Author's Note: I am so sorry for the wait! I just love hearing what you have to say! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Warnings: Language, OOCness, Un-beta'd.
Word Count: 4,780
Tobirama left them in the tree line and went to his brother's side as Hashirama and Madara spoke about their alliance. They go through all of the small, finer details to ensure that everything is crystal clear and that nothing can really be left up to interpretation. Sakura and Manmaru took to the nearest tree, sitting on one of the thick branches. Manmaru sat on her lap the entire time as they just watched, not wanting to pull any attention away from their forming alliance.
Every couple of minutes, when there is a pause in the scene before them, Manmaru would ask her if he could go to Madara, and she would have to tell him no. That he would have to wait until their discussion was done and the treaty is signed. As a little boy, Sakura can understand why he's so impatient. And at the same time, she's so happy that Manmaru is so happy to be around his father and judging by the way Madara is rushing to put this war to an end, that he wants to be able to be with Manmaru too.
Eventually, Manmaru falls asleep in Sakura's arms. Sakura expected it, and was kind of relieved to not longer have to be listen to his ask for the ten thousandth time if their meeting was over. No, Manmaru it was not over, Sakura would say every single time. She was certainly ready for it to be. It's really interesting to be able to see how the Hidden Leaf formed - er, well, maybe the Hidden Leaf, seeing as this is suppose to be an alternate timeline - or at least their own village. Sakura can't imagine it being anything other than Konoha, but, well, she can hope, can't she?
Sakura turns her attention toward the sky, admiring the clouds gently floating by and is immediately reminded of Shikamaru. She had to give the Nara credit, watching the clouds really did distract her, and even clear her mind of all of the thoughts whirling around in her head. About Madara. About Hashirama. About the Senju and the Uchiha. About the memories of Sakura Seto. About the life of Sakura Seto. The little boy, Manmaru Seto. About the reason she was brought here to begin with. What happened to the Sakura that lived here before. What happened in the three months time when she left Manmaru with Yuzu and when she - Sakura Haruno - woke up in Sakura Seto's stead. So many things, all slowly slip away once more as she stares up at the sky above.
Sakura looks down at the scene before her to see Hashirama wave his hand and the entire Senju side vanishes, heading back to their camp. Madara turns to leave when Hashirama calls out to him, whispering something to him for a moment. Madara eyes him suspiciously before nodding toward the Uchiha staring at him patiently, waiting for his orders, and then they too disappear leaving Tobirama, Izuna, Madara and Hashirama behind.
Figuring that was suppose to be the big reveal. Sakura shakes Manmaru's shoulder a bit until he wakes up. He looks around with bleary black eyes, adjusting where he's sleeping in his arms and begins to go back to sleep, but Sakura shakes his shoulder a bit harder.
"Manmaru," Sakura whispers in his ear, pulling him up her chest a bit, to help wake him up, "I think daddy is done with his meeting."
Manmaru immediately snaps into awareness, large eyes locking onto his father for a moment before looking over his shoulder at Sakura, a big, adorable smile nearly splitting his little face in two. "I wanna go see Daddy!"
"Okay," Sakura says, holding him tight and jumping down to the forest floor before Manmaru wiggles out of her arms.
Once his feet hits the ground, he's running toward Madara. Sakura follows behind easily, but at a slower pace so that she could watch the scene unfold before her. As soon as Manmaru breaks out of the treeline, he lets out a loud, jubilant, "Daddy!" Madara's head snaps in Manmaru's direction, his lips slightly parted probably from whatever he was saying to Hashirama, but it all dies on his lips. His eyes widen for a split second, before he's moving toward Manmaru, almost flying down the hill toward Manmaru, stopping only a few feet away to drop to his knees and open his arms.
Manmaru, giggly and excited, he leaps into Madara's arms, wrapping his legs around Madara's body and his arms around Madara's neck. "Daddy!" Madara holds onto him tightly, rocking side to side.
Sakura stops by the edge of the treeline, unable to help the small smile that crosses her lips. It is truly a beautiful scene. Madara's eyes are squeezed tightly closed and one of his hands is buried in the hair on the back of Manmaru's head, making sure to press him close. He looks like he's scared to let Manmaru go for fear of him slipping away from him forever.
Sakura's eyes flicker up toward the three other men slowly making their way over to them. Izuna's dark eyes are wide, in surprise while Hashirama looks happy and Tobirama's face is impassive.
