Sweet GOD do I love reviews. Thank you once again for all those who reviewed- I never get tired of reading them! Please review more-when you review, you make me happy, and when you do something that makes someone else happy, karma does something to make YOU happy. (Or so I've been told. Karma and I sort of have this ongoing war going on…)
Anyway, within these reviews (yay for reviews!) there are those of you who have asked me just where I got the inspiration for this story. Here's your answer:
I've always had a thing for the underdog; especially those other people seem to just ignore-like Luke from Star Wars, Rogue from X-Men, and, of course, Sakura from Naruto. When I first started watching the show, especially Shippuden, I couldn't believe how her character was portrayed. Here was all this potential, and people just kept casting her aside-Ino, Kakashi, SASUKE…even Naruto does so on occasion. And so I started to think, what if Sakura was forced to leave the village? What if, when she left, she realized just how much she was overlooked by those people and finally realized just how strong she COULD become? Then I started to think about the elements, whose complications, contrast and balance have always inspired me, and a story started to form. Before I knew it, I was writing Four Swords.
Now its time for the next chapter of the story, which is EXTREMELY long due to the as-always-insane gap between updates and will hopefully satisfy some of your other questions and cravings. Also, special thanks to itachi's rose, for helping me and inspiring me, as well as just general awesomeness.
Enjoy!
Hidden Sword, present day:
"Ugh," Sakura commented, leaning in her favorite position against the wall. "That rain's just not stopping, is it?"
Kai glared at her. "You just left us hanging by a thread-a needlessly crypticthread, by the way-and you want to talk about the weather? Are you kidding me?"
"Whoa," the rogue whistled, amazed. "Are you channeling your mother? Because, seriously, Kai-chan, that was scary."
Sakura bent down, picking up the old, worn book that lay by her feet. "Speaking of your mother…"
All three of the genin groaned.
"Come on! We want to hear more about you," Suke protested, flopping dramatically onto the cave floor. "Our parents are boring!"
Sakura hid a smile. "So you guys don't want to hear more about my sister? You seemed interested the last time it was mentioned."
None of the three could deny it. Suke pointed an angry finger at her. "Now that just wasn't fair. There's no need to be all…all…"
"Snarky?" Kai supplied dryly.
"Yeah! Snarky!" the boy finished smugly, folding his arms across his chest in a manner much like his father. "So there!" He glanced at Kai, then back at Sakura, a sheepish expression on his face. "Errr…what does snarky mean, again?"
Haruna rubbed her forehead tiredly. "Read on," she told the rogue. "Please, just read on."
Sakura grinned, managing to do a courtly bow on the floor. "Your wish, Haru-chan, my command."
She opened the book, flipping through the thin, yellowed pages. "Where were we exactly…ah, yes…"
She cleared her throat, and began.
"…I couldn't believe it. All this time, Sakura had a sister? How did nobody know about this? How did I not know? I guess that was when I first started realizing Sakura-chan wasn't the person I thought she was…"
Taken from Yamanaka Ino's journal:
"Sister?" Naruto was floored. No, he was beyond floored, he was-he was-dammit, they didn't have word that could describe how shocked he was. "Sakura-our Sakura-had a sister?"
"Uzumaki!" Tsunade bellowed, flashing a quick glance at Chikao Kana. "Sit down!"
"How come we didn't know about this?" Naruto demanded. "Kakashi-sensei-"
Kakashi, however, was preoccupied with something else. He barely spared Sachiko a glance.
"Why are you trying to adopt her?" he demanded, swinging around to look at Kana. "Are you a friend of the Haruno's?"
The man gave Kakashi a smile full of charisma, but there were shadows hidden in his eyes. "What Haruno's are you speaking of, Hatake-san? As I understand it, there are only two left-" his mouth tightened for a moment, unseen by the three others in the room "-and only one that truly matters. Anyway-" he gave a sudden bland shrug. "-I suppose you could say I'm acquainted with the Haruno's, yes."
"He is not my friend," Sachiko said quietly, but with absolute six-year old conviction. Mock it all you will, most of the time a child's conviction is right. "Saku-chan said to stay away from him. She didn't like him."
Kana gave a laugh that didn't reach his ice eyes. "Now, really, is that much of a recommendation?"
Sachiko met his gaze with a fire Naruto recognized. "I don't like you, either," she announced boldly, glaring at the man.
His smile faltered.
"Chikao-sama, why don't we pick this up another time?" Tsunade suggested quickly. "We're not in any hurry here-we all want to make the right decision for Sachiko, right?"
"Of course, Hokage-sama," Kana agreed instantly, bowing. "I hope the right decision is made." He nodded at the two jounin before he walked out the door.
Once he was gone, Tsunade turned to Sachiko. "You can go back to Shizune now, Sachi-chan."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Sachiko said quietly. She got up and disappeared out the door.
The Hokage sighed and rubbed her eyes. "She's only been here two years, and before that she lived with relatives until her family decided it was time for her to return here. Her mother died a year ago, so she was living with Sakura, but now the poor kid has no one, and Shizune can't afford to care for her-her shinobi and medical duties are too demanding. Chikao Kana is a high-standing individual, and his proposal of adoption has been the only one we've had for her, but there are-complications."
"What complications?" Naruto asked innocently. "It doesn't seem so complicated to me."
Tsunade sighed. "Chikao Kana…was friends with some of the people who died in the…accident two years ago."
"Does he plan to avenge them?" the mild question was Kakashi's.
Sakura. The word hung between them like a bind.
