What's this now? Part 3? :) Well we're coming to the end of the arc. It'll end with the next chapter. We've had the Azuri. So this is the Ice and Water, I guess. I'm liking my arc idea. It's relaxing having just one song to listen to in regards to a few chapters. I think we'll have another arc immediately after this but I'll tell you about that at a later date.

Chapter Title It's still Welcome Home by Coheed & Cambria

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto :) But I totally own...Alright I no longer own Yukiko -.- Damn Madara. He left a note on my desk saying to stop saying I own his woman. *whispers* But I totally own Yukiko. ;)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Hang Onto The Glory Of My Right Hand

It was a quiet journey back to the Stronghold, Madara didn't bother joining up with the rest of his squad, trusting that Izuna would lead them home safe.

Yukiko seemed in a state of grief and he noticed she was deep in thought about something else as well, muttering to herself.

"What possessed you to leave the Stronghold in the first place?" he asked, making her jump.

"Oh, I was...Following up on my mission. It was nothing really. I just..." she stammered, looking away from him.

"Liar. Izuna's description of you being an observer is right, you don't act unless it's to fuel your own sense of justice. I think..." he turned and grabbed her wrists. "I think you were upset and actually took your anger out on Kai which would explain how distraught you seem to be," his vicious growl made her quiver.

"I'm not that sort of person, Madara-sama," she whimpered.

"More lies? That's a bad habit, Yukiko. Now I demand you tell me what's going on now before I force it out of you," he snarled.

"Madara-sama, Kiyoshi," she nodded down to her waist where the sword was. He narrowed his eyes before letting her wrists go and touching the sword's handle. She shut her eyes and muttered something.

Madara felt that sickening feeling again, thrown into a memory of days before. He stood staring at Yoshi's cell.

Yukiko standing right up to Yoshi snarling. "So you're going to listen to me, you're going to sit down and answer all of my questions or I swear I will kill you right here, you mean nothing to me you filthy low-life so just sit down!"

Madara laughed at the image of Yoshi being ordered around by the, quite frankly, petite Yukiko but at the same time he was proud of her for being able to talk to him like that. She seemed to have surprised herself as well, although Yoshi didn't know her enough to realise that was what she was now feeling.

"I'm not going to answer all of your questions," Yoshi scoffed stubbornly.

Questions...What could Yukiko possibly want to know from Yoshi? Madara was intrigued.

"Fine I've just got one. Was Tsukiko Uchiha killed because of what she found out about the Senju and the Uchiha's past and its connection to the Rinnegan?"

Madara's heart skipped a beat. His mother was murdered in war for information on the Uchiha, he was certain this was the truth but he'd never conceived the reason the Senju showed up in the first place could possibly have been for HER.

"...Yes, she was,"

Bastards! The Senju bastards! He could barely suppress his rage, feeling himself pulled free of her memory.

Madara grabbed her by the throat and threw Yukiko to the ground, pinning her down.

"How did you get into the archives?" he spat.

"Izuna gave me the key...Madara-sama...please stop, you're hurting me..." she choked, scratching his forearm.

"I've told you before that you're not to go in there! And those...those..." it wasn't enough for him, he needed to release this anger. He needed to scream and shout, punch, kick or kill someone.

"Madara-sama...please...air..." she wheezed, her vision blurring. But that look in his eyes, it was unlike any she'd seen from him before. It terrified her, she almost thought it was someone else. His grip on her throat was relinquished, he got off of her as she rolled onto her front and coughed repeatedly. Air hadn't tasted so sweet.

"Madara-sama..."

"Shut up! I don't want to hear anything more from you today!" he shouted, storming off. Yukiko stayed motionless for a moment, wondering if she'd done the right thing.

The truth, was that as important as his happiness?

She shook the thoughts and ran after him.

