When best friends Alison McKay and Michelle Prince found a small piece of paper bearing a promise of the greatest Naruto experience of their lives, they were unwittingly sucked into the world they had only ever watched and read about. Now, hearts will be stirred, Bonds will be formed, blood will be spilt, and worlds will collide as fantasy and reality fuse inextricably into one.
Disclaimer: Obviously, as this is a fanfic, I don't own Naruto. Anything found in this story that does not exist in the real Naruto plot line though, including the characters Alison, Michelle, Shinjako and Kai, I claim as my own.
This is a comedy/drama/romance story I've been meaning to write for a long time. Any pairings will be decided as the story progresses, though suggestions are welcome. Also, before I begin, I realize that there are some of you out there who may not like my writing style, or the angle I'm taking with this story. As much as I'd like constructive criticism, please do not simply review to say how much you hated it. It's common courtesy.
Late again, I know.
If you guys need an excuse, I was kicked off the internet a few weeks ago and have only now managed to get my hands on an internet connection-not that you all care I'm sure :)
Well it's chapter 18 with no end in sight. Kinda funny my New Year's resolution last year was to finish this story isn't it? Well, here's hoping it all counts for something!
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Chapter 18- The Watch
Guardians from the daylight
can never truly defy
attackers who dwell within the night
Dear Mish,
Is your shift going as slow as mine? I figured being placed one the same watch team as Naruto and Lee would be fun, but so far Lee won't say two words to me he's so upset about seeing Sakura holding Kai's hand, and Naruto's being all cranky and junk. This really sucks. Fill me in, kay? They're's a pen attached to Reiki's tail.
Ali
Dear Ali,
Nothin' very fun is happening on the east wall either. MAN! Sasuke and Shino? How could I get a more boring team! All they do is yell at me too! "Atsuko stop humming, you're being annoying!" "Atsuko stop chasing fireflies, you'll give away our position!" "Atsuko just shut up for five minutes will you?" Dammit! Now they're even getting on me for writing notes to you because they think an enemy could catch Reiki and learn some secret information! AS FRIKKIN IF! We're watching for COYOTES for God's sake! They wouldn't even want to eat Reiki-chan, much less capture him so they can read the messages he's carrying. Besides, what else am I supposed to do to pass the time? Eh. I'll send Reiki back with my note now I guess-Where'd you get the ribbon to tie the paper and pen to him anyway?
Mish
Dear Mish,
Kai gave it to me before we left the encampment-and don't you dare say he's gay! I happen to think it's neat that he weaves!
Oh, and ever heard of keeping guard on guard duty? It just might be a good idea. And how did you get ink all over Reiki anyhow? Now he looks like a mutated dalmatian...Hm, I guess it might help keep the coyotes away from him though. Lol. Also, I can't really blame your group for being boring. Shino's...well Shino, and Sasuke's probably being frostier than usual because of that spectacle you made of yourself with that 'hug me and be my friend!' incident.
I still don't know why you had to go and hug him like that. I mean, that was just asking to be attacked. Just be thankful Sakura and Ino aren't on your team. Write me back.
Ali
Dear Ali,
It's not my fault that Sasuke's a jerk! He should have just agreed to be my friend in the first place and I wouldn't have had to hug him! As for Reiki's spots, the pen made me mad, so I bit it. FYI, I wouldn't advise trying it.
And by the way, who are you to be getting on me for hugging Sasuke? You were the one making out with the FREAK of Konoha by that pond! GROSS MUCH! You should get better taste in men Ali. Oh, and can ya send another pen over? I'm gonna throw this one at Shino and see if his kikaichu grab it in midair or something.
Mish
Dear Mish,
You have very bad luck with pens. I won't send another over since I've only got the one left and can't afford for you to break it too. Besides, I'm running out of paper and Rei-chan looks like he's getting tired from all the message carrying-I don't want him to get nabbed by an owl because he's too tired to run fast enough or something. Just keep my little guy there with you for a bit until he's rested up and then send him back, kay?