Madara opens his eyes to stare at Sakura as she walks closer. "How..?" He asks softly.
Sakura smiles lightly, nodding past him. "You have a very good friend, Madara."
Madara turns around slightly, locking eyes with Hashirama, who's practically beaming happily, like he can feel Madara's happiness as if it were his own. Madara bows his head a bit, face obscured by his hair so Sakura can't see the expression on it.
"Thank you, brother," Madara says softly before letting Manmaru finally pull back.
"Hi daddy!" Manmaru says, dark eyes blown wide in excitement.
"Manmaru," Madara says softly, pulling back a bit so he can look at his son's face. He gently caresses his cheek for a moment. "How are you, my boy?"
"Good!" Manmaru says, grinning broadly up at Madara, crinkles surrounding large dark eyes. "I missed you, daddy!"
Madara nods slowly, using the pad of his thumb to lightly caress Manmaru's smooth cheek. "I missed you too, Manmaru. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to see you. I wanted to, but I needed to get my ducks in order."
"Ducks?" Manmaru echoes, black eyes wide. "You have ducks, daddy?"
Madara smiles. "No. I'm sorry." Manmaru doesn't look like he understands, which only makes Madara smile a little bit more and pats the little boy's shoulder a bit before his eyes finally flicker back up to Sakura. "Sakura."
"Hello," Sakura says politely.
"How are you?" Madara asks quietly, standing up and lifting Manamru into his arms, not ready to let go of him just yet. He settles the little boy on his forearm and turns toward Sakura.
"I'm good," Sakura says easily. "Manmaru has been anxious to see you again." She leans heavily on one hip, smiling back at Manmaru's happy grin sent her way. "Haven't you, buddy?"
Manmaru nods, wrapping his arms around Madara's neck to hug him again. "I love Daddy!" Madara bows his head so that his hair obscures his face and the pale pink tinged on his cheeks and the tiny smile that crosses it at the little boy's words. He takes a moment to clear his throat and calm down the heat of his face before raising his head again. Sakura felt the corners of her lips curl up slightly, but she forces herself to relax, she's not sure how the Uchiha Patriarch would take that. The last thing she'd want to do is offend him.
So she just sits back quietly as Manmaru, cute as a button, just blabs on and on about all sorts of little things, this time now letting go of Madara at all, as if afraid that Sakura will take him away again. Luckily for the two of them, Sakura doesn't plan on separating them today. It's a day of celebration, after all. It's time for everyone to be happy. She's not going to be the one to ruin any of them.
"Thank you for coming, Skipper," Hashirama says, stepping next to Sakura.
She looks up at him. "Don't mention it. Thank you for inviting us. Manmaru has been dying to see Madara again."
"I'm sure it's the same for Madara," Hashirama says, smiling affectionately at his best friend and the little, blabbering boy in his arms. "Madara was so broken up after you left, I knew that he was going to work his ass off to get this war wrapped up so that he could see Manmaru again."
"I wasn't keeping him away from Madara," Sakura says quickly. "He could come see him whenever he wanted. Didn't I say that?"
Hashirama shakes his head. "No, you did say that. What I mean, is that Madara doesn't do things half way. While your words were hurtful, they did appear to hit home with him. Madara would never want to be in a position where he would have to make a decision he would never be able to look into his son's eyes afterward. It would ruin him. It was very hurtful, but he kept saying that you were right. He could understand that you weren't trying to hurt him, and in fact help him, but it didn't mean that he wasn't hurt by it."
Sakura pulls at her hood a bit, keeping it up to shield her eyes from the sun. "I didn't mean to hurt him," Sakura says, shaking her head. "I know my words were hurtful, but I didn't intent for it to be that way. Manmaru is my son, I have to do what's best for him. I know he wants to be with Madara - because that's his dad! I understand that! - but I just can't in good conscious leave him with Madara when he was in war with another clan where anything could happen." A slight pause, then, "Not that you would do anything..."
Hashirama holds his hand up to stop her. "I get it," he says, and in some way, Sakura almost believes him. "He's your child. You are Manmaru's first and last line of defense, especially since he's so young. I don't blame you and neither does Madara. In this cruel world it's smart to not just blindly trust someone." Hashirama's words are smooth and equal. Sakura's not sure if he's actually not mad or if he was just saying that. Madara is his best friend after all. As... weird as their relationship is.
