Silhouettes blurred through trees and uneven sunlight, one chasing two. Voices slashed through leaves throughout the high-speed chase, frantic charcoal eyes digging into the pair that ran ahead at a breakneck pace. "Dammit, Naruto! Sasuke! Stop!"
"It came from that way," Sasuke pointed through the sun-drenched forest, his raven hair drifting over his piercing mismatched eyes; Naruto hurtled in that direction, Sasuke keeping pace with him with Kakashi just out of reach at their backs. They continued to ignore him as he persisted in trying to stop them, his low voice hissing through the fluttering leaves. "I said stop. You may have forced Obito to let you out here for this, but we can't go after her right now. We can't leave him behind, not when he's in such a critical state." He vaulted over branches and leapt across fallen trees, sprinting after Naruto and Sasuke, his breaths slightly uneven with the speed of the chase. The whipping wind nearly took away Kakashi's words as he persisted in convincing them out of their determined course. "Don't you understand? Madara will kill all of us this time. Look at what he did to Obito. The both of you need to rethink this, turn around, and get back to camp, now."
Sasuke glanced backwards before jumping high into the air, he and Naruto matching blurs that landed on the roof of a house bordering the forest. In a seamless streak, all three of them ran in zig-zag patterns over rooftops, Sasuke's cold voice echoing back in response to Kakashi. "You failed her by letting her keep her secret for so long, and Obito failed us all by letting her get away to go do something stupid."
Naruto's choppy yellow hair flickered in the breeze as the three of them landed in a shadowed street, flattening up against a wall. Sasuke peered around the corner, his Rinnegan eye glinting as he assessed Yugakure's abandoned streets. "Her scream came from across the village. Let's take this way; it's better obscured," he told Naruto, who nodded to him before glancing apologetically back at Kakashi. "We'll still have to talk things through with Sakura for sure, but we're going after her no matter what." As Sasuke darted out through the empty street, Naruto's expression was grim with resolve; he held Kakashi's frustrated stare for a brief moment. "We'll get her back, and she'll heal Obito so that he pulls through just fine like always. We're reuniting Team Seven once and for all."
"You don't know what's going to happen," Kakashi argued, agitation shadowing the anger in his tone before Naruto interrupted him. "Especially after hearing Sakura scream, we're not just going to turn back, Kakashi-sensei."
"You don't know if it's a trap!" Kakashi shot back, cursing as Naruto disappeared after Sasuke once more. He dashed out across the shadows and followed them, edging his way across silent streets and landing with stealthy feet where the two of them were assessing another route before making their way across. "We have to think this through first," he tried to persuade them again in a rough whisper, "you could be getting us all killed. You must remember that our deaths mean that everyone in the Infinite Tsukuyomi will be left to die as well."
As he and Sasuke narrowed their attention upon the upcoming street, their bodies tensed in readiness to battle, Naruto's next contribution was final. "We're not leaving her behind. Not again."
Sakura gradually melted down into Madara's awaiting arms. Sliding with her, he let her collapse into his lap where the two of them sank into a sunlit chaos of thick vines and leaves. She tilted her face against his, descending in their hazy comedown from the heights of bliss.
She became gradually more aware of Madara surrounding her, his breaths steady and calm again. He held her loosely, and she could feel the distance in his stare as he looked beyond where she was immersed in his hold, fabric falling in torn folds around their joined laps.
Three sets of eyes watched Sakura from the underbrush just beyond the crumbling silhouette of the destroyed shop around her.
Sakura released a long, shivering exhale, her hand sliding up Madara's chest and lingering upon his jaw. She pulled back, searching his unreadable expression and shadowed eyes as his attention narrowed dangerously upon something in the street beyond the flora-covered rubble. His tall frame tensed around her; his hand disappeared from the curve of her back as he prepared to do something that she couldn't see.
