The Last Ones Standing
Chapter 17
"Madara-sama! Madara-sama, please wake up!"
Something prodded at his cheek and Madara patted it away. Whatever it was, it was unpleasantly cold and wet. A split of second later, the synapses in his brain fired the connection and he jerked, sitting up.
Or at least he tried to. His movement were sluggish and limited by the weakness in his limbs.
A middle-sized clone of Katsuyu was to his right.
"Madara-sama, we need your help. She won't eat on her own, and we cannot feed her…" Madara turned around. Sakura was lying splayed on her back. Under the gentle sun of Shikkotsu she looked as if she was transparent.
Madara scrambled on all fours. "This?" he pointed to the small assortment of fruit lying next to Sakura.
Food. It was food.
He grabbed at the nearest, red cherry-like fruit and shove it into his mouth.
The slug lunged at him. "Don't swallow it!"
Madara sent Katsuyu a confused look. "Why not?" he asked with his mouth full. Now that he saw food, he couldn't control the urge to eat…
"You cannot handle solid food yet. Just chew on it, suck the juice and spit it out. There is sugar in it, it will make you stronger."
Obediently, Madara chewed at the fruit. There was no way it was so sweet, but his taste buds were running rampant sending all kind of signals into his brain. As if it was the best thing he had ever eaten.
"And how I should feed her this? Wouldn't rice be better? Rice overcooked into a loose porridge? I can try summoning and…"
"With all due respect, Madara-sama… I don't think you can summon anything now… Try squishing the fruit in your hands and feeding her the juice…"
Madara crawled towards Sakura's unconscious form and hoisted her up so that she was propped against him. Katsuyu's smallest clone busied herself with rolling fruit into his range. He grabbed a yellow, strawberry-like one.
"Sakura. Sakura, wake up." He shook her gently. "There is food. Open your mouth."
She only whimpered in response. Madara pried her teeth open with his thumb and lowering his closed hand to her lips, he squeezed. Couple of drops of juice trickled into her mouth. He squeezed harder. Droplets ran down his wrist. Frustrated, he jammed the fruit into his mouth and grabbed another, bigger one. That one was juicier and a small squirt landed inside Sakura's mouth. She stirred and swallowed.
Madara let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Just like that," he whispered. "Now a little bit more…"
Another Katsuyu and two clones of Noybu appeared from the forest pushing another dozen of fruit in front of them.
He squeezed half of what they brought – Sakura managed to swallow only smallest fraction of it. He tore a strip of his – now hers – shirt and bundling fruit inside used it to press out the juice. Drops of liquid were gathering at the bottom of the bundle and it was easier to maneuver them into her mouth.
"We need something more efficient. This way it will take ages, and she will die of hunger here, surrounded by food!" he yelled at the slugs.
"But that should be slow. Overfeeding is also dangerous! You both should eat very little at the time, to give your bodies time to re-adjust. But we are working on better solutions." Katsuyu undulated her tentacles. "They should be here soon."
Indeed, an hour later, which he spent dozing off with Sakura in his lap, three slugs appeared rolling strange, round nuts. Their exterior was wooden but covered with fibers in the same time, and Madara had never seen anything like that in his life.
"Here!" said Katsuyu. "Those have reservoirs of liquid inside. It will be just fine for you, not too sweet, and it has exactly what your bodies need. It will balance the sugar you get from the juice. But we cannot crack it…" she finished timidly. "They are too hard for us… But if you puncture them here," Katsuyu pointed to three small, round indentations at one end of the nut, "you can pour the liquid out."
Drilling those damn holes with his kunai was one of the most exhausting tasks he had to perform in his life. But when he succeeded and took a first swig on the transparent, mildly fragrant liquid, Madara deemed it worth the effort. When he lowered the nut to Sakura's lips, she came around enough to drink without choking.
He spent entire day alternately dozing off, and gnawing at a fresh supply of fruit while trying to feed some to Sakura. He had to undress her, as Katsuyu required direct access to do some healing on Sakura's digestive tract. He could count all the ribs on her. Her arms and lower legs were burnt unhealthy red from the sun of that damned dimension. Rest of her was ghastly pale.
In the evening she came to her senses enough to recognize Katsuyu.
He wanted to make fire, but the timber the slugs have dragged from the forest was all moist, half rotten and slimy. Katsuyu had apparently not the slightest clue about what made a good firewood. He politely refrained from pointing that out. Summoning their own firewood was out of question, as was performing even the simplest Katon technique. In the end they resorted to covering themselves with oversized leaves, also brought by the slugs, to stave off the coolness of the night. It was a far cry from the usual level of comfort but still, it was the first night he fell asleep without a worry, with Sakura snuggled to his chest and crickets chirping up in the trees.
