Commission for aem309. Rated 'M' for a reason! Naruto/Attack on Titan crossover. O.C pairing

But Still, I Rise
By: Rise of the Blossom

Chapter 1

It could have been worse than confused solitude, she supposed.

Her other self (or huge ass self, as she oh-so-affectionately dubbed it) had impressive survival instincts that ran into her everyday life, allowing her to make it through the day without dying or receiving serious injuries. For that, she could only be grateful. Going about her day without any memory – not even a name – was infuriatingly difficult. Fortunately for her, the only real issue she'd run into so far was a hungry animal daring to turn its predatory gaze on her, leaving her to run for her life.

The lack of memories was exasperating, though. Given the fact she could formulate coherent thoughts, could still recognise animals (even if she couldn't always put a name to the beast), and knew basic human functions (such as bathing, bladder control, eating, etc), it led her to the belief that it'd been tampered with.

Her first clear memory was waking stark naked and half-submerged in a lake, alone and coated in crusted blood, the sight startling her into moving. There was no pain, no open wounds. Nothing that suggested she had been assaulted in some way – just a weird steam that was slow in dissipating. And why was she so certain her memories were messed with, other than the stuff she'd already mentioned? Well, a pile of clean clothes and boots had lay beneath a grand old tree – what's more, they fit nicely, too. Like the person who'd left them behind knew her size.

It was a disturbing thought that often times made her a tiny bit paranoid, leaving her to triple check her surroundings before risking putting her head down for the night, refusing to go anywhere other than a bush for the bathroom and once or twice (okay, many times – pretty much every other day), she would transform to better scope the area out, ensuring she truly was alone.

She was always alone.

Since waking at the lake, she'd been wandering. Where to? No idea. Why? Well, what was the point in hanging around an area she was unsure of? Why would she stay somewhere when she couldn't guarantee her own safety? There was that and the fact food was scarce – she found herself to be quite the glutton, so for the time being, her stomach was happily steering the way.

Was that something to do with her other self? Probably not. She didn't really feel much of anything while transformed. If she had a purpose – if either of them held a specific purpose – then it was unknown to her. Having a purpose would be nice, though. At least then she'd understand what she was doing with herself rather than wandering aimlessly, only using her need to eat as a guide.

The sight of a disturbance on the dirt path had her pausing in her leisurely walk, eyes narrowing a fraction. It was upon crouching next to what she could only guess as an extensively used pathway that she figured they were footsteps on top of footsteps, distorting the shapes of–

She stood abruptly, lifting her own foot and assessing the vague similarities, eyes widening in surprise.

Human.

It was human footprints!

That had to mean she was close to a town of some sort. It was the first glimpse of civilisation she'd seen in… She wasn't entirely sure. Months, perhaps? It didn't matter. Not really. What mattered was that she could potentially find some kind of lead, or maybe even a sign as to what she was supposed to do with herself. Roaming without a care and without anyone to answer to was great and all, but it grew tiresome and even lonely at some point.

Like the sudden appearance of a path with a destination at the end of it had stirred said loneliness to new heights, she faced the long winding road framed by impossibly tall trees, the sounds of wildlife appearing like cheers in her mind, encouraging her to follow the route.

It didn't matter how long it took. As long as there was something there.

There had to be something there!

Renewed determination aided her in marching forward, only briefly damning her human form for its slowness – had she been in her other form, it would've taken a fraction of the time. However, a small voice in the back of her mind warned that having others see that form would cause nothing but trouble. She supposed, after all, seeing a twenty metre person bulldozing their way through the trees was pretty frightful. Besides, how was she know they wouldn't shoot first, then ask questions? It simply wasn't worth it, especially not when she didn't know the extent of her own powers.

When night fell, she reluctantly dragged herself up the nearest tree and settled down, tugging the thick cloak she'd been left with around herself more securely, chin tucking into her knees.

Setting a fire wasn't impossible for her to do, but the last time she'd done so, that damned, hungry beast had chased her for several miles before finally giving up on her being its lunch. She'd rather not repeat that incident, not if she was able to prevent it.

Thoughts of what could possibly be waiting for her at the end of the dirt road kept her up that night, eyes glued to the twinkling night sky. How many people would be there? Would they be kind enough to assist her? Would they have any reason to fear her? Would any of them be like her? Was it normal to transform?

She'd only ever seen one reaction to her form so far and that was fear, coming from animals. But then again, they didn't really count. Not the small ones she tended to hunt, anyways, since they were normally quite skittish. The big ones worried her a little, but saying that, she supposed it was normal for anything that was suddenly dwarfed to realise it was suddenly no longer at the top of the food chain?

"Maa," she groaned, burying her face further into her knees.

All that talk on food was working up her appetite. If she didn't cut it out and get some sleep, she'd be in trouble in the morning when she returned to the road.

But sleep continued to evade her, so with another groan, she shot to her feet and inwardly assessed her options.

On the one hand, travelling through the night had always eased her nerves somehow, like she possessed the upper hand somehow. Regardless of what was hunting who, if she transformed, she had the advantage hands down. Though, on the other hand, if the town or whatever it was happened to be much closer than anticipated, then nobody would be awake – and she knew she hated being woken up by any kind of disturbances. How likely would people be to leave her out in the cold if she rudely woke them up in the middle of the night?

