It's my birthday! (December 27th) Ya, don't tell me "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"! Me writing is plenty. It'll probably be the 28th by the time this is posted... Ugh...

As always,

Enjoy!

~Kyvena


Chapter 37: Give Your Heart A Break


The two teams were now making their way out of the village and two people simply would NOT shut up with their continuous chatter. Ninjas must be stealthy... aye? Shisui then turned his gaze to his elder sister and lightly jogged up to her calm and collected form. This was his first mission and he was feeling a LOT of anxiety. Lifting his hand, he then placed his smaller palm within her own - making her tense up slightly as her left eyes Rinnegan activated until she peered down to merely witness her younger brother. Calming her chakra, the pinkette's eye went back to normal and a soft smile came to her lips as she gave her younger brother's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Sis, I'm nervous," he spoke truthfully, making the pink haired older Uchiha sister peer down at him, "Shisui, you are merely finding a lost dog. That's not really anything to be nervous about. HOLY!" A massive dog then jumped out of the bushes and tackled Shisui to the ground to lick him all over the face. Sakura then chuckled, "Well... will you look at that? He came to you, little brother."

Madara lazily peered over at this dog and DAMN he was HUGE! Walking over, he then lifted the dog into his arms with ease and Shisui wiped a mass amount of drool off of his face and flicked his wrist so that the rest of the team could hear the audible splat that it had made, making them cringe as he began to complain, "ACK! THIS IS SO GROSS!" Lifting his cloaked arm, he began to rub away all of the drool that now dripped from his face.

As they began to walk back to the village not even fifteen minutes after starting their mission, the moody male that was carrying the massive dog began to explain, "All right guys, I will go ahead and notify Lord Fourth that we have already accomplished our task and turn in the dog. Wait by the front gate on standby because we will probably be given a different mission immediately. Sakura, I will send a baby white tiger to report our new mission or it will tell you that we are done for the day."

With that, he vanished and appeared within the Hokage's Office, "Lord Fourth, we have completed our task." The dog that Madara had been carried peered up and began to lick at his face, only for him to drop the massive mutt, "GAH!" Minato then chuckled softly and nodded his head, "So, who found the animal? Was it Naruto!?" Madara gained an extremely dry look on his face and shook his head, "No, Lord Fourth. It was Shisui Uchiha, Sakura's younger brother. It does appear that her team could be assigned harder missions."

Minato considered this and handed the jonin leader his new mission before waving off one of his personal ANBU's. Opening the scroll and reading over it, he then nodded, "An escort mission for a wealthy merchant, huh? Wait... this is A ranked!? Lord Fourth, I'm sure that Sasuke Uchiha would have no problems should we come under attack, but I am not so sure about Naruto and Hana." That's when it hit the moody male... the Fourth Hokage was attempting to have his son gain accolades from higher ranked missions.

Bowing, he then removed one of his gloved and bit his thumb, "SUMMONING JUTSU!" A baby white tiger purred and rubbed against the summoner affectionately, making this always so stern male smile softly before speaking, "Kaiya, I need you to take this scroll to Sakura, all right?" The baby white tiger, Kaiya, LOVED Sakura - so she quickly took the scroll within her mouth and bolted off to the pinkette's location. It was never difficult to find her due to the large amounts of chakra she held at her disposal.

"Lord Fourth, you are being far too reckless with your own child's life... but that is not my concern. Now, where is the esteemed guests...?" Madara stated and asked in a firm tone. Just then, the door opened and a gorgeous woman walked inside and bowed. Her knee length dark blue locks and silver orbs sparkled brilliantly and her figure was nothing less than perfect. Smiling now due to the fact that she had basically bewitched the Fourth Hokage - but was quick to notice the other male within the room giving her a rather bored expression. Annoyed at this, she allowed her eyebrow to twitch internally as she spoke, "Good afternoon, my name is Kireina."

All Madara did was nod, "My name is Madara Uchiha and I am one of the jonin squad leaders that is in charge of your escort. This will be a three week long trip, so I do hope that you do not mind children. Four of the children will behave completely respectful to you due to how they were raised. The other two, I am not quite sure... nor do I care. Now let us be going."

Kaiya skidded to a halt in front of Sakura holding the scroll, making her kneel down and scoop the baby white tiger up into her arms, "Kaiya! How are you precious baby girl!?" Taking the scroll and reading over it as she stroked the baby's silky white fur, Sakura immediately gained a cold sweat as she stared at the ranking - only to look at the baby white tiger that now played with her hand, "Kaiya, this is a joke right!?" All Kaiya could do was shake her head.

Madara and the esteemed guest began walking towards the front gate that would take roughly fifteen minutes to walk to, Kireina decided to speak non-stop, "So then, you are the feared Madara Uchiha! Even shinobi within my village try to avoid you at all costs. There are two others that are highly feared as well. What are their names again? Hm." Just as the gate came into view and the pinkette looked his way, Kireina snapped her fingers, "Ah, that's right! It's Sakura Uchiha and Izuna Uchiha!"

Sakura had no clue as to what they had been talking about and could never hear Madara's thoughts all too much, but her eyes widened once she DID - 'I MUST PROTECT IZUNA THIS TIME!' - She then handed Kaiya to Shisui and bolted forwards to pull Madara off of the person they were supposed to be protecting while yelling, "MADARA, STOP IT! THAT'S ENOUGH!" His hands were tightly clamped around Kireina's throat and removed one hand just to backhand the pinkette across the cheek - hurling her away. Shisui watched in horror and handed Kaiya to Izumi considering he knew that his best friend would want to help him.

Both Shisui and Itachi rushed forward to Sakura and instantly noticed the deep bruising on her cheek as they helped her up. Almost immediately, she began yelling while tears streamed down her cheeks, "DON'T YOU DARE DISHONOR IZUNA UCHIHA!" Madara's eyes widened at that point and snapped his whole body towards the pinkette before rushing towards her and falling to his knees to place his head over the safety that her heart held for his fragile soul that was still hurting for the loss of his younger brother and wrapped his bulky arms securely around the petite lass to begin silently crying.

Once Madara was in her arms and Kireina slumped to the ground, Sakura sighed heavily, "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you brought up Izuna while in Madara's presence." All the female merchant could do was nod while coughing harshly, making her emerald orbs become dull, "Izuna... was Madara's younger brother..."

Now Kireina understood and began to frantically apologize. Sakura's emerald orbs were now two different colors at this point - her left orb now stained with the pastel hue of her Rinnegan that held two sets of tomoe within the inner rings of the ripple pattern. She could feel the change and knew that it would be stuck like that for quite some time, so she pulled her bangs over her left eye. Looking up, she then fanned her little brother, Itachi, and Kireina away before getting onto her knees and cupping the emotionally damaged male's cheeks within her tender palms.

Taking in a deep breath, the pinkette gave the Uchiha male a lightly tap on the face as tears began to roll down her cheeks, "Madara... you need to stop this. You are far too strong to be acting like this!" Crying had always made her exhausted for some reason. Having a lack of sleep might have been a huge factor, but who am I to give out a diagnosis?


Finally calm, Madara peered down to his savior... she was always there for him when he needed her the most while he simply wallowed in self-pity. Standing, he lifted the pinkette into his arms and within the world of dreams... you could hide nothing from the world. They all watched as Sakura snuggled into his hold and gently clasped the front of his cloak with one gloved hand, while the other took refuge within his masculine paw. Seriously, at this point... who in the hell were those two trying to fool?

Madara merely walked out of the gate as all of the genin and the merchant quickly followed after. All he could sadly think to himself was, 'You think you know a story, but you only know how it ends... To get to the heart of the story, you have to go back to the beginning...' Shisui tilted his head at Madara, considering the fact that he had heard him and decided to ask, "Um... Madara-sensei?"

He didn't even spare a single glance back as he hummed a reply, "Hm...?" The young male of teleportation fidgeted a bit before asking quietly, "What did you mean by that? 'You think you know a story, but you only know how it ends... To get to the heart of the story, you have to go back to the beginning...' Sorry for bringing your thoughts out into the open, but you thought it pretty loud..." Madara turned bright red at that moment, not even realizing Sakura was awake and healed at that point as she waited for his bullshit excuse for a cover.

Sighing heavily, he... for once... told the full truth, "Hm... well, I suppose you could say that I merely only thought about how the story between Sakura and I would unfold. Every detail up to this very moment never seems to fit quite correctly from where we first started off. It feels as if everything is wrong..." Clamping down a little tighter on her body, Madara lightly bit his bottom lip at he looked up at the sky.

Not understanding, Shisui tilted his head and questioned, "How does it feel wrong?" Continuing to stare at the sky silently for a moment, the pinkette then began to feel his tears dripping onto her face as he answered quietly, "I merely figured that we would be married by now... I wanted her to give me many children as well... but it does not appear as if it is working out the way I had initially planned it to." Shisui now felt bad for asking, because he had noticed that his older sister had been awake and was now shedding tears as if she had imagined this outcome that Madara had described as well.

