Chapter Two! Enjoy!
When Sakura opened her eyes, she was fully prepared to see Ame's face hovering over her, a concerned look in her eyes. Heck she was even prepared to see her mother, sternly glaring down at her, the look on her face showing that she had earned herself a lecture.
But of all the things Sakura could have dealt with, all the people she could have had peering down at her, Sakura could never have prepared herself for this.
"Is she alright?" Naruto asked, looking down at her with big, blue eyes. His blond all-most-yellow hair spiked up in an array of directions blew gently in the breeze.
"What. The. Hell," Sakura said, completely and utterly confused. Then it clicked.
Sitting up as straight as a board Sakura's hand shot down her shirt.
"What the hell is she doing!?" Naruto yelled, clearly misinterpreting the situation. Sakura ignored his out burst and instead focused her attention in the object now sitting on her outstretched palm.
"No way..." she breathed. No. No it couldn't be. This must be some stupid joke of Ame's. It has to be. It's just a random guy doing Cosplay. Yep that's it. Just Cosplay.
"Could you kindly explain why I was so rudely dragged here and why a girl is sitting in Naruto's bed staring at a necklace?" Sakura's head snapped up and sure enough, regarding her with one, black eye, was Kakashi Hatake. Her eyes widened and if it wasn't for a certain voice that popped to the forefront of her mind she would have passed out.
"Hey! It's not just some necklace! It's a magic necklace that grants wishes!" Sakura almost screamed. Heck she would have if she hadn't bit down on her tongue.
'Just what the hell is going on!?' she thought frantically trying to get some semblance of order to her thoughts.
"No point asking me! Ask them!"
Sakura whimpered and all eyes shot to her. Naruto, who was in the middle of explaining something stopped abruptly and looked at her with blue eyes shinning with concern. That was when Sakura noticed the fourth person in the room.
Leaning against the wall, with their head pressed comfortably against the cool stone, was Sasuke Uchiha. Two onyx eyes bored into hers as she looked at him warily.
"Any way! Then she said something like the writer made me stupid or something," Naruto said, seemingly finishing his story. Then it hit her.
He was talking about her. 'Shit! It wasn't a dream! Or is it?' Sakura couldn't seem to make sense of the situation and instead, changed tactics.
"Naruto, do a Shadow Clone Jutsu," she said quietly. She had to prove it. She had to.
Naruto looked at her suspiciously before asking, "Why?"
"Just do it," she said before adding, "Please."
Naruto nodded, then put his hands together in the seal shouting, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A puff of smoke revealed an identical clone staring back at her. Sakura groaned before collapsing on the bed. It's true. It had to be.
"That was awesome," she whispered, too ecstatic to say anything else.
"This is sweet!" she yelled, preparing to leap out of bed, but a sudden bout of dizziness made her clutch her and groan.
"U-um, who are you and why did you fall from the sky?" Naruto asked, rubbing the back of his head.
Sakura froze, they wouldn't believe her if she told them, beside, then they'd try to use her and there were things she simply couldn't tell them.
"Ummm. I'm your... err... cousin," she stuttered, trying to think up an alibi.
"Naruto's an orphan, he doesn't have family," Kakashi interrupted, his visible eye narrowing.
"Just because Naruto doesn't have parents doesn't mean he doesn't have a cousin. I'm his cousin on Kushina's side," Sakura answered, slightly angered by Kakashi's input.
"Who's Kushina?" Naruto asked looking between Kakashi and Sakura. Sakura froze; she had forgotten he didn't know about his parents.
Sakura glanced up at Kakashi, preparing to lie and act confused as to why he didn't know of his parents, but stopped herself before she could say anything at the look in his eyes. With a subtle shake of his head, Kakashi warned her not to say anything.
"No one Naruto. I was lying," Sakura said in all honesty. She never broke eye contact with Kakashi as she fixed her story, "My name is Sakura Haruno, and I come from a small citizen village near the village hidden in the clouds. I came to Konoha to train as a ninja, after my parents...died?" She hated how the end sounded like a question.
"Oh," Naruto said, not sure what to say to that. He wasn't sure if he should console her, or just leave it be. He chose not to say anything and instead opted to ask why she fell from the sky.
"Ah... I don't remember," she said feebly, not quiet sure how to explain that.
"What was the last thing you can remember, before you woke up?" Kakashi asked. 'Damn him and his persistence!' Sakura mentally cursed.
"Travelling toward the village. I remember seeing the gates and then...falling," she said, not quiet sure how she was fooling them. To her, her excuses sounded weak and ridiculous. She didn't want to lie to Naruto, but she didn't want to be used for information.