When did his happiness ever cross her mind? When had that man been anything more than a man she followed regardless? But he was...becoming slowly more human in front of her. He was a man who had a lot to carry and very few to share it with, and even less he would actually allow to share it with.

On the surface, Madara was a ruthless leader and a man ruled by his anger and bitterness. Deeper down he was a man tormented by memories of war, who had had to raise his own baby brother on his own, and wouldn't it be nice if she hadn't betrayed his trust and gone against one of his most important rules for her.

Do Not Go Into The Archives. He'd said so to her a long time ago but she had forgotten the fierceness of his stare when he's said it. And now she's lost his trust, what little she had gained. It pained her. For some reason she wanted to repeat apologies and beg for his forgiveness. It wasn't a pleasant feeling at all. All she could hope is that his temper would get better with time.

Madara's temper didn't get better with time, by the time they'd made the journey, almost a week, back to the Stronghold he still seemed angry and the pair hadn't spoken at all. The silence was suffocating though.

Madara was deep in thought about his mother and Yukiko was thinking about him.

Something must have been able to break this wall of silence but Yukiko wasn't brave enough to do it.

Izuna was waiting at the gates to the Stronghold, patiently waiting for Madara.

"Hey! Nii-san, wanna spar later?" he asked, his older brother just walking straight past him, not even acknowledging Izuna had been there at all.

"Madara-sama!" she called after him but stopped, standing with Izuna a pained look on her face.

"What happened?" the younger Uchiha asked, glaring at her.

"I...I did what you told me to!" she snapped, remembering that the one who'd told her to go into the Archives was him.

"Yes, the point being you weren't to tell Madara you got in there! Why would you tell him you got in there?" Izuna argued.

"I…I found something out and had to tell him, that's all," she muttered, following after Madara.

Izuna liked his games up until the point where Madara wouldn't speak to him, and then they were annoying however the fact that Yukiko had gotten annoyed was a fun little side part of his game.

He sighed, shrugging and heading back to his room to read.

Yukiko ran up to Madara's room only to find it empty. She sat on the bed, looking down at Kibou.

"He hasn't come up here then…Oh no!" she leapt up running back out of the room and desperately looking around for the nearest guard, Hayate finding her first.

"Hayate! Where's Yoshi's cell?"

"You didn't need to know!" Yoshi cried out, Madara grabbed his collar and punched him again.

"Bullshit! She was my mother! What part of that means I didn't need to know!" he yelled, kicking Yoshi against the wall repeatedly until blood poured from the Council member's mouth.

"It's people like you I despise! I'm the leader of the Uchiha, how dare you decide what I need to know about my own mother!" he roared, standing back as he trembled with anger. "You're going to tell me everything I need to know about what she found out,"

"Madara, you can't do anything that would force me to tell you something like that," Yoshi panted.

"Yes I can, I'll tell your daughter everything about your wife," Madara spat.

"Madara-sama!" Yukiko ran into the cell, standing in front of Yoshi. "I can tell you about what your mother found out, it's all down in the Archives,"

"I want to hear it from him, now move, Yukiko. I'll deal with you later," he growled, pushing her onto the wooden slab roughly.

"Then have some mercy on him," she muttered sadly.

"You're too soft," he snapped angrily. "This is my mother we're talking about, Yukiko,"

"I realise that but still…" she trailed off, realising it was pointless for her to ask something like mercy from Madara. At the same time though, she was trying to hide the fact she was glad that Yoshi was getting what he deserved.

"Izanagi…And the Rinnegan…Both require Senju blood and Uchiha blood to harness the full capabilities. Your mother realised this and…that the Senju and the Uchiha are related. The Senju decided that this would spark a war between the two clans and they'd try and steal each other's DNA and secrets. Your mother…had to be silenced," Yoshi explained slowly, watching Madara's expression carefully.

"That's it?" the leader asked, his voice quietly. "That's what all those people died for? That's…why my brother doesn't remember his own parents…"

Yukiko looked up at him in amazement, that's what he was thinking about? What his younger brother had gone through because of it? She stayed quiet though, not wanting to have his anger aimed at her again.

