I'm too lazy to make Killer Bee's words rhyme. Sorry. I hate rhyming. So in this story he will talk normally XD.
This chapter has been edited as of 11/28/13. Mostly minor stuff.
"Wow, these look horrible." Sakura told the jinchuriki as she examined the burns left by Sasuke's Amaterasu.
"Tell me something I don't know." Killer Bee winced as she probed some of the charred skin, capturing some of the flaking skin in a small glass vial.
Sakura turned to the medical assistant that Raikage had kindly assigned to her. "Take this to my lab." She ordered, slightly giddy that the Raikage had been so impressed with her that he had also lent her one of the labs in the chief hospital. Her assistant bowed slightly before following the order she had given to him.
"You seem well-acquainted with giving orders young lady." Killer Bee observed.
Sakura smiled. "I run the main hospital in Konoha. It is no simple task, I assure you."
"So young? You must be very good at what you do." Killer Bee studied the girl before him, with her disarming coloring but stern gaze. It was only with his demon's instincts that Killer Bee could sense an underlying aura of danger that the young medic carefully tamped down. She was no doubt very handy in subterfuge and surprise attacks.
A grin lit her face at the thought of Tsunade-sama. "I learned from the best, Killer Bee-san."
"Oh don't be so modest, Lady Haruno." Killer Bee admonished. "It is well known to the Hidden Villages that you are quite the medical prodigy. Tsunade cannot create that herself."
Sakura blushed slightly in embarrassment. "Aw shucks." She said lightly, but smiled in appreciation. Patting his uninjured shoulder, Sakura handed Killer Bee his shirt. "You can put this back on, Killer Bee-san. I'm finished with you for today. See you tomorrow!"
"Good day, Sakura-san." Killer Bee stood and pulled his shirt back over his head, adjusting the various straps before picking up his swords.
Sakura tidied up the hospital room before heading to the lab, her notes set in a neat stack next to a microscope, with the jinchuriki's skin cells already on the thin glass slide, ready for viewing. Pulling up her rolly-chair, Sakura sat down and pulled the microscope towards her, peering through the lens while her hands opened her notebook and picked up a pen.
Almost an hour later, she finally removed herself from the microscope. Cracking her neck and wincing at how tight her muscles were, Sakura glanced down at the notes she had taken, swinging the rolly-chair in a circle as she read.
"Fascinating." Sakura murmured, her eyes bright with curiosity. "The chakra is so strongly infused with the jutsu that it remains for almost a week afterward. Maybe more. I'll have to wait to observe it longer."
Summoning a miniscule amount of her own chakra, Sakura lowered her finger close to the slide, but not touching the skin cells. She sent out a pulse of chakra, and watched as Sasuke's chakra from the Amaterasu seemed to greedily attack her own chakra. Sakura quickly severed her connection, and turned to jot down some more notes.
"It's like the chakra is a poison!" She exclaimed to herself; she had always had a bad habit of talking to herself during research. "It remains in the skin and burns the chakra pathways, damaging the victim whenever they use their chakra. But it isn't like a poison that can be drawn out, nor can I risk regenerating skin cells since they would regenerate with the chakra burn inside of them…"
Then Sakura frowned and sat up, placing her hands on her hips. "THEN HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO HEAL THIS THING?!"
She groaned and face planted into the desk in front of her. "Owwwww…"
(((o)))/ _\(((o))) It's in her eyes
"How is the research going?" Kakashi asked Sakura when she walked into the embassy, not even looking up from his Icha Icha. He sat on one of two couches in the living room, his back facing Sakura's entrance.
"Don't talk to me yet." Sakura growled, and walked into the kitchen and heating up some tea, all the while her eyes were still glued to her medical notes. Amaterasu seems to be the highest level Fire Release technique, and of course, only Uchiha are capable of using it… she read her scribbles.
Without looking, she stuck a protein bar into her mouth to chew on as she poured hot water into a mug, the tea bag floating to the surface. The only known users have been Uchiha Madara, Izuna, Itachi, and Sasuke; although there were no doubt more users during the First Shinobi war, these remain unrecorded since the Uchiha clan abandoned the practice of taking their siblings' eyes to gain power during the peace times…
It's a good thing Tsunade allowed me to access the Uchiha private archives before this mission. So much of this Sharingan shit is so complicated. I would never figure any of it out without those records.
Sakura turned and walked into the living room, placing the mug on the table, her eyes flitting across the pages. She took a second to shift to the next page before starting her reading again while she made a quick trip to her bedroom to retrieve a couple medical texts.
