Scroll Seven

Sounds of Renate's sleep breathing could be heard faintly throughout the room, especially to the two ninjas attuned to hearing it. One of them, an Uchiha in his mid twenties, was lost in thought. 'Renate's asleep again, I'll bet my Sharingan on it. Oh, well. More fun for us!' While he was thinking, his fiancée was lost in thought as well. 'What's Sasuke-kun thinking? I hope he doesn't plan to wake her up…'

"Renate!"

"I didn't do it!" The young woman yelled as she jolted awake.

"At least keep your snoring to a minimum when you're sleeping in class, bitch."

"Halt die Klappe, dumkopf!" Renate said glaring, and Sasuke was glaring right back. They both knew that their glares were saying the same thing: "I hate you and will hate you for the rest of my life."

Sasuke hated how Renate acted like a stuck up witch, but only toward him and enemy shinobi. This didn't even consider the fact that she usually ignored and slept through all the teachers' lectures. What Renate hated about Sasuke was that he was cocky, especially since she could beat him up in seconds. No one stood up to her; she was queen. The only person with any authority over her was her father, who she inherited it from. Her father, though, thought of himself as god. Ah, how she missed his mocking smile and patronizing Sasuke! Unfortunately for her, she couldn't punch him until they had accomplished their ninja mission. On the other hand, their friends made up for it. Ikari kept Renate in line with threats of disowning her in the game of family they'd been playing for a dozen years. Sakura kept Sasuke in line by threats of brute force.

"Meet with me after class, Renate," said the teacher.

Renate stayed awake during the rest of the lesson and went to Mr. Cole during the 5 minute break in between his and Mrs. Caston's classes.

"Why did you fall asleep? Was I boring you? This isn't like you Renate. You never fell asleep when you were in my class before."

"Sigh… how do I put it, Mr. Cole? I can't stay awake. Even when I'm trying to stay awake for class, I still fall asleep. I'm sorry."

"Please try to stay awake during Mrs. Caston's class, Renate. I didn't think you'd sleep through mine, either."

"Yes sir. Sorry."

"I forgive you, but try to stay awake." Mr. Cole said, right as the bell rang.

"All right, everybody, take your seats. Before we start, would the ninjas tell us their names, please?"

Renate spoke up first. "I'm Renate, and my one-chan is Ikari, but you knew her as Debretta. Her idiot brother-in-law is Sasuke, and the one with pink hair is Sakura-san."

"Thank you, Renate. Now, can anyone tell me what the rights of women were in the progressive movement?"

Renate's hand shot into the air as she remembered being angry at this subject.

"Renate?"

"Women had no rights in the progressive movement and were treated a little better than property. They could get raped at work and their bosses could get away with it. They also couldn't vote back then, and were often mistreated in the home due to their husbands getting drunk. This led to the Eighteenth and Ninteenth amendments to the constitution, which abolished alcohol and gave women the rights to vote, in that order."

"Thank you. You actually covered some of what we haven't gotten to in class. Care to wake up… Sasuke? Is that his name?"

"Yes to both questions. Oi. Bakamono. Bakamono. Can I yell to wake him up, Mrs. Caston?"

"You'll have to tell me what a-"

"Bakamono means fool."

"Oh. Well, then yes, you may, Renate."

"Heeheehee. Life is good when you get to wake up a bakamono. Bakamono domo! Yokukike!"

"Hah? Whah?"

"Bakamono domo, Sasuke-baka!"

"Yerou, Renate! We'll settle this after school!"

Sure enough, after school, Renate and Sasuke were outside fighting. He went to punch her, and she dodged into a tree nearby. He followed her up there, his sharingan activated; only it was turned purple by the blue color their chakra took in this world. He went to punch her again, and she grabbed his shoulder, throwing him down onto a tree root as hard as she could. She watched gleefully as he writhed in pain of having a broken shoulder, which was only angering him more.

"Hey, Renate-chan," Kabuto called up after her while Chessie was distracted by a man a few years older than her. "I see your other half walking down the street across from us! Come look!" She and the others all turned to stare as Chessie and Hebikage as they walked down the stairs to the school they'd left a few minutes earlier. Sasuke clutched his injured shoulder, realizing that she was the outcome of the soul-splitting jutsu he had used on Renate twenty years earlier.

"I don't believe it. The part of your soul that I severed from you is married with a kid," Sasuke muttered to Renate.

"I can't believe she found the only other person from this country that dad taught. Sasuke, go on ahead. Kabuto-kun, stay here. Everyone else, could you please go with Sasuke? I need to talk to my yin half and her husband alone with my husband."

Everyone else complied, understanding Renate's shock and need, and seven others filed away from her. Sasuke, Kabuto, Renate, Ikari and Sakura weren't the only ones on earth – Uchiha Itachi, Hyuugas Neji and Hinata, and Kabuto's sister, Arare, were there as well. Kabuto had changed his appearance – he was a yellow-haired medic now with his hair still in a low ponytail, his eyes now blue like Naruto's. Sasuke's Sharingan was now a vivid purple, and his hair didn't stick out like a duck's butt anymore, much to Renate's dismay.

Two hours later, Renate and Kabuto saw Chessie and Hebikage walk outside, instantly recognizing each other from across the street. As Chessie and Renate put their hands on each other like they would do if they were comparing hand sizes, Chessie's remaining missing memories flooded back with a jolt. Renate's emotions mellowed out at long last, and she became a little dizzy.

Her world spinning, she and Chessie hugged, feeling like they had finally figured out who they had become. All four wordlessly felt that at last they could all be free from their personal inner demons. Chessie and Renate knew they were in opposite countries, but they wouldn't have had it any other way. Both had come to love the countries they'd made their home, and wouldn't leave it unless disasters forced them to. A few wordless minutes later, they went their separate ways. As much as they hated parting so soon, both couples felt like an enormous amount of weight was lifted off their shoulders and chests as they did.