I know… It's been more than a year again… I still have every intention of finishing this story. But I have set a goal to finish my Kingdom Hearts story before the summer ends, so this isn't exactly my first priority. But I have been revising earlier chapters, and I wanted to get this chapter out, even though it feels a bit short and very in-between. But hey, we've finally reached chapter 20, guys!

Thank you so much for reviewing chapter 19: Silimaira, sakami yukihira, and Tamuril2

Chapter Twenty: Experimentation

I remained on the bench, steaming, for a good five minutes after Koda had left. I knew I didn't actually have much right to be so offended at being blown off. Regardless of our questionable past together, it wasn't like we were friends. But I was offended. I was surprised to note that I was nearly furious.

Who had started this whole mess, after all? I had been perfectly happy, memories suppressed, just going about my life until Koda had appeared and set off my mind like a mine field. And now that I knew there was something missing from my life, I wouldn't be able to just leave it alone. It was his own fault, really.

So Koda didn't want to help me? Fine. I would teach myself. I stood abruptly, determination oozing impressively from my pores… Not that anyone was around to appreciate it.

In truth, I had no idea how to even start. I'd never been very disciplined… I began my journey home with the secret hope that perhaps it wouldn't be that difficult. I had already been in training once, hadn't I? Perhaps it would come back to me. Like muscle memory.

But first things first. I needed to locate the memories that mattered.

…

The day was nearly over, but I still managed to arrive home before Luke. To be honest, I was a little relieved. I was going to tell him everything. Soon. I just wanted a little more time to think it all through. Answer some lingering questions.

I glanced at the bed and decided against going to sleep already. It was too soon. Luke was already suspicious, but at least he wasn't outright asking any questions yet. But he would if I started to act really strange, sleeping my days away.

So I backed myself up against the wall between our bed and the kitchen area. I sat down, pretzel-style, and closed my eyes. The position was a little stiff, but it felt right somehow. I took a few deep breaths, trying to clear my mind.

The lucid dreaming felt like a safe thing to fall back on, but these were my memories here. I wanted to try recalling them consciously before I fell back into the void I seemed to enter whenever I fell asleep these days. I felt like I should at least be able to do that much.

I tried to focus solely on my own breathing. The silence of the apartment was suddenly deafening and distracting. I was no spiritualist, but I envisioned my mind. It was a little cliché, but I projected myself into one of those bland, never-ending hallways. There were doors every few feet, on both sides, all closed.

It was the most bizarre feeling. I felt awake… But at the same time, I felt as if I existed in some space that was separate from my everyday consciousness.

I took a few practice steps. I moved normally, and that movement didn't shatter this separate state of consciousness, so I began to relax and really look around.

I was in a very peculiar place. (Fitting, I supposed, for my mind.) One second everything was white and medical in appearance. The next, the walls appeared to have wood paneling, like they had in the house I'd grown up in back on our Earth. The doors didn't have doorknobs.

I made my way down the hall, passing my hands over the doors as I did so. I didn't see any logical way to open them. But as I made my way up and down the wall, I began to notice that some of the doors felt… firmer than others. I finally stopped in front of one that didn't feel to be putting up much resistance.

I placed both palms against this door, willing it to give. I slowly leaned closer, until my cheek was nearly pressed up against it too. And then suddenly, I fell straight through, as if the door was made of water. There was one second where everything was muted, and then a startling moment of clarity where I fell to my hands and knees... onto grass.

I slowly got back to my feet and looked around. Of all my possible memories… I'd ended up back here.

I was back in that now-familiar clearing. But it certainly looked a little different now. Night had fallen, for one thing. And the clearing was empty. But wait, if no one was here, then how—?

Just then, I heard voices.

"There it is!" My voice. When I was about five, anyway.

I scanned the darkness and finally caught sight of two small figures making their way through the trees. One of them was definitely me. The other… Koda, maybe? No. Even as children, Koda had been significantly taller than me.

"Carly, wait up?" Luke. The boy following after my younger self was definitely my brother.

Luke had been here? My memories may have been a little shaky, but I had a distinct recollection of this place being a secret. My younger self burst into the clearing and began twirling around in giddy little circles. Luke followed along, though at a slower pace. He was observing everything a lot more closely, almost critically. And through these eyes, I supposed the place was a little simpler than the magic I had come to associate it with.

So Luke wasn't impressed. I had to say, I wasn't terribly surprised. Luke hadn't changed all that much since we were children. It wouldn't be the last time he was totally nonplussed by something that had me utterly captivated. But as the seconds passed, he appeared to be growing more and more interested. And I soon saw why.

The clearing was beginning to brighten with an unnatural light. It seemed to freeze at a state that was not quite bright enough to pass for natural sunlight, but still left the clearing aglow.

"Weird…" Younger Luke murmured, but there was an awed quality to his voice that Younger Me was positively feeding off of.

But my gloating stopped very abruptly a second later as the clearing was suddenly properly illuminated. Younger Luke continued to gaze around in childish wonder, but Younger Me had frozen in place. And a second later, our father appeared atop the rock that stood between us.

I'd seen it before, but I still had yet to receive an explanation for his ability to just appear out of thin air, so it gave me pause yet again. Younger Luke's eyes were comically wide. Dad smiled briefly down at him before turning to Younger Me.

"Carly…" He drew out my name in clear admonishment. "Do you remember the talk we had about secrets?"

Today, I would have been sheepish, but my younger self was staring down our father with petulant defiance. Still, she didn't say a word as Dad beckoned Luke over. The younger version of my brother obeyed, trusting and unsuspecting.

I watched as our father slowly brought a hand down to cover Luke's face. There weren't any flashy magic spells or anything, but Luke collapsed a second later. Dad caught him easily, and Younger Me continued to appear unsurprised by any of this.

Dad gave my younger self a pointed look. He didn't say anything, but I understood that Luke would not remember this little outing when he woke up. Still looking a little sullen, my younger self followed obediently after him. The clearing continued to grow dimmer as they walked further from the center. I was aware, at this point, that I had a choice here. I could follow them, and most likely continue the memory, but I was honestly starting to feel a little overwhelmed. So I remained where I was and waited as everything slowly went black.

…

I returned to the land of the properly conscious just as slowly. The darkness, which had enveloped me so gently, I now had to fight to disperse. My eyes remained shut, but clarity returned to me in stages. At last, I felt something poke me tentatively in my cheek, and I opened my eyes to see Luke's face just inches away from mine.

I jumped, pitching forward on reflex. Our foreheads smacked together before Luke could jump out of the way. I fell out of my stance against the wall, and Luke landed on his butt on the floor, one hand brought up to the red mark on his forehead.

"Ow… Jeez, Carly… What are you doing in here? Are you meditating?"

"Uh, kinda? It's a long, weird story…"

Luckily, Luke left it at that, and we both got up off the floor. I glanced at the window to see that the sun had already set. I'd really have to get a handle on this time lapse thing whenever I went fishing for memories.

Today's excursion had left me confused and not terribly informed. It had been quite a short memory, now that I stepped back to look at it, and it reinforced a lot of the questions I had. That clearing had become more of a mystery than ever. It didn't seem to adhere to the regular laws of nature. And my dad… What exactly was he capable of? And in turn, what was I capable of?

Review please!

I don't own Naruto.

Like I said, my Kingdom Hearts story is my top priority right now, but hopefully, you'll see another update to this soon.