Industrious - Chapter 68 (Patreon)

“Is something wrong?” Tenten asked, curled up against me.

I opened my mouth to reply and... hesitated.

Which any ninja worth their salt would have noticed, and I'd personally trained Tenten to be far better than the price of a few bags of salt. She was worth at least that amount in premium artisinal sea salt.

“Well, you're smiling, so it can't be all that bad,” she hummed, flexing her neck as she pulled a hand through her long, unbound hair.

I took a breath and stretched slightly against her. “I'm not sure... I've just... been feeling unsettled today.”

A dark eyebrow rose upwards. “Unsettled?”

I grunted with a short nod. “Don't know of a better way to put it.”

And that was the damndest thing... I just didn't. “Like something's... calling me, almost.”

Tenten frowned now, her eyebrows bunching together in confusion. “Literally? Or... what was that word you liked? Metaphysically?”

I nodded again. “Yeah, that. It's like... something's pulling on my chakra, but not really. Not draining it or anything like that.”

My girl sighed in relief, a short pulse of alarm having torn through her as she settled back down against me, her body pressed to mine. “Is it... could it be Kokoro?”

I shook my head. “No. There's a bond between us, that's true, but I've got that one closely monitored with an array of seals and countermeasures.”

“Right, right... I forget with how good-natured you are sometimes,” Tenten chuckled.

“What, that I'm not a complete idiot?” I asked with a smirk.

She snorted, leaning forward and kissing me. “Pretty much, yeah.”

I returned the gesture briefly, wrapping an arm around her and about to escalate things as our tongues invaded each other's mouths, then-

Thrum

I cursed, pulling away as I looked around.

Tenten blinked, her hand going for a kunai under the pillow as I felt the telltale signs of adrenaline flowing through her. Her brown eyes swept the room, finding – just as I did – nothing amiss. When she spoke, it was in a low tone with sharp tension. “What is it?”

“That feeling intensified,” I stated, sitting up and curling my legs underneath me. I chewed on the... tug that I'd felt.

Thrum

I jerked slightly.

“Kotaro?” Tenten asked, real worry coating her face. “S-should I get someone? The hospital? ANBU? Satsuki's brother?”

I clenched my jaw and tapped a tiny tattoo on the inside of my knee, something that could have easily been mistaken for a birthmark or small scar. It'd even pass close notice of a sensor – I'd checked – due to the shielding seal around it. Out popped a small metal tag, which had yet more sealing on it. “I'm going to activate this. ANBU will be inbound in a moment, don't make aggressive moves.”

Tenten nodded, pulling herself away and tying the sheet around herself while I grabbed for my underpants. A little modesty was better than nothing.

Then-

Thrum!

I jerked, my hand clenching around the metal tracking tag as I activated it.

“Kotaro!” Tenten cried as I fell back onto the bed, my eyes wide and clutching at my chest. “What's happening?!”

“Something... pulling... feeling like...” I gasped, forcing myself to draw in air while I felt my control over my body slipping. My eyes shot even wider as I realized what was happening. I'd performed the technique a few times, but I'd never been on this side of it.

“Summoning!” I cried, jerking again as I felt another tug on my soul.

“Someone's summoning you!?” Tenten asked, and I distantly felt shadows appear in the room. “Kota, what's going on!?”

“-he's secure-”

“-move him-”

“-calling in Lady Rin-”

“-Kota!”

I gasped again and felt my soul... stretch.

My spirit hadn't been pulled from my body, I realized through the disorienting haze of transmigration and vague in-between spaces that passed me by as I moved. No, it wasn't as though I'd been killed or even had my soul removed like I speculated that the Jashin cultists could do.

Instead, the connective tissue that bound me to my physical body was... loosening and elongating.

It was an intensely strange feeling as my conscious spirit-mind's connection to my body was dimmed to the point of irrelevance. I could tell it was still there, yes, but it was an incredibly distant sensation at the far back of my mind.

But the majority of my attention was taken up by the thing I was moving through...

Two cosmic faces shifted in the infinite-

-oh shit, that's a lot of fire.

