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Hi there! Welcome!
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Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong me, otherwise NejiTen would be canon.
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Enjoy.
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Chapter 1. How it began
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It had begun.
She knew what, but she didn't know exactly how or where, she just knew that it had begun. Humanity had always thought that an invasion of the planet would happen sooner or later, there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of movies dealing with the subject. Each movie dealt with a different type of alien, a different type of invasion, yet all agreed that mankind would unite to fight and emerge victorious.
Humanity was more powerful than any other species in the universe. And yet, no one could tell the precise moment it had begun.
No one had figured out at what exact moment it had all exactly started, by the time they figured it out they were already ahead of them and the odds seemed to be starting to tilt towards the unknowns. But that never meant they would go down without a fight, or so Rasa Sabaku, her father, repeated over and over again.
She arranged a lock of her blonde hair as she thought about the fact that she didn't know anything else about it, or not very specifically. Her father was a high ranking military man who much of her life had trained her and Kankuro for a possible war between nations. That without knowing that the war would be with an invading species and not between countries. So despite being barely 17 she knew how to follow tracks, how to survive in the forest, how to defend herself in a fight and how to use a gun, even though she had never needed to fire one.
But with each passing day, week and month she knew that humans were getting fewer and fewer. Or pure humans, if such a definition could ever be used. That was the main reason why the enemy had gained so much ground before being discovered and they began to try to repel them.
The movies had shown many types of aliens, of multiple colors, shapes and sizes. But none of them looked like that, nor did the method of invasion they had employed, no one knew exactly what they looked like. What they did know was that the enemies looked just like humans, physically there was no visible change, beyond a slight silver halo in the iris, surrounding the pupil and sometimes unnoticed depending on light conditions.
Initial speculation was that they took the form of the human they were replacing, but her father told her that after grabbing a couple of prisoners they discovered that this wasn't the case. Yura, a lifelong neighbor and partner in the same military command as her father, was replaced by the invaders and in his place was no longer an ill-tempered man of few words but a something that was kind and had even offered freshly baked cookies to her and her brothers with a smile.
Her father had captured him, had made the first move before they were the next to be killed and replaced by a smiling version. That was the day that at least her father, and the team he led, discovered that it wasn't that they replaced the human with a being of the same form.
The man they had caught was Yura entirely, all the scars from the wars of the past were still on his body, the tattoos made in his youth which ink was already faded by the passage of time were there imprinted on his skin. There was no physical change in the man beyond the silver halo in his eyes.
It was the same body, but they changed his brain, or something like that. It was something they put into the humans' heads that changed them completely. But there was also no wound or mark to reveal that their heads had been cut open, only a small scar on the back of the neck that could easily be hidden with a shirt collar or covered with hair.
That was why it was so difficult to discover them from the beginning and to have realized what was happening, to notice that the decrease in crimes, threats of war and deaths from hunger or malnutrition weren't because mankind had magically decided to think of others.
Surely those were the first signs that the end of humanity had begun.
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She exhaled heavily as she checked the phone in her hands, waiting in exasperation as she cursed for her brother to arrive at the dwelling before her father gave her any instructions. The new way they were living wasn't pleasant and clearly took some adjusting to, but Kankuro was taking it the worst. Now she snorted somewhat annoyed, he had a right to be a whimsical 15 year-old teenager, but she didn't.
She startled momentarily as she heard the distant beeping of the microwave announcing that her dinner was ready. She tucked her cell phone in the back pocket of her pants and walked to the kitchenette to grab her food.
"Eat your dinner," she ordered as she passed by her younger brother, who was just stirring everything with his fork and gave no sign of having heard her, "Gaara, I'm talking to you."
"I heard you, Temari," was the answer without seeing her, "this food is disgusting."
"It's food," she answered trying not to breathe the smell that emitted from her dinner, because she definitely agreed with the redhead, it was disgusting, "and it's better than going hungry, eat it."
"When will our father return?"
"He hasn't written since yesterday," was the only thing she could say with certainty.
After sitting down she stuffed as much food as she could into her mouth to chew quickly without savoring. Their diet alternated between instant food, canned food and rations of the special food given to the military, it didn't matter which one they chose, it was all horrible.
"Do you have your backpack ready?" Apparently they had been in that shelter for too long and it had been compromised, so they had to be ready to evacuate at any moment.
