"I don't care if she wants to be alone right now! I want answers!" Tsunade shook her fist at Hashirama. "I am Hokage. I refuse to be turned away like the others."

Hashirama sighed, leaning back against the door he guarded. "Come on, Tsuna. You can wait until tomorrow."

"No, I can't, grandfather," Tsunade replied with the same exasperation, and he eyed her curiously. "You know, I've been wondering. Is Sakura your daughter? She looks like you."

Redness dusted Tsunade's cheeks before she shook her head. "No, no! She's my student, though I do see her like a daughter…" She hid her slight smile at how her admittance melted Hashirama's stern demeanour somewhat, a sentimental look crossing his expression. "That's good to hear, at least, though I do wish you had continued the Senju line. Hmmm… are you sure she isn't related? She reminds me of both you and Mito."

"No," Tsunade replied primly, "But as her mother-figure and mentor as well as her Hokage, I'm more than qualified to be permitted entry to see her. I'm very worried." Her amber eyes sharpened. "You can imagine why. She got carried in here by Uchiha Madara. Where is he, by the way? He had better not be anywhere near my student."

Hashirama chuckled. He looked away from her, and though his face gave away nothing, Tsunade prickled with suspicion about everything he wasn't telling her.

Tsunade's scowl deepened as she folded her arms with a huff. "Let me through. Doesn't nepotism have any value anymore? I'm your granddaughter. I know you've turned everyone else away a hundred times, but surely you can find a soft spot in your heart for me."

Hashirama gave a long, weary sigh. "Go back to the main hall, Tsuna. I'm sure you have a lot more catching up to do with everyone before tomorrow." Tsunade lifted her head, her back tall and her tongue razor-edged as she prepared to verbally fight her way past, but she caught the dark glint in Hashirama's normally kindly eyes. She stood back as she recognised he was utterly and completely serious, and all her aggressive determination fizzled as she realised he wasn't going to relent; her granddaughter-charms weren't going to work, this time.

With a scowl, Tsunade turned from Hashirama. She strode down the hall, pausing only to pull Ino, Hinata, and several more waiting shinobi with her. "Not tonight," she sighed. With matching wistful looks, they let her take them away, leaving Hashirama and the room he guarded alone.

Sakura looked around at the stunning space with wide, dazzled eyes as Madara set her down. Paper lanterns glowing a deep gold hung from the arched ceilings; steam rose from the large onsen in the corner of the room. Flowers unfurled from the walls in pink blooms and hanging vines; a tea set awaited in a side-kitchenette. The familiar old-fashioned basin sink with a bamboo chute faucet sent a wry smile across Sakura's lips, recalling the house Madara had made on the far hill. The tatami mats beneath their feet were finely woven; the windows were opaque, allowing a wash of silvery light from the distant moon across the matted floors. Cherry blossom patterns printed across the walls and bedspread of the wide futon that awaited beside the roomy kitchenette. Sakura looked between the futon and the adjacent onsen with indecision and tired relief.

She turned to Madara at her side instead. When she looked up into his face, she read the sorrow behind his solemn expression. He held her searching stare, silent and grim.

"I'm still dying, aren't I?" Sakura whispered.

Madara's expression tightened in response. Sakura quickly looked away, biting back a push of panic; she closed her eyes, focusing on steady breathing instead. His dark hand squeezed along her arm as she spoke despondently. "So whatever Obito did… didn't actually work?"

"His Izanagi worked well. He pulled you back from death, rewriting the exact succession of events." Madara's fingers slid up along the side of Sakura's face, tilting her chin back up; he gazed over her pale features, reading her confusion. "It is a powerful and forbidden Uchiha jutsu. I used it myself to revive after my death at the Valley of the End."

Sakura's eyes widened with understanding as he went on, "Considering his injured state… Obito's Izanagi rewrote what happened by reversing some of your previous healing back to you, thus causing him to lose his arm again and retain some of his wounds. As such, your own injury was healed, essentially preventing your death and causing you to reawaken. However…" Madara's exhale flickered through Sakura's long pink hair. "...he did not know that you were already dying before being injured."

"No one knows about that but us, right?" Sakura gave a rueful sigh, bowing her head. "It's better that way. I don't want them to know that I don't have long to enjoy my return."

