It had been a week since Sakura arrived in this world. She had moments when she really missed being in Konoha but fortunately she had the gang to keep her company but it was never the same. She was struggling to stay awake in class. They were being taught Math. She was so good at Math that it was getting boring to be in a class she knew everything about. Ichigo had a poker face on but he was really sleepy. He just didn't want to mess with his Math teacher. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. He sensed a Hollow a few blocks away from their school. He looked over to Rukia who had also sensed the same thing. They had to get out of class, quick. He looked over to Sakura whose posture had become rigid. 'Did she sense it too?' he thought, wondering if the she had those powers.
She looked behind at him and their eyes connected. They seemed to be thinking the same thing, get out of class. She mouthed the words,' Don't worry. We'll get out soon.' Then he saw her make these weird signs with her hands. He stared at her puzzedly. She stood up and walked over to him. "Let's go," she said as she stood in front of his desk. "There's that Hollow thing," she stated calmly. He stared at her hard before saying,"What about class?" "I got it covered, I'll explain later," she replied. Ichigo stood up and walked over to Rukia. "Let's go," he said. But before she could ask about their teacher, he said,"I'll explain later." She nodded and stood up. The three of them got out of class. Sakura looked back at the classroom, making sure that her genjustu was firmly in place.
The three students were facing an ugly looking gigantic Hollow which had eight arms and a triangular head. It was a sickly black and had small beady eyes. It had introduced itself as Peacetaker. Ichigo had left his body locked up in the boys' bathroom. "I'll get this done really quick and easy," he shouted to the Hollow. 'Maybe I'll show off my skills to Sakura,' he thought as he smiled like a three year old. He let out a war cry and charged towards it.
Peacetaker slashed one tentacle towards Ichigo. He dodged but didn't see another tentacle coming from behind. He was pushed back and he crashed into a nearby boulder. Sakura winced. "That must've hurt," she mumbled to herself as she saw the male shinigami struggle to stand up. Rukia gave the girl a sideways glance before looking back to the ongoing battle.
Every time Ichigo tried to strike, a tentacle would appear from nowhere and strike him. The worst part was that the tentacles couldn't be cut. If they did, then they would regenerate. He grunted in annoyance as he slashed at two tentacles which quickly regenerated as soon as the previous tentacles left the Hollow. Peacetaker grabbed his left leg and swung him in the air a couple of times which caused Ichigo to become dizzy before throwing him to the ground. He landed in a loud crash and left a large crater. Peacetaker laughed in return. "Ha ha ha ha ha. You'll never defeat me. I am the Peacetaker," the Hollow said as to laughed maniacally.
"This is getting ridiculous."
Rukia looked at Sakura to see her putting on black leather gloves. "Sakura?" the female shinigami said questioningly. She didn't want to wait any longer and besides, she hadn't had a good fight in days. "Time to wrap this up," she shouted to the Hollow as she cracked her knuckles. 'What is she doing?' Rukia thought to herself. Pumping chakra to her feet, Sakura jumped into the air towards Peacetaker. Peacetaker's tentacles reached out to grab Sakura. The kunoichi dodged all of them with great ease, silently thanking Tsunade for her training. She headed straight for the Hollow's face.
"Shannaro!" she shouted as she pumped chakra to her fist and punched her Hollow straight in the face. The blow hit badly and Peacetaker fell down to the ground due to the sudden force. Dust rose as he crashed into the ground. Sakura landed gracefully on the ground. She turned back to see Ichigo and Rukia's priceless expression. She smirked before turning back to Peacetaker. She walked into the dust and grabbed Peacetaker by the collar, ready to punch the living daylights out of him, only to find a five-year old boy in his stead. "What the-" she said as she dropped the sobbing boy to the ground.
She stared at the boy before kneeling down in front of him. "Hey. Are you okay?" she asked gently. The boy only sobbed louder. Sakura frowned in deep thought. It was exactly as Rukia had said. The Hollows were often lost souls who, if didn't manage to go to the Soul Society, they be hollowfied. She stared at the little boy in pity. He probably died at a young age. "What's your name? I'm not gonna hurt you," she said softly. The boy stopped crying and looked at Sakura whilst sniffing. "My n-name is M-Menma," he stuttered. She winced inwardly as she thought of the time she went to another dimension with Naruto. It brought bad memories as to reminded her of the pain of not having parents.
