A/N: I came to a realization recently while responding to reviews and asks on my Tumblr (Astroavis, be sure to check it out for all the fanart and bonus scenes!): I neglected to space out these glimpses into the future. I kind of bunched them all up in the beginning of the story and didn't spread them out. Whoops! One of these days I'll go back and fix that.
Shikamaru sighed heavily as his eyes drifted off the scroll sitting before him. His weary gaze settled on the messy pile of books and half opened scrolls sitting on the table before him before it drifted further to regard his companions.
The sight of Kakashi deep into a book was not an uncommon one, but seeing his concentrated expression as he stared into a book that was decidedly not of the Make-Out series was surely rare.
The sight of Naruto staring deeply into a scroll however, was the rarest sight of all. The blond had a pinched expression and his face was so close to the paper that Shikamaru wasn't even sure if he could read the words printed on the page. Naruto's determination to bring Sakura home showed most during these research sessions. The blond even remained silent as he read, two things that were so out of character for him that Shikamaru worried for his mental health.
Weeks. It had been two weeks since Sakura's disappearance and they had yet to come up with anything of merit.
All of the libraries had been destroyed during Pain's debilitating attack and the scant texts that had been recovered mentioned nothing of a signature on a summoning scroll turning black or of a space time jutsu derived from the sharingan.
They had turned to a few shinobi in Konoha who were familiar with summoning jutsu but they had little to nothing to offer. They had even enlisted the help of the Hidden Sand, but the Sand's liaison and a woman who was familiar with summonings as well, Temari, offered nothing they didn't already know. She had been just as baffled by their predicament as they were and, even after bringing fourth her own contract with her weasel summon Kamatari to search for signatures that may have turned black, they found nothing.
Even more than that, the only Uchiha besides Sasuke who remained alive was a missing ninja named Madara who had betrayed the village nearly a century ago and who somehow still lived. A missing ninja who worked with the Akatsuki and who had declared war on all of the shinobi nations shortly before Sakura's disappearance.
The individual who had the capability of assisting them the most with this mystery involving Sakura's summoning contract, Jiraiya, was dead.
Shikamaru leaned back into his chair and stared at the ceiling of the wooden building, crafted by their overworked and sole wood jutsu user Yamato, as if it contained the answers he needed. Drifting inward in contemplation, he considered their situation.
Sakura, after joining the battle between Danzo and Sasuke, had disappeared from the field. Their surly prisoner, Karin, had insisted that Sasuke had attacked Danzo and Sakura with Ameterasu, a jutsu which had enveloped Danzo and Sakura both, and that Danzo had activated a sharingan based space time jutsu which had caused them both to vanish. She asserted that while Danzo appeared just a moment later, uninjured, Sakura didn't.
While her story sounded like a lie, Ino, who had recently ascended to a high ranking position in the Torture and Interrogation Unit, had delved into their prisoner's mind and corroborated her story. Shikamaru had no doubts in Ino's skill with her family's jutsu and knew that she was desperate for anything she could use to bring her best friend home. While Karin's story sounded like a lie, it was the truth.
These facts, however, only added to the confusion. One would assume that Sakura would have been transported backwards in time for a short period, as was the jutsu's apparent function. Instead of appearing when Danzo had, however, she was gone entirely.
After having thought of nothing but summoning jutsu for the last couple weeks, his contemplation kept veering back to summonings when he tried to consider the problem from a different angle. He kept trying to dislodge this line of thought in order to come up with a viable solution, even just a hypothesis, but no matter what he did, his thoughts remained on summonings.
As his frustration rose, Shikamaru had a moment of clarity: What if a summoning jutsu was the key for returning Sakura home?
His companions noticed when he steepled his fingers, a habit he had picked up to assist in his ruminations, even though he did not notice their attention. Neither Kakashi nor Naruto interrupted his thoughts, so when the Nara's consciousness finally returned to the world surrounding him, he was surprised by their intense focus on him.
"Any ideas?" Kakashi broached, sounding as exhausted as Shikamaru felt.
"Maybe… I'm not sure how it would work let alone if it could work," he grumbled in response, crossing his arms across his chest as his thoughtful gaze returned to the ceiling.
"And?" Naruto pressed, his unusually quiet voice containing a sliver of hope.
"Summoning scrolls are used to bring beings from other dimensions, other places separated from our world, to ours. What if we made a scroll that could summon Sakura? It should be able to reach her, even if she's somehow outside of our world," Shikamaru theorized, watching as Naruto's expression began to betray his rising hope.
Naruto's increasingly hopeful expression was quashed by Kakashi's rebuttal. "We already tried that with Lady Katsuyu… She's actually tied to Sakura through the contract she has with the slugs. Don't you think that Lady Katsuyu's attempt to summon Sakura would have worked if this unique summoning jutsu would?"
"Not if the summoning contract was somehow… tainted. Sakura's signature turned black on the scroll, so perhaps Lady Katsuyu was unable to reach her because the contract had been made invalid."
"How could a summoning contract be made invalid?"
Shikamaru sighed heavily. "I'm not entirely sure… Maybe she's in another dimension, like another summoning's lands. The snakes, maybe, if Sasuke had anything to do with it. Or maybe her chakra has been sealed and the connection between her and Lady Katsuyu has been cut…"
"If that's true, then how would making a summoning scroll for Sakura in particular help?"
"Maybe Lady Katsuyu's attempt to summon Sakura only failed because the contract is invalid. If we made a scroll, a new summoning for just Sakura, we might be able to create a new link."
"Who could make a new summoning scroll?" Naruto interrupted, his voice tightly leashed but his body betraying his tension and excitement.
"We'd need a sealing expert…" Shikamaru replied softly, a sympathetic pain erupting in his chest as Naruto's expression fell.
