An older Uchiha woman was looking at Sakura with such an intense look on her face it made Sakura a little more than uneasy. Sakura respected the elderly and normally she wouldn't let such a thing bother her, but this woman seemed to be looking at her in such a way, that for a moment, Sakura thought she could read her mind. Sakura blushed, thinking of the embrace and the kiss her and Madara had shared not an hour ago in the living room of her home. The old woman's face split into a smirk. It was such an unexpected expression on someone so old, it made Sakura laugh.
Madara looked down at the woman beside him, he had been keenly aware of the stir they had caused riding into the Uchiha compound, her on his horse behind him, arms locked around his middle, head resting against his back, like a lover. He followed Sakura's line of sight and smiled. He took Sakura by the hand and led her over to the old woman.
"Keio baa san, how are you today Keio baa san?" Madara hugged the old woman who wrapped her gnarled arms around the bent over Clan head, bumping her bony jowl along his smooth one affectionately.
"Fine fine, young Clan head, just fine in my old age, but who is this pretty young woman, did you capture her from a nearby village to be your bride?" The old woman cackled at her own wit and her eyes sparkled at Sakura.
Sakura blushed and ducked her head at the woman's teasing tone.
"This is Haruno Sakura, the new healer I told the clan about at our last meeting." Madara put his warm hand in the small of Sakura's back drawing her up closer to him and in front of the older woman.
Sakura bowed to the woman with great respect. "I am pleased to meet you Keio Baa San." Sakura said with a smile and a blush.
"My dear, it is my pleasure, to see young Madara with such a pretty young woman, I feared he would never find anyone who interested him but now that I see you, I can see why he likes you so much." The old woman's face crinkled in amusement, her old lived in hands cupped Sakura's face, wrinkled thumbs caressed Sakura's cheeks as sharp, clever eyes looked into astute green.
Keio nodded her head, "You'll do just fine my dear." Keio patted Sakura on the cheek and smiled up at Madara.
"Found a good one I see, well good, don't wait too long. I want to see you wed before I die young man, can't face your mother if I don't have any good news for her in the after life...if there is one." The old woman hobbled off, leaving Sakura and Madara staring after her.
Sakura turned and looked up at Madara, "Is it just me or do you notice the older people are the less inhibited their speech?"
Madara laughed out loud, turning many nearby heads toward them, "I have." He smiled down at her.
Eyes followed them to the main house, some cold, some curious, but most, happy to see their young lord happy.
"Sakura Chan." Izuna's voice came to her across the room when they entered the main house.
"Good to see you again so soon.'' Izuna smiled pleasantly at her, his eyes darting from her to his brother.
Madara nodded to Izuna over Sakura's head and the younger Uchiha's shoulders immediately relaxed and his face broke into a pleasant smile.
"Izuna Kun." Sakura smiled at him.
"Did you come over for dinner?" Izuna asked looking out the window, it was a little early for dinner yet.
"Uh, no I um..." Sakura wasn't sure how to tell Izuna what had happened, her face flamed red once again.
Izuna eyed her suspiciously, half worried and half smirking.
"Sakura will be staying with us here, in the main house, tonight." Izuna's face lit up, and Madara hurried on to say, "Her Senju...friend is no longer in residence at her freehold, they had an...agreement that ended poorly and she challenged him to a spar, to clear her name."
"Clear her name?" Izuna tensed.
"For her...reputation." Madara corrected any assumptions Izuna might have in his head.
"What?" Izuna immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion Madara could tell, his fists were balling up at his sides and he could see his little brother struggling to keep his sharingan at bay.
"From me, the Senju came back to find us...enamoured." Madara cut his sentence off short, embarrassed to continue.
Sakura looked up at Izuna quickly, then just as quickly looked away.
Izuna's face was comically blank for a long breath, then his face broke into the most remarkably inappropriate grin, "You dog!" Izuna patted his brother on the back.
"Congratulations you two!" Izuna was saying loudly hugging them both.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Sakura was confused and angry. Izuna and Madara were discussing their private business in front of her, and together.
"Well, you're married now right?" Izuna said, he was just as confused as Sakura now.
Madara choked. "No! We didn't er..do that, that's not what I meant Izuna, Oh kami." He ran a large hand over his face and peeked through his fingers at Sakura.