"It's not like I have much to pack," mumbled the red-haired, moving his fork from side to side again.
Sometimes she didn't know what to think of her younger brother's attitude, it was almost a bad combination between her and her other brother. The problem was that he was barely 8 years old and didn't understand things the way she and Kankuro did, or well, she.
Their mother had died from a complication in childbirth, and for the first few years it had been their uncle who used to spend time at home to accompany them and keep an eye on the baby, teaching her how to change his diaper and be attentive to his needs. Because it was almost hatred what her father's eyes showed every time he saw the red-haired boy, barely paying attention to him and never leaving his work aside.
Then when the "trainings" he subjected her and Kankuro began, her younger brother was never included in them. But she had to be honest, that wasn't because of her father's disdain for the child, the reality was that it was impossible to take him with them because at that time Gaara was barely 3 years old.
Their uncle was also a military man, although he was dedicated to the medical side, that's why when the situation for humanity became critical and the troops were called to gather, he had to leave them. And it fell to her as the older sister to take responsibility for the house and her brothers. To be the one to tuck Gaara in at night when he said he was scared because there was no adult with them, or to scold Kankuro for wanting to do what he wanted and not taking the precautions their father said, at least there were no dirty diapers to clean anymore.
"Kankuro!" there was relief in her voice to see that her brother had finally returned.
The black-haired had said that he was going to go out and look for a neighbor who wasn't possessed, maybe a clandestine party where there were people of his age. He didn't care how much she scolded him and told him it was a bad idea, not even when she reminded him that their father had given them the order to stay inside the small, hidden dwelling that was their refuge.
She couldn't scream it out before he left, the horrible creatures that now occupied the human bodies were too calm and peaceful, so the screams would immediately make them realize that they were still pure and take them away to replace them, or invade them, or whatever they did.
"Is Rasa back already?" her brother paused for a moment as thinking, and she tilted her head, "is dad back yet?" she was silent for a second having found the question strange, especially since neither of them ever referred to their father as dad or by his name. The man had been in the military all his life and except for his mother when she was alive, no one was allowed to talk to him with excessive confidence or in a disrespectful way.
"No."
"Did he say where he is?" she frowned before denying, not knowing exactly why she suddenly felt goosebumps rising on her skin, "what was the last place he reported?"
"You know 'daddy' doesn't trust anyone to tell them that," she had expected a reaction from her brother to the way she referred to the man, but he didn't even blink.
Pretending that everything was fine she got up to throw down the empty tray of her food, standing almost at the exit of the small kitchenette which was the maximum distance she could put between them without it looking like something out of place.
"Gaara, go to your room."
"Why?" mumbled the younger still without seeing her, "I'm eating."
"Don't lie," she didn't want to let her tone sound different, "you've been stirring the content of that plate for 10 minutes," finally the redhead made eye contact and she tried to look as serious as possible, "go to your room, now."
"I don't have a room," it was a hiss and she didn't want to roll her eyes.
No, of course he didn't have a room for him like before. The dwelling barely had 1 room in which there were 2 bunk beds for the 4 of them, counting when their father was there, but it wasn't the time for those technicalities nor for his rebellion.
"Why do you want him to leave?" Kankuro's voice seemed disinterested as he moved closer to the counter and seemed to be looking for something, "he's not doing anything."
"Because it's already his bedtime," she lied, increasingly exasperated because the redhead seemed oblivious to everything. Her breathing was quickening as she retreated as slowly as she could back to the bureau where there was a flashlight.
"Sis, can you show me the last messages that dad sent you?" she slyly grabbed the object she was looking for and said nothing, holding it firmly in her hand so it wouldn't slip out, "I think it's important that we know where he is in case we have to go to him."
"He hasn't written for several days," she lied again, "besides you know he never gives me his exact location," the tattoo on her forearm burned for a second, almost like the day her father had done it and she could only be thankful she had always obeyed him in hiding it from everyone, "Gaara, come here," the youngest hadn't moved so she tried to make her voice as sweet as possible, which didn't sound natural to her at all.
"What?"
"Just... come here," she extended her hand, grateful that her pulse hadn't trembled, the red-haired reluctantly stood up.
It was only a few steps so as soon as she had him within reach she grabbed him by the shirt to pull him behind her and raised the other arm with the flashlight, turning it on. Having to hold back her gasp of surprise and horror at the sight of the silver halo that seemed to glow in her brother's dark orbs, which were fixed on them.
