Incoming by Uchiha_Kima
Summary: Ava Woods, your typical 15-year-old girl, drops into a place she'd never expected to be: the Naruto-verse!

Okay, I suck at summaries, but it's definitely worth a shot.

Large chance of OOC and le bad lingo ahead.

Ohmigosh! More than 500 reads?! I LOVE YOU PEOPLE!! X3
Categories: Alternate Universe & Crossovers, OC-centric Characters: Anko Mitarashi, Maito Gai, Hinata Hyuuga, Ino Yamanaka, Iruka Umino, Jiraiya, Kakashi Hatake, Kiba Inuzuka, Kurenai Yuuhi, Rock Lee, Naruto Uzumaki, Neji Hyuuga, Sai, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, Tenten
Genres: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural
Warnings: OOC
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 8 Completed: No Word count: 22258 Read: 15834 Published: 15/12/07 Updated: 09/05/08

1. Chapter 1 by Uchiha_Kima

2. Chapter 2 by Uchiha_Kima

3. Chapter 3 by Uchiha_Kima

4. Chapter 4 by Uchiha_Kima

5. Chapter 5 by Uchiha_Kima

6. Chapter 6 by Uchiha_Kima

7. Chapter 7 by Uchiha_Kima

8. Chapter 8 by Uchiha_Kima

Chapter 1 by Uchiha_Kima
Author's Notes:
Er...chapter 1...yay!
“Incoming” – Chapter 1

Hmm…another fanfic. I like it though. The theme of the story will be based off of AFI’s “Prelude 12/21” (Is that the real title?) If you don’t know the song, go into YouTube and search for “AFI Incoming”. A lovely vid from Rubix89 (a totally awesome movie maker) should and will show up, unless your computer (or iPhone) has serious YouTube problems…

No, this is not an angst fic. It will have angsty themes, emoness, and dark premonitions, but it will also have sarcasm, maybe an ounce of OOC if I really want to have it, and definitely sugar-induced and/or hilarious, written-while-I-was-still-half-asleep moments. You have been warned, readers. You have been warned…

Disclaimer: No, I don't own any of the Naruto characters in this story. I do, however, own Ava.

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A dark, cold, wet forest. It was raining hard and the animals were in their dens, nests, and burrows. The nearby city was alight and abuzz despite the cold rain of November. The cars played the melodic and…slightly nerve-wracking song of late traffic and road rage. The bright lights of clubs and restaurants attracted customers, the yuck of the city air was drained away by the scent of rainfall, and a filled up Starbucks lay on every corner, the people happily conversing inside. People were bustling about, going home from a long day at work, going out to a local club, eating food at a nice restaurant with a friend or loved one…

“Leave me alone!!”

…or in my case…

“You can’t run forever, Ava! You know I’ll find you!”

“I told you to leave me ALONE!!!”

…running for my life.

Now you might be thinking, “Running for your life? That is SUCH a lame plot.” Well…it is a lame story plot, but it isn’t even the half of it. This was my brother I was running from. My nasty, conniving, EVIL older brother. He was five years older than me and he was such the attention hog…not to mention he beat me senseless with my teddy bear every chance he got…that was when we were kids. Mom died in a plane crash and dad, who was on the same plane, died a week after he got to the hospital. I was only thirteen, my brother was eighteen, so I lived under his “guardianship”. That was two years ago, two years of pain and suffering. It hurt to even see my brother. That’s why I’m running. To hide from him, to escape in some way. To a place my brother would never find me.

Remembering what happened made my skin crawl, even under all the goose-bumps. The rain stung like knives on my skin, my hair was blown back and felt frozen in place, my feet were heavy, my eyes burned, and my legs felt numb. Despite all these factors, I press onward. The forest was my home away from home. I would always tell my brother I was going to be late at school for a play, for soccer practice, for whatever and then hide in these woods, navigating an escape route.

Well, even through this rain, the path was a clear as day…a foggy day in San Fran on the Golden Gate, but day nonetheless. I could easily avoid the trees with my small, sporty frame and leaping over large roots, rocks, or holes was no problem for the smallest and lightest 2-mile-running track star at school. Ava, the “tiny-track-titan” as the kids at school called me. Yeah, I say kids because I couldn’t get a friend if I tried. I guess I’m either too shy or too afraid they’ll recognize the glint in my brother’s eyes when they meet him.

Low branch and I duck. High root and I sail over it. I was getting close and the rain finally started to calm, not because of the rainstorm, but because I was in the thicker part of the forest. It was my secret haven on my days off and I knew I was close to escape. The ground here was harder, it felt like my school’s track ring, and it wouldn’t keep any footprints, the grass was deeper and nobody would be able to see whatever there is of a print, the mud, though, could prove problematic. My feet made that sucking sound when I pulled them from the muck, but I kept moving. No mud in the world could stop Ava Woods, the tiny-track-titan of Evergreen High School*, from escaping.

“...Almost...” I breathed, having not heard my brother’s footfalls for a quarter of a mile. I’ve run distances like this before: coach would have me run a half-mile warm-up, do some stretches, full-mile practice, do exercises, two-mile competitive run, do team running exercises, and a half-mile cool-down, topped off with a final round of stretching. It’d take two hours of practice, then I’d have to go. Not home, but I’d still have to leave. I dabbled in my mom and grandma’s secret stash, only about ten dollars weekly out of who-knows-how-many thousands, and I’d stop in on one of the many Starbucks for a nice, warm hot chocolate with whipped cream after practice. I’d leave for four hours on Saturday and Sunday to do my workout in the park, then my exploring of the forest, and then I’d have to go home to get a shower and a shopping list. It’s only fifteen minutes to get clean, five more to take inventory and enough of my brother’s work money to buy food and supplies and then I was outta there.

Today was different, though…I got home after practice and my brother was there to meet me. His face was etched in anger and my hope of escape was nil at the time. I cautiously said hello, trashed my Starbucks cup and headed upstairs. There was something wrong with him today, usually he only greets me angrily when he…well…maybe I’ll tell you about it later…let’s just say it’s when he’s mad at his girlfriend. Today though…he seemed extra angry. Did they break up? I gulped and quietly locked my room door. I turned on the shower, not bothering to turn it to warm, and quietly pulled out my dad’s big old duffel bag. Inside was already a bunch of my emergency supplies: a blanket, a small but warm sleeping bag, dried and non-perishable foods, many sets of underwear and bras, several shirts, pants, shorts, my two favorite Naruto sweaters, solely because I'm a fan of the show, my favorite fluffy jacket, and my baby blanket my grandmother made for me. Inside my baby blanket were two pictures: one of the day I was born with my mother, my father, and lil’ ol’ bald, fat and wrinkly me. The other picture was of my parents’ wedding night. I promised my dad and lifeless mom I’d protect these with my life.

“…good girl, Ava…be strong for us…okay?”

“Yes dad…I…I promise.” I struggled so hard to hide my tears…

“That’s a good girl…I’ll miss you…and your…brother…be careful…Ava…I…love you…”


Those were his last words and they were forever burned into my memory. I took a deep breath and snapped from my reverie when my brother knocked on the door. Hard. This would be the perfect time to escape. I threw on one of the sweaters and a pair of pants over my track clothes. I opened my window cautiously and jumped in surprise when my brother knocked again. It was harder this time. Boy, he was MAD. I grabbed the duffel bag handles, took a deep breath and jumped out of my two story window, onto the neighbor kids’ trampoline, my bag landing after I did. I dropped to my knees and cushioned my fall as best I could. When my fall finally caught up with me, I heard a smash of splintering wood.

“He actually broke my door down!” I said in a hushed whisper. I scrambled off the trampoline and bolted over the neighbor’s fence, dad’s bag smacking into my back every third or fourth step. The last thing I heard from my brother was him screaming my name at the top of his lungs. He’d better not catch me tonight; I’d never be able to walk again! I pelted down the secret pathways I found along the road and made my way to the park. I took a small breather and some sips from the water fountain. Overhead, I heard thunder and rain began to pour down. I sat myself on a bench under a tree and set the duffel next to me. It was okay, everything in it was still in one piece…except for maybe my potato chips.

“That…was too close.” I said. I had originally planned to go at about midnight, when my brother would be asleep; I’d never be able to sneak out, so taking the trampoline would have happened anyway. Thinking over my options, I fingered through my stuff and found the large wad of money safely secured in my supplies bag. I soon caught my breath but nearly lost it again when I saw a car drive up to the park. It was my brother’s. Now, our park is probably very different from yours: it was built on a hillside and follows all the way to the foot of the small not-quite-mountains-but-more-like-really-large-hills mountains near the city. My vantage point was almost at the top of the hill, but I’d recognize the scar on the side of my brother’s car anywhere.

“He’s at the bottom, I’m almost at the top…let’s bolt, Ava!” I said to myself as I shrugged on the bag and ran up the remainder of the hill. My brother was almost half way up the hill, but he had absolutely no endurance. I’m forever thankful he had a bad case of asthma*. Even so, he had long legs and could use them! My rpm may be higher with shorter legs, but his strides are at least twice as long as two of mine. Good thing the forest gives me cover and a series of difficult obstacles.

This is where I met you, right? Well, from here on, I’ll try to save memories for a more convenient situation, rather than when I’m running for my life. Anyway, yeah. My secret haven.

On a sunny day, my haven glowed green with the light pouring through the leaves and the moss and grass reflecting their chloroplastic health (A/N: Yes, I just made that word up.), but today…it was dark, gloomy and the only light around it came from the moon above and the glow from inside the cave-like root system of my favorite tree.

“Wait a minute…glow?” I had to have a double take. “It’s never done that before…” Despite my being a high school student and a fairly smart girl, curiosity got the better of me. I gripped the duffel bag handles tighter as the bag rested on my back. I took several steps forward and crouched before the “cave” entrance. “To be or not to be, that is the question.” As Shakespeare’s Hamlet once read. “In all respect, Shakespeare…” I said looking longingly at the seemingly growing glow, “I’ve got ‘to be’ in order ‘not to be’.” I reasoned, eagerly going forward into the light. Now, every dramatic movie involving death has some sort of ‘don’t go to the light!’ theme , but I say: to heck with it! I'm just dumb enough to go for anything my brain says to!

“Ava!” it was my brother. Oh shit. He’d find me if I didn’t hide! I started scrambling towards the light. “Ava!” it was him again. I nearly cried I was so scared. Yes, he has that much of an effect on me. I stuffed myself further in, backing away bit, by bit, by bit, by…hey wait…I don’t remember the “cave” being this deep…

“What the-?”

“Ava!” it was my brother again. He sounded like he was half a mile off. Was it the cave that demented the sound? Nonetheless, he seemed further away and I took a deep breath. I moved to lean back on my hands and found there was no ground beneath them. I felt like I was in slow motion: falling back into a who-knows-how-deep pit in the back of the “cave”. I couldn’t right myself either, like my body wanted me to fall. Maybe this is what happens right when a person jumps, either for fun…or to their death…

I screamed in terror as I realized the hole was deeper than anybody I knew was tall. It was deeper that two of those people, no! Three! I could feel that falling sensation you get sometimes on a plane or when you’re dropping from a decent height, it gripped me so much that, combined with the fear, panic, and immense exercise I had…I fainted…

Next thing I know, I hear birds chirping and something small and light-weight lands on my face. A leaf? A butterfly? I open my tired eyes and…it isn’t a butterfly, it’s a bug yes, but it’s…a beetle. I close my eyes so as not to scare it and set my hand on my face in front of the beetle. I feel it crawl on my hand and I open my eyes again. I look around as I sit up and see that I’m in a forest a lot like home, but the trees were a different species and these bugs certainly weren’t the same as home. The beetle was fascinating: large, dark green multi-faceted eyes set in a dark brown beetle head, six armored legs, what looked to be a collar of light brown colored shell around its “neck” (because insects don’t actually have those), and a dark brown segmented thorax. It was so intriguing, I didn’t see or hear the person coming up behind me. I just stared admirably at the beetle.

Ahem.” Someone cleared their throat behind me. I could swear I leaped five feet in the air. I spun around, casting off my insect friend and taking a defensive stance. My duffel bag sat on the ground in front of him and he was mostly covered in shadow. I could make out a hooded coat, with something high-collared beneath it, and I would have made out this person’s face if the collar and a pair of sunglasses didn’t obscure my view. “Who are you?” He asked plainly. Something wasn’t right…this guy bundled up like an Eskimo, in this lovely late autumn weather no less, asked questions like an interrogator, and his voice sounded like sex…why did I just think that? Bad brain! Bad!

“A-Ava. Ava Woods…” I answered nervously. I could see one of his eyebrows arch.

“You’re first name is ‘Woods’?” He asked, a millimeter of amusement peeked through. There was that voice of sex again…maybe I should have this guy talk more…

“No, no…my last name is Woods. Ava is my first name.” I said, pouting slightly. Reasoning this guy was no threat to my health, I relaxed a bit, but maintained caution, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. “So who are you, Mr. I-dress-up-like-an-Eskimo-in-autumn?”

“Aburame Shino.” He answered. Goddamn that voice of his…wait a minute. That name was freakishly familiar…I know it…damn you brain farts! Wait...no way...this guy can't possibly be him!

