[12]

Licking her lips apprehensively, Kizuka sighed.

Why did she agree to this? It was sheer madness – he was a successful businessman and she was the personal assistant of the man he had rivalled since early childhood! What was she thinking?

"Okay ... calm down ... just think this through ..." She paused, trying to think of positive outcomes of the date. So far, there were none. "... I'm fucked."

Behind her, the front door knocked. Inhaling and exhaling as she walked hurriedly to the door, heels clip-clopping, Kizuka readied herself to greet Tobirama. Only, when she opened the front door, it wasn't Tobirama outside on her doorstep. It was Madara.

"Err – what ... ?"

"Tobirama couldn't make it," Madara threw off his arm from over his shoulder and handed her a bouquet of flattened flowers. "He asked me to take you out instead."

Jerking up from under the covers Kizuka tried to compose herself. Her heart was beating twenty pulses a second, sweat made her face and the back of her neck sticky and her pyjamas clung to her figure because of the dampness. Hopefully ... oh Hell, she hoped that was just a nightmare and not one of those dreams that are freakishly foreshadowing a future event.

Imagine: Madara Uchiha taking her out on a date! Did he even know how to be nice for one single evening (to anyone apart from Izuna)?

Her hair was all knotted and hung limply around her face, half-dried from the shower she had before turning in and half-wet with perspiration. Erratic gasps fled her lips and sharp intakes of breath speared down her throat. To top all of this off, she could also feel a headache coming on.

No, no, no! She chided herself. I'm being stupid, there's no way that can be a realistic scenario. God, what's wrong with me?

Somewhere in the back of her mind, the answer was carelessly thrown back at her: nerves.

After all, she hadn't exactly dated at school or at university—seeing as the label 'friends with benefits' excludes strings-attached—so this was her first real first date. Not that having 'practice' made potentially dating Tobirama any easier, seeing as it was Izuna she had slept with.

It was official: Life sucked at times.

Turning over, with the covers now only covering half of her body, Kizuka sighed and tried to eliminate the remnants of the dream out of her mind. Perhaps she'd take a holiday soon.

Morning came and went as quickly as an ice lolly melting in the summer sun. Sitting behind her desk, absently strumming her fingertips against the desktop, Kizuka stared unseeingly at the completed piles of paperwork in front of her.

Izuna and Madara were in a meeting with somebody-or-other. Apparently he was an old customer from when their father ran the business, so Kizuka was left out to work on her own in the office. Not that she was complaining; it was lovely to not have Izuna whinging at her to do this and do that. God, she could get addicted to silence if it gave her this much peace of mind.

Of course, though, it wasn't going to last.

Slam!

"Brother, calm down!"

"Thirty years of service – and now he decides to throw it in our faces! Father would be disgusted if he found out!"

"Like I said, it's his loss—"

"Bloody Hashirama, all that talk of peace and getting on together—"

"I told you the Senju couldn't be—"

Kizuka sighed and rested her head on her desk. So much for peace and quiet – Madara was in one of his foul moods again and, by the sounds of it, Izuna wasn't faring much better. It was Friday today – she didn't want any dampeners occurring so she could stay in a good mood for the date with Tobirama tonight. But if Madara was pissed off with Hashirama, and Izuna was too, then there was no escaping any scathing comments that could echo in her mind as she met with Tobirama tonight.

The office door swung open and Madara charged in, heading to Izuna's computer. Izuna came trotting in after him, wearing the same furious expression.

Sod that. She doubted that she would have any peace of mind with both of them in as foul a-mood as each other.

Stepping out of his car, Tobirama turned around and shut the door before manoeuvring round to the front and parking himself on the bonnet, patiently waiting for Kizuka's door to open. It wasn't long until he heard the door click and slowly gaping ajar. For a moment he thought she wasn't going to come out, but then a nude-coloured high-heel emerged and Kizuka followed.

Licking his lip, he examined what she was wearing. Knowing her, she wouldn't give him the opportunity to poke around her bedroom in attempt to 'dress her up'.

He was right.

Loitering on her doorstep in a red-floral bandeau dress was Kizuka – but she was prettier than he had imagined she would be. Her dark hair was done in elaborate curls, twisting down her back, with a small red flower clipping back her fringe. She smiled at him brightly, although he could detect an underlying nervous tinge. His expression softened as he offered a hand to help her down the last step. As a thank you, Kizuka shot him the same nervous smile again.

"Don't look so worried," Tobirama told her lightly, assisting her into the front passenger seat. He shut the door and moved round to the driver's seat. When his door slammed shut, he turned the key in the ignition and said, as he clipped his seatbelt into place, "It'll be fun, trust me."

"I do trust you."

Tobirama arched a pale eyebrow. "Then why are you so wound up? It's not something to do with work, is it? If they're going to give you a hard time abou—"

"No, no, it's not that!" Kizuka fumbled with her clutch bag. "To be honest, I haven't told them and I don't think they need to know." Glancing up at Tobirama's face when he didn't reply, Kizuka murmured, "They're not the one dating you, I am. Why should they know before anyone else? Does your brother know you're seeing me tonight?"

