Sakura checked that the coast was clear before dropping into the room. It was early morning and she hadn't been able to focus on meditating because of her grumbling stomach. The rosette had observed the whole of the town during her stay and so she had a decent map of the place in her head. She had always had an amazing memory, it was the one thing she had from the beginning.
'Oi! We don't just have a photographic memory! Our mind is great overall! We're intelligent and the brain is my domain so obviously it's going to be-' Sakura dismissed her Inner. Sometimes her other half could give her a migraine that would last days.
She sighed before looking around the room she was in. It was the kitchen of one of the bigger buildings, there was left over food in plates and bowels on the counter and Sakura decided to have a look to see if she could eat it. There seemed to be half a slice of some sort of meat left along with some vegetables on one plate and there was a bowel with some stew in it. There wasn't much stew left in the bowel, only a small portion of gravy with a few pieces of beef. None of it looked poisonous which was good. The other plates and bowels were empty so Sakura picked up the plate and the bowel that still had some food in them and set them on the ground. She opened a few of the cabinets until she found some bread. She got a slice of it and brought it over to the rest of the food. It wasn't much however to the seventeen year old it was a feast. She hurriedly ate it all, dipping the bread in the gravy that was left over and once she had finished her tummy let out a satisfied gurgle. She hadn't had food anywhere near this quality in what felt like years!
She had eaten with her hands since she couldn't find any chopsticks, this left her with dirty fingers. The pinkette cleared away the dishes before leaving the house as silent as she had entered. She stopped by the bottom of a waterfall and washed her hands in the water. The sun would start to greet the land in an hour or so and the pinkette decided to wash herself in the river.
She stripped out of her clothes, leaving her things underneath a nearby tree. She slowly got into the cool water and relaxed as she let all the grime on her body wash off. After a small while she dunked her head under the water and ran her slender fingers through her pink locks. Her hair had grown, it now travelled down to brush her shoulders. It was slightly greasy but Sakura knew that her vanity was nowhere near her top priority at the moment. She soaked in the river for a few moments longer before she decided to get out. She sighed as she stepped out of the cool water, shivering slightly as a breeze ran through the area. She circulated chakra around her body, attempting to warm herself up. The pinkette ran on a spot for a moment, trying to dry herself off as much as possible. It didn't help too much but she was warmer then before. Sakura got out a roll of bandages from one of her pouches and used it to bind her chest. She slipped on her underwear before getting dressed into her clothes again.
The seventeen year old pulled up the hood of her dark cloak and then proceeded to leap onto a branch of a nearby tree. The sun was making its appearance and she didn't want to be spotted. Ninja preferred to stay hidden when they could and Sakura wanted to actually be able to stay unnoticed for once- she actually had a chance now that she wasn't with Naruto.
'I wished we could of stayed in that water for longer.. shannaro..' Inner yawned. 'That was the first bath we've had in ages!' The cherry blossom haired teenager sighed, rolling her eyes.
'Inner.. you know we can't.. if we stayed in there any longer someone would most likely spot us. Plus, how embarrassing would it be to be caught naked in a river?'
'Mm.. I guess that wouldn't be too pleasant.. I think I'm going to go sleep now Outer. Good night, shannaro.'
'Goodnight..' Sakura smiled softly.
~{*.*}~
Sakura had been enjoying herself, flying through the air, leaping through the trees, feeling as free as the birds who flew overhead. She had been feeling better then she had in a long time when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. The sound of voices met her ears, it came from her left and Sakura, being the curious kunoichi she is couldn't help but investigate.
She silently made her way over to where the grumbling sounds of voices were and stared curiously at the people gathered around. She took in their different appearances and recognised four faces: Her guide, the shortie who had been injured, the old man with the long beard and the brunette the old man was talking with the day before. There were also several other people but the pinkette didn't pay them any attention since she noticed the other shorties hiding a small distance away from her. The group were having some kind of discussion and Sakura was curious as to what it was about.
~{*.*}~
"Strangers from distant lands, friends of old, you have been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle-earth stands upon the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite or you will fall. Each race is bound to this fate, this one doom. Bring forth the Ring, Frodo." The dark haired king looked at the hobbit, gesturing for him to put the dark object on a stone alter.
The young hobbit stood up and slowly made his way over to the center of the circle the gathered men had created. He held the Ring, the object that was desired by many, in his right hand. He placed the golden Ring on the alter, his fingers hesitating only slightly.
"So it is true." A man with straight, shoulder length hair muttered.
Frodo walked back to his seat and sat down, looking at the wizard who sat beside him. He looked away from Gandalf and sighed, the rings power was not to be underestimated, he had struggled with putting it down, its calls were still ringing in his ears as it was everyone else's.
"It is a gift." The same man with the straight, dark hair said, shaking his head as he stared at the ring with his grey eyes. He stood up from his seat as he continued to speak. "A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this ring? Long has my father, the Steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay by the blood of our people, while your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy. Let us use it against him."
