Disclaimer: I don't own Angel by Sarah McLachlan nor do I own Naruto-I just torture the characters in ways you could only hope to imagine.
Angel Wings and Platforms
By: Apherion
She entered the bar, set-up and glowering, but her nervousness got the better of her and she resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't leaving until she finished her end of the dare.
"Hey doll face," she didn't look around when she was whistled at, but she felt anxious. The place was different from what she had originally expected. She thought there'd be drunks sloshed all over the chairs. And just to entertain her restless mind, she figured that there'd be the occasional newbie at drinking laid-out on the floor. She got her surprise that everyone looked like they were having a well-deserved good time without getting wasted.
She chuckled lightly behind a cream-colored hand when she was given double takes between the guys' beer bottles and her.
She must've shimmered to everyone there, having been attacked with glitter, and to add insult to injury, she was wearing sparkling angel wings with a strapless, glittering blue dress with a blond dye inside her originally pink hair. Ino had ambushed that too, taking a canister of 'Chrome's Spray-On Glitter' to her hair. The glitter residue from the whole can being used on her hair had poured down her arms and legs, not to mention her face, which gleamed like a beacon in the night.
Ino had rouged her cheeks and her lips were a glossy scarlet. Black mascara coated unnaturally long, thick lashes that adorned Sakura's emerald green eyes. They were the only thing that survived from Ino's assault. She was even forced into metallic black, five-inch platforms, which were also bathed in the glitter.
"Wow, Sakura, you should look like this more often…hm, too bad you're not singing for Sasuke-kun…but that's the point!" Her friend had ushered her to the bar with the help of Choji, Shikamaru, Hinata, Lee, and Kiba with Akarmaru. All had agreed that if Naruto knew about the dare that Sakura had to do, he'd blab it all, and Sasuke never participated in 'childish antics' anymore, not that he used to, but he was more subdued now more than ever. He wasn't the same Sasuke anymore.
Amazingly, Ino had gotten Shiranui Genma into this whole affair. That's how she got in without getting kicked out. Being fifteen and all, she wasn't even allowed to set foot inside the place. Genma laughed at her, seeing the sight of her, nodding to Ino, signaling 'Get your ass out of here.' Genma led Sakura to the stage.
She stared out at the crowd, cowering behind the curtain. She turned back to Genma.
"If you have any decency, you won't make me go out there," Sakura pleaded with him in vain. The senbon in the man's mouth bounced as he chortled jovially.
"I'm glad I sound humorous. I'm serious Genma, get me out of this!" She hissed. An eyebrow curved upward.
"You know I would in a heartbeat, but I'm not on Tsunade's 'good' list, and I don't think getting you out of your clothes would help matters for me." The grin was apparent on his features, but Sakura burned as she groaned.
"Quit being a fucking lecher for two minutes and just stick up for me! Just tell Ino I did the dare… What if my parents are out there?" Genma patted her head like she was some ninken.
"Just relax, I'll get the music together and tell you how much longer you have to prepare." She watched him walk away and she folded her arms across her chest. She resigned herself to the fact once again that she was singing. She drifted into her thoughts, forgetting everything for the moment.
Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I hadn't become a kunoichi, she thought for a moment. I doubt I'd be here right now; about to sing in front of people I know would berate me if they knew who I was. Then again, I probably wouldn't know Ino well if even at all. Not to mention, Sasuke might still be with Orochimaru instead of Konoha, and I wouldn't see Sasuke as I do now. I might just find him to be the brooding pretty boy that I thought he was before having him on my team.
"You're on in five, Sakura," Genma announced in her ear, getting her attention.
"Oh, right, sorry," she blushed immensely. He just had that affect on women though. Damn that womanizer, she thought heatedly as she primped the gleaming white feathers coming out of her back. Why was she singing at the bar again? Oh, that's right, Ino's idea of a joke.
Damn her, she's probably with Sasuke! Shit, she thought putting a cool hand against her forehead.
"I don't think I can do this Genma," she voiced her worry aloud. The brown-haired man hugged her tightly, but none of her glitter rubbed off on him.
"Yeah, you can Sakura, besides; no one's going to recognize you. Being blond may have to become a permanent change." He winked at her and looked at his watch.
