In the next two days, they passed through Ame and crossed the border into Stone country. They had to take a slight detour to a small village not too far from the border. Sakura grumbled something about a mission and it being a tedious bore.

He went along with it if just because he knew that it was important to her and after the information, she had obtained for him, he'd be a jerk to not give her some leeway. It wasn't supposed to take longer than a few hours anyway.

Five days left.

He'd be lying if he said that the sudden time limit didn't stress him out. Sakura's constantly prissy mood and testiness suddenly made sense. Madara hadn't been too enthusiastic about staying in this timeline in the first place and had wanted to get away as fast as possible. The time limit just amplified the need. As much as he might not currently enjoy his life he didn't want to die just yet. His future wasn't a bright one, but he still wanted to make a change, a difference and this time without fucking up so bad that he becomes public enemy number one.

He had been doing something wrong and the more time he spent with Sakura he slowly started to see what it might be.

Madara silently watched Sakura work with the villagers, teaching the few that were interested in her healing methods. In an authoritative voice, she dictated what she was doing, what herbs she used, how much they should be mixed, left for rest and so on. It was fascinating to see her in this position. She was a pretty good teacher – she answered all questions, helped out those that were struggling in imitating her process. It was such a different side of her. All throughout their time together Sakura had been very grumpy and twitchy so much so that he figured that it was just her personality.

Now she was the perfect picture of patience, all smiles and kind words. And the people listened to her, responded to her smiles and treated her like she was one of them. It was amazing how despite her visible exhaustion and irritation she still managed to be kind and pretend like nothing was wrong. She reminded him of Hashirama like this. He could charm people just as easily as well no matter what his own mood was. That little skill of his had always peeved Madara.

With Sakura though… it certainly changed how he viewed her. He hadn't thought her to be much, just another annoying kunoichi that hadn't learned her place. As the days wore on she slowly broke down that assumption. She was still bossy and annoying at times, but she also had a big heart and an ability to look past her own grievances – a quality that was quite rare in his time.

Suddenly Sakura looked up and met his eyes right across the clearing where he was sitting on a porch and sipping some tea. She beamed and waved.

He couldn't help but smile back.

Maybe leading with more kindness was the key and not fear...

xxx

That evening they left Kiretsu. Madara wouldn't have minded spending the night in the village, but Sakura had insisted that they keep moving and catch up lost time. They had two days to travel to Iwagakure. If they rushed they could make it in a day and a half. That would put him at twelve days which would leave three days for them to find the scroll of the jutsu and convince the Tsuchikage to give it up.

On top of that, they'll have to sneak into the village. He didn't have any documents, so he couldn't pass through the main gate into the village and Sakura had emphasised greatly that the security system in Iwa was far superior that of Konoha.

Well, he'd be lying if he said that he didn't like a challenge.

The sun was slowly cresting the rocky terrain, casting weirdly shaped shadows on the ground. Very few trees were around. Splotches of thick grass marred the environment. It was nice after the never-ending rain in Ame. Peaceful and picturesque.

Sakura suddenly stopped and took a sharp left. He didn't even have a chance to question her decision. He was a better sensor than her and there was no one ahead of them. Still, he wasn't going to leave her alone and followed.

He caught up to her easily.

Her face was tense, brows drawn and eyes frantically searching the sparse woods for something. She was rushing towards a strong chakra signature, a signature that wasn't suppressed at all. There was a faint familiarity to the signature, though he couldn't pinpoint what he found familiar about it.

She was too distraught to pay attention to him and any question he tried to ask about the shinobi went ignored. He would have been annoyed with her for ignoring him, though he was curious about who had caught her attention in such a way.

The woods got thicker, the grass longer and more moss covered the rocks the further they went. Sounds of rushing water reached his ears. Until they reached a clearing – a ravine with a river.

Sakura gasped and tensed up.

