Founding Love

Chapter Two

Consciousness wasn't a soft awareness tapping at the edges of your vision or the darkness of night. It wasn't a slow progression to where your limbs were prickling with lightness and the fabric of your clothes brushing against your body. It was a cold, sudden burst of energy plunging through your veins which caused your heart to stammer in your chest and your eyes to bulge open.

That's what Sakura was feeling now.

She was cold and sudden surrounded by intense pressure. Her limbs were slick and her hair floating around her, and she felt wet. When she opened her mouth to gasp, water flooded her mouth and she swallowed down a massive amount causing her lungs to burn with the urge to cough. Her eyes shot open and she could only see grains of sand and dirt kicking up with her fight. Her arms were pinned back, a hand digging harshly into her wrists, and her head was being pushed further down closer to the dirt. Fish were zipping past her vision and she thrashed uncomfortably in a panic to bring herself back up before she drowned.

She fought for several minutes, her spine aching at the position, and she could feel her lungs squeezing tight. Her eyes, still bulging, were beginning to burn as well, and she felt the pricks of tears at the edges of her eyes. She swung her head around and tried to shift her shoulders to and fro. Her legs had massive weight on them, holding her down as she kicked furiously. She fought as hard as she could, and she began to buck to throw off the presumed attacker.

Several moments passed, and a tug on her hair had her head whipping backwards. She gasped for air to immediately cough when she broke through the surface of the water. Water came shooting past her lips, and she strained to breathe properly. She hacked hard, chest hurting and body convulsing, before she was shoved forward into the water again. She was better prepared this time and took a deep breath in to hold it. She continued to thrash and she screamed in her raw throat. She was held under for a few minutes this time and another set of hands seemed to struggle with the one in her hair. She could hear a muffled argument and splashing around her before her hair was released none too gently. A strong arm slipped across the top of her chest, hand coming to clutch at her left shoulder, and she was pulled back to the surface.

Sakura gasped and blinked rapidly, sunlight burning her vision for many seconds. She coughed and she felt a warm body beside her holding her steady. The weight on her legs lifted, and she dragged her legs beneath her, too weak to try to stand. She shifted back and the weight of her body settled on her calves, and she pulled her arms forward to grab onto the arm keeping her from falling forward into what she could tell was a riverbank. She wheezed and spit out more water. The hard body beside her curled around her side, and whoever it was began to pat her back.

Sakura was dripping wet and cold, and the body beside her was warm and seemingly comforting. She held onto the arm across her chest tighter, and she leaned forward slightly to ease the pressure off her legs which were turning numb. Sakura's eyes drifted closed and she tried to concentrate on settling her breathing through her nose.

"I told you that you could kill her, Madara!" The voice vibrated, shaking her side.

The name sparked in her mind, and her eyes shot open. Her head twisted to her right and she raised her chin to stare into the defined jaw of a man she recognized only from texts. Her brows furrowed in confused astonishment and her lips fell open unsure of how to respond to the situation. The Shodai Hokage looked down at her then, his center parted fringe falling down to tickled her pale cheeks. Her eyes traced his tanned face, and he offered a small smile.

"Are you ok, miss?" He inquired gently.

Sakura stared flabbergasted now.

"Shodai?" She whispered.

He seemed confused at the title, and his fingers pressed into her shoulder. His other arm ceased patting her to rest on the curve of her back.

"No, no. You may call me Hashirama. Senju Hashirama." He corrected.

He pushed her back with his arm, and raised a hand to lay it on her forehead as if to check for a fever. Sakura flinched at the clinking of his red armor, and in her periphery she saw the Nidaime stoically standing not too far off behind them. His arms crossed in front of him, but she could see the flash of silver of the kunai hidden in his hand. He had a deep scowl on his face, but his line of sight was focused beyond her.

Her emerald eyes directed to the Nidaime's focal point, head twirling away from the grasp of the First, and she hiccuped. Fear crept up her spine as she looked at the firm form of the infamous Uchiha Madara. His waist length spiky hair danced around the breeze, his Sharingan glimmering. His fair features clashed with the darkness of his blue high collared mantle hidden partly by the crimson metal armour. Sakura was mesmerized at the powerful sight he made, his gunbai resting at his back, hand on his hip.

