Chapter 3: Star of Diligence: Virtue Unleash!
"WHHHHAAAAAAAAT?" screamed Orochimaru as he repeatedly blasted Dark Chakra at Jirobo, who was dodging for his life as we speak. "YOU IDIOT! WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL HER SOONER? NOW THAT ONE OF THE KUNOICHI GUARDIANS IS FOUND IT'LL ONLY BE A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THEY FIND THE REMAINING SIX!"
"Arrrgh! I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!" yelled Jirobo frantically as he dove behind a rock just in time to dodge another blast.
Orochimaru scoffed as he gave up on trying to obliterate the fat guy. "Anyhow, at least I was able to obtain some negative energy from those nice little yokai over there," he said gesturing over his shoulder. Jirobo looked over and gulped to see a pile of skeletons from what was left of the yokai. Dark Chakra began to circulate around his palm.
"So before you had returned so shamefully, I took the liberty of resurrecting some acquaintances of yours," said Orochimaru gesturing over to a shadowed figure who walked out to reveal a young boy with dark bluish-gray hair with long bangs that covered his right eye. He wore turquoise lipstick, and brown eyeliner, giving him a feminine appearance. He wore brown tunic with long black wristbands , black skin-tight shorts, and purple ropes tied around his waist. Lastly, he wore a dark red beaded necklace around his neck. What was creepy was that he had a second head sticking out from the back of his head.
"Sakon, the Sin of Sloth?"
"The Sin of Sloth he might be, but he is a whole lot more reliable than you!"
"Hey Tubs, what's shakin'?" greeted Sakon casually.
"DON'T CALL ME TUBS, LAZY-ASS!" yelled Jirobo in annoyance.
"QUIET!"
The two flinched and looked at their boss.
"The Guardian of Temperance has already awaken no thanks to Jirobo. Since you, Sakon, the Sin of Sloth have been revived then without a doubt they would be trying to find the Guardian of Diligence. The only way to destroy the girl is if we poison her with Sin before she discovers her powers. You two are going to find that girl and poison her before the next Virtue awakens! Do you hear me?" demanded Orochimaru sharply.
"HAI!" replied the two quickly as they glared at each other before jumping into a large portal which opened up before them.
Orochimaru smirked as he watched the two leave. "Good, just as long as the next Guardian has not been in contact with the Topaz Star..."
"She's just as vulnerable as any other human?" exclaimed Sakura in shock before she stopped herself. "Putting that aside, WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN MY SITUATION RIGHT NOW?" she yelled in frustration.
You would to if you turned became a magical girl the evening before and took down a whole bunch of possessed zombie like people who literally tried to eat you! That, and you find out that your teachers actually know of the situation and haven't explained a word and you find yourself sitting in the principal's office to discover she's the brains behind the whole operation. (R.F.: * takes a deep breath* You know what, it'll be easier for you see what actually happened. *Presses rewind button on a tv remote*)
Rewinding two hours ago...
Sakura yawned loudly as she walked sleepily into school. "I'm tired..." she muttered groggily.
"Sa-ku-ra-CHAN!" WHAP!
"ITAAAIIIII!" exclaimed the girl as felt a hard slap on her back, making her jump about a foot in the air before she turned around to see the perpetrator. "INO! WHAT THE HELL?"
Ino flipped her blond hair and shrugged casually. "What? Like it's my fault you're walking like a zombie?"
"You're one to talk..." muttered Sakura grumpily as she tried to rub the spot on her back where Ino had slapped her.
Ino quirked an eyebrow at her friend. "Huh? What do you mean, 'I'm one to talk'?"
"Nothing, let's go..." replied Sakura as she turned and walked ahead leaving Ino to trot after her. 'Looks like she doesn't remember...' noted the girl to herself when she saw Anko peeking out from a corner and crooking a finger at her. Sakura's face dead panned heavily. "Hey Ino, why don't you go ahead first, I need to take care of something."
"Ok, don't be late," replied Ino as she ran ahead.
Sakura quickly scurried to where Anko was. The teacher quickly signaled for her to follow as Sakura found herself being led to the principle's office where Shizune was waiting. "Anko-sensei! Will you please tell me what's going on?"
"Welcome...Guardian of Temperance..." greeted a new voice as the principal's chair swiveled around to reveal Mdm. Tsunade smiling.
"Mdm. Tsunade? Don't tell me you're in on this too?"
"Better than that, I'm the brains of this operation!" came the cheerful reply.
Sakura stared at the woman in stunned silence with wide eyes and a hanging jaw. Tsunade and the other two teachers sweat-dropped before the woman coughed. "Anyway...I suppose we do owe you an explanation after being involved in yesterday's fiasco."
'No...ya'think?' thought Sakura sarcastically as she folded her arms. "Ok, you can start with explaining this pink rock here..." she said removing the Blossom of Temperance from her bag.
Tsunade took in a deep breath and began to explain. "Ok,but I can't give you the full story right now, but I promise it will be soon. What I can tell you is that this world is going to be in grave danger."
