To a man known throughout the prominence of his life as 'The Most Unpredictable Knuckleheaded Ninja,' to be caught completely off kilter was a slight embarrassment. Although that was in fact the truth of the matter. As presumption Naruto had looked to Madara as a man of much stoicism and refinement, he had taken this as mere fact. Having been made keenly aware of his late kin on more then one occasion and witnessing similarity. Indeed, even those whom he categorized as friendships such as Naori were rather far removed from emotional turmoil or romancing. That was of course disregarding that the warrior as a woman of privacy and likely all displayed had been made for Kou to witness and none other.

Thus, the matter of shock: Madara had taken him to a lake removed from the village. Accompanied by weapons and a heavy worn cloth made under the preconception that all area's held an enemy. Regardless of his rigid dress and occasional darting eyesight, his company appeared calm. Though not relaxed, he was tense the farther the village was. Naruto could not decide if this was because of possible ambush, or that with him gone Madara felt as if his clan was in a weak position against invasion. Though he found himself leaning into personal space a little more then he ought, the tan hand remained a fixed underneath his haori, instead of straying as craving demanded to the unballed fist at Madara's side.

Should there be an attacker it would not be a slow affair, there would likely be blood spilled before his eyes could track movement. Perhaps his own feeling of false serenity was due to whom he walked beside. A man of experience -this was not limiting his own ability, however, it was very clear just who would hold the upper hand in a confrontation. His previous life had been one of peace and awoken violence, this life now was a place of continual paranoia and bloodshed.

Question came to him as they neared a half-way point. If indeed, his companion was experiencing so much anxiety here, why take him so far from comfort? As he rose his eyes to ask he took into account the vacant stare prolonged unto the lake and its horizon. "Madara-sama, why bring me here?" His mouth had spoken for him, but it was so soft in comparison with his normal demeanor, to have a man with such regularly calm persona, now starting with saddened gaze at something intransigent made him clench at his pained stomach.

He received a smile in turn, though the emotion within was difficult to understand, not fake, no Naruto knew that at least. A cold hand pressed to his cheek, and unthinkingly he clasped it with his own. Confused now as he was delivered a gentle kiss to his lips, though he had no time to respond before Madara pulled away, turning now to look at the lake full in his height.

Uchiha pulled himself back and began walking to the shore, uncertain Naruto followed hands now twinning in thick blue haori. He stopped sudden aware that that his eyes were watching a large, very refined, dignified, patriarch of a powerful clan wade into crisp cut water. Nothing protecting him from the cold of the lake, the sting of the water, nor the frostbite he would gain from this venture. Naruto held his tongue his want to reprimand the man for doing something so moronic, not even he in childhood glory would have been so foolish to pursue! Making matters worse, and the bite in his tongue bleed, Madara reached into the water, grappling for something only he knew to be there.

The reasoning behind this trip, Naruto hoped the peradventure had been worth the hassle he would later receive. A scathing comment was burning upon him now, but cooled on taking into account the happy smile settling onto Madara's face, one of ease and relief, despite the method, Naruto dared not speak his piece. What had made the man risk his health so?: a box, scattered with so many seals Naruto could hardly separate each with eyesight alone.

When his fiance returned to his side, casting a cold mist about himself, and dripping from hands to feet, only his chest and up remained free from water. Which relieved Naruto as that could cause quick pneumonia. He met the man's gaze, curious by not impressed, he seemed to know this, for lue of speaking Madara handed off the box, with a dusting of pink on his face. Though he took it, there were greater concerns on his mind as he stared at the soaking clothed alpha before him. Shaking himself from all forms of decorum having been drilled into place by a well-meaning Kou, he grasped the front of the Uchiha robe and pulled the man to himself. Knowing well that his heat would keep the man there, and further protest; in form of self-removal, was met with a tug on the man's long hair. "Don't you dare."

Only then did he see fit to open the medium sized box in his hands. He didn't take to studying it much, knowing that if it had been presented without preamble by a paranoid man it would not be set to kill him. He split the seals along the seam with minimal chakra, and opened the lid cautiously.

Sitting within was a pair of beautiful and extravagant fans, along with three concealed senbon latches, one to be put under sleeves, the other two onto the fans themselves. The edges of the parchment were studded with a metal razor, upon each prong was a small hole just along side wherein the senbon could be shot from at the user's discretion. They felt heavy to hold, yet they folded naturally, so Naruto presumed they had some type of solid reinforcement underneath the paper that allowed them to be weapons. Though they were clearly meant for combat their design was elegant and noble, one of excess. Plain ivory, with floating cherry blossoms, the scene depicted was of a young princess or noble lady casting out two men from a shrine, all emboldened with gold lining. The prongs themselves seem to have been made of golden tungsten -extremely rare, and the only chakra channeling metal known.

This was a gift of much prominence.

He closed and clasped the chest, tightly holding it to his chest, staring at Madara, wondering what had garnered such a symbol of respect unto him. Though he was touched, he could not fathom what had caused such generosity. Flattered or not, Naruto recalled that his future husband was soon to become ill if they did not return to warmth swiftly. Curiosity held back he grasped onto the colder then usual hand and near dragged them man whence they came. The lock he had kept on his mouth sprung free, so the entire journey southward was filled with a long lecture of stupid alpha hormones declaring pride and cold Uchiha.

