Chapter 1: Night

"Mito… Please, I'm begging you to talk some sense into Father!" Kazue's words are absorbed by the tall walls around her, her elder sister stands stiller than stone. "Mito, I'll die if I go with him…." Her sister's expression hardens, "He's a tyrant… he's violent and cruel… how could any of you think that this is a beneficial alliance?!"

"Kazue, that is enough. I will not alter my decision and you will fulfil this duty for the Uzumaki clan." Father taps his walking stick on the wooden floor and stands to leave

"M-Mito… he's nothing like Hashirama-ni-sama… his own people don't trust him…" Kazue feels the floor sinking under her feet,

"Mito, I will send our guards with you to take you and your sister from the Uzushiogakure to Konohagakure. Kazue, you will make a good impression on him." Father ignores his daughter's desperate protests and nods to Mito before leaving. As soon as the door shuts, Mito turns to look at her sister whose knees rested on the floor, her hands covering her deep sobs.

"Kazue…" Mito places a hand on her sister's shoulder for a moment before it is swatted away

"You stood idle while Father consigned me to a monster! It could have been anyone else…I would have agreed to anyone else! You have the hand of Hashirama-ni-sama, a peace-bringing god among shinobi… Why is it that I am a gift to console the Uchiha?" Kazue's sobs turn to shallow gasps, Mito's eyes soften

"I don't deny it, Kazue, I have been lucky. Not that I knew what he would be like when I met him first. Hashirama-kun is a good man, he's a saviour… and he trusts Madara-san with his life. Hashirama-kun has supported this union, he and I are there with you, no harm will come to you, I swear on the Uzumaki name…Don't forget that without him, the wars would not have ceased, there is more to him-"

"There is nothing more to say, Mito... I concede that everything I have done for this village has meant nothing to Father." Kazue rises and slams the wooden doors behind her.

Mito sighs, she knew this would test her sister. Marriage had never crossed Kazue Uzumaki's mind, nor did she care much for it. She was a jonin shinobi of Uzushiogakure and an active advocate for her people. Mito and Kazue were heirs to the Uzumaki clan's noble family, Kazue had been chosen to take up this role after her sister was married. Years after the establishment of Konohagakure, the tension in the village was evident, the Uchiha and the Senju remain divided and another alliance between the two would no doubt work to improve these relations. Hashirama had agreed with this marriage, he believed it to be a way to humanise Madara for the village. Mito had hoped her sibling would consider it maturely and logically. Kazue deeply admired her brother-in-law, though she loathed Madara Uchiha for his seemingly arrogant and ruthless personality. The Uchiha made no point to hide his feelings about others, however blunt they were and if needed he was prepared to make his power known. Father had only informed her a few days earlier about Madara's acceptance of the proposal, since then, Kazue hadn't slept and refused to eat. Mito was concerned but she couldn't bring herself to blame Kazue, she was only nineteen and to her, she was being stripped of the promise of the life she desired.

The rain seems to drench Kazue right to the core, hundreds of splashes represent the hum of Spring. She removes a jewelled hairpin from her locks, letting waves of deep red cascade around her shoulders and over the tree branch she lay on. Turning the pin over in her hand again and again, she notices the sun setting lazily over the hills around Uzushiogakure, the night seeps into the skies like tendrils of dark blue. All the war and strife still left in the world of shinobi even after the establishment of peace and here the village elders were… thinking that if Madara Uchiha got given a wife, he'd feel happier about himself amidst the tension in Konoha. She was a leader! She had invested in safeguarding and educating her people, years spent on missions to create peace with neighbouring villages and this was how her Father responded. It enraged Kazue that a consolation prize was her role to fill, to become a wife for a man who didn't understand love and compassion as well as he understood brute force and subordinating the weak. The political alliance benefitted the Uchiha who would make an alliance with the Uzumaki and the Senju and it benefitted Uzushiogakure to have daughters married to both strongest clans among shinobi. Her training, her life here in the home she had grown in… she would no longer be free to roam or to travel, she would become a relic to be displayed amongst Madara Uchiha's plunders. The notion of it made her feel sick.

The last glimmer of sunlight fades, allowing the blue night to wash over the village. The cool breeze of the evening creeps through the courtyards to where Madara sat with his papers. The unfamiliar shape of his residence here unsettled him. He preferred to stay in his main estate outside Konohagakure, though Hashirama had convinced him his fiancé would find the transition easier if he remained in Konoha for a few weeks. Annoyance seeps into the Uchiha leader. Why should he care about her convenience? It was their proposition to send a daughter of Uzushiogakure to the Uchiha. An alliance with Mito's younger sister, another Uzumaki, was the Senju's way of reminding him they were everywhere, though he would be foolish to pass up such an arrangement. The alliance greatly benefitted his clan with resources and a truce with the most powerful sealers in the ninja world, though the sense of disdain and irritation Madara felt towards having to marry the girl grew. It was almost insulting to accept such an offer… He would make sure his wife understood her duties and her position before they left for the Uchiha estate, she could comply or be disciplined, that extent of choice he was willing to allow her.

"Madara-sama, come, let me take your mind from those papers." Taiyo appears from his bedroom draped in his grey yukata

"Did I not satisfy you earlier?" He raises a brow as the slender woman slips into his lap, her fingertips running over his bare chest

"You certainly did. But that was earlier, and I'm getting cold." The woman murmurs against his lips before he stands with her in his arms, his mouth melting into hers

"You won't need any more after I'm done with you." He flashes her a grin, the paper on the desk rustles in the breeze as he shuts the door behind them.