"A long time ago, there were seven powerful gems called the Seven Sacred Virtues and like their name suggests, each gem represented one of the Seven Virtues, Temperance, Diligence, Charity, Kindness, Humility, Chastity, and Patience. They also held a power over a certain element."
"Ooook?..." said Sakura slowly, trying to absorb the story.
"The gems were incredibly powerful, sought after by many, so seven girls were chosen to protect the gems. These girls who possessed beautiful hearts became known as the Kunoichi Guardians. However, an evil Snake Being known as Orochimaru wanted to take the Gems as his own to empower his own warriors, the Seven Deadly Sins. After a long battle, the Guardians had sealed him away in another dimension and turned the Sins to stone. Now after all these years, it seems that Orochimaru is regaining his strength and is releasing the Sins one by one..."
"Remember the fat dude from yesterday? That was Jirobo, the Sin of Gluttony. He has the power to corrupt people into becoming starving, hungry zombies," explained Anko sitting on Tsunade's desk.
"Ok and I became involved because...?"
"The Kunoichi Guardians were girls with beautiful bright hearts. Your Heart glowed brilliantly when you wanted to save your friend, Ino, even when she became corrupted. Ironically enough, when you ran forward to attack Jirobo, the resonating of your Heart became compatible with the Virtue of Temperance. This was proven when Anko grabbed your hand, which directly connected you with her own Virtue, Resilience, which is the corresponding Virtue to yours."
"So what are you saying? I'm actually one of these 'Kunoichi Guardians'?" asked Sakura, still finding the situation hard to believe.
"Bingo! That Gem in your hand right now is the Rose Stone Blossom which holds the power of Earth and because it has chosen you to be it's wielder, you are now officially the new Guardian of Temperance, Geo Rose," finished Tsunade who was once again replied with stunned silence. "Sakura-chan?"
"Oh no! OH NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO! I can't be the new Guardian! I-I-I-I'm only 13!" exclaimed Sakura who was now freaking out.
"So?" replied Anko indifferently. "I was only eight when I got this gig."
"I'm only a green belt in Judo! I don't know anything about fighting Corrupted Zombies!"
"But all the same, you are the new Guardian of Temperance, Sakura-chan, no one else can wield that Gem except you now," reasoned Shizune who spoke up finally. "I know this is a lot to take in right now but please calm down and hear us out."
"What there's more?" demanded Sakura breathing heavily when Shizune placed her hands on the girl's shoulders and sat her down on a chair.
"Calm down and breath deeply..." instructed Shizune.
Sakura immediately obeyed and became much more calm after doing so. "Ok...I'm better...so what else do I have to know?"
Tsunade nodded a thanks to Shizune before turning back to girl. "So far, you are the only Guardian we have successfully found. We have yet to find the other six Guardians. Luckily, we know that they are in this school."
"They are? How do you know this?"
"The area this school is built on is a Spiritual Nexus, a single area that is linked equidistant to the five elements. The Gems were created with the energies of Yin and Yang, which lingers strongly in this area. Ironically, this also happens to be the site where the Virtues were born. The new Guardians should unconsciously be drawn to this Nexus."
"Convenient, in that case it should be easy to find them right?"
"Unfortunately...no..."sighed Tsunade heavily leaning back in her chair and folding her arms. "Right now, we only have two ways that can help us. The first is locating them with their corresponding virtues just as Anko had done and the second is with this," she explained taking out a crystal ball from her drawer.
"This orb should be able to provide us with a clue to the next Guardian's identity, in your case, your clue was 'Hana' (Flower)."
"Well that makes sense...my name is Sakura, which is a type of flower...but isn't that a bit to vague of a clue?" asked Sakura thoughtfully.
"Maybe, but it helps narrow down the candidates," replied Tsunade when the ball suddenly began to glow. "Like now..."
True enough, the orb began to glow brightly as an image began to appear in it. It was a star, bright and yellow, and in the center of it was the kanji 'Yama' (Mountain). After that, the image slowly faded away.
"What was that supposed to mean?" asked Sakura now incredibly curious.
"The yellow star must signify the Topaz Star, which is the Virtue of Diligence and holds the power of Wind. That must be the next Guardian to awaken!" deduced Anko, biting her thumbnail.
"The clue to her identity is Mountain...it could possibly be a name such as the case with Sakura," suggested Tsunade, thinking hard.
"But we have over 200 girls with 'Mountain' in their names and we can't be too sure if it's the first name or the last," pointed out Shizune. "How are we supposed to work on that? There's Yamako, Yamanashi, Fujiyama, Hariyama, Yama-"
"-NAKA! " Suddenly a light bulb switched on in Sakura's head as one possible person came to her mind."Yamanaka! That's it! It's Ino! She's the next Guardian!" exclaimed Sakura standing up. "She's really hardworking and she has a 'Yama' in her name! It can't be anyone else!"
The others looked at the girl and smiled. "Brilliant!" exclaimed Tsunade excitedly. "But we have to hurry, if we don't bring her the Topaz Star, the next Guardian will be as vulnerable as any normal human!"
