DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, any characters affiliated, LEAD, twins, leopards, or a travelling circus.
That next Monday was a professional activity day, meaning no school for many students city-wide. This included Michelle and Denise; the latter was visiting the former, while the former had had her cousin stay overnight after church. It was a fairly large crowd of girls, so Michelle's parents let them go around Toronto on their own. Michelle was the only one old enough to get a driving license, and since she hadn't gotten it yet, they all took the bus. Where? To Chinatown, of course.
Michelle's cousin, Pauline, was as interested in Japan as the other two girls, but in a different field. Michelle and Denise loved manga, anime, the food (mainly Michelle here; Denise didn't eat much), J-pop, and the culture and traditions. Pauline liked all of those too, but she simply lived for J-pop; to be more specific, LEAD, and to be the most specific, a certain Shinya. And for most of the bus ride, he was all the pony-tailed Philippino would discuss.
"Shinya's 18, you know, and since I'm 15, I stand a pretty good chance at a relationship with him," Pauline was saying, as they all rode the final streetcar.
"Do you ever stop talking-" Denise started.
"No," Michelle grinned.
"Hey!" Pauline exclaimed, swatting her cousin's arm.
Both the related girls laughed, and Denise couldn't help but smile.
"I meant to say, do you ever stop talking about Shinya?" Denise asked.
"No," Michelle said again, earning another hit from Pauline.
"I don't think I talk in my sleep," Pauline answered, and Denise groaned.
"Please change the subject," Denise made a begging motion towards Michelle.
"Ok...so Pauline, do you like Naruto?"
"Ok, now that is a subject you wouldn't shut up about last night," Pauline said, pointing accusingly at the oldest, "You'd think you fell into that world and only came back here by accident."
The other two girls stared at the middle oldest for a moment, then Denise turned to Michelle.
"You told her?"
"No! That was just an extremely lucky guess."
Denise crossed her arms and glared at Michelle. Then looked out the window and rang the bell for the streetcar to stop. Then glared at her again.
"I'm serious!" Michelle protested, putting her hands up placatingly.
"Tell me what?" Pauline asked.
The other two girls stared at the latter, and she clapped her hands over her mouth.
"No way. No. Michelle...but you never play pranks. No! Really! Omigosh you have to show me! Are you two for real?"
"Oh boy," Michelle groaned, rubbing her forehead with one hand.
The streetcar came to a halt, and the three girls clambered off onto the street. Michelle and Denise led Pauline to a wall, pushed her back against it, and stood in front of her seriously.
"You can't tell anybody," Denise hissed, "We don't want our link to Narutoworld found out by the wrong people."
"I won't. I promise," Pauline said, nodding, "But are you two serious?"
"...Yes," Michelle said, after a deep breath, "We found a greenhouse that somehow took us to Konoha. But don't tell anybody."
"I promise, I won't. Can we go there now?"
Michelle looked at her cousin dully. She looked so hopeful.
Little surprise, she loves Naruto, Michelle thought to herself.
Time to burst her bubble, Denise thought, not totally evilly.
"We don't know how to get back," Denise said.
"What?" Pauline exclaimed, disappointment filling her eyes.
"You were right," Michelle said tiredly, "We came back quite by accident."
"...you look so sad," Pauline said, looking at her cousin, "You met Shino, didn't you?"
Michelle rolled her eyes, but went walking down the street with her head down.
"She did," Pauline said wonderingly, "And he likes her back, doesn't he?"
"Pauline, that's overdoing it," Denise said, annoyed.
"And you met someone too, didn't you?"
"Can we go now?"
Denise walked down the street, following Michelle, and Pauline ran after her, pelting them with questions. Denise and Michelle took turns answering, as they went from store to store. Talking about it wasn't that hard for Michelle once they'd started.
"You don't know how to get back?"
"No. I just said that."
"When did you first get there?"
"Last week."
"How did you get there?"
"A greenhouse."
"What do you mean?"