“So…you introduce last names first here?” I asked awkwardly. He nodded. I looked around again and recognized many of the plants and flowers to be Asian species of plants. “Shino” took a few steps forward into the meadow and into the light. He turned just ever so slightly and then, I saw something horribly familiar, barely hidden beneath his hood: it was a Konoha shinobi forehead protector. The gears stopped turning and my brain froze.

...

‘Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.’

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Well, that’s chapter 1. What do you think?

If you really liked it and want a chapter 2, review or message me. I’ll take one as a minimum for now, but maybe more if my story gets popular.

Oh! Did you watch that vid by Rubix89 yet? If you didn’t, you should. If you did, yay!

I have lyrics! (I don’t know if they’re right. I took the lyrics by ear.)

“This is what I brought you,
This you can keep.
This is what I brought you
May forget me.
I promise to depart,
Just promise one thing,
Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep.

This is what I brought you,
This you can keep.
This is what I brought you
May forget me.
I promise you my heart
Just promise to sing,
Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep.

Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep.

This is what I thought:
I thought you’d need me.
This is what I thought
So think me naïve.
I promised you a heart,
You promised to be.
Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep.

Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep.

Kiss my eyes and lay me to…sleep.”

A short song, yes, but well worth a listen. So, did you notice the little asterisks I put in the story?

Here’s what they were:

*Evergreen High School – To my knowledge, there is a college named Evergeen, but not a high school. If there is, I better find a way to avoid a lawsuit…hmm…

*asthma – Yes a common affliction, but I asterisk’d this because I want you all to know I have nothing against asthmatic people, for I am asthmatic too because of my eczema. You’d be surprised how many people will grill you for having a disease written up in your story with just the slightest unkind meaning behind it.

Yeah, that's it. Hope to see you guys soon! :)
Chapter 2 by Uchiha_Kima
“Incoming” – Chapter 2



Yeee! Chapter 2! I don’t know where this is going, but I enjoy it! Thank you to Noleta for being my very first reviewer! In the spirit of the season, I grant all of my reviewers gingerbread cookies. Cheers! *hands out cookies*



Uhm…yeah, there’s gonna be some ramble and…I don’t know how my story will go (as in: love interest (even though I have a pretty good idea), adventure, events that take place, etc.) but it’s a leap of faith and a load of fun for me! Wish me luck readers!



BTW, I’ll take any suggestions I can get. The story kinda rots away when I run out of fun ideas…



Another thing, I never described how Ava looked…and I never will! I’ll just say she has a decent bit of hair (shoulder length at least), large eyes, and some curves; the rest of Ava is up for you to decide. I’ll only really be giving clothes descriptions and even those will be limited.



Disclaimer: None of the Naruto characters in this story belong to me. I do, however, own Ava.



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Whoa… this was freaky…I, Ava Woods, least likely student to fail PE and most likely student to get on the Honor Role while blindfolded, standing right next to my biggest crush in the Narutoverse! Shino Aburame…sigh…unbeknownst to me, I was wearing the fangirl “sqweee” face and I was silently congratulating myself ten times over. After all, how often is it you get to meet your imaginary boyfriend in real life? The smile vanished from my face and I looked at the top of a very tall tree.



‘Would this be real life? Or is this still all an anime? Am I an anime character now? Wow, this is confusing…’ I lost myself in thought and I must have made a strange face while thinking, because Shino once again raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat. I jumped, just like before, but instead of landing in a defensive stance, I ended out in a freaky kung fu pose…I think. I soon recovered and scratched the back of my head sheepishly.



“Ah, g-gomen*.” I stuttered. I’m such a fan of the anime, I started learning Japanese from watching the subs over the internet. Too bad I hadn’t reached Shippuuden yet. This must be how Shino-kun looks in the Shippuverse. Cool! “I…kinda space out a lot.”



“…” No answer from Shino, just a raised eyebrow. This was him all right.



“So…I should probably get going then…to uh…meet the Hokage, yeah…” I said nervously. I could feel the giant anime sweat drop on my head. ‘If I can feel that, I MUST be in the anime! Dear God! What time-space vortex am I gonna screw up?!’ I thought, both terrified and thrilled of the possibilities of being in the Narutoverse. I picked up my duffel and did a casual army salute/wave to Shino as I walked off into the forest.



“You’re going the wrong way.” I heard Shino say. I turned to him with a questioning face and he pointed in the way opposite to where I was going. I sweat dropped again and started heading in the “correct” direction.



“…I knew that…” I muttered, walking past my overly-clothed anime crush. I walked a ways before I heard him, once again, tell me I was going the wrong way. I sighed and walked over to the bug king, stopping only when I was right in front of him. “Alright, Aburame. Would you be so kind as to show me where to go? As you can plainly see, I don’t know where your Hokage is.”



“Follow me.” He said. Like the lost fangirl puppy dog I am, I followed the Aburame about two steps behind. Analyzing what I could see, I saw the trees slowly thinning out. The sun was shining brightly, but the trees were already tucking themselves in for winter and the squirrels and berry eating birds were stocking up for the cold months ahead. Then my thoughts drifted to the overly-clothed hottie walking in front of me. I couldn’t see any skin, but I saw a pouch on his back, I assumed for carrying some of his insects, and his coat was a more grey-green color than his previous light green collared coat he wore all through the first part of Naruto.



Then I remembered his sunglasses from before the time-skip; they looked like the glasses my smelly chemistry teacher used to wear only one-way and not decently see through. His glasses were replaced by goggle-glasses and he was still as mysterious as he always was. I sighed quietly and continued to watch where we were headed. Again I felt like something landed on me. I raised my right hand to my face.



“Well, hello there.” I said, looking at the bug perched on my hand.



“A kikaichu.” Shino said absently, “She seems to have taken a liking to you.”



“Kikaichu? A parasitic destruction beetle, eh?” I asked looking at the little beetle. Her head swiveled a bit as she looked at me and I laughed a little. I noticed Shino looking over his shoulder at me before turning back to look ahead of him. I smiled a bit and recalled all the fanfictions I’ve read for Shino. It made me laugh again, realizing how silly many of them sounded and how well done most of them were, as well as all of the lame plots to get a certain character to like or even fall in love with you. When I stopped laughing, Shino turned to me again, his eyebrow now arched higher than it was before. I just shook my head and answered, “Nah, it’s nothing. I’m just remembering some funny moments is all.” Shino stared a moment before shrugging and continuing on his way with me in tow. The little bug flew off my hand and decided to perch on my non-duffel-bag-bearing shoulder.



Once we reached a clearing, I knew exactly where I was. ‘Team 8’s training grounds! Cool!’ I was in fangirl heaven, to be sure, but Shino and I weren’t the only ones there. When he stopped walking, I walked along and stopped right next to him, seeing a familiar, yet much, MUCH larger white dog sitting next to a recognizable fang-faced, brown-haired male and the cutest kunoichi in Konoha, even though her hair was longer than I remembered.



“Oi, Shino. Who’s the lost pup?” the guy said. SO definitely Inuzuka Kiba.



Before Shino could answer, I answered for him, “My name’s Ava…Woods Ava!” I said, stumbling over the order of my name as I waved at the three in front of us. My name sound’s really weird when said last name and then first. Ew. My name was just…ew.



“Heh, aren’t you the hyper one? I’m Inuzuka Kiba, this is my pal, Akamaru,” Kiba said, bringing a greeting bark from the large dog, “and this is Hyuuga Hinata.” Said girl waved a little.



“Pleasure to meet you.” Hinata said softly. Even when she’s older Hina-chan’s still the shy, adorable kunoichi I’ve come to have as my favorite kunoichi, tied with Anko Mitarashi. I nodded and smiled at the two ninjas and the ninken*.



“You already met Shino, I see.”



“Yeah! He found me in the woods and led my sorry little self down here.” I said cutely. Akamaru tilted his head and stood, walking over to me and sniffing my legs, feet, and bag. He barked once to Kiba and then licked my hand. He was looking for a snack. “Oh, no! That’s my food!” I said, patting my duffel. Akamaru whined and looked cutely at me. Even though I was a sucker for the puppy eyes, I looked straight back and shook my head “no”.



“Come on, Akamaru! I just fed you an hour ago!” Kiba laughed, coming over to where I was. Hinata soon followed. Then I realized just how short I was to all of these guys. Damn genetics…dealt me a short hand. “Eh? You’re a little small to be out on your own aren’tcha?” Kiba said, indicating my height according to him; I only stood a scant 4’9”, he was about 5’6” at least. “You’re what? Ten…twelve…?”



“Fifteen…” I said. Kiba blinked in surprise and scanned me over. Of course my clothes were ratty from my little escapade, but they were also loose on me, apparently, and made me appear younger than I was. “…I blame genetics.” I said as I folded my arms over my fairly-sized chest and pouted, glaring off to the side at no one in particular. I soon recovered and poked Kiba in the chest. Yeah, he’s real. I then poked Shino in the arm and patted Akamaru on the head. Yep, they’re real, too.



“Uhm…why’d you-?”



“Why is my business.” I answered interrupting the dog ninja. I walked a bit ahead and looked around the training grounds. I turned towards the three…four ninjas, if you include Akamaru. “Now, why are you waiting here? You have a sensei* to wait for or something?” I asked Kiba, tilting my head cutely.



“Why is our business.” Kiba answered, folding his arms over his chest and fake-glaring at me. Oh the attempts at mockery.



“Hee!” I squealed, poking Kiba in the nose. His glare vanished and he now wore confusion on his face. “You’re fun to mess with!” I said, again tilting my head once again. Akamaru barked a laugh and Hinata tried to hide her giggles with her beige jacket sleeve. Shino…looked as stoic as ever. Eh, I tried. I wanna see if I can get him to laugh, not at all like episode 186 but a chuckle at least. I finally refocus on the world when Kiba has me in a headlock and he’s ruffling up my hair.



“Ha! You know, you’re alright…what’s your name again?”



“Just call me Ava!” I said, poking Kiba in the nose again. He moved to tackle me and I squeaked in surprise, running to hide behind Shino. “Protect me, Shino-dono*!” I said overdramatically, burying my face in his jacket. ‘I’m playing and being a total fangirl at the same time. Yay!’ Akamaru valiantly jumped in front of Shino, obviously playing along, and growled at Kiba, who was still in an “I’m-going-to-get-you!” pose. Hinata stood behind Shino as well and joined me in playing the “damsel in distress”.



“Shino-kun, s-save us from the wolf-man!” Hinata semi-shouted. Yep, she’s definitely the still he adorably timid Hina-chan from yesterday…for me anyway. Kiba, who had been pretending to be scary dropped the act for a moment, putting his hands in fists and setting them on his hips.



“Hey, now! That was uncalled for Hinata-chan.” Kiba pouted.



“Gomen, Kiba-kun.” Hinata said as she smiled in apology.



“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” I knew that voice…not as well as I knew Shino’s, but I knew that female voice anywhere.



“Ohayo*, Kurenai-sensei.” Shino, Hinata, and Kiba said. Akamaru barked a greeting and wagged his fluffy tail. Kurenai looked towards me. I nervously shifted my eyes back and forth and then met Kurenai’s crimson eyes. ‘I could never guess how she got her name…Kurenai means crimson.’ I thought sarcastically as I waved at her.



“So, who are you? I don’t recall getting a notice of a new student.”



“Woods Ava, ” Ew! My name is still ugly in reverse! “…and I am not a student. I just…got lost in the woods nearby and Shino here lead the way…here.” I explained, smiling.



“If you’re new here, you should go to the Hokage, not the shinobi training grounds.” Kurenai said, somewhat like a scolding mother.



“I know…but I got distracted and then I distracted these guys…” I said as cutely as I could. I folded my hands behind my back, looked at the ground and shuffled my feet shyly. Kurenai sighed and folded her arms in front of her.



“Well, it can’t be helped. Shino, can you please take…Ava?” I nodded, “Will you please take Ava to the Hokage’s office please?” Kurenai asked. Shino nodded, looked at me and turned his head forward. I followed alongside him and waved to the rest of Team 8 as we walked along the road. I shifted my duffel bag to my left hand as I stuffed my right into the corresponding pants pocket. Wooden fences soon came into view and the roofs of houses rising up behind them. The trees became fewer and I was walking down the semi-crowded streets of Konoha. Nobody could match my thrill: just being in this place got me excited at the possibilities.



“Ne, Shino-kun,” I started. Shino looked towards me as I walked alongside him. “Do you know anybody who could teach me katakana* or hiragana*?” He shrugged. I sighed at his stoic self and continued following the silent king of insects. ‘He may still be like he was before, but whatever. At least I’m here. Maybe I can make friends with Naruto…and Neji…’ my thoughts were wandering as we turned a few corners, walked a few blocks, and passed building after building. Shino soon stopped and looked off to his right. Following the direction of his face, I looked and saw the Hokage building, the size of a mere toy model compared to the impressive faces of the Hokage monument. “Wow…”



“Yes, it is rather imposing, isn’t it?” Shino asked. I could only nod dumbly as my mouth hung open slightly. The bug nin walked forward into the building while I still stood, staring at the faces.



“Shodaime…Nidaime…Sandaime…Yondaime…and Godaime**…I can’t believe I’m here…” Shino, who was walking, had stopped and looked at my small self as I looked at the monument, my dumbly hanging mouth now closed and a smile on my face. “It’s like a dream…and a nightmare come true…” I muttered to myself, remembering the honorable stories of each of the kages.



