INTERLUDE

pRoLoGuE

Ari's POV

I gaped.

I stared.

I let out a sound that more than likely belonged to a velociraptor from Jurassic Freaking Park.

This news was huge. Bigger than huge. Bigger than the goddamn Colossal Titan, and I was expressing my shock in a most articulate way.

"Wha... you... Kami I... SENSEI!"

Smooth, Ari, very smooth.

Hibiki Sensei, brushing aside my lack of vocal abilities, grinned his sexy grin, placing his hands on his hips as he leaned closer. "Excited, huh?" he teased, flicking my nose with one smooth thumb.

I was practically bouncing on the balls of my feet, clutching the already wrinkled-and-nearly-unreadable paper in my slick hands. Butterfingers I was not this time 'round.

"B-But Sensei!" I squeaked, throwing my arms wide, looking up at him in the purest disbelief I'd felt in Kami knew how long (five months, actually, since that was when the whole Obito debacle had happened, but I digress). "We've only been you students for like, six months. And you're seriously entering us in the Chunin Exams?!"

He beamed proudly, flicking a few stray strands of ivory hair from his eyes. "Course I am. Why wouldn't I? You three have been doing one hell of an awesome job, considering you started training as Genin about eight years later than normal Suna kids. I have faith you'll do just as well as anyone else in those exams, and I want you to give it your all. But, it's completely your decision whether you participate or not, because it'll be your bodies on the line, not mine. Talk it over with your sisters and then come and find me, and we'll see about getting the forms ready. Ok?"

"Hell yes!" I fist-pumped, as excited as child discovering anime for the first time (one of the most beautiful moments of my life). I offered a cheesy salute, tapping two fingers to my forehead, before taking off in the direction of the Kazekage's mansion, throwing up waves of sand in my wake and not giving a damn about it.

The Chunin Exams.

I could not wait. And I knew Scar and Violet would be just as pumped for this epic development. How did I know, you ask? Well, lovely reader, we had this thing call Triplet Telepathy and we could totally read each other's minds, even when we were a thousand miles apart?

...Yeah. I wish. But no, that's not it. I just had a feeling, a tingling at the back of my neck, a flutter at my feet, that told me we were gonna rule these exams.

How could anyone say no?

_______________________________

Scarlette's POV

I blinked, unsure of how to respond.

This was happening much faster than I'd anticipated.

Soon, though, I regained control of my tongue (limp and lifeless though it felt) and said, "Kazekage? You'd really like to become the newest Kazekage?"

Gaara nodded solemnly, his head turned slightly, eyes impassively watching the early-morning birds glide past his second-story window. I knew enough now, however, to pick out the small glint of pride behind his teal-eyed gaze, the hopeful twitch to his flat-lined lips.

He was excited by the prospect.

"That's... a wonderful idea, Gaara." The smile pulling at my lips would have put Ari's normal grin to shame without any effort at all. "I think you'd make a great Kazekage. I have no doubt you could restore Suna to its former glory and usher in a new world of ideals and customs at the same time." I gently twined the fingers of my outstretched hand with his, hanging limply at his side.

He squeezed back almost immediately.

"You're quite the inspirational boy, Gaara," I added, half-hoping he would understand the meaning of my words' undercurrent, hald-hoping he wouldn't. "I can very easily picture the Village rallying behind you." I gave another, softer squeeze. "You'll just have to give them time to get to know you, the real you, as I have."

A flimsy, tentative smile was trying to grace his lips, though he did his best to staunch it.

A quiet sigh left my lips. Yes, after my return to Suna (and subsequently, his own) he'd been different, as I expected him to be. He'd had his eye-opening death-match with Naruto, had seen how the other half lived. Now, he wanted to atone for who he was in the past, wanted to make his future as bright and open as possible. Like Naruto. And, as a result, he was less jagged around the edges, more likely to speak if spoken to, a bit more open than he was before. He liked to talk with me especially, which I didn't mind at all. I rather enjoyed our conversations. They reminded me of my episodes of insomnia, in which we would sojourn to the roof (whether of the the mansion of the hotel in Konoha) and watch the Village together.

A simpler time, I suppose, and perhaps that's what drew me to the memories. I missed the simplicity of our lives, but, at the time, I relished the new opportunities that were presented to us each and every day. Exactly like Gaara's proposition just now.

"Do you really think so, Scarlette?" He still refrained from using my nickname, and I supposed that had to do with his admittedly dry and distrustful personality. But he was changing, and I was hopeful he'd come to see me as someone close enough to be informal with.

I nodded, delighted, and dropped his hand in favor of reaching up to brush aside a few crimson strands that had fallen across his eyes (his hair had already begun to grow into what I considered his Shippuden Style). "I do, I absolutely do. You'll become one of the greatest Kazekage this Village has ever known. And I'll be by your side the entire time."

