Her feet touched down outside of her bedroom window. The journey back to Konoha had been a depressing one. No matter how much Shisui tried to reassure her, she was sure, Itachi blamed her for Sasuke if not before, he certainly did now. Sasuke had yet to wake up from the Suna attack.
Sakura had healed him as soon as some of her chakra had been restored. Itachi had demanded she release her seal to heal him fully and wake him up. She had tried to explain it was only for emergencies. He had argued that she had two seals, she could use one for his brother. Shisui had stopped her just as she was about to release her seal on her forehead.
A fight broke out between the cousins. Shisui told Itachi he was being selfish, that Sasuke was breathing, Sasuke was alive, that Sakura had done everything she could. Itachi's words still haunted her.
"It isn't enough." Itachi had said.
Never enough. No matter how strong she was, no matter how many Jutsu she knew...it was never enough.
She dropped down onto her bed face first. The Hokage had been understanding, pleased they had killed the Akatsuki, commended them on their progress and told them to go home to rest.
Sasuke was in the hospital now resting, Shisui had followed Itachi home with promises to her to look out for him. She had dragged her feet, willed herself to leave the stairs of the Hokage tower after they had left her. What could she do? Nothing. That is what hurt so much. Nothing, she could do nothing more than what she had already done. Sasuke would either wake or he wouldn't.
She sighed into her pillow and rolled over. Dark eyes watched her from the side of her bed. She hadn't even felt him sit down.
"Madara." She mumbled out her half hearted greeting and rolled over onto her side.
"Sakura, it wasn't your fault. The boy is not dead after all, there was nothing more that you could do. You saved his life. He would have drowned and he would have died if you hadn't been there. Itachi knows this, Shisui is right, he really blames himself for not being able to protect his little brother...I understand him, I blame myself, for my little brother, Izuna." Madara said gently.
"Izuna?" She sat up and looked at him. History didn't have a lot to say about the little brother Uchiha. Madara's strength and tragedy outshone any of his siblings.
"What was, what was he like?" She asked curiously.
Madara smiled, "He was a lot like Sasuke, always trying to catch up to me like Sasuke tries to catch up to Itachi. He loved, he was a very affectionate child, a weakness in an era wrought with war in every aspect of a young life. He was my brother."
Sakura smiled faintly, the first time in three days.
"Izuna was my world after our other two brothers died for our selfish war, our parents long dead, we only had one another. It is not the same for Itachi and Sasuke but, the bond is there I can see it. Itachi blames himself, he will come to you eventually, he is an intelligent shinobi." Madara acted like he was going to say more but stopped.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Sakura? Are you home? Come down for dinner dear!" Her mother called through her door.
Sakura sighed and got up to change her clothes pulling her shirt up and over her head, glancing a narrowed eye to Madara who was still sitting on her bed.
Madara grinned, "Don't mind me dear, please continue."
"You're not really here, you're just a ghost." She said and pulled down her pants.
He watched her change her outer clothes with mild interest and said, "I am a ghost but I am not a ghost. What you see is my will, imbued by the close proximity of my chakra trapped in that seal the Rabbit gave you. I am not a ghost, but I am still a man."
"Who can not touch me, who watches me and speaks only when it is convenient for you. You may not call yourself a ghost but you haunt me." She watched him as she tied her hair up in a knot at the top of her head.
"I told you, we are now bound for eternity. I can not touch you now," He said raising his hand, " but that might not be the case, forever. I told you, I can be regenerated completely, it just comes at a very dear cost, one that is not mine to pay. It's yours." He said as his hand passed over the nape of her neck, a shiver ran down her spine, it was cold.
"Mine?" She asked him eyes widening.
"To get something, you have to give something." His hand passed over the seal on her neck again. A look of unmasked longing passed over his features. His eyes rose to meet hers and she shivered again. So intense was his gaze. There was a cold feeling, a lightness to his touch, yes, she could almost feel his fingers pass over her seal.
"What do I have to give?" She asked him, lips parted slightly as she met his gaze.
"You're not ready yet, now is not the time." Regret passed over his features.
How remarkable she thought. This man, this being, was so very different than the Madara she had met, was the curse that strong…
"I'm, um, I have to go. Will you, are you going to be um, will I see you later?" She asked not meeting his eyes.
"Do you want to see me later?" He asked her a small lift to the corner of his mouth.
"Yes." She said, her hand on the doorknob to her room.
"Maybe you will then." He smiled at her as she huffed in response to his less than committed statement.
"Damn Uchihas" She muttered as she shut her door behind her.
Madara remained on her bed for a moment looking around her room and then out her window.
"Yes, we are damned, my dear. Damned indeed." Madara said to himself. He turned and looked at the door she had just gone through, he would need to hurry if he was going to make it back in time to see her before she went to bed. He leaped out of the window.
