Chapter 1: Keep Calm and Carry On

After realizing where I was, and the implications that came along with it, everything that followed was confusing. I barely remember some parts of it, dazed as I was by it all.

I was confused and scared and I wanted nothing more than to just wake up from this horrible nightmare.

I wanted to go home.

"Help!" I cried desperately. My voice sounded so painfully young. It cracked sometimes, and my throat was like sandpaper as I kept calling for help. The horrible presence, which was more than likely the Kyuubi's chakra, was impeding my breathing slightly.

I was trembling. Was I going to die again?

Apparently, I was not.

I jumped, turning frightened eyes to the man (a ninja, I noted from the clothing and headband) that had appeared from seemingly nowhere. He must have heard my cries for help.

He was a pretty man with dark hair and eyes. The ninja in front of me seemed baffled, eyes landing on the bodies under the pile of rubble that had once been a house then going back to me.

"How hell are you still alive?" He muttered to himself, eyeing me then the limp bodies with something of a grimace. He was shaken out of his slight confusion by another far off explosion, and a deafening roar that could only belong to the bijuu attacking.

"Come on kid, let's get you out of here," he mumbled, slipping a strong arm around my little waist. I was probably going into shock. Everything was so surreal and happening so fast that I could do no more than just go with the flow.

The ninja, Mamoru, had told me his name as he ran on the rooftops of partially destroyed buildings. He had asked mine but I couldn't tell him my, this body's name, and giving my actual name just seemed really dumb and like I was asking for trouble.

During the very, very uncomfortable and jarring run, I caught a clearer look of the Kyuubi. He was huge, really really big, and oh god I could have been crushed by that. What the hell was I doing here, in this horribly dangerous place? Curse that Shinigami. I bet he was having himself a nice laugh over my misery.

In almost no time at all, Mamoru was handing me over to some haggard looking woman, with information on where he had found me.

I looked up at Mamoru, bottom lip quivering. I had known him for all about five minutes, but he had been the one to rescue me, as well as my first contact with someone from this world who was friendly.

The man had smiled kindly at me, calloused hand ruffling my shoulder length hair. He told me to be good before I was ushered away by the woman towards a group that was evacuating. Over my shoulder, I managed to catch a final glimpse of him before he was gone, off to return to fighting.

I never saw him again.

0o0o0o0o1o0o0o0o0o

After being taken with the group evacuating, all that we did was huddle around and wait for the attack to be over. Well, that's what they did at least. I was too busy blankly staring at nothing, trying to come to terms with everything that had happened in the last couple hours.

Had it been hours since my death? Days? More than that? I didn't know. I had no way of knowing, of contacting anyone from my world. I was stuck here. Was there any way to get home?

The answer seemed to be a resounding no.

The Shinigami had wanted me here for a reason. A mission. But how could I complete it when I wasn't even sure what it was exactly? I closed my eyes, not being able to muster up even the energy to cry.

I had died. I lost everything. My world, my friends, my mom, and even Lucinda...my precious little Lulu.

She had been ten, I had been twenty-two. That was twelve years I had on my sister. My mother had raised me all by her herself, and often couldn't spend much time with me when I was younger because she worked as much as possible. I never resented her for that, and I had never felt unloved by her. When mom had fallen pregnant again, we were both pretty ecstatic about it.

Mom had to work extra hard again after Lulu had been born, which often times left me taking care of her. I'd been practically her second mother. And I had lost them both in one fell swoop because I hadn't been paying attention to my surroundings.

And if that wasn't enough, I get my ass sent here of all places!

With no chance of seeing them again. I trembled, but no tears leaked out. I was all cried out.

Maybe the Shinigami wanted me to change this world's future or something. I had always loved reading and watching Naruto. Hell, it was something Lulu and I both had watched together many, many times. So many things were coming. So many bad things. I was just one person, in a child's body of all things. I couldn't do much of anything right now.

