Hi, everyone! Here's another quick update! And it's finally an interaction between the two Targaryen sisters! From here on, Sakura will have a bigger presence and soon Sasuke will appear!
Until then, enjoy!
A Storm of Blood and Fire
Chapter Three
"Do you ever miss our brother, sister?"
The question is innocent enough, Ino supposes — Sakura has always liked broaching difficult subjects after their bath together. But because Ino knows her younger sister like the back of her hand — or at least, she had until Tsunade began mentoring Sakura, for who knows what — Ino knows there's a reason why Sakura chose to ask this question, especially since neither of them have ever brought up their brother in the four years after they were smuggled out of the castle that had become less and less like a home to them and more like a prison.
"Sometimes," Ino answers carefully. She resumes brushing Sakura's pink locks as if the question never bothered her — she knows better than to think Sakura hadn't noticed her discomfort at the mention of their rarely-sane brother.
"Do you?" she redirects the question, hoping to distract her highly observant sister.
Sakura shrugs, her wet hair moving with the motion. "Sometimes," she echoes her sister's answer.
Ino wonders if it's the truth. Sakura had been much closer to Juugo than Ino had ever been. And as much as Ino tries to bury the memory, she remembers how painful Juugo's arrow had been for Sakura — it hadn't been just a physical pain or just a physical scar, the pain and the scar it left had also been a very emotional one too. It was very much the line that shouldn't have been crossed and the very moment Sakura had realized that Juugo was beyond saving, something Ino and their mother had realized long before the burnings had begun.
Not for the first time, Ino finds herself staring at the ugly scar peeking above the towel wrapped around her sister's slender body. Even through the slightly fogged mirror, Ino can see very clearly the slightly red, the slightly raw, skin still trying to heal the hole the arrow had punctured only just slightly above Sakura's heart. The scar, the only reminder of that terrifying event, has Ino seeing red.
"Whenever I begin to miss him," she tells Sakura as if she were divulging a secret, "I just think of all the terrible things he's done. You can't miss someone you hate."
And Ino's hatred for Juugo runs deep, deeper than she'd ever let Sakura know. The King-Slayer had been too kind. Their brother deserved to suffer so much more for what he did, for every terror and fright he had given the two of them. Instead of stabbing him in the back, Ino would've forced Juugo to drink his own dragon's boiling blood. That would have been divine punishment for everything Juugo did, for every tear he made them shed — made Sakura shed.
"I miss mother more."
The sadness in that one sentence erases all murderous thought from Ino's mind. "I miss her too," she concedes.
"Father as well."
Ino can't bring herself to say the same, the hand holding the hairbrush pausing yet again. "Father did dote on you, almost as if you were his only child." Her jealousy seeps into her words, despite how hard she tries to hold it back.
The one and only thing she had ever agreed with Juugo on is the fact that their father had been extremely biased towards Sakura. Kizashi had never shown either Juugo or Ino the same amount of affection he did Sakura, and neither of them ever knew why. The rumored reason everyone believed, that Kizashi believed Sakura's pink hair was the gods' gift for him to symbolize his victorious wars, was bullshit — even their mother had told them so, but Kizashi had never told even his beloved wife the true reason.
"Don't say that," Sakura chides, turning her head to glance up at her older sister's face. She grabs Ino's hand and gently caresses it. "Father loved you and Juugo with all his heart."
After putting down the hairbrush, Ino replies with a small smile. "You're so sweet," she coos, putting her free hand on Sakura's cheek. "You've always been so sweet. Mother always said even your first breath was sweet."
Sakura rolls her eyes before turning to stare into the mirror again. "Yes, yes, sweet like the flowers I was named after. You and mother always said so, so very often in fact that I've almost grown tired hearing it."
"Sweet enough that not even that old thorny tart can't corrupt you." Ino doesn't realize exactly how frightening she looks then, how much the look in her blue eyes looks so much like their brother's in one of his fits.
Sakura hides her discomfort easily, but Ino can still see how taunt Sakura's lips have grown, how uneasily Sakura looks at her. "Ino," her younger sister says rather exasperatedly, "I know you don't like her, but she's been teaching me a great deal of things, things that will help us take back your throne."
