Hogwarts' Shinobi

Chapter 20

It wasn't much more than a week after the Yule ball that the second task rolled around. The murmurs of excitement filling the seemingly endless corridors of the prestigious academy. But that wasn't what was on the pink-haired kunoichi's mind right now. Both herself and Madame Pomphrey had already been briefed by Professor Dumbledore and if she was being honest, this whole thing sounded ridiculous. Who's idea was it to shove a bunch of young adults into sub-zero aquatic conditions anyway? Either way, there was no changing it now, and it could have been a lot worse as well. Whilst the threat of impending death was there, it was not as severe as it could have been. That and she wasn't the one who would have to take a freezing dip in the lake. Or so she thought.

She found herself being called up to Dumbledore's office the night before the event took place. It had been an odd summoning, but she brushed it off as just another weird idea the old man had. She'd run into three others on her way as well. A young blonde girl from Beauxbatons, one she often saw with Fleur Delacour, Ronald Weasley and a girl she'd seen with Cedric Diggory, if she remembered correctly, her name was Cho Chang?

The old man had given them some long speech about how each of us knew and were (reasonably) close with a champion. He went into greater detail about the entire situation, not that Sakura cared much for minute information. She'd gotten the gist of the situation the moment he mentioned 'champions'. Essentially, she had jinxed herself previously in thinking that she'd get out of the entire situation. She was going to be knocked unconscious and thrown underwater for somebody to pull out and by looking at those who surrounded her, her champion was to be none other than Viktor Krum.

Sighing, she found herself agreeing with the terms and conditions. She had no idea what had possessed her to do such a thing, but she didn't really want anyone else risking their lives. If she guessed correctly, the person who'd end up replacing her would be Miss Hermione Granger and as much trust she had in the girl's skills, it was very dangerous. Signing her name, she felt almost nostalgic at the memories of the chuunin exams she'd taken back when she was 13, in her other life. She frowned, her past life was not something she often found herself thinking of, so why was she thinking of it now? Either way, she handed the old headmaster the piece of parchment which had her illegible scrawl of a signature on it. Not like they'd be able to understand it anyway, it was her name written in kanji, a idea she'd come up with when she discovered they used different characters here. At least this way it would be much harder to forge it.

She had barely even handed over her form when she heard mutterings of a spell being cast on her before black dots clouded her vision. Cursing mentally, she faded from consciousness, falling backwards onto the cold floor.

-

She'd no idea how long she'd been unconscious for if she was being completely honest. It was rather dull as she'd retained a sort of consciousness in which she saw nothing but pitch black. But she would be a fool to complain about that fact, after all, it meant that she was in fact still alive, and that was all that mattered.

Then she felt something come into contact with her body, it felt like a pair of arms. And then she was moving, the water around her rushing against her face as the pressure surrounding her dropped. Yet she found her limbs still felt heavy and she couldn't even muster up the strength to open her eyelids. The water disappeared, replaced with the cold air and harsh breeze. The new temperature shaking her awake as she gasped for air, flailing around slightly as she realised she could move once more. Relief washing over her much like the few gentle waves which reminded her of the water. Looking to her right, she saw a shark-head slowly turning back into... Viktor Krum?

Giving him a thankful smile, she spoke up, "Thank you for getting me out Viktor. Now let me help you to the towers." the young man gave her a confused look causing her to shoot him a cheeky grin. Then she heaved herself on top of the water, chakra keeping her stuck to the top before pulling the muscular Krum up after her. Holding him above water level - he couldn't use chakra to stick to the water, he'd just sink - she began to walk over to the four metal towers. The frigid air caused their clothes to dry quickly, sticking to their skin in damp coldness. The feeling being quite uncomfortable for the pair as they went the short distance to the towers.

Calmly jumping up onto the platform, Sakura gave Dumbledore a scowl before placing the Bulgarian Seeker onto the floor. She then shuffled towards Krum, heating herself and the area around them slightly with fire chakra as she began the process of drying him off properly. The heat that surrounded them caused a couple of other students to subconsciously shuffle closer in order to get out of the bitterly cold weather.

Smiling to herself, she began to let out more chakra in order to extend the area until it covered the entire lower tier of the tower in which she sat. It was slightly more draining, but as long as none of the others got sick due to the cold, it would be well worth it. As she sat, she flared her hands green in order to check Krum for anymore injuries, sighing in relief at the sight of the only fluctuation in between these stats and the ones she saw at the World Quidditch finals. The only problems she could see being a slightly increased heartrate, a slight lack of oxygen in his cells and his body temperature lower than average, but not life-threatening. Turning away from the boy, she focused on the other competitors who were now beginning to return to the surface.