Author's Note: Thank you all so much for your support! Thanks for over 500 reviews! Thank you for all of your kind words! You are all way too nice!I'm sorry for taking so long and letting this chapter be so short. It was a good place to stop and I wanted to get a chapter out. Let me know what you all think! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Warnings: Nothing much, maybe language and OOCness.

Word Count: 5,693

At first Sakura didn't know what to do. She just stared at Akamaru; large and dirty, obviously neglected, yanking Tobirama around by his hand, before she leaps into action before Hashirama could, ready to attack Akamaru to help Tobirama. Sakura quickly jumps between them in order to prevent any of the founders from hurting Akamaru. She grabs Tobirama's arm and holds it steady.

"Stop! Akamaru!" Sakura puts one hand on Tobirama's chest to stop him from moving, when he freezes, she turns toward the scraggly dog. Sakura reaches out and slowly puts her hand on the top of Akamaru's wrinkled nose, the deep-throated growling slowly disappearing. Sakura lightly runs her fingers up and down his nose, softly saying, "It's okay, Akamaru, it's okay. He wasn't hurting me, I promise. You can let him go. Go on, boy."

Akamaru's large brown eyes lock on to Sakura, as if waiting for something to happen, before his lips uncurl and lower around Tobirama's hand. He unclenches his jaw and opens it up slowly. His large white fangs, well cared for by Kiba at one point, are now stained a bit red with Tobirama's blood and bits of dirt. Sakura can feel Tobirama's strong muscles along his arm ripple in pain at the pressure from Akamaru releasing his hand.

"You know this bear...?" Tobirama asks, voice tight.

"Bear?" Sakura echoes, glancing up at Tobirama with a raised eyebrow, her eyes flickering over to Hashirama and Madara, still tensed up and ready to jump in at a moments notice. "Akamaru's not a bear. He's a dog." All three of the men blanch at that, as if that didn't make sense.

"Dog?" they echo together, like the word was foreign to them. They all blink a few times.

Sakura turns to look down at Akamaru, who was looking back up at her with a tilted head, and says, "Sit boy, stay here. I'll be right back." Akamaru obeys, sitting down, his clumpy, dirty tail wags a bit, his nasty behavior from before is long gone. Now he's obeying her, sitting down in the dirt with his long dirty brown tail waging back and forth happily, his floppy ears are perked a bit. That's the Akamaru she recognizes.

Sakura smiles at him a bit before returning to business. She pulls Tobirama toward her house, he doesn't fight her. She only makes it a few feet before looking over her shoulder at Hashirama and Madara. "No one hurt Akamaru, got it?" She glares at them, then looks down at Akamaru. "Stay, boy." He barks, tail still wagging, mouth open, panting.

Sakura stops at the porch, lets go of Tobirama's hand, and walks inside after disabling her protective seals. She grabs a large bowl and fills it with clean water, along with grabbing a towel before carefully carrying them outside and setting them down on the porch next to where she left Tobirama. She sits down on the edge and pulls the white haired man down on the other side of the bowl and immediately immerses it in water, cleaning it up. The water turns brown and red. She rolls up Tobirama's sleeve slowly to his elbow, ignoring his intense red eyes on her face.

Sakura runs her hands up and down his arm, getting all the dirt and slobber off before working on his hand, cleaning it thoroughly. She delicately cleans his fingers, feeling the muscles move under her touch, flinching and twitching in pain even though she's being delicate. Akamaru really ripped the skin. Moreso the thin layer on the back of his hand rather than his palm, thick with callouses from wielding a sword.

Finally removing his hand from the water, Sakura grabs the towel and slowly dries it off. She puts the towel down and looks at Tobirama's hand to see it ripped in a few places pretty bad. Akamaru had a good grip on him. When he bit down on Tobirama's hand he was hell bent on making sure Tobirama couldn't pull away. Sakura doesn't know what to think about that. In a way, it was a bit of karmatic retribution for what he said about Sakura's friends. Kiba, being one of them.