"But there's just one problem..." Shizune began to point out again. "The person with the corresponding virtue 'Responsibilty' is..."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S SICK?" Tsunade's voice rang out throughout the whole school with such force that the building trembled.
Shizune , Anko and Sakura flinched heavily as they removed their hands from their ears which were ringing due to being in close proximity to Tsunade's scream.
"Apparently yesterday she accidentally slipped and got splashed by a bucket of mop water in the air-conditioned music room and got a bad cold as a result..." explained Shizune as she cleaned her ear with a Q-tip.
"Just great...and her apartment is about an hour away from here!" groaned Anko slapping her forehead.
"In that case, Anko, you get that person! Bring her here as quickly as possible!" ordered Tsunade quickly.
"Hai!" replied the teacher as she saluted and ran out.
"Sakura, you go back to class!"
Sakura also saluted and quickly grabbed her bag and ran out as well.
"And you Shizune!"
"Yes Ma'am!" replied the woman standing at attention.
"Go get me a latte from the cafeteria!"
Shizune's face deadpanned as her eye twitched. "Hai..." she replied lamely as she walked out the door.
Meanwhile a portal just a block away from the school opened from which Sakon and Jirobo emerged wearing modern day street clothes. Jirobo wore a black raggedy jacket over a plain white tee with equally baggy khaki pants and sneakers while Sakon had a dusty brown shirt under a black and gray sports jacket with a large hood over his head to cover the second one sticking out from his back. To complete it, Sakon wore brown jeans held up by a belt with white sneakers. A long whistle escaped from Sakon's lips as he looked around. "Wow...Japan ain't what it used to be like that's for sure..." he said looking around at the buildings around him. "I have to say, not bad for humans..."
"Can we please focus on the matter at hand?" growled Jirobo in annoyance. "We have to find that damn girl who might possibly be the Guardian of Diligence, who is supposed to be your frickin' enemy!"
Sakon yawned as he ignored Jirobo's ranting while he cleaned his ear. "Aww lighten up, Tubs...I can sense her, she's near...besides," said Sakon as he stretched and cracked his neck. "What's the hurry?"
Jirobo groaned in frustration and face palmed himself. "How Orochimaru-sama trusts you I have no idea..."
"How? Easy, because I rock, and you suck," replied Sakon simply as he dug his hands into his pockets and sauntered off leaving behind a fuming Jirobo who reached his boiling point.
"GAAAAAH!" roared the fat man as he kicked a garbage can nearby so hard it flew into the air and knocked into a bunch of punks who were just passing by.
The punks growled in anger as the plucked the garbage of them and stomped towards Jirobo who hadn't noticed. "HORA! What's the big idea?" demanded the leader.
"What do you want?" asked Jirobo grouchily making the leader twice as angry as he grabbed Jirobo's shirt.
"YOU RUINED MY NEW JACKET, FATSO! YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS! ANY LAST WORDS?"
Jirobo narrowed his eyes distastefully. "Eat this..." he said.
Suddenly the punk leader felt something jab deep into his stomach. He let go of his target and looked down to see a black kunai disappear into him. Before his buddies could fathom what was happening the punk leader began to foam like a rabid dog as he grotesquely crouched on the ground. "I'M FREAKIN' HUNGRY!" he cried as he pounced on his gang members who screamed and began to run.
"Huh...not bad..." said Sakon leaning against a lamp-post. "You just gave me an idea."
At that moment, he looked across the street to a cafe where a waiter was taking and order from a young woman. "Soul Corruption Jutsu..."Sakon began to say smirking as he gathered Dark Chakra into the form of three kunai. "Sloth..." he finished as he threw the kunai in the direction of the cafe where it struck the said waiter along with another waiter and a random customer.
Suddenly the struck people's eyes began to become glassy as they yawned and slumped into some chairs.
The customer of the waiter looked incredibly offended. "Excuse me, aren't you going to get what I ordered?"
The waiter looked at her lazily. "Nah...you go get it yourself... I'm tired..." he replied rudely.
"It's so troublesome to to take orders..." whined the second waiter like a kid who lay down on the side walk.
"Man...lifting this spoon is soooo annoying... why can't the cake just come to me?..." whined the customer who slumped over her table, staring at a slice of strawberry shortcake in front of her.
A lot of people frowned at them in distaste and confusion, when suddenly black waves of energy slowly emitted from the Corrupted towards nearby people whose eyes also became glassy as they lazily began to slump in their chairs. The black waves began to emit even more stronger and flow to passerby's who began to act lazy. Those who were walking either fell asleep on the ground or literally dropped what they were doing and began to complain.
Jirobo looked at his partner, suddenly enlightened. "I get it! We're luring the guardian out! She might be immune to my powers but she isn't to yours!"
"BZZT! WRONG!"exclaimed Sakon crossing his arms nonchalantly. "Unlike your sin, which can only be passed through physical contact, mine is passed like a fog, very soon it'll move it's way up to where the next Guardian."
