Battle

Sakura eventually fell into a fitful sleep, but Kakashi's words haunted her through her dreams. She dreamed of both worlds and the lives she had lived and the happiness that she had gained. She remembered the laughter as well as the pain. The longing and the unity she had experienced.

When she woke up, it cemented in her mind that following Sasuke's plan was what she truly wanted. It was an opportunity that she would be a fool to pass up. She felt eyes on her and slowly turned her head to see Sasuke watching her. He said nothing, but he didn't have to. She could tell by his very body language that he knew that she now understood him.

She opened her mouth to say something to him, but she wouldn't remember what when she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye and stiffened. Sasuke was already on his feet, which caused her to quickly rise as well.

"Naruto, Kakashi." Sakura hissed. The Copy Ninja was instantly alert, but she had to kick Naruto to get him awake. Naruto grumbled a lot, but once he realized that they were no longer alone, he was as ready as the rest of them.

However, Madara's gaze was seemingly focused solely on Sasuke.

"So, you unwished your perfect little world," Sasuke said nothing, and if Madara expected him to then, he didn't know Sasuke at all. "And now you are here looking for me. I wonder why."

"You know why we're here Madara," Naruto growled. Sakura could see that the edges of his temper were fraying, so she took a small step forward. Kakashi neatly stepped in front of her. She paused for a second, trying to understand why he was blocking her when the answer came swiftly. He was protecting her, and it made her fiercely angry when she realized they all were doing it. "We're not going to let you do this again."

Madara laughed like he knew something that they didn't know. "You aren't? How do you know that I haven't already?"

She saw Naruto hesitate, but Sakura knew the answer. He hadn't. It was a bluff that only she and Sasuke could possibly see through. She stepped around Kakashi. He started to move again, but he stopped at Sakura's cool look.

"You can't bluff us, Madara. We know you haven't split the worlds again."

Madara's deadly focus turned her way. It was like the world stilled as he stared at her and into her. "You are the reason that it all unraveled," Sakura said nothing to that, but she did glance at Sasuke, which drew Madara's attention back to him.

"You love her more than the Uchiha? More than your family?"

Sasuke smirked. "She is Uchiha. She is my family."

Sakura's heart started to pound because she knew this was it. She prepared herself for a fight.

"You let her destroy your perfect world!"

"That's funny because I distinctly remember you telling me that no world is perfect because we aren't."

Madara attacked.

:::

They acted without thinking about it. Working together as a seamless unit. If Sakura were honest, she'd say that they worked better together now than they ever had before. Maybe this is what they could have been if the worlds had never separated. It was like they knew each other's moves before they made them and worked to make them even more powerful.

The fight with Madara was nothing like the first one. There wasn't a single hero in the story because none of them could have defeated him without the others. Sakura and Sasuke had been foolish to try and handle it all alone. They would have died, and their friends and family would have been so angry at them.

It was that thought that made Sakura realize she was selfish, but she pushed the idea away. She couldn't think about it because their enemy was not yet dead.

Madara laid at their feet with Sasuke's blade pressed against his throat. His face was bloody and bruised, and he looked broken. Sakura wondered if she should feel some type of satisfaction at his state but could feel nothing.

"You think I don't know what you're thinking Sasuke." His words were briefly cut off when Sasuke pressed the blade a little deeper into his neck, but Madara persevered. "You're taking the first step into becoming me."

Sakura scoffed, but she felt a pang of fear. "Sasuke will never be you."

Madara turned his rage filled eyes on Sakura. "You should be careful of who you trust, little girl. The snake bites." Sakura had a brief image of Sasuke and his summons but shook her head of it. Sasuke cared about her. He would never harm her—by conventional means…in this life….again.

Sakura had to admit to herself that Madara had gotten under her skin and she hated it.

"Go ahead. Kill me. My work is done."

Naruto said, "Wait. What work? What the hell are you talking about?"

But before Naruto could question him further or receive any answers, Sasuke severed his head. Sakura looked at the head and saw that the man had died with a smile on his face. There was something decidedly wrong with that.

Everything was wrong.

All eyes turned to Sasuke, and he acknowledged every stare. "We all know he was an evil old man. Nothing he said can be trusted."

The hairs on the back of Sakura's neck began to rise again. "If we know that, then why did you have to kill him?"

Sasuke looked at her, and for a brief moment, his eyes were dead. He blinked and then the Sasuke she knew was standing before her again. "Because if he didn't die the chances of him escaping were great. We couldn't risk him doing something unfortunate."

Sakura felt the heat of Kakashi at her back. She wanted to turn and look at him, but she didn't dare. She knew he had questions of both her and Sasuke. She knew Sasuke would never answer them. She also knew that he expected her not to either. But Sakura knew that is she turned around and looked at the man at her back she would become an open book to him.

She wasn't sure yet if that was something she wanted to happen.