Author's notes are at the bottom. I do not own anything but the plot and my OC's.
Of Wishes and Pain
It was still early on Friday night. Asura pushed one of the long locks of hair that framed the side of her face back as she looked up at her only friend, Jennifer. She was smiling back at her over the small cake. The light the little candles cast on her features only emphasized Jen's encouraging smile.
"Go ahead Asura, make your wish." Jen waggled her brow, further egging Asura on.
Asura sighed, "Right, right. Just don't expect me to get my hopes up Jen."
Jen shook her head in mock disappointment, the light brown curls bouncing around her shoulders. The two girls were practically polar opposites.
Jen was the type of girl who was outgoing, always chatting with someone. Of tall and willowy build, with short, light brown hair in big wavy curls, bright brown eyes and lightly tanned skin she couldn't look less like Asura. She was of a much slighter stature, had a slender yet curvy frame, long, pitch-black hair, deep black eyes and was rather fair-skinned.
Jen was quite popular and bubbly and had many friends so a few people found it odd that she had chosen quiet, reserved Asura as her preferred companion. It wasn't that Asura was un-liked it was more like she went un-noticed by most people. Over the year's tough, Jen had helped Asura open up a bit, a very slight bit. The two girls were so close now that they might as well have been sisters.
With another inward sigh Asura thought of all the things she could possibly wish for. Many things she came up with would be great, if temporary at best. The other things could potentially be irreversible and at the same time hold consequences she chose she'd rather not deal with, now or ever. She was always very wary of saying the words "I wish". After a moment she mentally slapped herself. She was probably the only person alive who so thoroughly analyzed her own wishes and the possibility of disaster either caused by her own faulty wording or the sheer fact that her wish could cause some terrible butterfly effect. The corner of her lips turned down slightly. She couldn't even wish freely. Damn it Asura, it doesn't matter, wishing never works anyway! After her second mental scolding she drew in a deep breath, closed her eyes and made her wish as she exhaled, extinguishing all eighteen candles on her cake. Damned be the consequences. It was a wish, even if wishes did come true, that was highly improbable of being granted. It was so random that nothing would really happen anyway, right?
Jen stared at her friend who was slightly bent forward, leaning over the cake with eyes closed. Her naturally midnight colored hair was up in the usual large bun with long locks that always managed to fall free framing either side of her face. Sometimes Jen wished she could have the natural grace and beauty Asura seemed to exude so effortlessly. After a minute or two had passed and Asura had not moved Jen asked, "So...?"
"So?" Asura asked back finally opening her onyx eyes and focusing in on Jennifer's brown ones.
Jen's brow knitted in annoyance, she couldn't believe Asura was being so spacey. "Duh, did it work?" She wriggled her toes a little; her bare feet felt a little cold. Shoes were not allowed in Asura's house unless, of course, they were slippers.
Asura's face was marred by a slight frown again. "Of course not, I haven't believed in birthday wishes since I was about four. What made you think it could possibly work? You haven't been smoking anything illegal have you?"
"No, that's stupid." Jen waved her off, "There is a legend though; It says that an eighteenth birthday on the full moon of a summer night for a young woman who is 'pure' is supposed to be special. On that day, if she's on her period, she is supposed to get one wish. Any wish... That would apply to you wouldn't it? Unless you haven't told me something...?" She asked looking out the large window behind Asura at the full moon.
"Jen... that is absolutely ridiculous." Asura started in a warning tone. She didn't want to start getting her hopes up for a miracle again. She was always let down, without fail, not to mention she felt like a complete jerk for believing in the first place.
"I know!" Jen shot defensively, "But what are the chances of an innocent female who's turning eighteen having her birthday on a full moon in the summer during her period? Besides it can't hurt to try can it?" Jen was nearly pleading with her friend.
Asura looked down, Oh yes it can... she thought, smoothing the nonexistent wrinkles from her yellow halter dress with the small, delicate red vines twirling up from the skirt edge to wrap around her abdomen and ending with a tiny flower just above her left breast. She moved so she was no longer sitting in a kneeling position and stood grabbing the knife they'd left on her dresser. "Sure, I guess it can't really. Let's just cut this cake so we can start our movies."
Jen grumbled, pushing her large curls behind her ear. "You're no fun."