"It was…for the good of the clan," Yoshi said.

"You had no right…" Madara growled softly before leaving. Yukiko was too stunned to move for a few minutes.

"You're very lucky you've kept your life," she added, glancing at Yoshi.

"…He'll be back, and he'll be ruthless," was all Yoshi could manage before shutting his eyes and falling asleep.

Yukiko was stuck, not sure what to do. She could stay out of Madara's way and hope he was calm by the time she next ran into him or she could go and explain the rest of the situation to him.

She jumped up, leaving the sleeping Uchiha and headed up to his room, taking a while to get her bearings again.

She gently knocked on the doors of his quarters when she finally reached them though, careful to stay on his good side as much as she possibly could.

"Come in!" he bellowed from within, the beast was still vicious as always. Yukiko slowly made her way into the room; he eyed her tentative actions with disgust. "Stop being ridiculous, Yukiko, I'm not going to harm you," he snarled. Ah but his eyes spoke such different words!

"Forgive me, Madara-sama, I just wish to be respectful of your mood," she explained quietly, her head low. She didn't want to see that look of anger; it almost hurt her as much as his fists would.

"You should've thought about that before you started poking your nose around my clan," he retorted.

"Madara-sama, you left me in charge and Izu…" she stopped herself, biting down on her bottom lip.

"Izuna did what? It's you and my brother again!" he shouted, making his way over to her.

"It's not! I don't even trust your brother but he…he gave me this…" she pulled the key out of her hair tie she'd kept it safe there. Madara snatched it from her and then walked past her. "Madara-sama!"

"Shut up and sit here and wait for me to come back, like a good woman," was what he left her with.

Yukiko growled in frustration, kicking the bathroom door open.

"Like a good woman? Dammit," she glanced down at her bracelet; she had nothing to argue about. All she could do was thank the gods she wasn't married to the man. However she may as well have been. The Uchihas all referring to her as '-sama', sleeping with Madara, having control of the Stronghold when he left. There was not much difference. However she wasn't going to inform him of that at all.

"You sneaky bastard," Madara snarled as he entered Izuna's room, finding his brother lying in bed talking to Atsuko. "Get out," the maid nodded and quickly left.

"Ah! Madara, I exist now, do I?" he asked sardonically, a smug smirk dared to cross his lips.

"Don't try and twist your way out of this, you little weasel. How dare you continue to go behind my back with things like this," Madara snapped.

"See I did tell her not to tell you, did she mention that?" Izuna asked playfully, continuing his smiling at his fuming brother.

"No, I'm certain she wouldn't have told me unless she found out our mother was murdered because of some petty research!"

"Excuse me?" the smirk was gone now, Izuna's eyes widened slightly. "What?"

"I…I found out that mother would have died if I'd gone or not," Madara whispered.

"Isn't that a good thing? I mean, they say these things give one a peace of mind," Izuna offered, noting the distress his brother seemed to be in.

"No…It brings up more questions. These days of pondering her death are over," Madara lied, his young brother sighed and shook his head.

"Nii-san, you're still haunted by those nightmares, how can you say that to me?" the young Uchiha asked, frowning.

"It doesn't matter; I've got my eyes on the future. All I'm here to tell you is that you're to stay away from Yukiko. The only time you go near here is when she's with me, understand?" Madara warned, shaking off his memories for a moment.

"So possessive, Nii-san! Honestly, I'm not trying to steal her from you. I just…plan things and she is good for using," Izuna explained with a laugh back to his playful self.

"I'm not possessive, just for now you're to stay away from my damn woman!" he shouted before leaving.

Atsuko timidly came back into the room.

"Izuna-sama, what's that going on?" she asked quietly.

