I don't own Naruto!

"What?!"

Emily doesn't care who asked that or bothers to repeat herself; she's just been pushed off the deep end. She could cope with a new world or dimension or whatever, know that she would not see her family, friends, or home for some time, but she just couldn't handle this.

Those other things I can fight through and get back to, but I can't relive my life. All of the mistakes I've made, especially the ones that I regret every day, had made me who I was. Now, it's like those things never happened...

"Emily."

Kakashi-sensei begins picking me up again. "I can understand what the conflict is inside of you right now, but there's always the chance that when you return to your own world that you'll regain your age prior to coming here."

She remembers how she acted when she was twelve: shy, a show-off around her friends (because she thought they would like her better if she was "cool"), a go-between when her friends were in fights (she would help solve the bickering), and a teachers' pet. Sure, she was still most of those things, but at different degrees and in different ways.

Am I even Emily anymore?

"Oooooooooi~ Eeeeeeemilyyyyy~ Are you listening?"

Emily or not-Emily or whatever looks at a smiling pink-haired girl. "Hn? What is it, Sakura?"

"Well," she begins, "Kakashi-sensei explained why he thought you were depressed about being twelve again. If you don't feel like Emily anymore and you can't become her again as you are now, why don't you become someone else?"

What's-her-face stares at her. " 'Become someone else'? What do you mean?"

"You could take on a different name. Emily is almost a sixteen-year-old who cares about people very much. She's brave, strong, and has a steady will."

Emily blushes, uncomfortable by the attention and praise. "I don't know about all tha-"

"She is!" Sakura beams. "The thing is, you aren't almost sixteen. You're still pretty, courageous, and everything Emily is, but you aren't who she was at age twelve. You are a different twelve-year-old, so you need a different name!"

"I follow your logic and agree with it, but would a name really change-"

"Yes." Naruto jumps into the conversation. He seems... determined, like he's taking the situation to heart.

Like he understands.

His sureness rubs off a little, and ex-Emily gives in. "Alright," she states. "So, what's my new name?"

Everyone is quiet except for some,"Hmm"s here and there.

"I'VE GOT IT!" Naruto shouts. Smiling, very pleased with himself, he declares, "Your name is... Soumen!"

Sakura punches him before No-name can ask what the heck that means. When she does ask, she gets some weird looks and an answer.

"Soumen-the name of a style of fine, white noodles," Kakashi-sensei explains.

The girl giggles a little. "You want to name me after noodles? Won't you get hungry when you talk to me then?"

Naruto, rubbing his head, says, "Yeah, I guess you're right..."

There is a long pause before Sakura asks, "What about 'Chieko'? It means 'wise child', and you seem pretty smart."

Kakashi-sensei adds, " 'Keiko' is a nice name. You can translate it to mean 'lucky/happy/respectful/sunny child'. There's also 'Masuyo':'benefit the world'."

"Uh, I don't know about that one. I've been more of a hindrance since I first arrived here..."

"Well," Naruto begins, "why don't you tell us things you like? It could help us find one. What month were you born in?"

"January. I like snow, animals, stars, adventure, books... stuff like that. Is that helpful at all?"

"Hmm. Do you like 'Aisho'? It means 'book lover'."

"I've got one, ya know! 'Yukiko'. It means 'rare child', but I thought of it 'cause 'yuki' is 'snow'."

Saskue, who has been silent for the most part, states, " 'Takara', 'treasure', and 'Hoshi', 'star', are okay names."

"Wait, wait," the thinking girl tells them all. "Hmm. 'Soumen' was the first offered, so 's'; 'Chieko' was next, 'h', followed by 'Keiko', 'i', and 'Masuyo', 'u'; then 'Aisho', 'o', and 'Yukiko', 'o', leaving 'Takara', 't', and 'Hoshi', 'o'. So, the letters to be used are 's, h, i, u, o, o, t, o,' and I'll throw in a 'n' from 'Penny', the name of my dream person. Don't ask," she quickly tells her friends. " 'S, h, i, u, o, o, t, o, n'. I want my name to be made of the letters from the names you all chose for me, so now it's only a matter of unscrambling it," she explains.

"So, you're making your new name an acronym," Kakashi-sensei confirms.

Mixed-letters girl nods. "I've always been indecisive, and this is one way that I can compromise everything. 'Soumen' was offered first, so I took the first letter from it, 'Chieko' second, so I stole the second letter, and so on. What do you guys think about 'Noi Ohusto'?"

Sakura's face turns red with anger as she says, "No! 'Noi' is very close to 'Ino'."

The girl quickly gets the picture and does not question the on-fire Sakura. "How about 'Tosu Nohio'?"

There are murmurs of agreement, so Naruto hollers,"Tosu it is!"

The group tells Tosu about themselves and she in return explains the things of her family and home.

"So you have two little brothers and two older sisters?!" Sakura exclaims. "That must be hard!"

"Well, we've never had that kind of sibling bond that normal people do; we just fight all the time." Tosu stares at her book as she says, "I always hope that one day we'll be nicer toward each other..."

Naruto gives off the hint of an aura, and it's not a pretty one. Tosu gets the feeling that he doesn't like her being sad about having so many relatives.

Maybe he's lost a lot of his own ,she thinks to herself. If that's the case, I would be mad too about someone throwing a pity party about her living family...

Tosu decides that she will never speak so carelessly around Naruto again. The boy really meant something to her, so she did not want to make him angry with her.

"So you grew up in the mountains?" he suddenly asks. Tosu nods. "Well, you'll like our village then. We have some mountains, and we're surrounded by forest for miles; it might not be your home, but maybe you'll like it." He smiles before adding, "When you get out of the hospital, I'll show you around!"

