𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄 | sasuke uchiha

68

"She's been rather distraught throughout the whole day, Madara-sama. Yui-sama told me that she hasn't been right the entire day, so she had to send [Name]-sama away to rest."

"Did Yui mention why [Name] was in such a state?"

"It seems that one of her former students was one of the deceased in our battle against the Sakimoto clan. A young boy named Tatsuya."

"I see. Thank you once more for your services, Kaien."

With a final bow towards the leader, the young shinobi who had escorted [Name] home backed away from Madara and took his leave. Madara remained standing in the doorway of his home, arms crossed as he watched the guard leave before heading towards where his grieving wife was. Upon coming home, [Name] had wordlessly stormed past Madara and walked straight towards Izuna's old room, from where he could hear her muffled sobs through the thin paper walls.

"[Name]? I'm coming in."

Madara gently eased himself into the room before shutting the door tightly behind him, only to see [Name] lying face first on the ground with her feet in his direction.

"Hey. I warned you, didn't I?"

[Name]'s breath hitched as Madara spoke to her in a soft voice, his tone masking the abhorrent menace behind his cruel words. There was no consolation from the Uchiha, no words of comfort. The first thing he did when he walked in was make sure that [Name] knew why she was currently mourning Tatsuya's death. And, amidst her agony, [Name] looked up from the ground, frozen as her husband kneeled by her side and alluringly began running his fingers down the curve of her back.

"Don't lie on your stomach," he scolded lovingly, urging for her to sit up as he tapped her. "Come on. Get up."

[Name]'s blood ran cold as she found herself begrudgingly doing as he instructed, although she chose to face away from him in the little show of rebellion she could.

"You know, I could have chosen someone far dearer to you," sighed Madara, his voice a drawl as he stared longingly at his wife's back. "I was actually tossing up whether or not to do something about Sarada, or even Shisui. But, I decided against it, because if I did, you would resent me for the rest of your life. Sarada would have been such an easy target, especially since it's clear that Sasuke cares little for her. If I dare say so myself, you care for Sarada more than her own father does. And Shisui... well, Shisui would take a good fight to bring down, and I didn't have the time or energy to see to it."

"Shut up!" growled [Name] furiously, her eyes still burning with tears as she glared at the bedroom wall. She was already struggling to come to terms with Tatsuya's passing, and the  guilt Madara was forcing onto her was raising her anxiety and stress levels even higher. "You don't know anything!"

"Hm, if you say so. Don't get me wrong, [Name]. I really love you, I do. But Tatsuya's death? It was all on your hands. Do you want to know why?"

[Name] shook her head fervently, unable to hear the rest of Madara's reasoning. It was bad enough she had to deal with the news of Tatsuya's premature passing- being told that she was the sole reason why he had died was far from comforting.

"I gave you a choice, [Name]. You could have listened to me, and this could have been avoided. But you chose to ignore me- you walked out while I was speaking to you, and you continued to refuse me. I warned you no good would come out of disobedience, and this is the result. If you had just listened to me when I told you to, we wouldn't be in this situation. Would we?"

"Don't blame this on me!"

[Name] shrieked as she turned in her seat, spitting at the Uchiha as she lunged at him. The leader effortlessly accepted [Name]'s attack, choosing to hold her by her wrists so as to keep her at bay.