The flames of the Amaterasu are described as jet black; according to legend they are the fires from hell; hot as the sun and ignite at the focus of the user's vision. Though the flames are supposedly unavoidable, we know that Uchiha Sasuke managed to dodge the flames during his fight with Uchiha Itachi… Sakura plopped herself down on the couch opposite Kakashi, eyes still continuously glued to her notes, reaching down to take a sip of her hot tea.
She let out a long sigh as the hot caffeinated drink slid down her throat, relaxing into the cushions.
Kakashi's eye crinkled. "Do you feel alive now?"
"Definitely." She dipped her head in one slow nod.
At this moment, Neji walked in while pocketing a scroll in his robes. "I heard the door open. I had a feeling it would be you, Sakura-san."
Kakashi smirked. "Well we all know how terrifying she is when she is tired and cranky."
At this Sakura fixed her old sensei with a glare. "Watch yourself Hatake!" Kakashi raised his palms in mock-surrender while Sakura turned to Neji with a tired smile. "Again with the –san, Neji. You can just call me Sakura. Anyway, I'm better now that I've had something to drink."
Neji chuckled and sat down on the couch with Sakura. "Well I'm sorry to ruin your relaxation, but we have some matters to deal with regarding Konoha's diplomatic ties with Kumo. Shikamaru will be here any minute now and we can discuss things."
Both Kakashi and Sakura frowned, asking in unison, "Is something wrong?"
"Well-" Neji was cut off as Shikamaru walked in.
"This is absolutely troublesome!" Shikamaru sighed as he plopped down next to Kakashi, facing Sakura and Neji.
Shikamaru placed a scroll on the table and used two fingers to flip it open. Everyone leaned forward to peer at the scroll as Shikamaru began to explain.
"Sasuke has caused quite the mess here in Kumo, and no one is feeling very forgiving at the moment. And his newly formed affiliations with the Akatsuki aren't helping. Even if he is a missing-nin, the fact that he is ex-Leaf has strained the already tender ties between our village and Kumogakure."
"That boy's just digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole, isn't he?" Sakura muttered. "The little shit."
All three men stared at Sakura.
"What?" she asked defensively.
Kakashi shook his head. "It is beyond frightening how much you sounded like Tsunade. Absolutely terrifying."
Sakura huffed and turned to Shikamaru. "Go on."
Shikamaru directed their attention to the writing on the scrolls. "I've talked to the shinobi that were at the attack. Here," -Now Shikamaru pulled out a local map of the surrounding Kumo territory and pointed a one of markings that Sakura assumed meant temple or house of some kind- "Is the location of the attack occurred. Killer Bee reported that Team Taka all took part in the attack, not just Sasuke. This may or may not aid us in our plea for the Raikage to refrain from sending hunter-nin after SasukeBut I'm pretty sure we can forget about getting a pardon for Sasuke."
'Why am I not surprise?' Sakura thought.
"We will start our search here," –Shikamaru pointed at one of the larger rock outcroppings shown on the map. "This is where the fight came to a close."
"Will there even be anything left to track?" Sakura wondered aloud.
The trackers on the team, Neji and Kakashi, looked almost affronted.
"My dog-nins will catch his scent." Kakashi assured her.
"There has to be some trace of chakra residue from the battle." Neji stated matter-of-factly.
The corners of her mouth twitched in amusement. "Sorry I ever doubted you." She chuckled at them.
"I don't think we have to worry about interference from the Akatsuki in this investigation, but I've factored the scenarios in anyway." Shikamaru continued in an annoyed voice, clearly not appreciating the banter. "Sakura, do you think you can get away from the hospital to come to the battle site with us? I know it wasn't part of the original plan."
"I would love to come! I'm getting nowhere with my research; I'd love to get out of that wretched lab!" Sakura's eyes lit up almost desperately.
"Well alright then." Kakashi said. "Let's get moving."
(((o)))/ _\(((o))) It's in her eyes
The place was quite barren. Mist hung just above the tips of the rock formations, and the rivers ran languidly below. The rocks were crumbling where the fight had taken place, and Sakura could clearly see almost every impact point like scars on the land. Kakashi summoned his nin-hounds and then he and Neji immediately set to work looking for a trace of the missing-nins. Shikamaru walked around in a seemingly idle manner, however Sakura knew that the Nara genius was no doubt taking in every detail and analyzing it a thousand times over, putting together a mental idea of how the battle had progressed.