The girl smiles widely. He's not mad! "I'd like that a lot! Thank you!"

They all chat happily until they break through the forest's edge. A dirt road lies before them, and at the end of it are very tall walls with an open door in them. A few paper lanterns light up a small booth on the inside of the wall. Two men seem to be in it, scanning for intruders or people in general perhaps.

"Kakashi! Didn't think you would show up today."

"Normally, we would have made camp. But," he says gesturing to the girl in his arms, "something came up."

The men stare at Tosu, and she tries to make herself shrink into nonexistence. They're calculating me...

Two yawns are heard from behind along with someone slowly breathing through their nose as if trying to hide his yawn.

"You guys can go home," Kakashi tells the kids. "I'll address the Third and see Tosu to the hospital. No training tomorrow."

Naruto gives a tired, "All right!" before saying good-night. The other two say their own good-nights before going their separate ways. Kakashi-sensei nods to the two men before going to the hospital.

"Her name is Tosu Nohio," Kakashi-sensei tells the lady behind the desk. "She has a broken leg and some trauma."

The woman smiles at us as she replies with, "We can't do much about trauma, but we'll have that leg fixed in no time!"

Tosu is laid on a cart before Kakashi-sensei leaves. He tells her that he will come by to check on her after the bone is checked.

I guess he has to meet with whoever this "Third" is.

She remembers breathing in some gas from a mask before passing out.

"How much longer will she be asleep?"

"Not much longer. Please stay quiet, though. She's very exhausted and should remain asleep for as long as possi-"

"Wait! She's waking up!"

Emily slowly opens her eyes. The things around her are fuzzy and out of focus, but the blonde, pink, and black kind of help her understand the voices she heard.

"Hey guys."

The room slowly becomes clearer as Naruto says, "Hey! You've been making messed up faces and had the nurses running around you like crazy to lower that fever again."

Sakura looks at Tosu, concerned by the recent developments. "Did that man show up?"

The finally awake girl nods. "It was worse this time; he tried to hold me with even more strength, so I guess even more heat was needed to stop him." She looks at the tube going into her arm. "If this has some kind of medication to help me fall asleep, I need it out of me."

The nurse starts to say how it was her pain reliever as well, but Tosu cuts her off. "I know I'm being selfish and that I'm going to hurt a lot if it's removed, but if he keeps whatever this is up, I'm afraid that I won't wake up next time."

Everyone in the room looks at her worriedly.

A voice breaks the silence. "You don't need to worry about that."

They all turn to see Kakashi-sensei in the window. "What do you mean?" Tosu asks. "The man is only in my dreams, so it's not like anyone can help me."

Kakashi-sensei stays quiet, silently confirming the worry Tosu had thought of. "He's real, isn't he? This man is somehow able to sneak into my mind."

"... Yeah."

The girl shivers. If he can get into my mind and hurt me, he may be able to alter my thoughts and memories. Maybe he could even control me... She shivers again. After a moment more of thought, Tosu asks the nurse, "When can I get some crutches? I must leave here as soon as possible."

"Oi, calm down," Sakura tells her. "I know that you must want to get home, but you can't be reck-"

"You're wrong," she says calmly. "That's not the problem. I'm a danger to you all." She looks at them all before elaborating. "If this man can reach into my mind, there's a chance that by using my brain, he could control me. That means he would have access to my memories, be able to find this place, and use any of the info I've learned from you all or info from my world to destroy it. I might be a little melodramatic when I say that, but something tells me that I shouldn't put it past him. I need to leave before you all are in danger."

More silence.

With a sigh, Kakashi-sensei gets out of the windowsill, walks over to the bed,

and punches Tosu on the head.

"OW! What was that for?!" It really hurt despite it looking like a tap.

He leans against the wall as he says, "To wake you up; only a half-asleep person could say something that ridiculous."

"Ya got that right!"

"Definitely," Sakura agrees.

Sasuke looks at Tosu. "Whoever he is, we can take him. No one's going to destroy our home when so many strong shinobi live here." He closes his eyes as he adds, "You aren't a loser, so stop thinking like one."

Sakura's eyes become hearts as she immediately starts agreeing with him. That's one mystery solved, Tosu thinks as she recalls Sakura's attitude toward that Ino person.

Desperately, she tries to persuade them. "Even if you do have these really strong shinobi, whatever those are, it's still dangerous for me to be here! The longer I'm here, the more I will learn of this place and the people here. He can use that knowledge against you! I may not even have control of my limbs sooner or later; He could use me to hurt you in more ways than one!"

"Are you done yet?" Kakashi-sensei questions.

Tosu conveys her pleads with her eyes. Don't... Don't do this!

"You just won't wake up," he says, pushing off the wall to stand upright. "Take a nap; you must be too tired to not get what we're saying." He lifts his headband to reveal a scarred, closed eye.

When he opens it, three black dots on the red iris spin, making the girl suddenly heavy with the need to sleep. As she passes out, she hears one thing:

"You're our friend."

Have you guys noticed that the chapters have been getting progressively longer? *shrug* Happy accident.

That is actually my thought process when making names sometimes. I'm a nut.

You guys remember when you were little and made imaginary friends when you got bored or were lonely? "Penny" was the name of my best friend when I was little, and she was that imaginary friend. Instead of looking up to my sister or parents, I looked up to her… :P

Suggestions for plot other than ships? (Not that ships are bad; I love ships!) XD

Thanks for the reviews! I'm actually going to do that! :)