𝒟𝑒𝓃𝒾𝒶𝓁
.·:*¨༺ 🥀༻¨*:·.

de·ni·al
/dəˈnīəl/: the action of declaring something to be untrue.
"she shook her head in denial." (Oxford Languages.)

You stood frozen in place as Sasuke laughed at your shocked expression.

"What's wrong, y/n?" His dark eyes challenged yours, and his mocking tone arose tension in the hideout you shared with him and the rest of Team Taka. "Cat got your tongue?"

"What did you say?" Your words stuttered and you weren't sure if it was because you were angry or embarrassed. Your eyes momentarily locked with Karin's scarlet orbs as she gave you a saddened expression. Despite you two being trained together by Orochimaru, if she had to pick a side she would always pick Sasuke.

"I said that the masked man, Tobi, is not really Madara Uchiha." Sasuke quickly answered your question. He smiled at you, which was something he never did. It seemed as if hurting your feelings brought him the happiness that his older brother, Itachi, took away the day the Uchiha clan was massacred.

"Of course he is..." your voice was now lower, and although arguments with the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan were frequent, you suddenly didn't want to argue anymore. His statement left you at a loss of words.
Of course the masked man was Madara Uchiha, he had told you himself. And although he never revealed his face to you, you believed him. You believed him because you loved him and he loved you too.

"Of course he's not." Sasuke stood up from the wooden chair he had previously been sitting on and began to slowly approach you like an animal ready to fight another to establish dominance or to kill. "The masked man is not Madara Uchiha. Such a man wouldn't lay his eyes on someone...like you."

Sasuke's comment hurt you more than it should have. You felt attacked by his words and mocking tone.
"I'm just delivering instructions from the masked man. No need to kill the messenger, Sasuke." You avoided his dark eyes as you made your way to your bedroom. Sasuke was only trying to tease you, you convinced yourself. There was no way that the masked man would lie to you about his identity. In fact, he revealed his identity to you before he even revealed it to Sasuke. Sasuke must be bitter. Sasuke must be angry that the masked man engages more with you than with him. Sasuke had mommy, daddy, and trust issues that he still couldn't properly address and treat so he was just angry that you were happy and in love and he was not.

"Why would 'Madara' have emotional outbursts calling for a girl named Rin?"
His phrase made you stop in your tracks and you were glad that at that point you were giving him your back.
That name- Rin- you've heard it before.
In fact, the masked man had accidentally called you by that name in a few occasions...especially if those occasions involved you getting hurt. However, when you would confront him about that name, he would refuse to answer your question. He would go as far as to teleport away from you, leaving you for days only to come back and apologized profusely. Went as far as to get on his knees in front of you begging for your forgiveness, assuring you that everything was going to be okay, and begging for you to trust him. Assuring you that he loved you and you only.

Yet you knew of that name, as well as Sasuke and now all Team Taka knew. You could feel Karin's eyes on you, yet you refused to even look at the direction of your Uzumaki, redhead friend. You were confused, embarrassed, and ashamed.

"I think that's enough, Sasuke-kun." Suigetsu's tall figure emerged from the kitchen. His amethyst eyes locked briefly with yours before he turned to Juugo, who sat on the living room next to Karin witnessing the altercation.
Arguments and tension always triggered the explosive, orange-haired boy, and having to clean the mess created due to an uncontrollable fit of rage of his was something Suigetsu did not want to do. "It's okay if you don't trust the masked man, Sasuke. We can always back down from the Fourth Great Ninja War and go hide in the Land of Mist.....to be honest.... I don't want to die."

"He's not Madara. Get that in your head." Sasuke briefly turned to Suigetsu before his attention focused completely on you again. "He lied to us, to you. He doesn't love you. Anyone can see that except for you. Get over your abandonment issues, y/n."

Sasuke's tone was no longer mocking. It was cold, authoritative and his eyes glared daggers at your direction. Yet, you couldn't help but feel attacked and being put on the spot in front of the other members. "You get over your issues, Sasuke! Not all of us will end up alone and full of hate like you!" Talking about the Uchiha massacre was something that everyone knew to avoid. No matter how angry you'd become at Sasuke in the past, you never dared to bring up his childhood trauma, yet at that moment you were angry and felt emotionally attacked.

"Shut up!" In a blink of an eye Sasuke had you pinned against a wall with his hands around your throat.

"Sasuke stop!" Suigetsu quickly pulled the Uchiha away from you as Karin helped you up from the floor. "Calm down. It's okay..."

But nothing could ever be okay after you felt doubt regarding your relationship with the masked man.
"Don't think too much of it." Karin whispered in your ear as she helped you walk to your bedroom. "Sasuke's just nervous regarding the masked man's plan....we all are."

Sasuke's words repeated through your head as you lay on your bed in the middle of the night. If the masked man was not Madara Uchiha, then who was he? Who had you been in a relationship with?
It was as if the masked man was really a stranger, after all.