A few rays of light disturb Shae's dreamless sleep making her roll onto her back. She opened her eyes looking at the ceiling feeling groggy
"Where am I?' Then it hit's her
'Oh fuck!.. God. Damn. It!... it wasn't a dream with really hot guys. I'm really stuck here..' She thinks covering her face rubbing her eye's.
'Guess I'm really going to this village they keep talking about. What did Asuma say, another days walk? Don't they have cars? Or a buggie with horses or something? Another days walk is gonna kill me in these shoes'
Neji's voice pops up in her head
"You're going to have to buy sandals when we get there"
"Ugh, no way in hell am I wearing sandals… I haven't worn those since I was a pre-teen and I'm not going back to that now'
During all of her thoughts of this world and coming up with a game plan to survive. Asuma had left her bag in the corner of the room last night, she dresses in a dark red long skirt, long gold designs adore the opening of the slit that's on left side, showing off her charm anklet she was given on her sixteenth birthday by her best friend at the time.
The top a black tank top with more fabric sewn in specific place for the appearance of a corset. All things considered it was fairly light clothing. Finishing curling her hair and doing her signature cat eye, red lip combination, there's a knock at her room door.
"Come in" She say's fussing with her eye lashes.
Neji opened the door, he was holding a steaming cup of hot liquid.
"Oh good, you're dressed. We should leave soon" He said setting the cup next to her
"Oh coffee, how did you know?" She says smiling, teasing him
"It's a common morning beverage. It was either this or green tea. I thought you would most likely enjoy the bitterness of the bean to go with your sarcasm" He says, almost smirking.
"You just take the fun out of everything, huh? You must be really fun at parties" She say's turning her attention back to the mirror
"What do you think?"
He looks up at her from observing the small amount of products she had out
"About what?"
"Up or down?" She pulls her curled hair up, then lets it fall as she says down. He looks her over, then closes his eyes thinking
"Down" and with that he turned to leave. Shae reaches for the coffee and takes a sip only to almost choke, coughing
"What happened?" He said alarmed
"You forgot the sugar" She said putting it back down making a disgusted face
"You choked because of no sugar?" He said with a tired expression
"Hey, sugar is as important as you having no sense of humor, you know or it just doesn't make any sense" She laughed putting the rest of her cosmetics in the camping bag side pocket, and then picks up her cup of coffee walking out of the bedroom into the living room where Asuma sat quietly reading his paper.
"Play nice kids" He said without looking up
"I'm always nice" Shae said putting sugar into her cup and stirring with a nearby spoon
Hearing a light scoff from Neji, she looks over and narrows her eyes at him, but decides not to take the bait and sits at the table.
"So what's the plan Kokoum? Asuma?" She said sipping her coffee
Neji opened his mouth only to be interrupted by Asuma.
"Breakfast, information then the village" He says setting down his paper and standing up, walking towards the door to the hallway then waits. He opened the door as there's a knock, stepping aside to let a few maids bringing in food, setting it on the table bowing then leaving.
"How did you know they were coming? Is it some ninja training jutsu thing?" She looks at Asuma in amazement.
"No, we ordered a while ago and they usually show up precisely 20 minutes after ordering" He says laughing then sitting down
"Oh, that's kind of disappointing you should have just said yes" She says picking up some eggs and toast.
"You would have preferred we lie to you?" Neji said drinking what she assumed was green tea
"Sometimes, depends what it is, like if people are after us, maybe you should keep that to yourself and just hurry us along. Unless you wanna see me freak out" she says kind of snickering
He stares at her over the rim of his cup of tea, thinking.
"In your world there's no ninja, or nin jutsu. Are there any wars between countries. How is it different from here?" Asked Neji, eating his plate of food slowly, waiting for a response.
"Well, there's cars for one so we don't have to walk everywhere, and of course there are wars that last for years but from when I left there wasn't one… Hey! with your power what can it do, I mean it looks painful but what does it do?" Shae says perking up, trying to distract herself from knowing she may never get back to her life and friends.
"I can see long distances, the chakra of other people and the chakra network. I can also see through solid objects" Neji continues on for a few minutes.
During their breakfast she had asked several questions about ninja, powers, nin jutsu, gen jutsu, everything she possibly could, while avidly giving short half answers to the questions they had for her.
They leave the hotel, Asuma and Neji tell Shae to stay close. At least within eye sight of them while she searches for sandals as requested by Neji the previous day.
She walks into a small shop that had what looked like gladiator shoes along with wooden sandals.