Sakura rubs healing ointment on all of Tobirama's wounds before wrapping his hand up in crisp medical tape. She wraps it up tightly, making sure it's secure before letting go. Sure, Sakura could have most likely healed the wounds with her chakra - she's got enough - but she's still a bit peeved and hurt about what he said before about her family and friends. He can deal with the minor pain and scars. Maybe it'll humble him a bit. Or at least make him kinder.

Sakura cleans her hands off on the towel before dumping out the bowl and taking it back inside, not minding that she wore her shoes both times into the house before heading back outside and closing the door behind her, eyes locking on to the mangy white bear-of-a-dog, now lying down, basking in the sunlight. Hashirama and Madara eye Akamaru wearily, but seem to doubt that he'll do anything now that he's rolled onto his back and is wiggling back and forth trying to scratch it while groaning loudly. A very dangerous beast, he is.

Hashirama walks past Akamaru toward Sakura, thin brown eyebrows pulled together. "Sakura-chan -" Sakura holds up her hand to stop him.

"I kinda hate you right now," Sakura says.

"Okay," Hashirama bows his head, taking a step back. Sakura sighs and looks down at Akamaru for a moment, watching him wiggle around before standing up and walking over to him. She kneels down in the dirt, waiting for him to roll onto his side and look up at her, tail wagging.

"Are you okay, Tobirama?" Sakura hears Hashirama ask behind her.

"Fine," Tobirama grunts.

"Akamaru," Sakura says, unable to believe that he's there. She wasn't imagining it. She reached out and touched his usually soft but now coarse fur to see that yes, it really was Akamaru. "How are you here, Akamaru?" A pause, then, "Where is Kiba, Akamaru? Is he here with you?" She looks around the forest, wondering if she had just somehow missed the slitted-eyed boy standing in the forest, but there isn't anyone.

Akamaru's ears droop and he whimpers softly.

Sakura frowns. "Is that a no, then? So, it's just you, not Kiba?"

Akamaru whimpers again.

"How did you get here?" Sakura asks, immediately feeling stupid. She wasn't Kiba, she couldn't really understand Akamaru. Just what he could convey. Everything else was just dog noises.

"Smart dog..." Madara mutters, a few feet away from them, still keeping his distance. "And large too."

"He's not just any dog," Sakura says, "he's a nin-ken. A ninja dog. Kiba is his human partner... but it sounds like he's not here..." Sakura's shoulders sag. Then says, more to herself, "What is happening? How is he here?" She sighs, running a hand through her longer pink hair. She didn't know what to say, how to get more information from him, but didn't know what to ask until the thought suddenly came to her. "Are you alone, Akamaru? I know Kiba isn't with you, but does that mean no one is?"

Akamaru perks up, as if he suddenly remembered something and that makes hope blossom in Sakura's chest. Akamaru jumps to his feet and starts barking wildly at Sakura, jumping up and down a bit before turning around and sprinting toward the forest. Sakura blinks rapidly for a few moments before realizing he stopped at the treeline and was barking at her, as if to say, "Hurry up!"

Sakura doesn't need to be told twice. She runs after the mangy white dog and follow him into the forest. Sakura didn't care that she left without saying a word to the founders, the only thing she could focus on was Akamaru's tail, leaping around through the forest, and the thought that there is someone out here, one of her friends is out here somewhere. Kami had heard Sakura's plea. She wasn't alone anymore. Someone was here!

Sakura wasn't sure how long she was following Akamaru, but it was long enough to break into a sweat. Sakura follows Akamaru to a small creek and she felt her heart stop. Sakura was shaking, physically shaking, as she was wrapped up in this maelstrom of emotions staring at the dirty, worn out face of none other, than Sakura's longtime comrade, Shikamaru Nara.

