Title : Dancing Amongst The Warriors
Summary : Sakura's crippled father has been called to join the war. Fearing that this path may lead to his death, she takes his place.
Note to everybody.
I am making this so that it is sort of a combination of Chinese and Japanese. Instead of shinobi they will be called the Shensi Warriors and they are located within the land of Fire, which will be known as the land of Huo in this fanfiction. Everything else is kept pretty much the same.
Oh and,
Genin: Sanhao
Chuunin:Erhao
Jounin:Yihao
Special Jounin: Te Yihao
Anbu: MinZao
Shinobi: FeiZha
Kunoichi: ZhaNu
Medic-nin (on the field) (unisex) -MinBao - highly trained medic nin. - tsunade
If the medic is not tsunade, use of chakra to execute medical techniques is called Erminbao. Or SanMinBao.
Healers (an exception because they do not go on field and some of the women are allowed to learn the technique. Lol in case you haven't noticed its a male world here.) - MinWu
People with only chakra / energy no speed or knowledge of martial art or destructive usage of chakra/energy) - Baowu (unisex)
id like to note that even civilians have chakra. It's more like they all have a life force but only those who know how to separate the usable part are shensi warriors cause it's handed down in the family and stuff. Everything is similar to the real Naruto like with medic Jin you have to have a certain level of control or you can only use low level techniques. Yeah. Just ask questions if curious and ill try to rectify it.
Anything I missed out?
Okay! I hope that you all will like this story. Hahaha. It's a spinoff from Mulan. :D cheers everybody.
SMASH!
That was mama's favorite vase.
"Come out come out wherever you are..."
STREECCKKK!
And those were the sheets mama had embroidered herself.
"You can't hide forever little girl..."
CRASHH!
And... That was the beautiful tea set Sakura had saved up for to give mama on her birthday.
"Now, tell me where your papa has hidden my things..."
Sakura could only bath in her own fear. She stared at this strange man's shadowy movements from behind the wooden panels, hoping the dark shadows would hide her existence.
It had been mere minutes ago when Sakura returned home with her nursemaid Lao to prepare for bed as it had become late and mama and papa were too busy discussing 'things' with an old man with white hair.
Sakura pouted. Even mama hadn't come back with her..
And then her nursemaid screamed.
There.. On the floors past the main gates lay blood. And the headless body of a female. Sakura stared... So much in shock that she didn't know what she was supposed to feel. But when Lao pushed her away, yelling at her to run, she knew better than to disobey. For there, in front of Lao's frail form stood three men with frightening smiles that pushed Sakura to run as fast as she could. She ran as fast as her little six year old feet could take her. Passed the rooms with torn rice paper doors, passed a corridor that seemed overrun with a liquid that she didn't want to think about and passed the destroyed meeting room she had often sat in.
She ran till she reached mama and papa's room. Her feet led her across the wooden floorboards until she reached wooden storage walls that mama used to keep her clothing. They were created so that mama would be able to hang her clothing inside without worrying about dust or the hassle of folding elaborate garments. It was at the end of the room and was similar to a wooden wall except that it had even vertical spaces. This 'wall' was created seven paces from the back of a stonewall and, instead of just one wall, it was rather like two walls that had about a foot of space between them and about three feet of space from each side of the room. A thick metal bar connected the two walls at the starting point of the inner wall to the outer wall thus creating an almost zigzag shape.
Mama had explained to her once that she made sure her wardrobe was like this so that anyone who wanted to steal her gold threaded kimonos would not get very far unless the wardrobe was opened.
Sakura wormed her way past the walls, under the thick metal bar and passed the lovely clothes. When she reached the back of the wardrobe she pressed herself behind a wooden panel used for her mothers changing. Would he see her?
And now, he was walking to the wooden barred walls. Perhaps she would be safe? How would he be able to cross them? They were as high as the room itself. Apparently, he had other plans. He produced some sort of weapon. Larger than twice is head and glinted in the moonlight. With a heaving gasp, he smashed the now glowing weapon into edge wooden bars. A maniacal smile when the walls on that side collapsed.
