CHAPTER SUMMARY

Once Madara realizes he has feelings for Sakura, he goes all in, no holding back. He isn't a charmer like Izuna, but Madara has his own gentle sincerity that draws Sakura in.

Madara sat beside Sakura after Izuna had shown her his koi pond. Izuna had been called to the main house over a minor dispute and had left them to themselves by his pond, pressing the loaves of stale biscuits into Sakura's hands to feed the koi.

He watched as her small hands tore piece after piece of biscuit apart and threw it lightly into the water for the swarms of rolling koi that had come to investigate her reflection. The soft summer breeze lifted the loose hairs that framed her face and for a moment, the picture of her, dirty and sweaty while she dug her outdoor fire pit flashed in his mind. She was in such contrast with the image in his head he couldn't stop watching her, comparing.

Sitting in the dirt, with the grime of her labor under her nails and coating her skin she looked like a forest fairy sprung up from the earth, with her fly away pink locks floating around her face and sticking to her sweat. Now, sitting beside him in the dappled summer sun she looked like a princess, her hair done up, her kimono form fitting and sleek against her skin.

Sakura was a bit of an intrigue to him, now more than ever. With one door closed two more opened and he found himself thinking of her situation more deeply the longer they spent in one another's company. She was like a castaway, shipwrecked far from home, a home she would never be able to return to. Part of him felt sorry for her, but another part of him, a smaller part that he was ashamed of...was glad.

One of the over zealous koi had flipped into another and water shot playfully into the air splashing Sakura a little, and she threw her hands up in front of her face laughing. With The joy still on her face and the laughter still in her eyes she turned to look at Madara to see if he had seen the koi.

'She's so beautiful', was his first thought, 'I want her', was his second. "I'm glad you are enjoying yourself." He said sincerely his lips turning up in amusement as he watched her toss the last of the stale bread to the koi and sit down beside him.

The breeze changed bringing her floral scent to his nose, he cleared his throat, "Ah, there is a forest of Sakura trees I think you would also enjoy seeing, if you would like to join me?" Madara rose to his feet and offered his hand to her, like he had seen Izuna do before.

Sakura looked up at Madara surprised by his gentle behavior, but pleased. She nodded and took his hand, he pulled her arm through his and they walked away from the koi pond. He led her to a small stone lined trail along the perimeter of the compound. Her head turned left and right taking in the beautiful scenery.

"The compound is much larger than I originally thought." She offered him light conversation as they walked down the stone path arm in arm.

"My father extended it when he was the clan head. The Sakura forest was planted near twenty years ago, for my mother, around my third birthday." Madara liked the feel of her so close to him, he could feel the subtle movements of her body against his and knew why Izuna took every opportunity to walk with the pink haired woman.

Sakura looked up at Madara, "You are much younger than you look, except when you smile, you look younger when you smile. You should smile more." She teased him.

"Are all women as outspoken as you in your time or was I just lucky to have you falling out of the sky onto my land?" Madara smiled down at her and she blushed. He liked making her blush, knowing it was his words that brought such a beautiful color to her cheeks, it was...mesmerizing and he wanted to make her blush again.

"No, not all, more than now but...I'm odd I suppose." She laughed, "I got picked on a lot as a kid, my only real friend was my friend Ino, and then my Team when I became a Genin. I had more friends when I, before the war but…" She trailed off, her mood dampened by her thoughts.

Madara didn't say anything, he could tell her thoughts had strayed to her lost ones. They had passed through a small stone gate into a larger open field of sorts.

"These are the trees, my mother's trees Sakura." Madara placed his hand on her arm and squeezed her lightly where their other arms were joined.

"Oh." A small breath parted her lips as he looked down at her. His pulse jumped.

"Madara." His name left her lips, soft and sweet. He closed his eyes briefly enjoying the moment. "This is, they're beautiful, thank you for bringing me here." She whispered.

Her other hand rose and covered his hand on her own arm as she smiled up at him softly, the breeze lifting her hair and moving it across her temple, her eyes flashed brilliant green in the sun and he entwined his fingers with hers pulling her closer into him. "It is my great pleasure Sakura, to show you such beauty, but it is also a great pleasure to enjoy your company here in this beautiful place. Come, I have another thing to show you that I think you will enjoy."

