Halloween 2015
I don't own New World of Darkness or Naruto!
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Animals talking
Thoughts
"Talking"
"Computer Voice"
"Monster Talking"
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Year: 2000
Country and Province: Canada, Saskatchewan
Location: Korasuki Home, Pine's Falls
It's the sound of music, some really unbelievable sounding music that Naruto's never heard before, yet... Shin has heard pretty much every morning for the past few months. Confusion and conflict causes him to hold the palm of his left hand to this forehead while his right hand holds his jaw, his index finger resting upon his lips.
He's Shin Yajuu, student attending Hill Height High and yet, he's Genin Naruto Uzumaki, who just survived an invasion that happened during the Chunin Exam. Which, to Naruto, happened just a two days ago. Yet, he's also Shin, who's living with his Godfather, Fu Korasuki and never heard of the Elemental Countries or has ever been a child soldier.
Go Elks! He thinks with a roll of his eyes at the name of the team. As he falls back onto his bed, already Shin is easing into the driver's seat and all that entails.
One more sigh, and Shin sits up before swinging his body to the left and standing up. He turns off the alarm before gazing at the calendar hanging on the wall. His birthday happening in two days, which makes today June fifteenth.
Picking up the pen on the string, he crosses off today before heading to his dresser to pick out some clean cloths. He feels the mental part of him that is Naruto despair at the lack of orange among his cloths. Ignoring that part of him, Shin picks a black t-shirt sporting a popular band's album cover while he puts exchanges his PJ pants for a pair of slightly fade blue jeans.
Before he leaves his room, he grabs a necklace sporting a pewter pendant of a crow with out stretched wings. The chain is rather cool to his skin as he heads for the bathroom. Shin finds himself staring into the mirror once he turns on the light, for a minute, mesmerized by his appearance and mentally comparing himself to what he recalls Naruto looking like.
His bright blond hair isn't as spiky as the other's, nor is it as short, he'll be putting it into a short pony tail. Moving on, the next part he studies is his eyes, his blue eyes being a lighter shade, almost gray, really. Neither of his cheeks sport whisker marks and as he lifts his shirt, he notes he sports more on his frame then the Genin, but then, he's been eating more frequently and healthier.
With a sigh and a pressing need of relief, he turns his attention to do so. After a few minutes, he washes his hands and dries his hands on the towel. He a parting look into the mirror, he turns off the light and heads down the stairs, heading for the kitchen.
"Morning." Shin says to Fu as the man finishes moving the eggs from the frying pan onto the plates. It strikes him, for a few seconds, how much Fu looks like the man his other calls Ero-Sennin.
"Something on my face, brat?" Fu inquires as the man walks towards the table with both plates, sporting a bemusing look.
"Nay, just a weird dream, someone looked liked you was featured in it is all." Shin says as he pulls out a chair and sits down. Fu puts one of the plates before him.
"What did I do in this dream of yours?" Fu asks curiously as he quickly digs into the eggs and toast.
"Just busy looking at women bathing near a waterfall while I was trying to do some exercise near a small stream." He tells Fu once he swallows what's in his mouth.
Fu snorts as he takes a bite of his toast. "Sure it wasn't the other way around?" His guardian asks and he nods his head.
"Yea, I'm sure. I was twelve in the dream, not really interested in the fairer sex." Shin states in a dry tone as he uses his fork to cut into his eggs.
Fu slowly shakes his head but focuses on eating his own breakfast and read his current novel's second draft. Once he's finished, Fu's pace speeds up as his guardian looks up, "Have a good day at school."
"Yea, that's the plan! See you later!" Shin says as he grabs his knapsack and once he's got his sandals on, he darts out the door, jogging towards school.
As he nears the school's gate, Shin easily identifies the three waiting near the gate. Debating whether he wants to talk to any of the three, Sasuke Yoshi, looks in his direction and Shin finds himself comparing the Sasuke before him to the one Naruto knows.
It's clear that the two share the same hair color and eyes, the difference is that Yoshi looks more buff. Also, Yoshi is not the most sought after guy in their year. Yoshi grew up as an only child, although his family had been killed when Yoshi was nine. And that's all he really knows about Yoshi's personal life.
As he approaches, Red gives him a wolfish grin and again, he's comparing Red, real name Akamaru, to Kiba. Red lacks the red tattoos on his cheek and the silted eyes. Red's nails don't look claw like and there's a streak of red among the gel spiked hair. He's also got a bit of fame as a dog trainer, well, that's something Red and Kiba share.
The third is Chouji Akimichi, yea, not very creative and he privately decides to differentiate between the two by calling the Genin version Chouji and this one before him, Michi. Again, there's similarities between the two and yet, differences. Michi's pretty much muscle and it shows. He's best friends with Maru, yes, he's going to call the Shikamaru he, Shin, remembers going to school with Maru, and he's the tallest kid in their year.
"Hey." Shin greets the three once he's near the gate, which they return in their own ways, which is Michi saying, "Hey." while the other two just nod.
Michi, born February third. Red, born August first. Yoshi, born February nineteenth. Shin recalls in a matter of fact way.
