Chapter Six: “Betrayed By The Trusted, Become the Traitor”

“When Your Hands Are Black in Sin,
Stained by the Hypocrisy of Nations.”
—On Being a True Shinobi, Used by False Hearts—

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Sakura once again opened her eyes to the dark lounge of the castle, but this time the place seemed to glow a bit brighter. The furniture and decor remained the same, but it was as if the tranquil atmosphere smothered the heavy tension of its residents. It was a feeling that was hard to explain.

Then poof — five men now sat on the couches in front and to the side of her. No matter how many times she’s woken up to the sight, it still surprised her. She didn’t understand why this happened, but the men from her dreams always popped up in a poof of smoke as if they were summoned by the spell to join her every morning. As the men were about to speak — 

[Welcome back, Sakura Haruno and Company]

The spell’s tranquil voice echoed throughout the castle just like the first day. After each notification, a bell sounded like a church’s toll: 

[Due to the soul’s current evolution, you have achieved the minimum requirements to open a new world of opportunity for your last wish. Whether you take the choice is up to you, but it shall not be revealed until the completion of the spell. Failure to complete all twelve dreams will automatically disregard this choice] Ding!

[Guardian’s Route officially open. As previously noted, only with completion of spell will details be available. If the souls of the dream wish to become a Guardian, they must complete two requirements: One — help the soul Sakura Haruno complete the twelve dreams and thus the spell. Two — After dream, complete a final quest.] Ding!

[Last update: The reward’s potential has risen, so the stakes shall rise. Following the Law of Equilibrium in Mage Codex. Trials of the dreams shall rise and only Sakura and one more may enter at a time. Any other soul attempting entry to the dream in question will not be able to enter.] Ding!

[Now for a reminder of the spell, here are the rules:]

[Wish Upon A Star spell activated. Fairy Godmother trials begin]

[You will dream a long dream, but it will hold the dream of twelve nights. When you return, not a second will pass by. 

In these dreams, you will find things inside of you that could surprise you…Pay attention to those. 

In these dreams, you can be as open to your desires as you wish. But be of open heart.

And, finally, in each dream, the spell ends at midnight. — And you will replenish anew for the next dream.

Your true love may be there or not, but regardless, by solving their entanglements of madness, you will help these poor souls. And discover a part of you sealed up until now. Heed thy warnings, pay attention and be open and you will find your way.]

[Good luck and May Your Dreams Come True]

Ding Dong Ding Dong ——— !!

The wedding bell tolls echoed loudly and after a minute they faded to silence…leaving Sakura to deal with four horny men and a confused ex-gladiator.

“So if you men would be so kind as to fill Gaara in, I’ll have to bid you adieu.” She hurried to get up, but Gaara leapt to his feet first.

“I shall come!” Gaara ran forward to hold her hand up. “Please, I promised to protect you with my life. If you must go, take me.”

Itachi cut in with a frown, “The spell only requires one partner to accompany Sakura and you are still new to this magical realm. Do you really think you can help the lady if you are ignorant of its rules? You should know magic hates to have it’s rules broken.” He lifted Sakura’s hand out of Gaara’s grip and replaced it with his own. “As the first man to arrive, I shall help her with the rising challenge of the next dream.” 

“Now see here!” Deidara glared up at the suave warrior rebelliously, “What makes you better than us?! I can protect the lady just fine!”

“Ha. All you can do is throw bombs around. What she needs is a dark mage of various talents.” Sasori also stepped up. “Now that there’s a limit on how many people can join the lady, our partnership is over, Deidara.”

“Right back at ya, puppet lover.” 

Kakashi shoved the two artists aside and held Itachi’s stare. “So it seems our alliance is over as well, Itachi.”

“It seems so.” The two men clashed as their eyes burned red. “Although I’m curious on how you’ve obtained an eye from my clan, it doesn’t matter. Sakura is in my care now. You can see her later.” The atmosphere quickly returned to its original tension — it was so thick, you could cut it. 

Sakura watched these men fight over her. If she were any other woman, she wagered she’d be incredibly flattered. But instead her temper rose. “Stop! Fighting!” 

