Hi everyone! I'M BACK, THAT'S RIGHT. And I come bearing good news: I am actually almost done writing this story. There's about 10-12 more chapters to go, probably, but this will be complete by the end of 2022 and that means It Will Rain will be my first completed work! So, while this journey/story will come to an end, there will be relatively regular updates, ranging from a few weeks apart to a month apart. Expect that I will release a new chapter between the days of the 12th and 18th, which you can find on both here and AO3. Now, without further ado, enjoy!
Chapter 8: Honey, You're Familiar
Somewhere tucked away in the Avengers Tower, Sakura bends backwards to duck the fist rushing at her face and uses the momentum to flip over, avoiding the booted foot swiping at her legs. Blowing away a piece of pink hair come undone from her updo, Sakura grins and vaults over her sparring partner to avoid the next barrage of attacks.
Natasha growls lightly, although there is no heat or true aggression behind it. Sakura is the most challenging opponent she has faced in years; she fights with no pattern that can be tracked. Not to mention, her style of fighting is unfamiliar, unhuman in the way it requires extreme flexibility, strength and a general resistance to all known laws of physics. She watches as the pink haired healer jumps high in the air and stays suspended for a moment, holding her leg even higher. Natasha lunges away from the extended appendage being brought down like a hammer, and hides her wince when the thud of her foot vibrates the floor just a little bit. Fighting the nimble, shorter woman is like fighting a gymnist Cap, a frightening thought in of itself. Cap is already formidable without a spine like rubber.
Sakura uses Natasha's brief moment of distraction to hit the redhead in the solar plexus with a flat palm, winding her. She then spins behind like a dancer, placing an arm around the woman's neck in a light, breakable chokehold. Panting only slightly, Sakura says, "If this were my kunai," referring to her strange, wicked knives that would have been in her hands if the fight had been serious. "I yield," Natasha gasps, knowing when she is beat. The two break apart quickly, the red headed woman taking a drink from her water bottle to regain her composure.
"I don't know what it is with you and Steve, but you both seem to never run out of energy," she trails off, hoping to get an answer from the younger woman. Sakura chuckles, wiping off the small beads of sweat that had formed on her brow.
"It's all we know, so we better be good at it," her lips tilt at the corner. "Plus, in my case, I'm constantly working with heavy hitters so I have to make up for my shortcomings somehow. People have always brushed me off," Sakura gestures to all of her, from her vibrant hair and delicate stature. "They don't make that mistake anymore."
Natasha hums, knowing the truth in those words, and relating to them. Objectively, she knows she is beautiful and that is often all her enemies see, especially of the male variety. That not only alters how much of a threat they view her as, but how seriously they chose to engage her. She spares her sparring companion a glance, knowing that with her coloring she will never be able to hide the same way that Black Widow could, meaning eventually, notoreity will follow her, in this world and in any other. That, in of itself, is a double-edged sword.
"So," Natasha drawls, "Why did you chose to take a backseat when it comes to fighting? You're clearly capable." And honestly, Natasha couldn't begin to understand how someone with strength like that could just sit on the sidelines.
Sakura pauses briefly in the act of bandaging her forearms, another strange fashion statement that she chalks up to a difference in culture. Tilting her head up to the ceiling, she frowns. "How do I explain this…?" The kunoichi trails off before meeting Natasha's eyes. "Humans here are fragile, exceptionally so."
She nods, waiting for her to continue.
"People may argue about soul or spirit being the thing that keeps us alive, and they're right, but every living being has and needs a mix of spiritual and physical energy to exist."
Natasha raises her brow. She has heard of the yogis in lands far away who speak of chakras, chis and spiritual wellness, but she can't say she really believes much of anything up until now. Maybe it was her upbringing, but those sorts of philosophies never attracted her. Maybe, she admits, in her skepticism, she had overlooked something.
"In my world, we use our life energy to fortify our bones, for both defense and offense. Take now for example, when meeting your blows and hits, I cushioned my arm with it."
"And did you use it to attack as well?"
Sakura shakes her head rapidly. "No, no, definitely not. If I did, I could have seriously injured you and likely caused property damage."
Natasha doesn't let any of her thoughts show on her face, and files that information away for later. Who knows when it would be needed?
"However, it seems that the people of this dimension can't use it the same way I or my people do, and that means you all must be handled with a lot more care. Something that would only somewhat hurt me, could very well severly injure or even kill someone here, and that is why you all need a healer. I am not invincible, but I'm pretty damn close," She says, indicating to the strange purple rhombus set in the middle of her forehead.
"A tattoo makes you invincible?" Natasha is once again skeptical.
"It's the Byakugō no In, or Creation Rebirth: Strength of a Hundred. I constantly filter energy into this seal, which stores it until I need it. It allows me to heal almost any injury, except maybe decapitation."
Natasha blinks, stupified, and the cheeky grin on Sakura's face let's her know that this time, it is showing on her face.
"What? What do you mean maybe?" She exclaims, aware her voice has reached an octave higher than normal.
Sakura sobers up, saying, "During the war, my mentor was cut in half at the torso. With this," she taps at her forehead, "And the help of our animal familiar, she was able to recover entirely and keep on fighting. It is a skill only she and I have been able to master, because of the level of skill required. It is a forbidden technique, though. Our cells can only regenerate so much before they eventually die. So, it may grant me strength and fleeting immortality, but every time I use it, I shave time off the end of my life."
What a terrible technique, Natasha thinks to herself. Incredible, yes, but terrible. "Did you tell Fury about this?"
Sakura breaks eye contact, staring off at a random spot to the side. "Ah, yes. About that… I forgot?"
The red haired woman laughs and gets up from the spot she claimed on the floor. "I don't know how you could forget about something as monumental as that, but he'll have to know eventually."
"Fair enough," Sakura says as she too, gets up and holds a hand out to her, two fingers extended.
"What's this?" Black Widow asks.
"Seal of Reconciliation. Where I am from, we end every spar with this seal, reminding each other that regardless of the fights' outcome, we will put it behind us and always be comrades."
She reaches out for the pink haired warrior's hand, wrapping her two fingers around the smaller digits offered to her and smiles. She didn't think she would find companionship in this slip of a woman, but the place in her heart for the Avengers seems to grow steadily with each day.
"Come on, there's a really cute store on Canal and Baxter, they have Taiyaki. Have you ever tried it?"
A few days later, Natasha is sitting in Fury's office, calmly drinking a cup of tea.
"What."
She relishes that even the unshakeable Nick Fury himself doesn't handle the information better than she did, hiding her grin behind the mug.
This chapter has been in my documents for so long, it feels so good to not have writers block and be able to share it with you all. Tell me what you think! See you at the next chapter :)