Tsunade met their eyes defiantly. "I don't know. He says the friendships were ones of convenience, not choice. But the Elders don't want to put an innocent child in the hands of her sister's supposed enemy, whether he says he isn't or not."
Kakashi raised his brows. Since when were the Elders so compassionate?
"Alright, fine, I don't want to put an innocent child in the hands of her sister's supposed enemy, whether he says he isn't or not," the blond snapped, seeing his look. "Enough of this. I brought you here because I have a mission for you."
Naruto straightened instantly. "You're letting us go after Sakura-chan?" he cried.
"No, Naruto," Tsunade's voice was weary. Naruto visibly slumped. "This is about something else. As I'm sure you're aware, Sound attacks have started again."
"It's really Sound?" Kakashi asked. "I thought that was just a rumor."
"It's really Sound, and they're looking for something." The Hokage's voice was grim. "They've attacked other villages this time, and the attacks are getting worse. The Hidden Mist Village suffered from a huge tsunami recently and their defenses are incredibly low. They have asked for my help guarding some of their treasures, so I am sending them you two. The mission is A-rank."
Naruto clenched his fists. "We could be out there, finding Sakura, and you're sending us to be-to be guard dogs for some stupid rich-"
"You have a year and six months to complete this mission," Tsunade said loudly, talking over Naruto.
Kakashi blinked. "Isn't that a little long? It should only take six months at most…"
"A year and six months!" Tsunade bellowed. "And, while we're on the subject, Sakura's last sighting was near Mist. You are expressly forbidden from using your extended time limit to track her down, you get me? Expressly forbidden."
"Oh." Kakashi's eyes widened underneath his mask. "Oh." He bowed jerkily. "We accept."
"Wh-the hell we do!" Naruto yelled, jabbing a finger at Tsunade. "I'm going to look for Sakura, not be a guard to some pansy-ass Mist basta-mmmf!"
Kakashi clapped a hand over the blond's mouth, keeping the pressure as he struggled. "The mission begins tomorrow?" he asked pleasantly.
"Tomorrow." The Hokage said firmly. She eyed the two intensely. "Good luck."
Kakashi nodded and poufed out of the Hokage Tower, taking Naruto with him.
Once they were at the bridge, Kakashi turned to Naruto. Ignoring his flailing, he said sternly, "I'm going to explain. Don't scream at me."
Carefully, he took his hand away. Naruto didn't scream; he just glared.
"Tsunade isn't giving us a guard mission," he said quietly, his one dark eye for once completely serious. "She's giving us time. We don't have to be in the village unless there's an attack, so most of that year and a half we have to ourselves. To do whatever we want to. So, we're going to do what we've been expressly forbidden not to do instead."
"Oh, gods…" Naruto sank down onto the bridge, hands in his hair. "We're looking for Sakura."
Kakashi nodded. He stared up, away from Naruto, casting his gaze on the forgotten land that had once held his old team.
"Yes." He didn't look away. "We're looking for Sakura. Starting tomorrow."
Sakura closed the book with a sigh. "Bastards."
Haruna and Suke exchanged glances. Finally, Suke said, "Um, they may be boring, but they're still our parents, you know."
The rogue looked at them, startled. "Oh, no-not Naruto and Kakashi. They're decent, for, you know, village shinobi. I was referring to the Konoha political system."
"Oh." Suke said sheepishly. "My mistake."
Sakura just waved a hand. "Don't worry about it. Mistakes are part of being human."
"They're not part of being ninja," Haruna muttered cynically.
"Maybe not," the rosette agreed. "But, like it or not, ninjas are human. You can't separate the two completely, though we all try. You are going to hurt. To suffer. To make grave mistakes. It's human nature and I wish I could tell you different, but the truth is that you have a job that sees a lot of suffering."
"So how do we do it?" Kai asked, serious for once. "How do we stop ourselves from being human when we need to be ninja?"
Sakura shrugged. "Like everything else, you do the best you can. And when that's not enough, you go to your friends."
"Sakura…" Suke said, and then hesitated.
She looked over. "Yes?"
"Why are you telling us all this?" he asked, blinking cerulean eyes. "I mean, this stuff…it changes you. Why are you telling us all of it?"
Sakura just looked at him for a moment. Just like his father, people thought he was oblivious until he asked just the right questions. Only then did the truth come out.
"Because," she said simply. "I think you guys can handle it."
Sakura shifted; the noise was loud in the silence of the cave. She smiled. "Now, let's get back to the story. What I told you before was just the beginning. Here's where things really start to heat up…"
"I'm going start from when I actually met Spinner, not from where we left off. The journey was boring, anyway; Kichi and I mostly just talked about Swords and the ninja arts, except for a few times when we got caught in the middle of an ongoing war between these two pigheaded armies-but that's another story, maybe I'll get a chance to tell it when you're older. Anyway, there were only a few questions Kichi wouldn't answer. One was her past, which I obviously understood, and the other was about who the hell Spinner actually was. By the time we got to her place-she lived between Stone and Mist-I was ready to beat the information out of her with a tree…"
"This is it," Kichi said tightly, gesturing towards the house above them. It was set on a low mountain and about a two mile hike from where they were standing.
Sakura looked at her. "Okay. Are you going to tell me who this chick is now, or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"
Kichi grinned her usual wild grin, then her shoulders tightened and then she was serious. "Fine. She's the world's biggest, oldest bitch, that's who she is."
