Madara Uchiha sat in the office down the hall from the Hokage and sighed tiredly. He pushed the papers back from his desk and shook out his hair. It was clinging to the back of his neck in the muggy heat. The season was changing again, turning from spring to summer. Each day that passed was another day without Izuna, another reminder that he was gone and wasn't coming back. He clenched his fists, his hands began shaking.
Those treacherous hands. He could still feel the warm blood and soft sensation of his brother's eyes as that creature forced him to tear them out and replace his own with them. His darkest days were only survived by sitting inside the hospital room that she lay in. Where he could look at her face, touch her soft skin, feel the slow and steady beat of her heart.
Sakura still hadn't woken up, a year later.
It had been a year since Tobirama and Mito sealed the room she was in, allowing her to heal without dying of dehydration or starvation. She'd been in a coma all that time. Mental and physical trauma. Chakra exhaustion. She was strong and she was tough, but the mind needed rest as much as the body, and Madara was afraid that her mind just wasn't going to recover, and the more days that past the stronger his fear grew.
He spoke to her sometimes, to help himself as much as it apparently was comforting to her. Not often, not a lot, but sometimes when he couldn't stand it anymore he told her about how much he hated himself for what happened to Izuna. He said things he never said to anyone, never dared to speak or hardly think. She always saved him, even when she wasn't awake. A month after he'd woken up, he and Tobirama had gone to their house and found a stack of scrolls which detailed the time and village they'd come from in the future. They even wrote about how the two of them had met each of them in the war they'd been in, as strange as that was.
Those were the stories that hurt Madara, knowing what he'd done to them, to her. Sakura had faced him in a war and he had almost killed her. He didn't care about anything else when he read that. Everything made sense to him: how she'd acted when he first saw her, the nervous fear, the slow acceptance, the way she tried to always tell him he wasn't a monster. She'd seen it in person, she'd seen who he was when he walked that road, she'd seen his terrible potential.
But there was one scroll addressed to him from her and he kept it close, always.
It had taken another three months after he'd found it before he could open it. He was in her hospital room, on a night when he'd been struggling to sleep because of the nightmares that plagued him about what he'd done to Izuna.
He'd gone to see her instead, and finally worked up the courage to open the scroll.
Madara,
I hope you never have to read this because that would mean I'm dead and I'd prefer it if that didn't happen.
We're about to go and rescue you from Zetsu, I just hope that nothing goes wrong. But since something obviously has, there are things I want you to know and remember. I don't believe you've become like the Madara from my time, but just in case: you moron! You didn't believe me? You didn't listen to what I said at all? There is always another way. It's harder, it takes longer, but it's better because you deserve to walk in the light with a free heart and mind. Free of burdens and grief and sorrow and pain. So get yourself together and go home! You have people waiting for you. You are not alone.
That's probably a good thing to remember anyway, so keep that in mind: you're not alone, you're loved, and good.
You're so good, Madara. If you've read the other scrolls, you'll know that when we met in my time, you were not the same man you are now. I don't even recognise that person as you. I won't lie, it took a while for me to be able to adjust to this. You could probably tell. Sorry about that.
Since I'm gone, I can't tell you this anymore, so I want you to keep this scroll and read it when you feel lost or unsure: I, Sakura Haruno, am proud of you, and you, Madara Uchiha, are worthy of all the good and great in this world. Never let that voice of doubt and darkness distract you from your path.
I will always be watching over you.
Sakura
It was impossible for Madara to forget or get over his feelings for her, especially after reading that. They'd only deepened in the year she'd been asleep. He'd never known a feeling like this. Something so strong and so deeply rooted. Madara knew that he would never love another woman. He would never marry if it wasn't to her, and recognising that resolve in himself, he was content.
Madara looked up when the door to his office burst open, revealing a harried and excited looking Hokage.
"What did I tell you about knocking?" Madara muttered.
Hashirama shook his head with strange and excited energy.
"What are you doing here?" He exclaimed. "Didn't you hear?"
Madara frowned. "Hear what?"
"Sakura. She's awake," he said.
Madara immediately stood, his chair fell back on the ground in a loud thump. His heart thumped in his chest.
She was awake. Finally. She was awake.
*
To Sacrifice and Surrender
It's been a year since Sakura and Itachi sealed away Zetsu.
It's been a year since Itachi sacrificed himself to save Sakura.
It's been a year since Izuna was killed.
Sakura's been in a coma since then, but now she's awake.
It's been a year for everyone else. But for her, it's only been hours.
She's awake, and stuck in the past alone, without the man she fell in love with. Without anything holding her to the ground anymore.
Things have changed in Konoha, and whether she's ready or not, Sakura has a new life waiting for her and she better find a way to live it or lose herself altogether.
YOU ARE READING
Sacrifices for Peace
Fanfiction[PART ONE: SACRIFICES UNIVERSE] It had begun with Asura and Indra, and ended with Naruto and Sasuke. The war was done, Kaguya was sealed, and everyone thought it was over. They were wrong. It should never have come this far, and the Otsutsuki brothe...
