(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: Alas, the first round of the tournament is the
NEXT chapter, not this one. It's just that I wrote the fight scene first
because I was excited to do it, and then discovered that I needed to explain
Sakura's preparation for it. In addition, it's not been very clear so far
about what potential, and obstacles, Sakura has in this new dimension.
"Sorry, Sakura, but your genetics are one-of-a-kind," Yuri replied.
Sakura had confronted Yuri, since Angel Lily was the most knowledgeable
in the science of spiritual energy. "Although your mother and father received
their powers at the ages of twelve and thirteen, they only received them
under extraordinary circumstances: mainly, they were both humans living
in the human realm, and were caught in the cross-fire during the Great
War." Yuri sighed, and continued. "The other halves of their blood awakened
when angels and demons appeared in the human realm. It was only sheer coincidence
that their powers acted up at all."
"You, Sakura, have a fourth each of angel and demon blood. Under normal
circumstances, they would act against each other, which was why you were
unusually weak as a baby. Then as you grew up in the Shinobi world, your
mixed blood settled down — now the angel and demon blood cancel each other
out, instead of killing you. Your angel and demon blood are unusable. They
are also undetectable because the 50 percent of human blood cover up the
other two."
Sakura caught on. "You mean, like a genotype such as colorblindness...
They don't show up if there's a more dominant gene next to it."
"Sort of. There is a tiny, tiny possibility that you have potential
of using divine or demonic forces. But right now, you are a normal human,
and can only develop your human ki and martial skills."
Sakura was frustrated, to say the least. Was there no value of being
one-fourth angel and one-fourth demon at the same time? Her genome sequence,
as it turned out, was a weakness rather than a strength. After all that
chaos of coming into a new dimension and learning of her blood ancestry,
she still was a human. And a weak human at that.
"Thank you, Yuri-san. I'll excuse myself now." Sakura got up from her
chair, and walked off.
"Where are you going, Sakura?"
"Outside. To climb trees."
Sakura slumped to the ground. She was exhausted. There were no blasted-out
footprints on the tree trunk like what Sasuke made during the tree-climbing
exercise.
But her progress did not go any higher than six feet. Sakura's human
chakra — the chakra she was so used to in the Shinobi world — was severely
weakened in this realm.
The kunoichi panted. 'This complicats things a bit.' She ran up the
tree again.
A net of pain embraced her skull on the forth step, and she fell. She
twisted her body in the air and landed on her feet.
'At least I still can control the chakra I have,' she thought.
Sakura worked at the dojo during the morning and read books about chakra
at night. There were accounts of humans developing their human chakra until
they could make ki blasts, nearly matching the fighting abilities of a
celestial being. Like in the Shinobi World, even humans in this dimension
could do something with aura — but such a feat took months, even years,
of training, and Sakura had only two weeks until the junior tournament.
At least she was trained to use chakra long before she came here.
"God damn it," she muttered as she glared at the trunk. She shook her
head, eliminating her frustration. Concentration was key in this endeavor.
By that evening, her kunai scratched the trunk at eight feet.
Minoru walked by the Fuuma residence and peered through its gates. He
had not seen Sakura for four days — not since that night's attack. The
elf wondered whether she was intentionally avoiding him.
'She probably thinks that I'm some sort of dangerous fugitive,' he thought
to himself. 'Or she's mad at me for tricking her into thinking I was a
woman.'
He glanced through the bars, and saw to his amazement that Sakura was
climbing trees — without her arms. She was running toward a large tree
and literally sprinting upwards.
"Argh!" the kunoichi yelled out. She slashed the bark with her kunai,
marking nine feet. Her face looked like she was in pain, even though she
only had a few scratches here and there on her body. She landed gracefully
on the ground like a cat.
The elf stared, dumbfounded with his hands glued to the bars. Sakura
panted, clutching her head. He then saw her collapse.
"Sakura-san!" he yelled. He pulled open the gates and ran across the
lawn. Who cares if he wasn't invited on this property — it was their fault
for having the bell on the front door instead of at their front gate.
Sakura was lying in a jumbled mess on the lawn. Minoru knelled down
to her. He first thought that she was unconscious, but then he looked closely
at her hands. Her fists were shaking, tightly holding some grass. Her fingernails
were stained green with chlorophyll.
Minoru put his hand on her back.
"Sakura-san, are you trying to kill yourself?"
"I'm training," a muffled voice answered him.
Minoru coughed uncomfortably. "Um, Sakura-san... about that night..."
A soft, watery sniff came from her.
"I never intended to deceive you... I mean, I do sort of cross-dress...
Um, well..." He became increasingly nervous. 'I am so terrible at this!'
"No, it's not that." Sakura got up and rubbed her eyes. "I'm just a
little frustrated with the tournament coming up, that's all."
