Sakura's Fall to Middle Earth

Chapter Two

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Tonight was the night, Sakura thought as she crept out of the little hole she had temporarily called home, to sneak into the forest at a chance to see if she still could use her chakra. As I said previously, Sakura had as of yet, tried to see if she had any of her technique left. She needed to know now before she set off on some sort of adventure that could lead her and her friends into peril. She needed to be far away before she tried to throw a punch at a tree, or stabbed a boulder with a chakra scalpel.

First she broke out into a small run, feeling the wind in her hair and the beat of her footfalls on the earth immediately settling her nerves and putting her in a state of tranquil. The one thing about the Shire, was that instead of modern cities like in her world, Middle Earth was full of nothing but greenery as far as the eye could see, just like Konoha. She loved it. It reminded her so much of home that it comforted her when she needed it most.

Of the months of Gandalfs' absence, she would come into the wood, walking and looking at the greenery and locating herbs that she could familiarize herself with. Luckily, trees and herbs were all the same no matter what realm you lived in, so she was able to find some things that she could use in her spare time for healing medicines and other ointments and poisons of the like. She kept a small cupboard of all her things in a corner of her room, and she made notes of all the new things she could find and possibly use if ever need be.

She bounded at top speed, feeling the rush of adrenaline and anxiety course through her as she sped towards a tree, she built up her energy to try for the most simplest task ever, with a great leap in seconds she was at the top of a tree, the effort not even breaking a sweat as night fell and dawn came through the horizon. She smiled at the sun, knowing it was going to be a good day for a journey.

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"I am not riding that." Sakura said with a weary eye as she stared at the beast before her.

Sam and Frodo frowned, patting the head of the Shire pony. "It's just a pony, Sakura." Sam said with a snort of a laugh.

Frodo and Gandalf exchanged amused expressions. "I say, of all things, I never expected you to be afraid of a pony." Frodo shook his head in bewilderment.

Sakura blushed and crossed her arms defensively. "I am not afraid, just... cautious. Wouldn't it be better on foot? I mean, sure, we have to carry for three, but think about it, it is much easier to travel on foot and hide if need be without having to wonder what to do with. . . that!" She pointed exasperatedly at the pony who was chewing grass leisurely.

Gandalf tilted his head in ascent. "She does have a point."

Sakura bowed her head in thanks to Gandalf. "Finally, someone is listening to me." She smiled at the two hobbits in victory.

"So, what do you suppose we do then?" Sam asked, looking between Gandalf and Sakura.

"What anyone who is walking on a long journey would do," Sakura said as if it was obvious. "travel lightly."

Sam turned back to the already loaded pony, mournfully.

"No time to waste. We must hurry!" Gandalf said sharply, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "The ringwraiths are not too far behind. They are coming and you must make haste. Meet me at the inn of the Prancing Pony, it's in Bree."

Sakura cataloged that in her memory just in case anyone forgot.

"What about you?" Frodo asked.

"I have other business to attend to, but do not fret, I will meet you there." He clasped both Frodo and Sam on the back as Sakura took the chance to unload the pony. "Hobbits are really amazing creatures, you can know them for a hundred years but they'll always surprise you."

"All right!" Sakura said clapping her hands together at a job well done. "We're all set! Let's go!" She started marching in one direction.

"Uh, Sakura..." Sam said, making her turn around. "Bree is that way." He smiled in the direction behind them, in the direction Sakura was not going.

She blushed and rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, I knew that. Just. . . testing the waters."

And with that they finally broke out on their journey, each carrying a pack full of provisions and a change of clothes. Gandalf walked with them a good ways until it was almost dark and they made it to a small clearing in the middle of a forest.

They had already traveled through a great deal away from Hobbiton. Though when they got to the edge, Sam had stopped to tell them it would be the farthest way from home he had ever been.