He finds a spot to wait, it's not like they're late, actually, they're pretty early. Shin's a bit busy remembering his previous interactions with each of the three when Michi says, "Hey Sakura. Shikamaru."
He looks up and lets out a sigh at the sight of Sakura Uchiha, he's leaning to mentally calling her Kura at this point as he just won't be thinking of her as Uchiha. Date of birth, February twentieth. Shin thinks while admiring Kura's most notable feature, her dyed pink hair.
Maru, date of birth, January thirtieth. Shin remembers as he nods his head in greeting to the approaching pair. What was with them and picking Feburary as their birth month? He wonders privately to himself.
Well, Jun's birthday is September tenth, so, out of the nine of us, only five picked February. He amends as he glances towards the approaching teen. Jun's appearance is fairly different then Hinata's own, for one thing, Jun's hair is strawberry blond and her eyes are hazel green. Still, there's facial features of Hinata in Jun's face. Hobby? Archery.
Soon enough, Kin Naka, arrives, easily drawing eyes of everyone, not just those waiting at the gate. Which is why none of them likely noted the arrival of Taichi Ishisin. Birth dates? February twenty-seven for Kin and February fourteenth for Taichi.
As he turns his head towards Taichi, the part of him that is Naruto seems stunned to see Taichi without sun glasses or a high collar. "I guess we're all here." Michi remarks and he turns his head toward Michi.
"So... should we hook up after school? I mean, we still got to prepare for classes today." Kin pipes in after a few seconds of silence.
"Might have to do it this Saturday as some of us do have practice after school." Shin pipes in, he's part of the track team and he knows that Kin is part of the drama club, Kura is a member of the cheerleading squad, and Taichi is a member of chemistry club.
With a nod, they head for the two story building, each heading off to their own lockers and some of them, hooking up in their respective classes.
Experience Earned: 1 each
Current Total Earned: 1
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Date: June 15th, 2000
Location: Fever Bridge Park, Pine's Fall
They were all spread out, with Chouji, or to use Shin's nickname, Michi. Maru, feh, what an original nickname. Not that you can blame him for wanting to separate us from the Genin we also are. Maru muses as he glances towards Shin, it's also his fourteenth birthday.
Jun's gift resting on his lap, at the reminder, they each greeted Shin, wishing him a Happy Birthday. Shin accepted each with a nod and a slight smile, not the shit eating grin that Naruto's known for. Then again, this world is vastly different then where that part of us came from. He mentally admits as there's a small part of him that finds this all surreal.
He's done his best to assimilate the two parts of himself into a functional whole so nothing could prey on the divide within his own mind. Looking off towards the bridge that gives this park its name, Maru considers what they should address as nobody seems to be willing to begin the conversation they need to have.
"Well, I think it's safe to assume that we all find ourselves in a unique situation." He address the group, taking the time to catch and hold the other's gazes with the exception of Michi, as his best friend is sitting to his right. "We have a mystery that needs to be solved." He adds calmly.
"Well, yea, but, well, do any of you recall what kind of goal the others put down? Any of the details the Genin wanted or compromised on?" Shin asks them and, he finds that Shin's point is rather valid.
"Well, who here recalls everything from being the Other?" Red asks and everyone looks around a each member of the group.
It's then does he note that Shin rubs the back of his neck, he's not really looking at anyone. Shin's eyes seem kind of focus inwards. Just how much do you remember? He wonders, he admits, the bare bones of his life as Genin Shikamaru is there, when he finds a quiet place to mediate.
A quick look towards Rin shows that she, too noticed Shin's actions, although he doubts she came to the conclusion he did. Yoshi, to again use Shin's nickname, also seems to focus in on Shin. A look shows that Jun doesn't seem to notice any nor did the others seem to paying much mind as they are each focus within.
"Ok, spill, Yajuu. What do you recall?" Kin asks in a threatening tone and Shin tries his best not to fold before her but, well, she did a very good job with that tone.
"He's still in my head, complete with his own memories and his own opinion. He's kind of been napping so, he hasn't tried taking control. I can review them with ease." Shin admits. "I've been doing my best not to, I mean, it was bad enough when I woke up and was going through two sets of memories."
"What was that mental merit did you pick again?" Yoshi asks with a slight frown.
"Ah, Eidetic Memory." Shin admits and he's not the only one to just stare at the birthday boy.
Explains so much about Shin. Maru can't help but think. He picked Train Memory, he had thought about picking Eidetic Memory only, he figured it was too troublesome a mental trait to have to remember everything around you in detail.
"And?" Kura demands, trying her hardest to mimic Kin's threatening tone but, well, it's a good attempt but it doesn't faze Shin.
"Only thing I recall about the goal is that we're kind of young for it to happen and I really don't want it to happen. I mean, why did we pick an apocalypse scenario?" Shin wonders and kind of glares towards Maru and Red.
"What kind of apocalypse are we facing?" Kin asks and Shin shrugs, replying, "Don't know, there was, like five, that Maru had Chouji put down. They each have certain triggers, it's a butterfly effect. Tiny decisions lead to big changes down the road. I know the Genin wanted to have a few calm years to plan for it, to collect and spend experience points to improve, well, us, their characters."