For the first time since she had been cast back in time, she saw Madara not as a threat or a villain, not as a clan head of a powerful clan, but as a man.

Madara led her on his arm down the stone path deeper among the soft scented flowering trees to a carved wooden bench with the Uchiha clan's symbol on the backrest. He motioned her to sit with him and waved a hand at the forest spread out before them.

"Wow." Sakura breathed in the flowers and the summer sun as she looked out over the pink and white fluttery expanse. There was pink and light pink, white and light green as far as she could see. The trees had been placed with such exquisite artistry they seemed to spring from the earth and dance with one another in the beams of the sun that filtered through their branches. Small clay figurines of woodland creatures peeked out from rocks and holes carved into the earth and set at the bases of the trunks, it was magical.

Madara watched, entranced as her eyes darted from one tree to the next, from one clay squirrel to a family of rabbits hiding in a hole dug for their purpose. He marveled at the emotion emanating from her lips, her eyes and the rapid pulsing thrum of energy that coursed through her fingers where they touched his own.

"Whenever we would return from a battle, from a particularly dangerous or bloody mission, I would come here, to find my peace. Sometimes our mother would be here, sometimes she wouldn't but when she was here, I would find her on this bench. Not many come here anymore. She has long passed, but...I think she would be pleased to know that, there are others that still come here and find it as magical as she did, once."

"These trees are still here even if she is not, and they will be here long after I am gone. I come here still, to remind myself, I am not alone." He said quietly and Sakura recognized it for the gift that it was.

"You were taken from your time and placed in another, but, you are not alone. Izuna is here with you, I am here. We don't know you well and you don't know us well, but we have one thing in common...a goal, and the future. If what you say is true, you are not only fighting for them, the ones you've lost, but for us as well."

Sakura looked at him as he spoke, her hand still resting on his, her arm still in his arm and she wondered how the history books could have written him so inaccurately. She wondered why this man was so different from the one she had met in her time. She saw none of the madness, none of the anger or desperation, none of the loneliness in this man, like she had seen in the one of her time. It was as though they were two different people.

Part of her felt guilty, mostly she was confused. It was difficult for her now to think of them as the same person. Maybe, if she found and destroyed the god tree, he wouldn't become the maniacal madman she had met in her time, maybe he would continue to be...Madara, this Madara.

Sakura blushed once she realized she had been staring at him, she looked down, to where their fingers were joined and looked back up to him, she hadn't realized they were touching so freely.

Madara's heart raced in his chest as he watched her, 'Had she not realized they were holding hands?', he unlaced their fingers and opened his mouth to apologize when he heard footsteps close by. He lifted his head and relaxed, smiling at the two young women who approached them from the trail.

"Good afternoon, Natsuko san, Misoka san." Madara greeted the two women.

"Lord Madara." The women bowed low, bent formally at the waist.

"This is Haruno Sakura, a kunoichi of extraordinary prowess." Madara both introduced and complemented Sakura.

"I am pleased to meet you." Sakura inclined her head to the two women who gave her a narrow eye back, but bowed low under the pressure of their clan lord's presence.

Natsuko's eyes dropped to their joined hands and arms glanced at her friend and asked Sakura, "What clan are you from, I am not aware of any clan with hair...like yours, such a...strange color."

Misoka snorted a very unladylike snort, but otherwise remained silent.

Madara looked down at Sakura, he had felt her muscles tense at the implied insult from the woman. He wondered what she would do and say, squeezing her hand under the cover of his other hand he waited.

"None you would be familiar with." Sakura replied politely, but with a slight edge.

Madara patted Sakura's hand, "Enjoy your walk ladies, Sakura and I were just leaving." Madara turned Sakura with his arm and they walked away leaving the two women whispering and glaring behind Sakura's back.

"Delightful, I'm here five minutes and already some of your clan hates me." Sakura laughed up at Madara.

"We don't allow many outsiders into the compound." Madara smiled down at her, "Not ones with strange pink hair at least."

Sakura laughed and hit him lightly on the arm as they walked back to the front of the compound together.

"Would you mind showing me your library now Madara, or could you point me in the right direction? I'm sure you have better things to do that escort me around all day."

"I don't mind." He continued to walk side by side with her, only loosening his fingers from hers, but keeping their arms linked.

