(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: Great, the website now doesn't accept brace brackets,
or square brackets. Will this madness of changing punctuation never end?
I'll have to use double-parentheses.
Not only is the plot getting more complicated, school has started for
me. I began this fic last semester (it was near finals) and my GPA went
into mortal danger. I want to do well this semester. So if I am slowing
down, I apologize to the faithful readers. I will do my best to keep going
— I just need pointers as we go.
Minoru drew his arrow across the shaft. In an instant, it was out of
his fingers and lodged in the ribcage of a ground bird, looking similar
to a pheasant. The unfortunate animal fell in a heap.
"We don't have time to pluck a bird AND roast it, Mino-chan," Potamos
whined.
"We have time. You're just complaining because you can't hit it yourself,"
the elf calmly said. "And I can also understand your complaint about the
cuisine. But don't worry: two more nights camping, and we'll arrive in
a village."
"Minoru-san, do the villages have rice?" Sakura asked hopefully.
"I'm sorry — most of the grain around villages is composed of wheat
and barley. Rice is a bit difficult to grow in the Rifts."
The kunoichi sighed sorrowfully. The diet of the three travelers composed
mainly of water, dried fruit, crackers, wild game, and a few berries and
plants along the way. She had been getting mood swings from time to time
ever since the trip began, and she had a craving for normal food. By normal
food, she meant rice, seaweed, fried fish, and pickles. She was also getting
slight migraine headaches. Sakura had no idea why — she began to wonder
if the demon aura was fussing around with her mind. A few days ago, she
had sliced apart a dozen stone golems with too much eagerness.
Little did she know that her elfin friend knew better.
Within an hour, the field-chicken was roasting over an open flame. Sakura
wiped the sweat off her brow as she set up the tent. She sat down when
she finished her handiwork, and admired the scenery.
The kunoichi smelt something peculiar. She turned around, and a twig
with a small, brown object appeared in front of her eyes. "Eat this, Sakura-san,"
Minoru ordered, holding the food.
Sakura eyed it suspiciously. "What is THAT?"
"It's field-chicken," Minoru said casually.
"I know it's field-chicken," Sakura murmured. "What I meant was: what
PART of the chicken is that?"
The elf sighed. "Heart and liver, as well as other internal organs.
They are completely cooked, thus safe to eat."
Sakura looked appalled. "Safe or not, there's no way in hell I'm eating
that!" she exclaimed.
"You need the nutrients, Sakura-san. You need to replenish your low
blood supply."
"My what?" Sakura certainly had not undergone heavy bloodshed in battle
in recent months — or ever, for that matter.
The elf smirked. "Being 120 years old, I have some familiarity with
human physiology, especially a girl of your age. I can also tell, now,
that you have no idea about your condition — much less, how to handle it.
All these months, and you —"
"Condition!" Sakura exclaimed with panic. For a second, it looked like
she was ready to pour out everything she had been experiencing to the elf.
"Minoru-san, does this have anything to do with my chakra? Because I've
been worried —"
"Isn't it obvious?" the elf interrupted, matter-of-factly. "You suffer
from Premenstrual Syndrome, otherwise known as PMS. Not as extreme as other
women, of course, but still some minor symptoms."
(((Fifty years ago, at the Tree of Life near Frida Village)
Minoru nudged his sister forward. She wore a bracelet of gold studded
with emeralds, hanging loosely around her wrist. "If you need help, just
call to it," he said. "I'll leave you alone now. You know the way home."
He turned away, and quickly went out of her sight.
Emerald shivered in her cloak. This talisman was supposed to be blessed
with the power of Dryad. At first, she refused to borrow the wristband:
Minoru had received it as a gift, when he was initiated into magic. But
he insisted that she wore it, saying that he would not let her visit her
undead friend without a powerful item. Even if the vampire could not kill
her by sucking her blood, it could still murder elves and half-elves by
other means. Minoru hardly ever used it, anyway.
Just one command to the bracelet, and bam: instant stake, ready to go
into the chest.
But could she do it, if it ever came to that?
Emerald felt something touch the center of her back.
"You shouldn't let your guard down like that," a dark-haired man whispered.
It was a scolding statement, but there was a hint of affection in his tone.
She giggled. "You're too quiet."
"I like the silence," he said simply, sitting down next to her.