Ino shakes her head before pacing their shared bedroom. Their dragons seem to sense the tension in the room, flying to rest of their respective owner's shoulder — Ino's dragon even hisses at Sakura.
"She's an ally," Sakura repeats for what may be the hundredth time in just this year. She stands from her chair, clutching her towel with one hand. "Please, sister, I do not wish to fight you on this again, especially not when today's our last day together."
Ino stops abruptly, a menacing image with her arms crossed and a strict glower on her face.
"Please, sister."
"Very well," Ino sighs, "But only because you asked so nicely." She's surprised when Sakura's arms wrap around her — her dragon hadn't expected it either, for the little dragon jumps off her shoulder in shock.
"I'll miss you so much, Ino," Sakura says, her voice shaking and her eyes watery. She hides her tears by burying her face in the silk of Ino's dress.
"I'll miss you so much more," Ino replies, patting the top of Sakura's head. "It'll be the first time we've ever been separated, and I'll be thinking about you every moment."
"Promise you'll remember me?"
Ino lets out a giggle. "I'm sure I'm not going to forget my baby sister." She has the urge to ruffle up her sister's hair but decides against it. "Remember everything I told you, Sakura. There's no meaning to a flower unless it blooms, and there are many reasons why a flower won't bloom — do not do anything that might get you killed."
Sakura nods, and she seems so much like a child that Ino's heart almost hurts at the thought of sending her away. It's better this way, Ino reminds herself. Better to send her away than to let that Tyrell bitch sink her claws further into her.
"You'll bloom to be a beautiful flower, Sakura, so very beautiful, I just know it," Ino says confidently. She remembers the ladies at court, the maidservants of the Red Keep, the whores that littered the peasant streets, and even her own mother, but none of them can even match Sakura's current beauty in her eyes. Perhaps, their father had seen it as well.
"I don't know..." Sakura's head droops, and her hands fidget with her towel.
"What's gotten you so gloomy all of the sudden?" Ino wonders, putting a finger under Sakura's chin. When she tilts Sakura's head upwards to meet her gaze, she almost laughs at her sister's sad pout. "Do you disagree with me? Do you think you won't be pretty?"
"I don't want to disappoint you, sister."
"Even if you were an ugly little beast, I'd still love you."
A smile tugs on Sakura's lips, but her worry effectively kills it. "Do you think he will think so?"
"He?" Ino blinks, wondering who Sakura could be talking about. Hopefully, not the child oaf of High Garden — Ino doesn't know what she'd do if her sister were to fancy Naruto, of all people.
"Sasuke Uchiha of House Lannister," Sakura answers hesitantly. "I've heard he's . . . rather blind to the women and girls trying to catch his eye. I'm worried he'll turn a blind eye to me as well."
"He won't do that," Ino says very firmly, leaving absolutely no room for argument. If he does, I'll take a page out of Juugo's book and roast the little twat alive. "I've ordered the best dresses and the finest jewelry for you. He'd be a bigger idiot than Naruto if he doesn't fall for you and your kind heart."
Sakura beams at Ino's reassurance. "Thanks, Ino."
Ino realizes then that her little sister has never changed. No matter what Tsunade's taught to her, Sakura will always be her insecure baby sister, her ward that will always need her protection. It makes the separation so much harder for Ino.
She wants to say more, wants to tell her baby sister to be careful, to tell Sakura that there's another weapon women have that can turn any man's blood warm — the most powerful weapon in any woman's arsenal, the weapon in between their legs — but because she doesn't want to whore out her own sister, Ino decides against that crass advice.
"Make him love you, Sakura," she says instead. "Make it so that he can't live without you."
"I won't fail you, Ino. I'll do my part, and I won't rest until I see you on the Iron Throne."
Ino almost asks whether Sakura would like the Iron Throne instead, but even the great love she has for her twin wanes in comparison to her desire to sit on their father's throne. Guilt-ridden, Ino wonders if Sakura knows that and hopes with all her might that Sakura does not — she doesn't know what she'd do if Sakura were to end up as one of her warring rivals for the throne, and she prays to all the gods who would hear her plea that her sister never becomes her enemy.
