Chapter One

No one ever thinks it will happen to them, she thought to herself right before her head smashed against a steel pole in the subway car that she had peacefully been riding in just moments before. The sound of screaming all around her started to become muffled, almost nonexistent as she watched her, in her own opinion, rather boring life flicker in her minds eye.

Nika was a fairly normal girl, if not a bit introverted in her family's eyes. She was of an average height standing at five feet and seven inches tall, a slender girl, she was built for speed. Some said she was pale enough to be mistaken for a ghost, she thought she just needed more sun. She was most proud of her long black hair that reached to the small of her back, the bright purple streaks throughout contrasted nicely with her startlingly bright green eyes.

She grew up normally, had a few friends and even fewer good friends. It was all very, very normal. She had in fact moved away from her small Midwest town to live in what she believed would be exciting Japan, only to find out that life everywhere is very, very normal.

A bittersweet scene filled her eyes. It was of her in the airport saying goodbye to her mother as she left for Japan. She was walking away waving her hand in farewell when she looked back and saw that smile she knew so well, her mothers smile.

Remembering that smile knocked her out of her reminiscence, suddenly there were red and white flashing lights. There was so much screaming and a wailing siren around her. She wondered for a brief moment why the siren was needed, it wasn't as if they weren't aware of crashing. It all came back in a wave of sound and panic. Grabbing hold of the pole she had just hit her head against, and yes she was still angry at the pole. Wrapping as much of herself around the pole as she could, she closed her eyes to the terrible scene in front of her. She thought back to the minutes before her life had started to end.

She had been on her way home from work and had just opened her favorite manga to read on the long ride. Inevitably having to squeeze around a group of loud and very energetic high school boys, one of whom she was fairly sure had grabbed her ass, she found a seat. Huffing to herself, she sat down and pulled the first edition of Naruto Shippuden out of her purse. Smiling fondly she ran her finger tip down the spine of the book. Flipping open the cover she glanced around and brought the book up to her face, inhaling slowly, she shuddered lightly as the smell of books had always gotten to her. Flipping past the first couple of pages she jumped right into the story; now normally she was pretty good at tuning out the noises that she didn't care about. This time though there was a strange screeching that she was not used to hearing.

Looking up from her book she cast her eyes around searching for the source of the noise, a lurching in the movement of the train sent her book flying from her hand and that is when the shit hit the fan. The lurch turned into jerking and people around her started to panic, hitting the emergency stop buttons multiple times with no effect. The red flashing lights came on a second before the train gave one last jerk and she was flying through the air.

Ripped out of her memories again, she refocused and glared around to find what had hit her face, which was utterly useless as there were many things flying around. Looking forward again she sighed in resignation seeing an old-school boombox spinning towards, of course, her head. She managed to think to herself who has a boombox now-a-days anyway", before the damn thing reached her. Jerking her head to the side she was able to avoid a fatal blow, but still took a heavy hit, losing her grip on the pole she had been grasping. She then whispered "I'm sorry" and filled her mind with the image of her mother's smile for the last time before she hit the ground and lost consciousness.

She kept getting flashes of things but she didn't know what they meant.

There were men around her, one had a boombox in his hand that he tossed to the side.

She was being lifted into a large white van.

A man was leaning over her asking questions. she could hear another man off to the side speaking rapidly "Incoming Female, caucasian, mid-twenties, severe head trauma...", the first man caught her attention again, she could tell he asked a question but her brain was so fuzzy she could barely think. Her name! He wants to know her name. The thought struck her as extremely funny for some reason, she starts laughing hysterically but manages to giggle out "Nika" before the dark takes her again.

She's in a brilliantly lit room with a sterile smell to it, she can feel her eyelids being pulled up but could not move. She catches a snippet of conversation before her mind is fully enveloped. "We have run a variety of tests, her pupils don't respond to light and she hasn't responded to any other stimuli including pain, it is safe to assume she is in a coma, we will also have to monitor her breathing."

She was weightless, floating through what seemed to be a world of gray mist. It was neither warm nor cold, it just was. Opening her eyes she searches around her for a shape or sound, finding nothing she shuts her eyes again.

"I wonder," she thought aloud, "if this is death or maybe this is heaven? If it is, there sure is some false advertising happening." Humming to herself she begins relaxing figuring this is her life now (afterlife?) and she might as well get used to it.

