Gentle Turbulence - Uchiha Madara Love Story

Chapter 29 - Stress

Mio pov:

"Thank you for the hard work!" The manager of the restaurant, Sato san bowed as we all left the shop. Another day of service with a smile to all the ninja customers who passed through this village.

"See you tomorrow, Sato san." I wished as well as I picked up my bag and headed back home.

As I walked the usual route to the house, I was greeted by several people I had gotten acquainted with. Well, I did live here now so a lot of people including managers of the adjoining shops and the neighbors had become friendly with me. Especially the old ladies....they usually brought home delicious food they cooked for Ryoshi and I. They were nice people except for the fact that they kept teasing me with Ryoshi and pestered me with questions like 'do you like him?' and 'are you going to marry him?'.

I didn't want to be rude to either party so I politely tried to convince them that there was nothing like that. But believe me when I say tried, I really mean tried. Most of the time, the old ladies would just give giggles and creepy laughs in sarcasm. I was starting to get worried that they would be the ones to actually set up a church and every other marriage requirement and get us married without our consent.

"Heading home, Mio dear?" Speak of the devils....I gave one of the old ladies a half hearted smile. "Yes, oba san....my work shift just got over." "I see, I see!! Must have been a long day. I wont keep you too long." She winked as she walked away, leaving me with my eyebrow twitching. I gave a frustrated sigh, trying not to yell at every single person in this village that I was NOT dating Ryoshi. I mean, c'mon!! Was it so hard to get that simple fact through your head people?!

Besides that, my right hand had taken its own sweet time to heal. it had been a week and fir the first few days after the friendly contact with Madara's face, I could barely bend my fingers. But the pain had gradually decreased and now it was just a slight throbbing pain.

"I'm back...." I called out weakly as I entered the house. "Welcome back." Ryoshi walked out from the kitchen with a bowl of fruits. He was eating them and he held the bowl up for me too. "I'll just wash up and join you in the kitchen." I told him. He just nodded, walking back to the kitchen and taking a seat ay the service counter. I quickly washed my face, hands and legs and joined him.

I used the fork to pick out some orange pieces and apple pieces. I put them in my mouth, relishing the sweet taste. After I had eaten a bit to calm my growling stomach, I leaned back on the chair with a sigh.

"You seem tired today. Was work hectic?" Ryoshi asked and I looked at him. He didn't look tired at all. Well, he was one of the ten people who protected this village but as a daily job for wages, he had to scout the city and sometimes help out with delivering goods to different houses. Its not that my job was stressful ot anything, but hearing the comments if all the Oba sans was more tiring than the physical labor.

"Nah.....its just that lots of people don't know how to not poke their noses into other people's lives, no offense." I muttered, reaching out for some more fruit. "None taken.....but what do you mean when you say that?" He asked curiously, eyeing me with a strange expression. I groaned and rested my chin on the table with a frown. I was so annoyed, I wanted to wail.

"Jeez! All these over eccentric Oba sans! Haven't you heard? Just because I moved in with you, they think that we're going to get married or something! They wont stop spouting mushy lines that I really cant decide whether to politely decline or rudely ignore." I had to get that out of my system. It had been bugging me for quite a while and it had increased after the meeting with Madara. This week has been....crazy to say the least.

"Oh....yeah, they've been talking about that a lot....although I really wouldn't mind if we ended up getting married." He mumbled the last line out. I'm sure he didn't want me to hear that but I sat up straight to look at him. "I'm sorry?" I tried to get a confirmation of what he said but he looked slightly flustered as if he had been caught. "N-nothing....I-I was just thinking about how they can be annoying...." He covered up.