Chapter 2
"Speaking"
'Thoughts'
"English"
*Sign language*
I woke to the sounds of startled birds. In the early gray of predawn the forest seems unnaturally silent. Nothing moved so neither did I, praying that this was all just a bad dream. It wasn't. My hair stands on end and all my senses are on high alert as I stare out into the darkness, hidden by the protective roots of my shelter. Something is out there, some predator. I wait for several minutes-barely breathing out of fear-before the source of the unease reveals itself. Or, more accurately, themselves. Appearing out of the darkness are two men, no two ninja. Both are visibly armed and deathly silent as they move. One carries a blade of some kind and the other has senbon but both have what looks like weapon pouches. Both also wear Konoha hitai-ate. 'Well," I think semi-hysterically, 'At least now I know where I am.' The two investigate the area for several minutes, clearly searching for something-'Or someone'-and I squeeze my eyes shut every time one of them nears me out of strait up paranoia that they might somehow give my hiding spot away.
"It's no good," one of them say finally. I hear a faint metal clink. "The trail ends here. No sign of anything being disturbed, no chakra trails to chase, nothing."
"Maybe the Chuunin were right and it was just an animal," the other offers lightly, turning to survey the area again.
"Maybe," the first answers, eyes lingering near my tree, "Maybe."
I stop breathing.
He turns away.
"Come on, let's go report to the Hokage. There's nothing more we can do here."
I don't know how long it took me to move after the two shinobi left, but it must have been nearly an hour. The second I managed to wrap my head around what was happening, who I had seen, I bolted. Roots ripped at my hair and skin as I tore myself out of last night's shelter and fled in the opposite direction of the shinobi. Panic started to set in as it dawned on me what had to have happened. 'Oh no. Oh nO. No. NonononononononONONONONO!' My vison blurred as I ran, tears spilling down my face and panic casting a haze over everything except my need to get away.
Predictably, I tripped.
Stunned, I lay in a jumbled pile on the ground staring up at the sky where it peaked through the trees. 'Oh' I think, a little dazed, 'It's a clearing.'
The sound of running water eventually draws my attention, the sound settling my frayed nerves and frantic emotions. 'Okay,' I think, 'Okay.' I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. 'Okay, so I'm in the Naruto 'verse. This is a thing now. A real, actual, proper thing. That I'm a part of. Apparently.' I groan, covering my face with my hands tiredly. 'I'm in a thrice damned self-insert.' A flash of memory; a wriggling sack, bashing waters, and unyielding hands 'Because I died,' I realize belatedly, one hand drifting down to my neck. 'Wow,' I think faintly, 'that's really cliché.' My breathing stutters and I swallow hard, shoving that line of thought away. Nope, not dealing with all this right now. Dragging in another breath I push myself up, needing something else to focus on. My body throbs in protest, causing a groan to slip through my otherwise silent lips. My time in this world has not been overly kind, though I was thankfully not tossed headfirst into battle. A lock of hair slips foreword over my shoulder and I reach out to grab it thoughtfully. 'Distraction achieved.' Grasping it gently, I eye the pale shock of rough hair. Before, my hair had been red, like bronze, and strait and thin. Now it's thick and wild, rough almost like animal fur and so dirty I can't be sure if it's white or gray or just a very pale brown. It's different, I'm different. 'I wonder what I look like now,' I think softly. Casting a look around my surrounding reveals what looks like it might be a small building hidden among some trees near the edge of the clearing and, more importantly right now, a creek or maybe a river offshoot close by. I spot the shallow river nearby and push myself to my feet. My first few steps are hesitant, but once I am assured of my balance I move far more steadily. Kneeling at the water's edge, I peer carefully down at my reflection.
A stranger's face looks back at me.
It is the mint green eyes stand out the most. Clear and bright, the admittedly quite pretty eyes are paired with a small nose and chubby cheeks that still carry plenty of baby fat. The hair is next, filthy and badly tangled with all sorts of twigs and leaves sticking out. It's so dirty that I can't even distinguish a specific color, but it's probably blonde or maybe a light brown. And I'm so young, dear God I'm young. Just a child really, probably not even 5 years old. My clothing has changed too, I notice now, my nice dress shirt having become a dark green kimono-style top with a tan t-shirt underneath and brown shorts replacing my slacks. I take a deep breath, and then a second. Everything is too much now that I've seen for myself the changes to my appearance. This is no dream, I can't even try to lie to myself any longer, and all I want to do is curl up and bawl my eyes out. "Freaking Konoha," I mutter roughly, rubbing at my eyes as I push myself back up and away from my new reflection. The sun has risen high in the sky and the shadows are short as I make my way across the clearing towards the building that I thought I spotted earlier. 'It's an old building,' is the first thing I notice as I approach through the trees surrounding it. And it clearly is, the wood heavily weathered and obviously unmaintained. I carefully push open the door, flinching slightly as the door creaks from disuse and scrapes against the floor. I peak into the dark building, but other than the incredibly thick layer of dust everything seems to be in order. There are no fallen beams or damaged walls that I can see, so I creep inside and just hope that the building is still structurally sound. The building is fairly small, but it's also private and clearly abandoned. It would make a good shelter for me to stay in until I can figure out what I'm going to do. My bare feet leave deep imprints in the thick dust as I walk around the interior walls of the building. It is octagonal in shape, with a raised square something in the middle. 'It's a shrine,' I realize eventually, 'A small, abandoned shrine in the middle of the forest.' I vaguely remember reading something from back home where a person could claim sanctuary from inside a church, and think that shrines and churches play a similar role. 'That's what this place is going to be,' I decide, eyes trailing across the interior of the shrine.
'My Sanctuary.'