"But assuming she hasn't even been in contact with the Star of Diligence, won't she still be vulnerable?"
Sakon wagged his finger at Jirobo clicking his tongue. "Exactly! Once she gets poisoned by the sin, I'll feel my powers will get stronger. What's more, the Guardian of Temperance is most likely nearby as well and would get infected since she is not immune to Sloth. When that happens, their Virtues would get corrupted and would be hours for the taking!"
Jirobo stared at Sakon and blinked. "You are surprisingly smart despite how you look..."
"But of course! Which is why Orochimaru-sama likes me better!"
"SHADDUP!"
Just then at Kunoichi Junior High, Sakura was busy writing notes when she felt something warm pulsating in her pocket. Discreetly, the girl reached inside and felt the Rose Stone Blossom which was pulsating crazily like a heartbeat in her hand. Something in her heart told her something was wrong, making her eyebrows knit together. Unknown to her, Kaori too began to sense something which led her to look outside the window.
"Something bad is about to happen..." she muttered, which caught the ears of Sakura who was seated next to her. Kaori's remark made Sakura worry even more.
Elsewhere, a muffled cough escaped from a woman wearing a motorcycle helmet as she tightly grabbed onto Anko who drove a red motorbike. "You BETTER not be getting any germs or snot in my helmet, you hear me?" yelled Anko over her shoulder.
"Well this girl better be the New Guardian! I still haven't fully recovered from this cold you kn-!" replied the woman when she suddenly paused and gasped.
"What's wrong?"
BA-BUMP! The kanji of responsibility pulsed painfully underneath the person's gloved right hand, making the person involuntarily dig her nails into Anko's skin, making the woman yelp. "YEOW! What was that for?"
"My kanji..." the woman replied in pain. "It's stinging like crazy!"
"WHAT?" exclaimed Anko as she quickly pulled over and pulled off her friend's glove to reveal her kanji glowing and pulsating furiously. "I know this reaction! It's the Topaz Star, it must be reacting to the Sin of Sloth!"
Anko quickly felt her own kanji behind her neck. It wasn't stinging like crazy like it did when it contained the Rose Stone Blossom but it was giving Anko a prickly feeling, a sense of dread. The two women looked at each other, sharing the same sentiments. Without saying a word, the two quickly hopped back on the bike and sped off down the road to the school. It wasn't long before they heard a few people scream. The two women shifted their eyes to see a few people running away rabid, mouth frothing men, obviously victims of Gluttony. Suddenly there was a series of loud cries as another group of Gluttony Corrupts came launching themselves towards Anko's motorcycle.
Quickly, Anko grabbed her handlebars tightly and lifted her body into the air, skillfully delivering a round house kick to the oncoming corrupts while her passenger manipulated her body to deliver a donkey kick to another corrupt from behind while dodging Anko's movements before the two reseated themselves properly. Not long after that, the two found themselves almost running over a few people who lay down on the road. Anko quickly braked and approached the nearest person. "HEY! It's dangerous to lie down here, what are you doing?"
The person opened one eye and looked at Anko grumpily. "Aw, shuddup... I'm tired I don't wanna move... it's too troublesome..."
It took a whole lot of self-control for Anko to not pulverise the guy. Instead, she and her friend just grabbed as many people affected by Sloth and dragged them off the road until there was enough room for them to weave about around them. "This is bad! Jirobo's back, and it looks like Sakon's with him too!" said Anko grimly.
"Less talk, More Drive!" came the reply, prompting Anko to really rev up her motorbike and pick up speed. "I'll call Shizune!"
"Right!"
At that moment, Yamanaka Ino was bored as usual as she listened another boring history lecture in class when she suddenly felt something pulling at her heart, making her sit up. Ino began to tremble as she placed a hand on her heart.'What is this? I feel like something...someone...is calling for me...there's somewhere I have to be...' she thought to herself when she slowly raised a shaking hand. "Ano...Sensei? I don't feel so good...can I go to the Nurse's Office?..."
The teacher nodded, letting Ino quickly pack her stuff and leave hurriedly. Instead of going to the Nurse's Office, Ino instead began to run down the stairs towards the exit and out of the school. It's not like her to suddenly run out during school hours, but Ino feels like something is drawing her to it. It's an overwhelming feeling, the only thing running through the girl's mind at that instant was that she had to go to where that feeling was bringing her to, and there was no stopping her.
In the principal's office, Tsunade bit her nail while Shizune silently stood next to her with her hand over her glowing kanji.
"You gotta hurry Shizune! The situation here is getting worse!" came a telepathic voice.
"Roger that! I'll send help right away!" replied Shizune telepathically before she broke the connection and turned to Tsunade worriedly. "Tsunade-sama!"
The buxom woman nodded grimly. "Go," was all she said. Shizune nodded and quickly ran out of the office.
At the Gifted class, Sakura and Kaori happened to notice Ino run out of the school gates hurriedly. "Strange?..." muttered Kaori out loud.
