When In Middle Earth: The edited, revised and face-lifted edition:

When in Middle Earth, do as the Middle-Earthlings do. Sakura finds herself in the midst of Middle Earth, immersed in a war she has no part in, saving a world and people she doesn't know, and why? Because Naruto would be disappointed in her if she ever got back and told him she hadn't...

Chapter One:

In which Sakura wishes she'd taken 'friend-making' lessons from Naruto when she had the chance,

and awkwardness not only abounds, but jumps, hurtles, and leaps up and down waving a foam finger and a flag.

Disclaimer:

The Lord of The Rings, it's associated characters and components are copyright and property of its author J. R. R. Tolkien, the actors that played them, and the director of the trilogy of films of the same name, Peter Jackson. The character Sakura and any components associated with the manga and anime 'Naruto' are property and copyright of Masashi Kishimoto

The story continues:

"These are strange weapons," said the stranger from across the clearing, where he was making himself quite comfortable against her pack. In his hand was her kunai holster.

"My weapons are strange?" Sakura repeated, looking at his bow and sword doubtfully. He frowned at the implication.

"Mine are strange to you? That is interesting indeed." He regarded her curiously.

"What is your name little one?"

Sakura scowled in a way that would have had Naruto running, but the man was unaffected. She crossed her arms tightly.

"Where I come from, it is considered rude to ask somebody else's name without giving your own first," she bit out.

"Indeed?" His voice was utterly devoid of any inflection, emotion, or any indication of amusement. And yet, Sakura still had the distinct impression he was laughing at her. Her scowl deepened.

"Indeed," she snapped shortly.

"From what I understand, where you come from must be very far away," he observed mildly. Sakura suppressed a frustrated growl. She knew that. Since she'd woken up her mind had been whirring, and she was very quickly coming to the conclusion that she was well and truly in trouble.

For a long moment they regarded each other in a mildly juvenile game of 'Don't blink first.'

"I am known as Strider," he said finally, standing and offering her a small (and only slightly mocking) bow. She narrowed her eyes.

Aragorn watched warily as the odd girl struggled to her feet. He resisted the urge to help her, sensing that this time she would not appreciate it. But she was stronger than she seemed, apparently, because though she rose stiffly, she planted her legs firmly and stared him straight in the eye.

"You may call me Sakura," she said, imitating his bow. She tried not to wince as her ribs protested.

"Sakura?" He repeated, hesitating over the unfamiliar syllables.

"Strider," she returned mockingly.

It failed to have the intended effect however, as Strider simply brushed it off and continued to consider her thoughtfully. Sakura suddenly felt very juvenile. He tilted his head slowly, as if trying to look at her from a new perspective.

She was an oddity, this girl he'd found, Aragorn decided. Her bright colouring made her stand out like no other, her build was slim and somewhat short – she looked fragile – and yet there was such strength in her. It practically radiated out of her, in her words, in her attitude, even simply in the way she held herself. She was proud, this girl, he thought. She had eyes like steel. Her arms and legs were so skinny he'd almost have thought her unhealthy, were it not for the fact that he'd felt those hard thick muscles, when he'd helped her sit. Her dialect, her accent and manner of speech were not like any he had ever come across, and he had travelled far and wide in his youth. Wherever she was from, and by whatever magic she had come here, he was certain she was as alien to Middle Earth as an Orc in Rivendell.

"Let me be clear, my lady," he said at last, "The names of Bree, and Eriador, and even of Middle Earth itself mean nothing to you?"

"No," she snapped, even as her ridiculously weak and jittery knees gave up and she plopped down onto her bottom. He noticed that since she'd woken up, she'd not once taken her eyes off him. She was clearly wary, frustrated, possibly even scared, though she hid it behind irritability. And yet this 'Sakura', for all she didn't trust him, had yet to act toward him with any true hostility. He wondered if it was some sort of debt she felt toward him.

Sakura shifted uncomfortably, aware that this man had probably saved her life. Her injuries might not have been fatal, but a night spent alone and unconscious in the middle of a forest may well have been, and she knew without a doubt that she was indebted to him. Furthermore, she was feeling guilty. So far the man had been mild mannered and polite in his queries and observations, for all that he was as wary of her as she was of him. The fact that she had no idea where they were was putting them both on edge.

"My village is called Konohagakure," she offered in recompense, "In the heart of the Fire Country."

"I have never heard of such a place," said Aragorn in surprise, "Where is the Fire Country?"

