1: "Once Upon Where It Began"
Reese knew she was done for. Not only were her entire 'squad-mates' totally incapacitated, all their weapons had been destroyed as well. The gate was closed, key gone, and the freak she was supposed to help hunt for is dying, thereby closing all hope she may have had on ever returning home and collecting her 'consultancy fee'.
She was stuck and had no one. Life really sucks.
Kneeling down to apply pressure to, yes, THE enemy-but-hell-she's-about-to-go-lone-wolf-soon-so-what-the-hell's bleeding out chest, the 25-year-old unlikely savior rummaged all the self-control she could get to put on her best 'Good Samaritan' face.
"As a fellow 'believer' of the Gate and the wonders it could do, is there any way for you to even consider helping me live and go home?"
God, it sounded ridiculous even to her. She'd just helped bring this man down and then had the gall to ask for help? Truly she was Reese The Pathetic.
Miraculously, if there ever was one, the dying man looked at her with something akin to pity.
"You... You believe..?"
"Yeah," Reese nodded kindly. "I was a member of FF, too. Granted, I only read, but-"
"Then- Then why did..?" was the man's questioning glance, a hint of betrayal in his expression.
"As much as I wanted to have the wonders of this world?" Reese answered, for once honest with herself. "Man, I'm not willing to destroy OUR world in the process. There's no place like home, y'know?" to which the dying man laughed weakly, blood pouring from his mouth.
"Yeah... I guess... I should've thought of that, huh?" he continued to laugh weakly, tragedy lingering in the air. "It's just- I never... I never belonged in THERE, yeah..? This place- I was supposed to have a new life here-" more laughter.
A few minutes passed as Reese watched her enemy slowly loose strength amidst tragic laughter.
"GodOfShinobi," Reese started but was immediately cut off.
"It's Vincent-" the man coughed up. "Vincent Riley-" and then laughed. "And I swear... to myself that... never- that name," and then laughed. "God-" a silent tear made its way down the man's admittedly boyish face.
"Vincent-" Reese began, holding the dying man's hand in a plea. "Please, please if there's anything you know-"
The man laughed, coughing up more blood as he did so.
"Anything..." laughter. "Does it matter..? This place- This world... You can't go home if you're dead-"
"But what if I live? Vincent, please. What if I lived? Can I still make it? Please-"
"You... You want to go home that bad..?" more laughter. "You- You love that place, huh..." and then laughter. "An FF member, preferring the real world... Or maybe it was just me..?" a sudden pause. "Was I that blind..?"
Silence ruled the background as desperate breathing resonated.
"...fully soak under the bath and run to the nearest village," Vincent suddenly said.
Reese blinked.
"What?"
"Push-" the dying man pushed Reese away as his last strength was quickly dwindling. "-sun in -trance- come back... 25 years-"
"What do you-"
"One-" the man lied down flat, obviously preparing for what was inevitable, "advice..." a cough. "Don't- Whatever Langley told you..." more blood and coughing spilled out the dying man's mouth, obviously drowning. "Don't... trust him-"
Muscles clenching and then suddenly relaxed, Reese watched as the man she was supposed to help find fell into absolute silence.
"...shit," was the only thing she could think of.
"Guy was really thinking long-term, huh?" the surviving brunette tilted her head at the rows of stored food lining the entire facility walls. "How the hell did those military guys not notice him with all these things..?"
'Alright,' Reese started looking around. 'Where the hell is the 'special' bath he was talking about?'
"Great, Reese- You actually believe what your enemy tells you? I mean, a bath? Really? It probably all just some ploy to-" whatever it was she going to say never made it out her mouth.
Staring agape at what could only be a pool of deep white slime, Reese could only conclude one thing.
"He want's me to take a little dip in his milk bath?"
'God, somebody's gone crazy.'
"Still, he WAS the maker of the notorious gate, even if he ended up stealing it from the government in a bout of selfishness-"
Silence stretched into the room for a few minutes.
Sigh.
"You're probably not going to make it back, so might as well."
It didn't take long for her to figure out what the bath was for.
Suddenly feeling hangover and watching yourself gradually shrink was not a good sign of things 'normal'.
Trying to catch her balance, the dead man's harried instructions came crashing back into Reese.
"...fully soak under the bath and run to the nearest village."
Fully soak under the bath and run to the nearest village.
FULLY SOAK UNDER THE BATH AND RUN TO THE NEAREST VILLAGE.
"Shit!"
Cloaking herself immediately in a sheet that used to cover a table, not really caring about her modesty, Reese begun running a fast as she can to the exit of the door.
"Run to the nearest village! RUN to the NEAREST village!" the brunette screamed, pushing doors upon doors on her bid to leave the makeshift base. "No shit!" Reese screeched as she begun tumbling in every step, physique slowly but surely changing into smaller, less steady proportions.
"Damn it-" pushing through the exit, finally, Reese forcefully fisted the sun-shaped emblem beside the entrance, watching as it dipped and then immediately resumed her run as the small base immediately disapeared from view.
"Fucking- asshole- Shit-" the brunette cursed as she ran through the woods, finally falling helplessly in the dirt and unable to get up from sudden weakness.
"No, no- Please..." Reese cried for the first time in years, reality dawning in her usually clouded mind.
'I'm- I'm gonna die here-'
Reese laughed, crying as her hands and feet and the rest of her body shrank.
"How could- How could I not have thought things through..?" she whispered, resigned.
'My stupidity got me killed-'
It was a few minutes later when silence led to a baby's heart-wrenching cry.
Akimichi Yuuta was a kind man. Surprisingly thin and supple compared to the rest of his clan, he was the brother of the current clan head and a proud Tokubetsu Jounin of Konoha.
He had been married to his wife, Aki, for ten years now, and the sad thing is, they could not have a child. They tried, they wanted to, but kami had never granted them their wish. Aki was barren, and so was he.
It was not fair, he knew, but life has a way of saying 'You can't have everything'. And so he learned to accept. He accepted what life gave him. He accepted that he could never really use his clan's signature techniques since his mother's genes were too strong apparently, making his body un-Akimichi on all sense of the word. He accepted countless missions, even those belonging lower than what his rank entailed because he needed to and his village could not afford anyone else.
The war a few years ago had diminished their forces and so, one had to step up to keep things working.
He may not look like it, but Yuuta was an Akimichi through-and-through. Kindness, loyalty, dedication- this was he, and he accepted that fact.
Which was why, on his way home finally after three years' worth of long-term infiltration, his kunoichi wife Aki on his side, the usually unflapable jounin immediately paused in mid-step as a strange noise disturbed their run.
"Yuu-kun?" the kunoichi followed her husband's action in question.
"Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
In the silence of the trees swaying with the wind, an almost muffled cry made it into the chakra-enhanced senses of the couple.
Sharing a quick glance, the two Akimichis ran at full speed to the source of their query.
Whether it was fate or luck, Yuuta accepted the sudden gift given him and his wife.
Once more warm and relatively safe, the infant Reese was uncaring to the world.