A/N: Naruto does not belong to me. This story is the product of having an over active imagination.
Pain.
That's all I could remember.
White flashes like lightning burned themselves into my brain.
I couldn't stop screaming.
Help.
Where am I?
My senses burned.
Hotcoldsharp knives buried in my skin, fireearthrockstrees boring into my head.
And then -
Silence.
It all went quiet as my mind drifted, caught in the ebb and flow of the bright spots I could sense.
Who am I? Who are they?
I was mesmerized by the sparks of starlightsunspotscoolshade that floated like pixie dust on the roiling calm of the rivers and oceans of windtreesrocksrainflames. I wanted to touch them, feel them, dance in their midst.
Whywon'tyoucomeplay?
I reached out.
Just.
Once.
Let.
Me.
Touchplayswim.
Just as I was about to joyfully submerge myself into the steadychaosflickersolddirt, something shifted.
Wafting wisps of summerbreezehearthfire beckoned me teasingly, distractingly. I followed them back, letting their warmth envelop me, relaxing a part of me that I had not noticed.
But the flickering stars tempted still, their brilliance trying to bring me back to them. I resisted, my awareness returning partly, enough for me to recognize that it would be a very bad idea to get lost in the stars again.
However, the steady warmth of the coolwindcampfirecinnamon was not enough to wrench myself back into full awareness. My mind was recovering lucidity, but at a glacial pace.
After a few minuteshoursdays, a new presence arrived, replacing warmairflickeringflame.
The newer forestfirehotgaleravenwings drowned out the flickers of far-flung starlight, but the feeling of infernofirestorm was abrasive to my senses, making me hesitant to reach out.
A shift.
Then all I could feelsensetouch was the encompassing warmth of roaringbonfireplayfulzephyr.
I could finally breathe.
Burrowing into it, I let the heatwarmthlight of the presence drown out everything else.
I lost the tension in the body I could at last feel, the blanketing heat of smoulderingashswiftwindsoftfur lulling me to sleep.
I could hear someone talking over my head.
My head was pillowed on someone's thigh, a hand carding through my hair. It felt so good, I almost purred. The lack of extra-sensory overstimulation made me feel dizzy.
My mind was still blurred from the whole episode. That had been, hands down, the worst experience of both my lives. I could still feel the aftershocks, my psyche feeling rather shaky at the moment.
"-ow long will it take her to adjust to the sensory input?" A very familiar voice said. I realized that it was the owner of the thighs I was using as a pillow.
"By my calculations, assuming that chakra filters are placed on her, she will require a few days to familiarize herself with the sensory input. Actively using her senses will take a few weeks. I hope Konoha still has a few competent fuuinjutsu users, if not masters." A deep voice rumbled.
I opened my eyes with difficulty. Colors swam in my vision, before coalescing into the face of my inner self. Maya looked worried as she observed me as I laid in her lap.
"How are you feeling, darling?" She asked as she stroked my hair.
"Better now," I said, struggling to get up. Maya helped me sit up.
I moved my hair out of my eyes, searching for the other voice I had heard, only to stop and stare.
Sitting in front of Maya, his blue armor divested beside him, was Senju fucking Tobirama.
When Maya (as good as a name as any other) had first awoken in the library mindscape, not that she had known it was a mindscape, her first thought was that it was to be her purgatory. Only later had she realized that she was in another world, a world of ninjas with a sheer disregard for the laws of physics, and that her soul was inhabiting a body whose psyche was split into two. She, apparently, was the inner persona, a personal devil on the shoulder, so to speak.
Years had passed as she waited for the outer persona to regain her memories, boredom driving her up the walls. Her only companion had been the literal God of Death, who only dropped by occasionally. Boy, had she been surprised when the Shinigami had first manifested themselves into the mindscape.
When the God of Death had explained to her about the whole situation, she had just nodded her head and accepted the task. She was not unfamiliar with doing her duty for the greater good, even if she felt like scraping her skin raw sometimes. Though, she could hardly do anything until her other half had regained her memories.
As the years passed, she had become more aware of the outside world, as experienced by her outer self. Over time she could almost feel as if she was actually on the physical plane. She had also gotten very good at creating and manipulating things inside the mindscape, and had also managed to erect some rather sturdy mental walls for protection, which seemed prudent as she distinctly recalled there being actual mind-readers in this new world. Overall, her existence seemed pretty idyllic, with not much to do. She was satisfied with it, at least until her other self-managed to regain her memories. Then, she became rather entertained by the antics of her counterpart, especially when her age affected her behavior.
The day after her counterpart had regained her memories, she was just as curious when they were led to the hospital to check their chakra. In all her time being in this mindscape, and this world, she had not seen a hint of anything remotely resembling chakra.
