Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
In a Dream
Though I need not have worried about the vomit. When I woke up I was back outside, in the ghost district, under the full moon. Groggy for a moment I push myself up by my elbows and shake my head. Where am I? Why am I sleeping outside? But a moment is all it takes before everything to come back; Sasuke, Orochimaru, the hokages one through four back from the dead, and all of them running off to join the battle. With a gasp, I spring up to my feet, only getting a little dizzy at the sudden movement. I need to tell someone about what happened. Starting forward I break into a jog; being careful to pick up my feet around all of the rubble. Of course, Sasuke told me not too, but that is all the more reason to tell someone. After all, he has no control over me, and I owe him absolutely nothing. When I make it out of the ghost district I break into a sprint. Now I just need to find someone. But, no one is out; not with the curfew. Now that I think about it, how long was I knocked out? It could not have been that long, since the sun is not even up yet. I pause in the middle of the street and look up. The full moon is still in the center of the sky. It must be the same night then. I turn in the direction of the Nara clan and start running again. If it is the same night, then everyone must still be asleep. Should I yell out, and wake someone up? Or would that be like crying wolf? As far as I can tell nothing bad has happened to the village, and the intruders are no longer here. And then there is the whole nature of the information that I have to share. Sasuke, Orochimaru, and two others broke into the village and just left. Who would believe that? And then the last piece of information when they brought the Hokage one, two, three, and four back from the dead to have a heart to heart before they all left to join the war. I skid to a halt, breathing with my mouth open, and clap my hands on either side of my head. Just by thinking about it, I can hear how crazy it sounds. The only grown-up I can think of who might have believed such a story is Naruto nii-san, and he is not even a real grown up, nor is he here. I close my eyes in frustration. Why does all of this weird stuff always happen to me? Maybe the second hokage is right, and having Uchiha blood is the same as being cursed. My eyes snap open with a sudden thought that sends me down a completely new path. What if none of that actually happened? What if I just fell asleep in the ghost district, and dreamt Sasuke breaking into the village and talking to dead people? I mean, I did not wake up in that underground shrine. I woke up outside in the ghost district. And that would make a lot more sense than my long lost relative sneaking into Konoha and bringing back the dead. A small bubble of hope forms inside of me. Then maybe I can just go back to Yoshino's house, and sneak back into the guest room without Akio waking up. Then neither he or Yoshino will know that I have been wondering around the village after curfew, and I can mark off everything I saw tonight as a very strange nightmare. I pick up my feet again, this time at a walking pace. That will work. It was just a dream, a very scary and elaborate dream.
My steps started to slow as doubt plagued my mind. But why would my mind make someone up like Orochimaru? Or why would I dream that the fourth hokage was Naruto's father? Again, I come to a complete stop. Now that I think about it, my mouth does have that after taste one gets after having thrown up. So, at least, that part actually happened. I bit my lip and stare at my feet; shivering in the night air. And the fear was real. It has to be; my chest still aches from my pounding heart, and my eyes still feel like they are moist with withheld tears. Tentatively I reach up and around my neck to touch the spot where I think Sasuke hit me to knock me out. It is sore. So, maybe all of that actually happened. I shake my head once. I have to try to tell someone. Moving forward at a run once more I make for the Nara clan property. I will at least tell Yoshino. That way, if this night's events are ever deemed important no one can accuse me of not telling an adult. It is worth it, even if I do get in trouble for being out after curfew.
By the time I make it back to Yoshino's house I had replayed everything I had seen this night in my head at least three times. I do not bother to be quiet as I knock on the front door. I know it is locked. Yoshino always locks it right before we sit down to dinner, because no one is supposed to go outside after that. And to visit the ghost district and coming back I always climb in and out of the guest room window. But there is no time to do that know. And since I am already turning myself in for breaking curfew I might as well use the front door. I keep knocking for a good few moments, getting more and more anxious when nothing happens. But finally, I hear a light get flicked on and hurrying footsteps, with worried mutterings about, "who could that possibly be at this time of night". Before Yoshino unlocks her front door as slides it up just a crack. I pear up at her through the gap and take in her squinted eyes. Now how do I get her to believe that the dead have come back to life? However, once she recognizes the late-night visitor as me her eyes widen and she slams the door up all the way. I see her in full standing in the entry of her house in her night gown, and with her hair as clean and tidy as ever. "Manami, what on earth-" she starts to say; almost in relief. Though that lasts just long enough for her to realize where I am, what time it is, and that I have broken another rule. She glares at me and places her hands on her hips. "What are you doing out at this time of night, young lady?" She demands to know shrilly. Her eyes are so fierce and so angry that if this were any other situation I would be trying to make myself as small as possible.
