A preteen with green highlights heard a delivery truck drive away from her house. She lazily turned her head to the side as her friend hopped off the couch cushion beside her.
"That was fast!" said the second girl. The sitting girl remained in place, picking at one of her thigh highs and patting her shorts with opposite fingertips. "Come on, I can't go through other people's mail…"
Her friend reluctantly stood up, snapping a few jacket buttons over her crop top. They broke their television-watching routine to see if their anticipated package arrived. The calmer girl bent over to get a good look inside her opened mailbox. She was interrupted by her shorter friend, who ambushed her with her body weight.
"Une…" the girl's blue eyes narrowed as she felt her friend's arms slide on her leather-covered shoulders.
"You're moving too slow, Nara!"
Ignoring her friend's protests, Une snatched the plastic-enclosed package from the metal box and tore it open. It was a DVD set with an intense looking character on the cover. He was forming a sign with his hands and sporting black marks on his body. The climactic battle between two rivals rested inside.
"Whoo, it's here!" Une practically announced to the neighborhood while stretching her arms upward. She sprinted to the house, her ruffled skirt flapping over knee-length leggings. The hood of her sleeveless shirt fell off. It revealed green eyes and black hair that stopped mid-back. She cut through the grass to reach the door faster, and it crunched beneath her dirty sneakers.
Nara trailed behind, dragging her high tops on the driveway.
Nara and Une shared a peculiar trait: when their mothers named them, they thought of a Japanese cartoon character. Nara's mother was fond of the laziest of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Shikamaru Nara. She received Hell for that later. Une's mother, who didn't want to face the same fate, tried to be more creative. She named her daughter Kitsune. It at least postponed the girl's wrath, but it became an apparent jab at the titular character.
"Come on, come oooon! You can beat him, Naruto!"
"Please. Sasuke would bury that hobbit."
"…You wanna go? 'Cause we can go."
Regardless of the names, the cartoon grew on them over time. Nara and Une weren't informed of their history other than their lifelong companionship and commitment to Naruto. They were content nonetheless.
Meanwhile, an elderly woman wearing a shawl and floppy hat strolled through the hall of prison cells. The tapping of her carved wooden cane echoed through the dismal atmosphere. Behind each set of iron bars stood uniformed convicts. They were either broken men who didn't acknowledge her, or hardened men who jeered at the first woman they laid eyes on in years. She retained focus on a particular criminal. He was a silent raven-haired twenty-something on death row. He had guards on either side who nodded at the familiar visitor.
"I'm getting tired of seeing your face, Megumi," the prisoner sighed. He was sitting on a poorly constructed bed that was held onto the wall by chains. Only the lower half of his pale body was visible due to the shadows.
"Whatever for? I'm your only visitor, after all," Megumi said, smiling impishly. One of the guards disguised his snickering with a cough.
"Low blow."
"Maybe that was a bit much," the woman chuckled. "So how are you?"
"I may not be around much longer. The Council is losing their patience with Naruto."
"…I see," Megumi tapped the bars with the head of her cane. "I guess we were expecting this."
Silence.
"I…I guess my only regret is that Nara won't be by my side when the time comes," said the prisoner.
"Mm," the old woman pulled her cane back and slid her fingers across the foxlike creature etched on the head. "Perhaps it is for the best."
"What do you mean?"
"You're lucky. You had a friend who was loyal enough to stick by you after all this time, after all you've done. But what about Une and Nara? What would have happened if they continued to fight against each other?"
"…I doubt anything would have happened."
"Really. What makes you say that?"
The man told her why.
And she realized she made a huge mistake.
"Rasengan is, like, a million times better than that 'Chirping Lightning' crap!" Une sneered.
"It's called 'One Thousand Birds', O Ignorant One. What's cooler than holding lightning in your hand?" asked Nara. Despite their argument, their eyes never strayed from the television screen.