The man sniffed the air. Aaah.. The scent of a cowering young child. Better yet, it was female. He would enjoy his revenge on that stinking Haruno. That pathetic man who stole his dear Kiyari... Who took the Jewel scrolls he had inherited.. Who had tried to kill him... He smirked. One side of his gruesome face showing more teeth than the other. Did she really think she could hide from him? Foolish child. Her frightened energy was as bright as the daylight, he had merely been toying with her earlier.
Sakura could barely breathe as she watched him advance towards her. She thought she was safe, and that he would not notice her, until he crouched and smirked as their eyes met. "Found you."
And he tore the wooden panels away with his bare fist.
Sakura looked up at him in terror. She didn't like this. Not one bit. This was the kind of man used in the tales mama had told her. Tales of men who preyed on little girls... Men who were never found... Only known through the bodies of the blue lipped girls who were left in the woods with their skirts torn and blood on their legs. But she couldn't move. She just stared on helplessly as he grabbed her hair by the fistful and dragged her out of the room. She threw her little fists against him, trying to get free. She shrieked and yelled and prayed and begged to be let go and still he would not.
When she grabbed an ornamental dagger to stab him he merely swung his mace at her. Forcing the dagger out of her hands and deep bloody gouges into them. Sakura just stared at her hands in shock. Not once had she ever been hurt. Not once had she seen her own blood. And then the pain came. Hot and sharp it travelled her hands and wrist. For what seemed like eternity, the blood ran and she could only cry while holding her hands together. She didn't see where she was going, staying absent to the world until her hazy mind snapped to attention upon hearing a male voice.
"So the boss caught a cutie eh?"
She stared. Two other men in the tea room. One with silver hair the other with brown. So the man who found her was the 'boss'. And then it sunk in. What were they going to do to her? She started screaming again trying to get free.
KA-THWACK!
She fell head first onto the floor.
"Break her hands and feet. Don't want her getting away. And untie that thing of hers."
She just stared up at him in horror. No... He wouldn't.. He wouldn't... He... He...
Her lips opened up in a silent scream. It was fire burning up her arms and legs, unrelenting and merciless. Without realizing it, her mind was forcing her body to push out chakra as a plea for help. And then she fainted. Consumed by a black abyss that calmed her and took away the pain.
Sakura opened her eyes and took in the pure darkness around her. She treaded the airy space. It was as if she was suspended in mid-air.
"Hello? Is anybody there?" Her voice echoed around the seemingly never ending dark.
'Hey there ME!"
Sakura reeled back in shock. A huge white something that looked like her was right in front of her, only she was at least a few hundred times her size.
'I am not! I just happened to be a bit bigger because I own this whole place duhhhh!'
Just who was this crazy person? Looking like her and talking NOT like her.
'I am you!'
Apparently, she could read minds as well.
'*Sigh* you are in your mind... I am you.. Like.. Your split personality or something. Get it? Think of it as being possessed... Or something like that...'
POSSESSED!?
'Ouucchhh!' The white figure like thing covered her ears. 'Don't talk so loud!'
Er... Sorry?
'Much better. Now, I'll talk to you some other time. Meanwhile, you need to worry about keeping your clothes on.'
"Huh? Wait... I still have questio-
.
.
.
.
Sakura opened her eyes. So it had happened? Some kind of odd dream world phenomenon. And then she remembered what that... Er.. Girl - ME!
What? So she was in her head now? NOOO! She didn't want to be crazy!
Shut up! You aren't crazy. Maybe just stupid..
So not!
So the little girl has some sass eh?
What's that supposed to mean?
Nothing... I'm just glad you aren't a complete goody-do-good-whatever-you-say-mom-girl.
I am NOT!
Hey! Noise level control! What am I supposed to think? All you ever say is yes mom... Of course mom... Whatever you say mom...
Okay.. I get it... So what are you anyway?
Funny how you get more out spoken when you talk with me eh?
Huh? I-I am not... I - I just...
Yeah yeah. Anyway, like I said. I am you. I'm just the part of you that actually admits that she hates wearing dresses!
B-but... I.. Um..
So stand up for once my Kami-sama! And say you don't like it..
I..
And since you're awake can you take care of that ****ed up bastard who is taking of your clothes?
