Chapter 28 + 1/2 outline
Italics = English/Other language/memory
'Single Quotes' = Thoughts
x
A/N – Sorry this took so long. Xer9af handwrote everything in Korean so I had to translate and type out everything. It seems that this chapter she didn't write linearly but more one scene then the next. Essentially there are some parts in the middle of the chapter that are missing as she wrote the beginning and end first.
Tom grabbed another few bricks and shoved them to the side. Already, a small mound was surrounding him as he methodically shifted again and again through the rubble. He knew that she was dead. It had been over three months since the earthquake and there had been no denying the small still corpse. Sophie was gone. Nevertheless, he kept digging.
Around him, Tom could see other grief stricken parents digging through the rubble. After this long, it was rare for anyone to actually find any remnants of their child under what was once an elementary school. Most of the bodies had been recovered, but the few families who had yet to find their children kept searching. They refused to let bulldozers clear the site, not until they were satisfied.
Tom himself didn't know quite why he was digging anymore. One part of him was desperately searching for Sophie's favorite stuffed rabbit. The one she kept in her backpack due to school rules. Another part of him just needed to do something, anything, other than sit and weep. It was mind-numbing work, a therapy of sorts. Tom thought he would snap and go insane if anyone forced him to stop now.
The day was warm and dry, the sun beating down on his curved back. As Tom straightened up from shoving another piece of rubble aside, nausea and dizziness hit him. Dehydration. Break then. Pulling off his gloves, he tossed them to the side as he brushed the sweat off his palms on his jeans. Loosening a couple more buttons on his blue flannel shirt, he stumbled over to a shaded area under the trees.
Picking up the bottle of water he'd left there a couple hours ago, he drank deeply. Then, a sudden shiver ran down his spine as he heard a thud, then a low groan of pain. Turning around, Tom heard further pained noises in the thickets.
Pushing aside the bushes, he made his way forward. What he saw didn't make much sense. A disturbingly pale, almost reptilian-featured, man with long black hair lay on the ground twitching sporadically. Tom rushed forward, wondering if the man was having some sort of seizure. He grabbed the man's shoulder and blinked in shock when he was suddenly able to see strange blue light coming off the man in waves. A thick large cord of blue light was protruding from the man's cheek to disappear into thin air. It was rapidly becoming thinner before his eyes.
"What the hell?" Tom muttered, staring. The man reached out with trembling bandaged arms, trying to grab at the glowing cord on his cheek. His bright amber eyes glazing over with the effort.
Tom reached out instinctively to stop him. He didn't think touching it was a great idea. Heck, it looked like it might vaporize whatever touches it, like a lightsaber or something. His hand curled around a bandaged wrist the second the man grabbed hold of the cord.
With a sudden howl of sound, a mix of high pitched whistling and low bellowing of wind, the world around him changed so suddenly and without any warning that Tom was taken completely by surprise. He didn't feel like he moved, but more like the world had just flickered into a different scene as the deafening noise died down.
As Tom looked around him blankly, a sight, so ridiculous that he couldn't seem to process promptly struck him. If he were a machine there would be error signals flashing all around. First there was a giant frog and bird. He also saw people too, but that was just a footnote to the mammoth creatures. Tom only had time to blink his eyes once, while trying desperately to make sense of what the hell he was looking at when he felt his blood simmer, literally.
Pain like nothing he had ever felt before exploded throughout his body. His blood was on fire as it boiled and threatened to explode from his veins. Tom wanted to die then, wanted to join his little Sophie in death. Only the thought of his bedridden, grief stricken wife prevented him from biting his own tongue off. Then, there was a green light and Tom finally sank into blissful darkness.
x
Gamakuro shifted nervously when I bent over and vomited off the side of his back, just barely missing hitting his flank with my sick.
"Sorry," I whispered, reaching up with one trembling hand to wipe my mouth with my sleeve.
The sound of me being sick must have snapped Kabuto out of whatever shock he'd been in because in a flash of movement, he leapt to his feet, dashing away in a swirl of leaves and smoke bombs. I gave a cry of alarm at his escape, but it was futile.
Tsunade and Shizune, too busy working on Sasuke and Naruto respectively, didn't even respond to the sudden getaway. I glanced at Jiraiya, expecting him to leap up and give chase, but he didn't. The white haired man seemed stuck in both denial and shock, fixed on the sight of Orochimaru's corpse. It occurred to me that Orochimaru wasn't just an enemy to Jiraiya, he'd been someone close to him. Ex-friend, rival, family?
