Mia

The day was just as boring as any other. I was a bit shocked that the Pride kids sat with Tonya – who apparently is 'madly' in love with James – and I. Tonya, being a cheerleader – but not very popular 'cause of me – just happens to fall in 'love' with every hot guy she meets. Last week, she claimed to be in love with the football captain.

I sat in my room, doing my homework, listening to my ipod. Music seemed to be the only nice thing in life right now, and I constantly thanked my dead grandmother for it. It was for my thirteenth birthday, months before she died. I could still remember her telling me, "Music is your life, what you hold on to for support. I have a feeling that when I'm gone, music will be your best friend."

She turned out to be right, amazingly. Besides Tonya, music was the only thing that mattered since then. I sighed; I was pathetic, I relied on one friend and the "power of music" as those stupid TV shows call it.

Sometimes I wish I wasn't so pathetic. I think to myself, I wish I had a purpose in life.

I finished my homework two hours later. It was dark, so I took a shower, had a snack, and settled in for another restless night.

That night seemed to be the worst for me; my dreams were haunted with the horrible fifth birthday, John's dead, lifeless body in a coffin, the usual. Then my dreams – or shall I say nightmares? – took an unexpected turn. A man, extremely familiar, approached me.

"Good to see you," the man says, "Mia."

"W-who are you?" I stammer.

"I'm coming for you." Is all he says. Trust me, when someone says "I'm coming for you" in a low, threatening voice, they are scary.

"Who the hell are you?" I demand.

"That will be revealed in time." He replies, and throws a sharp pointy thing at me.

I open my eyes to see the grey ceiling above me. "Oh, thank God." I tell myself. "I'm alive." That dream was so real…and that man…

"That's it, Mia." I whisper to myself, "No more Twinkies before bed."

I got out of bed and headed to the kitchen. I needed something to drink. I went straight to the fridge and chugged down some cranberry juice from the carton. Screw the cups; I just had a life threatening dream.

The man in my dream…he was familiar to me somehow…but I couldn't put my finger on him. Black hair, tied into a neat, loose pony tail, red eyes, and a black cloak with red clouds on them.

Your mind's screwed up, Mia. I think. I tiptoe back into bed, and close my eyes for the sleep that probably wouldn't come.

Sasuke

I woke up with a start. I had been in Mia's dreams. He was there as well.

When Mia disappeared, hopefully meaning she woke up, I turned to him. "You can't have her, you know."

"We will have her. You're simply too weak." Itachi – my poor excuse of a big brother – taunted.

"I've been getting stronger."

"But it's still not enough, and you know it."

"If the war starts, I will be able to kill you."

"When the war starts," Itachi corrects, "She'll be ours, and you'll die like the rest of our weak clan."

"Correction, Itachi," I said, "It is you who will die."

"Little brother," Itachi taunts, "Do you really think you can kill your genius brother?"

It's true. He graduated from the ninja academy in a year. I thought.

"It's time for me to leave. I will see you soon, Little brother." Itachi smirks and I lost it. I throw my kunai at him, which was really a shadow clone.

"You didn't really think you could get me, did you?" Itachi taunts. He was right behind me, whispering in my ear. I could tell he was about to strike when I forced myself to wake up.

"Damn you, Itachi." I whisper. I stride over to Naruto, who's drooling on his pillow, probably dreaming of ramen.

"Naruto, wake up." I whisper.

"Go away, Pervy Sage. Let me just eat my ramen." Naruto's still asleep.

After several minutes of urging, I lost my patience and pushed him off his bed.

"AH!" Naruto yells, hitting the floor with a soft thump. "What was that for?!?!" He almost yells.

"You wouldn't wake up. Get Sakura into the living room."

"What's wrong? Can't this wait till morning?"

"No. It has to do with the girl. Mia."

Naruto grudgingly walks out of the room with you close behind. I sit on the couch, and minutes later, Sakura is sitting on the couch, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Well, what's this about?" Naruto asks irritably.

"The girl. I was in her dreams."

"Why?" Sakura asks, more alert.

"To make sure no one was invading her dreams." I answer coolly.

"Then what's so important?" Naruto asks, yawning.