"Oh, break a leg, you're on!"
"What?" She was slightly shoved as she stumbled in the black platforms she was wearing with the frame-fitting strapless she adorned. Thankfully, her angel wings didn't detach themselves from their position.
The microphone stood in front of her. Actually, it was the only thing she could see for the lights blinding her. She cautiously took hold of the mike and wrested it from its sheath. The spotlight tuned from the harsh yellow to a mellow blue with green inlay. The cords of the piano were heard over the babble of talk that was quickly falling down. The soft flute started up, giving Sakura her cue.
"Spend all your time waiting, for that second chance, for a break that would make it okay." She swayed slowly to the sound, the sad; gripping sound that was pulling her in. She would be in tears before the end of the song.
"There's always some reason…to feel not good enough, and it's hard at the end of the day. I need some distraction. Oh, beautiful release…memories seep from my veins. That may be empty, oh weightless and maybe I'll find some peace tonight…" She let her eyes close as her swaying continued ever so softly without disrupting the feel of the music.
"In the arms of the angel…fly away from here…from this dark, cold hotel room and the endlessness that you fear." She hugged herself lightly; glittering softly in the blue glow and as she spun on the spot, it seemed as if clouds of shimmering dust were coming off her (which would be highly plausible). She vaguely wondered why she was feeling the song, but she didn't pay much attention to her thoughts, for singing got in the way of that.
"You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie… You're in the arms of the angel…may you find some comfort here." She held herself as she let soft tears cover her cheeks while she let the piano and flute carry on without her. She set the microphone back in its place and walked off the stage with subdued applause.
"Was I that bad?" She asked no one. She jumped when she heard the reply come from a familiar voice.
"I didn't think so, but that again a teacher's got to ask himself why one of his students is one: out so late, and two: out so late in a bar." Sakura flushed deep crimson.
"I-Ino set me up…Genma-san even helped me. They're in the wrong." She was doing her best not to look at Kakashi. She still had tears in her eyes.
"You are just as wrong as Ino and Genma-despite him being an adult and condoning your behavior-you are still guilty." Her gaze drifted to his and she quickly bowed to apologize.
"I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei," she whispered. She gasped when she felt a finger curl around her chin and force her to look up.
"Were you crying Sakura?" She let her eyes fall to the floor, not wanting to answer his question. His stare; intense as it was, softened noticing the tears still coming from her sad, green eyes. None of the glitter had been disturbed, but she didn't really care. She didn't give a damn about looks after the chuunin exams.
"You've felt like that before haven't you?" Really, he was trying to help, but he was getting to close to home for her liking. After Sasuke broke her heart, she wasn't so wrapped up in anything, her friends the only thing she had left to turn to.
"I'd…I'd like to go, Kakashi-sensei." She made a feeble attempt to move away from him. He nodded and released her from his grip, but as she started to make her break for the door, the lights broke. Black, eternal darkness revolved inside her vision.
She shrieked in fear, blinking away the fresh tears. What she saw, she didn't know if it was her imagination or if it was occurring, but she saw the murderous Sasuke…the one that was not her Sasuke. She witnessed his seething glare. She wailed, covering her head with her arms, shielding her eyes. She felt someone push against the small of her back, pressing her to move.
"Go, this isn't the place for an angel to be," it was Kakashi's voice, but he knew full well who she was. She began to feel her way through the darkness and tripped over her platforms. She felt strong hands clasp her waist and shoulder, hoisting her up to her feet. At that time, the lights flared back on.
Sighing with relief, Sakura slumped against her teacher, breathing rather hard. She got off him after the wave had passed over her.
"Forgive me," she said softly, "I didn't mean to Sensei." The man she had been conversing with not just moments before just stared blankly at her. He let out a bark-like laugh.
"Me, your teacher, you've got a sense of humor for being an angel." She looked at him confusedly.
"Kakashi-sensei, it's me, Haruno Sakura." He laughed at her again. Her eyes widened, silently pleading for him to recognize her once again.
"Haruno Sakura, hm…well if you say so, I don't know if I've even attempted to train someone by that surname, let alone training someone called 'Sakura'. You must have me mistaken for someone else." She watched him leave, but gazing at him as if he were ill.
