Chapter 11
Sasuke breathed out calmly, controlling his chakra as his chidori blade started to fluctuate. It seemed that the maximum amount of time that the young Uchiha could hold the blade of lightning for was about 10 minutes.
The Uchiha let the chidori blade fizzle out, seeing as he could no longer hold it.
Instead of trying to create a new chidori, Sasuke simply started to meditate. He didn't have a lot of chakra left, and he wanted to save some in case he was attacked.
He still didn't know the dangers of training in the woods.
A slight shuffling alerted the Uchiha, as he looked around quickly. Sasuke didn't move from his meditative position, though he was sensing the area for a presence of an intruder.
There!
Sasuke looked behind him, getting his chakra ready for a jutsu...to see a maid stumble out of a bush.
The Uchiha's eyebrows raised in curiosity. What was the maid doing here in a time like this? Sasuke's eyes narrowed. It could be some kind of illusion or something. He still didn't know what to expect.
Siesta walked to the young Uchiha, an inquisitive look on her face. "What are you doing out here, Mister Sasuke?" She asked, looking at the boy's meditative position with interest.
"That's my question," Sasuke replied nonchalantly.
The maid flushed, before she quickly explained. "I had to run an errand, but it took longer than expected. So right now I'm on my way back to the academy."
Sasuke nodded, taking her words in with caution. It seemed that the girl was being honest, but he didn't want to let his guard down.
"What are you doing?" Siesta asked, as she sat down, facing the young Uchiha. The boy's eyes twitched as another person chose to interrupt his business. What was up with the denizens of the world!
He briskly responded, "Meditating."
Siesta's face lit up. "I've heard of meditation before, but I've never seen someone do it before!" She then asked kindly, "Can you teach me?"
"It's not hard," Sasuke responded, his eyes still closed. "Just copy me." He didn't have the will nor time to try and teach someone something so simple.
The maid then got into the same position as Sasuke, and she closed her eyes. The Uchiha was still searching her for any signs of deceit, but he had yet to find anything.
After a couple minutes, Sasuke noticed that the maid's breathing had calmed, and her body had noticeably relaxed. She must have been pretty stressed.
"Um..Mister Sasuke?" The maid asked, breaking the silence between the two. After a little while, the girl assumed that the Uchiha was listening, so she went on. "What was your land like?"
Sasuke flinched ever so slightly as he took that in. That meant that she had somehow gained the information that he was from another world!
"I mean, you were summoned from a different place than Tristain," Siesta remarked, not noticing the Uchiha's tenseness dissipate at those words. "So what was your home village like?"
The Uchiha paused, thinking of his home village. The Leaf Village really wasn't his home anymore, since he had left it for the Sound.
But the Sound really wasn't a place that he called home either.
So he didn't really have a home.
"It's none of your business," Sasuke stoically responded, noting the crestfallen look on the maid's face. He shook his head, before adding more. "I can't return there anyway."
Siesta gave an understanding smile, before it she started frowning. "Do you ever wish to go back to your land?" The maid asked, looking at Sasuke with a calculating gaze.
The Uchiha shrugged calmly, "Maybe someday." That was the truth.
Another silence settled in between the two as Sasuke focused on meditating, and Siesta tried to work up the courage to ask more questions.
Siesta whispered quietly, "My grandfather said he was from another land." Sasuke twitched at that, opening his eyes in alarm. Could it be... "Nobody believed him, but he would always tell such grand stories about his land."
"Tell me those stories," Sasuke demanded, looking at Siesta for the first time in their conversation. The maid seemed a little shocked by the Uchiha's sudden outburst, but nevertheless, she continued.
"He said that he came from a land with only one moon!" Sasuke's eyes widened. A land with only one moon! That meant that her grandfather must have...
"Oh I have to go!" Siesta yelled suddenly, as the Uchiha started to stare into the sky, slowly thinking about the maid's words. If the girl had a grandfather that really came from the elemental nations...
"Wait," Sasuke said, stopping the maid who had just gotten up. "Is your grandfather still alive?" Siesta shifted her eyes slightly, shaking her head in sadness.
"No, he passed away a while ago."
The Uchiha sighed quietly to himself. Another lead was gone. But the fact that he was actually getting somewhere excited the young Uchiha quite a bit. There was a definite links between the two worlds. He was sure of it.
