Crossing Over (#2 In Shifting Series)

Training... God help me

Melissa was nervous as Iruka started unpacking a bag on the ground in front of her.  He pulled out several Kunai, Shuriken, as well as a first aid kit.  He gave her a slight smile as he straightened.  "I'm not sure we will get to all of this today, but I want to be prepared.  Have you any kind of fighting training?"

"No, never."

"Okay, so we'll start at the beginning.  Breathing exercises and learning what chakra feels like."  He grinned at her expression, "Don't worry.  I don't expect you to master anything today."

"I don't know why this is so important," she responded.  "I have you... why do I need to know how to fight?"

Iruka heaved a long sigh, "I won't always be next to you, Melissa.  As much as I want to believe that I will always be there, sometimes that doesn't happen.  Look at Sarah and Kakashi.  She's got the copy ninja for a husband and she's had to fight on several occasions.  I want you to be able to defend yourself like she can."

"I know how to punch someone," she defended herself.

"Show me," he challenged.

Melissa was annoyed enough to really take a swing at him.  He moved so fast that she found her arm pulled up behind her back and his lips close to her ear.  "This is why you need to know.  If someone comes at you, they won't love you like I do.  I want you safe, always."

He released her arm and she turned around towards him.  She dragged in a long breath then gave a nod.  "Okay, I'm ready."

Iruka smiled in response before going over breathing and chakra techniques.  Melissa was feeling a bit silly as she closed her eyes, trying to feel an invisible force that supposedly was inside her.  She had her doubts, despite Sasuke's proclamation that she could use Ninjutsu.  As she slowly breathed in and out, she was having a hard time keeping her head clear.  Especially with Iruka sitting so quietly next to her.  She was very aware of his presence.  Yet...

She slowly started to feel as if her mind was expanding outward.  She felt like she could feel the energy in the trees, the ground, Iruka, and... yes, she could feel something inside herself.  It was spinning and churning through every limb and part of her body.  It felt like controlled fire.  She felt as if her mind was brushing against the fire, touching it and feeling its power.  She liked the way it felt, the way it moved.

Iruka could feel the chakra within her stirring.  His brows rose.  That was rather fast.  He wondered if she had a natural inclination towards it but had never actually reached out to it.  He reached into his front pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.  He set it on her upturned hand and watched as it crumpled... Lightning... then burst into flames... Fire.  His eyes widened, she had two natures?  That was not common.

He tilted his head to the side as he looked at her.  Those from the other world seemed to have unusual Jutsu.  He wondered vaguely if she would develop something like Sarah's or if it would be more like those that they had knowledge over?  She was so beautiful sitting there, completely still as she focused inward.

Melissa's eyes suddenly flared open as she looked at him, "Did you just think that I was beautiful?"

Iruka's mouth dropped open slightly, "Yes, I did."

"I could hear your thoughts... It was the strangest thing, like you were talking out loud but I could hear them as if you were speaking them."  She shifted slightly, "In my world, I could pick up on people's emotions... feel them per say but I never could read someone's thoughts."

Iruka thought about it for a long moment.  A light bulb went off in his head and he grasped her hands.  "Melissa... Sarah, did she have anything like what you are saying in your world?"

Melissa tilted her head to the side, puzzled at the question.  "Yes, actually she did.  She would have dreams that would come true and her intuitiveness was actually a little creepy.  You could hold a candle hidden in your hand and ask her what color it was and she was right, every single time."

"That's it!  I get it now!"  He stood up and started throwing his supplies back into the bag.  "We're cutting it short.  I have to see Kakashi right now."

Melissa was surprised as he slung the bag over his shoulder, grabbed her hand, and started running towards Kakashi and Sarah's house.  She was out of breath by the time they reached there and was bent over gasping as Iruka knocked hard on the door.

Kakashi opened the door with a questioning look on his face.  He looked annoyed actually and Melissa wondered if he and Sarah had been arguing.  She had still been peeved at him for making her run with a major hangover when she had left with Iruka to train.

"Kakashi... I've figured out Sarah's Dojutsu!"

He stepped to the side and motioned them inside.  Sarah was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed in front of her and staring at the opposite wall.  Yup, they'd been fighting.  That had to be an interesting fight.  Melissa would have paid to be a fly on the wall.

Iruka went over to Sarah.  She looked at him then gave a slight smile.  "Hi, Iruka.  Did you say you have my Dojutsu figured out?"

He knelt down in front of her with an intent look in his eyes.  "Before you crossed over here, did you have anything... different that you could do in your world?"

Sarah shifted, obviously feeling a bit uncomfortable with the question.  She bit her lip, "Yes.  I didn't talk about it because people would think I was crazy.  Melissa knows a little bit about it but I never talked about it with anyone else."

"We won't think you're crazy," Iruka promised with a smile.

"From the time I was a little girl... I just knew things.  I wasn't like a psychic or anything but I would just know something.  About people, situations.  I would have dreams that would come true and when I held like crystals or was out in nature, I could almost feel the energy around me.  Especially with crystals.  I had a large collection because I loved feeling that hum in them."

Her eyes seemed to moisten, "A few days before... Ben and Anaise were killed.  I was in the kitchen cleaning and a wave of emotion... despair came over me.  I called my Mom, thinking something was maybe wrong with her.  She was okay.  I even got ahold of my brother, Reno, who is in the Marines.  He was just fine too.  I brushed it off but the last time that had happened... it was when my grandma had died.  I also... used to see things."

Melissa's eyes widened, "What kind of things?"

"I don't know what they were but sometimes... I would see dark shadows from the corner of my eyes or feel like someone was in the room when no one was there.  I haven't had that happen since I have been here."

"Eek, like ghosts?" Melissa said in horror.

Sarah laughed, "I don't know what they were but they were definitely some kind of presence.  This went on my entire life.  What does this have to do with my Dojutsu, Iruka?"

"I was just training Melissa and she connected with her chakra.  While she was connected to it, she could hear my thoughts.  She told me before she came here, she could always feel people's emotions but never their thoughts.  It just clicked.  When your people come over, the Jutsu's they have are directly related to abilities that were undeveloped in your world."

Kakashi straightened, "That explains what happened at the hospital.  She was giving a prophecy of what was coming."  He looked at Sarah, "I think it's time you start trying to remember what you saw when you were out of it.  It's obviously important."