(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: There are so many questions that I haven't answered
yet. Well, the important ones, such as what is happening in the Shinobi
World, what exactly is happening to Sakura's mental and physical abilities,
what is she supposed to look like in the future I can only reveal that
as the story progresses. (Yes, I like using suspense. Why? Because I am
evil.)
All I can give away about Sakura's appearance: she will NEVER have wings.
No demon wings, no angel wings, because most demons and angels don't have
them anyway in this alternate universe, i.e. other dimension. Not even
Momoko or Yousuke have them in the original series. (Momoko is a love-angel,
by the way. She and her teammates get them in the OVA, but that is about
it.) No wings, and that is FINAL.
I also like showing flaws and weaknesses of the characters. Which comes
to the topic of Minoru: I'll reveal more of his past and deep secrets soon.
Flecks of blood sprayed on Sakura.
With a shocked look on his face, the thief let go of his weapon as he
gagged. The sword missed the girl it flew off, landing on the rotten
leaves on the ground.
An arrow was sticking through the man's neck. The blood from his jugular
veins flowed, blocking his air passage and dripping into his lungs.
Sakura couldn't move as she watched. She was glad she was saved some
part of her even enjoyed seeing her enemy fall. Yet at the same time, the
pink-haired girl could not stand watching him die so painfully. Even her
Kanashibari no Jutsu did not go this far.
'Just die quickly PLEASE!!' she mentally screamed.
As if answering to Sakura's inner pleadings, another arrow sunk into
the thief's skull. Brain-dead, his body dropped on the ground.
Sakura groaned. Her emerald eyes turned to her savior.
Minoru stood there, calmly lowering his bow. Potamos appeared behind
the elf, already recovered and cheerful. Accompanying them was an elfin
lady, her brown, braided hair reaching her waist. She had a bow and a quiver
of arrows on her back, and a thin sword at her waist.
The kunoichi heaved a sigh. "Minoru-san, thank you."
"Mino-chan, that was awesome!!" Potamos squealed. The water-demon gazed
on the corpse with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Too back you missed
that first shot, though."
"I didn't," the elf flatly stated. "Sakura-san, you held up well. You
did your duty." He then turned to the elfin lady behind him, and introduced
Sakura to her. "Laila, this is Haruno Sakura. Sakura-san, this is Laila
of Ramah village she has agreed to be our guide and help us find lodging."
The kunoichi gulped as the lady came to her. Laila was beautiful, and
very wise-looking. She did not walk. She glided.
Seeing that the human girl only had some scratches and exhaustion, Laila
proceeded to look over the dead thief.
Her whitish-pink lips frowned slightly. She turned back to Sakura. "You
are no ordinary human," Laila smoothly told her. "You lasted over twenty
minutes fighting him without being killed. Many a magical creature is fallen
because of him."
'I could have killed him if I were stronger,' Sakura thought.
Laila paused, then looked back to the corpse. She closed the dead thief's
eyes with her long fingers, and touched his forehead. She began to chant
some words.
Minoru helped Sakura up off the ground. The girl wiped away some flecks
of her opponent's blood from her face. "What is Laila doing?" she asked
Minoru in a whisper. The kunoichi did not understand the elfin tongue,
but the words sounded flowing and very sad.
"It is a blessing for beings who leave corpses when they die in the
Rifts," Minoru answered quietly. "It disposes of the body, and supposedly
helps the soul when it goes to the unknown."
A glowing spot formed on the thief's forehead where Laila's fingers
touched. The corpse slowly faded away, until nothing was left. The man's
clothing and supplies floated onto the ground. Laila put the items in a
white, mesh-like bag, and then fetched the thief's fallen sword.
"Come now," she addressed to the three as she stood up, "before the
mountain moves too far away from the village."
Sakura took a quick shower. It was already five in the morning when
Laila led them to an inn for travelers in Ramah village. The kunoichi slipped
in her night-shirt, and dropped onto the wonderfully soft and clean bed.
"Yeay! We get to share a bed, Sacchan!" Potamos rejoiced, bouncing on
the mattress.
"That's only because I ought not to share a bed with either of you,"
Minoru said from the other bed. 'Each for different reasons,' he mentally
added. "And if you try anything... funny on her, devil-child, I will kill
you."
