Hey guys and welcome back to another chapter of Demonic Love. Before I get into the reviews and thank yous, I just want to mention that this chapter is the longest one I have done in this series so far. Not including the author notes, this chapter contains 7050 words. However after this chapter I'm going to go back to my limit, which is normally 2500 - 3000 (3500 to be on the safe side).
First time for the thank you part:
-savemechocolate (Favourited Demonic Love)
-Fluttershy 2059123 (Following Demonic Love)
Now for the reviews:
-CaptainJack.S - Sorry if I made you think that I had stopped this story and I'll accept your hugs. I'm glad that your very understanding and I hope you enjoy this chapter. And yes, this will be a long story as well.
-KitsuneGirl1994 - I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I can only hope that you enjoy this chapter as well. And the answer to your question, about why Sakura thinks Ino is so familiar, will soon be answered.
-savemechocolate - I'm glad that you are enjoying the story, and here is the update you've waited for.
-Fluttershy 0259123 - I'm happy that you find it interesting and in a way that you like. (This is for chapters 1 and 2).
Anyway, enough from me. I hope you enjoy!
I apologise in advance for any grammar mistakes, repetitiveness and poor writing. And I also don't own Naruto or it's characters. I'm just using them for the story. And any OCs that you see in this story are mine.
It was now after school, and Hinata was standing in the gymnasium, where the Kendo and Naginata clubs would practice. Or... were suppose to practice. If the ravenette could describe, in words, the atmosphere in the moment she was in, they would be the likes of, heavy. Apprehensive. Tense. There many more words to describe the situation, but right now, those words were what hit her the most. And the reason for it, was right in front of her.
Standing there, on the Naginata club's side and a giant blue gym mat underneath their feet, were two individuals. Standing on her left side, with a wooden bamboo naginata in her left hand, was the pink haired girl, Haruno Sakura. Her brows were furrowed and her emerald gaze was serious. The Hyūga girl has only seen that look a few times when the pinkette was going against somebody that was extremely strong. And since she saw that expression now only meant that her opponent was, indeed, strong.
And that opponent, standing on Hinata's right side, was the pale-blonde, blue eyed transfer student, that the ravenette had met this morning, Yamanaka Ino. Unlike Sakura's, the girl's expression was entirely different. Her eyes were calm and her body relaxed. A small smile graced her lips, as she stared into the demon girl's sharp emerald gaze, her right hand held a wooden bamboo sword that the Kendo club would use for practice. From the corner of her eye she could see a first year student, who would be acting as the match's referee, look at both girls before she raised her arm up toward the ceiling.
"The match between second year student's, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino, is about to begin!" the girl announced. "The rules are as followed; the person to be hit first by their opponent's weapon is declared the loser! If an individual leaves the mat, or if they announce their defeat, they are also declared the loser!" The first year student, once finished with the rules, turned her gaze to Sakura. "Are you ready, Haruno-senpai?"
The pinkette gave a nod in confirmation and upon seeing it, the first year then turned her attention to the blonde haired girl. "Yamanaka-senpai, are you ready?"
"Of course," she replied, flicking the bangs that framed the right side of her face with her hand.
And with that reply, the match was just about to start. Hinata's chest suddenly began to tighten and she placed both of her hands top of her breast. Sakura-chan, please be careful she prayed in her thoughts. She didn't know why, but the girl had weird feeling that this wasn't going to be just an ordinary match. A hand was placed suddenly on the girl's shoulder and when the white eyed girl turned to look, she saw that it belonged to her childhood friend, Tenten. The brunette was smiling confidently at her.
"She'll be fine, Hinata. Don't you worry," she said and with those words, the tightness that was in her chest had eased slightly.
Hinata gave a small smile of her own and nodded her head, returning her gaze back to the two individuals in front of her. All she could do at that point, and the only thing she could do, was watch and see how this match would turn out.
The referee, once both girl's had acknowledged they were ready, swung down her arm and cried out the word that would start the match between the demon and demon hunter.
"Begin!"
Six and a half hours earlier
It was homeroom now, a few minutes after the meeting with the new transfer, and demon hunter, named Yamanaka Ino. But unlike the other homerooms that the student's would normally have, this time was different. This homeroom was about the up coming school festival that the entire student body of Konoha High would be doing in a few days time. Each class's representative would ask their own classmates what they would like to do during that day and begin preparation. Class 2-B was no exception.
