Dusk till Dawn(Madara Uchiha)

Chapter seven: Akio's request

The sun began to rise covering the land of waterfalls in its golden light. The morning birds chirped and the wind rustled the blossoms of the cherry trees. Their beautiful pink petals danced in the cool breeze as winter was coming for the land of beautiful waterfalls. The silhouettes of two people stood on the balcony at the top of the castle gazing dreamily out over the land watching the golden star blancet the land in its warmth.
Akame's bluish white hair blew in the cool morning breeze, her green eyes reflected the golden light of the sun like a mirror. She wore her usual attire with her two swords strapped to her. Her pale skin looked like that of a doll in a shop under the light of the warm sun.
Madara stood next to the girl, his arms rested on the rail as he leaned forward on them. His raven hair copied the motion of the girls next to him. His dark eyes looked sleepy and his muscles relaxed. He too had a sword strapped to him.
The two stood in silence as they simply followed their morning routine. Akame glanced over at the teenaged boy next to her. He had not said a word since he arrived, his silence bothered the girl. She wondered what was going on inside his head as she often wondered. Sometimes she just did not understand him. "Your staring Princess" said the boy in a low tone, almost unadioble. He sounded as if he was somewhere else, as if his soul had gone for a stroll and had forgotten to come back.
"Oh oops" Akame voiced quietly as if not to ruin the mood. Moving her gaze back to the sun she mimicked Madaras position as she leaned on the rail. " The princesses party is today, right?" asked Akame flatly as she rested her head on her arms. "Yes, Father wanted you and I to be her personal body guards" replied Madara as he stood up straight and looked over at the girl, was whatever was bothering her yesterday still bothering her? He wondered. "Oh . . . then we should go and find her," Akame said with distased as she stood and headed for the door that would lead inside the castle.
Madara and Akame arrived at the princesses door only to discover that she was not awake yet. "Her royal highness does not wake till 10am" said the servant outside her door. Akame rolled her eyes "what kind of princess consistently sleeps that late" she mused to herself as she walked away "I suppose I will get breakfast then" she muttered. The servant then turned towards Madara who was turning to follow Akame. "The princess is actually awake lord Madara and has asked to talk to you alone" said the servant gaining Madaras attention. Madara raised a brow as he spoke " why are you telling me this now and not earlier. The Princess and I have been assigned to guard your princess, we can't do that effectively if she keeps blowing off the Princess" the servant looked slightly uncomfortable as she quickly moved to open the door.
"This way please" she said in a high tone. Madara sighed and followed the servant into the forin princesses quarters. The room was extremely large with a sitting area and a huge bed as well as a desk and wardrobe. The forin princess sat in the middle of her huge bed, her covers neatly placed on her lap as she hugged a shawl around her bare shoulders. The princess wore a thin white nightgown, her brown hair hung loosely around her head as her dirt brown eyes gazed softly at Madara.
"There you are I sent my servant to find you a while ago but she could not" she said with a pout. "Being a shinobi comes with certain things that must be done," he said calmly, his gaze bored. If this was what she wanted to say then Madara saw no reason why the servant had to lie to the Princess. "I wanted to just chat with you, I hope you don't mind" she said with a bright smile, before patting a spot on the bed next to her and saying "come sit".
"I prefer to stand," Madara said calmly, though on the inside he was rather annoyed. "Awwww please" she said with a pout as she batted her eyelashes at the boy in an attempt to seduce him. "No, if all you want is to talk then surely you can do that at the breakfast table" said Madara plainly before adding "i'll be going now your highness, " he said with a bit of sarcasm before adding in a rather harsh tone "I am here to protect you not be your friend" the boy then turned and left the room with haste.
The princess threw her hands up in the air in anger as Madara left "ugh! Why won't he look at me the way he does that other girl, he doesn't even talk the same way to me!! And I don't want him to be my friend. I want him to be my prince! " she complained, fire burning in her eyes. The princess, whose name was Akio angrily jumped out of bed and walked to the bathroom where one of her servants had already prepared a bath. "ANKA!" she yelled in a shrill tone.
The servant from earlier came running to the bathroom."yes your highness" she said with a bow. Akio discarded her clothes and stepped into the tub as her second servant began to bathe her. "I want you to find out whatever it is that is between My Future Prince and that rotten pig" She said in a dangerous tone as she glared daggers into the servant's skull. " yes your highness" said Anka as she quickly excused herself and exited the room.
Anka walked to the dining room but did not enter, she merely stood by the door peeking in. Anka watched her targets, the two where sitting next to one another as they peacefully ate their food. Across from them sat the youngest Uchiha, the young boy played around with his food shaping it into weird shapes and showing his brother and the girl. The girl smiled warmly at the boy who was only a few months younger than her.
A small soft smile spread across Madaras lips as he watched the two. He felt so lucky to have them both in his life. "Elder brother! Look, ''said Izuna as he shoved his bowl of rice in front of his brother. With a new design on it "what is it?" Madara asked questioningly as he gazed down at the sculpture. The sculpture was that of a poorly made face. The eyes were disproportionate and the brows furrowed as the mouth was lopsided. "It's you," Izuna said with a big smile, one that Madara swore he would never forget.
