Dreamt

Chapter 2

Sakura decided to tell her Shishou about the dreams. Tsunade was very busy and though she paid some attention to her story, she didn't seem concerned.

"Sakura, it is the first war for you… And it is apparently how your mind reacts to stress. Sure, you dream of enemy. And sure, you visualize him as he was captured in the sculpture – you have to give a face to the man behind the mask. It is only stress, don't make it worse by obsessing about it."

Sakura dreaded next night. Ino was no longer an option. She wandered aimlessly around the camp. Finally, tired and fed up with everything, she decided to take a chance sleeping.

And landed in the same yard of the same mansion. Uchiha Madara wasn't there. She turned around, tense, conscious of every sound. Turned more. And he was there, standing on the veranda. She didn't hear nor sense him coming, as much as she tried.

He seemed genuinely surprised.

"What are you doing here, jutsu-caster? You failed your mission already. Or do you bring me a message from your Hokage?"

"I didn't fail any mission because there was no mission! I am just a girl who's dreaming. All these things you said about me are true and there is nothing more. I don't want to dream this! I don't want to be here!" She was screaming out all her frustration and anxiety now. "When I told the Hokage about it she only diagnosed me with war stress! See, I am just a girl who is going crazy! Just that! And apart from it everything is just fine…" She choked on tears.

Madara was watching her with mild disgust. To be so emotional; unacceptable for a ninja. A mortal handicap, even if her skills were not entirely mediocre. Contemptible. But if she was so convinced she was going crazy, what did that mean about him?

"So, if you are here anyway, how about a spar? I am getting bored…"

A spar. With the legendary Uchiha Madara. One on one. In her current state. Sure, great, why not?

Actually, why not? Not that she had anything to lose at this point. At least she would have something else to focus on than her progressing madness. And maybe she would wake up again? Plus, he was probably going to attack any second anyhow.

Sakura braced herself.

"Why not?" She lifted her chin, rubbed her eyes dry and took the kunai into her right hand. Normally, she would go with chakra-increased punches but somehow, having a blade in grip was giving her an -undoubtedly false- sense of security.

She didn't wake up. And it wasn't fun.

Kunai in hand or not, Yin seal or not, it was all useless. She was pushed into such an extremely defensive stance that she almost had to defy the gravity to dodge his strikes. She failed to dodge quite a few already and felt that certain muscles wouldn't act properly anymore from the blunt trauma. Each time he landed a hit though, he would pause and wait until she collected herself. And Sakura was sure that the blows carried only the smallest fraction of his real strength. As if he was making it last longer. She was sure he could break her neck with just a kick anytime he wanted. But no, he was prolonging it.

Sakura started seeing black spots in front of her eyes. She was getting slower and slower, more hits were landing on her and soon she was fighting to even stand straight on shaking legs. As her strength waned, panic started to rise again.

"It is enough for you."

It felt like brushing shoulders with death itself when he passed by her. She still stood there in the middle of the yard where she stopped. Wide-eyed, cold sweat drenching her vest, afraid to even turn. The kunai fell out of her hand. Her fingers were so cramped that she couldn't straighten them back. He was somewhere behind and she was afraid to turn. She was cold, so cold. 'Get yourself together, Sakura. If he wanted, he would have hurt you already.'

He was sitting in his previous spot, propped against the pillar. She couldn't stand there any longer simply because she would collapse. If she went to the opposite side of the yard, she would have the said yard between them. But it would be… confrontational…? And a yard of distance wasn't even a mental comfort. So she walked towards the porch Madara was sitting on, slowly climbed up and sat couple of meters away from him. He didn't seem very interested, was staring forward, deep in thought.

So Sakura sat and waited to wake up. The sun was moving on the sky and it was the only thing that was moving at all. Her fear was subsiding simply because absolutely nothing was happening. Madara had barely made a move since their spar. What was rising in Sakura was a creeping anxiety. It was so long already and she was not waking up. She focused her chakra and tried a genjutsu-dispelling method. And then tried again, stronger. And again.

"Don't bother." Sakura looked at him with surprise at the sudden breaking of silence. "I tried already. And it is not a genjutsu."

So she stopped trying. Her chakra level was dangerously low. It was hard to sit straight, hard not to shake out of exhaustion. Hard not to cry. Sakura felt as if hours had passed until she gathered courage to speak up.

"Is it really a dream, then?"

"It would seem so." It took him a moment to answer her. Apparently, he was even not registering her presence fully.

"Do you know what to do to wake up?"

There was no expression on his face. So empty.

"Maybe you'll wake up if I kill you?"

Sakura's mind went as blank as his look was. Instinctively, she tried to get away, crawl back, but instead of materializing his threat Madara just turned his head and continued ignoring her.

Sakura listened to her heart be forced into a frantic pace. She could hear the blood rushing through arteries somewhere behind her ears. But it was all slowing down. She was getting cold again. Cold and very tired. She carefully moved towards the wall and leaned against it.

The sun was setting. 'When it is gone, then it will be just the two of us…' She wanted to wake up so much.

Suddenly her stomach made a noise. And another one. 'Did he hear? Maybe he didn't…'

"One yard further," he gestured to the left, "there are kitchens."

Sakura stared in shock. It was so out of sync with this whole situation that it really had to be a dream. Something so absurd could only be dreamt.

"Uhm… Thank you…" she managed and stood up. Could one be walking freely in someone else's dream?

Nevertheless, she found the kitchen quickly enough. It was very large and very empty. Browsing through it, she almost lost hope to find something to eat until she came across a large container with boiled rice. She threw herself at it, grabbed a handful and shoved it into her mouth. It wasn't even seasoned but it didn't matter. She swallowed without chewing and almost retched. Clearly the stress she was under was not letting her eat.

