AN:

Hello dear readers!

To begin with a bit of introduction...This story is a rewrite at my first attempt of a Naruto FanFic called 'Fire and Ice' (this story can be found on my profile if you wish to compare the two...or possibly give yourself spoilers for the future). For my old readers, there will be a few new plot additions and chapters (and definitely more development in terms of the characters themselves)-so hopefully you will find this newer version to be a bit more enjoyable to read (that's the hope, anyway). To the new readers/followers, I really hope you enjoy this version-I've been working quite hard on it. To all else, thank you for your curiosity.

As a word of caution: to any who may be offended by language, sexual content, and a multitude of pairings, well...I have rated this fanfiction 'M' for a reason; if you are offended by these, well, unfortunately this story may not be for you.

As a side note, I do not own Naruto or the characters within, but those of my own creation, I do.

Thank you to any and all for reading this story-I hope you enjoy!

~Aria
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Distress and Coma

Chapter 1: Beginnings

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Ayame

My eyes opened slowly, uncomfortably. I don't recall having ever gone to sleep, but the aching in my head told me otherwise. Above me, a bright, sickly colored moon lit the sky-the silence of night resting around the space I laid in. 'Odd…just a few minutes ago I was laying in my room…' The horizon in which the moon now rested was painted an ominous shade of gold with dark, multicolored clouds circling around its center.

I rolled my head to the side; ancient trees surrounded the clearing I now laid in, forming a huge castle-like barrier of oak and leaves. Long, gross looking vines hung down from the withered branches-at first, I thought they were snakes, but after wiping my eyes, their vegetation told me otherwise. 'Ah…definitely a dream then…' I watched in awe as the breeze rustled the upper canopies of the giants, causing pairs of dead leaves to fall gracefully to the floor below. The scene they created was so beautiful, it was almost as if I were watching a pair of dancers glide through on the dance floor; dipping, twirling then gently bowing as they departed on the grass beneath.
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Akatsuki Base, Kimigaugkre, 23:06

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"Itachi, have you located the objectives?" Pain asked, pausing briefly before the dark-haired Uchiha. Itachi sat on the ground, encircled by the remaining members of the Akatsuki. His Sharingan clad eyes were closed in deep concentration, while both hands were held before his face in a prayer-like stance.

"No." He answered, somewhat annoyed.

A sigh came from the crowd, followed by a statement somewhere around the words of pointlessness and useless.

The orange haired man whom had been pacing the circle of Akatsuki members stopped again, turning to face the voice which had broken the silence. Calmly, he stated an issue of silence, then continued his stalking around the group.

"I don't see how these girls we are trying to locate could possibly compare to the Jinchuriki we've been tracking down." Surrounding members agreed with the Hidan's whinny complaints. "Besides, Zetsu could have found them more efficiently than Itachi. This mission is a waste of our efforts and fucking t-"

Pain raised his hand, cutting off his statement. The serene look he had worn during his pacing and thought had fallen to a mask of annoyance. "You have spoken out of term, Hidan. This mission," He glanced around to each member, glaring. Hidan made a move to argue, but Sasori nudged him before he could continue. "I assure all of you, is of great significance."

"Hidan-sama does has a point," Deidara cut in, "Zetsu could have already located and captured these girl's in question, hmmm."

"Indeed, Zetsu would be ideal for an assignment of this caliber, but Itachi's Sharingan makes him useful for communicating with the targets through means other than confrontation." Pain explained, "This is the safest way to go about connecting with our targets; we cannot afford to let them discover our location, be it Zetsu failed. It's an unlikely scenario, but it still remains a possibility." He continued, "They are both of higher ranking shinobi status; it's too risky sending one member to take care of two targets-not right now, anyway. Not to mention the rescue group they are sure to send after their attempted kidnapping, nor the ANBU, who are already on high alert after the recent attack on Konoha. We've been too careless lately-we need precaution."

Deidara bowed his head, cheeks blushing in embarrassment. "..Just saying, un."

"I've found them." Itachi announced, opening his eyes.

"Well done, proceed with stage one." Pain replied, resuming his walk around the group.

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Ayame

The silent breeze suddenly picked up, whipping my hair around my face. I rose from my burrow in the grass, abruptly startled by the sight before me. All of the wondrous and mighty trees that had once towered over the clearing were now leafless and shriveled; the grass had become brittle and yellow, breaking at my touch. The sky was now pitch black, the once bright moon replaced with a sinister looking lunar eclipse.

I closed my eyes, silently hoping that I could wake myself. In my experience, when a nightmare began, it was almost like a genjutsu-it needed to be broken, and fast. Otherwise everything would start getting out of hand, out of my control, and I'd be trapped. When I opened my eyes once more, it appeared as if the morbid display before me had only gotten worse. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of black crows now filled the limbs of the rotting trees, their scarlet eyes watching me from all positions; unblinking, and unwavering. 'Come on…' From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of one of the birds taking flight, its ink-like wings growing larger and more blade-like with each and every stroke. 'Wake up before this turns into another nightmare, you idiot!'