"Ino?" exclaimed Sakura who quickly covered her mouth when everyone stared at her. Thankfully, Shizune appeared at the class and called Sakura out, thus allowing the girl to quickly gather her stuff and leave. Kaori leaned her head on the window and narrowed her eyes.
'Shizune-san appears to be very vexed and Sakura appears to have something heavy on her mind...Something fishy is going on here...' Kaori thought suspiciously as she raised her hand to the teacher.
"Shizune-san! Don't tell me-?" Sakura began to ask as the two ran out of the school and down the road.
"Hai, Jirobo's back and he's brought company, The Sin of Sloth!" came the reply.
"Sloth? Doesn't that conflict with the Virtue of Di- Oh SNAP! INO!" exclaimed Sakura once more as she quickly told Shizune about earlier.
"WHAT WAS THAT? THEN WE BETTER HURRY!" yelled Shizune picking up the pace.
Meanwhile, Jirobo and Sakon were slacking off at a cafe surrounded by people corrupted by their respective Sins. Sakon calmly sipped tea while Jirobo munched greedily on mountains of desserts which he swiped from other tables and the kitchen.
"This is the life, huh Tubs?" asked Sakon who placed his feet on the table when suddenly he sensed a new presence followed by a loud gasp. He turned his head to see a platinum bond junior high student gaping at the scene before her.
Ino Yamanaka stared horrifically at the sight before her. "What in the world is going on here? What happened?" 'But...somehow...I'm getting a weird sense of deja vu...'
"Hey! It's the blond girl!" exclaimed a voice that sounded familiar. Ino turned her head to see a fat guy shoveling food down his throat making her wrinkle her face in disgust. The guy next to him had a very girly looking face and wore lipstick, green to be exact.
"Who are you guys?"
"Name's Sakon, babe and this is Tubs," came the blunt yet irritating reply.
"It's JIROBO goddammit!" corrected the fat guy.
Ino looked at the two in disbelief. "How can you two just sit there like that? DO you NOT see what's going here?"
The two men shrugged indifferently. "Of course, who do you think made them like this?" replied Sakon nonchalantly when he sensed it, making a small smile creep on his face.
"WHAT?" cried Ino when suddenly she began to feel woozy as a black waves began to envelope her. "What's happening?..."
"Hmm...so I was right...you've finally arrived..." smirked Sakon as he got up and began to walk towards Ino, whose eyelids began to grow heavy. "Don't you feel tired?" he purred into her ear.
"Soo...sleepy..."she began to mutter when a loud shout came from behind which made her eyes snap open.
"SHAANNNARROO!" cried Sakura who came flying in out of no where and swung her fist at Sakon who was barely able to block by crossing his arms making him slide back a few meters.
"Ino-chan, daijobu?" asked Shizune in a worried voice who helped the girl steady herself.
"H-huh? Shizune-san? Sakura-chan?" asked Ino, slightly groggy and confused.
Jirobo widened his eyes when he saw Sakura and almost choked on his food. "GAH! IT'S YOU!"
Sakura glared at Jirobo and cracked her knuckles. "Keep your disgusting hands and powers OFF my BEST FRIEND!" she cried running at Jirobo, her fists glowing pink. Jirobo quickly dodged and snapped his fingers, grabbing the attention of the Corrupted Gluttons, who snarled like wild dogs and pounced on Sakura, who fought them off while Shizune grabbed Ino and dodged some more of the Corrupts who came after them. Shizune quickly pulled back her right sleeve to reveal several small tubes which shot out multiple tranquilizer needles that were able to numb the Corrupts.
"What's going on?" demanded Ino before she gave a small scream as she narrowly almost got bitten by a middle-aged woman.
"Talk later, move now!" ordered Shizune punching away a man. "Sakura-chan!"
WHAP! BAM! THUD! was the sound of three corrupted punks getting thrown into a wall by Sakuro's Judo Toss. The girl looked at Shizune and nodded as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the Rose Stone Blossom. 'Let's see if I remember this...' she thought to herself as she held out the Blossom in front of her. "KINSHU NO BUROSSAMU: VIRTUE UNLEASH!" she called out activating the Gem's Transformation. (Basically: Blossom of Temperance, Virtue Unleash!)
(Cue transformation scene)
The sound of an erhu and Chinese drums were heard playing as Sakura appeared standing in the middle of a rocky terrain. The jeweled flower shot out of her hand skywards before separating into five individual glowing petals. The petals flew around Sakura and disappeared into the ground. A large rumbling that occurred instantly caused the ground to tremor as large green shoots began sprouting out of the ground at an incredible speed towards the sky, covering up Sakura in the process. The sprouts merged to become one large stalk as a giant pink flower bud popped out and bloomed in to a giant cherry blossom revealing a much taller and mature looking Sakura standing in the center.
Gone was the girl's school uniform and it was replaced with a black sleeveless skintight suit with the leggings stopping just above the knee. The outfit included a mask that concealed the lower half of Sakura's face. (Like Kakashi's.) Cherry blossoms came flying in from all directions and circled around Sakura, leaving a sparkling trail behind circled around Sakura's torso, arms and legs, the sparkling trail sticking to her clothes as it began to glow.
