They hitched a ride in a horse drawn wagon with a group of nomadic women who had introduced themselves as traveling performers. The women dressed in brightly colored shawls adorned with iridescent beads and sequins. They had been heavily clad in jewelry and precious metals worn both as part of their native attire and as protective amulets. Madara pulled the corner of his blanket closer swaddling himself in its warm layers. He did not appreciate the rough ride in the wagon jarring his stomach with every rock and pothole the wheels struck. Not to mention the grating jingling noises stemming from the bangles the women wore.
"You said you are heading toward Hinode?" Sakura asked a rotund woman who had presented herself as the leader of the band.
The chubby cheeked woman nodded her head amicably. "Yes, it's just a little ways southwest. We should arrive by dawn."
Hinode was a small village distinguished by its tourist attractions— particularly the many festivals held throughout the year and large performing arts theatre. It was deemed a relatively safe village as evidenced by the lower crime and poverty rate. Since it was not an area heavily influenced by shinobi activity it had not been stricken by the war to the extent the neighboring villages suffered.
It was north of Konoha though it would take several days to reach Konoha from there if she were to travel by foot. She would leave Madara in the care of Hinode and continue south back home to the comfort of her family and friends eagerly awaiting her return.
Sakura tapped Madara on the shoulder gently alerting him to an offering in her hand.
"Here, eat this." She handed him a helping of onigiri.
Madara accepted the rice ball scrutinizing it in his hands as if she had spiked it with a toxic substance. "I don't trust anything you give me anymore."
Sakura beamed pleasantly clasping her hands together. "I promise I didn't poison it."
He fixed a single eye on her warily and took a large bite from the ball of rice. Upon first impression the rice ball tasted innocent. Perhaps a bit dry but nothing unpleasant. A few moments after swallowing, an unforeseen and pungent aftertaste overwhelmed his palate.
Madara grasped his throat gagging as though he were dying of asphyxiation.
The nomadic women shot collective glances at him as his flustered retching broke through the vague murmurs of the coach.
He ceased his sickening retching and pointed his finger combatively in Sakura's face. "You snuck medicine in this!"
Sakura drew a long sigh folding her arms and crossing her legs simultaneously. "How else am I going to get you to take your medicine?"
"Don't you have anything that doesn't taste bad?"
She unzipped the top layer of her backpack drawing out a needle and syringe. "I'm afraid you leave me with no other options…"
"I'm not afraid of needles." Madara stated boldly smothering any nuance of fear from gracing his face.
"Very well then." Sakura uncapped the needle and flicked the head of the syringe popping the tiny air bubbles formed at the surface.
She rolled up the sleeve of Madara's cloak and held his arm in place preparing to insert the needle into his arm. He tensed his arm as the tip of the needle edged closer to his skin. Unable to curb his anxiety any longer, he jerked his arm from Sakura's grip and surrendered to the unpleasant tasting onigiri.
"I'll eat it! I'll eat it!" He hastily shoveled the entire rice ball into his mouth.
Sakura grinned triumphantly capping the needle. "I guess that did the trick."
He gagged yet again clutching his throat with both hands.
"You're overreacting!" Sakura berated the melodramatic child placing her hands on her hips sternly. She unbuttoned a small pouch and searched for something to mitigate his frenzied gagging.
Madara released his throat as Sakura handed him a small piece of hard candy. He inspected the round candy sealed in a bright red wrapper.
"How do I know you didn't spike this too?" He growled skeptically reluctant to accept the generous offering.
Sakura tilted her head slightly flashing him a kindly grin. "Because I only give candy to good kids who take their medicine."
She unraveled his fingers and placed the candy in the palm of his hand. He curled his fingers over the round sweet studying Sakura's smile for any hint of phoniness.
The woman sitting to Sakura's left chuckled lightheartedly covering her mouth modestly. "You're a wonderful big sister, Sakura-san."
"She's not my sister!" Madara hissed huffily.
"My, what a temper you have, little man." The woman giggled drawing in laughter from the rest of her companions.
To Madara's dismay, Sakura also joined in the shared laughter. He folded his arms and remained silent incensed by the patronizing attitude of the women.
"Why don't we pass the time with some music?" A dark skinned woman wearing braids opened a guitar case.
She began to strum a melancholy chord and sang breathily. Two more women backed her vocals providing a soothing chorus to the melody. The song began slowly and softly reminiscent of a lullaby sung to children. Their voices crescendo before coming to a brief pause. The guitarist hastened the melody to a faster tempo. The rest of the women clapped and rattled their bangles to the rhythm. Sakura joined the mirthful band of women dancing and hollering to the lively tune. She clapped her hands to the beat of the song and shook her shoulders weaving back and forth with the woman seated across from her.
"You're a lovely dancer, Sakura-san. You should join our group." The leader handed Sakura a tambourine.
Madara folded his arms sinking into the seat of the wagon withdrawing himself from the scene of singing and dancing women.