I was just completely drained then. I didn't want to care anymore about anything, whether it was Kabuto, or Orochimaru's death. Sighing in exhaustion, I let my eyes close as I accepted Sakura's soothing murmurs as she rubbed circles on my back. It was difficult not to shut down, but I couldn't let myself sink into apathy, no matter how much I wanted to. Unfortunately, there was work to be done.
With Sakura and Gamakuro's help, I stumbled off the toad's back and slowly made my way over to the unconscious man lying on the ground. He wasn't too old, perhaps in his early thirties? He could have been younger though, it was always difficult to tell when there was stubble. Under his eyes were dark circles and his face was gaunt. I didn't think that the painful transition to this world was the cause; they looked like scars from months of insomnia and lack of nutrition.
Brushing a stray piece of brown hair out of his face, I gingerly reached into his jean pockets and pulled out three items: a wallet, phone and keys.
"Thomas Singer, 35, organ donor," I murmured to myself. I flipped over a flap and froze at what I saw. It was a family picture: Thomas, a pretty Asian women and a little girl.
Bile choked me again, but I managed to swallow it down. The tears though were a lost cause. They had finally overflowed, and with them came the uncontrollable gasped sobs and hiccups. I closed the wallet, and carefully tucked it along with the phone and keys into my bag. I didn't want anything of his to fall out while we traveled and my bag was safer than his pockets.
"You alright there Fei-chan?" Jiraiya asked. He was staring at Thomas with an inscrutable expression. For a second, I wanted to ask Jiraiya that same question. Was he alright? The concussed glint in his eyes made me think he wasn't alright.
Instead, I replied, "Yes…His name is Thomas." That introduction was pathetic I knew, but I didn't have the energy to say anymore on the subject. I moved away from Thomas a bit when Tsunade and Shizune knelt by his side, murmuring words to one another that I didn't understand, perhaps medical terms. I looked away from the healers and from Jiraiya's unreadable stare and instead turned my attention to the preteens.
Tsunade really was an amazing healer, I thought. Sasuke was grimacing in slight pain, but despite everything, he was sitting up and there was color in his cheeks. Sakura was clucking and fussing over her two boys like a mother hen. I felt my lip twitch up in reaction when Sakura scolded, "Honestly Sasuke-kun, this really needs to stop happening." The boy just scowled at this, turning his head away in what was definitely a pout.
"The dobe needs to stop needing saving," he replied, gaze falling on the peacefully sleeping blond. I smiled fully then, but the smile quickly slid off my face when my gaze fell again on Orochimaru. Chest tightening so painfully that I had to spin away from the sight of the corpse; I instead marched my way over to the preteens. To my surprise, Sasuke stared at me in clear nervousness. Heck, he looked almost scared of me.
"Sasuke?" I asked tentatively, my brows furrowing in confusion.
Sasuke sighed then and lowered his gaze to stare blankly at his shoes. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice clipped and awkward. "I know you didn't want me to use the seal. You didn't kill him though, I did." Surprisingly earnest dark eyes rose up to meet my gaze.
I blinked, a light bulb going off in my brain; Sasuke was feeling guilty. Not for Orochimaru's death, no, but about making me kill second-handedly, something he knew I truly hadn't wanted to do.
Plopping down to sit next to the tense boy, I patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay. He deserve to die. Naruto and Sasuke more important."
Somehow, saying that out loud seemed to lift a huge weight from my shoulders. I realized that I finally believed my own reassurances, and whether that made me a bad person or not, I didn't care anymore. As long as I accepted myself, things would work out.
x
I quickly turned my gaze away when Jiraiya caught me staring…again. Orochimaru's body was sealed away in a scroll tucked in Jiraiya's jacket, and this morbidly astonished me. Giant sentient toads and snakes I could deal with, but carrying a corpse in your pocket?
Sighing, I fiddled with breakfast (rabbit soup), and glanced over at Thomas' still comatose figure. Considering my own comatose state had lasted for almost a week, but factoring in Tsunade's healing abilities plus the quickness of healing he received, I had no idea when he'd wake up.
"Fei, are you done?" Sasuke asked while eyeing my half full bowl. He had a stack of bowls in his hand.
'Ah…he's on dish washing duty.'
I nodded. I didn't have much of an appetite, and picking at my food wasn't going to help. Handing him the bowl, I stretched, and went over to Samehada to give him his breakfast.
