Vastness! and Age! and Memories of Eld!
Silence! and Desolation! and dim Night!
I feel ye now- I feel ye in your strength.
-Edgar Allan Poe
And all my days are trances,
And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy dark eye glances,
And where thy footstep gleams —
In what ethereal dances,
By what eternal streams.
-Edgar Allan Poe
With a jolt Sakura was sitting ram rod straight trying to quell her erratic breathing. Darkness, black, nothingness; it still clouded her vision, still suffocated her like nothing else could. In her fury she slammed her hands down instantly shattering her bed leaving her sitting in the middle of the mess as feathers floated down lazily in a virtual blizzard of white. "She lied to us! Next time I'm going kick her pansy ass!" Inner Sakura intoned darkly as she cracked her knuckles threateningly.
"Is that so?" Ko-no-Hana queried her voice a mixture of amusement and sarcasm. Sakura idly wondered how she could have three voices in her head at once.
"Is there a reason I still can't see?" Sakura demanded crossly. Suddenly amidst the dark Ko-no-Hana appeared.
"Has patience fallen into disuse this badly?" Inner Sakura muttered some rather uncomplimentary things whilst Sakura simply refused to comment. "Fuel yours eyes with chakra."
Excitedly and somewhat dubiously she followed the goddess' instructions eager to have her sight back.
Color slowly bled back into her world but it was…different. There was no alarm clock atop her dresser though she knew for a fact that it was there. Surveying her room quickly she noticed something, anything electric wasn't there. Perhaps it was just the fact that she had just regained her sight after a very long week of going without it but what she could see were giving off auras. Her dresser which was in fact a rich oak now took on a sickly mix of brown and black whereas the small potted plant that rested atop it gave off a vibrant green. A few minutes eclipsed as she gazed upon her room with all the conflicting colors that seemed to flicker, wax, and wane when the mood struck them.
"Why?" Sakura asked breathlessly.
"You have a goddess' sight, mine more specifically. I only see that of the living or what once was. They call out to me with their needs and joys; those are the colors and patterns. You will learn what it all means with enough practice." Without any words of goodbye she faded out of existence leaving a confused Sakura and an aggravated inner Sakura.
"Get your ass back here and tell me what the hell is going on!" Inner Sakura demanded stomping her foot to accentuate her point. Eager to be able to see where she was going Sakura stood and made her way to the living room where a certain over protective blonde was sleeping on her couch. To her credit she only stubbed her toe once on something that she couldn't see, she would guess it was her at home medical kit which was made unluckily enough of metal. When she saw the form on the couch something was wrong, horribly, disgustingly wrong.
It was a fox, perhaps even two, one trapped under the others skin. Before she could register the dark aura that seemed to be oozing outward coating her living room the fox(s) looked at her. Inner Sakura started to run in circles while tugging at her hair in a panic and Sakura wished her body would respond enough to run in circles or even better yet away, away from the creature that was taking shape in her living room. Instead she gazed into the tawny eyes of a beast that had tales of it still being passed around the village. "This would be a great time to move legs!" Sakura muttered urgently unable to tear her eyes away. Slowly Kyuubi's maw opened revealing cruel teeth that she was sure could tear and rend flesh with only a graze. Wide eyed but paralyzed she stood helpless as reality bent to allow the Kyuubi to swallow her whole sending her spinning into oblivion.
With a splash she landed with all the grace she could extend in the situation, falling through nothingness to land in shallow trickling waste water. Inner Sakura gave a very distasteful face and took a step to the side to get away from the foul smell emanating from the water. With wide eyes both realized that they were both there in the metaphorical flesh. Pushing inner Sakura's victory yell and the feeling of utter and complete confusion both away Sakura instead focused her energies on getting out of where ever she was.
Getting to her feet she started off inner Sakura babbling away behind her. As she walked large iron bars loomed larger seemingly extending into reality. With growing apprehension Sakura noted that there was most definitely something alive in the darkness that existed behind the bars, the glowing twin eyes couldn't be passed off as anything else. "What ever it is we'll kick its ass, Shannaro!" Inner Sakura cheered pumping her fist in the air. Sakura didn't share her alter ego's sense of confidence; those were some pretty big eyes and if the eyes were that big she shuddered to think how big it must be all told.
