Asgjkl. I can't help myself. I really, really can't. It's three AM, and I'm hungry.
Disclaimer: Hiss.
Dedication: To way too much research. And Eden. Because the wedding is still on! :D
P.S.: "We just got dismissed." "…Ouch." -Adria to me. We got kicked out of Art.
P.P.S.: Oh, look, a change in music… From Stars, to techno. Anyone else sense the shift?
---
"The King and Queen are dead, mi'lord," a quiet, servant-like voice murmured into the darkened, domed throne room,
"Good, good… And that annoying little princess? Did she drink the poison?" asked a second man; it was an arrogant, lording-over sort of voice. He was sitting on the throne, boredly.
The servant-man gulped. He had hoped his lord would not ask this question. "Er-, we're not quite - not quite sure, mi'lord. We think she may have. But she's- er-; she's gone."
"Gone?!" the second voice hissed.
"Er, yes, sire, gone."
The air between the two men swelled, and then the arrogant voice screamed, rage fueling the tone and pitch of his voice, "You incompetent fool! She was supposed to be dead!"
"I - I apologize, sire. P-please forgive me!"
The arrogant man outwardly calmed himself. It would not do to alienate his Court, this early on in his newly-established reign. "Bring me the youngest Uchiha son. And the alchemist; come to think of it. He'll know of a way to find that girl."
The servant-man nodded, frightened, and left the room in a hurry.
The arrogant man sank back onto the throne, and watched his servant leave the room, eyes slitted, expression annoyed.
That girl… As long as that girl was alive, there was no telling how long he would maintain his grip on the throne.
The people did love their Princess… But people were easily manipulated. So very, very easily manipulated; and the arrogant man knew that.
So now, the question was: what angle to use, to frame the little Princess?
---
Coughing broke out as the dust settled around the new-born world-hoppers.
"Where are we?" a quiet voice asked, and in general, the six girls that had suddenly appeared had no idea where they were.
Temari let out another cough; it felt like there was years of dust coating the inside of her throat. She held up the Whorld-Chronometer. "This-" she let out another cough "-this will tell us."
"You sure?" Tenten asked; she was glaring at the little golden disc. It had gotten them into this horrible mess… Why ought they to trust it?
Sakura's head was still spinning. The world didn't look right -too dark, too confined, too close-; the ceiling was low and made of some type of thick stone-that-may-have-once-been-white that Sakura had never seen before.
The cool, blue light of the Whorld-Chronometer flickered to life. It lit the dark room around them, painting the room in ghostly hues, and illuminating the pale, tired-looking faces of Sakura's friends.
Temari's eyes were flicking back and forth; she was quietly absorbing all the information on the world that the Whorld-Chronometer presented to her.
The other girls sat around her, and waited. Sakura cast a look around the room while she had the chance; it was bare, empty room. It was big enough to fit, perhaps, ten people comfortably; there were cobwebs in the corners, and the floor was thick with an inch of dust.
This room had obviously not, to Sakura at the very least, been used in a very, very long time. She turned her attention back to the others, and waited.
In the dust and the dank and the darkness, they waited to be told where they were.
They waited for a long, long, long time.
When Temari finally sighed, and clicked the Chronometer closed, the Lady Ino quite seriously thought she was going to die from boredom. "So? Temari, where are we?"
Sakura's eyes were still adjusting to the sudden darkness after the disappearance of the cool, blue light of the Chronometer, but she, too, looked towards where Temari was sitting.
"We're somewhere called SyberSity. Their economy is based totally on something I've never heard of, before. "Cybernetics" or-; something like that. We'll have to sell some jewels, I guess, to get started…"
"Why?" Ino asked; she was disappointed. She rather liked their jewels; they were so sparkly and pretty and-
Temari's voice was low and gravelly when she spoke, and so, so tried. She said "Because we're starting a new life, Ino. Because you're not royal; not anymore. We don't have that luxury. Not anymore."
It was entirely quiet for a moment; Sakura could imagine the scandalized look on Ino's face.
The Princess, herself, wasn't quite sure how to deal with this development; she could either entirely freak out, or she could suck it up, and just go with it.
It took Lady Sakura three seconds to choose Option Number Two.
It was all she could do, given the circumstances; and not fighting a whole new perspective on life was probably a good thing.
So she sighed, tilted her head up, and said "Let's get out of this place. We'll make up the rules as we go along, I guess."
The murmurs of assent from her friends were reassuring.
At the very least, she wouldn't be undertaking this whole new-world thing on her own.
---
They broke out into bright light; apparently, time altered just as much as each world did.
And this new world was different; it was so different that Sakura's eyes, that she was almost blinded.
Light-light-light. It was everywhere. She'd never seen anything like it; there was a bright-bright purple dome of light above them, streaked with strange, glimmering metal beams that hid the night sky away; behind the burning glare of light.
Sakura wondered just what kind of being had conceived of this world - it was so- so- so unnatural.
