A/N: Finally reached the crossover bit...
Anyway, I still own nothing and now on with the chapter...
Chapter 4
Light-years away from the ninja world, there rests another planet with it's own constants and variables. A huge constant is that this planet houses the human home world. In a huge metropolis called New York, there lives a 32 year-old woman filled with juvenile wonder. She lives in her tiny apartment in the area called Brooklyn, by herself. The woman, who went by the name of Mia Anderson, was getting dressed to go outside to meet her childhood friend. Even though it was the middle of the day it was still a Saturday and so Mia could afford to have a lie in. Her golden brown hair shined as the light from the sun danced on her strands if hair. She wore unremarkable clothes except for a jacket with fur lining because it was March and the bite of winter still remained. Before leaving, she fumbled around with her omni-tool and placed a call. On the visual screen appeared her friend. Her black hair looked like a mop that had been slapped on her head. Bags appeared under her bright blue eyes. She had a permanent frown on her face. There was a wail in the background.
"Heya, Amaya. I'm just calling to say I'm leaving and I'll be right over."
"Mmhm, okay see ya just..." The wail mutated into a screech.
"Aah, just one second! Sorry I gotta go, Kat is acting up again." Amaya sighed.
"Yeah I hear, well I will see you later, bye!"
"Bye." Her friend replied meekly. She disappeared off the screen. By now she was probably babbling in French to her 1-year-old child, Katherine. Mia giggled as she slipped on her boots and left the apartment. To a stranger, Amaya was a god, in a sense. Nobody was unaware of her. Rather, they knew Shepard, not Amaya. Amaya still retained the authoritative traits, but was a little more laid back and less crazy? Oh who was she kidding, her friend was the same person, and just maybe she was more open to her hobbies. Mia felt superior to personally know the person who defeated the Reapers, and saw how motherhood really got to her. The door shut automatically with a little hiss.
On the street, Mia made her way to the subway to travel across town. Amaya lived all the way on the West Side, so at least she didn't have to change trains. Mia managed to get a train and secure a seat, which was one of those seats the faced the direction the train was going. She put her feet on the seat and scrunched up like a ball. She admired the view out the window as the train went over ground. The skyline was beautiful, in all shapes and forms. The pearly white towers shone in the sun with the cars zooming by like sprinkles or little moons surrounding a planet. Then there were the older buildings, which have the scene its age and poise. The brunette laid her head against the dirty glass and felt a little bit of heat on her hair. Today was a depressing day and she always needed comfort. The train flew under the tunnel and with it Mia sighed in despair. It was going to be a long day.
After dodging a gazillion people and managing to get to the right building, Mia was able to chill and relax as she slumped against the elevator wall while it was in motion. Suddenly it stopped, which made Mia stumble a bit. The doors slid open to reveal a calm floor with a hint of lavender in the air. She got out and walked down the hall to the last apartment. There was a wail; followed by a scream. It was just the baby complaining as there was no movement from inside. It was sort of cute however the sound was unbearable. Mia rung the doorbell and heard the scuffle of feet. The baby's babbling got closer and closer when all of a sudden the door hissed open. Amaya looked even more tired in the flesh, with a hint of annoyance. Mia always went back to the time when her friend found out she was going to be a mother. She always figured in that second, Shepard vanished and the regular old Amaya took over. Her friend stepped aside.
"Come in." She said, trying to muster a smile.
"Thank you." Mia looked around the room. The kitchen was to the left with counter tops for the barrier. To the right was the reception room and straight ahead were all the bedrooms and study.
"Wanna drink?"
"Hell yeah! I'm getting drunk today." Mia sat down on the couch. It faced the TV, which was parallel to the window. The apartment was pretty high up so occasionally a car would whoosh on by.
"Don't get carried away now I only have so much!" Amaya disappeared behind the counters and brought up two glasses and a variety of drinks.
"Okay so we got wine, some weird beer, I think this is ryncol-." She scrutinized the bottle. "We also have some things that you might be able to make a cocktail with, if you want to." She pointed to everything she laid out on the glass coffee table.
"Sweet alright now lets watch some old vids!" Mia said with enthusiasm.
"Well I got bucket loads soo which one?"
"Whichever's the first one, all are good." Amaya came over with some chilled beer and picked up a vid at random. She pressed the button and it was displayed on her TV, gave a bottle to Mia, opened them, clinked the glasses together and so the drinking began.
Hours later Mia was resting her head on Amaya's lap. Her head felt weightless but she could feel the tears streaming down her face.
"This is when he proposed y'know?"
"Yeah."
"I was so happy. Baby on the way and my boyfriend proposed. At 20!"
"Yeah."
"I mean I knew I met the one!"
"Yeah."
"Even though I was at college, nobody gave a shit 'cause I trash anyway so I was normal but I was ready and so was he and-"
"Yeah."
Mia looked over and the sleeping pile of mess in the bassinette. Katherine was sleeping peacefully and cooing ever so slightly as she shifted.
"Amaya, promise me to never let her go!" The brunette grabbed hold of her friend by her shoulders and shook her but slowly let go.
"Oh I promise, after everything I've been through..." Amaya reached over petted her daughter's head.
"I wish my daughter was still here. I always imagine that she's alive on some planet somewhere, looking up at the stars and wondering where I am. I have this feeling she's alive, but I know its wishful thinking."
"If you feel she's alive, then she is. Nothing is more powerful than a mother intuition." Amaya muttered.
"Yeah." Mia replied "Yeah."
