Chapter One: Amaranth

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or X-men: Evolution or their respective affiliates!

She willed her eyes open against the throbbing pain in her head and sighed. She laid awake, uncomfortable, for a long moment before she finally forced herself to sit up and kick her legs over the edge of the bed. Groaning quietly to herself, she picked herself up and got dressed with as much enthusiasm as she could muster with her aching temple and her knotted stomach.

She paused for a moment beside her bed when she glimpsed herself in the mirror: she couldn't see any change in her face, though she felt feverish and hot, and she saw nothing else to indicate infection. She didn't honestly know what she was searching at all…Tsunade had already examined her and found nothing wrong. There wasn't even an immune response to suggest that she had a virus…but shinobi life was stressful and they had come to the mutual consensus that too much training and too little rest was the cause of her queasiness.

Stubbornly, though, she knew she would still force herself to the training grounds. She refused to be laid up for even a few days if she could help it and, given Sasuke's recent return to the village, she knew that she needed to refine her cell skills if they were going to be an effective unit.

With another sickly sigh, she tied her headband down and walked out.

She was a little more than half way to the grounds when the world began to spin; dizzy, she leaned against a nearby wall for support and briefly considered going home. Kakashi knew she hadn't been feeling well but something about the idea made her feel even worse…She wanted to feel like part of the cell, the way she never had been as a genin…

She shook her head, waited a moment for the spell to pass, and continued on her way. A few minutes later, she stood beside her teammates, her gaze directed at their silver-haired sensei.

He peered mildly at them from the rim of his book and she heard him say something, "She's here."

"Of course I am." She replied, slightly annoyed.

"Sakura," Naruto commented with amusement, "Are you talking to yourself again? You know that's not healthy."

"I am not!" She protested, frustrated.

Kakashi, unwilling, it seemed, to mediate the fight, simply lowered the book and said, "I think a two-on-two will suffice for today. Sai, Naruto, you're Team A. Sakura, Sasuke, you will comprise Team B."

"And the objective?" Sai asked.

"Incapacitation." He responded. "Restrain them, exhaust their chakra, whatever happens to come first."

He vanished in a small cloud of vapor a moment later and appeared in a nearby tree. Reclining lazily, he motioned absently for them to begin as he flipped open his orange novel again.

Irked, Sakura sighed as she pulled on her gloves. She glanced over at her figurative opponents and was just about to begin her usual analytical rundown when a familiar voice drifted over the air. She turned, fully expecting to see Ino running down the field with some piece of news, but there was no one else…

"Is something wrong?" Sasuke asked flatly as he drew his katana.

"No." She replied tersely.

"Then let's get on with it." He responded, charging before waiting for an affirmation from her.

She rushed in after him, drawing her fist back and springing up at Naruto. The blond managed an impressive somersault that cleared him of the impact that threw Sai. He came up in a roll, tossing weapons at her with his channeled impetus.

At the same time, she ducked left and sprinted sidelong at him. He responded with the manifestation of his clones. The doppelgangers kicked up into the air, forming a tight ring around her and extending their legs for his rendition of Sasuke's Barrage of Lions.

Her head shot up and she saw her opening; but suddenly the entire field erupted in noise so painful she was driven to her knees. She screamed, clutching her head between her hands as her vision flashed white.

Naruto, acutely aware something was wrong, tried to reach her. But as he neared a mere arm's-length distance from her, something flashed brilliantly around her and he was tossed bodily against a nearby tree.

There wasn't even time to cry out to her before she simply vanished.


His nose twitched slightly against the dirty reek of the city. There had always been pollution and trash, but a different veneer hung around the concrete city now: Fear and hatred…against mutants.

The news that they were in the city had struck harder than he thought it would. Then again, it didn't help that they were revealed in the middle of a battle that had taken its toll on the civilian population…just as that damned Mystique had intended. His stomach roiled in disgust when he imagined that sick joy Magneto was no doubt feeling over his self-perpetuating prophecy of division between the two classes of humans. And with their victory came a whole new dimension to the city…more rot, more stench…

And that was exactly what made the new scent he was following so much more intriguing: It had a faint freshness to it that reminded him of his time in Japan…but it had an edge to it…a salty undertone and metallic tang…

Fresh blood and tears…

He stopped, the wind revealing the direction of the odor. His hands dropped from his pockets to his side as he turned down a narrow alley.

The scent intensified and he knew he was close; the vague scent of new adrenaline and the wane sound of sobs only served to pinpoint her location.

He walked around the dumpster shoved against the alley wall and kneeled down. His eyes raked her and his eyes narrowed: a mutant, if her hair color was any indication…She was young, no more than seventeen, sitting in a smear of blood that he could only assume was hers; probably a runaway, too scared to stay at home when her powers began to manifest or cruelly tossed into the world by her parents when they decided she no longer constituted a human being. It was an all-too common occurrence.

