Chapter 14
I didn't like the transition from chapter 13-14, so this this chapter was put together to sort of further enhance some things. I also didn't expect it to be this long, which is what took so long. Anyhow, enjoy it.
I also didn't managed to go through this as much as I would have liked so its probably littered with errors. Thanks for you patience with all that, been lazy in getting the right stuff to my beta to go over :/
"Now, while chickweed won't be any use in fighting infections, the leaves and stems have many nourishing properties which can help accelerate recovery rates. Eating it can help reduce excess mucous production for those with lung infections and a salve can be made for boils and abscesses."
Inare finished with the last plant that she wanted to demonstrate to her student and dropped the leaves back into the basket. She'd forested a lot more of the chickweed than the rest, which consisted of roots and weeds, all useful for making teas, pastes and salves to treat an array of issues.
She'd really wanted to get across to Toke that despite it being cold and snowed over, the land could still provide you with the necessary materials to treat yourself or others.
Even if it did mean having to hauling him out into the freezing outside of Hideout and standing around in the snow for the last two hours. Neither of them were looking very unhappy by this point.
She was pretty sure that Toke had fallen asleep at some point from his stance leaning against the tree, while the boy was always in the mood for learning something, he had his limits. Which apparently was two hours standing in the freezing cold.
Inare couldn't blame him, even she was beginning to feel shivers run through her body uncontrollably that not even her scarf and gloves made much of a difference anymore.
That all said, she sort of suspected that the boy was glad to be out of Hideout for a few hours. Today he was sporting a large bruise over his right temple, and the black eye from last week was now reduced to a plump yellow.
Inare initially suspected training, but on asking him he accidentally let slip that he hadn't sparred in over a week. Not wanting to push the boy she let the topic drop.
She'd ended up threading some string through the top of the gloves so that she could tighten them to her wrists and stop having to pull them up evert so often. The gloves where downright the nicest thing shed ever owned, the soft warmed fur keeping her fingers warm and ticking them at the same times. It was pleasant.
But even the nice feeling at her hands was not enough to deter her mind away from her wet trousers and boots from where the snow had seeped through. It was time to finish up.
"So, to conclude. Just because its winter, doesn't mean that there isn't something useful to gather." Inare dully concluded, teaching was not her forte. "Right," she felt the need to fill the silence as Toke was unlikely to have questions. Not that she blamed him, she seriously doubted she'd be able to answer any. "So, how about you go take these," she motioned to the large basket that they had filled with wild greenery, "and go use them appropriately. We're going to need the chickweed for salves and make tea's for those suffering from phlegmy coughs."
Toke looked to perk up a little at the prospect of going back to hideout. "So, we're finished for today?"
"Yep."
He didn't hide the cheer, his bright red cheeks bunched upwards as a grin formed on his face and Inare felt a little less guilty about having dragged him out. Their stores hadn't been in dire needed of more herbs and resources, but a lesson was a pretty good excuse to get help from her student. "Just on you way, could you grab more bark from the Beech trees back that way."
"Right, what about you Miss Inare?"
"Going to walk for a bit, I'll see if I can find anything else useful."
"Are you sure," Toke wrapped his arms around himself and glanced down at the snow around them, "It's cold and it doesn't look like a patrol has passed recently."
"Nothing's happened in the two months we've been here," she dismissed. With Toke pretty much doing all her grunt work, she could spent some time in solitude. Something that was hard to come by at Hideout.
"Alright Miss. Just make sure that you don't go beyond the boundary. You remember them right?"
"Of course. I'd be an idiot not to."
"You liar," Toke grinned, "you'd have to be bored still to actually want to remember them."
"Toke," Inare had to fake a gasp, "the manner in which you treat your devoted teacher… unbecoming."
"You dragged me out here! That's not devotion, it's cruelty at this point."
Laughing in response, Inare waved him off dismissingly. "Sorry, sorry. I'll make it up to you at some point."
"You had better Miss Inare," he grinned, "you sure have dragged me through hell for this training."
Inare grinned in response. "How about some chocolate then? Would that be appropriate repayment."
His eyes widened, disbelief shining from the dark iris. Even with the green headband keeping his forehead warm she could tell that he was wrinkling his forehead and Inare restrained from laughing. "You don't…" he spoke slowly as if not wanting her to confirm his suspicion.
"I do," her grin could have been classified as menacing, but it was mostly just the cold.
"H-h-how? How did -"
"I do believe in doctor patient confidentiality."
At that he frowned. "Miss Inare, I don't think that you should be doing..." he mumbled off and Inare took a step forwards as she crossed her arms.
"What was that?" The boy suddenly looked excruciatingly uncomfortable, so Inare frowned. "Come on Toke, you can tell me."
He shifted on his feet a little. Stuttered about while avoiding her eyes, before finally speaking a full and understandable sentence. "You've been getting some really nice stuff recently," his eyes tracing down her body, likely focusing on the scarf and gloves she currently wore, "and, well, nice stuff is hard to come by."
"What are you implying there Toke?"
"Nothing, nothing." The boy was wildly waving his hands in his defence. Something she tended to do, but to see someone else do it quickly made her realise how ridiculous it looked.
Inare knew exactly what he was implying there, and it irritated her. She was definitely not irritated with Toke, she knew the boy well enough to know that he wouldn't have thought about such things unless someone else suggested it first. "Whose been putting those ideas into your head?" The warning was there in her stiff tone, further enhanced as she crossed her arms.
"Dai-"
Of course it has to be Daichi. "Well, you just tell Daichi that he's pissed that I'm better at this bartering game than he'll ever be," Inare snapped. She didn't mean to sound so aggressive, but watching him flinch at her outburst quickly dropped her anger.
"Miss Inare. It wasn't Daichi. It was actually Daisuke."
Making a face, Inare continued to glare at Toke. "Whose Daisuke?"
"He's in Team Fifteen."
Not like that was any help to her. "Am I supposed to know him?"
"I don't know, he works primarily with the armorer… he's a pretty big gossiper."
Sighing aloud, Inare felt her shoulders slump. It wasn't exactly guilt, but it also wasn't far off. "I have chocolate, and it's is a hilarious story of how I got my hands on it. Get the bark, head back to Hideout, make the salves and I'll maybe tell you all about it when I get back. I'll be back to help with the salves, regardless."
"Sorry Miss. I didn't mean to-"
"I know you didn't," Inare sighed out again. Reaching up to massage her brows Inare glanced up at Toke who looked conflicted at what else to do. "You're a good kid Toke. Just ignore whatever shit people say."
"But, they sometimes say really... crude things about you and other women. It's wrong."
What else should she expect? These shinobi had been confined to a fortress for two months, of course they would come up with wild stories in order to pass the time and piss each other off. Hell if she wasn't constantly busy with either training Toke or carrying out some of the duties put onto her, she'd probably be doing the same.
"Like I said, ignore it all. You're above that level of crudeness."