Closing her eyes and leaning into the moody male to hide the shame that she was even crying, he still witnessed a lone tear trickle down her cheek - making him lightly frown as he brought up a single gloved hand to tenderly brush that tear away. Shisui scoffed lightly, "Geez, you and big sis really SHOULD be married by now with how you act with one another. Out in the open, you two act like you hate one another... but the truth is that you two can't stand being seperated from one another. Man I don't ever want to grow up if THIS is what it's like. I don't think I'd be able to lie to myself THAT much."

He then heard his sister's quivering thoughts yell out in misery, 'S-SHUT UP SHISUI! Y-YOU DON'T THINK I HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF THIS AS WELL!? J-JUST SHUT UP!' Slowly, the genin's gloved hands clenched tightly as he looked down. His sister was right... he should shut up. If his words had cut so deep that Madara was now crying, then it was time to shut the fuck up.

After the pinkette fell back asleep while clinging tightly to Madara, he then chuckled softly, 'Sakura, you are such a foolish woman. When will you cease lying to your heart? I can still remember the day that I had first met you. Your parents had been arguing so much that it forced you to run out of your home and you blindly ran into me. Once I asked you what was wrong, you only grumbled out that you would never fall in love. I could tell in that one meeting that you were simply scared to make a mistake if you ever got into a relationship and you definitely already understood that there's just so much that your heart can take.'

Peering at her tear stained face, his heart clenched tightly, 'You were simply too terrified to cross that fine line to get too comfortable with someone else, only to end up exactly like your parents. You've been hurt before, I could see that all too clearly within your eyes. However, I continued to pester you until you finally opened up to me and we became so close that any time I would feel your distressed chakra, I would rush to ask you what was wrong because I refused to let you simply give up and run away. At that point, you would merely try to smile the pain away - but there are some things that you cannot disguise. I have to wonder though... how did I pass your test...?'

Shisui walked frowning deeply as he heard Madara's uncensored thoughts and slightly tilted his head towards Izumi the moment she leaned towards him with her hand shielding her mouth as she whispered, "Shisui, what is Madara-sensei thinking...?" Shifting his eyes to the ground, the only thing he could actually manage to say was, "I think that it would only manage to make you sad if I were to tell you his thoughts. Believe me, there are times where I wish I couldn't hear thoughts at all..."

Kireina finally leaned forward with a shocked facial expression, "Wait, you are saying that you can ACTUALLY hear another person's THOUGHTS!?" Madara immediately stiffened up and turned bright red due to just now realizing that he hadn't guarded his thoughts at ALL so that Shisui couldn't hear them. Right at that moment, Sakura's two different colored orbs fluttered and she lightly patted his broad chest while yawning out, "I'm all right to stand now Madara."

Setting the, now awake and stiff, jonin leader down as she pulled her messy bangs back over her left eye - she immediately stretched and accidentally slammed her fist into the moody male's cheek, making him softly growl out, "OW! DAMMIT SAKURA, MY FACE ISN'T YOUR PUNCHING BAG FOR WHEN YOU WAKE UP!" The pinkette then tilted her head back to peer up at his handsome face and gave an answer to one of his initial thoughts, "You passed because you aren't like the rest in Konoha." Blushing furiously now, he suddenly began to blink rapidly as if he were far too confused. That's when he realized it... she had heard ALL of his thoughts.

Lightly patting his face in a teasing manner before chuckling brightly, Sakura snapped around and began to walk away as Kireina tilted her head, "Huh? What just happened?" Shisui then turned his head towards the merchant, "My older sister is far better at hearing the thoughts of others than I am." This made the merchant's jaw drop, "Do you know how VALUABLE that talent would be in in my line of work!?"

Alrighty then... plan became set in stone as she rushed forward, "Miss Sakura Uchiha! Will you please work for me!?" The pinkette turned her head and lifted a single brow, "You have to be kidding me, right? You are only wanting my services so that I can read other merchants' thoughts? Do I LOOK like someone who only sits still all day? Besides, I am a jonin leader. I have my team to think of and my little brother, who just so happens to be on my team. Your greedy ambitions were not listed within the mission details, so I will respectfully have to decline. Also, I have far more talents than you even realize. The obvious - the Sharingan. The rest...? I am not willing to share with you."


It was end of the first day and Madara held his fist up, "All right, we shall make camp here for the night." Sakura threw some wood into a pile and just as she went to ignite it, her body froze as she muttered out just loud enough for Madara to hear, "Madara... we are surrounded..." His orbs slightly widened and he switched to sensory mode, only to feel that the pink haired Uchiha had been correct.

Sakura immediately made quick hand signs to the moody male and he nodded. Both grasped their katanas and darkly muttered out, "All of you... wait here..." With that, both the pinkette and seriously pissed off male took off and right as all Uchiha's heard the clashing of blades, their Sharingan awakened. However, they were all quick to sweat drop heavily the moment the furious yelling of one pissed off pinkette could be heard, "YOU MOTHER FUCKER! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO WEAR NOW!? YOU SHREDDED MY DAMN TOP!"

Grinning at the fact that she was entirely half nude, her left eye activated and fifty shadows of her rushed out. Peering around, she then laughed nervously due to the fact that Madara had done the same exact thing. Half naked or not she would protect her team! The moment she froze was the moment she heard her little brother yelling. Foolishly snapping around, Sakura then yelled out, "S-SHISUI!"

Right at that moment, the pinkette felt a blade lodge through her gut before that same blade was lodged deep into the ground so that she would be unable to rescue her little brother. Shock settled across her face and at that moment she heard another blade as it severed the skin from her palms. The person then walked around to the hyperventilating pink haired kunoichi before kneeling down, "So, you are Sakura Uchiha. You don't seem like anything special except for your attributes - 'Time to take this bitch's eyes and six paths like the boss wanted.' - Sakura's eyes widened immensely and her mouth opened in a panic, "MADARA!"

The moment he had heard his name called for him in that terrified tone, his head snapped to the side and bolted, only to hear a blood curdling scream being emitted from her vocal cords - only pushing him to run even faster. By the time he arrived, he saw horror. Sakura had NEVER lost a battle before, so what had held her back this time!? Well, he was about to find out. Her in pain and mortified voice then rang out, "M-Madara... t-they took Shisui... I-I heard him screaming for help during the battle and the minute I turned around, I was stabbed. T-They took my eyes Madara!"

The pain she now felt was unimaginable and blood now stained her porcelain skin. Her eye sockets burned and stung painfully due to whomever took her eyes had not washed their hands, placing dirt, blood, and sweat within their midst. Raising her hands, Sakura rubbed them across her bloodied cheeks and ended up smearing it entirely across her cheeks. However, not all pain was external...

Sakura knew the six paths rejected anyone who wasn't her or Madara to wield them, so that had already appeared on her palms once again. By now, the skin that man had taken was now blank, so she wasn't too worried about that. Pulling the blade out of the pinkette, she placed the sun symbol on the wound... but knew that she couldn't do the same for her eyes.

Not caring too much about her nude appearance as of yet, the blind pinkette began to feel around on the grass unsuccessfully to find her gloves to cover the six paths that resided on each of her palms. Madara frowned lightly and knelt down by her gloved and picked them up before gently yanking them back over her bare hands. Her hands now clothed, she figured now of all times was a good time to put a new cloak on. Pulling out one of her spare cloaks, Sakura fumbled around with it until Madara gently took her hands and placed the attire over her body and placed the clasp lazily over her hips before pulling out bandaging and wrapping her eyes up.

Sakura kept completely silent for this entire process and wanted to cry so bad. This couldn't happen, not again - NOT AFTER IZUNA'S INJURY AND KIDNAPPING - HELL, HE WAS PRONOUNCED KILLED IN ACTION, BUT HE HAD MERELY BEEN KIDNAPPED! They had taken her little brother and that was all she continued to repeat over and over within her mind - so the minute Madara finished bandaging her eyes up, Sakura stood and started towards her little brother's chakra by reaching her hands out to feel about her surroundings while slowly pushing forward and whimpering softly, "S-Shisui, hold on... I-I'm coming..."

Her shoulders were then tightly gripped to halt any and all movements before Madara roared in a tone that she had never heard him use towards her before, "SAKURA, YOU CAN'T GO! I REFUSE TO LET YOU GO, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?" - "I DON'T CARE MADARA! MY LITTLE BROTHER MUST BE TERRIFIED! HE WAS EVEN SCARED TO DO THE DOG CATCHING MISSION TODAY! I WILL NOT ABANDON HIM, DO YOU HEAR ME!?" A frustrated and possessive growl was then released by the moody male as he yelled one final comment that hurt more than being stabbed through the stomach, "HOW DO YOU EXACTLY INTEND TO FIND SHISUI!? SAKURA, YOU ARE NOW BLIND!"

