A/N: Hi everyone! I'm so sorry to have taken so long with this next chapter. I've been having a very rough few weeks at home. :( I'll come back later to respond to reviews, but didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer. Thank you everyone for the wonderful reviews last chapter! I deeply enjoy and appreciate them.

Hope you enjoy~

S.S.

Mottled

-CHAPTER ELEVEN-

-/-

"MADARAAAA!"

SMASH.

Haruno Sakura stood in the dank tunnel, dust surrounding her like a halo. The torchlights flickered madly, casting shadows across her face, glinting off clenched teeth, making her normally innocent looks appear ominous.

What's with her?

One minute they had been talking amicably about Rinnegan and resurrection, and the next minute she had attacked him. Just what had set her off so abruptly?

The firelight caught the gleam in her eyes, and Madara was momentarily entranced.

Ferocity, rage, hostility, determination, adrenaline, and more than a slight dose of insanity... All these things were now present in her eyes and fists. All these wonderful, beautiful things... directed at him.

Madara moved without thinking. One moment Sakura was barreling for him, and the next moment she was careening into the wall opposite him, smashing her head against it with spectacular force. He had thrown her, and now he was closing in on her before she had fully recovered.

BANG! The sudden kick made him see stars. Sakura had gotten him without even turning around, extending her leg above her head in the blink of an eye with the force of her kick.

That's right… Madara realized suddenly as he flew backward. She had whispered something about Sasuke, and Izuna being resurrected. Did she think that he would try to use Sasuke as he had Obito, to force Sasuke to use his Rinnegan to resurrect Madara's beloved younger brother?

He had to admit, that did sound like something he would have done. If she wasn't careful, she might give him ideas. He almost chuckled at the thought.

"Is this how much Sasuke means to you, Sakura?" he taunted as he got to his feet, crossing his arms. "That you would attack me so willingly over the slightest chance I might harm him?" He laughed quietly. "Are you so eager to throw your life away over him?" He had to admit, he hadn't foreseen this. He had been looking forward to breaking Sakura, but he hadn't realized that threatening her precious Sasuke would have this kind of an effect.

Though it's not surprising… These snot-nosed brats put far more value on romantic love than my generation ever did… Seeing Obito's development in the wake of losing Rin was proof enough of that.

Madara frowned when his words seemingly had no effect.

Sakura seemed to have frozen where she stood. One hand was still pressed against the wall, steadying her. Her other hand, he noticed, was raised to her face. His eyes narrowed. Hand seals? With her back to him, he wouldn't be able to read them, though he was more than certain he would be able to counter anything she could throw at him. Just the same, his knees bent ever so slightly as he crouched into a battle-ready stance.

This wasn't happening exactly as planned. He had been hoping to hear her talk more about her vision for peace before breaking her, and he hadn't been planning to use Sasuke to accomplish this. But what better time to test her resolve than the present? The opportunity had presented itself rather organically, so why not take advantage of it?

She would never be on his level when it came to fighting, but just the same, fighting with her would afford him an excellent chance to peer into her mind and her character. Here in an exchange of fists, he could discover how far her anger would motivate her. Was it even remotely comparable to an Uchiha's pain? And would this protective feeling in her change how she saw world peace? In a sense, Sakura would be fighting for her very ideals with this battle.

It was decided, then. He would fight with her until he was bored. Yes... he would play with her a little. After all, he didn't really want to kill her. Just… put her in her place. Then, dealing with her would be no more challenging than an armor-sleeved single strike. But in the meantime, why not stoke his own curiosity?

Curiosity might kill a great many things, but not him. Instead, it merely entertained him. And he never denied himself good entertainment.

A sinister smile curled his mouth.

"Well, Sakura… Aren't we going to dance?" he called out.

When she turned, he saw one of her black gloves was in her mouth, and her right hand was exposed. Healing chakra surrounded her bare hand, while destructive chakra enveloped the gloved one. He quirked an eyebrow. Just what was she doing? Healing herself already ...or something else? Was she so delicate that even a little throw could break her?

Madara himself was sporting a nose injury. She had broken it during her initial ambush in Obito's laboratory. Blood dripped down the back of his throat, and he spat it out gleefully.

She lunged.

