11

Arrival

Procedural - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Though my eyes are open I can't think of why; my heart is pounding, mind empty. I strain into the utter darkness, breathing rate beginning to steady. Through the darkness my other senses begin to kick in. Firstly, touch. And that means pain. The pain has an unpleasant burning to it, like a branding iron around my waist. I've often prized myself in ignoring pain and just rocking on regardless, but that just isn't possible right now. I can't tell if I'm screaming or not, I still can't see anything, regardless of my eyes being opened.

"...are..." I began to hear ragged words, but my hazy mind couldn't put them together to form a sentence. "Are...y..u...kay?" I pleaded for the voice to speak up louder, maybe they could take away the fiery pain, burning around my waist like boiling water.

"Are you okay?!" It was as if a switch had been flicked inside my head, suddenly I could see and hear everything. The sudden assaulting light only made me squeeze my eyes shut again, welcoming the cool darkness. I groaned audibly, raising a numb hand to my bloodied side.

"Please help... me..." I whispered, after feeling just how much blood had soaked through my shirt.

"D-Don't worry! I'll get the rest of my team, just hang on!"

A team? Slowly, I opened my eyes just a sliver, and saw a young girl with long pink hair bounding into the tree line. The pain throbbed again and I fell back into darkness. What an odd hair color.

Itachi awoke like he had only blinked.

No sleepiness, no slow warming up.

Within seconds of remembering what had happened he was on his feet, eyes wide, dreams not just forgotten but erased. He began drinking in the feedback of all his senses. Aside from his own noisy breath there is nothing to be heard and the woods are simply too dark to see much at all. Black trunks against an almost black backdrop doesn't make for much too see and his imagination begins to supply horrors to fill the void.

After a minute or two the sound of running water permeates the inky blanket. He's near a brook. A brook would hide his scent, cover tracks. He had to get moving, he had to find that stupid girl. Right now stupid was the best way to describe her. Completely stupid. He had to have perfect concentration whilst performing the Jutsu, but of course she had managed to distract him. She managed to distract him and get pulled into Kamui.

Itachi paused for a moment and took a deep breath. Getting angry wouldn't solve anything.

Calm, cool, detached.

He had to scout where he was... 'when' he was. Since she had distracted him he wasn't sure where, or when, they ended up. He would do that first and then find her before things got messy.

He hoped she hadn't been picked up by Orochimaru, the Akatsuki, or even any main Villages. She held such sensitive information, and he knew she didn't know any better then to spill all of her secrets. He had to find her before any of that happened. Itachi knew a girl like her wouldn't last even a week alone.

He arrived at the small brook a few minutes later. The trees had cleared, allowing the full moon to provide light. Itachi drank some handfuls of the ice cold water, then began to set up a fire pit.

It looked like he was in The Fire, considering the foliage. He was thankful that he had been to almost every country, rendering them easily identifiable. The Iorn and Snow, were just that, snowy. The Earth is rocky and desolate, while The Wind had harsh deserts. Itachi took a moment to appreciate that he landed in one of the easier regions. He could survive in a place like The Wind, but with such little water he wondered for how long.

The brook he set up his camp next too had quite a few trout, and he had managed to catch three of them. Now he leaned back against a tree, watching the fire that he made lick at their red bellies turning them dark brown.

It was only now he found himself yearning for Maria's home cooking... and maybe even the scarf she had made him. A shiver rose up his back. It got cold in the night, and his little fire only provided so much heat. He wondered how cold Maria was, assuming she was still alive.

"I'm sorry miss... um..."

"Maria!" I slammed my fist back down onto the scratchy hospital bed, "I told you my name is Maria!" I tried to swing my legs over the side of the bed, but found that my ankles had been cuffed to the bed posts. A growl of anger rose in my throat. "Where is he! Where am I?" I shouted, directing my question to the oddly dressed white haired man sitting in front of me. He held a lazy expression, with a mask partially covering his face.

"I'm not sure who 'he' is, Ms. Maria." He leaned forward in his chair, resting his chin in his palm, staring at me with amused eyes. "If you keep struggling you may open your wounds again."

Reluctantly I stopped struggling against my bonds. "I should have listened to the news... then I wouldn't be here. Wherever this is..." I muttered, feeling the dull pain in my sides rising. "Why the hell am I cuffed?"

"It's just precautionary measures... after all we did find you passed out in the forest with some pretty significant injuries." I snorted at his response, even though it did make sense. "Now then, I have some questions for you."

"Yeah, sure..." I grumbled, looking out the window. My room was pretty high up, and was overlooking a old-timey looking town. A deep fear in my stomach had been present ever since I woke up, and it was only growing. I had no idea where I was. But I had a feeling I wasn't in Canada anymore. I heard the man shuffling around some things and from the corner of my eyes I watched him take out a small notebook and pen. "Are you... like a detective or something?" I asked.

"I'm a Shinobi, couldn't you tell from my headband?" He raised his eyes from his booklet, a questioning glance shooting my way.

"Your... headband?" I looked to his forehead and noticed a piece of metal covering his forehead with an odd symbol. "It looks like a snail." I whispered, eyeing it with confusion. It looked so familiar.

"A... snail." He whispered back, jotting it down. "Miss do you have any idea where we are? Do you know what Konoha is?"