Naruto, who had woken up early that morning asked, "Hey Bastard! Why don't you ever call Nee-chan, Nee-chan? I mean, yeah, she looks like a complete Loli… I mean, young person, but that doesn't mean she isn't older than you by like six years!"
"Five," snapped Sasuke, as he studiously scrubbed the dishes with some water summoned with one of my small water seals.
My brows furrowed slightly as I frowned. If I remembered correctly, Sasuke was twelve the last I checked. Seeing as I was eighteen, Naruto should have been right. Unless…
Gasping loudly, I exclaimed, "Sasuke! When was your birthday?"
Startled, the boy spared me a look before replying, "A couple weeks ago."
'Poop!'
Scrambling over to my bag (that Jiraiya had fetched from town early that morning), I rummaged through it until I found what I was looking for. Paper. Picking up a brush, I wrote clearly, 'IOU - Whom ever cashes in this token will get ONE favor from Fei Jonzu. No favors for more favors!'
With a flourish, I held it out to Sasuke as I said, "Happy Birthday!"
Wiping his hands dry on his pants, Sasuke set the now cleaned bowls off to the side and warily took the token from me.
Tsunade leaned over to look. "Is this another one of those seals of yours Fei?" she asked.
The preteens…well teens now I guess if I rounded Naruto's age up, puzzled over the token. Naruto even had his head cocked to one side.
"No," I replied. "Promise. Sasuke give me paper, I will give Sasuke one…um present? Seal? Cookie?"
'Damn, what's the word for favor or wish?'
They seemed to get the gist of it though as Sasuke smirked while tucking the token into his bag. Naruto moaned jealously, as he pouted. "I want Nee-chan to buy me ramen!"
Sakura sighed, "Really Naruto? Nee-san has amazing seal making abilities and you want ramen?"
As the three of them continued to squabble, I shuffled over to Thomas. The steady rise and fall of his chest reassured me that he was still very much alive. One part of me wanted to see him wake up, but another more selfish part didn't want to deal with what that would cause. I'd just torn him from his wife and daughter, how could I face him?
A large hand touched my shoulder and squeezed gently. I looked up to see Jiraiya grimly eying Thomas. There was bad news coming. I could feel it.
Biting my lip, I demanded, "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Fei-chan…" Jiraiya began, his voice careful and soothing. I didn't like his tone at all. "We can't bring Thomas back to the village."
When I started at Jiraiya in bewilderment, he sighed and ran a hand down his face.
"The only reason you are able to stay relatively safe in Konoha, is because the Third protected you with the logic that you are harmless, just a little girl. No threat. Even after his passing, most will respect his last orders. You are protected as one of his many legacies Fei."
My heart seemed to want to leap out of my chest. This couldn't be happening. "But…Thomas is civilian too…" I insisted. Well, I didn't know that for sure, he could have been a soldier for all I knew, but compared to shinobi, all the people from my world were civilians.
"Yes, that may be so, but that won't protect him."
"Couldn't…couldn't Tsunade-sama and you protect?" My voice had devolved into panic. This was so much worse than I thought. Having Thomas stuck here was bad, but having him end up as a potential blood bank?
"We will." Jiraiya promised. "But it might not be enough. Fei-chan, you need to understand, once Tsunade becomes Hokage, it won't be a smooth easy road. She'll have opponents. And I? I won't be in the village. I won't be there to protect him."
"We'll protect him!"
Jiraiya and I started at the sudden shout. The three teens were frowning with steely looks of determination. Naruto, the one who had shouted, glared furiously at Jiraiya.
"Kakashi-sensei and Ren-sensei would help," Sakura added in.
Tears welled, and my lips curled into a huge smile. 'These little brats, I'll smother you all with hugs and kisses,' I threatened internally. Before I could go through with my loving threat, Sasuke spoke.
"I bet Karura would let him stay with her if need be."
A/N – First gap in the chapter she wasn't able to finish writing.
Hurrying over to the man, I crouched down at his side.
"Hello?" I whispered.
"Shit, that hurt…" He muttered.
I grinned a little, hearing English again was amazing. "Yeah, I know. It happened to me too when I first got here. Thomas Singer, right?"
Thomas sat up before replying. "Yeah. Tom."
"Nice to meet you Tom, my name is Fay, Fay Jones."
