Marie wakes up surrounded by shoji imprinted with deer. She sits up in a rush and has to take a pause to keep her head from spinning.
She can faintly hear yelling from somewhere.
"I can't believe you!" The yelling precedes the sound of clanking metal in water. Whoever was arguing was probably doing the dishes.
As she looks around she finds that she's not alone.
A wide-eyed baby-faced Nara Shikamaru looks back at her from the slit between the door and the wall.
After a moment he slides open the door and slips inside the room, sliding the door closed behind him.
He walks up to her futon and kneels down, not minding her white-knuckled grip on the duvet.
He sighs. "Mama has been yelling at papa since he came here with you."
She releases the duvet and lowers her head.
"Well? Are you going to say anything?"
She winces but keeps quiet.
He mutters, "troublesome…" She can hear him scratch his head. "What's your name then? I heard papa call you Naruto, but I want to make sure. Is your name Naruto?"
Marie bites her lip. If this is so troublesome, then why are you asking me these questions? She's not stupid, she knows it's gotten quiet, but she also knows that she's not in a holding cell yet. She shakes her head.
"So you can hear me. Alright. What's your name then? Or, do you even have one?"
She takes a shuddering breath and lets it out. She licks her lips and tries to speak. Wincing as her voice initially cracks, she tries again. "My name is Marie Cruz, or Cruz Marie. Cruz is my family name. Where I'm from, we usually say our given names first."
She lifts her head and sees Shikamaru mouth her name. "Kuruuzu Marii?"
She's sure her smile looks more like a grimace, she nods. Close enough. "Yeah, but I guess it's not important now."
He leans back on his palms. "That sounds like a girl's name."
Her shoulders begin to shake, but a quick grip on the duvet once again puts a stop to it. "You'd think so, huh?"
She hears a tiny grunt and looks up to find herself face to face with a pouting Shikamaru. He stands up and begins to pace throughout the room. "So Marii, how old are you?"
She hesitates. This is where things can get dangerous, but no use in lying. "I'm 26-years-old." She pretends she doesn't see the boy almost trip over his own feet.
Shikamaru faux-casually sits back down and hums in reply before continuing his questioning. "You're not from here, huh?"
"I'm not from any the elemental nations or the surrounding lands, no. I come from a city, oceans away-" Kind of if I think of this place as Japan… "-where I was a regular civilian. At least I was before I woke up here in the hospital looking like this."
He pauses. "Do you know what happened to the real Naruto?"
Another shake of her head, this time she keeps quiet… at least until she starts to hear footsteps coming toward them. "I'm just a librarian and I don't know how or why I'm here." She hears the footsteps stop just outside the door, and at that point she knows she doesn't have much else to lose. "I… I was supposed to die." She feels Shikamaru stiffen next to her but swallows down the guilt of exposing him to her situation. "I went to sleep and was supposed to die, but instead I woke up in the hospital here in Konohagakure."
The door slides open and she makes eye contact with Shikaku.
"I don't know why I'm here, and I don't know what I should do. That's why I sought you out, I need guidance from an objective standpoint. As for how I got the information, I will tell you everything, just please help me."
There's a pause, and then Shikaku turns toward his son. "Shikamaru, go help your mother."
Shikamaru gets up and turns toward his father, his large doe-eyed expression morphing into a more familiar half-lidded gaze. "Sure thing, old man."
Marie wants to furrow her brow at him when he confirms his con, but she refrains.
As he reaches the door, his looks back at Marie. He hesitates. "My dad can help you, I'll see you later Marii."
Once the door slides closed, Shikaku takes his son's previous position and with crossed arms her gives Marie a stern glare, thankfully free of killing intent. "Talk."
She holds back the urge to smile and instead pushes back the duvet and sits with her legs crossed on the futon. "What do you want to know?"
Kakashi finds himself with a rare night off. Rather than locking himself in his apartment, accompanied by the second volume of Icha Icha Paradise, he decides to spend his night at a bar.
He's getting through his third lemon sour when he hears the telltale holler of his supposed rival.
"Kakashi, my greatest rival! I'm surprised to find you at such an establishment!"
Kakashi reaches a hand up to his temple, too tired to play up his usual act. "Gai, I'd say it's great to see you but I'd be lying."
Gai takes the comment with a grain of salt, but lowers his volume. "We're still too young to drink, Kakashi."
Kakashi snorts. "Do you think that with my obvious position that anyone will actually say no?" He lifts up his drink to prove his point.
Gai lifts a hand to ruffle his hair as he sighs at his antics. Without a word he sits next to Kakashi and lifts a hand to signal the bartender who is quick to place his usual umeshu tonic in front of him. After downing half of his drink he turns to the silver-haired shinobi. "Troubles with your charge?"
Kakashi is quiet for a moment. "He's not the same."
"Trauma affects everyone differently."
Kakashi wants to pull at his hair, he feels he's having the same conversation with Gai that he did with Hiruzen. "Not to the point of fundamentally changing someone's character."
Gai watches him, can tell that this is really bothering him. "Retrograde amnesia perhaps?"
At least his bowl cut-haired friend is trying for his sake. "I thought that may have been the case, but it doesn't feel right."
"You know, I met him the other day…" Kakashi snaps his head toward him but Gai continues. "I can sort of see what you mean. He carried himself like a little differently than what I remember seeing of him. He almost seemed to second-guess his movements." He's tempted to keep this part to himself, but it would be most unyouthful after baiting his friend. "He also, he seemed to know who I was but was pretending otherwise. Ah, but that would be strange if it were true."
Gai turns in time to see Kakashi finish off his lemon sour and place his face in his hands. ''I don't know anymore." For a moment Kakashi feels himself being crushed beneath his failures. "Did you know? I was the one who found him. I came in right as he lost consciousness and I was the one to rush him to the hospital. I even stayed in the room when they had to perform surgery. I've been following his progress up to now and I can't pinpoint when he changed, if there was any jutsu at play. It's just- one moment he was Naruto and the next he woke up and he wasn't. Gai, I don't-!"
Gai stands up and places a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go."
He lifts his hands, he wants to yell, he wants to scream, but one look at his friend leaves the words dying in his throat. He's tired. Without a word he gets up and follows Gai out of the bar.
Together they make their way to the nearest training ground.