I shook my head and felt a lump forming in my throat. I tried to swallow it back. "I don't even know what's going on. I was looking for him in the forest behind my house, a-and, then I was attacked by a Cougar... then he looked at me... and suddenly everything got all swirly and I wake up to a girl with pink hair... then you!" My voice rose slightly, and I could feel panic beginning to burn in my stomach. What the hell was going on.

"Everything got... swirly?" He asked, raising an eyebrow to me. "Could you describe that a little... more detailed? And the man you were with, who was he?"

"I don't know how to describe it. All I know is that a Cougar latched onto my back, then everything got swirly!" I took a deep breath to try and slow my racing heart. "...and I don't know who 'he' is. He never told me his name."

More notes were jotted down. "Can you give me a description of him?"

I tilted my head back to gaze at the dull yellow ceiling, conjuring his face up in my mind. "He has... long black hair, and black eyes." I shook my head slightly to get rid of the jerks face. "Listen, I have no idea what's going on here. I'm confused and, honestly, really scared."

"I understand that Miss." He snapped his notebook shut then rose from the chair, placing a hand inside his pocket. "I'll leave you to rest now. I appreciate your cooperation." A lazy and unconvincing smile spread across his face and he left with a backwards wave.

I threw my head on the pillow and shook my head back and forth trying to clear my mind of things that wouldn't go away. That guy was no help whatsoever. When I woke up to him he didn't even bother answering my questions. Well he did, but I didn't understand any of them. I was in 'Konoha', and he was a 'Shinobi'. They were also worried about my 'Chakra Levels'.

Honestly, I was beginning to think this was all some sort of elaborate prank. However the dull pain in my sides made that questionable. I raised my hand and placed it over the bandages on my hips and waist. Even through the gauze my skin was hot. More tears threatened to spill but I quickly wiped them away. I had done enough crying.

He said I had been asleep for five days straight. This morning I woke up to a face full of sunshine, due to the inconveniently placed windows.

The square patch of light had fallen just below my breasts now, but I still grew hot at the thought of tomorrows 'face full of sun' wake up call. The architectures made up for its placement with the view though. From the window, it's like looking down at the world. You can see the trees, the flowers, the houses and the many busy people going on about the day. Up here it's like standing on a giants back exploring the world with awe. A mysterious world. If I wanted to get answers I knew who I'd have to find. I clutched the scratchy blankets in my hand and felt my eyebrows scrunch up. I would find him even if he didn't want to find me.

Itachi concluded a few things things from his five day journey.

One; he was definitely in his own world. And two; he was in the past.

How did he know that exactly? Well, the first one wasn't hard to figure out once he got to a village. The second one was also easily found once in civilization. The village he was staying in was a trading port, he knew it would be the best place since people came and went, there was always a constant flow.

He had no money at first, but on the third day he had picked up a couple of 'black-listed' missions, giving him enough money to take a week to figure out his next moves.

The bag of fresh food from the market swung in his hand as he climbed the graffiti ridden stairs. The hotel was one of those seedy places men with beer guts went to bang other men's wives with promises they couldn't afford to keep. Or the hooker's brought their john's there and paid for rooms by the hour. Weeds grew through the cracks in the concrete path and the litter from cheap take-out meals were strewn across it. There were external wooden stairs that lead to a second floor, a second row of doors, that looked like the building inspector was either bribed to pass it or drunk on the job. There were at least two screaming matches going on in separate rooms. It was a disgusting place, but it was cheap.

Once inside the room Itachi had his routine. Stop for five whole minutes and listen. Close the curtains. Check the bedside cabinets and bathrooms for any wires or other listening devices. Then go through closets and drawers.

Thankfully this grueling process didn't take too long, considering the room was about the size of three cars put together. Itachi knew he couldn't take any shortcuts. Good Shinobi get caught when they're sloppy and overconfident. He couldn't afford to get caught.

Once that process was over he would sit down at the small beside table and take out his notebook. There he kept all of his ideas and plans, and of course it was set with a Jutsu to set it a-flame if anyone other then him touched it. He began flipping through the pages, refreshing his memory on what he had already written down.

Sasuke would be about 12 now, and he knew the Chūnin exams hadn't started yet. Which meant that Sasuke hadn't been given that retched curse mark. To insure Sasuke's safety, Orochimaru would have to be killed. Itachi sighed and rested his head in his hands.

Sasuke and Maria. Those were his two priorities right now.

There was another thing that had been bothering him along with them; the fact that he was in the past. If he changed anything now, how would that affect the future? And, was his past self still here? Could there be two of him existing right now? If there was, should he kill his past self or would that kill the 'future' him as he existed now? Did it change anything that he visited a different dimension?

For hours Itachi sat silent at the table, writing and scratching out thoughts and ideas, letting his mind wander with possibilities.

More often then not he found his mind wandering back to her spring time eyes, and finally he dropped his pen and gave up.

She was probably dead. More then likely.

His head fell backwards as he rolled the kinks out of his neck. The ceiling's dull grey paint was flaking, showing its moldy concrete underneath. He missed the smell of wood, and the smell of her garden when it rained. He might have even missed her, but it wasn't like he would ever admit it to himself.

"I should forget about her." He whispered to himself, as if saying it out loud would somehow make him truely believe it. He'd found a place to feel at home, but he had distanced himself from it.

"Maybe..." Before Itachi finished the sentence he caught himself. There was no point in wishing he hadn't of left now.