So maybe I disappeared off the face of FFNet for a few(three) months. What can I say, University is a lot of work and very inspiration draining. Maybe I'll get back into the swing of writing more but I can't guarantee anything. Especially as I try to cope until the middle of march when the F1 starts again and fills the void it left last year with the lovely sound of a V8 engine revving, and this year: Six world champions on the grid. Need now.

Also living with mice in an attic with a leaking ceiling = not nice. Don't try it. I don't care how cute it looks. Mice like chocolate. My chocolate.

Not all bad though, Uni is fun and living here had it's highlights and rarely gets boring.

Any more info wanted just check out my Twitter, ask questions if you want.

Anyway, have some of my sleepless nights and my boring lectures in the form of a chapter.

In comparison to London, Ealing felt more like home to Itachi, a nice mix of green areas and housing, almost reminding him of how the Uchiha compound used to be. The slightly caved in block of flats that marked their destination however was something that had never graced Konoha's skyline.

The block of flats was part of a disused housing estate, another building showed signs of something having crashed into it, a piece of blue tarpaulin covering the hole. Itachi couldn't help but stare at it as Max navigated the narrow streets, the engine of her bike purring gently. It had probably been modified at some point using either chakra or magic since on the open road it had been a loud, roaring beast.

They weren't the only investigative force on the scene, a green and cream car was just drawing up as the pair of shinobi dismounted from the bike. Max ignored their presence heading straight for the building.

"Wait!" A woman had climbed out of the car and was hurrying towards them. Surprising Itachi, Max actually stopped and turned to face the woman.

"Unless you have an extremely good reason, you should leave this place well alone for the next few hours," Max said, her tone of voice was flat and the light in her eyes seemed to have dulled since they had left the park in central London. It took a few moments for Itachi to formulate a theory as to why. Max's last experience with the gouald hadn't been a good one, as punctuated by her prolonged absence after it.

"I'm a journalist working on a story about the mysterious chunks of building missing."

"That's not a good enough reason. This building is off limits."

"Under whose authority?" the woman practically demanded, she wasn't used to someone still in her teenage years telling her no.

"The same people who gave me this," Max said holding up her ID to be inspected. By this point Itachi had decided to leave it up to Max, it had been proven multiple times she could blag her way through most things. She also always knew more about the situation than she should.

"You're American?"

"Part of an international task force. We both know there's something hinky in there. I've dealt with its kind before." Max said, snatching back her ID and stowing it back into its pouch.

"How do you know I haven't?"

"They only seem to bother the U.S. and to my knowledge the Doctor hasn't met them yet." The woman looked at her in shock. "I know a lot Sarah Jane Smith, this is one you should probably sit out, you cannot reason with these people."

"Then how do you plan on dealing with them?" For some reason Max didn't think saying she planned on killing them would be the best idea.

"Just keep outside." As if on cue the building exploded, showering the pavement with glass. Max didn't know what is was about the explosion but as the flames licked at the window frames things connected. "What's todays date?"

"What?" Sarah Jane asked looking at the silver haired teen with a critical eye, that question was generally only asked by time travellers.

"Today's date? Simple question I need I know the answer to."

"13th of July 2011. Are you a time traveller?" Sarah Jane couldn't help but ask that question.

"Not yet but I will be soon." Max grinned as she looked into the burning building. Words she knew were scrawled on a piece of paper hidden in a scroll flashed in her mind's eye.

13th July 2011, flames, snake, blue box.

Here's where Murdock begins.

Max turned to Itachi and grabbed him in a forceful kiss before dashing off towards the building. As an afterthought she tossed the keys to her bike at Itachi before diving through the burning window. Her partner followed her movements with a stony face, looks like she still wouldn't be getting home any time soon and this time he wouldn't be going with her.

One thing was for sure, the write up was going to take forever.

As Max weaved between the burning supports, heading to where she could sense the alien, she heard a familiar sound. The TARDIS had arrived on the scene, in the middle of the burning building, right by her target. She slid around the final corner just in time to see the Doctor crouching down over the mildly charred body. The body was already dead. The parasitic snake inside it wasn't though and as with all good parasites it was just waiting for another good host body to come along. Max did not want to have to deal with a Time Lord Gouald.

She could see the movement under the body's skin and legged it over. As she ran past the burning wall she used it to light up her hands. As the snake made its bid to the dual hearted body leaning over its previous host, Max slid it home, grabbing the snake with her burning hand and squeezing it while it burnt. She didn't stop running, the building was creaking and crumbling, ready to collapse around them. She grabbed the Doctor's arm and practically threw him into his blue box, diving in after and closing the door firmly behind them.

There was a crash from beyond the doors, the building had probably just collapsed around them. She would have checked but she really didn't want to open the door and had FA was not going to work in there.

"Who the hell are you?" Oh, she should probably give an explanation to the Doctor. She turned from the door, the Doctor should have seen her in this image at least once, she smirked a bit when she saw recognition cross his face. "You were in that cave. On another planet. How did you get here?"

"Magic." From the way he was looking at her he was seriously considering that was her serious answer as he then quickly dashed over to the console in the middle of the room presumably to run a scan. "Ok, no magic before you get too excited. Just some Ancient technology." Again she got a curious look and he went back to messing with the console before suddenly looking at her again, specifically her hands, which were still on fire, and still holding the half burnt corpse of a snake. She noticed she'd only slightly scorched his sleeve when she'd dragged him in.

