DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, BUT THE OC'S ARE MINE.

"Man, I'm bored!" Hikari complained at home.

"You got used to train and go to the Hospital" Matsu observed while drying the dishes "Now; you don't know what to do with your free time"

"I hate that you're right" she mumbled while she was sulking at the couch.

"Sakura-chan is lucky to have made plans for today" the Ōtsutsuki said "We just need to wait until the Festival hour gets closer so we can get ready"

"But's three hours till then…" the brunette complained again, but then her expression changed, she was motivated "I know!" she jumped off her seat. "Wanna spy the training?" Matsu blinked a few times, surprised.

"I'll make us some snacks to go!" he clapped his hands thrilled.

Next to the Uchiha Lake, Madara and Sakura were doing some warm up, mostly elongation.

"Water is synonym of fluency, and to be fluent, you need to have your extremities relaxed." The Uchiha explained.

"Hai sensei!" Sakura said serious, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Sensei?" he asked

"Well you're my sensei today, Am I right?" She answered. He had never thought of that, and the idea made him feel a bit aware.

"Hn, Anyway" he cleared his voice. "We need to take our boots off for today's training"

"What?" the pinkette exclaimed.

"What?" he counter asked.

"Why do we need to take our boots off?" she questioned.

"You'll see" Madara said as he removed his boots and stood over the grass barefooted. Sakura complied and stood next to him. "Okay, now we'll go to the lake" he pointed at the large mass of water. The girl started to walk towards it and without thinking she sent chakra to her feet and walked over its surface. She turned back and saw her sensei looking at her curious.

"And now what is going on?" she was starting to feel weird.

"I'm sorry" he said "I wasn't clear, we'll go to the lake meant we'll get IN the lake" he said pointing down as he entered into the water mass walking.

"Ohh I see!" the pinkette said and let go of the chakra on her feet, dipping in the water until she touched the lake's bottom. The liquid was at past her ankles. "WHOA this is cold"

"Yeah, it's still cold water though we're actually in spring" Madara observed. "Well, we're going to start this training. What I need you to do is to concentrate on the water's energy that surrounds your feet."

"Shall I try to use my chakra?" she asked

"Not yet." The Uchiha answered gently "I want you to first feel the energy of the water itself. And then we will try to manipulate it without ninjutsu"

"Without ninjutsu?" Sakura was surprised with that statement.

"Yes, I would like you to try waterbending" he explained and was going to elaborate but he could she how her eyes widened and her whole face brightened "I assume you know what I am talking about"

"You want me to try to manipulate the water with chakra, but as an element" the pinkette said. "Like an Avatar"

"You know about the Avatar?" now he was curious.

"I just read some novels and saw the TV series" she said without thinking.

"None of what you just said makes sense to me" Madara deadpanned

"I'm sorry!" Sakura scratched the back of her head ashamed. "Sometimes I forget that! Remember me to show you one of those novels. I always have one with me when I go out on a mission" He raised his eyebrows.

"The Avatar is an ancient monk rank, only few people achieve it" The Uchiha explained "They are not shinobi, but they can manipulate elements without ninjutsu. They just project their energy and tell the element what to do."

"Have you ever met one?" she asked.

"I met one while travelling years ago" he answered "He lived over a mountain behind a merchant town next to one of our camps. I heard about this man that molded water, and I had just realized I had that nature so I wanted to meet him. It was hard for me to climb that mountain at that time, for I still was young, but ended up being possible. He was waterbending when I arrived but he didn't want to teach me."

"So how come you know how to waterbend?" Sakura kind of thought what the answer would be, and he noticed that on her expression.

"Yes, I had been with my Sharingan on the whole time." The Shinobi smirked.

"You copied all his movements" she concluded.

"Partially" Madara said. "But then again the movements alone don't teach you anything. You need to learn to expel your chakra with them first. It was hard not to try to use ninjutsu, and after I started to meditate it took me lots of years to kind of accomplish it" The girl nodded "I think it would be better for you to learn water bending first, because given the fact you have perfect chakra control, you will learn it quicker than me and it will another shield for yourself while in the field. Later we will train ninjutsu, or you can also ask Tobirama for that."

