To answer some reviewers:
Megumi-Fallen Angel: We shall see what happens ;) It'll be a roller coaster.
becausebatman1: TobiSaku is an otp of mine as well, sorry to play with your heartstrings!
Darkwolf259: I hope this story helps you enjoy this couple, and I know. It's difficult because we switch between past and present, but I hope it isn't too too confusing.
ChiRagWyn: Thank you for your analysis - I love getting an idea of what you readers are thinking. Sasuke's actions are a bit broad as of the moment in the present, but I hope his chapter clears up some of the reason's why he's afflicted between his dedication to Madara/clan and Sakura. It'll be explained more thoroughly later too. Thank you!
Anilegna: Yes, we have a very, very troubled and dark Sasuke. I hate making him the bad guy, butttt he was horrible for most of the manga. Just wait and see! Our clever girl has her own plan.
Guest: Oh yes, Madara will not be happy about the beginning of their relationship - the man is a bit crazy.
Thank you to everyone that reviewed!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's affiliates.
M
NSFW
This fiction holds dark, adult themes — do not read if this makes you uncomfortable.
You Are My Fate
present, pt 5
Arrival
...That night, Sakura lie in bed next to the man that she loved since childhood, shivering against his warm skin — bruises began to flower across her stomach, intricate and painful — it hurt to move.
She didn't cry — her tears had dried and in their place she began to think.
Ichikaru Ramen
Kyoto, Japan
"Maa, maa Sakura-chan! I haven't seen you in so long!" Naruto beamed from beyond his obtusely large ramen bowl — happily slurping its contents in a state of refined happiness that she would never understand.
"Well since the gala — although you did come late," she reminded him pointedly.
The man-child grinned apologetically — only in the way that Naruto ever could.
"Yeah, I fell asleep early and Hinata got home from work late so we ended up rushing to get there," he tipped his bowl back to finish the entirety of it while Sakura sat numbly with her chopsticks — having only taken one bite of her food.
Keen to her moods, Naruto tilted his head and frowned, "what's wrong, Sakura-chan? You haven't eaten any of your ramen."
Sakura put on a dimly falsified smile, "mm, I've been so busy at the hospital lately — I'm just not very hungry today."
The bruises on her stomach since the incident two nights ago left her sore and unable to really walk around without a grimace on her face, but Naruto had asked her to lunch after months of not seeing him and she didn't want to pass up the opportunity for a ray of sunshine in her life.
He wasn't convinced.
"Is it teme? Because I swear if he's doing anything to upset you I'll hurt him," for emphasis, he pointed his chopsticks in the direction of their home.
Sakura laughed and waved him off politely, "it's not Sasuke, don't worry. I swear I've just been busy." To reiterate her lie, she took a bite of her food to avoid answering her best friend. In truth, she wanted to spit out everything that had occurred since the Gala — the shooting, Madara, and the incident two nights prior. Since then, Sasuke had been missing —
She didn't call him this time.
The relative silence of her home had been deafening — the gunshots and yelling constricted her thinking, even now she felt the tip of her nose begin to redden. If she started speaking now, the dam would break and she would be a sobbing mess here at the ramen stand.
"Sakura-chan…" Naruto murmured sadly, "why are you crying?"
"Huh?"
Her hand touched her cheeks and a wetness dampened her fingers…Slowly, the tears had escaped without her realizing it. Had she been crying this whole time? The doctor ran the edge of her sleeve along her eyes to hide her face from onlookers, including Naruto.
"It's Sasuke, isn't it?" her best friend stated.
Sakura laughed, attempting to fend off the tide of emotion that threatened to sweep her under it's rip current, drowning her until she ran out of strength. She hated crying, but her strength was beginning to wane in the path of what happened.
"No, I promise it isn't."
I'll kill you.
"I know you're lying," a maturity overcame Naruto in the most unlikely times that always startled Sasuke and herself, a seriousness that rivaled that of her fiance's "…I won't force you to tell me, but I know something is going on with Sasuke. I've ignored it because you guys seemed so happy still…but I'm not just going to sit here and believe that whatever is making you cry is because of your work."
