WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!
~~~~~
She stared at the hand-sized wooden cube wrapped around her fingers. An intricate design carved neatly into the wood, a moon. A half moon. It was only one side of the cube, and opposite the moon was the sun. The sun design she recognised, one that she had seen a couple years back.
The memory brought a smile to her face, a bitter one. She stared at it for a long time, well, a time that felt long.
The rest of the sides of the cube were blank, no pattern, not picture was carved into the wood. Nothing. She could've sworn there was something engraved on the sides, but couldn't remember. A small sigh escaped her mouth, maybe she should stop staring at the box that brought back so many memories. Were they good? Possibly.
A reflection caught her attention. She sealed the cube away in her bracelet quickly before taking a look at the round piece of metal coiled around her left index finger. Three types of gemstones were stuck in the middle of the metal, the gem in the middle was obviously the biggest, with smaller but still similar stones on each side.
She slid the ring off her finger to inspect it further. Holding it up to her eye she looked at the strange symbols and swirls on the inside of the ring. It certainly meant something, but not knowing what it was wasn't much help. And with a shrug, she slid the ring back onto a finger on her right hand, specifically the forth, counting the thumb. For some reason, it felt more comfortable on that finger, than where it was previously.
And only then did she realise she was standing in the middle of nowhere. A small breeze blew her hair backwards, a refreshing feeling, but where the breeze was coming from was a slight mystery to her. Green land, as far as the eye can see, surrounded her. In every direction she looked, the short grass was everywhere. With a few small trees dotted around, and the occasional rock, but no wildlife. Odd.
Even with all the observation, she still had no idea where she was. But perhaps if she were to walk in one direction, she'd eventually find humans.
She groaned, just realising what sort of problem she was in.
There was no choice but to explore the unknown area.
~~~
"Why'd that field have to be so big?" She questioned no one, groaning internally.
It took longer than she thought it would have, maybe it was because she was walking a slower pace than usual, but she eventually saw something. Just over the hill, she was walking over, a small town became visible. Nothing near to the size of Konoha, though it was a similar format, circular. Something caught her eye, red stone things on the roofs and strange coloured walls. But that's how it is when you go to an unknown place, everything is strange.
As she neared the town, she saw a sign that was tied to two trees at the entrance. But the wired lines and symbols on it made it difficult for her to read. Was it even the language she spoke, or read? Probably not. Her violet eyes stared at the buildings in awe, she had never seen anything like this. Just where was she?
People were around, looking at posters and chatting with their friends and what not, and even if she wanted to observe the posters, it wouldn't serve much use. She almost groaned again, why was she here if she couldn't do anything?
Gosh, so many questions and no one answering them ignited a fire of anger in her stomach. What about the ring? What did that mean? What did the sign say? What town was she in? Why wasn't there any wildlife in the field? Why was the grass so short with so much of it, she was sure no one would want to cut that much grass?
Slapping her hand on her forehead, she groaned, out loud this time. And sure enough, the loud, unexpected and frustrated groan caught people's attention. But she didn't apologise, instead, she ignored them and continued to walk down the street, looking for a place where she could eat. What currency do they use? Oh dear, this was turning into something troublesome.
Maybe, just maybe, if she found a place where she could eat to her heart's content, she could eat and be gone in a flash?
Ah, that sounded like a plan.
~~~
"WELCOME~!" A voice shouted, with way too much enthusiasm. At least they spoke the same language. But that was the least of her worries. In front of her, on a huge plate, plenty of noodles with some sort of red source placed on top sat neatly in the centre of the plate. And it wasn't the noodles that worried her now, it was what could be found in the red source. Mushrooms.
"Are those shiitake mushrooms..?" Mina questioned hesitantly, glaring at the lumps of fungi in disgust.
The man cat ignored her question and continued with the instructions. "FINISH THIS IN 30 MINUTES AND YOU'LL RECEIVE A GALGAIDA FOR FREE~! Your time begins right now."
Mina nodded in understanding, picking up the fork and pished the brown-black soggy mushrooms to the side. Then she happily started shoving the noodles into her mouth. But her violet eyes never left the human cat, confusion clear in her eyes. What was he? A human or a cat? As she continued to wonder what type of creature was walking away from her now (to attend other customers), the so-called 'Galgaida' thing was also on her mind, though it only lasted a few moments before she actually went back to stuffing more of the -surprisingly- tasty food into her mouth.