"Itachi was there." I say simply. Sakura and Naruto gasp.

"That means…" Sakura trails off

"Yes. That means he and his team are here. They're planning to kidnap the girl."

"We're going to have to hurry then." Sakura concludes.

"We need to watch over her." Naruto says sleepily.

"We'll take shifts watching over her." I said. "Sakura, get her to stay over here on her birthday."

"I'll try, but she didn't seem like she wanted to come for the birthday in the first place."

"Well, think of something!" I exasperated.

"Okay, okay." Sakura said.

"I'll watch her tonight." Naruto offered.

That is if he doesn't fall asleep yet.

"Fine." I agreed. Itachi wouldn't be back tonight. I glanced at the clock. It was three in the morning. Naruto went back to our room and came back dressed.

"I'll see you at school."

"Fine, whatever." I say. "Don't fall asleep."

Naruto growled and left.

Whatever.

Mia

The next day was just the same as the last. Marcus wouldn't shut up during lunch.

"Okay!" I lost my temper. I never got the patience gene. "I see you're excited by my birthday. Just stop making my ears bleed. Jesus, I think I just lost thirty percent of my hearing."

Marcus finally shut up. James smirked.

Maria was normal – thank God. She wasn't some motor mouth like her annoying brother, and we were actually getting close. Well, let's count that as two friends in fifteen – soon to be sixteen – years. What a record!

Tomorrow was my birthday. I dreaded it.

I was glad the Pride kids invited me to their house for my birthday. That would mean less time with my parents. If I went to their house with them, stayed there till eight, and walked home very slowly, I would only have an hour or so of my parents' ranting. Oh, how I love these Pride kids.

"You know, Mia," Maria began, "We would love it if you stayed over at our house…you know…like a sleep over."

I blushed at this. "Um, thanks," I stammer, "But I probably don't think I can go…"

"Oh, come on, Mia!" Tonya exclaims. She'd been unusually quiet till now. "It'll be fun. Spend you're birthday with them, you know I won't be able to make it since my dad's taking us all to a convention."

"I know, but my parents probably won't let me."

"Screw them." I hear Tonya mutter. "They won't care."

Okay, there's some truth there. I sighed. "Okay, Maria, I'll come."

"Yes!" Maria exclaimed.

"You're gonna have so much fun! We're gonna sing Happy Birthday and everything, we'll even –"

"I'm going to have fun, Marcus." I say. The next part I whisper to myself, "If I don't lose my hearing by then."

I heard James snort. I looked at him, warning him to back off. I was already annoyed.

Sakura

I saw Mia give Sasuke a warning look when he snorted. I was about to scold her not to treat him that way, but I stopped myself. At least I know she doesn't like him. The Tonya kid made my job a whole lot easier. Now all we had to do was convince her she was a ninja. Easy, right?

The bell rang and we followed Mia to her locker. "We've got Performing Arts right now; we'll stop by your lockers to get the rest of your books."

I nodded. The walk to our lockers and class was quiet.

"Did you really mean it that you'd love it if I stayed over at your house?" Mia asked quietly.

"Yeah, why wouldn't we?" Naruto asked stupidly.

"No reason." She shrugged.

I smacked him in the head softly, so Mia wouldn't notice, and whispered, "Stop acting stupid. You know why she asked."

I seriously wished Naruto wasn't on my team.

The day was the shortest ever. Maybe because tomorrow was Mia's birthday, the day we somehow tell her she's supposed to be a ninja in our world.

"So, Mia, I'll call you after school so we can set the sleepover up." I change the subject. "What's your phone number?"

We reached the classroom door. "I'll give you my number after class." Mia replies.

"Thanks."

So far, so good!

Naruto

Not another Sasuke. She's just so quiet.

Okay, she's not that much like Sasuke, I guess. She's quiet and shy, and she's got Sasuke's temper. But at least she doesn't smack me, so that's something, right?

She's also pretty cute. Okay, I'll admit it. I think she's hot. Too bad she doesn't like me much.

Performing Arts was boring. We had to recite a few lines from some play some 'famous' writer, William something, wrote. I think it was called Romeo and Juliet. Whatever it was, I played some king – which doesn't suit me, I should've been Hokage –who was over possessive of his daughter, who happened to be Sakura.