Eh? What had those... Those slurred bits of words she had said...
And then it hit her. Taking of my clothes!?
She broke out of the trance she had been in and realized that, yes, indeed, her clothes were gone. All that was left was the under layers of her kimono and her underwear.
"So the little girl wakes up eh?"
That voice had come from behind her. His breath was hot against his ear and -sshluckk- Ew! He had just licked her ear! His tongue felt slimy and disgusting and HIS HANDS WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE!
"KIIYYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! LET ME GO! LET ME GO! STOP TOUCHING ME!"
"Oh I will do more than that little girl. Much more than that..."
"It's pretteh 'mazing thad theh boss h'ain't tak'n 'er cloths arll off eh?"
"Get that tooth fixed up Kuzo. Can barely hear what you're saying."
"'Ah said thad 'ah thogh't boss was gon'ta haf 'er wih, ya know wha t'aim sayenng?" He said while making obscene gestures.
"Oh.. Yes yes. You are quite right. He is well known for all those ahem, 'blue-lipped girls'."
"Thas rait Thehgoji! Boss'es a plehtg'ofshile eh?"
"The names Fukoji you idiot, and it's pronounced. Paedophile. Peh- Dou- File!"
Sakura's eyes widened... she may be young, but she was quite known for loving the library... And right now she wished she didn't!
"So the little sweetie knows my name eh?" His hands moved down south.
At this point she was so subdued by her nerves that she had already forgotten about her inner Sakura who would probably have given her some good advice.
"You like it don't you? You do? Oh dear.. I can't reach you well enough though...hmm.."
She just stayed still. Not knowing what he was going to do next.
"This should do it!" And he tore of her beautiful silk under layer. Sakura continued to stay still. She felt so strange... This was something else. It wasn't like when she dreamed of a monster coming to steal her soul. Or like that time when it had been dark and she thought she had seen a big black figure. This.. Was unknown. So unknown and scary and she didn't know what to do.
She had never known what had actually happened to the girls in the woods, or why they had blood on their legs and only their legs. She had always wondered what had happened because mama never told her. She only knew it was bad. But know, she thought she was going to find out in the worst way possible.
By experiencing it herself.
His hands were on her bare thighs.
Oh no.. oh no she... She... What was she going to do.., what.. Oh no.. Oh no...
Scream you idiot! Scream and kick and just do WHATEVER YOU CAN!
B-But.. He..
JUST BLOODY MOVE ALREADY!
Inner's loud voice jolted her into action. She began screaming and kicking like a madwoman, or in this case, girl.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! OTOU-SAAAAAAAAAAAAN! OKAA-SAAAAAAAAN!" She screamed as loudly as she could. Her high-pitched voice causing the 'boss' to wince.
"Shut the hell up!" He backhanded her, slamming her head against the wooden floor.
"Ugh.." No.. She couldn't give up now.. "LET ME GO!"
"You little bitch..." He growled and turned her around whilst pressing her face down onto the floor, scraping the sensitive skin. He grabbed a blade and pressed it threateningly against her back. "You still want to disobey me? Hmm?"
She stiffened. "Please.. D-don't... Don't... Yamete..."
"Pity.. All this lovely skin.." He traced patterns onto her back "Is going to be marred.." He smirked.
All Sakura got out was an "Eh?" Before he started slashing her back. They were long but shallow and weren't deep enough for her body to go into shock.
She tried to bare with it. Biting her lips. At the same time, she cold feel it ebbing away.
Inner?
Heya sweets. I'll be helping you out kay? Hang in there... It'll just take a minute..
Okay..
Seeing as she wasn't giving him much of a reaction, he pursed his lips and stabbed her hard with the inch long blade, and dragged it slowly down the side of her back.
Sakura's eyes bulged out. She didn't scream. Or whimper. But it didn't stop the tears from escaping her eyes. Strangely enough, she couldn't feel the pain yet...
"Hnngh!" She spoke too soon. This was worse than her broken limbs... Worse than the wounds on the backs of her hands.. Worse than the backhand she had been given.. She couldn't keep quiet. She longed to scream and let the pain out.
