01.6

. . . .

i need a

deus ex machina

'god out of the machine'

. . . .

01.6

Viridian eyes flickered open to familiar surroundings. She was back in her apartment again. But how? She looked around the small room. Everything was—or seemed to be—in place. She got out of bed and traveled to the built-in mirror on her nightstand. Sakura raised a hand to the right side of her neck and stroked the area tenderly.

"I swear there was a mutated mark right her-"

"Good morning Sakura-chan!" Sakura whipped her head to the source of the noise, only to see none other than Naruto and is signature grin sitting on her windowsill. Wait, windowsill? Is this some kind of a joke? And why is he wearing an orange jumpsuit? What's with that headband?

"Sakura-chan…are you okay? Hey, hello? Earth to Sakura-ch-Ow! That hurt!" she flicked his forehead. "Shut up, Naruto! Why are you so noisy today? Wait, nevermind. And what's with that get up?"

"What do you mean? I've always worn this getup! What about you? Why are you wearing civilian clothes anyways?"

"Civilian clothes?" She seethed. This was getting really old, really fast. I mean really, civilian clothes? This isn't some wartime videogame or something. "This is how I always dress, you idiot!" She flicked his nose this time.

"Ouch! Come on Sakura-chan that hurts!" Naruto whined while rubbing his nose. He noticed that she was holding her chin, deep in thought. Getting closer to her, he snaked his arms around her waist and nuzzled his face into her neck. Sakura was surprised at this. "Hey," He began "What's on your mind? Is it Sasuke again?" He finished quietly.

"Of course not, Naruto. I have more important things to be worrying about." She said with finality. He seemed to have momentarily sagged against her form before standing upright again and looking at her straight in the eyes. "You can tell me anything, Sakura-chan. Anything." At that last part his voice morphed into an all too familiar tone and she tensed and immediately began to struggle against his hold on her. This caused him to hold her tighter and closer before diving his head down to suck on the spot of her neck that she had been touching not long ago. She let out a high-pitched scream from the sudden onslaught of pain that wracked her body, and her vision went dark once again.

She was not unconscious though.

She felt as if she were floating….

'Ma fleur de cerisier!' (A/N: Thank you ptitemli(almost anonymous reviewer)! I appreciate the correction on the French! Haha.) Sakura's eyes darted around, trying to locate the source of the voice. 'Over here, you silly girl! I never expected my outer host to be so dense!' The voice teased. Sakura kept looking around, but no luck. So she decided to briefly close her eyes, and when she reopened them again she found that she was in field of cherry blossoms that seemed to go on forever. She opened her mouth to speak but air bubbles were the only thing that came out. She looked around her and at the sky. Everywhere was kind of dark and murky, and the air around her was somehow liquid, like water filled up the entire place where the air once was. And yet I'm not drowning? She wondered. She noticed a soft singing echoing in the distance. Rising to her feet, she walked towards the singing, fully intent on finding out where she was and why.

After a few minutes of walking, she arrived at what looked like a garden gate, and it was locked. The soft singing was flowing out from the inside. She gave the long chain on the gate a yank, but it would not give in. So, getting on her hands and knees, she got to looking for a key somewhere in the endless cherry blossoms on the ground in front of the gate. Minutes passed by and she had zero luck in finding it. She saw white sandaled socks steadily approach her. Her eyes widened as she looked up to see a mirror image of herself in a white shihakushō, but this mysterious character was not exactly like her; this person had a paler, almost deathly pigment to her skin and the eyes took on an other-worldly pigment— gold irises upon black. She had a large gaping hole in her stomach, and on her head was a cracked skull mask that was decorated with black cherry blossoms and lines on one side. This figure looked down at her in contempt, and the short-cropped pink hair that was flowing around her head did not make her seem any less intimidating.

After a long silence, Sakura asked "Who are you?"

The other Sakura seemed to ponder this question as if to think about how she would answer it, for she cocked her head to the side and brought her index finger to her chin. There was another pause. "Who wants to know?"

"Who else?" Sakura responded. The other Sakura stretched out her hand for the real Sakura to take a hold of before sneering and kicking her in her stomach into the gates of the garden. Sakura keeled over, clutching her stomach in pain. The other Sakura grabbed her hair and yanked her head up to make eye-contact with her. "Yami Sakura." Yami Sakura gripped Sakura's hair in a death-grip and slammed her back into the garden gates.

The singing stopped.

…..

A pale face under a nicely embroidered blanket scrunched up in pain before relaxing again. A steady stream of blood began to flow from the corner of her mouth.

"W-what do you mean my reiatsu signature is different? It's always been the same!" Faux Sakura lied through a sickly sweet voice. Ichigo remained quiet throughout the journey home. 'That can't be right! I am not bad at this kind of thing…okay well maybe I am but still! I was able to find Rukia after she had been kidnapped!' Ichigo was having an internal battle before something struck him. "What happened to that hollow?" He asked. "I killed it." She responded. The gears in his head were turning. "Hey," He began, "If you don't mind, I'm going to make a stop at an old friend of my dad and I before heading back, okay?" He questioned. "Sure. I have nowhere else to be anyways." 'Bingo.'

