10.
Yuna sat behind the table quietly with feigned manners, looking at Madara who was sitting right in front of her. Blue eyes were framed with long black lashes and her hair was left loose on her bare shoulders, quite seductively. She was wearing a sleeveless black dress and matching shoes, making it quite hard to conceal any weapons under the thin layers of cloth. Her observations ended with a conclusion: little angry Madara was unhappy with something. She bit back the urge to sigh.
Even though their cohabitation had lasted for a bit more than 2 weeks Yuna had learnt Madara's basic expressions. He had two types of expressions: cheery and pouty, and by cheery she didn't mean smiling and throwing flower petals. Telling the difference between the two wasn't the hard part, it was determining what's on his mind that proved to be tricky. It was an educating thing to spend one's time on.
"You're wearing too much black, it's depressing," he managed to bark finally. His tone didn't sound displeased though, it was more as if he could not admit that she had done something right. Yuna slammed her palm against the table, making some people near their table jump and look at their direction.
"So you are the best person to talk about depressing clothing?" She pressed through gritted teeth. Madara seriously wasn't one to talk. His wardrobe was almost entirely crimson red and black, a true patriot right there. Madara snorted and leaned back on his chair. He was slowly starting to regret bringing her out, but that simply convinced him that Yuna wasn't his object of affections. Stubborn, constantly bored and entirely disinterested in continuing the Uchiha line.
She got up from her chair abruptly, bumping into the table so the tea nearly spilled onto Madara's lap, were it not for his quick reflexes.
"I'm going to the bathroom." She said to Madara and marched away, leaving her husband to wipe his fingers from hot tea. It still sounded strange, husband. She shook off the thoughts and made her way towards the restrooms. Yuna didn't really need to use the bathroom, she just wanted to take a small break from Madara and get her act together. There was no point in getting angry over him, she could not allow slips of temper. He had that part covered.
The bathroom was stranded, except for one marvellous lady. The woman just came out of the toilet and went to wash her hands. Surprise flickered over Yuna's face and her eyes widened and she moved in discreetly to see the woman better. She had long chocolate brown hair with matching her. The woman was quite slender, but to put it shortly she was a delight to look at: dressed in a dark green dress that only accentuated her toned body. The woman looked up and their eyes met in the reflection on the mirror. She turned off the water and smiled sweetly.
"Is something wrong?" she asked cheerfully while drying her hands. Yuna quickly masked her surprised face and waved her hands dismissingly.
"Oh I'm sorry for staring. I was just wondering if your hair is naturally this straight."
Yuna's tone was casual, as expected from her training. Any sign of nervousness could betray her true motive. The woman's hair was incredibly straight, an observation she made just a second before answering the stranger.
A small smile appeared on the woman's full lips that were painted dark red.
"It's all natural; I got it from my mother." She replied and walked out of the door. Yuna took one last glance at the woman's face and decided to stay in the bathroom for a little bit longer. If her assumption was correct, this night was going to turn into something much more entertaining.
After a minute she slipped out of the restroom and headed back to the table. Madara was still there, as expected, but his body language was different. Before he was laid back, bored, but now he was quite alert.
Madara excused himself for a moment, leaving her alone at the table. She didn't mind, it was better for them to be apart a little bit longer. She used his absence to drink some of the delicious sake that he had ordered for her. Despite his horrible attitude, the man had good taste…Or perhaps he just got lucky this time.
A smile appeared on Yuna's lips when Madara returned. He sat down and the grin on Yuna's lips didn't go unnoticed.
"What are you smiling about?" Madara asked. Yuna looked straight into his eyes and her smile dropped, a delicate dance of acting.
"What kind of a respectable shinobi wears red lipstick?" Yuna asked playfully. Madara's eyes widened, just for a second, and he brought his hand to his lips and wiped the rouge off. There wasn't much, she wouldn't have seen it from a distance, but that expression alone meant that Yuna had won this round.
That was enough to cause Madara to drop the act of politeness.
"So you noticed...You're full of surprises, not entirely useless I see." He mocked with a grin on his lips. Yuna leaned back with a smirk that could rival Madara's deadly smiles.
"I'm even better, she was wearing a dark green dress right? You've even screwed her before, in our bed. Do you remember? I think it was the second night when I slept somewhere around the compound because you were busy fucking that…courtesan. I recognized her profile. So you take me out to dine with you, and then go for a quickie with one of your whores?" Her tone and smile remained completely polite during the entire conversation, after all this was a public space and eyes were watching.
