Hell Hath No Fury
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Summary: Sakura dies, and Hinata's unsuccessful attempt to save her has dragged them both to the world of the Dead... And now neither of the girls is quite herself. Literally. "K-Kyah! Th-Th-That's my body!" "Yeah, I know. And that's mine. I sorta noticed that." Oh, dear.
Disclaimer: I told Kishi-sensei that I would like to buy Naruto from him for $100, and that I would add an additional $25 if he sent it with an autograph. He has yet to reply, though... *cue sad bg music*
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Chapter One: Hades
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Sakura let out a cry of fury as she smashed her fist into a nearby Zetsu. After feeling it's skull give way with a sickening crunch, she whipped around, lashing out with an uppercut kick. It hit another enemy, who was sent flying upwards, and Sakura used the momentum to smash her flying foot into the ground, demolishing it and the Zetsu immediately around it. Without missing a beat, she bent her legs and pushed off the rocky earth, doing a full turn to check her surroundings. She had just enough time to grab a kunai from her weapons holster before deflecting about a dozen shuriken, and then she tossed the kunai into the direction from whence the throwing stars had come. She saw it impale a Zetsu, and then she turned her attention to landing.
Which would be difficult, since Zetsu were practically crawling on every acre for as far as her eyes could see. Pumping chakra into her feet, she gritted her teeth and pushed off an unsuspecting Zetsu's head, barely dodging the swipe of another Zetsu's broadsword. She quickly flipped again midair, taking note of the battles going on around her before releasing her own barrage of shuriken upon the group of Zetsu within her range of aim. While most simply deflected them, the temporary distraction allowed her to land safely and punch outwards with both hands and spin, collecting a number of Zetsu, and then fling them away, making many crash and fall; somewhere in her mind, she related the effect to dominoes, but it was a distant, nearly-nonexistent part of her mind, a part to which she did not pay attention to. The battle took all of her concentration. Already, she could feel her chakra diminishing as she continued defending against the attackers.
"Sakura-San!"
She did not need to know who said it, but rather what the words entailed: Quick, high-pitched, a female's familiar voice, fast approaching.
Without hesitation, Sakura dropped into a crouch on the ground, and after a shadow flew over her, she swung her foot around full-circle, tripping a few Zetsu near her. She leapt to her feet and darted to where the figure of Hyuuga Hinata stood.
Actually, Sakura had to admit to herself that "stood" was not quite the proper verb to describe it. Hinata moved in such a way that she looked more as if she were dancing, fluidly twirling and bowing from enemy to enemy, destroying their chakra veins seemingly with ridiculous ease.
Sakura turned her attention back to the matter at hand: taking out as much of Madara's army as possible to bide time for Sasuke's and Naruto's battle against the man. She had heard some confusing news through Katsuyu of a certain Obito, and of her sensei's battle, but aside from this, she had been unable and unwilling to piece the story together. Not too far off in the distance, she saw an explosion of smoke and couldn't help but wince.
She hoped her boys were safe.
Sasuke's face flashed briefly before her eyes, but she pushed it away instantly, letting chakra pass throughout her body to boost her speed and power while she began attacking again. A kick here, a stomp there, a punch this way, a somersault that way. The repetitive action of varying her attack and defense to avoid leaving herself open to a fatal attack began to wear on her, but she ignored it, continuing to pound a path closer to Hinata's side.
"How you holding up?" Sakura asked the Hyuuga girl breathlessly, throwing a kunai into one Zetsu's chest.
"F-Fine," Hinata responded, equally as breathless. She swirled and touched her palm to a Zetsu's ankle, then effortlessly flung him unceremoniously behind her into another. "How is N-N-Neji?"
Sakura punched a Zetsu, who bounced across the ground like a skipping stone over water, and then Sakura hopped up, throwing two rounds of shuriken to deflect the missiles aimed to harm her while in the air. A quick scan revealed that Neji was in the process of using his Kaiten, and Lee was not far from him, using his weights as weapons to clear space for a larger attack-range.
"Same as us," she called to her fellow kunoichi. Hinata, quick as lightning, had cleared the space Sakura would land in moments before she did. Sakura rolled to reduce her impact, standing swiftly in order to continue fighting.
Only she lost her balance. She came up too fast, and stumbled backwards a few paces.
And in that split moment, her falter was all it took.
She saw Hinata spin faster than she'd ever seen her do before, literally appearing at her side-
-a fraction of a second after a Zetsu's senbon pierced her chest.
Sakura heard Hinata's shriek, felt her body pumping blood quickly in vain to introduce white blood cells to poison traveling through her body faster than the halogens could keep up with. She felt her body systems failing, dying.
She felt her breath quicken.
She heard the crash and realized belatedly that it was the impact of her body against the ground- but no, it was Hinata's furious Kaiten - when had she learned that? - and her eyes fluttered; this was it.
