To set some context of where the story is set/characters -
There will be spoilers for those who aren't up to date with the current anime or some chapters of the manga, although not all. There will be language, violence and adult themes.
The story is set somewhere towards the beginning of Naruto Shippuden.
- Basically, Sasuke is still training with Orochimaru.
- The entire Akatsuki are still alive.
- Naruto is back in Konoha after the 2 year time skip.
Although, for the purpose of this story I've decided to make Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura and the rest of the Rookie 9 around the ages of 18-19 (majority of them will be 19), depending on who they are.
Samara is 19.
Itachi is 23.
So in short, I made the age gap between the characters exactly the same, I've just altered their ages to make them a little older because it fits in with my story a little better.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto.
Chapter One: Out of Luck
Rays of glistening sunlight filtered gently through the slightly ajar curtains, a welcoming summer breeze causing the deep, blue silk to billow out against the cream coloured windowsill.
My eyes fluttered open as I yawned, lazily stretching out from under my plush, violet comforter and rolling over to face the wall. Gathering the covers back up, I snuggled deeper into my bed with every intention of returning to the land of slumber.
Sighing contently, I could lie here all day…
"Samara!"
Oh good, mums awake.
Lifting my head slightly, I hauled my deep purple pillow out from under me and slammed it down over my head stubbornly. What does she want from me?
"Samara Brookes, I know you can hear me!" a strained voice bellowed from downstairs.
Woman, please. I'm sure the entirety of our street can hear you.
Not bothering with a response, I pulled the pillow down around my ears. Bark all you want mother, I am not getting out of this bed.
"So help me, Samara. I am coming up there!"
A muffled laugh escaped my throat. She couldn't be serious.
My ears perked at a series of thumps residing from somewhere down the hall. Snapping my eyes open and shoving the pillow to the floor, I pulled myself into a sitting position in one swift movement, covers flying around me in a flurry. Apparently I was wrong, she was serious.
What self-respecting mother of any 19 year old College student still forces their child out of bed in the morning? Honestly, I am quite capable of getting myse-
The intricately carved, wooden door leading to my room flew open at such speed I'm surprised it didn't fly off its hinges and hit me in the face.
Using the hand that wasn't supporting me in my seated position, I attempted to shield my eyes from the onslaught of violating light now streaming into my room. My eyebrows knitted together to form a slight frown as I looked over to where my poor door was now swinging loosely against the wall.
There she was, in all her crossed-armed, foot-tapping fury. She stood rigidly in the archway, her perfectly straightened hair cropped just above her shoulder blades floating around her tanned face in a halo of honey-blonde silk.
Annoyance etched into her cinnamon-brown eyes, she used her perfectly manicured hands to quickly smooth out her crisp, steel-grey pencil skirt and ice-blue blouse. My mother, always one for proper appearances even at…I slid my eyes over to the conveniently placed alarm clock, 7:15 in the morning.
"What?" I shot, looking back over at her dully. "I'm up."
She arched an eyebrow at me and the foot tapping continued at a faster pace.
Sighing loudly I jerked my feet from over the side of the bed and stormed through the doorway and down the stairs, muttering a string of profanities under my breath.
My mother trailed along behind me, her delicate footsteps barely heard as I clumsily barreled into the kitchen, making a straight beeline for the fridge. Man, was I hungry.
"Samara really, there's no need for such language. If you just got up earlier like you're supposed to we wouldn't need to go through this every single morning." My mother's voice chimed from the side as I hauled the stainless-metal fridge door open, effectively blocking her from my vision, along with her heavily lip-glossed pout and expertly shined black pumps.
Divulging myself onto my pressing matters, I managed to block out my mother's nagging voice as she began yet another lecture about responsibility, her shoes clattering against the expensive, polished tile as she paced back and forth along the large kitchen.
What should I have for breakfast? Toast? Cereal?
"Oh, and have you even finished that assignment yet?" she questioned, causing me to stop mid-fridge raid.
Peeping out from behind the fridge door I gazed at my mother with a bored expression,
"No." I replied bluntly, grabbing a pre-packed yoghurt and spoon, I plonked myself into one of the nearby mahogany dining chairs and peeled back the top.
Food, food, food.
My mother ran her hands through her hair and made a noise of exasperation. "You're in first year medicine, you really should start taking it a little more seriously if you expect to get into any decent kind of internship after medical- Samara? Samara! Are you even listening?"
I took a spoonful of the yoghurt. Looked over at my mother blandly and opened my mouth slowly, then shoved another spoonful in and looked away.
A smile played on my lips, I could hear her teeth grinding in frustration.