"NOW, WITH OR WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION, I AM TAKING YOU BACK TO THE VILLAGE AND YOU WILL STAY AT MY HOME SO THAT MAIDS CAN TEND TO YOUR NEEDS!" Madara furiously yelled as he tossed the blind pinkette over his shoulders. Gathering the entire team, he then frowned the moment he witnessed Shisui's absence and softly spoke, "We must return to the village... I shall come back and search for Shisui on my own. Wait, where is Kireina?" Itachi then peered to the side slightly, "She's the one who took Shisui, Madara-sensei..."

Sakura could feel her little brother panicking and crying on the inside only, but outwardly appeared like any other Uchiha. Calm and collected. No.. she wouldn't abandon him! Pushing off of Madara and falling to hit the ground rolling, Sakura then pushed up on her forearms as Itachi ran to her, "They can keep my eyes... BUT THEY HAVE TO GIVE MY LITTLE BROTHER BACK! Itachi, I need you to be my eyes... I will give you the directions of where Shisui is!"

Madara felt as if he were getting nowhere with Sakura and tightly grasped her wrist, "NO SAKURA! I HAVE TO TAKE YOU BACK TO THE VILLAGE!" Her head then snapped... kinda... in Madara's direction as she spoke venomously, "You might have had the resolve to abandon Izuna, but do not mistake that I will have the same conviction to abandon Shisui so EASILY!" Nope. He was done playing these silly games now. Walking to the pinkette, he then lifted her bridal style and clamped down tightly before taking off to the village as fast as he could.

Reaching his home, Madara threw Sakura inside once the door had been opened. Calling upon a few maids, he told them the circumstances and what their jobs would be as he snapped around and bolted right back out. Sakura sat straight up and had no clue as to where the door even was, so something within her slightly gave up... but she never gave up hope on Shisui. One of the maids ran to the blind pinkette, knowing that she would have never willingly given her eyes away. About to speak to her, she then noticed Sakura's trembling hands clasped together in front of her chest to pray, "Please Madara... please bring Shisui home..."


...


She sat lifelessly in her bed as a maid walked into her room and spoke softly, "Lady Sakura...? It's time to change the bandaging around your eyes..." For some reason, her eyes had been returned to her... but her brother was still missing. Due to this fact, she refused to put her eyes back in. She could still sense that he was alive... but barely. She already came to the resolution that if he were to die, she would bring him back with the Gedo Art of Rinne Rebirth considering there was no tole for her once used. The only tole was perhaps the fact that she coughed up a lot of blood and at times, it made her pass out for days.

Her old sensei, Kakashi, was now in charge of her team due to the simple fact that she simply couldn't "lead" a team effectively any longer. Her eyes now wrapped within fresh bandaging, the maid then stood silently and frowned gently as she spoke softly towards the pink haired Uchiha to not startle her, "Please do reconsider putting your eyes back in Lady Sakura. Lord Madara is becoming rather agitated that you continuously refuse to put them back in..." Nodding her head that she had at least acknowledged the woman's words, the maid then bowed before taking her leave from the room entirely.

Hearing the front door open and then close, her head lowered the moment she heard Madara speaking to the maid about her condition and asking if she had yet to put her eyes in. Walking into her room, Madara sighed, "Sakura, it's been four months. Put your eyes back in or I shall be doing it for you." - "Fuck off Madara. You LIED to me! You said that you would look for Shisui, yet... Itachi has told me that you haven't even ONCE gone out to look for him!" Uh-oh, busted.

Grumbling here and there, he walked to the pinkette and pushed her down on her back, only to pin her arms with his knees. Ripping the bandaging off of her face, he then placed the Rinnegan orb back into her left eye and the emerald orbs back into her right empty socket. No healing was needed considering her body did it instantly for her. Now done, he realized that she wouldn't open her eyes and moved to sit lightly on her hips and leaned his bare chest against her own with an all too amused facial expression that was graced with a cocky smirk as he propped his elbow up to rest his chin in his open palm. He had to wonder how long she could last without blushing or hitting him THIS time.

Peering at her face, he witnessed that she was biting the inside of her cheek incredibly hard to not react to his teasing, making him lean down and press his lips to her own softly - which made her eyes shoot open lightning fast. All knuckles within her fists could be heard angrily cracking, yet he ignored it by sliding his open and bare palms into her own. Slowly, her eyes drooped to close again - yet it wasn't for what he thought. Sensing as to where her brother was, her eyes suddenly flew open and her right Rinnegan activated as she opened a portal and pushed him off of her before she swiftly jumped inside.

Appearing out of her portal, she launched her body forward, "I-IZUNA!" Looking shocked as fuck, Izuna quickly caught Sakura and held her tightly to his chiseled form. Snapping her head back, she then rushed to Shisui and healed his body before he sat up and hugged her with trembling arms. Softly, her tone whispered out, "Come on!" Opening the portal again and lifting her brother into her arms, she waited for Izuna to jump through first before she hastily followed.

When they exited, she smirked devilishly, "Look who I found Madara. I not only found Shisui, but Izuna as well. Thanks for letting me stay here and all, but I'm going to get Shisui home and make him dinner. Izuna, you're welcome to come considering... you uh... you need a haircut badly." Looking at Izuna, he appeared so pretty that he could pass for a beautiful young woman now. Oh, he felt so grateful for that offer because he nodded pretty damned quick, "Yes, I really could use a haircut, couldn't I?"

As they walked home, Sakura began to think of the weirdest things to possibly conjure up within one's mind, 'I am eighteen years old... Madara is twenty years old... and Izuna is nineteen. Let's see... it's October seventeenth, that means Shisui is about to turn fourteen. Hm... Shisui's birthday is October nineteenth, Itachi's birthday is June ninth, Izumi's birthday is April twenty-ninth, Izuna's birthday is February tenth, Madara's birthday is December twenty-fourth, and my birthday is March twenty-eighth. Why is it that my entire squad has a nine in their birthdays...? Who in the hell knows."

"Sakura? Sakura! SAKURA!" Izuna finally yelled and gained her attention once he shouted at her. Blinking rapidly at the Uchiha male that wasn't her brother, he then made a girly flip of his hair - making the pinkette burst into laughter as she walked to grab a pair of scissors to finally snip away at his long locks so it looked like his old hairstyle once again.

Releasing a breath of relief, Izuna then gave a bright smile, "Thanks so much Sakura! You... uh... might want to cut Shisui's hair as well." Tilting her head towards her younger brother, she had to internally nod in agreement before making her way to her younger brother and began to snip away at his locks until he held his old and messy appearing ebony locks while smiling softly, "Go shower you two. I'll get started on dinner." Once they walked away, Sakura slightly frowned as she walked into her kitchen and began preparing supper.

'I-I really should have invited Madara... shouldn't I have...?' The pinkette thought sadly until placing the cutting knife down and patting her face. About to start cutting vegetables again, her eyes began to blink rapidly as she looked down to see a rather bulky pair of arms circling her waist as she heard HIS voice, "You know Sakura, that was very rude for you to not invite me as well after the generous kiss that I had bestowed you with."

Looking slightly annoyed with the way he chose to word his sentence, she once again placed her knife down and whirled around to face him, "YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE A SERIOUS ATTITUDE PROBLEM!" Noticing that she was right in his face, Sakura decided to THEN become bashful, "I-I mean... I-It was... Y-You know what I mean..." She could not provide a full sentence even if she had wanted to at that point and this only made a massive blush stain her cheeks with an adorable shade of red. Of course though, Madara had to use that cocky attitude and lean forward so that his lips brushed against her own as he spoke with a smirk, "Izuna is behind us..."

Punching the egotistical male in the gut, he then keeled forward while coughing roughly. Izuna instantly raised an eyebrow as he smirked, "You know, if you wanted some alone time I could have waited to come out." It was obvious that Shisui already knew this rule as he finally walked out to witness Madara coughing roughly and gasping for air before dryly expressing, "Really sis...? A sucker punch to the gut...? I mean, everyone already knows that you love him. Why not just own it?"

Groaning heavily while pushing the moody male away from her as he continued to cough heavily, the pinkette placed her hands on her curvy hips, "HONESTLY SHISUI!? SHUT UP AND LET ME BEGIN TO COOK! THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO IZUNA! MADARA, GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME CUT THE VEGETABLES!"

Straightening up like a soldier, Madara walked forward and picked up a knife before twirling it in his fingers and cutting all of the vegetables swiftly. All Sakura could do was stare at him with a face of longing. The way that his long locks were pulled into a manageable high ponytail on the crown of his skull, the way his eyes softened every so often, the way his biceps hardened and contracted... there was so much about him that she simply wanted to keep for herself, but there was also a part of him that she simply wanted to run far away from and never see again.