If that cursed Shinigami had wanted me here for my future knowledge, why me? Why not some other fan of the show? The show had a huge following. I pushed those thoughts away.

It's not like I could get the answers to those questions. Not right now at least. I had to make do with what I had. I was nothing if not adaptable. And maybe...maybe there was a jutsu or something out there. Something that could take me home.

I would make the best I could out of this situation. I wasn't going to mope around (much, everything that had happened was a hard pill to swallow, and I knew it would take time to completely come to terms with it.)

Just as I had built up my still shaky resolve, someone came to tell us the fighting was over.

0o0o0o0o2o0o0o0o0o

The weeks that followed the reconstruction of the village went by fast.

I was slowly getting over my shock and fear and panic of my situation. There was a only so much flailing about you could do before you had no choice but to shut up and get it together.

It was after I had calmed down that something unexpected had happened. Memories-this body's- had all but slammed into my head the day after the Kyuubi's attack. It had happened fast and painfully. The migraine from it was unlike any other I've ever had. But it was useful.

My name was Natsu. Suzuki Natsu. I liked it well enough, and it sounded fitting. It was summer when I had died. And this body was born in the summer as well. I'm sure Shinigami thought he was funny.

Sadly, it seemed my assumption of my (this body's) parents having been the ones under the wreck of the house had been an accurate one. (They weren't my parents, but from the memories I had, they had seemed like good people. They had shielded this body when the house had been destroyed. I tried not to think about what Shinigami had done to the soul of the child I was now in. It left me feeling sick and horribly dirty.)

Almost immediately after the attack, I was shipped to the orphanage.

I was lost that first week. I didn't really have a purpose besides the vague notion that Shinigami wanted me to accomplish something and the naïve hope that I would find a way home.

So I did what I had always done when I didn't know what to do. I threw myself into working. The ladies that ran the orphanage were being run down by the staggering amount of new orphans. Traumatized orphans.

Kyuubi had been terrifying, but I had the mind of an adult. I could cope better than these kids around me. So I helped out with the younger ones and the toddlers that had survived. I ran errands, played with them, and made sure they didn't fall out a window or something while no one was looking.

It wasn't a horribly unpleasant job, I had always loved children, despite the sadness I felt for the poor kids whose parents had been ripped away from them that horrible night.

When I had proven myself to the caretakers, they began trusting me to handle the infants. I helped change diapers and feed them. There were a lot more than I had been expecting.

Apparently, after the Third Shinobi War, as it was with almost all wars, there had been a baby boom. According to what I could gather, Konoha had been filled with pregnant women planning play dates together, comparing bellies and due dates. Most of them had gone into labour when Kyuubi attacked, most likely from stress or something similar.

Many mothers had died during childbirth, and many children more had just given up and died too under the weight of Kyubbi's horrible chakra. (And it was horrible, I had nightmares sometimes.)

It was about a month after that night that the caretakers had deemed me competent, and trustworthy enough, to let me around a particular baby.

I didn't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't Naruto.

0o0o0o0o3o0o0o0o0o

Naruto was a cute baby.

I mean like, really really cute. I internally squealed over him regularly. He had soft blonde hair and his eyes were the bluest I've ever seen on someone.

I was immediately taken with him. The caretakers seemed glad, and I was constantly helping them with him. They didn't abuse him, but they never went out of their way to be kind and tried to be as far away from him as possible.

Not to mention, I could feel his seal.

I had been really confused at first, and fearful. After a lot of thought, I figured maybe it was because we had both been touched by the Shinigami. Which was another thing. I sometimes felt a tingle in the back of my neck, as if someone was holding me by it. I wondered if it was the Shinigami, reminding me that he was watching.

It was an unnerving thought.

I did enjoy taking care of Naruto. I knew the kind of person he would grow into, a kind and loyal friend. He was going to pretty much change the world. It was hard to see that sometimes when I looked at the small blonde baby.

