Till You Die:”Bloodred Primrose”

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Till You Die

8 – Bloodred Primrose

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Daze.

It was a lie.

Not real.

She would say that confidently, except…

The pain shooting up her calf was a little too real for her tastes.

…

No. Unbelievable.

And he was seriously expecting her to take a seat, kneeling, at the head table next to him with a sprained ankle?

Aha…

But it was either that, or to remain standing with a sprained ankle. Loreli wasn’t sure if there was a difference.

This man really was merciless.

…

…What is with the people in here? The festive mood did not seem forced. Did no one truly notice the strain over at the head table in the main hall?

Loreli was. angry.

A quiet, burning rage deep inside her chest.

Why wouldn’t she be angry?

This man had brought her hell since day one, and now through a twist of fate, she was married to him. Against her will.

It must be divine punishment for not having the courage to go against Yuzuzu-hime’s orders.

Loreli missed her life.

“Eat.”

She clenched her jaw at his command, immobile.

“Or I’ll take it as a sign that you’re impatient.”

He hadn’t even glanced to the side at her as he said that, his tone mocking.

Loreli knew he didn’t give a damn whether or not she ate well. He only wanted her to behave in front of his men.

…

Not in front of his men.

Not in front of his men, huh?

Reaching down for her soup bowl, Loreli acted on a sudden, violent impulse, dumping the contents over his shoulder, the hot liquid pouring down his hair and arm.

…

“…My hand slipped. I seem to have a habit.”

And all at once, it had gone silent throughout the hall. So, despite appearances, it looked like they were all paying attention to here after all.

How was that? Going to strike back at his ‘honored wife’ in front of his men?

…

Slowly, agonizingly slow, Uchiha Madara set his chopsticks down.

A suspenseful hush. No one moved. With the exception of Uchiha Izuna, who was attempting to cough up something that had gone down the wrong tract.

…Same slow pace, Madara turned to face her.

Lightly, with one long eyebrow raised slightly in askance, “I see. Do you require me to feed you?”

…

“…No.”

With a small jerk of his head, Madara signaled to one woman attending to their tables.

“My wife is distressed by her ankle sprain.” That was all he needed to say.

Oh, so now he cared her ankle sprain, Loreli thought wryly as the Uchiha woman helped her to her feet.

Malevolent vibe from the leader of the Uchiha clan, as she was brought away. She almost regretted her action. Almost, just not quite.

If she were fortunate enough, perhaps he would take it out on Izuna.

---

They brought her ice.

Lots of ice.

Too bad the pain was too hard to handle having anything placed on it.

Loreli couldn’t believe the swelling had gotten this bad. The kneeling must have done the trick.

“My goodness,” an elder woman chided her, “how careless of you, and on your wedding day no less.”

Loreli didn’t bother with explanations.

She didn’t know exactly what kind of impression the women have of their clan leader, but she could guess that to them, he would be some type of hero. To her, it was the complete opposite.

“Well, what is there to be done?” they conversed aloud, openly “She can’t go through her wedding night like this, can she?”

Loreli winced at the reminder.

Oh Kami-sama. Kami-sama- she had-…he had-…they had kissed!

No. Calm down.

There is no way.

There is no way.

He had not appeared any different from before when they were together in the main hall. And that should be the least of her worries at this point.

Unfortunately the women mistook her reaction for something else.

“Let’s fetch a medic. No, fetch the head medic.”

Loreli grimaced. “…The head medic, for this?” She remembered that cold, regal man. She could imagine his reaction. “No…that isn’t necessary…”

Nevertheless they insisted. “He’s the only one out of them who can probably have you healed straight away.”

It didn’t look like they were going to back down. Plus, Loreli hurt too much to want to be thinking up a suitable excuse at the moment.

“…Alright, if you please.”

Two of them went. The rest remained with her instead of returning to the festivities.

They really didn’t have to be here. But it seemed like these women were very, very curious.

“We can’t believe it. Uchiha Madara, you dumped that thing on Uchiha Madara.”

…

Now that they were mentioning it like that…she was getting a little nervous. Understatement.

Loreli went pale.

“…He had me kneel with a bad ankle” monotone, the life gone out of her “why would I suffer alone…”

Snicker. “I told you they’re in love.”

