Mio pov:

"Thank you for the hard work!" The manager of the restaurant, Sato san bowed as we all left the shop. Another day of service with a smile to all the ninja customers who passed through this village.

"See you tomorrow, Sato san." I wished as well as I picked up my bag and headed back home.

As I walked the usual route to the house, I was greeted by several people I had gotten acquainted with. Well, I did live here now so a lot of people including managers of the adjoining shops and the neighbors had become friendly with me. Especially the old ladies....they usually brought home delicious food they cooked for Ryoshi and I. They were nice people except for the fact that they kept teasing me with Ryoshi and pestered me with questions like 'do you like him?' and 'are you going to marry him?'.

I didn't want to be rude to either party so I politely tried to convince them that there was nothing like that. But believe me when I say tried, I really mean tried. Most of the time, the old ladies would just give giggles and creepy laughs in sarcasm. I was starting to get worried that they would be the ones to actually set up a church and every other marriage requirement and get us married without our consent.

"Heading home, Mio dear?" Speak of the devils....I gave one of the old ladies a half hearted smile. "Yes, oba san....my work shift just got over." "I see, I see!! Must have been a long day. I wont keep you too long." She winked as she walked away, leaving me with my eyebrow twitching. I gave a frustrated sigh, trying not to yell at every single person in this village that I was NOT dating Ryoshi. I mean, c'mon!! Was it so hard to get that simple fact through your head people?!

Besides that, my right hand had taken its own sweet time to heal. it had been a week and fir the first few days after the friendly contact with Madara's face, I could barely bend my fingers. But the pain had gradually decreased and now it was just a slight throbbing pain.

"I'm back...." I called out weakly as I entered the house. "Welcome back." Ryoshi walked out from the kitchen with a bowl of fruits. He was eating them and he held the bowl up for me too. "I'll just wash up and join you in the kitchen." I told him. He just nodded, walking back to the kitchen and taking a seat ay the service counter. I quickly washed my face, hands and legs and joined him.

I used the fork to pick out some orange pieces and apple pieces. I put them in my mouth, relishing the sweet taste. After I had eaten a bit to calm my growling stomach, I leaned back on the chair with a sigh.

"You seem tired today. Was work hectic?" Ryoshi asked and I looked at him. He didn't look tired at all. Well, he was one of the ten people who protected this village but as a daily job for wages, he had to scout the city and sometimes help out with delivering goods to different houses. Its not that my job was stressful ot anything, but hearing the comments if all the Oba sans was more tiring than the physical labor.

"Nah.....its just that lots of people don't know how to not poke their noses into other people's lives, no offense." I muttered, reaching out for some more fruit. "None taken.....but what do you mean when you say that?" He asked curiously, eyeing me with a strange expression. I groaned and rested my chin on the table with a frown. I was so annoyed, I wanted to wail.

"Jeez! All these over eccentric Oba sans! Haven't you heard? Just because I moved in with you, they think that we're going to get married or something! They wont stop spouting mushy lines that I really cant decide whether to politely decline or rudely ignore." I had to get that out of my system. It had been bugging me for quite a while and it had increased after the meeting with Madara. This week has been....crazy to say the least.

"Oh....yeah, they've been talking about that a lot....although I really wouldn't mind if we ended up getting married." He mumbled the last line out. I'm sure he didn't want me to hear that but I sat up straight to look at him. "I'm sorry?" I tried to get a confirmation of what he said but he looked slightly flustered as if he had been caught. "N-nothing....I-I was just thinking about how they can be annoying...." He covered up.

I raised a brow. Great....now there's a new problem. Don't tell me that Ryoshi was actually starting to have feelings for me! We didn't really know each other; besides, we....we were just friends, right?

Oh jeez....now I was starting to wonder if I should find a separate place to live. If I continued to stay with Ryoshi, it was only a matter of time before he did the confessing and proposing. Then what would I say? 'I'm sorry, I am in love with Uchiha Madara'? Pssh! Yeah, that was a nuclear bomb waiting to explode in my face.

"Ryoshi, what do you want for dinner?" I asked, changing the subject. I guess it was best to avoid this topic as much as possible. The more distance I kept from Ryoshi now, the better.

"Oh, anything is fine." I excused myself and decided to make simple ramen for dinner. We already had packs of noodles so I prepared the spice mix and the side dishes for the ramen. Once it was ready, I served it on the service counter. Dinner was silent thankfully, and I did my best to look like I was totally normal. I gave Ryoshi the reason that I was kind of tired and I locked myself in the darkness of my room soon after.

I sat down on my bed with a sigh. Today was quite a day....I was mentally exhausted. Shaking my head, I reached into the bedside drawer for my small wallet. It was the only thing that I had managed to save and keep with me all this time. The wallet was always in my pocket and I opened it to pull out the picture of me, my mom and my dad. It was a small picture, with me grinning widely in the middle. It was taken a few days after my CIA exam just before I joined up with Dynamo to pursue music as a career. I could see the picture clearly in the moonlight that fell through the window.

