Chapter 1: Locker Lunch Date

"Did she really? No... No way... What a mess!"

"Got something to say about it? You could always shut the Hell up."

"I... I'm not very social..."

"That sounds amazing! You know you're really good at what you do!"

"..."

"Ahh..."

It was the soft sound of a nostalgic remembrance that tumbled from the young brunette's mouth. She peered into the box of forgotten scripts, filled with old notebooks: torn, falling apart, discolored with age. It had been a while since she had revisited this chest of old-time wonders. All of the old pieces she had written back in her youth were stacked atop one another, covered with age and dust, and yet, she had never had the guts to toss them. As an author, it was her duty to hold onto her memories and reference them every now and then to ensure that she was still on the track to a steady improvement.

...Or maybe that was just her need for reassurance that made her do that. If it seemed like she never fell behind her old curb, then she would be sure that she was never a bad writer.

Her fingers dug through the box, grazing cardboard and lackluster content until falling upon a red-covered journal. Her chocolate-colored eyes narrowed into squints, staring down to try reading the smudged and faded marker signing that adorned the front.

"Oh!" She felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

'Naruto Self-Insert: Amber's Adventures.'

Her lips spread themselves thin, and her free hand's palm pushed firmly against her cheek in a vain attempt to keep the heat from spreading.

It was such an old story, she could hardly be held accountable, right? She could always toss it, but if someone found it, it would be too easy to link it back to her - she remembered documenting all the little bits of information about herself there. Her name, her age, her appearance, her birthday, her parents' and friends' names, all of it was littered through the pages.

"How embarrassing..." In the midst of her momentary drama, one could probably even see the little tear that breached the corner of her eye.

Not just the story, but the interest itself. It had been ages since she'd stopped watching Naruto. After getting well-into her junior year of high school, she had just come to the point where she realized the intrigue had become the calling of a social disaster. Besides, with how busy she had become, it had just become a pass time that had fortunately escaped her as the years went by.

Still... curiosity was calling...

Just before her finger could tug at the cover, there was the sound of a large vehicle outside her window coming to a gradual break.

The bus!

"Shoot!" She bounded to her feet, hiking up the window to wave to the driver, letting him know that she would be out there momentarily. With one swift motion, she had her books and bag in hand, along with the travel cup of tea she had prepared a little earlier. She ran through the kitchen, backtracking once to take a precautionary glance to the stove and oven and ensure they were both off, before dashing out through the front door.

Her feet expertly avoided the dividends and puddles from the snow that had melted just the day before, and with a hop-skip-and jump, she'd landed herself up on the bus steps.

"Thanks so much for waiting!" She chirped, and as one would have it, the craggy, distasteful disposition of the driver had flipped completely in response, "Anytime, Amber."

"What?" Someone piped up from the mid-to-back section of the bus, flicking her hand up with a distasteful huff. Her dark brown, nearly black eyes shot to the driver's in his large rear-view mirror, "What the Hell's that, Jack? You'd've left, if that was me!"

The busdriver's craggy expression returned, his eyes seemed nearly lifeless in response to the outcry of one of the most... outspoken delinquents that took to his bus. He responded with a sharp, replying glance, and a snide quip, "If you weren't such a handful, I wouldn't have a problem with it."

"Handful?" The short haired girl let herself out of her seat, easing to the edge of the bus aisle just enough to quirk her rear up in a less-than appropriate pose, "Don't insult me, Jack, I'm way more than a handful~."

The oo's and ah's of the onlookers erupted at the display before their subsequent laughter was quickly dashed by the busdriver's trigger-foot smashing the gas for a moment.

The loud girl was dropped back into her seat from the jerk, her howling amusement never quitting.

By this point, the bus was back in motion, and Amber had long taken her seat near the front of the bus, never even seeing who this loud girl was. It was common knowledge that one didn't get involved with these ever-so-frequent arguments between adult and teen unless they wanted trouble to follow them afterwards. Especially a girl like that, Amber knew, not by name, but by record, as one that was not to be trifled with. She was rough and bold, as well as easily described as a little disrespectful. Having that directed at her? Amber uttered a soft "Pfft..." before shaking her head and turning to peer out the window at her side, "Nooo, thank you."