'Those look so comfortable, I would be better off walking in my stilettos than in wooden sandals' she thinks walking out of the shop, her thoughts wandering from the shoes to where Neji and Asuma went. She looks at the money she had taken from her bag
'Would they even take this? If I bought something, I really doubt it's the same currency, maybe I could exchange my gold necklace for something' She reached to her neck feeling the thin chain against her skin standing in front of an ally.
A hand covers her mouth and around her waist, as she's picked up and pulled into the ally she stood in front of, panic running through her, she tries to scream for Neji
"Ne-" was the only thing she could manage to get out before being slammed against the ally wall, the back of her head hitting the wall making her see spots and lights for a second before she tries to fight back only being able to scratch at her attacker.
His dark brown eyes starring into her gold ones starting to involuntary fill with tears as he presses his body against hers, he suddenly looks left, and dropping her in a blink of an eye he's gone. She falls to the ground shaking
'Don't cry, don't cry' was all she could think as feet stood in front of her, the person crouching in front of her holding out his hand.
"Are you hurt?" asks the man, his deep raspy voice snapping her out of her shock.
She looked up to meet ocean color eyes with black accentuating around them.
"I-I'm fine" She manages to have a small smile, realizing she was still alone with a man she doesn't know, she stands up and runs towards the opening of the ally
"Thanks, batman" She says looking back at him one last time.
A hand grabs her arm and she turns to punch the person without seeing who it was, only having it be caught.
"I told you to stay within eye sight" Neji said holding both her arms, she stares at him feeling relief, tears start to well up again. He raised an eyebrow at her reaction
'I can't tell him…He'll hate himself or maybe.. blame me.. lie, lie, lie god damn it, say something!' She thinks slightly starting to panic.
"You want me to get sandals but they're all just so god awful, I can't do it and I don't know if they would even take my money if I tried, I don't know the currency" She says trying to avoid looking into his eyes.
Neji stares at her for a few more seconds studying her face, then sighs
"Alright, but we need to keep going, when you get tired just let me know" Still holding her arm she's led towards Asuma down the street where he was waiting at on a bench.
"Ready?" Asuma nods to Shae
"Y-yeah" She says looking back towards from where they came from trying to see if she could see the man that saved her, not seeing him she looks back at them.
"Let's go" She says smiling trying to hide her emotions
She takes her camping bag from Asuma to make sure she still had her pepper spray and baton, trying to feel more secure after being attacked.
Every once and a while she would look behind or around them before continuing conversations between Neji and Asuma.
"What are you looking for?" Asuma finally asks
"Oh you know just making sure no one's following us" She says trying to joke
Asuma has a very subtle flinch She could feel the color draining from her face, and panic rising.
"It's probably nothing, but you should go with Neji while I check it out" As soon as he finished his sentence three men appear out of nowhere, making Shae take off running into the forest
"Shit, Neji!" Asuma says bringing a kunai out from his kimono defending himself.
"I know" Neji said running after Shae into the forest
All Shae could hear was Neji yell her name, and metal hitting each other, trees flying pased, refusing to slow down, her bag swinging back and forth. Eventually it gets caught on fallen branches. She stumbles, rolls, and collides into a tree.
"Ah!" She screams pain shooting through her body.
Someone comes through the trees she just stumbled out of, it's the same man that had attacked her earlier. Frightened and out of instinct she reaches into her bag for her baton, and with one swift motion extends and turns it on.
He laughs at her attempt to defend herself, his laughing only shutting down her fear making her angry.
'How dare you, attacks me, stalks me, attacks my friends, HOW DARE YOU!' Was all she could think
"Not today you fucker" She says before lunging at him.
He looks completely terrified, saying "Shit" before a smoke bomb goes off. As something shoots overhead, not thinking about it she screams
"Yeah you better run! Bastard" She yells while putting her baton away.
"Sand Coffin" says the same raspy deep voice from earlier, making her turn around smiling
"BATMAN!" She says feeling happy and relieved, smiling brightly at him.
"That's the second time today batman. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were following me" She says laughing, suddenly realizing it wasn't her that made her attacker run just a minute ago.
"oh.." She looks down disappointed
"What's wrong?" His eyes looking her over to see if she was hurt why she looked sad.
"That's the second time today you saved me and I thought he was scared of me why he took off so fast" She says pouting a little
"But if I were to go toe-to-toe with batman I'd shit myself too" She says laughing perking back up looking at him.
"My name is Gaara, trouble seems to follow you" He says as four other people come through the trees behind him
"Lord Kazekage! What happened?" Says a woman who seemed to be a few years younger than Shae.
