AN: Here's something that the plot bunnies offered to me on a huge platter. I say that because the idea came to me so effortlessly, and only needed some tweaking before it resembled a good, solid plot. Now, I only hope I'm capable enough to give it the life it fully deserves. (It lives! It lives! Mwahahaha! ...Sorry. Had to say it.)
Edited so that the first chapter and the prologue are merged into one. This is supposed to be an epic adventure, and I already have quite a bit of scenes I want to give life to, but with Aria taking up much of my sparse writing time, I'm not sure how fast I can crank out chapters. Still, I'll try.
This is an Alternate Universe fic, and I'm using the term loosely. Okay, so it's more a cross-over fic, but the characters from the other series won't make a lot of appearances. I needed the location more than the actual characters. And I do understand that the poem by E.E. Cummings of the same name is romantic, and have absolutely nothing to do with physical travel.
Sasusaku, and yes, there will be some overused plot going to be used, but I'm gonna do my damnedest to make it inoffensive.
Dedication: For Sayuri-Jen, whose sole review motivated me into polishing up the rest of the chapter. (And no, this isn't a one-shot. ;P)
Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto Masashi-sensei (who we are all very grateful to. All hail Kishimoto-sensei!) and the title and poem Somewhere I Have Never Traveled, Gladly Beyond is credited to E.E. Cummings. The idea for this fic belongs to me. (And the plot bunnies of doom.)
With all that said, please enjoy.
Somewhere I Have Never Traveled, Gladly Beyond
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which I cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously) her first rose
or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands
Wind rushing through hair... clothes...
Spiraling...
Tumbling...
It was nighttime, and the stars were out. The sky looked different here than the view back in the forests of Konoha. Was there more stars? Less? He couldn't quite decide...
Down... Down...
Falling down...
No. The constellations were wrong. There were stars where there shouldn't be, and no stars where there should. As if some divine hand had moved across the sky and reconfigured the stars. Probably just to spite him.
He let out a soft snort at his fanciful musings. He must've hit his head harder than he thought.
White light, nothing but white light.
Eyes blinded, light seeping even with eyes tightly shut...
The tall grass surrounding him stirred in the cool autumn breeze. At least, he thought it was autumn. The air smelled right for it.
It had seemed never ending. Then...
Dizziness...
Nausea...
Sweet, sweet darkness.
Nevertheless, the stars were enough of a proof, and the red of his eyes testified to the reality of the place.
The head of pink hair stirred ever so slightly against his chest. That was his only warning as the woman who had been using him as a bed bolted up right into full consciousness, startled green eyes slightly clouded with confusion staring back at his own calm red ones.
Uchiha Sasuke was stuck in another world with Haruno Sakura sprawled on top of him.
Someone somewhere must be laughing at his life right now.
-----
Lightning flashed briefly in the dark sky and illuminated Naruto's face as he laughed, throwing the scars in his face into sharp relief and making him look sinister.
Despite the curve of his lips and the almost closed eyes, the sound held absolutely no trace of happiness.
The three ANBU members accompanying him glanced at each other nervously before hesitantly turning back to face the blond.
"What did you say again? 'Cause I swear I probably didn't hear right." Naruto turned ice cold blue eyes towards the ANBU who had just reported the current situation.
The man, though taller, was trying his hardest to ignore his body's instinct to flee. His feet made a squelching sound as they shuffled in the rain-soaked ground in nervousness. "Th-there's no trace of Haruno-san anywhere. We didn't find any information concerning Akatsuki's current activities and were on our way back to rendezvous with the rest of the team when we saw a brief flash of light to the east. It felt like an abnormal chakra release so we went to investigate it. Haruno-san was in the lead. For a few seconds, she was obscured by thick foliage and was out of my line of sight, but I continued to where she was headed. When I got to where we approximated the flash of light originated..."
At the man's hesitation, Naruto growled. "Yes?"
"...Th-there was no one there. Just a huge burnt circle on the ground."
