"Are you sure you can carry me on your back the whole way?" She asked, changing her position to a more comfortable one. He stood up and shifted her weight so that her thighs were more secure to his hips and tucked firmly into the crook of his elbow.
He glanced over his shoulder and gave her a huge grin.
"Don't worry! I've carried much heavier people before." She stared into his spirited eyes for a brief moment before looking away. The amount of light that emitted from his gaze made her stomach churn. The unfamiliarity of kindness to a stranger like her had her concerned for the boy. He was extremely trusting. If the roles were reversed, she would have had the same dismissive energy towards herself, like Neji did.
"Just don't drop me. I'm already banged up enough as is." She joked.
"Come on. We're wasting enough time as is. We don't need any more distractions." Neji said.
Her head turned to bark a crude remark at him, but he was suddenly gone. She turned side to side looking for where he had left to.
"Wait, where did-" Her sentence was cut off by the sudden airy feeling in her stomach, as if she had just taken a nosedive off a rollercoaster, and the wind began violently tearing her bun out of its place. The jerking feeling she felt every so often was Naruto's feet touching the branches to catapult to the next branch. It reminded her of a track runner jumping over hurdles. Everything was moving so fast as if they were travelling at ninety miles an hour. Tears began trailing from her eyes, gliding across her skin to eventually detach and fly through the air.
She wanted to laugh and yell at Naruto to put the windows of the car up, but she doubted that he would get the reference. The conclusion she had come to was that these kids were some sort of superheroes. That seemed to be the only logical solution as to what world she seemed to have stumbled into because no normal human being would ever be able to move that fast, let alone carry a woman of one hundred and eighty pounds, while parkouring through the trees as if they did this for their morning workout. Who would have thought that a car accident, she had just barely managed to swim out of, had put her in some comic book world.
A laugh escaped her lips and soon she was yelling for him to go faster.
It was an exhilarating feeling having the wind whip at her face, hair flying any which way and the whooshing noise singing in her ears. Naruto began laughing at her antics and pushed forward. The race they seemed to have with Neji who was unimpressed and "clearly not participating in their stupid game", made for a small distraction from the situation her subcionscious had already stomached. There was no way in hell she would deal with reality right now. Not until her wounds were treated and she was in a safe and comfortable environment with no threat of danger. Only then would she allow herself to truly reflect on her situation.
Naruto jumped from branch to branch careful to avoid jostling her around like a ship in unsteady waters. The trees soon began to part and they jumped down to ground level. Before them was a slight hill that dipped down like a slide to the drawbridge that Neji was referring to as the meet up point. Neji had sent TenTen ahead with a head start of about ten minutes, so she should be arriving soon.
"Keep your eyes sharp Naruto. I see traces of chakra." Neji whispered as he walked a couple feet ahead of them. His serious tone made her face drop as she looked around trying to find this chakra he was referring to.
Chakra? What is that?
Her brain could not come up with an explanation as to what chakra was as she saw nothing but the drawbridge pulling closer towards them as they continued to walk. She wanted to ask what chakra was, but she had a feeling that they would look at her really funny if she did. Giving Neji another reason to scowl at her and call her stupid was not something she planned on subjecting herself to. She would ask Naruto in private.
Silence began to drag on in the group. The crunching of gravel underneath sandals was the only noise that seemed to be heard for miles. Everything was so still. No birds were chirping, and she could sniff an air of tension hanging around them. It was odd to have everything feel so tight in her chest. The feeling of danger bubbling inside her to then tingle up her spine.
"I feel as if we're being watched." She whispered in his ear. He glanced at her out the corner of his eye and nodded. The feeling suddenly grew larger the closer they got to the drawbridge. There was no explanation as to how she felt this, but it was something like a sixth sense that nudged at the back of her head.
They were about halfway across the bridge when Neji stopped mid stride and sharply turned his head behind him, squinting in the direction they had just come from. Walking back the way he came he stood at the edge of the bridge. He raised his hand to his face, bringing his middle and pointer finger to his lips in the motion as if he was shushing them.
