Shinui murmured an unknown language to Sakura and Itachi, and a wide oval of light became clear to them from the sun. He flew up and up and up and up until Sakura and Itachi were sure they were going to become blind. They covered their eyes, and their ears popped and the light faded away to a more natural shine. They uncovered their eyes and looked around. Sakura gasped.
The Land of Dragons.
A luscious land filled with green. Wide open land as far as the eye can see. A looming structure, now a palace or castle, was off to a side. It had very short walls, a couple feet taller than Sakura, with no roof. More of a luxurious fort. Dragons of all shapes and sizes flew above in the sky, shimmering colors reflecting off of water. Water dragons swimming in a very large lake, fire dragons torching wood or metal as smiths, earth dragons tending to gardens, and wind dragons taking care of the sick. Off to Sakura's right, she saw a training center where she heard roars of dragons in pain, and saw fire and ice and vines and much, much more coming from the top of the arena. While very open, the Land of Dragons was also a marketplace, a village, an actual town not some rural place where dragons were told as barbarians in fairytales. They had a structure to go on. That included a monarchy.
Of course, If you were to go past the magnificent land, across the boundary, you would see a barren wasteland, or a beautiful forest, or a wide prairie. This was not only the Land of Dragons, but the other side. The magical world with which everyone dreamed that existed. Full of orks, fairies, unicorns, pegasi, nymphs, trolls, dwarves, and many more little non-made up creatures. Every creature could agree though that the Dragons and Pegasi were clearly the important leaders.
As Sakura and Itachi sat on Shinui's back, they observed this all. Sakura had only been here once, and this had been when she was still in Konoha at a simple age four. She remembered almost nothing, and her parents had failed to bring her back again. Although, that was not their fault. Itachi on the other hand, calmly and cooly looked at his surroundings. On the inside though he was, of course, giddy. It was not everyday that mortals were taken to a fairytale land.
Shinui swerved as a blast of heat was shot into the air, nearly scalding his neck. He turned his head and let our a loud hiss towards the dragon on the ground. The stranger dragon looked up and nearly pissed.
"Shinui-sama!" he exclaimed. He bowed his neck towards the ground. All the other dragons looked to him, then up, and simultaneously bowed as well. "We were not expecting you for another day! You were assisting Lady Sakura, and the egg is not to hatch for another week!"
Shinui snorted. "Thank you Kenshi for your worry." He remarked dryly. "But if you were doing your job, instead of trying to be a warrior, you would realize that Tenshi is currently trying to keep the egg from hatching as it is trying to hatch early." The dragon now identified as Kenshi gasped.
"But-but." He stuttered. Shinui snorted once more.
"No matter. Go get the smiths." He ordered. Kenshi nodded quickly then launched off the ground in the direction of the blacksmiths. The other dragons flicked their tails, and Shinui flicked his in return. Taking this as acceptance, the other dragons hurriedly began to move around. Shinui flew off once more.
"Shinui, why did they call you sama?" asked Sakura curiously. "Aren't you…aren't you simply an advisor?" Shinui sighed.
"Sakura-san." Itachi interrupted. "I am going to guess that Shinui hasn't told us everything." He looked into Shinuis glowing eye. "Am I correct?"
"Yes Itachi. Observant as usual." Shinui sighed again. "Mistress, I am the lord of dragons. I believe your word is King." Sakura gasped.
"Shinui! Why didn't you tell me?" she exclaimed. "Stop calling me mistress as well! I should be calling you something more honorable!" She paused. "Shinui-sama." She added.
"No, no!" He replied back. "I call you mistress because you are my mistress. As a younger dragon you saved my life. Even if you do not remember it."
Sakura wrinkled her nose. "Huh?"
"I will explain later. Hold tight." Barely giving the warning, he did a nose dive. Sakura and Itachi clung to what they could as the air whipped their faces. Shinui pulled up and landed surprisingly gracefully for something that happened suddenly.
Sakura slid off of him first, then Itachi followed. Shinui walked as quickly as he could with his legs into the structure they had seen earlier. They followed him as he moved to a wall and tapped it with his talon. The wall moved and below was a dark tunnel.
"Typical." Muttered Itachi. "Of course this would have a secret passageway." Shinui gave a cough which they identified as laughter.
"It is no secret." he said. "This is where all the eggs are kept, and they are incubated here. I am guessing that the egg is trying to hatch because it's too cold down there for him now. That is why I sent Kenshi to fetch the blacksmiths. They will help warm him up." He explained. Sakura nodded.
Shinui climbed down slowly, his head going into the tunnel first. As his tail disappeared, Itachi motioned for Sakura to go ahead. She nodded and followed. Itachi then walked in as well. They followed Shinui for what seemed forever until it opened into a large room underground. By large, they meant large. Along the walls different colored eggs were organized, at least fifty of each color. They noticed that it was oddly chilly down here, even for them. This was definitely not good for the dragons, Sakura decided. If it's cold for us, it's for sure to be cold for them. Shinui blew through his nostrils, and the room lit up. It showed that many of the eggs had hatched. Most of the young babies though…Sakura gasped and turned into Itachi to hide her face.
Many of the babies were dead. Frozen blue. Shinui sighed, and continued into another room. Itachi ushered Sakura to move. As they went into the other room, Tenshi, Shinui's Queen, was in the room blowing fire onto a single egg in the center of the room. Sakura felt herself sweating and removed her Akatsuki cloak. Itachi did the same.
"Are you trying to slow down the hatching?" Asked Itachi curiously. "Will that work?"
Shinui did his version of a shrug. "Sometimes. Sometimes not. If the smiths get here soon enough we might be able to warm this room and the next enough to stop more deaths. And to keep them from hatching too early." He looked frustrated. "But what in the world caused the nanny fire blowers to leave their post?" Just then a group of five dragons walked in.
"Shinui-sama, we are here to help." The leader said. Shinui nodded.
"Good. Help Tenshi-sama to warm this egg. Two of you stay. The other three warm up the other room and save the other eggs." He ordered crisply. They all nodded their heads and got to work. Tenshi stopped blowing quickly and wrinkled her lips at Sakura and Itachi, the dragons way of smiling.
"It was nice seeing you again young mistress. Nice to see you as well young man." The words came in their heads. Sakura clasped her hands and bowed low. Itachi repeated the action.
"Hai, arigatou Tenshi-sama. You as well." She stood as she finished her words. Shinui blew a cloud of smoke in Tenshi's direction then turned to leave. He stopped in the doorway, then turned to peer at Sakura. She looked surprised.
"Yes Shinui?" She asked quietly. He stared into her eyes, his blue looking into her green, and Sakura's Seibutsugan activated on it's own. Itachi watched in shock. Sakura pulled her teeth back, showing points and her nostrils flared. Shinui motioned towards the eggs and Sakura nodded.
"Hai Shinui." She turned around and peered at the egg closely. She pupils dilated from large slits to skinny slits, to a completely different color. She blinked, and the Seibutsugan was deactivated.
"…She will survive. But she will hatch tomorrow." She said quietly. "But she will be perfectly fine." Shinui snorted loudly, his eyes rolling back then forward.
"What does this mean…" He said in a whisper, not really talking to Sakura nor Itachi. "Not normal…what does this mean…"
A/N:
Vote on my poll. I restarted it, so please vote. Thank you.