However, Sakura really had no job in this part of the mission. Her jade eyes scanned the area with practice calculation. Thoughts of her own missions flitted through her mind, seeing as the current state of the environment reminded her of a solo mission that had ended badly the year before-
She had been sent to extract information on a unique seal, one that had two parts, and were connected so that if not released correctly, would trigger a suicide trap that would kill both the wearer and the one attempting to release the seal. She had been tracking the paper trail of the seal for months, eight months now, and due to the need for secrecy, she had only contacted Konoha three times within those months. If she died here, no one would know.
The rain pelted hard on Sakura's face, blazing icy trails down her face and neck, imitating tears as she blinked them out of her eyes. It was as if nature was mocking her for not crying. After all, she had cried so often and so uselessly in her genin days.
But here was an appropriate time to cry, to feel sorry. But she didn't. She couldn't cry. The tears would not come.
Her body shivered in the relentless rain, the cold seeping into her skin. Her enemies lay dead around her, and it seemed to her that the rain was washing their blood towards her, the red stains sloshing against her feet. Even after so many years as a kunoichi, she didn't like killing. But here she was, standing in the middle of a massacre. One wrought by her hands. The ground was gray and muddy, the sky lit up occasionally with lightening, the only sounds were her heavy, struggling breathing and the thunder that rumbled above. The remains of a temple crumbled around her, the rocks crushed to pieces, boulders thrown haphazardly.
The wind plastered her hair to her face, but still Sakura could not find the strength to move. She just stared at the bodies around her, frozen by self-fear.
She had killed all these men; the men who had been guarding the secret of the seal in some long forgotten temple. Or at least, it should have been abandoned. Sakura did not expect some form of cult to be lurking in the shadows, guarding the secret of the seal from outsiders.
They had claimed to be serving the Kami. That the gods had chosen them to keep the secret of the seal safe. Sakura had laughed at them, calling them fools. But they would not backed down, and had force her to fight and then-
She had blacked out.
When Sakura had come back to her senses, they were all dead. Now she stared at the carnage, wondering what on earth had happened. Flashes of memory flitted through her head-
-screaming men pleading for mercy-
-a flash of blue, the color of the cultists' robes-
-her arms reaching out in an alien handsign-
-a strange jutsu on her lips, devastating the battlefield-
And now she stared at her hands, blood covered and trembling. Thunder boomed overhead. She should move before hypothermia set in. But she couldn't. Sakura was terrified. What had come over her? This- This wasn't her.
She had the memories of killing these men. But it was as if she were seeing it through another's eyes, as if a fog were hanging over her eyes, the memories hazy, the screams of men echoing from far off in her mind.
What happened to me? She wondered, suddenly terrified to be in her own skin. The shock was finally fading, and her mind started kicking into gear.
A sob escaped Sakura's chest. She collapsed on her knees in the mud, hugging her body, unable to escape. She had killed in cold blood! It was as if- as if- as if someone had taken over her body!
BOOM!
A loud clap of thunder resounded just above her head, snapping Sakura out of her bewildered state as the rain came down with even more force. She stood and limped into the cover of the temple, the dark halls blasting her with the damp air of the underground. But it was warmer than staying outside in the freezing rain.
Sakura's steps were staggered; her body trembled from the combination of being cold, wet, and wounded. She knew she would pass out soon. But determination set in, and Sakura walked forward into the dark halls of the temple. She would find what she came for before succumbing to weakness.
She stumbled into the temple, noting with amazement how well-maintained the ancient symbols still were, almost untouched by time and weather. Had those monks been preserving the temple? She continued to limp forward, pressing a hand to her side to staunch the blood as she gathered the last of her chakra to dull the pain.
She got to the center of the temple, and stared at the large edifice erected in the middle of the room. It was a large carving of what looked to have been an eye. Most of the carving was scratch out and worn dull by time, so she dismissed it and looked around for a direction which would lead to the library. However there was only one corridor that was still intact and so Sakura followed that one.
Some of the doors to the rooms stood open, with a simple bed and desk within them. Sakura guessed that had been where the cultists had slept. This was certainly turning out to be a strange mission. She could almost hear the suspenseful music playing in the background if this were some kind of movie.
The corridor opened up to a large room filled with decaying books. This was it. She walked down the center aisle, looking for any type of book or scroll that looked remotely intact. Nothing.
Sakura was about to turn and begin searching the next aisle when something caught her eye. Turning her head, Sakura was amazed to see a perfectly preserved scroll, lying on an altar of some kind. That had to be it.
She approached warily, dragging her left leg a little as her injury took its toll. Her entire left side was losing mobility and feeling. She tested the first step up to the altar, putting pressure on it to see if it triggered any booby traps. Nothing.
Second step. Apply pressure. Wait for sudden trap-
Nothing.