"Hm? Oh nothing, I annoyed Madara. I'm going to go down to see Yoshi, apparently he's got some things to say," Izuna answered, jumping up and taking her hand.

"Yukiko-sama went to see him before she left," Atsuko informed him.

"I guessed as much. Well, either way I want to know what's upset my brother and this is the quickest way now I've been banned from seeing Yuki-chan," he explained, leading her down to the cells.

"You've been banned from seeing Yukiko-sama?"

"Yes, Madara's gone nuts with his over-protectiveness now that he's realised that something's happened with mother that led to her death," Izuna admitted, sighing deeply. This just seemed to be getting more and more complicated and all he had wanted was to make things easier to his brother.

Yukiko sat in the bath, dipping her head under the water. It wasn't swimming but it was relaxing as she opened her eyes and viewed the world from the liquid point of view.

That was until a hand gripped her hair and pulled her above the water level again, she shrieked in surprise, bringing a spike of ice up from the water stopping dead in front of Madara.

"M-Madara-sama…I'm bathing," she stammered, her cheeks dyeing red and her arms folded across her chest.

"I don't care, I've seen you in far more embarrassing positions," this earned him a scowl from her.

"I…" she attempted to protest but instead decided it was better to continue to scowl at him.

"Hurry up," he barked, releasing his grip on her and sitting down by the door.

"Why're you sitting there, Madara-sama?" she asked, confused by his attitude towards her.

"If I fall asleep out there you could sneak off and go snooping around my clan again. You're under my watchful eye until I can trust you again," he explained, glaring at her. She nervously nodded and tried to continue her bath but found it had lost all of its relaxing qualities.

The day didn't get much better. Yukiko was still reeling from Kai's death, feeling drained and in need just to relax however she was stuck following Madara everywhere. He went to train; she sat on the side lines with Hoshi. He went to do paperwork and she sat down helping him and explaining her box idea to him which he seemed mildly grateful for.

Dinner was the same sort of affair; she was sat beside him finding it strange that Izuna was nowhere to be seen and neither was Atsuko.

"Madara-sama, where's Izuna-san?" she asked finally as they finished eating.

"I don't know, I'm glad he's not here. He's probably avoiding me, I'm sure I've hurt his feelings somehow," he replied quietly.

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"Of course it does, he's my brother but it's not like I can go my entire life without upsetting him sometimes. We are brothers but we're not perfect," he sighed, head bowed slightly.

"I'm very sorry about the incident in the Archives, Madara-sama," she muttered, feeling guilty that she was the reason the brothers seemed to be arguing.

"Tch, you will be. Let's get going, I'm tired," he snapped, getting up and dragging her to her feet by her arm. In the corner of her eye she saw her bracelet glinting.

Property of Madara Uchiha…

Ah…How long ago had it been? A few weeks and yet there seemed to be such a huge distance between the two now. It was her fault but at the same time she couldn't help but blame Izuna as well. He had taken it far enough.

She had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she barely realised they were back in Madara's room.

"Madara-sama…" she began, but in all honesty Yukiko knew there was nothing she could possibly say. Looking at him with a tear forming in her eye, she glanced back down to the floor feeling completely awkward suddenly.

"If you've got something to say then say it! I've got no time for guessing games tonight, Yukiko," Madara spat, his anger hadn't seemed to have gone at all. He was desperate not to take it out on her or Izuna though.

"I really am sorry, it won't happen again. And I'm so sorry about your mother as well," Yukiko finally mustered, feeling the tear slowly make its way down her cheek.

"Stop apologizing for things you can't help! What sort of leader were you?" he yelled, slamming his fist against the wall next to him in frustration which made her jump.

"I was a third-rate leader! My mother told me that much at least…" her hand gently touched her sightless eye. He blinked at her a few times.

