20.

A strange, sombre silence lingered in the Uchiha mansion. Madara had returned victorious with minimal casualties, but he felt hollow. He thought that ending this chapter in the clan's history would bring some closure to him.

The only sounds in the room were the soft breaths Yuna emitted, fast asleep. She deserved some rest after this turmoil. He did consider keeping her out of public's eye until she was ready to pretend that this was a victory.

Or would it help her cause to appear more humane and approachable?

Madara shook his head and refused to look at her any further. The way her brown locks spilled around her like a fan, or how her lips were slightly parted. Her head was resting on his thigh and he could feel her warmth through the fabric.

Two untouched meals were set in front of them. He picked up a cherry tomato, plopping it into his mouth. Might as well honour the kitchen's efforts.

Madara's eyes flickered to the door just a moment before it was cracked open.

A smirking Izuna entered. He shut the door quietly in order to not wake Yuna, and sat down across the table.

"You know it is disturbingly boring to be you," he noted cheerfully.

Madara snorted, "If you dislike it so much I'll just find someone else to be my second in command."

Izuna raised his hands apologetically and rolled his eyes, "Relax," he said in a nonchalantly, "I was just joking, wipe that scowl of your face before you set something on fire.

You know I thought the council was restrictive with you, but they didn't let me make any decisions without your approval."

His brother's eyes were blatantly switching between him and Yuna, he didn't fail to notice. Not to mention the news that absolutely nothing was moving in the clan unless he got out a quill and signed everything.

It didn't take Izuna long to start bombing Madara with questions.

It was the side that Izuna rarely displayed, but to Madara it was starting to look like Izuna had three distinctive personalities; the one he showed in public, the one he reserved to Madara and the side of him that no one has witnessed.

"Did you ever confirm that her sister is truly dead? No more gimmicks or amazing returning from the grave." Izuna asked casually but the underlying doubt was apparent.

While Izuna was generally apathetic about Yuna's worries, he wasn't born without empathy. Izuna was well aware that the little innocent princess had killed her own family, the people who raised her and loved her up until now.

The fact that she demanded to join in and took plenty of initiative was a smart move, perhaps the first time she had focused on advancing her position.

Madara paused before he sighed, "It was apparent enough, just one look at her eyes was enough."

Izuna's eyebrow rose and it took a considerable amount of effort not to scowl at this change of events.

"It sounds like you're loosening your leash around her," he mused, black eyes taking in Madara's reactions the entire time.

Madara's face betrayed nothing, but inside he could feel the growing tingle of irritation.

"It just so happens that I, indeed, do not treat her like a dog."

"A surprising change in your mentality…"

"That's because," he paused, vaguely aware that his hand had subconsciously began playing with her hair, "there is nothing to gain by that behaviour."

He hated fragility as a trait. Humans had the distinctive habit of underestimating the capacity, breaking before the actual breaking point.

Yuna on the other hand, she had proved to be durable. True enough, the last couple of days might've added another five years to her age considering what she went through. What he really wanted was to pat her on the head and reward her with a curt praise.

"Is that what you keep repeating? You deny any feelings are involved?"

Madara paused and let the strand of hair fall from his fingers.

"She's," he fumbled for the right word, "in a delicate state currently."

Izuna chuckled quietly, "Isn't she already on the verge of a breakdown?" he asked, the jolliness never disappearing from his voice.

When it concerned Yuna, Izuna felt no responsibility or duties towards her. She was just someone who married into the family and had somehow managed to soften even his brother.

Madara sighed and leaned back, careful not to jostle her too much, "Most likely, but she will figure a way around it. I'll cut her some slack in the meantime."

Small favours like shielding her from the public or civil behaviour wasn't something hard to pull off.

He was well aware that Izuna seemed quite amused by this entire situation, "So you are a big softie after all!"

"Izuna?"

"Yeeees?"

"I'll kill you."

"Is that so?"

"Displaying human compassion does not make me a softie. I'm returning a favour; she did help us out after all."

Izuna's smirk disappeared and it was replaced by a curiosity, "Madara, you have stopped screwing around. That is enough to make me worried."

"Keep your remarks to yourself, Izuna." Madara snapped sharply, chucking a knife at his face, "Pity I missed!"

His brother's eyes softened and his face relaxed, "I'm sorry, that wasn't very nice of me. As hard as it may be to admit it, if she makes you happy then that is alright."

