Madara Uchiha."

"Hn. Good luck with that, you idiot," he said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. I love you too, ya jerk."

The night slowly came, people went, and soon there was just me, Mr. Ninja, and my parents left. I was busy finishing off my soda, listening to the music playing on the stereo. Earlier, my family had been jokingly using it to play various songs from the seventies and sixties while dancing like drunken idiots to the beat. It was a rather humorous sight to see. People fell over and made complete fools of themselves, but it was family. Even as we fucked up, we would always support each other. I was very happy that we all got along well. Some families were completely dysfunctional and some people never even saw their relatives.

Madara was relaxing, probably thankful that my rowdy relatives had all left. I had a crazy idea hit my mind. Part of me wondered if the drunken stupor had seeped into my skin through the air. I placed my drink down before standing up and walking over to the couch Madara was sitting on. He eyed me curiously. I twirled my hair, feeling like a shy schoolgirl. In a sense, I was.

"Um…Madara-sama? Would you…like to dance?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Would you like to dance…with me?" I repeated quietly, feeling rather flustered.

"I…can't dance."

I blinked. "Huh?"

"I've never danced…aside from on the battlefield," he explained awkwardly.

"Well, I guess we can be awkward together," I said with a smile, pulling him off the couch. "I've never danced either."

"I really don't think—"

"Come on. The worst we could do is step on each other's feet," I quipped as I began searching through the list on the CD. Unfortunately, none of the songs were labeled so I soon gave up on deciding on one. Besides, what did I know about good dance music?

I stood up in front of him, taking hold of his hands. "Okay, place your hand on my back and use your other to take hold of my hand."

He hesitated for a moment before gently placing his hand against my back. He held my hand in his and my face flushed a deeper red. His hand was warm, but calloused; proof that he used them a lot when handling tools and other objects. I placed my other hand on his shoulder, feeling my heart pounding violently in my chest.

"Now what?"

"…Follow the music, oh knowledgeable Uchiha."

It was extremely ironic that "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack decided to play at that moment. Curse my parents for having a wide array of music. I think they secretly expected something like this and prepared it ahead of time! Okay that was stretching it, but sometimes it really felt like the universe worked against my existence. But for that moment, I was blissfully happy. I didn't care that he was a deadly ninja. I didn't care if we were only swaying a bit as the music played. I just relished in the fact that he held me as close as he did for the first time ever. I doubted I would ever get close to him like that again. So I was going to cherish the moment.

Those five minutes didn't last long enough. As soon as the music ceased, he pulled away from me. His neutral expression was set back on his face again. I felt a bit discouraged at that. He walked away and headed back upstairs, leaving me in an empty room. I was left by myself in that void, a fluttering feeling blooming in my core. I ran my hands through my hair. I knew I was setting myself up for disappointment again, but this time it was even worse.

He was a jerk. He was cold and aloof. He hid his emotions and he did not like me.

So why…?

Why did I feel so happy to be near him?

This crush I had was getting out of hand.

Huzzah! I worked hard to get this chapter out as fast as I did! I had the events that happened during this chapter planned for quite some time, so it was rather easy to write. I also finally got off my lazy butt to make a cover for this story! However, it's far from perfect and the hands…they give me nightmares. Madara, why must you have so much gorgeous hair!? Oh, yeah; because he's worth it.

Anyway, we're getting close to the one hundred review mark. I want to thank all you faithful readers for following me through this far. So, as thanks, whoever's the owner of the one hundredth review gets to choose a specific event they would like to see played out. I'll figure out something if it's really improbable or silly, such as Bethany and Tobirama meeting or something ridiculous like that. Depending on how much I like it, it'll either be a sweet little omake at the end of the next chapter or it may just make it into the main story! So get creative! As always, please review.