Sakura had nothing to refute.
She couldn't tell him, so instead she remained silent — aware of the pain that covered the expanse of her abdomen and the purply blue colors that decorated her skin. Idly, she tucked a strand of pink hair behind her ear out of habit.
Naruto pursed his lips, unable to penetrate through the glass wall that had been built between their trio.
Unkept anger flared within him towards his best friend — the one person that shared his pain in growing alone had blocked him out, and now did something to the woman that had done everything in her power to help keep them together.
"It'll be ok, Sakura-chan," Naruto offered her his brightest smile, "I promise."
xox
Uchiha Home
Her fingers tore into the dirt in her backyard, the soil filtered through her gloves as she searched for the weeds that plagued her backyard. She bit her lip to distract herself from the pain, but other than losing herself in a good medical textbook, Sakura found little enjoyment in free time unless she was actively doing something.
She rubbed her forehead with the back of her sleeve — a fresh layer of sweat covered her, the new soil in her garden felt inviting, and for a moment the lily bush she was planting distracted her from the glaring issues in her life.
"You know, they say white lily's represent purity — but I've always appreciated sakura blossoms much more in the spring."
Literal Sakura knew that voice.
"Is that so?" she murmured, purposely keeping her back to him as she continued planting.
"Sakura," his thick voice rolled the syllables of her name.
The gate latch in their front yard unhooked itself.
"You need to leave," the doctor mused — she wanted to move, but any quick movement would notify him something was wrong.
"I hope you understand that you're giving me a full view of your ass?" Madara chimed evenly, appreciating the view of her ass propped in the air as she bent over covered in soil.
Sakura sat down on her legs promptly, refusing to look at him.
"Why are you here? Haven't you done enough already?" she bit at him, at the sight of his beautiful face her life had imploded and splattered against the walls.
Madara sat himself on her front porch, looking unnatural in his tailored and overly expensive suit contrasted against the backdrop of their simple home.
"I wanted to see my soon to be in-law."
"Ex in-law, or did you forget the moment where I gave Sasuke my engagement ring?"
"How could I forget?" he situated himself to lean back against the bench, the size of him alone took up most of the seating.
She dismissed his feigned attempt at banter, part of her feared him — another part loathed him, and a very secular part of her wanted nothing to do with the man.
Slowly, she lifted herself to her feet — careful to ignore the throbbing in her abdomen and the stark pain in her chest. Keeping her face still, she felt the intense probe of his gaze, watching her carefully dance around the pain.
Successful in her administrations, the doctor took her gloves off and procured herself to go inside, "you can leave now."
He didn't say anything, but halfway to her door he stopped her.
"What did he do to you?"
Sakura stilled, suddenly very aware of the body near hers - gently, he grabbed her elbow to help her balance. She didn't say anything, how could she? Her eyes were muted on the door, and silently they both entered into her home.
"Why are you doing this to us?" she muttered absently.
This feeling of naivety, of feeling weak and ashamed — it wasn't her. It never was.
She expected him to dismiss her question.
"Tell me what he did first." Plain as day he could see her struggling to move around, Sasuke had been present for their meeting that morning, but had remained silent in his perpetual brooding state, the haul last night had been successful — and tonight Sasuke would be getting his mark.
But.
Sakura wanted to throw a fit, wanted to retaliate from his gentle touch — because of him this happened.
Instead, she lifted her shirt to reveal the dark, purpled bruises that littered themselves over pale skin.
"I won't be saying anything to the police…You can tell him that he doesn't need to worry anymore," she ground out — jaded eyes kept themselves trained on the Uchiha head.
He marveled at her audacity, at the simple fact that she could speak so fiercely to him although her pain castrated her movements.
A simmer of anger flared through him.
"Did he threaten you?" he inquired.
Sakura huffed, clearly displeasured by his presence and self-explanatory questions, "I know you're not that daft."
Truthfully, he had expected Sasuke to quiet her in other ways — to speak with her and tell her that the foundlings of their underground network and what they dealt with was more important, how she would be indicted with them.