"I'm not lesbian," Potamos said, "I just love Sacchan!"
"I love you too, Potamos," Sakura said with a yawn, and curled up under
the covers next to the water-demon.
Minoru's brow creased at the pink-haired girl not at what she said,
but what she was holding. "Do you always sleep with your katana, Sakura-san?"
he asked.
"You never know," Sakura mumbled, holding the sheathed Tennyo protectively
in her hands.
"I am glad you at least have sense to keep the scabbard on," Minoru
sighed. "Not like others who slumber with an open knife under their pillows.
They often end up with considera"
The elf halted mid-sentence, as he noticed that the kunoichi and water-demon
had already fallen asleep. He gave a wry smile, and tucked the covers in
around the two. Minoru blew out the candles, and stepped to the mirror
on the wall.
'I haven't done this for a while,' he thought, rolling up his sleeves.
Minoru leaned towards the glass surface, and whispered an incantation to
it. The reflection in the pane swirled, until all that was left was a white,
faintly-glowing picture smooth and fresh like the canvas of an artist.
He opened his cerulean eyes, and threw his fist at the mirror.
The mirror did not break upon contact. Instead, Minoru's hand, bracelet
and all, passed and disappeared through the white surface, making ripples.
"It's been too long," he whispered.
Sasuke jerked out of bed. He had a nightmare about Sakura. It started
innocently enough: they were standing at the edge of a cliff, viewing the
trees below and a breath-taking sunset. Only this time, Sakura was pushed
off by Sasuke himself. Just like when he shoved Naruto off the edge of
a waterfall when the blond boy came to 'rescue' him from Orochimaru.
The raven-haired young man clutched his heart. It was a long time since
he saw Sakura in his dreams, and he sent the letter out only yesterday.
Why did his peace of mind have to deteriorate again so soon?
'No, not now,' he though. 'I carried out her wish. I was just starting
to get back full concentration on training; damn it!'
(( Itachi calmly looked into the face of a tear-streaked Sasuke. "You
have the same potential as I to obtain the Mangekyou Sharingan. There is
one requirement for getting it. And that is: to kill your best friend."
))
Sasuke pushed Naruto off the waterfall alright intending to aggravate
him, or perhaps kill him by the impact of the river below. He had to convince
Naruto that he was not joking around. The dual to the death afterward:
Sasuke did it to get the legendary Mangekyou Sharingan, which appeared
in the Uchiha clan only once every couple of centuries.
(( "So... you're serious about killing me," Naruto said, using chakra
in his feet to stand on the surface of the water. His face was finally
grim not screwed up in rage and annoyance.
"Yes, I am," Sasuke stated, his face totally blank.
Naruto gritted his teeth. "All those times together... didn't they mean
anything to you?!" he yelled up to his ex-teammate. "Anything at ALL?!?"
"No... they did mean something," Sasuke answered. "You have become...
my closest friend." ))
Yet Sasuke had failed to kill Naruto. He couldn't do it. He NEVER failed
ANYTHING; he could not AFFORD to fail anything.
He had tried, and failed, to cut out his heart, to clean his mind completely
of any sentimental capability. To be totally devoid of feeling in all his
actions, and have the mental strength to push even a brother into the grips
of torture and death. Itachi passed, and Sasuke failed. It was the same
story, over and over.
Sasuke could not recall details of the dual between him and Naruto at
the waterfall. Maybe it was just the intensity of the encounter.
When he thought about it longer, Sasuke realized that it was more difficult
to remember exact details of events when his curse was on. It was as if
Orochimaru's seal sedated him into a dream-high of power. Sasuke's concentration
wavered from its influence; he did not learn any new skills afterwards,
because he could not remember enough.
This was why the young Uchiha avoided using it. He admitted that during
the few times he used the curse, he enjoyed sensing the extra chakra pulsing
through his body. But what was the point of it if he lost control, and
did not improve after the fact? He would never match up to Itachi with
the seal alone Itachi would be the strong, logical, and perfectly-calm
fighter, and Sasuke would be just... strong.
'I am here with Orochimaru for his training not for his curse,' he
told himself.