“Ava?” I looked at Shino and ran to catch up with him. He walked up the stairs and I climbed alongside him, apologizing for holding him up. Halfway up the monstrously long staircase to where the fifth Hokage was supposed to be, my duffel began feeling heavier and heavier. ‘God this is one long staircase…you’d think they’d have an elevator for this…I mean, they have cell phones, cruise ships, telephones (which they never use and would be much more convenient than writing scrolls), and even TVs (another commodity they hardly ever use)! Why don’t they have elevators…or cars?!’ I thought. My rant slowed my movements up the stairs, not that my duffel was helping anything, but it made me forget how tired my arms and legs really were. Before I know it, the weight of my duffel vanishes and I look to the one who relieved me of my struggle. I sent Shino a questioning look.



“You were slowing us down.” He answered bluntly. Ah Shino, always straight to the point…no matter how sharp it was. So, being freed of my duffel handicap, I rejoined Shino in walking up the stairs. It seemed to be only a minute later that we reached the Hokage’s landing and we were walking along the hall that led to the Hokage’s office. ‘Lessee…Sarutobi died about two, three years ago, so Tsunade must still be in office…that is, unless her drinking habits and debts have finally caught up with her.’ I snickered in my head as Shino knocked twice on Tsunade’s office door.



“Door’s open.” I heard from inside. Nope, Tsunade hasn’t left yet. I gingerly peeked my head inside after Shino had gone in. I shyly stepped into Tsunade’s office and quietly closed the door behind me, looking at the five people, besides Shino and myself, in the office. One of them was Tsunade, another was Jiraiya, and a third I recognized as Shizune. The other two had me baffled…a little, until I took a more obvious look. Standing next to the Aburame, I notice the blonde wore and orange jumpsuit, had terribly familiar “whiskers” on his face and brilliant azure eyes. The other was female, wore a red top with a small beige apron over black shorts and a pair of tall ninja boots, but her most noticeable feature was that she was a pinkette…I mentally smacked myself for not recognizing her or the blonde the second I walked in.



“Ah, Aburame Shino, what brings-” Tsunade’s question was cut off by the blonde’s shouting.



SHINO?! Aburame Shino?!?” Several blocks away, some random person turned and looked around, wondering what exactly they had heard. I squeaked and jumped, taking cover behind Shino and underneath his green overcoat.



“Naruto-kun…must you shout like that?” Shino asked calmly, his eyebrows furrowing and his right one twitching ever so slightly. Tsunade sighed as Naruto leaned in close for a better inspection to see if it really was Shino standing in front of him. The bug nin let out a kikaichu to prove it.



“Aha! So it really is you! How are things Shino?” my buggy companion shrugged in response. Hmm…if Naruto didn’t know who Shino was and he still had a travel bag…no…way… ‘I’m…I’m in episode 221?! This can’t be good! If I’m at the beginning of Shippuuden, who knows what chaos I caused just by being here?!’ My eyes widened and Naruto seemed to have taken notice of me. “Oi, Shino? Have you been put in charge of babysitting?” Oh no he didn’t… “Or is that kid a relative of yours?” Scratch that, yes he did.



BABYSITTING?! I’ll have you know I am FIFTEEN years of age!!” I shouted, coming out of my hiding spot and stabbing my outstretched index finger into Naruto’s tanned face. That very same person several blocks away looked around nervously, never really knowing what these noises were. I shook a bit with rage before taking a deep breath, letting it out and scowling deeply at Naruto, who seemed to have taken cover behind Sakura; Jiraiya as well. Shino put a hand on my shoulder and I seemed to calm down immediately. I turned to Tsunade and bowed in apology. “Gomenasai, Tsunade-sama. You were saying?” My mood was once again cheerful and bubbly.



“…I was wondering what Shino was doing here. But I think it has something to do with you.” Tsunade said plainly.



“Hai*, Tsunade-sama. It does. You see, I was going away from home for the first time, so I kinda got lost in the woods on my way here. That is until Shino found me and took me to his team. We messed around for a bit of time before his sensei, Kurenai I think her name was, arrived and told me I needed to see you. Shino showed me a bit of Konohagakure and then led me to your office where I met you, your assistant, and these three multicolored people.” I said in only two breaths as I indicated Naruto, Sakura, and Jiraiya. Taking another breath, I continued, “So now, I was just wondering if there was a place out there in the village I could hole up for a while before I have to leave.”



“And…who are you, exactly?” Tsunade asked after I gave my brief history of my time in the Narutoverse.



“Woods Ava.” Ew, ew, ew, ew, EW!! How many more times will I have to say my last name before my first? I sighed inwardly and blazoned the only thought on my mind: ‘This is going to be a LONG stay in Konohagakure…’



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Okay! That’s two down and more to come! Again, thank you Noleta for your review!



Nope, sorry, no songs to base this chapter off of (I forget the names of them all! XP) but I must say, YouTube has the most interesting array of fun songs.



Now, I am so sorry for those of you just getting into my story, but I will be gone for two, mark your calendars, TWO weeks on an RV trip. Hurray for me (You can just smell the sarcasm oozing from the computer screen!). Expect me back on about January third (or fourth, depending on my schedule) with a new chapter! *tosses confetti and rips open X-Mas presents early* Ooh! I got movies! My RV trip won’t suck so bad after all!



Asterisks:



*gomen = informal way to say “sorry” in Japanese; “gomenasai” is the formal way.

*ninken = literally, ninja dog. Apt name that.

*(-)sensei = teacher, as if you didn’t already get that from the countless times Kakashi and Iruka have been called “Kakashi-sensei” and “Iruka-sensei”…it’s typically used as a suffix, but can also just be for teacher.

*-dono = a suffix used typically for samurai who are protectors but is also a highly honorable term to call somebody important (Like Kishimoto Masashi-dono! ^_^).

*Ohayo = (pronounced as “Ohio” with emphasis on “hi”) informal morning greeting to somebody familiar, but mostly to friends.

*katakana = the most common form of writing in Japanese

*hiragana = the second most common, yet the most formal, form of writing in Japanese

**Shodaime = 1st Hokage (1st Generation)

**Nidaime = 2nd Hokage (2nd Generation)

**Blah, blah, blah, you get it. It’s the first through fifth Hokages, generation 1 to 5.

*hai = “yes” or “understood”



Well…see you all in two weeks! Ciao, mi amigos! And wish me luck! I’m gonna be stuck in an RV (a small, very confined space) for hours at a time with my mom, dad and little brother… *cries*



Hopefully, continuing this story will keep me decently sane in the RV. You’ll probably get a couple chapters when I get back. Also, visit Frosty! She needs reviews for her story and it’s really good! Just because I’m the editor of Frosty’s story doesn’t mean I have a lopsided opinion of it, I just think it’s fun to work with.



On a semi-related note, I’ll take pictures of all sorts of cool shit I see on my trip. So, ja ne minna! ^_^
Chapter 3 by Uchiha_Kima
Posters Note
Hello, Kima e-mailed me her story right before she left on vacation and had be post chapters two and three for her, so no she didn't suddenly come back or gain internet service, and no, I'm not hacking her account and adding to her story. Well, here it is, Enjoy!

“Incoming” – Chapter 3

Written before I took off (I had a creative burst). I like how this story is going, so I’ll be introducing another character, Hashirigaki. You’ll learn about him later.

Anywho, please enjoy this chapter and PLEASE review! (I like to know people’s opinions…)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto characters, Kishimoto Masashi-sama does. Ava and Hashirigaki are mine, though. No stealing!

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I lay in my new bed, mine for however long I’d be staying in Konoha. Taking out my new journal, I started an entry on the second page, saving the first page for one of my drawings:

’November 17 (according to the calendar I bought),
God today was tiring. Well, yesterday was tiring, too. First, it seemed like an ordinary mid-November, really lame weather day. It was cloudy and cold, perfect for my track practice, but that’s beside the point, yesterday, the unbelievable happened! I had to run away earlier than I expected, but that’s okay, at least my brother will never find me! So, yeah, I got to my secret haven in the forest and hid there for a smidge…until I got scared and backed further into the cave. (This where the unthinkable happens!) As I leaned back to relax, I found there was no floor behind me! I blacked out after that…
When I woke up, though, I was in a gorgeous meadow, the kind you’d see in a fancy Disney® movie or something! Also, a
kikaichu landed on me. Was it Shino’s? Anyway, moments after I wake up, Aburame Shino arrived! Shino!! And he was Shippuufied! (Meaning, he was his awesome Shippuuden self, not his younger, but still cool, 12-year-old self.) What was even cooler was that I got to meet the rest of Team 8! Kiba and Akamaru have changed a lot, and I mean A LOT. Akamaru’s as big as a small horse! And Kiba traded his parka in for a cool-looking racing jacket (or as close as you can get to one in Konohagakure). Hinata is still as adorable as ever, but she’s more bold and she’s really bloomed. Hina-chan let her hair grow and she now wears this lavender and beige jacket.
Other than Team 8, I also met the star of the show, guess who, Uzumaki Naruto! He hadn’t changed too much, he still wears an orange jumpsuit, his hair is still the same, and he’s only barely matured, but now he’s TALL. Haruno Sakura changed as well; her hair was as short as it was after the Chuunin exams (I like it that way, easier for a ninja to manage.), she still wore red, but not in that inconvenient dress thing, just as a top, and her boots are SO worth buying! Even if you’re not a ninja! Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, and Kashi (Hatake Kakashi) are all the same as they were before Shippuuden, if not better.
After that, I went around town with Shino, buying various things with my money. That’s a really weird part! I went out of my house with American dollars and I showed up here with Japanese Yen and Ryo*! Anyway, we stopped in a book store, after buying some new shirts, shorts, and other things, and I bought a few necessaries: a pencil, a pad of paper, brushes (kinda like the brush pens I used to use, only better), some vials of ink, a long blank scroll, and you, my new notebook! (If I didn’t chronicle all the stuff that happens, nobody would believe me!) Not much happened after that, though.
I watched Team 8 do some practice sparring (I stayed WAY back. I knew these guys could do some real damage, even if they didn’t want to!) and followed Shino to his place. He’s so awesome! Even though he barely knows me, the bug nin and his father, Shibi, offer a room for me to stay in until I can get settled elsewhere. How lucky am I? Hm! ^_^ Anyway, I should do my evening jog before going to bed. Coach always says:

“Run a mile, feel good for a while. Miss a day, you’re gonna fray.”

Not much sense in that, but it works. Kinda like a string I guess; when you fray, you fall apart. I dunno.

I’ll write tomorrow, okay? Don’t worry Journal, I’ll think up a good name for you soon! Ja ne! (That means “see ya!”.)

- Ava Woods (Ugly to say when you put my last name in front of my first. Ew!)

PS – Check it out! No high school! XD’


I set down my notebook on the end table next to the bed and placed my pencil on top of it. I laid back and sighed pleasantly. “Well,” I said, “better keep the engine warm. Otherwise, it’ll be SO much harder to rev up in the morning…” I got out of the bed, still in the clothes I wore since yesterday (ew) and headed out of my room and down the stairs. Shino was in the living room, looking over a scroll. He turned as I walked by and I waved at him. “I’m just going for a short jog. I’ll be stiffer than a kunai* in the morning if I don’t.” Shino nodded as several insects flew over and situated themselves on me. I tossed a questioning look at Shino.

“They’ll guide you back if you get lost.” He explained while staring at his mission scroll. I smiled and nodded, walking out the door. The sky was already fading as the sun set, the gray-blues mixing in with the faint light left from the sun. It was quiet without my upbeat music, I’m sad I left it behind. Oh well. My mind was the equivalent of an MP3 player; I might as well have a song going through my head as I jog. I ran through some of the songs I’d memorized and smiled when I’d settled on one of my many favorites, “Simple and Clean”, the theme from the Kingdom Hearts ads. I started humming as I went around two or so blocks. It was a long song, so I decided to go on my usual mile cool-down at half-pace. We, the bugs and I, were about half a mile away from the Aburame household when the song was coming to a close. I flipped through several other songs until I landed on Gigi D’Agostino’s “The Riddle”, the song that got me hooked on Gigi. I sang some of the lyrics, very quietly, mind you, and slowed my pace as I realized I had misplaced myself. Darn you music and your distractive nature!

“Hey,” I muttered to the bugs, “could you lead me back?” Three fireflies had lit their tail ends and were flying ahead of me, showing me where to go. A couple turns and blocks later, I saw the Aburame house again; the collection of insects flying about the building, even in the semi-dark, was unmistakable. “Thanks, guys. I owe you one.” I must have been imagining it, because I could have sworn one of the insects said “happy to be of service, milady”. ‘Milady? Nobody’s ever even called me “missy” or “miss”, let alone milady. I need more sleep…’ I walked into the house and saw Shino, still sitting there, but now talking to one of his bugs. “Ne, Shino?” I asked. He turned his head to me. “Where’s the bathroom?”

“Third door on the right. Directly across from your room.” He answered.

“Arigato*, Shino-kun. Oh, and thanks again for letting me stay here.” I said as I ran up the stairs. I grabbed a towel from my closet and a long t-shirt I wore for pajamas and a clean pair of underwear. Lord knows I needed it. I left the room, shut the door and stepped across the hall to the bathroom. I knocked two times to make sure it was clear. Nobody answered, so I knocked again for good measure. When a minute passed, I decided to open the door; nobody was in. I shut the door behind me and locked it (old habit). About twenty minutes later, I walked out of the bathroom, in my underwear and t-shirt, carrying my towel and old clothes, and opened the door to my room. What I see astonishes me.