Sakura furrowed her brow in confusion. "What are..." Realization hit her. "Oh my gosh Izuna! What the hell, no we didn't do that!" Her hands were on her hips and her chakra cracked around her, "Why you little." She took a step toward the young Uchiha who looked slightly terrified, slightly pleased.
"Nothing to be ashamed of! When a man and a woman..." Izuna didn't get to finish his sentence.
Sakura lept at him, knocking him to the floor. They were rolling around punching and scratching at one another when the elders knocked on the door. Madara pulled them apart hasily and answered the door with a humours glint in his eye, it had been a long time since he had felt he had a real family, it was nice. Izuna and Sakura were already acting like brother and sister.
"Lord Uchiha, it has come to the council's attention you have brought back a woman, the medic you claimed was to live at the old freehold." One of the elders addressed Madara at the door to his home.
"I have." Madara said calmly, he had expected this, he thought he had had more time though.
"An unmarried woman, who by all appearances is familiar with you and you with her." The elder continued.
"She is and we are." Madara raised an eyebrow to the man.
The small group of elder's shifted angrily on his step.
"Is it true you are allowing her to stay here, in your home?" The elder bodly asked.
"If I am?" Madara continued to speak calmly, but his eyes glowed red.
Several of the men before him fell back a pace in the face of his sharingan, but two, the two in the front glared openly at their clan head...challenging him.
"It is inappropriate for an unattached woman to spend the night with you, you claim she is a medic, a shinobi, to be respected yet you..." The elder was cut off by Madara stepping into his personal space.
"You assume too much Yagami. Be careful." Madara warned him.
The elder beside Yagami blanched and stepped back off of the porch to the house bowing low.
Izuna looked at Sakura, they had heard everything from their position inside of the house. Izuna squeezed her hand and motioned for her to sit down on the couch by the window, and stepped out to stand beside his brother. The brother Uchiha stood side by side, shoulder to shoulder creating an impressive wall of authority.
Izuna looked down his nose at Yagami, "Didn't you, in particular, tell Madara he needed to find a wife, was it not you that 'demanded' our clan head to procreate, to further the main family line?" Izuna asked the elder man almost forcefully.
"It was, but." Yagami began.
"But nothing, he has found a woman, an exceptional woman, intelligent, strong and beautiful. She is perfect, she is kind and she is a shinobi of amazing skill both in healing and in combat. What is your complaint, why are you really here?" Izuna glared at the man openly now.
"She isn't an Uchiha! You insult the women of your own clan by bringing that whore here!" Yagami shouted angrily forgetting his place.
"Whore?" Sakura's voice could be heard from behind the two clan heads.
Izuna and Madara both turned slightly to the side revealing a small intense face, bright green eyes and a killing intent that made several of the elders present wither, cower, or smile with impressed surprise.
"Excuse me for interrupting Madara Sama, Izuna Sama." Sakura inclined her head gracefully to the two men beside her.
She looked at Yagami like a disgusting worm, like a despicable leech in the mud and the scum of a pond, "Did you just call me a whore Elder Sama?"
Yagami swallowed, looked around him, saw the eyes of not only his fellow elders on him but of several other Uchiha who had stopped in their daily tasks to watch the confrontation. Yagami straightened his spine and puffed out his old sunken chest.
"I did." Yagami said with false confidence.
"I thought the Uchiha were supposed to be more noble than the Senju, and here it is not a lowly ranked Senju shinobi but one of the great Uchiha elders, calling me a whore, like a insignificant Senju. Perhaps your clans are more alike than I originally thought, maybe that is why this ridiculous war of yours continues, you are so much alike, you can't stand one another." Sakura looked down her nose at the old man.
She took in the lines of his face, lines of chronic pain, her eyes fell to the slightly hunched form he took, not from old age as she had originally thought but from illness. Sakura cocked her head at the man, she could see it clearly now that she looked.
"You're dying." She said simply.
"You, you dare threaten me?" Yagami tried to puff his chest out more but gasped as a pain shot through his chest, he hunched over a little more glaring at Sakura.
"A threat, no, a fact, you are ill are you not, a disease to the lungs, you have trouble breathing at night, you sleep more frequently, eat less...you're withering away, Elder Sama." She said slowly, and quietly. The observers pressed in closer around them to listen, to watch, eyes wide with interest as her words.
"Who told you such things!" Yagami was wary of the woman now, 'how did she know these things?'.
"No one needed to tell me, I can tell just by looking at you. I am not a whore, but you are dying." Sakura looked at him coldly.