A figure moves through the mist, its form continuously shifting between male and female, young and old, solid and incorporeal. It watches Nika with shrouded eyes, seeing her life and soul, who she is at her core. Moving suddenly the being heads towards the girl, stopping only when she is a hand's-breadth away. The girl doesn't move, her eyes are closed and she's humming a little tune, unaware of her watcher only inches from her. Stiffening, the being reaches a hand towards Nika, jerking to a stop as the girl's eyes fly wide open and she shouts "I never got to read my book!" The girl starts stomping around in a way no mortal has been able to move in this realm in many, many centuries; muttering to herself non-stop until she realizes she isn't alone.

Turning her head slowly, almost spasmodically, to look at what she could only assume was a ghost. Sweat started dripping down her neck, which was weird because she's supposed to be dead. Opening her mouth to speak, she is surprised at the squeak that comes out in place of words. Words had never failed her, ever, not once. She was always the one you could count on to have a snappy comeback or advice or jokes. She closes her mouth and wets her lips in an attempt to speak again. Just as shes about to force a question out of her mouth the figure steps forward and raises a hand to stop her.

"I can see you have questions, please wait and you will understand all." Its voice was like nothing she had ever heard before, it was as if all the people in the world were speaking at once, overlapping yet crystal clear. Snorting to herself and finally over her initial fear she let loose with a barrage of questions. "Where am I? Who are you or rather what are you? Did I die? What about all the other people on the train? How long...", she was stopped mid rant when the being decided to rapidly slide towards her. Faster than a blink and it was towering over her with a gleam showing through the shadows around its eyes, a gleam she knew well as many people got it around her. Smirking to herself, proud of her ability to annoy even spirits, she stares upwards almost daring it to do something.

A corner of the beings mouth twitched, coming the closest to smiling that it has since times that were long forgotten.

"I am Fate, you have...", Its eyes widen as the impertinent girl snorts at It.

"Bullshit, you're probably just some ghost trying to screw with the new kid in limbo. Well I for one won't...", she is once again interrupted when the thing in front of her growls while reaching out and touching its palm to her chest and she goes flying through the air once more. Her vision starts to turn black and she hears it say, "I have given you the body you need, you have the love, use it to save them.", before darkness beckons and she falls back, a scream gets stuck in her throat as she passes out once again.

Groaning at the pounding in her head, Nika regains consciousness slowly. The first thing that registers in her mind is the excessively loud chirping of birds, it must be near day break, she thought furiously, the little bastards are only this annoying at day break. The second thing that registered was the rough scrape, of what she assumed, was a tree against her back. Groaning pitifully once more, she cracks open one eye and sits up, opening the other eye slowly she looks around curiously expecting to spot the statue of a soldier riding a horse; this would mean she had fallen asleep in her favorite park (a bad habit she tried but couldn't seem to break). She gasped softly, surprised and terrified to find she doesn't know where she is, all around her are mature trees with long reaching branches full of bright and healthy leaves, unlike the small city park she frequented. Standing up, she stretches, making up her mind to walk around and figure out where she is so she can get home. It was right about then when the memories hit, reminding her of the situation she was in. The train wreck, those flashes of broken memory, that place...that misty confusing place and that figure. Snorting to herself and clearing her mind, she takes a step only to end up falling right back down to the ground in a tangle of legs.

Cursing, she fights her way back to her feet, glancing around herself to find the culprit and give 'em a piece of her mind, she freezes. At her feet is a boy, a boy she recognizes well in all his cute blonde and orange glory. While her heart was beating as if it were trying to run for its life she bends down and clears her throat. As she looks back on her memories she realized the being she had been speaking with was indeed Fate, she coughs softly about to ask if the boy was hurt. Instead, her words stutter to a stop as he looks up at her with clear, brilliant blue eyes rimmed red and wet with tears.

Watching as he shrinks away from her gaze expecting hatred, quickly tears her heart in two, she isn't fully aware that she moved until the boy is wrapped in her arms. Holding him close she walks to a nearby tree and sits him down next to her. Keeping quiet, she waits to see what he'll say or do as she ruminates in her own thoughts. Now I understand "I have the love" but what am I really going to do? I'm in a, from what I thought, fictional world. Gaaahhh! I obviously can't go back until Fate deems I can, which is a load of horse shit anyway, but could I really leave him here, knowing what I know? Pulled from her thoughts by a gentle tugging on her sleeve she looks down staying quiet to see what the boy wants. When it becomes apparent that he lost his nerve to say anything, she smiles softly and asks "What's your name kid?"

