AN: Tanaa! You didn't expect this did you?! Mwahaha! Lol I didn't expect it either. I hadn't intended to work on ANL for now, but the reviews on Invisible Uchiha suddenly inspired me and so I became a slave to the plot bunnies. I won't be updating this story as often as Invisible Uchiha...I think...but anyhow here is the first chapter of the long awaited sequel to TTC. Also just a light citrus warning! Enjoy~

A New Leaf (Path)

Chapter 1 - Starting Over

The stillness of the night could have been mistaken for peacefulness, but it wasn't. It was far too stagnant, much too heavy to be considered in such a light blissful manner.

Madara stirred on the simple futon he slept on, sweat beading on his forehead. The heaviness of the night weighed directly on his chest and Sakura's absence made it even worse. She'd had to stay late at the hospital to attend to an urgent matter, and so he'd been left to sleep alone. But without her there was no sleep.

The eventide's stillness pressed on, forcing itself down onto Madara. It was getting hard to breathe. He struggled, forcing his eyes to open against the blackness only to be met with more darkness. Not the darkness of an unlit room like he should have seen, but the empty pitch black space of a dream, of another dimension.

Footsteps sounded through the darkness and it slowly parted to reveal a familiar face. Hashirama.

"Madara you've disappointed me...I told you not to waste your chance, to embrace the new path and yet still you decided to manipulate Konoha…"

Madara's eyes widened. How had Hashirama found out about his plans? Wasn't he dead? And where was this place he kept meeting him in?

"This...it's none of your concern Hashirama," Madara bit out, but his words didn't quite reach his eyes and a bitter taste coated his tongue.

Hashirama sighed, shaking his head sadly before straightening, face set sternly.

"The Rikudo Sennin and I didn't resurrect you forever, Madara. We didn't give you a second chance only to have you manipulate and use Konoha as a chess piece. You have done enough of that already."

Madara frowned, opening his mouth to retort, but Hashirama held up a hand, silencing him.

"Now that your body has healed your time is running out. You don't have much longer before you return to death. So use your time wisely, or pay the consequences."

Madara's eyes snapped open, body jolting upright in the futon. Had Hashirama been a dream? No, it had felt too real.

It had been real.

The Uchiha raised a shaking hand to his face, jaw clenched with emotion. His thoughts were raging inside of him, crashing against the rocky shores of his skull. He hadn't been resurrected for good. His time was limited.

Sakura. Did this mean he would have to leave her behind?

Madara's stomach clenched at the thought, and bile rose in his throat.

He felt sick. Sick at the thought of losing Sakura, sick at the fact that he'd become so dependent on her. The Uchiha suppressed a shudder, drawing one leg up to rest his head against his knee. This was not how he'd planned things to go.

Uchiha Madara's plans rarely ever failed...however it seemed as though that is all they could do lately. Madara let out a bitter laugh.

Now he had to choose. He had to choose between his pride and Sakura. He wanted to choose his pride, it was what he would have done before. It was ingrained into his very character. Yet still, he found himself unable to picture anything but green eyes. Green eyes he knew he couldn't marr with anymore blood.

Green. The colour was quickly becoming the one thing that held him together. Before it had been the red of blood and the black of hatred, but now it was all viridian.

A jaded smile twisted Madara's lips and a humourless chuckle started in the back of his throat, growing until he was full on howling. He grabbed his hair, fisting the dark locks between his fingers.

He couldn't not choose her. And he hated every minute of it.

The creaking of the front door jarred Madara from his numbed trance. He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting in the darkness, but it had been pitch black, with not even the moon gracing him with its light. But he was used to the darkness.

Footsteps pattered across the wooden floor, and small sandaled feet stopped in front of Madara. A soft breeze filtered through the open window and in with it danced the missing moonlight. The silvery glow flooded the room, parting the thick darkness.

She had returned.

Madara looked up, dark eyes meeting green ones. He didn't say anything, he didn't have to. Sakura could sense the turmoil within him. She wordlessly slipped off her sandals, lowering herself to the futon, resting on her knees as she pulled him into her arms. For a brief moment Madara stiffened, then his body relaxed as he buried his face in the crook of Sakura's neck.

He tried to focus on the feel of her small hands moving up and down his back and twining themselves into his hair. But he couldn't erase the pressure in his chest.

"Hate me," Madara gritted out, voice hoarse and rough against his throat.

A small sigh escaped Sakura's lips and her hands stilled.

"What are you going on about again?" she asked quietly, tiredness evident in her soft voice. She was too exhausted for this, but she couldn't turn him away and she wouldn't.

"You have to hate me," Madara repeated. "Hate me with every fibre of your being. Break and crush me...make me hurt as much as you do. Then maybe...maybe I won't be able to choose you."

A lump formed in Sakura's throat, and her hands began to tremble. Hate him? She was no longer capable of doing that, even if she wanted to, which sometimes she did. But she couldn't, she'd seen the hurt and darkness in him, she'd seen how broken he was.

"You are already broken, you have already been crushed and hurt. Now it is time for you to heal, to mend and live."

Sakura pulled away, her hands moving from Madara's back to his shoulders, then coming to rest on either side of his face. A piece of her heart crumbled when the moonlight flickered across his face. He looked utterly spent. There were dark circles underneath his eyes, which were full of turmoil, yet hollow at the same time.

What had happened while she was gone? It wasn't the first time she'd seen him like this, but it was the first in a while. She'd thought he had been getting better.

