Nakamura.

─∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗─

"Tobi... what?" Hashirama mumbled, trying to grasp what his brother just told him "Please tell me you didn't put her in the prison!"

"....." Tobirama just looked away, folding his arms.

"You... Didn't... Right?" Hashirama knew how much his brother loathed the Uchiha's but still believed he was smart enough to make rational decisions and not get worked up by his emotions. But seeing Tobirama so agitated and silent, he had a gut feeling his brother messed up.

"I... Did at first but t-"

"TOBIRAMA! She's Tajima's daughter! She's the princess of the Uchiha clan! How in the world can you just put her in the prison?" Hashirama yelled.

"Ani-"

"What if the elders find out about her?"

"Calm down, Aniki. She's in my room. Don't worry, the elders don't know about this. Yet."

"Your room?"

" Yes. That... I thought that's safer so..."

"Tobi... You..." Hashirama sighed, rubbing his forehead. That explains why he was sleeping in my room.

Even if he didn't sleep with her, the rumor's about Tobirama keeping women in his chamber will spread like wildfire, since he rarely spent time on anything other than training and inventing new Jutsus. Hashirama didn't even want to imagine what would happen if people get to know that the woman is Uchiha Yuki. To his dismay, Tobirama turns out to be too insensitive to understand the consequences of his actions.

'I need to fix this.'

This moment might go down in history when the 'careless' Hashirama will point out the carelessness of the most careful person in the Senju clan. "Tobirama... I can't believe I have to point this out to you. Keeping an unmarried girl of an enemy clan in your Chambers at night after kidnapping her. Do you know the consequences if word gets out..?"

─∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗─

"...." Tobirama remained quiet today. He did not know how to confess that he'd almost raped the girl last night... Not to mention the incident back in the prison. He had to jerk off by himself to calm down and he couldn't even sleep since his mind was busy figuring out her and her sick fascination.

He knew Uchiha's were crazy... but this? This was a whole new level of madness.

The events from the night didn't fail to irritate him again. He had been in a foul mood since morning, causing him to snap at everyone and everything. It took him a tremendous effort to keep his cool right now. He'd never felt this out of control. And not being in control was making him lose his mind.

He looked up to find Hashirama glaring at him, waiting for his response, and felt a cold chill run down his spine. He had expected Aniki to be angry. But right now he felt nervous for entirely different reasons. Tobirama had captured the girl mainly for political /strategical benefit since she is the sister of the current Uchiha leader. He was also sure that she's a maiden. After all, she's promised to the Hyuuga's. But now that he knows she's not a virgin, he knew the Uchiha's and the Hyuuga's will blame him and the Senju for tainting her. He can't even prove his innocence since he did try to claim her.

.

.

.

'I Messed up ... real bad.'

"Tobirama. I asked you something."

"Aniki...did you forget the elders were planning on capturing a significant enough Uchiha? Isn't it better if she's in our custody? We could make use of her!"

"Do you not remember I had clearly refused them? They cannot proceed with it without my permission."

Tobirama shrugged his shoulders "You never know. I doubt they planned the ambush."

"Tobi..." Hashirama gritted his teeth, trying to calm himself.

"You are too naïve, Aniki."

"And you are too paranoid!" Hashirama snapped.

Tobirama just stood there, quiet. There were so many things that were bothering him at the moment. He didn't want to add his brother to the list.

Hashirama shook his head, irritated and angry. He would have never expected Tobirama to kidnap Yuki, that too when he had finally made some progress in mending his friendship with Madara. "Just why would you do something like this? You know she's Madara's sister!"

"At least... you finally get to negotiate with him" Tobirama mumbled. His mood fouling with each passing moment as he came to realize that he was trying to find excuses to somehow justify himself.

"Tobirama! There is a difference between blackmailing and negotiating."

"So you would rather have her be caught by those shinobi's?" Tobirama questioned.

"No..no..This," Hashirama sighed. "Why didn't you return her to their estate?"

"Are you really asking me why I , didn't go to the Uchiha estate to return her?"

"That..." Hashirama trailed off. He knew Tobirama had a point, even so, he couldn't help but be annoyed at the way events had turned out. If his brother had gone to the Uchiha's returning her, he would have to face all kinds of accusations and most probably they would try to kill him the moment they detect him nearby.

His head ached. Last night had been hard on him as he kept searching for her in the forest. Then ended up helping Madara and Izuna. It was way past midnight when he returned to the Senju estate. He knew they must search for Yuki right now. He had no idea how to tell Madara that his sister was in his estate without starting another war. The Uchiha's were protective of their females and would be angry that the Senju's captured one of them. Not to mention that Yuki was not just any female but Tajima's daughter. And keeping her safe within his own clan was a great task in itself. The moment the elders get the news of her being held captive, she'll be taken hostage under their command. Even as the Senju leader, he won't have the authority to keep her safe with him. On top of it, the amount of hatred most elders hold towards the Uchiha's, he was sure they would harm her.

Hashirama knew he had no choice but to lie.

"Kami... this is so messed up" he sighed, palming his face in frustration.

─∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗─

She opened her eyes and found herself in a rather unfamiliar room. 'So It's not a dream... '

Her heart sank, realizing all the events were real. And she was being held hostage at the Senju estate. Her mind played the events that occurred last night, making her mood foul the moment she woke up. The way she shamelessly released on his fingers and how that hateful man touched her? His disgusting lewd words ringed in her mind.

['You are good at seducing men.']

['You like this, don't you?']

['Your brothers must be so proud of you.']

['Cum for me, princess.']

She felt so dirty... So filthy.

'Why... Did I... Imagine nii san?'

