~~~~~Chapter 12~~~~~

Nao's POV

After I walked in our room after dinner, his strong pair of arms wrapped around me again. I sighed and turned around to face him.

"Impatient, are we?"

"Well, I wanted to ask you something."

I raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Sure. Go ahead."

He smirked and sat down, pulling me along with him. "Great. I wanted to know more about you," he said while burying his face on the crook of my neck.

"Okay."

I wrapped my arms around him, leaning closer to him, as I began telling him more about me.

"Well, my name is Kuzuryu Nao and--"

"I know that," he said.

"Wait let me finish. I am the second oldest of three sisters and one brother. My older sister's name is Akane, and she's the heir of our clan. She married a guy of another strong clan out of love. The guy's name is Akihiro.

I'm not really close to my other siblings right now, but we did use to play with each other a lot back then with another friend of mine."

He raised his eyebrows, seeming to be interested in what I was saying.

"Well, there's also Oomori-san and Ayame, whom you've actually met already. They're like sisters to me as well. We're really close."

"Tell me more..."

"Alright. Well, my family is really strict," I said, kind of hesitant in telling him all of it, but the way he looked at me made me trust him. His eyes had determination, as if he really wanted to know more about me.

"They expect me to do everything well like my sister does. You see, Akane-nee was a prodigy, and now a genius. She's strong and good at everything. She even chose a strong man for herself. She's independent.

She's not like me. She never had anything to be chosen for her. She had her own choices. Meanwhile, for me, I had no will and mind of my own. They chose everything for me, everything even to my husband, but I don't regret it. Regretting it means regretting meeting you. If I said that then I would have been lying.

I often disappointed them. "Why can't you be more like your sister?" they would tell me. "She's good at everything! You're her sister. Surely you can do the same." But that's it! I'm her sister, not her. I'm a completely different person, and they couldn't simply understand that, not even the elders of the clan could."

He frowned.

"Although I may have made my family look bad to you, I'm still grateful to them. They raised me and taught me all that I need to know. If they didn't have such high standards, I wouldn't even last a second in the battlefield.

The world is cruel. Humans would end the lives of innocent people, even their own kin. Furthermore, we have been born in an era of war. Their Spartan training was perfect."

He smirked. "I thought you had it smooth sailing. You're actually more than that huh..."

I pouted. "That's what you thought of me?"

"To be honest, yeah, at first, when I first heard of the marriage. I imagined you to be a pampered spoiled brat who would only be a burden. I never imagined falling in love with you."

I giggled. My imagination was worse than his. His was actually believable. "Well, I thought you would be a pedophile with a long tongue and bushy eyebrows, plus pimples."

I looked at his face, and he was horrified. "What?"

He sighed. "Continue."

I smiled.

"In-between some training sessions though, I began to sneak out whenever the teachers weren't looking with some snacks with me to eat. I usually went to the hidden river near our house and rest there until noon. One particular morning though, I met someone. He was the friend I mentioned earlier," I said.

Suddenly, he raised an eyebrow. "He?"

"Are you jealous?"

He stayed silent, and I shook my head.

"We began getting along and eventually became friends although we got caught by my teachers later on. I thought they would've been enraged actually, that I actually stole food from our cabinets and met up with a friend, but they were actually happy. Are you wondering why?"

"Now that you mention it, yes."

I frowned, remembering the memory.

~flashback~

"Oh, Nao-sama! I guess you have met Shirogane Akito-sama. It's nice to see that you two youths have actually met before we introduced you to each other!" one of my teachers said.

"Why would you introduce us to each other?" we asked curiously and looked at each other.

"Why because you two are engaged of course!"

"What?"

~end of flashback~

"Well, it didn't happen because my sister got married to his brother though.

Silence.

"Madara?"

"You were engaged?" he growled.

"It was arranged though. We were ten years old back then, and it was supposed to be for the clan's benefit. My older sister was supposed to marry you, clan heir to clan heir, but she married first then it was passed to me."

"I see," he said, his hold on me tightening. "I still want to kill that guy but..."

"Hey! Don't say that."

He sighed. "I won't."

"Well, we better get some rest."

"Alright then," he said, lying down on our futon, but not before kissing me on the lips which I fully returned back.

"Good night."

"Night."

The next day, a loud explosion was heard in the front door of the compound. The door was smashed down with a strong wind jutsu.

A man with silver hair stood.

"I'VE COME TO TAKE MY FIANCÉE BACK!"

~~~~~

A/N

Well, a short chapter wasn't it?

Sorry, but I just had to end it there. XD