On the bed, where I had relaxed less than an hour earlier and had seen less than half an hour ago, was a small note with faint black smoke rising around it. I don’t think this is a good thing, but it doesn’t seem bad either. I grabbed the note and scanned the top and bottom; nothing was on the note. When I flipped it to look at the top again, there was writing. I dropped the note in surprise and then set all my stuff on the floor. I closed my door and locked it (old habits die hard, ne?) before going back over to the bed, turning on the lamp on the end table and picked up the note as I sat myself down on the bed.

‘How are you, Ava?’ the note “asked” in deep red, almost black, letters. I took my pencil and decided to write an answer back, like Harry Potter did in the Chamber of Secrets movie.

‘I’m okay. Tired, but okay. Who are you exactly?’ I wrote. The letters vanished with my writing and came back as different words.

‘Good to see you’re alright, Ava. As for my name, you may call me Hashirigaki*.’

‘Alright, Hashirigaki. How do you know my name?’
I asked, suspicious of who this person actually is. ‘He’s like those internet predators they tell you about in school…’ I shuddered at the thought. Once again, the words vanished and came back different.

‘Because I’m supposed to. Not many people get this kind of notice, but I’m your guardian angel.’ ‘Guardian angel my ass…’ I thought. I glanced down at the paper and my eyes widened.

’I heard that.’ I dropped the note again and scooted away. That was too scary for me to comprehend. Glancing at the paper, I saw “Ouch!” written on it. ‘Did it really hurt when I dropped that? Is…is my guardian angel a…a piece of paper?’ I picked up the paper, despite my better judgment, and stared a moment before thinking at it.

‘So, my guardian angel is embodied in a piece of paper?’

“Ouch!” vanished and was replaced by, ‘In a way, yes. And could you apologize? It did hurt when you dropped me.’

‘Er…gomen…I really didn’t mean to drop you, it was involuntary. It happens when I get startled.’ I thought warily. Now this “angel” can read my thoughts…weird.

‘Apology accepted. Now, you had some questions?’ I nodded carefully. I think Hashirigaki and I could get along once I get over being scared of him.

‘Yeah, I do.’ I answered, ‘You said “in a way” that you were a piece of paper. What do you mean?’

‘Good question. When I answered that, I meant I could only commune with you through paper. Take your notebook for example. If you write “Hashirigaki” at the top of the page, I’ll be able to talk to you for however long you like, just like on this piece of paper, and when you end the page with “goodbye” or, as you used, “ja ne”, the conversation will end. Does that make sense? It’s a hard topic to explain.’ Hashirigaki answered. Amazing how he could fit so many words on an index card-sized sheet of paper.

‘Well, that kinda makes sense…so, why can you only talk to me through paper?’

‘Your affinity is with paper. Paper and life.’

‘Life? What does life have to do with paper?’

‘You’re smart, you should know. Paper comes from trees, doesn’t it? Well, animals feed, live and die around plant life, which also feeds the trees. The trees, in turn, provide food and shelter.’

‘Is that why I could hear the bugs earlier? I have an affinity with life?’

‘That’s exactly why. Insects are directly relevant to plants and life as it is.’

‘But that doesn’t explain my “affinity”. Why is my affinity to paper?’

‘You’re an artist, aren’t you? You should at least know that all artists need a canvas. Yours just happens to be paper.’

‘So…if I draw something, it can come to life?’ I asked. I remember seeing a few pictures of a “Sai” character from Shippuuden who could do the same thing. (A/N: Anybody other than me think that Sai is one sexy piece of man?)

‘No. I’m sorry. However, you are especially gifted with paper art, origami.’

‘Hmm…that makes sense. I’ve always made the best paper sculptures of anyone in class…’ I thought offhandedly.

‘I know. I watched you make them. Very good craftsmanship.’

‘Thanks, Hashirigaki. Say, how come you never talked to me before? And could you teach me some techniques? Is there anyone else I can talk to about it?’ I thought eagerly.

‘Now, now, Ava. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow morning. For now, get some sleep, okay?’

‘Well…okay. Goodnight Hashirigaki.’ I thought, gently placing the paper on the end table and grabbing my pencil and notebook. I went to the end of my first entry and added:

‘PPS – I just met Hashirigaki! He seems cool and claims to be my “guardian angel”. I hope I can get to learn more from him. He seems to know quite a few things. Also, I can talk to animals! SO cool! Also, also, I think I’ll call you “Nisshi”. I hope you like it, because I’ll be writing to you LOT as often as possible! Ja ne! (For real this time!)”

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Well? I’m proud of it. And I don’t care how many reviews I get. I like the story too much! ^_^

Reviews are still nice to get, though…

Asterisks:
*Yen and Ryo = money in Japan; 1 Ryo = 1000 Yen
*kunai = (I’ll cry if you don’t know what this is) the typical ninja knife used and seen in just about every episode of Naruto
*arigato = “thank you”
*hashirigaki = Not really a name, it just means “quick letter”
*nisshi = Not really a name either, it means “journal”
Ha! Sorry about my comments in the last chapter, I guess I lied a bit, ne? :P Sorry for the shortness of the story, I just got bored and had to put it up before we left, so…ya…hehe…
Chapter 4 by Uchiha_Kima
“Incoming” – Chapter 4

Not much to say for this chapter. It was started before my trip and ended after I got back. My trip was actually much better than I thought it’d be; I drove through the Vegas Strip, went through Arizona (Twice), saw aliens in Roswell, had X-mas in New Mexico, visited Disneyland and California Adventure (riding all the coasters as many times as I could in two-days time), had New Years in Monterey, visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium (they had an awesome otter exhibition going on), had lunch at the local Bubba Gump’s (Yummy!), and rode home the following day sick as a dog. I’m still fighting off whatever it is I caught.

Still, MSI…“J” on the CD “Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy”…the whole CD is worth buying, especially for that random track. I think Jimmy was high off of paint fumes when he made that song.

Ooh! Ooh! I almost forgot! While I was in Disneyland, we stopped by the technological center place and saw the ASIMO robot!! It’s SO cool! And cute!

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the Naruto characters employed into this story. However, I DO own Ava and Hashirigaki.

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I yawn widely, stretching my arms into the air and checking the clock on the end table by my bed.

“5:34 AM? Stupid sun waking me up…oh well…when you’re up, you’re up…” I muttered, rubbing the crusty sleepies out of my eyes. I tossed the blankets off me and pitched my legs over to one side of the bed, glancing at the small paper on the end table. Blank. ‘Heh, I guess guardian angels need to sleep too…’

‘No, not really.’

“Oh, shut up,” I said in a mock semi-British accent, “I wasn’t thinking to you.”

‘Sheesh…not quite the morning person, are you?’

‘Never have been, never will be.’ I thought with a laugh, turning away from the card and grabbing some clothes to do my traditional morning walk. I grabbed my spandex shorts, a sports bra, a pair of ankle-socks and a long-sleeve under-armor top. I slipped out of my PJs and dressed, grabbing Hashirigaki’s card and my sketchpad, before going down into the kitchen. When I got there, my favorite Aburame was almost out the door. I grabbed a bagel and ran out the door after him, careful to keep Hashirigaki’s card safe and slipping on my tennis-shoes at the same time. Not an easy task, but manageable.

“Oi, Shino-kun! Wait for me!” I called, softly so as not to disturb the neighbors, going after him with the bagel in my hand. Shino turned around and looked at me curiously. “Where’re you off to, Shino-kun?”

“The forest. I go to check up on the insects.” Shino answered quietly. It must be a hobby of his.

“Because they’re so sensitive to the environment?” I provided. Shino paused a moment before nodding. “May I go with?” Another pause before he nodded and started walking down the road. I smiled and walked next to him, munching on the cinnamon raisin bagel I grabbed. A few of the insects around me started going after the bagel. “Back! Back! That’s my bagel! What’s with animals going after my food…?” The insects dissipated and landed on various parts of me. ‘Save the answer for when I can check it, Hashirigaki, but…do I have any command of these insects? Or can they only hear me? …or am I just losing my mind?’ I knew to check later. Maybe if I concentrate and do some meditation, I can talk to Hashirigaki through thoughts alone rather than on a pesky index card.

“Why are you interested?” I heard Shino ask when we were most of the way there. It surprised me and I jumped a smidge before settling into my walk again. I hope he doesn’t make surprising me into a habit. By now Shino was leading me through some farm-like area just on the verge of the huge forest Konoha seems to have been enveloped in.

“Well…bugs are cool. That and we can learn quite a bit from their behavioral patterns. Like when it’s going to rain or when it isn’t.” Shino looked at me and gave me a long, hard look. I had to stop and stare back into his sun-goggles, confused. ‘Maybe being a fangirl is not a good thing after all…knowing too much about anything can make you a very suspicious character…’ He finally turned away and continued walking. I looked after him, a bit worried about what he thought of me. ‘I hope he doesn’t kick me out of his house…’ I thought, gulping slightly. I started walking again, a few feet behind him and stared at his feet as he moved. They were steady, but not full. Coach taught the team how to find a weak opponent on the track: as steady as they are, if someone is not using the fullness of their foot, they’re not all there. Coach also taught us to fake an “empty” step in running; the method could trick observant runners that you didn’t “want” the race. If this applies to everyday, Shino is either a bit out there this morning or he’s trying to get me to think that. ‘Man this is confusing…’ I thought, deciding to stare at where we were headed.

The amount of trees surrounding us grew significantly as we passed along the dirt path. I saw several ducks resting near a pond. One of them, a male, raised his head and looked at us. I smiled and nodded a greeting. To my surprise, he nodded back before tucking his head back down in feathers. A tingle went up my back and I watched several animals waking up in the early morning. By now my bagel was gone, so I wasn’t worried about any wanting my food, but I was worried when the animals started staring at me. Small animals would start approaching, but a few stern steps kept them far enough away to evade suspicion. ‘Maybe if I take a nap while Shino’s doing whatever, he won’t think anything of the animals being all over me…’

We soon reached a clearing almost exploding with insect life. I let Shino off to do his thing as I approached a tree to sit beneath it. When I plopped myself down, several insects buzzed around before settling again on the tree, in the grass, or in the nearby bushes. The grass was damp with dew, but it was fresh and I took a deep breath, letting it out a slow as I could. ‘This is nice…no wonder the bugs live here…’ I thought dazedly. I pulled my knees up as a slanted table and set my sketchbook on them. I then picked up Hishirigaki’s card from one of my sketchpad’s pockets. I looked hard at the card before repeating my thought about animals and my interactions with them.

‘No, you cannot command the insects, nor any other animal for that matter, but they have a respect for your abilities. Yes, they can hear you. You, Ava Woods, have a rare talent here.’

‘Let me guess, “God” bestowed me with the Gift of Gab?’

‘Gift of Gab, yes. God, no. You aren’t given the Gift of Gab willy nilly, you only receive it if your prophecy entails a drastic change. Like coming here, for example,’ Hashirigaki answered, ‘Here, you received a massive new energy and with it the ability to communicate with me. Not to mention an emotional and respectful understanding between the wordless animals.’

‘So, if I train up, I can eventually talk talk to the animals?’

‘Bingo.’

‘Well that’s cool!’ I thought, reveling in the possibilities. I looked away from Hashirigaki’s card and glanced around for Shino; he was inspecting a spider’s web. I glanced around again and found several kikaichu perusing the grasses for a snack or napping on my person. ‘Say, Hashirigaki, are these guardian bugs? I have no control over them, so…’

‘The Aburame assigned them to you so you wouldn’t get lost, remember? Although they do seem more friendly than most other insects, these…er…kikaichu are only doing as their master commanded. ’

‘But when I thanked one of the fireflies, they answered me back. I could understand her.’ I said looking over the card to see a firefly perched gingerly on my sketchbook. It’s head twisted side to side, inspecting me before turning to clean one of its forelimbs.

‘It happened only at night, other animals tried to talk to you before in daylight and you couldn’t hear them a bit. Your power must be best with Dawn and Dusk. With Day and Night being separate, powerful beings, Dawn and Dusk are the children of them both; the twin compilations of their energies.’ Hashigaki said. I was a bit confused, but after a moment I spoke—er—thought up.

‘Like the sunset and sunrise having brilliant colors, I get superpowers?’

‘More or less; your abilities are amplified, but only temporarily.’

‘Like the bobber on the water, there is a rise and a fall.’

‘That’s a little too deep for you, isn’t it?’ Hashirigaki answered. Even though I couldn’t really see it, I knew Hashirigaki had to be smirking. He must just love to push my buttons. I pouted slightly at the card and stuffed it back into the pocket I stored it in before gently bopping the pocket like Sakura bops Naruto on the head when he does something stupid.

‘Let’s see how he likes them apples.’ I thought, smirking and pulling out the pencil I stored in the ring spine of my sketchpad. I flipped to a clean page and turned to the kikaichu still perched on my sketchpad. I gave her a good, hard look and started to sketch her out. Her large eyes, the delicate mandibles, and the six spindly legs; line by line, the kikaichu found herself messily duplicated onto the paper. I liked the picture, so I started to erase the excess lines. Eventually, the sketch lines disappeared and relatively clean line-art was left behind on the sketch paper.