Sakura sighed. It had taken about a week to get to Spinner's house, and over the course of that week she had gotten the chance to get to know Kichi a little better. Once they had established some iron traveling rules (such as never wake Kichi up early unless you wanted to be beaten unconscious and then literally wake up rotating on a giant spit over a roaring fire, or never touch Sakura's possessions unless you wanted to be taught to fly by a swinging tree and then end up sixty miles away right between those two royally pissed off armies that had been chasing you over the last three days) the two had gotten along fairly well. In fact, it was almost scarily easy to connect with the brunette kuniochi. She'd told Kichi things she wouldn't have told other rogue at sword point, and the girl had done the same with her, all in the course of one week.
Call it premature, but Sakura was reasonably sure she was acquiring a new best friend. Which made it easier and easier to realize that as they got closer and closer to Spinner's house, Kichi got more and more tense.
"Kichi," Sakura said sternly. "Listen, if this is about your past or something, you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. I just want to know who she is."
Kichi gritted her teeth, and a wave of heat shimmered from her skin. She was in excellent control of the abilities Kosuke had given her, but she had a temper as hot as the fire she controlled and it tended to show. Then she sighed, stretching her arms over her head.
"Fine, babe. Amarante Spinner is known as Spinner the Untouchable, mostly due to two facts: one, she is the oldest rogue living, and none of the villages have been able to find her for thirty plus years; two, she's also incredibly powerful. She has the best chakra control out of anyone in the world; she crafts specialty weapons of all kinds that are absolutely amazing; her poisons are the deadliest out of them all-but really makes her dangerous is the fact that she knows every ninjutsu every created. That also makes her a good teacher for you, since learning wind jutsu will help you control your powers. It's how I learned control."
Sakura felt her jaw drop. "Every ninjutsu ever created? Tha-that's impossible. It would take like-like a thousand years!"
Kichi gave an unpleasant snicker. "Baby, she's older then that by like two million. And don't ask me how she did it; she never told me. I haven't seen the bitch in forever, mind-and I was damn happy about that, actually, until your friend Ghost made me come here."
"All he said was 'take her to Spinner'," Sakura said indignantly. "He didn't make you do anything."
"No, but I was debating whether or not to take you here anyway and he just had to raise the point and then be all logical about it," Kichi seethed. Seeing Sakura open her mouth, the rogue added "Spinner has the only scrolls that were ever written about the Legendary Four Swords, and I wanted you to read them. I can't explain everything, and I don't know a lot about the specifics of Nariko and your powers."
Whoa. She had information about Nariko? Sakura looked up at the house, intrigued, then back at Kichi. "Are we ever going to go meet her?" she asked, as gently as she could, considering how excited she was.
Kichi looked up at the house like it was the doorway to hell. "Fine, but I'm warning you, babe. Spinner is fond of booby traps, and those tend to get me riled, so I might kill her before you even have a chance to talk to her."
Sakura sighed. "Come on, you. Let's go see the big, bad Spinner."
Kichi sighed, but motioned her forward. Grumbling all the while, she led the rosette rogue towards the house.
When they were about a quarter mile from the house, Kichi slowed, tension edging every line in her body. "Looks good so far…" she muttered, one hand touching Kosuke. "I don't see any-"
BOOOOOOOM.
The explosion threw Sakura to the side; she hit the ground with a grunt. Gray smoke filled the mountain, obscuring her vision as yet another crash detonated around them.
Coughing through the smoke, Sakura struggled to her feet and drew Nariko. The winds she had not yet learned to control cleared the air around her until she stood in a circle of calm.
"You fucking bitch!" Kichi's voice blared through the gray. Yup, riled was a good word for how she sounded. "Why don't you stop using booby traps and actually fight yourself?"
"Kichi?" Sakura shouted. "Where are you?"
Another explosion rocked the ground; there was a bright flash of color to her left. She walked towards it, the winds around her clearing the smoke in her path. Sure enough, there was Kichi, Sword drawn and covered in fire from her hair down to her toes and glowing with orange light.
"Get off my mountain!"
Sakura jumped at the sound of the old, irritated voice; it sounded close. Kichi just bared her teeth.
"Like hell I will!" the brunette shouted back, the flames around her head flaring. "Come out here and make me, you old shrew!"
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOMBOOOMBOOOOOOM.
The explosions came thick and fast; Sakura twisted through the air trying to avoid the deadly shrapnel.
A rock hit her side and she fell, gasping, onto the ground. She gritted her teeth against the pain.
I, she proclaimed silently. Am going to kill Kichi.
I think we have to get in line, Inner Sakura replied in a strained voice.
Huh? The voice of her inner psyche directed her attention back to Kichi, who was deftly dodging bomb after bomb after bomb. A black figure strode towards her through the gray smoke that now covered the mountain.
Kichi arched over the last bomb, twisting her body into a spectacular flip just as the figure materialized out of the smoke. She landed straight in front of the figure, clenching fists that were still burning with flame. "Spinner."
That's Spinner? Sakura stared. Whoa.
Thick white hair was cut short, spiking around her head in a regal crown, while elegant fringe framed her tan, wrinkled face. Dark sapphire eyes peered out from a web of wrinkles, and her lips were pursed under a strong, aquiline nose. She was dressed in a tank top and loose pants, and was rail-thin with tattoos spreading outward up her body. She held a gnarled walking stick carved with intricate symbols in one hand, but no other weapons.
And she still looked damned dangerous. Especially when she opened her mouth.
"Mariko Kichi," Spinner sneered, not looking the least bit intimidated about facing a girl made of flame. "What are you doing back on my mountain?"
Kichi rolled her eyes, the fire around her face swirling. "Oh, don't give me that 'my mountain' shit, you vicious old harpy. It doesn't impress me and I'm not leaving until we've had a chance to talk."