Finally, she gulped softly and spoke in a tone that only he could hear, "M-Madara...?" Tilting his head towards her with a lazy fared and nonchalant attitude, he then hummed his reply, "Hm?" The pinkette knew if she actually asked for this, there were so many mistakes that could be made to make him turn away from her for the rest of her life. Right then and there, she repeated the words he had once thought while she stared into his eyes deeply - 'I could tell in that one meeting that you were simply scared to make a mistake if you ever got into a relationship and you definitely already understood that there's just so much that your heart can take.'

"O-Oh... it's uh-" - "Sakura, just kiss big brother. Stop being so scared of denial!" Izuna chuckled before coughing softly and wiping his hand on his pants. Snapping towards her door, Sakura bolted out of her home with tears flowing down her face, 'I CAN'T DO IT! I CAN ADMIRE HIM FROM AFAR, BUT I WILL NEVER TOUCH HIM WITH MY OWN HANDS! I CAN'T BE JUST LIKE MOM AND DAD!' Shisui looked into his lap with a deepened frown while he clenched his pants into his fists, "That's not how love works big sister... and you know that..."


Dinner passed without incident. Shisui and Madara periodically glanced towards the door of the home. Izuna continued to cough roughly, which caused the moody older brother to glance in his brother's direction but mentally shrugged considering that it did not sound too bad at the time. "Do... Do you think big sis is okay...?" Shisui asked with a concerned tone, making Madara stand up and run out of the home all together.

Shoot his onyx orbs side to side, he then chewed nervously on his bottom lip until sensing her walking his way. Bolting towards the pinkette, her eyes lifted in surprise the moment Madara wrapped his arms around her petite frame as she nervously stood there and thought to herself again, 'Run Sakura... RUN!'

Tears began to fill her orbs rapidly as repeated thoughts flooded her mind, 'You were simply too terrified to cross that fine line to get too comfortable with someone else, only to end up exactly like your parents. You've been hurt before, I could see that all too clearly within your eyes. However, I continued to pester you until you finally opened up to me and we became so close that any time I would feel your distressed chakra, I would rush to ask you what was wrong because I refused to let you simply give up and run away. At that point, you would merely try to smile the pain away - but there are some things that you cannot disguise.'

Finally pushing the brute of a male off of her, the pinkette snapped around and bolted away as Madara reached out to her hesitantly before lowering his hand and looking down, 'When will you realize... I am simply not like the rest, Sakura.' Slowly his fists began to clench tightly, 'There's only so much denial that I can take... you slip out of my fingertips every time you run out of my grasps...' With that, Madara clenched his teeth and began to run towards his home as tears dripped down his face.

Shisui's head snapped to the side as a saddened frown graced his lips, making Izuna peer his direction and question, "Shisui? What's wrong...?" The young man clenched his fists tightly and stood up abruptly, "I need you to leave Izuna! I'm fixing my big sister's heart TONIGHT!" Nodding his head, the long haired raven then stood and told the almost teen about his plan before he nodded and walked out of the house the moment Shisui bolted from the home to find his older sister that was so heart broken that only one thing would really work at this point.

Rushing to the waterfall, Shisui skidded to a stop the moment he witnessed Sakura standing there staring at the cascading water with a longing look within her two different colored orbs before grasping her arm and dragging her home no matter what she had wanted at that point in her life. Izuna was no different and entered his home, grasped his elder brother's bare arm and began to drag him back to Sakura's home wearing only a pair of low rising sweatpants that gripped his hip bones perfectly.

Sakura had been so hard headed that Madara actually arrived first and gained a deadly whisper from Izuna, "You break her heart and I will kill you... j-just take care of her, Madara..." Soon enough the second matchmaker arrived and pushed the pinkette inside so that she bumped into the moody male's chest and was ALSO given a warning, "Open your heart, big sister! Stop fearing what hasn't even happened as of yet! I'll be staying with Izuna tonight, so see ya."

Leaning his head down to rest on her shoulder, her face turned bright red the moment she could feel his lips brush against her skin as he began to speak to her in an overly exhausted tone, "I'm so damn tired..." Sakura could understand his line of thinking and placed her head against his as she chuckled softly, "Yeah... me too..."

Lifting the pinkette into his arms bridal style, he carried her to her bedroom and then set her down on her feet. Blushing heavily, Sakura then mumbled softly, "C-Can you look away for a minute...?" Nodding his head, the moody male then turned away and instantly stiffened up the moment he heard her slowly peeling her shirt and bra off, only to place one of Madara's shirts on before taking her shorts off. She was just so damned tired that she no longer gave a fuck if even the Hokage saw her nude at this point in time and climbed in bed, making Madara's onyx orbs soften before climbing into bed next to her.

Figuring that she would keep her hands to herself, Madara was just about to fall asleep when his eyes popped wide open the moment Sakura rolled over in her sleeping state to tenderly nuzzle her face right beside the silky skin his neck held and wrapped her arms around his neck. Smiling lovingly, Madara then allowed his arms slowly wrapped around her and leaned down to place a gentle kiss to the crown of her head, "I love you, Sakura..." Her tone was soft and gentle, but in her state of hibernation... she actually replied, "I love you too, Madara..."

Internally chuckling, he smiled softly as he cracked a single tired onyx orb open, 'You never want to fall in love, huh? I don't want to break your heart... I want to give your heart a break. So let me...' Forcing his eyes open and shifting a single one of his hands to move her hair away from her face, Madara then tilted his face down to her own and pressed his lips to her own tightly, 'When your lips are on my lips... then our hearts shall beat as one...' Pulling away slowly, he slightly tightened his hold on her as a single tear then rolled down his cheek the moment he closed his eyes and drifted off.

Feeling the droplet of water on her forehead, Sakura slowly cracked open her eyes and eased off of this man that she had loved for as long as she could remember to slide her leg across his hip to straddle him before leaning down and pressing her lips tightly to his, 'Your heart is just as broken as mine... and... I have so foolishly never realized this until now...'

Madara's hands shot up and one grasped her hip as the other tangled within her long locks tightly. THIS was NEW. Once they slightly broke apart panting softly, he then released a gentle chuckle, "You do make it a tad hard to actually fall asleep, you know..." Gulping silently as she wrapped her arms around his neck securely while whispering a soft, "Good..." He gave up on being a good boy and rolled the two over so that he now hovered over her, Madara then slowly pushed her shirt up her body, waiting for her tone of rejection that was to never come.

Feeling how hard her heart was now nervously slamming against her chest, he then halted all movements and groaned while pulling her shirt back down so that he could effectively face plant her breasts, "Dammit all to hell..." Madara groaned in an EXTREMELY sexually frustrated tone. Hearing her giggle at him caused him to look up slightly as she released his hair from its high ponytail so that it curtained around them - making him groan even further, "Don't DO that Sakura! Especially when your heart is beating so nervously!"

This made her slightly confused as she lightly ran her fingernails down his muscular back, "Does it sound nervous? I apologize... you actually make me... anxious..." Looking up at the pinkette with a smirk as his hands wrapped firmly around her before rolling the two back over and began to run his fingers through her silky locks, he then smiled softly, "I can wait... I have waited for you for this long, have I not?" That's when she realized EVERYTHING about him as her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, "I love you so much... please don't ever leave me..." - "I do not ever plan to. As you have pried from my thoughts before; I shall continue to pester you until you finally open up to me. That... is a promise..."


Morning skies slowly began to bleed a pastel red, orange, and yellow; causing Madara to groan softly as a sign of his mind waking up because he had to meet his team early this morning. Realizing that he couldn't sit up, onyx orbs fluttered open slowly and peered down to see Sakura happily curled up within his arms while clinging to a single one of his arms, making him smile gently and turn on his side to wrap his arms around her waist. Leaning forward, the Uchiha male then buried his face into her mass amount of long locks and kissed her cheek softly before whispering gently within her ear, "Sakura... I do happen to need my arm this morning..."

Stirring slightly, the pinkette felt too damn warm to be moving and snuggled into the warmth that his skin had to offer. He couldn't help it, but he laughed so hard that it effectively startled Sakura awake and forget anything she had told him the night prior. Sitting up quickly and glaring, the pinkette rubbed her eyes and gave up completely on going back to sleep.

Reaching forward, Madara then took the precious pinkette within his arms and brought her back down as he whispered softly, "Forgive me for laughing so loud that it startled you awake..." She could hear all of the love and tenderness that currently resided within his tone of voice, but lightly pushed his arm off of her and sat up while scowling, "Why in the hell are you even here!?" Blinking rapidly at her outburst, Madara then sighed heavily, "Your little brother and my little brother decided to play matchmaker last night." Tiredly pushing his body up, he then placed a tender kiss to the back of her head.

The color instantly drained out of her face, "M-Madara, we didn't... we didn't do THAT did we?" Snickering softly as he ran a single finger over her silky belly that was now showing, the Uchiha male lightly shook his head, "Unfortunately for me, no... we did not." Sakura could hear all of the truth held within his voice and huffed softly, "Well can you get off of me so I can go pick up Shisui? I'm going to assume that he is at your house with Izuna. You know, originally, Izuna was supposed to be made into a team leader as well..."