“C’est finis!” I celebrated, recalling my meager knowledge of the French language. I then signed the bottom of the page and labeled the date. November eighteenth? Yeah, that’s right. I nodded and flipped to another page. I glanced around the clearing; my friend the Aburame was not in immediate sight. I didn’t worry about the bug shinobi; he was plenty capable of defending himself. I, on the other hand, was not as capable as he. I sighed and looked back to my paper, suddenly feeling like drawing a character I came up with a while back. Sketch a circle, a horizontal line and a vertical line crossing it, so on and so forth until I had a rough sketch of a bald, faceless, male anime character head and neck. My mind wandered and I forgot who I was drawing for a moment as I listened to the forest, setting my sketchpad and pencil in front of me. Taking out Hashirigaki’s card, I smiled and held it in my writing hand. I looked up through the gap in the canopy and laid back in the silence. It was a good a time as any to do a little meditation.

Unlike the typical view of a meditative person, I didn’t sit with my legs crossed over each other, my back rigid or breathed out “ohm” over and over again. Instead, I had myself sit Indian-style my back slumped and my hands rested palm up on my knees. I took many deep breaths, slowing ever so slightly every time, and my head slumped forward. Before you could spell Mississippi backwards, I had checked out.

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Phew! Four down, and I’m-not-quite-sure-how-many to go!

I tell you folks, if you want to write a story, do something you can feel for. For me, I’m apt for fictional writing, however I’m not creative enough to build my own world, so fanfics are my specialty by choice (trust me, I’ve tried to write my own worlds, but it dun work fer meh) and I LOVE to write fanfics! It feeds my fandom and it feeds my need to be a nerd! I’m happy! ^_^

Wow! No asterisks this time! I didn’t feel the need to thrown them in this time. *shrugs* Anyway, did you all have a good holiday vacation (if you got one)?

Reviews are nice! ^_o
Chapter 5 by Uchiha_Kima
“Incoming” – Chapter 5

Chapter five…has taken me nearly two weeks to do…my muse has abandoned me.

Well, thanks to all of you lovely reviewers, and especially my first reviewer Noleta, I have the inspiration to keep on this story! At this rate, I see this story as at least a 10 chapter story. My next chapter will have a quick review right before the story resumes, so check that out if you’re a smidge confused. Also, mail me if you find ANYTHING wrong. I tend to make slip-ups and spelling errors and (very, very rarely, but it still happens) I will totally screw up an element in the story.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto. Period. However, Ava and Hashirigaki are MINE. You hear me? M-I-N-E, MINE! I dun like thieves! (If you give me full credit for creating either of my characters in your story, you will not be argued with; I just need notification.)

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‘Whoa…freaky…’ I thought upon seeing where I was. Freaky? Freaky? What’s freaky? If that’s your train of thought right now, you should really see what I see in my meditation. I could see the sky, which looked fire-engine red, orange and blood red with black puffs of cloud in the mix, the birds seemed like off-white or blue-black shapes, and the insects buzzed around normally, but each was a different myriad of colors. I looked at the trees and grass: they were colored lavender, blue-purple, and a deep purple. Specs of gold were scattered almost randomly over what I saw, but it didn’t obscure anything; it made everything seem clearer. The flecks reminded me of something I read before. I didn’t want to look at myself, who knows what color I turned into, so I avoided that and wandered around the small clearing, trying to avoid being dizzy from all the different colors.

“Neat, isn’t it?” Someone asked behind me; the voice was scarily familiar. I whipped around to face the person and froze. The person was a glassy blue-black and dressed in strange white and cream-white clothes that looked like one of the outfits a Gundam pilot would wear in his robot. He stood up and shook his silvery hair free of some of that gold dust, even though he had the gold glitter all over his outline and his frame. He smiled and waved a hand, “Yo.”

“Do I…know you?” I asked the guy. He looked old but not old, like ancient wisdom in someone just about as old as I am or barely older. Weird, yes, but that’s what he seemed to be. He sighed and dropped his hand before kneeling down and grabbing the card from…me. I looked on with hitched breath. There, against the tree, was me in my meditative position and I was all sorts of odd inversed colors. My head swam and I stumbled slightly. The guy took the card out of my hand…the other me’s hand…and showed it to me. It was Hashirigaki’s card (colored inversely like everything else) and I stepped several feet back, pointing accusingly at the guy. My mouth opened and closed repeatedly; I was similar to a gasping fish on dry land.

“What’s up with you? You need a doctor or something?”

“Ha…Ha…Ha-Hashirigaki?! Is that you?!?” I managed to ask after a moment more of gasping. The strangely familiar guy smiled and laughed.

“Took you long enough.” He put back the card and walked up to me, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. He was close enough now for me to see his eyes in detail: where there should be the white around the iris, it was a near-black color. His iris was a solid blue and his pupil was pure white. In the real world, without inversed color, his eyes would look like normal-colored eyes with gold irises, if my artist’s sense of color was correct. I finally relaxed and stood normally again, taking a chance to ask Hashirigaki several questions.

“First question: how come I can see you?”

“We’re in the world of the metaphysical, aren’t we?”

“So…the world of philosophy?”

“Close. This is actually the world in your philosophical perspective.”

“Mine? I hope you know, Hashirigaki, that I failed my philosophy study course.” I said, basing my entire sentence on the word “failed”.

“Yes, but this is how your brains sees the things it thinks about.” Hashirigaki said, inadvertently inviting me to glance around and inspect a black flower which would be white in the normal world.

“So this is how my imagination sees you?”

“Sort of. It’s me, but I’m colored inversely here.”

“And I can see you because I think of what you might actually look like?”

“Yep. And now that you’ve seen me here, you’ll be able to see me better in the real world. Call it a prize for being able to make it here.”

“Yay, another trophy…so…since I can see you in the real world, would that mean I don’t need to stare at a silly card anymore?” I asked. Seriously, would you like to have to stare at a 3 by 5 note card to talk to someone? Well…considering how advanced cell phones are getting…never mind.

“No, the card is no longer necessary for us to talk, but keep the card safe. If it gets misplaced or stolen and you can’t find me, we’ll be stuck with pantomime until you are dead.”

“Hm… that would most definitely suck…well, I’ll be careful. Your card is in safe hands.” I answered with a smile. Our conversation continued for a while until the black sun (sounds like an indie song) rose high up and my hunger started taking over my thought process. Being separated from your body makes you tired, so that was also playing against me. Hashirigaki helped me sit back in my body and sores filled my neck, knees, back, and just about everywhere. I groaned in hurt and gently moved my neck and legs into a more opened position. Flexing my legs experimentally, I looked around and noticed it was near noon. Fortunately, everything was colored appropriately and the harsh differences in color were gone. I sighed and stood stiffly before stretching out my arms and back and then my legs and torso. Good timing, too: Shino was just appearing from the forest with a cloud of insects beginning to disperse around him. I waved at the Aburame and gathered my things, Hashirigaki’s card carefully packed in my sketchpad pocket.

“Welcome back, Shino-kun. You get done what you wanted?” Shino nodded as he came up to me.

“They’re restless. Rain will be coming soon.” He answered turning toward the distant mountains; grey-white puffs of clouds hovered over the blue-grey caps. I nodded and watched as several insects started hovering around a shape close to my side. They seemed to be framing Hashirigaki’s half-invisible form. He seemed to shift uneasily. Shino didn’t seem to notice but he looked back at me and nodded towards the path we’d used to get to the clearing. I followed him as he walked down the path. I snapped back to my previous study of his feet; he walked solidly again. Some time away from me seems to have cured his uneasiness.

Shino and I walked for close to a half mile before something far off caught my ears. A growl? Whatever it was, Shino either didn’t seem to hear it or it didn’t concern him. Hashirigaki shimmered slightly on my forward right and turned his transparent head to the forested space on my left.

“Be careful.” He warned, “Something’s coming.” I swallowed nervously as I gripped my sketchpad worriedly. My eyes turned to the left and I saw the slightest uncomfortable twitch in the insects buzzing around us. A slight growl reached my ears again, more threatening than the first, and Shino heard this one. He slowed and turned his hooded head towards the growl. I unconsciously moved to the right of the path and readied myself to hide behind Shino.

“What is it?” I asked the Aburame, trying to cover my caution. He kept moving without answering me, but a cautious eye watched the forests. I’m as bad as the actors in The Grudge 2, it was as if I knew I was in a horror movie. Before I knew it, a grey-white furry mass moved into my vision on the left and thundered ahead of Shino and I. An eruption of leaves and bark, the ferocious roar of a bear-beast, and the flying of dust from the man-made path revealed what I feared the white mass would be.

GrrrrrrOOOOOOONNN!!! I squeaked and stepped back a couple feet at the size of the Onbaa. Yes, Onbaa. The big, scary bear-monster that Naruto faces and incidentally raises in episode (insert episode #). It was stepping towards us threateningly and I unconsciously dropped Hashirigaki’s card. Shino and I took a few more steps back and then I saw the card lying on the ground. I panicked and leaped for the card. The Onbaa responded by roaring again and charging towards me.

‘HASHIRIGAKI!! WHAT DO I DO?!?’ I mentally screamed at the shimmering being.

‘Normally, I’d tell you to run-’

‘I can’t outrun this thing! It’s an Onbaa!!’ I mentally shouted. I stumbled backward as the gorilla-like beast thundered forward.

‘Stand then! Tell it to stop, it’ll listen to-’

“THAT WON’T STOP AN ONBAA, BAKA!!” I shouted out loud. The enraged Onbaa was now only a few meters away. Shino grabbed my arm and tried to lift and move me out of there, but, sadly, fear can cement one to a spot on the ground. The best Shino did was give me maybe another three meters, which closed up almost too fast.

‘JUST DO IT!’ Hashirigaki yelled back at me. I was terrified, but stood anyway on shaky legs; Shino moved in front of me and pulled out a couple kunai as his kikaichu poured out from his coat. I glared at the beast and my quaking legs shook even fiercer. Hashirigaki planted himself in front of both of us and my eyes went wide.

GRRROOOOOOOOONNNNN!!! The beast roared again, it was nearly on us all. My stomach lurched violently and I ran in front of Shino and the ghost-like Hashirigaki. Four meters and counting. I summed up all the strength into my voice and took several deep, shaky breaths. Two meters remained before I felt a cold burning in my back. My legs solidified, my fear disappeared and…

“STOP!!!” I screamed. I could feel Hashirigaki screaming with me. My voice even sounded duplicated. The Onbaa faltered and its eyes widened. I glared poison daggers at the beast as is skidded and slowed. The Onbaa, which had stopped a scant two feet in front of me, growled lightly and stared at me. I stared right back at it. ‘We cause no harm to your forest.’ I thought to the white, furry beast. Its eyes noticeably softened and I bowed my head to it.

‘Forgive me…’ I heard a deep, fierce voice say, ‘I nearly harmed The Protector…please forgive me.’ The beast bowed. I looked at the Onbaa confused. “The Protector”? The Onbaa raised its head and returned to the forest brush. I blinked my eyes and stared at the Onbaa, seeing three brown fluff balls on the Onbaa mother’s hairy back. I let out an unknowingly held breath and fell to my knees, clutching Hashirigaki’s card as I felt the cold burning in my back.

“Thank you, Hashirigaki…” I whispered, exhausted by the experience.

‘You’re welcome, Ava. Now…what was it you said about my card being in safe hands.’ Once the Onbaa was a decent distance away, Shino approached and knelt next to me, ready to grab me if I fell over. I must have been really unsteady because, only a moment later, I slumped forward and let out a shaky breath. Shino helped me stand and stayed close on the way back to his home. I stumbled every now and again, but regained my balance and continued walking.

“Well…I knew something would happen…” I sighed, glancing at the Aburame. Fortunately, his eyes were hidden from me, so I couldn’t tell if there was a glare, a look of worry, or some other unfathomable emotion of Aburame Shino. We reached his house and I plopped myself in a chair at the dining room table; Shino stood nearby, waiting for me to explain myself. I laughed nervously and scratched the back of my head sheepishly. “Ava has some ‘splaining to do, huh?”

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Well, that’s chapter 5!

I feel happy about it. I got the chapter done before I expected to have it finished AND Hashirigaki doesn’t have to talk to Ava through an index card! Yaeyz! Anyway, Hashirigaki will be described in the next chapter in the appropriate colors, not that scary inverted color stuff and Ava might have to explain her actions to more than just Shino.

Okay, plot twists. Is this story taking enough turns or does it need a loop-de-loop? Or should it just be a straight shot for a while?

AID IS NEEDED. Got an idea? Tell me or e-mail me. I’ll consider it and try to weasel it in there.

My e-mail = kendram@callatg.com

Well, Ja ne minna! Until Chapter 6!
Chapter 6 by Uchiha_Kima
Author's Notes:
Beware: Randomness ahead
“Incoming” – Chapter 6

Well, here it is! Chapter six. Like I promised, there’s a review (after all my rambling and the disclaimer) and several twists to be added in future chapters! ^_^

My goodness life is tying itself in knots! I’ve submitted all of my college applications and that’s scaring me to death (I wanna get accepted, but I’m scared that I won’t…), I’m pressing myself to write more of this story (because I also have tons of work to do), AND I want to watch the next Shippuuden episode so bad, I think I’m going to explode!! I swear, my math teacher is TRYING to drive me insane! I had an assignment the other day that took me nearly FIVE HOURS to finish!!! >_<

Other than that, I’m glad that my story is still popular enough to keep being read.

