AN: Helloo! I was inspired by the bleach fanfic Color by Darksknight and came up with a plot bunny of my own for my second fav pairing~ Enjoy!

Chapter 1 - Appearance

Sakura let out a tired sigh, forcing herself to continue placing one foot before the other. She was completely exhausted. She paused for a moment, leaning against a light post and tilting her head towards the night sky, bathing her worn face in the brilliant moonlight.

It had been a long day. She'd been working at her children's clinic from 4:00am and had barely stopped to take a lunch break. She'd also done two surgeries at the Konoha Hospital, and now she was thoroughly worn out. But there had just been so much work to do...especially at her clinic. So many children had been traumatized and broken by the war. Sakura sighed once more, closing her eyes against the argentous moonlight as emotions burned behind her eyelids. Even though it had been many months since the war, the suffering and trauma hadn't just magically gone away. She was beginning to wonder if it ever would.

When a chilly gust of breeze sent shivers across her body, Sakura pushed herself off the light post and resumed walking towards her newly built apartment. Her old one had been destroyed during the war. She rubbed her forehead wearily. She really needed a steamy shower to soothe the ache that persisted in the crevices of her joints. At the the thought of a hot shower, Sakura increased her pace and drew on one final burst of energy to Shunshin directly to her front door.

She was finally home.

Sakura allowed the tiredness to engulf her, slumping slightly against the door as she pushed it open, kicking her sandals off on the entrance rug. The threadbare fibers of the rug did little to comfort her burning soles. She needed to buy a new one, but she hadn't had the money to do so before.

She should have noticed it. In fact, had she not been so thoroughly exhausted, she would have noticed that there was another presence in her small apartment. However, caught in the thick fog of fatigue, the pink haired medic failed to notice the foreign presence.

Sakura flicked on the lights, her body moving on autopilot, as she made her way to her bathroom, pulling her shirt over her head as she did so. Her clothes left a colourful trail on the floor as she trudged towards the bathroom, pausing to push the door open, clad only in her underwear. Still on autopilot she turned the shower on, stripping herself of her underwear and stepping under the steaming spray.

"Ah…" Sakura breathed out, welcoming the way the hot water beat against her aching skin. She closed her eyes, leaning her head against the wall of the shower. Ten minutes later she was switching the water off, fatigue still draining her, but her eyes were no longer clouded, she felt tired but much more alert. She wrapped herself in her fluffy pink bathrobe, and pulled the bathroom door open, wincing slightly when the cold night air assaulted her face.

Then she felt it.

She felt it. The horrifying feeling of familiarity. It forced her spine upright, rigidity straightening her body as her mouth went dry and her throat closed ominously.

Someone was in her home. How had she not noticed? Had she been that tired?

Sakura clenched her fists, instantly readying herself for a fight, although she tiredly noted that had the person wanted to attack her they could have done so long ago. She took a step forward, the clothes she'd left on the floor unnoticed as she focused on the chakra of the person in her living room. It wasn't one she'd forget any time soon.

Uchiha Madara.

As Sakura rounded the corner to her small living room, she saw the notorious Uchiha, lying on her couch, bare chest moving up and down gently. In that moment, Sakura froze. She didn't know what she'd been expecting, but she hadn't expected to find Uchiha Madara lying on her couch, clad only in the pants and sandals he'd been in when he'd died. One of his muscular arms rested over his face, blocking it from her view. It seemed as though he was sleeping….or passed out.

Sakura licked her lips, forcing herself to suppress the sudden shudder that had come over her body. Scenes of war flashed before her. Fallen comrades, the screams of death, the hole in Neji's chest. But still, she didn't take a step backward, had she been a lesser woman she would have. But Haruno Sakura didn't back down easily.

She clenched her fists, allowing her nails to bite into her palm, the brief pain pulling her from the clutches of fear and into the arms of anger. Pure unadulterated anger. Before Sakura knew it she was flying across the room and slamming her fist directly into Madara' gut, jerking the Uchiha awake.

"What the actual fuck are you doing in my apartment, you bastard?!" Sakura screamed, green eyes flashing dangerously. She was not about to tolerate any crap the Uchiha had planned, she was way too tired to deal with anymore of his bullshit.

Satisfaction filled Sakura momentarily, when Madara's eyes widened, breaking his stoic mask. But the shock was gone as soon as it had come. He pushed himself upright from the remains of the couch, which had shattered under Sakura's punch, and crossed his arms over his chest. His long hair fluidly swung over his shoulder as he turned his face away from Sakura.

Sakura's eyebrow twitched dangerously, was he ignoring her? Of all the damn nerve!

