I apologize profoundly for not updating in so long. School kept me very busy and afterwards I have been working. I'm now out of school so hopefully I'll get back to work, eh?

This first half of this was written almost directly after the last chapter and the second half was written when I had time to write it. So if they sound a bit different in parts that's why.

Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me and not lost faith in me!

Words- 2, 486

CrossWorlds ~ Part One ~ The Beginning ~ Chapter Thirty-Seven ~ The Great Escape

"They came to my house," I told them, another simply answer, but it was to the point and it was true. I was only glad I'd managed to think of it while I had the blazing headache that I did and that what little of my brain that was working was focused almost solely on filly my belly with food.

"Which is where?" Takacha asked next, sounding even more annoyed, "And I thought you said it was brief. If they were at your house I think it would leave a bit of an impression…" Well crap, I'd just waltzed into another verbal trap.

Still, his first question made me wilt sadly. I didn't know how far away home was. I didn't even know how to get back home. I stared mutely at the ground in front of me for several long moments, "Far away…" I told him softly, letting my sorrow at that color my voice, "It was brief. I only saw them a few times."

"Which direction is your home?" Yui asked, almost gently. He was probably trying to comfort me in his own way so that I would be a bit more forthcoming.

"I don't know," I told him as I shook my head, "Minato and his team found me when I woke up."

It felt weird to refer to Minato so familiarly. It was different to talk about him with friends, because, back then, he'd still only been a character in a manga. He hadn't been real.

"How did you get here?" Takacha asked lowly, but he sounded more resigned now. I suppose he understood that I really wasn't helpful, but it was in a 'she's not a ninja, just some poor lost girl' rather than the 'she's an unhelpful enemy ninja and we're going to kill her to keep her quiet' way.

"I don't know that one either," I answered as I tightened my grip on the little box-thing Yui had given me with food in it. I'd eat well over half of it and only the semi rapid questioning was keeping me from devouring the whole thing. I continued to glare at the ground, but it was about time to stop Time, steal their stuff, and get out of here.

Which reminded me, I didn't know where here was, "Where is 'here'?"

It was an innocent enough question and they obviously felt that since I could practically see them stiffen with surprise. Though from the way Takacha's eyes sharpened I wondered if it was something else entirely. As he met my eyes that faded, he could probably read the exhaustion there along with my turbulent emotions.

I'll admit it, I was scared. Not in the 'Oh my gosh! What do I do!' type way, but in the slow, brooding sort of way of 'I don't know what to do.' It wasn't the kind of fear that was going to freeze me in my tracks, but more like a constant, nagging worry that would keep me awake at night and gnaw at me while I was awake.

It was certainly at work now, chewing away at me as I worried about my friends, where they were, if they were okay, how I would find them, and how we'd get back home. As selfish as it was I was also worried about myself, where was I? It was apparent that the Stone ninja weren't going to tell me anything at the risk that I would get away and tell their enemies. Even if they deemed that I wasn't a threat to them, they still couldn't let me go, but I didn't think they'd let me live either.

Lastly, I was worried about Brittany and her Pack. While I didn't really care about any of them and I'd happily push most of them off a cliff without remorse, I couldn't just leave them behind. If I was having trouble, they wouldn't stand a chance.

I rubbed my forehead as pain stabbed behind my eyes as a sudden headache set in and the low buzzing at the back of my head returned. If I kept all this worrying up I would make myself sick and that would be bad considering the food I had just eaten. Thinking about food only made me hungrier so I went back to eating what was left in my box Yui had given me.

"We are in Earth Country," Takacha answered slowly, his tone indicating that it should be obvious.

I couldn't help but mentally groan. We had traveled that far? In under a day? How was I going to get back to Fire Country now?

I glared at Takacha, letting him know that I was highly annoyed with him. His lips twitched slightly in what I thought might be a smirk, but I wasn't sure. Stupid ninja and their expressionless masks… It made them terribly hard to read and I was usually good at reading people.

I needed to get back to Fire Country and find Minato. I was almost positive that he would help me if I could find him and explain things to him. At least, I hoped he'd believe me… I wasn't sure if he would believe me if I told him I was from another time and dimension and his world was a book and TV show in my world and I knew what was going to happen in his world.

I don't know if I'd believe someone if they told me that.

My biggest problem right now was that anyone that I already knew from when they'd been in my house wouldn't remember me because they weren't old enough to remember me. I frowned and hunched my shoulders miserably. This was one great big can of worms.

"Well, I need to be back…" I paused, had that been Fire Country? "Where ever it was that you found me," I told Takacha is the same tone he'd used on me, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world.

Takacha frowned back at me in annoyance, though I could see a glint of amusement in his eyes and the corner of him mouth twitched in an almost smile. Yui chuckled beside me and I cocked my head sharply to the side to glare up at him. I still had the feeling I would've liked him if we'd met under different circumstances, but right now he was an enemy and I would treat him as such.

"What're you laughing at jerkface?" I snapped at him, "I'd like to see how well you'd do if you weren't a ninja and were lost in a strange place's wilderness," I continued crossly watching with satisfaction as his face lost its smile and he looked just a bit taken aback by my sudden outburst. I was surprised at myself to, but I'd had just about enough of dealing with ninja jerks.

"'Jerkface?'" Shou asked, with obvious amusement and a chuckle. I was looking at Yui and he also chuckled softly, "Is that the best you can do girl?"