"Yes, I know." Asura grinned suddenly, "Smile!" She'd pulled a slim red camera from seemingly nowhere and flashed a picture of Jen's still annoyed face. "Perfect!" She said looking at the little screen on her sidekick. Asura never went anywhere without that camera. She loved taking pictures of everything, always wanting a way to remember things because she had a strange fear of losing memories. Candid pictures were her favorite for that reason.
"Hey! Why do always do that when no one is expecting it?" Jen asked standing so she could go over and look at the photo. Upon seeing it, she realized it really did look nice, even if she was scowling. The photo had captured her true emotion.
Asura's lips curled into a smile seeing her friend's expression. "That is why; everything is more beautiful when it's natural."
Jen looked up and had an evil smirk on. "I had no idea you thought I was beautiful! Gee Asura, if you were a guy, you'd be one hell of a sweet talker!" Jen was teasing her and trying hard not to laugh.
Asura's eyes narrowed. "Shut up." She swung her arm up to smack her friend in the head, but it was half-hearted and Jen was able to move out of the way. Jen snagged the camera from Asura and flashed a picture of her before the shorter of the two could argue.
"Hey! That's my signature move!" Asura swiped for the camera again. Jen was taller than her by some eight inches, and therefore could, literally, hold things over Asura's head.
"That's what you get, munchkin!" Jen stuck her tongue out at Asura.
"I'm five one and therefore not a munchkin, dwarf, midget or whatever the hell else you call me, I'm just short you giant!" Asura huffed as she took back her camera.
"Yeah, yeah... let's cut that cake old lady." Jen said sitting back down on the floor by the lightly frosted cake.
It was spice cake with butter cream frosting, the only cake Asura would eat as she wasn't too fond of them to begin with. Her mother had made it earlier while they were at school because she knew she wouldn't be home to celebrate with her daughter. These days it was just Asura and her mother, the 'accident' a couple of years ago had changed everything. Those thoughts were shoved far back in Asura's mind though as she came and sat across from Jen again. She brought the knife down on the little confection. Nothing lasted forever. "Don't think that just because I am less than one year older than you, you can call me old."
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The next morning the two awoke, sprawled out on the wood floor of Asura's attic bedroom. Sunlight was blazing down on them from the huge window that had shown them the moon and city sky line that past night. Static filled the TV in the far corner of the room as the movie they'd been watching had long since ended.
Asura winced as she sat up, her whole body hurt when she moved after having slept in an awkward position. She stretched as Jen also got up somewhere to her right groaning with a loud 'ouch'.
"Ugh, I feel like crap. We really should have turned in instead of trying to watch that last one." Jen said this attempting to work out the kink in her neck.
"Yeah, I feel crappy too." Asura stood and smoothed her dress which really was rather wrinkled this time. "You can use the bathroom first. I'm going to check on mom." She padded barefoot across the hardwood to the stairs that led down from her room. The entire attic was her space with her own bathroom and all.
Upon reaching her mother's room she opened the door open slightly and peeked in. Her mother was in bed, already fast asleep. Asura glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was eleven thirty. Her mother must have gotten in an hour ago. She wished she could do more for her mother. She did do most of the house-work, but her mother refused to let her take on a job. She'd tell Asura her main responsibility now was school and not to worry about anything else. Asura's only response to this was that she maintained impeccably good grades, did any and all housework necessary and worried over her mother's health and well being.
Asura knew her mother's spirit had died with the loss of her husband and young son but she couldn't really help. She had no idea what it was like to lose a child and the love of your life in one fell swoop. It was not that Asura hadn't hurt as well, but she had amazingly not hit rock-bottom as her mother had at first. With counseling and medication, her mother had pulled back together into an almost whole person again. That is what worried Asura the most, the fact that sometimes, it felt like her mother really wasn't there at all, like she too had died.
Closing the door silently she moved to the kitchen to prepare some breakfast for Jen and herself. They were supposed to be spending the day together doing whatever came to mind. The school year had been extended almost a whole week to make up for days lost to blizzards, but now summer vacation was only two school days away and neither of them could wait. The lazy feel of summer was already taking hold as the days had grown hot and long. Private school was surely worse than public. Asura despised going to school with a passion and she loathed the winter months even more. Those times of year always made her think of her broken family and she wondered now why she was dwelling on it. She shrugged it off, today will be a good day, she promised herself.
