Part the First…
"Oi…"
A voice called from the emptiness.
"Hey…"
It seemed to be coming closer, a strange shade coming to the darkness.
"Gaki!!"
The rumbling voice slowly becoming a growl, a form of motion moved pasted the darkness; the light seemed to be finding a way back. Slowly sensation came back. Something soft and sleek under once-numb fingertips, a faint throbbing in the back of his mind, and familiar raise and fall, an old taste in his mouth, the smell of green and fresh air in his nostrils, the sound of something falling on the ground.
-Am I dreaming?-
Out of reflex a forgotten appendage flexed causing the sensation of grass rubbing against calloused hands to become prominent. A swift intake of air brought the scents of a dewy morning forest to the back of his nose. The soft vibrations of morning birds' calls entered his ears creating the beautiful melody he heard. A deep yawn brought the taste of the sweet air to his tongue.
-This is real, this is really real? I'm alive; it was all a bad dream…-
As luck would have it, as the young man was finding the nerves to his eyelids and beginning to work them to test out his final sense, a presence he hadn't previously paid any attention to made itself know… with a swift kick to the ribs.
"AAAHHH-OOOOWWW!!" he screamed out in fury as the pain coursed from his injured side to the rest of his being all the way to the back of his brain. His initial response was to clutch his whole being into a tight ball, to crowed around the wound and make a wall between it and his apparent attacker. His second was roll on his side. The third was to crack one eye open and glare indignantly at whoever the hell just did that… only to quickly recoil from the bright light of the sun overhead, "AAAhh-shit, now my eye!!" and he repeated the previous three steps rubbing his eye vigorously to get the spots out, and carefully, slowly, crack open the other one, giving it time to get used to the new sensation called 'light'.
"Hmm… so it seems you've decided to get your ass up, ne?"
Over him stood a foreboding figure, magnified by the backlight of the sun darkening all their features and their towering size over the curled up boy below them. Even though they stood like a demon before the blinding light of Amateratsu he glared defiance to this figure, not caring if it was death or Kami itself, there was no reason for kicking someone who was just waking up!! After the momentary blindness passed color seemed to find itself back into his view, turning the foreboding shadow of a demon into the long brown trench coat of a human standing on a green field of grass.
-What the…-
Upon further inspection the 'field of green' was a forest full of trees, dark barked trees that looked almost white. –Orange-blossoms?- after his eyes adjusted to the illuminescense of the world, and he managed to crane his neck around to observe his surroundings he saw that the trees were in fact orange-blossom trees. He took in a deep breath enjoying the scent of the fruit that would eventually be produced by these beautiful trees.
"Oi, ya just gonna stare at the scenery all day?"
The young man's focus was returned to the person in the trench-coat. He looked directly at them and noticed the blue sky that was behind them. He blinked. Confused, he brought he gaze down and finally noticed that 'person' had crouched till they were down at his face level, and about 10 inches from it. "GAH!!" he quickly scooted back trying to make as much distance from them as he could, only to back himself up all the way to one of the trees he was previously admiring.
His response? A simple raised brunette brow.
"Oi!!" The young man raised his voice pointing at the interloper, "What the hell do you mean by sneaking up on a shinobi like that?!" –not to mention giving one hell of a swift kick… Ite, my ribs hurt- he thought, while keeping a cerulean glare locked on the brunette.
They tilted their head, supporting it in one hand, merely watching the young man with steel-like aqua-green eyes.
"Che," The young man pouted, "you just gonna stare all day? You were real talkative a moment ago, nee-chan!" the woman's eyes narrowed, the young man grinned cheekily, "what, thought I couldn't tell with that big trench-coat? HA!" he pointed his thumb towards himself, "Why you're looking at the Great Uzu- Ack!!" In less than a moment the young man found the woman next to him with her hand raised level with his forehead, then flicked it hard enough to send him back into the tree leaving a dent, and wondering how his forehead protector wasn't destroyed.
"Ite, ite, ite, kuso that was about as bad as when Baa-chan does it, ite, ite, ite," The young man was nursing his head, front and back, checking for blood, and just generally trying to rub the pain away.
"Are you finished?" came the woman's now familiar flat voice.
"Tch," was the blonde's indignant response as he continued to rub his head, "the hell, Nee-chan?" he looked up at her through squinted eyes, "What kinda woman wakes a handsome man, like me, up with a kick to the ribs?"
She rolled her aqua-green eyes. She leaned back slightly on her haunches, putting her hands on her knees and standing up to her full height, which was again towering over the young man. Her strange eyes just looked at the boy, "you just going to sit around all day complaining about a bruise, or you gonna get up and do something about it?"
Naruto just looked up at the woman, lowering his hand that was messaging the front of his head, and stared at her. There was something about her, something familiar that he couldn't quite place. He scrunched his face up in a pout, not really knowing why but just feeling the need to be somewhat counter-productive.
His face must have said a lot because the woman gave an odd kind of smile, not exactly friendly, but almost mothering, with a hint of a smirk thrown in, "Come on, let's go Otou-kun," she reached out her hand to the young blonde.
The young man was almost frozen at the words, and the tone was even stranger, familiar, close, it was weird since he was almost positive he'd never met this woman in his entire life. And yet, for some reason he had no comprehension of he felt he could trust her, confide in her, believe the hidden emotions he could almost find lurking in her eyes. An overwhelming sense of déjà vu swept over him as he reached for her hand and grabbed a hold of it…