Narro: Okay, people. I've been sitting on this idea for a few months now, and I've been stewing ideas for it with the other two main characters of this story. I'm really excited, I think it's a more or less original idea that will give us all hours of enjoyment, even if I don't ever finish it (a bad habit of mine, I'm afraid). Now, where is Kyouya-san…?

Kyouya: (Typing at his laptop) Doing work, unlike some people, Narro-kun.

Narro: Ay, ay, ay! I have writers block, forgive me! (and just read the disclaimer, please).

Kyouya: Of course. All Naruto characters are copyright of Kishimoto Masashi-san. Nika belongs to Narro, of course. Mika-chan belongs to Moncollefan365 and Kyo-chan belongs to fullmetalchick101.

All flames will be used to cook Huni-sempai's plushie bunny, rotisserie style.

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The glare of the monitor in the poorly lit office was enough to illuminate the man's stubbled countenance and glasses that were dangerously close to slipping off his nose. He sighed, absently clicking the mouse at random, not entirely sure of what he was looking for. He wasn't entirely sure he cared anymore, certainly not at this hour of the night….or was it morning? He squinted at the digital reading in the corner of the monitor, but found that his glasses were too far down his nose to read anything. He really didn't care, the only think he cared about was damning the sandman for taking away his precious night time hours of dreamy bliss. His boss could not go entirely without blame, driving him to work at this ungodly hour of night-err, morning possibly.

His bulletin board was overflowing with scraps of papers: sketches, graphs, pie charts, line graphs, and bar graphs-all sorts of graphs, blue prints, and one or two snapshots of a group of cosplayers that he particularly liked. His work and his life were on that board; sadly the board wasn't that big. The man grimaced at his hour cold coffee, furiously swearing out loud to hire himself a secretary. Although, what secretary would stay at her post at this hour was beyond him.

Suddenly, a strange urge came over him: "look, look!" it said to him. He glanced at his screen, wondering how he had come to a fanfiction site. The white background would have blinded anyone else but him, for he was far too used to staring at such brilliance in the darkness of an office. Three names, though not bolded, softly crooned in his ear. They were not unorthodox names in the least, but they spoke promises to him, caressing the back of his neck and urging him to click….click! He clicked each name in turn, wiping his mouth with his dirty sleeve. Rapidly flicking through the authoresses work, a slow and predatory smile seeped onto his face: At last, he had his guinea pigs! He started quickly, tracking every molecule of info and data he could find about these three girls. It appeared that they knew each other in real life, because they mention each other frequently, even mentioning events that they had been to together. Friends, were they?

In a flurry of three hours, the man-a video game designer of massive proportions, to judge by the likes of his office- fell asleep on his couch, cell phone in hand and happy thoughts carrying him into dreamland.

----Elsewhere in the world-------

"OI! Jocelyn, if you throw that ball in this house one more time, I'm going to-" Too late. The little three year old threw the baseball and it sends the massive German Shepherd Dog running. Nika scowled at the kid she was supposed to be watching, but was more or less busy concocting more enjoyable scenarios with the characters of a popular anime at the moment. The other two girls on the couch continued their conversation.

"No, I think it varies from person to person in the Akatsuki," continued Mika. She moved her pencil across her sketch pad idly, trying to think of what to draw. She looked back at Nika with her hazel eyes through her glasses.

"Most likely, Hidan doesn't wear a shirt at all, and Kakuzu wears a black top, but Itachi and Kisame wear that purple getup," Nika said over her shoulder, watching as her niece continued to beat up her dog.

"He probably should switch it over to black so it doesn't look so…Orochimaru-y," Kyo tossed in, fiddling with her Itachi hand puppet. She also brought up a hand puppet that she made of her original character, aptly named "Kyo" with red hair that resembled her IRL self. The Kyo puppet randomly glomped the poor, Itachi puppet.

In Nika's lap, her Aburame Shino hand puppet sat, sternly glaring at the antics of Kyo puppet. The girls grinned at their creations, Mika sporting a Deidara hand puppet. Unfortunately, his eye had been popped out by Kyo's nephew.

The doorbell rang, and on cue, Timber threw himself at the door, shaking its frame. Nika moaned, not wanting to give up her cushy spot on the coach under the blissfully air conditioned roof. All three girls helped each other get up, nearly falling all over the floor in fits of giggles at their comedic routine. Mika peeped out the window pane.

"It's some guys…they look like they could work with the Mega Tokyo crew the way they're dressed," she remarked. Interests piqued, Kyo and Nika also peeked through the window panes, fighting over for the middle pane. Three men, both startled by the dog and by the faces pressed against the glass, were caught in an awkward position. The one in front was being supported by the two behind him, but were halfway falling off the front stoop. Nika shooed the other two away, tucked the dog behind her so he wouldn't throw himself at the men, and opened the door a quarter of the way.