"There's only so much I can do to help –"
Standing abruptly, the chair almost toppled out from behind me. "I don't need your help, mum." I bit out, my open palm slamming against the hard surface of the table. "You don't need to control everything I do. I can do it. And on my own, too." I glared at her shocked expression.
With that, I threw the half-empty contents of my breakfast into the waste bin and stalked off towards the bathroom. Somehow she always managed to ruin my perfectly good appetite.
Locking the bathroom door behind me, I peeled myself out of my pyjamas and twisted the shower taps around harshly, letting the hot water gush onto my skin painfully in an attempt to drown out my thoughts. I knew that would be the end of the conversation, only for tomorrow to end up exactly the same.
When I had first gotten the marks to get into medical school my mother was beaming with pride. Imagine, her daughter following in her very own footsteps to become the next best neurosurgeon in all Australia. I almost felt sorry for all her stuck-up friends, with how much she bragged about it to the other doctors at the clinic.
After washing my hair twice and running it through with conditioner, I lathered on my vanilla-scented body gel and cleansed my face thoroughly with face wash. Stepping out of the shower and onto the cool, tiled floor I grabbed one of the large, fluffy towels from the bench to the side and dried myself off quickly. Wrapping a smaller towel around my damp hair I cautiously clicked open the bathroom door glanced around.
The house was quiet. Peering through the wooden blinds I was relieved to see the sleek, black car missing from our circular driveway. Good, mum's left for work.
Continuing back up the stairs and into my room to finish my morning routine, I gave my face a quick tone and slapped on a small amount of moisturiser. Spraying myself with deodorant and a light spritz of perfume, I pulled on my dark blue slim-jeans and a plain, white t-shirt.
I ran a brush through my damp locks and looked squarely into the floor length mirror. I looked so much like my mother and I hated it.
I peered back at myself through long, thick lashes. I had the same sun-kissed bronze skin, slim build and delicate, heart-shaped face. My cheekbones sat high and I had a petite, straight nose. I puckered my full, plump lips in irritation and twirled a strand of my long, wavy, caramel-brown locks. If my mother hadn't played around with her hair so much at the salon, it would have been exactly the same.
Tilting my head to the side, the only difference between us was the colour of our eyes. I saw my familiar light, green-blue coloured eyes blinking back at me, as opposed to her deeper, brown ones. I'm assuming they came from my father, although I never really knew him. The only memory I ever had of him was a small, black and white photograph with burnt, crumbling edges.
And all that brought back was scorched memories.
I closed my eyes to clear my thoughts, no good every came of feeling sorry for yourself.
Finishing getting ready, I applied a small coat of mascara and ran a touch of colour through my eyebrows. Aside from a light dusting of highlighter to the top of my eyelids, brow bone and cheekbones, I left my skin clear – I hated the feeling of heavy makeup and only really wore it on rare occasions.
I scrunched the ends of my slightly damp hair to create a few extra, loose waves. Shrugging, it would dry soon enough in this summer weather. I hung my black laptop bag over my right shoulder and slung a separate duffel back containing my martial arts gear over my left.
If it's one this my mother hated, it was the fact that I had taken up martial arts.
Not appropriate for a doctor or a lady, I think were her exact words at the time.
A small smile graced my features at the memory, she was so transparent. I trained almost every day after university, much to her dissatisfaction. How will I ever have enough time to study?
Stepping into a pair of black flip-flops, I slipped my phone into my back pocket and shoved my wallet and other necessities in with my laptop. Grabbing my keys from my desk, I was out the door and climbing into my dark blue, two door convertible. It was an unwanted, early birthday present from my mum last year after she insisted I finally give up on my old car from high school. Apparently it was just too dangerous to have out on the roads anymore.
I know what you're thinking, what a spoilt brat. But, no.
I didn't want it.
I didn't want any of it.
Material possessions hardly showed the kind of person I was, or who I wanted to be, or how happy I was.
My life was dull and boring. I had always been the perfect student. I did what I was told, when I was told and never questioned those in authority. I was expected to follow in the footsteps of my mother, after all. She was just so perfect.
My life was set out before me, unraveling so quickly and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Shaking my head of the negative thoughts, I switched on the ignition and the car purred to life smoothly. Pulling swiftly from the driveway, I sped through the estate and out onto the main road, preparing myself for another day of classes.
xXx
"Yeah and so anyway, then he told me that I was perfect and that he wants to be with me forever!"
Sitting at one of the small, plastic tables outside my favourite café on campus, I was stuck listening to Chelsea rattle on as she animatedly described her latest date with her long-term boyfriend, Chuck.
I was supposed to be meeting my best friend, Ana.