Not only had Naruto lost Sasuke to his quest for revenge and Jiraiya in a battle against Pain, but now he had lost his only remaining teammate, Sakura, to unknown circumstances. He couldn't imagine the depths of pain Naruto must feel to lose so many of his precious people in such a short span of time.
Shikamaru watched in amazement as Naruto's expression morphed from despair to determination. The blond gave both of them a comforting smile - for himself or them, Shikamaru had no idea - as he jolted to his feet.
"Granny Tsunade should know someone. We'll figure this out. We'll make this summoning scroll and we'll bring Sakura home! Believe it!" he declared before turning on his heel and bolting out the door, books and scrolls entirely forgotten in his haste.
Shikamaru smiled to himself, the respect he had for Naruto growing, before turning to regard Kakashi. It was hard to tell with that ever present mask of his, but Shikamaru was positive that the silver haired jonin was smiling as well.
Naruto's enthusiasm was infectious, it appeared, because at that moment, Shikamaru was positive that they would indeed bring Sakura home.
Madara had a great respect for the elders of his clan. They were both talented shinobi and their skill and intelligence had allowed them to survive into their old age. Their assistance had been beneficial when Madara had taken over as leader of the clan and their support for his and his brother's ascendance had made taking over leadership much smoother than it could have been.
Now, however, with the two elderly Uchiha having barged into his home in the late evening and with them now dominating his space with their haughty behavior and venomous words, he saw none of that intelligence.
Daichi, a man who understandably knew little but anger and tradition, perched on one of the cushions surrounding Madara's table with his spine straight as a rod. His now completely gray braid nearly reached the tatami mats, even with it thrown over one shoulder and hanging across his chest.
Lady Arisu, a woman who was also of the wrathful sort yet conversely tended to their ever growing library, sat with the same stone spine posture. Her long, graying black hair was perched on the top of her head in a utilitarian bun and her schooled expression showed little of what she thought. A finely carved wooden cane, which both Uchiha brothers knew contained a sword within, laid across her lap in an intentionally non-threatening fashion.
"This illegitimate, polyamorous affair with the outsider has brought shame onto our clan," Daichi hissed, the scowl on his face betraying where the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth had grown from.
Madara returned the scowl in response, angered not just by his blatant accusation but at his comment that Sakura was still an outsider. Besides not sharing their bloodline, she had proved to them that she was very much a part of their clan. He would think that Daichi would show her the same respect, especially since she had saved the life of his granddaughter after she had been caught in the explosion from a paper bomb just a few short months ago.
"Neither of us, let alone both of us, are in a physical relationship with Sakura," he replied, his tone controlled but venom just below the surface.
"Yet you speak her name so informally. What other reason would there be for such affection?" Arisu commented, a forced, blank expression on her regal face. While the female elder's face betrayed nothing, her words expressed that she too thought of their words as lies.
"That is because she is a trusted friend and an asset to this clan," he answered, his glare shooting from Daichi to Arisu.
"The lack of self control on both of your parts is sickening. You have tainted yourselves with that seductresses body," Daichi interrupted, disregarding Madara's words to instead input his unwanted opinion, "You spit in the face of our values as Uchiha."
"A studious and respectable woman she may be, she is still an outsider. She has not yet been wed into the clan and your inability to tame your libidos can now lead to her making off with our sharingan," Arisu added, her vague fondness for Sakura surfacing even though it was shadowed by her disdain for their assumed actions.
"She is no seductress and your insults against her are what bring shame to our family. She is our prized medic and a woman who has done nothing but help us for such a small price," Madara returned, remaining calm even as their insults fanned his rage even further.
"Us staying the night at her home was a simple, innocent mistake. Nothing more," Izuna added, his expression carefully neutral, much as Arisu's.
"Such bold faced lies coming from the men who are supposed to lead our family. That whorish outsider and her scandalous ways have already influenced you both negatively," Daichi hissed, insulting not only Sakura, but now them by questioning their honor.
Madara's rage multiplied tenfold at the elder's blatant disrespect for their medic, himself, and his brother.
Sakura had done nothing but treat every member of their family with the utmost respect while treating any ails they may have with proficiency and kindness. She asked for little and what she did demand was only to improve what she could do as a healer, to help them. She provided for them nothing but healing, skill, and companionship, and to hear such insults against her made his blood boil.
Even more than that, Daichi's insults against both him and his brother fanned his rising anger even farther. In the years that he had lead the clan, he had done so justly and with the happiness and safety of his family as his highest priority, even higher than his own happiness or his own dreams. To have his honor questioned in such a way disregarded all he had done for the clan, all the sacrifices he made, and all of the suffering he had subjected himself to for the good of his family.
When he had taken over leadership of the clan, he had once again forgotten his rekindled dreams of peace to keep his family happy and to keep all of them together. His hopeful, younger self, that childish voice having diminished to static in the background of his mind as he grew into a man, had cried out in glee after he had been chosen to become the clan head... only to be silenced once again when he realized seeking peace with the Senju at this time would lead to his family splitting down the middle. That it would lead to his family fighting with itself, the opposite side favoring war and more than likely being led by his own Senju-hating brother.
Madara had sacrificed everything he dreamed for the safety of his family and now the clan elders dared to question his honor or his integrity? Dared to question his decision to bring in Sakura to save the lives of his clan? Dared insult her after all she had done for them?
Madara forced his voice to remain calm and even, refusing to react in a way unbecoming of the clan leader even in the face of such blatant disrespect. "Enough. You may believe whatever falsities you wish, but you are not to speak of her in such a disrespectful fashion after all she has done for our family. After all the lives she had saved, including your own granddaughter."
"And what if we continue to speak the truth?" Daichi growled in response.
Madara's statement hadn't been a threat, but if Daichi wanted one, he would give him one.