"It's dangerous to be out here this late at night." He commented.

She yelped, startled, curling herself into a tighter ball against the slimy concrete. Her eyes drifted up from the protective rim her arms formed around her and she asked, "Where…am I?"

"North Salem." He responded, privately wondering if she was that far from home or if she had taken a bad blow to the head.

"That…isn't right…" She trailed off, retreating back into the cage of her arms, "I'm supposed to be in Konoha…"

"What happened to you?" He asked almost cruelly.

"I don't know!" She sobbed harder.

"Listen, you aren't alone. Got that, kid? There are others."

"Other what?" She cried.

"Mutants." He responded irritably.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"You can deny it all you want but it won't help you." He replied, opening his mouth to say more when a chemical odor flooded his nose.

He tensed, the edges of his claws starting to push against the skin of his knuckles. He stood up brusquely and ordered her to get up.

She looked up, too distraught to force her legs to bear her weight. She didn't even have time to demand an answer before he snarled, "I said 'Get up'!" as he yanked her up. He pulled her close, leaping to the side with mere feet between him and a conflagration of orange.

"Pyro." He spat, setting her down behind him.

"Nice to see you, too, Old Man." The cocky teen responded, flames dancing from the palm of his gloves.

"I'll show you old." Logan snapped before turning back and telling her, "Stay where you are. I'll protect you."

She nodded, unable to conjure another response.

He turned back, his broad face twisted up with a smirk, and charged in a blur of movement at the young man. Something silver flashed from his hands across the pack the teenager wore strapped to his back. Foul, yellow fluid poured from the tubes, spraying the ground.

The younger man stumbled, forcing the Wolverine back a half-step. In that split second, he shouted, "Nice try."

His thumb flicked the depressor of the lighter he held in reserve and a tsunami of flames washed over the man; he was slammed backwards against the wall and fell to the greasy pavement, limp.

"Time to finish it." Pyro smirked as he morphed the flames into an orb directed at the fallen man.

"No!" Sakura cried, pushing up on her feet.

"You'll have your chance!" He snapped, turning on her viciously.

His lips pulled up in a malicious smirk as he flung the sphere of fire at her; she flinched, her arms coming up instinctively to guard her face. And suddenly a massive shockwave erupted around her, extinguishing the flames and sending the mutant attacker tumbling.

The sound forced her eyes open and, confused, she pressed herself against the wall to guard her back.

"Fucking psychic bitch!" He howled, pulling himself up. "You're going to pay for that you ugly whore!"

He ran at her, his fist pulled back. With nowhere to go, she brought her arm up.

He was flung bodily to the right, as if some invisible force had struck him, and thumped sickeningly against the bricks. Amazingly, he pushed himself up and flicked the lighter again.

In the same moment, he was seized by the back of his neck and thrown completely free of the narrow chokehold into the street, revealing Logan.

"Punk." He huffed angrily as he walked back over to the woman in question. "Are you alright?"

She tried to nod, but her legs failed her and she sank to the ground, tears running in opaque trails down her face. She didn't even have the strength to question how he was standing after sustaining such horrible burns.

"Calm down." He ordered as his hand went for the cellphone in his pocket. He dialed a single digit and brought it to his ear.

"Hey, Charles, I could use a pick up." He said simply.


An unmarked, blue van pulled into the alley and opened, revealing two women. One was a tall, elegant female with dark skin, silvery hair, and startling blue eyes while the other was a shorter, lithe teenager with bouncy hair pulled up high in a ponytail.

"You called, Logan?" The first asked.

"Yeah." He motioned gruffly to the female kneeling beside him.

"Please, Logan," Ororo sighed irritably as she pushed back him and leaned down close to the crying girl, "Show no kindness whatsoever."

He didn't respond as she was helped into the back of the van, where she curled up into a tight ball against the passenger side front seat. Not a word was exchanged in the silent ride back to the mansion.


Charles sat with his hands folded pensively under his chin as the van smoothly circled the roundabout and parked in front of the double doors of the estate. The doors opened with a faint click and Logan stepped from the interior of the vehicle.

He said nothing as he walked around the van and opened the doors before stepping aside as Charles rolled over. Jean was close beside him, obviously ready for a medical emergency if the white coat draped from her shoulders was any indication.

"She hasn't said a word since we got there." Kitty said as she stepped out.

"I'm not surprised." Jean responded as she gently probed her mind, commenting absently to herself, "She's definitely a mutant."

"I have no clue what the hell you people are talking about!" The woman suddenly came alive, rage coloring her face even more brightly than her tears had. "Who are you working for? Orochimaru, the Akatsuki?"

Her hand lashed out and she seized Jean by the collar of her shirt.

