Evil Knockin' at My Door

by Kairomone

She should have known that meddling with unknown kinjutsu would have it's consequences. She should have kept her feelings in check and she should have known that entering into a power play with one of the most powerful shinobi of all time wouldn't end well. But dammit, she won't let him have the last word.

1. The Devil's Back

Hiya! So this crazy idea came to me in a dream, where I was this Sakura Lucy mix fighting Akatsuki. It was just such a great concept that I had to write it down. Then as I went on planning I realized that the action scene in my dream needs some pretext, thus this chapter. I'll admit that it went out of control, it wasn't supposed to be so long, but it was coming out so easily that I hardly saw the word count go up. In the end I didn't even finish the whole pretext part (due to a lack of time because of friends and other stuff), but if I had I'm afraid it would have been near 30k of words.

So, this is going to be like a mix between Fairy Tail, a little bit of Bleach and of course Naruto. It's canon up until the arc where Gaara was saved from death, after that it's an AU, where the 4th war didn't happen, due to some circumstances, most of the Akatsuki are alive and so on. I'll try to explain the burnt of it through story. This also probably would take place during what was the Blank Period in canon, so Sakura is somewhere around 19 or 20 years old. I also had intended for this to be neutral, just a simple pretext, but when I was going through the story in my head, somewhere along the way I threw away my inhibitions and made this MadaSaku (at this point I should stop lying to myself and admit that I like it, despite me still thinking that this pairing is weird and me very much preferring not to ship Madara with anyone). But whatever, if you're in for some MadaSaku I'm glad to provide.

On top of everything I also intend for this to be a birthday fic to myself. I usually draw something for my birthday, but for a change I decided to write something. Also the song Sweet Things by The Pretty Reckless was a huge inspirational add on to this story (also gave this story it's name), so check it out if you want.

Quick disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the Naruto world.

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"Would you stop that?"

"Why?" drawled her companion, continuing to prance around the room in a restless manner, every now and then picking up an object or other she had lying around in her living room.

"Because it's distracting and annoying," she growled in exasperation. It had already been a month and he still found interest in the most of mundane things, either nagging her about them or simply being handsy with things that weren't supposed to be touched and frankly Sakura was tired of it. For someone who supposedly was over a hundred years old, he was acting way too childishly. She suspected after the third time he actually did that on purpose just to test her patience.

Taking a seat opposite hers Madara crossed his arms and levelled her with an even glare. "You just don't understand."

Snapping her eyes up from her paper she met his gaze. Her grip on her pen increased. "I understand. What I don't get is why you have to be here right now. I'm trying to study and your fiddling around with my shit is testing my patience."

Two weeks ever since she made her mistake. Two weeks she had to suffer the consequences of her hasty choice. Even though they had made an agreement the first time she accidentally summoned him, that he would help her train to get stronger and in turn she would let him come into the real world, he had a penchant for snatching the key from her and hiding it, prolonging his stay in the real world needlessly, straining her chakra reserves greatly. She wasn't lying when she said that she understood his reasons for doing so. After all, if she didn't, she would send him back the first chance she got. She could sense the key, get it back (although that part sometimes was tricky) and send him back to the afterlife. She was being patient, but he was making her regret her decision.

Madara propped his head on his arm, the right side of his face becoming obscured by his hair immediately and lazily surveyed the room, and in turn ignoring her heated stare. "Believe me if I could I wouldn't stay here. I have a lot more important things to do than watch you scribble on paper."

Oh yes, the infamous rule that the spirit couldn't stray too far away from their summoner unless the spirit wanted to break the contract, become corrupt and lose their sense of self. Now Sakura didn't wish that on anyone, she had seen enough corrupt ghosts around Konoha and it wasn't a pleasant sight. She wouldn't even wish it upon the warmonger in front of her, despite her knowing the crimes he had done in the past, the treason he had committed against the village and the people he had killed. She supposed she should be more strict towards someone who was considered evil incarnate in the past, but that was way before her time and she simply lacked the energy to hate deeds that were history. After all those deeds did mould the village as it was now, and he hadn't proved to be dangerous just yet. Didn't mean she wasn't being wary.

"Oh, here's a suggestion: go back from where you came from?" she recommended, sarcasm lacing her voice. "You could have done that hours ago."

"Not happening. As boring as it is to just kill time needlessly around here, it's a lot better than go back to there and suffer in the endless grey not being able to feel a thing. I'm not that masochistic." He turned to her with a small smirk across his lips.

Sakura frowned, but decided not to argue further and turned back to her paper. Her shishou had given her three days to prepare for the test she was giving her about different poisons and their antidotes. While Sakura had already learnt the burnt of what Tsunade had to offer her when she was twelve and thirteen, her shisou still came up with things to keep Sakura on her toes. Poisons were one of Sakura's specialities and Tsunade wanted to test her knowledge with practical demonstrations on Sakura herself. So unless Sakura wanted to accidentally poison herself with shit she had no idea how to get rid of she had to memorize everything, again, there was about known, rare poisons and their antidotes.

She was dead beat tired. After a morning shift in the hospital, short sparring session with Madara and four hours of studying, not to mention that she still had to supply chakra to Madara to keep him in the real world, Sakura felt like passing out from either exhaustion or chakra depletion. The bastard didn't care if she passed out from chakra depletion. Since she had the upper hand in this situation she had yet to do so in front of him, always managing to send him back before it happened. She wasn't sure what would happen if it were to happen. Would he be sent back forcefully or would he be stuck?

There were so many unknowns about this kinjutsu. Even when she first found the ratty scroll the kinjutsu had been written in, it hadn't been very clear with the rules. Heck, half of the things she did know about the mechanics of this jutsu she had found out from Madara. Not to mention, that not many people were aware of the existence of such a jutsu.

All she knew was that with it you could summon dead people as spirits, create contracts with them, which would then materialize in a key and later you could use that key to send the spirit back. If the key was broken the contract was lost and that person had lost their chance at coming back to the real world for forever, unless someone could recreate their key again. As far as she knew recreating someone's key was impossible unless the recreator had an impeccable memory and was able to remember how the key looked like exactly.

When she first enacted the jutsu she wasn't even sure what it would do. Stupid of her, but she had been desperate. After her last failure in her mission with Team 7 - Naruto and Sasuke - she had vowed to get better, to never have it so that they would have to save her, that next time she would save them. It wasn't the first time she promised herself that, but this time she really meant it. In her desperation and frustration to get stronger she had been reckless, asking for more strength, for someone to listen to her. It had been more like a prayer than anything. She hadn't know that she was supposed to ask for a specific person when enacting the jutsu, the scroll didn't specify, but still someone had answered her call in the void.

It was probably her rotten luck, that it was one of the most feared shinobi in the history who had answered her call.

