Asami tapped the pen against the edge of the table, thinking about what to write.

She had honestly no idea what she was supposed to say in the letter. As a traitor, a liar, someone who chose someone like Madara over the whole village, including her own family, what was she supposed to say?

Sighing in frustration, she threw the pen on the table and stood up. Keiji told her to have a reply ready by tomorrow, but she hadn't written anything down yet. Asami still thought that Keiji admitted defeat too easily. He should have persisted that she was dead. Now that Mito knew of her still being alive, the life she was leading now was in danger.

What if Mito told Hashirama about this?

Just the thought frightened Asami already. She didn't want to think about it. And to make sure that Mito wouldn't spill anything, she had to meet her. Asami had to make clear that Mito couldn't tell anyone about her, and Asami also thought that she owed her an honest explanation.

She was going to accept her request to meet up. That, she knew for sure.

But what she didn't know was how to put that on paper. Asami was speechless due to shame and guilt. How was she supposed to face her honest sister as the perfidious person she was? There was nothing much to say. She couldn't apologize. Only explain and hope for understanding.

Even though she felt guilty, she would have made the same choice if she could choose again. What exactly made her feel that way was another thing Asami wasn't sure of. Maybe it was because she left Mito behind without saying anything, without letting her know the truth.

She wasn't forcefully taken away, but she willingly went with Madara.

Asami pursed her lips.

Madara.

Where was he now, she wondered.

''Mommy?''

Asami stopped in front of Kouta's room when she heard his voice. Pushing against his door, which was already standing ajar, she leaned against the doorway. Kouta was sitting upright in bed, holding his favorite stuffed animal. ''Hey darling,'' Asami spoke softly. ''What are you doing still awake?''

Kouta didn't answer her question, but asked one himself instead. ''Can I sleep in mommy's room?''

Asami smiled and held out one of her hands, waving at him. ''Alright then.'' She said. ''Let's go. You actually should be asleep by now already.''

Kouta quickly climbed out of his bed and took swift but clumsy steps to reach Asami. She let him walk past her and closed the door of his room before walking after him.

While Asami changed into her pajamas and threw the clothes she just took off before in the laundry basket, Kouta climbed into the bed, lay down on Madara's side of the mattress, and made himself comfortable.

Asami tied up her hair and joined her son, who had already closed his eyes. Putting the thick blanket over the both of them, Asami snuggled closer to the other half of the bed. Kouta was facing her, embracing a part of the pillow his head was resting on.

Asami reached out to his head, stroking his cheek lightly.  She realized just how much she had missed this. When was the last time they shared her bed together like this?

Smiling gently, Asami leaned toward him and kissed his forehead.

''Good night.'' She whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Asami was awoken by a loud creak.

Immediately, she sat up and looked around the room. Because of her sudden movement, the blanket moved, which made Kouta hum in his sleep. Asami looked down at him and caressed his head. ''I'll be right back, Kou.'' She whispered, even though she knew he couldn't hear her.

Asami silently slipped out of bed, making sure not to wake Kouta, and kept her eyes on the door. Slowly, she grabbed the latch and opened the door. When she stood in the hallway, Asami was about to call Madara's name, but quickly closed her mouth. She made that mistake before. Narrowing her eyes, she listened closely.

Three people, maybe 4. Definitely not Madara.

She heard their voices and footsteps. Fortunately, they were all still downstairs, which gave her time to think about how to handle the situation.

Taking a deep breath, Asami slowly went back to the bedroom, trying not to make any sound. But that was almost impossible. The house was old, thus the floor creaked with each step.

''Kou.'' She murmured as she shook the boy, waking him. ''Kouta.''

Kouta opened his eyes and sat up. He was about to say something, but Asami put her finger against his lips, and Kouta understood what she meant by that.

''Listen closely,'' Asami spoke, keeping her voice down. ''You stay here, okay? Mommy is going downstairs to take care of something. Don't leave the room.''

Kouta noticed how uneasy she was. Even for a young kid, it was pretty obvious. ''But-''

''No buts.'' Asami interrupted him. ''Could you stay here, please?"

Kouta replied with a nod and Asami sighed in relief. He didn't resist as much as last time. ''Thank you.'' She muttered, and she pressed a kiss against his forehead. ''It won't take long.''

Asami got off the bed again and quickly headed to the stairs. She tried to be as silent as possible, but that wasn't an easy task. It also became more difficult to hear the intruders. Asami's heart began to beat faster, pounding against her chest. Even though this wasn't her first time being in a situation like this, she was still nervous and scared.

When the reached the end of the stairs, there was only a door separating her from the burglars. She took a deep breath before the gripped the latch tightly, but she flinched when the latch moved down. Asami pulled back her hand and the door opened.

