AN: This fic was inspired by a conversation with Marquise de Nile about a story she was writing. And... I got so inspired that I wrote one myself.
And... even though the idea wasn't my own, this might be the fav piece I've ever written.
So, we decided to turn it into a fic-exchange of sorts. The fic following the same concept, "Let It Snow" by Marquise de Nile is now available as well!
Disclaimer: this fic contains explicit description of sex. If you are not old enough, please do me, and yourself, a favour, and come back when the time is right.
Sakura had a really awful day. When yesterday she was summoned back to Konoha from her humanitarian mission in the Land of Earth, she prolonged her stay as much as she could. She was assisting by a rescue operation after a landslide disaster. The last two weeks she had spent literally digging her way through the meters of mud to get to the survivors. Her chakra-enhanced strength was almost as vital for the task as her medical skills. But Tsunade was skeptical about sending her apprentice away for so long in the first place, and now she wanted her back to participate in some stupid political council meeting. Sakura, on the other hand, having witnessed the scale of destruction, was very reluctant to return. So, she delayed her departure trying to heal as many wounded as she still could.
The end result was that had she had set off on her home-journey already tired, chakra-depleted and sleep-deprived. When she paused for a night in the last stopover-settlement before the mountain range, her luck got worse. As she ordered the meal in a tavern, she found that the tea served to her before the food tasted weird. But she dismissed it, labelling it a local curiosity combined with poor climate for growing tea in this area.
Only when she noticed a group of men closing down on her, she realized that the tea wasn't really tea. She fought and took down at least five of the attackers, but before she got out of the tavern, she got hit herself. That made her reevaluate her condition. Normally, she was able to evade any and every blow. Not to mention those sorry excuses of attacks from couple of nuke-nins. But whatever was in that tea, it was potent enough to damped her reflexes.
Sakura decided to flee. She followed the track leading across the mountains to the Fire Country, but quickly came to the conclusion that the poison was slowing her down, and the plan of the tugs was anyway to wait until she collapses. So, she left the track – in case she lost her consciousness, they wouldn't be able to find her that easily. After a couple of kilometers, she stopped, healed herself and broke down the toxins. It took a toll on her chakra level but she pressed on.
And then it started to rain. And it didn't stop. Sakura, unused to such intensity of precipitation, couldn't believe that so much water could fall at once. The soil became soft and small streams were running every couple of meters. Mossy stones, slippery even during dry weather, became lethal traps.
Sakura's cloak soaked through within the first ten minutes of the downpour. Her inner clothing didn't hold much longer. She felt rivulets of water running along her spine and between her breasts. It was so cold. Freezing water was literally eating on her chakra. Situation was becoming desperate.
It was then, that she felt a small flame of chakra nearby. She wasn't much of a sensor, so she figured out that whoever this person was, he couldn't be far. She focused and recalled Karin's instructions. Karin would have described this chakra as 'warm'. And the signature was stationary, which was excluding her pursuers. Not that any of them would bother with her in such weather anyway, Sakura presumed.
Revigorated by the new hope, she turned in the direction of the chakra signature. After a couple of minutes of a struggle uphill, she stopped and concentrated. The chakra flame didn't get any brighter. Slightly confused, Sakura moved on. After another couple hundred meters the situation repeated itself. But by then, Sakura was already so deep into the mountain that she had no choice but to follow up with her decision.
After an hour of a grueling trek, the signal from the chakra signature finally intensified. Sakura pushed on, and at some point, it seemed to her that she saw a light up in the forest. Several minutes and two painful stumbles later, a small wooden hut appeared in front of her.
She felt like flying on her feet when she ran up to the door. She was just about to knock when the door sprung open. Sakura jumped back.
Uchiha Madara, the same one they fought in Fourth Ninja War, was standing in the door. Uchiha Madara who took on Sasuke and Naruto, and took them down. Uchiha Madara who was left to his own devices after Mugen Tsukuyomi was released. Mostly because no one dared to confront him.
Not thinking quite straight, Sakura spun and placed a kick on him. But he just grabbed her leg and swung her away as if she was a rag doll. She landed painfully on her side and scrambled to get into some form of a defensive stance.
Uchiha Madara was approaching her head on. She needed to scram. Panicked, Sakura channeled chakra into her fist and punched the ground to create her usual diversion. She wanted the crater to be massive, correspondingly to the power level of the man before her. It was a grave mistake. The ground in front of her barely budged while she herself collapsed on her hands and knees succumbed to a sudden nausea. She could only observe as her world narrowed down to a single bright spot directly in front of her nose. And then even that last spot was also gone. Her hearing took a little longer to switch off, so she could still hear his footsteps through that weird, high-pitched peeping in her ears. And then she passed out.