At first Sakura had wanted to back out of everything she had done once she realized who she had summoned, but somehow he had persuaded her not to do so by offering to help her. It had been an odd suggestion that had left her speechless, but her sheer determination to be better than her teammates had won and she had accepted, thinking that by getting help from someone who could be on par with the Shodai Hokage was a once in a lifetime offer.

Raising her eyes from her paper for a moment she gave the said shinobi a once over. Without his red armour he usually came with into this world he looked like a black stain in her cream coloured interior. Despite that he looked serene, such a crass contrast from what she had heard abut him. Sometimes she did have a hard time believing that the person in front of her really was the despicable evil she had read about in history books. All of the tales deciphered him as this angry, insane fiend, who wanted to destroy the village, regardless of being one of its founders. For as long as they had been together she had never seen him lose his temper, the insane part was questionable, but the fact remained – everyday she saw a different Madara that of the history books.

While Sakura had been too engrossed in her work Madara had taken a couple of her empty papers and a pen from her pencil case and was currently writing something down. This wasn't something that happened often, so Sakura was naturally curious.

Discreetly leaning forward she caught a glimpse of what he was writing. As always his penmanship was neat and precise. Sakura looked down at her own paper and frowned. Hers looked like scratches across the paper. She had to admit that after years of working in the hospital she had developed a doctors hand. Still it felt so unfair. And what's this? - he even had drawn something on the side of the paper. Even when upside down, from her perspective, it was a lot better than anything she could draw.

"What are you writing?" In the end her curiosity took control of her and the question slipped out.

Without looking up from his work he replied, "Something for later." Sakura wanted to question him further, but he beat her to it, explaining things. "In Limbo you tend to forget things, thoughts become muddled together. It's annoying." He grimaced in distaste. "Writing things down helps remembering."

"Ah." She supposed that made sense. A week ago he had been writing something as well, but back then she was too busy with her own agenda to even pay attention, and yesterday when she had been cleaning the dust from her bookshelves she had found that same paper perched on top of her books. At first she had been confused, nothing that had been jotted down made sense to her. Only when halfway through it she had realized that they were a mess of memories and other things. After that things had clicked into place and like burned she had put the paper back in its place. She didn't dare mention this to Madara.

She continued to watch him draw what looked to be an object of some sort. It was quick and messy, but it still looked decipherable. "That's pretty good."

Blankly for a moment he looked up to her before continuing his task. "It's not."

Stunned for a moment Sakura wondered what to say next. As far as she knew Madara had never admitted to being bad at something so openly. Sometimes she even had to wonder if he even was bad at anything – he did everything so confidently that the question never came up. Then again, she presumed, that no one could be perfect at everything.

"It's still better than anything I could draw," she growled dejectedly and unknowingly her grip on her pen increased.

"You're just incompetent."

Her pen snapped in half. She opened her mouth to object, but was cut off when Madara showed his papers almost in her face.

"Read these carefully."

Glowering she took them a lot more forcefully than was needed. "I thought you were writing these for yourself."

"I am, but they're also instructions for you."

Interested she took a peak. She had crumbled the paper a bit with her haste movements, but the layout of the writing and the drawing was still neat and understandable.

Infinite Tsukuyomi. Huh? Now that's an interesting title. Skimming through the paragraphs she realized that she had no clue what it all was supposed to mean. It looked to be a jutsu of some kind, but the requirements for it were insane. Unattainable even, or simply non-existent.

Deciding that she doesn't have time to indulge herself in his delusions she put the papers aside. Growling at her broken pen she pulled out a new one from her pencil case. She cursed when the next word she wrote was in green. Fucking great, she took her coloured pen.

"Sakura?"

"What?" She rummaged through her mess of a pencil case for her other pen, missing the glare Madara was sending her way.

"Pay attention." His voice held more bite than usual.

Sakura raised her head to see what crawled up his ass, but blanched when she was met with the sharingan. Uh oh. She averted her gaze, opting to look somewhere past him. Enough encounters with Sasuke's and Kakashi's sharingan had taught her a lesson to never underestimate a dojutsu. He hadn't used it on her yet, more like intimidated her every now and then with it, but she wasn't about to test her chances. In her aversion she also noticed that her missing spare pen was still held by Madara.

"Can I have my pen back, please?"

"Did you read the instructions, Sakura?"

Jeez, why was he so hell bent on that crap? Ignoring his question she reached for her pen, but he moved it away from her grasp. "Just gimme back my pen, I need to finish this!" When she reached for it again, this time splaying herself almost all over the table he moved it away from her again. Stupidly she turned to face him again, annoyance splayed all over her face. She realized her mistake when the red of the sharingan stared back at her. For a moment she expected to be pulled into a painful genjutsu, but when nothing happened she relaxed, venturing back into annoyance.

"Read it and memorize it. I'm not going to play around with you."

Sakura had to snort at his words. Still she ignored them and reached for her pen, this time almost getting it before it was moved out of her way. Growling she leaned back in her seat before she made a fool out of herself by spreading herself across the table like a table cloth and crumpled all her hard work.

"That's rich coming from you."

"I'm serious, Sakura. Read it. Or did you really think that I only came here to offer my services to a weak and pathetic girl?" He switched the pen to his other hand, crossing his hands he leaned back in his seat.

Hurt Sakura met his red eyes dead on, mimicking his pose she crossed her arms across her chest as well. She tried to appear as intimidating as him, but, frankly, she didn't feel it. She thought that they had moved past the demeaning insults. Apparently not. It still was a sore subject for her. Ever since she realized how weak and useless she had been at the start of her academy days she had been trying to fix it, but it was hard to do when her competition were Naruto and Sasuke. She was never good enough, never strong enough. And he just rubbed it all in her face. Fucking asshole. She didn't need a reminder.

In the end she had to avert her eyes and bite her lip just to try and keep it together. That little comment had cut deep. During the first week when she had summoned him little statements like that were common, but she had long since learned to ignore biting words like that. Her opponents underestimated her all the time. Though now it was different. She had learned to trust him (even though she probably shouldn't) and listen to what he taught her (even if he only did it because she threatened to break the key). She thought that it was their unspoken agreement to work together, thus respect each other.

She heard him sigh after a moment and she saw the pen being placed in front of her. Surprised she snapped her head back to face him. Madara had reverted back to his lazy position – arms on the table, head resting against his palm only this time his eyes were closed. "Just read it, Sakura. Please. It's important."

Baffled, she didn't know what to say. Woodenly she picked up her pen. She had no idea it was so important to him that he would resort to using pleasantry words with her, which he had never done before. What she didn't understand was why. Why was such nonsense important to him? What was his goal here? She had never thought to ask, too engrossed in her own agenda. He never supplied either, until now that is and even then it was unclear.

"I-" Sakura cleared her throat. "I'll take a look at it, but later. I really have to study now and my head is already practically smoking from memorizing all of these poisons." Without gauging his reaction she buried herself back in her work. He didn't say anything either, so no soon after she lost herself in her work, their argument the last thing on her mind.