Determination overcame the apprehension behind Sakura's eyes, and with a steadying breath, she cupped Madara's face with both of her hands, turning his attention back towards her. When the weight of his powerful eyes came back to her questioningly, darkened with ominous intent, she pulled herself up into him, slanting her lips across his in answer. With tangible need, Sakura held him to her, drinking him like she could not go on without his touch. She told him with wordless lips everything that she could not say; everything that she wished she could.
With her eyes falling shut, she didn't see the conflicts that flashed in Madara's metallic stare before he leaned down into her, meeting and matching her driving passion move for move and push for pull. The world was shut out to them both, the wild sunlit locks of Madara's mane falling around their faces and twined bodies in a warm shadow; not even the light of the distantly rising Tsukuyomi moon across the unclouded sky was able to reach them.
Sakura felt barely sane when they parted, darkened stares intertwining. She knew that there was no one else for her in the world now.
No one else, and her team made their silent retreat, haggard expressions sharpened by the shock of what they had just witnessed.
Pink locks fell away from silver-white as lips parted and a peaceful hush settled over the sunlit rubble. Weary green eyes searched metallic before closing, her face brushing down past his cheek to rest in the falls of hair over his shoulder. She released a gradual exhale, nestled in jagged silver shadows against warm skin; she relaxed entirely where their bodies were enmeshed in a coiling of skin and even breaths.
Falling to her fatigue, Sakura slackened in Madara's sturdy grip, unable to halt sleep from taking her adrift. Having been conscious for well over a day and stressed to her limits on nearly every level, she didn't have a choice.
Her mind drifting off through surrounding comfort, she was unaware as Madara withdrew from her, only the slight twitching of her brows and the goosebumps across her suddenly cold skin showing how she was unconsciously bereft as he released her and stood. Sakura relaxed into the vivacious greenery with a peaceful look softening her sleep-shaded expression.
Madara studied her for a moment, folding his arms. Afternoon sunlight set a sanguine glow across Sakura's figure, falling across her fine features, reflecting in the long black lashes along her cheeks that were still flushed with a rosy hue. Unfurled ferns and weeping petals from the robust flora that bloomed around her cast rippling shadows on either side of her nude figure; her slim but toned arms and legs were crossed modestly over herself even in sleep. High above them both, the tree that had erupted from the heart of the shop grew high into the deep blue sky.
Glancing away from the vision Sakura made, Madara exhaled quietly, drawing a branch of blooms away from his face. He reached to the side and picked up his Six Paths robe, slipping it over his shoulders; his fingers glanced along the broken clasps before he let it hang loosely, tugging on his black pants. He noticed Sakura's small side-pack constricted in the victorious bindings of an ivy vine, and he tugged it free, slipping it into a side-pocket of his robe and adjusting the wide lapels over his shoulders once more.
Standing tall, Madara turned, leaving Sakura in the bed of foliage behind him to redirect his sharp attention to the shadowed street a stone's throw beyond where she lay. His eyes narrowed. Should those who witnessed this reunion remain, he would flay them alive.
His single glance told him that they had long gone, and with a hum, he turned, his weighted stare sliding back over Sakura's sleeping figure.
Madara bent, flicking away a creeping vine from her leg and scooping her up into his arms. When he adjusted her, her head fell against his shoulder, and she tensed, eyelids fluttering as she stirred. He continued to shift, kicking aside a shattered display from his path and striding forward, his free hand's gestures redirecting wild tangles of flora; branches and plants shrank back to avoid obstructing his way ahead.
A large branch creaked while pulling away the mangled door in its frame, and Sakura startled again, her hand slipping up Madara's bare chest beneath his open robe as she sat up slightly in his arms. Unperturbed by her awakening, he stepped through the broken doorway into the street, wild hair drifting around his shoulders as he focused upon his path.
Sakura blinked at her view of breeze-flickered silver-white hair and warm skin, at Madara's pale arm supporting her weight against his lean front, and her eyes fell half-lidded, her body easing of tension and her head falling back against his shoulder. Lulled by the rhythmic, gentle sway of being carried, Sakura fell back into an exhausted sleep, rings shadowing beneath her closing eyes.