"Alright," he didn't sound satisfied in the slightest, "I'll go now. Just don't go too far Miss Inare and make sure your back before it gets dark! And don't wonder too f-"
He vanished quickly with the nearly full basket, his voice resonating back to her from the tree tops where he'd vanished too. It definitely looked a lot quicker to be bouncing through the tree like that.
Inare watched after him for a second, a sad smile on her face as slight realisation began to daunt onto her. That could explain the bruises this week. Shaking her head, Inare was torn for how she should feel about that. As sweet as it was for Toke to be getting into fights for defending her and other women's honour, she did not need the kid getting beat up and becoming a hindrance to himself, his team and finally her.
Either way, the gesture remained endearing and she could not fault him for it too much. Feeling a quick shiver run the length of her spine, Inare began moving so as to warm up. Her steps were awkward in the snow as she dragged open a path. Getting back would be considerably easier. Just as long as she returned the same route.
It didn't take too long for her body to begin heating up from the exertion of all the heavy walking. Slowly she pulled off her gloves and shoved them into her jacket pocket. Next the scarf followed.
Her cheeks stung from the cold air while her lungs burned, but it felt good to really be pushing her whole body like this. Inare wasn't exactly one for heavy exercise, there was no need for it in her lifestyle, but after weeks of being crammed up in Hideout, and even longer with one leg constrained this was the perfect was the shake off all resulting frustration.
Not to mention force all lingering thoughts about irritating clan heads out of her head. Inare knew she could be silly. Way too silly for someone in her position and of her age. And yesterday had truly proven the extent of her foolishness.
Why Madara tolerated her to such an extent was a continuous surprise for her. She liked to think that they got along, and there was enough to prove so. The gloves and scarf spoke for themselves, but the alcohol, well... you don't exactly share alcohol with those you disliked.
At least she hoped no one did. Would be such a waste.
Another long step through the thick snow and Inare stumbled over something. She dropped to her knees, the snow beneath them crunching as it pillowed her drop. With an effort she got back to her feet and pushed a low branch out of her way.
She'd entered a clearing.
The snow was much thicker here due to the lack of shielding by the trees, but it appeared to have been disturbed by animals.
Inare paused on the edge of the clearing and surveyed around the tree line that encompassed it. A spike of uncertainty that she could only describe as paranoia hit her in the chest and Inare physically recoiled from the thought of walking right through that clearing. She took acouple of steps back into the tree line and began trudging around.
Longer, yes. Unnecessary, more than likely. Inare just really did not want to push her luck.
Still, the tree line was much thinner so close to the large clearing, the trees a lot more dispersed so if there was something out that that posed a danger to her this wasn't exactly going to prevent it.
Everything was absolutely drenched and she cursed her lack of skin pants that would have provided at least a small amount of waterproofing. Her body was cooled as her pace slowed in her caution and Inare figured that shed need to throw on her scarf and gloves on soon.
She licked her lips and regretted it instantly as the cold air quickly dried them. Fuck she hated winter once the novelty of the first snows had passed. It was beyond miserable.
Pausing to a halt, Inare decided it was time to put on her gloves again and began rooting through the deep pockets of her jacked to find them. Pulling them on, she took a couple more steps forward before her body instinctively lurched away from the suddenly rising dark figure.
The movement was so quick that it took Inare a whole second to realise that she gone from standing to now lying in the snow with a rough hand was pressed tightly to her mouth.
So she decided to scream and begin thrashing, because that was a very sane and logical approach in her mind at that moment.
"Calm it," was hissed at her and on hearing the voice she did.
Turning her head to the direction of her captive, she froze on staring into the large red eyes of Madara. Her heart raced for a moment as the intensity in those eyes before her blood ran cold at the memory of what they could do.
Swallowing the fear she nodded, it was a long while before he removed his hand then took a few breaths before she felt like she could talk again, the last minute had been sudden rush.
It was just her luck that something like this would happen to her.
"What are you doing?"
"Shush her would you," was hissed from the other side of Madara and Inare looked over to see who it was. She just about spied the second clan head when her head was shoved back down towards the snow.
"Keep your head down," he hissed back at her. He was doing that a lot.
Restraining from making a face at his rudeness, she glanced back at Madara who was focused on something ahead of him.
"What's happening?" She whispered, tacking care this time to be extra quiet.
Madara glanced back at her with those eyes of his and Inare shuddered. "We've been tracking two
shinobi for the last two kilometres. They look to be circling the fort." He was hissing again, but not with any malice or annoyance. It was probably just the way he spoke when he was trying to whisper.
That struck an uncomfortable chord in Inare. "Did they see me?" "Not sure."
"Then wont they get suspicious if I suddenly just vanish?"
Neither of them responded at first, Inare hoped it was because they where deeply considering the implications of her statement there. It was then Izuna's voice that peaked up as he just said, "Probably."
"Should I get back up now then?" Now she was really beginning to worry. It was likely that she had just messed up something important here, and somehow landed herself in the middle of troubles he really had no part in.
"Not something I highly recommend for you, but if you are feeling daring you better make sure you run fast," it came from Izuna again, and Inare resisted snapping back. She doubted she'd like his response.
"What?" The thought of being chased, in the snow. Completely defenceless, never having a single bit of experience in fighting in her life...
Madara gave a low chuckle. "Calm it, he's just messing with you. They didn't see you, I think. They moved out of sight a few minutes before you began skirting around the clearing. We were just waiting in case they returned before we followed."
"That's not funny," now it was Inare hissing as she tried very hard to keep her temper in check.
At that he chuckled deeply while on the other side Inare was certain that she heard a groan from Izuna before he rose to his knees. "I think we're good to pursue." And began trudging his way through the snow in the direction she now knew that snow shinobi had gone.
"Good. Inare, you're best off heading back towards the fort. You know your way from here right?"
"Yeah, but that means I'll have to go that way," pointing in the direction Izuna was heading, "isn't that where you're guys went?"
"Yeah, go around the other way. It'll be longer, but mostly safer."
"Mostly? How wonderful," Inare didn't want to sound petulant at the thought at having to trudge further through the snow than she had initially planned for today, but it was getting hard to! Her feet must have been on the route to frostbite and she was damned cold.
Damn she was a real piece of work for having willingly dragged her student into this just because she wante-
"Fuck," Inare drew out, her heart hammering in her chest.
Madara and Izuna who had begun making their way stopped, well Madara stopped while Izuna carried on after a quick glance.
"Madara!" Inare near cried out, awkwardly running through the thick snow towards him with her arms wide open to try and stabilise herself. All the while Madara looked like he was holding in a laugh, he opened his mouth to likely comment but Inare beat him too it by rapidly blurting. "Toke went in that direction!"
Madara at least had the dignity to look a little sheepish as he asked, "Who?"
"The kid I'm teaching! Toke!" Inare was losing her patience with him today, which was something new for her. Originally she couldn't stand him, then she somewhat tolerated him and now she was getting stroppy with him. It was all happening very sudden for her.
"Is he going to be okay?"
