A/N: I've gotten a few questions about my cute, mischievous little Kurumi and what she looks like. I envision her as looking like a dark morph Egyptian Mau (excuse me while I use reptile terms for a cat). Like an Egyptian Mau with primarily dark brown fur and the familiar Mau black pattern with white accents around her mouth. And, of course, green eyes that perfectly match Sakura's (although neither will ever notice). I'll be posting a picture to my tumblr (Astroavis) to give a better visual representation.
The night raid had gone extremely well.
There had been a small battalion of Senju waiting for them but the force had contained neither Hashirama nor Tobirama. The battle had been swift and decisive with Madara and Izuna leading the strike force of Uchiha.
They had been so successful, in fact, that none of those in his squadron of warriors had been injured enough to necessitate a meeting with their pink haired healer when they returned. None wanted to bother her with their minor wounds, instead opting to wrap them on their own before they returned to their lands.
As they ran back towards the Uchiha's holdings, the sun rising behind them and basking them in it's warm glow, Madara noticed that something was off. The scouts that patrolled the outer reaches of their lands were making their rounds in a different pattern than before. Not just that but, when he expanded his senses outward to investigate, he could detect an incredibly powerful and unfamiliar chakra signature in their forest.
Madara silently signaled for the group to head towards the intruder and, as they approached, the unknown being altered its path as well and made a beeline towards their group.
When they finally reached a clearing in the forest and Madara's eyes settled on the owner of the strange chakra signature, he nearly laughed aloud. He should have expected Sakura to do this, based on the resolute nod she had given him in response to his offhanded comment that previous night.
Before him stood one of the largest cats he had ever seen in his life, the creature's shoulder blades nearly reaching the tops of the trees it prowled through. If the books he had read as a child which had detailed animals from far away lands (and ones he had secretly revisited to investigate species of cats after Sakura's appearance) were anything to go off of, the feline he now faced was a kind of big cat called a leopard.
A leopard whose lips were pulled back threateningly, it's pupils wide and it's eyes unblinking, as it watched Madara and his strike force emerge from the forest. The growl which emanated from the creature vibrated deep in the Uchiha's chest, the threatening noise sounding more like a rockslide with it's volume.
A few of his clan mates started so hard when they finally saw the summon that they nearly lost their footing in the canopy. They moved to draw their weapons but Madara held a staying hand, silently commanding them to cease, before folding his arms across his chest and waiting.
The leopard prowled forward a few steps, it's footsteps eerily silent despite it's size and it's eyes locked onto Madara's, before it took an experimental sniff of the air. It's fierce expression softened into one of recognition and he watched as the creature slowly blinked and sat on the ground gracefully.
"Ah, greetings, Sir and Lady Uchihas. I have been expecting you," the massive, apparently male feline greeted politely, "My name is Hyo. Lady Sakura has entrusted me with the task of defending your village until your return."
"She did, hmm?" Madara replied with a smirk, "You must be a warrior of great skill for her to entrust you with such a task. I appreciate your unexpected assistance."
The rest of the group of Uchiha eyed the feline summon, some curiously and some warily. They all slowly relaxed as their leader communed with the leopard and as the summon declared that it had been told to the guard the village by their very own prized medic. They all trusted Sakura and tried to extend that trust to the towering feline before them.
"You flatter me with your kind words. I am more than happy to guard the pride that has brought my own pride-mate into their fold," the big cat returned humbly, tilting his head in the semblance of a bow.
"Of course. She is a valued friend and medic. Her presence has been a great relief," Madara answered honestly, finding it somewhat surreal that he was speaking to such an incredibly massive summon so cordially.
"Ah, and for her to have found you, an alpha who refers to her as a friend before a medic. As a companion before a worker. I am satisfied by your warmth," Hyo commented, drawing an embarrassed flush from the Uchiha leader.
Madara had never been referred to as an alpha before… It felt oddly bolstering to be called such by a towering feline such as Hyo.
"As she deserves," he replied once he had gathered his wandering thoughts and tempered his strangely inflating ego, "Thank you for your assistance once again, Hyo. I'll inform Sakura of our return."
