(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: Thedark called me evil. Ciastor cursed me. And
Nocterayne declared her love for me and hate for me. Some people are
actually reading this fic, yeah baby! Because I felt so guilty of that
cliffhanger, I decided to upload this chapter two days earlier than I planned.
Okay, I admit: I am one black lady for putting that awful cliffhanger
last chapter. There is a reason. Halfway through writing this fanfiction,
I was wondering whether cliffhangers had any positive effect on the number
of reviews. So I upped the frequency of cliffies in later chapters. Interestingly
enough, there was not much difference between the cliffies and the non-cliffies
in terms of review numbers. It was constant with five or six reviews per
chapter (with the exception of the first seven chapters, since I put those
up within a single week or so).
Of course, this data is only on "Dimensional Exchanges"; I don't know
how the pattern goes with other fanfictions. The experiment showed that
there are usually more reviews when time between updates are longer.
So the lesson us: if you really want reviews, don't riddle each chapter
with a cliffhanger and torture the poor readers. Updating on a slow and
infrequent basis is so much more effective.
Okay, I'll shut up now. Jeez, some people can't take the truth or a
joke.
The axe swung towards Sakura and cleaved through the metal chains.
Sakura gave a brief smirk before she grabbed a hold of the axe, and disappeared.
"Hidden Mist!" Potamos yelled out. A fog covered the room, and both she
and Sakura disappeared from Din's sight.
Din sensed the movement a flying axe emerged from the cloud, and the
thunder-demon dodged it only barely. The large weapon imbedded itself into
the crusty wall, glowing a brief green before it faded into a black steel
once again. Hail shot at him from the right. "Potamos, you traitor!" Din
snarled.
The fog began to clear, and an outline of a girl began to show through
the sheer atmosphere. Din threw a ball of lightning at it.
"Big mistake," a female voice whispered from behind him. A clink of
chain was heard before he felt a demonic stab within his back.
(( A little blue-haired boy cried uncontrollably as he clutched on a
woman's dead body. "Mommy!" he screamed. Her eyes were diluted. Next to
her lay a bloody bundle of towels, with an immobile baby inside. ))
"I will not yield to some mixed breed and a self-sacrificing demon!"
Din roared. He expelled a burst of chakra, making the air turbulent with
ions.
Sakura and Potamos screamed as they were thrown against the wall together;
never before had they felt so much pain.
Din, heavily bleeding in his back, walked over to the two girls. He
was wounded by a mixed human and a demon. "What is this world coming to?"
he quietly asked.
Potamos grasped a hold of Sakura. "Sacchan, don't fall asleep!"
Sakura blinked, her vision turning into a haze. Potamos bit her lip.
The wounds on Din's back were healing slowly. In fact, it was slower
than usual, as the wind-chakra was still biting into his skin. He began
to gently laugh as Sakura swallowed her pain, and pointed her katana at
him in a threatening manner. "You two are one-of-a-kind. Always risking
your lives to save the other, even if it denounces your own image."
"That's the way ninja-teams work," Sakura mumbled, slowly standing up.
She smoothly positioned herself, ignoring the pain through her muscles.
She could feel Potamos' irregular waves of chakra the water-demon was
scared. "You want to kill me, and me only," the kunoichi calmly said to
Din. "I will go down fighting if you try to lay a hand on Potamos."
Din froze as he heard those words. He heard something so similar before.
(( "I will go down fighting if you try to lay a hand on me or Din."
))
"You... you shut up!" Din snarled. The thunder-demon formed a crackling
glaive of blue energy. He ran towards Sakura, intending to rip her apart.
A crack in the ground appeared, and something blocked Din's glowing
weapon.
"I think you should leave if you know what's good for you," Angel Linton
coldly said, his heavy staff holding back the thunder-demon. Backing him
up were Amano Takuji the half-angel, and Ambrosia the Amazon girl, who
calmly held their stances.
"Haruno-san, you'll be fine now," Takuji said, looking at the battered
Sakura in the corner of his eyes. "You rest. We'll take care of this freak."
