Author's Note: I'm so happy that a lot of you are excited at the reveal of Fuu in the story, and believe me I am too, I was so excited to post the last chapter. And as to why He (Name not given but will be revealed soon ;) ) took Sakura, you'll just have to wait and see!
Also, I want to answer a guest reviewer; Yes I do read the manga (Insanely obsessed with it) and I freak out every Wednesday when it's released. And yeah *spoiler alert* I do know that Neji is dead in the manga, but I wanted to mention him; because why not.
Anyway, on with the story!
The green light continued to burn bright behind the film of Fuu's wings, highlighting the darkened veins that spread themselves through the clear windows to the chaos of light. It burned against her wings, rushing to tear them apart and reach the two kunoichi protected on the inside.
Sakura paid no attention to the impending flashes of light that scarily resembled a thousand chidori aiming for her heart to split her in two; the light a sinister enemy that lusted for an unknown prize.
Sakura's eyes had no lust to take in the light, but to absorb the image in front of her completely; the girl with turquoise hair and a dragon fly's wing sprouted out of her back standing over her protectively; looking down at her with a scared, cautious look. Her lips were parted slightly as if she wanted to say something to Sakura, but nothing was reaching her ears.
This girl, Fuu, was the one who she connected with back in the forest; having conversations in a dreamlike state without knowing each other's names. She was a jinjuriki, her chakra so eerily similar to Naruto's; powerful and destructive. But more importantly, she was the jinjuriki her team was searching for, the one that Tsunade reported in their mission summary. But, the one fact that haunted Sakura's mind the most; the proven factor that at that moment her two missions had combined to one.
Fuu was the center of Sakura's decisions; accomplishing her mission with her team and saving the captive girl in her mind.
Everything invaded Sakura's mind at a far too rapid pace to analyze anything slowly, threatening to incapacitate Sakura with the overwhelming information. However, she refused to let the stars invade her eyes and turn her brain fuzzy; she refused to fall.
"It's you.." Sakura finally choked out, searching Fuu's face for any signs of uncertainty.
"Stop, you don't have to say it. I already know what you're thinking." Fuu said, hurt in her voice.
Sakura shook her head. "Fuu-"
"No, Sakura. It's fine. This is who I am, I'm the one who has to live with this, I have for my whole life. You think that I'm not used to being shunned for having a tailed beast sealed away inside of me?" Fuu said coldly, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth. "If you're too scared, then I understand. You wouldn't be the first.." she said, reaching across her chest to clutch her headband tied around her arm, which Sakura noticed to have the insignia of Takigakure.
"But unlike the others, I've accepted my fate, and I love who I am. Even though my village had looked at me with contempt and hatred, I was always looking ahead of them. I've trained hard, and eventually I've learned to become friends with my tailed beast. He's helped me out on multiple missions, hell, he's even saved my life; and I couldn't be more grateful to him."
Fuu opened her eyes with a sparking defiance that could quite possibly set the earth on fire.
"I'm proud to be a jinchūriki."
Sakura was shocked to silence, a familiar sadness growing in her heart.
She reminded Sakura of Naruto to such a great extent.
o-o-o-o-o-o
Sakura began to see a familiar memory surface on her mind; a younger her with a red ribbon tied in her short pink hair and clutching onto her mother's side. She looked on with younger eyes at a small boy around her age standing alone off to the side of the road, his hair the color of the sun and his eyes dripping wet with tears. Her curious mind triggered her speech.
"Kaa-san, who is that boy?" she asked, pointing him out.
Her mother had looked in her daughter's pointed direction, and Sakura had watched her mother's eyes widen in shock. She tightened her hold on Sakura, and quickly guided them to the opposite side of the road, away from the weeping boy.
"Listen to me, Sakura. You are never to talk, see, or play with that boy ever. Do you understand me?"
"But Kaa-san, why-"
"That's enough. No more talking. Let's go home."
She remembered turning her head back to look at him with ignorant eyes and a head now filled with discrimination.
o-o-o-o-o-o
Now, she was no longer up for listening to lies.
"I'm not scared of you." Sakura said, pushing off of the ground to support herself on one knee, looking up into Fuu's steel eyes. "I'm far from it."
Shakily, Sakura pressed her palm to her kneeling leg and rose from the ground, favoring her right ankle; she would have to check it later for a sprain or break.
Fuu stepped back when Sakura took a step towards her, her eyes mistrustful. "You're lying."
Sakura shook her head. "I'm not lying. I can't say that I know how you feel, because that would be a lie; I'm not a jinchūriki; but that doesn't mean that I don't understand how you've been treated. I've seen my own village be guilty of what yours has done to you, and it's cruel.
"I'm not scared of you, because I've known a jinchūriki my whole life."
Fuu's steel eyes cracked, widening to an astonished sparkling amber. "What?…you mean.."
Sakura's expression hardened. "That's right. I've fought alongside with a jinchūriki, because one of my teammates is a jinchūriki; he has the Kyuubi sealed inside of him."
Fuu's lips trembled, her eyes widened to their farthest extent.
Sakura nodded to her once more. "We've been on the same squad since we were all genin, and I've never trusted anyone more than my teammates, even if one of them happens to have a tailed beast living in his body; it makes it no different; and it shouldn't."