Attacking him here underground, in such limited confines... Not bad strategy on her part, Madara acknowledged as he blocked her next hit, this one delivered with her gloved hand. He, having spent his entire youth on the battlefield, was well-versed in fighting. Out on the land, with boulders and trees like war clubs and kunai, with only the open sky to watch you weep blood, you knew that you were dancing for your very life. There was nowhere you could go to escape the constant warfare. You thought it, breathed it, lived it, and one day you would die by it. That was fact.

He brought a brutal knee up to her chin, and she made a muffled shriek as her head snapped back. But her hands were already locked around the offending knee, and she gave it a vicious twist. His whole body went flying, much to his shock. And now she was the one closing in.

To fight here in a narrow passageway was different than open land. He couldn't remember the last time he'd fought in a place like this. She could corner him here, if she were a greater shinobi. How unfortunate for her that she wasn't.

Still, he would be forced to use taijutsu or lower levels of ninjutsu for now. None of his usual flashy displays, lest he bring the cave down upon their heads. And close quarters were her specialty, with that monstrous strength of hers. Very smart indeed, to limit him this way. Of course, he could always end things quickly with his Sharingan, but where would be the fun in that?

Both her hands were coming at him now, one glowing green, the other glowing blue. He only barely ducked, and the wind from her palms ruffled his hair, clapping together above his head. It seemed she was aiming for his head with her blows... Smart girl. Even her hits would be blunted by his armor... She was going straight for the unprotected areas of his body.

His knee twanged painfully. She must have infused chakra into her grip when she twisted it.

His fist shot out, a fierce punch directly to her sternum. She wasn't wearing armor and she grunted in pain, but only stumbled a little. So, she could take a punch? He spun, kicking her clear across the corridor, but she caught herself, gluing her feet to the wall using chakra.

Again, he noticed how quickly she recovered. She was careful to always keep her eyes on his movements, always an awareness of where he was. That would make this a bit more challenging after all... Good.

"Are you merely going to glare at me all day? How boring."

She flipped to the floor, pummeling the ground beneath them and sending a shockwave of destruction towards him. He jumped, landing on the wall opposite her. She came at him with a rapid series of hits, and he just barely blocked. The Sharingan allowed him to read her movements, of course, but it wasn't as easy as it usually was. She was fighting more fluidly, yes, but also more unpredictably. Glimpsing her eyes once again, he was struck by the sheer bloodlust and unbridled rage that was there. So. She really was fighting on pure instinct and impulse, not a drop of premeditation to her moves. No wonder.

He grinned. "Your dance steps just got a little deeper."

Her pink eyebrows were furrowed, her teeth bared. Her fist shot out towards his face, and he dodged. He noticed that it was her ungloved hand making the strike. But by then, it was too late for him to stop what happened.

As her fist flew by his face, her palm opened.

A short shock of electricity lanced from her fingertips, caressing the side of his face. It made his hair crackle. He had already ducked low, sending her flying with a headbutt, when he began to ponder her sudden move.

It was too weak to be lightning release, plus she'd been using healing chakra in her hand. There was no pain. So she had converted her healing chakra into a slight electrical pulse... But for what purpose?

She had caught herself on the rock ceiling with the palms of her hands, using her fine chakra control to keep her glued to its surface. Her body swung around, a roundhouse kick aimed for his face. Easily blocked. He reached for his gunbai-

Oh no.

His eyes widened momentarily in horror, and then Sakura's foot found its way to his jaw.

He twisted his body just enough to avoid the full impact of the hit. If he hadn't, she might well have taken him down with that single move. As it was, he couldn't catch himself with his arms and had to rely on his feet solely. For when he reached out with his left hand to steady himself, the right hand moved instead.

So... medical ninjutsu, used offensively? The chakra from her hand had merely brushed him, and his hands had actually switched signals on him! He tried again to reach for his gunbai, but instincts die hard, and he couldn't form the mental commands he needed to. The wrong hand grasped comically in the wrong direction. This would be a challenge indeed.

A wry smile made its way to his face as he raised both hands. With considerable mental effort, he formed them into a now-unfamiliar hand sign.

He had never dealt with an opponent who attacked the body so precisely. The Hyuuga clan had joined Konoha before he left, but he'd never fought one and therefore never faced their famed Byakugan. Aside from them, he hadn't thought anyone would be capable of challenging him this way. Surely there had been many advances in the medical field since his fighting days, but… He would admit to himself that he had not been particularly interested in those, save the rudimentary work he did to help keep Obito alive until the White Zetsu cells could do their job. Hashirama had been able to heal innately; there was no need to pay much attention to medical ninjutsu when he had seen Hashirama as the pinnacle of healing capabilities. Perhaps this was an oversight on his part.

