Chapter 2
Awakenings
One year later:
Sakura's back was cramping, her legs were going numb, and her eyes were beginning to feel sore after staring for so long at one fixed object. But she didn't move, and she was sure anyone passing by would think her crazy for staring at a small strawberry plant as though it were a deadly assassin about to attack at any moment.
But the kunoichi had a very good reason for doing this – she was trying to determine whether or not she'd gone insane.
She had been planning to water her vegetable garden, but as soon as the water hit the soil, she thought she could hear the plant...sigh...as though in happiness.
But, twenty minutes on, she hadn't heard anything else. Carefully, as delicately as if she were performing a dangerous experiment, Sakura lifted the watering can and tilted it just slightly over a tomato vine.
Again, a soft sigh drifted to her ears, a sound of relief and joy.
Sakura was rather proud she didn't drop the watering can, but then again, she was a Konoha kunoichi – strange, potentially dangerous, and inexplicable happenings came with the job.
Gently, she prodded the tip of the tomato vine, just to make sure it wasn't some strange prop in another of Naruto's practical jokes. Not only was the tip soft, fleshy and real, but it also moved – looping and curling around her finger like a kitten pleading for attention.
Sakura jumped a little and reeled back, clutching her hand protectively to her chest. She carefully extended her chakra senses, trying to sense any abnormalities or upsurges...but there was nothing. Just the usual background chakra-hum of the village. Even as the vine reached tentatively towards her, while there was definitely something tickling her senses, it didn't feel like chakra.
So what was this? Some sort of new, freaky power brought on by her training with Tsunade?
The vine waved in the air, and while plants had no form of expression, the movement seemed so forlorn that Sakura was moved in spite of implausibility of the situation.
With a small sigh of resignation to the depths of bizarreness her life had sunk to, Sakura stretched out her hand and let the soft shoot curl around her finger once more.
-xxx-
Sakura pushed the final seed into the moist ground, smoothing the soil over it as carefully as if she were tucking a child into bed. She glanced back along the neat, bare rows she had so recently carved into her garden, allowing herself a small, private smile at her handiwork.
Her father had thought she was crazy when she had extended her previously modest vegetable garden to cover half the yard. But seeing as Sotaro rarely ventured out back anyway, he'd seen no reason to discourage her. Sakura had spent the better part of the last few days going over the backyard with some of her mother's old tools, removing large rocks and loosening the ground.
She didn't know why, but ever since she'd first begun to 'hear' plants, she'd wanted more of them around. Sakura had determined that she wasn't going crazy – whatever was happening, she could really hear plants! Of course, what she heard wasn't words or phrases or anything or the sort – it was more like hums and sighs. Conveying...emotions, more than anything else. She hesitated to say emotion in connection to plants, but could really think of no other word for it. And she could make them move, as well, if she wanted – she was currently shaded by a tree she had willed to bend almost double so it's branches could keep the sun from her eyes.
Sakura hadn't told anyone about it yet – some part of her still wasn't convinced she wasn't losing her mind. She supposed it could be something connected to her extensive chakra use – maybe she was somehow tuning in to the chakra of plants? But Tsunade had been training and honing her chakra abilities for years, and she'd never mentioned anything like this.
For a moment, the pink-haired kunoichi wondered if it had something to do with being half-Faerie, then just as swiftly dismissed the idea. She'd been half-Faerie for nearly twenty years, and nothing like this had ever happened before. Besides, her mother had sealed the majority of her Faerie abilities away when she about eight, something about keeping her safe...Sakura supposed the attempted kidnapping had given Mikiko a scare, and maybe it wasn't exactly safe for a half-human to have Faerie powers...maybe it could damage her body or something, and the seal stopped them from doing that...
Sakura went still as a thunderbolt of realisation flared into her mind. What if that was it? What if something was wrong with her seal?
Sakura abandoned her gardening, throwing the small spade to the ground as she sprinted into the house, skidding to a stop in front of the bathroom mirror and spinning on her heel, tugging her shirt up and craning her head over her to shoulder to see the mark on her lower back...
But the seal didn't seem any different. A cherry blossom surrounded by a circlet of twisting vines, leaves and shoots radiating outwards like a sun's beams, the pattern looking like a tattoo that had been drawn in with dark green ink.