"My, and I thought all the real men had gone," said Nika wryly, causing them to glare. "Anyway, what can I do you for?" The men shrugged their shoulders free of each others embrace.

"We're looking for the authoresses named, Narro, fullmetalchick101 and," the one with the stubbled chin squinted at his clipboard, "Moncollefan365, please tell them that someone's looking for them," he ordered gruffly. The door swung open, and three sets of amused eyes watched the other three sets of equally surprised eyes.

"73- 7R1F0Rc3 0 D00/\/\ 15 47 J00R 53Rv1c3," chanted the girls, acquiring an accent commonly found in L337 users.

"W3 C0/\/\3 1n p34c3, 0 7R1F0Rc3 0 D00/\/\! " chorused the three men without missing a beat. The girls grinned, and stepped outside onto the stoop.

"Jocelyn, behave. Be right back in a minute," she roared. Then, glaring at the dog, "You behave too, you dummkopf," the dog grinned at her, exposing his very white and impressive teeth.

She turned back to see the other two already in conversation with the newcomers.

"You guys make video games? SWEET!" squealed Mika, fingers laced together. The shortest drew out of a portfolio some of the game photos they've worked on. He tugged at his collar for the heat.

"We've worked on these, and we're in the process of coming up with a new one," he introduced. They all bent over the pictures. Most were fighting games, but a few were RPG.

"Do you guys want us to fill out a survey or something?" asked Kyo, looking up from the pictures. The men looked at each other quickly.

"Ah, not quite….."

------------------Half an hour later, in the company limo (Much to the delight of three girls)------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"For real?" Nika narrowed her eyes at Nathan, the taller of his two friends.

"Yes, we're for real, right guys?" Nathan turned his head to his right, saw Daniel playing on his Gameboy Advance, looked to his left, saw Matt playing on his Nintendo DS, and scowled. "Would you two STOP that!?"

"What?"

"Sorry, what was that?" Nathan slapped his forehead, the three girls grinning from ear to ear.

"You really want us to try this new game out? Gawd, it's a dream come true…" whispered Mika, fingertips together almost like she was praying. Kyo twirled a strand of her very long reddish hair around her fingers.

"Did you guys just pull our names out of a hat, or what?" Matt looked up from his game, putting it on pause.

"No, Nathan found you guys on a fanfiction site," he informed. "Of course, only he would do something like that," he added, teasing his friend. Nathan scowled.

"Hm…it's a good thing my brother came home early, we-ah, I wouldn't have been able to leave Jocelyn alone," muttered Nika, eyeing the time on her cell phone. Both girls reached across the seat and huggled her as best they could.

"Aw, Nika-kun, we could never leave you," they giggled. Daniel rolled his eyes.

"Oh my, its soft Yuri porn. I hear that car scenes are immensely popular this month," he cracked. Three pairs of sharp eyes found his face and began to stab him without mercy.

"Oh, I guess that means that you're well acquainted with the porno community. I bet you get a monthly magazine. What would it be called, Kyo-chan?" Nika quipped, a smile that said, 'I just pwned your ass,' seeping onto her face.

"It would be called Precious Porno for Pricks I believe," Kyo admired her nails pointedly.

"For shame! May fan girls forever more beat you till you cry!" Mika wiggled her fingers at him mysteriously, casting a fake spell that had him spluttering. The brown haired one, Daniel could not help but chuckle. Nathan sighed loudly, and hit Matt upside the head.

"Stop being such a Sasuke wannabe," Nathan scolded. His eye caught the window. "We're here, anyway,"

The girls crowded Nika's side of the limo, looking out in intrigue. The city was busy, of course. With so many people on summer vacation, everyone thought it would be a good idea to come to the city and have a good time. Because of this, the traffic was positively choked with taxis and buses shipping them to every single tourist attraction open. Everything was the same color, gray cement and concrete, giving everything a sort of monotone look that clashed horribly with the many colors of the inhabitants and their clothes. The skyscrapers and office buildings impressively loomed over their heads conspicuously, giving them the impression that the CEO's were compensating for something. The building they pulled up to was not particularly large, but it did have a much homely feel about it. Not at all stiff and starched, but more laughter and teasing, heated discussions over favorite video game systems. The driver dropped them off near the door in the parking garage, the eery darkness and quiet of the place spooking anyone and everyone.

"I hate it in here," whispered Daniel.

"EEEYARGH, I WILL EAT YOUR HEART!" roared Nika, causing everyone to jump out of their skin. And as one, they all gave her the super glare of doom, but of no effect.