Sakura for once was glad to be traveling again, she was getting stir crazy just doing nothing in the Shire. It gave her a good chance to see what she was dealing with when it came to the area she had landed in, but so far she was amazed out how long of a travel it was before she saw civilization. There wasn't any checkpoints, though there was a road, which Gandalf had told them to stay off of. So it was a lot of roundabout walking through fields and farmers' crops.

Even though it had been a few months since Sakura had a long journey on foot, she hadn't been out of shape, but she did have to keep mind of Frodo and Sam and sometimes she would be walking a distance away from them without even realizing it before they would call her back and tell her that they needed a break.

She couldn't wait till they got to Bree. The scenery was beautiful, but she knew that this long of a travel was taking its toll on the home bound hobbits. "Why don't we rest here for the night." She offered, holding her hand up to her eyes so she could look up at the sky to see the direction of where the sun was. "It seems the sun won't last long, this will give you two a good chance to go look for some firewood. I'll go around and set some traps... Just in case." She said with an encouraging smile as they gave her bemused looks. "Don't wander off too far, now."

As Sam and Frodo walked away Sam leaned in to whisper to Frodo. "You know, I think sometimes she forgets who's older."

Sakura pouted and shouted over her shoulder. "I heard that!"

Sam and Frodo ran off giggling after that.

When night fell and the fire was put out, Sakura paid extra attention to her surroundings, the moon was at its peak in the sky and the hobbits were fast asleep when she felt, more than heard, hoof beats from a horse not too far away in the ground. Gandalf told her they had heightened senses, but what they didn't know was so did she. She stared at a sleeping Frodo before she took to the trees, they weren't too far from the road, but a good enough distance away for them not to be spotted. She was glad that she suggested to put out the fire, thankful that it wasn't cold that night.

She was just over on the top most part of the tree when she saw them, three, what she supposed ringwraiths. They were just as Gandalf had described, black riders shrouded with cloaks and black horses. She couldn't be mistaken. With a deep breath, being as quiet as she possibly could she set a genjutsu on them. She didn't know much about this ring they were trying to keep away from these riders, but she knew that she couldn't let them get to Frodo, she had to protect her friends.

"Maybe that'll teach you a lesson." She whispered to them as she departed back into the shadows and over to the camp.

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By the next morning they were all ready to go, Sakura had kept her small encounter with the wraiths to herself, keeping in mind to tell them when a better time arrived. She didn't want to scare them too soon in their journey. The genjutsu she cast over the riders the night before had long been released, but she knew that it had thrown them off track for a little while, which meant that they had just a little time before they ran into them again.

Though... She would have much preferred a different way than going through a corn field. "I swear, everywhere I turn, there's corn! Don't you people grow anything else around here?" She asked, batting a long stem away from her face as she continued to make a trail for the hobbits.

Frodo laughed as he followed behind Sakura. "We should run into a homemade trail soon, don't worry, then you won't have to fight the terrible corn stocks anymore."

Sakura grumbled something under her throat before she was soon trampled over into the ground, an elbow immediately piercing her ribcage. "Oof!"

"Pippin?!" Frodo shouted, alarmed and wondering if Sakura was hurt.

"Frodo?" Merry said in excited surprise. "Sam!" He smiled at the hobbits, shocked to see them so far from their home, but pleased nonetheless.

"Sakura?" Pippin looked down in the face of an annoyed looking Sakura. "Look, Merry, it's Sakura."

"Get off of her, Pippin!" Merry chastised the oblivious hobbit.

"Well, this is quite a surprise." Sakura said to the four hobbits as she dusted herself off. "What are you two doing here?"

Before they could even reply, they heard shouting not too far away.

Sam looked down at the trampled vegetables. "You've stolen from farmer Maggot's crops again!"

Both Merry and Pippin turned to look over their shoulders before they started shuffling and moving everyone along, they all broke out into a run before they knew it, Sakura in the front not knowing where she was going, she had half the mind to stop when they came to an edge, only to be pushed to the ground, once again, by Pippin. They all fell with groans of pain.

"You have got to stop falling on me, Pippin." Sakura cried out indignantly.