When she woke up, she was lying on the floor in a small room. Judging from the size and material of the walls, she must have been inside of the hut. She localized a window – it was completely dark outside, apparently she had been unconscious for quite some time. Thankfully, the floor was dry and somewhere behind her must have been a fireplace, as on her back she could sense the heat radiating from the flames.
"Why are you here, kunoichi?" And Madara was also here. Shit. "If this is an assassination attempt then I request my name to be removed from the list of Konoha founders. I don't want to be associated with a village that produces such incompetent shinobi."
He must have been standing somewhere in the corner of the room as she still couldn't see him.
"Konoha respects and will continue to respect the non-aggression pact with you," Sakura uttered the official phrase as fast as she could. "My mission was in the Land of Earth. Humanitarian help."
Madara appeared in the field of Sakura's vision and squatted on his heels in front of her.
"That's what you scroll says."
"You went through my things?" Sakura forgot the caution. Ever since genin-times missions with Naruto and Kiba, she was quite sensitive about people going through her belongings.
Madara didn't bother answering. His look told her volumes about what he was thinking of her.
"Why are you so wasted?" he asked instead.
"The catastrophe was bigger than anyone expected. A second landslide followed. I was almost out of chakra when I received an urgent call-back."
"Still, why are you here? It's far off the track."
"I couldn't resupply nor overnight in last village before the mountain range." She didn't want to admit that she failed to detect the poison, fought bunch of tugs and had to escape to save herself because of how drugged she was. "I went off the track on purpose and at some point, I sensed your chakra." When she had been following the trail of his chakra, Sakura kept wondering why she had to go so far. Now it all made sense – Madara's chakra was immense and burning like a beacon – that was the reasons why she had sensed it from many kilometers away.
Sakura tried lifting herself up. She still felt unsteady, so she managed to the sitting position and paused. She made a quick scan on her vitals. The result was sobering – it seemed she was barely alive. She had to face it - she would need to ask for help.
"Why did you attack me?"
Sakura rubbed her forehead. Not only was the only person in the radius of many kilometers the single most dangerous man alive, but she also just managed to antagonize him. "It was a mistake!" she exclaimed with all the sincerity. "A misunderstanding! I was just about to knock and ask anyone who lives here to let me in! I had no idea that it was you! And then when I saw you… It was a reflex! Just a reflex! Because of the war, I guess…"
He was still in front of her as if he was expecting some additional explanations, so Sakura felt compelled to continue. "I was just looking for place to overnight. It seems I have a severe chakra depletion… I don't think I can go any further. So… Is there a possibility… that I could stay here?"
Madara gave her a long look and got up. "Stay," he threw at her.
"Thank you." Sakura curled her feet under her body and tried to perform a ceremonial bow, as well as she could in her state. Ultimate antagonist of Konoha or not, it didn't hurt to show some respect. And gratitude – he was in the end probably saving her life right now.
Definitely saving her life – Sakura was abruptly reminded of her condition as her body started to shake uncontrollably. She shifted towards the fireplace to the point of pain from the heat. She needed to dry the clothes on her.
But the fire was dying. Only three logs of wood were lying on the hearth and they were mostly burned out.
"Can you… add more to the fire?" she asked, eyeing the fourth log lying by the wall.
Madara tasked her with his eyes, but stood up without a comment and after placing the last piece of wood in the fireplace, he went outside. He left the door open and cold air tore into the room. Sakura trembled. Her clothes were doing her more harm than good; they were only conducting her body heat, acting like an active cooling system.
It took a while until Madara came back and she didn't dare to close the door in meantime. When he finally returned, he was holding only meager armful of logs.
"It's raining from the south," he announced, placing the load on the floor.
Sakura didn't understand. "And what about it?"
"My timber storage is on the south side. Exactly because it never rains from that direction."
Sakura's shoulders slumped. "And?" she tried, not ready to give up the hope just yet.
"Everything is wet. It's the best I've found." He gestured at the modest pile in front of the hearth.
"Put them in, then! For sure it will be fine!" Sakura didn't have that much experience with wet wood, as Land of Fire was blessed with dry weather for the most part of the year. She needed to dry those clothes or she will get hypothermia very soon, now that she stopped moving.
Madara sighed and placed one log on the hearth. The flames that were quietly eating their way through the embers hissed and the room filled with smoke. Fast as a lightning, Madara grabbed the log, pulled it out and in three long strides reached the door to yank it outside.
"No more fire."