…

Loreli suspected she would die a young, misunderstood woman.

Then the Uchiha women all got up at the same time, startling her out of her reverie.

“My presence was requested.”

They had great respect for this man, Loreli realized, judging by their humbled postures.

Uchiha Ingra, their mix-blood head medic. They cleared the space in the hall as to not cause him any distractions, leaving them alone. He must have quite the reputation.

“…I apologize for this,” Loreli spoke, feeling a bit awkward.

He was dressed up, dark blue kimono which lit his light blue eyes, long smooth hair pulled back. It really did look like the entire clan was here.

The head medic came over to her chair. He knelt before her, his red eye activated into view as he examined her injury.

“This wasn’t an accident,” Loreli heard him note calmly.

Taken aback. Surprise.

…

“…You can tell?”

He did not reply. Reaching inside his sleeve, the medic drew out a scented handkerchief. Briskly, he folded it up a few more times before holding it up to her.

“Bite onto this,” Ingra told her, soothing cool voice.

Pause, taking in the meaning of his words. Loreli accepted it.

“Since you do not wish to wait for it to heal naturally, try not to resist the pain.”

That was what he said, but…

Oh, god, the pain-!

She could feel every muscle underneath his hand stretch and relax, twisting and burning, righting into normal state. Her entire leg was on fire. He had to grip one leg of her chair with his free hand to prevent her from toppling it over.

It didn’t last very long, but it seemed otherwise. Then the burning morphed into a chilling. Ingra was pouring a cooling sensation from his hand.

“Don’t strain this foot for a while.”

Out of breath, Loreli managed a shaky ghost of a ‘thank you’.

He got up, a rustling of blue fabric.

“My congratulations to your brother.”

“He will be pleased.”

Every hair on the back of her neck rose at the sound of that voice.

Loreli turned in her seat. There he was. The devil in disguise.

She was aware that the medic, Ingra, left her to be alone with this man.

“…Izuna-sama.” Hiss. Small, forced smile. She would not be taken into his game again.

…

Loreli was losing the battle of smiles. His was genuinely amused when he crouched down next to her chair.

“You don’t think our new familiarity warrants for a change in address?”

Sweet smile, trying to mirror his as a mocking gesture.

“…Bastard.”

Izuna’s smile did not waver. “But, I was thinking; brother-in-law.”

Slap. Half-hearted slap. But the message got across.

He frowned.

…

“…There was a mosquito.”

Unhurriedly, Izuna reached a hand up to grasp her wrist, pulling it away from his cheek. Slowly, he straightened out her fingers. Both eyebrows went up. “You missed.”

Blandly. “…Because I’m not a lying, cheating ninja who plays around with a simple girl’s life just because he knows he can get away with it.”

Grimace.

Izuna reached for her, and, seeing that she plastered back against the chair, decided to take the whole chair altogether.

“…I hate you,” Loreli confessed.

“Hey.” Pleasantly ignoring the stares they were endowed with as they passed by the clansmen. “Hate is a loaded word.”

Loreli pursed her lips. Evidently nothing ever fazed this man.

“Don’t be silly. You should have known from the moment you stepped inside this clan that you wouldn’t be able to go back to a normal life.”

Loreli glanced down at Izuna.

“You think that after becoming the mistress of the leader of the Uchiha clan, you can simply return to living peacefully in the outside?”

Izuna was speaking seriously. Uchiha Izuna never spoke seriously like that. Not to her, at least.

But what he was saying was true. She should have known this. Why hadn’t she thought of it before she agreed to everything? The shinobi world was different from the outside world.

“So you had me wed to the one who had nearly killed the man I adore?” Loreli asked tonelessly.

“Madara has made you the mistress of the clan,” Izuna observed. “He cannot raise a hand against you in public.”

In public.

“And now that your name is intricately tied to his…” Izuna set her down, rather abruptly, causing her a jolt of surprise. Eye level. “…You will not betray him.”

…

“I-…what-?”

Did he just…not answer her question in a roundabout way?

He took advantage of her momentary off-guardedness, prying her off her chair.

“Look, behind you.”

Small frown, still disoriented, Loreli turned towards the direction he was pointing in.

