"Naruto" is the intellectual property of Kishimoto Masashi. "Slayers" is the creation of Kanzaka Hajime.

Warning: This story will eventually have spoilers for certain content of Slayers, NEXT, and TRY.

Update: blond/blonde fix

A Different Voice

Prologue

Posted: 6/8/2007

Updated: 7/23/2007

Sakura had been aware of her 'Inner Sakura' for as long as she could remember. It had always been like an intensified reflection of her feelings. A little louder. A little more violent. Perhaps even a little more honest.

Pale morning light shown through the thin drapes of her window as Haruno Sakura sat up in bed. She moved the curtains aside for a brief moment to smile at the brightening sky; her second-story bedroom gave her a fairly obstruction-free view. Another new day and another chance for her to capture Uchiha Sasuke's heart. Jumping out of bed, she quickly picked out the perfect outfit to accentuate her good looks and went to take a shower.

After her shower, she made her way downstairs to her family's dining room for breakfast. Like a switch, the slightest thought of breakfast awoke her inner voice. Foooood, it moaned.

Recently her inner self had been behaving oddly, or rather, oddly compared to how it normally behaved. She was not quite sure what to make of it but her outside self had gone through changes over the years as well so it did not worry her too much.

Is that all you have to say? Not even a simple 'good morning'? she grumbled internally.

Just getting our priorities straight.

And food comes first?

Of course!

Sakura sighed as she entered the dining room and tried to ignore Inner Sakura's continuing rant about the importance of regular meals. Her mother, Haruno Momoka, smiled at her. Sakura noticed her mother's eyes sparkling with delight. She nearly groaned aloud as she realized her mother was in one of her teasing moods.

"Finally awake?" the older woman asked.

Sakura glanced briefly at the clock on the wall. "It's not as if I'm close to being late. I still have two hours before lecture begins. More than enough time to eat breakfast and arrive on time."

Momoka raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "Unless I've set the clock back two hours," she said before exiting the dining room through the doorway leading to the kitchen.

The pink-haired girl huffed as she sat down and stared at the empty plate in front of her. When her mother entered the room again she spoke, "Father isn't up yet. And the sun was just rising when I woke. I know I didn't spend two hours taking a shower."

Her mother grinned at her and set a plate of pancakes in the middle of the table. "I'm sure you're right, dear." She ruffled Sakura's hair before flouncing out of the room once again.

Does she have to bounce around like that? Sakura thought in annoyance. Sakura tried to smooth out her hair. Her mother had displaced her hair ribbon, making it more difficult. Her nose twitched as the smell of the pancakes reached her. Inner Sakura wanted to pounce on the pancakes instantly.

Her mother returned a moment later depositing some silverware and a small pitcher of syrup on the table before leaving through a different doorway, likely to check on her father who had a bad habit of sleeping in.

Sakura picked up a fork and eyed the stack of pancakes, realizing just how many pancakes there were. Does she think she's feeding an army?

"Why did you cook so much?!" she yelled.

"You're a growing girl!" came the reply from somewhere upstairs.

There's twice as much as we'll eat! she complained mentally as she flipped several pancakes onto her plate. Her inner self rubbed its hands together in gleeful anticipation.

Several minutes later her mother reappeared. Momoka froze as she entered the room and stared in shock. Her face quickly resumed smiling and her lips twitched with barely restrained laughter. "I know I said that you were a growing girl, but isn't that a bit much?" she teased.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked.

Her mother simply pointed. Sakura followed her mother's gesture and saw that the entire stack of pancakes had disappeared. The syrup was nearly empty as well. The confused girl looked around the room, noting a distinct lack of fluffy, golden brown pancakes.

It was a good snack.

Sakura ignored the patently ridiculous response. She bent and looked under the table but still failed to find any trace of the missing food.

"You don't expect me to believe that they rolled out the door, do you?"

Her mother sighed dramatically and Sakura kept her head down to avoid looking at her mischievous face. She followed the sound of her mother's footsteps as Momoka crossed the room.

"I guess I'll have to cook some more for your father and myself. You aren't still hungry, are you?"

More? her inner voice asked giddily.

"I'm going to the academy!" Sakura jumped from her chair and raced upstairs to get her book bag.

"This early?" she heard her mother question.

