(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?
Minoru and Sakura were watching from the corner of the tavern they were
eating at, while Potamos was feebly attempting her first date with a human.
The young man asked a lock of her 'beautiful, violet hair', and she
pulled out a kunai to fulfill the request. It scared the poor boy, setting
off a storm of honey-like, malicious giggles out of the water-demon.
"What's so great about a lock of hair?" Sakura huffed, two tables down.
"Idea of chivalry," Minoru explained to Sakura. "A knight who wants
to court a lady asks for small tokens and trinkets — maybe a scarf, or
a cheap piece of jewelry — something to remember the girl by. A lock of
hair is a particularly romantic option."
"You mean... Those guys back in Ramah Village were... hitting on me?"
Sakura frowned and blushed at the same time — it was flattering, but she
also was afraid that this attention would nudge her back into the preppy,
foolish girl she used to be. "The... nerve of those men! And even if I
did give it, what would they do with it? Something like that... is useless
to own! You can't eat it, you can't do anything practical with it."
Minoru raised his eyebrow. Surely, Sakura had not lost all of her joy
in romance? "Even a symbol has a practical use," he said calmly. Minoru
took a gentle sip of the tavern's home-brewed mead. "A symbol is a thing,
that stands for a thing — and THAT'S the thing."
The kunoichi smiled slightly behind her cup of bittersweet cocoa. She
was rather... impressed. Minoru's definition was accurate and down-to-earth,
yet poetic in its own peculiar way. The blond could be quite the charmer,
even when he reverted into a scholar-mode for her sake.
Yet the glow wore off as the minutes ticked by. The kunoichi rubbed
her eyes. "I'm going to bed. And I think Potamos is drinking something
she shouldn't..."
Potamos gave off an artificial shriek of laughter two tables down, clutching
a particularly large (and suspicious-looking) mug.
Minoru sighed as he got up from his seat. "Time to save the both of
them," he grumbled. Sakura then heard him mutter something along the lines
of: "I need to see a mirror." The pink-haired kunoichi shook her head,
mentally noting that the elf might have a bigger ego than she had presumed.
A thunder-demon with long, blue hair tapped his fingers on the table.
There was an ancient book opened out in front of him. There was the prophecy,
clear as day.
Din wondered how Momoko and Yousuke could ignore this. He cursed Angel
Salvia's lack of judgment when she helped Sakura in bringing out her aura.
And Sakura — the little tramp of a kunoichi — was clueless to what trouble
she was.
When Sakura was born, Din was one of the few demons who knew about her
existence. He remembered being sympathetic with Viento when Sakura showed
signs of dying immediately after birth — and he was relieved and glad when
she had been sent to another dimension. The human scientist Amano Takurou
was quite a marvel; Din had to admit that. The plan was perfect: there
would be no chance she'd endanger this dimension, and there was some hope
that she could live her own life. Din would never admit it, but he had
been was amazed at how Momoko and Yousuke took the ordeal so calmly. He
was even touched when the couple decided to adopt and raise orphans to
make a family, instead of continuing the dangerous alternative of making
children on their own.
Before Sakura came back, the thunder-demon had enjoyed a good friendship
with Yousuke, a.k.a. Viento. Indeed, Yousuke was one of the few part-humans
whose presence Din could tolerate. Hell, that was the main reason Din walked
into the Dead Zone in the first place — he recognized the chakra when he
was patrolling the border, and decided to help in case the tortured souls
wanted to add Yousuke to their population.
Yet when Din saw the pink-haired girl — alive, well, and worst of all,
HERE — he nearly blew a circuit. He had over-estimated Yousuke's love for
this world — angel, human, and demon realms combined.
'Well, I somehow don't blame him,' Din thought afterwards. 'Growing
up in the human world must have eliminated any sense from his screwed-up
head.' Demons were more devoted than humans when it came to executing justice;
they were sometimes even harsher than angels, who were befuddled with the
concept of mercy. Angel Salvia used to be known an infamous exception to
that rule, as she proved during the Great War. 'I think I liked Angel Salvia
better as an demon-slaying bigot,' Din thought with a sneer. 'The likes
of HER training Sakura, of all people... It's practically an invitation
to kill!'
Din of the Raima-Zoku pondered what to do with the situation. He knew
Sakura's biological parents. It was too obvious when Yousuke fell into
the Dead Zone with a pink-haired girl at his side. Din could not prove
it to the authorities: he had no documents, and only his well-thought-out
suspicions pushed him on the matter. But he was sure. Sakura had Momoko's
hair and looks. The green eyes were probably due to Yousuke's green aura,
or the mixing of Momoko's blue eyes with the hazel ones of Youske.
And finally, Yousuke confirmed it with his last spoken words to Din.
(( "Din, I don't care what you think! She is under my protection!" ))
Din made a silent prayer to his dead family. Yes, it was still unclear
whether Sakura was the Executioner of this dimension. But if his suspicions
were correct, all hell would break loose.
'I hope that she understands the warning signals, at the very least,'
he silently commented. 'For the sake of my parents, and to all beings.
If she does not heed it, I will have to take care of her myself.'
