Author's note: I'm so sorry for the long wait and the fact that the chapter isn't all that long! I wanted to make it longer, but it was a good place to stop. I greatly enjoy reading all that you have to say. I love hearing everyone's theories and ideas - some of them even encourage me to take routes that I hadn't considered before, so let's hear them! I will edit it more as the story goes on but it's late and I'm tired, and have a long day of work ahead of me. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Warnings: Possibly language, un-beta'd and OOCness.
Word Count: 5,170
Hashirama has a look of absolute horror and self destruction on his face. It looks like he viewed the last shred of innocence be violently ripped away from this world as Sakura limps toward him. Hashirama looks faint and could barely muster the courage to glare hatefully at his friend walking behind Sakura, looking guilty as all hell. A sniffle from the pink haired girl pulls Hashirama's devastated brown eyes back down to his little sister.
"Imouto," Hashirama say, pained. He holds his hands out between them as if to keep her away. "I think you should be at home resting..." He flinches at his own words and catches an angry glare sent his way from both Tobirama and Madara.
"Shut up, Hashirama," Madara growls.
Sakura holds her left leg out toward him, sniffling. "Aniki..." she says softly. "It hurts, aniki..."
Hashirama blinks in confusion before stooping down to his hunches and turns her foot around spotting an angry red blotch on her big toe and another on her heel. Upon closer inspection, he sees the splinters.
"Oh," Hashirama lets out a loud sigh of relief. "Oh thank Kami. I thought-" he looks up at Sakura, who was staring down at him through long wet lashes. "Um, no. It doesn't matter what I thought. Alright, Sakura, sit down so I can get these out."
Sakura obeys, falling to her body, sniffling.
"I tried to help her," Madara says, arms crossing over his chest, "but she didn't want my help."
"She wouldn't want my help either," Tobirama says simply. "You and I don't have control over wood, nor can we sooth the pain with medical ninjutsu."
Hashirama grins playfully up at his little brother. "Don't be jealous, Tobirama. Being subpar isn't always bad."
Tobirama glares at him. "I am not subpar."
Hashirama laughs. "I'm kidding, Tobi. No need to be so sensitive." Then he turns his attention back to Sakura. "How did you get these splinters, Sakura?"
"Madara's house," Sakura says, wiping the last of the wetness from her eyes.
Hashirama looks up at a glaring Madara. "Have you ever heard of a sander, Madara?"
"Shut up," Madara snaps. "I'm not usually walking around without shoes on, I didn't notice that parts were unsmoothed. The two splinters in the house happened to be found by Sakura. I'm sorry."
Hashirama tries to keep his smile under control, which only serves to annoy the Uchiha patriarch even more, before he says, "I'll forgive you just this once, Madara, but I do expect that flooring to be smoother than a baby's skin before tonight."
Madara glares more. "Bite me," he snaps.
Hashirama pulls out one sliver and works on the other quietly for a moment. There was obviously something on his mind but he looked like he didn't know how to broach the subject or if he even should. But after getting the last sliver out, he seemed unable to keep whatever was on his mind unsaid for he looks up at Madara and says, softly, "When she was limping toward me... I..."
Tobirama glances over at Madara, also looking slightly perturbed. "Me too."
Madara jerks his chin away. "Then both of you are idiots. I don't know about you two, but I'm not fond of the idea of taking an unwilling partner. We will be married for the rest of our lives. Frivolous things like that can wait." His ear is red.
"Damn Madara, if I had known you were going to be a gentleman to my sister, I might have gotten a wink of sleep last night. Thanks for that," Hashirama says, running a hand through his hair. "Alright, Imouto, they're gone. You can walk again."
Madara rolls his eyes. "God dammit, I hate you, Hashirama. Don't make me hit you."
"With love?" Hashirama asks, jokingly.
"With a brick," Madara says drolly.
Hashirama flinches, as if he was already struck. "Ow," he says. He pushes himself to his feet and then pulls Sakura up with him. She hesitantly puts weight on her foot, but once she doesn't feel any pain, she relaxes. She grins broadly up at big brother.
"Alright," Tobirama says, "what is the plan for today?"