"We went in while it was Toronto, we came out and it was Konoha."
"That's so cool! ...What was it like?"
It went on like this for hours; the other two half-regretted coming early.
"Hey, can we get a late breakfast?" Michelle asked, rubbing her stomach, "I'm a little hungry."
"What's new?" Pauline grinned, and Denise rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
"There's that bakery-kind of place," Denise said pointing across the street, then froze.
"What?" Michelle asked.
The oldest followed her gaze, and she froze as well.
"What is it?"
Pauline looked across the street as well, and didn't understand.
"I don't get it. A bakery...a random plastic bag...I didn't know littering affected both of you like this."
"No, no, it's not that," Michelle gasped, "It's...oh, wow..."
Denise walked across the street as if under a trance, and the other two girls followed.
"Please, please," Michelle whispered, then glanced at her watch.
The girl started laughing, and Denise finally snapped out of it and turned to her friend.
"What is it now?" Pauline asked, exasperated, and Denise raised an eyebrow.
"It's, hahaha, it's, hahaha!"
Michelle doubled over in laughter, then after a moment took a deep breath and explained.
"Ok, it's not that funny. But, Denise, why didn't we think of it? It's 11 o'clock!"
Pauline saw the dawning look on the youngest girl's face, and stomped a foot.
"Could someone please explain what's going on!"
"The last time we found the greenhouse, it was 11 o'clock on a Monday," Denise said slowly.
"...And today's Monday, and I'll assume it's 11...so where is it!" Pauline exclaimed.
"In that alleyway," Michelle answered, pointing to it and grinning.
Pauline looked, and indeed there was an alleyway. She grabbed her friends' elbows and hauled them towards the alleyway.
"Then what are we waiting for, let's go!"
"Race you!" Denise yelled, and took off at a run.
Laughing again, Michelle chased after her, and Pauline puffed behind. In a matter of moments, the girls had turned the corner, entered the greenhouse and circled around the tree in the middle. Both the other girls heard Pauline say, "Michelle, look! My name's on there!", but instead of turning around, they ran full speed through the greenhouse doors.
"Our apartment!" Michiko yelled.
One second, they were running, the next, the girls found themselves on their balcony. Looking around and breathing deep, they saw that it was nighttime. On a hunch, Deniizu ran into the apartment, and looked into the box that was in the living room. Michiko followed behind her.
"The puppies haven't changed at all. It's like we haven't been gone," she said, surprised.
"Maybe time stops here while we're gone," Michiko suggested.
"Well, good, because I'd hate to have almost a week's worth of homework," Deniizu said, grinning.
"Ok then," Michiko said, petting a puppy that was still awake, "So it's still Thursday night."
Deniizu was still grinning as she looked around the room, but it quickly faded as she noticed something.
"...Michelle..."
"What?" Michiko looked up from the box of dogs.
"...Pauline isn't here."
Michiko blinked, then looked around. It was true; the girl wasn't there.
"Uh oh..."
Ha-ha, she's lost. I mean...(shifty eyes)
Michiko ran down the stairs, taking two steps at a time, and Deniizu closely followed behind.
"What happened to her!" Michiko panted, "She was right behind us!"
"She might have stopped in the greenhouse when we weren't looking," Deniizu suggested, breathing deep.
"But she still would have come into Konoha," Michiko insisted, "She would still have to go through the doors."
The girls ran to the side of the street by the apartment and looked from side to side.
"Where do we start?" Michiko moaned, "Konoha is huge."
Deniizu thought for a moment, then opened her mouth to suggest a place, but a group of voices to their left caught their attention.
"Pooriin! Where are you?" a woman's voice called.
"Kuso...did she get lost again?" a young man's voice said, "She's a burden to our clan!"
"Patience, my son. Be kind when speaking about your sister," a man's voice was heard.
"It's true, Dad, she never does anything right," the young man said again. Or rather, it was a voice very similar to the young man's.
"Pooriin! Pooriin, where are you?" the woman was still calling.