Sakura got up, coughing, from her place on the ground. Wincing at the pain in her side, she made her way over to the two of them after making sure Nariko was still in her hand.
Spinner seemed oblivious to her approach. "Why would I want to talk to you, little girl?"
The brunette seethed at the words, but then she took a deep breath. The fire around her disappeared as she calmed down. "Believe me; I'm not too keen on the prospect myself, hag. I have a proposal for you."
"I'm not interested in teaching a new student," Spinner snapped. "Especially not one who needs a little whore like you to introduce them."
Sakura froze a few feet away from the two. Whoa. She did not just say that.
Kichi once again exploded into flames. "I am not a whore!"
"Sure dress like one," came the sarcastic reply.
The fire-user pointed a finger at her. "Listen up, you pompous, lunatic bitch-"
"I don't have to listen to anything you say, you arrogant child-"
Sakura forgot about her shock and anger and just stared at them. They're bickering…like a pair of five year olds. She blanched at a particularly venomous phrase. Like a pair of really poorly-mouthed five year olds.
Suddenly, the hair on the back of her neck prickled. She jerked around with the reflexes of a cat-to see a teenage girl standing behind her, wearing a shinobi's clothes.
The two just stared at each other for a minute. Sakura's grip on Nariko tightened minutely.
"Hi," she said cautiously.
The girl smiled at her. Then her eyes moved past her, towards where Spinner and Kichi were still locked in a shouting match. At least Kichi was no longer on fire, Sakura was relieved to see.
The girl shook her head in reproach, switching the rosette's attention back to her.
They can do this, the girl remarked, using hand signs. For hours.
Sakura tilted her head to the side. "You know them? Both of them?" she asked, curious.
The girl nodded. Oh, yes. Spinner is my mother, she explained, still speaking in signs. The pink-haired rogue wondered why. Her relationship with Mariko Kichi is…complicated.
"Everything with that girl is complicated," Sakura muttered. Louder she added, "Yeah, so it seems."
The girl smiled at her for the second time, her eyes shining with laughter. They were the same sapphire hue as her mother's. She had a willowy frame and hair the color of sunlight secured in a ponytail.
I am Whisper, she signed. Finally, Sakura realized she was mute. My mother is coming to speak with you.
Oh, FUCK.
For once, Sakura was in complete agreement with her inner personality. She whirled around to face the older rogue, just in time to duck the walking stick that whistled harmlessly over her head. She just noticed Whisper disappear before a wrinkled face was stuffed into hers.
"This is the child you want me to train? This?" Spinner demanded, throwing out a hand in disgust. "Look at her! She has pink hair, for Kami's sake! She's a little girl-how old is she, ten? Eleven?"
Sakura's temper flared, and Inner Sakura hijacked her mouth, "ExCUSE me? You're calling ME little? What are you, like four nine? Come over here and let's see how much of a little girl YOU are, you pretentious little bitch!"
Spinner eyed her for a moment, a sardonic smirk on her lips. "Well, she's got guts; I'll give her that. But she's going to need more then that for me to teach her."
Kichi just shrugged, though her eyes burned. "I think she's tough enough to handle it. So does Ghost."
Shock flared in the old woman's sapphire eyes before they narrowed. "When the hell did you meet Ghost?"
"She introduced me. The little girl you're so eager to boot off your doorstep," the brunette said, sickly sweet. "Don't be so quick to judge on appearances, darling."
Spinner narrowed her eyes. "Enough of your cute little nicknames, girl. And you," she demanded, swinging around to face Sakura, who did her best not to jump. "Why should Ghost speak to you?"
"Because she holds Nariko," Kichi spoke up, before the pink-haired rogue could answer. "And because she speaks to wind."
"What the hell does that mean?" Sakura demanded. At this, Spinner raised a critical brow and Kichi gave her a furious look.
Sakura lowered her voice. "Well, what? It's not my fault you never tell me anything."
"Yes, but you could have at least pretended to go along with me here-"
"Show me Nariko," the old woman ordered, ignoring their bickering.
Sakura hesitated. Then, carefully, she drew out her Sword and laid it flat on her palms as she had done for Hiroshi.
"Ha," Spinner scoffed. "That's probably just a regular old katana. I knew you were lying. Face it, child. You're not strong enough for me."
Sakura's eyes narrowed to slits. Overhead, there was a low boom of distant thunder, and then a violet light began to edge the rogue all around. Spinner's eyes widened imperceptibly.
"Do not even dare question my strength," the girl hissed, clenching her fingers around Nariko and swinging it level. Blue lightning began to crackle along the blade, lightning that spread to coat her skin and sent her hair on end, electricity sparking from the tips. The sky started to crawl with black clouds "No one calls me weak, old woman. Not the rogue, not the villages, and certainly not you. You want to tell me I'm not strong? Then you train me and prove just how much I still have to learn. Or don't train me at all. But never call me weak. "
Kichi was smug. "I told you so."
"The Sword of Sky…" Spinner whispered, awestruck. "Incredible…"
Kichi looked uneasily at the approaching clouds, some of which were racing with lightning. "Pull it back, babe. You've proven your point."
Sakura looked at her, eyes glowing violet. Then she shook her head abruptly, blinked, and, with visible strain, pulled her powers back into her control.
Once that was done, the brunette looked back at a much more thoughtful Spinner then Sakura had seen yet.
"Well?" the fire-user demanded brusquely. "Are you up for it, hag? You may be the only one who can train her. What do you think?"