Madara immediately flips the switch from annoyed and embarrassed to all business. "We need to take a detailed look at the property line we have and begin writing up the plan for the daimyo and hope that he approves them."
Hashirama and Tobirama both nod. "Right," Tobirama says. "We should get to that. Will Izuna be joining us?"
Madara looks curious, probably not expecting that from Tobirama but is smart enough to hide his surprise. "I'm not sure," he says carefully. "You two can head to the meeting room, I'll go find him." His large black eyes land on Sakura. "And what will occupy your day, Sakura?"
Sakura shrugs her shoulders and opens her mouth an "I don't know" on her lips before she spots a familiar dark haired Uchiha walking over to them. "Ah!" She says, breaking into a run toward the girl. "Kikiyo!" She launches herself into the taller girl's arms. The Uchiha catches her easily, smiling happily.
"Good morning, my lady," she says. "You are awfully spry this morning."
Sakura smiles up at her as the two walk back over to the three men. Kikiyo bows as much as she can with Sakura's arms locked around her. "Good morning, my lords."
"Good morning," Hashirama greets, smiling. "Um... I'm sorry, I don't know your name."
"Kikiyo Uchiha, my lord," Kikiyo says, blushing a bit. "And it's quite alright."
"Well," Tobirama says simply, "it looks like Sakura found her playmate for the day."
"She's yours for the day, then," Hashirama says playfully. Kikiyo doesn't appear to mind. She smiles down at Sakura and starts walking, Sakura still hanging off of the taller Uchiha. Sakura wasn't listening to her brothers and new husband joking, she was hungry and wanted to eat. Madara told her, straight up, that he didn't eat in the morning, he was never hungry and Sakura thought that was weird.
After a long and tiring night of sleeping, she couldn't believe he wasn't hungry. Sakura was always hungry. Her brothers always ate breakfast, yet her husband did not? Sakura wasn't so certain that her husband was human. It was just crazy to Sakura. Who doesn't eat breakfast? It was just crazy.
"Food?" Sakura says.
Kikiyo tilts her head to the side in confusion for a moment before making an "ah" face and saying, "No thank you. I don't eat breakfast-what? What is with that face, my lady?"
Sakura walks away from Kikiyo, wondering if all the Uchiha weren't human. Who doesn't eat breakfast? Where does their energy for the day come from? Now that she was an Uchiha? Would she start having unknown energy in the morning and no longer need to eat too?
Sakura and Kikiyo walk around the forest, being sure to stay close enough to their camp... er, village, so that if they need to get there, they can do so quickly. Sakura was fed and happy, skipping around in the forest, holding Kikiyo's hand, listening to the girl talk about her life. There was very little - at least in Sakura's opinion - about herself that was interesting, but it was different with Kikiyo.
Kikiyo was the oldest of three. She had two little sisters. She was in skirmishes with the Senju nearing the end of the war and never killed anyone - as far as she knew - but she was one of a few girls, especially her age, that had activated her sharingan. She is actually Madara's cousin. Her father was Madara's uncle. She wasn't close with Madara and Izuna, partly because she's a few years younger but also because Madara and Izuna were harshly trained from the moment they could fight to be killing machines and she didn't get to see them much.
Sakura liked listening to Kikiyo talk. Her voice was smooth and kind. She talked a lot about her sisters - she loved them so much, she practically glowed when she spoke of them - about how her oldest little sister, who's ten, is learning the firestyle jutsu and is getting really good at it. Her other sister is seven and is in love with making flower crowns. She doesn't think her youngest sister will have any talent in the ninja world, and she is completely okay with that. In fact, when she said it, she sounded very happy about that.
Sakura couldn't help but smile a bit at that. Kikiyo's youngest sister wouldn't be much a shinobi and would have less chance than Kikiyo did about seeing the horrors of the world of Shinobi. Sakura was happy that her brother's and Madara's dream is already starting to bare fruit. Sakura was happy for her brother and husband and even Kikiyo were already reaping the benefits of this alliance.
Sakura couldn't be happier about it.