Yume sneezed suddenly. Ryota looked over in a panic.
"Yume are you ill? You didn't land in the lake but still!"
"I think someone's talking about you." Satoru smirked.
"Yeah, yeah." The girl frowned. The team was at Ichiraku ramen, sinking their teeth into the delicious ramen. Naruto-sensei was already on his fifth bowl and slurping away happily. Satoru only had the stomach for one and decided to sit and contemplate something. Yume was eating her second bowl enjoyed every morsel. The spicy broth was complemented beautifully with the soft noodles and along with the mash up of other items such as the seaweed or the pak choi it tasted divine. Naruto let out a long sigh of content.
"That was good." Yume said murmured. It wasn't everyday that she could treat herself to the best ramen in the village.
"You can have more y'know it's all on me." Naruto added.
"Nah, it's cool and I'm pretty full already." The girl smiled.
"Hm alright, you guys done?" The other two nodded.
"Cool, lay it on me old man, how much is it?" Teuchi ripped off a piece of paper and turned around to give him the check.
"I knocked off a few ryo 'cause you're here with your new students!" he whispered.
"Hey thanks!" Naruto left the shiny pieces on top of the paper and left a little tip. He turned to his students.
"Well, last thing we have to do is a group photo." He got up and the genin were quickly walking behind him.
In a park nearby, a photographer had set his equipment to take photos. He had one job to do, but it was taking forever. He kept wondering what was taking the ninja so damn long. He just wanted to be home, feet up with some beer. He was snapped out of his daydream when he heard footsteps approaching.
"You guys next?" He said with a little annoyance.
"Yep." Naruto said.
"Alright, stand over by the tree so I can take the photo."
The team scuffled to the tree opposite the camera. Ryota was trying to flex his non-existent muscles, while Satoru rolled his eyes and leaned on the tree, he even made a little huff. Ryota started to stare at him intently and was holding back from speaking. The other did the same and they stood apart from each other with Yume in the middle. She was smiling and ignoring everything, waiting for the photo to be taken. The boys were almost ready to erupt into another argument when Naruto finally walked into the frame and placed his hands on both Ryota and Satoru's heads. They both were still eyeing each other but managed to attempt to look at the camera in time. Yume giggled and folded her arms when the shot was taken. The photographer waved a hand to Naruto-sensei. He sauntered over to see the photo. Out came a familiar picture of two boys frowning, the girl in the middle smiling and laughing and the sensei smiling too with his eyes closed.
"I can get this printed by Wednesday alright. How many do you want?"
"Uh 4 pictures."
"Alright can do." The photographer walked away from the group, shaking his head a little.
"Sensei! What does it look like?" Ryota cried.
"It looks great." His grin was one of reminiscence.
"Anyway guys that us it for now and I will see you on Monday." He leaned in.
"And we're gonna start with missions so I hope you're ready!" He said enthusiastically.
"See you guys later." And with that, he left. The three shinobi agreed to spend a little more time with each other. It was awkward and hilarious at the same time. The boys were constantly trying to one up another and Yume simply watched and laughed. However, she hardly spoke and gave short and simple answers to questions. It was hard for her to speak to them. Not that she had a problem talking. Just that she was afraid of what they would think. All she wanted was to run away back to her apartment and bury her head in her pillow. Of course, after the genin said goodbye to one another just before dinner; she ran home and did exactly that. Yume sunk into the bed and looked up at her ceiling.
'Ugh, that was awkward. Thank goodness I home and I can relax and not worry about anything.' She winced slightly.
'Wasn't that bad.' Her conscience whispered. Yume didn't listen. She believed that everything was better in her apartment instead of out in the world.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the village, the rest of the team was with their friends or family. Naruto was sitting comfortably at a long table in Barbe-Q along with Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. He was swirling the sake around in his cup and looking at the rice wine make little ripple patterns.
"Well?" Sakura lowered her head to try and make eye contact with him.
"Hm? Oh right, yeah it went well."
"That's it?" Sasuke said disbelieving.
"They passed and we are gonna go on missions and I have high hopes for them. What else?"
"What do you mean by that?" the Uchiha continued.
"I mean that they will become great jonin one day. They are all talented in their disciplines and it's perfectly balanced, y'know" He smiled and at the thought.
"Well you'd better not do anything reckless with them." Sakura glared at him. Naruto rubbed the back of his head.
"Heh, yeah that would be bad."
"Hm, knowing you, you'll find something earth shattering to get involved in." Sasuke folded his arms and smirked. The other two looked at each other and laughed. It was good to be able to laugh about the past.
Satoru sat in his room, frowning. His father was annoying him and his mother wasn't any help. He returned home to both his parents talking and not letting up.
"You'll be the head of the clan one day." His father kept repeating. Satoru wanted for him to stop telling him that. He got it, but he didn't want to hear it. Satoru sighed and looked out the window onto the village.
"Now then, let's see…" He said aloud. He then scribbled down some words and did so until he fell asleep.
Ryota talked to his mother for the entirety of dinner. She listened intently and kept asking him questions. She was so proud of her son that she cried when finished.
"That's my boy." She whimpered. Ryota hugged her mother. He was the man of the house after all.
Yume had just finished up her instant ramen. She stared at the empty cup and couldn't take her eyes off of it. She wasn't sure if she was scared or angered by the prospect of the future. Deciding that it was too much to think about, Yume once again lay down on her bed and fell asleep. All she could dream about were glistening lights and pearly white buildings.