Konnichiwa minna-san! I decided to re-do the first chapter! Yeah, I know I'm great. Mwahahaha!

Now, the honor of doing the first disclaimer of this story goes to...GAARA!

Gaara: What. Am. I. Doing. Here? *Death glare*

Blu: Save it honey, your glares don't work on me. Now just be a good panda and do the disclaimer!

Gaara: *Still glaring* Blu3297 doesn't own Naruto. There happy?

Blu: Thank you darling, go back to Suna now, don't you have papers to sign?

Gaara: THAT'S RIGHT! MY PAPERWORK! *disappears*

Blu: -_-* oh well, enjoy!

I don't own Naruto

JUST ANOTHER DAY? MAYBE NOT

Drifting, pondering, enduring, accepting...that was all I did now.

There has always been the question of believing in fate or not. Some pessimists like to think that everything is decided, while the optimists firmly believe on making their own destiny. Destiny is an odd word. It can get you thinking. A lot.

As for me, I believe in neither and in both. Fate plays a hand in some while our own hands can change some. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a thing called as luck, would there?

What's that got to do with this story? Well, almost every thing, because it was my desire to change the predetermined tale of the Shinobi world that got me into this.

The world of 'Naruto' always intrigued me. The thought behind every move seemed so...well, elite. Though some incidents made my heart ache due to the injustice done to them.

I made illustrations of who I could be in that world, I made stories of the injustices being erased. But of course, I didn't lose sight of the reality. I didn't forget the fact that my parents are far flung in opposite corners of the world, with not a concern of what went on in my life. Cliched sad life story? I'm afraid it happens a lot.

So what changed? Or rather, how did it change? It's often the most simplest of things that make the biggest of differences, right? Which is what happened to me.

All it took was an absent-minded wish on a rare shooting-star.

I was just between the boundaries of being fast asleep and almost awake, when I felt it. I felt strong wind whipping against my face and a sense of being airborne. Ah, what a dream. Is this how it feels to fly? But this felt creepily real…so I opened my eyes to find myself apparently having a free fall without any parachute or sky diving gear.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" I'm screaming for my life as I hurtled through the clouds and blue sky towards the huge green canopy below. I'm sure a couple of birds had squawked in the shock of seeing me shooting past them. If I wasn't close to dying, I would have found that hilarious.

The trees got closer and closer and I braced myself for bone-breaking impact. Nothing happened. Oh I felt it alright, I knew I was bumping from bough to bough but I couldn't feel any pain. Then with a final 'thump!' I landed on the ground. My eyes, which were tightly shut, opened hesitantly when I felt my surroundings become stationary.

I was in a forest; what's more, it was an animated forest. It looked just like a cartoon program except this animation looked kind of familiar…It seemed to be early in the morning. The air was cool and loud chirpings of birds filled the forest. I had landed on the grassy floor and a few broken tree branches lay around me.

Looking down, I found myself in clothes which I faintly recognized. A dark blue turtle-neck jacket which was zipped down half way, revealing a netted shirt inside and beige knee-length shorts which had bandages wrapped at the ends. I touched my head and felt soft poky brown hair which was just till the nape of my neck. Then it hit me, I looked exactly like the character I had drawn.

No, no wait. This is all a dream right? Pretty realistic though, wait I think I know where this animation is from. But just then, I felt another presence. I don't know how, I just knew that someone was standing and watching me, not too far either.

"Who's there? I know you're watching." I called out cautiously.

I pinpointed the presence to a tree and eyed it as I heard small sounds of movement. It sounded like someone shifting uncomfortably after being caught. A minute later, a young boy of my age jumped down from the tree and walked towards me. Stopping a few feet before me, he asked "Who are you?"

I was in too much shock to even pay attention to the question. Why in shock? Because the guy who had jumped down was all too familiar to me. Seeing him also made me realize where I was and I figured out which animation it was. Everything was simply jumbling about in my mind as I tried to pick out something which made sense. Then, one thought rang out clearly

'I got my wish'

"Are you deaf? I asked who are you?" the boy sat down in front of me. Can you guess who I was facing right now? Yup, none other than Sasuke Uchiha from the anime series 'Naruto'

I didn't answer as I took in his appearance. That same blue shirt and beige shorts, but minus the headband. I guess he hasn't graduated from the academy yet. His raven locks bounced slowly in the breeze and his face was laced with impatience. That made me remember what he had asked.

