Hi, all! This is my first (posted) attempt at a chapter'd fanfic, of which this chapter will serve as prologue. It's a kind of universe switch story dealing mostly with my OCs but incorporating quite a few familiar faces in the process. Which leads me to this...
Disclaimer: I don't own the Narutoverse.
I hope you enjoy it, so please tell me if you think it's worth continuing.
"Give it up, child," the dark voice sneered with arrogance that she hated more with each additional word.
The seventeen-year-old to whom the term was directed muttered, "Well, it's better to be a clever child than an old fool."
He laughed haughtily. "Big words for someone backed into a corner."
That part, she grudgingly admitted, was true. She had been unprepared for a drawn-out fight with fifteen other shinobi (eight of whom lay dead, but she remained sorely outnumbered), as evidenced by the sorry state of her clothing. Her shirt had nearly fallen apart from the multiple katana slashes she'd been unable to dodge and her shoes were completely gone already. Now she was being stared down as she tried to figure out the best way to scale a hundred-foot wall while at the mercy of seven men.
But then he continued. "Why don't you make this easier on yourself? You have no use for that scroll, no interest in it personally. Why should you protect it for a person who sends you on missions clearly above your skill level and who doesn't care whether you live or die?"
The insults against herself, she could take. But insinuating that her superior's authoritative position automatically removed the possibility of any personal bond? That undermined even the thought of a team that could truly support every member, of a village that could be bound by more than pure duty, of a world where human beings could care for one another for reasons other than direct self-interest.
"Someone has no friends."
A vein twitched in his forehead, but he concealed it by quickly turning his head toward a minion. "Enough of this. Get the scroll."
Her eyes narrowed. She wouldn't be able to fight all of them at once, but giving up was not an option. On the other hand, using a jutsu strong enough to eliminate them all could possibly drain her chakra to a fatally low level. She had no choice, though. Keeping the scroll out of their hands was paramount to even her life. Just as she prepared to form the signs needed, shouted words without a visible source seemed to assault her soul rather than her ears.
"ZANSHI NO JUTSU!"
She felt an irresistible pull somewhere behind her heart, and then the sensation of whirling through time and space. Her vision dulled and blurred, as though she had opened her eyes underwater, and a powerful wind whipped around her, ripping the rest of her shirt from her body and sending her hair into a wild frenzy around her. Then, it was as if she fell from a great height for half an eternity.
With a start, she landed hard on her side, on top of something hot, sticky, and strangely firm. She had little time to consider either what it was or why she also felt small particles of it digging in and sticking to her skin because of the startlingly loud sound that blared above her head, forcing her ears to want to close and her eyes to snap open. What she saw nearly made her want to shut them again, although it would have meant her death.
A huge metal monstrosity rushed toward her with what she knew was speed, though it seemed to be slow motion. As it was, her shinobi instincts kicked into gear and she rolled onto her stomach and pushed up with her hands, executing a somewhat graceless but effective handspring that landed her… straight into the path of another such creature coming from the opposite direction. Still drawing from the momentum of the previous technique, the girl continued in a series of five more handsprings until the surface beneath her became harder and slightly cooler and she no longer felt air currents from every imaginable direction. Ready to fight and a bit out of breath from the adrenalin rush, she quickly stood and took in more of her surroundings, or more specifically, the many pairs of eyes that stared at her.
True, she had just escaped death, but by glancing down at herself briefly, she remembered more of the reason: her upper torso was covered by little more than her athletic band and waist-length black hair, while ragged shinobi pants concealed her from the hips to her bare feet. The people (who appeared to be civilians of some sort, judging by their clothes) staring as they passed and even started to circle her looked very surprised and quite concerned, but not hostile. Nevertheless, the girl shifted slightly into a defensive position and prepared to take out whoever was necessary when a hand on her shoulder shocked her into a turn.
Why didn't I sense him? She though briefly, but then she locked eyes with a pair of strangely familiar pale blue ones.
"Are you all right?" their owner asked, open worry in his voice. It was strange, though, his mouth movements didn't match the Japanese she heard…
"Shi—" she began, but a sudden wave of pain in her head cut off the word and she felt herself start to faint, of all things.
As she fell, the stranger-that-wasn't caught her gently, muttering "Probably going into shock" before calling, "An anbyuransu, someone!"
An…byu…ransu?
With that foreign word hovering in her head, the girl finally succumbed to the darkness.
Who is this girl, what's up with her language dilemma, and where in a world is she? Find out next time in "Broken Boundaries" (if I get a positive response and don't procrastinate XD)!