Chapter Four

I returned to my apartment just long enough to set down my bags. It was only early afternoon. It would be light out for hours, I'd already secured a job and most of the necessities. My life was going unusually well. So I decided it was only responsible to get to know my new home a little better. It was an adult decision, really. Right...

My giddiness was impossible to miss as I ran back down the steps. What should I do first? There were too many possibilities to count. I decided to start with aimless wandering. With no destination in mind, I started down the nearest path.

While exploring, I couldn't help but notice once more the grandeur of even the run-down parts of the village. There were so many video games out now with 3-D versions of the Leaf Village. This, actually living it, beat all of those. No contest.

It wasn't long before my aimless wandering paid off. I had managed to stumble across a place I recognized immediately. The training grounds. I took a deep breath. Maybe it was just me, but the air seemed so much lighter here. Yeah... it was probably just me.

I didn't really expect to see anybody I knew there, but I walked in anyway. And wouldn't you know, to my surprise, the first people I saw were the members of Gai's team. I'm not sure why I'd expected such a public place to be empty. It was the middle of the day, after all. I suppose I still thought I must be trapped in some sort of dream. Seeing so many familiar characters in one place... in real life (!) jarred me once again. I froze and immediately pulled a Hinata. In other words, I immediately hid behind the nearest tree. Then it sank in that Neji could see me anyway, (if he was looking) and it would probably look pretty bad if I was hiding. So I stepped out and just kind of stood there and stared for another minute or two, watching them train.

I jumped a little when Gai called his team together, but it wasn't in an effort to search out the intruder. He spoke (loudly) for a minute about how they'd had another great day of training, and then they broke apart and headed for home.

I could've sworn I heard Neji say something about an "annoying little pest" and that made me jump again, but it wasn't long before they'd walked away. I leaned back against the tree and breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't have been talking about me.

"Excuse me."

I'm ashamed to say that my shriek sounded incredibly girly, and I did that anime thing where the character brings both her hands to her heart. I whirled around and saw Rock Lee on the branch behind me, watching curiously. I wish I could say that I got my wits back and said something intelligent, but honestly, I was pretty close to hyperventilating.

"I'm sorry for startling you," he continued. Yeah, no kidding... "But may I ask why you were watching my team?"

Crap. Where were all the good excuses when I needed them? "Um..."

He was still watching, waiting for an answer.

"You see..." I said, laughing nervously, "I'm new here and where I'm from there aren't any ninjas so..." I trailed off once more, but thankfully this time he wasn't waiting for me to continue. His face lit up a bit and I was suddenly grateful that at least so far I'd only been confronted by some of the nicer characters.

"Oh, I see! So you were curious."

"Yeah." I tried to relax a little. He understood. Or... at least, he thought he did. Which was good enough for me. "But I really wasn't here that long." For some reason it still felt like I should be apologizing.

"It is perfectly fine!" he assured me. Lee actually seemed a bit excited that someone had taken in interest in his team's training. "I'm sure my sensei would be thrilled to hear that another youthful soul has decided on their path in life!"

I had been wondering how long we could go without mentioning Gai. "Path?" I questioned.

"You did travel here to become a ninja, yes?"

My eyes grew wide as I took in his meaning. "Oh no! Not really..." And now I was doing the panicked waving both your hands in agitation thing. So I decided that it was pretty safe to share my 'life story' with Rock Lee as well. I was flustered and stumbling over my words, but those words were at least consistent with what I'd told the Hokage and Iruka. As I continued to detail out my fake tragedy, Lee's expression became grimmer, and I began to feel a little guilty for lying to him, even if the truth wasn't much better.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he told me when I was finished. "My own parents died when I was very young." It was a bit shocking to hear this. To the extent of my knowledge, they never went farther into Lee's past than his time in the academy.

"I didn't know that," I said stupidly. Stupidly because why should I have known that?

"I've lived with my grandparents my whole life." Well, that would explain his humble, hard-working lifestyle. "But anyway," he continued a bit more cheerily, "when will your brother be joining us?"

My heart fell, just a little, and I was sure it showed on my face. "I'm not sure he will be joining us..." I mumbled quietly.

Lee seemed more hopeful than I was. "Come now. How well do you know your brother?"

The question came seemingly out of nowhere. "A little better than he knows himself," I answered automatically. It was more or less true. I'm sure Luke felt the same way about me. Besides the only one who spent more time with Luke, other than Luke himself, was me. And vice versa.

"So what do you think he's going to do?"

This question was harder to answer. After all, this decision didn't really count much for what Luke wanted, did it? But I really did think that, given the choice, he would join me. Confidently, I answered, "I think he'll come."

