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~oOo~

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A Short-Lived Moment

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~oOo~

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I grinned and whooped as I swung around on the rope swing dangling precariously low over the lake. It wasn't even that much of a lake- in fact, if you were to stand in it, it would only go knee-high in the deepest part.

One of my best friends, Kathryn, was on the same swing, her feet just above my hands.

We fell back against the tree, our sneakers pressing against the bark and fungus.

"Okay, okay, Leah, so on three, we'll jump, alright?" she giggled.

I held back a snort- like I'd fall for that one again.

"Okay, dude, but you gotta pinkie-promise," I smiled, high on summer vacation.

"Okay, alright, dude, let's go."

And, as she bent over, one hand on the rope while her pinkie clasped mine, I pushed off of the trunk and latched onto her arm, dragged her down with me, Kat's scream of, "Yousonovabi-" trailing in the air after us, shortly followed by a chorus of surprised shrieks and giggles.

And then we hit the water, sinking to our necks, then to our eyes, and that's when I realized that something was really, really wrong.

My eyes widened before squeezing shut, the feeling of lake water being unpleasant. I squinted a bit to see, and though it was only barely, it helped greatly.

I noted how I was still stubbornly clutched to Kat's sleeve, and how she was looking around (with her eyes opened, I thought enviously) in bewilderment.

And then I looked down.

The water kept going in all directions, making me wonder which way we had fallen from.

I noticed a... strange portion of the water we were floating towards.

It looks like that thing from Finding Nemo… I thought, vaguely aware of what was happening but still unbelieving.

That… that… what was it, again? I frowned. It looks like that… Oh, shit.

Those were my last thoughts before I firmly pressed my lips down, trapped Kathryn in a bear hug, and closed my eyes as we were torn by the vortexing current.

We were thrown all over, spinning and whirling in a senseless flurry of shit hold your breath don't let go of Kat just don't freak out don't die just hold onto Kat and your breath don't let go!

I peeled my eyes open after a while, my lungs burning and my stomach twisting into a knot. I glanced down to see I was dragging a dead weight- Kat was unconscious. Or- no, she was unconscious. Totally unconscious. Not… Yeah. Not following that train of thought any longer, she needed air, I needed air, we needed to get out.

I looked about frantically, lighting up as I noticed light filtering from above there was the top there was air I needed to get there gogogogogo!

I got a vice grip on Kat's wrist and pulled myself forward, kind of grateful for my stamina and seven years of struggling through swim team at this point.

I pulled through the light, through the water, and pushed Kat onto dry land and dragged myself out right after, collapsing on the ground to wheeze and cough and spit out water.

I continued to catch my breath until I remembered shit was Kat okay she's unconscious I need to- need to- need to…

I heard muffled noises and saw flowing cloth out of the corner of my eye, but forced myself to remember health class lessons.

Okay. Okay. Okay, I got this, this is going to be okay.

I spread her out on the ground, laying flat as I scramble to sit by her side.

"Step one: Look, listen, and feel for any signs of breathing," I muttered.

I pressed my ear against her somewhat flat chest, pushed my hand under her nose, shit no breathing what do I do what do I do what do I-

"Step two: if negative, check for pulse."

I placed my palm on top of her heart, hoping to God, Kami, Allah, even Jashin, anyone that could listen that-

"Oh, thank Jashin," I sighed.

"Step three: begin chest compressions, thirty compressions in a set, at the rate of one hundred compressions a minute. Press two inches deep on an adult or young adult, one and a half on small children and infants."

I laced my fingers together, pressed the heel of my palm against the center of her chest, and went through the motions.

Vaguely, I heard someone say something. Perhaps it was, "Hello… kay, miss? I….. help…."

I waved whoever it was away, muttering something like, "Holasec, Kat's hurt, gotta focus, go away."

I somewhat remembered something along the lines of, "think of a song with one hundred beats per minute," and that led to two song choices: Another One Bites the Dust, or Stayin' Alive.

The answer was clear.

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man, no time to talk.

Maybe I hummed the song under my breath, though I wasn't quite sure.

One hundred two, one hundred three, one hundred fo-

Suddenly, Kat cough, jolting awake.