Yet she didn't make him feel happy, just alive, and for now that was enough.

Madara's fist relaxed and he sighed, "Happy…wouldn't be my choice of words."

"But there is something, I mean…Well you are still the infamous heartbreaker..." His voice trailed off and he jumped on his left to dodge a bowl of rice that smashed against the wall. This time he had been expecting this.

Madara had an amused smirk on his lips, but Izuna had enough experience to know that his being constantly prepared around him was the safe bet. Yuna seemed to moan something in her sleep, moving around, causing Izuna and Madara both to halt their activities.

Izuna took a dash to the exit when it was apparent that Yuna was just going to roll over and keep on dreaming. He tiptoed to the door and was about to leave when he remembered to add, "Oh I forgot to mention, the clan is going to celebrate your victory tonight. You are expected there," he paused, "both of you are expected there."

He closed the door, leaving Madara in silence. The ebony haired man looked down to Yuna, somewhat surprised at her ability to ignore everything outside her sphere. So much for shielding her from the public eye…

Madara was about to leave but he something stopped him. Taking pity on her he turned back and picked Yuna up carefully, wrestling her fingers loose from her pants.

She moaned something in her sleep and Madara stopped, afraid that he managed to wake her, but after a few moments she took a deep breath and snuggled closer to the warmth. In this case it meant snuggling even closer to Madara.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. Deep down Yuna was still just a little girl, though she did a damn good job covering it up.

Yuna groaned, hearing something pounding somewhere far away. It took her more than reasonable to realise that someone was at the door. She sat up, confused about how she ended up in the bed.

The knocking continued, damn that person was determined. She kicked off the covers, vaguely aware about her current appearances. Madara would rather choke than let her walk in public like that.

"Yeah-yeah I'm coming already!"

Her voice was groggy and tired from sleeping for such a long time. What time was it anyway? Yuna opened the door to see a maid there, holding a few thin boxes that looked a lot like...

What the hell?

"Good afternoon Yuna-sama. I was sent to help you prepare for the celebrations!" exclaimed the woman cheerfully.

Oh yeah…

Memories of what happened washed over her in a matter of seconds and suddenly going back to sleep seemed a lot more appealing.

"What celebration?" She asked, trying to stall. There has to be a reasonable excuse out there in the cosmos for her to use.

The maid seemed oblivious to Yuna's lack of jubilation, "The celebration of your victory, Yuna-sama."

She still hadn't thought of a good excuse. She was left with no choice but to let her enter. The maid took her sweet time setting everything up for Yuna, expecting to see Yuna waiting for her to begin; instead her eye caught sight of the balcony door slammed shut with great force.

She walked to the door and hesitated for a second, "Yuna-sama?"

The silence didn't discourage her, "Yuna-sama please, we don't have much time to get you ready."

"No! No way in hell!" Yuna shot back, "I'm…not feeling well."

Really? That's the best excuse you could come up with?

Yuna felt pleased when she heard the sound of that sweet maid closing the door behind her. She lay down onto the cold porch and began to glare at the ceiling. Perhaps she can melt a hole in it!

She closed her eyes and sighed. What a jolly slogan they could conjure, "Tonight we're celebrating you murdering your family, cheers!" a bittersweet smile spread on her lips. That would be nice, so perfectly nice...not.

Yuna wasn't sleepy anymore, but she still felt drained. She liked to blame it on the grey clouds that didn't let the sun rays reach her. Everything was tiring lately and she was well aware that Madara was growing impatient.

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone invading the balcony. Yuna went completely limp and groaned when she recognised the chakra signature.

Two very strong hands pulled her up to a sitting position. Yuna glared at Madara with an annoyed look, "What is it now?" she snapped.

Anger was apparent in his eyes for a split second, but he forced it to disappear.

"Why is it that a maid came to me, pleading for me to talk you into getting dressed?" Madara asked, like he was scolding a child. Occasionally she did prove to be a handful, pouting and stubborn.

"Don't delude yourself into thinking that I will join the parade that celebrates the death of my family."

Her voice was overly sweet. Madara held back the urge to sigh. Could she really not see the obvious?

"We are your family now. We became your family a long time ago. Nearly three or so months ago."

Yuna snorted, "Well you certainly haven't acted like my family."

Madara took a deep, calming breath in, "You managed to impress quite a few of us. Don't blow it now or everything you've worked for so far will prove useless."