Tobirama switched the radio on. Kizuka fell silent, the feeling of apprehensive flooding her limbs as she thought he may have taken her words the wrong way.

"Hashirama doesn't know it's you."

Pausing to watch her gasp and writhe underneath him, Madara smirked before placing a tender kiss on her collar bone, his fingers skimming over her exposed skin with a touch as soft as silk.

Then suddenly he began shaking. The shaking got rougher, more gruff-handed, and Madara reluctantly dragged his eyelids open. His sense of sight was, at first, blurred and based more on colour than actual outlines, but soon enough the presence of a particular person caught his eye.

"What d'you want, 'Zuna?" slurred Madara.

Izuna huffed out a deeply-contained sigh and said, "I don't know why, but I have a really, really bad feeling about something and it's worrying me. What if something happens to one of us or Kizu? I know you're not in a good mood, but when have my feelings ever been wrong?"

Slumped over his desk and staring up at his younger brother, Madara sighed tiredly and gestured for Izuna to come closer. He placed a hand on Izuna's crown. "You're being silly, little one," Izuna flustered slightly at the old term of endearment: Madara hadn't called him that since he was seven. "Now, finish up. Kizuka's already gone home, hasn't she? We should too. It's already gone past eight 0'clock." As a sign of encouragement, Madara ruffled Izuna's hair, a little smile sneaking across his face. "C'mon."

Flustering still, Izuna cleared his throat quasi-awkwardly and nodded. "Okay, maybe I'm overreacting."

"Personally," Madara said, "I think you're overtired. Now, hurry up. There's no way I'm letting you drive my car."

"You do know I'm a legal adult now, don't you?"

"Of course, why else would I remind you that you're not allowed?"

Seated opposite one another, occasionally sipping from their wine glasses, Tobirama and Kizuka ate their meal in what felt like a cavern of ice. The drive to the restaurant was not the slightest bit relaxing and the entire atmosphere felt like it was charged with electricity – and not the positive lovey-dovey kind.

Gnawing the inside of her lip, Kizuka started wondering why she had said those words or even if she should have agreed to attempt dating Tobirama. Dating didn't seem to be as great as it was made out to be at the moment, she had to say. Then again that might be because they weren't talking or even making eye contact. First dates weren't usually like this, were they? At least, in the movies, she thought they had gone better.

"Um ..."

Tobirama's eyes slowly trailed up from his plate to her face. He didn't say anything, though, just resumed staring. It didn't make her feel any more comfortable.

"I ... I'm sorry about ... in the car."

She had just blurted the words out and deliberately looked down, avoiding his eyes, afterwards. Why the Hell had she said that? How was that going to make anything better?

"No," Tobirama muttered almost at once, putting his knife and fork down. "It's my fault. I've been preoccupied and obviously given you the wrong impression – I'm not annoyed or anything about that. It's up to you who you want to tell, and you're right about Hashirama not knowing like I said." He sighed, suddenly looking more drawn than before. "Work's been busy. Hashirama has had to take days off for the wedding, and it's getting closer to June, and I've had a few thoughts about other things ..." He rested his chin on the palm of his hand, his elbow propped on the table, locking eyes with Kizuka. "It's not you in the slightest. If anything, you're the one helping me relax right now. Odd, right?"

"Uh-huh," Kizuka scrapped the final remnants of her meal onto her fork and ate it. Her gaze softened as Tobirama closed his eyes, a serene look crossing his face. For a moment Kizuka found herself speculating what he looked like asleep.

Opening his ruby-hued eyes and flashing his typical short-lived smile, Tobirama murmured gently, "Do you want to leave and go somewhere else?"

Kizuka nodded, placing her knife and fork onto her plate.

"Okay," He got up and moved round to assist her to her feet. Kizuka blushed a little bit at his chivalry, uttering a quiet, "thank you" as Tobirama handed her the little clutch-bag and laid the bill on the front counter, where the greeting waiter waved them goodbye. He draped his arm around the back of her shoulders, and she raised no objections. All the former tension had dissolved and Kizuka had actually begun smiling laxly. As they made their way back to Tobirama's silver Mercedes, Kizuka started paying attention to the finer details of Tobirama: the curve of his jaw, the length of his silver lashes, and the pitch of his voice that seemed to share the soothing quality of cascading water.

Tobirama held her door open for her. "Thank you," Kizuka beamed at him and he kept that same soft yet unreadable expression as he gazed back at her. Nestling herself in the passenger seat, Kizuka thought to herself: maybe, just maybe, this could work out.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Guest who reviewed and my wonderful Libra buddy! x) I know progression is slow, but bear with me here! I'm getting there, gimme a few more chapters and it will be MadaraxOC!

Thank you to those who have read this, I hope you enjoyed it! :)