She had grabbed Sasuke by the collar of his shirt and flickered back to the room he shared with Shisui and Itachi, where he ranted and raved about Gaara till the others joined them and he ranted some more. She left him practically foaming at the mouth and went to lay down in her own room. She had only eaten half of her lunch before it had ended up face down in the sand and she had to admit she was more than a little hungry still.
She lay on her bed with her eyes closed and tried to will away the headache she knew was coming. A gentle breeze floated over her and she looked to the sliding glass door she had accidentally left open earlier when she had gone to the market. Sliding out of bed she walked to the window to close it when a small basket floating on sand met her. She picked the basket up and opened it, finding figs and dates and small puddings inside, she smiled.
"Thank you, Gaara." She said to the sand that immediately began to swirl and form into the Kazekage.
"Forgive me Sakura, I came on too strong and annoyed your teammates. I really hadn't meant to cause such a fuss." This was more like the Gaara she remembered.
"There is nothing to forgive, I apologize for Sasuke, he is very protective of me." She blushed again.
He found it fascinating watching her blush before him, he knew not to reach out to touch her face again but he wanted to, badly.
"I ruined your lunch and did not want you to go hungry until dinner. My behavior earlier was unacceptable, please forgive me." He was sincere.
He must learn to control himself, he hadn't realized it would be so hard. The beast inside him kept urging him to claim her, make her his mate forged from feelings from this other life. He took a step back from her, he needed to put some space between them.
"Thank you, the figs look delicious, and I love pudding." She smiled and looked at the basket of treats.
"I know, I remember, or, Shukaku remembers. He seems to remember a lot about you. We must have been close in the other life for him to know so much about you?" Gaara is asking her, not just making a statement.
"Well, I stayed with you for a time, to help after a small conflict in your country. I helped set up your hospital and trained a few of your doctors. We spent a lot of time together." Sakura looked away from him unable to make eye contact.
There had been something between us, he thought, she won't even look me in the eye.
"I'm glad we were friends, I will leave you to your rest. See you at dinner this evening Sakura." And in a swirl of sand, he was gone.
Sakura went back to laying on her bed, this time with a fig in her hand. She peeled the green skin of the fruit off and placed it on a napkin then bit into the ripe goodness. Her mouth filled with sweetness and she closed her eyes in bliss. If she would have opened her eyes and looked out the window she would have seen two red eyes looking in on her from the shadows of her balcony.
After her small snack, she curled up on her bed and took a little nap. She dreamed of Gaara, the old Gaara and how they used to spar together, and get lunch at the market stand, and eat on the East Gate wall….she had enjoyed her time in Suna before, had enjoyed the company of her friend the Kazekage.
She woke from her nap, memories fresh in her mind like the one night, some foreign nin had come through the village, all their papers had checked out at the gate, they were who they said but that night at the bar, everything had gone wrong.
Sakura had been out with Temari and Kankoro, Gaara's brother and sister, he was going to meet them there after he finished his paperwork. Temari had been flirting off and on with a guy at the bar and he finally came over and made his move leaving Sakura and Kankuro to their own devices. Not ten minutes later a long haired, long legged vixen walked by and Kankuro had left Sakura sitting at the table alone and walked after her.
Sakura hadn't minded so much, she was capable of taking care of herself and Gaara would be there soon, so she had sat there sipping her drink and waited for him. A half hour went by and two foreign nin entered the bar looked around and made for her table. One sat down while the other introduced himself as a nin from Iwa, wanting to know why such a beautiful woman was sitting at a table by herself.
She had blown them off and told them she was waiting for someone. The one who had sat down without asking scooted closer to her on the bench and told her they would be happy to keep her company until her friend got there. She had taken his hand that was creeping up her bare leg and broke it with a snap, telling him as he screamed, she was fine and didn't need the company. His friend, taking exception to his friend's broken hand, had pulled a kunai on her. She laughed, deflected the pathetic attack and had thrown him through the window of the bar. He had landed at Gaara's feet just as he was about to enter.
Gaara did enter the bar then, only to find a huffing Sakura, dress ridden up over her thighs, hair sticking out and red in the face...with rage. The foreign nin whose hand had been broken ran out of the bar, picked up his friend and they ran out of Suna as fast as they could.
The bar had erupted in applause after their hasty departure and Sakura was the subject of many toasts and offered drinks. She had been quite drunk that night as she stumbled back to her room on the arm of the Kazekage. He was almost as unsteady as she was having matched her drink for drink. They got to her room and shut the door. Her back up against the door for support, Gaara holding onto the wall so he didn't fall over.
