Icewater
Chapter 3: The Queen
Disclaimer: I own Naruto - I lied just now.
Darn you all, review! You get lumps of coal if you don't! (For those of you who have reviewed, may your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white!)
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Sakura woke up groggily. Her back ached and her arm stung. Why?
She looked around.
Her eyes met wood.
With a sharp intake of breath, everything that had happened the day before rushed back to her.
Tears welled in her eyes as she looked over to see a blonde merman with a bright orange tail curled up a short distance away from her, snoring.
She remembered her Father's blank eyes as he died.
And she remembered her Mother's vibrant eyes fading to dull too...
No, she thought, shaking her head. I can't think of that stuff.
Agreed, Pinky.
Up early again, I see?
We couldn't sleep well last night. Wood hurts.
Inner Sakura was right.
"Naruto," said Sakura, pulling him to the ship, "We'll stay here tonight."
Naruto frowned.
"Okay," he said. "But where are we gonna sleep?"
At first, they tried pulling what was left of the mast down, but it was tied in a strong material ("Rope," Naruto had called it, "That's what the humans make their nets out of back in Atlantica.") so intricately and tightly that the two eventually gave up, settling tiredly on hastily-gathered moss and seaweed pillows.
Sakura was now picking said pillow out of her hair disgustedly as she swam about to stretch her sore muscles and body. She finally decided that, since it was early morning, she should find some breakfast for her and her male companion. It would keep her mind off of her memories...
She took the moss from her hair and began knitting it together, weaving it as she debated where to check first: the ship or the surrounding waters. She swam about the ship, this time pushing past the mossy skeleton, but her efforts only produced two mushrooms that might or might not be edible.
So she swam around the Outwaters, keeping the ship within her view, and found a seaweeberry bush. She carefully finished crafting the moss basket, and then proceeded to pick the berries. She was careful to pick only blue ones; the green were still unripe, and the purple were overripened. The underripe ones would lead to a mild case of stomach illness; the purple berries were deadly for merfolk because they attracted bacteria that, when inside a merperson, would bloat their stomach to the point of no return.
Sakura grabbed a piece of seaweed and bandaged her scratch before heading back to the ship. She glanced around her before swimming onto it; she did not want any unwanted company following her.
"Naruto," she murmured softly, putting the basket down on the deck and swimming closer to the sleeping blonde. "Wake up, I've got breakfast."
"Mmmmnnnnn..."
Naruro did not move a muscle.
Sakura raised an eyebrow.
Doesn't food usually get guys going or something? she asked her other half.
I dunno, replied her Inner. Clearly not Naruto.
Well, okay, then...
"Naruto, oh my gosh, look!" Sakura yelled.
Silence.
"..." Sakura watched incredulously as Naruto slept on before she finally sighed and pulled back her fin.
Well, she thought, if I have to...
She slapped him with her flipper.
"Oww!"
Naruto sat up with a start, looking wildly around before calming upon seeing Sakura.
"What was that for?"
"That," replied Sakura, "was for being a complete jerk while you're sleeping. Look." She gestured to the moss basket. "I found food!"
The two ate the berries in silence, mostly too tired to strike up a conversation. Sakura felt mentally fatigued.
'Mmm," said Naruto, "I love seaweeberries."
Sakura smiled.
"Me, too," she replied.
Me three! declared Inner Sakura.
Sakura ignored her.
"You know, I only ate them when I came here," said Naruto, "because in Atlantica, they can't grow. I tried. They can't grow in the tropics, so close to the surface. They want rich sand soil so they can settle down for a long time. The sand in Oceanica territory is a lot more nutrient-happy."
Sakura blinked, surprised.
"How do you know so much about plants?" she asked. Naruto grinned sheepishly.
"Oh, well," he began, "I sort of, uhm... Like growing plants."
Sakura stared at him, and then laughed.
"You?" she guffawed, "you grow PLANTS?"
Naruto made a face at her.
"Yeah, I DO, as a matter of fact." And with that, the blonde stuffed a handful of seaweeberries in his mouth.
Sakura chuckled before doing the same.
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"Ne, ne, Sakura," prodded Naruto. It was afternoon, and the two were still stuffed from the berries to think on lunch right now. Sakura had shown him around the ship, naming most of it's parts.
"Hmm?" she asked patiently. We have all the time in the world, after all, she thought resignedly.
You can say that again.
"How do you know so much about humans?"
Sakura started. She had not anticipated (or expected) this question.
"Uhmmm..."
Should we tell him or not? she asked her Inner. Her alter ego shrugged.
