~Chapter 1~

Dream

~Her POV~

I woke up.

…

…

That's it.

There was no immediate revelation and dreaming still seemed to be what was really happening to me at that moment. Realizing you're in a different room compared to the one you've fallen asleep in should raise questions in the head of any person, sane or not. I had my moments in both states. Couldn't truthfully say whether I was cuckoo or not, though. Well, if it really was one of my mighty sleep hallucinations, then it sure sucked. I've always like cool, but well-lit places, which that room was anything but. The air was hot and humid and the drawn curtains weren't doing that good of a job at anything, really. They kept the light out and the heat in, which was not on my check-list for a good environment on any day. There was sweat on my neck. Ugh, I really hated when that happened. Sweat on my exposed neck meant rivers of it on my back, which was pressed to a comfortable, but way too snug mattress. It was really strange. I had never sweat in any of my dreams.

I was still keeping my body in as numb a state as the one I had woken up in. Shifting was out of question at that moment. It didn't do good to move too much and realise that your physical sensations were a bit too intense for the REM stage.

'I guess practicing my prayer of vivid dreams before bed did do its' job…'

I stretched an arm from beneath the blanket and already noticed that something was wrong. The dream was missing details. I knew most people didn't see it, but I'd always been convinced that the beauty marks on my forearms formed constellations. I used to trace the Big Dipper on the right one. I never got to draw the whole North Star scheme since the mole assigned for it didn't grow in the right position. I had to get a new mole for that now.

'Skip that, I have to get a whole new constellation.' My thought was as absurd as that dream seemed to be, since my right arm was as bare as a baby's butt after a good old bath. There was nothing on it.

I took out my other hand in hopes of poking the dream away, but surprise surprise, I didn't seem to have the fingers to do that.

…

Rectification. I had the fingers. The fisted appendix just led me to believe otherwise.

I got up slowly, the blanket falling off and letting my skin breathe and cool. My legs dangled off the edge of the bed at a length I was familiar with, so no big change in the height department. I touched the floor gently, satisfied with the chilly sensation creeping through my soles.

I had to congratulate my brain on finally getting the senses tuned right. The creaking floor, the shift in the air when I moved… They all made me really feel like a crazy woman all of a sudden.

'A dream is a wish your heart makes, huh? Well, Cinderella, you sure messed up that part…'

The mirror over the sink was visible through the bathroom's open door, but it didn't reveal much. I had to walk all the way there, damn it!

I get up, ignoring the way my body felt a lot lighter than I remembered. I quickened my pace. I didn't want to ponder on reality too much.

The light in the bathroom now turned on, there was a mere step keeping me from finding out whether I had gone nuts or not. It was sure stressful. I tried convincing myself that sleep deprived people like myself could definitely experience such powerful hallucinations. When that went out the window, I tried reasoning with food poisoning, drugs, any other kind of poison that had been swiftly delivered to my system without it being brought to my awareness. Couldn't go farther, though. It was either some sort of sick game of fates mixed in or I was just completely insane, without any chance of being normal again.

''Here we go.''

I stepped in front of the mirror and stopped. Not because that was indeed my destination, but because my body had decided to block all processes that would have slowed me down in trying to understand the whole situation.

I wasn't a brunette. Not anymore, at least. The waves of bright, reddish hair that fell past my shoulders were unknown to me. The face that looked back was someone else's. It wasn't me. I took a step closer, trying to catch the final details of the illusion. My face was a tad bit longer now. My eyes were now a piercing black, not at all the gentle hazel I had been used to stare back at all my life. The freckles that donned the bridge of my nose went around the pale cheeks as well. The lips seemed fuller, the Cupid's bow, not as pronounced as before.

I reached to touch the glass before me. It seemed all quite real, yet I couldn't comprehend it just yet.

'Maybe if I pinch myself, it'll go away.' I may have said that to myself, but I couldn't dare touching my face.

'It would be all real then…'

So I just waited around. I stared in the mirror for some time, studying what I believed to be my mind's creation. Being so aware of my surroundings, I tried modifying some of them since, truthfully speaking, the damn room was dreadfully decorated. I thought fleetingly of how much nicer the room would feel if the damn curtains were drawn, but I didn't even get to move before they were moving themselves, letting the sun in and my sanity out.