I know you’re tired of hearing this, but Noleta deserves every bit of thanks I give to them. Noleta was the reviewer that got this story moving, so Noleta gets constant thanks. Until Noleta tells me to stop crediting them, I won’t stop saying thanks and throwing mini-parties! *throws confetti*

Wow, that’s a lotta ramble. Let’s get on to the disclaimer shall we?

Disclaimer: You know the routine. I don’t own the Naruto characters (Kima’s sad T_T). I own Ava and Hashirigaki. Don’t use or refer to Ava or Hashi without my explicit permission or you’ll find yourself in a world worse than Itachi’s mangekyo. Kthxbye!

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Your Story review program will begin in five, four, three-

We interrupt this program to bring you this important broadcast

Ava: Hey there folks! My name is Ava Woods!

Hashi: And I’m Hashirigaki. *waves*

Ava: We’re both main characters of the slowly growing story “Incoming” by Uchiha_Kima. You might’ve met her elsewhere around the net in many of her different personas. Anyway, welcome to the first ever installment of “Questions from the Readers” and here’s Hashirigaki with our first question. Take it away Hashi!

Hashi: Thanks Ava. Now then, for our first question of QFTR, one of you readers e-mailed Kima with a question and here it is: *clears throat* “Kima, I absolutely love your story ‘Incoming’ but I was wondering, why is it called ‘Incoming’ and why is there such an emo song in the first chapter?” (His/her name will not be disclosed here)

Kima: Well reader, my stor-

Ava: OMG! Kima’s here! *hugglomps author*

Kima: Yes, thank you Ava… *pushes Ava off* I swear, you’re as bad as Frosty…anyway, the story name. If you read the first chapter rambles, it states that if you type in “AFI Incoming” into YouTube, you’d find a lovely video by Rubix89 entailing Naruto Shippuuden clips with the song “Prelude 12/21” I titled this story “Incoming” because it was supposed to be rather dark, sad, and epic, kinda like the video…well…we all know how that went over…

Hashi: Sank like a lead balloon.

Ava: More like the Titanic.

Hashi: No, the phrase says “a lead balloon.”

Ava: And I say the Titanic! It’s more climactic than a metallic gas-bag!

Kima: *interrupts the argument* Anyway, it was supposed to be depressing and centered on “Prelude 12/21” (I found out that this was the actual title…Kima’s not too smart…) by AFI. I guess that was a flop, but “Incoming” could also be like the warning: “Incoming!” So I used that for the title.

Hashi: Kinda like when something incredibly random or stupidly dangerous is on the way.

Ava: Yup that’s-HEY!! *tackles Hashirigaki*

Kima: Calm down Ava. You know Hashirigaki means well. But, yeah. He’s right. I’m glad I put what I did into the flipping story rather than turn the plot into a total emochine…kudos to those of you who actually laughed at that lame excuse for a joke. Seriously. Here’s a Kudos bar. *hands ‘em out* Other than that, yeah. That’s how this story got its title and not how it got its “theme”.

Ava: Yep! …wait, that’s it? You just left the title there and dropped the dark side entirely? Just like that?

Darth Vader: Nobody likes the dark side anymore… *sighs and sulks off*

Hashi: Was that Vader? What’s he doing here?

Kima: Well, we’d better quit now before we encourage lawsuits against me for putting in a character that belongs to somebody else without crediting the person who came up with him in the disclaimer. Also, there WILL be a dark and depressing part of the story. Maybe not tear-jerking and hopefully not the ‘I-want-to-kill-the-author-for-doing-this-to-(insert name of character)’ ending.

Ava: Bye bye! We’ll see you later folks in another episode of “Questions from the Readers”!

Hashi: Actually, it’ll be chapter 7 of “Incoming.” You know, the one where you and Shino get-

Ava: HASHIRIGAKI!! *attacks*

Kima: Well, time for my usual dismissal. Ja ne, minna! *waves and smiles as Hashirigaki and Ava duke it out in the background*

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program. Thank you for your patience.

-two, one.

Well now! You seem to be an avid reader! Six chapters in and you aren’t pulling your teeth out to relieve the painful agony that is this story! …you aren’t, right? I don’t want to be responsible for countless dollars in dental bills…I’m already in trouble for a couple hundred dollars on unexplained expenditures on various items of Naruto merchandise…

Ava Woods is small for her age, standing 4’9” at age 15, but she makes up for her small stature by being the reigning champion on her high school track team. Her looks have remained undefined, except that her hair is long enough to put up in a ponytail (be it a bit short or very long), her frame is feminine (she has decent boobs, but she is nothing like a Mary-Sue) and athletic, and she does not wear corrective eyewear. Sorry if you all have already pictured Ava one specific way, but it just adds an unnecessary amount of revising to make the story compatible with any minute feature like that. Maybe my next story will have a character with some of those accessories…crap…now I did it… *Kima starts typing a rough draft for another new story*

~An hour later (at least)~

So, where was I? Oh yeah! After the introduction, things seem to be going well for Ava Woods (the character whose name still sounds horrible if you say her last and then first name). She’s managed to escape her terrible older brother, hide in her favorite place on her known earth, and then get sucked into the realm she adored! Before you could spell Schadenfreude backwards, Ava was living in her crush’s home and she discovers her guardian angel: Hashirigaki.

Hashirigaki the angel first appears as text on a small 3X5 card and takes great pleasure in scaring Ava, as well as pushing her buttons. Ava first sees Hashirigaki in inversed colors while she’s meditating in a grassy meadow. To make it easy on you folks, Hashirigaki is male, slightly muscular but with a soft touch, and is barely visible to Ava as a ghostly figure. Hashirigaki, or Hashi as I call him (and Ava will sometimes call him), stands about 5’11”-ish, wears a black and blue-black spandexy suit like Gundam pilots wear, and his hair is a dark grey/black color. His eyes are a pretty goldenrod color and his skin is fair, with a slightly tanned tone to it.

After some wonderful time getting to know each other, Ava and Hashirigaki returned to the real world where Ava could see a ghost-like image to him (think of those reflections you see on the car window when the sun shines on somebody inside the car and a half-reflection appears on the glass). At this point, Ava was walking home with her big crush, Aburame Shino, when a big, scary Onbaa attacked! Oh no! To many readers’ relief, Ava, Shino and Hashi came out all right, with Ava learning a new ability. Now what does our track-star heroine do? Please tune in to chapter 7 to find out.

PS – My new story is called “Run Around the Foolsberry Bush”. If the name seems familiar, it’s because I also submitted the story onto my Fanfiction.net account (which has references to Incoming in it, so it is MINE.)

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Yeah, that’s it. Not much else to say other than “Yaeyz!! I’m finally doing good stuffs again!!” I was in a slump actually, but now my muse has returned to me (with a vengeance)! And boy is she ready to feed me ideas!

If you have specific questions or any plausible ideas, please e-mail me at: kendram@callatg.com

Title your e-mail “Tonfa ideas” (or something like that) and I’ll be sure to consider everything you type there. If anybody spams or writes insulting hate-mail to me, I’ll open a can of “Kima Kung-fu” on you! *breaks out the mighty fists of fury and has several of the Naruto ninjas back her up* Not to mention I could also call the police on you if your mail has too much hate in it.

Well, that’s all for now.

Ja ne, minna! (If you don’t know Japanese, (I’m really not sure if I said this before) that means: “See ya, everyone!”)
Chapter 7 by Uchiha_Kima
“Incoming” – Chapter 7

AKA, “Technically chapter 6 but really long so I guess it counts as chapter 7 unless you really want to call it chapter 6…hmmm…”

This chapter was finished and posted waaaaaaaaaaaaaay after I planned to have it done. I’m so behind schedule! T-T

Okay, updates: I got my answers from my colleges and I got accepted at four places! Yaey! One of them just sucks, so I’m not going there, but the other three look awesome! I don’t know which I’ll choose! Oh, the drama!! Other than that, I’ve been writing like crazy for my other stories when I SHOULD have been writing for this one (gomenasai!) BUT, I have come up with some great new stories and ideas, so…I plan to have them all out soon. Maybe before May, but you never know. *shrugs*

Disclaimer: I don’t own any significant part of Naruto or its characters. I just use them to appease my fangirl needs. Ava and Hashirigaki belong to me and the plot was unconsciously inspired by the story “Reading Totems” by GrizzlyTeddyBear on Mediaminer.org. I didn’t realize this before re-re-re-rereading the story…again. Please forgive me for not saying so earlier.

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Boy does this feel familiar. I’m sitting outside the Hokage’s office, twiddling my thumbs and looking guilty…just like in kindergarten when I got in trouble for making somebody throw up. How? Well…that particular day we were having mushy peas and beans as sides for a macaroni and cheese lunch. It was surprisingly good…for most of the kids. I didn’t like the taste of the “meal”, so I took the plate and threw stuff onto the wall. The beans, peas, and macaroni all made a lovely portrait that looked like puke. One of the kids, I don’t remember his name, gasped after looking at my “art” and made a brown-green sequel to it on the floor. I still don’t see how it was my fault; I was only a kindergartener at the time.

My mind returned to the world of the living and listened to the click of a doorknob being twisted. The door opened to reveal a slightly older looking Shizune than how I last saw her in the last Naruto episode before Naruto took off for his final training before Shippuuden. It sucks not knowing what’ll happen to these guys in Konoha…though I have a relatively good idea.

“Woods Ava?” She asked. I cringed at the sound of my name in reverse. I would never be the same after hearing it a bajillion times. Despite the disgust at the sound of my name I looked up at Shizune and nodded. “Tsunade-Hokage-sama will see you now.” I nodded again and stood up from the bench. Walking into the room, I saw Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shino were there. I heard a strange noise and looked down to see a small pig with a purple cape and pearls around its neck. I was looking at the one and only, and very adorable, Tonton.

“Piggie!” I celebrated picking up the small creature and hugging it. “Piggiepiggiepiggiepiggie-!”

“Ahem.” Tsunade cleared her throat, interrupting my previous celebration. I put down Tonton and shuffled my feet shyly. “Well, I do believe you know what we just finished discussing?” I nodded and Tsunade continued, “So…do you have an explanation?”

“If I could explain my situation I would…but that’s still very confusing to me. I can only really describe up until the point I knew I was here and maybe one or two-” I started slowly. My voice had nothing but a serious tone as Hashirigaki’s shimmering self stood by me.

“Pardon me,” Tsunade interrupted, “but ‘the point up until you knew you were here’? How and what do you mean, Woods?” My confidence vanished and I gulped nervously at the glare I received from Tsunade.

Even though she has no Byakugan, Tsunade’s gaze can see through just about anything…she’s terrifying…’ I thought shakily. I glanced at Hashirigaki’s transparent form and then at my, now very interesting, running shoes.

‘But you’re not lying. That’s always a good thing.’ Hashirigaki consoled. It wasn’t much, but it at least helped stifle the butterflies in my gut.

“Hokage-sama…I’m not…from here…or any village really.” The Hokage stared at me blandly, waiting for further details. “You see…um…I was running away from home and-”

“Is this relevant to your appearance in Konohagakure?” Jiraiya interrupted. Tsunade glared sharply at the pervy-sage and looked at me again, patiently.

“Hai, Jiraiya-sama. It’s relevant.” I said semi-calmly. Jiraiya nodded and Tsunade signaled me to continue. “I was running away from home…well, more from my brother. I ran into the forest with all of my belongings I first came here with and hid in my secret spot in the forest…” I took a deep breath and continued, “When I thought my brother was close enough to catch me, I hid myself further and further back in my hiding spot…I wanted to escape to anywhere my brother wasn’t. Then I heard my brother’s voice again…it seemed really far away. I leaned back to relax and fell into a pit…I think…”

“You think?” Tsunade pressed curiously. Shino was staring through me like Tsunade was…it made the butterflies come back. Tonton gave an adorable and comforting “oink” and I resumed my story.

“Hai. Thing is, it felt like a pit…but I never felt an impact. May I continue?” I asked. Everyone in the room seemed to nod. I smiled and nodded thankfully before continuing, “I fell maybe…twenty or thirty feet, I forget, before I blacked out. When I woke up, I was in a field. The same field Aburame Shino found me in before taking me into the village.” I turned to the Aburame and he nodded assuredly to Tsunade. At least I had someone to vouch for my story.

“So, you were running away when you hid in a place in your forest. You fell into a pit with no bottom and woke up in the Konoha forest where you were found and then taken into Konohagakure…” It was a statement, but it was shaped like a question, so I nodded “yes” and Tsunade folded her hands in front of her mouth and closed her eyes. It was a minute before she opened her eyes again and asked me a question. “Why is it you were running away? You can choose not to answer, but…” She trailed off. I know it wouldn’t help me if I left gaps in my story, so I took a breath and let it out before locking eyes with the female Hokage.

“I do have a reason, Hokage-sama. But, if it’s alright…I’d rather only you and/or the council ever know about what I have to say…” Taking the hint, Shizune, Jiraiya, Shino, and Tonton wandered dejectedly out the door. I still looked at the Hokage, but waited until the room only had us two in it. The door clicked shut and I waited a moment before Tsunade spoke up.

