AN: We're back with our first Mada/Saku! Please enjoy the ride~

Chapter 1 - Atonement

He didn't quite understand what had happened. He knew he had been defeated, he knew his dream had shattered into nothingness like his resurrected body had. He'd welcomed the darkness of death, finally being able to let go and leave his torturous life behind seemed like the closest he would ever get to peace. But sinners don't receive peace. He knew that, but he couldn't help feeling angry when his peace was taken away and he was forced back to life in the form of his twenty-six year old self.

The Rikudo Sennin had decided he needed to atone for his sins and resurrected him back to the present, the only change being his age. His memories and injuries remained fully intact, it was part of his punishment.

"Atonement….heh," Madara scoffed as his eyes flickered open to see the Kage's and the Kyuubi container he'd previously been fighting looming over him. He closed his eyes again, blocking out their words and expressions of hatred. He could have easily fought them off but he let them chain and seal him. He had nothing to fight for anymore. His hatred was no longer a blazing fire, instead it had given way to smoking embers surrounded by despair and humiliation. He the great Uchiha Madara had been defeated. He really didn't see the point of a second chance. He didn't want such a foolish thing. Uchihas were above such pity.

The Uchiha grit his teeth as a bunch of ANBU dragged him unceremoniously across the rocky ground. He let himself fall into unconsciousness because it was the closest thing to death...to peace.

Sakura sighed as she rushed over to Naruto and Sasuke's side, her hands instantly glowing as she proceeded to heal them. She couldn't do much about their missing limbs immediately, but she could at least stop the bleeding. She'd known the fight between her two teammates was inevitable but it definitely did not make witnessing it any easier.

The pinkette bit her lip as her eyes focused on the unconscious forms of her teammates. She was so tired of war. She was sick of explosions, blood, severed limbs, screams of pain and moans of death. Everything was over now but her body refused to relax. Dark circles rimmed her brilliant green eyes, tiredness dulling their usual sparkle. She'd hardly gotten any sleep, grief and nightmares of war kept her up every night.

She had never quite been able to leave her emotions behind like most shinobi. Instead, her emotions had always fueled her fights. It was catching up to her now.

Two Months Later

Sakura smiled at the children that ran past her, caught up in their game of 'pretend shinobi'. It had been two months since the war and wounds were starting to heal. Nothing would ever be the same, but slowly the shinobi had picked up the pieces and started to rebuild Konoha. A light breeze ruffled the medic's pink hair and she paused for a minute, raising her face to the warm sunlight. People greeted her as they passed by, she was pretty famous now. She didn't really care for all the attention but it felt good to finally be acknowledged as a kunoichi. She was no longer weak. Pulling herself from her musings Sakura leapt onto a nearby rooftop and continued her path to the Hokage's office. It was the first time she'd been called back to duty after being given a leave of a couple weeks.

She'd received a scroll from an ANBU informing her that the Hokage, who was her previous sensei, and her shishou Tsunade, required her presence. Sakura's eyes narrowed.

'I wonder what they want to speak to me about...It had better not be about Naruto or Sasuke.' She thought, her right brow twitching in annoyance as she thought of her bickering teammates. 'I swear if they are fighting again-' Her thought abruptly ended as she entered the Hokage building.

Straightening her top, Sakura knocked on the door leading to the Hokage's office and entered.

"Hokage-sama," Sakura greeted, bowing her head respectively. Kakashi, who was seated behind the infamous desk gave her his signature one-eyed smile and waved his hand.

"Maa, Sakura just call me Kakashi-sensei...I won't be here long anyway," he said, causing Tsunade, who was standing to his right to smirk and nod,

"You sure as hell won't because Naruto is maturing fast, it won't be long before he's voted in by the council."

Sakura laughed, her eyes sparkling a little like old times.

"That's more like it," Kakashi drawled. He had been worried about his student. She'd lost all of the effervescent sparkle to her personality ever since the war. Sure, she was still sassy but she hardly laughed as much anymore. But he couldn't blame her. The war had taken a toll on everyone.

