She refused to get involved.
She was prepared for death when she saw the headlights of the car coming towards her, ready for the silence and peace that death gave to the living. Only to find herself suddenly occupying the body and life of a teenage girl.
Why, of all ages to be, did I have to be a teenager again? Glancing at the mirror in the bathroom of the hospital floor she was on. The face of a young girl just entering puberty stared back at her with tired, dull eyes.
She thought she was done with that phase long ago. She was just starting to live out her life, just a year after finishing college and earning her bachelor's degree in teaching. The new school year was just starting out and she was excited to meet the fourth graders in her first-ever class. And now she's surrounded by abnormalities, magical voodoo shit and living in a fictional world that should not exist, she refused to interfere. To lose her life again.
It's all fiction, dreams and delirious phantoms from long-gone days.
That's how she rose from her bed, alarming the magic bearing medics and her adoptive father, who were so sure of her — Sumire's — demise by illness, by firmly believing that it's all a trick of her dying mind. A trick to help her cope with that fact she'll never take another breath again —
Nope, not now. She cannot deal with the accident right now.
Miracles apparently do not happen in this dream world, even when some of them can walk on water, hop around like kangaroos on steroids and breath fire, apparently waking up after a high and nearly fatal fever is just a little bit too much for this mad world. Ironic, how there's living breathing ninja and yet a civilian girl waking up from her intense fever baffles them.
She had to go through several prodding and checkups by medic-nins before she was deemed fit enough to face this fictional world. It's strange how her mind created an orphaned character for her, considering that she had a huge family back in her real world.
This poor girl's parents were killed along with a fourth of this village's residents, civilian and shinobi, in the horrible event that happened two years ago. A wicked, furred beast appeared, larger than the nearest mountains to the village and took their lives with a sweep of one of its tails. It was one of the feared Tailed Beasts, named Kyūbi for its nine orange tails. Her godfather, Nobuyuki adopted her in the aftermath.
But she wasn't the girl who lost them. She doesn't know Hayato and Keiko Kurosawa — or is it Kurosawa Hayato and Keiko? — and she isn't the one who lost nearly everything and had to rebuild from the bottom up with her godfather Nobuyuki.
Her name is Lily Tran. She is not this delicate, petite young girl named Sumire who woke up to find herself suddenly alone. She is Lily Tran, a twenty-four year old woman, and she had her family and friends.
Therefore, there's no need to interfere in this world's complicated matters; interwoven military dictatorships and blatant violations of human rights and the usual age-old dirty politics thrown face first on the oblivious civilians.
But she had a flaw.
She couldn't leave a young, dirty and grim-faced three-year old standing before her little bakery on Konoha Tea Avenue and looking hungrily with weary and wet, sapphire eyes at the colorful cakes on display.
So she swallowed her fear, not of this pitiful boy, but of the dangerous future laying clearly ahead on the slightest change in this one's life, but then again it's her dreams, she can do whatever she wants, right?
She let out a slightly forced smile and called to the boy still gazing at her Rainbow & Glitters shop — what a ridiculous name, she would need to change it soon. "Hello there, would you like a cake?"
The boy startled, clearly not expecting to be acknowledged and turned his far too dimmed eyes that tugged at her heartstrings, before hesitantly approaching her.
She kept her smile, less forced and gentler now and bent her back to meet his eyes, ignoring the tightly clenched hands on his muddled shorts, she continued, "Which one would you like? The blue one? Or the pretty red one?"
He licked his chapped lips, before putting his hand in his pocket and pulling out a green, toad shaped wallet. There were only three notes and few coins that could buy him only two tiny cakes, and in a small voice he told her that he wanted the rainbow-colored cake and the 'pretty red' and the orange flavored one with orange slices on the sides.
She smiled — it was beginning to hurt her cheeks — and took the pitiful amount of money then pointed at the comfy, light gray, custom ordered cabriole she put beside the door for her smaller customers. "Well then, you can sit there while I bring your order."
He obeyed, sitting on the edge of the chair and letting his legs dangle above the wood floor. It was weird seeing this — once, or is it will be? — bright boy so quiet and skittish, without his trademark orange jumpsuit and his overwhelming love for ramen, but she supposes that he still hadn't discovered his usual haunt yet.
Only this time, she thought firmly, and then I will wash my hands off of this madness.
She filled the medium-sized box with mini chocolate cookies, three special offer cakes and then she warped it in a blue ribbon, more of a habit than actual interest, she doubted that this boy knows anything about wrapping. She took the small plastic cup of apple juice and her egg sandwich, one that she planned on eating during her break and added a cap and straw to the cup. Then sorting the box of cake and sandwich in a paper bag, she approached him with a wide smile with his wallet, still full of what pitiful savings he had.
"Here you go! The juice's on the house!" Almost the entire box is on the house, but he doesn't need to know that.
With trembling hands, he slowly took the box and the cup and she was disturbed by the look he gave her, one of sheer gratitude and happiness that lit up his entire face.
She didn't deserve it.
But she waved him off and said the customary 'Have a nice day and hope to see you again!' even when she frantically prayed for him to never appear before her again, for fear of her likely demise with his attention, bringing the Third's attention to her.