"Kakashi, I'm apart of Team Seven, remember? Were you given some sort of head trauma due to the lights going out?" He laughed out loud once again.
"You really are funny Miss, but I didn't train a Team Seven either. Are you sure it wasn't you given the amnesia?" She gaped at him.
"Do you know of an Uchiha Sasuke or an Uzumaki Naruto, by any chance?" She sighed with relief when he didn't laugh, but she became worried.
"What happened to them? Kakashi-sensei, do you know what happened?" He didn't answer, but she saw what color that was in the patch of face visible to the naked eye drained from it. She made her way over to his side tender-footing her steps.
"Both are no longer here." She felt her heart rip into two, like it had when Sasuke left. Tears poured down her face, for the loss of two wonderful friends. With a shaky breath drawn, she exhaled it with an equally unsteady question.
"When did it happen?"
"Both died as a result of a fight the two had, it was a couple of months ago." His voice was emotionless, as well as his eyes. She shuddered and knew very well that both were uncomfortable. She would mourn her friends when she found the status of her other friends.
"Do you know Yamanaka Ino or Hyuuga Hinata or Hyuuga Neji?" He nodded, still subdued. "Do you have anything on their whereabouts?" She was curious, if she wasn't going to exist as the Sakura she knew she was; she needed to exist as the Sakura she now was.
"Yamanaka Ino and Hyuuga Hinata are best friends, right at this moment living at the border with Hyuuga Neji and Nara Shikamaru to sort out affairs with the Stone Country." She let out a breath that she had been holding unbeknownst to her. For another reason beyond her, she wrapped her arms around Kakashi.
"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei." The man held her back.
"You can stop calling me your sensei now. I'm sure I would've remembered being your teacher, but I don't remember you in the slightest." She nodded inwardly.
"Then…maybe I should…introduce myself." She was reminded of how she, Naruto, and Sasuke had tried getting him to open up to them. She choked down a sob. She felt his hand rub her back consolingly.
"They never mentioned knowing a Sakura before, but I guess extraordinary people are guarded jealously then. So you knew them well?" He asked her conversationally, as if they weren't discussing people she knew to be alive, but he knew to be deceased.
"I did, but I guess my relationship with them would be confusing to explain and it would take longer than the time we'd have together." She sniffed and used her index finger to wipe the residue of the tears from under her eyes. This had to be a parallel universe to that of her own and she was somehow…warped into it when the lights blacked out.
"Would you like to have a drink with me?" She gave him a sharp look, but he was being sincere. She nodded and smiled softly at him. "Ah, yes, the angel shall always sparkle with radiant teeth of white." She giggled at the way he was talking about her.
"I'll be back I…uh, have to freshen up," she hated that phrase with a passion, but it was the only one she could think up with this Kakashi being so sweet and genuine, it was hard for her to say 'no' to him, as he was having difficulty doing so with her.
She got to her feet more slowly than she normally did. Her footfalls barely making a sound and refusing to take small, heedful steps, she seemed to glide as her leg strides lengthened for the sake of looking like a flowing gown. She pushed the lavatory's door open and went to stand in front of the mirror.
The whole reason her makeup and glitter hadn't been coming off was all to blame for the fact that it seemed attached to her, as though it was natural. She noticed her dress was no longer blue, but the pearliest of whites. The boots on her feet had also been stripped of their color. Everything had lost its color except for her face. She bit her bottom lip; squeezing her eyes shut, turning on the spot. One eye opened reluctantly and she saw in the mirror that the accessory on her back we no longer just that.
"Oh, my god," she said aloud, tugging lightly at the white feathers. She didn't want to think of the idea of them flapping. She whimpered staring worriedly at her reflection. She definitely did not like the idea of being an angel…and it being completely true. She bit her bottom lip and looked at her face in the mirror. Her hair was blond as ever; platinum one would go so bold to say.
She clutched the white strands in her hands. When Ino dyed it, she was already missing the pink tint that it used to carry. Oh damn, she screamed in her head, how am I going to get back to my universe. What if the Sakura from here gets killed? She's not a shinobi!