Kakashi nodded his head, obviously contemplating what she had said. "Well whatever the cause, you look tired, and probably need rest, if you like, I can set up accommodation for you?" Sakura thought for a second before nodding her head.
Kakashi inclined his and walked toward her to help her up. After a bit of talk and a slow, silent walk toward another apartment complex, Sakura was laying down on a comfy bed, in a well-lit room.
"Thanks Kakashi," she mumbled before she drifted off to sleep.
"Hm. That's weird," Kakashi thought aloud, "I don't remember telling her my name."
'Oh God,' thought Sakura, 'Must. Control. Fangirlisim!'
Sakura had woken up at the crack of dawn to see Kakashi standing over her. She had shrieked and almost toppled out of the comfy bed, she probably would have if it weren't for the arm that shot out and caught her. She had mumbled a quick 'thank you' then proceeded to ask as to why he was watching her sleep, careful to put it into the tone that told him she thought it was creepy. Kakashi merely curved his eye in a smile and explained that he had talked to the Hokage about her 'position'. He had said that the Third had agreed to give her temporary accommodation as well as a guard. However, he had yet to decide on her request to become a leaf ninja.
Sakura accepted that. It made sense really. Some random pink-haired girl just falls from the sky and claims to be from some place near Cloud.
Yup.
Lots of holes in that cover story.
Well done Sakura.
Kakashi had left and an ANBU with short brown hair and dark, black eyes who had said he was her 'guard'. 'More like a babysitter to make sure I don't try to kill someone,' Sakura thought bitterly.
As she stepped out of the apartment she realised that she recognised the ANBU. "Yamato?" She asked. The ANBU cocked his head to the side not understanding. 'Oh of course. He hasn't had that mission yet so instead,'
"Tenzo?" The black eyed man jerked. "Heheh," Sakura said, "thought so."
Sakura needed to clear her head, and so she began to walk around the village, Tenzo following not far behind. And that was where she got to her current place, a fruit market.
As she stood there choosing an apple to buy she heard a familiar name, "Gaara."
Sakura had whipped around and stared at the Red head with barley-contained excitement. It took all she had not to throw herself in his arms. But she had to remember; he was still a crazy psychopathic killer. Naruto hadn't changed him yet.
She watched with starry eyes as he past her and the glance he sent her made her want to turn to goo right then and there. Gaara had always been Sakura's favourite character. ALWAYS! And so when he looked at her like he was mildly interested. She went crazy.
She almost jumped up and down squealing in delight. Heck, she would have if that voice in her mind hadn't popped up and ruined everything.
"He's crazy! Don't forget that! He may turn out good but right now, he'd kill 'ya for eating your apple wrong!" Sakura visibly deflated her head hanging low. 'Eating my apple wrong? Does that even make sense?' she asked. "That's not the point! It was just an example!"
Inner was right. Sakura, after many a checks to see if this second voice was real, had concluded that she would name this being Inner. 'It makes sense… ish…' Sakura thought as she morosely went back to finding an apple.
Sakura summed up the existence of another voice to two possibilities.
One: she could be turning crazy, which wouldn't be a surprise seeing as she was currently living in Anime.
Or two: the voice could be the supposed 'being' in the necklace.
Sakura couldn't decide. She had a new perspective that anything was possible. 'I mean, who wouldn't? I'm currently eating an apple while staring at Sabaku No Gaara.'
Sakura sighed. What the heck was she going to do?
Sakura stayed there, leaning on the fruit stand, casually eating apples, for over an hour.
She had come to a decision. In the Anime, Naruto and Sasuke were one team member short, and because of this, they needed a fill in for the Chuunin exam. The person they got stuck with was pathetic, and cause many fights over leadership.
This left Sakura with a perfect opportunity.
Making up her mind, Sakura paid for the fruit she ate, and nodded once to Tenzo to show she was ready to move on.
"Say Tenzo, can you take me to the Hokage?" The aforementioned ANBU nodded and started walking ahead of her.
Sakura made a noise of irritation at the back of her throat before saying, "Not a man of many words are you?"
The ANBU gave her an amused glance before turning his back to her. Sakura grumbled and quickened her pace so she was walking next to the ninja.
They walked in uncomfortable silence for half an hour before Sakura snapped, "So how are you?"
Not waiting for a reply Sakura put on a lower voice, "I'm fantastic how about you?"
Returning to her normal octave Sakura continued, "That's really good! I'm great! Currently being shown around by a mute!"
The ANBU regarded her, amusement glinting in his black eyes, but still refused to speak.
"Hmph," Sakura huffed, not satisfied with his reaction.