And by the way, we weren't making out-sadly- and before you go insulting Lee-kun again, remember this;
AT LEAST THE GUY I LIKE TALKS TO ME:P
Ali
"Sasuke talks to me..."
Michelle grumbled from her perch on a low tree branch as she violently scrunched the sheet of notebook paper into a ball. Reiki lay dozing on the branch next to her in a cat-like pose. The ink Michelle had got on him mostly overed his face, specking is platinum blonde muzzle with blue and making him look like he had some kind of rare disease. Thankfully it would wash off easily enough.
Michelle was just about to toss the crumpled note at the back of Sasuke's head, but stopped, thinking it would be a better idea to destroy the evidence of she and Alison's little 'conversation'. She wasn't really worried about someone reading it, considering it was written in English, but she was scared to think what Shinjako would do to them if she found out they were messing around on duty again-and if she found the note, she WOULD figure it out. She was just crazy good at her job that way. Team fifteen had already been punished for their 'general idiocy' with an extra training session when they got back to Konoha, consisting of climbing a sea cliff with training weights using only their chakra control. Michelle had to hand it to her Sensei. She was cruel-but she was very creative.
The blonde glared at the ball of paper and frowned.
Why couldn't Kai be here? She wondered.
He could do that neat fire creation thingy and get ridda this.
Well, she decided, if she couldn't burn it, she'd have to dispose of it in another way.
"Atsuko what are you doing now?"
Sasuke hissed, glaring up at her as rustling and slobbering sounds drifted from her direction. He raised an eyebrow as she stared doe-eyed at him, a shred of the ball of paper she had just eaten still hanging out of the corner of her mouth. The blonde girl swallowed- not without difficulty- and attempted a small smile.
"Nothing! Nothing at all! Just watching for coyotes and stuff!"
A sweatdrop appeared on the Uchiha's head and he sighed, directing his gaze back to it's original resting place. Shino hadn't looked over, but stood not far away, gazing off in another direction. Near his left foot lay the mangled pen Michelle had flung at him, riddled with holes from where his beatles had eaten through the plastic. Michelle groaned slightly as the wad of paper settled in her stomach.
Great idea Mish, eat the evidence.
She chided herself, sticking her tongue out in disgust at what she'd just done. It was smeared with blue ink. Maybe she could pass for being sick now and go back to the main encampment with the shinobi who were on standby. It'd sure beat this crap.
Just as she was planning to fall out the tree and do her very best freshly-swatted-fly impression to fool her teammates into bringing her back, a rustling sound caught her attention. Drawing a sharp breath, she instinctively she rose into a tense crouched position, her hand going to the fan holstered on her left calf. There was something out there...
Michelle's sharp ears once again pricked to the sound of rustling below her, and she glanced down just in time to see a huge black wolf-like creature settle itself into a ready to strike position.
"Kaze Shuriken no jutsu!"
She cried, feeling her heart leapt into her throat as she channelled chakra into the bladed edge of her pale blue and white fan. Within a split second she had launched herself from the tree, directly at the huge black wolf as it lunged toward Sasuke from the rear. The Uchiha heir spun around in surprise just in time to see the creature's lips pull back in a vicious snarl before the kunoichi's invisible blade cut into it's side. The creature let out a pained yip, jerking to the side in midair before vanishing into violet smoke.
"What the hell?!"
Sasuke asked as Michelle landed lightly on the ground, Reiki balanced precariously on her shoulder as her head had been too small a perch for his huge, husky paws. She was panting slightly, the colour that had drained from her face in fright slowly creeping it's way back as she stood shakily. The blonde cast a short glare at her comrade as she took up a three-way defensive position along with Shino at his back, still trembling slightly.
"You know, it's customary to say THANK YOU when someone stops a giant snarling beast from taking a bite out of you!"
She barked angrily, managing to keep her voice from shaking too badly. Sasuke said nothing. This didn't bother Michelle greatly though, as it added to the overall air of superiority she had gained temporarily. After all, that stunt had possibly been one of the coolest things he had ever done in her life-she wanted to play the part of unfazed professional shinobi for at least a little while. Michelle then looked to the blonde puppy on her shoulder.
