Dreamt

Chapter 12

AN: No new content in this chapter.

As he walked down and down through the winding corridor, Sakura struggled to follow. Finally, he stopped in front of some door, held it open for her.

"These are the women's quarters. You will find a bath there. And clothes. And whatever a woman needs before a wedding, I suppose… Be ready in an hour."

Sakura entered the room.

One hour to the wedding. Actually, she never considered such possibility. That sounded so… civilized. Especially in contrast to what happened between them mere minutes ago. The change of vibe took her aback; this wasn't the Madara she really knew. It was Uchiha Madara the clan leader, she supposed. But whoever he was now, it didn't matter, it meant he decided on leading a life and that alone was good. It was so good that she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. So she did both. Weeping with relief, Sakura felt a huge burden disappearing from her chest. "It is going to be… somehow; no matter how but it will BE. There will be a future for us all."

She only hoped he wouldn't come to regret his decision, that he will not get betrayed and disillusioned once more. But this was what she was here for. She will never let it happen again.

She looked around. The room was dim, with folding walls that opened into other spaces. Lots of rooms, lots of spaces. Lots of people used to live here. Surely built and used even before Madara's times. During times of power and glory of the Uchiha clan. Did he want to come back to those times? Restore the clan? Rebuild the compound as she screamed out at him?

She didn't know… So far, he said he wanted her as a wife… So she'd better start preparing. If this was supposed to be the beginning of the Uchiha clan revival then she should be up to the task.

She located the bath. It was very old-fashioned like everything here, looked more like an onsen. The water also smelled like one from a hot spring, but at least it was halfway warm.

Now her wounds started to hurt. She stepped out of the bath. She was more injured than she realized; she must have gotten quite a few hits when she had pushed through Zetsu's army. She healed them, healed her torn knees, healed the bite on the neck she didn't even remember receiving. She dammed and clotted blood from the crest. She turned around in front of a large mirror examining her skins for flaws. Then it got her – she was trying to make herself beautiful. When was the last time she put any effort into it? When Sasuke was still in the village? Four years ago? Five?

Sakura found the dressing room. All kimonos were, not surprisingly, dark: black, dark blue, purple, very deep red. Nothing white or even bright. But then, it wouldn't even fit the place and circumstances. And shinobi girls weren't usually wearing white anyhow – more often they went for colors associated with the clan, or, for the lack of it, with their own image. Finally, after lots of browsing she decided on a dark green kimono with a pattern of naked branches with unopened buds. They were plum blossoms, she suspected, but there will be no Ino here to tell ume from sakura. There will be no Ino on her wedding… How can it even be…?

Obis were more varied; she chose a bright crimson one. Now she only needed to dress herself. She created a clone and after they were done with it all she felt completely exhausted. The chakra swirls in her belly were pulling, reminding her of her diminishing chakra reserves. They should probably hurry with the wedding night; these things needed substance to latch on.

She dispersed the clone and went to do her hair. Not much to be done with hair so short, but she managed a top-knot secured with two long hairpins. Make-up was not preserved as well as the kimonos. Finally, she found a red varnish that didn't smell odd. She disinfected it, and the lip brush, twice. When she applied it, she looked older. A woman, not a girl. But she guessed it was the whole point. She will be a married woman in a moment, wife to head of the clan…

She heard someone open the door in the first room.

"This is your marriage contract. There wasn't much precedence of outsiders marrying into the clan, let alone to the clan leader… I thought… Maybe you should read it before you come."

The door closed again.

She hurried into the outer room. An ancient-looking scroll was lying next to the entrance as if Madara didn't even step in. Sakura knelt on the floor. She somehow felt she shouldn't be standing while reading it… She carefully unwound it. The calligraphy was exquisite; she started reading, folded it back again…

Well, more like a feudal allegiance vow crossed with a purchase agreement. But what was she expecting. She wondered how the man's part looked like. Somehow, she didn't have a good feeling about it. The vow obliged her to absolute loyalty – only as expected. A woman from a different clan, keeping her loyalties would have been a ticking time bomb.