"I'm...Akemi." I said unsurely. I used the name which I had kept for my character. I was a bit relieved when the impatience disappeared from his face. He nodded and continued "What are you doing here?"

"I really don't know." I said truthfully. I looked down again and felt his eyes on me. I tried to move my legs, but they suddenly started throbbing and I cried out "Ow! What the hell?!"

Sasuke's eyes went to my legs and he placed a hand on my right shin. I flushed a bit with the contact. Hey I can't help it, I've never been close to a guy before. Plus, he's one of my favorite characters in the anime.

"Your legs are injured. I presume you can't walk." He stated evenly.

"Thank you Captain Obvious, I would have never figured it out!" I spoke sarcastically and his eyes narrowed. "Now can you help me out here?"

"Why should I?" he asked haughtily. My jaw dropped open in indignation. OK, now I had officially lost all my respect for this guy. Way to go Sasuke. But I still can't stand, damn it!

"Lose the attitude, smart guy. Oh well, I suppose it can't be helped if your too weak to do it. I'll just stay here till I can stand up by myself." I said innocently and lay back down.

I heard a faint snort and the next thing I knew, I was being hoisted into the air by two strong arms. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" I yelled.

"Helping you out. Unless you want me to dump you there." Sasuke muttered as he ran through the forest.

I scowled and turned away. What a lovely situation. What could be worse than finding out that one of the characters you admired turned out to be such a jerk? Don't get me wrong, from what I've seen in the episodes, he's got really cool techniques. But I always wondered that could your clan's death make you so emotionally constipated? I mean look at Naruto, the poor guy doesn't know his parents and he's shunned by the whole village and yet, he's so cheerful.

"So…how did you know I was there?" he asked with a casual expression, but I could see curiosity burning him. I grinned and bluffed "I have a secret technique." When in reality, I had absolutely no idea how I did it. Take that, smart ass.

His eyes grew slightly wide and he looked straight at me. I almost started laughing but then, he stopped in front of a building. "The hospital." He responded to my questioning look.

The medic was a kind old lady, who finished healing me pretty soon. Sasuke waited patiently by my side and I wondered why he didn't leave. He's supposed to be a completely uncaring person, so why wait so long for one girl? Ah, it's probably because he wants to know more about my 'technique'.

I almost snorted in laughter as we exited the hospital. But my laughter was cut short when I heard a yell behind us. "Hahahaha! You'll never catch me!" and an orange blur whizzed past with 3 furious Chuunins on his heels.

"Was that…Naruto?" I said absently. Sasuke cocked his eyebrows and asked incredulously "You know him?"

"Who wouldn't know him?" I grinned and turned around. What I saw made me crack up so hard that I fell to the ground laughing. The Hokage mountain's faces had multicolored designs on it which glared at every villager.

"Ahahahaha! Trust Naruto to think of something like this!" I laughed with my hands on my sides.

The Chuunins rushed by, ignoring the blonde prankster hiding behind the sheet that-looked-like-a-fence. "Hey!" I called out as he uncovered himself.

Naruto gave a wild start and looked around before staring at me in confusion. "That was a pretty awesome prank!" I hollered and ran up to him.

"You...think so?" he asked unsurely, expecting me to scorn him any second.

"Yup! What's your name?" I asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"It's Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki!"

"I'm Akemi!" Wait a minute, what was my last name? For the life of me, I couldn't remember...Is this normal?!

"Anyways..." I continued "Don't you think Sasuke's freaky?" I added in a low voice and gestured to the raven haired Uchiha, who glared suspiciously.

"You think so too? You're not a fan of his?" He whispered in glee.

"Hell no! Who'd be a fan of that ice cube?!" I yelled out. Then I realized my mistake when I saw Sasuke right beside me, full out glaring.

"What was that?" he said menacingly, a black aura swirling around him.

"What was what?" I asked innocently. "Ah yes! I never said this! Thanks for helping me out." I bowed low. That seemed to thaw him out, as his expression returned to his normal, arrogant self.

"Hm."

"So…now that's done. YOU'RE AN ICE CUBE! MWAHAHA! Naruto! Run for it!" and I ran from the place with Naruto hot at my heels and I'm sure I left a poor, flabbergasted Uchiha behind.

Naruto and I were soon having a hearty laugh over ramen at Ichiraku's. Did I mention that I've never had proper ramen before? When I told Naruto, he had a horrified look which suggested how I survived all these years and then, he launched into a speech about the oh-so-awesome qualities of this made-for-the-gods food.