Minoru sat high up in the trees, watching. 'You haven't even noticed
me, undead,' he thought inside. He was only taking this opportunity to
see what the vampire's true character was. Rumors said that vampires held
no emotions, except for maybe bloodlust.
Emerald and her vampire-friend exchanged the usual greetings. They somehow
ended up sitting together under a tree.
A long, uncomfortable silence passed between them. Then, she quietly
laid her head on his shoulder.
Minoru raised an eyebrow. 'Wow, she made the first move,' he commented
inside. 'Let's see how he reacts.'
The man next to Emerald gulped. A strange feeling washed over him with
her touch. He had not felt this in a long time. The vampire looked away
in embarrassment, but he did not push her off. Instead, he seemed to lean
into to her.
The dark-haired man looked up, and noticed someone in the trees. A blond
elf. Their eyes locked, and his glare told Minoru: 'Don't you DARE spy
on us.'
Minoru gave an apologetic smile. 'You'd better take care of her, Corpse,'
his inner thoughts seethed. Yet the elf trusted this vampire. Emerald was
safe. With a fleeting glance, Minoru vanished into the foliage, leaving
the two in peace.))
Minoru suddenly realized that he should not have been so direct to Sakura.
"Oh... I seemed to have forgotten that young humans take that information
a little too personally. Elves tend to be a little more mature in these
subjects — or any subject, for that matter..."
"You... you PERVERT!" Sakura exclaimed as she raised her fists.
"Oh, boy..." Potamos said under her breath, although silently excited
with what would happen next. Sakura now had enough fury to VOLUNTARILY
attack the elf!
"What is so perverse about a completely normal thing that happens to
women?" Minoru argued, a little annoyed. "You need the minerals, especially
iron."
"How dare you —"
"YES, I DARE!" Minoru retorted in a harsh voice. Sakura jumped. The
elf closed his eyes in frustration for a moment. He then went back to his
normal, calm composure. "Sakura-san, I am sorry if I have intruded on what
you call 'personal ground', but I am your doctor. If you want to feel better,
this is a good medicine."
'PERVERT!' Inner Sakura continued to yell.
"Please, at least try it," Minoru asked politely — almost pleadingly.
Sakura took the stick. She stared at the food. Liver. How degrading.
How disgusting. But was she so heartless as to refuse his cooking? She
willed herself to touch it with her lips, and hesitantly nibbled on the
food.
As much as she hated to admit it, it did not taste half-bad. It did
not have the putrid odor that she so desperately refused to tolerate, back
when her mother made it for her. It had a strangely familiar spicing.
"Did you... cook this with teriyaki sauce?" Sakura asked. Potamos' jaw
dropped as she innerly cursed.
"It's good, isn't it?" Minoru commented with a sly grin.
"I'm keeping my guard on, Minoru-san," Sakura warned. "Especially around
you."
"Don't be such a child, Sakura-san!" Minoru exclaimed. "Not like that
demon over there."
"Hey!" Potamos exclaimed.
Sakura looked thoughtfully at the elf. "Minoru-san... Can I ask you
a question? And it's not about your cooking, because it's good."
The blond elf smiled, glad that his companion was beginning to feel
better already. "Anything you want to know, Sakura-san," he said.
Her green eyes bore into his face. "Are you psychic?" she seriously
asked.
The smiled faded from his face. "Why do you ask?" Minoru stated. His
eyes turned slightly sharp. Potamos cocked her head to the side, confused.
Sakura looked down. "It seems that... Your senses for detecting enemies
are abnormally strong."
"Well, it's true that they are a little sharper than that of a human,"
Minoru explained. "I am elf, after all. A slight touch of faun blood, but
other than that..."
'Ah, fauns — those hot, mischievous males of the woods. That explains
a lot,' Potamos mentally noted. 'Like satyrs, only gentler, unless they
give you nightmares. Aaaargh, but his prude, elfin blood gets in the way
when things get really good!"
"I know elves have heightened senses. But yours is different," Sakura
said. "Because at odd intervals, you seem to tense up. And every time,
right afterwards, someone — or something — shows up with a murderous intent
for at least one of us. It's as if you have a mental alarm system when
something is about to attack." Minoru did not answer. Sakura cocked an
eyebrow at the grim look on his face. 'And it seems like I'm right,' Sakura
thought with triumph.