"Ohh, well," he scratched the back of his head, "... not really."
"Nah, he's fucked," Izuna chipped in at the entirely wrong time as Inare's stress levels must have peaked then.
"Then go do something about it!" Inare yelled and pointing in the direction of Toke. She hadn't meant to yell, but Madara clamped a hand over her mouth before she got too loud.
"Screaming down the entire forest really won't help us," Madara looked irritated but released her without another word. "Do you know where we might find him?"
Inare didn't really want to outright say no. How bad of a teacher would that make her? "Somewhere you can find Beech bark?" Inare helpfully suggested instead.
"Oh, you mean like the whole forest?" Madara asked none too helpfully.
Inare flapped for a moment knowing that it wasn't much to go on, "I kind of ran out of things to
teach him, so brought him out here to show him some plants."
Looking less than impressed as he rose a fine brow, Inare was getting the faintest impression that she was being judged. "Don't look at me like that," she blurted, "I don't know how to be a good teacher."
At that he did roll his eyes and Inare fumed a bit. "Putting aside you poor lesson planning abilities for now, do you have a better idea as to where he could have gotten to?"
"No, like, he wouldn't have steered too far from the fortress or the road to it. We've been out for a while now, so he's probably looking to head back soon. Maybe Toke's actually back at the fortress already," Inare could feel a possibility of that relief beginning to grow in her and it made her heart soar.
"Still not much to go on, but better than nothing. I guess."
"What are you going to do then?"
He shrugged and Inare wanted to smack him for his nonchalant attitude to this potential disaster. She did, whacking at his arm, and then groaned loudly. "I'll find them myself."
"Oh no you don't." Madara returned, taking her by the shoulder and turning her around.
"I'm not just going to leave him!" Inare fumed, shaking out of his hold.
"I wasn't suggesting that you do. I do however have an idea."
"Really?" Inare's heart soared and all the sudden the cold did not seem so frightening and the growing darkness of the forest so looming. "What?"
"You won't like it."
Inare became hesitant to show her previous keenness for the plan now. "Well..."
"So, there are four assailants out there. We could track them using the snow but that could just as easily lead us into a trap." Inare was grateful that he was taking the time to explain this all to her, as she really did not know the first rule of combat in the snow, but she was really beginning to get worried. "Which was initially what we were planning on doing. But it would seem like we have to -"
"Could you just get on with it. You dragging this out," Inare pressed.
"Well, I don't like to rush things. You know the journey matters really just as much as the arriving at the destination," now she knew he was messing with her now that he'd decided to spout all this. "As I was saying-"
"And as I had just told you, hurry it up."
"Brother, if you finished. I'd have to agree with the medic here, hurry this up so I can go defrost my nuts." Inare was startled by Izuna's crudeness but tried to ignore him as best as she could.
"In time, little brother. A good plan takes thought and time." Madara remarked while glancing over at his brother.
"If I left it all to you, you'd be planning for years." Izuna chipped back with an uncharacteristic grin that left Inare feeling chilled.
"Scheming is my forte," Madara gloated with a grin, arms wide and way too relaxed given the situation. "Anyway, back to what's important. Inare, I have a favour to ask of you."
"I think I'm going to go with a no for that."
He looked mildly offended at her sharp note but the humour crinkling at his eyes told her that he
was still just teasing her. "You haven't even heard it."
"I don't think I trust you."
"But you were just praising all my wonderful qualities the other day."
Sputtering, Inare felt heat rise right up her neck and face. "I was not." And she held by that.
Behind them, Inare could almost hear Izuna roll his eyes. As if that man needed more fuel to hate her.
"I'm very sure you were," he mused hand rising to his chin as if to ponder the thought. "Granted they mostly weren't wonderful features. I feel you gave the faintest impression of infatuation." Inare could not understand how a man with such a deep voice and sinister appearance with those red eyes of his could come across as so harmlessly teasing. That likely terrified her more about him.
"You know, I think I'll just take my chances with the snow shinobi." Inare near snarled, choosing to trudge the way back to the fortress alone. All shinobi be damned, they weren't' worth the trouble.
"But that's all my plan includes," Madara called out to her. Despite her irritation, Inare paused a looked back at the grinning Madara and the bored Izuna. "All you'll have to do is just walk back."
"What?"
"You heard me."
Inare gave him a sceptical look, "I'm not convinced."
"And I was trying so hard," Madara gushed while rolling his eyes.
Inare hardened her eyes at his mild dramatics. "Is that really all?"
"Yes."
Inare frowned, not seeing what was the point in having drawing this out if that's all she had to do. Biting her bottom lip, she nodded in agreement. "Alright."
"There is just one other thing," which was when Inare learned a valuable life lesson in always asking for the finer details of Madara's plans.
"You really disappoint me at times," Izuna muttered as he watched the unhappy medic trudge away in defeat with only a kunai given to her by Madara for her defence. As soon as Madara had revealed to her exactly what it was he wanted, there had been more bickering between the two before she finally yielded.
He'd never know why his brother bothered with beating around the bush. Was a direct approach not the most effective one? Madara was an excellent tactician, not many could stand beside him in that regard, but he couldn't help but believe that one day, one of his many serpentine and convoluted plans was going to get him killed. Not this one, it was relatively simple, but definitely something grander would be what did him in.
"Don't say that Izuna. It was all a little fun." Madara dismissed with an easy smile. His brother had been a lot more relaxed as of the last few days. Offering easy grins and taunts.
"No, I swear this is all to satisfy the perverse part of you," Izuna decided on.
"Me and him are one and a whole."
"I just don't understand why you tolerate her so much. Not to mention to way she speaks to you." Madara could see the visible distaste on his brother and a part of him was off put by the response.
Izuna shook his head to be rid of the irritation that that built up towards his brother, then glanced back to see the medic now vanish through the tree line. "Let's now hope she doesn't die today."
"Is that concern? Odd, coming from you."
Izuna brushed off the statement with a shrug. "She's been a pretty useful medic."
"That she has been."
"That still doesn't dismiss that fact that she's a foreigner."
"So are a lot of the people we deal with."
"For trade and resources, yes. But kept around as an aid, within our camps and now our fortresses. No." Madara wouldn't have had to look to see the near sneer on his brother face.
"She's training an individual."
"Oh yes, a single shinobi. Such a feat."
"Better than nothing, and you should know not to look a gift horse in the mouth."
"I know, and I wouldn't. I'd kick it."
"You do realise that we'll never make any progress with that attitude." It wasn't said with any intention to hurt or chastise his younger brother, but Madara did see Izuna bite the inside of his mouth before he suddenly went silent and his eyes danced away from him.
Izuna knew he was being a tad bit petulant, as did Madara. He just could never bring himself to call his brother out on it. "Anyhow, time to get on with it. No use in having a plan if your not going to keep to it." Izuna still hadnt said anything. "You want to take the rear or front?"
"I know which you want." Izuna dryly commented, not taking long to drop back into his normal character.