Tom nodded, looking around. He stared at the shinobi, his gaze lingering on Sakura's pink hair.
I introduced him to everyone, leaving out Samehada who was basking in the sun, lazy and content after his breakfast, aka, my blood. I didn't think Tom was ready for that surprise yet.
It occurred to me as I asked him if he would like some water that I was stalling. I was scared to tell him where he was, fearful of his reaction. My evasion of the question didn't last for long. Tom naturally wanted to know what happened and where he was. When he asked me though, I froze, the words freezing on my tongue.
"This…this is…" I stammered, starting to hyperventilate.
Tom frowned slightly with a puzzled look. He reached out and rested a firm hand on my shoulder, "Hey, calm down. Take a deep breath."
I did as he said.
"You better now?"
"Yes, thank you." My voice came out soft and weak.
"Are you not allowed to tell me where we are perhaps?" He looked warily at the shinobi.
'Oh God, he thinks we're kidnapped or something.'
"No…no I'll tell you," I assured him. Taking a steading breath, I began. Once I started, everything poured out of me: the earthquake, chakra, shinobi, different world, seals, blood, the others from our world who had died, interrogation, Scotland…everything.
I was shocked at how long the story took, and how crazy it sounded. So much had happened since coming to this world. Tom didn't interrupt me once. He listened to my stream of words intently, patiently. When I finally finished, I was almost panting.
The teens stared at me; they'd never heard me speak so much before. English must have sounded so foreign and strange to them.
"Wow." Tom seemed to mull his response. The furrow in his brows clued me in to how bewildered he actually was. 'Okay, let me get this straight. We're in a different universe full of…ninjas who have abilities like X-men. We have weird…blood that can make magical seals work really well? That's the important gist of it, right?"
I nodded.
"Right." He went back to frowning and mulling. One of his hands curled into grass and plucked a few strands, twirling them in his fingers thoughtfully. Finally, he looked back up and stated, "Well I'm Thomas Singer and I'm a wizard and I go to a school of witchcraft and wizardry in England."
"Scotland," I corrected automatically before I could process his words. "Wait a minute! Are you really?" I gasped.
Thomas gave me a bland look. "Of course not."
I let my disappointment show as I realized his Harry Potter comment had just been snark.
"You saw giant toads and slugs and you think I'm lying."
Thomas shook his head firmly. "I don't think you're lying. I just think I've gone completely mad with grief."
A/N – another gap I think
Tom was the type of person who spoke slowly, clearly and deliberately. Everything he said was thought out beforehand and carefully worded. When he told me about the blue cord attached to Orochimaru's cheek, which he hadn't been able to see until he'd touched Orochimaru, I frowned.
'If he'd just let it thin out to the point it broke instead of touching it, what would have happened?' I wondered. 'Why does the chakra not stay in the body anyways? Is it the chakra-less environment sucking it out of the body like a vacuum, trying desperately to reach equilibrium?'
I knew that in this world, you could not survive without chakra, but was that the same even when transported to my world? If theoretically I went back and all the chakra in me spilled out of my body in waves like with Orochimaru, would I die when all of it was gone? Had my body evolved to the point I couldn't survive any longer in my original world?
"Shit," I swore.
"Shit," Tom agreed.
A/N – I think this was meant to be end of chapter 28. The following was supposed to be a part of chapter 29.
There was tension in Tom. He tried to hide it, but the nervous energy bubbling in him was clear even to my untrained gaze. It was driving the shinobi crazy.
"NO!" I practically screamed, my face turning bright red in fury.
"This isn't your choice to make," Tom growled, his patience wearing thin. "Send me back first, then you can leave." He ordered. The vein in his neck pulsed from the effort to sound civilized despite his clear anger.
"How many times do I have to tell you, you'll die! Even if you get back and don't end up bouncing back to this world, there's no guarantee you'll survive! Didn't you say Orochimaru was practically dead when you first got to him? Do you want to die that much?!"
Tom finally snapped, "Oh don't act like you care what happens to me. You just don't want the responsibility. You're too scared to dirty your hands, well too bad, this is your fault so fucking step up and fix it!"
I felt my eyes widen and face drain of all color. I stumbled back, as if physically struck by his words.
Immediately, I felt the preteens come to my side. Sakura slipped her hand into mine and glared daggers at Tom.
Tom's anger drained away then, his eyes, which had been just moments ago been spitting mad, darkened and remorse filled them.
"I…I didn't mean that."
