The Sakurazaki Chronicles—Tsubasa
By Emi
MC: Setsuna, Sasuke, mainly Konohagakure ninja
MS: Feudal Japan; the pre-Shippuuden period of Naruto
MT: Romance, Adventure, Angst, Friendship, Fantasy, Death
Rating: 13-18 year olds (Teen-Mature)
Disclaimer: The author does not own Naruto in any way, shape or form. However, she does own her OCs, including a small amount of their jutsus. The author also does not own the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, Mahou Sensei Negima! by Akamatsu Ken, Chobits by CLAMP, Tsubasa by CLAMP, xxxHolic by CLAMP, Love Hina by Akamatsu Ken, the manga edition of Romeo and Juliet by Yali Lin (her wonderful art instructor and the woman who autographed it for me.), the .hack// series by various authors, and other manga or literature references used in the making of this fanfiction. All rights belong to their respectful author(s) or company.
A/N: Review, please! Thanks!
Book One: Sora
Chapter 2
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I looked around at his 'humble abode.' It was extremely plain; white, consisting of another white couch and a table with a teapot set on it. There was a simple lamp in the corner of the room. On inspection, I realized that the kitchen was white, also, and didn't have much except a small table, a refrigerator, and a sink with other kitchen appliances.
I went back to the living room, and carefully took my katanas out of the belt I was holding them with and laid them carefully on the couch. I saw Sasuke-san plainly sitting on a chair twiddling with a kunai, but I ignored him, and continued on exploring. The next room proved to be a bathroom-- yet again, white, small, with a sink, a toilet, and a shower. I sighed, frustrated. Sasuke-san was so PLAIN.
There were two last doors-- one of them had to be Sasuke-san's room, so I hoped I could pick the right one. Unfortunately, I seemed to have the worst luck, deciding on the door on the left. As I opened it, I could already see that the room was occupied. My hand lingered on the door, but curiosity drove me on. The closet door was slightly ajar, and the bed was messily made. And, yes, you guessed it, the theme was WHITE. I turned to go out, but something on the dresser caught my eye--no, not the fact that the Naruto-verse had televisions, but the picture.
I edged closer to it, noticing immediately that it was a picture of the Uchiha's-- or, rather, one of the families-- Sasuke-san's. Inconspicuously, I picked up the fragile frame, staring at the people whom Itachi-san had murdered six years ago. Had it been so long that I was a mere child at the orphanage in Tokyo...? I looked at Mikoto-sempai and Fugaku-sempai, staring into their young eyes. My eyes ran over Sasuke-san's smiling form, how he was before his family had been killed. Even Itachi-san was smiling a little bit. Did he already know his family was going to be killed by himself when the picture had been taken?
I felt pity suddenly, for Sasuke-san. In the real world, the world I was no longer a part of, I belonged to a boarding school as an orphan, my father having died and my mother having abandoned me at the age of three, leaving me to fend for myself. I could relate to having your family taken away. But not in this world... I had a family I had never even met...
"What're you doing?" The picture was suddenly snatched out of my fingers before I could sense Sasuke-san's chakra. "You shouldn't snoop into people's business. It's RUDE, remember?" He mocked a comment I had made previously. He placed the picture forcefully face-down on the dresser, and pulled my out of his room by the back of my sash.
"You room is over there," He pointed to the door on the right. I tried smiling at him. It didn't work.
"Gomen nasai, arigatou, Sasuke-san!" He 'hned' again and opened the door, shoved me in, and closed the door behind me. In the darkness of the room, I groped around for the light switch, finally finding it on the far left side of the room, but not before tripping over a plug for the lamp. I flicked it on, taking in the room that was lying before me. It was... to say... a complete clone of Sasuke-san's. Sasuke-san had also oh-so-kindly placed my katanas on the bed-spread (white).
Striding over to the curtains, I opened them, letting the morning sunshine creep through the window blinds. Not caring if it was in fact, morning, I laid on my bed, carefully hanging my twin katanas on the closet door first. And then I did what I do best-- think.
