(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: There are some major spoilers from now on about
the Wedding Peach series, but it's necessary to explain Sakura's origins.
Remember, this is AU!
Momoko could have passed out.
"He brought her back... our daughter is back..." the pink-haired woman
whispered.
"Five seconds before the wormhole closed," Scarlett muttered. "And they
fell into the Dead Zone. Good thing you sent Fuuma."
Fuuma Yousuke, otherwise known as 'Viento', entered the room.
"Fuuma-kun, I must say that I am quite impressed," Scarlett said. It
was very rare of Scarlett to give compliments to anybody, least of all
to a half-demon.
"Thank you, Scarlett-san." He turned to Momoko. "Momo-P, she just fainted
while we were in the Dead Zone. The doctor said we can enter her room.
They bandaged up her head, and she's resting now."
Momoko trembled. "Um... I guess... we should go see her then..."
Sakura lay in a hospital bed, sleeping. Her face was serene and expressionless.
The door opened: Momoko and Yousuke entered.
Momoko's eyes widened as she gripped her husband's arm. Yousuke hadn't
seen Momoko this nervous, not even in a battle. He led her to a chair next
to the bed. She gratefully plopped down on it.
"Sakura... my own daughter..." Momoko's voice quavered. Her hand slowly
went towards Sakura's face, as if Sakura were too fragile and precious
to be touched. Momoko pushed away a few strands obscuring the girl's face.
"She has your hair and your looks," Yousuke whispered as he hugged Momoko.
"She'd be thirteen now. A little after I first received my powers,"
Momoko said. She dared to cup the girl's face in her hand.
Sakura's eyes slowly opened. There was a beautiful woman touching her
face. She had long, pink hair and a white complexion. Her aura felt absolutely
wonderful.
Sakura blinked. "Am I... dead?" she asked.
"No," Momoko replied. Her eyes were misty. "You are alive. And you are
here, with me."
Sakura's eyes darted to the other person, and her eyes widened. This
very man took her away from her home and into hell. He was a demon.
Sakura jumped from her bed and threw a fist at Yousuke's face.
Her body stopped, and the door to the hospital wing banged against the
wall — in that order. Two women were holding her. One had wavy, shoulder-length
red hair, and the other had short, green hair.
Sakura was stunned. These women were as fast as Kakashi, maybe even
Gai. They weren't even in the room half a second ago.
"My, my, she's quite the warrior," Scarlett said crisply, holding Sakura's
arms.
"Let me go! Who are you? Where the hell am I?" Sakura struggled in their
tight lock, glaring at the person she knew as 'Viento'. "Why did you kidnap
me?" she shouted. "Damnit, let me go, can't you see he's a powerful demon!"
Hinagiku had her arm locked around Sakura's waist. "That's no excuse
to go attacking strangers. As for him being a demon: one, we already know
that; two, he won't hurt ya'. And if you don't keep quiet in your bed you're
gonna pass out again!" Hinagiku's old boyish slang began to spring up.
Momoko was startled with Sakura's violent outburst, but calmed down.
"Let's take things from the top, shall we?" she asked. "My husband, Yousuke,
came to the Ninja world to bring you home. Sakura."
'Ninja world...? Home...?' Sakura blinked.
It finally registered to Sakura: she was in a totally different world.
No Konoha. No Naruto, no Ino, no Kakashi-sensei. There wasn't even a Fire
Country.
Sakura trembled. "Impossible... No, Konoha is my world, my home... Why
the hell did your husband, VIENTO," Sakura angrily pointed at Yousuke,
"just drop down from the sky, knock me and my friends out, and pull me
here? I was almost killed with that entire trip! Two of my closest friends
could be dead now, for all I know! That's a perfectly good excuse to attack
him — my parents are there; my friends are there; my village is there —
MY HOME IS OVER THERE, DAMN IT!"
The group was silent. Sakura could see the hurt in Momoko's eyes.
"...I know you deserve an explanation. But please, calm down," Momoko
soothed. "Hinagiku, Scarlett, you can let go of her. Sit down, Sakura."
The two angels let go of the pink-haired genin, and she sat down on
the bed obediently. Sakura was surprised at the general atmosphere in this
group. Grown-ups at home would have probably admonished her for speaking
up to her elders. Here, everybody in this room only gave her disappointed
or sad expressions. This was clearly not the world of shinobi.
Momoko nodded to her teammates. "Hinagiku, Scarlett, thank you. I am
sure you do not need to stand guard outside anymore." The two walked out
of the wing and closed the door behind them.
Sakura nervously clutched her blanket. She felt a little ashamed of
her outburst. The demon did kidnap her, yes. She did try to slit his throat
right afterwards, yes. But he protected her throughout the whole Dead Zone
ordeal — and she had thanked him for it with a flying fist.
Momoko gulped. This would be hard for the girl. "Sakura, this is my
husband, Fuuma Yousuke. I am his wife, Fuuma Momoko."
Sakura looked at Yousuke. "I thought your name was Viento," she said
quietly.
"It is, but that's my demon name. My human name is Fuuma Yousuke," the
brown-haired man explained.
"Fuuma... So you're a wind-demon?" Sakura asked.
"Actually, I'm only half. Half-demon and half-human. And Momo-P here
is half-angel and half-human."
Sakura raised an eyebrow.
