Another Way
Chapter 1: A Tear in the Veil
~o0O0o~
Uzumaki Naruto woke to sunshine and birdsong, to the music of the wind whispering through the trees and to the joyous laughter of children.
It was all so surreal, like a dream.
"Eh? Hey, nee-chan! Who's that weird guy?"
Naruto cracked his eyelids to catch a little boy who looked around nine standing with a familiar-looking blonde girl who was about Naruto's own age. The kid was hopping up and down like a possessed rabbit with his mouse-brown hair flapping every which way, all while pointing at him accusingly.
"Hush," the woman chided her brother, waving a finger admonishingly. "It's rude to say things like that." She then firmly took hold of his arms and forced him to lower his finger. "And it's rude to point."
The child wiggled in protest. "But he's sleeping in the playground!" As if that somehow justified the pointing.
"Huh?" Naruto looked around to find that he was indeed sleeping in a playground—or under the slide to be more precise. The last thing he could remember was Kurama and . . . nothing. Nada. Zip. Nil.
Yawn.
"The hell?" He started to push himself into a sitting position, then immediately winced as pain lanced up his arm. "Gah-!" Pain was actually a weak word for what he was feeling. It was like molten lead had invaded his veins and was now poisoning and burning his blood. His lungs felt like they were breathing in fire instead of air, and his muscles were useless bunches of flesh that screamed in protest with the tiniest motion. Naruto collapsed on himself, his breathing irregular and his forehead slick with sweat. The blonde girl was at his side in an instant, her hands cloaked with green chakra.
"Try not to move," she ordered, running over his body with her glowing hands. Her amber eyes were strikingly similar to someone he felt he should have known, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Naturally, Naruto tried to protest. "I'm . . .—yaaawn—fiiiiiine," he drawled as he struggled to fight off the oncoming exhaustion. The blonde girl merely snorted, as if used to treating unwilling patients. "Yeah, sure you are." She rolled her eyes at him as he proceeded to snore, having passed out moments before.
"Che. Some of you just don't know when to quit. You're just like that idiot teammate of mine." He had yet to stop asking her for a date, even after five years of rejection. Persistence was annoying and inconvenient, she decided. Especially when it came in men. Then she quirked her head. 'Who is he anyway? I haven't seen him around the village before, but that's definitely a Konoha hitai-ate on his forehead. Is he really one of ours?'
She narrowed her eyes. Even if he wore the symbol of Konoha, the girl was never one to blindly trust. But then again, this guy was totally out of it. He wasn't exactly a threat at the moment. 'Maybe Saru-sensei will—'
"Nee-chan? Is the weird guy okay?" The little boy peeked over his sister's shoulder curiously, his eyes tracing over the man's spiky golden locks and his tattered orange clothing. He openly marveled at the whisker-like markings on the man's cheeks.
The girl looked up, her amber eyes a bit more focussed than before. "He'll be fine, Nawaki. I'll need you to go home alone today though," she finished with an apologetic look as her brother pouted. "Awwww! But you were going to take me for barbeque! You promised!" He did a strange little dance as he whined, almost subconsciously.
Tsunade's eye twitched. She was really beginning to hate that word. Promised, promised, promised. It was like Nawaki had the memory of an elephant when it came to these precious 'promises'. Being a big sister was hard sometimes.
She sighed, then said with a resigned tone, "I did promise, and you know I never go back on my promises." Nawaki crossed his arms with a huff and turned away from her with an adorable pout on his face. She had to resist the urge to squeal and pinch his cheeks. "So as soon as I drop this guy off at the hospital, I'll come pick you up—"
"—Yay!—" Tsunade twitched at the interruption as her little brother proceeded to do this ridiculous little victory dance, wagging his hips like nobody's business.
"—. . . After dinner for some ice cream. Sound like fun?"
"Ice cream!" His disappointment was all but forgotten as he bounced up and down with excitement. "Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream!"
Tsunade grinned. Thank god for ice cream. Best bribing tool ever.