A/N: I originally planned this as the sequel to Broken Whispers, my previous FMP/Naruto crossover. But then it turned into a different beast altogether. So here it is, a brand new story, not that I'm abanding my other story. I just had to get this one out.

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah, I own nothing so please don't sue me.

Note: I'm new at writing in first person, sorry if it seems awkward in some places.

. : Now and Fragments of Then : .

I felt it.

Something small had pelted my head. It sort of hurt. But not nearly enough for me to give a damn. So I ignored it and continued to try to fall asleep. It took a lot of effort, after all, to find a comfortable position at the desk I was sitting in. And no way was I about to jeopardize that. Not unless…

"Naruto!" fumed a voice not too far away. It was Kagurazaka sensei, the homeroom teacher. At least I think it was. My head was still down and my eyes were shut so her voice was all I could go by.

In any case, I considered the fact that she said 'Naruto' but only briefly. I reasoned that she was probably just going on about the nutritional value of certain ramen ingredients or something. Besides, even if she was referring to a person, in a world of billions of people there had to be another person named Naruto out there somewhere, right? She was probably talking about that person. She couldn't possibly be trying to—

"Naruto Uzumaki!" she said, louder and angrier this time.

Well damn, there was no denying it now. That's me, alright. Naruto Uzumaki: freshman of Jindai High School, but not exactly by choice. I was forced into attending this school. In fact, I might even go as far as to say that I hate it. If sensei were to hand out an assignment right now, I could see myself pursuing every effort to come up with an elaborate and convincing excuse to avoid the assignment which, in all honesty, would probably take a lot more effort than just actually doing the assignment. Some would call this stupidity. I just think it's me standing up for my values regarding high school… or in this case, lack thereof.

"Naruto! Wake up," demanded Kagurazaka sensei.

Letting go a silent yawn, I finally obliged and looked up. Kagurazaka-sensei glared at me. And so did everyone else in the small classroom, not that I cared.

But I sucked it up, struggled to find just the right expression and followed through with a simple "Sorry."

It seemed to work. The other students were a mix of relief and annoyance as they turned back towards the blackboard. Even Kagurazaka-sensei seemed pleased. But that was probably only because I had given her such a hard time the week before. A tired apology from me today must have seemed like a miracle when only a few days ago, I had fought back tooth and nail against her. In fact, even now I kind of felt the urge to talk back so I could continue sleeping. But I resisted because the appointed class rep had talked me into behaving.

"Hey, didn't we agree that you wouldn't sleep in class?" whispered the girl who sat next to me. Chidori Kaname. Speak of the devil.

I blinked at her, waiting for the teacher to turn her back towards us before responding. "No…" I replied matter-of-factly. "We agreed that I would behave in class. It's not like I got into another fight with the teacher. All I did was rest my eyes a little. And what's wrong with that?" To me, this seemed perfectly logical. I just wanted to get some rest.

But it looked like Chidori wouldn't have it. She sent daggers at me with her furrowed eyes. "The problem is that you're disrupting our class."

"It's not my fault." I argue back. "If everyone just ignored me like I thought they would, class would've continued like normal. Besides, it's not like I'm learning anything new here anyways."

Chidori palmed her forehead in frustration. "Then why bother showing up to school at all?"

I tried to come up with a reply for that. But my mind drew blanks. Her point was valid. Why show up to class if you didn't need to? Well, the problem here was that I did need to be in class. I just wasn't here to learn anything. But I couldn't tell her that. Chidori must have sensed my moment of weakness, because she pressed on.

"Well?" she asked. "If you're already so smart? Why show up to class at all?"

Awkwardly, I looked away from her and shrugged, letting her win this battle. Besides, there was no doubt in my mind that there would be more to come. I wasn't sure why, but we were naturally abrasive towards each other.

I waited until our Japanese literacy class was well under way before I pulled out my mission files and leafed through them. They were top-secret files that I had cunningly (or lazily, depending on how you looked at it) disguised as harmless school work.

The first line on the first page said it all: Objective - Observe Chidori Kaname.

This was only the first phase of the mission, of course. Operation Chidori, it was called. The organization that sent me here, Amalgam, had reason to suspect that Chidori was a person with some kind of special ability. They had a codename for people with special abilities like she was believed to have. They were called the Whispered. But, as expected, the higher ups believed that I didn't need to know what that meant.

So instead of searching for clues as to whether or not she had the abilities of a whispered, whatever they were, I'm just to report on absolutely everything about her. It was a pain, really. But it wasn't like I had any choice in the matter.

I pulled out an everyday ruled notebook and flipped through it until I reached the page with my notes on Chidori. They were extremely detailed with every type of information imaginable. There was probably a little too much detail so I decided to write a quick summary of the information I had gathered so far to help keep me focused on the mission.

It read:

Chidori Kaname is sixteen years old, female, and has long blue hair and brown eyes. She is of average height and her build is lean and athletic. Her exact measurements are still a work in progress. She is highly attractive, both physically and emotionally. Her personality exudes confidence and as such, she is very social and seems to genuinely care about others. However, there is also a stubborn side to her. She is often extremely blunt and easily angered, sometimes resorting to violence when things don't go her way. Intelligence wise she is sharp, smart and seems to breeze through high school math and sciences as though they're elementary level.

I stopped writing and I reread what I had so far, like all this information was a big surprise. There was nothing unusual about her at all. She was just like an ordinary high school girl, if not exceptional in some areas. If she really was a Whispered, then these Whispered must be some really boring special people. I was a little annoyed that the people in charge of the mission refused to brief me on specific traits to look out for. So all I could do was hope that at least some of this information would be useful to them. If not, this would've all been a huge waste of my time. Oh well, a mission is a mission I suppose. No sense complaining about it now.