"Very well. Since you have returned, I shall dismiss myself. It has been a pleasure meeting you, Sir Uchiha," the feline summon responded, bowing his massive head in farewell before disappearing in a great burst of smoke.
When the smoke that washed over them dissipated, the elder Uchiha noticed the teasing look his brother was sending him. Madara's small smile immediately morphed into a glare as he recognized the look his brother was giving him.
"Looks like she took your comment pretty seriously, alpha. I wonder why that is..." Izuna taunted with a sly grin.
"It's because she's a dedicated shinobi, simple as that. I essentially gave her a mission without considering my words," he growled as he resumed his run into their village, the war party following loyally behind.
"Mhmm, quite dedicated indeed. But to what, I wonder?" Izuna teased as they shot through the canopy before his grin stretched even wider, "Or perhaps to whom?"
Madara simply scowled and increased his pace.
When the strike force finally arrived in the village and split up, Madara went to locate Sakura before he bothered to remove his armor or weapons. When he found her, perched on the roof of her home with her arms folded and face resolute, he felt another surge of affection for her.
She turned to face him and greeted him with a sleepy smile as he made a graceful leap onto the roof of her home and landed softly on the slanted tiles.
"I didn't expect you to take my words so literally. You should have just gone to bed and let the sentries do their job. It would be best if you were well rested in case some of us had returned injured," he admonished with his arms crossed over his chest, even if he couldn't keep the small smile off of his face.
Her smile immediately turned into a glare as her fists settled on her hips in agitation.
"Well, you shouldn't have said it if you didn't want me to take it seriously! You live in a very different world than me. I…" Sakura's expression lost some of it's edge as she glanced to the roof tiles before her gaze returned to his. "I didn't want anyone to get hurt while you were gone."
Madara felt yet another wave of fondness for her at her words. She had gone out of her way, even going as far as to summon one of her felines, to protect the members of his clan. His family. She had stayed up all night acting as a sentry to keep the ones he loved safe in his absence.
Unbidden, his smile warmed as he took in her sleepy and adorably flustered expression.
"Go get some sleep, Sakura. There's no need to worry," he spoke in a low voice.
Sakura had proved to him then, and over the months she had been their medic, that not only could she be trusted but that she cared about him and his family. The mysterious medic had found herself a place of affection in his guarded heart, no small feat after the dramatic loss of his best friend all those years ago.
"But wait, was anyone hurt?"
Madara just smiled wider, touched by her concern for those who had gone to battle. "Everyone is fine."
"But you have blood on you," she pointed out, taking a step towards him and reaching forward to touch a splatter of blood on the neck of his high collared shirt.
He nearly shivered as her fingertips brushed his clothed collar bone, his sharingan flickering on of its own accord. The world around him became sharp and crisp and the sight of her reaching out to touch him embedded in his mind before his sharingan returned to inactivity in the span of a heartbeat.
"It's not mine," he muttered in a tone deeper than normal as he stared at her concerned expression.
Sakura glanced up at him and, noticing how close they were standing, quickly looked back to her hand touching him.
"Oh…" She slowly pulled back her hand and took a half step back, noticeably avoiding his eyes as a blush appeared on her cheeks. "Good... Are you sure everyone's okay?"
"I'm certain," Madara replied, forcing his voice into it's normal tone rather than clearing his throat, "Get some sleep. Perhaps I'll see you at dinner?"
She smiled at that, her eyes returning to his. "For more of Hitomi's cooking? Deal."
"And not my sterling company?" he asked as he placed a hand over his armored chest, mock offended.
"Your company is just a bonus," she teased in response.
"You wound me."
Sakura's smile turned into something warmer as she looked into his eyes. "I suppose I'll see you then. I should go talk to Hyo first though."
"Ah, yes. The massive leopard that demanded my identity before I could pass into my own lands," Madara teased in response, watching in amusement as her expression morphed into one of shock and embarrassment.
"He didn't…" she gasped, a hand coming up to cover her mouth.
He laughed at her horrified reaction, his arms falling to his sides as he relaxed. "No, but he certainly startled a few of my clan during the run back."