"I... honestly didn't expect him to react the way he did," Sakura admits quietly, turning her green eyes back to her son who was still blabbing away, occasionally pushing Madara's fringe out of his eyes so that he could look into them easier. Every time the little boy does this, the corners of Madara's mouth tilt up a bit, as if amused by the action.
"To be honest," Hashirama says softly, "I didn't either. It was such a strong reaction. I wasn't expecting it too."
Sakura looks up at him. "Why did that happen?"
Hashirama shakes his head. "I don't know," he says honestly. "I knew that Madara really loved kids, I guess the thought of having his own and then having them taken away from him so suddenly drew such a strong reaction from him."
Sakura doesn't respond. It was news to her that Madara liked kids. She probably should have suspected it, based on his reaction, but it's kind of an odd thing to think. She knows that this Madara isn't like the one of her time, but to imagine that he liked kids... it was a little weird. That he would be so kind and gentle with kids. But with Manmaru in his arms at this very moment, he was both of those things, and very fatherly that at least with the Madara of this timeline, she can believe that, she supposes.
"Manmaru?" Sakura calls out after a long silence.
The little boy pauses mid sentence to look over at Sakura with big black eyes. "Mommy?" He pouts. "Do we have to leave now?"
Sakura shakes her head. "No, baby. I was actually thinking that you could show daddy some of the cool abilities you picked up. What do you think?" Manmaru looks confused by her words. "Like your hand signs and meditation. Do you want to show him?"
Manmaru's entire face lights up and he whips his head around to look at Madara. "Oh! Come see, Daddy!"
Madara lays Manmaru down and gives him a little bit of room, going down on one knee so that he can still be near eye level with the little boy. Manmaru goes through the basic handsigns that Sakura taught him, saying their names aloud to show Madara that he really knew them. Sometimes he would mess up the name or the handsign, pause a few seconds later, and then correct himself. Madara obviously already knew all of those handsigns, but still smiled faintly when the boy reached the end and grinned broadly up at him.
"How was that, Daddy?" Manmaru asks, reaching out and pushing Madara's hair out of his face.
"Very good, Manmaru. I am very proud of you," Madara says softly. Manmaru beams proudly, clapping his hands excited. "Oh," Madara says, looking over his shoulder at his little brother, who was watching quietly a few feet away with a faint smile on his face. "Manmaru, I want you to meet someone. My little brother, Izuna."
Izuna blinks a few times, as if he was lost in thought before stepping closer and kneeling down to be eye level with the little boy too. "Hello, Manmaru. I'm Izuna."
Manmaru smiles shyly at Izuna. He waves his hand a bit in greeting, a cute little blush across his cheeks. "Hi." Manmaru looks over at Sakura. "What does that make him, Mommy?"
"He's your uncle," Sakura says. "So, he would be Uncle Izuna to you." Manmaru doesn't look like he really understands. "Just call him Uncle Izuna, okay, Manmaru? Just like I'm Mommy and daddy is Daddy."
Manmaru nods slowly, doing an adorable motion of tapping his chin in thought before he nods, smiling brightly. "Okay!" He looks over at Izuna. "Do you want to see the signs?"
Izuna blinks. "Oh, yeah. Sure, buddy."
Excited again, Manmaru goes through the handsigns once more, saying their names aloud again. "Tiger, dragon, no dog, silly Manmaru," the little boys says, making Sakura and Izuna bust out laughing suddenly. Manmaru looks around confused. "What?"
"Sorry, baby," Sakura says. "Keep going." Manmaru stares at her for a few moments before turning back to what he was doing, blinking a few times, having lost his place, before he just starts over again from the beginning.
Sakura's not sure if they had anything important that they were suppose to do that day - they being Madara, Hashirama, Izuna and Tobirama - but they stayed the whole day with Sakura and Manmaru. She can understand Izuna and Madara because they're family, and from what she can understand about Hashirama, maybe it does make a bit of sense. He's very... nosy, but also very friendly. Tobirama might just be there because Hashirama is there and doesn't want to run the risk of leaving him alone, should something happen.
Okay, well, maybe Sakura has this figured out. Maybe it's not as complex as she's trying to think that it is. Or, maybe, there is more to it that she's just not seeing yet.
She told them about the amnesia, which wasn't an actual lie, and she knows that the memories are slowly coming to her, but she really wished that she would fall into a coma for three days and then wake up knowing everything. Well, everything that she needs to know. No, everything in general works too, but she's settle with everything she needs to know. Thankfully there hasn't been too many guessing games, just a few, but there is a big question that is hovering over her, and has been since she showed up here.
