| Chapter 4 |

The simplest thing was to accept the proposal, but she felt like if she agreed, then her position would be less secure. No lock on her door to stop unwanted people intruding upon her, to keep herself safe from these people. She had heard the stories; she was not a fool.

"I apologise, Madara-san," she started, but he silenced her with a single finger touching her lips.

"You will accept."

There was no room for questioning in his voice, in his steady gaze or in his gestures. She would take the room without complaint, comply without being difficult. She was not in a position to decline. He was only reminding her of the naked truth, despite his apathetic expression and unrevealing tone.

Satomi deflated slightly, seeing no excuse to deny his request—or rather, order—and looked away, defeated. Sighing wordlessly, she nodded once. Apparently, the Uchiha did not have no in their vocabulary. Madara said nothing else and retreated from the cell. She still refused to call it hers. No matter how infantile it seemed, she point-blank rebuffed the idea to even acknowledge the holding cell as a place she could even briefly call hers.

The door slammed shut, knocking her out of her reverie. At least she was not unconscious, she mused acrimoniously. It was a sign of things beginning to come under her control, although she had no encouraging evidence to prove so, she believed she could control her situation from this point. She had no other choice.

Verboseness did not seem to be part of the Uchiha lifestyle. Not even the guards outside seemed to talk very much; they were mostly silent. When they did speak, it was for a purpose. Words were not wasted. Apparently words had a much greater value than emotions, which seemingly accounted for very little in this peculiar clan. Satomi had yet to see an Uchiha show an honest expression. The Uchiha were very unlike the Senju.

Musing to herself seemed to pass time quicker than living in her memories. The screaming that she first heard a few days ago—or was it weeks now?—had reoccurred the following day, and the day after that, and the day after that. Torture seemed to be inevitable. Perhaps agreeing to his proposal was a good idea. Then again, there was one little detail that remained missing.

What was Madara's position in the clan?

He could not have been any older than Hashirama, from what she had perceived. Snippets of conversation echoed faintly in her mind, anything that connected the name Madara with Uchiha. All she could recall was that he had the equal power of Hashirama in his clan. Did that mean he was the leader? It would be hypocritical to say that he was too young if he was the same age as Hashirama. Then that would mean she had been addressing him wrong, calling him –san instead of –sama.

She could have screamed. She could have shouted, cried and otherwise yelled her heart out at the audacity of the idea.

"Papa," She turned to her father, his battle-hardened face softening as she scowled, pouting indignantly. "Why can I not protect the clan too? Why is Masayuki allowed and not me?" whined Satomi, her round face scrunched up in irritation.

Senju Ryosei smiled at his daughter—his only daughter left—and told her firmly, "Your job is more important and beneficial for the clan, Satomi."

"But I do not wish to remain at home, I wish to protect the other women and their children!"

A tepid laughter vibrated through him. "You ensure the women that their husbands, sons, fathers and brothers return, Satomi. You ensure their loved ones come home – that is a wonderful job to do, is it not? You have as much influence on the clan as any fighting Shinobi, as much as Masayuki and me. You should be proud." His gaze softened as she pondered his words, weighing up the disadvantages and the rewards. "One day, you may meet a man who changes your mind about marriage, even."

Satomi stuck her tongue out in disgust. All Ryosei could do was laugh.

The memory of her father stayed fresh in her mind as she dragged her eyelids open. Dust was spiralling in the dreary sunlight. Now was not the time to wallow in the past. As wonderful as her father was, he was not here to protect her, no one was, and therefore she should not allow her feelings to cloud her judgement. She needed to take control of her situation. Control would not come from being overruled by her emotions.

Having slept for some time, Satomi wondered vaguely if the proposition to her clan had been made yet, when they had found their information room in disarray and what the reaction would be once they learned that she had been taken. She was not as concerned about Tobirama's reaction because she knew that he truly did care for her—unlike what Izuna perceived—but the rest of the clan worried her slightly. Some would be against making a deal with the Uchiha and would be willing for her to be sacrificed for the sake of the clan. Others might agree or they might not. She could not define every single possible reaction because she simply did not know every single member of the Senju clan.

Releasing a tense sigh, Satomi folded into herself, believing that, for now, it was best to let sleeping dogs lie rather than allow them to wake up and face the truth.

An indelicate accusation tainted his words as the second guard retorted, "And so what? Will you tell Madara-sama about it?" The door to the cell—yes, the cell—was open just a crack, illumination of the lamps outside flooding through into the cell. "Come on, Nobukatsu, no one will know."

"But—"

"Are you scared of a little Senju?" The words were a taunt, a mockery for Nobukatsu, the first guard, to swallow like bait for a fish.

"You are being a fool, Takakazu. If Yanagi finds out, she will definitely tell Madara-sama—"

"Do you not control your woman, Nobukatsu? She is your property, you cannot allow her to run wild and overrule your authority – show her what her place is, if need be." Takakazu snapped, the door opening further until a clothed leg was visible. "Now watch out for me. Tell me if someone is coming."

Watching as the door slowly closed, Satomi then lifted her eyes upwards to the guard's face. Takakazu had a plain face; straight nose, black eyes, thin lips – no outstanding features. But he was not unattractive. Tobirama had told her of the Uchiha's appearance; he said that they all looked similar in the way their hair was the same inky black, sometimes with a touch of raven-blue streaked in, and their eyes—when not glaring the Sharingan at their opponents—were as dark and inexpressible as a starless night. He had accented that there was no light in their eyes, only darkness. She wondered why.