"I'm lucky I'm wearing my Anti-Super Glare of Doom panties today," she grinned, as they straddled the stairs. Mika's head went down like an overly ripe tomato. Kyo just sighed, and pushed Matt out of her way. All three men looked at Nika's shorts in speculation, before hurriedly carrying on upon glancing at her dangerously expressive face. The guys led the girls up three flights of stairs-absolute torture, according to Kyo- before admitting that they would be using the elevator the rest of the twelve stories. Nathan grinned sheepishly at them in the crowded elevator.

"So you just randomly picked our names from that site? What if we're duds?" argued Nika, hands in her pockets.

"Eh, I just had a feeling," Nathan vaguely motioned with his hand at nothing in particular. Annoyed at the vagueness, Nika harrumphed. They were all squashed into the six by five moving elevator, and then the worst thing ever happened: they turned on the elevator music.

"Oh god, make it stop!" demanded Kyo, her hands on her ears. She glared at the speaker indignantly. Her hand came up, pointed at the speaker with one finger and proceeded to curse it back to its birth in China. The delicate, chiming tones of the music would be considered classical by some, but most know it simply as, "elevator music" which seems to have accumulated only one song in its entirety. Meaning, every elevator seemed to play the exact same song over and over again. Shaking her head, Mika looked up at Daniel, smiling slightly. He smiled back.

"Ah…what would you guys have done if we'd said no?" she asked in interest. He tilted his head and grinned.

"We probably would have had to shut down the entire project, which in its entirety cost us a couple hundred thousand, maybe more," lightly reflected Daniel. Mika looked up at him in horror.

"He's kidding. We would have to use some back-ups, but they're not as promising," sighed Nathan. The elevator made a lovely pinging noise, signaling the ride was over, much to Kyo's delight.

"Finally, no more-COOL!" Kyo flew out of the compartment like the little rabbit that she was and pressed her face against a large window of plate glass, overlooking a sort of lab.

"Hey, don't run in here, you might trip over a cord!" One of the work crew barked at her from inside the glass. Mika and Nika peered in as well and suddenly they understood why they were chosen.

"Heh, no one else would have been able to cope with such strangeness," smirked Nika, looking over her shoulder. And how right she was!

"Ladies, I give you the newest pathway into video game entertainment, VIRTUAL REALITY!" Nathan outstretched his palms in front of the glass in an offering sort of way, his eyes shining proudly. "Matt, take them down into the prepping room, we'll meet you there in a few. We've got to get the game itself," instructed the tallest, much to the chagrin of Matt.

"Come, and don't scuff the new tiles, either," he grumped at the excited teenagers, and he began to walk off. The lab was semi-circular, due to the restrictions of the rectangular prism of the office building. The elevator opened to a straight corridor, which turned on either end to curved observation hallways, or onto dark offices that were not quite in use yet .They walked down the left wing which passed the empty and unused offices, down a flight of stairs. Matt escorted the girls to a small room with a chalkboard and some dusty chalk. He rounded on them and glared.

"Okay, listen up or we'll have you thrown out. This equipment cost us years of our life, and our bank accounts several times over, and I will not have you three ruin it!" he growled. None of the girls said anything, merely sat down on the chairs in front of the board serenely. On the board, the lay out of the lab was sketched, as well as what looked like a lean back couch and one of those salon chairs that dries your hair. It was the blue prints of the lab, without the blue and without the print.

"The virtual reality chairs are more like couches, they recline back when you put the head piece on," began Matt, pointing to the chairs on the board. "We will put you on life support. We do his because even though it's just a game, you'll still be here for quite awhile. One day in the game is only two or three minutes IRL. We've completed the game in about 150 days, which is roughly fifteen days IRL. The life support is watched by trained medical personnel, so don't freak out," he added, on seeing the girl's uneasiness. "When you lay down, after we give you an I.V. and a bedpan and whatever, we'll put your headpiece, which consists of a helmet. The helmet has earphones which cup your ears. You'll have a visor that will cover half of your face, your hands will rest in holders on sensors. Questions?" Kyo raised her hand.

"Why do we need to have our hands on sensors?"

"The same reason you need the earphones and the visor, they will induce messages to your brain, making you believe that you're seeing what you're not seeing at all. Thus, it is called, Virtual Reality," explained Matt, who seemed to lose his bad temper when explaining details.

"Ah, shouldn't our parents know about this….? The IV thing sounds like something they'd have to sign for," Mika asked, making a face at the thought of a needle in her arm.

"You're legal, you'll deal. Anyway, we're paying you a generous sum of money, they will not complain," grouched Matt. Nika didn't bother raising her hand.

"Do we create our own characters, or must we become a character from the game?" Matt paused, biting onto his thumb for a moment.

"I forgot, I didn't tell you what game you will be playing…." He trailed, the girls suddenly feeling very stupid for not asking what KIND of game they would be spending so much time on.

