DISCLAIMER: picture belongs to bayneezone, it's not mine, I did not illustrate it or draw it.

Author's Note: eep! This is a rewrite of my previous semi-SI story, 'Quiet'. It's on my profile and has around five chapters. This story shares similar elements to Quiet. The appearance, personality, name, and somewhat background of the character is different, but the outcome is the same, and most of the romantic interests are not changed. You could read either one. There is an AN at the end of the story, and I'd appreciate it if you read it.

苺 - Strawberry

Chapter One: 死 (DEATH)

I rubbed my eyes blearily as I yawned for the (what seemed like) the thousandth time that night. It was three AM, the beginning of finals was tomorrow (technically, today), and I hadn't studied one bit. Instead, I decided to spend the entire morning watching Sailor Moon and Scandal, eating chocolate ice cream and catching up on Naruto. (College is hard, alright? I was still on the Kazekage arc.)

My head was ringing as my roommate shot up, mumbled a "wuzzgoinon?" and then promptly burst into tears when I informed her Finals were tomorrow.

"I-I could still become a stripper, right? Or marry a rich guy? L-Like Zayn Malik, or-or-"

I breathed, feeling like eating a sandwich.

I, Elizabeth McConnell, was a dirty, good-for-nothing procrastinator who should've studied two weeks ago and then some. I shuffled the notes that I paid six dollars for from a nerd. My vision was blurry from cramming so much.

"I give up," My roommate, Whitney Cooper, moaned. She ran her fingers through her black curls and collapsed back on the bed. She was lucky; her parents were filthy rich and she was drop-dead gorgeous, so if this 'college thing' didn't work out, her parents could pull some strings and she'd have a modelling or acting gig in a millisecond. Me? Not so much.

"How was your party?" I asked, trying to fill my mind with something other than this brain freezing shit.

"Eh? It was cool. Oh!" She squeaked, shooting up again, sleep shaken off her, "I made out with Matthew; you know that really hot guy? Y'know?"

I ran my fingers through my short hair, chewing my bottom lip. Fuck it. I'm about to collapse and I can't even read anymore. My vision was bleary and my eyes were begging from me to shut it.

Suddenly, I felt myself succumbing to darkness.

No, I wasn't dead yet. I was still very much alive, as seen when I jolted awake. My hair was a mess, drool was dried on the corner of my lips, and my eyes scanned around the room. Nine thirty.

Nine thirty? What the fuck?

I was late for my exam, and my roommate didn't bother waking me up. I clenched my fists, gritted my teeth, and shot up, scurrying to get ready. I was late-and if I was late, I knew my bitchy professor wouldn't bother letting me in.

I shot out my campus, scurrying across town. I flipped out my phone, my fingers angrily spreading across the screen:

why the fuck didn't you wake me up? I texted my roommate, who was probably gleefully sitting on Matthew's lap. I gritted my teeth as I stared at my phone as I got a text message from her.

you looked so peace-

….

and then i died.

….

It was quick. I didn't see the campus car whizzing towards me, hurrying to make it to their class; my eyes were glued onto the screen, anger coiling my thoughts, and then I was hit. I couldn't see anything as I lay on the floor. I couldn't feel anything. And then I succumbed to darkness once again, although this time, I don't think it was sleep.

After what seemed like centuries, I felt something warm and suspiciously wet encase and encompass me. And then I felt pure pain.

I've gotten paper cuts, scrapes, even broken limbs; but nothing compared to this. I felt the car collide with my stomach. I felt the blood pour out my body, and I felt something burrow itself into me, something gripping my organs; I was having trouble breathing. Instinctively I cried, trying to search for oxygen, just to breathe. Something was squeezing my lungs, liver, and heart, and although it was strangely warm (if it had a temperature?), it was painful. I wanted to cough, I wanted to pry open my eyes to see where I was, but it felt like lead. Swallowing was even painful. My throat was too heavy in my neck, and I felt something circulating my body. At the time I wrote it off as blood, but later on I found out it was chakra.

I felt something cold splash me and my cries grew louder. The uncomfortable squeezing of my organs abruptly stopped, but I continued crying. I heard hushed voices but I couldn't understand anything. Was I in a coma? Was this all a dream? Where the hell was I?

Questions bombarded my brain and I couldn't find an answer to it. I felt someone touch my skin. Their fingers were cool, and they brought their cold lips to my forehead.

"Ocha Ichigo." I felt a warm whisper in my ear. Naturally, I cried. Because, first of all, who the fuck was whispering in my ear? Secondly, who the fuck was that? Thirdly, why are they speaking Japanese?

From my (embarrassingly) extensive knowledge on anime and manga, it is only natural that I know a few words in Japanese. And I knew that the term 'ichigo' means strawberry in Japanese, and although I can't see, I would be very perplexed if someone brought a random Japanese woman to me and mumbled strawberry.