"Here, you boys have earned your Galgaida."
Mina's ears twitched at the cat-human's voice, instantly looking to the other side of the restaurant. She licked the red sauce off her lips and placed the utensils on the empty plate, somewhat fascinated by the pair of friends. They were young, maybe a couple years younger than Mina herself. One boy had longish dark hair, spiking upwards, defying gravity, with the tips of it green. Though the tips of his hair may have look green because of his all green outfit. But that didn't matter. Large, rounded haze brown eyes stared intently at the cat-man, listening to what he was explaining, his lips pulled into a straight line, clearly in thought or confusion.
Her piercing stare must have been felt by the other male, making her flicker her dull violet eyes over to the other boy. And the colour she saw only reminded her of someone important to her. Bright sapphire blue eyes. Though the eyes that she was staring at now were a lot different to the ones she loved. A different story, a different life, a different human. And she was sure that the blue eyes she was staring at now were the eyes of a killer. Mina's lips turned upwards when the boy narrowed his own eyes, he might have also figured out that she was a murderer. Very pale skin surrounded those eyes, matching his hair colour. White, spiky -unruly- yet soft looking hair sat on his head.
The sudden rumble of the building caught everyone's attention, people rushing out to see what happened. Mina, being short and skinny, managed to push past everyone to get a better view of what was happening. There, in the middle of the crowd, a man's dead body laid sprawled out, crimson liquid pooling around him. Mina pursed her lips, trying to hold a laugh from the funny facial expression.
"Hey, so what happened here?" The white-haired boy asked a man standing next to him.
"His body suddenly exploded," The man answered, "Just blew up from the inside." He explained while making funny hand gestures.
But at the explanation, Mina's eyebrows furrowed. And without much thought, she blurted out her thoughts. "It didn't explode from the inside," She said gaining unwanted attention around her, "The bomb was most likely placed on his stomach without him realising. Or maybe he knew that there was a bomb but couldn't see it?" She questioned, voice quieting into a mumble, a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Eh?" The noise was made when she spotted a greyish glow surrounding the person and eventually making the corpse fade into oblivion.
"He vanished!?" Both Mina and the green-clothed boy shouted in shock.
"He went back to the real world." The white-haired boy responded, "Game over."
Mina stared at him in confusion, what the heck does he mean real world? Is this not the real world? And game over, what's that about?
"Hey, Killua, do you think that the magic that guy used on you earlier-" The brown-eyed boy asked, fear clearly visible on his face.
"I don't know," His friend answered before the full question was asked.
"Don't worry," A new voice caught their attention, spinning around to see who the voice belonged to, "There are no spells in this world that are anything like that."
Mina was beyond confused now, spells, worlds, magic... What? All she wanted to find out was the basic information of this world, but with a number of questions she had, it was likely that someone will find out she's not from around here. She stayed quiet, lost in thought, not paying attention to the possibly important conversation the two boys were having.
"And, you're newbies, so you could definitely use the information." That was the sentence that brought her back to reality. "On your first time playing here, take all the help you can get." The older man explained.
"What make's you think it's our first time? We could be returning players." The white haired boy said, eyes filled with suspicion.
The man stayed quiet for a moment, turning around fully to face the three youngsters. "Book," the instant the word left his mouth, a light came out from the middle gemstone on his finger. A small ball of smoke appeared above his hand. But the sound effect and the smoke was enough to make Mina jump back. Unconsciously applying chakra to the soles of her feet and attaching herself to the wall, in a defensive crouch. The two boys she had spoken to for the short while doing the same, though without the wall.
~~~
How did she end up here again?
Staring blankly at the people sitting around on some stone steps. She stood silently next to the boys, who were frustratingly basically the same height as her. Mina crossed her arms over her chest, looking away from the people, trying to calm her anger. She was barely listening, only noticing when a different voice started to speak.
Somethings about cards, how to gain them, and this talk about the bomber. "What a lame name, 'The Bomber'," Mina said, unknowingly. And only then did she feel the looks she was receiving from the other 'players'. One, in particular, looked more offended by her comment. She blinked, turning to face the middle of the circle they created, "did I say that out loud?" She asked rhetorically, grinning widely.
"Everyone who has played this game came to the same conclusion," The irritated man spoke, going along with the topic they were talking about before Mina's late comment came. "Every card you find-" But his explanation was cut short by Mina's comment yet again.