Of course, this moment, perfect as it was, had to be thrown completely into an alarming disarray when the door was suddenly flung open and in rushed a flustered Ari, who, pausing to catch her breath, panting like she'd run ten miles in the stubborn Suna heat, huffed, "Scar... need... to... talk... now...!"

I gave Gaara an apologetic look, patted his cheek once as an encouragement, then slipped off his rarely-touched bed and dragged Ari out into the lonely hall.

Releasing her (and silently chuckling when she collapsed dramatically onto the floor), I folded my arms, arched an inquiring brow and proceeded to tap my toe impatiently against the dull flooring.

She leapt to her feet, all delirious, euphoric smiles and frenzies hand gestures I couldn't make sense of for the life of me.

"Ari," I chided, blowing out a quick, stifled sigh, "speak English, please. You know how I loathe your childish... whatever it is you choose to call this."

She (simply proving my point) stuck her tongue out at me. "Meh, whatever Scar! You just can't handle this much awesome."

"I believe I've been handling it quite well for the past fourteen-and-a-half years."

"Yeah, well.... Bleh. You suck."

"I'm well aware. Now, what were you so excited about....?"

Before she spoke, I had a sudden sense of deja-vu.

Wasn't this... eerily similar to how we'd begun this exhausting journey in the first place, that fateful night while alone in our home?

"You. Me. Vi. Hibiki Sensei. CHUNIN EXAMS."

Oh, this wouldn't end well....

____________________________________

Violet's POV

My mouth fell open in a sleepy yawn as I stretched my arms above my head, shivering from the delightful crack that sent tingles racing up and down my spine. I blinked, tipping my head back to see the sunlight slanting in through the half-opened window.

Oopsy. We overslept again.

I rolled over and poked pointedly at the currently paint-less face sleeping soundly (and adorably) beside me. He twitched. I poked again. His nose wrinkled in distaste and he swatted my hand away before turning to the other side.

I huffed. Geeze. Some people were such lazy-butts. I had to take drastic measure. So, fixing a slightly-psychotic grin to my face, I made a leap for Kankuro, hoping the shock would wake him up. Buuuuuut... I may have gone a bit too far, cause we ended up partially tumbling off the bed, with me sliding down his chest, his head slamming into the ground, and both his legs, stuck straight-up, tangled in the fallen blanket.

Oops? Again?

"Gah, Violet!" Kankuro growled, even before he'd fully opened his eyes and regained consciousness. I smiled sheepishly while his bleary eyes tried to focus on me.

"Sorry?" I chirped, turning up the cute-wattage in an effort to placate him.

Didn't really work that well.

"Sorry my ass!" he snapped, trying - and failing - to free himself from the jungle of blankets he'd found himself trapped in. I did my best to help, but really only succeeded in worsening our position.

And that's when the door flew open.

Both Kankuro and I looked up to see a breathless Ari and a sober Scar standing in the doorway, heads tilted to an unbelievable degree, eyes wide with shock.

Kankuro flushed an immediate and frightening red while I just smiled and waved. "Hey guys! What's up?"

"Teen pregnancy rates?" Ari guessed, only to fall flat on his face from Scar slapping her upside the head.

"Ugh, this is why I can't stand your sisters!" Kankuro spat, still wriggling to escape the evil comforter's hold.

"I'm sorry." Scar's expression was oddly blank, like a canvas of an indecisive painter, eager to be filled with color and vibrance but lacking any ideas on what should be painted. "I wasn't aware you two..."

"We're not!" Kitty-chan growled.

"Nope!" I agreed in a trill. "I just sneak in here sometimes when it's cold at night." I slipped my arms around Kankuro's bare waist and pressed my cheek to his chest. "Kitty's warm," I purred, snuggling as close as I could manage while ignoring the scrawls of familiar red attacked his neck and cheeks.

"O-kay," Ari muttered, clearly unconvinced, but too annoyed to argue her point anymore. She pushed herself to knees and dusted herself off, all the while shooting poison-tipped daggers in Scar's uncaring direction. "But I gotta tell you something!" she abruptly squealed, wheeling ninety degrees to give me one of her manic smiles.

"Vi! We're going to the Chunin Exams!"

"If we all agree, anyway," Scar cut in expertly, inspecting her nails as nonchalantly as you could imagine. Seemed she'd already picked her side on the matter.

"I'm in!" I kicked away from Kankuro and skipped to Ari's side, where she'd already gotten up and began doing one of her "epic happy dances" while Scar watched on, disinterested.

"Chunin Exams? Is it time for those already?" Kankuro asked, his anger already dissipating.

Ari bobbed her head, proudly displaying the crinkled paper she'd kept balled up in her back pocket. "This is our ticket in! Now come on, Scar! You just gotta agree! I wanna be a Chunin!"

She looked at us for a moment, taking in our identical puppy-dog faces, our wobbling lips and wide, wavering eyes. We even had our hands clasped together and fake, fat tears sitting on our lashes.

She sighed, the universal sign of victory!

"Fine. But if either of you get yourselves killed, I will not be held responsible."