"Thank you for helping me," Siesta responded earnestly, as she bowed to the sitting boy. "I really enjoyed meditation, and talking with you."
The girl's face started to flush in embarrassment. "But I think the best part was just being close to you, Mister Sasuke." The Uchiha's eyes widened, but the girl fled towards the academy, yelling out a final farewell. Sasuke stared at the spot where she was just at, thinking about what she had said.
But Sasuke didn't really dwell on those words. There was definitely other people in the world that were from the Elemental Nations. Now he was sure about it.
If only he was able to meet that girl's grandfather...
"Partner, shouldn't that other you be back by now?" Derflinger asked from his spot on the ground. The Uchiha was snapped out of his thoughts as he looked in the direction of the academy.
His clone should have been back by now! It hadn't dispelled, he knew that.
"Anyway, Partner, can you explain to me that magic you did to duplicate yourself?"
Sasuke thought about it for a little bit, before he shrugged. There was no harm in not doing it. Besides, his sword would be fighting with him for quite a while, so it would eventually find out.
"It's called the Shadow Clone Technique." Sasuke stated, looking at the sky. "It's very useful; it creates a solid clone of the user that has its own conscious mind and thoughts. However, it takes only one hit to dispel a clone."
"Interesting," Derflinger piped, causing the Uchiha to look at his sword in annoyance. Derflinger asked for the explanation, so he shouldn't be interrupting!
"When a clone is dispelled, it gives all memories back to the original, so it is very useful for reconnaissance and other means."
That got Derflinger talking, "What a cool thing to have, partner! Can you show it to me?"
Sasuke furrowed his eyebrow in irritation. He had just done it not too long ago when he first started training. But nevertheless, the Uchiha put his hands into a cross shaped position.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu," He whispered, as a perfect duplicate appeared next to him.
"Are you happy?" The two Uchihas demanded, perfectly synchronized.
"Wow!" Derflinger yelled. This was the first time the sword had seen such crazy magic, so it was only natural to be excited about it. His partner sure was powerful.
But unfortunately for the original, he had used a bit too much chakra in his training, and making another shadow clone used up most of his chakra. The shadow clone jutsu was not a forbidden jutsu for no reason, after all.
And with that said, the original passed out on his Clone, dispelling it in the process.
"Hey Partner!" Derflinger yelled in worry, as the boy was currently lying on the grass, unconscious.
The sword sighed.
Clone sighed with contentment as he opened the door to Louise's room. He couldn't find any food because the kitchen wasn't open, but that was fine.
He didn't really expect them to be open that late anyway.
"Where have you been, Familiar?" Louise's irritated voice snapped. Clone's eyes widened very slightly with shock, he didn't expect the pink haired girl to be awake so late!
Hopefully she wasn't too mad at him.
He'd rather have the original deal with the girl when she was in a bad mood. Clone scratched the back of his head, trying to act cool as he stoically replied, "None of your b..."
Clone trailed off as his face flushed red.
Louise looked at her familiar with a curiosity, as he just stopped moving. Now the boy was just staring at the pink haired girl with a look that she had never seen before.
"What's wrong, Familiar?" Louise asked after a couple minutes. Her familiar was now just staring vacantly, and his face was all red.
The pink haired girl got up in worry. Could her familiar be sick or something? Maybe he had contracted some illness after they had stayed at the Charmin Fairy Tavern!
Louise walked towards her familiar, when suddenly he wrapped his arms around the pink haired girl.
"Hey!" Louise screeched, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "What do you think you're doing to me!" Her familiar had no response, as the two continued to hug, Louise protesting all the while.
"Never before have I seen such beauty," The black haired boy whispered to her. The pink haired girl blushed, but continued to struggle. "You're amazing," he whispered. If the original was present, there would no doubt be a look of disgust on his face. And there would probably be a chidori blade through the Clone as well.
Something terrible had happened to her familiar.
Their door creaked open, and Louise turned her head to see Montmorency staring at the duo with a regretful expression. Louise tried to stop her from seeing the two of them, but the blonde haired girl simply put her hand on her forehead.
"Looks like I came too late."