Perhaps he thought he didn't, but I was sure that deep inside, those were his true feelings and thoughts. In some ways, I agreed with him. It was my fault, and I was scared to be responsible for another death. Tom was right.
Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune had watched our vicious argument from the sideline, not interfering, not judging, just watching. The preteens on the other hand had their hackles raised in my support. I appreciated their sentiment, but if they knew what exactly we were talking about, they'd probably agree with Tom.
I refused to let frustrated tears fall; it would be cheap and petty of me to use my tears in this argument. Instead, I turned my back on Tom and plopped down to sit on the ground, shaking slightly, trying to get a hold of myself.
Tom hesitantly came towards me; he stared at my back a bit before he let out a sigh. He sat down as well and leaned his back against mine.
We sat in silence a bit. Then, Tom began to speak, fast and clinically as if he didn't want to linger on his own words "My daughter, Sophie, was killed in the earthquake. Her elementary school collapsed. We…we found her body." Tom's voice cracked. Coughing once, he continued, "My wife is completely heartbroken. I had to hospitalize her because she stopped eating."
I felt Tom shudder against my back and I realized that I was shaking from suppressed sobs. The earthquake and the fate of my parents was a topic I'd forcefully not thought much about. It scared me too much to imagine all the destruction, death, and loss. How many of my friends died? Was my school still standing? Was my home still there? Were my parents still alive? What did I have left to return to if I could get back?
"My wife…if I leave too, if I disappear, she'll die Fay. She'll either wither away in her bed or she'll jump off a bridge. I need to get back. Today. There's no time for me figure out a safer, surer way. If I die, then at least I died trying. I know the risks Fay. Please."
We sat in silence for a while longer. Abruptly, I stood and reached for my bag. From it I pulled out my seal making kit. Without flinching, I sliced my palm with a kunai, letting the blood mix with the ink, and then wrote my seal.
"Nee-chan…are you, are you leaving?" Naruto whispered this question. His blue eyes were wide with shock and hurt.
'God, when I do leave one day the kids are going to be devastated,' I realized.
"No. Tom is leaving. Sick wife, leave today."
"Fei-chan, this really isn't a good idea," Jiraiya warned, shaking his head. "This is going to kill him."
"Tom don't think so. Tom does not care, still want to try."
The white-haired man seemed like he wanted to argue further, but didn't, he just ran a hand through his hair and looked skyward as if praying for patience.
I was soon finished. Sending in a pulse of chakra, I activated the seal, it was now ready for use.
Standing, I attached the seal to Tom's forearm, not yet sending in the pulse of chakra needed to use it.
"Can you tell my parents that I'm okay?"
"Yeah. Lucas and Natalia Jones, right?"
I nodded.
Trying to smooth out the deep furrow between my eyes, he grinned widely, it made him look roguish and charming. I stared at the change, awed at how much of a difference a genuine smile made.
"May the Force be with you," he said, eyes twinkling with mischief.
'Ah, a Star Wars nerd.' I felt a pang of disappointment that I wouldn't get to know this man more. We could have been friends, despite the age difference.
"Never did get around to watching Star Trek," I quipped, purposefully using the wrong show. My chakra pulsed.
Tom's outraged 'OMG are you fricken serious?' expression was the last thing I saw of him before he disappeared in a flash of light.
We waited. Tom didn't appear again.
Tom had stayed in this world for a grand total of 26 hours. Just over a day, about as long as a mayfly lifespan. I couldn't help but get the feeling that I was cheated somehow. Though I'd felt terrible for bringing him into this situation, my homesickness had dulled a bit as we'd talked.
I'd wanted…no expected him to be my confidant, the one person who shared the same culture, the same fears and worries. Having that fragile link to home snapped so abruptly was almost comical in a way. We were supposed to have been great friends, maybe even siblings over time as we struggled through common obstacles. Somehow the whole event seemed almost surreal and terribly anticlimactic; what had been the point of it all.
Ridiculously, I felt almost abandoned and tears swelled up in my eyes. I swallowed down the ugly bitterness before I made a fool of myself.
The lack of corpse after the use of the seal was a relief. Of course, it didn't mean Tom was alive on the other side. It just meant that he had not grabbed onto the cord. Tom and I had surmised that the cord was a link of sorts to this world, that once it was broken, the bonds between the worlds were completely severed. Essentially, it worked almost like a taunt rope, grabbing hold of it slingshot whomever was in contact back to this world again.