"I don't know what you're after, but I can guarantee you won't get it."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The red-head replied.

"Let's try to be rational, shall we?" Xavier said, drawing Sakura's eyes to him.

She felt her anger and hatred wash away beneath his benign gaze and her grip loosened.

"I need to know what's happening." She said finally.

"And we'll help you find those answers." He assured her, "But for now I think it best that you let us help you."

She nodded, unable to do much more, and he motioned for Jean to continue with a pointed telepathic remark that there would have been plenty of time to peer into her mind if she had been patient.

The teenage mutant just nodded as she looped her arm under Sakura's and helped her up. The girl, glancing down, suddenly realized she was still streaked with blood.

"I'm sorry…I bled everywhere…"

"That won't be a problem." Charles said as she allowed herself to be led into the house.


Sakura laid down on the table and let Jean pull a blanket over her. "Please," She whimpered, "Tell me what's happening…"

"Your powers are manifesting." She responded simply.

"I don't have any!" The pink-haired kunoichi yelled.

"I know you're afraid," Jean said, "This usually happens with puberty, but we can teach you to control them. We'll protect you."

Frustrated at hearing the same line again, she just nodded and turned over on her side to hide her face as more tears pooled in her eyes. She heard Jean remark that there were clothes for her to change into and then, mercifully, she left her to the silence.


"How is she?" Logan asked as he chugged a glass of milk.

"She's fine. Tired, but okay."

"Those weren't your run of the mill abilities she displayed back there." He commented.

"No, they weren't. But she's not your average mutant." Charles remarked as he pulled into the kitchen.

"What do you mean?"

"She's an Omega-level mutant-one that Cerebro didn't detect."

"She's only a girl!" Logan protested incredulously.

"And a powerful one at that. This is a genetic mutation that we haven't seen before, a new genome."

"Then how is it possible that Cerebro didn't find her?" Jean asked.

"There are several possibilities. She might have the ability to affect or slip between time-space dimensions in a mechanism similar to the one Kurt uses, she could have been pulled from a different portion of our own time stream, or she may be a synthetically created mutant. As of this moment, there are several other explanation that I'm having Cerebro analyze."

"And until then?"

"We must proceed cautiously. She is afraid and confused and if we push her, we will certainly do more harm than good." He responded, "I expect you to look after her, Logan."

The gruff man nodded sharply in response, stalking out of the kitchen.


She bolted up in a panic before she remembered where she was. Taking several deep breath, she calmed herself and wiped the sweat away from her eyes with the back of her hand as the door in front of her opened.

"Good morning." Jean said brightly, balancing a tray of food in one hand, "Feeling better?"

"Yes." The kunoichi lied. She might have felt the physical pain abating, but that did nothing for the mental anguish or emotional turbulence.

"Great! Well, there's a shower over there and a clean change of clothes. Meet us outside whenever you're ready."

Sakura nodded as she watched the red-headed beauty walk from the room back into the hall.

She waited for the door to close before she took a few bites of proffered meal and set the tray aside. Her stomach churned anxiously as she slid the jeans, tank top, and hooded sweatshirt Jean had left over her body.

Her hands, however, lingered on her boots when she tried to put them on. She didn't want to step into the hall and prove to herself that she wasn't just dreaming, that her reality was suddenly different…

Sakura swallowed hard as she tied her boots, reminding herself that she was the apprentice of the Fifth Hokage, a representative of Konoha, and a ninja. She wasn't going to allow mere fear to control her.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled her hair back into a spiky mass at the base of her neck and walked down the hall. She was so distracted by just keeping her feet moving that she failed to notice a rather conspicuously colored and large mutant in her path until she had run right into him.

The shock sent her stumbling back and even as she tried to stammer an apology, a female she recognized from the night before phased through the wall in front of her. Taking a step back, she tried to turn and get back down the hall only to bump into a fuzzy blue male and land flatly on her back.

"S-sorry!" She yelped hastily.

Soft laughter rose lightly in the hall.

"You're new here." Kurt said…it wasn't a question, either.

"I…guess you could say that." She replied as she pulled herself up.

"Then I shall see you second hour." The largest of the three commented, extending his massive hand, "I'm Hank McCoy. I'll be your professor for biology, mathematics, and medical sciences."

Sakura reached out timidly; his palm was four or five times bigger than the entirety of her hand, but he was very gently when he clasped it in a respectful greeting.

"Sakura!" Jean's voice cut the as the red-head appeared down the hall, "There you are! Did you get lost?"

"You'll have to pardon us for keeping her," Hank commented in response as he let her pass. "We were a bit too enthusiastic with our greeting."

"Not a problem." She remarked back, taking the kunoichi by the hand and leading her down the hall.

"Uh…bye!" She stammered as she was pulled around a corner.

TBC