The Perils of Dimension Hopping | A Naruto/LOTR Crossover

Chapter Five: Hobbit Hosts

They fell into a pattern. Eat. Walk. Sleep. Repeat. It was monotonous and ridiculously boring, especially with the company she kept. Her green eyes locked with the dark grey ones, glaring in an instant as the bane of her existence made eye contact with her. He just rolled his eyes exasperatedly. Let it be said Uchiha Madara was a complete slave driver who seemed to take delight in all her struggles. He loved telling her about all his superiority. Sakura enjoyed snarking right back at him, a smirk on her face when he started flailing his limbs about whenever he tried to make his points. His stupid points which made no sense compared to hers.

She told him as much, and of course they'd just resolved to arguing again, glaring at each other spitefully as they insulted each other to the best of their ability.

The dark green of the leaves around them slowly became lighter, the bark of the trees becoming a more reddish brown the further they walked in that direction. Sakura wasn't quite sure whether that was a good thing, but at least they were making progress of some sort. Madara looked less happy with the turn of events though.

"What's up with you, grumpy face?" she asked, folding her arms as she stared at him from side on. "You know, you could try smiling for once in your life, no matter how creepy it might look." She peered at him, irritated by his stubborn I'm-ignoring-you act. "It's not like the moon will fall out of the sky if you grin like an ordinary human being."

"Only we're probably not human beings anymore, or have you already forgotten that, idiotic brat?" he questioned, glaring at her witheringly. "Your memory leaves much to be desired."

"Your face leaves much to be desired," she muttered, staring up at the moon. It looked larger in the sky than it did back in the Elemental Nations, and its glow was that much stronger. Or maybe she was just noticing it more because she glowed too. The stars were unfamiliar, an ever constant reminder that this wasn't the world she'd grown up in. She was in the unknown with the worst company she could've asked for.

"Talk quieter, brat," Madara hissed, holding his hand up in front of her.

She slapped it out of the way. "No!"

His hand clamped down over her mouth, his other dragging her in front of him to keep her still. Sakura wasted no time in biting his hand, smirking viciously as she heard him curse under his breath, pausing only when Madara released his grasp on her waist and signed 'people, civilisation' in Konoha Standard. She blinked, and then he was tying her makeshift headband over her head, pulling it so covered most of her forehead and practically all of her long pink locks. Though she was fairly sure there were numerous twigs and leaves still stuck in her silken locks thanks to the idiot next to her. Damned ankle dragging bastard.

Sakura bit her lip, licking at his hand, smirking as he hastily released his grip on her mouth. 'What do we do?' she signed, swallowing nervously, quickly hiding her unease when Madara patted her head condescendingly. 'Get your filthy hand off my head.'

'We improvise,' Madara signed back, fingers flicking fancily. 'Scratch that. I'll improvise. You just stay there and look as non-threatening as possible. Shouldn't be hard – considering you look like a toddler.'

Sakura stuck her middle finger up at him, scowling as he grabbed her hand and pulled her forwards through a set of bushes. The forest fell away, trees becoming further and further from one another as the sky turned a lighter shade of blue, indicating dawn was fast on the approach. Neither of them could've expected what they saw on the other side of the shrubbery.

Brown and dark blue met green and dark grey.

Sakura froze, swallowing as she stared at the two natives of the world they were in. But it was weird. Neither of them were much taller than Madara, and yet they didn't carry any trace of the baby fat on their cheeks or wrists as the pair of them did. Yes, Madara still had slightly pudgy cheeks and wrists, no matter how much he vehemently denied it. They looked like adults, and yet they were tiny on the scale of things. Plus they had hairy feet, unlike the pair of them. She bit her lip. So they looked considerably different, and they weren't as pretty as the two of them. They didn't look anything like the men who'd taken her captive all those days ago.