Thankfully, I wasn't going directly into it, but... I was on a trajectory far too close for my liking. A giant, infinitely-deep ring of fire, death, and pain. It was like a gaping maw yawning open to consume everything and anything... and I was destined for the sliver of reality right next to it. The edge of a cliff that dropped straight into the mouth of hell.

Around me streaked souls and powers of all sorts, a rainbow of energy slamming towards the world below us.

Then, we hit-

…

“So we're on our own?” Cally asked with a sigh, running a hand through her blond hair in exasperation.

“Yeah, Mom's apparently trapped at the gallery for most of the night,” Dawn nodded, pulling self-consciously at one of the long braids of newly-dyed black hair on either side of her head. “Ugh, does this really look alright? Hawthorn?”

The redhead blinked, looking up from his book and adjusting his glasses. “Looks fine. You're Wednesday, right? You really nailed it.”

“It's at least more original than a witch,” Dawn shrugged, staring into her mirror again with a grumpy frown. “I can't believe Buffy got tied down for the night! She was supposed to be the fallback since Mom couldn't take us out!”

“Eh, from what I hear, the VP at the high school really has it out for her, Xander, and Willow,” Cally shrugged. “Like... so many of the kids who've gone over their say he's a complete douche. The kind of guy who got bullied when he went there and now lives to make everyone else's lives miserable, too.”

Hawthorn blinked and looked over to the blond girl, but didn't let his gaze linger too long. She was wearing a set of extremely short... shorts made of cargo material that clung high on her waist, leaving little to the imagination. Her top wasn't any better, a clingy piece of gray-blue fabric with no sleeves or collar that kept riding up to expose her stomach. Combined with the military-style boots and the thick belt with faux-holsters and water pistols spray-painted black...

Well, she certainly looked the part for her costume.

“Have you been watching Hallmark movies again?” Dawn asked tiredly, looking exasperated with their mutual friend.

Which was enough of a jolt to knock him free from his attempted short glance at Calliope's outfit... which hadn't been all that short.

“It's all Mom has on the TV, since-” Cally turned her head, expression suddenly blank. “Jesse.”

Hawthrone felt his budding libido take a nosedive with that name, looking awkwardly away as well.

“A-are you sure you don't want to just stay in and watch a horror movie?” Dawn asked awkwardly. “L-like you did with him?”

Cally paused, then shook her head, short-cropped blond hair swaying with the motion. “No. T-that was... it was our thing. Sometimes with Xander, but... it wouldn't feel right without him there. Besides, we'll be too old for this in a few years, right? Better enjoy it while it lasts.”

Hawthorn sighed. “I mean, I'd be happy just reading through this set of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark that my sister gave me.”

He held up the book in question.

“Does Willow usually go out?” Dawn asked suddenly, frowning as she looked between Hawthorn and Cally.

They looked at each other and shrugged.

Hawthorn hummed. “Only when Xander and J-Jesse were going places. I usually came along to keep Cally company. Sometimes they'd do a few hours of candy-begging before we called it a night. Usually when it gets dark.”

“Yeah... still don't get that,” Dawn clicked her tongue as she adjusted the stark black and white dress she was wearing. Iconic, in Hawthorn's opinion, but much less exciting than Cally's outfit. “This entire place shuts down when the sun sets except for like... half a dozen places. What's up with that? When we lived in LA there were 24/7 stores open every other block, it felt like.”

Hawthorn traded a look with Cally.

“Would you two stop doing that!” Dawn snapped, then sighed at Cally's cringe and Hawthorn's grimace. “Sorry! Sorry... I'm just tired of there being... it's like there's something no one wants to talk about in this town and it's really weird.”

“I mean...” Cally began slowly. “The big secret is that Sunnydale just kind of... sucks. Hardcore. We've got barely anything going for us that a big city has, but all of the problems. Drugs, gangs, a serial killer or two-”

Hawthorn thought back to the pages of research his sister had left sitting out during one of her all-night benders on the family computer, and shivered. The most damning part of the mess had been the ancient leather-bound books with horrific illustrations.

“Serial killer?” Dawn asked, her eyes wide.

“He got killed in a shootout with police two years ago,” Cally replied, holding up both hands as if to stop the oncoming tide of alarm. “But... like, you get it, right? It's great to gossip about this stuff when it's happening in the next town over, or when it's in New York – or LA – and that's a hundred miles away or more, but it sucks when someone you know get-gets... k-kill-”

Cally sniffed and gave a quiet sob.

