I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.
- o 0 o -
Neji
"Where are we and what happened to our looks?" Tenten asks now that they finish killing a pack of winter wolves. He's a bit busy skinning the lot while Lee is busy getting use to his new body structure.
"We're on a world that the game mat represents. As for our new looks, we have been transformed into our characters." He answers after finishing, clumsily skinning a wolf.
"Yosh! My Youthful Flames continue to burn even now!" Lee proclaims and he glances over at the scaly monk. He feels highly relieved to note that there isn't a flame burning about the Dragonborn's frame.
"So I'm now a Half-Elf and Lee's a Dragonborn?" Tenten says and he nods.
"I'm a Silver Half-Dragon. Now if you wouldn't mind, could we finish skinning these wolves? We could get money for their skins when we visit a village or wandering merchant." He says as he glances at the Ranger and then at the Monk.
"What class did you pick?" Tenten asks as she moves to help him skin the other five dead wolves.
"I'll scout around!" Lee declares and he watches as Lee tries to head off at a high speed. He's not that surprised that Lee didn't dash off at his usual speed.
"I choice to be a Wizard. In time, I might be able to learn some healing spells." He answers Tenten's question once Lee is out of sight and he moves to skin another wolf.
"Well, I take it that the green orb is a spell?" Tenten asks him and he nods, which causes her to return to skinning one of the wolves.
Well, at least Naruto's in the same situation as I am. He tells himself as he continues to slowly cut at the underlay of muscle under the skin.
)-o-(
Hinata
"Look at this! This copper ring seems to have a serpent around the gem." Kiba says and she nods while she finishes mending a looted dagger from one of the eight bandits they had just killed.
Akamaru yawns while Shino finishes going through the food that the bandits had been carrying. "I think we have more then enough food for now. Should we continue on?" Shino asks.
"Sounds good to me, right Akamaru?" Kiba says once he slips the ring onto a finger. The blink dog woofs an agreement before standing up.
She picks up her staff before standing. "Which direction should we head in?" She asks the Hound Archon and the Gnome.
"Let's try north since it'll be the easiest direction to figure out." Shino says with Kiba shrugging, clearly not caring about which direction to head in.
"Then we might want to go right away, remember what happened with the Goblins when we first played the game? I rather not deal with large numbers swarming us." She says as she moves to check one of the closer trees in hopes of finding the signs that they need to figured out which way is north.
)-o-(
Gaara
He couldn't help but be a bit peeved at the fact that the sand of the sandy beach didn't move to crush these strange tangled things that were somehow causing him injury.
"What's up with this beak? It's like someone crossed me with a crow or raven!" His eldest sibling Temari proclaims angrily as she looks at her reflection in the ocean.
"I don't know about you, but I'm fairly happy with what I am." Kankuro says and he turns his head just in time to watch his brother and team-mate transform from his human form into a body of a humanoid white tiger with backward hands.
"Like to see how you'd like to be whatever it is that I am!" Temari states and within seconds, Kankuro's form shift shapes into a mirror image of Temari for a few seconds before returning to his human form.
He stares at the pair and for the first time in his life, he found himself not feeling an overwhelming need to kill them. Only a blink displays his surprise at this development before he, then, tries to contact his inner demon.
"I can't hear him." He murmurs out loud in surprise and disbelief. Not caring that his older siblings were not looking very stunned by his announcement.
"It's like he was never there. He and. . . Mother." He adds softly. He finds it kind of surreal that for the first time in his life, there isn't another voice chatting in his mind. He suddenly felt very much alone, more so then he had been back when he was at home.
After a time, Temari says, "Well, standing here isn't going to help us complete this test. We better pick a direction and travel in it."
Kankuro sighs and follows after Temari picks a direction, south-west. A few seconds later, he follows them since he rather not be alone in this strange world where his inner demon seems to be but a dream.
)-o-(
Naruto
"There's their camp." He muses softly, dawn not too far off. During the rest of the previous day and evening, they've fought off more Halflings and beasts, looting them as best as they could.
Or best as I could since neither of them wanted to help. He admits privately to himself. A soft snore reaches his ears.
He glances to his right to find Sasuke sleeping by leaning on a tree trunk. Glancing to his left he finds Sakura very much awake, even if not totally alert. He does notice that Sakura is glaring at their respective team-mate.
"Why do I have this sudden urge to sneer at him?" Sakura wonders softly with a confused look in her eye.
"That's your character's attitude and feelings. Most of the time you wouldn't notice it, not unless it's clashing with your trueself." He admits, after all, he feels very much at home in this forest and can swear he feels the 'mood' of their surroundings.
"You mean there's a mental element to this?" Sakura hisses and he nods.
"I wasn't the first bit squeamish to loot from corpses during the first time I was here. I had been a little confused about my sudden skills with two blade to do anything but follow a fellow party member's example. Later, I felt guilty about it and a touched horrified about how casually I had killed the enemies we encountered but it's how you gain experience to level up and to get free things that you can either sell for money or take the money they have on them." He explains and finds that Sakura seems to have gone slightly pale.
"And that's why I didn't stop you from. . . Or why I wasn't afraid to. . ." The red haired girl says in a far off tone.
"The character that we represent are those that 'grew' up in this world. That mindset we gain act is a mental shield to us, allowing us to coup with the things we see and do while we're here, in the game. It also takes over if we feel like we're about to freeze up." He continues to explain.
"But that doesn't explain my attitude towards Sasuke!" Sakura says angrily.
"Sasuke is currently a Half-Fiend and a rogue, they both have a reputation to be untrustworthy. It also likely doesn't help that he's leaning towards either Lawfully Evil or Chaotic Evil too. I put both of us as Chaotic Neutral so we can interact with him and act as a buffer between various Good aligned beings." He explains with a sigh.
Sakura just stares at him as this information gets mentally chewed on before she looks away with a sigh. He, privately, never could figure out why girls liked Sasuke, he pretty much put it down as a girl thing and left it at that.
"Well, since I think we need his help with our attack, we might want to get some sleep." He muses as he glances around to make sure they have good cover.
"Why are we even attacking this place anyway? I mean, they haven't done anything to us beyond us encountering their patrols." Sakura says and he sighs.
"Looks at it from this prospective. Do you see any women there with babes? Or elderly? This is a war camp and while I'm not sure who they're going to war with and I really don't care, we could use more supplies and they're got loads if they have that many people as part of their camp. We could also get better cloths, weapons, and gain a lot of gold as well." He tells her and notices how Sakura's hands tug at her ratty leather shirt with a thoughtful frown marring her face.
"We could use better cloths. . ." Sakura admits slowly and he nods in agreement.
"You can get some rest. I'll take sentry duty for now." He says soothingly and Sakura nods.
Minutes later, Sakura curled up on the ground with her sword's handle resting in the palm of her right hand. He smiles softly, more then a little surprised at the amount of trust she's placing on him. So different then her usual attitude.
With a slight shake, he shifts into a more comfort position and begins to explore his feelings with a oneness with the world around him. He's fairly sure that he'll have plenty of warning if someone gets too near.
-)Be Continued . . .(-