Author's Note: Hello everyone! I am so sorry about the long wait! I have been so busy with work, family, other stories and just life. I didn't mean to hold off this long on putting this chapter out there. I've been having some troubles with this story and realized how careful I had to be about moving forward. I've also been spending a lot of time working on the sequel for this story that I hope you all will enjoy to the end. Anyway, let me know what you think! I am so super sorry about the wait! Thank you for 1,600 comments! I love hearing what you all have to say! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Warnings: Nothing much, maybe language, un-beta'd and OOCness.

Word Count: 5,222

Sakura jerks awake, her green eyes flickering around her dark, empty room. She's covered in sweat and her heart is racing. Sakura pushes her covers off of herself and moves to her feet, hating the way her clothes stick to her sweaty skin. She has no strength in her body, her legs are shaking a bit. Her wild green eyes fly around the room, trying to find the white haired goddess. What did she mean by that?

Sakura, dies? Can... can she see into the future? Does she know something that Sakura doesn't? Well, other than the obvious, that everyone will eventually die. This doesn't make any sense. What did she mean by Sakura is going to die a horribly, painful death? Just as she always did. What does that even mean?

Heart pounding, blood racing and shaking, Sakura walks out of her room and makes her way to her kitchen to get a glass of water. She fills it up almost the rim of the glass and throws it back, not stopping for a breath until the glass was completely empty. She lets out long, deep breaths, willing herself to feel better. What a strange dream. What a really strange dream.

Sakura runs her hands through her short pink locks, tugging a bit at the shortest pieces by the nape of her neck, looking around as if lost in her own home. She wished her parents were here now. She could go and speak to her dad - he would wake up at the slightest noise in the house and go looking - and he would make her feel better. He always did. Kizushi was good at offering her the comfort she needed when it was hard to push on. Or she could wait until morning and talk to her mom. Mebuki always knew how to rationalize everything going on around them. She just knew how to make everything make sense.

Sakura missed them so much.

She rests her hands against her sink, letting her head hang beneath her shoulders, closing her eyes and willing the tenseness in her shoulders and neck to relax. She had to get some sleep. She had a long day ahead of her tomorrow. There was still a lot of people from her Konoha - wow this will get confusing if they aren't careful - that need her help in their recovery.

She drums her nails against the inside of her sink, listening to the clicking noise, making a mental note to clip her nails soon as they are getting pretty long. As much as she needs to get some rest, she's not so sure that she's going to be able to sleep any more tonight. Her mind is just spinning. She's not sure she understands what she saw or why she saw it. She knew that she was scared of the Rabbit Goddess - she would of had to be crazy not to! - but the reason behind it is so strange, based on the dream.

The Goddess didn't do anything that was particularly scary, but just what she said has left this sinking feeling in Sakura's chest and her head spinning. Sakura just didn't know why that was what her dream would have the Goddess say.

Maybe Sakura was scared to die.

Well, okay, sure. She's scared to die. Who isn't? At least a little bit. But maybe there is some deep rooted fear in there where Sakura is afraid that she has lived a thousand lives and each life has ended horribly and tragic. She's not sure if in her subconscious mind, she's felt like her life was terrible and that her death must be as well, or what, but it left this profound feeling of both wonder, and fear, in her.

No, this isn't important. This crazy psychoanalysis of herself isn't important. She's through a very stressful last couple of months for first being very misplaced into her past - which then turned out to not be her past but an alternate timeline - and then to learn that not only is there no way that she will be able to ever go back home, but that she will absolutely never see her parents again.

Because they were murdered.

Even though she doesn't want to, Sakura pushes away from the sink and heads back to her room. She has to get some more sleep. Now isn't the time for her to be up all night trying to understand the craziness of dreams. There is a very real, very crazy world waiting for her in the morning that needs answers long before her dreams do.


"Can I speak to you for a second, Sakura?"

Sakura looks over her shoulder to see Kakashi standing at the opening of the tent that she was currently working in. She uses the back of her forearm to wipe some sweat that was beading up on her forehead.

"Yes," Sakura says. "I'm about done here, sensei. Can I meet you out there in a minute?"

Kakashi nods. "Take your time." He turns and leaves, stuffing his hands deep into the dark blue jounin pants that Sakura doesn't think she's ever seen him without. He only worse the Hokage cloak for really official means, otherwise he returned to what he was used to, Ino was telling her when she asked about it earlier that morning. It makes Kakashi easier to approach. He doesn't seem like the Hokage.

