The Barn

Chapter Fifteen
Dual Communion

"I can take it from here," Kakuzu claimed, stepping forward.

Madara sneered, his expression taunting. "Not likely. You came on your own."

Sakura felt electricity in the air but it was impossible to separate the tension from the magic, as the two sources were so closely intertwined. Madara was far more powerful and skilled, but his well of magic, or chakra as he called it, was running low and once it ran out he would be as bad off as Kakuzu had been when Sakura made their binding contract. Kakuzu on the other hand…

His magic felt sheer to her, and she knew that was because she was the source. It would be impossible for him to hurt her with it. To anyone else…she wondered what his magic felt like to them. His magic had barbs in it, she could tell that much even if she couldn't feel it. Kakuzu wasn't to be underestimated.

"That's enough," she finally sighed, holding up her hands. "I'm in no mood to entertain anymore pissing contests between the two of you or anyone else here tonight." She slanted her eyes upward to the staircase that swelled at the base than curved elegantly upstairs to the living quarters of the home's residents. "Especially when I know you two aren't the only ones here with something to make a ruckus about."

Madara leaned back on his heels, crossing his arms, but Kakuzu seemed to bend towards her, chastised by her words. That's when she noticed the box in his left hand, but he was already moving it back into his pants pocket.

"If you want to take your seats I can show you the way," Kakuzu offered, glancing down at Sakura who stood a good head shorter than him. He seemed to bend and fold himself to make himself seem smaller, but it was an impossible task when he was the tallest one in the room, even taller than Madara.

"It might be best if we go sit down," she admitted, nodded his way.

Kakuzu straightened and swept his arm out, indicating she follow him before turning and leading them out of the hallway that fed into a new dining room, one vast enough for a table stretched to accommodate almost two dozen guests. Each place setting was decorated in variations of soft gold, white china, and baby breath. The centerpiece was made out of bleeding orange, red, and yellow foxglove arrangements. Crawling ivy stretched down the length of the table, curling around the empty platters and dishes that would be filled as the courses were served.

A few faces were already standing behind their chairs with glass flutes filled in something soft and sparkling. Others abled in the corners, talking together in huddles. Sakura saw Karin standing next to Sai with the unnamed man behind them. The bone witch she had fought before wasn't there, neither was Tayuya.

Karin caught her eye across the room and held it before glancing away. Sakura pretended that didn't hurt, because it shouldn't. They weren't close. Karin was the girl on the inside and Sakura had always been the one looking in. Still, Sakura couldn't help but pity the girl who wore her skin like a woman.

"Your places are here at this end," Kakuzu said, leading her along to the opposite side of the table.

Sakura felt her dread grow as they drew closer and closer to the head of the table. She was three seats down from where Kushina would sit, and on her right side. Directly to Kushina's right sat her husband, and then Kakuzu and then Sakura. On her one side Sakura would have Madara, on the other, Kakuzu.

Sakura wanted to walk around the table and see where everyone else would be sitting, but the bell chimed form somewhere far off, echoing with magic so that everyone and anyone with ears would be able to hear it. Conversations broke off mid word as all the guests waited for the chimes to end before turning to find their seats. Some still murmured in their groups, but it was all soft and under their breath.

"This is only the first part," Kakuzu whispered to her, ignoring Madara's glare. "Nothing of significance will be said until we retire for coffee."

Sakura almost rolled her eyes, remembering the rituals from her childhood. The Uzimaki were painfully traditional and carried on like they were still a part of the past. Sakura didn't have the patience for it all, no matter how pretty.

"I remember," she sighed, reaching for her seat.

Madara reached for it before she could touch it though, and moved in front of Kakuzu. "Allow me," he murmured, pulling it out for her.

Sakura took her seat and let Madara push her in while Kakuzu helped himself into his own setting. She could feel his attention with every movement, but didn't turn his way or address it.

At the back of the room, behind the head of the table, Kushina came out on the arm of her husband Minato, radiant as ever in gold art deco styled designer threads and jewels. She smiled wide and bright across the room before sweeping her arms in a gesture that encouraged everyone to take their plates. She was helped into her seat by her husband, but caught Sakura's eye and winked before he pushed her in.