"Why would I ask Tobirama?" Sakura asked not understanding. "Don't you want to teach me?" that made the Uchiha feel embarrassed.

"W-what?" he said "of course I want to teach you! If I didn't I would not have settled this training" he crossed his arms "I just thought that since he has mastered water ninjutsu, he would be a better teacher. I just know a few water style jutsus, because my prime element is fire"

"I see…" the pinkette grabbed her chin with a thoughtful expression "It doesn't matter to me anyway. I will do fine with a few water jutsu to attack; I already have a great defensive technique."

"I remember, cell acceleration right?" the man asked

"You really have a wonderful memory" Sakura was dumbfounded "I said that a month ago" Madara smirked.

"You didn't say much, but I assume that something like that might be life endangering" he stated "I mean, you told Hashirama that if he used his chakra over a civilian it would overwork their cells. Isn't that the same logic?" he saw her eyes widen and was sure he was doing the right deduction "If you infuse an insane amount of healing chakra to your body…"

"It shortens my lifespan" the pinkette concluded.

"W-what?" now the Uchiha was taken aback "I-I was just guessing!"

"Your train of thought was right." She explains "That jutsu is known as a kinjutsu, it's sort of forbidden unless its results exceed the its cost."

"And you said you've already used it" he had paled a little.

"Yeah, but it was for a moment… I mean, I had it activated but it only worked on one wound." She told him. She wasn't going to explain more.

"So it didn't wound your cells?" she could tell he was worried about her.

"I actually don't know how that works for sure" Sakura said "Shishou used it tons of times, and she's almost sixty years now and doing wonderful. And it's not that she takes care of her body because she's sort of an alcoholic" she sweat dropped a little.

"I get it, but It would be wise not to use it freely I guess" Madara said. He was worried about her. The sudden thought of her dying young from using that technique made him shiver and pale a little.

"Are you okay?" the pinkette asked.

"Yeah, I had a bad thought that's all" he waved his hand and then saw the look on her face so he added "I-I mean, I was worried for you. It's a very dangerous technique" she sighed with relief.

"When you said bad thoughts I…" she shook her head. "Don't worry, it's an ultimate technique. And the rules of medic Ninjutsu only allow medic shinobi that have mastered that jutsu to go in front attack because of that. That's what allows me to fight freely. If I get badly injured I activate that and regenerate myself."

"So you got badly injured and you had to use it?" he asked. She blushed a little, but because she remembered she had been reckless. "Don't tell me you activated it before hand and went on a suicidal mission!?"

"How can you read me so easily?" Sakura groaned "We've only known each other for two months now!"

"How could you do that?!" he passed over her questioning "What if something happened…"

"Hey, it's been two years since that" she tried to calm him down. The way he reacted was weird, it wasn't of a person she met two months ago, but someone that cared and worried for her. "Besides we were at war, we had to win at all costs…" His expression changed again.

"I bet your enemy was insanely strong for you to do something like that" he thought out loud "I'm worried that in the future Konoha might have an enemy like that" She paled now. "What…?"

"No, it won't!" she snapped and came back to her senses. "Trust me" she now smiled at him. She wouldn't let him to fall in the darkness. He smiled back at her.

"I do" Madara said, and they stared at each other for a while. Maybe it was just seconds, but they couldn't just look away. The Uchiha cleared his voice cutting the moment; it was not the time to dwell on how beautiful her hair looked moving because of the wind. "HN… Okay, do you feel the water's energy?" Sakura was taken aback by the sudden change of subject.

"Hai!" she focused.

"Then I need you to extend your hand in the air, palm facing the lake's surface, like this" Madara showed her the movement and she mimicked him "just stay like this a little more while you channel your chakra to your hand. Remember, regular chakra" the Pinkette nodded suddenly her hand started to glow blue-ish white; it was different than the usual medic green chakra. "That's perfect" the Uchiha said. "Now try to make that chakra touch the water's surface."

The pinkette tried for some minutes to expel her chakra and managed to create a small string that linked with the water surface making it slightly move.

"WHOA!" her eyes were amazed when what she was seeing "This is way different than using chakra to walk over water!"