But the vow didn't specify that she will have to fight Konoha or the Senju or anything like this. It was very generic, to follow the husband's cause. So she will only need to make sure that her loyalties will not be in conflict with his. Or rather, if she signs it, that her own past and present loyalties are not colliding. 'Oh, Kami-sama. Don't ever force me to fight Naruto.'

It will all depend on Madara from now on. But then, it depends on him anyhow as he commands seven out of the nine tailed beasts. If he decides on war, then war it will be. Only, if she signs the marriage contract she could convince him through this action to put faith in people again. To start build anew. He was betrayed so many times – by his own family when they attacked Hashirama, by the Nidaime plotting behind his back, by his own clan and in the end, in Madara's mind probably by Hashirama as well when they fought in the Valley of the End.

And then she tried not to think so much anymore. She sat there on the floor, feeling two tiny whirlpools suckling on her Yin seal. She thought that everything will be alright, remembered the days in the dream when she came to the realization that she loved him. She reminded herself that apart from all this gore, destruction and high stake game she just played, she was in love. And remembering how Madara looked on these rare occasions when he smiled, she finally felt it – the excitement of a bride before her wedding. And now she couldn't wait.

With a short knock, it was Obito who opened the door.

"It's time," he said, looking not at her but in her general direction. Hating her? Not allowing himself to stare at the bride of his leader? Sakura was looking though. He looked miserable, battered, almost dusted with dangerously low chakra levels. Apparently fighting Naruto and Sasuke was not an easy task. That made her a bit relieved.

Obito led her through the corridors.

The underground shrine he led her in was dark despite the torches. On the walls she saw wild, stylized murals. She recognized Sharingan patterns, the Kyubi and some Tengus. Or were these Susano'o's? She realized that Susano'o actually had the form of a Tengu… She never thought about it before. Funny that she would be thinking such peculiar things seconds before her marriage…

Madara stood before the altar, dressed in black formal kimono with a tiny symbol at the back. And two on the sleeves. And two on the front, she saw when her turned to her. Cannot be more formal than this.

Sakura squeezed the scroll tighter. Obito gestured for her to step forward. The Tengus were staring. She gulped.

She looked at Madara. He was even more serious than usual, no smile whatsoever. Pity, she would need some encouragement here.

Madara turned to her, opened the scroll.

"I, Uchiha Madara accept this woman into my clan, into my household, into my bedchamber and into my affections. I vow to protect her, shelter and cherish her, to hold no other woman above her and to sire my heir on her."

He bit his finger and made a mark on the parchment. So that was it, now came her part. She wanted it to come out calm and confident but this wasn't happening.

"I leave my clan, I leave my household, I leave my family to join myself with Uchiha Madara. His clan will be my clan, his brothers will be my brothers, his friends will be my friends, his foes will be my foes. My heart will be his and all my children will be his."

So there, she spoke it. The vow that didn't even require her mentioning her name. Only her bloody signature.

Madara straightened up, as if talking to the crowd.

"Hereby I, Uchiha Madara accept this woman as my principal wife." He took the scroll from her, rolled it together with his and placed it on the altarpiece.

Obito handed him some bundle. Madara offered it to her with a ceremonial gesture. It was another kimono, a black one.

"You should go change, before the final bow to the gods," prompted her Obito quietly.

In a tiny closet next door, she changed as quickly as possible with help of two clones. It cost her much too much energy than she was be happy to spare. Hurriedly, she dumped her kimono on the ground. The new one was in Uchiha colors, the fan was on the back, where the bloody one already was on her skin. And lower, the pattern… it was a night landscape in the white light of the full moon. White moon, not red. No Tsukuyomi. Her victory. She wondered if this was Madara's intention?

She re-entered. When she aligned herself with Madara, he smiled. A true, genuine smile as if he was happy to see her. She was so ridiculously grateful for this smile.

They knelt, bowed their heads to the ground, Obito spoke some words about ten thousands gods witnessing their union and that was it. She was married.

AN: Thanks for reading and please let me know your opinion abut this chapter!