Hello! Gosh I'm so excited for this story since I have several plot bunnies inside my head about this, Blooming Sunflower was seriously inspired by The Girl Who Leapt Through Time movies. I hope all of you readers will enjoy it! Positive criticism is much appreciated (e.g It was good/not so good; work on ect.)!
I do not own Naruto.
"Time changes everything
except something within us
which is always surprised by change."
- Thomas Hardy
Blooming Sunflower
Chapter One
Time Changes Everything I
There she was again, riding her bike as fast as she could in order to be on time for her first class of the morning. Tachibana Maki was a normal high school student that was running late for school. It was times like these she wished for her mom to scream her name out early in the morning for her to wake up. To her inconvenience, her mother was out to take her little brother to the doctor due to the fever he had. Her father paid little attention her since he had the bakery to open at a certain time with the fresh baked bread he had to sell. All in all, Lady Luck was not on Maki's side today.
"'m 'ate." she said as she was still chewing on her piece of bread that was her breakfast. Maki made a quick left turn and began to peddle even faster. Luckily, she had made it ten minutes before the bell rang. Of course she had been yelled by the gate teacher that she needed to slow down, and also to pull down her skirt since it was too short. Maki had ignored him, slipped on her indoor shoes, and made haste to her classroom which was on the third floor. When slamming the door open, twenty-five heads turned to her entrance.
"Did I make it?!" she cried out to her classmates with heavy pants. Maki was a mess; knee socks were not congruent, her skirt was wrinkled, hair was a mess that even her pins were about to fall off, and she hadn't even put on her indoor shoes right.
One boy who was sitting next to the entrance door decide to respond to her. "Yeah, just in time to get a quick review for the math quiz we have after P.E."
This information had registered inside Maki's head a little over a minute. "We have a math quiz?!"
With that she dashed to her desk and decided that taking out her math book to review would be the next best thing to do. Much to her unlucky day, she couldn't find it. Just as she had been searching for her textbook, a tap on her shoulder caused her to pause in her search. Blue eyes were tearing up, as one of her friends had been holding in her hand their math textbook.
"Akane-chaaaan," she began to bawl.
Yamaguchi Akane was Maki's best friend ever since they tried out the ninja academy and both failed miserably. Akane was a petite and soft spoken person, and Maki adored her all through her childhood. Akane was literally the 'Nadeshiko' of class 1-B, and almost every boy in her year had a crush on her; Maki was pretty sure that even the senior boys were was crushing on her too. Today, Maki noticed that her dark onyx hair was in a lovely braid to the side, and Maki was a little jealous that she didn't have the godly hair like her friend; all she had was her short mousy brown hair. She hated her hair...
"I knew you were going to need it," she chuckled softly. "So I did my review a little bit earlier today."
Maki began to praise her friend. "You're such a saint Nadeshiko-sama!"
"Maki-chan..."
That was the end of their conversation as class 1-B's history teacher, Seika-sensei as students call him, had entered the room. All students decided to take their assigned seats, and put everything away; with that Seika began to do the roll call. Then the history lecture began, and students began to take notes; except for Maki who was secretly reviewing for her math textbook on her lap. Akane was the only one that paid attention to what Maki was doing. All throughout the history lecture Maki had been reviewing her textbook, and had luckily not been caught. Now it was time for the boys to head out of the classroom in order for the girls to change into their P.E uniforms.
"Eh?"
Akane turned to Maki as she gave her a quizzical stare.
"I think I left my gym clothes in my bike's basket. I'll be right back!"
Maki left the classroom without another word, and headed to where her bike was. In order not to get caught by a teacher, Maki had to be extremely sneaky in order to get to where her bike was. It was great that she had gone to the ninja academy, she had picked up a few things or two there. Her feet didn't make so much of a sound as she was going down the stairs. Checking if the coast was clear, Maki had dashed through the shoe cubicles and before going to the bike stand she had to get her outdoor shoes first. If any of her teachers found out that she had dirt in them she would be in huge trouble. With that done, she had gone to the bike stand to see if her gym clothes where in the front basket of her bike. Once grabbing her clothes packed in a plastic bag, Maki had quickly made her way back inside the school building.
Putting back her indoor shoes, she happily skipped her way to the stairs. Maki paused when she heard glass shatter from one of the nearby rooms that seemed unoccupied by students. It was strange because no one should be in that room without a session going on; unless it was a student or teacher inside; anyway she should be going back to her room to change. Curiosity got the best of her as she took several steps towards the room. As she placed her hand on the sliding door, Maki cautiously opened it. To her surprise there was no one in there; the room was clearly empty. Her nose did pick up something once she was inside.