"It hardly matters now. You've got no one to disappoint now,"

"I do though! I've disappointed you. I hate it! I hate disappointing people!" Yukiko shouted suddenly, clenching her eyes shut to restrain herself. "No matter what I do…I'll disappoint someone. And now I've disappointed my aunt, my only family left and there's nothing I can do to make her happy because…Because I'm selfish,"

"What's your aunt got to do with it?" he asked, baffled by the sudden mention of Hisano.

"Because…I think the Azuri were working with her to get rid of you. Maybe she wants me to go and live with her in peace…But that's not who I am and not how I was brought up. I can't sit in a palace for the rest of my life. As much as I hate it I have to be out on the battlefield and the only place on the battlefield for me now…Is fighting with you, Madara-sama," she sobbed, falling to her knees.

Too much…Kai's death, his final words and now everything with Madara and Yoshi and Izuna…Yukiko felt like screaming in frustration.

"Get up," Madara growled, standing in front of her. She looked up at her, surprised to see a look of something like pity in his eyes for a change. "Your aunt is a difficult one to deal with. She's the wife of a Daimyo,"

"I know that but Kai said…He told me not to trust her. I believe he was working with her. She must be trying to get revenge for my father but…She doesn't understand what happened…" Yukiko stood up, wiping the tears from her eyes. Clan leaders didn't cry, even third-rate ones she told herself.

"What happened?" he questioned, eyes narrowed. The Ginhana shook her head though.

"I…I don't want to talk about it. It comes under our deal…" she replied, shutting her eyes again.

Your father's dead…He…He passed in his sleep

"Your deal is going to get my clan involved with the wife of a Daimyo without me understand what's going on, you're going to tell me," Madara commanded, taking a step forward and placing a finger under her chin to force her to look at him.

"Madara-sama…Please not now," she pleaded, not even sure how she'd word what had happened. She could barely take the memories herself let alone put them into words and tell someone else. The secrets she'd wrapped herself up in…Ah, she wanted to tell them to him for some reason. She wanted to tell him everything and see if he'd leave her be then.

Yukiko was frightened. She was frightened of what was happening to her. A simple attraction? This was beginning to transcend that, for her at least. That need for his attention, the craving for his touch…She was desperately pleading for his mercy.

"Fine, tomorrow then. I'm too tired to deal with this right now," he admitted dryly, sighing and taking a step back from her before taking his shirt and trousers off and getting into bed.

Yukiko smiled gently as she muttered her thanks to him, the memories that had been creeping up on her had receded like the tide.

"Tch, whatever just come here. Stop standing around like an idiot," he snapped. She nodded, quickly changing into a sleeping yukata and lying down in his arms.

With his bad mood lightened slightly his hold felt much more blissful. She buried herself against his chest and listened to the gentle beat of his heart.

"Madara-sama," she muttered.

"Sleep, dammit," he hissed in response. "What?" he sighed after a small pause.

"I'm very sorry about a lot of things. However I'm not sorry about being here right now,"

"That's because you're a foolish woman. Some sweet words and you're easy to control, Izuna has shown that much," he pointed out but she shook her head in disagreement.

"That's not it at all. It's because Madara-sama is actually a very good man who has taught me a lot about myself," she placed a gentle kiss on his chest before falling asleep.

Stunned, Madara stayed awake a little longer, trying to comprehend just what it was she'd just said to him. It had almost sounded like a mix between a compliment and a confession. However he was too tired to think for too long and gave into the temptation of sleep as well.

Tomorrow…There'd be time for hidden truths tomorrow…

You'll have to face the futurrrrre, when the truth comes out! :) Scrubs. Awesome show. Ah! It's all coming out now! X3 I doubt my story will be 40 chapters like I originally planned. I think it'll be about 60 now, looking at my plan. We're like nearly halfway through my plans for Yukiko. I'm so sorry! *bows* Forgive me! I don't want to make you go through all this but there's no way to cut corners. :(

QUESTION: What's bothering Yukiko, do you think? X3

Next Chapter Title: One Last Kiss To You, One More Wish To You