In a last ditch effort, Sakura tried to heal herself. She pushed chakra into her palms, pressed it against her heart; she felt a slight bit of relief only. She had always figured to herself that dying would be painful; but as her body shut down, so did the pain; with every nerve that died, so did a scream in her throat.
She squinted back out to the battle. Hinata had managed to clear the entire area in moments, and was now kneeling at her side, doing her best to heal Sakura. The pinkette smiled at Hinata, and then turned towards where she knew her boys were fighting.
She wished she had been able to make Kakashi arrive to ONE THING on-time for a change.
She wished she had been able to tell Naruto goodbye, and that she was sorry for ever wronging him in their childhood.
She wished she had been able to see Sasuke smile, just once.
She closed her eyes and felt Hinata's tears fall agains her face. She wanted to lean up and pat Hinata consolingly on the back, but her muscles were giving way now. Her heart was erratically beating, but it was dying, too.
Right before it stopped, she sensed Hinata grab hold of her hand.
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The sounds of war were gone; all she heard was the echo of water dripping from somewhere. She lay against cold, sharp stone.
Groggily, as if she had fallen asleep, Hinata opened her eyes and sat up.
She looked around, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she did so. She was in some sort of cavern, dark and lit only by crystals whiter than her eyes. Carefully, she shifted into a crouch, listening intently for signs of Zetsu.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Not a sound aside from her own breathing and heartbeat (and the echo of dribbling water) was heard, and Hinata relaxed.
Now the question was: Where was she?
Hinata dusted herself off, and then nearly jumped out of her skin.
These were not her clothes.
She was dressed in, essentially, a drape, which hung from one shoulder and looped around her body, creating a limbre but form-fitting dress. She started upon inspection of her arms: they were darker than normal, just a shade. But she dismissed this thought, reasoning this was because of the darkness of the cavern.
She heard a quick breath from behind her and whirled around.
She noticed three things straight away:
One, that her hair did not twirl around her as it normally would, but instead tickled against her neck. Almost as if it were short.
Two, that her hair was much lighter in this darkness; in fact, it was nearly a pale pink.
And third, her body was shifting into a crouch.
And she was not in her body.
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Sakura heard two things as she came to.
First, she heard the dripping of water and her own heartbeat and breathing.
Second, that her breathing was not the only one there.
In one second, she had slid into the standard crouch she and her fellow Konoha kunoichi had been drilled to do during their Academy days, hand slipping down her leg to reach into her weapons holster.
Except that her hand met cold, soft fabric instead of the fingerhold of a kunai.
She looked up sharply after hearing a familiar gasp.
And she met emerald eyes.
No.
She met pink hair, emerald eyes, and her own body, draped in strange clothing.
Sakura felt herself pale.
"You..." she began, and then stopped suddenly.
That was not her voice.
She stood slowly, noting she wore clothing identical to her body.
She reached up and slid her hand through long, soft, blue-black locks, and made the connection.
"Hinata?" she whispered cautiously to the wide-eyed version of herself before her. Her figure flinched, and then her eyes widened in realization.
"S-Sakura?" she heard her own voice ask. Sakura herself shook her head, bewildered.
"I don't..." she began, trailing off after being unable to finish the thought.
Silence fell between the two for about five seconds, interrupted only by the dripping water.
And then Hinata, in Sakura's body, screamed.
"K-Kyah! Th-Th-That's my body!" Sakura looked on with an odd sort of entertainment while her body preceded to take two fearful steps backward, and then begin to shake. "Th-this doesn't make sense..." Now Sakura saw her green eyes water. "Y-You're in my body..."
"Yeah, I know. And that's mine. I sorta noticed that." Sakura, too, felt herself beginning to panic. It had less to do with the fact that their minds were swapped and more to do with the rumbling she felt on the ground now. "Hinata, let's go, we need to-"
But it was too late. Now both girls heard the crash of an explosion somewhere close by, followed quickly by the clopping of hooves. Looking desperately around, the girls did the only logical thing they could think of: They ran.
Their feet scraped against the stones and began to bleed, but neither girl slowed down. Together, they dashed through the tunnels of the cavern, desperate to find a shelter in which to hide. When they noticed the sound of dripping water becoming more distinct, they hurried towards it; the horse hooves were still close behind them.
As one, the girls pumped chakra into their -er, their companions - feet, allowing them to run up the walls of the tunnel just as they entered a cave with a high ceiling. Crystals glowed from above, and water dripped off of the longest into a pool of water below. The water looked deep, and by sending chakra into Hinata's eyes, Sakura could suddenly see below the water.
"How deep?" Hinata asked.
"Deep," Sakura replied. She could see through the walls and saw two horses pulling a hooded figure in a chariot hurrying up a tunnel, about a floor below them (if you could consider the uneven caverns "floors.") Sakura cut the chakra off. Her eyes returned to normal, and she turned to her currently-Hinata's body.
Hinata nodded.
As one, they pushed off with a boost of chakra, and dove.
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AN: Hello, fabulous readers! Thanks for your support! Please stick with this story; I've got great plans for it! ^^ Please review or follow~~~!