[Chapter 3: Once More, Questions]

I drummed my fingertips on my arms as I refused to look at Hiro (Tae-young— should I call him that?) in the eye. Despite the soft chattering and sounds of pages flipping, there was a silence between us— taunting us. My arms had crossed, leaning against a bookshelf. God... it's worse when that time we had that chunin exam in Kusagakure.

Stealing a glance, I placed a fist under my chin, clearing my throat. The male, who was also leaning against the bookshelf, blinked, darting his eyes at me. He held a sort of cautious aura— a bit more than before. My lips pushed together, pushing down the lump in my throat. "This is awkward, isn't it?"

The man took a step back, hands out in defense. "I mean, yeah, but— Megu— I mean—" He stammered, furrowing his brow as his foot shuffled in discomfort. He had a small accent but it wasn't bothersome. I shifted my weight onto one side, averting my eyes away. He sighed, looking back at me. "Sorry— what should I call you?"

"Ashley," I answered bluntly, placing a hand on my wrist, rubbing it slightly. My eyes darted back at him, who had his neck somewhat hunched. "I... would rather you refer to me as Ashley in this body." I don't want Megumi to be any more associated with this.

"Oh, okay then," The dark-haired boy let out, shoving his hands to his pockets. "Then you can call me Tae-young, or whatever."

"Yeah..." Okay, this shit was going nowhere. Running a hand through my hair, I let out a sigh. "Can I just call you Tae?" He gave a small nod. "Look, we need to find a way to get out of..." I paused, examining our surroundings. As usual, or because it was a weekday, there were few people here. People that were too consumed in their books to care. I glanced back at Tae-young. "This place."

He crossed his arms, looking around. "Agreed." The Seong tilted his neck. "You said this was some part of a trope, right. Like— like—" His facial features scrunched, not knowing the words.

"From fanfiction, yes." I filled in for him. Pacing around, I twirled a lock of hair. "But it's a rare one which only applies to the Naruto characters turning into cats."

"How the fuck did that even happen?"

"I don't know!" I exclaimed with a huff, before continuing. "But— if we're talking about anime logic, then this is some kind of reverse-isekai shit. But at the same time— that doesn't make sense? "I— um," There were too many questions swirling in my head— too many and so few answers. "What kind of jutsu would be able to do this? Maybe Kamui?? But then again, why would Obito do something like this? Could the Rinnegan do this? Maybe something that's introduced in Boru—"

"Wait— Ashley—!"

I moved my head in confusion but it was too late— my head smacked into a bookcase. "Oof!" I yelped, reeling from the sudden pain. My feet stumbled over the loss of balance, just regaining it back enough before I fell to the ground. "Owwww..." Letting out a groan, my vision became glazed for a second as I clutched my head, massaging it gently. Ah... that fucking hurt.

"Are you alright?!" I waved off my dear friend's concern.

Rotating my head for more comfort, I twisted my body towards him. "It's fine— I'm just glad I didn't put right fall on my ass." I excused, glancing at him.

For some reason, he looked a little... conflicted, let's just say that. His hand on his wrist despite his worried expression— it was as if he was restraining himself. Like he could've tried to catch me but— but he decided not to??? I almost rose a brow, something bothering him? I shook my head, narrowing my eyes. No, it's not my place to intrude.

It was only that I noticed that hey, why the fuck are you still staring at me, that I spoke up. "What? Is there something wrong with my face?" I questioned, tilting my head away.

The response was immediate: Tae-young shot his hands up in defense, eyes wide and mouth ready to object. "No! I— uh, I just—" He looked away, rubbing his nape. Now that I think about it, he's been stammering a lot. "I just think that your eyes... they're different from what I'm used to."

Instinctively, I hovered a hand over them. "Oh..." I didn't like that— out of all things, why say that? "Is that so?"

"Not in a bad way," I blinked, turning back at him. Huh. His lips quirked upwards for a smile, eyes softening like pancakes. "I think they're pretty."

Ah. I felt my heart accelerating. Man, the powers of his infatuation do wonders on his psyche. I excused, ignored how blood seemed to be rushing to my cheeks. I turned my heels, not wanting to look at him. Haaah... stop making me feel like this...! "Let's... let's go."

"Huh?"

I let out a small hum. "I told you that my team is here— so I might as well let you see them."

"What the fuck." I just-- I just stared at the fucking mess inside. There was food on the floor, the couch somehow moved, papers were scattered everywhere-- why???

"What happened here...?" Tae was next to me, peering his head out with wide eyes.

I stole a glance before shaking my head. Stepping aside, I motioned him to walk in and locked the door. "You know, you don't have to take off your shoes," I told him, causing him to halt in his movements. In an instant, his face scrunched in utter disgust and shock. Oh right, cultural differences.