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It had been a long day of walking around, laying in the park, talking about daydreams and guys. They had spent the entire day out, acting like children more than like the young adults they were. When darkness had started to descend upon their happy world the girls had decided to do some net-fishing at a pond clearly labeled 'No Fishing'. It was fun and dirty work and they nearly got caught by a patrolling officer but they'd managed to get away with a couple of small goldfish as their new pets. In a way, it was their way of celebrating the death of childhood. They were graduating high school that week, and it felt like things would never be the same.
Now Asura sat, hair thrown up into a haphazard bun in a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top scrolling through screen-shots of an anime she and Jen really enjoyed. She was putting together a collage of all her favorite moments in the series to make an original, if not busy, wallpaper for her laptop. Her left leg swung back and forth, her toes barely skimming the floor. She was perched on one of the high stools at the kitchen counter waiting for Jen to finish her shower as she continued to save various photos, sometime throwing in a few of the ones she'd taken herself.
The finished collage had just been sent to her printer so she could have a hard copy of her little 'art project' when Jen came bounding into the kitchen. The tall girl's curls sagged past her shoulders due to the extra weight of the water. "What you doing there, mom?" Jen stressed the mom poking fun at how Asura usually did all the things a mother would do at home.
Asura narrowed her eyes at the girl clad in baby-blue pajama pants with matching top. "You're hilarious, did you know that?" After Jen only smiled and stuck out her tongue slightly Asura looked back at the screen of her computer, shutting it off. "We're having left-overs for dinner. Would you mind getting the soup I made yesterday out of the fridge and heating it up? I've made some fresh rice to go with it; it should be ready in a couple of minutes." Asura said all this as she rummaged through the pantry for bowls and flatware.
There was only a slight pause as Jen was about to say something but Asura cut her off. "Do not call me mom. You're worse than my-" Asura stopped abruptly. "You're worse than a 5 year old." The air in the room suddenly became thick with tension.
Jen knew she was going to say 'little brother' and she was aware that Asura must be upset right now. "Whatever you say mother." Jen smiled at her dark-haired friend letting Asura's slip-up go unannounced.
Asura glared, but the tension had been broken. Asura made sure to set aside enough food for her mother for when she returned. Her mother always worked at night, every night, and so she hardly ever got to see her. Asura had been touched that her mother, as tired, overworked and unavailable as she was had gone to the trouble of baking a cake when she should have been resting. The woman had a day job, a night job and she worked weekends too!
After the girls finished cleaning up from dinner Jen asked, "So, do you want to watch Naruto now or are you just going to bed?"
Asura thought for one minute, "Oh yes! That reminds me. I printed out that collage. Wait here a second I'll get it so you can see." With that Asura sprinted up the stairway to her room.
Upstairs she took a light summer robe from the closet and threw it around her shoulders before going over to the desk to retrieve the picture. She picked it up and stared at it a minute. Sometimes, she wished she could spend a day in one of these fantasy worlds, like the Naruto universe. She skimmed her fingers over the page lightly, closing her eyes, imagining she was there, in the world where ninjas and kekkei genkai were real. Asura shook her head suddenly. She was being silly again and she knew it. Opening her eyes she turned on her heal and headed for. Asura froze. What the hell?! She rubbed her eyes and blinked several times. I must be dreaming, there is no way I am standing in a cave. I must be out of my mind. "A cave of all places?" She whispered to herself. "Come on Asura, this is unbelievable, you hallucinate and it isn't even about something good, you hallucinate about being in for forsakenly cold cave!"
She was talking to herself at this point, but she didn't care, it was her own dream after all. She wondered when she had fallen asleep, unable to remember when she'd gone to bed, unconsciously wrapping the robe tighter around her body.
"Talking to ourselves are we?" A smooth, masculine voice sounded directly behind her. Asura froze with the picture she'd printed out clutched tightly in one hand, the other holding her robe shut in a vice-like grip.
Too afraid to move lest whoever it was attack her, she answered softly, her voice having lost its strength. "I- What are you doing in my-" her eyes darted around the cave quickly, "Ah- Wh-who are you?" Her eyes had now glued to the floor.
The unknown guy stepped around to stand in front of her. "I should be asking you that."