Momoko laughed. "Yes, it is rare for an angel and demon to fall in love.
But not impossible. You see, this dimension has three realms: the human
realm, the angel realm, and the demon realm. We grew up in the human world
and met there, not knowing of our different ancestry. When we received
our powers, our relationship was... problematic to both the angels and
demons." Momoko blushed prettily. "But our love helped end the war."
Yousuke looked away. His skin was tanned, but Sakura swore that she
saw a wisp of color brush his cheeks.
Momoko gulped.
"And... after we got married... we had you."
(( (Thirteen years ago)
"Sakura's mixed blood is working against her. There's no way that she
can survive," Yuri murmured to her friend. "I am so sorry, Momoko."
"Yuri..." Momoko's eyes filled with tears. She looked desperately at
her baby — little Sakura was visibly turning sicker and sicker after her
birth a few days ago.
"This doesn't make sense!" Yousuke said furiously. "She's half-human,
just like Momoko and I, and she can't survive in ANY of the realms?"
"She will last a little longer, because the human blood acts as a neutralizer
of a sort," a nearby healer said. She lowered her eyes. "But at this rate...
I'm sorry."
The tears silently rolled down Momoko's face. Tiny Sakura was asleep
— but soon she would fall into a different sleep, from which nobody ever
woke up. The mother simply gazed at the beautiful girl in her arms. Sakura:
cherry blossom. How fitting — so beautiful, and so temporary.
"There could still be a way," Takurou said.
Everybody's heads turned to him. "What is it?" Yousuke asked quickly.
Hinagiku sighed to herself — here was yet another experiment that might
prove disastrous. She hoped that Takurou could at least explain it to them
before trying it.
"Well, you know that I've been working in space-time technology. We
knew before about the existence of other dimensions, and that people live
in some of them. One of my colleagues figured out how to make a communications
link using wormholes, and he found out that those people are almost entirely
similar to us in genetics. Their aura-systems are a little different, but
it's not a 100 percent chance that any transferred living being of one
earth would die in another."
Yousuke twitched. He could keep up with all that jargon, but right now
his daughter's life was in danger.
"Get to the point, Takurou," Hinagiku growled.
"Okay, okay," Takurou said hastily. "I think that Sakura may be able
to live in another dimension, where there isn't as much spiritual force
imbalance. Her angel and demon parts of her will be considerably weaker
in other dimensions."
"So... if she's taken to another world, she will live?" Yuri asked.
"Well, that may or may not be," Takurou replied nervously. "No such
physical transfer has been done before — in fact, I only completed such
a mechanism two months ago. If you take this chance... then Sakura... will
be the first person in our dimension ever to do it."
"And it's the only chance Sakura has," the healer said with gravity.
"Sakura, in her present state, won't last more than two days. Anything,
even a new environment, that could weaken the conflicting forces in her
body will greatly improve her chances of living."
There was a dead silence.
Takurou stood up. "You must decide whether to do this or not by tomorrow
noon, at the space-time laboratory. Before then, do you have any piece
of jewelry?"
Momoko thought a while, and took out a brooch from her purse. "This?"
"That kind of alloy is perfect!" Takurou said as he snatched it away.
"Takurou, I accepted a long time ago that most scientists don't earn
very much, so don't exploit one of my best friends!" Hinagiku exclaimed.
"This is NOT for payment!" Takurou retorted.
"I am asking you one more time," Takurou said seriously. "Are you sure
of this?"
"YES! Please take my daughter!" Momoko pleaded, the baby in her arms.
Yousuke stood behind his wife, holding her waist. "This world's energy
system is going against her blood... It's too dangerous here!"
Takurou continued on, "Sakura would be totally removed from this world,
into another which we know nothing of. That would require a DIMENSIONAL
jump. You may never see her again."
"I want her to live!" Momoko shouted, nearly crying. " I LOVE HER!"
Sakura began to wail.
"Alright, here we go." Takurou pinned the brooch onto Sakura's blankets.
He had spent nearly the entire night putting an energy reserve in its core.
Momoko's eyes became misty as she held her daughter. Takurou nodded to
the married couple, indicating that this was it. Momoko kissed the baby
Sakura, and Yousuke likewise.
Takurou took the crying Sakura away from her parents, and nestled her
into a foot-long capsule. He closed the metal box and sealed it. Then he
put the capsule into a section of a large machine in the center of the
huge laboratory.
The raven-haired scientist picked up a microphone. "Get ready for transfer!"
Takurou ordered. "Port B, do you read me?"
"Read you, loud and clear," a voice answered from a speaker.
Momoko was sobbing in her husband's chest.
"Systems, check..." ))
Notes on meanings of names:
"Fuuma" - means 'wind demon.' It is the same word as in "Fuuma Shuriken",
the weapon used by Mizuki against Iruka-sensei in the first episode of
Naruto, and later by Sasuke and Naruto during the first battle against
Zabusa.
"Sakura" - 'cherry blossom' of course!
"Haruno" - means 'field of spring' when you look at the kanji, but its
sound resembles "of spring". So "Haruno Sakura" sounds like 'cherry blossom
of spring.'
"Momoko" - means 'peach child.' Cute, ne?
"Hinagiku" - means 'daisy.'
If you have questions, or comments, please tell me! If I suck, by all
means, tell me. In an intelligent manner.
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