Chapter 5: Reunion
Stephanie awoke to find herself in a dimly lit room. Her eyes flutter for a few seconds before opening fully for her to see.
"Where am I?" she groans as she sat up.
Looking around, she remembers the apartment that Jiraiya and Tsunade-sama had given to her and her friends to stay in. Scattered around her were Caroline and Priscilla, both of them still fast asleep. All three of them had slept on separate floor pads and blankets so their first night in their very first apartment was not so bad. They were also each given a pair of pajamas, as well as the boys, so settling into their new home away from home was a bit easier to do.
Trying not to disturb her roommates, Stephanie quietly gets up and maneuvers over to the window to open it up. Lifting the wooden board, Stephanie puts the wooden stake in place to keep it open, allowing fresh air and some sunlight to enter the room. After brushing her hair, she changes into her ninja outfit and ventures outside into the unknown. Using her Chakra, she leaps up onto the rooftop and walks around to find Bao in his ninja outfit sitting. Curious, she saunters over to the boy and sits down beside him.
"Ohayou," greets Bao with a yawn.
"Ohayou," Stephanie greets back with a small smile.
"What are you doing up?" wonders Bao.
"I couldn't sleep anymore," answers Stephanie.
"Are you worried about Tracy and Lawrence?" asks the tall boy.
"Yeah," replies Stephanie, playing with some strands of her long dark brown hair. "I hope they're okay."
"Don't worry," assures Bao. "Tracy knows the Naruto world as well as Caroline. Those two will be fine."
"Yeah, I guess," responds Stephanie. She looks up at the clear blue sky above. "Wonder where they are."
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Lawrence sighs as he replaces Tracy's forehead protector with his, alternating them so that the girl will continue to receive a constant amount of cool metal to her feverish head. Morning had come and the boy had done a pretty good job keeping his friend's temperature at a safe level as well as defending her from approaching predators. However, lack of sleep has begun to affect him as he wobbles back and forth in his position.
With the sun up and the tower looming before them, Lawrence realizes that he has no other alternative but to carry Tracy the rest of the way. Hopefully they won't run into any trouble, for it would be difficult for him to defend both himself and his friend in the state that he's in right now.
He ties his forehead protector back on and then proceeds to tie Tracy's back on metal side down so the cool metal would keep her forehead at a low temperature. With a grunt, he lays Tracy's body on his back, putting her arms around his neck and supporting her posterior with his hands. Now that she was secured on his back, Lawrence begins his trek towards the tower. It was a long walk and the boy still hasn't learned how to tap into his Chakra yet so the journey was more arduous than he wished it would be. Groaning from the stress on his body, Lawrence forces himself to continue onward, not stopping until they finally reach the tower where hopefully there would be people to help him.
After what seemed like forever, Lawrence finally came within thirty meters of the structure. Exhausted and relieved, the boy made his way towards the building. Suddenly, another huge centipede came between him and his destination. Groaning from the burning pain in his muscles, Lawrence collapses to his knees, still holding Tracy on his back. He was sweating profusely and had used a lot of his strength in carrying the girl from a far distance. He was so close and yet too far. With a sigh, he closes his eyes to prepare for what is the end of the both of them.
Just then, he hears the sound of something solid piercing flesh. He opens his eyes to find the centipede dotted with kunais all over its head. Confused and surprised, Lawrence scans the area and finds himself face to face with a silver-haired masked ninja.
"Konnichiwa," greeted the man. "What are you doing here?"
Overjoyed and relieved that help has finally arrived, Lawrence suddenly falls unconscious.
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When Lawrence gained consciousness later, he sat up and looks around. He found himself in a bed of an unknown hospital. In the bed next to him was Tracy, still unconscious. Their wounds had been cared for nicely, most likely due to the doctors here. Though they still had their clothes on, their forehead protectors had been placed at their respective bedside tables so as to not distract their focus on recovering.
"So, you're finally awake."
The boy turns to find that same silver-haired mask ninja leaning on a wall.
"Who are you?" he asks the man.
"The name's Hatake Kakashi," introduces the ninja. "What's yours?"
"I'm Lawrence," replies the boy. He looks over to where his friend is. "And that's Tracy."
"Lawrence and Tracy," repeats Kakashi. "Interesting names."
"Kakashi-sensei!"
