(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: Thank you, faithful readers, for telling me of
glitches in my martial arts knowledge! (Actually, for 'wooden sword', "boukutou"
is the archaic term, and "bokken" is the more modern one. So it really
doesn't matter... but thanks to the reviewer who pointed this out!) I'm
only using an encyclopedia on martial arts... So for those readers who
see mistakes, please speak up!
"Winner: Angel Amaryllis!"
The crowd cheered. The fights in the tournament were turning intense.
Minoru read and re-read the program. He had arrived just minutes ago
for Sakura's second match. Nothing had prepared him for what he saw in
the line-up. 'Damnation!' he thought. 'Of all the people she could have
gone with before Potamos... Okay, so she defeated Cardella. But the maniac
she's up against doesn't even know his own strength. He'll burn her to
a crisp if she doesn't know how to handle him!'
He walked the stadium's hallways, and ended up in front of the room
in which the finalists waited for their matches. The elf stepped up to
its registration desk and addressed the angel secretary. "Please let me
talk with Haruno Sakura," he demanded.
"I'm sorry, my lady," the receptionist replied. "Unless it's an emergency,
nobody except the entrants, medics, and officials are allowed in."
"This is an emergency," Minoru said, trying with all his might to keep
his voice calm and smooth.
"Care to explain what it is?" the other asked. The secretary's face
slowly became darker, and a tiny frown traced her lips.
"There's an insane freak up against her!" Minoru exclaimed.
"THEY ARE ALL INSANE FREAKS!!!" she exploded.
Minoru jumped from her outburst.
She heaved a few long, slow breaths. After about five seconds, her eyes
widened in horror — and then in dismay. "My god, where did that come from?"
she asked herself out-loud.
Minoru did not know what to think. Witnessing such a verbal eruption
— from an angel secretary, no less — was a rare occurrence in itself.
The tired and embarrassed woman resumed. "I understand your concern,
madam, but all the contestants decided on their own to participate, and
knew perfectly well what they were getting into."
'Except Sakura-san, who was literally FORCED into the tournament,' Minoru
desperately wanted to say.
"We're barely half-way through the entire ordeal, and I've already been
getting impossible demands from concerned parents."
The elf understood immediately: 'Parents. That would explain her touchy
mood.'
"Everything is under control."
'That is a downright lie!!' Minoru thought.
"Unless Haruno Sakura has a life-threatening illness or injury which
she failed to mention to us, there is no reason for you to go in. If you
are truly worried about her, you will watch from your seat and trust the
medics and referee to handle any difficulties that may arise. Please, return
to the stands."
Minoru turned around and did just that. He lost that battle.
His worry grew two-fold. 'Sakura-san, please... Lose this match if you
have to, but don't die on me. You're the only friend I have.'
Sakura exhaled, inhaled, and repeated it very slowly. Her second match
was coming up in five minutes.
At least she knew the person whom she was going to face. She knew his
weakness. True, she had not seen all of his strengths. Her human chakra
was only about 60 percent back — it would be inefficient and risky to try
full-fledged jutsu. Yet her odds had increased ever so slowly, especially
with Scarlettt's kendo lessons.
An official touched Sakura's shoulder, telling her to follow him. She
quietly obeyed, her face becoming paler by the second. She had to fight
this until the end.
The official held the door open for her. "Good luck, Haruno-san," he
whispered to her. She nodded thankfully, and entered the arena. Sakura's
face remained perfectly impassive as she walked toward the center. Opposite
her was none other than him: her opponent on her very first day at Hinagiku's
dojo.
This time, however, instead of the traditional gi, he had long black
pants and black sandals on, and his upper body was wrapped in red bandages.
"Let the best fighter win," he commented with a sneer.
"Of course," she answered coolly.
"Third match of the second round: Haruno Sakura versus Jura of the Fire-Demons!"
the speakers boomed.
Haruno Sakura's birth certificate was missing in her records. Instead,
there was a note that said: "Birth certificate taken care of." It had the
Third's handwriting and stamp. The Harunos were brought in for questioning,
and they told Tsunade the entire story of how they found Sakura as a baby.
"The doctors of Konoha clinic said that she looked a week or so old,"
Mr. Haruno explained, "but we decided to make her birthday on March 28
— the day we found her. We explained the situation to the Third, and he...
took care of everything, as the note says."
"This sounds like Kaguya-hime all over again," Tsunade muttered. "Mr.
and Mrs. Haruno... A few days ago, the local priest came into my office.
He is convinced that some... deities took her to another world."
Mrs. Haruno's eyes seemed to turn hollow and dead.
"You... were expecting this, Haruno-san..." Tsunade said slowly. "At
least subconsciously."
Mrs. Haruno broke down. Her form crumpled as she buried her face in
her arms.
Her husband picked her up, and faced Tsunade. "Hokage-sama, I think
she's had enough for today," he said. "And the idea of some god... Please,
just give us our next missions. This is very stressful to us."
"Forgive me for saying too much," Tsunade sighed. "I will continue to
send out hunter-nin to find your daughter. Deity or no deity, she is still
a citizen of Konoha. Good night."
