AN: I know that I should be working on my other stories but I just had to write this, I give the credit to my younger sister who came up with the idea, and just to warn those who read this the characters are really OC so yeah, I don't own anything but I hope you still enjoy. :D
Invisible
"Are we there yet?" Looking down for the fifth time that day I couldn't help but sigh in annoyance as I watched my friend slowly come up the mountain. It was pure torture to be held back by his slowness, if I could have just gone by myself then I could have already been there. Although I love the guy, it's not like I can stand him for too long. "Sakura, we really need to stop and take a break, I'm almost out of rope."
"Naruto, this is the fifth time we've stopped for you, and I've had it up to here with it!" I made a motion with my hand to put the words to good use, then I noticed the other climber come up from where Naruto was to where I was. He gave me a look so I would stop talking and suck it up. Kakashi was always breaking up fights between Naruto and I that it wasn't even funny, but the truth of the matter was that we only fought so much because we were so much alike. Although Naruto has the bluest eyes you'll ever see, his hair is another story. Blonde, blonde, and more blonde. I just couldn't stand it, the way it stuck up in so many different directions, ugh. Anyway, after we got Naruto some more rope we were moving again.
Kakashi was beaming with excitement; this was the first assignment that we have been able to go on ever since the accident on Mt. Everest. Yeah, I just happened to break my leg on a twenty foot drop, luckily it wasn't serious and I was clear to do assignments as soon as my leg was healed. Tsunade, my doctor and mentor wanted me to lay off for about two months. Right, like that would ever happen. Let's just say, I'll probably end up dead as soon as we all get back safely. The thing is that the government would stand up against her because I'm the best person that they have to go out in the field, and the one that knows the most able inactive volcanoes.
After reaching the top of the mountain, we started our descent down toward the base of the inside of the volcano. Most would ask, isn't there dangerous gases down there? All I can say is there use to be, but not anymore. It's inactive, duh. Well, the inside was amazing! There was an uncharted cave system down there that had crystals all over the place, unfortunately we weren't there to explore, we were there to see if this volcano was actually inactive or not. Yeah I know, I already said that it was inactive, but it is my job to make sure that it stays that way. The reason that Naruto and Kakashi was there is because, Naruto was my camera guy, and Kakashi was my calculations guy. He knows everything there is to know about math, that's why I'm not in that department, and Naruto, well, he's a genius when it comes to technology. I would never go near that stuff, not in a million years. Cat, I'm a kitty cat, and I dance, dance, dance, and I dance, dance, dance. (Random moment.) So, I just had a mental breakdown about kitty cats, and yeah, I'm obsessed.
The base seemed to be stable, but one can't be too sure when stepping on what used to be molten lava. Bending down to test the surface with my thermometer the reading that came back was a good sign. The temperature was a good solid 72° and didn't look like it was going to buckle anytime soon. So I watched Naruto start to put up his camera gear, the kind that doesn't break under pressure, or heat. Which was a good thing; because no matter how long this volcano has been inactive it still had spots that could melt any normal camera. Good thing that they all cost a fortune, if I remember correctly one camera by itself cost about $2,500; of course they were built by NASA, the best of the best. All I can say is, we'll see, I say that because NASA doesn't really go out in the field often, and their prototypes never really work. I know that most would think, wow! Cameras from NASA, well I know for sure that they aren't all that they're cracked up to be. One of Naruto's camera lenses was already cracked from falling five feet above the base of the volcano. So now he was analyzing it, inspecting exactly what happened to the camera and how it could have broken in the first place. I sighed and twisted my short hair into a tight pony tail, making sure that I had it out of my face so that I could work more fluently. I turned to see that Naruto had asked something of Kakashi; it looked as though they were looking at the film that was in the broken camera.
Becoming quite curious, I decided to walk over to the two of them and see what all the fuss was about. "Naruto, what is so fascinating about that broken camera? I mean if it doesn't work just leave it here. We can't be slowed down by that stupid expensive thing. I don't care if NASA made it or not, just leave it."
"Oh, hey, Sakura. I was just taking apart the camera because something interested me."
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yeah, I haven't taken any pictures on it yet, but there are three spaces already taken up. So I wanted to see what was on them." I scratched my head and closed my eyes, this was more than I wanted to know, but I still needed to know. If that made any sense at all, because it really didn't make sense to me either. So I reopened my eyes and gave Naruto a quick nod to show him that I was ready to see what was on them. After clicking several different buttons three images appeared on the screen. The first one was nothing really fascinating; it consisted of the base of the volcano and a few rocks. The second one was just a pitch black image; the last one had a very confusing image in it. There was a figure in this one, but it was hard to make out. Naruto took out the film from the camera and brought out his very expensive laptop so he could enhance the photo. Waiting for the stupid thing to start up, the three of us decided to make camp on the base of the volcano. We brought out sleeping bags and other camp site stuff, because we we're planning to stay there for around a week, depending on the time it spent to collect the samples that were needed. All I can say about that is, sweet! A whole week in the bottom of an inactive volcano. Who else could say that they spent their week's vacation doing research from inside a volcano? No one and that's the fun part about it.
