“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!
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