DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, any characters affiliated, a Dairy Queen blizzard, a pansy, glowing lights, a mustache, or a forehead protector. But that would be nice...one of these days, I'm getting a forehead protector.
Denise sat on the tour bus, idly plucking at her violin's strings. Our brown-haired, green-eyed old friend had Michelle sitting beside her; the long, black-haired girl had been writing in a little cloud-decorated notebook; now she yawned and glanced at her watch.
I hate Monday mornings, Denise thought, settling back into her chair.
"What time is it?" asked Corey, who sat in the seat behind them.
In case you forgot, Corey is an Irish 15-year-old with shoulder-length, wavy/curly brown hair. Taller than both the girls, he was the gentleman Nazi, in a passive-aggressive type of way.
The three of them, plus about 60 other students from their school, as well as their teachers, were on their way to a nearby city for a pre-winter holidays music concert. Denise and Michelle played violin, and Corey was a cellist, so all were part of at least one ensemble that would perform.
"It's 10:43," a man's voice said.
The students looked up and saw their school's music teacher, Ionel. The short, rather rotund Romanian man looked fairly stressed. And no wonder.
"We are running behind schedule," Ionel said, in his thick accent, "The buses can't drive through all this snow. We may need to check into a hotel while these blizzard lasts."
Denise and Corey looked out their windows. Neither could see much; it truly was a blizzard.
"Oh," Michelle said, frowning, "Where are we?"
"Not even out of the city," Ionel said, shaking his head. And then stumbling when the bus suddenly started moving again.
"Ionel."
The strings teacher removed the walkie talkie that had just alerted him and was on his belt, and pressed the 'transmit' button.
"Yes, Stan?" the balding man asked, referring to the school's band teacher.
"We have to pull over the buses. The snow is too much."
Ionel sighed and put a hand over his eyes before affirming the other man's choice, and walking back down the bus' aisle.
These kids are getting more and more active, being trapped in the bus. They need to be let out in the open and get rid of all this energy, Denise heard Ionel think.
"Hey," Denise whispered to Michelle, "Do you think we'll make it?"
"Was the bus problem your doing?" Michelle asked bluntly.
"A little. It's easy slowing down the bus with...it," Denise whispered, referring to her telekinesis, "But the snow helped. Well? Will we make it?"
"It's close," Michelle answered, "But I think so."
"What's close?" Corey asked.
He leaned on the back of Michelle's chair so that it ended up horizontal, and Michelle was lying down, looking up at him.
"I'm too lazy to explain," Michelle said, closing her eyes.
"We mean, will we make it before totally going insane because of all these stupid people," Denise growled, as a crumpled ball of paper flew by, almost hitting her.
"Sorry!" a boy's voice said, from somewhere in the back of the bus.
"I bet you're not," Denise called back.
Michelle straightened her chair, and put her notebook into her backpack.
"We'd better get ready to leave," Michelle said, "We're pulling over soon."
And then they stopped driving, and...
A little while later, all 62 students and both music teachers were standing in front of the motel, Wayside Inn, in the snow, and listening to instructions the band teacher was giving them. They had signed in, with the hopes that the weatherman did not lie again, and the storm would truly move on by the next day. The skinny band teacher droned on, and Michelle had a problem.
"It's freezing," Michelle shivered; cold weather had never had a special place in her heart.
"Frigging pansy," Corey said, checking to make sure the teachers weren't looking their way; if one of them saw students talking, there might be trouble. But the three friends were at the back of the crowd.
"Do you want my coat?" the teen offered.
"No," Michelle said calmly, though she was shaking from the cold.
"Why not? I won't get cold. Well, I will but I won't feel it," the elder brother type of Nazi said, shrugging.
"Right. The laws of Physics don't apply to you," Denise said, grinning.
"Hell, yes!" Corey said, making a Nazi salute.
Denise laughed aloud and copied the salute. Michelle looked at her friends with a half-smile and shook her head. Corey glanced at the teachers who were still talking, then turned back to Michelle.
"Hey, what's Van Zulen been saying? I haven't been listening."
"Chinatown is nearby, so we can go there to spend the day," Michelle answered, teeth chattering, "Don't terrorize the town, be model students, et cetera and so forth. Ugh, it's COLD!"
Hearing all the other students talking and moving, Corey and Michelle looked at the crowd.
"We've been dismissed," Denise said, turning to her friends, "So. Where to?"
"I'm gonna go back to my room; I need to get something," Corey said, already turning to leave.
"Oh. Ok," Michelle said, "We should be in Chinatown. Probably in a manga store."
"Ok," Corey said, nodding and walking off.
"What time is it?" Denise hissed urgently.
"11:46," Michelle answered, "C'mon, let's go!"
Both girls took off at a run, but not totally unseen.
What were you two really trying to make it to? Corey thought, following the girls silently.
Though the boy was tall, and he had a black trenchcoat, he was a good stalker; the girls didn't notice him. But there was someone else following.
Oh no. I forgot to give Michelle her rosin back, Ionel thought, slapping his forehead, Huh, there's Corey. I'll see if I can catch up to him too. He's been skipping class.
With that thought, the man adjusted his violin case so it was strapped properly onto his back, and followed Corey.
Stalkers! Too many stalkers!
Pauline sat in the giant bonsai tree, waiting. Well, not really sitting. More like hanging from her knees with her head hanging down. Her long, black hair almost reached the circular stream that flowed around the tree's base, she noticed. Feeling so much blood in her head made the 15-year-old girl pull herself up into a sitting position on the tree's branch; she couldn't breathe being suspended like that.
"My hair's still not as long as Michelle's," she thought out loud to herself, "Hers is long enough to trail in the water. ...or maybe that's because she's just taller..."
