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Rating: T


When Fantasy and Reality Collide

Seven


In about an hour she learned their names. Nothing else. Just the names of the ninja and then they all just stood there. She sat. Deidara kept eyeing her and she knows that he is wondering how he vaulted through the air earlier. Hidan and Kakuzu informed him that they have had similar experiences but they are not sure how she, a girl without chakra, can manage such high-level 'jutsus'. She has a sneaking suspicion that was an insult.

She also learned, from watching them, that each has a partner but one. The plant guy named Zetsu.

It also turns out that one team is made of three instead of two – Deidara, Sasori, and a childish man named Tobi.

The leader is Pein and his partner is a blue-haired woman who goes by Konan.

Itachi, who Hidan fell on, is partnered with the fish-man that is named Kisame.

She already knows that Hidan and Kakuzu are partnered together…so that covers it. Yep. Ten people, her house, and no parents.

Now, sitting across from the ten ninjas, she has their complete attention. She didn't ask for it but they are all watching her. She only knows that she doesn't like this attention.

Pein is the first to move and he crosses the room to stand in front of her. She already has a few images building in her brain and has them on hold in case she has to defend herself. It is good that they don't know how her 'Brain Power' works…or that would be really bad.

"If I understand this, you live here. In another world." Pein asks and she shrugs as she answers, "I guess that's the easiest way to put it."

Raven folds her hands across her chest before continuing, "For all I know, this is your doing."

She knows it isn't but she might as well blame it on them. It could pit them against each other and she could use the time to escape. Then she would call the police.

Then she would have to explain this so – that would be a bad idea.

"My doing? I would not risk Akatsuki's operations by having all of us in one location." He remarks and she cocks her head to the side with a look that can be described as childhood innocence.

"But would it matter if you were in a place where no one could find you?" she asks and he seems to hesitate before answering, "Anyplace can be found under the right means."

"Really. So, let's say, you were sent back to wherever you were then you could find your way back here." She asks with a large smile on her face.

"I assume so." He replies as he takes a seat on the edge of her coffee table that is right before her.

She looks upon all the ninjas that rest in her front room. The blood stains are still on the floor and that brings her thoughts upon one thing. She crossed into their world with a few others. She came back but they didn't appear.

They died.

Maybe that is why they didn't come through. They died and there was no reason to come back across. It is a thing she is thankful for because she is sure she wouldn't be able to handle a rotting corpse.

"You could find your way here even if it is in another world?" she asks and he pauses before answering, "I would form a jutsu suited for the purpose of coming over."

She sighs.

"You think chakra can solve all your problems, don't you? You think it is all powerful." She looks him in the eye and his gaze, calm and unsettling as it is, holds a hint of curiosity.

"Chakra solves many problems." He answers and she asks, "Can it heal a broken heart? Can it make money? Can it bring back the dead or create new things out of nothing?"

He pauses before answering, "The heart heals on its own. Money, yes. Ask Kakuzu. And it can make anything. We can create fire and water without the source near us."

Raven sighs.

She leans back, eyes closed, and rubs the sides of her forehead. She cannot even begin to understand how they are all here. A part of her just wishes they were back in their world. Back to where they cannot get her. Back to where they never found her.

Her thoughts turn back to the first night she came to their world. She remembers the forest, the battle that lead to her first meeting with Hidan and Kakuzu, and how she met Belle and her family.

She can see Yuna's smiling face and her pale features in her mind.

She can see Belle and her son's dark hair and green eyes.

She can see the husband with his brown hair and green eyes.

A part of her misses them. She misses the freshness of their world. She misses the strange sights and the odd happenings.

More than anything, she misses the freedom.

Then she remembers the things she doesn't miss. She doesn't miss the perverts, the crazy ninja trying to kill her, or the unpredictable flying men that leap across rooftops.

Then the last memory arrives.

She can see Hidan smashing through a brick wall. She can see the clouds of debris rolling across the ground and the black tendrils shooting out of it with the intention to impale her. She can see Hidan's scythe swinging through the air. She can hear his maniacal laughter. She can see the blood lusting glint in his eyes.

She can see the scythe reflecting in her eyes. She can feel the air hissing past her cheek as she dunks and the blade misses. The area, what was once black and white in her mind, is slowly bleeding itself to life.