Asura looked up upon seeing a pair of feet in front of her and she promptly gasped, before her eyes widened, and then shut her mouth again. No way was she seeing what she thought she was seeing. The young man before her had to be a cos-player; a really good cos-player. A really, really, really, oh-my-god-you-just-stepped-out-of-my-TV-and-you're-real kind of cos-player! She opened her mouth to speak again and started in something between panting and stuttering. "But... You… you ca-can't be! This is a dream… you… you're not real!" She rubbed her eyes in a panic, but he still stood there, looking at her as if she were mad.
He took a step forward and she sprang back on instinct letting out a small squeak as she did so. "No!" She put her hands out in front of her as if to keep him from coming any closer.
His red eyes narrowed and he stopped momentarily, "I can assure you that I am very much real." He started moving closer as she looked more panicked by the moment, a smirk on his face.
"No, no, no! You're Uchiha Sasuke, an imaginary character from an imaginary world! This cannot be." She was too preoccupied with the thought that Sasuke was a real person to notice that she might be in real danger. She was no ninja, had no weapons, and she hadn't the slightest clue where she was. Hell she hadn't even any shoes or proper clothing!
In the meantime Sasuke had closed the distance between them and grabbed hold of her arms preventing any escape. She looked up at him in horror. "Let me go!"
"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Sasuke asked this in the coldest tone she'd ever heard anyone use.
"Y-you're hurting me!"
Sasuke just glared down at Asura. "Tell me who you are."
Suddenly remembering her dislike for her red-eyed assailant she yanked at her arms in an attempt to get away. "Release me! This is ridiculous! You're a fictional character straight out of Naruto. Not only that, you're an annoying brat who deserved to have his face knocked in by him! I am not going to be bullied by my own hallucination so: Let. Me. Go."
Sasuke's eyes widened in shock as Asura kept struggling to escape his grasp. Although she was older than him by a good three years he was easily six inches taller and much stronger. He shook her once, violently, to get her to shut up. "How do you know Naruto? Where are you from?!"
Asura stopped suddenly, her fear renewed courtesy of his harsh tone. She looked up at him, wisps of hair that escaped her bun in her wide eyes. "I-I don't really know him... I-I need to snap out of this."
Sasuke repressed a growl; he was dealing with an insane woman whose mutterings were leading way to suspicion that she may be a spy. Something she grasped in a white-knuckled fist caught his attention. Sasuke quickly released one of her arms, snatching away the paper. As he looked at it, he nearly did a double-take.
"Give that back!" She jumped for the collage with her free hand. That would certainly not help her situation it might look like she was some kind of stalker, or worse yet a spy!
Unfortunately she was not tall enough to be able to get it as he held it far above his head. "You will tell me your name, spy, and if you cooperate I may not take you to Orochimaru." Sasuke wondered how this woman had gotten all these pictures. There were nearly all of the ninja he had ever met and even some he'd never seen. There were also pictures of a very strange village he'd never before seen. He was certain she was a spy, and a very good one at that to have so much information on this one page alone.
Asura shook. Whether it was with rage, fear, or utter disbelief, she wasn't even sure, but she damn well did not want this to go on any further than it had. If this was real, and this really was Sasuke, and he really was taking her to Orochimaru, she needed an escape plan, and she needed it fast. Oh god help me, I've gone off the proverbial deep end! Her robe-clad left arm hurt too much from the pressure of Sasuke's grip for it to be a dream. Or a nightmare in this case.
"Wait, it really isn't what it looks like! I am not a spy; I'm not even a ninja! As a matter of fact, I'm not even from here! I don't even know exactly where here is!" She was rambling now in her panic. She never believed she'd have to use the line 'it's-not-what-it-looks-like' and really mean it. If Sasuke's eyes betrayed anything other than annoyed disbelief she didn't see it.
"I'm only going to ask one more time." Now that she'd stopped reaching for the photo, he'd lowered his arm back to his side. "Who are you?"
Asura answered honestly, what else was she going to do? "My name is Asura. I'm not from...," She looked around the cave remembering just how cold it really was. "...wherever we are." She paused as she thought again. "I'm from Taubaté..." She groaned, not only did that sound stupid, it sounded like a damn lie. It really was the city she lived in.
His eyes narrowed at her again. He did not believe a single word that she'd just spoken. He'd never in his life heard of a country named 'Taubaté' it sounded like she'd completely made it up. Maybe she wasn't a spy after all, because honestly, what kind of a lie was that? "Do not play games with me; I don't have time for them."