Since Hinata was the class representative of 2-B, she was standing in front of the podium, while their homeroom teacher, Hatake Kakashi, was sitting at his desk and reading book that was part of a series called Icha Icha. The ravenette and the rest of the girl's were so used to his laid back ways that they just carried on, ignoring the fact that the man was reading an adult novel in a classroom, and ignored him when he started to giggle behind his mask, a slight blush tingeing his cheeks as he did.
"As you all know, the school festival will be held this Saturday," Hinata spoke loudly to the girls. "So we need to decide what our class will be doing on that day. Any suggestions?" When she asked, a hand went immediately up.
"A Café!" the girl, with the raised hand, cried out excitedly.
"I wanna do a play!" said another girl with the same enthusiasm. The girl then clasped her hands together. "I want to do a romantic story, like Romeo and Juliet, but with a twist ending so that they live happily ever after!"
After that, one by one, the other girls began to raise their hands and suggest either something new or agree on one of the already requested events. Some of the girls even then began to bicker as to why they should do this event or that event. Hinata let out a little nervous laugh, while she wrote down the things suggested, as chaos ensued and the ravenette saw Tenten let out a sigh. When the white eyed girl's gaze turned to her pink haired classmate however, the laugh slowly died away.
Sakura's head was leaning on her hand, supporting her, and her emerald gaze was fixed on the outside. From where she was standing, Hinata knew that the younger girl was thinking. A lot. She had been like that since she and the pinkette had encountered the new girl. Yamanaka Ino. The demon hunter that Sakura had told her and Tenten about back at Rāmen Ichiraku's. With the way she looked right now, all Hinata wanted to do was go up to her and hug there and then. But even she knew that wouldn't solve anything. Plus, it would be too embarrassing to do something like that anyway.
"Hyūga-san?" called out a girl sitting at one of the front seats near Hinata, bringing the girl back to the living. "Are you okay?"
"Huh? Y-Yeah I'm fine," she responded. Right now the only thing that the ravenette could do for the pinkette is to let her think things through and give her some space. And with that thought in mind, homeroom carried on and the ravenette continued with the task at hand. "Now with all the suggestions in, class 2-B's event at the festival will be..."
"Really!"
Hinata gave a nod. It was lunch now, and the ravenette had just finished explaining what had happened after the brunette had left to go to the nurse's office that morning. She couldn't tell Tenten after she had come back, due to the preparation of their selected event for the school festival. But now that it was lunch time, the two girls had joined Hinata's desk to Sakura's and all three of them were now eating together, chatting. Well the two of them were. Sakura was still quiet.
"Well, at least we know that she won't be in this class then," Tenten commented, gripping some food with her chopsticks and putting it in her mouth. "That's a good thing. Don't you think, Sakura?" There was a long pause and the brunette didn't get a reply, which she found strange. Calling her name once more, Tenten turned away from her meal and looked at the pinkette. The younger girl had her head leaning on her hand while the other was using the chopsticks to play around with the home made boxed lunch that Hinata had made.
"Oi! SAKURA!"
Sakura flinched (or more like nearly jumped out of her skin) from Tenten's shout and looked at the brunette with a startled expression. "W-What is it?" she stuttered.
"Jeez Sakura," Tenten continued. "That was the third time I called you. What's got into you all of a sudden?"
"I'm sorry," she apologised, turning her emerald gaze away from the older girl's grey orbs and stared at her food, guiltily. The ravenette, seeing the girl's expression, had a clear idea of what was occupying the girl's thoughts and decided to speak up about it.
"Is this about Yamanaka-san?" she asked. The demon girl slowly gave a nod in response, hitting the nail right on the head. She didn't know why, but ever since the pale-blonde girl had told her name, Sakura has had a nagging feeling at the back of her mind. And, try as she might, the girl still couldn't make heads to tails of what it was that was bothering her.
"Yamanaka-san? You mean the demon hunter?" said Tenten confusingly, cocking an eyebrow. "Why would you be thinking about her?" When those words escaped her lips, her eyes widened, like she realized something, and then narrowed mischievously, a smile to match, making her look like a Cheshire cat that was planning something. "Or is it maybe that you have a little crush on this demon hunter perhaps?"