'Hmm,' she thought as she sniffed some more of the aroma. 'Smells like lavender...'
For an odd reason her head began to feel light and her sight was getting fuzzy by the second. Maki shouldn't be this tired all of a sudden there was gym to go to next. Her body wanted to lay down and take a rest. Something was wrong, but before she could put it into words darkness clouded her mind.
Voices could be heard much more clearly as the minutes passed by. Groggly, Maki opened her eyes and decided it was best to stand on her two feet. Without noticing where she was heading, she decided to walk in order to start feeling her legs. To her surprise Tachibana Maki stood in the middle of the busy street while her blue eyes rested on the Hokage Mountain. The people in the area couldn't help themselves to stare at the strange girl with an odd sense of style: a white and navy blue sailor school uniform and a light brown cardigan, black socks that reached her knees, and the typical brown shoes. Her russet hair was short that it reached to her chin; two hairpins were on the side in order to prevent her bangs to cover her eyes. Maki continued to gawk at the monument not understanding what was wrong with it, and was completely oblivious to the people around her. Finally realization hit her as her eyes widened slightly, "Why are there only four faces in that mountain?"
The sixteen year old began to mumble out incoherent words as she tried to figure out why there weren't eleven faces instead of just four. She was absolutely positive that there were eleven stoned faces since she was taking a shinobi history class as an elective in school not to mention that she was cramming the eleventh Hokage era the past week for her final before summer break started. Maki furrowed her eyebrows together as she crossed her arms and looked down at the ground. Not only was it abnormal for her to see four faces, but the people were wearing traditional fashion and the buildings looked quite old –something she would see in a horror movie.
"Ah!" she exclaimed as her left hand formed into a fist and slammed it down on her right palm. "There's probably a historical drama filming around here."
But wait, wasn't she at school before?
Maki glanced around the area as the people were still giving her strange looks. Giving a nervous smile, she quickly moved her feet to a random direction; she needed to get out of the set before she got yelled at for interrupting. She had to find her way back to school. The russet had no idea where exactly she was heading since the area did not look familiar to her. As she continued to walk, she couldn't find one single building she was familiar with – what didn't help was that there were no street signs to be seen. Not one single one. That was very odd; usually if people were filming a drama they would still leave the street signs. Then again that was beyond her knowledge since this was her first time experiencing this. Each shop or house she would pass by, there was a foreign feeling she would get from the pit of her stomach. Maki decided to enter what looked like a safe park. Once inside, Maki paused and took a deep breath.
"…Why aren't there any street signs?" she muttered as she took a glance back to the entrance she had come from. "Don't usually people leave the street signs when filming a drama?"
It was strange. A little voice in the back of her head told her that something was off. It was as if she was home, but it wasn't the town she lived in to be exact. This feeling perplexed Maki and she wasn't sure what to think or do. All she really wanted was to find a way back to school; she was probably thirty minutes late for gym class already.
Her ears picked up a dull heavy sound; someone or something must have fallen to the ground with a thud. Her head swiftly turned her head forward, and noticed a small boy with blond hair and what looked like filthy clothes. Maki's eyes narrowed to get a better focus as she took note that the boy's face had dirt on his cheeks, and if when she squinted a little more she noticed that there was blood running down his nose and at the side of his lip. Maki's grip on her bag tensed causing her knuckles to become white. Everything today was weird, but just what in the world was going on with this place?
"MONSTER!" cried a man as he came into Maki's view; the cry had startled her that she jumped just a bit. He had a nasty fresh scar on his right cheek, and wore the same types of clothes she had seen people wear here before coming to the park. Maki wondered if this was being filmed for a drama, and if that was fake blood on the kids face. Her head moved from left to right trying to spot a camera.
"You little monster! You stole my food when I wasn't looking!"
The blond kid gave the man a heated glare with his piercing blue orbs. He was on the ground looking all beaten up and not having enough strength to stand up to his feet. "Shut up! You were going to throw it away anyway! So I just took it!"
The man made a 'tsk' sound, and to Maki's surprise the man began to kick the child with his left foot connecting to the kids' stomach. "You monster! You should just die!" Maki stared for just a few more seconds wondering when it was going to stop, but it looked like the beating was not going to end anytime soon; the abused caused the teenager to make a hasty action. Maki picked up a random rock threw it to the abusive man which triggered him to halt his kicks on the child. He stumbled back as he clutched his head and fell bottom hard to the ground. The russet haired girl quickly went to check on the child, who looked quite surprised to see her. His puzzled expression went unnoticed by Maki.