"Mushrooms!" Pippin cried happily, completely ignoring Sakura as they all rushed to pick at the said, mushrooms.

Frodo stood and helped Sakura up, smiling at her with a shrug. "What can you do with them?" He looked back at his friends and shook his head as he watched them.

Sakura brushed her arms, pausing she looked around to see where they wound up, they were definitely off their trail. She felt the hair rise on the back of her neck when she realized that they weren't hidden anymore, and were in fact, where they weren't supposed to be.

Frodo seemed to realize at the exact same time as Sakura. "I think we should get off the road." He said softly.

Sakura was already pulling out her kunai, as they both heard what sounded to be a scream. "Get off the road now!" She ordered, disappearing before their eyes.

They all had just enough time to hide under the roots of the tree Sakura had jumped into before they heard the sound of a horse and rider.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, holding her weapon at the ready, just in case it found the makeshift hiding place of her friends. The black rider was sniffing a little too close for comfort when Sakura formed a shadow clone and made it lead the ringwraith away from Frodo and the other hobbits.

The rider made a screech again and fled, following Sakura's clone in the opposite direction of where she knew they were going. "We have to hurry!" She said, meeting them back on the road. "We have no time to waste."

"What's going on?" Merry asked in suspicion.

Frodo looked at him in worry as Sakura looked around them, staying on guard. "We have to get to Bree."

Merry looked down and thought for a moment. "Bucklebury Ferry, follow me."

And they were off again, this time no stops for rest and no stops for food. The riders had found their scent. Sakura worried they wouldn't make it in time, but Merry assured them they weren't too far away.

"We should be there by nightfall."

I don't think we have that much time. Sakura thought to herself as she kept the rear. She made a few shadow clones in secret, making them search around the perimeter in all directions, making sure that they alerted her if they spotted anymore of those riders. Gandalf had told her there were nine. So far she had only seen four, she had no idea where the other five were, and that worried her immensely.

She knew by no doubt that she was far stronger than any human in Middle Earth, but the ringwraiths weren't human. . . and in that aspect she didn't know who she was dealing with. Or what, to be put more plainly. Gandalf never went into further explanation of what exactly the wraiths were just that there were nine, they had poisonous swords, and a keen sense of smell. The worst part was that it was already getting dark, and she distinctly remembered Gandalf telling her that they were better hunters at night, plus they were drawn to the ring. She cataloged that to her memory to ask Gandalf, if she ever saw him again.

Even before she saw them, she heard the wraiths approach, she screamed for the hobbits to hurry as she threw shuriken and kunai at the riders, not even aiming, all she wanted was to get her friends to the ferry before they were surrounded. "Merry, where is it?"

"There it is!" He cried, pointing a distance away to a small dock with a flat boat.

She rolled her eyes, why were these people so old fashioned?! "Quickly, hurry to the ferry, and what ever you do, don't look back!" She ordered, skidding to a halt and turning to face the riders that were catching up.

The two riders halted in front of Sakura, the horses rearing up as Sakura poured chakra into her hands.

"Give us the halfling!" It said menacingly.

A shock of fear ran straight to Sakura's spine as the black rider spoke. It was a fear that had made her knees weak and her teeth nearly chatter. She didn't think she'd ever been in so much fear before in her lifetime. Not even her fight with Sasori of the Sand terrified her as much as the sound of the dark rider speaking. Sakura narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth, her voice shaky as she spoke. "I won't let you take him."

And with that she slammed her hand into the ground, the earth crumbling right at their feet. The cloaked rider screeched in fury, the sound alone halting Sakura's steps, for the fear had come over her again. She didn't know why she was feeling so much terror, but she knew it was not normal.

"Sakura!"

The cry of fear made her turn her head back to see if anything was wrong, only to immediately hear a screech and feel the pain of a sword piercing her shoulder. She cried out in blinding pain, crumbling to her knees. She saw nothing but black dots for a while, the riders kicking her out of the way as they rode to the hobbits. She could hear Frodo and the others calling her name.