Immediately, the tension eased and all five men snapped their eyes to the woman who both freed them and kept them prisoner within this enchanted realm. Her wish was their command if she ever understood that. When she saw that all five of them were paying attention, she said, “I choose Itachi. There! Case solved.” 

“That’s not faiiiiiiir, Sakura!” Deidara whined. “I haven’t seen you in ages!”

“You haven’t seen me in one night, Deidara.” Sakura rolled her eyes. “And I chose Itachi this time because he can restrain himself. Don’t lie — all of you are wolves in heat!” She put her hands on her hips and huffed. “Itachi is the more gentlemanly of you and until I learn more about what changed in the dream worlds, I can’t risk having my time monopolized.” Her gaze caught the aborted movements of a counter argument from Kakashi. Her eyebrow rose as she focused on him. “Ahem. Don’t try to deny it, Kakashi.”

Then, quietly, Gaara spoke up, “Sakura…Lady…Must you leave so soon?” The once sand warrior looked down at her with naked longing. His eyes started to glisten, “After last night, I can’t bear to see you leave. Must you enter another dangerous world so soon? We can talk for a bit if you simply want to rest.”

Guilt poked at Sakura’s heart at the sight of Gaara’s puppy gaze and she hesitated.

“I don’t trust you puppy boy. Don’t try to sway the lady with your looks.” Kakashi glared at Gaara before he scrunched his brow. He picked up on an idea and said with false innocence, “Huh. The spell said the dream ends at midnight in each dream. So if you haven’t entered the dream world, then the deadline doesn’t apply, no?”

Suddenly it grew very quiet. A pin could have dropped and it’d sound like shattering glass.

“Um…” Sakura began to sweat. Oh gods, what could she say to that? If they kept her here for a long while, it wouldn’t be against the rules, but what if they never wanted to leave?! All of them came from hard and potentially strange backgrounds — especially Sasori. She still remembered he had quite a few chains in his dungeon. “Um, I still have to complete the dreams! Don’t you want to return to your homelands? Or at least go outside?”

“Nah.”
“Nope.”
Not right now, no.”

Basically everybody said no. Oh, damn that spell voice!

Once again, Itachi came to her rescue. She knew she picked the right man! “Have you heard the part of the Guardians? Once the spell is over, we have a chance and it must relate to Sakura’s end wish. If we want to stay with the lady forever instead of for a few nights in a dream, then it’d be best we cooperate, you beasts.” He sneered. “I do not want to risk a future life together for a few nights. If we hold Sakura here against her will or distract her for long, do you really imagine no consequence? Maybe this is our trial to be worthy of staying by the angel’s side. Think, men, think!” 

“Gahh!” Kakashi growled and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “Fine! We’ll play the long game, but she hasn’t the need to leave right as soon as she comes back to us, no?”

Sakura sighed then smiled. “No, I don’t. But I want to — I need to see the changes to the spell myself or who knows what else lies in store. I promise, Kakashi, that I will have a proper conversation tomorrow. Right now, there are too many changes for me to relax, so please forgive me?”

“…” Kakashi pursed his lips before pulling her in for a deep kiss — once he was finished, he turned his head away and huffed, “Ok, you can go. Don’t forget your promise. Tomorrow, you will sit the fuck down and keep us company for a while!”

“Yes, yes.” Sakura giggled then slightly squeezed Gaara’s shoulder apologetically. She looked to Deidara and Sasori, “I promise we’ll have a decent conversation tomorrow, so please forgive me. And you can tell me more about this castle, okay?”

Gaara bowed his head, took the hand on his shoulder and kissed her palm, “I will wait for your return.”

Deidara and Sasori were about to copy Kakashi’s actions, but Itachi quickly lifted Sakura into a bridal carry and ran off.

“WHAT THE FUCK UCHIHA?!”
“MONGREL! PLAY FAIR!”

Sakura giggled when she saw Itachi’s wickedly playful smirk. “So much for calling you a gentleman, Itachi.” She raised a brow.

“I never claimed such a title, my lady. You bestowed me that honor. And I am saving you — those two looked as hungry as starved dogs. It would be hard to wrestle you back from the magic-casters.” 

“Point taken, dear sir. As you are.”

The two shared a smile and entered the sixth dream.