"Byakugan!" She watched as veins suddenly popped out around his eyes, like small little tree branches that branched into other smaller ones. It was an odd sight to see. She guessed Neji was one of those superheros that could see far distances since the furrowing of his brows and squinting of his eyes was a dead give away. He took a couple of steps back, then suddenly started rotating swiftly as a shower of weapons seemingly appeared out of the sky to rain on him. Naruto jumped back a few feet too as a couple swords seemed to wedge itself into the ground where they were once standing.
She took that as her que to shimmey off his back and limp towards the end of the drawbridge. There was no way on God's green earth that she was going to be caught in the crossfire of a superhero fight. Not after she just survived drowning. She would let the professionals handle that.
A yell rang through the air as a large man with all black attire came barreling down at Neji with a large sword. He back flipped out the way, landing on his hands and proceeded to spin his legs around, ultimately hitting the guy in the chest. Getting back to his feet he assumed the same fighting position when she had met him and began to thrust his arms outward, making contact with the man's chest and arms.
After that everything became a blur as she couldn't keep up with their movements. They were moving so fast that she could barely make out who was throwing a punch at whom. All she knew was that Neji was holding his own and kicking ass as the man flew several hundred feet into a tree. She flinched as the guy made contact and a loud snapping noise could be heard.
Lord Jesus, did he snap his back?
Her eyes remained wide open well after Neji had turned around and walked back towards them. These kids were no joke. She was glad that she was on their side and that she didn't pose as a threat to them. Seeing Neji fight had her shivering. He could easily have used his powers on her and she thanked heavens Naruto vouched for her.
"Naruto, there are still two more enemies coming. Four kilometers south of us. Create enough shadow clones to distract them while we find TenTen. She's taking longer than usual."
Naruto nodded and formed both hands in a "T" formation, same pointer and middle finger pointing outwards like Neji.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Multiple poofs sounded around them, then there was a sea of Naruto's standing around her. She fell on her ass as the one next to her grinned stupidly at her. There had to have been at least two hundred minimum. Chaos ensued as they all rushed into the forest yelling "Dattebayo."
" .Fuck." She breathed watching the remaining Naruto's run past her to the top of the hill, disappearing in the brush to hide at the entrance to the forest. Her eyes opened and closed quickly, trying to blink away the shock that had settled in.
"Come on Ayanna. We gotta go." Naruto, or maybe clone Naruto, said as he walked towards her.
"Are you the real one or a clone? Cuz, holy fuck that was a lot of you's running around." He laughed at her comment and helped her climb unto his back.
"It's the real me!"
"Wow. That's so cool!" She beamed at him in amazement as she got to see the powers that they each possessed. Neji could rotate super fast and see far distances with his weird lavender eye technique while Naruto could create an endless supply of Naruto's to fight.
"Neji can you do that!" She shot towards him, smiling. He gave her no indication that he had heard her and jogged past them to leave the drawbridge. Glaring at his retreating form, she stuck out her tongue.
"Why does he have a permanent stick up his ass?"
"Man, Ayanna. You curse a lot." She shrugged as they jogged right after Neji.
"I'd rephrase for your virgin ears, but it'd remain the same premise that he still has a permanent stick lodged up his ass."
Naruto laughed loudly, running to come neck and neck with Neji. Grinning stupidly he turned to Neji, eyes low and a teasing jump in his eyebrows.
"Hey Neji," He drawled out in a playful tone. "Ayanna says you got a stick up your ass." Neji glared at the both of them.
"Yeah, is that stick payin' rent? Cuz you may wanna evict it. Seems to make your home foul." She added playfully, trying to lighten the mood. His eyebrow twitched in annoyance.
"I have no interest in engaging in your insignificant banter. We are still in the middle of a mission and clearly are being followed." Neji jumped on ahead of them, obviously done with the conversation.
"Don't mind him. He normally isn't like this." Naruto told her. Somehow she didn't believe him, but just nodded to go along with it. Neji seemed like he was born with that stick, cuddled with that stick, and hit milestones with that stick.