Staying put was undoubtedly her best option, yet…

Yet she couldn't quite get the excited shake out of her hands, couldn't shake the need to find out the answers regarding her past. There was no telling if the town would be of any use to her, or whether they'd even be welcoming, but she was so freaking tired of wandering. Helplessness was not an emotion she appreciated.

The addicting anticipating got the best of her in the end and she rushed off, determined to make it to the town. If she made it before sunrise, then she supposed she could hold back and rest up in a tree until she heard the town coming to life when its occupants awoke, or perhaps explore it while all was quiet. Then, she would…

She would, what? What did one do in her situation? How did she even go about explaining her situation? Could she?

Slowing her walk to a more leisurely pace, she opened her mouth, frowning at the odd sensation in her throat and noise she was rewarded with.

While making noises wasn't unusual to her, articulating her thoughts was. How long had it been since she last had a real conversation? What did she do with her mouth? Was there a certain way she moved it to bring her thoughts to life? Was that even the right saying? How the hell was she supposed to ask for their help when she didn't even know what the hell she was doing?

Still, she'd chosen to push on. There was no use in retreating to a tree now, was there? No. She would keep going until she reached civilisation, then she would figure how to solve her whole lack of communications skills situation. There was no use in agonising over it – that wouldn't change anything, would it? All it'd achieve was dropping her into that black hole that was despair.

Mute or not, she had to keep going, had to push aside her anxieties, had to…

Had to…

So lost in her inner ramblings, she hadn't even realised she'd broken out of the forest until she was forced to come to an abrupt halt. The raging heat that oozed from the small town before her was enough to make her skin ache in a weird way, like she was too close to her food while it was cooking and the smell was… Warily, she sniffed the air, only to cringe at the scent of burning flesh, a smell that was vaguely, hauntingly familiar to her.

What on earth could have happened? The path had been recently used! She could tell it had been. So why? Why was the town in ruins? Why was it burning to ash right in front of her?

Movement to the left of the town captured her attention and she watched as a blond man on some form of white beast zoomed through the air, grinning while raising a hand, lips moving with a word she couldn't understand before–

The responding explosion knocked her off balance and she raised her arms, hand instinctively reaching for her neck until she reminded herself she wasn't in that form, so it was useless. Damn, though. They'd shaken her pretty badly for her to… just…

"Oh?"

They were fast, she noticed too late, already struggling against a rope of some sort wrapping around her.

"Is this your town?"

What a cold voice, she couldn't help but notice with another cringe. It set her on edge, her survival instincts telling her to get the hell away from him. He was like the vicious beast that had tried chasing her, only unlike the person before her, it'd been weighed down by its heavy body and–

"Bear," she blurted out.

That was what it was called! That was what chased her.

It was all still there, she realised after a brief moment of pause where the strange poppy haired man stared at her. Just lost, like she was.

"Bear?" he repeated, though without any kind of emotion to his voice.

She'd said that out loud? Damn, she was taking quite the leap, wasn't she?

Struggling momentarily, she glanced downwards at her confinements, studying them for a moment before she was flexing her muscles and straining against them, taking all of two seconds to snap his restraints.

"Interesting," he murmured and she saw the way his brown eyes travelled down her body, once more reminding her of the bear. "You feel no pain or general unwellness?"

What did that mean? She frowned and followed his gaze, raising an eyebrow at the steam that coated her. So far, it'd only done so when she'd transformed out of her huge ass self and was injured at some point – a rarity. Why was it happening now?

Like that even mattered. What mattered was asking the weirdo with the dead eyes how she went about finding out about her past, or, at the very least, what had happened to the town.

Obviously, he'd had a hand in it. Standing so calmly throughout the destruction was unusual – not to mention he had the same style of cloak as the terrorist. Fully black with red clouds and high collars, unlike her own. Hers was green with a hood rather than a collar. Did that mean each cloak held some kind of importance? Obviously, for them to wear the same kind meant they held some form of comradeship, so was there others of her kind? Would they wear the same cloak as her own? Was that how she was supposed to spot them?

"It seems you are immune to my poison. You should have dropped by now," continued the man and she realised she'd unfocused on whatever he'd been talking about. Was the only reason she zoned back in because of the blond who suddenly descended from the sky on his weird animal? "That could go either way for me."

What was he talking about?

Features tugging awkwardly as she tried to formulate her thoughts, she raised her green cloak and pointed to his, hoping he would figure it out because like hell she knew what she was doing. She was by no means stupid, but at that moment in time, she may as well have been.

"What's this?" the second guy said with a laugh. "She wants to join us?"

Join them?

"Either she will be a pain if others discover she's immune to my poison, or she could come in handy as a weapon."

"Her? A weapon?"

Why were they discussing her like she wasn't even there?

"Yes," the redhaired man muttered and stepped forward, closer to her. "You'll be a fine addition."

She looked between them, smile faltering as her cloak slipped from her grasp.

"…Eh?"