'Where am I?' I thought, laying my head to the right, my arms tucked comfortably underneath my head. I knew that I was in a parallel dimension of some sort, in a children's manga depicting fighting ninjas, but where EXACTLY was I? Was I also back in Tokyo, in some subconscious state of mind? Could I get back?
I didn't really think about getting back to my world, because the only thing I could really look forward to there was swordplay tournaments, and I had something better now that I was in Konoha no sato. I was a kunoichi, for crying out loud! I shook my head to get rid of the zeppelin of thoughts, like one of those Etch and Sketches you find at those antique stores.
Just then, I decided to confront Sasuke-san, in small hopes of him accepting me as a friend, so living with him might be considerably easier to do. Feeling quite a lot happier, I went out and knocked on Sasuke-san's closed door. Nobody answered. After knocking several more times and still receiving no answer that Sasuke-san was indeed still alive (demo, he couldn't be dead; the storyline is still starting!), I turned the knob and slipped inside.
Feeling chakra coming from where Sasuke-san's bed was, I let my chakra guide me to him in the dark. I heard slow, even breaths, and I realized that the Uchiha boy was asleep. My eyes adjusting to the darkness, I sat there, watching his chest rise and fall, his bangs covering his eyes. I had to admit, Sasuke-san wasn't ugly. I could see what fan-girls could see in him, but I thought that they should focus more on PERSONALITY. He shifted a little, his head now angling towards me, his nose only a few mere inches from mine. I moved away a little, and then a strange thought came to me-- what was Sasuke-san doing sleeping at 1:00 PM?
However, I decided not to be rude, and exited the room quietly to the kitchen, to make lunch. Upon opening the refrigerator (yet again, white-- I thought Sasuke-san like blue?), I discovered nothing but ramen, eggs, cold rice, and tomatoes. The only drinks were milk and water. Noticing that many were expired, I sighed, tossing them away to make more room for later groceries.
Left with half a refrigerator full of plain food, I decided to just make ramen, adding a few tomatoes and eggs into it. Four minutes later, the ramen was done; the tomatoes and eggs already mixed into it, and ready to be eaten. I placed both bowls on the table and left them to cool as I went to wake Sasuke-san.
Creeping into Sasuke-san's room again, I noticed that Sasuke-san was still asleep, his bangs still falling over his eyes. he certainly looked different when he was asleep, I would give him that. I smiled half-heartedly, nudging his side a little. He stirred, but didn't move.
"Sasuke-san," I shook his shoulder. "Time for lunch!" he rolled onto his back, and opened one eye tiredly.
"Huh?" He blinked, and then rubbed his eyes. Stretching, he added, "What time is it?" I smiled at him. He sure was SLOW when he woke up.
"1:05, lunchtime!" I exclaimed, pulling the young Uchiha up. Why was I so hyper? Was it because I finally had something to relate to? Someone... I could maybe be FRIENDS with? Hm... I made a mental note to stop asking questions and start answering them. "C'mon, Sasuke-san, I made tomato-egg ramen!" Adjusting his collar and pants, which he seemed to have fallen asleep in, he followed me into his-- I mean OUR kitchen, where the ramen bowls still were.
"Ano..." he muttered, probably not used to having people cook for him. "Thanks, arigatou, I guess..." He sat down, picking up a pair of chopsticks.
I ate fast, since I really hadn't eaten since before my swordplay tournament, when I was still in Tokyo, about a day or two ago. After a few minutes, Sasuke-san was finished, too, and I took his bowl from him and started washing them both.
Sasuke-san watched me from behind for a few moments-- I could feel his eyes on my back as I continued to rinse the second bowl. Then, he stepped up to me, taking a towel from a hook near the sink, he dried off both bowls. I turned the knob of the sink, stopping the flow of water, and turned to him.
"Arigatou for helping, Sasuke-san," I smiled weakly at him. He smirked at me.
"Hn," He replied, turning around, and then stopping. He spun around again. "How do you know all of these things about housework, when you're the princess of the whole Fire Country?"
Good question. I tried to think of more lies I could feed him. "Well..., ano... I wanted to fend for myself for a few days, because I was going to be a kunoichi, and I learned how to make ramen and wash dishes!" I scratched the back of my head convincingly.
