A/N: For those curious about Sakura's age, she is about nineteen in human years. Considered a fledgling by her people's standards, their lifespan is pretty much comparable to a human's but more about that will definitely come later. Itachi is in his mid twenties to fit his description more similarly to the manga. The usual crew, team seven, team eight, ect are in their late teens as well, as this will be aimed at a more mature audience. So this will be easier for you all to visualize. Thank you for continuing to read. Please Enjoy! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Naruto or Blizzard's World of Warcraft Lore. I am just not that much of a genius people.
Summary: The Great Ninja Wars had ended more than a decade ago. But that wouldn't stop a country supposedly in a state of peace from searching for greater power to hold over other countries, or even a clan from another. Itachi Uchiha, a cold and calculating ANBU captain, and prominent and rising prodigy of the Uchiha Clan, captures Sakura Haruno an elusive "Sin'dorei", something many believed to nothing but a childhood fairytale.
Chapter 2:
"Looks like you found yourself a girlfriend dickless," Sai quipped sarcastically next to him.
The usual insult didn't receive its customary angry and overzealous retort, which surprised both of the said nin's teammates. Naruto was hopelessly, no helplessly lost in the eye contact between him and the girl in front of him.
Sakura was still tenderly touching his cheek in an intimate and strangely intense manner. Her expression was full of an emotion the human males around her could not even begin to define or understand. The white cowl she was engulfed in was beginning to slip from her shoulders exposing her black collared neck for the boys to see. Sasuke and Sai immediately recognized it as a cursed seal.
Itachi was watching the girl's strange actions with bemusement, wondering what was going on in that little pink head of hers. And then an unintelligible niggle in the vicinity of his chest nagged at him. What was this? Was he feeling jealousy? Over Naruto, no less, he pondered in disbelief. Ridiculous, he refused to believe he felt something so silly over some woman he had captured just the night before. But why did it bother him so? He couldn't come to a conclusion, and this in itself bothered him greatly.
Naruto's whispered words of confusion shook Itachi out of his mental reverie, "Why are you bleeding from your eyes lady?" The kyuubi container squinted at the woman.
The other two males were staring at the girl oddly. Indeed a single blood red tear had slipped unbidden from her. That spurred Itachi into action and he quickly moved forward and grabbed the female and pulled her away from the other male. As soon as he did so the little itch in his chest went away immediately and that from some reason irritated him.
"Who is this brother?" Sasuke asked his sibling in an attempt to douse the taunt tension in the air, similar dark eyes roaming over his usually stoic brother. Most couldn't tell what his brother was feeling due to his disciplined mannerisms that came with the high level career his sibling was in, but he could tell that his brother was feeling more than a little irritated at the moment.
"This is Haruno Sakura, a hime from a small village in the Land of Rain," he introduced the obviously troubled woman.
She nodded at them in greeting. The melancholy from her features melted away when she asked softly her strange accent raising the brows of the two black-haired shinobis, "I'm sorry. What are your names?"
The boys introduced themselves one by one, her eyes never left Naruto as they did so, and the strange smile on her face made them all a little edgy. Sasuke looked at his brother suspiciously, "The Hokage gave you an escort mission?"
"Yes," the way that Itachi released the monosyllable from his lips indicated that he wouldn't appreciate further inquiry. It didn't stop his younger brother from wondering why the Hokage gave his brother a C-Rank mission at best. Something about the whole ordeal was strange. And he had seen girl excrete some red looking substance from her eyes. He concluded quickly that it wasn't blood. She wasn't hurt in any way, at least not as far as he could tell. In fact he could have sworn that she had been crying as crazy as it seemed.
It was obvious the way she was looking doe eyed at Naruto that she wasn't going to walk on her own, Itachi gazed down at her exasperated. Surprising the other males, the usually serious ANBU Captain, laid a hand on the woman's shoulder and began to steer her away.
"What was that all about?" Sai asked colorlessly, obviously bemused despite himself.
Sasuke gave his characteristic, who knows, who cares shrug.
Naruto said more to himself than anyone, "The Kyuubi recognized her…"
"What dobe?" Sasuke asked then, curiosity pushing overriding his own attempt of being stoic.