It then raced by me; one of its razor-like talons slicing the flesh of my cheek. Hot, metallic liquid instantly seeped from the wound, spilling down my face. The crow then doubled back, circling above me-waiting for my next move. I inched backwards, trying to escape its next round, but my body felt as if it wasn't responding well to my commands. Every limb felt like it had been weighed down with lead, and my head felt foggy-making thought almost impossible. 'It's still not breaking…' The crow followed my pace, now joined by several others. 'Just focus…focus on breaking the dream.' I lifted my hands up to protect my head-which took much more of an effort than it should have-and closed my eyes-trying to shield myself from their incoming talons.

They swarmed me, their beaks and claws digging into the exposed flesh on my arms and legs. I could feel the blood drenching my clothes and skin, though the adrenaline kept me from losing balance. A familiar feeling of loneliness dawned on me as I felt my knees begin to shake.
I was alone again; no one would be here to wake me from this bloody onslaught, no one would come to my aid and keep me from experiencing that familiar feeling of dying- no one would be there to comfort me when I'd wake in my room covered in sweat and tears-just me. I'd be alone, with the thoughts, the sleepless nights-which have been trying their best to resurface for the past month-and the crippling feeling of weakness. 'This is what you deserve…' I couldn't help but smile at the more cynical side of myself. 'You couldn't break the dream, and now you get to endure it-alone.'

I opened my eyes; had the attacks had stopped? Moving my head to the side, I noticed that a puddle of blood had now formed around my body, causing the surrounding grass and leaves to stick to my already damp skin.

I growled and bit my lower lip to fight back the pain as I slowly lowered my arms from my face. This was one hell of a dream... Using what little strength I could muster, I averted my gaze to the other side of the forest-fresh blood spilling from my neck and down my chest. The crows had flown over to the opposite side of the clearing; and from the looks of it, it appeared as though they were joining together. At first they seemed to simply be a pit of growing darkness, swirling and cawing at each other; but slowly, gradually, they began to morph into a figure; a man, from the looks of it anyway.

He had layered black hair, a crimson band holding what looked like longer sections of hair back against the nape of his neck. His visible skin was pale, almost white in contrast to the darkness of the clearing. Long bangs and high cheekbones outlined the definition of his face, while a pair of deep tear troughs bordered the underside of his bright, red eyes. From this distance, I couldn't tell if the eyes were dream-induced (despite having never seen this man before), contacts, or some sort of Kekkei Genkei. A worn Konohagurke ninja protector was bound across his forehead-though a deep gash was gouged across the emblem, symbolizing a broken tie with the village. 'Rouge ninja?' Over his torso, he wore a long, tall-necked black cloak adjourned with numerous red and white clouds. 'Cultist?'

"Who are you?" I whispered, darkness beginning to creep into my line of vision. Great, I really was dying.

"No one of importance." His dark, stoic voice answered.

I swallowed the growing lump in my throat, "Then why are you here?"

"I am here to deliver a message to you."

-"...Not interested." My eye twitched as my voice began to break.

"Are you sure?" I could hear a hint of…maybe humor, or just surprise, in his voice as the continued. "Would you still say no even if it involved you and your sister, Kiame?"

If ever there was a sore spot, well…it would be involving my sister. Not many from the village knew of her, not as my twin, anyway-that's how the ANBU wanted it, thus that's how it was kept. Ties within the village only created weakness for enemies to follow up on-so why have relations when it's best to kept yourself hidden from the public eye? The question remained, however-how in the world did he know of Kia? "I don't know who you're talking ab-"

-"We will be coming for you and your sister, Ayame."

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Kiame
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I looked around, lost by all of the thick foliage around me. 'When did I get here?' I wondered, gazing around at the possible directions stretched out among the clearing. Left looked promising, the trail ahead looked a little more worn-so at least there had been people travelling this way. As for the right or middle, both looked unused and over-run by vines and bushes-therefore less people, possible danger, but that did nothing to answer where I was. I approached the middle path, removing a kunai to cut away some of the more obtrusive vines, when a bright flash of light suddenly raced in front of my face.

I looked up, relieved to see one of my glowing chakra phoenixes soaring high above my head. Instinctively, I pushed my psyche into the phoenix, gazing out to the treetops and mountains with my newly attuned eyes. It had been awhile since I had been on a mission in which I had to use one of my phoenixes, so the sudden altitude and mental change felt a little more jarring than usual. I took a deep breath and pushed my new self forward, following its already predestined flight pattern. There was no feeling in the world like that of soaring through the sky...