"That is not important right now" I said; interrupting her before she could continue to say more things regarding my errant behavior.
But Yoshino likes being interrupted just as much as she likes misbehaving children. "Not important" she repeats. "Not important that a ten-year-old girl is wandering the streets at night with no one knowing where she is! Not important that we are at war, and if something were to happen; if the village was being attacked, no one would have known where you were or if you were okay!"
I see her point, I really do. But this is just different. I open my mouth to tell her just that, but get distracted as Akio stumbles down the stairs in his red striped pajamas; rubbing his eyes and yawning. "What's going on?" He asked, barely functioning. "I heard voices". He said, pulling his hands away from his eyes to look at Yoshino and me. The first thing he seems to notice is that, unlike him and Yoshino, I am still in my day clothes, and that I am currently standing outside of the house. "No way" he said more awake. "Ya snuck out without me!"
Yoshino bristles at his words as I fight the urge to hit my hand against my forehead. That is so not the point of all of this. "Akio Suzuki! No one should have been sneaking out in the first place." She scolded him from over her shoulder before turning to face me once again. "Why I have half the mind-"
But I break in. We are wasting too much time. "But I have to tell you this. It is important", I say not using my inside voice, and waving my hands around like a crazy person. "When I was out in the village. I saw Sasuke". I pause to let my words sink in, but they just seem to confuse her, so I continue. "Sasuke Uchiha. He was with some creepy looking guy named Orochimaru and two others. They were in the ghost district". I pause again. She does not know what the ghost district is. Only I call it that. "The old Uchiha district. Sasuke did some kind of jutsu that revealed this underground shrine. And then the creepy guy found me so I got dragged along into the shrine with the rest of them. And they-" I interrupted myself, and lick my lips. Here comes the crazy part. "They bought all the past hokage back from the dead".
In the back ground, Akio snorts as what was Yoshino's confused face turns into one of exasperation. "It was just a dream" she reasoned. "You must have fallen asleep where you shouldn't have been. Come inside and we'll deal with this in the morning". Yoshino ordered, always the responsible adult.
However, I cannot just leave it at that. "No, you do not understand" I try again. "they brought back the hokage and Sasuke asked them a bunch of questions so he could decide if he wanted to destroy Konoha or not. The first Hokage told a very long story about how he created Konoha with a friend. The second shared his opinions about how much he does not like Uchiha. The third told the story about why he had someone named Itachi Uchiha kill the Uchiha clan. And the fourth Hokage is actually Naruto nii-san's father. I know because he asked me how Naruto was doing." I pause to take in some air. But I cannot breathe for too long or Yoshino will take the floor once more. "Then Sasuke decided that he wanted to join the battle so they left, but not before knocking me out." I finished, and yet my story still feels incomplete. "I can" I start, thinking on my feet. "I can show you where the underground shrine is" I realized, as I reached out and grabbed Yoshino's hand from where it was resting on her hip.
"Manami!" She scolded as I try to get her moving. I can vaguely hear Akio in the backward coming closer. I wonder if he believes me. "Just wait. The curfew is still in place" She reasoned, even though I manage to pull her out of the front door.
"But there is-" This time it is Akio who interrupts me.
"Wow" he said in such a wondering and amazed voice that both Yoshino and I pause. We look behind us to see the spikey red haired boy is standing in the door frame, staring straight up at the sky. "I've never seen the moon look like that before".
At the sudden change of focus I slowly look forward and up to stare at the same moon Akio is. I can only assume Yoshino is doing the same. The moon is red; blood red. Almost as if it is one giant sharingan. I cannot look away. And then… and then…. My eyes close.
When I open them again, everything not as it should be. But, at the same time, everything feels right. I am lying on a bed, in a bedroom that I have never seen before, but somehow, I just know that it is mine. I recognize my prized teddy bear from when I was six, and the clumsily drawn family portrait I had made when I was five. Am I in the land of Earth? What really catches my attention is the dresser with all the picture frames sitting on top of it. Sitting up, I swing my legs over the side and stand up to approach the dresser. Nothing makes sense, but everything is how it should be. There is a picture of father, mother, brother, and I standing in front of the Hokage monument. The next one is me when I was younger, standing with my family in front of the academy's gate. I do not remember that time specifically, but somehow, I know that that was my first day of school. The third picture is of a birthday party I do not recall having. I am in the middles, smiling with my eyes closed as Akio sits to my left stuffing his face with cake. Naruto and my brother are on my right; wrestling with each other for the best spot in the picture. I can tell because of the motion blur. How come I cannot remember this day? I am pulled out of my musings when there is a soft knock on my door before it opens. "Manami" a voice I had not heard for a long time, or at least I think I have not says as a head of soft brown hair and intelligent brown eyes poke into my room. "Mother says to hurry up or you are going to be late for school" says my older brother as if this is an everyday occurrence. And I kind of think it is.