Shivers went down the elf's spine — a mixture of awe, anger, and annoyance.
Her analytical skills were better than he thought. Minoru breathed. "But
there is a flaw in your theory, Sakura-san," the blond pointed out, his
voice unnaturally calm. "You've witnessed plenty of times where I have
been caught off-guard."
Sakura carefully thought, her eyes fixed on Minoru. "The run-in with
the green-haired thief," she realized, biting her lip. "You didn't detect
him."
He nodded.
Potamos' eagerness deflated. She had been following the conversation
from the beginning, thrilled to see Sakura nail something down on Minoru.
Anything to see the blond fall: a spar, an accusation... hell, even a match
of Jankenpon. Yet Sakura's seemingly good hypothesis was only a temporary
threat, which Minoru easily dodged. She should have known that a battle
of wits between an elf and a human had an obvious outcome from the beginning.
"But," the kunoichi mumbled, "you didn't sense the thief — you couldn't
sense him — mainly because he never intended to kill us in the first attack.
He was a thief, not a murderer. Yes, he tried to cleave my head open afterwards.
But at the initial encounter, he used tranquilizer darts, and tied us up."
A muscle twitched in the corner of the elf's mouth.
Potamos' ears perked up. The fighter rises again!
The pink-haired girl gained momentum. "The confusion at the Ninja Mansion
— you couldn't stop the boys, because they didn't know those weapons were
painted with a lethal toxin," Sakura spouted out.
Minoru groaned. He certainly did not want to be reminded of THAT time,
when he failed to protect Sakura — much less, admit it that it happened.
"But Sakura-san... Have you already forgotten the eve of our first meeting?"
he reminded her.
Sakura froze.
(( "Hmpf. I knew that there was something wrong with that last guard,"
Sakura said. "But the dwarf... I mean, the thing that attacked you... it
turned into a statue rather than dirt."
"That was a ghost within a hollow shell. There are some advanced forms
of magic that give temporary life to a statue of clay, which can be used
as a killing machine." ))
"We fought rock golems two days ago, Sakura-san," Minoru continued.
"An army of fifty-some, in fact. I only noticed them when they were in
plain view of my eyes. In fact, you were the first to notice them."
Sakura thought back forty-eight hours. It was true: she had been the
first to realize that moving statues were coming in their direction. Much
earlier than Minoru, in fact. It was only after she performed some hand-seals
when the elf asked her if something was wrong.
Minoru sighed. "I can't detect everything that aims to kill, Sakura-san.
I'm not perfect." He got up, and began to walk away.
The sad look on his face did not escape Sakura's eyes. The kunoichi
realized what she had just done. How could she have forgotten that evening?
Minoru was nearly decapitated that time, and their friendship was forged
as a result.
The kunoichi was so caught up in finding something new about him — and
in the heat of things, it bordered on an accusation. At least, he seemed
to think it so.
Potamos' eyes narrowed. "He's weird," she commented to Sakura. "Don't
let him get to 'ya, Sacchan," she encouraged, patting her back. "Maybe...
that night he was attacked, he faked it?"
"No way in hell," Sakura breathed. She remembered details of that night's
fight: there was definite blood. His nerves were shot afterwards; his high
heart-rate confirmed that. Sakura curled her legs up to her torso. "I thought
I had figured something about him," she mumbled. "I guess I was wrong."
"Yeah, he does keep things to himself," the water-demon murmured. "Are
ya okay, Sacchan?"
"I'll apologize to him later," Sakura said quietly. She wasn't even
sure why she told Potamos this.
Minoru sighed in relief as he kicked the sand. 'That was too close,'
he thought to himself.
Notes:
"Jankenpon" - rock, paper, scissors. Also simply known as "Janken".
CrissyKitty: yes, I am as eager as you to get to the good parts! I'm
planning some drama — even before this story ends — so it will be a while.
Plus, there's the thing with school...
Nocterayne-san: I feel with you. Although my experience wasn't as bad
as yours, I myself have had the educational experience of incredibly rude,
foul-mouthed, perverted, and very-much-unwanted stalkers in my eighth-grade
year. Two of them, but that was enough. Yes, there are disturbing people
in this world.
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please tell me! If
I suck, by all means tell me. In an intelligent manner.
Book
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