"Are you okay?" Maki said as she wiped off some blood from his lip with her handkerchief she had on her skirt pocket. She observed that his lip was cut and looked a little purple to the sides, "…it's bruised." This wasn't cosmetics at its best, this was a real injury. The child's blue eyes were focused on her as Maki continued to wipe off the blood with her handkerchief. The girl could only frown as she tried to clean off the blood; her only thoughts were of how an actor could abuse a child on set. She made a nasty glare that surprised (not to mention slightly terrified) the blonde child.
Her head turned towards the man who had recovered from his shock. Maki snarled at the man and pointed a wobbly accusing finger at him, "What the hell is wrong with you? You don't hit kids to this extent, especially on an acting job!" Maki stood up and placed both of her hands on her hips. She looked brave enough to stand up to the guy, but if someone had taken a closer notice of her legs they could tell that they were trembling. "I should report you for child abuse! And do you know what happens to those who commit such crimes? Life time in jail! Now you better pay up for his medical bills or I'll report you to the Hokage!" she yelled with all her might to the man, who just happened to stare at her with wide saucer eyes. There was no movement at all coming from him which confused the young teenager.
Finally she got a reaction from the man as he glared at her and the boy. Maki took just two short steps back in fear that he might actually attack her. "Stay out of this! That monster stole my food! He deserves it! Now move out of the way before I hurt you too!"
Maki's both hands formed two unsteady fists as she was ready to attack the man before her. He was still in the ground; perhaps she should just kick him in the groin until he came to his senses. "You…!" Maki clenched her teeth. The scowls continued until Maki had a sudden idea on what to do. Her hands dug into her skirt pocket and she took out a gray little device that had only one button. With her thumb she pressed the button, and an annoying sound came out of the device. The boy besides her quickly covered his ears finding the beeping too loud for him while the man just strangely stared at her and the device not sure where the sound was coming from the device. "Help! There's a child abuser here!" she cried out with all her might. "Help! He's going to hurt me!"
Immediately the man got up to his feet and began to run away; he knew that he should quickly get away from the place before he got caught. Maki pressed the button again when she could no longer see the back figure of the man, and the sound was gone – like magic. The russet turned to the blond boy giving him a peace sign and a nervous smile. "That took care of him."
The boy was hesitant to thank her or even speak to her, the events he has just seen were just too outrageous. Maki clutched the ends of her skirt and knelt down to check up on the boy. "We should go to the hospital and find a doctor to take care of you," announced Maki as her lips formed a frown, and just as she was about to touch a bruise on his forehead that she had just noticed; the boy slapped her hand away. Astounded by his behavior, Maki froze still and saw his expression full of fear and antipathy.
"D-Don't touch me!" he stuttered out in a yell. "Quit faking in being nice to me!"
"W-Wait … what?" she muttered not sure why the boy was behaving this way. The boy should have been thanking her than being repulsive with her. Maki wondered what was up with this kid; his behavior to her was not normal. "I'm not being fake! You are seriously hurt and you need medical attention!"
The boy finally had the strength to stand up on his two feet. His piercing blue orbs glared at her in such a way that she was almost terrified of this kid. "You're just like all the people in this village, they only pretend to be nice to me and backstab me later! That or they show me how much they really hate me. So quit faking it old hag!"
Maki's left eye twitched in annoyance by being called an old hag. Sure, she wasn't very pretty and probably just had an average or even below average looks, but she definitely was not an old foul granny. She stood up on her feet and crossed her arms angrily. "I'm not an old hag!" she voiced out her honest feelings. "And I'm not faking my kindness. Listen, I get it that you don't trust me – I mean who would after you got beaten up, but you do need medical attention. I'm not stupid to just turn my back when someone is in need!"
As she reached out her hand to grab his hand; the boy backed away from her as if she was going harm him. Maki knew that the boy in front of her needed the medical attention and she was not about to have a stubborn child have his way. This time with luck Maki grabbed the child's hand while dragging him to the direction of the closest hospital. Ignoring all the stares that she was receiving, majority of them was all due to the boys protest, she was quite focused in getting to the medics. The boys' health was on her first priority than anything else.
Looking straight ahead, Maki noticed a building. Believing that it was the hospital, her footsteps began to accelerate not noticing that she was practically dragging the poor boy to his feet. "Don't worry we're almost there okay kid?" she said as she turned her head to see that the boy was running out of breath.
"Ah!" Maki stopped her tracks and watched as the boy was catching his breath. A nervous chuckle came out of the strange girl. "S-Sorry."
"No major injuries as far as I can see," said the doctor as he placed a patch on the blond child's cheek. "You'll recover as long as you're taking a good rest."