At the beginning of his speech Elrond, the Elven King, and Gandalf, the wizard, made eye contact, having a silent conversation. No one seemed to notice them though, and they kept silent as the man carried on talking.
"You cannot wield it. None of us can." Aragorn spoke and everyone looked at him. "The One Ring answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master."
"And what would a Ranger know of this matter?" The man who was still standing up questioned.
"This is no mere Ranger. He is Aragorn, son of Aragorn. You owe him your allegiance."
They all turned to look at the Ranger, some were surprised, others less so.
"Aragorn? This... is Isildur's heir?" Said man held his head up high, his chin jutting out proudly.
"And heir to the throne of Gondor." The blonde elf, who was the one who revealed the Ranger's identity spoke. The blue eyed hobbit looked at Aragorn in surprise and realisation.
"Sit down, Legolas." The Ranger said in Elvish.
"Gondor has no King." The straight haired man spoke, walking back over to his seat. "Gondor needs no King." He sat down, keeping his eyes on Aragorn.
"Aragorn is right. We cannot use it." Gandalf said.
"You have only one choice." Elrond, King of the Elves spoke, his voice echoing around the secluded spot where the meeting was being held. "The Ring must be destroyed."
Frodo looked at the Ring, its dark whispers of power were calling out to him. The sound rang through his ears, pulling him into a trance like state. One he was only pulled out of when someone spoke.
"What are we waiting for?" A dwarf with auburn hair spoke in his low voice. One of the dwarves seated next to him handed him an axe and the auburn haired male walked up to the stone alter and swung down on the Ring. There was a loud clash and the dwarf flew back, landing on his bottom.
Frodo let out a groan as the image of a bright, burning eye flashed in his mind. No one heard him though as everyone gasped when they saw what had happened to the auburn haired male. The other dwarves ran up to help their fallen comrade and Gandalf finally noticed the hobbit's struggle.
A voice, it was chanting something, Frodo could hear it but not quite understand what it was saying. It was coming from the Ring. He used one of his hands to support his head and tried to calm himself down.
"The Ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli, son of Gloin, by any craft that we here possess. The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came." The powerful, yet calm voice of Elrond sounded. "One of you.. must do this."
The man who had earlier spoken of Gondor not needing a King closed his eyes and massaged his forehead. "One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep and the Great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly."
The blonde elf, Legolas, stood up from his seat. "Have you heard nothing Lord Elrond has said? The Ring must be destroyed."
"And I suppose you think you're the one to do it?" Gimli shouted angrily.
"And if we fail? What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?" The son of the Steward of Gondor spoke, standing up.
"I will be dead before I see the Ring in the hands of an Elf!" The auburn haired dwarf stood up as he bellowed this. The elves started to shout back at him and of course the rest of the dwarves yelled at them. And so everyone was standing up, shouting and arguing with one another.
~{*.*}~
Sakura sighed as she watched the scene bellow. It hadn't taken long for her to find out that the meeting was about the Ring. Afterall they had had the blue eyed shortie set it down on a stone alter- of which they were all seated around. She scoffed, they couldn't have made it any clearer if they tried. She knew that the seating arrangement with the gold Ring in the middle was so that everyone had a clear view of it but the paranoid side of her was filling her brain up with images and ideas of all that could go wrong. For example: a bird could dive down and pinch it before flying off with it or some sort of creature could be watching the little meeting and then decide to steal it. It took a while for her to realise that that creature was most likely her.
She sighed, running a hand down her tired face. The Ring was certainly trouble, she could feel its ominous aura from a mile away. She knew it allowed whoever wore it the power to become invisible but the pinkette didn't exactly understand if it lent the user any other abilities. As she and Inner had wondered, could it be possible that the object could transport people to different worlds-and quite possibly different universes and dimensions? If so it could explain how they had ended up in this foreign land.
She had seen how the auburn haired- bearded- shortie had tried to destroy the Ring with his axe only to be flung back and knew that the object couldn't be dismantled so simply. She guessed there was a specific way to destroy it and that either they already knew what it was or they had yet to discover it. She wondered for a moment if the Ring could be sealed? No one else in this world, as far as she knew, could use chakra so if she sealed it away then it would be inaccessible to everyone but herself. She glanced at the object and narrowed her green eyes. It couldn't be that simple, even if this world was oblivious to chakra a simple seal wouldn't work. She would most likely have to try and remember one of the more complicated seals Naruto had rambled on about or she would have to create a new one entirely. The seventeen year old leaned back, into the trunk of the tree she was in. She hoped whatever seal she needed to use wouldn't be too complicated.
Sakura watched as the argument between the people down below started and she grew more and more agitated the longer it went on. These people were being awfully loud and all the muscles in Sakura's body tensed as the noise grew louder. Her usual calmly flowing chakra was rushing around her body like there was a storm inside of her and for a moment she let her control over her chakra slip.
A/N: Ooooo, I'm excited for the next chapter! It is going to be so good! (I hope)
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-If you don't understand please go back and check the A/N of the last chapter-
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