When lunch hour had nearly arrived, I reached for my bag and quietly began shoving my barely used books into it. I wasn't exactly the patient type and I wanted to be out of the class by the time the lunch bell called.

Chidori glared at me. I swore I could somehow feel her anger permeating as she spoke up on the teacher's behalf. "There's still fifteen minutes left," she oh-so-kindly informed me. What she did next was a little unexpected. She reached over the gap between our desks and grabbed hold of one of the books I was about to put away, stopping me in my tracks.

"It pays to be prepared," I retort, trying to free the book from her inhuman grip. Just another tidbit of information I'd have to add into my notes later.

"Why can't you just wait until the bell rings," she insisted.

"Why should I?" I asked, clearly getting annoyed.

"It's about showing your teachers some respect," she said.

I supposed that made sense. But I didn't care and continued in vain to pry the book from her grip. I considered this: she was the type who would be just as stubborn as I was, if not even more so. So I use one of the tools taught to me by my latest mentor. I lied. "Fine," I say. "Just let go."

Her brown eyes told me of her reluctance, but she eventually released the book. Sucker.

Defiantly, I dropped the book into my bag as Chidori watched helplessly, jaw dropping at my dirty tactic. I was sure she'd smack me if she were given the chance.

I had just finished giving her my evil victory grin when I felt the whole classroom distinctly shake, as if a giant hand had grabbed the place and yanked. Immediately I froze, bracing myself on the wall beside me, but nobody else seemed to even react. Chidori's expression turned from pure anger to worry as she looked at me.

"Naruto?"

And then, all hell broke loose. The floors bucked, walls undulated, cracks ripped through plaster, and the air exploded with the sounds of glass crashing, things falling, and timbers snapping. I fell to the floor, trying to brace myself against the wall with both hands.

"Naruto!" yelled Chidori. "Naruto, calm down. Someone help. Something's wrong with Naruto."

I didn't quite get what she was saying. There was nothing wrong with me, the entire building was collapsing. Right? Everything spun now, zig-zagging forward and backward and side-to-side. I felt like throwing up so I closed my eyes, hoping the feeling would go away. It didn't. Instead, I felt even more things tug at my body. My arms and legs were held in place and I could hear the yelling and shouting from the students and Kagurazaka sensei. And screams. I could distinctly hear screams from… I didn't know who they were from.

In any case, I had no idea what was happening. And just when I felt like something even bigger was about to happen, everything turned black.

-x-

Someone told me once that carelessness can be a deadly trait to develop. It can cloud your mind. And when that happens, the world you once knew would cease to exist. Because then you start to forget things.

Time trickles away until everything becomes vague and unclear.

The places you've been before become unrecognizable.

And the people around you disappear and change until nothing is familiar anymore. Not even yourself.

A young girl with shoulder length black hair and the most beautiful ivory eyes protests loudly, as tears fall down her cheeks.

Why did you do it, Naruto?

Her stance told me that she was on the offensive. Her palms open, ready to strike me at any time with undoubtedly deadly precision. Her serene look was one of disappointment and sadness.

She wasn't alone. Surrounding me were others. And almost all their faces were somehow vaguely familiar, though I couldn't quite place who they were. But one thing was obvious. They were all prepared to strike me down.

You brought this on yourself, Naruto. You can't be forgiven.

Except for the girl, they all rush towards me, killing intent etched in their eyes.

But before they hit, everything spirals into darkness and a new location reveals itself.

Here, I run.

I run until I trip and crash my shoulder into a nearby tree. All around me are hundreds of other trees, rising so menacingly high from ground that most of the sunlight fails to reach me.

A fox kit peeks out from its burrow. Cautious at first, it approaches, until finally it stops and growls. Then it speaks.

You want to die, don't you? Or is it perhaps me that you wish would disappear? You should know by now that both… are impossible.

Suddenly the fox grows larger, many more tails sprouting from its rear. The bright orange tails lash out at me, sinking into my head and heart, piercing skin, flesh, and bone. I can't even scream out in pain. The only sounds that escape my lips are a strange and wet gurgling.

And once again, it all spirals into darkness.

This time, the sky is dark. It's raining. Upon a bridge that runs over a river, a young girl I don't know, standing alone, completely still, appears before me.

Her head is bowed, eyes hidden underneath wet silver hair. She was crying.

Stupid! Idiot! Moron!

She looks up slowly, revealing her angry yet bright gunmetal gray eyes. Beautiful was one way to describe her. Devastated was the other.

Leave, she whispers.

My heart clenches.

And everything fades into darkness for the final time.

Then finally there was radiance.

A burning light enters my eyes as I open them. It felt hard to breathe and I felt drenched in sweat. My entire body shook and shivered uncontrollably. I knew exactly what this feeling was. Withdraw. My body was demanding more. More of the addictive high-tech drug I had been using to suppress my memories up until now. I needed more.

And I had to be quick or I'd black out again. Or worse, my past would all come painfully back to me.

It was a huge struggle to reach into the pockets of my pants but I managed to accomplish the feat. I pull out a syringe, pull off the cover as quickly as I could, and plunged the needle into my arm. The effect was near instantaneous. My entire body stopped shaking. My head cleared up. And I could breathe again. Finally I could relax. Everything was okay, for now.

Or so I thought. Finally, I took a look around. And there she was, staring wide eyed at me, hands covering her mouth in shock like I was some kind of monster. It was Chidori. And she had seen it all.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I would appreciate any reviews you throw my way.