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Now, Uzumaki Naruto was by no means the smartest person around. He's generally known for being a goof ball, overdramatic and an overall loving friend.
He himself knew that being book smart was not a quality of his. But he passed his classes and was now in college for business. Naruto had great friends and a great life. He was in shape (a pretty nice shape) and was in perfect health.
So when it's 7 o'clock at night and he wants to go for a run, he decides it might not be the best idea. But as I've said before, Uzumaki Naruto isn't the smartest person so he does it anyways.
"I'll be back," he grabs his keys from the counter and pulls on his track jacket. "I'm gonna go for a run."
Shikamaru, his roommate, just sighed. "This late?" The brunet put down his book and looked at Naruto.
"I need to. I know I failed the test today so I just wanna clear my head."
"Go off, sis."
Naruto cursed Ino for teaching him slang. They'd been best friends since diapers so it's only natural that she was the one to teach him. It was annoying but made him at least laugh.
"You're spending too much time with Ino these days, Shika."
He just snorted. "And you spend too much time with Sakura."
Naruto rolled his eyes and ignored the remark. He may have had a small tiny little (read : huge) crush on the pink haired girl. He liked her since beginning of high school but then Uchiha Sasuke suddenly transferred to their school and she was a goner for him.
"Whatever, she's in med school now. It's not like we have all the time in the world to hang out together anymore." He opens the door. "Besides, she's with Sasuke."
"Whatever you say."
"I'll be back in like thirty minutes."
The blond locked the dorm room behind him and walked out of the building. He got into his car and drove to the nearby park to go for a peaceful little jog.
There were only a couple other runners but it seemed like they were all leaving. He plugged in his ear phones and began to jog on the trail that he knew was shortest out of all of them in that park.
He needed to clear his mind, everything was getting to him. Naruto was already stressed in the first month of the semester. Then what Shikamaru said kind of triggered him but whatever. Sakura was his friend since primary school and he kind of thought that they would end up together but fate decided to screw him over. Naruto was stressed™.
But running always seemed to soothe him somewhat.
The park lights flickered on once the sun fully set around 7:15. The days still dragged on in the middle of August but he seemed to be more fond of warmer weather so it didn't bother him.
He didn't pick up his pace at any particular point, just jogged lightly and listened to his music. Naruto remembered how much he hated this trail once he reached the woods. No matter how many times Naruto ran in this park, he would always get a weird vibe when he passed the woods.
But tonight, the air was different. Something drew him closer to the trees and before he knew it, he was at the beginning of the treeline.
The Uzumaki took out his earphones and carefully scanned the greenery. There was less light by the woods, a little farther from the trail. Shadows lurked from every corner and he dared to pass the sign that clearly read "Stay on trail! Caution of wildlife!"
There was a quiet hum. He believed that his ears were messing with him, just from the adrenaline in his blood from the run. He turned on his phone flashlight but kept it aimed at the ground.
Naruto's palms were sweating and his knees shaking, why did he think this was a good idea? There was a pull towards the small pond in the middle of the clearing. A clearing. How far into the woods has he wandered??
The blond noticed a strange purple-ish aura around the pond, a glowing almost. He walked up to it, a feeling of pure relaxation creeping through his veins.
Naruto stuck his hand into the water but immediately retracted it. It was cold, freezing. But what really caught his attention was the pink algae slime that had coated his fingers. The water seemed like perfectly clear, clean, regular water.
Suddenly, there was snap of a twig behind him and he stood up with a fright. "H-hello?" The Uzumaki called in an unsteady voice while he turned behind him.
Then there was a splash in the pond and he turned around again quickly. "Who's there??" There was no one there. He took a step closer to the edge of the water and saw the same purple aura.
Naruto grabbed some dirt and tossed it into the water. It sizzled. Then bubbled. Then sank like it weighed a thousand pounds. How peculi-
"Who are you?"
The feeling of relaxation immediately vanished and the blond nearly shot up ten feet off the ground with the sudden voice. His cheeks became a bright red when he realized he had let out a less than masculine shriek. Especially when he realized he was in the presence of a lady.
The girl was shorter than him, that's what he noticed first. Her figure was very curvy and pretty thicc. She had long, dark hair that reached just below her bottom. Her skin drank in all the pale moonlight, making her look iridescent. But her eyes. Naruto had never seen eyes as beautiful as hers.
They were a light shade of lilac, perhaps almost white all around. There were hints of mauve where her pupils should have been but it seemed as if she didn't possess any. It should have freaked him out more but all he could think was that she was breathtakingly beautiful.
But her attire is what was the most odd to him. She was in what looked almost like a nightgown or a sundress. It was white and flowy, reaching just above her ankles. Her feet were bare and so were her shoulders.
"Do you not speak English? Should I try a different dialect?" She suddenly said. Naruto then realized that he hadn't said anything for about two and a half minutes.
"I-I... uhm-"
The girl then said many different things in languages he didn't know. He recognized a few. English, Spanish, French, Korean, Russian. How many languages did this girl know?
"Hey!" He cut her off in middle of what he could only assume was a Cantonese sentence. "Japanese is fine. I speak Japanese."
"Then why did you not respond?"
"I mean... I don't know you. This is weird."
"Is it?" She looked around and frowned. "I am sorry to have made your life odd. I will take my leave now."
"Wait!" Naruto reached out and grabbed her wrist. She let out a sound that was a very similar to a hiss and pulled away. "O-oh I'm sorry."
She rubbed her wrist, the skin had reddened where he touched her. "You have not answered my question. Who are you?"
"Oh, right. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Who are you?"
The girl looked around as if to make sure no one was there. Then she narrowed her wide eyes at him. "You are not... not one of them right?"
"One of what?"
"That is just what one of them would say!" She cried.
Then the unnamed girl ran away back into the woods. Naruto was about to run after her but then his phone suddenly rang, causing him to almost drop the device.
"W-what's up, Shik?"
"Where've you been?" Shikamaru snapped. "It's been over an hour and the RA is already yelling about how it's early curfew today."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'll be there in fifteen."
They hung up the phone and Naruto turned his flashlight back on. Everything around him suddenly seemed mundane. The girl was gone and now he couldn't remember why he entered the woods in the first place.
When he turned around, the aura around the pond was gone. He touched the water again. It seemed tepid, a little cold but not like the ice he felt before. There was no odd slime on his hand. He tossed in dirt and it just dispersed into the water.
Had everything he experienced before been a figment of his imagination?
The blond turned around but then realized he was a little lost. Now he just had to find his way out of the damn woods.
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hopefully your interest has been piqued >:3