Ten Minutes (Naruto fanfiction) EDITING--DO NOT READ!!

PROLOGUE // Alive Again

"I don't give a damn about anything around me. I am me, and that's that." --Bad Apple!!

PROLOGUE // Alive Again

In ten minutes...

All in ten minutes...

An audible sigh meandered through the warm summer breeze. Slowly blinking her eyes open, a young girl of maybe fourteen years shook her head slowly. She brushed a long strand of hair behind her ear, looking down at her shoes. No. She mustn't think of that. If she did, she was sure to cry, and shedding tears was almost as unforgiveable as laughing.

She looked back up at the moon radiating soft light down on her; basking in it like a cat in the sun. Her golden eyes seemed to glow like stars, contrasting with the stark whiteness of the reflection in them. Yet they were dead eyes; they glimmered just by the nature of their color, not through any underlying emotion.

Everything about the silver-haired beauty seemed emotionless, from her indifferent posture to her blank face. Her mouth neither smiled nor frowned. She was the picture both of boredom and ambivalence. No one who looked at her would ever gues that, inside, she was wrestling back emotions.

Anger. Hate. Sadness. Betrayal. A typhoon of rage crashed against her mind, but she was strong and pulled through. For a half second, her eyes glowed red, like drops of wine backlit by flame.

When she blinked and shook her head again, her eyes were back to gold. How weak of her. She had lost control, if only for a fraction of a moment; for that, she was guilty. Not that she would ever say so out loud. Guilt was an emotion just like any other.

The only subtle things about the girl were her understated facial features. Other than that, everything from her silver hair and golden eyes to her tall yet somewhat emaciated form stuck out like a sore thumb. She was practically swimming in the cloak wrapoed around her shoulders, for Kami's sake.

Her skin was flawless and pale, nearly as white as her hair, and she had an overall look of fierceness, while, at the sane time, looking as if a gust of wind would cause her to shatter like a porcelain figure. It was as if she had spent her whole life lying in bed, never seeing sunlight and never using her limbs for much of anything.

Breeaking away from her reverie, she looked back down at the crumpled map in her hands. In-between sloppy notes and dotted lines leading to Xs, her own handwriting neatly lined up before her current spot. It was represented by an odd, vaguely leaf-like symbol.

She traced over the messier handwriting with one long fingernail, then traced the neat rows of Kanji text. Thoughts swirled darkly in her head, like thundercloud, waiting to scare her with a clap of thunder and a bright burst of lightning. She ignored the thunderclouds: they were simply covering a blank, white sky, so why stop them?

Brushing the clouds aside, she looked at the writing, deciphering the messy and easily reading the neat. Yes, this was definitely it. The quiet, sleepy aura clouding over the village before her made it appear tranquil and peaceful, but she knew better. The village would be chaos in the morning, with the rush of waking up and hurrying for work better done today than tomorrow.

Letting out a melancholic sigh, the girl reached up to where her black cloak was fastened at her neck and unhooked it, allowing it to blow backwards in the wind.  She ran and jumped forwards off of the tree branch she had been balancing on, her hair billowing out behind her.

It was only a slightly powerful jump, and she had vaulted only one other tree before she began to fall, arcing downward as she lost velocity.  Just as she was about to crash into the fourth tree, her closed eyes snapped open, quickly transitioning from gold to red and back again.

Two white wings, specked with blood from where they had split from her skin, burst out from between her shoulder blades.  With their first mighty flap, they brought her out of harms way, and only then did they spread to their full wingspan.  The wounds on her back quickly healed, and the blood was so little in quantity that it flew right off with her first wingbeat.

Swooping like an eagle with the sound of wind in her ears, she soared up, quickly passing the top of the village's gates.  Landing gracefully on the top of one wall, she peered over the village curiously.  It was quite large, with many houses and shops along with several giant buildings.  She gazed over the village for a few minutes before turning, taking a few tapping steps, then diving off the wall again.  The ends of her wings curled in and she picked up speed, plummeting like a rocket.

Just before she hit the ground, she pulled up sharply, her toe scratching he ground, and spread her wings, coming to a stop with a skid.  Her knees bent to absorb the impact and her left palm hit the ground to steady her.  All this was done without the slightest sound, save the rushing wind from her wingbeats.

The girl looked about her surroundings until she was acquainted with all of the flaws and subtle shifts in position for this portion of the wall.  A chink there, a hole here, a crack over there.  Once her paranoia was taken care of, she lifted herself an inch or so off of the ground with a hop and began leisurely flapping her wings around the wall, memorizing the entirety of it's hugeness.

That done, she once again alighted on the wall, comparing the streets to her map as if there was any chance this was the wrong village.  Sure enough, they matched to a T.  She looked up at the twinkling stars above her; pinpricks in a vast swath of sky.  She knew who used to love the stars.  'Kaeda...'

Catching herself, she swiftly closed her eyes and shook her head again, almost violently this time.  No.  No.  No.  Stop thinking about that.  This was going to be a new life.  Sure, it would be a bit monotonous going through everyday life; sure, she would have to lie to some very important people, but, in the end, it would be worth it.  Not just because this was a way to escape from her normal life.  Because this time, it would be different.

Yes, she would never admit it, but her main reason for wanting to travel to a Hidden Village was so that she could have a do-over.  It would be different this time around; all bets off.  Everything would change as long as she stayed dilligent.

"Because now I'm alive again," Tenshiuta whispered to the sky.  Her melodic voice slowly faded away as she flew over the wall and into the Hidden Leaf Village.