"Well, I could take both." Madara chucked, knowing full well he was capable of handling this alone.
Sighing out, Izuna shook his head. "I'll take the rear. You go front so you can stop your little medic from getting killed."
"Oh, that's what you meant." Chucking to himself and shaking his head at his brother, it wasn't often that Izuna could spark a joke. So hed take it. "Well never mind that for now, we got snow shinobi to kill." Offering Izuna a grin that was likely a little too sardonic considering what was about to happen.
The two of them quickly split on taking to the tree. Madara pursued Inare, remaining a far enough distance that he would not be detected. But damn she was slow, which forced him to come to a near stop as she trudged through the thick snow, making a complete fool out of herself with all the times that she audibly fell.
It was at that moment Izuna's question popped into his mind. Why the hell did he tolerate her?
Asides from healing, she possess no other skill set that could be of use, and even fewer skills to keep her alive in these lands. If there was ever a raid on their camp, only luck would keep her alive.
He company was entertaining enough he supposed, but that wasn't exactly a winning factor given the frequency that she liked to belittle him. Not to mention many members of his clan did not tolerate foreigners as well as he did, namely his brother. So for his sake and those around him, getting rid of her would have been within the best interest of the clan and himself.
So why not?
Madara was hesitant to think it, but he had asked himself this before. Namely when she had attempted to leave their encampment unchecked. Had it not been for Ebisu's obsessive nature, she might have actually left successfully.
Then what? There was an unknown individual that had details of camp arrangement and movements potentially.
That would have dropped the dropped confidence in the clan and its elders in his leadership. For lack of better words, it could have ruined in.
So he again seriously asked himself, why keep her around?
He was curious of her. He tutorship was something he wanted further answers to, Tskuyomi had only given him glimpses of who it was that had trained her and he did want to confirm his suspicions at a later date. But that was only personal curiosity. He wouldn't personally pursue it, it would be a waste of resources after all.
Then there was her kidnapping by the Kaguya clan, that scroll which he kept meaning to check over was still among his possessions. Keeping her around might lead to unearthing answers as to why didnotsuspectherintheslightest,buttherewasstillsomethingtobefound.
Then there was that moment returning to camp. He supposed that at that moment he saw something he had not seen for a long time. Not since before he was elected to lead the clan.
Weakness.
Devastation.
He had watched a woman who had previously appeared so sure of herself fracture before his eyes, and while he should have sympathises with her emotional turmoil his mind was more preoccupied with attempting to rationalise with the woman.
Inare didn't uphold the same boundaries towards the Clan hierarchy like all Uchiha's, Senju, Uzumakis and Huugas did. She didn't give two shits about it because she didn't understand, and he was willing to bet that she didn't care to. She understood that he was effectively her boss, but she didn't treat him as her General which was what he was to all Uchiha's.
She didn't think of showing him weakness, fear, anger or her occasional stupidity as shameful. There was no pretence, nor unnecessary politeness. There was just Inare and her frequent sarcasm and cockiness, but mostly her honesty.
At which point he decided. "Crap, she'd just like Izuna."
He couldn't decide whether he was forcing himself to see that or not, but some other similarities began to drop in on his mind. She had many pre -conceived notions and can be unwilling to see alternate views. Prefers their own company to that of others, can be dismissive, a shit sense of humours... Well not entirely similar given that Inare was clearly a lot more passionate about human life than Izuna, but he did feel that there was something to go by.
In the same way he was with his brother, he found that it was much easier to relax around her because he did not feel as if he hand to uphold his position.
Maybe his brother was right, just fuck the girl and get it out of his system. But even that did not settle well within him. While it had been some time, and he was curious as to what she would be like, he did not feel that there was a need to be so dispassionate about such a decision.
Not to mention the time was really not his to decide what to do with it.
This was too much reflection for what should have been just a routine perimeter check with his brother. It wasn't protocol for the two of them to do it, but it was moment like this that he craved given that it was the only way to spend time with his brother.
Now there was mess with snow shinobi. Mess with Inare and her student.
Next time he was just going to force Izuna to sit down and have a proper drink and meal with him. Maybe the two of them could just ditch everything and go off gambling or whoring. The Senju leader did it, and so long as they didn't end up in the same place Madara couldn't see what he couldn't
Then he realised why he couldn't.
He didn't know the first thing about gambling, but the whoring he could do. It would also take for him to drug and forcibly drag Izuna away for that to ever happen.
When did spending time with your brother become so hard? Just communicating with him about something other than strategies, supply routes and resources was an effort.
Madara stopped on a tree branch as Inare had stumbled again and was cursing and stomping as she attempted to shake out all the snow that appeared to fallen inside her clothing.
You wouldn't think that watching something as ridiculous as Inare shaking snow out of her back could give perspective. And you'd definitely be right in thinking so. It did allow Madara to return to his previous thoughts which seemed to have gotten all tangled up.
Quickly sensing Izuna not far behind, Madara was quickly urged to speed up and rush ahead of her a couple of paces and he quickly began surveying the direct surrounding. He couldn't sense any shinobi yet, but any good shinobi should be able to hide their presence from this distance. Inare was in all regards the perfect distraction, loud, clumsy and just about everything that would draw your attention. Middle of the forest, lone defenceless woman.
It made him no less conscious of what he had pushed her into, he was very aware of the danger but she had been determined to find her student, so who was he to deny her that right.
Grinning grimly her continued ahead of him he could feel Izuna close by. At the pace they had been going their couldn't be far now from the enemy, so Madara locked away all unnecessary thoughts and focused back on the task ahead.
Inare knew she was far enough into the forest now that she had to begin calling out for Toke, and she did. Her voice booming outwards in a desperation that she really should not have been feeling. She followed a sort of pattern that largely consisted of one loud shout and two quieter ones. Her steps where becoming slowed, clumsier as the wind picked up bringing with it a biting cold.
A few minutes in, he sensed one. Only for a fraction of a second, they were doing an excellent job at hiding their presence, all he needed now was to find the boy. Their priority after all.
"Toke! Where are you?" Inare shouted for the eight time and Madara continued to focus, he didn't know what this boys chakra felt like, he didn't know the kid all that well. But Inare did, and a slight flare of chakra that was quickly snuffed out caught both his and Inare's attention.
"Toke! I'm coming!"
And Inare stumbled into a run that had her nearly falling into the snow each step, but she kept up the face for a decent amount while Madara remained always ahead of her in the tree line.
Each jump from branch to branch had to be thought out and calculated, a wrong step and some slippery ice could have him falling to the ground. Not that falling was a problem, it just defeated the purpose of the entire stealth thing.
Slowing down to reduce the distance between them, Madara began drawing a single kunai as sense the slight signs of chakra not far away.
This one was moving and towards them quickly. Specifically towards Inare. It was only with his mangekyo activated that he was made aware of the rapid approach of an incredibly fast shinobi. Years of rapid reflex was all that allowed him to prepare a weapon and drop down from the tree in time to present a large sword from crashing down right through Inare's torso.