Even now, Sakura still has some trouble imagining that he is Hokage. She thinks that he would make an amazing Hokage, but his mannerisms are in very start contrast to the Third. Even Tsunade wasn't a lot like the Third. She also barely wore the white robe. Huh, maybe Sakura isn't all that surprise that Kakashi doesn't wear the robes often. Plus, she knows Kakashi well enough to know that he would probably rather be mistaken as a regular jonin any day of the week than be acknowledged as Hokage.

What a guy.

"Are you feeling better?" Sakura asks, rotating the arm of the chunin in front of her in gentle circles.

"It's really sore but it doesn't hurt as much as it did before," he says, flinching when she brought his upper arm close to his ear. Sakura lowers his arm back to his side gently.

"Okay, well it seems like it's getting better. I'll have one of the nurses get some pain medication for your muscle pain. I would still be hesitant to use that arm for the next couple of days. Just let it relax and heal," Sakura says, patting his good shoulder.

The chunin nods. "Thank you, Lady Sakura."

Sakura smiles at him before turning away to speak to the nurse in the tent before excusing herself to go and speak to her childhood sensei. He was waiting outside the tent, head turned up toward the sky with his dark eyes closed as the high noon heat bore down on him. She can see the pink around his eyes and water dripping from his drying hair. He must have been training until just recently.

"Sensei, sorry to make you wait," Sakura says, fanning her hand on the back of her neck. She shouldn't have cut her hair, she can't even pull it back to get it off her neck. Even though winter is coming, it's still really hot out. They might not even get any snow this year.'

Kakashi looks over at her, blinking a few times to clear his vision. "You're fine," he says, "follow me. Let's talk." Then he turns and starts walking away from the camp and Konoha. Sakura obediently follows after, figuring that he wanted this to be something private, or he would have just started speaking to her right there next to the medical tents.

But he didn't. He wanted to talk away from there. He wanted to talk somewhere private. Sakura wasn't going to argue. She's been at the medical tents seeing patient after patient for hours. Salma and Aya even came to get more training in and Sakura's had them running around all over the place whether it be gathering herbs or assisting in healing wounds or to assess situations with patients, this is probably the most training in the widest variety that they have ever had. Sakura made sure before she got too far to make sure the girls followed Ino around so that they were still getting their training cared for.

Ino may not be Sakura, but Sakura knows her best friend won't send these girls astray. She has more intimate knowledge about herbs than even Sakura does. It would be invaluable for them to be with Ino anyway. More perspective and a different insight than just Sakura's.

Once Kakashi has deemed that they were deep enough into the forest, and far enough away from the prying eyes of those around them, he sits down on a very familiar fallen over tree, crossing his arms over his chest. He looks over at Sakura with dark, black eyes, studying her posture from where she stopped a few feet in front of him. She leans heavily on one hip and crosses her arms over her chest as well, staring back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Is something wrong, sensei?" Sakura asks, after a moment of silence.

"How are you doing, Sakura?" Kakashi asks, finally bringing his eyes back to her face.

"I'm... dealing," Sakura admits, knowing that it would be pointless to try and lie to him. She's not happy or enjoying life all that much now, but she's trying to keep her mind off of the pain in her chest. Going to her home, even if it's not the one she was raised in, it's still hard to be alone. She knows, if she asked, Ino and the girls would definitely come and stay with her for as long as she needs, but Sakura can't do that. They are all going through a tough time. She just has to focus on something else for a while. She just has to get her mind off of it.

And maybe the less time she spends at home, the better.

"I think that is the best that we can hope for," Kakashi says, running his hand through his long, messy silver hair. He turns his head up toward the bright blue sky, watching it with large, dark eyes for a moment before looking back down at Sakura. "I want to talk to you about Lord Madara."

Sakura was suspecting that this time would come. "And what do you want to talk about in regards to Lord Madara?"

Kakashi scratches at the back of his head again, considering what he wanted to ask. Or, at least, how he wanted to phrase his question. Black eyes back and forth, trying to straighten out his thoughts before he looks back up at Sakura. "I want to ask you for your opinion on how he is. As a person, I mean. The last time he and I were in the same vicinity as one another, there wasn't a lot of conversation about the hows and whys of it all."

Sakura nods slowly, understanding. "Yes, because we were in the middle of fighting him. I imagine information would have been hard to come by."

Kakashi raises an eyebrow, looking perplexed by her words, as if he didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

Sakura stares back at him, blankly. "What part of what I said was confusing?" It wasn't suppose to be a smart-ass comment. She was just confused by what she said somehow be misconstrued. She's sure even if she said it smartly, Kakashi probably wouldn't even care, but he was Hokage now, and while she deeply respected him as her sensei, she knew that he deserved even deeper respect now that he was the leader of their village - er, people.

