It was late night, and the curtains were pulled wide open. The first shadows of night crept into the room dancing to intertwine with the moons teasing rays. She laid on the comforter, fully clothed in a one piece jumpsuit, watching the first beams of moonlight creep across the floor to lay gently, like a soft caress, across her lap. Her hands clutched at her phone, desperate that if she loosened her grip her phone would vanish. It was a stupid idea to think that, but she wasn't exactly thinking. She swept a shaky hand over her forehead at the same time her phone vibrated. The tightening in her chest grew as she saw a text notification quickly slide across her phone screen.

Meet me at 7:00.

She sighed and eventually raised her body into a sitting position. Her phone flashed 6:30.

Great.

It was 6:30 and she didn't hear the limo pull out of the driveway yet. She could already feel the first layer of perspiration forming like a thin film across her skin. Courtesy of the fear nipping at her countlessly as the limo sat longer than usual in the driveway, headlights bearing like a demon towards her. It was only a ten minute drive to where she needed to go, but she was eager to get there. There was no way that she would be able to slip out the house if Ezra was still there. He was taking longer than he normally did.

Does he know?

Her heart jumped, teeth nipping at the small bit of skin lifting rebelliously on her lip. She stood and made her way to the window being careful to not pass the curtain lest she be illuminated by the limo's headlights to be caught like a skittish deer.

Five more minutes passed. Feet tapping, fingers curling around and around in the strands that hung limply across her temple. The tense air sucked the moisture out her mouth, throat muscles wavering, trying to swallow what little spit laid in her mouth. The lack of a figure coming unto the porch left her in a chokehold of suspense. Would he be leaving soon?

He's never late.

She spoke prematurely. The front door opened and Ezra stepped out on the porch, manilla envelope in hand and a motor jacket slung over his right shoulder. His light brown hair was slicked to perfection down to his nape, small studded crosses hooked in his ears with a cigarette tucked behind, and a posture so straight she believed he had a permanent invisible rod pressed between his shoulder blades. God he was everything. Her eyes took him in, top to bottom, and she watched him take out his key, lock the door and walk to the limo. A breath she didn't know that was imprisoned in her throat finally passed through her lips.

Yes!

A smile curled across her lips. 6:40 stared back at her on her phone screen as well as a seedy text.

Wear black. You look damn good in black.

A smirk painted her face at the words stapled to her home screen. Of course she would wear black. Black accentuated her curves, slimmed her waist, and touched with a deep burgundy to her lips made her ooze a certain sex appeal she knew she had but never used to her advantage. The one piece she donned for their rendezvous that night was zipped all the way up to her neck, tightening like a snake. It was long sleeved, very similar to a race car driver uniform, that slipped past her thin wrists, and hid her ankles. She slipped on a pair of black sneakers and made her way to the kitchen. She wouldn't be going through the side door of the kitchen into the garage. There was a camera placed there. Instead she sauntered towards Ezra's study and slipped out the sliding doors unto the balcony. That fool wouldn't pickup up on checking his own camera for his study. As smart as she would like to say he is, he was just as equally dumb.

The cool night air slapped her face, unapologetic about greeting her in such a way. The wind danced through her loose hair, tugging at the neat updo she sported. As she moved across the balcony, she watched the limo pull past the gate and take a left down the road. Her mouth turned downwards as she made her way down the small ladder that led into the garden.

With the limo gone guilt began to set in. It was a rock hard guilt that sat like a patient child waiting for her to give it attention. It was there prior, but didn't surface until Ezra took his leave. She bit her lip again, chewing lightly on the corner. She would definitely need to reapply her lipstick in the Uber.

As soon as she touched down in the garden she began to lightly jog to the gate, ducking past the lighted areas in the yard. The Uber would be meeting her on the corner shortly. She did not want any neighbors to see her leaving this late from their driveway. God knows they would call Ezra in a heartbeat. They were all wrapped around his finger, like pet dogs waiting to receive a treat because of their good deeds. Their master always treated them well.

She snorted humorously. There was no way she would let the guilt eat at her.

The gate soon was behind her and she turned right at the end of the street; a car sat on the corner. Walking closer she saw the New York license plate and matched it with the info on her screen. She opened the back door, saying a quick, "Hey" and sat on the passenger side. She pulled at the seat belt and felt a soft jerk at the restriction. Pulling it one more time, she finally got the seatbelt to move and clicked it into place. The older man behind the wheel smiled at her and pulled off once he saw that she was settled.

"Where are you headed?" He asked. His eyes followed her through the mirror as she pulled out her lipstick from her pocket to reapply the deep rouge.

"Vino's Hotel."

He nodded putting the gear into drive just as she placed the lipstick back in her pocket. The car had a sort of relaxing hum as they made their way down the road, street lamps flickering in and out of her line of sight. His music pulsed softly in the background, distracting her from the nausea settling in her stomach. This time guilt had taken a back seat and the weird sensation swimming through her lower belly had her resting her head on the backseat; eyes closed, just breathing slowly.