Finally Sakura stood next to the stone table, staring down at the scroll. Strangely enough, there was a clean, sharp dagger place next to the scroll, looking as if it had just been put there, rather out of place when surrounded by ancient artifacts. And of course, there was a hole in the ceiling that allowed on ray of light to settle on the scroll. How cliché. Sakura almost rolled her eyes. This was too easy.
Suspiciously too easy.
Her hand reached warily over the scroll, ready to snatch itself away at any moment. Her hand placed itself on the scroll.
Nothing happened.
Then Sakura tried to lift the scroll. "Wh-What?" she whispered as it didn't budge. She tried again, with all her strength. The scroll didn't move. She knew this had been too easy! Sakura huffed and tried again with her chakra strength. It still didn't budge. Was the stupid thing glued to the altar?!
Sakura gasped, sensing a presence, and whirled around to see and small figure standing back near the bookshelves. "Who-Who's there?"
The figure stepped out of the shadows. It was a boy, dressed in the robes of the cultist monks who had lived in the temple. Monks that she had killed. But- he was just a child. Bright eyes, bald head, and chubby cheeks. He was barely tall enough to reach her elbow
The boy stared up at her with large, doe-brown eyes. "You look like Kami." He whispered.
Sakura flinched. "Huh?" she murmured, glancing down at herself. She was hardly a pretty sight, covered in mud, blood, and drenched in cold water, shivering with her hair plastered to her head, the pink turning a darker shade of plum in the water and shadows. "I don't understand."
The kid stepped closer. "You look like him."
"Who?" Sakura looked at him confusedly.
"The descendent of the Kami." The boy said. "His hair was darker than yours, but your faces look like each other."
Sakura was speechless. She knew she was adopted, but this had to be a coincidence. Surely. "When did this… descendent of Kami come here?"
"When I was little." Said the boy, then he looked at the scroll. "He came to put that scroll here."
Sakura glanced down at the unmovable scroll. "Did he say how to remove this thing?" she asked the boy, since he didn't seem like a threat. Did he even realize that she had killed the rest of his group two floors above them?
"Well, we were told that you have to spill your blood with that dagger next to it on the altar." The boy said with a small smile.
Sakura frowned, already having lost a lot of blood. "Oh is that all?" she asked sarcastically to no one in particular.
However, the boy did not seem to be acquainted with the concept of a rhetorical question. "Of course, only those with the blood of the Kami will be accepted by the altar and may take the scroll."
Sakura's hand faltered on the dagger. "What?!"
"If the altar does not accept your blood, you will die a terrible death." The boy said as if reciting a passage from a textbook, smiling widely at her as if he had answered her question correctly and was expecting an A on his test.
"The things I do to complete a mission." Sakura muttered, picking up the dagger and positioning the blade over her left arm above the artery. "Let's just hope I'm a descendent of Kami then."
Sakura was no stranger to pain, but she still cringed as the dagger sliced easily, smoothly, into her forearm, as if it had been newly sharpened rather than sitting unused on an altar for several years. She pulled the dagger back and held the wound over the altar, squeezing her fist to force the blood to drip onto the altar next to the scroll. To her fascination, as the blood dribbled onto the stone, it began to expand, flowing toward the edges of the altar until the entire surface was covered in a ruby-red sheen. Though Sakura had seen a lot of blood in her life, cutting herself and watching her blood move on its own was kind of freaky.
She waited with baited breath, expecting a booby trap to at any moment or at least have flames leap out at her or something. The air was still as she held her breath. Then, the blood began to move again.
"Wha…" she stared at it.
"It would seem the altar has accepted your blood."
Sakura yelped in surprise as the mysterious monk kid from before was suddenly at her elbow, staring at the altar as well. Sakura nearly stabbed his face with the dagger in her surprise. "Don't do that to me!"
"Look." The kid brought her attention back to the altar as he pointed at the scroll, ignoring her words.
Turning her head, Sakura saw her blood was now leaking into the scroll, sinking into the parchment until all of her spilt blood seemed to be absorbed into it. She couldn't help it. Her mouth dropped open and she gapped like a fish out of water.
The little monk turned to her. "Aren't you going to pick it up now?" he asked as if she ought to know better.
"Uh…" Sakura said intelligently. Shaking her head, Sakura reached forward to grasp the scroll, easily lifting it up from the altar. She could see in the dim lighting that words had appeared on what she had thought to be a blank parchment (previously she had assumed the words were protected by a jutsu that had made them invisible- turns out all it needed was her blood. No biggie. Yeah right!).
"That scroll goes beyond our world." The kid told her, nodding sagely as if he knew the answers to the universe. What a strange boy, Sakura thought. "It is the words of Kami. Not meant for human hands. Except you, descendent of Kami."
