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Thanks for reading and please enjoy
A Maelstrom's Mobius Misadventures
-Chapter 3-
-Last Time-
"She had better be… or I swear I'll… kick your…" That was as far as Naruto managed to get with his threat before his eyes rolled back into his head and dropping his sword as he toppled over in a dead faint.
Thankfully Sally caught the unconscious boy before he could hit the ground, grunting as she struggled to support his weight. Slinging him onto her shoulder, the chipmunk girl slowly started to walk through the forest with him in tow. "Just great… where's Sonic when you need him?"
-And Now-
"Ooooooww…" A low groan filled the air as a familiar pair of cerulean eyes slowly flickered open while their grumbling owner sat up from the bed he lay in. Joints and spine popping loudly, Naruto's grumble turned into a relieved sigh before he rubbed his eyes.
Once his vision cleared up though, the whiskered blonde almost immediately blinked in confusion when he saw his surroundings. Specifically there was one very important detail that immediately knocked all traces of sleep out of his system.
"…This is not my bedroom."
Sure enough, rather than the small apartment he was used to seeing every morning, he instead found himself in a spacious and homey feeling guest room. Or at least he was assuming it was a guest room based on the lack of décor and the thin layer of dust covering several parts of the room.
Naruto didn't have long to ponder on these things though as a soft snoring drew his attention to the side of the bed where he found Ayame slumped in a chair with Senbon perched on her lap. Both were asleep but seemed okay aside from a few band-aids on the former and stains in the latter's once pure white fur. Ayame also looked rather haggard, with bags under her eyes showing she hadn't slept well and tear stains running down her cheeks.
His sword was also leaning against the wall, deep cracks running along the blade's length with more than a few chunks of metal missing completely while several other spots were scorched or reduced to half melted slag.
"What the hell? What's…" He started to wonder aloud, only to end up trailing off mid-sentence as he look down at himself and finally noticed the bandages covering most of his body. All the insanity that had happened, from being kidnapped by that crazy (And extremely ugly) scientist and the smog filled city of machines to the strange chipmunk girl that helped him get away, all of it coming back to him at once. "Oh right, that happened."
Sighing in frustration, the blonde scooted over to the edge of his bed and stretched out the last few kinks.
'I was really hoping that was all just a really bad dream.' He thought before grabbing Ayame's shoulder and giving her a gentle shake. "Hey, Ayame-nee, wake up."
"Hmmm… five more minutes…" The brunette grumbled sleepily as she swatted away Naruto's arm and rolled over, inadvertently sending poor Senbon tumbling to the floor with a squeak in the process.
"And she calls me the heavy sleeper," The whiskered blonde chuckled with a shake of his head while scooping the ruffled rabbit up off the floor and set him on the bed. His humor only grew when Senbon started thumping his back legs against the mattress angrily and glowered at the sleeping girl. "Aw relax Senbon, it was an accident, I'm sure she didn't mean it."
His words did little to appease the white hare's fury as he hopped to the opposite side of the bed and burrowed underneath the blankets. Peaking his head out for a second, he gave one last grumpy chittering then ducked back under again, the blankets shuffling around as he bunched them up into a makeshift nest.
Unable to help himself, Naruto chuckled softly with a shake of his head at Senbon's antics as he took a seat beside the angry rabbit and went back to trying to wake up Ayame…
*Jiggle*
Only to end up tensing when he heard the doorknob shaking. Snapping his gaze to the other side of the room as he instinctually reached for his weapon, he had just managed to get his fingers around its handle as the door swung open.
However, that tension swiftly vanished when Sally walked in, pausing mid-step when she saw the blonde up. "You're already up? That's incredible."
"You make it sound like that's a big deal," Naruto said with a quirked brow. "So I woke up from a nap, what a miracle."
Snapping out of her stupor at his words, the redheaded mobian's stunned expression was immediately replaced with one of exasperation. "It pretty much is given the condition you were in when I brought you to Dr. Quack yesterday."
"Oh please, it couldn't have been that bad." Naruto said, waving off the chipmunk girl's concern.
"You passed out from severe blood loss," Sally stated with a deadpan. "I had to drag your unconscious body almost three miles just to get medical help."
"Wouldn't have been my first time, probably won't be my last," The blonde causally admitted, which only made Sally's deadpan grow deeper. "And besides…"
Grabbing the bandages on his arm, Naruto suddenly tore them off with a single tug much to Sally's shock. However, that was nothing compared to her surprise when she saw that Naruto's arm… was completely fine. Where there had once been a massive gash and severe burns covering the entire limb now there was nothing but healthy unmarred skin.
"I heal pretty fast," Naruto finished while hopping to his feet, his joint popping again all across his body in the process, before pulling off the rest of the bandages from his chest and leg, leaving him in nothing but his underwear. Just like his arm every single wound the blonde had had was completely gone, with the only evidence left of them being some peeling skin and a few discolored splotches where new skin had grown. "If you thought this was bad you should have seen my first mission when I-huh?"