"Hey Neji, wait up." Naruto yelled after him, picking up the pace. "All my clones popped!"
Neji nodded and she watched him activate his eye technique again.
"They're coming fast!"
They skidded to a stop and she got off to hide behind a tree a few yards away. Not even a couple of seconds after she had tucked herself behind a tree did these two men come charging through the forest, swords drawn, swinging at Naruto and Neji.
She kept herself hidden from the fight. Between the fight hanging in the background and her hanging off to the side, she did not want to be seen and used as a hostage against Naruto and Neji.
She no longer felt the warmth of the sun on her thighs as a shadow then loomed over her, startling her out of her thoughts. Looking up she saw TenTen with backpacks in her hand.
"Hold unto these. I'll be right back." She nodded and TenTen disappeared.
Clangs of weapons bouncing off of each other and yells were only heard for a little while and then silence. The sudden appearance of TenTen probably helped in speeding up the fight. It made her curiosity itch at what type of powers that TenTen wielded. She would ask the girl when they were on better terms.
The worst had passed and Naruto, Neji and TenTen emerged from behind her.
"Is everything ok? Are you guys hurt?" She asked, standing up and reaching out to Naruto, checking him over to see if he had any cuts on his neck
"Everything's ok. We finished off the rest of the bandits. No one was hurt." Naruto responded, shaking off her concerned touch.
"Ok," she said smiling. "Is your mission complete now?"
The group nodded.
"Great! Now is it possible I can see a doctor? I feel like my stomach and shoulder are on fire."
"Konoha is about a day and a half walk from here. If we run we can shorten it to a day. For right now we should probably wrap your stomach and shoulder." TenTen reached into her bag pulling out some bandages while she spoke. TenTen motioned her over, but she stood rooted in her spot.
"Um.." She trailed off glancing at Naruto and Neji. "I have on a jumpsuit." She said bluntly. Even though she was years older than the two there was no way in hell she would let them see her goods.
"Oh, sorry Ayanna! Guys move it." TenTen said shoving Naruto and Neji behind the tree she was leaning up against. Once they were out of sight she unzipped her jumpsuit, careful to peel off the sleeves, moving the fabric slowly around her stomach and shoulder. She didn't want to irritate her wounds more than they already were.
"Woah.." TenTen breathed, pausing in her movement of unwinding the bandage from its tight coil to stare at her stomach.
"What?" She said looking down at her wound. Her eyes jumped out of her head as she saw that the wound was a lot deeper than she initially thought. It was a miracle that she wasn't passed out on the ground from exhaustion and blood loss. The glass from the car window must have tore into her by 3-4 inches. She could clearly see tissue showing in each slash across her stomach. A green substance seemed to be clinging to the edge of the skin, slightly dipping into the wound.
"Let's get you to Konoha soon. I'm not a doctor, but that doesn't look too good. Your shoulder looks the same too." TenTen walked over and crouched down to waist level, staring at the wound.
"How did you get these injuries anyway?" There was no way she could explain what a car was to her. So she opted for the easiest answer that omitted more than it gave.
"Glass and an angry man." TenTen looked up at her as if she wanted to ask more questions, but chose to begin wrapping her midsection instead.
"You should probably leave him."
"Funny story is he left me." She said sheepishly.
"Guess you won't have any more wounds like this then, huh." She nodded laughing a bit. TenTen made quick work of wrapping her stomach then moved to her shoulder. The wrap was complete within five minutes and she zipped back up her jumpsuit while TenTen grabbed her backpack.
She walked over to Naruto and grabbed the backpack out of his hand, swinging it over her back instead. Naruto stooped down low so that she could crawl on his back once more.
"Sunset will be here in two hours so we will need to cover a lot of ground if we want to make it to Konoha by tomorrow evening." Neji said. Everyone nodded and began running in the direction of wherever Konoha is.