Getting to school was thankfully without hassle, or at least without any out-of-the-ordinary hassle.

Amber walked into the school as if it were a breath of fresh air. To be frank, it was. Things could be a little lonely at home, and school was like a big escape. Surely, she wasn't exactly the 'popular' type - didn't rush into the school and get immediately greeted by her multitude of eager friends, or join up with a massive clique, but she enjoyed the peace.

"Good morning," She murmured to herself blissfully, sipping her tea, and walking to her locker. She slid the combination in with quick flicks of the wrist and popped open the olive-painted container. In just that quick a moment, it felt as if all of her piece shattered before her like broken glass.

There, in a small, adorable package - was a bundle of panic. To be more specific, there was a green-topped Zetsu plushie settled on the top shelf of her locker in plain sight.

She quickly slammed the locker.

It required her to briskly set her tea down on the floor, but that was fine! She couldn't risk any passerbys catching a glimpse of that.

Her gloved palms rested firmly against the door, brown eyes fixated on the door of the locker as if seeing through it. "No... No no..." She had to relax. Being as prone to stress as she was, it went without saying that she was immediately jumping to the worst-case scenario. That plush wasn't her's. So then... what? How did it get into her locker? No one else knew her combination. Someone knew..? Someone was playing a joke on her revolving around her past obsession.

Was it hot all of a sudden?

She dug her finger into the inside of her soft orange scarf to tug it from her neck, "Hah..." Air poured from her lips, eyes shutting for just a moment in order to recover her senses. First, she had to see if anyone saw that. People in the school could be described as... observant - of course only when one never wanted them to be. She scanned her surroundings subtly, craning her neck just slightly to get the most inconspicuous field of vision she could.

At that moment, her eyes locked onto a pair of blue ones that seemed to stare back at her with just the same quizzical stare. The both of them quickly averted their gazes, Amber with a hasty shift and the blue-eyed girl with a slow and awkward turn.

'I am literally praying right now...' Amber, with her forehead pressed to her locker and eyes firmly closed, thought to herself with a reddening face, 'Please don't let her have seen.' She knew little personally about this blue-eyed girl, only rumors around the school that circulated often, due to her spot at the top of the social tier. If she or one of her usual clique-members had so-outspokenly asked of the plush, how would she respond? Oh, I don't know how that got there!(?) That would have been the most disastrous...

Amber shook her head, sighing softly before picking up her tea in hand from the floor. The thought of drinking it after having taken her eye off of it for so long made her uneasy, and she merely dropped it into the trash.

The day had started off so good, but this sudden unsolved mystery was doing a wonderful job of ruining it.

She was far too on-edge to relax.

The brunette coursed her fingers through to the edges of her ponytail, fiddling with the strands between her fingers to habitually calm her active nerves. She still had time before she needed to be in class, but she figured it would be best to get there early before some other thing popped up to stand in her way. Luck typically worked in a big cluster like that, didn't it?

Class was going well, but Amber, ever-the-forward-thinker, had excused herself midway through for a bit. Of course, the teacher allowed her to go; she was officially labeled as the 'teacher's pet', after all. It was a title she carried with pride, and a title that carried some serious perks.

"I can just grab my books for next class now... Maybe my next two classes." It would be more of an inconvenience, but it would make sure she could do something about that plush beforehand.

Maybe she was going a little out of her way to cover something like that up? She should take pride in her interests, whether new or old... While that would be the advice she would openly give to someone, albeit running the risk of sounding like the Wise-Old-Owl, she was honestly not nearly confident enough to practice what she preached. A flaw, yes, but a flaw she was willing to admit. She cared about what people thought of her, and she lived to secure that image.

She made haste to the locker, gripping the combination lock in hands.

'Maybe I should be careful...'

It was true that someone had apparently opened her locker before, and if that was the case, there was no telling what kind of person it was. Someone out to get her? Someone that clearly had more information on her and her interests than the entirety of the school... And with so little known about them, it would be dangerous to simply assume they weren't malicious in intent.

