Adamantine (Naruto/Relentless)
No Summary as of yet.
1 – RELENTLESS
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hell is empty and all the devils are here
chapter one • (unnamed as of yet)
Music blared from the speakers crammed into her ears, filling up the empty silence which would have otherwise lingered between them.
Nervous, Sakura played with the fraying strands of her favourite sweatshirt, blankly watching as the scenery passed her by. Dimly, she wondered how everything had come to that – how she had fallen into the care of social services and had been passed around like a baton at a school race. Ever did the apparent misfortune of Team Seven linger around her like a bad smell, and it showed. Part of her wondered if she really hated such a fact, or whether it brought back fond memories of another life beneath different stars. Part of her wondered if Naruto and Sasuke, and perhaps Kakashi too, had found their way into that world like her.
Yet that world was large, and the possibility of her meeting her beloved teammates again were slim to none. She had long since given up on that flimsy possibility, throwing herself into her new life… which had soon come crashing down around her once her father died.
The less said about her mother, the better. She was the one who had left them, abandoned them and never returned. Not even when her daughter needed her the most. A frown crinkled her brow at the memory of Madeline Croix, and she shook her head.
Blue eyes flashed in the mirror in front, Miss Walter peering back at her as she once again ferried her to a new foster home. Her mouth moved, and Sakura only sighed and yanked her headphones out of her ears. “Try to make a good impression this time,” Miss Walter said, eyes narrowing on her as she grunted and shrugged.
It wasn’t entirely her fault that she’d made a bad impression on the last set of foster parents she’d had the pleasure of gracing with her very presence. She just had a low tolerance for idiocy and said idiots making crude passes at her. That it had happened in front of her newest foster parents at the time was just her bad luck.
“You’re pretty, Sara.”
A shiver rolled down her spine, and Sakura shook her head and wondered if she would ever get used to her name there in that new language. Sara. “No promises,” she muttered, returning to staring out of the window then.
“Well, I can only hope you stay out of trouble this time around. Butler Falls is a small town. I don’t think there’ll be as much trouble for you to find as last time,” Miss Walter said, unfazed by her lackadaisical response. Of course, to be in charge of her, that was pretty much a requirement of the job. Sakura had lost count of how many social workers had passed her off to another, not wanting to deal with the issues she dragged in her wake.
Though it wasn’t like she could tell them about the real reason why so many unfortunate happenstances occurred around her more often than not. She hadn’t asked for vampires to take an interest in her. She hadn’t asked for the supernatural world to become more than a fictional tale.
“The Robinsons are a wonderful family, and they’ve taken on several cases similar to yours without a problem,” Miss Walter continued, and Sakura could only sigh and nod. “They have one girl who’s about your age, and a boy whose a few years younger I believe, so I think you might be able to get on well with your new siblings this time around…”
Sakura snorted. “So long as my new brother, and maybe my new sister don’t decide to start making passes at me,” she muttered, sounding ever as pessimistic as she was those days. One didn’t spend quality time with vampires and other demons and come out spewing sunshine and optimism. Well, Sakura mused, not unless your name was Uzumaki Naruto. A fond smile curled at her lips, even as they passed the sign welcoming them to Butler Falls and its small population.
Miss Walter, perhaps wisely, remained silent for the rest of the journey.
Then she was standing in front of a townhouse located fairly close to the town centre, eyeing up the cheery green door with mild apprehension. Part of her glanced over to where she could spy the edge of the forest which bordered Butler Falls on all sides, wondering all the while if she couldn’t just vanish into familiar trees and lose herself in memories long gone. Yet she had promised to try and live in that world, and she would be dishonouring the memory of her father if she tried to run away from it all.
A soft sigh escaped her, even as the door opened, and Sakura could only blink at the sight of people wearing party hats and cracking open party poppers. “Huh?” she just about managed, even as the heavyset woman with greying blonde hair strode forwards down the short stairs leading to the front door and swept her up in a hug which might have had her ribs creaking had she been any weaker than she was. As it was, she was fairly strong, and never had she been more grateful for both her strength and her own self control as an absolute stranger gave her a hug.
The presence which was eternally cursed to haunt her, no matter her rebirth, stirred in the back of her head, and Sakura could only clamp down on the urge to flinch away from the odd woman who was undoubtedly her newest foster mother. “Welcome to the family, Sara!” the blonde lady proclaimed, and Sakura only blinked once more at the strangest welcome she had ever received.
The girl who looked closest to her in age glanced at her in pity and understanding – not about the circumstances leading up to her arrival in the foster care system, but the rib-crushing circumstances she was stuck in at that very moment.
“Uh,” Sakura mumbled, trying to gather her bearings as the woman continued hugging her. “I’m not overly fond of hugs,” she said, figuring she might as well put that out there right then and there.
She had never been much of a touchy feely person ever since the circumstances of her reincarnation in that world. The fact that she had held onto her father, desperately trying to keep him warm as he died had only cemented the fact that she didn’t like touch. Whenever skin met skin she was all too often reminded of the cold, stiff touch of her father in death. Her uncle’s death had been the nail in the coffin. A heart attack was a kinder death than that by a vampire’s fangs, but trying to wake her uncle when she had only thought he had slept in had been the last straw.
“Oh,” the woman who still hadn’t introduced herself said, releasing her far too slowly for her liking. “Just like Maisie, then. Shame,” she murmured. “Well, seeing as you don’t like hugs, how about a handshake?” she offered, extending her hand out. “I’m Marie Robinson – you can call me Marie, Mar, or even mother if you’re feeling up for it.”
“Uh,” Sakura said, scrambling to find her bearings. “Nice to meet you, Marie,” she spoke, opting for the safest options amongst those names given to her for her use. Perhaps in time the strange lady would grow to be Mar to her.
Sakura had never liked the word mother. All it did was bring back bad memories, both from one life and the next. Madeline Croix had abandoned her, and she had issues regarding that. An anger which always seemed to stir whenever her deadbeat mother was mentioned, for all that she wanted nothing to do with the lady. A harsh snort left her lips at the thought of that particular issue, the phantom memories of a boy with blue-black hair, swirling red eyes, and family issues a mile wide surfacing with an almost unholy vengeance.
She couldn’t forget them, even after the time which had passed.
It was strange how that worked – no matter the many people she met, the many families she joined and left, she could never forget her origins and the ghosts which haunted her so.
“Come in,” Marie beckoned. “Come in – we’ll need to get you set up, and then I’m sure Maisie wouldn’t mind showing you around town.”
With trepidation, Sakura followed her into the house which would home her for perhaps another year. After that, she’d probably be out on her own, and she needed to be ready by then – both to get a job and to figure out how to deal with everything which always seemed to catch up with her.
PREMISE: Another Sakura gets reborn as Sara Grey fic. AU - Nate Grey is Dead. Sakura winds up in the Foster Care System, and is deposited unto a foster family in Butler Falls which borders the Mohiri Stronghold of Westhorne.