"Hashirama is aware." Madara slid a hand down Sakura's arm just as her knees weakened; she leaned back into his hold with a frustrated sound. She pressed her face into his chest, fighting back tears.

Madara tilted his head forward, nosing her red-streaked locks, closing his eyes.

"Why did he make this room for us?" Sakura asked softly. "Pity? Charity? He went to such trouble."

"It is his gift." Madara pulled back, drawing Sakura with him towards the onsen in the corner. She followed, her long hair trailing around her bloodied robes, looking around again with renewed gratefulness; an unshakeable mistrust of Senju stirred in her gut.

Sakura frowned at herself, trying to rearrange her thinking. Time had passed, and much had changed. She couldn't let compounded years of her familial Uchiha dislike of the Senju to cloud her mind now, and she tried to make her guess as positive as possible, remembering well that Hashirama was once a friend to Madara.

"He's making a gesture to rekindle your friendship," Sakura hazarded as she settled beside Madara at the edge of the onsen. Steam rose from the water, curling around their bare feet that matched in snowy white shades, dipping into the heated swirls. Her green eyes reflected the blue of the water, shaded with perpetual sorrow. "That would make sense to me, then. I could understand him being kind to me in a gesture of peace to you."

"No." Madara glanced at Sakura through the falls of his silvery hair. "It is his approval of you."

Sakura held his eye a moment before looking away, a flush about her cheeks. As Madara watched the telltale twinge of pain squeeze around her features, his shoulders slowly fell. He looked back down into the steaming waters, closing his eyes; Sakura peeked back at him, recognising the haggard look that was dragging him back down.

She reached over and dipped her hands into the water. The crimson washed away from her fingers, and with clean hands, Sakura lifted her touch to the side of Madara's face. She drew her fingers along his cheeks, her trembling thumbs wiping away the dried blood from the spectre of her kiss.

Warm water dripped from her fingers down Madara's features, and his shadowed eyes slid back to her, softening. Sakura's heart lifted a little, rising with the spirals of steam.

As she held his stare, passing recollections of him throughout her life filtered her vision, shading over his face in a kaleidoscope of memories. She had seen Madara in every form, in every state, in all of his complexities. Looking at him now, Sakura could feel the layers of who he was buried beneath his weary gaze, and a deep bloom of warmth spread through her chest; deeper this time, seeping through from her heart to her soul. Once her enemy, then her capricious lover, Madara had become her companion, her clansman, her friend.

It brought tears to her eyes, and Sakura wiped at her cheeks, her chest tightening like her ribs were collapsing in around her heart. She shook her head as Madara drew back with concern, hands steadying her shoulders as she shook where she sat, her slender frame shaking.

"It isn't fair," she whispered as he opened his mouth to speak, "we've been through so much, and we made it this far… only for my stupid body to give up on me and waste it all." Sakura's tears streamed down her face despite her efforts, and she hunched forwards with her hands covering her eyes, her long pink strands falling around her. "There was so much more I wanted to experience. I wanted to become a full-fledged healer and the strongest kunoichi there is. And perfect the new techniques I learned from you and Izuna in taijutsu, and improve my seal even more. I wanted to see my friends grow old in a peaceful Konohagakure, and…" She lifted her head, looking to Madara with wide, pain-swept eyes. "...after everything with you and me, I wanted—" Sakura's breath caught, and she forced herself to admit it, a mortal fear for how little time she had left propelling her to divulge the premature realisation sitting solidly in her heart. "I wanted to start a family," she whispered.

Madara's eyes widened, and Sakura looked back down into her hands, her ears red and heartbeats heavy. "Maybe… rebuild the Uchiha with you. Have some wonderful, stubborn, stupidly strong brats…" Sakura's bitter laugh made the steam swirl around where their legs dangled in the onsen. "I mean, if being stuck with me and doing that was something you might want. I don't know. It's all too late, now. I guess—" She drew in a sharp breath, pressing a hand over her aching heart. " —I guess that it doesn't matter now."

Her trembling worsened as she found herself pulled against a warm chest, and Sakura melted against Madara, shaking with silent sobs.

