Everything was hazy when she woke up.

Though Sakura soon realised it was thanks to the tears still spilling from her eyes. Dimly, she became aware of the rocking sensation, eyes sliding over to glance down at the white horse upon which she was seated. A familiar white horse. Asfaloth. Meaning… She turned her head, green meeting grey as she stared up into the conflicted gaze of her usual minder who looked torn between scolding her senseless and wrapping her in a comforting hug.

Sakura knew she probably looked terribly pitiful, given the state of her eyes and her stupidly small body. Maybe if she'd been bigger she would have been able to save Madara and Inner both… maybe she wouldn't have had to sacrifice one for the other. A sniffle escaped her, and Sakura let herself slump against the warm body at her side. She felt exhausted, despite having just woken up, stomach rumbling – and for a good reason too, as she soon discovered, upon spying the elven dwelling they had left behind what seemed like years ago.

When she left Inner had still been alive.

She hunched in on herself, glumly looking at the twinkling lights as they made their way closer and closer to their home. It should have been Inner's home too, since she was the one who was really from that world. Fresh tears leaked down her cheeks like a broken faucet. Sakura wasn't sure they would ever stop.

It wasn't like when she had left the Elemental Nations. Everyone had still been alive there. Everyone would still be alive, especially with Madara in the new world with her. Inner's world. She was gone for good, as she had told her so calmly about her upcoming demise. All because of the choices she had made in her brash recklessness. All because she didn't want to be left behind again. All because she hadn't seen the friend she'd had fighting in her corner the entire time.

She still felt numb even after their arrival in Imladris, content to just sit in silence, letting the conversations of adults in mind and body flow over her head.

She was back in a familiar room, she realised eventually, a bowl of creamy soup in her hands as she ate listlessly. It didn't taste of much, but she was hungry, so she ate until all she was left with was an empty bowl, and a quiet room. The silence was oddly nice.

But Inner should have been there. Should have been a little presence in the back of her mind, occasionally chiming in with nuggets of wisdom.

But Inner was dead.

She was dead, and Sakura felt so numb. Why wasn't she crying like all the other times it hurt? Or maybe she had just used up all her tears… Sighing, she flopped back on the bed, sounding so dull rather than simply fed up. She was fairly sure she was in Madara's room – the one she had used previously no doubt having some forestry still growing through it.

"Sakura."

Blinking, she turned slowly, tilting her head as she spotted Madara sitting a little ways away on the bed. Why hadn't she noticed him? She could only wonder, watching blankly as he clambered over the sheets towards her, seating himself down beside her.

"I'm, well"—he looked away, pointed ears reddening—"I guess what I'm trying to say is… I'm sorry for leaving," he grumbled, sounding terribly petulant. Sakura didn't particularly care. Inner was dead. "I have come to the conclusion over the past few days that there's no way for us to return… Not without the intervention of whatever sort of higher power brought us here."

A strangled laugh escaped her. If he'd figured it out sooner then she would never have had to—

Sakura shook her head. It was her choice. Not Madara's. The fault – the blame – lay with her, and her alone. "You know," he continued, a nervous sort of scowl pulling at his lips. "I, uh, might be able to help comfort you if I knew what was wrong…"

Another snort escaped her. "You cannot comfort people to save your life," she muttered, slumping into him, body feeling so heavy and tired. Why did Inner think she'd be able to bear the grief she had left her with?

"Try me."

Sakura closed her eyes. He was Madara. He was her idiot, the one she had saved while losing so much due to her own recklessness. "I know why I have the mokuton," she said, voice sounding so loud amidst the silence. "I had a voice in my head you see—"

"And you never questioned it?" he asked scathingly, glaring down at her.

Just like before Inner had died. He really did suck at comforting people. Sakura told him as much with her listless stare. "I thought that was ordinary… then I thought it was my subconscious telling me to stand up for myself… but it turns out she was someone from this world." His arm came up to wrap around her shoulders. She didn't shake it off. "A maia… they're supposed to be immortal beings…"

Madara blinked. "Well clearly this one wasn't."