The lack of death on this side was encouraging; it meant that there was still hope.
A/N – This is all I have before the outline. READ NOTE BELOW
The outline starts out with detail but as it nears the beginning of the shippuden episodes it becomes sparse and all over the place - a lot of venn diagrams, pros and cons list and webs all written in Korean chicken scratch. I suspect it was a combination of her medication, health and lack of time. It's taking me a lot longer trying to figure out what she meant and what she was trying to write. I am putting up what I have completed so far.
Outlines are hard to put on fanfiction. Anything in bold are main points, regular font are subpoints to the bold.
Tsunade returns to Konoha and goes about healing
Lee – needs surgery
Anko wakes up – Fay very, very relieved
Finds out Kakashi was in the hospital (caused by Itachi)
Ren is ecstatic to see Fay and Tsunade
Doesn't seem to like Shizune (rival – later future romance)
No sign of Daiki – Fay both happy and nervous about this
Kakashi is flabbergasted by Samehada
Joke about how Orochimaru defeated
"He's really dead then."
"Everything points to it."
"Who…did it?"
Sasuke points to himself, Fay points to herself. Awkwardness ensues.
"How in the world did a genin and civilian kill an S-ranked shinobi?"
Sasuke: "I slapped him."
Tsunade becomes Hokage, and Sakura and Shikamaru are made Chunin
Lee has surgery
Sakura taken in as Tsunade's student
Sasuke taken in as Kakashi's prime student
Naruto to leave with Jiraiya
Fei given a choice: Leave with Naruto and Jiraiya or stay in Konoha as Tsunade's student
Which to prioritize – seals with Jiraiya (going home) or healing and political safety with Tsunade (settling in)
Before she can make a decision, Sasuke is kidnapped by Kimimaro and Sound 4.
Kimimaro and Sound 4 are under the impression that Orochimaru is still alive
Kabuto is the instigator of this plot
Sasuke retrieval begins!
Sakura and Shikamaru are in charge
Fay left behind
Lee leaves for retrieval
Fay meets the Sand siblings and has an inner freak out about Gaara. Gaara attempts to be friendly, but messes it all up with a botched up smile.
Sand siblings leave for Sasuke retrieval
Sasuke retrieval a success, no serious injuries because more went on the retrieval arc compared to canon
Also managed to convince Kimimaro to come after defeating him and convincing him Orochimaru died. He'd already been a bit suspicious as Kabuto had seemed…off. Wants to see Orochimaru's body. Knowing he won't live long anyways he agrees to come as a prisoner without struggle in return for seeing the body. Tsunade is able to heal Kimimaro, he decides to stay in Konoha (later romance with Anko. He must have a snake fetish.)
Fei dyes her hair dark so that it looks like it originally was
Teens + Fei + Iruka have lunch at Ichiraku. Iruka has crush on Fei.
Naruto and Sakura approve
Sasuke disapproves – "She's a complete disaster magnet. Do you think Iruka would be able to handle that? The way she is, she'll need the Sage of Six Paths as a protector."
Fei decides to stay in Konoha, deciding that she would be a liability to Naruto's safety
2 Year Time Skip Arc
Fei adores Anko. People make fun of Anko because Fei follows her around like a lost puppy much to Anko's confusion.
Fei is scared of Danzo as now he insists on 'blood donations' and continuously tries to take Samehada away from her.
Fei learning about healing and seals from Tsunade. She moves in with Anko!
Creation of knock-out seal
Creation of poison removal seal
Creation of stasis seal – This one is the most ground breaking and Fei works overtime producing it as much as she can. Thanks to Samehada, she can make a lot.
Danzo backs off a bit as Fei is being extremely productive and also giving him a steady supply of blood to test with (not that it does him any good)
Fei is constantly debating on whether to use the teleport seal that Tom used
Sasuke, Sakura and others make her promise at the very least to not use it without telling them all first. They are very against gambling on the seal.
Fei thinks she may have a stalker.
Everyone else thinks it's a secret admirer, but Fei thinks presents of meat (for anemia of course), chakra pills (she uses a lot of chakra doesn't she?), kunai (always useful) and bandages (she's accident prone) are not secret admirer like presents.
Kakashi and Tsunade think it is hilarious
Teens, Ren and Anko are not amused
Turns out it is Daiki/Tenzo's pathetic way of trying to apologize
Kakashi gives advice (give her something girls would like)
Tenzo starts leaving her money on her working desk occasionally.