Shush! Don't give him the satisfaction of hearing your pain.
The blade twisted.
And still she was quiet. Blood on her lips from being bitten so hard. She could feel something warm coiling around her. Helping her some more to keep the worst of it at bay.
Fire coursed up and down and around her back.
The fire reached her hips.
And then everything stopped. The snickering of the two other men. The movements of the blade.
Had the heavens sent down an angel for her?
"Step away from my daughter."
No, even better. They sent her father.
"Well now, isn't this a surprise... The stinking Haruno is back early..."
"Izanagi! Why did you hurt her!?"
Mama was here!
"My dear Kiyara.. I remember when you used to call me Dokiru-kun.. What a shame..."
"You were the one who tried to kill my father.. You were the one who was dishonorable."
"Yara-chan, stop conversing with filth. It is not becoming."
"Of course. Gomen Kyodu-kun.."
Sakura could recognize the teasing lilt of her mother's voice.
"Enough talk.. Unless of course you want to prolong dear Sakura's suffering.."
Everything happened incredibly fast. One moment the man had been taunting her father, which no man should ever be stupid enough to do.. Considering he used to be the head of the MinZao. And then the next moment he and his two 'friends' were against the wall of the house with steel wires around them.
"Hmmph! Barely an Erhao and he tries to fight with me."
"Sakura-chan!" Her mother rushed over to her and healed her. Her mother was no MinWu but she had a well enough control over her chakra to be able to separate it and partially heal her daughter.
Sakura smiled. She was safe. And she was tired.
As she fell asleep, the last thought on her mind was, "I will never be helpless again."
"Haa..haa... One more lap.."
"Add ten to whatever you are doing Sakura."
"Guh.. O-kayh.."
"And once you are finished add another two stones to each of your limbs."
"Agh.."
It had been ten years since the incident and Sakura had blossomed into a beautiful, if not rather brash young lady. She disliked and no longer wore ankle length kimonos and had a rather unhealthy dislike and fear for most things male that had a remotely prickly disposition.
Contrary to her mother's speculation of her dislike of skirts, it wasn't entirely because she had the experience of it being ripped off, it was more like, Sakura could not train in her kimonos and found them a hassle. But she could not be bothered to tell her mother that. And as to her dislike for males.. Well she thought them a selfish lot that only wanted three things in life. "Money. Power. Sex." Almost becoming a blue-lipped girl when she was young was not much help either.
She had found out about two years back that she did not mind chatting with the occasional rare male, and neither did she mind their bodies too much, but the moment one of them got anywhere closer to her than three feet he would be flying out of the village gates. Every male in the village knew not to get too close to her.
As for women, a few off them did make good friends, but they were far too concentrated on powdering their faces and marrying a Hyuuga or an Uchiha or one of those males in the martial clans anyway...
.
.
.
"Finished!"
"Go and do five hundred sets of lifting that rock."
"It's twice my height father!"
"The problem?"
.
.
.
"Nothing.."
The Haruno Male had become crippled after an attack about a month after the incident and had retired. But he had no qualms with teaching Sakura the ways of the Shensi warriors when she had asked him to.
Her honored father was one if the few that were NOT intent on marrying her off or telling her to watch her mouth and stay in her 'place'. He was however, adamant that she train until she couldn't move anymore.
They had started off small, a rock that weighed a mere stone and weights for each of her limbs about half a stone each. She was to run forty laps a day and do a hundred press-ups and after that they would spend the next half-day learning different types of martial arts. Although her father could not leap and jump as he used to, he could still smack her arms with the cane if they were too low or high, and would, quite literally smack her into position.
The next day she would train in the morning and would spend the afternoon learning how to separate her chakra from her life-force. Today was one such day.
.
.
"Sakura, breathe in and out. Focus on your energy, feel it move within you. Now, give me a water-dragon!"
She breathed in, listening to the energy that coursed through her.. Like music flowing in the wind.
"And don't you dare say its name!"
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.
Sakura had showed a high potential in the control of her chakra. Being able to unstick it from her life force the first try and was able to send it to all parts of her body on the second try. It was a well known fact that the best of the Shensi had no need to speak out their techniques, although they tended to use overly-exaggerated movements or at times would use a hand sign. Sakura had control that was good enough that she had no need for any of the three.