"And I don't have time for this! I want to go home!" She swiped out for the paper from his hand before he could register her movement. She was able to catch the end of it, but as she pulled, three things happened:
The paper began to tear in half; she started to fall forward and then finally she disappeared leaving behind a peeved and bewildered Sasuke.
The ninja looked down to his hands. One held half the torn paper, the other (which previously held the girl named 'Asura' captive) was empty. There was not a single trace of her presence. If it were not for the half picture in his hand he would have believed he'd imagined the whole thing. Sasuke stormed off angrily tucking away the evidence of an unknown spy.
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Asura yelped as she came crashing into a placid lake. As soon as she hit the water she started splashing and spluttering around in an attempt to surface. After a moment she got her bearings and was able to swim to the edge and climb out. She shivered despite the fact that it was sunny and everything was green. Wrapping her arms around her soaked body, she stood on the grass and looked around. There seemed to be nothing but forest surrounding the clearing she currently occupied. That sudden 'bath' really woke her up. This was way too vivid for it not to be real.
Asura attempted to smooth her hair which was now a complete, drippy mess. "Oh wonderful, where am I now?" She asked no one sarcastically as she rung out the end of her robe. "Or," she continued talking aloud to herself, "even better question would be how in hell did I get here?!"
Despite all her efforts, the robe still clung uncomfortably to her body. She kept it on anyway as she was certain her tank-top was completely transparent at the moment. Sighing, she walked over to a near-by tree and sat with her back against it. What she needed to do right now was some thinking. What happened before she appeared in that cave? She had had dinner with Jen, they had cleaned up and then she told Jen to wait while she got the Naruto collage she'd made and had run upstairs. There she'd gotten her robe, and picked up the picture. The next thing she knew she was no longer in her room.
Where was the connection? The location had changed within a mere second. Asura frowned. Anyway, she was then in a cave where she'd just gone through that whole bad encounter with Sasuke (I am crazy!) and when she'd torn the picture from his hand she fell in a lake.
That was ludicrous. That could not have happened! "I'm still dreaming!" Deep down she had a feeling she wasn't though.
The connection she could make was that both times she'd touched the pictures and imagined going away. "What if..." It couldn't be that she went into any picture she touched could it? Asura looked back at the lake and paled. She gasped and stood, walking over to its edge again. "No..." If that was the case, her only ticket home was somewhere at the bottom of all that water. That or with Sasuke and the only thing she knew of his location was that it was in some cave. That wasn't helpful at all.
"I don't even know where the hell I am!" She shouted scaring off a few birds. Asura was not happy but sitting there was not going to fix anything. She looked down at her bare feet, knowing she would have to get somewhere for help. There was no way she could track Sasuke in her current situation. Wet and weary she turned her back on the lake and decided going in that direction was as good as any. There wasn't possibly any way she could get more lost than she already was.
"The one wish I make that comes true and it goes all wrong; that figures." She'd wished that she'd have the ability to go anywhere she pleased, just by touching a photograph of the location. Who would have thought it would actually work?! In the back of her mind she vaguely wondered if Jen even knew she was gone. Things like this always seemed to work out so that no one but the unfortunate protagonist knew anything had happened at all. Asura hoped that was true. She didn't want her mother or her best friend worrying.
End Chapter 1!
- There you have it; I have made many corrections and even altered a few details. I hope it was easier to read. You'll notice chapters 1-3 have been condensed into one long chapter. Chapter 2 is underway and should be up very soon. That is where the action really begins. This chapter was mostly to introduce my original characters and to get the "portal" to the Naruto universe opened. I am pretty much done with the "real" world for now and will be focusing on just the Naruto universe for a while. Please leave a review.
-I was serious about voting for couples/pairs simply because I can write any of them and am usually quite open-minded. The only ones I have officially planned are Sasuke and Sakura (unless someone can convince me to otherwise) and Asura and... a surprise! Nearly everything else is up for grabs although I can't promise I'll go into too much detail with them. Remember, you can suggest if you want Jen paired with anyone, as we will be seeing her again in the future!
-Last note: Taubaté is a real place. I did not make it up. Any characters/situations resembling any real people/situations are mere coincidence and are not intended.