A lone wolf that subjugated his fiancé like this didn't sit well with him.
"I'll speak with him," he announced intrinsically, clearly upset.
A spark of fear shot through her. "No! I don't want anything to do with Sasuke right now, so please — I just want to continue my life and work without having the hands of your clan tethering me."
He pitied her then. How could she think it would be so simple?
Madara, the man that didn't concern himself with morally sound gestures felt inclined to help her.
"Come here."
With little protest, he led her to the couch.
"I can't stay sit—"
"Stop," he commanded, Madara kept his hand neatly at the small of her back. Gently, and with a tenderness that she didn't believe he possessed — he helped her sit.
The insufferable man disappeared into her home, Sakura had to admit she had been pushing herself. As a medical professional she should know better, but the sound of him starting the tea kettle and shuffling through her fridge alarmed her — but she felt too tired to call out to him.
When she began to concern herself with his absence, he arrived in the doorway with a large blanket and a platter.
The sweet aroma of her honey tea circulated around them. He grabbed an ice pack from the platter and sat himself beside her — slowly, he set the ice pack on her stomach. Sakura grasped the item that riled and soothed the expanse of her abdomen.
He draped a blanket atop of her and handed her the mug.
"I don't expect for you to think I'm anything more than what I claim to be," he kept himself at a respectable distance from her on the leather seats, "—you're beginning to understand the intricacies of our clan and what we do, but everything I do — I do it for the sake of my clan and all the men and women that have given their lives to this family."
Sakura peered at him cautiously, understanding the weight of his words.
"Sasuke came to us last year. He wanted nothing more than to join his fellow clansmen that Itachi kept him from. At the time of his parent's death there had been an issue of lineage, and as you know — after Itachi's disappearance you saw how alone Sasuke was."
The days where Sasuke would keep himself thrown in his barren apartment and want her and Naruto's company to stifle the loneliness draped itself in her memory.
"—I'll admit he's becoming more aggressive, but the work we involve ourselves with requires an…bravado, of sorts."
"You mean killing people?" Sakura snapped, amidst the calming tea, her temper flared, "—I'm not an idiot, and I don't appreciate you thinking that I am. You traffic guns…You're gang affiliated while having consorts in the police force - I work for a hospital, although indirectly you don't think I haven't heard about the legacies of the Uchiha name in the board of directors? Or let's talk about politics…Your clan name is familiar there too, isn't it?"
Madara whistled appreciatively, "impressive! And where do you think this information will get you?" he baited.
The ice pack doefully reminded her, "nowhere," she spat at him, and with a tired sigh she glanced at the domineering, devilishly handsome man.
"I already told you I'm not going to say anything. I wouldn't do that to Sasuke," she murmured.
Madara quirked a brow, curious as to her loyalty to a man that abused her, "I'm assuming this stems from a place of fear? Because if so—"
"No," she denied adamantly, "because this isn't the Sasuke I grew up with. Ever since he decided to join…you, he's changed."
No fool for observation, he could see the way her shoulders visibly drooped, the delicate way she gnawed on her bottom lip in contemplation. Their relationship had been deeply rooted in their dependent nature on one another…And yet, he couldn't understand such a stern devotion. Or he could…He simply didn't understand her devotion.
"I have done nothing but offer your fiancé ample opportunity to progress himself within the company and our external affairs. All I requested was his loyalty and time — everything else has been of his own accord."
"He killed that man!"
"Would you rather have watched Sasuke's head get blown off? Because those men would have no issues eradicating everyone within my clan."
With no refute, she felt listlessly tired.
Bringing the mug to her lips, she sipped the tea to allow her time to gather herself. A part of her wondered why she was hosting this discussion…But as of now, Madara was the only one she could extract this information from.
"I still don't understand why you're here. I won't be sleeping with you, if that's what you're after," she said pointedly.
He smirked, the fire within her intrigued him far more than her legs spreading for him.
"How about a truce?" he offered her.
"A truce?"
