The Perils of Dimension Hopping | A Naruto/LOTR Crossover

Chapter Ten: In the House of Tom Bombadil

Sakura groaned as awareness flooded through her, bringing with it a mountain of a headache. What had happened to give her that bad of a headache? Her mind was fuzzy with the aftereffects of sleep, and it was only the small hand closed around her own that kept her grounded. Half of her wanted to try and go back to sleep, and the other part was far more curious about what was going on around her. She opened her eyes a slit, noting the warm glow around her that was most definitely not the sun. The softness of the mattress underneath her told her other stories. Had they finally gotten out of the forest? Away from that mean willow tree... Sakura scowled at the memory of the mean tree, and she sat bolt upright, wincing as her nose slammed into something hard, warm, and covered in fluffy black hair. Blinking, Sakura rubbed at her sore nose, glaring at the side of Madara's head. Why was the idiot sitting so close to her?

"So the little lady awakens finally," a voice chirped, sounding oddly cheery, and nothing at all like Madara's various grunts and hisses.

Madara shoved a glass and some herbs into her hands. "Drink. Now, idiot," he ordered gruffly. Sakura raised an eyebrow, parting her lips to ask a question, and Madara took the opportunity to shove the handful of herbs into her mouth along with a glug of water. "Swallow. Now," he hissed, and Sakura obeyed – though not without a glare sent in his direction.

"Might I ask what the hell you just gave me?" she questioned, grabbing him by the shirt, glaring at him even as water dribbled from the corners of her lips.

"Nothing poisonous, imbecile," Madara said, folding his arms even as he shook her loose from his clothing. "They're what the man over there gave me... he said you'd need them, and I have already confirmed they weren't poisonous," he grumbled, looking over towards the window of the small guestroom they were situated in.

Sakura blinked, finally taking in the visage of the older man perched in the armchair beside the bed both she and Madara were sitting on – Sakura having been tucked in, while Madara sat with his short legs dangling over the side. Oddly adorable, and probably rather embarrassing, Sakura thought with a grin.

"I mean you both no harm, just as I mean your travelling companions no harm," he said, smiling cheerily at them. "Little lady, I am Tom Bombadil, and you currently reside in this house of mine as a guest."

Madara scoffed. "You were far more cryptic when I asked you," he muttered with a huff, and Sakura relaxed, the pounding in her head fading, and she finally realised something.

"You can speak in our language!" Sakura cried, turning on the brown-haired man in bright blue robes and yellow boots.

Madara rolled his eyes. "State the obvious why don't you, idiot," he hissed, glaring at her witheringly, but she was far too accustomed to that stare by that point. She'd slept beside him, and she'd seen his relaxed sleeping face... and there was no going back from that point forwards. "I, for one, am more curious about what he knows about our situation. He is being annoyingly cryptic, but he knows something." Madara bit his lip, turning his glare of daggers onto one Tom Bombadil instead. Who was apparently immune to Madara's cute glares. "I had both our ears covered when I carried you here—"

"You carried me here?"

"Shut up! Of course I wasn't going to let one of my clues to getting home fall into the wrong hands," Madara hissed, and Sakura was fairly sure she could spy the burning red of the tips of his ears. "Don't get the wrong idea."

"Aww..."

Madara threw a pillow at her, soon resuming his glaring session at Tom. "You have to at least tell us something," he grumbled, and Sakura frowned at how childish it came across. Perhaps their pint-sized bodies were affecting them more than they thought, and wasn't that a worrying thought? "How else are we meant to get home?"