She holds out her hand, and her dragon lands right on her palm, obscuring her hand from view. She moves her hand towards her sister, and when she tilts her hand, her dragon hops onto Sakura's shoulder. Instead of hissing at Sakura, the dragon nips at her pink hair.
Sakura grabs Ino's hand and holds it in place, trying to get her sister's dragon to return to his rightful owner. When that doesn't work, Sakura turns to her sister. "No, Ino, I can't possibly —"
Ino shakes her head and smiles reassuringly. "Where I'm going, I won't need him," she tells Sakura. "I would sleep much better at night if you were to take Toneri with you."
"You would sleep much better at night if you weren't plotting ways to kill your enemies."
The two sisters share a giggle, but Sakura's question — "Where will you be going, sister?" — sobers Ino, and the older Targaryen princess holds her younger twin close to her. To say Sakura's surprised is an understatement — Ino has never initiated a hug before, Sakura always beating her to it. The two dragons almost hadn't expected it, both flying around the two embracing sisters.
"I love you, Sakura, with all my heart."
Finally snapped out of her shock, Sakura returns the hug. "I love you more, Ino."
But Ino highly doubts that, and as she holds Sakura at arms' length, a slight chuckle escapes her lips. "I love you most," and then she kisses Sakura's wide forehead.
It's not a lie. Ino really does love her sister, and she knows Sakura loves her as well. Sakura's just too innocent, too good, for this world, and so Ino clings to her sister's love, knowing fully well that if Sakura were to find out the truth behind Juugo's bouts of insanity, her baby sister would never look at her the same way ever again.
Her dear sister, as sweet and innocent as she is, would never understand that she had never intended for the poison she fed daily to Juugo to twist and warp his mind. But there will never be a need for Sakura to understand that because Ino will never let Sakura find out.
"Now, go get dressed," her voice doesn't betray her inner most thoughts. "That old tart will throw a fit if one of the guests of honor is late to her own farewell banquet, and I've picked out a nice dress for you to wear."
"Thanks, Ino. I honestly wouldn't know what I'd do without you. The next few months will be so hard."
"Don't worry. We won't be separated for long." And true to her word, Ino has already planned out the reunion — the only difference, she'll be the queen when she sees her sister again.
What do you guys think? I hope I captured Sakura and Ino's dynamic well so that you guys can understand what I'm going for! I've updated pretty quickly for the last three chapters, so don't expect another for some time because the next one I gotta plan out. (hint, hint, it's the chapter Sasuke appears!)
Below is the character list so that you guys aren't confused with whose in what house. I also changed it from last chapter as I've tweaked the plot.
Baratheon: Kiba, Choji, Shikamaru (half-Targaryen bastard)
Bolton: Danzo, Kabuto
Drowned Men: Suigetsu, Zabuza, Kisame
Faceless Men: Orochimaru
Lannister: Sasuke, Itachi, Shisui, their parents, Madara, and the rest of the Uchiha clan [Itachi and Shisui are twins, sorta based off Jaime and Cersei Lannister without the incest, or maybe with, if you guys want it]
Martell/Dorne: Gaara, Temari, Kankuro
Stark: Neji (somewhat Jon Snow), Hinata, Hanabi, Hizashi (Ned Stark) [I combined Hiashi and Hizashi together into one character, so Hinata and Neji are siblings. This is also because I get confused which twin is which since their names are too similar.]
Targaryen: Sakura (Daenerys/Sansa), Ino (Daenerys/Cersei), Juugo, Kizashi, Mebuki [Sakura and Ino are twins]
Tyrell: Naruto, Karin, Kushina, Minato, Tsunade (Olenna Tyrell), Jiraiya [Jiraiya has already passed, but he was Tsunade's husband]
The Vale: Kakashi
Tarth: Haku (Brienne of Tarth)
Also, I decided to name the dragons after members of the Otsutsuki clan since they won't be showing up in this fanfic!
Ino's dragon: Toneri
Kizashi's dragon: Hagoromo
Mebuki's dragon: Kaguya
Sakura's dragons: ?
Leave some reviews, and tell me what you guys think of this chapter!