"See?" the shinobi said in a proud tone "the next thing you need to do is to try to umm… let's say 'grab' some water with chakra, like this" he mimicked her and the chakra string entered the water and it took a sort of spoon-ish shape cupping water inside and then he lifted it "You can see this now, but the Idea is not to make the chakra visible. Like this" suddenly the chakra disappeared out of sight and left a floating water bubble. The kunoichi was astounded. "It's your turn to try" Madara said.

Sakura spent almost an hour trying to shape her chakra in a successful way to cup water. When she finally made it, it took her half an hour to keep it levitating for a reasonable amount of time.

"That's perfect" the Uchiha said.

"Am I waterbending?" she asked happy

"Not per sé" he said and after seeing her defeated expression he quickly added "but that's the way it's supposed to feel" he winked at her "the thing you just did is to mold chakra and manipulate it to be some sort of cooking utensils" he smirked "but that's only a part, you actually have to link your chakra with the element's energy. Even though it's not chakra itself, it's still living energy. Once you master that link, then you'll make the water move at your will, and you'll be waterbending"

"That seems pretty hard" she mumbled.

"It kind of is, but I tell you, since you have perfect chakra control you'll probably waterbend a little today" Madara said

"You're putting too much pressure" Sakura said "Don't expect that much of me" she laughed

"Oh, come on! Try to be a little more confident and trust yourself. You need to meditate to create that link" the Uchiha groaned "I trust you" he added absentmindly, and he didn't realize her blush.

"Um… okay" she said and giggled. "So shall we meditate standing like this?"

"Yes, just adapt your usual meditation to this position" Madara said "I know it's a bit uncomfortable but you'll easily get used, I'll do the same" he saw her nod and arrange her position while closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. It was wonderful to the sight. For the first time Uchiha Madara took a moment to be selfish and kept his eyes open just a bit longer to admire her. Nobody could mess with him at this moment, they were alone and it was the perfect chance to really appreciate her. He was studying her, her chakra, her features. Not in a pervy way, because he was a gentleman and he would never admit a more mundane desire –not yet – but he was admiring her beauty and above all her aura. She expelled a calm aura, actually soothing to him. He remembered that time at the hospital when she cleaned his mind of darkness to check on the curse of hatred.

FLASHBACK

"Madara-san" the pinkette called from the door, he looked at him and noticed that now in the dimmed he could trace all her face features perfectly. "If that bastard of Sasuke could win to that thing being in the lowest someone can be, you will stand your fight unscratched. I know what I'm saying, you're way a better man than he could ever dream to be." She smiled and abruptly turned her back so she could make her big exit. Actually she was red of embarrassment and she didn't want him to notice 'CHA YOU DID ONE HELL OF A CONFESSION MISSY!' Inner exclaimed in joy 'Come on, I had to say that. It was pretty embarrassing though, but it might give encourage his faith' Sakura argued 'DON'T LIE TO US, WE KNOW YOU REALLY FEEL THAT WAY. HE HAD STEPPED OVER EVERY TINY LITTLE REMINDER OF YOUR LOVE FOR SASUKE' the voice had spot a nail 'Oh, I need Hikari Chan to wake up, I need to talk to her!' Sakura lamented.

Fortunately for Sakura, Madara was frozen in his place, that statement had been too much for him. She said he was better than the man she used to love. He wasn't sure of the extents of the implications of that declaration, but one thing was sure: He had hope.

END FLASHBACK

'Why am I remembering this just now!?' he said to himself. His face was red, but lucky him she was deeply into meditation. He shook his head and sighed inaudibly. 'It's not of a gentleman to stare an unaware lady in front of me. I feel like I'm betraying her trust, I'll just meditate too' he added and closed his eyes.

"Hey this is actually fun" Matsu said from a tree not too far from where Madara and Sakura where. He and Hikari had masked their chakra completely and were spying the training.

"I suppose so" the brunette said "It's not surprising though, you and your brother are used to watch people from afar" she mocked.

"Haha very funny" the Ōtsutsuki said "He's your brother too… And if you think of it, you're following family tradition then." The kunoichi opened her eyes a bit wider "Welcome!"