Yes... Before now, he'd never had to face medical ninjutsu being used offensively. This opportunity excited him far more than it should have.

It seemed their fight had just gotten interesting.

Sakura was slowly coming back into herself. Just the mere thought of Madara sacrificing Sasuke had overwhelmed her. She could never let that happen! But now that her initial adrenaline was wearing off, she realized it might not have been so wise to pick a fight with him, knowing what he was capable of. So much for being careful and level-headed.

Was he toying with her? Why was he smiling?!

She saw his hands shake with effort as they formed the clone seal. She lunged for him-

Pop! Pop! Two clones landed, one on either side of him. Those two didn't have their brain signals mixed up.

FWOOOOSH! The fire blasted her backward, utterly surrounding her, choking her. Before she could even land, the clone were already upon her, leaping through the blaze to kick her.

Sakura slammed back into the wall, and from there it became a frantic tap dance of avoiding their blows, returning some of her own. They pummeled her, bruised and bloodied her, though she kept them from beating her to unconsciousness. The entire time, she kept an eye on the original Madara, who seemed to be trying to form another hand signal.

Her eyes widened. That was lightning release! She was so startled that she failed to block, and a clone's fist smashed upon her head, throwing her backwards and through the doors of Obito's kitchen.

While his clones kept her busy, he would have to focus on dispelling her jutsu. She really was becoming quite troublesome indeed. To think that she would surprise him this way...

Sakura screamed as a clone threw her by her short hair, and Madara smiled.

Now then... her jutsu... He remembered the buzz of electricity from her fingertips. So, guessing based on what he knew about the human body, she must have disrupted the electrical signals that told his hands to move, confusing them. So then, would another electric shock set it right? No time to wonder. Only time to try it out.

He painstakingly made one last hand sign. In theory, this should work… He activated his Rinnegan and summoned all the electricity in his body, releasing it in a single strong burst.

"AGGGH!"

The pain of nerves jolting… the sheer galvanizing rush he got… His hair was smoking a little, but he was eager to see if it had worked. Tentatively he tried out each hand, clenching and opening his fists. Yes. He had dispelled her jutsu successfully.

He eagerly turned towards the kitchen where she had flown, only to hear a loud SNAP! Just then, he felt a clone's consciousness jolt into his own. She had snapped its neck. He grimaced. How unpleasant.

If he didn't know any better, he would say that her goal wasn't merely to beat him; rather, it was to maim him as painfully as possible. He sucked the blood from his teeth as amusement tickled him. Isn't that a bit hypocritical to your precious Hippocratic Oath, Sakura? Have I made you lose your restraint by that much? Now that he knew what she was capable of at such short range, he would-

BOOOOM! BOOOOOOM!

His other clone was propelled through the kitchen doors, singed and writhing. Its head was covered with a bluish chemical that smoked and bubbled ominously. Smoke erupted out of the kitchen. A second later, a pink head wove through the billowing black smoke.

Sakura's face was smudged in a myriad of colors: black with ashes, blue with bruises, and red with blood. But it was her eyes that were most vivid. Blazing, hateful green. It was strange to see such a soothing color turn so violent; usually Madara associated green with healing chakra and forests, and red was the color of war. But right now...

Sakura's gloved hand was raised, and suddenly she threw a vial at him.

Crash! FWOOOOOM!

Madara leaped back as the vial burst on the ground. A poisonous cloud erupted from the small glass container. So... Sakura had stocked up when she went to the kitchen. He vaguely remembered the test tubes and flasks - no doubt Obito's projects - that he had seen during their walkthrough. Just what was in those?

He heard footsteps pattering up the tunnel. Sakura was retreating. He couldn't see her through the chemical cloud, but he could hear her. He couldn't risk running through the cloud, though, lest something airborne would harm him. He unlatched his gunbai.

WOOOSH!

A wave of his fan parted the haze, and he rushed through. He could hear her footsteps ahead, and then another crash of glass. This time he was ready, swinging his gunbai the minute he saw the approaching mist. This time it was pink. He could hear the hiss as the rock walls of the passageway corroded slightly under the onslaught.

