Our circumstances

I don't understand him at all (I)

'My life with my husband was mundane or simply said bland. We rarely see each other. Despite being cold towards everyone including me, he kept his word. I was living a luxurious life. I never lacked anything. I never asked for much anyway, I was provided with everything I needed, all my materialistic wishes were fulfilled.
I got more than what I asked for but I lacked the most important element of a married life that was Companionship. My husband was never there. I understand that he has some responsibilities towards this nation as the heir to the throne. He is carrying a huge burden on his shoulders. But I also felt lonely.

Because of his apathy towards me at first I thought he despised me. I was also scared of him. He was a man of few words. The first year of our marriage was rather difficult and unpleasant. He would either accompany the king and help him with the internal and external affairs or busy with some other matters. Despite his young age he took his duties seriously. He would come back late after I had fallen asleep and leave early before I wake up. I would have been unaware of the fact, if it weren't for my maids, who informed me of this matter. During the dinner all the family members would be present except for him. In effort to make me feel comfortable my in laws the queen and the king would make small conversations with me but I still felt left out. Both Kushina and Minato were kind and warm people. She didn't understand how come their son was so aloof. The red haired queen's lively personality reminded her of the man she loved. The contrast between the personalities of her husband and the man she still loved made her cry many nights for hours. She would always find herself thinking, what if she had married her beloved instead of this man and how her life she would have been. Her servants and mother in law tried their best to relieve her of her loneliness. It did help her to some extent but it was far from enough to fill the hole in her heart.

She longed for that man who once saved her, smiled at her warmly, who looked at her lovingly, who promised her he would come back for her. But there's no use thinking about it anymore. 'He must have forgotten about me long ago.' Her heart squeezed painfully at the thought. 'Why am I so stupid? Why somewhere in my heart I'm still waiting for him?' She grabbed her chest tightly and clinched her eyes shut.
'Why... why... why?' Without her knowledge her tears were sliding down her cheeks. She was sobbing.
Out of nowhere a hand reached out and wiped the tears of her cheeks, she was in the weak state of mind, so she succumbed to the warmth without opening her eyes. Not long after her whole body was enveloped in that warmth. She didn't know for how long she cried that night. The only thing she saw before she slipped into deep slumber was pinkish blonde hair.
By the next morning when woke up she believed, it was just a dream.

---

'Not long after that night my husband showed up and asked if there was a place I wanted to visit. I was really startled by the sudden turn of events. Initially I thought one of the maids must have informed him about me crying at night. After all he hadn't come to their room for very long time. After a few months of his late returns and early departure, he stopped coming all together. At times he would visit her once in a few weeks still the meetings were short because of his work. I was too frightened to even demand for him to come more often. So it was a huge shock to me when he asked me where I wanted to go.
I was at my wits end for thinking of reasons for the sudden change. I thought he finally got tired of me and had decided to discard me. My thoughts were running wild. I didn't know what to? Then he interrupted my train of thoughts and relinquished me of my suffering.'

"I finally managed to squeeze some time out of my schedule and you haven't gone out of castle in a very long time right."

He didn't appear to be lying. I stayed quiet for a long time, he started to frown at my lack of reply. Not wanting to make him angry I blurted out without thinking.

"The Valley of the end."

"What are you saying, it's a very unsafe area, anything could happen there."