Disclaimer: All characters portrayed in this chapter (and, indeed, all foreseeable chapters to come) are creations and property of Kishimoto Masashi. I claim no legal right to use them, and I am making no money off of this piece of fanfiction.
Spoiler Warning: This chapter still takes place during the intermission between the second and third stages of the Chuunin Exam. But the anime episodes for that period are available now, so i guess i may not be spoiling some of you so much anymore...
Non-Yaoi Warning: No men in this chapter = no Yaoi. Simple, yes?
Continuity Warning: Okay, so i lied; this chapter isn't directly after the previous one -_-;. I keep getting the urge to leave some of the boring, and not so boring bits left unsaid, to spare your attention and tease your imagination... or something...
Prereader warning: My prereader is currently embroiled in heinous amounts of school work at the moment, so this chapter has been seen only by me; it may change a bit in the near future, as i recieve comments and when she gets time to look at it, so this chapter more than any other is a work in progress. Be kind, please, but honest!
Author's notes and review responses for all the reviews i recieved during my long absense are at the end of the fic, and C&C is always welcome, so please review or reply privately! I know it's been a while, but better late than never, right ^_^;?
~Eimii
SECOND TRIAL: SHADOWS, PART I...
Listening carefully by the side of the door so she wouldn't cast a shadow under it, Sakura was forced to wonder why she was even bothering. If she was right, none of these doors would lead to the exit. This one would be like all of the others, with Mitarashi Anko or some other unspeakable horror lurking behind it, ready to set her heart hammering anew as they continued the twisted game of cat and mouse they'd been playing since Sakura had woken hours earlier in an empty room somewhere deep in the bowels of ANBU's torture and interrogation facility.
At least, that's where Sakura assumed they were. She suspected that the endless miles corridors that she'd been wandering through were all just an elaborate genjutsu that the examiner was using to torment her, but such techniques were relatively easy to detect if the general look and feel of the environment wasn't reasonably homogenous. When they'd been caught in a genjutsu during the second exam it had been hours before they found out that they were walking in circles because the forest had all looked the same to them. ANBU probably had special rooms for it, with no telltale features that couldn't be erased by simple illusions... much like these halls, with their drab gray plaster walls, half burnt-out ceiling lamps and heavy black metal doors.
Unfortunately, she didn't seem to have any good options. Wandering wasn't getting her anywhere fast, but sitting still wasn't attractive either; the sucker-marks left on her arms by the... things behind one of the doors seemed real enough for her to be wary. Ugh- it's a good thing they had eyes... The pink haired kunoichi gave an involuntary shudder. At least she'd managed to pilfer some scraps of clothing off of the corpse pieces she'd found in one of the other rooms. She never though she'd actually miss that damn green jumpsuit, until she was forced to run around like a rat in a maze wearing nothing but her pride, which was notably lacking at the moment.
Dammit, this sucks! What did I do to deserve this?! Her little accident in the street would barely qualify as a childish prank, even if it had been intentional. Which it wasn't! ...Oh gods, why did I even run? I should have just given up. The worst part was that she wasn't even sure what had happened in the end, when Ino's father had come in and she'd been presented with an opportunity to explain herself. She'd never have insulted Anko like that, even if she agreed with every word of it; making psychopaths angry at you just wasn't very smart.
Maybe I'm going insane from studying too much genjutsu. They say it happens sometimes; people get carried away and destroy their own minds. Sakura released a helpless sigh. She wasn't training to beat Ino only to end up defeating herself instead. But even if that wasn't the case, whatever Anko was doing to her couldn't be helping. Dammit, the only way out of here is through her! She would just have to confront the demon then- but how? She wasn't a genius ninja; she was barely even mediocre. She didn't have any special techniques that the examiner wouldn't be expecting, and she had to assume that Anko controlled the environment completely, so elaborate traps would be useless.
Wait... maybe she could... No way; that's just stupid. I'm not even sure how it works yet. ...but she had a lot of ideas. Sakura was becoming intimately familiar with the basic concepts behind possession-type jutsu in her quest to find counters to them. She'd even played around with the idea of a mind trap that caused the minds to swap places, if she couldn't block the Shintenshin outright. She knew more than any Gennin had the right to about how chakra interacted with the bonds between body, mind, and spirit... but was it enough?
