Into The Future

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Chapter Seven
The Ghosts of Time

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About a week passed with no luck in finding the jutsu, yet they still had a few more leaders to respond.

Taylor was irritated. They did everything they could possibly do to find the jutsu, which is just the sending letters to the other leaders, but with no such luck. Yeah, they still have a few more leaders to wait on, but she figured they would've responded by now. She felt a sense of irritation because she wanted to help Dalzen but they had no idea where the scroll was.

She picked a strawberry from her little garden and ate it, then looking out at the field. I hope Dalzen is okay, she thought.

Of course he's okay! Who wouldn't be okay when they're out of time? Dalzen wondered how could Taylor have dealt with being out of time when she was in his time. Well, she didn't really, but she was a more emotional person than he was. And Dalzen was doing everything he could from becoming emotional again. It was awkward the first time, and would be awkward still if he did it again.

Dalzen did his best to act like everything was okay. That it was his time. But...it's hard to forget you're in the future when you're living with your former student and his family, and the place you worked at has about 50 years worth of upgrades (including a small science department, whoever's idea that was is a pretty bad one according to Dalzen) and also...you're a grandfather.

Pretty hard to forget you're in the future for those reasons, wouldn't it?

Sakumo asked Dalzen to get Taylor inside so he did, but when he went outside, he saw a ghost in the fields and it wasn't Taylor or Kakashi. From the way he saw the ghost...it almost looked like the elder Hatake in his time. Could that have been...Coushander?

Taylor saw the ghost too. She studied it and noted that the ghost had a white robe on and had long, silver hair tied back. That couldn't have been Sakumo, he was in the kitchen cooking and he never used clones to work in the fields and it sure as heck couldn't have been Kakashi because he had short hair. The ghost turned around and Taylor got a better look of the person.

"Coushander...?" she whispered.

Dalzen looked at the girl, who was staring at the fields. Then, she sensed Dalzen and she turned her head.

"You saw him too?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah...I think so."

Taylor stood up and took her gloves off, "I swear, I keep seeing Coushander. I think I've even seen Kano and little Jiraiya a few times."

"Really?" Dalzen watched as she headed into the shed to put up her gloves.

Taylor nodded, coming back out and picked up the bowl of strawberries.

"You need me for something?" she asked.

"...Yeah," Dalzen nodded. "Sakumo wants you inside now...he's done cooking supper."

"Oh," Taylor smiled. "Thanks."

She went up the stairs and brushed past Dalzen, who was still watching the ghost in the fields. When Taylor went inside, Dalzen tried to catch Coushander's attention.

"Coushander!" he exclaimed.

The ghost kept working, not having heard his voice. Dalzen looked down awkwardly and wondered why Coushander couldn't hear him.

"Dalzen, aren't you coming?" Taylor asked, stepping back outside to look at him.

Startled out of his thoughts, the tall man looked at her.

"Yeah...sorry..." he followed her back inside.

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Later that night, Taylor saw the ghost again, but this time heading into her father's room. She was drying her ear in the bathroom with the door half-open when she saw him.

"Coushander?"

He didn't hear her. Instead, he continued forward towards her father's room. Curiosity bit at the child and Taylor put the towel down and followed him into Kakashi's room.

"Coushander," she said again. "Can you hear me? Coushander?"

Still, he did not respond. But, he did happen to turn his head and glance at her and he looked at her in absolute surprise. He muttered something, but Taylor didn't hear it.

"Huh?" she looked at him. "Can you hear me?"

Coushander raised an eyebrow at her, then tried talking again.

"Taylor?" She made no response. "Huh? ...Can you hear me?"

No...she can't.

"I can't read lips," she groaned, looking around. "Damn! What is going on?"

Suddenly, Coushander looked down and smiled a bit. Taylor looked at his face and tried to figure out what he was looking at.

"What?" Taylor asked.

Coushander didn't hear her but her face said the same thing she was saying.

"Jiraiya," he pointed at the little kid, trying to grab her pants' leg.

