Naruto (c) Masashi Kishimoto

I remember when I was a little girl that I dreamed of a marrying the ideal man. He was handsome and aloof, wrote poetry and was skilled with a sword. He would whisper sweet nothings into my ear and grace my nape with his fingertips. He was a nobleman of an approved house and we had been secretly seeing each other years before my father announced that he was to be my husband. Alas, such things are fantasy for a woman like me.

Growing up in my father's castle, I was well aware of my duty to my house. I was to uphold the family honor, make a respectful marriage (for the political gain of my father, naturally), and birth my husband enough sons to carrying on his bloodline. From an early age I was taught this and I was prepared for this through my education. Yet despite the knowledge that I will not get my ideal husband, I still clung to it. I read sensational novels (my husband will tell you they are nothing more than shitty trash written to give middle age housewives something to fawn over), and wrote love poems to the man I would hope to one day marry. And I daydreamed about the children I will have; it was fixed firmly in my mind that I would have two girls: Ume and Sakura. I had not given any thought to the possible sons I may birth. At sixteen, I felt I had predicted my life's plan perfectly, and that any day now my father will announce my impending nuptials to my dashing nobleman I had always dreamed of.

It was a bitter pill to swallow when I was wed to Uchiha Madara.

Oh, don't get me wrong! He was handsome, aloof and talented with a sword. But he didn't know the first thing about romance! It was maddening trying to drop hints on how he'd should be wooing me, but the man is dense as a brick when it comes to matters of the heart! (He'll probably be mad at me for writing this... if he ever reads this.) Plus, I wasn't helping matters much in the beginning by acting like a royal brat, belittling his clan and him and refusing to see anything good about the Uchiha. I eventually learned through trial and error that I was wrong. And Madara learned too, slowly, how to woo a woman properly (even though he's still not very good at it, but I'll give him credit for trying).

One of the fondest and sweetest memories I have of my husband, was my first birthday I spent married to him. Growing up, I was allowed to have whatever I wanted, but since my elder brother was allergic to cats, they were forbidden. I had birds and rabbits and even a little pug, but I desperately wanted a cat of my own. I had expressed this to Natori and Izuna one evening in the middle of October. Madara and Izuna had recently returned from the battlefront, and the annual cease-fire was settling in as the air grew colder and more mornings had frost than not. I had also mentioned to them that my birthday was coming up.

"Does Madara know?" Natori asked, while Izuna stared at me with a neutral expression on his face. I had nagged it out of Natori when Madara's birthday was and I had a great plan for a celebration for him already working in my head.

"No," I admitted, "I haven't told him yet and he hasn't bothered to ask." I lifted my chin slightly at the last comment. It was his duty as my husband to ask when my birthday was, or he would've known it was his duty if he read books that didn't pertain to the ten thousand different ways you can murder someone in their sleep using your little finger.

"Well, how would he know your birthday is in two weeks if you haven't told him?" Izuna asked, a bit heatedly. Izuna never liked me, I think he secretly feared I would come between him and Madara, even though I knew the bond they shared would never be broken and that no matter how hard I try, I would always be second to Izuna.

"Well, he's suppose to ask!" I huffed.

"He has other things to worry about than what you want for your birthday!" Izuna snapped.

"I'm his wife!"

"And I'm his brother! I haven't gotten a birthday present from him since I was six!"

"Well, that's wrong," Madara's gruff voice cut in. We all turned to look at him, he was wet from being outside, it had been raining a lot recently. "I got you a present on your birthday every single year."

"Well... I... erm," Izuna squirmed beneath his brother's gaze, "okay fine you have."

"You clearly don't remember and I'm hurt," Madara placed a hand over his chest, looking away from his brother. I'll admit Madara was good at guilt tripping Izuna, but Izuna was a master at emotionally manipulating people.

"Anyway," Izuna said, avoiding arguing with his brother, "Yuzuki has something to tell you."

"I do?" I looked baffled for a moment as Madara's eyes fell on me.

"You do?" he asked, a brow arched.

"Um... well, not really," I began to ring my hands. At that time my heart always got fluttery whenever I was forced to interact with him for longer than a few minutes, I later recognized it as being in love with him and it had really began to happen after he rescued my from the Inuzuka clan. I will never tell him this, but I'm secretly pleased his admires the scars that crisscross my back to this day.

"Her birthday is in two weeks," Natori supplied while I sat their stammering. Madara blinked, cat like before giving a little shrug.