The next day Sakura chewed on the fruit on her own and he spent his time drilling holes in those bloody nuts.
On the following day, he managed to summon basic cooking utensils – luckily, they were stored in the first-layer scroll - and set off to cook their cured deer meat into some form of broth. After three hours of slow simmering, when all the meat had disintegrated, he got Katsuyu's permission to feed some of it to Sakura.
"So. How many days have passed in Shikkotsu since we've been gone?" asked Sakura the next day. She was already strong enough to sit on her own and Madara found that his breathing became lighter, as if a huge weight had been taken off his chest.
"Some two weeks," answered the slug.
"Oh, Katsuyu-sama, why didn't you summon us earlier?!" exclaimed Sakura. "What kept you so long?!"
Madara shook his head. Sakura could have kept this comment to herself. Katsuyu is only bound to feel guilty, which she shouldn't.
"Well, I thought that you needed some time alone for your activities…"
"What activities?" asked Madara from over the today's fourth nut. This one was proving to be particularly resistant to drilling.
"I don't know how to call it… Your non-reproductive activities… Sakura told me that humans need privacy for it and therefore I didn't want to interrupt you…"
Madara raised his head. Very slowly. As the recognition of what the slug meant had dawned on him, he turned his head to Sakura. She promptly cowered and pulled her head between her shoulders.
'What?' he mouthed at her. She cowered some more. Madara pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers and took a deep breath.
"Your concern is much appreciated, but I assure you, Katsuyu-san, that we have enough time for that in the dimensions outside of your range," he answered trying to keep his tone as even as possible. What other topics had Sakura been discussing with Katsuyu…? Sakura was trying to look as small and unassuming as possible, and he couldn't just demand explanations with all the slugs coming and going around their camp. Madara sighed heavily and returned his attention to the nut. He was going to open the damn thing.
She was regaining strength. The veins on her forearms that were so visible a week ago were starting to disappear. Her chakra was back as well – still as a tiny, fragile flame, but it was there.
They moved from the riverbank to their 'home-cave' a week after the rescue, Madara walking, she – riding a slug. Some days ago, when Katsuyu and Madara were gone, she dared to stand up, and, propping herself against the wall of the cave, made couple of steps. It was harrowing, especially the return to bed, but it was a beginning. Since then she was making a steady progress. She could now get up and walk. Sakura rolled stones of different sizes towards the bed and was training lifting them tens and hundreds of times up and down. And she was eating. For the first couple of days Katsuyu allowed them only liquids, but from then on, when Sakura's stomach supported with Katsuyu's healing started to work normally, Sakura had impression she was eating all the time.
Having still too little chakra to train properly Sakura amused herself with playing with natural energy. She could handle only minute amounts of it, but it didn't matter – she was fiddling with control and it worked even better in a small scale. Two days ago, she realized that she could simultaneously gather and expel the energy. She was sucking it in with her left palm and emitting it from her right. The propulsion generated by the flow was making her hand float over the ground, as if propped on an invisible cushion. Yesterday, Sakura noticed that if she neared her right hand to an object light enough, she could move it without touching. It made her all giddy – she spent entire evening testing what was she able to move and what not, and perfecting the angles to make the objects shift where she wanted them to.
She played with pushing things some more during her training session earlier today. But now, a new idea came to her mind – maybe she could control the shape of the energy-stream that she was expelling? Sakura ejected the natural energy from her palm and tentatively tried wrapping it around a spoon lying on the table next to the bed. Nothing happened. Sakura hummed to herself – at what stage it didn't work? Was she unable to wrap it, or was the energy output too small to move the spoon? She had no idea. Sakura scrunched her eyebrows – she needed a source of immediate feedback if she wanted to achieve anything. Scanning the inside of the cave, Sakura was thinking. Ha! Her own body could provide her a feedback loop! In two decisive steps she reached the bed, took off her sandals and stretched her legs across the mattress. She sat up and neared her right hand to her leg. Concentrating on the small current of energy coming out of her palm, Sakura wrapped it around her own toe. And she almost jumped at the sensation – it felt like a small tentacle sliding across her skin. Sakura focused harder. Sweat pearled on her forehead – maybe she should stop now, she wasn't quite fit yet. But it was too thrilling, just one small try! She tightened her grasp on the natural energy and pulled. Her toe budged. A shriek of triumph tore out of her mouth.
