"Due to your mo—extenuating circumstances, we thought it best if the wedding was moved forward."

Naruto closed his eyes. His stomach had been in a whirlwind since last night, and he wanted nothing more than to go back to bed. But a servant had handed him a summon that told him to head to the main room. Upon getting lost many, many times, he finally found his way there.

His ears hadn't stopped that constant buzz, and for a while, Naruto thought he might have been getting sick. But the thought quickly passed as he remembered that in this palace, sick meant dead, and so long as his heart pumped beneath his chest, Naruto was not sick.

"You'll be married in two months. Until then, you'll spend the days together. Nothing sexual until the wedding. Is this understood?"

Naruto had an insult on his tongue, but Sasuke answered first. "Yes mother."

"Guards will be watching until we trust you won't act irresponsible. I'll see you two at dinner. Do try to get along."

Sasuke shifted closer to Naruto, arm trailing until they barely touched. Spend the day together. Guards watching. They expected him to comply, to obey. To do nothing but listen and act out their wishes. They expected him to wallow and bow and shrink. To pummel his potential into a tiny jar of nothing until Naruto truly felt nothing was left of him.

"You seem better today." Sasuke said.

Naruto glanced at his fiancé. They'd been engaged since birth, and no amount of anger canceled the engagement. Naruto remembered his mom leaving him for hours, coming back in the dead of night sobbing. She stopped disappearing when Naruto turned ten, and became a steady and constant reminder that Naruto had someone to turn to when the world turned against him.

"I assume I don't get to go back to bed." Naruto said.

"It's the middle of the afternoon."

"Anything's better than spending the day with you."

Naruto paced back and forth, twirling his fingers together. His mom was supposed to stay at the palace with him. That was the only good thing that came from this marriage, and it was stolen like the farm when the nobles overran it. He'd never gone longer than a few hours without her, and now she was gone… forever.

Dead.

He clenched his eyes shut, grabbing a fistful of hair and pulling. He knew nothing of the people he resided with now. They had no animals, no crops, no hay, no chickens. Nothing to give him tan lines or keep him busy. Was he supposed to be busy? Or did they expect him to lounge around as servants fed him?

"Are you okay?"

"Will you shut up?"

He wanted his mom.

"We can go on a tour. It'll probably keep your mind off things."

"Fine."

Naruto rubbed his eyes as they walked. He'd spent last night sobbing into a pillow, and that morning was no different. His eyes were swollen red, and face was paler than it was in the carriage the day before. His future parents-in-laws wanted to meet him, and he'd spent the morning listening to political ramblings.

"You sleep well last night?" Sasuke asked.

He was up nearly all night, searching for the neglected scent of dog. The fan whirred, cackling and spinning until Naruto was dizzy. The ceiling seemed to reach forever, and his bed was plush, not soft like hay.

"I'd rather be at home."

"This is your home."

No bows and arrows. No dogs. No hay. No filthy fabric. No stains. Everything was in perfect condition. From the curtains made of silk to the couch covered in plaster. The floor smelt of lemons and bleach, not even a water stain tainting it. It was nothing like his home. Nothing at all.

"My home is a farm, the one you nobles overran. I may live here now, but I will never call it home." He said. His home was a clean mess. His couch was torn and old. A spillage of wine stains reminding him of memories with his mom and three dogs. The counter always had the newest meal on the table, always brought home gutted and ready to cook. The fireplace laughed constantly, a rabbit foot almost always roasting over it.

Sasuke furrowed his brow, lips melting into a scowl. "You're not making this easy. Mother and father have expectations for me about you. I can't meet them if you don't comply"

"Deal with it."

Sasuke paused, moving in front of Naruto, blocking his path forward. Naruto narrowed his eyes, shuffling to the side. This was the tour Sasuke offered? He'd had better one's guided by dogs. Folding his arms across his chest, he glowered at Sasuke, waiting for him to move rather than forcing Sasuke to the side.

"Or you could deal with a change in scenery. You live here now. Your life is changed forever. In two months, you're a noble. We'll be married and my family will be your family. The only one here who has to deal with anything is you."

"You have to deal with me." Naruto said. He'd never make it easy either, especially for Sasuke. If they were going to be married, he'd make it as much of a hell for Sasuke as it was for Naruto. Fugaku and Mikoto too, would have to deal with him, though much less, as they did have the power to banish Naruto.

Sasuke was a dominant, and Naruto was his submissive. His mom had taught Naruto how to act as if he were dominant, even though he was born a submissive. She wanted the Uchiha's to struggle with Naruto, to see that submissives could be independent and were just as capable as dominants. That moment in the hospital was an accident, and he never should've felt shameful for what he was at all.

"Sounds like we both have something to deal with." Naruto said.

