Bang Bang Bang
Sakura opened her eyes. "What the hell."
Bang Bang Bang
She gets up off of her sleeping pallet and stumbles to her door. It took her a moment to remember she was in her new apartment.
"Good morning sunshine!" Shisui the Annoying Uchiha grins at her with a huge box in his arms.
"Good morning Sakura," Itachi calls from behind his cousin, he too has a box in his arms.
"What are you guys doing?" She steps aside and lets them in.
"Mom sent some things over for your new place Sakura." Itachi tells her as she sets the box down in the middle of the living room and pulls out a storage scroll. She walks over to him and looks in the box...it is full of scrolls.
"What are those for?" She asks.
"You, of course, you didn't think Sasuke would keep quiet after you told him your parents wouldn't let you take anything with you did you?" He scoffed at her and pulled a storage scroll from the box he had brought in.
"Wait, are all of those scrolls storage scrolls?" She asked her mouth dropping open after.
"Of course, mom says a lady needs choices so we dug through the storage scrolls and brought these." Itachi said as if this were a common occurrence.
"I picked out most of the good stuff when I got my own house but I left a few cool things." Shisui told her, maybe it was a common occurrence.
"But I was going to buy stuff when I could." She protested.
"Sakura, you're like family, don't be ridiculous." Itachi frowned at her.
Shisui and Itachi began making hand signs over the scrolls and by the time they were done she had an apartment full of furniture.
There was a nice double large bed, desk and dresser for her bedroom. Lamps, nightstand, and pictures were set and hung for her.
Shisui pulled out dishes, cookware and dish cloths for her kitchen that matched. Itachi filled her bathroom with towels, mats and soaps. Her living room had lounge chairs a couch and a TV. They hung pictures and artwork for her on the walls.
She sat on her new couch looking at the Uchiha clan symbol now adorning the wall behind her TV.
"I'm not an official Uchiha, am I allowed to have that in my home?" She asked them.
"Of course you are an official Uchiha Sakura, don't be silly." Shisui ruffled her hair.
"It's not like you're not going to be an official Uchiha eventually anyway." Itachi said as if it were obvious.
"What?" She asked him turning to face him.
Shisui facepalmed. Itachi just opened and closed his mouth once and tried to backpedal.
"I mean, you are family since we were little since Sasuke brought you home with him after you first day at the academy." He said quickly.
"Auntie sent you these clothes too, want me to hang them in the closet or did you want to look through them first?" Shisui asked her tossing her the storage scroll.
"I'll do it." She said and went to the bedroom carrying the scroll with her.
"Smooth." Shisui hit Itachi over the head gently.
"We all know it is going to happen, she will marry one of us eventually you know it as well as I do." Itachi said in his defense.
"Yeah she probably will, but not if you say stupid shit like that, she will marry someone else just to spite us, you know how stubborn that woman is." Shisui countered.
Sakura heard them arguing from her bedroom. She unsealed the scroll and a jumble of folded clothing appeared before her. Some formal kimonos some regular kimonos, some battle kimonos. Were they all kimonos? She wondered.
She dug through the pile and found pants, and other smaller more delicate clothing, a few dresses, some under kimono clothing. A Lot of the outfits were very pretty and not overused. She shook out a dark red and black short kimono with pants. It had the Uchiha clan crest on the back, she grimaced a bit. She liked the clan crest but she felt odd wearing it since she wasn't a true Uchiha.
She matched the pants and tops and hung them together in her closet, folding the undergarments and putting them in the dresser. She kept out the dressing kimono to wear for bed.
Shisui and Itachi's voices had gotten louder but stopped abruptly as she entered her living room again. She looked from one to the other.
"What's going on?" She asked them.
"Nothing, just arguing." Shisui said quickly without elaborating.
"Uh-huh, everything okay?" She asked Itachi.
He nodded.
"We are going to go get Sasuke after this, want to come with us?" Shisui asked her. "We are taking him back to the compound with us and getting him set up to rest at home, he will still come for dinner tonight but his mom wants to make sure he still rests as much as he can till he is 100 percent better." Shisui smiled at her.
"Of course I'll come with you. I have to stop by the market anyway. I can do that on the way back from the compound." She said absentmindedly.
"Didn't you open that other scroll Sakura?" Itachi pointed to the scroll on her kitchen counter, clearly unopened.
She went over to the scroll and unsealed it. Fruit and vegetables, meat and fish appeared before her. Bags of rice and dried beans appeared, bottles of fruit drinks, sodas and milk appeared.
"This is too much, was this your mom's idea?" She asked Itachi.
"It was my dad's. He said he knew we would be over nonstop so it was best if we brought this with us as not to burden you." Itachi smiled at her as she picked up a fish and put it in her refrigerator.