"I will only ask one more time Uchiha. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" she hissed, her venomous tone far more dangerous than any of her infamous roars ever were.

The Uchiha glanced at her, before simply turning and making his way over to the other undestroyed sofa. Once he sat, elbows resting against his knees, he tilted his head towards the pinkette.

"Surely you don't think that I, Uchiha Madara, am here in the abode of such scum on my own accord, do you?" He drawled lazily, his tone as arrogant as ever. But Sakura didn't miss the way his eyes flickered for a second, and it was enough for her to ignore his blatant insult. He didn't know why he was there.

Suddenly the fight vanished from Sakura's body and it was all she could do to keep herself standing. She was so tired. She really didn't want to deal with the dangerous Uchiha at the moment, she just wanted to sleep. She knew she probably should have contacted Kakashi or Naruto or even Sasuke, but she was just so tired. And he didn't seem to be interested in attacking her, so she settled for crossing her arms over her chest.

"You don't know why you are here…" Sakura trailed, not quite asking but not stating either. Madara closed his eyes in response, grunting out a short reply.

"Hn."

She assumed it was a noise of confirmation. Sakura sighed, running her hand through her still damp tresses, wincing when her head pounded painfully. She really needed to sleep.

"How did you get in here?" she questioned, trying her best to ignore the burning exhaustion behind her eyes.

"I awoke here, woman," Madara replied shortly, eyes still closed. Sakura was not buying it. Her green eyes narrowed and she took a step closer to the Uchiha.

"You expect me to believe, that you Uchiha Madara, the instigator of the last war, simply awoke from death on my couch?" Sakura gritted out, wincing slightly when her head throbbed fiercely.

Madara raised his chin ever so slightly, face still set in its stoic mask.

"I do not know what your puny brain is capable of processing. But as I stated, I awoke here. Yes I was dragged from the dark clutches of death to this filth of a place."

Sakura sighed, closing her eyes as they suddenly began to sting. They flickered open moments later, hardened with resolve despite fatigue dulling their brilliant green.

"Are you back to destroy Konoha?" Sakura pressed, jaw clenched as she watched the Uchiha carefully for any hints of lies. However she felt it deep within her gut, he wasn't lying and hadn't lied to her yet. She didn't like it. He was supposed to lie. He was Uchiha Madara, the vicious, arrogant manipulator of the fourth Shinobi World War.

A small, dry chuckle escaped Madara lips and his eyes flickered open as he threw his head back, descending into wild cackles. His humourless laughter stopped as soon as it had begun and his face settled into its stoic state once more.

Sakura flinched at the hollowness of his dark eyes when his gaze landed directly upon her.

"My conquest of destroying Konoha has long been over. I know when I have been defeated," he said slowly, voice laced with something akin to bitterness. Only it held much less emotion and much more darkness. He raised his hands, palms turned upwards into the air before he clenched them, forming a fist.

"I am unable to use any of my powers, even though I can feel my chakra within me." A crooked smile―if one could label it as such, twisted his mouth upwards, flashing his white incisors at Sakura. She forced herself not to step backwards again.

"It seems as though fate would have me unable to acquire the one thing I desired the most, after failing to destroy Konoha...It seems I have sinned too deep to be granted even death." His words were empty, sarcasm twisting every syllable, and when Madara threw his head back and erupted into soulless laughter once more, Sakura's stomach clenched painfully.

She was not ready for this. She did not want the burden of a partially mad Uchiha on her hands. She had been through enough, she had only just began to find herself again.

There was only one thing she could do.

Sakura quickly sped through a series of hand seals, slamming her palm to the ground, a large cloud of smoke bursting from the seal etched into the floor. Seconds later the smoke and seal marks disappeared, replaced by a masked shinobi.

Relief flooded Sakura once the masked ANBU appeared before her. She would finally be rid of the Uchiha, and finally be able to indulge in her long overdue sleep.

"I need you to take him to the interrogation headquarters, he is unable to use his Sharingan so there should be no problem subduing him" Sakura said quietly, gesturing to where Madara sat immobile on her sofa.

The ANBU was silent for a long moment, before answering in a slightly bewildered tone, a phenomenon as ANBU were known for their lack of emotions.

"There is no one here," the ANBU male replied slowly, carefully even, as though afraid Sakura would explode at any moment. She was known for her short temper, which had grown even shorter since the war.

Sakura's eyes snapped open to find the couch Madara had been sitting on completely empty.

'What the heck?' Sakura screamed inwardly, dread creeping up her spin and settling into her bones. This could not be happening.