Many Uchiha stopped and stared at them, but most observed from a distance from under their lashes. Sakura wondered if this is how it would have been in her time, if the Uchiha hadn't been massacred by Uchiha Itachi, if they would still be a closed community inside of Konoha. She knew they had still been very secretive, not sharing the information of their sharingan with non clan members but the level of suspicion and hostility was strong, even with her walking side by side with the clan head, or perhaps it was because of who she was walking beside that the tension was so thick.

Madara knew that they were being watched and that not all of the looks were friendly ones. He also knew Sakura was strong enough not to let it bother her. They would either get used to her, or they wouldn't. At the next clan meeting he would announce their agreement, and it would be helpful for her to be seen around their compound with him.

Izuna met them not far from the steps of their library which was attached to the main house.

"Madara, I've been looking for you, there has been an altercation with the Senju, it seems a patrol of ours met one of theirs by the valley leaving two injured and one near death. Word was sent via summons with a request for a healer. I thought since Sakura was here, she might." Izuna was cut off.

"Of course, take me to them." She pulled her arm from Madara's and followed Izuna who had already turned toward the gate.

"What of the Senju scouts Izuna, did they say what happened to them?" Madara asked his brother walking on his other side.

"They retreated, the altercation wasn't far from the Senju compound as far as the scouts could tell, they think that is what caused the confrontation in the first place, they think they had gotten too close to the compound, but we both know it doesn't take much for those assholes to attack us." Izuna ground his teeth in frustration.

Sakura ignored Izuna's comment in favor of riffling through her medic pack as they walked. "I think I have everything I need for the most part, depending how badly they are injured. I have enough on me to get them to my house at the very least, I'm sure."

The horses were ready for them at the gate, Sakura noticed there were only two.

"You'll ride with me." Madara said mounting and pulling her up behind him.

Sakura wrapped her arms around his waist and they took off following Izuna's horse out of the compound gates into the forest.

Sakura dropped down beside the first man, her hands glowing green. "Who the hell are you, don't fucking touch me bitch." The man tried to hit her, swinging out at her blindly.

"Let her do as she will, this is our new healer, her name is Haruno Sakura, and she has my respect, give her yours." Madara said slowly and calmly.

"Lord Madara, forgive me, I didn't know." The man visibly cringed.

"Now you do." Madara left Sakura to her work and went to the other man who lay broken a few feet away.

"You have a broken leg, three cracked ribs and minor internal bleeding around your lung." Sakura told him.

"That explains a lot." The man grunted in pain, his silky jet black hair falling around his face.

Sakura smiled,"Don't worry, this is nothing I can't handle."

She pushed him flat, moving her hands slowly from one injury to another, his leg taking the longest. She eventually stood up, patted him on the arm and went to move onto the next man, that Madara was kneeling beside but the man she had just healed grabbed her arm and pulled her back down beside him.

"It doesn't hurt, I'm healed, all of it is healed?" His voice was hurried, as if he couldn't believe it.

"Yes, get up." She went to rise again but stopped again, at his voice.

"I apologize Lady, please forgive my rudeness and thank you, for healing me." He smiled at her then and she smiled back.

"I am glad to help, now I need to heal your friend, excuse me." Sakura moved over to where Madara was kneeling on the ground.

"...came out of nowhere, I didn't even see the white haired bastard. You know how he is, just apears and then disapears, can't fucking tell where he is." The man seemed to notice Sakura then.

"Pardon my language my Lady." He sputtered.

"I'm not a Lady Uchiha, I'm a doctor, now be quiet and let me examine you." Sakura smiled and pushed him back gently onto his back.

"He said you were bossey." The man wheezed with laughter.

Sakura looked over at Madara, "Oh he did he?" Sakura smiled.

"Yes, said you were a bossey little thing but smiled sweetly enough that he didn't mind your foul mouth so much."

Sakura looked at Madara in shock, he had said she had a sweet smile?

"Well, not everyone can have good taste I suppose." Sakura said as she ran her hands down his arm then his chest.

The man under her hands wheezed again and Madara looked away.

"You have blood in your lungs but I don't see a, oh...there it is, you got stabbed in the back, hum." Sakura prodded a particularly blood spot on his shirt with a green finger, then took both of her hands and ripped his shirt down the already split seam to reveal the wound.

