O FORTUNA
Sakura finds herself lying down and still in the vast whiteness of her mindscape, slightly surprised she's not conscious yet. She spots movement and turns to what looks to be Inner coming towards her but something about her is different. Her eyes quickly adjust and she sits up looking up at herself, this Sakura has slightly longer hair than her and she lacks her hundred year seal, her green eyes staring down at her without anger or kindness. Inner wasn’t this calm and would have kicked her by now.
“Inner?” She inquires.
“Guess again.” Her voice snarks back.
“Oh,” That’s her answer. This is the Other Sakura she took over, the one she's been living the life of. She’s surprised this other her hasn’t pounded her out of existence or hasn't tried anything while she's on the ground like this. Ground.. mind floor...
“You’ve been a major pain, you know that, right? And I mean that quite literally.” Other Sakura chuckles. “I thought I got a headache, nothing serious as I was going through a lot. My fathers anger, my mothers resentment and eventual death…” She shakes her head and she runs a hand through her hair then looks up.
Sakura grimaces as she watches her other self chuckle. That’s what she looks like… She closes her eyes ready to offer an apology but decides not to and instead takes a slow deep breath and waits. The other her still clearly grieving.
“I didn’t know that this headache I had was a foreshadowing to being thrown inside this barren of shitty memories and with another crazier me… ‘Inner’, you said? What kind of fucked up are you?” Oh, she's heard that attitude from Ino before, great.
She opens her eyes and finally stands up and dubs this version of her Normal, as she is clearly the Fucked Up one. She forces out a laugh and cracks her knuckles, this Normal Sakura might not want to beat her but she will gladly throw some punches to her annoying face. A world like this is either a shitty blessing or a beautiful curse and she still cannot figure what one to go with.
“Well, that answers my question… but no, seriously, you've never had an Inner?” She asks, as she was hoping this version of herself would have an answer for Inner, one that might be different from her own conclusion.
“You know as well as I what medical books call that.” Normal Sakura looks concerned now. “Have you never seeked treatment?”
“That isn’t what she is.” Sakura shakes her head. “Inner is different.”
“Itachi-san destroyed her.” No remorse, no words of sympathy.
“Fine, was.” Sakura says then swallows down the rise of panic as realization hits that part of her is forever gone. How ridiculous, she thinks as she catches herself staring at the pink haired woman, so alike but so different and so weird. Weirder than Inner.
“Sorry I took over, guess it’s time for you to defeat me to get outta here.” She says to Normal Sakura lightly. “Your team is something else. You should be proud.”
The whiteness from before starts to become a swirl of darkness but around them there’s a glow of white and yellow. Her other self starts walking towards her so they’re almost touching.
“They’re my everything.” Normal Sakura says firmly and looking at her as if gaging what her intensions are. “I’ve seen your team in this mind, they were so fucked up, just like you.”
“Yeah,” She says softly, “They’re my everything too.”
Normal Sakura stares at her. “I have an idea, and if it works we could become one hell of a power house.”
She can’t help the smile that spreads on her face, “And here I dubbed you Normal, admit it you’re just as fucked up as I am.” She puts her hand on her hip. “Your team is fucked up too!”
“Maybe…” Normal Sakura’s eyes flash and she throws her hair back. “Gotta be a level of crazy to be qualified for Team Seven. You know how it is.”
They both burst out laughing.
||||||||||||||||||||||||||O||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kakashi and Minato help Itachi up the moment he starts to groan on the floor.
“We got you,” Kakashi says, pulling him up. “You good?”
Itachi stares at the both of his mentors and he feels bad he’s going to have to be the bringer of bad news again. Itachi doesn’t even know what this would be considered as on the books. So highly classified that it shouldn’t be mentioned… to anyone? He groans and thinks that maybe he should have asked the Sage.
He already had to get the Hokages involved in his other clan problems, now this. Itachi stares down at the pink haired girl with little bit of resentment.
“What happened, ‘Tachi?” His head whips to his brother next to him, he hadn’t even sensed him there.
“Nothing, go home and tell mom I’ll be there in the morning.” He grumbles running his hand through his hair. He’s so tired and he has to tell these guys a lifes worth of problems and he wants to get it over with while it’s fresh and so they can prepare before the girl wakes up.
“Out you guys.” Kakashi orders Sasuke, Sai and Naruto at once.
Naruto throws his hands up, “Oh come on!”
“Seriously, Itachi!” Sasuke stands up.
“This was boring anyway…” Sai says leaving.
“We can order food, we’ll be quiet and out of the way even!” Naruto tries but stops once he meets his father’s glare. “Fine! I’ll tell ma you’ll be late then.”