"Leaving a mark on your enemies to show 'em who's boss, duh!" Une clenched her fists. "To hold pure chakra and stuff, that takes skill. 'sides, didn't you see how Naruto made a water tower explode with Rasengan?"
"Don't you remember Kakashi sticking his hand through Haku's body with the Chidori? It's quicker, therefore better."
"Rasengan's better!"
"No, Chidori."
"Rasengan!"
"One Thousand Birds."
"A…Wait, what's Rasengan in English again?"
"Hm, let me check my dictionary."
Nara stood up and headed toward her bedroom. Une reached for the remote control to pause the video but was distracted by the telephone.
"I got it!" she told Nara, who waved approvingly while walking. Une jogged to the phone in the kitchen and answered. "Utagai residence, Kitsune speaking."
"Hello, dear."
"Oh, hi granma!" Une gleamed. "Are you back from your trip already?"
"Yes, so please tell Nara you have to go soon."
"Aww, but we got the new DVD…"
"You can always watch it later."
"I know, I know," the girl pouted a few seconds before lighting up. "Oh, granma! We made a joke 'bout old people, you wanna hear it?"
"P-Perhaps later, sweetheart. I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Okay…" Une puffed out her cheeks.
"…You know that I love you, right? That…That I would never do anything to hurt you?"
Une noticed that the garbage can usually obscured from her vision because of a counter/dishwasher combination was tipped over. There was a pair of wagging tails, one long and twitching and the other stout and hyperactive, sticking out of it.
"Uh-huh, yeah, granma, I have to go! See you soon!"
Une hung up and threw the phone at the nearby dining table. She called for Nara to help her drag their pets out of the destroyed garbage bag. The green-haired girl returned with a Japanese-English dictionary in hand. To her dismay she saw old papers, fast food remains, and plastic strewn everywhere. It was thanks to a white kitten with three gray stripes on her back and a dark brown bear cub.
"No, Mai, bad!" said Une. The kitten continued to lick what used to be juice from her fur.
"Drop it, Dai. Drop it," said Nara as she pulled scraps of paper from the stubborn bear's mouth. "Was that Hats on the phone?"
"Mhm. Says she's gonna pick me up soon," Une scooped up the garbage and pushed it back into the can. While lifting it back in place, she suddenly realized that she never paused the DVD.
"Oh crap, we're gonna miss the best part!" she said to Nara, who was steps ahead of her already.
Megumi stood in front of Nara's home, frozen in place with a lightly closed hand hovering in front of the door. She couldn't bring herself to face her granddaughter and her friend. They endured so much…wasted so much of their time…and for what? To be told that it was a huge lie, that it was all a misunderstanding? They would never forgive her. She had no choice. Megumi had to make them see the truth. She recoiled, needing both hands to lift the cane. When the wooden fox faced the house, its eyes began to glow red.
"Please…send them back…" she whispered, ignoring the tears stinging her eyes.
Une picked up Mai and joined Nara and Dai in the living room. She saw the dramatic ending take place on the screen. Naruto and Sasuke, two former friendly rivals, flew to each other with the last of their strength. Naruto was consumed by the Nine-Tailed Fox's red chakra while Sasuke's Curse Mark turned him into a winged beast. The Rasengan and Chidori were their weapons. This was it. Une and Nara struggled to contain their excitement. Who would come out victorious: Une's blond outcast or Nara's handsome prodigy?
When the characters collided, a light engulfed their battlefield…then the entirety of the television…then the living room. The light seemed to be seeping out. It grew and brightened, forcing the girls to use their hands as visors. Soon everything was white…
"N…Ngh…"
Nara was the first to awaken. She saw dirt from her peripheral vision once her sight cleared. Sitting up, she brushed the grime from her cheek, hair, and clothes. She saw an unconscious Une, Mai, and Dai lying next to her. Once her ears stopped ringing she heard anxious whispers. She scanned the area around her. There were people staring at her as if she grew an extra head.
She couldn't help but do the same, since she recognized some of them as characters from Naruto.