I really didn't expect any reviews and I'm honestly really surprised at the positivity I've receiving and also very happy with the feedback and for that I cannot thank you enough.

But anyway, here's the next chapter, I'm really sorry if there are any grammar mistakes but I will most likely check back and re-edit soon. I also know there is probably a few cliché's in there somewhere, but that's what I'm going for because it will hold meaning in the long run.

Enjoy.

)()()(

"I've been invited to a birthday party." I blurted, gazing up at Lara.

Lara was in the middle of climbing a tree to gain advantage of our current destination, so to put, she was looking for the right direction, oddly enough, despite knowing which way would lead us out. We hadn't begun our trek back home just yet-or as she likes to put it, Konoha. I was just waiting for her to snap out of it, however long that took.

Once we were home, maybe our mother would send for help or even rush her to the hospital. Perhaps she received a head injury early today. I'll have to find out later.

"That's too bad," Lara called back, reaching to grab another branch before hauling herself further up the tree.

"What do you mean?"

Lara snorted. "Once in this world, there's no going back. Sorry to say it, Emi, but you can't go."

I kicked a rock in my path, crossing my arms and looked down at the ground.

How can she be so nonchalant?

"There's no proof..." I grumbled under my breath.

My gaze flickered to the guinea pig cage, set under another tree. They still hadn't awoken, that left an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. They couldn't have just died-maybe they collapsed out of fright? I know I was scared, but not enough to faint. But that was over now, the weird weather pattern had lightened up and I could almost see the sun breaking through the canopy above, leaving scattered splashes of light through the leaves.

There had to be an explanation-because, in all honesty, I didn't want to be the one to tell my teacher and class that I indirectly killed two innocent animals. Maybe if Lara hurries up I can run to the vets to see if they can do anything.

But if they are dead...

How much do guinea pigs cost again?

"I'm almost to the top!" called Lara's muffled voice from far up. I sighed, calling back an 'okay' before shifting myself toward the tree opposite the one she had climbed up and plopped myself on the ground, leaning heavily against the tree with a heavy sigh. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, my hands resting on my lap.

Maybe I should check out a few psychology books from the library. Mother would love that, since that was her field of expertise, she'd be a well of information. It could even give me an insight to what may have caused Lara to act so confusing.

I may even impress Lara this time...

I held in my giggle and smiled in glee.

It was difficult to impress Lara. I learned that from experience, since Lara herself is a very smart girl-a lot smarter than myself. Good grades earned me a pat on the head, but what could I do to really surprise or earn her attention? I'm sure studying psychology would earn me something, of what, I'm not sure. It wasn't like I could physically earn a gold medal. Anything that involved exercise was out.

I pouted, drumming my fingers across my knees.

Maybe I should take up sewing...

"Emi!" squawked Lara, startling me on the spot.

I jolted up, scrambling to stand back up and stumbled my way over to the tree she had climbed. I craned my neck back, trying to spot the caramel haired girl through the thick leaves. Unfortunately, she was completely shrouded, I couldn't even spot her signature red shoes.

"Lara?" I called back in a worried tone "Are you alright up there?"

There was a loud squeal of delight and I furrowed my brow, still trying to spot my sister. I was tempted to climb up after her, but quickly realized I would do more harm than good. I've never really had good hand eye coordination. I bit my lip nervously, squinting up trying to catch a glimpse of my sister.

"Lara, are-"

"-I've found it!" she squealed cutting me off.

Found what?

Suddenly, the audible sound of creaking and snaps were heard from above and I hastily stepped back for safety, my gaze still lingering up. The sound of something shifting and ruffling became more clearer and before I had time to register what had happened, my sister had leaped into view, dropping down from branch to branch, her long hair bouncing in the process until finally she leaped onto the cobblestone pathway, landing in a small crouch.

I blinked at her, too stunned to say anything. Since when did she become a master tree climber? I shook the thought off and glided to her side, checking her over for any cuts and bruises.

However, I didn't get very far when she decided to suddenly grab me, pulling me into a tight embrace. Any other time I would have accepted the affection, despite whatever had transpired beforehand and I would have easily melted into the hug-unfortunately, my worry for her outweighed my own wants and needs.

Carefully, I peeled myself away from her with great difficulty. She had a really strong grip.

Lara didn't seem to notice though and instead she slapped her hands on my cheeks, forcing me to look at her. I was almost blinded the moment I laid gaze upon her face. Her smile was so bright and her blue eyes twinkled with excitement. All I could do was blink. What had gotten her so psyched up?

"I've found it," she repeated in a whisper.

I scrunched up my nose. Found what?

"What did you find?"

