They're All Swapped Up

Sakura sees a man with hair much like her own -- bubblegum pink but his is shorter -- and he has red eyes without pupils. However, the man is taller. Sakura stares at the equally confused guy. Who even is this guy? She thought she had everything figured out; then, the world threw this in just to fuck with her.

"Hey, Sakura, you act like you didn't know you had a brother," he says

"I didn't," Sakura admits before she can stop herself.

"Well, that explains that. Now, what's this about Hashirama being Madara? Is there something you'd like to tell me?" he asks.

Sakura lies of course, "Oh, I was… thinking up ideas for a story. I'm interested in being an author. Um, who… exactly are you?"

"Oh, I should introduce myself. I'm an anomaly in your life. I am your brother. I am-" he starts giving some sort of speech.

"Stop!" she exclaims. "Your name, please."

"Oh yeah. I'm Haruno Seichō. Now, as I was saying, I am your brother. I am an anomaly amongst all others. I possess the great ability to see beyond. I also have an interesting ability to attract fellow anomalies to myself," he introduces.

"Wait. See beyond what?" Sakura asks in confusion.

"It's what I've come to know as," he informs her, "The Fourth Wall. Don't ask where I got the name. I'm incapable of telling you. Maybe somebody beyond The Fourth Wall could hear me, but I don't think anybody's there now."

"Why is there a…," her face scrunches and wonders how he says it, "fourth wall?"

"No, no. It's The Fourth Wall," he corrects her. "You have to say it in bold."

"I have to say it in what? How do I even-?" she looks at him weirdly. "I don't even know what you just said."

"See. If you don't exist beyond The Fourth Wall or have never seen beyond it, you'll never understand," he explains.

"Wait. How do you know I won't understand or that there's nobody there now?" Sakura asks.

"Okay. Let's test you then. If you ever forget my name, you can go back to this chapter and go to the eighth paragraph. If you ever forget what I look like, you can refer the first paragraph of this chapter," he insists.

"Paragraph. Chapter. You say that as if our life is…" she trails off.

"Now, I can give you an example of something that is so life-shattering that you literally can't hear it if you want," he tells her.

"Then, why can you see and hear beyond… uh?" Sakura asks but trails off.

"Oh, I learned that clearing your throat first really helps when speaking in bold," he tells her. "Try it."

"Why can you see and hear beyond," Sakura starts and clears her throat before continuing, "The Fourth Wall?"

She coughs afterwards and rubs her throat. Sakura notes that speaking in that way -- 'bold', he called it -- makes her throat hurt, not to mention that it sounds really unnatural.

"Why? This world is not original. It was created by a creature of a higher realm. They control us and our world. Our world in fact was inspired by many others. They showed me a whole new world. You aren't real. I'm not real. Everything I saw or do or own is just a concept, or a pictures, words on a page," he says.

"I'm sorry. What? I… I didn't hear… I couldn't under- Oh. Oh. I think I understand hat you mean now. I knew you were speaking. I could hear you. I could see your mouth moving, but I couldn't focus on any one word," Sakura explains. "Even now, when I try to comprehend what you said, it's just… like it's unimportant. Or like, I didn't hear it in the first place."

"Exactly. You aren't allowed to know things you shouldn't," Seichō tells her.

"But why can you see and hear and know these things?!" Sakura exclaims.

"Do you see my eyes? They weren't always like this. They were supposed to be green like yours, but there was a change. 'A change in script,' as I had been told that altered my appearance to fit with these new abilities," the pink-haired man explains.

"You mean, your eyes changed when you saw beyond?" Sakura asks.

"No, I wish it was that simple. My eyes were green. They were supposed to be green. There was an edit that brought me over to this reality that changed my eyes to have always been red and without pupils," he tells his 'sister'.

"So you travelled to another world?" Sakura asks.

He pauses for a moment and thinks. Something seems to click. As if he realized something about some ancient unsolved prophecy or something. He exclaims, "That's exactly it! You're a genius, sis!"

"I am?" she asks.

"Yeah. I'm the pink warrior that's going to help the world!" he claims.

"You know," Sakura starts, "I'm wondering now why I've been believing you or why you're telling me in depth all of this random information that shouldn't be told to a genin that is working hard to prepare to become a chūnin, but at this point, these things seem to not really phase me as much as they used to."

"Oh, speaking of becoming a chūnin, that's why I'm here. I learned another special ability during my time beyond The Fourth Wall."

"Wait. I thought you could just see and hear it. I didn't know you were actually there."

"Well, yeah. Where do you think I learned about that prophecy?"

"What prophecy?"

"Oh, this also has to with the 'change in script'," Seichō tells Sakura. "I was originally going to tell you about the Prophecy, but it seems it's too early to mention it or something. Maybe I'm supposed to foreshadow it, but what could I be foreshadowing?"

* * *

You, the one reading this, yes, you, read this new chapter. You wonder why there's an OC in an already hectic and confusing story. Furthermore, you consider many things. Perhaps you wonder about this Prophecy, this character who knows of paragraphs and chapters and that his life is a lie, and/or why this chapter has been dedicated solely to introducing this character and his abilities.

You, the reader, will be answered. Your comments, your very words left on this story will be heard from this point forward by this 'Haruno Seichō' throughout the story. Choose your words wisely, and don't overwhelm the inexperienced fellow.

You, the reader, wonder if this applies to the readers of the story that read They're All Swapped Up on the reading and writing website of Wattpad. You realize unfortunately that that privilege is reserved for ArchiveOfOurOwn users only.