By the time Kichi had finished speaking, Spinner's normal sneer had returned. "I think you're an idiot, as usual. All right, I'll take the runt-but if I do, you'll have to help me. I may have taught you alone, but some things only someone with a Sword will be able to teach her. Now that that's settled…" the old woman wheeled, strutting up the rough mountain path with the zeal of someone much, much younger. "Come along. We have a lot of work to do."
Sakura and Kichi looked at each other blankly, a little stunned by the sudden agreement. As one, the two shrugged and began to follow after her.
They reached the house a little after dawn, both Sakura and Kichi panting from the thin mountain air. In the doorway was Whisper, a basket in her hands.
"Whisper!" Kichi said, delighted. "I haven't seen you in forever! How have you been?"
The blonde shrugged, settling down the basket so she could speak. Well enough. It is good to see you, too, Kichi. I am glad both you and my mother are still alive. Come inside and eat. There is venison stew.
"I just want to know how the hell you got up here before we did, caught a deer, and managed to cook a meal," Sakura huffed, following them into the doorway.
"My daughter is the best tracker you will ever meet in your life; she can find anything even when no one else can. As for how she got up here before you, you are very slow. Oh, and, by the way-" Spinner turned back to Kichi, contempt twisting her features. "You were wrong about her abilities. She's not just a wind-speaker; she's a storm-raiser."
"I say again, what the hell does that mean?" Sakura grumbled, still panting.
Spinner barked out a laugh, shoving past her into the kitchen. "You must be as witless as you look, child. They're just what they sound like-you have the ability to raise storms, and speak to wind. You can call gales of wind, lightning, hurricanes, storm clouds. You can have the wind carry words back to you, and carry words to others. Yours is an element many will underestimate, Haruno Sakura of the Storm, as they do the rest of your gifts. I intend to train you to use them all."
"And that is how I came to be under the tutelage of Amarante Spinner, the Untouchable Warrior," Sakura concluded.
"Wow," Suke said, looking up at her with wide eyes. Haruna's head was pillowed on his stomach, and there was still the hint of a blush on his cheeks. "Was she right about your powers?"
"As a matter of fact, she was. I can do everything she said I can do-hear and speak to people across vast distances using the wind, call lightning and wind and storms, bend the air and sky to my will…" The rogue grinned. "…all thanks to Nariko. And thanks to Spinner, I learned to control it. As well as many other useful things."
"So you were-wind-speaking-above Safeheal?" Haruna asked thoughtfully. "That's how you heard everything?"
The rogue nodded. "It's funny, actually. I'm the first wind-speaker combined with a storm-raiser there's ever been with the Sword of Sky-according to Spinner, only the first wielder had that combination."
"Was the training hard?" Kai asked, blunt as always.
The pink-haired ninja laughed. "Of course it was hard. Nothing that's worth it is ever easy, sweetheart. Spinner's training was grueling, terrifying, infuriating, impossible work, and it was just what I needed."
Sakura looked out at the storm, where sheets of rain were still falling from the black sky. "We're a little short on time, so I want to get through this part fast."
"What's the rush?" Haruna wanted to know, a concerned frown on her lips though she still rested lazily against Suke. "You weren't in a hurry before."
'No, but I have to leave soon." Seeing their looks, Sakura gave a reassuring smile. She reached out a hand to smooth Haruna's silvery hair. "Don't worry; I'm coming back. There's just something I have to take care of, so I sent for someone to stay with you while I'm gone."
"What do you have to do?" Haruna asked suspiciously, pushing herself upright. Suke made a noise of protest that had his face flaming scarlet when both Kai and Sakura looked at him quizzically.
Sakura brushed her question aside. "Nothing of consequence, really. I just wanted to make sure you guys got to hear some of the story while I was gone, so I sent for a member of the Four."
"Who is it?" Kai and Suke asked simultaneously.
Sakura laughed again. "You'll know when they come. Anyway, I'm going to explain this quick, and then we're going to get to the next, more important part of the story. Here goes."
"Kichi and I stayed in the mountains for a whole year. During that entire time, she and Spinner trained me. I learned to be faster then I already was, until I as fast as the wind itself, and I learned to be strong in muscle as well as chakra. I gained greater mastery over weapons, though my greatest increase was in ninjutsu. Spinner taught me an endless amount of jutsu concerning wind, which, as Kichi had said, helped me control my Sword abilities. The technique was simple, really. As I learned to control wind the traditional way, with jutsu, I applied that same rigidness when working with my powers. Slowly, I learned control. And with that control came strength."
"So what did you actually do?" Suke demanded.
Sakura considered the question. "Well…"
The following are scattered memories from Haruno Sakura's time with Amarante Spinner describing her training:
"Spinner had me do things like taking down thirty men with nothing but a kunai…"
Sakura whirled within the fray, feeling the quick clench and release of her muscles as they met resistance, the pull of the blade in her hand when it dragged across flesh. She felt the hot blood of her enemies coat her body, knowing they were no match for her speed or her strength. They were no match for her at all.
"Or killing an entire army armed with nothing but three or four jutsus she had taught me not an hour ago…"
The wind whistled, heavy with blood and the scent of death. Before her, again and again, the men fell. To her left, Sakura could see Kichi deep within the battle, fire streaming from her hands. As the men rushed her, she lifted her own arms and sent the wind to them, as deadly as Kichi's fire.
"Or bringing down water from a stream on the highest mountain peak, climbing with nothing but my bare hands and feet…"
The air was cool on Sakura's back; the stone warm under her stomach. Muscles straining, she hoisted herself further up the wall, cursing her body's weakness. Blood streamed from the cracked skin between her knuckles and toes and still she kept onward. She was no weakling. She'd bested men and she'd bested the sky. This mountain would not best her.