Then, Naruto shook his head, and was silently drawn into deep thought. Everyone knew that Naruto was the Jinchūriki container but the boy rarely talked about it. There had been a few occasions when Naruto's emotions spiraled out of control. The red chakra from the Kyuubi had spilt out of the seal, giving the blonde nin magnificent speed and power. But those occasions thankfully had been extraordinarily rare. It was even more rare for Naruto to verbally speak about it. After all the years he had been ostracized by the adults for his container's status, he was loud and brash, wishing more than anything else for people to respect him.
At first Sasuke and Sai couldn't stand the brash and emotional shinobi, but over the years they had grown fond of their team mate who would literally lay down his life for either of them. That deep heartfelt sincerity was rare itself in the shinobi world and they had grown to care for the ninja like a family member, though neither males would admit it out loud, so they continued to give him a hard time.
Naruto shook them out of the two nin's ponderings when his black sleeved arm shot into the air, "YOSH! It's time for ramen!" And as he said this barged into the ramen bar howling, "Old man! Give me the usual!"
The other members of team seven made eye contact, shrugged, and walked into the shop behind their enthusiastically hungry teammate.
-oOo-
Itachi had led the young woman to the humble apartment that he kept outside of the Uchiha complex for some privacy from his clan mates. He didn't feel like dealing with his family's curious questions just yet. Sasuke's too knowing eyes were enough for one day in his opinion. On his way over he bought some woman's clothing at a vendor before heading up into the aging building with his charge. The woman looked around the barren room and couldn't help but think that the surroundings fit her captor very well. A bed was situated in the corner, a small wooden table with a couple chairs for mealtimes, a restroom off to the side. Very simple, and it was kept very immaculate.
He tossed the bundle of clothing at the girl, "Go put those on." He jerked a thumb in the direction of the bathroom. And Sakura's eyes narrowed at his rudeness, temper flaring beneath the surface of her unsmiling facade. His eyes widened fractionally as she stomped into the bathroom muttering something about 'flesh eating barbarian males' under her breath. A smirk adorned his lips as she shut the door fairly hard for good measure, the slam an obvious indicator of her displeasure.
Inside the bathroom, Sakura looked at the bundle of cloths. Gingerly she set them aside. Shrugging out of the uniform indicating her fledgling status in the ranks of her people. She eyed the clothes warily muttering, "People aren't going to believe I'm a hime if I wear something like this…" It had been obvious to her that Itachi was hiding her origins, probably an order from that Hokage woman.
Slipping into the leggings, which ended at her lower thigh a couple inches above her knees. She stepped into the soft pink skirt that ended just above the end of the black leggings. As she shrugged into the red zippered high collared top she spotted the seal between her small pert breasts, it was very small and black, but it was there, a reminder that no matter how freely she walked in Konoha, she was a captive against her will.
Sighing at her glum thoughts, trying to remind herself, this was by no means a permanent problem. Ever so slowly she zipped the zipper all the way to the base of her throat before sitting on the porcelain toilet top to fit the sandals on feet, and wriggled her toes for good measure. They seemed to fit okay enough. Rising, she looked into the mirror above the simple washbasin and what she saw made her pale and swallow hard. There was a black collar seal right at the base of her neck, another stark indicator of her status.
Exiting the restroom with the bundle of clothing in her arms, she looked a little lost Itachi thought as he sat on the edge of his bed. He noticed the black ring around her neck immediately and grabbing a pink choker necklace that he had picked up on a second thought from one of the vendors below, he gestured for her to come to him. Shuffling forward, it was obvious she didn't want to get anywhere near the human male.
He took the bundle from her arms and set it aside. Itachi ordered her gruffly as he rose to his feet, "Hold your hair up a moment."
Complying with a grumble, he wrapped the necklace over the black mark on her neck and gently closed the clasp. Stepping back, he nodded at her, as the choker effectively hid the thin black line around her neck effectively.
"Sit. There are many things that need to be discussed before I take you out again," the Uchiha did his best not to sigh at the end of this sentence as she was glaring at him angrily, quickly pulling him to the end of his patience. It was already becoming a long day.
When she made no move to do as he asked, his onyx eyes bled into that fearsome bladed red she remembered so well, "Don't force me to make you comply with something so simple… Sakura."
