A/N: The only character that is actually in here that is MINE would be the main. This isn't or rather, hasn't been done by me in a while, so we'll see how this works out. Also, I've been having this idea ever since I got back from Ohayocon 2008, and have been running it through with people, so this is one of those 'what if' stories, but trust me guys, it's not your typical 'Naruto meets the real world' stories... then again, do I really write typical things any more?
Mako: Nope... hey... this means... that you're not torturing any poor soul of a character you made right?
A/N: Correct, I am torturing myself and my friends. And anyone that I can think of.
Mako: YES!
Disclaimer (In italics cause this stuffs REALLY important apparently...): I really wish I did own Naruto… but unfortunately….I don't. I also don't own the Hyatt Regency, Ohayocon, the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Ashland, Kentucky, Columbus Ohio, or Hotwheels.
Prologue
Reunited
My breathing was sharp as I pressed hard with my feet against the floor launching me forward, I sprinted down the hallway on the 20th floor of the Hyatt Regency Hotel as I spotted my prey, my cold blue eyes narrowing into deadly slits as I watched him look over his shoulder, his own blue eyes staring into mine with a hidden understanding as his ash gray hair caught the light. He took off in a sprint of his own, my arms pumped in an effort to quicken me. My black t-shirt and denim jeans ruffling and smoothing as I moved with only my socks on. I neared him with in arms distance and then jumped while I was still with in range.
I heard him grunt as my body collided with his and my lightly tanned arms wrapped around his neck, bringing us down to the floor, me on top of him with his head in a head lock before he rolled us, I kept hold as his back laid on my stomach and chest, before I managed out as he struggled, "What. The. Hell. Was. That. All. ABOUT!?" The 5' 3", 19 year old I knew as Brandin Busby stilled in my grasp before hissing, "Will you let go, you're suffocating me!" I blinked and did, my eyes widening for a fraction before I sat up and then got into a crouch staring at him after he rolled off, we were both quiet until he muttered dully, "Gavin scares me…."
I blinked, staring at him curiously, he stared back, a serious look on his face as he stated, "I have nothing against him, and I'm not a homophobe Cass, but seriously…do we have to…share a room? What's wrong with the arrangement that you, Kris, and I had last time we went to this thing?" My eyes narrowed for a moment before I got to my feet standing straight, brushing my shoulder length brown hair over my shoulder offering my hand to help him up, he took it and I pulled, he stood up straight.
"Because last year it was JUST Kris, myself, and you." I replied dully. What he was talking about as well as myself, was the 2008 Ohayocon, an anime convention that we drove to from Ashland, Kentucky. It was in Columbus, Ohio, so it was only about a five hour drive. We had attended last years which was just myself, Brandin here, and my best friend Kris, that was our first time, and this, with much more company, was our second, "This time it's you, me, Kris, Danielle, Will, Gavin, Cheryll, Heather, Daniel, and Cody…. And we only raised enough money for two rooms, so we're splitting it with the guys in one room and the girls in another."
Secretly I knew Brandin was freaking out a little, he was not a homophobe, Gavin being gay, but he was also not necessarily comfortable with staying in the same room as him, it how ever, was not Gavin or Brandin I was worried about, but my other friend, Daniel Wright, who we had recruited onto this adventure, he had made several threats about gay men, but… I how ever was pretty sure he would behave himself, that or I would have to force my rival outta the room and yell at him.
Grabbing Brandin's arm I muttered, "C'mon, lets get back to the room." Right now how ever, it was just the two of us, and my mother; I was praising her to the high heavens, had she not agreed to chaperone again, we would not even be on this little venture.
"Okaaay." He sighed lowly, following me like a good dog, which was rather ironic, as his nick name was 'Kelevra' which in some language or another, meant 'bad dog'. I giggled at the silent thought and he looked at me oddly, I looked back wiping the smile from my face before we found ourselves walking in a staring contest. It remained like this for several minutes before he cracked a goofy grin that made me snicker and look back ahead.