She wrecked her mind the entire night, trying to reason with her... Lust. She even made up excuses to justify herself. The look in that Senju's eyes, the disgust, and shock when he heard her moan out for her brother hit her hard. It made her realize the gravity of the sin she'd committed.

'But... But I love nii san...'

.

.

'He would never harm me.'

'He isn't like this Senju. He...'

'It's because Nii san ...'

.

.

Tears trailed down her eyes "Nii San loves me..."

.

.

'Why am I trying to justify myself? To whom am I justifying?' She found it so laughable that she was desperately trying to believe her own lies.

She had no idea how long she stayed on the bed staring at the ceiling and trying to introspect on her life and reasons to live. Soon her gaze moved towards the door, sensing the footsteps.

Two maids rushed into the room "Nakamura sama, we are here at your service,"

'Nakamura?' She just blankly stared at them whereas they just blankly stared back at her.

"What?"

"We were told to help you get ready to meet Chiharu Sama. The bath is ready. Please come with us."

'Who?'

"Ah... Okay." Yuki did not know what in the world was going on, but she knew she wanted to take a bath.

─∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗─

"My lady, the right-wing belongs to Hashirama-sama." The maids guided her through the house as they passed by. They explained where the sitting room was, the dining, the kitchen, the servants' quarters, and then they stopped at the bathing area "This is the ladies' bathing area." They bowed again and slide the door open for her to enter. "We will come back to dress you up, my lady." They closed the doors and she was alone.

'Finally ...'

She took off her clothes, then stepped into the tub and washed herself. Releasing a long sigh she leaned back against the tub. Her head felt cluttered as thoughts kept buzzing around. She hadn't slept the entire night, and her eyes felt so heavy.

She noticed the shadow of her arm, taking notice of how dim the washroom was. She had only opened the window on the top for some light to pour inside.

How... dark?

It was like her, yet so dark… and felt so sinister. It was always with her, following her. It was a part of her- a hidden part of her that only showed itself when there's enough light.

Within one night my life changed... just like that night.

That night...

.

.

.

Don't.

Don't think.

Please.

She pleaded to herself as she desperately tried to shift her thoughts.

.

.

.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴! 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀!

'No...'

𝗔 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲! 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲!

' I'm not.'

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿!

' I didn't.'

Yuki sat up in the tub, covering her face with her trembling hands. She hated this voice. This voice would make its presence known, just like the shadows.

𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗳𝘂𝗹!

'Stop!'

𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘁!

"STOP!"

The voices in her head were getting louder with each passing day and it was driving her insane. She shut her eyes as she tried to focus on stabilizing her breathing.

After a few minutes of peaceful silence, her mind started its new torture game. It played incidents of the previous night with that Senju and how he had reacted when he heard her.

She let herself sink into the water. She was sure that Tobirama probably despised her and her clan even more now.

Her stomach dropped as a pang of heavy guilt filled her heart once again. She felt like she was drowning... drowning in an ocean of mixed feelings that suffocated her, just like this water right now.

'How am I supposed to face him?'

Yuki decided to do what she did best: Ignore. Ignoring that Senju shouldn't be that difficult. She just has to pretend he doesn't exist. And since he despised her and her clan, it should be easy to avoid him.

─∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗─

The maids returned to help her dry her hair and dress her up. She sat down in front of a mirror and watched as they patted scented oil on her hair, then brush it down. She felt herself calm down a little, inhaling the scent "It smells nice. Which oil is it?"

"It's from the Jasmine flower, my lady. A different variety. " the maid combing her hair replied.

"I would love to see that flower," Yuki mumbled, trying to start small talk. Hopefully, she could get a little close to them.

"The Uzumaki clan had brought this as a gift for Chiharu-sama. She fell in love with this scent and planted its flower in the main garden. You should visit the garden, it is beautiful."

"Yes! It is huge with all kinds of rare plants! It is just near Hashirama Sama's compound! The garden was small before, but since Hashirama sama loves plants, he renovated it! We even gather most flowers then press it for its oil to sell them to merchants." the other maid holding the oil replied. She was younger and was quite cheerful.

"Oh. Interesting" Yuki mumbled. If it has rare plants, then maybe she could find an herb for unblocking chakra points too.

"Who is this Chiharu Sama?"

The maids glanced at each other before replying, "I assume you must not have been notified, my lady. We apologize for the inconvenience. Chiharu Sama is the older sister of the late Senju leader Butsuma Sama and Aunt to Hashirama Sama and Tobirama Sama."

"I see," Yuki mumbled, feeling nervous suddenly. She didn't want to get acquainted with these people. She still had her other plan in mind- to run.

Why would she want to meet me? Does this have to do something with 'Nakamura'? Yuki decided to play along for the time being. She could get along with the maids while being here to get some idea about the layout of the Senju estate and plan her escape.

The maid carefully brushed her hair till the end "My lady, you have such beautiful and healthy hair." Both of them marveled at the smooth silky feel of her hair on their palms.Yuki smiled at their reactions. She'd heard it a lot of times before.

"I was born with it." She gave it some thought before continuing, "But it's healthy because Hemiko chan takes such good care of me."

"Is she your maid?" the maids looked surprised.

"Yes, she's been with me ever since I was a little girl. So she's more than just a personal maid to me." Yuki replied, feeling sad thinking about Hemiko.

After they were done with combing her hair and dressing her up, they led her out of the room and back into the hallways, heading to the right-wing. They walked further down the hallway and halted in front of the sliding door to announce,

"Nakamura-Sama is here."

Then they slide the doors open for Yuki. She nodded to the two maids to show her thanks before stepping inside.

─∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗─