December 26, 1996 - The 4D Dimension

"Carly! Come here, darling, that river's dangerous!"

"No!"

"Carly, please come back! You don't want to get swept away in that nasty river, do you?"

"No!"

"Then come over here to your mommy, dear, you don't want to get hurt!"

"No!"

"Young lady, you get over here right now!"

"No!"

So it had gone that day. You, Carly Senechal, had been playing by the river, your black hair blowing slightly in the wind. Although being almost literally a baby genius, your three-year-old natural curiosity had gotten the better of you, and you had gone down to watch the seemingly endless flowing of the river over the smooth, rounded rocks lining the sides and bottom. It interested you, the way the river extended as far as you could see on both sides.

i What if there was a river that extended in one direction forever? /i you wondered. i Does the universe create a circle? Would the river end up where it started? /i You went down farther to touch the water.

"Carly, don't go down there! Carly, do you hear me? Don't. Go. Down. There."

"No!"

You loved to make your parents think you could only say one word. They thought it was so cute, the way you would say "Mama" or "Dada" constantly. Then, seemingly out of the blue, you would change the word. It was so funny the way they would get those confused expressions. Anyways, on with the story.

You fell into the river, only able to hold your breath as you went underwater, savoring the short moments you had above the water. The river seemed to go on forever, and you were certain that it had been hours since you fell in by the time you could see the end of it. Unfortunately, the river ended... in a waterfall.

i Figures, /i you thought, sighing deeply. i A huge, steep waterfall, most likely with sharp rocks at the bottom. When they find my body, it'll be washed ashore somewhere in Siberia, all gashed and bloody. /i You imagined how you would look after the waterfall and shuddered. The edge got closer. You closed your eyes as you waited to fall.

You weren't disappointed. You dropped down the waterfall, falling faster than you had ever thought materially possible. i Well, I know that the gravity here is working perfectly fine. /i You smiled sadly at the grim humor of your thought. i All I can do now is curl up and wait to die, /i you thought.

Suddenly, you felt yourself slowing. You landed safely... i on top of the water. /i You walked to the shore, trying to dry off your hair. You were hungry, wet, cold, and confused at what had just happened. i I'm supposed to be dead, /i you thought. i This wasn't supposed to happen... at least not to me. /i You looked into the trees and saw that it was not just the river that seemed to extend forever. i I guess I better start walking. /i

As you walked, you stumbled through brambles and low tree branches. Sharp oak leaves scratched your face. After a few hours, you were fatiguated and starving. i I can't go on like this much longer, /i you thought. i It won't be long before I starve to death. /i

Just then, something caught your eye. It was a large gate with Japanese characters on it. i I'm in... Japan? But that can't be; I would have had to cross an ocean... wait. Huge gates... well, so long as there isn't some guy waiting here for me in a white robe and all, I think I'm all ri- /i

The gates opened, and a man with long black hair wearing a white robe pulled you in.

"You should know better than to leave the village, Hinata," he said.

"Hinata? Who's that?" you asked. "Wait, I'm not who you're looking for; you've made a mistake!"

December 26, 1996 - The Purple Dimension

Tasha's P.O.V.

"Tasha, come here this instant!"

"Gnixelwort!"

"What did you just call me young lady!"

"Geez, Mom, all I said was 'gnixelwort', it's just some random jargon."

"Well, don't use jargon, you're three years old, for heaven's sake!"

"Aw, come on, the kids at school use jargon all the time!"

"You're not like the kids at school, Tasha, you're different, honey."

Yes, you were different. Nobody had seen anything like you before, not in all of history. This was the P Dimension, where everything was shades of purple, ranging from light lavendar to deep, majestic purple. Everyone else, naturally, had been born with purple eyes. Your eyes, however, were the lightest shade of lavendar anyone had ever seen. In fact, they were almost white. There was just that small hint of color there. Maybe that was what made you smarter than all the others at preschool, and perhaps it was the reason that you felt compelled to jump into the raging purple waters of the river, but whatever it was, you were on your way to nowhereness. You had realized your mistake as soon as the current started pulling you away from your family. Your eyes widened in shock when suddenly everything stopped being purple and started to turn into different colors; granted, it was a gradual change, but a change too obvious to miss.

The river washed you up to an open gate. You walked through it, hoping for an explanation why you were taken out of your dimension by a mere river. A young boy about your age walked up to you.

"Hiashi-sama has been looking for you," he said, taking her by the hand and leading her towards a building.

i What's this? Japanese? I read about this language on the Intranet (note: the Intranet is like the Internet except it delivers service to all dimensions)! Too bad I can't read it... /i

Hinata's P.O.V.

A member of the branch family found you right outside the gates of Konoha.

"You don't know how long we've been looking for you, young mistress. If you weren't from the main family..."