"I give you two months, maybe less, I would have to do a full body scan to be sure but yes, I give you two more months, if that, before you die." Her eyes passed over his body once more before they met his shrewdly.
"Can you...heal it?" Yagami asked, dropping his voice to a whisper.
"I'm sorry Elder Sama, I could not hear you, perhaps your illness is affecting your speech." Sakura leaned forward in mock concern, her voice level.
"Can you heal me?" Yagami said loudly for all to hear.
"I can." Sakura said , hoping she could, not all illnesses were curable with her medic jutsu, most, but not all and she couldn't be sure that Yagami could be healed without giving him an examination.
Yagami looked at the woman, the clan head and then back at the woman. "Forgive me Lady Sakura, and show mercy, please, heal me." Yagami bowed slightly to Sakura.
Several people let go the breaths they had been holding, including Sakura. She smiled. "Of course I will Yagami Sama, I am your clans healer, am I not?" She looked up at Madara who was watching her with admiration clear in his eyes.
"You are." Madara let his hand drop onto her shoulder.
"Not today Yagami, perhaps when we get back from the Senju compound tomorrow." Madara said loudly for all present to hear.
"The Senju compound? What are you going to the Senju compound for?" One of the lower elders asked, now that the tension had been broken.
"Sakura challenged a Senju to a spar, over her honor, he called her a whore." Madara said clearly.
Several people gasped and looked furtively back at Yagami who had the decency to look ashamed.
"You see Yagami Sama, I chose...to heal you, instead of beating you to a bloody pulp." Sakura smiled at him sweetly.
"Thank you." Yagami stepped down to stand by the other elders.
"If that is all?" Izuna spoke from beside Sakura, placing his hand on her other shoulder, opposite to Madara's showing their clan publicly that Sakura held the respect of both clan heads.
"No brother Uchihas." A different elder bowed and they left as a whole leaving Sakura, Izuna and Madara alone once again.
"You're just a little trouble maker aren't you?" Madara turned to Sakura, his hand dropping from her shoulder.
Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, "This time, it was your fault, it was your idea I come back with you and it's your fault for not letting them know why before we arrived." She countered.
"Madara smiled down at her, "Perhaps you're right."
Sakura had expected a snappy retort, she looked up at the spiky haired man searching his face, "I am right, always, you remember that Uchiha." She poked him in the chest teasing him.
Izuna watched his brother and love interest pleased with how things had turned out. He was a little worried about tomorrow morning though. A friendly spar was one thing, but the spar between Sakura and Kanta would be anything but friendly. Izuna was confident in Sakura's abilities as far as he had seen them and hoped very much she had more hidden up her sleeve. The man was a Senju, but he was still a commander for Hashirama, he wouldn't be a pushover. He of course was no challenge for Madara or himself but to step in, to help her, would insult her. Izuna wasn't sure what would be worse, but he knew his brother. There would be no stepping in, no helping her.
Conversation over dinner was light. The three ate dinner in the main house and retired to the main sitting room after for tea and small cakes.
"Do you have everything you need for tomorrow morning Sakura?" Izuna asked her.
Sakura had been going over her weapons list in her head since she had challenged Kanta earlier that day. She tapped her thumb on top of her other hand. "Do you have some wire? I didn't have any on me when I came here." She asked.
"Of course, but you, you know how to use it? It is an Uchiha technique." Izuna said surprised she would know such a thing.
"Sasuke, was an Uchiha and my teammate remember? My sensei Hatake Kakashi, who had been gifted his sharingan by Uchiha Obito, he also knew the technique and I practiced it many times with him." She smiled at the memory.
"The Uchiha of your time were different than the ones now." Izuna said not for the first time since they had started talking. He liked that she was sharing more of her life with them, but realized how different things were in her time compared to their own. Some of the things she told him bothered him, while others both surprised but pleased him. He could tell his brother felt the same.
"As I said, there weren't that many left in my time." Sakura said.
"Paper bombs, flash bombs, you have plenty?" Madara asked her.
She nodded her head.
"Aside from your strength and chakra control, your katana and the wire we will get you, what other weapons and skills do you possess?" Madara asked her curiously.
"Oh this and that, Water release, Earth release, a very small amount of Fire release that I learned from Sasuke." She said off hand.
A small pang of jealousy hit Madara in the chest at the mention of the last Uchiha of her time, but he ignored it.
