Hello, again.
Perspective: Sun/Sakura (mostly)
Don't own MLP or Naruto, by the way.
Prelims Part 2
XXPreviously, on 'Maelstrom Elements'XX
Sun watched for a moment, then said, "He's been experimented on. I've just checked with my chakra, and it's not natural. Signature is Orochimaru."
Sakura looked at him. "Recent or past?"
"Just past." Sun told her. "Can't quite tell if it was willing, though."
Kin paled and shuffled back, not wanting to spook them. How the heck did he figure that out?
Thankfully for her, Sasuke had just knocked out his opponent, getting the proctor to say, "Winner, Sasuke."
The board came on again, bringing up 'Karui' and 'Choji.'
"Would the two mentioned come down so we can begin?" Hayate called out, getting them to do so while Sasuke came up to his teammates.
"How's the seal?" Sun asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "Didn't feel a thing, until I channeled a bit into it directly. It bounced back twice as potent, but not corrupted at all. Thanks for that, by the way."
Kin blanched as she realized something. He had the Curse Seal?! What are they?!
Sasuke then noticed her. "Hello."
"H-hello." She replied, only to berate herself in her mind at how she sounded. "I'm Kin."
"Sasuke." He returned with a small smile, until he noticed Pinkie's smug look being sent at him. He glowered right back, only to confuse Kin when she looked and didn't see anyone there. "Dang Uzumaki."
"Who?" Kin asked, confused.
"Pinkie was there and giving him a knowing look." Sun pointed to where the boy was. "My brother has been pretty spot on whenever he brings up something even remotely connected to the future, like who's with who."
Kin sputtered, still confused, "How? This is the first conversation we had!"
The entirety of Team 7 looked at and said as one, "He just knows."
"Winner, Karui! Would the two mentioned come down so we can being?" They heard, with it this time being 'Fuu' and 'Yugito.'
Time quickly passed for them after that, somehow. Both Yugito and Fuu knocked each other out, Karui and Yugito's teammate Samui won against Dosu of Oto, Shino won against Zaku of Oto, Kankuro won against Yoroi's teammate Misumi, Temari won against Tenten.
They finally noticed Pinkie pressing a stopwatch when 'Kin' and 'Shikamaru' came up.
"PINKIE!" Sun shouted, getting said boy to laugh and run off.
Kin wisely chose that moment to walk down to the arena to face her opponent, who sighed at the sight of her. "So I'm stuck fighting a girl. Troublesome."
"Was that supposed to be a sexist crack or something?" She shot, brandishing her weapon of choice, senbon needles.
Shikamaru stared pointedly at her. "And let my mother tan my hide? Not a chance."
"Are the both of you ready?" Hayate said. They nodded. "Begin!"
XXXXX
Kin struck first, launching a few senbon at and around Shikamaru as she leapt back, the boy having to stick to using a kunai to not get hit. This set off the bells that he only noticed just as his kunai hit, putting him under a genjutsu that made multiple copies of Kin appear to Shikamaru's eyes.
Kin said nothing as she noted that working, sending another volley to surround the boy. Just got to try and pin him down, then I can go in and aim for the-what?!
The girl jumped to the side as Shikamaru's shadow suddenly raced towards her. A Nara? Just my luck.
"I could still smell you." Shikamaru said for an answer, telling her all she needed to know. Taking out a different set, she decided to try and just incapacitate the boy before he got the chance to take her out. Unfortunately, he started fighting back with the occasional kunai or shuriken, each thrown at the right spot to force her to move out of the way.
I'm starting to wonder if I should just forfeit and accept the loss with dignity. Kin thought just before her body finally seized up thanks to Shikamaru's shadow connecting to hers. "Proctor, I forfeit. Oto didn't exactly give me much else to work with that he hasn't already countered."
Hayate nodded. "Winner, Shikamaru."
Shikamaru released Kin, who walked back up to the others, only to flinch when she noticed her 'team's' expressions. I really need to get out of Oto.
I can help with that. Kin jumped and spun around in shock, only for Pinkie to appear, grab her, and suddenly bring them up to the Hokage.
"Jiji, this young lady would like to talk to you about an allegiance transfer." Pinkie said, letting go of Kin. "Just send her over to the farm once your done."
Pinkie then disappeared again, back to wherever he just came from.
Back in the arena, the next match up was shown: 'Kiba' vs 'Ino.'
As the two went down, Sun said to his teammates, "Pinkie's sent Kin to the Hokage. Should be able to get her out of Oto with that."
"Begin!" Sasuke and Sakura nodded, knowing of the connection between Oto and Orochimaru.
Down in the arena, Ino brandished a whip that got Sakura to ask, "Where the heck did she get that?"
"Probably Rare." Sun theorized. "The weave is his."
Sakura and Sasuke tried squinting at the whip, but it was already moving, so they had to take his word for it.
Not to mention it certainly showed that Ino had experience wielding it, seeing how quick she disarmed Kiba and pulled him off his feet. The blond rushed forward and chakra-kicked Kiba in the face, somehow knocking him out.
The Konoha teams sweat-dropped as Sun said for all of them, "I know Ino isn't jonin-level or anything, but seriously?"
"Winner, Ino." As Ino walked back up with Omoi, 'Hinata' and 'Neji' appeared on the board. "Would the two mentioned come down so we can begin?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to forfeit." Hinata called out. "I'm just not at the right level to take on Neji right now. I'll just try again another time."