He followed her eyesight. Ah. It didn't take a lot to guess that the person must be the last Uchiha – the facial features, the stance it all gave it away. He was covered from head to toe in dark clothing and had dark shoulder-length hair that covered one eye. Madara frowned. Well, that explained why Sakura sometimes looked at him like he was someone else.

Sakura was trying to speak, her lips trembling. She couldn't decide if she wanted to walk closer or stay put.

The Uchiha meanwhile was more focused on him, face drawn in a displeased grimace.

No one seemed keen to speak first, locked into a tense staredown, so he broke the quiet if just get the outrage at his presence out of the way. "I assume that you are the infamous Sasuke?" Sakura hadn't talked a lot about him, he knew only what he had overheard. Needless to say, he wasn't impressed. The guy looked worn and like he'd been sucking on a lemon for days. He oddly reminded him of Izuna when he looked closer.

Sasuke grimaced. "Sakura, what's going on?" He didn't even glance at her, keeping his eye locked onto him, the distrust clear.

"It's a lot to explain." Her voice cracked.

"You either explain or I cut this thing down." His hand hovered over his katana, stance tense as a spring.

Madara snorted. "Thing? You feeling mighty confident there." Sasuke was powerful and arrogant, all things he was familiar with. If it came down to it, he didn't doubt his ability in defeating Sasuke in a battle. A part of him hoped that Sasuke will snap and attack him.

Sakura stepped in front of him, blocking Sasuke's view of Madara. "I know this looks bad, but there's an explanation." She paused for a moment. "He's from the past."

Sasuke didn't outwardly react, didn't even pull his hand away from his katana. It was like he was looking right through her to glare at Madara.

"Time travel! It's time travel. I'm helping him to go back to his time," she blurted, staring at the ground.

"And you believed that?"

Sakura took an involuntary step back, almost knocking into him. "W-what? Of course, he's not the same Madara from the war." She sounded uncertain.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, tensing even further if possible. "Even if what you're saying is true it still doesn't explain why you're with him and helping him. You should kill him."

Baffled Sakura opened her mouth and closed it. They were at a standstill.

The quiet lasted for too long and Madara stepped in. Sakura clearly was too shocked to form words. "Or I'll just kill you for being mouthy," he growled, glaring at the other Uchiha.

There was a brief flash of surprise across Sasuke's face. He composed himself quickly and put his hand on his katana, ready to pull it out. Madara didn't have a weapon with him, apart for some kunai. Still, he was confident that he could take out this runt with just his hands and well-placed ninjutsu. It had been a while since he last had had a good fight and after all the stress he has had to go through ever since coming to the future a fight would be just what he needs to unwind.

"Stop! Just stop." Sakura shouted, standing much more firmly in between them. He hadn't even noticed that the distance between him and Sasuke had shortened. "You don't understand, I'm doing this for you, Sasuke-kun." Sakura turned to Sasuke, pleading. "I'm doing this so you can have a better childhood, so you don't have to suffer anymore."

The quiet that followed was crushing, the rush of the river was almost deafening.

"I don't need you to do things for me," Sasuke bit out through clenched teeth.

Sakura recoiled, bumping into Madara. "B-but...don't you want to be happy? Don't you want to be able to live in the village peacefully?" She got quieter. "Don't you want to be with me?"

"I can handle myself, I don't need you fixing my problems." His voice was cold and detached.

She deflated.

Sasuke sneered. "Is this why you're helping out this thing?"

"Okay, we're done here." Madara grabbed Sakura by her arm intending to drag her away if it was what it took to get her away from this cocky bastard.

Sasuke stepped in front of them in a flash. "If you believe that I'm just going to let you leave you are sourly mistaken." He drew his katana.

Madara eyed the weapon in distaste before slowly meeting Sasuke's eyes. "I'd gladly fight you, child, but she seems not to want that." He indicated towards Sakura who by all means had been put on mute, staring at the ground in a daze.

"It doesn't matter, her ideas sometimes are foolish."