Quickly she sat in one of the wooden chairs almost as if she had cold water thrown on her, the fierce look never left the Sin'dorei's face. The icy smile he gave her at her quick compliance made her wish she had something to throw at him, "Well…" Leaning back in the chair, she folded her arms, her softly glowing verdant eyes throwing sparks at the male in front of her.
"First and foremost," he began in a menacing tone, "If you try to escape… I will drag you back by your hair if need be…. I will personally lock you into that little cell in the Hokage's Tower… and make you very sorry that you even contemplated something so stupid…"
"We've already established that," she mocked the human in a dry tone, the glint in her eyes was looking at him as if he were one of the stupidest beings she had ever come across. Inside she was bristling at his arrogant comments. If it weren't for the fact that he could now track her, she would be long gone. Sadly because she would never lead a human back to the city of Silvermoon, she was stuck here until the seal was either removed or broken. Her powers be damned, she still had her brains.
The Uchiha was none too happy with her tone, but he ignored it for the moment, "Also you are not to talk about your origins to no one…" he paused to let that sink in, "if I even hear something or see something suspicious from you, I will hand you back to the Hokage…"
"Hence the reason why you told those nice shopkeepers I was the hime from some other human country right?" Sakura guessed accurately.
He raised a brow at the girl, "That would be correct…"
"Then why did you put me in clothes like this. No one's going to believe that lie," Sakura raised a sarcastic brow at the male in front of her.
"Little girl, it makes more than enough sense. I'm on an escort mission, and while you're in town, you want to blend in with the native civilians, as not to draw attention to yourself for an undecided length of time," he supplied for her simply, his eyes indicating that she was the simpleton, not he.
Folding her arms, she couldn't help but glare, but her voice dismissing him, "Alright, whatever you think is best." And then to his dark amusement she started to mutter something under her breath in a foreign language.
"And lastly," he paused to make sure he had her attention. When she didn't look up, lost in her own little tirade, Itachi moved so silently she didn't notice, and he placed a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face to ensure she was paying attention to him.
At the feel of his finger on her skin, Sakura started and blinked up at him fearfully. She couldn't forget that she didn't have access to her powers and she was almost as helpless as a kitten in this environment. Stiffening she met his dark onyx eyes, the defiance fading from her luminescent eyes.
When the male was satisfied that she was paying complete attention to him he asked her, his voice taking on a deep hypnotic tone, "What was that all about earlier?"
"What was what about?" the Sin'dorei asked puzzled.
"You were acting very oddly when you seen Naruto, that blond shinobi outside of the ramen bar… what was that all about?" Itachi's brows rose in the sarcastic manner she was starting to associate with him
As the recent memory assailed her eyes started to tear up and she completely surprised him when her voice lashed out him angrily, she had jumped to her feet, lifting her chin in the air, green eyes meeting his furiously as his words seem to fire her up and was poking him in the chest with an indignant finger tip, "You humans are incredibly cruel!"
The Uchiha was sure that everyone on the block heard that angrily delivered statement. Then she started a tirade in a flurry of words he didn't even begin to understand. Taking in a deep breath realizing that he wouldn't understand the words coming from her, she paused and began again, righteous fury burning in the deep depths of her eyes, "I don't know why you humans like playing those vicious games. But to seal a sacred spirit of the earth into a young boy is indescribably cruel. I don't know if you humans get a sick sense of power when you do such horrific things. But it's caused a lot of suffering, not only for the trapped Kyuubi, but for that boy Naruto as well. It will end in disaster, mark my words."
Ruby tears began to slide down her cheeks. Itachi was at a loss for words for a moment. If his underlings knew what this woman had managed to accomplish, something that they had never been able to do in all the years they worked under their serious and powerful captain they would have gladly shook the said woman's hand and probably offered to buy her a beer. The Sin'dorei had immediately recognized the Kyuubi sealed inside Naruto. So that's what had caused her strange actions. The Hokage's words came back to him, they are a race of beings that are tied to the rhythms of the earth, and are blessed by the gods they worship. The embodiment of chakra, their control is said to rival the legendary tailed beasts.
