"Hokage-sama... May we speak to you?"

I looked up at one of the elite shinobi having come into the room. It was lit by the sun from outside, the warm spring air coming in through an open window. I nodded.

The shinobi cast a hostile glance to my left hand side.

"Alone..."

The hostility in his voice didn't go above our heads, neither mine nor Madara's, who sat to was the person on my left causing the hostility in the shinobi's eyes. I looked at Madara, my lover, could see that his blood was boiling beneath the surface. He hid it well; I was certain only I could discern it. But discerning it, I did.

"Madara..." I said in a low voice.

He turned to look at me, and I could see he could see the remorse on my face, but I could also see the anger clearly now; he had stopped hiding it.

He stood up and left, so much dignity in every step he was carrying himself like a king.

I hated it. I hated sending him out. It wasn't the first time it had happened either. It never caused fights between us. What it caused between us was worse. Madara would be heartbroken for the evening, I would note, yet work so, so hard to make me believe he was fine so as not to worry me. When we went to bed together, he would cling to me with all his might, as if afraid he would lose me.

"What if they convince you to leave me?" he had whispered the last time he had been sent out, and we went to bed together that night.

"Won't happen", I had murmured, kissing the top of his head.

"But what it-"

"Madara!" I had put my finger underneath his chin, tilted his face up to me. "It won't happen. I won't leave you again. I promise."

He had kissed me then, with a passion that would turn into some heart-wrenching love-making.

This time, though...

It was the first time Madara hadn't concealed his anger, and it worried me.

But the group of four elite shinobi had gotten their way, and had me alone in the hokage office.

"Why aren't you wearing the hokage hat?"

I was having none of it. "Because it's uncomfortable. What did you want? You better have a good reason for making me send out my right hand and my partner."

The shinobi who was the leader flinched, and I could see the others showing clear signs of discomfort. I smirked. I guess they hadn't expected me to be so honest about my relationship with Madara.

"We have a petition to force Madara out of the village."

I was dumbfounded. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me!" He raised his voice. How dare he? I am HOKAGE! "It's ridiculous that a man that has caused so much destruction is now the Hokage's right hand. After all he's done!"

I could feel my insides starting to boil. I closed my eyes, thought about Madara's naked body entangled in crisp, white sheets, still asleep in the morning sun to help calm me down. "So you mean all he's done for the village this past year since he came back to us is in vain to earn your trust?" I asked darkly. "The changes he's brought to the ninja academy? How the children love him, begging for him to be the teacher? How he's managed to increase the number of students who pass the exam by fifty percent? How he's helped your child..." I gave the leader shinobi a meaningful chance. "To pass by offering hun private lessons after class unpaid? How he's managed to negotiate not one, but two peace contracts that I had previously failed sealing? How dare you raise your voice at me? How dare you suggest I get rid of Madara!"

The man had the good grace to look ashamed. "I'm sorry, homage-sama. It's just..." he cleared his throat and took out some neatly folded papers from one of his pockets. "The people of Konoha have spoken."

He gave the papers to me and I unfolded them, and as I read it, I felt my heart drop to my feet.

'Hereby I sign my name in agreement to the discard of Madara Uchiha from the village due to the damage he's previously done to our world."

And there were five arcs of paper, each signed with names in three rows on both sides.

"Is this..." my voice cracked. "Is this truly what you want?" Thank God I had asked Madara to go out; he would have gotten his heart broken. He was a God of a shinobi, but he had a delicate heart and cared about others opinions. I loved that side about him, but I knew it could break him as well.

The man spoke. "It's not just his destruction of the world. It's also... Forgive me, hokage-sama, but we deem that your relationship is not appropriate. We deem that a relationship between two men is not appropriate if you are hokage."

An ice-cold dread grabbed at my heart. An ice-cold dread caused by the fact that these people, the people of the village I loved so much, had such primitive thought about same-sex relationships. But also caused by the fact that I knew there was no going back from this. The words had been spoken; they had been spoken clearly, and I couldn't live with them.

I couldn't live with myself now they had been spoken if I accepted them.

I came home to something smelling delicious in the stove. Oh, Madara...

"Love?" I called.

His adorable little head with the wild, black mane peeked out of the kitchen door. He had a wooden spoon in his mouth. I held my arms open, and he didn't even hesitate before he came with long strides and put himself snuggly into my arms.

It felt so good. So. Good. I put one hand in the nape of his neck, pressed his face to me, buried my own in his hair and breathed his soft scent in. He sighed contentedly in my arms.

My heart ached so much by the sadness radiating from this man whom I loved so much. It would've been easier if he was angry, but he wasn't. He was just sad.

"Madara..."

"Mmm?"

"I'm leaving."

Madara took a step back in surprise and looked at me, a shocked expression in his face. "What?"

"What they wanted to talk to me about..." I braced myself. "The people don't want you here, and they don't want me in a homosexual relationship." I could see his face drop. "And I don't like the power position I have over you as hokage. I don't like being able to ask you to leave the room. I want to leave the village..." my voice cracked. "And I need you to come with me."

Madara looked at me for some time. "Do you really... Want to leave the village?"

I thought for some time. "Yes. After what I heard... After what they said about you and about us... It's not the same anymore. I've lost faith. I've lost trust. It's like..." I though for a while, put my fingers to my temples. "It's like being hit by a partner you love. The love remains, but you know there's no going back."

Madara's eyes filled with tears. "After all I did... After all I've done for them..." There was no remorse in his voice; only hurt. 

I took him into my arms again, kissed the top of his head. He reaches his head up, wanting a kiss in his lips, which I gave him. After all this time, I still felt that tug in my groin whenever we kissed. And he did, too, judging by how he pressed his lower body close to me and whimpered a little. Fuck, he's cute.

And if there had been any heaitation, any at all, about what I should do, it disappeared when I saw him like this. When I saw him so yielding. Just dealing with the fact that this was the way it was.

"Of course I'll come with you", he said and my heart melted. "I know just the place."

"What place?" I asked softly. It all felt so unreal, so sudden.

He looked down, a little shy suddenly. "It's a cottage in the biggest valley I have seen, in an area that is no country. There are no others close by. Just vast land. And if you climb it the mountains, you can see the sea."

I closed my eyes as I envisioned this place, envisioned living there with Madara. It filled my heart with a warm, golden glow that matched the sunset I was depicting over the whole scene.

"I love you, Madara."

"I love you too. I need to check the fish in the oven."

"Can it wait five minutes?"

"What do you want to do for five minutes?" he asked, a smile in his voice, his body relaxed, accepting this new life we were currently building for ourselves.

"Kiss you", I said simply and connected our lips.

He grabbed hold of my clothes, dragged me with him so I pressed him against the wall in our hallway, where we still stood. I lifted my hand, cupped his chin, dove my tongue in which caused his knees to buckle underneath him. I took advantage of that, layed down over him, put my weight on him. We kissed like mad and I dug my fingers into ha gorgeous hair, that spread beneath us on the wooden floor.

We stayed there for five minutes.

For ten minutes.

For half an hour.

Until our hunger was in no way satisfied, and our fish was almost, but not quite, burnt.