"You'll be playing a game called, "I Am Ninja", which we abbreviate as IAN around here. It's a Naruto based game-"

"YAY!"
"Will I see Itachi-kun?!"

"I CAN BEAT UP SASUKE?!"

"Shut up! Yes, you could technically beat up Sasuke, but he's an ornery player so I'd watch yourself. You can meet Itachi, but he's not….ah, nice. Anyway, you may create your own character. But you must be very in depth. Family, past, techniques, abilities blah blah. You'll come to a white screen where you'll do this. I would specifically put that you three want to be a unit like Team 7 or Team 8 or whatever. You'll gain experience through out the game and stuff. Also, the end of the game is when you go on your final mission, and you enter Konoha's gates. You'll phase out of the game and return to IRL, the IV will automatically pop out."

"Just as long as I don't see the stupid needle," muttered Mika. Daniel suddenly poked his head through a door they hadn't noticed before.

"Hey, we're ready for them. They good to go?" Matt looked them over and scowled.

"We'll know when they're on the couches. Alright you three, be gone from my sight," he shooed them away like flies. After herding them to the door Daniel now leaned against, he locked the door and left them without a word.

"My, someone's a grump," grumped Kyo. Daniel grinned apologetically, tugging at his shirt collar.

"Ah, sorry about him. Long hours and no sleep do not mix as far as Matt is concerned," he apologized. Daniel turned around and motioned for the three to follow him across the lab floor where a bunch of techies were grouped on empty crates, watching them with interest. Across the way the medical staff waved at them from behind a glass window.

"They said they were going to pay us? Awesome," sighed Nika in pleasure. Kyo and Mika squealed in quiet delight. To play a new and almost never played before game in virtual reality, and get paid to do so was something out of a fairy tale.

They approached the "couches" as Matt and Daniel had described them. They were about the size of a couch in fact and suddenly looked really intimidating.

"Um…." Mika started. Nika rolled her eyes and fairly flung herself onto one of the three chairs and looked at the other two with raised eyebrows. Feeling better, they both climbed into the two remaining ones. Immediately the medics approached them.

"First, we need you guys to take off your pants," one of the young medics said to them, embarrassed.

"Say what now?" they all said at the same time. Nathan's voice came on over the speaker.

"Unless you want to pee in your pants during the length of time that you're in the chairs, you'll need to put on the paper pants they give you. We'll give you a curtain to change in," even his voice sounded sheepish. "We probably should have told you before you guys got in, but hey, we're dumb like that," The girls glared at the three friends, who were now perched in an office similar to the medics, but on the second floor. After quickly changing into the flimsy paper pants that covered their front but not their behinds, they rapidly sat down in their chairs, positioning themselves over the circle that would open to receive wastes. (Gah!)

Three medics began prepping the girls arms for the life support, which did not please any of the trio, but once the needles were in, they were told to relax.

"Okay, now just lay your head back on the rests, put your hands in the holders and then let the headpiece come down. Soon you'll see a screen ahead of you, and IRL you guys will pretty much be asleep," assured Nathan.

Kyo's fingers found the sensors. Cold, hard fingertip shaped pieces of metal that were tucked into the slots for her hands.

"Found them!" The other two rang out a similar reply. The beastly headset made a hissing noise as it slowly fell down over their heads. All was black.

"Okay, initiating program…." whispered Nathan, tapping a command on his console, his best friends hovering over his shoulders. Anxiety dripped from every breath; if this did not pull through or they messed up, they would be shut down. Even though they'd tested it on themselves, there was no guarantee it would work twice.

A question popped up on the screen in block letters: Which Program(s) would you like to initiate, Nathan? He clicked on two items and prayed. Three breaths took in a breath and held it.

Meanwhile, the girls were a bit puzzled. Was it broken?

"Kyo, Mika?"

"Yeah, it's not-oh, white….." Mika started to say, but drifted.

They all saw whiteness.

They felt whiteness.

Hell, they could smell the whiteness….

Each of the girls in turn stood on solid whiteness. They could not see each other, nor hear each other. They tried several times to shout, but all they could muster was a dry rasp. Compelled to look upwards, words suddenly typed themselves into the space above their heads. Nika stepped back, but the other two preferred to crane their heads in order to read.

New Character or Previously Created Character?

All three were unsure of what to do. They raised their hands about midwaist, and were startled to find a keyboard waiting for their fingers.

New Character.

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Narro: Gosh, this only took a week or more. ( --; ). I tried to leave it on a cliffhanger, but I don't think I did so well….

Kyouya: Aw, it is quite fine, Narro-kun. I'm sure people will enjoy it, although you did not get very far…

Narro: Thanks Kyouya-san, thanks. (Uu;) Anyway, read and review, please.