The pinkette's one eye, as well as the ravenette's white eyes, instantly widened and the demon girl's cheeks flushed red. She turned her gaze back to the brunette and glared at her. "W-What are you talking about?!" Tenten, however, just laughed off the glare that was sent her way.
"Hahahaha, sorry, sorry!" she apologised while she laughed. "It was a joke! I was joking!"
Sakura glared at the girl for a moment longer, before she went back to food. "Idiot," she mumbled, the crimson hue still staining her cheeks.
While Tenten continued to giggle at Sakura's reaction and said girl had decided to ignore her, Hinata had suddenly lost her appetite. She knew that the brunette was joking. She knew that. But when Tenten had mentioned the possibility that Sakura could like Yamanaka Ino, the mere thought of it had made the ravenette's chest tighten. She had to admit, the blue eyed girl was beautiful, and could probably get any boy, or girl (if she swung that way) that she wanted.
But when it came to Sakura, Hinata didn't want her to fall in love with anybody else. The ravenette knew that was her jealousy talking, but they were her honest thoughts. And because they were, the ravenette hated herself for it.
The final bell of the day, signalling the end of school, rung throughout the building and students had begun to either head home, or head to their designated clubs. Since they didn't belong to any clubs, Sakura and Hinata gave their farewells to Tenten, who went to the gym for her Naginata club, and exited the school. The sound of the crows could heard from the sky as soon as they left the building, the summer breeze brushing against the girl's skin and rustling the girl's clothes.
"That feels good," Hinata commented, closing her eyes and relishing in the afternoon sunlight. The feeling of the sun's rays hitting her skin was slowly starting to help the Hyūga girl's sullen mood that had been hanging over her since lunch. It didn't affect her much when it came to helping out the preparations for the festival, but she hated having that feeling throughout the time.
"You think so?" Sakura asked.
"Of course," Hinata responded. "After a hard days work, having the feeling of the sun and wind hit the skin of my body makes me feel nice." Stretching out her limbs, Hinata then interlaced her fingers behind her back and turned to face the pink haired girl. "Hey Sakura, is there anything special you want for dinner tonight?" she asked the younger girl with a smile.
"Dinner?" the pinkette replied, surprised for a moment of the sudden topic change of the scenery to food. "Nothing I can think of, why?"
"It's just that we could make our way to the convenience store on our way home," she told her. "Plus, I've got my part time job to go to later on, so just thought I should make dinner as soon as we get home."
"I see," Sakura said. "If that's the case, anything's fine."
"Anything...?" Hinata said, disappointment laced in her voice. The pinkette noticed how the girl sound and smiled.
"That's right," she spoke. "That's because anything that Hinata makes tastes great."
Hinata let out a small gasp, her eyes widening for a moment before they relaxed. Her chest was suddenly swelled with warmth and she had begun to blush from the compliment. Hinata wondered sometimes if the pinkette knew what she said had a huge impact on her feelings. But that was what she loved about her. And things like that only made her grow more and more in love with her.
"Okay. Then how about-"
VVRRMM! VVRRMM!
Hinata was suddenly cut of by a vibration in her skirt pocket, followed by a little ringtone which indicated that she had got a message. Wondering who it could be, she reached into pocket, fished out her cell phone and flipped it open. The girl cocked an eyebrow when she saw who it was from. On the display, it read that Hinata had gotten a message from Tenten, which she found strange.
"Who is it?" Sakura asked, walking closer to the the raven haired girl.
"It's Tenten," she responded and then opened up the message, which read:
Come to the gymnasium, quickly! There's something you and Sakura are going to want to see!
"What does she want?"
"Apparently there's something going on at the gym that Tenten wants us to see," Hinata told her, flipping the phone closed and placing it back into her pocket. The girl then turned her white eyed gaze back to the younger girl. "Shall we go see what it is?" she asked, and got a nod in response. And with that, both girl's went back inside the school, replaced their outdoor shoes with their slippers once more and made their way to the gymnasium.
The sight before the pair of girls was astonishing. The gymnasium was packed full of girls, and the ravenette and Sakura weren't even inside the massive indoor room yet. The doors to the gym were also full of girls, and looked to be a tight squeeze.
