Mi Ho pov:

I was frozen solid. My eyes wide and my heart pounding in my ears.

What…..what the hell was going on?! Why on earth was Madara kissing me?!

I had just finished my dance and Madara had stomped up to me. When he had done so, I thought he was either going to yell at me or punch me in the stomach for wearing short clothes and doing the ‘crappy’ dance. But this was totally unexpected! He had literally grabbed the back of my head and crushed me against himself in a kiss! And I felt like my hair was going to be ripped off my head!

There were so many people here watching us. I could hear them whispering and I could hear Tajima san yelling at Madara to ‘stop this nonsense’. But Madara was defiant and he didn’t let me even budge. I squirmed and struggled as I pushed hard against his chest to get him off me. What was wrong with him?! How could he kiss me without my permission?! I didn’t even like him!

The way he was kissing me, he was starting to cut off the air supply to my lungs. I was getting suffocated and I put in as much energy as I could and pushed his chest again. I turned my head to the side breaking the contact of our lips and I panted. I glared at him as he glared at me through his sharingan. “What the hell do you think you’re do…mmgffh!!” I wanted to curse at him, but he was quick to grab the back of my head again and crush his lips against me in another dominating kiss.

Ok, that’s it! This guy was crazy! He was close to bruising my lips at the force he was using. And even worse, he was trying to pry my lips apart with his tongue to deepen the kiss. And this time, no matter how much energy I put in, I couldn’t push him off or even turn my head.

Using the last idea in my head, I lifted my leg and kicked him. I kicked him on his bone between his knee and foot. The bone in that area was directly exposed with no muscles covering it and I knew that if someone got hit there, it would hurt like crazy. And just as I had hoped, my plan worked. The minute I kicked him, he grunted in pain and let go of me. I took the chance to get out of his hold and I took a few steps back. Then I slapped him. Hard.

I was panting and my hand was still lifted in the air as I watched him with a glare. The atmosphere in the room was tense and the others watched me with wide eyes. No one dared to say anything and I noticed them take worried glances at Madara. His head was turned to the side and the cheek that I had slapped was turning red. He didn’t moved and I couldn’t see his expression because his hair covered his face.

I slowly lowered my hand and composed my breathing. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and turned around when my sisters spoke. “Yah Mi Ho ya….mwo haneungo ya? [what are you doing?]” I gave a fake smile and shook my head. “Ah don’t worry. A situation just came up. I’ll talk to you later…..can you send me the video of the edited dance? I’ll have a look at it….and let me know when the next recording is.” I said and they nodded in confusion.

I took off the bracelet and switched off the holograms. I looked back at Madara who was now watching me with a look of pure malice. I narrowed my eyes at him, not fazed by his expression one bit. “Wench!” He yelled and lifted his hand to hit me. But I closed my eyes and held up my hand in annoyance indicating him to stop. I wasn’t expecting him to stop but surprisingly, he did. I opened my eyes. I was pissed. I was irritated. How could he have kissed me?! Where were his manners?!

“Don’t you dare yell at me! It’s your fault! Have you forgotten you’re engaged? Your fiancée is right there if you need a reminder.” I pointed to Aimi who was watching us in pure shock. “Besides, why did you kiss me? You hate me and I hate you! What’s the big idea?” I glared and he gritted his teeth. “Shut up wench! Don’t tell me what to do!” He growled. I rolled my eyes at his anger. “I’m not telling you to do anything….I asked you if you’re in the right mind and you realize what you just did.” I snapped.

He clenched his fists and his jaw but he didn’t say anything. He was glaring so hard at me that I was sure that he could bore a hole through my head. “Madara, what is the meaning of this?” Tajima san interrupted our glaring competition. I looked at Tajima san with a frown. “You should teach your son some manners. Honestly, who randomly walks up to someone they hate and who hates them back and kisses them? I may be a tool for you but there’s a limit to how much I can compromise.” I said and gave another glare to Madara before walking out of the gathering room.

I made it to the storage room and I locked myself in and changed. I got back into the kimono that I usually wore. I stepped out and walked to the dormitory. My guards were there and they were watching me skeptically. I was still fuming and when I walked into the room, I walked to the beds and pillows stacked in the corner. I picked up a few pillows and threw it at the wall as hard as I could. “Pabo! Pabo! Pabo! [stupid! stupid! stupid!]” I yelled as I threw each pillow.

When I was out of pillows to throw, I leaned against the wall and slid down onto my rear. Throwing the pillows had calmed me down to some extent, but I was still so frustrated! I mean, who wouldn't be? If soem frikkin' random person you totally dislike walks up to you and kisses you without your permission and like he owns you, who wouldn't get mad?! I mean, with the anger I felt at that moment, if I hadn't controlled myself, I was sure I was going to hurt Madara much more than just giving him a slap.

I had to cool down. I got up from the floor and walked into the bathroom. I locked the door and leaned against the door while looking at the tiles on the floor.

I bit my lip in confusion. Okay, I was really angry for him kissing me suddenly, but why did he do that? It was weird….why would he randomly kiss me? What reason could ge possibly have? Especially since we practically couldn’t stand each other?