I hummed as he continued making that Tanjiro face. Now that I think of it, Megumi also had to do it too. Turning away, I took a deep breath. Okay, time to beat up a bunch of kids. And an adult.

Walking over to the kitchen, where all the noise was, I had to crane my head to narrowly miss a book thrown at me. "Ow!" Ah. I heard him stumble on his footing as the book fell off of his face.

Rip Tae.

"Holy-- sorry about that!" Naruto yelled while sitting on the counter with a nervous grin, holding a... why is he holding a pan? Sasuke was beside him, holding out a grilled cheese sandwich.

"Why is everything a mess?" I questioned, furrowing my brows with a hand on my hip. The blond's grin fell as he jumped off, scratching the back of his neck. I glanced around. "Where the hell are Sakura and Kakashi?"

The raven-head took a bite of his sandwich. How he even got it, I don't know. "Kakashi had a headache and took the beds," My bed! "And Sakura..."

A loud meow interrupted him. I groaned, craning my head towards the ground. At my feet was a fluffy pink cat, mewing at me loudly. Bruh. "Holy shit-- you weren't lying." I heard the Seong exclaim.

"I know, something I rarely do," I mumbled under my breath. Picking up the girl gently, I stroked the back of her head. "Let me guess, Sakura got all cat-like and ended up pushing everything to the ground." They nodded, in which I sighed. God, I've been sighing a lot, haven't I? I rotated my neck around for more comfort. "But what the fuck are you two doing?"

"We wanted food, dattebayo! But..." He glanced at the refrigerator. "There wasn't much food." I blinked, oh yeah, I'm fucking broke. Why did I waste all my refrigerated food on them yesterday?

My eyes darted at the duckhead. "I only know how to make grilled cheese sandwiches." Goddamn, I should've never spoiled you.

My head turned up to look at my reincarnated friend, who looked at me back. "Do you know how to cook?"

"Uh..." He darted his eyes away. "No. Don't you?"

My lips pursued together. "Maybe a different time but..." Juggling Sakura in one arm, I looked at my palm like a true protagonist. "I'm pretty sure I'd just make a worse mess." I let out a hum, pulling a lock behind my ear. "You know what?" I decided, pointing at the duo and then the male next to me. "You three clean this all up. I'mma turn Sakura back and wake up Kakashi." I huffed. "Alright?"

They didn't object to that.

"Okay..." Sakura started, slurping on a forkful of noodles now that she was in human form. She pointed her utensil to Tae-young, who reeled back slightly. "Who is this?"

Okay, that the chaos was over... for now. I managed to remember that a dorm is left a shit ton of cup noodles behind (my dorm mates knew I was fucking broke). I almost wiped a tear— thank you for the blessing. Anyways, after we gathered everyone into the living room, we just sat in silence while eating our lunch before the pinkette broke it.

"He's Tae-young, the person I talked about yesterday, remember?" I motioned a hand at him, who hesitantly waved back. I twirled my fork around. "And no Sasuke, I don't have chopsticks— suck it up."

The boy let out a 'hn', when was the last time I narrated that? I mean— what? "It does not feel the same."

"It doesn't matter, dattebayo!" His best friend barked back. "Noodles are noodles, teme."

"I know." He stated curtly, turning his head to glare at the main character. "I just don't like eating them with a fork."

Naruto gritted his teeth together. "Don't be complaining about something so useless!"

"Shut it, dope."

"Teme!"

"Weakling!"

"Tomato addict!"

"Ramen addict!"

"Maah, maah..." Kakashi waved off, devouring his food before we could even blink. "No need to fight."

"Shut it, Kakashi!"

"Geez, they're always like this, even when they were separated years apart." I heard the other girl mumble under her breath.

"Really?" The dark-haired Korean next to me added with a rather... confused expression. I couldn't help but stifle a laugh, placing a hand over my mouth. Geez... I missed this. The fun times where we could just chat and argue about meaningless things.

It was only a few seconds later that I realized that everything got... eerily quiet. Huh? Opening my eyes, everyone was staring at me... why were they shocked? "What? Did I do something wrong?"

Kakashi was the first to break away, shaking his fluffy head. "No, it's— it's nothing."

Everyone else held a solemn expression. "Yeah, it's just that..." Sakura took a deep breath, fingers curling tighter around her fork. "That was something that Megumi would've done."

Ah.

I see what this is: they miss Megumi. I exhaled softly. Well, it made sense. Naruto and Sasuke haven't seen her in literal years.

"Oh, I see," I gently nudged Tae-young, who stared at me in disbelief, with the silent words of playing along with me. "I don't really know who this Megumi person but considering that she was Sasuke's..." I darted my eyes at him. "Sasuke's twin sister, right?"