Sakura bit her lip. Her prospects just started to look bleak. She rubbed at her arms in vain attempt to warm herself up.
Madara looked at her carefully. "I have some soldier pills."
"Uhm, thanks," Sakura chewed at her lip, "but no…" After dealing with the spiked food she didn't want to risk another adventure. If she ingested additional poison, there was no way for her to break it down in her current, weakened state.
Madara gave her a long look - certainly taking a mental note of her distrustfulness. "I'll give you something to eat then," he said. "Sit."
Sakura slumped on a chair. Her peripheral vision was getting black and she fought against increasing dizziness. A bowl of soup landed in front of her.
"Not poisoned."
Sakura raised her eyes up, too weak to verbalize a retort.
"Because in your state it would have been a waste of poison. And of the soup."
Sakura placed the first spoon in her mouth and tasted. Nothing detectable, but that alone wasn't proving anything. Nevertheless, Sakura was inclined to believe him – especially on the waste of soup part of the argument... And she was fully aware that she needed to replenish her chakra very soon. Food was necessary.
Madara sat down, propped his chin on folded hands and bore his gaze into her. It wasn't helping with eating but Sakura kept dutifully swallowing one spoon after another.
"Eating despite a stomach injury. I assume you are aware of it?"
Sakura glimpsed down in alarm. How could have she overlooked it! Her shirt was stained red. The hastily patched up wound on her abdomen must have opened when she kicked Madara.
"Shit!" She tore her shirt up. "Shit, shit, shit." Sakura sent diagnosing chakra into her palm. Thankfully the opening went only to her abdominal wall. The intestines, that she had healed more thoroughly, were still intact.
"I am no medic, but from how it looks to me, some of your precious healing chakra would be useful here." His tone was a disturbing mix of clinical interest and amusement.
Sakura cringed - at both the tone and the message. She knew perfectly well that the healing was necessary. Just that her chakra reserves were drawing to an end. She subconsciously rubbed at the Yin seal. If she draws out too much, it will disappear. And when it is gone, forming it will be starting everything from the scratch. Creating the seal required hours-long jutsu, preceded by days of fasting, preparation and meditation. Definitely not something she could whip up on the way home, somewhere behind a bush. Like a fighter holding his last shuriken Sakura was reluctant to make use of it.
"It is still there." Madara's voice broke through her unpleasant reverie.
She looked up in surprise. Clearly, he was referring to the seal. He probably wasn't ignorant about its significance, as Uzumaki Mito used to wear one as well. "How much is there?" she decided to ask. "Only the contour or is there some colour in it?"
Madara edged towards her. "There is colour. But it's faint."
"Can you tell me when it starts disappearing?" Normally she was able to tell the level herself, but now? Sakura wasn't so sure. Sitting straight on a chair was already posing a challenge. She took a deeper breath and directed her chakra towards the injury. Edges of the wound started to come together, blending into new flesh. To hell with the seal, in the worst case she would reform it, thought Sakura reaching deeper into her reserves. The wound closed - swollen and red, but her body was whole once again.
"It's still there. Your seal."
Was it a consolation? She would need one now as the blackness on her peripheral vision just rapidly expanded. That healing took her very last.
"Eat and undress. You need to warm up." Madara stood up and went to the corner of the room.
Of course, she needed to warm up. Optimally, she would need a bathtub with lukewarm water, that would be gradually heated up, because Sakura was sure she had frostbites on her feet. And probably in the fingers of the left hand as well.
Madara came back, dragging an undescriptive pile of cloths, furs and blankets with him. He placed it in front of the hearth, very close - as the embers were glowing without giving off much heat.
"Get in there. But not in those wet clothes."
Sakura swallowed the last spoons of the soup. Now when the heat from the food reached her stomach, she was feeling even more acutely just how cold her insides were. 'Definitely a hypothermia.'
Madara wasn't making any attempts to look away so Sakura didn't have a choice but to strip in front of him. She tore her damp clothing off as fast as possible to keep the spectacle short.
She pushed the wet bundle into his hands with more force than it was necessary. "Hang it somewhere, will you?" she said with tone a tad too commanding than what was advisable in her situation, but she just wanted to show him how unperturbed she was with her predicament. In retrospect, she probably only managed to show him the opposite, as he chuckled accepting the clothes.
Sakura crawled under the covers and lied with her back to the hearth. But the fire was dead and the pallet, freshly dragged from a faraway corner, was cold. She would need to first warm up all these layers of furs and cloths for it to become comfortable. Lying still also wasn't helping. Sakura started to shake.
"Seems like I will need to warm you up," deadpanned Madara and pulled off his shirt.