Simultaneously, the glow faded away to reveal new pieces of clothing over the black suit. She now wore a crimson Chinese sleeveless shirt with a white ring printed on back. Long black fingerless gloves with metal plates bearing a cherry blossom on the back of the hands covered Sakura's arms. A short pink apron-like skirt fluttered, revealing a small part of Sakura's thigh to be bandaged with a kunai pouch attached to it. On her feet were a pair of black high-heeled boots.
The cherry blossom petals continued to swirl around Sakura, who closed her eyes, in an upwards spiral lifting up her bright pink hair. The sparkly trail sprinkled by the petals made Sakura's hair grow longer and become two shades darker, making her hair hot pink. The glowing petals then swirled around her head and merged together, fading out to reveal a crimson hairband with a metal plate bearing the same design as the metal plates on Sakura's gloves. Finally, the petals swirled around her neck and transformed into a glowing black choker with the jeweled flower as a pendant.
Suddenly, Sakura jumped off the giant flower and somersaulted to the ground at an amazing speed. A dust cloud erupted as she hit the ground. The cloud blew away revealing Sakura in a kneeling position.
"Kinshu Koken..." Sakura began to say, standing up slowly. Quickly she took up a Hung Gar fighting stance, her legs spread out one in front of the other and bent at the knees. She pulled her fist to her waist while she held her left palm outwards. "Geo Rose! Kenzan!" she yelled with the ground exploding behind her for effect. (Kinshu Koken: Guardian of Temperance)
"Sakura? She-! Wha-! How-!" Ino's jaw dropped open in shock and turned to Shizune who simply winked at her.
Without saying a word, Sakura rushed forward towards Jirobo who kept dodging while pelting the girl with more of his Corrupts, which Sakura kept deflecting away. It would have been easier if it was just the Gluttons but Sakura had to be super careful as she maneuvered her way around the street going after Jirobo, doing the best she could to avoid injuring the Sloths, who, thanks to Sakon, were too lazy to even run for cover. Shizune and Ino would have helped as well but were to busy dodging and fighting of more Gluttons. Shizune ducked and dodged as she constantly kept firing numbing needles at her opponents while Ino was either wildly swinging her bag around like a mace hitting whoever came her way or used it as a shield to block. Boy, was she grateful she packed three dictionaries that day.
"You move fast for a fat guy!" spat Sakura who narrowly missed Jirobo by inches.
"And you're not very perceptive!" shot back Jirobo when Sakura suddenly felt a stab in her stomach and looked to see Sakon stab her with a chakra kunai.
"Soul Corruption: Sloth..."smirked Sakon as the kunai disappeared into Sakura, turning her eyes glassy as she fell to the ground.
"I forgot about the other one...dammit..." mumbled Sakura as she began to feel incredibly lethargic.
"Oh no!" gasped Shizune when she saw Sakura go down.
"What now?" cried Ino smacking another corrupt repeatedly.
"Sakura! She maybe immune to Gluttony, but she's vulnerable to Sloth!"
"SAY WHAT?" cried Ino once more as she quickly ran over to Sakura and grabbed her shirt. "HORA! FOREHEAD-CHAN! GET UP! AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE A GUARDIAN OR SOMETHIN'? YOU'VE GOT BAD GUYS TO BEAT HERE!"
Geo Rose peeked open an eye at the girl. "Keep it down, Piggy...You're so annoying...I don't wanna fight...I'm tired...you do it..."whined the girl in an irritating voice.
"DON'T YOU DARE GO TO SLEEP ON ME!" screamed Ino violently shaking Sakura back and forth when she felt someone behind her. She quickly whipped around to see Sakon and Jirobo looking down at her with a dark look on their faces. Each of them held a chakra kunai, making Ino gulp.
"Too bad...looks like your on your own..." mocked Sakon as the two Sins raised their weapons.
"Ino! Geo-Rose!" cried Shizune who was getting overwhelmed when suddenly something white flew past her head and plastered themselves on to Sakon and Jirobo.
"GAAAAAAAAH!" they both screamed as electricity shot out of the paper, which were revealed to be talismans, and began to electrocute them. The talismans were bordered blue, and on it were written ancient writing which Shizune read as "Purification".
Not wasting the chance, Ino grabbed her satchel tightly and swung it at the two sins so hard that they went spinning into a nearby wall. BOOM! was the sound of the collision. Jirobo and Sakon got up swaying with swirly eyes before they shook their head and peeled of the talismans. "BITCH! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!" roared Jirobo as he commanded more Gluttons to pounce on Ino when the sound of a motor roaring rang through the air.
"BOOOOOOOO-YAAAAA...HHH!..." cried Anko as she barreled through the Gluttons like bowling pins while her passenger removed her right glove and reached out, grabbing Ino's hand as Anko sped past. The moment their hands touched, there was a momentary pause in time as Ino felt something in her awaken.