The whiskered teen cut himself off midsentence when he felt something soft press against his back and looked over his shoulder to see Sally running her hands against his back with a look of awe.
"Amazing, there aren't even scars left," Sally muttered to herself as she traced a finger over the tender pink patch of skin on his shoulder blade. "But how? Wounds like this should have taken weeks even to heal not mere hours, not without a power ring or something at least."
"Don't ask me, I'm a ninja not a medic," Naruto said with a shrug. "All I know is whenever I'm hurt usually all I need to get better is a good night's rest and something to eat."
"So it's completely natural? No mysticism or technology involved?" The redheaded chipmunk asked curiously while gently poking against and around the tender new flesh.
"Again I have no idea," The bare-chested blonde grumbled before shivering and swatting at her hands when they drifted down his waist to where he had been impaled by rebar. "Would you stop that, it feels really weird."
"Trust me sugah, it ain't as weird as watching it happen." A new unknown feminine voice suddenly chipped in, causing both Naruto and Sally heads to snap towards the still open doorway where the owner of said voice was leaning against the doorframe. The individual was a rabbit mobian girl about the same height as Sally with light blonde hair and fur, the former mostly covered by a plain brown cowboy hat, and wearing an open brown short-sleeve coat over a pink tube top.
The most eye-catching things about her for Naruto though were her left arm and everything below her waist, both of which were completely robotic in nature. As soon as he saw those gleaming metal limbs, Naruto froze for a second before instinctively reaching for his kunai pouch, only to end up blinking when he felt his bare thigh instead. 'Right, in my underwear…"
"Oh, Bunnie, hey," Meanwhile, Sally blinked in surprise before waving to the newcomer with a smile. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to wonder if the princess has caught a fever," The now named Bunnie said with an amused smirk. "I mean people might get the wrong idea if ya'll two stay like that much longer."
Confused at what the blonde was talking about at first, it soon clicked in Sally's head when she glanced back at Naruto and finally realized the position they were in. Him in naught but his underwear and her practically hugging him from behind with her arms around his waist, her hands just a few inches from-
"T-this isn't what it looks l-like," Sally stuttered out, jumping back from Naruto as her cheeks turned a bright vibrant red. "I was just making sure he was actually alright, that's all."
"Oh I'm sure ya were making sure he was something alright." Bunnie said in a playfully sarcastic tone while rolling her eyes, making the chipmunk mobian's blush deepen to the same shade of red as her hair.
"…Am I missing something here?" Naruto asked, relaxing a bit once it became apparent this 'Bunnie' wasn't an enemy, leaving him with just confusion as his gaze flickered between the two. So many questions flitted through his head like why was Sally blushing, and how could he even see it through her fur.
"Nothing you need to worry about Sugah, just some girl stuff," Bunne said with a roll of her eyes, bringing Naruto out of his thoughts as she walked up to him and held out her robotic hand. "I'm Bunnie by the way, Bunnie Rabbot."
"Naruto Uzumaki," The whiskered blond greeted while accepting the handshake, silently marveling at the warmth of the mechanical limb as the metal digits encircled with his own. Inside his head, he now only had a single question running through his mind. 'She's a bunny rabbit …named Bunnie Rabbot? Seriously?'
"Yes, that's actually mah name." Said rabbit stated in an amused tone, causing Naruto to blink in surprise.
"How did you…"
"With how often I get asked that question ya tend to pick up on when people are thinkin it," She explained with a giggle as she pulled her hand free of her fellow blonde's grasp. "But how about we continue this talk after we all have some breakfast? Ya'll probably starving right now."
As if on que a LOUD growling echoed throughout the room, making Naruto chuckle sheepishly as he cupped his stomach. "That sounds like a great idea to me."
"Great, then I suggest ya wake up your friend while I get the grub going," Bunnie said, gesturing to Ayame's still slumbering form before heading back out of the room. Just as she reached the doorway again though, she paused for a second to look over her shoulder with a playful smirk on her lips. "That is, unless ya two want to finish 'inspecting' each-other first, then by all means take your time."
"…She's never going to let that go, is she?" Sally asked rhetorically once the partly robotic rabbit was gone…
"Only when it stops being funny Sugah!" Only to end up palming her face when Bunnie shouted that back with a playful giggle.
"Seriously, what are you two talking about?" All the while poor Naruto was left lost and confused at what either of them were going on about. However, before Sally could say anything, a slender hand suddenly lashed out and grabbed the blonde with a sharp tug that made him yelp in pain.
Whirling around, the both of them were greeted to the sight of a now very awake and VERY upset looking Ayame glowering back at them, specifically the blonde squirming in her grasp.
"Naruto Uzumaki, mind explaining why you apparently refused to get treatment for your injuries until after you passed out from blood loss?" The brunette demanded with a furious scowl that made Naruto shrink in her grasp with a nervous smile.