...It had better be. An electric thrill of anticipation surged from the base of her spine to the top of her head; she was going to do it. It felt good to finally have a plan, even if it was a crazy, doomed plan. Almost absently her hands worked as her gaze grew distant- looking inward, finding out which seals opened the right chakra pathways. They weren't the seals for Ino's Shintenshin, and she was sure she wasn't using enough of them, but at the moment instinct and adrenaline were telling her that they would do. But if I screw up, I'm dead meat. Sakura didn't even want to think about what could happen to her if her technique didn't work like it was supposed to.
"To hell with it! I've had enough!" Shoving doubt and worry for her mortal soul aside, the young Gennin boldly stepped away from the wall and took a wide stance in front of the door. It was very probable that Anko was waiting for her behind it; the sadistic bitch hadn't shown her face in quite a while. Sakura had nearly forgotten how humiliating it was, having that blasted woman's laugher chasing after her as she ran away. Enough running; from now on, the only people who see my back are those I've sworn to protect, as a ninja. Reaching down with rock-steady hand, Sakura gripped the door knob and turned.
To her further credit, the pink-haired kunoichi didn't even flinch when Anko looked up at her as the door swung open. Blood dribbled down the Jounin's chin as she chewed noisily, bones grinding under her teeth. The limp, headless body of a rat was clutched brutally in her claw-like fingers as she lay supine in the middle of the room, amidst a nest of writhing snakes- What is it with this woman and snakes?! -and the eyes that fixed Sakura with a paralyzing, hypnotic gaze had irises of burnished gold, with narrow vertical slits for pupils.
"I was wondering when you'd join me; I'm afraid we've had to start without you," the monster woman drawled, oozing sick sensuality with every word. She glanced lazily down at the rat. "Don't worry, though, it'll take more than this to spoil my appetite... but perhaps you can satisfy me." Anko's grin was all fangs, pearly white stained with red.
"Don't let your eyes get too big for your stomach," Sakura quipped, unimpressed; she was still riding too high to care how terrifying Anko looked. Dropping into a ready stance, her gaze drifted to the back of the room, behind the examiner. There was a doorway with stairs there, seeming to lead up, but Sakura knew that for the trick it was. Still, she made sure to clearly telegraph her intent to make a break for the stairwell. "Get out of my way," she commanded, trying to look as imposing as her petite, bedraggled, near-naked form would allow.
"Ooooh... is the little devil feeling feisty now?" Anko chuckled with evil glee as she fairly slithered forward, arms and legs seeming almost an afterthought as she got to her feet. "Maybe you aren't so boring after all, morsel."
Hands flying together in a familiar set of seals, Sakura sneered. "Didn't your parents ever teach you not to play with your food?" Shooting up the wall behind the cloud of smoke that accompanied the appearance of four bunshin, the determined girl threw up her strongest concealment genjutsu and galloped on all fours across the ceiling as her doppelgangers dashed forth, zigzagging erratically around the room.
Anko struck like a viper, barely moving as her hands flickered out impossibly far to eradicate two of the clones instantly. Meanwhile, one of the remaining two made a break for the door she came in while the other rocketed toward the stairs. The easily predicted tactic proved just enough to keep Anko's attention divided for the final moment Sakura needed to close on the Jounin. By the time Anko sensed her and looked up, Sakura's descending foot was mere inches from her face, even as the smaller kunoichi's hands furiously formed a string of seals.
It was therefore by only by a hair's breadth that the ANBU managed to evade, twisting aside like her body was water, flowing around the attack. "You're a gutsy one, ain'cha?" Anko observed with a smile of playful, if bloodthirsty appreciation, even as she wrapped herself around Sakura in a constrictor's killing embrace. "You nearly got me there," she whispered almost consolingly into Sakura's ear from over her shoulder, before twisting around grotesquely to look her victim in the eye, "but even crazy kids like you should know that it takes more than guts and luck to win a fight."
The look of confusion on Anko's face was more than ample reward, as Sakura's emerald gaze burned into her with defiance and victory. "I've never count on guts or luck; they're nothing if you don't have a plan." And with that, she craned her neck forward and locked lips with the surprised examiner, then flinched hard and bit the tip of her tongue as her soul exploded.