And what confused me even more was the fact that the kiss itself wasn’t revolting like I thought it would be. I mean, this wasn’t my first kiss. I had shared my first kiss with Tobirama before I was kidnapped by these people and it was slow, gentle, and romantic. Well, not too romantic because it somehow didn’t fit into place. But the way Madara had kissed me was rough, dominating and not to mention, slightly painful. And yet…..the way his lips had moved against mine was almost as if they fit together perfectly like pieces of a puzzle.

And unlike the kiss with Tobirama, I could still feel Madara’s lips against mine. That strange pressure and that strange tingling sensation. What on earth was wrong with me?!

I closed my eyes and sighed. I was just thinking too much. I was just too shocked at how he acted and it was just bugging me even now. Besides, it was probably just his way of trying to make me submissive. I always lashed out at him and we constantly had differences in opinion. I guess we were just too stressed and we had to become a little more understanding towards each other so that something like this didn’t happen ever again. It would be too troublesome if it did.

Besides, Tajima san and the others were probably really angry now and I was just hoping I wouldn't be subjected to any serious punishment....

>>Timeskip

I had locked myself in the dormitory after that incident. I had convinced myself that the incident had happened because of the stress but there was a voice in the back of my head telling me that there was something else that had happened that time. Probably not from my side, but from Madara’s side. Something about him was just strange….he wasn’t one to act so rashly. But I couldn’t get any explanation for it so I decided that I was just confusing myself with unnecessary thoughts.

It was dinner time now. I had to get back to my chores….you know, go to the kitchen, help with the cooking and serve Madara, Izuna, Tajima san and Mioki san their dinner. I heaved a sigh as I got up from the floor where I had been moping and I headed to the door. The guards followed me and I made it to the kitchen. As I entered, everyone froze and broke into hushed whispers as they saw me.

I narrowed my eyes and sighed. I shook my head ignoring their stares as I walked to the preparation table. Aimi was already there and she was silently peeling vegetables. I stood next to her and reached out for the vegetables too. But I gasped, retracting my hand quickly as she brought the knife down on my hand. She left a pretty deep cut on my arm and blood dripped to the floor.

I breathed heavily, surprised at what she had done. The cut was pretty long too and I couldn’t apply pressure over the whole wound to stop the bleeding. I hissed through my teeth at the stinging and the pulsing pain and I looked at Aimi. She was watching me with a look of anger along with tears streaming down her cheeks. She had the knife held tightly in her hand and she was trembling. I furrowed my brows, giving her a look of disapproval.

“You b****! You stupid b****! You stole him away from me! You stole Madara away from me! I wish you never existed! I’ll kill you!!” She screeched and shot out at me to attack me with the knife again. I was ready to dodge but my two guards shot forward and gripped her wrists tightly. She struggled and screamed insults as she tried to get out of their hold and attack me. But seeing that they couldn’t get her to stop struggling, one of the guards hit her on the back of her neck and she fell into unconsciousness. One of them picked her up and left the kitchen and I heaved a deep breath as my arm pulsed in pain again.

I looked back at my hand and cursed under my breath. The other guard walked to me and removed the sash on his waist. He placed his sword on the counter momentarily and used his sash to wrap my wound tightly. I scrunched my face in pain but I didn’t make any sound besides occasional hisses. When he was done, he picked up his sword and looked at me. “Follow me, we should get it treated.” He said and I nodded. "Thank you." I said airy but he didn't respond. I walked behind him silently and we reached the infirmary.

When we entered, I saw many people lying on beds. Bandages were wrapped on different parts of their bodies and blood stains could be seen as well. Many of them seemed to be in a lot of pain. They had their eyes shut tightly and their chest rose and fell quickly but they didn’t let out a sound. I did feel a little bit of compassion for them as many women ran between them tending to their wounds and their needs. Somehow, I felt like helping too, but I had come here to get my wounds treated too.....so maybe next time.

We walked into a room attached to this one and there was one person who was healing some of the men. The man who was healing the others looked up as we entered. He looked at me and narrowed his eyes. Then his eyes darted to my arm and he nodded to my guard. “Sit down, he will have a look at the wound.” The guard said and I sat in front of him. After one of other patients was partially healed, he was taken away on a stretcher.

The healer then turned to me and gently took my arm. I sucked in a breath as he removed the cloth from the wound. It was soaked in my blood and I felt slightly queasy seeing so much of my own blood.

The healer looked over the wound once and then brought his hand over my arm. His hand began to glow greenish and my eyes went wide as the wound started to heal slowly. In about ten minutes, not even a scar was left. The healer retracted his hand and I looked at my arm amazed. I clenched and unclenched my fist. I couldn’t feel any pain at all. I looked up at him and even though he was giving and stern and not so happy look, I shook my head. “That was amazing….thanks.”

I glanced back at the room where I had seen so many people lying on beds with bandaged and I frowned. “Hey, if you can heal injuries so easily, how come so many of them are still in bandages? Cant you heal them too?” I asked and the man turned away to go through some books. “Those people are ones who have survived the war. In a war, enemies use poison and other elixirs which need to heal over time. And if they are wounded in critical chakra points, I cannot do anything to heal them with my ability.”

