A/N: Would just like to make it clear that there are no pairings planned for this fic – Ino and Sakura both still have crushes on Sasuke, that will be mentioned of course, and Naruto has a crush on Sakura, but actual relationships/pairings, no. I do plan to have this story be broken into two books (the second covering the Shippuden section of Naruto), and while I don't think there will be pairings there either, if there are any, that's where they'll be. This story won't have anything like that. Mostly saying this to avoid misinterpretation of Natsu's worry about Sakura. He's a compassionate (if sometimes idiotic) guy who's definitely feeling guilty for accidentally cutting Sakura off from all her friends, and for a while is going to be the only person she can really talk to. Even if there are pairings later on, it WON'T be Sakura/Natsu. They'll become friends, but that's it. Thanks for reading!
"M'name's not Sakura." Natsu grumbles obstinately, before the sensei can even open his mouth to query how he feels. He crosses his arms across his chest, watching as the… IV line?... stretches tautly with the movement.
Sakura's parting words haunt his mind, that-that unspeakable… crush she has on her jerk of a teammate that she expects him to act out?! He really has no clue what kind of world he's in, still isn't sure how he ended up like this at all, but even if lying low and pretending might be safer, there's no way in hell! So he decides to go straight for the truth, legs drawn up defensively and fingering the needle in his arm in case he needs to make a run for it.
The sensei speaks before he has a chance to make his grand declaration.
"Maa, Sakura-chan, the medics have thoroughly checked you over. There might be some lingering confusion, but it'll pass shortly. Your headache should already be fading. Now, could you tell us what the last thing you remember is?"
Natsu scowls, headache only slightly reduced from before, but answers.
"I was in this weird place with loads of trees and a cabin! There was a girl there, who I'm pretty sure is actually Sakura-chan, and she said we were in her mindscape. I dunno why I'm stuck in her body! We were trying to figure it out before you lot started trying to make me wake up, so we didn't get anywhere! And my name is Natsu! Natsu Dragneel! So stop calling me Sakura!" He hunches a little more over himself, watching Sakura's sensei carefully, but the only reaction the man has is to go very still, emotion bleeding from his face as he takes a posture that's too relaxed to be trusted.
Natsu's fingers curl a little more firmly around the IV line, as he reaches inside for his magic. The energy he grabs feels a little weird, different, and he passively wonders what Sakura's natural specialization is even as he tries to figure out how likely it is that he's going to have to fight his way out.
The grey-haired man jerks his head to the door, ordering the nurse from the room. "Please fetch Inoichi-san."
Natsu recognizes the name as what Sakura called out when she first realized someone was in her mind - that clan of mind-technique users? 'Inoichi' and 'Ino' are similar enough… He and the grey-haired sensei stare at each other, all but ignoring the two other people in the room, who alternate between concerned looks towards Natsu and glares at Kakashi.
Something gets progressively more annoyed in the sensei's face as Natsu stubbornly refuses to budge from their staring contest, even though nothing seems to physically move. Natsu bites back a cackle, keeping his eyes locked on the one across from him, determined not to lose no matter what.
Both of them look up simultaneously when the door opens, admitting a tall man with long blond hair and weirdly pupil-less eyes.
"Hatake-san." the man steps next to Natsu's opponent, offering a questioning glance to the other.
The sensei - Hatake? - only, I thought his name was Kaka-something…- gestures to Natsu. "They say that their name is Natsu 'Duragu-neeru', that they're stuck in Sakura-chan's body, and have no idea how they got there. I was hoping you could… take a look? Figure this out? Before Sakura-chan's parents murder me, if at all possible." Hatake offers a sunny eye-smile, and the blond - Inoichi-san? - , shakes his head in what is clearly exasperation.
Natsu watches with narrowed eyes as Inoichi-san settles at the foot of the bed, meeting his eyes casually.
"Well then, Natsu-san, is it? I am Inoichi Yamanaka, of the Yamanaka clan. If you don't already know, my family specializes in mind techniques. I would appreciate your permission to enter your mind in order to understand what has happened here-"
"Yes, please!" Natsu interrupts, before he can go on. "How fast can you do it?" He relaxes his grip on his (Sakura's?) magic, uncurling from his tensed position and releasing the IV line as he leans forward.