Unnatural - that was a very good word, for this world. Cables ran everywhere, on every surface available, weaving through the glimmer-metal buildings, around and around tall poles that were built right into the ground.
The buildings that raised to the touch the top of the bright-bright purple dome-that-hid-the-sky glowed green like Sakura's eyes; and golden light flooded the dark, slick-looking streets and reflected the image of the dome above them back into her eyes twice. The glass buildings glittered tauntingly at her.
The whole world turned topsy-turvy, and Sakura had no idea who she was, for a minute. The whole place was so entirely disorienting that Sakura nearly stumbled into Hinata.
Her friends were faring no better; they were all gaping at the world around them, eyes burning from the brightness of this new world - home was so much different. Home was so much darker…
Hinata latched herself to Sakura, rather intent on not losing the princess. They stuck out - even in dark breeches and pale shifts, the six of them did not merge well into this world of shiny metal and brilliant light.
But they would have to merge; they had no choice.
The synthesis was already beginning; Sakura could feel it. And so she pulled the brown hood of her brown cloak up around her face, to hide her face, her hair, her eyes - because until they did fit into the new-new world, they had everything to hide.
---
Temari wrinkled her nose at the jeweler. Oh, hell no, the man was not going to cheap out on her… The ruby she had gently handed him was at least double what he was offering.
And the girls needed every penny they could get their hands on. Temari -and Tenten behind her- knew that.
Temari set her jaw. "Triple that price, and you've got yourself a deal."
The jeweler glared at her stubbornly, but relented. Rubies - ah, they made such lovely catalysts, and this was one of such good quality…
The jeweler gave in, and paid Temari her triple-price. He paid her in bills with little notes on them - Temari tried to look as if she knew exactly what she was doing, and carefully rifled through the bills; and when the price they'd agreed on matched the numbers on the bills he'd given her, she sent him a satisfied smiled, and stalked out of the shop, Tenten looking bored at her side.
She slipped the bills into her shirt - it was safer. No one would be picking her; not tonight.
The bright lights lit her way, and she turned a corner, and found Sakura, Hinata, Karin, and Ino waiting for her and Tenten.
The two girls assimilated themselves carefully into the group, and Temari said "We've got enough to get us a room for a few nights, I think, and some clothes to fit into this world."
Sakura nodded slowly; she was very, very disoriented in this new-new world; Temari seemed to be fitting right in, her comfort in being a girl-genius was better suited to this world of bright light and technology then back at home.
This bright-light world was so-, well, bright.
Night never seemed to come, and the six girls wandered until they found a glowing red sign that said 'For Rent'; the Whorld-Chronometer translated what they would need, and they suddenly had a place to sleep.
Sakura flopped down on the uncomfortable mattress, the exhaustion of too many hours of not-sleeping finally getting to her.
Hinata sat down next to her, and said; her voice tired "Get some rest, Mi'lady. We'll have a hard day tomorrow."
Sakura blinked sleepily. "What'cha mean, Hina?"
Temari supplied the answer. "We have to learn how to walk, talk, move, and fit in, and make money, all in twenty-four hours."
"…We have no chance, do we?" Karin asked; her voice was quiet.
"Basically, none," Temari replied, and rubbed her eyes. "Let's just think about this in the morning, and get some sleep while we can."
"How do we know when it's morning?"
"We don't. We just guess, and hope we get lucky."
---
Sakura's inner clock woke her hours later; she had slept enough, said her body, and she sat up, a little groggily.
She was entirely disoriented for a second - where were they?
Then the memories from the previous night came back into her mind, and Sakura's fists clenched the dirty-white sheets she was wrapped in.
Mother and Father - probably dead; home - gone; and all they had left was each other. They were suddenly living the life of an outlaw, and they'd done nothing wrong.
Sakura's already-tight grip tightened. Danzou.
She tried not to think about the fact that his name made her shudder in distaste; she knew she was better off not thinking about what could happen, back at home, now.
That wasn't her life, anymore.
She kicked her way out of the sheets, and reached for her clothes. Her hand knocked against her sheathed sword, leaning up against the wall, and Sakura's fingers instantly sought its heavy weight.
It was comforting; the cold steel of the hilt felt right against her hand. So comfortable, like home and everything she wanted mixed together.
But it wouldn't be of help; not in this world.
Sakura growled to herself, and left her sword where it was sitting. She had things to do.
She walked over to where Hinata was curled up, and gently shook her friend. Hinata's eyes shot open, and Sakura was sure that the pale-moon eyed girl had the same moment of total confusion that she had had.
When Hinata's eyes focused on her face again, Sakura kind-of smiled.
"Good morning, sleepy-head," Sakura said with another kind-of grin.
Hinata let out a very unladylike groan, and hid her face in the sheets she was curled up in. Stupid Sakura, it was far too early for this - this being awake thing.
"What time is it?" Hinata asked, her voice a little slow, her eyes still bleary and sleep-deprived.