Yup, she felt it in her gut. There was a sense of foreboding running its dark tendrils beneath her lids. She wanted to chalk up that feeling to her nerves and the fact that she was one mile closer to adultery, but then again it could just be instinct telling her to turn back. This wasn't her first time seeing him so she was not sure why this feeling was this intense. She had entertained him for three dates, only because he listened. Meeting at a cafe and sipping coffee together tended to weed out the ones who were there to listen and learn or only listen to hear themselves talk. He wasn't the latter. And for that she was grateful.

The Uber soon slowed and she opened her eyes. As she gathered herself together and made her way out the car, the nausea didn't settle, but at least the butterflies in her stomach embodied a relay racer and snatched the baton to swap positions.

She glanced down at her phone to see 6:59 displayed across the screen.

Perfect. I'm…sort of on time.

The Uber pulled off, leaving her underneath the street light. Unlocking her phone she quickly opened up the dial pad to call him, only for a gasp to pass her lips as hands slammed on both sides of her shoulders, jerking her out of her butterfly feeling state. They squeezed dangerously and moved over her shoulders to then pinch the nape of her neck. A warm breath caressed her neck before blowing into her ear.

"And pray tell who are you calling, Ayanna." The harsh undertone of a threat lingered at the way he spat out her name. Her legs shook as her mind began to flash every single thought of "I told you so" that instinct was yelling at her to go back home. She couldn't even squeak out a word as she was dragged from the sidewalk and thrown into a car, that somehow wasn't there one moment and then was. Had he been following her?

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

The door slammed shut, sealing her to a fate of shame, embarrassment and guilt. Cold hard guilt that she earlier had stomped to death. Words could not escape her lips as the limo peeled off.

Her eyes met Ezra's emerald glare. It was a stare down that she couldn't tear from as she tried to read the level of anger he was at. She always had a read into his level of anger, but the calm, poised and contained mask that reflected back at her knew this was a whole entire different level.

"Did you think you were smarter than me?" He drawled, lingering on smarter as if telling her that she wasn't as clever as she made herself out to be.

She made no move to show that she had heard him. With no response, he had shifted over in his seat so that he now had her pinned against the car door. Their eyes never broke contact, even as he boxed her in by placing both hands beside her head. He leaned in ever so slowly and smirked.

"You're as good as finished." His breath passed over her lips, making her shiver.

There gazes broke momentarily as he leaned to her left to slide out a manilla folder from under his jacket. Placing it in her lap, he moved back to his seat and reached behind his ear to pulldown a cigarette.

"Read it and sign." The saliva in her mouth, caught in her throat as she pulled out the papers to see three words glaring at her: Petition for Divorce.

"No, you're fucking not." She breathed out, crushing the envelope beneath her slim fingers.

"Yes, I am. If you know what's good for you, you'd sign it and shut the hell up." He hissed, cigarette now forgotten on the seat as he leaned towards her.

"Ezra."

"Ayanna."

Stubborn as she was, she knew the consequences of not signing, but fear swelled inside her at the thought of losing everything and before she knew it she snapped. Fear dominated her mind and she dived straight off the deep end into "fuck-yourself-over-ville".

"You fucking piece of shit. Do you honestly think you'd get any of my business from this. You're sorely mistaken if you think for a fucking second that I won't—" His hand made contact with her face, snapping her skull to the side. Pain burst along her eye, and she growled knowing that her lip was split.

She made no sound for a brief second, staring at him as she held her cheek, and then she screamed. Her brain was on autopilot at this point. Lunging for Ezra, she punched him square in the face, spat on him then made a bee line for the glove compartment right below the driver's partition. She heard him right behind her, but knew he would recover in an instant. Seconds was all she needed as she threw open the compartment and reached for the glock. Like a sick joke, the universe allowed her fingers to barely graze the gun before fingers snaked around her neck squeezing, crushing her vocal chords. The pressure in her head grew larger with each tight squeeze.

A hiss gargled in her throat as she clawed at his fingers, trying to release the vice grip. Her lungs burned, screaming for oxygen, as she shook from side to side, hoping that his grip would fall.

"You bitch." His deep voice rolled low behind her as the grip tightened. At this point her vision began to dance with black spots. She was now in panic mode trying to reach for the gun. However Ezra moved past her, calmly picked up the gun and placed it against her temple. Tears welled up in her eyes as she knew she fucked up. But when self preservation comes into play, adrenaline kicks in and anything can become possible.

