Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.
Prologue
"I got it!" I brought my hands upward and the volleyball went flying into the air.
It came down, bounced on the cement, and my brother, Noah, ran and hit it with his hand. The white volleyball flew into the sky and hurled in my direction, so I dove and sent it back to him. The kid is about 4'9, which is short for an eleven year old. He has long, golden-blond, hair that goes a little past his shoulder blades, and that's longer than my hair! He usually wears baggy cargo shorts and skateboard company T-shirts.
"I can't believe Mom won't let me have a sleep-over," I growled, hitting the ball.
Flashback
The bell rang and we wearily started to make our way to the locker rooms.
"Where do you think you're going?" our P.E. teacher demanded. "You still need to stretch and do five push-ups."
Everyone groaned as we got on the ground. It was just after a twenty minute run, which meant we had to run about two and a half miles to get an A. Our teacher makes us do stretches and little exercises like sit-ups no matter what we just did for the period.
Finally, we were able to go into the locker rooms and change. By the time I was outside with my friends, there was only two minutes left before the day ended. The bell rang at last and we dashed to our lockers.
I put away my binder and took out my sweaty gym clothes that smelled like crap. I didn't have any homework for the weekend, which was good.
"Hey, Lilian," I said to my friend next to me. "You want to have a sleep-over this weekend?"
"Sure," she replied, before pausing. "Wait…we have Chinese school tomorrow, remember?"
"Damn, I forgot. And I have a volleyball game tomorrow too."
"Man…how about tomorrow night then? When is your game?"
"Like at five in the afternoon."
"Okay, then you can just come over to my house after?"
"Sure!"
I got off the bus, walked over to the neighborhood's security gate, punched in the code, and entered as the gate swung open. After I got inside my house, I packed some extra stuff in my school backpack for the following night, then told Mom that I was having a sleep-over at Lilian's place the next day.
"I'm sorry, Madeline," she replied. "But we can't do it this weekend, your brother has State Cup and you know it."
"Can't I just stay at her house?" I asked. "For the weekend or something? If I go, not only will I miss the chance of having a sleep-over, but I'll also miss my volleyball game and more importantly the Super Bowl!"
"I don't want to have Lilian's mom think that she has to babysit you for a stupid football game. Besides, you can afford to miss one volleyball game."
"Well I really don't want to go to State Cup for a stupid soccer game!" I growled, raising my voice.
"Don't talk to me like that!" she shot back. "There are things in my life that I've missed for something else. Not everyone's life is perfect!"
"Oh yeah?! Like what? Hm?"
There was a moment of silence as we glared at each other.
"You are going to State Cup to cheer on your brother, and that is final," my mom said.
"Oh, come on, Mom!" I cried, switching to over-dramatic mode. "I am sick and tired of being dragged around every single weekend to a soccer game! I hate sitting in the car, being driven 50 miles just to go to a soccer practice, and then sit in a chair outside on poorly prepared grass that sticks to my shoes for two hours in 45 degree weather! And I only get to stay home if I have homework, which rarely happens! The only time I get by myself, alone, and be relaxed, is when I'm watching Naruto on Saturday nights!"
"This isn't about a cartoon!"
"It's not a cartoon, it's anime! And I didn't say it was about Naruto!"
"That's it! You're grounded!"
"Fine! See if I give a damn!"
I stomped out of the room, entered the garage, and grabbed the volleyball. Noah looked up from skateboarding and decided to play with me.
End of Flashback
"Hey, Noah," I caught the ball. "I'm going to take Angel to the park and practice for tomorrow's game. Wanna come?"
My younger brother nodded. I opened up the door to the garage and pushed the 1 ½ meter plank of wood out of the way. The family's little bishon frise darted through the doorway and sat down on the garage floor, her tail twitching every which way while I pulled out the harness and leash and put them on her. I then grabbed my school backpack, put my volleyball under my arm, and walked off the driveway with Angel and Noah at my heels.
We walked up the street, turned at a light, and headed towards the park. Noah looked at me as we entered the park and grinned. I smiled back. Noah was like my best buddy. He knows that I hate soccer, but he doesn't care. We've been best pals for years, ever since we were born.
Noah headed over to the fields to play around with the soccer ball a bit while I headed over to the volleyball court, sat down on a park bench, and opened up my backpack. My cellphone was in its usual place and I had put in my Dell laptop, so Lilian and I could stay up and watch movies and Naruto episodes all night long; as well as my toothbrush, toothpaste, brush, deodorant, tweezers, eyeliner, white iPod Nano and its charger, and Green Day pajamas. Next to those were four packages of regular, tropical, and wild berry Skittles and my favorite book of all time, Twilight, written by Stephenie Meyer.
Bored, I pulled out the black DELL laptop, turned it on, and logged onto Youtube. I typed in Naruto Episode 58. I looked up at the sky, waiting for the page to load. Mean, gray clouds darkened the sky and a cold breeze whisked by.
"Noah, I think it might rain," I called out. "We should probably head back home."