The putrid scent of dead and decaying things permeated the air and if it weren't for Sakura's ninja training she would have been heaving into the dirty water that flowed away from under the bars adding to the stench that wafted from it.
What brings a goddess to my humble abode? Came to see me caged, tied to a human? With self deprecating barks of laughter he shook everything sending shudders down Sakura's spine; inner Sakura on the other hand seemed nonplussed.
"Well I am pretty divine." Inner Sakura complimented herself while fluffing her locks. Suddenly the golden eyes of the Kyuubi narrowed seeking out the voice. The widened dramatically moments later and the face became visible red orange fur matted slightly with grime and furrowed in rage.
Who are you? So he finally realized she wasn't a goddess. Sakura took a few steps back in preparation to flee to nowhere.
"Poor wittle Kyuubi, trapped in the cage. Big bad Kyuubi can't get out, what a shame." Inner Sakura sauntered by the cage speaking in mock baby tones. If Sakura didn't know her better she would have seriously doubted inner Sakura's will to live.
I'll kill you! Sakura definitely doubted the wisdom of angering the Kyuubi this doubt was only magnified by the earthquake like shudder that tore through the ground as the beast rammed itself against the bars.
"I could kick your furry ass any day!" The cage that encased the malignant fox was probably what had given inner Sakura her courage but sadly it didn't have quite the same effect on Sakura. Whilst Sakura's eyes stayed transfixed on the bars looking for any signs of weakness so as to know when to bolt inner Sakura was busy turning and pulling down her drawers' to give the now thoroughly pissed off fox an ample view of her bare rear. "Hey Naruto!" Inner Sakura waved with a rather proud grin. Sakura was blanching torn between laughing at the complete and utter stupidity of the moment or fainting in horror and shock that her inner self was mooning the creature that could kill everyone with as little thought as swatting at a fly.
"Your pet dog is a prick." Inner Sakura nodded sagely pulling up her pants whilst turning to eye the 'dog' with a keen eye. "Not very nice either." She concluded tapping a finger to her chin.
"Naruto, what the hell is this?" Sakura gestured wildly to the Kyuubi who was at present attacking the bars with a single minded determination, most likely to rip his harasser limb from limb.
His eyes looked troubled, their usual shine dulled. "I see you've met Kyuubi." Naruto spoke dryly his eyes seeming to take everything in but stopped at inner Sakura. "Wha…?" The question hung in the air and Sakura noted that they both had their own demons that plagued them.
"Naruto meet inner Sakura, inner Sakura meet Naruto." Sakura spoke tiredly realizing that the day had only begun and yet there were so many questions to answer, she wondered if they would ever all be answered, if they should be answered.
Inner Sakura sashayed over blatantly while pushing her lips into a sexy pout. "Damn, you look even better in person…"
Sakura was sure of two things. One, Naruto's eyebrows couldn't be any further into his hair line if he tried and two, inner Sakura would have taken things much further had she not pulled her back and away by the scruff of her shirt while shouting, "Shut up you!" Giving her a look that told of unspeakable tortures inner Sakura went off to aggravate the Kyuubi sulkily.
For a moment it was silent between the two friends, to many things to say, to many secrets let out at once, the loud silence choked the air. "Shall we get out of here first?" Naruto asked somewhat timidly as he rubbed the back of his head all but announcing his nervousness.
"That would be nice." Sakura smiled timidly, a small reprieve from the seriousness of the situation. Naruto gave a cut nod before closing his eyes and taking her hand, in a second they were gone from the mental prison.
Behold, the second chapter! Only two reviews so far but that's ok because I like the story and I love my reviewers but all the same reviews would be nice. Constructive critisism is even better as long as it's not cleverly hidden admist a flame. Moral of this random blurb is review and all is well with the world! -Cloey Marie-