The old man blinked down at her in surprise. "Now that is a name I have not heard in a while," he mused, frowning down at her, bushy grey eyebrows knotting together the longer he stared down at her – like she was some sort of puzzle he had yet to work out.

Clapping a hand over her mouth, she stumbled back, lines marring her brow as she tried to figure out the odd sense of familiarity and kinship she felt then. Pain stabbed through her temple, images trying to surge to the front of her mind at the feeling of the oddly familiar warmth he seemed to radiate, similar to her caretakers and Madara. "Uh, sorry mister," she said, chewing on her lip as she looked up at him. Why did he seem familiar? What was Inner keeping from her?

"No harm done, child—"

"Mithrandir!" The sound of Glorfindel's voice had her spinning around, eyes widening when she spotted the familiar golden-haired elf making his way towards them. "And Sakura…" he murmured, turning to stare down at her with a bright smile. Everyone always seemed to smile so much there. It was oddly infectious.

But Sakura didn't feel like smiling. Not with how Madara was acting towards her and her wish to stay there in the strange happiness.

"So this is where you disappeared to…" Yet another cheerful, elvish voice had her turning on her heel, and Sakura blinked at the sight of the twin sons of Lord Elrond. She frowned, wracking her brain for their names. Elrohir and Elladan. Rubbing at her aching head, she peered up at them, confused as to what they were doing there – and evidently it showed on her face. "We thought you would be in the library with your precious friend…"

Sakura pouted at the reminder. Madara was being idiotic and mean. "Don't want to be around him," she grumbled, folding her arms. He was being so stupid… why couldn't he just see that? If he could just open his eyes and look…

A worried look passed between the twins, but Sakura ignored them both, wondering what exactly she should do next. It wasn't like she wanted to go home. So she wouldn't feel guilty about not helping Madara. She belonged in that world.

She just needed to find why – it was what she needed to do. As well as figuring out how she was supposed to use her mokuton in that place. The rules were different, and she needed to figure them out. The sooner she began, the better.

"Shall we head to the gardens then?" Elladan asked, tilting his head in question, offering out his hand, and Sakura abruptly realised they were her minders for the rest of the day. Let it be said that elves were very careful with their children. Though Sakura could admit that was probably because they were so few. She hadn't learned absolutely nothing in her time there, contrary to what Madara thought.

"Sur—"

Pain. Sakura stumbled, clutching at Elladan's hand for support as the images – the sensations – flooded her mind. Agony. Acrid eyes. Thick, dark, roiling power. Torn. Tearing. Floating, unable to take form. Then… darkness. Emptiness. Void.

"Don't go there," a voice ordered weakly, and Sakura blinked in the odd black space she stood it. It kind of looked a bit like the time when Ino had invaded her mind… Only the figure staring back at her – the voice which had spoken – belonged to a mirror image of herself rather than a figure of white outlines. "You're too small… and your body is far too weak to bear the strain of those memories…"

Sakura blinked. That pain was a memory? She shivered, frowning then. Because she had no memory of that pain… which meant… "Who are you, Inner?"

"Sakura?"

Snapping back to reality, Sakura stared around. Was the world spinning? Lifting her hand, she brought it to her nose, embarrassed as she realised her nose was running. But a hand grabbed her own, wrenching it away from her face, and Sakura blinked, confused at the red smear across her fingers and palm. It looked like blood, she mused, as the world tilted on its side.

Oh wait. It was, she realised, head lolling as it found itself pressed up against something warm and solid. She was being carried, not that she could really pay attention through the pain rattling through her.

"Ada!"

Her hair was an inky black colour, eyes that same glimmering green as they walked beside each other through the woods belonging to another of the Valar – having left her pastures behind as they ventured through the tall, healthy trees.

"Use your words," she reminded. "They have power, and you should never forget that fact… because just as they can do great good… they can also unleash a terrible evil."

She opened her mouth then, feeling a tug in that core of hers as she sang yet again.

Words have power. Use them.

Sakura blinked, staring at the white ceiling which swam into view slowly. Yawning, she propped herself up on her elbows, freezing as she realised the absence of Madara's warmth at her side. She missed it. But she had grown too dependent on him… surely she could manage a couple of nights without him? Her stomach curled at the thought.

"You have woken at last," Elladan murmured, and Sakura spun her head around, blinking as she took stock of the elf sitting at her bedside.

Staring at him, Sakura readied herself to ask some questions – like what had happened? But instead the first word which came out of her mouth was, "Madara?"

"Your friend is fine," Elladan said, smoothing a hand through her hair, concern written all across his face. "It is you who gave us all a scare…" he murmured, looking over at the door as the knock sounded. "Excuse me, little one." Climbing to his feet, he ventured over to the door, leaving quietly, and then Sakura heard the quiet murmur of voices outside.

