Shattered (#1 in Shifting Series)

Two Narutos?

Kakashi watched in shock as Sarah suddenly retracted her hand as Naruto stepped closer and threw her arms around him in a bone crushing hug.  Naruto laughed and looked at him with an expression that conveyed humor and confusion.  Shikamaru rolled his eyes and covered his face, muttering beneath his breath, "What a drag."

"You have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that," Sarah finally said as she released him.  She was now holding his face between her hands as she looked at him with an expression of love.  "You were such a cute little boy and if I had been in the village when you were a kid, I would have taken you home and raised you as my own."

Naruto put his hand on the back of his neck as she finally released him, laughing in obvious confusion but touched all the same.  Kakashi mirrored Shikamaru by covering his face with his hand.  He could not believe Sarah launched into her introduction that way.  It was almost like watching his former student as a child all over again.  She had absolutely no boundaries and since neither of the two men knew anything about her, the behavior would have been shocking.  Good grief...

"Sarah..." he groaned finally.  "There are some protocols with the Hokage."

"Nonsense," Sarah said with a grin.  "He's still Naruto. Oh, and hello in there, Kurama, it's nice to meet you too.  I hope sometime in the future I can talk to you about a few questions I have."

Naruto's eyebrows both went up as she was looking at his stomach when she said that.  He then looked at Kakashi.  "Okay, I'm officially weirded out now."

Sarah laughed and looked at him.  "Sorry, I'm just very excited."  She then looked over at Shikamaru, "It's nice to meet you too Shikamaru.  Maybe you can show me sometime how to play Shougi. I promise, it won't be a drag!"

Kakashi started laughing, surprising everyone in the room.  The scene was so out of context and the expressions on the younger men's faces were priceless.  He had to lean against the wall as he laughed it was so funny.  He wiped at his eyes from laughing so hard before he could speak again.  That was the most hilarious thing he had ever seen in his life.

"Let's back up a little," he finally said as he stopped laughing.  "Naruto, Shikamaru.  This is Sarah Klein and she's from another world.  In her world, our entire story was told on television and books as fiction.  She was a fan of the show and books, which is why she apparently has no filters at this moment.  She obviously forgot you don't know any of that already."

Sarah gave him a bashful smile, her face starting to get red as she realized just how her actions would have been observed from their perspective.  His heart turned over as he looked at her, adoring the look she was giving.  He barely refrained from tugging her to him, the desire to hug her was almost overwhelming from her adorable demeanor.

"Another world?" Naruto and Shikamaru said at the same time.

Kakashi gave a nod of his head, focusing again on why they were there.  "Remember when we were taken to all those worlds during the war, Naruto?  I suspect it was something like that.  Before she came here, I saw her in her own world.  I thought it was just a dream but yesterday, I saw someone struggling in the river and fished her out.  Imagine my surprise at seeing a woman from my dreams suddenly here in our world.  It was then that I realized that I had actually travelled by spirit to another world."

"I have no idea how I came here," Sarah added.  "One minute I was drowning in my world and next Kakashi was saving me.  I'm sorry I was so friendly just now, but I watched you grow up and I absolutely adore you, Naruto.  I was serious when I said I would have taken you into my home had I been here.  I can't even tell you how many times I wanted to go in and kick some of the villager's ass on your behalf."