Akame glanced down at the image and burst out laughing. The water she had in her mouth flying out in a spray of water droplets. "You should never become a sculpture Izuna '' she said between laughs, though her laughing soon turned into coughs. "Are you alright? here" Madara asked the girl as he watched her with a concerned gaze and handed her a glass of water. Akame took the glass gratefully as she nodded and drank the water. "You're so mean Akame I worked really hard on that" Izuna said with a joyous laugh filling the room as he laughed at the girl across from him. "Stop laughing, it's not funny Izuna, it hurts!" Akame said her voice slightly raised as she scolded the boy. "Why are you getting mad at me? Elder brother is laughing too" Izuna pouted as he held his hands up for defence against the girl.
Akame turned to Madara a glare on her face as she saw that he indeed was laughing though he was trying to hide it. "Madara!" She yelled as she made to slap him, however the boy saw this coming and easily blocked her. "You're supposed to be on my side" she pouted as she crossed her arms and turned to face Izuna once more. "Who says I am supposed to be on your side Princess?" Madara asked sarcastically as he copied her motion as a way of mockery.
"Stop mocking me!" Akame demanded but Madara merely rolled his eyes and repeated what she said in a mocking tone. "You know I thought you were in a bad mood this morning but now I see that I was clearly wrong because you seem to be in an annoying mood" Akame ranted but the two Uchiha merely laughed at her. Akames cheeks turned a bright red as she hid her face in her hands to cover them. "You're both so mean" she mumbled as she slammed her head against the table. Madaras gaze softened but then turned to one of mischievous intent.
"We are merely messing with you Princess" said Madara as he poked the girl under the rib cage on both sides causing her to jump a mile and squeal. "I told you not to do that Madara!" she scolded, this time landing a slap to the boy's face. Izuna laughed at the two who were acting like a married couple."she landed that one brother, how do you feel?" Izuna asked sarcastically as he actually began to eat his food instead of playing with it.
"I feel fine, I let her hit me so that she would calm down" Madara answered as he played it off as if he had planned it. "Oh sure you did," Akame said mockingly as she stood from her spot and grabbed Madara's dishes and took them to the kitchen.
Izuna finished his bowl and sat it down on the table as he reeled himself in and became serious. "Anyway brother father has assigned me to protect the futile lord at today's party. Who were you assigned to?" the boy asked as he picked up his glass of water and began to drink. "The Princess and I are to protect the lord's daughter" answered Madara calmly as he stood from his spot. "Oh" Izuna said in a sly tone as if he was implying something only his brother understood.
"Oh shut up, It's not like that" Said Madara as he looked towards the kitchen door where Akame just came out of. "Sure it isn't," said the younger boy. "We should go and see Tanjima and get the lay out of the party" said Akame as she walked over to Madara, grabbed his wrist and began to drag him from the room.
Anka quickly moved out of sight and away from the door of the dining room as she watched the girl drag the elder boy from the room. They seemed to be very close and if what she heard from the younger boy there had to be something else there.
"I can walk on my own you know, Princess" Madara said about half-way down the hall in an annoyed tone. Akame shrugged and released the boy's wrist. "I know I was just making sure" She said, sweaty with a small smile at the boy as the two rounded a corner and took a flight of stairs.
"The party officially starts at twelve, guests will begin to arrive . . . I'm guessing eleven- thirty. Which means we need to be on our guard." said Madara as he opened a door and took a step to the side so Akam could pass." I understand" said the girl with a nod.
"There the two of you are late," said Tanjima Uchiha sternly. Madara gave a short bow of respect, Akame following suit "our apologies father Izuna held us up" Said Madara as he and Akame straightened up. "Whatever it is does not matter now, let us begin" said the man as he pulled a map out of the entire castle and grounds.
"The party will be held in the ballroom with the grounds open to the public. All guests will enter through the main entrance where we will have four men stationed. Izuna and I will be with the Futile lord most likely staying on the podium. You two will be with the princess, follow her wherever she goes. Do not let her out of your sight. The land of Waterfalls has been receiving some death threats regarding the princess so be alert. The rest of the clan I will have stationed out in squads of four. Or patroling the rest of the castle" he said as he pointed to different sports on the map "here, here , here, and here".
Madara and Akame nodded along as Tanjima spoke, mesmerizing the locations of clansmen and of the layout of the building. "These hidden passages, are they still open?" asked Akame as she pointed out multiple passageways. "According to the lord, this one and this one are closed, the rest are still active" he said as he pointed to two passageways. One near the study and one near the music room. "In case of emergency are we permitted to use these passages?" asked Madara as he studied the map. "Yes, the passageways lead deep down under the castle where you will find a labyrinth of tunnels. You can easily get lost so I advise you not to use them unless it is an extreme scenario" Madara nodded to himself before posing another question.
"Is there a map of the labyrinth?" he asked calmly, Tanjima nodded and pulled out another map and set it on the table. Akame scanned the map over as she began to memorize its layout. "We should have some men in these tunnels just in case our opponents know about them." she said as she pointed out multiple points in the passages where she thought would be good places to have men. Tanjima nodded again in understanding as he too studied the map.
"One more thing" said Madara as he looked up at his Father."Who is our opponent?" Tajima signed sorrowfully" the lord is refusing to tell, he says that they will pose no threat to us but he is acting strangely"
"So prepare for the worst," said Akame as she shook her head disapprovingly."That is all. Your two are dismissed, it would be wise to head to the lord's daughters quarters as assassins could be sent in early. Madara and Akame nodded, then bowed and left the room headed to the lord daughters room.
Anak followed the pair; they seemed completely different from the two children she saw at the breakfast table earlier. They may look young but they aren't acting it. They seem to have a deep bond of trust and friendship, that's something that is hard to break. If princess Akio wishes it broken it will prove to be a difficult challenge, though Anka as she continued to follow the two children as they discussed something about marionettes.