She was acting like a child – a brattish one, to be precise – and the slight twitch to those golden brows told her Glorfindel was along the same line of thinking. But what else was she supposed to do? She couldn't sit around. She couldn't do nothing… because if something happened, and she hadn't at least tried, then she would regret it forever.

Just like the fact that she'd never gone after Sasuke.

She hadn't been strong enough to.

She knew deep in her bones she would never be seeing the other Uchiha again, which was why she needed to rescue a certain idiot. Not to mention slipping into places would be that much easier with her smaller body, though her missing chakra reserves didn't help her there all that much. They levelled each other out. Which meant she could find Madara. Her hands curled into fists. She wouldn't be left behind that time.

"I am afraid I already have a good idea of where your friend has been taken to, given the direction you have been travelling," Glorfindel said, ruffling her hair as he seemingly tapped into that almost endless patience he had. Though given the timescale her new kin lived on, it was hardly surprising they seemed to have such tolerance for what would be seen as such childish antics. "And it is no place for one so young as you to travel. This is not your fight, Sakura," he said, closing his eyes, and Sakura felt herself bristle.

"But I've fought before!" she grumbled, neglecting to mention the fact she had been taller in body and actually had functioning chakra reserves instead of the strange ability to sing things into being.

"I know," he spoke, and Sakura remembered she had in fact fought a wolf in front of the blonde elf. He probably was thinking of that. But Sakura had seen war. She had seen her companions die. She wasn't going to let her idiot be one of them. "And you should not have needed to."

Sakura chewed on her lip, frantically scrambling through all the information tucked away in her brain for something which would let the older elf take her to Gundabad. "I'm not just a child," Inner spoke for her, urging her to look into those grey eyes which narrowed at her words.

Glorfindel closed his eyes, no doubt remembering the tree incident which had taken place just before she had fled after Madara's trail. "You are a child in every way which matters," he said with a note of finality, and Sakura bit her lip, pushing back the tears of frustration which threatened to spill as she found herself handed over to Elladan. They passed her over so carefully, afraid she would fall and break something.

She hated feeling so breakable. So useless. Her lip curled, and her tears fell silently as Glorfindel led the rest of the patrol onwards, leaving her behind with one of the twins. It didn't take long for the trail they were following to bend, and then she lost sight of them. Her gaze fell, and Sakura found her hands fiddling with the horse's mane as she stared glumly at the ground ahead of them as Elladan turned the opposite way – back towards Imladris. Back towards the lecturing from the adult elves, and all the disapproving stares.

She had only wanted to rescue Madara, when no one else seemed to be doing a thing. It wasn't her fault that she'd had those dream-vision thingies. So it was only natural that she would be the one to try and chase after Madara. The way she hadn't done for Sasuke… and what had it brought her…

"Cheer up, little blossom," Elladan spoke then, arms on either side of her, keeping her balanced atop his mount as the started on the ride back home. Sakura scowled. Was it really home without the idiot she'd brought along with her? "Glorfindel will rescue your friend from whatever peril he finds him in. There is a reason many of us look up to him in Imladris…"

Sakura grunted, hating herself in the next second as she found herself remembering all the grunts of her companion. Madara had totally infected her, whether she liked it or not. Personally, Sakura leant towards the latter.

Silently, she leant back against Elladan's chest, relaxing ever so slightly seeing as they weren't galloping back towards Imladris – instead, moving along at a comfortable speed. She missed her chakra dearly. But it wasn't about to come back anytime soon. And she had an idiot who needed rescuing. It didn't matter that there was an entire patrol of elves going after him. She needed to be there.

She wasn't supposed to be the one left behind yet again.

She was resigned to her fate by the time Elladan came to a stop to allow his horse a break. How could she forget that adult elves could sleep while on the move? Though admittedly it compromised awareness somewhat, as well as reaction time, so sleeping on beds was preferable for all of her kind. Only the horse and her little body really needed the rest.

But Sakura knew she could last a little longer on her feet yet. Besides, sleeping on the horse would probably allow for her to forget about the ache in her thighs for a few hours. So rather than stealing a nap, she sat in burrow of a nearby tree, listening to the sounds of the nature sleeping as she pulled up some of the grass in her frustration.