After a while Sakura started to feel woozy again. The letters on her paper started to swim and blur. The pinkette groaned and slammed her head on the table with a dull thud. Even if having Madara around had it's advantages it was also a huge disadvantage. The constant drain on her chakra for one. God, she just might have to stop playing nice and just send him back. This was torture. Why was she even being nice to him?

"Please, just give me the key?" she tried weakly, her voice slightly muffled, knowing that it won't have much of an effect. Even though the key was supposed to be her possession, something that she was supposed to keep with her at all times, he always snatched it from her and hid it, though it wasn't a mystery to her that he always hid it on his person. He just knew that she was slightly afraid of him and kept a distance. Even when in spirit form his chakra was potent and smouldering. It unnerved her.

"Hm?"

Yep, there it was – the nonchalant acknowledgement which soon was followed by full on indifference. Sakura sighed, knowing that she would have to do this the hard way. Again. Even if he was stronger she still had the advantage of being able to injure him fatally, thus forcing him go back to the spirit world to mend. It wasn't easy to achieve that and some part of her suspected that he even let her to get a hit on him, but it got the job done and she wasn't complaining.

This time, though, the problem was that she exactly didn't possess enough chakra to deliver such a blow, let alone scuffle around to try and even get that blow. She had been too busy studying and had lost sense of time, letting him linger around for too long.

She pushed herself up from the chair, stretching her stiff arm muscles on the way. "Are we gonna do this the easy way or the hard way?"

Madara curiously raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his seat.

From that expression alone Sakura understood that it's going to be the hard way. Nothing ever was easy with him. Asshole.

She expanded her senses and quickly concluded that he had hidden the key in his sleeve this time. She might not have enough chakra to battle him right now, but she still can get the key and send him back. That shouldn't be that hard, right?

Walking around the table, she schooled her expression into something neutral and without warning grabbed his left arm. The lukewarm temperature of his skin never ceased to unsettle her. Spirits were colder than humans. She pushed down his sleeve, expecting for the key to fall out, but was met with nothing.

"Looking for this?"

Sakura raised her head. He was holding the dark key in his other hand, right in front of her face, mirth dancing across his face. She reached for it, but he moved it out of her reach.

"Stop this. This isn't funny. We already did this once." She wasn't in the mood to play games or prolong this any longer than it was supposed to be. She could already see faint stars swimming across her vision from the exhaustion.

She reached for it again only for him to move it further away from her. By now he had moved it far away enough that she was nearly leaning over him, trying to reach it, greatly invading his personal space. Yea, no she wasn't going to do this. It was already uncomfortable as it was, she wasn't about to make it weird to boot. Stepping back she let go of his hand, glaring daggers at him.

He absently fixed his sleeve, the sly smirk still on his face and crossed his arms again, hiding the key back where it first was. "What's the matter, Sakura? Already giving up?"

The pinkette narrowed her eyes, scowling. "I don't know at what angle your playing at, but I'm not about to be made a fool out of." He clearly was planning something, usually she couldn't get a hold of him so easily, he always managed to avoid her hands, which could mean that he let her. It only served to fuel her irritation more. He clearly enjoyed getting a rise out of her.

"There's no angle. All you have to do is come and take the key." He waved the key around to emphasize his point, mocking her with it.

Sakura growled. Was this supposed to be a considerate action? Come and get the key instead of fighting him over it? All because she was already so low on chakra? Yeah, no. When he stops making everything a challenge then she might consider him as a compassionate person. Maybe. She doubted he could ever stop being an asshole. That seemed to be an Uchiha family trait. Sasuke was also a prime example of it.

Since she wasn't going to resort to begging she supposed that she'll have to find a new way to get it.

She had been thinking for so long that Madara sighed and got up from his seat, taking his leave to the kitchen area. "You're so boring, Sakura."

Her irritation levels were about at the peak after that little comment. Just for that she will have to resort to dirty tricks. Quickly skimming over her table her eyes zeroed in on the pieces of paper they had an argument over just an hour before. Oh? Now she definitely can't let a chance like this pass up. Whatever nonsense was written in them was clearly important to him and important to be read by her. It would be awfully unsightly if they were to suddenly...oh, how about: be ripped to pieces?

Plan in mind Sakura grinned mischievously and snatched up the papers. "Oh, Madara?" She made sure her voice sounded sickly sweet, with an undertone of crazy fangirl.

When he turned his head, an annoyed grimace on his face (Oh yea, he didn't like that. She has to remember to use that tone more often.) she mockingly waved the papers and went on to show that she was ready to rip them apart. When he did a double take it took all of her willpower not to burst into laughter. Oh, God she didn't expect such a reaction. That was picture worthy. In the end the momentary shock on his face had left her giggling like a dumb school girl. Priceless.

"What are you doing?" Amidst her laughter she hadn't noticed him approach her and loom over her looking like Death itself.

She probably should have felt scared from the way he was glaring daggers at her, but all she could see was that surprised reaction. Honest to God, she had been trying to get different reactions from him for a while now, surprise being one of them. She knew she probably was poking the devil with a stick with such a goal, but she had to get her entertainment from somewhere as well. Besides, it wasn't like she was going to let him get away with the constant mockery of her.

Madara clearly wasn't amused if his sour expression was anything to go by. When he reached for the papers she moved them away.

Sakura almost burst into an another fit of giggles of how the tables had been turned now. She bit her lip, trying to keep her expression neutral. She was going to enjoy this moment as much as she could. Not everyday she could get such a clear upper hand on Madara Uchiha.

"Sakura, I thought that we established that that was imperative," he growled, his eyes bleeding red again.

By now Sakura wasn't in the right mind to fear the sharingan. It wasn't like he could hurt her either, unless he wanted his key to get broken 'cause she sure as hell will do it if he injures her greatly. She grinned sweetly. "Well, yes, but for me not having to suffer from chakra depletion is also important." She waved the pieces around again, right under his nose. "So unless you want these to find home in my trash can, ripped to pieces, I would give the key back now."

With his height advantage alone he could easily get them, but the price would be that they would be ripped to pieces, she won't let go so easily. She couldn't stop grinning in glee.

"Fine. Rip it apart."

Sakura visibly deflated seeing him turn around and continue his merry way, not a care in the world.

W-what? How could he do this? This was her chance to finally best him by her own and get the damn key. She spluttered around, aghast.

"I can always write it again, you know, it's something I will never forget. Though, it would be a shame that you wouldn't learn it sooner." This time Madara was smirking in mirth, having turned the situation back in his favour.

Sakura cursed rather colourfully and slammed the stupid papers back on the table. It's not as desirable to rip them apart now. "One way or another I'm going to get that key." She pointed her finger at him, snarling."I'll be damned if I let this suffering continue, you sadistic fuck." The edges of her vision were already turning black. By this point she was standing from sheer determination alone.