Fei even more creeped out but decides to just go with it and hopes it doesn't escalate.
Poor Kimimaro has a stalker too - Sasuke. Sasuke pesters him insistently to spar with him.
2 weeks pass
Fei is trying to make spaghetti for Anko, who is set to return from a 3 day mission when Tobi/Obito greets her from behind.
He is no longer in the cheerful Tobi persona, and demands she tell him how she knew he was an Uchiha.
Naturally Fei is confused as she knows Sasuke and Itachi are the last Uchiha left
She comes to the wrong conclusion that Obito is actually Itachi, and for some reason is acting as a different person. 'Split personality disorder? He is a crazy mass murderer after all' she thinks
She says "Itachi" as if to call him out but Obito takes it as her telling him Itachi told her he was 'Madara' and is very confused as to why. He's frustrated by the language barrier.
He transports away with Fei and Samehada into Kamui dimension and leaves only Fei there, taking Samehada to give to Kisame. Obito plans to confront Itachi, then later interrogate Fei further. Fei is stuck on one of the pillars and is completely terrified.
She thinks he left her there to die.
After what feels like hours, Fei is panicking. She makes a cut on her hand with a stone and writes a transportation seal with her own blood on the stone ground.
Fei uses it and finds herself kneeling in the middle of a suburban road. She knows this place; it is a couple miles from her home, though the multitude of construction and destroyed buildings confuses her at first. There is a glowing cord extending from the palm of her left hand, but unlike what Tom had told her about Orochimaru's cord, it isn't shrinking. Is it because she used a ton of blood?
When she moves, the glowing cord grows longer and thinner. It looks like she's emitting a lightsaber from her palm. Fei wonders if she does go back and she isn't in the exact same place, whether she'd end up returning over one of the gaps between the stone towers. The idea of falling into the blackness scares her enough for her to carefully memorize where she'd first arrived.
Knocks on the door of the nearest non-abandoned home and a man opens the door.
She braces for him to ask her why her hand has a glowing rope protruding from it but he doesn't seem to notice.
'That's right, Tom said he didn't see chakra until he touched Orochimaru.' Fei thinks
She asks to use the phone.
She first calls her mom's cell, disconnected. Calls dad's cell, disconnected. Calls home landline, disconnected. She calls Tom's number that he gave her. Tom answers. He's alive! The transportation seal works for them. He can still survive without chakra.
Tom knows how to contact her parents. He gives her the number needed, and also gently breaks the news to her that her father is in a coma, suspected brain dead.
Fay is about to call the new number when she feels a terrible pressure. Her hand seems to burn, and she is suddenly launched back toward where she'd first arrived.
Obito had found her gone, with only the seal left behind. He used Kamui to pull her back seeing that there is a chakra connection still in place.
Itachi had denied ever telling Fei anything.
Obito asks again how she knew he was an Uchiha
She replies that she doesn't know and bursts into frustrated tears and tells Obito that Itachi is a horrible shinobi and really, really mean and when did he cut his hair?
It dawns on Obito that she thinks he is Itachi
Obito is, despite himself, terribly amused by the whole situation. He casts a Genjutsu on her putting her to sleep
Having no use for her, yet somehow hesitant to outright kill her, Obito wipes her memory with Genjutsu and dumps her in a little remote village in Iwa.
People of village ostracize her as she is a stranger, can't speak the language, and can't remember anything
Poor Fei is living homeless at the outskirts of the village eating scraps and generally miserable
After a couple weeks of this, Han comes through the village. He has left Iwagakure on a 'holiday', which means not wanting to deal with Iwa's BS anymore he's just wandering around the country. Just happens to be passing through the small village when he observes Fei being shouted at for rummaging through the garbage.
Connection with being ostracized.
Han decides to ignore her
Fei sees his forehead protector, and doesn't remember what it means but it seems familiar to her. Despite being scared of him, as he's huge, in heavy armor and puffing steam, she follows him around not wanting to lose even the tiny glimmer of familiarity.
Han almost ditches her, but lets her follow him as he leaves the village. He even leaves food as he walks.
Night falls and it becomes very cold. Han doesn't bother making a fire because his steam armor keeps him warm, but naturally Fei is freezing.
He gets annoyed at her sniffling and teeth chattering and tells her to come over. Fei doesn't understand him and says something in English to him.
