(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?
An elf and a human walked down the street. An impressive number of people
were around them; the third round had just finished for the junior tournament.
"Sakura-san, I can't see any weakness of hers," Minoru said desperately.
"Maybe... you should..."
"No, Minoru-san." Sakura was resolute in her decision. "We've already
gone over this before." 'Why am I talking to him as if he were my husband?!'
"Look, she wants to fight me. That's all there is to it."
"She wants to fight you, and THEN kill you," the elf insisted.
Sakura shrugged. "Yeah, maybe."
Minoru halted in his walking. Sakura stopped for him, and was surprised
to see his face as she turned back. The elf looked irritated.
"You say just 'maybe' and take it like it's nothing?!" Minoru exclaimed.
"This is your own LIFE we're talking about!"
"That's what my life IS," Sakura shot back, with a hint of ice in her
voice. "I am a ninja. My life is always on the line, no matter what."
Minoru turned away from her. A feeling of guilt hit Sakura as she saw
a pained look in his face for a fleeting second. 'Maybe I shouldn't have
said that to him...'
Their argument brought many stares in their direction.
"I'm sorry, Sakura-san," the elf mumbled quietly. "It's not that I want
to order you around. I'm just concerned about your safety. That's all."
Sakura looked closely at Minoru. "Thanks, and I'm sorry for being so
moody," she answered. "That really means a lot — that someone in this world
is concerned about me. ...But I know what Potamos wants. The reason why
she wants to fight me. And I'm ready to give it to her."
"Can you at least tell me the reason?"
Sakura bit her lip. 'If I told you, you'd probably bind and gag me so
that I couldn't go.' 'Not that I would mind it from such a hot babe
like Minoru...'
Instead of exposing her inner thoughts, Sakura decided to satisfy Minoru
with a vague answer: "I can't tell you," she said teasingly.
The elf sighed. 'Damnation. This is like taking care of a girlfriend.'
Naruto's jaw dropped. "WHAT?! That is just too unbelievable!"
"I'm afraid to say that I agree with Naruto on that one," Kakashi replied.
"See? See?!?" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at his teacher. "I'm not the
only one thinking that's crazy! Even though it was hell of a lot of chakra..."
"But that 'hell of a lot of chakra' points to it. That... and the priest's
fire-readings... and then Sakura's unknown origins..." Tsunade trailed
off.
"SO WHAT?! That doesn't prove she's from another world; some idiot couple
could have dumped her in the forest because they didn't want a baby!"
Naruto plopped down on the floor, and folded his arms. Kakashi looked
down, and raised an eyebrow: the fox-boy appeared to be doing heavy mental
work.
An idea occurred to Naruto. "The priest was really a spy!" he concluded.
"He was a foreign ninja from out-of-town!"
Tsunade sighed. "Naruto, we have members of the Hyuuga clan in the ANBU.
One was with me when the priest arrived, and he scanned his chakra. The
only energy he saw was in specific points in the brain. And that, mind
you, fit the model of that priest. Just because they're religious doesn't
mean that we don't monitor them. That shrine's been taken care of by him
for thirty-some years."
Naruto ranted on. "I don't buy it! Maybe he's just trying to distract
us from looking for Sakura-chan!"
"Naruto, that's enough," Kakashi admonished. "Of course there are endless
possibilities, but you've got to work with what information you have."
Naruto's face turned angry as he faced the Fifth Hokage.
"Tsunade-babaa..." his voice shook, "Are you telling me that Sakura-chan
may never come home again? Just give up on her?!"
"Naruto," Kakashi's voice became firm. "Don't speak to the Hokage that
way."
"KAKASHI-SENSEI!!" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at Kakashi. "YOU
could feel a little remorse, too! In fact, BOTH of you are Sakura-chan's
teachers!"
Kakashi's one eye seemed to crease in anger, but he kept his calm demeanor.
"Naruto, you've got to realize that this is the life of a ninja. Do I feel
remorse that she's gone? Of course I do. I worry about her every night.
But I will NOT let that take over my duties as a shinobi of Konoha. I have
a place in this village, as do you."
Naruto looked down in frustration, and scrubbed his eyes with the hem
of his jacket.