She had to get up, she had to protect her friends. She fought to keep her eyes open, but the pain still outnumbered everything, but she clumsily got to her feet and looked to see Frodo jump on to the boat. She smiled and ran to catch up before they got too far. The water was holding back the wraiths, but she needed to get away before they focused their attention back on her.

She ran and put chakra to her feet to run over the water, she was sweating and the pain was getting so severe she feared she'd drown before she made it to them, but when she felt the wood against her feet, she smiled, feeling glad that she managed to keep her word to Gandalf, and protect Frodo.

"I'm alright." She said as they huddled around her right when she fell to her knees.

"You're not alright!" Sam cried, looking at her shoulder. "You should be dead, I don't know much about those dark riders, but I know when someone is stabbed they shouldn't be moving like you were. You're not natural."

She laughed dryly, and blearily stared up at Sam. "Aren't we all just a little bit. . . out of the ordinary?" And with that, she brought chakra to her hands and placed it over her wound. She supposed she should be lucky that it had not been poisoned, or that would have been fatal. She guessed they didn't find her much of a threat, but they had another thing coming. She glared at the water, she was going to take down every last one of them to repay for stabbing her and kicking her to the side as if she was too weak for them to pay attention to. They may be after one thing, but she wasn't going to lie down and let them take Frodo.

Pippin's eyes widened in amazement. "You have to be a wizard to heal yourself like that."

Sakura smiled and shook her head. "Where I'm from; this is no magic, this is just something that we healers learn from intense chakra control and stamina." She had told the hobbits awhile back about where she was from and what her home was like, she even managed to explain what chakra was. Even though they didn't understand it, they took it with stride, and if a question ever rose up she would tell them what she knew and they would be satisfied.

"Do you think I could learn to do something like that?" He asked curiously, watching as the wound completely healed and all that was left was a hole in her shirt and a few blood stains.

She grinned. "I could teach you about medicine and all the herbs that would be good for particular things, unfortunately I can't show you how to heal like I can."

Pippin nodded, not letting anything deter his excitement for learning something new. He'd take what he could get.

Sakura turned serious and stood, looking ahead of them. "How far are we away from Bree?"

"The next crossing is another twenty miles." Merry told her in a serious tone of voice.

She nodded, calculating the distance from horseback to boat in her head. "That should give us enough time then." At that she sat down and pulled her pack off her back. "Why don't you guys have some food, Merry if you just direct me, I can row us there."

Merry looked a little put off. "You need to rest, you've done so much already."

She shook her head and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm completely healed. Go eat." She urged, already shuffling him to sit by Pippin.

Before long the hobbits were all stuffed and Merry had taken the lore again. They were talking about the riders, asking Sakura as many questions as they could ask about what she knew about them, and Frodo and Sam asked why she hadn't told them about it before. "It wasn't a big deal before," she said. "honestly, I was going to tell you once I found out more information. All Gandalf told me was what I already told you. My job is to keep you," she pointed to Frodo. "away from them."

Frodo sighed and looked away, lost as to what to do now.

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Sakura walked behind the four hobbits as they went into the Prancing Pony. She kept her hood up so she wouldn't draw attention to her hair. She tuned out the conversation between Frodo and the inn keeper as she looked around, a bunch of men were busy drinking and smoking to their fill. She noted a few suspicious ones staring at them oddly, and put that to the back of her mind to keep an eye on them once they settled. Her green eyes flew over the many faces, until they immediately stopped on a lone man sitting in a corner, she narrowed her eyes at him and she could see from under the hood that he was looking right at her as he smoked his pipe.

That isn't creepy at all. She thought sarcastically as she tuned back into the conversation, noting to keep a specific eye on that man in the corner.

"Gandalf? Gandalf... Ah yes, now I remember a big, pointy hat and a gray beard... Haven't seen him for six months."

Sakura could practically feel Frodo's heart drop at the news, her's had dropped right along with his.

"What do we do now?" Sam asked.

