Mist

Chapter 2- The evil rug.

Kasumi crinkled as she felt Madara's heavy boot press down on her back.

"It's over," he said and somehow she got a feeling he had said this phrase thousands of times before.

The female shivered under the glare of the Uchiha clan leader, but she dared not look up into his eyes.

After a small pause Madara continued with, "Kasumi, small time jewellery thief, rouge member of the Mountain clan and now my prisoner."

Her eyes widened in shock before she narrowed them and said, "How did you know about my clan?"

He probably smirked, she could just feel his arrogance level rising as he said, "Silver hair, green eyes, those are the typical characteristics of a Mountain clan member, and not to mention, your name and face is at the top of that clan's most wanted list."

Kasumi sighed, even here she was not safe from the treachery of her clan.

Madara continued with, "The reward for you, a pathetic weak ninja, is quite the number and it makes me wonder what you did to deserve that. So tell me Kasumi what did you do?"

He sneered when he said her name and she frowned as she replied, "I became a ninja. My clan didn't accept that so I ran away."

There was silence for a bit longer until Kasumi felt herself being pulled up by the clothing on her back, she felt like a disobedient puppy that was about to be scolded.

Madara brought her up to his eye level, so her feet couldn't reach the ground and stared at her.

They were so different, he was loved and prized by his clan, but she was hated and hunted.

Finally, the Uchiha broke the silence by saying, "Tomorrow I will send you back to Snow Country, and eventually back to the Mountain Clan."

Kasumi's eyes widened in shock and Madara could see the panic in her eyes, but then it disappeared and it was replaced with a look of pure determination as she said, "I will escape, you know that."

A small frown presented itself on Madara's sharp face and he said, "Alright, but I have no time to deal with you so I will just kill you here and no more trouble will come from you."

A sly smile. "Why dirty your sword, as you said, I'm not worth that, but if you let me go... I'm gone and I promise you will never see me again."

The Uchiha's dark onyx eyes narrowed as he said, "No, you will get what you deserve. You will rot in my prison until your clan come to get you themselves."

"Once again, I will escape," she reminded.

"Then you will die by my hand right here, right now," Madara said in a tone that clearly meant the conversation was over, but Kasumi retorted, "Fine, kill me and prove to yourself that you are too stupid to think of a non-violent, working solution."

Instantly, the female saw she had said too much because he roughly threw her against a tree and grabbed her by the throat.

She knew she should apologize, or beg for mercy, but even if she wanted to she couldn't because her throat was painfully restricted and she couldn't breathe.

"Watch your tongue, bitch," he bit out before tightening his grip on her thin, pale neck.

That's when her panic finally reached her mind; she was going to die. At first she went completely blank and all she could do was stare at the hand that was slowly squeezing the life out of her, but then an idea came to her.

Focusing as much chakra as she could into her hands, Kasumi put them on the one Madara was using to choke her and then twisted to give him an extreme Indian burn.

Without the chakra, Kasumi doubted Madara would even feel it, but the chakra made the attack more effective.

The angry Uchiha immediately let go of her and she fell on her knees and began to cough.

However, as she was trying to catch her breath, Madara walked behind her and in one swift movement hit her on the head, thus effectively knocking her out, again.

Then for the second time that day, he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

She was definitely more trouble than she was worth.

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

Kasumi wrinkled her nose when it was assaulted by the smell of dust. When she opened her eyes she was it was because of the fact that she was lying on the floor beside a desk.

A desk with someone sitting in it that is.

"You're finally awake," said the annoyed voice of the Uchiha clan leader.

She contemplated muttering something insulting back, but when she felt how sore her neck and head were she decided against it.

Kasumi picked herself up off the floor and looked around the room she was currently in. It was nothing like the prison she had been in, no, it would be an insult to compare the two.

This room was perfectly furnished, had fancy furniture, a large desk half filled with a huge stack of papers and not to mention, everything in the room was dark brown.

After taking a closer look at the desk, she saw there was a little gold plaque which read 'Uchiha Madara'.

So this was Madara's office then.

Then the female looked up at Madara from between the stacks of paper, who looked very busy.

Briefly, she wondered how far she could run without getting caught, but her thoughts were cut short when the Uchiha cleared his throat and gestured for her to sit in the seat in front of him.

Kasumi complied and he began with, "You are a useless nuisance and I want nothing more than to be rid of you, but your previous actions have showed me I'm not that lucky."

