Beauty and the Beast - An Uchiha Madara Love Story [Edited]

Chapter 27 - Belonging

A it was before, this chapter is dedicated to AnimeFan4ever22! Happy reading!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harumi pov:

I watched the Hokages that jumped besides us as we ran, with me being carried once again. After hearing the story of the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke had decided to fight against Madara and the Edo Tensei Hokages had agreed to join hands with him. I was a little sad about it because I was hoping that Madara would have at least one or two allies when pretty much the entire world fought against him.

There were moments when I too had doubted Madara and I did want to try to convince him to win the war in a way that didn't involve killing so many people but I was hesitant to do that. I had a feeling that he wouldn't like anyone to tell him how to handle the war. Besides, I'd never butt into his matters before and I don't think there was any sense in giving my opinion about a war when I'd never been involved in or seen before.

I noticed Tobirama san glance up at me for the umpteenth time since we left the Uchiha Shrine. He was still suspicious of me and insisted on being the one to 'escort' me to the battlefield. On that note, yes, he was the one carrying me on his back while rushing through the trees.

When everyone first started running, I was freaked out by the speed. It was even faster than how we had traveled to the Uchiha shrine and I had close to choked Tobirama san while holding him tightly around the neck. I got used to the speed after a little while though and I had relaxed a little to look ahead and around at the landscape that swiftly passed by. I still had my arms wrapped around Tobirama san's neck though but I wasn't choking him anymore.

I glanced at the bluish black bruise that had developed on my arm from when Tobirama san had tightly gripped me. I was mildly concerned about how Madara would react when he saw the bruise, and me being held captive in general – he wasn't very good at controlling his temper and the last time I got hurt by someone, things almost ended in a disaster. And being in the midst of a war could only make things worse. There was no saying how angry or violent he would get and what he would end up doing. I just hoped he wouldn't do something too drastic...

My train of thought was interrupted when a completely different thought went through my mind. I let go of Tobirama san and moved just a little away from his back so I could see my hands. I clenched and unclenched them while thinking of how long it had been since I did any pottery. I really missed the feeling of the cool wet clay on my hands. I hadn't done any pottery at all since I began to live in the Akatsuki hideout.

Sighing softly in uncertainty of when I would get to do pottery again, I held onto Tobirama san's shoulder again and hid the bottom half of my face. I looked ahead into the distance blankly for a few minutes and then closed my eyes with another helpless sigh.

"You seem to be having an argument in your head...is it something we can help with?" I heard Minato san ask and I immediately opened my eyes to look at him. He was watching me with an amused smile and a blush of embarrassment rose to my cheeks.

"Uh..." I mumbled with a sheepish laugh, "i-it's nothing important really..."

He merely laughed softly at my answer with a shake of his head.

"I can't believe I'm so embarrassing sometimes..." I scolded myself under my breath but I was sure Tobirama san heard me.

"Anyway, tell us child, who are you? Orochimaru said you are not a shinobi...so where do you live and what do you do for a living?" This time it was Hiruzen san who spoke. I wondered how much detail I could tell them but I knew that I definitely wasn't going to tell these people that I loved Madara. It was highly possible that they would become alert and defensive and prevent me and Madara from getting near each other...well, not that they wouldn't do that now because they knew of my power.