Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
A woman is crying. I'm not really sure, but she sounds like a woman. Her desperate sobs filled the void in my thoughts, as though I was hoping for it to maintain my sanity in this bottomless chasm of nothing.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
I never really thought what it was like to die. Are you suppose to feel nothing? Are you suppose to feel excruciating pain? Like you're being boiled in oil? Though as I lay here, I couldn't make sense of anything. I don't even know the difference between reality and non-reality.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
Reality is the sound of that dripping, I think. It seems real enough. It's the sound of an IV. Reality is the sound of the woman crying. Is it my mother? No, the woman's dead. That is non-reality. She's not real. She's not alive. She's not crying…
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
If I'm dead, it didn't hurt so much. The darkness was almost inviting. Nobody was able to hurt me anymore right? Another part of me felt horrified. I felt like I was in those nightmares that you have to run away from. Though it was nothing like my usual nightmares. This was nothing at all, I'm numb. Though the numbness itself was scary. I couldn't wake up. I couldn't open my eyes so I can determine who was crying. I know it's not my mother. She is not here.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
I had two choices. Let myself drift into the black nothingness, or struggle to survive. I definitely picked the former. Why would I want to live? If I was destined to die, who was I to go against destiny? I'm only human. A weak, insignificant human. No one would miss me. No one even be there to mourn for me. I only want to die right now. Let me die. Please let me die.
A split second later, I woke up.
I heard ringing. A shrill sound of what everyone should know as an alarm clock. Are there alarm clocks in the afterlife? I quickly hit the snooze button. It was a reflex actually. I looked around and held back a gasp. Where am I!? This is not my room. I stood up and got out of the bed, it wasn't very pleasant when I instantly had a head rush. The walls are a mixture of pink and blue with swirls of purple painted on it. I had to give credit for the intricate design. The theme of the whole room was blue with little tints of orange.
There was a bed with blue covers against the wall which was facing the door. Next to it, was another door which I assume was a bathroom or a closet. There was a balcony outside which gave a very nice view of a garden of orchids. There was a table with a computer on it. Other than a shelf of books, the room was actually plain. Okay, now I'm getting weirded out. Is this a dream? Or heaven? Because I never anticipated any dream or heaven to be like this. I pinched my arm. It felt real enough.
Suddenly, there was a knock. I jumped. Oh my god, someone's knocking on the door, what if it's an insane rapist!? Was I kidnapped when I was in that coma!?
"Natsumi? I'm coming in! If you're not dressed you won't get any breakfast from me!"
It was a woman's voice. What is she talking about? Who the hell is Natsumi? Is she referring to me? I touched my face. My skin felt silky smooth. I looked at my hands. They were smaller than I remembered. What?
I walked to a full length mirror that was on the right side of the room. The sight of myself almost made me scream.
That is not me! My face is more rounded, my cheekbones are more pronounced. My figure has a smaller and curvier build. There were two… round things on the upper part of my body. I looked down slowly and lifted my pants. Where is my thing!?
I. Am. A. Girl.
This isn't a dream, this is a nightmare. I think I might be hyperventilating. Why is this happening to me!? I think someone up there must really hate me! Before I could summon up a good scream of horror, the door opened.
"Aha! Natsumi, I thought we talked about morning plans. You get dressed, we all have breakfast, and we do something fun together. That was our plan of 'weekend activities'. Do you have extra classes today?" the woman put he hands on her hips. I just stared at her blankly. Her red hair flowed to her midback. There was a yellow clip holding her left side of her hair in place. She was wearing a beige short-sleeved shirt that ends at her thighs and blue jeans. Her face was a bit oval, and she has high cheekbones. She has a little blush on her cheeks and her plump lips were pulled into a frown. I was especially focused on her eyes. Though not the same color, (hers was violet, mine were sapphire blue), the shape was almost the same as mine.
Her voice snapped me out of my reverie.
"Are you listening to me, young lady?"
Young lady? Right, I'm a girl now. I was afraid to speak, mostly because I don't know what to say. I didn't know how to answer her first question. I opened my mouth to answer. I didn't want her to get mad at me
"I…I'm not sure." My voice was higher than usual.
The woman took a deep breath. "Fine, ask your friends. Get dressed and come downstairs for breakfast." She sighed.
When the woman left the room, I tried processing what just happened. I had friends? I had friends!? That was disturbing and scary to me. I don't remember having a doting mother (that woman was my mother, right?) or having friends. I don't even know how to call them. I don't feel like calling them since I'm in this nightmare. What possible, realistic explanation is there for my situation, with a family, friends and a room as a girl!?
I ruffled my new long waist length hair. I seriously need to get that cut, it's so annoying. Okay, okay calm down. Think slowly before you make any irrational conclusions. I was a boy. A boy who was dying in a hospital. I think I may have died. actually, I don't think I remember my name anymore. Perfect. So after I died, I manage to land myself in a different… life. I never believed in all that mumbo-jumbo about reincarnations. I passed that off as a trivial aspect of my mundane life. Now here I am, as a girl trying to figure out how to give my so-called friends a call. Maybe I have it written somewhere.