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When the two landed, the spell’s voice spoke in their minds: 

[Due to the increasing challenge of the dream’s trials, you will have access to a brief backstory of the soul. What you do with that information is up to you. Good luck!]

And before Sakura could even look at her new surroundings, her sight went blank — and she was sucked into a vision. Next thing she knew, she was floating above a strange land — a kingdom near the sea and on the coast were…merfolk!

Before she could absorb the wonder of seeing the mermaids from her storybooks, the image changed to a tall blue man wielding a sword as long as his body was tall. He had gill-like slits on each cheek, a strong jaw and sharp, shark-like teeth pulled into a wicked smile. Sakura could admit that up until that moment, the only men she was familiar with were unerringly pretty and maybe that’s where the bulk of her attraction lay. This man though, he was attractive in a raw, earthy way that drew her in. He was beautiful. At the moment, he was performing for a King. His large muscles rippled as he performed a sword dance that was a mix of fluid movements that reminded her of a fish in sea and also incorporated the harsh slashes of a knight raiding a battlefield. When he was done with the powerful performance, the King rose and clapped his hands. 

“Dear friend!” The king walked over to hug the blue swordsman and laughed. “I see you’ve learned something new from the merkingdom! That was magnificient!”

“It was a grand old time, your majesty!” He patted his shoulder and smirked. “Plenty of treasure, too, as a gift and sign of the alliance.”

“The heavens sent us a blessing when you became our ambassador, Kisame!”

Sakura watched the scene play out. She could somehow sense the blue warrior’s feelings — she couldn’t hear his exact thoughts, but she could feel his intentions. She could even feel the warmth in his heart as he talked with his old friend. This is impossible! It was telekinesis, but it shouldn’t be possible to read a person’s intent and feelings like this…I knew the spell was powerful, but how deep did this magic go?

Then suddenly the vision changed and Kisame was battling an enemy army with a squad of whoever was left. She’d been spared from viewing the entire fight but from the exhaustion in his limbs and the grim look on his face, things weren’t looking favorable. Kisame and his squad were outnumbered and soon, they were all caught. Kisame was caught on his own further down from where his comrades were subdued. But before they could all be taken away by the attacking mage’s magic, Kisame struggled with a choice — she could feel his anguish strongly and once he made the choice, she understood. With tears in his eyes, Kisame wrested himself away from the enemy, letting them stab at him so he could escape to his friends…and kill them himself. To protect the kingdom, he’d give up his life. By the time it was done, the enemy had re-captured and stabbed him multiple times before declaring victory, and laying claim to the small town. 

Later it was revealed a mermaid sent by the merkingdom to watch over Kisame lurked in the shadows. Once the humans were gone, she went to check on the shark man and grimaced. Without a word, she hefted him onto her shoulders and made the long journey to the sea to be healed in the waters.

By some miracle, Kisame lived only to wish he’d died. When he found his way back to his King and old friend, he decided to visit him in secret in case of enemy spies — only to be shocked to see the enemy’s leader hugging the King! The blue warrior watched his King freely give away his kingdom’s secrets to their enemy. The same secrets that he was forced to kill his friends for to ensure their secrecy at the King’s order. And the warrior’s eyes darkened in rage. It wasn’t fair. His comrades died for their cause, for the kingdom’s cause — only to be mocked with this betrayal! And once more, he lifted his sword to kill an old friend.

Now, alone, he disappeared from the kingdom he would have died for with no purpose or humanity left in him. He became a machine of war, hiring himself out to any local warlord and losing himself to a beserker’s rage in battle. It was the only life he knew. 

Sakura’s heart clenched at the cold feeling that pressed against it — the misery, loneliness and guilt. The absence of belief…

And on that tragic note, the vision ended and Sakura found herself on a grassy field with Itachi. There was a moment of silence before she asked, “Did…Did you see that vision, too? Did you feel it? How could a king shamefully use his subjects — nay, his friends like that!” She knew her King wasn’t exactly a saint either, but at least they weren’t colluding with their enemies in secret!