Sakura gawked as the boy bowed to her, his forehead touching the floor ceremoniously. What the- there was no way she was the descendent of a god (she didn't even really believe in gods- the life of a shinobi had shredded what little faith she had in the higher powers). "D-Don't do that!" Sakura said softly. "I'm… just a girl."
"A mere girl would not have been able to kill an entire army of monks and touch that scroll," the boy looked pointedly at the scroll in her hands, "without dying."
Sakura felt a tremor of fear race down her spine as she stared into his eyes. Suddenly the boy did not seem so young to her, the look in his eyes looked too old for his face, as if he had seen too much of the world. He no longer seemed quite so human. Sakura's eyes returned to the piece of parchment in her hand.
And though it went against her mission contract to ever look into a scroll retrieved on missions, Sakura couldn't help but roll the parchment open. Her eyes widened as she saw the letters, gleaming blood red as if still wet and recently written in her blood.
Sakura laid the scroll back onto the altar, smoothing the sides as she stared at the words. It was some form of an ancient language, written in ruins she had never seen before. But… the longer she stared at it, the more the ruins began to form what seemed to be words, as if coming into focus. This language, Sakura realized, was written right to left. Not top to bottom, like Japanese. How odd.
Her breathing hitched. This was… This went beyond the world of shinobi. This was entirely different. She glanced at the little monk boy out of the corner of her eye, but he was gone.
Wait! What?
Sakura's head snapped up and she looked around the dim library for any sign of the boy. She glanced down at the dust-covered floor, but only saw her own footprints in the dirt. She could have sworn he had been there! There was no way she had imagined him! Her heart began to race, and her mouth went dry. Fear crept into her mind as her hand clutched the scroll to her chest, her other hand replacing the eerie dagger back onto the altar.
She was distantly aware that her arm was still bleeding, and unconsciously healed the cut with as much chakra as she could spare. Glancing down at the scroll, Sakura stared long and hard at the strange words on the paper.
"Not meant for human hands, huh?" she whispered to herself, the words glinting in their blood-ink. She rolled the scroll up and bound it again, clutching it as her heart raced.
Maybe… Just this one time she would report this as a mission fail. Sakura stuck the scroll into her pack, intending to hide it when she got back to Konoha for her to study later. There were some things that the shinobi world wasn't ready for.
Sakura blinked and lifted her gaze from the ground. That had definitely been one of the creepiest missions she had ever been on. She preferred the straightforward type- go in, fight with enemies, and no supernatural creepy stuff. The world beyond was not hers to deal with, or at least that was how Sakura preferred it. Currently the scroll was stored in one of her sealed safes back at her house, awaiting for a time when she would work up the courage to open it again for study.
Tsunade had been disappointed in Sakura failing the mission, but had understood when Sakura reported the surprisingly large army of monks that had been guarding the secret seal. However, she kept the ordeal with the strange monk-boy and the scroll a secret. Hopefully one that would stay buried.
Sakura looked up and saw Shikamaru walking towards the temple located in the nearby rock formations. It was a beautiful structure, well-maintained, and standing erect. The arches were painted a deep red with a few minor chips in the paint, paper seals flutter in the wind from the edges of the rooftops to ward away evil spirits, and as the wind caressed Sakura's hair, she hear the faint tinkling of wind chimes.
"Shikamaru…" she called. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at Sakura as she caught up to him. "Are you sure we are allowed to go in there?"
"Well they didn't tell us we could." Shikamaru shrugged, and a sly smirk stretched across his features as he continued walking towards the temple. "But neither did they say 'No'."
Sakura glared at him. "Shikamaru…" she growled in warning."You better not get us in trouble."
"If they really wanted us to stay out of the temple they would have told us. Otherwise it's Kumo's fault for not taking care of the technicalities of our agreement." Shikamaru told her.
Oh politics, thou art an unmerciful mistress, Sakura thought dryly, following Shikamaru up the steps to the temple. She looked around, amazed at the beauty of the place. She could see why the Killer Bee had chosen to live here. Glancing at her teammate, Sakura was surprised to see a confused look on Shikamaru's face, his eyebrows slightly scrunched together in thought, his dark brown eyes glancing furiously from one point to another, the cigarette in his mouth moving up and down as he tapped his tongue against it in thought.
"What's the matter, Shikamaru?" Sakura asked him, taking another glanced around the steps. They had reached the entrance to the temple, which was built into the side of the mountain range, and so lacked the usual courtyards most temples had.