Inoichi looks very taken aback, and something like suspicion flits across his face, almost too fast for Natsu to recognize, before he turns to sit cross-legged on the bed, facing Natsu. "Right now, if you're willing. Please simply look me in the eyes and stay still."
Natsu does as requested, and Inoichi-san makes an odd hand-sign, before Natsu once more feels the sensation of weightless falling. He closes his eyes, and when he opens them they're back in the clearing where he first woke up before.
He stretches, enjoying the (however temporary) feel of his own body. "Still smells so fake here…" he grumbles as he relaxes. "Anyway, Sakura-chan's this way." he offers with a wave as he starts walking forward, completely unaware of Inoichi's blatantly shocked staring.
Inoichi's heart pounds at the sight of the adult male stranger inhabiting the body of his daughter's best friend, adrenaline curling through him, and it takes a moment to realize that 'Natsu' is walking off without looking back. He catches up quickly, carefully masking all suspicion, and falls into step beside the pink-haired man.
Once again, Natsu notices, the walk to the cabin is… strangely paced. Quick without feeling quick, instant but with the impression of time passed. He shakes off the thought, marching straight up to the cracked-open window.
Sakura sits on a bed inside, cradling a photograph in her hands as she looks down somewhat sadly. Something twists inside Natsu, as he wonders if it's his fault - if maybe she's missing her friends because of him, because of this situation.
Shaking off those feelings, Natsu points through the window while turning to look at Inoichi. "Get her out." he demands, ignoring the ghost of Erza's presence chiding his manners. Sakura looks up at his voice, takes a moment to notice his companion.
"Inoichi-san!" she cries, clearly relieved, as she leaps forward to the window, only taking a moment to set her picture down facing away from them.
Inoichi steps forward, forcing Natsu to move back a bit, taking Sakura in with equal relief.
"You're alright, Sakura-chan." he breathes, tension draining out of him as he looks at her clearly-unharmed self.
Sakura gives him a confused look. "Yeah? Of course I am. Honestly, I think Natsu-san is more traumatized by this than I am, he was freaking out about someone named 'Erza' killing him or something… I suppose it was too much to expect he'd actually be able to pretend to be me convincingly, huh? Are you here to get me out then?"
Inoichi looks taken aback, glancing towards Natsu for a moment. "Ah, he actually didn't even try. Just insisted that he wasn't you until Hatake-san took him seriously, I guess. So he isn't forcibly possessing you?"
Sakura shoots a glare at her fellow pinkette, but quickly turns back to Inoichi to try and explain. Natsu sits up on the guardrail, determined to just… wait patiently while they talk. In the background, Sakura explains everything they talked about, their different lands and continents, Natsu's story about being in a test that was attacked, everything they tried to get her out. Natsu sort of drowns her out, calling up his magic to make fire dance over his fingers.
It answers immediately, feeling completely normal, not that weird sort of energy that responded back in the hospital, and he stares at it curiously as the fire flickers and responds the way it always does.
So weird… why would it feel the same here, but different out there? I'm still in her body, right?
"Wha- that's… that's not possible, right Inoichi-san?"
Something in Sakura's voice sounds extremely nervous, and Natsu looks up in concern, fire fading into nothing above his palms. But it's him Sakura is staring at, wide-eyed and confused, even as Inoichi-san looks on with professional curiosity masking a hint of worry.
"Eh? What're you talking about?" Natsu asks, turning to face them.
Inoichi frowns. "It has long been held as impossible to use chakra in someone else's mindscape. Techniques can be used to enter the mindscape, and if a person enters their own mindscape they can affect it with their own power, but a possessing entity cannot access their powers while in someone elses' body or mind. This… I'm beginning to believe Sakura-chan. Something unprecedented has happened here… Please give me a moment."