May as well. We're buddies now, after all.
"...A long time ago," she began carefully, "My Mother used to tell me stories. She used to talk about the humans and the marvelous things they could do on land that we in the sea could only dream about." Naruto sat in silence, expectantly, and so she continued: "She told me that they could build ships-" she gestured around them at the wooden work they were in- "with their bare hands. They cut trees, seaweed-like plants, only taller and stronger, down and built the huge boats with the bark, with the wood." She slid a finger carefully along the wood she was resting on, mindful not to get a splinter. "But even wood can break if it's hit with something stronger." She pointed farther into the Outwaters. "My Mother told me that sometimes the ships would bang into the Ice Ridges of the Outwaters and would fill with water and sink. Humans can't breathe underwater. They drown."
Naruto nodded slowly.
"I know," he said, "But they usually know how to swim, back in Atlantica."
Sakura shook her head.
"Yeah, but they're stuck inside this wood," she responded, tapping a piece with her flipper. "Since it's stronger than them, it won't budge, so they wouldn't be able to get out."
Naruto thought about her words for a moment.
"Your Mom knew a lot," he finally said. Sakura shrugged.
"She spent a lot of time watching them."
Naruto grinned.
"Your mom was really pretty," he said, "just like you."
Sakura smiled.
"She was," she replied.
"I liked her," continued Naruto. "She liked me a lot, too. Look, see?"
He gestured at the necklace around his neck.
"She gave me this when I told her I was gonna be King one day," he said. "I told her I was gonna keep Atlantica in prosperity, and she told me to do a Rasengan to prove it."
Sakura's eyes widened.
"A Rasengan?" she echoed. Naruto nodded back energetically.
"Yeah," Naruto said. "The legend back in Atlantica is that only the strongest and bravest mermen can do that. So I did it."
"But..." Sakura struggled to assemble her thoughts. "But, you would have had to do the Rasengan when we were just-"
"-Six years old, yeah. That's when I first came to visit you guys." Naruto grinned mischievously at her. "And I did it."
Sakura gaped at her good friend.
It certainly wasn't impossible, in her opinion. Naruto was a bit of a dunce when it came to scholarly subjects, but he was a very stubborn individual who could set his mind to anything. He was also very strong physically.
"Show me," she breathed.
Naruto's grin grew and he nodded.
"Okay," he replied. He swam up, close to the surface of the water. "Watch this, Sakura!" he yelled down to her, and then he was an orange jet of bubbles practically flying through the water, straight down. He spun his hands around each other, and the bubbles collected. His face was very serious now, concentrating, and the bubbles grew and glowed, reflecting the sunlight. With a yell, Naruto rammed the large ball of condensed water into the sand around him.
A current flew at Sakura from the blast, and she covered her eyes with her arms, her hair flying crazily behind her.
"Wh-whoa!" she yelped. She squinted at Naruto and saw him coughing from the wall of sand that had arisen from the current created from the Rasengan, small residue bubbles glittering as they floated away on the aftershock waves from the current.
"Th-that was awesome" she yelled to him, he blinked, eyes teary from the sand, and grinned back at her.
"Yeah! Believe it!" he screamed back, beginning to swim back to the ship.
Sakura, said Inner Sakura, look! The ship didn't fall apart, even though it's so old!
The real Sakura shrugged inwardly.
Mom said they were strong.
"Mom must've been so impressed!" she exclaimed to Naruto once he was back on the ship. "That was so amazing!"
"Aww, it was nothing like this back then," Naruto replied, laughing. "But your mom was impressed, yeah. She gave me this... And a kiss on the forehead for good luck."
Sakura's smile widened.
"Mmh, she was always cheering for us." Sakura closed her eyes.
"Sakura, would you like to hear a legend?"
Her smile faltered.
"She always had faith in us."
"Why didn't he Mary the Princess?"
"I don't know, Sakura, I don't know..."
"But..." her voice quivered. "...Even she..."
"Sakura. LEAVE!"
"Even she was like a human trapped in a ship, at the end..."
Naruto's smile fell away.
"Oh, God, Sakura," he said, "I'm sorry..."
"It's not your fault," she said back, but her eyes were distant. "It's just that... That..."
She and her Mother swam away from the looming figure.
"Faster, Sakura!" hissed her Mother. Sakura swam as fast as her little flipper could take her.
"You cannot run forever," said a voice from behind them. Sakura shimmered and her Mother urged her forward, always forward. The ocean floor around them sped by in a blur as they swam on, yelling every now and hen at the cackle emitted by the shadowy figure.