It was getting painful to run. There was a tightness present in his leg that hadn't been there before... It was the leg she had grasped when she threw him, he realized. Just what had she done to him there?!

There was a rumble from ahead. One of her punches most likely. Was she trying to bring down the cave upon them both? He doubted even she could outrun a cave-in, though stranger things had happened. After all, Obito once survived one.

He would need to hurry. And if she didn't stop, then-

Sakura burst through the surface, shooting out of the entrance to the Mountains' Graveyard. Surrounding her were huge bones, some with entire skeletons intact. Now she knew how this place got its name.

She threw another vial back down the tunnel. She was running out; she'd grabbed all the ones she could get her hands on, hoping that some of them would be useful. So far, it looked to be that way.

She gritted her teeth. This wouldn't be enough to stop Madara. She punched the ground again, three times in rapid succession, and was rewarded by a rumbling noise. Hopefully it had disrupted some of the rocks that made up the hideout, though she had no idea how much damage it would be able to do. The rocks inside shared some of the same bedrock as the mountains around them... Still, maybe it would slow him down... She didn't dare hope it would kill him. Not him.

She was running underneath a huge ribcage when the rumbling intensified. She barely had time to dodge before Susanoo erupted from the ground in front of her, sword first, the ribcage catching on the spectral blade during its ascent.

She could hear him chuckling. "Well, Sakura, I must admit, you're full of surprises."

Madara was moderately impressed. The same move had impaled her mentor straight through, though the Senju woman had survived. Sakura seemed to be much more talented at dodging than her predecessor.

"You're quite lucky, you know. The cave-in you could have caused with your shenanigans, I stopped. With a little help from Susanoo, of course..." he said, sweeping his arm, as the spectral warrior did the same.

Now the medic looked up, and up, and up as his Susanoo climbed from the ground, standing fully erect. Two faces, four arms. Tusk-like teeth, bared and grinning. Susanoo spun briefly, flinging the ribcage from its sword and up through the air. Sakura flinched and tensed, ready to dodge once again. Glee filled him at the sight of her so tiny beneath him.

"You were holding back before! You could have used your knowledge of the human body against me in a thousand different ways, no doubt, and you truly caught me by surprise down in the hideout. I am..." he smiled, "...most impressed. I did not realize that by merely being in your presence, I was venturing so close to death... Doctor Haruno."

Had Hashirama's granddaughter taught her offensive medical ninjutsu as well? If so, why did they both hold back before? Was it because they weren't in close enough range to use it? In that case... long-range fighting would be fine for now.

"...But what will you do now? You're no longer close enough to use your medical ninjutsu on me, and I know your taijutsu fighting style all too well."

There were beads of sweat on her forehead, and for the first time during their fight, she appeared apprehensive. There was pause there where previously there had been none. But if he was not mistaken, there was something else in her gaze. Her determination hadn't wavered. She still had a means to go forward. Now he was intrigued.

"If you have any more moves to impress me with, anything else you've been holding back... Now would be the time to use it."

He had been restraining himself too; after all, it was unbecoming to go all-out on a child. He'd been merely playing around before, letting her vent and meanwhile work herself directly into his trap. But after getting a glimpse of this new side of hers, perhaps he would hold back a little less. The harder he pushed her, the greater the rewards were sure to be.

Yes. He would fan the flames of her ire. He would see which was stronger within her - the darkness, or the light.

"Don't disappoint me."

Susanoo dove for her with a swing of its swords.

As Madara's humanoid Susanoo came for her, Sakura did the very first thing she had ever learned as a medic. She dodged.

Susanoo turned, shockingly fast for such a large being, and swept its sword at her. She just barely managed to tumble to one side. Had she not been looking over her shoulder right at Susanoo, she would have never seen it in time.

Madara's moves and the Susanoo's are almost perfectly synchronized. But still... there's a split-second lag in between them. If I can just pay attention to Madara's moves inside of the Susanoo, then I can dodge more easily. With that, Sakura stopped running, and turned her body, facing Susanoo fully. She readied her fists: gloves or not, both were capable of super-punches.

"Well... feeling brave?"

The swords swung at her...

...And Sakura felt herself become lost in the movement, jumping over one sword, only to punch away the next one, only to dodge between the next two. At one point she even wound up on the underside of a sword, clinging with chakra in the soles of her feet, before Susanoo jolted her loose. And the whole time, the mad Uchiha was cackling and shouting down at her:

"That's it! Dance! Dance more for me, Sakura!"