Madara felt a twitch in his stomach, he had completely underestimated her and for a split second he found himself wondering what sort of training had his wife gone through. She may wear the disguise of a regular woman around him, but she was a ninja nevertheless. That was enough to earn a speck of respect from him, but just a tiny speck. She lacked brute force, and sometimes even a cunning wit won't help her.
The air was thick with tension. Yuna's face remained positively radiant as she picked up the menu from in front of her and with a relaxed face started to look through the different dishes, not taking long to decide.
"I think I'll have some sukiyaki and definitely a second serving of that amazing sake you ordered earlier...Have you decided on anything yet?" Yuna asked casually, as if she didn't just catch Madara cheating on him, while she was 10 feet away from the pair. It pleased Yuna immensely to see Madara taken aback. Never before had he seen a woman behave like this and…he approved, even liked it.
Yuna didn't feel an emotional connection with him so she probably scolded him simply to make him uncomfortable. When he remained unresponsive she snorted, completely unladylike.
"You could at least pick something. I don't want to be scarfing food down alone!"
Madara was quite sure that he should stab himself for such an idiotic idea of taking her wife out to eat. What could possibly go wrong? The only disaster they could've faced that night was spilt tea, but not this irking, uncomfortable feeling in his gut. Yuna had managed to turn the tables and make Madara feel uncomfortable in her stead. She wasn't even hiding the fact that she found the entire situation amusing.
He held back a growl and slowly took the menu and opened it, not really reading it and simply decided on the first thing he saw.
The dinner was as short as possible. Madara ate quickly, barely even tasting his food. It was a dish he didn't enjoy much anyway, or perhaps it was the psychological factor called a spoilt mood.
Yuna on the other hand had a lot of time in her hands. She looked around and chewed slowly and savoured the taste of every bite. Madara's patience was nearly at its end. He slapped some money on the table and grabbed Yuna by the arm and dragged her out, completely ignoring stares from the few people who dared to peer at the angered Uchiha leader.
When they got out Yuna smirked.
"Don't you think that this will make you look...like the bad guy? Well you are but for the people there I'm the intruder who is probably a power whore who'd just love to twist you around my finger. Got to keep the reputation high, right?" Madara turned to her sharply, looking straight into her eyes. Was this fury that he felt?
Such silly thoughts disappeared when he saw the raw confidence in her eyes flicker for a moment. She was still afraid of him and his temper, but at the same time she was quite sure that he wasn't going to do anything in public. Madara released her hand and took a few steps back to calm himself.
"I have more important things to do than deal with you." He said before he disappearing into the crowd.
Yuna put her hands on her hips, pouting. He was the worst. Who leaves a woman out alone on a dark street? It is crowded but something like that is childish and stupid. Yuna snorted and a smile appeared on her lips. She was going to test if he could ever feel worry if she didn't come home. Technically she was more than capable of defending herself, but women do scare easily, don't they?
She spun around and started walking, ignoring the alcohol in her veins. Damn that stuff, if it weren't for the intoxication she could've kept up the act of confidence longer. Her pace was rather quick but she kept her head up and eyes ahead. She had an idea where to go, but it was another question if it would bear fruit.
Yuna walked about twenty minutes until she reached a small white house, sighing in relief when she saw that the lights were still on. Sayu was always quite grouchy to begin with, but when you woke her up from a good dream she could be murderous. Yuna walked through the garden and stopped behind the door and knocked a few times. There was a short pause before the door was pulled open sharply. Yuna jumped back a few inches and looked at Sayu's black eyes carefully, trying to determine whether her friend was merely annoyed or she actually was disturbing her.
"What do you want?" She asked, but her voice was quite relaxed for Yuna's surprise, making her feel more at ease.
"Could I stay at your place for the night?" Yuna asked sweetly. Sayu snorted and grinned and walked away from the door, but left it opened for Yuna, who wasted no time to get in and get rid of her shoes. She made a quick survey of the living room. The place hadn't changed at all. It was still dirty, as usual.
Sayu wasn't known as a tidy person, except for her bathroom and Sayu herself. She didn't give a damn about everything else really. It was absolutely natural for the woman to smell like fresh flowers while her sink was filled with dishes that were a week old.