"Do not wander far," Elladan warned, having spied her getting up to go and explore the place like the child she apparently was. She felt an odd pull in her gut, something which told her to duck into the bushes and get out of sight of the elder elf.

It wasn't like she could get far enough so that Elladan wouldn't be able to find her and drag her back, anyway. Huffing, she crouched down, listening to the sounds of the small stream gurgling over the rocks nearby. Wind rustled through the trees, concealing her quiet sigh as she glared at the grass like it had personally offended her.

She had failed.

She was a failure.

She couldn't rescue the one person left from her old world, instead forced to rely on everyone else to do the job. Nothing had changed. She was still weak, little Forehead girl who couldn't do anything but cry and cry.

A tongue lapped at her cheek as if to cheer her up, and Sakura stiffened, falling on her rear as she spied the creature at her side. Intelligent grey eyes bore into her own even as she strangled the scream which wanted to escape her throat at the sight of the wolf in front of her. Because it was nothing like the creatures which had hunted her and Madara… the creatures which had stolen her idiot away from the safety of Imladris with their lies which the gullible fool had listened to.

Sakura suspected gullible wasn't a word usually associated with one Uchiha Madara.

She didn't care. In her mind it fit him to a t.

"He will not hurt you," a voice spoke, and Sakura leapt into the air, eyes roving over the scenery around her, fear stealing through her as she realised there was nobody around her. Part of her wanted to run back to Elladan, back to safety, but a jolt of realisation flooded through her.

She didn't feel like she was in danger there. Sakura blinked slowly, heart pounding in her chest as she stared at the large grey wolf which had just tried to comfort her. It was nothing like the beasts which had tricked Madara and stolen him away.

"You wish to rescue your companion, do you not?" that same feminine voice rang out again, whispering in her ear, and Sakura could only watch as the wolf lay down in front of her, the large fluffy back easily accessible even to her small form. "He will help you do so."

That voice… Sakura wracked her brains, her brow furrowed as she tried to remember where she had heard it before. But then she remembered it hadn't been her who'd heard that beautiful voice. Inner had. In a green pasture, with a pretty black-haired lady who'd taught her how to sing trees into life. Memories surged then. Memories of that pretty black-haired lady introducing her to a man who had taken her on hunts through beautiful forests.

Names were on the tip of her tongue.

Rustling in the bushes had her little legs moving before she could think of those names belonging to the ones Inner had known so well. The ones Inner had learnt from. Her hands dug into the soft grey pelt. "Let's go," she said, clinging to the wolf's back as best as she could as the wolf bounded away, taking her back in the direction Elladan had taken her from. Towards Glorfindel and the rest of his patrol… and onward. "To Gundabad we go," she murmured, swallowing at the thought of their destination.

Her rescue mission wasn't going to be easy.

There was no rest for the wicked.

Somehow she had managed a short nap on the wolf's back as it slowed its pace temporarily, but it never stopped running. The stamina the creature had was boundless, and infinitely better than her own, but Sakura cared not for the ache in her thighs nor the way her legs wobbled when she finally reached her intended destination.

The beautiful forest had fallen away, revealing barren, burnt trees, a craggy landscape upon which a blackened fortress had seemingly been built – a blotch on the otherwise picturesque terrain. It stank of things foul, and Sakura found herself wrinkling her nose as the wolf crept closer and closer to the fortress she assumed to hold her friend.

Where the elves were, she had no idea. The only thing in mind was avoiding the attention of the disgustingly disfigured creatures below which stank of rotted flesh and unwashed bodies. If she was any closer, she might have actually thrown up from the stench. As it was, she just clung to the fur of her wolf, grateful the grey colouring of its coat blended in nicely with the grey rock of the mountains as they stealthily made their way through the territory of the horrible creatures and the terrifying uglier wolves.

Sakura held her breath as best she could, staying low as her wolf nimbly made its way to the nearest entrance, ducking into the shadows of the stairwell before it lay back down. Sucking in a sharp breath, grateful for the slightly cleaner air there, she realised she would be on her own from that point onward. It wasn't like she could stealthily make her way through that fortress with a gigantic wolf at her side.

"And here we go," Sakura whispered, petting the soft fur of the wolf once more before she let go of her guide there and ventured inside.