We were all friends here, even the people we didn't know, they were our friends, and the people we did know; they were our buddies. That seemed to be what we learned, Kris, Brandin, and me, from our first trip to Ohayocon I mean, that, and the trip back always seemed to make it seem like everything that had happened just hours ago, seemed like days. It was kind of depressing, but that's why I think we returned, we, the three of us, had formed a trinity of trust and friendship, as well as a sense of comrades on the battle field, how ever, Ohayocon was no battlefield, but the celebration of victory afterwards.
And let me say, we celebrated hard. It was a full three day event, and we didn't plan on missing any part of it, not the three of us, and the newbies we dragged on to this little venture. Sadly, the third of our trio was still on the road, reaching moving towards her destination, after all while I was to young and still in school, I was skipping for this convention, Brandin did not attend college, but Kris had, and she had called us just a half an hour ago to tell us she was stopping by her home to gather everyone, and head out.
Last year, when it was the three of us, we cosplayed, or dressed as those from an anime, a Japanese cartoon, as a group of characters from Naruto, myself playing the infamous Uchiha, Itachi, the killer of all of his clan except for his little brother Uchiha, Sasuke, who my friends and I referred to as 'Emo boy' or 'The Whiner, and had joined the even more dangerously known, 'Akatsuki' after finishing the massacre. I would be in my comfy robe, if it weren't for the fact the convention didn't actually start till tomorrow. Today was Thursday; it would start at noon on Friday. Brandin had not been an Akatsuki, we had put him in a plain black cloak and leant him one of my many hitai-ate's, head bands, and donned him as the 'mute' sound ninja.
He had gotten many hugs of sympathy last year for that guise. And Kris, had dressed up as the masochistic, worshipper of Jashin, the god of chaos and destruction, Hidan. Who was also a member of the Akatsuki. We made quite the group last year, not to mention quite the party goers.
Enough about last year, that rocked, but this year's gonna be a fucking blast. My mind said to my conscious, cutting it off on it's reminiscing, it did that often, but then again, my mind never shuts up. Despite this fact how ever, I agreed with it immensely, this year, we had the entire Akatsuki, we had a Tobi, a Deidara, a Kisame, a Pein, a Konan, a Sasori, a Kakuzu, a Hidan, a Zetsu, and an Itachi, all who had their cloaks and cosplay props, as well as supplies such as face paint and masks, or in the one who would be playing Zetsu, Daniel's case, a Venus fly trap head that would surround his shoulders, neck, and head.
It was going to be cramped in our TWO hotel rooms though, the Hyatt Regency, the hotel that was connected directly to the Greater Columbus Convention Center, and agreed to host the convention, had supplied us with very nice rooms, but they were a bit small for five girls and five guys, the guys particularly, as I didn't think Brandin would be keen on sharing a bed with another male, as well as Cody, or Daniel, or Will for that matter.
My mother and Kris's mom, who had also agreed to chaperone, had purchased their own room, Mary though, as we all knew her, or as those who had been around Kris long enough tended to call her 'mom,' had also purchased a badge as to get into the convention as well. I was not comfortable calling Mary 'mom.' So to me, she was just Mary. Never the less though, she was one of the coolest people besides my mother when she made the effort, and my grandmother, I knew.
I grunted as Brandin had to stop me from running into a wall as we reached our designated room, the gold lettering on it shining in the dim light of the hall way '234.' In which I slipped out my hotel key and put it in the slot, watching the light underneath the door turn green before opening it and slipping in. My mother who was sitting on a couch in the corner glanced up at us from her magazine. Her own piercing blue eyes staring at us before she muttered, "What were you two doing?"
"Brandin made a break for it on the way back from the soda machine." I stated dully while Brandin looked innocently over at the wall beside him, staring at his reflection in the mirror, he was wearing a white wife beater and his own pair of denim jeans, along with a dirty old pair of sneakers, "We were discussing sleeping arrangements."
"Your daughter tackled me." He muttered dully. My mom glanced at us, looking back and forth with her eye brows raised but no actual surprise on her face, after she had found us in a wrestling match with Brandin on top of me and myself under him two years back, she didn't find things like that surprising any more, before muttering, "Brandin."