She remembered sliding down the wall when her knees gave way and him laughing at her as he watched. It had been the first time she had heard him laugh. She had reached her arms out to him asking for help, he had moved in front of her, arms reaching down and pulled her to his chest, he had pulled her too hard and she hit his chest, sending them tumbling backward onto her bed, with her on top of him. He had kissed her then, slow and deep.
Sakura touched her lips remembering. It had been her first kiss. She didn't know if it had been Gaara's or not, but she thought it might have been. She frowned, it had been her first and only kiss actually. She laughed at herself. She had killed S-Rank missing nin, fought a world war, gone through time...but had only kissed one man? Even if it had been the Kaze kage ...still only one man?
"Ugh." She moaned, she was pathetic.
Knock Knock
"Come in." She called out, she knew it was Shsiusi.
He came in, saw her laying haphazardly on her bed in a depressed state and asked her what was wrong.
"I was just remembering things from, before. I kissed the Kazekage in my other life." She said slowly.
"Was it any good?" Leave it to Shisui not to be surprised, not to scold her but to ask how it was.
She laughed, "I can't say really, it was my first and only kiss. I have nothing to compare it to." She flopped back down on the bed spreading out like a starfish.
Shisui laughed and laid down beside her, "Well, maybe your next one will be better flower." he picked up a lock of her hair and twined his fingers through it.
"You've become a very beautiful woman Sakura." Shsiusi said lowly as he watched her hair flicker in and out of his fingers.
"Yeah, a lot of good it will do me. I'm so busy I don't have time to date much less spend more than two days in the same place for anyone to notice me." She huffed.
Shisui chuckled, "Oh flower, you have been noticed, believe me Sakura, you have been noticed, not only by the Kazekage but others closer to you."
He kissed the lock of hair he had been playing with and watched her face as realization dawned on her. He smiled a wicked smile, "I did tell you I would wait didn't I?" He leaned forward and brushed his lips over hers, barely touching, and then drew away sighing.
"Shisui." She leaned toward him her hand reaching out to him but he took her hand in his and patted it.
"Sasuke is coming." He sat up on the end of her bed and waited for the knock.
Sasuke didn't bother to knock, he just walked right in."What are you guys doing?" he asked and sat down on the bed next to Shisui.
"Well, I was resting till everyone decided to come into my room, even though your guy's room is much larger," Sakura complained.
"Why is your door open Sakura?" Itachi asked as he knocked on the door frame and came into the room.
"Sasuke never shut it." She sighed and rolled over because Sasuke was trying to lay down on her small bed taking up more room because he was bigger than her.
"Get off my bed, your hogging it, go lay on your own bed damn it." She pushed him and he fell onto the floor.
"Urgh!" Sasuke grunted as he fell off the bed.
Itachi was looking at the basket on her table. "Is this pudding?" Itachi held up a small glass jar.
"Yes, feel free to have some, there are two more jars in there." She knew how much Itachi liked sweets.
"Mmm." He already had the jar open and was inserting spoon after spoon of sweet goodness in his mouth.
"This looks homemade, where did you get it Sakura?" Itachi was fingering the cloth lining of the basket.
"Um, Gaara dropped it off to me, because my lunch is now buried under the sand by the East Gate." She waved a hand to the east.
"He is quite taken with you isn't he?" Itachi frowned at the basket and put the empty pudding container down, picking out another from the basket and opening it.
"Don't eat all of her pudding Itachi, what will she tell him when he asks her if she liked it, that you ate it all?" Shisui laughed at the guilty look on Itachi's face as he ate another spoonful of pudding looking away feigning innocence.
"Why is he giving you baskets of food?" Sasuke was glaring at her from the floor that he hadn't bothered getting up off of.
"I told you because mine went over the wall." She didn't want to argue about this anymore, it was stupid.
Sakura got up off of her bed and went to the balcony sliding glass door aside and stepping outside. She smiled as she took a deep breath. Suna, it smelled the same. She heard a crash from the inside of her room and turned to see feathers flying everywhere...crow feathers.
"Itachi! Get those crows out of my room!" She was stomping towards him when he disappeared taking his crows with him.
"What the hell is wrong with you guys? Why is there a broken jar of pudding on my floor?' She glared at Shisui and Sasuke.
"Itachi got to eat two jars, I only wanted to taste it, but he wouldn't let me have it," Sasuke said lamely as he started to clean up the mess.
"You don't even like sweets Sasuke." She huffed, "Man...I wanted that too ...urgh."