"As the leader of our clan, I take your opinions into consideration due to your supposed wisdom, although I see none of it with your current behavior. However, if I discover that either of you have been harassing Sakura, I will instead seek your wisdom on the battlefield. You both must have done something right to survive into your advanced age. Perhaps your skills would be put to better use during the next conflict against the Senju."
Horror immediately donned on both the elder's faces although they quickly reeled their visible emotions back. They could both certainly still fight, but nowhere near as well as they could in their younger years. To step foot onto a battlefield now, against men and women a quarter of their age, could spell death.
"You would sentence us to death for speaking the truth about the outsider?" Daichi replied, shock still coloring his words even though his anger overpowered it.
"I would reintegrate you into our war parties should you continue to slander one of our comrades. You have lived many years, surviving now only due to the deaths of our family on the battlefield. Deaths that have been prevented by the woman you claim to know the nature of."
Daichi opened his mouth, preparing for the inevitable argument, but was silenced by Arisu's hand on his knee. He released the breath he had gathered to fuel his tirade as his eyes shot to her. While her expression remained neutral, her eyes spoke for her.
Daichi's livid gaze settled back on the Uchiha clan head but, with his anger now tempered by Arisu's stern gaze, he recognized the fire in Madara's eyes. The leashed fury tensing the bodies of both brothers.
"Very well then. Should this… kunoichi betray us, the proper response falls upon your shoulders," Daichi grumbled as he slowly stood.
He stood and left without another word as Arisu rose to her feet as well, bringing her carved wooden cane with her. She bowed to the clan heads, giving them a respectful farewell, before following Daichi.
The tension abandoned the room the moment that the clan elders exited. Madara huffed in frustration, his fury still lingering in his chest. Izuna pinched the bridge of his nose in agitation, sighing deeply to try to rid himself of his own agitation.
"That seemed a tad... harsh. Perhaps too harsh? Was that the proper response?" Izuna questioned, his eyes drifting over to Madara.
"Was it proper of them to insult Sakura in such a way after everything she's done for our family? The dozen lives she's saved and the dozens more lives she has improved? Is such disrespect merited against her for our mistake? Or against us, after everything we've done?" he immediately retorted.
Izuna nodded thoughtfully as a soft sigh left his lips. "I suppose it just feels wrong to threaten the elderly with what is essentially death."
"And if it had been one of the butchers insulting her?" the elder brother returned, referring to the young men and women who hunted and butchered the game in the forest surrounding them but who did not participate in the battles the clan waged. "Would it seem more fair to send them into battle to learn the value of a medic of her skill?"
"Ah, good point…"
Silence reigned for a long few moments, the agitation from dealing with the slanderous clan elders still poisoning the atmosphere of the room.
The younger brother glanced towards the ranma lining the ceiling of his brother's study, noting the orange light from the setting sun, before he spoke again, "Spar?"
"Absolutely."
"It's strange. All of my patients have been treating me oddly today. Most just seem far more curious and, er… invasive than usual. A woman came in for a simple cut and spent the whole time asking me if I had children and what I thought of them. But some people are being outright hostile," Sakura commented as she took a sip from her tea. She absentmindedly toyed with a long blade of grass with her bare toes, her feet hanging off the side of her engawa.
Hitomi, who sat next to her on the engawa and nursed a cup of tea of her own, nodded thoughtfully in response, gazing at the clouds that drifted through the sky and blocked out the midday sun.
"That's simple. It's just because the clan heads slept in your home. Many think you are romantically involved with one of them. Some think both," she explained, her eyes drifting to look out at the grove of plum trees across from Sakura's home, their branches now lush and green and interspersed with budding flowers.
Sakura dropped her head into her palm, cringing at the thought that some of the members of the clan she worked for thought she was in a relationship with both of the brothers.
"We just got too drunk, nothing like that happened at all. We just passed out in my living room," she lamented, decidedly not including how she had slept in Madara's arms that night.
Hitomi chuckled, hiding her grin behind the rim of her cup as her amused gaze returned to her friend. "Who held their drink the best?"
Sakura huffed out a laugh, grateful for her friend not only believing her but distracting her from her embarrassment. "Me, if you don't consider my jutsu cheating. Madara if you do. Izuna passed out face first on my table halfway through our drinking contest."
The blue eyed Uchiha snorted in amusement at the thought of one of the leaders of her family snoring into a tabletop, surrounded by half finished dishes of sake. Her laughter was infectious, soon dragging bubbly giggles from the medic beside her.
As they both shared a laugh at the expense of the younger of the brothers, two women, dressed in fine kimonos, strolled down the pathway resting between Sakura's home and the grove of plum trees. Their own conversation became hushed as they concealed their whispers behind their hands and shot menacing glares towards Sakura as they passed.
As the women passed close enough for Sakura and Hitomi to hear their words, one of the women, her long, sleek black hair trailing down her back, gave Sakura a foul look before loudly whispering, "Harlot."
Sakura's previous laughter, and the joy that came with it, died on her lips. "What did you just say?"
"Oh, nothing of import to you, thief," the other woman, her own pitch black hair tossed over her shoulder in a complex braid, hissed in response.
"Excuse me?" Sakura growled, her chest tightening as rage built inside of her.
"You heard correctly. When do you plan on leaving? Once you know the pregnancy has taken?" the second woman sneered, her eyes purposefully dropping to the medic's stomach as her lip curled in disgust.
Faster than Sakura had ever seen the cook move, Hitomi flew off of the engawa, closed the small distance between her and the women, and slapped the woman who had just spoken across the cheek. The woman's head jerked to the side under the force of Hitomi's blow before she swung back around the glare at Hitomi with all she was worth.
Sakura's jaw would have dropped in shock if she wasn't overwhelmed by anger. Slipping down from the engawa, she prepared for whatever would come next, whether it was to break up a fight or join one should these women be kunoichi.