Naruto had been good for me. He helped me strengthen my resolve to do my best. I wanted to change things, make them better. Especially if I was going to be stuck here for what could be forever. This world's future concerned me now.

The opportunity for something like that was presented to me sometime after I met little Naruto.

A ninja had come by the orphanage. All the kids my age had been ushered into a room, where we had been offered the chance to enroll in the Academy. I had been a bit surprised, but not overly so. Tenten had been an orphan too. It wasn't too far fetched to believe that they regularly recruited from orphanages.

I took a bit of time to think over my options. Except there really wasn't a choice. If I wanted to change anything, I had to be a ninja. But it wasn't a pleasant job at all. And it was highly dangerous, with a good chance of dying again.

But I didn't want to sit around and do nothing.

Which meant that I had to become a ninja.

0o0o0o0o4o0o0o0o0o

The Academy was weird.

They had four classes for my age group and we were divided by last names. Which meant that I ended up in a class with one Uchiha Itachi. Oh dear.

What was it with me meeting these important people so early on? Everyone was so small.

Maybe I could try befriending Itachi. He looked like he needed one. He'd always been a character I had liked. His love for a younger sibling was something I could relate to pretty well.

But despite my new little goal, I never had the chance to speak with him. I developed a routine though, which was nice.

Every day, I went to the Academy. When they let us out, I'd go back to the orphanage and spend some time with Naruto before I reviewed what we were taught. During those first few months, I spent many hours next to Naruto's crib, hearing his soft breathing as he slept while I concentrated and focused on sensing my chakra.

They told us not to try anything with it unsupervised, which I could understand. Chakra exhaustion was dangerous but I never tried a jutsu. All I did was move it around myself, doing small little control excersises like the leaf one.

All in all, I was able to get a pretty good feel and control of my chakra.

It wasn't a bad way to spend my days. I was beginning to enjoy my new life while becoming adept at ignoring the persistent ache in my heart when I thought of the other world.

I got my chance to talk to Itachi during a sparr about three months into school. My taijutsu was decent for an orphan with civilian parents. Which meant that Itachi kicked my ass.

It was pretty pathetic. I didn't get upset about it, largely due to the fact that I never expected to win. He'd probably been training since he could walk.

So I just stood up, wincing a bit and knowing I'd feel horribly sore later on. I dusted myself off then turned to Itachi with a smile.

"You're good," I complimented. "I'm Natsu, it's nice to meet you. " His expression didn't change, but there was an air of bafflement around him. I think he expected me to bitch and moan about being beaten by him. It seemed to be the common reaction when he sparred with others.

"Uchiha Itachi, " he said after a pause. And that was that. I had never been a shy person. Making friends wasn't a hard concept for me. And this time was no different. I chatted away, not really minding that he barely ever replied, and when he did, it was only a few words.

I liked the way things were going. I trained hard and my adult mind was helpful in grasping things much faster than others. I read books with fervor, trying to understand my new world. I'm sure the teachers knew I was smart, but I made sure to not give away completely just how smart I was.

Being labeled a prodigy was the last thing I wanted.

But my days were pleasant. I filled them with reading, training, and spending time with Naruto. During lunch, I spent most of my time with Itachi, sitting under a tree seperate from the rest of the grounds. We weren't allowed to leave for lunch, only the older kids could.

I did most of the talking then, but I didn't think he minded my presence. Some days, we just spent reading together. History was a common topic we both enjoyed. Those were the times he talked the most. He seemed bemused with me, but hey, Itachi hadn't told me to leave him alone so I counted this as a step in the right direction.

I had figured, had hoped, that my childhood days would just be filled with those things. Of course, things never went the way we wanted them to.

Six months after that night, I was asked to be seen by the Hokage.

If anything doesn't make sense, please feel free to PM and I'll explain what's going through my head. Sometimes the transcition from thought to writing isn't as smooth as I'd like it to be.

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