'Cool stuff! I can move things with my mind, hah!'

I started throwing stuff around in my head, the supposed reality around me following suit. Every thought I wanted to implement immediately came true and that definitely did excite the dull mind of a person who was still innocently unaware of just how messed up her situation was.

After moving everything to my heart's content, I thought about totally redecorating the room.

'The colour of the walls is too dull,' I thought, and after conjuring up a more suitable nuance for the chamber, I started visualizing the paint peeling off the walls and disappearing into nothing. My surprise wasn't that great after my first supernatural experiences, so when the paint actually started bending my will, I immediately got to business and started painting the now bare walls in my own colour.

…

'The heck, why just one colour?'

So I started drawing sceneries on them. The most beautiful sunsets and views I had ever seen got translated on brush movements on the concrete walls. I didn't notice it at first, since I was too engrossed in the whole thing happening in front of me, but the paint didn't really coming out of thin air. The swift tendrils that floated in the room were those of the paint that had been ripped off, now being transformed to my heart's content.

''Damn, could've just change the colour directly. It took me half an hour to rip the whole thing off first…''

After playing with my new powers again and again, I was finally sure that that was the best dream I had had in a while. Indeed, it was all a dream. A dream. A dream. It didn't take much will to step yet again in the front of the mirror and gaze at my current self.

I looked at my reflection with a critical eye.

'Hmm, I've always wanted blue hair to just grow out of my scalp. Let's see…'

I thought up a whole cascading mane of azure to flow freely down my back….but nothing happened. The short tresses stayed the same, the colour didn't change. I tried forcing the thought onto myself. When that didn't work at first, I considered the possibility that maybe alive being were much more put together than paint on walls, so strength of will was all there really was to it, really.

I concentrated on the roots of my hairs, sketching the details in my head and moulding them with my imagination. They wouldn't budge. I clenched my teeth and glared at it. Nothing. I held my breath and tried focusing all my being on it. I was trembling already. My muscles were clenched tightly, the surging power making me feel light headed. I was on the brink of giving up when a painful headache just ripped through my skull. I screamed at the sudden sensation. The pain wasn't much as it went on, but the initial sensation made me aware of how a lightning would have felt like if it hit me in the skull.

The pain trip lasted little, but it was enough to bring me to my knees and make me feel nauseous at the slightest tilt. The laboured breathing didn't stop, though, since once the adrenaline died off, the fear kicked in wholeheartedly.

''It's just a dream, it's just a dream, don't get scared. I must have hit my head while asleep. I-I might've fallen out of bed, yeah!''. All I had to do now was wake up. I couldn't be there any longer -who knew how badly I must've hit my head.

''Okay. It's okay. Now let's just wake up,'' I muttered all assured, trying to pick myself up in the process. I leaned slightly on the side of the sink and stared at myself once more. A trembling hand reached up and pinched a sweaty cheek.

''Shit…It h-hurt.''

I pinched myself again, but nothing happened. I stretched the skin relentlessly, mauling it until purple started to tint the red splotching on the skin.

'No. Just...no.'

I backed away from the sink, hitting the wall behind me.

''I have to get out of here.''

'But where to…?'

I scrambled to the bedroom and turned around frenetically, searching for an exit. The first closed door I found was forced open to reveal a long hallway.

'Too long,' I thought, and ran ahead. I didn't even register whatever I passed by, be it beings or not. I just ran ahead. Of course, when the hall suddenly turned left, I followed the route religiously enough to end up at the entrance. It seemed to be some sort of inn I was in, but I couldn't give a damn. I ran towards the door and just the thought of it being wide open made it so. The screams from behind me might have stopped me in my tracks, had I been in my right mind. Nooooo such thing, though.

The unpaved street seemed a bit odd to me even in my crazed state, but I was silently thankful for it since I was running at full speed bare-footed. The fatigue didn't stop me, the people didn't stop me; the unknown location didn't stop me either.

I wanted to be awake again.

I couldn't, though. I couldn't.

He saw her running like a mad woman up to the end of the street. She was a wicked one, really. One needed a lot of courage to run at full speed clad in just a shirt.