“So, what is it, Woods? Why did you run away from your brother?” I winced slightly and chewed on the inside of my lower lip. I didn’t really want anybody to know about this…but it’d get out at some point, so why not now?

“Well, uh… you see… It’s because…I…well, I…” I paused, drawing in a deep breath before finally making up my mind to tell the medic. After all, Tsunade can keep a secret…she’s the Hokage and a doctor, she’ll respect a patient’s rights to secrecy and anonymity.

(A/N: I am SOOOOOO sorry!! That last section turned out really bad! T_T)

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I stared blandly at the ground, my eyes still stung and my vision was blurry. It was dark now and the fireflies floating around me looked like white-yellow blurry dots floating at random. I clung to Shino’s cloak as he calmly walked back towards home, seeing as I couldn’t see too well. After my discussion with Tsunade, she’d taken me for a physical and check-up. My eyes were only blurry now because of the eye-drops the busty medical ninja/Hokage gave me, due to the fact that I missed my last eye appointment which was scheduled for yesterday. I passed Tsunade’s arduous tests of my physical abilities, mental capacity and resistance to overly emotional circumstance, with the aid of Ibiki the interrogator.

It was a trying day, to say the least, and I would be happy to get back into my borrowed bed and get some shut eye before an expectantly difficult day the next day. Tomorrow was the day Shino and the rest of Team 8 were going out on a mission and also the day Tsunade would test my abilities out in the wilds of the Konohagakure forest. Whoop-dee-fricking-doo…I’d rather sleep.

“What?” I asked. Apparently Shino tried to converse with me.

“I asked: ‘How did the exam go?’” Shino (apparently) repeated. There was a faint edge to his words.

“O-oh! It went fine. A clean bill of health for me!” I answered as a large sweatdrop formed on the back of my head. ‘Oops! The one time he wants to talk to me and I’m out to lunch. Craaaaap…’ I thought angrily and stared at Shino’s blurry feet. They were slightly more in focus, but specific details continued to elude me. Sucks to be partially and temporarily blind. ‘…maybe this is what all those Itachi jokes and comics were all about. He goes blind?! Why didn’t I go for the spoilers? Why?!’ I emoted in my head, my face only faintly scrunching and betraying my inner thoughts.

“You okay?” Shino asked as his head faintly turned toward me.

“Yeah, just spacing. Don’t mind me!” I answered, smiling nervously. Shino’s eyebrow rose into a high arc and I laughed nervously before turning my attention back to the ground. ‘He hates me…’ I thought grimly.

’No he doesn’t.’ Hashirigaki said pointedly.

Quit invading my thoughts Hashi!’ I mentally shouted at my rather bothersome new companion.

“You must ‘space’ a lot.” Shino muttered. He must’ve thought I wasn’t listening again.

“It’s true…” I sighed, catching Shino’s attention. “I’m an incurable space-girl with ADD and-hey! A butterfly!” I said watching as a blue-white butterfly did indeed flutter by. I watched it until it turned a corner and vanished from sight. After that, it was a quiet walk back to Shino’s place with the faint buzz of insects in the distance and the constantly moving tail lights of the fireflies just in front of me. Shino soon stopped and I stared at the house-shaped dark splotch on my vision for a moment before going inside with my favorite bug nin.

“Good Shino. You’re home…who’s this?” There was someone sitting in Shino’s living room: his afro-like foofy hair (lol) was sticking up and back, his black sunglasses had a red charm-thing on the left side, he wore a beige coat with a high collar and a gourd was sitting beside him. Did I forget to mention that he had a feather dusting of a goatee under his nose?

OMIGOSH!! Aburame Shibi!! …damn…that girl was right…he looks like a porn star…’ I blinked and tried to clear my vision, successfully, to find it really WAS Aburame Shibi. Hashirigaki snickered in the background and I turned to Shino for him to clear this up.

“Yes father. I’m sorry I’m late. This is Woods Ava and she’s a temporary house guest.” Shino answered. More words than he almost ever says in the entirety of the first series…guy’s a taciturn, I swear.

“Pleasure to meet you Aburame-san.” I said politely. Shibi approached me and seemed to study me before nodding and turning to have a discussion with Shino. ‘Cre~epy…Shibi’s much weirder than I thought he’d be.’ I thought and inwardly shuddered. I walked into the living room, cautiously because I still can’t see well, and sat myself in one of the chairs as a few insects buzzed around me.

’Well, you only JUST met him. Give it a day or so.’ Hashirigaki said, looking at the two Aburames.

I have two words for you Hashi: optimist much? You always seem to see the bright side.’ I rolled my eyes and then sighed, settling into the old comfy-ness of the lounge chair. One of the kikaichu settled on my nose and I stared cross-eyed at the bug as it stared right back.

“That one of your kikaichu, Shino?” Shibi asked, probably thinking I wouldn’t hear him. I saw Shino nod in the corner of my vision.

“Yes. That one seems to have taken a liking for Ava.” The younger Aburame answered. I had a mental celebration in my head and smiled on the outside as I still stared at the beetle.

Shino-kun called me by my first name! It’s like my dreams have come true! Oh wait…they have!!’ I giggled out loud and had to bite on my tongue to keep from totally losing myself and going into a fangirl giggle fit. The two Aburames turned to me and shared twin expressions of confusion as the little kikaichu lazily flew off and landed on a lamp shade. I put my right hand tight over my mouth to stifle my giggles and waved at the two dismissively with my left in a “don’t mind me, I’m just crazy” sort of way.

“She’s…weird like that.” Shino explained…or at least tried to. Hashirigaki facepalmed himself, Shibi raised a confused eyebrow and I kept on giggling.

“You’re leaving your house in her hands?” Shibi asked his son. Shino sighed and nodded.

Shino has his own house? Neat!’ I asked as I battled the onslaught of giggles. I was winning! :)

“She’s quite capable, believe it or not…” Shino muttered. My giggles stalled and a pouted/glared angrily at the bug boy.

“I take offense to that!” I shouted, giggles now gone. Shino looked at me with a blank/his usual expression. And Shibi shared a similar look. “I may not look like much, but I can take care of myself! Heck, my brother would almost always be gone twenty out of twenty four hours in the day! I had to take care of myself and my brother and his twenty-something girlfriends when they showed up drunk on our doorstep!” Shibi looked mildly impressed (if you call eyebrows raised a fraction of a millimeter “impressed”) and Shino…looked like Shino. Dang it! I guess I’ll have to try harder to get a facial reaction from him…

“Well then, a house full of insects shouldn’t be too hard for Ava to watch over.” Shibi said as he turned to leave. He nodded in my direction and then walked out of the house. Shino, who watched his father leave, then turned to me.

“I’ll be leaving before sunrise. I will leave instructions in my room.” Shino said as he started heading up the stairs. I followed him and continued listening to his instructions. “The insects guarding my room already know you’ll be tending to them and the ones inside, but will limit your access to twice a day. You will get directions if you ask and you will be attacked if something is off limits. One warning only.” Shino said as he pointed out several things in his room. I was amazed to find the usually taciturn guy say so much…not to mention his room was quite interesting. It was fascinating! An insect biologist’s dream! Butterflies here, beetles there, a few weevils, some flies, and several cocoons. I looked closely at the cocoons and turned to Shino.

“So these are your butterflies?” I asked. Shino nodded, back to his silent self. “I’ll take good care of them, Shino-kun.” I said and smiled widely. “I promise, all your insects will be in perfect condition when you get back. Speaking of which, how long is your mission going to be and who with?”

“One week with Kiba, Akamaru and Hinata. Think you can manage thirteen species of insect?” Shino asked, an eyebrow quirking. I smirked and placed my hands on my hips as I stared into his hidden eyes.

“Is that a challenge, Shino-kun? Well, you’ll see! Your bugs will be so happy, it’ll be Christmas in bug land!” I said confidently. I snapped my fingers for pronunciation and made my way to Shino’s door. I could have sworn I heard a snicker, but it must’ve been Hashirigaki. Shino wouldn’t laugh even if his life was on the line…or he was poisoned into it. “Anyway,” I started, having reached the doorway, “get some rest and tell Hina-chan, Kiba-kun, and Akamaru I say hi. I’ll feed these guys first thing in the morning.” I said before shutting the door behind me and heading towards my own room for some rest myself. I switched on the lamp on the end table and plopped face-first onto the soft mattress.

”Long day?” Hashirigaki asked as he sat on one side of the bed.

Could it get any longer?! I swear, Tsunade is the only doctor I’ve ever had that takes longer than five hours to make a full examination…’ I thought to Hashi as I pulled myself up onto my elbows and grabbed my notebook from the end table. I flipped to the next clean page and whipped out my pencil to do some more writing in Nisshi the notebook. I paused with my pencil about an inch from the page and turned to Hashirigaki. “You won’t spy on my thoughts, will you?” I asked Hashi out loud.

”Only if you don’t want me to. I’ll go check out the bugs in the greenhouse out back.” Hashirigaki said as he floated out of my room through the wall.

“There’s a greenhouse? I’ll have to see it sometime.” I muttered as I turned to Nisshi and started writing a new entry.

‘November 18 (Still not entirely clear on the date),

Well, another day, another freaky accident. Remember Hashirigaki? Well, I met him during a meditation thing at about 7 or so (I don’t know! I should tell you that my sense of time stinks.) this morning and I saw him for the first time in his “form”. See, Hashirigaki is see-through and floats around like a ghost…I wonder if he is a ghost? Oh well.
SOOOO, after meeting Hashi (nickname!), Shino-kun, who’d gone off to do his buggy thing, came back to the clearing where I met Hashi. It may have been 10 AM or something, I dunno, and we started heading back home. Apparently, a storm is coming soon (That’s what Shino-kun told me) because the bugs were bothered by stuff in the atmosphere…or some-odd technical talk. I’m too tired to be eloquent.
Anyway, Shino-kun and I were walking back when the freakiest thing happened: an Onbaa attacked! Onbaa (as I learned from Tsunade godaime-sama) are large, bear-like gorilla beasts with white fur, red eyes, and blackish-gray skin that can be about 3 meters tall! Talk about scary… The freakiest thing, though, was that I scared the Onbaa away! Well…I told it to back off and leave us (Shino-kun and I) alone, but it listened! It also told me I was “The Protector”…freaky…I guess I
CAN talk to animals!
Getting off topic…so, tomorrow I have to meet up with Tsunade for an appointment in this one training field. Number “8” I think it was. Whatever, I’ll meet her at the Hokage tower. First, though, I have to take care of Shino-kun’s bugs! He’s going to be gone for about a week, so I have been left in charge to take care of his house and insects while he’s away! Go me!
Okay, that’s enough of that. I’ll write you tomorrow, okay Nisshi?

Ja ne!

PS – Have I already celebrated about having no school? How about no homework? I LOVE this place!’


I sighed as I closed my notebook and looked around my room a bit. It was now much darker than before and my exhaustion from Tsunade’s extensive tests was taking hold. I shook my head tiredly and placed Nisshi and my pencil back onto the end table before going to my bag and grabbing a pair of pajamas along with a towel and the necessary toiletries. My shower took maybe thirty minutes (maybe because I was falling asleep during it), but I quickly dried off, wrung the water out of my hair, and dressed in my cozier set of pajamas. I sleepily opened the door and started walking back towards my room when I ran into something firm yet warm.

“Sumimasen*…” I mumbled, stepping away from the person I ran into. I looked up sleepily and saw Shino was standing in front of me…without his gray-green overcoat! His black, high-collar shirt from before ended out being sleeveless and quite complimentary to his frame. Shino was also not wearing his hitai-ate like usual, so his hair was fluffed out like it normally would be with a small amount sitting on his forehead, but his sunglasses/goggles were still in place. I only realized I was staring when Shino cleared his throat. “Ah! G-gomen, Shino-kun!” I squeaked/shouted as a blush burned onto my face and I hurried back into my room before locking it behind me.

“How cute, Ava has a crush.” Hashirigaki said as he hovered, cross-legged, above my bed. My blush turned redder and I glared angrily at Hashi.

So what if I have a crush?! I liked the guy ever since his appearance in episode 1!’ I thought at Hashi as I folded up my dirty clothes and piled them neatly on the side of the dresser.

“You didn’t even know who he was. How in the world does someone develop a crush on someone else after seeing them for only a second? Hashi asked as he floated over next to me. I sighed and looked him in (or would it be through?) the eyes.

Look. Fangirls all over the world fell for Sasuke the instant he made an appearance, so why can’t it happen for Shino-kun?’ I thought back at Hashirigaki. Hashi looked confused for a second, had a moment of thought, and then smiled at me. He took his ethereal hand and ruffled my hair slightly before floating away.

“I suppose you’re right. Fangirlism can develop at any time, as you know.” Hashi said with a shrug. I smirked and playfully punched his ghostly self. He’d made a reference to my report on fandoms I did for my English teacher; I got an A- on it!

That’s old news, Hashi. OLD old news…’ I thought as I moved the covers and settled myself in between the sheets. I sighed contentedly and switched off the light on my night stand before snuggling further down in the blankets and closing my eyes. ‘Night Hashi.’ I thought before setting myself in sleep mode. It was maybe an hour I was lying there before I finally faded into dream land.