As Pauline was homeschooled, and she lived within walking distance from Chinatown (where the greenhouse was located), she usually arrived first. Michelle and Denise still had to skip school in order to get to the greenhouse at the right time, so the three girls had agreed to meet at the tree first before all entering the parallel world at the same time. Soon, Michelle and Denise did arrive; Pauline looked up as she heard the door open. Both girls seemed a little breathless; Pauline guessed that it was almost the end of the time limit.
Over the past few months of world travelling, the girls had noticed that the greenhouse only existed for one hour; between 11am and noon (what they had done was hide Michelle's camera on the roof of the store which was opposite the greenhouse. After setting the camera to 'video', they had taped to see how long their portal was visible).
"What time is it?" Pauline asked, jumping down from the tree.
Michelle glanced at her watch as Denise pulled her coat off and threw it onto the ground.
"11:56. Whew. That was too close," Michelle shook her head, taking off her own coat and brushing snow out of her hair.
"Why are you so late?" Pauline asked, surprised.
"We found it hard to get out of that music trip," Denise explained, removing her coat and dropping it by her backpack, "It's snowing really heavily now, so I think we got away without being seen."
"I am so glad Christmas break is in a couple weeks," Michelle sighed, rubbing her eyes, "Are all the arrangements made for that?"
Pauline and Denise nodded.
"My parents think I'm staying at your place for the holidays," Denise said, walking by the greenhouse door.
"My mom's leaving the country," Pauline said, "So she think's I'm staying at your house too."
"And my parents think I'm on a field trip," Michelle said, nodding, "Good. That gives us a bit over two weeks to stay in Konoha."
Michelle and Pauline joined Denise at the door. Though the building seemed to be made of glass like a normal greenhouse, the girls couldn't see through the windows. Instead of the outside, they all saw white light; not bright or blinding, just sort of glowing.
"Are you ready?" Denise asked, looking at her friends.
"Totally," Michelle grinned, and Pauline nodded enthusiastically at her side.
"Let's go," Denise said, and all three girls pushed the door at the same time.
Not that they're all too weak to push a door open themselves. They're into the teamwork thing...
A greenhouse? What're they doing, growing weed? ...How come I can't help? Corey thought, seeing the two girls rush into the greenhouse.
After hesitating for a couple moments, Corey walked down the alleyway slowly, deliberately, until he stood right by the 'glass' structure. As the boy was about to open the door, he heard his name called. Turning quickly, he saw his teacher.
"Ah, Corey," Ionel said, panting, "I need to talk to you. Where are you going?"
"I'm following some people," Corey said, opening the door to the greenhouse, and holding it for is teacher. Little did he know that at that exact moment, the three girls had just opened the door and activated the portal on the inside.
"I see, I see. Oh, this is a nice place!" Ionel exclaimed, stepping into the greenhouse and looking around, "Wow. And it's so warm, too."
"Um, yeah," Corey said, rubbing a temple with one finger.
Damn Hitler mustache, Corey thought, meaning the little patch over the middle-aged man's upper lip.
"...Corey, there is no-one in here," Ionel said after a moment.
Corey nodded; he had been looking around too. Michelle and Denise were no-where to be seen.
"That's a little screwed...I saw them walk in," Corey said, walking to the tree that was in the centre.
"The two girls. Yes. Yes, me too," Ionel nodded, putting a hand under his chin and following the tall boy.
As Corey trailed a hand in the circular stream, both looked up at the tree. Corey froze, and Ionel jumped towards the tree and tapped the trunk excitedly.
"Look, Corey! Our names are here! Wow...That's incredible! Look, look!"
This man is much too happy, Corey thought, but he was still shocked; he reached up and touched his name to make sure it was really there.
"Wow. I have to tell Michelle about this. She likes these strange things," Ionel beamed, "Come on, Corey, help me find them."
"Um...ok," Corey said, shrugging.
Ionel led the way to the door, with Corey close behind, and pushed the door open. As soon as they had stepped out of the doorway, both froze. Suddenly it was the evening. Corey looked around wildly, blinking at all his surroundings, then turned to rush back into the greenhouse. But the greenhouse was no longer there; somehow the two men knew that it was called the Hokage's building. Ionel had frozen, staring at the alien place that he had just found himself in, then turned slowly.
"Holy shit!" Corey exclaimed, running a hand through his hair, "Where the hell are we? And...what the fuck?"
Looking down, Corey had seen that his clothing had changed. He wore flowing, robes fashioned like those of the Hyuuga clan, but black, not white, and he felt when touching his hair the forehead protector that was now there. Ionel also looked down, still stunned, and saw that he was wearing the typical grey outfit that Sound nins usually wore, complete with the ruff around the collar. Ionel touched his own forehead protector, and somehow he knew that it was of the village of Leaf, like Corey's; reaching behind to feel what was on his back, Ionel felt his violin and bow were strapped directly on his back, instead of on a case.
To take out quickly if in need of a fight...he thought, still not knowing how he knew these things.
"Korii," Ionel said calmly.
Corey stopped scratching the back of his head (which he usually did when stressed), and turned to face his teacher.
"...That's my name," Corey realized, "It's...Hyuuga Korii."
"It is...and mine is Inel," the man said, "I'm your...sensei."
Korii closed his eyes and shook his head.
"Let's sit down somewhere, Korii," Inel said, putting a hand on Korii's back and pushing him to get him moving down the road, "Let's see if we can sort this out."
A/N: See, I told you Deniizu, Pooriin and Michiko would be back! Now post! And if you have to flame, make sure it's constructive flaming. No spam. Spam is bad. Bleh...I don't even like eating spam...