My phone suddenly rang. I picked it up and sighed.
"What Lilian?" I groaned.
"Have you talked to your mom about it yet?"
"Well…."
"Come on, Maddie. Don't tell me you haven't asked her because you're to busy watching Naruto on Youtube."
"Um…."
Another call came.
"Hang on, Lilian. Another call is coming."
I answered the other call and put her on hold.
"Hello?"
"MADELINE!!"
"Hi, Caity."
"NARUTO IS COMING ON TONIGHT!!"
"It's Friday. Why would it be coming on tonight?"
"I dunno, but it's Episode 58."
"That's a rerun."
"So? I bet you'll watch it anyway. In fact, you're so excited that I bet you're going to watch it on Youtube before it comes on."
"What? No, I wouldn't do that on the same day."
"Yeah, okay. I wonder why they're showing reruns though. They've already shown the first one hundred and sixty or something like that."
"Uh huh. Yeah. Can I go now? Lilian's on the other line."
"REALLY?! LET ME TALK TO HER!!"
I groaned and pressed the button to merge the calls. As I was doing this, Angel put her paws on my leg and looked at the computer screen, as if interested. The screen was flashing white repeatedly, then it changed to a swirling green. There was a bright flash of bright white light before my vision went black.
Chapter 1
I'm in the WHAT?!
I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. My head was throbbing and my eyelids felt heavy. I tried to push myself up with my hands, but my arms felt so weak that I was forced back down like a heavy weight.
"Hey, you! Over there!" a voice shouted.
My eyes finally closed and unconsciousness won the battle.
Soft sunlight streamed through my eyelids and the faint chirping of birds could be heard. Great, I thought. It's already time to get ready for school. I groaned and rolled on my side.
"Look! She's waking up!" an oddly familiar voice declared.
"Dad," I growled. "I don't want to go to school today."
"HEY! WAKE UP!" a second voice screamed.
I clamped the pillow over my head. I was so close to telling Dad to shut up the hell up, so I could sleep some more.
"Stop it, sensei!" the first voice scolded. "Let her sleep! She needs her energy!"
"But she needs to embrace the youthful world!"
That was the last straw. I rose from the bed to tell Dad off, when I realized it wasn't my father I was looking at. A girl with her brown hair in two buns was peering at me from the side of my bed. A man with a black salad-bowl hair cut, very fuzzy eyebrows, and the gayest green spandex I have ever seen was standing at the end of my bed. Another boy about the age of thirteen was leaning up against the doorframe. He had black-brown hair that almost went down to his waist and had blank, white eyes that gave a cold stare. A silver headband with a round swirly symbol was attached to his head.
Oh my God! I thought. It's Gai sensei, Ten-Ten, and Neji Hyuga! This isn't possible! I must be dreaming...
I pinched my forearm to wake myself up, but I still remained in the hospital bed.
I must be in the Naruto world for real then, I thought happily. But, wait. If I'm here for real, then where the hell is Lee? This IS Team Gai, right?
"You gave us quite a scare," Gai smiled.
Ahhhhh!! I shielded my eyes as I was temporally blinded by his grin. The light!! It burns!!
"Stop smiling, Gai sensei!" Ten-Ten said. "Can't you see your blinding her?!"
"Um, where am I?" I asked, even though I was pretty sure I already knew.
"You're in Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves, but you're in a hospital right now. I'm Gai. Pleased to meet you!"
"Madeline, or Maddie," I yawned. "Uh, how did I exactly get in this hospital?"
"Madeline? Never heard of that name before, it must be rare. To answer your question though, Neji found you outside the main gate of the village, near some trees and bushes, while he was scouting the area.
"Anyway, I should introduce to everyone. This is Ten-Ten and over there is Neji," Gai pointed to each member of the team. "We have another member. His name is Lee, but he's injured right now. His bed is over there. You'll meet him when he wakes up."
I looked at the bed a couple yards away from me. Lee had a black salad-bowl haircut and bushy eyebrows, but not as bushy as Gai's.
"Where are you from, Maddie?" Ten-Ten asked.
Damn it, I thought. I know I can keep a strait face while lying, but it's just every time I do lie, I get in trouble! But I can't tell them the truth. They wouldn't believe me. Like anyone would, they'd probably think I'm retarded or something.
My eyes flicked from Ten-Ten, to Gai, to Neji, then back at Ten-Ten again, hoping they got the message: why in the name of God would I want to tell you?
"The Hokage would rather if you did," Gai said. "For the village's safety."
Safety. My ass. Since when has the Leaf Village ever been safe?
"Ugh…Fine…See, I've never really had a home. As long as I can remember, I've been traveling my whole life. During that time, my father taught me shinobi techniques and how to control my chakra while my mother taught me medical jutsus. I don't travel with my parents anymore though, they abandoned me years ago."
"How did you get near the gates?" Ten-Ten pressed on.
"Well..." I said, trying to think of what to say next and sit up at the same time. "I had run out of food and water, so I collapsed from hunger, dehydration, and exhaustion. I was going to pick up supplies here, but unfortunately, it was too late."