I grinned, looking around me. I was in Naruto! The happiness was too overwhelming and I continued to grin in delight. Naruto then poked my side saying "Hey, what's that hanging from your waist?"

I looked down and my eyes widened. Anime tears of happiness started to flow down my cheeks. Is it? Could it be…? Cue drum roll…..

"It's my LUCKY CAP!" I hug the blue and black cap to death with Naruto sweat dropping.

I jammed the cap on my head and grinned as if the incident never took place. All of a sudden, an old man materializes beside us. I jump off the seat in fright and yell "HOLY CHEESECAKE! It's an old guy!"

Naruto and the old man look at me weirdly, but then I notice the guy's clothes. "Ooh! You're the Sandaime Hokage! Sorry, didn't think you could do that!" Then, I stopped dead. I had unknowingly insulted the Hokage, but he wouldn't harm me, would he? Nervously laughing on the inside, I convince myself that old men do not hit little girls!

The Hokage's expression was torn between amusement and indignation. Finally, he decided to laugh. "So little girl, what's your name?"

I frowned a bit, because I hated it when people called me 'little girl'. But he's the Hokage and I can't go around shooting my mouth off, now can I?

"With all due respect, please don't refer to me as little girl. My name is Akemi." I gritted out.

"Ok Akemi, I'm sure you're not from around here." The Hokage said bracingly. I shook my head. "So, where did you come from?"

"I dropped from the sky." I said with a solemn expression. Sweat drops all around. "What? It's the truth! I even left a crater where I landed! If you don't believe me, then ask Ice cube over there. He's been listening the entire time!" I pointed to a pillar and Sasuke stepped out, glaring at me for busting him.

"Busted!" I smirked cheerfully. He kept on glaring, but didn't say anything.

"So, is it true?" The Hokage ignored the heated exchange and asked the silent Uchiha. Sasuke nodded and went back to sulking.

"Since you...er...dropped from the sky, I don't suppose you have any training. Would you like to learn?" The Hokage offered.

My eyes must have lit up like diamonds as the Hokage raised his eyebrows "I'll take that as a yes. Come child."

I nodded and waved to the boys. "Bye Naruto! Bye Ice cube-chan!" Sasuke went red at the new nickname and I gleefully saw it. Oh man, he's never going to hear the end of it!

People stared at me curiously as I walked by the Hokage's side. I was awestruck as I saw the Hokage's building. Sure I had seen it on T.V a lot of times, but actually being in it was better!

"So Akemi, tell me how you came to Konoha." He sat down at his table.

"Well, I found myself falling out of the sky and I landed in the forest. I found Sasuke there and he took me to the hospital as my legs were injured, then I met Naruto who was running from three Chuunins. Then, I introduced myself to him and then after saying uh…good bye to Sasuke, we went to the ramen stand where you appeared." I finished and stood. Then I noticed that I still had my cap on and I took it off sheepishly.

The Hokage didn't notice as he was deep in thought. Then he called someone and said "Send for Iruka." Iruka? Wasn't he Naruto's teacher in the academy?

Iruka appeared the next moment in a cloud of smoke. "You called, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes Iruka, this is Akemi. I want you to train her." He gestured to me. I jerked up with a stunned look. He continued "I don't suppose you have any knowledge of jutsus, but do you have any martial arts training?"

"Uh, I did a bit of kickboxing I guess." They both stared at me, confused. "It's a martial art which makes use of mainly the legs." I explained.

They exchanged a look and then the Hokage requested me to wait outside. Oh, they're going to talk about me, are they?

Shortly, Iruka came out and gestured to me to follow him.

He led me to a training ground and explained about the 12 hand seals- Bird, Boar, Dog, Dragon, Ox, Tiger, Serpent, Rat, Horse, Monkey, Rabbit and Ram. He proceeded to teach me the basic academy level jutsus and their categories- Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu. I knew all their names and they were surprisingly easy for me. The Henge no jutsu and Bushin no jutsu were among the ones I found easiest.

However, my first attempt at the Bushin no Jutsu was rather similar to Naruto's...it resulted in a lame, colorless copy sprawled out next me. Iruka's eyebrow twitched, but he kept smiling. For that, I was thankful.

"...Not bad. Now come, spar with me." Iruka sensei said patiently. I looked doubtfully at the kunai offered to me. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you." He smiled reassuringly.