"No..."
"Temari," she didn't know what to do, she had nothing to attack beyond the flashlight in her hands that trembled at the overwhelming truth, "Temari!" she could try to attack him, her father had trained her, but he had also trained her brother and despite being younger than her he was heavier and just as tall, "I'm sorry, Temari," it was then that she saw that he was holding a huge knife, to that he had gone to the countertop.
"I told you not to go outside," she mumbled, starting to back away with Gaara still hiding behind her, "why don't you ever obey me?!" it was almost a desperate shriek.
"It's horrible, Temari," he didn't wait for an answer before continuing speaking, "tell our father that it's impossible to fight, once they get inside you, you lose your will completely. They dominate every limb of your body, they are in your brain and they will know everything you know... it's... they manage you as if you were a simple puppet."
"Kankuro?" she questioned confused when she saw that the knife wasn't pointed at her but at his own throat.
"I can't win, it's stronger than me and at any moment it will regain control of my body," Gaara's head tried to peek out from behind her, but she prevented him, "don't call anyone or try to save me, just run away from here immediately or they'll invade you as well."
"What are you going to do?" the flashlight came loose from her hands, making a thud and rolling on the ground but she didn't care where it went, her eyes were riveted on her brother's hand, she knew very well what he was planning, "we'll figure it out, Kankuro, you don't have to..." she wanted to mediate.
"No, Temari..." he interrupted her, "I'm sorry... I should have obeyed you..." the time had stopped completely, "don't forget, don't let them catch you alive."
"NO!" she didn't care about the attention her scream might have attracted, it was her automatic reaction to seeing the knife sliding too easily across her brother's throat and the blood starting to gush, "Kankuro, no!"
She approached her brother's slumped body, sitting down on the ground not caring about getting blood all over herself as she pulled him up enough and put his head in her lap. Trying in vain to stop the flow of blood with her hands, but all too quickly she felt him lose consciousness, either that or she was unaware of the time passing around her as she watched her brother's unresponsive face.
Their father had explained to them the minutes it took for a body to bleed out depending on the vein that was cut or the amount of blood that was being lost per second. At the moment he was just passed out, if she called 911 they might be able to reach in time to save him, maybe if she put a piece of cloth to make pressure and slow down the blood that gushed without stopping, maybe one of those beings could... No! it was her common sense that cried out to bring her back to her senses.
If the enemy reached that dwelling Kankuro would be saved, it was very likely, but then Gaara and she would be lost. So ignoring the fact that her eyes felt wet, she decided that she had to be practical, she had to focus on surviving and protecting them. She remembered about Yura's scar, so she checked her brother's neck to see that it was there.
She would say it was a horrible scar, but the reality was that the wound looked completely healed, not as if it was something recent but as if he had had it all his life, but she knew better. She knew Kankuro and knew that her brother had never had such a scar and that was the only physical evidence left by the enemy's presence. That and the gleam in his eyes.
She could see the flashlight in the middle of the puddle she was sitting in, she had already stopped applying pressure to stop the flow of blood, so she reached out to take it and turned it on, opening with one hand one of Kankuro's eyes to illuminate it, corroborating that the silver halo was still there without any alteration, it was still not her brother whom she had in her lap. It was then that she remembered that she wasn't alone and looked up to see the red-haired with his turquoise eyes fixed on them, not moving and probably not understanding one iota of what was going on.
"We have to pack food," the little boy didn't see her, "Gaara!" she claimed, "go to the room and pack all the food you can."
"We need to call someone, it's..."
"We must leave immediately, pack the food while I change my clothes," the youngest didn't move, "now!" it was almost a scream, she couldn't collapse at that moment, she couldn't allow herself to be trapped too.
Reluctantly she watched him go to the room, so she ran to the bathroom to wash her hands, taking off her clothes full of blood. Even if they weren't in a life or death situation, a person covered in blood drew attention anywhere. She cursed under her breath as her clothes were soaked through, and seeing her phone in the back pocket of her phone had soaked through with blood. But she couldn't do much about it at the moment, she just put on some clean clothes and went to the room to get her backpack.
