Hey everyone! Some of you have read my fic "It's just high school or is it?"- and since I promised a lot of people another action/adventure/romance fic, here it is! I must add though, this is not a sequel. No events in this story except the pairings and characters should be related to the other fic. Just a reminder.

But anyways, I'd like to make a few dedications of this story…-clears throat and unrolls list-

Rockleelover (Sorry, I keep forgetting the leallana part!)

Kyota-chan

Defender of The Light

Tomboy901

AsianAnimeGoddess (I hope I wrote that right!)

And ShikamaruHitake, because I know that you love the ShikaIno pairing and so do I! (Although this story is multiple pairing)

All of you are awesome, and supported me a lot in my other fics, so here's to you guys!

I hope you all like this!

Interesting 'Artifacts'

Ino Yamanaka, Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuuga and Tenten walked nonchalantly down the winding, more suburban streets of Konoha. Each girl was sixteen and at the peak of the average teenage persona, thus their worlds revolved around things like boys, appearances, clothes, and the works. On sunny Saturday afternoons like then, they enjoyed taking walks around the vast areas of the village, finding an odd air of peace and relaxation in the nature and state of being. The entire village just calmed them.

Just then, though, there was something taking place that was anything but calm. In one of the houses the girls were walking by, there was a hectic garage sale going on. Things like old tricycles, golf clubs and books lay here and there as strangers picked up various objects to check the prices. Tenten stopped walking and looked over at it.

"Maybe we should check that out," she said with some interest as she continued looking. The girls looked at one another and shrugged before heading to the driveway of the house.

"Well, long time no see! How have you soon-to-be Chunins been holding up lately?" The girls swung around to face the source of the voice to see Anko, a person they had not seen since the Chunin exams.

"Anko!" the girls all said in unison as they all exchanged hugs of greeting.

"Great to see ya girls again!" Anko said as she patted their backs.

"Likewise," said Ino with a smile. Sakura spoke next.

"Having a garage sale I see," she said as she picked up an odd looking lamp that creaked at the very contact of her fingers.

"And it's about time," sighed Anko. "I've been looking to do away with all this junk for years. But you know me, never felt like getting around to it. So yesterday I was bored and just decided to get rid of some stuff." She held her arms out and half smiled defiantly. "So, here I am now, ten times the amount of business I had imagined at best, and having already raised three hundred bucks only an hour in! Am I good or what?" The girls laughed at this.

"Yeah, yeah," giggled Ino as she walked further into the sale. "But what I find really attention-grabbing is this set up…" she halted next to the display labeled 'artifacts.' The girls followed and gazed at the many talismans and pendants.

"I didn't know you owned any jewelry, Anko," Hinata said as she scanned over all the objects. Anko scratched her head and yawned.

"You know, I didn't either. I was mostly emptying out random boxes I've had in my storage room since the beginning of time. Before I had even lived here, in fact. The storage room was never unfurnished, so I ended up being left with a bunch of crap that belonged to whoever and God only knows how long ago." Anko blew on the box next to the table, creating a puff of dust in the process. "And wouldn't you know, all in that box were piles and piles of this stuff. I have no idea why someone would leave it all behind- it looked pretty valuable you know- but regardless, I had no use of it. So I decided to sell it, for pretty reasonable prices I might add." She pointed at the tags, which were labeled prices in the low hundreds. The girls couldn't argue there, they were pretty reasonable. But the prices weren't what interested them most. They were occupied with all the ancient looking jewelry.

"Hey, what you got there, Hinata?" Sakura asked, turning her attention away from the earrings in her hand and up at Hinata who had two nearly identical necklaces in her hands.

"Oh, um, I'm not sure exactly," said Hinata softly, as she looked down at the necklaces. "They looked pretty interesting, so I decided to take a closer look at them." The girls gathered around and looked at the necklaces in Hinata's small hands.

"Interesting trinkets." Said Ino, tilting her head to one side. The trinkets on the chains were indeed interesting looking. They were like stars, only with more arms coming out than the regular five, and slightly resembled the center of a compass rose. In the center of one of them was an old aged looking man, and in the center of the other was a youthful baby with a chubby face. The girls looked at them in awe. There was something about the particular trinkets that drew them.

"What do they do?" Tenten asked Anko, though not turning her head to face her. Anko shrugged.