She couldn't help but smirk as he continued, "So, until the Mountain clan ninja get here I see that the only thing I can do for now is watch over you."

The female ninja's smirk widened, even if the message was delivered by teleportation, it would take the ninja at least two weeks to get all the way to Konoha.

Getting back to the conversation she said, "You? Watch over me? Why you, and why do I get the feeling it's not going to be very nice?"

Madara finished with another piece of paper before saying, "I will not watch over you the whole time, when Izuna comes back from his mission he will. And this is not some little vacation, you are still my prisoner. It's not meant to be nice."

The office fell silent as both figures were deeply engrossed in their thoughts. Madara was busy with his mountain of paper work, while Kasumi was trying to remember who Izuna was.

She knew he was the brother of Madara and they had the same amount of power, but in different ways.

While Madara was strong with chakra and pure physical strength, Izuna was strong with intelligence and cunning. It was rumoured Izuna could trick his enemies into giving themselves up or falling into their own traps.

Together they were unstoppable and that made Kasumi nervous to no end.

She knew she had two weeks to escape, but how could she if she was around not one, but two impossibly strong Uchiha's?

Then she remembered two things, one, Madara didn't answer her question as to why he was watching over her in the first place and two, Izuna was not in the base right now.

This was her tiny little window of opportunity, if she could somehow get Madara off her back she would be free.

Her train of thought was interrupted when Madara threw a pen at her and said, "Make yourself useful and write a letter of condolences to Star Country's lord, he recently lost his son in an explosion."

At first Kasumi just stared blankly at the Uchiha, but when he look up and glared at her she realized he was not kidding.

Sighing, she took a blank piece of paper and began to write. Well, at least she was no longer bored.

When she was done the letter she gave it to Madara, who read it quickly and signed it with his name before putting it in a small pile to his right.

The silence continued for quite some time until it was rudely interrupted by a small, but still very innocent sound.

Grrraaaarrr

Madara looked up at Kasumi and she sheepishly smiled and said, "Oh, sorry, I haven't eaten anything all day."

He gave a small grunt in acknowledgement and loudly called out, "Bring a servant in." There were rustling noises outside the door and then a young girl walked in.

She looked a couple of years younger than Kasumi and Madara, making her about 18. (Kasumi is 20, and Madara is 23)

The servant girl bowed by Madara's desk and timidly asked, "What can I do for you Madara-sama?"

He didn't even look up at her as he said, "Food. For her." The girl turned to look at Kasumi, who gave her a small smile, but the girl gave her a hateful glare.

Confused, the rogue ninja followed the girl out the door with her eyes. Then she turned back to face Madara, who gave her a piece of paper with a bunch of names on it.

Before she could ask, he said, "Write condolence letters to all of them." Kasumi nodded and replied, "A lot of important people have died."

The only response she got was a 'hn' so she changed the subject completely by saying, "Do you have any male servants?"

This time he looked up at her, only to raise one perfect eyebrow at her and say, "No, all my men are ninja's and are not gay enough to serve."

The female tried not to grin, he was falling for her little trap. "Oh? So you make the woman serve you? Why the women?"

Now he stopped writing and contemplated what to say. Finally he said, "They are good at cooking, cleaning, and of course serving others."

There was no pause when Kasumi retorted, "What if a woman can do none of that?"

"She is not worthy to be in the presence of a man," he said with no hesitation what so ever and at last an accomplished grin plastered itself all over Kasumi's face.

She stood up from the chair and began walking toward the door. Madara frowned. "Where do you think you're going?"

Stopping to turn around and look at him she said, "It is like you said, I am not worthy enough to be in your presence."

When Madara saw her positively evil grin he stood up from his desk and he was going to yell at the stubborn female, but right at that moment the servant girl opened the door and Kasumi was easily able to slip through the door and dash down the hallway.

Back in the office, Madara sat back down in his seat and dismissed the servant. He had no more time to deal with Kasumi, but that didn't mean he was just going to let her walk.

No, not at all, because Madara knew Kasumi had gone running in the direction of where Izuna was now.

Earlier that day, he had told Izuna about her so if he saw her he was not going to let her pass.

Madara let a small satisfied smirk fall onto his lips as he thought about how lucky he was that Izuna was coming back from his mission right this moment.

(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)-(8)-(9)

This was just so suspicious.

There was not a single person in the hallway. No maids, ninjas and most importantly, no Madara.