"No," I answered rudely, almost before he'd finished his question, "But it's probably better than anything you could do. You probably don't have any more intelligence than a gold fish," I told him letting scorn and contempt creep into my voice. I thought it was a rather fitting description for him since a gold fish had the memory of about five seconds if I remembered right.

Shou's face blanked a moment before contracting with anger. I smirked back at him as I reached for my inner power, Stop.

I was very, very glad I'd stopped Time when I had since Shou was caught in midair in a lunge towards me. I blinked and rubbed the side of my face he'd hit in memory, then smirked as I stood up, "Oi," I inward, "Kabegami, you said your power gave me chakra control right?"

An irritated mental sigh greeted my question, "Yes, idiot, pay better attention," The cat snapped.

I rolled my eyes and clenched a fist as I tried to recall the part in Naruto when Kakashi had explained chakra control to them. All I had to do was focus on where I wanted the stuff… Right? I stared at my fist, imagining chakra gathering on the points of each of my knuckles, the place that would make contact when I hit something.

A flicker of bluish light around the points told me I was doing it right and I grinned. I kept my focus on my chakra as I set my feet and drew my arm back until my fist was even with my head. I focused on putting my fist though Shou's face, then thought better of it. If I focused like that while I was channeling chakra like I was I probably could put my fist through his head.

I didn't like the guy, but not enough to the point that I'd kill him.

Instead I tightened my fist and pictured him flying backwards into the nearest tree. I grinned and lunged forward, putting my entire weight behind the punch. It was a foolish move to pull in a fight since it left me wide open for a counter attack, but since my victim wasn't moving and couldn't fight back I felt no qualms about not using proper fighting technique.

My fist slammed into the unmoving Shou and sent him flying, still in the same position he had been in when I froze Time, to crash into a tree. He bounced of the tree a bit before falling to the ground with an undignified, yet satisfying thump. I smirked at the frozen form before I turned back to his companions to wreck havoc.

I took their headbands baring the symbol of their village from where ever they had them and took a stick with a burnt tip out of the unmoving fire. Grinning I drew angry smile faces on them over the symbol with a tongue sticking out. I took the now stylized headbands and tied them over the ninja's eyes. I tied the knots as tight as I could, but I didn't doubt that they wouldn't have a lot of trouble undoing them.

I tapped my chin a moment in thought before smirking and, without focusing chakra to my foot, I kicked each one of them in the crotch. Then I walked behind them and pulled their underwear up as far as I could. I took the weapons I could see on them and dumped all but the set I would take into the fire. Then, using one of my kunai I cut the straps on their ninja sandals. I wondered briefly if being Stone Ninja if they'd have tough feet from running around a mountainous country, but shrugged as I began dumping their packs' contents on the ground and going through it.

I kept one bag for myself, I was fairly sure it was Shou's, and tucked some food rations and two bottles of water into it. The rest of their food I dumped in the fire as well, it would all burn to ashes once I let Time move again. I found some fishing equipment and kept that as well along with some medical supplies. I used some bandages from the medical supplies to wrap my forearms, shins, feet, and around my right and left thighs where I would put a pouch of weapons.

I never understood why ninja only carried one pouch on one leg, I'd feel off balance if I had something on one leg and not the other.

I tossed their empty packs and whatever I wasn't taking with me into the fire after adding some wire that might be useful later to my pack. I shouldered my new pack and grinned menacingly at my former captors. They would certainly think twice before picking up some 'helpless' sleeping girl again. If they lived that is. I couldn't picture them having an easy time now that their weapons, food, supplies, and shoes were trashed.

I paused a moment to look at Takacha, studying him. I hadn't thrown the katana he carried in the fire just because I had a soft spot for katanas and swords in general. I considered taking it with me since I was moderately competent in using a sword, but I also didn't like the idea of using someone else's sword.

I frowned and tapped my foot as I thought about it. A katana could be helpful, not only in the fact that I could use one a bit, but for the intimidation factor. I had always considered Kisame and Zabuza intimidating due to the fact that they both wielded massive swords. Plus a sword extended one's reach in close combat by nearly three feet and as short as I was I needed all the help I could get.

Still, it felt wrong to take someone's sword. It felt just as wrong to take it only to destroy it. I frowned and shifted to tap my other foot. I finally sighed and shook my head. I would leave Takacha his katana out of respect for him as a leader and respect for the sword.

Turning my back on the group I crouched and focused on chakra infusing my feet and legs. I felt my tired legs strengthen as chakra flared there, but I quickly focused and toned it down until a little bit above the minimum amount I thought it would take to propel me through the trees coursed through my legs before I pushed off from the ground and onto the side of a nearby tree.

I stuck to the side of the tree and looked back down at my former captors and smirked as I released my hold on Time. There was a howl of pain from Shou, but I didn't look at him as I watched the fire flare up from the abundance of fuel and the ninjas cry out and yelp in surprise in pain as they got feeling back and discovered their predicament. Yui actually fell over when he tried to stand suddenly, tripping over his own sandals and falling onto a teammate that I didn't know. Takacha struggled with his headband more than I thought he would have and almost fell over his sandals as well while trying to stand.

I stopped Time again after barely eight seconds while I howled with laughter, almost losing my focus on my chakra and slipping on the tree a bit while I laughed. When I got myself under control I offered a last snort of amusement before turning and leaping away into the night.

Not really much of a cliffhanger there... I must be losing my touch, I'll try harder for the next chapter. ]