This is supposed to part of a bigger story involving time travel, and Madara finding Sakura in the current timeline and how that fucks up a lot of things because for him it had been DECADES but to her? It was only a few days ago. It also involved a botched sealing jutsu from Tobirama and Naruto executing his heart's sister.

It's a monster of a fic. I don't know if I'll ever write it in its entirety.

Fact One: It is not easy being an Uchiha.

Sakura tears her gaze from the pond and looks at Madara at the corner of her eye. He's tense as if waiting for her to flee or lash out. The latest council meeting was not kind to either of them. What used to be thinly veiled insults towards her heritage and his choice of bride turned into not-so-veiled insults as they push for an heir. It's the second year of their marriage and the public knows it has been consummated but without fruit.

They were suggesting that their clan head take the right to seek warmth elsewhere since it seems that her warmth is not enough to house a child. After all, she, born of earth and water is not of Uchiha fire. Only Uchiha women can bear Uchiha men. No offense, my lady. This is a man's right.

(and we have indulged you long enough, goes unsaid)

Madara looks at his wife, the curve of her back and the shivering of her form. His keen eyes catch something dark and thick on the forest floor and the sound that tore from his throat has Sakura turning. Her green eyes follow his gaze and land on the layer of haori she removed out of frustration earlier.

The Uchiha fan stands out boldly against the dark thick fabric.

"It is heavy," Sakura whispers as she gazes back to the pond. She shivers but relishes on the feel of the air against her skin. She's the daughter of earth and water, and she's long been away. It calls to her, promising to carry her away from the stifling heat of the burning fire.

Her husband bends down, his own haori crumpling as he picks up the discarded fabric. His dark grey eyes look at it silently, before turning to Sakura's back, clothed with white crest-less fabric. Silently, he takes a sit beside her and quietly says, "Yes. It is."

Fact Two: Madara gave Sakura the freedom to choose.

"Go," Madara says, the shadows on his face dancing as he stands by the flickering light of the room's torch.

In his room, they speak, propriety be damned when no one can see. It's the middle of the night, five days before their set wedding and he's letting his bride go.

It takes everything in him to will his rough palms open, letting go of the rosette's wrists. Startled green eyes search the Uchiha leader's eyes while her own pale hand grasps his retreating hand, "Go where? I already decided, I choose you."

Madara, for the life of him, wants to end it there. But sometimes, he sees Sakura looking at the colorful, warm and loud houses of the Senju and wonders about the seed of hesitation that must be taking root in her heart. The Uchiha are of fire, blazing and burning and they love as greatly as the first fire created by man, but they are rarely warm, rarely laughing and sometimes, he wonders if it is he doubts more that she does.

Is his love enough? Is his love too much? Is this selfishness worth her very being? Will this be enough?

Silently, the Uchiha raises his hand and caresses Sakura's cheek. For a moment, she leans into his touch.

"Go, meet Tobirama." Madara steps back, "And if you can find it in you- return to me."

That night, he stands vigil by their compound and waits for her to return and-

she does.

Fact Three: Madara follows the Uchiha tradition in asking her to marry him.

The Uchiha takes pride in being one of the oldest, strongest clans to ever grace the Land of Fire. Their feats are well-documented by their own scholars, and their heritage passed on and on from one generation to the next. They speak of how they are descendants of the greatest genjutsu and fire jutsu user in history and how their traditions are bound to said fact. It's not surprising then that their life is ripe with rituals.

It can be seen in how men ask for the blessings of their wife before battle. In how the women bathe them with oil and light the liquid on fire, never letting the fire burn their spouses. It is said to protect them in battle better than their best armors - armors forged by their mothers with white-hot heat of their own jutsu. Sent off with a prayer of; "Let the fire in me, protect the fire that was within me."

It can be seen in how they bless their children. In how they surrender their child to the clan by asking every clansman that is present to touch their child with a fire-lit finger praying that the strength of many will be the strength of one. It can be seen in how when the children are old enough, they are taught how to wield fire too.

And so, this is how Madara asks Sakura to be his wife:

In battle regalia, with his most trusted men behind him, he enters the dark where she waits. His long hair is high up his head, held by a red thin rope as vivid as his own eyes.

The ritual is done in the coldest of cold and the darkest of dark; in the deepest caves of the outskirts of what would be Konoha - symbolizing the frigid nature of fear of not having someone to look to guidance to and the path that the clan will walk to if led by no one or just one.

That's what it means for the clan; it means differently for the patriarch.

At the center of a room, Sakura waits patiently, adhering to the very last kanji of tradition. She sits on a stone throne-like chair, carved by her own hands and tools, in a room with walls lined with dozens of unlit torches, her body swathed in heavy kimono patterned with dragons and earth. Her hair flows freely down her back and is held back by a lone flower behind her ear.

(Once upon a time, they'll tell you, that Indra searched for his bride far and wide and found a young woman in a temple lined with emeralds. He was lost in an underground cave system, heavily wounded from his fight with his brother when he hears a song - and he followed and followed until the brilliance of green precious stones led her to his wife, the First Uchiha Matriarch and well- but that's another story)

Madara walks for three days as the air gets colder and the place darker. And when he finds the place where light does not follow and the sounds of the world above is non-existent, he stops in front of her and kneels. He keeps his head down and his posture stiff, because this is tradition, this is not just about love (although it is) and a clansman hands him a dark piece of cloth and quietly, he covers his eyes and ties it tight behind his head.

Then he looks up, blindly, and asks; "Be my wife, be my light-"

"- be my Uchiha matriarch."

Sakura, eyes tearing up, slides down and removes the knot behind her love's head. As the cloth comes off, she is met with Madara's closed eyes, lips curved up, knowing the answer before he even asked. The room ripples, alive which chakra and his clansmen move out of sight as he hears the answer:

"Yes. I'll be your wife, your light. If you'll have me as your partner for life."

Madara's eyes open and the room bursts into light.

Fact Four: It is Uchiha tradition for women to give up arms after getting wed.

Uchiha women are fierce in their pride as mothers of the clan. It was never a source of shame to retreat from battle to hold the fort that welcomes their men home and fosters their children, their lantern fires. They are forge-fire, hearth-fire and the burning sensation of birthing a child and it is nothing to be ashamed of, Sakura-san, this is our choice.

And yes, of course, Sakura knows this. Learned this with her would-be mother-in-law over dozens of cups of tea but Sakura has been a warrior for so long that parting with the battlefield feels a lot like parting with an arm, a leg, no, her very soul. She fought and leveled mountains, tore the sky down and here she is giving it all up for love.

This is not weakness, Sakura thinks almost angrily, nor is it surrender.

This is a different type of strength, Sakura thinks.

In front of the Uchiha clan, and facing her now and eternal husband, Sakura removes her battle ax from its place on her back and with two steady hands, offers it for Madara to take-

This is trust.

Fact Five: Uchiha Madara's first act as the patriarch of the Uchiha clan is this;

- only to have it pushed softly back into her hands.

We are equals. You are my wife. My light and my partner for life.

end