''Look at her go,'' his companion mutter from across the table, his eyes still searching for the girl that was now lost in the crowd.

He sipped at his drink with a little more pathos this time round. She was either an escapee from the mental institution down the road or-

'' She looked like she was running away from something.''

''Huh... A much healthier alternative to our own methods then,'' his friend said grimly, eyeing the piling bottles of booze on the table. Not that it made much of a difference how much they drank. Both their minds remained as clear and as focused on past events as before.

He looked at his soon-to-be empty glass and twirled around the throat-burning liquid inside it.

''I could ask Inoichi for a favour,'' the bearded man said quietly, glancing at the expression on the blonde's face. The former just smiled a tad, enough to push back a sudden painful reminder, and looked up.

''That'd be quite the gamble, though,'' the man continued. ''Who knows what else he might erase by sweeping up the bulk-''.

''It's okay, Shikaku-san,'' interrupted the blonde. ''It's happened one too many times already for me to feel anything anymore.''

The corners of Shikaku's lips only dipped further, him taking in the perfect, smooth mask that his friend was donning. There wasn't a flaw in his countenance and yet that in itself was the major flaw. He was more guarded than ever and that screamed of him feeling much more than he would ever let on. He was afraid of feeling it and rightly so.

His brilliant mind couldn't come up with anything to soothe his friend in any way, so he did the only thing he'd been doing for the past few hours – he took to bottle and filled his glass again, hoping it'll at least make him stop thinking for a while about it. Alcohol was an undeniable friend in moments like these.

Few quiet moments passed between them before something else in the street caught their attention. Several shadows flew above the roofs on the other side of the street, the metal of their headbands glinting in the blazing sun. One of them skidded to a halt at the entrance of the bar, making them cling their glasses on the table.

''Intruder spotted two miles from here. It's supposedly just a civilian running amok, but they can't seem to catch her,'' said the disgruntled Chunnin, who was now giving subtle hints at them possibly being needed.

''A civilian, you say? What about the police?'' Shikaku inquired.

''That's the problem. They tried stopping her after she went straight to the businesses of some vendors, but she got away in a heartbeat. Freaking Sharingan-bearers couldn't get a hold of her.''

The blonde's eyebrows were now up to his hairline. It was no daily occurrence for someone to escape Konoha's Police Force so easily, someone lacking chakra nonetheless.

''…Wait, 'supposedly a civilian'? What do you mean?''

''Well, they couldn't sense or see any chakra from her, but…stuff keeps happening around her to help her escape. Up till now, two officers have been taken out by bricks flying out of nowhere and several others had to make detours after getting to dead ends.''

''…In a village that they know like the back of their hand… Sounds fun!'' the blonde said, smiling brightly and getting up for a stretch. ''Lead the way, then.''

Her feet were now leaving bloody marks on the dirt underneath. She was tired, so beyond tired that she couldn't even think of the reason she was doing it in the first place. After some darkly-clad people have tried to stop her in her chase after sanity, she timely considered them unknown enemies and did everything in her (newly found) power to lose them.

She was now limping near a river, a sudden urge of dipping her feet in the water taking over her. She looked behind her. The path looked clear, but she knew those sneaky asses could come after her at any time.

Truthfully speaking, she couldn't care less. A mental breakdown isn't always followed by rational, well-thought decisions, so she didn't ponder on it. She stepped on her wounded soles with care and crossed the bank of the river, stopping mere inches before the cool, inviting waters. Sitting down, she realised just how done she was with it all. One isn't supposed to feel pain the way she was feeling at the time. The sweat flowing freely on her heated skin seemed as real as it could get; the ache in her now sore muscles made itself known in a way too realistic manner. It couldn't be real. It couldn't.

'Okay, let's just see where we stand. I wake up in an entirely unknown place. Issue number one right there. That means I might've passed out before and someone carried me there or I was kidnapped or…oh, yeah, I might have amnesia… Yet the latter is out of the question since I can remember who I am. Actually scratch all of those. I clearly remember going to sleep in my own cosy room before this whole shebang.'

She dipped her legs in the water.

