Many, many, many thanks to these people for reviewing: km987001, Annadidit, LavenderEyedAssassin, dumdeedum, ferper, ashleebrown1717, LaCrazyWriter, mitsukochen, bogusbabe, and santamaria1.
Enjoy!
oOOo
Lonely For All the Right Reasons
When Madara stalks into Grandfather's room, Madara's sister, Hazuki is there. She carefully spoons soup into Grandfather's mouth. When they both see him, she pulls back, and Grandfather uses a cloth napkin to pat at his mouth with hands too shaky to hold eating utensils.
"Hello, Brother," she greets.
Grandfather shakes his head at the next offered spoonful before speaking. "How did it go, Grandson?"
"Not good," Madara snarls, prowling around the perimeter of the room. "She fought me at every turn."
"Ah." Grandfather lets Hazuki take the napkin and carefully dab away the splatter on his chin he missed. "Were you gentle with her?"
Madara stops, the absurdity of the question catching him by surprise. He stares at his grandfather in amazement but the old man does not appear to be joking. Even Hazuki is not shocked by this question.
"What are you talking about?" Madara spits.
Grandfather chuckles as if Madara is being a silly little boy. A smirk starts to form on Hazuki's face. Madara bristles. Are they making fun of him?
"I know you grew up in a time of war, my dearest grandson. But women and children cannot be ordered around like a subordinate. They need to be treated gently. Maybe even kindly."
Madara means to ask: Why are you saying this?
All he ends up with is: "Why?"
"Because they like it, silly grandson."
Hazuki giggles before she adds her opinion. "I think men like the excuse to be gentle as well. Not everything has to be a battle and it is nice to have a break."
"Hmm, yes, good point."
No. Not a good point. What are they talking about? Madara's hands clench together painfully behind his back as he attempts to follow the conversation.
Hazuki turns her attention to him. "What is this about a woman?"
"She's not a woman, she's an asset," Madara says in an attempt to get the conversation back to normal.
Grandfather does not cooperate. He scoffs. "All women and people who marry into our clan are assets. New blood. Fresh ideas. Dowries. Family connections. Knowledge."
Madara has walked into the wrong room. This is the only explanation he has for why his family is acting so strangely. He left to investigate a threat, and instead his family is talking about… about…
"Marriage?" he croaks.
Hazuki lights up. "A marriageable woman? Is she beautiful?"
"I only saw her for a moment," Grandfather says, "but she was very beautiful."
"I need you both to stop," Madara growls. "I'm trying to tell you both something important."
As always, Hazuki ignores Madara. She is older than him, and even though he is Clan Head, she still treats him like a child.
She addresses Madara with an impish grin. "Apart from strengthening the clan by marriage, there is nothing wrong with enjoying life."
And then she winks. Winks.
Madara can feel the blood rushing in his ears. His temper swells. He came here for a mission briefing and now his sister is making insinuations. "Do not be disgusting."
She rears back and presses an offended hand to her chest. "I was not being disgusting. I was being completely innocent and now you're assuming I meant something indecent. You are the one being naughty. Grandfather, Madara is being naughty with me!"
Grandfather smirks. "Stop being naughty with your sister, Grandson."
The grandson in question pinches the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and his thumb as a headache creeps up on him.
"Gods help me," he whispers under his breath.
"But, in the interest of enjoying life, that's why I had so many children." Hazuki uses an imperious tone.
Grandfather cannot stop grinning at his torment of Madara. "That's also why I had so many children."
The two of them collapse into giggles.
"I'm leaving," Madara announces loudly. "Enjoy your degeneracy by yourselves."
Then, he strides out of the room. If they say anything else to him, he deliberately does not listen.
oOOo
The problem with his rabbit is that she does not realize he can find her anywhere.
He starts by the tree and tracks her to a waterfall and spring by the village wall. He hums in thought. Jumping over the wall is no issue for him, but it might have been tough for her.
He makes an educated guess. If she is so close to the wall, then she possibly got into the village. And if she is in the village, she is probably with the Hyuga.
Her chakra color is difficult to track when there are so many traces of chakra. For a moment, the swirl of the chakra signatures around him overwhelms him. This is the drawback of living in a village with so many people. There are too many to track.
