UchiSaku Discord - Round Robin Fics - May 2023

Fic 3: Dragon Reaper (Obito x Sakura)

Prompt: “maybe the dragon needs saving”, “he set fire to the world around him but never let a flame touch her” and “A weapon? A monster? A child.”

A/N: Fantasy setting?

Rating: M
Squicks: ?

His breath caught in his throat.

She had been perfectly preserved in the stasis crystal; every rose-gold scale; every singed inch of leathery wing; every curl of her lip over her jagged, bloodthirsty teeth.

He’d never forgiven himself; knew she would never forgive him, either, probably. But it had been the only way to save her, to protect her, to hide her. He’d borne her fiery temper as he chained her with iron and sealed her inside the only crystal cavern on their world strong enough to possibly hold her. He’d not even known for sure it would work until the guild forced his hand, when they found out.

I’m sorry, thought Kakashi, staring up into her emerald eyes. He knew she could still see, could still hear, possibly could still feel through the layers of crystal. I promised him I would protect you. Protect both of you.

Obito had been his best friend; when he’d gone out to fight the guild, alone, he’d disappeared. Sakura had raced to follow him and forced Kakashi’s hand. He dared not release her until he knew Obito’s fate.

The beautiful, terrible, remorseless creature before him… he’d helped create it. And he had promised no more harm would come to her.

He winced, his hand slippery. The blood seeping from his side was finally slowing to a stop. He placed his red palm against the crystal wall, closed his eyes. Dizziness overcame him and he slipped to his knees, his head pressed against the crystal prison. The opal strung on a simple leather thong around his neck pulsed steadily and he breathed raggedly in relief.

“He’s still alive. I promise,” mumbled Kakashi to the dragon frozen in time, frozen in spell and curse. “I’ve sent for one of his kin to find him. I won’t leave you alone.”

But the one who came was not the one called.

When the man with the long, wild mane, the top half pinned up, arrived, he found Kakashi unconscious, listless against the crystal from magic exhaustion.

“See to him,” he ordered his retinue. “Ensure he receives adequate medical care. We may need him later.”

“No,” groaned Kakashi with a raspy voice. “Not yet. Not you.”

Madara ignored his protests. His party gathered Kakashi and carried him away in spite of his increasing protests.

In the silence of the last crystal chamber on earth, Madara looked up into the seething glare of the imprisoned Infernal.

“I understand that you do not trust me,” he said calmly. “But should you turn your fire upon me, you’ll never learn where your precious children are.” He watched the sentience flickering in her hard eyes, the intelligence scintillating behind them. “Do we have a deal?”

She couldn’t speak, of course.

Hn.

He raised his hand, watching her warily.

“I will help you find your husband. He may have been cast out by the Clan, but he is kin; through which, you both fall under Uchiha protection. But you must help me find something in return.”

Grateful for his fireproof, cinder-bone armour, Madara held the monster’s gaze and pressed a carefully folded paper to the crystal. After a few seconds, a channel appeared between his hand and her maw.

“What do you wisssssh?” asked Sakura, the Infernal, the Damned, the Dread.

“Upon safe return of your husband—”
“Safe, alive and well,” she interrupted.

“I can make no guarantee of his current state, but will support his continued existence in the healthiest terms possible,” agreed Madara. When she added nothing else, he continued. “Upon Obito’s safe return, I require that you provide me safe passage to and from a place, with the inclusion of an additional person upon return.”

“Where?”

Madara held her stare.

“The Deadlands… I will retrieve someone who was stolen from me.”

Her soft breath was hot and dry, buffeting his wild, inky hair around his shoulders.

“There isss no guarantee that passsssage can be made,” said the dragon thoughtfully; but he heard the sympathy behind her words and held firm to his hope. “But if it is possssible, you have my word.”

Something in her keen eyes captured him and he swallowed.

“Which of your kin?” she asked quietly.

“My brother, Izuna,” he answered.

“Younger brother,” murmured Sakura.

“Yes.”

The quiet stretched between them.

“Do you have any other conditttions?”

“None. You?”

Her steady attention raised his hackles and he forced himself to maintain his wide stance. Few bartered with dragons. Fewer still lived to tell the tale. How Obito and Sakura had come to form a relationship—with children, no less—fascinated and terrified Madara and the rest of his clan. The Uchiha may have cast Obito out, but none had dared trouble him since his mating with the creature that towered over Madara in the cavern, even with her imprisoned.

Which made it all the more sinister that Obito had disappeared. There was a creature out there who felt they could control, or kill, an Infernal. Madara could only hope that the dragon before him could outsmart whatever it was because Infernals were one of only three creatures that could pass to and from the Deadlands, potentially.

Finally, she breathed again, and delivered her answer.

“One,” she replied after a lengthy pause. “Your firstborn.”

“I have no children.”

“You will.” Her tone became silky. “Do we have a deal, Uchiha Madara?”

Madara froze. He hadn’t spoken his name.

Did he dare accept her offer?

(TBC?)