Fingers trailed through Sakura's hair, and she breathed raggedly as Madara's rumble reverberated through her, calm and deep. "No more tears." She continued to quaver as he sighed, settling his face into her bloodied strands. "Let us enjoy the time that we still have."

Sakura drew back, her heartbeat dancing faster through her veins as Madara untied his robe; he reached down and untied hers, flicking it from her lean shoulders. With a red hue tinting her cheeks, Sakura smiled up at Madara, shaking away the last of her tears. "I… of course." She tucked her hair behind her ears, the red flush heating across her shoulders and revealed cleavage that she hugged in automatic self-consciousness. "I'll do my best to keep up. I might be exhausted and sore, but I've been looking forward to this for far too long."

Madara's pupils widened, scanning her change of demeanour and the redness inking her visible skin in a shy full-body blush. He paused where he had been shrugging out of his own robes. "I meant in savouring the time."

Sakura's eyes shot back to his with visible disappointment. Madara's slight smile was crooked as he caressed along her cheek with a purr. "As loathe as I am to deny you…" He withdrew his touch as he studied the hints of pain still tight around Sakura's eyes. "You are far too fragile for such… activities."

"Damn being fragile." Sakura pushed the robe away from Madara's shoulders, revealing more pale, blood-spattered skin. Her stare dipped shyly along his torso as she shoved the rest of her robe off of herself, and she slid into the onsen, the water turning pink around her figure.

Sakura lifted her chin, giving Madara an inviting, challenging look. He stood beside the onsen, eyeing her, the robe hanging around his waist loosely as he held it there.

"Come here," she said after a pause, reaching out and yanking on his loose obi. He stumbled forward from the unexpected strength in her pull, and Sakura tugged at him again, tearing away the remainder of what he wore and causing him to half-fall into the onsen with a splash.

Madara caught himself, ensnaring Sakura in his grip; she giggled as he glared down into her smug expression. Entirely glad to be captured, she pressed her nude front against his through the hot steam and dripping water, her own clothes already entirely shed and floating away through the water. She tangled her legs with his suggestively, drawing a hand up his chest with an unsubtle smirk. Meeting his eyes beneath her dark lashes, Sakura successfully hid the pain in her body behind her visible desire, the desperate pounding of her heart audible to them both.

Madara's murmur was velvety with held-back interest. "I told you no, woman. I do not wish to break you; you have been broken enough."

"I determine how fragile I am or not," Sakura told him, sliding a wet hand further up his chest and meeting his eye with fiery confidence as she held his cheek. "And I determine that I am very ready to do that reacquainting I had mentioned, here and now." Madara blinked down at her as she went on, "If you really don't want to, then I won't push you, but I think that you do…" She grinned as she felt his heart rate matching hers, throbbing between their chests, heated skin hot as the onsen's steaming waters. Madara sighed as Sakura slid a kiss along his neck, sweet, hopeful, inviting. "...if I'm going to leave this world again so soon, Madara, then let me go out with a bang."

He stiffened, and Sakura tensed too, reddening with embarrassment. She probably shouldn't have been so bold.

She was about to withdraw from where she was pressed against him when Madara shook, his hands sliding around the curve of her waist and his face dipping into his hair, his laughter booming throughout the lavish temporary living quarters. Sakura's blush burned hotter as his amused tone filled her from head to toe. "...When did you concoct that joke? Were you sitting on that this whole time?"

Sakura scowled into Madara's shoulder as he continued to chuckle. "That sounds like something your jinchūriki friend might say. Ah… you never cease to surprise me."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't joking," Sakura huffed, sliding her arms up around Madara's shoulders and pulling back enough to meet his eye; all her indignant embarrassment fizzled, utterly disarmed, as she read the vivid warmth in his expression. Affection burned in Madara's stare, and Sakura was red as a rose from cheeks to ears as she recognised that it was something much deeper than affection.

He tilted his head, towering over her with a taunting smile as his calloused palms slid down along the curves of her waist. "Tell me then… you have experienced a taste before. How is it you think you can withstand being with me in the current state you are in?"

Sakura's temporarily stunned expression tightened as a stubborn look took over her features. She pulled back from Madara, freeing her hands; he watched her with suspicion as she brought her fingers up to her temples. She closed her eyes.

