(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 Note: This chapter officially makes the story an AU,
as Sakura is going to a different world (even though all fanfiction is
AU), and a very obvious crossover with Wedding Peach with this coming chapter.
Again, do not despair if you don't know the series! Again, this is just
for fun, and I'm doing this to improve my less-than-professional writing
skills.
All hail, Serpentine Rose!
Sakura moaned. "This must be what a hangover is like..." she grumbled.
"Shit."
"Your language is just as bad as mine," the demon said with a chuckle.
"Good girl!"
Sakura recognized the voice: it was the demon just a minute ago. She
whipped out a kunai and slashed at his neck.
"Hey! Young lady, put that down!" he yelled out.
'Damn, he dodged,' Sakura thought. She jumped away from him, put the
kunai in her holster, and started performing the In for a jutsu.
She stopped halfway through the sequence. Something was wrong.
There was no chakra flowing through her hands.
She suddenly felt numb. She was even more helpless than when Naruto
and Sasuke were around. Moreover, she was standing in a gray wasteland.
With a demon, who just so happened to come along and kidnap her. 'No, this
can't be happening. This is a dream, a dream...'
"Okay, you stopped," the brown-haired man said. "I don't know what you're
doing, but it looked like those special hand-seals some beings use. And
you also realize that you can't use them in your present state."
Sakura's eyes were bright, but her folded hands were shaking. If this
demon wanted to simply kill her, he would have already done it by now.
Was he some sick pervert who liked to torture his victims by mocking their
weaknesses?
"I am not here to kill you. Nor hurt you in anyway. I am here to help
you. CALM DOWN."
'Help? And 'Calm down,' he says!? Easy for him to say!!!'
After breathing heavily and glaring at him for about ten seconds, Sakura
decided she had nothing to do but trust the man. If he was trying to torture
her, she knew exactly how to kill herself quickly with a kunai. She had
completely memorized the scrolls on anatomy which Tsunade gave her.
Sakura sighed with defeat. "Okay. Fine." Another surge of pain went
through her head. "Ow!" She touched the back of her head, and then realized
there was a bandage wound around her skull. Her mouth opened with surprise.
The demon grinned, holding up a first-aid kit. "We'll get you a real
doctor to handle your injury once we get back to the hospital-shrine. But
for now, my knowledge of First Aid will have to do." He put the kit under
his one shoulder pad. "Unfortunately, we landed in this area of all places:
the Dead Zone."
Sakura shivered. "Dead Zone? You mean it's uninhabitable for organisms?"
"Not exactly," the demon replied nonchalantly. "It's just that any living
creature is dead once it enters here."
"How fitting and comforting," Sakura said with a deadpan voice.
"We're a couple hours' walk away from the border, and from there we
can rush you to the hospital-shrine. We'd better start walking now; I myself
cannot last three days here without traveling companions. Can you walk
for a few hours?"
Sakura growled. "I am NOT deadweight, if that's what you imply. I had
enough of that shit at home." Her inner self definitely got the better
of her when she was reminded of past experiences.
"Good," he replied while turning his head. "Because we have company."
Sakura saw what he was looking at. A little red mountain seemed to be
moving toward them. But as it came closer, Sakura saw that it wasn't exactly
a uniform mass — it was a swarm of human-shaped blobs, screaming like banshees.
"Get the biggest weapons you have, and slice them if they get too close.
We're running, now!!" he yelled.
The demon created a green ball of swirling chakra in his hand, and threw
it at the blood-red creatures. "Demon breeze!" Half of the creatures fell
back with the burst of air.
The demon threw a compass at Sakura as they dashed off. "Sakura, catch!
We need to go south-west exactly!" He concentrated: a massive sword materialized
in his hand. "I'll catch up with you in a second," he called to Sakura.
He stopped, turned around, and powered his sword up.
"Fuuma-Zoku Ryuu: Kaze no Mapputatsu!!" (Fuuma-clan Style: Wind Cleave)
A blade of wind hurled toward the mass, and the creatures were horizontally
sliced in two. Sakura was relieved that this demon protecting her had such
immense chakra. But fear returned as she saw the puddles of muck slide
back together and continue to chase them.
The demon caught up with Sakura. "That was just to slow them down,"
he said, panting. "Hey, have you anything useful that doesn't need magic?"