Sakura moved closer, her lips brushing against Madara's chapped ones. He made a hoarse noise in the back of his throat, his hand coming up to close around her wrist.

"Don't," he said hoarsely, turning his head away. Her heart caught against her ribs.

When Sakura didn't reply, and Madara heard her breath catch in her throat, he scrambled to explain. His lips twisted bitterly in the dark as he realized how much he'd fallen. He was now desperate to explain his actions to her, afraid to hurt her.

"I don't know if I am able to hold back…." Madara continued, his voice low and rigid with emotion. For a moment it was silent, the only sound being the rustle of the breeze between the trees. Then Sakura answered, and if he hadn't been waiting for her reply, he would have missed the soft, almost whispered words.

"You don't need to."

That was all he needed to hear, and the pressure in Madara's chest was released, spreading through his body and dissipating.

"Foolish girl, you should be hating me," he whispered, his voice giving away nothing, but his dark eyes glimmered in the night. Madara's lips crashed against Sakura's, his tongue intertwining desperately with her own. His hands fisted into the back of her top as he moved his lips almost harshly against hers.

He couldn't stop. And he didn't want to. He wouldn't stop until she destroyed him, until she crushed him into the nothingness he'd been resurrected from. But she'd said she couldn't...that she wouldn't.

So he wouldn't stop, he wouldn't let her go.

Madara released Sakura's lips, moving down to the crook of her neck. He gently bit down on the soft flesh, heat rising within him when Sakura let out a soft moan. His tongue laved over the now tender skin, before his mouth settled onto it, suckling softly. He slipped his fingers beneath the hem of Sakura's top, his calloused fingers leaving trails of heat along the skin of her torso.

A raging hunger consumed Madara and he captured Sakura's lips again, briefly sinking his lips into the ample flesh of her bottom lip. He released it, just before blood was drawn, and slid his tongue over her own. A soft gasped escaped Sakura's lips when his large hands slipped underneath her bra, his thumbs brushing over her hardened nipples.

Sakura shuddered when Madara tugged her top over head with one hand, while his other unhooked the clasp of her bra, leaving her chest exposed to the frigid night air. He released her lips again to nip at the hollow of her neck, peppering her skin with desperate kisses as he made his way downward.

Sakura kneaded her fingers against Madara's scalp, her back arching slightly when his mouth latched onto one of her breasts. She could feel his desperation in the way his lips moved against her, it was as though he wanted to consume her; not just her body, but her soul, her entire being.

"M-Madara?" Sakura breathed, her breath hitching with pleasure and her heart storming within her chest.

"Hn," he grunted against her, the vibrations from his voice sending tingles skittering across her skin. He moved lower still, tongue dipping into the sink of her navel, his hands following lower, thumbs rubbing against her pelvic bones.

"You should hate me," he murmured, stilling for a moment to tilt his head up to look at her. Sakura sighed again, shaking her head sadly, her pink hair brushing against her shoulders.

"It's not like I didn't at one time...but now I don't...I can't," she said weakly, flashing Madara a tender, sad smile. She smoothed his hair away from his face, hands trailing down to cup his cheek. He wearily closed his eyes, pressing his face into the smoothness of her palm.

The darkness was bearable now. She'd saved him without realizing, perhaps without even meaning to.

Madara's eyes flickered open again, his gaze staring directly into Sakura's, the raw need in them causing heat to pool between her legs.

"I want you," he said simply, his voice thick with need and maybe even a hint of embarrassment. He was not used to asking for things, nor stating his deepest desires. But somehow Sakura made him do just that. A small smile quirked Sakura's lips and her tired eyes sparkled with a sudden playfulness. She reclined onto the futon, pulling Madara down on top of her.

"Then take me," she whispered.

And he did.

Sakura's lids grew heavier and heavier as she stared up at the ceiling, unable to make out much in the darkness. Madara's arms were wrapped securely around her, his head resting on her bare torso as he slumbered peacefully. A small blush heated the pinkette's cheeks when she glanced down, running her hands through Madara's slightly sweaty hair as her mind slipped back to their lovemaking just minutes before.

He'd consumed her. Begging her to run away from him, then to destroy him. And when she'd refused he'd clung to her, moving deep within in her as he tried to pull her light into him. She'd met his thrusts, their bodies slick with sweat as they climaxed together.

He'd mumbled her name over and over against her ears, his hands digging into her sides almost painfully. And she'd told him she loved him again. The two words had stilled him, quieting the hunger within him, and he'd pulled her closer, refusing to pull out from within her. And when he'd whispered brokenly in her ears, she knew it then.

It was his way of saying he loved her. It was as close to love as his scarred soul could get. And Sakura knew that with time he'd come to know true love felt like. In fact, she felt that he already knew it, but the darkness inside him held him tightly within its grip, refusing to allow him to recognize the emotion for what it was.

He'd hissed that he didn't deserve her love, and she disagreed. He said he wasn't capable of loving, that he fallen too far. A couple months before, she would have agreed, but now she knew better. And so she'd simply hugged him closer.

She knew he couldn't fight it any longer. He loved her, and maybe, just maybe it would be enough to redeem him.

AN: Annd thats a wrap for chapter 1! It's not very long I know T_T but I felt like it didn't need to be much longer. Anyway read and review please! Be sure to check out Invisible Uchiha for more MadaSakua action ^_^ Thank you for the amazing response so far! This is my token of appreciation!