Sakura shrugged her signature crow's shrug; one shoulder jerked up, and then flopped back down to her side. "I dunno," she said. "I think it's the middle of the day, but I'm not sure. It's grey outside."
Hinata sat up, rubbed her eyes, and cast her gaze around the room. Her friends were all curled up in various parts of the room, usually the corners, in little nests of blankets that they'd made for themselves. The light in the room was fairly muted, but even Hinata could tell that that was only because there were slatted-wood curtains across the window, and they were closed.
So Hinata decided that Sakura was probably right, and that it was probably late morning, or early afternoon.
Hinata stretched, and she, too, pulled herself out of the little bed she'd made. She made her way to Sakura, who said "Can we wake them up, now?!"
Hinata nodded, and the two girls proceeded to make so much noise that the other four woke quickly enough, all with groans and general sounds of annoyance.
Sakura and Hinata grinned at each other, and stayed out of their friends' combined reach. A brutal double homicide was not something any of them wanted. And it would be too messy; the blood would stain the carpet.
Once all six girls were something like awake, they decided they might as well get the day going. They sat in a sort-of circle on the floor of their room, appendages stuck out at rough angles, and not about to move, despite the discomfort.
"We need clothes to fit in here," Ino said, her eyes sharp bits of fierce blue steel.
Temari nodded. "I'm going to try to figure out their economy. We need to find a way to make money, and fast. We don't have enough left to last us that long…"
"We need some food, too," Tenten said pointedly, and Karin nodded vigorously. The group hadn't eaten in what felt like forever.
Sakura tilted her head; she was used to playing task-distributor amongst her friends, but she didn't know enough about this world yet to honestly tell them that she knew what she was doing.
So she went with the basics. "Ino, take Tenten and Karin, and get us some clothes, and some food. Temari, uh, I guess you should-; probably you should do - well, whatever it is you need to do. Hinata-,"
Temari was fiddling with the Whorld-Chronometer. Something clicked, and Temari's eyes grew wide, round and stared down at the Chronometer, horror etching itself across her face. She cut Sakura off. "Uh, ladies-"
Tenten gently reach out, and shook Temari's shoulder. "Temari? Are you okay?"
Temari's eyes remained wide, fixed, frozen on the Chronometer's pristine glass casing. "We have a problem."
"What?" Karin asked, suddenly worried. It wasn't often that Temari's honey-gravel voice reached that low decibel…
"The Chronometer - it- it stopped," Temari whispered, her golden-sand-coloured hair hiding her eyes.
"What?!" No one would ever know who voiced the shared sentiment.
"I - I don't know. It just - just stopped!"
"Is it broken?" asked Tenten, all scientific precision as she watched Temari cradle the heavy gold disc in her palms.
Temari shook her head, and a collective sigh of relief issued from the girls. "I don't think it's broken. But- well-,"
Sakura gently prodded the genius-girl. "Temari, what?"
Temari's slanted teal eyes met Sakura's concerned green-green gaze. "Remember how I said it was a prototype?"
"Yes."
"It wasn't quite finished. There were still- still kinks in it, that father and I didn't manage to work out."
"So we're screwed, and stuck here?" Karin asked, again, her glasses slipping down her nose; they always seemed to do that, when she was worried or annoyed.
Temari shook her head, her hair flicking around her face wildly. "No. I think I can fix it. But I need time to work on it. I'm sorry- it may take some time…"
It went quiet, as the whole group contemplated the implications of the Whorld-Chronometer breaking. It was really their only escape from this place - what would they do if they were stuck here forever?
Aften ten minutes of silence, Ino let out a sigh of annoyance, a crinkle on her nose, between her big blue eyes. "Guys, stop worrying about it. Temari will fix it, and everything will be fine! It always is, right?"
The other girls gulped, but nodded. This was true - Temari hadn't had a problem as of yet at fixing anything. This was probably nothing different.
Ino smiled knowingly. There, that got them in better spirits… "So, let's go shopping, yes? We need things, and I am so not sticking out for another minute!"
Tenten looked a little bit terrified, and gulped out "Can I stay with Temari? Or Sakura? Or anyone?!"
Karin giggled, and clapped her hands together. "You can stay with us, silly! C'mon, it'll be fun!"
And then Karin and Ino proceeded to drag Tenten (and a good portion of the cash they had left) out of the room. When the door closed behind them, Hinata and Sakura turned to Temari.
"It's really bad, isn't it?" Sakura said, quietly-quiet, and tired.
Temari closed her eyes. "Worse then you know. But I can fix it. I'm sure I can fix it."
"Are you positive?" Hinata asked, unsure.
"Only fools are positive, but, yes, I'm positive. So maybe I'm a fool, but I'm sure I can fix this problem. It just doesn't make sense-;"
Sakura tuned her friend's mutterings out. With the Whorld-Chronometer broken, they had no way of leaving.
Sakura drew a deep breath of air into her lungs. Well, they were stuck with this situation; they might as well make the best of it.
"Temari," Sakura said, "You said something about figuring out their economy?"