Travel to Konoha was uneventful as they jumped from tree branch to tree branch covering ground as fast as possible. She was bored beyond belief as the group barely talked as they ran through the treetops. It probably was hard to run and talk at the same time as they were trying to conserve their energy as well as being on a tight schedule. Thankfully they were not ambushed by any villains during their travel and before she knew it nightfall had come. Neji had held up a hand signalling that they would stop to set up camp for the night. Apparently they were to take shifts during the night so that no one would trap them in a surprise attack. However he had rudely told her that she had the luxury of being able to sleep through the whole night. She chose to ignore his condescending tone.
As everyone settled in to sleep, she watched Neji set up traps around their camp. Like second nature, he wove the traps around the outskirts of their campsite, being careful to hide each trap out of sight. When he finished with his rounds she watched him make his way over to her, crouching in front of her so that he was now eye level.
He glared at her making her shift uncomfortably.
"If you make any move to harm any of my teammates I will kill you where you sit." If he had flared his eye technique at her she would have most definitely shit her pants.
"Neji, I'm far from a threat. You and your friends are superheroes and I am not. Y'all could kill me quicker than I could say wait." She responded, scratching at her nose to relieve tension within herself.
"Superheroes?" He questioned. "We are not superheroes. We are shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village."
"Shinobi. What is that?" His deadpan face was not far from his unimpressed face. She doubted that Neji was an eye roller, but could see his brain eye rolling from where she sat.
"Where did you say you are from again?"
"New York."
"What land is it in?"
"You mean country..It's in America." She listened to him repeat the names, butchering them as he filed it in his memory bank.
"I take it you've never heard of it."
"No."
"Well I've never heard of a Land Hidden in...the leaves? Why is it hidden? I guess it's hard to find..." She trailed off as he abruptly stood up and walked to the edge of the camp, ending the conversation on his term. This seemed like a normal for him and she did not think that she would ever get used to his personality.
Sighing, she rolled over and laid her head on her elbows. It would have to do as a makeshift pillow as she had nothing else to lie on. Naruto and TenTen only had sleeping bags for themselves and she wasn't about to ask Neji to use his. She'd rather eat glass than ask for his help.
The forest was quiet at the time, owls hooting in the distance, and the occasional rustling of leaves as the wind blew underneath them. The temperature had gone down quite a bit and with the wind entering the equation she had chills running down her back. Naruto was only a couple of inches from her and she desperately wanted to curl up next to him, but she for one, didn't know the boy that well and it would be awkward, and two wouldn't want Neji to believe her to murder the boy in his sleep at close range. If she shuffled over to TenTen it would be the same roadblock.
Sleep would be far from her schedule that night as the forest floor was as comfortable as an acupuncture mat. Opening her eyes she gazed up at the night sky happy that it was the closest thing to normal that she would get in this world. That was the only thing that remained consistent from her world to theirs. There weren't as many stars out that night, but there were small ones scattered across the sky. The stars were not as bright, but they still shone beautifully against the midnight backdrop. Now with the silence settling in and the tendrils of her subconscious weaving its way from the dark recesses of her brain, cold hard realization really settled in.
This was not her world, and she was a stranger in it. She tried to push the thoughts back as she promised herself she would not think about anything until she was in a safe environment, but the fear and helplessness spilled over. Tightly squeezing her eyes she dug her wrists into her eyelids hoping it would quell the waterworks that were threatening to spill.
It's okay. You'll be fine
Reassurance didn't help her, and she wasn't sure what would. Some tears slipped past her wrist and she breathed in and out to slow down her mind. She conjured up her old meditation practice that seemed as foreign as this world, counting in her head and slowing her breathing down to a low hum. Her mind drifted between sleep and consciousness for a while before she slowly felt herself drawn into unconsciousness.
A/N: Hey guys! A huge thank you to everyone who hit follow on my story. I really really appreciate the support and hope that you guys stick with this all the way. :) This chapter was short, but the next two will not be. I apologize in advance if you guys keep scrolling and scrolling lol. I will be off of work from Thursday until Sunday so I am hoping to get 2 chapters up. I am expecting to post the next chapter on Friday, April 3 as well as another on Saturday April 4th. Please take the time to review if you have the chance! Reviews are welcome! Stay tuned for more!