Here, I didn't have any humanly bound restrictions; I was the one looking down at the earth, I was the one soaring and screeching into the sky, I was the one who was free. 'Ah…I forgot how amazing this was.'

It swooped low, dipping into a clearing not far from where I stood, then veered back up into the sky-my physical self's stomach churned a little, but it was slowly getting the hang of it. The scout then circled around the clearing again, interested by two figures who were now inhabiting its center. Both figures were dressed in black cloaks that had a red and white cloud pattern on them; I could tell by their appearance, however, that one was a man, and the other a woman. One figure, the one closest to the tree line, was stretched out on the ground, possibly asleep-or sick? It was hard to tell. A twinge of recognition was brought up by his face-although I couldn't possibly guess why. Not many men sported a Konohagukre hiate with a slashed symbol on their foreheads-at least, not any that I could readily remember from our 'Bingo' books. Uninterested, the phoenix only lingered over him for a moment, and instead soared to the other figure.

The woman pushed a pair of long brown bangs away from her familiar face, and looked up at the scout. Recognition suddenly dawned on me. That was Ayame…That was my sister.

She smiled once, recognizing the creature, but the smile didn't quite seem to reach her eyes, in fact, she seemed almost…sad to see it? I tried to get my scout closer-so it could communicate with her, find out what was wrong and why she, too, had the slash across her headband-but before I had the chance to do or say anything, something extinguished my creature, sending my mind spiraling back into my body.

The breath that had been filling my lungs suddenly choked me, making me gasp and wheeze. Between breaths, I looked around, fully expecting my body to be on the ground-lying where I had stood not a moment before, but instead, I was welcomed by the plush familiarity of my bed.

I tried to push myself up, but I was already sitting upright-to the point it could almost hurt my back, with the remnants of my bed sheets tangled around my legs. I sighed, wiping some sweat from my forehead-my heart was beating painfully in my chest, but as least I was no longer in that creepy forest.

Another deep breath escaped as I laid back against my pillows, trying to steady myself. It had all been a dream: a very weird dream, albeit, but a dream all the same…'I'd been awhile since I'd had one so vivid…' I of my sister and her sad expression dawned on me just as my eyes began to close-why would my dream show my sister as a rouge ninja? Ayame was just promoted to ANBU Capitan, there's no way she would just up and leave her village, leave me?

Then it hit me… 'Where's Ayame?'

I shoved my blankets off of my legs and stood-they still felt a little shaky, but I had to make sure Aya was okay before I went back to sleep-otherwise the dreams would only continue. Quietly making my way across the room, I pushed open my door, making sure the wood didn't creak as it normally did on my entry. I frowned as my feet touched the chill of our wooden boards-they were colder than they had been when we'd left for bed.

Holding my breath, I walked forward until I reached her room near the end of the hall. Careful, again, not to touch the door, I peered through the small crack she had left between the frame and lock; in hindsight, it took everything in me not to giggle when I saw her actually laying there. Her dark brown hair was fanned out across her pillow, and her blankets had long been kicked to the floor. I held back the motherly urge to sneak into her room and fix what little cover she still had, not just out of the fact that she would be cold, but because I knew that if I did it would wake her; Ayame had always been a light sleeper, after all.

Aya suddenly mumbled something in her sleep as I pulled away from her door. Vaguely, I wondered if she was having another nightmare-something she had grown accustomed to having after a particularly grueling or long mission, but brushed it aside as she quieted back down. I didn't need to tell her the events of my dream just yet; she deserved to have a good night's rest.

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Ayame

My eyes shot open. Half of me was fully expecting to find the same rotted clearing stretched out in front of me, but instead I was welcomed by the familiar paneling of my bedroom ceiling.

I pushed myself up off my mattress, trying my best not to cry out in pain; every muscle in my back and shoulders screamed with ache and tiredness-not from the dream, but from the recon mission I'd just gotten home from. ANBU, well…specifically my team, had been stationed on the outskirts of a village near the border of the Land of Fire. There had been a few hostilities and kidnappings of town officials, and though this, at first, seemed like a mission for a Chunin or Jonin squad, things started to go downhill when more and more hostages began appearing. Ransoms, gangs, and murders started to break out on the east side of the village-the grand scheme of our objective wasn't a peace-keeping mission, however.

My squad was deployed to retrieve a collection of scrolls from the Council Elders home, which contained some rather…descriptive accounts of a nearby Sound villages trade routes and exchanges. We escaped with pretty much no issues, thankfully. Two or Three Jonin level squads were deployed to cover our retreat and start peace treaties with the rioters while those in my squad were meant to follow-up on the leads we had received while still undercover.

