(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?
Sakura dropped her backpack on a bench, and it landed with a thud on
the poor wood. The bag held six heavy textbooks. She sat down next to it
for a short rest. The red sunset reflected off the beautiful river flowing
by.
'Geez, I have to be a little stronger than this,' she thought as beads
of sweat trickled down.
"Hello there." Sakura jumped at the voice from behind. She quickly turned
around to see who it was.
There was a beautiful woman standing on the grass. She had wavy blonde
hair which was tied back with a green bow. She looked to be in her twenties,
and was dressed in long, emerald green robes with some gold embroidery.
The evening light washed over the contours of her face and clothes in just
the right places.
The lady walked down to Sakura and sat next to her. "I've seen you pass
here often recently, but we've never actually introduced ourselves. I suppose
you are a new resident of this city."
Sakura was dumbfounded. It had been two weeks and nobody had tried to
make friends with her — outside of Momoko's circle, at least. Sakura appeared
out of nowhere, and her presence was a very mysterious one to most citizens.
Sakura blushed, realizing that she was staring — both at the woman's
beauty and at the friendly gesture. Sakura quickly remembered her manners.
"Um, ah... I'm Haruno Sakura. I'm pleased to meet your acquaintance," she
said as she bowed her head.
"My name is Minoru. Otherwise known as Elf of the Vines."
Sakura cocked her head to the side. "Elf?"
"It is unclear whether we are descended from angels or demons." Minoru
sighed. "Humans, elves, sprites... there are so many terms."
"Yeah, even the books don't order it very well," Sakura said. She paused.
"I'm still trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be."
"Interesting. So you're not a complete human, and you're from another
world?" Minoru asked.
"How...how did you know I was from another world?" Sakura sputtered.
Minoru laughed in a rich voice. "I just made a good guess from the nature
of your aura. I won't go any further on that matter. Where do you live?"
"Up that mountain. That house there." Sakura pointed at the mansion.
A lightly surprised yet somewhat happy reaction came from the elf. "Oh,
on that mountain?" she asked. "Well, I guess we're neighbors of sorts,
then. Let's walk home; your guardians must be getting worried now."
"Oh, yeah!" Sakura said, realizing how late it already was. Then she
glanced at her heavy bag.
Minoru smiled. "I can carry it for you."
"Oh, no!" Sakura exclaimed. "Um, I mean, I need the weight for exercise."
She took the bag and, somehow, pulled the straps over her shoulders. It
wasn't a very good backpack: the straps dug in, making painful blisters
underneath her red dress. Then again, maybe the bag was not meant to carry
six textbooks.
"You're going to shrink to half your size if you keep putting weight
on your back like that. I'm taking something." Minoru yanked Sakura's bag
open and pulled out three textbooks. Sakura was surprised at the open gesture,
but gratefully accepted it. Minoru wasn't switching the valuable books
for something else, and neither did she have malevolent vibes coming out
of her — Sakura somehow felt that the elf was trustworthy.
The conversation slid onto the junior tournament as they hiked up the
mountain. Minoru already knew that Sakura was entered in the junior tournament.
The names of all the contestants had already circulated throughout the
city, much to the kunoichi's surprise and dismay. 'So that was why I've
been getting weirder looks than usual around the town square: the mysterious
human who 'beat' Jura is entering. Oh joy.'
Sakura and Minoru stopped at the gates of the Fuuma residence. Minoru
handed Sakura the books.
"Are you sure you can get to the house like that?" Minoru asked. Sakura
nodded with a smile.
"I can totally handle it. Don't worry." Sakura walked carefully but
gracefully through the gate, which closed behind her. "Good night, Minoru-san!
Thank you!"
"Sakura-san!" Minoru called out in front of the gates. Sakura turned
around.
Minoru seemed to fidget a little. Her face seemed a little red as she
stuttered, "Um... Whenever you need help, just know that I'm around. My
house is down that road, around the big maple tree."
"Okay! See you later!" Sakura called back. She rung the bell, and the
door was opened by a few children, welcoming Sakura back into their home.
Sakura was flipping through the books. It was getting late.
- Ki, otherwise known as chi, chakra, or aura, relates to the spiritual
energy of a living being. -
'I already know that from Ninja Academy!' Sakura thought. 'Fast forward!'
She went to the middle of the book.
- In the year 6718, an electronic book fell through a wormhole. This
book was "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Off its vast information,
scientists of our dimension were able to make great advances in space-time
technology and reach other dimensions. The serendipitous appearance of
this book also added a new chapter in philosophy, saying that the Meaning
of Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42. -
'Too forward.' Sakura turned back a wad of paper. 'What the hell
is that supposed to mean?! FORTY-TWO?!?'
- The nature of spiritual energy differs according to the nature of
the living being. The division between angel, human, and demon is the simplest
and most primative categorization. However, some beings are not so clean-cut
to fall into any single category. For example, elves possess magic potential,
live longer than humans, but are probably not related to either demon or
angel. -
"Now we're getting somewhere," Sakura mumbled.
Sakura yawned. She realized that she had fallen asleep while studying.
Her back felt stiff and terrible after being hunched over a desk.
'This chair is way too comfortable for studying — and there's so much
to catch up on in a new dimension!'
