A/N: I didn't start this until... 10/01/04 at 11PM. It is currently 10/02/04 11:25PM. Extremely crappy quality especially in Alter-verse and there are strange time jumps in Kishimoto-verse... I am so sorry about this chapter but it was really rushed and I have so much homework that I only get about 5-6 hours of sleep per night. I still have a lot of work I haven't done yet and I only have about... 30 hours before 7:30am Monday. I'll eventually come back to edit this chapter.

Warning: Plotting, angst, OOCness, Slash, soap opera-ish

Title: Realities Away
By: Sukiame
Entry: 06 – Well... This Never Happened Before

Alter-verse

In the dark setting of the kitchen table, Naruto sat hunched over a set of detailed blueprints with an almost maniacal look of glee on his face while his face wrinkled giving him a fairly sadistic look that would have been called the face of a plotting antagonist had it been fictional. But it wasn't and moments of scribbling and hysterical laughing made Neji wonder whether he should disturb the boy.

Naruto had not slept for days and running on nothing but caffeine and ramen. He poured his heart and soul into making those plans and even spilt blood, though Neji's visiting cousin Hinata claimed that Neji had provoked Naruto; something which Neji completely disagreed on considering that he brought in a tray of cookies and milk while telling Naruto to eat. The blonde having taken the Hyuuga boy seriously, broke skin and Neji had to nurse his right hand. Though the causes of it could have been stress and exhaustion, Neji still believed it was Naruto's fault.

But another part suggested that Hinata might have put Naruto up to it considering he never tried to eat her hand when she tried to get him to eat. But he was willing to put the pain aside for the sake of their friendship and because he had not seen Naruto for the last two days, he didn't want to leave the boy to his own devices. Whatever the blonde was plotting was bound to not have a good outcome and not wanting him to get into too much trouble (knowing that he'll have to clean up the mess), Neji wanted to make sure that everything Naruto will do won't result in something illegal.

"Naruto, are you still alive?" Neji inquired.

As if he did not hear the long haired boy, Naruto continued muttering to himself, "-then he'll get lost in the mountains still handcuffed to Ino. Then fall into this 5 meter hole filled with chickens-"

Neji shook his head while he wondered whether Naruto had gone crazy. He heard occational rambling spilling from the boy's mouth but then it lapsed into the familiar silence. Neji's slippers created a soft pat on the tiled floor of what was a clean kitchen till Hurrican Naruto hit it and walked passed the hunched teen to the white refrigerator. He wrapped a hand around the handle and pulled the door open only to be hit with a cold rush of air.

Glancing at the contents he wondered what to get. There really weren't many choices and gave a mental note to go grocery shopping soon or die from starvation. He selected a can of coffee and pulled it out. Giving the can a shake, he popped the top and began to pour the deliciously sweet and bitter liquid down his throat.

Casting one more look at the blonde who looked oblivious to the world he left the kitchen in desire to watch the news or do something productive. But he was highly disappointed to find that his cousin was already in control of the television and she did not look like she was going to give the remote to him nor did she look like she would willingly give up her spot on his side of the couch.

"I think Naruto wants to talk to you," Neji said as he sat on the other end of the beige leather couch in hopes that she'll get up and leave the remote behind.

"And I think cows can fly and dishes can run but I don't see that happening either," Hinata said idly as she changed the channel from the uninteresting game show to an anime program. She knew this game and she was not about to let Neji have the remote since she never gets to watch what she wanted for the plain fact that he somehow always had the remote control before she did. Hinata thought that he hid it, and it was very likely that he did. He just never told her where it was so she had to search or wait for an opportunity to snatch it.

Now that she had the remote she was not about to give up the privilege.

"Is that sarcasm from shy, helpless Hinata-sama?" Neji asked in obviously feigned surprise.

"Aren't we the cynical one," Hinata replied pushing flipping the channel to music videos.

"I should just tell Naruto you still wet your bed till you were five."

"And I should show him the pictures I have of you dressed as a woman."