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At the pace of an angry man, they reached the village quickly getting to the district itself at noon, Madara's clothes having dried at this point; that did nothing to deter a determined shinobi from pushing into the patriarch's house, sitting him down with a cotton blanket. Then grabbing the full pale of water by the firepit they called a stove with a metal grill over top, pouring some in an equally metal pot, and fetching a clay teapot from a wooden cupboard. Unconsciously making tea just as he had watched Kou do so many times previously. He was watched with exasperated amusement.

When everything had been made ready did Naruto take a moment to stop. "They were my mother's." Madara spoke among the silence. Shocked out of his own moment of instinct it took the non-active ninja a few beats to recognize that the man losely huddled in the blanket was referring to the weapons in the box on the table next to him. Annoyance now fled, Naruto had no other response to that information other then a trembling of his throat.

"Why give something so precious to me?" To have an item of your parents and to give it unto another... As an orphan he understood, yet remained completely unaware of what the gesture meant.

He was met with a smirk. "It remains tradition within my clan to pass along a precious item of the former matriarch unto the next." A clan tradition, that once more Naruto found himself noninformed of. Embarrassing how much he did not know.

Still, it was odd that Madara's mother should have weapons was it not? Omega's were not allowed to fight, so how could they have such a high-quality weapon? Seeming to have read the confusion he wore, Madara spoke without prompt. "My father would have been enraged for her to have had them. However, she had been a warrior prior to marrying my father, due to her own pride she could not leave such a part of herself neglected. So on occasion when our compound was attacked and the alphas were distracted by battle, she would protect the other omega's and children among us -should we be found." Such disobedience kindled a flame of familiarity within the blond and he grinned largely, in pride mostly.

"Your Mother must have been astonishing! She was so brave!" Though he meant not to bring up falorn memories, the face of the man before him fell, and melancholy set in. It soured Naruto's mood considerably, he hadn't fathomed what had occurred to his future mother-in-law.

"Indeed. She had been a splendid woman. Though perhaps to brazen, she was.. caught by the Kiniki clan." He scowled at their mention, an ugly thing sneering his face into something twisted.

Naruto tried to recount where he had heard such a name, certainly, Kou or Naori would have mentioned them among his lessons. By the manner which Madara mentioned them, so full of a venom, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, they had a past. "Kiniki, I don't recall them being mentioned-" He was cut short, as while he put the cup before the man he was speaking to his wrist was grabbed, and he was pulled with an arm around his waist just slightly to the man's eye level. What he saw was anger, so potent that flashes of red could be seen underneath.

"Promise me, should you ever hear that name spoken, see one of them, promise me you will run to the village." The grip on his waist tightened, and while it could have been seen as an embrace, this was not what that was. "Promise me!" He startled and nodded fastly, not expecting such a violence in his tone. Madara was scared, worst still, Naruto knew not why, perhaps to a man not accustomed to the behaviour of Uchiha it would have caused intimidation, yet to him it was merely a sign. He'd agreed to what he had demanded, that meant he could try to comfort or calm him down.

With this clan that meant being direct, their was no subtlety with confrontation. However, Naruto needed to ease him first, so he pushed the tea towards his fiance, and sat beside him giving small kisses to his cheek, trying to calm him down, while running a gentle hand through the black mane -which had gotten longer. Once the trembling had settled, tea nearly is gone, he refilled it, and settled by the man once more, head on his shoulder - he had to sit on his heels to do this- though it was slow an arm twined around his waist once more, and Naruto sipped at his own tea. "What happened with the Kiniki clan? Why do you fear them so?" He looked for reaction, watching as the eyes closed, pinned shut painfully. A tear creeping past: Unthinkingly Naruto swept it away.

"I was young, far to young, my sister and I had been the only ones standing. They took us hostage. I hesitate to recall much, there was the smoke, but that hadn't come first. Screaming, yes, she had screamed, Makarov was screaming so loudly, I must have soiled myself. As I woke there was fire and smoke, though the smell stuck in my throat and I yelled, screamed. 'Tenderized meat.' When I roused myself once more, they were eating- they were eating my sister." He choked on his beverage and a horrified expression so full of terror carried him. Naruto held as tightly as he could to the man, embracing him and crying into the blanket, unable to speak. Suddenly, torn by fear of people he had never met, anger aimed at them, sorrow, so mixed within him.

They sat there until the tea grew cold, and once more the proud men became calm. Ignoring the uprising memories, and the bile rising forth. "Mada.." Naruto voiced, but it failed him, still catching the attention of his fiance, now much more concerned with the vile memory he had bestowed upon such an innocent mind. Holding tight to the Uchiha, Naruto was trying not to lose himself again into the horrid image. "The children we have will never battle that clan. Never."

This was a promise neither could keep.

Closing his eyes shut. Madara still saw his mother, her spiked hair. Makarov, her hair so alike hers, and himself, sitting there within shackles, with his hair a memory of theirs.

Naruto knew none of this, he merely held close what had become one of his most precious people to him. One so burnt, so cold.