“Oh….I didn’t know…” I said softly. After that we excused ourselves and the guard led me to the dining hall. I mentally sighed seeing Madara, and the others there. Honestly, I wasn’t really in the mood to face them now but after quite some time of thinking, I had come to a decision. I stood in front of them and Madara didn’t look up. He still looked pretty anger and Tajima san and Izuna looked up with a glare. I rolled my eyes.

“I heard that Aimi attacked you. Did you get your injury treated?” I just nodded when Tajima san asked. Obviously, since I was an important tool, I had to be safe and sound to do the job.But after the short conversation of my well being, we were enveloped by silence. I sighed deciding to break the silence. “Madara.” I said and he twitched but he didn’t look at me. Izuna narrowed his eyes but I stayed as passive as I could. I ran a hand through my hair in slight frustration. I was trying hard to do this even though it was really annoying for me.

“Madara, I….I wanted to apologize.” I said and this time he looked up. He was watching me with a hint of suspicion and so were the others. “I gave it a lot of thought since this afternoon…..and I realized that we sort of started off on the wrong foot. I guess, all the frustration built up and pretty much exploded today.” I gave a short amused laugh and he narrowed his eyes. “So, I just wanted to say, how about we start by being friends? We’ve always been fighting and I feel that its just made things very troublesome for everyone here.”

“So….I wont complain about anything anymore and I will respect your dedication and….I will respect your clan. In return, I would like it if you would respect my way of life as well and give me some personal space. Oh, and if its not too much to ask, I would like to discuss some of my daily habits and practices that I follow so we clear off any misunderstandings.” I said and smiled. I felt better to have said this. I too was getting really tired about being annoyed at Madara all the time. Every time I saw him, the air around me would get dark and heavy and honestly, it was getting tiresome.

He narrowed his eyes but then gave a stiff nod. “Alright! So first we start over with a proper introduction.” I sat in front of them and held out my hand. “My name is Jung Mi Ho. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” He didn’t return the gesture and I pouted. “Oh, c’mon! Don’t be a spoilt sport! After all, we agreed to get along!” I said and he stiffened. But he shook my hand and I smiled. “Uchiha Madara.” He said stiffly and I nodded.

“Great! So, about my other requests….can I talk about them now?” I asked and he sighed. “What requests do you have?” Tajima san asked and I rested my chin in one hand. “Well, I remember Madara making a playful comment the other day that I would get fat if I didn’t do chores….” He narrowed his eyes at me but I gave a grin. “But on the contrary, just doing chores is making me fat. You see, I have the habit of following a very strict diet and doing regular workouts so I stay flexible and slim. It’s a top priority requirement for my dances.”

Madara twitched when I mentioned that and it made me a little curious. But I pushed the thought away for the time being and chuckled. “And besides that, I was hoping I could work in the infirmary. I prefer doing something to help people than just clean. I don't seem to be very good at cleaning to begin with.” I said and waited for someone to speak. “You seem to talk a lot when you’re friendly.” Madara commented and I frowned. “Hey, that’s way off topic, you know? And I don’t talk a lot…..unless I have something I really want to talk about.” I pouted.

“I suppose it would be okay…” Izuna said and I threw my hands up in a cheer. “Yay! That’s great then! I could totally use a change.” As we finished talking, food was set up in front of us and surprisingly, Tajima san told me that I could have dinner with them tonight. The food was so delicious compared to the usual food that I always ate. I ate as much as I could because I was too tempted by it.

"You're such a glutton. No wonder you say you've become fat." Madara said and I coughed as I choked on a piece of chicken. I hit the top of my head and drank some water to get it down my throat. Madara was watching me with an amused smirk. "I am not a glutton!" I defended and he chuckled. "Oh? Well, you sure eat like one." He leaned back and closed his eyes. I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest while giving him a glare. "It just so happens that I haven't eaten this kind of delicious food in a long time. So I couldn't control myself. I already told you, remember? I'm actually very strict with my diet." "Whatever you say." He said and I pouted at his teasing.

After the stuff I had said and the fresh start between me and the clansmen, Madara too seemed to have relaxed. He was laughing when he called me a glutton and I was surprised to see that if we tried, we could get along rather easily. He wasn’t as bad a jerk as I thought he was to people he knew. Maybe I should have tried this approach right from the beginning. And we wouldn't have ended up with the way things turned out this afternoon.

Speaking of which, I remember being pretty friendly with the Senjus…..I don’t know why I blew off my top when I met these guys. I guess we just messed up on the timing and I have to admit, Madara did have a rather sharp temper. So it wasn’t totally my fault, right? Besides, each person was different. Hashirama and Tobirama were the kind to listen to the whole story before taking a decision. On the contrary, the Uchiha leaders seemed to be the kind to jump into conclusions.

They were paranoid and even more defensive of their clan compared to the Senjus, as I had observed. They had a very deep connection that I couldn't understand. Not that it was complicated, but it was very....intense. The protectiveness, the understanding, and the bond they had with each other was intense. And I respected it.

I suppose a change was necessary. And this was a start, right? I had a feeling that things would go smoothly from now on.

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