"You said in the middle of fighting him," Kakashi says slowly, as Sakura suspected, he didn't even bat an eyelash at her words, knowing that she wasn't trying to be disrespectful. "I don't understand what you mean. Are you talking about Obito? While we were against him and his sensei during the war?"

Sakura now stares back at him, deeply confused now. She feels her own eyebrows pull together tightly, her mind racing. It's such a simple conversation, she can't believe they are so far off from one another. Neither of them seem to understand that. Did they both live through the same thing? It's obvious, though, that they aren't on the same page.

"No, I'm talking about Madara Uchiha. I vaguely remember him being there, being the mastermind behind it all, behind Obito's original plan. But Shikamaru reaffirmed it, and about how Black Zetsu betrayed him and took over his body and about the Goddess..." Sakura stares at the bewildered face of her sensei, now not so confident in what she thought that she knew. "Am I wrong? Me and Shikamaru?"

"No, not really," Kakashi says slowly, rubbing at his head again. "Shikamaru is partly right. We thought the person that we were dealing with was Madara Uchiha. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I would have been certain of it. But it wasn't. The man we faced wasn't Madara Uchiha."

Sakura stares dumbly, not able to believe her ears. "What?"

"Shikamaru must have forgotten when we learned the truth... or at least part of it..." Kakashi mumbles to himself, looking troubled. He looks like he's making a mental note to go and speak to the brown haired genius when they are finished with their conversation.

"But..." Sakura murmurs, head spinning. "But I remember him! I can see him in my mind's eye!" And she could. All the way back to when she first woke up here after being sent through time. She remembers clearly, his face, his eyes locking onto her, blazing with the sharingan, eyes widening in surprise. She remembers him being there. Sure, his face was cracked and the sclera of his eyes were black, not white, but she knew it was him.

And now her sensei is telling her that that wasn't him? Her head is spinning. She's going to have to sit down if this conversation is going to continue the way that it has been.

Sakura sits down on the fallen over tree trunk next to her sensei, shaking her head in disbelief. She tries to organize her thoughts for a moment. She just couldn't wrap her mind around what she's learning - which is just too impossibly mind boggling for her to be able to understand right off the bat.

"He was there," Kakashi admits, "but he wasn't where you think he was. He didn't show up until a bit later."

"So he was part of the war?" Sakura asks, squinting at him.

Kakashi sighs, rubbing at the back of his head. "Alright, so, the first Madara, that was Obito, then a second Madara appeared - that wasn't Madara either. He was someone who looked a lot like him. And then there was the real Madara. Both of them were brought to life again by Kabuto's jutsu. Madara just showed up later, sometime after the four kage did."

Sakura stares at Kakashi, mind spinning more now than it was earlier. "What? How did that all play out?"

"The other man, who looked a hell of a lot like Madara, claimed to be him up until the four Kage until Lord Hashirama realized that it wasn't him. I don't know who he is, but he was obviously an Uchiha and obviously someone close to Madara. he was the one behind all of that, not Madara. He was the one who was betrayed by Black Zetsu and became the vessel for the Rabbit Goddess. Not Madara."

Sakura rubs at her forehead. "And you don't know who he is?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No, not really. I know his name, but it's not something any of us knew about. I haven't heard him again yet in this time."

Sakura is quiet for a moment, digesting this information.

"But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about," Kakashi says. "That's a headache that I'll have to deal with later."

Sakura stares forward, looking through the forest, taking a moment to listen to the sounds of the life out there. Her head is still spinning, but at least she's got a few answers. Answers to questions she didn't have. In fact, if anything, this is making her question all that she knows now with certain - well, significantly less certainty - but at least something has been confirmed.

Sakura lets out a long, drawn out sigh, looking over at Kakashi. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Maybe I'm being too overprotective, or perhaps I need to work out my own preconceptions, but I wanted your opinion of what Madara was like. He may not have been the person that I thought he was, and that history painted him as, but I'm still a bit worried. He was painted like that for some reason, I'm worried that while ours wasn't like that, this man might be," Kakashi says, looking over at Sakura next to him.

Sakura looks down at her dangling legs, swinging them back and forth a bit, trying to organize her thoughts. "He's... complex. There is anger in him, no doubt. But Hashirama-sama really helps keep it in check, just by being who he is, but I think since Izuna-sama was healed, the rage boiling inside of him has been sated quite a bit." Sakura stares into her sensei's eyes. "I like him, sensei. He's not very affectionate or open about his feelings, but he's not a bad guy. I can tell that he genuinely cares about people and wants this village to work. I..." Sakura considers for a moment, "...I like him, sensei. I believe that he is a good man."