I touched the picture softly. "Omma, appa....pogoshippoyo. Na onje thuro oneungeo....mollayo. Thuro gagoshippoyo....jincha....[mom, dad....I miss you. When I will come back....I don't know. I want to come back....really....]" I mumbled, my eyes stinging slightly. I was staring at the picture, my mind distant.

[a/n: Again, I'm not sure if my Korean is right. I just tried to recall something I heard in a drama. If any of you readers out there are Korean, please feel free to correct me ^^']

"Well, aren't you engrossed in that picture?" I blinked, looking behind me to see Madara leaning next to the window with his arms crossed over his chest. His face was hard, his eyes swirling with irritation. There was a disapproving frown on his lips as well. I sighed, shaking my head as I put the picture back in the wallet. "When did you get into my room, Madara?" I put the wallet back in the draw, but before I could close it, Madara took picked it up in his hand in a flash.

I looked at him with a frown as he towered over me. "You should be more alert of your surroundings." So he was lecturing me now? I rolled my eyes as I stood up, giving him a not-amused look. "If you haven't realized, I live in a non ninja village. I don't think I need to be so alert." I said as I tried to reach for my wallet. He held it up and out of my reach, refusing to give it to me as he walked away from me with it.

"Well, if an assassin were to come in here, it would have been very easy for him to chop your head off and be merrily on his way, mission easily accomplished." He said. He opened my wallet and I was starting to get ticked off that he was going through my wallet without my permission. "Well, excuse me for being so inattentive. But I don't think I need to be so worried. Its not like I'm a wanted criminal."

He paused looking through my wallet. He looked up at me with narrow eyes. He clearly knew that I was in one way talking about him being a wanted criminal. But he was too powerful for anyone to be able to do anything to him even if they tried their hardest. I tried to snatch my wallet from him again but instead of moving away, he grabbed my wrist in a painful grip.

I sucked in a breath through my teeth but I didn't make another sound. I glared at him annoyed. "Would you give me my wallet back?" "And why should I do that?" I rolled my eyes putting my free hand on my hip. "Because it doesn't belong to you? Its mine so give it back." I held out my hand expecting him to give it to me. But he let go of my wrist and pulled out the photograph I had been looking at earlier. "Who are these people?"

I sighed defeated at his bossy attitude. But I smiled as I looked at the picture. "I'm a little surprised you don't recognize me. That's me and my parents four years ago....well, four years before I came to this world. I was 16 when I just started my career as a singer and a dancer." It was really nostalgic for me as I remembered that moment. I was so nervous to meet my eonnis because they were my seniors by three years. I had to be a replacement for one of the band members who left because of a voice injury.

But I remember it to be the best moment of my life. I was welcomed so warmly and being around them had felt like the most natural thing in the world.

"I really miss them....I wonder when...I'll get to go back." I smiled a little more as my voice softened. I took the picture from Madara's hand and I took my wallet as well. Keeping the picture back in my wallet, I placed it safely in my drawer.

After I was done with a homesick moment, I turned back to Madara with a smile. "So, I'm guessing you're here because you thought about what to do?" I said as I sat down on my bed comfortably. He still looked annoyed and it didn't give me a very good feeling about what he was going to say. I lost my smile, he didn't move; there was a very uncomfortable silence in the room.

"I will not change my goal. And you will help me, whether you like it or not." "Madara....." He didn't let me continue. "And since you were nice enough to save me the trouble of finding your friends, I suggest you think about them before you decide to reject me." I furrowed my brows with a hard stare at him. "Madara, have you forgotten what I told you. I told you that you will not touch them. I told you that even if you killed me, I wont forgive or help you."

He smirked at me. "Oh? Will you say the same thing if I really kill them? You can talk as bravely as you want, but both you and I know that there is no way you can save them from me, words or with your pathetic excuse of physical attacks." I clenched my fists, standing up swiftly to go and slap him. He caught my hand easily and didn't let go as I struggled.

"Madara! What is wrong with you? Why cant you listen to me and do the right thing for once in your life?!" I yelled, annoyed more than I should be. I was sure that Ryoshi would wake up if this continued, but I couldn't control my anger and Madara didn't seem to care about me raising the volume of my voice anyway.

"Listen to you? I wont make that mistake again, Mio. I was a fool to agree with that b****** Senju for the peace treaty! If it wasn't for you forcing me to accept it, none of this would have happened!" This was unbelievable! He was blaming it on me now? What did he think I am?! Some circus freak show?!

"Don't you dare blame your decisions on me! You took that decision on your own! I told you that I would support you no matter what decision you took....I even asked you later if you regretted it!" "Asking me something as stupid as that doesn't count!" He yelled back.

Now I was absolutely speechless. I watched him, my expression a mix of anger, absolute surprise and amusement. I relaxed my body and he loosened his hold on my wrist. I pulled my hand away from him, shaking my head as I took a few steps back. "You're really unbelievable, Madara.....why is it that every time I try to have a normal conversation with you, you end it with a fight?"