Sakura noticed the reclusive boy distancing himself from the blissful activity. She offered him a tambourine hoping to invite him in on the fun. He pursed his lips firmly and snapped his head to the side visibly miffed by her gesture. She shrugged her shoulders resigning herself from trying to cheer up the child and banged on the rim of the tambourine resuming pace with the animated song.
The music waned as the wagon approached the village of Hinode. Sakura glanced to her side at the young boy propped up against her shoulder fast asleep. She knew very well the imminent outburst she would have to endure if she dare wake the child now.
The nomads dropped them off at the doorstep of the village leaders.
"Please come watch our performance at the circus!" The head of the traveling performers called out as the wagon wheeled away.
"Bye Sakura-san! Bye Mada-kun!" The women chorused bidding their farewells.
Sakura waved goodbye to the band of nomads disregarding Madara's unamused glower in response to being called his not so desired nickname.
She met with the village leaders, a married couple named Kouta and Kaede, disclosing all the information she had known regarding Madara's situation.
"Rest assured, Sakura-san. We welcome the boy with open arms." Kouta rested a hand on Madara's shoulder oblivious to the peeved expression on the boy's face.
"We promise to take good care of him." Kaede pat the boy on the head further deepening the scowl sewn into his face.
Sakura laughed nervously and handed Kaede a plastic baggy full of medications. "Please make sure he gets a drop of ointment in each eye at least twice a day. And do be sure to give him his antibiotics over the course of the week before each meal. He doesn't like to take them so try hiding it in some food. Also his bandages need to be changed every morning, oh, and try to make sure he gets plenty of zinc in his diet so his wounds heal faster and…"
"Whoa slow down, Sakura-san!" Kaede waved her hand flustered by Sakura's grocery list of instructions. "I'm gonna need a pen and paper to get this all down."
Kouta spoke up lifting his hand from the boy's shoulder. "Why don't you stay the night, get some rest, eat some good food..."
Sakura shook her head politely. "Thank you but I must be on my way now."
"Before you go, why don't you at least take Mada-kun to see the circus? I'm sure he'd like to go, right Mada-kun?" Kouta spoke in a higher tone of voice Madara perceived as annoyingly condescending. "I have two tickets."
"I guess we could go see it before I leave." Sakura shrugged her shoulders.
After a quick change of clothing, Sakura and Madara set off for the circus.
All kids loved the circus—the flashing colors, the sugary and fried foods, the performing animals, the astounding acrobatics and comedic acts—all except Madara. There was no pleasing the child. He wore a total of two expressions on his face—anger and disinterest. Trying to amuse the boy was akin to trying to make Sasuke laugh at a joke. It was just not plausible. Any attempt only seemed to further irritate him.
Sakura couldn't help but feel embarrassed that the circus attractions highly amused her while Madara was unaffected by it. It made her feel immature and childish at heart.
She bought him a stick of cotton candy with the little money she had remaining.
At least he seemed appreciative of the food or rather the fact that it was not food prepared by her.
They sat on the food court benches taking a short respite from standing on their feet all day.
Their brief break was immediately disrupted by a feminine scream in the distance.
Sakura raced toward the source of the scream with Madara trailing closely behind her. A large crowd had congregated around a boy lying supine on the ground gasping desperately for air.
Sakura parted the crowd until she reached the subject in distress. She crouched down placing her hands on the young boy's chest.
"Mada-kun, please get my backpack!" Sakura instructed him.
He hurried off paddling through the crowd in search of Sakura's backpack left behind at the food court.
"What happened?" Sakura asked the sobbing woman standing near the boy's head.
"I don't know! He suddenly just collapsed without warning!" The thin, seedy woman cried out.
Sakura tuned out the murmuring crowd and focused on assessing the boy's condition. She evaluated his heart first. His heart contracted weakly severely dropping his blood pressure. It was difficult to tell exactly what caused the boy to go into shock. It could've been a myriad of various ailments which was challenging to discern without knowing the background behind the boy's condition.
First and foremost, she had to increase the force of his heart contractions in order to keep him alive. A bright green light emanated from her hands sending chakra to his heart. Despite her efforts to address his heart, his condition didn't seem to improve. He wheezed desperately indicating either a blockage or constriction of his airways.
The on looking crowd murmured louder as they continued watching the girl attempt to save the young boy.
Madara returned promptly setting the backpack down beside her. He knelt down behind Sakura watching the ailing boy fight to remain alive.
He uttered indifferently. "It doesn't matter what you do. He's going to die anyway."
Sakura flinched as if his words had stabbed her directly in the back. An icy shiver relayed down her spine triggering her entire body to shudder.
"It doesn't matter what you do. He's going to die anyway." A deep, menacing voice spoke within her mind. It was a voice she had banished to the deepest abyss of her aural memories.
Her hands quivered violently as she recalled the events of the war she hoped would never return to the brim of her thoughts ever again. She knelt in the same position over her dying blonde comrade siphoning every last ounce of chakra to her hands in order to keep him alive. Despite her desperate efforts, his pulse only seemed to weaken and her precious friend's life slipped away from beneath her fingertips. When she believed the situation couldn't have declined any further, Uchiha Madara—the incarnation of pure evil—spoke those very same words into her ear mocking her frantic attempt at saving Naruto's life.