"With Kichi I learned to hear messages across distances that would shock you, to ride the wind…"
Sakura hovered in the sky upon a plume of air, listening to the wind. She heard Kichi's words thrown back to her, through the mountains. She smiled in satisfaction.
"To raise lightning and wind on a whim…"
Sakura stood in the midst of a whirlwind, arms stretched out to her sides. She laughed as lightning caressed her skin, as the wind wheeled towards the sky.
"Whisper even taught me how to track."
"But there was no trail, no blood on the leaves or footprints," Sakura protested, following Whisper to where the corpse of a young ninja lay, a kunai through his neck. "There weren't even broken twigs. How did you even know he was there?" The mute smiled at her. What you see is not always what is there. You must learn to rely on other senses, ones not so commonplace.
"All in all, it was hard, but necessary. Sometimes it was even fun. Of course Itachi knew Spinner, so he stopped in a few times. This time he brought Kisame with him-he and Kichi went drinking nearly every night, so Itachi and I had time to ourselves…"
"NO!" Sakura pounded her fist on the ground, causing a minor earthquake. His expressionless face a trifle smug, Itachi steadied the chessboard. "There is no fucking way that's checkmate! No fucking WAY!" She looked up to see Itachi's raised brow. "Hey, don't give me that; I was paying perfect attention. If you hadn't started that damn brute force vs. stealth debate I would have fucking won…" He gave her a look. Sakura's world flamed red. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU DOUBT THAT? You know what, you cocky bastard? Rematch. Right here, right now. Let's see you beat me this time!"
"And Kichi and I learned a lot about each other, and about the Swords. We read from Spinner's scrolls and learned tons of facts about them, like where they came from and who first had them. The most interesting fact was that in ten years, the bond that killed Kichi when I or another Sword wielder got killed would dissipate. Through Kichi's visions-remember when she said she could see things, back in Safeheal? -we also learned the next Sword to come; the Sword of Stone, Earth's representative. Kichi couldn't tell who it was, but she knew where it would appear. Anyway, Kichi and I soon grew to be true best friends…"
"For the love of all things holy!" Spinner yelled, striding up the hill. An invisible force pried the two apart, one of the insane number of jutsus the woman had at her disposal. "Can you two not stop fighting for more then five minutes at a time? You two are the only ones with Swords right now-YOU HOLD EACH OTHER'S LIVES IN YOUR HANDS. Learn to get along, before I lock you in a damn cave and see which one of you claws out of it, Swords be damned!" Spinner whirled and stomped back down to the house, muttering uncomplimentary things as she went. Sakura sighed. "She's right, you know. We do need to learn to trust each other-as much as we can." She hesitated. "What I mean is-" "No, babe, I got you," the brunette interrupted. "I'll tell mine first." And so, not five months after the two had first come to Spinner, Mariko Kichi and Haruno Sakura each told the story that had led them to become rogue…
"Ohh, are you finally going to tell us the story of how you got kicked out of Konoha?" Kai interrupted eagerly, leaning forward. Suke and Haruna sat straight up.
Sakura gave a small smile. "Nope. Still a long way off from that." (A/N: I know, I'm an evil little child. But you love it.)
This statement was met by general groaning.
"What about Kichi's story, then?" Kai demanded, not one to give up.
"That's something you'd have to ask Kichi," Sakura replied, stretching her arms over her head. "Without her permission I can't tell it to you."
"Fine," Kai muttered, defeated. "Then tell us the origins of the Swords. You said you learned where they came from?"
Sakura nodded. "Yes, Kichi and I learned the truth within Spinner's scrolls. The legend that Hiroshi initially told me, about the gods fashioning the Swords, is semi-true. See, according to the scrolls, way, way back in time, so far that their names have been long lost; there were four rogue who caught the attention of the gods. Each had grown strong in their own way."
Sakura's voice grew dreamy and wise. "The first grew strong by chance, and was gifted with the Sword of Light, for fire, above all others, is an element of risk and chance. The second grew strong through will, and was gifted with the Sword of Sky, for air, above all others, is an element of surprise and will. The third grew strong by design and was gifted with the Sword of Stone, for earth, above all others, is an element of steadiness and design. The last of the four grew strong by choice and was gifted with the River Swords, for water, above all others, is an element of freedom and choice. These Swords increased their power, and tied the four of them together. But, the gods gave them a task along with the Swords. The gods had seen how the rogue lived, scurrying into the shadows and hiding from the villages, too restricted to ever use their real power. The gods gave the Four their Swords, and in return they were to help the rogue by doing…something. That part of the scroll was missing."
"Whoa," Suke said breathlessly. "It sounds like you memorized that straight from the scroll."
Sakura smiled at him. "I did, actually. I read it so many times the words kind of stuck."
"It sounds like you learned a lot with Spinner," Haruna commented, propping her head on her elbows. "And I'm not just talking about the Swords. But a year's kind of a short time to learn all of this in, isn't it?"
"It would have been, except for two reasons. Firstly, Spinner's training was extremely rough-what would take five years to learn normally only took a year with her. Sure, it made you want to kill her in increasingly painful and creative ways, but I can't deny it was effective," Sakura explained. "And, secondly…well, remember when I said about my trials beginning? I wasn't just talking about Spinner's training, hard though it was. I was talking about much bigger things…"
"See, the entire year I spent training with Spinner, we'd been getting reports about the activities of Sound. Like the year before, they'd been going raiding in force, but the year I was with Spinner their attacks started becoming more unified. They started hitting shops, stores, bars, and libraries…searching for something. None of the reports held anything that was really all that pressing, until one day we got a report that shocked the hell out of all of us. I remember that day clearly. I had just turned seventeen a week previous…"
"Kichi."