When the Hyuuga had struck at her Gates, a part of her noticed a new door appearing on the far side of the entrance. However, the rest of her was preoccupied with the pain she could suddenly feel echoing down to her from the outside. She was alarmed by this, as she had to be concentrating rather hard to be able to sense anything on the physical plane.
When the mindscape began shaking, and cracks started appearing on the walls and windows, she started panicking. As quickly as she could, she threw up mental blocks along the bond with her outer self. Then, she began the task of repairing the walls of the mindscape, which seemed impossible, as cracks kept forming faster than she could repair.
Suddenly, everything stopped. Heaving a sigh of relief, she reconstructed the library, and reset everything, adding new mental walls to prevent this from happening again. Only then did Maya let herself wonder at what caused such pain. The last thing she remembered before the pain was the Hyuuga iryo-nin doing something to their chakra. I hope there was no irreparable harm done to our chakra system.
Slowly, she took down the blocks she had put between her and the outer self. As she got closer to the outside world, she began getting echoes of what her counterpart was feeling, sensing. Alarmed, she immediately threw the blocks back up, and retreated to the mindscape.
This body was a sensor, she realized. And that her outer self had gotten lost in her senses.
And I can't do anything from here, she almost screamed out loud feeling helpless as she had never before.
She wouldn't be able to bring Sakura back into her mind, not when she would be lost as well if she reached out to her. She needed to rely on the people in the physical world, trusting them to fix this. She felt the urge to destroy something, and manifested a few ceramic vases she then hurled at the wall.
Her chest heaving, she panted as she stared at the mass of shards littering the base of the wall. Then she remembered something.
You shall be able to summon any spirit who has passed onto the pure lands. The Shinigami's voice echoed through her mind.
She hoped the dead could be summoned in the mindscape, even if it was a mental plane, than a physical one.
Shinigami-sama, I wish to speak with the spirit of Senju Tobirama, she prayed, hoping without hope.
She chose the Nidaime Hokage because he was a sensor, too, and rumored to be the strongest one.
A throat cleared behind her.
She spun around, heart in her mouth, and a breath whooshed out as she took in the apparition in front of her.
Clad in his distinctive blue armor and fur ruff, Senju Tobirama crossed his arms and gave her a cold glare from under his happuri.
"Who are you? Why am I here?" he demanded in a rumbling voice.
The sheer presence of the man in front of her, who was looking disturbingly too corporeal, raised the hair on the back of her neck.
Gathering her courage, for she needed it when those cold eyes trained their calculating gaze on her, Maya replied, "I summoned you here because I need your help. This place is my mindscape. I am the mental manifestation of one part of a split psyche. My counterpart is a sensor and she is lost in her senses."
Some of the hostility seemed to fade from his face. "How have you summoned me here? I clearly remember dying, but this is not Edo Tensei," The Nidaime asked, his keen gaze observing the library.
"No, this is not Edo Tensei. We were given a boon by Shinigami-sama. And you don't need to worry, we are Konoha citizens."
"Interesting," He mused, losing some tension noticeably at her statement that she was from Konoha. "However, if your counterpart is lost to her chakra sense, there is nothing I can do from here. To draw a sensor out of a chakra trance, you need a physical presence, as well as living chakra. I assume this is purely a mental dimension?"
"Yes," She said, a bit of frustration slipping into her tone. "So, there is nothing I can do?"
"No, I'm afraid you can't," He replied, sounding faintly sympathetic.
She cursed.
The Senju's eyes widened at her colorful vocabulary. His face softened a bit, looking slightly nostalgic.
"Okay," She said, raking her hand through her hair in frustration, "Fine. But then, will you- "
The rest of her statement was cut off by the sound of a crash somewhere near the windows. Startled, she rushed to the spot, absently noticing the white-haired man following her.
She saw the pink hair, and swore, dropping to her knees beside her counterpart's prone body. Her panic made her helplessly flit her hands above Sakura's body.
"Here, let me." Tobirama knelt on Sakura's other side, and deftly checked her pulse and eyes. "She's merely asleep. Her pulse indicates she is no longer in a fugue state."
Relieved, she sat back on her haunches. Thinking quickly, she conjured up a futon and lifted the twelve-year-old into her arms.
Setting her counterpart down to rest comfortably, she sighed and brushed some pink strands away from the young face. She noticed the younger girl visibly relaxing at her touch, so she sat down, and carefully set Sakura's head on her lap.
A clanking noise drew her eyes up to the man she had momentarily forgotten about.
"You can remove your armor if you want. It does not look comfortable, and it's not as if anyone will attack you here, not that we could," She pointed out.
"Comfort is not a factor for me," He replied, but started taking it off.