Warmth surrounded me and I realized I was wrapped in a blanket. Hot tears were threatening to fall in my tightly shut eyes. I stopped crying and instead, tried to wiggle a finger. I had no control over my body. My limbs were heavy in my uncomfortable skin. I felt like a snake that needed to shed its skin.

I tried moving my tongue, but everything was too heavy. I felt strangely uncomfortable. My eyelids were heavy, as if I were still sleepy, but I couldn't sleep with too many things in my mind.

Wait. So, I got hit by some jackass who didn't stop on campus. If I'm not dead, I'm in a coma, and my parents are here, or someone's talking to me while I'm slumbering away. Am I on the verge of death? Why do I have my consciousness?

I tried blinking with my closed eyelids to no avail. However, I was on the verge of sleeping, so I allowed myself to drift off, all while promising to figure out this mess once I wake up.

When I awoke, I was able to open my eyes, which solved most of my problems. I deduced I was not in a coma, and was a little offended that no one jumped over my now conscious body, sobbing into my chest, "you're finally awake!"

In fact, I was alone. I tried sitting up, but I soon found out I had no control over my body. Was I paralyzed? It was plausible, and my stomach churned at the thought of it. I didn't want to be paralyzed, unable to move at all.

I started screaming, trying to get someone's attention, and it worked; someone burst in the room breathlessly. I took in their appearance with a start. For starters, they didn't wear the standard uniform. Their uniform was beige with an unreadable kanji stitched onto their right breasts. I stared at them, bewildered.

One of the nurses cooed. Her eyes were a startling gray. She scooped me up and rocked me gently.

Wait. What?

The fact that she could scoop me up made me perplexed. When I quickly glanced down, I saw that my legs weren't at the floor like they were supposed to be; instead, my legs were small and they rested on her large arm. I almost threw up when I realized that I wasn't tall as I was supposed to be; I was abnormally short.

Maybe my legs were amputated? I weakly theorized, but even I knew it wasn't true. Dread creeped towards me as someone else burst into the room.

They spoke fast, and they held a bottle with an unidentifiable liquid resting inside.

"Akimichi-senpai!"

"...boku wa…"

"...akachan…"

"mirku…"

My throat went dry. They were speaking fast, fluent Japanese, (although their accent was anything but. It was an indescribable, unidentifiable accent.) and I understood minimal of it.

Akimichi? I distinctly knew that was the surname of Chouji in Naruto. It was a clan in his village. Perhaps it's common? I thought warily.

But her build made me question myself. To put it plainly, she wasn't skinny. She was chubby and short, her yellow cheeks puffing out. Her hair was smoothed into a bun and her eyes were a sharp, glinting burnt sienna.

"Ichigo-chan," She cooed softly as she grabbed the bottle and placed it between my lips. I was too hungry to even think that this was fucking wrong, she's feeding me milk, so I greedily sucked the bottle dry, still hungry for more.

After I ate, she set me down on a soft surface.

She started rambling, and I tuned her out. I couldn't speak or understand, anyways. When her fingers creeped below my waist and pryed off something, I was alarmed. I stared down below my stomach (which was difficult) and fought the urge to jump out a window. I was wearing diapers.

Tears welled in my eyes, and I realized many things:

I died.

I was reborn as a baby.

I was possibly in the Narutoverse, what with the Japanese and the Akimichi surname.

I'm so screwed.

After that revelation (and many diaper changes later), I was taken home by a relatively old woman. She looked to be about sixty and older. She balanced me on her hip without much difficulty and took me out the hospital. Heat splashed on my skin as she wandered out the hospital and throughout town, all while speaking to me in a hushed, excited voice.

I was wondering where my parents were. Obviously, this was not my mom, and if my mom wasn't here, where the hell was my dad? I was beginning to get a bad feeling, and I obviously couldn't speak and ask questions. I filed it for later use and marveled at the area. My vision was still fuzzy, but even I could see the bright colors and the loud noises; kids running through the streets, civilians selling various produces, and quiet citizens walking through.

We quickly got home. The house wasn't something to marvel at. It wasn't small. On the outside, it looked huge, but on the inside, it seemed average. It was squeaky clean, not a sound in the house. At that time, all I wanted to do was snooze, wake up and think about my life, then eat. I guaranteed to myself that I'd find out who I was, and what era I was in.

I got my answers pretty quickly. It came slowly at first, but once I started to understand, it was easy. I promptly found out that my surname was Ocha, meaning tea. My family came to Konohagakure a few years back, presumably pre-Nine Tails attack, (perhaps a few months or years after the Third Shinobi War.) My family was huge, they were not in a clan, and they were civilians. No kekkei genkai, no weird dōjutsus, no shinobi. They were just civilians that owned a tea shop that was right next to our house.