Ba-BUMP! Went Ino's heart as it skipped a beat, while her breath stopped briefly.
SKRRREEEEE...! Anko's bike screeched as she suddenly braked. "Do it, GIRL!" she exclaimed as her friend covered her kanji which began to glow.
"Virtue Release!" cried the woman as she removed a small yellow orb from the kanji.
"I WON'T LET YOU!" yelled Sakon as he tried to pounce on Ino but was thwarted by Anko who rushed forward and tackled him.
"Ino-chan!" called the woman in the helmet as she threw the yellow orb at the girl who caught it in her hand. That was when it happened. A sudden gust of wind came blowing out of nowhere as Ino's eyes began to glow a bright yellow. Her hair became undone and was bellowing crazily around her.
In Ino's mind, the world around her was gone and the girl was floating in a white space. Something warm was pulsing in her hand as she looked down to see a palm-sized jeweled star made of topaz.
"We finally meet, Ino-chan~!" a cheerful voice piped up.
"It was you...you're the one whose been calling for me..." said Ino in realization.
"Pim-POM~! Let's work together ok Ino-chan?"
"Hai!"
"Well then, time to say the magic words~!"
Ino smiled and closed her eyes as the words in her heart came to surface. "STAR OF DILIGENCE: VIRTUE UNLEASH!"
(Cue Transformation scene)
Japanese flute music playing in a breezy tone filled the air as Ino stood in a cat-tail field under a bright blue cloudy sky. She threw the Topaz Star like a shuriken which sailed through the air and back to Ino. It began to swirl around her feet, working it's way upwards until it covered Ino in a mini typhoon as it shot high into the air taking the girl with it. The typhoon disappeared into the clouds and above it emerged an older looking Ino wearing a white sleeveless, skintight suit with half her face covered by a face mask.
Ino continued to slowly spin in the air as the Topaz Star came into with a cloud stream behind it swirling around Ino. Starting with the feet, black sandles with a loose sock design were revealed as the cloud trail faded followed by the rest of the clothing. Ino wore a short purple vest like shirt with a raised collar, a slightly skirt that was cut off on the sides showing of her stomach and legs clad in the white under suit with a kunai pouch on her right leg. She also wore purple and white elbow warmers with this, along with purple fingerless gloves with metal plates.
Ino's fringe grew longer and thicker until it concealed the left side of he face. A small stream of clouds swirled and gathered up Ino's hair to form a topknot ponytail while her blond hair became golden yellow and trailed behind her longer than ever going past her waist where a dark brown belt appeared with a scroll pouch behind it. The Topaz Star spun to the belt and attached itself on the metal plate of the belt in a flash.
The girl then arched her back and spun to the ground, gracefully landing on her feet as she spun once more. "Guardian of Diligence..." she began to say as she leaned on her right leg and slid out her left foot slightly while crossing her arms in front of her. "Breezy Topaz! KENZAN!" she cried out as a strong gust of wind blew from behind making her hair and clothes flap about dramatically for effect.
"NO!" cried Sakon and Jirobo realizing they failed.
"YES!" cheered the other women, high fiving each other.
Ino quickly looked down and checked out her new clothes. "Sweet! I totally dig this outfit!" she squealed jumping up and down.
"You should try your powers~!" piped the cheerful voice from before.
"Ok!" exclaimed Ino as she took a deep breath and expelled a huge burst of air at Sakon and Jirobo blasting them once more into the wall. "NICE!"
Just then Ino remembered Sakura and once more tried to shake her awake, but this time, Sakura didn't even try to respond. "Come ON! WAKE UP SAKURA!"
"Arara~! That won't work! You have to purify the Sin from her body with your weapon~! It's just like before~! Close your eyes and listen good!"
"If you say so..." said Ino unsurely as she began to close her eyes when it finally came to her. Immediately, Ino's hand flew to her belt and touched the Topaz Star, which glowed. "Breezy Bo-Staff!"she called out stretching out her right arm. A golden stream of wind came flowing out and formed something long and thin in Ino's hand which grabbed it wind dispelled to reveal golden staff with small glass-like orbs on each with a tiny jeweled star in each. Ino spun it about before brandishing it in front of her.
"Soul Purification: Diligence!" exclaimed Ino as the tiny jeweled stars began to spin rapidly. Ino suddenly jumped high into the air while her staff broke into a three section staff which she began to twirl like nunchucks. "Diligent GUST!"she cried out as spun the staff faster and faster forming repeated gusts of wind which passed through the bodies of those Corrupted by Sloth and got expelled from them in the form of black fog which disappeared.
Sakura's body was lifted by the winds as the fog too was expelled from her body snapping the girl back to her senses. "Wh-What happened?"
"SAKURA-CHAN, YOUR OK!" exclaimed Ino happily as she landed on the ground and hugged Sakura, who looked at her in pleasant surprise.
"Wow...Ino! You're a Kunoichi Guardian! Awesome!" cheered Sakura hopping up and down with her friend.