'Déjà vu…'
"Well?"
"Ah come on Ayame-nee, it wasn't that ba-" He started to say, only to cut himself off with a wince when the grip on his ear tightened. "Alright, it was really bad. But it wasn't anything I couldn't handle."
"Couldn't handle?! You almost bled to death Naruto! The doctor had to give you two blood transfusions!" Ayame suddenly let go of the blonde's ear in the midst of her yelling and instead picked him up into a hug. Wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, she buried her face in his shoulder as sobs and sniffles racked her body. "There was blood everywhere… and you were so pale… I thought you were gonna die."
Flinching slightly with each word, Naruto's expression turned somber before he hugged the crying brunette back, gently patting her back as her tears dripped down his shoulder. "I'm sorry nee-chan, I was just more worried about you than myself."
Releasing one of her arms, Ayame gently bopped the whiskered teen on top of the head. "You're never worried about yourself baka, that' why I have to keep reminding you."
"Ehehe… fair enough."
"Don't you laugh about that! You need to stop being so careless about yourself!"
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry nee-chan, I'll be more careful." Naruto said softly before getting bopped again.
"You always say that but you never do."
"…I'll just leave you two alone." Sally excused herself as she slowly backed out of the room, not wanting to intrude on the two's moment any more than she had.
-XxXxX-
Several minutes of crying, scolding, and getting some pants on later, Naruto managed to get Ayame to calm down enough for them to join Sally and Bunnie in the living room where the latter was just finishing up making pancakes.
While they were enjoying their food, the girls filled Naruto in on what exactly happened after he had passed out. Although it wasn't much to tell aside from Sally dragging him through the forest for almost an hour until Sonic found them again and helped carry him the rest of way to their home/hiding place to get patched up.
Speaking of Knothole, Naruto soon found himself staring out a window of what he now knew was Bunnie's home to see the village itself with an intrigued look. The whole place was a strange hodgepodge of old fashioned and modern, with simple wooden huts and houses built into huge trees mixed with high tech buildings and machinery that blew away anything he'd seen back home.
And then there were the inhabitants, dozens of different mobians going about their day such as a young yellow fox with two tails helping a purple walrus move a bunch of machinery, a coyote in a fancy looking uniform pacing in front of the house looking both nervous and determined somehow, and a wolf dressed in a tribal-like outfit inspecting a spear as she marched down the street. There was even a dragon of all things, causing Naruto to double-take upon seeing her using her fire breath to melt down a large pile of metal scraps into a single lump before it was hauled off.
All in all it was an incredible sight to behold, however it also exasperated the growing bad feeling in Naruto's gut that was telling him-
"Hey, hello, earth to Naruto." The whiskered teen was snapped out of his thoughts by Ayame nudging his side.
"Sorry, did you say something?"
"No and neither have you which is the problem," The brunette stated with a frown, placing a hand on his shoulder supportively. "You're never this quiet. What's wrong?"
"Just trying to wrap my head around this whole situation I guess," Naruto muttered with a shake of his head while stabbing his fork into his half-eaten stack of flapjacks and scratching Senbon's head with his free hand as the rabbit munched on a bowl of veggies. "Honestly, I'm still not sure if I'm dreaming or not, keep expecting to suddenly wake up back at Ichiraku's because you slipped sedatives in my ramen again."
"That was one time Naruto, and only because you'd been training for three days straight with no sleep again," Ayame huffed out indignantly as the blonde chuckled, before she sighed and nodded in agreement with what he had said. "But I get what you mean, I'm sorry Sally-san but this whole place is making my head spin more every second."
"Don't worry about it," The mobian chipmunk waved off the apology. "I can imagine this has been quite the culture shock for you both."
"I'd reckon as much too, especially if half of what ya'll have been tellin us is to be believed." Bunnie chipped in with a nod.
"Well believe us or not, it doesn't really matter since we won't be staying," Having wolfed down the rest of his food while they talked, Naruto let his fork drop onto the now empty plate as he stood up and bowed politely. "I've got an exam to ready for and everyone back home is probably freaking out about where we went. So, if one of you could please show me a map or something so I can figure out which way it is to Konoha, we'll be out of your hair… fur… we'll be on our way."
A frown found itself marring Naruto's lips as he spoke when he noticed Sally and Bunnie shooting each-other unsure looks. Meanwhile Ayame deflated in her seat sadly, pushing away her barely touched food and wrapping her arms around herself in a hug.
"Let me guess, it's not as simple as that?" He asked rhetorically before sinking back into his seat when all three girls nodded. "Alright how fucked are we this time? And don't try to sugar coat it, just give it to me straight."
"…You're home is in another dimension."
-End Chapter-
AN: Filler chap I know, sorry
Naruto's bloodloss: No he wouldn't have actually died from it thanks to his healing factor and the Kyuubi, however no one else was aware of this, nto even Ayame who had never seen him so injured before