"Three affinities, impressive Sakura Chan, and your medical chakra, can that be weaponized, do you use it as a weapon as well?" Izuna asked her curiously.
Apparently Madara wasn't the only clever one, "Yes, chakra scalpels and chakra blades." She smiled at his raised eyebrows.
"While the circumstances are...uncalled for. I have to admit Sakura Chan, I'm really looking forward to this fight." Izuna grinned at her and she laughed.
Madara smiled a little, so was he. He had picked two elders to accompany Izuna and himself, which was custom, to witness Sakura's spar, after tomorrow, no one would be able to say he was attracted to only her pretty face, after tomorrow, they would understand why only she could be his wife.
There was a soft tapping on the window of the sitting room and they turned their heads to see a large hawk perched on the sill. Madara rose from his seat and opened the window, took the scroll form around the hawk's neck and tapped its beak in thanks. Madara unfurled the scroll, read the missive, then looked up at Sakura.
"What is it?" She asked.
"The god tree, Sarutobi's elders just sent him this." He held out a separate sheet of paper for her to read.
Sakura took it eagerly and read it once then twice. "Oh kami, but how am I supposed to...shit." She fell back onto the couch where she had been sitting the piece of paper slipping from her hand.
Izuna picked it up and read it, looked at his brother then the woman on the couch, "Is this true, I mean are we sure this is accurate, it says it is from an outdated text from long ago, from the beginning of the Sarutobi clan and that half of the scroll had been ruined. It might not have been deciphered correctly or in whole." Izuna said.
"True." Madara looked at Sakura, her face drawn in upon itself. "We will need to look into this, it is something at least, when we had nothing. I will check our own archives personally. After the spar tomorrow." He promised Sakura, a hand on her shoulder.
She tilted her head and rested it against his hand, looking up at him with a small smile, "Thank you Madara."
Madara smiled down at her, his affection for her clearly open for all to see.
Izuna watched in fascination, what the hell had happened earlier today?
That night Sakura lay in the guest room of the Uchiha main house, two doors down from Madara's personal chambers and next door to Izuna's. The maids had cast wary but polite eyes at her as they drew her bath, laid out her sleeping clothes and turned down her bed for her that night. She was sure the whole compound had heard about both her challenge to Kanta and her conversation with Yagami the elder. She sighed into the soft head pad, sleep would not come to her because her mind wouldn't settle. She was sad and hurt, but she also felt more than a little guilty. Kanta had been right, she had rejected him, telling him she was still in love with Sasuke, then kissed Madara. It hadn't been just any kiss though. Sakura felt her cheeks grow warm in remembrance. Kanta's kiss was chaste, innocent and unwanted. Madara's kiss however, was heated, desired, and hot. She swallowed hard, yes, hot.
She had fantasized about what kissing Sasuke would be like, when she was younger, but the fantasy was no comparison to the reality that was Madara, it felt...right. There had been no hesitancy from either of them, only desire, need, want. She squirmed under her covers, she was getting hot. She sighed again and poked a leg out from under the covers on one side. The evening was cool, she just needed to breathe. Sakura lay there for some time, her eyes open and staring at the beams across the ceiling of her room. She thought of her kiss with Madara, the god tree and what Kaguya had told her. She thought of all the people she had left behind. Unable to lay still anymore she rose from her pallet and padded her way to the window in her guest room and opened the shutters, cold air flowed into the room and over her body, swirling cool against her feet as it hit the floor.
The full moon cast it's light across her face illuminating her soft pink hair, a breeze lifted her locks up and over her shoulders, she shivered, her arms rising to cover her nearly bare arms. Sakura stood at the window for several more minutes looking up at the moon, thinking about the note Sasuke Sarutobi had sent Madara earlier that evening.
-The god tree hides among the ocean, where the soil turns to sand, where the sun never sets and winter takes every night. No rivers flow to the tree, it is abandoned, it is forgotten in a wasteland of nothing, forever lost, out of reach, out of touch, a plague upon humanity, a shadow of what once was.-
Where the soil meets the sand. Where the land of Fire met the land of Wind, is that what it meant, of what that only the beginning, the direction. A wasteland. She could think of no greater wasteland than the desert, Gaara's desert...only it wasn't Gaara's desert now, it was Reto's desert. She needed to speak to the sand nin. She needed to go to Suna. He had invited her, perhaps she would take him up on that offer.