Unless it was the seal that pushed him to go to Orochimaru in the first
place.
But Sasuke had no time to debate on that matter. He had promised to
himself after the Uchiha massacre, that he would do anything, be consumed
in any darkness, to defeat Itachi.
Maybe there was another way. But he could not find it. Even if he tried,
he could not find it. He was caged.
'I'm fucking trapped,' Sasuke thought as he hugged his pillow. 'I don't
know when I stopped being human... And a damn part of me is still trying
to resist. I don't even know what the hell I'm supposed to be resisting
anymore!!'
"Do elves eat nothing but wafers?" Potamos whispered in a complaining
tone to Sakura and Minoru, as the three were shopping for traveling supplies
in the elfin village. "I can't stand it! Health food makes me sick!"
Sakura giggled. "I agree: what we call health food at home isn't even
this strict."
"For your information, only the elves which do not engage in warfare
are vegetarian," Minoru explained. "Our physical make-up requires less
and less variety and quantity as we become older and wiser."
"And considering that you eat anything with four legs except tables
and chairs... how old are you, Mino-chan?" Potamos asked.
"One-hundred-twenty," he answered. A disgusted look passed Potamos'
face. "I'll last maybe two-hundred more years if I don't get killed from
unnatural causes. ...And don't even entertain the possibility in your sick
mind, devil-child: I will strike you before you even complete the first
move."
"Who said I was thinking about killing you?" the purple-haired girl
asked sourly.
The blond elf responded by looking directly in her yellow eyes in an
accusing manner, then turning away.
The water-demon's face seemed paralyzed. 'I'd better not cross his path,'
she noted to herself.
"That is so freaky... Even humans don't live that long," Sakura said,
massaging her temples. 'And in my world, even people in the ANBU or Jounin-ranks
usually don't last past twenty-five,' she added to herself.
"Still, don't think that having long life with youth means happiness,"
Minoru pointed out. "The longer you live, the more chances you have to
witness and feel suffering. And if one is totally alone, without any dreams
or people to look up to: every day is like an eternity of hell."
Sakura grinned up at Minoru.
"What?" he asked, looking embarrassed.
Sakura laughed. "Nothing," she replied, meaning everything.
Minoru stopped in his tracks. He looked around. "Sakura-san, have you
seen Potamos?" he asked. The water-demon was nowhere to be seen in the
market-place.
Sakura bit her lip. "Crap, I think we lost her."
Minoru touched his forehead. "Damnation we have to find her, as soon
as possible." Sakura prepared to jump on the roof-tops, but Minoru held
her down. "No, Sakura-san, you may be shot down by the elfin guards who
do not know any better."
"Oh, yeah..." Sakura mumbled nervously. "But how else are we going to
find her quickly before she gets herself in a fix?"
Minoru gave a frustrated sigh. "Sakura-san, I'll look in the eastern
part of the market-place, you the west. After an hour, we'll meet at the
fish-vendor over there."
"What the hell Godaime-sama!!"
A woman wearing fishnet shirt and pants, with only a trench-coat and
mini-skirt to cover her intimate areas ran through Konohagakure Village
like a madwoman.
"Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now!" Anko yelled through the streets.
She grinned at the appalled looks on the faces of the normal residents.
Her voice echoed between the buildings, adding: "And this ISN'T for the
bathroom!!"
She entered a building and went to the room where the Hokage and her
assistants organized and handed out missions to teams.
Iruka cringed at Anko's dramatic and grand entrance: she kicked in the
door, making it bang out of its regular place and original shape. 'Then
again,' the chuunin thought to himself, 'someone has to break up the monotony
of this place Naruto is off traveling with Jiraiya.'
Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the panting woman. "Already tired from
your break, Anko? You still have one day of vacation."
"No, Godaime-sama, look!" The special jounin thrust a long, unrolled
piece of paper in Tsunade's face. "I already read it, by the way, so it's
safe."
Tsunade took it, and her mouth slightly opened at its contents. "What
in the world..."
"I got it from one of my snakes," Anko explained. "I think there is
a new caller for their species I can guess well who that may be."