"Misaki! Kiku! How dare you speak so poorly of the woman who has saved the lives of your brothers, your family?!" Hitomi berated, her dainty hands forming fists at her sides.
"She has probably been in wait for one of them to bed her so she can make off with our sharingan! She's undoubtedly ecstatic she was able to seduce both of the strongest members of our clan for her thieving ways!" the woman with braided hair, Misaki, seethed in response, fists also forming at her side although she did not raise them.
"I have done no such thing!" Sakura hissed, taking a menacing step forward.
Even though Misaki and Kiku both took a step backwards, retreating from the intimidating kunoichi, it did not stop Kiku's venomous words. "So you're just a simple whore then, spreading your legs for whoever treats you kindly? No wonder your village was destroyed if it produced such unseemly women such as yourself."
Sakura saw red.
She jolted forward, too fast for the women to react, before grabbing their shoulders, gripping them so tightly that she knew her fingertips would leave bruises. Even with her fury stealing away her words, she prevented herself from using enough chakra to break their collar bones, as she knew she easily could. Despite her self control, her hands trembled under the force of her rage and against the desire to break their bones.
Misaki and Kiku grabbed at the kunoichi's hands, leaving scratches on her knuckles from their long nails, as they tried to pry her unmovable fingers from their shoulders.
It took a long moment for Sakura to gather her thoughts and restrain her rage, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. When she finally spoke, it was quiet but menacing.
"You can believe whatever backwards, idiotic thing you want. I don't care. The opinions of people like you mean nothing to me. But don't you ever speak of my home in such a way again. I'll give you this one warning, out of respect for your family…"
She increased her grip incrementally, the women's faces contorted in pain as they clawed uselessly at Sakura's fingers.
"If you ever say anything about my village again, I won't be so kind."
When she finally released her hold, Misaki and Kiku immediately skittered out of Sakura's reach, their hands reaching up to nurse their injured shoulders. They glanced at one another for a moment, apprehension coloring their twisted features, before their gazes returned to Sakura standing above them, her fists tightly clenched at her sides. Without another word or a look over their shoulders, the women quickly scrambled away, retreating from the furious kunoichi and the equally furious Uchiha.
After a few long, tense moments, Hitomi stepped over to Sakura and placed a comforting hand on her upper arm.
"I'm so sorry… I can't believe they would ever say such despicable things," Hitomi tried to comfort.
Sakura nodded dimly, her gaze dropping to the ground as her anger retreated like an ebbing tide. She tried to grasp at it, to hold onto her fury, as the feeling of despair settled in her heart. It was easier to be angry than it was to face her sorrow. She could feel hot tears building in her eyes despite trying her best to fight against them, and humiliation soon made its home within her with her misery.
"Thank you for standing up for me, Hitomi, but, I… I'd like to be alone now," Sakura whispered, desperately holding back her tears.
"Of course…" Hitomi replied softly, "Please let me know if you need anything."
Sakura nodded once again, no longer trusting her own voice. She knew that if she spoke, her words would be shaky and broken and she would no longer be able to hold back the sob threatening to spill free from her lips.
Hitomi squeezed her arm in comfort before releasing her and walking away. Sakura rapidly turned and strode into her house, hiding the tear that had slipped free behind her bangs.
She wanted to run out into the forest to destroy something. She wanted to renovate a section of the woods to vent her wrath. She wanted to be furious because it was so much easier to be angry than it was to be sad. Despite clinging to her anger in the hopes it would hold back her crippling sorrow, it slipped away from her, leaving her alone with her anguish.
As Sakura slumped down at her table, her hands coming up to hide her face as the tears fell unhindered, she was overwhelmed by her despair. For nearly a year, she had desperately struggled to find a way home. Yet, no matter how hard she worked, she had discovered nothing. She was no closer to returning home to her family, her friends… her home.
She missed them all so much. She missed them so much it felt like a piece of her heart had been stolen from her. She missed them so much that she was desperate for even the most annoying things they all did.
She missed her mother berating her for not putting her shoes away when she got home. She missed her father's awful jokes. She missed Naruto's brashness and how he always smelled like ramen. She missed Ino teasing her about her forehead. She missed Kakashi, his nose deep in his filthy novels as he thoroughly ignored the rest of the world. She missed Yamato and the terrifying face he'd make when he was upset with them. She even missed Sai calling her ugly.
Alone with her sorrows, Sakura finally released the restraint she had on her sobs and allowed herself to break down for the first time since the woman in the merchant city had lost her baby.
Madara thought that he had been upset by the disrespectful words of the clan elders the previous day, but hearing of the altercation between two of his clan mates and Sakura - from Hitomi of all people – infuriated him. In comparison to what Misaki and Kiku had said, to Sakura's face no less, Daichi and Arisu's words had been tame.
A harlot? A sharingan thief? These insults on their own were distasteful, but to hear that they had the gall to insult Sakura's destroyed village? All of her family, friends, and comrades who now laid dead after an unknown shinobi had massacred them all? He felt sick with anger.
"This is only a reflection of what others of the clan must think," Izuna fumed from next to him on the engawa, a scowl marring his normally serene features.
They had been in the middle of an intense yet pleasant training session in the training field connected to their home when Hitomi had approached them to tell them what had happened. They now sat on the engawa, nearly shoulder to shoulder, as they considered what to do.
"Then there needs to be a punishment. To show them and the rest of the clan that such actions are unacceptable," Madara hissed in response, his mind already working on the ways to address this problem.
He couldn't imagine how Sakura was feeling at that moment. Any time that her old home had been brought up, even inadvertently, her sorrow had been more than evident. She had cried the day before her birthday as it had been the first one she had spent without her deceased loved ones. Misaki and Kiku's insults were the same as if they had walked up to him or his brother and taunted them about their deceased brothers and parents.