"No... He's..." Sakura moaned. "He's too "
Linton shouted out in pain as he received an angry zap of electricity.
"Linton!" Takuji shouted. Linton was an earth-angel; he was supposed
to be immune from most electric attacks. This thunder-demon was more trouble
than at first glance.
"Earth Shield!" Linton yelled. His skin slowly turned into a hardened
tan.
"Arrogant child," Din scoffed. His blue hair began to waft from the
chakra radiating from him. Angel Linton braced himself for the coming attack;
he doubted his armor would take everything.
Amano Takuji realized the intensity of the coming blast as well. He
had to do something to prevent the thunder-demon from literally exploding.
Sakura was wounded, the normally-brave Ambrosia was tense, and even his
rival Linton looked defensive for once. No way in hell would Takuji restrain
himself without trying to do something. If he could just get the demon
distracted for just a moment...
Takuji looked down to find shards of glass. Or at least, what looked
like glass. He grabbed a few of the sharp pieces, and threw them at the
glowing Din.
A touch of aura from Takuji's hands transferred into the shards. They
sped through the air, and then flecked into Din's eyes. The thunder-demon
cried out in pain, clawing at his face.
'Nice, Amano,' Linton thought as he extended his hand. "Diamond Missile,
level four!" he yelled out. The sparkling jewels flew out of the ground,
and hammered around Din. The demon screamed in agony as his skin was gashed
from the hard projectiles.
With a burst of speed, Takuji appeared in front of Din, and performed
an upper kick. Din growled at the half-angel's impudence, and gave him
a powerful zap. "AH!" Takuji screamed in pain, and his body went flying.
The half-angel felt himself hit a warm body. Takuji looked surprised
as he turned his face: Sakura had blocked him before he cracked his skull
on the wall. "Haruno-san, you shouldn't have done that!" the raven-haired
boy exclaimed. "You're hurt!"
"Not as much as before." Sakura panted. She had enough strength to keep
up.
While Linton and Takuji were holding Din up, she had performed Tsunade's
healing jutsu on herself. She carefully observed the combat Angel Linton
and Din were in they only had eyes for each other now. "Listen, Amano-kun,"
Sakura whispered, "I saw something when you threw those shards. I think
you're starting an Awakening."
"How do you know about Awakening?" Takuji asked. "That's only for "
"Trust me. Just do as I say," Sakura said, slipping her hand into Takuji's.
He noticed how calloused and rough her palm was. How much did she practice
with weapons?
Angel Linton screamed as Din threw a wave of energy at him. Ambrosia,
the Amazon in black leather, ran after Din with a spear. "Long weapon versus
long weapon, yeah!" she exclaimed, landing an attack onto the blue-haired
demon. She actually put up quite a fight of skill, never taking her eyes
off of the sharp blade of her opponent's weapon.
Sakura moved Takuji's right hand to fold together with her left they
made a hand-seal. These usually were reserved for partner-jutsu, which
were hard and complex. But the two did not need to complete a full-fledged
spell; they simply needed a connection of aura. A ninja's hand-seal was
just like a word in a magical incantation.
Sakura was going to tap her angel aura into Takuji to help speed up
his Awakening, if he was going to at all. Takuji was in no shape to take
on Din now, but if she could just
Linton groaned as he lay sprawled on the floor.
"Linton!" Takuji shouted. Something inside him snapped as he looked
at his rival's still form on the ground. Ambrosia was fighting with all
her strength, never mind that she was a non-magical human against a full-grown
demon.
Takuji was about to let go of Sakura's hand when he felt a warmth
flowing into him.
A ray of white light broke out from between Sakura and Takuji's folded
hands. Takuji gave a quiet gasp as the energy glowed out, and began to
fill the entire room. Angel Linton lifted up his head from the murky ground,
and smiled as he witnessed the scene. Din glared at the two of them.
The beam twisted into the air and aimed for Din. It enveloped the
thunder-demon at an unnatural speed. It focused on his eyes, and something
glinted on his face.
