Dreamt

Chapter 9

AN: No new content in this chapter.

First thing Sakura perceived when she teleported onto the battlefield was the stench of blood. The ground was red and soft under her feet. There were people, rather in pieces than whole scattered around. She knew it was the shock that erased all feelings from her. She wasn't repulsed or scared, she was just blank.

Sakura looked around – she was behind the Allied Shinobi Forces front line. The fighting was going on a couple of hundred meters away, where ninja were clashing with these White Zetsu creatures. Behind the line she saw the looming silhouette of the Hachibi against a nondescript monstrous form dwarfing even the tailed beast. Next to Eight-Tails she could see the familiar fiery flashes of the Kyubi's chakra. That's where Naruto and Sasuke must be.

She started, fought through the crowd of enemies relatively quickly. She had to hurry; if she was summoned that meant the boys were running very low on chakra, or were injured.

"Ah, Sakura-chan;" Naruto panted, visibly tired. "We're doing perfectly fine here, no need to worry…" Whenever Naruto said something like that it meant exactly the opposite. He was such a horrible white-liar. Any kind of liar for that matter. Sakura stepped towards him to heal his dislocated shoulder. Completely out of socket - that's why they had sent for her. Even the Kyubi's healing ability cannot move the bones. That will hurt. Naruto grunted under her hand.

"Yosh, Naruto, you're good to go! What about you Sasuke?"

"Hn." That probably meant he didn't need her assistance.

From where she was standing now she could see the Gedō Mazō more clearly. It was… disgusting. And on top of it, two men standing…

And then she saw him. Same red armor, same wild mane, same arrogant stance. Her dream made flesh. Standing there, ordering new troops of White Zetsus on the ground. Everything around her stopped, stopped mattering. Just stopped. She couldn't even see anything outside this one line of sight. Only that eerie silence ringing and ringing in her ears - shouldn't she be hearing the roar of the battle?

'So that is it. It's today that we kill each another. Us against him. No matter what happens here - I lose. No matter what happens I lose him. If he wins I lose him, if he falls I lose him. I don't want to. I don't want a life without him.' She stepped forward. 'It has to stop. He has to stop.'

"Stop." She whispered. "Stop." She said it aloud.

"Stop!" Sakura rushed straight into White Zetsu army. "Stop it! MADARA! STOP!"

From the top of Gedō Mazō, Madara noticed her. A small figure surrounded by Zetsus, unmistakable pink hair, fighting her way straight towards him. "What the fuck." She wasn't supposed to be here. He suspected that as a medic she would be in the camp hospital or at the back of the front line at worst. Not here. Not stuck between thousands of Zetsus, not within the stomping range of the statue. Not charging mindlessly towards him.

"S T O P!"

"Amaterasu."

A ring of black flames surrounded Sakura burning the Zetsus around her. She halted.

"Sakura-chan! Don't move, I'll get you out! Don't touch these flames!"

'If he doesn't know me, I burn. I don't care. I don't want such a life where he doesn't even know who I am.' Flames were singing and hissing around her; the stench of burning bodies was suffocating. She charged directly into the fire.

Flames moved with her, quenching before her feet to rise again behind her, following her like a moving cage. It almost swept her off her feet, that feeling of euphoria. 'He recognized me. He knows me! I was not the only one dreaming! That thing that happened between us, it was real!'

The flames disappeared. The earth shook as Uchiha Madara landed in front of her.

"Sakura-chan! I'm coming!" From the corner of her eye, she saw familiar orange of chakra-cloak approaching, only to be blurred by blue glow of Susano'o that enclosed her and Madara.

"What do you think you are doing?"

She turned her head. Very slowly. He was emitting such an aura that breathing alone was difficult. She was scared out of her mind, she would be an idiot if she wasn't. But then, when she looked at him, she just couldn't help it – that almost painful pang of joy, boundless joy of seeing him. For the first time, she was looking at his face with real eyes. She wanted to reach to him, to touch him, make sure he was real. Her arm moved on its own but he was too far.

Madara noticed the change in her stance. Why would she be happy to see him? This wasn't reaction he was expecting. But then, apparently he couldn't anticipate anything she was doing. And he was also taken aback by facing her, only that he could cover it better up.