Dawn looked horrified and Hawthorn realized it was up to him. Reaching into his discarded backpack, he pulled out a box of tissues and ripped several free from it before handing them over to his crying friend. Cally accepted them with already-red eyes sending him a look of gratitude before blowing her nose loudly and vigorously.

Dawn grimaced as the boy sent her an unpleasant glare.

“S-sorry,” the younger Summers girl sighed, dropping onto her bed. “I-I shouldn't have pushed. I knew stuff like that happened in this town, but... I didn't connect the dots.”

“It... it's not alright,” Cally bit out, then shook her head as Dawn winced. “But it's not your fault. It's this stupid town! I just wish someone wou-would... burn it all down. Or let it slide into the ocean. Get rid of it all and we could move anywhere else.”

Hawthorn looked between the two girls, one shamed into silence and the other still crying.

He groped for social skills of any kind that might help him out of this situation.

“I should go get my costume on,” his mouth said, and Dawn sent him a look of betrayal that he winced at.

Dammit! Why do I always... ugh.

Hawthorn, embarrassed by his own retreat, made his exit all the faster.

Then it was just him and his bag of clothing in the Summer's second-floor bathroom. The space smelled more than vaguely of 'soft' scents common to feminine deodorant, perfume, and laundry detergent. All things that he recognized only when his mother was actually home for a weekend to make sure he and Willow hadn't destroyed the house.

It was a rare occasion.

He sighed again, pushing away the depressive thought and removed his glasses, the world turning fuzzy, before stripping down. Even the visual fuzz, though, didn't prevent him from seeing the outline of his own thin frame, freckles along his face and the upper portion of his chest.

He hoped they faded like Willow's had done.

He also hoped he'd wake up one day like Peter Parker had, with muscles and better eyesight.

But that day never seemed to come.

Pulling his backpack open, he reached down and grabbed his costume. He'd actually had the opportunity to ask for a costume fund this year and his dad had absently put a fifty in his hand before hurrying out the door to meet a client. Whether or not he'd meant to hand him that size of a bill... well, Hawthorn wasn't going to ask.

Not when he could keep whatever he didn't spend on the costume to raid the comics store.

So he'd gone the 'true value' route of Halloween costumes and grabbed various bits and pieces that had lost whatever outfit they'd been paired with and thrown into a bin by the store. A red-brown robe that might have actually been from the clothing section, but looked 'oriental'...

Then he'd taken what remained of a costume from the 'Dune' movie, judging from the labeling on the box-

“Where did that guy even get this stuff?” Hawthorn asked in an undertone as she shook his head. So much of it was weird and out of date, like he'd raided the bargain bins of other stores just to set his own shop up. “Maybe he bought stuff from a warehouse or a company that went under?”

Then there had been a ninja sword he'd gotten for free because the plastic hilt had broken, which he'd fixed with another freebie from one of those lightsabers with the fold-out plastic blades. Except this one had lost the blade and was basically a glorified flashlight.

But he'd stuck the two together and... well, it made something he could tolerate wearing for one night.

Then he'd grabbed a bit of armor or something that he'd strapped to his arm and drawn squiggles on it with a sharpie to cover up the logo of whatever it had been part of a set of. Finally, he'd pulled found a mask that... probably went with a Batman set? Maybe? And, with a strip of spare fabric to tie around his head-

Yeah, turned out they knew what they were doing, this should keep the sweat out of my eyes.

Looking back at him in the mirror, now that he put his glasses on...

“Eh, I guess I can pass for a ninja,” he nodded, inspecting himself. The pants he had on were some baggy brown pajama pants he wanted a good excuse to toss, but they matched the color of the thin robe he'd grabbed.

Overall... yeah, it worked well enough. Especially once it got darker and people wouldn't be able to tell how piecemeal everything was.

…

-and I opened my eyes.

The world around me was one I'd never thought I'd see again. A place of asphalt streets with curated lawns and standalone single-family homes. The air stunk of burning petroleum fumes, lawn care products, and refined sugar. But there was none of the human sweat, blade oil, or animal waste of Konoha in the wind.