"Miss?" The First called.

Sakura's hands were clenched painfully on the arm of Hashirama, and she fought down the bile rising in her throat. She struggled to search her mind for how on Earth she was seeing dead people. She briefly considered it a genjutsu, but with her superior senses, she knew it wasn't true. She considered it being the reanimated forms, but she could feel the heat from Hashirama's skin and the blood pumping through his veins. When she had met the reanimated Hokages before the fight with Kaguya, she remembered how cold their bodies were.

Kaguya, she thought eyes widening. She had to have been the one to do this.

Images flashed in her mind and she remembered the sinking in her gut when she passed through the portal. Naruto… Sasuke-kun. Sakura froze as she vaguely pieced together what occurred after her separation from Team 7, or what was left of it, and dread filled her. Several emotions tormented her- sorrow, fear, dread, angst, and anger. She settled on anger. Anger made her strong and it made her rigid.

She forced herself to stare into the tomoes of the Sharingan of Madara as he raised his chin to stare down his nose at her even from the short distance.

"You! You tried to drown me!" She pointed with a shaking finger, teeth chattering.

Madara raised an eyebrow at her. "And you interrupted my battle to attack me."

She had no retort for him immediately and she lifted her nose at him mockingly at out of sheer spite.

"Who are you?" He demanded now stepping closer to her.

She gave no dignified response, just a snort, and she bravely attempted to seem stronger and bigger than she actually was. She squared her shoulders, and shifted onto her haunches despite the protest of her sore and weakened body. Hashirama protested in her stead, clutching at her and begging her not to move.

"You're too weak!" Hashirama declared, trying to pull her to him softly as though as were fragile. "You've lost too much blood!"

Sakura knew this to be true. Her internal analysis said as much, and her muscles were cramping and her bones quivering as she stood up. She made it in one fluid motion, rocking on her heels in the uneven sandbank. Her chakra was low, and she could feel how beat up her system was from her prior engagements. This wasn't going to stop her from standing up to an enemy of Konoha though.

Or an enemy to be of Konoha, she reprimanded herself.

"I don't need to answer you." She bit out defiantly.

He was charging at her in a flash, a movement too fast for her tired eyes to follow, and had it not been for the sharp pitch of kunai clashing, she was sure she would have been dead. She held perfectly still. The black cloth of the Nidaime's arm obscured her peripheral vision, and she blinked rapidly. The sneering face of Madara stood way closer than she anticipated, and she could see the strain on his face as he strove to push the Second Hokage away. Neither of them budged, forces equally matched in a standstill.

Sakura was surprised. The speed of the Second was clearly unrivaled and not exaggerated over the generations.

The man she recalled as Tobirama was behind her, his fur collar tickling and brushing against her face and neck, blocking the kunai in Madara's hand from striking her. The intense aura of the men weighed heavy on her, and Sakura gauged how blessed she was to have somehow made the fortune of being under Tobirama's protection, if she could call it that.

"You are my prisoner. You will answer to me." Madara growled.

"Madara! Tobirama!" Hashirama yelled from behind them.

The change in his tone was notable, and both men froze. Sakura was unsure of how the man so gentle and soft from before could change to be so firm. She could feel his demanding presence and it rivaled the Uchiha Clan head. In her history books, it was said that both men were equally matched in strength and determination, and Sakura wondered if it were accounts like these which caused it to be written as so.

Sakura swallowed a lump in her throat, and she maintained her perfectly still posture. She ignored the goosebumps crawling up her arms and the cool breeze on her wet skin. It must have been late in the day with the sun starting its descent. Sakura chanced a glance around her, and saw a man who looked vaguely like Sasuke staring at her with keen interest. He was pale, and even almost sickly looking, but she remembered his eyes. Eyes which were distinctly unlike Sasuke.

Her attention drew back to Madara when he halted his attack on her and the Second. The Nidaime had yet to speak, but she could feel his heated stare on her. He hadn't moved yet from directly behind her, her back solely warmed by his lithe body. His armor, despite being cooler, was pressed along her backside so that he could reach around her to stop the assault.