She quickly entered and exited her room, book bag now in hand. "I'll do some extra studying," Sakura replied as she ran back down the stairs and outside.

oOo

Sakura entered the classroom and noticed that her instructor, Umino Iruka, was sitting at his desk doing paperwork. Iruka looked up and gave her a brief smile before returning to his task. She sat down and pulled out one of her textbooks to do some extra reading. Luckily, Inner Sakura seemed to enjoy reading as much as she did so it made for a relaxing period.

Students began arriving but Sakura ignored them all until a certain black-haired boy appeared.

Sasuke-kun! The pink-haired girl followed Uchiha Sasuke with her eyes as her entered and walked to a seat. He did not appear to notice her attention as he sat down as far away from the other students as he could. He's so handsome. Sakura sighed as various romantic thoughts crossed her mind.

Maybe so but he's also arrogant, unfeeling, and power-hungry.

Sakura felt her left eye twitch. She frowned. For the first time that she was aware, her inner self had said something completely contradictory to what she was thinking. He can't help it! He's had a tragic past! she argued.

If he gets turned into a chimeric half-demon, half-golem it'll be his own fault.

Now Sakura frowned for a completely different reason. She understood the substance of what her other self was saying but at the same time it had used words that she did not understand. Chimeric? Golem? What are you talking about?

Any further thoughts on the subject were interrupted by an overly energetic Uzumaki Naruto. "Sakura-chan! Good morning!" Sakura turned and stared balefully at the blond-haired boy. Apparently taking the silence as encouragement, he continued, "Can I sit next to you!"

"No! Go away, Naruto!"

Naruto pouted briefly before looking for another place to sit. He ended up next to the other loud boy in their class and the two started yelling greetings at each other.

I wish he would bother some other girl. He's so loud and annoying!

Not to mention cute, loyal, and brave.

For a moment all of Sakura's mental processes stopped. Her eye twitched again. I did not just think that. Sakura decided that she could no longer abide her inner voice stating such ridiculousness. There is nothing about Naruto that I like. He's an obnoxious bubblehead.

Yup! A complete jellyfish-for-brains! came the happy agreement.

Aggravated beyond reasoning, Sakura began banging her head on the desk in front of her. She did not noticed her friend and rival Yamanaka Ino arrive and take a seat next to her until Ino said, "I don't think that banging your head like that is going to make your forehead any smaller."

The pink-haired kunoichi stopped her masochistic efforts and glared at the blond.

"Someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?"

Snarling, Sakura reached out to strangle the girl next to her and she suddenly found her right arm around the other girl's neck and her left hand gripping her right. Ino struggled futilely against her choke hold.

"Gah… just… ack… a joke, Sakura," the blonde-haired girl gasped out.

Sakura released her hold and the blonde sat back while rubbing her neck.

"When did you get so fast?" Ino asked.

Sakura just shrugged, not knowing what to say. Iruka began calling names for attendance. Once finished, he announced that the class would be practicing Henge no Jutsu today. Sakura ignored the questioning glances that Ino kept sending her way. While waiting for her name to be called to demonstrate in front of the class, part of her was reviewing the necessary steps for the transformation technique. Another part of her was doodling on some note paper.

When she would find it the next day, she would not understand where it came from.

The drawing had the look of a diagram. At the top a large circle with a stylized sun in the middle. Below the circle was a six pointed star. Below that star a series of four circles set in a diamond formation. In the middle of those circles was another six-sided star. Each of the four circles had two smaller concentric circles within them. In the center of the bottom-most circle, an eye had been drawn. And beside that circle was a single word: 'Shabranigdo.'

When she would find it the next day, she would shudder a little on reading that word.

End of Prologue

oOo

Notes:

I can't believe it. I accidentally deleted this whole thing and had to rewrite it. Parts of it are better but still. Arg.

Ok, if you've seen Slayers you probably have a good idea of some of what's going on. If not then you'll just wait a bit.

Before people start complaining about how 'Inner Sakura' thinks of Naruto and Sasuke (like why would she think that Naruto is brave at this point?), I'll say that she's a bit confused right now.

Momoka – written as 'peach tree' and 'flower'

I dislike inventing original names and techniques since I know nothing about Japanese but I try my best.

Omake:

Does she think she's feeding an army?

Yeah, an army of one!

(I just couldn't convince myself to put that in the actual text. Hehe.)