Chapter Title: 'Just Pick Up, I Know You're There'
Belonging To: 'Conscious Dreaming'
Author: Miss.Yamapi.Kara
Genre: Drama, (Humour), Science Fiction
Warnings: None outstanding
Rating: T
Base: 'Naruto' by Masashi Kishimoto
Chapter Summary: Their lives seem to be without colour, when they aren't dreaming. Choices have to be made: to confront or to run?
Chapter Soundtrack: 'Hear Me Out' Frou Frou, 'Lifting Shadows Off A Dream' Dream Theater

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership over the manga, anime or other variations of what I know as 'Naruto'. I am gaining no profit from this piece.
I have no intimate connection to mentioned established institutes/universities/brands/other names that may be used in this story.
I do not claim ownership over the songs named above.
All material other than the above-mentioned is claimed as the sole property of myself.

Heads Up: If necessary, action will be taken to protect my own writing. It would be greatly appreciated if fellow avid-writers, all readers or general persons would respect the content of this document and not copy it. If it is desired by anyone to use any part of the text on the page, I would bid him or her to contact me and it shall be discussed.

Miss.Yamapi.Kara

Author's Note: As is usual in my writing, italic words bordered by apostrophes are thoughts, i.e. 'This is a thought.' My sarcastic humour crept into this chapter somehow... Deal? hides It really shouldn't be bad – some of you might even understand it ;P Enjoy chapter 4 of 'Conscious Dreaming'!

This chapter is dedicated to everyone who made it possible for 'Hear Me Out' and 'Lifting Shadows Off A Dream', performed by Frou Frou and Dream Theater respectively, to reach my ears.

Proceeding...

Conscious Dreaming

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: Just Pick Up, I Know You're There

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8:38am : GMT+1
Zurich, Switzerland
AdvanceTech Building, Centre of Development, 23rd Floor

He was late.

But no one would care.

As the elevator doors opened to his office floor, he walked in on autopilot.

His blond hair was dishevelled and, if he took the moment to notice, his tie was askew; he had missed a button on his shirt and he was carrying his jacket in his right hand.

With quick steps, he walked past door after door until he reached his office.

He sat down in his chair and dropped his bag and jacket to the floor.

Tilting his head back and sliding down in his seat, a white ceiling stared down on him while white walls surrounded him.

'That wasn't a dream.' He was certain.

After logging off of ATW and throwing his headset across the room, the young man had become lost in panicked thoughts of what had just happened; what did he see, what did he feel?

But most importantly: 'Who was that?'

That thought had taken over every sense and impulse he possessed.

It was the face from his dreams.

That thought had distracted him entirely and made him late to work.

But he didn't care, and no one else would either. So he sat and stared and thought.

After calming himself considerably, the young man had been able to realise that he had felt comfortable with the other person, as if he knew him. He also felt an overwhelming kind of anxiousness that ran through his veins with fire and threatened to explode in his chest and head. The kind of "last chance" spike in heartbeat that came with barely tamed frustration.

He had realised that, in the vision, he was desperate to make the person come with him.

He wanted the man to follow him. To return wherever he himself had come from.

He also knew that he had met with the man like that many times, and many more than he would have liked but at the same time it was the greatest thing to happen to him.

'I was chasing him and I found him.. but that wasn't all I wanted. It was like I was sick of just seeing him... Like it wasn't.. enough?'

With the event clear in his mind and as understood as it was going to become without additional information, he decided that he would return to the AdvanceTechWorld and search for the mysterious black-haired man who sparked this vision.

'I wouldn't be surprised if he knows me already, with the way he was staring.'

It would be difficult to find him, but a developer of The System had a few tricks up his sleeve. He also lacked the ability to give up.

He blinked and cocked an eyebrow at the lofty thoughts running through his head, 'Or maybe, he saw the same thing I did...'

... I'm a slow-motion accident

Lost in coffee rings and fingerprints

I don't wanna feel anything

But I do

And it all comes back to you ...

3:38pm : GMT+9
Kobe, Japan
Kobe University, Language Block, Masahiro Hall

He was late.

It really wasn't like him.

Nonetheless, he was late.

As he opened the door to his English classroom and picked his way through the mass of students to his usual window seat, he was glad that his professor was inclined to tardiness.

Setting his bag down on the floor next to his feet, he ran a hand through his unkempt hair.

He paid no mind to his undone appearance of rough jeans and a rumpled shirt, rather trying to reign in his frantic thoughts.

'If it wasn't just a dream, then what was it?'

His dark eyes bore into nothingness as he laced his fingers underneath his nose and planted his elbows on the desk top.

It was with a sharp yelp that he had pulled off his ATW headset and dropped it onto his bed that morning. He made the decision to ignore his clock and first lecture of the day in favour of exercising his right to brood. Since then, he'd been buried in the soundless buzz of questions in his own mind.

'Who is he?'

The same face that he'd seen in his dreams, he could remember now.

The revelation had been powerful enough to wipe his head of anything else other than the face.

He wanted a name to accompany it.

'I don't want to see him again.. Something is telling me to stay away from all this. But I really want to see him again..'

Quite unlike himself, he let his head fall to the desk with a soft 'thump' as he admitted that he wasn't making any sense.

He had been able to discern that it was fear of his own decision that made him want to run away from the person, not fear of the person himself. He understood that the other man was someone worthwhile enough to forsake important things for. And that frightened him.

The sheer weight that the confusion he felt in the vision had left in his chest scared him – scared him because he didn't know why he was so torn.

'What was I trying to decide?'