"I thought you burned those."

"Only in your dreams, Neji-niisan."

Other than that and the vicious snarling from the kitchen, the next several days were fairly quiet.

-

While elsewhere, at the Uchiha household, Sasuke was coming down with a very random case of allergies. There was a lot of sneezing and occasional chills that caused Sasuke to do little than to complete a few sentences followed by a sneeze.

"I don't understand... I've never been allergic to anything before," Sasuke muttered grumpily having lost sleep from sneezing all night. He pulled a wooden chair out at the dining table and sat on the plush while he tried in vain to eat dinner.

Across from him sat Itachi who was reading a book on art history and value.

Sasuke shoveled rice into his mouth and chewed letting the sweet taste of it dance in his mouth. And then he sneezed, but having successfully swallowed half the rice in his mouth while choking on the other half.

Itachi looked up from his reading and stared Sasuke, who was spitting like a cat with a hairball, before commenting, "Someone really hates you," and then went back to his multitasking of eating, reading, and ignoring his younger brother's apparent problem.

"You know," Sasuke began after his coughing fit finally died and hopefully buried, "You could really be helpful and get a doctor to come take a look at me."

Itachi hummed before saying, "I could, couldn't I?"

"But you won't," Sasuke concluded bitterly, not quite sure of how much he should resent Itachi. He said the only thing he knew he actually felt towards the man, "I hate you."

But Itachi only smiled before he turned the page of his book.

-

Kishimoto-verse

Waiting at the North Gate for Naruto and Sasuke was a tall dark haired boy with an irritated frown and a smiling girl with navy blue hair tied lowly, both whom Sasuke did not recognize. The two looked similar in dress in what Sasuke assumed was probably uniform considering that both he and Naruto were wearing more or less the same thing. A dark teal almost olive green vest and a long sleeved dark blue shirt in accompaniment to dark pants of the same color.

"Good morning, Hinata; Shikamaru," Naruto sung in greeting as he waved enthusiastically next to Sasuke as they quickly approached the two waiting Ninja.

"Good morning," Hinata replied as she picked up the brown back pack that was lying by her feet. She glanced at Sasuke before she stood up and shouldered her light pack. She had not brought many weapons considering that she was the Medicinal Ninja but on the pouch strapped to her right thigh held a fair amount of weapons if necessary for use.

Pulling his own backpack up, Shikamaru quickly gave a brief outline of the mission which Sasuke found easy to comprehend but hard for him to actually understand all of it; but he nodded his head and intended to just climb over each obstacle as it came to him, which really shouldn't be that hard. They left the village within half an hour in the order which Shikamaru had given them.

In the front was supposed to be Sasuke while Shikamaru closed in behind him. Hinata came in after Shikamaru and Naruto brought up the rear.

An entire day went by with no specific occurrences that had much importance and then another. On the third day, there was a change in terrain as the paths grew narrower and the forestry thickened.

Sasuke was growing wary and his morale was quite low. If the others that he was "normal" before, then now he was just plain cranky. Naruto's optimistic mood further irritated the morose boy and the one dubbed Shikamaru did not help the situation by throwing the "Naruto is so troublesome" comment every few hours because it only made Naruto even more excited than he already was.

Then there was the Hinata girl who seemed not only to encourage Naruto's fervor but relished in Sasuke's annoyance. From the last three days, he had already gathered that Shikamaru was completely unmotivated to do anything and just wanted to complete the mission.

And Hinata... he did not even know how to describe the girl. She seemed to be the most responsible of the group but there were times when she said strange things that made him stop and think. Not that thinking was bad... but she spoke of things that were involved in her field of work and then of dancing fairies and vicious elves. Sasuke wondered... was she perhaps schizophrenic. She seemed the sanest and at times the maddest of them and if given the chance, she could probably match Naruto in passion for the mission.

She was a sort of enigma and even felt a bit omniscient to him.