Even he felt the weight of the shionbi's attack through the sword and he was pushed down through a good amount of snow.
Snow shinobi were highly trained in these conditions and managed effectively with fewer layers that allowed them an advantage with speed. This man was no exception and moved with a speed that would have cut down any mid-range shinobi that was not prepared for this level of confrontation.
Behind him he heard Inare fall to the ground, but that was far from his mind as his opponent withdrew his weapon and was no directing his attack from an angle that forced him to shift position to now face in Inare's general direction.
This put his back against the two other snow shinobi and at a sudden disadvantage that he was quick to recognise.
"Inare, run!" He shouted at her just before he pushed chakra to the soled of his feet to propel a jump skywards giving him enough height to flip backwards just as a second shinobi charged right at him with a spear.
Landing in the snow was never easy and he struggled to stay upright and dropped to a knee in time to narrowly miss the swing from the spear-wielding shinobi.
Fuck he hated snow shinobi. Madara was just not experienced enough in the snow, and given that he only experienced a couple of weeks of it a year it just wasn't worth the time.
He rolled forwards to put him within the span of the shinobis arm and threw a punch upwards that landed right at his chin. He wasted no time in grasping hold of the shinobis hair and further crushing his face by driving it down onto his upcoming knee.
He felt the sudden weight of the shinobi as he likely dropped out of consciousness and with an effort Madara hauled his body up in order to shield him form the barrage of shuriken that were whirled in his direction. All of them embedded themselves deeply into the likely now unconscious and dying shinobi.
Exhaling a heated steam of breath Madara pushed his senses outwards to find the third shinobi that he knew to be around and quickly sensed Izuna's presence close to that individual.
Good, Izuna was much better at keeping an opponent alive. That left this last one all to him.
He could no longer see or sense Inare in the direct location, which he hoped meant she had properly gotten away.
Now all that was left was the shinobi with the sword that had first attacked Inare.
If his strength from the initial attack was anything to go by, Madara was hoping for an interesting confrontation that would likely be all the more satisfying in ending him.
Madara took a long few seconds to survey his opponent. Fractionally shorter than himself and possibly lighter, aiding with the ease of movement on the snow and he wielded a light sword. All this game away to swift movement, none of which aided him too much.
"Shame about you friend…" Madara began, a wry smile forming, "but, you know how it is."
The shinobi's hardening face was not the response he'd wanted to pull, but not all unfortunate. "Still, you did me a great favour there," smile morphed into a grin and Madara watched the shinobis nostrils flare, "thanks for th-"
Then his eyes blazed with rage as he charged rapidly towards Madara delivering long swings that were well aimed for someone who had let their emotions get a hold of them.
Madara was quickly put into the defensive, blocking what attacks he could with just a kunai but most edging himself backwards.
His opponent knew he had the advantage on the snow, and Madara liked that he knew as much.
Diving to the side Madara rolled out of the way from a downward strike and was already finished with the hand signs when he shifted into a crouch and released a powerful kanto.
The snow shionobi effortlessly dodged, all the while Madara was grinning.
The kanto simultaneously melted the snow while scorching the ground beneath, releasing a blast of steam from the ground that forced the snow shinobi to move further in order to escape being scolded.
He didn't get out entirely unscathed, the shinobi's skin was flushed red as he dived out of the snow. He missed the punch that Madara had aimed at his stomach, and stumbled backwards towards the now fading steam. In return he delivered a miscalculated kick that caught by plunging his kunai into the mans shin.
He howled and tried to regain some footing to no success as the kunai was pulled out and he stumbled to the ground.
Frowning, Madara slowly paced his way over to the man. "You didn't even try," he chastised softy, too disappointed to even bother with the effort it would take to be annoyed. "Letting that anger cloud your mind… kills you know?" The snow shinobi glared back at him, red faced and seething through his teeth. Saliva and blood mixed together and oozed through his teeth.
"Fuck you, Uchiha." He hissed out, first words he had heard from the man.
He didn't think it was possible to even more disappointed with someone that he currently was. "You were definitely weaker than the last snow shinobi I fought…or, maybe I've been overestimating you guys all this time." That got another response from the man, shouting profanities at him and nonsenses that Madara ignored with ease.
"Well, enjoy the journey over." Drawing a new kunai, Madara pressed on foot on the mans chest and dropped to a crouch. "I'll make it quick." A bitted laugh emitted from the soon to be dead man and Madara almost found himself mimicking it.
A tight grip, Madara raised it enough to have the right driving force to plunge the kunai in his head killing him instantly.
"Not that one Madara," he heard Izuna shout from behind and Madara felt himself slump in irritation. Still looking down at the shinobi he rolled his eyes while pressing down a foot heavily on what was likely a good couple of broke ribs from his punch as he rose to a stand.
"You lucked out," Madara commented, the lie dropping easily from his mouth.
"You got him?" Izuna shouted over to him and Madara met his look and responded with a nod and vocal confirmation.
Izuna then directed his attention back to the younger Uchiha. "You alright kid?"
He'd found the boy with ease once he had dispatched of the third shinobi. Him and the young Uchiha had been off slightly eastwards to where Madara had been fighting. Izuna had intended to take him prisoner himself, but he had proven to be a slight challenge that capturing him had quickly become an impossibility. Death appeared to be the only option and it worked quite well for him.
Except they still needed to know about these snow shinobi, so without much hesitation he had unbound the young boy and began racing back towards Madara to try and stop him from killing all of them.
He made it in time to stop his brother without much effort, and the boy, probably at a loss for what else to do, had followed him.
"Yes, sir." The boy splutter a bit, although more likely from the cold that fear. "Injuries?" "None."
Pleased on hearing that, Izuna glanced over at the scene. One successfully incapacitated enemy and three dead. All of which had been solid combatants. "You got lucky," Izuna felt the need to inform the youngest.
Toke, he believed his name was, had made a good effort at looking brave throughout, but he could see that through the façade was a fracture confidence at having been taken hostage. Toke nodded in agreement. Incredibly lucky.
"Did they-"
"I didn't tell them anything sir!" The young one quickly interrupted, his tone firm but the desperation apparent. While Izuna was inclined to believe him, he was equally tempted to confirm through other means. But the young one being an Uchiha, such an action would not go without questions.
"Are you certain?" Izuna found himself slowly asking, the concern from before slowly dropping away to reveal something that had the boy looking uncertain.
"Yes sir. I was... I was incapacitated. No questioning took place between then and now."
Nothing was said for a long minute as Izuna assessed both the situation and the boys state. There was no reason not to believe him, it just wasn't the way he operated to leave loose threads.
Izuna turned around to grab his brother attention. It would be best to do this while it was just the three of us (omitting the unconscious snow shinobi of course), however he quickly found that his brother had vanished. He could sense his chakra not too far off, heading in the direction of the medics it would seem.