"Because our souls were too intertwined… since she needed a body in our old world… and when she saved me from the evil after you, her consciousness, her form in my mind was shattered… and it won't ever reform," Sakura mumbled, as if saying the words out loud would make them sink in. As if saying them would get rid of the numbness creeping through her.

"I'm guessing this is the reason we were re-embodied here then," he remarked, sounding terribly tired all of a sudden.

Sakura snuggled into his side, leeching comfort from the tiny, familiar form who was the last memento she really had of the Elemental Nations. Even if he was a stupid imbecile who did idiotic things. He was her idiot now. She had decided that way back when. He was all she really had left what with Inner being dead and gone. Her fingers dug into the shirt he wore, biting into his skin as she clung to him.

She had lost Inner. She wouldn't lose him too.

It was the one thing she wouldn't be able to bear.

Even if he was a tactless, grumpy, idiot.

"I suppose, seeing as we'll be staying here for the foreseeable future," he said finally, looking out towards the window which had been closed – and Sakura was fairly sure the elven equivalent of child safety locks had been put on it. "I can permit you to call me brother from now on."

"You won't leave me again, then?" she asked, voice far smaller than she would have liked, eyes narrowing as she heard the sounds of shifting feet outside the door.

"I won't," he promised, resting his chin atop her fluffy nest of hair, neither of them moving, even as evidently eavesdropping elves came into the room. It was comfortable like that.

Sakura blinked sleepily, exhaustion and weariness seeming to scrape at her bones as she sunk bonelessly into the warm embrace. So familiar. So nice. So needed. "Tired," she mumbled. "Mattress?"

Laughter bubbled from Madara's chest. Sakura thought it sounded a bit hollow.

"You should rest now then, little ones," Glorfindel said, and then Sakura found herself being tucked in. Just like a little child. Though she could really be bothered to complain. She was too tired. Too hollow. Too grief-stricken. Somehow she figured Glorfindel could tell. Maybe that was why they hadn't started lecturing them both yet?

Snuggling into Madara's side, she closed her eyes, wanting to shut the world out for once, ignoring the featherlight touch which brushed away the tears which fell from behind her closed lids as she basked in the familiar raging-inferno warmth which had been with her there since the very beginning.

The sun rose, shining down on yet another day in Imladris, and Sakura peered at Madara through half-closed eyes as she woke. It had only been a day since they had arrived back. It felt like longer for some reason Sakura couldn't place.

Movement in the corner of her eye drew her attention onto their golden-haired minder, and Sakura sat up, stomach betraying her as she did so, much to Glorfindel's amusement.

"Shall I bring your meal up?" he asked, grey eyes boring into her green ones with an emotion Sakura couldn't quite grasp. "Or would you be willing to join us in the dining hall?"

"We'll go," Madara answered, and Sakura turned to face him, fear and annoyance written all over her face at his answer. The one he'd said like he was speaking for both of them. "Come on," he said, nudging her out of bed. "It's too stuffy in here, so hurry it up and get up."

"I don't want to," she grumbled, not wanting to leave the safety of the room. She just wanted to curl in her blankets and cry for hours on end.

"Tough," he hissed, dragging her out from the covers with his annoyingly superior strength. She'd get stronger than him eventually though… once she'd mastered the powers she had in that world. The powers Inner had left behind for her. Tears bubbled up again, even as she was forced to stand in front of the door Glorfindel had already kindly opened. Or maybe he was simply approving of Madara's drive to drag her outside?

She didn't want to go. How weak of her… Sakura grimaced, reminded Inner wasn't there to cheer her up or motivate her any longer. It was all her fault. If she'd been stronger… She looked at the doorway. If going outside was a step to becoming stronger, then so be it. Sakura gritted her teeth. She wasn't going to be weak again… because no matter what Inner said, she was still pitifully so. Her shoulders slumped. Though maybe she'd work out what Inner had meant by that… She shook her head clearing those thoughts even as she felt the small tremble in her hands. Fear.

"No matter what happens from now on," Madara said, taking her hand in his own as they stared at the open doorway in front of them. "We'll face things together."

Everything wasn't alright. Not then. But in time, perhaps…

"Together," she echoed, squeezing his small hand.

END