"Beats me. Hang around your necks? Shine in the sunlight? Capture the attention of guys? Either way, I have no need for them, so I think you girls should HAVE THEM!" she smiled a freakishly wide smile, squinting her eyes and giving a thumbs-up with one hand, and the other on her waist. A slight pause followed before Sakura broke it.

"You need the money, don't you," she asked plainly. Anko's smile immediately faded and her shoulders slumped.

"Yes," she admitted. "But I also think you girls would like them. I mean, look at the fine chain…and oh, just look at how those trinkets swing ever so..uh…gracefully. And-"

"Alright, alright, that's enough," laughed Tenten, putting her hands up. Hinata stepped forward.

"You know guys, maybe we should get them. I mean, we would be helping a friend, right?" she asked softly. The girls stopped laughing and raised their eyebrows.

"I agree, and besides wouldn't one of them look simply bee-youuuu-tiful on me?" Ino asked jokingly, fluttering her eyelashes. The girls smiled.

"Ok, we'll take them," said Sakura going through her purse for some money. "Hinata's right…just helping a friend." Anko beamed, cash flow flooding the back of her mind. Sakura looked up at the other girls. "We should each pay our share," she said.

They all nodded in agreement and looked through their purses too. After dividing up the cost equally, they all gave Anko the money. Anko smiled and thanked them.

"You know, Hinata, this necklace would really bring out your more feminine side," said Ino, putting the baby trinket necklace around Hinata's neck. It did look nice on her, and the baby face expressed part of her personality as well.

"And this one…" said Tenten, picking up the old man trinket one. "Would look just 'bee-youuuu-tiful' on you Ino!" She tossed Ino the necklace, who then laughed and shoved her playfully.

"Shut up," chuckled Ino, who wound the chain around her wrist to keep it in her palm securely. When the girls were done catching up, they decided to leave.

"Thanks girls, you have no idea!" she called to them as she waved them off. "Just imagine the plasma TV I'm gonna get out of all this!" she said, gesturing towards the whole garage sale. The girls smiled and waved back before walking back down their original rode.

"So," Tenten said after finishing a whistling chorus. "Where to now?" The girls all looked up at the sky. The sky was the purest of blues, and there was not a cloud in sight. They wanted to make the best of a day like this before it slipped away.

"I have an idea," said Ino, brightening up. They all looked at her. "Let's go to the park. It's always nice there." She looked at them for approval.

"I agree!" chirped Hinata, her eyes becoming more alive (if one could tell through the milkiness of them.)

"That's a good idea," said Sakura, stretching her arms. "Besides, I'm tired of walking. My legs need to do something else." Tenten smirked at this.

"Well if that's the case…" she said, kicking back some dirt with her foot, "then let's race there!"

"Why not?" Ino said, lacing up her shoe.

"You're on," said Sakura challengingly. But by then, without a count or warning, Tenten had already sprinted off down the dusty road.

"Cheater!" Ino yelled down the long street. "We weren't ready yet!" Tenten kept running despite of their calls.

"Snooze you loose!" Tenten yelled happily back. The three other girls looked at each other, then began to sprint off also; each going a separate way.

Ino hooked left, taking a shortcut she had once discovered while playing hide-and-go-seek many years back with Sakura.

Sakura hooked right, taking a shortcut she knew after studying a map of the Konoha areas in one of her books.

Hinata ran straight, then hooked a right then a left, taking a confusing and swerving pattern of a shortcut she had once made while aimlessly walking the streets on a cloudy day.

Tenten also had taken a different route from the ones her friends had seen her take.

Long story short, they were all taking shortcuts they were convinced would take them to the park faster.

The rest of the girls' runs went smoothly. However, while Ino was caught up with looking at the trinket that kept swinging against her wrist time and time again as she ran, she did not notice the man before her. She hit with a large impact, sending herself to the ground, while the man she had come into contact with merely stood stiffly, like a cement wall.

Ino fell flat on her butt, the trinket coming loose form her hand and landing with a clank on the hard ground, with the old man's face on the trinket up to the sky. Ino looked at the man she ran into. He was wearing a long black trench coat that covered all of his features, and a hat that shadowed his face over.

"I'm so sorry!" Ino sputtered. The man, however, did not respond. He proceeded to look at the face of the trinket that had fallen with much fascination. Ino wrinkled her brow. Odd…but then again, what about this guy isn't odd?

"Um sir? I'm sorry?" she said again, only louder this time. The man took one last drawn out look at the trinket then looked upward, not meeting Ino's gaze.

"Hmph," he growled. "Watch where you're going next time." With that he walked right on by the shocked Ino, and left her behind. Ino was too baffled to even look back. She just looked down at the trinket.

Weird…she thought as she gathered it back into her palm, standing up. As weird as the encounter was, she brushed herself off and continued on. She knew that by then, the other girls no doubt had beaten her, but she was too preoccupied with the anticipation of telling them what had just happened. For an odd reason, it was too weird to explain.

The rest of the girls seemed to agree.

"Yep," said Tenten, nodding her head. "That's pretty much really weird." The girls had arrived at Konoha's most famous bridge, which arched over a tremendously beautiful river-like stream. People often came to the park to overlook the water more so than for the sake of actually being at the park.

"Did you recognize the guy at all?" Sakura asked as she leaned on the railing. Ino shook her head.

"Not at all," she said, throwing a stone in the water. "He was just tall, dark and mysterious," she said. "Only not in the hott kind of way," she added when she saw her friends raise their eyebrows ever so slightly at the mention of 'tall, dark and mysterious.' "More of in the creepy weirdo way." The very thought made her shudder.

"Oh well," said Hinata happily, looking into the clear water running below them. "There are lots of creeps running around. All that matters now is that it's a great day, and we should enjoy it, right?" she asked. Ino nodded.

"Yeah, you're right," she sighed, resting her chin on her hand. "I'm probably just paranoid." After this, the girls all rested their arms on the railing of the bridge, dazed by the calm waters. They were so relaxed they didn't want the day to end.

"You know," said Sakura lazily. "It's said that these waters were blessed long ago by spiritual beings. That's why this river's always beautiful and has never run dry." Tenten chuckled at this.

"You don't actually believe that do you?" she asked. Sakura shrugged.

"That's what the history books tell us." She kept looking down the endless pave of the river.

"That's typical Sakura for you, always has her nose in the history books," said Ino, smiling and shaking her head. Sakura laughed with her.

"Maybe so, but you have to admit, it does look like it's been blessed," Sakura said, gesturing towards the water. Ino's laughing died down and she bent over the railing, looking at the water intently.

"Yeah I guess you're right…it is beautiful," she said. Little had she known, Tenten was creeping up behind her.

"Well, if you like it so much," Tenten said into Ino's ear, making her jump on impulse. "Why don't you pay it a little visit?" she gave Ino a joking shove to her back, merely meant to give her a small panic. However, Ino was bent over the railing too far, and could not maintain balance. She slipped over the railing and began to plummet, the necklace coming out of her grip and falling faster than her.

"Oh my God…" said Tenten, realizing what she had accidentally done. All the girls looked over the railing.

"Ino!" they shouted down.

The trinket was the thing to hit the surface of the water first, and the minute it did, the water began to glow a paler blue. A medium sized disk a bit bigger than the size of a tire formed in the water, just big enough for a human to fit through.

This was proven when Ino hit dead center of the disk, and fell in. However, no ripples or splashes came. The girls took up confused faces. It was as if what Ino had landed in wasn't water at all, but a…

"Guys we have to go after her," Tenten said, swinging a leg over the railing. "Who knows what that thing is." Sakura and Hinata looked at each other and nodded. If Ino was to go, they would all go.

"I'm off." With that, Tenten dove off the bridge and into the disk. Like Ino, no wake was created in the process. She just disappeared in the pale light.

"Let's go Hinata," Sakura said to Hinata as she helped her over the railing. Hinata was small enough for them both to fit in the disk together.

The two girls jumped off the railing at the same time, falling faster and faster until they finally went into the disk.

And with that, the girls entered an entirely new world.

So…do you like? Yes? No? Please review! If I only get like four reviews I may or may not continue, so let me know if you like it! Also, feel free to offer any advice or criticism. Just a heads up for those of you who don't already know this, but my school is incredibly hard-core when it comes to homework amounts and how long sports practices are, so I will most likely only be able to update on weekends (but when I do, I write two or three chapters). So if it takes a while, don't give up on me! It's just that schoolwork comes first. Thanks for reading everyone, R and R!