"Well, what did you and Tsunade-sama call me for?" Sakura asked, quirking a pink brow as she folded her arms. She wasn't at all pleased about being called off of leave.

"Ah, right…" Kakashi glanced over at Tsunade, eye-smiling at her as he hinted that she explained to Sakura why they had called her in. He really didn't want to be on the receiving end of the pinkette's explosive temper, which he was sure would come out when she was told the reason for her shortened leave.

Tsunade rolled her eyes at Kakashi's laziness and turned to Sakura, her expression firm.

"As you know Uchiha Madara was resurrected as a younger version of himself, and after interrogation we have found out that he maintains all his memories and injuries as well. You're the best healer we have, if I do say so myself, so we thought it would be fitting that you-"

Sakura's eyes widened in shock and a gasp escaped her lips, cutting off Tsunade's speech as she instantly put two and two together. The shock quickly dissipated leaving nothing but anger. They wanted her to be Uchiha Madara's personal healer?! That was the reason her leave got cut short? She was furious.

"From your expression I take it that you figured out the reason we called you here," Tsunade said quietly, her tone cautious as she waited for Sakura's anger to burst forth. She didn't have to wait long.

Sakura spun to face Tsunade, her green eyes flashing with rage as she smashed her fist into Kakashi's desk, demolishing the entire thing and creating large cracks in the floor.

"You called me off my leave to make me be that bastard Uchiha's medic?!" Sakura yelled, her chakra rising as she gritted her teeth. She couldn't believe the gall of her two teachers.

"After everything I went through because of him, you ask me to heal that monster? Do Naruto and Sasuke-kun even know about this?!" Sakura raised her fist to punch the wall but was stopped by Tsunade who held her wrist firmly in her own hand.

"Calm down Sakura," she said, her tone uncharacteristically gentle. "I know you hate him, I do too, heck he tried to destroy the entire world. But it is our duty as medics to heal the injured, plus the counsel ordered it, so you have no choice but to obey…"

Sakura's hand fell to her side in defeat. She knew it was pointless to argue any further.

"But why do they want him healed?" She asked quietly, green eyes tired and worn.

"They haven't told us that either," Kakashi answered, his visible eye narrowed. "But we are investigating the matter, because its highly likely that they want to use him as a weapon of some sort."

"What?" Sakura snapped, her temper flaring again. "And you still want me to heal him? Hasn't anyone learned from the war? When will we stop with this human-weapon mentality? Do they really think he will just follow along with their little plan?" Angry tears pooled in Sakura's eyes as her hands shook. She had been on the frontlines of the war. She knew the horrors of it all. And now she was being instructed to heal one of the main instigators of that war? This was ridiculous.

"You didn't let me finish," Kakashi continued, his voice weary and his countenance suddenly appearing ten years older. "We won't just stand by and let the counsel do whatever they want, the allied shinobi forces wouldn't either. He needs to be in a good condition for us to properly interrogate him and right now, he is the furthest thing from that."

Sakura sighed, clenching her fists as she nodded in defeat and acceptance. She knew Kakashi had a point but she hated the very thought of healing the man that had put her and her teammates and fellow shinobi through so much terror. But this was the life of a shinobi. She had no say in the grand scheme of things, she could only follow orders given to her. Dammit.

"Fine. When do I start? And where are his medical records? I assume you had medics check up on him before?" Sakura snapped out, her medic training instantly falling into place. Both Kakashi and Tsunade sighed in relief at the pinkette's acceptance and the slug summoner nodded.

"Yes a medic team lead by myself did a basic diagnostic of his condition," Tsunade answered, reaching inside her coat for a sealed scroll which she unsealed. She handed the folder that was inside to Sakura. "That's the report of his overall condition and it would be good if you could start the healing process now. All the required equipment has been moved to his cell at the interrogation headquarters."