"You interest me, Sakura. I find our conversations fulfilling and it's a nice reprieve from the constant heads of black I deal with."
Sakura snorted, "I'm sure you tell this to all other women that interest you."
The Uchiha hardened himself, "I'm many things, none of them in the contextual sense of good — but I'm no liar."
The severity of his voice grounded her, and she found herself blushing like a green girl having talked to her schoolyard crush for the first time. "I—"
He stood up to take his leave, "I hope you take the time to rest and recover — I won't be mentioning you specifically — but Sasuke won't be touching you anymore, I'll see to that myself."
The small woman on the couch tucked beneath the large blanket didn't look like someone that saved the lives of children — she looked at him with beckoning, simmering eyes that calculated the genuine tongue of his words, "you have my number if you need to contact me."
And he left.
Leaving Sakura with a rueful, dubious sense of guilt.
xox
Two weeks later, and Sakura found herself in much happier spirits - or as happy as she could force herself.
The swelling and bruising had diminished considerably.
She returned to work the following Monday.
Ignoring the prodding questions of her co-workers, she went with her days.
No Uchiha's.
No Sasuke.
The random call from Naruto.
Ino came by happily a few evenings after she returned home.
She threw herself into her work, her mind catapulted itself into the things she could control.
Until nearly a few days later, Sasuke finally returned home.
She had been reading and editing one of her colleague's entries into a medical journal about the offset of tumor growth near the spinal cord when the front door opened and closed.
Footsteps followed, Sasuke appeared in the doorway, hands stuffed characteristically in his pockets.
Elegant as the day she met him — his eyes were cold, waiting for her to speak first.
Sakura spared him a glance, but turned her back towards him and continued her editing.
He disappeared into his study.
The doorbell rang shortly after.
Sakura opened the door to see a multitude of other Uchiha men arriving at her home.
"Another meeting?" Sakura questioned Shisui who stood before her with a small smile and open arms.
The smell of alcohol clung to the men.
This was her opportunity.
She wouldn't get herself wrapped in this mess - but she would learn. Learn as much as she could so that one day when the the opportunity introduced itself, she would greet it and get out.
They left upstairs, Madara hung in the back until the others were safely away.
"Has he done anything?" he questioned her politely.
The man that had shamelessly made it known he wanted to sleep with her seemed like a league away from this man that questioned her welfare. "No, he hasn't."
Madara reached forward, his nimble fingers tenderly touched her chin — his thumb rubbed over her bottom lip, "good."
And he left too, his sizable form leaving upstairs with his men.
His touch had left an imprint on her.
Sakura glared after him — why didn't she pull away?
xox
Sasuke sat with his fellow clansmen.
The sake made it's way around the table, they cheered for another successful haul on part of him. He tipped the substance down his throat — the familiar sting had become a daily occurrence with them. Madara had him working endlessly, days spent securing the district of Kyoto and overseeing the build for their new headquarters — and then resuming their underground work once dusk hit.
"Sasuke, I must say that you're impressive — thanks to him we were able to lynch the fourth street district back from the Yakuza," Madara goaded — Shisui cut the cocaine with the fine blade beside him before passing it to Sasuke.
The younger Uchiha snorted with his rollled up bill, sucking in a breathe through his nose to revel in the focus that cut through the cloudiness of sleep. "Thank you, Madara-sama."
Sasuke didn't miss the way that through the celebration his clan leader left not once, not twice, but three times to disappear in what he could only assume was speak with his fiance before returning and sitting himself at the head of the table, a small smirk dancing on his lips. He was no fool, and he kept his eyes ingrained on the way his clan leader commanded the table - his presence held the bar of attention, so much that even Sasuke found himself forgetting the unbecoming attention he doted on Sakura.
It unsettled him.
It angered him.
Being handcuffed between the man that controlled the clan, his people, where he finally felt welcomed with a sense of belonging and respect with the inability to confront the way he watched her.
Sharp eyes glared at his clan head.
But he refused to think any more of it.
Sakura, if anything was more than loyal - that night he had hugged her close to him in their bed although she continued to shiver. He wrestled with the guilt that consumed him and the need to make her understand for her own protection.