Fuu's eyes slowly began to wetten, her lips crushed together as if to hold in an impending outcry.
Sakura smiled and walked up to her new friend. She placed her hand upon Fuu's shaking shoulder.
"We'll find a way out of here, and we'll do it together."
The light behind Fuu's wing slowly began to fade away; the rocks of the cave showing their faces once more. The crystals protruding from the walls sucked up the light as if to quench their thirst of the drought of expelling the green glow. Fuu's hair slowly began to melt back to its original color of turquoise; dulling down from its electric green that the light casted on their heads.
"Arigatou..Sakura." Fuu said, smiling at Sakura as if she were the one good thing that happened to her in her life; for all Sakura knew; she could be.
Sakura smiled. "Don't thank me yet." she looked into the wing as the last of the light faded. "What was that light?"
"The crystals in the walls emit some sort of chakra draining power. The moment that the light touches your skin, it immediately steals all of your energy and chakra and leaves you almost dead." Fuu said, looking down at her wing perspectively. "This is the only thing that seems to block out the light and save our chakra."
All traces of the light disappeared, and with a swift motion, Fuu's wing began to detract in length; uncurling itself and releasing the two kunoichi on the protective inside. Sakura watched as the beautiful orange disappeared, folding itself into Fuu's shoulder; then completely disappearing; leaving her skin unmarked and smooth.
"So..this has happened before? The light?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah, multiple times. I guess that bastard wants us powerless, for now." Fuu said, looking accusingly at the crystals. "But I think we'll be alright, thanks to Chomei."
Sakura frowned. "Chomei?"
Fuu blinked, then smiled sheepishly. "Oh..that's his name!"
Sakura's facial expression had no change.
His name? The tailed beasts actually have names? She always thought that their names were categorized based on how many tails each one possessed; but actual names? She never thought that they possessed names of their own, let alone genders.
"I never knew..that they had names.."
Fuu smiled. "Don't worry, most people don't. I see it as a special secret between me and him; a sort of special bond that only we can have; Chomei and I, the seven tails jinchūriki."
The Seven Tails..
Sakura snapped back to attention when she saw Fuu's eyes glittering in her direction.
"What is it?" she asked.
Fuu smiled to herself. "It's just..that you're the first once since my teammates to really accept me."
Sakura's tongue refused to move, too dormant to respond. Fuu's words travelled throughout her body and struck her heart; that her acceptance of Fuu was at the moment worth more than the acceptance of the village.
"But that's okay." Fuu said suddenly, laughing to herself. "I don't need to be looked down upon. In fact, there is one perk about being a jinchūriki that I find to be quite helpful." she said.
"And what would that be?" Sakura asked, curiosity rising in her voice.
"I can read and distinguish other peoples' chakra. I can tell if they're hurt, happy, strong, annoyed…It just comes with having another source of chakra inside of you. You just..learn to tell everything apart."
Sakura became genuinely interested. "You can really do that? Without being a sensory type?"
Fuu nodded. "You can tell a lot about a person based on their chakra."
Sakura's eyes widened in small excitement, as they always did when she genuinely wanted to learn something new. "So, what does my chakra say about me?"
Fuu walked over to Sakura, and her amber eyes danced around Sakura's body, taking in her dirtied clothing and messed up hair; her gloved hands self-consciously reaching up to flatten out the impending frizziness.
Fuu snapped her fingers. "I can tell that you're strong, and that you've worked hard to get to where you are today. You're chakra's gentle yet powerful, so you may or may not be a medical kunoichi; yet you've probably destroyed countless things with your fists. You're kind and devoted.."
Sakura's eyes widened, it was spot on.
"You're chakra says that you're reliable, knowledgeable, and…oh…" Fuu continued, but stopped suddenly to laugh lightly.
Sakura blinked in confusion. "What? What is it?"
Fuu couldn't stop her ultra light fit of laughter, Sakura feeling her cheeks redden to her ignorance at what her chakra seemed to be "telling" Fuu.
"What? Tell me!" Sakura almost begged with slight humor in her voice.
"It also tells me.." Fuu said, playfully poking Sakura's shoulder and winking. "That you, my friend, are in love!"
Sasuke watched in irritation as Naruto's eyes swam with the internal struggle of information he had yet to relay externally. The suspense felt like a thousand kunai stabbing into his back and draining the blood from his body. He felt chakra surge to his eyes, the same rush that he felt whenever he became angry or in danger; his bloodline rushing forward to take over the obsidian of black.
"Naruto! Answer me!" he yelled, holding himself back from launching his body at Naruto.
Almost as if his words were the trigger to Naruto's speech, he turned to Sasuke slowly.
His blue eyes turned to steel and ice, his words following with the same effect.
"Sakura-chan told me that if she were to be taken, and if she tried to kill us, then I should stop her, even if it means killing her."
Cue the dramatic Naruto anime trouble music. I've been waiting so long to write this chapter, and I was so happy when I wrote Fuu and Sakura's conversation about chakra; looks like someone's in love.. and Sakura's favor for Naruto was finally revealed, though some of you guessed it already :) But I'm so happy because soon I'll be on SUMMER BREAK which means more updates! (If I'm not drowned in AP work and college essays) Anyway, don't forget to review! xx