They didn't have much time, she didn't know if those things communicated with each other in any way and they knew there was one on the verge of death. She picked up the bag with the food that Gaara had just packed because it was too heavy for the younger one to carry. She couldn't take a minute of silence or say goodbye, the only reasonable thing to do was to make sure the red-haired boy had a good grip on his bag, after doing so she took him by the hand to leave the place.
They walked through several of the alleys between the houses that her father had forced her to memorize, walking with quick steps, barely looking back out of the corner of her eye to be sure that no one saw them or was following them, they had to be as far away as possible from that place by the time the others arrived, and by the time the sun rose.
They got into an abandoned building as dawn was breaking, Gaara had been completely silent the whole way, not even complaining because they had only stopped for a few minutes to catch their breath before continuing on, spending the whole night awake. As soon as she was sure that there was no one else in the place and that they were well hidden, she collapsed on the ground, she was exhausted.
"Temari..." she didn't want to answer, she knew that the redhead was going to ask her about what had happened with Kankuro, he was going to ask for an explanation that she didn't have either.
"We must rest, in the night we will continue to move forward..." there was silence for a few minutes, in which she looked for her phone again and cursed under her breath when she saw that it felt sticky and it didn't work.
"Temari, what are we going to do?"
"I know another hideout, but it's secluded... it will take us at least a couple of days moving non-stop every night... at that place..." she wanted to say that in that place they would be able to contact their father, but she knew it was impossible.
Maybe if she had some luck in a couple of days when the blood dried up completely the device would work again... but if her father had written to her during the time it wasn't working and got no response, he would never write or answer her again. Her father had been emphatic in telling her that she should always have that phone with her and working, as well as always be on the lookout to answer within the time limit he had given her. Even if she knew the number, the man wouldn't answer to anyone else, he would even destroy the line before risking a leak of information.
"Don't worry," she said trying to sound confident, even smiling in the haughty way she usually did, "I'll keep you safe," that wasn't a lie, she extended her pinky finger to him and the redhead did the same to link it, "I promise I'll never let anything happen to you," they both smiled before separating their fingers after the promise made, proceeding to lay down on the hard floor to sleep.
She wasn't lying, she was going to avoid at all costs that the same thing that happened to Kankuro would happen to Gaara. She couldn't lose another brother, much less that little boy she had cared for since he was a baby.
She was going to protect him even if it cost her her own life.
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Welcome to a new craziness!
My inspiration is very volatile and sometimes comes up with ideas out of nowhere. Just that happened to me this time, I was checking a Telegram channel where they share books and they just passed this book, for some reason when I saw the cover what my head said all at once was: What if we make a NejiTen adaptation of this story?
I talked about it with another author (thanks TiyanaP for the patience and advice) and after rereading the book we realized that the adaptation wasn't suitable for a NejiTen, or not as the main couple, so the next thing was to look for a couple that I liked, that I felt comfortable writing with and that it could fit. Plus since I wrote Darning I owe the world a ShikaTema.
But, I'm going to take a step back and explain, what is this new craze? Well, it's a semi-adaptation of the book "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer. It's a book (they also made a movie) whose subject I love, and I think I'll be able to accommodate it very well to the characters I chose.
I want to make it very clear: This is not an adaptation in the sense that I took the book and only replaced the names of the characters leaving the dialogues and everything else the same, no (and I won't say the name with which this kind of "adaptations" are known). It's a semi-adaptation because it's a fanfic that will be set within that universe, with the description and lore that was created by Stephenie, although I will add a couple of details over there as my story needs. Maybe the plot will have some similar points, but I'm not looking to be a copy of the original work.
I would say something like with my story in the Harry Potter universe (it's on pause) in which there is magic, spells and everything that the author created previously, and that NejiTen doesn't seek to say that any of them is the new chosen child or make a fight with Voldemort. It's just a story that happens in the same world... well, that's what this will be.
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Haven't you read the book or seen the movie or don't even know what I'm talking about? Don't worry! As the story unfolds I will explain the universe in which everything is taking place, I want to play a little also first with Temari's limitations of not fully understanding what's going on around her before I can explain more in depth.
For now the clarifications are: It's a current AU (modern day technology and such), although the cities and towns will have Naruto's names (Suna, Konoha, Iwa, etc). It will be a longfic ShikaTema and will later include NejiTen.
And well, it would make me very happy if you give this new craze a chance, also if you tell me your opinions/comments/theories about it.
Thanks for reading!
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Best regards,
Sally K