Note: JUST FOR FUN. I found a half-finished doodle pandreaa made for me of Sasuke and Sakura as Hawkeye and the Black Widow respectively and felt like writing this little blend of Naruto and the Avengers movie.
Warnings: violence, plotlessness, misplaced fluff, and references to shawarmas and Budapest
Disclaimer:I do not own Naruto.

Sakura ran through the downtown streets as rubble continued to fall. She cursed under her breath when she barely missed being showered in shattered pieces of glass. Sakura examined her surroundings warily. Madara's attack on Leaf City was clearly taking its toll. The majority of the buildings in the downtown core were being decimated, ruining the streets and endangering the people around. As she continued shooting the Zetsu clones that made up Madara's army, she could only hope that Shikamaru and the others were doing their job at protecting the civilians.

She came to a halt twenty feet away from three clones, all staring at her ready to pounce. They looked like zombies, she thought. Their heads were tilted ever so slightly, implying a vacancy within their heads. Clearly, they were being controlled by someone. Swallowing thickly, Sakura aimed her gun their way. She prepared to shoot but they all fell to the floor in pieces a second before she could pull the trigger.

She blinked confusedly when her partner appeared as the top half of one of the clones slid to floor. He was frowning at the blood on his blade.

"You shouldn't be here," Sakura hissed, jogging over to him. "Dammit, Sasuke, you're supposed to be recovering!" She gave him a quick onceover and decided that the only wounds he was suffering from lingered in his mind.

Sasuke only raised an eyebrow at her. "Did you expect me to remain behind?"

She pursed her lips and decided to not to answer that, opting to simply change the subject. "How are you feeling?" she asked slowly.

He glared at her. "I'm fine."

But he wasn't. They both knew he wasn't.

Not after being under Madara's control the way he was and being forced to commit unspeakable acts for a second time in his life.

Despite Sasuke's own Sharingan and the time he'd spent with Madara in the past, he was no match for his ancestor's superior eyes. When he and Kakashi had been ambushed by Madara on their way home from a mission in Cloud, according to Kakashi, the monster had done something to hypnotize Sasuke. Kakashi suspected Madara left some sort of seal within Sasuke as a backup plan lest he ever lose his influence on Sasuke back when he was sixteen, and he had used that to force Sasuke to adhere to his commands. Under Madara's control, he had nearly killed Kakashi. He would have succeeded had Anko's team not been able to cut in and retreat with his injured sensei. Because of Madara, Sasuke had killed numerous Leaf agents, destroyed an entire base, delivered Naruto – the stupid boy with some stupid powers that they were supposed to be protecting – straight into Madara's hands, and nearly murdered Sakura. She had only managed to shake him out of Madara's mental hold seconds before he blasted her head off.

That was only hours ago. She'd been well enough to heal the injuries he sustained in the battle they had under his hypnosis, but she knew he was in shape to be fighting. While he might have been physically fine, there was no telling what was going on his head.

Sakura only frowned at him. She put a hand on his shoulder and used the other to cup his cheek. "Sasuke, I—"

He immediately ripped away to scowl at her. "This isn't the time for that, Sakura."

It's never the time, she thought bitterly.

And, she suspected, there would never be a time. Not when Sasuke was constantly in a state of self-loathing and simply refused to allow himself some form of happiness. She knew that everything he just did under Madara's control was still fresh in his mind and because of the past four days he spent as Madara's henchman, all he could think about was the time he previously spent with Madara when he was sixteen and stupid and full of hatred towards the Leaf and all of its agents. All the things he did when he was a boy, he had repented for, Sakura genuinely thought. Practically all of the Leaf thought that much. However, at twenty-two, the only person he needed forgiveness from was himself.

Now, with Madara's recent machinations, Sakura feared Sasuke would never allow himself to get better.

She did a quick scope of the area, pleased that the two of them had contained the invading white monsters.

Sasuke tugged on her arm. "We need to move on." When she raised an eyebrow at him, holding back a bitter smile at the double entendre of his words, Sasuke scowled at her and let go.

"Yes," she replied sadly, carefully moving forward, "we do need to move on."

He seemed to sense her frustration with him. Sasuke grunted and ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "When this is over," he began quietly, "let's, you know, go out for ramen. Or something."

Sakura glanced at him, clearly confused by the turn of events. "What?"

"Remember that place the idiot made us visit?" Sakura snorted at Sasuke's nickname for the charge they'd spent the past few months babysitting under the guise of being his classmates. "Ichiraku, I think. The food was actually good."

Sakura almost laughed at the ridiculousness of his words. Perhaps there was more damage to his mind than she'd thought. "We're in the middle of fighting for our lives and you're talking to me about ramen?"

"You're over-exaggerating," Sasuke said with a shrug. "It'll be like the Sound mission. A piece of cake."

"I don't think we went on the same mission if you thought Sound was a piece of cake," Sakura replied wryly.

Sasuke shrugged. "But I'm sure we have the same ending in mind." There was a heated look in his eyes as he recalled the events that transpired three years ago during that particular mission. Sakura tore her gaze away when a blush began to creep onto her features. "Thank you for saving me," Sasuke murmured, taking her hand in his. His grip tightened, as if the events of a few hours ago were replaying in his mind. "If I had done anything to you when Madara was controlling me… I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

She only blinked a few times before squeezing back and smiling at him. "I'll always have your back, Sasuke."

He nodded once. "Thank you."

After a moment of silence, Sakura tugged on him to lead him to where she knew Sai was stationed and fighting. "Now come on," she said, her authoritative tone in play, "we need to go."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the distressed expression on her face. "Stop worrying. This will be easy. Like I said – it'll be just like Sound."

"…you and I remember Sound very differently."

fin