A/N: Thank you so much for all the subs. It makes me so happy. Sorry this chapter is a little short but I couldn't bring myself to add filler.

Chapter 3

"Kankuro…" The name came out of my mouth before I could think it through. 'You would believe the information coming from me the most… you would most likely not believe quickly. "Impossible."

"Harper," Minnie spoke quietly but also warningly. Like a mother telling her daughter to behave and listen.

"What are you playing at! You! I trusted you! All of you! You never made fun of me! You never called me crazy! But now some stranger comes over and you think it's funny?" Words that I didn't even mean to say came out vicious and angry as I shouted louder and louder. "You were my friends, but you betray me like…"

I don't know what it was but all of a sudden it was hard to breathe, as if some kind of pressure was clutching my lungs in a vice grip.

It was Kurt who spoke and for a moment I felt anxiety more than I have known in all my life. I was terrified at the look in his eyes that, for some reason were clearly blue and piercing instead of the brown I was so used to. "You, who have lived a sheltered and cosseted life away from pain and war and loss, have no right to speak of betrayal." I wasn't sure why but those blue eyes slid to Toby behind me. I was too scared to look back at the normally ridiculous guy's reaction.

Minnie raised her hand as if asking Kurt to stop something and with that movement the pressure I felt grabbing at every part of me vanished. When Minnie looked at me again she looked upset. When she was talking again I wanted to not listen. These guys were treating me like a fool. I mean I was crazy but I wasn't crazy enough to believe that some random guy who showed up on my doorstep was a character from an anime.

"Harper," Minnie caught my attention simply and didn't let it go. "Don't think too much on this but I had a son your age. I never got the chance to know him personally but this world is truly a strange and wonderful place and I got to learn so much about him. That's why I treat you like a daughter, and as a woman who treats you as your mother should I am begging you to listen. You are not crazy. You never were. You were born with a Kekkei Genkai. A Bloodline Limit unlike anything I have ever heard of."

"Stop it…" But my words were weak. I was losing my anger. What was I supposed to do? I didn't want to believe I was special. Not anymore. I wanted to float through life never settling on who I was. Looking out the window I saw snow; the snow that made me reckless and spontaneous. It reminded me so thoroughly of that dream. The person in that dream; the one who could make Hell itself a sanctuary.

As if reading my thoughts, Yaya giggled. "He is real," she asserted.

"That's no reason to go to some other world," I said curtly.

"Dimension." Kankuro finally spoke up to say that one word.

"Come again?" I didn't quite get the difference.

"It's the same world. The land masses and bodies of water are different, I think, but it's like a coin. Two sides. Though there are a bunch of dimensions so a coin might not be the best example. Everything is connected though." His explanation made no sense to me but I nodded like I understood.

"You're going, though, you know." Minnie said softly and, for the first time, I realized that that made her sad. "We always knew you would. The day you told us that dream…you were so convinced it was real. And that's because it is. After all, people aren't born to do particular things but once set in motion certain things cannot change."

"There is no destiny, only fate." I quoted. I don't know where the words came from besides an anime wallpaper on my computer but I did like the saying. "What about you guys?" A part of me was sure they would come along too. I was positive that they would all fit well.

They all looked to Kurt for an answer and he sighed, a favorite habit of his. "We can't. It's not our place anymore."

My head snapped up at that. The logical conclusion would be that their place was no longer with me, that that is what he meant. But logic stopped running its course with conversation at the start. "You…" I began, but Jane interrupted me.

"We are going to miss having you around."

"Oh, please! You'll find some hot guy to comfort you and then drink yourself to sleep," I scoffed.

"I'm serious." And for once she really sounded it. I felt bad for brushing her off at that.

"Maybe I can visit." I looked at Kankuro hopefully but he just shrugged.

"That depends on a lot of things. I'm guessing the other Kage will want to try and scoop up some of the Bloodlines here but there is no guarantee that you'll come back. I would advise you to keep that in mind." I gave him a strange look. Wasn't he supposed to be convincing me to go with him? He answered the look by saying, "I'm under orders from the Kazekage to make the situation clear. It would be unfair to swindle you into coming to Suna under false pretenses and then not let you come back. To avoid that I was told to be upfront."

"So," I figured this was the Q&A portion of the discussion, "what am I going to be doing? Am I going to be a lab rat?"

Kankuro snorted. "As if Gaara would allow that. If you want you can become an ambassador or liaison of sorts or, if you can handle it, you're welcome to ninja training. If you qualify that is."

All of a sudden I was all too aware of my weight and lack of agility. It would be dangerous being a ninja but as I thought on it something came to mind. The hallucinations…were these visions something that would help in combat? They occurred when I was in danger or intrigued by something and showed what would happen after one move. It wasn't the same as showing a second in the future so if a guy was going to shoot someone I would see that no matter how long it took to pull the trigger.

It would be difficult to base combat on something that wasn't a definite time period though. I would need something to time it. "I have one more question," I said with a smile, "What do your electricity plugs look like?"

Kankuro was standing in the small living space I was allocated at the boarding house with a small frown on his lips. "So you want to take this thing with you?" He pointed at the computer by my window like it was evil and it made me wonder what picture on there was so disturbing to him.

"And a couple other things if that's possible." I agreed.

"What else?"

"Clothes,"

"We have those at Suna," he reminded me.

"Not like mine." My grin was impish. "I also need these three things." I pointed at my iPod, headphones and iPod dock.

"Need?" That caught his attention.

"Need." I asserted.

"How are those three things life or death?" He wasn't buying it.

"It could be." I didn't really feel like explaining another mechanic of something that I thought made me crazy until not so long ago.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it." He did not sound enthusiastic.

"Compromise," I declared. "These three and the computer. I can make my own clothes."

"Deal."

We decided leaving immediately was the best option. Kankuro explained on the way home that the device he used to get to this dimension would only be active for another two days but that going home at the last second was dangerous. In fact the later he stayed the more dangerous the return was as it ran on an independent chakra supply; basically if the device ran out of juice he was stuck here or in limbo which is why he didn't want to bring a lot back.

"There is no turning back." His warning was getting old as some excitement began to pour into me.

"I won't regret this." The words came out like a prayer. My thoughts flashed to Minnie and the others briefly but I promised them as I left for the last time that I would find a place to belong. With that promise in mind along with the heart felt sentiment that things could get better and dreams could be reality I took one last look at the room, which in retrospect was more of a prison than I imagined, without any remorse before nodding to Kankuro.

The puppeteer pulled a small box out of his pocket. From within that box he pulled a sphere the size of a gumball which he placed on each item I requested to bring in turn, each time he would make a series of hand signs and then go to the next. Finally he came to me.

"Hold on tight," I think I would have even if he hadn't said to; there was something terrifying about being caught between dimensions, though it might not be as bad as I thought. With the sphere held in his left hand he made half signs with his right. Tiger, Dog, Dragon, Tiger.

The four electronics began to glow like blue flames. Kankuro was also glowing so I assumed I was too. The fire changed to a green color as I felt him grip my shoulder more firmly. Finally the chakra that I thought of as flames turned to the red of a Tailed Beasts and I felt as if the world was lunging under my feet. Everything was dark and a strong sense of vertigo slammed into me before there was suddenly a brilliant sunset outside the window of whatever room I was in.

Before I could get my bearings Kankuro released my shoulder and I fell forward. My fall was broken by a wall of sand and as the sand parted to reveal a neutral and carefully guarded face I felt the strangest sense of déjà vu in my life before I jumped away as well as I could in shock.

I just fell on Gaara.