*****
I just kissed a woman who was eating a rat.
This was the first thought that occurred to Sakura as she lay on the ground, reeling in shock. There were a few things that seemed very wrong with that statement. I just kissed a woman... who was eating a rat... how on earth did that happen? It took her a few more moments to remember the necessities of the plan that had brought her to this drastic action.
The one part of the Shintenshin that had given Sakura the most headaches over the last three weeks was how the spirit was projected out of the body. She just couldn't figure out how it was done without some sort of conduit. This meant that for the improvised version that she'd kludged together, she had to actually touch Anko for it to work. Contact between parts of their bodies with a major concentration of chakra gates seemed like the best shot; hands, mouths or even heaven forbid some of the more intimate places.
Though she'd have preferred to catch one of Anko's punches or something, an opportunity had presented itself, so she'd taken it. And I kissed Anko... And then there was pain. Blinding agony unlike anything she had dreamt possible had blossomed within her, like the very blood in her veins had suddenly turned to burning white phosphorous. It had passed so quickly that she didn't think she'd even had a chance to scream, but her body still tingled with the memory of it, like the afterimages left on the eye by a flash bulb.
That it had hurt at all was definitely a bad sign; she had probably done serious injury to herself, possibly even to her soul, but that was just too big to take in at the moment. Instead, she concentrated on the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. ...she was eating a rat. Had she succeeded? Was she now in Anko's body? The idea that she might be swishing around a mouthful of rat blood made her want to vomit, but she held down her gorge and, with an effort, managed not to swallow.
Pushing herself up on her palms, Sakura turned to the side to spit, at the same time taking a look around. Her heart sank when she saw Anko sitting across from her, legs crossed and holding her head in her hands like she trying to keep it from falling apart. So it hadn't worked... though it looked like she'd hurt the Jounin at least as much as she'd hurt herself. She must have broken the genjutsu as well, for the pile of snakes was gone and Anko looked relatively normal again. There were also closed doors on either side of the room that she hadn't noticed before, and the open one Anko sat in front of no longer had stairs behind it.
When Sakura's gaze finally returned to the examiner, Anko had looked up, and was now staring at her in confusion. Setting her jaw, Sakura glared right back at her and, rolling into a low crouch, prepared to defend herself. She'd made her bed, so she'd better be ready to sleep in it, even if there was still a snake in the sheets.
This action only seemed to confuse Anko more. The older woman looked like she wanted to ask her something, but couldn't find the words. Suddenly, however, her perfectly normal brown eyes widened in realization, and a huge grin split her face from ear to ear. "Ah- hah! Hahaha! Hell yeah- that's more like it!" Slapping her thigh in renewed enthusiasm, Anko flipped backwards and got to her feet. "Not quite what I had in mind, but I can work with this," she noted ominously, cracking her knuckles and still grinning like the madwoman she was.
"What the hell did I ever do to you to deserve this?!" Sakura roared, nerves and weariness finally getting the better of her.
The examiner's good mood seemed to evaporate instantly, and after simmering for all of two seconds she was as red in the face as Sakura. "What did ya do ta me?! Ya tried ta (*@&$^in' kill me for trippin' over yer fat ass and knockin' ya inta the mud, and then ya locked me in yer private sicko fantasy land fer four hours just so ya could (&@^ with my head until I went as nuts as you!" Anko declared, stabbing an accusing finger at the pink-haired kunoichi. "And lemmie tell ya, that is seriously ()*&@$^in' nuts! I mean, what the hell was with the @()$&*^in' bagpipes in the room with the giant pudding thing that tried ta eat me?!"
Despite her frustration, Sakura could tell that something wasn't adding up, so she chose her next words carefully. "What the hell?! Don't point your nasty rat-squeezing fingers at me, psycho-woman!" Well... relatively carefully, compared to what she really wanted to say. Hastily, she cut to the meat of the crazy notion that had just popped into her head. "And don't you accuse me of setting that crap up! Just who the hell do you think I am?!"
"One (&*!#%^ed up bitch with a seriously creepy snake fetish!" Anko snapped, though her ire was also starting to show cracks of uncertainty.