"Hn, now that you say it like that, I think I wanna leave" Hikari joked. Some minutes passed in silence. "Nee… What to do now? It's no fun if they are meditating" she focused her sight more –she couldn't use the Sharingan because the Uchiha would notice, even with her chakra masked. "Wait, Madara is all flustered! Did something happen?"

"Oh!" the man said and looked at him "He seems to be having a hard time to concentrate… Maybe…"

"You think he is thinking pervy things about her?" the Takishima said amused.

"What!?" Matsu said "No!" he laughed "But maybe he feels aware around her. He sure likes her" the comment came as an afterthought, but it had another meaning and Hikari kind of got it. Matsu had never seen them interacting that much, but he knew those two had some feelings going on for each other…

"WAIT!" the girl thought out loud surprising her companion "Did you…?" she stopped on her tracks 'There's no way he brought Sakura to the past to set her with Madara, right?' she thought. She shook her head.

"What happened?" the Ōtsutsuki asked curious. In his mind he was really having fun messing with his sister mind 'I think I deserve some fun after all. I missed you so much…' He thought.

"Hn. Nothing" she said composed. "Hey now he seems really meditating, we should go…"

"Well, we already spent like an hour and a half eating and observing." The man pointed "we could leave quietly and start the preparations for the festival. I need a Yukata."

"You don't have one?" the kunoichi exclaimed in low voice "And you waited until now to tell me?" Matsu smiled foolishly at her. "Aghh, okay let's go" she said and both left to the merchant district hoping there was a clothing store still open to buy a Yukata.

Half an hour passed and Madara felt Sakura's chakra shift softly so he opened his eyes. Her legs were glowing around her ankles with chakra, and the water was glowing too.

"Hn… Sakura-san" he said softly, he didn't want her to lose her concentration, the girl slowly opened her big green eyes and he was glad to see she was still focused. "You've made it, you've connected with the water's energy" he said smiling. She was confused with what he had just said and he noticed so he pointed at the lake's surface. She looked down and saw the glowing coming from her and also from the water.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed with controlled enthusiasm, she didn't want to break the connection, and looked back at Madara "What do I do now?" she asked.

"The same you did in the beginning but this time don't use chakra in your hands" he explained.

"How?" Sakura was confused.

"Since you're linked with the element, you just need to visualize the water moving at your will" The Uchiha explained. "Of course you need to infuse your hands with chakra, but this time it's just to keep the connection, like this" He showed her how to do it. His legs started to shine with chakra and also did the water around him; he did that so it would be noticeable for her. His hands started to glow to and he made a move like he was moving a book page, like a flip and the surface moved. The kunoichi opened her eyes wide. Then Madara made the movement a bit more vehemently and with that flip not only the surface moved, but also a small mass of water broke free from it and levitated next to his hand, creating a small water ball. He started to bounce it from hand to hand. "I'm going to make it bigger, watch this" he continued. He kept the water mass floating over his right hand and he put his other hand facing the surface. With a slight movement of his wrist, a water stream that defied gravity started to come up from the surface and linked with the water ball in his hand incrementing its size. "That's how you do it" he added "and then you can play like this" he smirked and started to move his arms around him and the water moved flawlessly around him too.

Sakura was amazed, it was so fluent, and he was so in tune with nature that she felt she was witnessing something truly amazing. 'This is another side of Madara that no one ever told us before. Maybe nobody even new… I am so lucky' 'CHAAAA WE'RE THE CHOSEN ONES GIRL!' Inner appeared again 'HE'S REALLY A PIECE OF ART' she added 'You're totally right about that' Sakura agreed and Inner opened her eyes wide, she had tried to make her feel aware but instead she made her admire him even more 'I THINK MY JOB IS DONE HERE' she said and gave the Kunoichi a break for a while.

Madara felt odd that Sakura hadn't commented anything so he looked at her. She was looking at him with such admiration that he felt really awkward and he lost his concentration splashing himself with the water he was manipulating. That made her get back to her senses.