Inoichi walks away from the window, first heading into the forest, touching trees, bending to feel the grass, putting his hands on everything he comes across. He quickly disappears from sight, and Natsu turns back to his hopefully-temporary companion.
Sakura looks up at him, shifting nervously. Natsu hops off the rail and moves back to the window. "What's wrong?"
Sakura bites her lip, looking at his hands. "Could… could you do that fire thing again? I've never seen jutsu like that…"
"Sure." It takes barely a thought, and fire is licking at his fingers again, dancing up and down his hands. He sort of wonders what would happen if he just… calls on as much as possible and punches the window, but he doesn't know much about this mindscape thing, doesn't know anywhere near enough to say whether or not it would hurt Sakura-chan, so he doesn't, just plays with the fire as Sakura looks on with fascination.
Huh. It's really been a long time since I've done this… The last time must have been… back before Lisanna was taken to Edolas, when we were still kids… heh.
Natsu cracks a grin, remembering how fascinated Lisanna would be, the way she'd stick her hands in the fire and giggle when it didn't burn.
Things sure are different now… we've all grown up.
...I hope everyone is okay…
They don't really talk, Sakura merely watching, pressed up against the window, as Natsus makes the fire take different shapes. A dragon, shaped like Igneel, gliding through his fingers, a chibi-Gray, with a chibi-Erza forcing him into a shirt, tussling across his palms.
The Igneel-dragon slowly shifts, snout becoming more rounded, flames swirling into tribal designs almost without Natsu's input, the chibis of his friends disappearing, and he looks down at the fiery version of the dragon that attacked them, mouth gaped open in a soundless roar.
His fingers close suddenly around the flames as he jerks his head up, trying to ignore the pounding of his heart and the resurgence of the desperation-terror-determination that he'd felt before everyone tried to cast that spell. He hopes it worked, tries not to consider the possibility that it didn't, and mostly just wishes he were back home and could know for certain if his friends were safe or not.
Sakura watches the trailing wisps of flame rise from his closed fists and fade into nothing, and by the time her eyes follow the whirls of lingering smoke up to his face, she finds Natsu's lips turned into a wide grin.
"So!" he exclaims, shaking off the melancholy with the single-minded determination only he could manage, "what was that picture you were looking at anyway?"
Sakura blushes, stumbling back, hand raised as though she wanted to punch him. "I-It's none of your business! Everything in here is my memories, they're personal!"
Natsu laughs, leaning against the wall to the side of the window. "Well yeah, but you looked pretty sad, right? Is it a sad memory? Because you shouldn't be worried about seeing your friends again. Inoichi seems like a competent guy, he'll fix this. And if he doesn't, we'll… just figure it out on our own. So you shouldn't be worrying about stuff like that."
Sakura glares at him, blush still highlighting her cheeks. "None of that makes it your business!"
"Ah, apologies, am I interrupting?" They both turn to look at Inoichi's voice.
The blond walks up the steps to the porch slowly, fingers touching the railing, brushing the door Natsu tried to bust down the first time, twisting the handle slowly.
Sakura waves away his apology, but something dark settles in Natsu's gut at the look on the Yamanaka's face.
Whatever the taller blond has found, it doesn't seem to bode well for them.
"Inoichi-san?" Sakura queries when the man doesn't respond. He looks up, offering her a reassuring smile.
"Just give me another minute or two to walk around the cabin, Sakura-chan." she nods, and both the pinkettes wait in tense silence as their companion walks around the porch and out of sight.
It's another few minutes before he returns, coming from the other direction, and Natsu steps back as he moves to inspect the window, feeling out all its nooks and crannies.
Sighing, Inoichi steps back himself, offering Sakura an apologetic look.
"I haven't been able to find any oddities in your mind, Sakura-chan. There's no bridge linking your mindscape to Natsu-san's, no sign of any other mindscape at all despite the fact that he must have one. It is possible your minds are joined at the 'heart', but there's no way for me to enter your cabin without potentially killing you both… I'm afraid that for now, you may simply have to bear with this." he shifts uncomfortably for a moment, before continuing. "I must ask if there's a possibility you two are related? It is very rare for two mindscapes to bridge within the 'heart', even when the possession is willing. Familial resonance is the largest exception to this."
