"H-hi mommy…" Shizu greeted reluctantly upon opening the door and facing her mother who stood torpidly, watching her with ice-cold eyes. Yep, it was coming.

"Hi mommy?" The older woman repeated mockingly, soon getting louder with each word that followed. "After disappearing without a trace for five months, thirteen days and twenty two hours you tell me 'hi mommy', you vile girl!" She yelled, going to smack Shizu with her purse but the latter managed to dodge.

"You dare move away?! Come here, you stupid girl!" She barged in and Shizu ran to hide behind Madara, who watched the whole ordeal with completely unamused expression.

"I've been dying of worry and I come to find you with a man! Where have you been?!"

"Wait!" Shizu whined, stretching her arms out in defense. "I can explain."

Her mother's knife-sharp gaze wandered to Madara and she leisurely took a few seconds to stare him down. "And who might you be, young man?" Her tone was not the least bit softer and that was worrisome for Shizu. She was also concerned about what she might ask him. They're both dead meat if he tries to explain her the nature of their little ninja adventure.

"Uchiha Madara." He bowed down perfectly, looking the women in the eyes completely calm. Shizu envied him so much, still only peeping over his shoulder but soon she lost that shelter as he moved.

"I will go make tea so you can speak to your mother." He told her silently, his figure getting lost behind the kitchen door.

…..

"You drove over to some place in the middle of nowhere, your car broke down, this highlander found you and gave you shelter but they have no modern technology so it took you five months to get a ride home?" The woman dully recited the summary of the story Shizu had managed to come up with.

I'm so fucked. Shizu kept telling herself. Like, how stupid would someone have to be in order to buy that moronic story? Madara, who sat behind her mother, made a disgusted face at the lack of common sense in her lie.

"My poor daughter!" Shizu almost choked on air as her mother scooted closer and pulled her into a tight hug. Reluctantly she hugged back, a smirk slowly making its way to her face as she locked gazes with Madara. She may be dumb, but this was her mother from whom she inherited that trait. She should at least be able to fool her.

"Breaking up with that bastard Ryota must have upset you a lot." She rubbed circles on Shizu's back in an attempt to soothe her – though the other didn't need soothing. That break-up was left long behind her. But hey, the woman was basically offering her a lie to tell so she would not bother to deny.

Sighing, she nodded into the older woman's shoulder, "Yes… I needed to go somewhere and clear my head."

She had managed to successfully get out of that horrible situation. But she had also failed;

She failed to see the change in Madara's posture, in the pace of his breathing. She failed to see how his hands had suddenly become restless.

He had realized the ugly, embarrassing truth. Shizu would sleep with him, apparently she didn't mind, but it would mean nothing to her. She wanted someone else. What he was about to get back there was pity sex.

His expression remained the same as he continued to stoically wait for this farce to end.

While Shizu was seeing her mother to the door, Madara collected the cups and glasses from the small table and took them to kitchen. He put them away into the dishwasher with an attitude because he had just realized he did that by habit. Since he commonly didn't fit very well into Shizu's social circle he would always busy himself with something.

Besides, he was assigned to do housework back when she had just allowed him to stay. The memory made him feel somewhat melancholic, but he soon shook it off.

He heard steps approaching and in a few moments he felt her presence behind him.

"A highlander? A farmer in a remote place?" He said with a dose of sarcasm, alluding on the role she had given him in her lie.

"Shut up, that's the first thing I managed to think of!" She whined, covering her face with her hands. "But she actually bought it."

He nodded, showing his silent agreement.

"She's even scarier than Tajima, no?" Shizu laughed softly, approaching Madara and sitting on top of the counter. He smiled lightly in response.

"She's fierce. They are just different types of scary I'd say."

He neatly folded a kitchen cloth he had used and put it over the edge of the sink. Before he could even retreat his hand, Shizu had placed hers over it. Her fingers caressed his skin slowly, playing with his own.

"Let's continue." She said softly watching him with something similar to passion in her eyes. But he did not believe it – not this time at least. He still wanted her but now he learned that she had a different man in her mind. He would not allow himself to make love to a woman who is probably picturing him as someone else.

"It's alright. Let's go to sleep. Your parents invited us for breakfast" He pulled his arm back and turned to go to bedroom.

He almost jumped in spot, startled, as thin arms got wrapped around his waist. He felt the warmth of her body against his back.

"It's not very late, we can still get enough sleep… Unless you're feeling that confident." He could hear the laughter in her voice. Her hands moved and he was dangerously near to starting to panic as they slowly started to travel downwards.

His heartbeat quickened and for a moment he wondered if Shizu could feel it even from his back because his chest visibly moved from its intensity.

He fought to stop himself from shuddering as her hands had reached his lower abdomen. They were so appallingly close to touching his groin and no matter how much he wanted that, it would probably make him lose control and he had already decided he wouldn't do this.

He took her wrists and gently removed her hands from his body.

"Yes, I'm that confident and we need to sleep." He headed for the bedroom and his usual bed on the floor.

"You're aware that was a joke, right? I don't really care if we sleep or not. It's not like we have to go to that breakfast."

"I do. Good night, Shizu."

"But you said you want to do it!"

"I changed my mind. Good night."

"But I'm in the mood!"

"Too bad." Madara retorted, getting under his sheets.

"But you—"

"Shut up and sleep." He bit his lower lip because of the harshness of his tone. Shizu finally kept silent for a change and crawled under her own covers on the bed. He found that he hated it when she was silent because she usually never was and this meant he had pissed her off. But it was the only way. He'll only need to put up with it for another two days.

He tried to make himself comfortable but it wasn't easy with the sudden bad energy that rued the room.

"Do you have a problem with getting it up?" Shizu suddenly spoke again and it made him roll hi eyes so hard that he got a mild headache. She sat up again, meaning she wasn't done. "That fine, I can—"

"No. And no. Go to sleep."

"I don't want to sleep alone."

"I said we're not doing it."

"But come join me in the bed, never mind that."

Madara threw his covers off and got into the bed, looking at Shizu with his most grave serious gaze. "Just sleep."

"Okay." She nodded, making herself comfortable – and that seemed to mean she had to wrap herself around his arm. However, he let her be.

"I know that you're bothered because mom mentioned Ryota."

Madara didn't answer, but he didn't bother to deny either.

"I'll tell you about him tomorrow."

"That won't be necessary."

"I still will."