"Fascinating. Sakura, I must ask - but do you always find random distractions to speak about when you first wake up?" He asked in an all too bored and unenthusiastic tone as his single finger continued to ignite a spreading wildfire against her skin. The pinkette was now attempting to formulate some sort of sentence and thank god, her front door knocked frantically. Pushing the moody male away, Sakura pulled shorts up and rushed out of the room.

Opening the door, Shisui stood there with a paled face, "S-SIS, IT'S I-IZUNA! HE COLLAPSED! HURRY!" Sakura's eyes widened and hurriedly ran out of her home wearing no shoes. Madara hadn't heard anything concerning Izuna... so the moment the door hurriedly slammed shut and the pinkette didn't return, hatred consumed him and he lowered his head. Reaching over and grabbing his hairband, Madara threw his long tresses up and slowly walked from the home while gritting his teeth angrily. Rage was a dangerous aspect and emotion for one who wielded the Sharingan.

Sakura rushed into Madara and Izuna's home in a clear panicked state of mind. Shisui darted to Izuna and his sister was right behind him, "I-IZUNA!" Dropping to her knees, she witnessed as to how pale he was and her eyes went out of focus until her little brother lightly shook her body - effectively snapping her out of it.

Shakily, the pink haired Uchiha reached down to check if she could feel his pulse... but found none. "N-NO! IZUNA," she yelled in a broken tone before hastily rolling him onto his back and beginning to perform CPR. Pinching the bridge of his nose, she leaned down and pressed her lips to his to begin forcing air and chakra alike into his system, "I-IZUNA, DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP ON ME!" Tears began to flow down her face as she began to roughly press on his chest cavity with the hopes of getting his heart beating once again.

Thirty minutes later, she was still trying and Izuna was not responding... Shisui now had tears streaming down his face as he took his older sister's shoulder and turned her to his chest, only for her to scream in agony while clinging tightly to her little brother. Shisui kept his thoughts closely guarded while they flowed, 'Everyone in the Leaf Village believes that as long as Sakura is around... they are all invincible and immortal. That's not the case though... Sakura believes in the natural flow of one's life span and has been shunned for it...'

His protective hold on her became slightly tighter as she sobbed out, "S-SHISUI, IZUNA CAN'T DIE! H-HE FINALLY GOT TO COME HOME!" Her tears were now staining the front of his cloak, making him frown heavily, "Sis... you could use Rinne Rebirth on him... if you wanted to..." He knew she wouldn't though because that would be showing favoritism to not only one person... but also the clan.

Releasing her little brother and crawling towards Izuna, tears dripped from her eyes to land upon his closed eyes - making it appear as if the tears that now rolled down his cheeks were his very own. Leaning over his chest, Sakura took his hand and held it tightly within both of her hands. Shisui's head then turned the moment the front door opened and closed. A heavy sigh was released and Madara called out, "Izuna, I am home. If you are wondering, the night went well but this morning changed nothing," he grumbled until Shisui walked in front of him, "Madara... you might want to wait..."

That one comment had about a million red flags popping up within his head and he darted around to see his little brother on the ground lifelessly while Sakura held onto his hand tightly. Falling to his knees, Madara slowly reached out to the younger male, "I-Izuna? Come now... this is not funny..."

Two different colored orbs snapped open and she slowly released Izuna's hand before turning to Madara, "I-I'm sorry Madara... I... I tried everything..." Suddenly a rough punch connected to her cheek and flung her weakened body away. Shisui's eyes widened and ran towards his sister as she laid on the ground sobbing. Madara was furious at this point as he yelled in a demanding tone, "YOU WILL BRING IZUNA BACK WITH RINNE REBIRTH!" Shisui then scowled, "MY SISTER DOESN'T DO THAT AND YOU KNOW THAT!"

Something within Sakura lost all hope and broke entirely as she sat up and clasped her hands together tightly, resulting in a mass surge of chakra that began to concentrate and build up before calling out in a rather dead tone, "Gedo Art... of... Rinne Rebirth..." All of that chakra and life energy that she had accumulated shot straight to Izuna before his eyes shot open and Sakura immediately placed a single hand to the floor as her other hand covered her mouth the moment she began to harshly cough up an immense amount of blood.

"S-SIS," Shisui yelled in a panicked tone as he ran to her, but by the time he actually reached her... the pinkette fell forward and landed within the pool of her own blood. It was such a gamble every time she did this and Shisui knew that all too well. Izuna's vision finally cleared only to witness Sakura on the ground. The pool of blood that surrounded her began to stain her hair and skin... while her naturally sunkissed skin became a sickly unnatural pale coloration.

The long haired raven's eyes widened immensely and instantly rushed towards her, "S-SAKURA! WHAT DID YOU DO YOU IDIOT!?" Lifting her unconscious form from her blood, he took her right hand and placed it over her heart. The color slowly came back to her skin, but she wouldn't be awake for some time now. Lifting Sakura into his arms, he then kicked his older brother upside the head, "YOU MADE HER USE RINNE REBIRTH!? SHE MIGHT NOT DIE, BUT IT MAKES HER SO WEAK THAT SHE MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD!"


It had now been a grand total of two years since the day she had revived Izuna. In all honesty, no one actually said any hateful words about her actions either. All fully understood Izuna's importance within her life and... to be VERY honest... they wanted his singular Rinnegan orb around.

Sitting within her room and staring out of the window aimlessly, her breath was shallow and shaky as she shot her hand up to cough harshly so that blood splattered into her shaky hand. Izuna was quick to dart inside of the room that the pinkette now resided within... their home bad been the best option to not lose her. Kneeling down, Izuna tenderly took her hand, "Again... huh? Oh, look Sakura! There's a LOT less! Looks like your almost back to normal!" Izuna had to be bright for so many people now that he was constantly found sleeping on the pinkette's lap from sheer exhaustion.

"Izuna, you're so tired... you must get rest," her shaky and saddened tone rang out. Peering down, Izuna smiled sadly, "Yeah, I know. However! I do get plenty of rest!" Considering Sakura was on her bed, Izuna eased down after cleaning her hand and placed his head on her lap. It didn't take long for him to doze off once she freed his long locks and began to run her slim fingers through the silkiness his hair held.

Tilting her dull orbs back outside, Sakura continued to stare. A light knock then came to her door and Madara walked in with her meal for the afternoon. Peering his orbs to his sleeping younger brother, Madara released a massive internal sigh and sat her food down on her dresser. Once he began to lean back up, his onyx orbs slightly widened to see tears sliding down her face. Frowning heavily at this point, Madara's eyes looked pained at the sight and whispered gently to allow his little brother to gain some much needed rest, "Sakura? What's wrong?" Slowly, she turned her head and stared him dead in the eye, "I'll never fall in love... again..."

That passing test he had once held, now seemed like a failing grade. Tears filled his eyes as he clenched his fists tightly and whispered softly, "I... I see..." Hearing his front door open and close, he figured it was Shisui coming home from a mission and knew to be there for him... considering Sakura NEVER let him too close to her heart anymore. Turning around, he then froze at the door considering he had just now realized that he had not ONCE thanked Sakura for risking her life, "Sakura... I know it doesn't mean much coming from me... but thank you for bringing Izuna back..."

Walking out of the room and closing the door, he witnessed Shisui with his arms folded while leaning his shoulder against the wall, "Fuck, it took you THAT long to thank my sister?" Now at the age of sixteen, the male's crimson orbs opened angrily the moment he chose to continue, "It's all your fault that my sister has closed her heart off..." Pushing off of the wall, Shisui then entered his sister's room with a single hand resting gently on his hip as the other hand raised in the air, "Yo Sakura!"

Tilting her head towards her little brother that no longer seemed little any longer considering he was taller than her and held a good amount of muscles now, "Shisui, go and apologize to Madara... I don't want you growing up with so much hate..." Shisui fanned his hand back and forth playfully, "Yeah, yeah! Hey sis? Why does Izuna always sleep on you?" Peering down to Izuna and smiling tenderly, she gave a soft reply, "He's always exhausted from being sent out on missions... only to come back home to care for me..."

Lifting a playful brow at this, the teen then released a snicker and winked at his sister, "You know sis, that's what most people might call a relationship." He figured she would turn bright red as usual, but she didn't. Nodding her head sadly, she then released a saddened laugh, "I suppose that you could say that it is, but you are leaving one thing out... I'll never fall in love again."

Izuna began to stir slightly and slowly sat up, only to grasp the pinkette and yank her down with him as he mumbled softly, "You need your rest..." Sakura was so sick of being told that she needed her rest, but nodded, "R-Right..." Shisui chuckled brightly, "He's right sis... but you already know that don't you?" With that the teenager left his sister's room and found Madara in the kitchen swearing profanities while holding a bleeding finger, "Let me guess, you heard my comment to sis about Izuna and her being a couple and you lost any focus you had - making you cut your finger wide open."