Such cruelty would not be tolerated.
"Are we going to integrate Misaki and Kiku into the war parties now? Their words were surely harsher than the elders'," Izuna responded with a sidelong stare.
"No. They know nothing of combat. To send them to the battlefield would either result in their deaths or the deaths of those who would attempt to protect them."
"And Daichi and Lady Arisu wouldn't suffer the same fate?"
"Together, they've spent more than a century on the battlefield. They may be advancing in age but they are still warriors of great skill and are still afforded that respect," he reminded, leveling his younger brother with a pointed look.
"Then what do we do?"
Madara paused for a long few moments, considering their options. He certainly couldn't integrate the sisters into the war parties. While he was furious with them, he couldn't sentence his own family members to death simply because they had insulted, albeit grievously, one of their comrades. However, the two of them, as well as the rest of the clan, needed to learn that such deplorable actions were unacceptable. That their insults against their medic, outsider or not, were not only atrocious, but that they brought shame onto their own family.
As he sat and considered what he needed to do to be both firm yet just, an idea occurred to him.
"We inform Noriko."
After an hour of gut wrenching sobs, Sakura finally ran out of tears. It had been nearly half a year since she last cried so harshly, spurred on by the tragedy that was the death of Yoshima's stillborn son, but the action brought no relief.
Instead of feeling lighter, she felt foggy and sick. Her head throbbed, her eyes burned, and her throat stung. She wanted nothing more than to just go to sleep and to ignore the rest of the world for the remainder of the day. Despite her discomfort and her lingering despair and humiliation, she simply threw back a tincture to treat her headache and washed her puffy face with cold water.
She was still the Uchiha's sole medic and, as such, she held herself to a high standard. To shut down her practice for the night simply because she was upset was unacceptable. She could still receive more patients that afternoon, ones whose injuries were more important that her hurt feelings.
Sakura was simply glad that no one had approached her during her breakdown. The last thing she had wanted was an audience as she vented her sorrows.
To keep herself busy and to distract herself from the dull sorrow that still lingered in her foggy mind, she began organizing her stock of medicines and taking note of which ones would soon require replenishing. Halfway through her work, she sensed a group people approaching her home and soon heard the sound of soft footsteps on her engawa.
Turning to face her new patients, she was surprised when three women entered her clinic. Her surprise quickly transformed into outrage as she recognized two of the women as being Misaki and Kiku, the two who had insulted her village.
Her rage quickly petered out into confusion when she noticed that the women, who kept their heads down and avoided her eyes, were bruised and bleeding. Misaki's cheek and left eye was swollen, a blotchy red bruise marring her pale skin, and Kiku's nose appeared to be broken, drying blood trailing down her chin and staining the front of her rumpled kimono.
Sakura's gaze shot to her third visitor, an older and notably irate looking woman who she had yet to meet. She wore an outfit which suggested she was a tailor - something which dramatically contrasted with the bleeding scrapes on his knuckles - and her midnight hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail which trailed down her back. When her sharp eyes confidently met Sakura's, the woman nodded curtly in greeting.
"Good afternoon," Sakura greeted tightly, confused by the appearance of the three Uchiha and the fact that this woman had obviously beaten Misaki and Kiku.
"Good afternoon, Lady Sakura. My name is Noriko, I'm the mother of these two detestable brats. I'm sorry we haven't first met on better terms," the elder woman greeted politely.
"It's, uh. Nice to meet you?" Sakura returned, mentally floundering over the proper way to greet someone in such a situation.
Misaki and Kiku's eyes drifted up from the floor to meet the elder woman's gaze after a moment of silence. Noriko returned their submissive stares with a harsh glare, her hands forming fists at her sides.
The two immediately broke eye contact and their gazes flicked to the floor. They appeared to struggle internally for a moment, their barely visible expressions betraying their distaste. Slowly, and in a way that almost appeared painful for them, they dropped to their knees and placed their foreheads on the floor.
"We apologize for our behavior earlier. What we said was cruel and unbecoming of us," Kiku apologized in a way that sounded scripted.
"We humbly offer our apologies although we do not expect your forgiveness," the other sister, Misaki, continued, her voice muffled by the tatami mats beneath her.
Sakura's mouth dropped open although words did not come. While the sister's apologies chipped at her anger, perhaps not as much as they would have had their words felt more genuine, their injured state left her feeling conflicted.
"I am deeply sorry for the behavior of my daughters. You have done so much for us during the time you've been here. You even saved the lives of my sons and these brats' brothers. I promise you that they will never think, let alone speak, ill of you again," Noriko apologized as well, bowing deeply at the waist in respect.
"Thank you for your apology..." the medic returned uncertainly, still thrown for a loop by the entire situation she found herself in. She never expected to receive an apology from the sisters, let alone that they would be punished by their own mother and brought to her.
"Come. We are to return home. You will learn the value of our medic by suffering with your wounds until they heal themselves. Perhaps you will be lucky and they won't scar," the elder woman hissed, folding her arms across her chest in agitation as she glared at her daughters.
Still shocked, the medic watched as Misaki and Kiku quickly stood, eager to rise from their submissive position. It wasn't until the group was near the fusuma leading outside of her clinic that she finally found her voice.
"Wait!"
Noriko paused and turned to regard Sakura with a confused expression. "Yes, Lady Sakura?"
"I appreciate the apology. I'm still…" Sakura huffed. "Incredibly upset but I can't let them leave here wounded. I'm your medic."
The mother's expression morphed into one of surprise, her eyebrows perching high on her forehead. "You would show such mercy to ones who disrespected you so?"
"I've already told them. If they speak to me like they did again, I won't be so kind," Sakura returned, shooting a look at the two equally surprised sisters, "But I'm still your medic. I can't let them leave my clinic injured."
