WHOO! My first Fanfiction in a really long time. This is my first Naruto one, so I'll try my best.

This first chapter is sort of the introduction, and the story might seem to start out a little slow and things might be a little confusing for the first couple of chapters, but hopefully, you'll understand what is all going on.

ENJOY!

One moment she had been laying nestled in the warm covers of her bed and the next she was suddenly standing in the center of a clearing. Her room had been small, and even if she was surrounded by trees in this dream, there was a sense of great space that was almost overwhelming. She wasn't quite sure where she was, but it was like she had been there many times before. There was a since of vague familiarity in the strange ghostly wood that she suddenly found herself in. The trees were completely bleached of color, their ivory hue and smooth bark making them poke out of the black ground like old bones. Maybe they were bones, if it wasn't for the leaves that sprouted at their branch tips, luminous teardrop shapes that glowed and almost hummed with their own hidden energy. They flickered like candlelight as a cool wind sighed through the forest. There wasn't much vegetation other than the trees to be stirred by the breeze really, and the strange black ground was bare except for pale silver-green moss, creating a molted effect. It was also quiet, very quiet - nothing but the wind and the trees and little streams filled with golden water that crisscrossed though the place like a spider's web to create a hushed murmur.

It might have been pretty, serene in an eerie sort of way, but at the moment it was just unnerving. The girl, standing there in the middle of the clearing in her nightclothes and studying the woods suspiciously, did not like it there. As her light golden, almost white, eyes swept coldly over the trees and the trees beyond those, an odd feeling swept up her back, making the hair along her neck and arms stand on end. She was being watched.

She'd had plenty of dreams before, but for some reason this one felt different from all the others. Even though it was so messed up and contorted from what reality really was, it actually felt more real than the other ones had.

If she knew where her hidden observer was, she might feel a little more at ease and decide to explore the place before she woke up - but she didn't need a zombie lumbering out from behind a tree or something all of a sudden, or a psychopath with an axe or chainsaw randomly appearing. She hated those sort of dreams. Who didn't? Sighing, she rubbed her arms absentmindedly as she watched and watched for something, anything, to suddenly appear. She knew it was there, and whatever it was probably knew that she knew and was just biding its time until she dropped her guard.

Behind her, clear. In front of her, clear. To the left, clear. To the right, clear. Up? She glanced upwards at the pitch black sky that only had a dark purple moon shedding light that didn't really illuminate anything. Clear. Really, it was dark in the woods. The only thing that she could make out was the radiant golden streams and trees because of their glowing leaves and their stark-whiteness. The ground and the sky was black and so was everything else it seemed.

"Come out, come out where ever you are, you sneaky little creeper…" She muttered under her breath, becoming irritated. She was about to just give up and whatever wanted to jump at her with her back turned could go right ahead and do that, when Snap! Somewhere in front of her in the dark gloom, something large moved not so quietly through the woods. Even though just a few seconds ago she had been wanting whatever it was to show up, her back went ramrod straight and her heart was suddenly pounding in her ears and the dream went from random eerie forest theme to ominous nightmare.

She backed slowly away from the sound instinctively and for a moment there, she thought she saw something bright like a light bulb flicker on and off between a couple of trees. Snap! There it was again, closer this time, and the girl's golden hues could just make out a black shape solidifying from the shadows and stalking forward on four, long legs. Fast, like running towards her. That was all she needed to start running herself.

Her bare feet was cushioned on the moss that swirled around the ground, but still, they made sound - loudly echoing slaps that were completely ridiculous considering that she was running for her dream-life and didn't need her pursuer to know which direction she was heading. Though, she guessed it didn't really matter. There was virtually no cover and the trees were spaced widely apart. After a few moments, she heard the steady paw steps of the mystery predator behind her and threw a glance over her shoulder and then let out a scream.

Dawn's eyes flew open abruptly as her breath caught in her throat, the image of the huge canine right there still flashing behind her eyelids every time she blinked. She wasn't in a forest with a freak wolf chasing her. She was in her room, safe. She was safe. Cold sweat dampened her sheets that were tangled around her and she wiped her hand across her brow, the world spinning and her heart still racing almost feverishly, pounding in her chest and in her ears like a hammer. The only thing louder seemed to be her breathing.

It had been a dream. She knew it was a dream before that thing had started chasing her - so why did she feel so scared? Her eyes darted around the dark room, the shadows cast by her desk and chair and even her bed seeming darker than usual, more ominous. The closet door was shut, the hallway door shut, her window shut. Nothing got in here while she had been sleeping. She still felt it though; someone was watching her.

On a sudden whim, she crawled out of her bed and tiptoed over to the window, pulling the curtain aside a little so that she could look at the moonlight-bleached street below. She regretted it as soon as she did. Across the street from the apartment building, just outside of a lamp post's circle of light, was two tall figures in the shadows. From the incline of their heads, it looked like they were looking up at her. Dawn jerked back and closed the blinds, pressing herself against the wall, fear shooting up her spine like ice. What in the hell was going on?

Taking deep breaths, she peaked again, just to keep sure she saw what she saw. Both streets were empty, save for a couple of cars that drove past.

With a very confused face, she opened the blinds all the way, suspiciously studying the nightscape. She DID see people there. Didn't she? After a few moments of looking out the window, she reluctantly got up and went back to bed, deciding that the freak dream she had was making her paranoid. It was in the middle of the night anyways - she was just hallucinating and everything would be fine in the morning.

Right?

So, what did you all think?

Reviews PLEASE! I really want to know how I'm doing and what you all think of the story. Plus, if you do review, it just might inspire me to update the next chapter faster!

~ Lighrael 3