Chapter 1
"Sakura!" Shit. Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit. Her head feels like the third tier of Hell has set up camp within it. The creaking of whatever is playing doesn't seem to be making it better. Not sure if she is being watched she continues to lay there on what? - the floor, a floor wooden and dust-laden. The strange cranking and an oddly paced song like geriatric children shipping rope - 'will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?" A phonograph sits in the corner cheerful and eerie and obviously uncared for. Funny though, that she would even know what one was she'd never seen one before.
"Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, can't you join the dance?" Is that how this song goes? Her eyes are refusing to focus properly like good little pieces of anatomy. Since when has her dress shirt been an actual dress? Rose red and strait-laced maddening as a corset? Perhaps as long as her pink hair has laid long and thick and curly as ivy creeping down her back. It's very dim in here - "Should not, must not, would not, could not, shall not join the dance?" - and that certainly isn't how that part goes.
Beyond her black boots laced tight and sure there is a mirror and in the mirror is a girl. "Must not, should not, can not, will not, dare not join the dance?" However, she doesn't have a kanji upon her brow or didn't last time she checked, besides which her side of the mirror is dim and dusty and stuffed with junk whereas the other girl's side is bright and clear and her dress is fox-red and her hair is white bluish-white eyes stare back at her. A key, a silver key nearly hidden amongst jet black beads hangs from her wrist. It's then Sakura notices that while she sit's the other stands. And smiles and it is not a pleasant smile. "I have the key, and you have the snap, but soon you'll lapse and I'll have that. Then I'll be Sakura and you can be the voice in the dark."
Inner Sakura, of course, but… "Kai!" Nothing, perhaps she's unconscious or dreaming. Well, duh of course she's unconscious, but this is rather real for a dream. The tight-fit of the dress makes it hard to breath and the shoes are heavy on her feet and the dust is enough to make her sneeze… Shit. Shit. Shit! "What map?" And in a case on her hip is a book a small, blue book - "Many things you'll need to know" by "Wouldn't you like to know?"
With a snort Sakura wonders if maybe it isn't a dream after all. The first page is blank as is the next and next and the next. "This book is blank." The pages flutter back to show the first page again - a single bold sentence - "Am not, you just hadn't the right perception." "What?" More lines - "Need and Want aren't the same. You want all the answers, but I'll only give you what you need to know. Be thankful, you stupid little git."
Eyebrow twitching the pink-haired kunoichi resists the urge to attack the damnable thing. "Alright, what about the map then?" A small paragraph and the picture of an arrow - "In the back of this book are four bluish pieces of paper - the first will lead you home so long as you do not waver in you drive to return. The second will lead you through wherever you are so long as you are calm. The third will tell you where you currently are in the Otherlands as well as where you have been and the last will always lead you to safe haven if such exists. The arrow below is a kind of compass, but it's mostly intended to give you a lead on where your Doppler gander is. Should you need it turn back to this page and ask for a hint. Now then get on before it's too late - the longer you're here the more likely it is that she'll succeed and you'll fail."
'Cheerful little book, isn't it?' Struggling up she steps through the threshold into the brightness. Sunlight apparently, although she doesn't like the specks of gold that float through it. 'A forest?' She steps into the needle-covered ground basking in the sudden blast of pine-scent from the broken needles beneath her face. The forest is strange, quiet in a way that speaks of breathless anticipation. She searches for the tale tell signs of passage before remembering that Inner Sakura has all the training she has besides a game plan. 'And the Key.' As she sways in indecision the little book pats her side. Reaching for it she turns to the page with the kind of compass. It points forward where from a cool, fresh breeze come to tease her hair.
On a whim she turns to the bluish pages. The first is blank like her mind right now. The second is a multitude of greens with a bright red dot toward the middle. Above the dot in bold block letters is the phrase: You are here. The third shows a mostly blank page. At the top-right corner is a detailed illustration of the area where she was fighting beside it is one other, an illustration of where she is. She has no doubt that if she had a magnifying glass she could see herself contemplating this page. The last page is blank but for a large, black arrow pointing forward beneath which one large word appears - MOVE. With a small sigh Sakura closes the book making sure it is firmly attached to her belt before lowering into a crouch. Seconds later she is blurring through the trees.
Kakashi and co. set new records for speed as they race back to Konoha. The former Anbu curses himself for not having pushed onward. Instead he called for a rest stop knowing full well that being so close to Iwa border was a foolish mistake. The kind only rookies make. 'I just wanted to give Sasuke a little bit more free time before he was placed under lockdown again.' Instead he has most probably doomed his female student to death. From the cradle of his arms the girl is still and far too pale. Unnerved he pulls open another gate even as he feels the awful chakra of his little demons increase. He prays they do not lose control until after they enter Konoha's outskirts. He can't kill them both.
Maire races through the treetops her patent-leather boots barely touching the branches. She can feel her other, weaker part trying to catch up. Not that she ever will, this is Maire's place. And she knows every part of it. Even now they come onto the Painted Fields, home of the Impressionist who does not appreciate visitors. Her satisfied smirk vanishes as she recalls that the little egghead has the Book. Her right-hand reaches out to grasp the key jangling from the rosary at her belt. So long as she has it at the very least neither will leave here. With a wicked smile she shifts into the body of a cat larger then normal, and a strange shade of copper with eyes the color of yolk.
Feeling light-headed Sakura pauses atop something like a Sycamore. It's crown waves gently in the breeze like a shivering isle amidst the sea of green. It's strange, but she does not feel tired despite her running for what must have been hours. Actually what time is it? The sun doesn't seemed to have moved, maybe because there isn't a sun only an opal dome high overhead with nary a cloud to be seen. 'Geez, Shikamaru would have a heart attack here… wherever here is.' "I wonder where Inner Sakura is? Surely she isn't much further."
For a moment the Godaime's apprentice has self enough to question her voice pattern and the alterations it seems to have undertaken. All too soon however she is distracted by the humming at her side. The little white book obviously want her attention. Cracking it open she is greeted by a sing string of words. 'Idiot, either check the compass or check the second page.' Before she can snort a second message shows up": 'P.S. Check the third page whenever you enter a new area if you touch the new icon a blurb of info will appear.'
Seeing on new words appearing she turns back to the compass and watches the arrow turn to the northwest. Turning to the back, she glances at the second page. Unlike before there are two sets of tracks one is red and one is blue. While the red set is still the blue set continues to move. Suddenly it vanishes - the entire blue line. Two arrows at the bottom of the page point in separate directions. With puzzlement wrinkling her brow she touches the left facing arrow only to find herself staring at a blank page further up in the book.
'When the lines on a map vanish it behooves one to look to the third and/or fourth page. If the third is what is needed a shadowy new place icon will show. If the fourth is the correct choice a map will appear with detailed instructions for escape to safe haven. Remember this well.' As quickly she is looking at the third map wherein a shadowy illustration of a meadow shows. For every second she wastes here reading her quarry gets, further and further away. Closing and clasping the book - 'did it have a clasp before?' - she begins to race forward again.
End Chapter 1