Without missing a beat, Lara quickly replied. "Konoha!"

I forced myself not to roll my eyes.

Maybe she just spotted an abandoned industrial building or something...

"But what if it's not?" I questioned, raising a brow "I mean, what are the chances that-"

"-No, it's definitely Konoha. It's quite a bit away, but I'm positive I saw the tip of the gates." Lara let out a squeal "Isn't this exciting?!"

I bit my lip before commenting. "So you're just going on a hunch that it might be? Lara, this could be very dangerous, you can't just storm over there, it's probably private property."

Huffing, I shuffled myself back a few steps. I didn't want to be mean to her and I definitely didn't want to upset her. I've never seen her so excited, would it be cruel to stomp all over her? Mother once told me you have to be cruel to be kind. But I didn't exactly like being mean to my sister. Then again, I wanted her to see reason.

One doesn't simply slip into another dimension. Unless you're Doctor Who, of course. But that's beside the point.

"You're being very pessimistic, Emi." My head shot up and I bit my tongue, stopping myself from replying. Lara was shaking her head at me, as if in disappointment. "I'm your big sister so you have to trust me, okay? Your negativity isn't going to get us anywhere."

It wasn't negativity, it was caution.

"But what about-"

"-Emily, that's enough." Lara's excited expression had quickly switched into a glare, I froze on the spot, I had never received one of her glares before. There was a short pang in my chest, squeezing me. I suddenly realized I didn't like it when she was upset with me. I clenched my hands into fists.

"I'm sorry..." I mumbled, scuffing my foot back and forth nervously. I dropped my gaze to the ground. "You're right."

But I still don't believe we're in some other world. Let alone a fictional one.

Lara giggled at me. "I'm always right," I sniffed at her "In the mean time, how about we head over to the village so I can become a ninja?"

I doubt it would work like that.

"Okay." I mumbled.

"Great!" she chirped back, I heard her clap her hands but I refused to look back up at her.

My shoulders slumped and I peaked back at the guinea pig cage still resting under the tree. There was still no sign of life coming from them. I really hoped they were just taking a nap. "what about the guinea pigs?" I asked after a moment, stealing a glance at my sister. She had a far off expression, most likely daydreaming if her smile told me anything.

She snapped back in an instant, all she offered was the shrug of her shoulders. "I doubt they'll be any good where we're going. Just leave 'em."

My expression soured. I couldn't just leave them out here in the open. What if they woke up and I wasn't there? Someone might come across them, potentially even steal them. But apparently, Lara seemed to read my mind and jogged up to the cage, only to push into a nearby bush. I doubted it would do any good.

"There!" she happily chimed, happy with her work before strutting over to me and reached to grab my hand. I flinched at the contact, a jolt of pain ceasing the palm of my hand. "Oh, oops, I completely forgot you cut yourself." I chose to ignore that. "But anyway, time to go!"

She gripped my other hand and began dragging me in a random direction.

Please snap out of it soon.

)()()(

Ten minutes into our walk, after straying from the original path that would lead us home, I had begun to sweat profoundly. I hadn't noticed how hot it was until I actually begun to move, falling in step behind my sister who seemed unaffected by the weather.

I wished I had brought my water bottle with me, which unfortunately I left at home before leaving for school. Now all I could do was peel my school jumper off and tie loosely around my waist, revealing a slightly crumpled white shirt underneath that had quickly begun to stick to my clammy skin.

I wasn't made for the outdoors. Not one bit.

Unlike my sister, I preferred staying indoors whereas she liked staying outdoors. It was quite obvious in both our skin tones. I was a shade darker than white and Lara had more of a sun kissed shade that fit perfectly with her blue eyes and caramel coloured hair. The tanned look complimented her beauty and sometimes I grew slightly jealous of that, but I would always ignore the slight envious side of me.

She is my sister, I shouldn't be jealous. I would tell myself that a lot and sometimes it helped, though it wasn't my fault that she gained the better genes from both our parents. Lara was almost the spitting image of our mother, despite the different skin tone. Mother said she got her height from her father, which was blatantly obvious. She was abnormally tall for a nine year old.

Apparently I took my height from our mother and probably wouldn't make it to five foot. I wasn't too bothered by it though, I didn't exactly like sticking out. I was fine with being short. Though, I do kind of wish I took more traits of my mother instead of the same dull brown hair and eyes. I guess that was the only connection I had left of my father since I only have hazy memories of him.

I don't even remember his name...

I sighed, how long was this walk going to take anyway?

"Lara?" I called out to her "How far are we going?"