Around us, what could only be a suburban neighborhood glittered orange and black in the growing twilight.

Monstrous decorations had been set up. Tombstones, giant spider-webs, human skeletons hanging from branches. Zombies, ghouls, robed figures... and fairies, robots, bipedal dogs, and things I hadn't seen in more than a lifetime.

“Well, this is unexpected... and me without my crossbow.”

I turned, seeing a young girl in a monochrome dress, black hair pulled tightly into twin braids, skin the pallor of a corpse, and a look of blandly curious amusement on her face.

“Ugh, I'm never drinking again... what the hell hit me?”

This girl... she looked like she'd stepped off a thinly-veiled fetish shoot and, given the caliber of firearms she was carrying, probably for some unholy cross between Playboy and the NRA's monthly newsletter.

I looked down at myself... a passable resemblance to my daily outfits, I guess. Up to an including the strip of cloth I sometimes wore to keep sweat out of my eyes at the forge. The sword... I hummed as I pulled an inch free and glimpsed live steel.

Around us, though, chaos was beginning to erupt.

“We should get out of here,” I stated as I watched a group of wolf-people start to come to their senses.

“And you are?” The monochrome girl asked, raising a dangerous eyebrow.

“Kotaro,” I replied shortly, then sighed internally. “Shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.”

Dark eyes lit up with interest. “An espionage agent, saboteur, and killer for hire? Well, I suppose this night just became salvageable.”

Several people cried out.

“Though the screams of the masses do have their own charms,” dark lips curled upwards.

“Putting aside that,” the other young woman snorted, pulling free one of her guns and checking it over, “any idea what's happening, ninja?”

“Just offhand? I'd guess someone did some kind of spell and transformed a good portion of the town into their Halloween costumes,” I replied, my sword creeping out of its sheath.

“...someone dressed up as me?” She asked, the trace of an upper-class English accent audible in her disbelief. “Some random child knew enough about me to decide to make me their Halloween costume?”

“Well, that makes one of us, at least,” the dark-clad child hummed, looking to one of the wrought-iron fences and casually tearing off a pole before inspecting it. “This will do, at least. Assassin, you clearly recognize us.”

I cocked my head and caught a ghoul lunging at me from behind a tree, hitting him twice and bringing it low, non-lethally. “Wednesday Addams, of the Addams Family. Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. You're both from media franchises I'm familiar with, yes. I'd wager that, wherever we are... probably isn't the same world any of us was born on.”

Lara's eyes widened and she brought up a pistol to one of the werewolves as it began to circle.

“Warning shots only,” I informed her. “That's a person who got transformed, not a monster.”

The British aristocrat paused, clicked her tongue, then spun her gun in her grip and brought the backside of the firearm down across the charging werewolf's face, sending him yelping across the street.

“I suppose that does take the fun out of a duel to the death,” Wednesday sighed, holding up her pole as a pirate eyed her. “If one of the parties didn't enter it willingly, it's just not sporting.”

The pirate twitched... and decided discretion was the better part of valor.

“So... we find this wizard or whatever, I put a gun to his head, and we get him to reverse the spell?” Lara asked, her eyes roving around the monsters on the street carefully.

“Probably the best plan,” I nodded, narrowing my gaze as I saw an advertisement on a billboard rising near a commercial street.

Sunnydale Real Estate!

Well, I suppose that explained quite a bit.

~~~

So... I stared writing and something happened.

I swear I wasn't drunk, I just wanted to... uh, do I have an excuse for this latest madness? No? Dammit.

Okay, no excuses.

Kotaro's in trouble because of something entirely unrelated to the plot happening multiple dimensions away and he has to deal with it to find his way back to Konoha.

The funny thing is that, actually, I'd always had this planned. I just didn't know when I would get around to it. And, given everything coming up with the Chunin Exams very soon, I thought I'd go ahead and get it out of the way. Yes, really. I've had a doc sitting on my desktop for a year with this little arc sketched out. Not even joking.

Anyway, I had fun finally getting around to doing this.

I really hope everyone enjoys it given it's such a massive departure from the normal Naruto-shenanigans.

Oh, and Happy New Year!