Louise growled as she heard Montmorency explain the whole story to her. Her familiar had been dumb enough to drink a love potion, and now he was infatuated with his master!
But what the pink haired girl really wanted to know, was why the blonde girl had a love potion in the first place!
"Everyone knows that potions designed to alter emotional states are restricted by law!" Louise yelled, causing Montmorency to wince in fear.
"I made one so that Guiche would stop cheating on me! It was the only way!" The blonde haired girl responded heatedly, but she knew that her argument was weak and futile.
Louise knew that too.
"You should have never done that! And now I have to deal with your mess!" Louise replied, glaring at her familiar, who was now hugging her arm with elation.
Granted, it was funny to see just how much her familiar had changed after taking the potion.
"It isn't so bad.." Montmorency murmured, taking glances at the familiar, who had taken permanent residence on Louise's arm. "After all, now he's a lot more submissive than before. You could make him do chores now! You could probably make him do anything for you now!"
The blonde haired girl was just trying to make things up to save her skin, but she did have a point. Louise wondered if her familiar would now obey her commands.
"Look," Montmorency stated seriously. "Just have him around for one day, see if you like the change in his behavior."
Louise thought about it for a bit, before responding, "And if I don't?"
"We'll deal with that when it comes," Montmorency remarked nervously, twiddling her thumbs.
The pink haired girl was silent for a couple minutes, but every second seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Finally, Louise decided. "Fine, I'll do that. This better work."
Montmorency sighed, before quickly shuffling out of the room.
Louise looked at her arm, which had grown numb from how hard her familiar was gripping it. What a dumb familiar, to fall for such a trap.
But the pink haired girl had to admit, it was nice getting attention from him.
"You have to show me how to wash these!" Her familiar whined. Louise growled in frustration. It seemed that the love potion had made the boy into a little kid!
They were currently outside, washing her dirty clothes.
"Have you ever done laundry before!" Louise snapped, causing her familiar to recoil as if he was struck. Honestly, it was like he had never done these things before.
But then again, he usually just ignored the chores that she gave him.
"Like this," Louise said gently, as she started to scrub down her shirt. It was humiliating to wash her own clothes, and she was lucky that her elder sisters had taught her how.
Her familiar looked at her with an expression of awe, and she could feel her cheeks burning up with embarrassment. Her familiar had started to praise her at every single thing she did.
It did make her feel good, even if it did get annoying sometimes.
Her familiar smiled, before starting to wash her clothes. Louise looked at the boy with satisfaction, as she started to help him. 'What?" Louise asked, seeing her familiar look at her with curiosity. "A master should help her familiar."
That got a nod out of the young boy, and a big grin.
It was strange...Louise had never seen her familiar smile..ever. It was always a smirk or a look of arrogance. But it was nice to see him smile once in a while.
"Hello...Mister Sasuke!" A maid said as she saw the two working together. The maid then bowed to the pink haired girl. "Good morning, Miss Valliere."
Louise looked at the maid in suspicion. The two knew each other? By the look in the maid's eyes, the two were quite close as well. The pink haired girl pointed a finger towards her familiar, "You've been going off to see other girls haven't you!"
Her familiar instantly put his hands up in defense, rebutting her statement. "No way! She was just passing by! The only girl I care about is you, master!"
Louise smirked as the maid's face took on a crushed expression. For some reason, she really liked it when her familiar said that. And the less time he was spending with other girls, the more time he would spend tending to his master's needs.
The maid's whole body seemed to shake, and it seemed like she was going to start screaming. But almost immediately afterwards, she started to smile, albeit forced. "You are popular with women, Mister Sasuke."
With that, the maid took off.
Louise sort of felt bad for the poor girl, and she started to regret her words. She looked towards her familiar, who had started to faithfully wash her clothes again.
"Stay here," She ordered, getting an eager nod from the boy. The pink haired girl then started running in the direction of the maid.
She ended up finding the maid next to a water fountain, washing clothes. As she arrived, the maid gave another forced smile. "Hello, Miss Valliere."
Louise didn't really know how to start the conversation, but she just followed her instincts. "Look, back there...the reason Sasuke is acting like that is because of a love potion."
The maid's face didn't change. "You don't have to lie to me, Miss Valliere. There was nothing there to begin with." At that, the maid's face trembled very slightly.