Sakura tapped it, prodded it. Nothing happened. She didn't know what she'd been expecting – but she was sure if the seal was starting to fail, she'd see something.
'So...probably not the seal then...' Sakura mused, tugging her shirt down again. 'Then what?'
She returned to the garden and resumed planting, sowing seeds with an absent mind. She had finished planting the watermelons, and was just onto the snow peas when she decided that she should simply examine some of the ninja scrolls tomorrow. After all, if she was performing some kind of strange jutsu – even if she'd never made any hand seals and wasn't using chakra – she was sure to find it somewhere in the vast storehouse of knowledge that was the shinobi's library.
As she pushed the last seed into the dirt, Sakura rocked back on her heels for a moment to survey her handiwork. A small, green-filled square marked the original vegetable garden – the rest was all rich brown soil and loose earth, divided into neat, newly sown rows.
With a broad grin of anticipation, Sakura narrowed her eyes and concentrated...
The ground quivered as seeds abruptly sprouted and shot upwards, growing to full maturity within moments, like one of those nature documentaries on fast-forward. Barely ten seconds after she had ceased her work, the once-bare soil around was rife with rich green plants.
Sakura practically skipped from the garden, careful not to step on any of the plants, humming a cheerful tune to herself.
She'd also discovered she could make plants grow.
-xxx-
Sakura had the wild impulse to throw the scroll through a wall or two, but restrained herself. That would be immature and childish, and Tsunade would probably make her pay for the damages.
But, dammit, she'd been here almost five hours, and she'd found nothing! Even the scrolls that dealt with plant jutsus didn't explain what was happening to her. Though they did mention some jutsus that could have effects similar to what she was doing, they all required hand seals, and Sakura knew she wasn't performing any such seals.
So...what was she doing?
One of the reasons why she hadn't told anyone was that she wanted to figure out what was happening by herself. But it seemed that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon.
With a frustrated sigh, Sakura opened a scroll on sealing techniques, deciding that if plant jutsus were out, maybe it really was the seal...
But the scroll wasn't helpful. It just listed seals, methods of sealing, and their uses. Nothing about seals eroding or wearing off or what happened if such a thing occurred. She had brought a small notebook and pen to write notes, but so far, all she had jotted down were the names of a few seals that seemed similar to the one her mother had placed on her.
She doubted they would be exactly the same, seeing as Mikiko was a Faerie using Faerie magic instead of chakra, but she thought they would be a good place to start. The Shackle Seal sounded like it would provide the same effects as her seal – locking powers or abilities away – but when it was inflicted the person suffered extreme pain, and it was often used to keep shinobi prisoners docile and helpless while they were tortured.
Sakura couldn't remember any pain involved in her sealing. Mikiko had chanted something and touched her back, and then there had been this warm glow that spread throughout her entire body, making her feel peaceful and replete...
So it definitely wasn't the Shackle Seal. Skimming through several other names, she had discovered the Seal of Psion. It purportedly induced a feeling similar to what she'd felt when it was inflicted, but it was designed to combat possession and split personality disorders, repressing and locking away the other entity. Sakura remembered her childhood experiences with her Inner – though said entity had not made an appearance for some time – and quickly dismissed that idea as well.
But she still jotted down information about both seals – she had to start somewhere, right? She was glad her mother was due for a visit soon – she could ask her about these happenings, and if Mikiko didn't know what was happening, then...
Well, Sakura didn't know what she'd do.
"What are you doing?"
Sakura didn't even think about it. Brought out of a deep – however frustrated – reverie, kunoichi instinct drove her to react to the voice and presence she was suddenly aware of, not truly registering how familiar they both seemed until she was in the process of delivering bare-handed, chakra-infused blows to a few of the more critical pressure points.
She could see Sasuke's eyes widen in surprise, caught unprepared, his hands coming up to defend himself. Sakura's lunging arms stuttered in mid-air as she realised her error and tried to correct herself, and her hesitation allowed Sasuke's fingers to close over her wrists, halting her extended fingers inches from his neck.
For a moment, neither moved, both processing the sudden events. Sakura, astonishment at the realisation of just how on edge these mysterious powers had her, and Sasuke, shock that Sakura had just attacked him in the library.
But he soon, recovered, arching one eyebrow sardonically. "Paranoid, Sakura?"
"Only when people sneak up on me..." the kunoichi muttered, extracting her hands from his grasp and taking deep breaths to try to banish the adrenaline humming in her veins.