Taking a small wash bottle from her pouch she used her water jutsu to fill it, added a disinfectant tablet from the things she had brought with her from her time, shook it and started cleaning the wound with the solvent and a soft cloth.

"Sorry," She murmured, "If I clean it, it will heal faster with less chance of infection."

"I can stand it, it just...surprised me." The man smiled weakly at her.

The man's skin knit together before their eyes, sealing the wound and grafting the skin slowly over where the stab wound had been. Turning his on his side she cleaned and healed the three slash wounds that had partially opened up into his lung at one point causing the internal bleeding. She used her chakra to break down and clean away the blood that was causing him his labored breathing and repaired the damaged tissue cells.

He could feel the warmth and then the cooling effects of her chakra healing his body and was amazed. It was like nothing he had ever felt before. It was like magic.

"You're amazing." The man said.

Sakura smiled as she finished and sat back on her heels with a small yawn. Madara could tell it was wearing on her and that she had used a lot of her chakra. He hadn't realized it would be so taxing on her but he felt he should have, seeing how efficiently and quickly she had just healed two men, who without her, might have died.

"Just take it easy for a few days, you're safe, the wounds won't reopen but drink lots of water and get sleep okay?" Sakura rose to his heartfelt thanks and moved to the next man.

Izuna smiled at her and introduced her, "This is Sakura Haruno, she is a kunoichi who is also a healer. She is the new Uchiha healer, Sakura. This is Watanabe Uchiha."

"Nice to meet you Watanabe, are you injured anywhere?" She had been looking him over while Izuna had introduced him and he didn't seem injured or to be in any pain.

"Just a small cut in my side Lady Sakura, nothing to worry about." He inclined his head respectfully.

"I'm not worried but let's have a look." She looked at him expectantly.

When he didn't move to comply, Izuna nudged him. The man reluctantly lifted his shirt for her to see a small cut into his side, just as he had said. It was already cleaned and bandaged.

Sakura tugged the bandage off in one quick yank and pressed a glowing green hand to his side. He jumped and glared at her but refrained from whatever he had planned on saying when he saw Izuna giving him a warning look.

"She is the doctor, do as she says." Izuna warned.

"Yes Lord Izuna, my apologies Lady Sakura." Watanabe inclined his head once more.

"I understand." Sakura smiled at him and lowered his shirt.

"All better." She patted him on the arm and stood up stretching.

Watanabe lifted his shirt and twisted to see where she had healed him, his eyes shot to her and back to his wound.

"Amazing isn't she?" Izuna grinned at the man.

"Yeah, amazing." Watanabe looked at Sakura again and blushed.

Izuna patted him on the shoulder and laughed when he noticed the man's blush.

"Don't get on her bad side though, she'll kick your ass, then heal you." Izuna laughed at the man's bewildered expression.

"Thank you Sakura, for healing our men." Izuna side hugged her and she smiled up at him.

"It's my job right?" She laughed.

Izuna nodded as Madara walked up to them.

"You did wonderfully Sakura, thank you." He inclined his head to her. "I don't think I will ever tire of watching you heal." He confessed.

Turning to Izuna, "Kagami tells me it was Tobirama, not a scouting team as they originally thought."

Izuna's fists clenched at his sides.

"Tobirama Senju?" Sakura asked.

"Yes." Madara said grimly.

"The man is a menace." Izuna growled.

"I don't understand, why would he attack them, they were just a scouting party weren't they?" She was confused.

"They are Uchiha." Madara said.

"That is reason enough for someone like him." Izuna said harshly.

"Let's head back now that the men are healed." Madara reached for Sakura without thinking, taking her hand and leading her to his horse.

He only noticed her blushing when he turned to help her mount, he paused and looked at his brother who was smirking at him. The other men were looking down and shuffling their feet, avoiding his gaze.

"Sakura, I apologize." Madara said quickly.

"For what?" She had a mischievous glint in her eye as she smiled at him.

"Get on my horse woman." Madara grinned at her and she laughed.

Sakura placed her left foot in the stirrup and swung her leg over the back of his horse with ease.

"Need an invitation or will you be sharing with Izuna?" Sakura teased him and picked up the reins.

Madara pulled himself up onto his horse taking her hands and wrapping them around his waist, turning his horse letting the others follow as they would.

"So when's the wedding?" Madara heard Kagami ask Izuna to laugh.