"I'm sorry," she apologized immediately, "I thought he'd realize who you all were and leave you alone. I should have known better..."
"It's no trouble. And when we met, he returned to his world. Go get some sleep. I'll see you at dinner," he replied, turning and hopping down from the roof.
As he walked down the trodden path towards his house, he turned to watch her over his shoulder. He observed as Sakura yawned widely, stretching sinuously, and leapt down from her roof to make her way into her house.
As Madara's eyes turned forward and he made his way to his home, he wondered what the odd tingling in his chest was about.
Sakura laid out her futon and slipped out of the outer layer of her kimono, intending on taking a nap. She yawned widely once again before falling into bed, already blissfully happy to be lying down.
She curled up under the thick comforter, huffing to herself at Madara's reaction to her having stayed up all night to act as a sentry. He shouldn't have said for her to keep an eye on things if he hadn't meant it. This time seemed like an entirely different world for her. A world where children were sacrificed in never ending wars and death could be around any corner.
So of course she had stayed up all night to guard the village and had summoned Hyo to patrol the forest for any intruders. The scouts who had approached her after sensing her entering the forest had been surprised by her plan but had been happy to have the gargantuan leopard summons helping them with their rounds. Even if they had been unnerved by Hyo sniffing them so he could learn 'the scent of an Uchiha'.
As she found a comfortable position curled up on her futon and tried to drift off, her mind replayed the moment she had touched Madara's chest.
Sakura felt ridiculous. Of course he had had blood on him, he had just come back from a battle. But her sleep deprived brain had somehow equated him being splattered in blood to him being injured and she had actually reached out to touch him. The deep baritone of his voice as they stood so close she could feel his body heat had sent a tingle down to her toes.
She covered her face with her hands to muffle her embarrassed groan before dramatically rolling over onto her opposite side. Tugging up her blankets, she covered her face and nestled far into her bedding.
Sleep didn't come easily as Sakura fretted over what she was beginning to feel slowly building in her chest.
The Uchiha clan traditionally kept birthdays a low key affair. There were so many members of the clan, after all, and any extravagance spent on one clan member would be expected to be spent on another. So, not just out of practicality but to prevent any resentment from developing from one clan member receiving more attention than another, birthdays were generally celebrated with only the closest family members.
Today, on the twenty fourth day of December, just a few short days after the winter solstice, was Madara's twenty-second birthday.
Izuna, the only close family member who Madara had left and who would be the only one celebrate the day of his birth, had gifted him with a new gauntlet for his falconry. The glove was made of much sturdier material than his last, now thoroughly damaged glove and was a thoughtful gift.
Madara had hoped to foist any clan duties onto his little brother so he could spend the day relaxing, more than likely with his current subject of interest: their pink haired medic. It seemed that the universe wouldn't allow him this small reprieve on the day of his birth, however, as a battalion of Senju, including Hashirama and Tobirama, were mobilizing dangerously close to the Uchiha clan's painstakingly hidden village. It wouldn't be long before he would have to go to battle with a war party of Uchiha at his back rather than spending the day relaxing in their medic's home as he had wanted.
Before they left, however, Madara still made sure to stop to speak with Sakura. He knew that he would fight against Hashirama later that day and that Tobirama would be among the force him and his clan faced. He needed her to be well rested in case, or rather when, they returned with wounded.
He knocked on her door and, when she appeared, he could feel a tension in his body that he hadn't even noticed ease.
"Another mission?" Sakura asked, her eyes flicking to his armor and the weapons strapped across his back.
"Yes. We should be gone until morning. I've come to tell you to actually sleep tonight and let the sentries do their job," Madara informed, the corner of his lip quirking up in amusement as her eyes narrowed at him.
"I told you, you shouldn't have told me to keep an eye on things if you didn't actually want me to," she returned with a glower, her fists perching on her hips.
"And I've learned how literal you can be. Do try to get some rest tonight in case we return with injured."
"Well, try not to get stabbed or anything while I'm not there," she huffed in response, her glare deepening.
He smirked openly at her, amused by her catty concern for him. "I'll try my best."