Dreamless, she didn't awaken again until the odours of stale abandoned streets became infused with the fresh scents of the forest, flowing against her nose that was buried in smoky warmth. Recognising again the feeling of being carried, Sakura's weary mind had no words or worries but for an overwhelming relief, inexplicable and warm. It layered her with a blanket of grateful emotions, warming her continually from the long fingers she felt around her arm and knee where he supported her weight. Giving in entirely to her encompassing relief without thought nor doubt, she listened to Madara's steady heartbeat beneath her ear, slow and strong in contrast to the fluttering within her own chest.
When golden-orange early evening light glared through her shut eyes like a reminder of the world outside, Sakura turned her face deeper into the silver dark of Madara's mane that spilled over his shoulders as he walked; her tightened features relaxed in the comfort of his shadows. One of her hands brushed gratefully across his grip upon her arm and knees before returning to rest over his heart. Protected from light where her face pressed into his shoulder, Sakura held on tightly, wanting in this moment to never let go nor be released.
Madara sensed another presence approaching long before they made themselves obvious. Without so much as glancing in their direction, he flicked an insect off his sleeve, dark eyes following the moonlit glitter along the river flowing just beyond where he leaned against a tree. "You've lost creativity in your old age, Obito."
Obito emerged from behind the jagged boughs of an evergreen, red eyes sizzling through the darkness.
Madara tapped his fingers along his folded arms. He already knew that this was a clone, and one that was alone, the presence of his newfound team missing this time.
His expression flattened with boredom, though he remained wary. He lifted a brow as he tilted his head to look at the clone, a brief recollection of blood spatter and flame passing behind his mind's eye and making him smirk slightly as he made eye contact with Obito. "It is foolish to waste chakra with this little visit when you are severely wounded, is it not?" Madara commented, "What would prompt you to come see me, especially after the beating you took?"
"I'll survive like I always do," Obito's clone growled. He stopped beside a tree across the clearing, his fingers digging into the bark. Red moonlight rippled over his clothes and through his choppy dark hair. "I want to know why."
Obito's rasping voice had risen in volume, echoing out across the riverside clearing, and Madara gestured subtly with dark gloved fingers. At his side, the thick nest of branches and vines too dense to see through grew thicker. Fresh blooms and sturdy branches flexible but strong curled over any remaining gaps, drowning out all light and sound for its occupant. Obito's clone's sharp eyes flicked to the flowers that bloomed in vivid white across the branches, pollen from their stamens falling in a fine dust through the air.
Recognising them, Obito levelled his glare upon Madara, who smirked back at him knowingly. "...You're forcing her to stay asleep?" Obito hissed, "Why? Are you afraid she'll awaken and change her mind about you? That she'll see reason? Tell me why you bothered taking her away at all. What use is she to your cause?"
"I have never forced her to do a thing," Madara replied with a grin, resettling his hands along his folded arms and leaning casually along the nest of blooms and branches where Sakura slept. "She has been ever so voluntary. Choosing to abandon you all; bending to me just as I knew she would. Willingly… wantingly." His smile was crooked, a streak of genuine enjoyment glittering in the mean glint of his eyes. "She is simply exhausted from our recent discussion."
"You disgust me," Obito snarled back, his features wrung with hatred. Madara hummed thoughtfully, his mocking voice echoing across the riverbank. "I wonder if you even know what cause you shoulder anymore, 'Madara'." Plucking a soft white gardenia petal from a falling bloom, he lifted it to his nose, enjoying the play of conflicts across Obito's face. "Did I not teach you to hide your emotions?" Madara questioned, raising both brows, "Perhaps decades behind a mask allowed you to forget that lesson."
"You taught me very little of value," Obito hissed back. "Answer my question."
"If you cannot ascertain her value on your own," Madara answered easily, tilting his head back against the nest with a sigh, "then asking me defeats the purpose of you approaching me at all. I would ask you instead; is that jealousy you are trying to mask?"