Misaki and Kiku shared a baffled look as their mother's surprised expression warmed into a smile. The two sisters remained rooted in their spot next to the door and it took Noriko canting her head towards the medic for them to finally break their trance.
Sakura gestured towards the clean futons which dominated most of the space in her clinic, the two flabbergasted women sitting down silently. As she healed the blotchy red bruise on Misaki's face as well as her swollen eye and Kiku's obviously broken nose, the sisters stared at her with an expression that bordered on wonder. Sakura even healed the hand shaped bruises she had left on the women's shoulders, any sense of guilt she may have felt still being overpowered by her disdain for the two women.
The silence was tense and was only broken by Sakura giving short commands or asking if she had missed any injuries hidden beneath their kimonos. When she finally stood, finished with her treatment of the sisters, Noriko regarded her with a warm smile.
"You continue to surprise me, Lady Sakura… Sweet little Madara made a wonderful decision, bringing you to us," the mother commented with a warm smile, Sakura laughing at the elder woman's fond address for Madara.
"Thank you. I… I like being here. It almost feels like..." Home.
Even though Sakura couldn't quite get the word out, Noriko understood her meaning. She placed a comforting hand on the her shoulder, giving her a gentle squeeze and a motherly smile. "I'm glad you think so, dear."
Noriko's expression quickly lost its warmth as she turned to regard her children. "Let's go."
The sisters rapidly stood, but instead of making the quick exit that they had been so set on earlier, they lingered. They glanced at one another again before turning to Sakura and bowing deeply at the waist.
"I apologize, Lady Sakura. What I said earlier was wrong and I should-I should have never thought it, let alone said it. I'm so very sorry. I'm sorry and thank you," Kiku, the woman who had insulted Sakura's village, apologized deeply, her words betraying her genuineness this time.
"I apologize to. I don't have an excuse for my words. I was simply wrong and cruel. I'm deeply sorry. And thank you, Lady Sakura, for healing me after my insults," Misaki added, her apology heartfelt.
This time, Sakura could feel her lingering anger begin to ebb away. While she would never consider these women friends, she at least now knew that their apologies were real and not forced.
"Just…" she started before huffing softly, "Don't do it again."
When the women perked up, they offered her weak, hesitant smiles. While Sakura didn't return them, instead waving the two off in dismissal, she felt more at peace following their confrontation.
After the three left, Sakura sighed deeply, feeling overwhelmed by the ups and downs of the day. While she was able to let her lingering anger fade into the background of her thoughts after their apologies, she was emotionally exhausted by the entire affair.
She shook her head before returning to her task of organizing her medical supplies and determining what needed to be restocked. While she worked, she briefly wondered if Madara and Izuna had something to do with Noriko's cruel punishment and Misaki and Kiku's forced apology but brushed off the thought.
She would deal with that problem when it came.
Izuna was well aware that Sakura was a compassionate woman - even if she had a propensity towards what she termed 'tough love' - but hearing that she had healed Misaki and Kiku after their punishment baffled both him and Madara. They hadn't known exactly what to expect from their hot tempered medic when she learned of Noriko's punishment but her healing the slanderous women had been near the bottom of the list.
While both brothers were aware that going to visit Sakura not even twenty-four hours after a day riddled with scandalous and salacious accusations from the clan elders and on the day that Misaki and Kiku's punishment had been meted out wasn't the best course of action, Izuna's curiosity outweighed his hesitance. While he was aware that his brother was curious as well, Izuna knew that it was Madara's stubbornness that outweighed his own hesitance. There was no way that rumors or propriety would keep him from their treasured friend and, it appeared, the object of his affections.
The corner of Izuna's lip quirked up in silent amusement at the thought. Who would have thought that his battle-focused brother would have ever found a woman to fall in love with. He was aware that his sibling was indeed intact but Izuna was surprised that Madara had pulled his head out of the battlefield long enough to even notice a woman.
He wondered if the only reason Madara had noticed Sakura was because the first time they had met her, she had been covered in blood and had just killed a man with her bare hands.
The younger Uchiha huffed in amusement, instantly realizing that that was certainly what had done the trick. Sakura had unwittingly appealed to his brother's rather dominant warrior side that day. Izuna could still remember the look in his brother's eyes as the kunoichi stood above her kill to face them in combat. He had been mesmerized.
"What?" Madara asked gruffly from beside him as they both strolled down the darkened road which lead towards Sakura's home, his eyes flicking away from the purple hued horizon to rest on his brother.
"Ah, nothing, really. Just thinking of the day we first met Sakura," Izuna replied with an incrementally widening smile and a teasing, sidelong look.
"Oh? And which part of that day do you remember being amusing?" he questioned with a quirked eyebrow as the lights from within the houses they passed played with the shadows on his face.
"Just the part where you stared at her in wonder for a full minute," the younger brother laughed, his grin widening.
"I did not stare!" he hissed in response, reminding Izuna of a much younger Madara.
Izuna didn't miss the embarrassed blush on his cheeks that the growing darkness couldn't quite conceal. Madara glanced off to the side momentarily before his glare shot to in front of them, focusing on nothing in particular.
"I was simply studying her chakra and coming up with a plan of action should she have attacked," Madara continued, lying through his teeth.
"Mhmm. Studying her chakra. Of course. You were just being especially thorough, yes? Taking a minute to do what takes us about a tenth of a second to do with our sharingan?"
"It was not a full minute."
"I had enough time to map out the entire battlefield, the positions of all the dead Senju, and the positions of the injured guards in the time it took you to stare at her."
"Oh, so I stared at her for two seconds then? What a tragedy."
"And he admits it!"
"I admit nothing, you wretch!"
"You certainly admitting that you cuddled with her last night," Izuna teased under his breath, leaning in close, not daring to speak the words any louder than a whisper with the rumors as of late.