-

Sasuke glanced at the retreating figure of the blonde's back before he glared angrily at the bushes that were lying at the side to the path, giving a border to where he walked. His heavy green vest kept him adequately warm but the unpleasant sense of being watched haunted him though he quickly waved it off as his imagination.

A soft voice alerted him as he turned to the navy haired girl who glided past him while her hair tied back in a loose ponytail that sashayed on her back almost like a taunting cat toy. "Something wrong, Sasuke-kun?"

"Why would anything be wrong?" Sasuke snapped in annoyance.

"Because Naruto-kun is supposed to come in last while you're in the front with Shikamaru-kun right behind you; however, it seems that Naruto-kun has passed the both of us. Of course I'm just stating my observations, there's no need to get snippy about it," Hinata said in an oddly complacent way, "Or... maybe you've never been in a ninja formation before?"

As if frozen, Sasuke took several quick steps to pass the Hyuuga girl and stiffly said, "I don't know what you're talking about, Hinata-san."

And he left it at that while Hinata trailed behind keeping watch for any type of movements.

-

The dark haired Uchiha boy hid in the bushes while he observed the other ninjas as he waited for Shikamaru's signal to go in and steal the scroll. Sasuke was miffed. And as he stared disinterestedly at the group of Ninja, his mind began to wander off to the upper orbits of the planet.

There were several factors that fueled his irritation and the first and foremost was that Naruto had said retrieve a scroll. In said it in singular, meaning only one. However, as soon as they had left Hidden Leaf Village, Shikamaru informed him that it was a set of scrolls. Set meant there was more than one. Second was that Naruto had tricked him into going on this so called "mission" by bringing Neji into the picture; He should have realized that Naruto was manipulating him but he didn't. That brings up reason four: Hinata knows. The only person who could have told Hinata would have been Neji and every time he thought of that person, an unpleasant taste of copper filled his mouth and Sasuke knew that it was not blood. And the final reason for his displeasure was that he had no idea what he was doing.

Sasuke followed Shikamaru's orders but occasionally, the team traveled at a pace that Sasuke found hard to keep up with; not that he would ever admit it. And he was not used to having to gather firewood for anything. These survival training skills was precisely why he never joined boy scouts (1) when he was young.

Though this entire experience does remind him of the little trip he took with a few friends (Naruto included) last year and a more laborious form of what he did before felt a little nostalgic.

A large cloud of smoke exploded from the direction of the Ninjas and Sasuke jumped into the smokescreen letting his years of honed skills lead him to the scrolls.

-

"Naruto-kun," Hinata called out in warning but she was a moment too late as she watched the chakra enhanced kick fly towards Naruto's head.

"Shit, Naruto!" Sasuke yelled as he watched the boy crush into the trunk of a tree, splitting the bark like a nail cracking old and brittle wood. Frightened, Sasuke made his way to Naruto's side while Shikamaru stood some ways away in the midst of keeping the two remaining stone ninjas still by the use of his Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Copy Technique).

"Sasuke, leave him alone. Hinata, take care of him," Shikamaru chided loudly in such an authoritative voice that Sasuke stopped to glare at him, easily ignoring the pained faces of Shikamaru's prisoners and Hinata meekly jumped from her place in the trees to Naruto's side. Shikamaru's eyes concentrated on the ninjas before him while he tried to think of how to get away now that the four of them were exposed to the enemy ninja. It would have helped had Naruto been up and about by using his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to take care of the few ninjas but with Naruto unconscious, it was quite hard to follow up with another attack considering Hinata usually avoids direct combat and was currently taking charge of Naruto's well being.

Shikamaru had not planned on Naruto pushing Sasuke out of the way of the barrage of attacks, many of which Naruto deflected so that it didn't hit vital areas but the brown haired ninja in front of him had sent a really hard kick to Naruto's head and that now rendered Naruto to be supposedly unconscious.

That was not the most surprising thing that occurred, the most surprising was that Sasuke seemed to have been unable to do anything but watch as the Stone Ninjas charged at him, almost as if he was not sure of what to do. Throughout the entire battle, Sasuke had mostly been dodging and as if it weren't enough, he acted more of a burden than usual. Not to mention the subtle changes in behavior since the last time that Shikamaru had seen him.