The two girls, seeing the obstacle that they would have to over come, turned to face one another and the pair of them nodded in unison. Then, they walked up to the crowded door and slowly started to make their way through. With a few apologises from both girls, from either moving someone out of the way or accidentally stepping on someone's foot, Sakura and Hinata finally made it through from the jungle of girls and luckily enough they noticed Tenten was near.
"Tenten!" Hinata called out, getting the girl's attention.
"Finally, there you two are!" the brunette said.
"Sorry," Hinata apologised. "It took a bit of time getting through with all those girls around. Anyway, what was it that you wanted us to see?"
The brunette, hearing that, turned back to face the front and pointed out in front of her. "That," was all she said.
Earning confused looks from both girls, the pinkette and the younger girl turned their gazes to the kendo side of the gymnasium. Standing there, Hinata counted eleven girls. Ten of the girls were wearing kendogi, the uniform for the Kendo club and each had a kendo bamboo sword, a shinai, in their hands. Those ten girls were surrounding the eleventh girl, who wasn't wearing a kendogi. Rather, she was wearing Konoha High's uniform and she also had a shinai in her hand.
The girl in the middle looked familiar to Hinata and when she got a closer look, she knew why and couldn't help herself from becoming surprised. The girl had pale blonde hair, tied into a high ponytail and bangs that framed the right side of her face. Her eyes were hidden behind closed eye lids, but she knew that they were as blue as a cloudless sky in morning light. It was none other than Yamanaka Ino, the transfer student and the girl she had met only hours ago.
"Yamanaka-san?" Hinata said, more to herself than any one. Tenten, however, heard what she said.
"So that's her, huh?" the brunette said, "The demon hunter?"
The ravenette gave a nod to her friend, her eyes never leaving what was in front of her. But after a while, knowing who it was, worriedly, Hinata turned her gaze to the younger girl of the group. She didn't need to guess of what kind of expression the girl had on her face, as it was written on there plain as day. The pinkette had furrowed her brows and narrowed her emerald eye slightly. All of her focus was on what was in front of her, and, not wanting to disrupt her, the white eyed girl turned back and watched the events in front of her unfold.
Luckily enough, the three girls were able to hear the conversation between the girls of eleven.
"Are you sure about this, Yamanaka-san?" one of the girls, a second year, asked.
"Yeah, Yamanaka-senpai," another girl, a first year from the honorific she used, spoke up. "Ten against one seems a little unfair. Don't you at least want to wear the helmet and gloves?" The concern in the girl's voice was genuine and it was quite understandable, from Hinata's point of view. But the blonde haired girl just smiled that concern away.
"I understand your concern, but I don't need it," the girl said. The first year girl was about to say something more, but probably sensing that, Yamanaka opened her eyes, exposing her blue orbs and shot a look at the young girl, stopping the words that were about to leave the girl's throat.
"Oi, Yamanaka!" another girl spoke up, this time a third year. The ravenette recognised her as she was the captain of the Kendo club, Miiragi Yūki. "She was only worried that you might get hurt. There was no need to glare at her like that!"
The blonde's blue eyes turned from the first year and locked on to Yūki's. She then closed her eyes and a smirk soon plagued her lips, which only irritated the third year more. "I know that. But I appreciate it if she, and you, keep your concerns to yourselves. It's stupid."
"What was that!" the older girl barked, gritting her teeth.
While the exchange of conversation was going on, the brunette let out a loud whistle. "Wow. Have to say, for a new girl, she's got balls," the girl commented. "You know, this reminds me of the time of when Sakura first came to this school."
Now that she thought about it too, the brunette was right. Watching the scene now, Hinata had a weird sense of déjà vu. She could still remember, like it was yesterday, how Sakura was cold to her and how Tenten had fought for her. She was glad, however, that everything had turned out all right in the end. But at the moment, she couldn't say the same for the blue eyed transfer.
"That's it!" Yūki shouted out. "I've had enough of this. Everyone, don't hold back!" And with that command, the rest of the girls shouted "Yes!" in response to their captain's order and they all placed their helmets upon their head and took their fighting stances.
"Hmph," came a noise from Yamanaka, as she opened her eyes and swung her shinai, once, to the side, indicating that she was ready.
"Let's go!" the third year captain cried out and with it, all ten girls charged at once, like a single unit. But, unfortunately, if what Sakura had told her and Tenten was right... then the Kendo club girls didn't stand a chance.