Sakura clutched at his shirt and with a short glance at her, it was obvious she was fighting back tears. She hid her face from Sasuke. Madara was about to say something, but then Sakura ripped herself away from him and rushed into the sparse woods.

He frowned. This was so unlike Sakura, she didn't even argue back, just ran with a tail between her legs. And all of this because of one guy, a guy that seemed very eager to fight him.

"I've heard a lot of interesting things about you." He conversationally started, peering at the other Uchiha through his hair.

Sasuke didn't respond only activated his sharingan.

xxx

Sakura didn't know for how long she ran or where she was running to. Only when she tripped on a rock because of her blurry vision did she stop and unceremoniously drop on the ground. It was impossible to stop the sobs after that.

She was so stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Why did this always happen to her? She had been so certain that Sasuke had changed, that their relationship had changed. He'd been so sweet when he'd left the village and he had written her sweet letters. What changed? For some reason his brush off hurt way more than anything else in the past he had done to her. She felt like she was twelve again, waking up on that bench with the realization that Sasuke had completely brushed her off.

Sasuke had spit in her soul. She'd gone all through this, sacrificed her nerves, her self-respect to help him out, change something. But he threw it all back in her face. Was she really so wrong in helping Madara?

Her self-doubt crushed her even further when she remembered that Ino had been angry with her at her choice too. Though she had changed her mind. Maybe Sasuke will too?

She held onto that hope for a while, but the overwhelming doubt was stronger and she questioned every life choice she had made. Everything that had been piling up for weeks came out in a flood of tears.

Maybe she wasn't even a good medic. Maybe she got where she is only because of pity. Because people pity dumb little girls, right? What did she even amount to?

Nothing. Nothing at all.

Nobody liked her, they just pitied the weak little girl with a dumb crush. She was stupid, dumb…

Sakura cried harder, burying her face in her knees. What felt like hours she wallowed in self-pity, hugging her knees and rocking herself.

She raised her head only when she felt someone approaching. Part of her hoped that it would be a rouge-nin and put her out of her misery. It was Madara instead, looking a bit dishevelled. He had stayed behind with Sasuke. At that point she didn't want to know what had happened after she left, she couldn't bear thinking about Sasuke any longer.

"Am I a horrible person?" She sniffled, cleaning her runny nose on her arm.

Madara stopped before her, for all means trying to avoid looking at her face. "Why such a question?"

"Just answer it, please," she whispered, suddenly finding more interest in the texture of her knee guards.

He didn't answer for a while and the longer he didn't the more her fear of hearing something bad mounted. "No. Misguided sometimes, but you're not horrible."

"So you admit that I'm stupid, that I'm just a stupid little girl doing stupid things." The words fell out of her mouth frantically and her eyes blurred again.

Madara grimaced. "Now you're putting words into my mouth."

Sakura sprung up from the ground in a speed that made her dizzy for a while. "But you are thinking it, I know it. You've been calling me petulant and irritating and all those words and you're right. I am a horrible, shallow person, I can't do anything right." A sob escaped past her lips and a few tears rolled down her cheeks. She turned away from him, hugging herself. She didn't need to hear it from him, she already knew what he thought of her, it had been obvious from day one.

"What do you want to do with your future?"

The sudden question made her pause and tentatively turn back to him.

He was standing awkwardly as if he wanted to run from this conversation.

"W-what?"

Madara didn't repeat himself and instead stared her down with a neutral look.

Sakura swallowed and pivoted on her heel. She couldn't look at him. He reminded her so much of Sasuke and she couldn't bear to see judgement on his face. "I don't know. I don't want to think about it."

"Let me guess, you thought that you were going to marry him, have a family while being a successful doctor?" She didn't respond and he continued. "And now reality came crashing down on you."

Irritation built up in her and she spat, "Thanks for the observation, captain obvious."

He chuckled. "Ah, so she still is here."