"Sakura would get mad if she saw you this way, Naruto," Tsunade said
with a wry smile. "We're still looking for her, and we won't give up for
quite a while. I just wanted to give you this information so that you weren't
left in the dark."
"I'm still left in the dark," Naruto grumbled. 'And both of my best
friends are gone,' he added silently.
"Consider yourself lucky, Naruto, that I'm even telling you this," Tsunade
said.
Naruto looked up in a confused surprise.
"At first, I thought to keep it hidden from you. But then I reconsidered.
As dumb and reckless as you are at times, you will understand how serious
this is — partially because of what you yourself have already experienced
in life."
Naruto gulped as Tsunade's eyes bore into his.
"Listen to me, Naruto," she said with gravity. "You must NOT tell anyone
what I've told you about Sakura. If Sakura's still alive, and word gets
out that she might be a powerful being or whatnot, all sorts of ninja will
go after her — either to kill her, or to use her as a weapon for themselves."
'Like Zabuza did with Haku...' Naruto realized.
"Even that sick Orochimaru might want her as a... specimen... for his
disgusting experiments," Tsunade growled. "If you truly care about her
safety, you will tell NOBODY. Not even Ino or Lee."
"Got it." Naruto gave a sincere nod. 'If I blab... Sakura could become
like Haku... or Gaara... or me.'
"HAH!!" A kunoichi lashed out against the thin air with her katana.
It was her solo afternoon practice in the yard of the Fuuma residence.
This was a preferable training area compared with the dojo, where every
room was full of students in the afternoon and evening.
In here, the flowers of the surrounding garden brought a much more tranquil
atmosphere.
Before starting, Sakura would first tell the children to go back inside,
or keep their distance. They learned quickly to comply — a few had already
tasted a hint of Inner Sakura, and warned their siblings. In the empty
space, she reviewed all of her moves she had learned thus far from Scarlett's
kendo. She would then do them all over again, this time with chakra added.
What Sakura loved about kendo was not only its stylized and beautiful
form, but also that skill and technique were more important than size or
strength. In fact, men and women could fight against each other in kendo
without any discernible advantage on either side. 'Maybe this was why Scarlett
decided to teach it to me, for the sake of my chakra,' Sakura thought to
herself. 'She recognized my personality, and gave me something that fit
with my way of thinking and fighting.'
The pink-haired girl stopped to catch her breath. After twenty seconds,
she heaved a final sigh, and grinned. 'Now to add a pinch of chakra.' She
held her katana and closed her eyes. She thought of her parents back home.
'Otoo-san, Okaa-san...'
The pain of longing came with it, of course. But the deep filial love
warmed up and trickled into her chakra reserve. She opened her eyes to
see her blade glowing blue, with the ever-same tiny line of pink. With
it, the kunoichi did a series of moves, dancing with the blade and her
aura.
She stopped to catch her breath again. Now came the part in which she
had difficulties.
'Orochimaru...' Her eyes were tightly shut as she imagined his snake-like
face and vile grin. 'How dare you curse Sasuke. How dare you attack and
leave our village in shambles. How dare you murder your own teacher, our
beloved Third.' 'SHAAAAAANNAROOOOOOO!!!'
The gall filled her thoughts, poisoning her heart. She opened her eyes.
Blue ki radiated from her weapon. But instead of the pink line, there
was a thread of forest-green. It waved violently, like a single blade of
grass amidst a storm.
'I did it.' An insane gleam entered her emerald eyes. This was Sakura's
first time to actually see this energy in real life. Until now, only the
blue and pink aura had ever manifested in her kendo. Seeing the green line
scared her — excited her.
Glowing sword in hand, she yelled out. She performed a few more moves
before feeling her body reach its limit.
She slid the weapon back into its scabbard. Her head grew dizzy. 'So
this is what made Sasuke-kun so strong,' she thought as she panted. 'Hell
yeah!'
"Sakura-oneechan, dinner's in five minutes!" a voice from the window
piped out.
"Okay, I'm coming!" Sakura called back.
"Sakura, what have you decided to name your sword?" Yousuke picked up
a slice of beef from the sukiyaki with his chopsticks, and dipped it in
his mixed egg. It was the cook's day off, so the meals today were simple.