Sakura took up one of the massive bones - a rib bone, sharp on one end. Using all of her strength, she swept it around, stopping one of Susanoo's swords.

Madara quirked an eyebrow. "Hm?"

Sakura used the rib to block the swords' strikes as she advanced closer to Susanoo's body. If she could get close enough... But Madara was, indeed, much too adept at seeing through her moves. He knew where she was trying to go. Susanoo toyed with her for a few minutes, before abruptly attacking, slicing her rib-sword down to a nub in mere seconds. In her frustration, Sakura hurled the remaining bone up at Susanoo. It bounced off its chest, where Madara floated, controlling it. The monstrous grin never left the spectral warrior's face.

"I must admit, I was becoming rather enchanted with your talks of peace, but... I'll enjoy this too!" Madara clenched a fist. "Keep dancing for me, Sakura! Let me see your waltz! Show me all your moves you've been hiding!"

He wants a show, huh? Her jaw clicked in place. Suddenly she made a mad dash directly for Susanoo.

This again...? Madara remembered the mad rush she had made towards him when he had fought her mere days ago in the forest. But this time his Susanoo was fully out of the ground. The most she could hope to do was to nip at its heels. And Susanoo would crush her like an ant before she could ever land a blow.

"Would you like for me to dance on you?!"

To Sakura's great horror, Susanoo raised one massive foot and stomped directly toward her. She barely dodged, and the resulting shockwave threw her back at least fifty feet. Susanoo kept raising its massive feet and soon settled into a disturbing rhythm. Madara really was making his spectral puppet dance!

Laughter was the farthest thing from Sakura's mind. Instead, a scream of terror lodged itself in her throat.

Susanoo was dancing towards her, leaving devastation in its wake. Sakura stepped backward, eyes darting around. She would be pinned between the mountains and the skeletons... The skeletons!

She ran into a maze of massive ribcages, spines, and skulls, and Susanoo followed. If only she could hide from him somehow! But Madara was too good a sensor to lose her. The most she could do was to double back, when Susanoo slowed down.

Her moment came when the monster had trouble getting around an intact skeleton. She made it to the far side, waited for a half-second, and then darted forward.

It was hell getting to him, but she'd be damned if she gave up now!

Through Susanoo's waltz of destruction she ran, leaped onto one of the massive feet, and then began running up its leg. Keep going... keep going... Just like a tree trunk!

For all her time on Team 7, she had always watched Sasuke's and Naruto's back. In all areas... except for one.

Her first memory of tree-climbing came back, so long ago in the Land of Waves. It was the first time she had been shown to be any good at something... her exceptional chakra control. Susanoo might be the god of storms, but to her, he was as easy to run up as a tree in high winds.

Susanoo swept at her with a hand as one might swat a fly. But Sakura jumped through the air, landed briefly on its hand, and then jumped again, landing sideways on its chest.

Madara sent a blast of fire straight for her, and she barely dodged. She glared at him fiercely, then pulled something from her pouch. It wasn't a vial; it looked like a tiny pill. A performance enhancer, perhaps?

Sakura popped the little red pill in her mouth, then quickly did some hand signs. Madara's eyes narrowed when she ended by hitting her palm to her own stomach. Her eyes bulged slightly, then forming one final hand seal in front of her chest, Sakura vomited.

Blood sloshed from her mouth and all over Susanoo's chest, effectively blocking her from Madara's view. And while he couldn't see her, he could feel her fists begin to pound away at Susanoo's chest.

His warrior swatted itself, trying to dislodge the stubborn medic, but she could dodge him easily now and she continued pounding away until-

Crack!

Madara had time to brace himself as Sakura punched one final time, bursting through Susanoo's chest to grab the legendary shinobi by his shoulders. And then, they fell.

And as they fell, fragments of Susanoo's blue bones twinkling and showering around them like snow, Madara looked up into Sakura's face.

Her teeth were bared, just inches from biting him. Blood splattered her hair and cheeks and forehead, dripping, surrounding her eyes like a mask. Her eyes were livid, lively, feral. No indeed, he had never known green could be a color of such ferocity. All his life, it had been red – the red of blood, the red of the Sharingan. But to think, that this little green-eyed life-giving medic could project such a violent vibe…

She truly is...