As we both happened to have an hour break between classes, we caught up for lunch every Monday around one o'clock. I'd gone through primary, middle and high school with her and was delighted to learn she would be studying law and business at the same university with me at the start of the year.
Her parents were both lawyers, so we were kind of in the same boat.
Unfortunately for me, today she had some extra catch-up work to do with her assignment group, which resulted with me running into Chelsea, a girl that had also been in the same year as me at high school although, admittedly, I had never been very close with.
That didn't seem to bother the tall girl however as she came bounding over to me after spotting each other from opposite sides of the coffee shop. Her short, choppy, black bob flying around her shoulders, dark blue eyes dancing happily as she pulled me into a lung-crushing hug. Really, I would have been just as happy with a smile and a wave.
"Sam!" she all but squealed, holding me out at shoulder length to examine me. "It's been way too long, how have you been? God, you've gotten thin. Well, I guess you were always thin, but you know what I mean. What's your secret? Oh! Are you on a break too? I'll sit with you!"
So anyway, here I was and after 15 minutes into our accidental lunch, I still hadn't been able to get a single word in. Really, this didn't bother me so much so as my gradually amplifying headache as I sat listening to Chelsea chat gleefully about her fantastic date with Chuck.
Don't get me wrong, Chelsea was obviously a lovely girl, if not for being a little self-involved. I just wasn't particularly overjoyed with hearing about how many parties she's been to in the last week and how many dates she's been on lately with Chuck for the next, I glanced briefly at my phone, 45 minutes. It wasn't because I was jealous or anything.
No. Definitely not.
"I mean, it's so great that he still says things like that after all the years we've been together! I'm so lucky. Oh, were you at that party on the weekend?"
Opening my mouth to reply-
"I didn't see you." She continued. "It was such a drag, the whole night everybody just sat around. They should have more themed parties! You know, like that one just the other week? Did you go to that? Chuck and I went as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, do you want to see a photo? I spent ages perfecting my costume!"
Taking a sip of my latte, I set the cup down steadily on the petite saucer. I should have got a goddamn takeaway.
Or sat at a different coffee shop. Or skipped classes altogether and stayed in bed.
As Chelsea pulled out her sleek, touchscreen tablet to scroll through what I was sure would at least 50 photos from the party, a thunderous vibration caused the ground to shudder. I yelped and lifted my hand in surprise, the contents of my drink spilling out onto the table and the cup shattering against the ground into small pieces of porcelain shards.
"And in this photo we were - Oh, Sam! You spilt your coffee, how did that happen? Don't worry we'll get them to bring you out a new one" Chelsea beamed, standing up to fetch a waiter from inside.
I snapped my head back to her incredulously. "Forget the coffee, what was that?"
Chelsea stopped mid-stand, confusion contorting her features. "Huh? What was what?"
Gazing at her for a moment in disbelief, I turned my attention to the towering, stone buildings, the winding oak trees and the open, grassy fields that made up the university campus. Nothing had changed.
The students were continuing their busy bustle through the grounds, some racing to get to class and others strolling along calmly, happily enjoying the summer air. The only people that seemed remotely affected were the few seated at the table next to us, and all they really seemed worried about was the fact the I had spilled my coffee.
Whipping my head back to Chelsea who had now carefully sat back down, I spoke slowly, "you didn't feel that?"
She leant back in her chair, confusion etched onto her features. "Feel what?"
I shook my head, but before I could manage a reply a second vibration ripped through the earth. I clutched the table to steady myself and bolted up from my chair, knocking it over backwards in the process. "That!" I basically yelled.
Chelsea, who was looking around in embarrassment as people began to stare, seemed more concerned with my outburst as opposed to the third crack that convulsed against the ground beneath our feet. "That!" I cried again.
When she looked at me in blankly I all but screamed in frustration, "how can you not feel that?!"
I looked around, desperately fighting to keep myself upright; the tremors were becoming so frequent it felt like an earthquake. How is it possible that nobody else has noticed? Couldn't they feel it?
The other students around were regarding me closely, some with amused faces and others just in plain confusion.
Chelsea reached up to touch my arm gently. "Sam, there's nothing there. Are you okay? You look a little pale…er, maybe we should go to the medical centre?" she said uncertainly. Bet she regrets having lunch with me now.
As another shock rocked the earth, I struggled to steady myself against the table, pushing it against the cobblestone pavement and causing Chelsea to yelp and leap up in alarm. I noticed, however, that nothing else seemed to move. Not the other tables or chairs, the trees, the signs. Everything else seemed to stay intact.
Surely tremors this strong would have knocked something over?
What was happening? Was I going crazy?