Nestled among tall, soft spires of green grass, her chestnut hair spread out over the ground instead of in its usual braid, the girl did not move.
Sakura sighed, letting her body fall back against the tree branch it rested on. She was bored. Whisper was away, Spinner was doing…whatever Spinner did when she wasn't training, and now Kichi was napping with absolute no consideration for her feelings whatsoever…
After a moment's contemplation, Sakura flipped to lie on her stomach, where she held the brunette kuniochi in her direct line of sight, and decided to try again.
"Kichi."
The brunette stirred slightly, an arm rising over her head. Her eyes remained closed.
Screw being polite.
"KICHI, WAKE THE HELL UP!"
The rogue shot into a sitting position, sending spiraling gouts of fire in all directions. "What? What?"
Sakura flipped backwards over her tree, hovering in the air to avoid the flames that shot in her direction. "Are you trying to burn the forest down?" she yelled, sending winds to direct the fire away from the trees. "Damn crazy person…"
"Oh, it's just you," Kichi said disappointedly, flopping back to her original position as Sakura touched down next to her. She waved a hand and the fire dissipated, a tendril rising over her head. She played with it absently as she talked, twisting it into shapes. A screeching monkey jittered over her head, followed by a sparrow and then a girl of flame. "Well, I told you not to wake me up early. Did we not have this discussion on the road?"
"It's three in the afternoon, Kichi. In what place would that ever be classified as early?"
The brunette gave a lazy smile. The fire over her head reshaped itself to a shot glass, a katana, a dragon. "My place."
"Because so many people want to go there," Sakura muttered sarcastically. Kichi stuck out her tongue. "Oh, yes, that solves everything. Just stick your tongue in it."
The fire-user gave a wolfish grin. "I know that usually solves all of my problems."
"Mariko Hisano Kichi!"
Whisper was coming up the path towards them, and the two were laughing (against Sakura's will) when Kichi's laughter stopped abruptly, the sound sticking in her throat. Her eyes went cloudy.
Sakura had seen this before; Kichi's visions of the future often came at inopportune times. Whisper smiled at her as she finally reached the two. Sakura sighed and settled down to wait, crossing her arms above her head.
And shot straight upward when Kichi gave a sudden, bloodcurdling screech that echoed through the mountains. She jerked out of her calm state, panting, and gripped Kosuke hard in a bone-white hand.
"What is it?" Sakura whispered, reaching automatically for Nariko.
Kichi, bent over with her hands on her knees, just shook her head. She recovered her breath in the next moment enough to wave a hand, and in the next moment the three rogue were full-out sprinting towards Spinner's house.
Sakura was fast, faster then any rogue she'd ever met. Spinner attributed her speed to Nariko, stating the Sword had obviously made her as fast as the wind. Sakura argued it was the result of being forced to survive on taijutsu alone for half a year. Whatever the reason, normally she could outstrip Kichi easily. But the panicked brunette matched her stride for stride, eyes stricken with horror, until they burst through the doorway to Spinner's house, Whisper a hair's breathe behind them.
They found the old woman sitting at the table, a white paper in her hands.
"Do you know what I just saw?" Kichi yelled, sparks flying from her hair. Sakura blinked in surprise; true, Kichi and Spinner had never gotten along, but the kuniochi had never spoken this disrespectfully. "Do you?"
"Control yourself!" Spinner snapped. "It's not going to help anyone if you panic!"
"I think now is the perfect time to panic!" Kichi threw out her hands, glittering with orange light. "We're dead! All of us, we're dead!"
"What happened?" Sakura demanded, hair on end. Her sharp gaze switched from Spinner to Kichi. "Kichi?"
The brunette shook her head, at a loss for words. She looked at Spinner. "How did they possibly find out?"
"I don't know how they found out, but they did," Spinner snapped hoarsely, standing. "It's impossible. There's no way all of them were so careless… there's no way he was…"
"What?" Sakura thrust herself between the two. "What happened?"
Kichi stared at Spinner in confusion. "What are you talking about? Who was careless?"
Spinner looked back at Kichi, equally confused. "What are you talking about?"
The brunette shook her head. "You first."
"As long as someone answers the goddamn question; soon," Sakura growled, beyond the limit of her patience.
Spinner spun to look at her. "The villages have received multiple reports stating sightings of various missing-nin, complete with pictures; that's what happened. Sightings of missing-nin believed to dead. For years."
"Holy…fucking…shit." Kichi sank down onto a chair. "Missing-nin like Uchiha Itachi?"
"Missing-nin exactly like Uchiha Itachi," the old woman agreed, gritting her teeth. "And others; there was a whole list." She picked up the paper, handing it to Sakura. "Here."
Sakura plucked the paper from her fingers. Meeting the eyes of the other three in the room, she started to read the names aloud.
"Uchiha Itachi. Hoshigaki Kisame. Sasori. Deidara. Hidan. Zetsu…" Sakura looked up. "I didn't even know half these people were alive. How did the villages find out?"
"Does it look like I know?" Spinner hissed, banging her walking stick on the ground. "Unlike you, I am smart enough to realize that someone must have told them. But as to the identity of the traitor, I am as clueless as you always are."
Sakura groaned and buried her face in her hands, ignoring the insults. Spinner got snappy when she was scared, a trait not uncommon among the four of them. "The only person it could be is another rogue…but why would they let the villages know? And who's powerful enough to take pictures of Uchiha Itachi and not get killed?"