'Next issue – the actual unknown place. I feel like I've gone back several centuries. So I'm either on a freaking film set, with everyone mocking at me, or I'm just… I might be…'.

She stretched her legs fully, relishing in the sensation of her poor knees finally getting a rest.

''I have no idea where I am,'' she mumbled quietly, laying down on the grass and catching her breath.

She stared at the canopy above her. It was so quiet there. She was all alone…

''We had no idea where you were either,'' a sudden voice spoke from next to her, making her screech loudly and jump to her feet. Her try at getting away from her intruder didn't go as planned, since as soon as the rocks on the bottom of the river dug in her soles, her legs buckled weakly, sending her whole body in the water with a splash.

Her show seemed to greatly entertain her mystery companion. His laughter was hearty and carefree, the total opposite of what she was feeling at that moment.

''Wh-who are you?''. Her eyes were wide and on the brink of tears. She couldn't handle this world at all.

''I should be asking you that question, but I doubt I'd get an answer,'' the man said, amusement dancing in his eyes. ''Do share the reason as to why you're wreaking havoc in the village, though. That is, unless you want the police to come ask you the same question in an entirely different manner.''

She looked at him for a long time, studying his face, his stance, his mannerisms. At first glance, he seemed as honest a human can be, toppled with a whole goody-two-shoes act.

'It's definitely an act, though. He wouldn't have sneaked so silently if he wasn't trying to catch me off-guard...Which he did.'

''I-I..''.'Oh God, why am I so eloquent all of a sudden?' she thought bitterly, swallowing the knot that was slowly forming in her throat.

''I…Where am I?'' she asked in the end, hopelessness tinging the tone of her voice.

The blonde scrunched his nose, displeased with her answer.

''That's not the right answer,'' he said, and before she could even react, he disappeared from her view, a sharp pain at the base of her neck announcing her future state of unconsciousness.

He caught her before she got the chance to get another dip in the cold waters of the river. Freeing one of his hands, he made a Shadow Clone, the new appearance immediately taking the gal from his arms.

''Take her to the hospital. Be sure to write her off as type D in custody.''

He then remembered how hard it'd been for everyone to find her or even keep hold of her.

''…Actually, make it a type C. We don't want this one getting away that easily.''

The clone ran off as soon as the instructions were received, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

''Better report this to the Hokage then,'' he sighted, making a hand sign and disappearing from view.

Waking up was a pain in the ass. Damn, actually, it was a pain everywhere. Her limbs ached, her back ached, her head ached.

'My mind's aching,' she thought, eyes still closed to appear as unconscious as she'd been few moments before. Didn't work, though.

''She's awake,'' someone said in a rushed voice beside her, a chair screeching on a hard-sounding floor.

''Get her up,'' another one answered, this one, of an entirely different timbre, coming from the back of the room.

She felt hands griping gently, but firmly, at her arms, making her get up against her wishes. Her eyes opened slightly, but closing them was the next option, since the white light of the room was blinding enough for her sleepy eyes.

She felt the strong grip going down to her wrists and moving them towards the edge of the bed. The click that followed rang ominously in the room.

That opened her eyes for good.

''Wha-what are you doing?! Get them off! '', she screamed in panic, tugging at her newly bounded limbs. It was useless, though.

''You will be doing good to calm yourself, young lady,'' the man before her said, authority pouring out of his every pore. ''You have no right to make requests at the moment. In this place, you have no right, not even the one to move. Am I clear?''.

His words froze me in place, clearing my head in an instant.

'Oh God, I'm doomed.'

''It has come to my notice that you've been causing trouble around the central area. So much, in fact, that not even the police could stop you in your doings.''. The man took a step closer to her. "Now would be a good time to explain why you, a civilian, one not even registered in any of the documents concerning the ones that have entered the village for the past decade," he said pointedly, "was trying so hard to get rid of authorities as soon as they arrived."

The silence that followed was thick enough to cut. She couldn't move her gaze away from him, he wouldn't from her.

This was not a dream anymore. There was too much to it. Never had she ever felt so frightened at the mere sight of a man, one who wasn't even moving any muscle nonetheless.