Admist Ari's and my fangirling drama, I heard Kankuro grumble to Scar, "Aren't you supposed to be the smart sister?"

And she smirked, replying with, "Aren't you supposed to have thrown out those kitty boxers?"

Just another day in the life of the Hayes sisters!

Ari's POV

Hibiki Sensei had finished up with all the paperwork, we'd packed, we'd said our goodbyes (not that many of them, since most of the Village was more or less afraid of us, unstable munchkins that we were) and then we were off!

I'd been pestering Hibiki Sensei to tell us about this year's Chunin Exams, like where they were held, what Villages would be attending. Exciting stuff like that. Meh. Exciting would be having a swirling vortex rip through space and time and allowing Sebastian the Demon Butler himself to waltz into the Naruto World and start battling the Akatsuki.

Or something.

Anyway, Sensei was saying, "These Exams will be in Yukigakure. And as far as we know, besides our own Village, we'll have participants from Konoha, Kiri, Kumo, Kusa and Getsugakure, or the Village Hidden Under the Moon. I think they had Genin in the last Exam, too, but they didn't progress very far..."

Sensei kept droning on and on about the young Genin we'd be going up against, but I'd already lost interest and had locked onto something else a bit more mysterious.

I dropped back, letting Vi sidle up and take my place next to Hibiki, keeping pace with Scar. I nudged her side, getting her to look at me, though fleeting the glance may have been. Eh, I still had her attention, so I let it slide. "Hey," I whispered, "didn't all the snow in the Land of Snow melt or something in the movie? What the hell are we supposed to do with a Village that's supposed to full of snow?"

Scar lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug, brushing her getting-longer-by-the-minute ebony locks to the side. "The movie may not directly affect the plot line of the anime," she noted, her eyes flicking upwards to the barren Suna skyline as she thought it over. Ooh, I'd got her thinking! Not that she wasn't always thinkin', but when she got like this I always had bets with Vi whether or not she'd discover the cure to cancer. Smart sissy, like I said. "Like OVAs have no bearing on what happens to the characters, the movies may just be side stories meant to tell a different tale than the one already offered."

"Guess you're right," I mumbled, kicking uselessly at the sand, watching it float up into the air, catching the light a bit, before settling down again without so much as a sound besides the initial shhhh. I brightened up pretty soon, though, thinking of our latest destination (it was definitely the coolest in a long while, cause we hadn't been on any epic missions lately - I'll stop punning now...). "Think we'll have an ice time over there?"

I couldn't stop, which Scar could tell, apparently, considering, she slapped me upside the head the moment the words left my mouth. Rubbing at my now bruised cranium (I seriously couldn't afford to lose the brain cells, so I questioning Scar's logic), I scampered away to rejoin Hibiki Sensei, who was still talking Vi's ear off about the upcoming Exams, though she did manage to get a word in edgewise at some point.

"Sensei, sensei!" She tugged at the edge of his Chunin vest, eyes sparkling with her (expected) curiousity. "How come the Sand Siblings and Baki aren't walking with us?"

Huh. I looked around, eyes widening as I realized that, in fact, there were no redheaded emos, fan-toting blondes or Kitty-chans in sight. I sweat dropped. How'd I not notice this...?

"Baki wanted to travel separately from us," Hibiki said gently, patting Vi's head, which, of course, made her giggle and slink her arms around his waist, basically making him carry her as we walked. I sweat dropped again. "I wonder why," he added, sneaking a wink over his shoulder at me (I'd dropped back again out of embarrassment) and Scarlette.

Scar performed another one of her physics-defying face-palms, and I'm sure she was wishing for a table to add to the dramatic effect, but alas, there were no tables to be found out here in the Suna desert we were currently trekking through. So she was left to her own devices to convery her love for our stupidity, which was bad enough to scar away Jonin.

I was proud as hell, honestly, but Scar obviously didn't share my enthusiasm for it.

"Well, we should get a move on if we want to make it there by the end of the week," Hibiki said, promptly setting Vi down as he readjusted his weapons pouch, fixed his headband (which he'd taken to wearing as a belt recently) and then... vanished.

Alright, he didn't go poof and get replaced by a pink-eye rabbit or anything, but his speed was damn.... speedy. He left us behind in seconds, dying in the cloud of sand thrown up in wake, hacking up a few lungs in the process. But as soon as I was able to breathe without tasting grit, I bared my teeth and hitched the bag I'd slung over my shoulder closer to my back. My eyes were watering, my cheeks were rubbed raw, and I was fired up.

"Oh no you don't, Sensei!" I growled, digging my heels into the unstable ground and shooting forwards, my adrenaline kick-started by my hatred of losing. In anything. Literally. One time some kid challenged me to see who could go the longest without taking a piss, and... well, let's just say that later that night, I took a very extended trip to the bathroom (Scar clocked me at one hour, sixteen minutes and ten seconds).