Sakura nodded as she flipped through the papers, her brain assessing the information full of medical garb and terminology. A tiny sliver of concern flickered through her when she saw how bad his condition was, but it disappeared as soon as it came. She hated her medic sympathy sometimes. But she couldn't help but feel concern when anyone was hurt.

The Uchiha had severe damage to his internal organs but the main issue was his chakra pathways. They had been severely damaged and needed regeneration, and some of them were so damaged they had become obsolete and would need to be artificially replaced. The areas around the pathways had also obtained chakra burns which would make him susceptible to chakra burn diseases and fevers. Currently, the dead chakra pathway cells were beginning to rot, putting several of the Uchiha's organs in danger of becoming necrotic.

Sakura sighed, his condition was terrible. His chakra had also been sealed for imprisonment purposes so it could not perform its natural healing abilities, this made her job even harder.

"Well it looks like I have a lot of work to do," Sakura said as she folder the papers and placed them in her pocket. "I'll be leaving now then."

Tsunade and Kakashi nodded in acknowledgement and the pinkette bowed before leaping through the window, speeding over the rooftops towards the interrogation headquarters.

"Do you think she can complete this mission without killing him?" Kakashi drawled as he watched Sakura's retreating figure through the window. Tsunade shrugged and chuckled.

"We'll see, but I have faith in Sakura."

Sakura quickly stopped by the hospital to pick up her white medic coat before heading to the IT headquarters. She nodded to the ANBU stationed outside of the dark building before stepping inside, taking the lift down to the underground organization.

As she stepped out of the lift she was greeted by a brown haired shinobi.

"Ah Sakura-sama, you're here. I take it Tsunade-sama informed you of the task?"

She was called Sakura-sama now because she'd been made the head of the konoha hospital and medic association.

Sakura nodded and the man smiled politely at her. She didn't miss the once over he gave her though and her eyebrow twitched. She wasn't in the mood for any flirtations.

"Ah this way Sakura-sama," the shinobi said nervously when he sensed Sakura's agitation. He led her through the maze of hallways inside of the interrogation headquarters to the very base of the building where only the most powerful prisoners were kept.

Sakura suppressed a shiver as they trecked through the dark hallways lit only by torches. The entire atmosphere of the place reeked with suffering, torture and other unspeakables. The stone walls were damp and some sections of it were covered in soft moss. Though all the cells they passed were empty, she couldn't help but feel as though the previous inhabitants were still watching her from behind the thick bars.

Sakura pulled herself back to the present and noted that the shinobi had stopped in front of a large iron door by which four masked ANBU stood. They saluted silently before making way for Sakura and her guide.

The pinkette raised her brow skeptically.

"This is where they are keeping the great Uchiha Madara?" she asked, her tone a bit more scornful than she'd intended.

Her guide chuckled quietly. "Don't be fooled Sakura-sama, this is the highest security prison. It may look simple but the seals and jutsus on it make it almost impenetrable...even for someone as great as Uchiha Madara."

Sakura nodded, but she couldn't shake the butterflies that had begun to writhe in her stomach. She couldn't deny that she was a little scared. She knew he was restrained and had no chakra and was too weak to do anything to her.

But he was an Uchiha, and they tended to defy the odds.

And, the burden of the interrogation team actually getting anything out of the mad Uchiha lay on her shoulders. If she made even a tiny mistake, he could die, and … that simply would not do.

So she was a little scared. Not that she would let him know that.

"Well, I'm not allowed to enter so you will have to go in on your own," the guide said apologetically, before ordering the ANBU to release the seals on the door so she could enter.

Sakura put on her surgeon's mask and adjusted it comfortably over her mouth and nose. The last thing that she wanted was for his necrotic, diseased blood to touch her mouth or get in her nose. An added benefit of the mask was that the interior was scented, which would grant her a slight reprieve from the stench of the cell.

Clenching her fists to hide the trembling in her hands, Sakura nodded and swallowed hard before stepping through the dark doorway. Her breath caught in her chest when the door slammed shut behind her. She was was in the devil's lair...alone. Even though she'd been given an emergency seal that would go off if Madara tried to attack her, the pink haired medic felt far from safe.