"Aye ma'am?" I blinked and looked at Brandin before snickering, he had a habit of doing that, he glanced at me and shot a half hearted glare, he unlike so many other full hearty boys that did not learn, respected my mother, and even feared her, my mom knew this to a 'T' and she was glad because of it, in turn he was one of the few 'males' besides my dad, that she liked.
"Don't run away when you two are supposed to stick together, Cass." I glanced at my mom, not saying anything, I usually didn't, my mother and I weren't what one would call, 'close', but then again, I guess we were sort of close, as close as a 16 year old that likes to keep to herself in her room, and a mother that prefers to sit and read all day or watch the news, can get anyways, "Don't tackle Brandin. It's not very mature."
"I'm mature?" I questioned aloud, she glared at me and I sighed, I didn't feel like arguing with her, I was really in too good of a mood, and the glare that she always shot me when I was stepping near that so tempting to step over line, was enough at the moment to stop me from starting something.
"More than me." Brandin muttered under his breath making me hide a slight snicker before shaking my head, we had been having an ongoing argument since I was in tenth grade and him in eleventh at the time, on who was more mature, usually I won by saying I was more mature than him, but when I thought hard about it, I usually came to the conclusion we were dead even.
He grinned at me and ruffled my hair making me hiss and bat at his hand, my eyes narrowed before I gained a bored look and fell back onto one of the two twin beds that were going to be used by my mother and Mary. "When is Kris gonna geeeeet here?" I whined making Brandin glance at me with a slight look, I usually didn't whine, in fact, I was the one to smack someone over the head and tell them to shut up, but since I was stuck in one of three hotel rooms at the time that were accessible to me, I was rather bored.
We didn't bring any games with us, just what we were going to need, and for me, that was precisely three pairs of clothing, my cosplay, I unfortunately, was not being Itachi again this year, but the Akatsuki leader, Pein, three pairs of shoes, my cosplay props, my wigs, a single head band, a pair of Rinnegan contacts, and the 'womanly necessities', incase someone got visited by the 'Red Fairy' that my friends and I so intimately called it, decided to visit anyone this weekend. Not to mention the simple things as well, I-pod, laptop, video camera, cell phone charger, a group of picked DVD's, and a wallet with my photo I.D. I would need to get my access badge and papers that said I even bought the badge that would confirm it truly was supposed to belong to me.
I frowned as I stared blankly up at the ceiling now, that was the thing about these conventions, one could not hold anything to the last minute or else they would be seriously rushed, as Kris and I had learned last year, but this time, we were prepared, a nuclear holocaust wouldn't stop us from being prepared, as we had began planning as soon as the last convention was over, from who we were going to ask if they wanted to come with, to how much the bill of the hotel was going to cost and what we were going to do about it.
The only thing that concerned me really, was if people were going to actually listen to me. I knew at times, I could be a hard ass, as well as the bossiest bitch around, but unlike when I was younger, where it was a constant thing, the years had mellowed me out, and it was to a dull, 'only when I need to be' thing. But in this case, I hoped people would listen, and they wouldn't argue with me at all, I mean, I was supposed to be the leader of this whole thing, and I technically was, I think because that's how it felt, but what good of a leader could I be if no one actually listened to me? Brandin and Kris I wasn't worried about, nor with Heather Jungling, the girl was like my little sister and she did everything I asked her to, this I was thankful for, or Daniel, he was my 'beat up buddy' and rival, but Kris, Brandin, Heather, and Daniel all had my back with out question and would follow me to Hell and back… the others, Cheryll, Danielle, Will, Cody, and Gavin, worried me slightly. But perhaps that was because I didn't know them as well as I did the other four.