Madara revelled in her anger which only edged Sakura on. He was looking down on her. She just knew. Whenever it seemed like she's finally won, he pulls shit like this.

Practically stomping after him she grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks. "Give. Me. The. Damn. Key." she grit out, barely keeping her anger in check. She should just hit him. Yea, that sounds like a great idea. Sock him right in the face.

So she did just that, despite lacking chakra to enhance her punch.

Unfortunately for her Madara simply sidestepped, freeing his hand from hers in the process. "You can do better than that. That was just pathetic."

Sakura felt her eye twitch. Of course she could, but she couldn't just magically summon more chakra out of nowhere to drive the punch home. Oh, how she wanted to yell that, but she wasn't going to make up excuses even when she had a damn good one. She's going to get back what's rightfully hers and send the damn bastard back to the shithole he came from, without stupid excuses.

Glowering at him she refused to answer his taunts, instead she expanded her senses to find where he had hid the key. Surprisingly enough, he hadn't hid it at all – he was holding it. She just failed to notice 'cause of her drowsiness, plus the black of the key blended with his black gloves. From experience she knew that grabbing it straight out won't work. Currently her moves were too sluggish to outwit him like that and hitting obviously won't work as well. She wasn't going to resort to begging and considering that asking nicely didn't work the first time, she doubted it would work for a second time. So, what the hell were her options here? Fall over and hope he goes back 'cause she's not there to keep the connection going? Yeah, no. She was going to chew off her own arm before she lets herself fall in front of him.

What can she do? What's her one advantage over him she has right now? She could always try closing the door forcefully, but she wasn't sure how that would work. Activating her Byakugo seal would only prolong this situation, so that was a no go.

She eyed him, standing in front of her in his usual stance, the key she was so desperately trying get only a reach away. He had his ever present smirk on his face, his single uncovered eye shining in laughter.

"Giving up? Such a shame." The disappointment was clear in his voice.

He was about to hide the key again when Sakura got an idea. It was insane, stupid and way over their set up boundaries, but she wasn't going to lose this.

She saw that when she reached out he thought that she was going for the key again, already moving it away from her hands. His mistake. Sakura grinned. Instead she surprised him by grabbing him by the front of his shirt, pulling him down to her level and kissing him. It was fast and awkward, but it got the job done. During his momentous surprise with her other free hand she took the key and stepped away.

She was so embarrassed that she didn't even raise her head to gauge his reaction. With the key finally in her possession she waved it in a half triangle motion that closed the door. The relief was instantaneous, though she was shaking, her knees weak.

Sakura dropped on the floor, face blazing, heart pounding, the key still in her hand. It was warming up, which usually meant that he wanted to be summoned again. She honestly didn't know and didn't want to think about it.

"What the hell have I done?"

She won, but at what price? She shouldn't have done that. It was stupid and risky, not to mention awkward. Jeez. She'll never be able to face him again. Desperation apparently made her do dumb shit. Oh, god, he'll be so pissed. She really doesn't want to experience that. Why, why, why…?

The pinkette gripped the key a bit tighter in her hand, the warmth of it steadily increasing. In the end she threw it away, not caring where it landed. Her thoughts were a mess. In the back of her mind she noted that it was already past midnight and that she had an early shift tomorrow in the hospital.

On auto pilot she cleaned her work space and got ready for bed.

What the hell is wrong with her? Why did she do that? Kissing him wasn't supposed to be a solution. Damn it, damn it! Although it was fairly innocent, she has kissed other guys with more fervour than that. Nononono- this isn't about that. It's the fact alone that she dared to do it, dared to lay her lips on a spirit, on someone who was supposedly the most evil person in Konoha history, someone who could obliterate her in one strike.

She got too comfortable around him. She should be more careful. Though in her defence most of the time he tended to annoy her, help her rather than scare her and it didn't help that he was fairly attractive as well. Damn Uchihas. Just when she thought that she was done with them another one comes prancing in her life and affecting her.

Jesus, what the hell is she thinking?

No! Don't think about it! That's bad. Don't think about Madara that way. Don't be that dumb little girl again. He's an asshat that likes torturing you, play around with you. It doesn't matter that he has helped you tremendously with your skills, occasionally even helping out on a mission or at home, kept you safe while you had to rid of a pesky poison that one dumb ninja poisoned you with, which was the whole reason for Tsunade to test me again because I almost died during that mission or when...okay, okay. You're going off course. Don't think about that.

Sakura groaned and fell in her bed, face first. Why did this always happen to her? Rolling over and covering herself with the sheets Sakura gently touched her still burning face and then her lips. It had been quick, but she still could feel it – the lukewarm feeling of his lips.

Shaking her head violently from her silly thoughts she rolled on her side, putting a hand under her pillow just so she couldn't touch her face again.

Sadly she realized that even though he was annoying at times, scary some other times and a general jackass he still had filled a void within her that she didn't know even existed. She was lonely. She never knew that. She regularly went out with her friends – Ino and other girls, had sparse missions with Team seven and occasionally some sparring matches with Tsunade, she put in a lot of hours at the hospital, where she was always around people, obviously. But even despite her communicating with people day to day basis she felt painstakingly lonely.

Whenever she went on a solo mission it had become like a requirement from him for her to summon him during that time or whenever she was alone at home or had a free day and even then when he wasn't around she still had the key, that brought him to this world, always on her.

She never paid attention to it, to his constant presence, to her unlikely attraction to him. She supposed she will have to learn to keep her feelings in check on top of other things. What they had was purely professional and she wasn't going to ruin that. She didn't want to resort to breaking his key. It was a dumb mistake on her part that won't be repeated, she will make sure of that.

Xxx

For the next few weeks she had been too busy to bring him back in her world, even though he wanted to come. He had been warming up the key to such temperatures that she had to throw it in ice water at one point just to avoid burning down her apartment building. And when she had gone on a three day mission with Team seven, the key did literally burn a hole through her backpack. Now that was a fiasco to explain. She had been keeping her meddling with kinjutsu a secret for nearly two months and she wasn't going to reveal that just yet. Especially when the person she had made a contract with was Madara Uchiha. Nope. Not happening.

Despite it being over two weeks already she still couldn't get her little action out of mind. It actually was one large reason why she was delaying bringing him back so much. She didn't know what to expect from him, how she should act around him. She felt like a dumb little girl – an impulsive, desperate girl that couldn't control her urges.

With a shaking hand she opened his door again after two weeks and a half had passed ever since she had last closed it. She had finally gotten a free day, all to herself and she no longer had any excuses not to summon him for any longer.

To her surprise Madara didn't mention anything about the kiss. All he did say was that just for the long time it took her to bring him back he wasn't going to go easy on her during their sparring session. Not that he ever did. He acted as if nothing had happened and it made Sakura at ease. Somewhat.