Nonetheless, the Uchiha prodigy (okay, one of the only Uchihas left, but still! He's the rookie of the Academy!) shook his head, not believing a word I had uttered. Shit. "The truth, Sakurazaki-hime."
"I told you to call me Setsuna!" I shot back. I calmed immediately. "Gomen, Sasuke-san. It's just... I'm not really ready to tell anybody my secret just yet. Soon though, I promise!" I stuck my pinky out childishly (hell-o, I'm only 12!) and waited for him to link with me. He didn't, so I gave him a look, making him sigh deeply. He wrapped his pinky around mine, and I smiled softly up at him.
"Hn," Sasuke-san muttered as we let go. "Hey, Saku--" I gave him another look. "Fine, Setsuna-hime, I don't know about you, but Iruka-sensei told us to be at the Academy now for the sorting of groups. You coming?" I smiled, and nodded, running to my room to find my twin katanas. Putting them safely in my sash, Sasuke opened the door for me, and locked the door behind him.
Since the manga of 'Naruto' didn't really have a route from Sasuke-san's house to the Academy, I had to follow Sasuke-san there, listening to the silence as birds and people talked to each other in the background.
After five minutes of travel, we arrived at the Academy's double doors. We walked in, stopping in front of a door that clearly said 'Umino Iruka' on a plaque. Knowing that Iruka-sensei wouldn't come in until later, after Sasuke-san and Naruto-kun shared that fateful kiss, I sat down at the left of Sasuke-san, him back to brooding and ignoring me as usual. As I sat there, I heard talk of me. Well, sort of talking about me, since I wasn't really a princess.
"I heard that the princess of the Fire Country's here 'cuz she wants to become a ninja!" Rumors whipped around the room.
I quietly eavesdropped on a group of gaggling girls sitting in the row in front of us. "Did you know the princess is OUR age?" One girl whispered.
"Yeah, and she owns a pony!" I snorted at this. I may have er... 'owned a pony' but nonetheless, it sounded ridiculously funny.
"Hey, do you think that she's the new girl sitting next to Sasuke-kun?"
"Maybe, but probably not. Princesses are supposed to be cute-lovers right? They don't wear boy's samurai clothes. Although it looks awfully fashionable of her."
"Whatever. The princess 'prolly isn't as strong as us, anyways." And now I was aggravated. Even if I was a princess, I was still probably stronger than their weak-minded fangirl-ness!
"I am not!" I confronted them, Sasuke-san looking my way, then turning back around, back to staring into blank space. "Do not stereotype people because of what they are!" I showed them the blade of one of my Kusanagi katanas. They gasped.
"Y-yes, h-hai," They stuttered. "We won't do it again, Princess-hime!"
"Setsuna," I corrected them before I sat back down, and buried my face into my arms. It wasn't long until I got bored and fell asleep...
.::x::.x::x::.
"My mouth is poisoned!"
"Naruto-dobe, you're dead!" I woke up wearily to realize that Sasuke-san and Naruto-kun had already kissed. I giggled at their reactions, but frowned when Sasuke-san's fan girls started to pummel Naruto-kun to the ground in sheer anger. So, as a 'princess,' I decided to defend him.
"Hey," I yelled at them, blocking their way to Naruto-kun. I noticed that Sakura-chan and Ino-chan were part of the group. "It's not Naruto-kun's fault! He got hit by someone, and got knocked over!"
"Who're you to say anything?" Sakura-chan, I mean baka, stepped up. "You're not a ruler or anything; you're just a girl in boy clothes!" I smirked at this. Good thing I had good comebacks. Oh, wait. I didn't need them.
"I may not be a ruler," I stated, stepping up to her with a glare. She backed up with nervousness. "But my father is. I'm Sakurazaki Setsuna, Princess of the Fire Country! I'm defending a person who did no sin!" I ended with a flourish.
Ino-pig stepped up this time, Sakura-baka too scared to confront me again. "Oh yeah? If you're the princess of the Fire Country, then I'm the Legendary Tsunade-sama! You aren't a princess! You're a girl in boy clothes!"
