Sorry for the late update, but the next chapter will be up VERY SOON. By the way, kunoichi is the Japanese word for female ninja. I'll add that to the vital Naruto Japanese chapter later.
IMPORTANT:Oh, for the previous chapter, I forgot to mention something. All the stuff about the viewing range and chakra requirements about the Hokage's crystal ball is pure speculation. I don't even know if it's a CRYSTAL ball, it could be plastic for all we know. I have no idea how one would use it or if one can really locate people with it. Heck, maybe it's even like a palantir in Lord of the Rings and you can use it like instant messenger, but Kishimoto-sama (the author of NARUTO) never explained it fully so I just theorized its uses. If you don't like my theory, tough. I'm not gonna change it to whatever your narrow mind thinks is a better one. *maniacal laughter*
Oh yeah. I suppose I should mention that this insanity is set before the Chuunin Exams. Um. Yeah. Before the Hokage--
**SPOILER ALERT**
WAAAAAAAAHH!!!! STUPID STUPID OROCHIMARU!! (still in denial) That's the SECOND nice character that's been killed off!!! (still in mourning for Hayate)
*END SPOILER ALERT*
"As for the small space, sorry," the girl spoke up from behind a copy of The Handy Pocket-size Japanese-English English-Japanese Dictionary. She squinted at the small print and continued. "It's just my mother and I living here only so..."
They were all in her small living room, with Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura sitting on the couch and Kakashi leaning against a wall. Sakura was in the middle of the two boys, looking like she was torn between feeling happiness at the closeness of Sasuke or disappointment at the closeness of Naruto. The girl herself was perched daintily on the arm of a wooden chair, and had made tea for them all even though they never really answered her earlier inquirement about whether they would like some tea or not.
"I would show you around, but the room of mine is kind of messy. Well, um, actually, most of the rooms are kind of messy," she admitted a little embarassedly.
Her confession was met with a slight chuckle from Kakashi, apparently amused. She hoped it wasn't at her rather frail attempt at speaking their language.
"It's quite alright really, we're grateful enough that you invited us to your lovely--er, your house," Sakura said politely.
The girl nodded welcome to the younger pink-haired ninja, but couldn't help wonder what the kunoichi was really thinking. After running a few possible answers through her head, she decided she would rather remain ignorant.
"Well...um..." she started again hesitantly, thinking that her Japanese teacher would be outraged to know that she had forgotten nearly all the Japanese she'd learned in three years within the first two weeks of summer break. Well, perhaps it could be attributed to the shock she recieved when she encountered the Konoha ninjas in her local laundry center, but knowing her sensei, no matter what reason she supplied her sensei would throw so many words of lecture at her she would eventually collapse from the sheer weight of them. "I'm...sure that you all have many, uh" --she paused and rapidly flipped through her Japanese-English English-Japanese dictionary-- "I'm sure that you all have many questions and concerns, but I'm afraid that--"
Ring! Ring!! Brrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiinngggggggggg!!!!
She was rudely cut off by the phone. "Excuse me a moment," she muttered before starting her mad scramble to find the phone. After a few moments Naruto, Sasuke and Naruto got up frorm the couch to aid her in her search.
After some chaos and confusion, they finally located it in a pot in one of the kitchen cabinets. Whatever in Hell's name made me leave it there??!!! She thought unbelievingly. Oh. Wait. I must have been about to make soup when someone called and distracted me. At least I didn't put the pot on the stove and heat it... She snatched up the phone and answered it, avoiding the others' gazes. "Hello?" she answered breathlessly, switching abruptly into English. "Oh."
It was her mother, calling to say that the boss had announced he was leaving as rumor reported, and all the employees had to stay for a late-night farewell party. From her experience, those kind of affairs were likely to last until one o'clock in the morning, with the result of everyone being drunk or near drunk, with the boss being most drunk, and everyone trying not to collapse or vomit on each other.
She despised employers who were inconsiderate like that and never gave prewarnings for their ego-inflating banquets, but tonight it worked to her advantage. "Mother..." she fished around quickly for a plausible excuse. "I um, ran into some of my Japanese friends from the student exchange program two months ago, they're here this summer with their family on vacation. Is is alright if they stay for the night? ....Okay. Yeah, I'll clean up the house when they leave. Uh-huh. Okay. Bye."
Beep. She turned off the cordless phone, setting it back into its cradle, and turned to eye her guests thoughtfully. Judging from their knowledge of what the ringing meant and their casual indifference towards her phone call, she concluded that they must have similar technology back in their own dimension. Back in their own dimension...
She stared at them, uncertainty clouding her features. Unbeknownst to her other-worldly guests, beneath her seemingly innocently-worried face lay a turmoil of dark thoughts.
What brought them here? How did they get here? And more importantly, why were they here?
With all that asked, it wasn't even the answers she feared. It was the consequences.
Their presence here alone had realized the wildest of her dreams, and if her wildest dreams had come true, then the world was in a perilous state indeed.
Especially if the one about Jiraiya dancing naked became involved.
...Particularly if the one about Jiraiya dancing naked became involved.
Civilized planet or no, she didn't think her world would be able to handle that one.
Shuddering, she quickly shook her head to clear away that unpleasant thought. The consequences! She thought furiously. I have to think about the consequences!!
...Instead of thinking about how cool Kakashi and how cute Sasuke and Naruto are looking, more so now that you're seeing them in person? a tiny of unable-to-be-ignored-voice in her mind asked. Stop it, she told herself forcefully. She wasn't a pedophile, neither was she one of those people obsessed with having a relationship with someone old enough to be their parent, and she didn't plan on becoming either.
It was to be admitted, however, that both options seemed extremely tempting right now.
"Is anything wrong?" The speaker was, of course, Kakashi. The tall gray-haired Jounin was probably the only one in the room observant enough to have noticecd her unease and to actually say something about it, as opposed to Sasuke, who was the second likeliest to have noticed but probably wouldn't have said anything even if he did.
She opened her mouth, about to give a lie, then abruptly shut it. She didn't want to to lie to these people before her, even under the most dire circumstances.
She stared in silence at the floor tiles for a few moments before finally answering.
The implications that a group of people had crossed over dimensions that should have remained seperate......it was a dangerous subject. She wasn't even sure if they even knew about theories concerning parallel planes and alternate universes, but if they didn't, they'd have to.
Taking a deep breath, she finally spoke. "To continue what I tried to say earlier, I know that you must have a lot of questions for me, but I'm afraid that before that, there are some questions that I must ask you."
A/N: Note:: From now on this story will be taking on a slightly more serious edge, as I intended to in the first place, though for certain I will still lack the self-restraint to prevent myself from throwing in the occasional sarcasm and bits of humor into it. Hope you'll still enjoy it. Please give me a review?