She heard some noises from outside. She turned out her reading light
and crept up to the window to see what it was.
The streets were empty.
'Or so it seems,' Sakura thought. A thirst for adventure was at hand,
a habit she picked up from Naruto. Sakura double-checked that she had all
her weapons before opening the window. She jumped out of her two-story
window and landed on the ground. The kunoichi then slipped through the
gates as quietly as she possibly could.
She walked around the tall fences of the property, looking for whatever
or whoever was there. She drew out a kunai as she heard small laughter
behind her. Without turning her head, Sakura addressed the creature. "Who
are you, and what are you doing around the Fuuma residence at this time
of night?"
The laughter faded. "I ask you the same, human."
Sakura slowly glanced back, seeing that there was a dwarf behind her.
He had brown hair and was about four feet tall. There was a large battle-axe
strapped to his back.
"You have no reason to fear me, young lady — you are not my target."
The dwarf passed by Sakura. Sakura felt a strange vibe coming out of
him. His aura was so weak that it seemed almost nonexistent. How was he
even walking?
"Wait," Sakura said. "What do you mean, target?"
"That is no matter of your concern," the dwarf replied. "Besides, a
girl your age shouldn't play a lady of the night. Think of what your parents
would say."
"Don't insult me unless you want to be called 'Shorty', Shorty."
The dwarf gave a small laugh. "Never mind, I apologize for picking a
quarrel with you. Let us go our ways."
Sakura watched the dwarf turn the corner around a large maple tree.
She started to walk back to the mansion, but then she froze in her tracks.
'Wait a minute, isn't that where Minoru-san's house — Minoru-san!'
Sakura dashed off, running towards the tree. She heard scuffling. Then
a battle roar. She turned around the corner to face a horrendous sight.
Minoru was gasping, knelling in a puddle of her own blood. She was clutching
her chest where there was a dark stain in her green robes. The dwarf was
entangled in vines as he hovered over the crouching, green form. He slowly
raised his axe to decapitate the elf.
'Oh, God, NO!' Sakura burst into the scene and threw three shuriken.
One of them hit and sunk into the sphenoid bone of the dwarf's skull. The
axe missed Minoru and clattered to the ground.
Sakura just realized that she made the dwarf brain-dead. She wanted
to hurl — and then the dwarf and the axe cracked. The dwarf fell, turning
into a broken statue.
"Minoru-san!!" Sakura ran to the elf, who was still bleeding and very
real.
"Tha...Thank you, Sakura-san..." Minoru gasped. "The wound isn't very
deep, I can handle it myself now."
"No, Minoru-san, I'm helping. I have bandages and some medical training."
Sakura started to undress the top of Minoru's robes.
"Um, Sakura-san, I don't think you should—"
"Minoru-san, you're hurt, and besides, we're both girls! There's nothing
to be ashamed—" Sakura grabbed at the shirt, and then froze at what she
felt.
Minoru's chest was completely flat.
Sakura's eyes were wide. "You... you're a... man?"
Minoru sighed. "Yes, I am a man. Now that that's all clear, you might
as well go on."
Sakura recovered from the shock and pulled away the bloodied shirt from
the wound. The kunoichi gulped as she pulled out her medical kit and started
to clean up his chest, which was a very fine chest indeed. The wound turned
out to be only a shallow cut, so she could easily bandage him up with her
gauze and tape.
Sakura helped Minoru up, and he leaned on her as they wanted to his
house. He insisted that he didn't need it, but Sakura was afraid that he
might faint from the loss of blood.
"What was that, anyway?" Sakura asked. "It looked like an earth clone
of sorts, or those angel guards on the third floor of the library."
"Not quite," Minoru said. "The library's guards are earth-angels — they
can materialize into earth, and then turn back into their humanoid forms."
"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."
Sakura frowned. "Sounds disgusting."
"It is. The magic is forbidden, for it requires a sacrifice: a soul
of a newly dead person must be implanted into a ceramic statue. This has
happened to me before — being attacked by statues, I mean — and I was able
to defeat each one that came my way. But tonight, I underestimated things...
I thought I could get by with just my plant powers."
"Why are you on a hit list?" Sakura asked. There was a tiny quaver in
her voice. There was the possibility that Minoru was a dangerous criminal
like Uchiha Itachi — but there were no evil vibes from him. So...what?
"I can't tell you about it," he quietly said. "You might end up becoming
a target, too. Maybe some other time."
The two reached the steps of his doorway. He touched his fingers on
the doorknob, and a faint click was heard. 'Wow, knobs that recognize the
owner,' Sakura thought. 'That must be some intricate magic.'
"I can walk on my own now, Sakura-san." He loosened the arm which was
draped around her shoulders. And then he did something which was completely
unexpected to the girl: he embraced her.
Sakura's green eyes widened.
"I owe you my life, Sakura-san," the elf said as he held her. "If you
hadn't saved me then and there, then I would most probably be dead now."
He let her go, and she saw true gratitude in his blue eyes. But there
was a strange crease in his eyebrows, lasting just a second. It showed
some sort of sadness... of longing?
"Good night, Minoru-san." Sakura turned away as the door closed. 'Why
do I feel so odd?'
Strangely enough, Minoru thought the same thing as he lay in bed that
night.
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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