As he began to walk away, she hesitantly called out to him in a soft voice. "But, seriously…"
He turned to face her with a curious expression, the chain holding his gunbai and kama together clinking together at the movement. Her eyes were trained on the ground as she appeared to struggle for words.
When Sakura's gaze met his once again, he was struck by the cute blush that decorated her hesitant expression. "Please be safe, Madara..."
Madara smiled openly at her, a sense of warmth flooding him at her words and as she spoke his name so familiarly, even with her shyness. He could feel her affection as readily as if she had wrapped her arms around him.
"I will."
This battle had not gone well.
Madara and his brother had expected a much smaller group of Senju and, despite the large force they had taken, they had been outnumbered. He suspected that this was to be revenge for the deaths of the Senju's clansmen just a few days prior but could still sense Hashirama's hesitance in their battle nonetheless.
Even with his disdain for tactical retreats, he knew that they had been out maneuvered and had no other option. More than that, he couldn't allow the injured Uchiha currently being carried back into their lands to die.
Two had fallen victim to Senju swords and struggled to stay awake with the blood they had lost and continued to lose, even with their wounds tightly wrapped. The more concerning case, however, was his unconscious and horribly burned family member who had been caught in a direct blast from a paper bomb. She barely clung to life even as her boneless body failed to cling to the Uchiha carrying her.
They had nearly knocked down the fusuma leading into Sakura's clinic in their hurry to get them to her. Her, having heard the racket they made entering her dimly lit house, had emerged from her bedroom in a flurry, still dressed in her pale green nemaki.
She had taken one look at the injured Uchiha coating her futons with blood and charred flesh before she began running through a set of hand signs that Madara recognized immediately.
He was surprised when water from the air itself coalesced into the shape of Sakura, forming two water clones. He felt the humidity drop immediately as she harvested the humidity to form her clones, a feat in and of itself. He figured that she must have a water chakra nature to be able to accomplish such a thing so easily and wondered what other jutsu she had taught herself from her daily trips to their library.
"Both of you, keep them stable," Sakura ordered her copies, pointing at the two Uchiha with wounds still leaking blood through the layers of bandages as she rushed to the side of the severely burned kunoichi.
Madara was once again surprised as the clones she had created used medical jutsu to work on his clan mates.
Knowing that his family members were in capable hands, he dismissed the rest of the strike force who lurked on Sakura's engawa and in her yard. They left swiftly and without hesitation, every last one of them trusting their medic after having been tended to by her at some point or another and after her show of defending their village during the last battle.
He shared a moment of silent communication with Izuna who nodded at him in return before leaving as well, closing the fusuma behind him. Madara took a seat leaning against the wall, unwilling to leave the sides of his injured clansmen.
He watched as Sakura continued her healing and as the blackened flesh of his injured family member slowly transformed into fresh skin. As the chakra the medic had given her clones faded to nothing, the clones disappeared in small bursts of water. The Uchihas that had suffered from the sword wounds appeared stable with the help they had received from the clones, allowing the original to finish working on her most pressing case without concern.
As she finished healing Madara's once severely burned clan mate and gave her a tincture to ward off infection, he heard her quietly thank the medic. She smiled in response and told her to remain for the night before moving on to her next patient, finishing up what her clones could not.
As Madara watched her work, the exhaustion from the run to the battlefield, the battle itself, and the frantic sprint home finally began to take its toll. Her warm, dimly lit home did nothing to help keep him awake, instead easing him into a state of relaxation.
Despite the struggles he had been forced to bear that day – the battle against the Senju, the fight with Hashirama, and nearly losing the lives of more of his clanmates – Sakura had been there to help. Even though the celebration of the day of his birth hadn't been ideal by any stretch of the imagination, he was grateful for the present she had unknowingly given him: peace of mind knowing his family was safe in her hands.
A fine birthday gift indeed.
Madara's eyes slowly slid shut, the scent of flowers and the calming sound of her healing jutsu lulling him to sleep.
After Sakura finished with her final patient, feeding him an antimicrobial tincture and telling him to remain for the night, she did a final scan of her other two, already sleeping patients.