They walk through the forest and explore, Sakura tells Kikiyo the names of the types of trees as they pass them. Sakura remembers years ago taking a walk through the forest with Hashirama, and listening to him do something similar. Unlike Sakura, Hashirama was able to riddle off facts about the trees. Hashirama was the type of person who read up about things that interested him, and those interests expanded a wide variety of things. Tress, seals, jutsu, foreign lands, things that scattered across the map.
While Sakura can admit to Hashirama being a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but in fact her brother was actually really smart and wise to many things about the world and a variety of subjects. He didn't seem thoughtful, or insightful and Sakura heard people referring to her brother as a dreamer with aspirations bigger than he can handle, but Sakura didn't believe that. Sakura looked at her eldest brother and saw endless possibilities. Her brother didn't see the world like everyone else did. He saw it like it was full of possibilities, and was change waiting to happen.
He saw the world through eyes Sakura wished she could see from. It's like darkness doesn't exist in his world. Not that Sakura's seen a lot of darkness, but that's because her brothers do a wonderful job trying to shield her from it. But no matter how hard they work, Sakura can see past the barrier they've tried so hard to erect around her.
While admirable, her brothers trying to keep the world's evil from her, she knows it's there. Sakura has come to accept the fact that she might have not jumped into the river in some accident. Sakura doesn't know what events led to her being in that river, but something in the pit of her stomach tells her it was something that would be painful to hear, and something she probably would have wished she'd never heard. Thinking about it, part of Sakura wants to live the rest of her life, never knowing what happened, but another part of her knows that something like that... it can't be buried forever.
It's almost like her past is poking at her from across a great distance, that is slowly, but surely, growing shallower and shallower.
"My lady, do you see that?" Kikiyo asks, breaking Sakura from her thoughts. Sakura glances over at her and Kikiyo points toward a black patch of land. As they move closer, Sakura sees its a hole in the ground leading into a cave. It wasn't super big and smelled bad - like an animal lived in there at some point - but there was enough light shining in through the hole to illuminate pretty much the entire cave. If it can really be called that. It was more like a burrow that went about seven feet in and was almost five feet tall.
It was neat and well patted together with hard clay to keep it's formation.
Sakura traces the little gorges in the walls and looks around the dark little cave with wide eyes. Kikiyo was knelt next to her, also looking around kind of amazed. Her eyes locked with Sakura and they shared a little smile with one another.
"Secret hideout," Sakura says, eyes wide. She lets out a little laugh when Kikiyo rolled her eyes.
"Not so far outside the camp, my lady," Kikiyo says, "but, it is a cute idea."
Sakura blinks a few times, reaching up to cup her chin. "Something for the kids?"
Kikiyo raises an eyebrow. "Wait, what? What do you mean by that? A hideout for the kids?" Her eyes widen. "Oh! Something fun to occupy the kids' time while the adults are building up the villages." She beams.
Sakura had been hearing about the children complaining around the village about not having anything to do and the parents were too busy trying to get the village onto it's feet and preparing for the wedding. She didn't give it a lot of thought, wondering if that was just something that could be handled with time as the village began to grow up into... well, a village.
"Sure," Sakura says, then smiles. It was actually a good idea.
"Come on," Kikiyo says, crouch-walking toward the opening. "Let's get back to the village before someone notices that we're gone, yes?" She peaks over her shoulder at Sakura, who nods.
They both crawl out of the hole in the ground and head back to the village, brushing off the dirt and dust on their kimonos as they do so.
Another night with Madara, the same as the first. She crawled into his arms, easier this time, and laid down on his chest. There wasn't any awkwardness or anything tonight. Sakura walked into the room to find Madara already in there, gaze turned toward the window, staring up at the moon with large pitch black eyes turned gray in the moonlight. He turned toward her and opened his arms for her to crawl into. She did, without fear. She was able to fall asleep immediately, this time.
It was halfway through the night that Sakura woke up, wanting to shift in her sleep but worried. She's slept in Hashirama's arms enough times to know that shinobi in war like her brothers and like Madara, woke at the smallest of noises, or even the slightest of shifting and Sakura could hear Madara's deep breathing above her and feel the steady rise and fall of his chest beneath her. He's so busy and has to get up again early in the morning, the last thing she wants is to take away from his sleep.