"I am going to take you somewhere safe."

"No." Sakura regained her speech.

Madara arched his eyebrow. "Have you even taken notice of your circumstances?"

"I don't care about my circumstances!" The paralyzing fear evoked by the lord of destruction was gone. Now it was Madara she was talking to. Mean, over-confident, overbearing Madara who would never show how much he cared. Her Madara. Her Madara? Nevermind Sakura, just keep talking. "I want you to stop!"

"I've heard it, I'm not deaf. However, what you want at this point is completely irrelevant."

"It is! You want to put me under a genjutsu. And I don't want it. None of people here want your artificial happiness. I understand why you are doing this; you want them to be happy. I understand why came up with this idea. I really do. But this is a mistake. You are making a mistake. This isn't the way. The world can get better when people stay alive. It is already getting better."

"You just haven't lived long enough. The world is built on pain, life is suffering. But you will never know it. I will spare you this."

"Yes, there is suffering, a lot of it. But there is also joy!"

Madara shook his head. This was pointless. "There is no.."

"Look me in the eye and tell me you didn't find joy in me! Tell me you did not enjoy me!"

First time in decades Madara wanted to avert his gaze. He didn't.

"I did enjoy you."

"I saw you happy, I saw you drawing pleasure from being alive, moving your muscles during training, basking in the sun, staring at the moon. Feeding your stupid koi. Stealing glimpses at my behind – did you think I wasn't noticing it?"

Madara jerked his head, looked somewhere past her shoulder intensely.

"Sasuke, what are they talking about?! Use your Sharingan and read their lips!"

"Shut up, I'm doing this."

"And? So? What are they.."

"Naruto, stay quiet for a moment, let Sasuke concentrate." Kakashi was trying to introduce some structure into his students' chaotic struggle.

Naruto, defeated, strained his eyes towards the Final Susano'o that was holding his friend trapped with the enemy. Sabres, two in each hand, sending blast after blast kept their party from approaching. Any attack could potentially harm Sakura. And he just couldn't see as well as Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei… But that thing he saw – Madara jerked his head, looked right at them, said something. And Susano'o took off…

"Wait! Come back here, you coward! Give Sakura-chan baaaack!" It was so quick that Sasuke didn't even have time to react, let alone activate his Susano'o.

"Sakura-chaaan!" Susano'o was disappearing behind the clouds.

"Naruto, calm down. Sasuke, did you get what they were talking about?" Kakashi was still somehow able to keep his cool.

"It was mostly Sakura. I couldn't get it well, she was almost with her back to me. He said that world is suffering and then that he enjoyed something. Then Sakura went babbling about happiness, it all didn't make much sense…"

"And then at the end? He said something when he looked at us!" Pressed Naruto.

"I didn't get it."

"Ehem…. I think he said: We won't be discussing it here with your loverboy imitation of an Uchiha eavesdropping." Kakashi-sensei was always to be counted on. "I think he meant you, Sasuke…"

"Kakashi. I will kill you."

"He?! What? Teme! Do you have something with Sakura-chan?" Naruto grabbed Sasuke's collar.

"Get your hands off me, dobe! And I don't have anything with Sakura."

"Then why did he…"

"Naruto, main point here is why was Uchiha Madara even having something akin to marital argument with Sakura in the middle of the battlefield. How is it even possible that they know each other? Very… ehem… well from what we saw… Naruto, dispatch your clone to the headquarters to report. Have them check Sakura's activities in the last days."

"Kakashi-sensei, you are not suspecting…"

"I am not suspecting anything. I am trying to gather intel. And we must focus on Obito and Gedō Mazō."

"No! We must rescue Sakura!"

"Rescue her from where? Do you have any idea where he took her? And I don't think she is in direct danger anyway. Madara could have killed her fifteen times already and he didn't. By whatever means, Sakura succeeded in taking the most dangerous enemy off the field. It is our chance now! Let's not waste the opening she created. Let's go!"

AN: Thanks for reading, and please tell me your thoughts!

J, Lily, lapril20, tiffanycr: I was not expecting that this story will resonate on such level with so many people! I mean, sure enough, it resonates with me, but I thought it's because I'm obviously putting my own emotional cargo there and that's why... I feel really touched and honoured. :) Thank you so much.