The first person to strike at Yamanaka was Yūki. She attacked with practised hands as she came in with a vertical slash. It was a strike that was fast and precise, one that you would expect coming from the captain of the Kendo club. But it wasn't enough. The blue eyed girl just smiled at the incoming slash and side stepped at the last moment. The third year girl was left wide open and Yamanaka took that opportunity to strike herself. Swinging her shinai, from beneath Yūki's, the blonde haired girl knocked the older girl's bamboo sword out from her hands and into the air.
Then, not missing a beat, the blonde crossed her arm, with the hand that held the shinai, and with one quick movement, she swung her weapon at the defenceless third year. Yūki could only watch as the second year's weapon struck her breastplate, and was flung back. She hit the blue mat, landing on her back, and the helmet that she wore fell off her head when she hit the ground. The shinai that was in the air had started to let gravity take over, as it fell. When Yūki fell to the ground, Yamanaka closed her eyes and let out a little sigh, before she caught the falling shinai effortlessly.
The entire gym was silent for a moment, not believing their eyes. Everyone who was in the room knew that Miiragi Yūki was the best when it came to kendo, and seeing her fall after one strike, no one knew what to say. The remaining nine girls, that were surrounding blonde, had forgotten all about attacking and opted to go to their fallen leaders side instead.
"Amazing," Tenten said. "That Yamanaka girl defeated Yūki-senpai with one strike, and without even breaking a sweat."
"That's wrong," Sakura spoke up, gaining both Hinata's and the brunette's attention. "It wasn't one strike that defeated Miiragi, but three consecutive strikes."
"How could you tell Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked.
"Because I saw it," the girl replied and turned her head to look at the two girls. The pinkette's eye patch was flipped up, her demonic eye exposed, which caused both girls to worry. Tenten was the first one to project that worry.
"Hey, is it really safe for you to do that with all these girls around?" she asked, the ravenette thinking the same thing.
"It's alright," she reassured. "Everyone is too distracted to notice something this small." Saying that, and having seen what she wanted to see, Sakura placed the eye patch back on her eye and then, abruptly, started to walk forward, heading for the band of girls. When Hinata noticed this, she called out the girl's name, but the pinkette didn't stop and seeing that she wasn't the Hyūga girl followed the her, who was then followed by Tenten.
"Really, is that it?" Yamanaka Ino asked, looking at the girl that was on the floor. But she didn't receive an answer of any kind, which meant the girl was knocked out, and the girls that had been surrounding her at one point where now surrounding the third year girl instead, calling out to see if she was all right. The blonde let out another sigh. "How disappointing."
"Yamanaka!"
The blonde demon hunter turned her head toward the voice that had called out to her, and when she saw a familiar girl with pink hair standing a few feet away from her, the girl couldn't help but smirk. "Well, it's nice to see you again, Haruno-san," she said, then turned her gaze to Hinata. "Hyūga-san." Then finally she turned her to blue eyes to the brunette and she stared at her for a few moments... before she turned her attention back on the other two girls. "So what do I owe this pleasure for?"
"DON'T JUST IGNORE ME LIKE THAT!" the brunette yelled, glaring at the girl.
"I'm going to cut to the chase," Sakura said, ignoring the twin bunned girl's shout. "What you did just now was going too far."
"What I did?" she repeated. "I don't know what you mean."
"You know exactly what I mean," Sakura argued. "If it wasn't for the fact Miiragi had her breastplate on, those three attacks would have done more than just wind her to unconsciousness." The girl's eyes widened when she heard that.
"My, so you noticed that," she said, her smirk then coming back immediately. "I have to admit, I'm impressed. Even other demon hunters wouldn't be able to see that." The blonde haired demon hunter then made an expression, like she had suddenly been hit by an idea, and Hinata had a bad feeling about it.
"Say Haruno-san," she called out to the pinkette. The girl narrowed her brows, wondering what the girl was going to ask. When she spoke her next words, it was something that Sakura, Hinata and even Tenten wasn't expecting.
"How about we have a sparring match?"