Obito's face went blank, and he blinked before taking a defensive stance again. "She may be in your possession, Madara, but that doesn't mean she belongs to you." His lips pulled back over his teeth in revulsion. "It isn't too late to show that you still have some scraps of honour left and give her up to us again. There's no need or reason for you to continue to taint her with your influence." Obito stepped towards Madara threateningly, red eyes two smouldering pins of crimson in the darkness. "Are you so bored in your reign over the dead, dreaming world that you feel the need to amuse yourself by corrupting an innocent girl? She has so much more value than being your plaything. And we both know… you'll never see her as anything but that."
Within her thick nest behind Madara, Sakura continued to sleep, immersed in a soft but firm tangle of vines and securing branches that curled over her limbs, supportive and constrictive. A single sliver of light dripped down her figure, revealing something that grazed her arm in a pressing brush; her eyelids fluttered.
Madara waved dismissively at Obito's clone, his metallic eyes glinting coldly. "I don't have the patience for your vapid assumptions. You may tell your broken 'Team Seven' to forget about their former teammate; that is, if you live long enough to tell them."
He noticed Obito's pause, and raised a brow. "Or… you came of your own accord? Hmm… I thought your interest still revolved hopelessly around that dead Rin girl."
Moonlight reflected harshly over the deep grooves in Obito's features, his expression twisting. Madara chuckled to himself. "It's just as hopeless with this one, Obito. You should know…" He leaned towards him, silver-red light flashing off his teeth. "She told me herself that she has no interest in you, not long before giving herself to me body and soul. How amusing it was when she mistook my approach for yours at first, declaring how she never wanted to see you again." Seeing the flash of hurt across Obito's face, Madara closed his eyes briefly with a smile, entertained that he'd bought that little lie. Remembering how Sakura had been wearing this Six Paths robe upon hunting her down before, he breathed it in, her scents clinging to its folds that fluttered down to his feet.
Madara's voice lowered with finality as he opened his eyes once more, returning his bladed glare to Obito's clone. "As such, you may dismiss any ideas that I would ever 'give her up' to you. She doesn't want anything to do with you now that she is with me. Plaything or not… whether I keep her around for long, or if I tire of her and rid myself of her at my convenience… it's all out of your control now."
Sakura stirred again, her brows twitching together, her sensitive skin tingling again with a digging touch along her shoulder, increasingly insistent. Fingers pried at her arm, shaking her, and her brows twitched in her sleep as a large hand tugged at her, positioning her in the nest so she could be more easily pulled into the Kamui swirls beside her.
"None of that matters, in the end," Obito replied coldly, standing back in the dark of an unsteady shadow. "Surely you realise it, Madara. Regardless of whatever you plan to do with her, regardless of whatever she's told you to convince you she's on your side… if you don't let her go, she will die."
When Madara paused at this, the mockery fading out of his expression, Obito went on viciously, "Because you're so arrogant and self-absorbed, you've never been able to protect anyone other than you. History will repeat itself. She'll die — just like Izuna did."
"I've had enough of this now." Madara swerved, a staff in hand as murder glinted red in his metallic eyes. "Go back and die like I told you to do last we spoke. And know this…" He summoned a second staff, breaking it off from his palm, "Should your original self manage to cling to life like the cockroach you are, I will hunt you down, each of you, again and again, until I have the pleasure of killing you at last — Obito… 'Madara' — traitor."
Obito's clone flinched as Madara hurled a staff, but backwards. It hurtled through the air and crunched through the nest of leaves and branches, piercing the pair of arms dragging Sakura bodily by the shoulders through a Kamui portal. Blood spattered, Obito's voice cursing from the portal that quickly disappeared, leaving Sakura in an unconscious slump within the stained nest.
Before the clone could react to the failure of his covert rescue plan, the second staff caved in his furious expression, and he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Madara glared at where he'd dematerialised before turning, pushing a hand through his wild hair and circling around the thick nest of leaves and branches. Pushing Sakura deeper down into the center of the nest, he withdrew and gestured; more vines slithered over her, growing over the bloodstains across the dense flora and obscuring them until they were wiped away and gone.