And the tailed beasts were also to a certain extent the incarnation of chakra. So perhaps she had felt some strange connection, for her to look at Naruto and for her to immediately realize something like that, was something he hadn't calculated on. On top of all that Naruto had responded oddly to the woman as well. So that already meant team seven suspected something strange about Sakura. And it had been obvious his brother didn't believe a word of his lie. But the good thing about that was that his brother would mind his own business. Sasuke wasn't the type to pry into other people's personal problems, nor was he the type to discuss it with anyone either.
Strangely gentle he grasped the girl's chin and immediately her tirade halted. She hiccupped and gazed up at him, waiting for him to say whatever he was going to say.
Unlike the tender manner he had managed to capture her attention with, his words were direct and ruthlessly blunt, "Our village's business is our own. It's not for you to question. I want you to control your emotions if you see Naruto again. It wouldn't be good for people to get even more suspicious about you. And try not to cry, your tears look like you're bleeding from your eyeballs."
A small breath escaped her lips her verdant eyes were intense with dislike, "It's no wonder that my kin chooses to close themselves off from the eyes of humans." She paused and continued, "I don't know what it is your leader wants from me, but I will die before I betray my own kin."
The Uchiha felt a tiny amount of pity for his charge. He wasn't sure either what Tsunade wanted from the girl, but it wasn't his job to question his leadership. He was just doing another job, completing another mission. It wouldn't do for him to get emotionally involved.
His next words didn't only surprise the girl but he was a little shocked by that he was saying something like this to her, but he was getting a little irritated by her self righteous attitude, "Not all humans are as bad as you like to think little girl. While you are here, make the best of it. You should get to know the villagers and form your own opinions about the people here. Be thankful that you aren't locked in that cell. If we were all as bad as you say and seemed to believe, you'd still be sitting down in that prison… alone. Or dead."
The stubborn resolve on her face melted away a little at his sharply delivered words and her shoulders slumped as she realized he was right in a sense, "You are right, the shopkeepers were kind and so was Naruto." He noted wryly his name didn't appear in her words, but he was her captor after all.
"Also you don't have to be in my company at all times. I can easily track you down if need be, and since you can't utilize your chakra to escape. I will allow you to explore Konohagakure within reason until further notice," the shinobi informed his captive, stepping away from her. He looked down at her, "I'm going to go out for awhile. Take a walk, or do whatever it is that you want."
Except attempting an escape, she added to his words mentally. Nodding at him, he left her sitting there, the Sin'dorei's eyes clouded over with her inner thoughts. Perhaps it would be good to explore the area, she thought to herself, it wouldn't hurt.
And so that's what she did. Leaving the small apartment, she made her way downstairs and out into the bustling streets of Konoha. As she walked she studied the populace, realizing there were amazing similarities between them and her own kin. There were merchants lining the streets. Children played happily and freely in the open. Restaurants had their menus sitting out on the sidewalks on display and goods shops had pieces of their wares sitting out for potential customer perusal.
Not so different, really. And then she noticed a shop that made her recoil a little inside. Blinking at the cut flowers outside of the shop, a fierce scowl adorned her features. Not only did humans eat the flesh of other creatures they liked giving something as wonderful as flowers a slow and agonizing death. Monsters! Her mind screamed. But the memory of her shooting a tree in half made her feel a little guilty at this mental accusation. However, her actions were in self-defense, she reasoned easily. This was for no absolute reason, at least not one her mind could wrap around. Sakura couldn't help herself and stepped into the shop. The bell that rang behind her startled her slightly, but she quickly composed herself when she noticed that the whole shop was lined with floral arrangements.
The girl at the counter was trimming the stems of the plants with a pair of metal instruments and arranging them just like the ones around the shop. These weren't even being used for a good cause of some sort, for instance like medicinal or in the creation of defensive weapons. Wasteful was all that Sakura could think to herself.
The blonde girl at the counter looked up, her high bouncing ponytail moved with the action. Her blue eyes regarded the stranger, and a smile adorned her lips, "Welcome to our shop miss. Is there anything I can get you?"
Ino watched as a fierce look formed on the other woman's face. And then to her surprise and the shock of the other customers the strange pinkette lifted a hand and shook her fist at her in an angry manner, "Plant murderers!" And then preceded to march out of the shop, head held high, the door slamming behind her in a most comical manner.