Their blond team leader wiped a hand tiredly over his wet face. "Was there any clues? Traces of footprints maybe?"
"Aa. Very faint, but there was some. Two people, probably of heavy build based on their footprints. One was slightly heavier than the other, maybe carrying a heavy weapon. They were probably ninja, they left no other trace besides those two sets of footprints. I was lucky to have made it before the rain had completely wiped them clean. Other than those, some disturbed bushes from where Haruno-san broke through to the clearing, and a few worn tree branches north of where we came from."
Naruto's brow furrowed even deeper in worry. "Someone who was traveling through the trees?"
"At fast speed, yes. They didn't leave any other trace besides that, and very minimal at that. I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't focused on scouring the area."
The blond Jinchuuriki grunted. It was someone very skilled then.
"Taichou? I think this might help us, although I'm not quite sure how, but... The disturbance of the tree branches and bushes all stopped abruptly at the edge of the clearing, so my guess is all of them had left by means of air travel or transportation jutsu. The fact that there was only those two sets of footprints and no other also reinforces this."
Naruto nodded. "There were two who were standing still, casting a jutsu for some means of transportation. That's probably why they didn't bother to completely erase those footprints. Wouldn't matter in a couple of minutes, especially with this rain. The only other thing that doesn't add up is who the fourth person is. It wouldn't be a comrade, since he was traveling fast. A pursuer?"
After a moment of silence, spent mostly worrying about his friend, Naruto ruffled his hair in frustration.
"Gaah! New mission! You!" He pointed to the man he'd been directing his anger to, "You're coming with me back to Konoha. We need to see the Hokage. You'll need to tell Baachan everything you've told me. Fuck! She's not gonna be happy about this."
He turned to address the other two. "The two of you secure the area! We'll be coming back with reinforcements. I'm going to request some back-up for this. We'll need Kiba and Akamaru's tracking abilities, and maybe Hinata's eyes to try and see whatever we missed."
As all three nodded their agreement, Naruto left them to sort out where the other two needed to go to secure Sakura's last known location.
This was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission, considered A rank only because it concerned the Akatsuki. After years of not hearing anything regarding the Akatsuki, this mission was supposed to be their big break. It was supposed to be easy: go split up, ask some questions, regroup and go back to Konoha. Unfortunately, their contact who was supposed to be in Tsuchi no Kuni, a place already hard to get into because of their poor relations with Hi no Kuni, had apparently moved to Amegakure, an even harder place to get into. They had had to double back, spending over a week in travel, devise plans to get into Amegakure somewhat undetected, and try to find information from citizens who were already having enough problems with their daily lives, only to come out empty handed. Their contact was nowhere to be found. Naruto doubted he was still alive, if he even existed in the first place.
Now Sakura was gone. With who, how, or why, Naruto did not know. But he had a nagging suspicion that the Akatsuki was involved.
And if the Akatsuki was involved, then the other person he considered his best friend couldn't have been too far behind...
'Sakura-chan, I really hope you're all right wherever you are... And whoever you're with.'
-----
Green eyes blinked down at the boy- no, definitely a man now - in surprise. It couldn't be... could it?
"Move. You're heavy."
Well that settled it.
"Sasuke-kuuuun!" Sakura immediately grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and brought their faces closer. "It really is you!" She exclaimed happily.
"Let go. Now." 'Sasuke-kun' fairly growled in irritation.
Sakura ignored him and continued shaking his form.
"This is great! It's been sooo long, Sasuke-kun! This makes me reeeaaaaaally happy!" She was practically bashing his head against the ground with the amount of force she was using.
"You don't know how long Naru-"
Sakura stilled as a kunai found itself right against her jugular.
"Move. Now." His voice was as cold as the steel against her throat.
Hesitantly, she clambered up and away from him with as much grace as an elephant on stilts, Sasuke couldn't help but notice. He let out a huff of irritation. Even after seven years since they'd last glimpsed each other, nine since he left Konoha, she still hadn't improved her skills.