"The mission is priority," he said knowing that Naruto would be okay for it was a simple kick to the head, nothing too severe, though Naruto was not moving; he would be fine provided they can get him back to Hidden Leaf Village in one piece.

With a blink of the eye, Sasuke was behind the two Stone Ninjas with his hands raised. Shikamaru, realizing what Sasuke was about to do, released the technique in time to see Sasuke strike the two who collapsed onto the floor in sleep.

A gust of wind blew lightly as Sasuke reached into the robe of the ice blue haired ninja and withdrew a red scroll with the characters for Ame in hiragana writing. Sasuke wrapped his fingers around the rough cloth before he tossed the last scroll to Shikamaru and then silently rushed back to Naruto's side for a close inspection of the blonde.

Shikamaru pocketed the scroll and lazed over to where Sasuke crouched with Naruto's head in his hands as he inspected the unconscious boy for injuries but only seemingly to be hindering Hinata who sent a frustrated glare at Sasuke for preventing her from doing her job.

"Sasuke-kun," she began in a reproaching tone flashing her white eyes, giving both a literal and implied meaning to the idiom, Shiroi me de miru (to look with cold eyes). "If you would please move back a little bit so that I can check Naruto-kun easier, I'm sure it would save all of us some time."

Sasuke opened his mouth to rebut but promptly closed it when he realized that she was right and moved aside giving Hinata space to work.

There was blood coming from the blonde's head that was matting the golden color of his hair into a dark scarlet shade that contrasted prettily with his peachy skin but to both Shikamaru and Sasuke's chagrin, Hinata shook her head indicating that Naruto did not look like he would wake soon.

"I..." Hinata swallowed the lump in her throat as she continued to examine the rest of Naruto's body to avoid having to look at the two waiting chuunin. She took a deep breath of relief when she found there weren't any other permanent damages but she felt the anxious gaze of the other two on her while they waited for her to continue. She reached into her pocket and withdrew a light blue handkerchief and dabbed at the blood on the blonde. "Naruto-kun will be okay, but... there may be some minor damage to a part of his brain called the reticular formation. I- think he may be in a coma. But I'm not a hundred percent positive, but Naruto-kun is definitely unconscious. Whether it's actually a coma... I don't know yet."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sasuke demanded, not exactly hysterical but being overwhelmed by news that he did not particularly like. He could help but to have grown a fondness for this Naruto not that he would ever cheat on his Naruto but the attraction was still there.

"It means that there's the possibility that the part of Naruto-kun's brain that functions with living and the part that functions for everything else like memories, senses, etcetera- is not relying information properly. The best thing to do would be to get Naruto-kun to Hokage-sama," Hinata said as she turned to Shikamaru with the suggestion to leave, "There's nothing more I can do with what I've learned at the moment."

Shikamaru heaved a sigh as he glanced at Naruto's limped body, resting like a sack of rice against the tree. "This is so troublesome," he said as crouched in front of Naruto with his back to the unconscious boy, "Put him on my back."

"No," Sasuke said firmly as if refusing Shikamaru for Naruto, "I'll carry him. We were on the same team after all."

Knowing better than to argue in a circle with Sasuke, Shikamaru shrugged as he helped Hinata put Naruto on Sasuke's back as they began their trek back to Hidden Leaf Village.

-To be continued-

I know... that was so badly written. And Alter-verse wasn't long at all. But the next chapter of it will be longer alter-verse than Kishimoto-verse... And the coma thing... so soapy but it was a friend's suggestion and at complete writers block, I just took it.

If I want to make the deadline, time's ticking away, it's almost 12! Thank you all for the reviews! Sorry I can't respond this time but I'm sure I gave you a lot to criticize about! (But I'm looking forward to 100th review). Perhaps it will be a flame?

BTW: Chapter 233 was amazing! I've been hanging at the narutofan forums discussing it.