leishe

Dream Country

.o0o.

Naruto

Something prickly and small shuffled its feet on top of his nose. It…tickled. An odd sensation, because though it seemed that he hadn't ever felt ticklish before. But the feeling was familiar. He was lying down on something…he didn't know what it was. It felt prickly too, as if a million bits of …something had replaced his cold, hard bed, now sticking to his arms and feet. They were poking into his skin, sticking to it. And the wind was blowing softly.

He felt hot.

Quite suddenly, eyes were open and blue met with blue. An endless square of blue, without patches of white, spread across the sky, neverending. He blinked. What was this? There was something wrong with the sky. It was not—it was never this color. It was never this beautiful.

Something crusty was in his eye, and he reached up, grimacing, and rubbed it away. The stinging sensation lasted for a few minutes, and his eyes began to water.

He tried to sit up. A thousand bits of something clung to his skin, and he groaned and realized that his head hurt. He brushed the bits away from his arms, and picked one up, putting it near his eye so he could scrutinize it properly.

It was tiny. Sitting in between his nail and the ridges of his thumb, and no bigger than a speck of dust. It was the color of…wheat. The color of sand. He blinked, and for a split second, realized that it was, in fact, a grain of sand. And then, another moment later, realized that the million bits of something sticking to his body were all grains of sand, and that he was standing in an ocean of them.

His first reaction was panic.

"Yaagh!" Frantically, he brushed the grains from his skin, eyes wide and shocked. There was quite a lot in his hair, and he began looking around, taking in the scenery.

"Where on earth am I!"

An ocean of sand. An ocean of sand. This was…this was…unreal. Impossible. Wild orbs of bright blue turned jerkily to the unblinking white star that shone in the sky. It blazed down upon him, burning his back and chasing all moisture from his skin. When he saw the star, he knew that it was what he had been seeking all this time, and his mouth hung open in disbelief.

The star was the sun, which he had only seen during the first few moments of dawn, in the city. There in Konoha, it was weak and gentle, its rays only meek cries in the slowly growing darkness. Naruto's throat went dry at the thought of the city, and his heart started beating faster. This was not the city. It was an ocean of sand. And here, the sun was not just a small lamp in the middle of overwhelming greyness. Here, it was angry and beautiful, blinding and majestic. Here, it was cruel and immensely bright so that no one could gaze upon it directly.

"…where am…?" His voice was hoarse, and the words came out unintelligible.

The vast spectacle of majestic sand heaped together in dunes and slopes greeted his sight, wherever it landed. Naruto felt something cold and heavy settle at the bottom of his stomach. This was not Konoha.

Sakura

Cloth on cloth. Shuffling, runs in sleeve-bottoms, and the mechanical turning of ancient wheels running over the run-down crags of what used to be the rim of a huge volcano. But no, no. Unimportant. The passengers were supposed to come first, and this one wasn't cooperating.

"Miss. Miss?"

"Where'd she get on? We must make room for Mrs. Sprinkleberry. Wake her up now, Sidney, Clara." Someone's mother clucked impatiently, and two children mumbled.

"Yes, but she won't! And Sidney's not helping…" a high-pitched voice whined.

"Oh all right, all right. Move aside you little twerp." A deeper voice, still scratchy with the remnants of adolescence answered, impatience deeply evident.

"Hey--!"

"Now Clara, it isn't nice to talk back to your brother like that. He's older, after all."

A hand put itself on the sleeping girl's shoulder. All she could see through her eyelids was the hazy, mellow color of tangerine-flaxen. Nothing else. The rhythmic turning of train wheels resounded under her, turning, turning, and then turning. The hand on her shoulder had fingers, and they tapped at her skin impatiently.

"Miss. Please wake up. You've got to make room for Mrs. Sprinkleberry."

Sakura let out a muffled groan, as she was shaken awake by a young, thin man with a green Mohawk. He looked at her with the uttermost annoyance, and beside him stood a girl with long flat black hair, parted at the side and fixed with plain white hairpins. Her face was very pale, and her eyes were very wide.

"Ahhh…" Sakura stretched her arms and looked at them both. A thin, tired smile was on her face. The boy looked strange, and he was probably one of those rebellious street thugs that the Konoha police were tasked to eliminate. The girl was more ordinary, with the customary monochromatic set of clothing.

"Are we at Station 0724 yet?" Sakura asked, rubbing her eyes. "I think I missed the stop."

Normally, she wouldn't even attempt to communicate with the passengers riding on the snake train. This situation, though, required some interaction with fellow human beings. The boy and the girl stared at her for a few moments, as if she were some strange creature from another fictional universe. And then, after what seemed like an eternity, the thin young man with the green Mohawk opened his mouth to speak.