I walked towards the table and went through the sheets of paper. They were filled with drawings and doodles. Not bad, were they mine? None of the papers had any phone numbers written. Though I did find a mobile. A mobile phone. I owned one? I sift through my contacts list. The names were unfamiliar to me. When I picked one, I held the phone to my ear and waited as it rings. Seven rings later, someone picked up.
"Hello?" A female voice answered.
Why am I doing this? I don't know what I want to say. I swallowed and hesitated.
"Um… Ino," I remembered her name "do you know if we have extra classes today?" I asked.
"Yes we do Natsumi-chan. Don't you remember?" She replied in confusion.
Okay, now I don't know what to say. I don't even know this chick. I tried sounded laid back.
"Ha ha. Must have slipped my mind." The voice at the other end of the line chuckled so that must be good. "Well, bye." I hung up before she said anything else. Okay, now that I know I have school, what do I do now? Get dressed. I looked at the clock on my phone. It was seven o'clock. I poked my head through the other door in my room. What greeted me were racks of clothes from this end across to the wall of the room. On both sides of the room were two more doors.
What the hell? How many rooms are there? I walked into the right one and thankfully, it was a bathroom. In there, I washed my face and brushed my teeth. I studied myself in the mirror. I consider myself to be ordinary looking. I don't see anything wrong with my appearance. Except for the three whisker-like scars on my cheeks, which I had since I was three (I wonder how I got them in this life, or whatever). I picked up a brush and brought it down my golden locks. It took a while to brush my hair since my it was longer now.
I went into the closet and started going through the racks to find a decent thing to wear. I settled for a white long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of long faded jeans. I went outside into the hallway, ignoring the other room in my closet—I would find out what's in it later.
The house, or should I say mansion was enormous. There were like twenty rooms in the whole house. There was a huge garden and a pool outside. I expected to see some maids soon. Now I'm starting to think if this is a dream. In the dining room—the table was as long as the room, which by the way is huge—a maid (I knew this house had maids) bid me good morning. I was suddenly self-conscious. I feel out of place in this surreal place. At the far end of the room were my mother, presumably, and a man. I walked a little closer. His appearance left me bewildered. His hair and eye color were the same as me! He was wearing a relaxed expression as he read his newspaper. My mother—I have really got to start getting used to that word—was tentatively chewing on a piece of pancake. When I made my presence noticed, they both smiled at me. I blinked. There is just no way am I in another dimension, about to have breakfast with my stranger parents, in a strange mansion! I just died for crying out loud!
"Well? What are you just standing there for kiddo? Come on, I made these pancakes especially for you!" My mother waved me over.
With a deep shaky breath, I carefully went and sat in the chair next to her. I eyed the plate of pancakes. They were golden brown poured with maple syrup. I shrugged and dug in. They were scrumptious! Before I knew it, the plate was empty. My mother laughed. "So what do you have planned today, since it is a special day."
That caught me off guard. "What is that?"
There was a pause. The man, or my father eyed me confusedly. "Today is your birthday, sweetheart."
Oh. I realized I died today early this morning (the memories from my previous life was already going blurry). Today should be my birthday and the day of my death. Ironic, I thought.
"Natsumi, are you feeling okay? You were so excited today for your birthday. Though we don't know why. Were you planning on going somewhere with your friends?" she asked.
I don't think so. Might as well answer honestly. "I…don't think so. I have class today."
My father nodded. "Oh. Do you need a ride?" I tried not to wince. I don't want to go through that experience. I don't want to strike a conversation with my supposed father.
"I think I'll just walk." I replied.
I shook my head as I walked down the sidewalk. I didn't plan on actually going to school. I don't even know where it is! I mulled over, once again the fact that this is all not a dream. I can taste my food, feel my clothes but this is too good too be true. The breakfast scene went by smooth enough and admittedly I was close enough to being happy. I live in a luxurious house, with a caring family and have more friends than I can count. But how is this happening? Does this happen to everyone or am I the only one to go through this change of lives? And switch gender!? The sound of an incoming zooming car broke my train of thought.
Then it all happened so quickly. A black Volvo screeched right to a stop beside me. In an instant I was pulled inside by a pink-haired girl. The car then zoomed away.
By then I was too shaken up to speak. Am I being kidnapped?! But, what were a group of girls kidnapping me for?
"Glad to have you join us, Natsumi-chan! It wouldn't exactly be a party without you!" The pink-haired strong girl exclaimed. This girl knew me? In fact all the girls in the car looked like they knew me. They must be my friends, I think.
"What are you doing!?" I demanded. A shy-looking brunette who was sitting beside pinky smiled apologetically.
"I'm sorry Natsumi-chan. We had to pull you in so your parents wouldn't notice us." She said. I can barely make out her apology since everyone else was chatting so loudly. It was then I started to notice my surroundings. Other than pinky and the shy girl, there was a girl in the drivers' seat who was wearing her hair in four ponytails. The girl sitting next to her was messing with the car's glove compartment. Thankfully, she only had one ponytail. In the backseat was a Chinese looking girl with buns on top of her head. I swallowed hard.