"No," my voice cracked as I finally managed to answer Chelsea's question. "No." I repeated a little more steadily. "I have to go, sorry. I have to go." I turned on my heel and scrambled along the path, leaving my bags and a stunned Chelsea behind as I dashed through the doors of the closest building.
I wobbled against yet another vigorous tremor and used my hands to latch against the wall as I almost hit the ground against the force. A few students yelped in surprise as I pushed my way through a small crowd.
The people who hadn't noticed my display of panic continued on happily chatting with one another, a few keeping to themselves as they studied quietly by the lounges in the corner of the heavily air-conditioned room.
My attention was drawn quickly as a sharp chime from across the hall notified me of an approaching elevator. Darting over the glazed, slippery floor and into the opening doors of the metal elevator, I hurriedly hit a button on the side, ignoring the angry protests coming from the students who hadn't been quite as quick as me.
If the circumstances had been any different, I probably would have laughed. Suckers. However, because I happened to be having a mental breakdown I payed little attention and backed up just as the doors flew shut, leaving me alone, another wave ricocheting through the elevator.
Horror-filled, green eyes blinked up at me through the wall length mirror, a panic-stricken face staring back.
I had to calm down, think logically. I rested my forehead against the cool surface of the mirror and closed my eyes.
Just like that, the vibrations halted and the elevator pulled to a sharp stop, jolting me back slightly.
The floor began to erode, breaking away from underneath my feet until I was left looking down at nothing but vast, open sky beneath me.
Suddenly, everything seemed to move in slow motion. I hovered in mid-air for a few agonizing seconds, feeling my head pound painfully in rhythm with the ticking of a clock as its slowed sound echoed against the walls of the elevator. My breath came out slow and ragged, feeling the thump of my heart as it throbbed heavily against my chest.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
A bewildering light flared around me, dazing me slightly and momentarily rendering me blind, a silent scream rising in my throat as I began to fall painstakingly slow into the open air.
Then, everything seemed to shatter at once.
And suddenly, a not so silent scream erupted from my burning lungs and I began free-falling through the blue sky.
There was no sign of the elevator, or the campus, or the students as I plummeted painfully through the wide-open sky, the cold wind whipping at my stinging skin, howling against my ears and searing my eyes. Coupled with my retching scream, I fought to breathe and see under the harsh conditions of such fast speeds without any of the proper safety equipment.
Craning my neck, I managed to just make out the vastly approaching ground as it came closer and closer, flailing my arms in a poor attempt to slow the process down before-
Whoosh.
Any remaining air left was pushed from my lungs as I plunged deeply into a pool of water.
I felt warm, at first. Glittering flashes of sunlight radiated throughout the water in a myriad of directions. It would have been somewhat peaceful, really, if not for my crucial need for air at this point in time. I needed to move or else I would drown, but I couldn't find the energy. Or was I just in shock? Move, I told myself.
Move. Move!
My hand floated gently in front of my face, a leg kicked from beneath me.
That's it. Slowly, I began to push through the heavy water as I started making my way back up to the tunnel of light that indicated the surface.
I broke the surface, loudly bursting from beneath the water, hearing my own ragged breaths as I tilted my head back above the water and floated. After a minute of gasping for air, I began treading water, swirling myself around in a circle.
A lake. I was literally in the middle of a large, circular lake.
On three of the four sides, loomed a menacing, thick forest of trees. On the side leading to what I assume was the south, was a large, spacious meadow of lush grass. The greenest grass I have ever seen, mind you. Beyond that was, surprise surprise, another thicket of trees.
This side looked slightly less dense however, and if I squinted, I could just make out a small, human-made trailing twining itself through the thicket and leading up and over a small hill of dazzling flowers.
Right, deciding that was probably my best bet, I half-swam, half paddled to the edge of the lake. When it proved shallow enough, I all but crawled out of the glistening water and dragged myself onto the rocky shore. The sharp pebbles stung my bare hands and I was grateful at this moment that I had decided on wearing jeans this morning. However noticing the pain in my feet, I realised my flip-flops had probably not been a great choice in footwear. They must have flown off during the fall.
Then again, free-falling through the sky at 100 miles per hour into the middle of nowhere after a university elevator came apart underneath my feet was not part of my daily plan.
I mean, who knew right?
Oh, the university would be hearing from me after this, believe me. I was going to be writing a very opinionated letter.
Ignoring the pain as the rocks dug sharply into me, I flopped over onto my back. Stretching my limbs out I gazed up into the clear sky, the sun blaring into my eyes.
What. Just. Happened?
Sighing, either it was some very bad engineering on the universities part. Or I had gone completely insane.