Everyone nodded, except Neji, who kept staring at me with those blank eyes. It felt like he was listening to my thoughts, but I ignored it.
"That makes sense," Gai said. "But now that you mention you're a traveler, Neji did bring back some items when he found you, right, Neji?"
The boy nodded silently.
"Oh…" I replied. "Yeah."
Neji pointed to the desk across the room, before I could ask where my stuff was located. I kicked the sheets off, walked over, and found that my school bag was sitting in the chair.
"You guys didn't look in my backpack, right?" I asked as I zipped it open.
"Nope," Ten-Ten replied.
I nodded as thanks, then remembered Angel and Noah and asked where they were.
"Don't worry, she's in a cage by the waiting room desk," Gai smiled. "But I don't know any Noah. No one was with you when you were found. Neji, take Madeline to go get her dog."
Damn it, I thought. I just revealed that I was lying a bit.
"Yes, sensei," he said plainly.
He told me to meet him in five minutes outside the room. I grabbed my white iPod nano as Gai handed me my clothes and directed me to the washroom. I closed, locked the door, and took off the hospital dressing. Thankfully, I still had my white sports bra and sports box underwear on. I pulled on the clothes that Gai gave me and as I was folding up the dressing, I got a look at myself in a tall mirror that was in the room.
"Oh, wow," I muttered.
My hair was still auburn with golden strands at the tips, but it was down to my shoulder blades instead of just resting on my shoulders. I saw that I still had my contacts in. I had received my red Volcom T-shirt that stuck to my sides, slightly baggy navy blue pants, black and white DC shoes, and a Hidden Leaf Village headband. My Indian, hand-carved turtle necklace made out of silver that Noah had given me was still on my neck. It had strange designs on the shell and a green turquoise stone in the middle. It made me kind of sad when I saw it. I wondered where he was right now. My eyes were like black now, but they still had a little sparkle of green. (Kinda like Temari's eyes during the third part of the Chuunin exam.) The only good part was that this world brought out my slim figure. I gasped.
"Ewww!" I muttered to myself. "I look like a girly girl! I almost look like Tess, that girly, annoying bitch from school!"
I tied my now long hair into a high ponytail and left the tiny washroom. I went back into the hospital room and walked to the doorway of the room, where Neji was waiting for me.
He didn't say anything, just motioned me to follow him, which I did 'cause I had no other choice. As I followed him, I turned on my iPod and started listening to the band Sum 41 VERY LOUDLY. We walked around the hospital for ten minutes before Neji suddenly stopped. Since I was walking behind him and not paying attention, I crashed into his back and fell to the ground. I paused my song and gave him a glare. Before I even got a chance to yell at him, he beat me to it.
"So, are you going to tell me the truth?" Neji turned around and stared at me with those blank, unblinking, eyes. "Don't even think about lying to me."
I mimicked his glare until his eyes narrowed.
"Fine," I finally groaned. "You really want to know the truth, huh?"
Neji nodded.
"…Ok, I'm not so sure how it happened. I was walking my dog with my brother around the park before I went over to my friend's house for a sleep-over, because it was Friday, which meant the weekend had arrived…Actually, my mom got all pissed off at me and didn't let me have it, but I was still going to go anyway. I sat down on the bench and pulled out my laptop because I was bored. Then my phone rang and I talked to my two friends, and as I was doing so, there was this bright flash of light before I woke up here."
I pulled out my earphones and sat down on a small white bench that was to the right of me. Neji sat down next to me.
"I see," he said. "So you're in a foreign place and have no clue if you're able to go back to your own dimension?"
"Exactly. Although Konoha is only a little foreign to me...okay I admit it. I know about Konoha, but I don't know it like the back of my hand. You see, this world in my world is a popular anime TV show and manga. I know some locations like the Academy, the Third Training Ground, and so on, but that's all."
"Hmmm, interesting. Come on, follow me."
We left the bench and walked down a white hallway. We then approached a desk, but nobody was there. I looked at a sign that was in Japanese kanji and, suddenly, transformed into English writing.
"On lunch break," I muttered.
How the hell did that just happen? I thought. Oh well. I'll figure that later.
"Here she is," Neji was behind the desk, bending over.
He held out a silver cage, which I snatched from his hands and tore the small door open. Angel dashed out of the metal prison and jumped into my arms. I smiled at her.
I then squeezed her into a tight hug, picked her up, and followed Neji back to the room, but not before noticing that her collar looked like a headband. Instead of saying 'Angel' in print, it said 'Angel' in Japanese kanji.
"Guys, this is my dog Angel," I said plainly. "She's a pure bishon frise."
"Awww, she's sooo cute!" Ten-Ten squealed.
She rushed over and started stroking Angel's head. Angel sniffed her hand and licked it, making Ten-Ten giggle.
So how was it? Was it good? I started to write this in February of 2007 when I was in sixth grade, so the beginning chapters might be short and kinda bad...Anyway, feel free to review but no flames please!