Once the laptop was powered up, Naruto put the film into a special slot were it was supposed to go. Remember that I am not a technological person, so I don't know what the heck that thing is called. After he got it up and running he put the images into this high tech program that started to clear the images a bit. Now we could kind of make out what the black image was. It looked to be some kind of corner that the next picture showed the figure that we had seen before but this time we could make out some more details about it. Turned out that the figure was a guy, we couldn't really tell anything about him other than that he was down here in a volcano and the thing was considered government property so now we have to go look for him and it is going to be a pain in my ass, excuse my language, but it is true.
So now we have to go all through this volcano in search of a manic that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kakashi was the one leading us through this thing and I was fuming. I mean, I'm supposed to be the expert here, not him. Still, even though I'm complaining so much, I still wouldn't want to go first.
After we had proceeded into the cave systems down in the volcano, the temperature was rapidly increasing so I had to stop our little search party to take a sample since I always come prepared. Sticking the thermometer into the ground the reading came back with shocking results. It jumped from 72° to 102° in the matter of 2 minutes.
"Okay, Naruto, Kakashi, we have a problem." They both looked down to where I was on the ground taking the reading with expressions like, 'yeah right, nice try Sakura, but it's not going to work this time.' So I motioned for Kakashi to come down to my level so he could see for himself. Low and behold his eyes widened to about the size of his head and it looked like he was going to drop down dead. Poor guy.
"Sakura, this can't be happening! The volcano can't still be active, that's impossible!" I stood up and looked at him and shrugged. I knew that it wasn't possible but still I also had a feeling that this beast was hiding from us in some way. I personally checked this particular volcano last year, and I didn't find anything unusual so I just signed it off as inactive, but now I know that I was wrong and that is hard for me to admit , because I'm rarely wrong when it comes to this stuff, I'm an expert remember. Shaking my head I just turned toward the direction that we were following then turned my head to look at where we had come from.
"Well, I don't have any answers to the questions on your face so I say we go back to camp and get our special gear just incase we run into dangerous gases or worse, magma." Grabbing my small back pack I started to head for our camp sight. Naruto was the first to follow, then the still shocked Kakashi did the same. In reality we were all freaking out we just a different way of showing it. Naruto, was unconsciously biting his nails while was trying to look everywhere but the ground. I didn't want to look at the ground because if I did it would just remind me that I had been wrong about my findings.
Making it back to the camp we all dressed in our fancy heat suits that can almost withstand anything, they can also withstand lava for around 5 minutes. NASA was the people that told us this, and yes, I don't like NASA, but some of the stuff they make can come in handy. So I kind of sort of trust these suits, that's only to a minimum though. I mean they did put some major work in these things, like submerging the suits in over 1,000 degree boiling water and it didn't even make the plastic model melt any. Then when they actually put the things in lava, (don't ask me how they did that because I don't want to know.) the model didn't start melting until 10 minutes later, of course humans aren't like plastic dummies but still that's pretty impressive, even for NASA!
Pulling the last of the suit on I turned around to pick up my small back pack when I noticed a shadow that wasn't there before. Suspiciously I slowly walked over to the corner that the camera had taken a picture of. When the shadow moved I just about jumped 15 feet up into the air, before a hand reached out and grabbed me. Instantly I felt heat pouring into the suit and I did everything I could to keep from screaming. It's not in my nature to scream so I didn't think that this would be a good time to start, but I did squeak from surprise. The figure pulled me down into the shadows of the rocks and brought me to eye level. What I saw, amazed me. It was a guy, with pure black eyes and dark black hair. He was glaring at me before he took in my own appearance. Since I had the stupid suit on it didn't show my light red hair, almost pink in certain lights, and it didn't show any of the clothes that I was wearing, but his glare softened into a blank look. He was obviously thinking about something, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what it was. After about a minute of just staring at each other we both turned to the sound of Naruto shouting my name. Too bad I wasn't there to kick the shit out of him for shouting like that in an active volcano. Sighing, I turned back to look at the guy in front of me.
"Listen I've loved this little staring contest, but I really need to get going… you shouldn't be here in the first place, it's government property and I could put your ass in jail if I really cared about that stuff, but if you would tell me what you're doing down here, then I won't tell anyone as long as you leave with my team and I." He just stared at me. Not moving, not blinking, just staring. I sighed again then moved to get up when I was dragged further down into the shadows. "Okay mister, if that's the way you want it fine, but I'm leaving now, good bye." Moving to get up again, he positioned himself so I couldn't moved anything but my head. Letting that sink in, I started thrashing around trying to free my arms and legs out from under him, the heat was still coming into my suit and it was almost suffocating. When I stopped struggling, he sat up against the rock then moved toward a whole that I didn't see before. After he was through it his head stuck out of the whole and he motioned for me to follow him. Now if anyone is listening to me right now, then you must know that I was freaking by then. I was stuck with the decision of following, or making a run for it. Of course, curiosity won out and I found my way down through the whole.