Still for the next week when she summoned him whenever she had free time, due to his request, she couldn't stop thinking about it or sending side way glances towards him. It made her feel like she was back in her academy days when she used to stare at Sasuke, so she tried to catch herself and avoid doing it. He seemed not to notice, thankfully. Also, a huge blessing from the Gods, he was less resilient when she wanted to send him back. If there was one positive from the damn incident then it was that she could finally keep the key and send him back with less resistance.

It had been a long day for her – she had worked two shifts in the hospital and helped out Tsunade with her mountain of paperwork. She was so tired that when she summoned Madara per his demand she didn't even have the energy to spar, not that he minded. He looked perfectly content just sitting at her kitchen counter and reading a book of who knows what. She honestly didn't care.

It once again was late in the evening when she was able to get some food. Naruto had offered to treat her to ramen, but she had refused, already being sick of ramen. In the end she had decided to torture herself just a bit longer and cook herself a bowl of gyudon.

Adding the last ingredient of soy sauce she stirred her concoction almost impatiently.

Her feet were killing her. Gawd. She thought that she would get used to running around the hospital for hours. Oh, how naive she had been. At least she wasn't in loss of chakra. Somehow Madara's persistence to stay in her world until the last minute had expanded her chakra reserves. It had been a pleasant discovery to make. Maybe he wasn't so bad at all. Maybe, and that's a huge maybe.

Sighing Sakura leaned against the counter near the stove, letting her food simmer in the pan for a couple of minutes. Warily she cast her glance towards Madara. He was still reading, book in hand, an easy expression on his face. Unwillingly her eyes lingered longer than they should.

How badly she wanted to touch that hair. There was so much of it and it was so damn spiky...just...run her fingers through it or simply touch that skin or…

Sakura choked.

Madara had noticed her staring.

Blushing like crazy she swivelled around. Heart pounding in her chest, she removed the pan from the heat, turning the stove off.

Bad Sakura! Badbadbadbad!

From the cupboard she grabbed a bowl and poured her food in it. The fuck was wrong with her? Slobbering over him like a starved dog. She should be past this. It made no sense for her to do this.

When she turned around to go grab a pair of chopsticks from the drawer her heart almost jumped out her throat. Madara had moved to stand in front of her, successfully caging her in. Damn ninjas and their skills and damn ghosts for being even more quieter. She almost got a heart attack.

"What do you want, Sakura?"

Confused Sakura finally met his gaze, her blush still prominent on her face. Damn, damn all of this. She gripped the counter, her hands shaking. This was a pickle. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. What the hell is she even supposed to answer?

He moved closer and Sakura nearly pressed herself flat against the counter in return. At least they weren't touching. God forbid they do.

Seeing her so flustered made him grin. "You changed the playing field, don't be surprised if your cards are being used against you." He finally moved away and Sakura got some breathing space, although he didn't move far enough. Instead of going back to his seat, he leaned against the counter near her, almost touching her side.

Sakura had to compose herself. Briefly she pondered what he meant by that. Does that mean that's she's in deeper shit than she thought?

"Do you know what peace is?" His softer, quieter tone brought her out of her thoughts. Turning her head to face him she noticed that he had closed his eyes in thought.

"Um...yea. It's when everybody can work in harmony, no fights, no wars." This was an odd line of questions and change of tone. What was he trying to weed out of her this time? It was bad enough that she had to suffer through reading that Infinite Tsukuyomi thing. Which she, by the way, didn't finish, but he doesn't need to know that.

"Exactly. But do you think we can ever achieve it in the world we're living in?"

Gazing at the cracks on the floor boards she thought about it for a moment, easing her grip on the counter. It was a pretty loaded question. "No." And it was the harsh truth. As much as she wanted for things to end well, not always it went that way. She had seen enough shinobi die from injuries gained during missions, shinobi dying during missions, regular people suffer from the consequences of civil war, and the list went on. People were always in conflict. She had learned that early on. "So?"

"So, we should fix it. Aren't you tired from all the deaths, fighting, the corruption of this world?"

Sakura curiously gazed up at him, but he hadn't moved an inch. Where was he going with this? "Truthfully, yes, but it's my job to face all of that. I have to deal with it everyday, just like any other shinobi."

"You shouldn't have to."

"Eh?"

He finally opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. "Did you read your instructions?"

Biting her tongue a bit, she averted her gaze. She had hoped he wouldn't ask this. What a stupid hope had that been. "Ermm...yes."

He obviously knew that she was lying if the displeased frown was any indication. "Read it. It's going to be your guide for the mission I have prepared for you."

"Eh? Whaddya mean?" Outraged she stood straighter. From where did this come from? This wasn't their agreement.

Madara grimaced. "I need your help. In this condition I can't do it alone."

Sakura spluttered, confused as heck. How much more cryptic can he get? She almost wanted to ask, but held back lest she made herself look stupid in front of him. How did this tie in with the first questions? What the hell was he planning? Suddenly she suspected his reasons for being here. He never did specify to her what they were.

He suddenly moved from his spot, walking back to where he left his book. "Eat your dinner before it gets cold."

Snapping out of her musings, she ran up to the drawer and pulled out her chopsticks. Grabbing her, thankfully still warm, bowl of gyudon she made her merry way towards the counter where Madara was sitting, but stopped midway. She probably should go somewhere else to eat, she already felt awkward enough around him. No need to make it more awkward by making a pig out of herself in front of him. Not that she hasn't done that before, but this time she was a bit more self conscious. With him being a ghost he didn't need to eat or sleep, so she probably didn't need to remind him how good food could be. This time she didn't want to annoy him.

In the end she had her very late dinner in her living room while watching TV.

Xxx

After a month she had finally understood what he had meant by mission and Infinite Tsukuyomi. Well, partially at least. He still wouldn't explain to her what the end results would be apart from peace. She suspected that it was because it would be something she wouldn't like.

Now she finally understood what the folklore had meant when it had said that Madara Uchiha was a lunatic. This whole Eye of the Moon Plan was lunacy. Of course she didn't say that to his face, she didn't want to be on the butt end of the sharingan or worse – his kama. Somehow it also involved Naruto and the Kyuubi that was sealed in him. It was an another thing she didn't mention to him – about knowing the whereabouts of the Kyuubi or Ichibi, for that matter, among other things she might know relating to the plan.

Sakura wasn't dumb, she knew that Madara from the beginning had something up his sleeve. She just didn't know how bad it was. She helped where she could with it. So far it had been very little, to Madara's chagrin. Briefly she had suspected that Madara knew that she was holding him back on purpose, but he never mentioned anything. Then again she had learned that that wasn't something she could count on. He had a penchant for striking when she least expected, so it was probable that in the future she would have to answer.

On a positive note, she was finally easing out of her dumb crush. Even though he still was a jerk and sometimes tried to take the key from her, she had learned her lesson and had made it into a necklace. Nobody ever said how big the unlocking motion had to be. So unless he wanted to choke her, which wouldn't slide very well with her and in turn would end badly for him, he had no way of taking it from her. She successfully had gotten rid of those little find the key games, meaning no more desperate moves to get it back. And, fortunately for her, Madara didn't care enough to bring her desperate move up again.