With this done, he let out a sigh, turning from her figure with a scowl and returning to his place beside the tree that hung over where she slept. He disallowed his mind from working over Obito's ominous words, thinking only of the path ahead. It was time he focus upon a new plan for eradicating the remaining members of Team Seven; this time, with Obito soon surely dead, and with their missing medic under his control.
Sakura awoke in a soft nest of leaves, rubbing her eyes. Scents of gardenia filled her nose, and she blinked up at the hanging white blossoms sleepily, reaching up and touching along a soft petal. No wonder she'd slept so thoroughly; she'd been exhausted, and additionally lulled by these flowers, their pollen alone enough to make one groggy and disoriented.
The memories of yesterday came to Sakura in a rush, and she closed her eyes with a slow exhale.
After a moment, she looked around again, scowling at the flowers. Why had he stuck those in here while she'd slept? And what time was it? Had she really slept through into the next day? Sakura glanced to the sides, realising her nest was fully walled in with vines and branches, creating a soft green darkness. Sunlight still peeked through the tiny seams and gaps visible, poking her with light, and she let out a huff, reaching over and easily breaking away a sturdy patch of wood and vines. Kicking a decent-sized hole in the side of the vine-cocoon, Sakura dipped her legs out through it, sitting up and leaning forward only to realise with a yip that she was still unclothed.
She clapped an arm over her chest and squinted around at the sunny forest around her furiously. Where was that bastard? Had he made her sleep thoroughly so that he could leave her behind again in peace? Sakura swore to herself: if Madara had left her again, she wouldn't forgive him this time. Stress tensed her shoulders as she got to her feet, giving the cocoon a kick for good measure and scowling as she saw no clothes or her pack in sight, angering her further.
No clothes, and certainly no Madara. The trees around Sakura whispered in the breeze innocently, bright with noon-high sun. "Dammit!" Sakura sunk a fist into the brambled nest, feeling a twinge of satisfaction as it shattered into splinters and piles of loose, broken vines; white petals fluttered down in a spiral. She watched them flutter to the forest floor, folding her arms with a huff.
Sakura could feel the shadow of her nightmares behind her eyes, but couldn't recall them; she took in a deep breath, willing herself to calm. First, she would assess the facts. Then, she could decide if she was right to be angry.
How long had she slept? She looked upwards, green eyes flicking over the high canopy and immediately recognising it was already afternoon of the next day. A flush warmed Sakura's cheekbones as she recalled what had happened around this time yesterday. Reminded of her explosive reunion with Madara, she inclined her head, her features falling into shadow but for the curve of her smile. What a spectacular failure and success at once. Definitely a failure, though, if he had left her here, and without any supplies or covering for her shivering skin. Sakura scrutinised her surroundings more carefully, rubbing at her cheeks with annoyance.
Upon hearing a splash, she swerved, belatedly recognising the sound of a nearby river that flowed nearby. Keeping both arms clamped over her body, Sakura stepped hesitantly past her destroyed nest, holding her breath as she emerged from the treeline just beyond the riverbank.
Every muscle in Sakura's body untensed once she saw the sunlit figure reclining beside the river. Her pupils dilated with interest when she saw the flat stone he held in his hand.
She watched as Madara skipped it across the calm waters; it skipped more than ten times before it landed in the opposite rocky bank. Another stone flipped idly in his gloved fingers; he drew his arm back and skipped that one too.
Sakura inclined her head, releasing a breath she'd unconsciously held. Her shoulders slumped, and her heartbeat slowed. Deep relief surrounded her like a cloak, and she let herself warm up with the feeling, glad of its return.
After a moment, she drew herself up, swallowing her nervousness before weaving a quick succession of signs. A shuriken appeared in her hands, and she hefted it a moment before pinning her eyes to where Madara sat with his back to her by the river. She exhaled slowly, turning her body, and she tensed all of her muscles, securing a sure grip on the shuriken, holding herself perfectly still as she watched him.