With a swift movement, she kicked the person in the abdomen and she let out a gasp as she fell on her back. Her three comrades immediately turned their gazes to her, and Asami clenched her fists to stop her fingers from trembling.

These people were, without a doubt, the people who belonged those footsteps in the snow to.

Who else could it have been?

While Asami was unarmed, the four of them were armed with weapons like swords and knives. But what she noticed was that all of them were wearing forehead protectors with symbols from different villages. Only two of them had the same one. She remembered Keiji telling her about other villages that were forming, following Konohagakure's example, but for them to work together? She had a hard time imagining something like that, especially after the war from a few years ago.

Even though the intruders were missing-nin, which Asami assumed, she still found it weird that they had formed a team.

Asami quickly scanned over the symbols, and was relieved to find out that there wasn't a shinobi from Konoha among them. A rogue or not, she always felt bad about having to kill 'fellow villagers', that's why she was glad that these people weren't from the town she still cherished.

Asami snapped out of her thoughts when one of them suddenly approached her. She quickly moved the right, evading a kunai. When the arm of the man was next to her head, she grabbed his wrist and yanked the kunai out of his hand. With a swift movement, she pulled at his arm to lessen the distance between them and brought the kunai close to his face. After slitting his throat, the man fell to the ground.

Asami looked at his lifeless body whilst blood was staining the floor. Her fingers tightened around the handle of the kunai as she hesitantly looked up to the remaining burglars, who were just as surprised as Asami herself.

The woman on the floor got up and charged at her, another man behind her following closely. Asami took a step back, but there wasn't much space for her to move in with a wall behind her and a corpse in front of her.

The woman moved directly at her, clearly intending to injure Asami with her bare hands since she wasn't holding any weapon. A balled fist went right at her. Asami caught it just before it could make contact with her cheek. But what she didn't notice was that the guy behind the woman had crouched down, forming hand seals. He pressed the palms of his hand to the floor and muttered a few words.

The ground beneath Asami started to tilt and she lost her footing. The woman, who knew this was coming, aimed another punch at her opponent's face, and, this time, it did hit her.

The force is the punch and the tilted ground made her lose her balance. With a rather loud thud, she fell to the hard floor. Asami let out a sharp gasp and held the side of her face, which hurt a lot at the moment. When her fingertips brushed against her jawline, she flinched when she felt a stinging pain.

When she tried to get up, someone kicked her back onto the floor. Asami gritted her teeth, but calmed a bit down when she noticed the kunai which she dropped when she fell lying near her. It was hard for her to move with a foot pressed against her back, but the weapon was within her reach.

With a quick movement, she took hold of the kunai, cutting her own fingers in the process, and thrust the knife into her leg. A loud scream erupted from the woman's throat and she fell backward, not longer able to stand.

Asami rapidly stood up and turned around. While the woman was on the ground again, the other two looked a bit startled, which confused her. These people were different from the ones she encountered in her own house before. It was obvious that they didn't expect her to struggle so much to protect her home. They expected her to give in easily, but Asami wasn't really cooperating with hem. While Asami put more distance between her and the intruders, she also noticed something else.

Their movements.

By the way they were acting, she could tell they were hesitating. The looks they were giving each other were as if they're asking the other what they were supposed to do now. The same thing was happening right now.

Now that another one of their comrades was down, the remaining two were starting to feel uneasy. But they weren't the only ones.

Asami wasn't feeling very confident either.

''Mommy?''

Asami's eyes widened when she heard Kouta calling for her from upstairs. Panicked, she glanced at the intruders, who were giving each other suggestive looks.

They were well aware what one of her biggest weaknesses was now. Or where they here for Kouta?

Asami already knew what they were planning. This was something she wanted to prevent at all costs. Just thinking of the possible outcomes made her feel nauseous, anxious.

Terrified. 

Something similar happened before, and Asami swore to never let it happen again, but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep her own promise at the moment.

''You go get the Uchiha.'' One of them said.

When the man who stood closest to the door began to move, Asami moved as well. Desperately, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him back. The man made choking sounds and he almost lost his balance because of the sudden and hard tug.

The other man grunted and grabbed Asami by her waist and grabbed her wrist of the hand which she held the collar with, with his other hand. Asami held on as long as she could. She couldn't let him go upstairs.

She couldn't let him get to Kouta.

Absolutely not.

---------------------------

Writing fighting scenes is so difficult >.<

Sorry for the long wait! I actually wanted to let more things happen in this chapter, but then it'd be way too long, so I decided to make 2 chapters.

The next chapter will be published later today because I'm still working on it!