"Um, excuse me, angel girl, could you move from the mirror. I got to get back to my date." Sakura looked around and saw Temari… Her jaw dropped at seeing the woman from Sand.
"Uh, yeah, sure," she took a few steps to her right, out of Temari's way. She was staring at the Sand kunoichi with a shocked expression.
"Look, honey, if you want to stare, take it up with my boyfriend. He's the only one with those privileges." Sakura blinked and looked away blushing.
"Sorry, you just look different from how I remember you."
"Excuse me, I've never seen you before, so how is it you remember me?" Sakura mentally slapped herself for the absent-mindedness she just showed. I've got to stop acting like I know these people, because obviously, they don't know me.
"Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone I knew a long time ago. I'm sorry for mixing the two of you up." Sakura began to make her way to the door.
"If she was beautiful, then you have nothing to be sorry about." Sakura nodded and pushed the door open with gradual elegance. She acutely heard the member from Sand say 'Freak' as she exited.
Finding Kakashi sitting at a table, she smiled and strolled over to him in the same way she had left him. However, she saw Genma and Asuma flocking the table as well. She really didn't want to know what Genma would be like, let alone how Asuma would be.
"Well, look here, Kakashi's actually found a-whoa man," Genma playfully punched Kakashi. "You snagged a looker." Same old Genma, she thought.
"I think the correct term is 'angel' if you will excuse me, I'd like to have my drink with this man." She indicated Kakashi who toasted her, but did not take a drink, his mask secured over his face.
"My apologies, milady," Genma then pulled out the chair for Sakura to sit in. She smiled and beat her wings once, showing her approval. I didn't just do that…did I?
"We best are off then, Kakashi, milady," both men then departed, laughing hysterically at Genma's way of speech.
"Strange, those two, especially the one with the senbon," she said offhandedly swishing her drink in its glass. If I'm going to be here, better act like I don't know anyone else, so I don't seem like a complete fool. She grinned at him, just realizing something. She could be completely different with this Kakashi. She wasn't Sakura, his student; she was Sakura, the angel. The idea she was coming up with was scandalous as well, be his student or not, she was still only fifteen, but it was definitely a possibility.
"Sakura," she looked at him, blushing softly.
"I'm s-sorry…I uh, well, I was lost in my thoughts." Kakashi chuckled at her remark. Well, I should be a bit more truthful with him in this universe, it'd only be right.
"It's quite all right, but be not a minor in words." Sakura laughed but inwardly shuddered, it was shocking hearing him talk like that. If only you knew, Kakashi.
"Fancy that," she said with an air of disinterest, looking away from him. When she looked back however, he had finished off his drink while she had yet to touch hers. Wait, his mask didn't come off, did it? The band struck up a slow, sorrowful tune and she looked around to see on the stage performers like her, only actual performers. She liked the idea of becoming a singer, something she wouldn't admit to her friends in her own universe.
The tune and the words cut inside her, as though she had been the one singing. Licking her lips, she picked up the glass and down the contents. A burning sensation in the back of her throat made her cough lightly. It didn't help tears were already forming in her eyes due to the song, but even more so now that she had a shot of whatever was in that glass. She set it back down on the table to see Kakashi's hand extended towards her expectantly.
"Surely you will grant my request for a dance?" She giggled, feeling her heart ease a bit. She let her left hand float over his before touching his gloved palm as though it was some magnet that attracted her hand.
"Chivalry won't win an angel…but I think a dance might," she smiled at him genuinely. She stood tenderly, letting herself be led out onto the dance floor by Kakashi.
A heavy hand settled on her waist, while the other hand still held hers. She didn't know this dance, but oh, ignorance was bliss, letting him twirl her and pull her close. She blushed innocently while they were barely an inch apart, bodies occasionally brushing against the others. She even laid her head against his chest.
"Princess!"
O.o ... Poor Sakura, a freak accident caused her to actually aquire the glitterati-effect and the white angel wings...AND a white wardrobe. Not to mention that she has lost the long-since lavished pink hair. And what's with someone calling 'Princess' out of nowhere-not to mention the Medevil way of speech? Tune in next chapter for:
You Can't Be Serious!
See you next time!