Eripmav

Part Five, Chapter Three

Eripmav

"What now?" Naruto asked, swinging his feet idly back and forth from his perch on a tree branch. Everybody seemed to be asking that a lot these days. What now? What now? He felt like an immature little kid. Which was fitting, but he felt more immature that usual. He felt unsafe… Always unsure about what was around the next corner on the path of life.

…Not that he could tell anyway, but it felt more dangerous traveling with two, sometimes three, vampires. Speaking of clouds, they looked awfully hungry this afternoon.

"Yes, what do we do with all of this now that we have collected it?" Sakura stared at the items that she had spread out on the ground in front of her.

"Get a sliver bowl and then –" Sasuke started but was rudely interrupted.

"Nope! No… You must take them to that place…" she smiled.

"What place?" Sakura cocked her head, Sasuke glared.

"That place! The place…? Come on. You must remember! You're memory is worse than Christoph's." Penelope laughed.

"What place?" Sakura furrowed her brows and glanced at Sasuke. He shrugged.

"Did Christoph tell us of a certain place?" Naruto asked.

"He should have! There is no way to change back otherwise…" Penelope said, still smiling.

"How do we know you're not wrong?" Sasuke crossed his arms and watched her start to pace.

"Oh, I'm not wrong. I've been there!" she looked at each of them. "Don't you remember? …Did Christoph not tell you!" Her mouth made and O shape and she gasped. "My goodness! What a forgetful fool!" Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Well then, where must we go?" Sakura started to pack the items into her bag.

"Oh, you can't just go there… You must get there."

"Then how do we get there?"

"I'm afraid that you misunderstand. This is a little more complicated than you think." She sighed. "This place that you must get to is not in the world you know. But oddly, is at the same time."

"What?" Naruto jumped down from where he was sitting and stood beside Sasuke. "Is it in the Second World, the place where you go?"

"No. It's not there either. It's between the two places. It is neither here, nor there. It's that place."

"That doesn't make sense." Sakura said tying her bag shut and sitting back on her heels, eyebrows drawn together. "How is it possible, in the first place, to have two worlds on one planet, and on top of that, have a world between them?"

"Not a world, a place."

"Still! It doesn't make sense… unless it's a Heaven and Hell type thing."

"Oh no! The Second World isn't like that, nor is that place."

"What exactly is the Second World?" Sasuke sat down on the ground and stretched his legs out.

"It is neither here nor there," she raised her hands to stop any frustrated comments from a confused Uchiha. He snapped his mouth shut. "Let me finish…

"It is the place where your fairy tales come from. Children can access this world through their imaginations… Unicorns exist there, not horses. To the Secondanions, a horse is an alien creature. Everything you think is myth, is real for them, and vise versa. Everything real to you is story to them. It's hard to explain."

"Is it like a parallel universe?" Sakura inquired sitting next to Sasuke.

"Yes… No. No, not really. It's… a world in itself."

"How do you get there?" Sakura asked, chewing on her nails. (She would regret that later…) Penelope started to laugh.

"You are already there." She winked at their sudden shocked expressions. All of them burst out a "how!" nearly at the same time. "Everything you are looking at is like one side of a wall. You just have to train yourself to be able to find the door, and step onto the other side; or if you are really good, you don't need a door, but just need to step around the wall. Though, that way is dangerous, and you can end up trapped at that place. I myself need a door."

"Where is it?" Sasuke asked looking around him like something might jump out at him from nowhere.

"It's different for everybody. You have to find one for yourself." She then turned around and started walking away.

"Wait! Where can we find this door?" Sakura jumped to her feet.

"Within yourself!" Penelope called over her shoulder and raised her hand in farewell.

"…But," Sakura turned to her companions, "if we have to find a door for ourselves, we can't go together… What now?"

'There's that 'what now' again.' Naruto thought starting to pace. 'Within yourself… what is that supposed to mean? How do you start looking if you don't know where to start?' He sighed. 'What now?'

…

'Poor Naruto… He looks so confused…' Sakura watched him pacing worriedly. 'I wonder what he's thinking. Is he just as confused as I am? /Probably/ Yeah. But… /…Where do you start looking if you have to look in yourself/'

…

'WHAT THE FRICK! What the H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?' Sasuke was officially panicking. He had no idea what to think or where to turn. Sakura looked so calm, she probably knew what to do, she was smart… Maybe if he asked nicely she would tell him what to do… 'Duh! She is my girlfriend after all… but then again, she might just say 'You have to find it for yourself'. That's the more likely.'

…

'Sasuke looks like he's waiting to see what we do first. The little cheater… Can't do anything for himself. Just look at that expressionless face. Disgusting.' Naruto glared in Sasuke's direction. 'He probably knows what to do, but he's watching me and Sakura for comical pleasure.'

…

/Stop it girl, there is no more nail to chew… Unless you want to chew your fingers right off/. 'What? Oh… my nails…' how sad. /Lets start thinking. Within yourself…/ Inner Sakura said it over and over… /Wait a moment… within yourself, inside yourself… What is it you call me? 'Inner Sakura. Inner Sakura! Inner! Do you know where the door is?'

…

'She's figured it out.' Sasuke could tell. Her face suddenly brightened and she started grinning around. "Do you know Sakura?" Sasuke dared ask. She looked at him and just smiled. 'Damn her.'

…

/Hey brat. The girl has figured it out. You got any ideas/ 'Nine Tales?' /Who else/ 'What the hell? Since when did you randomly start talking and wanting to help?' He said nothing. Stupid fox. /Look at that! She's walking away! Hurry and figure it out! It can't be that complicated/ 'Maybe if you shut up I could concentrate!' /Not true! You were worse off before I started talking/ 'ARG! You're so annoying! I wish you weren't inside me!' /Yeah well –/ 'Wait a moment! Within yourself!' Nine tales growled then was suddenly silent. 'Oh Nine tales…!'

…

They've both found a door…' Sasuke watched as Naruto walked away, leaving him alone. 'Where is the bloody door?' He was suddenly reminded about how hungry he was. 'Don't think about that… where is the door?' he looked around the clearing. It was obviously no where that he could physically see, because Naruto and Sakura had walked away in opposite directions.

He squinted, trying to see if looking around him differently would help… He sighed heavily. All that got him was a headache. 'Why can't I figure it out?'

Weak…

His brother's voice rang clearly in his head and he was thrown into his own memories.

…

…

His parents lay on the ground, dead. Sasuke stood over them in the dark room, moonlight streaming in from the door that was cracked open behind him. He was scared. Why did this happen to him? He loved his parents so dearly, and he thought his brother did too. They were all so happy together.

He wrapped his small arms around himself and shivered. What if he was going to die next?

'You're not worth killing.'

But he wanted to die so badly. It wasn't worth the pain to continue on after today.

He shivered again, his bare feet cold against the wood floor. Dare he go outside? He turned and faced the door behind him.

Yes. It was safe now. There were no more screams, his brother must have left. He raised his hand in front of his eyes to shield them from the blinding light as he walked forward. He reached out his other hand and pushed the door open all the way…

Authors Note: Excuse the… weirdness of this chapter. Pure fantasy.

Sorry, this chapter is mainly dialogue… And you have my deepest sympathies if you did not understand what went on. Hopefully that will get cleared up for you in the following chapter )

"speaking of clouds" is a phrase I use that basically means "by the way…"