Faith. (Sequel)

Chapter 24 | Clouded

Her body was shaking, her hands trembling.

She tried to slow down her wavering breathing and closed her eyes, focusing on her loud and quick heartbeat instead of the petrifying images of the dreadful incident of that night which was now haunting her in her sleep.

Asami swallowed thickly and slowly brought her hands to her throat and wrapped them around it. She started to rub her skin, as if that could erase the feeling of the phantom hands pressing on her windpipe.

It was over; they were dead and she'd healed, physically at least. It wasn't the first time people had invaded their home, it wasn't the first time she had gotten hurt, but it was the first time her son was almost taken from her for the stupidest reason ever and the first time she was very close to death.

Just thinking about it terrified her.

Taking a deep breath, Asami opened her eyes and turned her head. Madara was asleep, his bare back facing her. Pursing her lips, she wondered for a moment if she should wake him. He knew about her nightmares, and she thought that talking to him about it now could help.

Asami heaved a sigh and rubbed her eyes. No, she shouldn't bother him with something like this in the middle of the night. If she still felt like talking in the morning, then she'd do it, but not now.

Even though she decided not to listen to his calm and soothing voice, his comforting warmth may be able to help her fall back asleep again. Asami lay back down, held her forearms against her chest, shifted closer to the Uchiha and gently pressed her forehead and the other side of her forearms against his back. Moving any closer to him would probably wake him, which was something Asami wanted to prevent.

She closed her eyes, and it didn't take long for her to fall into a dreamless sleep.

~~~~~~~~~

''I thought you weren't going to carry me anymore?'' Asami mused, and a small smirk played on her lips when she heard Madara sigh in annoyance. ''I don't think I got here by myself.''

Madara turned around. ''You can be a bit more grateful that I went out of my way to drag you up here.'' He grunted, and Asami sat up with a smile, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and approached him. ''I already appreciate the smallest things you do.'' She murmured, slipping her arms around his neck. Madara looked down with a raised eyebrow, as if he didn't believe her. He knew very well that she was thankful for the trivial things, though.

Asami elbowed him playfully. ''I'm serious.''

''I know you are.''

Asami raised one of her eyebrows this time and Madara rolled his eyes. With a chuckle, Asami brushed past him and went into the bathroom. Madara heard the faucet run.

''Oh, Keiji is coming today.'' Her voice was slightly muffled by the sound of running water, but Madara was able to hear her clearly. ''I asked him if he wanted to take Kouta to a nearby non-ninja village.''

Madara frowned and walked over the room where Asami was and leaned against the doorway. ''Why?'' He asked. ''You know it's not safe for him, even if there aren't any ninja.''

Asami motioned for him to wait until she was done brushing her teeth, which took her a minute or two. After she had rinsed out her mouth, she turned back to the Uchiha. "We can't keep him in and around the house forever, Madara.'' She said softly but firmly. She wanted to make a point so she needed to sound strong and determined, especially if it was Madara she needed to convince. ''I want him to see the world outside this cage we've trapped him in.''

Madara clenched his jaw, knowing that she was right. He would feel more reassured if one of them went with him, but both Asami and Madara are supposed to be dead. Inhabitants of non-ninja villages normally don't know much about the ninja villages, but news of what happened three years ago must have reached even the smallest towns in the Land of Fire. There only had to be one person to recognize them and their currently quite peaceful and quiet life was over. But then there was Kouta, someone nobody would recognize, even people who knew Keiji. If those people saw Keiji with an unknown Uchiha, questions would certainly be raised.