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

Chapter 18 - Leaving for the War

As it was before, this chapter is dedicated to Dustox4! Happy reading!

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Harumi pov:

I opened my eyes slowly and blinked several times to clear out the haziness from my vision. I saw a dimly lit stone ceiling and it took me a few minutes to remember where I was. Everything that had happened yesterday – from Madara and Kabuto kun bringing Grandpa and me here in the name of safety to Grandpa's confession of my real parents – rushed through my mind and I stayed unmoving for a few minutes while letting everything sink in.

When I was more away, I gave my body a good stretch with a shrill hum in happiness. I decided to get up and get ready for the day instead of laze around on the bed even though there was probably nothing for me to do today. Besides, I was kind of hungry too.

I gave a good stretch and groaned in a shrill voice as I awoke. I yanked at the blanket as I tried to sit up but squealed rather loudly when I lost balance and fell off the bed and onto the hard stone floor of the cave.

"Oww..." I mumbled and then looked down at myself only for my eyebrow to twitch. How much had I tossed and turned yesterday to end up so tangled in the blanket??

Blowing a strand of my hair out of my face, I proceeded to untangle myself from the sheets. After several minutes of huffing and puffing and tugging, I was finally free from the blanket. I heaved while falling flat on my back to stare at the ceiling again, now in tranquility. I slept a lot better than I thought I would, though I guess it was because Kabuto kun had kept me company until I felt sleepy enough to turn in for the night in this new place. I had still expected to wake up at least one or twice like I usually did in any new place...oh well.

It's a good thing that it wasn't too cold during the night. I mean, caves were generally a lot cooler than the outside because of the stone they were made out of, weren't they? That and I was feeling a little cold when I went to sleep last night too. Surprisingly, I think that I was kept rather warm throughout the night, as if there had been a heater in this room to keep the cold out. I had slept deeply, without even a single dream, and that was rather rare.

Shrugging and assuming that the blanket had done a good job at keeping me warm, I got up from the floor. I got a towel and a fresh pair of clothes from my bag and then headed to the bathroom. I smiled as I entered it just as happy as I was when I saw it yesterday. Rather than a bathroom, it was a spacious hot spring and the whole room was enveloped in a thin blanket of steam.

I stepped towards the water and crouched before dinning my fingers in the water to check the temperature. It was perfect – not too hot – and I didn't hesitate to undress after that and keep aside my clothes so they could be washed later. I got into the water ad waded to the slightly deeper parts of it before sitting down while leaning against one of the rocks to soak.

After ten minutes of blissful soaking, I scrubbed myself squeaky clean and got out of the water to dry off. I put on a pair of capris and a simple t-shirt before walking back into the room and hanging the towel to dry on the backrest of the chair, my stomach let out a strained growl in hunger and I laughed to myself before leaving the room.

I knocked on the door of Grandpa's room and stepped inside when I heard him give me permission to enter. I gave a cheerful smile as I stepped up to him, no longer sad or feeling burdened by what had been keeping us distant from each other before. Now that I knew the truth about my parents and Grandpa, I had no more reasons to sulk.

Although, there was still the complications with Madara and Kabuto kun. The trust I had in both of them was equal and settling the matter of feelings and who to be with was surely not going to be an easy job. Madara would obviously be furious if I wanted to be with Kabuto kun and he would surely not back down without a fight...and I was worried that he would hurt Kabuto kun in his anger if they ended up fighting each other. It was obvious that Madara had the upper hand too...