Slowly, but surely, everything started to go her way. She might have just tamed the wild dog. She was in control and it made her happy. Who would have thought that lil' ol' her could control such a powerful man?

Though he still was better than her in battle if her current predicament was any indication. She was pinned, Madara had her cornered.

Panting she wiped her forehead from sweat and assessed her situation. For a change Madara had brought out his weapons, though had limited himself to only using his kama. This had left Sakura in a pinch. She didn't use any weapons other than kunai, shuriken or the occasional senbon, so she had been pushed to improvise, think quickly to counter his attacks.

The clearing they were sparring in was a mess from her earth shattering punches, broken trees, large fissures scattered around and debris of wood and rock scattered all around. Embarrassingly enough all of it had been her doing, her signs of trying to defend herself. Such a fighting method wasn't advised in populated areas, but this time she had been pushed to use the environment to her advantage. She had sparred with him long enough to know his basic fighting style, so it hadn't been too much of a problem for her to keep up until he actively started using his kama in his attacks.

In the end it had left her solely focusing on defence. She would have used some of her dirtier tricks against him, but the problem was that she couldn't get close enough, touch him to do her damage, though he did. But what was weird that he didn't injure her at all, always touching her in some way instead of laying harm. It had made her shudder every time it had happened.

That's how she had ended up at the sharp end of his kama, in a standstill.

Madara lowered his kama and stepped away from her. "We're done for today."

Bewildered Sakura spluttered. "What? But I can still go on."

He raised his kama again, sharp end up and put the stick end of it on the ground, slightly leaning against it. "It's fruitless to fight someone who is always on the defensive. You should assess your tactics and modify or change them for better use against someone with a weapon."

She scowled, easing herself out of her battle stance and letting the tension out of her body. She didn't know if she should feel insulted or not. He ended their spar earlier than usual. Like, did he think she couldn't handle him? She probably couldn't if he went all out, but he could have at least tried. Ugh! He never bothered to explain her mistakes thoroughly either, letting her come to the necessary conclusions herself. Sakura clicked her tongue, realizing that he probably was right. And once again the power difference between them made her feel like shit. Though she had to keep in mind that he was a lot more experienced, had better reflexes, knowledge. She still had a lot to learn.

Crossing her arms she pouted. She couldn't help it, she still felt cheated.

"I suppose for better results you could try to summon another spirit."

Alarmed Sakura dropped her childish act. "What? Are you crazy? I nearly died trying to create a contract with you. How is another spirit even going to help me?"

He frowned. "Relax. You're underestimating your abilities. By now your chakra reserves are large enough to handle it, that combined with your good chakra control and you should be fine."

"Okay, fine then, but why do I need one?" Pouting again she tried to ignore the fuzzy feeling that came from hearing him saying something like that.

"Practice. Say you summon someone like, for example, Hashirama and you might get more benefits from that. It's always an option." By now he was smiling, watching her reactions carefully.

Sakura opened her mouth to respond, but closed it soon after. Suspicious she narrowed her eyes. She knew that Madara and Hashirama were friends back when they were alive, but what would he get from Hashirama being here? He never passed up as the sentimental type to her. In fact, he never mentioned anything about his past, friends or family to her. This seemed fishy.

Not to mention that there was the possibility that someone else might have already tried to summon the Shodai, thus her chance to summon him would be gone. If the key was already created she would have to know what the key looked like to summon him again. And that is only if his contract with his previous summoner was broken. It was such a headache inducing jutsu that Sakura would have preferred to never use it again.

Madara seemed to know where her thought process was going, so he answered before she could ask. "He doesn't have a contract with anyone. No one during the time he's been dead has tried to summon him."

Even more suspicious she propped her arms in her sides. "And how do you know that?"

"He told me himself."

"Really?" Now Sakura was curious.

"Yes. Whenever we come across each other we exchange a few words."

Well, that was interesting information to find out. Would have been great if she knew it sooner, but as always he liked to keep her in the dark. Actually, he didn't tell her about a lot of things. And, dammit, she wanted to know. Like why, for example, he needed Hashirama here? She doubted Hashirama, like her, would agree with his plans. So, why the hell did he need two opposing forces? What was he planning now?

Ugh! Sakura was so tired from all this secrecy, manipulation and half truths. Even when she straight out asked him, he still found a way to weed himself out of giving an honest answer. She just knew. She was just so damn tired from all these games.

This was the last straw.

Gritting her teeth she stomped closer to him, barely managing to keep her anger in check. When she was close enough she moulded her face in her meanest glare. Madara hardly reacted at all. She raised an accusing finger towards him. "You know what? I'm tired from this. I'm tired from you always lying to me."

He raised an eyebrow curiously. "I don't lie to you."

Sakura snarled. "Oh, yea? Obscuring the truth is pretty much lying. Don't think that I'm some kind of little stupid girl you can move around as a puppet. I know you've been hiding information from me. I know you're not telling me something about Eye of the Moon Plan. And, on top of that, what the hell was up with all the touching today? I want the truth, Madara!"

Madara chuckled, moving his kama to his other hand he closed the distance between them. Sakura almost wanted to take a step back, but bit down that impulse and instead stood ramrod straight. He leaned closer to the side of her face and this time Sakura couldn't help but shudder.

"I touched you because I like to see you squirm."

"Bastard." She half heartedly punched him on his armour covered chest.

He stepped away from her, flicking her ear in the process.

Sakura scowled and tried to rid of the flutters in her stomach. Figures that that's the question he decides to answer first. "Now, what are you hiding about the Eye of the Moon Plan?" She was just barely keeping a hold of herself. She wanted to hit him so badly.

"How about I'll answer some of your questions honestly and then you answer mine? Don't act like a saint, Sakura. I know you've been hiding things from me as well."

Oh, yes, she wanted to punch that smug face really much. She knew that this would come someday, but she hadn't expected for it to be brought up now. Part of her wanted to back out, just scratch this off as a joke or something else, but the other part couldn't stand down from the challenge. She didn't want to tell him what she knew about the Kyuubi and the Akatsuki that were collecting the tailed beasts (Prior to her summoning him Konoha had already fought off a couple of Akatsuki members, even helped out Suna with the same problem, and helped save Gaara). Though, she very much wanted to know what he had been hiding from her. She didn't think that he was a horrible person per say, but some of his actions so far had been questionable. He was brewing up something that might just affect the world negatively, despite him saying that all he wanted was peace. And if she could she would stop it.

"Alright, but you'll start by answering my previous question." How she hoped that she won't regret this decision.

The smugness left his expression and was replaced by something Sakura couldn't exactly place. "It's a dream genjutsu. Upon reflecting the Rinne Sharingan from the moon the whole world will be enveloped in a dream world. Those under the influence of the Tsukuyomi will get their deepest desires fulfilled."