"Ew! Why are you so ugly?!" She shouted in question, leaning backwards, looking at the blond man in disgust and slight hurt. "Sorry, I won't be able to work with such a hideous person." She explained, turning around and walking away. And with a lazy backwards wave, she shouted, "NOT SORRY!"
~~~
She blew hot are into her palms, desperate for a little warmth. Rubbing her hands together to create more friction and heat. Repeating the process, the thought of her sealing away warmer clothes crossed her mind, but the thought was dismissed as soon as she tried summoning warmer clothes from her bracelet.
Her violet gaze was locked to the things in front of her, the scenery reminding her of her home village. It soon changed as she kept walking. The ground suddenly dropped low, as she stopped walking before falling down the cliff, the area ahead was rocky, with large pillars made from stone littering around. It seemed deserted, but the multiple presences she felt told her otherwise. Jumping off the ground she stood on, she leapt to the next one. Concealing her chakra and going towards the three main presences.
~~~
Staying in the dark for a long time allowed her to reflect on past things. All the things that happened in her childhood, the good things brought a smile to her face. Sudden bursts of determination filled her being, as she planned an escape, but the bad memories turned that smile upside down. All determination dispersed and disappeared.
She felt tired, wanting to sleep, but not being able to become comfortable enough to actually do so. Her body felt cold, and it tried desperately to warm itself up but never managed to. Closing her eyes meant nothing, as the scenery didn't appear to be much different. When she did close her eyes, however, she knew. The flashes of bad things reappearing and sometimes if she was lucky, images off she wanted to happen in the future also appeared.
It was only her imagination.
And that fact scared her, she could barely tell what actually happened and what was her imagination. Although there were a lot of instances she was sure things happened, and those memories are what kept her from losing all hope.
~~~
"So, during that fight, what did you see first?" The young blonde haired girl asked, clapping her hands together in a way of getting the dirt off her hands. She looked at the two young boys, expecting an answer from them as they walked closer to her.
"I saw him get flipped first!" The smiley boy answered, slightly in awe of the shot fight that happened. The answer also got a positive response from the white-haired boy.
"Really?" Mina questioned suddenly, jumped off the cliff-thingy, landing next to them. Her sudden appearance made the three jump in fright and scream. But one seemed to keep his cool better than the others, "I thought she broke his arm?" She spoke, looking up at the dark sky in wonder.
"Well, I don't think I broke his arm..." The young girl returned to Mina's comment, looking at the ground with a slightly sheepish smile.
"Oh!" Mina suddenly exclaimed once again, gaining the attention of the three. She waved her hand, grinning, "My name's Uzumaki, Mina, ya know," She introduced, "I was wondering if I could tag along since I don't really know what to do."
"Sure!" The boy with long spiked up black hair with the tips green responded, an innocent grin on his face, "I'm Freecss, Gon! And this is Zoldyck, Killua!" He introduced himself and pointed at the white-haired boy.
"Wait," Killua said, "We're just going to allow a complete stranger join us?" He questioned, narrowing his eyes at Mina, suspicion clear on his face.
"Well, why not?" Gon asked, turning to face his friend, he gained an annoyed response and in no time, the two were bickering.
"Ah, doesn't that bring back memories," Mina sighed, watching the two arguing, reminding her of her team. The small smile on her face was evident.
"I'm Krueger, Biscuit, but you can call me Bisky," The young looking girl said, putting an innocent act on, but Mina saw right through it.
~~~
Bisky's eyes were wide as she stared at the Uzumaki in surprise. Sitting on the edge of the crater, with Mina dangling her legs over the edge. Mina's eyes were on the two boys fighting it out with the criminal in the crater.
"You don't know what Nen is?" The question slipped through Bisky's mouth, "Then how did you get into the game?"
"I have no idea what 'Nen' is, but I know a lot about chakra, and I was transported to the game," Mina answered, not taking her eyes off the two boys that were training. Her response gained a tried sigh from Bisky.
"C-Chakra?" Bisky questioned after the realisation of what Mina had said hit her. Her eyes widened, even more, when the girl nodded.
"Yes, chakra, do you know about it?"
"Um... Well, in this world there are stories about it and whatnot, but I never actually witnessed what chakra was. I'm guessing that you possess chakra instead of nen?"