Gathering her wits, Sakura sucked in a deep eucalyptus-scented breath, her eyes adjusting to the dark surroundings as she looked around. A short hallway stood before her, leading into a medium sized enclosure from which she could hear the familiar hum of medical machines. She squared her shoulders and stepped forward, making her way through the hall and into the room.

The room was filled with medical equipment as Tsunade had promised and torches lit the walls, along with a few scattered light bulbs which provided a bit more light in the dim chamber. They'd obviously been installed because of her though, because the generic torches in the chamber did not provide enough light to carry out medical procedures. As Sakura's eyes scanned the room her eyes finally fell on the only other occupant of the dank cell and her mouth went dry.

Uchiha Madara.

He was sitting in the darkest corner of the cell, his wrists, ankles and neck collared and chained to the wall behind him. His arms rested on his knees and his head was bowed, long shaggy black hair curtaining his face and body. She could tell he hadn't been given access to any sort of hygienic care because she could smell his stench from across the room.

She was impressed that he could still find the strength to sit up when he was in such a terrible condition. Even from where she stood she could see his oozing contusions and swollen wounds. The infection in his medical report had obviously progressed in the short time, no doubt due to his lack of chakra. Usually, chakra would dissolve some of the bacteria that festered in infections, helping shinobi to heal faster, but that benefit had been denied Madara, and so his condition was progressing faster than even a civilian's would, since they would not have internal chakra damage in the first place.

Shaking her head slightly, Sakura mustered up all of her courage and strode across the room to the corner where the Uchiha sat. She clenched her fists tighter and cleared her throat, forcing herself to speak.

"I am Haruno Sakura and I will be your medic until you are fully healed. You have no choice but to cooperate with me." She couldn't stop her voice from wavering slightly in fear. As much as she hated it she was afraid of the powerful and ruthless Uchiha.

She stood tensed as she waited for his response. A minute passed before there was any sort of acknowledgement from him. He slowly raised his head, eyes cracking open to look up at her. She expected to see a ruthless snarl, an evil leer or something along those lines but in the black eyes that met her green ones she saw nothing. They were hollow, unfocused and dull. His skin was pale against his dark hair, and his face which looked just a bit younger than when she'd faced him during the war, was drawn and dirty. Even though his chakra was sealed she could still sense his powerful aura, but its power was different. The edge of its searing hatred had diminished, leaving nothing but despair and emptiness. His skin was a sickly pale colour and she could tell just breathing was a task for him, even though he tried to hide it. Dark circles ringed his eyes and his lips were chapped and cracked from dehydration and dried blood stained its surface.

So this was what a broken Uchiha looked like. The sight didn't make her feel as triumphant as she thought it would have.

He surveyed her for a little longer before turning away once again, letting out only a rasped sound of acknowledgement.

"Hn."

Madara tensed slightly when he heard the door to his cell open. He wasn't really in the mood to deal with the arrogant konoha weaklings that called themselves shinobi. He was only in the cell because he saw no point of getting out. He had no where to go and nothing to achieve. He was now without a purpose and he hated every moment of it. He despised every breath he took and every beat his heart made. He didn't know how to act or think now that everything had been taken from him. He felt hollow, numb and lifeless. He'd felt more alive when he was just an edo tensei shell than this living breathing younger version of himself.

And then there was the pain. Sweet Kami, he had never sustained so much pain in a long time. The last time something hurt even close to this was when Izuna died, and, once again, there was nothing he could really do about it. As a matter of fact, there was even less he could do about it now. With Izuna's incident he could have at least taken the path of revenge.

The Uchiha found himself being pulled out of his musings by a high pitched female voice. A little smirk curved his lips. He could tell she was afraid of him, which she should be, because he was the great Uchiha Madara. He was pleased that she had enough sense to know her place, unlike some of the other dimwitted Konoha maggots that thought that because he was in chains he was weak. If only they knew he was in chains simply because he chose to be. He refused to admit that he was too injured to move and that breathing was extremely hard… and painful.