Already knowing what was coming, Izuna sidestepped the swat aimed at the back of his head.
"My promise from this morning still stands, in case you've forgotten!" the wild haired Uchiha growled under his breath, lunging forward to make another grab at Izuna.
The younger Uchiha chuckled in amusement, skirting out of his brother's immediate reach as they approached Sakura's home.
"Ah ah ah, we don't want to drag Sakura into this, do we? I bet she'll have some choice words to share."
"Just wait until we get home, brother, she won't be able to help you then."
The siblings invited themselves into Sakura's warm home with calls of "sorry to intrude". As they slipped off their shoes, and as Izuna parried a few halfhearted flicks and swats from Madara that hinted at the late night spar that was waiting for him later, they heard Sakura greet them from her living room.
Passing through her clinic and the massive painting of two tigers which still remained from the previous owner, they entered her living room. The brothers found Sakura sitting at the edge of her hearth, tending to a pot hanging above her gently burning fireplace. On her table sat a loosely organized pile of unfurled scrolls, one filled with her own handwriting.
She greeted them both with a smile, her cheeks reddening briefly when her suddenly shy gaze met Madara's, before returning her attention back to the pot.
"Good evening," Madara greeted in a stilted tone, trying to force a conversation despite the awkwardness that hung between the two.
"Hey…" Sakura replied feebly, noticeably looking anywhere but Madara's face.
Izuna's eyes flicked between the two as he restrained an amused grin, internally laughing at his two closest companions and their painful interaction.
"You appear to be in high spirits," the younger Uchiha commented after a moment of silence, hoping to become the buffer that would allow normal conversation to take root.
"Better than earlier, certainly," Sakura muttered with a sigh, her attention returning to her slowly cooking meal. She gestured towards it with her spoon before looking back to the brothers. "Want some? I'm trying something new."
Both Madara and Izuna nodded, relaxing as they took their usual seats at Sakura's table. Izuna's eyes drifted down to the scrolls laid out on the tabletop as he considered his next words.
Deciding the rip out the kunai instead of dragging out the discomfort, Izuna dived right in. "We heard of what happened earlier."
"Oh, which part?" she replied, her aggravated expression becoming harder as she glared at the two Uchiha, "The part where two women insulted my village or the part where their mother beat them and brought them to me to apologize? Was that your doing?"
Both brothers winced at Sakura's tone.
"Not exactly. While we did place their punishment in her hands, we gave no explicit directions. She is very fond of you after you saved the lives of her sons, so she may have wanted to leave an… impression," Madara answered easily, meeting Sakura's glare despite the tension that hung in the air between them. Although his tone was even, Izuna could tell that his brother hoped to dispel any ill feelings that Sakura might harbor towards them.
As Sakura's expression softened at his explanation, Izuna commented, "We did hear that you healed Misaki and Kiku though. I'm impressed that you bothered to heal them at all after what they said to you."
Sakura sighed deeply, toying with her spoon as she considered her words. "I may… dislike them very much now, but I take my job working for your family very seriously. I couldn't bring myself to withhold treatment just because I don't like them."
"That's commendable," Madara commented, his eyes having not left her since the beginning of their conversation.
"No, that's just being a good medic," she retorted with a pointed look, her words brokering no argument.
Izuna nodded thoughtfully at her words, noting the Sakura truly did hold herself to a higher standard. His gaze drifted to his brother, noticing the expression on his face. He was watching Sakura like he watched a person perform a jutsu he had yet to learn. Like he was absorbing every little detail and committing it to memory.
"A privilege we have yet to acclimate to, it appears," Madara complemented slyly, drawing a surprised glance from Sakura which was quickly followed by a demure blush.
Izuna's eyes flicked back to his sibling, impressed. For a man who knew a thousand ways to pull the head from someone's shoulders and about two ways to deliver a compliment, that had been incredibly smooth.
At least he had thought until the two avoided each others' gazes again and the awkward silence returned.
Taking it upon himself to restart normal conversation yet again, Izuna spoke, "So, I recall you saying something about teaching us how to use that jutsu you used to sober up quicker. Could you teach us?"
"Well, I could, but we'd have to get drunk again for that," Sakura's shoulders sagged as she gazed into the pot, "And after everything that's happened, I'm not really up for it. But, I could show you how to use a technique for healing minor cuts though. If you're interested."
Both Izuna and Madara frowned at Sakura's unspoken comments: She had been badly hurt by the outcome of their actions. She had been reminded of everyone she had lost in the worst possible way. She didn't want to let her guard down like she had again, lest she be humiliated again.
"There is no need to feel shame over what's happened. It was our fault, placing you in that predicament, and we apologize for the insults you've dealt with," Madara asserted, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.
"Don't put this on yourselves. It's not your fault," Sakura argued weakly.
"No, it is. You aren't from this area and you aren't familiar with the customs here, let alone with our family. You had no idea that us staying the night was taboo. If you had, I'm certain you wouldn't have let us stay. We were drunk and didn't care and our mistakes lead to your undue suffering," Izuna added, wanting to apologize as well.
"Really, don't worry about it. We'll just think of it as a…" Sakura paused. "Learning experience."
Both brothers nodded before Madara continued firmly, "Still. We will not allow anyone to speak of you so harshly again. You've saved the lives of dozens of our family members and you deserve the respect you've earned."
"Well, thank you. Although… Far be it from me to tell you how to lead your clan, but if you guys could cut down on my work load next time, that would be nice."
The edge of Madara's lip quirked up in response. "We'll be sure to keep that in mind."
The silence that followed this time was far more comfortable than the last. Sakura stirred the decidedly odd-smelling meal, fueling Izuna's growing curiosity as to what she was preparing, as Madara investigated one of the scrolls spread out on Sakura's table.
