"This place is so weird." Ino breathed as we wandered down the streets. We had decided to hide our weapons and act like tourists.
This included us girls linking arms and pointing at random things while the boys trailed behind us acting like normal teenagers. Well, trying at least.
We weren't attracting tonnes of attention, just a few stares here and there and a couple of humouring smiles.
"Come on, Freeze-Brain, Lucy's already at the guild." A deep voice rumbled across the street. It was similar to Naruto's in a way. You could hear the smile in the person's voice, and it held a childlike quality.
It was Natsu.
The team stopped around me and I had to steal myself from running over and hugging the pink-haired boy.
I took a step forward but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. Looking over at Kakashi I raised an eyebrow. Why was he stopping me?
He answered my unspoken question, "We need to focus on the mission. As soon as we talk to them about the alliance you can tell him. I'm sorry Sakura. But our world is at risk."
He was right. If we didn't stop Onyx and his goons who knew what would become of our world? Ninjas couldn't fight magic, especially if he had figured out how to infuse chakra into spells without knocking the user out.
I only nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
An arm, clad in orange and black, swung over my shoulders, "Don't worry, you'll talk to them soon." He's just full of surprises. I thought looking up at a grinning Naruto, Damn him for getting taller. Something in the back of my head said. It had just dawned on me that I was the shortest on the team. How had I only just noticed? Why was I noticing this? You're trying to distract yourself.
Oh great I was talking to myself again.
We were crossing the street now, my heart racing. Control, Sakura, I scolded. Mission first and then hugs from big brother. That's if he remembers you.
Of course he remembers me. He's my big brother.
They probably think you're dead. They might think that you're an imposter.
SHUT UP! I bit my lip to stop from screaming out loud.
"It reminds me of the Hokage Tower a little bit." Hinata said, we were stood just outside the front doors of the Guild. It was two stories tall and just like I remembered it.
"Hey! Your right, Hina-chan." Naruto grinned. Hina-Chan? Defiantly something going on between them two. If there isn't I will make it happen! CHA!
Oh great, Inner was making a comeback. I can't remember the last time I had said 'CHA'
"I think its best if I stay at the back of the group. Just in case one of them recognises me. I doubt it, but not many people have pink hair." I mumbled moving to stand next to Sasuke.
"You'll be fine." Sasuke said quietly, "They will remember you. You're hard to forget. Trust me." I don't think he meant for me to hear the last part but I felt my heart swell a little bit.
Did he think of me while training with Orochimaru? Did this mean he liked me? Do I want him to like me?
That didn't matter at this moment in time. What mattered was getting my arse in there, sort this alliance out and then spending time with my family.
I watched as Kakashi-Sensei pushed the large wooden door open. We were met by loud voices and laughter that instantly cut of when they noticed us.
Maybe we should have knocked first. Twelve stranger bursting in on a Guild is probably the same as someone bursting into Tsunade's office during a meeting. A big No-No.
"Hi, we're-"Kakashi began but was cut off by a loud "Hey!" from Natsu who was pushing away from a table near the bar.
I blanched, I didn't want conflict and if he was as much like Naruto as I assumed then my brother would cause some serious damage unless we explained what we were doing. ASAP.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Natsu said, his loud voice echoing through the Guild.
"If you let him finish he would have told you by now!" Naruto shouted back. We all groaned in unison, they were going to have it out.
"Well who are you then Blondie?" Natsu shrieked at Naruto. They were in each other's faces now.
A blonde girl who had been at the table Natsu had stood up from made a sound of protest, "What's wrong with blonde?"
"Well, are ya gonna tell me? Or am I gonna have to beat it out of you?" My brother growled and noticed his right hand was engulfed in flames.
"As if you could beat me!" Naruto gloated puffing his chest out. Oh dear, it was happening, they were going to fight. The Guild hall will be reduced to ashes in no time unless someone stepped in. Opening my mouth to tell them to stop, a furious voice screamed Natsu's name.
Everyone in the room froze, looks of terror etched onto their face.
"What's she doing back?" a voice asked. I recognised it as Macao's, a man that I remembered laughing at my jokes and showing me his purple flames.
"Must have finished the quest already." A voice belonging to Cana Alberona. She had been one of Natsu's friends and had certainly grown up quickly, I noted taking in her blue bikini top. She was leaning against a barrel full of alcohol.
"Natsu," the voice from before said, "What are you doing?" I turned to see Erza Scarlet stalking towards the glowering boys. She hadn't changed one bit. Still as scary as before, just how I had liked her.
When I was younger she would teach me how to fight with swords and if I did well she would share some of her strawberry cheesecake with me, granted she would kill anyone who dared to touch her favourite dessert without permission. She would dote on me and then turn to snap at the boys.
"These weirdos just barged in. Blondie over her is just begging for me to knock him senseless." Natsu said, he cowered only a moment before motioning to Naruto.
"Did it occur to you they might need help?" Erza asked a hand going to rest on a well armoured hip.
Natsu mumbled, "Say that again." Erza pressed.
"No. Sorry Erza." Natsu said sheepishly.
Erza turned to face us, her bright red hair swinging behind her, "I apologise for that idiot, I'm Erza, and you are?"
Kakashi sweat dropped, he was obviously comparing her Tsunade, "Im Kakashi and this is my team, we came here to discuss a matter of upmost importance with your leader."