Louise started to get annoyed by the girl. She had came out and told the truth, but yet she still wasn't believed! "I'm telling the truth!" She yelled, causing the maid to look up in surprise.
But the girl returned to washing clothes. "Everyone knows that potions like that are banned." Louise gritted her teeth in anger. "I'm sorry, but I'm busy now."
The maid then got up, not even halfway done with her laundry, before she walked away.
Louise huffed in annoyance. If the maid didn't want to listen to her, then so be it!
As the pink haired girl came back to the place where she left her familiar, she half expected it to be empty. But the boy was faithfully waiting there, the laundry finished.
Louise bit her lip as she looked at the scene. Her familiar looked so different...The boy was just sitting down on the ground, looking around the area, most likely for her.
Would he be okay with what she was doing right now? With the whole manipulating him to do chores thing. Louise didn't even know how long the potion would last for.
She shook her head in frustration. It just didn't feel right to see her familiar in a state like that.
The pink haired girl would definitely have to have a talk with Montmorency.
"I don't know..." The blonde girl said, as he put her hand on head to think. "Maybe a month, or was it a year?"
"What!" A blonde boy yelled, as he looked at Montmorency in shock. "You mean to tell me that you were going to put me under that potion!"
Montmorency chuckled nervously. She then took a look at Louise, who was standing silently. The pink haired girl seemed to be thinking quite a lot about the whole situation.
"Look, Louise, it isn't that ba-"
"I want you to cure him." Louise stated with finality. That got looks of surprise from both the blonde kids. "I don't want him to stay the way he is right now."
"Why not?!" Montmorency questioned. The boy had basically become the perfect familiar! He would do anything that was asked of him, as long as it was from Louise, and he was loyal!
"I just..want him the back to the way he was," was the response of the pink haired girl.
Montmorency shook her head. The girl was so stubborn some times. "I'm sorry Louise, there is a antidote to the potion, but I don't have the materials required to make it."
Louise's face lit up with a devious smirk. "Well I'm sure that you could find them in prison..."
The blonde haired girl's face went pale, as she stammered. "W-w-what do you mean?"
Louise took on an innocent look. "Well everyone knows that potions like that aren't exactly legal..." She trailed off, before continuing. "So if you want to stay out of prison, it would be good to make the cure as quickly as possible."
"But the required ingredients aren't in the academy!"
"Well it's too bad..." Louise smirked, turning to the door slightly. "I think I saw Headmaster Osmond walking around outside a classroom..."
"Fine!" Montmorency yelled, startling Guiche. "I'll go immediately to get the materials required to cure your familiar!"
"You'll leave tomorrow," Louise demanded, gaining a shaky nod from the blond haired girl.
A horse neighed as their carriage set out. Louise sighed in annoyance as her familiar hugged her arm again. Her arm was going to be sore because of the grip the boy had on her.
"Where are we going?" The pink haired girl asked.
Guiche had decided to come along for some reason, probably to get a vacation. He responded, giving an arrogant smile. "We are going to Lagdorian Lake."
Louse nodded absentmindedly, shaking her arm slightly to try and get some feeling back into her arm.
"How long is the trip going to be?" Louise whined, as her familiar just gripped her tighter. The attention that he was giving her had basically gotten old. She didn't know how much longer she could bear with her familiar.
"Half a day's worth," Montmorency remarked, a smirk on her face. Louise groaned in utter contempt, glaring at the blonde haired girl, who simply thought one thing.
Payback.
Sasuke groaned groggily as he wiped his eyes. The sun blinded him for a couple moments, before he turned over on his side, getting up slowly.
He must have passed out during training.
"Finally, you're awake!" A voice yelled out, causing the Uchiha to instantly roll over on his side, his body ready for a fight. "Down here, partner!"
Sasuke looked down to the ground to see Derflinger laughing.
"You passed out during training! It's been about a day since you fell unconscious, patner." The Uchiha nodded absentmindedly, before he took in the words completely.
He had been out for a day?!
The Uchiha started to search his memories, and what he found, rather what he didn't find alarmed him. He had no memories from his clone, which meant that he was either suffering from memory loss, or his clone had not dispelled yet.
But the clone didn't have nearly enough chakra to stay alive that long.