For a moment, Sakura just stood there, staring down at her long time classmate and friend. His jounin vest is gone, but he's in his jounin blues; both pants and the shirt. He was dirty from head to toe. His long hair was somehow still held up by the hair-tie, but his face was all dirty. His lips were a bit muddy with one hand laying in the mud just inches away from the water. His eyes were screwed closed tightly, with dark shadows under them. His clothes, while dirty, were also ripped up pretty bad, like Akamaru scratched the shit out of him before Sakura showed up. She didn't see any injuries, just by looking at him, but that meant nothing. He was obviously exhausted.

Akamaru's horrible appearance now makes sense. He's been living out here for who-knows-how-long looking after Shikamaru. Truly a loyal friend. Kiba will be so proud when Sakura tells him. And she will tell him. She'll see him again and tell him all about what a good boy Akamaru was. Seeing him, and Shikamaru, again gave Sakura the ability to believe that she will somehow make it back home and see all of her friends and family again.

Akamaru runs over to Shikamaru, tail still wagging. He licks Shikamaru's cheek and the brown haired boy didn't move, immediately sending Sakura into action. She closed the distance between them, nudging Akamaru away with a soft. "Sit, Akamaru," before checking a pulse on Shikamaru's neck. It's fast and his skin is on fire, no doubt burning up with a fever.

Sakura rests her palm against his forehead and he leans into it a bit, lips moving slightly but there is no noise. She can see eye movement behind the purple lids, he was dreaming.

Sakura puts her left hand onto his chest and sends healing chakra to her hand and scans his body. He's been suffering from a fever for too long. Sakura's got to get it down. She runs it over all his organs, their all okay; except he hasn't eaten in days, and he's dehydrated. Sakura heals all the cuts and bruises and infections from prolonged exposure to an unclean environment. Sakura makes note of the herbs she'll need to help him fight the infection and wonders vaguely if there was some still in storage at the newly deemed medical building that Sakura woke up in. The tents were removed and they were expanding the building. It was the beginnings of a hospital.

"Stay with me, Shikamaru," Sakura says, pressing her lips tightly together. She tilts his head up and opens his eye, trying to look for any sign of consciousness, but his eye just rolls up into the back of his head. Sakura pulls back, leaning onto her hunches, tapping her chin in thought. "Shika-"

Shikamaru lurches forward, wrapping an arm around her, pulling her close protectively and glares at something over her shoulder. Sakura turns slightly to see that Hashirama had followed, no doubt worried about what was going on. Sakura saw the black mass moving before Hashirama did. Of course he didn't see, he didn't even know to look. Hashirama doesn't know Shikamaru. Doesn't know that he's a Nara, or maybe even whatever a Nara is.

"Shikamaru!" Sakura says, gripping his shoulders tightly, giving him a firm shake. Shikamaru's feverish eyes slide slowly over to Sakura, but he doesn't really see her. He's stuck somewhere else, seeing something horrible that makes his forehead crease, his lips press tightly together and his eyes to harden, but he's not there with them. Perhaps he's back in the war, Sakura doesn't know, but there is a strong possibility. What else in his life could be so horrible to get a look like that? Sakura wouldn't claim to know Shikamaru better than anyone else, but the boy, as far as she knew, was never really a troubled child; lazy as fuck, but not troubled. No, war is the only viable option.

Sakura puts a hand onto each of his temples and sends soothing, healing chakra into them, watching his eyelids drop closed and his body fall back against the branch, all his muscles loosening up.

"Sakura-chan..." Hashirama says, stepping closer. He wrings his hands a bit in front of him, looking like he wanted to help her, but knew that she was probably still pissed at him and didn't want to start another fight. "Please," he says, "please can I help you...?"

Sakura, in that split second, wanted to say yes. To just give in and stop being angry, to stop being betrayed, but when she thought about it, thought about how close she was, and may still be, to losing everything, and that shoots right out the window. Sakura looks up at him with a hard look, no longer full on glaring. Hashirama was like a small child, so innocently pure, that it was hard to look into his eyes and be pissed off. He may not have intentionally hurt her, but he still hurt her and what would that say about her feelings if she just let it go?