Sakura opens and closes her mouth, lost for words at being told there was no solution.
"No way in hell!" Natsu responds to Inoichi's query with a tone that brooks no negotiation. Vaguely recalls that while Sakura explained that he was from a land she'd never heard of, she never did mention the 'different worlds' part of the equation.
Thinking of Edolas though, and the way everyone had counterparts that were them but different, Natsu wonders if there's a more indirect relationship like that. He shakes his head, deciding that it doesn't matter.
Inoichi offers him a bland stare. "What other explanation would you have for this then, Natsu-san?"
"I dunno, but there's no way we're related! Just cause we've both got pink hair doesn't mean anything! If we went by that logic I'd be related to Sherry and that weird Grimoire Heart girl too! No way!"
Sakura nods stubbornly, arms crossed, through the window. "Yeah, I'm certain we aren't related, Inoichi-san. But… I suppose I can look around the cabin some more. There's a couple more rooms in here that I only really stuck my head into…"
Inoichi shakes his head. "I don't think that's a good idea. Neither of you know where Natsu-san's body is, and you say he was being attacked shortly before this happened. If you ended up in his mindscape by accident, who knows what situation you would wake up into. I don't know if you would be able to return to your body if something happened in that situation, so for now it's best if you don't do anything." Sakura scowls, prepared to deny his orders, but he continues before she can speak. "Perhaps, at this point, the best thing to do would be for me to teach Natsu-san more about mindscapes and my clan's techniques - he can use chakra in your mindscape for some reason, if he knew more about how places like this worked, it's possible you two could work out a solution for yourselves. At the very least, with some of the deep meditation techniques my clan knows, he might be able to get back into his own mindscape, or shake loose the doors to your heart so that you aren't trapped in there."
"B-but…" Natsu stutters, shifting awkwardly. "We don't know how long that would take. I… How am I supposed to do that? Just… live in Sakura-chan's body, even though she's a girl? What about… showers and stuff? I'm not really good at learning complicated stuff, if it takes weeks then how am I supposed to deal with that? There's got to be something you can do."
Sakura grimaces, wrapping her arms more tightly around herself in discomfort. Inoichi looks between them, apologetic.
"I know this situation isn't ideal, Natsu-san, Sakura-chan. But even so, there's nothing I can do. I'm not willing to risk Sakura-chan's life trying to break into her 'heart' by force. I will explain everything to your parents personally, Sakura-chan. And I am a therapist. If either of you need help dealing with this, I will talk with you whenever you need. But for now, you will simply have to deal with it until a solution can be found."
"Easy for you to say." Natsu scoffs, crossing his arms and glaring. "You're not the one stuck in a 12-year-old girl's body. No offense to you, Sakura-chan."
"None taken…" she spits out, glaring at Inoichi.
Inoichi sighs. "It's not something I enjoy saying either, you know. We'll inform both your sensei and the Hokage of this, and we will find a solution. Please just bear with me, Sakura-chan."
Sakura opens her mouth, likely to tell the blond exactly what he can do with his apologies, but Inoichi cancels the jutsu, yanking himself and Natsu out of the mindscape before she can utter another word.
Natsu glares, and the Yamanaka sighs again, before turning to the rest of the room.
"Hatake-san, please go and schedule a meeting with the Hokage. Haruno-san, if you and your wife would come with me a moment…"
The two people who must be Sakura's parents send one last glare to the silver-haired sensei, before following Inoichi-san into a side room.
The sensei then turns, looking down at Natsu, and smiling.
"Maa, Sakura-chan, Natsu-chan, it'll be alright. Don't worry." the sensei drops his hand onto Natsu's head, ruffling his hair, before vanishing into a puff of smoke.
Natsu vaguely thinks that he's never wanted to punch someone so bad in his life.
"What have I done to deserve this?!" He cries, collapsing back into the bed.
He stubbornly ignores the visions of explosions and property damage that haunt the back of his mind in response.