Naruto (c) Masashi Kishimoto

Note: This is based off of an AU idea AceofCrows had. I couldn't get it to work with Madara and Yuzuki as children (not without a lot of data-dumping), so I switched it them as adults. Yuzuki is 18 and Madara is approaching is 20th birthday, this takes place in early November. Castle name is credited to AceofCrows.

Uchiha Madara found himself sitting on the windowsill that over looked the garden below it. The night wind blowing through his long black hair and gently kissing his face. He closed his eyes, sighing softly as he angled his face towards the stars, watching for one that would fall.

"They're in bed," a woman's soft voice said. He looked towards the door to see his wife, standing in the light of the room. She was dressed in a pink and gold kimono, the obi a pale sea foam green. Her long black hair done up in an odango style. She had a sakura hair piece, the pale pink blossoms dangled down to the top of her ear. She looked beautiful and Madara swallowed.

"That's good, hopefully Ran'll sleep though the night," Madara said before turning his gaze back up to the stars.

"He should," Yuzuki replied, walking up towards Madara and placing her hand gently on his wrist. "It's nice being back in Hirosaki Castle, isn't it?"

"Hn." Madara looked at Yuzuki before lifting his hand and brushing her peach soft cheek with the back of his knuckles. "This use to be your home, not mine."

"You still can relax here," Yuzuki added, grabbing his hand and pressing a soft kiss to his palm. "For the most part."

"Hn."

"Walk with me."

"What about the boys?"

"They're sleeping and there are guards here. Nothing will harm our sons."

"I'd feel better if I laid a trap around their room. Nothing harmful," Madara said, swinging his feet over the railing and lightly touching the floor.

"Madara, it's not necessary," Yuzuki stated.

He turned and looked at her, "I will not let anything harm my sons." He walked off to lay his trap. Yuzuki huffed and waited for his return on the balcony. She didn't have to wait long for his return, though he snuck up on her with silent ninja-feet and wrapped his arms around her waist. Yuzuki gasped, and tried to squirm around when he pressed a tender kiss to the nape of her exposed neck.

"Madara," she breathed.

"You were saying something about a walk?" he purred.

"Yes," she tapped his hands at the front of her waist and he reluctantly let go. She turned and faced him. "Come, take a walk through the gardens with me. The moon is full, and it's a pleasant night."

"Very well," he grabbed her wrists and kissed her fingertips, "then we come back to the room and do something I suggest," he breathed, iron grey eyes smoldering. Yuzuki felt cheeks turn pink, and she was unable to look away from his burning gaze.

"F-Fine," she whispered.

"I knew you'd see it my way," he dropped her hands and headed into the room, "you are coming? I don't know my way around very well."

"Yes, yes," Yuzuki sighed and followed him.

The gardens were lovely. The maples were a bright red though the pine were still green as if it was summer. They walked along the stone path, side by side, talking softly amongst themselves in the darkness. Yuzuki told Madara all that happened since Ran's birth, how Natori was teaching Katsuro basic ninja skills in the guise of innocent games and how both boys adored Madara's elderly uncle. Madara smiled at all this, eyes fixed ahead on somewhere distant. "I wish I was there to see that," he commented after a rather amusing story of Katsuro and Ran's first misadventure. "They sure do get into a lot of trouble."
"Yes, though not nearly as much as you and Izuna got into, at least that's what Natori told me," Yuzuki replied.

"My brothers and I were always in and out of trouble. There was this one time, during a Council of Generals that I talked my father into letting us attend with him; my brothers started a big scuffle in the back before Izuna wouldn't stop poking Seiji," Madara chuckled softly. "Needless to say my father punished up equally. I was livid at my little brothers. Since I wanted to go, but whatever I wanted to do they suddenly did to."

"That's the funny thing about little siblings."

"I didn't find it funny when I was seven," Madara replied and lifted his chin slightly. "I found it annoying."

"I didn't shadow my brother the way yours did. At most we'd play a board game in the evening or have a pleasant chat over tea."

"Hn," Madara nodded. "Your world was different from mine. Catching slippery pigs, wrestling in the mud... all those things I did as a boy, things you'd be punished for because it wasn't 'proper behavior for a young lady'," Madara snorted.

"Yes, I had rules to follow, my father's honor to think about," Yuzuki sighed, "there is a lot more freedom for a woman in a shinobi clan than in a palace."

"Well... for women born into a lesser social standing. If we have a daughter, she'll still be subjected to rules and such, but different from the ones you grew up with... or maybe the same. I don't know. I know the Hyuga like to think they are something akin to nobles among the shinobi," Madara grumbled. They lapsed once more into a pleasant silence, their feed slowly guiding them towards the duck pond.

They reached the placid pond, with the moon a round silver disc in the center. The water was only disturbed by a red maple or yellow gingko leaf or a koi poking it's head out of the water only to splash back down again.

"It looks like glass..." Yuzuki said.

"Indeed," Madara agreed with a nod. "Do you want to walk on it?"

Yuzuki laughed, "I can't walk on water. I can't manipulate my chakra."

Madara gave her a grin that was savagely boyish, an odd sparkle dancing in his eyes. "But I can."

Yuzuki looked at him suspiciously. "If you drop me in the pond, you'll be sleeping in a room on the opposite side of the palace."

"I'm hurt," he put his hand over his chest, a soft buzz coming from the soles of his feet, "you wound me, Hime-sama."

"You are warned."

"You wearing slippers?" Madara asked.

"No, I'm wearing my zori, why?"

"Take them off," Madara instructed. "Then step atop of my feet."

Yuzuki gave him an odd frown but did as she was told, slipping her shoes off and stepping onto his feet with her white tabi socks.

Madara grinned as his hands settled on her hips and she placed her hands on his broad-shoulders. "Hold on tight," he breathed into her ear before stepping out onto the water. Yuzuki squeaked in surprised but smiled as she saw the koi swim beneath them; moonlight glancing off their scales.

"This is amazing," she whispered. "I wish I was a kunoichi."

"Heh," Madara grinned. "If you had the ability I'd teach you this."

"How long can you do this?"

"What? Hold us up? For a while. It's not really that draining. Plus, I have a huge chakra reserve."

"Oh," Yuzuki looked up at him, though she forgot how close his face was. Their noses touch and Yuzuki felt her cheeks grow warm as Madara's eyes widen before narrowing wickedly. "Madara," she whispered.

He pulled her flush against him and kissed her.

Yay! Fluff!

R'n'R

Katsuro: 1 year old

Ran: 7 months old (born in March)

Sanguinary Toxicity