Kakashi nods very slowly, absorbing her words carefully, while watching her expression for it tells all. She's not sure what her expression was saying, but she was telling the truth. She didn't think of him as open or bubbly or loving in any way - other than maybe toward his brother - but she didn't get any terrible vibes from him other than when they first met, and that was more her than him, and when he was in the two-on-two battle with her and the Senju brothers. But other than that, she hasn't really seen anything that has sent up any red flags.

"Thank you for your honesty, Sakura," Kakashi says. "If you say that he's a good man, I believe you. I trust your judgment."

Flattered, Sakura mumbles, "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi's eyes crinkle with his smile. "You're welcome, Sakura. Now, I was wondering if I could ask you to speak to Madara-sama on my behalf. I would be happy to be there with you, but I was hoping that you would be able to talk to him about what our history says and what to expect from our people until everything is completely straightened out, or people cease to care any longer?"

Sakura raises an eyebrow. "I don't mind, but I have a question; what was the Valley of the End, then? Wasn't that were Madara-sama and Hashirama-sama were suppose to of had a battle to the death?"

Kakashi nods. "Yes. It was, and still is. If I understand it correctly, they did have a battle to the death there but it wasn't because of some feud that erupted between them, it was because Madara had gotten very sick and was dying. He didn't want to die in his bed, but in battle against the First. So they had their battle and Madara died as a result, and then his body was brought to sacred Uchiha holy grounds, or something like that, and buried there. From what I understand, Lord First was one of the only people there that wasn't Uchiha."

"Sick?" Sakura gasps, eyes nearly bugging out of her head. "They created that huge fucking valley and one of them was on their death bed?"

Kakashi laughs, throwing his head back. "Yeah, imagine that. I was just as perplexed when I heard that story too." He sombers up. "But from what I understand, the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha were on very amicable terms up until the day both of them died. Even when they reunited during the war, they were still on very good terms. Lord First didn't appear to believe that Madara was capable of doing the things that he was accused of. Turns out he was right, I guess." Kakashi shrugs his shoulders.

They lapse into silence once more, both of them looking around the forest again. Sakura's not sure what she's going to do with this information. It's got her head spinning, though. She's surprised by just how wrong everything she thought that she knew was. It feels like she's going to continue to live in this veil of unknowing until she can remember everything for herself.

But a part of her feels really bad for Madara. It seems like no matter what, he's always been giving the short end of the stick. He was played out - somehow? - to be a monster in her timeline, and yet he wasn't, but he's going to be looking on wearily by her people because of the misrepresentation of their history. He doesn't deserve to be treated at arm's length - especially considering he's done nothing to deserve it - and yet he always seems to be put into that position. She's not looking forward to talking to him about it, but she knows that Kakashi is right in his concern. Madara needs to be told the truth about what is going on, so that he knows what to expect and doesn't misunderstand anything.

Especially in this very delicate time in their relationship when everyone is trying to figure out if they can exist together. Co-existence is possible, Sakura knows it - she's proof of it! - but they all need to be forthcoming and honest about what's going on.

"I'll talk to him," Sakura says, looking back over at her sensei. He turns his gaze to her when she speaks.

"Thank you," Kakashi says easily. "Do you want me to be there?"

Sakura nods. "Sure. That way, if he has any questions, he can ask you directly."

Kakashi nods back, reaching out to pat Sakura on the shoulder. "Right. Thank you, Sakura. Let me know whenever we are suppose to meet and I'll be there."

Sakura reaches up and tucks a few loose strands of pink hair behind her ear. "You got it, sensei."

Kakashi pats her back again before reaching his arms high above his head and his legs out in front of him. He stretches out as far as he can go, letting the bones along his arms and legs and spine crackle for a moment before relaxing with a sigh, falling into a loose slouch on the tree, looking around the forest for a moment, as if realizing what they were sitting on for the first time. This is his second time there, that Sakura knows of, yet it seems like he hadn't realized what he was seeing until now.

"What happened to this tree?"

Sakura laughs. "I punched it."

Kakashi looks over at her, curiously. "Why?"

"A bitch was testing me. She was talking shit about Konoha."

Kakashi pauses for a moment, looking at her, before looking down at the tree and nodding, patting her shoulder one more time before standing up. "Good job."

Sakura laughs, standing up beside him. "Thank you, sensei."


"Madara-sama?" Sakura calls, catching the dark haired man as he was walking down the street.

Madara turns around, curiously, saying something dismissively to the Uchiha that was walking with him, before turning to Sakura and waiting for her to catch up with him patiently before he continued walking. The Uchiha quickly ran off after offering Madara a quick bow, disappearing into the crowd flowing around them.