I backed up quickly while she got on her hands and knees to puke up a small amount of water. As soon as she was done, though, I threw myself onto her, wrapping her in a hug, chanting, "Oh God oh God oh God oh God."

I froze, sat up properly, released her, and promptly smacked the back of her head.

"Are you fucking mental?" I scowled. "I swear to Jashin, if you ever do that again, I'll… I'll… I'll..." Words failing me, I just smacked her head again.

"If you die, I'm so totally going to hell with you just so you have to put up with me for all of eternity, got it?" I scolded.

Re-wrapping her up in a hug, I waited for her to say something.

"Where the fuck are we?"

I blinked at her. "Aren't we still at the laaaaaaaa- shit, dude, did I just climb out of a freaking puddle?"

Where I was sure had been the lakeside was a small puddle. Dafuq? Sure, it was big enough to fit our shoulders and then some, but there was no way it was deep enough.

"Yo, dude, check my legs," Kathryn said. I glanced at them- nothing strange. Then I noticed they were perfectly smooth, not even the rises on the skin where the hairs were supposed to be growing.

I checked my own legs and wiggled my shoeless toes- the current had ripped my old sneakers and socks away, which I was sort of grateful for, as they would have clogged up with water and dragged us down more.

"Wait, back to the original question. Where the hell are we?" I wondered aloud.

"Hi no Kuni," a familiar voice answered. I turned around because okay, there was no way in hell this could be-

… Well, fuck. It's a ninja.

"Are we in the ninjaverse?" I asked incredulously.

"Fuck this shit, I'm outta here," Kat decided, stretching a bit and diving feet first back into the puddle, going up to her shoulders where she held onto the dirt with her arms to wait for me, where she went through breathing exercises in preparation for the drop.

I joined her in the puddle before turning back to the group of five.

"Okay, old dude, you're an asshat. Don't guilt trip the nin." Gesturing to the second, I added, "Pinkette, learn to kick some serious ass, 'cause you need to up your game."

Catching my drift, Kat added, "You two. Tall one and blue one with the duck hair. Quit moping, it's pissing people off."

"And for orangy…" we began together.

"You'd make a good Hokage," Kat told him.

"Dimension travel is complicated," I added.
And with that, we hastily dove back into the water before the confused Konoha nin could react.

It was an overall confusing day for all of those involved.

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~oOo~

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As the two strange girls disappeared back into the puddle they had risen from, Kakashi blinked slowly.

Naruto was beaming, albeit a bit confusedly, Sakura was wondering if what she heard was a compliment or not, and Sasuke was fuming as he lept into the puddle, only to be disappointed, which he covered up with more anger, as the puddle was less than an inch deep, as most puddles were.

"I should send a report about this to the Hokage," the "tall one" muttered.

"Wait, Kakashi-sensei, we're still going on with the mission, right?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Kakashi considered it for a minute. Maybe they should turn back, for the safety of his team and all… Nah. This was the first interesting mission they'd gotten in a while, might as well keep going.

"I'll send the report by hawk," Kakashi decided. Hawk would be fastest, after his own ninja hounds, of course. But he needed to have them all in one place- if they got attacked again, they would need all the help they could get.

And so, carefully giving the puddle a large berth, the continued on their way to the Land of the Waves.

"Tazuna, you can continue telling your story now."

The drunkard bridge builder sighed and continued trudging on.

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~oOo~

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A/N: Oh no! I'm losing interest in Naruto! This is awful, since I'm so deadset on finishing my fics, but... I may have to put them up for adoption if I can't force myself through the planned twenty chapters for HISBI! I think I Propose a Toast is safe, since it's just crack and burning off stress. I can always go back to it if I need to kill writer's block. But HISBI! and my little brain children may be unfinishable since I'm too involved in other fandoms. But this AN is running long.

This is going to be a series of one-shots and unfinished stories from, like, middle school, when I first posted my draft for HISBI! Some I may edit/rewrite/revive, but these ideas are things I never got the motivation to finish or confidence to publish. You can use any of these, you just gotta let me know and, like, not steal the one-shots verbatim. But back to the stories.