Testing Fate: A MadaSaku Love Story

Chapter 13

'I killed someone. I'm a murderer. Sure, Danzo was a monster, but to personally pull the trigger.... How do people do this and not go insane?'

Sakura's hands shook heavily as she washed them in Madara's bathroom, getting ready to pull out bullets and apply first aid to herself and the Uchiha man. Her eyes lifted to the mirror to confirm her suspicions. The makeup Karin had done was waterproof, so it still appeared nearly flawless despite the graze on her cheek that dripped blood down her jaw and neck. Deep red also dirtied parts of her loose hair, the curls from earlier beginning to fade.

The look on her face adequately advertised instability. Green eyes darted anxiously, unable to focus on one thing for long.

'Get it together, girl. You can process all this when you're done treating everyone's wounds. Until then, choke it back. Shove it down.'

Taking a slow, deep breath, Sakura reopened her eyes, nodded once at her reflection, and grabbed the large box of supplies she'd scrounged up before entering Madara's bedroom, where the man sat on the edge of his bed with an expression that told her was likely to disappear the moment he could walk on his own.

Sitting the box down, the woman cut the leg of his pants so she'd have access to the bullet wound there. Rather than stop at his sleeve, she also cut the entire shirt off. Neither spoke as she used the freshly sanitized tweezers to dig the bullets out; the Uchiha didn't make a peep though it had to be incredibly painful.

Ino had taken a quick shower, changed clothes, and left to be rid of the vehicle they used as a getaway car. With Madara's instruction, she'll run it into a small lake across town so evidence like fingerprints or blood would be washed away should the vehicle be discovered. She'll get a taxi back to the apartment once the deed is done.

A wave of dizziness overcame Sakura when she was stitching the final wound on Madara's bicep. It had to be due to blood loss and having not eaten in over twenty-four hours, but she had to endure because there was no time to pause.

Suddenly, a flash of Danzo's dead face came across the woman's vision, and her breath hitched, body freezing and eyes widening.

'Why am I so terrified? He's gone. He's not coming back. I know that.'

"Breathe, Sakura."

She snapped out of her daze to realize her hands shook like they'd been in the bathroom earlier. Breathing deeply, Sakura willed her body to obey and returned to the stitching without responding to Madara.

Fifteen minutes later, he was finished, and the woman wordlessly cleaned up her mess as he excused himself to take a quick shower.

In the mirror attached to the man's dresser, Sakura re-sterilized the tweezers before beginning the tedious and excruciating process of removing the bullet from her arm. A gasp left her lips the moment the tool touched the wound. It hurt much more than she'd anticipated. Teeth grit, Sakura forced herself to continue.

'How did Madara sit there and take this pain without reacting?'

Hot tears flooded her vision, making seeing what she was doing even harder. Feeling more stressed by the second, her chest heaved as she angrily wiped at her face before returning to her task, only for more tears to blur it again.

"Stop fucking crying...." she hissed at herself angrily.

Speaking aloud seemed to help, so she mumbled to herself like a mantra in a panicked voice as she worked, "Stop. Stop. ...Fucking stop...."

"Sakura, let me do it."

Her eyes glanced up at the mirror to see Madara standing behind her, a look of apparent concern on his features. Overwhelmed and irritated by her inability to keep it together, she gritted her teeth and returned to her wound. The further the tweezers dug into her arm, the hotter the area felt with pain, and the faster her breath and tears came.