"Wait, what are you doing?!"
"Undressing to share more body heat with you."
Sakura sat upright, pressing the covers to her chest. "What? Wait! Wait a second. Hold on! You said you have soldier pills? Let me see them!"
Madara arched his eyebrow with visible skepticism but he turned and started to rummage in a deep closet left to the fireplace. When he emerged from it, he was holding an aged, yellowed paper wrap in his hand. Sakura grabbed the bundle and unfolded it. Four large pills inside it were greenish-brown and made from hoarsely ground material. She smelled at them and cringed.
"Did you make it yourself?"
"No."
"Then whom did you buy it from?"
"I didn't buy it."
"Then where do you have it from?!" Sakura was losing her patience.
"A medicine seller came across this place two years ago or so. When he saw me, he got so scared that he dropped his entire pack. I have it all there." He gestured at the closet. "The descriptions are in some foreign language, but I assume that those are chakra enhancers."
"You assume? You don't really know what it is and you wanted to feed it to me?"
"If you ate it, I would at least know what it does..."
"Bastard," Sakura spat out through the clenched teeth and threw the package at him.
Then indeed no other option was left, Sakura concluded bitterly. The more energy she could steal from him, the better for her. She took a deep inhale and raised up the covers, indicating the invitation. Before she turned her eyes away, she noticed that his gaze didn't leave her face even for a split of second, even though her body must have been on full display.
"My thanks to the lady for allowing me into my own bed."
"Don't make it even more humiliating for me than it already is. I really don't need it," muttered Sakura. She hadn't felt that miserable for a very long time.
"Humiliating?" asked Madara walking up to the table. Even through the haze of self-pity and anxiety Sakura could help but to register the shape of his muscles. 'Shame that his hair is so long,' she thought. Otherwise she could get a better look of the muscles on shoulders. That was probably her favourite part of men's physique but on him it was covered…
He quenched the candle flame with his fingers. "It's a perfectly rational course of action given the circumstances. It is your intention that changes it into a humiliation. Or whatever else you are thinking there," he added as if in an afterthought.
He approached the bed and took his trousers off. Sakura had to look. She wanted to kick herself for it but it was a reflex. He was completely flaccid, but even in this state, quite impressive.
She opened covers again and shifted away, making space for him.
Madara lied on his side and raised his arm, indicating where should her place be: pressed against his chest, apparently. Sakura sighted. She could recognize hypothermia even if she never had one before. She never expected it to be that unpleasant, though. Cold in her inside was draining her already severely depleted chakra reserves. So, she complied and wormed her way towards him. Most carefully, she lied next to him. Then she shifted closer, until they were skin to skin. He was so warm, hot even, so for her cooled-down body the contact was pure bliss. Pleasure hijacked her brain directly, without any additional sensory stimulation.
Sakura nestled closer. And closer. He closed his left arm around while his right one he shifted under her head. Sakura reciprocated by embracing him by the waist.
"You feel so hot… Do you have a fever?" she asked.
"I don't. It is you who is undercooled," he replied. "But indeed, Uchiha have a bit higher body temperature than most of people," he added after a while. "It comes with Fire affinity. But I don't know if it is a cause or an effect."
Sakura buried her nose in his chest and relished the warmth. Even her feet, nestled between his calves were slowly warming up. Sakura performed a quick check of her chakra level – it finally stopped dropping.
Only the hand she draped over his torso remained in a colder space. On top of it, because Madara was quite large, she was holding it a bit upwards, hindering the proper circulation. Sakura flexed her fingers, trying to invigorate the blood flow.
"Just put it here." Madara reached backwards and pulled her arm between their bodies. It was now resting awkwardly between them, but at least it was warm.
In fact – everything was awkward. And so shameful. Instead of drifting away, Sakura lied wide awake and alert; mindful of every move: his or hers.
"What works better for your chakra regeneration: meditation or sleep?" Madara must have noticed that she wasn't even close to falling asleep.
"Sleep."
"Sleep then."
"I cannot. I'm too wound up," she paused and felt a compulsion to explain herself. "About… About the situation…"
"Hailed as the best medic in the world and cannot even switch off her own frontal cortex at wish?"
"Your sneer is not helping. At all." Exhaustion, fear, shame, it was all just too much. Sakura was on the verge of tears. She sniffed into his chest.
"Apologies, then. My 'sneer', as you've put it, comes automatically. Even when I don't really mean it."
Sakura blinked away the tears forming in her eyes and nodded.
"Thanks... And thank you for taking care of me."
AN: Thank you for reading and please tell me what you think!