(Tim Seltzer, seltzer@seltzerbooks.com) Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do not own Wedding Peach.
I do not own any great quantity of money or property. I'm a STUDENT; that's
why I'm poor, okay?
Author's Notes: Very well, I shall answer some questions that
people have been bugging me about. But I'll give the indifferent readers
some slack and put the answers in the footnotes.
"Now let me get this straight," Sakura said. She and Potamos were seated
in the cafeteria of the stadium. "You want ME to tutor you in the Shinobi
Arts?"
"Well, yeah." Potamos bounced her two index fingers against each other.
"I'm trying to become a ninja. I was told that getting the training for
it was my best chance at controlling my aura for me, anyway. I tried
the martial arts school, but I hated it there..."
"WHY do you need to control your aura, though?" Sakura asked. "I mean:
I'm a human girl, so I need lots of control to use my small supply. But
you have more than you need."
"I have a lot, but that's my problem..." Potamos softly whined. "I can
handle it enough to make spells, but they don't... always work. Until I
get better in control, I can't go to the human realm and visit my uncle
who lives there. He raised me in the demon world, but then he had to go
to the human realm. So I ended up in Minerva, and he's stuck there until
he's done with whatever he's doing."
Sakura understood immediately. The human realm was off-limits to beings
who had too much ki radiating from them. If an excessive amount of aura
went off in the human world, Armageddon could erupt. Power-lines would
break; natural disasters could go off by accident; all sorts of chaos would
happen. Only those who could handle their spiritual energy were allowed
in. Any unqualified celestial who wandered into Earth would immediately
be caught by authorities, and sent back.
"So you train as a ninja, in order to get the skills to conceal your
spiritual energy," Sakura followed.
"Mmm hmm!" Potamos cheerfully replied. "I can throw weapons and all
that, but I fail in things like... hiding."
'Well, she's like Naruto to a certain extent,' Sakura thought to herself.
'Considering how badly I treated him at times, I really shouldn't turn
down this request...'
"But... I have to train, too, you know," the kunoichi said, a little
hesitant. "And our strengths are so different. You're trying to control
your extra chakra, yet I'm trying to gain mine."
The water-demon lowered her voice. "Wanna have some ancient scrolls
on those hand-seals you use? There are a few in the Ninja Mansion's library."
The kunoichi suddenly became very interested. 'Ancient scrolls?'
"As a guest, you can't go into the library but I can borrow the scrolls
as a student, and then hand them to you. Of course, if that's not good
enough--"
"I'll do it," Sakura resolved. 'SHAAAANNAROOOO!!'
Potamos squealed with delight. Just at that moment, a shadow fell over
Sakura.
"Sakura-san, where were you?" Minoru asked. His eyes fell on the person
sitting across the table, and his mouth opened in shock. "Oh, my, goodness..."
"Potamos and I are going to start training together," Sakura said with
a grin. "We can help each other in ninja stuff."
Minoru's tone was that of annoyance. "Sakura-san... The girl has no
blood-lust left, but "
"Hey!" Potamos complained. "Stop talking as if I wasn't here!"
"Why not?" Minoru coldly replied. "Up until now, you have held nothing
for Sakura-san except a thirst to eliminate her."
"I wasn't trying to eliminate her!" Potamos whined. "That was just battle-lust!"
"Blood-lust," Minoru corrected.
"Battle-lust!"
"Be quiet, both of you!" Sakura exclaimed. "Minoru-san, she has something
in the Ninja Mansion that I might find useful."
"90 percent of the people come out with injuries, on the FIRST DAY they
enter it," Minoru intoned.
"Duh!" Sakura and Potamos said in unison.
Minoru stared at the two girls. He then closed his eyes in frustration.
"I give up," the elf sighed. 'There's no arguing with two girls of the
same opinion,' he thought to himself, 'and I'm too old to even attempt
it.'
He had a feeling that this would end up in disaster. Sakura probably
wouldn't die but a disaster, nonetheless.
"Takurou-kun, when do you predict the next wormhole will appear?" Momoko
asked. "It's already been a while, and we have to see the state of the
Shinobi World..."
"If we let space-time take its natural course... It may not be for another...
four years or so," Takurou replied.
"FOUR YEARS?!" Yousuke mouthed out. What would he and Momoko say to
Sakura?
Takurou adjusted his glasses. "Don't get so nervous. There's something
we can do to speed up the entire process. If we can get enough energy to
force the right type of wormhole to open..."
"How much energy?" Momoko interrupted.
"Well... this much, to be exact," Takurou answered, as he clicked and
opened a file in his computer. He scrolled down to the bottom of the page:
Momoko clapped her hand over her mouth, and Yousuke simply let his hang
wide open.