Kasumi walked down the hallway in search of a window. If she was able to get outside then the rest of the escape would be easier.

However, she hadn't seen a single window yet and it kept bothering her that Madara was not coming after her.

She wasn't complaining, but she didn't think the Uchiha clan leader was just going to let her leave with some clever timing and wording.

"Who do we have here?" a voice suddenly whispered into Kasumi's ear and she instantly jumped to the side.

To her right she saw a man with the same height as Madara, but with a slimmer build and thinner hair. His face had some similarities to Madara and now Kasumi knew exactly who this man was:

Uchiha Izuna.

"Ah, Kasumi, Madara has told me a lot about you," Izuna said in a light tone.

The female smiled politely and said, "I'm sure none of it was nice."

Izuna chuckled a bit before saying, "So, where's my brother?" Smirking, Kasumi said, "In his office, but I wouldn't suggest you go in there because he's in a rather grumpy mood. I wouldn't be surprised if he was ripping all of his papers to shreds right now."

The Uchiha nodded, but then in a much more serious tone he said, "Well, I should bring you back to him now."

It was Kasumi's turn to chuckle as she said, "No, he practically kicked me out because he doesn't want me around him."

Izuna shook his head, picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, all before she could even squeak.

Clearly upset she yelled, "Hey! Put me down! I don't want to be anywhere near that stupid asshole that likes to knock me out!"

Kasumi felt herself being let down to stand on her own again and she was going to thank Izuna, but instead she gulped when she heard some 'stupid asshole' clearing his throat.

"I thought I already told you to watch your tongue," Madara growled and the female, who instinctively stepped behind Izuna.

"I... erm... why did we get here so fast?" she asked sheepishly because she remembered it took her five minutes of wandering to get to Izuna, but it took him only mere seconds to get her back to Madara.

Madara replied, "It is our self-invented teleportation technique. Now, go with Izuna." Kasumi sighed, but did not object, she would rather go with Izuna than stay with Madara, who was probably going to try and get revenge for what she had said.

The younger Uchiha nodded and began walking out of the room, stopping only to wait for Kasumi to follow him.

He led her in the opposite direction then before and eventually they made it to a very fancy looking room. It was furnished just like Madara's office, but the only difference was that instead of a desk there was a bed.

And beside the bed was... a little rug that was typically used as a dog bed.

Izuna spoke first, "Madara wants you to sleep here." Kasumi smiled and said, "Wow, what a nice bed, are you sure that's what he said?"

He almost winced, almost. "No, not on the bed, that's where Madara sleeps... he wants you to sleep on the little rug."

Silence.

"WHAT!"

More silence.

"Oh, you were kidding weren't you? Ha, Izuna you're funny."

Izuna shook his head and said, "My lady, I do not kid about... this."

The two figures stared at each other before Kasumi walked out the door and down the hallway.

Izuna stifled a sigh, now he had the 'fun' job of convincing Kasumi to literally sleep at the feet of her captor.

The female walked to the nearest door she saw, flung it open and walked inside. This room was as neat as Madara's, but it had lighter tones and no rug.

She sat on the bed and said, "I will not sleep on that... rug... so I will sleep here, or any other bed that is not in any way connected to Madara."

The younger Uchiha walked closer to her and said, "No, I'm afraid you don't have a choice. You will sleep where Madara wants you to. Oh and by the way, this is my room."

Suddenly, before she could do anything, Izuna grabbed Kasumi, everything began to swirl and she was back in Madara's room, but now alone and on the rug.

When she recovered from the slight shock of teleporting she dusted herself off and stood up.

Looking around the room again, she saw a window and instantly hope surged through her. She felt Izuna's chakra back in his room so she knew she would not be able to escape, but at least she knew where she was going to sleep.

This tree. This beautiful and very conveniently placed tree outside Madara's window.

She quietly opened the window, sat on the ledge and looked down. She was on the second floor and she could easily step onto the tree.

Carefully, she stepped on the closest branch and then crawled to a much thicker one that could fully hold her weight.

Sure, it was not the most comfortable place to sleep, but anything was better than sleeping in the same room Madara.

Now, Kasumi was sure Madara would never let her sleep on the tree, so she had to get some sleep now before he found her.

If he was going to force her to lie beside his bed there was no way she was going to get a wink of sleep.

With that problem temporarily resolved, the young female yawned and fell asleep in the tree.

To be continued...