When Sakura was certain Madara was unaware of her, she swung and threw the shuriken as hard as she could in the opposite direction, deep into the forest behind her. It spun far through the trees out of sight, and she whipped her attention back to Madara in time to see that he was in the middle of tossing another skipping-stone. He did not glance back at her, and she let herself untense once more, closing her eyes and slumping back against a nearby tree trunk in a second wave of relief.
Sakura's attention returned to the moment at hand, her chest tightening with a heat that danced around her heartbeats. He stayed.
The flush in her cheeks stung as her gaze touched more affectionately across Madara's lean form; the sun lit him in dazzling white from head to toe. Does this mean we're together now?
Redness bled downwards, staining Sakura's limbs, and she folded her arms tightly over her chest with a scoff. Certainly not. Telling herself not to be so childish in hoping for silly things, she stepped forward, calling back her determination and willing it to make her brave. She couldn't dawdle here any longer. She needed to make sure that Madara focused the whole of his attention on her.
Letting the warmth she felt draw her forward, Sakura walked carefully across the rocky riverbank, avoiding the sharp weight of Madara's eyes and settling down demurely at his side. Her skin continued to burn like the sun had set her afire upon feeling his stare drag up and down her bare figure; her hair fell around her face as shyness fought to take her over again. She blushed harder as Madara hummed smugly. "Hn. You've finally gotten up."
"No thanks to you." Sakura glanced at him from beneath falls of pink hair, her glare skin-deep. "Gardenia? A warm cocoon? Did you want me to sleep a whole day? You could have woken me up sooner. I didn't need that much rest after we… um, caught up, yesterday."
Madara smirked back at her. "It is not my responsibility to manage your sleep schedule."
"Only to mess it up, I guess," Sakura huffed. She looked away from him again, feeling the heat spread to her ears. Upon feeling the breeze shiver across her skin, her scowl returned. "You left me with no clothes again. I'm freezing because of you." Her eyes dipped into the river, her voice trailing off. "Why'd you sit over here instead of keeping me warm, anyway?..."
Madara raised a brow as Sakura turned to him decisively, her fingers plucking at his sleeve. "Give me back the robe. You're like a walking forest fire, you don't need it."
He leaned back on the rocks, eyeing her. "No."
With a spark in her eyes, Sakura tugged at Madara's long sleeve. "Then I'll take it back from you myself."
She was pinned back against the hard rocks in a flash, a warm shadow falling over her as luminescent Rinnegan eyes were all she could see; Madara's voice reverberated through her. "Watch your tongue."
Heart pounding, Sakura met his stare with a little grin. Keep him distracted, a side-thought whispered, and she swallowed through the crimson that filled her vision and stained her skin, some of her bravery rubbing off. Shaking off her shyness once more, Sakura reached up, tugging the robe away from Madara's shoulders; it fell halfway down his frame, revealing his broad shoulders to the sun, and she gave a little hiss of victory, pushing at his sleeves.
Madara caught Sakura's wrists, his deep rumble heavy with warning as he narrowed his stare upon her. "Is this really what you want to do right now?"
"I'm just reclaiming what's mine," Sakura retorted, breaking an arm free of his grip and freeing one of Madara's sleeves. His bared arm flashed downwards as he gripped the hair at the back of her neck, dragging her closer, his dominating eyes overwhelming her vision. His knee pushed her thighs apart, his other hand releasing her remaining trapped arm to pull her calf up over his lower back; Madara's growl deepened as he dragged his teeth along Sakura's ear. "Do you understand the cost of provoking me?"
Sakura tilted her face against his, her brows twitching as she fought against desire; he slid a hand up her soft underbelly, dragging up between her breasts and gripping her throat lightly. Stars in her eyes, and she breathed hard, meeting Madara's dangerous gaze. She found that no protest would leave her lips, only soft half-broken breaths, and she gave him a sigh of approval when he dipped to her, taking her mouth in a decisive, commanding press of lips she surrendered to gladly.
