[20]

Sprawled on the bed, Madara moaned loudly.

Then a sudden elbow in the ribs woke him up. Blinking in the bright light, Madara squinted down at the figure lying across his chest and the masses of dark strands encircling her head like a silken sheet. Her tiny hand rested on his shoulder, her wrist on his heart.

For a moment, time just seemed to stop.

Her lips, the exact colour of pink tulips, were partly open; her eyelids rolled down over her eyes, like shutters on a window; a gentle blow of breath escaping her mouth and tickling his skin; her eyelashes long and ever-so-slightly brushing against his chest as her eyes began to open. A careless smile graced her lips, sleep blurring her vision and slowing down her responses. In that moment, Madara realised something that he had overlooked.

"Good morning," murmured Kizuka clumsily, pushing her upper body up and looking down at Madara. There were slight bags under her eyes. "How did you sleep?"

"Not bad, if it wasn't for the whining and the whimpering," Madara smirked at her knowingly as she flushed a brilliant red.

"I am sorry about that, you know. I was just so scared—"

"It's fine."

Kizuka stopped mid-word and stared incredulously at Madara, surprised at the gentleness of his voice. Her surprise dropped quickly, though, and was replaced by a light smile. "Thank you. It means a lot."

Madara only nodded, echoes of their conversation last night during the thunder storm resonating in his brain. He then looked to the clock on the floor and realised the time. "It's mid-morning, did you know?"

"It's an hour fast."

"So it's only nine 0'clock?" asked Madara, frowning abruptly. Kizuka looked at him funny and he asked, "What?"

"What day is it again?"

"You're meant to be my personal assistant and you don't know what day it is?" quizzed Madara sceptically, "Did you hit your head last night?"

"There's no need to sound so cynical!" exclaimed Kizuka indignantly, pushing herself to the edge of the bed and crossing her arms as she glared back at him over her shoulder. "It's Wednesday, isn't it? That means you have a meeting with the Haruno's director, and a conference at one 0'clock, and then there's the interview for the vacancy in the exporting goods department, and then—"

"Is this your way of saying thank you, Hayashi? Reminding me of the bane of my existence?"

Kizuka giggled at him. "Would you like me to do that, Mr Uchiha?"

Madara scoffed, although his expression remained rather soft yet inexpressive. "I think I can manage, thank you very much."

As Kizuka was coming down the stairs, there was a light tap on her front door. She unlocked it and opened the door to find Tobirama standing there, wearing a concerned expression.

"I only just got the call, I'm sorry I wasn't here last ... night ..."

He stared over Kizuka's shoulder at something behind her: that something turned out to be none other than the impeccably-timed Madara. Tobirama's horrified gaze was stuck on Madara.

"W-what ... ? K-Kizuka, what is he ... ?"

Tobirama turned his accusing stare onto her and waited for her to answer. "It's not that, so don't even look at me like that!" she snapped, her former self coming back into action. Tobirama's jaw locked with a firm snap of his teeth. "Izuna sent Madara round last night because he couldn't make it! We have not done anything, do you hear? I wouldn't do that to you!"

Madara froze where he was standing and revolved around slowly, staring at Tobirama in an intimidating way. Tobirama glowered at his reproving leer.

"I ... I didn't mean it in that way, Kizuka." Tobirama said, though his gaze didn't lift from Madara. "I'm sorry if that's how it came off—"

"You know, if you can't trust Kizuka, then maybe you can't trust yourself." Madara interjected snidely, his gaze locked with Tobirama's angered one. "That's one reason for a lack of trust, isn't it?"

"Funny," seethed Tobirama quietly, through gritted teeth, "Because it was your brother who sent me round here. Odd, how he sent you too."

"He obviously knew she needed someone last night," quipped Madara swiftly, beginning to glower. "Otherwise she would have been alone all night, wouldn't she?"

"That's below the belt, isn't it?" growled Tobirama lowly, "After all, I am busy as well as her boyfriend. I don't see what it means to you if she's al—"

"It concerns me whenever one of my employees is in danger, whether the danger is themselves or something else," Madara cut in, "Especially when it is my PA. Wouldn't you think so?"

Tobirama gritted his teeth. "Your PA?"

Kizuka looked down at her feet for a moment. "Izuna still isn't coming into work, so I'm helping Madara instead. There's a lot to be done, you know." Behind her, Madara sent Tobirama a disgusted look and then turned around, entering the kitchen.

Kizuka looked at Tobirama worriedly. "Do you want to—?"

His expression was doused in coldness, seeping into his eyes. "No," he snapped curtly, "I just wanted to ... drop by." In the kitchen there was a loud snort of disbelief, proving that Madara was still listening in on their conversation. Tobirama tensed. He drew himself up to his full height. "Goodbye, Kizuka." With that, he spun on his heel and waltzed down the steps to his silver car.