My eyes were stinging now. I didn't bother holding in the frustration I was feeling now as a few tears made their way down my cheeks. "Threatening me with people I consider important, forcing me to do something I don't want to, treating me like I'm some.....joke. What am I to you Madara? You held me for reassurance when Izuna died, when you couldn't take decisions, you told me how you felt, you expressed your frustrations in front of me and I listened to everything so you would feel better. In the end, you kissed me and I agreed that I did start having feelings for you.....but, what am I to you? If you see me the same way I described you as, why isn't my say in the matter being considered by you?"

"What do you see me as?" I asked in a soft voice. My eyes were still glassy but Madara didn't seem even the least affected by it. He scoffed, leaning against the wall of my room with his eyes closed. "You belong to me. You're mine; its as simple as that." "I am not an object, Madara." My voice was laced with anger. The anger I felt towards him, the anger for how insignificant I seemed to him was overwhelming. I may be wrong to say that I was worthy to have royal treatment, but I don't think I deserved to be treated this way either.

"I'm not some kind of book that you can keep for company when you're lonely and then get thrown away because I doesn't have any use anymore. I'm a person. A person with feelings, likes, dislikes and self respect." I stood a good five feet from him, my breathing coming out slightly ragged due to my turbulent emotions. "I'm tired, Madara. I always try to understand you, to try and respect your decisions. But its getting hard.....I don't understand you, not anymore. At least I did a little back in the Uchiha compound.....but I don't know what to do around you anymore. You've turned into someone I don't know."

"Mio, don't test my temper." His voice was cold, harsh. Similar to the way it was a hundred years ago, yet so rough. I shook my head again, wiping off the drying tears on my cheeks. "I'm tired of fighting with you. I'm tired of trying to be strong....I'm tired of pretending that I don't care what you say. But I cant do it anymore. I may look really strong and hard headed on the outside, but I have emotions too. I cant keep trying to pretend I'm okay because I want you to be happy."

He was silent now, just watching me with his always piercing and authoritative like gaze. I looked away with a sigh. I sat down on my bed, supporting myself upright with my hands on the edge of the bed. I looked at the pattern of the floor, my mind all muddled up now.

"I don't know how I came here, I don't know why I came here. I don't know anyone besides my brother and his family, Ryoshi, you and probably a few others I just exchanged a simple greeting with back in the new Konoha. I'm practically lost in some crazy ninja world and its not as easy as you think it is, trying to adjust here. I want to go home, back to my world where things make sense. And being around you....is not helping that one bit. You don't respect me or my feelings and if that's how its going to be...." I looked at him again. "I don't want to have anything to do with you."

"Even if I love you, if I don't get your respect and your concern for me.....I don't see why I have to be the one hoping to see you when I get the chance. I might as well think of all this as just a long dream and return to my world." "Mio." His voice was stern again and I couldn't help but chuckle in amusement. "Even after everything I said, I see no difference in the way you react to what I say. The same voice, the same expression....no care or concern." I said without any hesitance.

I held the back of my neck with my eyes closed, trying to ease the pain of a slight discomfort of my stiff muscles. "You should leave Madara. Its late, I want to get some sleep and its better if you leave before you cause a ruckus in the village." I said and moved my blanket so I could get in bed. "Mio, I'm not done talking with you!" Madara growled.

"Well, I am. I want to be alone and if you stay here, I really will yell at you." "You're impossibly annoying." Madara sneered. I ignored him and fell sideways on the bed with my back facing him. I covered myself with the blanket as I closed my eyes wanting to really give him the idea that I didn't want to talk anymore. "I will get what I want Mio. It doesn't matter what you think because in the end, I am the most powerful person alive and not even a combination of all the shinobi in this world is enough to defeat me."

I knew he wasn't joking. I hated to say so, but I knew that what he was saying was true. I could feel his chakra and that alone was pretty much enough to crush someone inside out. If he really did fight this so called war for power, he would definitely win....unless someone, by sheer luck, even more powerful than him turned up to stop him. And that was a decimal percent chance. Madara had already gone beyond the point of me trying to convince him by yelling or rather, lecturing him as he put it.

I didn't bother reacting to what he said and I heard him curse under his breath, calling me an 'annoying b****' as well before disappearing.

When I couldn't feel his chakra anymore, I opened my eyes with a sigh. What was Madara doing? What was I doing? I really was getting tired of all this. This world was too complicated for my liking.....I wanted to go home. I wanted to go back to modern Seoul, South Korea.

I bit my lip as my eyes stung again. I brought the blanket over my head, covering my face as I sniffled in the darkness of my room. It was too hard to keep everything in like this. I had no one to ask for advice about this....I couldn't even tell anyone because the person in the context was Uchiha Madara. Just the mention of his name, people trembled in fear and hate....if I said I loved him, I would probably be the one cut up into minced meat.

I hated this. I hated this world, this Madara.....this Madara I didn't know anymore. I was angry, hurt, scared.....and I was alone.

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