Maki with her arms crossed stood to the side unsure why it felt like the doctor was not putting in an effort to his job. Normally doctors would check if the boy could even move an arm, yet all she saw was that he was just patching the kid up. Feeling as if she needed to step in in order to voice out her opinion, "What about internal wounds? A broken rib perhaps? What about -"
She was stopped when the doctor stood up to face her with a disapproval expression. "I've done what I can miss."
Frowning as well, Maki would not have any of this foolishness. "You can surely do more! This child was just a victim of a malicious abuse! I know for sure that there's more that you can do!"
Maki could see that the doctor was starting to get annoyed by her, she was already used to seeing that kind of expression from her teachers at school. Whenever she would be late for class, turn in late homework, or even talk loudly in the hallways the teachers would constantly scold her for bad behavior or stepping out of line. The russet would not stop this time. Someone was in need of medical help and it wasn't just a few band aids or patches that would get things done. Just as she was about to give a lecture of getting more things done to the boy, the said boy got off from the chair he occupied.
"Thanks," he muttered as he started to exit the room.
Maki blinked her eyes a couple of times before registering in her head what was going on. "Eh?"
The boy was already out of the room before she could do anything else. The doctor stood up from his own chair and began to stretch his back. "Child if I were you, I'd stay away from that kid."
Surprised by the animosity from him was not something Maki had expected. The doctor saw this and began to explain his statement. "That child is known to cause chaos all over the town. So if I were you I'd stay away from him. For your own good you know?"
Her hands began to clutch the ends of her skirt. Frustrated by the odd behavior of the doctor, she stomped outside of the room in order to catch up to the blond kid. There was no way she would stay in that room with a doctor that had no sense of helping others. Just as she was turning around a hallway to where the entrance would be, Maki paused when she noticed the blond boy and a couple of patients and nurses looking at him in either fear or disgust.
"I'm not 'that thing'!" the boy shouted from the top of his lungs. His tiny little hands formed two fists and took a closer step to the people in front of him.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"
After the whole incident in the hospital the boy, Uzumaki Naruto, had sprinted away from the building. It had already been an hour and Maki was still trying to locate the boy. There were things she wanted to ask him, and there was no way she would leave that poor kid alone after what had happened to him. Once walking around the streets in search for the boy, there were a few things she found strange as she continued wander around. Her first thoughts were that someone was filming a historical drama; however, that didn't mean for all of the streets to completely be remodeled for the set. That was when Maki was beginning to wonder herself where she was. Nothing looked familiar to her eyes. Not one building or area resembled the place that she lived in. Maki was beginning to give up in trying to locate the boy by herself; perhaps it was best to ask someone for directions and find a way to get back to school. She would ask for one of her teachers if there was any way of helping the child she had met in the park.
Maki was about to ask for directions to a random stranger that passed by, yet she did not ask because of all the stares that she was receiving. Maki touched her cheeks and wondered if she had something on her face as she passed a couple of women gossiping right in front of her.
"What weird clothes that girl has."
"Is she from Konoha?"
"What an odd girl."
Blushing from all the attention she was getting, Maki began to speed her walking; unaware of where she was heading to. She passed a couple of stores selling fruit and all of the customers were just watching her as she went by. Maki did not like the attention one bit. The corner of her eye finally caught something familiar. The boy that had ran out of the hospital was walking just a few feet away from her. Maki noticed something; the people around him were either ignoring him or distancing themselves away from him as if he were a plague. All of this behavior that the people were giving to the child was strange to her. Not wanting to lose the boy, she began to run in order to catch up to him.
"Oi!" she cried as she grabbed the boys arm. "You don't just run off like that!"
Surprised by the sudden touch and attention, the boy could only stand still. A few seconds later, he finally reacted to her. "Hey, let go of me! I didn't do anything to you!"
"I know you didn't!" she scolded, "But I'm not leaving you alone after that happened! I think it's best if we go to the Hokage, maybe he'll help us get you patched up properly." Not to mention ask why in the world this boy was being treated horribly by the whole town.
The blond boy's blue eyes stared at her for a good time before he yanked his arm away from her grasp. "I don't believe you, and I don't want to see that old geezer either!" Both of them were making a scene with their loud voices and the people around them began to stare at the two.
'Geezer?' she thought puzzled by his word choice. The Hokage wasn't an old man, but then again this kid had called her an old hag. Hands on her hips, Maki frowned. "Stop being stubborn, you're making it sound as if Kiyokazu-sama would hurt you. I'm positive he'll find a way to help you. So let's go to the Hokage Tower now."
He gave Maki a puzzling stare as he cocked his head to the side. "Kiyokazu? Who the hell is that?"
Blinking her blue eyes it was Maki's turn to question the boy. "Kiyokazu, the Hokage."