Madara shot the mouthy teenager a glare before releasing a heavy breath, "There's no need to apologize to me... I deserve everything..." Shisui watched this as he walked up to the moody male and removed his right hand glove to begin healing all of the damage. Smiling sadly, the Uchiha teen then blew his messy bangs upward, "You already know that I grew up listening to my sister. Once our parents died when she was fourteen and I was eight, she became my parental figure. So naturally, I have a hot head... but I also forgive easily."

Chuckling as he continued to heal the deep cut, Shisui then added on, "You know, for the longest time I listened to you as if you were my fatherly figure. I just supposed that you and my sister would have fallen in love and become married by now. I guess I never really considered any alternative routes or consequences that would follow after the death of someone you both love so much. I suppose you never truly realized this, but what keeps you two close is the love both of you hold for Izuna. Listen to me, if you don't want to lose her to Izuna, then you'd better "pester" her until she lets you back in."

Grabbing an apple once he finished Madara's healing and placed his glove back on, Shisui then walked out of the kitchen with a saddened smile, 'Sis... you have to open up to him or it will drive you insane that you are so far away...' Madara released a huff and ordered for the maids to finish up preparing for the evening meal before walking out into the training courtyard.

Sakura slowly pulled out of Izuna's arms, knowing that Madara was about to go out to train after the verbal bitch slap her younger brother had just given him. Keeping herself hidden, she watched as he paused and looked up at her window as he usually did as he pulled his mass amount of locks into a high ponytail before shedding his top after taking the clasp off from around his abdomen. Izuna cracked a single orb open and slightly chuckled, 'Is this what they call peeping?' Sakura just about jumped out of her skin due to the thought, making Izuna crack up.

"IZUNA! THAT IS SO INDECENT," the pinkette yelled furiously and turned bright red. Shrugging, he then released a heavy sigh, "I wasn't the one staring at Madara's body. That happened to be you." Oh her fury was on the scale of one million by this point as she stormed forward and grabbed the long haired raven by his ear and began to storm outside.


...


Picking her gloves up and tightly yanking them on, Sakura then shed her cloak and clasp to the side. Izuna turned bright red and fanned his hands frantically in front of his face, "SAKURA, NO! I DIDN'T MEAN IT, I PROMISE!" Izuna begged and watched as she sulked forward in a royally pissed off attitude. He watched as her single emerald orb spun into her Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan before darting towards Izuna, making sweat bead down his face until he was effectively pushed out of the way and into the arms of safety that came in the form of Shisui.

Sakura's eyes narrowed dangerously towards Madara, only making him smirk as he grasped her hips and hurled her away - only for a single hand to reach out to catch her and noticed the moody male darting at her instantly. Just as he was in range, her legs opened and captured his head with her muscular thighs and calves - flipping him over and slamming his neck into the ground.

Izuna became dumbfounded, "She hasn't trained for two years, what in the hell!?" Shisui snickered softly, "That's not entirely true. Why is it that you think it's taking her body so long to recover? Take a wild guess." Izuna groaned heavily, "She's been training nonstop, HASN'T SHE!" Shisui laughed and leaned a hand on his hip with a cat-like grin, "Come on now, how long have you known Sakura now?" This made Izuna's shoulders slump as a dread filled sigh escaped his lips, "UGH!"

Suddenly, Shisui flickered away considering that had a rapidly approaching guest. Madara's body had been hurled straight towards Izuna and she hit the target FLAWLESSLY. All that could be heard was Izuna whining, "Ow... big brother you are HEAVY! Get OFF!" Landing beside his older sister and placing a hand on her shoulder, his arm was then grabbed and his entire body was hurled into the pile of Uchiha men. Izuna was now out of breath, "I GET IT SAKURA," he wheezed out. Walking towards the group, she then heard Shisui groaning, "Damn sis, that HURT! Do you even understand how much it hurts SLAMMING into solid MUSCLE!?"

Helping her little brother up, Sakura then yanked her cloak back on and clasped it back into place with a loud huff. Madara then decided to become a smartass at that moment, "Awe, but I liked what you were wearing before... It showed so little..." The pinkette turned bright red at that moment and snapped around, only for her fist to be grabbed and yanked so hard towards him that she slammed into more muscle than was truly necessary. Leaning back and groaning, she then complained, "Honestly Madara!? Let me go!"

Humming as if actually considering the order, he then narrowed his orbs towards her, "Mm... no." With it said, he pushed the pinkette to the ground and her clasp came undone. Bright red now, Sakura shoved Madara off of her as she walked to the outside shower and turned the water on before shedding her clothing and opening the door that lead to the shower, only to grin at Madara as if she had just won in freezing hell over before she entered and closed the door.

"Hm... Shisui, take Izuna far away," Madara snapped his orbs towards the shower and the sixteen year old jonin sighed heavily, but nodded, "If she kills you, don't blame me." With that, Shisui lifted the long haired raven before flickering off. Once they were gone, Madara began to approach the shower and was removing his clothing within the process. Opening the door and stepping in silently, he then moved towards the pinkette and wrapped his arms around her smooth belly before leaning his head onto her shoulder while releasing soft and gentle hums.

Sakura immediately stiffened up, but was quick to relax the moment she heard his gentle hum. She couldn't dull her heart anymore... it was far too painful. Snapping around in his arms, Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck and he slowly lifted her so that her thighs could tightly wrap around his hips and he pressed her back against the wall before tightly gluing his lips to her own. Giving his hands freedom to roam, he took the pinkette's breasts within his hands and she gasped sharply - making him give a heated chuckle, "My, my... a sensitive one... are you not?"

Scowling at his teasing, her hands began to trace any microscopic inch of his body - finding out that he too... was extremely sensitive. How she knew? Well, certain areas she would tease he would end up pressing his body to her own tightly. Leaning up and winking, the pinkette then mortified this man by kissing his nose before jumping down and exiting while laughing as hard as she could until she froze and began to harshly cough up blood.

Madara was now pouting and bickering until hearing those rough fits of coughing. Pushing off of the wall, he ran outside and picked Sakura up before walking right back to the shower to rinse the blood from her. Holding his neck tightly, Sakura then began to cry and do the one thing he wished he had never heard coming from such a powerful individual... she begged for his forgiveness, "M-Madara, I'm so sorry! P-Please, PLEASE forgive me!" He kept his head lowered as she cried against his neck. This... THIS was hell...

Once he rinsed her body and placed a towel over her nude form, he quickly noticed her blood dripping from his chest and hurriedly rinsed it off. Lacing a towel around his waist, he then tenderly eased her into his arms and made his way back into his home. Reaching the pinkette's room, he hastily got her dressed before leaving and getting dressed - yet left his top bare.

Reaching into his dresser, he pulled out a box and his eyes slightly dulled the moment he opened it to look at the beautifully crafted wedding ring that he had made for Sakura. Her voice was weak, but she spoke softly, "That's beautiful. Whoever she is... she must be lucky..." Turning to walk back to her room, Sakura then felt Madara's large hand clasp around her wrist, "Yes, it is beautiful. However, how lucky she is... is truly up to her."

She knew it... it had been for her. Staring Sakura deep in the eyes, Madara could barely manage to whisper out, "S-Sakura... will you marry me...?" Looking at the ground now, Sakura's eyes filled with tears, "Forgive me..." That was all he had needed to hear to slowly release her and she began to walk away with slumped shoulders and tear filled eyes.

It was late at night now and the pink haired Uchiha continued to roll around without being able to sleep. Sitting up and frowning, Sakura finally stood and walked to Madara's room. Opening his door slightly, she peered in to find that he was asleep and was about to back out until his voice tiredly rang out, "Come in Sakura..." Walking in and closing the door, she then walked to Madara and crawled into his bed. Opening a sad and tired orb, he then chuckled, "You know, you make this very conflicting as to what is actually going on."

She dared not touch him this time and kept her back to him as his gentle scent of nature filled her nostrils. She just wanted him close... but she did not dare to go any further. Hearing Madara's shaky breaths, Sakura turned her head to see him with his hand over his eyes to hide the tears he now shed. Feeling that tight clench within her heart, she quickly sat up and froze the moment Madara was leaning his eyes against her bare shoulder, "M-Mada-" - "I BROKE MY PROMISE!" Sakura blinked rapidly at this, "You what?"

Wrapping his bulky arms securely around the precious female in front of him, the moody male released a shaky breath, "Tell me if this happens to sound familiar to you... I do not ever plan to. As you have pried from my thoughts before; I shall continue to pester you until you finally open up to me. That... is a promise..." It took her a good long moment of long pondering for the pinkette, while it took a good long moment of PATIENCE from the emotional train wreck of a man.