Then again, there were some pretty powerful potions that could somehow extend a clone's lifespan in this world. Sasuke grunted, picking up his sword and taking off in the direction of the academy, leaping up on branches.
While he was jumping from tree to tree, the Uchiha noticed something. There was a clopping sound that was getting closer and closer to him.
Sasuke dived behind a tree trunk, waiting and watching to see whatever had been making that noise.
But what he saw made the Uchiha's stoic face turn to one of complete and utter shock. There was his clone, riding on a horse. But that was not the problem.
The problem was that his clone was currently on that horse with another person.
A person that the clone was kissing.
Sasuke was speechless as the horse passed by. He didn't even noticed that there was another horse behind his clone. On reflex, the Uchiha pulled out a kunai, and swung his arm back, ready to kill them all. The Uchiha's eyes widened in horror at the scene in front of him, before he clenched his fists, taking aim.
He heard the pink haired girl cry out, "How dare you do that to me, you disgusting Familiar!" But that didn't matter. All that mattered was that he destroyed his clone. What was happening?!
"Wait, Partner!"
Sasuke's hand stopped mid-throw, and he looked down to glare at his sword.
"What is it!" The Uchiha snapped angrily. That clone...it had made a mockery of him! A mockery of the Uchiha name!
"Your clone...seems to be under the effect of a potion. I can sense a change in its magical energy."
Sasuke's eyes widened before his Sharingan activated. He stared at the retreating form of his clone, and he noticed...that the clone did have something distorting it's chakra.
Another chakra?
It seemed to be increasing the chakra level of the Clone, but the strange foreign chakra was mostly focused in the clone's head. The Uchiha shook his head, before trying once again to dispel his clone.
"Partner!" Derflinger said, stopping Sasuke for the second time. "If what you told me about clones is correct, then won't the effect that the clone is under be transferred to you?"
Sasuke scowled as he thought about it. That was right! The chakra that was affecting his clone might come back to him if he tried to dispel it.
And that would mean that he would be in the same position as his clone.
Just another down side of the shadow clone jutsu.
The thing affecting his clone was no genjutsu. No non-Uchiha genjutsu was strong enough that the sharingan could not break through it. But Derflinger had mentioned a potion.
Which meant that his clone must have drunken something.
Sasuke growled, looking down at the ground. He couldn't just allow his clone to do whatever it pleased. There was no way he could allow...anybody to go around insulting the Uchiha name! His Clone would die! And the rest of the others as well!
"No, Partner!" Derflinger yelled. But it was too late.
Two kunai went flying towards the clone. Unfortunately for him, the riders were already out of range. The Uchiha growled before starting to throw more projectiles at the disappearing figures. But no matter what he did, nothing seemed to reach them.
Finally, the Uchiha had had enough, making six handsigns for a fireball. But as the conflagration was traveling towards the distant riders, another fireball intercepted it, canceling it out. Sasuke growled as the Clone must have sensed him and countered his attacks.
Derflinger sighed in relief as Sasuke ranted. His partner was safe for now.
"Head to the academy and go ask a teacher for a potion book." Derflinger ordered, halting the Uchiha, who was about to chase down his clone. "Then you can make an antidote to give to your clone."
But the question the sword had...was what potion was the clone under?
Sasuke remained motionless, causing Derflinger to worry. "Come on, partner! The quicker you do this, the quicker you can help your clone!"
The Uchiha still didn't budge, thinking about what had made his clone do that. Was his clone not powerful enough to resist the effects of a potion?
Was he not strong enough...
"Partner! Get over your foolish pride!"
The Uchiha clenched his fists taking in those words. He couldn't stand it when someone tried to impersonate him. Even if it was his clone!
But he had to focus!
"Tch," Sasuke responded, leaping from his hiding position towards the academy. He didn't want to admit it, but the sword's plan was probably the best plan of action.
The Uchiha sped through the forests, a huge trail of dust left behind him. His pride and honor had been ruined by the clone...But it wasn't time to focus on that.
What he had to do was try and prevent the clone from destroying even more of the Uchiha's honor!
The foreign chakra that had invaded his clone was unmistakable. If he could find a copy of that chakra, then he could easily find out what potion his clone had drunken.
And find the antidote.
He only hoped that it wouldn't be too late.