Shikamaru hesitated for a moment, before speaking. "Something is different about this place. It's not like other temples I've been to…"
"Well it's definitely different from the Fire Country's temples." Sakura noted. "Its architecture is definitely influenced by Kumogakure."
Shikamaru and Sakura stopped at the top of the stairs, glancing into the main tunnel that led into the heart of the temple. The torches that had lit the place during the Hachibi's stay were long burnt out, but moist air could still be smelt wafting up from the tunnels.
Poof!
Sakura and Shikamaru turned to greet their latest companion, hiding their surprise when one of Kakashi's nin dogs appeared behind them.
"Pakkun!" Sakura greeted her old friend with a gentle smile. "It's been too long!"
"Sakura, it is good to see you." Pakkun replied. "Beautiful as always."
Sakura giggled as Shikamaru spoke up. "Did Kakashi or Neji find anything yet?"
The pug turned to Shikamaru. "Yeah, they sent me to find you. They think they have found the trail Sasuke and team Taka took, but they aren't sure whether it's trustworthy or not. They want you to decide if it's legitimate or a trap."
The brunette man nodded. "Go tell them I am on my way."
Pakkun gave a small bark in acknowledgment, and then he poofed out of existence as Shikamaru turned to Sakura. She turned to him. "Shall we go then?"
Shikamaru shook his head. "No, I want you to take a look around this temple."
"What?" Sakura couldn't help but squawk. "No. Oh no. Never again."
Shikamaru gave her a questioning look, probably considering whether she had gone crazy.
"I don't do temples, Nara." Sakura said firmly. "Not anymore. Those places are creepy and old and haunted-"
"There's no such thing as ghosts, Sakura." Shikamaru sighed.
"And what about freaky little spirit boys who tell you to cut yourself with some ancient dagger so that some sentient altar-slash-scroll can drink up your blood?!" Sakura said in a rush, the words blurring together so that Shikamaru didn't really catch all of what she had said. However he seemed to hear enough of it that he looked at her like she was finally losing her sanity.
He placed his hand on her forehead, eyeing her for any signs of disease. "Are feeling feverish? Lightheaded? Maybe you've had too much caffeine…"
Sakura knocked his hand away. "I am NOT going in there, Nara!"
"You'll be fine, Sakura. It's just a temple." He gave her that look of his that, when coupled with his narrow eyes, told her 'I-am-done-arguing-with-you-now-do-as-say-before-I -pull-rank'. Sakura crossed her arms, not willing to admit her defeat.
"Some weird freaky thing is going to happen to me, and when it does I'm blaming you!" Sakura growled.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Stop being so troublesome, Haruno. Geez, one would think you were a scaredy-cat."
Sakura glared at Shikamaru. "Naruto and Sasuke are the idiots from my team who always got caught up in crazy bloodlines, supernatural freaks, and demons and demons and demons. I, however, prefer not to."
Shikamaru let out a small laugh. He would admit that the knuckleheaded ninja always seemed to encounter the strangest problems. "You'll be fine, Sakura. Just walk into the temple, take a look around, and if you don't see anything suspicious, come find me and the rest of the guys. Okay?"
Sakura stared into the dark mouth of the temple tunnel. A shiver ran down her back as she briefly remembered her last encounter with an old, suspicious temple. She scowled. She was acting foolish; there was no way something weird would happen a second time. That temple with the ancient scroll was one of those one-time incidents, right? What were the odds it would happen again? She shouldn't let that get to her. Besides, she was the apprentice to the Fifth! She wasn't weak anymore.
"Fine." Sakura muttered. "Go help Kakashi and Neji. I got this."
Shikamaru gave Sakura a helpless smile, ruffling her pink locks. "See ya soon, Haruno."
Sakura muttered a few choice words as he walked away, making Shikamaru chuckle as he took off in the direction Pakkun had gone. As she watched him go, Sakura couldn't help but give a warm smile for her old friend. Then her face smoothed out and she turned to walk into the Kumo temple.
Darkness engulfed her after only three steps in.
Whipping out an emergency torch, Sakura struck the match along the wall quickly, the friction releasing a bright red flame. She held it up and entered into the lower regions of the temple, stumbling with one hand on the wall to keep her sense of direction. Images of the her last creepy encounter in the Fire temple flashed through her mind, her hands trembling at the memory of the bloody dagger, the weird scroll, and above all, the disappearing boy.
The tunnel stretched on. She stared at the pictures depicted on the walls, beautiful images carved and painted into the walls, extremely well-preserved compared to the Fire temple's, which had been almost completely scratched and scuffed away from age and weather. The isolation of the Kumo temple really helped.