She was screwed. Whatever this whole fiasco was about, she knew she was utterly screwed, and she didn't even know the reason to it. She couldn't wing this one. No one could. The man in front of her screamed of too much experience in dealing with annoying little beings like her to be fooled by spilled words, and he definitely didn't seem to have much patience to deal with her much longer.

Sweat was yet again starting to give a shine to her skin; only this time, it was as cold as ice. She didn't want to be there. She didn't know how she was there in the first place, for God's sake!

She felt some sort of rage budding inside of her. This whole thing couldn't be more infuriating. She didn't care anymore.

'Fuck it.'

Right before she was about to blow the whole thing up just for the sake of doing it, the door to the room opened, letting in other dream-like entities.

"Oh, dear Kami, Danzo. You scared the wits out of her," the older man muttered, the lines around his eyes accentuated by his discontent. He stepped close to the side of her bed, behind him trailing the same blonde who brought her in this predicament in the first place.

"YOU!" she screamed angrily, yet again tugging at her biddings to reach her new-found enemy.

"Now, now. Calm down, miss." The old man said gently. "He was only doing his duty as a shinobi of this village. I hope you do understand that your…situation called for it."

His whole demeanour remained the same throughout her thoughtless fit. After a few moments of silence, he pulled the chair next to her bed and sat on it comfortably.

"Now, please do me the honour and explain as best as you can the reason behind the ruckus from this morning. I have to tell you that you did, indeed, take us by surprise with it."

At his question, she shut her mouth, setting her lips in a thin line.

'If only I knew…'

"I can't help you," I said honestly. "I just...woke up here. I have no idea where I am, when in time I am or who you are. I have no memory of travelling here or even going to that damn inn I woke up in. I know nothing," she said, tears already forming to spill on her cheeks.

The three men stood and watched her in silence, all with some sort of troubled expressions on their faces. Well, two of them, at least, since Mister Scare-You-Shitless was his usual intensely-impassive self.

After a pause, the old man got up and went towards the door.

"Call Inoichi-san," he ordered quietly. It was definitely an order, since, as soon as the words rang, the blonde straightened his stance and nodded in understanding.

The two existed what seemed to be the hospital room, leaving the third yet again alone with her.

She didn't look at him. She'd had enough of his psycho antics for a day.

He didn't move from his position for several minutes, his gaze still set on her in a way that reminded her of the way wolves look at their pray before biting their throats.

The tension in the air was thickening by the minute, but it didn't last long since the door opened once more to reveal another blonde man, but with a different appearance.

The slight smile on his lips must have been placed there in order to ease her fear a tad, but it wasn't doing anything in that direction, really. She was, actually, even more sceptical of him as soon as she saw his eyes. They were endless pits of blue; endless, dangerous pits out of which you would never get out once you got lost in them. He seemed human as a whole, but his eyes looked like they were telling a different story.

"Hello, miss. I am Yamanaka Inoichi. I have been sent to talk to you for a while regarding what you've recently been through," he said, stepping closer to her as he spoke. His voice was comforting in a practiced manner. Her body wanted to relax in his presence, but her mind reeled at the thought of him getting even a step closer. He looked dangerous.

"What I'm about to do might seem a bit intrusive, but please trust me that it'll give you no harm," he muttered, his hands touching her head, the motion triggering an unspeakable pain in her head.

'No harm, he said? Bullshit!'

'Sorry,' a voice answered inside her head. 'It won't take long.'

It felt awful. It was like a worm was wiggling his way through her brain, munching at her memories and thoughts. She wasn't having it. She was having nothing of that.

Her will was stronger than ever when she thought of the little worm being forcefully pushed out of her skull. She could have easily pulverized him, but she didn't want any remains in her already scattered mind.

Her forceful screams were now mending with his. He was being pushed out. He'd barely managed to catch a glimpse of whatever her mind had stored, but an unknown force was grabbing at his own conscience like it was nothing. He didn't feel in control anymore. The roles had somehow, somewhat been reversed and the pain was unbearable. It reminded him of the time he when was still training his technique, when his own mind was being moulded by someone else's will.

"Get out!" she screamed again and they both fell unconscious.

