A/N: ALRIGHTY!
This is a rewrite, because the original...well, let's face facts, it needed a makeover. I may have been too hasty to kill off some characters, and rushed plot points as well. HOWEVER! This should address those problems rather handily, I think. Someone once tapped me to write a NarutoxAshley story for Mass Effect. That someone has been very persistent as of late! To clarify, this takes place some months before the beginning of the first Mass Effect.
Yes, the pairing is NarutoxAshley.
Sorry, if that offends anyone.
Now...
...onto Vanguard of the Shinobi!
"You there! What...what year is it?"
~?.
Awaken (Rewrite)
The full moon shone bright and clear as it peeked through the clouds.
A symbol of light, a symbol of peace, a sign of tranquility in the night. Serenity at its finest, the silver light peering through the clouds danced along the plains of Eden Prime, utterly ignorant of the men and women hard at work below. Good men and women, delving deep into the earth, searching for clue that might help verify mankind's existence. Their efforts were closely guarded by an alliance squad, responsible for the scientists' protection as much as their own.
"Um...Gunnery Chief Williams!" One of the technicians shouted, his voice rising over the cacophony of drills and excavation tools. "Ma'am, I think you might want to see this!"
A young woman with long, lustruous raven hair turned at the voice, idly brushing a bit of dirt from her pink-and-white bodysuit. Her armour had served her well during her service on Eden Prime, but the kinetic barriers were meant to repel bullets, not clods of offensive dirt and god knew what else.
"Coming!" She grumbled beneath her breath.
"What?"
"Damnit, I said I'm coming, Johnson!" Williams bit back an oath; she coud scarcely hear herself think over the roar of machinery! As if on cue the incessant whir of the drills cut off, leaving her with silence. There came a dull thud from below the digsite, punctuated by the man's sharp yelp of surprise.
"What are you-hey! Hands off!" The sound of a scuffle, a gunshot, then silence.
"Johnson?" Ashley called, dread subsuming her. "Are you alright?"
"D-Down here, ma'am." came the reply, sounding abashed. "My pistol discharged...sorry about that."
Ashley Williams bit back a yawn and re-shouldered her rifle. The hour was late and, while she seriously doubted they'd find anything of importance here, she was obligated to grant the engineer's request. God, of all the times to have her hair down! Grumbling to herself about the late hour of their discovery, the Gunnery Chief trapsed down into the dig site, careful not to lose her footing on the steep incline. As she descended she could not help but to wonder; what could possibly be so important that she found there nearl took her breath away-scratch that to hell, it did take her breath away.
What in the blue hell was this?
Sitting atop what looked like a metal pod, was a boy. Scratch that, too. He wasn't young enough to be a boy but not old enough to be a man. A youth, then. He was clad in black and orange rags his attire clearly having suffered while his skin had not. Rough blond bangs shaded a whiskered, chiseled face, from which eyes of the brightest shappire shone. They locked upon Williiams, pinniong her with their frantic desperation, as though she could somehow offer a clue as to how he'd come to be here. Johnson made as if to touch the pod beside the blonde...and found himself sorely regretting his action as the youth greeted him with a fierce profanity an a boot to the face, sending him sprawling.
"Baka yarou!"
Japanese? Ashley mused, the translators in her suit kicking in. That's strange...
"Alright alright!" Johnson pleaded, raising his hands lest the blond kick him again. "I won't touch anything! Just don't kick me again!"
The blond muttered foul something beneath his breath, and her translator caught it as:
...don't you dare touch them, asshole."
That piqued Ashley's attention. Was there someone else in that pod? She didn't have a chance to wonder; because the blond was staring at her again. She noticed the wound in his arm, blood spilling from where he had surely been shot by Johnson. Whomever he was, the youth didn't seem to care much for the wound; hell, he scarcely seemed to even register it, going so far as to idly pat the injury with his off hand. Before Ashley could think to stop him, blood spurted from the freshly torn wound. Not a moment later, the wound inexplicably began to sow itself shut. As Ashley looked on in horrified awe she began to understand. Whereas his shoulder had once been a tattered mess it was now beginning to heal; the grisly muscle knitting itself shut even as she observed.
"Oi, lady...are you in charge?" He drawled, heedless of her shock.
A muscle jumped in Ashley's jaw.
"My name is not lady, kid." She straightened, contemplating whether she should bring her assault rifle to bear. "Its Ashley. Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams."
"That's too long." the youth grumbled. "How about I just call ya Ash, ya know?"
Ashley bristled.
Ya know?
"Are you one of the colonists?" she asked.
"Colonists?" The youth balked at her, "I'm a shinobi, not some damn colonist!"
"And what the hell is a shinobi?"
The blond blanched.
"You...don't know what a shinobi is?"
Ashley shook her head.
"In that case, I have only one question." the blond mumbled.
"And that would be?"
"What year is it?"
Ashley couldn't help it.
Her eye twitched.
A/N: THERE WE GO! Expect the other two chapters shortly.
So, in the immortal words of Atlas...
...review, would you kindly?
R&R! =D