"Tobirama, wait!"

He reached his car before she was at the bottom of the steps, slamming his car door shut with more force than necessary. Panicking, Kizuka tried to grasp the passenger door handle, but Tobirama had started the car and was beginning to drive away. Kizuka bent her fingers back trying to cling on, in hopes that he would notice and stop. She gasped in pain, tears prickling the corners of her eyes. She bit her bottom lip, watching Tobirama's car fade into the distance. With him went her comfort, leaving her brimming with sorrow and unreasonable guilt.

Coming out of the terminal, Hashirama grinned at the sight of his younger brother standing there, arms crossed, wearing his typical indifferent look. "Tobirama, there you are, you little brat!"

Tobirama scoffed. "I thought marriage matured people." he remarked acidly.

Hashirama stopped short, staring at him in concern. "What's happened?" he asked. Tobirama looked away and Hashirama saddened. "Is it something to do with Izuna or Madara?"

"No."

"Then ... Kizuka?"

Tobirama didn't answer.

Hashirama closed his eyes, exhaled and reopened them. Opening his mouth, he begun to press Tobirama, but was interrupted by Mito. "Oh, Tobirama, there you are!" Spiralling red ribbons whizzed past Hashirama as his wife embraced—or rather, strangled—his brother. "Oh, thank God it's you, Tobirama! Hashirama left me with all the luggage back there! Me, a young pregnant woman, left to handle all the luggage—" Hashirama paled slightly at Tobirama's flat, unimpressed look. "—can you believe it? If I didn't know you two were brothers, I'd think you were raised by different mothers!"

"That's enough, Mito, settle down." Hashirama pulled her off Tobirama, slipping his arm comfortably around her shoulders. He hoisted the large bag over his shoulders, taking it out of Mito's thin hands. He shot Tobirama another boyish grin. "All right, then. Are we ready to go?"

"Did you just take the one bag with you?"

Hashirama pushed past him, his grin becoming a tad perverted. "Bro, don't even go there."

Tobirama grimaced momentarily, trying to rid his mind of the horrible mental image his brother had created. "You sicko ..."

Mito swatted at Hashirama's chest to reprimand him. "Hashirama, how crude are you going to—!"

"Oh come on! He's a big boy, he knows about the birds and the bees! You should have seen him in middle school, never mind high school! Did you know that he was surrounded by girls in his maths class and they ran around fetching things for him in every lesson? It's unbelievable! He's like a girl-whisperer or something, don't you think so?"

Mito laughed. "He wasn't that bad, was he?"

Tobirama huffed, following the couple. "He's right behind you, you know."

Hashirama chuckled, calling over his shoulder, "We're talking about you, not to you, Tobirama. Now keep up."

For the second time Tobirama scoffed. His brother may be back—and yes, he had missed his company sorely—but he didn't like his brother when he was teasing him.

Sighing, Izuna looked up at Kizuka scribbling on a piece of paper. According to Madara, she had just had her first bust-up with Tobirama and was a little upset, so he was obeying Madara's strict instructions for once, and not mentioning the name of that rotten Senju upstart. So far, she was maintaining her calm mask of usuality, but they both knew otherwise. It was just a matter of time before her mask cracked.

Then the door opened. Madara strode into the office, wearing a rather stern look, holding a stack of paper underneath his right arm. "Guess what I found."

Izuna looked up, unsure of what Madara was talking about. Kizuka, on the other hand, continued working. Her head was bent over the paper, her hair acting as a curtain and blocking the two brothers out completely, although their voices remained.

"This," Madara dropped the stack on Izuna's desk. "is not mine. Read it."

Izuna quickly skimmed over the text and failed stifling his laughter. "W-what? That's ... this is—"

"You didn't take that online dating profile down, did you?" bit Madara, nearly growling in frustration. "I told you I couldn't afford stupidity, Izuna! And what do you do?"

"In fairness, my intentions were good." pointed out Izuna.

Madara's face showed how much he believed that Izuna's intentions were good: his top lip was curling and his eyes narrowed darkly. "Don't start."

Izuna looked away and Madara spun on his heel, leaving the stack of date requests on Izuna's desk. The door closed with a loud slap! behind him.

Izuna sighed, crossing his arms over his chest, staring at the door.

"You know, he won't forget this."

Izuna looked over at Kizuka, inwardly pleased that she was the one instigating conversation between them. It had felt so awkward before when they were sat in silence. "Maybe, but Madara loves me. He'll only bring it up in an argument or something."

A ghost of a smile passed on Kizuka's face as she rolled her eyes at him. "Why do I believe that?"

Thank you for your reviews so far! Sorry this took so long to get up. School's getting busy. Ciao! ~S.L.