"Then he'll come," Lee concluded, even more confidently than me. For a minute or two I couldn't stop smiling. My change in attitude seemed to please him, and we walked out of the training grounds together. It wasn't long before I saw what was perhaps the best sight in the world. Scratch that, in all the worlds.

I may be prone to copying anime postures and behaviors, but I have never done the running-tackle-hug thing. Not until today anyway.

As soon as I saw my brother, escorted by the same guard who'd brought me to the Hokage, I sprinted toward him and tackled him to the ground. Luke for his part, couldn't manage much more than an "Ooof!" which I interpreted as "It's so good to see you!"

Koda seemed a bit surprised, but apparently he didn't think Luke was in enough danger to drag me off of him. Slowly, Luke and I rose up, me happier than I'd been in a long time.

Lee looked more even more surprised than Koda, and a bit confused too. "Wow," he murmured "the resemblance is truly striking."

I looked at our dirty blond hair, which Luke always argued was more brown than blond. Our hazel eyes, which I was sure were more green than brown. The freckles spattered across our cheeks and noses, which we both agreed looked cooler than any constellation. He was my near mirror image, and I saw him every day of my life, but sometimes I forget just how close to identical we appear.

"When did you get here?" I exclaimed.

"Uh... a couple minutes ago?" Luke guessed. He seemed a bit dazed. Then he saw Rock Lee standing behind me. I'm not sure if he recognized him or not. I couldn't remember if Luke had seen any episodes with Lee in them. I felt a strike of panic, quick as lightning, travel down my spine, but Luke didn't appear to be making any connections. At any rate, I figured I'd better step in, just in case.

I stepped back so they could get a clear view of each other. "Lee, this is my twin brother, Luke. Twin Brother Luke, this is Rock Lee."

I had another panicked moment, trying to remember whether Lee had even told me his name or not. But if he hadn't, he didn't notice because the two stepped forward to shake hands.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Your sister has told me a lot."

"Yeah... nice to meet you, too."

Then Lee turned to me. "Well, I'm sure the two of you have much to do today. I'll leave you. It was nice meeting you, Carly. I'll be sure to tell Neji that our spy is nothing to worry over."

"Uh, thanks I guess. It was nice meeting you, too." So Neji had been talking about me... I knew that should be the cause of some dread, but my euphoria at the turn this day had taken had not worn off.

"So," Luke said, turning to me once Lee had walked away, "this is what you do when I'm not around?" I could tell he was joking "Talk about me with weird, random kids you find in the streets?"

I laughed, genuine and unrestrained. It was so good to see him again! Koda was looking at me strangely. I must've seemed like a completely different person with my brother around. I felt like a different person!

Koda cleared his throat. "If you'll excuse me, I need to take your brother to the Hokage."

I didn't see why this was a problem. "Okay. I'll come with you."

Koda gave me a cold look that killed my relaxed air immediately. "I'm sure Lord Hokage would like to see him alone."

They walked away, Luke glancing back over his shoulder at me. I must admit that I was a bit steamed at having been talked to that way. I mean, sure I can get in the way a lot and I really hold no authority here, but was that really necessary?

I returned to my apartment. (And found the way all by myself!) But once I was there, and considerably cooled down, it occurred to my why the Hokage might want to talk to Luke by himself. What if he was testing my story? My heart jumped into my throat. I hadn't told Luke anything!

It only took about fifteen minutes, but I must say, I was in quite the panicked state for the duration of the time. When I spotted Luke getting escorted here, I jumped up and ran down to meet him at the door. I'd failed to notice earlier that it was the Hokage escorting him home and not our surly guide. Luke didn't seem nervous, but I sure was.

But to my surprise the Hokage greeted me with a friendly smile. "It appears that everything here is in order," he told me.

Really? I had to say I was a bit suspicious. Was it really that easy? What had Luke told him?

As soon as I brought Luke up to the apartment, I pounced in with my interrogation. Luke had already flopped down on the couch. (I sort of hoped he wouldn't mind sleeping there because I wasn't too keen on giving up the bed.)

"What did you tell him?"

Luke looked over lazily. He had a dazed look about his eyes that made me suspect that being magically transported to a previously-fictional world had not quite sunk in yet. Boy, did I know that feeling... "That our parents were dead and I'd waited until Tyler died to come join you here."

I gaped at him in astonishment. "How did you know to tell him that?!"

"I did read your letter, you know."

"That letter hardly said anything!" I exclaimed.

Luke smiled. "Oh, come on, Carly. I know you a little better than you know yourself."

Review please!

Unfortunately, Carly will soon learn that it isn't all that easy.

I don't own Naruto!

I would like to thank ethereal tears, Sasuke's Pal, jaizina, and XxDarkSarcasm1010xX for reviewing chapter three!

Revised April 7, 2016.