There are not many who are powerful enough to even see him, Whisper added. The henge he wears protects him from just this kind of situation. Or it should have.
"I don't think it's one person." Kichi said softly.
The other three turned, surprised. There was a moment of sharp silence before Spinner spoke.
"Considering your very ladylike reaction to this news before, I gather it was not what you saw in your vision."
"Aren't you the smart one," Kichi mocked without any real heat. "No, as a matter of fact, that was not what I saw in my vision. What I saw was full-blown war."
"Villages war all the time," Spinner scoffed dismissively. "You and your tender heart. If that is all you saw, I hardly think it was worth your overreaction…"
Kichi brushed this off impatiently. "Not war between the villages. War between rogue and the villages. As in war between villages and not missing-nin, not other village shinobi, and not an organization, but rogue shinobi."
Spinner sat straight down on the floor. "Holy…fucking…shit."
In her current state, the brunette was magnanimous enough to let that go. She reached down and picked up the list of revealed shinobi. "This can't be the work of just one person. All of the ninja on this list are rogue, but they're known as missing-nin. Because of that, I don't think whoever's behind this knows about rogue yet, but if they can out them-" here Kichi waved the list. "-then it's only a matter of time before they out the rest of us."
But who? Whisper said pointedly. There was a beat of silence.
Then Sakura had a revelation.
"It's Sound," she blurted out suddenly, lurching to her feet. Seeing the confused expressions directed at her, she elaborated. "Think about it! They've been searching for something for nearly two years now, and do any of the places they hit hold village secrets? No," the rosette shook her head firmly. "The thing they've been searching so hard to find is…us. Rogue."
There was another silence as they absorbed this information, and then Spinner shook her head.
"This is not good," she stated redundantly, heaving herself to her feet. She turned to Sakura. "We must confirm this theory of yours. If this is true, then the Sound village is much more powerful then both the villages and rogue are aware of. If they are to come after us, we must be prepared. And we must know why."
The old rogue's hands blurred for a moment in a complicated jutsu, and then two small pieces of paper were in her hands. She offered one to Kichi and one to Sakura.
"Here is the name of the contact that sent me the report and her location. If anyone else attempts to read the paper other then the two of you, they will see nothing. The two of you will find out how she got her information." Spinner's dark sapphire eyes glinted. "If rogue must war with Sound to protect our secrets, we will. Pack."
The two scrambled to obey, pulling their possessions together in an almost frantic manner. An hour later, they were almost ready to leave when Spinner pulled Sakura aside.
"I want you to take care of Kichi," the old woman told her, sapphire eyes dead serious. "Do you understand?"
Sakura gaped at her. She'd known that Spinner and Kichi didn't really hate each other, but the world would burn before either of them admitted it. This was more shocking then finding out the rogue could go to war with the villages. "Why in Kami's name would you ask me to do that? Do you actually like Kichi?"
"You know perfectly well that I despise that twisted, arrogant snake of a girl," Spinner told her crankily. "The only reason I want her alive is because she's taking some of my best weapons with her and if she dies I'll never get them back. So keep her alive long enough to return them!"
Through a supreme effort of will, Sakura managed not to snicker. "Sure, Spinner. I'll get your weapons back here safe and sound."
"Good. And speaking of weapons, here," the old woman held out a pair of matched twin knives, sheathed in elegant blue leather. "My gift to you."
Sakura took the knives, eyes wide. She drew one from the sheath and looked at it curiously. The handle was black, the blade shining, good-quality steel, but it was too thin and flat to do much damage. She titled the blade, peering at the handle, and her thumb brushed a hidden latch.
The knife sprang open, a collection of other steel knives clicking out around it to form a sharp half-circle. It was not a knife, but a steel fan. Pulling out its twin, Sakura saw the same was true.
She looked up at the old woman, eyes wide. "Spinner, these are…"
"I designed them myself," her mentor stated gruffly. "Specifically for you. You use them well-don't embarrass me."
"I wouldn't dream of it," the rosette promised fervently. Already she was thinking about the things she could do with the twin fans.
Kichi's thundering steps down the stairs distracted her from her thoughts, and then the brunette was by her side.
"Hey; we ready to go?" she asked breathlessly. Then she noticed the fans. "Oooh, nice, babe. Look at the new toy Spinner got me."
Grinning wickedly, the girl unfurled a whip from around her arm. It was steel, made of spiked metal links of chain instead of leather, and there was a lethal spiked weight on the end. It looked dangerous and perfect for Kichi.
"Ooooh…" Eyes wide, Sakura leaned forward to examine the weapon. "Awesome…"
"If we are done gawking like idiots?" Spinner snapped, whopping both of them on the head with her ever-present walking stick. "Could we go save the rogue now?"
"Fine, fine," Kichi grumbled, maturely giving Spinner the finger. "We're going, hag."
"And make it quick!" the old rogue shouted after them, as they stepped out of the house.
Kichi looked at Sakura. "After you, babe."
Sakura shrugged, and the two started to run.
"And so, we went to see Spinner's informant. She was in…"
Sakura's voice cut off abruptly as something outside the cave rumbled uneasily. Then, the distinct sounds of footsteps crunched near the entrance.
The rogue waved the genin behind her, drawing Nariko. A second later, a figure stood in the entrance to the cave.
Sakura relaxed. "Oh. Hey, Kichi."
Yeah, I know the ending was a bit off. I was going to redo the training with Spinner and I really wanted to get in some face time between Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura (It's coming up! Next chapter, swear to God) but I wanted to get this posted before summer ended. So, enjoy! And remember, REVIEWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!