"Ugh, yeah, ya know," Mina scratched her head in slight embarrassment. Her violet eyes left the blonde girl and moved in to watch Gon and Killua. She then proceeded to take a deep breath in, closing her eyes in the meantime, "They've got a week for this right?" She questioned, gaining a positive response from Bisky, "I guess it's time I proceed with my training." Mina muttered to herself, though it was heard by the doll-like girl. Mina stood up slowly, eyes now fixated on another crater in the distance of the large rocky area.
And for the first time in a while, a certain spark was lit. There was an odd sparkle that appeared in Mina's once dull violet eyes. One that would hopefully last.
~~~
She stood in the middle of the crater, chakra on the soles of her feet holding her above the water filled creator. Her breath was ragged, trying to become normal once again. Blue chakra surging through every cell of her body, not being concealed, she concentrated it into the palms of her hands, keeping some at her feet so she didn't fall in the water again. Condensed moisture ran down her forehead, somehow disappearing on the way down her face, evaporating into the air.
Then, remembering how to heat chakra like you do with any fire jutsu, she made the chakra surrounding her palms heat up to a similar point when performing the fireball jutsu. But it wasn't enough to catch her hands on fire. She then placed her hands near the small sea of water, hoping it would superheat the water in a short amount of time.
How many days went by was unknown to her, constantly training with no notice if the sun went down or came back up. However, she did take snack breaks which would lead to a fifteen-minute nap. And this time when she placed her hands just above the surface of the water, bubbles quickly started to form in the depth of the water. Rising up to the top and bursting, the process continued until the large mass of water started to boil.
The grin on her whiskered face was clear, though her eyes, drooped down, tiredness written on her face. After long hours of practice, she managed to boil the crater filled with water. She had long forgotten how it felt to succeed at something and being reminded how it felt, boy was it satisfying.
Yet, the feeling didn't last, as she knew that she had to somehow boil the water within her using chakra, learn how to harness the pressure the vapour made, and use it to strengthen everything. She was unsure if she could actually do it, but the feeling of success reminded her it was worth a shot. Maybe a lot of shots.
Clapping was hear in the distance, and when Mina turned to see who was clapping, none other that Gon and Killua were the ones clapping.
"THAT WAS AMAZING! HOW'D YOU DO THAT?!" The brown-eyed boy threw this questions at Mina. As soon as she landed on the hard rock, letting the water ripple from where she had jumped from.
"The technique isn't finished yet," She responded, a lopsided grin forming on her dirtied face. Noticing how the two boys were also filthy. "There's still a long way to go until I reach where I want to get with this."
"It seems fine where it is," Killua said, furrowing his eyebrows, hand stuffed in his pockets.
Mina shook her head, "I want to be able to boil the Chakra within me so I can sorta boil the water within me, then I need to learn how to control it so I can use the pressure to strengthen my physical attacks. And it will make it easier if I can do it without much effort," She explained and started to think of all the possible ways that she will be able to master the boil release.
"Mina," Bisky called from behind the two boys. Gon and Killula stepped to the side so she was in sight, with hands on her hips and in a confident stance, "Why don't you take a break from chakra training and concentrate on basic strength training?" She asked, now holding some cards. "Gain," After the command was said and the smoke disappeared, there were three shovels, two wheelbarrows, a couple of flashlights and ropes.
The Uzumaki tilted her head to the side in wonder and nodded slightly for Bisky to continue. "We're going to go back to Masadora, however," Bisky spoke, turning around and pointing in the direction of a small mountain, "We're going straight to it!"
"So you want us to dig through the multiple mountain-things, to get to Masadora?" The Uzumaki summarised, eyebrows furrowing.
"Yes," Bisky responded, "But Mina you'll be working on your own, and no shadow clones."
Mina heaved a sigh, still tired from the training she herself had completed, though, knowing it was a good idea to have some basic strength training done as she hadn't done that in a while. Picking up a shovel, she moved to a boulder and started to push the metal shovel through the somewhat soft rock. After collecting a full shovel of rock, she threw it behind her and repeated the process.
~~~
"Why are you training so hard?" Mina asked, leaning back on the rock. Her orange jacket long gone onto the ground somewhere, leaving her in simple white top similar to Gons and the fishnet top underneath. She still had her black shorts on, though she had taken off the long black socks. Mud staining most of her skin and the little scratches still visible.
"To become stronger," Gon answered with an innocent smile, Mina looked at him with a blank expression, not really surprised that he answered so blandly.
"I think what she meant is why do you want to become stronger," Killua explained, sighing and taking a gulp of water from the bottle.