Sakura put a hand down her fishnet undershirt, and pulled out a bag.
She opened it and pinched a few black, innocent-looking beads. She threw
them at the creatures. The Kanshaku-dama exploded, and the mass broke like
a water balloon.
Again, the ooze collected itself back together and kept going, the faces
screaming.
"What are those things?!" Sakura yelled out, a note of panic in her
voice. "Are they immortal?"
"They can't really die because they're not alive to begin with," the
demon explained sheepishly. "But once we cross the border, we're safe."
"Didn't you just say that it was a couple hour's walk?!" Sakura panted
out in frustration. "We won't last that long running, either!"
"You're right. That's why we're going across the fissure that's coming
up. The fissure itself is at least a mile deep and thousands of kilometers
long; you can't go around it. Those blobs won't be able to make the hundred
meters needed to jump across."
"Excuse me!" Sakura snarled. "I can't jump a hundred meters! I might
if I had my chakra back, but now I only have normal stamina. I don't feel
like falling down a cliff chased by liquid zombies, thank you very much!"
"Who says we're jumping?" the demon asked as he set loose another Kaze
no Mapputatsu behind them.
"Huh?"
They reached the fissure. Sakura stopped and looked into the earth crack.
Yup, definitely a death drop.
"Now what!?" Sakura exclaimed.
The demon grabbed her waist, and hoisted her over his back. "Now: we
fly."
He jumped off the edge, and ran — on the air. Sakura didn't have Sharingan
or Byakugan, but the swirling of dust below them showed that there was
a hell a lot of chakra supporting them. She couldn't speak. Sakura wasn't
acrophobic, but she sure wanted to throw up.
The first half of the red swarm fell into the fissure, while the trailing
end stopped just at the edge. They shrieked, furious with the loss of their
prey.
"Whew!" The wind-demon let Sakura down on wonderfully solid ground.
Sakura managed to find her voice again. "How... did you..."
"Not now, Sakura," he mumbled, gazing at the horizon. There was a figure
walking towards them. "Who is it?" he called out.
The figure became more distinct. He had long, light blue hair and was
dressed like an Arabian jinn. His blue aura seemed to grow larger with
every step. Sakura decided that he was a very pissed-off demon.
"So, Viento. You brought her back." the other demon said in a low tone.
'Viento... so that's his name. It sounds even weirder than Rock Lee,'
Sakura thought.
"Yes," Sakura's captor replied. "It was the only chance we had. You
don't seem very happy about it, Din."
Din's eyes flared. "You know, Viento, I've been patient with your existence
for quite a while. We still considered you a full-fledged demon, even with
your certain... ancestry. Even so, you turned on us, by helping the enemy."
"I never asked to be a part of it," Viento said coldly. "As for the
'enemy', the whole war turned out to be a huge misunderstanding. Don't
dwell in the past. The demons have regained their natural lands, and there
is peace between angels and demons."
"You disgust me," Din hissed. "I can forgive your past actions, but
the blood of our ancestors scream for revenge. And humans like her," —
he pointed an accusing finger at Sakura — "are not even supposed to exist
on this plane! Just like you! I ought to kill you, here and now, for bringing
her back; her very being is an insult to our fathers. She should have been
left over in the other dimension!!"
Anger boiled in Viento. "Din, I don't care what you think!" he yelled.
"She is under my protection!"
"Enough!" Din snapped. "…Listen, Viento," he continued in a low voice.
"I am going to let you off. I am not going to kill you. But if I ever see
her again, alone, I WILL kill her. Otherwise, I cannot call myself a demon."
A whisp of blue smoke surrounded the blue-haired Din, and it formed into
a cloud. He seated himself on it and flew into the sky.
Sakura had been clutching Viento's cloak throughout the entire conversation.
Her existence...an insult to demons? In this world? Nothing made sense
to her whatsoever.
"Didn't even offer us a ride," Viento scoffed. "What an ass, going on
about blood. Oh, well. C'mon, we have to get going."
Sakura fell to her knees. Her head was starting to pound again.
"Sakura?!" Viento crouched down, holding her shoulders.
Sakura looked at his hazel eyes. Viento's image turned double. Then
quadruple.
"Viento, I..." she moaned, "I want to go home."
She fainted again.
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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