Needless to say, Aunt and Uncle thought I was dying and took me to the emergency room.

The nurse was nice. She gave me Pokemon stickers!

But yeah, no. Arianna Hayes was not one to be outdone by her Sensei, no matter how sexy she thought he was.

"You're drooling," Scar pointed out, poking my cheek. I laughed awkwardly and wiped the edge of my sleeve over my mouth. Whoops. But more importantly... Scar was keeping up with me! Guess she was taking that whole no stamina problem into consideration at long last.

On to Yukigakure!

Third Person POV

She sat by the window, folded neatly into her sparsely occupied desk, boredly watching the clouds scuttle across the vaguely blue sky. The weatherman (a rather pounchy gentleman with an obsession over the volumonous nature of his dignified mustache) had called for rain later, but she hadn't heeded his words, as he frequently predicted incorrectly. She thought the same of most weather people, as did her sisters.

They'd lost all faith the meteorologist community the day they'd announced an oncoming blizzard. The girls, excited by the prospect of a day or so off from school, forwent their usual studying habits (nonexistent though they were for some) and prepared themselves for the onslaught of snow.

And all they got was bright, misty sunlight on an otherwise frigid day.

That exam they were meant to take the next day? A complete failure for two, and a rare perfect score for the third, who said she scraped by by filling in the bubbles so that they resembled a kitty.

The girl sighed, dislodging a few stray strands of raven hair that had fallen into her glittering obsidian eyes. She hadn't brought an umbrella, though she supposed it would have only become dead weight in the end, and dismissed it from her thoughts soon enough.

The teacher was droning. Again. He hadn't said an interesting word this entire semester, and she couldn't wait to be free of him when she began Global Studies next term. She heard that teacher was much more bearable. And hot, according to her sister. But that was irrelevant.

She looked up as the bell rang, signalling the end of the period. Her teacher, a man possibly in his thirties and possibly of Middle Eastern descent, paused mid-sentence, wide eye (the other was perpetually covered by a veil) straying towards the clock. He scowled, reluctantly ending his lecture, and waved his students off. The girl smoothly gathered up her things, snagging her pack from where it hung off the back of her chair, and made her way to the door.

But then she was attacked by the self-proclaimed bubbly blonde cherub, Violet Hayes, otherwise known as her "older" sister.

"Scar!" she squealed upon reaching her sister, gripping her by the shoulders as a means of keeping the semi-stoic ravenette from escaping. "Guess what, guess what, guess, what, guess what?!"

Scarlette (her full name that she discarded in favor of his siblings' nickname for her) sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation. She hated the guessing game. It nearly always ended with her being presented with a detention slip from either of her darling sisters. Though once the guessing game had yielded a different result: Violet's announcement that she'd gotten a boyfriend. Kankuro Sabaku, she thought his name was.

(They had an influx of foreign students over the last several years, which was the reason more than half the school was of Japanese descent, and Scarlette still didn't know why it was such a specific nationality)

"Violet, I'd much rather you just tell me whatever it is you've skipped lunch to come here and inform me of," she said, causing her vivacious blonde sister to pout a moment, before she giggled and dragged Scar out into the hallway so that the bodies crowding behind her in the classroom would quit their annoyed grumbling.

"Al~right!" she sang, twirling a lock of champagne-colored hair innocently around her slender finger. She turned to Scar excitedly, latching onto her arm like a puppy to its doting mother. Scar's eye twitched a bit at the comparison, but the moment passed as she accepted the fact that she was the closest thing to a motherly figure her sisters had access too. "Ari got asked out on a date!"

Scar stopped walking, stopped breathing, right there in the middle of the hall, with hundreds of students forcing their way past her, oblivious to her inner tumult.

A date? Preposterous. Ari. On a date. There was no denying her "youngest" sister was pretty, with her amber eyes always sparkling with mischief and her absurdly blue hair she'd died only months ago. It was her personality that made the ravenette question the very fabric of the universe at this point in time.

"Who is it?" she asked, finally gathering what was left of her composure and reassembling it as best she could, given the circumstances.

Vi, knowing she'd managed to astound her sister, relished the moment, taking a dramatic pause (coupled with an equally dramatic intake of breath) before practically shouting, "KIBA INUZUKA! AND HE'S SOOOO KAWAII!"

Clearly, she'd been spending much too much time with Kankuro (who hadn't even seemed like the type to use a word like kawaii), because for the last few days she'd been unconsciously slipping Japanese into her daily speech, and Scar was getting annoyed. More so than what she considered normal.

"He has a puppy," Violet chattered on, either ignorant of her sister's irriatation or simply ignoring it, "and he's so sweet and cute and so... so.... so Ari! He's the perfect guy for her, I swear!"

As Scar was trying to reign in her sister's bubbliness (a word she invented specifically to encompass all that was Violet Stella Hayes), she failed to notice the immovable body currently blocking their path and was therefore incapable of avoiding said body, thus resulting in the girl (but strangely not her sister) falling to the ground from the collision.