Jura and Sakura stood opposite one another, waiting for the referee's
signal. The fire-demon glared at her. Not only were his eyes intimidating,
they also brought back memories. They were devoid of black wheeled teardrops,
but still...
(( "Sakura... who the hell hurt you?" ))
Sakura mentally slapped herself. 'Don't look at his eyes!'
The referee held up his hand. "Ready... go!" The whistle blew.
Jura charged at her. Sakura pulled out two shuriken and threw them.
They stuck themselves into the fire-demon's right shoulder. He winced,
yet kept going, and his fist aimed at Sakura's face.
She blocked it, and did a flying round-house kick on him. He flew and
skidded on the ground. "Come ON!" she yelled at him.
"Don't intimidate him, Sakura!" Minoru exclaimed as he watched from
the stands. Of course, she could not understand the elf, let alone hear
him. Minoru was in the back part of the stands, and the crowd in front
of him was too loud.
Jura, meanwhile, got slowly up. Sakura did not feel like kicking him
while he was down... but that proved to be a mistake. He looked up, the
hate piercing through her thoughts and into her buried memories.
(( Sasuke tightened his grip on Zaku's wrists, and then pushed his foot
down on the Sound-nin's back — HARD. Two sickening cracks were heard. The
ninja fell to the ground, shrieking in pain from his broken arms. ))
Jura's punches and kicks were barely missing her body, and he was pushing
her nearer to the wall of the arena. She reached for her kunai, but he
was too close to her: he took this opportunity to grab her and slam her
on the ground.
(( "Haruno Sakura, I want to fight YOU in the tournament! I saw the
tournament's set-up, and if you can go far enough to meet me in the top
eight, I KNOW that you'll be a worthy opponent!" ))
'Is this what she meant?!" Sakura thought to herself. She screamed as
her back hit the gravel.
The kunoichi opened her eyes to see Jura's foot drop towards her face.
Jura's eyes burned crimson.
(( "You're the only one left." Uchiha Sasuke smirked as he glanced at
Dosu. "Let me have a little more fun with you..." ))
Sakura quickly rolled away, evading Jura's foot. She quickly lashed
out her leg and tripped him.
Yousuke watched the battle critically from the stands. "Why isn't he
using any fire attacks?" Yousuke asked. "I thought he was tops in the junior
league with fire magic."
"Maybe his demon attacks are too advanced to use on a human," Scarlettt
replied. "He doesn't want to get disqualified by burning her to death."
'Yet, you mean,' Hinagiku thought to herself. She was seriously getting
worried. She knew Jura. She knew his temper.
"Hinagiku, what level of fire attacks does he have?" Yuri asked. "You're
his teacher."
Hinagiku gripped her seat. "Level four."
"What? That level is high enough for the demon army!" Limone exclaimed.
"What is he doing HERE?"
"He's been in the past three junior tournaments," Hinagiku replied.
"He had a good chance of winning every time. But... he had control problems,
which is why got into my dojo."
"Control problems?" Yousuke asked with a frown. "I don't like the sound
of that."
"I got him to put a little pride into empty-handed martial arts, instead
of just his demonic powers." Hinagiku bit her lip. 'But if this fight goes
long enough... he could lose it...'
Sakura jumped away from Jura, using a little chakra in her feet. But
he ran after her — yet again their eyes met, and Sakura froze.
(("STOP!!" Sakura screamed as she embraced Sasuke from behind. He slowly
turned his head. He glared at her, with his Sharingan eyes, and the curse
all over his face. ))
Sakura was suddenly scared. Of Jura. Of Sasuke. Of Potamos. Of everything.
"ARGH!!" Her voice lurched as the fire-demon kicked her directly in
the stomach. Her body slammed against the wall. Many in the crowd winced.
Sakura fell to her knees, and coughed out blood.
"SAKURA!!" Momoko screamed.
'Am I... really this weak?' Sakura thought. 'My body feels so... heavy..."
"Is that really all you've got, human?" Jura asked. "You were putting
up a good fight." Sakura looked up, a trickle of red touching her lips.
The boy's hands started to glow an orange-red. "Let me have a little more
fun with you!!" he roared.
Something snapped in Sakura's brain with those words.
A burning fist met the wall. Jura felt stabs of pain in his shoulder
blades. The fire-demon turned around to see Sakura behind him, having just
thrown three kunai into his back.
"You bitch!!" he snarled.
Sakura's eyes widened. Red, burning chakra started to radiate from Jura's
entire body. The imbedded kunai flew out of his flesh from the sheer force
of the aura, leaving deep, gaping wounds.
"Oh, shit!" Hinagiku swore. "He's gonna do it!" Chakra strong enough
to push out imbedded blades could blow a normal human to pieces. Sakura
was in trouble.
Momoko screamed to Sakura from her front seat: "Sakura, surrender yourself,
NOW!!"
Sakura glanced towards the stands. 'Momoko?'
"You've already proven to the committees that you're a good fighter!"
Momoko yelled at her. "Jura will kill you if you stay there; he doesn't
know what he's doing!!"