Sakura couldn't stop herself, she turned away from Madara, hearing his breathing stop and his muscles tense slightly before relaxing behind her. She could practically feel his eyes roaming the room, looking for threats before deeming it safe and his body relaxes completely and his breathing begins to return to deep, sleeping breaths.
Sakura looks down at Madara's right arm, trapped beneath her neck. She hopes she's not cutting off circulation to his hand by her head resting on his bicep rather than his shoulder like earlier. She hopes he nudges her off soon so she doesn't wake him. Sakura closes her eyes and falls back asleep.
When Sakura opens her eyes again, she's not sure how much time has passed, but it's still dark out and Madara and rolled toward her, nose buried into the top of the back of her head, other arm around her waist. His other arm is still trapped beneath her. She raises her hand slowly, wanting to not wake him, as she touches the trapped hand, expecting it to be cold from cut off circulation, but it's warm. Enough blood must be getting to his hand, thankfully.
Madara's breathing had paused again and Sakura felt bad again. She wraps her small hand around his, hoping that it'll help lull him back sleep to see that he wasn't in danger and it was just her moving around. Madara lets out a soft, relaxed sigh, body shifting slightly before falling still.
Sakura had slept beside Hashirama - and even Tobirama on some occasions - with her big brother using his body to shield her from the cold, much like Madara is doing with the cool wind blowing in from the window behind him but this was different. With Hashirama, there was always this platonic, safe protection that he had about him. He would go out of his way to protect her from the cold because that was the type of person he was. He would probably even do the same to Tobirama with her other brother hadn't already pointed out that Hashirama was in the way of his sensing abilities. That's probably the only exception.
But it was different with Madara. While she knows Hashirama, and Tobirama, would protect her from anything, when she used to lay by her brother it was simply protecting from the cold, but with Madara, is was like that, and more. The only ways into this room, the window and door, are positioned in such a way that if someone came in, they would have to physically go around Madara - if not through him - to get her.
In a way, Madara was like her first and last line of defense.
These past two nights, Madara has kept his arms locked around her, like a shield. Last night she was too tired to move while she slept, tonight, he moved to follow her and stay close. So close, if she needed him, he would be there.
Sakura brings her other hand up and wraps it around his. Cocooning his hand between both of hers. He made her feel safe. She wanted him to feel the same.
"Going on an adventure today too?" Hashirama asks, amused. His hands land onto his hips and he grins playfully down at Sakura.
She nods, smiling up at him, reaching out to take Kikiyo's hand. Kikiyo bows respectfully to Hashirama before saying to Madara, "I will look after her, my lord. Please relax with her in my care."
"Very well," Madara says, face stoic. "But, be sure the two of you stay close to the village. It's not safe far out in the forests."
"Hai!" Sakura says, saluting to her husband and big brother before spinning around and practically yanking Kikiyo away from the two in her rush to continue exploring. Kikiyo laughs and easily keeps up with Sakura. They slow as they enter the forest.
"I told my sisters about our little hideout. Once we've made sure the lands are safe, I promised to show it to them. They're excited." Kikiyo beams down at Sakura. She does an exciting little bobble, where her feet don't leave the ground but the rest of her body shakes. Sakura laughs at it, amazed that her friend is so excited to just show her little sisters something cool.
They go back to the small cave and look around it again. Sakura listens to Kikiyo talking about breakfast with her sisters this morning. It was interesting for Sakura to listen to, being the youngest of three, she didn't ever have to really be placating to a somewhat irrational little sibling. Sakura trusted her older brothers and usually went along with anything they wanted. Or, she would say something to the contrary and if it was reasonable enough they would submit to her whim. Wow, it was interesting being an older sibling.
Sakura and Kikiyo crawl out of the hole again and continue to wonder. As promised, they stick close to the village. At some point, Sakura and Kikiyo, hand in hand, were skipping through the forest, laughing and having fun, feeling like teenagers, when Sakura's leg caught a hole in the ground leading into a slope on her right. Sakura's balance is immediately compromised and she falls, pulling Kikiyo down with her.