"You look better there," Minato cheered in good humor as he turned towards Kakuzu. "We're glad to see you back in one piece."

"Indeed," Kakuzu answered with a humble nod of his head. "I am infinitely blessed, more so as of late."

Behind them the staff came out with individual trays of soup and side salads. In the kitchen not so far away, someone was roasting lamb for the later main course.

Sakura turned away, leaning towards Madara to avoid both Kakuzu's conversation and the attention of Naruto, who was seated directly across the table from her. His glare was heavy and directed, so she shouldn't have been able to avoid t, but she did.

Next to Kushina sat a matronly witch from a west coast coven, and then Menma, and then Naruto. Sakura couldn't help but suspect that to be a deliberate switch made on the young heir's behest. Naruto was still pissed at her, it seemed.

"Is he still glaring at me," Sakura asked from behind the rim of her glass, leaning over close to Madara to hide her lips behind his ear.

"Positively snarling with his eyes if you ask me," Madara chuckled darkly, taking some delight in the boy's displeasure. "He looks even worse now that we're talking like this. Maybe we should keep it up. Tell me something trivial, I'll laugh."

"Call me crazy, but I'm not eager to antagonize Kushina's son any more than I have already."

"That's not trivial," Madara chuckled, bending his head as his shoulders shook with a falsified emotion. "Tell me something better."

"You're horribly annoying and I'm regret asking you to join me here."

Madara turned more towards her, pulling away enough that it was possible. "Now you don't, and I'm the best fun you've ever had with anyone." His smile was rakish. "Or I could be if you wanted me to break some boundary rules." Under the table his hand found hers and tickled the inside of her wrist.

The other hand resting on the table jerked and Sakura caught the lingering glow of Naruto's magic as it faded from the dinner knife he enchanted to spin into Menma's hand. It wasn't a deep cut, as it wasn't a sharp knife, but it made Madara jerk back and grunt in surprised.

Sakura hissed, angry at Naruto but more worried about Madara. She grabbed her napkin to dab at the bleeding cut, channeling cool healing into the injury until it wasn't even a pink scar on his skin anymore. When she was done she finally looked up at Naruto and glared, but his smile was cheeky.

"Don't be rude, Naruto, or you'll chase your cousin away. Look at her, she looks ready to spring for the bathroom." Kushina's voice echoed from just over Sakura's shoulder. The witch was bouncing her voice with magic so only those who she wanted to hear it did. Kakuzu still seemed oblivious.

"I think that's a better idea myself, don't you, Sakura?"

Sakura looked up at the head of the table where Kushina smiled. She pushed her chair back and stood, patting her husband on the shoulder before slipping out into the hall.

"I need to use the bathroom," Sakura whispered to Madara before she too slipped form her seat and turned towards the hall.

It was empty, but she remembered the way to the power room from ages past. She turned the next corner and it should have been just as empty because there was no one in front of her, but it wasn't. Kushina leaned over Sakura's shoulder, draping her arm there.

"You're such a smart cookie," she purred. She reached with her fingers and pinched Sakura's cheek. "No wonder my little one is still star stuck at the very name of you."

"You're too kind," Sakura breathed, forcing her eyes to stare ahead.

One of Kushina's hands dipped down the front of Sakura's dress and tapped the light pink scar over her chest, the only reminder of when she pulled her second heart free to make Kauzu whole. "You've entertained me more than I thought originally possible. Your instincts are dazzling."

"What do you want?"

"Isn't it a better idea to tell me what you want, my dear? I know you're lacking in the bookwork field and I have a library collecting dust just below out feet for you to browse at your leisure. Wouldn't you like that? You might even find a way to let free those trapped souls before their time runs out."

"I'm not stupid, tell me what you want," Sakura insisted, pulling away and turning around to face the coven matriarch.

"Fine, I'll not waste your time. You saw out guest who came with his pet, and Karin? He's annoying and I want him gone."

"Then beat him back on your own. Can't you?"