"No," Sakura says evenly. "Thanks, but he's my friend and my responsibility." A pause, then, "You guys owe me nothing."

With that, Sakura wraps Shikamaru's left arm around her shoulders and stands up, pulling him along with her. She supports his weight easily enough with the only awkward thing being the fact that he was so much taller than her. Sakura knows that refusing Hashirama's help, she hurt his feelings and couldn't bare to look at him as she passed, but she did catch the hurt look in the corner of her eye.

"Come on, Akamaru," Sakura says, closing her eyes tightly for a moment before accepting her own words and opening them again and moving on. Akamaru, who had obeyed and sat down at Sakura's earlier command, jumps to his feet and happily follows along.


Sakura cleans Shikamaru thoroughly, with medical detachment. Cleaned him the old fashioned way, with a lot of water and rags, and brought Salma and Aya in to help with his upper torso and head. Sakura had two motives for doing that. The first being that it was just another thing they would have to learn how to do and the second being that she wouldn't have been able to do this alone. She needed the help.

They washed his body, put him in clothes that Salma procured, a simple pair of pants and a shirt, and washed his hair. Sakura gave him a bit of food, just bread, and he barely swallowed it in his feverish daze, and water, which he somewhat choked on, before giving him medicine and letting him rest. Sakura waved the two away, letting them go home, and filled up a few buckets of water and grabbed some soap.

Next was Akamaru.

She went outside where he was waiting and laid the bowls down, looking down at the dirt at him. When he noticed her, his tail started wagging again. "I suppose I'll have to clean you too, huh Akamaru? I mean, Kiba would kill me if I didn't and he found out." She smiles faintly.

Akamaru tilts his head to the side, not understanding. But Sakura didn't mind, she took her time cleaning him up, making sure that, even though he smelt of wet dog now he would be better when he dried. He seemed to like the attention and was happy to practically inhale the scrapes Sakura could scrounge together for him to eat with a happily wagging tail and a content burp before curling up in the spare bedroom that Hashirama built for Sakura in her house next to a peacefully sleeping Shikamaru.

Sakura sat on Shikamaru's other side and watched over him as he slept. After a couple of hours, she gave him more medicine and dabbed a bit at the sweat building up on his forehead. Then she grabbed a fan and began waving it over his face to cool him down a bit. Long into the night Sakura looked after Shikamaru, pausing only to let Akamaru out, give him more water, and to make more medicine for Shikamaru. Other than that, she stayed by Shakamaru's side, unable to believe he was actually there.

After cleaning him up, Sakura can see that he's been out on his own with Akamaru for a while, long enough to start losing weight. His natural tan was even palled a bit with sickness. Sakura blamed herself. If she was smart, she would've been searching the forest with a fine tooth come comb looking for her friends. If she was somehow sent back in time, why couldn't others have been?

Why was she arrogant enough to think that she was somehow special?

She'll have to go out when Shikamaru's better. Look through the forest, find more friends, maybe then they can all work together to find out what happened, why they're there and if they can somehow get back to their own time. That is, if Shikamaru didn't already have those answers. But if they were the only ones; Shikamaru, Akamaru and herself, why them? They were just an odd pair to have and don't complement each other at all. "A bad matchup," Shikamaru would call them. There is very little about their fighting styles that would compliment each other. And that's just overlooking the blatantly obvious fact that Akamaru doesn't have Kiba.

He whimpers sometimes in the night. Sakura could hear him. She would reach out and pet him, telling him that he would see Kiba again, and the big fluffy bear would relax again, believing her. Any other day, Sakura would be skeptical, but having Akamaru and Shikamaru by her side gave her hope. Her life is returning to her. There's a chance that this will all work out. Sakura can't let this opportunity go to waste.