She soon drifted off into daydreams about a certain redhead she had seen earlier. Sakura hummed in happiness at the many different scenarios she envisioned.
"We're here," Tenzo said, startling Sakura. She nodded at him with wide eyes before walking the stairs. As she neared the door to his office, her heart began pounding in her chest. She felt like some sort of criminal.
Mustering her courage, Sakura knocked politely on the oak door three times. She entered after she heard the quiet, "Come in."
She looked at Tenzo who had entered after her and said apologetically, "Sorry Tenzo, I would like to speak to him alone."
The masked ANBU looked at the Hiruzen for permission, and after the curt nod, he left.
"Well, well. What brought about such pleasant company?" Sakura smiled faintly at the old man. Yup, he was just like the Anime.
Sakura sighed, just how is she supposed to say this? "Just come right out and say it! And be like BAM! You're going to die in a matter of days!" Sakura had the dignity to look affronted on the internally. 'Sadistic much?' she remarked before shutting Inner out.
"Okay, the truth is…" and so Sakura began her tale. She told him everything from the fight with her parents, to the fact that they're an Anime called 'Naruto'. She told in as much detail as she could about the purchasing of the necklace and the strange Cherry-blossoms story. Then she reached the point in which she entered their dimension and she stopped. She wasn't quiet sure of how to describe it. It was so quick, and made absolutely no sense. Sakura continued, albeit hesitantly.
The entire time Sarutobi had sat patiently with his chin propped up on his intertwined fingers. He soaked in every word and nodded every now and then to show she should continue.
When she finished, he was silent for a minuet before he said in a voice clearly affected by his many years of smoking, "So basically, you made this dimension by wishing to that stone," he gestured to the necklace resting innocently on her chest, "And you also know our past, present and futures?"
Sakura nodded reluctantly. "Hm…" the Third looked at her closely before saying, "Prove it."
Sakura blanched, how the heck was she supposed to prove it. "Tell him something that only very few would know," Inner supplied helpfully. 'Ooo…Good idea! But what?' Inner shrugged and Sakura was left pondering what she could say.
"Well?" the Hokage prompted.
"The Uchiha massacre," Sakura started, earning a flinch from Hiruzen, "It was a sham. Itachi Uchiha was ordered to kill his family to stop the coup d'état they were planning. Before he left, he made a deal with you to keep Sasuke safe and he threatened the council that if they touch Sasuke, he'll kill them."
"Hm…" Sarutobi lowered his head and stared at his desk in sorrow. "You tell the truth, if it is your wish to become a ninja, then I won't stop you."
Sakura bounced happily, oh yeah! This was definitely the best day in her entire life!
"I must also request two more things," Sakura started, suddenly nervous once more.
The Hokage looked back up at her with a curious expression. He nodded for her to continue then rested his head back on his fingers.
"Number one, please, do not ask me about your future or the future of the village. I will tell you things when I see they're necessary. And number two, Team seven is one member short, can I join them? I know you were going to assign Sai and ANBU to the team but…" Sakura didn't really know what else to say. But let me join instead? But I, who am not a ninja, am a better choice for the team? Neither quite seemed to make the mark.
The Hokage nodded knowingly before saying, "I quite agree with your conditions. I do believe you will make an excellent addition to the Team." He smiled a beautiful, bright, genuine smile that showed his age and exhaustion.
Sakura nodded happily before turning and bounding to the door. She paused with the door open, a heavy weight settling in her chest. She knew the Third was going to die. But there was nothing she could do. He had to die, not only Lee's career, as a Shinobi was dependent on his death, but also Naruto's control on the Nine Tails. Without Sarutobi's death, Naruto would never go on the expedition with Jiraiya to find Tsunade and therefore would never receive her necklace. Too much hung on the balance of his passing. And so, with a heavy heart she said a quick "Thank you." before exciting the room.
Tenzo joined her and looked her up and down, trying to understand why she looked so morose. Sakura peeked up to meet his gaze and shrugged in answering.
She sighed, there was nothing she could do, but this didn't stop the guilt that was now going to be bugging her all day and every day for the rest of her life. 'Well, there's nothing more to it. Lets just go see Team seven and get them to train me. A piece of cake. Yup. I can do this…'
After getting Tenzo to direct her to Team sevens training ground, Sakura approached the two sparring teens.
"Ah… Hi guys! Um… see the thing is…"
A/N: Thanks to all who favourited and followed and a special thanks to Falynn who reviewed. Thanks for pointing out my mistake I fixed it xD Oo! Also thank you WhitishBlack for being such a great beta! Please review, I would love to hear what you think of my story!