She was quite adept at almost all the elements. The only one that needed a handsign was fire. This was because in order to make fire, one needed to have control both the inside and outer energies. Pushing it together to create a hot friction that would spark a fire. In the beginning, she had needed to be in a Snake stance -a foot in front and one stretched to the back holding equal weight and her hands would be in the tiger sign,- and could only do a fire ball through the mouth. Not able enough to only hold a hand sign on one hand and create a fireball with the other or she would have to concentrate her chakra into her words while imagining the tiger sign and then using both hands in a ridiculous motion to create fire. And even then at that time she had needed to be in a snake stance. How far she had come that all she needed was a single handed sign or a murmur of the words.
She had started her Shensi training a month after the incident and had started the training of her energies at the age of eight. Now it was merely the necessity of being able to fight while using the elements. Of course, she could do other things. Like running up a tree for hours, standing upside down with only her fingers and sparing with her father's chakra string controlled puppet on water.
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.
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"Sakura, I only told you to stop the bleeding. Not grow it a new wing from that cut..."
"Sorry... I couldn't help it.. I just wanted to try out this technique.."
"Where did you even get it from? All I ever taught you was how to stop bleeding and how to regenerate the skin, not how to regrow a bone and blood and nerves and every other miniscule thing in there! How did you even know how to regrow feathers?"
" It was this scroll that Tsunade-sama gave me!"
"That matchmaker?"
"She is also a renowned healer..."
"Hiss..."
"And keep that snake!"
.
.
The snake was one of her other pets. She had healed her a few years ago when she was just learning how to heal skin. It hadn't been easy and she hadn't told her father but she had tried to duplicate its cells. And she had failed resulting in a ridiculously long snake that also had her chakra in it, and believe it or not, could make itself bigger or smaller. It's typical size was about half her height and it was often wrapped around her upper-arm. It had stuck with her and she had named it Kigechu.
Often, just to shock her mother, her snake would jump out during dinner, grab a bite of everyones fish and jump back in. This often resulted in her mother looking very annoyed, but she said nothing as the snakes venom, she had found out once while bathing with her, was very good for the skin. But then she realized that this only applied to her. The poor maid who had tried getting the venom from the water for herself had gotten a few alarming rashes and had nearly suffocated from the foam in her mouth.
Her only other pet was a lovely stallion that had more muscle than a tiger And a coat of fur so dark he blended into the night. Strangely enough, his snout was white and had a few black lines on it. She had taken to calling him Yoru. He had a dislike of snakes too, and had nearly trampled on dear Kigechu once. They were sort of best friends now. Sort of.
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"Sakura stop rolling up your hakama!"
"And put your hippori back on! I don't care how hot you feel!"
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But the one thing he disliked having Sakura do was expose a single part of her body. Perhaps it was because of the incident or perhaps it was merely because women were not supposed to expose a part of their body anyway.
Sakura's training attire consisted of a pair of steel ended bindings that made for easy access. To her at least. Not for her mother. A meshed lined short sleeved part steel top went over her bindings. The hakama she wore was an adaptation. There were steel ends on the sides and the ties ended up somewhere at her waist.
The pant legs were a much narrower cut and had ties threaded in at the bottom for when she trained and decided to tie it up when she got hot, of course, her father yelled at her for this. On top of this she wore a cropped hippori that had a thick tie that went in the opposite way at the bottom and had narrow sleeves.
At home, when she was not training, she kept her mesh top and bindings on along with the hakama. But over it, she wore a thin connected sleeved kimono that had slits up the sides of it. However, unlike the typical kimono, it tied the way a traditional hippori would. The hakama was a shade of true black and her kimono was a dark green while the band on it to tie was a flowery black and gold pattern.
When she went out, she would be forced to tie portions of her hair into little braids and patterns and she found it thoroughly annoying. She also had to wear a, what was in her opinion flashy light peach and gold ko-uchigi on top of it that she found horribly troublesome. Not to mention hot.
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"The dinner that you made tonight was very well done Sakura. As is the Kosode and Samue that you have sewn together. However, your weaving skills require some work, and so do your embroidery skills."