'The piece of the glass Takuji threw before,' Sakura realized. 'But
why did the aura decide to focus on there? Din won't get killed in that
area.'
Din fell back. He screamed as he felt himself go blind for a split second.
Little did he know that everyone else in the room was seeing the exact
same thing he was.
'That's the shard from that memory-thingy Din used on me,' Potamos thought.
'Something left of its power must have went into him!'
(( A woman with dark-blue hair dropped on the ground, sobbing. A small
Din ran up to her. "Mom, what's wrong?" he frantically asked. "Did I do
something? Is it me!"
"No no, Din," the woman said, trying to pick herself up together.
"It's it's my fault. It's all my fault..." She grasped a hold of her
son. "Din, stay away from angels. They will try to help you if you're lonely,
or you're powerless; they will only take advantage of you. Do you hear
me?"
Din was frightened by his mother's face. It was streaked with tears;
she had been crying but her face looked angry and frustrated. The boy
could not figure out at all what his mother was trying to say.
"You dirty whore!" someone yelled from behind the electric-enforced
door. Din's mother swallowed. She did not so much as wince as it blasted
open. Her husband strode into the room, completely livid.
Din backed away into a corner, frightened of the demon's wrath. He had
not idea what the word 'whore' meant, so he first thought that his father
was angry at him not his mother.
The boy braced for the impact. Nothing came. A scream pierced the air.
He looked up, and was shocked to see his father attack his mother.
"Dad, don't!" Din yelled. He ran up, and stood between his parents.
"Out of the way! This is for adults only!" the thunder-demon raged.
He then glared at his wife. "Well, I somehow don't blame you it was an
arranged marriage, after all. But tell me who the father is. That mess
you just gave birth to... IT is definitely not a son of mine."
Din looked confused, and frightened. "Dad, don't hurt her!" he pleaded.
"You slept with an angel!" the demon roared.
His wife flinched. She then gave a dry sob.
A long silence ensued.
Her eyes then turned hard. "Don't take it out on OUR son." The woman
put a hand on her stomach. She winced as the imbalance of chakra cascaded
through her. "I am already paying for my sin."
The face on Din's father paled upon realization. "You're... dying,"
he croaked out.))
The vision warped out. It was not complete but it was enough to explain
a lot of things.
Ambrosia gasped as she backed away from Din. The Amazon was suddenly
afraid of his increase in aura. The thunder-demon was very, very angry.
Angel Linton slowly got up. "So that is why you want to kill Haruno-san,"
he said. "You see her as a parallel of the cause of your family's death.
Din of the Raima-Zoku."
Din glared at them. His most private secret was now open to all of these
teenage morons. "You have no idea what it feels like," he whispered, "when
suddenly, your own mother disgraces the clan, and dies as a result."
"Not to mention, your father committed suicide right afterwards," Angel
Linton intoned. "I remember hearing that one family of the thunder-demons
experienced such a tragedy. But to think that the child of it survived,
and went on to become so twisted..."
Din shook in fury. A chill went down Sakura's spine as she saw the rage
in his eyes. Takuji stepped up, guarding Sakura. "There is no reason for
you to put your hate on Haruno-san," Takuji said. "As much as I feel sympathy
with you, Din, this girl has done nothing against you."
Din's eyes seem to turn hollow. "That is true, she has done nothing
against me personally. But if word comes out of what she really is then
my family's tragedy will repeat itself, over and over. I want to kill her
for the sake of the celestial peace. Revenge is only a partial thing."
He gave a bitter smile. "Do you realize what an uproar it will be, if word
spreads that Viento and Wedding Peach has a surviving daughter? She will
prove herself as the Angel of Death. Minerva will be the first to go, as
it will disintegrate if an all-out Holy War comes."
Takuji turned to Sakura, baffled. "You mean "
"You do have some point," Linton said, rather coldly. "But only if you
let this out. Haruno-san is not long for this place anyway. She will be
sent back to the world she was raised in."
Din scoffed. "You think I would trust you with that claim? I'm sorry,
but I cannot let her go free. I will not take that risk."