"Annoying," he grumbled under his breath as he got up in one smooth motion, discretely correcting and maintaining his balance as his right leg wobbled.
If he had been facing Sakura, Sasuke would have noticed her right eye give a distinct twitch.
"Still have a stick up your ass, eh?"
The Uchiha turned his head sharply at the barely audible mutter. "What?"
She gave him a megawatt smile. "This feels just like the past, ne? What with you catching me from a fall and rescuing me from... from... What was it exactly? And where are we?"
He scoffed at her questions, but did not bother to offer any answers. He watched her look around the meadow they've been loitering in until she found the pack she'd been carrying with her. She must've lost her grip on it during the travel. Speaking of which...
"What were you doing before we got here?"
Sakura stared at him. "What was I-? What, you think I have something to do with this?"
He stared back at her, trying to intimidate her into answering with his glare.
"What?" she whined.
"You must've done something wrong. Triggered a trap, botched up a jutsu, how should I know?"
Her features assembled into one of hurt. "I was just on my way home from a mission, Sasuke-kun. The mission was to exchange medicinal herbs with Iwagakure to help along a possible alliance between the village and Konoha."
"Hn." So she wasn't there for Akatsuki. Could it be that the lead he got was wrong? How had they ended up here then?
Sakura stepped closer to him, head tilted to the side. "What about you? What were you doing in the area, Sasuke-kun?"
"None of your business." He turned to leave, picking a random direction to head towards. He needed information, find out where this place was, and why everything here felt so different...
"Where are you going? Sasuke-kun! Wait for me!"
The glare she received as she grabbed his sleeve would've stopped an entire battalion of jounin.
Sakura refused to back down. "Don't you think it'd be better for the two of us to stick together?"
"Remove your hand."
"But Sasuke-"
"You'll only be a hindrance."
Her grip tightened a fraction before Sakura sighed and let him go. "At the very least, let me heal your leg before you go."
The missing nin refused to show it, but he was surprised that Sakura had known. Either the pounding in his head had messed up his attempt at being covert about his injury or her observation skills had gotten better. Nevertheless, knowing it would infinitely be better to look around this unknown place without any injuries should a fight arise, Sasuke gave a brisk nod and turned around to face his former teammate.
The pink haired kunoichi instructed him to sit down on the grass with his legs extended in front of him. Concentrating chakra on her left hand, Sakura proceeded to examine and then heal him, describing her diagnosis and what his treatment was going to be in a professional and concise tone.
"You have a stress fracture in your tibia, quite close to your patellar tendon which isn't ruptured yet, thank goodness. The stress fracture is putting enough pressure on the tendon that it's on its way to being ruptured though. I'm accelerating cell growth on the site of the fracture to completely heal it, and take out the strain in the muscles that your leg's been overusing to compensate."
"Still so noisy. I didn't ask for an explanation."
Sakura stilled, then resumed her healing. "...I won't take long."
She was finished in less than five minutes. Sasuke remained still and didn't protest when she offered to scan the rest of his body for any more injuries, giving her a thoughtful look as she went about her work.
"Your skills as a medic got you into ANBU," he stated more than asked after a few moments, indicating the gray and black outfit she wore underneath the black cloak. Sakura didn't answer him until after she was done healing his mild concussion.
She leaned away from his body and sat seiza-style in front of him when she was finished, her hands folded neatly on her lap. She gave him a bright, sunny smile. "Well, I'm glad you think my skills as a medic are good enough to get into ANBU, Sasuke-kun. Are you sure you won't reconsider gathering information together?"
"Yes." He was already standing and stretching his right leg, ignoring the rest of her chatter. Silently, the Uchiha marveled at how well she had healed him. There was absolutely no pain, and given that he had been running at full speed for an entire day before this mishap, he should be feeling some muscle fatigue at the very least. Having this kind of medical back-up would be advantageous, especially after a fight. Without Karin here, maybe he should consider bringing-
His head whipped around to stare at her. "What?"