"Why don't you two start taking your things to the other rooms?" My mother stated, thankfully relieving me of any distressing thoughts. Jumping up from the bed, I grabbed my suitcase and black trench coat, before rolling it out of the room and moving for room '236' which was right beside my mother's and Mary's room. I pulled out a separate hotel room key and slipped it in the thin slot, waiting for a few seconds before slipping it out, watching the light turn green before opening the door and pressing my body against it as to open it, then pulling my suit case in after me. I heard Brandin doing the same, only with a large duffle bag, across the hall from me, he would be in '237', which was directly across from '236.'
The door to the hotel room shut with a click, my eyes slowly moved to the large window that covered a good portion of the left wall before I dropped the handle to my suitcase lazily, allowing it to hit the ground, before wandering over to it, my hands clasped behind my back as I watched the clouds outside start to turn from white to gray, indicating a storm would be coming, but my eyes wandered across to the many skyscrapers in front of me before they wandered down to the ground, people looked like dolls from up here, and the roads look like something one might see on a 'Hot wheels' commercial.
My mind drifted back towards my problem, what if they DIDN'T listen? What was I, the leader, gonna do then? I couldn't just let them run off on their own, there were 10 of us, and the 10 of us were splitting off into groups of five, each with the partner we would have if we were actually IN the Akatsuki. Cheryll as Deidara with Danielle as Sasori, myself as Pein with Heather who was going to be cosplaying Konan, Brandin who would be dressed as Tobi would be partners with Daniel, who was going to be Zetsu seeing as we included Sasori, who was supposed to be dead, but really I knew for a fact Brandin would take no orders from Daniel, even if Tobi in the time range of the characters we were doing, was Zetsu's subordinate. And Kris would of course be playing Hidan again, while Gavin would be going as the greedy Kakuzu.
I brought a hand up and rubbed my temples with my middle finger and thumb, and that left Will as Kisame, and Cody as Itachi. Will McFarlin was the only person I could think of at the time at school, that I knew was tall enough and could pull of being Kisame, but I barely knew him, it was a spur of the moment thing for me when I asked him to join us, but he did agree, and read up, so I only hoped, he could pull it off, and Cody Valentine, also, like Will and Heather, was a sophomore that I knew could pull of Itachi easily, he was smart, cunning, and damn near perfect for the position.
I heard a knock on the door and walked silently over to it, ignoring the graying sky as I opened the door and stared at Brandin who stared at me for a moment before I stepped to the side, my 5' 6" form slightly taller than his 5' 3" but we both knew this had nothing to do with height, he could sense it. I shut the door and he sat down on one of the two double beds in the hotel room while I sat down on the chair that was in the upper left corner and rested an arm on the table. He studied me for a moment, the quiet comfortable yet tense and awkward, before he stated,"What's up?"
I slowly looked out the window for a moment, my eyes watching the clouds again before I muttered dully, "I'm worried." I looked back at him, then let my eyes wander a bit, there was a comfy chair that was sitting directly in front of me, but the straight backed wooden one I was in now seemed to be helping my mind clear a little, the floor's carpet was a dark brown, just like the rest of the hotels. Between the two beds that were against the back wall, there was a night stand with a phone and a clock on it, and a pair of lamps beside each bed for the user to turn on.
"About?" He asked, my eyes turned back onto him again, his cool blue gray ones now staring into my own before I muttered, "I'm not sure." My head bowed lightly, this was a down right lie, but I almost felt ashamed of being worried about something as petty as this, or perhaps it wasn't petty, perhaps I was moving from other experiences, where everything I had planned, fell to pieces, because people wouldn't listen, and it got screwed up, or maybe I was just an uber bitch that lost the command I was given, I didn't know really.
Or I had stopped caring, it was one or the other, I looked up noticing my comrade in crime was still looking at me with an unconvinced look. Slowly, I looked out the window, and got up, placing my hands with their chewed fingernails behind my back, my class of 2009 silver ring shining lightly with the slow gray light that came through the window, I began to pace, "Okay, say no one listens to me, say everything goes to hell, we all have a fucked up time, and we spent about 900 dollars on it, what do we do? What do I do? What the hell type of leader am I if I don't get my friends to listen to what I have to say Kelevra?" I finally questioned aloud.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't listening." Brandin said, my eyes narrowed on him as I clenched my hands into fists, my death glare shot into his eyes and he raised his hands in surrender and stated, "Sorry… natural reply."