"Reiki, go warn Riku-chan's team."
The pup barked once, and shot from shoulder to ground and out into the forest within seconds. Michelle then reached for her second fan, bringing it into a battle-ready stance before her chest as she set her sights back on picking up any other signs of attack.
"It looked like a wolf but...but bigger..."
She muttered in grudging response to Sasuke's earlier question. As much as she would have liked to snub him, the unspoken hierarchy of their watch team drove her to relinquish her moment of glory and be respectful to least to some degree.
"There were purple markings on it's face and tail as well."
Shino added, as he had been at a better angle of observation than the other two. This caught the blonde's attention, drawing her sky-blue gaze to her stoic teammate as he continued.
"It might be a summon of some sort."
"A...summon..."
Michelle parroted, not wanting to believe it. A summoned animal meant a high level shinobi, and a high-level shinobi meant that they were almost certainly screwed. Seemingly not nearly as phased as his female companion was, Sasuke sighed lightly, his features knitting into a grim line.
"So we are fighting ninja. Guess Kakashi-sensei was wrong..."
The foliage chose that exact moment to begin rustling again, parting in a half dozen places on three sides of the trio to reveal snarling faces and bright red eyes within faces black as midnight. Several had spiralling violet tattoo-like patches on their faces, and it was doubtless the others had the same type of markings on the rest of their bodies.
"Should I send up the emergency flare?"
Michelle whispered, remembering that each team had been given a firecracker-like object that had been meant to signal the main encampment if anything happened just before they left.
"No. We can take them."
Sasuke dictated. Shino made a small sound of agreement and bobbed his head. Michelle could only whimper slightly as the creatures began to advance toward them and she saw the moonlight glint of their dripping fangs.
Shiiiiiiiit...
She moaned internally, trying to fix her face into an expression that seemed even slightly brave. For whatever reason, scary giant wolves did not top her "Things I want to encounter on a dark night in the Narutoverse" list.
"That is, as long as you don't screw up Atsuko."
Michelle's eye twitched at the dark-haired boy's remark.
"Remember who just saved your ass, Mr. Smart Guy..."
Her fear replaced by insult, Michelle's face was able to take on a truly focussed expression. She'd show that stuck up jerk who the screw up was!
"Oh come on Naruto, grow up! Nothing happened!"
"Sorry Riku-chan, I can't hear you, I'm busy watching for the bad guys."
Alison glared at her blonde companion from her position in the shadow of a large tree. He stood not far off, attempting to ignore her but making himself look very childish in the process with his arms folded across his chest and his nose stuck in the air. Alison sighed, looking beseechingly toward Lee, hoping he would back her up somehow. Lee however, was too busy alternately guarding his section of the northen wall and muttering his new training plan to defy his most recent rebuke by his beloved Sakura-san to hear her. Alison moaned quietly in aggravation. Of all the rotten luck she could have been hit with, having Naruto develop a crush on her had to be the worst. Not only was he now pouting over having to share another love-interest with Lee , but she had no way of consoling him. After all-she DID like Lee better than him!
"Well congrats Alison Camille McKay."
She sighed, massaging her temples with the thumb and ring finger of one hand as she lowered herself to the ground and crossed her legs.
"You've helped to make the love triangles in this story even more complicated."
Let's have a recap shall we?
The original state of affaires was as follows;
Sakura liked Sasuke, who ignored her-and everyone else. Sakura was in turn crushed on by Lee and Naruto- Naruto being the object of Hinata's affection and Lee gaining modest interest from Tenten on occasion- both of whom Sakura wanted nothing to do with. Ino also liked Sasuke, but was so aggravating that she received little or no attention from anyone else.
However, since she ,Kai and Michelle had entered the ranks of the Shinobi;
Sakura and Ino still liked Sasuke, but now so did Michelle, who Sasuke was beginning to take an interest in as well-resulting in Sakura and Ino wanting to kill Michelle. Kai had joined Lee and Naruto in the ranks of Sakura worshippers, except that Naruto now had a crush on Riku as well, only Riku was crushing hardcore on Lee, who was quite creeped out by her. Hinata and Tenten still hadn't heard anything of this, and so were unaware that their respective love triangles had become frighteningly twisted love hexagons.