Michiko and Deniizu turned to each other."
"Yeah...I say we follow them," Deniizu said, nodding her head towards the group that was walking down the street.
Both she and Michiko practised their stalking techniques and followed the four shadows that were calling for their friend.
So where's Pauline?
Pauline sat curled up in front of the Hokage's building. She was wearing clothes that were exactly like Ino's, only pink, and she was wearing red capris underneath, instead of bandages. Even her hair was the same style, but a ponytail wasn't all that easy to make unique.
Michelle...Denise...where are you guys? she was thinking, very, very frightened of what had just happened.
When the 15-year-old had seen her name on the tree, she had stopped in front of it and looked closer to make sure it was really hers. Sure enough, all of her four given names were carved into the tree, just as Michelle's and Denise's were. Pausing only to touch the circular stream around the tree, she hurried after her two friends...and found herself facing the Hokage's building.
It's one thing talking about entering this world...another thing actually doing it. ...I'm in a clan...the Chatora clan...we're cat-users, but I have no talent...so my family hates me.
Pauline stood up, hearing many footsteps approaching. Turning, she saw the people who she recognized to be her mother, her father, and her elder brothers, the twins, along with their cat companions. Her parents had leopards as their companions; they weren't native to the Fire Country; the leopards had been rescued from a travelling circus. Her brothers had two cats each; small housecats, but still effective.
"Pooriin, how could you get lost again?" her mother murmured, hugging her daughter close when she reached her, "We moved here over a week ago; you should know the area by now."
"Stupid, stupid sister," the younger twin shook his head.
Goudon was the eldest of the twins, and had slightly more strength than his brother, Bikto. The twins were identical in every way, in appearance. However, in most ways they were quite different. In strength, Goudon was stronger, in intellect, Bikto had the quirkier, faster mind, and Bikto had differently coloured eyes (one hazel, the other green. Both of Goudon's eyes were hazel). Their personalities were not alike either. Pooriin was very, very different from the rest of her family, something that most of her family had been unable to accept. Three years younger than her brothers, Pooriin was dark; the rest of her family had fair skin and brown hair. Pooriin was short; her relatives were tall. She closely resembled one of her great, great grandparents, but most of her family shunned her. She had moved into Konoha to get away from her extended family, at great risk to her brothers and parents; the Inuzuka and Chatora clans had a great feud between them. One of her brothers resented this.
"Why can't you find a companion and stay in one place?" Bikto growled, "I hate having to look for you every night!"
"Bikto, that's enough," said their father, and the 15-year-old boy fell silent. Turning to his daughter, the clan elder's expression softened, "Come, darling, let's go home."
Goudon and Pooriin's eyes met, and the girl looked down.
She didn't want to come home again, the hazel-eyed boy thought.
The oldest twin was quite close to his little sister; when their family learned that Pooriin had no skill with chakra, the tall boy taught her all the taijutsu techniques that he knew, and all the special tricks there were useful in hand-to-hand combat. The two siblings had a close friendship; one would not fight without the other. In Goudon's case, he had promised his sister he'd be careful with his strength. In Pooriin's case, Goudon was the only one who could give her the courage to defend herself. Not even her parents could do this; they loved her, but they alse coddled her; something that had kept a wall between them.
As Pooriin was led away with her parents' arms around her shoulders, Michiko and Deniizu came out of their hiding places. Michiko climbed out of a barrel, and Deniizu looked out from behind a tree.
"So...'Pooriin' has her own clan," Deniizu observed.
"...I guess we can look for her tomorrow after our lessons," Michiko said, after thinking for a moment.
"Ok," Deniizu nodded, "She looks like she's safe."
"Yeah," Michiko nodded.
She'd better be...I promised her mom I'd take care of her, Michiko thought, as she and Deniizu walked off to their apartment.
A/N: They got back! Yay! Let's throw a party! With Pocky! ...Is there such thing as Pocky cake? Because there should be. Now please review.