Sakura cursed as she tumbled from the tree branches. Again. Landing with a soft thump, bending her knees and bracing her palms on the ground to steady herself, Sakura craned back her neck and peered upwards. Now, normally, when tree jumping you gathered chakra in your feet and kept up a steady flow in pace with the chakra of the trees. But these old grey trees, which towered over her and cast the entire forest into gloom, were odd. Their chakra fluctuated, and instead of a steady flow it spiked randomly – tossing her off the branches and down to the ground, each and every time. She scowled darkly.
Sakura stood carefully, brushing a leaf out of her hair. Strange. All around her there was no sound, save for that of creaky branches, and that scraping sound you get when one tree moves against another in the wind. There wasn't any wind.
Sakura shivered when she noticed this.
Ok…sufficiently creepy…
The trees around her did not move, but she had an inexplicable feeling that they were closing in…she felt claustrophobic. A wary glance about herself showed no signs of a path, nor any signs of the hobbits. Knurled and twisted trunks loomed through the shadow of the forest floor, and curled away into a canopy so thick, not a speck of light could be seen through it. She wasn't even sure if there was any light to come through. Sakura began walking thoughtfully, as she tried to figure out what day it was, or what time. She had left Eomer and the horsemen at dawn, and had searched the edges of the forest for the better part of the day before plunging in, and getting lost. She had slept once during that time, though she'd pushed herself to stay awake as long as possible, and guessed to have been travelling for a good six hours since then. Her stomach grumbled at the reminder. It was briefly quieted with a few scraps of lembas bread, found lurking at the bottom of her pack. And that was it. A short and futile search showed that there were no berries or edible roots in the near vicinity. There was nothing in this big dead forest but trees shadows and whispers. For a moment, she imagined that the trees might be talking to each other…
She smacked herself hard. She was a big bad ninja, not some scared little kid. She needed to stop letting her imagination run away with her.
Sakura idly healed the bruise as she stepped over a large protruding root, one which just screamed "I'm here to trip you, and laugh when you fall on your face." Metaphorically of course. Sakura carefully placed a foot over it, stretching her legs out so as to make sure she wasn't even touching the bark. Then equally carefully, lifted her foot high and brought it over the root, to land safely on the other side.
She tripped.
What the- DID THAT THING JUST MOVE?
Sakura sputtered, wiping mud off her face roughly with the back of her hand, and spun around to glare at the root in question. It looked exactly the same. And smug.
Sakura did not stop to wonder how exactly a root managed to look smug, but jerked herself to her feet and swiped the dirt off her clothes. Then she kicked it. Hard. And stomped off, leaving little craters where her heels hit the earth. Her grand departure was lessened in effect somewhat, as a branch seemed to come from nowhere and smack her in the stomach. She groaned. Now at this point, most people would curse, and wonder how the hell they managed to miss a branch so big, before passing it off as being an effect of the dark. Sakura cursed loudly, punched the branch into splinters, and then cursed the darkness for ruining her perfect 20-20 ninja vision.
A branch fell on her head.
Well, she managed to jump out of the way in time, being a ninja, but it certainly would have landed on her head if she hadn't moved. She was beginning to think this forest had it in for her.
"So help me, if you throw one more sodding branch at me, I will rip apart EVERY DAMNED TREE HERE!"
"I'm afraid threats don't really work on trees."
Sakura picked up the fallen branch and threw it.
It exploded. Sakura shrieked, and threw herself to the ground. Blinding white light flooded the area, and she buried her face in her arms, eyes streaming and stinging from the sheer brightness. She bit her lip painfully as shards of wood hit her skin, leaving deep splinters and long cuts. Her head was down, and she laid flat on her stomach, but her whole form was tense and ready to spring as slow footsteps crunched over fallen pieces of bark. The light receded slowly, and she risked raising her head. It seemed to shine from a stone of some kind, atop a long staff. Silhouetted against it was the hunched form of a man, with flowing robes and long white hair. She caught her breath.
Galadriel called Sarumon the White Wizard…The Uruks were taking the hobbits to him, which means this Forest could easily be close to that place, Isengard, so this…
…Shit.
The curse word seemed to echo in her brain as the footsteps drew closer. She squinted at the figure, which was reaching out a hand. She flattened herself against the floor, drawing chakra to her plams. The fingers brushed her hair. She sprang.
Sakura surged to her feet, fist glowing and outstretched, and came face to face with a dead man.
She pulled her punch just millimetres from his crooked nose, and her fist hovered there as her eyes widened, and a gasp dropped from her hanging jaw. The wizard cocked his head to the side, and raised a single bushy eyebrow, with a pointed (if a little cross-eyed) look at the knuckles dangling in front of his face. Sakura didn't drop her hand. In fact, he was somewhat surprised to see her suddenly snap out of her shocked stupor and direct a glare at him that he was quite sure would singe his beard, if looks had such power. From what he remembered of this girl though, he should not have been surprised at all, and his memories were returning to him in a slow steady stream, now that she stood in front of him in all her fierce glory.