Din saw an opening towards Sakura's chest, and lifted a shaking fist.
"Die," he whispered.
A crackling ball of energy emerged from his palm, and shot at Sakura.
The kunoichi's eyes widened at the coming attack.
Linton gasped all this time, and he did not sense the power Din was
charging up within his hand! Not only would Sakura be killed, but Takuji
standing right next to her would probably die as well.
"Amano!" Linton shouted.
"Let go of me."
The answer from Sasuke was barely coherent. Orochimaru looked bewildered
for a moment. The teenage boy still had enough to say something like that,
even though his master had a firm grip on his neck.
"Is that a no?" Orochimaru whispered.
"It's a no," Sasuke growled. "Let go of me."
Orochimaru hissed. His face began to turn into that of a madman. This
was not supposed to happen. At least, not according to how the curse worked.
Sasuke was NOT SUPPOSED to refuse. Those who underwent the second level
of the curse lost their will, their sense for being. Sasuke was supposed
to be his total control in body and mind.
"Why, Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru began to dig his nails into Sasuke's throat.
He had a serious urge to murder the boy but not until he figured out
why Sasuke held on this far into the game.
"I said NO," the Uchiha retorted. "Choose somebody else." He ignored
the pain Orochimaru was causing him. In fact, Sasuke was rather proud that
he had enough guts to face up against his master in such a dangerous situation.
The boy had the perfect chance to hand over his earthly duties, but he
refused. Sasuke did not trust Orochimaru. Hell, he trusted no one.
There were plenty of reasons why the avenger decided to live on. First
of all, there was the question whether Orochimaru had enough guts to defeat
Itachi within a few hours. It usually took a long time for Orochimaru to
get used to any special bloodline abilities after transferring his soul.
If Sasuke complied and gave up his body now, the dirty man would probably
escape with no intention of fighting Itachi.
Sasuke was no idiot when he snuck some peeks of the labs. One particular
object caught his eye: a withered hand, with an Akatsuki ring on its small
finger. It was probably from one of his old bodies, but it was proof that
the snake-master was once in the organization, and left it for some reason.
Probably because its members were too dangerous like Itachi.
But most of all, Sasuke wanted the chance to feel alive. He wanted to
fulfill his ambition with his own strength. He had stumbled through the
years, convinced that nothing else would satiate his soul. He would give
no one else the chance to kill his brother if he could help it. That was
it: he had will.
Sasuke knew the basic workings of the curse seals Orochimaru handed
out. He witnessed the others who received a similar marking, and it sickened
him. Their very sense of self wasted away all they could think of was
Orochimaru, Orochimaru, Orochimaru. They lost their souls even before they
died for his sake; they practically worshiped the man. Sasuke thought it
was absolutely disgusting. At nights, he could still feel the wretched
mark clawing at his very being. It was mental torture when he felt the
curse tempting him to follow his comrades, to put all his trust into this
almighty genius snake-man. 'It will make things easier if you just gave
in,' it seemed to whisper in his ears. 'Stop thinking. You know well that
ignorance is bliss.'
But Sasuke finally realized, that even after all the trash he went though
there was still one thing left that he possessed. His will. He would
give that up to no one. Especially not to Orochimaru.
"Let go of me," Sasuke repeated, this time in a more annoyed tone. "There
are S-rank criminals coming. We should go."
Orochimaru loosened his grip on Sasuke and slowly let go. "I see,"
the older man said in a cold voice. He pulled away some greasy black hair
with a shaking hand. He turned to walk out of the room. There was no use
threatening Sasuke. Sasuke had to trust Orochimaru completely for the soul-transfer
jutsu to work. Any resistance of the slightest posed risk for malfunction.
Orochimaru could be patient. If he kept Sasuke a little longer, the
curse would probably break him in no time. It just was not ready now.
But he could still have a little fun.
The apprentice felt a sting. His curse began to throb Orochimaru was
activating it with the connection. The boy tightened his fists as he resisted
the pain. Sasuke would not let Orochimaru have the satisfaction of hearing
him scream.