"Mum..."
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Sakura had had a busy childhood. While training in the Art of the Shensi, she had also been learning the ways of a woman. What frustrated her mother to no one though, was the fact that she had calloused hands and scars on her body. She had also deemed any nobleman her mother had tried to set her up with as a "chauvinistic, power-hungry, and so bloody full of air it's amazing they can live on the same land."
Her mother wished she knew where Sakura had gotten words like these. She also wished she knew why Sakura did not enjoy being in the company of the other girls.
She recalled Sakura saying "The Yamanaka girl is forever sticking her chest out against the Watanabe just to compare. They forever primp in front of an ornate mirror they can barely hold, and all they speak of are which men to marry! How boring a life is that!?" Kiyara sighed and shook her head.
And Sakura disliked being a noble herself! The only thing she appreciated about it was most likely the cleaning of the house and the fact that she did not need to darn her clothing on her own.
It was still her duty to make food for her father and mother, and when she had a husband it would most likely be her duty to create food for her family as well, how was her n straightforward brash darling survive? Her mother had always had the duty of cleaning the main family rooms, serving food for honored guests and darning the clothing for her main family as well so Sakura had had no practice. Not to mention her father took her side far too often in matters like this.
Sakura did have a friend that she liked. Hyuuga Hinata. While Sakura deemed men as pigs, she had no problems with admiring their physiques, and Hinata was a big help with that. She would often sit with Hinata and discuss the Uzumaki prankster and which cousins of hers had the most defined bodies.
Every now and then, the Hyuuga Neji would spar with Uchiha Sasuke and Sakura would happily stare at their sweaty, streamlined, muscled bodies discretely with her gilded and embellished mirror, courtesy of her mother. Poor Hinata would be beside her blushing heavily.
But once, just once, she had met the eldest son of the Uchiha clan. And she had been rather annoyed to say that she was not annoyed by him at all. Nothing about him spoke of arrogance or cockiness. Instead, he merely seemed confident and had n ignored the simpering females of the Hyuuga house with an ease she found she liked.
The Hyuuga boy and the younger Uchiha did the same, however, they were rather fond of being cocky and would quite often mutter degrading words about her and Hinata. Nothing too bad.. Things like, "why do they watch? Not like they can learn anything.." Or " Weak females." And occasionally, the Hyuuga boy wound look at Hinata and say "Can't even master the gentle fist when they should be grateful they are allowed to," Sakura presumed he said that because Hinata was not good at it.
It really wasn't anything to be grateful for considering it was tradition that the noble clan heads children, be it sons or daughters, were to learn how to fight. Sakura's family was only of the civilian noble blood. There were hardly any known people in the family tree who had learned of the ways to control their chakra or had learned the usage of chakra.
Her father had been a Shensi warrior because he had displayed great martial art prowess and could use his chakra very well. Few men were at his level. Shensi warriors were the Shensi because of their ability to go above and beyond with their martial arts and use of chakra.
Well in her opinion it was mostly because they could utilize their chakra. It was not like the Shensi warriors included a lot of warriors who could not use their chakra. The few that did were truly amazing with their martial prowess. It was an amazement that few could beat. But it was incredibly rare for one to be like that.
For a Shensi warrior, being able to use the elements was very good already. And the mastery of that along with the techniques of many other sections was what made her father a MinZao leader.
That and his intelligence of course.
Her father had often told her that perhaps she should have been born a boy. For if she were she would be an Yihao by now. There was a school of sorts for the male species to learn both the scholarly ways and the ways of the Shensi. What a pity Sakura was a girl...
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"Sakura! It's time to get ready!"
Said girl snapped up from her position on the single rope in her room. 'What!?'
Oh no... Sakura smacked her head... The matchmaker..
So do you guys like this? Do you find it confusing? I hope not. The more reviews I get the quicker I'll update! XD
Oh yeah, and about Sakura, yes she likes looking at sweaty men but she has a thing about them getting more than three feet close to her. It will be seen more often in later chapters. Go ItaSaku!
Btw 1 stone is 14 pounds so basically 32 kg. :D