"Hello? Still here!" cried out an irritated Sakon.
"You may have taken out Sloth! But Gluttony still exists!" butted in Jirobo as he sent in a new army of Corrupts for the girls.
Ino and Sakura side glanced each other and smirked before rushing forward. Using her bo-staff, Ino vaulted over a few heads and landed on the face of a man, knocking out three more with a sweep of her weapon. Sakura meanwhile used her Judo to take down or throw the Corrupts. "Topaz, give me a boost!" called Sakura as she flipped over a woman towards Ino who gripped her staff tightly and allowed Sakura to perch on it briefly as she helped launch her friend into the air.
"Sakura Hammer!" cried Sakura summoning her weapon, spinning above her head. "Soul Purification: Temperance!"
"Temperance...!" began Sakura as she descended to the ground. "RUMBLE!" she finished striking the ground with all her might, creating numerous pink energy surges which passed through the Gluttons and expelled the Sin while repairing all the damage done to the street.
Sakon and Jirobo who only just got back on their feet got hit by the wave and were flung towards the wall for the third time. "The wheels of the cart go round and round, round and round , round and round..." sang Jirobo in a giddy voice as he stood up spinning with his eyes all swirly.
Sakon slowly staggered to stand and wiped the blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. "Kuso..." he growled.
Sakura and Ino brandished their weapons at him fiercely before they began charging at him, swinging their staff and hammer respectively at him only to have Sakon disappear from view, causing the girls to miss and stumble, barely dodging one another. "Where'd he go?" demanded Ino as the two whipped their heads about to look for Sakon until they found him standing high above them on a lamp post carrying Jirobo on his backs.
"Enjoy your new powers, Breezy Topaz, because the next time it'll be mine for the taking!" snarled Sakon as a black portal appeared allowing the two to jump into it as it vanished before the girls could react.
After a few moments of silence, the two girls heard clapping and looked back to see Anko, Shizune and the helmet lady walk up to them. "Not bad, not bad!" said Shizune looking impressed. "You two make a great team!"
Anko whistled while the third person nodded. Sakura and Ino smiled back when they cocked their heads, staring at said person. "Who're you?" they both asked in unison.
The third person chuckled and removed her helmet, shaking her long black wavy hair loose making Ino and Sakura gape in shock.
"EEEEEH! KURENAI-SENSEI?" the two girls exclaimed when they suddenly both glowed yellow and pink before reverting to their original forms. "USO!"
Fast forwarding a bit...
After Shizune took care of cleaning up the street with her powers Sakura and Ino soon found themselves back in Lady Tsunade's office much to Ino's shock especially after Sakura gave her a brief low down of the situation.
"This is SOOO COOL! I always wanted to be a magical girl!" cheered Ino excitedly. A total contrast to Sakura's reaction. "Those bad guys can just keep on coming cuz' I'm ready for them!" she said confidently as she punched the air until Tsunade lifted her hand.
"I wouldn't celebrate so easily if I were you Ino-chan. Now that two Guardians have awakened, no doubt Orochimaru would be searching for the other Guardians as well. I feel the seals on him are weakening further. We have to work fast," said the principal grimly, making the other teachers nod.
Ino and Sakura looked at each other worriedly when a thought suddenly struck Ino. "That reminds me, thanks for saving me before Shizune-san! If you hadn't thrown those weird pieces of paper at Sakon and Jirobo I wouldn't have gotten my powers!"
Shizune frowned at Ino. "Ino, that wasn't me. Those were talismans thrown by an outside source," explained Shizune before she turned to Tsunade, handing her the talismans she had taken from the scene. "They have a weird chakra signature, similar to that of a yokai but somehow pure."
"Nani? Pure yokai energy?" gasped Tsunade in surprise as she studied the talismans closely. 'Strange...I hadn't felt any yokai with that kind of energy in-' "Wait! I can feel it! It's faint but ...there's no mistaking it! This is a vibe from one of the Sacred Virtues!"
"SERIOUSLY?" exclaimed everyone else.
"That must mean..." Sakura began to say turning to Ino. "An unawakened Guardian..."
"Helped us? But who could it be?..." finished Ino leaving everyone in stunned silence.
At that moment school had finally ended and released the students from classes.A single blue haired girl stood by the gate waiting patiently reading a book.
"KAORIIIIIII~!" called the red head known as Hikari Nekojiwa running up to the girl with a green haired bespectacled girl not far behind. "Did you wait long?"
"Hikari-neesama, Cori...nope not at all," Kaori replied about to close her book when a small gust of wind blew past, causing a piece of paper which Kaori was using as a book mark to flutter out.
"Gotcha'!" exclaimed Cori jumping up and snatching the paper out of the air. "Oh sis' you really should be careful and besides, something like this shouldn't be used as a book mark you know~!"
"I'll try and remember that, thanks Cori," replied Kaori as she held her hand out for the bookmark. Cori smiled brightly in return as she handed Kaori the 'bookmark', a blue bordered talisman with 'Purification' written in ancient calligraphy on it...