First, they moved from Cha no Kuni, or Land of Tea, to Konohagakure. The country was so small, they didn't have villages. It was a civilian country, and my grandparents, too, owned a tea shop. After the Third Shinobi War, they moved to Konohagakure ("Have you tasted Konoha's leaves? It was grown just for brewing tea!"), which was a huge change. They were still wary of ninjas, but they quickly adapted to the nature of the shinobi. After the Kyuubi attack, the tea house was destroyed. They quickly rebuild it to have a steady income, but it wasn't the same: the population decreased, meaning less customers, and less income.

My father was a touchy subject. I didn't ask, and my grandparents didn't tell. My mother died giving birth to me, which was a puzzle to the doctors and my family. She was perfectly healthy during her pregnancy. She gained the necessary weight and had all the right nutrients. But after I popped out, she faded away.

I wasn't sad. I felt bad for my grandparents and aunt (and uncle), but I didn't mourn. I didn't know her, and I was still mourning over my old life. Although it was literally in the past, I'm still nostalgic.

At least I don't have any exams to do, I smugly thought.

I wasn't terrified like I thought I would be. I was a civilian. I wouldn't have to risk my life to save anyone. All I'd have to do is tend to the tea shop when my grandparents die, (or have my aunt or uncle do it.) I would probably either die during Suna's coup when the Chuunin Exams roll around, but I could easily invade it with some coaxing to my grandparents for a vacationing in a non-shinobi village; During Pein's invasion, I'd be old enough to go on a little "informative" trip about tea to my grandparents' home village, Cha no Kuni.

As my grandmother tucked me into the makeshift crib, I stared at her in wonder, a tinge of curiosity pouring over me. What did my new mother even look like? Did she look like my grandmother, with ebony, almond shaped eyes, tan skin, and bushy eyebrows? Or was she more like my grandfather, with messy orange hair, large cafe au lait eyes, and sharp jawline?

With the thoughts of appearances, I wondered more and more each day what I looked like. In my previous life, I was a tall, lanky girl with crooked teeth and short brown hair. My mother was Colombian and my father was Cuban-American. I sincerely doubted that in the Narutoverse, race was nonexistent and there was literally just color, and even then, they didn't have a particular race. Shinobi were far too immersed on how to kill a man from a distance and how to survive, rather than worrying about race. Even in Kumogakure, where there were many dark-skinned people, they didn't have an official name, and again, I doubted they did.

I sporadically wondered what my father looked like, who he was, and where he was. Was he in Konoha, wrapping his arms around another woman? Or was he six feet under, his cause of death due to a fierce battle between shinobi? I shuddered when I thought if my father was dead or not. Did he even know I existed? Such thoughts seldom entered my mind, but if they did, I dwelled on it for the rest of the day.

I painted a random picture of my father in my head. I envisioned him to be a tall, dad-looking civilian who sold dango, but then moved out of Konoha and moved into Iwa or Suna to pursue his real dreams: writing books. I visualized him to have ear-length silver hair, gray eyes, and a mysterious face.

…

...okay, I pictured him to be Hatake Kakashi, but who cares? Even though I knew my thoughts were way off, I liked to hold onto that image of a caring, nice father who genuinely didn't know I existed because he didn't even know my mother was pregnant.

Before I could finish any existing thoughts, I drifted off to sleep, the smell of tea lingering in my nose.

Author's Note: This story will have long chapters, so if you're not up w/ that, please exit. I'm hoping to write 2k-5k per chapter, and this will be updated either weekly or every other week. I learned to not promise my readers a set schedule, because I like to write on my own accord. Some weeks I'm feeling like sleeping and watching XMas movies, others I want to write twenty chapters for the same fanfic.

Anyways, my story will be divided into arcs. I not only feel more comfortable doing it, especially since it's a semi-SI story (honestly, Ichigo shares little to no traits with me.), I feel it'll organize the story better, and just like the manga, give you a bit more insight and you'll predict what it'll be about, sort of. The first arc will begin in the next chapter. This is an unnamed, unofficial arc, "Introduction arc." Typically, my arcs will last 3-10 chapters, give or take a few.

I also wanted to address spoilers and social issues that'll take place in the story. My character, as stated, has only read a little bit past the Kazekage arc, so if you're not there, there'll be major spoilers. Also, they'll be implications and downright depictions of homosexuality, asexuality, and bisexuality. If you are uncomfortable with those three, please exit. Otherwise, I will not take out the portrayal of them. Also, there'll be implications of racism and racial issues. Obviously, I'm aware that there is no definite race or ethnicity in the Narutoverse. However, my OC is from the 21st century, and she is, and identifies as an Hispanic woman with dark skin. There will be talk of the racism she has experienced, and although I don't think you should be uncomfortable with that, if you are and you continue reading, don't whine to me.

That's all I need to cover. Bless! Thanks for reading and please review xx