Hey Everyone,

Here you go, the next chappie! :)

I really want to get this story back on track.

Thank you to everyone who read it, I hope you liked and review, message, favourite and follow my story!

Huge shout out to AmaneHikariUchiha :)

Madara prepared to attack, but was deprived of the opportunity when a blur of blue and black overtook him; the quick flash of a blade was seen before it connected with reptilian flesh, slicing it in half right down the middle.

Blood splattered absolutely everywhere.

The elder Uchiha sighed. "Why must you always make such a mess, ototou?

"Why can't you just be grateful and say thank you?" He retorted snidely, flexing his blade to remove the remnants of snake blood from it.

'Too distracted by a pretty girl to notice a massive bloody snake behind you.' He wanted to add, but thought better of it. Better save it for blackmail later.

Naturally, his brother ignored him.

He had caught up to Madara a little while ago and unknowingly walked in on him and his female companion caught in a what could only be called an intimate moment. He had his arms around her, and they were so close, focused solely on each other.

Izuna realised he probably should look away but couldn't. What a rare sight it was! Aria was the first girl Madara taken an actual interest in and it seemed that he might actually be in love with her. The little thing he had with Katsumi Uchiha when he was younger was nothing compared to the way he was looking at Aria right now.

'How interesting', he thought to himself, grinning. Maybe his brother would finally settle down and give him some nephews to play with after all.

Madara was difficult to deal with, extremely picky, and a downright asshole at the best of times. Izuna often wondered what woman could even be with him longterm. Sure, he was handsome, accomplished and powerful, but he was terrible company. He was broody most of the time, temperamental, rough around the edges, and brutally honest. To say that the clan 'tolerated' his behaviour was an understatement.

Women desired him because he was influential, rich and the leader of one of the strongest shinobi clans. Yet he doubted whether they could actually love him for who he truly was. Not that it mattered of course, shinobi marriages were not made for love.

Izuna had been trying to find him someone suitable to marry for years, so that their legacy could continue but Madara had refused them all saying he desired power instead.

But then he goes and does something as scandalous as this!

From what his brother told last him night, Aria was not a shinobi, nor was she wealthy, nor did she have acceptable lineage. She had nothing to offer that was valuable. So what exactly did he see in her then? It was going to be hard to convince the Uchiha to accept her, let alone marry her. Madara wasn't fickle or stupid, so there must have been something... Izuna was determined to find out everything there was to know about this particular young woman.

"Time to head back." Said Madara, holding out his hand to her. "Come, Aria." A demand.

Aria bit her lip, and didn't take it.

She didn't want to go back, she wanted to get out! She had come too far to turn back now.

Her feet remained rooted in her spot.

The dark haired shinobi raised an elegant eyebrow at her defiance.

"..." She averted her eyes and folded her arms across her chest.

Anger bubbled within him at her disobedience. "Did I stutter? Let's go. Is there a problem?" His voice low, threatening.

His brother, Izuna, was also looking at her questioningly.

Aria flinched under his dark glare. She really didn't want to do this in front of his sibling.

"I'm not going back." She replied firmly.

He shot her an incredulous look. "Care to repeat that?!"

"...You heard me."

His anger flared. "Your reckless actions have resulted in others risking their lives to save you. Some would find that ungrateful." He growled.

"Well I'm sorry, but I didn't ask for anyone to come after me!"

Izuna watched in fascination as they both yelled at each other. It was the first time he had seen someone defy his brother, and he wasn't taking it very well.

"You ran away! I had no choice!"

"Why?!"

"Because you would be dead otherwise!"

"What does it matter? I have nothing to lose and there is none to mourn me!"

"I-" He stopped abruptly.

Aria narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Was he was about to say something...?

Aria voice softened. "I'm sorry about last night," She said kindly. "But I meant what I said. This is best for both of us."

Madara shook his head, not used to hearing no for answer. "You know nothing."

She smiled wistfully. "I'm know that I'm not the right... fit."

He didn't respond to her statement, confirming it to be true.

She laughed mirthlessly. "Lets just forget about this whole thing. Go home with your brother, he matters."

Forget... about her?!

Impossible.

She was all he could think about since the day they had met.

He was quiet for a while, mulling over what to say. "The bond I have with Izuna transcends the blood we share. He would never leave my side, and would follow each the other to the end of the earth or oblivion, whichever comes first. His presence here right now is proof of that."

Aria felt a mixture of longing and sadness stirred deep within her for something she would never have - the unconditional love of a sibling.

But he wasn't finished. He moved in and closed the distance between them, voice was barely above a whisper. "But he's not the reason I'm here...You are."