"Before you go," Naruto whispers, his voice right in the shell of Sakura's ear, "you have to remember something, Sakura-chan. You can't forget. It's very important. You have to remember that you can't-"

Sakura jerks awake, not having realize that she had fallen asleep. She reaches up to the back of her neck, rubbing the sore muscles for sleeping sitting up. She rolls her shoulders back, flinching at the twinge of pain. Sakura's hand moves over to her shoulders and groans in pain, before dropping her hand onto her lap and look around the room. Naruto wasn't there, even if it felt like he was right there beside her just moments before. Shikamaru is still asleep, but a bit of his color has returned to him. She sits him up and gives him a bit of water before looking over at Akamaru to see him standing up, stretching.

He walks over to the door and paws at the door before looking over at Sakura.

"Gotta go out again, boy? Good lord, your bladder is the side of a grape," Sakura sighs. His tail starts wagging. Sakura smiles, standing up and walking over to the door and letting him out of the room. She lets him out into the yard and follows him. She sits down on the porch and watches him sniff around before she lays down onto her back, the muscles burning in exhaustion.

Sakura closes her eyes and lets out a long sigh. Her mind was racing. What was she suppose to remember? She couldn't conjure the answer no matter how hard she thought. It drew a sigh from her as her head starts to hurt from the strain. Whatever she was suppose to remember, she forgot. Sakura could smack herself upside the head at her inadequacy. She lets herself relax, begrudgingly; knowing the answer won't come to her if she forces it, and begins to fall asleep again when she feels someone approaching her. She jumps into awareness and sits up suddenly, heart pounding.

It's Hashirama with this horribly pensive look on his face, edging closer. He stops when Sakura's eyes lock on him. About a foot behind him is Madara and Tobirama, both with unreadable looks on their faces. Sakura brings her attention back to Hashirama. The First Hokage looks miserable. He doesn't take being unliked very well, does he?

"Yes?" Sakura says, leaning back on her hands. Akamaru, at some point while Sakura was sleep, had crawled up onto the porch and sat down next to her. He was sitting up, looking at Hashirama curiously, ready to attack if needed, but appearing hesitant now. He can most definitely sense how powerful they are. His first attack was to protect, but now he doesn't want to fight if he doesn't have to.

Hashirama wraps his right hand around his elbow and looks around embarrassed. "I wanted to see how you were doing..."

Sakura glances over at Tobirama and Madara.

Hashirama looks over at them for a moment before looking back at Sakura. "I dragged them along because we all have to apologize to you. Sakura, what happened yesterday... it wasn't okay. I know I keep saying that but I need you to believe me. There wasn't anything malicious about why we did what we did. It was insensitive and horrible of us and I'm so terribly sorry. I wish that there was something else for me to say..." He shakes his head, looking distraught. "Sakura, please don't shut me out. I really do want us to be friends. The three of us do." He looks over his shoulder at Tobirama and Madara.

"Sakura," Tobirama says, getting the pointed look from Hashirama, and approaches. He stops a foot in front of her, red eyes flickering over to Akamaru, who was staring back blankly, having already forgotten what happened between them the day before. "I am sorry about what I said... it was uncalled for. Please forgive me. I was..." he trails off, as if not knowing how to continue. He glances over his shoulder, suddenly looking uncomfortable to see Hashirama staring at him curiously while Madara looked bored with the exception of a raised eyebrow. As if waiting for Tobirama to bare his soul.

Tobirama takes a small step closer and lowers his voice, looking down into Sakura's red eyes intensely. "I was embarrassed to have been caught in such a compromising position. We were in the wrong, had the opportunity to leave before we saw anything - Hashirama begged us too but we wouldn't listen - and we were caught. I'm sorry. I lashed out at you to cover my embarrassment." He rubs the back of his neck, looking away with a pink stain across his cheeks. Sakura stares at him with wide eyes, blushing too.

The Second Hokage was blushing. Because of her.

Sakura has to look away too, feeling the heat pool into her cheeks. Something about such a powerful man doing something some... cute was unbelievable. It made butterflies flutter in her stomach. She clears her throat and shakes the feeling away. She's suppose to be mad at them, not thinking that the future Second Hokage was acting adorable.