"Oh! Well, I sorta have to become stronger so I can meet my dad!" Gon answered Mina's question, a grin stretching on his face, a certain glint appearing in his round brown eyes.
"You haven't met your dad before?" Mina blurted out another question, tilting her head to the side, eyebrows furrowing under the headband. "What about your mum?"
An explanation of Gon's situation and what he plans to do, followed by more questions from Mina, soon became of the training they were supposed to do. And although sitting on the ground with a giant rock tied above their head, with the string that she was holding was considered training to Gon, she had already learnt how to 'sleep with one eye open', along with the white-haired boy. She is a ninja, after all, knowing how to stay alert while sleeping was one of the bases of her training with Jiraiya. Though as soon as the words 'I've never met the man' came out of Gon's mouth Mina couldn't help but wonder about his situation. "But how are you certain he's still live? I mean you've never seen the man yourself, only heard stories, ya know? They could be stories of a dead man and you wouldn't even know." She said, unconsciously looking up to the starry night.
"I know he's alive!" The sudden shout from the brown (or was it green?) haired boy startled the strangely hair coloured girl. She snapped her gaze to the boy next to her, a strangely familiar emotion rising to her chest. "Someone close to him told me! And you have no right to tell me not to look for him, I will become strong enough to take on anything that gets in my way!"
The glow of the moon was reflected by the spark in Gon's eyes, Mina instantly understanding that this boy wasn't joking about what he wanted. He had an unwavering determination, just like someone special she knew, and the thought alone made her lips twitch upwards. Her violet eyes falling back to the moon high above them.
"I never said you have to stop looking for him, ya know," she muttered loud enough to hear. And with a quick glance at the white-haired boy in wonder as to why he wasn't saying anything, she continued, "And I know it's wrong of me, but I couldn't help compare myself to you. I mean if I were to look for my dad now, there'd be nothing to find since he's long gone, ya know. I only found out what my parent's names were like three years ago when I met my dad."
"Three years ago? And how can you meet someone who's dead?" Killua finally piped into the conversation, opening his bright blue eyes slightly, and staring strangely at Mina.
She hummed acknowledging his question and prepared to answer, slightly on edge due to the intense stares she was reviving from them. "It was a wired experience, ya know, and I don't fully understand how it happened, but it did. We had a nice conversation too, ya know." Her small smile transformed into a lopsided grin, as she rubbed her free hand on the back of her neck.
"What did he say?" Gon asked, tilting his head to the side, his time to asks the questions. The look on Mina's face dropped, her blonde eyebrows becoming straight, not suggesting any emotion, along with the grin -that had fallen into a frown. It didn't go unnoticed by the two boys.
"I can't remember," she said eventually, voice barely above a whisper.
An 'oh' was the response she got. Silence fell between them, the light of the moon keeping her in thought. But the peaceful silence was broken when Gon asked the question, "Why do you want to get stronger?"
Mina's violet eyes fell to the ground, staying silent for a while, her lips stretching up again. "My brother wants to become the strongest ninja in our village, and I want to challenge him, that, and with how reckless he can get, I need to protect him."
"That's your reason?" Killua asked, tilting his head to the side.
Mina looked at the moon, eyes becoming stern, a small shine appearing on them. "I couldn't find a dream to achieve for a very long time, but now that I have one, that's all I need. And I'll make it work with hard work and belief... Even if I have some issues, but if that lame reason is why I don't end it all, I'll make it happen." She said, in a voice she hadn't used for a while.
It was silent for a long while and the thought of them falling asleep crossed her mind. Though, when Killua spoke up, she jumped slightly, shocked that he was still awake. "You're leaving soon, aren't you?"
She stared at him in surprise but nodded nonetheless. "Yeah, just after we finished training, I'll be going home."
"How?"
"The same way I got here." She answered and sighed, eyes becoming droopy from lack of sleep.
"Will we ever meet again?"
"Probably not, but who knows, ya know?"
"I see."
"Good night, Killua."
"Night."
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/
:P
Hope you enjoyed this crossover! Sorry if I've spoiled anything for you, though I don't think I spoiled much...
(Personally, I found it quite boring, when I was rereading it)
It took way longer to write than I had hoped, probably because I tried to write everything in one chapter...
Anyway, thanks for reading!
Barry-The-Berry~
unedited, 11/02/18 (date/month/year)