The house was small. A corner dedicated to a kitchen, dining room and a sofa to give it a living room feel was all crammed into a small room. Next to the sofa was the door that led to the bathroom and across the room to Sayu's bedroom.
Based on the steaming cup of ramen it was safe to assume that Sayu was eating dinner. She was dressed in grey sweatpants and a black tank top with her hair was tied to a low ponytail and she was barefoot. Sayu sat down on her chair and picked up the cup of ramen and resumed eating as if nothing had disturbed her peaceful evening. Between a bite she waved with her chopsticks to gain Yuna's attention.
"You aren't sleeping in my bed by the way lady Yuna. Why are you here anyway?" Sayu inquired, sounding more bored that interested. Yuna stopped for a second and sat down on the other free chair that wasn't broken or dirty. She placed her hands on the table and looked down to her nails.
"Well Madara took me out for dinner, had a quickie with one of his whores I've seen him have sex with and I caught him and made that man feel uncomfortable. Then we had dinner and he ditched me so instead of going back to the compound I decided to ditch him back and spend the night somewhere else..." Yuna's voice trailed off. Because I have to win this fight, or…all of them really.
Sayu's eyes weren't even looking at her. They were focused on the table and a hint of a smile was on her lips.
"Well that had to irritate him..." Sayu noted. Yuna couldn't help but to laugh out loud.
"Izuna's doing most of the work since he is in no risk of getting killed. I heard from my maid that Madara slammed a table into firewood simply because of something that Izuna said." Sayu's eyebrow rose at the statement.
"You better watch out when it comes to him. You're not weak, far from it, but he is way out of your league."
Yuna snorted, "True enough, but do you really expect me to go down without a fight?"
"Are you trying to sneak in? No lady to bang? Where's the mistress?" Madara flinched at his brother's voice. There was currently enough on his mind without Izuna adding more to it.
He had jumped over the rooftops and entered the household from his window, all the efforts of stealth wasted to find Izuna sitting on his bed with an amused grin on his lips. Madara gritted his teeth and stepped in, closing the window behind him. If Izuna had any common sense in him he would've ran away already.
Well he was half mad based on some, but in a good way. Madara held back the urge to trash his room simply because he still had to sleep in it. Izuna had picked a safe spot, knowing that the alternative would be to sleep with his brother.
"So, my dearest brother, where's your beautiful lady?" Izuna repeated, fully aware that Madara was in no mood to answer his questions.
"She'll come at some point tonight." Madara said after a pause. There was no way that something would happen to her. Izuna gasped and shook his head disapprovingly.
"Oh my what kind of a man are you! My brother left his woman alone on the dangerous streets...all vulnerable...Imagine the feud that will stem with the Kunisada clan if their precious heir is harmed." Izuna sounded like a parent scolding his child. In this case the child was abnormally moody and had a bad temper.
"Izuna get out of my room...now." Madara said calmly, very calmly to make sure that Izuna understood everything correctly. Of course he knew very well how stupid it was to ditch Yuna. How could he explain it to the Kunisada leaders? Hello, I cheated on your daughter and later left her alone on the streets, but please don't be angry?
Izuna's face went blank for a moment before a kind smile appeared on it, which never meant anything good.
"Perhaps she's with another man?" he suggested. With just a blink of an eye he jumped up from his spot. Behind him a sword was stuck in the wall at the same level his head was just a moment before. Izuna sighed and strolled to the door playfully, pulling the sword from the wooden pillar and dropping it on the floor.
"I'm just saying that there is the possibility. Just because she's your wife doesn't mean that she can't fool around with a few men every now and then..." Izuna's words were like oil to fire, only infuriating Madara further. Izuna could sense that his brother's patience was at an end, and even his blood status won't save him soon enough.
"I bet his name is Akira!" Izuna shouted before he disappeared out of the door, happy to hear another sharp object thud into the wall.
Madara's hands were shaking with anger. Those two were simply...scandalous! He thought about sleeping, but every time he closed his eyes he could only think of the events that had occurred during the last two hours and what might be occurring right now.
The thought of Yuna embracing another man made his blood boil. The only one who can touch her was Madara, was she that oblivious to this fact?
He lied down on his back and slammed his fist against the side of the bed, teeth gritted together. How long his irritation lasted was soon forgotten as he fell into a restless sleep.
Reviewed version.