"Magnificent," he whispered, reaching up to stroke her face. His fingers never made it there.

As they crashed home to Earth, losing themselves to noise and confusion, Madara thought one final thing:

If she were an Uchiha, she would be sporting a new doujutsu right now.

It couldn't have been longer than a second. The landing had been hard, but for that brief moment, Madara had lost consciousness.

That wasn't something that happened to him during battle. The realization that it had happened disturbed him.

He sat up immediately, spotting Sakura some twenty feet away. She was breathing, and her eyes were open, but she seemed winded... Or perhaps she had broken something.

Well, she was the medic. Surely she could heal herself and keep fighting, could she not? At the thought of more fighting, Madara leaped to his feet.

"I can feel the heat in your veins!" he bellowed, a blood-thirsty grin blooming across his face as he turned to her, hoping to rouse her. "I can taste your murderous intentions... I want more!"

A small trickle of blood leaked from his nose. He wiped it absently.

Sakura grunted. Her movements were shaky as she tried to stand. Before she had even made it to her feet, she threw a kunai.

It wasn't a very good throw. The only advantage she had was in where she aimed it - as his feet. Because she was still down low, it was a little harder to see she had thrown it. But he dodged, allowing it to plant itself in the ground between his feet. It was only then that he noticed the slight purple sheen on it.

Poison? But where? How?

Suddenly, she was strong on her feet. So, her weakness had been a ruse? In the next instant, she punched the ground, rupturing it, sending a wave of chakra spiking towards him. He jumped to avoid her strike, then closed in, in an instant. This time, he let fly with just his fists, hitting her brutally over and over again, marking every inch of flesh he could get his hands on.

She barely managed to substitute in the midst of his beating. Appearing to his left, she landed another chakra-infused punch on the ground, knocking him back. He recovered instantly and came for her, faster than she could come for him.

His tunic flared out, almost like a dress beneath his red armor. His legs, posed to deliver a kick, were airborne, one straight down, the other bent, and his gloved hands were slightly extended. In that moment, his stance was as graceful as a ballerina's pose. Even in midair, Madara danced.

She blocked with her forearms.

His eyes were locked onto each of her movements. It interested him to know that her eyes were locked onto him with equal intensity… except she was smart enough not to meet his gaze. But she was watching him far too closely… a medical trick designed to anticipate enemy moves, and thus be adept at dodging, perhaps? It made sense. And after all, she was quite gifted in her art.

He swept his gunbai at her. She jumped, planted a foot on top of his prized weapon to leap higher, then tried to kick. He spun out of the way.

"Dance with me some more, Sakura!" he commanded her. "Or are you that willing to allow Sasuke to fall to me?" His taunt was rewarded. She slipped for him once more in a rush of air.

As he readied, she struck.

BANG!

Her blow glanced off his gunbai. But aside from that, she didn't respond verbally to his taunts.

This generation seemed to be rather talkative while they fought. They had no idea how many advantages this had given him during their recent war. He himself wasn't above a good conversation on the battlefield, but he never let it interfere with his strategizing. Throughout their battle he had hope that surely, if he drew it out a little, Sakura would begin to pontificate on her Will of Fire or her determination or some other thing that gave her life meaning…

Sakura did no such thing.

Sakura never stopped. In fact, she never paused at all. Nor did she leave any openings.

Madara was impressed.

Too bad he didn't have the power of the Divine Tree…

PUNCH!

…Or the power of the Ten Tails…

SMACK!

…Or both Rinnegan eyes…

POW!

…Or that implant of Hashirama…

CRUNCH!

…But then again, he was still Uchiha Madara.

"AAH!"

Too bad her taijutsu style was so predictable. It was far too easy to slip the kunai under her ribs when she drew back for her next punch. After all, he knew how to spot openings too.

He couldn't even count how many Senju he had killed, merely because he could spot an opening faster than they could.

Sakura screamed. Her hand was already flying to the wound as he staggered backward, lightheaded, before she caught herself, leaning forward onto her knees. She coughed blood, grimacing horribly, all while Madara watched her with the eyes of a cat playing with a mouse. As if her life were nothing more than a game to him.

Sakura looked up at him weakly. And then, she brought her hand forward, the one not covering her gut wound. In that hand was her last vial.

Before Madara could move, she threw it in the dirt between their feet.

