Shikaoi found himself floating in a void. It wasn't dark, yet it wasn't bright. It was just...nothing.
Shikaoi realized he wasn't really in a void...he was lucid dreaming?
"Hello," the voice of a young girl said startling Shikaoi. He found himself face-to-face with a girl —about his height—with long brown curly hair and brown eyes that shifted to a blue —not unlike his own—and the little girl rapidly started to age until she appeared to be about 13 years of age, but she was still—undoubtedly—the same person. Shikaoi realized with a jolt that the teen looked like a female version of himself. He and Shikamaru may be twins, but they weren't completely identical. Shikaoi's eyes were slightly wider and decidedly not brown like the other members of his clan. While, Shikamaru was taller and broader shouldered and his hair—although the same shade of brown—was spikier and long enough to be pulled up into the classic Nara ponytail that he and their father had taken a liking to.
Shikaoi was—for lack of better words— more petite and girly than his twin. Only now—face to face with a female clone of himself —did Shikaoi understand why his friends said that he looked feminine.
"Who are you?" the twelve year old asked the girl.
"I don't have much time to explain," she said, "let's just say I've been watching you for a long time."
"Why?" Shikaoi inquired.
"Well I did have much of a choice seeing as how I've literally been trapped in your mind since you were born," the girl muttered defensively, crossing her arms.
"You've been living in my head that long?" he asked incredulously.
"Are you the one giving me those weird dreams?"
"Guilty," she admitted smiling at the younger boy.
"Why? Better yet, how did you know these things would happen? Are you the one that caused that incident? I had to have uncle Inoichi as my shrink for the past few years, because of that!" Shikaoi raged his hair stood on end as he felt his temper rise uncharacteristically.
"I'm sorry," the girl said raising her hands in surrender, "I didn't mean to do that. I was...in a dark place," she admitted sheepishly and blushed when Shikaoi gestured to their surroundings.
"Oh, not what I meant. Here, let me fix that," she said as their surroundings changed to resemble a bedroom befitting a teenage girl.
The walls were purple and the large bed was covered in stuffed animals and a stuffed bat...man?
"Look, I didn't always live in your head," the girl explained. "I had a normal life. I went to school, I had a family and I lived an average life. I never got into fights..."
"You are a civilian?" Shikaoi asked confused as to why a civilian girl was living in his head.
"Technically speaking, I was a Canadian," she joked giggling at the confused look he gave her.
"Nevermind," she said pouting. "I lived in a world different from your own. In my world your world was fiction. There are manga and anime that follow the story of Naruto..."
"Because, Naruto is a jinchuriki?" Shikaoi interrupted.
"Not necessarily," she replied shooting him an exasperated look. "In the anime and in the manga a lot of things happened that didn't have to. Things you can change. You have the chance to make a difference, because..."
"I'm not supposed to exist, am I?" Shikaoi said. The girl nodded her head solemnly.
"What happened to you? How did you get in my head?" Shikaoi asked rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"I...was an otaku," she said.
"A what?" he asked confused.
"I was obsessed with fiction and I let it consume me. I started ...hurting myself. I couldn't deal with the 'real world.' It helped me to feel... something. I'm not sure what I was looking to accomplish by resorting to...that. At first it was just scratching. I was overwhelmed and the urge was unbearable. I didn't want to die. I just...didn't want to live," Shikaoi didn't want to interrupt as he observed that this is something the other needed to say and after so long he was the only person she could talk to.
"It is ironic. You would think that I would have committed suicide or something, but no. I died, because I was dumb enough to think that I could play hero like in the movies. There was a lockdown and I got shot!" Shikaoi was very confused, but didn't stop her monologue. "I'm sorry if I caused you any pain. I just wanted it all to stop. I woke up in here and as soon as your control slipped I selfishly tried to end it all.
I figured what's the point of being here if I can't do anything? I was just so tired, but now I realise that when you were asleep I could give you my memories of what was supposed to happen.
I thought maybe I could help you by showing you what to expect. I know now that we aren't the same person and it was cruel of me to try to live through you and try to...unalive us as well," she finished, "My time is now up."
"What can you show me that could help with what's to come?" Shikaoi asked. The girl grinned and touched his forehead, which lit up in a brilliant blue. His eyes began to glow as scenes flitted through his mind rapidly. His mind scape suddenly returned them to the void that Shikaoi had first found himself in.
"Goodbye blue deer and good luck," the girl said as everything faded white.
When Shikaoi awoke he was shocked to find himself laying on a bed and even more shocked to find his teacher laying down next to him.
"What?" he croaked shooting up and wincing at the pain that spiked in his shoulder.
"Aoi!" Naruto exclaims perking up at the sight of his friend regaining consciousness.
Sasuke let out an — at least Shikaoi thought it was — concerned "hnn," as the oldest boy's eyes took in the bandages wrapped around the preteen's shoulder.
Shikaoi's teammates filled him in on what he had missed while he was out and before Naruto could emphasise that, "no teme, it was much more cooler than that! Believe it!"
Shikaoi cut in, "the hunter nin didn't disposed of the body on site?" He was genuinely baffled that Kakashi missed that fact, however if Kakashi was that exhausted he could have simply missed it, but a jonin...no a former anbu missing such a glaringly obvious discrepancy?
"Shikaoi is right," Kakashi said, "Zabuza is still alive."