Uchiha Sasuke squirmed in his bed. His bangs stuck to his forehead in
cold sweat, and he was covered in blankets. Orochimaru looked on at the
sleeping boy, while Kabuto was checking the boy's condition.
"It's just a normal fever," Kabuto mumbled as he read the thermometer.
"He needs a full day of rest, and he'll be fine."
Orochimaru frowned. "There has been something else," he whispered, "that
is bothering him."
"The curse, of course," the medic-nin answered.
"That's not what I meant," Orochimaru said in frustration. "A full year,
and he still doesn't heed my command unless it is in exchange for training.
He is... different from the others who willingly took the second level
of the curse."
"Well, he is a prodigy," the white-haired medic said. "It's the Uchiha
blood in him."
"Uchiha indeed..." Orochimaru mused. The sennin touched Sasuke's burning
forehead. The teenager flinched at the contact, as if he could sense the
coldness of his master — both fingers and heart. "As if there is some sort
of barrier he created..."
Kabuto gulped. "Itachi, you mean?" he asked.
Orochimaru glanced to the side, slightly amused. Sasuke had squirmed
in his sleep when his brother's name was mentioned.
"Yes." Orochimaru kept his freezing hand on Sasuke's forehead.
After about a minute, he began to lift it off — when the boy began to
shake slightly. The sennin frowned. 'Another damn foreign power? And so
strong...' Sasuke looked like he was in mental anguish. "What jutsu is
this?" Orochimaru asked in a hiss.
Sasuke stood in a foreign place. It looked like some sort of arena —
and it looked like some sort of tournament was going on. It seemed like
a strange fashion wave hit the spectators; they had weird clothing and
odd make-up on.
Sasuke looked to down see who was in the arena. Two people stood there.
'This must be a tournament,' Sasuke reasoned. To his surprise, one of the
participants was Sakura. Why she appeared in a dueling tournament was a
mystery to him.
But what made Sasuke's heart freeze was the face of her opponent. It
was he himself, Uchiha Sasuke — Sharingan eyes and all, with a look of
pure hatred on his face. 'What the hell am I — I mean, what is HE — doing
there?!'
Sasuke opened his mouth to yell something out. But to his horror, no
noise except the chattering of spectators echoed around him. He tried to
lift his feet, but he was glued to the spot.
The boy realized that he was supposed to watch this. 'Damn it, I want
to wake up from this dream!! NOW!!!'
The whistle blew. Sakura ran towards Sasuke's duplicate, and landed
a clean, round-house kick on him.
The Uchiha watching from the stands blinked — either that clone of his
really sucked, or Sakura got better in taijutsu. He inwardly sighed in
relief. His ex-teammate could handle herself against this inadequate copy.
Plus, her figure was kind of nice to watch, twisting and turning like a
dancer — her pink hair and red dress further emphasized the metaphor.
The doppelganger in the fighting area stared into Sakura's eyes, giving
her momentary paralysis. She froze in a terrible position. He would land
a hit so easily. 'What is she doing?' Sasuke thought. 'She has to MOVE!'
"ARGH!!" Sakura screamed as she was kicked into the stomach. Her body
slid painfully against the dirt. She looked up with a pained and frustrated
look on her face. She coughed downward, creating gruesome specks on the
ground.
Blood. The kunoichi was hacking up blood.
'Why can't I move here?' Sasuke asked himself. 'What am I doing down
there?! Sakura, damn you, RUN!!' Yet he was at a loss. He couldn't speak.
He couldn't move. His only option was to watch, while his doppelganger
beat the crap out of his friend.
He then noticed something terrible about the clone: he possessed strange
eyes. They were not the normal Sharingan.
'The Mangekyou," Sasuke realized. He then remembered what Itachi did
to him several years back, just after he stumbled upon the cold bodies
of his parents.
The illusionary move Tsukiyomi — named after the god of the moon — gave
the victim seventy-two hours of torture within a split-second. 'No way...
Did he activate THAT on Sakura?!' Sasuke panicked. 'That bastard; she doesn't
deserve to grow up like me!!'
The duplicate yelled out something, while the kunoichi stood frozen
to the spot.
The field burst into a gigantic fireball.
The real Sasuke collapsed in shock. Another legendary jutsu of the Mangekyou
Sharingan — Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun. He couldn't take it: the
dream broke apart like of glass.
Sasuke's eyes shot open. He had a monstrous headache with this flu —
and a dream had to yank him out of much-needed rest.
"Nightmare, Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru asked with a sneer.
Grimacing, the Uchiha turned onto his other side in the bed. Orochimaru
was right; he indeed had a nightmare... but Sasuke didn't remember what
it was about. He wished he remembered it — something terrible happened.
But it wasn't real, so there was no reason to remember it. It wasn't
real. It wasn't real.
A pair of sad, green eyes flashed through his mind. Sasuke fell into
a dreamless sleep.
'Damn, that felt good. But now to do some practical work.' Minoru bit
his finger in frustration as he looked through the old library catalogue.
This dwarf cave had a pretty large library, with rare books and items,
but the organizing system had been out-of-date ever since the cave had
sealed its main entrance from the troll.