She was more grateful than ever that she had taken the time to teach herself the Water Clone Jutsu, the scroll for which she found in the library. Even if the jutsu had left puddles of water on her floor that she threw rags on to sop up. If not for that technique and her making sure that her clones could utilize medical jutsu, she would have been forced to choose who would have lived and who would have died that night. The woman with severe burns and bits of shrapnel littering her body or the two Uchiha with gushing puncture wounds.
Sakura remembered a time in which Naruto had, unsuccessfully, tried to teach her the Shadow Clone Jutsu, a jutsu which would have been infinitely more helpful as it required no medium to base the clone upon. However, in between Naruto's vague, nonsensical analogies, broad, frantic gesturing, and propensity for using noises to describe actions, the attempt had been a lost cause from the start.
She wished now that she had asked Kakashi to teach her the jutsu instead as the technique would be infinitely more helpful to have under her belt during her time in the past.
As it was now, shadow clones or not, all three of her patients would be cleared to leave the next morning. The patient with the burns would need to spend the next few days on bedrest as her new skin adjusted to stretch comfortably over her body, but she would live.
Sakura slid open the folding screens quietly, partitioning her patients off from one another and giving them a bit of privacy as they slept.
Once done, her eyes drifted to Madara who sat in the same position he had for most of the night, leaned up against the wall of her clinic. He sat cross legged with his head tilted forward as if in thought, his hands loosely resting on his thighs. She noticed from this distance that there were a few minor burns on his hands, revealed by the holes burned through his gloves, and deep purple, nearly black, bruises on his forearms.
Deciding that she would tend to the normally inconsequential wounds, despite her own exhaustion from using so much chakra on her once critical patients, she padded across the tatami mats to kneel next to him. When he didn't stir and when she noticed his deep, even breathing, she realized that he was asleep.
A soft smile lit up her face when Sakura realized that he was comfortable enough and trusted her enough to fall asleep in her home. She was touched that an understandably distrustful man such as himself, and a ninja of his caliber, had fallen asleep in her living room.
Careful not to disturb him, she placed a gentle hand on the back of his wrist and began to heal his wounds. Madara stirred momentarily at the sensation, his eyes flickering open halfway to see what was happening. His half lidded gaze met hers for a moment before a sleepy smile pulled at his lips and he closed his eyes once again.
Sakura blushed heavily at the sight of his sleepy expression and his soft smile, nearly faltering in her healing as she did so. Her heart pounded in her chest as she forced her eyes down to his minor wounds.
She had known that he was handsome since the day she first saw him from across the battlefield but she had thought little of it… at first. As the days went on and as she spent nearly every day in his company, however, she had felt her feelings begin to change. Ever since the other day, when she had reached out to touch the blood splatter on his collarbone and he had responded in such a deep, attractive tone, she had finally been able to admit to herself that she had a bit of a crush on him.
A stupid, illogical, impossible crush.
She knew Madara's future, what he would one day be. That he was one of the future founders of her village. That he would one day abandon Konoha. That he would one day die at the hands of the first Hokage in a battle that would be immortalized in massive stone statues.
Sakura knew that she couldn't act on her crush, no matter how seemingly perfect he was. Even though she had already delved far into the Uchiha's library and hadn't found anything of merit, she knew that she would one day find a way to return home. To return to a time where the man she had come to… like very much was long dead.
It would never work. Could never work.
Not to mention the fact that any… relation they may have had the potential for dramatically altering the future.
But despite all the logic in the world, she had a crush on him. A man who placed his family above all things, who was undoubtedly a genius, who treated her with the utmost respect, who went out of his way to spend time with her and get to know her… A man who was so stupidly attractive that sometimes she couldn't help but stare.
Like now.
Sakura used the opportunity of Madara being asleep and her healing his wounds to take a good look at his face. Even in the dim light, her eyes had adjusted so she could see him clearly. Her eyes greedily raked across his face, taking in everything she couldn't when he was awake. His built, angular jawline. His thin lips. His sharp but crooked nose, more than likely from being broken one too many times. His unfairly thick eyelashes. Even the bags under his one visible eye, the other shrouded by his raven hair.