"There is no Station 0724. Unless you're talking about Balasara, but that's Mount the Eighteenth."

Sakura raised an eyebrow.

Sasuke

"She…is very pretty."

Smack.

"Ow! What was that for, Angeline!"

"I'M the only one who you should think pretty, Philippe, and besides, that isn't even a girl!"

A pause, and a moment of dawning realization. "…oh."

A few more moments. "…then what is it?"

Angeline let out an exasperated sigh, and let a limb down to stroke the child on the forehead.

"It's a child," she said, "A human child. A boy."

"A boy," sniffed Philippe. "Right."

Angeline glared at him. "Yes Philippe, a boy. A handsome boy."

"H-handsome?" he sputtered, "It isn't handsome, Angeline, it's pretty!"

Right then, it began to wake up slowly. First, two eyes opened. They were inky black eyes, blurry at first, but then everything began to get clearer, slowly. Angeline withdrew her limb from the boy's forehead, which, like the rest of his skin, was increasingly pale. His mouth opened, and a hand reached up to rub his head tenderly. A few soft curses were muttered.

"Tsk," remarked Philippe, "Such filthy language."

The inky black eyes grew sharp, and Angeline berated, "Philippe!" but it was too late.

The boy got to his feet, slight dark rings encircling his eyes. It was evident that he was energetic and alive now, unlike the past few hours, in which he had been lying cold and unmoving on the floor of the garden, right next to the stone pond. His eyes swept over the velvety-green foliage, searching for something. The voices…those voices who had called themselves Philippe and Angeline.

"W-who's there?" the boy called, provoking a snicker from Philippe.

"Heeheehee…he can't see us."

"Shut up you," snapped Angeline. "The Lady will hear him sooner or later. He won't need to see us."

Apparently, the boy's hearing was sharper than they had imagined, because he turned quickly to the pond, narrowing his eyes. A gasp was heard, and then a miniscule splash as they put their heads under the water. Frantically, Philippe and Angeline swam away from the surface of the water, and the human child stared steadily into the depths of the pond.

"He," said Philippe, "Is a scary human child."

"You are an idiot." Snapped Angeline.

Back on the surface, Sasuke peered suspiciously at the small body of water, standing innocent under the dull rays of the sun. After a few minutes, he looked around, wondering where on earth he had ended up in.

It was a garden. A very large garden, no doubt, and it was messy and wild enough to look like Tsunade's. But he didn't remember her having a pond. Or a willow tree. Or a greenhouse.

The young man blinked at the sky. It was a glowing, soft grey, which clearly was NOT the evening sky that he had just left a few minutes ago. Or was it a few hours ago? He didn't remember. Sniffing, Sasuke examined himself. He was still wearing the fine clothes that his mother had set aside for him for Itachi's wedding. Granted, they were somehow frayed and torn at the edges, but that was probably because of the fall he took when he crashed into the plants.

Sasuke looked up.

"Fall? Plants?" he murmured. Where on earth had that train of thought come from? Quickly, he glanced at the spot behind him. It was littered with leaves, most flattened and crushed. He looked up. There was a Sasuke-shaped parting in the tree branches. Fallen indeed.

"…mm?"

A faint rustling from behind him made the young man whirl around to face someone. His eyes widened when he saw her. She was a tall woman with brown hair and a nice smile.

"Hello," she said, somewhat uncertainly, "What are you doing here?"

She smelled like peppermint leaves and sunflower seeds. Sasuke opened his mouth. It felt horribly dry.

"I don't know." He managed, "Where am I?"

"…oh." And then she smiled. "It's you."

…me? He wondered, puzzled. He didn't know her. And he was pretty sure she didn't know him. Or at least, she wasn't supposed to know him. He'd never seen her before. Never.

"Don't worry," the woman told Sasuke, "I know where you're going. I'll help you get there," she added, helpfully.

Relief washed through the young man, and it showed. He relaxed, knowing that this…this escapade, as his father would call it, would soon come to an end. And he would be back at Itachi's reception again. Like he was a few minutes ago. Or was it a few hours ago…? He didn't remember.

"Follow me," said the woman. She started walking to the greenhouse, and her delicate, white skirt rustled behind her. Sasuke followed, somewhat clueless to all that was happening.

"Your name?" he questioned, hiding the suspicion in his voice. She heard it anyway, and smiled wider and sweeter.

"Rin."

.0o0.

Author's Notes:

An update. :) I enjoyed writing this. Well, I wasn't so content with Sasuke's part. They have arrived in Dream Country, at last.