Aghast, Sakura took a step back. That was pure insanity. A dream world? How the hell would that create world peace? She couldn't make heads or tails from this revelation. That wouldn't solve anything. How can he believe that it would?

That easy smile was back on his face again after seeing her expression. "Your turn."

She composed herself, steeling her stance again. She bit her lip, thinking if she really should do this. She would be a hypocrite if she didn't though. "I know where the tailed beasts are, well two of them at least. There's also this organization Akatsuki, who collect these beasts. Currently we know that they are in the possession of the Ichibi and who knows how many other tailed beasts." She purposely left out Naruto and the Kyuubi. She had no intention to bring harm to her friend or tie him in in her mess.

Recognition passed through his eyes, which only made Sakura more suspicious. Other than that he didn't react outwardly to this new line of information.

Sakura was about to ask her next question, but he cut her off. "Since I had to answer two of your questions in a row, I think it's only fair that you do the same."

She growled, once again itching to sock him in his smug face. "Alright." Hopefully he won't realize that she only told him a part of what she knew and won't berate her further with the same question.

Madara pretended to think about his next question by leaning more heavily on his kama, annoying her on purpose. At that moment if it weren't for the bright red armour he would have looked like the Grim Reaper, Sakura belatedly realized. It was a stark reminder of who she was talking to. "What do you want, Sakura?"

A sense of déjà vu hit her. He asked her the same question some time ago. If she remembered correctly then she had avoided to answer it, but under the context he had last asked her it, she was kind of glad that she hadn't answered it. It was already embarrassing enough. Though now that she thought about it she had no idea what she wanted.

"I know that you have some kind of crush on me."

Blanching Sakura took a step back. Fuck. This was what she was fearing. Was that what he was asking from her? What she wanted from him, in that way? Crap, carp! She honestly doesn't know. Avoiding his gaze she stared a hole in the ground. It had been naive of her to think that he wouldn't notice. With her trying to figure out what he was planning she never considered her reasons thoroughly for keeping him around, despite knowing that what he was planning was potentially dangerous.

The question served her as a reminder that she was in control of his way to the real world, that she could break it off whenever she could and stop his scheming. But it hadn't even passed her mind. Why? Now of that she wasn't sure. For months Madara had become such a constant in her life that she didn't even question his presence anymore, that she could stop whatever was going on with a simple motion. Was the reason what he was implying? Because she liked him she kept him around?

She raised her head and felt a blush spread across her cheeks against her will. He was patiently waiting for her answer, a small self satisfied smirk on his face.

Was he really going to make her say it? What the hell would he gain from that? Some kind of satisfaction from making her squirm? Her nerves felt frayed, hands clammy and itchy from her gloves. She had a hard time admitting it to herself, let alone say it out loud. In fact she had been trying to forget it, separate her emotions. Her downfall were always her emotions, her sentimentality. She had thought that after everything she had been through, after getting over her childish crush on Sasuke that she had gotten a rein on them. Apparently not.

"Well?"

Balling her hands she grit her teeth. He was going to make her say it. Fuck this, fuck him! She could feel the anger coursing through her and the underlying embarrassment that kept her pinned in her spot, otherwise she would have hit him a long time ago. "Fine! You're right." The words slipped through. She barely registered saying them, her fury clouding her judgement. "I don't know what I want, but I know that I'm weak, that I developed feelings that I shouldn't have, that I don't know how to deal with it. And I can't stop thinking about it ever since..." she abruptly cut herself off, turning away from him and covering her flaming face with her hands.

Fuckfuckfuck! She might as well break the key now. Her life was a whole lot easier without all of this crap. She doesn't need this.

She didn't hear him walk over to her. Only when he stepped in front of her did she notice. Everything after that was so sudden that Sakura didn't know how to react. He had taken her by the scruff of her neck angling her head and kissing her in a forceful, almost bruising kiss. She was too slack jawed at what what was happening to do much of anything.

When he pulled away she could see the mirth shining in his dark eyes. "Is this what you want, Sakura?"

She moved her mouth, but no words would form. She was shocked, she barely registered what had happened. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her chest that she didn't even hear what he had said.

Madara took her hand and for a moment a snippet of fear entered her, but when all he did was place it in his hair at the side of his neck she relaxed. The move utterly confused her, but he didn't give her enough time to ponder on the weird action before he brought her in for an another kiss, only this time it was a lot more gentle and, dare she say it, intimate. He surely didn't waste the opportunity of her slack jawed state, deepening the connection.

Dazzled she closed her eyes responding to his actions. She gripped his hair when he used his teeth to nibble on her bottom lip for a while. Her other hand entered his hair no soon after. Later on Sakura had realized the reason for his odd placement of her hand; once again Madara had noticed something she had hoped she had been able to hide – that she really wanted to touch his mane of hair. It was such a shame that she was wearing gloves and couldn't touch it properly. She was overcome with such a flurry of emotions, feelings. The slightly colder temperature of his body made her shiver.

He broke their lip lock again letting her catch her breath. She wanted to say something, but her words got lost in her throat and were replaced with a squeak when he picked her up bridal style. By now the blush on her face was a constant. For the short period he carried her she hid her red face in his hair, noting that it smelled just like the wind.

When she felt that she was being set down she peeked from her spot and felt another wave of flutters pass through her when she realized that he had placed her in his lap. Madara had sat down at the base of a tree cross legged and placed Sakura side ways on top of his crossed legs, leaving Sakura now eye level to his forehead. Needless to say she was confused with this development, too flabbergasted to protest.

This time she had to lean slightly down when he pulled her closer for a third kiss in a row. It was by now when she was coming back to her senses and processing all that was happening.

Using her free hand, that wasn't thrown across his shoulders she stuck it in his hair. There was something she had been curious about as a medic for a while. She knew very little about the physiology of the spirit body, apart from the lower body temperature and the fact that he might not even need to breathe, but did out of habit. While he was busy dominating her mouth she trailed her hand down from his hair to his pulse point and was pleasantly surprised. He had a heart beat. It wasn't as erratic as hers currently was, but it still was there. Well, I'll be damned.

When he started trailing small kisses down her jaw she fully came back to her senses, processing the position she was in. And what a startling realization it was.

What the hell were they doing? This was so wrong on so many levels. She's kissing a ghost for fucks sake. Why is she going along with this? She was supposed to not let something like this happen.

Her head was pounding so loudly from her heartbeat that she didn't hear him talking at all. Wrong. Wrong. This was so wrong, yet why did it feel nice?

He was leaning towards her again. She stopped him by placing her gloved hand across his mouth. "What are we doing? This is wrong. You're dead! You're a ghost. Wait, nevermind that, how old are you even? Oh God, this is so wrong." All her concerns came pouring out as a barrage of questions. There should be a rule about this. This shouldn't be happening.