She blinked back at him before repeating, slowly, "You should take care, Sasuke-kun?"
"Before that!"
She tilted her head at him. "What, that bit I said about our chakra?"
"Repeat it!"
"Well, wherever this place is, it seems to be inhibiting our chakra control and reserves. We'll need to concentrate on performing even basic jutsu."
Meaning, if performing basic jutsu that are as natural to them as breathing will require some effort, the more specialized jutsu will take him more time, if he can even conjure enough chakra for them. It's costly when the efficiency of executing jutsu for offense and defense is compromised in a fight. Shit.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?!" Sasuke practically snarled at her. Sakura could almost see him baring his canines in his anger.
"I thought you already knew." Her tone was innocent, if slightly befuddled. "Anyway, it has more to do with shintai energy than anything. Every living thing in this place has lower amounts of it, for some odd reason."
Sharingan activated, the raven haired ninja looked around only to see proof of her conclusion. If everything, and everyone, in this godforsaken place had close to no access to chakra, then he shouldn't have any need to use jutsu in a fight. His worries slightly abated at this fact.
"So, you're really sure you don't want to bring me along with you?"
He turned to glare at her once again smiling face. "I'm sure!" He barked at her, then leaped away towards the trees to the east.
Nine whole damn years, and she was still as annoying as ever.
-----
Left still sitting on the grass, Sakura looked on as the Uchiha's form vanished into the trees in the distance. All in all, their encounter had lasted for a total of 15 minutes, not counting the time she had been unconscious. (She knew the only reason Sasuke had not shoved her off of him was his various injuries. She wasn't twelve anymore and knew enough not to expect any other reason than that.)
The pink haired ANBU thought back on their conversation. Lying to him about her mission had been easy enough. His arrogance and chauvinism had been predictable, and Sakura had relied on that for her lie to go smoothly undetected. There had been times she'd been sorely tempted to pummel him to the ground (Do you think I would've had to fight Team Gai, all three of them at once, and then a three-day face off with Kakashi-sensei, if all it took to get into ANBU was the ability to heal everyone?! Shannaro!), but the anger had helped her maintain her deception and emotional distance from him. (Because she couldn't hit him lest she blow her cover, Sakura had taken great pains to be even more annoyingly cheerful and ditzy than her twelve-year-old self.)
Although she still considered Sasuke a dear friend, he wasn't a Konoha ninja anymore. Protocol had to be followed. Akatsuki business was A-rank and above, after all. And if Sasuke had been in the general vicinity, then the Akatsuki was definitely involved, more probably Uchiha Itachi and his partner, Hoshigaki Kisame.
Sakura thought back on the chakra release back in the rainforests of Amegakure. The air had been humming with energy, and then suddenly, a burst of blinding light. That must've been a really powerful jutsu to need that much chakra. A forbidden jutsu, perhaps, and definitely a transportation one. But to where?
Thoughtful green eyes stared up at the night sky and glimmered as the stars shone bright in her eyes. She couldn't identify any of the constellations. But there was one moon, and the composition of the air was the same, with the humidity level matching that of Konoha's. Was there only one sun? Or will she be surprised and find two?
What, should she expect to be in another universe? Another dimension perhaps? Sakura shook her head at her musings.
Stop kidding around, Haruno. Focus.
Still, with Akatsuki involved, anything can happen.
I almost wish I followed Sasuke. I'll take on all his prissiness and snide remarks if we can get to the bottom of this.
Ah well. It wasn't like she wouldn't know where to find him.
In her pack, hidden among her clothes, a transceiver beeped, keeping track of the transmitter the size of a pin's head that she had attached to the seams of Sasuke's sleeve when she had moved to stop him.
Nine whole years of training and searching and failing to bring him home, no way was she going to let him vanish from her sight now.