It suddenly dawned on Sakura as to what he was speaking about and her eyes instantly became widened, 'H-He remembers THAT far back?' Well... it is Madara Uchiha. This man could hold a grudge over someone taking a cookie from him for centuries and still remember because it was simply something that had belonged to him in the first place. It wouldn't surprise her all that much if he actually killed that person who had stolen his cookie to begin with.

Suddenly hearing knocks on the wall, both Madara and Sakura tilted their head towards the sound as Shisui called out, "YO, I DO NEED TO SLEEP! I HAVE A MISSION TOMORROW, SO CAN YOU TWO JUST SNUGGLE AND FALL ASLEEP!?" Turning bright red, Sakura sighed heavily and walked to Shisui's room before opening the door and approaching him. Brushing his messy bangs out of his face, the pink haired sister leaned down and pressed her lips to her little brother's forehead, "Forgive me for keeping you awake." Shisui then cracked a tired orb open and yanked his older sister into his bed so that he could cuddle with her.

"S-Shisui! I am not a teddy bear!" Sakura fumed and wiggled around so much that she shoved off of him and began to cough up much more blood than he had been used to seeing at this point, "S-Sis? Are you okay?" Hearing her labored breaths, the teenaged Uchiha then lowered to sit beside his sister, "The rebound is still after you... isn't it...?" Nodding her head, he then began to funnel chakra into her body - easing her suffering as she leaned her head back against her little brother's chest.

He had promised to keep quiet for two years now... but the moment that vow of silence was broken was the moment his big sister shot her hand over her mouth and began to cough up more blood. Shooting his head to the side, he yelled for the one with the most chakra, "M-MADARA!"

Hearing Shisui's panicked call for him, Madara darted out of his room and activated his Sharingan to see just how much blood she had coughed up. Shisui then frowned, "I promised Sakura I would keep this a secret, but if you can help save her, do it! She needs to have a mass amount of chakra given to her!" Nodding his head, he lifted Sakura into his arms and walked back to his room while transferring a mass amount of chakra to her at the same time. Any discomfort she now felt began to fade quickly and she laid her head against his chest, "T-Thank you..."

Entering into his room before closing the door behind him, he then scowled heavily as he locked the door, "Why in the HELL didn't you tell me that you were still being affected by the rebounds of the Rinne Rebirth!?" Sakura looked up sadly, "I didn't want to inconvenience you..." His eye was now RAPIDLY twitching, "Inconvenience!? INCONVENIENCE!? YOU STILL BEING AFFECTED BY THE REBOUND INCONVENIENCES ME! NOT THE FACT THAT I HAVE TO GIVE YOU MY CHAKRA!"

He was pouring so much chakra into her now that her skin was turning back to its original shade, her chest no longer hurt like hell, it was now easy to breathe, and she was not coughing up anymore blood. Feeling the rebound vanish, yet Madara continued to fume on and on while pouring more chakra into her, she then leaned up and pressed her lips to his momentarily, "You've given me plenty of chakra... the rebound has vanished..." Madara grumbled softly and placed her in his bed, yet once he eased his body down, he pulled her towards him and slipped the wedding ring onto her finger, "You beautiful fool... I love you so much..."

Feeling the wedding ring on her finger now, Sakura's eyes filled with tears as her shaky tone jingled out, "I-I love you too..." Shisui's tone then yelled out, "FINALLY! CONGRATS SIS! - HM? - YEAH! THEY ARE GOING TO GET MARRIED! ISN'T THIS GREAT IZUNA!?" Madara could only chuckle now as he called back, "GO TO SLEEP YOU TWO!"


"Time... time... WHY IS THERE NEVER ANY DAMNED TIME!?" Sakura furiously yelled at her younger brother, whom only snickered playfully at his older sister, "Uh... sorry that I'm aging?" Shisui, now the age of twenty and a part of the ANBU, lifted a gentle brow. Sakura pouted angrily that her little brother was DEFINITELY not little anymore. He towered over her body by a solid seven inches and due to how young SHE appeared, everyone who did not know the two thought that Shisui was her OLDER brother due to how well he had matured.

Shisui was having a damned cackling fest over his big sister's ranting and raging that made her red in the face, "SERIOUSLY! You AREN'T immortal Shisui!" Madara then walked behind his wife and wrapped his arms around her, "Calm down honey..." - "HELL NO!" - "So fiesty," he teased her gently and squeezed her lightly, "Now, what happens to be the REAL issue at hand? Who shall like to play show and tell first?" Knowing that Madara was the Uchiha clan leader, yet had NO idea that majority of the clan were planning for a coup d'état made this tricky on the ANBU male's part to convince all of the higher-ups that he was not involved at all.

Frowning slightly, Shisui then stepped forward, "Madara... I've been watching the clan due to orders as of late. It would seem that majority of the village continues to distrust the Uchiha clan and that is pushing most of the Uchiha's to pull a coup d'état." This made Madara and Sakura's mouth drop wide open. Being the matriarch of the prestigious Uchiha clan was rougher than it looked. Sakura then released a heavy groan, "I will go to the next meeting to calm everyone, but first I will head to Lord Fourth and speak to him over the issues at hand."

Adjusting her gloves, Sakura then placed a tender kiss on Madara's lips before playfully kissing her little brother's cheek. Shisui accepted the playful tease and began to walk beside her, "I'll need to come with you. You understand, right Sakura?" She figured that would have been the case, so she nodded with a beautiful smile and took her brother's arm within both of her own before looking down, "Level with me... how bad on a scale from one - to - we're fucked are we?"

His sister always made him snicker at the way she worded things, yet calmed himself to answer, "Well... we are pretty close to the entire Uchiha clan being completely erased from history..." Whacking her brother upside the head, she then scowled, "WHY IN GOD'S NAME HAVEN'T YOU TOLD ME THIS UNTIL NOW!?" Rubbing the spot his sister had just swatted, he then answered, "Because, it started by hitting the ground running. I was constantly being sent on missions and have had BARELY any time to even come and say hello to you."

Okay, this she understood completely. She wasn't happy in the slightest at how Lord Fourth was trying to handle this though, "Shisui, why is Lord Fourth so adamant about eradicating the Uchiha clan?" Tilting his head slightly, he then gently shook his head back and forth, "It's not Lord Fourth, Sakura. It's one of the higher-ups... Danzo Shimura. He seems to be in a hurry to wipe all of us Uchiha straight off of the face of the earth. Lord Fourth has been the one buying us more than plenty of time... he actually asked for you as well. I think he is wanting you to rejoin the ANBU and act as eyes and ears for him. I mean... he knows that you are loyal to the village and not just the clan."

Entering the Hokage's Tower, the two then spoke some more about the entire details until reaching Minato's office and entering. Minato looked forward with a brightened smile, "Ah, Sakura! Welcome!" Nodding her head, she then slightly lowered her head, "I have been told that the Uchiha are planning to start a coup d'état. If this is true, Lord Fourth, then Madara and I will do everything within our power to stop this. I have also been made aware that you are wishing for me to rejoin the ANBU. If I am not mistaken, the squad is comprised of Shisui Uchiha, Izuna Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha, and Sasuke Uchiha."

Leaning back in his chair, he then nodded, "Yes, I am going to place you as the captain... no offense Shisui." Shisui playfully swished and swayed his hands back and forth, "None taken Lord Fourth." Minato then laced his fingers together, "Tonight, all of the higher-ups will be waiting for all of your reports. Now, can you be sure that Madara is not the one leading this coup?" Shisui then gave a firm nod, "Yes, I am extremely sure that he is not the one leading the coup. When I spoke to him earlier about it, he looked entirely dumbfounded that all of this had been going on right under his nose."

Nodding at this, Minato then glanced towards the pinkette, "Sakura, I want you suited up within the hour. Understood?" Sakura gave a deep and profound bow, "As you wish, Lord Fourth." Narrowing her eyes and placing a single hand on her brother's arm, the pinkette then called out, "FLYING RAIJIN!" Both vanished from the Hokage's Office and landed within the ANBU headquarters, only for everyone's eyes to begin glistening brightly that Sakura had returned. Walking to the locker room, the pinkette hastily changed and picked up her cat mask that had a storm of cherry blossoms painted across it before hooking it into place.

Shisui was already done changing and stood with Izuna, and the Uchiha twins - Itachi and Sasuke. Checking her watch, she nodded that it was night out, "All right you guys... let's go and play eye spy on our clan!" This made them all chuckle as they darted out to the Uchiha shrine, but once they landed, they all stood in the shadows with their Sharingan orbs blazing within the night.

Tilting her head, she then whispered softly, "So who is it that you believe are leading the coup d'état under Madara's nose?" Sasuke and Itachi both looked down and answered at the same time, "Our parents." Sakura had known Fugaku and Mikoto all her life and had never witnessed them do anything this depraved before. Once the meeting ended, Sakura's two Rinnegan and Izuna's singular Rinnegan began to sweep over the crowd and read as to what they were even speaking about in the first place. All were details of the coup... how ironic.