He beckons then, realizing she doesn't understand him and once she's seated closer to him, he lets out a rush of hot steam that warms her up.
Fei and Han travel together for 3 months and they make a quiet, content duo.
Konan and Obito arrive to capture Han
Obito is both astonished and frankly exasperated by Fei's presence
Han is defeated to Fei's horror and dismay
She begs the two Akatsuki to let him go as Konan wraps Han's unconscious body up in paper like a mummy.
They ignore her and leave her behind, taking Han with them
The only reason Fei and Han had not run into other Iwa shinobi was because Han purposefully avoided them.
Iwa patrol soon stumbles upon Fei a few days after Akatsuki kidnapped Han. She's hysterical, crying and demanding that they go save Han.
They're taking Fei back to Iwagakure when intercepted by Naruto and Jiraiya.
Itachi keeps tabs on the other Akatsuki members and heard from his crow spy everything that happened with Han.
He sent Jiraiya a tipoff about Fei, who is actively, along with Naruto, looking for her.
Jiraiya breaks most of the memory block, but everything about Obito and his abilities are a blur to her like a dream. Breaking through to those memories could permanently damage her mind so Jiraiya backs off.
He breaks the news to her that Han is confirmed dead
All return back to Konoha
Back in the village all her friends are ecstatic to see her again but Fei is subdued. She's extremely depressed about Han and conveys her wish to go home. Only came back to Konoha to say goodbye to everyone.
If teleportation seal is made purely from her blood, the connection will last much longer. Tsunade hearing about Fei's dad being in a coma suggests she bring him over for her to take a look at him.
With Jiraiya's help, they modify the seal so that it will use her blood relative as a keystone. It works, Fei finds herself in her dad's hospital room. Her mom is sitting at his bedside. She's surprised, but not completely shocked as Tom had warned her something like this might happen.
All three of them return back to Konoha and Shizune, Sakura and Tsunade immediately transfer chakra to prevent the blood-boiling syndrome.
Tsunade heals Fei's dad and he wakes up!
It'll take her a few days to completely heal him so the family catches up with each other in the meanwhile.
Fei wants to confide in her parents everything, but doesn't, not wanting them to worry, especially seeing how fragile her mom is. She does tell them about how her friend Han died, but doesn't give them specifics.
Fei realizes she's furious with Akatsuki. She wants to hurt someone for the first time in her life and this scares her a little. She's also very worried about Naruto.
She comes to the conclusion that she'd never be able to live with herself if she didn't help avenge Han's death. She also knows she has to prevent the same thing from happening to Naruto and can't bear to abandon him.
Having her parents in Naruto world too dangerous though. Sending them back is considered the only choice.
Her parent's want to go back home soon as well as they both love their jobs and lives back in Seattle and are feeling very homesick.
Fei was very careful to only show the best of Konoha to her parents. She convinces them that she's fallen in love with someone in Konoha and doesn't want to go back with them. They are initially horrified, but calm down as they realize that Fei can easily visit them anytime she wants. "It's like going to college!"
They've always only wanted what's best for her, and the two of them are romantics at heart so are understanding.
They aren't stupid though and know that there are many things Fei isn't telling them, but Fei is an adult and they've always trusted her completely
Naruto and Jiraiya leave again on their journey.
Fei now has to be with someone else all the time, 24/7. Still lives with Anko, but when Anko isn't around she stays with Kakashi (to Sasuke's and Sakura's mild horror) or a shinobi named Yamato (Daiki/Death cat) who Tsunade declares is a 'specialist in protecting/guarding', which is of course complete BS.
Sasuke and Sakura don't know Yamato is actually Daiki, but Fei knows right away. Fei is sensitive to subtle differences in chakra signatures and as Daiki doesn't bother hiding his signature, which shinobi do automatically during henge, she can tell it's him.
Daiki has no idea she knows (Kakashi does though) and chalks up her nervousness around him to wariness around strangers.
It's not too hard for Fei to accept Daiki/Yamato again as so much has happened since he 'killed' her that it feels like years since the incident. Also helps that it's easy to separate his masked persona from his very normal Yamato persona.
Fei goes wild with seal making, determined to do her part in bringing down Akatsuki.
[Note! Fei lives in an AU. No Naruto manga in her world. Kishimoto wrote a seinen manga instead] A/N - Boy was I surprised to read this note from my cousin
1.5 Year Later: End of 2-Year Time Skip Arc
Naruto returns back to Konoha!