In normal situations he would consult this matter with his brother. Despite both of them holding the highest position of authority in the clan, Madara still managed to generate more respect and leadership qualities than Izuna ever had. So Madara's word would be decisive whatever investigation followed his own inquiries into the boys brief captivity. Yet, Izuna hesitated knowing that given the situation and who he was dealing with, he suspected that his brother would likely reject his request to properly interrogate the young'un.
And Madara wasn't here… Well, in which case, what Madara didn't know wouldn't hinder him.
He could sense her chakra fifty meters ahead of him. It was a large oak tree that was semi collapsed and she was likely hiding behind it or in it. He couldn't tell, but either one was equally ridiculous. Regardless, she must have sensed him now he was getting so close and the crunch of the snow beneath his feet should have given away to the fact that someone was approaching.
That said, given that he had managed to so effortlessly sneak up on her before and pull her to the ground should really have given away her incompetence with situational awareness. But Madara was cold and fed up of being outside of the fort and was mostly just thinking along the line of get the medic, grab the hostage and head back.
Close enough now to the tree he could sense that she was hiding behind it, which he supposed was marginally better than being inside the hollowed aged oak. At least that way she would have had an easier time escaping without having to scramble her way to the entrance and likely be killed on the spot.
It was all really predictable. Untrained individual did tend to hide in the most inconvenient of places that offered them no easy escape and constricted their movements.
Then again, Inare was predictable in many ways. At least once he had gotten to understand her a bit more she was increasingly more predictable. Something he was phenominally glad he'd not spoke aloud
Inare screamed in what could have been terror as her raised arm was brought down with a piercing force.
Madara gave a shout of pain as his brain really caught up with what had just occurred.
She'd stabbed him in the shoulder… with the kunai he'd given her.
With his jaw locked in a tight grip over a shout of pain, Madara managed to resist initially pulling out the kunai in reflex to it's initial penetration. Being stabbed fucking sucked, granted it was in the shoulder so not as bad as it could have been… but fuck…
And Inare was still screaming, which he didn't understand. It was him that had gotten stabbed, by her no less with his kunai.
"Why are you screaming?" He shouted at her with all the combined pain and irritation, all the while managing to hold both hands her hands as they continued to tightly grip at the kunai.
She stopped, quite suddenly. Brown eye wide and glazed over with panic that was quickly becoming unshed tears. "I... I... eyy... Ithi... i..." she was muttering incoherently and that really did not settle well with the searing pain in his shoulder.
"Use your damn speaking words," he gritted out through the pain, quickly running out of patience with her feebleness.
"I stabbed you!"
"No shit!" Who else could have stabbed him? He got that it was in a moment of fear that she reacted as such, she clearly been expecting an enemy and not her and yes she should have announced himself earlier. He couldn't help but think that if he hadn't been going to reassure her of her students safety and her own then this would not have happened. He could have just let her wonder back to fortress eventually.
He could have just shouted out to her that they had captured the snow shinobi. But no, he had decided to approach her and gently inform her of. Last time he ever handed over a weapon to her that could be used to injure himself, or involved himself in ensuring her safe keeping. Either one really would have avoided this unnecessary injury.
He tried to shrug his shoulder as the irritation began to build up there, but stopped mid motion when the pain became excruciating.
He must have winced as Inare's hands dropped from the kunai while the panic dropped from her face as the concern took place. She hissed out a curse as her nimble fingers began inspecting the wound. Madara in the meantime had grown too irritated with the pain that he moved to pull the kunai right out despite all the reasons not to.
"Are you stupid? Don't do that!" Lunging to grab back at the kunai.
"Why not?" Madara snarled back, furious as Inare held the kunai exactly where it was.
"You know exactly why!" She snarled herself, not liking his attitude one bit because he did know, and quickly conceded to that fact with a grimace.
"I can fix th-"
"Just. Leave it." He gritted out in pain to which Inare winced and then finally began to show something along the lines of guilt. With that he turned away and stiffly began walking back to Izuna with one arm supporting the other to reduce the pain. He'd get Ebisu to sort it out, and if he was too busy then by then he'd possibly be a little less pissed off at Inare to let her do it.
He covered the hundred or so meters in a handful of minutes, not finding himself in any rush, why should he be when ahead of them Izuna was in the process of interrogating the incapacitated snow shinobi.
Instead of the aggressive and sardonic attitude that Inare had expected from the younger sibling, he was soft spoken as he talked with their captive.
Toke stood beside the clan head with his hands behind his back, he stood uncertain of what he was doing as the interrogation went on. Even with the apparent cluelessness the young boy still held onto the kunai at his leg with a relaxed grip.
Which showed clearly when the Uchiha's prisoner became aggressive and started shouting curses at Izuna. Toke flinched and drew the kunai. The action drew Madara's attention and he frowned at the boy while moving to low his weapon with his one good arm. "Easy now."
Toke blinked quickly and nodded stiffly to Madara, while Inare really couldn't bring herself to look at Toke. This had entirely been her fault and would need to apologise sooner than later.
Madara had no sooner spoken than he began walking over to the prisoner and delivered a swift kick to the man's face that had him near flung to the ground and the shouting brought to a sudden end.
Inare flinched and took a step backwards in horror at the sudden brutality she had not expected. Sharply spinning, she could not watch as Madara dropped to a crouch in front of the floored man, all the while with the kunai still stuck in his shoulder.
She scrunched her eyes closed as a scream of pain ripped through the air, her neck sinking deep into her shoulder as her body unconsciously tried to shrink in on itself. She could not help but feel that this was phenomenally unnecessary, and yet recoiled at her own hypocrisy.
Opening her eyes, she turned back to watch.
Toke was watching her and took a step to try escort her away but she brushed off his concern and watched as Madara drug a finger into what was likely only a shallow wound on his calf, burrowing it deeper and deeper till his nails were likely scraping against the bone. All the while Madara gritted out his question to which the shinobi howled them out with sobs, his body beginning to shake. It did not last long as Madara appeared to have gotten his answer and withdrew the appendage from the wound while the man quickly drew his leg towards himself to.
Inare's attention turned to Toke and tried to understand the discofort on his face. And she couldn't.
When Shin had held her captive, she wanted nothing more than to see him die as painfully as possible. As he chased her through the cold rain she wanted his pain to be what eased her turbulent emotions.
Then here was Toke, visibly wanting to leave and have no part in this torture when it was him that should have been wanting retribution for all that he could have and would have done to him.
Around them the few hours of daylight that this part of the world saw were beginning to fade and the shadows within the forest grew as the air seemed to drop a few degrees. Inare shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. She wanted him to suffer, the same way him and his team would have made Toke suffer. Inare couldn't understand this sentiment, and that scared her.
Izuna glared all his irritation at Madara, wanting to berate him for going about this the entirely wrong way. Sure they had gotten the information that was required, but ultimately it might not even be true. Under severe pain and duress a prisoner would always give you the information you wanted simply to half the pain, validity had not weighing in on it.