Curious, she climbed to her feet, pottering over to the door, resting her ear against it as she tried to listen to what all the so-called adults were trying to say. Sometimes she hated the tiny body shew as stuck in… but she couldn't deny she managed to get away with so much because of her childish adorableness.

"—not meant to get sick like the Edain do," Elladan all but hissed. "What is wrong with her, ada?"

"I think," Glorfindel said, instead of Lord Elrond as she was expecting, and Sakura's eyes widened as the door she was leaning against was jerked open. "This is a conversation best saved for when curious little ears cannot listen in."

Sakura barely managed to catch herself with her hands. The ground was so much closer thanks to her tiny body. Pouting, she puffed out her cheeks, looking away from the three adults staring down at her with varying amounts of admonishment. Her cheeks reddened, and she borrowed Madara's favourite phrase. "Hn." It wasn't like she was doing anything wrong – aside from listening in on annoying adults who refused to tell her tiny self what was going on… Well, if they knew what was going on in the first place.

"Come," Glorfindel said, and Sakura found herself being picked up yet again. "You ought to get some sleep. It is late, and you need your rest," he remarked, but rather than allowing herself to be placed down, she clung to her minder, tucking her head against his shoulder as she closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep. Tried to forget Madara and how much of an idiot her usual mattress was being at that moment in time.

The woods were dark, the trees looming with the shadows they cast long. Fear made shivers run down her spine as she found herself there, outside of the boundaries of Imladris. Sakura flinched, looking around, terror creeping around to clutch at her heart as wolves crept out of the shadows. The same ones who had tried to kidnap Madara. But what were they doing there? Where even were they? She didn't recognise the forest, unsurprisingly enough. Only that it was beyond the safety of the borders of Imladris.

A crunch of leaves underfoot in the forest behind her had her spinning around, and Inner's words came back to haunt her then. Desperate people do stupid, desperate things.

"No," she whispered, hating the fact no one could hear her there. She wasn't there in body after all. "Don't tell me—"

Madara stepped out of the woods, and Sakura's heart sank to the bottom of her toes.

"Stupid idiot!" she yelled, hands going through him as she tried to rush at him. Tried to stop him, because what he was doing was pure lunacy. "Don't trust them you imbecile! Can't you see their going to trick you moron? You don't have your chakra or your old fighting skills…"

But Madara couldn't hear her, and Sakura could only watch as he bargained with those wolves. Because he wanted answers which the elvish library did not have. Sakura screamed, wanting to rip her hair out as she watched him start to walk away.

She was staring at his back… just like before when she'd stared at their backs—

It came to her then, a whisper on the wind. "Words have powers," that voice from her dreams spoke. Surely she could use them there… Surely she could use her mokuton and make him stop – keep him safe. Opening her mouth, she let the words tumble out, let her voice urge the seeds in the ground to take root, to rise up and keep Madara there. Keep him safe. But nothing happened.

"Sakura!"

The cry snapped her back to reality, and she sat up on—oh. Sakura blinked, staring into those grey eyes which were staring at her in equal measures of wonder, confusion, concern, and fear. She had fallen asleep on top of him, she realised, pulling her head back, wincing as she bashed it against the branch, leaves and twigs tangling in her hair.

Why were they outside?

Sakura blinked, looking around, hands falling into her lap as she stared around the room in shock. They were still inside – there were just trees sprouting through the room. Oh. Sakura blinked a few more times. She had used her mokuton, and she had figured out how. It had just happened where her body actually was rather than where her consciousness had found itself.

Chewing on her lip, she launched herself off of the elf, sprinting over to the door, words spewing from her lips in that ancient language Inner knew and the door clattered to the floor with a loud bang. Her tiny feet slapped against the ground, and she ran from the Halls of Healing back to where her and Madara's room was meant to be. Maybe it hadn't been a vision… and Madara was still there?

She was allowed to have nightmares like that wasn't she?

"Sakura!"

Shaking her head, Sakura ignored the panicked elf on her tail, praying she had just been dreaming of stupid things. Madara had to be smarter than to try and go to them? He couldn't be that stupid… could he? "It was just a dream," she whispered to herself, launching herself out of the nearest window, ignoring Glorfindel's panicked exclamation as she made to cut through the courtyard there. "It wasn't real."

She grabbed a hold of the nearest branch, stopping her decent momentarily before dropping all the way to the ground – ensuring she didn't wind up breaking her tiny little legs. Having no chakra was bothersome, but she had been working out her limits in her playtime. Whilst Madara had been obsessing over answers.

Sprinting over the ground and into familiar hallways, she ran past a surprised pair of twins, racing over to the door leading to their room, ignoring the pounding of feet behind her as she hesitantly reached for the door knob. Heart beating frantically, she pushed open the door, ice in her chest as she stared around the empty room. The bedsheets were made, looking like no one had slept there the night before. Maybe he was at the library? A sad smile pulled at her lips, and tears trickled down her cheeks as she fell to her knees in the doorway. She already knew it in her heart.

Madara was gone.