The odd reaction cooled her off quickly. "What do you mean?"

"Your true self. It was fascinating to see how much you changed when in front of Sasuke." He was smirking like he'd just told a great joke.

She pursed her lips and muttered, "I don't change."

"But you did, you were like a different person. You were practically grovelling at his feet all vulnerable and pathetic."

Sakura didn't know how to dispute that and instead abruptly changed the topic. "Aren't you mad at me for using you?"

"I thought that it wasn't a secret that you were using me for personal gain. Don't think that I believed you when you preached about this being all for the good of the village."

"And you don't mind?"

"If I did I would have ditched you the first chance I got."

She smiled, shaking her head. The wind ruffled her hair and for the first time, she noticed how dark it had gotten. It was probably the best admission of him not minding her company she was going to get. Oddly it warmed her. It was like a little beacon of light in her pit of despair. He had been on her side when she'd been arguing with Sasuke and he hadn't left her alone when she had run. In his own way, he had been there for her. It wasn't perfect and it wasn't what brought her peace of mind, but it was enough to bring her some semblance of comfort. "You're not bad, Madara. I don't know what happened to you for you to change so drastically and decide to start a world domination plan. But never forget that you're a lot kinder than you think you are, you care and that's what makes you a good person."

The air suddenly got awkward and she realized what she had said. Her face warmed and she averted her gaze. She cleared her throat. "Anyway, we should keep moving." She cleaned her damp face with her gloves.

"Yeah." Came his bleated response. He eyed her for a moment like she was going to break down crying any moment again until he turned around and set their path.

Quietly she gathered her stuff and with a small smile followed him.

xxx

The last two days of travel towards Iwagakure were tense. Madara randomly kept throwing weird glances her way as if she was going to break down again any moment and she always glared in response. She had a good cry and a crushing realization that didn't mean that she was going to be weak like that all the time. They didn't speak much, just went through the motions. It wasn't like they had the time either. Most of it was spent trying to avoid Iwa shinobi, guards and covering their tracks so their tail from Konoha couldn't follow them.

Sakura got new respect for rouge-nin. Trying to avoid being detected and get closer to the village was exhausting. How the hell did these shinobi do this for most of their lives was a mystery to her.

Time was running out and she hoped to anything that's holy that Kurotsuchi will be nice enough to hear her out before things completely imploded. It was only a matter of time before Kiba caught onto them. She trusted Ino to divert his attention, but even that could go only so far.

The possibility to just ditch Madara now when her motivation to help him had been crushed by Sasuke crossed her mind. Though she wasn't that mean, she had stuck out for this long and ditching right before the finish line wasn't her style. And even then, she found herself actually wanting to help Madara and not because of some kind of lie to better the village or something. Simply just because she wanted to.

Even if Madara went back and did everything the same she'd be fine with it. Messing with time was dangerous and she'd rather have this life as it is than not have it at all. She'd rather look forward for once, not dwell on the past and try to better what she can at this moment.

I have so many conflicting thoughts about this story. I'm not gonna lie, at one point I wanted to drop this completely, since I feel like I'm doing something wrong with this, that my writing sounds pretentious, preachy and wrong. I also get the feeling that it's starting to become visible that I don't like MadaSaku anymore. I did debate with myself if I should seek out help and try to find out what's wrong with the story, maybe polish it up more or maybe I should just drop it completely and in order not to leave the few people that care about this hanging just post my outline/draft notes as a conclusion. In the end, I'm pushing on mostly for myself, mostly because I want to finish this idea properly. It might be lacklustre but by golly I 'ain't going to be a quitter no more.

I want to give a huge thank you to the people who stick with this story, who still comment, like you few are my lifeline when it comes to this.

I just realized that this fic essentially is a fix-it fic and I'm not a big fan of fix-it fics, I'd rather avoid them. But here I am writing one. Oh, the woes of planning a fic before you realize your own likes and dislikes.