Madara was now standing and moving away from their prisoner and Izuna watched him leave before his eyes caught the troubled looks of both the medic and the younger Uchiha. They looked like idiots just standing there… and when did Madara get stabbed in the shoulder?
He noticed it before but the wound didn't appear to be bother his brother so he did not bring it up. Then there was that shout from before, a female scream… Izuna wanted to conclude that it had been the medic doing, but he just couldn't bring himself to believe it.
The whole ordeal had ruined the moment to pull Toke into a genjutsu that would have left him disoriented enough to be easily susceptible to the Tsukuyomi where he could have validated the information. As instead of relaxed and unaware the boy had been on edge and expressing phenomenal desire to rush in the direction of the medic.
Irritating thing about the Tsukuyomi was the that effect of the technique depended entirely on the emotional state of the victim. In a battle where hormones and adrenaline was high to match the stress, the Tsukuyomiwould maximise those sensation. Obviously the victim would fight back, further exacerbating the degradation of their mental state and adding fuel the technique. Perfect for the battlefield.
Alternatively, if the victim was less aware of what was occurring then it was possible to slip them in and our with them simply feeling discomforted and uncertain of what had actually occurred. They would suspect that something was not right, but they could never really say what had occurred.
Izuna could not risk the boy being aware of the technique, and so he had lost the moment. It was a dangerous technique, and while rampantly popular fifty or so years ago it was not without its risks to their own clan. Too often had Uchiha's abused this technique to further their own motives. Unacceptable actions that Izuna would gladly punish with death. The Tyukuyomi should only be used for the advancement and protection of the clan. That was all. Even then, the technique left the used feeling sick. There was no denying it was a foul technique. that was unfortunately too useful to ignore.
Madara was very well aware of this, and so likely knew he had butchered Izuna's chance as effectively extracting the correct information.
Sighing out heavily as he directed his attention to the prisoner once again, his body felt heavy with extended fatigue and drained of whatever it was you needed to push you through the days. Today was turning into a long one.
They had moved as a group back towards the fortress in silence with only Madara and Izuna talking with each other and that was simply to confirm that they where returning. It took some time as they were now waiting on the slowed pace of the injured shinobi. Awkwardly Inare had to walk with Izuna as he supported the injured man, while Madara and Toke remained within a few meter perimeter constantly surveying the surroundings.
Thankfully it was silent, as there was nothing that she really wanted or could say to Izuna. As if it wasn't embarrassing enough that he had caught her and Madara possibly about in engage in something that she still refused to put a name to, now there was an injured man between that was in a certain agonising pain.
She sighed in relief when they finally returned to the base, Inare could have kissed the ground she was so happy it was all over. Madara still had that kunai embedded in his shoulder and was looking more and more angry about it. She needed to apologise. Then to Toke. Today was a mess, not to mention they didn't even have anything to show for it now that the weeds, roots and leaves they had painstakingly collected were now lost somewhere in the snowy forest.
On sight of the fortress, they were suddenly flunked by six Uchiha's that moved to relieve Izuna of the hobbling man, instantly the man was off giving ordered to them, splitting them up into group to run a scouting party and another to ensure that the prisoner was not going to die of infection or hypothermia.
The injured man at this point had chose to pick up another fight and on the transfer pushed at the Uchiha and ended up falling to the floor.
Inare frowned at the pathetic sight but had reached her limit and turned away toward Toke who was now looking a little lost for what to do. Approaching him, she didn't hesitate in pulling him in for a hug.
She wouldn't really classify herself as a highly affectionate person, but, it felt right as he returned the hug and grumbled out that he was glad she was okay. Inare in return grumbled an apology that Toke tried to brush off with a short laugh.
"You sure your okay though right?" Inare insisted.
"Don't worry about me Miss," he tried to reassure her, but she still didn't feel any better, "I wasn't hurt."
"Okay," she felt useless to help her student and it likely showed as they broke away from the hug and Toke near blinded her with a wide grin.
"Besides, if I was. I could heal myself all thanks to you." The grin was still there and Inare chuckled at his enthusiasm.
"Alright, lets not get ahead of ourselves now."
At that he shoved her shoulder teasingly, at which point he was called over by one of the new Uchiha shinobi who recognised him. Inare recognised Susumu and the man was ordering Toke to report to his captain. Isshin was probably going to have a fit, but that was a later problem.
Inare had only knocked off one of the problems on that list.
She still didn't know what to personally do in this situation so she glanced around to watch the prisoner get appropriately restrained with chakra restricting seals and then was in the process of being blindfolded. Izuna had taken full control of the situation while Madara was standing on the side overseeing it all.
With one apology down, Inare grit her teeth and made to do her second one of the day.
"Sorry," Inare managed to awkwardly tell him while all the commotion continued around them. He gave her a look that was less than forgiving and Inare shied away a little, turning to focus on the prisoner again for a moment until he grumbled. "Well, would you at least remove it? You know, since you stabbed me to begin with." He was not happy, but she supposed he could have been livid with her. Which he wasn't... she guessed.
"Right!" Keen to undo her mistake. Spinning around and lurching forwards at the injury. Fluidly removing a kunai from one of his pounces, an action that rose a brow, Inare quickly cut away at the surrounding material of his shirt. To find that there were a few more layers, not to mention that the height difference was making this procedure a little awkward for her.
"You're gonna need to sit," as she took a step back Inare took a quick turn of the surrounding environment for anything that might be of use. But with the ground covered in a good meter of snow, there wasn't much that could be of use. "Although I don't know where," she drew out when nothing presented itself.
"Fuck it," he muttered, putting pressure down on the wound with a grimace he turned his head to his brother. "Izuna, you got this right?" He probably didn't even need to ask, as Izuna didn't exactly give him a response… that is if your not counting glares. "The medics going to sort out her fuckup," nodding his head to the injured shoulder, "since I can't just pull it out."
He was definitely not happy.
The ever efficient man wasted not a single moment more as he turned again and nodded to her curtly. "Let's get in," and he began traipsing into the fortress motioning for her to follow towards the fortress.
It was a long time as they were walking through the long hall of the fortress that wound and turned so suddenly. It was a welcoming relief regardless to be out of the biting cold wind that had picked up in the last hour that they had been outside.
On the way Madara managed to hear Inare mumble something about her pack and she vanished quickly down one hallway leaving him hanging for a bit till she returned a few moments later. The two of them carried on in silence till she once again quietly spoke, this time asking where they were heading. "Cant stand the medics area," was the only response Madara could be bothered to give her and carried on.
He eventually lead her back to the room he tended to use while in Hideout.
The wooden door was rotted down with holes and gaps, fortunately this was a section of the fortress that none tended to venture around. Even his own commanders knew to give him some space so it never tended to bother him.
He was bothered much less by the bareness of the stone floored and walled enhanced a bitter coldness and only the dying fire at the centre of the room kept the chill off.