Max extinguished her empty hand, not trusting the corpse to actually be dead.

"What is that thing?" The doctor asked, he'd donned a pair of glasses and was right up close, inspecting it. Max kept her grip and allowed the flames to die down to a flicker.

"A parasite, either with delusions of godhood or self-induced slavery."

"Seriously?"

"How have you not come across these?" Max sighed, the Doctor produced a tub from somewhere and offered it up as a container. Max carefully placed the snake thing down and let the fire flicker out. She watched as the Doctor inspected the creature more closely, even going as far as sniffing it before putting a lid on it and pushing it through what could be a letter box in the wall. He the bounced back over and looked at her, inspecting her in almost the same way.

"Big universe maybe? What's your name anyway? I know we've met and no doubt introduced ourselves but at nine hundred I forget things." Lies, they both knew it.

"Max Hakie." The Doctor frowned for a few seconds before his eyes widened to an almost impossible degree.

"The Maxine Hakie? Sannin of Konoha, Hero of Atla-" He was interrupted when Max slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Stop right there. I want to find these things out as I do them. Do not spoil it. Also, it's Max." It was a bit too late to stop the intrigue into what else would have been mentioned had he not been stopped but she could live with that.

"So…" He was staring at her still. It was a bit annoying.

"You do know the Tardis is buried in what is probably the burning remains of an apartment block." It was amusing to see the Doctor to jump around like Louise on caffeine. The thing in the centre of the console began moving up and down, signalling that they were now in flight.

The Doctor was staring at her again. It was a bit unnerving. So was the fact Max had no idea where they were going, her note had been vague to avoid all but what was vital. No spoilers.

There was a gasp from the bystanders as the apartment block collapsed in on itself, there was no way anything in there could survive, not for long anyway. Itachi felt a small stab of pain in his chest, but he rationalised that Max's chakra signal had disappeared before the collapse, and it hadn't faded out as it would it she had been killed. He couldn't help but wonder why she had left this time, she had no reason to, no betrayal or almost death. She had just left again.

"Aren't you worried about your friend?" Sarah Jane asked, studying Itachi's face for emotions.

"She knows what she's doing, even if she doesn't like to share it with others." There was the tiniest hint of resentment in his voice, something that wouldn't be picked up by a normal person.

"The Doctor's like that too. Do you know how she knows him?"

"One of her many hospital visits ended up on the moon." That incident had been quite widespread in the media, and from what Max had rambled on about when high on caffeine the Doctor was no stranger to that kind of thing. It had been simple to figure out this woman had probably travelled with the Doctor 'through time and space' as Max had put it. "I should probably go home." He turned to the bike Max had so kindly left behind, grateful that he was fast at learning these kinds of think, if not he always had his sharingan to help.

"Would you like a cup of tea first? You look like you could use one." Sarah Jane asked kindly. Normally Itachi would have politely decline, perhaps even added some flattery and charm but he felt a kindred spirit in the woman, someone who had been left behind.

"That would be amazing," Itachi said with a tired smile. Tea was always a calming drink for him and he could tell this woman was just curious. If Max could run around meeting strangers and making friends so could he, and he had a feeling his friend could be just as useful.

Max felt like she was back in her element as the Tardis slung her occupants round the control room as they passed over a ripple in the time vortex. It had been ages since she'd been able to stretch her legs, Earth didn't quite cut it and she'd been banned from dimension hopping.

Home, she wasn't sure if she could handle home anymore, she'd been afraid to say it to Itachi, he probably would have dragged her back, but home kinda scared her. There were so many bad memories associated with that place, bad things. While she knew she would be going back in this adventure, it wouldn't be her, she would be out of her timeline and all the things had already happened to her. Even she knew better than to mess with time, especially her own timeline.

The room sharply shifted again then straightened out before the lights dimmed to a dark blue. A colour that really didn't suit the interior.

"Does this usually happen?" Max asked, looking curiously at the door. She hadn't explicitly said anything about what she needed to do, but she figured the Tardis would take her there eventually.

The Doctor ignored her question and sauntered over to the door, swinging it open, letting in some blinding sunshine. Max suspected they weren't in England any more, sunlight was never that bright.

"Ah, this is interesting."

That didn't sound good. In fact that sounded like how she started off most of her adventures, but they tended to be limited to one timeline, and now, one dimension.

This could be anywhere, any time. If Max knew anything about the Tardis there was trouble where she landed.

"Always wanted to meet Di Vinci."

Oh, that didn't sound too bad. Max perked up a bit, maybe this was an exception. She trailed after the Doctor and peered into the Italian sun, feeling the warmth sink to her bones. She leant out the door a bit further, eyes catching up to where the Doctor had started to wander off. She was a bit unwilling to leave the Tardis, it had a mind of its own and she couldn't read it. Her adventures always had a backup plan and a way out. Here, she had neither.

"Come on. She's not going anywhere." The Doctor called, Max reluctantly took a step out and promptly felt something hit her backside and heard the sound of the Tardis dematerialising as she stumbled over the cobbled street.

Damn.

Reviews are welcomed always, especially with all the love I get from you guys, even when I have fallen of the face of everything but my Twitter.

Guess the next crossover?