Both girls go rolling down the slope that turns into a hill. At some point, Kikiyo managed to get her bearings and slid the rest of the way down on her feet whereas Sakura landed at the bottom on her side, dizzy and scraped up but otherwise unharmed.
"My lady!" Kikiyo calls out, jumping to Sakura's side and dropping to her knees, helping Sakura sit up.
"Whoa," Sakura says, shaking the dizziness from her head before grinning up at a panicked Kikiyo. "Can we go again?"
Kikiyo's shoulders sag in relief. She lets out a thin laugh and shakes her head. "No, my lady, sorry. No can do with that one. Are you alright?" She stands up and helps Sakura up too. They both dust themselves off and then smile at one another.
"I'm okay," Sakura says. Then, something catches her attention. It wasn't a tangible thing. It was like an itch in the back of her mind. Something that pulled at her attention away from Kikiyo, hair mussed up and with a small stick and a few leaves tangled in it during her tumble, toward the forest. They weren't too far away from the village, Sakura thinks. Just down a steep slope.
There was a break in the tress where Sakura's attention is drawn. Laying in the center is a human body. Sakura's eyes widen and she makes her way over to it - him, she realizes as she draws near - with Kikiyo close by, staring wearily down at the body in front of them.
"My lady," Kikiyo says slowly, "we shouldn't be doing this. We have to get out of here. Tell someone about him and let them handle it. Please, my lady, your life is too important to be risked on curiosity..." She tries to pull Sakura away, but Sakura doesn't listen. If someone is hurt, she has to try and help them if she can.
They stop for a brief moment in front of the man, taking in his ratty, ripped clothes. He's face down but Sakura can see that his arms are covered in dirt and it's caked beneath his fingernails. There was no visible wounds on his person that she could see and other than his stink, she couldn't smell blood or infection. Anything to indicate why he's just laying face down in the grass not moving. Sakura can't even tell if he's breathing.
She reaches closer, to touch his shoulder with her left hand, her right is being tugged back by Kikiyo. If the girl were to suddenly let go of Sakura's hand, she'd fall down onto the man but with the vice grip Kikiyo has on her, Sakura doubts that will happen.
"My lady," Kikiyo says pleadingly.
Right before Sakura's fingers touch his dirty shirt, a horrible, sickening feeling crawls through Sakura's body. Her entire person freezes. It was like poison was rolling down Sakura's back, threatening to crawl into her body through her skin. The man didn't move, didn't say a word or anything to indicate that he was any sort of threat, but at that moment, Sakura knew that he was dangerous. There was something about him that encouraged the end of life. It wasn't like a shinobi that killed people. It was like this man was walking, talking death. Like he was a plague threatening to roll over her village, killing all of her friends and family.
Sakura's shaking, alerting Kikiyo immediately of the danger. No longer trying to be polite, Kikiyo yanks Sakura back behind her and they take slow, cautious retreating steps. The mam didn't move, not when they approached and not when they backed away, which only served to scare Sakura more. Something about him wasn't right at all.
"He is death," Sakura whispers, horrified.
"He's dead?" Kikiyo asks, not daring to take her eyes off the unmoving man.
"No," Sakura wheezes, eyes wide. "He is death. He is where life goes to die. He is the end."
Kikiyo looks over at Sakura, partially thinking she's crazy and partially alarmed. "Wh-What does that mean?"
"Run," Sakura gasps, her voice and body shaking, "Run!" She yells, turning and running, pulling Kikiyo along for a split second before the other girl gets the point and races after, making sure to keep a step behind Sakura in case someone was chasing them. No one followed, but panic began to set in and Sakura ran as fast as she could, wanting nothing more than to put as much distance between herself and that man as she can.
Sakura trips a time or two, but barely notices in her panic. All she can think of is getting away. She glances over her shoulder to see that Kikiyo was doing the same, making sure no one was following still. No one was. When Sakura turns forward, she runs into a body, so hard she bounces back, into Kikiyo and both of them fall to the floor, disoriented.
"Lady Sakura?" Rei asks, kneeling down to help Kikiyo and Sakura up but before he can be much help, Sakura latches onto him.