"Too much work. I'm too proper a lady at this age for tossing spell and hexes."

Kushina words rang with the echo of a hundred different lies, but Sakura knew better than to call the woman out so soon. If she was incapable, she didn't want it spreading.

Kushina's easy smile fell away. "The man I refer to, Danzo, has been growing a coven with the aid of someone I am loathed to engage. If it was only one warlock bastard stealing my castoffs I wouldn't bother, but Danzo has his own bone witch when the only other one I know of, apart from you my dead, hails from across the continent in Orochimaru's coven. I'll not mix up with his perverted lot."

Sakura was unschooled in the culture of witchy ways, she wasn't up to date on all the covens and warlock and witches, but she did know that male witches, also called warlocks, were far more rare and often times not as powerful as their female counterparts, but there were always exceptions-like Naruto. Orochimaru didn't start out as an exception, but he substituted his natural gift with the alchemic knowledge and forbidden research to climb to a position of power that cast a shadow over half the country. He was a snake no one wished to meddle with nearly a hundred years later.

"You think Danzo is working with Orochimaru?" Sakura breathed.

"I think Orochimaru might be using Danzo to see how weak out hold has become," Kushina admitted, glancing upwards to the flickering sigils on the walls that lit up with her power, keeping their words secret. "I wouldn't put it past the old snake to be so vile."

"I don't see a reason to get anymore caught up that I already am. I'm not even technically a part of the Uzamaki family. I failed that test, remember?"

"A mistake easily corrected on our part. I'd like to formally bring you into our fold. You're strong enough for it now."

Sakura felt pain in her hand, stinging with a phantom of memory. "I was strong enough for it back then too, you're just lowering your impossible standards for me. Once this matter is settled you'll go back to hating me, won't you?"

"Naruto wouldn't let me," Kushina sighed. "And since he will be coven head after me, I will respect his wishes."

"I don't trust or respect Naruto. He's still too much of a spoiled child," Sakura admitted, feeling a rush of adrenaline as she spoke her mind. Maybe she was too bold, but she didn't care anymore.

Kushina's blue eyes flashed yellow. "You don't have to trust him, but be wise enough to fear what is fearful, girl." Kushina stalked forward and Sakura stood her ground until they were nearly nose to nose.

"I will do as I please," Sakura hissed. "You can't control me."

"Rich words coming from a witch who enslaved her first familiar. You're better than us now? You don't even care about what I could offer you, what I could offer them. Do you want to see them all suffer and slip back into that curse or would you rather I help you break it?"

"If you could have done that you would have already."

"Maybe it wasn't in my best interest to free unshackled agents of power." Kushina leaned back on her heels and then reached for Sakura's longest curl, petting it. "But I suppose you don't know any better. Poor thing. Too scared of her own magic to learn its secrets. Should I tell you something good?"

"I don't think I want your help."

Kushina smiled and it was a fox's smile, all cunning and sly edges. Before Sakura could stop her, Kushina had reached into Sakura's chest, hand curling around her heart as magic made a portal just wide enough for her wrist. Sakura's magic went wild as she grabbed the woman's wrist, but it did no good. Her nails were already in her chest.

"This is what you need to end that terrible curse. All the magic in here, all the darkness, pour it into your heart and eat it up. Free those figures my foolish boy trapped for you, give them new bodies from the stores we keep on ice downstairs, and in return all I ask is that you help me keep the peace."

Sakura felt her heart pinch from the woman's nails, but grit her teeth. "I'll not submit to Naruto. I'll swear no allegiance." She felt braver than she had in a long while. "Death first," she dared.

Kashina's eyes flashed gold again, but in delight. "Of course, you're like this aren't you? I don't think I could kill you if I burst your heart in my hand anyway. Then give me this, swear you will not rise up against my son, swear you will not oppose him, swear you will not harm him."

"I-I can't-I, no, you can't bind me in anything!" Sakura struggled, feeling hot all over as her magic discharged harmlessly from her teeth and fingertips. She imagined Naruto a horrible coven head and felt her resolve harden even more. "If I need to-I'd stop him."