"Oh! Are you alright?" the pinkette asked

"Y-yes" he said embarrassed "I'm hungry and my stomach growled so I lost my concentration" he lied 'okay, I think that was even more embarrassing…' he thought. She smiled at him.

"I brought some onigiri just in case" she said "they are on that bag over the grass, Matsu did them" she added. 'Hn, saved!' Madara thought.

"Okay, I'll get out of the water and eat something if you don't mind. Are you hungry?" the shinobi asked.

"I'm fine" Sakura said "I'll practice until it's time to go, then I'll eat at the festival"

"Oh, right!" he observed "We have half an hour left. Don't push yourself too hard" he warned her.

"Hai Sensei!" she saluted and focused on her task.

The Uchiha sat on the grass to dry his feet and put his boot back. Then he grabbed a rice ball and ate eagerly. It wasn't completely a lie that he was hungry. He saw the Pinkette trying and failing quite a few times, but she was stubborn. Now that he could take a moment to look at her without feeling guilty he decided to dwell on his thoughts for a while.

'I guess I do like her…' he sighed both physically and mentally, Izuna's words came to his mind. 'I also guess she could be a great Uchiha Matriarch, She's wise, powerful, and beautiful. Also that stubbornness would keep things interesting, and she seems to put up with me easily. The question here is, does she like me back?' his mental ramblings went on for a while 'Well, let's stop there. It's not that if we both like each other we can do anything. I need to fix lots of things before that; I wonder what I can do…' He shook his head with force 'AGHH it's only been two months, but I'm really doomed.' He was so lost in his thoughts that he couldn't hear Sakura calling for him.

"MADARA SENSEIIIIII" She shouted, and he looked up and saw what she wanted to show him. The kunoichi was manipulating a rather large amount of water around her. "Look what I've managed!"

"That is truly amazing!" He exclaimed getting up from the grass and walking towards the lake. "I never doubt of you, I was sure you would waterbend at the end of the day, wasn't I?" he asked looking at her with pride. Now it was her turn to feel awkward with him and she lost her concentration just when the mass of water was above her. "SAKURA-SAN!" Madara called, but it was late, she was soaked.

"Ohhh… I guess I need more training" she said really embarrassed, red as a tomato 'well, that's true, but I lost my concentration because of you!' she thought. She walked out of the lake squishing her hair. "I'm sorry, but seems training is over now right?" She couldn't understand what her sensei was red.

Maybe it had been two months, and maybe Madara had liked her in a pure innocent way, but in that moment her wet clothes fit her body way too perfectly and he was doing his best to keep his eyes looking at hers.

"Madara-sensei?" Sakura asked innocently, her cheeks still slightly pink. That was too much for him, he cleared his voice while taking of his overcoat.

"Put this or you'll get sick" he said in a husky voice. "Don't worry, training was over anyway. It's time to go get ready for the Festival." His voice came better this time; he didn't want to betray himself.

Meanwhile Sakura was even redder, not because she had noticed about her clothes – which she hadn't- but actually because the Uchiha's overcoat was too big for her, it was warm and it had his perfume. It was intoxicating her little by little. She also cleared her voice.

"HN, okay. I'll get going then" she started to walk out of the forest.

"Wait, I'll accompany you" he said, and her heart almost skipped a beat. "I mean, if someone sees you with my coat alone… It's better that I'm with you."

"Oh, okay." She said. 'Does she sound disappointed?' He thought.

They walked in an awkward silence until they arrived to her place. Hikari and Matsu were just leaving the house, all ready to go to the festival.

"What the hell did you do that you're soaked!?" the Takishima exclaimed.

"I was waterbending!" Sakura said from inside Madara's coat. Her friend and her false brother opened their eyes wide.

"You could achieve it?" they mumbled in unison.

"What?" The pinkette asked.

"What?" they asked in unison gain, they might get caught that they were spying.

"Come on, let's get you inside, you need to take a bath or you'll catch a cold" Hikari said changing the subject, grabbed her friend and entered her to their home.

"But…" she tried to complain "Umm Okay Thank you Madara-san! We'll talk later" she managed to say as she disappeared through the door leaving the Uchiha dumbfounded next to a very amused Matsu.