"Oh, sorry, Sasuke-kun... My fingers slipped," the man soothed in a
fake manner. "Anyway, you know the emergency escape route."
The pain subsided, and Sasuke nearly collapsed on the floor. 'Like hell
it slipped; you did that on purpose!' his thoughts yelled. 'And I've had
enough. I'm leaving.'
Orochimaru felt the strange change in the atmosphere Sasuke was using
his pure blue chakra. It was powerful. 'Damn it,' Orochimaru thought. 'I'll
have to make him unconscious and carry him away.'
Sasuke jumped away as a rope of several snakes went after him. "What
the hell?" he shouted, dodging the animals. He then felt the seal activating
again. He flinched, giving one of the anacondas time to grab a hold of
his arm.
"Don't struggle, Sasuke-kun, I am only doing this for your safety,"
Orochimaru said.
'For my body's safety, you mean,' the boy mentally corrected, punching
away the snake with a well-aimed fist. Other snakes were beginning to coil
around his other arm. "Damn it; leave me alone!" Sasuke shouted.
A loud crash sounded from the door. Somebody had kicked it in.
Uchiha Itachi.
'Typical. I'm the first one here,' Itachi thought. He suppressed the
urge to frown.
It was only a few seconds, but it felt like forever to Sasuke.
Sasuke did not barge after Itachi like he did last time. He knew his
limits better than before. 'So Orochimaru told me the truth for once,'
his inner self scoffed. 'He actually showed up, the bastard.'
"Itachi-kun, how nice to see you again," Orochimaru growled.
The prodigy looked at the master and apprentice coldly. "If you fear
me, you will hand over my brother peacefully."
The corner of Orochimaru's mouth twitched. Sasuke recovered from the
initial shock and then immediately flicked his hands together in a sequence.
Itachi's Sharingan recognized the order of hand-seals. "Running away again,
Otouto?" he asked coolly as Sasuke's form disappeared.
'Katon: Housenka!' (Fire Style: Mythical Fire Flower)
A collection of flares weaved through the air towards Itachi. Itachi's
form caught fire and burst into a cloud. Kage-bunshin.
Sasuke smirked as the room lit on fire. It was too early for him to
kill Itachi yet; he obviously was not strong enough. But there was the
possibility of creating enough confusion for him to escape. He learned
long ago that his sanity was essential in defeating Itachi. He was Orochimaru's
apprentice long enough. He had to go, and go now if he was far away enough
from Orochimaru, his curse seal would not activate as much. Probably. Maybe.
Actually, Sasuke just wanted to get the hell away from the sick bastard.
Besides, the fact that Akatsuki were infiltrating the fortress meant a
weakening of Orochimaru's forces. Sasuke was now winging things. Maybe
he could try things solo become an S-rank criminal and live on his own,
traveling for missions.
"Oh, no you don't," Itachi whispered. He appeared in front of Sasuke,
and aimed a hard blow at his brother's head.
'Sharingan!' The orbs in Sasuke's eyes spun from black into red, and
recognized the nature of the attack. He caught his older brother's fist.
Of course, Itachi's strength was too great the pain of impact cascaded
through his hands.
"You've mastered the Sharingan, I see," Itachi mused. "But you have
not acquired what I have."
Sasuke did not even have time to glare at his murderous sibling. A mass
of snakes appeared in a poof of smoke around them, and enveloped the two
brothers.
Within one second, a hail of shuriken hacked the animals to pieces.
Itachi had always excelled in his family's shuriken techniques.
Sasuke's red eyes spun into near-confusion as he witnessed his brothers
impeccable performance no one else had this speed, except maybe that
strange red chakra that Naruto emitted from time to time. That was an especially
aggravating thing about Naruto: the hyperactive ninja had something that
the Sharingan could not catch.
Sasuke gasped in pain. The curse seal. 'Hurry up and run; come to Orochimaru!'
it seemed to say.