Either way, this was not helping. Rolling back over and ignoring the fact that I was now covered in dirt and sand, I shakily got to my feet. Sluggishly making my way over the shore, I only needed to walk a small distance before the sparse patches of grass became more prominent and I found myself standing in the large meadow. The warm breeze tickling my nose and playfully manipulating my hair to dance around my face, I could make out a small tune as the birds sung from the trees that cast cool shadows over the open, lush area.
As I began trudging along, I decided jeans probably weren't all that great after all as they began to feel heavy from coming into contact with the water. Still, looking on the bright side, at least my white shirt hadn't become see-through and, oh!
My phone!
I whipped my hand into my back pocked and pulled the small phone out hopefully. Only then, noting glumly that it was in fact dead. Copious amounts of salt water would do that to a phone, the poor thing didn't stand a chance.
Arriving at the slightly muddy path that happened to be absolutely littered with leaf-foliage and slime, leading up to a less than inviting forest, I grimaced.
Really, this was not my day.
However, where there was a man-made path, common sense would dictate that people would follow. And where there were people, there would no doubt be a working phone.
And maybe, a hot shower.
xXx
Just when I was thinking I've hand more than enough surprised to last me a lifetime, an explosion the size of 10 university campus's put together went off not more than 400 metres in front of me.
After the estimated five minutes or so it took me gathering enough courage to step foot in the forest in the first place, I had only ended up taking a good ten steps before the explosion erupted, sending me careening backwards and, evidently, back out of the forest.
I landed flat on my back in the exact same spot where I had just stood trying to convince myself that no, heading into the forest wouldn't hurt me and that yes, I was just being a baby.
Apparently, I was completely wrong. Again.
I will be taking dual note of this in the future and instead of plucking up any kind of courage, will instead be turning by heel and bolting in the opposite direction, thank you very much.
Feeling the metallic taste of blood fill my mouth, I hauled myself to the side and coughed up a small portion of sticky, red liquid. Not good.
Wiping the blood away with the back of my hand I wheezed, trying to slow my breathing in an attempt to force the air back into my lungs as my unexpected meeting with the ground caused it to be knocked out of me for about the 100th time in the last 20 minutes.
Ears ringing from the sound of the explosion, I checked each ear for signs of trauma. Clicking with my fingers, I noted I could still pick up sound in each ear and there were no traces of blood. Feeling lucky – an explosion like that usually would have rendered anyone with some major damage to their eardrums – I struggled to bring myself to my feet. Limping slightly, I set off back down the path and into the forest for the second time.
In hindsight, probably, it would have been smart to not walk in the direction of any big explosions, but this was the 21st century and explosions didn't just happen without a reason.
Hobbling down the path, I cautiously hid myself behind each tree as I neared a small clearing, noticing a few small flames dancing brightly as they licked the shrub surrounding the entrance.
Crouched low on my hands and the back of my heels, I probably looked like a bit of an idiot. However, after the events so far I would not be taking any chances.
Hearing a string of voices, I jumped up suddenly. Only paying a small amount of attention to the sting in my side, my face split in a broad grin.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" I began loudly, relief flooding through me.
Without making any further attempt to conceal myself, I propelled through the dense trees and into the clearing. People! Who could they be? Construction workers? Explosive specialists, maybe? Who car-
Stopping dead in my tracks, I had found people. Two, in fact.
One I had never seen before, however judging from the ugly snarl he adorned along with two menacing swords clutched in each of his grubby hands, that really wasn't such a bad thing. And one I happened to be very familiar with.
Unfortunately due to my not-so-inconspicuous entrance, they had now both turned their attention to me. The big one with the swords openly glowering, giving a grunt of irritation. The other, half regarding me with a blank look.
Now, let's just keep in mind that I've never actually really payed much attention to the anime Naruto. Yes, you heard me right. Naruto.The anime.
The made-up, television series.
I knew of the basic plot line, a couple of spoilers here and there and the main characters. And yes, I did watch it occasionally on T.V if I happened to find it while flicking through the channels.
However, most of my knowledge came from the insistent chatter of a couple of my friends back in high school. Quite simply put, they were obsessed and so I ended up having to listen to the two of them discussing every single little event that happened throughout the anime. As you can probably tell, I was never really that fussed over it.
So, imagine my surprise when I came face to face with none other than the infamous-
"Itachi…" I whispered.
He tilted his head and his gaze landed squarely on mine.
"Itachi. Uchiha." I stared, my mouth hanging open.
It was then that I realised that this was not in fact the 21st Century and that this was not in fact Australia.
And it was then that I realised I was most definitely out of luck, because if I failed to grab the Uchiha's full attention a couple of seconds prior, I most certainly had it now.