"Master Makarov isn't here at the moment." A sweet voice said, and a beautiful girl with long white hair came to stand next to Erza. It took me a moment to recognize her as Mirajane Strauss. She was a far cry from how I remembered her, when I was younger everyone referred to her as the 'Demon Woman' and she's had a fierce rivalry with Erza, she was Lisanna's older sister.
"We need to speak with him, or whoever's I charge." TenTen said, her voice conveying urgency.
"Maybe Erza or I could be of assistance." Mira said kindly. That was going to take some getting used to. Suddenly I felt eyes on my, Kakashi was looking at me as if to say, 'can we trust them?'
I nodded discreetly and zoned out as they discussed where was best to hold the conversation.
The guild hadn't changed much, a few new faces here and there and definitely some refurbishments. Probably due thanks to Natsu and Gray's fighting.
Speaking of the Ice-mage he was sat next to the blonde girl from earlier. Still has that stripping problem. At least there's something to look at now. That was true, Gray Fullbuster had definitely grown up, he was sporting some muscles now but not as many as Elf-Man (the third Strauss sibling) over there. Gray wasn't my type though, and besides I used to think of him as family, it would be weird if I fancied him.
You're only saying that because you still like Duck-butt.
Choosing to ignore that thought I hurried after my team as they started to walk towards the library I had heard mentioned a couple of times.
"They seem nice." I heard a girl say, probably that blonde girl, awkwardly.
"If you say so." Natsu replied and I wanted nothing more than to turn around and launch myself at him for a hug.
"So what did you want to discuss?" Erza said. Straight to the point as usual.
"An alliance." Sasuke said evenly.
"What's your guild? I don't see any Guild marks." The red-head said raising an eyebrow, despite her earlier words she didn't trust us one bit.
"We're not part of a Guild." Shika threw in carelessly as he sat down in a chair and rested his head on his hand, "Not even from this world."
"Shikamaru!" Ino yelled, pissed that he had said it outright.
"What do you mean?" Mira said, she was shocked but willing to listen.
"We're from a world that lies parallel to yours. We don't have magic we have chakra. Instead of Mages we have Ninja." Hinata said calmly, she and Mira seemed to have similar personalities.
Mira's mouth formed an 'O' shape, "I've read about that somewhere, I didn't think it was true."
"Prove it." Erza cut in.
"Neji." Kakashi said simply, we had agreed that if we needed to Neji would demonstrate Chakra. Nodding the Hyuga formed some hand signs and disappeared in in a poof of smoke only to re-appear further in the library.
"That could have been teleportation magic." Ever the critic, Erza was.
"Fine," Kakashi said and looked as me, "Channel chakra into your hand." I noticed he didn't say my name.
"Hai." Doing as he said I watched as my mint green chakra glowed around my fist, "Can you tell how its different to magic?" I said, not lifting my eyes from my fist.
"Yes." Erza breathed, her brown eyes wide, "Its strange." She concluded.
"Moving on," Mira said, "Why do you need to form an alliance?"
"Because," Kiba spoke shifting his weight, "Some Mages have found a way to our world and are planning on taking over. We don't exactly have the experience to fight them."
"Do you know if they are from a Guild?" Mira asked.
This time it was Choji who spoke up," I noticed a tattoo on one of their arms. It was a snake wrapping itself around a sword." I had seen it too, while we were waiting for them to leave.
The girls tensed and waited a moment before Erza said, "That mark belongs to the Snake Slayers."
"Again with the snakes. What's with evil people and snakes?" Naruto asked, earning a glare from Sasuke and a slap on the head from Kakashi.
"So you've heard of them?" Lee said innocently.
"Someone close to us was taken by them. We spent years tailing them." Mira said her voice sad and I felt sick. If I had stayed put would they have found me? Or would have been dead long ago?
I felt Naruto's gaze flicker over to me for a split second, "Did you find whoever they took?"
"No." Gray's voice said from behind, we whirled round to see Natsu, the blonde and Gray walking through the library doors. What kind of ninjas are we if we didn't even hear them coming?
"Could she still be out there?" Kiba pondered and instantly clamped his mouth shut. They hadn't mentioned gender.
Suddenly Kiba was being pushed up against a wall, "How did you know?" Natsu said, fire in his eyes, "How did you it was girl who went missing?"
"Natsu, calm down." The blonde said hurrying to peel the pink-headed boy from Kiba. Kiba could have easily avoided him; could have pushed him away, but obviously thought it better not to start a fight.
"I guessed." The dog-nin ventured, deliberately not looking at me.
God this was killing me. I looked pleadingly at Kakashi as Erza told the Mages off for listening in.
"And you Lucy." Ah so that's the blondes name. It was pretty, "I thought you would know better, this was serious stuff."
"But we can help, we can revenge on the Snakes for taking her." Natsu's voice was determined.
"She's gone Natsu. Twelve years is a long time." Mira's voice was soft and I couldn't take it anymore.
"Natsu." My voice wasn't my own, it was small and weak so I tried again. "Natsu."
Something in my voice must have registered in their minds because Natsu, Erza, Gray and Mira turned to look at me wide eyed.
"What did you say your names were?" Lucy asked, looking between the four of them and me.
"We didn't." Shika said, and then started pointing all of us out, "I'm Shikamaru. That's Ino, TenTen, Hinata, Neji, Choji, Shino, Lee, Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and-"he trailed off.
"I'm Sakura."