Once the door is closed Kakashi begins placing more privacy seals, these ones stronger and some acting as an alarm to anyone nearby. Minato helps Itachi to the kitchen table and Kakashi begins to boil some water on the stove for coffee.
Itachi looks over at his brother’s teammate quickly once more before turning to Minato who was directly across from him.
“You won’t believe this.” He starts with seriously, Kakashi chuckles behind him causing him to look over.
The Team Seven leader is leaning against the counter, “Sorry, it’s funny cause that’s exactly what she told me, so what’s so unbelievable Itachi?”
“She’s not of this world, she's from a different dimension, a very horrible dimension. She was brought here by a powerful Sage.” There, done. Itachi stares at Minto’s features as they turn from amused to a blank expression.
“Are you being funny?” Kakashi asks.
“Do I do funny, Kakashi?” He retorts.
Kakashi sighs heavily and smacks his hand on the counter in frustration. The kettle starts to whistle and he pulls it off the burner.
“And what of our Sakura, did you find her in there?” Minato asks slowly, his main concern being his first question.
“The Sakura I obliterated did not appear to be Sasuke’s teammate but I cannot be sure.” Itachi frowns and in hindsight he probably should have tried scouting out their Sakura but he was side tracked… There’s always a first.
Kakashi is by his side immediately, “What?! What are you saying, Itachi? You cannot be sure? Since when aren’t you sure?!”
Itachi stands and faces his old Anbu captain. “She was attacking me to get me out of her head, there were two, my main goal was trying to find out if she was a spy or a fake. Our Sakura wouldn’t have attacked me.”
Or… wouldn’t she? Itachi then adds, "I only found out she was from a different dimension after I tortured her."
“Kami…” Kakashi groans physically holding himself back from throttling Itachi.
“Now let us remain calm, we aren’t sure our Sakura is lost.” Minato says softly, but inside he was panicking. If Sakura was killed by a mishap by Itachi and the other teammates on Team Seven found out about it… what would his son do? Or any of them... Minato stares over at Kakashi, what will he do?
“Let’s wait until she wakes up before we start all this panicking. What of the other dimension, what is this other Sakura even doing here?” Minato asks and Itachi sits down once more.
Kakashi runs a hand through his hair and decides to go over and start making their coffees.
“In her time I had killed the Uchiha clan.” Itachi forces himself to say but it comes out soft and hesitant. A loud clatter from the kitchen is heard.
“What!?” Minato growls.
“That isn’t even the beginning, from all I saw…” He shakes his head. “But let’s just say, our dimension, so far... does not have many similarities. The other dimension was all in part of a bigger picture that began with a Goddess called Kaguya. That's according to the Sage that manifested from inside her mind while I was in there, he spoke to me of how our world was not inflicted by this Goddess’s devastation and that is the reason he sent this Sakura here. The Sage’s own atonement for mistakes he made in the other dimension.”
Itachi suddenly remembers the crucial information the Sages spoke of and looks Minato in the eyes.
“This Sage, he said that Sasuke and Naruto were reincarnations of his sons in this other Sakura's world, and that they requested her to have peace after her death. That’s why the Sage sent her here.”
Minato looks down at the table then stands up and turns from them crossing his arms. He looks confronted and unsure, something Itachi rarely saw the man reflect so obviously.
Concerned for his mentor Itachi stands as well and goes to him.
“I don’t believe her being here will cause chaos, but we cannot be sure if this Goddess he spoke of won’t try and seek her out.” Itachi tries to sound reassuring.
Kakashi hands them their coffees, “Minato, best not to stress until after she wakes, eh?”
Minato turns and flashes a smile, “Right.”
They all take a sip of their coffee.
“So… should we tell the Hokage?” Itachi asks.
Minato and Kakashi groan and shake their head more so out of fear than an answer. This will not end well. Minato stares at his coffee then looks over to Kakashi who is staring at his pink haired student.
“She was right, I wouldn’t have believed her.” Kakashi says bitterly while he sets his coffee down. He moves over to her and checks to see if she is gaining awareness but she is still out.
Minato puts a hand on his old students shoulder, “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
“She knew so much about me, Sensei. She…” She knew his favorite Icha Icha. His own student didn’t know that, and now his own student might have been killed by Itachi.
“What a mess.” He looks over at Itachi who has his head down.
“I admit, I messed up, Captain.. I-“
Kakashi shakes his head, “Don’t. It’s not your fault, but this must remain only between us.”
Minato nods. “Word cannot get out to the Hokage until we know more from this other Sakura. Did this Sage mention more about this Goddess?”
Itachi thinks back, “Yes, this Goddess, is the Sage's mother.”
Minato puts his head into his hands and Kakashi groans out again in despair.
They’re so fucked.