"Oh... I haven't found one yet," Sakura said awkwardly. "I can't find
anything good enough for such a... wonderful thing." 'Why do I have
to decide, anyway?' Inner Sakura grumbled. 'Why didn't the sword-smith
do it?'
"You should come up with something," Yousuke said. "It's your sword."
He popped the cooked meat into his mouth, and savored it. "Mmm, half-raw.
Best way to eat it."
"Well, Sakura, did you at least think about possible names?" Momoko
asked. She dumped some more udon noodles into the pan. "It was quite easy
for you. You were named after my mother — your love-angel grandmother.
When she lost her memory and found herself in the human realm, she took
up the name Sakura."
"It also fits my birthday," Sakura laughed. "The cherry blossoms always
bloom around spring. That's probably why my parents... oh, I mean..."
An awkward silence passed between the three. Sakura's face burned in
shame. She had almost forgotten that Yousuke and Momoko were supposed to
be her parents. Still, that could not entirely go through with her. Meanwhile,
the children were jittering around the table, fighting for food, oblivious
to what the three were talking about.
"Hey, don't hog the meat, you pigs!" a tomboy yelled at her brothers.
"I need to grow, too, you know!"
"You're a TREE-nymph; how the heck do you eat meat?!" one yelled back.
"All nymphs are naturally omnivores, just like anybody else!" she retorted.
"I told you, that crap about us being vegetarian..."
"There's enough meat to go around, kids," Yousuke firmly called down
the table. He sighed, turning back to the pink-haired ladies of the house.
"I'm sorry," Sakura mumbled.
"It's okay, Sakura," Yousuke replied. "We really don't mind. Anyway,
the name for your sword."
The kunoichi fumbled with her words. "Um... yeah. I didn't come up with
any specific names... I was thinking of something beautiful... maybe a
mythical place or idea. But it shouldn't be too cocky, like naming it after
a god."
"How about... 'Tennyo'?" Momoko suggested.
Sakura blinked. Tennyo: Heavenly Maiden. 'What a strange name for a
sword,' she commented to herself.
"It fits you," Momoko said with a smile.
"What?" Sakura was utterly confused.
"Well, it DOES reflect both your personality and aura," Yousuke said.
"You're a fine lady, but when you're threatened, you get to bring on judgment
and kick ASS!"
"Ooooh, Daddy said an icky word!" - "What's an 'ass'?" - "It's actually
a donkey." - "That doesn't sound dirty at all!"
"Yousuke!" Momoko scolded her husband. "We're eating dinner!"
Sakura giggled at the commotion, and thought about the name. 'Tennyo...'
It chimed well with her. She began to imagine herself in a flowing, exquisite
kimono, with a hagoromono floating around her shoulders. The kunoichi blushed,
and mentally scolded herself for being vain. 'This is the SWORD'S name,
not yours!'
Still, she couldn't help but grin back at Momoko. "I like it," she said.
"Tennyo."
"sukiyaki" - a Japanese dish made up of sliced meat (usually beef),
vegetables, noodles, tofu, and other things cooked in a mixture of wine,
soy sauce and sugar. It is all cooked together in a sort of deep-dished
hot plate. The individual peices of food are then taken out and dipped
into mixed raw egg, cooling it down. It's VERY easy to make and tastes
awesome.
"udon" - Japanese rice-noodles that CAN be put into sukiyaki, but is
more commonly cooked and served like ramen. Udon is a thicker noodle than
ramen. And although the two dishes are similar, udon is usually reserved
for fish-broth, while for ramen the flavors can vary: pork, beef, chicken,
shrimp, fish, or whatnot.
"tennyo" - if you look at the kanji, 'ten' means 'heaven' and 'nyo'
means woman. In Japanese folklore, tennyo were supernatural beings, but
not goddesses in themselves. They were more like heavenly spirits who were
servants to the gods. The most well-known story of these beings is the
one about a fisherman who stole a tennyo's hagoromo (a shawl-like object
that the tennyo needed to fly), so that she could stay with him on earth
and be his wife. After much crying on her part, he finally gave it back
to her and she returned home. (I haven't read or seen "Ayashi no Ceres",
but I do know that it is based off of this story.)
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please tell me! If
I suck, by all means tell me. In an intelligent manner.
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