Sakura dragged her feet slowly one after the other up the stairs to her room. Dinner had not gone well. Her parents knew something was wrong, that something had happened to her mission and they had dragged it out of her. Like always, they didn't understand, they weren't shinobi. She had sat there while they lectured her over and over saying the same thing only changing the words. The meaning was clear, they wanted her to quit, they wanted her to take up her part in the family business, be a merchant. No, she was a shinobi. It was time she got her own place. She was old enough, she made enough money from missions. She would visit Sasuke at the hospital in the morning, then look for an apartment.
She turned the knob to her bedroom and opened it slowly dragging her body through the door with her eyes closed. She sighed and walked to her bed, just as she was about to fall over sideways onto it a hand reached out and grabbed her arm twisting her so she landed to the right, instead of on top of them.
Her eyes flew open and she pulled two kunai from her pouch as she landed in a sitting position beside Itachi.
"What the hell, what are you doing sitting in my room, in the dark?" She glared at him putting her kunai back into her pouch, he had startled her.
"I'm sorry." Itachi said, his head bowed to her.
"It's ok Itachi, I understand." She patted him on the arm.
"No, I shouldn't have blamed you. Forgive me." Itachi persisted.
"I forgive you." She took his hand in hers, leaning sideways against her pillows.
He had to lean over to accommodate her positioning which brought his thigh against hers and the tail of his ponytail to tickle her arm.
"I need to look for an apartment after I visit Sasuke tomorrow, come with me?" She asked.
"You want to move out of your parent's home? Why?"
"They just, I love them, it's just hard. When something happens, like what happened in Suna, it's just hard to be around them, they don't understand, they aren't shinobi. It is just better If I move out." She sighed.
"Shisui will want to come too." He pointed out to her.
"We can all visit Sasuke in the morning then go look together, will you let him know when you get back to the compound?"
"Hn." He replied.
"Thanks Itachi, I think I'll go to bed now, I'm tired. It's been a long day. Thanks for coming, I'm glad you're not mad at me anymore. I really did do everything I could." She sat up and smiled at him.
"I know you did Sakura. Thank you for always looking out for us, for my little brother, for all of us." He hesitated for a second then leaned over and put an arm around her giving her a quick side hug.
"See you tomorrow." And he jumped out the window to the next roof.
She laid back down on her bed, this time the right way since Itachi had left and closed her eyes. She was relieved. She understood why he had been mad but it was a relief to know he wasn't blaming her anymore. Sasuke's coma was hard on all of them. Itachi blaming her had just made it that much harder on her and even Shisui. She hoped Sasuke would wake up soon. Her thoughts drifted as she fell asleep.
Madara watched Itachi jump out of her window and waited before he joined her in her room as promised. He had never had much competition for women's affections in his time being the heir and then clan head. He had been annoyed mostly and ignored the female attention that smothered him then. He had never felt jealousy or possessiveness, never noticed women or cared for them much. There was always one around when the urge had hit him, always one around when he wished for female company for a festival or event. None had been strong enough or clever enough to really interest him. Sakura, was different. She was beautiful and she was clever, but the feeling in his chest, was not jealousy for the current Uchiha heir, it was not possessiveness that he felt when he watched Shisui kiss her in Suna. He didn't know what it was, only that it bothered him greatly.
Sakura woke to a small cold feeling moving slowly down the side of her cheek to her neck, up her cheek and across her lips. Her hand moved up to her mouth covering it lightly as the cold slipped around her hand encasing it.
"Sorry love, I didn't mean to wake you." Madara's voice came to her in the dark of her room.
Sakura opened her eyes to a nearly dark room, the moonlight dimly stretching across her bed where Madara sat beside her leaning over her with one arm holding his weight up by her waist, his other hand around hers on her mouth.
"Madara." She spoke softly, sleepy still.
He smiled down at her. Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight.
"I came back, like I said, sorry if it is a little later than we had previously agreed upon." He stroked her hand with his fingers lightly.
Sakura looked down at her hand. "It's cold, when you touch me, it feels cold like mist over my skin." She smiled a little at the thought of the great and powerful Madara Uchiha made of mist and vapor.
"I can stop if you like. It has been a long time since," He paused. "Since I touched someone without drawing blood, or to inflict pain of some sort."
"When was the last time?" She couldn't stop herself from asking.
"Long before I died, long before Izuna was killed by Tobirama." He said looking out of her window at the moon, his fingers tracing the joints of her fingers.
"Madara." She started to speak.
"You know," He interrupted her." You are the only one besides my brother and Hashirama who has ever called me by my name without some form of honorific or title attached to it. I like it." He looked at his fingers on her skin and smiled.
She forgot what she had been about to say and watched him trace his fingers up and down her own.
Silence fell between them. It was a peaceful silence. With Itachi's forgiveness and her own she felt calmer. Madara seemed content just to touch her hand in a lazy soothing sort of way. She closed her eyes and snuggled back into her pillow, it was nice to have him beside her, she wasn't alone.
"Thank you Madara. For just being here, it is nice not to be alone." She smiled as she drifted back off to sleep.
"It is." He said simply and sat there beside her while she slept till dawn.