"You never get bored with them" the Ōtsutsuki said out loud. The Uchiha looked at him and nodded. "So, how was training with my sister?" the pinkish haired man asked taking the other by surprise.

"Hn…" Madara made a pause as the images of the past afternoon passed rapidly through his mind. He suddenly remembered the pinkette soaked, her skin shining with the sunset rays and gulped "not boring" he managed to say trying hard –and failing- to control the heat over his face.

"Interesting…" Matsu whispered just enough loud for the other man to listen. The brunette was about to say something, but the door of the house opened and Hikari appeared through it.

"Madara-san?" she asked surprised he was still there "Don't you need to change for the festival?" that last sentence made him realize that he was running late.

"Oh yes" he said "I apologize but I must leave, see you two at the merchant district" he slightly bowed and jumped off back to his home.

"What is going on with him?" the kunoichi asked the Ōtsutsuki.

"I think he was embarrassed about something" the man said simply.

"What!?" the Takishima exclaimed and then, blushing a little she said "Damn Sakura, she is so oblivious"

"What are you talking about?" Matsu asked confused.

"Well… she was soaked right?" Hikari rhetorically asked and he nodded "Her clothes were too tight because of that, I mean her body was… oh you get the point you're a man!" her brother opened his eyes wide and burst into laughter.

"HAHAHA I get it!" he said "Our little Uchiha here realized Sakura-chan is a woman" he kept the 'not boring' part Madara had answered to himself; he was interested in how this developed so he'll keep quiet for now.

"You're too direct" the Takishima deadpanned "Anyway, I made her notice that and next time she won't be so clueless. Madara is a gentleman…" She whispered what she said next "Though I'm sure he likes her…"

"Maybe even more since today…" Matsu added mischievously.

"Oh Matsu!" she whined "you make him look like a perv!"

"No I don't" he said sincerely "You are the one that thinks that. But it's not your fault because you were surrounded by pervs when you were younger" he smiled in a very 'Sai' way, that made her want to punch him.

"HN" Hikari mumbled "Let's go, it's getting late" she said and left to the Merchant District, her brother following behind.

He had never been so quickly at home. Madara entered quickly to the compound and went straight to their home; he was so flustered he needed to take a cold bath to regain his senses. He wasn't sure what had been worse, the Issue of Sakura's clothes or that he had let his thoughts wander how it would be if she was the Uchiha's Matriarch. He had thought of the last even before he realized that… well, she had indeed a great figure aside of all her great attributes. He was so concerned he passed by Takato that was leaving.

"Anija?" he asked. He had no answered and he got worried "Brother, what's going on?" he sort of demanded. That made Madara regain consciousness and stopped in his tracks. "Are you okay? You're insanely red… and where's your coat?" he said looking at his sibling from head to toe.

"Hn…" he mumbled "I am running late and I need to bath" he mustered, that was the only quick answer he could think of. "I see you're ready, where's Izuna?" the middle Uchiha eyed him.

"He is already there" Takato answered "He said something about going to the Hospital first to check some stuff with Ryuuji and the guard medics before the festival… Are you really okay? Do you need to talk about something?" His big brother gulped.

"Hn… no. I'm fine" he said "But I won't be if I get there late. I'm sorry Takato I need to bathe. I'll catch you there!" he added and left to the bathroom.

"Weird…" Takato said rising an eyebrow.

Inside Sakura's Bathroom

"DAMMMIT" the pinkette exclaimed while she was drying her hair "How could I not notice about my clothes? Sure Madara was embarrassed about that!" she mumbled "Everything is so old fashioned here; I must have looked like… Ugghhhh! I need to apologize"

She hurried up and in a matter of minutes she had created a neat hairdo, put her Yukata and sandals on, and left to the festival.

Inside Madara's Bathroom

"DAMMIT!" the Uchiha exclaimed "How can I be so naïve! I don't have the luxury of even think of her as my partner and I just can't get her out of my mind" he was washing his hair way too harshly "And no matter how much I tried, I still got a glimpse of her in her soaked clothes, gosh if she saw me…" He went pale for a moment, suddenly feeling cold in the hot water. Fear. And when the realization hit him he became redder than he was before taking his shower "IF SHE HAPPENED TO SAW ME, SHE MIGHT THINK OF ME AS A PERV! I'M SO DOOMED! AGHHH!" Soap entered inside his eyes and he almost set his whole bathroom on fire.