It was clear to him that that person was a distraction, but a distraction that he valued and wanted dearly to be bothered by.

It felt as though he'd been fighting with that indecision for a long time; he was suddenly very tired.

Slowly sitting upright once more, he crossed his arms over his chest and one leg over the other.

With the uncertainty of his own desires, he conceded he was curious to know what was going on, but reluctant to find out.

He assured himself that the chance of meeting the man again was slim-to-none, and decided not to let this event deter him from visiting the AdvanceTechWorld.

Perhaps he would be lucky enough to run into the man again.

Or not.

... He seems alone and silent
Waiting on his hands and knees
The chill of winter's darkness sits quietly ...

Sakura Haruno, assistant and secretary in the office of the 23rd floor of the AdvanceTech Centre in Zurich, was an astute woman.

She was particularly attune to the movements of one specific co-worker.

Having watched him trudge across the office floor, she readied two cups of tea and headed towards his office.

The door was open.

She walked in as she would any other time – they were good friends.

Setting the cup down on the table top, she sighed and placed her hand on her hip: there was the man, staring off into space with his magical blue eyes and whimsically wind-tossed locks.

She kicked the desk once to break the spell he was under.

"Wah! Eh? Sakura?" He jolted and came to notice her presence.

"Good morning. Awake, are we?" She purred dangerously.

"Yeah, I know I'm a little late today, but I really couldn't help it." He laughed off her threatening gaze and scratched the back of his neck – a habit he'd had since he was a child.

"Well, as long as you got here in one piece." She nodded and sipped her tea.

She noticed that her partner in conversation ignored the drink completely.

"I made you some tea." She offered kindly.

Black-rimmed eyes glanced tiredly at the cup and he smiled slightly, "Thanks, but I really gotta get to work."

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard, you know." It wasn't a question, but the concern that her soft voice carried betrayed her.

First and foremost they were friends, and she was worried about him.

Lately, he'd been oddly distant and quiet. He seemed preoccupied with the world in his head rather than the one outside of it. He would sit in his office and work non-stop, always trying to find ways to improve the AdvanceTechWorld and exploring every corner of it.

He had never been so dedicated to it before.

It was as if he was searching for something – something in that world that he couldn't find anywhere else.

Sakura wanted to help him but she knew she couldn't. She didn't know The System like he did, and certainly didn't understand what drove her enigmatic friend.

She was also aware that the AdvanceTechWorld was a realm created by humans; it was obvious to her that nothing in it was real.

It was all a game.

She wanted to make sure he didn't become obsessed with something unreal that he couldn't possibly attain. It frustrated her that she didn't have the skill to follow where he went, to help him like she wanted to.

As he clicked a few switches and typed a few commands, she looked on.

Even when he took up the headset she watched and waited till he grinned and told her not to frown like that, it'd give her wrinkles.

She flipped her red hair at the comment, trying to shrug off her disquiet by playing along with the joke.

As he sat back and secured the headset, she sighed and started to leave.

The best she could do was watch over him and be there for him if he needed it.

Sakura let herself have one last thought for her friend before concentrating on her own job, 'Please, don't forget that that world isn't real.'

... He seems alone and silent
Thoughts remain without an answer
Afraid and uninvited
He slowly drifts away ...

Hatake Kakashi, admired professor of the English language in Kobe University, Japan, was a shrewd man.

He was rather attentive to one student in particular.

As he sauntered into the lecture room and placed his laptop bag onto the front desk, he spied the student sitting by the window.

"Ah, sorry I'm late!" He raised a hand in greeting to his class, "You see, there was this little lost girl with ruby red shoes, and you don't really care, do you?"

He noticed the majority of the class had already opened their books and were translating passages.

So much for his fantastic recount.

Turning his back to the room, he uncapped a white board marker and began to scrawl over the board.

As he did this, he glanced back at the young man through the image reflected in the window.

"Now, who's daring enough to recap the last lecture for me?" He asked, all the while his eyes were trained on one person.

A girl raised her hand, standing from her seat when Kakashi motioned for her to commence.

She began to speak and, in doing so, diverted attention from the front of the room.

He began to let his thoughts backtrack over memories of the last few weeks; his pupil had been uncharacteristically distracted during that time.

Initially, Kakashi had guessed that it was something personal along the lines of girl trouble that was bothering him. But as he continued to observe him, the professor had realised that the other was not only less focussed in the classroom, but also more withdrawn from the world around him in general.

He and the young man were on good terms, often chatting outside of lecture hours, but Kakashi had never seen him so uncaring of the happenings around him.

"Thankyou, very good." The girl had finished her recount, "We'll be moving on today, to the topic of..." and he continued with his lesson.

He let his mouth run and his mind wander.

It was a talent.

Kakashi saw dark eyes narrow and decided his student was indeed in deep thought.

It frustrated him that he wasn't able to understand what was going through the other's head, and he doubted that he could do anything about it, even if he did comprehend.

It felt like one of those utterly helpless situations.

Resigning himself to his role as mentor, Kakashi decided that his advice in firm words and a friendly tone, along with a warm squeeze of the shoulder would have to do, in terms of aid.

Watching carefully as the black-haired man ignored the working students around him, he knew there was nothing else he could do.

He was out of his league.

Despite his cool demeanour, he worried for the other: he always seemed so out of place.

He wished that everything would work out for him, and that he would be able to find answers to all the questions that clouded his eyes.

Kakashi spent a silent thought before returning to his class, 'When you find out what you want, don't let it go.'

Review? Worse, better? Meh? I love to hear thoughts, and I'd really like for people to tell me which specific parts/lines they liked/disliked. :D