Deciding he wanted to see what she looked like he raised his head to survey her. It was a waste of effort, since she was wearing a face mask. Well, now that his vision had focused, maybe it was not quite a waste, since certain marking features were revealed. It was obvious that her green eyes were purposely hardened, and even that couldn't hide their elusive shimmer… or was that just the reflection of the lights?

If he was in the mood, disdain would have filled his face. She had pink hair. What a pathetic excuse for a shinobi. But then again she wasn't an Uchiha so he guessed it was acceptable. The more he looked at her was the more it grew on him. She seemed vaguely familiar but he shrugged it off, not caring to remember where he'd seen her from. It was probably during the war. But he did wonder why he hadn't killed her if he had indeed met her in the war. But how did she expect to attempt anything resembling stealth with that hair? For the sake of mentally snarling, Madara conveniently forgot about the basics of stealth… which had nothing to do with a person's looks.

He turned away from her dismissively, grimacing from the searing pain that came with the slight movement. He hoped she would just leave, he didn't feel like being in the presence of any inferiority.

Sighing Sakura knelt down, ignoring the shivers of fear that raced down her spine. She wrinkled her nose at his stench and decided against running the diagnostic scan she was going to do. He needed to be sanitized first.

Sakura rose and moved over to the switch on the adjacent wall. Pushing the lever, she watched as Madara was raised into a standing position, his chains holding him in place. He wasn't strong enough to stand, but Sakura was not going to risk holding him while she cleaned him. Satisfied with his position, arms outstretched at his sides, Sakura made her way to the small sink that had been put in the cell for her use and filled a basin with water. She grabbed a rag and set it beside the basin at his feet. He didn't acknowledge her presence or the basin.

She really did not want to wash the Uchiha bastard who'd literally tried to destroy her world, but it was her job and she was all about being professional. Besides, cleaning him would make the whole process easier on her, as she could really do without having his current stench to contend with.

"Uchiha-san, as you are in no condition to move around, I will have to wash your body in order to remove the dirt before I can start healing you," Sakura informed the man before her, her tone sharp with professionality even though her hands still trembled with fear.

Madara didn't respond but his dark eyes were intensely fixated on Sakura's profile.

He wondered how long she could go without giving him a reaction.

After making sure the water was of the right temperature, Sakura proceeded to methodically wash away the dirt on the Uchiha's shoulders. Her hands were still shaking slightly and she wanted nothing more than to punch him but her medic instincts took over, forcing her to be professional and methodical.

As she scrubbed away the initial dirt, Sakura couldn't help but notice the amount of scars that littered his body, showing the numerous battles he'd been in. She scrubbed along his jawline and down his back, trying her best to ignore the dark eyes that followed her every movement. She rinsed out the rag and started again at his chest. She was making no effort to be particularly gentle, other than the care she took not to make his wounds any worse than they already were; she would have to repair the damage herself anyway. She felt him flinch beneath her touch, but when her eyes flickered up to his face, his expression was blank and his dark eyes hollow.

Sakura paused when she reached the Uchiha's groin, forcing herself not to look any further down. Seriously, sometimes her job sucked.

Seeing her pause, Madara smirked, his lips turning upwards.

"Have you not seen a man's naked form before, medic?" he asked snidely, his voice deep and dark. "Or do you perhaps like what you see?"

Sakura wanted to punch him. However, she refused to let him get a rise out of her, she was determined to remain professional.

"The thing I see the most is naked men," Sakura replied smoothly, clutching to her professionalism with all she had. "That in no way means I'm interested in touching you there," Sakura added, unable to resist saying something that reflected how much fun she was not having.

When the pinkette resumed scrubbing at his skin, a little rougher this time; Madara frowned in confusion.

He didn't understand her reaction. Had she just dismissed his manliness?

Whatever it was, he wasn't pleased. This inferior medic had no right sassing an Uchiha, especially not one as great as him.