A blonde spiky-haired boy bursts into the room loudly and annoyingly. Lawrence found this kid irritating with the way he entered.
"Naruto, keep your voice down," orders Kakashi. "This is a hospital."
"Gomen, Kakashi-sensei," apologizes Naruto. "I wanted to ask you to train me."
"I've got other things to deal with," responds Kakashi. "I don't have time to train you."
"I get it!" exclaims the blonde boy upsettingly. "You're training Sasuke, aren't you?"
"Shhh," hushes Kakashi. "Keep it down."
"You're always training him, Kakashi-sensei!" complains Naruto. "What's so special about him?"
"Naruto!"
A pink-haired girl rushes in to give the blond boy a good punch on the head.
"Ow, Sakura-chan," exclaims Naruto.
"Keep your voice down!" she hisses at him. "This is a hospital, baka!"
"Gomen-nasai," apologizes the inconsiderate boy quietly.
Lawrence raises his eyebrow in confusion at the scene before him.
Who the heck are these people? he wonders.
Suddenly, a very familiar voice followed by a full body hug surprises him.
"Lawrence!" exclaims Stephanie.
"Stephanie?" utters Lawrence in surprise.
He looks to see the rest of the group file in through the door to his bed.
"Check you out," spoke up Kevin. "You're more wrapped up than an old candy bar."
"Dude," adds Jon. "What happened to you?"
"Tracy!" Stephanie shrieks upon seeing the person in the next bed.
"What's wrong with Tracy?" asks Priscilla worriedly.
"Your friends are allright," assures Kakashi, walking up to them. "I managed to find them just in time before the Shi no Mori took them asits newest victims."
He stops nervously upon seeing two pairs of eyes gaze in awe at him.
"Uh," utters Kakashi, starting to sweat a bit the more Caroline and Stephanie looked at him. "Is there something the matter?"
"Are you… Hatake Kakashi?" asks Stephanie.
"Uh, yes," replies the man hesitantly.
In an instant, the masked ninja is suddenly captured in the girls' glomp as they hug him with all their might.
"I can't believe I'm touching the actual Hatake Kakashi!" exclaims Caroline with joy.
"Me too!" adds Stephanie.
Kakashi's eyes widen with utter surprise in response the two girls' actions. Never before had he had to deal with something like this.
"I'm thinking I'm quite popular in your world?" he vociferates.
At the sound of that statement, Caroline and Stephanie releases the man and looks up at him.
"You know we're from another world?" asks Jon.
"Yeah," replies Kakashi. "The Fifth filled me in after I brought these two here."
"Another world?" repeats Naruto in confusion. "What are they talking about, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Let's go outside, Naruto," suggests Sakura. "I'll fill you in on the details."
"You mean you know about these guys too?" exclaims Naruto. "Why am I always out of the loop?"
"Because you're a stupid baka no one wants to talk to," replies Sakura.
"That hurts," responds the boy sadly.
With the two genins gone, the group of otherworld people stood around the beds of their friends, not knowing what to do now that they've found their missing comrades.
"So what do we do now?" wonders Robert.
"Well, since we don't know how to transport you guys back to your own world, it looks like the nine of you will be here for some time," spoke up Kakashi. "And since we're nothing but what you call an Anime series backing your world, I'm guessing I don't need to fill you in on what's been happening around here."
"Pretty much," agrees Caroline.
"So you should know that Konoha had been recently attacked and now we need as many ninjas as we can get in order to recover from that attack," adds Kakashi.
"If we can get training so we can use our Chakra, we're more than happy to help you guys out," suggests Stephanie.
"Yeah," agrees Jon.
"I guess," adds Kevin. "Since it doesn't look like we have anything else to do."
"Yeah," spoke up Caroline. "Why not?"
"Sure," exclaims Robert.
The rest nods in agreement minus Tracy who was still unconscious.
"In that case," began Kakashi. "I'll assign a teacher to show you guys the basics. You can start your ninja training as soon as your friends fully recover from their injuries."
"Yay!" exclaims Bao with excitement.
As everyone shakes with anticipation of their ninja training around Lawrence, the boy looks over at the unconscious Tracy with a look of worry in his eyes. Even though she assured him that the bruise was nothing to be concerned about, he still felt uneasy about the whole situation.
Looks like I'll be keeping your promise after all, he thought.