What happened to Sakura Seto?
It's obvious that she knew something was going to happen. She left her son with Yuzu, knowing that wherever she was going or whatever she was going to do, she was not going to want to take Manmaru with her. It would be too dangerous. He needed to be somewhere safe.
And yet she still can't wrap her mind around why that wouldn't be with the boy's father.
Sakura has a bit of a suspicion that it had something to do with the war. She really didn't want him to be with Madara simply because he was in war and had to make decisions she didn't think Manmaru would ever forgive his father for if he saw it happening. Maybe time and having Madara talk to him about it himself will somehow help Manmaru understand - and ultimately not blame - his father and his actions.
She can hope so, at least.
Perhaps that is what Sakura Seto was hoping for, but without all of her memories, or at least the ones pertaining to these moments, she won't know for certain.
"Thank you for staying so long," Madara says quietly, looking over Sakura's shoulder to see Manmaru chasing Izuna around, giggling loudly whenever Izuna slows down enough for the little boy to get close, only to side-step him and move away again.
Sakura gives him a little nod, tossing her kunai up into the air before catching it. "It's fine, don't worry about it."
Madara watches as she tosses the kunai up again. His eyes slide over to her own. "I know. I just... really wanted to see him. Get all of this," he waves his hand around ambiguously before letting it drop onto his lap again, "over with so that there wouldn't be any more distractions."
Sakura nods slowly. "I appreciate it. Manmaru was really looking forward to seeing you again." She looks past Madara to see Hashirama and Tobirama are standing over by the river that they moved closer to toward the forest a few hours ago, talking about it's direction and where it's going. If Sakura had to guess, it probably has something to do with the village that they are going to want to start building. And the river they are talking about, it will actually flow right through what will one day be Konoha.
Sakura smiles a bit before returning her eyes to Madara.
The Uchiha patriarch ducks his head down a bit to try and hide his tiny, happy smile. "I see..."
Sakura sends a side-ways glance over her shoulder to watch Manmaru run around, laughing breathlessly as he chases Izuna around before turning back toward Madara. "Unfortunately, I think he's traded you in for a younger, more spry version."
Madara rolls his eyes, looking completely un-amused by her words. She offers him a little, cheeky smile before she hears, over her shoulder.
"Hey Mommy?"
"Yes, Manmaru?" She asks, tossing the kunai back up into the air.
"Who's that?"
She blinks. "Who's...?" Her eyes widen. She is up on her feet in a moment, seeing Tobirama and Hashirama already completely turned around, and Madara already moving to his feet too. Sakura doesn't even wait to try and catch the kunai she tossed up into the air, all of the adrenaline is pumping through her as she breaks into a full on sprint toward Manmaru, who was half turned toward the forest, staring at someone out of her line of sight. Izuna was closer, and also moving toward Manmaru, but somehow, the adrenaline made Sakura move faster than she ever had before and made her reach Manmaru before he did.
She wraps her arms around him, swinging him around her so swiftly his legs kick out right as she uses his weight to build up momentum as her own leg shoots out and connects with the stomach of a puppet man lunging out to attack him. The kick is a bit sloppy and only sends him into the nearest tree, but its enough time for Sakura to really scoop Manmaru into her arms and run toward the four charging men. All armed and ready to fight. In Izuna's eyes is the sharingan, but in Madara's, is the Mangekyo, blazing with rage.
Sakura wasn't about running and hiding while someone else protects her, but her motherly instincts are on overdrive. She didn't care about the guys fighting off the puppets to keep them off her back, because she was using it to defend her child. There was no way in the world she was going to let whoever it is that was controlling those damn puppets from getting to her or her child. She's not going to let them put her son's life in danger because of her. She will sooner rip this world apart than let them hurt Manmaru.
There is crying in her ear - it's Manmaru, he's scared and confused - and she uses it to keep herself moving. She has to get Manmaru somewhere safe. She can hear fighting behind her, she waits until she's close to the river. She finally puts Manmaru onto the ground and removes her cloak, throwing it over his head to protect him. She drops a kunai down at his feet, having given him a few lessons on how to use it, and hope that he won't have to before turning around, ready to fight anyone and anything that makes it past the four men in front of her.
