In the Land of Lakes by Shikoo

Disclaimer: I really, really, really don't own Naruto or its characters. And I mean it. And I don't make any money of this, either. I write only for my own pleasure and for my readers. Even the spell check is done by my wonderful beta, kady0000.

Warnings: Umm… Terrible OC:s? Bad grammar? Do those count? No, really, I don't know. I won't write anything M here, nor will there be absolute crack, the pairings (if I ever write them) will most likely be het… Oh, yes, I gotta warn you about possible OOC:ness – I have never written anything with them!

"Like, honestly."

I facepalmed. Hard. The book I was reading was SO… Ugh, never mind. But, in my opinion, a thriller in which you can guess the culprit halfway through is not well-written. And, on top of it, my muscles were aching from lying on the bed for two hours straight.

I took a quick look at the clock. 19.02, and I sure was hungry. I knew it was time to go and eat, but the bed was sooo soft… Oh, to the hell with it, I thought. I swung my legs lazily over the edge and stood up, stretching oh-so-enjoyably.

I spared a brief glance to the mirror on my wall. Hair was alright, dark and pulled up to a ponytail. My eyes were annoyingly a bit slanted (have to confess, I tried to pull them downwards - again) and of a deep green, forest-like colour.

My form was slim and petite, but not very womanly. I pulled my shirt downwards, for it had ridden up, and grinned. As shy as ever, I couldn't be messy even in my own apartment – furthermore, alone. I did the nice-guy pose, just to show off (to no-one… creepy) and walked out of my room.

In the kitchen, I opened the fridge and examined the contents. Some eggs, juice, cheese, left-over chicken from last night… "Well, I suppose some chicken omelette would do", I stated to myself. I gathered the ingredients and started cooking: cracking some eggs, frying it, you know.

I know I'm no good in kitchen, but I can cook some basic things. I used to eat only fast food, but I changed a year ago, buying some cookery books and learning. Nowadays I even invite my friends to dinner sometimes… Only the best of the best, though. As I told you some time ago, I'm terribly shy and have only a few good friends.

And now you may be asking, "Shy? You? You haven't acted quite like that…" That's true. But, I have a reason: I only act shy when there are unknown people nearby. With my best friends, I'm just as loud as I am now. You'll see, just wait…

Now, back to the story. So, I made the food and ate it, yummy yummy. (Hey, it actually was good!) After doing the dishes I jumped on the couch, opened my laptop and checked my e-mail:

Notifier: Naruto 583 has been released

"Yay! My favourite manga!" I screamed and clicked the link. The first page opened and for the next few minutes I was in heaven. I read Naruto every single week and it's always as intense. This time, it was a chapter about Kabuto and how he met Orochimaru. Pretty nice, and 16 pages are always too short.

Where now? A stupid question! I typed to the browser and pressed enter. Only a few clicks later I had an Akatsuki humor fic in front of me. I sure love those, it's always as fun watching/reading their (childish) arguments. I had fun for a couple of hours, reading crack and such, but when I nearly suffocated when laughing, I decided to switch on romance.

When I read fanfiction, I read either humor… or romance. Always. No arguing. And I'm strict on pairings. My absolute fav pairings are ShikaTema and NejiTen, and I don't even read anything with those characters paired in different way. (For instance, I don't read it if the main pairing is, say, ShikaIno. Ugh.) Outside these pairings, I accept many, but not any cests, because that's just… wrong.

So, as said, I switched on romance and read a few chapters of some cute story. It was just the right amount tragic and fluffy: straight to favourites, of course! For my displeasure, I couldn't find any other good ones the night.

I shut down my computer and glanced at the clock. And glanced again. It was already past midnight! I hadn't realised I had read for so long… So, I jumped off the couch and took a quick shower before washing my teeth and snuggling under the soft blanket on my bed. I remember only thinking about today's chapter of Naruto before falling asleep.

A world of black and white opened before my eyes. An occasional splatter of red looked gruesomely like blood. There were black stone walls, no, mountains, surrounding the area. A milky white lake lay in the middle of the scenery, and that's what caught my attention. And before I even could think, my legs carried me over there.

The water really looks like milk, I thought as I got closer. The bank was soft and muddy beneath my bare feet. And, without a second thought, I reached my hand under the water, almost as someone had controlled me. I felt a strong hand grasp mine, and I pulled. A figure rose from beneath the surface. It was human-shaped, but blurred and its skin was the same milky white colour as the lake.

I felt a strong presence: like a whole crowd was standing in the small valley. Overwhelmed by the feeling, I picked the creature's hand and ran: but the presence didn't leave me. If fact, it felt as the crowd was nearing me, closing in on me. I collapsed to the ground, holding my head as I felt their feelings. Some were angry, evil even, some sad, but the overall feeling was curiosity. They wanted to know who I was… With this last thought, I fell unconscious.

"ONEESAN! WAKE UP DATTEBAYO! HAYATE!"

My eyes fluttered open – to the sight of a blond-haired boy standing over me. Needless to say, I screamed. Loud. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" And with that, I ran out of my room, barely registering a few figures in the corner.

I burst into the small room, which connected my room, the living room, the bathroom and the toilet. The only thought in my head consisted of escaping, because clearly there were some kind of burglars or rapists in my house. But as I opened the door to my living room, I saw a whole crowd of people in front of my escape route. The next option, the bathroom was also full. So, I opened the door to my toilet – I could at least lock the door until help arrives.

For my instant relief, there were no people in the small room. I quickly jumped in, shut the door and locked it. I heard the pounding on the door, but they wouldn't get in. Not yet, at least. Unless they were some kind of ninja or such… I actually chuckled to the thought. Now, when I thought about it, the blond boy had looked a bit like Naruto… But, hell, that was impossible. Was this some kind of an attack of cosplayers? Then there would surely be Sakura, too, and Sai and…

A tap on my back made me stiffen. I spun around – only to be faced with Sai's oh-so-familiar fake smile and the words: "May I ask, who are you?" And, with that, I passed out.

A/N: So, here we are. The first chapter has been released. I was surprised how much time this took, but, then, this is only the second fic I've ever written. I'm planning on making more chapters, BUT the thing is, I need to know do you want me to continue. So please, please review. I'm not a good author, as you can see, so any tips would be welcomed. Also, please write down all my grammar and/or spelling mistakes so I can correct them.

Although it didn't really come up, this happens in Finland, my home country. You know, the one in Northern Europe, the promised land of Angry Birds. So, a few facts about the country wouldn't kill, no?

Finland is a part of the Scandinavia, along with Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. We've got loads and loads of forest and lakes. In fact, Finland is being called the land of thousands of lakes: we've got over 200,000 lakes here. We also have snow here in the winter, and everyone skis, skates or plays ice hockey.

The capital is Helsinki – this year's World Design Capital. Other big cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Kuopio, Jyväskylä and Lahti, for example. But, our population being only a bit over 5 million, even the biggest cities don't reach a population of one million. Our language is Finnish. It's pretty much unkind any else, but Estonian and Hungarian are a bit like it. Any questions about my country? Feel free to ask!

Oh, this is too long… Please R&R, I'm on my way writing the next one!