There was a breach in security and that thought didn't sit well with him. A girl, with no chakra to speak of, with no visibly special abilities to begin with, has managed to make a sudden appearance in the middle of the village and no one had known about it until she herself had made it known.

It wasn't a desirable situation. Not at all. She didn't seem to want to cooperate and there was so much he could do before Danzo stepped in and took matters into his own hands. That man despised not being in control. That in itself was, in the end, the reason as to why he never did acquire the position of Hokage. He seemed to be a bit too unforgiving with anything that got in his way.

The old man scratched at his whitening goatee, thinking over the happenings during the day.

'I truly hope she's not an enemy. We can't handle more of those at this time…If she is, then we'll just have to-'.

His thoughts were grossly interrupted by the abrupt entrance of one of his subordinates, his unruly visage worrying him already.

"Hokage-sama, Inoichi-san is unconscious!"

"What do you mean?".

"The girl… She did something or the whole thing has gone wrong and now they're both unconscious. They've tried waking them up, but they're unresponsive."

The Lord's lips set in a grim line. That wasn't normal. Not at all…

"Call Tsunade. I want her to look over it."

"Tsu-Tsunade-sama, sir? B-but it's her off day today."

Everybody knew of Tsunade's off day. It was the exact day of the week during which every casino and every ninja who played with the Slug Princess won substantially more yen than in the other days of the week. It also happened to be the day during which no one came close to her after she lost, since her temper wasn't known for sweet appearances.

"No matter. This could be more serious than we first thought."

"…Yes, sir.", the Chunnin said, closing the door behind him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a man with decades of experience in his field and one would think that that would be enough to keep him calm and restful at nights. How wrong that truly was, though. No matter how many wars he'd been through, there were always new minds amongst the enemies that came up with unexpected strategies, in hopes of destabilising his nation.

'Of course, if she does end up being on their side, she was definitely poorly chosen.'

It really couldn't be that Iwa would waste such a trump card as to being able to appear in the middle of their village without taking full advantage of it. Breaking a few stand and knocking out two officers wasn't as exponential a damage as he would have expected from someone truly set against him.

The girl herself didn't seem to be a ninja either. Her movements, although sharp, were too sluggish for someone above Gennin. Her chakra was just not present, like in any other civilian and she wore her heart on her plate. You could see every bit of emotion dancing in her eyes or pooling at the corners of her mouth. She was no danger. She couldn't be. She was just a mere-

Yet again his thoughts got interrupted; only this time, the countenance of the messenger was much more dishevelled than before.

"The girl, sir! She's…She's disappeared!"

"What? You lost her?", he said, stupefied at the mere notion.

"No, sir, she was right before us when she just disappeared into thin air. She wasn't conscious either."

'A reverse summon maybe…'

He sparked a bit of chakra on some characters written under his desk. At his call, the blonde man made his appearance in the middle of the room.

"Minato-kun, did you notice any seal on her?".

"No, sir. Not even the Uchiha could see any trace of chakra on her being."

"Was any felt when she disappeared?".

Minato stood silent before him, a troubled expression on his face.

"..No, sir. There was no chakra output at her disappearance. It was like she was never there to begin with."

The three of them stayed silent for a long time afterwards. They might have even found an answer to the whole issue if they had met the situation before… But it was unheard of. Chakra was, indeed, an amazing thing, but it did exist. People could feel it, whatever its' manifestation was.

"How is Inoichi-san?".

"Still unconscious, sir. Tsunade-sama can't seem to wake him up from it. She finds it to be very similar to how Tsukuyomi victims respond after the jutsu."

'Oh'.

"Have you put your own seal on her? Can you track her?"

"…I have put one on her, sir, but I am unable to find her. She is either out of my range or…".

"I see… Call Danzo. I want the security to be tightened around the border. I also need all teams of chakra sensors to check the perimeter of where she was last seen. Make it so that you and Jiraya make additional tags and seal for keeping count of chakra presences in the village."

"Yes, sir.", Minato said, turning around and getting out of the office.

'We'll find you, little girl. Don't worry. We'll find you.'

I know I should've put the disclaimer first, but I couldn't be bothered. So, I don't own anything around here, except my own dear OC and whatever she messes up in the timeline. Please review and I hope you liked it!