"I... understand..." Sakura says, not sure how to respond to that. She was happy that they apologized but it didn't mean that she forgave them. She was still so close to having lost everything that she could puke from nerves. Sakura has failed before. On more counts than one. But never before would she have failed so badly as if she somehow destroyed her future. Destroyed her friends, her family, her way of life. How could anyone live if they did something like that? Sakura prays that she dodge a catastrophe and never finds out.

"I accept your apology for what you said," Sakura says slowly. "But entering my mind... I need time to forgive that. I'm just not ready to yet."

Hashirama looks even more unhappy about that. "I understand, Sakura-chan..." He sighs. He looks down at the ground for a moment before raising his eyes back to Sakura through long dark lashes. "How is your friend...? He didn't look to be in too good of condition..."

Tobirama steps to the side so that Sakura and Hashirama can really look at each other. He stares at Sakura for a moment before asking, "Sick friend?"

Sakura looks over her shoulder. "Yeah, he's inside. He'll be okay."

Sakura reaches out and pets Akamaru, finding comfort in his familiarity. There is an awkward silence that settles over them. The four of them look around the yard, not knowing what to say to one another. Sakura can tell Hashirama still wants to help, but figures he'll get shot down again if he says something. That doesn't stop him from looking like he wants to, though.

"I apologize as well..." Madara finally says, hating the silence more than his own embarrassment over having to apologize.

Sakura nods slowly, not sure how she feels about the three of them still apologizing. It'll take a lot more than an apology for Sakura to forgive them, but they - especially Hashirama - make it hard to hold a grudge. Sakura, every time she looks at the future First, is always given the impression that she scientifically proved that the Will of Fire doesn't exist.

"I'd better go see how he's doing," Sakura says, although she doesn't move.

"Who is he?" Tobirama says, looking down at Sakura.

"He's..." Sakura says slowly, not sure how much to say. "He's... a friend."

"Is he Sasuke?" Tobirama asks, red eyes taking in every slight shift in her facial expression.

Sakura blinks in surprise, at first wondering where he heard that name before the obvious reason returned to her. They were in her memory a few hours ago. She had momentarily forgotten.

"No," Sakura says, narrowing her eyes slightly. "No, he's not Sasuke."

"Sasuke is an Uchiha," Madara says, now interested in the conversation. He takes a step forward.

"Yes..." Sakura says slowly. There was no point in disputing it. They already knew. Madara opens his mouth, about to ask more when Sakura quickly continues, "But I don't want to talk about Sasuke. As you saw in my memories," Sakura says bitterly, making Madara look away for a moment, before she continues, "he and I didn't really leave on the best of terms."

"Why did he leave you?" Tobirama asks.

Sakura sighs, rubbing the back of her neck again. "Family business," she mutters before realizing how that sounded. Like he was sent to war against the Senju. Sakura looks up sharply, looking between the three men. Madara's eyebrows are pulled together in thought, trying to sift through all the faces of his clansmen in his mind while Tobirama is looking at Madara and Hashirama looks horrified.

"Where is he now?" Hashirama asks. "Do you know if he's alright?"

Sakura didn't know how to answer that, for she honestly didn't know. Could he be around here somewhere, like Shikamaru and Akamaru were? Maybe. But she didn't know for sure. Could the unthinkable have happened? Could Sasuke be...?

"I don't know," Sakura says, looking away. "He left... I saw him a few times... but he's different... I don't know where he is. If he's okay... I don't know." Sakura glares at them now. "You saw what he did. He tried to kill me."

"Why..?" Hashirama asks softly.

"Because he was born without a heart," Sakura snaps, jumping to her feet, turning her glare toward Hashirama, surprising herself with how mad she was. She didn't know if she was mad about Sasuke, as it is sort of a sensitive subject, or if she was still angry about them invading her memories, either way she was more mad than she realized. "He's blinded by revenge and can't see the good that's right in front of him. He's looking at the past, unable to see that the people that really love him now are right in front of him!" Sakura's fists curl in rage, body shaking a bit in rage. "So forgive me if I don't know the specifics of his reasoning behind his asshole-ery."