Sakura choked back tears as her entire body trembled uncontrollably. She drew her hand back and spun around towards the boy kneeling behind her.
"You fucking bastard!" She screamed spitefully at maximum volume delivering an unmerciful slap to his face.
The sheer force of the slap nearly winded the boy. Madara quickly recovered his balance and sat upright connecting his gaze with Sakura's. Her dulled green eyes exuded an unbridled hatred that rendered the girl nearly unrecognizable.
He was beset by a conflicting myriad of emotions unsure which would manifest into a reaction first. He wanted to cry, he wanted to rage, but he remained petrified unable to solicit a response from his body.
His cheek throbbed excruciatingly but that pain did not compare to the blow dealt by the toxic look in her eyes.
"Give her some space, kid!" Two adults grasped Madara by each arm dragging him away from the scene.
Tears splashed onto the young boy's t-shirt as Sakura grasped her face unsure of what further action to take. The crowd erupted into a loud panic.
"Hurry! Please Nobu will die!" The thin woman wept.
"What happened? Why did she stop healing him?"
"Please do something!"
"Oh my god! He's going to die!"
Sakura pressed her hands to the boy's chest again struggling to retain focus amidst the uproar of the crowd.
She reminisced of the war to the most desperate moments she had ever endured in her lifetime. As her chakra rapidly ebbed away Naruto's life followed suit. She would not let that heartless bastard have the satisfaction of murdering all of the members of Team 7. She had recalled Chiyo's words from the Gaara rescue mission and discontinued trying to heal Naruto. She uttered a few words of gratitude to her elderly mentor under her breath. Instead of utilizing her remaining chakra to heal, she performed another type of jutsu to restore her comrade's life. She would prove that bastard Uchiha wrong!
Naruto would live to see Sasuke fight beside him as well as the shinobi world supporting him in a spirit of brotherhood.
Naruto would live to defeat Uchiha Madara and seal the Juubi.
Naruto would live to achieve his dream of becoming Hokage.
But Sakura's life…
Her own life had been…
Sakura's eyes flittered open snapping her back to the present reality. She took a deep breath restoring her concentration to the task at hand.
She mentally drowned out the noise of the crowd and cut away the boy's t-shirt with a kunai to prevent his clothes from further constricting his airways. His abdomen had been enveloped in red, angry rashes.
Anaphylaxis.
She searched her backpack for a vial of epinephrine but recalled she had run out of stock back at the previous village. It seemed she would have to systemically vasoconstrict his blood vessels manually. She rested her hands on his chest again sending chakra throughout his body in an effort to constrict the dilated blood vessels responsible for his shock.
She lifted her hands away from his skin and rose to her feet. "He's going to be alright now."
"Oh, Nobu!" A dark haired woman rushed to the boy's side smothering him against her large bosom. She suddenly gazed up at the thin woman furiously. "Did you let Nobu have strawberries again? I told you he was allergic to strawberries!"
"Please forgive me, Aya-san. I didn't know…" The thin woman begged.
"You're fired!" She roared with the vigor of a mother tiger. She turned to Sakura bowing her head graciously. "Thank you. You saved my son's life."
"It was nothing." Sakura scratched the back of her head humbly. "Make sure he gets plenty of fluids."
Madara observed the crowd gather around Sakura showering her in praise and admiring her medical expertise.
Sakura rested that night at the village leaders' house utterly exhausted from the dramatic ordeal. The following morning, she thanked the leaders' for their generous hospitality and departed.
As she neared the village gates, someone called her name from a distance.
"Mada-kun?"
The raven haired boy trotted up before her. He avoided her gaze and began. "Sakura..."
"Huh?" She awaited his further words.
"You saved that boy." He raised his gaze, sincerity behind his dark eyes. "I'm sorry for doubting your abilities."
"I'm sorry for slapping you. I was really stressed out and not thinking clearly." Sakura bent down to his level. She brushed his bangs away from his forehead. "You truly are a sweet child."
Madara's lips parted as she planted a gentle kiss on his forehead. His eyes broadened absorbing nothing but the pink locks draping down the sides of her face.
Her lips whispered in his ear serenely. "I hope you never have to experience war in your lifetime."
She rose to her feet watching him touch his fingertips to his forehead. A deep red blush painted the apples of his cheeks.
"Hey!" He shouted pointing his finger at her indignantly.
Sakura giggled into her hand taking pleasure in his embarrassment as he folded his arms and scowled. At least she had captured the opportunity to see him wearing a different expression if even for a brief moment. She would certainly miss his little outbursts and short temper.
"Goodbye, Mada-kun." She turned away and sauntered toward the exit.
He touched his fingers back to his forehead as he watched her walk away until she was nothing more than a fine speck in the distance.
A/N: Thanks for reading and please review!
To MinaBlahBlahBlahAnimeFan: Do you mind repeating that again? I'm afraid I didn't catch your message. :P