You were brought back to the Hyuuga compound, only to find that your father Hiashi and your cousin Neji had also found you... or, rather, two other yous.

"You can stop looking. I've found Hinata," your father announced.

"But, Hiashi-sama, Hinata is with me," both Neji and the other (anonymous) branch family member argued.

"I'm telling you, I'm i not /i Hinata or whatever! I'm Carly!" the girl your father was holding shouted.

"Yeah, um, hate to break it to ya," the other girl whom Neji was accompanying, "but I'm not this girl either. My name is Tasha, and I don't even think I'm from this dimension."

You spoke up rather quietly (funnyness!). "I'm Hinata," you whispered. "I'm sorry, Father, but there were shouts of anger, and I-"

"It's all right, Hinata," Hiashi said. "We have to figure out who these other two girls are."

You blinked. Normally, your father would have just left well enough alone and just brought you inside, but apparently this was different. These other two girls weren't arguing that they i were /i you, but rather that they i weren't /i . It would have been strange for impostors to argue against their own jutsu, or to not be able to drop a jutsu, that much you knew, so maybe these people were telling the truth.

Tasha's P.O.V.

Inside, the man who had brought one of the other yous to the building sat all three of you girls down and asked you to introduce yourselves.

"My name is Tasha Lamens. I'm from the Purple Dimension, and I'm different from everybody else. I don't know how I got here or anything, but I have to get back to where I belong.

"Me too," one of the other girls said. "Except I'm not from the Purple Dimension. I'm from The four-dimensional world."

"Four dimensions?" the last girl cut in. "I thought there were only three."

"No," both of you dimension-travelers said in unison. "The fourth dimension is time."

"But," you said, "I don't think there is a third dimension here."

"Me neither," the 4D girl said. "I felt something different when I got here. By the way," she said to the man, "how could you have mistaken me for her? I don't look anything like her; plus, I'm all torn up."

"I beg to differ," the woman who had brought the real target to the compound said. "You three look almost exactly alike, except for the scratches and bruises on this young girl here."

It finally hit you to ask the question to answer all questions.

"Hey," you said. "By any chance, do both of you turn four tomorrow?"

Both of the other girls nodded.

"That's it!" you exclaimed. "We're triplets! Triplets from three different dimensions!"

Carly's P.O.V.

"But that can't be!" you exclaimed. "We weren't even born in the same dimension; how can we be triplets?"

"We just are," Tasha said with a knowing look. "By the way, you two others haven't introduced yourselves yet."

"Okay," you said. "My name is Carly Senechal. I'm from San Francisco, California. I like lots of things, including books and apples. I don't particularly hate anything. All right, now you."

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata. I like taking walks in the park and cinammon rolls."

You couldn't tell if because you were in a place that looked like Japan, her name would be last first, first last, or the other way around. However, Hinata did sound like more of a first name than Hyuuga.

"I love cinammon rolls!" Tasha almost leapt out of her seat. "I told you so, Carly!"

"Oh, yeah, you both like cinammon rolls, big whoop. Now I'm i sure /i we're triplets."

"You have the same kind of sarcasm as my mom," Tasha pouted.

"I'm flattered," you answered. "Moving on, I'm almost sure we aren't triplets. There's so much going against it."

"Really?" Tasha asked. "Like what?"

"Well," you said, "first, we're from different dimensions. Seriously, how can we be triplets if we're from different dimensions? Second, we don't have the same mother. That means we absolutely i can't /i be triplets, no matter what anyone says, or how alike we look, which really isn't that much alike."

"True, true," Tasha said. "But how can we i not /i be triplets? I mean, we have the same birthday, and we do look alike, sort of. Plus, if we weren't, would we even have ended up here? And, why did we?"

Hiashi said to the woman who had brought Hinata (who by the way still hadn't left yet), "It's rather strange to watch three toddlers have an actual discussion over something important, ne?"

"I heard that," you three said simultaneously before going back to your dilemma.

Tasha's P.O.V.

"How did we get here?" you asked. "I mean, if a river had just taken me downstream to a different part of my dimension, I wouldn't have been surprised, but this is just abnormal!"

"I know," Carly said. "It's so... so... i anomalous /i , isn't it?"

"That was redundant," Hinata said in her whispery voice. "Don't 'abnormal' and 'anomalous' mean the same thing?"

"Yeah," you said. "Carly, stop being redundant."

"I was agreeing with you; it's perfectly acceptable to repeat the meaning of a word under those conditions."

"'Conditions' isn't the right word," you argued.

"It doesn't matter!" Carly almost shouted. "Geez."

Hiashi cut in on your conversation. "Girls, I don't believe it matters whether or not your grammar is correct, but there is the matter of living arrangements. So far as I've heard, you have no idea how long you will be staying in this dimension."

"That's right," Carly said.

"So, I'm proposing that you stay here for the present."

