Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any other copyrighted things I mentioned

Chapter Five: Morning After

(Edited 6/19/06)

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Morning dew glazed the meadow Sakura's body was sprawled upon as the unpleasant damp sensation slowly aligned her mind with her body.

"Good morning sunshine, the earth says hello." It didn't take long for Sakura to registered the familiar timbre of the peasant girl's voice, something she was not necessarily hoping to deal with so early in the morn.

"Urgh...I have the strange feeling this isn't my duvet..." Moaning, Sakura rolled over onto her side, attempting to delay the inevitable.

"Hehe, don't worry Miss Haruno, this moment never happened." The peasant girl gave Sakura a wink, but it was hidden behind strands of her unruly hair.

"You make it seem as if I got tipsy and passed out on the grass." Sakura sat up herself up to reveal her own impish grin. Once the girl saw Sakura's smile her own faded.

"You're gonna get sick, well sicker, if you stay out her any longer. It's only 40 degrees." The girl spoke with to Sakura with a concerned tone.

"Wait, I thought I was the top-notch medical nin around here? And when was forty degrees bad?" Rolling her eyes the peasant girl let out a sigh of frustration. "Fahrenheit, Forty degrees Fahrenheit."

"Oh." At that moment Sakura wrapped her arms around her body as she involuntarily shivered, her mind was finally awake enough to realize just how cold it was.

"Let me help you..." The girl approached Sakura gingerly, but Sakura jerked her hand back; memories of last night's meeting fresh in her head.

"You think this is some sort of game? Well it's not funny. Go back to wherever you belong, don't make me get the Hokage on you." Sakura somehow felt guilty snapping at the small, delicate girl; after all for all Sakura knew she was just seeing things again, but something about last night seemed so...real.

"I won't deny you the truth, I'm not like that, but who said I couldn't delay it?" And with that Sakura dropped to the ground, while the peasant girl's sapphire eyes no longer glistened with innocence, but glowed a soft menacing white.

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Burying her face deeper into the pillows, Sakura took a whiff of the fresh linens. The warm home-like feeling slowly ate away at the inner chill caused by spending the evening curled up outside in a field.

Wait, wasn't she supposed to be outside?

Lurching out from under the sheets Sakura frantically took a look at the unfamiliar surroundings.

Had she been kidnapped? Did she get drunk? Whose bed was she in?

Or more importantly did she...

Checking her body for damages or any missing articles of clothing, she sighed with relief and fell back into the comfy down-feather mountain of pillows.

Sitting up after a bout of ecstasy, Sakura gave the room she was in a more detailed observation.

The furniture itself was regal and antique, more suited for admiring than actually using; like Ino's prized lamp.

At first glance at the walls one would think they were covered with frilly flower print wallpaper, but after close inspection one would realize that the floral pattern was not wallpaper,and in fact the designs were individually hand painted onto the wall.

On the left side of the bed was a large elegant bookcase, stretching from the floor to the ceiling, which was about 8 feet. On the right side of the bed was a bureau, which aside from the bed was the largest piece of furniture in the room.

Leaning over onto her side Sakura noticed a note left on the nightstand, along with a porcelain teacup and saucer.

Squinting her eyes in attempts to read the almost foreign calligraphy, Sakura interpreted the note.

"Make yourself at home, I left you a drink to warm yourself up.."

Haphazardly picking up the teacup, Sakura looked down at her reflection into what she hoped was tea. Slowly bringing the cup to her mouth she took a small sip and let the liquid linger her mouth.

"Yuck!" Spitting the content back into the cup, Sakura almost spilled the drink onto her monogram robe.

Wait a second, she didn't own a monogram robe.

Admiring the red silk robe covering her light and still damp kimono, Sakura couldn't help but notice the S initial embroided over the right breast. Maybe this was some sort of dream? A dream room resulting from her deranged mind.

Sakura turned onto her back restlessly. She was never the type of person who could sit still in bed. She needed to get out.

Stepping out of the bed, her feet were almost instantly greeted by a pair of slippers, and not just the fuzzy kind, the fleece lined ones that cost money.

Slowly making her way towards the door, Sakura stopped and admired the large bookcase.

Randomly taking a book from the shelf, Sakura flipped open a page only to be greeted by the foreign Greek alphabet. Putting the book back Sakura took another, except this time instead of being written in Greek, it was the elegant dash symbols of Arabic. Sakura never read anything besides kangi, let alone known another language. For a ninja, well former ninja, Sakura was far from the worldly type.

Gracefully moving her hand across the spines of the books, only one was in fact written in Kangi.

"The Six Orders of The Hand..." Sakura recognized the book. She had seen it before in Tsunade's library, it was supposed to list the physiological teachings of an ancient ninja society, one that is rumored to still exist today. Pretty deep stuff.

"Fifth Order, Seek the Darkness and be Silent" Rolling her eyes, Sakura shut the book and placed it back on the shelf. If she had the time or patience she would have sifted through the whole shelf, but then again Sakura was never the reading type.

"I see you made yourself at home." Sakura looked behind her, instantly recognizing the never failing to amuse peasant girl.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura's question sounded more like an eager statement, and meant more along the lines of, 'What am I doing here?'.

The peasant girl flashed Sakura an innocent smile. "I live here."

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A/N:

Wow, that's for all the reviews! I am re-writing most of this, and hopefully the next chapter will be out soon!

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