"Huh?" Taylor looked down to her side. Attempting to grab her pants leg was a toddler with messy, pure white hair and red marks on either cheek, just under his eye. He had warm grey eyes, like Coushander did. She wondered who it was.

"Daddy?" The toddler mistook Taylor for Coushander, and he didn't see the man himself in front of her.

The elder looked at the little boy.

"Jiraiya, that's not me. I'm right here," he said. Taylor had a bad feeling as to who it was.

"J-Jiraiya..." she tensed up. "Oh my goddess...what is going on?"

Coushander brought Jiraiya to his side and Taylor shuddered.

"I need to find Grandpa..." she turned around and dashed out, and went out into the backyard, and Coushander and Jiraiya watched.

"T-Taylor!" Coushander watched her, then he looked down at his son.

"Grandpa!" Taylor ran out into the wheat. "Grandpa, I saw Coushander and Jiraiya! Something's wrong!"

Sakumo turned around, surprised.

"What?!"

"In Daddy's room...Coushander and Jiraiya..." she panted. "I don't know what to do...They can't hear me, though..."

"You said...Jiraiya and my dad?

"When Jiraiya was a toddler..." Taylor interjected.

"What?"

Taylor groaned and grabbed her grandfather's hand and dragged him into the house.

"T-Taylor! What are you —"

"I'm gonna show you!" she exclaimed, heading into her father's room.

They went inside, only to not see Coushander and Jiraiya.

"Taylor?" Sakumo looked at his granddaughter questioningly.

"But...they were right there in front of his bed!" she exclaimed.

"Taylor, are you okay?" Sakumo asked. "Because perhaps you were imagining it."

"I wasn't imagining it! How can I imagine Jiraiya as a toddler? I've only known him as an adult!" Taylor exclaimed. "I don't know what he looked like back then!"

"You're an artist," Sakumo pointed out.

"That's beside the point, Grandpa!"

"Taylor, calm down. You were hallucinating. I'm not surprised, you did hit your head the other day."

"Grandpa, I know that I wasn't hallucinating!" she exclaimed. "Please believe me...you know I would never lie to you..."

"I didn't see them..." Sakumo started cautiously. "I'm sorry —"

"I'm not going crazy!" she cried. "It wasn't my imagination!"

"Taylor..."

Angrily, Taylor threw her arms up in the air.

"Why did I even bother?" she asked, storming out of the room.

"Tayl —" Too late, Sakumo. She's gone. "Goddamnit."

After a few minutes of thinking, the elder Hatake walked out and finished what he was doing. Dalzen looked up from his book (more like the book Taylor gladly lended him) to watch Sakumo, watching him head out the backdoor. What just happened? He completely missed what just happened. He heard Taylor run into her room, and just watched Sakumo slowly make his way back to the wheat fields he was dragged away from.

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The next morning, Dalzen went with Taylor to Intel. She was humming some random tune and Dalzen was trying to ignore it as best as he could.

"You are so much like your great-granduncle. You and your crazy knack for humming or singing..." He shook his head. "Drives me bonkers."

Taylor grinned.

"You were already bonkers weren't you?"

"That is completely beside the point."

They had gotten to the village when all of a sudden, they saw the village was crowded with ghosts walking around. Dalzen even saw an old friend dash by.

"Whoa!" he jumped back, surprised. "Takato?"

"Huh?" Taylor looked at the light-brown haired man.

Dalzen was quite shocked to see his old friend. The man stopped and turned his head and saw Dalzen. He looked at him, then at Taylor and questioned who she was. He spoke, but neither one of them heard him.

"What is going on?" Dalzen asked Taylor.

"I don't know," Taylor said. "Whatever it is, it ain't good."

"No it isn't," Dalzen agreed.

