Hi people!
This is a prologue and I want to know your opinion before I continue, so revew!
I am a huge multi-Saku fan, and after reading so many fictions, I decided to write my own! This is set in alternate universe where Sakura was never in a ninja world, but she actually lived in a modern world where we live in. She suddenly, miracuoulsy goes to universe of ninja and meets Naruto there and…rest, you'll have to wait and see. So if I got your attention, then let's get started!
Um, before I start (I know I kinda lied in above sentence then) I just want to ask anyone if they know a good Sakura training and kicking ass kinda fic. I really, REALLY hate it when she's a fangirl and doesn't use her potential which just PISSES me off. If you know a fiction where she's not a fangirl and actually TRAINS or something like that, that would just be awesome. Please recommend me some. Pretty please with cherries on top?
Disclaimer: this is my first and my last disclaimer. I do NOT own Naruto. Seriously.
I'm searching...
Searching for a challenge.
"Sakura! Wake up and come down for breakfast!"
From upstairs, a girl with pink hair opened her emerald eyes, only to shut them back with a cringe. Morning suns always blinded her. She got out of her bed and went straight to the bathroom. Splashing some water on her face to wake herself up, she turned on the faucet and began washing her face in ice cold water. When she looked up, her eyes caught the reflection of her on the mirror. A pink haired girl with emerald eyes stared at her back. She sighed.
She has been told that she had her mother's eyes, but she knew it was a statement that would never be possible. The woman that she calls 'mom' is all but a foster parent that adopted her when she was a child. Even though she didn't know when she was abandoned by her blood mother, she clearly rememerd the day her fostter parent adopted her. She had been bullied again, by children who liked to tease her about her abnormal pink hair and-apparently-large forehead. A woman with brown, PLAIN hair and green eyes had told her that she was to call her new mommy. She knew then that her real mom wasn't coming back.
She brushed her collarbone-length pink hair to get the tangles out. Her pink hair always got attention from wrong and right people, even when she was a child. Everyone, even the adults in the orphanage, thought it was dyed to get some freaking attention. 'As if,' she scoffed. 'Who would let a child, an orphan child, dye her hair into fucking PINK? Ridiculous.' She used to hate her abnormal features, and tried considering dying it to black or something of equally common color, but decided against it. It was what made her…Sakura, after all.
"Haruno Sakura! If you don't come down right this moment—"
"I'm coming down, mom!"
She quickly dried her face off and put on some moisturizer because a girl could never have dry skin because it would totally be unattractive—blahblahblah. Really, she wouldn't even bother with the shit if she wasn't made to by her mom. She quickly went downstairs and was greeted with miso soup with rice, and she sighed in happiness. Nothing like traditional Japanese menu to cheer her up.
"I really, really don't know what's so delicious about plain miso soup and rice." Her mom said, exasperated. Sakura shrugged it off. She was already used to how her mom thinks of her menu choice. She appreciated the simple and non-greasy feel of traditional Japanese food. It didn't upset her stomach like some food that her mom insisted on making for some stupid reason. She picked up her chopsticks and started eating.
"I'll be going now, mom!"
"Okay, Sakura, have a good day in your school!"
"Good day, my ass," she mumbled under her breath. It was probably another day filled with boring stuff that she already knew about, thank you very much. Not to mention horny teenage boys droolling at the sight of some other sluts in the area showing their legs and cleavage, encouraging those perverted bastards. Not that the needed any encouragement.
She sighed. She seriously needed something in her life. Something exciting, mind blowing, something totally out of this world that would make her actually challenge herself. Living this world was so easy and so boring, and nothing interested her anymore. It wasn't that she was trying to brag; in fact, she desperately wanted someone to beat her down, so to speak, so she can have the satisfaction of achieving something out of hard work.
The past 16 years of life was so easy for her. She had excellent grades, even in elite school for gifted. She took advanced courses and since that wasn't enough, her professors had already given up trying to teach her. Her mom tried to get to take her university courses, but that was impossible since she didn't know which course she wanted to take exactly.
Her speed was unrivaled in the whole entire school, and her strength was something that she surprised everone with. They never guessed that underneath her fragile appearance, she had so much strength. Even without the strength, she had absolutely no problem defending herself since she had a mastery in martial art form known as tai chi chuan. It had landed her in first place of countless competitions across Japan, and her skill with tessen was considered one of the best in the country. Yes, her life was easy. But it was also so goddamn boring too…
"You got that look on your face, little girl."
She turned around, coming face to face with an old woman who seemed harmless enough. What caught her attention was her previous statement, however, not this woman's looks.
"What kind of look are you talking about, ma'am?" she asekd, her manners not forgotten.
"Ah, very polite. Hard to find in youngsters these days," she chuckled. "You got that look of a very, how to say it, tired person."
"Thank you but I assure you I slept very well last night—"
"You know what kind of 'tired' I'm talking about, girl, and you know it." The mysterious old woman looked at her with surprisingly hard glint in her beady, dark eyes.
"You are tired of this world, aren't you?"
Sakura looked at the woman, slightly alerted. How in the seven hell did this woman know something that she kept hidden so well all this time? For kami's sake, even her mother didn't notice her attitude towards life, and she was her mother! Just who the hell was this woman?
"Don't look so alerted, young girl," she chuckled, "I saw a fellow like you a long time ago. He had this look on his face…" the old woman leaned forward to meet Sakura's eyes.
"He was always looking for some good challenge or puzzle to solve, that boy." She put her hands on Sakura's shoulders, and Sakura had to wince at surprisingly strong grip the woman had on her.
"I can give it to you, you know."
"What…" she pulled out of the woman's grip. "What are you talking about?"