He stared absently at his wrist — the tattoo was beginning to itch, Sasuke had little idea at first that most of his clansmen had differentiating tattoos hidden beneath their suits that revealed their success within the clan. The thick stripes now wound up his arm for the successful hauls — on his back, the Uchiwa fan in black bold with individual tomoe's surrounding the symbol signified his initiation.
Curiously, he had asked Shisui the purpose of the tattoos — and with anything that dignified their allegiance, it was met with an answer of loyalty and dedication.
He had secured his fate when he pulled the trigger.
In confirmation, the needle chained him to his decisions.
Briefly, he had seen Shisui without his shirt - and the man's body was decorated like a shrine with the markings of their clan.
Now he craved the needle.
Craved for the success.
He would earn the dagger that dripped from their symbol.
xox
Haori's
Downtown Kyoto
Sakura sat with Ino at their favorite restaurant.
A simmering plate sat before her and Ino continued to talk about herself and Sai — Sakura remained relatively quiet, nodding and murmuring in agreement to whatever her best friend needed her to agree on.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a dark head of hair in the corner with a beautiful woman. Out of the box, pristine, gushing at all the right times socialite that fluttered her eyes in appreciation for the man with his arm wrapped around her.
They sat at a booth, and from across the room Sakura could see the woman's hand run over the man's thigh secretly beneath the table.
Sakura watched the exchange, the man whispered into the woman's ear, causing her to giggle shamelessly at his administrations.
They were a sight to be seen.
"Oh! Isn't that Uchiha Madara?" Ino sat a little straighter and fixed her breasts to sit a bit higher.
Her bombshell of a friend always held the attention of men when they were together — ever since Ino grew her sizable chest she wielded her weapons to her advantage, Sakura never had the capability.
The woman giggled again, causing Ino to scowl, "what a slut. Look at how she's throwing herself at him!"
Sakura tilted her head, confused and humored by her friend, "Ino why do you care? You have Sai, y'know — your fiancé."
Ino shrugged her shoulders, "doesn't mean I can't look — and speaking of fiance's, how are you and Sasuke doing?"
It dawned on Sakura that she hadn't discussed anything that has happened with Ino for the past few weeks. Her blonde best friend already had her issues when Sasuke and her first got engaged, and she made it known that she didn't care for him.
"We're doing better."
Lies.
Ino raised a speculative brow, obviously not believing her. More inclined to Sakura's feelings than most, Ino continued to prattle and wait for her friend to tell her the truth on her own terms, "Hmph, well that's good. Although I still don't think it's right he practically ignores you for his job now, I never liked the fact that he chose Naruto over you so many times, and now his job-"
Sakura tuned her out and watched Madara out of the corner of her eye.
If only Ino knew.
He ran his fingers over the woman's arm enticingly.
Like the first night when she met him — she could feel the smoldering look.
A sharp tinge cut into her chest.
Madara turned slightly towards her, giving her an ample view of the scene — with the woman whispering in his ear, the insufferable man winked at her.
A deep, annoying blush covered her cheeks.
He's doing this on purpose.
She needed to leave. A sense of clarity finally welcomed her, and any sight of him only served to remind her of the event's in the past few weeks.
With an exuberant need for fresh air, she rushed Ino so they could leave before she became even more conflicted.
xox
Uchiha Madara's Complex
Kyoto, Japan
Madara thrust into the woman beneath him in an effort to expel the need for the pink haired woman that left him frustrated with each one of their conversations.
Her cries echoed around the room, nails leaving small moons on his back — "ah, Madara-sa!" he felt himself slipping close to the edge, but instead of the lovely blond beneath him — everything changed to the bright-eyed, silvery pink hair that held a ferociousness that he felt inclined to grasp.
"S-Sakura," he grunted — expelling himself into the condom with a flash of white at the thought of her walls milking him instead.