She was breathless, sweaty and absolutely spent when she let herself fall on the mattress.
Discovering the new way to use natural energy was a feat she will cherish as one of her greatest accomplishment, of that she was sure. Slugs never even mentioned that as an option. It could be that no one had ever phantomed such a use of it! The possibilities it opened! Sakura's head almost spun. And additionally, even if she was still physically weak, it meant that she could do something useful with her time. She wasn't being a dead weight again.
Sakura stretched across the bed. She had it all for herself, as Madara regained his strength much faster and left to their home dimension couple of days ago. They had lost quite some scrolls, leaving them behind in the chakraless world. Luckily, they made a selection, and the lost ones contained items that were either expendable or replaceable. For most part. Sakura only recently started to go through her register and assess the real extend of the loses.
Their timber and most of the fresh food got left behind. Therefore, Madara was back home, probably dismantling the fisher village into firewood. Sakura didn't even ask him not to do it when he was about to leave. It made no sense to spare the little village, and harvesting timber from it Madara will save a lot of chakra he would otherwise use up flying Susano'o around. He was still low on chakra, and she was too weak to patch up the leak in his system.
The deer meat and the smoked fish stocks were lost. Deer he will hunt down again, but the fish were really gone… Pity, he liked that fish so much. Luckily, they still had their stock of rice – that would have been impossible to replace.
Sakura rolled over the side and opened her supply register. Hmm, scroll 11 contained two subscrolls with all the warm clothing, spare blankets, bed covers and such. Sakura cringed – finding undamaged textiles three years after the war was going to be very difficult. They would need to find an intact building in which rainwater never found access. In the Wind Country maybe? Suna was thoroughly scavenged already, but in one of the non-ninja villages? Wind Country was famous for its textiles, and the nights on the desert were very cold, so maybe there was still a hope for some new blankets.
Sakura wrapped the softest blanket from the bed around her shoulders and snuggled her cheek against it. It felt so nice. It felt good to stretch on a futon (she congratulated herself the decision of moving the beds from the fisher village), it felt good to brush her hair in the morning. The food tasted like it never tasted before. Even now, when the direct effect of starvation must have been gone, it still tastes divine.
Over the past three years she was so preoccupated with their quest that she made a habit out of ignoring all input from her senses. She ate because she needed to fill her stomach, she covered herself because she needed to keep warm. Now, when she had almost lost it all, Sakura was realizing the value of things she used to take for granted. She was still alive. It was a blessing. Every day she was allowed to wake up and live. Live without any physical pain, without any debilitating condition, move around on her own, make decisions.
She had been so overwhelmed by the weight of responsibility, by the constant worry, by the guilt she felt about being awake while others were not, that she had forgotten how it felt to be alive. But wasn't her lack of appreciation an act of ungratefulness? She didn't deserve it, she never did anything to deserve being spared of the horrible fate of being absorbed by the tree, but still – here she was. Alive. Unharmed. She should be thankful for every breath she could take. She should be happy.
And today, she was.
Sakura opened a third-layer food scroll and unsealed a packet of dried fruit from Suna. They were sweet and tangy in the same time, and so chewy.
She ran her fingers across the blanket on her lap, and then lower, across the skin of her thigh.
Almost dying had opened her eyes. She wanted to be alive.
She brushed her hand across her stomach. Pity that Madara was away.
The flow of his katas was satisfactory. Still not on par with his normal standards, but Madara was realistic. He could feel the pleasant pain in his arms, a tell-tale sign of muscle growth, and the steady beat of his pulse. Stretched on the grassy riverbank he was enjoying the afternoon sun.
He had just returned from their homeworld, having spent two weeks scavenging. He discovered a coastal city, untouched by Jūbi-bombs, on the southern tip of that peninsula that had been annexed into Fire Country around the time of Konoha foundation. He didn't check on the status of the still surviving cocoons around the tree. On purpose. Sakura had asked about it already, and this way he could with all honesty say that he didn't know. She needed a couple of carefree days more.
He saw her descending the slope. Slowly, as if she was still not stable on her feet. Or maybe she was just enjoying the sun on her skin, after weeks in the cave. He was carrying her out whenever he could, but at first the effort was too large, and then he was off.