"This was so kind, so unexpected, everything, thank you, I'll make sure to thank your parents when I see them." She could almost cry. These people, her friends, her shinobi family was taking better care of her, cared for her more than her real family did.
"Sakura?" Shisui came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist hugging her to him "Are you okay?" he asked gently.
"Yes." She said, "I know that I had a family before, and that this family here is different but it was also my family if that makes sense. It hurt when they basically turned their backs on me. The Uchiha, in my time, they, it was different, you were all gone. It is such a shame, such a waste. Look at everything you have done for me, all of you." She said quietly.
"I don't understand how things ended so differently in this time." She added.
"They wouldn't have if you hadn't killed Danzo, or the Akatsuki that we killed." Shisui said letting her go.
"Even Madara, you said he is different now, he isn't consumed with hatred." Itachi said.
"We are all here because of you Sakura." Shisui said gently.
They had gotten Sasuke home easily enough and set up in his room. Sakura thanked Fugaku and Mikoto for their generosity. They both hugged her and told her they were proud of her.
Her and Sasuke left the compound for her apartment a little after 4pm.
"Why did you tell your mom about my parents and that they hadn't let me bring anything to my new place Sasuke?" She asked him as she opened the door to her apartment.
"I wanted you to be comfortable, we have lots of things just sitting around in storage scrolls, everyone in the clan uses them." He said.
"I'm not an Uchiha Sasuke." They were in her living room now.
Sasuke looked around, and saw the Uchiha clan crest on her wall behind her TV,."Looks like you are to me." He grinned.
"Shisui put that up when I was in the bedroom putting the clothes your mom gave me away." She protested.
"Well, you'll be an Uchiha one day so it doesn't matter, does it?" He asked her.
"Why does everyone keep saying that to me?" She asked him.
"Who says that to you?" Sasuke asked.
"Itachi said I was going to marry one of you eventually and that it didn't matter if I was an official Uchiha at the moment or not because I would be in the future." She glared at him. "Who decided that without asking me first?"
"We love you. I figured we just kinda adopted you as one of us. I love you." Sasuke said. "Why wouldn't you marry one of us, me in the future?" He asked her.
"Marriage is the last thing on my mind right now Sasuke." She warned. "I have too much to do still."
"I know, but when that is done, you will want to marry eventually right?" He said gently.
"Maybe, I don't know, I never thought of it. I have only thought of saving my village and the people I love." She said. "That's all I want to think about right now." She ended the conversation.
"Time to start dinner." She walked into the kitchen.
"I've lost focus. What happened in Suna really scared me." She said to herself.
Sasuke had left a little after dinner. She knew he had wanted to stay longer but she needed to think. Now that he was better she needed to focus on what was really important. Her mission she had given herself, to change the future of the time she found herself in.
She ticked the events off in her head.
Uchiha Massacre, tick.
Akatsuki, semi tick
Was Obito still alive, she needed to find out.
Orochimaru, needed to be eliminated.
"You look pensive love, anything I can help you with?" Madara's deep voice spoke to her from the seat next to her on her couch.
"Why did you leave last night after I touched you?"
"I apologize, it was, a small shock." He replied smoothly.
"It was a shock to me too." She mumbled.
"I see you decorated among other things." He looked around her apartment.
"Shisui and Itachi came by with storage scrolls from the compound." She told him.
"So I see." He gestured to the clan crest on her wall.
"They put that up not me." She clarified.
"Hn."
They sat there in silence for a few moments.
"Madara, do you know where Obito Uchiha is?" She asked carefully.
"No, I have been trying to find him but remain unsuccessful."
"And Orochimaru? Do you know where he is?" She asked.
"Why do you want to know?" He knew why.
"I need to kill him, stop him." She said simply.
"You are a strong and talented kunoichi Sakura." He paused." I am not sure if you will be able to handle him on your own." He said slowly. "I will go with you."
"Why would you do that?" She furrowed her brow in confusion.
"So you don't get yourself killed, I told you, we are connected now, forever." He looked at the crest on her wall.
"Madara." She turned to him. "Where do you go when you aren't with me?"
"I have an agenda too, you are not the only one who was given a second chance, I am just more restricted than you, due to ...complications." He said slowly as if he were choosing his words carefully.
"You will notice I have my Mangekyou Sharingan but did you know I also have the Rinnegan?" His eyes faded from coal to ringed purple.
"How?" She leaned forward to look more closely at his eyes.
He laughed, "You are an unusual woman, are you not afraid of the Rennigan?"
"We are linked now, you said, we are connected, you can't hurt me can you?" She claimed boldly.
"Not without hurting myself, no. I don't want to hurt you."