"I was not sneaking up on you – my footsteps were perfectly audible."
"I was thinking...well, doing research, more like," Sakura amended.
"On what?"
"Nothing much..." Sakura fought the urge to rub at her lower back, where the seal was hidden beneath her shirt.
She had hidden her Faerie heritage from the other children in the academy because her mother had impressed upon her the value and danger of her secret in such a way that not even a child could fail to comprehend it. When she was older, able to use her own judgement, she had toyed with the idea of telling her friends, but had been worried that they might think her a freak – after all, the only reason the Haruno clan hadn't blabbed her secret all over the village was because they were ashamed one of their members had sired such an 'abomination'. Sotaro had never really seemed to regret splitting from his family when he married Mikiko, and the nymph had always told her to never listen to those Faerie that called her a 'monstrous mistake', but Sakura knew that such comments had gone a long way towards shaping her self esteem. Sure, she was better now, but there had still been the lurking, twisting fear that if she ever told anyone what she was, they'd think the same of her.
And then, when Naruto had told her about the Kyuubi sealed inside him...she knew he, at least, wouldn't judge her. She would have told him her secret then, but it had been pushed aside in favour of reassuring him that she didn't think of him as a monster. Since then, though she knew she'd opened her mouth to tell him and the others hundreds of times, she never seemed to be able to get the words out. And the longer she didn't tell them, the harder it was to think of saying it.
But now...she wouldn't really have a choice. In a way, Sakura was almost glad for these strange, inexplicable happenings – at least they were bound to put an end to her procrastination.
But...it didn't seem fair to tell Sasuke first. After Naruto had confided so much to her, she wanted him present when she told her secret for the first time.
She noticed Sasuke's eyes flicking towards the scrolls, and Sakura took a very deliberate step in front of them, turning as she did so and beginning to roll the sheafs of thick papyrus to make it look as though she were cleaning up.
But Sasuke's eyes were keen, and he glimpsed the phrase 'sealing jutsus' before the scroll was rolled up once more.
"Learning to seal, Sakura?" he asked, something in him unsettled by the thought.
Sakura allowed herself a tired smile and smothered a yawn. She had read through more scrolls than she could count, and her brain was screaming for relief from the information overload. "Not really. More like studying long-term effects, or if a seal decays, or what happens when it's put on someone who uses chakra extensively, like me-"
She stuttered to a halt, her eyes wide. She must be far more tired than she thought to let that slip! And she knew Sasuke had caught it – he wasn't called a prodigy for nothing, after all.
"Uh, I-I didn't mean that," Sakura stammered, mentally wincing at how her weak attempts to brush it off were only making it more obvious. "I'm just...you see...you know what? Forget about it, I'm leaving now anyway..."
But as she tried to walk past him – scrolls and notebook in her arms – Sasuke's hand abruptly shot out and reclaimed her wrist once more. Jerked to a halt, Sakura hissed a curse as several scrolls slipped from her grasp and skidded against the floor.
"You could have just told me to stop!" she snapped.
"You wouldn't have listened," Sasuke pointed out, and Sakura had to rein in the urge to take out the past several days of frustration on his face.
But...was it just her imagination, or did Sasuke seem tense?
"Who put a seal on you, Sakura?" Sasuke's voice was tight, like rubber band wound too far and only moments away from snapping.
Sakura fell back on the 'old faithful', so to speak, and decided to play dumb. "What are you talking about, Sasuke?"
Sasuke ground his teeth and made an effort not to scream. But it was difficult while he was staring into green eyes reflecting guilt and a tinge of fear like clear glass windows – Sakura wasn't naturally dishonest...she was always too open with her friends to truly lie to them. She knew something she didn't want to tell him, that much was obvious, and her reaction when he mentioned sealing was a good indication of just what that was.
Sakura had a seal placed on her, that much was obvious. How, where, what kind or how long ago, he had no idea, but the furtive apology swimming in her eyes told him it was there.
Memories of Orochimaru's sealing rose in his mind, as fresh as though it were yesterday, the recollections of feeling some foreign power slithering into him and the unbearable pain wracking his body doing nothing to dampen his ire. The thought of Sakura writhing in pain and clawing at her own skin was not something he liked to envision – it gave him the pressing urge to hurt something, more specifically, whoever had caused her distress.