Izuna took the opportunity to give a small push to her back, shutting the door firmly behind her.

---

…

Loreli didn’t know which was more preposterous. The fact that he thought it would work, or the fact that it actually did.

For a long moment her hands lingered on the door, her mind struggling to accept this.

…She had no doubt about whose private quarters Izuna had taken her to.

…

Dark, spacious, cold. Very dark. Someone hadn’t bothered with the lights.

Her eyes took time to adjust.

Though the large room seemed to be connected to other chambers, this one appeared to be the main, the ceilings high, and a symbol of the Uchiha fan adorning one wall.

Slow quiet footsteps. Her heart palpitated.

Madara discarded the towel onto the surface of the table. He sank down, smooth motion, into the couch next to it.

Long leg propped up on the couch, arm draped across risen knee, and wearing nothing except a long bathrobe of the darkest red, made black by the dimness in the room. It looked like he had washed off what she had foolishly dumped on him earlier.

Loreli felt her insides quivering under his stare.

“Come here.”

Like a blow, his words knocked the wind out of her lungs.

A long eyebrow went up. Dark lush voice, slowly, coolly. “You are my wife. I expect absolute obedience.” Madara repeated sharply, “Come here!”

Rigidly at first, Loreli reluctantly approached where he sat, waiting.

Madara’s arrogant eyes assessed her coolly, as she stood bravely before him.

It was quiet.

“Are you a virgin?”

Loreli almost faltered, glancing down at his impassive face, with the exception of a quirked brow.

Aha…

Now…? He was asking her that, now? After everything. After he even gave her away to some of his men. What kind of answer is he expecting?

“No,” she lied, steadily locking eyes down at him. So what would he do if she wasn’t untouched? If they took marriage as lightly as this, she wouldn’t be surprised if an annulment was just as easy.

Madara’s dark eyes slimmed ominously.

Loreli stifled a gasp as, with one fast fluid motion, he yanked the sash off her waist.

The long spike-haired shinobi leaned back casually, resting his head on the back of his propped-up hand.

“Undress,” Madara ordered her smoothly.

…

He had seen her naked before. She had seen him naked before. Why were her fingers trembling so hard?

First her outer robe. Loreli let it drop. The inner kimono was harder. Her fingers went stiff.

No matter how she thought about it, she simply wasn’t ready to accept this. Never would be.

“Remove your hands,” Madara’s cool command.

She blinked, registering his words. Hesitantly, Loreli allowed her hands to fall to her sides.

All she heard was the sharp rip of fabric. Cold air against her skin.

Uchiha Madara twirled the kunai in his hand once, before reaching to the side and used a light stab to embed the tip into the surface of the table.

He looked up, long eyebrows arched and dark lips slightly parted, daring her to protest.

…

She was stunned. With that one inhumanly fast swipe he had split the front of her kimono perfectly down the center, without scratching her skin. With skill like that, he could take her life in a mere instant and she would’ve never seen it coming.

Aha…

The light-headedness was back.

…

In the dark, Loreli couldn’t read the veiled expression in his eyes. For the longest time Madara simply observed her, silently, her self-awareness increasing by the second.

She stepped back, involuntarily, as she felt the shinobi reach out and touched her side.

Needless to say, he was not pleased by her reaction. Madara’s dark, sinister eyes bore into her coldly as he rose up from the couch. She faltered.

Suddenly, without warning, Loreli found herself flushed against him, her entire body. She resisted, but a hand was placed on the center of her back, entrapping her against his tall, powerful frame as his free hand tore the fabric from her shoulders, exposing her entirely.

Panic. She struggled unthinkingly, her breathing harsh and shallow against the hollow of his throat, inhaling more of his scent, feeling his long ebony locks brush her face. He was a man. She became increasingly aware of this. At this proximity he was not great shinobi or clan leader; only a painfully attractive man who was reacting to her vulnerability, her own body was instinctively responding to his heat.

One hand reached up, grabbing a fistful of her hair, holding her in place as he reached down and forcefully snapped her panties away.

He was strong. Oh, too strong. It was a struggle she had no chance of winning. His muscled arms, shoulders, chest were hard and unyielding beneath her fingers, his chest rising and falling against hers as his soft speeded breathing, underlined with need, fanned into her hair.