Itachi nodded, “Yes, and I know that man. His full name is Kisame Hoshigaki, the most powerful swordsman of the seas — it is rare for merfolk to communicate with a two-legger, but according to this vision, Kisame was one of the few they took seriously. That is a great honor. When we met, he was already a renowned mercenary. He was hired by my father a few times and we journeyed together on those missions, but no one ever knew his origins…Huh. So the rumors of him being half-merfolk were true.”

Sakura looked around — they were in a grassy clearing with no idea of where they were and no sign of Kisame. “So we have to find Kisame, figure out how to complete the dream and do it all by midnight. Wonderful.” Sakura ran her fingers through her hair. “Maybe I could use magic to fly up? I’m not sure how good I’d be at it, but I did it in Gaara’s dream so…” She scratched her head. “But what if that’s a trap? I’ve been fighting a lot these days so I wouldn’t be surprised if there were archers in these woods.”

“Hmm.” Itachi scanned his surroundings. “There are faint tracks of a man running through the grass…he entered the forest there.” Itachi pointed at little things — bent grass, very faint footprints — large ones, and a few marks on the trees. “Whoever passed through here was careless so he might not be expecting trouble — or he might be cocky.”

“I guess we’ll find out. It’s the only clue we have. Great work, Itachi.” Sakura smiled up and then started to walk. She peered through the foliage and saw a faint line of gray on a hill past the trees. “There’s a path up ahead, I’m assuming he took a shortcut that way. Thoughts?”

“Agreed. Shall we?” And the two walked to the path. Along the way, Sakura quickly checked her dress — the last thing she needed was to walk in a village in nothing but a transparent night dress. With a sigh of relief, she found she was wearing a simple green dress that fell to her ankles, but was light enough that it didn’t hinder her movements at all. It felt as light as the air she breathed. Hmm. How did magicked clothes work anyway?

Sakura distracted herself with thoughts of magical applications and clothing when Itachi paused in his steps, stood to listen then whispered, “I hear sounds of a battle up ahead. Please allow me to walk in front as your guardian, my lady. Not that you are weak, but it would ease my concerns.” Itachi remembered the might of the magic she now wielded. 

Wow, he has excellent hearing. I can’t hear anything except the birds! She nodded. “Okay, but if the need comes, I will fight alongside you so don’t expect me to stay behind.” She smiled up at his concern. “We’re partners.”

A slight blush stained his cheeks and he coughed. “Partners…Yes. Yes, we are.” He smiled back before they quickly moved up to the path. 

When they reached further up the path, Sakura could hear sounds of steel clanging and screams. Sakura glanced at Itachi and they both ran towards the noise. Rule one of questing and solving magic spells without clear instructions — go where the trouble was. When they arrived at the end of the path a few minutes later, a dozen men surrounded Kisame in front of an inn. The civilians all hid inside while the tall swordsman laughed like a maniac as he swung his body-sized blade around like it was a switch. He roared, “I’ve been looking for something to do! Now! Who wants to challenge me first?!”

The masked men clad in full black remained silent and one blasted lightning at the shark man.

Kisame dodged and as he swung his sword, a surge of water blasted at the lightning user. The man quickly dodged and began to chant as the others attacked.

Itachi frowned. “The longer the chant, the more powerful the spell. I’ll have to —“

“Ah, I got this.” Sakura interrupted with a smirk. Now that she got more comfortable with using her powers, she focused her attention on the chanter and raised her arm. Ever since she’s entered the dream worlds, she’s been slowly changing — and this time, she felt excited in battle for the first time. The chance to use her power made her want more, but she restrained herself. If she let the thrill overcome her, she feared she’d become addicted to it. “I want to try something.”

With a deep breath, she felt the pull of her magic like a strange caress and envisioned her light magic to surround each of the dark clad men…one by one, a yellow glow sparkled around them and they looked around in confusion. By the time they spotted her and Itachi, it was too late. 

Sakura smiled back at them and with a whisk of her arm, her magic completely encompassed the enemy men and lifted them to the skies, making sure to twirl them around to interrupt the chanter’s words, and tossed them into the skies far, far away. ZOOOOM!! The balls of light carried the men away in seconds.

Itachi raised a brow. “I would have killed them.” He didn’t sugarcoat it. “They are threats.”

“I know.” Sakura raised a brow