It was Sakura's turn to look at him in mute shock, "It's one of the five great Shinobi Nations," she said slowly. Needless to say her companion showed no sign of recognising the name. She stared at him, and he was startled to see true fear shine through her eyes for the first time. "How far from home am I?" she whispered.

He frowned. He was not a cruel person by nature, and for all she was a stranger and possibly dangerous, first and foremost she was a distressed young girl, and he felt himself driven to offer some comfort.

"I have heard the elves' tales of worlds that are vastly different from my own, that lie across the great sea. Could it be that your home is one such place?"

"Do you think so? I'm a whole world away?" she was starting to sound panicked, "How will I ever get home?"

"The elves have begun sailing, so I have heard tell," Strider said soothingly, "If your home lies across the great sea, they will not object to your joining their voyage. I am a friend of the elves."

"But what if it isn't?" she cried, beginning to sound mildly hysterical. Sakura pulled at her hair, looking wild eyed. Strider leaned back slightly. "I don't know how I even got here!"

"I cannot tell you that," her companion told her, "but I can tell you what I saw, and you must draw your own conclusions from there."

She nodded miserably.

"You are not alone little one," he said softly, and she was surprised by his kindness. "Come, a meal will do you well, and I have business in Bree. It is a day's walk to the Inn from here; we shall have much time to talk."

He offered her his hand. She warred with herself over accepting. On the one hand her ninja instincts were screaming at her to run and keep running. On the other hand, she was alone, she had no idea where she was, or where she was going, and this man had already proved he meant her no harm…yet. No doubt he would want to know about her homeland, and why she carried weapons. If he deemed her dangerous he may turn against her. But then again, he may be able to help her. Sakura glanced from his hand to his face, hesitating over her decision. He waited patiently.

She took his hand.

He pulled her up like she weighed nothing at all, and steadied her when she wobbled. She shook it off quickly, discreetly channelling chakra to her legs to steady them. To her immense relief her chakra still worked. She felt rather silly for doubting it, it was a part of her after all, and unlikely to disappear. Still, she resisted the urge to heal herself. Her injuries were minor, and the pain would quickly fade to a level that could be easily ignored. She still didn't know whether she would need her chakra to fight and she sure as hell wasn't taking any chances.

They walked slowly at first – Sakura because her joints were still stiff and Strider because he had yet to return her pack or weapons, and had elected to carry them himself. He had, however, returned her tan cloak to her. As they walked, Strider told her about how he had seen a bright light over the tree tops, followed by a great commotion as something -her- fell from the sky and through the trees. Birds had fled the canopy shrieking and branches had snapped loudly as the force of her fall drove her through them. By the time he reached her, the strange light had disappeared, and there was nothing else left except her body – laid unmoving face-down on the ground – and the circle of fallen leaves and bits of branch that had followed her down. That certainly explained the scratches and bruises she had all over the front of her body. For her part, Sakura was trying to figure out how the hell she had gotten to this strange place – apparently another world entirely.

He noticed immediately when her thoughts took over her. The girl fell silent and began chewing her lip – a habit no doubt developed at a young age. He suspected that it was a nervous response, as much as anything else. And if he understood it right, she had much reason to be nervous. She appeared to be thinking deeply about what he had said, and how she had come to be here. He did not disturb her, and they walked in silence for near on an hour.

Sakura bit her lip and scowled, as she often did in thought. Casting her mind back, Sakura tried to replay the events before she'd lost consciousness and woken up here. She'd been with Kakashi, about to face off with Sasuke, after having failed to kill her ex-teammate as she had planned. She relentlessly pushed away the tears that threatened to rise at the thought, and suddenly stiffened as a realisation hit her. Sasuke and Kakashi. Both possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan. Sasuke could warp time and space, and Kakashi could send objects and even people to a different dimension. It was entirely possible that either one of them could have mistakenly (or purposefully in Sasuke's case, she thought angrily) sent her here. But if it was a case of dimensions then her situation was suddenly much direr than she'd thought. A sailboat wasn't going to fix that.

"Have you figured it out?"

Sakura started, surprised by his sudden question.

"I'm sorry - What?"

Strider smiled slightly. "Your face betrays your thoughts. You have been deep in thought this past hour, and have just come to a conclusion, correct?"

Sakura frowned, muttering to herself 'I'll have to work on that', making her companion chuckle quietly. She lifted her head after debating a moment how much, and how to tell him.