And then, unlike in her memory, the blade buries itself in the wall next to her face. A moment of hesitation rings clearly in her thoughts.

Hadn't she…just…been home?

However, she cannot pursue such thoughts for black tendrils are flying right at her. She dives out of the way and sprints down the street.

"Get back here, you bitch!" she hears Hidan roar in the distance.

Holy shit, what's going on? How did I come back? I didn't feel the pull! Her thoughts clash together as she runs down the street.

She screams when the black tendrils wrap around her waist. Her feet are forced from the ground and she struggles against the hold on her.

"Caught you." She hears him say from behind her and then a blade is pressed to her throat.

"You are dead, woman. No one beats me with a fucking tree." She hears Hidan hiss and his hair, glowing in the light of the moon, gives him the look of a savage angel.

His eyes, a light shade of violet, are an appealing factor.

Only if he had the manners to support such looks.

But, sadly, she fears he does not.

"Dead, am I?" she asks and he grins.

"Damn straight."

She pictures him in her mind. She can see him slowly moving the blade away, pulling it away from her, and that the tendrils slowly unraveling from her body. Even as she pictures it in her mind it happens. A look of confusion slips on Hidan's face and she takes a moment to picture him unmoving until she is far, far away.

She slips out from between the two men. Neither move.

Neither blinks.

Neither breathes.

She steps back a few more steps. She keeps her mind on them, watches them, and hopes that they do not unfreeze. Then she turns her back and runs.

She isn't sure where she plans on going.

She does not know how she came back to this world our why she arrived in the last moment before she returned home. If anything, she was expecting to full that pull.

And Hidan and Kakuzu don't seem to remember being in her world.

And, even as she thinks back to those few hours, they start to slip past her mind.

They slip through her fingers like water.

It brings a sense of uncertainty.

It makes her uneasy.

Sick to her stomach.

And then Pein's words ring in her mind, "Anyplace can be found under the right means."

If Hidan and Kakuzu do not recall than Pein doesn't. Neither does the rest of the men that came with her. Then she realizes why.

She came back to the time right before the transportation. It is like it never happened.

But then…why are memories of her home slipping from her again?

I need to get away from them and stay away. Maybe I can tell someone, the authority here, that there are ninjas trying to kill me, she pauses and then frowns.

It is possible that would work. They would protect her.

But, if Hidan and Kakuzu come after her again, those who protect her will be in danger. They don't have her ability to influence the actions of others. They cannot control them just by visualizing it.

But maybe, just maybe, there are jutsus that do that. Whatever a jutsu is…

She finds the edge of the town and she takes off down the path. The sun is starting to rise and light will be falling on the village.

And two frozen men who are dangerous will be there.

Talk about a surprise.

Hopefully someone ties them up before they unfreeze.

That would turn out bad.

And then they would be after her again…maybe.

She precedes to pull up her hood, the silky material so black that she blends in with her surroundings, and she easily moves down the path. Her boots make no sound as she walks and, as she continues onward, her silky black hair brushes her cheeks. The pink highlights have long since faded from her hair and her eyes, the same smoky color as they have always been, are no longer tinted by eye-contacts.

In every way, she looks like a goth. Again.

She has the long black hair, the dark eyes, the black eyeliner, the black clothing, the black cloak, and, of course, the black boots. Not a spot of color on her – save her pale skin.

She sighs as she walks forward towards an uncertain future. She cannot image what this world holds in store for her but she is aware of one thing.

If she goes home than, most likely, this world will jerk her back. She has to be here.

She doesn't have a choice in that matter.

At all.

So she squares her shoulders and lets her head sink slightly. She decides that, for now, she will explore and, hopefully, she will find out the meaning along the way. Then she will find a way home that won't force her back and she won't take all those people with her.

Yes.

In a situation like this one needs a plan.

And she just found hers.


Another chapter. I was writing and trying to figure out what to do with the story. Well, Raven's back in Naruto World and, oddly enough, Hidan and Kakuzu don't know a thing! And she knows a bit more about them! This spells trouble, doesn't it? However, with trouble, comes more to write.

And how I love to write.

I hope you all enjoyed this.

I'll try to work on another of my stories so that they are all updated.

CideanForever