"Yet it was not enough."

"Obviously not. Now get dressed and wipe that scowl of your face. I'm sure you can manage a smile or two."

Yuna snorted, "I'm saving the smiles for later."

"Will I get a kiss?"

The loomed over them, casting shadows. They still hadn't really discussed what this was.

On paper they were married, but the reality hardly matched the expectations.

She was about to ask him, but Madara beat her to it.

"Look...You'll thank yourself later. Bear this night and you can complain about it later."

He was being nice…that just made it worse!

"Alright, sorry for disturbing you."

"Then don't do it again," was his snarky response before he left. Alright, so maybe he wasn't that nice after all.

"Yuna-sama!" chirped the maid from inside.

She bit back a groan, conjured a smile and headed back inside, ready to face the evening.

If she backed out of this now, then the death of her family lost all meaning.

It truly was grand what the Uchiha had managed to do with such a short period of time. A back yard that Yuna hadn't visited much was turned into a celebration ground. Everything was illuminated with red and yellow lights to match the autumn colours.

Yuna tried, but she couldn't conjure up a full smile, at least not one that would reach her eyes. She participated in conversations, gliding from one group to another.

She enjoyed listening to the music much more than engaging in meaningless banter. There was even a pair of exotic dancers released into the crowds and a few people had stopped to admire their soft, graceful movements. The way their limbs moved so fluidly looked as if they were casting a spell, the bells around their wrists clinking with every movement.

Yuna downed a glass of sake when she had had enough of meaningless conversations. She cast a careful look around to make sure no one was explicitly focused on her before downing it in one go. Charges of alcoholism would be hard to refute.

A shriek almost escaped her lips when she felt someone's hand snake around her waist.

Only one person there who would do something like that.

"Izuna," she acknowledged him with a polite nod. Their previous encounter had been anything but friendly; Izuna however looked like he didn't even remember it. He guided her softly through the crowd with his hand resting on the small of her back.

"I'm surprised and glad to see you here," said politely, continuing the farce. His dark eyes didn't leave Yuna, following her movements closely.

Hardly… she thought, but refrained from vocalising her opinion. Her aim was to lessen the lingering animosity, if not provoke some amicable feelings.

Instead, Yuna formed something similar to a smile, "This is impressive indeed. It's the first time I've seen everyone get together like this," Yuna admitted.

Izuna noticed Madara up ahead, looking quite smug as always.

"Well," Izuna took a step away from Yuna, "later I have something important to give to you, so after the festival ends I'll find you." He promised, causing Yuna's eyebrow to rise.

Izuna was hardly the one to make random gifts, not without an ulterior motive. In the meantime she had appearances to keep up.

"In that case I can't wait," she purred and watched Izuna disappear into the crowd.

Yuna resumed her position Madara, who seemed to be growing impatient.

When she finally reached him he frowned, "Took you long enough. Are you hungry?" he asked her.

Yuna shook her head. Madara took her hand, "Well you're going to eat now since you slept past lunch. I watched you earlier; you are playing your part well, except for the sake."

It wasn't concern that he was displaying. Instead, he made it sound like Yuna was more like a pet cat he had to keep alive. While she had no desire to consume any food, her body seemed to disagree with her. One soldier pill isn't enough to sustain anyone.

"If you'll let me drink myself into a stupor later then I won't touch another drop of alcohol here."

"Done," he agreed without giving it much thought.

A separate table was set for them, positioned just close enough so that they could hear the music, but it wouldn't interrupt a private conversation. Madara sat Yuna down to the very end of the table, right next to him. They had a perfect overview of the entire venue.

She took this chance to straighten her clothes and cast a quick look at the table. There were some empty spots here and there, but seemingly anyone who wasn't stuck in the hospital was there. It was the first time Yuna saw those uptight people loosen up and chatter like everyone else.

As soon as they were seated, all attention was shifted to them. A man Yuna recognized as one of Madara's head advisors smiled widely, "The master and," he nodded towards Yuna politely, "the mistress of honour have arrived!"

He raised his glass and everyone else mimicked his movements, cheering.

Yuna felt like the smile was permanently glued to her face by now.

"For many great conquers in the future." He toasted.

Yuna felt her hands twitch under the table. Madara took notice and responded by placing his hand on hers.