Once Miiragi Yūki was sent to the nurse's office, thanks to the help of the Kendo club girls, the gymnasium had become dead silent. And because it was that silent, you could practically hear all the breathing from everyone that was in the massive room. Both Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino made their way towards the giant blue mat on the Naginata club's side of the gymnasium, a weapon in their hand. For Sakura, her's was the wooden naginata, while the blonde opted to use the shinai from her earlier bout with the kendo club girls from before.
A first year girl, who would be acting as referee for the bout, had begun to state the rules of this match. And while she did so, Sakura furrowed her brows and her emerald gaze became serious. She gazed into her opponent's eyes that were completely calm and her body was relaxed. A small smile was gracing her lips, as if she wasn't taking this seriously at all. Wasn't taking Sakura seriously.
The pinkette tightened the grip on her weapon, as her blood boiled within her veins. Whether it was from anger, that the girl was practically using her body language to tell her that Sakura wasn't a threat, or excitement, that the last time she fought the blonde she didn't get to fight her properly but now she could, she didn't know. She didn't know which emotion it was, but she did know one thing. Her opponent was strong. And, if she went by what she saw with Miiragi Yūki, the girl known as Yamanaka Ino was fast also.
"Are you ready, Haruno-senpai?" the first year asked Sakura, to which she gave a nod in response. Seeing that, the girl then turned her attention to the girl with pools of blue. "Yamanaka-senpai, are you ready?"
"Of course," the girl replied, flicking the bangs that framed the right side of her face with her hand. The pinkette's emerald gaze became a lot sharper than it did before. Regardless of everything else, the only thing that Sakura wanted to do right now, was to wipe the smile that played on the girl's lips, off of her face. And with that objective in mind, the demon girl mentally prepared herself for the fight ahead.
The referee, once she got the acknowledgement from both girls, and saw that they were in fact ready, swung down her arm and cried out the word that would start the fight between Sakura and the demon hunter, Yamanaka Ino.
"Begin!"
As soon as those words left the girl's mouth, Sakura immediately began. She charged at the blonde head on, not worrying about if she was using too much of her demonic speed, and once she was close, she swung her naginata in a downwards arc. Bamboo met bamboo as Yamanaka blocked the attack with relative ease, using her other hand, with the palm pushing against the back of the blade, for support.
"Eager, aren't we?" the blue eyed girl said. Sakura smiled at the comment, and the other girl did as well, before she pushed against the deadlock that had been formed.
The pinkette jumped backwards, away from the blonde, and soon as she landed, her vision was instantly covered with bamboo. Sakura, realizing what it was, ducked and instantly a shinai had swung where the girl was only standing a moment ago. Looking up, the one eyed girl saw the smug smile on Yamanaka's face as the other girl was looking down at her, her blue eyes smiling much like her lips were. That sight pissed Sakura off, so while she was still crouched, the pinkette twisted around in a three hundred and sixty degree angle and brought her wooden naginata up in a diagonal slash.
The blonde easily, using one hand, back-flipped out of the way of the incoming attack and again, there was distance between the two fighters. Sakura slowly stood up, her eye never leaving the blonde's, and they both just stayed still for a moment. Not even two seconds went by before this time both girls charged at one another at the same time.
The pinkette began the fight once more, starting it off with a fast vertical strike from the right, which the blonde parried, and followed it up with an overhead attack. The other girl stepped to the side, on the pinkette's left, and flanked the girl with the same attack that she used to defeat Miiragi Yūki.
"You're open!" the girl cried out, swing her shinai in a vertical arc.
Seeing the attack coming, Sakura miraculously twisted her body and defended against the strike at the last possible moment. When the three consecutive strikes hit the pinkette's naginata, the girl skidded across the mat beneath her feet and stopped just at the edge. Damn! Sakura cursed in her thoughts. She's not holding back. The pinkette looked at the hand that was holding the naginata and noticed that it was shaking. She clicked her tongue, and then looked up, back at the other girl.
Yamanaka straightened herself and flicked her bangs away from her face once more, before she turned her blue gaze on Sakura and smiled. The demon girl's grip tightened around her weapon. If the blonde girl was going to be fighting seriously, then Sakura was going to do the same.
"I hope your ready, Yamanaka," Sakura said. "Because I'm not going to hold back now." The blonde's face remained the same after those words left Sakura's mouth, and seeing that, the pink haired girl charged once more in to the fray.
"Haruno-senpai and Yamanaka-senpai are amazing," one of the girls in the gymnasium said in awe.