She approached the water and gingerly stepped into it. She was wearing an overly large T-shirt that was hanging on her like a dress. She waded calves-deep, and then, apparently getting accustomed to the temperature – knees-deep. Submerging even deeper she lifted the hem of the shirt to protect it from water. From the bank he was lying on – drying in the sun after this own dip in the river - Madara could very well distinguish the curve of her behind.
She gathered the shirt under her breasts and stepped deeper still. Not much was left to imagination and he could only stare. Moment later the current pushed her out of her balance, and turning, she noticed him.
He didn't know what was he expecting. They were past the point where he would earn an outburst of her anger getting caught watching. And it wasn't that he was purposely peeping on her – he was here all the time, minding his own business. It was her who failed to notice him. Anyway, even if he'd known he was going to be subject to her anger, he wouldn't have budged, as that would have been below him. So, he kept her gaze and smirked. At this point he expected her to glare, turn around and return to the other side. She didn't. She didn't turn, and, facing him, started to wade out of the water, approaching the bank he was lying on.
She was half way out of the water, and still she didn't let her shirt down. Maybe she didn't want it to get wet. He had seen her before; she wasn't a novelty. And two years ago she looked much better than now – emaciated and with hip bones much too visible. But now she was looking at him, running her eyes over all of him, with such an expression on her face… Madara's cock twitched.
Sakura stepped onto the grass, and all he could see was the gentle sway in her gait. A sway he would swear wasn't usually there.
She was just meters away from him. "Are you really so happy to see me?" she laughed tilting her head and nodding towards the lower part of his body. He was naked, so there was no denying. Madara smiled and only shrugged in reply.
She knelt at his side, at the height of his waist. Her shirt cascade down, getting plastered to her back, as she let go of it and propped herself against his hips. She lowered her head and enveloped the tip of his rapidly hardening cock with her lips. "It's such a good feeling when someone is happy at your sight…" she mused and dove lower once again. "It's an amazing feeling to know that someone wants you… It makes my head spin," she said between the licks.
He didn't answer. It felt too good.
She worked him up and down, tightening her lips around him and doing some peculiar things with her tongue. Or at least he assumed it was her tongue.
It was so long. It was too long, and he was sure he was going to lose her. That he was going to watch her die. But now she was here. They both were – safe and alive, and still together.
And now she came to him.
Sakura dug her fingers of her left hand into his hip, as she stroked him slowly. The rhythmic caress of her lips was driving him crazy already, and she only just started.
She moved her knees away from him, and leaned so that she wasn't kneeling anymore, but rather staying on all fours beside him. It seemed that it was easier for her to move that way. But her maneuvers exposed her naked behind once again. He reached to her, slid his hand around her bottom and reached her heat. He traced gentle touches between her nether lips. She was all wet there, and it wasn't the wetness of the water, he concluded with joy. If that wasn't a proof of desire than nothing was.
He couldn't reach her properly, he could neither caress her most sensitive part, nor press against her crotch with the heel of his palm the way she liked it. He could only prod awkwardly from behind. If he could pump his fingers into her, now it would have been a perfect opportunity. But he couldn't. 'Don't put anything in there,' she had told him once. And he won't. So, he kept touching where and how he could, even though it wasn't very satisfying. There indeed must have been not much pleasure in it for her, as Sakura whimpered and shifted, aligning her body with his, moving her backside closer into his reach. She arched her back – apparently, she wanted to be touched as badly as he wanted to do the touching. If he tilted his head, he could see her, in all her glory, so eager for his caresses as never before. But still, he couldn't touch her the way he wanted to.
Sakura nibbled at his tip and slowly guided him into her mouth. She was moving back and forth and for a moment Madara got so lost in the sensation that he forgot about his tasks. She was about to reach just the perfect speed, when she abruptly stopped and straightened up. Madara looked up - with irritated huff, Sakura tugged at her shirt and pulled it off. Being as baggy as it was it must have been in her way - a part of Madara's brain supplied. A very small part, as most of his mental capacities was used up on staring.
She leaned down again - the curve of her breasts, the roundness of her bottom, the glistening slickness between her legs – all on display.
He didn't hold it - he must have shut down his thinking at that very moment. He grabbed her leg and dragged her on top of himself. With more force than was probably necessary he pulled her bottom towards his face. Sakura straightened with a scared yelp and knelt up, effectively leaving his range. Holding her balance with one hand splayed on his stomach, she turned around. Her mouth was open as she gasped for air, her pupils so dilated that her eyes seemed dark. He could see how her chest heaved when she was taking one huge breath after another.