"Where are we going?" I asked. Finally, they stopped talking. Thank God for the silence. Pinky glared at me.
"You were the one who didn't want to spend your birthday in school so you came up with this idea of ditching. Remember?" she almost growled. It sounded close to that.
I did?
"Well, I didn't think you would have agreed." I answered quickly. The girl in the passengers' seat giggled.
"I agreed anyway. Only our school would actually think of having an extra class on a Saturday. And on your birthday too!" she turned around at us and winked.
Pinky glared at the blond. "I still think it's a bad idea to ditch. What if we get caught?" she reasoned.
"If we get caught, I think Temari would get most of the blame. She is a legal adult." Bun-head supplied. The one driving, who I assumed to be Temari growled menacingly.
"I'm surprised that all of us managed to come. Kiba, Choji, Shikamaru I can understand but the other guys? Yeah, I wonder how they cracked. Sasuke-kun doesn't skip school. Ever. Neji too. Gaara, Shino and Kankuro wouldn't probably care. Lee would think of it as unyouthful." Sakura mused.
Wow. How many friends do I have? I almost made the mistake of asking the obvious, stupid question 'who are they', I instead asked, "Where are they?"
Bun-head pointed her finger towards the back. "They're in the car behind us."
I looked and sure enough, there was a truck behind us. I slumped into the seat. And here is the next part of my new life. Ditching school with my strange friends who I barely knew. This is going to be a long day.
"Stop!!" somebody screamed. "The light's on red!!" The car abruptly stopped, making me lurch forward then slam back into the seat. I think I am going to be sick to my stomach. Behind us, someone honked his horn. Yup, a long day.
Half an hour into the grueling car ride, we arrived at Konoha shopping center. The place was divided into three buildings. And in the middle was the parking lot. We managed to find a parking space, and everyone practically threw themselves out of the car.
"That's it! I'm driving on our way back!" the girl with the ponytail shouted.
We all walked together towards the mall entrance. In that instant, the blond grabbed hold of me and dragged me into practically all the stores. All of the things there were very expensive, and she insists on paying for it since it is my birthday. I felt quite awkward that someone was willing to buy clothes for me. By the time it was time for lunch, she would already bought the whole mall. I lugged the heavy shopping bags into a Secret Recipe restaurant where all my… friends, were sitting. By now, I already knew everyone by name. The blond with the ponytail was Ino. The pinkette was Sakura, bun-head was Ten ten. There was Hinata, the shy one and I already know Temari. The guys were harder to figure out since most of them didn't actually talk.
There was Rock Lee, the weird one with the scary eyebrows (seriously, they were huge).
Kiba, (who I immediately decided to become close to),
Shino (he doesn't talk at all),
The 'troublesome' guy, Shikamaru,
Choji, the fat guy (Though no one was allowed to mention it)
Neji, (he has the most prettiest hair I have ever seen)
Gaara,(if you look closely—which I don't think people would because eye contact is not allowed as far as he's concerned—you would notice that he does not eyebrows)
Kankuro,(the brother of Temari along with Gaara)
And Sasuke, (Sakura's crush though I don't think he notices.)
Apparently, everyone bought me a present. Bewildered would be the wrong word for me. What have I done in the past that made them so friendly to me? And their feelings were pretty genuine. In the past, (well at least not my past), I never remembered having anyone talking to me, let alone celebrating my birthday. Yet, here I am having fun with my new—well, new to me—friends, smiling cheerfully when they handed me their presents. I remembered receiving a charm bracelet (from Hinata), perfume (from Temari),the strangest was when I received a painting kit from Sasuke. Do I like painting? The case was beautiful though. I stared in awe at the multiple paints and brushes. I flashed him a grateful smile.
When it was almost four o'clock, we all went back home. I was the first whom Ino was dropping off.
"Make sure to hide those presents when you go in the house." She reminded me.
"Kay. Thanks guys. For the party." I said as I got out of the car.
"Hey, that's what friends are for, right?" Ten ten flashed me a smile. I was silent for a moment. Everyone waved goodbye as the car drove off. I waved back and stood there for a while. Then I shrugged and went inside. I managed to hide the shopping bags and the presents in my closet, which I later figured out was bigger than my entire room—either I loved shopping or Ino bought all this for me, I would not know. I had dinner with my new family and later watched TV with my pet that I never knew I had (his name is Kyuubi). I had never been able to enjoy a normal night like this before so I really appreciated every minute of it.
I found out I have a diary and it is filled with all the happenings of my life before I actually 'arrived' here. Nothing makes sense to me, but if I were supposed to live in this life forever, I might as well make the most of it. That night as I went to bed, I thought of what would happen to me in my new life. I snuggled into my new covers in my bed. As I slowly drifted to sleep, I had myself wishing that tomorrow would actually come for me.
Owari
I wrote this a long time ago actually. I have another fanfiction to work on but I'm having a temporary writers' block. Haha.