"Yeah," another girl agreed. "I've never seen such a intense match before." One by one, other girl's began to say things and even some of them looked on like they mesmerized. Tenten looked at those girls and her sweat dropped.
"Hey Hinata," Tenten called out as the two girls continued on with their fight. "Is this really going to be alright?"
"What do you mean, Tenten?" the younger girl asked, turning her gaze to the brunette.
"It's just that I've got a bad feeling that if these two are getting too serious," the brunette continued. "The weapons they're using won't last long. They're not meant for this kind of match. Also..." Tenten paused for a moment. "From the looks of things, it looks like that Yamanaka girl is just making fun of Sakura. And that's only adding more fuel to the fire."
Hinata continued to stare at friend, listening to her words, before the sound of wood crashing with one another brought her attention back to the fight.
The pinkette skidded backwards once more and when she stopped, she started to breathe heavily. Sakura hated to admit it, but the girl known as Yamanaka Ino was really good. No wonder the massive demon that she had sensed yesterday disappeared like wasn't there in the first place. If one demon hunter was this skilled, the pinkette would hate to find out what a clan of them would be like.
"Ready to give up Haruno-san?" the blonde asked with her ever present smile. "I wouldn't blame you if you would."
Once she got her breathing under control, Sakura gave the blue eyed girl a smile of her own. "Are you kidding?" she asked rhetorically. "Like hell I'd give up. I'm just getting started."
"Hmph, have it your way," she said, but then made a face like she just remembered something. "Oh and Haruno-san, as anyone ever told you?"
The demon girl cocked an eyebrow. "Told me what?" she asked, wondering where she was going with that line of questioning.
"That you've got a giant forehead."
When those words left the girl's mouth and went through Sakura's ears, the pinkette's eyebrows twitched. Giant... forehead... Sakura thought, her blood beginning to boil from the insult. Two could play at that game. "And did you know, Yamanaka..." the pinkette started, making the other girl frown, wondering to see what she was going to say. The demon girl mentally smiled, wickedly. "That your face reminds me of that of a pig?"
When the demon hunter heard that, Sakura could clearly see that a vein had popped on the front of her head. "A pig... you say..." she said slowly and then began to laugh robotically.
"That's right," Sakura agreed, and she too began to laugh the same the same tone as the blonde, their robotic laughter echoing the quiet gymnasium. Their laughter went on, and on, and on and on, until finally, in unison, they both stopped and glared at one another with murderous rage in their gazes.
"You little bitch!" Yamanaka cursed at the pinkette. "How dare you say that I look like a pig, you damn Billboard Brow!"
"How dare I?!" Sakura shouted back. "You were the one who started all of this, Ino-Pig!"
"W-What the hell did you just call me!"
"You heard me!"
"H-Hey, Hinata...?" Tenten called out to her childhood friend again, as she watch and listened to the two fighters bicker at one another.
"W-What is it, Tenten," Hinata asked, also doing the same as the older girl.
"Do you have any idea what's going on?" she asked. "I'm kinda at a loss here."
"W-Well..." Hinata began, trying to think of an answer. She watched as the pink haired girl and the blonde demon hunter continued to verbally insult each other, hoping that an answer would pop up. Her sweat dropped. "Sorry, Tenten, I don't know either."
"That's it!" Yamanaka cried out. "I've had enough of that mouth of yours! I say that it's time we ended this fight of ours, right now!"
"I couldn't agree more," Sakura replied, taking her fighting stance. All joking and name calling aside, Sakura had to be careful. Neither she or Yamanaka had managed to deal blow yet, but the pinkette knew that the blonde was the one who has been dominating the fight so far. And even though she was very good at hiding it on the outside, the truth was that Sakura was beginning to get tired. Which was why it was now or never.
Yamanaka also took her fighting stance, gripping the shinai with both of her hands instead of just holding with one. It looked like she was getting serious too. And once the blonde gave Sakura one of her cocky smiles, for her that was the signal to start. Letting out a war cry, the pink haired demon girl ran and charged at the blonde, a plan already set in motion in her head.