Sakura cleared her throat and motioned to the many tables around them. "We find a seat, and we wait." With that she led them to an empty table against a far wall, keeping the suspicious man always at the corner of her eye.

After a while Sam became equally suspicious as he noticed Sakura continuously staring at the man. "Who is that?"

That directed everyone's attention to Sakura as she blinked out of her daze. "I don't know..." She trailed off, taking a sip of her ale. "But I don't like the way he's been staring at our table."

"Maybe it's because you keep staring at him, hm?" Merry asked into his pint.

Sakura wiggled her nose distastefully. "Whatever the reason, I don't like it."

Frodo had been quiet the whole time, unknowingly to all around him that he was fingering the ring in his hand. It was like he was in a daze, a daze that was telling him to put on the ring, despite the consequences.

Sakura had kept her eyes away from Frodo for just a second when she heard a shout from Pippin at their table. Frodo disappeared. She looked beside her to see that indeed, Frodo was not beside her. Sam and Merry were looking pale as ghosts, being the ones that had witnessed Frodo's sudden disappearance right before their very eyes.

Sakura bit her lip, knowing without a doubt that once Frodo put on that ring, the wraiths would be after them a lot sooner than she would have hoped. She willed Frodo, through prayer, to take off the ring, and fast. Already the hobbits were making a fuss, loudly, of course. And Frodo still had, as of yet, taken off the ring. She searched everywhere she could possibly think of where Frodo could have gone, for when she touched the spot beside her, he was nowhere to be found.

She stood, at the sight of the hooded man, that had been sitting in the corner staring at them, stand and walk swiftly towards the stairs, dragging what appeared to be... Frodo. She was on him quicker than he could ever imagine and had him by the throat, with a kunai placed delicately against his skin. "Explain yourself for grabbing him, and I just might let you live." She growled dangerously, her eyes shining brightly in the light.

The man had held up his hands in surrender, knowing better than to mess with someone with that speed. "I will tell you all you want to know, but not here." He said softly, meeting Sakura's eyes, and imploring her to release him.

Sakura hesitated for a second and then pushed away from the man.

"Come, follow me."

Sakura did as was said, and followed the hooded man. "Come on Frodo."

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It was a while before Sam, Merry and Pippin burst through the door, holding candelabras and small knives. Both Sakura and Aragorn, as he called himself, smiled and put away their drawn weapons. "It's okay, Frodo is safe and so am I."

There was a long sigh of relief from the three, worried, hobbits. "We're glad Mr. Frodo is safe." Sam said, walking up to Frodo and clapping him on the back.

Aragorn introduced himself and the hobbits sat quietly listening to what he had already told Sakura and Frodo.

"You can no longer wait for the wizard, they're coming. They are drawn to the rings power, and once you put it on, it had already alerted them to your whereabouts."

Sakura ran a hand through her hair that had been through hell and back. "What must we do? We can't leave, there's only one way out of here."

Aragorn looked out the window and sat down. "We wait."

…

The four hobbits were asleep when Sakura decided to question Aragorn. "What are they?" The sound of them outside the window making her shiver in discomfort and fear.

Aragorn removed his pipe from his mouth. "They were men once. Kings of men. But once Sauron gave them nine rings of power, one by one they'd fallen into darkness."

"What are these rings of power? And why are they so important here?" She asked in confusion.

"It began with the forging of the great rings. Given to each race of man, elves, and dawarves. Sauron, and evil being forged in secret a master ring. It has the power to do great things, evil things. It was forged in the fires of Mount Doom, in Mordor. The one place no one must go, for the orcs will kill you in moments."

"How can I keep them from Frodo?" She asked softly.

"You can't, as long as he has the ring, they will always be hunting him. They can not be destroyed. And those who tried have died."

Sakura looked down at her lap mournfully. "So there's nothing I can do?"

"Your protection is more than enough, my dear." Aragorn stared at her long and hard. "You are not like regular women. You are a warrior, that of which I have not seen before."

"And you are still a mystery. I will share my story, if you share yours." She smiled beseechingly.