It added insult to injury when the boy - a senior by the color of his tie - turned around, gave her a once-over, and simply scowled, returning to the book that sat open in his hands. "Children shouldn't disturb their senpai," she heard him sigh as she was getting hauled to her feet by Violet.

"Senpai means upperclassman!" Violet whispered to her frantically, though that particular word was one Scar had learned through experience. The upperclassman (primarily those part of the Great Otaku Exodus) tended to look down on her (quite literally) because of her rather unimpressive height and lack of invigorating presence.

"Senpai shouldn't loiter in the halls," she shot back, "especially when I myself know for a fact that your AP Chemistry class - on the other side of the school - begins in less than a minute."

He flicked her an indifferent glance, oddly childish brown eyes hooded, mouth pliant, as though he couldn't decide whether to smirk or scowl at her response. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt," he said, snapping shut his book, "and assume you aren't stalking me. How do you know I take AP Chemistry?"

With Vi already giggling, her hands clapped over her mouth as a futile way to hide her amusement, Scar smiled and bent forward to tap a solitary nail against his book. "Contrary to this latest spill in the hallway, I am not blind."

He looked down, as though he'd forgotten just what book he'd been reading from only moments prior, to see the rather mundane script spelling out An Introduction to World of Chemicals: Advanced Placement Course.

"In any case," Scar said, drawing the red-haired teen from his thoughts, "I'll apologize, as I am technically the one at fault, however much I don't want to admit it." Clicking her heels together, she folded herself into a curt bow, one she'd picked up from a stuttering girl in her English class who, upon answering in Japanese, who always stand, execute a clumsy, nervous bow, and murmur "Sumimasen!"

Straightening, Scar slipped her hand into Violet's and began to drag the cheery girl away, only to halt as her senpai called her back. She spared him a cool glance over her shoulder.

"Your name, brat," he inquired, though his bland tone more indicated a command than a polite question.

"Isn't it common courtesy to give your own name first?"

"Not in this country."

"Touche..." Scar sighed, briefly spinning around to face him once again. "My name is Scarlette Hayes, a sophomore, meaning this will probably be the last time we meet."

"Scarlette, hm? An interesting name..."

Scar waited a mere second before impatiently blowing her over-long fringe from her eyes (as much as she wished to cut it, Violet vehemently denied her such luxuries), crossing her arms beneath her chest. "I believe this is the part where you offer your own name, senpai."

Now his thin lips twitched into a partial smirk, lighting a curious spark in his otherwise dull brown eyes. "Sasori Akasuna," he replied, and, as she again turned and pushed her way through the overflowing halls, he added, only to himself, "And I wouldn't quite count on this being our last encounter..."

Scarlette's POV

Yukigakure considered the relevance of its name with the utmost importance, it seemed, as the village wasted no time in attacking its latest intruders with chilled winds. The cold bit savagely into our exposed flesh, our fingertips, our cheeks - all turned red and raw.

Hibiki Sensei seemed at least partly unaffected, donning only a light jacket over his Jonin vest, and I envied his endurance, as I'm sure my sisters did as well. We were shivering rather uncontrollably as we tailed our sensei through the frost-bitten village. I didn't understand Sensei's enthusiasm as he continually kept up a steady stream of chatter, pointing out various landmarks and tourist attractions (leaving me to wonder what competent tourist would come here of there own volition for a holiday outing).

"Ooh, over there's the best place in town for soba. And - there! A lot of genin train in that glade, I think. Though if I'm remembering it right, their sensei are pretty strict, so they don't get much free time. Different from us, huh? Oh, and over there--"

Ari's quick jab to the small of his back caused him to break off with a fairly unattractive splutter of surprise, and when he rounded on her, face pinched into something that I'm sure was meant to resemble an expression of one irked at her blatant disrespect, she sang, "Bor-ing~! Sensei! We want action. It's the goddamn Chunin Exams! We're here to rumble!"

Violet backed up this baseless statement by bobbing her head eagerly and prancing about ahead of us, twirling with fairy-like grace in the streets, unhindered by the snowy drifts that closed in on either side of us. I hadn't seen her this excited for some time, though she still had her random outbursts of grand... something or other. I still hadn't concocted a suitable name for her bouts of euphoria that sprang up without warning and lasted for some indeterminable amount of time.

"See?!" Ari yammered, jabbing an almost accusatory finger at Violet's childish display, though I could easily see the manic smile hiding just beneath the surface of her superficial glare. She wasn't one to ever truly feel anger towards Hibiki Sensei, so I'd doubted the sincerity of her annoyance immediately. "That's what happens when we're cooped up for too long! You shoulda seen her in Konoha, Sensei, she went wild, even tried to bite off a few of my fingers..."