This close, she could make out a handful of silvery scars dotting his jaw and cheekbone. One in particular, which dipped diagonally from the angle of his jaw to his Adam's apple, drew her attention specifically. Not much deeper and that faint scar would have been a fatal wound, cutting across his neck in such a way. It seemed strange that a ninja of his caliber had ever come so close to death. It was a reminder to her that even he was just a man, albeit one of the most skilled shinobi of all time.
She wanted to ask him where he had gotten the scar from. She wanted to know the story of the person he had once faced who had been skilled enough to nearly take his life. How old had he been when he got the scar? Had he still been a child? Had he gotten it from the future First Hokage?
She probably never would ask, however, embarrassed that she had observed him so closely.
Her healing long since done, Sakura pulled her hand away from his wrist, her fingertips buzzing from the brief skin to skin contact. He didn't stir at the movement, now very much asleep. She hovered next to him for a long few moments, still basking in his appearance and the scent of ash, smoke, and battle that clung to him.
She noticed a stray hair from Madara's bangs had fallen in front of his one visible eye and she unconsciously reached up to brush it back into place. She froze immediately when she realized what she had been about to do, her hand halfway to his face and a hot blush spreading across her cheeks. She quickly pulled back and stood, glancing at her patients to make sure they hadn't witnessed what had almost happened.
Sakura knew that she should wake Madara so he could go home but felt terrible about disturbing his apparently much needed rest. Instead, she grabbed a blanket from one of the futons in the closet in her bedroom and brought it out. Very carefully, she wrapped it around his shoulders, blushing heavily once again as his hair brushed across his hands and as the close proximity brought his intoxicating scent to her once again.
Stepping away from all four sleeping Uchiha, Sakura padded into the kitchen and formed the hand seals she needed for a summoning. She nipped her thumb to draw a droplet of blood before placing her hand on the counter and drawing forth Kurumi.
"Hi, Saku-!" Kurumi immediately started before Sakura quickly shushed her.
"What's wrong? Are there enemies nearby?" the young feline whispered, her gaze flicking across the quiet kitchen suspiciously as she searched for any opponents.
"No, no. I just need you to do me a favor. And be quiet about it, please. People are sleeping," Sakura explained quietly, wobbling on her feet as her low chakra levels began to take their toll.
"What is it?" the tiny, dark furred feline asked with a tilt of her head.
"I got a few patients tonight that weren't doing so well. They're staying over for the night, but I need you to keep an eye on them and wake me up if anything happens."
The cat nodded resolutely, agreeing to her sudden job as medical assistant.
"Oh, and Madara is here to, so don't wake him up. I know how you like his hair," Sakura chuckled quietly, smirking down at Kurumi.
"Well, yes. It's warm and soft, who wouldn't like it?"
Sakura blushed at the second hand knowledge that his hair was soft, remembering how close she had come to brushing his bangs from his face. Kurumi seemed to take notice, watching her curiously.
"Can I trust you to do this for me?"
"Sure!" Kurumi responded at her normal volume.
When Sakura blearily eyed her in reprimand, the feline pulled her ears back and winced before she corrected her volume. "Sure. I'll wake you up if anything happens."
Without another word, Kurumi jumped down from the counter and silently padded into the clinic. Sakura shook her head, a small smile stretching across her face, as she made her way back to her bedroom.
Madara woke later that night to the familiar yet startling sensation of Kurumi trying to wiggle her way underneath his hair and into the crook between the side of his neck and the high collar of his armor.
He woke with a jolt and a sharp intake of air, startling the cat from her would-be perch. He stared at the feline summon trying to gaze at him innocently, piecing together his surroundings as he returned to wakefulness.
"Kurumi," he greeted with a slow blink, momentarily confused by the sensation of his arms being pinned down by the blanket wrapped around him.
Madara pulled the blanket from his shoulders with a bleary stare before a small smile grew as he realized Sakura had wrapped him in it. His heartbeat kicked up a notch as well when her scent, which coated the blanket, washed over him, bringing with it the realization that this blanket had come from her bed.