"Run!" She gasps, eyes wide and crazed. "Run away!"
"What?" Rei asks, eyes widening in alarm before they narrow and scan the area around them. Two more Senju cousins are there, three Uchiha and Tobirama, who was obviously leading them, all get onto high alert.
Tobirama walks over to Sakura and manages to pry her hands off Rei's arms and forces her to look at him. "What is going on, Sakura?" Tobirama asks in his no-nonsense voice. If this was some sort of joke, Sakura would be in so much trouble.
But Sakura wasn't joking and was desperate to get out of there, to get back to the safety of their homes, lock the doors and never come out again. Or at least, stay there until this entire thing blows over. Until that man is gone. Out of their lives as quickly as he came into it.
"Death..." Sakura rasps. "He will kill everything..." Her eyes widen even more, the color draining from her face.
Tobirama's eyes narrow dangerously. "Who?" He pulls Sakura closer to him, ready to throw her out of the way if something were to come charging out at them to keep her safe. Sakura's entire body is shaking and there is a look of absolute horror in her eyes and across her face. Her nails dig into Tobirama's arms as she stares up into his eyes.
"Death," she whispers, as if speaking too loud will bring him there to them. "He is death and he is coming."
"There is someone in the woods," Kikiyo says, finally climbing to her feet.
"What?" Tobirama says, glancing up at her. He pushes her into Rei's arms and starts walking in the direction. "How far?"
As Kikiyo answers, Sakura launches out of Rei's arms to try and get to Tobirama but Rei catches her and holds her back, arm looped around her waist.
"No!" Sakura yells, pulling Tobirama's attention to her, his eyes slightly wide. Sakura doesn't shout. She doesn't yell. She's usually very soft spoken. The loudest she gets is when she's laughing or whining, but she's never been this loud.
"Sakura..." Tobirama says, shocked. "Sakura, I understand you are scared but you have to go back to the village. I will go and see who that is. Rei take Sakura home I will return in a-"
"No!" Sakura yells again, attempting to get closer to him. To grabbing onto him and pulling him with her back to the village. "No! Don't go, Tobirama! No, come back with me! Come back with me!"
Tobirama shakes his head. "No, Sakura. This is too close to the village. We have to go and make sure that this threat is removed."
He turns to leave but Sakura calls out to him. "No, Tobirama! No! No! No! Come back!"
He ignores her. He ignores her. His shoulders are pulled together tightly, as if trying not to hear her screaming, louder and louder. Tears spill out of her eyes and runs down to her cheeks. Tobirama is ignoring her. He's never so blatantly ignored her before. Neither of her brothers had. This was probably the most important thing that she's ever dealt with and he was just ignoring her and walking away. The two Senju and three Uchiha follow after him slowly, wearily.
Sakura was having such a violent reaction to this. This was completely out of character for her. She wasn't like this. Not ever. But this was scaring her unbelievably, so and it was making the rest of them uncomfortable. Yet Tobirama kept going.
Sakura could see it in her mind's eye. She could see her big brother dead. Sucked in by the poison and left to die.
"No!" Sakura screams, reaching out to her brother, struggling to pull away from Rei but his grip was like iron around her waist. "No! Tobirama! No! No! Tobi! Tobi! Tobi!" Sakura's screams reverberate off the mountains, scaring away the birds and local wildlife.
Tobirama was walking away, shoulders rolled back tightly, eyes straight forward and jaw clenched. He could hear his little sister screaming and struggling with Rei's grip on her. She's never been like this. Whatever she saw - whatever she felt - had really shaken her up. So much so that she would act so out of character. But that wasn't what was important, not really. If anything it just reinforced his need to see what is going on and protect his home and family. His life, while important to him, wasn't the thing that mattered the most to him. His beloved little sister and incorrigible, but equally as beloved, older brother were.
He would do anything to protect them. Even go toe-to-toe with the god of death, Sakura so feared.
He has to ignore her. For her own good. To protect her and the rest of the two clans. With the two Senju and three Uchiha at his side, he walks into the unknown, ready to protect his family, his village, and his life.
"No!" Sakura screams, voice going hoarse. "Tobirama!"