She shoved her weight back and rolled sideways, landing hard on the floor, only to just miss the click of the gun as it grazed her shoulder but took its victim. The sound exploded in her ears like a pipe bomb igniting at close range. Sounds suddenly shrunk to a loud hum, and everything moved in slow motion. The jerking of the car taking a hard right had her body tumbling into Ezra. Just as their bodies connected they both were flung in opposite directions as the limo went airborne.

No. No…

Green eyes raised to meet scared brown eyes and for a split second they both had an agreement of one thing. Fuck.

Glass suddenly exploded, spraying around them like hail, as they were thrown, tumbled and tossed around in the car like a football. They first smacked into each other, then rolling along the floor in a tangle of limbs and glass. Champagne glasses flew out of their cabinets and she cried out as a bottle cut across her temple. Liquid began flowing down her face as a loud crunch sprung throughout the limo, then water rushed in like a broken dam. This wasn't a situation she thought herself would be in as water rushed up her nose and down her throat. Coughing had bubbles floating out of her mouth as she panicked, looking from side to side for an escape route.

She swam towards the window and wiggled her way through the glass, wincing as the glass cut like claws at her stomach.

Dammit.

Blood poured through her jumpsuit and she saw a river of it snake behind her as she kicked her legs to swim to the surface. Her lungs were screaming for oxygen and she wasn't sure she was going to make it. All she could see was black above her, but she kept swimming and pushing herself to her limit. There seemed to be a light glowing above her as she swam to the surface. As she headed in the direction of the light she felt the water shift and something huge swam past her, startling her out of her track towards the top. She wasn't sure if it was some animal, but the blood trailing behind her probably alerted whatever it was to her presence.

Suddenly she felt like a whirlpool captured her as the water around her began swirling around and around making her dizzy. Water rushed into her mouth and she cried out, grasping at water as if a hand would reach out and pull her up. A big popping sound reverberated around her and shook her core as she realized that thing was screaming. It burst her eardrums and travelled through her body as this whirlpool shot her out like a cannon to the surface. A glowing blue light encased her and she put her hands out to shield her eyes from it. The light gradually faded and she opened her eyes to find herself bobbing on the lake's surface looking at a cloudless sky, sun shining high. The warmth of the sun heated her body as she began dry heaving and spit out what little she had left in her stomach. Her mouth burned like acid and she hit her chest hoping that would alleviate the lack of oxygen in her lungs.

Despite the oddity of the situation and the weird animal that had killed her sense of sound, maybe it had been the very thing that made the whirlpool that brought her to the surface. Her strength felt completely drained and with the adrenaline wearing off she wasn't sure if she would make it past the shoreline.

"Fuck me." She muttered, swimming the few feet it took to get to the shore.

She laid crumpled in a heap, chest heaving up and down as she tried to catch her breath from the near death situation. The wound on her stomach bled profusely and her temple creased at the pain surging through her midsection and shoulder. There was no way she would be able to stop the bleeding now. Her only hope was to get back to town by pouring some sort of urgency into her bones and walk back up the mountain that the limo had careened off.

Gathering herself she slowly walked through the brush, pushing back any low hanging branches that reached out to snare her clothes. She suddenly stopped mid stride and stared at the sky. It was as if her mind slowly shook off the shock of her escaping death and began to back peddle as it absorbed her surroundings for the first time.

Why is it broad daylight?

"That doesn't make sense." She whispered.

There was no way in hell it could go from night to day in an instant.

She felt a surge of lethargy sweep over her, but more panic as she knew something was really off. There was no way she could be left out here in this forest. The thought of infection settled into her mind and after surviving nearly drowning, she was not about to let an infection put her back in the same position to die. Adrenaline flowed back through her blood and she took off running.

Her feet carried her swiftly through the forest. Just going and going and going. It came to a point where she couldn't go anymore and her body collapsed from the weight of her injuries coupled with the fact that she had no breath left in her to run. She pulled herself up to lean against a tree, chest rising and falling quickly.

Guess I'll have to sleep out here then.

She was trying to avoid ripping her jumpsuit to use as a makeshift bandage. Yeah it sounded crazy for her to pick vanity over her health, but this was the only piece of clothing she had at the moment. There was no way she would risk looking more raggedy then she already was.

The silence that surrounded her shattered as something flew through the air. She gasped at the oddly shaped weapon that was now lodged right in between her feet. She squeaked and pulled her legs back.

A loud yell tore threw the air and a blur of orange soared past her and slammed into a tree. She gasped at the sudden appearance of a boy who laid in a ball a few feet from her. A groan passed his lips as she crawled over to him. He didn't move even as her face hovered over his. He looked to be about middle school age. Maybe a freshman. Why he was in the middle of the forest, only he knew, but she was happy that there was another human being around her. She was convinced that Ezra died in the crash and she was the only person around for miles.

Bright blue eyes suddenly snapped open and she froze as that same object she saw earlier was now mere inches from her nose. Her eyes turned cross as she stared at the sharp point.