Tsunade pursed her lips as she read and re-read the paper. Ninja-animals
never carried scrolls or letters unless they were written from the callers
themselves. And this was definitely not Orochimaru's handwriting on the
parchment. The Hokage got up from her seat. "Iruka, please take over from
here. Anko, call Kakashi to my office immediately. I will be waiting there
for him. Say that it's about THAT BOY it might make him arrive a little
earlier than he usually does."
A purple-haired girl walked through a poor-looking district in the village.
"I get separated from Sacchan and Mino-chan... I don't know where I exactly
am in this village, even though it looked so SMALL when we came down from
the mountain... Could there be the slight possibly that I'm lost?" she
asked herself.
Potamos kicked some dust as she walked through the streets. She had
a little money with her, and some beads and trinkets caught her eye. 'Well,
I oughtta enjoy myself while looking for Sacchan and Mino-chan,' she thought
to herself. 'Besides, jewelry isn't this cheap back in Minerva...'
A gruff voice interrupted her thoughts. "Hey."
Potamos turned around. Behind her stood a group of burly-looking teenagers.
Their choice of clothing was rather frumpy they were human peasants or
servants, by the looks of them. Some of them were smirking at the girl,
others had scowls on their faces.
The center guy, who had black hair with white highlights, addressed
the water-demon. "Did you just say that you were from the mountain?" he
asked.
Potamos blinked. She wanted to stick her tongue out in disgust he
was absolutely dirty but she had agreed with Minoru and Sakura not to
tick anyone off and start a fight in a village.
The gang-leader crossed his arms. Any normal girl would cower at his
weekend appearance. (In other words: he worked weekdays, and was a hooligan
on weekends.) But why did this purple-haired girl simply give him a weird
look?
She could have answered him, or at least acted like she were deaf. Instead,
this purple-haired freak stared as if she did not understand the question.
"Are you autistic or something?" he asked.
"Huh?" Potamos asked. "What's that?"
"Okay, that was something of a reaction. But you didn't answer my question."
The leader breathed, and repeated slowly. "Did you just say, that you were
from the mountain?"
Potamos smiled. "Of course, silly! We traveled through it!"
"We're supposed to believe that? We're not that stupid!"
Another man's face screwed in anger. "Spy for the Mountain Riders? Those
cut-throats?!"
"They're called the Mountain Riders?" Potamos asked, cocking her head
to the side with a finger to her chin. "Makes kinda sense... Mountain Riders;
as in, they ride the mountain..." The water-demon giggled.
"She's cute," one person in the back whispered, and was promptly hit
in the face by another.
The black-and-white-haired man growled. "What do you want with our village?
Are you asking for a fight?"
Potamos snorted. "You're the ones asking for a fight, human."
This comment brought many mumbles and whispers among the street-gang.
"She must be a robber..." - "Now, she's a vampire, look at her eyes..."
- "Vampires don't have cat-eyes, it's the fangs you have to look for..."
- "But look at her black mantle!"
Potamos did not take this gang seriously; after all, they were only
human peasants. "Who cares how many small fry there are!" she laughed in
triumph, mentally indulging in the possibility of wiping a mass of idiots
out, the ground soaking up their blood like a sponge.
"Why you little"
The water-demon then finally caught onto the change of atmosphere: the
men had formed a circle around her. Potamos flicked out a kunai and stopped
a switch-blade. Her mind was trapped in a difficult predicament: she could
either choose to follow her instincts as a demon, or the orders Sakura
and Minoru gave her. " I think I'm in a pinch," she moaned.
"You definitely are, you little brat!!" another yelled as he attacked
her, and she evaded him.
"That's not what I meant!" she shrieked. Potamos was in a fix; ten humans
against her was not good when the fight took place in an elfin village.
Maybe outside, she'd be okay; but these guys had CONNECTIONS with elves.
If the elves found out that even one of their servants were killed by any
foreign magical being in their own territory, they would stalk and shoot
an arrow into the murderer at the very least, kick them out of the village.
Potamos was using all her will-power not to actually stab or attack
the men. "Oh, this is why I sometimes hate being around civilization!"
she whined. "There are so many RULES!"