"I can give you the challenge that you desperately seek for. In fact, this challenge is much more than challenge. It will blow your mind away. It will contradict everything you have been taught in this world. You will have to leave everything here, though." The old woman turned away and looked at the ground below her.
"Your home, your family, your friends…you will have to be alone in an unknown world with no support. It will be difficult getting used to that kind of world, world so different from ours, especially without any help from familiary faces, but once you do," now her face turned into ugly smile, "you will not want to get out."
"It will be everything you imagined, and more."
Sakura gulped. Her body was trembling in expectation. She could even feel herself sweating. How long has she waited for something like this? Something to challenge herself? Something that will blow her mind away? Something that will defy all her expectations, all her natural skills, and make her actually work to achieve something? If…If this woman would really give her all that…
"There will be a price to pay, of course?" Saukra asked. After all, nothiing was free these days.
"No," the old woman chuckled.
"There will be no price or anything. However, if you think about the fact that you will have to leave everything, that will be the biggest price you will pay. Taking you there to that world has absolutey nothing to do with me. You have to perform the ritual yourself, after all."
"A ritual?"
"Oh my," she put her hand in front of her mouth in mocking gesture, "Did I already say that much? Little girl, I'm afraid you have to come to me if you truly want to go to the world that I'm telling you about."
"So, would you like to come?"
Sakura smirked. Is it really even worth asking? She waited all her life for this kind of opportunity. A chance to challenge herself. Even though it was pity that she had to leave her mom in this world, it didn't even matter. She was not related to her by blood and felt very little attachment to the woman anyway.
"Take me to your house."
The old lady smirked.
"So where is this pace that you are sending me to?" Sakura asked as she entered the house.
"Ah, but telling you would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it, dear?"
Sakura frowned. She hated it when she was kept out of something. She was not a kid and she was pretty damn sure of herself that she could probably handle whatever the secret is.
The room she enetered was intriguing, to say the least. There were so many old, historical stuff that probably dated back thousands of years. There were armours, katanas, and…
"Is that…Is that tesssen?"
"You know of the ancient weapon?"
Sakura scoffed, even though her emerald eyes brightened at seeing her favorite weapon on the wall.
"Of course. May I…"
"Sure, dear."
Sakura picked up the tessen very gently, swiping the dust off of the beautiful weapon. And truly, it was beautiful. She never saw anything quite like it. She has seen both types of tessen; tessen with wood or metal ribs with lacquered paper with metal outer cover, and tessen that was solid metal fan that shaped like an open fan. She practiced her tai chi chuan with both of them, and since it was her favorite type of weapon to use, her knowledge with tessen was quite extensive and correct as well.
This beautiful tessen that she was holding, however, was something that she had not heard of. This metal fan was made with sheer metal that was just as thin as, if not thinner, than lacquered paper that they used with wood or metal rib. However, what made this tessen so special was the fact that even though it was made out of sheer metal, it could be folded like closed fan from its opened state. The beautiful decoration of red feathers was not lost on her as well, and she looked at the kanji of 'beauty' and 'wind' engraved at the outer cover of the tessen.
"This truy is one of a kind," she stated, still amazed at this beautiful fan. The lady chuckled at Saura's enthusiasm over her metal fan.
"You can have it if you want," she said, not even looking at Sakura's way anymore to prepare her for ritual that was to come.
Sakura's head snapped towards the lady, not believing the world she said. Was she actually serious? She could give away this beautiful tessen freely?
"You are serious?" Sakura asked cautiously, as if expecting the lady to throw a punch line that she felt sure was to come.
"Yes you can. It was not even mine anyway, and I was never good at art of tessenjutsu."
"I…" She looked at the metal fan in her fan with awe and wonder.
"Thank you."
"You are welcome, my dear," the lady smiled in her freakish way. She continued to rummage through her things, while Saura was examining the tessen that she held in her hand. Sakura wondere if she was allowed to practice her tai chi chaun here. Her hands were itching and just excited to use this beautiful weapon. She opeed and examined the fan from every angle that she possibly could. She sight when she couldn't find any faults. Still beautiful and elegant.
Kami, she sounded like a lovesick teenage girl.
'What kind of teenage girl falls in love with a weapon anyway?' she scoffed.
'Haruno Saura, that's who.'
"Okay dear, we are ready and you are set to go!" The lady clapped her hand and motioned Sakura to come to her way. She closed the fan shut, and went to the old lady.
"Now, before we get started, do you happen to know how to protect yourself even a little?"
Sakura inwardl smiled at the irony. She was asking a tai chi chuan master if she knew how to protect herself.
"Only a little," she answered. She didn't feel like giving out too much information, after all.
"Well, then you might want to get into something comfortable that you can fight in." The lady started rummaging through her closet, which, from Sakura's view, held many traditional kimonos and hakamas that probably are worth lot of money if sold today. It looked pretty old, and judging by its complicated patterns, it was high-classs one at that.
"Ah, this might fit you. Will this be comfortable?" she held a pair of dakr shorts that probably would reach her knee. It was loose, almost as loose as hakama, and Sakura guessed that it was designed originally to allow movements for the wearer.
"Why am I going to be required to fight or protect myself?" Sakura asked, puzzled.
"You are probably going to be required to fight because the people there will most definitely not trust you. It's good to know how to protect yourself also because there are some dangerous creatures there. Lots and lots of mutated things." The lady pointed to the washroom. "Now go get changed dear."
When Sakura got out of the washroom in pair of very comfortable dark shorts (even more comfortable than her training attire), the lady was standing in a circle of candles with the floor covered in white paint that was drawn into complicated design.
"Are you ready?"
Sakura smirked. She held her tessen in her hand and tightened the straps of her sandals at her feet.
"Absolutely."
And that wraps the prologue! Should I continue or not? Review please! ^^