"I think I know what sent me here," she began, "The last thing that I remember, I was in a battle with two strong warriors of my lands, one of which betrayed us. In my home, we use different techniques to fight, many of which you might consider almost magical. Many such techniques are unique to a particular individual or clan. Both of those men possessed strong techniques which may have backfired and either one of them could have sent me here."

Strider frowned as he processed this information. "In that case I suspect Gandalf will certainly be your best chance of returning home. My business in Bree is with him. He is wise and well-versed in the magic of our world. Perhaps he may be able to reverse these 'techniques' you speak of." He looked at her in contemplation, "You are also a warrior in your world?"

Sakura nodded, glancing at the weapons pouches he still carried. He watched her thoughtfully, but she did not offer up any further information and they walked in silence until darkness began to fall. Strider instructed that they would set up camp. It seemed that her companion was well-versed in concealment, as the spot he picked lay in a small hollow overshadowed by what appeared to have been a landslip. The overhanging rock was supported by the twisted roots of the dead trees which had fallen with it, and as such their campsite would be secluded from anyone casually passing through the wilds in the dead of night.

For Sakura, it was second nature to secure the perimeter with genjutsu traps before unrolling her sleeping mat and starting a small fire. He did not question the strange symbols she made with her hands, or the faint green glow that encased them briefly after each hand-sign. Sakura quickly explained that he would need to wake her before attempting to leave the campsite; else he would be trapped in her technique. He decided not to question her, instead removing a small loaf of stale bread from his own pack, and snapping it in half. He offered one half to Sakura, who took it without complaint. It was dry, and chewy, but water from the water skin helped it down, and she was getting better at drinking from it.

They spent the night in uneasy and slightly stinted conversation, both curious, but neither willing to be too free with the information they gave. The fire slowly burnt down, until it was little more than ash, and the two fell into a light and infrequent sleep.

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Normally, Sakura would be awake and alert within her first waking moments. It was a skill that ninjas perfected very very quickly. But this morning, her brain seemed to have missed the memo, because it took her a good few minutes to realise that the cheerful chirping she could hear was not, in fact, just the soundtrack for her dream, but was actually being made by a real, singing dawn chorus, and that the damn birds weren't going to shut up. Groaning quietly, Sakura sleepily nuzzled her pillow, basking in the warmth it radiated and desperate to cling onto the last few moments of sleep. Her brow furrowed slightly as her drowsy mind processed that particular piece of information…warmth? Come to think of it when had she gone to bed? She'd been up well past midnight talking to Strider…talking to Strider?…talking to-

"Wah!" She jerked up and scrambled away, tripping over herself and landing unceremoniously on her back, legs in the air. 'Ow' she muttered, clutching her head and rocking onto her bottom, severely embarrassed by his poorly muted sniggering.

Of course. They'd been sat by the fire side-by-side, exchanging stories and facts and she'd managed to fall asleep on him. Wonderful.

"I'm flattered that you trust me enough to sleep in my presence," He teased her. She couldn't help rolling her eyes. It seemed that her companion was in an amiable mood this morning.

"Well I suppose I've got no choice but to trust you now." She said with an awkward smile, even as her inner self was tearing out her hair ("How much of an idiot could I be?"). He nodded, and cleared his throat a little uncomfortably as they descended into awkward silence once more. Sakura fidgeted, making a show of brushing herself off and patting down her hair, for once not looking at him. Strider busied himself with stamping out the remains of the fire and gathering up the travelling packs. He hesitated a moment before offering hers back to her. She took it with some surprise – though she noticed that he still hadn't returned her weapons to her. She tightened her mouth, but didn't mention it. She merely slung it over her shoulder and tugged up the hood of her cloak. At least she knew he was unlikely to try and hurt her, and perhaps that meant that he really did want to help. Sakura felt more than a little out of her depth – making friends with anyone and everyone was much more Naruto's stick than hers.

They stood in fidgety, uncomfortable silence for a long drawn out moment. At last, Strider cleared his throat again.

"Your technique, are you not to dispel it?" he asked hesitantly, and Sakura fumbled with her pack in surprise.

"Oh! Right, yes. Of course. Sorry…" she muttered quickly, and hurriedly brought her hands together with a slightly too loud "Kai!"

Strider shivered slightly, as a feeling like a light breeze washed over him. But it was gone as soon as it began, and the two were left as they were before, standing opposite one another in a seemingly empty forest.