"That's not the Hokage," he argued back. "It's that old geezer: Hiruzen."
At this Maki laughed out loud. "Don't be dumb! He was the Hokage centuries ago! Before you and I were born!"
Frowning, the boy watched the girl carefully. After a couple of seconds just staring at her, Naruto had concluded that she was crazy. "Hey sis, you sure you're okay? Maybe you're the one that needs to see a doctor."
Mimicking his frown, Maki was unsure what he meant. "What do you mean? I'm perfectly okay. You're the one that thinks we're in the past with having the Sandaime and all that."
Naruto gave Maki a strange stare; one eyebrow raised and analyzing her for the first time. His blue orbs checked her from toe to head. To Naruro, Maki was wearing foreign clothes that he had never seen before. What was up with that short skirt anyway?
"Are you even from Konoha?"
To Maki that was an absurd question. Of course she was from Konoha, she was born and raised in this village. She knew the village like the back of her hand, knowing all the places where to get the cheapest grocery, the amazing restaurants in the area, knew of all the best schools in Konoha, and even the best places to see the sunset. So she had felt a little insulted that Naruto did not think of her as a native in Konoha because she really was! Maki had to scoff, "Of course I am! I've been living here my whole sixteen years!"
"But you don't even know the Hokage," replied Naruto frowning; he was clearly not assured of her answer.
"Of course I know, it's Kiyokazu-sama, before him was Miyoshi-sama."
Naruto just stood there in the middle of the street and gave her a pitiful look. This irritated the teenager to no end. How dare a kid give her a pitiful look when she didn't deserve it, she should be pitying him for the lack of basic knowledge he had. Kiyokazu was the Hokage; he was declared Hokage two years ago. Maki couldn't be wrong because she was there celebrating with her parents and little brother when it was announced. Perhaps it was this kid who was not a Konoha civilian.
"Don't give me that stare! I'm not wrong!" she defended herself as she yelled at him.
It was then when Naruto pointed his index finger at the Hokage Monument. Maki's sight went to the direction that the boy was pointed at. "That is the Hokage Monument, and the face before the fourth one is our current Hokage; Sarutobi Hiruzen."
Maki blinked her blue eyes; she was only seeing four heads and not the normal eleven that she was so used to.
"I don't know who this Kiyokazu Hokage wannabe is, but the Sandaime won't like it if there's another person pretending to be Hokage," Naruto finished as he crossed his arms and awaited for her to respond. For a boy who called the Hokage 'an old geezer' just moments ago he sure was good at defensding and respecting the leader of Konoha.
It took several seconds for Maki to talk. "That's not possible."
"Ha?" Naruto couldn't believe his ears as she still didn't get it. Maki innocently stared at Naruto.
"The Sandaime has been dead for centuries, the Yondaime, Godaime, and even the incredible Rokuda..." Maki paused her sentence and she looked carefully at Naruto. Somehow he looked familiar. It's as if she already had seen him so many times before. Feeling her full attention on him, Naruto squirmed and took a step back. What in the world was wrong with this odd person where in Naruto's thoughts. If she was going to do anything Naruto would make a break for it.
"Uzumaki … Naruto..." he heard her mumble not once but twice. "Uzu...maki...Naru...to."
He felt the chills as she said his name. Naruto gulped and kept a watchful eye on her. "Y-Yeah?"
Naruto noticed Maki's eyes widen within seconds. This confused the blond boy, just what in the world was she thinking inside that funny brain of hers. He noticed that she took a step back, away from him. Usually, he would receive hostility towards the civilians and he wouldn't understand as to why; he accepted it and was cautious of them. It would hurt his feelings, but that's how everyone in the village treated him. Yet the moment that Maki took that step back, Naruto felt the pain of being rejected even more. Here was a stranger, probably the only stranger who would be nice enough to even care for him, take a step back from him. The moment she had uttered his name and realize that he was the monster that everyone in the village hated, she probably would start yelling and cursing at him. So yes, Naruto began to fear that this nice (oddball) stranger would begin to act like all the villagers. Just when he had a little bit of hope that he was not hated as much...
"Oh dear..." she whispered. Naruto noticed her face turning pale this caused Naruto to almost take another step back, but at that moment that Maki fell on the ground perked the blond's curiosity. He was still cautious of her, who knew what she would do now that she realized who he was.
"I-It can't be … there are a lot of kids called Naruto, but he's the Uzumaki Naruto. He has the same face as the Monument..."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. What in the world was this person talking about?
Blue orbs met blue ones.
"...Oh sweet shinto shrine of god," he heard her mutter. "...I'm going to fail my math quiz today aren't I?"