"Who are you?" He asked, blue eyes piercing hers with such a force that she stumbled back on her ass.

"Ayanna.." She paused adding her last name as an afterthought "Gray." She swallowed nervously. "Are you okay? That looked painful."

He nodded and placed the object in his pocket. "Um..what's your name?"

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki!" He yelled, jumping to his feet with such vigor she swore that if happiness could manifest into a person it would be this boy standing in front of her.

"Naruto! Where are you? Are you okay?" A voice called from the distance. He glanced in the direction from where his name was called and then back to her.

"I have to go lady! I'm in the middle of a mission." Her heart jumped at the prospect of the kid disappearing and leaving her alone. He turned around to leave, but stopped as her hand clutched tightly at his sleeve.

"Wha—"

"Can you help me? I need to get to town and get treated." She felt bad putting Naruto in this position, but she couldn't pass up the opportunity that the universe gave her. She was stuck in the middle of a forest, injured, scared and depending on someone else was the last thing she wanted, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

He seemed to struggle internally, looking at her then back in the direction of the voice. Silence passed between them in a pregnant pause. She hoped that he would help her out. If he left she wasn't sure if she would be able to find her way out of this maze of trees. It was a miracle that he had knocked into the tree at the same time that she was there.

"Stay here. I'll be right back."

He took off in a blur and she sat there stunned at the sheer speed he possessed. That definitely was not normal. Her instincts of something being off definitely hit the hammer on the nail. Faintly in the distance the sounds of explosions and yelling could be heard. She hoped that this "mission" that Naruto talked about didn't make it's way in her direction. A feeling of helplessness would wash over her if she had to face another life or death situation. All she wanted was to be back home in her bed, but the lingering thought of having the cops knocking at her door and arresting her for murder didn't seem so great now that she thought about it.

The length of time he was gone stretched for maybe fifteen minutes. He soon returned, but this time two people strolled behind him; a boy and a girl not far behind.

She stood up and relied heavily on the tree to keep herself from falling. "Hey." She said waving at him.

He jogged over to her and stopped just a few feet away.

"Are you okay?" He tossed back at her. "You look terrible lady."

A strained laugh passed her lips. "Yeah, no… I nearly drowned, but I need to get to town to see a doctor. Kinda got lost since I have no idea where I am."

"Who is this Naruto?" The boy who spoke held up a hand, palm facing outwards, thumb tucked in; his other hand clenched in a fist and hovering near his hip. His stance oozed strength. She knew he was ready to attack at a moments breath.

"She won't hurt us Neji! Relax." Despite being told to relax, he remained in his stance and narrowed his eyes at her. She put up her hands as a show of surrender just to make him more comfortable.

"Trust me. I'm harmless. You could probably do more damage to me than the other way around." Naruto stepped closer to her, looking at her midsection.

"Man you need to get that checked out. That cut looks pretty deep."

"Naruto, we can't just bring her back to the village. We have no idea who she is or what she could do." The girl of the group finally spoke up.

"Well, I'm not leaving her here to die TenTen. That's not my ninja way. I help people who need it, and I can't have it on my conscious that I left her." Hesitation passed over the girls face as she looked from Naruto then back to her. He didn't wait for a response from Tenten and got on one knee.

"Come on Ayanna. Get on my back."

"I am team leader and we are still in the middle of a mission Naruto. We cannot just—"

"We're bringing her back and she'll be my responsibility. I'll talk to Tsunade." Neji huffed in disappointment, but turned around at the finality in Naruto's tone.

"Fine. We're heading back to Konoha. TenTen run ahead and grab our packs. We'll meet at the drawbridge in thirty."

Naruto grinned back at her. "You'll be fine lady! Leave everything to me!"

Despite smiling outwardly to Naruto, she was a tangled mess inside. It was clear that she was a far ways off from home with no way of getting back. The odd clothing and headbands these kids donned was a dead give away. Unfortunately she would have to rely on a kid to keep her afloat. For that she took a blunt hit to her pride, but was grateful nonetheless.

"Thanks Naruto. I appreciate it."

She climbed on unknowingly signing herself over to a life that was far from her simple one.

A/N: Thanks so much for taking the time to read my story everyone! I hope you guys enjoyed this rollercoaster that Ayanna is riding. The next chapter will be posted on Tuesday, March 31st. I plan on keeping to a tight schedule of every 3-4 days, but I will always post at the end of each chapter when the next one will be posted. I know how frustrating it can be when you have to wait for an update but don't know when it will come. :) I will be a very dedicated author and follow through till the end.

Big shout out to "The muffin in question". Her story 'Sparks' inspired me to post this. I've always had this idea and wanted to post this story, but have kept pushing it off due to life and just being scared. But during this coronavirus time with more than enough time on my hands, I figured fuck it, why not give a little slice of my imagination and take you guys from the real world to just enjoy a new story.