Choji who had watched the entire thing, while eating his usual bag of chip snacks muttered between bites, "Strange girl…"
Ino nodded at this, "Yeah … no kidding!" But then quickly went back to work forgetting about the strange girl easily, but then she was startled as a shadow flit by the shop. She could have sworn that was Itachi Uchiha, but she shrugged that notion aside and returned to her arrangements.
-oOo-
Outside the shop, Sakura took a deep breath and continued her trek down the streets still in the daze of a little culture shock. She soon found herself in a park and at the end of it was training grounds of some kind. It seemed occupied at the moment by a pair of shinobi and a kunoichi. Turning, Sakura looked for the solace of the trees surrounding them instead of the company of humans.
Strolling through the trees, an ancient lament of her people began to form on her lips. At first it was a whisper, and then as she went further and further into the small grove of trees, she leaned against the trunk of a white oak and for some reason the sound of the lament being sung, the words being so familiar gave her a strange sense of comfort, it started slow, building and dropping in tone, a crescendo at some points, "Anar'alah, anar'alah, belore… Sin'dorei," pausing she finished out the rest, "Shindu, fallah na, Sin'dorei." The lyrical language spilled easily from her lips. The words were much more comfortable than the common human tongue.
In the trees Itachi watched his charge curiously. Listening to the song she was singing. It was actually fairly intriguing. Sakura didn't have a great singing voice, far from it, but the high-pitched feminine tone that wrapped around whatever it was she was singing about in her language, was hypnotizing and somehow sad. He had wanted to see what she would do once left to her own devices. And it seemed that she wasn't planning any immediate escape, he would leave her on her own next time. He crouched low when he heard voices heading in their direction. He quickly recognized Maito Gai's team.
"I'll win the next time," the boy in green spandex swore at his teammate.
Sakura stopped the moment she heard the male voice. Turning she came face-to-face with the boy in an obscenely tight green outfit, and tried not to wince, her expression was comical to say the least. The words slipped from her mouth before she could help it, "Are you being punished?"
Of course Lee didn't catch onto the meaning behind her words and scratched the back of his head, "Um no… why do you ask?"
Sakura's eyes goggled. Neji's facial expression much like Itachi's didn't change but his eyes reflected his amusement. Tenten smothered a laugh, when they realized that the girl was talking about it was all they could do not to react. They were more than used to Lee by now, but some strangers were appalled by his choice of clothing.
"Hi, I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new to Konoha?" Tenten asked the girl immediately liking the sweet innocent girl.
Peeling her eyes from the strange looking male in front of her in some relief, "I'm…" she remembered Itachi's warning, "I'm from the land of rain. Haruno… Sakura. Nice to meet you." She greeted politely.
Tenten nodded, "Welcome to Konoha, I'm Tenten, and these are my team mates Neji and Lee." She indicated to the males. The said men nodded in greeting to her.
Suddenly a sweaty hand grasped her own, "Are all the woman from your country as beautiful as you? My exotic lotus flower…" Sakura found herself looking at Lee confused.
She replied stuttering at first, "Yes…" not understanding what the man was gushing about.
Tenten shoved him aside with her shoulder, "Lee, leave the poor girl alone."
And then, brown eyes met hers, "We're going to go eat. Want to come?"
Sakura liked the kind glint in the other female's eyes, but the she replied, "But I don't have any er…" struggling for the word her accent making itself known, "curr… money on me."
"That's alright, I got it this time," Tenten said, not wanting to take no for an answer.
Sakura looked to the horizon as they left the confines of the small woods. It was getting dark. It was best if she returned, otherwise Itachi might come looking for her, and that was not a thought she cared much for.
"I don't think…" but found herself being tugged along by the other woman.
An unwilling smile formed on her lips, and so she let herself be led along. And it was in this manner she found herself in front of the ramen bar. This time only Ayame occupied the shop. When she seen the nin enter her shop she greeted them, and then eyed the hime, "So back again? Our ramen is that good isn't it!" It was more of a statement than a query. Sakura nodded obediently.
"You've been here before?" Tenten asked the girl.
Before she could respond she heard an argument taking place outside. Familiar male voices.
"Why do we have to eat here twice in the same day dobe?!" Sasuke's voice wafted inside.