That seems to get him going as he hops energetically to his feet and points at her nearly shouting "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to become hokage and make the whole village acknowledge me!."

Wincing at the sudden increase in volume she pulls Naruto back down to the ground and looks at him with her head cocked, wondering out loud with her finger tapping her chin, "If you plan to become hokage some day, how come you're running around out here instead of practicing?"

Within a second, Naruto's face goes from happy and excited to forlorn as he remembers his own problems. Nika brings her knees up to her chin and wraps her arms around them, with her head resting on her knees she whispers, "If you want you can talk with me Naruto, sometimes it's good to get a different view of things from a person you don't know".

Keeping still, as if she's afraid to spook the boy she waits for a reaction. While watching his face closely, she sees a myriad of emotions cross it, from anger to curiosity, happiness and distrust until finally it settles at courage. Taking in a gulp of air he looks Nika in the eyes and suddenly a torrent of words comes spilling from his mouth almost too fast for her to keep up with.

"Mizuki Sensei said if I got the Scroll then I would pass the secret test so I could pass the academy exam and finally become a Genin, but then Iruka Sensei came and told me that wasn't true but then Mizuki said Iruka Sensei was lying and he said something about a demon fox and that's why the whole village hates me but then he threw a fuma shuriken at me and Iruka Sensei jumped to save me and it hit him instead...", when he slowed to a stop to take a large breath they both heard crashing and yelling coming their way.

Pulling Naruto against her Nika hunkers down closer to the tree roots. Both peek around the tree, Naruto gasps when he sees Iruka and Mizuki fighting and arguing. They hear a hate filled voice fill the air.

"He's a beast, he's always been a beast and now Naruto will take his anger out on the village using that scroll, because that is what a beast does.", Mizuki raises his fuma shuriken readying a lethal blow when Iruka's voice floats across the distance.

"Yeah, that is what a beast does," he whispers, his voice slowly grows louder with each word til he's shouting, "but that's not Naruto! Naruto is as determined as they come and he has never backed down when protecting what he believes in, that's why I see him and acknowledge him as my precious student!"

Nika could feel Naruto almost vibrating under her arm and before she could even make a move to stop him, he bolts out from behind the tree. Seconds later, he is in front of Mizuki, his hands in a seal, anger all but boiling off him, he shouts "If you lay a hand on Iruka Sensei, I'll kill you!"

Mizuki snorts condescendingly, a laugh in his voice as he yells "What could a failure like you do to me", his sentence is cut short as Naruto yells "kage bushin no Jutsu", and a swarm of Narutos appear. Mizuki looks around fearfully and scrambles to find an exit, before that can happen the hundreds of clones dog pile on him kicking and punching themselves and him in their haste to take him down.

Behind her tree Nika is watching with a wide smile decorating her face as she fist pumps the air in celebration of his victory. Moments later popping sounds begin as the clones disappear one by one, leaving Mizuki laying on the ground in a twitching heap. Smirking proudly to herself, Nika looks onward as Iruka beckons Naruto over to him and they speak some quiet words to each other. Iruka soon stands up and motions for Naruto to close his eyes. From her vantage point, she could see the confusion on Naruto's face as he felt Iruka take off his goggles. Watching as the older man took off a dark blue headband from his own head, it had a metal plate on the front with a design etched into it, the design was reminiscent of a spiral excluding the left side of the curve which had been turned into a sharp corner. Nika smiles pride showing in her eyes as Naruto realizes that he has graduated.

Looking towards the Village, Iruka makes a move to head back when Naruto shouts "Ahhh, Iruka sensei, I forgot, I forgot you gotta meet the nice lady that helped me right before I got here 'tebayo!". He starts running in her direction as she panics and tries to think of what to do, realizing there's no way she can outrun or hide from either of them, she stands and waits for Naruto to get there.

An orange and yellow ball of excitement comes skidding around the corner, Nika watches as it slides to a stop next to her. Grabbing her hand the boy leads her quickly out of her cover and over to Iruka, whose face instantly clouds up with suspicion.