Aria felt her heart race at the proximity, as if breathing wasn't difficult already. How the hell was she supposed to respond to such a statement?

"Only because we got caught up in a series of unfortunate events in Fuma." She replied nervously. "It's been fun, but I just want to go home now. Besides, you are way out of my league! I'm like... bread and you deserve cake - you know, with frosting, layers and pretty decorations... So yeah."

She could feel anger emanating from him in waves. He didn't take well to her poor attempt at a joke.

"That's not your decision to make. Also, I dislike cake."

Aria scoffed at his response, on the verge of her temper. Why was he making this so hard for her?

"Why won't you understand?!" She shrieked. "The only one who will lose will be me, and I don't want to play in a game I have no chance of winning!"

"So you would rather not try?" He challenged, voice like silk. "How cowardly of you."

"Better a coward than a fool."

Little did she know that was the closest thing to a confession that she would ever get out of him.

"Aria, -" He stopped midway when he sensed a horde of chakra signatures. Izuna picked up on it too, and moved closer to the pair. Flanked on both sides with their backs to her, Aria sandwiched was in the middle.

"I sense them, southwest, about 150 of them." Izuna remarked, sword poised to attack.

"There's also another 300 approaching from the east. One in particular stands out. He could be the one that triggered the change."

And as if on cue, an army of shinobi came into view just moments later. Aria gasped in fear, they were as far as her eyes could see.

Madara drew his weapons; a war fan and scythe attached a chain.

Aria's heart thumped loudly in her chest, filled with fear and panic. Surely, he wasn't going to try fight them?! She grabbed his arm. "Are you crazy? They'll kill you!"

She was worried for him. It felt kind of... nice.

He gave her a smirk. "They are welcome to try."

He took the offensive by driving into the army, the first one to attack. He cut right through the enemy shinobi knocking several out in the process. The foreign shinobi lunged at him at once, with various weapons and justus. Madara fended them off with ease, dodging each of their attacks, as if he knew what how and when they were going to attack in the first place. They kept coming at him like flies, but he countered all of them, like it was nothing. He even disarmed many of them, and used their weapons against them. Aria marvelled at the way he moved, it was like he was... dancing.

She was snapped out of her reverie when Izuna suddenly pushed her behind him. A few of the enemy were headed right for them.

"Stand back!" he yelled, while making a few hand signs. A huge ball of flame from emerged from his mouth, instantly burning them and everything in the near vicinity. The heat was so intense that Aria could smell the burning of flesh and trees, resulting in a dark cloud of smoke that filled her lungs and making her cough.

Izuna made a few more hand signs, and a horde of shadow clones appeared all around them. The smokescreen was an excellent diversion for them to escape.

He picked up the girl, who 'eeped' as her feet left the ground. "Hold on tight," he said flashing her a smile. "This is going to be a bumpy ride!"

Concern flashed in her eyes. "What about-"

"I wouldn't worry about him." Izuna replied, nonchalant. "He's more dangerous than anything in this forest."

Aria shot the younger Uchiha a skeptical look. What about all the enemy they had mentioned? Was he going to leave Madara to deal with them all by himself?

Izuna red eyes whirled as they determined the best exit route. He sensed Madara's chakra getting further away from him as he headed towards the second regiment of shinobi. Looks like his brother had already dealt with the first lot of shinobi. Efficient as always Aniki. Izuna decided to take the opposite route, he clones would hold off the existing shinobi for a while but he needed to make a head start on returning to the Senju compound. Madara could join up with them later.

As he flew thorough the trees, he sensed a familiar chakra he would rather not have to deal with.

A white haired shinobi appeared before them moments later. "Izuna! Aria!"

But Izuna ignored him and kept moving.

"Give her to me!" He offered, "You know I can get her to the compound the fastest."

"No way," retorted Izuna. "I don't trust you." He didn't doubt that he could get to the compound faster, but he didn't put it past him to not return her back to them, this girl his brother was in love with. He could possibly even turn her against them. Yeah, no thanks.

The white haired shinobi was offended. "As always, you Uchiha are so blind, that you can't see reason when it hits you. There are still shinobi approaching."

Izuna twitched at the 'blind' comment. "Fuck off Tobirama!"

As they approached a clearing, a horde of enemy shinobi blocked their exit. Izuna hissed in annoyance as he had to put Aria down, and pull out his sword. There was no way he could get past without fighting them.

Tobirama landed next to them and assessed the shinobi in front of them. "Fuma shinobi. They will be specialising in shuriken jutsu."

"I don't need your advice on shuriken." Sneered Izuna.