"I'm fine." He says without turning around
"Of course he's fine. He's THE Batman" She said nodding her head with a laugh
"SHAE!" Yells Neji through the trees.
"Over here!" Shae calls back, Neji joined with Asuma ran and stopping in front of her, looking over her
"Are you alright, you don't look hurt" he says moving and turning her arms over, then looking at her neck and face for any marks.
"I'm fine, batman came to my rescue. However, I'm going to have a massive bruise on my back from tripping and hitting that tree over there" She said nodding her head to the tree.
"Lord Kazekage" Both Asuma and Neji say, bowing their heads in unison
"Hm?" Shae says looking at her protectors and then Gaara.
'Gaara looks surprised to see them.. old friends maybe? Well, they were dead, I'd be surprised too. Actually I think I would break down crying and run away' She thinks playing with a strand of curled hair.
"How did you come back" Gaara says in his low raspy voice.
They all look at Shae
"Hey, I have no idea. Don't ask, I would like to know how the hell I even got into this world in the first place" She says raising her hands in front of her and shrugging.
Gaara furrows his brows at her response Shae sighs then continues
"I was walking home from a friend's house after a camping trip, and along the side walk is a river, I was almost home and I see what looked like a whirlpool in the water I didn't think anything of it until I got sucked in, then all I can see is darkness then I heard Neji and Asumas voice, I reached out, grabbed them and ended up here… That's it, that's all I know I swear!" She finishes, playing around with one of the straps on her bag Gaara nods, looking satisfied with her answer.
"Making your way back to the village?" Gaara asks turning and walking away as if expecting them to follow suit. They both nod, Asuma taking the bag from Shae and follow him
'Well what's safer than being with Kokoum, batman and Asuma?' She thinks following them.
They make it back to the road and after 30 minutes of silence she looks behind her at the men that keep saving and protecting her.
"Yes?" Gaara says looking at her with curiosity.
"Nothing it's just… What if they come back?" Shae says looking down feeling helpless and angry at herself for having to depend on others for her safety.
"They won't" Gaara says looking down
"How do you know?"
"Because we took care of them" Asuma says adjusting the bag on his back
"What do you mean?" Shae says slowing her pace
"They won't come back because they're dead" Neji says bluntly looking at her and continues talking
"They were after you, rogue ninja, human trafficking. Since you look exotic, your traits are not common here, they would've sold you had they caught you. We took care of them"
Shae searched Neji's face, to see if he was kidding… He wasn't.
Feeling a little light headed she stops walking and stares at the ground beneath her. The ninja from earlier, walks up to her touching her arm and says
"Are you okay? I know that must have been frightening for you considering you're not from here, just know we won't let anything happen to you, which is why those people are gone" She says smiling softly trying to console Shae.
Not knowing what to say Shae only nods and keeps walking.
"I know you're still in shock, but can I just say I'm impressed you can walk in those" The ninja says smiling at Shae
"Huh?" She looks down at her feet
"Oh yeah, they're my favourite pair of stilettos, I've been wearing heels since my midteens" She says trying to keep up conversation to distract herself from crying or having a break down.
The woman keeps talking to Shae, to keep her engaged in conversation. Eventually helping Shae push what just happened to the back of her mind.
"So what did you do at your world?" Yukata asks
"Oh I'm a singer-song writer, Which is why I was able to afford these shoes" Shae laughs
"Oh so it paid well?"
"Well it does, but you need to be diverse in your music styles and be willing to sing and write about everything otherwise you won't make anything if artists are unwilling to pay for what you have" She says explaining her profession
"You never told us that" Neji says looking up at the back of her head
"You never asked, and if you wanted to know, all you have to do is ask" Shae says smiling looking back at him.
"Oh what's your favourite song? Sing it for us!" Yukata asks excited to hear her sing
"it's probably going to be a vulgar one" Neji mumbles
"Well it's not" She snaps at him
"It's beautiful, I didn't write it but it's still my favourite"
"Then sing it, please" said Yukata starting to become impatient almost whining
"Alright, alright" Shae said sighing, and sings 'anywhere but here' from the play Finding Neverland
As Shae sings, closing her eyes she feels a warmth growing inside the pit of her stomach, with every note the warmth she feels flows through out her body, pouring every ounce of passion into every word so she can to feel better about the day she's had, to escape the danger and sadness this world had caused her in the short amount of time being here.