"You know what I'm talking about," he hissed.
"I really don't," Sakura said, avoiding his eyes as she carefully twisted her wrist out his grip and began gathering the scrolls to try to hide the way she was bordering on panic. She didn't want to outright lie to Sasuke, and he was dangerously close to guessing the truth...
"And if you don't mind, I have to be going now," she managed, shoving the scrolls onto a shelf and bolting.
Sasuke thought about trying to stop her, then decided against it. Something told him that if he pushed her now, it wouldn't end well.
Still, it was a more bad-tempered than usual Sasuke that left the library that day, determined to take his fury out on a tree or ten.
-xxx-
"Hey, Mum," Sakura said, sitting down and leaning against the Sacred Sakura's trunk.
She came to talk to Mikiko as often as she could. It was comforting, in a way – even if her mother couldn't reply, she was at least hearing her, someone was at least listening to her.
Sakura wondered how many times Mikiko had sighed silently in quiet frustration as a small, naïve twelve-year old child lamented over her unrequited love for Sasuke. She couldn't help but admire her mother for her patience, while a part of her noted how little had changed. Except now the body leaning against the tree had finally attained the long-desired curves, she was making a conscious effort to get over the cold-hearted jerk and force herself to hope for nothing but friendship, and her problem didn't deal with matters of the heart, but rather a disturbing increase in her abilities.
"You'll never guess what's been happening..." Sakura continued. "It started when I was watering my garden, and I heard this plant sigh...and then pretty soon I could hear all sorts of plants, and control and make them grow and all kinds of things..."
For a moment, Sakura reflected on how surreal it had been. She'd gained so many new powers so quickly...as though they had always been there and had just awoken out of nowhere.
"I don't know what's happening," she confessed. "I've checked the library for plant jutsus, and read up on seals in case the one you put on me was eroding..."
That's my girl...and you're right.
Sakura froze. She could have sworn she heard her mother's voice in the rustling of the leaves...
"Mum...?" she barely breathed.
Yes?
"I can hear you!" Sakura almost squealed, fighting the urge to leap to her feet. "How can I hear you?"
If you can hear plants, you wouldn't have any trouble hearing me, would you?
"I guess..." Sakura said slowly as the words echoed inside her head. It was strange – it was as though she didn't actually hear Mikiko's words, just heard the rustling of leaves and the creaking of boughs and her mind provided the translation. Like a foreign language she was never truly aware she'd learned.
"And you said I was right, so...my seal's eroding?"
Exactly. The seal was never designed to last forever – just long enough to hide your Faerie blood while you were young and unable to utilise the full capability of your powers. Now you are mature and capable of defending yourself, should the need arise.
"But why the seal?" Sakura couldn't help but ask. "I mean, I always thought that because I was half-human, Faerie powers would tear me apart – like the Kyuubi's powers can damage Naruto – and that's why you sealed them away. But if it was just a question of defending myself...I had powers while I was young, didn't I...?"
Faerie have very different auras than humans. The same way a skilled ninja can sense chakra, they can sense the presence of Faerie magic – that's why so many know my tree is magical. And while your Faerie blood flowed unhindered through your veins, it broadcasted what you were to every ninja around you. Yes, you had powers, but they were immature and you wouldn't have been able to truly use them for many years yet, and after your kidnap, I knew those powers might not be enough to deter your next attacker.
"So you sealed me."
So I sealed you. I decided it was better you remain anonymous, than gradually learn about your powers and risk your safety. And when the seal finally began to fade, you would be old enough to truly understand the scope and the risks of your powers.
"Still, you could have at least told me it was going to erode eventually," Sakura grumbled, but she knew her mother could hear the smile in her voice. "I thought I was going crazy at first...and all those hours I wasted in the library doing research..."
You did research? You did say something about the library...
Sakura laughed a little. "Yeah – I couldn't figure out what was happening, so I decided the shinobi scrolls were a good place to start."
Clever girl.
The half-Faerie smiled a little, but then sobered as she continued. "You do realise that I'll...I'll have to tell my friends about this."
I never thought you would keep it a secret for the rest of your life. I trust your judgement, Sakura...if you think these people will keep your secret, then I have believe they're worthy of it.
"Thanks, Mum."
AN: Credit for beta-ing goes to my brother, who now has an account under the name Killerbluetac!