I huffed and gained a half lidded gaze looking to the side before murmuring dully, "That's not cool man…."
He was silent before sighing and muttering, "Don't worry about it Fire." I frowned as he used my nickname, "You got me and Kris, and Heather too, we're not gonna let anything like that happen to you, and if we do, you know you get to yell at us, you can't be a good leader with out bravery and courage and with no fear, there is neither remember? You can't be brave if you're not afraid. Bravery isn't being fearless Fire, with no fear, there's no bravery, all leaders are brave…" He got up and placed a hand on my shoulder, I blinked as he smirked at me, "So don't worry about it, you're a good leader Fire. If they don't listen, you'll find a way to get them to, and we'll beat the tar outta them for not doing so."
I blinked for a moment and nodded, not exactly feeling self assured but a little better than I had been feeling before, he moved his hand off my shoulder and placed a hand on my head ruffling my hair, "You worry to much kid." I smacked his hand away and poked his forehead muttering, "and you worry too little old man." He rubbed his forehead and grimaced at me replying sourly, "Trust me brat if I worried so little, would I have asked what was wrong?" I was about to answer but tensed as the door clicked and the knob turned and the door opened. The light from the hall way flooding in, I stared as did Brandin, before a female voice stated with a gasp from the silhouette, "SINNERS!"
"Kris!" I stated happily, I lunged forward and hugged the heavy set girl donned in black. Her black short cut hair fashioned to tuck in front and behind her ears, her bangs slightly above her eyebrow revealing her right brow to be pierced. Her black rimmed glasses were slightly adjusted from the off balance that I had caused when I hugged her, her black TRIPP pants chinking as the chains clinked together as she stepped back while hugged me back to keep her balance.
"Jeeze Cass, glad to see you and Kelevra here weren't doing anything." I smiled and shook my head stepping back before stating dully, "Never Kris."
"Don't ever say Never." Brandin stated beside me, I glared at him for a moment before he smirked and stated, "The future doesn't share it's secrets." I twitched before slamming my fist into his shoulder, he stopped for a moment and slowly put his hand on his shoulder stating, "OOOOW!" I glared, I didn't even punch him that hard…. Did I? I shrugged and turned to Kris, "Where's the others and your mom?"
"They're down in the lobby, your mom is going down there right now, so we can talk." The door shut behind her as she placed her suit case against the wall, she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed while I sat down on to chair next to the table again. Brandin sat down silently on the bed quietly, the three of us silent before she stated, "So how have you two been?" We shrugged, mumbling passive responsive before I glanced at her, "How's college?" She inhaled and then exhaled, stating, "Stressful… but doable… it's nice to be away from home… but I can't say I don't miss it." I blinked and nodded, the three of us silent again before she stated, "So... What's going on?" I shrugged before Brandin stated, "Fire's worried about her point in command."
"Hm?" Kris glanced at me and I sighed, I glared down at the ground before shrugging and muttering, "I just…don't want everything to go to hell because of me. Or anyone else." Slowly Kris nodded to this before stating, "Well, I can see why you're a little worried, but don't stress over it…." I shut my eyes and leaned back, tilting my head back I stared up at the ceiling before murmuring, "I will anyways…" It was true, I always worried over the simple things, the little things, but little did I know, after tonight, the days that would follow, would be one of the most dangerous and adventurous times of all our lives.
Reg POV:
Ten figures sat on a giant stone statue of a pair of hands that came up from the dark ground of the cave, all solid and quiet for the moment as they stood on their own designated finger. One was hunched over as they sat on their stone finger, they waited patiently for the figure on the right thumb to speak, his eyes glowing as his pupils were surrounded by six pupils in the iris, he slowly looked around before murmuring, "It has been a while since we have all come together physically, to one place."