Clearly she was leaving out the mention of our involvement in cooping her up, as that would have painted a marginally different picture than the one Ari was attempting to portray. Something to garner sympathy, or perhaps to provoke Sensei with the subdued threat of having to deal with a spasmodic fangirl. The trick was ludicrous at best; Hibiki was already well aware of our faults (even the ones we so desperately tried to bury beneath layers of complacency) and accepted them as I accepted my responsibility to keep Ari and Violet from eventually killing themselves with some harebrained ploy.

In short, he understood the extent of our collective insanity and - for some godforsaken reason - embraced it wholeheartedly.

In any case, Hibiki smiled, amused, and waved Ari along, promising her something along the lines of an extra bowl of ramen at dinner that night, before sliding his hands into the deep pockets of his coat and looking back at me. "Any complaints from you yet, Scar?" he asked, still smiling with undue charm.

"Nothing in particular comes to mind," I responded easily, tucking my hands (the fingers of which were on the verge of turning an unsightly blue from the abominable cold) under my arms, speaking through teeth clamped together to hide the violent chattering. Hibiki saw through my pitiful ruse - he would have had to have been blind not to notice something was amiss - but only repeated the gesture he'd given to Ari.

"You really aren't into getting spoiled, are you, Scarlette?"

I chanced a brief glance upwards as we walked in the wake of my sisters' bulldozing strides, unsurprised to see the sky darkened to an ominous gray from heavy clouds pregnant with the promise of yet more snow. "No, I wouldn't say so." Sensei's usual smile prompted me to elaborate, so with a quick exhale through my reddening nose, I added, "I've never felt comfortable with others' generosity... Ari and Violet tend to rely on it too much on their own; I thought it only natural that I be the one to go without." I shrugged, a bit too carelessly for the atmosphere, watching Sensei for a reaction.

He didn't disappoint, acting as I'd expected him to. "Scar," he said, in a tone he used only when I'd done something he found baffling, "you're way too mature for your age." And he further proved this by point by tangling his warm hand in my chilled hair, patting my head like he would a small, pouting child, which I could assure you I was not.

I sighed, not for the first time, at my sensei's antics and he chuckled, the bright glint of highly amused compassion never dying in his silvery blue eyes.

After we'd caught up with Ari and Violet (and I'd scolded them for attempting to sneak into another bookstore featuring several inappropriate-but-very-addictive novels), Hibiki Sensei led us to a small inn, where we deposited our meager belongings and sporadically napped, sapped as we were of our energy from the gruelling journey here. But of course, Ari couldn't be contained in such peaceful conditions, and she was up and itching to do something exam-related. She didn't seem to care what it was, granted that we were able to accomplish something, and Hibiki happily obliged.

Much to Ari's chagrin, our exciting venture ended in us retrieving our IDs. They were small, plain cards, not too different from the ones the we'd sported in the Leaf during our time there, bearing information regarding our names, village of origin, etc. Ari wasn't pleased, nor was Violet, but I hadn't had any grand expectations in the first place, so I was marginally less likely to whine and scuff my feet through the snow like abashed pups.

Needless to say, it took a fair amount of time to return to the hotel, and Ari's feet were nearing the stage of amputation when we finally arrived. Oh, how I pitied Sensei then, even as I helped him soak Ari in warm water and prayed that I wouldn't have to deal with a sister who hobbled around and slipped in unnecessary grunts and the like into her speech to act out her dream of becoming a pirate.

I'd had enough of that when she sprained her ankle in the second grade.

One could only endure so many variations on "Arrrrgh" and "Ahoy matey, where be your gold?" before they descended into the depths of psychopathy.

WITCHING HOUR

The girls - unknown to them - are caught up in another dimension-hopping nightmare, though this time they find themselves separated completely for the first time since their births.

Ari's thrown head-first into the frightening demonic world of Blue Exorcist. (Rin)

Scarlette's trapped in the bustling world of Durarara!! (Shizuo)

And Violet's enjoying herself frolicking with the nations in Hetalia. (Russia and Prussia)

The girls all have curse marks they aren't aware of at the beginning of each of their tales, but they become apparent as their presences in each respective world solidifies. (Possibly a mark meant to bind them forever to whatever world they've found themselves in, gifted to them by Obito before his passing)

The girls are all 17 in the story, as it makes dealing with the multiple adults less aggravating - can think of it like a side story after the two year time skip in Naruto (no effect on canon universe of original series)

story

The ambient hum of familiar city sounds is what woke me in the end. Not the splitting ache threatening to cleave my skull in two, not the deepening pit of dread that yawned, unrelenting, within my gut. Only the faint whisper of cars over asphalt and the distant yapping of persistent dogs proved enough to rouse me from what felt like slumber far surpassing that of any REM cycle.

I blinked open sleep-crusted eyes, irritably swatting aside the tangle of bangs that had fallen into my face while I'd tossed and turned for however many hours of sleep I'd managed. I had a sense of déjà vu as the blurred and fuzzy world came into focus like the adjusting lens of a camera. A blank, spacious ceiling stretched out above me, different, I was sure, from the one that had lulled me to the sleep in the first place.