Yeah, I wasn't too happy on what I found there. Lava was everywhere and he was walking right up to the edge of it like it wasn't even affecting him. Finally just losing it I opened my mouth to tell him to stop, but then it was too late. He had jumped in! I couldn't believe my eyes! Someone had just committed suicide right in front of my eyes and I did nothing to stop it. Dropping to my knees in shock I watched as he emerged from the molting lava. Yep, I couldn't take any more, I let darkness take over my body as I fell flat on my face.
Stepping out of the lava I walked over to the girl who had past out with a worried look on my face. I tried to get her to respond by shaking her shoulder when I heard her friends calling. Still curious why she didn't follow me into the lava I picked her up and plunged in. The funny looking thing that she was wearing started to melt and then I understood, she couldn't withstand the heat of the lava. Before the suit was fully disintegrated I cooled as much as I could around her body so she wouldn't die from the heat. Instead her eyes opened instantly and she started screaming. I was confused about why she was screaming, she wasn't burning, she wasn't in danger, and she wasn't drowning. So I stopped moving and looked her right in the eyes. I created a bubble around us so she could speak then waited…and waited…and waited, and she still wouldn't speak. So I decided to break my own rules and ask her a question.
"Are you all right?" She blinked then shook her head no. So now I had a decision to make, take her back, or keep her down here with me to keep my secret. I knew how humans could be, they were cruel and hating to anything that was different to them, and I defiantly passed as different. The thing is I didn't ask for this, I didn't ask to be born like this, and growing up I didn't even realize a difference between me and the humans until my mother told me. Of course that was years ago and now she was gone. Shaking my head to clear all thoughts I once again paid my full attention to the girl. I think her name was Sakura. She was just staring, then she opened her mouth to say something, I held my breath wondering what she was going to say. Whether it was going to be good, bad, or ugly I was prepared for it.
"We're in lava? I'm not dead, why am I not dead yet?" I was surprised, I wasn't expecting that. More importantly, should I answer her? I just didn't know what to do at that moment. Deciding that she could probably handle the information better than what she did last time I would tell her what she wanted to know.
"You're not dead, because I can control the heat around us."
"Oh, I guess that would explain it. So how are you doing that?" Pulling the both of us back to the surface, I placed her on the edge of the pool and leaned against the rock next to her.
"It just comes naturally to me." She quickly pulled her legs out of the lava and stood up.
"That's real great, but…" I looked up at her from where I was and waited for her to think over the question that she wanted to ask. "Wait a minute, if you can do that, then are you the one making it look like this volcano was inactive." I nodded yes. "So in reality this volcano has always been active?" I nodded yes again. "This is impossible…" I waited for her to continue but she never did. I was pleased with the way she handled this kind of information. Sakura was very open minded about things and I was relived by that fact.
"SAKURA! WHERE YOU!" The both of us looked in the direction of her friends then back at each other.
"Listen dude, you should come with me so we can sort this mess out."
"No, I can't go with you, I have to stay here. If I would go up to the surface I would surly die." She looked over to where we came in at then back at me.
"But, you can't stay here in a volcano."
"Uh, yes I can, I've lived here for nearly 200 years now and I don't think that you have a right to tell me other wise. Now if you would like to leave, then go, I'm not stopping you." She put a hand on her hip and stuck her nose up in the air.
"Fine, I'll go, but don't expect me to come back unless you start messing with the volcano again. Oh, and, it better not show any signs of being active in the near future, or I'll have every reporter that I can find knocking on your door step."
"If you do that than I would make it erupt just for the hell of it. So make your choice." I could tell that she was working it over in her mind before she spoke again.
"Okay, I'll leave and not tell anyone about you, and…"
"You'll come back and visit every once in a while okay?" I was really hoping that she would say yes because she was the first human that I had ever told my secret to and she didn't try to kill me. I would hate to admit this but, I needed someone to talk to, if only for a minute. She stared at me with wide eyes until she finally realized why I would say something like that.
"What's you're name?"
"My name is, Sasuke Uchiha."
"Well, Sasuke. I'll be seeing you soon." With that she left the way she came to find her friends and to take them back to the surface.
Looking back on that encounter now, I find myself a little more humble to nature and what it can do exactly. Naruto and I still fight like brother and sister, and Kakashi is still there to break up our bouts. Still, finding a guy who lives in a volcano, and has for nearly 200 years is pretty life changing. As for ever seeing him again, I don't know if I ever will. I did go back once but he wasn't there, so I don't know if I should try again or just move on with my life. I will say this though, whatever he did that time that we were in the lava together changed my biological make up, and I find it harder and harder to go out into the cold. When most would think, 110° was way hot, it feels more like 72° to me. Now I can't explain why, but I have a feeling I'll see him sometime in the near future, because he's got some explaining to do! Sakura Haruno, signing off.
AN: Yay! It's finished if any of you are confused don't worry, I'll answer any questions that you may have, and criticism is welcome.