As I opened my mouth to speak, Iruka-sensei appeared in the room. "Take a seat, girls!" Noticing me, he motioned for me to step to the front of the room.
"We have a last-minutes student today," He began. "The Hokage-sama passed her himself. I'm proud to say that this is Princess Sakurazaki Setsuna of the Fire Country!" As I stood in the front of the room smiling a little, the girls were gaping. Ino-pig was wide-eyed, seeing that she was so wrong in saying that I wasn't a princess. Well, she was right. In a way. Iruka-sensei motioned for me to sit, and started on his long, long speech.
"From this moment forth, you are no longer ninja trainees, but genin - in other words, junior ninja." Iruka-sensei looked over all of us with a gleam in his eyes. "You are still, however, the lowest of low ranks. This will change in time."
I wasn't paying much attention to the whole you've-now-passed-now-it's-hell-on-earth speech. Somehow a few girls got past my guard and hammered Naruto into dog meat, so I was applying ice to his smoking head.
"You will all be divided into three-man cells, with the exception of one cell that will have four members due to an uneven number of graduates." Some people groaned without interest. Well, so long as I'm with Naruto and not Sakura or Sasuke, I'm good as gold, I thought, Of course, I would have been anyways.
"I've made the selections already," (major "WHAT!!" scream at that) "So pay attention." Iruka-sensei started listing names and team numbers. I lost interest and started dozing off.
"Team 7...Haruno Sakura...Uzumaki Naruto—"
Naruto launched from his seat and yelled, "WHOO-HOO!!" in triumph. Sakura looked ready to die. I smirked at her. Serves you right.
"...Uchiha Sasuke..." Sakura stood and screamed, "Oh YEAH BABY!!" while Naruto hung his head and muttered darkly. Oh tough luck buddy, I thought apologetically.
"...and Sakurazaki Setsuna."
"WHAT!?" Sakura screamed in fake happiness. I knew she wasn't over my confrontation. Naruto's head snapped up. Sasuke raised his chin from his fingers. I sat up too fast, which resulted in my falling backwards. I got back up, rubbing the bump on my crown.
"Um, did I hear that right?" I asked, looking from Iruka-sensei to Naruto and back. "Did you say...Setsuna?" Yes! I was dancing inside.
"Yes Setsuna. You're on Team 7."
"Hold on a sec!" Naruto yelled, leveling a finger past me to Sasuke, who by now had regained his calm aloof composure. "Why the hell is such an accomplished shinobi like me stuck with that loser?!"
Iruka-sensei sighed deeply. I winced-- Naruto had once again triggered the teacher's lecture-mode.
"A princess's on my teeaaam." Sakura was shouting, sticking her tongue at the petrified Ino, and pointing her finger at me. I snarled when her finger came within two inches of poking my eye out.
Iruka-sensei counted to three in his head before replying. "Naruto, the teams are assembled with the thought of all strengths being equal. Sasuke has the highest grades of anyone here; you have the lowest. Both he and Sakura scored highest on their written examinations; you barely scraped through. In physical exams, however, Sasuke soars above everyone else. Setsuna, who was tested by Hokage-sama himself, was reported to might even have a higher strength capacity in all three types of jutsus than even Sasuke. So I think that explains all your questions." He turned back to his clipboard, ignoring the gasps that went through the room when he said that about me. "End of argument."
Sasuke looked over to Naruto. "Don't weigh me down, dunce."
Oh, bad move Uchiha, I thought as cross veins popped in your new friend's head.
"What did you say, Sasuke?!" he yelled.
"Knock it off, Naruto!" Sakura screamed, pounding him with her fists.
"Shut up Sakura!" I snapped. I looked at Sasuke. "You started this, ya know. Honestly, for a genius, you are such an idiot Uchiha."
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Sakura looked ready to murder me, forgetting that I was a princess.
"YOU HEARD ME, AND I WASN'T EVEN TALKING TO YOU, DAMMIT!!"
Iruka-sensei smiled as Naruto held me back from tearing Sakura to dust-sized pieces. Aw, they'll work out their differences in time. Even Naruto...
.::x::.x::x::.