"I'll get you some more I promise, I'm sorry." Sasuke dropped the jar of ruined pudding into the trash and backed out of the room.
Shisui slid off the bed and walked over to her, she was staring at the broken jar of pudding in the trash.
"I will ask the Kazekage where he got it and see if I can't get you some more. Until then," Shisui leaned down and kissed her gently, running his tongue lightly over her lips. She brought her hands up to his chest and spread her fingers apart leaning into his body.
"Shisui." She pulled back a bit.
"So now that you have something to compare it to…?" Shisui grinned at her.
"You are better, much better." She smiled and he bent his head to kiss her again when there was a knock at the door.
Shisui grinned, "You have company." He said as he stepped away from her.
Sakura opened the door to her room to find Gaara there with another basket.
"Oh! Gaara, how did you know? Or did you know Itachi ate my pudding and Sasuke broke the last jar?" She smiled at the basket as she took it from him.
"I know everything that goes on in my village." Gaara looked at Shisui as he said this and Shisui grinned not at all ruffled by the Kazekage's pointed stare.
Gaara turned back to Sakura, "I will see you at dinner." and he left.
Dinner went surprisingly well. There weren't any snide remarks from Sasuke, Shisui kept the sarcastic jokes to a minimum, Itachi was his normal polite self and Gaara was charming, which was very different than what Sakura had been used to in her time. The food was good, the company had been polite and she lay on her bed in her room happy.
They couldn't stay here long but they thought another attempt on Gaara might be made and they didn't want to leave until Konoha recon got back to them on a few other Akatsuki tails. Sakura wasn't complaining, it had been a hard two years, constantly on the move. It was nice to stay in one spot, even if it was only for a few days.
She stretched out on her bed enjoying the softness of it, a rare luxury. She had put on an actual nightgown tonight since she wasn't sleeping outdoors. Moonlight flooded into the room through the sliding glass door. She stood in front of it looking up at the moon. She hoped Kaguya was happy with the progress she has made so far. She was thankful for the gift. Naruto had returned to Konoha from training with Jiraiya and would be meeting up with them soon. Kakashi and Yamato had been working on a new training regimen for him and were anxious to get him started on it.
Sakura yawned and turned back to her room, her bed and froze."Madara."
"How are you my dear?' Ghost Madara asked her as he sat on her bed.
"Are you a ghost?" She asked him.
"No, not a ghost but I am no longer a man either." He looked sad.
"Am I the only one who can see you?"
"Yes." He said.
"Why?"
"You are the only one I allow to see me." He told her
"Why me?" She asked him
"I got sent back with you, not by choice, but because you have changed time. You aren't supposed to be here, none of them are." Madara said.
"Who?"
"The Uchiha, and all the others you have saved or inadvertently spared from grief and death." He sighed.
"You can't leave?" She was confused.
"No. We are connected now, I can not leave. We are bound together for eternity." He smiled at her. "It could have been worse, I could have been bound to Obito, he is not as pretty or as interesting as you my dear."
"I'm flattered." She said dryly.
Madara continued to smile at her. It was an odd expression on him...to her. He looked nothing like the crazy maniac who tried and succeeded in killing everyone she loved.
"I am not the same person I was Sakura, the Curse of Hatred was broken." He looked out the window at the moon, "Her black will is no more, Zetsu is dead, because of you, because she sent you back."
"But then, why are you stuck here, can you not move on in peace?" She still didn't understand.
"I am here because you are here. The seal, the gift she gave you, Kaguya sealed my chakra inside of your seal, after you killed Gato, you were finally strong enough to release the seal entirely, the one the Rabbit goddess gave you. I could not show myself to you before that. In a way, you released me too." He smiled again.
Madara Uchiha really was a very handsome man.
-when he isn't laughing like a loon and killing people-
"How is it you look no more than 25 years old?" She asked him
"Izuna died by the hand of Tobirama when I was 25, that is when the curse of hatred began to control me. I assume that I regressed back to the former state, before the curse. I have no other explanation for you love." Madara said sincerely.
"How come you never told me any of this? You just watched me and spoke rarely, it was so creepy." She accused.
"I did not wish to startle you. I apologize.' Madara was looking at the moon again.
"Can you ever return, be whole again?" She asked.
He hesitated, sad eyes turn back to hers and a small smile graced his lips, "Yes, but at a cost, and it is not for me to pay."
"Who pays it? What is the cost?" Sakura asked.
"Be careful of the Kazekage, he is not in control of his beast as much as he thinks he is." He avoided her question and disappeared.