The minutes that followed have to be the most humiliating ones of my life. I can't recall the number of times I fell flat on my back. I tried to remember the episodes where there were battles and thought about using their moves, but of course, it was easier said than done.

Something flared within me and I felt downright pissed. Why?! Why was it so hard?! This time, I charged at him with fire burning inside of me, but his response was odd. It was as if everything happened in slow motion, for me at least. Surprise flickered across his face as I managed to kick the kunai from his hand. "Well done." he smiled genuinely.

Suddenly, I got a feeling like I had in the forest. "Iruka sensei! Someone is watching us!" I called out and he immediately began looking around. He too looked around when the 'someone' stepped out. I was, needless to say, flabbergasted at the sight of the person.

Flyaway, gravity-defying silver hair, a mask covering most of his face and one eye nonchalantly taking in everything, Hatake Kakashi walked towards us with that wretched Icha Icha paradise in his hand.

"HOLY CHEESECAKE! It's Kakashi!" I cried and dramatically pointed at him. He raised an eyebrow, a sweat drop appearing, and stopped in front of me "How do you know me?" Oh heck, didn't think about that one.

"I..uh…heard some people talking about you!" I nervously scratched the back of my head, a dreadful habit.

"Hmmm…so how did you sense me? Even Iruka couldn't."

"Uh…I don't know. I guess I knew you were there."

"So, Kakashi-san, do you think she's a chakra sensor too?" Iruka sensei asked. I felt weird on being scrutinized so thoroughly by two senior ninjas.

"Must be. Hokage-sama had granted her permission to be promoted." Kakashi then took out a Konoha headband. My face spread into a wide grin as I took the headband, this was too good to be true. "If she can last in a spar with me." My grin dropped and the pallor of my face must have been all to visible as Kakashi gave me a wide grin.

Gulping to myself, I faced him while his nose was still buried in the book. "You can start." he said. I know he does it with Team 7 as well, but he just stood there with his book as I tried to attack him. Sadly, I have a short temper activated by people who ignore me and now my punches and kicks were driven by pure irritation.

Panting, I was on my knees a few paces away, glaring at the man. Ok, I've got to calm down. People like Kakashi only take advantage of situations like these.

With renewed thoughts, I ran at him again and tried to kick his hand that held the book. Amazingly, it seemed like his hand came in slow motion towards my foot and I managed to kick that hand instead. Kakashi actually raised his eyes from the book and regarded me thoughtfully. Without waiting for him to say anything, I ran again and aimed a swift kick to his arm.

Catching, the other arm as it came to block, I surveyed his expression with glee as his book fell from his hands as my leg connected with the arm. His eye was wide for a second before he regained his composure. Giving me a smile, he merely dropped the head band in my hands and walked off with the book.

Iruka smiled at me and instructed me to be there on the day of the team sorting and then he left. "I did it..." I mumbled tiredly and sat back on the grass. I started to wonder where I could have the headband.

Finally tying it to my right upper arm, I walked off towards the village. This was like the best day ever! Oh yeah, we would be getting sorted into teams the day after tomorrow…I really hope I'm in team 7!

Oh wait a minute! Where the hell will I sleep?! It was already close to dusk now and I was beginning to feel mighty hungry! Let me tell you, with me, being hungry and tired is so not a good combination!

After dragging my feet for another hour, I slumped down on a bench and sighed. Damn, way to go to ruin a good mood. "Hey Akemi-chan!" a familiar voice yelled out.

"Hey Naruto…" I said glumly.

"What's wrong?" he plopped down in the seat beside me. His blue eyes were lit with concern and I felt happy when I saw it. Well someone cares. I smiled sadly and said "I don't have a place to go…"

He blinked. "Is that all? Then you can come with me!" Naruto said cheerfully. I lit up at that and hugged Naruto till he was gasping for breath. "Oh thank you, thank you!"

"It's ok Akemi-chan, now can you let go? Can't…breathe!" he gasped. I drew back and grinned brightly. My first friend in Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto. A little predictable, ne?

I have only one word to say. REVIEW! OR DIE BY A NOSEBLEED FROM ITACHI, DEIDARA, SASORI (OR KONAN FOR GUYS) Coz I love the Akatsuki. Wait, that was more than one word.

The main point is: Reviews=more chapters

Ok, now I'm off to Suna to annoy my fav panda! Ja ne!