Her anger made her brave, but Sakura didn't doubt she had been also a fool with her admission. Kushina's hand was literally around her heart, ready to burst it at a moment's notice. Sakura didn't want anything to do with the world of covens or magic, but she couldn't stand being cowed into anything.

Kushina watched Sakura carefully, holding the younger girl's eye with her own unwavering stare. Sakura waited for the moment when Kushina would squeeze, but it didn't come. Instead Kushina pulled back, expression serious. She drew her hand free and snapped her wrist to shake off the excess blood. Sakura's magic raced to heal the bruises and soothe the areas of hurt in her chest.

"Then do so," Kushina whispered with a look to open to be deceitful. "Be his anchor in the new world when I can not. If you need to…end my poor boy."

It was the last thing Sakura expected from the mother. "What?"

"I'm not blind, nor foolish. I know what the future is capable of being. Nothing is assured, but….the possibility remains that he might become a monster."

Everyone who knew Naruto knew that, but Sakura didn't think Kushina would ever admit it. "You're his mother. Why are you saying this to me?"

Kushina waved her hand again and a door leading down opened up. She nodded to it before stepping under the arch first and defending the stone staircase. Sakura hurried to catch up.

"I'll need you on the outside for whatever happens next. The dinner will end shortly. My clone has already summoned the desert. I'll send your boys down her behind me, and then when Naruto comes, please…keep my words in mind."

"You're not making sense. What do you want me to do?"

The pair of them landed at the base of the staircase two stories later, coming out onto a platform that overlooked a stronghold of knowledge. The legendary collection of the Uzumaki, over two thousand years of relics and repository items. Magic spells on human leather and vials of festering plagues locked behind enchanted doors beside bewitched mirrors. Sakura saw one and recognized the scene on the other side.

"That's the Barn! You were spying on me?" Sakura exclaimed, pointing to the mirror.

"Naturally."

Sakura felt hot even with the temperature so cool.

Kushina pointed elsewhere and Sakura paled at the tables lined with bodies on cold quartz. They were John and Jane does that were waiting to. Be remade into the bodies of new familiars. "You'll need these materials for Zabuza and Kisame. And over there…." She pointed to a tome laid open on a pedestal. "You'll find the spell you need, bone witch. End the curse if you can."

Kakuzu and Madara retreated with the rest of the host to the coffee lounge to take drink with the others. The real Kushina returned just in time for that, but he doubted anyone aside from her husband could tell she had switched out at all.

He forced his way up to her side and bent low. "Where is she?" he whispered in a tone that was barely civil.

He had felt her anger and then nothing as she slipped off the radar. It was like losing a limb. He couldn't feel her and it was driving him up a wall.

"You remember the repository. Take her pet with you and help her if you can. I've set her up with some homework."

Kakuzu glanced back over his shoulder at Madara and then to where Karin walked beside the warlock Danzo. Something had unsettled him about the man all evening long. He didn't like being apart from Sakura, but he also didn't like looking away from someone that unnerved him so much. In the end, the need to be close to Sakura won out.

"Fine."

He stepped back and grabbed Madara by the wrist a bit too roughly to be necessary. "Here," he hissed, tugging the Uchiha down a back hallway.

"Where is she?" Madara asked before they were even out of view from the others.

Kakuzu ducked his head, glaring at the floor as he counted the grooves until he reached the one he wanted. "Shut up and follow me, buffoon." He dug his heel into the floor at just the right spot and a magic sigil lit up on the wall beside him.

Madara dashed inside the opening before Kakuzu even had the chance to lift his foot. Madara's face was turned up and his eyes flashed red seeing the chamber for what it was.

"Where does this go?" he asked. "Sakura is here somewhere."

"Keep going," Kakuzu growled.

He pushed forward, taking the stairs two at a time, descending rapidly in hopes of leaving Madara behind. He had wanted to speak with Sakura privately, to try and explain to her again that he was happy with how things had turned out, that he didn't blame her the way she blamed herself. He thought if they could just talk about it things would work out. He had something for her too.