"That would cost us a fortune!" Yousuke exclaimed. "Are you sure that
this much is needed?"
"Because I saved the data from the last dimensional exchange, I know
what kind of wormhole is needed for getting Sakura back to her world. Just
like a fingerprint, the exact wormhole to get to the exact dimension is
one identification marker."
"We just need a SOURCE for that amount of energy," Yousuke breathed.
"And we can't buy it."
"And it can't be from living people," Takurou warned. "This is different
from the individual energies that all beings have. What we need has to
be pure and raw."
"I know of such a source," Scarlett said. "The springs in the Rifts."
"Rifts you mean those places that are the borders of the realms?"
Momoko bit her lip. "Those areas are uncharted, Scarlett! Except for the
elvin villages, most of it is in martial law. Even a few countries of the
demon realm have more stability than those places."
"And it's impossible to map those areas, because they constantly change,"
Yousuke pointed out. "Such a mission for the sake of just one human girl..."
"No government in their right minds would sponsor it," Hinagiku scoffed.
"It would have to be done on a volunteer basis. And who would do such a
crazy trip?"
"Sakura would do it," Scarlett coolly answered.
Momoko was now very worried: what limits did Scarlett put on her daughter?
"Sakura is a good fighter, true, but I don't think she could handle something
like"
"Not in her present state," Yuri commented. She looked thoughtful. "But...
if Sakura undergoes six months of intensive training, she can visit those
energy-springs."
"But Sakura can't go alone!" Momoko exclaimed.
"Of course not," Scarlett replied. "She has made friends with the Elf
of the Vines, and Potamos as well. Mind you, I still have strong doubts
about the water-demon. But the elf HE is perfect for the job."
"Minoru, the elf who lives down the street?" Yousuke asked with surprise.
"I had no idea Sakura was hanging out with him. But Potamos... argh! I
know that she lost her memory when we resurrected her, but still..." Yousuke
visibly cringed.
"I don't like the idea, either," Scarlett huffed. "But the elf and the
water-demon are probably the only ones who would willingly do it. If it
were not for our responsibilities, we could do it ourselves..."
Momoko rubbed her eyes. "We'll have to look further into it later. Once
we have more information."
Sakura was chopping up green peppers over a cutting board. Her vision
was getting blurry. She took a couple of deep breaths. Her eyesight turned
clear, then fuzzy, and back again.
"Sakura, you look very pale," Mrs. Suzuki commented. "I think you're
sick; you're in no condition to help me."
"No... I... I can handle it..." Sakura wobbled as if she were intoxicated.
'Damn it, damn it, damn it!!'
The cook pulled the chopping knife out of Sakura's hand, and touched
her forehead. Mrs. Suzuki's eyes widened. "You're going to bed, young lady."
The older woman firmly grasped the girl's wrist. She dragged her out
of the kitchen and into Sakura's room. "Now you change into your pajamas
and lie in bed. Don't try to refuse, because I've already decided! You're
sick!"
Sakura sighed, and did as she was told. 'Well, I guess I don't want
to chop my own fingers off.' She staggered to the dresser-drawer. She pulled
out a night-shirt, and plopped herself down on the bed.
'Why do I feel so strange?' She had an enormous headache. It was different
from the pain when she first came into this dimension, so it probably had
nothing to do with chakra.
Sakura thought back to the morning. She made a quiet gasp. That pink
potion-drink that Minoru gave her. 'Did he... drug me?'
'THAT BASTARD! If he poisoned me I will haunt him as a ghost and
make his life a living hell!!'
Before she could think about it any further, she lost consciousness.
Half-dressed, her body fell onto the soft bedding.
Sasuke suddenly felt dizzy. Something was telling him to sleep which
was strange, because he had enough rest the night before. And the night
before that... and the night before that.
"I'm going to bed," he said gruffly. He put down his chopsticks next
to his half-finished meal. Orochimaru frowned, and Kabuto raised an eyebrow.
'Damn it,' he thought as he staggered through the hallway. 'This is
one hell of a push. Is there something wrong with my body? Do I have the
flu? No...'
He dropped onto the hard wood floor.
Notes:
Yes, I do plan to have Sakura come back home. This story will end when
Sakura arrived back at Konoha, and I might later make a sequel to it. That
means...
To Jade Eyes: go ahead with doing a one-shot. It might turn out to be
totally AU from what I plan in the story, but that's fine with me. It's
not uncommon for writers to write fanfiction on fanfiction. (Like how Guardian
of Stars wrote "Mercury's Paradox", a AU-sequel to KingofMercury's "Mercury
Twilight". If you're into Sailor Moon fanfiction, those two are the greatest.)
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please tell me! If
I suck, by all means tell me. In an intelligent manner.
Book
collections on CD and DVD. A library for the price of a book.