She heard Madara mutter something along the lines of "it doesn't matter" before he removed her hand. "You still haven't told me everything you know." Those words coupled with his sly smile made something snap inside her.

It dawned on her that he was using her again, trying to loosen her lips by giving her what she supposedly wants. Her eye twitched.

When he was trying to kiss her again she stopped him again, this time by dragging him back with the hand she had trailed from his shoulder to the back of his head. To her surprise he only rolled his eyes at being interrupted for the second time in a row. It was an action that she hadn't seen the Uchiha do before, meaning he might not be as unaffected as she first thought. Though her point still stood.

She snarled. "You're playing me." His hands that he had placed on her waist and thigh increased their grip. Oh, she was right. Sakura tilted closer. Because of their position he had to angle his head upwards and in turn the right side of his face wasn't obscured by his bangs. She had the chance to stare him down dead on. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

He was amused with her anger. "No, but that's what makes this fun." The hand on her thigh left and instead was placed at the back of her head, messing up the tie that kept her hitai-ate in place. He pushed her forward for their fourth kiss. This time it was a lot wilder, with Sakura pushing forth all her hate, a gnash of teeth and tongue. She even bit him ferociously when he angled her head, which earned her a growl from him.

She hated him for thinking that he could play with her emotions, that he thought that he could use her weakness against her, that she would bend to his will. Though chance. She wasn't the same girl she used to be, she wasn't that weak and pathetic girl that used to freeze up as soon as danger faced her way. That girl was gone. She had changed, she had bettered herself, though she had never expected that someday she would be butting heads with the most fearsome Uchiha of all, acting like a couple of wild dogs.

She bit him again before tearing away. Sakura couldn't help but grin when she noticed that she had made him bleed from her bite. She felt flushed and was panting from exertion. His much more even breath was fanning her face, dark, hooded eyes watching her every move. She held her breath when he licked off the blood from his bottom lip, smirking at the end.

Jeez, she knew that they had some slight sexual tension before, but she didn't think it was this bad. Why the hell did she just find that attractive? Bad, Sakura!

Shaking her head slightly she let go of him. They should stop before this leads to something that she'll regret. Thankfully Madara understood what she wanted and let her go as well, letting her climb out of his lap and take a seat against the tree besides him. Of course she kept a respectable distance between them now. She hugged her knees, letting the past few minutes sink in. Tingles were running all across her body and she felt hot all over her body.

She'll probably agonize over this later when she comes down from her high, she knew. This was something that wasn't supposed to happen, it shouldn't have went so far. She should have just dropped her dumb crush and he should have kept quiet about it. In the end Sakura had to backtrack her previous statement about being in control. This, whatever it was, just proved that she was far from controlling the situation, that no matter how hard she tried she could never win.

The pinkette cast a glance towards him, noticing that he had changed his position as well – had raised one knee up and was resting his arm on it, a far away expression on his face. By the looks of it he was contemplating something. Sakura blushed and turned her head away when he sucked on his still bleeding lip. She sure left a number on him.

She couldn't stop the feeling of awkwardness that over took her. Should she say something to him? What the hell would she even say? Despite feeling awkward she didn't really want to say anything, she was still mad at him for trying to manipulate her and mad at herself for letting her emotions control her.

In the end both of them had played each other, as odd as that sounded. She had kept her secrets, avoiding answering everything truthfully and to an extent he had done the same. She still had a flurry of questions she wanted answered. With the information she had some things made little sense. She had learned early on that what she had read in the history books about him wasn't entirely true. He was an asshat, but he wasn't the despicable evil the books had described him as. Then again she might be biased. Still it didn't explain why he so desperately wanted to achieve something unattainable, something that would never come true with the methods he was using.

Part of her was curious and wanted to ask what had pushed him to such an extreme, what had wounded him so deeply that the only solution would essentially be taking away everyone's free will. After all people didn't decide to put people into an eternal sleep on a whim. She kind of understood that he meant well, but was willingly putting himself in a position where he would be despised by everyone (she guessed that might explain the books). She had always been a bleeding heart, so she couldn't stop but worry about these things. It was in her nature to help people, she was a medic after all.

In the end it was a fight between what her heart wanted and what her mind wanted, again. She couldn't decide what her next move should be – help Madara or break the key and stop this madness. Partially she understood that she was selfish, that she would never break the key now that he had filled that void in her life, despite knowing that it would be the best for everyone if he never returned to this world.

Sakura sighed, inhaling deeply the late summer air. It was a lot windy than it usually was, so the heat that usually enveloped Konoha during the summer was a tad bit more bearable. She let her eyes roam across the clearing, nothing how the leaves shook in the wind and the birds chirped. She and Madara were sitting in the shade of a tree, but the clearing she had disrupted with her actions was illuminated by the bright afternoon sun. If someone by chance came across this clearing, they would surely report to the Hokage and Kakashi would know instantly that it could only be her, who could destroy a forest like this, which in turn would mean that she would get into trouble.

"Send me back." Madara's gravelly voice brought her back to the present.

Bewildered she turned to face him. "W-what?"

He hadn't moved from his spot, the same expression on his face. "Close the door. I want to go back for now."

She was at a loss of words. He never asked her to send him back. Usually she decided when he should go back because if it was up to him he never would. What had happened? He had been so determined to stay in the real world for so long, never wanting to go back to the dreary other side. What changed? Was it because of what she said?

Then again she shouldn't question this. This was once in a life time opportunity and she should take it, clear her mind without him around.

She pulled out the key by the chain she kept it on from under her qipao dress. Taking the key she swung it in a half triangle motion towards him, effectively closing the door. She watched as he gradually faded out of existence. It always looked so weird to her, to see someone just moments ago she could touch disappear like that.

She slid the slightly larger than normal key back under her dress, where it rested between her breasts. As she was about to let go of the chain she realized that after what just happened the position of the key seemed highly inappropriate, whereas before it had been solely practical. In hasty movements she pulled it back out and over her head, deciding to stuff it in her weapons pouch instead.

Resting her chin back on her knees she contemplated her next move. She wasn't even sure what was the right thing to do anymore. There were so many 'what ifs' and things she could have done to avoid all of this. No harm had been done so far, she had stalled him enough from making any drastic moves towards his plan, but for how long could she keep that up?

---

Have to admit that I had a lot of fun when writing this, the characters came so easily to me. Bettering Sakura was a part of this (cause honestly, everyone knows that canon Sakura is a horrible character, due to authors incompetence), while still keeping some of her most notable qualities (otherwise it wouldn't be Sakura anymore). I don't plan for this being overly long, three chapters of same length, max, but who knows what might happen. I usually plan my stories out, with a clear end in mind, but this time I was so excited that I didn't plan anything, which is bad, a bad writing regime in general, so I hope that this pans out and I finish this in two chapters.

Feedback is always welcome.

Thanks for reading.