Straightening, Sakura stood and proceeded to change the water in the basin, which had become dark with filth. After refilling it, she stalked over to Madara and unceremoniously dumped the entire thing over his head.

"Your hair also requires cleaning, I do not want any bacteria polluting your wounds once I begin healing," Sakura said simply, internally revelling in the shocked expression on the Uchiha's face. She approached him with antibacterial shampoo and then paused to look at him with a calculating expression.

"I should actually shave your hair…" she murmured, contemplating the option. "It might help to-"

"Don't you dare touch my hair medic," the Uchiha rasped, his battered muscles rippling.

"I will have to. As it is, I have no idea if you've sustained injuries to your he-"

"I have not," he interrupted.

"But-"

"Lay even the shine of a blade to my hair and I will commit suicide," he growled,his eyes smouldering dangerously as he cut her off yet again. He actually sounded remarkably vibrant, all things considering. Sakura blinked. She would use his hair to blackmail him later. She hid her smirk behind a professional smile.

"Fine. I will just wash it then," she responded, squeezing some of the shampoo directly onto his head. She was definitely going to allow some of the suds to get in his eyes.

"Hn."

Sakura massaged the shampoo into his hair and grimaced at the dark brown colour of the suds… what little suds there were anyway, because his hair was so filthy it barely even generated any suds at all.

On the fifth round of washing, Sakura allowed copious amounts of suds to drain down into his face. He shifted uncomfortably when the shampoo reached his eyes, but Sakura ignored him.

"Medic," he said after a few moments of her gleeful scrubbing of his head.

"Yes?" she returned calmly.

"The soap…" he ground out weakly.

"What about it?" she asked, not ceasing her actions.

"It burns." Sakura didn't respond, and continued raking her nails over his scalp. A few moments later, he spoke again.

"Did you not hear me?" Sakura paused at the question.

"I heard," was all she said in response.

Knowing he was too proud to mention his burning eyes again, Sakura continued to leisurely wash his hair. She rinsed it out and put it in a topknot before bathing him again with disinfectant soap.

When she turned around to retrieve a towel and clothing, Sakura allowed a small but satisfied smirk to show on her face. She'd be damned if she let the bastard get to her.

Wordlessly Sakura placed the towel over Madara's head and ran through his hair, drying it as thoroughly as possible. She really didn't want him to catch pneumonia and then have that to heal on top of everything else. She couldn't care less about how it would affect him, but it would definitely cause more work for her, which she didn't want. Sakura reached for another towel and placed it around the Uchiha's shoulders before rubbing his body gently with it to dry him off. Pushing a light glow of warm chakra to her palms, she ran her hands over his skin to evaporate the excess moisture the towel would not remove.

She put the gown over his head and tied it under his arms and at his hips. When she released his shackles, he slumped against her, his legs unable to hold his weight. Knowing how much it might hurt his pride but not exactly caring, Sakura put her hands behind his knees and under his arms and scooped him into her arms. Being the proud man he was he tried to stop her, but could barely manage to lift his hand. She carried him princess-style to the cot and rested him in it before shackling him to the furniture.

Madara couldn't believe the nerve of the pink haired gnat. She dared to throw water on him, the Uchiha Madara? And then she had lifted him like a… like a woman and carried him to the bed as if he was… he could scarcely complete the thought. His eyes narrowed and he motioned to activate his Sharingan, only to have a burning sensation rip through his eyes, temporarily rendering him blind.

His chakra was sealed.

He grunted in annoyance and tried to resist her attempts to examine him. He did not want her help. However his pride was no match for his injuries and when the waves of indescribable pain coursed through his body his hand went limp. For now he would have to accept her help.

'This must be another form of my punishment,' Madara thought bitterly. Still, when she leaned over him to take his vitals, and her cherry-blossom scent filled his senses, Madara came to it that this tiny medic interested him.

'How interesting...' he thought before slipping into unconsciousness from the exertion his battered body had gone through when Sakura had cleaned him.

AN: hehe reviewww reviewww and a surprise shall be bestowed upon you~~