"Okay," Madara said and took off his shoes before entering the house. He headed for our bedroom and came back a short while later with a towel wrapped around his thick hair. "When is it?"

"October thirty-first," I replied primly. He nodded once before removing the towel, inspected the ends of his hair before reapplying the towel. He was fussier with his hair than I was, and that was saying something.

"Are you going to ask me what I want?" I asked a bit acidly.

"Why should I? I'm not buying you a kimono."

I made a noise in the back of my throat. "I never said I wanted a kimono!"

"Well good," he snapped as he bent at the waist and wrapped the towel around his long hair. He straightened and twisted the towel on the top of his head. "Because you aren't getting one!"

I frowned at him, but it was a bit hard to take him seriously, standing there with a towel on his head. He glared at me for a moment or two before walking back into our room, muttering about women in general. Izuna got up and followed him as well, I was left alone with Natori, he looked at me with a bemused expression on his withered old face. "What would you like for your birthday?" he asked me in a kind grandfatherly way. I sighed and looked at him. It's funny how he and Mieko were the closest things I had to an emotional support in the clan at the time.

"I would like a kitten," I said simply.

"A cat?"

"Yes, I always wanted one, but my elder brother was allergic so I wasn't allowed them. I could have any other pet but not cats."

"Aa," Natori gave a nod, "I see. Well hopefully my nephew will grant your wish." Natori stood up, picked up the bamboo cane he always carried and shuffled off, shouting for Mieko for some reason or another. They bickered like an old married couple and it was endearing to watch, I fervently prayed that Madara and I will be like that someday, though I doubted it.

My birthday came and the morning went away. I did my chores with Emi and Mio, and in a rare gesture of kindness, Emi told me I had the rest of the day off. "Orders from Madara-sama," she said a bit grudgingly, she and I had gotten a long a lot better now and I considered her a friend, but still she didn't mind the extra hands I provided to the endless list of chores.

"Oh, well... I don't mind helping," I said, I began to bite my lip, a habit that Kameko-sama never truly was able to break me of.

"No, you are not to do anything for the rest of the day," Emi said and then glanced out the window, it was still raining from yesterday. With a sigh, I headed to my room. There I pulled out my writing tray, paper, brushes, ink stick and ink stone and some water. I made some ink and began to write depressing poetry.

At some point I drifted out of the room with a book in hand and sat before the fire and began to read. It was one of my favorite novels, and one of the few that Madara approved of. It was based on an old folklore about a princess and divine tree. Madara said that the story had a factual origin, but I wasn't convinced.

My husband came in a short time later, his clothes an hair soaked and a basket wrapped in his haori coat tucked under his arm. I glanced up at him and gave an amused little smirk, "Well you look something like the cat just dragged in."

He wasn't amused by the comment for he gave me a dark frown, kicked his shoes off and stomped into our bedroom. He didn't appear for roughly a half-hour later, in dry clothes and his hair somewhat damp from being out in the rain. He stopped about a foot away from me, just staring at me as if I was the most puzzling thing in the world. "I'm sorry," I said a bit meekly, thinking he was formulating a come back for my earlier comment.

He didn't say anything for a several long moments before holding out the wicker basket he had tucked under his arm. "Um... is that for me?" I asked, eyeing the basket warily. He looked away, yet still held the basket before him.

"Do you want it or not?" he growled. I set my book down, got to my feet and took the basket from him. He gave an approving nod before heading off.

"Wait!" I called after him. He stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"Yes?"

"Don't you want to see me open it? See my reaction?"

"Hn," he gave a little shrug, turned around and crossed the distance in a few strides before sitting opposite me. I noticed he had a scar on his ankle and one of his toes was shorter than the other, probably an old battle wound. "Well? Are you going to open it?" he asked. I was about too when I felt the basket move and high pitched mewing echoed from it. My eyes grew wide and I swiftly opened the basket and tossed the lid aside.

Inside the basket were two fluffy kittens. One was orange and white, I named him Kazuya. While the other was calico, I named him Chiba, and I considered him lucky for a male calico is rare, indeed. "Oh thank you!" I set the basket aside and hugged Madara. He was flummoxed but I felt him relax slowly beneath my embrace and eventually he returned it.

And he whispered softly into my hear, "Happy birthday Yuzuki."

Well... finally I'm posting something. SotM is still in the works. But I present you this. Done in first person from Yuzuki's point of view. How she got her cats. XD

Sanguinary Toxicity