“No-”

Loreli swallowed thickly, throat gone dry.

This wasn’t the same authoritarian Madara who would lash out or mock her for defying him.

He was serious. Uchiha Madara was serious this time. He would force her regardless of her resistance. She could feel it from the way his slow hands roamed over her curves, controlled, unrushed and deliberate.

He wanted her.

That was what frightened her the most.

“Stop-”

With one last, harsh jerk, Loreli tried pulling away from him. To her surprise, he let her fall.

His bed. She hadn’t realized.

Heart beating out of control, Loreli glanced up in fear.

…

One dark eye obscured by the long bangs on one side of his face, Madara’s gaze roved over her helpless figure, until she became unbearably self-conscious of her unclothed state.

…She could hardly believe it. Leader of a ninja clan or not, Uchiha Madara was still a man, who gave into base instincts. Yes that…that must be the reason for the dark, seductive smirk which appeared on his lips. No other reason.

“You’ve never been with a man.”

Loreli pursed her lips at the confident tone.

Seconds ticked past.

A small surge of defiance allowed her to regain her voice.

“…Madara-sama, you think?”

“Heh.” In response, the tall long-haired shinobi tugged off and discarded his long bathrobe to one side. His expression remained vaguely amused, perhaps waiting for a reaction.

…Did he truly not realize that he was not just any other man?

He was sharp, alluring, dark and statuesque, radiating raw charisma. Even his appearance was meant to be king.

This was the man who had threatened the lives of her most precious people.

This was the man who had taken her life from her.

Uchiha Madara wasn’t just any other man.

Instinctively, she drew back.

Then she found him suddenly above her, lightly fisting her hair in his hand.

“Doesn’t matter,” Madara told her, dark velvet voice close to her ear. “I will be your last.”

Loreli wasn’t given time to agonize over his meaning. His knees were nudging hers apart.

Screaming internally, she tried to edge back. He pinned her arms down to her side, immobilizing her.

Shuddering breath. Loreli shut her eyes as the man leaned towards her, his warmth hovering above her, strands of his long hair tickling her throat.

This was it. He had her under his power. Her life was his to control. She had no means of escape.

Overwhelming dread.

…No. Not true. Not real-

A nudge, a prod, and then a probe. Madara slid himself halfway into her tight heat. It ached badly. Her walls were stretching rapidly in an effort to accommodate his wide girth.

Oh god. Loreli tried to relax. She couldn’t. Her fists clenched at the sheets beneath her entrapped arms. But, if she had no choice, then she would not- she would not cower underneath him.

Madara found her barrier, she realized. That was why he had paused, breathing softly. Then with one hard thrust, the hands tightening around her arms, he sheathed himself fully within her.

Really bad. Loreli struggled against her restraints despite herself. A burning, tearing sensation. The pain itself as bad as it was hurting her psychologically. The scream, she could control. The tears, tears of distress and of humiliation, she couldn’t.

At the quickened sound of her soft ragged breathing, Madara stared down at her for a silent moment, his sharp, handsome face unreadable.

He pulled out of her.

“Shhh…” Uchiha Madara hushed her, drawing her into his firm chest with an arm encircling her waist, her back nestled fully into his warmth.

If anything, she only got more discomforted by this. His hand absently stroking through her hair. She was speechless, bewildered, terrified by his abrupt change in behavior, half expecting it to be his twisted way of giving her a false sense of security.

But Madara didn’t do anything else. He drew the blanket over them, hushing her occasional sounds of protest, and held her against him until she at last fell asleep.

…Or perhaps it had been a faint.

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…

A/N: Um… I should warn you guys right now that it will get both darker and lighter than this. If the fic so far has been already too dark or confusing for you…heh heh heh…you haven’t seen a plotline angst fic in action yet.

Also an important heads up; I’m a writer who likes dropping vague hints all over the place, and there are certain things that I can’t spell out for you even if you ask. Should that ever be the case, I’m afraid you might need to reread or simply follow the flow until it gets clarified by later chapters. Chances are, if you are confused, the main character is confused as well. There’s really no need to stay ahead of what the characters know, is there? It’s simply a bonus if you can ^^