Sakura lets out a deep sigh, trying to force out all the rage that had blossomed in her chest the size of the Shinju tree. She takes a few breaths to slow down her escalated heart beat before letting her shoulders droop. She hated the bitter taste of anger in her mouth. She's always so quick to rage, she hates it, yet she can't seem to stop herself.

"I'm sorry," Sakura says, looking at Hashirama. "I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that... Sasuke... he's a touchy subject for me. I know you all have questions but I really don't have any answers for you." None that I can say, Sakura thinks, knowing it's stupid to say that outwardly.

"It's okay..." Hashirama says slowly, glancing over at Madara, who appears to want to ask more, but respectfully snaps his jaw shut. "I'm sorry to have brought it up."

Sakura shakes her head, waving his apology away.

Tobirama's eyes, which were glued to her face a moment ago, shoot up past her. "Sakura," he says lowly, red eyes narrowed slightly.

Sakura stares at him for a split second before twisting around to see Shikamaru at the door, he's leaning heavily against the frame, as it is the only thing holding him up. His face is pale, his cheeks are red and he's squinting at her, as if unable to see clearly though the fever induced haze. His brown hair, usually pulled up into a ponytail at the crown of his head, is around Sakura's wrist, his hair is now brushing against his bare shoulders, slightly tanned chest glistening wih

His breathing is ragged and when his eyes lock onto Sakura, he grinds out, "What are you doing, Sakura?"

"What?" Sakura asks, stepping up onto the porch. Akamaru turns a bit so that he can see Shikamaru too, ears perked. "What are you talking about, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru's narrow brown eyes fly over to Madara. "Madara Uchiha. Are you insane, Sakura? What... what are you doing with Madara Uchiha?" He sounds breathless, wheezing as if in pain. Madara looks confused about being the center of attention, black eyes flickering over to Sakura.

Horrible realization crosses Sakura's face. "No, Shikamaru it's not what you think. Madara-sama isn't bad. Look who he's standing beside. Shikamaru, look!" Sakura steps up next to him and looks over at Madara, he's frowning deeply, not sure why he was brought up.

Shikamaru lets out a shaky breath before obeying, looking through squinted eyes at Hashirama, eyebrows pulling together more. "Is... is that the F-"

"Hashirama Senju, Senju clan leader," Sakura cuts him off, shifting nervously, hoping that none of the founder caught Shikamaru's verbal slip. "And beside the porch is Tobirama Senju, Lord Hashirama's little brother."

Shikamaru stares at Hashirama for a moment, before looking over at Tobirama. He frowns deeply, like he didn't understand something. He looks over at Madara for a split second before looking down at Sakura. "What are you doing with them? Don't you remember a word of what Naruto told us to do?"

Sakura's eyebrows shoot up. "Naruto? No, I don't remember anything, Shikamaru! All I remember is... is Obito and... and the war! What happened with... with all of that? How are we here?"

Shikamaru stares down at her for a moment, as if wondering if she was just playing him, but when he registers the serious, and almost deperate, look on her face, begging for answers, he looks worried. "Sakura," he says, voice lowering due to his fever, "the war ended. We went home. You don't remember anything?"

Sakura stares up at him with wide eyes. "We... we went home?" She shakes her head. "Why don't I remember any of this?"

Shikamaru opens his mouth, about to say something, before he teeters a bit, blinking slowly. A bead of sweat slides down his temple. "I don't know. And right now, I don't care. All I care about is that Naruto gave us two things to remember before he sent us here. Two things we had to do..." he doubles over a bit, leaning even heavier against the door frame. "One, was when we awoke, we would meet up as soon as we can, all of us. And two; at all costs we are to avoid the Uchiha and Senju clans."