Takato tried to understand what was happening, and he knew Dalzen was away on the mission. Well...was. He remembered Nidaime asking if he'd seen Dalzen around. No, Takato had answered. He hadn't seen Dalzen since the night of his birthday party. What was he doing back in the village? And why in the world was he wearing the strange outfit? Takato could never forget those cold eyes, and he might have been the only person who could quickly see through his disguise. At least, for now. Takato shook his head as he tried to figure out Dalzen's insane outfit. He had to tell Nidai that Dalzen was back! And he was with a strange girl that oddly resembled Coushander and...Saru.

"Although...I might be able to do some research on this...let's hurry," Taylor said.

"Right," Dalzen followed her.

Takato dashed off in the opposite direction to find the Hokage. Nidai needed to know about this.

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Sakumo walked out of his room, only to bump right into Coushander. Well, they didn't really feel it but they noticed the other was there. Both men looked at each other.

"Dad?" Sakumo wondered.

"Sakumotsu?" Coushander looked at his son.

Sakumo gasped, "Taylor wasn't hallucinating last night...she was dead serious."

"Sakumo, can you hear me?" Coushander asked.

Sakumo sighed.

"But I can't hear him," he said. "I know he's talking but I can't hear him..."

"Damn...what is going on?" Coushander wondered.

Sakumo was thinking the same thing.

"Something is not right..." they both said out loud, staring into each other's dark but warm grey eyes.

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Dalzen approached Taylor, bringing her a cup of tea.

"Why're making me get you tea?" he grumbled.

"I might be onto something..." she said. "I can't get up unless I seriously have to."

He stared at the silver-haired girl and shook his head, handing her the drink. "What do you have?"

"Bad news, all in all," she said, taking a gulp out of her tea. She continued right after she wiped her mouth with her arm. "From what I've gathered...your time is trying to combine with my time..."

Dalzen raised an eyebrow.

"Combining? W-What does that mean?" he wondered.

"Means exactly what it sounds like," Taylor looked at him, her blue eyes were dark with dread. "Dalzen, it's why we saw Takato and why I saw Coushander and Jiraiya."

"You don't even know who Takato is," Dalzen grumbled. "How bad is it?"

"Uhmm..." Taylor looked down at her notes. "When we can hear them it'll be pretty bad but for right now...we're on the safe side...I think."

"You think?" Dalzen looked at her seriously. "Are you certain or uncertain?"

"Uncertain," Taylor admitted. "I'm pretty uncertain as to how bad it is. Nothing bad has actually happened but that prolly doesn't mean anything. Now when my dad comes home covered in bruises with a twisted ankle, then we have to worry."

She grinned at Dalzen's expression of, "Really?!"

"Haha, I am kidding," she giggled. "Naw, how we can tell shit is getting real is when we can physically hear and speak to them. That, I'm serious about."

"What happens when that happens?"

Taylor didn't want to answer that question. Dalzen watched the color drain from her face as she tried to hold back the information and that had Dalzen pretty concerned. Especially since he knew that Taylor was expressing concern. He was scared to ask what it was again, but he asked anyway.

"What?" Dalzen wondered. "You look pretty pale. C'mon. What is it?"

"Catastrophe," she answered hesitantly, looking at him. "Once the past and the present merge...we can kiss our asses goodbye because it would cause such an imbalance that..." she looked down and worded the rest of the sentence carefully. "Something catastrophic will happen...whatever it is...it's up to the gods."

Dalzen never looked so shocked and there was even a hint of fear in his grey eyes. He had no words to say, he couldn't find them.

"Yeah," Taylor agreed with his expression.

"W-What can we do?" he asked with a tone of caution in his voice.

"Well, we can get you back to your time and patch up whatever holes in the fabric of space and time have been created from these time jutsus," Taylor explained. "Unfortunately, we still do not have that jutsu to get you back. We're still waiting to hear from Iwa and a few other villages."

She paused, "...if there's even a remote chance that the other kage even have a time jutsu. I'm starting to have my doubts."

Dalzen looked down. He himself was starting to doubt there being another scroll with the jutsu, or a similar one. They sat in silence, not doing anything. Taylor didn't go back to doing research. Instead, she sat and sulked in the chair. Dalzen stood over her, not knowing what to do.