When she turned around, Sakura wasn't sure what she was expecting. She knew there was fighting, and she figured there was a lot of it, but she also knew that she was working with four of the most powerful shinobi of this time. These puppet men were hardly a match for her, she didn't think they would be anything for these four men. And while she's right. She wasn't prepared for what she saw.
There wasn't ten, twenty, thirty or even forty. There had to be hundreds of them running through the forest at them. It wasn't so much that they were powerful, merely that their numbers were overwhelming.
Sakura hesitates. A tenseness within her whole body that she could acutely feel. She knew that they didn't really need any help, they weren't being hurt by these puppets, but there was a lot of them and Sakura wasn't sure of their stamina when it came to continuous battle and if there was hundreds more of them or not. She didn't know, but was she just going to leave them there to deal with it themselves? She didn't know.
It didn't feel right. She knew that she had to help them, whether they needed it or not was circumstantial and perception based, but she also knew that she couldn't leave Manmaru alone. Unlike Madara, Izuna, Tobirama and Hashirama, Manmaru was completely at their mercy and looked to Sakura to protect him. She can't leave him alone to defend himself.
So she stayed back, poised and ready to fight should she need to, but it seems her son's father, his little brother and his one time enemies had this handled. She was weary, but they kept true to their legendary status. They were wiping the floor with those puppets as if they were nothing. Sakura shouldn't be surprised, since she didn't have too much of a problem, but it's still kind of amazing to see them spinning around, both Uchiha brothers in their dark blue battle robes - a sword for Izuna and a familiar gunbai fan for Madara - and the two Senju brothers were decked out in their signature red and blue armor, swords in their hands. Tobirama's the infamous Raijin.
Sakura spares a moment, seeing as none of the puppets have yet to make it past either set of brothers, to look over her shoulder at Manmaru. She's under her cloak, treating it like a blanket, completely covered by it. The kunai, though, is gone. He's just a little blob in the center of the cloak puddle, shivering and hunched over. Sakura just wants to wrap her arms around him and make him feel safe again.
She looks back over to see that the two sets of brothers are fighting off the last of the puppets. She decides that they have it handled so she turns around. She walks around the small Manmaru shaped bulge grabbing the edge of her cloak and pulling it up so that it's on the opposite side to where the fighting is, Sakura can keep an eye on it, but so that he doesn't have to see it. Manmaru turns around, clutching the kunai tightly between both of his little hands. His large black eyes were all watery as he cries quietly.
When his eyes lock onto to Sakura's, he launches into her arms, tossing the kunai aside without the slightest care. He didn't want anything else other than her. Sakura catches him easily and holds onto him tightly. She grabs her cloak and pulls it up over his head to keep him hidden. She can feel his hot breath and tears on her neck as he cries quietly, every loud noise, he flinches. Sakura starts to rock back and forth slowly, cooing into his ear, trying to calm him down. She can feel him shaking and knows that he's afraid.
Sakura watches as Tobirama slices the head off of the last puppet before it all falls silent. Until there is only the gentle crying of the little boy in Sakura's arms is the only sound. Madara looks over his shoulder, at them, and heads right for them. Sakura watches as he gets closer until he's knelt down next to them. He slowly puts his hand on the back of Manmaru's head. The little boy flinches before looking over at him, blinking impossibly long, wet lashes until he registers Madara's face. He reaches forward and puts his other hand on Madara's neck, crying again.
Madara leans forward, putting his forehead against Manmaru's. He didn't say anything, just stared at the face of the whimpering boy, quietly, as if trying to think of a way to make him feel bwtter but not knowing what. The pink haired girl didn't either. She wanted to, but just didn't know how other than to hold him.
Sakura didn't say anything, she didn't feel like she needed to. On one hand Madara's actions are kind of strange. It is such a soft, gentle action that seems like it is misplaced for his character, but this is his son. While Sakura didn't mean for this to be some kind lesson or to somehow reenforce her words about Manmaru and his reaction to seeing his father responsible for ending peoples lives or ordering the death of someone.
But somehow this feels like reenforcement for what she said. But thankfully, Manmaru doesn't appear to be afraid of Madara - which is good - just afraid in general - which is not good. Sakura wished there was something that she could do, he was her son, she should be able to protect him, but she also knew it comes with the lifestyle. Even if Sakura didn't want Manmaru to be a shinobi because of who his father is and whatever is currently going on with Sakura, he has no choice in the matter.
She just has to protect him for as long as she can and hope that he is strong enough to protect himself when the time comes that he needs to.