Yuna looked up surprised by his gentleness, but Madara's attention had shifted elsewhere.

With unbroken focus he served Yuna two rice balls, tempura, dango, a whole bunch of noodles. The food just kept piling up and Yuna wasn't the only one who was casting him weird looks. The same man who made the toast laughed.

"My-my Madara-sama, be careful not to give her too much. It's bad for her health," he suggested not unkindly. The negative change in Madara's aura wasn't visible to those further away from them, but Yuna could feel it quite well. Madara hated to be told what he should do.

"Her health is of utmost importance. So eat up," he ordered Yuna.

Yuna sighed and shook her head before picking up her chopsticks and silently eating. Since when did meals become a chore?

She took her time, chewing every piece slowly. Later on she was actually grateful that Madara had served her so much. It saved her from participating in any conversations. Not to mention that it was hard to smile with one's mouth full of food.

She caught snippets of dialogue from here and there, how people were so happy that those who caused pain to the Uchiha men were finally annihilated, but as many before them they forgot to look at the other side of the board.

Instead, Yuna preferred to focus on the food, thinking how the careful cooks had worked hard to prepare all of this in such massive quantities and how it was served with equal mastery. Yuna had so much time throughout the evening that she tried to figure out what was used to make one dish or another, but that didn't occupy nearly enough of her evening.

Every activity she thought to pass time was finished too quickly. Much to her surprise she had devoured everything on her plate. Madara smirked when she placed her chopsticks down and he rose from the table and pulled Yuna up with him.

"Leaving so soon?" someone asked from the table. Madara nodded politely, "We will move to a place to get a better view of the fireworks."

Yuna's eyebrow rose, but it lowered soon, smirking at her own stupidity. As if Madara was the type to drag his wife into the hills to watch the skies. Before she could think about it any longer they were walking.

"I hardly doubt that you are planning to go and see the fireworks," Yuna snorted when their backs were turned to the table, "Bunch of asses…"

Madara's eyebrow rose, "Well your level of intelligence has increased from a fish to a dung beetle."

Yuna shook her head. Which one of them was the child again? How did he manage to insult her at every step was beyond her.

"Oh, that makes us equal then!"

Victorious! That was enough to draw a sneer from him.

"So where are we going?" she asked, growing bored with the ensuing silence.

Madara didn't answer her. He walked her up to a small hill and forced her to sit down.

"Stay here until Izuna comes." He ordered her.

She rolled her eyes, "Please, he'll gladly leave me here until winter arrives."

Actually Izuna had slipped from her mind. Then again most of the things that had happened in the past few days had left Yuna's mind. She just lacked a grasp of reality.

She saw Madara walk away, and a sense of fear washed over her. The sensation was sudden yet not very overpowering, but seeing his back, wordlessly walking away from her was upsetting. She felt like crying out to Madara, "Don't leave me..." she whispered quietly. It didn't reach his ears and for that she was grateful.

Yuna waited, and waited. The cold wind brushed past her but she could barely feel it caressing her neck softly.

"You're early!" She heard him exclaim.

Yuna looked up and smiled to Izuna. Since they were away from the crowd his usual cheerful act dropped, but there was nothing acrimonious about him either.

"Sorry, does it make a difference?" She asked. A meaningless question, words to fill up the void between them.

Izuna pulled out something that looked nothing like a gift. For that, Yuna was grateful. An envelope was placed onto her lap. Yuna picked it up with her delicate fingers.

"This is a letter your sister left behind for you. I couldn't let you have this before, but now that she's absent it doesn't matter anymore."

Yuna felt a knot in her stomach and the tears forcing their way into her eyes. Izuna's feet made a soothing sound when he walked through the grass, "Enjoy the fireworks," were his last words before he disappeared.

This was his final punishment, and boy did it hit hard.

Yuna shakily opened the envelope and pulled out the letter inside. She hated Izuna for keeping something like this. How did he even come by it?

It belonged to her; it was addressed to her with what god damn right did he keep it to himself?

For his own selfish reasons once again? Well obviously, since he probably got some sick pleasure out of this situation.

As her eyes scanned the lines they became more clouded with tears until she gave in and allowed them to flow freely. She lay down onto her side, and stayed like that weeping silently while clutching the letter to her chest tightly.

Flashes of green, yellow, blue, red and many other colours dotted the sky.

The fireworks...they were too loud. Someone turn down the volume, please?