They remained quiet for a moment before the man on the left ring finger stated, "Yes…" His voice was cool and sophisticated; he raised a hand slightly, "May I ask… why you have called for such a gathering?" The others murmured their agreement in grunts and low murmurs. The female figure on the right middle finger cleared her throat lowly, they quieted, the figure on the right thumb nodded his head murmuring, "Certainly… Kisame… "He raised his voice slightly, so the others could hear him correctly, "We have finally finished removing the things that scum Orochimaru left behind-"
"That's why you called us un!? For something as stupid as that!?" A man snarled angrily, the figure glared at him, hissing lowly, "Silence Deidara." He tilted his head lightly, "And we have found something…. Interesting… something that he was most unfortunate to leave for us to find…"
The group was quiet before he waited for a reaction, finding none; he let out a grunt then continued, "We have found a universe parallel to ours, accessible to us thanks to Orochimaru's research of it and our own jutsu research." The silence that followed was tense and filled with electricity, suddenly the male on the right finger spoke quietly, but loud enough for the other's to hear, "It does not sound like something Orochimaru would easily leave behind… and what is the importance of this other universe? How do we know it runs parallel to our own?"
"Because holding open a segment of the space time continuum can only be done for so many seconds and it depends on the ones who open it, it must be parallel because there is no other way Orochimaru could go to it." The only female amongst them stated. They were quiet again for a moment before the figure on the right index finger, the one who had spoken out before, murmured lowly, "Yeah, that bastard Orochimaru has been kinda quiet lately un."
"He's not even there any more." A voice hissed out in a robotic tone, only for another voice to emit from the figure, sounding human now, "We have searched high and low and have yet to find the fucker." His gaze which was that of moon lit globes moved slowly over to the right thumb, "So what are we going to do about this other 'universe?'"
"….We are going to do nothing to it… for now." The man on the right thumb stated, "We do not know how it could effect our own, being parallel to us, but that is not why it interests me… what does, is in Orochimaru's notes, he claimed to have found people who have foresight of our own universe, to these who it concerns, we, as well as our targets, and the villages, as well as its secrets, are almost common knowledge to these people."
"That's nonsense, how could they know anything about us?" A deep voice came from the left middle finger's figure, his own black eyes and brown pupils glaring lightly, "Even if they did run parallel, they shouldn't kno-"
He was cut off by the figure on the right thumb who murmured, "Yet they do… apparently, a story was made about our universe from one man, Orochimaru did not write down his name, but wrote on to say that, the universes children, and teens for the most part, as well as adults, listen to it, and thus, to those who read it, we are common knowledge, from our techniques, to our pasts…" His eyes lowered, "As well…as what order we die and how."
"….that is troublesome…" The figure on the right figure murmured, his onyx eyes staring at the right thumb, "But… would be a huge advantage to us… if we knew what was going to happen next…"
"Precisely Itachi san…" The right thumb stated with a nod, his eyes moved to the others, "While reading the traitor's research, Konan san found something interesting." They turned their sights to the female figure, her blue eyes stared at them all for a moment before she murmured lowly, "There is more than one story, and ours is what they call an 'anime'. A sophisticated cartoon of artistic value, the equivalency of a comic book, only in book format and our reading ways, right to left, every now and then, they get together to form a 'convention' dubbing them 'anime conventions' or 'cons.' Usually these 'cons' have a name of some sort, where these 'experts' of anime as well as fans, gather, dressing as their favorite characters which they called 'cosplay'. Usually it is a long event, as well as up to three days, some times more."
"We're going to one." The right thumb stated as his female comrade spoke, "And it is there we will find the information that we seek, by force or by willingness, most of those who attend these are teenagers who 'cosplay' so we should fit in just fine, stares will be likely, but probably of the odd likeness." Chuckles went around the room from this and the man himself held a tone of amusement, "But we will have to find residence, a way to infiltrate, and a group of 'experts' that 'know' us."
"Hehehe, when do we leave Leader sama?" Kisame spoke out, the group all wondering the same, 'Leader sama,' or Pein, pulled his lips back into a wicked grin, "As soon as you all begin to center your chakra into the palms of the hands."