A small blossom of panic began to take root in my chest as I lurched upright, my stiff fingers finding purchase in the soft bedding beneath me. No, not bedding - a couch?

Where am I...?

I'd experienced something uncannily similar to this situation before, and I wasn't ecstatic to be trapped in a repeat, seeing as how the first hadn't been all the grandeur and pleasantries that my sisters had made it out to be.

Ah, speaking of those two...

I gingerly swung my feet to the floor - blinking as the cold of the smooth wood seeped into my bare soles - and eased myself into a standing position. There was an initial moment of alarm when a shudder passed through my legs, and I braced my hands against the smooth edges of a coffee table situated in front of me until the threat of immediate collapse passed. I felt like I'd somehow endured miles of sprinting through the unstable sands of Suna without having any recollection of it, which was a jarring feeling I didn't much appreciate.

Righting myself, I took several cautious steps around the table, then, when I'd shaken the numbness from my limps and regained control to an extent, crossed to the sliding door I'd first mistaken for a window. My breath misted over the glass, momentarily obscuring the world beyond - but as it cleared, my eyes widened in stark disbelief, seeing the lights that shone in vivid colors from their numerous fixtures, dancing with disorienting rapidness over the reflective cars darting by beneath them.

Cars. Actual fossil-fueled machines hewn from rigid steel and freshly-molded rubber that reeked with a stench that wrinkled my nose even through the barriers around me.

I'd thought the screeching of tires had been a product of my sleep-deprived mind (ridiculous, I realize now, as I'd never felt more rested in all my seventeen years).

Years had passed between the last time I'd had the displeasure to bear witness to these aggravating contraptions and now; I'd almost forgotten how greatly they irritated me, on par with Arianna and Violet on their most spastic of days.

This, if nothing else, really begged the question of just where my unconscious body had deposited itself yet again.

Turning so that my shoulder blades were pressed up against the glass (somewhat uncomfortably, but bearable nonetheless), I pressed the heels of my hands deep into my temple, rubbing slow, concise circles to alleviate the growing headache I felt expanding just behind my eyes. Panicking would do me little good now; being so unnerved would only lead to clouding my thoughts with unnecessary fear, which would in turn cause me to become utterly useless. I handled fear badly, as I'd learned several years back, and now was not the time to fall into such disarray again.

Think, Scarlette, think... Was there anything specific or odd that happened yesterday that could have caused this?

Well, wasn't that a moronic question. It wasn't as though I had a manic, supposedly fictional character infecting my then-nonexistent laptop to blame this time around. To make matters worse, while I was probing the deeper recesses of my memory in hopes of grasping even the thinnest of straws to tell me what cataclysmic event had recently transpired - I realized how empty said memory truly was.

Oh, I could perfectly recall the basics: My name, my family, close relations, my home. I had memories of times I would have liked to forget, forever seared into my brain with the aid of torturous agony and heartbreak. But nothing from what I perceived to be the last week of my life.

Lovely. I bit down sharply on my lower lip as the headache's steady throb rose to a deafening crescendo. Something pulsed dangerously on the side of my neck - a vein fit to burst from my racing heartbeat, I figured. This may actually be more vexing than before.

"Oh, you're awake!"

If the aching in my forehead had subsided before that moment, I would have whipped around, my body following the usual motions and dropping me into a stance well-suited for battle. Unfortunately, there was a slight disconnect between the desired motion and my nerves, because in all actuality I barely managed to keep from toppling over as I turned to face whoever had spoken.

Steadying myself with one hand gripping fitfully at a set of curtains, I blinked.

"You really shouldn't be moving around, you know," the man chided, though the whimsically fascinated smile he wore made it diffcult to take his authoritative tone seriously. "Most people in your position wouldn't have even woken up yet. Hm... I wonder if that makes you special..."

Special was not a well-liked word in my vocabulary, not because it was something I was mistakenly called often, but because I'd been brutally reminded of my pathetic staleness some years before. And from this man's lips, it set anxiety crawling over my already sensitive skin. "I wouldn't put much stock in that assumption..." I murmured, staggering now as I fought to return to the couch. If this man was any threat, he hardly had a mind for timing.

"Ah, wait, I told Celty I'd tell her as soon as you'd woken up!"

Before I could utter a word of protest, the man had disappeared through the door he'd entered in, and I sank gracelessly onto the couch, not very up to the reality that was gradually making itself known to me. From one hell into the next...

Ari's POV

Have you ever had a headache so impossibly painful that it sorta engulfs your entire consciousness, and all you can feel is the repeated slamming of angry fists against your poor, damaged skull? And even though they clearly understand the importance of those precious few brain cells you've managed to shore up over the years, they jab ice picks between your eyes regardless?

Yeah. 