"Because it's ramen… that's why…!" Naruto stomped in.
The blonde shinobi stopped when he spotted Sakura, "Sakura-chan! How are your eyes?"
The companions she came with were eyeing her oddly at that annoucement, and the Sin'dorei recalled Itachi's words about how it looked like her eyes were bleeding, she replied stiffly, "Much better thank you..."
"So you like ramen a lot too!" the enthusiastic male, bumped Lee out of the way, who was in fact trying to sit next to the young woman.
"I er… love it," Sakura replied under the now poignant gaze of Ayame who then smiled prettily and placed a bowl of vegetable ramen in front of the pinkette.
Naruto peered into her bowl, "Yuck! You like that rabbit slop ramen!"
Before Sakura could respond, Ayame had whipped out a wooden spoon and whacked Naruto over the hand.
"Ow what was that for?" Naruto eyed the fuming girl.
"You were insulting the food here. Are you as stupid as you are dickless?" Sai had finally come inside with an annoyed Sasuke.
Snapping her little wooden thingies they gave her again, she tried to eat, but the general conversation had taken on a chaotic energy all it's own, and she decided it was best if she stayed out of it.
The blonde girl from the flower shop entered, and that resulted in more chaos as she pointed at Sakura and announced loudly, "You!" A heavyset shinobi and another who looked positively bored out of his mind followed behind the simmering girl. The spiky haired male was muttering something under his breath about troublesome blondes.
Sakura gazed at the plant killer with a little apprehension and tried her best to ignore her. Eventually everyone was introduced to her. Their names were swimming in her head, and honestly she was unable to keep up with it all, but she tried. And before she knew it, yet another set of young nin entered the restaurant.
Naruto turned and waved, "Hi Hinata."
The girl must be related to that Neji person she quickly surmised by the strange color of her eyes. The girl blushed and came over. Sakura moved aside to allow the girl in next to Naruto. And then she was introduced to Hinata, Shino and Kiba, along with his dog Akamaru.
Sakura surmised that their squads must be run in groups of threes, she filed the tidbit of information away for later. It could possibly come in handy in the future.
"My it's gotten busy tonight," Ayame muttered, and found herself being sent back and forth many times for second and thirds of ramen.
As Sakura listened to those around her, they seemed to be around her age at least as far as she could surmise, a soft smile adorned her features. They were really not all that different in many ways. Sakura's eyes took on a glazed look as memories of her with the people her age, old friends, going out and eating, doing things together, conversation flowing very similarly to the very one she was apart of. They didn't seem like bad people as far as she could tell. Perhaps Itachi, her captor was correct in what he had said to her.
Once dinner was paid for, they left the ramen bar, waving their goodbyes to the hostess. Her mouth went dry when she saw Itachi approaching them. The chattering stopped as he halted in front of her, "Ready to go, hime?"
The others were watching curiously. And most of them except for the loud Naruto noticed the look of fear that flashed across her face. Itachi almost rolled his eyes at the exasperating woman. She was looking at him as if he were going to beat her.
Sakura nodded stiffly and gave a small smile to the others as she left with her captor. Neji on a whim activated his Byakugan and his eyes widened when he immediately spotted two forbidden seals on the young woman. It startled him so much he shut his blood trait off before the others took notice, wondering who that woman really was. He didn't say a word as they all split and separated, shuffling off to head home for the evening. He shook his head, mentally he rationalized whatever it was it didn't involve him. And with that, he headed home with his teammates.
-oOo-
A/N: I realize that some of this chapter left the serious tone of the previous and went on a silly arc. I wanted Sakura to meet some of the main characters without it being touched upon too heavily. We all know who they are, so long descriptions is a little too tedious, not only for me, but the people who are reading this, in my honest opinion. It wasn't my intention to rush the flow if it seemed that way. As it stands, Sakura still has a lot to learn. The silliness of this chapter was more or less a view of Sakura's culture shock experience. I hope you all enjoyed it. Arigato! Also the translation as promised is as follows from Sakura's song. The translation and words belong to Blizzard, not me.
Anar'alah, Anar'alah belore
Sin'dorei
Shindu fallah na
Sin'dorei
translates to:
By the light, by the light of the sun
Children of the blood
Our enemies are breaking through
Children of the blood