And with that, he changed direction and headed to a shop that housed a striped-hat and clogs wearing 'old' man and his assistants.

….

"Corrupt the innocence of all, Yami no Katana*!" Yami Sakura unsheathed her katana and swept her hand down the length. A bloody and bruised Sakura sat and watched in awe as the katana turned into a large scythe. A black cherry blossom was tattooed along the length of the blade. "I refuse to have such a weakling as my master!" Yami Sakura yelled as she brought the scythe down upon Sakura. Sakura could only close her eyes as she awaited the blow to end her life.

The blow never came.

Instead, a sharp clang of metal on metal met her ears. She opened her eyes again to see another figure standing in front of her in a fighting stance. She was blocking the katana-turned scythe with her katana. They were at a stale mate for a while, one trying to out push the other before they jumped apart. "Don't get in my way, you fool!" Yami Sakura yelled to the other person. The other figure darted towards Yami Sakura and started swishing their katana at a fast pace at Yami Sakura, barely giver her enough time to dodge the attacks. Yami Sakura ( A/N: let's call her Yami from now on LOL) side stepped and began to swing her scythe at the other figure. The other figure parried the attacks easily, but then she jumped back to stand in front of Sakura again. Sakura got a good look at this new character and saw that her hair was also pink, but this time her hair was long and it flowed. Her eye was a dark green iris on black. The figure glanced at Sakura out of the corner of her eye and asked Sakura a question. "Who am I?"

"I don't know. Who are you?" She responded. A blade narrowly missed this other Sakura-look alike and got stuck deep into the ground. "This is no time to talk! Fight me!" Yami Sakura yelled out in frustration and anger. She struggled to get her scythe out of the ground as the other Sakura look-alike stood protectively in front of Sakura. She repeated the same question again. "Who am I?"

Sakura became frustrated with her. "I don't know who you are! I don't know where I am, or how I got here, but I really would seriously be happy if I could just leave!" She cried out desperately. The figure glanced at her once more and said cryptically, "Look all around you. For everything bad always has its good side. Fear not, for we are inside of your mind. This vast atmosphere is flooded with the waters of your despair, yet they keep the cherry blossoms hydrated without drowning them with excess. I wish to elaborate more however the situation at hand prevents me from doing so. With this last statement, I request that you ponder this deeply; for everything that is Yin, there is Yang." And with that last statement, Yami pulled her sword out of the ground and struck down on this mysterious figure, forcing her knees to bend a little and her face to twist into one that shows great struggle. She was getting tired.

Sakura looked down to her hands that rest in her lap as she sat there and thought about what she was told for a little bit. 'Come on! I should know this…wait, Yami Sakura…the opposite of dark is…'

"Your name is…Hikari no Sakura*!" Sakura exclaimed. A bright and blinding light erupted from Hikari no Sakura's (let's just call her Hikari lmfao) katana and surrounded Hikari and her sword with light. The girl's hair was surrounded by cherry blossom wreaths and she was wearing a pink yukata adorned with cherry blossoms and a yellow obi around the waist. Her feet were bare. Yami grinded her teeth out of frustration and quickly retreated, but not before saying "I'll catch you later, Queen." She disappeared completely.

Sakura shakily rose to her feet and staggered a bit. She then looked at Hikari, and Hikari gave her a small smile instead. "That was quite a farce, wouldn't you agree?" Hikari asked. "Sure." Sakura replied. "Where am I? Why am I here?" Sakura asked. "I'm afraid I cannot go into detail until later, Sakura-chan. Until then, I bid you adieu."

"Hey-" Sakura was cut off as a pale finger poked her in the forehead and turned her world black.

She awoke panting and ran calloused yet dainty fingers through her pink tresses. Where am I this time? She looked down to see a cherry blossom embroidered blanket pool around her waist on her legs and she couldn't help but wonder if everything and everyone in her life would make references to cherry blossoms, her hair, and her name. She yawned and stretched her limbs out before getting up and scoping the place. It was pretty dark. She looked up and saw a bit of green being reflected on by the moonlight. 'Well, it's official. I somehow ended up in a ditch. How does that happen anyways? Looks like I'm going to have to sleep here. I will move at day break.' And with that thought she settled herself against the wall of the muddy ditch and promptly fell asleep.

did you liek it? huh? huh?1!one!0!

for those of you who have apple products like ipod 4g and + and iphone, [Fanfiction (.) net] has an app! i can read my stories offline and it is fantastic, so i recommend you check it out!

***deus ex machina is latin for 'god out of the machine'. wikipedia it or wait till i come back later to explain cause it's like 12:30 a.m. and i'm tired LOL.

*1 Sword of Darkness, or Dark Sword

*2 Light Cherry Blossom, Cherry Blossom of light

*3Yami Sakura-Dark Sakura, Dark Cherry Blossom

Well, look at that, another chapter! Well, I'll see you guys around. Review for more! Critiques are Welcome.