Takakazu roughly grabbed her chin and forced her out of her consuming thoughts. "Have you no manners, little Senju? Staring is very rude. You should apologise to me immediately." He was smirking contemptuously, an ugly sneer twisting his face.

"I—"

"You are very naive," he continued suddenly, interrupting her apology. "Who said anything about words? You are a woman and I am a man. What do you think I mean?"

Fear flitted through her widened eyes.

"That is correct," he snickered, smirking broadly, "But you need to be quick. If Madara-sama comes, then—"

"You will be in trouble, Takakazu," The door slammed open, revealing Izuna with his Sharingan blazing in his eyes. A frown tarnished his otherwise beautiful face. "Release the Senju and get back to your station. She will no longer be contained here."

Takakazu seemed too fearful to move and Satomi briefly questioned whether he had heard Izuna's instruction through his fear.

"Takakazu," warned Izuna lowly.

Knowing that he was already in trouble, Takakazu fled the holding cell. Izuna remained by the door, raising an eyebrow at Satomi who seemed rooted to the spot. Her wide eyes stared unseeingly at him. He sighed, dropping his frown. Madara was right; she was not a Shinobi in the slightest sense of the word. She was polite, addressing every Uchiha she met as 'Uchiha-san', but she did it out of politeness and not respect.

"Satomi," She looked even more shocked when he called her name without any malice or cruel teasing. He could not help but smirk slightly. He liked surprising her; she was amusing. "Get up. My brother wants you in your quarters so he can tell you the rules."

She nodded, her expression oddly blank all of a sudden.

"Are you not going to say something?"

"Such as what?"

"That will do," Izuna waved her comment off and hassled her up from the floor before clasping her thin wrist. "Stick with me and you will not lose yourself in our stronghold."

"Yes, Izuna-san."

An inane little smirk tugged at one corner of Izuna's lips. "My, you are so demure. And it is Izuna-sama, not –san."

"My apologises, Izuna-sama," Satomi added a little bow at the end, in mark of respect for his position above her and most of his clansmen.

Rolling his eyes at her intense obedience, Izuna fell quiet and led Satomi out of the holding cells and up the narrow corridor leading away from that area of the stronghold. For minutes neither of them said anything to the other, yet Izuna still kept his diminutive smirk scrawled across his face as though taunting Satomi. Unexpectedly, a knowing look ebbed into his black eyes.

"We have arrived," With a flourish of his hand, he presented Satomi with an open door. Looking in she saw that Madara was standing at the window with his back to them. His long fingers coiled around his wrist, behind his back.

"Finally," he breathed quietly.

Izuna puffed his chest out, crossing his arms, vaguely remind Satomi of Tobirama. "Brother, I would appreciate it if you stopped treating me like the child I once was and as the adult I am now. You are not that much older than me."

"Izuna, this argument was won a long time ago," Madara's head faced Izuna whilst his body remained directed at the window. "Now, please, leave us be."

"Why should I? She is the enemy—"

"She is not a Shinobi," cut in Madara firmly, looking out of the window again. His voice softened, "And as I said before, she speaks when you are not present."

Izuna's posture became lax. "Fine, I will wait outside, just in case." Madara did not disagree with him and let him leave peacefully. A couple minutes after Izuna's exit, they still had yet to say something to one another. "You are not talking!" crowed Izuna, his voice muffled by the wood of the door.

Satomi suppressed the urge to giggle, covering her mouth with her hand.

Beside the window, Madara beckoned her forward. She complied, with her head tilted downwards and minding her way around the polished table at the centre of the room. Once directly behind him, Satomi held her breath. She was not sure of his intentions, after all. If she was a prisoner, she would surely stay in that repulsive holding cell, would she not?

"The Senju Elders refuse to negotiate a deal between the Senju and Uchiha for your return," he announced, staring calmly at the sea of stars adorning the night sky, "However, Hashirama has pleaded with me to wait. We have called a temporary truce for the time being. You must mean very much to him." He paused and Satomi was unsure of whether he expected an answer from her. Before she could part her lips to speak, he continued, "In accordance with the truce, you must not be harmed. I am a man of my word as much as Hashirama is, so to ensure your personal safety, you will be situated here, in this room. The reason is simple: it is adjoined to my own chamber. If anything happens, you are to come into my bedroom, and wake me if it is night. Do you understand?"

His hair rustled quietly as he peeked over his shoulder, looking down at her as she nodded her head mutely. "Yes, Madara-sama."

He could not suppress the smirk that jerked his lips. "So you have finally discovered the right honorific. Well done."

Satomi flushed in embarrassment. "I am—"

"Do not apologise," Oddly enough, Madara had spoken softly to her. "You will be in our care for possibly a long while. Apologising is seen as a weakness. Do not do it." With that hanging in the air, Madara strode out of the room, the door clicking shut behind him. With the door shut, she allowed her true emotions to come out into the open.

Hi ya! Just wanted to say a big, big thank you! to Blink-Dream, that0nelittl3girl, Guest and my darling little Libra buddy! Thank so much for your reviews! :) You make me so happy!