Needless to say, the woman left shortly after with the slight notion that he actually cared.
xox
Uchiha Home
Sasuke watched her tend to the garden from the seat in his car — he wanted to confront her, wanted to make her speak to him. Wanted to hear her familiar voice. Wanted to pull her close and inhale the scent of lilac that trailed after her, but instead he could only watch as the river that grew between them swamped itself with rain and made it impossible for him to reach her.
He looked at his reflection in the rear view mirror.
He sported a black eye from his best friend.
It hadn't been the first time that Naruto and him had gotten into a fight.
"Who do you think you are teme!"
"Stay out of it."
Their anger flared the moment Naruto had confronted him as to why Sakura had been crying.
It led to Naruto getting an unexpected swing on him — and now here he sat, brooding in his afflictions.
He bit back his pride and walked to the garden.
"Sakura," his familiar voice made her freeze. "I need to talk to you."
She didn't face him, didn't acknowledge him, but continued her work.
"Why?" she finally asked, her voice shivered against the strength she was trying to maintain. He could see the way she was more mobile, and everyday he slugged forward, focusing on a double edged sword that teetered between what he wanted to become, the monsters tucked in his closet - and a life with Sakura that halfway resembled normal.
"I want to apologize."
Face me.
Please.
His fiancé stabbed the soil with her shears and rubbed at her eyes with the back of her glove.
Stop.
I don't like it when you cry.
"Go away, Sasuke."
Had she ever told him that before? No. If anything, her relentless stubborn tenacity forced him to shake off the dread within him. Many times, after his parent's death - after Itachi abandoned him to work in the states, he would trail the walls within his barren house - cursing the silence that followed after him. The night terrors would wake him up in the long dark hours, he refused to sleep some nights after witnessing the battered face of his mother. He wanted to mourn after his father, but the condescending way his father would berate him throughout his life only made it worse with how much he missed him.
"Why can't you be like Itachi?"
"Don't mind your father...He's just really proud of Itachi," his mother would try to defend his father.
The neglect he felt stemmed before they left this world. He would cry, calling his older brother to vent - but only get a voicemail or the typical, "I'll call you back later, I'm busy."
Never good enough.
One night - before their college exams, a year after his parent's death. It had been raining and the soft patter of rain washed over his apartment - Naruto had just left, and she was helping him with arithmetic. Maybe it was the soft lighting, or the way she absently chewed on her pencil as her mind swept over the numbers in front of her, or the fact that she had always put him before herself. Somewhere between his rash decision and the way her lashes fluttered - he found himself on top of her, kissing her for the first time with her soft mewls beneath him. It had been awkward, and she teared up when he first entered her, but the way she gave herself to him - kissing him along his jawline and wrapping her fingers in his hair, he knew that it would be her.
He leaned forward, trying to reach for the last thread of sanity in the form of the woman he planned on marrying. His fingers grazed the edge of her shoulder, and her flinch drenched him with the ice of his decisions.
"Don't touch me!" she coiled and glared at him, tears peppered her viridian eyes, the shears pointed directly at him, "the next you touch me will be the last time you have hands!"
He took a step back.
"Sakura—"
"I want nothing to do with you!" she didn't care if the neighbors heard, she didn't care if he ran away, she didn't care — her temper overcame rationality, "you hurt me! Get away from me," tears strung down her cheeks, "I hate you right now," she cried softly, still pointing the shears at him.
Uchiha Sasuke snapped.
"And what have you done? Have you tried to ever think about me! Or your selfish reasons to be with me! Have you tried to understand what I've been through? Why I always felt alone? Or did your romantic vision of just being with me suffice?"
Sakura gasped.
He left, anger balled his fists and he slammed through the entry of their home.
His home.
He punched the dry wall on his way to their room, tearing their pictures together down on the walls, the glass splattered against the floor. Anything that served to remind him of their mutual relationship boiled his anger.
Sakura ran into the house, "Sasuke!" she yelled.
Why?
Why was he doing this?
She could hear him ravaging through their room, she entered to see the room completely torn apart. "What are you doing?"
A gun flickered in the sunlight on the bed, and the sight of it made her still for a moment.
She could see him tossing all of her things on her bed. "You're leaving," he announced to her.