They both charged at the enemy, both were amazing but no where near Madara's skill level. After a while, Izuna had taken a few hits and few others had already cornered Tobirama. Aria ducked as a slew of shuriken were thrown in their direction, a few of them grazing her arms and legs. One shinobi managed to come up from the ground and grabbed her from behind. Aria promptly screamed just as while another shinobi had managed to bind Izuna in some sort of water prison.

A hand covered her mouth. "Come quietly now, or these two will die."

She bit his hand, hard, drawing blood. The man dropped her instantly, and kicked her side hard. "Bitch!"

Aria winced in pain as she back pedalled away. She noticed Izuna's sword lying was on the ground and made a grab for it. A strong tingling sensation ran through the blade and into her body as she held it in front of her. It was invigorating.

The enemy laughed. "You think you can hurt me?" He hurled a kunai at her. Aria closed her eyes, waiting for the impact, but her arm with the sword moved on its own shielding her from the attack.

The kunai fell to the ground with a resounding 'clank'. A few more kunai were thrown in her direction, and again, her arm with the sword deflected them.

Aria couldn't believe what was happening. Her arm felt warm, oozing with the strength that seemed to be coming out from the sword.

'Slash him', a voice in her mind spoke.

Aria could hardly register what the voice had said when the enemy lunged at her again. This time, the sword took charge and her whole body moved on its own, slashing the attacking shinobi across the chest, knocking him out.

What just happened?! There was no time to recover as the other enemy shinobi took notice that their team mate was unconscious.

Aria reeled, not knowing what to think. Scanning around she saw the shinobi holding Izuna in the water prison. She needed to get him out!

As if on cue, the voice spoke again. 'Throw me'.

Aria complied with the order and threw the sword. This time, it flew through air and pierced him on the shoulder, removing the hand controlling the water prison. The water prison jutsu was released immediately and Izuna fell to the ground; dripping wet but perfectly fine.

She rushed to him. "Are you ok?"

His eyes were wide with surprise as he regarded her. "Yeah, thanks." He replied, coughing up some water.

She smiled, helping him up.

"How did you-"

"LOOK OUT!"

Aria's body moved faster than her mind when she saw an enemy shinobi spit something from his mouth straight at them. Without thinking, she threw her arms around Izuna's neck, pushing them both onto the ground with a loud 'thud'. She screamed in pain as sharp needle-like objects pierced her back.

Then, everything went black.

He was unsuccessful locating the sinister chakra that he had sensed earlier. It appeared to have slipped away into shadows.

Madara decided to head back to the Izuna and Aria, contemplating whether or not they should just head out from the forest to the Uchiha Stronghold instead.

He arrived in time to see Aria throw herself at Izuna, and taking a hit of multiple darts down her back. Izuna's eyes widened in horror as he caught her, falling onto his back with her on top of him. He tried to register what had transpired, when saw sharingan staring back at them.

"Aniki!" He screamed, pointing to the direction from which the darts came. "It was him!"

Madara made a beeline towards the shinobi that shot the darts, killing him in a fit of rage.

He then took out the shinobi surrounding him for good measure.

He rushed over to her, laid her down on her front and pulled out the darts one by one throwing them to the side. Izuna opened his mouth to speak, presumably to explain, but Madara silenced him with a deadly look. "Cover us." He ordered. The younger complied without question.

Poisoned darts.

Fast acting ones too, since she was already unconscious.

He needed to get her to a medic right now. Poisons were a shinobi's worst nightmare. The clock ticked by while they fumbled around with an antidote in a race against time before the person died. Aria had taken a few darts, meaning that she had received a high dosage of whatever poison the darts were coated with.

There was no way he could asses the injury or determine its extent through her clothes.

Grabbing a kunai, he cleanly cut down the back of her dress.

His breath hitched at the sight of her bare back, so alluring and feminine. It stirred something so primal within him.

But now was not the time to dwell on such thoughts.

There were three pin point marks from the darts in total; one at the base of her neck, another on her shoulder blade, and the last one was on her lower back dangerously close to her spinal cord. They were starting to bruise a horrid red-purple in colour, swell and spread. Sterilising the kunai with a flame, made a small incisions on each bruise. She flinched as the hot metal made contact with her skin but didn't wake.

Next, he would have to suck out the poison in order to remove it. Normally, he wouldn't do this kind of crude therapy for anyone, but this was for her.

Hesitation hit him as he lowered his lips to the base of her neck, hot breath fanning out across her skin. What if she didn't want him to do this? Then he quickly dismissed the senseless thought when he reasoned that it was necessary to save her life. Rough lips made contact with soft flesh and proceeded to suck out the poison, in what felt like an oddly intimate act.