The elf mumbled to himself while he went through the card-catalogue.
" 'Prophecies'... 'Prophecies of Celestials'... 'Well-known Soothsayers'...
'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Prophecy'..." Minoru cocked an eyebrow.
'How did a human book like this end up in the Rifts?' he wondered.
There had to be something in here about Sakura's mix. Minoru wanted
the pink-haired girl to live normally. If he could just find a resource
that proved that she was harmless, that would help the nagging doubts in
his mind whether she was eligible to stay here. Sure, this entire trip
of finding the Energy Springs would prove to be useless if Sakura decided
not to go back — but Minoru personally didn't care. As long as the two
of them — 'ehem, three,' he corrected mentally — came out of the ordeal
fine, he was satisfied to spend time with Sakura.
The blond elf scribbled notes on the back of his hand with a quill.
That earned him a harsh scolding from the dwarf librarian about how hard
good feathers were to obtain these days, especially in a dwarf cave, and
eventually going into a long lecture about how the elves were such a pompous
race.
He hopped onto the browsing-ladder. "Ma'am, I will be careful next time,"
he called down to the librarian as he jerked the ladder down the shelves.
"Not," he added through his teeth quietly.
It was several hours until Minoru found himself, face-flat over the
folds of a book. Something warm and very comfortable tugged at his sleeve.
His head turned slightly, only to meet a pair of green eyes, and another
pair of yellow cat-eyes. "Mino-chan, rise and shine!" Potamos giggled.
"You slept the whole night in the library!"
"Minoru-san, we were so worried when we found your bed empty," Sakura
said, her hand gently shaking his shoulder. Her eyes scanned the pages
of the open books. One leaf had a picture of someone — it was hard to tell
what gender the person was. The being had black wings, wore a white dress,
and floated in a background of midnight blue.
The pink-haired girl absentmindedly reached for the book. She could
not read the paragraph next to the picture; it was in the ancient language
of elfish. Yet something about that image nagged her. She picked the book
it up, fingering its pages. "Minoru-san, what is this picture about?" the
kunoichi asked Minoru.
"Nothing," the elf quickly said. Clearly, this was not a good sign.
Sakura could pick out the prophecy even if she couldn't read it.
Sakura was unconvinced, and Minoru knew this by the frown on her face.
He knew now that she was not going to leave him in peace until he explained
it honestly. "Minoru-san," she said firmly. "I know that you can read it
somewhat; why would you otherwise pick it from the shelves?"
"Good point," Potamos said with an evil grin.
Minoru tightened his lips for a brief moment. "Very well..." he agreed.
"But don't panic once I explain it. I'm trying to find how we can know
for sure..."
"Sure for what?" the water-demon asked.
"Just be quiet and listen," Minoru ordered. "Now, I warn you: this is
a rough translation, so it's not as poetic —"
"Okay, okay, just do it," Potamos grumbled.
Minoru cleared his throat, and translated the text to Sakura and Potamos.
x
- When a demon and an angel unite in love
they shall bring peace and prosperity to all
yet the fruit from such a union cannot survive
for yin and yang shall clash to chaos.
x
However, if such a child does come into the world alive
both angel and demon, yet neither; quick to judge;
with the power to create, to heal, and the power to destroy
Death, Suffering and Rebirth shall come to all the realms.
x
Neither angel nor demon of their own places
nor the humans of Earth
nor the foreigners living in between, within the Rifts
shall escape the One's wrath.
x
The Angel of Death, the Executioner, the Final Judge,
shall be allowed by the gods to raise revolution
and crush the order of existence, be it good or evil.
This is the warning and hope of the gods, so heed its cry. -
x
Minoru looked up. A painful silence was between the three.
"Sakura-san?" the elf said hesitantly.
"Excuse me," Sakura said. "I have to go to the bathroom." She got up,
wobbled away towards the restroom.
"Sacchan!" Potamos exclaimed. She stood up, but then realized that she
had not the heart to follow. Sakura needed to be alone.
Minoru looked down, folding his hands nervously. This had to come, sooner
or later. "Give her time. Right now, I need your help in reading some books
— we need to find SOMETHING that will refute this possibility."
"I don't believe it — I CAN'T believe it," the water-demon insisted
to Minoru. There was a slight tremor to her voice.
"Nor can I," the elf answered. "Nor can I..." he ended softly. 'It is
impossible; Sakura-san is too kind, and too gentle a creature!' he yelled
inside.
Sakura went through the lavatory door, letting it clumsily bang on its
own. She had to get to a toilet, quick. Her stomach squeezed uncomfortably.
She didn't know whom to believe anymore. Scarlet had told her already
about a prophecy. But she failed to mention that it was so damn frightening,
and Apocalyptic. Was she, the little weak Haruno Sakura, supposed to be
a goddess of death of this dimension? Was it her inescapable fate to slaughter
out the life of this world? The idea itself was ridiculous, so laughable
— yet at the same time, it remained a terrible possibility.
The kunoichi looked at the open bowl. Kneeling down, she vomited.
Notes:
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.