Sakura gathered herself together. There was no objective threat right now, except for her rapidly diminishing chakra reserves. She needed to calm down, eat something and she would feel better. She looked around again. Put some rice into a bowl, added salt that she had found before. Formed a riceball, wrapped nori around it. Rolled another one. There: some semblance of normality. 'It is a dream. It doesn't have to be a nightmare.' She didn't need to freak out.

She nibbled at her onigiri, rocking at her feet until a thought stopped her mid-motion.

Without a word, she put the riceballs within Madara's arm reach. He was surprised and didn't make an effort to hide it. Nevertheless, he ate without a comment. They had to share a waterskin – the only container Sakura found despite a long search. It was dark already and there was no moon. A starry night sky might have been beautiful in other circumstances, but for Sakura it was only gloomy.

Madara stood up and started towards one of courtyard exits. Halfway, he turned.

"Are you coming?"

She hurried to him. Out of the two options, she preferred not to stay here alone.

They passed many courtyards similar to one another, all dark and empty. Despite all her effort, Sakura lost orientation. Finally, Madara stopped.

"You can sleep here."

It made no sense to be blocked by fear, she had to cope with his presence somehow. And that could be an important clue…

"Why do you know this place?"

"I lived here."

"You brought us here in Susano'o, you knew how to find the way…"

"I just recognized the location of the battle." She must have had a very expectant look on her face because he added, "I also know there is a river two hours west from here, for example… It is old Uchiha territory."

He paused. "But I didn't bring us into the dream. And no, I don't know how to get out."

Sakura hung her head down. She was lost.

"Sleep. You look like a beaten dog. You are a pain to the eyes."

Was there a softer tone in this insult, or did she just imagined it?

Sakura entered into something that was another building with a central yard, opened the first sliding door and threw herself onto the tatami mat. Even though it was uncomfortably hard, she fell asleep within seconds.

Sleeping was so good… It was a long, black, dreamless sleep, but when Sakura woke up the memories pierced her brain even before she opened the eyes. Yesterday she couldn't get out of this Uchiha Madara-dream. What would she wake up into now? With a heartbeat of two hundred, she opened her eyes and moaned. The ceiling was an unfamiliar one and it definitely wasn't a camp tent. All sleepiness escaped her immediately and she was already on her feet. She was in that compound part where Madara had led her yesterday. But he was nowhere to be seen. Was he even still around or was she here alone? Out of the two alternatives, surprisingly to herself, Sakura concluded she preferred company. Even if it was that of Uchiha Madara.

She set out trying to trace their steps back to the yard they sparred on. But the compound was huge and all the yards so similar. Finally, she found the correct one – traces of their fight were still visible on the sand. But he was not there. An ugly anxiety started to creep up in Sakura's mind. Maybe he woke up? Found out how to and left her behind?

She ran into the next courtyard and the next one and the next one. Growing more panicked with each one. She stormed into the fourth yard and had to put whole her strength into extinguishing her momentum. Because he was right there – sitting by the pond and looking intensely into water.

He laughed when he saw her.

It was obvious she was running looking for him. Sakura felt utterly ashamed. But then no need to pretend, he was laughing at her expense already.

"I thought you woke up…"

"And are you glad that I didn't?"

Sakura bit her lip. She didn't want to answer this. Would he spare her from saying it aloud? Instead of answering, she approached the pond. Ah, there were fish inside… Such large, white-and-orange, slowly moving fish. She knelt by the edge looking at gentle, calm motions.

Today, with a clearer mind, Sakura tried assessing her situation. There must be a way to get out, something she or they must do… Wait!

"Did you sleep last night?"

Madara gave her a look that could only mean: 'Mind your own business.'

"Because maybe we both have to fall asleep at the same time?"

"Maybe," he said after a long pause.

So Sasuke was not an exception among the Uchiha when it came to conversational skills…

So again they sat there. At some point Sakura got hungry, brought some rice. There was nothing to do except think. She tried thinking about something nice, but all that was coming to her mind were images of war raging in the real world.

"Do you want to spar again?" Apparently Madara was also bored.

"I… I don't know…" That spar was one of scariest moments in her life. But refusal might piss him off. "OK," she finished reluctantly.

It went the same direction as the previous one – Sakura frantically avoiding being hit, burning her chakra down in the process, until Madara halted.

"You are not attacking."

"I know I have no chance connecting a hit…"

"Your tactic is suicidal in one-to-one combat. I will run you down sooner or later, even with conventional Taijutsu."

He was right. Avoiding worked when she was part of a team.

"I know…"

"Well, then…?"

"I am too afraid." Sakura bit her lip. His presence had a paralyzing effect on her, especially after yesterday. She just couldn't force herself to voluntarily get near to him, even if only to deliver a blow.

"You're such a child. Have you never fought against a stronger opponent?"

"I did! And I won!" Sakura's wounded pride raised itself for a moment. "It's just that you…"

Madara raised his eyebrow.

"…are different. You are too scary…"

Well, at least she was putting him in good mood, judging from amount of laughter she could evoke. Sakura reddened in embarrassment. Normally her temper would lash out already, but now…

"I will give you another handicap – I'll close my eyes."

Surprisingly, it helped. Not that his attacks became less deadly. Rather, because she relaxed a bit. Only that Sakura didn't know what did the job: whether it was him closing his eyes, or talking with her. Because with every exchanged sentence, he was getting more human. And all was getting easier.