Letters For My Husband

Chapter 5

Madara made no noise, he crossed his arms and stared in challenge at the image made. Naruto stopped himself from speaking further, knowing the situation, he pulled back, his hand easily finding his neck in realization. As a giggle came forth in understanding of his own ridiculous posturing; his right to be angry at the man for making an action against Sasuke was vacant, posing himself as a disrupted housewife only provided Madara ammunition for his point. Instead, in his own slight embarrassment he turned to the counter to make tea, it was a small action, but while he did so the brush of fingers against his hip came as reassurance unto his nervous mind. The kiss atop his head gave his lips a reason to curve upwards, and Naruto looked to his husband behind- the man's eyes were clouded and directed elsewhere to the window with a blanketed stare of guilt that the blond could easily recognize.

"Madara? Can I make you something?" Originally, he wished to ask if he could comfort in some manner, but the dark-haired man did not express his tribulations with ease and Naruto knew his husband well enough to respect that desire for concealment. He gained no response for his question, attracting his attention, and after putting the kettle to the stove, he turned to the vacant-minded man. Watching as pale fingers pulled away the curtain to the window in the living room area, a glance was cast to him afterwards- which in itself was skeptical, though Naruto had no understanding as to why; he fathomed it was for the neighborhood. "Mada?" He walked over in uncertainty, to his own surprise, an arm wrapped around his waist and held him tight against the figure of his tall spouse. A finger pointed downwards to the alley just below.

"A mugging." Naruto crossed his eyes at the accusation, however, he saw the glint of a blade against the lights of an apartment above. A woman in victimhood leant against the wall of their building her body clearly shaking as the man in rags took her purse. It was the first display Naruto could say he'd seen of such a circumstance on his street, and though his mouth opened to sprout an excuse he made no words: For though his pay was minimal, Madara had been sending money his entire time gone and Naruto knew he could have moved easily with such an investment; but he never had managed to overcome his guilt to do so. Above him, he felt the high rise and fall of his husband's chest as the man sighed. "Why did you move?" Naruto bit at his lip, in knowledge; Madara had sent him enough to pay for rent within their old building through the military commision's office; unknowing of his change of residence, and the blond could feel the ire inside the question.

"I-" Many factors stalled his response for many explanations sat upon his tongue in the silence.

"I expected to die, Naru." A sob escaped him then as his balance stumbled, the arm holding him high leaving abruptly. He curved the feeling of helpless regret by forcing himself to stand straight as Madara began to pace. An unusual sight for a stringent, strict man, a stern-set cautious man of letters; to the destressing vision, Naruto wrapped his arms around himself, held his muscles stiff and kept his tears firmly within their sockets. The admittance almost enough to bring down his barriers, to comprehend that the strongest person he knew -whom he loved- had thought his life over, the understanding burned in his chest as a faul acidic slow aching. "To think of you unsupported-" The baritone stopped there as a pale hand clasped over his mouth. Naruto cautiously walked to the figure, a tear slipping by as his defenses began to drop in margins. Madara looked down at him as he invaded the space between them, crimson irises staring in a mixture of ire and minimalistic worry; that which Naruto fathomed he had been the only recipient of for many, many years.

However. To his own disbelief- rather, concern, he watched as a delicate tear slipped past his husband's lashes, into the dippings of his stress lines. He raised his own manicured finger, and brushed away the misplaced water. Madara didn't move to the action, and Naruto doubted the man even had a knowledge that he was gently crying. In his own manner, Naruto took the hand tightly grasping his general's jaw, and put it around his own waist, a small simper upon his own lips in the best comforting express he could manage while worried. He leaned in then, pressing himself against his husband's chest resting his head against the pectorals below him and wrapped his arms around the muscled torso he knew so well. He felt the hesitance in the muscled arms that surrounded him in turn

"You're safe here Mada... I'm safe." It was marginal, and Naruto knew his attempt was perhaps poor in comparison to other spouses whom had awaited their husbands or wives to come home. Yet, his arms grasped a slight tighter in the thought of his husband holding such a mental pain, in turn he felt the arms around him tighten and a slight smile came to his face at the feeling.

"My ex-wife-" Naruto could feel the tension within both of them build at the subject, his own, permeating the air with a fog of discomfort. "I cheated on her. As I said, I know the thrill of temptation." The blond could clearly make out the rise and fall of Madara's chest, and had he not known the man; Naruto would say he were nervous, but in his knowledge he knew that the general was in fact angered, and restraintful. The further grasp around his shoulder blades and waist proved his intuition correct. "With Hashirama." At that, Naruto looked upwards, finding the crimson eyes set stern afore him. Always having presumed in some vague thought at the recess of his mind that it had been the prime minister with whom Madara had been married too. "To be candid, I am surprised Mito still works for her; she was always so irate at me and Hashi."

Shocked out of his comforted embrace Naruto stared a moment, watching as his husband crossed his arms. "Mito- you were married to Mito?!" Then in sudden unexplainable mania, he found himself laughing at the absurd image such a statement made upon his mind. "So thats how she learned to be such a-" He clasped his mouth shut from the expletive. Though beside him, Madara snorted, a minut smirk settling upon his features.

"Bitch? Its likely."