First thing he did was grab a couple of logs from the stack and threw them onto to pit, it was painful to reach down and grab them and he released a low groan as he did so. It was a relief to finally sit down and relax, which was exactly what he did, finding the spot where he had thrown his roll mat and pile of furs and blankets. It wasn't comfortable by any stretch of the imagination, but it was perfect for him.
He noticed that Inare was hanging around the door looking uncharacteristically shy as she surveyed the room. She'd been in here before once when the flue had hit them, he couldn't really remember much of it but it made her nervousness unnecessary. Or maybe it didn't.
Noticing him seated, she seemed to have arrived to whatever conclusion it was that she needed to move her towards him, the door swinging closed behind her. Kneeling be his side, she pulled the pack she'd fetched to her side and began rummaging around for her tools. It didn't take long for her meticulously lay out her instruments, ointments and liquids that she needed.
With rubbing alcohol, she began to loosen up all the dried blood from around the wound. It didn't take long for her to extend it in order to remove the weapon properly. All the while she worked in silence, and while he knew her to be an efficient medic that was highly dedicated to her practice, he didn't know her to be that quiet.
"You alright?" Madara eventually asked when her silence was beginning to unnerve him. She didn't tend to stay quiet for this long, if Inare was one thing it was chatty. The only time she knew her not to be was when she was seriously discomforted or upset.
He was going with the later, and possibly due to stabbing him.
He could have laughed at that, although his humour was certainly not directed towards her concern that was something he could come to appreciate.
She nodded mutely and then he definitely knew something wasn't okay with her, and as much as his brain urged him not to prod, he still managed to do so. "You could try harder to convince me."
"It may surprise you to know that I don't really care to convince you." Inare muttered back, and if there was any other conviction that he needed it was that.
He sighed out and leaned back against the wall in his room, his eyes dropping to a close that he didn't have to see her while spoke. "Is it about your student?"
No response, and she continued with making slow cuts around his wound with one hand while applying the rubbing alcohol with another. "Stabbing me?" He got out with it and more to his irritation she didn't still continued unhindered, all of which left him a little lost as to what was bothering her. It was only as she began easing the kunai out of his shoulder. "The violence?"
Finally he got a response, even if it was at his own expense as her removal of the kunai jolted for a moment adding more to his pain. Gritting his teeth he tried not to give it away but knew enough know on how to continue.
Opening his eyes, he tilted his head up to see as she finally removed the kunai entirely. No longer with the metallic weapon in his shoulder Madara could have sighed out in relief, but knew it was too soon to divert from the current mood of their conversation.
"You should get used to it, as it'll only get worse. You'll be exposed to more and more as time goes on and the battles become inevitably worse."
There wasn't much else he felt he could offer her other than the reality of her situation, anything else would simply be deceptive.
It took some time before she looked as if she could respond, and all the while she still couldn't quite bring herself to look at him.
"I mean, I've seen you fight in a battle, brief as it may have been, but that man was defenceless and you still just kicked him without a seconds thought. Just the suddenness of it all… it was… I can't… I don't mean to lecture you here, but it was…" she sighed out, frustration with herself evident, "I didn't expect it."
Her inability to look him in the face combined with her struggle to voice what was bothering her directed him to thinking that she didn't really understand what it was that had upset her.
Something which he could play no part in, she'd work it all out herself in her own time. Although the best he could do now was to probably take her mind off of it.
"Well, don't uphold any real expectations around an Uchiha. We're bound to disappoint whether we meet or exceed them."
That got a bark of laughter from her, and he severe expression dropped from her face as she finally met his. He found himself returning the smile despite the pain at his shoulder.
Eventually she was shaking her head at her own thoughts and directed her attention back at the wound that was bleeding again. Without hesitation she pressed down with force around the stab wound that was bleeding profusely now.
She could see the slight paleness to his skin, paler than the usual winter pasty colour that just about every Uchiha had.
The cold stone digging into her knees was beginning to both irritate and pain her, still she ignored in with ease as she placed her attention on dutifully healing the wound she had caused.
It was a strange sensation. Undoing what she had done. As she watched the stab wound that she had inflicted on Madara slowly decrease to nearly nothing she felt a strange sense of satisfaction that she had never before felt.
It brought a smile to her face that did not go unnoticed.
"You really had better not be grinning at having put me through all this shit."
"I'm not," she managed to force through her grin and a slight giddiness that was not convincing anyone.
"Yeah right. I know that look. Satisfaction of your fight."
"I'm not satisfied," she lied, because she really did not want to be the medic that admitted to having some level glee from having stabbed him. But Inare, not the medic Inare, but Inare Inare... she was pretty damn pleased with herself at having stabbed the strongest Uchiha.
She actually giggled.
"You are satisfied! Smug bitch."
"Hey!" Never in her life had anyone called her something like that to her face, and it brought her some level of hurt and irritation that was so brief that it left her feeling even more smug.
"This hurt you know!" Madara asserted as he pointed at the now healing wound.
"Well..." she had no backing to be insulted when he was completely in the right here. She was being a smug bitch, and damn it felt good. "Yeah, it felt good!" She finally admitted when saying anything else would have been too hypocritical.
Then he laughed, and while it both confused and excited her... she still ended up laughing too. Not really knowing why she was laughing, but it was elating in so many ways.
Still laughing she managed to choked out a, "this is crazy... I shouldn't be laughing at this, but I am."
Her head dropped onto his shoulder as her laugher continued to bubble out of her, her eyes were near watering and it felt so good to laugh straight from her belly with unlimited control.
His hand came up to drop onto the back of her head. "Alright, alright. I think I've had enough of you laughing at me," he sounded to be fed up of her laughing but the gentle touch at her head did not initially motivate her to stop laughing. It wasn't long before the laughter slowly burnt out and she could being to breathe again.
"I'm sorry. I really am sorry for stabbing you," she eventually managed to completely get out. "I didn't think it was you. I thought that if it was you would have at least said something."
Madara couldn't bring himself to respond to that, because he knew that such an action would have avoided it all, but we wasn't about to hand over that bit of information. It was embarrassing enough that she'd stabbed him to begin with, it could only be made worse by confessing his blunder.
"I wouldn't worry about it," he decided on when nothing else came to mind.
"I wouldn't worry about it," he decided on when nothing else came to mind.
"Oh, man. Today… today was not a good one." Inare mumbled into his shoulder, and he slowly let his hand drift down from her head to rest at her shoulder. "So much bad shit… too much over thinking it all too." That was something he could relate too. Although what was she over thinking? Hopefully not as messed up as his thoughts. "Makes me just wanna give up on thinking," she sounded sleepy as she mumbled that last bit. The weight of her entire body heavy against his as she slowly relaxed herself against his body.
It felt nice as she gave into her exhaustion and allowed herself to feel such degree of calm around him. It felt nice to be an individual in which another could share such peace with. It didn't happen enough that he could really appreciate the sensation.
But this moment, he figured, he would likely remember it for some time to come. If nothing other than for the comfort and calm that he could feel welling up in himself.
Not 100% happy with the ending, but really struggled to go with something else. Lemme know what you think.