The girl in the red fairy-dress then reasoned to herself that if she
could not break rules, then she would just have to bend them a bit. With
a smirk, Potamos grabbed the wrist of one man, and pinned it to a stone
wall.
The man yelled in pain: her gloved hand was freezing-cold. He then realized
that he could not move his arm.
Potamos pulled away. The human looked at his wrist: it was locked onto
the stone wall in a ring of ice. Neither could he break it with the knife
in his other hand. The ice was incredibly dense.
"She's an ice-monster!" one yelled. "Get her, even if it kills you!!"
Potamos shrieked.
A new voice interrupted. "WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!!!"
The gang turned to see who made the loud exclamation. A fair young lady
with pink hair and a green traveler's cloak stood at the mouth of the ally.
Her green eyes flashed angrily.
Potamos took this opportunity to run past the men and go next to Sakura.
"HEY!!" the gang leader yelled.
"Come on, Potamos, let's go," Sakura said quietly as she took Potamos'
hand.
"Are you a demon, too, or are you just a witch?" the black-and-white-haired
man asked angrily.
Sakura glared at him. "For your information: I am human, and this girl
and I traveled together over the mountain."
'Oh, no...' Potamos cringed.
Sakura rolled her eyes as one brave soul ran towards her with a knife.
Before he even swung, she kicked him directly in the stomach, making him
fly off and sprawl across a number of trash-cans.
The other gangsters went after Sakura; no demon-woman or witch was going
to hurt their comrade so easily if they could help it.
'Damn, I angered them rather than scared them,' Sakura thought. There
was no other way: her hands quickly performed the sequence.
"I'm terribly sorry about this!" she apologized in advance.
Ten seconds later, the men found themselves screaming their heads off,
while the two girls were mysteriously disappeared. The gang leader almost
hyperventilated; he had never been so scared in his life. "Sorcery," he
breathed.
"What is the meaning of this?" someone asked from above. The group of
humans looked to the roof-top.
"Master," the gang-leader sighed. He saluted the dark-haired elf, who
was accompanied by his colleagues in the Village Guard. "It's good to see
you. We have a problem."
Sakura pulled Potamos through the crowd, striding quickly to get away
from the servant-quarters.
"Sacchan, I'm sorry!" the water-demon squeaked.
"Not now, Potamos, let's just get away from that place." After speed-walking
for a few more minutes, they turned a corner, which led them to the vendor
where Sakura and Minoru agreed to meet. The kunoichi ordered two sticks
of grilled fish, and walked over to the bench where Potamos sat. Sakura
handed one stick to the water-demon. "Here, I know you like sea-food. Eat
up." The pink-haired girl sat down on the bench next to her friend. "Now
tell me what happened."
Potamos nipped at the burnt tail, enjoying its salty and charcoal taste.
"I... guess that this lot of bums first thought I was part of the Mountain
Riders, and they attacked me," she said.
Sakura carefully chewed a piece in her mouth, and swallowed. "The Mountain
Riders?" she asked.
"I think they were talking about the gang of bandits we escaped," the
purple-haired demon explained sheepishly.
"Mountain Riders, as in, to ride the mountain," Sakura snorted. "Not
very original, those bandits, are they?" Potamos smiled weakly in return.
Sakura paused in thought. "But why would they think you're a member
of a mountain gang, when you're a girl?" she pointed out. "There aren't
many female bandits around; they're almost unheard of."
Potamos blinked. She had not thought of that. "You're right... I don't
know. Anyway, they started attacking me with knives. I pushed off the blades
with my kunai. I used a TEENSY bit of magic to freeze one guy's wrist to
the wall. Then the leader with the weird hair ordered the others to do
a suicide attack. That's when you came in, and used... that technique,
right?"
"Kanashibari no Jutsu," Sakura mused. "I think I should tell you this
now: that illusionary skill borders on forbidden, so never use it lightly
if you ever learn it, or something like it."
Potamos grinned with a mouthful of fish. "You know, I'm still flattered
that you actually used it on me during the tournament."
"Well, you were really tough!" Sakura giggled.
"Sakura-san!!" someone yelled. The human and demon turned their heads
to see Minoru run towards them. He then walked clean past Sakura, and grabbed
Potamos by the shoulders. "Devil-child by any chance, did you pick a
fight with a group of human slaves?" he asked.