There was light from somewhere at the bottom of the spiraling staircase's end. Madara started to rush but Kakuzu pulled ahead, reaching the landing first. Kakuzu knew where to look so he saw it first, the pair of bodies that were transformed and thrumming with new magic as Sakura's golden strings of fate bound her to either body. He recognized Kisame more than Zabuza, but knew who both were at once.

"Shit," Madara cursed, something in him making his magic dance erratically around him. He leaned over the railing, gripping it with white knuckles. "Them," he hissed. "Both of them but not-uugh."

"It's not that big of a deal," Kakuzu huffed. "It's not like it was with me-those are gold strings. She preformed Communion."

When Sakura made a body for Kakuzu his thread of fate typing him to her was platinum and stronger than theirs. Sakura had preformed an Engagement with him. He was still closest to her. At least he wasn't Madara, who wasn't bound to her at all.

Still, it was odd that she bound the pair of nin at all. Hadn't she been opposed to the whole concept of human familiars? Wasn't that why she was so disgusted with him in the first place?

He pushed his questions aside, saved for later, and took a second set of stairs down to her level, running in time to catch her as she began to pitch. Madara hung back at the base of the staircase, watching from underneath a hanging shadow.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" He looked up over her to where the bodies started to stir with the first signs of life. "I thought you wouldn't be -I thought you were opposed to this."

"I don't have much more of a choice it seems," she grumbled, trying to stand up on her own again. She wavered and he caught her by her elbows. "That's what the text said."

"What text?"

She pointed to the table where she had dragged a large tome and left it open to a page written in Japanese. Kakuzu recognized it at once. "The curse."

Sakura took a deep breath and then found a place inside her where she could make herself steady once more. She took a step on her own and Kakuzu let her.

Sakura approached the tome and traced the writings. "I can eat it once I free all the souls trapped inside…then when I sever the connection they'll be free agents, not familiars anymore."

"That means you'll make me your familiar." Madara stepped forward out of the shadows.

Sakura nodded slowly, glanced back to the last two bodies left unturned, one was male and the other female. "I'll have to grow another heart though. I only have enough material for Gaara and then Konan."

Madara's face eased into a smile but Kakuzu felt cold all over. "You mean you'll preform Communion on Konan and Gaara but you'll use…Engagement on Madara?"

"We'll see. I won't be able to do anything more than this for now….not for a while. I'm drained."

She sank onto a bench seat in front of a table, shoulders sloping towards her knees as heaviness settled in her bones. She looked exhausted but Kakkuzu was amazed she wasn't already dead asleep, since she completed two familiar contracts back to back. A lesser witch would have been devastated by the effort it took to manage just one.

For not the first time, Kakuzu was a little awed by Sakura.

Madara watched her with a look Kakuzu could only describe as hungry, and it sent shivers up and down his spine. When Sakura sat Madara approached her bench slowly enough for her to react to his proximity, but she let him draw near without comment. He knelt at her knee and whispered something into her ear. When she nodded Kakuzu had an idea of what it was he had asked her.

"If you need to rest, there are beds here. You shouldn't be apart from Kisame and Zabuza until the wake."

Sakura waved her hand and a mark glowed above both Kisame and Zabuza's heads. "They won't wake until I come back for them in the morning. I'll be back as soon as I'm rested."

Madara helped her up and she turned towards a mirror Kushina used to scry on the interior of Mito's old barn house, Sakura's current home. Kakuzu knew what she was about to do.

"Wait! If you're leaving I have something-"

"I'll be back in the morning," Sakura promised, too tired to even turn his way as she touched the glass and melted it into something she could step through.

Before Kakuzu could stop her she was gone.

AN: Rush release, sorry for the typos in advance.
I am so behind on this and I apologize for that. I wish I had the free time to give to writing things that are fun, but regardless of how long this took to get out, I hope you had fun with it.

I'll admit I enjoy the angst of Kakuzu's suffering. It hasn't gotten better and there's no sign of that happening just yet. Madara is happy though. In the next chapter Zabuza and Kisame finally get some spotlight. At long last, right?