Opening a portal to the debriefing area, all then jumped inside before the pinkette jumped in and closed the portal. Landing inside of the room, all of the higher-ups gawked, "S-Sakura!?" The pinkette removed her mask and knelt down, "It appears that the Uchiha cannot be dissuaded..."

Sakura KNEW who Danzo was because of how frequently he visited the Uchiha clan in the hopes of recruiting new members for the foundation. Once she realized that all of the children she had delivered to him had mysteriously died or could simply never be found, she stopped permitting him access to the Uchiha's subdivision within the village. Looking up with a frown, Minato then motioned for her to speak, "What's wrong Sakura?" Chewing on her bottom lip slightly, she then caught his gaze, "Well, Lord Fourth, to be frank... they are unhappy at their relocation spot and how they are treated as outsiders. Might I be so kind as to see a map?"

Nodding his head and motioning that the map was right in front of him, Sakura then walked forward and pointed as to where the Uchiha Compound was, "This, Lord Fourth, is where you had us relocate after the attack from the Stone Village's demolition unit." Nodding his head that he understood, the pink haired matriarch then smiled tenderly before pointing elsewhere, "This is where the Leaf Police Force is located. Now, if you pay close attention, right beside it... there is an ENORMOUS bald spot that also has a lake. It is to my belief that a simple relocation would be the first step in peace."

Danzo then scowled angrily, "MINATO! IF THEY ARE PLANNING TO ATTACK, THEN WE MUST ACT NOW!" Minato held his hand up to Danzo to silence him before pulling out a parchment to begin writing the new location as to where the Uchiha clan would be relocated. Signing it, he then smiled and handed the scroll to the pinkette, "Thank you, Sakura. I will give the Uchiha clan a total of six months to change their opinions before I have no chance but to take action. Am I understood?"

The Uchiha matriarch then gave a deep bow, "Thank you, Lord Fourth, for having such a kind and forgiving heart for the actions that my clan had intended. I believe this will raise their popular opinion towards the Leaf Village as a whole." With that, Sakura gave one hell of a precious smile as she turned and left. The whole gang was now following the pink haired Uchiha, only for Shisui to be stopped by Danzo, "Shisui, take a walk with me... will you?" Nodding his head innocently, Shisui took the most terrifying walk of his damned life.


Reaching the Uchiha District, Sakura cleared her throat and motioned for Izuna, Itachi, and Sasuke to plug their ears... which they did quickly. Narrowing her orbs, the pinkette then yelled out ferociously, "ATTENTION UCHIHA CLAN MEMBERS! SINCE YOU ALL HAVE ENOUGH ENERGY TO GO TO SECRET MEETINGS BEHIND NOT ONLY YOUR LEADER'S BACK, BUT THE MATRIARCH'S BACK AS WELL, PLEASE EXIT YOUR HOMES AND LISTEN CLOSELY!" At this point all Uchiha's, including a shirtless Madara walked out of their homes and approached her.

"Now that I have all of your attention, listen closely because I will not repeat myself. Thanks to your coup d'état plan, the clan is getting relocated right-" Izuna and Itachi pulled out a large map and the pinkette pointed to the heart of the village, "-here. Housing will be built and ready within one months time. I do hope this brings good news to you all. Now, for favoritism within the Leaf... just smile. It isn't that hard. After all... we are ALL humans and most definitely... WE ARE SHINOBI!" All Uchiha's looked ecstatic over a simple relocation within the village.

'SAKURA, I AM IN TROUBLE! THE FOUNDATION IS ATTACKING ME!' Sakura immediately heard Shisui yelling, making her eyes widen immensely and snapped her head towards Madara, "M-MADARA! SHISUI IS IN DANGER!" His eyes then widened and both then took off before finding him poisoned and barely conscious at that point as he leaned against a tree.

Pulling off her right handed glove, Sakura then placed the sun symbol against his heart after pulling his skin tight ANBU gear up and nullified any and all toxins. Madara stood there with his arms folded, "Shisui... who took your eye!?" Shisui then peered down, "It was Danzo..." The older sister then placed her hand over her brother's eye and it rebuilt - making him activate his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan to make sure it still existed once the quick first aid treatment had finished.

Stretching her joints, Madara then helped Shisui up and began to scold him, "Do NOT make me WORRY like that EVER again! Am I UNDERSTOOD!?" Shisui quickly nodded and snickered playfully, "Understood dad!" Rolling his unenthusiastic onyx orbs, the Uchiha clan leader then released a massive huff, "Sakura, do get Shisui home in one piece... I am going to retrieve Shisui's original eye." Sakura nodded lightly and motioned her brother to follow before turning and lifting her hand as a farewell, "Don't do anything stupid Madara!"

She could basically hear him grinning as he whistled before speaking, "You insult me. I never claimed that I was going to harm anyone." Oh good lord... A large sweat drop slid down the back of the pinkette's head as she watched the beyond massive hawk descend onto her husband's arm that held NO Uchiha ties.

Shaking her head, she then huffed, "Take, come to mama!" The hawk then flapped its wings and rushed to land on the pinkette's arm, making Madara dumbfounded, "Taka!" The hawk would not move from his mommy's arm at that point as his pink haired wife snapped her crimson orbs back to him with a smirk, "Something wrong honey?" - "That is not even funny in the slightest Sakura," his dry tone rang out, making her giggle as she walked away with Shisui and Taka. Pausing momentarily, Sakura then kissed Taka's beak, "Go back to daddy... but no killing... all right baby?"

Taka gave a happy squawk as if he understood what he was and was not allowed to do before flying back to Madara and landing on his arm. Narrowing his orbs, he lowered his arm slightly, "TAKA, LOCATE AND RETRIEVE SHISUI'S MISSING EYE!" With that, Madara lifted his arm and the hawk took off. Not even two hours later, Taka knocked on Shisui's bedroom window frantically, knowing that was the only way to even wake him at that point.

Sakura had heard the tapping and gracefully stood out of bed before walking to her little brother's room and opening the window, only for Taka to extend one of his talons and opened it for Shisui's eye to drop once his mommy had opened her hand. Holding her opposite arm up, Taka climbed on it and happily rubbed his head against her cheek as she walked to her little brother and placed the missing part of his body back together once the eye was inserted into his chest. Walking out of her little brother's room, Sakura could feel that she wasn't going to gain any sleep on this night... so she walked to the kitchen and brought out some chicken for Taka.

Placing him on his perch, the pinkette began to drill new tricks with the hawk that Madara loved so much. In the middle of the night, Madara stirred to the sound of clapping - only to see that his wife was not in bed. Rolling out of bed and falling face first to the ground, the moody male became even more moody the moment he heard Sakura call out, "TAKA! GO WAKE UP DADDY!"

Taka flew in and began to nip lightly at Madara, making him groan and sit up while yelling, "I AM AWAKE, ALL RIGHT!?" Walking out with Taka perched on his shoulder, Madara wrapped his arms around Sakura's shoulders affectionately and nuzzled his baby soft cheek into her own, "Honey, why not come to bed...?" Lifting a brow, she then giggled out, "You are such a big baby." Huffing at the name calling, he then smiled tenderly, "Yes, that might be true... but you are MY baby." Picking the pinkette up into his arms, he then walked to their room and placed her on the bed before letting Taka out of the window, "Go, Taka."

Noticing the hawk not move made him groan heavily and snap his head towards his hyena for a wife, "SAKURA! YOU ARE MAKING MY HAWK - YOUR HAWK!" Chipper bubbles of giggles continued until speaking out, "Taka, listen to daddy!" With that, the hawk darted off to his outdoor stand and Madara gained a dry look as he closed their window, "Honestly... you taught him to ignore me!? I cannot even begin to imagine what you would teach a real child."

Sakura then became unnaturally quiet and rolled to her side before whispering softly, "I-I don't want children..." Getting into bed with her and yanking her to his chest, he then smirked, "I wonder as to how long you can continue to refuse gaining the pleasure you so desperately desire." Pulling the comforter over them, he then lowered a single hand to brush against her covered entrance - making a shocked gasp and groan release from her lips. Oh how he longed for her to be beneath him... there would be no greater honor for her to bestow him with should she birth him a child.

Nuzzling into her hair and pulling the most precious person in the world close to his chest, he then smiled lovingly and mumbled tiredly, "I love you..." Sakura nodded her head gently... his body heat lulling her quickly to sleep as she wrapped an arm around the back of his neck, "I love you too..."

For the longest time after Sakura had fallen asleep, Madara simply stared at her angelic facial features while lazily tracing soothing circles on her bare back. His face finally fell slightly and allowed for his wife and brother to hear his rather LOUD thoughts, 'Sakura, just when will you give your heart a break...?'


Word count: 15,096