"By closing my eyes I am anywhere but here!" With the last line she opens her eyes, and looks around her at the stunned shinobi
"I know I wasn't vocally warmed up but come on! It wasn't that bad" She says feeling a little offended at their reaction
"No, it's not that.. you were…glowing, you made us.. stronger and you healed Matsuri's arm" Yukata says amazed
"Well that's something I never heard before. It's either that was great or sing another" She says laughing feeling herself blushing
"You told us you had no nin jutsu and there was none in your world" Neji says now composed.
"There isn't" Shae says confused about what he's talking about
"You healed and restored everyones chakra here, not only that but the chakra we now have is stronger than normal" Neji says, making it sound as if she was lying to him
"What are you talking about?" Shae now getting annoyed by his tone
"This" he says holding her hand out to her face
"My hand? What about it?" She says in a flat tone
"I think it only works when she's singing, she's not aware of it" Asuma says
"I still don't understand what you're talking about" Shae says looking at everyone, confused.
"It's as Neji and Yukata said, you healed and restored everyones chakra when you were singing, you started to glow" Gaara says thinking while his eyes are closed.
"It's best if you refrain from singing for now" Gaara concludes, causing Yukata to look disappointed then holding on to Shae's arm leading her along
"I don't have nin jutsu" She whispers to Yukata
"Maybe something happened on your way to our world" Yukata says contemplating holding a finger to her mouth and looking up to the sky.
Shae looks at her hands and hums low, having the same feeling of warmth in her stomach coming alive, as her hands have a warm golden color radiate from them
"Lord Kazekage said no singing for now" Yukata hisses at her, trying to cover her hands with her own before they noticed.
"I'm not singing I'm humming, there's a difference" Shae says smiling at Yukatas reaction
"I just wanted to see what you meant and were so amazed at I had my eyes closed the whole time, remember? I won't do it again, promise, scouts honor" Shae says giving a small salute to Yukata causing her to sigh in relief.
...
"We've been walking for hours It's so hot.." Shae whines to Yukata, covering her face from the sun
"It is mid-summer of course it'd be hot silly" Yukata replied nodding
"How are you used to this, I need a cold drink, or shade, Yukata make it stop" Shae says whining laying her head against her new friends shoulder.
Suddenly having shade when there were no clouds that would pass by for a while from the looks of things, she looks up.
"Is that a wall of sand?" Shae says reaching up to touch it.
"Thank you Lord Kazekage" Yukata bows to Gaara, Shae looks to Gaara
"Your controlling it?" She says amazed, the tips of her fingers grazing against it, almost afraid of it landing on her head.
"Yes, and thank you for healing my student and for restoring our chakra even if was by accident" Gaara replied crossing his arms
"No Problem!...wow" Shae says still touching the sand, and looks over at Asuma
"Hey, is your nin jutsu like this, or Neji's?" She says smiling, being relieved to have shade
"Remember our conversation we had at breakfast about different chakras? Mine is wind" Asuma says amused at her fascination with the sand.
"So it's not as amazing as this?" She says pointing with both hands towards the sand floating above their heads
"No I can't control sand" Asuma says still smiling
"Oh!" She says grabbing for her bag Asuma still had, digging in it and taking out a small and stout vile with a cork and a baby pink ribbon tied around it, and walks back to the sand. She reaches up and putting the sand in the vile and sealing it with the cork.
She feels eyes watching her, she looks and sees Gaara starring intently.
"Oh, I'm sorry does that hurt you? Sorry I can put it back" She says trying to reopen the small vile.
"No, it doesn't hurt me. Why are you taking it?" He replies looking ahead
"Honestly?... It's the coolest thing I've ever seen" She says laughing and tying the ribbon around her neck.
"That's the Leaf Village" Yukata says pointing ahead, motioning for Shae to look
"That's what you call a village?" Shae says her mouth falling open
"It's huge!" She says dumbfounded.
"We need to see the Hokage" Neji says walking up to the left side of her.
The sand above them moves back towards Gaara as the clouds now shade most of the area.
Shae suddenly feels nervous and then looks at Neji
"What is it?"
"What if they don't like me and I get kicked out?" She says in a low voice
"That's not going to happen" Neji states
"How do you know, you barely like me" She scoffs
"That's not true, when you're not swearing or making unnecessary remarks, you're actually quiet pleasant" He says continuing to walk
"Aww so the tin man does have a heart" Shae says smiling, but still feeling uneasy. Neji sighs and looks back at her.
"I swear no one will hurt you, or take you away from me. I promised you, now take my hand" He says in the same familiar soothing voice.
Shae takes his hand letting him lead her to the leaf that her protectors call home, and maybe she could too.