Three Fangirls VS. the Naruto World (and Subsequent Sequels)

~Ideas for Book 3~

(Ari Scene)

After becoming a Jonin (cause she's all badass like that) the Tempkage had taken an interest in her abilities. As in, he'd taken an interest in the explosion of power she'd demonstrated in a teeny-weeny time frame. Like, she'd gone from "can't jump into an airduct" to "Taijutsu-bashing ten full-grown men at once" in about a year. So when Gaara took the helm, the Tempkage passed on all his notes on her progress (not like he hadn't been watching anyway...) and Gaara had seen fit to immediately promote her to ANBU.

Cause, ya know, she was all silent and deadly now.

Like passing gas.

....Before Scarlette manages to crack my skull open in her muted rage, I'll stop with the fart jokes. Even though they're hilarious and totally appropriate.

(SasoScar Scene) ~to be continued~

It was unnerving how innocent one could look when you were aware that concealed weaponry were no longer lurking behind soft brown eyes.

I held Sasori's stare, politely asking him to remove himself from my doorway. He politely declined, settling himself in more firmly, both hands positioned on the frame to either side.

"Is there something I could do for you, Sasori?" I asked, biting back my urge to release a severely pent up sigh into his passive face.

"Nothing in particular comes to mind." His mouth quirked up in a vague smirk as my brow furrowed in aggravation.

"Then could you please...?" I made a gesture towards the hallway, beckoning him to leave. He simply ignored me and pushed his way into the room, eyes roving around in what I could only conclude was curiosity.

This familiarity was simultaneously stimulating and infuriating.

"You remind me too much of Ari at the moment," I sighed as I quietly pulled closed the door. I didn't need my either of my sisters passing by and assuming things. "She never knocks; only enters and apologizes at some later date."

"You're insulting me."

"Indirectly," I agreed, a hint of a smirk curling at the corners of my mouth. His own tipped down in response, lending an almost pouty expression to his face. Unusual, honestly. Though he still kept the appearance of a fifteen-year-old, he rarely acted like one. "I can't see why you're surprised," I added, crossing back over to my desk. Sasori's arrival had interrupted my study of my latest mission. Gaara had sent it by falcon just a few hours ago and I'd yet to read it, too busy supervising Ari and Violet's play time. I grimaced. I thanked every deity available that Kiba was not included in the original mission to rescue the Kazekage; having Vi and Kankuro alone was enough to gray my raven hair forty years too early. "I degrade my sisters on a daily basis."

A shock trilled up my spine; Sasori was suddenly at my back, palms slammed down on the desk, stilling my working hands. His breath blistered the skin at the nape of my neck. "I thought I'd made it clear," he breathed, a wisp of a growl vibrating through his otherwise monotone voice, "that I am nothing like those brats you call your sisters."

I drew in a deep breath, exhaling slowly through my nose. Calm. One needed to stay calm when dealing with the criminally insane. So, with an air of flighty patience, I turned in his hold so that my gaze rested on a point just above his head. From earlier experience I knew his short stature was a sore point to some degree, and the fact that I, the shortest Hayes sister, had surpassed him particularly set him off.

"No. No I suppose you're not." I pushed pointedly at the crooks of his elbows; after a moment of intense glaring, in which my eyebrow crept closer and closer to my veiled hairline, he relented, breaking his hold on me and allowing me to settle at the edge of my bed, mission statement in hand. He stood just before me, arms crossed, vaguely curious glint in his calculating brown eyes. "But" - I didn't bother to lift my head as I continued reviewing Gaara's letter - "you are, in reality, younger than me - shorter as well."

I quite shamelessly enjoyed the twitch of fury that plagued his right eye.

"And young ones should be prepared to subject themselves to their elders' criticisms, and sometimes that includes unnecessary insults. It's simply a fact of life, Saso--"

I was cut decidedly short when my back made forceful contact with the bed, Sasori's shadow hovering over me, his outline fuzzy and indistinct with the light at his back. His hands slid lazily around my wrists, ripping them up to pin them above my head.

Gaara's letter fluttered lifelessly to the floor.

Sasori freed one hand, using it to tip my chin up. Our eyes met and I had to suppress a delightful shiver that threatened to arch my back. "Younger?" he echoed, rather amused, if I'm pressed to detail it. "In body, I suppose," he conceded. "There's nothing I can do about this frozen form of mine. But in mind, I assure you, I'm much more.... experienced, shall we say."

My stomach rolled - annoyingly violent - at the thought.

The fact that Sasori was clearly enjoying my almost nonexistent reactions made my reality even more horrendous.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much!"

The fact that Ari actually knew and understood that quote enough to use it somewhat correctly brought my mind to a shuddering halt, and it was an exhausting moment before I replied.

"I am not protesting anything," I drawled indifferently, much to her obvious annoyance (she rather despised my nonchalance when she herself was subjected to such frequent embarrassments), "I am merely stating facts: I hold no feelings for Sasori, nor does he hold any for me. Are you forgetting he's nearly twenty years my senior?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~
In book three, the Hayes triplets meet three boys, also fraternal triplets, who bear a striking resemblance to them both in appearance and personality.