Sakura felt her fiery temper flare dangerously.
"I won't be leaving."
He threw everything of hers in the dressers onto the floor.
"Stop it!" she growled at him, pushing him aside so that she could protect her items.
Sasuke pushed her again, effectively launching her onto the floor — about to raise his voice when a booming voice entered the proximity of their home.
"Sasuke!" the voice of Shisui echoed around them until he grabbed Sasuke to restrain him. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
The newest member steamed with unrestrained anger, Sakura had fallen to the floor amidst a pile of her clothing.
Sasuke shook Shisui off of him and stormed out of the house, brushing by Madara's shoulder at the entry of their home.
Shisui sighed and shook his head, aware that this escalation was part of his doing, "I'm sorry…Sakura-san, I'll go talk to him."
The doctor stood shakily and glared after his retreating form, "don't bother. I'm leaving."
His frown deepened, "I can't let you…"
"I know!" she snapped, "have your guys follow me for all I care, I just need to leave this house."
She left the ruined bedroom to see Madara idly in the hallway picking up their pictures, "how did you two know to come here?"
"Because we heard a rumor that he got into a fight with that Uzumaki kid a few hours ago and I figured he would be coming here next," Shisui supplied with a small, apologetic frown, "I need to follow him."
Shisui left quickly, leaving Sakura and Madara alone in the hallway of her home. She sighed and leaned her back against the hallway to regain some of her composure. She noticed the holes in the walls, numbly shaking her head. "He was never prone to getting angry like this before."
The large male continued to pick up the large pieces of glass scattered across her floor, "perhaps you didn't know him as well as you thought."
His words nipped at her, hollowing out the fact that maybe her love for him had been blind to these small indicators of who he was beneath.
She hated crying.
The sense of unforgiving weakness that enveloped her took it's toll.
"I guess not," she rubbed at her eyes one last time before surveying the area around her. She watched him set down the large shards of glass aside and place the picture frames neatly on her end table.
"Please, you don't have to clean—"
He handed her a handkerchief from his suit pocket, the red material hung idly in his fingers.
Hesitantly, she grabbed it and brought it to her eyes to stifle the ripples of emotions tearing through her.
Don't cry. Don't cry.
She felt arms wounding themselves around her, gingerly enough as to simply hold her while she pressed her face into his chest, heart wounded enough by the man that she had stood beside for years — wondering how he had changed like this. Her fingers curled into Madara's suit, and although this would have been the least fitting man for her to extract comfort from — he was the only person present.
In their embrace a weird sensation climbed over her.
The scent of blood.
An infant crying.
The rushed sounds of people directing orders.
The sense of dread and exhaustion crawled up her back and she stared up at him.
He kept her close, the world tilted over them — and Sakura realized that he felt it too.
xox
Downtown Kyoto
The phone rang several times before a tired voice answered with a simple, "what?"
"I think we have a lead," the caller watched a young, tall male speak adamantly with another — both with the typical dark hair and pale skin that befit the Uchiha.
The voice visibly perked, "you found them?"
Piercing red eyed remained focused on the duo, "yes, I'll trail after them a bit longer before they notice me."
"Grab their plates, that fucker thinks they can start funding a new district under our noses without us noticing," the voice gripped at him.
The male flicked his shades down, obtuse white hair covered with a cap.
"Understood, Tobirama?"
"Got it."
He hung up then, waiting a few more minutes for the duo in the car to drive a safe distance away before he followed them.
Author's Note: And now we see Tobirama finally arrived in the present!
And we see Sakura devising a plan.
This was an intermediate chapter of sorts - just to get some of the groundwork written, I'm not entirely happy with it but it will have to do, meh.
In any case, I've been looking forward to writing some MadaSaku fluff after all the angst. Poor Sakura...but it only gets worse so - heh, oops.
Thank you for your patience, I know this is a random update day but I wanted to get this chapter up. Thank you for those that are sticking with this story!
Don't forget to leave a review or leave a follow/fav if you like this story! ~~ It's a big motivation.
Thank you!