A nagging voice in the back of my head asks why my brother is alive. But why would he not be? "Okay" I say turning away from the pictures, completely fixated on the smooth and relaxed face of my biological brother. "I will be down in a moment".
Dressed in my normal green t-shirt and black shorts, my feet magically take me to the kitchen, even though a part of me feels like I have never been here before. But that cannot be right. I live here. For a moment, when I reach the kitchen I stand in the doorway and stare. Mother, in her apron and her long brown hair tied back with a ribbon stands by the stove, stirring something. Brother is there too, already sitting at the table and eating breakfast. It looks like he is having toast. Father sits next to him at the head of the table, flipping through a newspaper titled "Konoha's Daily News". An uncreative title, but at least I can confirm that we are in the leaf village. But then again, where else would we be? I mean, father is a chunin after all. The fore head protector tied around his head, and the chunin flak vest is proof of that. Glancing up from whatever article he was reading, father's strict no nonsense black eyes met my own. "Manami, do not just stand there. Come and eat your breakfast". He orders before turning back to his paper. Father never had to say anything more than once. We all knew that in this house that when an adult tells you to do something you do it the first time around. Or at least, that is the way I think it has always been.
"Yes Father" I said as I moved to the chair across from brother and next to father. It is my chair. This is where I always sit. Though I do not know how I know that.
Mother turns around right as I bite into my toast. She carries two boxed lunches. One wrapped in a blue cloth and one in green. The green one she hands to me, and the blue goes to brother. "Have a good day at school my dears, and remember to respect your teachers" she said.
On the way to school Brother and I go separate ways. I do not ask why as I wave goodbye. Somehow, I know he is going to the civilian middle school, and I am heading to the academy. Brother never wanted to be a ninja. It just does not seem to fit him. Half way to the academy I met up with Akio. We give each other hi-fives as we continue on to school. "How did ya do with the homework?" He asked, stretching his arms up in the air.
"Alright" I said. "But I do not know why Iruka-sensei keeps making us review the transformation jutsu. Everyone in our class has been able to use it since last year"
Akio shrugs. "Ya know chunin and how they always go on and on about how important the basics are".
Inside the classroom. I sit sandwhiched between Akio and Shouhei, both who are taking very diligent notes as Iruka-sensei talks about the ninja code. Ryo sits next to Shouhei, and seems to be asleep with the way his head is bobbing up and down. We tired him out during our lunch break when all of us were playing an extreme game of tag, and Ryo was it the whole time. Across the way on the other side of the classroom I watched as Kouta, with Zuzu tucked in his jacket, makes silly faces back and forth with Izumi. Or rather, he is making silly faces, and Izumi is trying to kill him with her eyes. All in all, it was another boring day at the academy where nothing happens. Or at least, I do not think anything exciting ever happens at the academy.
On the way home I run into Naruto. He has just comeback from a mission and has his pack strapped to his back. "Manami!" he calls, leaving his team behind. "Come eat ramen with me, and I'll tell you how cool your neighbor is" he said, stopping right in front of me. My neighbor? It feels right. But I cannot think of where he lives. He must be my neighbor, but I thought Naruto was a lot more than just my neighbor. Though at the same time, what else would he be?
"I sorry, mother is expecting me home. But I am sure she would not mind you joining us" I said smiling at the blonde goof-ball. I know mother will not mind, but I think father might. But Naruto does not need to know that.
Naruto opens his mouth to respond, and I can see his lips moving, but he is speaking too softly for me to hear. I frown. This is not right. "What?" I ask, but even I sound like my voice is coming from somewhere far, far away. As Naruto tries again my vision starts to blur, as everything comes out of focus and the colors of my surroundings blend together. What is happening? I close my eyes; thinking that when I open them again everything will be fixed. Naruto would still be standing before me. I would be able to hear him again and then we would both go over to my house and eat dinner with my family.
But when I do open my eyes everything is gone. Or rather, everything is back. I am laying on my back next to Yoshino, outside of her house. Turning my head, I can see that Akio is also laying down, but face first in the doorway. How did we all end up here? I remember the dead hokage, and Sasuke, and trying to get Yoshino to believe me. But then there was my family, and we had lived in Konoha my whole life. But they all died in the Land of Earth. Everyone was alive and well and happy. There was no war. Everything was better, but none of it was true. I turn to look up at the sky. The moon is no longer blood red. In fact, the moon is no longer even out, as night has returned to day. What was that?