"I'm late for a meeting, walk and talk with me," Madara says, taking long, smooth strides down the street toward the meeting building. Sakura easily keeps up with his longer pace, already being used to being left behind. Out of all of her friends, Hinata is probably the only one that was shorter than her. She's used to having to keep up with longer strides of the people around her.

"Can I have a meeting with you? Not now, just whenever you're free?"

Madara stops, abruptly, making Sakura run into the back of him. She steps back, rubbing her wounded nose which was smashed into the center of his back when he stopped. She feels her eyes water and her nose burn. She blinks away the pain, trying to control the watering of her eyes before focusing on his face.

"Sorry," Madara says, turning to look at her. "But is something wrong? We can talk now, if need be?" A small crease forms between his eyes.

Sakura shakes her head. "No, everything is fine. I just have to talk to you about something important, but it's nothing urgent. Just when you have some time. Don't worry about it."

Madara stares down at her, studying her expression, suddenly looking somewhat pensive, like he was more worried about it now, than before she told him not to worry. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Sakura says, surprised. "Why are you looking at me like that? What's wrong?" Her eyebrows pull together. She ignores the throbbing pain in her face to try and understand why he's giving her that weird look for.

Madara hesitates for a moment, looking around to see if anyone was listening in on their conversation. No one was, people were more interested in getting where they were going. He looks back over at Sakura, stepping closer and lowering his voice to give them a bit more privacy in this busy street, even if no one appears to be paying them any mind.

"Is this about your parents?"

Sakura blinks, surprised once more. "You know about my parents? How?" Then the answer comes to her.

"Hashirama," they both say at the same time.

Madara looks away, as if ashamed before letting out a long sigh. "He told me about them and I wanted to come see you to offer my condolences, but I thought it wouldn't be in your best interest. I'm sure all you want right now is to forget about it."

"I do," Sakura admits. "At least, focus on something else for a while. I know I'm suppose to be torn apart and ruined, inconsolable even, but I can't be that right now. Not because I'm overtly busy, but I just need to do other things, focus on them. I'm sure the true, painful reality will hit me like a freight train, at least someday, but for now, I'm okay. I'm taking it moment by moment."

Madara nods slowly. In his eyes shines a painful understanding. He too lost his parents, like Sakura. Well, not in the same fashion, she's sure. But he lost them all the same, but he lost something that she'll never be able to fathom. He lost not one, but two little siblings. Both of his baby brothers. He lost them both to the terrible war that raged between the Uchiha and Senju for the better part of three hundred years. He's had it far worse, emotionally, at least.

It's awfully nice of him to be thinking of her. Especially since he probably has far better things to be thinking about, no doubt.

"Thank you, Madara-sama. I appreciate you thinking about me," Sakura says, offering him a thin smile. "But I'm okay for now. I promise."

Madara nods. "Well, good."

"But that's not what I wanted to talk about, honestly. It's about the history of my people. At least a little bit. The bit that involves you, at least."

Madara's eyebrows shoot up toward his hairline, looking a mixture of intrigued and relieved. He must have been worried that she would want to bare her soul to him about the death of her parents and he's too emotionally stunted to be able to offer her any sort of comfort that she might have sought from him. Not to worry, Madara-sama, she wasn't ready to face that can of worms just yet. Let alone take him down that emotionally rollercoaster with her.

Sakura's opting to suffer in silence for now.

"Okay," Madara says, looking up at the sky to gage the time. He already said he's late, Sakura bets he's probably wondering if it's acceptable for him to be just a bit later than he already is.

"It can wait," Sakura assures him, pulling dark eyes back to her. "I promise. My sensei, Kakashi, and I would just like to sit down with you and talk when you have the chance. Nothing urgent or anything. Just whenever you have a moment."

Madara tilts his head slightly, looking more stone faced, as if his concern has returned but he doesn't want her to know that. "Very well. I will send a messenger for you when I am available."

"No rush," Sakura says, stepping back and bowing. "Farewell for now, then, Madara-sama. Good luck in your meeting."

"Thank you," Madara says easily, offering his own little tilt of the head, before turning around and disappearing almost immediately into the crowd. Sakura stands there for a moment, feeling the cool breeze pass through the village, as winter draws closer and closer and the temperature starts dropping, with a small sigh. She actually kind of likes the colder part of the year.

But for now, she's going to have to focus on her people. They won't be able to survive the cold in the condition that they are in. She just hopes that the Founders can come up with a decision too, because whether they are staying - which is preferable - or not, they need to know soon so that they can prepare for what she can only guess is going to be a pretty cold winter ahead of them.

They need a home, and they need it soon.