The collective group smiled at the girl as it then switched over to 'Lee' and 'Sakura.'
Sun gave her a quick kiss as Hayate called out, "Good luck."
"You need it more right now, considering who else is left." Sakura responded before walking down to face Lee.
And she was correct. Even if Gaara was much nicer than they had heard of, he still was a deadly fighter with his sand.
Thankfully, said red-head walked up as Hayate said "Begin!" to say, "Mother doesn't want me to kill you. She says to just stick with a standard fight."
Sun looked at him. "Thanks, but I do have a question: Why are you calling a guy 'Mother?' Shukaku's male."
Gaara didn't have anything to say to that, partly because he was a bit more focused on Shukaku for answers.
While that happened, Sakura's match was well underway, and Sakura was clearly on the defensive. While Lee was all about taijutsu, he was just too fast and strong for Sakura to do much except turn the terrain to rubble underneath them, taking away some of the usable area to try and keep him back. Didn't work quite as well as she hoped, though, thanks to the boy making use of it to move around instead.
Come on, Sakura. Think! She told herself through a few pants, having barely dodged Lee's latest attack.
That's when she felt it. "Sigh. Weakling."
Her eyes widened as she seized up and started to struggle against herself. It even got Lee to stop and stare in confusion and concern as she shakily walked towards him. "Sakura?"
"L-lee, kn-n-nock me o-out." Sakura grunted out as her skin tone and eyes started flashing. "H-hurry-agh!"
She fell to her knees and breathed heavy and fast from the internal fight. Her hair started changing as an all too familiar voice said through her mouth, "You ain't beating me that easily."
"Then try me, Blossom." Sakura turned to an approaching Sun, who thrust his open palm into Sakura chest. "Sorry, Sakura."
"Thank you...Sun." Sakura fell asleep as her body returned to completely normal. He gently carried her out as Hayate solemnly said, "Winner, Lee."
As they past him, Gaara spoke to Sun. "Might I ask, what exactly makes her so special to you, to the point that you would risk your participation in the exams for her?"
Sun didn't look at him as he replied. "People can do crazy things, when they're in love."
Even Shukaku was silent as Gaara told Hayate after Sun was out of earshot, "I forfeit my spot in the exams to Sparkle Sunset. I have reason to believe I'm not quite as ready for these exams as I originally believed."
[Michael Bolton – Go the Distance]
All of a sudden, throughout the entire village, a song started playing that seemed to stiffen every back it touched. All of them, that is, except for Sun.
It barely registered to his mind as he carried Sakura, Kakashi leading him into an isolated infirmary room. "This should give you some privacy. At the very least, you can try and get some answers from Blood Blossom. I'll be back in a bit."
Sun nodded as he placed Sakura on the bed and sat down in a nearby chair, leaving the man to close the door behind him.
He held her hand in his up to his forehead a few moments later. "Sakura, I promise. I'll find a way to take care of Blood Blossom once and for all, freeing you from her."
He looked up as a dark chuckle answered him from Sakura's lips. "No you won't. I may have been born from Sakura's darkness that day, but it wasn't enough pure darkness to call me as anything more than the darker side of Sakura's mind. And as long as there is hesitation and rage, light and darkness, I'm not going anywhere."
Sun growled. "You lie!"
"Am I?" Blossom laughed. "Will the Yamanaka say the same? The are experts of the mind, after all."
Sun stood up and pulled Sakura's body toward him. "Don't play games with me, Blood Blossom! This is my girlfriend we're talking about here! I don't care how long it takes, but I will find a way to protect her! Even from you."
Sakura's eyes opened, revealing Blossom looking at him with a smirk. "Nice sentiment. But you might want to make sure she's willing to go with it before you act like an idiot."
She surprised Sun by pulling him into a kiss, only to go back into Sakura and putting the girl in her place, waking her up. "Wha? Sun?"
"Not that I don't like kissing you, Sakura," Sun said, pouting a bit. "But I prefer doing it on our own volition instead of Blossom deciding for us."
Sakura couldn't help but laugh a bit at that, even though she had no real clue what Sun was talking about.
I know it's a bit on the anti-climatic/anti-action side, especially with Gaara, but I already had planned on a moment with Blood Blossom in the preliminaries. This is just how it turned out.
Equestria
A large pony with a white coat, light-blue/pink mane, wings, and a horn on her head was walking around the garden, thinking about her sister still stuck on the moon. It's been nearly a thousand years since that day, and yet still no further in helping her truly. Sigh...Am I doomed to lose my sister?
"Don't play...with me...This is my...we're talking about...don't care...long it takes...will find...protect her!..."
The pony looked around in confusion, not knowing where the fractured voice came from. However, it was pretty obvious from the tone what the voice was saying. She shook her head as she looked up at the sky.
"Luna. My dear sister. Please, just hold out for a little bit longer. Even though I have the servants, guards, and Twilight, they are not family like you. I know it seems hopeless, but for the sake of family, I can't give up. Not now."
Whoever that voice belonged to, thank you. Even the highest of us need to be helped along from time to time.
She didn't expect an answer back, let alone in a different voice. I'll be sure to pass along the message for you, Tia-hime. And you might want to consider sending Twilight to Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration. The other five are already there.
The pony had a few things to think about for a while to come.
To all those who know enough of each series (plus this story), you should know just who these are.
Until then. Please let me know what you think.