Rukia and Ichigo came and stood a few metres behind them. "What happened?" she asked gently. "I don't know. I was with my mother, on our way t-to school. I had a p-presentation on World Peace. Then I-I saw a b-big car coming towards us very fast then everything went black," he said through muffled sobs. Sakura felt her heart bleed. It was unfair that Menma had to die at such a young age. "Don't worry Menma. I'm gonna take you somewhere peaceful," the chunin said as she laid as hand on top of his head. Menma glowed white before turning into a white butterfly and taking off into the sky. She looked at the butterfly for a while before turning back to meet the curious gazes of Ichigo and Rukia. Boy, she had a lot to explain.
"So you're saying that you pump chakra to your body parts to enhance your physical strength?" Rukia asked as they sat in the cafeteria eating their lunch. Sakura nodded. "Pretty cool," Ichigo commented. "What did you do to get out of class?" Orihime asked. "I used a genjutsu. It's a technique that allows the user to alter the five senses of a human and cast an illusion on the victim through manipulating their chakra in such a way," the Konoha kunoichi explained. "That's cool," Ichigo complimented. "How did you send that boy to the Soul Society?" she asked again. "I don't. It just happened. I just put medical chakra on my palm is all" the kunoichi replied nonchalantly. Rukia held her chin in deep thought. She was going to revisit that later. "You were pretty good at dodging," Ichigo said. "Thanks. It's all because of my mentor. She taught me to dodge as I am medical ninja. We medical ninja have to survive in battle otherwise the whole team dies," she explained. "So you're a medical ninja? Sounds cool," Ichigo said casually. "Everything you say about Sakura is cool," Rukia said to the shinigami as she rolled her eyes. Ichigo turned red as he looked away. Everyone burst into laughter except Sakura and Orihime.
Sakura looked out the window as something caught her eye. 'What's that?' she thought. She stood up and walked out of the cafeteria as they sat near the door. After two minutes, she came back rushing in. "Guys, come outside. You've gotta see this," she said, her body trembling with excitement.
"Is something wrong?"
"Is it a Hollow?"
"Did someone scare you?"
But all that went deaf to Sakura's ears. She dragged Ichigo by the arm out of the cafeteria to the grounds. The others followed behind in suite. "Look!" she said as she pointed to the sky. "There's a big metal bird flying in the sky!" she almost shouted as she pointed to an airplane.
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Everyone burst into laughter. "It's an airplane Sakura," Rukia said as she laughed uncontrollably but Sakura didn't hear her. "Isn't it awesome?!" she shrieked as she tugged onto Ichigo's sleeve like a little kid. This caused the others to laugh even harder. Ichigo stared at Sakura during this entire time. He hadn't said a single word. But one thing he knew, he had fallen in love with this ninja. The rest of the world drowned out to him as Sakura's gleeful laughter rang like bells in his head.
The gang was at Ichigo's house. They were watching a horror movie on TV. They were watching a movie about clowns called It. Sakura didn't as much as flinch at the scary parts unlike the rest of them. She was a ninja, she had steel nerves. Ichigo's mind was occupied all this time. Sakura had been there for only a week yet he had fallen for her. 'Great, just great,' he thought as he rolled his eyes inwardly. He had tried to ignore it but it just kept on coming back. 'Now I sound like a lovesick school boy,' he thought as he deadpanned inwardly
"Eeeeeekkkkkk!"
Everyone turned their attention to Orihime who was pointing to the window with a trembling finger. A human figure was on the window with twigs sticking out. They could only see the silhouette. "It's the clown! It's the clown!" she shrieked. Everyone seemed to be frozen in fear. 'And they call themselves shinigami,' Sakura thought as she rolled her eyes. "I've got this," Sakura said as she cracked her knuckles and walked over to the person. She dragged the person by the collar and punched him in the face. He fell down with a loud thud. He slowly stood up. "Argh, Sakura-chan. Is that how you greet me after not seeing me for a week?" the figure said. "Tsk. It's just you. You didn't have to scare us like that Naruto," Sakura said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Suddenly, realization hit her. "Naruto?!" she exclaimed as her blonde teammate came clearly into view. He grinned in return. "Naruto!!!"
And she enveloped him in a bone crushing hug.
I'm done with this chapter. I can't promise you early updates though. Hope you like it. Read and review.
Toonana
AfricanFire