"So, our actions will enable one of these five scenarios occur." Taichi states simply and Shin nods.
We can be far too clever for our own good it seems. Maru can't help but think to himself. It was something he would have done to keep things interesting. Did, whatever. He thinks to himself.
"Wait, how do we get experience again? How can we tell how much we have in the first place?" Red demands and Shin gives the other teen a very blank look.
Putting his hands in a familiar position, he closes his eyes and mentally reaches into the area that most of Genin Shikamaru is located. Within a few minutes, a mental picture of the character sheet appears, along with his history and goals.
Feeling more like the Genin Shikamaru, he decides try and modify the sheet, it works but he doesn't save it. Letting go, Maru opens his eyes, he feels a bit of a headache, it seems that no matter how much he tried, there's going to be a divider within, it just happens that Naruto's divider is closer to the surface, likely an unforeseen side effect of possessing Eidetic Memory.
"I am going to assume that we all, currently, possess two points of experience. I assume as some of us are more active then others, likely due to participating in activities." Maru explains to the expecting group. "I believe for now, we are earning one experience a day. That may change and soon. How troublesome."
Shin snickers while the others give him a slightly bland look for a few seconds before it clicks, causing Kin to groan.
"So, for summary, we should use these few years to study, gather resources, and get into or keep fit?" Yoshi muses and Maru is one of the two to nod.
"Sounds about right." Michi agrees.
After a few seconds, they all get up and they walk off either in pairs or singly. Jun and Shin were standing together, talking in soft voices as Michi and himself walk away.
Experience Earned: 2
Current Total Earned: 4
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Date: June 29th 2000
Location: Outside Pizza Hut, Pine's Fall
"You ok kid?" Shin asks the pre-teen, he guesses the kid is between eight and ten, maybe. To be fair, he's never seen the kid around before.
The kid sniffles and says, "Leave me alone. It's not like you can help."
With a sigh, he moves to sit down on the sidewalk next to the kid. He's got two hours to kill until he meets up with Jun for archery lessons. "I'm Shin Yajuu."
"Yami Hakken." The dirty blond hair kid replies. "I'm nine, though I'll be ten come the first."
"Run away?" He asks softly. Yami stiffens slight but the tears just begin anew. There's terror in those eyes and he doesn't like it, so he wraps an arm about Yami's shoulders and gently pulls the kid in.
While the kid does come in, about a few seconds later, he pushes himself away from Shin. Trying his best to control his own tears. "Just leave me alone!"
Yet, Shin can tell that Yami didn't mean it, as though he's trying to convince himself more then Shin himself. Unshed tears threatening to fall. Then he hears a slight growl coming from the kid and yet, the kid's face remains that stubborn glare. Impressive, I guess?
"Look, I'm not going to harm you. Why don't we go inside and have lunch together?" Shin offers and Yami gives him a searching look.
Then, slowly, the younger blond nods his head and they both get up. While he wants to offer his hand to Yami, he doubts the kid would take it. They head into the Pizza Hut, with Yami coming at the back.
[ - Time Skip - ]
Location: Black Oak Park
Yami watches as Shin pulls the bow string back. Jun's earlier shot on the target she had hung up for their practice. Shin's arrow sails through the air and hits the edge of the target.
Again, as he watches Shin notches another arrow and pulls back the string, he's kind of enjoys himself. The release of the bow string sends the arrow flying towards the target, yet again, the arrow hits the outer ring.
Sure, he probably should worry about where he's going to sleep tonight and likely what he should do tomorrow, but for now, those kind of thoughts didn't seem as important. As Shin's third arrow hits the target along the edge yet again.
He kind of wants to try, but he likely isn't strong enough to pull back the bow's string. Still, it's something to learn to do. Yami thinks as yet again, Shin's arrow lands on the outer ring of the target.
On the fifth arrow, it lands in the grass before the tree that the target is hanging on.
"Ok, I think it's time for a break." Jun says, handing Shin a bottle of water. "Here, drink."
Shin lets out a soft sigh but does as bid. Handing the bow over, he takes the bottle and twists the cap off. Yami gets up and walks over to the target, it takes him a few tries but he manages to pull the practice arrows from the target. Once he has all six, including the one that fell short in the grass, he walks over to where the teens were standing, placing the arrows on the grass before their standing area.
"Thanks Yami." Jun says softly and with a smile while Shin gives him an approving look. He ducks his head before heading back to his previous spot to sit down.
After a few seconds, Shin puts the cap back on before doing some stretches. The lesson resumes with Shin's next arrow, again, landing on the outer ring of the target.
Experience Earned: 3
Current Total Earned: 14
So ends Chapter One!
Author's note: Yes, I am rolling dice when I was writing going through the events. Rin got more successes on her intimidate roll then Shin got in resisting it, she got 3 successes and Shin got 2. Yami got a whooping 6 successes in his Wits + Empathy roll on Shin to see if Shin had a hidden agenda.
Not sure I'm going to record the rolls though or maybe I should. Don't know, we'll see for chapter two and beyond!