"I thought you said you were unable to use your powers, Uchiha!" Sakura snarled, a vein throbbing in her forehead as she surmised the Uchiha had lied to her. She was far from pleased, and felt a bit disappointed in herself. She shouldn't have let her guard down.

I cannot perform any jutsus or use my Sharingan, woman. I have no reason to lie to such filth as yourself.

Sakura started, jumping when Madara's deep voice sounded clearly in her mind.

'What the fuck? Why are you in my head?" Sakura snapped mentally, trying to ignore how utterly odd it was to be conversing with a supposedly dead Uchiha in her mind.

It seems as though my form is unable to be sustained once other people are around.

'But I saw you still sitting on the couch when the ANBU was first summoned,' Sakura retorted and Madara grunted in reply.

Hn. My form lasted for a few seconds when the ANBU appeared, and he looked right through me, obviously unable to see me before my body disappeared completely.

Sakura stumbled backwards, mind reeling as she tried to process the information.

Was she the only person who could see Uchiha Madara? And according to him his body disappeared once any one else got close to him? This was utterly ridiculous. It had to be a dream...a joke even. But Sakura knew, without even having to think, that it was neither a dream or a joke. It was the harsh cold reality.

Uchiha Madara was back in some sort of incorporeal form, and only she could see or hear him.

"Haruno-sama?" The ANBU's voice jerked Sakura back to the present and she shook her head, trying to focus her scrambled mind.

"My apologies," Sakura bit out, voice cracking with strain. "It seems as though I hallucinated...must be PTSD," she lied, green eyes shifting to the side. The ANBU stood silently, his mask staring blankly back at the medic.

"You are dismissed," Sakura said tiredly and the ANBU poofed out of sight. She didn't doubt that Tsunade or Kakashi would summon her tomorrow. The ANBU was sure to report her 'strange' behaviour.

Her headache raged on, temporarily blinding the pinkette and causing her to stumble. She would have hit the ground if a large hand didn't grip her upper arm tightly, almost painfully, preventing her body from hitting the floor.

Sakura eyes shifted to her right, stomach dropping when the all too familiar wild, long dark hair and eyes of Uchiha Madara greeted her sight.

"Hn. You Konoha scum are still as weak as usual," the Uchiha bit out, releasing Sakura's upper arm and retaking his place on the sofa.

Had her mind been in less turmoil, Sakura would have balked at the fact that Uchiha Madara had prevented her from falling. But in her haze of fatigue it didn't penetrate her mind in the slightest.

Sakura straightened, rubbing her fingers against her temples before turning to Madara, mouth set in a hard scowl.

"Look, you Uchiha prick. I don't know what the heck is going on here or why you are here. But I am exhausted and I honestly do not have the energy for your insane fuckery at the moment. Therefore I will be going to bed, and you will stay on that sofa until I awake. I will definitely regret this in the morning..but right now just shut the heck up so I can sleep."

Madara remained silent, staring at his hands before flexing them. His hollow, almost lifeless eyes didn't acknowledge Sakura even once. She gritted her teeth before turning on her heel and stalking towards her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her. She didn't even remember she was clad only in a bathrobe, and flung herself onto her bed.

Sakura's eyes stung as they drifted shut.

When was she going to get a break? Life had been nonstopping ever since the war...and now that she had finally gotten Sasuke back, and had begun to try and regather her life she was presented with yet another obstacle. She needed it all to stop for a moment. She felt as though she couldn't keep up, and it was taking a toll on her.

Sakura shook her head tiredly, rolling onto her side as she pushed the thoughts of war, Madara and everything else from her mind. She just needed to sleep. She wasn't broken, and she wasn't giving up.

With that sleep descended upon the pinkette, engulfing her exhausted body. But deep in her subconscious she was still aware of the long haired Uchiha sitting stiffly on her couch, his once hate filled eyes, hollow and lifeless.

She was definitely going to regret it all in the morning.

AN: TADAAA and here is another MadaSaku! I know I promised the sequel to TTC but I haven't been inspired for it at all...but I was suddenly inspired for a new MadaSaku concept...and thus the plot bunnies forced me to type this out. I don't intend for this to be a very long fic...probably 6 chapters or so...but we will see.

I am going through a rough period in my life and just wanted to connect with my readers again. The reviews on TTC made me so happy...and so I decided to try my hand at fanfiction again even though I was planning to take a hiatus as me and my bestie (the other author of TayMor), are working on a book and tshirt line at the moment. Anyhow! Read and review please! Your reviews will be greatly appreciated! *hands out chocolates and candies and sexy Madaras* ^_^