Her fingertips carefully slid the numbers around the wheel and even more carefully slid the lock from its place.

Nothing sudden. That was a good sign.

One of her deep brown eyes shut, the other squinting with a bracing skepticism.

As she opened the door, she was finally able to release a breath of relief. There was nothing there but the things she had left, and the flytrap boy plush. She reached inside, gripping it in her hands. It was so soft... It felt new too - even had the tag on it still. Her head tipped to see if she could read a name or anything on it, but the sound of approaching footsteps sent her cramming it into the deepest part of her top shelf.

"Amber!"

The brunette jolted hard at the sound of the authoritative voice. She turned to peer over her shoulder, slowly glancing up to the familiar voice of the principal, "S-Sir..?" He sounded furious, maybe even with a mix of panic weaved in too.

"Have you seen Lisa?"

She stared blankly for a few moments, staring at the older male before slowly knitting her brows together, "I..." She hesitated, taking a second trip through her head before responding, "I don't know... who that is."

The male sighed exasperatedly, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Of course." He shook his head, "Thank you anyway." With that, the male went storming up the hallway with long strides, further away, but still in range for Amber to hear him grumble to himself, "That girl, I swear... It feels like she goes missing every day."

Amber watched him leave, lips upturned into a frown. Lisa? She really hadn't heard that name before, but with the way he was speaking, it seemed like she wouldn't. It was common-knowledge that people like principals normally only knew your name if you fell somewhere on the spectrum extremes. Either you're such a good student that he memorizes your name for the soul purpose of singing your praise, or you got in trouble so often that he was used to calling you out. Anywhere in between and you were just referred to as 'you', 'that girl/boy' or 'hey'.

She shook her head, "Poor guy needs a break..." She trailed, re-opening her locker.

All of her books dropped from her hands.

There at the back of her locker, the plushie stood right-side-up, not at all the way she had put it in there. More concerning than that was the sickly shade of black that was plastered across the back of the locker, leaving the original back completely invisible.

"W-What the..." Amber's mouth fell agape. How was she supposed to respond to this!? What was this a demon plush? What was she to do, call an exorcism for a random Zetsu stuffed doll that appeared in her locker!?

Her hand shot up to the locker, immediately making a rush to shut the locker door.

"Ah ah ah~..."

The sing-song tone sent a chill up her spine, and before she could accurately slam the door and save herself, she could feel an overpowering strength on the other end, fighting back against her attempts. She'd just... have to push for a little longer. Just...

After keeping up the struggle for only a couple of seconds before finding it a losing battle, she turned heel to run - another vain effort.

She felt the grip of a hand against her forearm, dragging her back.

"No.. No. No-" She shook her head, bubbles of tears brimming in her fearful eyes as another hand now interrupted her beginning attempts to scream by fastening overtop her mouth. Her body rocked violently against the grip, the clear halls cursing her struggle to futility.

What was happening..?

Where was she going..?

She couldn't fit into her locker could she?

So many thoughts of what would become of her completely ate away at her ability to rationalize the seemingly impossible nature of what was occurring. She couldn't even fathom what had taken place. Had someone been hiding in her locker? Was that even possible? Was any of this possible?

None of it could run through her frazzled mind until the door to her locker gently shut. Her books lay stacked at the foot of the locker door, and a single paper slipped from the openings in the door, catching the air to float down until reaching a stop atop her books.

Amber, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found.

A.N.: Hi. If you're new to my Fanfiction page (which you probably are because this is the first chapter of the first story I've ever published here), it's nice to meet you!

To conclude/wrap-up this chapter... Amber got eaten by her locker! Yay!

The moral of the story?

Never trust school equipment.

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed! Be sure to read and review too, please.

Finally, I mentioned this, for those of you that read my profile. I'm really new and don't know what I'll be calling my followers here. Feel free to leave your suggestions as part of your review, and I'll also be brainstorming. After we get a decent amount of ideas, I'll make a poll and leave it open for a bit so you guys can choose.

After all, this is for you, just as well as me. 3

Have a wonderful day, everyone, and a wonderful mid-December.