All words were lost on him. He raised his hands and stroked slowly along the outer side of her thighs. Her eyes, locked with his own, went even bigger. He could feel how the muscles in her legs relaxed underneath his hands as she slowly lowered herself back down. She planted both hands on the ground, apparently apprehensive for him to take action. He pulled at her thighs again, set her core into a rocking, undulating motion, not creating any contact between them just yet. He forced her pelvis into yet another circle – she joined it, gyrated her hips and arched her back. A small whimper was both a sign of her need and of her agreement.
Madara let his hands slide to the inner side of her legs, and then higher towards her core. She was moving above him on her own. As carefully as he could manage, he spread her folds, and, meeting her rhythm, he licked along the entire length of her slit. Sakura gasped and pressed into his mouth. He repeated the motion, tasting her, exploring her folds. Then he pushed her hips higher to gain more access and closed his lips around her bud. Sakura's chest landed across his lower stomach as she didn't manage to hold herself up on her hands.
He sucked and nibbled and teased, and he couldn't get enough of the feel of her overheated skin against him and of the sounds she was making.
But it didn't last long. Sakura propped herself up again and somehow managed to free one hand to grab his length. Her mouth closing around him made Madara lose his focus.
It was pure chaos from then on. A blur of emotions and sensations he couldn't make sense of. Erratic push and pull, his hips bucking into her heat, her smell and taste enveloping his senses, the bliss amplified to ridiculous heights by the consciousness that the quivering body of top of him belonged to her. And that she was experiencing the same pleasure as he was.
Madara dug his fingers into the flesh of her hip. Too hard, he knew it was too hard. But keeping everything balanced on the knife's edge was impossible in this moment. He slid his other hand to her front and replaced his mouth with fingers on her bud. He licked towards her core, where her entrance was twitching directly before his eyes. Sakura closed her lips tighter and muted her moan with his cock. He licked a circle around her opening and felt how she let go of him to prop herself with both hands against the ground. But she kept him inside her mouth – and instead of releasing him she dove deeper than ever before.
Her entrance was open to him. Nothing in her offered resistance. She was all invitation and desire blended into one. Madara ran his tongue deeper. Sakura's hand found his cock again and she resumed the pumping.
He must have forgotten. In retrospect he could even somewhat understand his behaviour. Not that it was any excuse. He didn't remember about anything when he plunged his tongue inside her. Her legs were open so wide and his face was pressed into her. And his tongue went deep. Sakura pushed herself up with a something between a gasp and inhale. He swirled his tongue and curled it and he tasted her from the inside. She slammed against him and he kept going, touching her, touching inside of her, pushing into her, locking her to him with the grip on her hip. With his other hand he squeezed and pinched her clit. Sakura came. She screamed and rode her orgasm against him, rocking her hips wildly.
He was on the edge, so close, so tortuously close. But in her rapture, she forgot him and left him unattended. He desperately needed something, anything… His hand left her clit and shot forwards, to his cock. Crushing her fingers that were still encircling him, he grabbed and pumped viciously, bucking his hips into their joined hands. His release exploded in seemingly never-ending spurts, splashing against her chest and her face.
When the blinding wave receded, all that was left were their panting breaths. Madara loosened up the hold on his cock and released Sakura's fingers. As if in panic, she squirmed forwards, first sat on his chest, but then quickly scrambled off him and turned away. He saw how she was simultaneously trying to massage her fingers and wipe his spunk from her face. And tried preventing him from seeing either of these actions.
"I guess…" she said, her voice faltering, "I guess, I'll go wash up a bit…" She stood up, carefully maneuvering to present only her back to him.
While she was making her way towards the river, he grabbed his pants and stood up as well. His hands were shaking when he was lacing himself in. How could he have done that? How could he betray her trust this way? It took all of his will power not to punch the nearest tree into splinters.
He dug in his pouch for scrolls, unsealed the correct one and retrieved a blanket. Folding it into a neat square he placed it where she was likely to leave the river. She will need something to dry herself off, it was getting cool already. With the corner of his eye he saw her bending and washing something out of her hair. Not something. He knew exactly what it was. Red, burning shame made him avert his eyes. Disgusting. He was disgusting. How could he have lost his control to this extend? What had happened to him? What was happening to him?
Madara pursed his lips and walked briskly into the forest hoping that the foliage will hide him soon enough.
AN: Thanks for reading, and I'm super curious about your impressions! *wink, wink* Please, do share them with me! After the angst of the previous chapter, it felt so good to give them some repose, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as well.