"Oh." Pause. "You know, that's the first time I've seen a human use
ki for a purpose other than spells, and blasting out spheres of energy."
(( Naruto and Sasuke charged at each other, each with pure hatred in
their eyes. The former had a spinning blue Rasengan, and the latter held
an bright Chidori.
"STOP!!!" Sakura screamed as she ran between them. ))
Sakura banished the memory away. "I don't have enough chakra to do THAT."
She stood up and turned back to the tree, correcting her posture. Her
eyes closed. Her hands folded into the sign of the Tiger. She felt a tiny
stream of chakra flowing through her feet.
Minoru observed the serenity in her face. She looked like a priestess.
The kunoichi opened her eyes, and the elf was startled at the quick
change: they held a brightness and fierce determination which he had never
seen before in a human girl her age. Sakura ran up the tree, reaching ten
feet before she slashed the trunk. She tucked, curled, and rolled in the
air, then landed next to Minoru.
"Ow. I go up a meter, though!" She grinned.
'She'll be okay,' he thought to himself.
Two weeks later, she reached thirty feet — half of what she could do
in the Shinobi world.
It was the night before the tournament. The children, Mrs. Suzuki the
cook, and Sakura were already in bed.
Yousuke frowned as he read the line-up sheet. "Sakura's in for the first
match?" he asked.
"Yes. The letter came this morning," Momoko said. The pink-haired woman
sat at the kitchen table and sipped some herbal tea.
Yousuke fumed. "And her first match is with none other than Cardella,
heir to the vampires. I'd say this match was personally fixed by some bureaucratic
piece of ass!" There was a visible crease forming where Yousuke's hands
held the paper.
"Probably. It does tip the scales a bit. If Sakura loses in the first
round..."
"This isn't fair; we should file a complaint!"
"No, Yousuke. It's too late now. And even if we do, the people will
easily counter-argue that we're practicing favoritism."
"Damn the people!" he exclaimed. Momoko shushed him, pointing upwards.
There where were sleeping children on the second floor. He angrily (yet
quietly) muttered: "I'd say that the committee is taking the other extreme
of making something impossible."
"Yousuke." Momoko remained firm. "Sakura is not entering the tournament
just for the committee. She wants to prove to everybody that she is no
weakling, and is worthy of respect. In fact, putting up the standards will
be helpful to Sakura. If she can win this match, then the reasons for deporting
her will become null. Even if she loses the rounds that come afterwards,
simply defeating Cardella with only human powers would be an astounding
achievement."
"What if Cardella is too strong, though?" Yousuke asked.
"...Then we will have no choice but to move to the human realm for the
time being."
Yousuke thought about it for a while.
"Should we tell Sakura about this?" Momoko asked.
Yousuke smiled. "...There's no need. She'll win the first round." But
Momoko saw the tiny hint of worry in his eyes.
Sakura had trouble falling asleep that night, so she decided to read
a very boring book in bed. She conked out immediately, but her well-intended
efforts seemed to go to pieces when she woke up naturally at four a.m.
"No, I don't want an early wake-up today," she moaned to herself. It
was usually delicious for her, to wake up early and simply lie in bed until
the sun rose. But with the tournament fresh in her mind, she attempted
and miserably failed to fall back into the desired slumber.
'I don't even have all my chakra back. At least I can use a little,
but I would have to be damn efficient with it if I used any at all. Oh,
this stupid, stupid dimension! Calm down, calm down, you're overreacting
you're overreacting you're overreacting... Just stay in bed and rest if
you can't fall asleep.'
The dreaded six o'clock came up. Time for breakfast. She had to be at
the arena by seven sharp. 'I probably look like a mess right now...'
Sakura forced herself to eat a bowl of oatmeal. She knew that it was
just the nervousness which was decreasing her appetite. She cringed, thinking
of her early days of vanity and dieting. 'I was a NINJA, for crying out
loud! Of course I was so friggin' slow in missions, I had no energy! I
needed FOOD!' But the days of being a genin taught her a lot about how
health and beauty tied to each other: eat enough and well, and use less
make-up. Now, Sakura simply watched what she ate, and used chapstick and
healing creme as her cosmetics.
As she grudgingly chewed her breakfast, Umi, the water sprite of the
family, bounced up to Sakura. She was up unusually early for a Saturday.
Little Umi became attached to the pink-haired genin, for Sakura was
the only person outside of Momoko and Yousuke to acknowledge her. Umi reminded
Sakura of her younger days when she was a crybaby and was teased a lot,
and so Sakura became a protective older sister of sorts.
"Sakura-oneechan! Look, look!" The sprite with the light blue hair held
out her hands. A finely shaped ice sculpture rested on the palms — it was
a little rough, but it resembled like a tree of winter, weighed down by
icicles and glistening in the light.
