Chapter 2
You push the door of the hospital open-the cold air whips your face. The warmth of the sun dances across your skin and the soft wind passes through your hair.
The hair on the back of your neck stands up as a chill runs down your spine. Someone is watching you. A few people walk past you without noticing your presence, but the eyes are still drilling holes in the back of your head. You start to walk a little faster, and faster until you’re running in the streets. The distressing feeling only seems to get more present as you pace through the narrow alleys.
Until it disappears, just like that. The sickening beat of your heart rings in your ears.
“I’m fine, everything is fine, I’m safe…” Broken whispers croak their way out of your throat.
You jump back, your breath quicken once again, when you hear someone calling out your name.
“Nora-chan? Hi! It’s been a long time isn’t it.” Alarmed, you look up, but you relaxed almost instantly when your eyes fell on a really familiar man.
“Do you want something, kid?” Teuchi gives you a kind smile. As you are about to decline, your stomach makes a growling sound. You sigh in defeat.
“I would love that, but I don’t have money on me right now, so I guess I will just come back another-”
“There’s no need, we heard that you graduated from the Academy. Take this as a congratulation.” Ayame and Teuchi look sincerely happy for you and you feel obligated to accept the offer.
“Thank you very much to the both of you, it’s really appreciated.” You sit in the middle stall. “I will have a bowl of Miso Pork ramen, please.”
You've always wanted to taste Naruto’s favourite ramens and if you can eat it for free, of course you wouldn’t let the chance pass by.
“On the way!”
When you finish eating, it's a little bit past one in the afternoon. You thank both of them and make your way back to your house.
You go directly in the shower, feeling gross from your morning training.
When you remove the bandages and you move around, the pain in your ribs is almost all gone.
“That’s weird, they told me back at the hospital that it will take almost a whole week to be completely healed…” You shrug.
The hot water runs down your skin, soothing your aching muscles in its wake. You softly massage your scalp as you apply shampoo-the sweet smell of vanilla engulfs your senses. You scrub the dirt and the sweat off your pale skin due to your training session. You twist the knob of the shower to off and you get out. You dry your hair with a towel and put your still damped red locks in a french braid.
“There’s still three hours to go before Ruto will be back from the Academy...What could I do in the meantime?” Walking around the village seemed like a good idea to you and it can help bring back memories from the first 10 years of this life, so why not?
It’s a beautiful day even if an autumn breeze makes goosebumps appear on your body. Young children are playing in the streets while their parents are chatting. Before you realise, you are in the middle of the Academy playground.
Your curiosity takes a toll on you when you hear the familiar voices of some kids.
“Do you want to go to the park with me after school?” From where you are standing, you aren't able to see who's talking so you keep getting closer,
“I would, but my mother will be mad if I return home later than I'm supposed to. Kaa-san can be such a drag sometimes.” You freeze in shock when you realize who the two little boys are.
“Oh my fucking god.” You say much louder than you thought you would.
"Crap..."
“Did you hear that?” The second boy asks.
The two boys come into your sight as you stare at them with wide eyes.
“Who are you?” Chouji asks while Shikamaru is still silent, examining you closely.
“I’m Uzumaki Nora, I graduated not long ago.” You say confidently, but your fidgeting hands betray you.
“Damn, they're even cuter than they look like in the series."
“Uzumaki...Are you Naruto's sibling?” Chouji asks curiously.
“Actually I’m his twin, I graduated earlier than I was supposed to. I’m the same age as both of you actually.”
Shikamaru leans closer to Chouji. “We should go, a lot of people told me that being too close to the Uzumaki twins isn't a great thing…”
He murmurs in Chouji’s ear, probably thinking that you won’t hear him. When Chouji looks back at you, he can see hurt flash behind your eyes. Although, before he could protest, he is getting pulled away by his friend.
“I guess that’s how Naruto feels all the time, I'll get used to it soon, well I guess...” You spin on your heels and walk away, embarrassed by how this conversation turned out.
A few hours later, you end up on the Hokage Mountain, your eyes wandering across the view before you. You sigh softly.
“How did all of this happen? I don’t understand.” Tears start to fill your eyes. For the first time since your arrival here, you feel sad and overwhelmed by the situation.
“I wish someone could explain what happened and why am I not able to remember the past 10 years of this life. It sucks.”
“What are you doing out there, Nora-chan?” You bolt in surprise.
“I met Naruto, Kakashi, Teuchi, Ayame, Shikamaru and Chouji in one day. And now him? Great.”
“I’m sorry kid, I didn’t want to startle you.” He says laughing.
“Oh, it’s fine. I was lost in my thoughts and I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings.” You say looking up at the man beside you.
“For real, the Third Hokage? I don’t need this today. I never liked him. He is way too soft to be Hokage. Like honestly, Naruto had a shitty childhood and Sasuke's whole family was killed, because he wasn’t able to do his job like he should have. Ugh, can someone save me already...”
“So, how was your first training with your new teacher?”
“It was fine I guess. Well, if I don’t mention that I waited 2 hours before Kakashi-sensei showed up, ran three laps around the whole village, almost was ‘chidoried’ and burned alive. Oh, and I broke two ribs. All fun.” You add the last sentence bitterly.
“As I can see, Kakashi-san didn’t go gently on you.” He says, amusement lacing his voice.
“Yeah, he’s a good shinobi and all, but he might be a little too rough to be a teacher. I mean I’m just 10 years-old and I'm still fresh out of the Academy. That’s a little bit too harsh.”
“I know, but try to give him a chance. You’re his first student and he went through a lot of things...Anyways, I’m sure in time you will be glad to have S-ranked shinobi as teacher, am I right?” Without even looking at the older man, you know he has a knowing smirk on his face.
“Yeah well I hope so, because right now I feel as if I'm being teached by a teenager with a big-ass ego. It’s kind of annoying.” Your eyes widen and you bite your lips in realization of what you just said about one of the best ninja in the village.Though, the old man snickers at your comment.
“Yeah, I totally can understand what you mean. Well, I don’t want to be intrusive, but Naruto is probably at your house right now. You might want to go to your apartment before he goes crazy.” The old man says, when you slowly realize how long you’ve been gone. You stand up in a flash.
“Well, it was nice talking to you, Hokage-sama. Have a nice evening.” You give him a smile and you run as fast you can, eager to see Naruto.
Naruto jumps in your arms as soon as you open the door.
“Nee-chan! Where were you?!”
“I walked around the village and I didn’t see the time pass. Sorry about that little brother.” You ruffle Naruto’s hair playfully.
“I'm going to cook some kare-raisu. Do you want some?”
“Yes! I will start a movie!” He sprints towards the living room and jumps on the couch.
Once you finish cooking, you join Naruto. A kid movie is playing on the screen and in all honestly it's really boring and childish, but Naruto seems to enjoy it. So, you keep quiet and say nothing about it.
Not even an hour after the movie started, your twin is already asleep beside you.
“Damn boy, you sure had a busy day. For god’s sake, it’s only 7 in the afternoon, how can you already be sleeping.” You skip through the channel of the television, until you find a documentary about the Third Ninja War. You watch the TV for almost two hours and it's getting quite dull and boring.
You pick up Naruto in your arms and make your way to your room. You tuck Naruto to bed and kiss his forehead. “Goodnight.”
You change in a white tank top and some black spandex and hop in your bed. You stare at your ceiling unable to fall asleep.
“I guess tomorrow can only be better than today…”