The pink-haired girl glanced back at Jura. His eyes were now murderous.
Sakura threw her palms together in a familiar sequence.
"You shall die, human girl," the demon hissed. He extended out his arms,
and a blaze of fire shot out in the direction of the kunoichi.
"NO!!!" Momoko cried out.
The fire enveloped the girl — and she disappeared in a poof of smoke.
The real Sakura stood ten meters away from where her clone took the
hit. She gripped a kunai in each hand. "You really want a fight to the
death?" the kunoichi seethed at Jura. "Be my guest. I am a ninja, after
all."
The demon was furious. "You have some nerve, human!" He cracked his
knuckles. "I'll show you how a demon really fights. Nothing like what this
pansy junior tournament is."
'It's time for me to get that chakra kendo practice to good use,' Sakura
told herself. 'Think back...'
(( "FOREHEAD GIRL!" A group of girls laughed hysterically. Tiny Sakura
ran off crying.))
'Jura's no different from any other bully.' 'HE'S GONNA PAY!!!'
Jura threw out his arms. "I call upon my supreme demonic powers! Hell
Blaze!!" he screamed. The grounds of the entire battlefield burst into
flames.
Many in the stands screamed. No human could survive an attack like this.
Jura smirked as he stood in the midst of the inferno. "What a sad, SAD
end to such a weakling," he laughed.
"Whose end?" a voice above him replied.
His eyes widened. He looked up to where Sakura's voice came from. "No
way!!" he yelled. "Humans can't fly!"
"Of course not." Sakura was crouching above him. Her feet and hands
were pasted on the flat, cool, and fire-free, wall of the arena. Dangling
on her thumbs were the two kunai.
The heat radiating upward was intense. But even demons like Jura had
a limit, and burning up the entire arena severely drained his energy. Sakura
felt the heat wave beginning to die down, and was ready to make her move.
'You've been nothing but an ass to me,' Sakura thought. 'And it's really
pissing me off.' New chakra trickled into her leg muscles. Sakura slowly
lifted her fingers from the wall's surface.
"So you can walk walls," Jura said amidst the flames. "What are you
going to do with that?"
"Never underestimate your opponents!" Sakura retorted. Her green eyes
were hard and sharp. "For that, you will PAY."
Sakura slid down the wall and into the flare, charging toward the demon.
The extra chakra in her feet gave her protection against the hot ground,
but she had to be quick.
The fire-demon was too bewildered to move. No sane human would intentionally
charge through his own battleground. He was even more surprised when she
suddenly disappeared, and then reappeared right in front of him.
'She's too fast!' he panicked. Jura's confidence faltered, as did his
aura.
The kunoichi stabbed one kunai in Jura's left leg. The other sunk into
his arm. Her fist punched him hard in the face — she felt his nose break.
Sakura jumped on him, pushing him onto the burning surface. He screamed
in agony. Jura's body could tolerate the fire, but the force of the impact
onto the ground, plus her weigh on his chest, reopened the wounds on his
back.
She grasped his red hair, and pulled his head up to hers. Nothing but
wrath burned in her as she glared at him. And then, what she saw confused
her.
Tears were dripping from Jura's eyes, full of rage — and humiliation.
Something pricked at Sakura's heart. No longer afraid, nor angry, she
looked sadly into Jura's red eyes with her beautiful green ones. "I'm sorry,"
she whispered. She thrust two fingers into the back of his neck, hitting
the pressure point.
This time, it was accurate — Jura fainted. The flames of the arena disappeared
instantly, as if they were never there in the first place.
"NOW can we go!?!?" half of the medics yelled at the head doctor. For
the past two minutes, they had been bickering and arguing about when it
was the proper time to step in.
"YES!!" he screamed back. "The monitors say so!" They went to fetch
Jura's unconscious form.
"Winner: Haruno Sakura!" the speakers blared out.
"Oh, thank GOD!" Minoru gasped as he sagged to the floor. Everybody
around him was cheering, but the elf had no spirit to join in. "I think
I just lost thirty years of my life there!!"
Momoko and Yousuke slumped in their seats. Their comrades sighed in
relief. Scarlettt wiped the sweat from her face. 'That was close.'
The battered and slightly burnt girl got up, brushing herself off. She
wiped the blood off her chin, deaf to the applause surrounding her. Sakura
was relieved that the match itself was finished. That battle was dangerous;
she was glad she got out of it alive. But Jura's face, with those red eyes
so full of anguish — they were probably what disturbed her the most.
Notes:
"Kaguya-hime" - 'Princess Kaguya'. This well-known character in Japanese
literature is the story of a princess from the moon. She is found in the
stump of a golden bamboo tree by a bamboo-cutter (or a "taketori", which
is why the official name of the story is "Taketori Monogatari", or 'The
Tale of the Bamboo Cutter'). The old man and his wife adopts her, since
they never had a child of their own. She grows up to be very beautiful,
and is quite ruthless and cold to the men who seek her hand in marriage.
Eventually, the heavens take her back to the moon.
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.