"Why do you look like my friend?" She hissed mistrustfully. Despite the venom directed at him, the old man felt a warming in his chest, hearing her call him a friend, however indirectly.
"I am only myself, and nobody else," he replied mildly, spreading his arms. "I am reborn."
"Bullshit."
He blinked. Then smiled his kindly smile, and lowered his arms.
"I assure you, Sakura," – for he had at last remembered her name – "that I am me. It is me. Reborn." He repeated, helpfully, benign smile in place.
She narrowed her eyes at him, and he was inwardly alarmed to see her fist – still in front of his nose – tighten ever so slightly. He could stop it, of course, but he had no wish to hurt the girl, and was already feeling quite guilty at the various cuts she was currently sporting, courtesy of one poorly aimed exploding branch. On one hand, he was pleased that she did not immediately trust his word – she would be hard for the likes of Sarumon to fool – but on the other, it was going to be difficult to convince her that he was indeed alive, and standing before her. It would help if he could remember his own name. He'd been secretly hoping for her to call him by it. It would be most embarrassing to have to ask.
He sighed.
Sakura examined his features. Every wrinkle was the same, the age spot under his left eye hadn't gone, those bushy silver eyebrows could still rival Rock Lee's, and that damned twinkle-eyed smile that just made you want to trust in the old man. The only difference was in his hair – which had once been an unruly grey – and now fell about his shoulders in a sleek mane of snow-white. His beard was white too, and neater than she remembered.
Why would someone pretend to be a lost friend, mimic every detail of their face, yet get the basic features – like hair colour - wrong?
It made no sense. Sakura narrowed her eyes threateningly, but slowly dropped her fist. It rested on her hip, but the greenish glow about her knuckles left no doubt that it was any less dangerous, or any less likely to meet his nose in the near future. Her voice was short and sharp.
"Prove it."
He seemed to consider this for a moment, as if searching for a reply. His grey eyes were cast upwards in thought, and he brought a thumb and finger to his chin in the classic "thoughtful" pose. Memories, memories. He needed a memory of her, one that he could not know, if he were not him. He smiled as it came to him, a warm day, early in their journey. A friendly game. A silly contest.
"Your name is Haruno Sakura – because in your homeland the family name is pronounced first – and in the language of your home it means "Cherry Blossoms of spring", in full."
Her eyes widened. A good sign. He smiled again, and continued.
"You wish to walk side by side with your teammates. Pippin likes your hair. In a hair contest, you said you should win because of it's uniqueness, but the winner was instead proclaimed to be Bill the pony –" She suddenly cut him off.
" – because he had the most." Sakura's fist dropped from her hip and her hands hung limply by her sides.
"Gandalf?" She whispered, unsurely.
Ah. There it was. His name. Gandalf smiled happily at her.
"It is good to see you again my dear."
"How…?"
His eyes crinkled at the corners, and his smile widened to show his teeth.
"I was rather hoping you would ask that…"
Sakura's jaw dropped further and further as he described a hole with no end, which did in fact, end. A fall, long and dark. A lake. A cold and snow-covered mountain. A battle. A win. A rebirth.
As he finished, and paused to gather his breath – for it was a long tale – Sakura asked a not-completely unexpected question.
"Did you know?" she asked in a small voice, "that you would be reborn?"
He smiled that all-knowing, soothing smile. "Not at all."
"WHAT?"
This time she did hit him. He stumbled back half a step, rubbing his arm in some surprise. He watched the suddenly seething girl nervously.
"You just bloody LET GO, intending to fall to your bloody DEATH? And just left ME bloody HANGING THERE, crying and feeling like utter shit cos' I'd let you do it? And Frodo! He couldn't even be unreasonable and blame me for it! EVEN THOUGH HE SHOULD. And now you're here, and you're fucking FINE and acting like INTENTIONALLY dropping to your death is all bloody fine and dandy? You utterly STUPID, idiotic,unreasonable OLD MAN!"
She stopped, breathing hard. His wrinkled hand landed softly on top of her head, and gently patted her hair.
"Forgive me for causing you pain, Sakura. You must understand that at the time, I thought there was no other choice."
"There's always a damn choice," she muttered, swiping a hand across suddenly watery green eyes. Sakura gave him a somewhat half hearted glare.
"Don't do it again."
"I shall endeavour not to."
There was a long moment of quiet, in which he kept a look of soft understanding and sympathy on his face. Finally, she looked up and smiled at him. A calm seemed to have fallen over the forest, as the whispers died down to a soft murmur, and the branches were still. Above the canopy, insects hovered lazily among the leaves and in the air, sunning their wings. For a long moment Fanghorn was at peace. Until a shrill, angry voice ripped through the air, and the bugs scattered in alarm.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LEFT MERRY AND PIPPIN WITH A TALKING TREE?"
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Short Author Note:
EDIT: Thank you to Hima for correcting the Japanese translation of Sakura's Name. I freely admit that I know no japanese at all and rely purely on Wikipedia. It's been changed from 'Springtime of Cherry Blossom' to 'Cherry Blossom of Spring'. Hope that makes you happier Hima, and thank you for the correction :)