Alison sighed, staring at the relationship webs she had scratched into the dirt with a twig, leaning her head on her hand and giving it a long, hard look. She then decided to remove Ino and Tenten, since Ino had numerous other options she could pursue and Tenten seemed far more infatuated with Neji to begin with.
"Okay then, if Sasuke were to fall for Michelle..."
She mumbled, putting a heart on the line that connected the two names.
"And I were to somehow convince Lee to like me, and Naruto were to get over me and fall for...say Hinata..."
She added more hearts and scratched out the line between herself and Naruto.
"...Then Kai could have a better shot at winning Sakura over, and if Ino could stay out of it all and marry Choji or something..."
Heart, heart.
Scratch, scratch.
Alison smiled brightly, clasping her hands together in delight and pressing them against her cheek as magical red Shojo sparkles floated all around.
"It's the best plan EVER! Everybody gets paired off and Michelle doesn't get killed! Bwahahahaha! I'm a genius! I should write fanfictions!"
Just then, a series of frightened yips cut through the still air, breaking off the three genin's respective trains of thought. Reiki charged toward his mistress, tongue lolling and brown eyes wide with panic.
"What is it boy?"
Alison asked in concern, plucking her dog from the ground and holding him to her chest. She stood, stroking his thick blonde fur reassuringly.
"Is there trouble at the old mill? Is Jimmy stuck in a well? Umm...did Atsuko eat an entire pound of brown sugar again?"
Reiki wouldn't stop barking, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Alison couldn't understand him.
"What's he saying?"
Naruto asked, jogging over to the girl and her dog. Alison frowned at him, still trying to calm her puppy.
"Well I don't know! Who do you think I am, Kiba? Maybe he just saw a fox or something and got scared..."
"Guys watch out!"
Called Lee from somewhere to the left. Both Alison and Naruto looked to their teammate who was staring intently into the forest. Alison followed his gaze to the low brush that surrounded them on three sides. The glint of numerous crimson eyes showed clearly through the dark foliage, the low growling of the creatures they belonged to resonating through the still air.
"Dammit."
Naruto cursed under his breath, drawing his kunai. Alison kept her silver eyes fixed on a set of piercing red ones as she slowly set her puppy on the ground behind her and placed a hand on the hilt of her short sword.
"Rei-chan, Mummy's going to be busy for the next while. Go back to the encampment and wait with Shinja-sensei will you?"
The small dog whimpered slightly, then barked, turning on his tail and fleeing for the town's entrance. The redhead pulled her blade the rest of the way out of it's sheath, holding it before her and glancing to Naruto and Lee-who both stood to her right.
"Any plans guys?"
She asked her fellow group-members.
"I've got one."
Naruto said with a small smile, his bright blue eyes watching the movements of the wolf pack as they stepped from the shadows toward the trio, malignance glittering in their crimson eyes.
"Let's all get in there and chop them to pieces."
Alison caught his eye for a split second, and nodded, a smile of her own creeping it's way onto her features as she felt a surge of adrenaline shot through her veins. She hadn't really expected a better plan-this was after all, a team of the most hot-headed ninja in Konoha
And that suited her just fine.
"I'll get the two on the left, Lee-san you go for the ones on the right and Naruto, you can have the pair in the middle."
"Right."
Lee said. Naruto made a small sound of affirmation.
Then, the three ninja struck.
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ZOMG!! TEH DRAMA!!1!!!11!
Yeah, for the most part, the laughter ends here. Disappointed guys:)Don't be! Exciting and dramaticalishness things are about to happen! Yay! EH, not much else to say. Questions? Comments? Post them in a review and I'll address them in the next chapter-because I love you all just that much:)
This is Seven Levels, warning you not to talk back to the little voices in your head! You're only crazy if you...hey shut up guys, will you? I'm trying to write here! Now where was I? Oh well. G'night all!