"Wow, Umi-chan, did you make that yourself?" Sakura was not in the mood
to talk with children now, but she knew that this was a big event for Umi.
The water-sprite was starting to develop her water powers.
"Yeah! I don't know how, but I was washing this morning and I could
freeze the water. Not very much...just a few drops here and there... but
I made a tree out of it! You like it?"
The branches of the ice tree began to melt and drip.
"Oh, no!" Umi wailed.
"It's okay, Umi-chan," Sakura said as she patted the sprite's head.
"It was enough for me to see it. It means that you're growing. Now go back
to bed."
"Can you read me something?"
"No, not this morning, kidlet. The tournament's today." Saying that
last sentence restarted the butterflies in her stomach.
"Okay." Umi shuffled off, dragging her nightgown. She turned around.
"Um, Sakura-oneechan...you'll kick butt!" She clamped a hand over her mouth,
surprised at her own boldness. Umi ran off, and then tripped on her nightgown.
"Kya!"
"Umi-chan, are you okay?" Sakura asked in concern.
Umi got up, brushed herself off, and grinned at Sakura. She was personally
relieved that she didn't get a scolding, like her teachers at school gave
to other students. "I'm okay. When I grow up, I'm gonna be strong and pretty
as Sakura-oneechan!" She walked carefully this time, and went back to bed.
Sakura felt grateful for Umi's compliment. But it sure as hell didn't
help that jolt in her stomach. 'Kidlet, you haven't even seen me fight
before...'
Sakura was shivering for a long time in her seat. She first thought
that she was cold and put on her overcoat. When that didn't help, she realized
just how nervous she was. It was the first round for the junior tournament.
She was up for the first fight. Against someone named 'Cardella'. That
name sounded powerful, like 'Orochimaru'.
A tremor went down her spine. 'No, don't think about him! I can be like
Tsunade-sama: strong, and with a calm mind.' She did some breathing exercises.
Suddenly the noise of chatting people in the stands died down, at least
in her own mind. She still was nervous, but this was her fight.
'My fight. No matter what happens, I will remain cool, calm, and collected...
Naruto was also the first to fight in the final tournament of the Chuunin
exams. Naruto, give me your strength. Sasuke-kun, give me your focus.'
Sakura breathed. 'Lee-san, I'll do my best!'
Yousuke, Momoko, Scarlett, Hinagiku, and Yuri were sitting together
in the front row stands. There was an empty seat on each side of Yuri.
A man walked down the stairs. He had long, straight blond hair and had
the face of a compassionate and honorable knight. He was dressed in lavender
angel robes and wore a blue turtleneck underneath.
"Viento, Wedding Peach, I salute you," he said respectfully. "Angel
Salvia, Angel Daisy, likewise." He walked to Yuri, and sat down next to
her. He lifted Yuri's hand up to his lips, whispering, "And you, Angel
Lily, my wife."
Yuri smiled. "Limone-sama. Your kendo and fencing classes are off this
morning?"
"Do they have to be that mushy in public?" Yousuke loudly whispered
to Momoko.
"I heard that, FUUMA," Limone said to his former soccer goalie, and
turned back to his wife. "All classes were cancelled this morning because
of this tournament. It didn't make much sense, since the better students
are entered in, of course, and the others wanted to witness the event.
Apparently, there is quite a variety of fighters this year."
"And Sakura is in, of course," Scarlett said in her Angel Salvia uniform.
Angel Salvia was the best warrior on Momoko's love-angel team, and she
was eager to see what Momoko's daughter could do.
Ten minutes later, a raven-haired man in a plaid shirt and smart khaki
pants clanged down the stairs, and stumbled into the seat next to Hinagiku.
"Sorry I'm late, everyone!" Takurou adjusted his glasses. "Sorry, Hinako-chan,"
he said as he pecked her on the cheek. He often called her pet names like
'Hina-chan' or 'Hinako', even though her real name was Hinagiku. Probably
because he loved and feared her at the same time.
"Lots of people were glaring at us for having an empty seat," Hinagiku
huffed. "You'll have to do something for me later." Takurou sighed in defeat.
She then whispered in his ear, which gave his face a slow burn.
"Hinako!" Takurou squeaked. She grinned.
"Umi" - means 'sea' or 'ocean'.
"Onee-chan" - means 'older sister' in an endearing form. "Nee" is the
base for 'older sister'. But the prefix 'o-' is an endearment form, as
well as the suffix '-chan'.
"Limone" - in Japan, this drink is actually a soda tasting similar to
Sprite. Really. Limone in the Wedding Peach series is a bishounen — even
though his arch-enemy, the demon Pluie, is even hotter...
"Scarlett" - Scarlett's full human name is Scarlett O'Hara. Of course,
this is a reference to Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
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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