Like I said. Boring.

"Miss Ray," I began, her name reminded me of ramen, "Can we actually do something fun today?"

Sakura hit me in the back of my head. "Shut up!" she whispered.

"What?" I asked, confused, "It's true, this class isn't fun."

"If you don't think this class is fun, then leave. Go to Mr. Mann's office and tell him you want to transfer to some other class."

"Uh…no thanks. Sorry I said anything."

Miss Ray – I wish I had ramen – glared at me, but went back to whatever she was doing.

I just wanna fast forward back home so I can get some ramen.

Sasuke

Naruto was being an ass again. All the way through the boring Performing Arts, Science, and English class, he would just be talking, asking if they could do something fun, and thinking about ramen.

Kakashi should tell him to put a cork in it. But since Kakashi had a separate mission, he couldn't come, leaving us with a nuisance we can barely control. Lunch couldn't come soon enough. I had to admit, this school was boring. At least tomorrow was probably the last day we'd be here.

I sighed quietly. I couldn't get Mia out of my mind. She was simply beau – I didn't let myself finish that thought. I mean, sure, she's pretty, but so what? I'm probably feeling affection for her because she's not being all over me like those fan girls back home. Yet.

I kept eating what I assumed was meat loaf.

She was quiet, shy, and had the weirdest eyes, yet really nice ones.

What am I thinking? I thought, Focus on killing Itachi.

"So, Mia," I say when I notice that annoying Tonya gone, she had recently become an official fan girl, "Do you mind if you come over to study with us? I'm having trouble with Algebra."

That was the truth, I guess. I mean, how the hell is someone supposed to know what 4b 45a x 67c 195 means?!?

"Uh…" Mia stammers, "Um…okay…I'm not so good at it either, but I guess I'll try."

"Okay."

We needed to be near her at all times to make sure the Akatsuki didn't try anything. Itachi might invade her dreams again, so I would somehow have to be there if there was a kidnapping attempt. I couldn't trust Naruto to sneak in there; he'd fall asleep and end up dead. This was going to be hard. Sakura could probably pull it off, but if Itachi did come, she'd be in big trouble.

Oh, well; I'll figure out the rest sooner or later.

"I'm going to the bathroom." I whisper, and walk out of the cafeteria. I turned my head left and right, looking for the bathroom.

Then I heard them.

No, I thought, no. Not them already! Stupid fan girls!

Sure enough, I heard a bunch of girls giggling. I turned to them, and saw them all blushing, looking at me. Crap. I turned to walk slowly away, hearing the giggling becoming louder. Either they were laughing harder, or closing in on me.

"Hi." The blonde girl – Tonya – came up to me.

"Uh…hello." I say. "Do you know where the bathroom is?"

"Sure do." She giggled, "It's to the left of your locker."

And they know where my locker is how?

I made my way to the bathroom as civilized as possible. The second the door closed, I tried climbing out the window. It was tiny, but after much difficulty, I fell head first into a pile of leaves.

Screw this. I thought. Those fan girls just HAD to pick me?

I racedback to the front of the school and entered through there, ignoring all the looks I got from the secretary and students there.

Damn it, that was close.

I leaned on the door to the cafeteria, trying to regain my posture, completely forgetting the fan girls. As my breathing returned to normal, I heard some girls screech, yelling the name 'James' over and over again.

Loser. At least they're leaving me alone.

That's when I remembered. I was James. Crap. I turned around and headed into the cafeteria with Sakura, Naruto, and…where was Mia?

"Where's Mia?" I asked emotionlessly.

"Bathroom." Naruto replied, flicking his meat loaf at me. I dodged it.

"Throw anything else at me and you're dead when we return home." I threatened in a low, cold voice. Naruto's eyes widened to the size of his usual ramen bowl. Good; now he can leave me alone.

"I'll be in her dreams again. To watch for Itachi." I stated. I saw out of the corner of my eye Naruto's eyebrow raised, but I gave him a death glare.

I swear, if he doesn't leave me alone…My thoughts trailed off.

I sighed. I really just wanted to get this over with.