But he sneaks into the Hyuga compound anyway.
There, by the biggest house in the compound, is a silver of color. Her color.
Cloaking his chakra, he slips into the house and follows the faint pulse all the way to a bedroom. He enters, and sees the woman lying on a futon.
She is wearing all white, and the blanket is pulled up to her waist. A cloth covers her eyes.
As he watches, she shivers. Her hair is in a loose braid pooled by her head, and Madara can see sweat dampening the baby hairs stuck to her neck.
He crouches by the bed and lightly lays his palm on her forehead. She coughs wetly and turns into his touch. He hisses and pulls back. She burns with fever.
"Kiba?" Her voice wavers and catches. Her words slur. "Shino?"
His brows furrow. "How many men could you possibly have visiting your bedside, woman?"
Her breath catches so dramatically, Madara thinks she is going to cough again. Instead, she gasps in what he belatedly recognizes as a stifled sob.
"I don't…" she struggles to say. "I don't… have a-anyone anymore."
Unearthing a soft voice he saves only for the littlest of female children in his clan, he asks: "And where are they?"
"I'm lost," she replies before turning her head away from him.
Even in her fever delusion, she does not let any information slip. Madara cannot smother his grin at this stubborn woman.
The cloth slips from her face. It reveals the delicate slope of her nose, her full lips. Her eyes are closed and long lashes brush reddened cheeks. He can see red lightning bolt patterns on the skin of her face and he leans close to inspect them. It looks like the time he once overloaded the chakra pathways in his wrists. A symptom of her dojutsu use, maybe?
His eyes then slip again over the soft curve of her cheek and get caught on the pink color of her lips.
His grandfather and sister's teasing echo through his head. He pulls back, snarling at the memory.
He is not going to get married any time soon. Much less to this time traveler who could be planning his downfall. Why else did she know so much about him? Why else was she connected to his clan?
And he is not planning on 'enjoying' himself.
He only trusts people of his clan when it comes to any kind of intimacy. And after he became Clan Head, the power imbalance between himself and the clanswomen is too troublesome to deal with, especially for sex.
And yet, he has been gentle with this woman so far. He is ruthless, but he is not a monster.
However, he is here for a purpose. Not to notice this woman's beauty or to entertain thoughts planted in his brain by his foolish family.
Reminded of his mission, he looks around the room. It is spartan, devoid of any personal touches. It does not appear as if she lives here. And Madara has her travel pack.
She is not going anywhere for a while. Not while she recovers.
He wonders if it was the trip from the battlegrounds that made her so sick. Or did the Hyuga do something to her?
His arms are crossed and he drums his fingers on a forearm while he thinks. He could leave her here. There is no risk in losing her while she recuperates. And even if the Hyuga harmed her, she clearly trusts them, if she remains.
He can get answers another time. Even in her illness, she is not biting at his bait.
Well. He can try questioning her a bit more before he leaves.
"What time are you from?" he tries.
"What… time isst?" she slurs.
"Where are you from?"
She sighs. "Konohagakure."
He rolls his eyes. This is an impossible task. She is a very annoying and uncooperative woman.
"What is your name?"
Her eyes slit open just slightly, catching him off guard. Her lavender pupils focus on him out of the corner of her eyes, and she appears lucid for the first time since he got here.
"Hinata," she says. Her brows furrow as her stare gets sharper. And yet, she still does not turn to face him. "You're not Sasuke. Which Uchiha are you?"
He raises his own eyebrows. For some reason, he wants to cup her cheek and guide her so she stares at him head on. Longing lances through him. He wants her to realize who he is.
"Do you know a lot of Uchiha, little rabbit?" To his surprise, his voice flows smooth and deep. Cajolingly.
She coughs, closes her eyes, and rolls over to show him her back. Her knees curl up to her chest and she pulls the blanket to cover up to her shoulders.
"Not anymore."
And then she stops talking to him, despite his efforts to get her to continue. He gives up finally and leaves. He received valuable information.
His time-traveler's name is Hinata.
oOOo
Coming up: Hinata learns more about the clan she is now a part of.