Itachi narrowed his eyes as black markings began to cover Sasuke's body.
"You've gone too far to test my patience, Orochimaru." Itachi performed
a long set of hand-seals; although with his speed, it was done within a
few seconds.
Itachi's palm began to glow a strange hue. And then, he hit the center
of the curse with it. Sasuke did not see it coming, as his eyes were scrunched
up together from the intense pain.
A look of relief crossed Sasuke's features before he fell unconscious.
The boy fell limp into his brother's arms.
(( "Here's the jutsu," the tengu said, handing Itachi an overtly-thick
scroll.
Itachi rolled out the scroll, and narrowed his eyes. "Such a large number
of hand-seals."
"Well, there is a possibility that ONE mistake would end in failure,
even end your life," the tengu mentioned. "It's like forgetting a minus
in a math equation. If it's wrong, it's wrong and kaboom. So learn it
right. Oh, you might want to proof-read that scroll before you learn the
jutsu; some spots of ink might have been rubbed off from age."
Itachi frowned as he read the scroll. "The things I do..."
"Are insane," the tengu finished for him. The only hint of a smile showed
in the crinkling of his old eyes he had a beak instead of lips, after
all. "Whoops, your shark friend is coming. Beware, beware, the end is near!"
In a poof of black feathers, the youkai went away, cackling. ))
Itachi was slightly impressed that the jutsu worked, but he did not
show it. He caught several kunai from the air.
"Damn you, Itachi!" Orochimaru hissed. He destroyed some of Itachi's
Kage-Bunshin while evading the others. A few of them exploded. 'Of course:
suicidal Kage-Bunshin, an invention of Itachi,' Orochimaru noted.
After much racket and exploding, the smoke subsided. Orochimaru smiled
as he saw a panting Itachi holding Sasuke. "My, since when were you your
brother's keeper?" the master asked.
Itachi frowned. Even though he could take on Orochimaru alone, this
situation played to his disadvantage. Sasuke was an extra burden the
Akatsuki did not even know that Itachi was saving him. His chakra was nearly
used up, as exploding Kage-Bunshin took up a lot of energy.
And where the hell were the other Akatsuki members? Where were they
when you needed them?
A chorus of screaming echoed from the second floor. Oh, THERE they were.
Leave Itachi to confront one of the Konoha Lengendary Sannin alone. How
typical of his 'friends' in the organization.
"Leave Sasuke here," Orochimaru said. "I know your level of chakra.
Even though your Kage-Bunshin are a marvel, you now have backed yourself
in a dangerous corner for performing it too often."
Itachi heaved, trying to keep his face cool. His visage showed annoyance
and frustration.
Orochimaru smirked. Even the Akatsuki was not enough to defeat his forces.
He finally could beat this genius to a bloody pulp, even without Sasuke's
body. As for Sasuke Orochimaru would use him for later, especially with
his revenge on Konoha.
The Itachi in front of him suddenly exploded, along with Sasuke.
Orochimaru jumped out of the window in time, expecting just as much.
'Itachi had created two Kage-Bunshin, and transformed one of them into
Sasuke,' he realized. 'Then they held me up, and exploded when it was due.
I was careless... But I have other tricks up my sleeve.'
Itachi fell down the cliff from the hideout, holding the unconscious
Sasuke next to him. The ground was fast approaching. He flicked his hands
together for a jutsu that would soften the impact. "Idiot," he muttered.
He glanced at Sasuke's form, the curse seal now receding. "That goes for
you as well, Otouto."
Orochimaru staggered, and watched from the building as Itachi left the
area.
His frown turned into an insane grin. "I win, Itachi," Orochimaru said.
"Kidnapping Sasuke will not help you at all."
Notes:
"Linton" - a dark (but later somewhat-nice) character in the novel "Wuthering
Heights" by Emily Brontë.
"Ambrosia" - the food of the Olympian Gods of Greek Mythology.
"Otouto" - 'little brother', of course. (But the fact that Itachi calls
him that, instead of just "Sasuke" like he used to, shows a particular
aloofness.)
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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