'Disgusting poison, delicious vessel.' He mused darkly, as he spat out the poisoned blood and wiped his mouth with a gloved hand.

One down.

The next one was on her shoulder blade. This time, he let his lips nuzzle down to the affected site, almost in leisurely, before completing the required task. What the hell was wrong with him? Deriving pleasure from such an act?

Two down.

The last one was in an almost forbidden location, on her lower portion of her back. Unable to resist, he let his hand caress her side, before his lips ghosted over her skin before sucking out the poison from the last site.

As he wiped away the remnants of the poison and satisfied with his work, a soft gurgling, choking noise erupted from her mouth. He turned her over to witness trickles of blood coming out of nose and the presence of foaming around her mouth.

His heart sank deep into his stomach, as dread overtook him at what was happening to her.

"She's dying!" He bellowed to the other two shinobi.

Tobirama and Izuna took notice at once, returning to them as soon as they had finished off the shinobi they had been fighting.

Tobirama spoke first, one he had analysed her condition. "We have to get her to the infirmary now! She may not have much time left." Izuna gasped, and sharp hiss could be heard from his brother. "Hold on to me, I have the place marked. Flying thunder god technique!"

The seldom quiet Senju infirmary was a much needed respite from its daily onslaught of patients. For once, the infirmary was practically empty as everyone was much too preoccupied with the festivities due to the wedding of their Clan Leader to the Uzumaki Heiress.

'Perfect for catching up on some paperwork', thought the Head Medic, as he sipped on his herbal tea.

Just as he pulled the first medical report to review, the doors of the infirmary opened with a boom, accompanied thundering footsteps towards the main ward. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the Senju second in command, Tobirama-sama, stride in with the Uchiha leader and his brother. In the arms of the Uchiha Leader was an unconscious young woman.

"She's been poisoned." Informed Tobirama, with no greeting whatsoever. "These are the darts they used. They should still have remnants of the poison used. Have them analysed. I'm going to get Hashirama."

The head medic nodded, used to Tobirama's curt behaviour. "Put her on the bed, let's have a look."

The Uchiha Leader lowered her on the bed gently, his chakra spiky and erratic. "She has three puncture wounds on her back from three poisoned darts, her nose was bleeding and she was foaming at the mouth earlier. She was unconscious as soon as she was hit."

The Head medic adjusted his glasses, and moved the girl her onto her side. Sure enough, there were three entry points for the bruises where the darts had hit. They were clotting and one of the wounds was dangerously close to her spinal cord. It looked like some of the poison might have been removed already due to the small incisions made on her wounds.

"Get the poisons kit and prepare for removal," he instructed his attendant. "We'll first extract the poison, close up the wound, then heal surrounding tissue."

Izuna's heart raced as he and his brother watched the Senju head medic and attending worked quick and efficiently, in sync, as they extracted the poison and used medical ninjutsu to heal. A nail biting experience, as Aria lay unconscious. He could sense his brother's chakra sky rocket in panic, on full alert watching them work, not moving a muscle as he remained diligently by her side.

After a what felt like an eternity, the head medic sighed in relief and wiped his brow. "She is stable. The damage is localised and has not spread, thanks to the poison that was extracted prior to coming here. She will be given an antidote as soon as it is ready."

A sigh of relief escaped Madara's lips. The Senju medics were reputed to have some of the best medical ninja. "Thank you. When will she wake?"

The head medic face was stern. "Hard to say. She received a large dose of an unknown toxin, so it could be a day or two at least. Now if you will excuse me, I have to analyse these darts."

Madara took a seat on the chair next to her bed, eyebrows furrowed in concentration and concern. He took her hand and gave it little squeeze, but there was no response. Her hand felt floppy and cold, her face expressionless and lifeless.

Madara gritted his teeth. How long would she be like this? Would she suffer from any long term effects?

He didn't want to think about it.

She saved Izuna's life!

Was it possible to fall for her even more?

"Aniki, I'm sorry for what happened." Izuna apologised, standing in front of him even though it was not his fault at all. "Are you angry with me?"

His brother shook his head. "No."

Izuna sighed in relief, and placed a hand in Madara's shoulder. "She's a keeper." He winked. "Let's take her home."

Madara lips twitched in the barest of smiles. "Hn... She does not want to be with me."

Izuna felt his heart go out to him, having heard their little 'lovers quarrel'. "She must clearly feel something for you, otherwise she wouldn't have taken a hit for me."