Drawing herself to her full height, Sakura crossed her arms, for the first time noticing that she was naked again; the rags she'd been wearing had apparently been part of the genjutsu as well. "You _must_ be confusing me with someone else... like, say, yourself!" she accused, valiantly fighting the urge to cover up for the sake of righteous indignation and her newly rekindled ninja pride. "Unless you want to tell me that you aren't Mitarashi Anko?"
The tall woman shot an indignant look at her, accompanied an obscene gesture. "Damn straight I'm not (*&@$in' Mitarashi Anko!"
"Then who the hell are you?!"
"Who else could I possibly ()@$^in' be?! I'm Haruno Sakura!"
Authors notes: Aaaaargh! It's been so long >_<! And i have no excuses to explain this away, or at least not for the last several months. FFXI devoured my will to live -_-; But anyhow, this chapter is really just the first half of 'Suiren: Shadows,' since as you can see it's really short, and only covers about half a scene. Rest assured, i'm gonna get the rest of it done probably over the weekend, since i know where i'm going now, at least for a chapter or three. I just wanted to get something out there, to let you know that i am again among the living. I hope i'm still managing to entertain you, and i apologize for the wait. Gomen nasai! ;_;...
And now, some review responses for you wonderful people...
Kanzaki Hitomi: Glad you're enjoying it! I love Sakura too; i just wish Kishimoto-sensei didn't do so poorly with all of his female characters -_-;...
Dan Inverse: I hope i captured Anko properly in this chapter, for all of her brief appearance; she'll be around more later, since there's no way Sakura's getting out of this situation scott-free...
Baka Mazoku: I keep telling myself that i'll never abandon any of my unfinished stories, but reality always has a way of stomping all over my will to write ;_;. I'm hoping i haven't taken too many liberties with Sakura in this chapter, or in the coming ones, but we shall see...
yuki_san1: Here ya go! More to come soon...
Goddess-Isis-112: Heh, i gotta lean on style, since i have loads of trouble coming up with enough substance for each chapter ^_^;;...
Kerrie-chan: Thanks! Sorry it took so long...
Kyo Mo-Mo: I imagine that, if he ever finds out about them (not sure how i'll handle that encounter yet) Sasuke won't be pleased at all. I hope i'm portraying the action scenes in concrete enough terms; for obvious reasons, Sakura's later fight scenes in this fic may get rather confusing...
Autophage: It's fun to write fight scenes for characters that have think sneaky to win ^_^. I'm trying to figure out how to work Shikamaru into this fic as well...
bodie: It ain't over yet, though she only has a week utill the stuff hits the fan for the entire village, so we'll see how much more trouble Sakura can get into 'till then...
Quimberly: I think most of the objection to Sakura is that Kishimoto never really does anything with her that doesn't make her seem somehow pathetic -_-;...
Cha-chan: I keep reconsidering my opinion of the Sakura/Inner-Sakura dynamic; we'll just have to see how it turns out in the end, but no matter what i'll try to keep in interesting...
Kimochi: Hmm... gentle ^_^;... I guess it's possible. Heh, i'll try to keep a bit of a humorous slant on her from time to time, since she is prone to acting without thinking, just like a certain loud-mouth Gennin she's been compared to from time to time...
af-zero: Still think Sakura's in character ^_^;? Well, i'd like to think so, but the adaptation if Inner-sakura's rather rougher speech pattern is somewhat fast and loose, at this point...
Sakurablossoms333: I'll try to be more punctual, since i currently have some good notion of where i'm going with this...
bishonen_no_miko: I still wonder about the prevalence of same-sex pairings in this series' fanworks... And as to the separation issue... well... that's something that i'll simply have to address by showing you; more on that in the next chapter!
Eiku Shizuma: ... ... ... Okay? ^_^;;
hattuteline: I know it's obvious that there would be little chance of shounen-ai in a Sakura-centric fic, but considering that 90% of Naruto fics here are Yaoi, i decided to play it safe ^_^;. And i'm a sucker for underdog characters, so Sakura seemed like an obvious choice for some attention, after all the neglect she recieves in the actual series. She's a ninja, dammit! Ninja don't become Damsels in Distress! And Inner-Sakura is fun ^_^...
Aaaaaaand thats a wrap! Wait, no- it isn't! I still have to finish this chapter before i can rest! Soon, i promise! Ja!
~Eimii
