canonish

.

.

it's just fair, she had agreed to it that morning, yet now she felt a pang, an empty space that shouldn't be there in her heart, perhaps called regret by the wise women.

ah, stupid, stupid of her.

this arrangement was meant to relieve her burden, freeing her time in the day to do her worldly duties, yet her heart and mind betrayed her, yearning to reach sunset so soon that she kept staring outside the window of her office, counting the passing clouds and cawing birds as if they heralded every blinks every drawing of breath passed since she opened her eyes before dawn ignited life earlier.

such a perplexity, how the wants and needs of one outshone the rest of her matter with other living beings.

she whined, again, behind her towering papers and ink, as her staffs recited reports upon reports, findings from distant lands, troubles rising in response to her heroic deeds, the harvest that might not be enough to keep her people fed during winter, as more and more knocked her doors, asking for a roof and permission to dwell under her rule-many mouths just wouldn't stop prattling praises about her and her achievements, but after two hundred and fifty-three days she had enough.

oh how futile her escape attempts were!

they needed her, but why didn't they let her breathe, even for a moment, even when she was in the verge of tears, when acid pushing up her throat because she forgot to eat since yesterday? day and night and day and night and she almost, so close, just one breath away from losing herself in the chaos she once proudly called a routine.

and so she rose, surprising her aides and servants, announcing that her day had ended now, despite the sun was far from its zenith. she leaped from the window, southward, accompanied by confusion and shocked voices from her office, she ran and jumped until she found her destination, a lonely compound far from the bustling village center, looked deserted if someone wasn't busy sweeping fallen leaves on its yard.

"madara!"

"hashirama-?"

before he could say anything else, she threw herself into his embrace. "i missed you!"

"...already?" madara slipped his hand between her strands. "weren't you agreed to meet me after sunset?"

when she looked up, tears had welled on her eyes. "you've endured your own wishes to be close to me when you're far away... and now, when you're home, i'm barely available for you. i'm insensitive and ignorant of your needs! i'm-" her voice broke into a sob. no, she wasn't sad; she was relieved because finally, finally her world halted and the mouths stopped blabbering.

merely listening to the sound of his heartbeat works wonder, indeed.

madara let out an understanding sigh. "you're free to cry on my chest, but please do it inside." he guided her towards the entrance, whispering, "in return, i'll have all of you for the next three days, just for me, so i'll have anyone looking for you kicked out at once-i don't care if it's a bijuu out there, i don't want you to see anyone else until three days later."

"whatever... whatever you wish, madara..."

"good." madara kissed her forehead. "we have a lot to catch up."

and so that day, night descended earlier in the hidden forest.