When Sakura was close enough, she swung her naginata in a diagonal arc once more, coming from the left-down. Yamanaka didn't move and once the pinkette's weapon was close to the girl herself, that was when the plan came to be. She was going to do what Tenten had done when she was against her. And that was a feint attack. So, when her weapon nearly came into contact with her opponent, she switched the direction. She twisted her body, going three hundred and sixty degrees, and swung the weapon vertically from the right instead.
But the girl, however, didn't look that worried and continued to look confident. And that was when Sakura understood why. The demon hunter ducked under the swing, just missing her by a hair width, and rolled forward. The pinkette's emerald gaze followed her, as the blonde rolled far away from her, turned herself around and stopped, on one knee on the blue mat beneath her and facing the pinkette.
Damn it! Sakura cursed once more, berating herself for missing her target. She was about to turn around and run at he again but before she did, she noticed the other girl, placing her shinai onto the ground and began to do something with her hands. Hand gestures? the girl wondered, but then shook her head. It didn't matter what the other girl was doing at that moment. What mattered was the fact that the girl was now defenceless and was now a perfect time to strike.
"Your mine!" Sakura cried out, charging at the now defenceless Yamanaka, who continued to do the hand gestures, not worrying about the girl heading for her. By the time the other girl had finished with the gestures, Sakura was already on top of her and swung down her weapon for the win.
Or that was the hope.
"Mind Switch Body Technique..." When those words were spoken, Sakura's body immediately stopped. Her one eye widened as she felt her very mind being pushed away.
W-What's going-?!
But Sakura never got to finish that thought. Her vision had suddenly started to grow black, and the last thing the pinkette saw was blonde falling over and hitting the ground, before losing her own consciousness.
When Yamanaka Ino opened her eyes, after doing the Mind Switch Body Technique, she was expecting to be in the gymnasium with all the other girls and expected to see her body on the floor unconscious. But she never, in her wildest dreams, thought she would be standing where she was now.
She was standing in a middle of a road, surrounded by many buildings, tall and small. There were cars parked on the side but none of them were ever moving. She didn't even need to think twice on were she was. The place that she was standing in was none other than...
Konohagakure...
That's right. She was standing in the middle of road of Konohagakure's streets. But for some reason, Ino found it strange. It looked like the large city, but at the same time it wasn't. The reason being was that there wasn't a person in sight. Not one person was walking along the streets. It was like a barren wasteland with buildings.
"Do you like it?"
Ino's eyes suddenly widened when an underworldy and sinister voice, which sounded slightly familiar, spoke out all of a sudden. A huge amount of chakra had suddenly engulfed her surroundings and it felt extremely heavy, almost to the point of choking the blonde. Slowly, she turned her head around, and looked behind her to where the source of this huge power was. And if Ino's eyes could have widened even more than they could have now, her eyes would have fallen out.
Standing there was a girl that looked to be same age as her. But not just any girl. No, it was the girl she had just been fighting against. Haruno Sakura... was what Ino thought, but then mentally shook her head. No that's not right. The girl may have look like her, with pink shoulder length hair, same face, physique and if you took away the underwordly echo, then she had the same voice. But this girl that was with her now was completely different.
For starters, there was her eyes. The sclera, what should have been the white of her eyes, were completely black and her pupils were a demonic golden-yellow that sent shivers up and down Ino's spine just by looking into them. She wore a black kimono with a cherry blossom design that matched her hair and her left arm was the blackest of red's Ino had ever seen, and in it's hand held a giant scythe, which was supported using the mysterious girl's shoulder. But the most chilling thing of all, was the smile that was on her face, like she was planning something sinister and was enjoy the outcome in her head.
"I was getting slightly bored in here, so I decided to make a little playground for myself," the demonic eyed girl said, using her pinky finger and putting it in her ear. She then removed her finger and smiled wickedly. "So, allow me to welcome you to my domain..." the girl continued, narrowing her eyes in to slits.
"Yamanaka Ino."
And there you have chapter 20, and the character that I have brought back, if none of you had guessed it, is none other than Izanami. To be honest I was going to bring her back anyway, because she'll be an important character later on in the story. I really hope this chapter made up for the last one and if it didn't the I'm sorry. But I'll still carry on regardless. I'm determined to finish this story, which is why I've stopped my other two stories to get this one done.
Anyway, thanks for reading as always and please leave a review and tell me anything that can help improve the story or my writing. Also constructive criticism is also very appreciated.
Thanks again, and see ya next chapter!