Out of Place

Chapter6

The smell of bear and alcohol attacked her senses and Sakura was forced to bite her lip in order to stifle the sob that threatened to erupt from her throat. She was always reminded of her mentor whenever she smelt liquor. Swallowing thickly, the seventeen year old stepped forwards. She snuck a glance around the room, making sure nobody had noticed her entrance. Since it was late people had either gone to bed or were drinking themselves senseless and singing merry tunes. 

Her brows furrowed slightly when she realised that she didn't understand nor recognise what they were singing. Maybe it was their slurred words or her fatigue but it sounded as if they were speaking a completely different language. Shaking her head, the pinkette shunshined over to the stairs and silently climbed up them. She made her way to her guide's room and silently picked the lock of the door. She knew that the man was some type of warrior which meant that she couldn't be sloppy. Slowly, the pinkette opened the door, looking inside before cautiously stepping in. The stranger was still asleep in the armchair over by the window and the cot that was set up remained abandoned. 

She closed the door behind her and crept over to the man's travelling pack. She turned it upside down and placed her hand on the bottom of it. She bit her lip as she pushed chakra into it. She carved a seal into the object with her chakra, marking the bag with the technique formula of the Hiraishin. She pulled away and smirked as she watched the glowing blue seal sink into the bag. Now that she had marked it she would be able to transport to the stranger whenever the need arose. It would of been more effective if she had put the mark on the man himself however she couldn't risk waking him so this was the alternative she had come up with.

She then returned the travelling pack to it's former place and position, making sure that there was not a single speck of dust or air particle out of place. Sakura created a shadow clone, using as little chakra as possible, as she exited the room. Her clone locked the door behind her before dismissing itself. The kunoichi made her way out of the Inn, going unnoticed by all of it's inhabitants as she disappeared into the night. 

'See, I told you that nobody would notice us. Shannaro!' Inner said smugly. Sakura rolled her eyes but didn't respond further as she dashed out of the village. 

The female settled into a tree and patted the branch that snaked round her waist. She wondered if it was a bad thing that the trees gave better hugs then Naruto. Of course, the times he hugged her it was more of a glomp but still.

She smiled affectionately at the branch before closing her eyes and falling into meditation. Thoughts about her friends and home arose in her mind and she tried to push them away. She didn't need to think about them right now, she needed to find a way out of her currant predicament.

The thought of never seeing any of her friends again hurt, she didn't like the idea of not seeing Naruto who was admittedly her best- male -friend.  If she couldn't see anymore of Naruto's sunny smiles and cheery nature, it would be as if the sun itself had disappeared.

No more shopping sprees with Ino (not that they had gone on any since the war had started). No more of Sai's obviously fake smiles and the terrible nicknames he gave everybody. No more of Lee's shouts of 'Youth!' whenever they went on a run together. No more shogi games against Shikamaru. No more shy smiles and sweet words from Hinata. No more Kiba and Akamaru. No more Choji or Shino. No more weapon lessons with Tenten. No more spars against Neji. No more smiles from Kakashi.  No more of the Sand siblings, no more of any of her friends.

The most heartbreaking part of it all was that even if she did get home, how could she know for sure that her friends were still alive? They were in the middle of a war for Kami sake! Her world could be destroyed and she wouldn't even know!

Her calm, even breaths turned into short, panicked pants. She started sweating as her body temperature rose and panic filled her mind. Inner was attempting to calm her down however her voice got more and more quiet the more panicked she became. 

Images of her friends, dead on the battlefield, Madara standing above them with a victorious grin on his face entered her mind. Team ten lay dead next to each other, Ino had a puddle of blood underneath her. Shikamaru had about twenty kunai sticking out of his form. Choji looked as if he had been trampled, he was completely out of chakra. Hinata was missing a few limbs and looked as if she had died from blood loss. Kiba had faltered as he watched Akamaru die, he had refused to abandon his best friend and had died beside his ninken. Shino had been burnt along with his bugs, he lay nearly unrecognisable. An unmasked Kakashi had multiple stab wounds and Sakura could barely refrain from throwing up at the sight of insides spilling out of his corpse. Tears pooled in her eyes as the image of a bleeding Naruto sitting next to the corpse of Sasuke entered her vision. The Uchiha looked as if he had been through Hell and back. His left arm was broken and the bone stuck out at an odd angle, his right foot was missing and his left leg was mangled, he also had a large gash across his torso. Naruto's face was bruised and he was missing both his legs along with his right arm. His normally sparkling cerulean eyes were dull. The smile that greeted her everyday was gone, replaced by a frown that made him look ten times older. She was forced to watch as he bled out in front of her. Silent words pouring out of his mouth as he stared blankly at her.

The teenagers heart hurt as she failed to stop the tears from spilling down her face. Inner finally managed to wrestle down the image as Sakura opened her eyes. She felt a branch play with her hair and the one around her waist tighten. It was as if the trees were trying to comfort her.

'You ok Outer?' Inner asked.

'I think so..' The pinkette's lips trembled. 'Erm.. do you think that that was-'

'No.' Inner interrupted. 'It wasn't real.' The kunoichi let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding in.

'Good..' 

'Outer, we can switch if you want to rest. Shannaro.' Inner suggested softly.

Sakura thought about it for a moment before declining the offer, 'We've already switched once today, I don't want to exhaust you.'

'Don't worry about me! Shannaro! I 'll be ok, I have plenty of energy!' Sighing in defeat Sakura felt her control of the body disappear as Inner took over. Outer Sakura was stuck in a void of pitch black for the rest of the night.

A/N: Hey guys, I er well yeah... I think that the hobbits will arrive at the Inn in the next chapter so yeah!

Sorry for any mistakes!

Hope you enjoyed!