Sakura closed the front of cloak, briskly snapping the fasteners together. "Shall we go then?" she asked without looking up.

"Yes, I believe so," he said and strode past her, "Onward to Bree."

The walk to Bree was spent in occasional, stinted conversation. Feeling the quiet threaten to gape open like crevasse, Sakura became a little more generous with her information in her effort to break it. Despite being a trained Kunoichi, which in theory meant that she should prefer silence, Sakura had been on a team with Naruto, and she'd never thought it possible that she'd miss the constant chatter. So, she told Strider small things, unimportant things. The trees here were different to those back home. She liked the songs of the birds here – they were less harsh than the calls of the birds in her village. She was named after a flower, because of her hair colour, and her full name meant "Springtime of Cherry Blossoms". He told her that he lived in the wilds. That the trees here were not the most beautiful he had seen, and that he was known by many names. He listed a few of them for her, some of which made her giggle (much to her surprise, because she hadn't giggled in a very long time. She put it down to nervousness.)

"Longshanks? Really?"

He looked pained. "Really. I prefer Strider."

"I can see why," she looked at him curiously. "Don't you have a real name?"

He raised an eyebrow, and Sakura flushed, feeling rude all of a sudden.

"I mean, a name your parents gave you?"

"Very few know me by that name Sakura. I would keep it that way."

Feeling uncomfortable with the grave turn the conversation appeared to have taken; Sakura quickly changed the subject, and randomly pointed to a plant, asking what it was. She wasn't really interested in the answer, leastways until he told her it had medicinal properties. Then she was quick to plumb the depths of his knowledge, and was startled to discover that he knew a lot about medicinal plants and how to use them. He pointed things out to her as they walked, commenting on their usefulness or how they were used. He was most eloquent on the subject of Kings Foil, a plant that, when juiced, seemed to be able to clean or cure damn near anything.

At long last, the flora thinned and gave way to a dirt road, dry and dusty, and just wide enough for a cart. They turned right and began at a brisk pace to walk toward Bree. The conversation dwindled quickly, and the last few miles were walked in silence.

Bree, Sakura found, resembled some of the more backwater villages of the Fire Country, where 'modern' conveniences were few and far between. The houses were one or two stories, wooden framed with thatched roofs and shuttered windows. From each and every roof rose a chimney, some of which already blew smoke into the air in steady trickle; the indications of healthy log fires burning in their grates. The roads were cobbled, lined torches or gas lanterns, and marked with the tracks of carts and horses. Sakura was most surprised by the Horses, which seemed to be the primary beast-of-burden. Horses were much less common in her homeland, and Oxen were used instead. There were no Oxen here. As if that wasn't enough, it was not only humans that walked the streets of Bree, but also smaller beings, which Strider whispered were Hobbits. They were half the size of the men, human-like but plumper in general, all with curly hair and large hairy feet. They trotted down the street on small ponies, and many could be seen smoking pipes enthusiastically outside squat cottages with large circular doors. Sakura thought they were rather cute. Over all, she thought, she could have wound up somewhere much worse.

She didn't fail to notice that the villagers gave them a wide berth. Or rather, she mentally corrected, they were giving Strider a wide berth - and her by extension. He cut an intimidating figure; she had to admit, being so tall and completely cloaked. She was beginning to see where the name "Strider" came from. He didn't so much walk as march through the village, every long stride radiating confidence and strength.

And she began, for the first time, to bless her fortune that it was Strider who had found her. Her brief stay with him in the woods had shown her that he could be trusted for the most part, and the sword tucked away under his cloak suggested that should he be needed in a fight he'd be more than capable. His demeanour was not one of an amateur. He had a friend that may be able to help her – so far her only lead and therefore worth investigating. And his curiosity, if nothing else, would most likely mean he'd keep her around. She may be no Naruto, but she made a mental note to improve her friendship with him if she could. Life as a ninja had taught her that good allies were worth holding on to, and as much as it pained her independence to think it, Sakura didn't want to be totally alone in this alien place.

To be continued…

For your benefit, changes (if they're not obvious) made to this chapter include:

Roughly the first 1,300 words are completely new

The rest of it has been added to, changed, and even removed in some places.

Last part of the chapter has been taken out of this chapter and moved to another one.

The falling asleep by the fire bit has been edited – more awkwardness!

More lead up, more development etc. etc. etc.

Correct geography (gotta love that map)

Longer chapter! :)

~Devi1OnUrShou1der~