Crossing Over (#2 In Shifting Series)

Pakkun vs Max

Sarah opened her mouth to answer when a low growl interrupted them.  Her eyes widened and Melissa let out a curse as Max abruptly lunged at Kakashi. "Max, no!" she cried out while trying to grab him. Kakashi side stepped and grabbed both boys up into his arms.  He gave a slight scowl, keeping his distance from the dog that seemed intent on biting him.  Ti was laughing on top of everything and seemed to only exacerbate the situation as he was trying to wiggle out of his Dad's arms to reach down to Max.

Pakkun suddenly appeared out of nowhere and intercepted the little dog, giving Kakashi a much needed break from dancing out of the other dog's path of attack.  He was barking at Max in a way that, despite being in dog language, seemed to be commanding in nature.  Max got down in a defensive position and barked back at Pakkun in an equally aggressive manner.  Melissa tried once more to grab Max up before things could escalate even more but he ran out of her reach.

"I'm so sorry, he doesn't like men!" Melissa cried, scared that Pakkun was going to hurt Max.  Pakkun was, after all, a Ninja hound while Max was a spoiled house dog.  Albeit a very protective spoiled house dog.  It really wasn't his fault he went after Kakashi; it was her own.  She had brought so many terrible men around in the past, he now didn't like any man and attacked on impulse.

Pakkun suddenly raised his paw and appeared to slap Max. Sarah gasped, that was the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life.  She barely refrained from laughing her head off at the "bitch slap" Pakkun had delivered.  Melissa covered her mouth then watched in surprise as Pakkun nudged Max away from the group, making yipping and little barks as they walked away together.

Sarah covered her face with her hand.  "I forgot how much Max hates men, Melissa."  Her eyes were almost sparkling, though, with the unrestrained desire to laugh.

Melissa was mortified but relieved that Pakkun seemed to be "talking" things over with Max rather than beating him up, which she knew he was fully capable of doing.  She felt like her face was on fire as she looked over at Kakashi. He was watching her closely with an expression that conveyed some annoyance and she shifted on her feet.  "Sorry?"

Sarah couldn't keep the laughter in another moment and burst out.  "Oh my God, Melissa.  I forgot how much Max hated men, that was epic!" As her laughter simmered down, she looked over at Kakashi, "This is Melissa, my best friend and sister from my world.  Remember I told you about her? We have a picture of her in our living room?" He was giving her a blank look, "She's the one that I made a promise to that if one of us ever managed to get here, the other would try to bring them along for the ride."  He continued to stare at her, and she shifted, "We met on a fan page..."

"Yes, I remember.  I'm more trying to figure out how she got here."  She made a face, and he gave her a look that said she would be answering the question later. "However, you didn't mention anything about a fan page before.  What kind of fan page?" He asked with raised brows.

"I'd rather not say," Sarah said with a blush.

Kakashi laughed hard, guessing exactly what kind of fan page.  He shifted the boys back to the ground before extending his hand to Melissa.  His eyes crinkling with humor as he then said, "Welcome to our world."

Melissa felt relief and smiled while shaking his hand ungloved hand.  His hand was surprisingly calloused and his grip firm. She blinked as she stared at him, stunned for a moment at how handsome he actually was in person.  She was momentarily mesmerized.  Sarah made a snickering sound next to her, drawing her out of the stupor.

"Thank you," Melissa forced out.  "I can't believe I'm meeting you. And that you two...  Wait, how old are your sons?!"

Sarah laughed and threw her arm around her shoulders, "I've been here for almost four years now. They're three."

Melissa gasped and took a step back.  "But... you've only been dead for a year now."

"Apparently our two worlds are not on the same length time.  When my mom came here, it was only a few weeks on your side, but it had been over a year here." Sarah chuckled.  "So, I guess... this means I'm older than you are now."

Melissa laughed hard, "No wonder I thought you looked a little older!"

Sarah raised a brow at her and put her hands on her hips.  "Did you just tell me I look old?"

Melissa smirked at her, "If the shoe fits."

Sarah howled with laughter and then hugged her.  "Oh God, you haven't changed.  I love it! Welcome to Naruto!  You're going to love it here!"

Pakkun and Max suddenly reappeared together.  Max looked... embarrassed?  Can a dog be embarrassed?  Melissa couldn't stop staring at him.  She almost jumped out of her skin when Pakkun started talking to her.  It was one thing to watch it on a two-dimension show, it was quite another to experience it in real life.

"He's agreed to not attack Kakashi or any random men that are not immediately threatening you." Pakkun then gave her a look before continuing with, "But he asks that you be more selective in your mates.  Apparently, some of your Ex's were not very nice to you or him. He was very frustrated that he was unable to protect you when they would hit you as they were much larger than him."

Melissa felt her face flame in color, mortified that they had talked about THAT. Kakashi's brows were raised, and she was even more embarrassed by the outing in front of one of her favorite characters.  "Of course," she managed to croak out.  She looked down at Max, "Sorry, Max."

Pakkun gave a nod then looked up at Kakashi.  "He said to tell you he was sorry he came at you that way.  He understands now that you are not a threat, nor are many of the men from our village."

Kakashi knelt down in front of Max and smiled. "You're forgiven, Max."  He extended his hand to the little dog, who in turn extended his and an understanding passed between them.

Melissa was certain that it was the strangest thing she had ever seen but also the most heartwarming.  Sarah leaned towards her, "You up for seeing the village or would you rather we go home for now?  It's actually before noon here right now."

She glanced at Max, "Maybe drop him off first?  Just in case?"

Sarah gave a nod and then looked at her boys.  "All right boys, time to head home."

Both protested loudly before Kakashi gave them a look that would have frozen a volcano.  They instantly stopped arguing, slumped their shoulders, and started walking away. Pakkun said his farewells before poofing out of existence.