A flash of green light briefly glittered across the onsen's steaming waters. Madara darkened with confusion, his smugness fading, and Sakura caught him by the wrist before he could stop her, opening her eyes. She offered him a sly smile. "There," she said simply, and he scowled down at her. "There, what?"

"A little medical ninjutsu magic." Sakura rolled her shoulders and cracked her knuckles before regarding Madara with such intensity that he took a small step back, a slight tint dusting across his cheekbones. She advanced upon him, pressing him back against the hard edge of the onsen, stretching up against his chest with her lips ghosting across his in a sultry murmur. "I've blocked the pain-receptors in my brain, like a painkiller would. I'm not holding back on what could be my last night alive. Now… can you handle me? Because I know I can handle you."

Madara gripped Sakura by the hips with a rumbling growl. "You are far too reckless."

"We match, then," she grinned back, and hummed with relieved delight when Madara took her mouth in a deep, slow kiss, his fingers digging in. She ground against him, sliding her legs up around his waist, teasing up against his hard interest; he cursed against her smirking lips before lifting her so her weight was supported against his front. Sakura bit back aggressively into Madara's kiss, their mouths engulfed in a fiery sliding of lips; his damp hair fell around her in a dripping spray of hot water as he pulled the two of them upwards, standing in the steaming onsen.

His lips agreed with hers in a sensual, careful kiss, and Sakura pushed back with a demanding fire that was all teeth and tongues. She squeezed her legs around Madara's sides, gliding against him with slick skin against slick skin; she was rewarded with his deep groan that rippled the water around them. She sensed the caution in his hold upon her, how he held back with taut muscles.

With a deep breath, Sakura curled one arm around Madara's shoulders, meeting his smouldering Rinnegan eyes. Her free hand slipped down his lean chest, and she watched his pupils widen as she took hold of him; he broke free of the kiss, and Sakura revelled in his gasp as she speared herself upon him with a relieved shudder. Madara seized her and swung her around, pinning her down against the onsen's edge; she undulated up against his body where their legs tangled and laps interlocked, causing him to hiss with pleasure again. As he withdrew from her, she clenched the muscles in her core in rippling contractions, earning her another rumbling exclamation before Madara regripped Sakura and pushed back into her with a growl.

She curled her arms around his neck and kissed him with reckless abandon, revelling in the feel of her painless limbs and their long-awaited physical reunion, uniting and sliding together in a heated clashing of wet skin and shallow breaths. No fevered fantasy or daily daydream could compare to the real thing, and Sakura arched back in her absolute bliss, finding a matching fury of passion and joy reflected back in Madara's burning eyes. She loved this, she loved him, and she was more than glad to lose herself in him as he did with her, forgetting all about the constraints of time or the trials of their lives in the movements of their bodies and the tangible depths of their unbreakable bond beneath.

The last hours of the night settled over their shoulders. Sleep made its inevitable march towards them, silent in its stealthy approach.

Sakura's murmur curled through the darkness where she lay with Madara in twisted sheets, chests heaving and hearts still racing as they came down from the heights of pleasure. "Madara…" Her voice was soft, weary, and utterly sincere. "Thank you."

"Hmm?" He stretched his arms, settling one around her shoulders and turning over so she could curl up against his chest. She listened to his heart beat as he held her, her murmur silky against his skin. "You know I didn't expect it of you…" She fought back the tightening in her throat, emotional. "It means the world to me. All of it. Tonight. Ending the Infinite Tsukuyomi. And everything before it; every moment, every memory we made, the happy ones and all the rest."

Madara was silent, though she felt the warmth in his quietude; Sakura slid an arm over his side, their legs tangling, and she settled deeper into her sheet-wrapped nest of him. Her murmur was almost lost as sleep began to claim her at last. "I love you, Uchiha Madara."

He hummed, pulling her closer, a smile curving his lips that he brought down along her ear. His voice was heavy with weariness and warmth. "I love you as well… Uchiha Sakura."

She stiffened, her eyes fluttering open; conversely, Madara relaxed, tilting his head back into a pillow and sighing as he allowed unconsciousness to settle over him.

It was a long moment before Sakura pressed her face back into Madara's chest, tears of joy sliding down her cheeks as she followed him into the soft darkness of sleep.