He finished washing himself and changed in his festival clothes and as he combed his hair he sighed.

"I need to apologize…" Madara said looking his reflection on a mirror.

The Merchant district was filled with people. The street people always walked to get to Ryuuichi's stall at the end of it was decorated with paper lanterns that served as a ceiling for the road. All the shops were opened and displayed different varieties of food and beverages. There were also some games stalls and clothing and miscellaneous shops.

Toka Senju was with Tobirama and Hashirama at the corridor's entrance waiting for their friends. The three of them were in their Senju traditional Yukatas that were brown and white colored, though the girl had a little more of color in her Obi and a small hair ornament that seemed to be new. Izuna was the first to arrive with Ryuuji.

"AHH Ryuuji-sempai!" Hashirama greeted, the boy sweat dropped and looked at the youngest Uchiha as if he was searching for help.

"What's up with just the 'Ryuuji-sempai!?" Izuna said "Am I invisible?" he joked.

"Oh, trust me you wouldn't pass unnoticed even if you wanted to" the Senju kunoichi mocked him. The albino raised an eyebrow at her comment and Hashirama was oblivious as always.

"Good evening everybody!" Hikari greeted, Matsu mimicked her. Tobirama immediately bowed, which was amusing for Izuna and Toka whom looked at each other and smirked. The Takishima was wearing a simple but yet beautiful green based Yukata with small red, white, pink and yellow small flowers and a brown Obi. The Ōtsutsuki had a dark blue yukata that they could find at last minute.

"Nee Hikari Chan!" The other kunoichi said "I miss you!" she walked to her and grabbed her by her arm. The brunette laughed.

"I miss her too you know!" the youngest Uchiha also exclaimed grabbing her by her other arm. The two were about to start a fight in front of a very amused Hashirama, but then Takato interrupted.

"I guess we all miss her" he said smiling "Though I don't have another arm to grab" he joked.

"You say it like it's very funny, but this actually hurts" Hikari told him and then snorted. "How are you doing?" She fought the small blush that menaced to appear as she recalled the night before at the Ramen shop, because she was surrounded by the biggest 'bully-friends' she'd ever had.

"I'm fine! It's odd to have a day off… I didn't find anything to do"

"What about rest?" Sakura was the last addition to the group.

"Wow, you sure are fast" Matsu observed.

"Medic's habit to be ready quickly" she shrugged.

"Hey, where's Madara?" Hashirama asked Takato, and that made the pinkette feel aware, her friend noticed that.

"He's running late" he answered "but I bet he'd be here any time now."

"Hey girls! You need to come with me" Hikari said suddenly freeing the arm that was trapped by Izuna and taking Sakura's arm with it. "I need to show you the Ramen Shop!" she dragged them both and while she was leaving she turned her back and added "Sorry guys! See you around later, it's girl's night" she smirked and left with Toka and the pinkette.

The Uchiha looked at each other not understanding the sudden behavior, and were even more surprised to see that at the same moment Hikari left, Madara arrived. Hashirama didn't notice anything wrong, and Tobirama did but didn't actually care. The albino was worried about the announcement that was going to be said that night.

***AUTHOR'S NOTE***

Okay! Short chapter. I'm super busy with finals, but now the story is moving and there will be some time skips (don't worry I'll just use the necessary). Hope you liked this chapter. I have lots of fun when I write Madara. I said I wasn't going to write smut, or lemon, but they still are ordinary people with needs, likes and dislikes; and poor Madara really needed a cold shower (he actually got one before the real bath LOL). He's not a perv, he is a gentleman that's why he needed that. To stop any pervy –but actually natural- thoughts, in order to maintain a normal relationship with our pinkette (Relationship being whatever the thing is going on between them; They sure are not friends, they seem more like good acquaintances with blooming feelings between them).

Who would you like to appear soon? I have the whole plot in mind but I would like to hear your thoughts.

Love, and take care

Bella