Naruto was a stranger to them, just as they were strangers to him. He was brought into this family the day he was born, yet they'd never known each other, and never got the chance to trust the other.

They didn't trust him, just as he didn't trust them. They'd watch him until he proved himself worthy of being left alone. It may never happen, not with his personality, his defiance. He may never get out, all because he refused to act a certain way.

Naruto coiled his fists, shoving them into his pockets. Sasuke stood before him, condescending and questioning. Wondering how Naruto turned out this way. Defiant, unworthy, and wrong. He was everything society said he wasn't, and no one could see past their sad views of what should be, rather than what could be.

"You're my fiancé. I don't need to deal with you." Sasuke said.

"And yet, you do."

Naruto heaved a breath. This was not what he wanted. What his mom wanted. Escape was the best option. Running like the slaves in Sound. Desperate for something other than what they were given. Searching for someone who can see past what society said was right.

But running wasn't logical, because Naruto was a fiancé to a noble family, not a slave to a man who beat him. Treatment here wasn't bad. He'd get food and water, a bed, a bath. Anything he wanted when he wanted it. Hunting was forbidden, he knew that without asking. But he can sneak out at night, knock and arrow into an animal and be on his way back without anyone knowing.

A life without independence, without choices. At some point he'd make a mistake, and be forced to bow and plead. They'd kill him for acting so defiant, kill him for being not what they wanted. They'd force him onto his knees, voice trembling and blood running. An execution for any who couldn't be fixed, the king ordered. Fiancé to a nobleman or not, Naruto wasn't an exception.

"Your mother did a horrid job raising you." Sasuke said. "My parents have expectations for me. I can't make them proud if you act like this."

Naruto ground his teeth into his lip, stomach dancing in whirlwinds. It wasn't true, he knew that. He opened his mouth to retort, to prove him wrong, but nothing but a strangled cry escaped. She raised him right, and she was dead because of it. Dead because of how she grew up. Was that his fate? To die because he was defiant?

He could defend her easily, yet all his arguments could be counted by the basics of society. She was right. She'd always been right. But everyone said she was wrong, and the majority always won. She'd taught him what society isn't, raised him in solitude and explained in vivid detail how his life would play out. People judging him, mocking him, humiliating him, and eventually killing him. Evading the king was the biggest struggle when out in the world as a submissive acting upon himself.

He loved his mom so much. Wanted her back so bad. Yet he couldn't even defend her. Not to his fiancé, not to this family, and not to the world.

"She did her best." He said, choking on the words. She'd done good raising him, yet that was all he could say about her. She taught him so many things. From cooking his own meals to cleaning his own messes. She taught him to hunt, to gut an animal and cook it over a flame. She taught him to fight so he could defend himself. She taught him everything she knew.

"She taught me to take care of myself." He said. "Just because you don't like it doesn't meant it's bad."

"At least try to act submissive. My parent's never have to know."

"Right," Naruto said, "and you can live happily knowing your parents finally appreciate you at my expense."

Sasuke said nothing for the rest of the day. Even as they finished the damnable tour. They went separate ways at sunset, and finally managed to find peace within the silence of his room.

Naruto dug his fingers in the crook of the closed window, pulling up against the barred nails pinning it closed. His face had gone red, breath heaving with effort. He saw the bolts before he tried to pry it open, yet still pushed against the barred window with little hope of leaving.

Sighing, Naruto puffed out his cheeks and accepted his fate of this damnable room. Another time, maybe. Tomorrow night, once he found a suitable excuse to give the guards outside his door. One that seemed logical enough for him to leave the palace.

He shuffled over to his bed, eyeing it warily. Silk sheltered the mattress, keeping it resilient from stains. He was used to hay. The straw comforted him in a way this mattress never could. With its strands smelling of grass and his dogs constantly eating it. This bed had none of it. No dogs, no hay and no scent.

Just another complaint among many, and it was only the second day.

Flopping onto his stomach, Naruto wondered how his mom managed to survive in this world as she was. The second day of meeting his fiancé and he was ready to collapse. How had she managed ten years of marriage to a man she didn't love?

Another question without an answer.

He wrapped his arms around himself, muffling a sob and clenching the silken fabric he wore. These weren't his clothes, this wasn't his home, and this bed was not hay.

He shook his head, mumbling a goodbye to his dogs, his haystack, and his mom. He would find a way back, but until then, a goodbye was all he had.

His mom was dead.

Bolted windows. Constant guards. Dead mom. A palace. A fiancé. Marriage.

Could he handle it? Everything at once? All the problems stacking on top of one another. He scrubbed his eyes, chest heaving. Sleep wouldn't come tonight, just as it didn't the night before.

Bolted windows. Who in gods named decided to bolt his window?