There were depictions of people: farming, fishing, dancing, playing music. There were pictures of the environment: the sun rising over the mountain, the rivers flowing underneath, the occasional plateau covered in green. As she went further in the pictures became less general, and seemed to focus on what Sakura guessed was the religion of the time. The images hailed heroes of war and battle who were receiving gifts from the heavens. There were beautiful people depicted above the rest of the crowd, adorned in brightly painted robes and with crowns on their heads. Their eyes were the brightest part of the images, painted a bright purple that seemed to glow in the dark.
Sakura glanced away quickly and moved on, disturbed at how the eyes seemed to shine in the light of her torch, as if they were watching her. Another shiver ran down her spine.
Creepy factor strike one! She thought, trying not to imagine the eyes in the painting were watching her. Maybe I should have just dealt with the guys teasing me for being a coward.
Up ahead, she could see the outline of the tunnel opening up into a room less dim. She quickened her pace.
Sakura reached the inner chamber and gasped. She raised her torch as the light was cast onto the ancient mosaic displayed on the wall. It was a large symbol of some kind. And it seemed so familiar to her.
It was a large clan symbol of some kind, very ancient by the look of the temple. It was in the shape of an eye, ringed by various irises. The eyelashes were carved to look like rays of light. At the top of the eye was the symbol of the sun and at the bottom was the symbol of the moon and stars. Each iris was colored in with tiles a different shade of purple/blue/gray, though given the age of the mosaic, a couple tiles were missing, and a few stray vines dangled down from the top level where they had managed to break through the surface of the mountain ground. And at the center of the irises was the pupil, which was so black Sakura thought it might actually be a hole.
Glancing down at her chest, Sakura fingers reached into the collar of her vest, pulling out the golden chain and charm she wore. Holding the pendant up in the light of the torch, Sakura stared at her necklace, using her forefinger and thumb to stop it from twirling. She glanced at the side with the rearing lioness on it before turning the pendant over and squinting her eyes at the clan symbol there. It was vaguely shaped like an eye too. Except the image still kept blurring whenever Sakura tried to focus her eyes on it. Getting frustrated, Sakura dropped the chain, letting the pendant hang out of her shirt as she forgot about the necklace.
She couldn't help her curiosity but to approach the large, ancient symbol. The pupil was eye-level with Sakura as she got nearer, the flame flickering in her hand but she paid no heed to it. The blackness of the pupil seemed to swallow all light, leaving nothing but an opaque black void. Was it a large, matted stone of onyx maybe? Sakura reached out with her free hand to touch the pupil when suddenly-
Her torch flickered and died.
Sakura gasped as she was thrust into total darkness. In a blind moment of panic, she stumbled and felt her hand collide with the wall. She expected to feel the rough stone, but instead her hand felt the cool, smooth surface of whatever stone the pupil had been carved from.
And the pupil lit up.
Sakura gasped and stumbled backwards, nearly falling onto her butt. The edges of the pupil gleamed a faint purple, lavender hue which ringed the still void-dark iris, and the light from the edges began to spread outwards, leaking into the cracks between the tiles of the irises. Soon the entire eye was alight, and seemed to be staring down at her.
Sakura gulped. This was definitely not what she signed up for. Dealing with supernatural forces was Naruto's forte, not hers. However after a couple of tense, still minutes and nothing moved, Sakura found her curiosity and again approached the eye.
It had reacted to her touch, so what if she touched it again? She took a step forwards and placed her hand on the symbol again. The light pulsed, making her gasp, but she didn't pull away. Sakura's eyes fixated on the onyx orb. Her own pupils began to dilate, widening until only a sliver of green could be seen surrounding the blackness as her eyes seemed to drink in the sight of the glowing light.
The light pulsed again, this time accompanied by wisps of the light wafting up from the mosaic like vapors of steam. Where Sakura's hand touched the artifact the light vapors began to coalesce on her arm, causing her limb to glow as the light crawled down her arm, wrapping and swirling lazily. Sakura couldn't move, nor was she inclined to. It was as if time had frozen, and she was now a spectator outside her own body.
Murmurs brush her ears…
The glowing mist of light curled around her neck, up to her ears.
The whisperings grew louder…
As the vapors of pale blue light reached her face, it felt like miniscule sparks of electricity were brushing her cheeks with every particle.
If she strained closely the murmurings sounded like words…
The light concentrated around her eyelids.
"She's here." "Could it be?" "The descendent had arrived!" "It has been so long…"
Tendrils of the light began to enter her sclera, misting over her entire eyeball until her eyes glowed faintly with the light in the dim temple.
"Our own kind returns." "She's so young…" "I didn't know the ancient bloodlines had survived."