"Then why else does she keep running away?" There was anger in his those deep coals. "I can't-"

Just then, Hashirama, Mito, Tobirama and Masayuki Sanada strode into the room. His weary old eyes fell on her lifeless form, and caught sight of his hand holding onto hers. His anger flared, unable to control his temper and feelings.

"Let go of my granddaughter!" He seethed, pulling her hand away from the Uchiha's. "Look at what you have done to her!"

All the other shinobi turned to face him at once, a mixture of shock and confusion on their faces. Granddaughter?!

Izuna turned to his brother, puzzled. Aria is a... Sanada?!

While everyone was perplexed with the revelation, his brother seemed unfazed.

"You have no proof." He replied coolly.

"Her resemblance to my daughter, Asuka is uncanny. She has her father, Tatsuya's eyes, and her name is Aria. Her description matches the content written to me in a letter from her mother, and I'm confident that she is in fact my granddaughter. She belongs to the Sanada, and I'm taking her with me."

"That's hardly conclusive evidence." Madara retorted. "She's not going anywhere with you based on that."

Masayuki felt in his bones that the woman lying on the bed was his granddaughter, but how to prove it?

"Hashirama, are your medics able to somehow to prove her lineage?"

Hashirama thought about it for a minute. "We can try a new system I've been working on for determining a persons unique cellular constituents, known as a DNA. The test is still in it's infancy but we can give it a shot. All we need is a blood sample from you and her."

Madara's eyes widened in surprise, just what was his rival getting upto in his spare time?! This could derail his plans!

"The use of bloodwork to determine lineage? What an interesting concept. What if it doesn't work?" Masayuki asked.

"Then we have no choice but to wait for Aria to wake up and ask her about her parents."

"Draw the blood. I want to know as soon possible."

Hashirama called over the head medic and discussed with him the plans, who then drew the samples from both the Sanada's and left. "We should all get going. It's late and dinner will be served soon in the banquet hall."

Mito moved to the bed, and lightly caressed Aria's hair. "Why don't you all go freshen up and eat, I'll stay here with her."

Hashirama regarded his wife. "Your presence is required Mito, this celebration is for us."

But Mito needed to get away from the celebrations and endless small talk. "Tell them I'm not feeling well. Besides, you need to keep up appearances. You all were absent for breakfast and lunch. The guests are starting to suspect something is awry." She replied, her voice firm and eyes stern as she stared down each one of them, including Madara and Masayuki.

She wasn't going to take no for an answer.

And so, all the male shinobi left begrudgingly - dismissed by the Senju Matriarch.

Mito sighed and took a seat next to Aria's bed.

Some time later, the head medic came and administered the antidote along with some pain medication. Mito gave him a smile, and thanked him.

Her gaze fell sympathetically at the young woman on the bed who had no idea that her life had just changed forever. And there was no going back.

There was two ways this could play out:

1) If she really was Masayuki's granddaughter, that would make her the Sanada Heiress.

A very valuable bride indeed for any clan motivated by a political alliance. She would most likely be married off to the highest bidder to further Sanada clan's agenda. She would serve as nothing more than a doll for the rest of her life, fulfilling a role she would have no say or choice in. Mito realised that Aria could actually be worse off than she ever was. At least the Uzumaki and Senju were allies!

2) If she wasn't a Sanada, that would be even worse. Madara clearly desired the young lady, but the Uchiha rarely married outsiders due to their desire to preserve their kekkai genkai, the sharinghan.

Madara was a pure-bred Uchiha who came from a long line of strong shinobi. He was also the Uchiha leader. It was unlikely that the clan would let him marry a non-Uchiha, let alone a simple civilian woman. Hashirama had told her that Madara was used to getting what he wanted, and downright nightmare if he didn't. She highly doubted he would ever let her go, which left only one option; she would a 'kept' as a concubine or mistress. A position with no power, dignity or freedom, and Aria deserved much better than that.

Mito sighed in frustration for her new friend. How unfortunate she was to have attracted the attention of such dangerous men!

As Mito reached to hold her friend's hand, the young woman suddenly coughed.

Her eyes flew open, as she regarded her surroundings. Her panic was evident, until she saw Mito.

"Mito..?! You have to help me!" She croaked out in a low whisper, her throat hoarse. "Please get me out of here!"

Phew, what a loaded chapter!

What did you think?! :) :)

So, Aria has managed to get a somewhat 'confession' from Madara, discovered her innate affinity for a blade, and took a hit for Izuna.

More importantly, some light has been shed on her lineage... How is going to work out?! Does this make things better, or worse...?

Can't wait to hear your thoughts! Please review, message! I love it when you do! :)