"Hn." He nodded with furrowed brows, probably still not over the fact that she didn't exist (she did, she really did) in this world. Heck, they all probably weren't over the fact that they were finally all together except Megumi.

"Sasuke— Sasuke had a twin sister?" Good, Hiro actually knows how to lie.

"I know, right?" I chimed in, before reverting my attention to them. Propping my elbows against the coffee table, I place my chin on my hands. "Well, why don't you tell me about her? Who knows, might be fun." Not that it really matters.

The team all looked hesitant, glancing at one another. It was then that Sakura cleared her throat. "Well, she was... strange, let's say that."

Hey— when I said tell me about her, I meant compliments. I pulled my lips together when I heard Seong snort next to me, narrowing my eyes. "Really now?" I rose a brow in an act.

"Yeah, yeah!" The main character added on with a huge smile, raising an index finger. "She would say the weirdest things, and gush over anything cute!"

Kakashi cocked his head at the side with a low hum. "Megumi-chan would also use childish nicknames." The scarecrow sighed, placing his hands up in an exasperated manner. "I don't know where she gets it from."

"I don't get it either and I'm her twin." My foolish little— Sasuke, Sasuke commented, staring at his fork in disdain. "Nee-chan would drag me into a bunch of crap." Ahaha... you little shit. I swallowed down the urge to sigh and slap a bitch. "But... she was... rea..."

Huh? I rose a brow at his sudden silence. What was that he said? "Uh, Sasuke? You trailed off for a sec." I called out. For some reason, he refused to meet my gaze.

"Pffft— dang, Sasuke, you suck at being sincere."

"Shut it, Dobe!"

"Nah," Did Naruto just say that to one of the most problematic characters? "Anyways, what he meant was that Megumi was really caring towards us." ...Oh. He placed his hands behind his back, leaning against the couch. "She really was though! Heck, she was one of my first friends!"

"She's also really smart and kind as well." The pink-haired female added on with a nostalgic smile, staring down at her cup. "When we entered our first chunin exams, Megumi offered to train me."

The three turned their gazes to their teacher, who only tensed. "A— ah, she's uh, she always there for us."

Why did you stammer? I wanted to ask but at the moment— there was a warmth tingling in my chest. I felt the eyes of a certain Seong on me. I was kidding about the compliments. "She... she seems like she would've been a fan favorite," I commented. Okay now, that's a bit too much.

"Oh yeah, she had a lot of fans along with Teme." The blond shuddered at the memories. "I remember all those Valentine's days." Oh god, not .

"You don't even know the full extent— you were only a spectator." The taller teen retorted. It was then that he narrowed his eyes. "But the annoying thing was that she would always hang out with those Hyuuga twins."

Oh? I tilted my head in sudden amusement as Tae-young tensed. "Hyuuga twins? What is this, another thing that wasn't in the manga?" Yes, lemme in— spill in the beans!

"Oh yeah, Hiro wasn't in those drawings, dattebayo." Naruto crossed his arms as confusion overtook his facial features. "Hiro's Hinata-chan's twin brother, by the way."

Hinata-chan? Wasn't there no honorific before? I narrowed my eyes with a hand covering my smile— kyaaa, my ship! "What's wrong with Hiro and Hinata, Sasuke-kun?" The kunoichi peered closer in curiosity to the asshole, who turned his head away slightly.

He scowled, tilting his head downwards with furrowed brows. "Hinata's fine— it's just Hiro... He annoys me." That was what he settled on.

I blinked. Huh— I didn't think he would be the possessive t— actually, never mind I take that back. "I... I think," I heard the Korean whisper quickly, low enough for only me to hear. "I think I got shivers."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Heh," I wasn't surprised that they heard him. "He must really pity that character." I mused with a small quirk of the ends of my lips. I let out with a small smile, watching as everyone laughed along. Everything went the same: chatting along with just good vibes.

Even if the situation was unsure, even if I didn't know how to solve it, even with all the fears and insecurities... one thing is for sure—

Ahh... I really did miss them.

Extra:

"Oh, Tae-young," I called out to him, who was helping me with washing the utensils. His hands were... really sloppy. It's as if he's never done this.

"What, Princess?"

I rose a brow. "'Princess'?"

He tended, his hands halting from scrubbing. "Oh— um, sorry, habit."

He's been saying sorry a lot. I let out a sigh. "It's fine. It's just weird hearing it now."

The dark-haired adult let out a small noise. "Yeah..." The conversation fell short. "Er, what was it you were gonna tell me?"

"Oh yeah," I glanced at him. "Ya gonna have to give all your clothes to me." I motioned my head towards the team, who was fiddling with... something. "They can't just keep wearing my clothes forever."

"Wh— what?!"