The light gathered at her iris, swirling around her pupil until it turned a faint indigo color. As her pupil was ringed with the indigo iris, the light began swirling again just outside the newly formed iris, and another iris appeared, this one a slightly darker shade.
"She is strong." "How unexpected." "A female heir?"
By now her entire body was glowing with the light flowing from the ancient mosaic, Sakura's hand glued on the pupil of the giant eye. Miniscule pulses of light reverberated between her body and the artifact.
"One would have thought the bloodlines diluted by now." "No, she holds too much power."
Strands of pink hair floated up from her shoulders like a halo. The loose fabrics of her vest, shirt, and medic skirt lifted at their edges as well. Sakura's mind was blank. Hazy. Every time she tried to form a thought a gentle nudge would push away the urge to.
"She is as strong as the ancient ones." "How is that possible?" "Has she come to reclaim us?"
Her feet were no longer on the ground. She was floating. Sakura was vaguely aware of this.
"This is the one." "It has to be." "Why is she not with the rest of the clan?"
The voices were clamoring in her head, sounding as if they were both in her head, and yet far off beyond the stars.
"Wait- She is sealed!" "How dare anyone seal the child." "This is dangerous."
She wanted them to stop talking. She was confused. Who were these voices? They were too numerous to count, to inhuman and alien. They sounded neither male nor female, but rang in her ears like bright, resounding chimes.
"Her power will continue to grow and when the seal breaks-" "We cannot allow her to die."
Her eyes were not completely filled with violet and lavender irises. Her pupils were black and deep, seeming to absorb all light, depthless and unemotional.
"But should we awaken her?" "It could harm her even more." "She would be unstable."
Her veins were on fire. It strange chakra was running through her body- no it was her own chakra. But it was enhanced. As if a reservoir she had never known existed had opened up.
"But if we leave her be she will it will only be a matter of time before the seal breaks-"
Sakura saw through new eyes. Everything was so much sharper, clearer, colors enhanced and more vibrant, even in the dim lighting of the temple.
"She will become a time-bomb." "We cannot risk another apocalypse."
She felt powerful. Almighty. Every speck of dust was visible to her eye, the networks of chakra that pulsed in the world around her, the life force of every organism within the area, all lay bare to her eyes.
"Then let us wait and watch." "And awaken her when it is appropriate."
The power was pulsing wildly within her. As if the chains she had never noticed before had finally been released. She was free, no longer caged like a prisoner to her own skin. This was the real her. All this time she had been searching, wondering why she felt empty inside. But now she had been released. The world would bow at her feet. A cruel smirk adorned her lips.
"We shall retreat for now." "Stay safe, daughter." "Kami watch over the descendent." " The heir indeed…"
The power within her eyes was growing, enhancing, seeming to mature as fast as possible to catch up on their years of disuse.
As the murmuring voices, in their strange, chiming tongues, faded from her ears, Sakura felt something new. Alert and wary, her glowing irises squinted as a small pinprick of pain made itself know on her back. It was like a tiny electric shock that traveled up her spinal cord and collected on her brow. A warning. And as Sakura lifted a glowing hand to her forehead, piercing pain exploded on her brow as blood red ink appeared, carving itself brutally onto her face and burning at the edges, crackling like fire and singing her face.
At the same time a seal appeared on her back, hissing and spitting sparks and it burned symbols across her shoulder blades and down her spine. It was like a web drawn in blood and fire, appearing from within her own skin as the burning tentacles of ruby ink sliced up her shoulders and onto her neck, to her temples, and connecting with the seal emblazoned darkly across her forehead.
The pain was so overwhelming that Sakura's body threw its head back in pain, mouth open in a silent scream. The soft blue glow flickered around her form as the merciless red cinders on the seals drove away whatever power was holding her.
"AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!" Finally the scream was retched from her throat brutally, her vocal cords in pain.
Sakura tried to call back the blue light, soothing and cool, not burning and piercing like this new pain. It throbbed and slashed and pierced and burned, seeming to ignite under her very own skin. It was pulling her mind back into its cage, clawing at her thoughts, shredding them, and Sakura could almost feel invisible claws of fire digging into her head.
Tears ran down her cheeks as her body stopped floating and collapsed with a loud smack! onto the cold floor of the temple, crumbling into a boneless heap. Her body convulsed as if to fight off the invasive seals, but they only hissed in her ears. Sakura was panting to breathe, feeling suffocated, clawing at her throat, but the seals seemed to drag her mind down, down, down into their depths, locking her thoughts into darkness.
Sakura stopped moving, unconscious.
READ & REVIEW PLEASE!
Lots O' Love,
~Lilithia