Upon noticing Madara's eyebrows quirk up in an impressed and satisfied expression, Izuna tilted his head to read the case of the scroll. He smirked when he noticed that the scroll Sakura had been reading detailed the known history of the chain of islands to the east, the current home of the Uzumaki clan. He briefly wondered if she was actively going out of her way to appeal to his brother's passions, one being a fascination with history, or if their interests just happened to align so perfectly.
Breaking both the brothers from their ruminations, Sakura spoke. "You know, all of this happened because we were celebrating my birthday but I don't even know when yours are. When should I look out for them?"
"December twenty-fourth," Madara answered automatically, placing the scroll back onto the table to give her his undivided attention.
"February tenth," Izuna added, glancing over at the pot hanging above the hearth and wondering what food was putting off that unusual smell.
"I missed both of them?!" Sakura bemoaned, pouting, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"They weren't important at the time. Our clan celebrates birthdays differently that most. Since there are so many of us, we only celebrate birthdays with the closest members of our family. We celebrated yours since you're closest to us," the elder Uchiha explained.
"But… I feel terrible that I missed both of yours since you both celebrated mine. What was even happening on your birthdays?"
"You saved the lives of three of my clan mates. I say that's a fine gift," Madara replied, a secretive smile quirking up the corner of his lips.
"I did? Was that the day...?" Sakura started, a dusting of red appearing on her cheeks as she cut herself off, "Right."
Izuna smirked, knowing what else had taken place that day due to him interrogating his brother when he had come home so late that night. That was the day that Sakura had covered him with a blanket after healing his inconsequential wounds when he had fallen asleep watching over their injured clan mates.
"My birthday was the day you healed my broken wrist and you told me of your old teammate who looked like me," Izuna commented, his smile warming into something more friendly and less teasing.
"Ah. Not such a great present then, huh? Sorry," Sakura apologized with a wince and a smile.
"The healed wrist was certainly appreciated. And learning a bit of your mysterious past was nice as well," he replied, instantly regretting his words.
"Mysterious, huh?" she laughed, her smile degrading from something warm to something that looked forced.
"Yes, mysterious," he reiterated, already thinking of how this line of conversation could quickly derail. The last thing he wanted was to ruin her day even farther by carelessly reminding her of her now gone village once again.
Changing the topic quickly, and perhaps not as gracefully as he could have, he suggested, "We should play that drinking game again one of these days though, without you using that jutsu, so we can see who would really win."
Sakura's smile immediately brightened as she laughed, "You're just upset you came in last."
"I wouldn't have, if you weren't using that jutsu," Izuna asserted, breathing a mental sigh of relief.
"I'm still certain we'll both beat you once again, even if she refrains from using her jutsu," Madara teased with a grin, drawing a betrayed expression from Izuna.
"Whose side are you even on?" he complained, mock offended, as a giggling Sakura gathered up extra bowls and utensils and began preparing bowls of the finished meal.
"The winning side, apparently. Well, second place, if I'm honest. I'll certainly claim first next time."
"Oh, and you're so confident you'll beat her then? What of me?"
"I'm not the one who passed out at the table, now am I?"
Izuna's retort was cut off by Sakura placing a steaming bowl in front of him. She placed another bowl in front of his brother as well before settling down at the table with her own meal.
"Thank you for the meal," both Uchiha thanked politely before looking down into their bowls.
"What is this?" Izuna questioned, eyeing the hunks of meat floating in the noodles. It nearly looked like ramen just not any kind he had seen before.
"I was feeling nostalgic so I tried my hand at tonkatsu ramen. I'm not sure how it came out though… it looks different than when I ate it last…" Sakura explained, tilting her head as she eyed her own bowl, "Well, dig in! I want to see how I did!"
Both brothers nodded before gathering up a bite of their meals with their chopsticks.
The moment Izuna took his bite, his teeth sunk into a hunk of gristle. Barely withholding his gag, but unable to keep in the bite of bizarrely flavored food in his mouth, he, as gracefully as one could when spitting out a mouthful of food, returned the bite to his bowl.
Madara, unwilling to so drastically offend the cook, valiantly choked down his bite, despite the suspicious crunching noise that had a visible shiver running down his spine. Despite all his efforts, he was unable to keep his face from contorting in agony.
"Oh, come on! It can't be that bad!" Sakura immediately berated, glaring at both of the brothers before angrily taking a large bite from her own bowl.
Only for her face to immediately betrayed her disgust and regret at having taken such a large bite. Despite a sound that sounded frighteningly close to chewing on sand and despite the tears building in her eyes, she forced down her mouthful.
"See… it's…" Sakura started before pausing to hold back a gag, "Delicious…"
Both Uchiha stared at her in horror as she scooped up another mouthful of her concoction to prove it, hoping to the gods that she wasn't going to force them to eat whatever it was she had placed in front of them.
They watched as she eyed the hunk of meat and strings of noodles on her chopsticks with watery eyes, her hands shaking as if her body was trying to prevent her from eating the bite out of self preservation. She struggled for a handful of tense heartbeats before she returned the bite to her bowl, her arm dropping as if releasing some great weight.
"Gods, I can't do it. It-it's so bad… Where did I go wrong?" Sakura lamented, staring into her bowl in dismay as if just looking would explain how she accomplished such a travesty.
Both brothers silently breathed a sigh of relief, slowly placing their chopsticks along the rim of their bowls and pushing their nearly untouched meals forward.
A/N: Arisu and Daichi are the overly traditional and slanderous clan elders. Their names mean "noble sort" and "great land" or "great wisdom" respectively. The two sisters are named Misaki, meaning "beauty bloom", and Kiku, meaning "chrysanthemum". The sister's mother's name, Noriko, means "law child" or "exemplar child" because she was the one to punish the sisters.