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Gah! So flipping behind! Thanks for not yelling at me to update (too much)! Frosty, I owe you the biggest apology! You kept asking and asking for the next chapter…gomenasai!! I made it long to make up for my lateness!
Anywho, that’s chapter seven. Please stay tuned because I DO intend on getting another chapter out soon! I PROMISE!! Oh! Did you catch the whole ADD and butterfly thing? That’s from Naruto Abridged Episode 14…or somewhere around fourteen…

Btw, Frosty…I read that ref you made to this story. I totally agree. EW! Why’d I pick that name? I guess it’s because it’s so eew; it’s fun to make fun of! XD

Asterisks! …Okay, there was only one this time:

Sumimasen: “Excuse me”

Ja ne, minna! (Don’t worry, I’ll have another chapter up soon, in fact, I’m writing it now!)
Chapter 8 by Uchiha_Kima
“Incoming” – Chapter 8

I told you it’d be up soon! This is chapter eight and I have a warning: there are some bad words in this chapter, so the rating’s upped a bit to keep me out of trouble with the officials. This chapter is kinda long, so get a snack, maybe a drink, and get comfy.

Disclaimer: The Naruto characters all belong to Kishimoto Masashi-dono, but Ava and Hashirigaki are entirely MY ideas, so no stealing!

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I yawned heavily as I woke up and moved to toss the sheets off of me…except there were no sheets. It turns out I had rolled out of bed and continued sleeping on the floor. Good thing the carpet was soft. I sat myself up on the floor and blinked slowly as the sleepies began to move away and my brain started functioning again. I usually woke up perky and set for the day, but today was Saturday: the one day I permitted myself to be the laziest I could be, so five AM was hard for me to wake up at.

“Good morning Sleeping Beauty! Sleep well?” Hashirigaki asked, his transparent self upside-down and about six inches from my face. I scowled at the guardian angel and swatted at him irritably before he hovered away and folded his arms over his chest as he flipped himself right side up. “Grumpy, much?”

“Mhhmffgheh…” I mumbled as I stood on tired legs and shuffled towards my pile of clean clothes. I picked out a brown tee-shirt, cream-white knee-shorts, and a clean pair of undies before leaving my room and entering the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and grumbled a few incoherent words before grabbing my toothbrush and squirting a generous amount of toothpaste on the bristles.

“Sorry? I didn’t quite catch that.” Hashirigaki said as he stood behind me. I took a couple minutes to brush my teeth vigorously before spitting into the sink and rinsing. I let out a sigh and looked at Hashi over my shoulder.

“Halitosis is a bitch…” I said before Hashirigaki hovered out of the room, laughing his ghostly butt off. I then undressed out of my pjs and redressed into my selected outfit. I then returned to my room, dumped my pjs on the floor and started heading towards the kitchen. As I walked by Shino’s room, I remembered my promise to take care of his bugs. I approached the door and several kikaichu buzzed out to hover in front of me. “Uhmm…good morning! Has Shino-kun already taken care of his bugs?” I asked the insect awkwardly. It’d be a while before I could comfortably converse with beings nobody normally converses with.

“He did,” One of the male Kikaichu said as he bobbed up and down in the air, “He wants you to check up on them every morning and every night.” I nodded at the insect.

“Alright. I won’t disturb you guys then.” I said and turned away to head down the stairs and into the kitchen. I saw a few dishes in the sink, immaculately cleaned, and a note on the refrigerator door. I pulled the note off the door and stared at it awkwardly before sighing sadly. “Ava can’t read Kanji…no matter how neat it is…” I said sadly as anime tears rolled down my cheeks in waterfalls, until I hear Hashirigaki clear his throat behind me. My tears stopped and I looked at the ghostly figure questioningly.

“I can translate it, Ava.” Hashirigaki said before taking the note and reading it out loud, “‘Ava, please go shopping. There’s money hidden under the wasps’ nest in the greenhouse. Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you. Shino.’ Huh…if he needs you to go shopping, I wonder what’s left…” Hashi said before handing the note back to me. I scowled at the piece of paper for a minute.

“What am I, the maid?” I asked angrily before placing the paper on the counter and opening the fridge. Inside was a bag of two apples, a hunk of cheese on a plate, half a stick of butter, two eggs, a leek, a quarter gallon of milk, and a hunk of ham…seriously, that was ALL the food in Shino-kun’s refrigerator. My eye twitched irritably and I sighed before digging through the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen. All to be found was a bunch of utensils, plates, bowls, every other basic of a kitchen, and two instant ramen cups in the pantry, along with a bunch of other expired foods. I grimaced and dug around the kitchen again to find the drawer that had a frying pan in it. “Success!” I shouted, lifting the pan above my head. It was a medium-sized pan, about a foot and a half in diameter, and I set it on the stove.

I looked up, down, and around the stove until I found it was an old-fashion gas stove. You know, the kinds where you have to put on the gas and then light it with a match? That kind. I was a little skeptical to put the stove into use, though, and Hashirigaki noticed.

“Something the matter?” Hashi asked as he sat on one of the counters.

“Yeah. This is Shino-kun’s house and he’s an Aburame, and insect master. I don’t know what effect the gas will have on the bugs.” I muttered gnawing lightly on my right index finger. It’s what I do when I get concerned.

“If you crack open the window, the gas can go outside and cause minimal damage, if any. If the gas bothers you so much, why don’t you ask this little kikaichu here?” Hashirigaki asked as the familiar female kikaichu from last night hovered over and landed on my right shoulder.

“Ne, what do you think?” I asked the bug awkwardly. Again, talking to animals will take a while. The kikaichu seemed to pause for a moment (in thought?) before answering.

“The gas won’t hurt us. It doesn’t affect us. Shino-sama makes sure of it.” The little insect answered.

“Well, alright.” I said before digging out the matches from a nearby drawer and opening the window above the stove. I turned on the gas (low) and lit a match. The gas caught fire and then I set the frying pan on the small, yet very hot, flames. “Butter and eggs first…” I muttered, grabbing said food items out of the fridge. I also grabbed the other foods and placed them nearby my cooking station. Some minutes later, I performed the final flip and my freshly made omelet landed neatly on the plate I set next to the stove.

“An omelet? Hadn’t seen you make one of them in a week.” Hashirigaki said as he floated above me. I quickly turned off the stove and set the pan in the sink under some cool water.

“Yeah, well…I needed to clear out the refrigerator and I wanted something eggy.” I answered as I cleaned the counter and turned to my healthy eggy feast (mainly because I don’t eat much anyway). I quickly poured myself a glass of milk, finished off the carton and tossed it in the garbage bin in one of the cabinets. “Time for food!” I sang as I plopped myself down at the dining room table with all the necessaries of breakfast.

It was sometime later, during my morning jog, that I remembered I had to visit Tsunade in training field…eight? ‘Maybe the kikaichu know.’ I thought, turning to my seemingly constant companion. “Could you show me to where I needed to meet Tsunade? I’m fairly sure where, but I don’t know the way.” The female kikaichu bobbed up and down next to me before taking off in a direction. It was about nine-ish and the streets were getting active: stores were opening up, kids were hanging out or playing on their day off from school, and several ANBU and other ninjas zipped around overhead, still having work despite the weekend. The little kikaichu turned a corner and I sped up to follow, before accidentally crashing into someone once I rounded the house. I landed butt-first on the ground before taking the time to realize who I ran into.

“Ah! Watch where you’re going!” A blonde female shouted at me. She wore a purple, sleeveless, button-up tummy shirt, a matching purple skirt with slits in the front and (I assumed) the back that showed her purple spandex shorts underneath. She had a set of fishnet shorts sticking out from under the spandex shorts and had fishnet over her elbows and knees; her shoes were a lot like Sakura’s…only a shade of purple.

If there’s anyone in Naruto that likes purple as much as this girl, it’s Yamanaka Ino.’ Lo and behold, when I looked up and noted her style of hair, it was styled with a fringe over her right eye and her long hair was in a high ponytail. ‘It’s Ino all right.

“Er…sumimasen. I was in a hurry to meet Tsunade-sama.” I said to Ino as I stood, dusted myself off and ran down the street to find the little kikaichu. Suddenly, Ino grabbed my arm and I skidded to a halt.

“You’re looking for Tsunade-sama? Shizune should know where she is. You could probably find her in the Hokage tower.” Ino said, indicating the Hokage building I’d already visited twice. The little insect from before suddenly flew in and landed on my shoulder, fortunately without Ino noticing, and I smiled thankfully at the blonde. “I’m Ino by the way. Yamanaka Ino.” The blonde stuck out her hand.

“Woods Ava, I’m new here.” I answered, grabbing her hand and shaking it quickly before running off towards the tower. “Sorry! I’m gonna be late!” I heard Ino laugh in the distance and I quickly weaved my way through the crowds, moving close to my top speed, and dodged the various obstacles in my way. A crate sat in my way and I easily leapt over it, then an accidental barricade of fruit from a spilled cart, and lastly a game of hopscotch before I got to the entrance to the Hokage tower. I paused and caught my breath before noticing a familiar green jacket and the blonde dual-ponytail. “Tsunade-sama!” I shouted happily, jogging up to the woman. She turned around and smirked, seeing my slightly disheveled appearance.

“Woods Ava. I thought I told you to meet me at training ground 8?” Tsunade asked, folding her arms under her busty chest.

“Yeah…well…I had some free time and wanted to see if you were available.” I answered, slightly out of breath, “Besides, Shino-kun isn’t here right now, so I’d get lost if I tried looking for it.” I scratched the back of my head sheepishly and the little kikaichu on my shoulder buzzed irritably, knowing that I made a jab at her getting lost.

“Okay, but I need to do some paperwork. Care to do some filing?” Tsunade asked, an evil smirk on her face.

“Actually, my dad had me doing filing for his company a few years ago.” I answered casually. Besides running, schoolwork, and hiding from my brother, I was very good and fairly fast when it came to filing: last time, I was able to file away six years of troublesome paperwork in less than five hours. Needless to say, I was confident in my filing skills.

“Well then, let me show you to your desk, Ava.” Tsunade said with a smile. There was an evil aura dripping from her words and I gulped nervously. She would be having me do some real paperwork. Not the lame stuff from before, but real work. Oh how fun my day would be.

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It was sometime, maybe half an hour, before noon by the time Tsunade was done working with me. For the first hour after I met her in front of the Hokage tower, I’d run several miles in transporting papers here, there, and everywhere else around the village (with a map, of course) as her errand girl and the hour after that was spent sorting through the most vital and least important papers that piled up around Tsunade’s roomy office. I asked her once why Shizune was not here doing this and Tsunade answered that Shizune was away on ninja business. I sighed and spent the remainder of my time sorting, organizing and borderline threatening the female Hokage to tell me what she originally wanted me to meet her for.

“Alright Woods,” Tsunade started, stamping the last paper and setting it on top of a pile to go to the Ninja Academy, “you were wondering why I called you to meet me?”

“Yeah, am I getting and answer this time?” I asked irritably, setting a few packages to Tsunade on her desk. Albeit the packages were small, they were heavy! What was in those boxes? Iron balls? I rested my left elbow on the boxes and set my right hand on my hip. The blonde, busty Hokage smiled and chuckled faintly.

“The reason I called you to meet me was to test your potential ninja skills.” Tsunade said simply folding her hands in front of her nose. I was silent as I looked around, waiting for a trap to spring or for Tsunade to burst out laughing. I blinked for a moment before answering:

“You’re joking…I have no ninja skills!” I said in exasperation, taking my arm off the boxes and waving them around for emphasis. Tsunade chuckled again and smiled at me sweetly as she lowered her hands from in front of her face.

“Actually, Ava, you have amazing potential: first you delivered everything correctly and in a timely manner, you were able to sort out and determine priority effectively, and, from what I’ve seen, you’re fairly strong and athletic. Perfect kunoichi material.” Tsunade answered as she picked up a couple boxes to see who they were from. I let this all process and was silent for a minute or two.

”Uhm…Earth to Ava, Earth to Ava. Come in Ava.” Hashirigaki said, waving a transparent hand in front of my face. It was a second before I started speaking again.

“So…you’re serious? You think I’d be able to be a kunoichi?” I asked Tsunade eagerly. My excitement was just below the surface and was bound to burst through any second now. Tsunade looked up from her packages and smiled, nodding at me.

“After some serious training, yes. I think you’d-“

“OH, THANK YOU TSUNADE-SAMA!!” I shouted happily as I hugged her and laughed in joy. Tsunade was a bit…surprised from my outburst, but at least her ninja instincts didn’t make her throw me out the window. Then again, I wouldn’t care if I was thrown out of a window! I was too happy for words. ‘You hear that Hashi?! I get to be a kunoichi!!

“Yeah, Ava. I heard.” Hashirigaki said, using his ghostly right pinky finger clean out his ghostly ear. His face appeared pained, but whatever, he’ll get over it. After all, I’m gonna be a kunoichi!

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Got kinda happy there at the end didn’t it? Well, how’d you feel if you just got the offer of a lifetime: to become a ninja? Think about it.

OMG, I wrote this thing so quick! Don’t expect another chapter too soon, because I’m riding waves of inspiration and they always fluctuate between maximal inspiration and none at all. (This chapter was at max.)

Ja ne, minna!

PS - Holy cranberries! I've already started chapter nine!
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