"How is it that I am corporeal here? I presumed that only my spirit had been summoned, not my body," He questioned as he sat down as well, dropping his armor on his side.
Maya hummed, "I think it's because this is a purely mental plane, not a physical one. Everything is as solid as you want to be. I doubt you will be able to change the mindscape as I can, but otherwise, it's as if your body was here as well."
Tobirama made a sound of acknowledgement, his eyes trained on the younger girl. "How is that she is an adolescent, while you seem to be an adult?" He asked.
She narrowed her eyes, debating whether to tell him the truth or not. She decided to tell him part of it, to make him more amenable to helping her younger self.
"I, we, remember our past life. My outer persona only gained her memories yesterday, but I was fully aware from birth of our reincarnation."
"Fascinating. This implies that the number of souls are finite, and that the Wheel of Life is an actuality."
The intrigue in his voice made her smile. It was always nice to meet a fellow scholar, even if both of them hadn't been able to pursue it fully in their lives.
"I concur. However, the existence of the Pure Lands, as well as your own Edo Tensei brings up an interesting paradox," She replied, honestly interested in the topic.
However, a snuffling sound from her lap brought her attention back to the pink-haired girl sleeping there. Maya carded her fingers through the coral locks.
"What's her name? And what's yours, I forgot to ask," Tobirama asked, somewhat contritely.
You may call me Maya. Our name in this life is Haruno Sakura."
"Well met, Maya-san," He greeted, inclining his head a little.
"It's an honor to meet you, Senju-sama," She bowed back.
"I wish to inquire, your apparent differences to your other self, is it because the separation happened at birth, or something else?"
"This was my appearance in my previous life. She is how our physical body looks currently. I am more like the person I was in my previous life, while she is influenced by her life in this one."
"You were not a shinobi in your previous life, I assume, Maya-san?"
She inclined her head. "You would be correct. I would be classified as a civilian in Konoha," She replied, keeping the fact that she was from a different dimension a secret.
His eyes sharpened. "But you would not be classified as one where you lived before," He said shrewdly.
A humorless smile slid onto her face, as she thought back to her old job.
"No, I would not," She agreed.
He tactfully changed the topic, sensing correctly that it was a minefield of a subject.
Tobirama gestured towards the girl in her lap. "Natural chakra sensors, like her, are usually identified from a very young age. Why only now did this happen?" He asked, brow slightly furrowed.
"I don't have a definite answer, but the Hyuuga medic who scanned us did say that our chakra system was a bit disconnected from our CNS. Perhaps the body was just not able to access the chakra sense."
"It makes sense. Perhaps the presence of a split psyche blocked out that part of your senses. Purely out of self-defense, I imagine."
"So now, what do I do? How will she go back to normal, if her senses render her catatonic every time?"
"Most sensors, natural or otherwise, usually have a few touchstones that act as foci to avoid getting lost in their senses. I had Hashirama, his chakra usually drowned out everything else, just by sheer volume. However, most sensors start with their range extremely limited. Her sensory skills, on the other hand, have had years to strengthen, even if she could not feel it," the Nidaime lectured. "I had theorized that the best touchstones for a sensor would be ones who had the opposite chakra affinities, given that my cousin could anchor me almost well as my brother, even if her reserves were much smaller that his. Touka had a fire affinity to my water, which made it easier for me to sense. I had wanted to do more research into it, to study chakra resonance and whether familiarity with a particular chakra would be more useful. However, my duties as the Hokage made it nigh impossible," He explained, grimacing slightly.
Maya was a bit surprised. She had thought the man to be a lot more stoic, but he had been unusually expressive.
Not wanting to bring attention to it in case he took offense, she queried, "How did you deal with the immense amount of input? You are widely regarded as the strongest sensor ever, so your range must have been enormous."
Tobirama tapped the red mark on his chin with a finger, and stated, "The marks on my face are not for adornment. They are seals which filter and amplify my sensory abilities. With them, I was able to focus on particular signatures, as well as extend my range without getting overwhelmed."
"So with chakra filtering seals, how long will it take her to adjust to the sensory input?" Maya asked.
"By my calculations, assuming that chakra filters are placed on her, she will require a few days to familiarize herself with the sensory input. Actively using her senses will take a few weeks. I hope Konoha still has a few competent fuuinjutsu users, if not masters." Tobirama answered.
A sound made her look down to her other self, and found her waking up.
As the young girl opened her eyes, a wave of relief crashed through her and she smiled, "How are you feeling, darling?"
"Better now," Sakura answered. She struggled to get up, Maya helping her sit up, and looked around and her eyes found the Nidaime's.
Maya thought it was hilarious the way her counterpart froze up, like a mouse before a cat.
A/N: Please Review!