Sakura sighed, and walked to the nearest trash-bin to throw away her
stick.
"They attacked ME!!" Potamos huffed.
"Oh, bother..." Minoru let go, and cupped his face in his hands. "Do
you know that at present, the Village Guard is after what they call 'an
ice-monster' along with a witch?"
Sakura winced. 'I should tell him later that it was my fault, too...'
Something then caught her eye in the crowd.
In the market-place, a dark-haired elf with cold eyes drew his bow across
his shaft. The people around him recoiled: was there such a threat in the
village at this time for an elfin guard to attack someone?
Sakura's breath stopped. According to the angle of the elf's direction,
he was not aiming at her he was aiming at Minoru and Potamos.
The blond elf and the water-demon were arguing about ten meters away
from Sakura, and the raven-haired elf was at least forty meters away from
either of them. She would never be able to stop him with that distance.
Before giving another thought, the kunoichi put chakra in her feet in
the direction towards her friends.
A slight air-whip sounded out.
Potamos felt a strong push then she heard a scream.
The eyes of the raven-haired elf widened.
"Sacchan!!!" - "Sakura-san!"
Sakura's thoughts wavered as she fell to the ground. Gasping in pain,
she forced her head to turn around.
An arrow had been shot on the left side of her back.
Potamos and Minoru dropped to their knees in front of Sakura's struggling
form. "Sakura-san, you shouldn't have done something so reckless!!" Minoru
yelled at her. That was an arrow shot by an ELF.
"Sacchan, no!!!" Potamos cried out in worry and agony. "Don't die!!"
Sakura shivered. She opened her mouth to say something.
"Sakura-san?!?" Minoru was now absolutely frantic. Sakura could not
die here. Not now. "No, please, don't"
"I... I think it's not that deep," Sakura croaked out.
Three awkward seconds passed.
"W- What?" Minoru sputtered finally. "Sakura-san, your left lung could
be punctured, maybe even your heart"
"No, I'm serious..." Sakura studied the angle of the arrow in the corner
of her eye. She then grabbed it with her left hand, and pulled it out in
one, clean yank.
Everyone watching the self-operation flinched.
"Fuck, that REALLY hurt..." the kunoichi groaned. Yet as she examined
how much blood covered the arrow, it was certain to her that only about
a centimeter penetrated her flesh. 'The guy's bow must have been dysfunctional,'
she guessed.
The kunoichi stood up. "Minoru-san, guard Potamos."
She stomped angrily to the guard, despite the fact that her wound was
still fresh. Minoru was so shocked that he did not even bother to stop
her.
"Why the HELL did you do that?!" she finally demanded, glaring in the
guard's face.
The raven-haired elf stood quiet, studying her intently.
Sakura continued to rant: "Being part of the Village Guard gives you
no right to just shoot people in the market-place! For your information,
Potamos did nothing, and it was the other guys who"
The tall, dark-haired elf bowed to her.
This silenced Sakura immediately. An elf performing such a gesture to
a human was definitely not something that happened on a regular basis.
She had no idea what to say.
Sakura felt extremely strange. And she realized that it was not only
because of embarrassment: she looked at her hands, which were glowing with
a rosy-colored chakra. As her eyes trailed down, she realized that her
enter body was emitting a slight, pink glow.
The kunoichi nervously bit her lip. So this was what made the people
stare. The rosy chakra faded away.
Minoru cleared his throat. "Um... yes... let's go, Sakura-san. We need
to get that wound examined and healed."
Notes:
"Godaime" - Fifth. (Only for a person of a high and important position.)
"...you eat anything with four legs except tables and chairs" - this
comment basically means that Minoru has no religious or moral restrictions
with any kind of food. This is an ancient joke and prejudice that the Japanese
have for the Chinese: 'The Chinese eat anything with four legs except
tables and chairs.' Before the Meiji Restoration, animals with four legs
were not kosher to eat according to Buddhist beliefs. Anybody who did eat
such things was considered unclean, savage, low, or foreign. This pun can
be translated into English easily, as the word 'leg' also refers to both
bodies and furniture.
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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