"If you still have your Rinnegan, then Nagato, doesn't have it? Which means you didn't save Obito to manipulate and use him?" She hypothesized.
"That is my assumption, however, I prefer to have proof. I have not been able to locate Nagato, yet. I think I have a lead and will be leaving tomorrow to follow it." He said.
"How will you do that though, can others see you now? I forgot to ask, you disappear so quickly."
"I think they might be able to, I was hesitant to find out."
"Ah, she understood. Use a change maybe? You will need to find out, that is crucial." She said.
"I am aware of that." He said impatiently. She doesn't know, she doesn't understand what it means, do not blame her, he told himself.
"Let's find out." She stood up and put on a henge of her own. "Now you."
Madara looked at her annoyed." You don't have to go with me." But he cast his henge anyway.
Sakura reached out to touch the long white hair of the man before her. She tugged on a lock gently.
"I can touch you still." She smiled.
"I can feel it still." he smiled.
"Let's try it out, see if others can see you. Let's go get some Dango!" She laughed and turned toward her door.
"I don't like Dango," he said
"Eh, what do you want to get then?" She huffed.
"Tempura, shrimp tempura." He said walking past her and out the door.
"Okay," she said, it was her favorite.
They walked down the street to the market in their henges. She was black haired and taller, he was white haired and shorter. They attracted little attention as they walked, just a brief glance from one person or two.
They came to the stand."You order." she told him.
"Two orders of shrimp tempura." He commanded.
"Easy killer." She laughed.
"Coming right up sir!" The owner of the stand told them with a smile and a wink.
Sakura reached out and took his hand in hers squealing, "He can see you!"
"I noticed." He said gruffly but smiled.
They paid for their food and sat down on the benches provided to eat. Madara couldn't help but smile at his companion. He had never been on a date before. He was too busy with, well, war. Is this what it felt like to be normal?
Sakura sat across from him shrimp tempura in her hand, dipping it into the tempura sauce, chewing noisily. He laughed.
"What is it?" She asked in between bites.
"You eat like a little kid, did you know?" He grinned at her.
"I do not!" she scowled at him.
"You do, and now you're pouting like one too." He all but pointed at her and laughed.
A small, something, lit inside of her. She had never really dated before, is this what it felt like to date? To laugh and eat food with someone, to just enjoy someone else's company? Going out for ramen with her team never felt like this, eating ramen alone with Naruto never felt like this. She blushed.
Madara watched her face, it was the face of the henge he knew but the expressions were all Sakura. He had watched her for so long, talked to her more now than he ever had before, he realized, he knew her. The only other person he had bothered to get to know was Izuna and Hashirama. It felt nice, to have her here with him.
They walked back to her apartment slowly, the weather was nice and the food had been good. He hadn't tasted food, been hungry for so long. It was nice.
"Well we know that people can see and hear you, and you can pick things up like tempura." She teased him.
"Want to spar? You will need to see if you can fight." She said reasonably.
They walked to the training field together. She was a little excited she had to admit, sparing against Madara Uchiha, she would probably get her ass kicked but it was still exciting. She smiled to herself.
She stood facing him and they made the sign for a friendly spar.
"Ready to dance love?" He asked her.
"I am ready." She smiled at him and teleported behind him, pulling her katana out of its sheath.
He blocked her efforts with a well placed elbow and thrust to her side preventing her from drawing the weapon completely. The sword fell back into the scabbard as she let go to block his next strike.
"So fast." she huffed and ducked to avoid another jab.
"This is just a warm up dear." he grinned at her and leaped into the air, his leg cocked.
"Shit." she rolled out of the way as he came shooting back down at her fast. Chakra flooded to her hands as she blocked blow after blow.
He was incredible. She knew of his legendary weapon the Gun Bai, who hadn't, but little had been said about his TaiJutsu prowess. It was bruising, and she could tell he was holding back...a lot.
Already her arms were going numb with the vibration and power of his hits when she blocked them. She tried to dodge him and run to gain some distance but he wouldn't allow it. His foot came down on hers, and trapped it, she would step back and he would step forward, he locked his arm in her arm and threw her over his head. She landed on her back the wind from her lungs pushed out and left her gasping.
"I concede." She gasped out catching her breath.
He reached a hand down to help her up. "That was incredible you are incredible, you're faster than Itachi and Shisui combined."
"Of course I am." He said surprised.
"They are the fastest, most talented shinobi in the world right now." She protested.
"I am Madara Uchiha. My first kill was at 6 years old in my first battle, my first war. I have the battle experience of almost two lifetimes." There was no comparison.
"I am beginning to understand." She admitted. "So, you can fight, what now?"
"Now we go home, tomorrow I will get my Gun Bai and look for Nagato." They made it home just as the moon rose.