"Ah, good, er, morning," the summon replied, embarrassed, her tail flicking back and forth idly as she sat down.
The Uchiha forced his attention away from the blanket and to his clan mates, still sleeping peacefully albeit partitioned off by folding screens to give them a sense of privacy.
"What are you doing here?" Madara asked quietly, stretching out from one of the most pleasant naps he had had in years, despite having been woken so suddenly.
"Sakura summoned me to keep an eye on her patients and to wake her up if anything happened," Kurumi explained, glancing over her shoulder to look at the shinobi sleeping soundly.
"And nesting in my hair was your way of keeping an eye on them?" he questioned, resting his chin in his palm as he set his elbow on his knee.
"Well, er..." the feline started, embarrassed at having been caught, "I figured that I could still keep an eye on them and be warm and comfy at the same time."
"You know you fall asleep every time," he admonished, eyeing the feline sternly.
Kurumi's ears came back, her eyes drifting to the floor as her tail came to wrap around her feet.
"I could stay awake…" she muttered, pouting.
"Well, you can certainly stay awake now," he replied, standing.
Madara neatly folded the blanket he had been wrapped in, a smile returning to his face as he thought of the woman who had cared about him enough to cover him after he had fallen asleep.
He remembered when he had woken up briefly to the sensation of her tending to his inconsequential wounds. With her having been so close to him, her distinct scent, like a flower garden after a rainstorm with an indescribable, feminine undertone, had washed over him and left his mind fuzzy from more than just sleep. He had been touched by her concern for him and had smiled at her, even as he felt himself drifting back into sleep to the soothing sensation of her healing and the gentle touch of her fingertips on his wrist.
He had briefly considered, in his half-asleep state, grasping her hand and pulling her into his lap just so he could bury his face in her hair and fall back asleep with her warm scent fogging his senses.
The thought of the bashful look Sakura had given him in return to his smile had heat rising to his cheeks. She may not have known it, but her saving the lives of his clan mates and her affection towards him had made for one of the more enjoyable birthdays of his life.
"What are you doing?" Kurumi asked suddenly as he laid the blanket down on the floor.
"What? Folding the blanket?" the Uchiha responded, raising an eyebrow at her.
"No, what are you doing with your face. I see Sakura doing it sometimes when she looks at you, but I don't know what it is…"
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he stared at the feline. "What are you talking about?"
"When you make your face get all red. What is that?"
Madara's expression immediately morphed into one of humiliation at having been caught blushing by Sakura's juvenile summon. As he tried to think of a response, his mind tripped over the fact that Kurumi had said sometimes Sakura blushed when looking at him.
"It, uh… It's…" he muttered, trying to gather his thoughts and explain it in a way that would satisfy the cat's curiosity without incriminating himself, "Sometimes people do it when they're… happy…"
"Why were you so happy about a blanket?" Kurumi questioned, her feline face pinched in confusion.
Shit. "I'm just happy because…" He wanted to punch himself for what he was about to say but couldn't come up with anything less stupid in such a short time. Mentally cringing, he forced out, "It's a… nice blanket…"
Kurumi stared at him in disbelief before striding forward and stepping onto the folded blanket lying on the floor. She dug her claws into it a couple times, kneading the fabric, before settling down onto it. "Hmm, you're right. This is a nice blanket."
Madara nearly sighed in relief, grateful he had been able to avert that crisis. Albeit in the stupidest, most floundering manner possible. He was grateful his brother wasn't there and his clan mates were asleep. He wasn't sure he'd ever live it down if they had heard his words…
"Don't fall asleep now. You've been tasked with a vital job, looking after my cousins. My family's safety is in your hands," he explained seriously, folding his arms across his chest as he stared down at the young summon.
Kurumi's head immediately perked up and she nodded at the Uchiha resolutely. "Yes, sir!"
Madara smiled at the childish summons before opening the fusuma leading to the outside world, lamenting having to leave Sakura's warm house to walk home through the darkened, frigid streets.
When Sakura awoke that morning, she found the blanket she had covered Madara with was neatly folded in the corner, her three patients were still sleeping peacefully, and Kurumi was taking her job as medical assistant very seriously.