Sakura saw the glittering gold of the castle, saw her Father armed with his trident and the guards, realized safety was almost here.
"Mommy," she said, turning. "We're safe! We're-"
She never finishes as her Mother's scream pierced the waters, echoed over all of Oceanica.
"Orochimaru!" screamed Jiraiya, throwing his trident at the shadowy figure whose sword pierced her Mother. The sword retracted as the assailant withdrew to dodge the trident; a hiss escapes his lips as he failed to completely escape it.
Sakura's eyes locked with his yellow ones, and for a moment, she knew she would die.
And then he wheeled away, slithering rather than swimming through the waters in a hasty retreat. The guards followed.
Sakura and her Father swam to her Mother's side.
"Tsunade," Jiraiya said desperately. "Tsunade, can't you heal it?"
The Queen coughed, struggling to shake her head. She closed her eyes and groaned in pain.
"J-Jiraiya..."
Jiraiya had tears in his eyes.
"Tsunade?" he asked in almost a whisper.
Tsunade tried to talk.
"Th-Th-the pro... P-prophecy..." she gasped. "It's S-Sakura... She is..."
Jiraiya hushed her, the tears flowing. Sakura sobbed quietly beside him, her little seven-year-old hands fisted around the lining of her Father's dark green fin.
"I know," he said, "I know."
Tsunade open her eyes, took a rattling, ragged breath, and breathed, "Sakura."
The little girl looked at her Mother, finally looking away from the bloody wound near in the middle of her Mother's upper body.
"M-Mommy...?" she murmured. She was pale and scared; her Mother smiled at her.
"I love you," she said. "D-don't... Lose... Him..."
The Queen closed her eyes.
Jiraiya let out a strangled cry.
Sakura shimmered and collapsed in tears, clutching onto her Father.
She realized her Mother would never open her eyes again.
"... He's killed them both, now..."
Naruto pulled Sakura into a comforting embrace. Sakura took deep flaming breaths, determined not to cry in front of Naruto.
I can't be a wimp anymore, she told herself.
We decided we could trust him, replied Inner Sakura. Why can't we show him our tears?
It's not for him, she told it. It's for me. I'VE got to be strong.
Naruto spoke then.
"I..." he began. He cleared his throat. "M-My dad... I'm so worried..."
Sakura hugged him back. She could tell him no words of comfort, because she knew what Orochimaru would do.
She hoped with all her might she was wrong.
They stayed like that for a while, two broken people on a broken ship.
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It was evening. The two merfolk had dared eat the mushrooms Sakura had found to discover they were quite edible. They happily devoured them for dinner, along with some more berries.
"All right," said Naruto after he had finished. "Tomorrow, we set out for Atlantica."
"And stop by Pacifica," added Sakura. "Gaara can lend us some supplies." She referred to the teenage ruler of the seas to the Northwest of Oceanica, whom Naruto was good friends, and Sakura was acquainted, with.
"Right," replied Naruto. "Mom is at home, so she'll be able to help us launch a counterattack to break into the castle."
Sakura nodded vigorously.
"We need to reclaim it," she said. Naruto emitted a grunt of approval before stretching and yawning.
"We've got a long journey, then," he said, grinning at her. "We should sleep early."
Sakura agreed, and soon enough, Naruto was snoring away and the moon filtered her beams through the water once more, stars dancing along the surface of the ocean.
Sakura, on her part, simply couldn't fall back to sleep.
We need to rest, complained her alter ego.
Sure, remarked Sakura, except I've got all these thoughts and memories floating around my brain. Explain to me how I'm supposed to sleep with this chaos going on.
Easy, replied her Inner. Ignore them.
Yeah, right, Sakura groaned inwardly to her other half. I can't even ignore YOU!
True that.
Ugh!
Sakura sat up and quietly swam away from Naruto.
May as well explore some more, she told herself, I can plan the route we should take, or maybe I can find some water currents leading northwest since I'm not gonna get any sleep, anyway. Maybe.
She swam farther and farther away from the ship, dropping the occasional seaweeberry so she would know from which direction she had come from. She swam along, noticing nothing but the dismal sand and occasional seaweed plant or bush.
Until the water temperature dropped significantly, and Sakura shivered involuntarily.
Frozen water floated on the surface, chunks of it large and menacing in size and other puny and pitiful. They were scattered about haphazardly, as if someone had carelessly thrown them there and left them to themselves.
Sakura could barely believe her eyes.
"The Ice Ridges," she mumbled.
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AN: Review! Merry Christmas! Hope you enjoyed!
Next chapter will introduce Sasuke! :D