My squad did just that and followed the leads back to a small outpost, again, near the border. I should have foreseen the ambush, now that I look back on how easy the information had been to retrieve, but with the time constraints and group I had been paired with-the last thing on my mind was a planted scroll. Well…Long story short, my team was badly injured (no deaths, this time), our information was proved false, and my ass was handed to me during my mission summary-along with a nice disciplinary training session and formal paperwork to finish before my next departure, in three days' time.

I gritted my teeth and kicked the last of my blankets onto the floor, with effort, I managed to push my body up and into a standing position. Slowly, I staggered my way to my dresser, trying my best not to allow my back or shoulders to jar as each step brought me closer to my mirror.

The reflection that stared back at me was tired-much too tired to be standing as she was. My normally straight brown hair was wrapped in sweaty strips around my face, mostly sticking to my forehead and neck. I scoffed and pulled the strands away, gently pushing them back and away from my face. Hesitantly, I reached up and touched the skin beneath my eyes-everything here was purple, black, and thin-again, lack of sleep. The only thing I actually found comforting about my parallel self was the fact that the gashes I had received during my dream hadn't carried over to reality-that was nice.

I let out a long breath and wiped away some sweat from my forehead. "You are fine, Ayame. Quit worrying." I mumbled, "You know that both you and Kiame will be just fine. It was just a weird dream, nothing to worry about…"

From the next room over, I could hear Kiame sleeping-well, snoring-blissfully unaware that her sister was listening in on her. I smiled a little, it really would be like Kia to be so sound asleep-hell, she should be; she didn't deserve the nights of aches and pains that the ANBU had to offer.

Ever since both Kiame and I were children, she had always been the playful, talkative little sister that everyone could relate to and love-this was just who she was. Granted, it was also her role-as my father would have put it-but Kiame took to the part well. Kiame was a very celebrated and intelligent child-she excelled in her courses, she worked hard, and never had much to say in protest.

Now, all of this was not to say that Kia doesn't have a bad side either, she had-and still has-plenty of those, but overall, my sister is pretty well-liked among the village. Being a newly appointed Jonin has been a great experience for her as well-granted, I didn't entirely like all of the missions she was being assigned (the peace-keeping at the border, for example), but she seemed happy, and that was good enough for me. As for myself, and as I've said before, I'm a newly appointed ANBU Black Ops Captain and RECON division operative. The two of us have totally different jobs, but it's worked out for the best in our particular case. Kiame is the sister to be known and involved around the village, while I am the one to work behind the scenes-it's been our roles since birth, and has still seemed to work out for us now.

I brought a towel up to my face, trying my best to scrub the dirt and grime from my skin. Not that I was particularly dirty or anything, but because it felt like the film of grass and metallic smells were still lingering there, just below the surface.

Pushing aside the memories of both mine and my sisters past, I focused again on the message the man had given during my dream; if the ANBU has taught me anything already, it's that dwelling on what happened during our childhood won't fix what happens now, it only causes more problems.

"We will be coming for you and you sister, Ayame."

As far as I know, Kiame and I have never had any relations with rouge ninja. Kioshi, our father, may be a different story, but he's been dead for at least nine years now-any matters there should already be resolved. A catalog of the Black Op's Bingo Book came to mind, but being on disciplinary leave meant just that-no access to archives and files, unless a mission calls for it.

'Ugh…' I shook my hands through my hair.

Someone who was coming after you would at least have enough common sense not to tell you they were going to do so, wouldn't they? That would only give you time to defend yourself against their attack, or a multitude of other options-I mean, it didn't make any sense.

Then again, they could already be set-up to launch an attack on Kiame on myself-unlikely, but it could still be a possibility. Tsunade had strengthened her seals and barriers around the village after she was appointed Hokage-not to mention the security near the walls of Konoha. If they were here-even the slightest possibility-they would have to have groups already stationed here, at least if they wanted access to the village.

I clenched my teeth and stormed over to my window. Of all of the things I needed, this was definitely not one of them…ANBU would probably have an archive open this late at night, but I doubt anyone I'd know would be around-or willing-to help me sneak out a few files on rouge ninja and criminals. Groveling to my appointed officer was definitely not an option either-both for pride and job circumstance.

'Hm…' Pushing a layer of chakra into the muscles in my back, I sucked in a breath and leapt outside-releasing them both as my feet landed in the cold grass below. As long as I could push chakra into my wounds, they theoretically shouldn't open. It would be annoying to keep the chakra flow steady enough to prevent the skin from reopening, and even still I'm pretty sure a few tore when I landed, but it would be a better option than bleeding out every time I attempted to move.

The cool night breeze swept over me as I looked around-as long as I made it into the archives within the next two hours I should be okay-patrols don't switch for officers until around 4 am, and Ruki shouldn't be patrolling until around then. I took a long steadying breath, pushing more chakra into my back, and broke out into a full blown run.

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