Iruka watches as Naruto drags a young woman out from behind a tree, he hadn't even realized she was there. She was about an inch shorter than he was with long hair that drew the eye, much more startling were her eyes, they were green but looked almost as if they were backlit. "Say, say Onee-chan this is Iruka Sensei, he just made me a Genin and said really nice things...", as Naruto rambled on, the two adults stood and stared at one another each trying to get a feel for the other. Naruto finally realizing that neither has said a word, looks between them his face screwed up in confusion.

Iruka looks down at Naruto while keeping one eye on Nika and asks "Where did you meet her Naruto?"

With his face screwed even tighter the kid thinks for a moment before lighting up as he remembers "I was running away from you because I thought you hated me, then I ran into Onee-chan and we both fell down. I guess she saw how sad I was because she hugged me really tight and made me feel better, that's when we heard you and that teme talking and I came out here."

Iruka smiles at Naruto as he gulps in a big breath after his speech, that smile is wiped from his face as he turns back towards Nika. Shifting closer to a fighting stance, Iruka watches for any move of aggression from the newcomer, "Who are you and where did you come from? I know there's no women in this village who look like you."

Thinking quickly, Nika decides that she will tell Iruka partial truths, besides, he isn't the person whom she has to tell everything to. She had yet to meet him. Opening her mouth to answer she notices Iruka stiffen, suddenly, she is very aware that this man could kill her in seconds without breaking a sweat. Keeping as still as possible she answers him, "I'm from a land very far away not even a part of this Continent, I wasn't exactly planning on coming here either, an accident happened and I woke up against a tree over that way.", her hand raised in the vague direction of where she had been.

Deciding that she was not much of a threat, Iruka couldn't even detect more than a civilians' chakra levels. Clapping his hands, Iruka grabs both Nika and Naruto by the hands and starts off towards the village talking as he pulls them along, "We need to get back to the Hokage; he will want that Scroll back and I need to make a report of what happened," glancing towards Nika he sighs and continues, "and well you, I know you heard some things and he will need to decide if you are a threat to the village or not."

Nodding her understanding, Nika lets herself be lead through the trees, before long they are walking out from the tree line as the sun rises above them. Looking at the village she had always imagined in her mind, Nika realized that she had been wrong on some aspects, the buildings were brighter than she had expected and it was much larger than she had thought. They began walking down a wide street with shops on both sides, the shopkeepers blearily opened their doors for the day ahead. Naruto started chattering away at Iruka about ramen as Nika took in the sights and sounds that were so familiar yet so alien. Turning a corner onto another broad road, Nika looks up and sees figures jumping across the rooftops of buildings. Iruka, seeing her looking about curiously, wonders how she can be so calm not knowing what her fate would be. Not to mention she said she came from a different land which may not even have Shinobi in it. Squinting as he once again becomes suspicious, he supposed all he could do was deliver her to Hokage-sama and let him decide.

Quite quickly, they approached a three storied red building with a round shape, two additional round outcroppings, and large doors she felt like she was about to walk into Mickey Mouse's head. This thought incidentally caused her to snort out a hard laugh that hurt her nose as she had tried to keep quiet.

Naruto looked over at her and smiled that light bringing grin of his before a yawn took over and one could see just how tired the boy really was. Glancing at Iruka, Nika takes a chance and says with conviction in her voice, "perhaps we should walk a bit quicker since Naruto seems very tired and I doubt it's good for his health to skip sleep at his age." Frowning but nodding his agreement, Iruka quickens his pace, leading them through halls and stairwells till they stop outside an unassuming door.

Before he could knock, they heard a voice from inside beckoning them to come in, once inside Iruka bowed his head and uttered a "Hokage-sama" before the old man in front of them turned around. The only way you could tell he was surprised by a fourth person in the room was a slight twitch of his eye. His eyes then glossed over Nika and Iruka before he started bellowing.

"NARUTO! HOW DARE YOU SNEAK IN HERE AND STEAL FROM ME!", the boy being addressed hung his head and scuffled the tip of his shoe against the floor, opening his mouth to speak he was cut off before he ever started as the Hokage raised a hand. "Regardless, congratulations on you graduation Naruto-kun, now you will meet with your class once more tomorrow, so run along and get some rest."

Naruto's face flashes promptly back to happiness as he jumps up and starts shouting about being a Genin and how he will make everyone see him as he runs out the door. Once he is gone, The Hokage's fearsome gaze turns towards Nika and she feels her heart jump in her chest.