He jumped back, waving his gunbai to clear the newest chemical cloud. By the time he could see again, Sakura was gone.

He found her easily enough. The screaming of the noisy peregrine falcon overhead led him directly to her, though a blood trail had appeared as he got closer as well. She had made it half a mile away before collapsing.

She was kneeling in the tall grass, not far from the decomposing body of a shinobi. He made a mental note to return to burn it later. Sakura was first priority.

She was slowly succumbing to her wounds; he could see by the increasing splatters of blood as he approached her. With such little chakra, she wouldn't be able to move around for much longer. Lucky for her he was so merciful... Death by long exposure, with only a rotting corpse for company, would be such an unseemly way to go.

"Ahh, Sakura. What ever shall I do with you now?"

She was already staring at him, eyes wide with unconcealed fear.

"Come any closer, and you'll have a taste of my fist!"

It pleased him that she was now talking back to him. However, it was more a tell than anything else: she was getting desperate. She knew she couldn't fight much more in her current state. Unlike before, he was more careful to examine her physical state as well as her chakra. It was no ruse: she was growing weaker.

"You seem quite confident in those fists of yours."

"And why wouldn't I be?" It seemed she felt a sudden bravado, from the way her voice abruptly changed into a growl. "It was the last thing Kaguya tasted before they sealed her away."

"What? You're joking. The likes of you? Land a hit on the likes of her?"

"Yep! Knocked one of her horns clean off!"

"Impressive…"

"Stay the hell away from me!"

Madara walked closer to her slowly, savoring the moment. She was down on one knee, glaring fiercely up at him, like a wounded animal caught in a snare. He could see her shivering with pain, and he adopted a smile that was almost warm. Almost, unless she was looking into his eyes. And if she were smart, she wouldn't.

He stopped when he was just within striking distance, then he slowly reached for her face-

WHAM!

The slap rebounded off his Limbo Border Jail clone, who had been standing directly in front of him, unseen. Sakura cried out as if her blow hit an invisible wall, but that wasn't all that happened. To Madara's astonishment, his clone keeled over, with shocking stillness. When he dispersed it, he was almost horrified by what he learned. It seemed that immediately after Sakura's hit, the clone had felt the slightest burst of chakra from where she struck, and then all was blind. But not merely the clone's sight, no - rather, all its senses were abruptly silenced. Sight, sound, touch, smell, and he imagined taste as well. The clone had been completely cut off from the world of sensation, from the world itself. Everything simply... went dark.

How chilly! How... delightful.

"Well well… It seems I have underestimated you, Sakura. Very clever. Where were you hiding this trick? Why did you not use it before?"

"That's not all I have!"

"Oh? Do share."

"With pleasure!" And then she jerked her other hand.

Madara realized then that both her gloves were off, and there was something connected to her other hand. At first he thought it was a string, but no... that shining blue... a chakra thread?

The thoughts went through his head in the span of a second, the same second in which he stumbled. Because Sakura's chakra thread was connected to his foot. She had been luring him closer on purpose, baiting him by warning him to stay away! Smart girl.

Indeed, he slipped just a little as the weak thread of chakra tugged his foot out from under him. Weak, but it had been enough. He fell sideways, and she was ready with waiting arms. She caught him, flipping them over so she was on top of him, and he was on his back. She raised a fist—

And he caught her in his gaze.

A split second was all it took, and she was helpless above him. Her body stopped, fist still raised, and she quivered as an oddly glazed look entered her eyes. Madara smiled up at her triumphantly.

"Sakura...dancing with you has truly been a pleasure."

His Sharingan stopped spinning. And she slumped forward and didn't stir.

He breathed in slowly, savoring the end of their fighting. Her hair tickled his nose; she smelled of sweat and something vaguely sweet. Flowers, perhaps, a few days old.

He lay there for a moment, her body warm and unconscious on top of him, and breathed in the fresh mountain air and her smell.

This was new. Usually, he did not leave a person alive on the battlefield, or at least, not anyone he had at his mercy. He killed anyone and everyone he was capable of killing. But this was different. He still needed her. And...

He stood up wearily, a warrior hardened through and through, and easily slipped her into his arms. Then he began walking back to his hideout.

...And he enjoyed her company enough to allow her to leave the battlefield alive.

Yes, Sakura, he thought as he walked, looking down at the sleeping girl, our quality time together is only just beginning. I hope you're as ready for it as I am...