It wasn't long before Ibiki found his way to them.

"Good afternoon, Ojiisan," he greeted, looking at Taylor. "Afternoon, Miss Taylor."

"Afternoon..." they both muttered incomprehensibly.

Ibiki raised an eyebrow.

"You two look pretty melancholy," he noted. "What's up?"

"It's complicated," Taylor said.

"Am I allowed to know?"

"I don't see why not," Dalzen looked at Taylor.

"Yeah...alright..." Taylor sighed heavily and explained the situation with the ghosts to the youngest Morino. He listened intently, while his grandfather was holding his head in irritation.

By the time she was finished speaking, Dalzen could feel how nervous he was and Ibiki was pretty worried himself.

He blinked in disbelief, "So this is just the beginning of the apocalypse?"

"Yes," Taylor confirmed.

"Damn..." he muttered with disbelief.

"You know, I love doomsday stories...but as stories, not real life. This...is pretty scary. And you know something is scary when..." She pointed at Dalzen. "When Dalzen himself is pretty scared, or what passes as scared for him."

"Yeah really," he agreed.

Dalzen brushed his bangs back with his hand and allowed them to fall back into place. Then, he sighed heavily. Taylor clutched her notebook on her lap, looking pretty worried.

"I'm gonna tell Tsunade about this," she said, standing up.

"I'll come with," Dalzen offered.

"I have to stay here. Sorry..." Ibiki said. "Interrogations."

"That's fine..." Taylor walked away and Dalzen went with her as she headed out of Intel to go to the Hokage.

And both of them were absolutely silent on the walk but the air between them was filled with dread.

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Ichida Takato found Nidaime and tried to get his attention.

"Mr. Hokage!" he exclaimed. "Mr. Hokage!"

The hokage turned his head to look at Takato.

"Yes, Mr. Ichida?"

"I saw Dalzen!" he answered. "I saw Dalzen with a strange girl...she looked like Coushander a bit with her hair and a bit like Saru in the face, minus the red marks, but she had a shirt with red spiral patches on the sleeves and she wore a vest like what Saru wore."

"A girl...that looks like Coushander and Saru?" the second hokage questioned.

"Yeah." Takato nodded. "I tried talking to Dalzen, but he couldn't hear me. I think he tried to talk to me but I didn't hear him. And then he and the girl started talked and they dashed off, I guess towards the Intel Ward."

Nidai's eyes widened.

"Did she have blue eyes?"

"Y-Yeah. Unnaturally ice-blue too," Takato nodded.

"Dear Buddha!" the hokage gasped. "That must be why Dalzen hasn't been found."

Takato furrowed his eyebrows, "Sir?"

"Sorry...that girl you were talking about? That was Coushander's great-granddaughter."

"Great...Granddaughter?" Takato was startled.

"She's from the future. She was here three years ago and she stayed with Coushander and Dalzen trained her in the absence of her team leader," Nidaime sighed. "As to why he was with the girl...he might be trapped in her time. He...he must've fallen into a trap and got sent into the future."

"That's...odd..." Takato stated.

"It might as well be," Nidaime said. "This is a relatively new jutsu, and it's been spread around to the other villages like crazy. One village reported their time-jutsu scroll was stolen, and I fear it was those two idiot kids who have Uchiha blood who have been getting themselves into so much trouble with the law."

Takato found himself rather speechless and Nidaime sighed.

"I don't know if there is much we can do. All I can hope for is Taylor to bring back Dalzen...because I haven't finished the jutsu."

"Man..." Takato was still shocked about the girl being related to Coushander.

"Mr. Ichida, I want you to watch your step," Nidaime warned. "I want you to make sure you do not get trapped in her time. There's something going on and I don't want things to get worse."

"Yes sir," Takato nodded.

"Good. You are dismissed now."

"Yes sir," Takato bowed and left.

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