Sakura curled one arm over Madara's shoulders as he pushed her down, their teeth clicking and tongues meeting. Her other hand found his remaining sleeve and shoved it off his arm, baring his upper body and freeing the robe entirely; he pinned her back down with his hands digging in around her waist, humming a deep note that filled her body with its resonant tone. Sakura lost herself in the hot breaths they fought over through sealed lips and circling tongues, closing her eyes, breathing in his smoky forest-fire scents and crooking both of her arms around the back of his neck.
Madara hooked her other calf up onto his back, pinning her with his weight, her back scraping against the rocks, and the heated press of his fingers along her bare leg as he adjusted himself had Sakura stirring from the spell she was under, realising she was teetering upon the precipice of an encore to their last reunion. Her desires called for her to let him make song in the twining of their bodies again — but a nagging feeling persisted from within her mind. I made my sacrifices for more than this.
Sakura broke free from Madara's lips, finding his face with her hands and breathing hard where she tilted her face along his. "Sorry," she said in a gasp, "I didn't mean to initiate — I actually just meant…" She inhaled unsteadily, trying to think clearly through the heat that burned between them. "Please… not here on the rocks," she finished, and Madara pinned her harder against the riverbank with a low hiss. "You should have thought about that beforehand."
Sakura fought the urge to cave beneath him, even just the feeling of his voice against her chest pulling her to give him what they both wanted, but she shook her head stubbornly, meeting his eyes with more clarity in her own. "I promise," she said with a serious look about her eyes, "I'll make it up to you later."
She could see in the glint of Madara's eye how he wanted to ignore her and take her anyway, to continue with the heated exchange they had been building up; tension remained, taut where their bodies were still locked. Sakura watched him narrow his eyes, his grip on her still iron-clad, debating. She was perturbed by how she wouldn't mind if Madara ignored her half-hearted protest and progressed them both into that anticipated encore anyway, and she held her breath as she saw the calculations behind his eyes harmonise into decision. Anticipatory regardless of her voiced request, Sakura tightened her grip on Madara's arms, bracing herself; but he blinked at her, releasing her. With a scowl, Madara withdrew from Sakura entirely, settling back where he had been leaning against the rocks before.
Sakura let out a shaky exhale, as disappointed with herself as he was with her. She sat up, grabbing the robe she'd stolen from him and drawing it around her shoulders, huddling in its warmth. She pressed her nose in the collar, his scent strong upon it again, and hummed to herself.
Madara's amusement was audible through his ire as he watched her antics. "Don't disappoint me later, then."
"Can you teach me," Sakura answered, lifting her head as her eyes brightened, "how to skip rocks?"
Madara's perplexed expression made her swallow a giggle before he frowned. "There are more important things to do. We have not yet discussed the details of this… reunion." He eyed Sakura warily, and she shook her head stubbornly. "Teach me. I've never skipped rocks before." She looked out at the river, curious eyes seeking out the flat rock he'd skipped earlier on the opposite side.
With a revised plan knotting her thoughts, Sakura hummed in agreement, turning back to face Madara and affixing her sunlit stare back upon him. "Then, yes, please discuss everything with me," she amended, "and…." Her expression darkened, her tone softening. "After that, please tell me everything there is to know about the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and about you."
Madara exhaled wearily, as if all the patience he possessed was reaching its limit. The light caught in Sakura's searching stare as a small smile curved her lips. "And then, the other thing."
He snorted, and Sakura bit her lip as he glanced at her. "Find a flat rock and we'll get started."
She turned, picking among the rocks in the bank beside her, and shivered as Madara added in a deeper tone, "Do not provoke me again."
Sakura smiled to herself before finding a flat rock and turning to him, her prize resting in her hand, the stone warm from the morning sunlight.
Deep in the sun-dappled forest, the shuriken hidden in pine needles and dead underbrush disappeared, a cloud rising in its stead. After a moment, Sakura's transformed clone crouched where the shuriken had been, glancing backwards to check that she remained unseen.
Silence, far back by the river; perhaps murmurs of conversation she could just barely pick up. She took that as both a good sign and as her queue to leave.
On silent feet, Sakura's clone darted through the trees, dark clothes rippling around her figure. She didn't know exactly where to go, but she knew what to do.