"This is no time for silly games." Hashirama pressed approaching the trio.

"Indeed." Tobirama snapped.

"Then you will have her tell us exactly who she is and why she attacked me." Madara was sheathing his kunai in his pants pocket, gloves crinkling.

Sakura looked at him with distaste before catching the small smirk on the face of the man she had healed. Sakura turned away when Hashirama cleared his throat stepping up to her. He grabbed his brother's arm, lowering it from where it was still holding in position in front of her. She took note of the exchange between the brothers when she felt Tobirama step away from her.

"Miss, " Hashirama redirected, "Please tell us your name and why you're fighting us."

"Me." Madara corrected.

"Madara."

Silence stretched between them, and she struggled with an answer. She had attacked Madara because she had thought he was Kaguya, an honest mistake, but one she could not voice. Sakura scrambled for an answer. An answer which could put her in a better position, but also not disrupt the constructs of time because she clearly wasn't in hers.

"I thought he was someone else." She prayed to Kami they wouldn't question who.

They mulled over her response, and she tucked away the urge to fidget. Her spine was starting to ache with how tight her shoulders were and she dared not move or else her legs were to give out.

"Your name."

Sakura was surprised by the sharp tone of Tobirama, and she bit her tongue.

"Sakura."

"No clan affiliation?" He asked suspiciously.

"None."

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Madara drew, hand back on his hip.

Sakura, caught off guard, opened her mouth to retort and then closed it when she realized she couldn't respond with Tsunade's name. She wasn't aware of how far along in time she was and she didn't want to intercept anymore than she already had. Sakura panicked. Did women not fight in the Warring States?, she thought grimly.

"I taught myself."

"Did you teach yourself to heal as well?" Tobirama asked sarcastically behind her.

Sakura flung a glare over her shoulder. Just whose side was this man on?

"Tobirama!" Hashirama interjected to her relief.

"Sakura-san, please excuse him. We are just curious as to how you came about your abilities."

"What Hashirama means is that you better tell us where you learned it or else you'll die." Madara threatened, his fingers playing with a senbon needle.

A strange look passed between Madara and Hashirama. It wasn't hostile, but as if Hashirama was reprimanding Madara, and he was challenging him. Sakura wondered what their relationship entailed and how close were they despite their warring clans.

"You saved a fatally wounded shinobi while severely injured yourself." Hashirama stated slowly like he was testing his words. "How were you able to?"

Sakura pressed a finger to her rhombus shaped seal. She forgone words not trusting herself entirely to share something explicitly. Hashirama's face contorted into a thoughtful expression while Madara was seemingly judging her. She covered a shiver by adjusting her soaking wet clothes. They were torn to shreds and the weight of the water was starting to cause them to sag. Sakura shared no interest in giving them a peep show least she not know the conditions of her bindings.

It was agony trying to gauge the three men, two of which in her vision, and the other hovering at her back coiled to attack. She had forgotten the fourth unnamed man until he sauntered beside the Uchiha.

"Madara, what would you like to do?" The man spoke.

Madara was staring at her again, and she bit the inside of her cheek. There was a long pause before he sheathed his senbon and adjusted the gunbai on his back.

"She comes with us."

Protests arose from her and Hashirama simultaneously. Sakura shook her head and waved her hands in front of her while Hashirama seemed to deflate at the intensity of the Sharingan.

"You may have saved my brother, but you still attempted to be my murderer. You are now my prisoner of war until I say otherwise."

His word must have been law, and when he spun away, Hashirama sent her a worried glance, lips pursed. Tobirama made no move and stood completely aside, while all Sakura could do was stare dumbfounded at Madara's back.

His brother?, Sakura frowned. Izuna? Didn't he die...

Her eyes trained on the fourth man who stood before her. He was shorter than Madara, and slightly less intimidating, but a formidable Uchiha nonetheless. Sakura made no move to follow Madara still lost in thought when said Uchiha stepped in front of her. His hand was firm as he grabbed her forearm, and she lost her balance when he jerked her towards him. She gave a small shout and looked up into his spinning red eyes falling right into his genjutsu. Sakura was out instantly.