I received a giggle. "Not long now! Don't worry, Emi," she chirped "Anyway, I'm thinking 'bout changing my name when we get there, what do you think? I'm going for Yuki or Rin...actually, I shouldn't go for Rin, Kakashi probably would act weird around me..."

I raised a brow at her. "I think Lara is fine," I hummed "Besides, what are the chances of you running into someone with the same name as you in Konoha?"

I cringed inwardly. I really hate entertaining the idea of being in a fictional world.

"Hmm, yeah, you're right. Y'know you're taking this a lot better than I thought. Well, not that I really knew you would tag along, but still."

I also really need to check if she bumped her head.

"Yeah," I forced a smile when she peeped round at me. Lara grinned back.

We quickly lapsed back into silence and I was left to my own thoughts, or more specifically, worries. I knew that Lara had a wild and vivid imagination, I also knew that she liked to reenact specific scenes from the various anime shows she had watched. Sometimes she pulled me into it and I would ether be the enemy or the damsel in distress in which she would come to rescue me or 'kill' me.

I even caught her on few occasions playing 'ninja' from...damn it, what was that anime called again? It began with an N. 'Na' something. It was about a boy dressed in orange as far as I can remember. Though Lara would go on about it a lot of the time, I only picked up a few things and one time I even looked it up, but it never really interested me.

Maybe this is just her imagination running wild again. It was highly possible.

But then again, I was still curious about the mist that had come out of nowhere. And that earthquake. What even was that?

My thoughts were cut short when a loud shout brought me back to reality. I jerked forward, instinctively reaching for Lara's hand. She froze on the spot while I continued to hide behind her. Her head shot to the side where a sudden snapping noise echoed around the thick forest.

There was another shout, louder this time and very close by.

I stilled, holding my breath.

Maybe someone is in danger... My eyes widened or worse, being murdered.

I tightened my hold on Lara, peeking up to see her expression. She was still searching for the source of the noise. I tugged on her hand to get her attention, I didn't exactly want to get murdered ether.

However, whatever Lara was looking for decided to reveal itself.

Something burst out of the bushes and both of us froze up. The sound of huffing and grunting met my ears while I peeked around Lara's side, eyeing up the thing that had leaped out of nowhere.

The first thing I saw was green that practically blended into the surrounding trees and bushes. If it wasn't for the random splash of orange, I would have thought it was something else entirely. It slowly begun to connect in my head that this was, in fact, a man.

I blinked.

But why was he upside down?

Sweat was polling down his face, much similar to me because of the heat.

"...Seven hundred and fifty three...seven hundred and fifty four..." he grunted out, slowly walking forward on his hands. I wrinkled my nose, didn't that hurt? What about the blood rush too? It can't be safe.

"Excuse me," Lara's voice sounded and I gave a slight twitch in fright, I hadn't expected her to speak.

The man that was walking on his hands craned his neck back, spotting Lara quickly. A shiver ran up my back. He was really freaky looking. I really hope he hadn't spotted me too.

He grinned happily and easily hopped back onto his feet. I barely even noticed him do it, my jaw fell slack at the speed. The strange man placed his hands on his hips, continuing to grin widely and I even swore I saw his teeth 'ping'.

"Ah, hello there!" He all but yelled "What are two youthful maidens doing out here? It can be very dangerous in the forest alone," I held in a squeak, how had he spotted me?

Lara cleared her voice. "Me and my little sister are looking for Konoha, d'you know if I'm going in the right direction?"

The man enthusiastically replied. "You are indeed!" I grimaced, had Lara set this whole thing up? "May I ask why two youthful children are searching for Konoha all alone?"

"Because I want to be a ninja and my sister didn't want to be alone so she followed me along." I sharply looked up at her with narrowed brows "So can you please help? We have walked a very long way and my sister is really weak and I want to learn to protect her."

I choked out a 'what' but I'm sure it went unnoticed.

"Oh! How youthful!" the green man boomed "It would be an honour to escort such a youthful child into the safe arms of my village," I silently shook my head. What kind of re-enactment was this anyway?

"Great!" chirped Lara "By the way, my name is Lara and this," she shoved me to the side so I was no longer protected behind her back "Is my little sister Emily."

I grumbled to myself, peering up at the tall green man with an outdated bowl cut hairdo. He hesitated for a split second, and I shuffled back until I was leaning against Lara's stomach. Not a moment later was he in my face, crouched in front of me and clasping my hands in his much large and calloused ones. I choked once, his speed surprising me again. He shook my hands vigorously and his eyes pooled with tears while he grinned at me.

I really hate physical contact. Lara is fine but this...just no.

"It is wonderful to meet you," he said, his voice still held an enthusiastic edge "My name is Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey and I shall be your escort!"

Things just got a little more interesting.