"That's a good idea," you agreed. "So, Hinata, can you show us around?"

Hinata nodded and took you and Carly on a tour of the Hyuuga compound.

Four Years Later

"Hinata neechan, hurry up!" you shouted as you ran towards the doors of the Academy. "We're going to be late for our first day!"

Hinata broke into a run. "Coming!"

You three rushed breathlessly into class just as soon as the second hand reached the twelve.

RIIIIIIIIIIIING!

"You girls are just on time," the teacher said.

"Phew!" Carly said under her breath. "For a second there I thought we were toast."

The three of you took the last empty seats; fortunately, they were next to each other.

The teacher settled the talking class down. "My name is Iruka; I will be your sensei for all of your training here at the Academy. Please, introduce yourselves to the class."

The three of you listened quietly as, one by one, the other students stood up and said a little bit about themselves. After what seemed like ages, it was your turn. You smiled deviously at your "sisters."

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata," you said, "and I like senzai and cinammon rolls, and taking walks in the park."

Hinata stared at you with a 'what-in-the-world-are-you-doing' look before standing up. "I am Senechal Carly and I enjoy reading and eating apples."

Carly tried to hold in her snickers as she introduced herself as you.

Iruka shuffled some papers on his desk. "Now, the boys will stay here and the girls will go outside with Miss Fujiwara."

All the girls stood up and filed out of the door in an orderly line... well, all except for you, Hinata, and Carly, who tried to push past everyone to be the first outside.

Miss Fujiwara turned out to be just as gullible as Iruka with your names, despite the fact that Carly almost broke a rib holding in her laughter and you snorted slightly in the middle of your introduction.

"Now that we have introduced ourselves, let's play a name game," Miss Fujiwara said. "Everyone form a circle."

Everyone formed a circle.

"Now, someone will go into the middle of the circle and call out a person's name. That person will crouch down, and the two people on either side of him/her will race to shout out the other's name. Got it?"

"Yes, Miss Fujiwara," the girls said in unison.

"All right, why don't we let Akari go first?"

Akari, a girl with light gray - almost black - hair and dark violet eyes stepped into the middle of the circle.

"Hinata," she said, looking directly at you. Hinata crouched down.

"Sakura!" the girl to the left of Hinata shouted. A pink-haired girl whose bangs were pulled in front of her face sat down and put her face into her knees.

"What?" Akari asked, confused. "I just said Hinata..."

"That's Hinata," you said, pointing. "I'm Tasha."

"Fine then," she said, "Tasha!"

You crouched down, and the two girls stared at each other blankly.

"How can you not know her name?" you asked. "She just said it!"

The girls continued to look at each other.

You turned to your right and mouthed "Ino" to a girl with black hair and black eyes.

"Ino!" she said.

"That's no fair, she helped her!" Ino complained angrily.

"It doesn't matter," you said smugly. "You still have to sit down."

Ino sat down in a huff.

The Name Game continued until it was just you, Hinata, and Carly left.

"Hinata!" Akari announced.

"Carly!" you shouted, just as Carly yelled, "Tasha!"

This went on for about five minutes until all three of you were declared the winners. You grinned at each other before all the girls headed back to the classroom to get their bentos (lunchboxes).

Lunchtime

Carly's P.O.V.

The three of you were sitting together eating lunch when a few girls came up to you. You recognized one of them as Ino.

"Hello," she said a little coldly.

"What do you want?" Tasha asked, sensing the bitterness in her voice.

"I just wanted to say that for three girls with different last names, you sure do look alike. I mean, what are you guys, clones or something?"

"If we told you, we'd have to kill you," you said, narrowing your eyes.

"I'd just like to see you try," she answered.

"Yeah," one of the girls behind her said.

You pulled a plant out of the ground, recognizing it as aconite. Tasha and Hinata did the same. Simultaneously, you threw them, directly at Ino's mouth. They landed on-target, or, rather, in-target.

"Aconite," Tasha said. "It's a halfbreed, so it's not as poisonous, but I would expect it should have at least some rather nasty side effects."

"I would wash my mouth out if I were you," you said.

"Especially seeing as the poison seeps through your body quicker than you can say 'wolfsbane'," Hinata added.

"Augh!" Ino screamed as she rushed to rinse out her mouth. "I'm gonna tell Iruka-sensei on you!"

"Yeah, you just try that," you said quietly once she was out of earshot.

After Lunch

Ino walked up to you again, alone this time.

"Why didn't you tell me it was only the root that was poisonous!" she screeched.

"Because," you said calmly, "if I'd told you that, you wouldn't have gone away. Remember that for future reference. It'll come in handy one day."

"Hmph!" And with that, she flounced off. You heard her say, "So mean!"

"You started it!" you shouted after her as she took her seat in the far corner of the classroom. She stuck her tongue out at you.