1st Crystal

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

[Oerba, Vanille's dear home town. What would have happened if she and Fang never became l'Cie? Well she can very well experience it now. There she was, just a normal girl from Gran Pulse. Though tougher than the average human girl which came from living around many large beasts, she was sans powers, abilities, summons, and tattoos.

She sits upon a concrete railing and looks outwards at the mountainous scenery, smiling wistfully and swinging her legs delicately. There are Oerbian people walking around, bustling, laughing, and being a large family with each other.

A little robot comes rolling up to Vanille, making a little noise. The girl looks down at it]

Bhakti!

[She looks over at it and pulls it up with her on the concrete ledge.]

Here to give me some company?

[She giggles, but she knows this isn't her place. She knows this isn't her reality. She knows she's curled up next to Fang in a crystal stasis, dreaming forever with her friends all right and saved and she's all right with that.]

Comments

[shallendurehate.livejournal.com]

Naruto turned, looking up at Oerba, hands still on his hips.

"...You got some intense dreams dattebayo. But, if this is a dream... we can do anything, yeah?"

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

"I guess so" Vanille shrugged. If they could really do anything, then why couldn't she just make fire, l'Cie brand or not. Or maybe that was just her mind making sense of everything.

[shallendurehate.livejournal.com]

"Theeeeeennn..."

Naruto pointed to the ground.

"Lets ride!"

POOF!! A giant cloud of smoke was suddenly summoned, and before them was the rather sizable Gamakichi (http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Gamakichi). The blue-vest wearing orange-and-blue frog looked over at the two. He was large enough so they could both ride atop his head.

...Well, that worked better than expected.

Maybe you should of summoned a white steed, Romeo, Naruto thought to hismelf, before looking over at Vanille and grinning.

"You wanna ride with me, or get one of your own? We could race that way!"

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

"Oh! Oh! We should race! I know where we could go!" she said, practically jumping up and down with excitement. She let out an excited noise.

"And it would be a place that these froggies would enjoy!"

[shallendurehate.livejournal.com]

"Froggie?" Gamakichi let out, just as his brother, Gamatatsu, a large yellow frog, popped up beside him. Naruto looked to Vanille.

"Need help getting on?" He asked her, moving over to Gamatatsu to help her out if need be.

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

"Wow! They talk!" she chirped out, surprised.

"I think I've got it!" Vanille said as she started to climb onto Gamatatsu's back. Though, if Naruto felt the need to help, she wouldn't have stopped him.

She situated herself on it.

"All right!" she pointed ahead of them on the trail. "We'll be going that way. First one to Sulya Springs wins! And don't worry about going easy on me or you'll regret it!" The Pulsian girl boasted. She was an awesome chocobo rider, so her confidence was high that she could beat her blond hero.

[shallendurehate.livejournal.com]

"All right!" Naruto bent down, leaping onto Gamakichi's head in one bound. The orange frog glanced up at him, before looking to Gamatatsu.

"Give it your all," Gamakichi replied. Gamatatsu looked over at him,nodding.

"Of course!" The yellow frog chirped. "It will be my chance to shine!"

"Okay then!" Naruto held a hand up in the air. "Ready! Steady...!"

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

"GO!" Vanille exclaimed punching a fist into the air. "Let's beat them handsome froggy!"

Hop hop hop! She let out a giggle of myrth.

[shallendurehate.livejournal.com]

Naruto grinned as he stood atop Gamakichi's head, holding his hands out for balance as the two sped off. Naruto was grinning from ear-to-ear--most girls thought frogs were disgusting, but here was this one, riding along side him!

Uzumaki Naruto, you've hit the dream jackpot!

The wind bustled through his hair and pushed against the fabric of his orange-and-black tracksuit. Gamatatsu, however, was starting to visibly slow down, pushing Vanille behind.

Naruto glanced back, waiting momentarily to see if Gamatatsu would catch up on his own.

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

Vanille's pigtails fluttered behind her and her skirt kicked up in the speed-created breeze. Anyone behind them would have gotten a nice shot of what she had under there. Not that she cared, she was having fun!

"Oooooh! No no! Come on! You can do it! Don't slow down now!" Vanille let out, trying to encourage her frog to move faster. Admittedly, this frog did seem a bit more fat than his older brother, which could have been a disadvantage, but bigger never meant slower!

[shallendurehate.livejournal.com]

"I caaaaan't," Gamatatsu groaned as he moved, hopping along a few paces behind Gamakichi.

Naruto took in a deep breath.

"Gamatatsuuuuu~!" He called out. At the same time, the boy was rustling in his jacket pocket, arm jammed awkwardly down the neck of his partially unzipped tracksuit. He pulled out a bag of potato chips. For some odd reason Naruto had a feeling this was a dream provided snack.

Naruto waved it from his spot atop of Gamakichi's head.

"And here I thought the winner would have this snack as a prize'ttebayo!"

Gamatatsu stared over,mouth opening.

"Snack? SNACK? SNAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!" The frog practically screamed, and jolted forward, almost throwing Vanille off and he tore towards Naruto. The blond flailed wildly atop Gamakichi's head.

"RUNRUNRUNRUNRUN!!!" He screamed.

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

Vanille jolted, but threw her weight forward quickly in efforts to not be thrown. Was that all it took to get this frog to get moving?

"GO GO GO! WHOOOOOOO!" she called out! "Let's beat them! Get that snack! I bet it'll be delicious!"

[shallendurehate.livejournal.com]

"They're gaining on us FAST!" Naruto shouted. But! He could see the spring in sight! They were almost there! VICTORY WOULD BE HIS!

But then, Gamatatsu decided to go for the snack.

"SNAAAAAAAAACK!!!!" The yellow frog cried, leaping into the air. Naruto felt the shadow--and his imminent doom--loom over him.

"...This is gonna hur--"

CRASH!!! Gamatatsu slammed into his big brother, pile-driving both of them across the ground. Suddenly, they both flew off the ledge, taking Naruto and Vanille with them...

1/2

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

"No no no no! Don't!" Vanille cried out quickly as Gamatatsu lept into the air to claim his prize earlier than when it was due.

Yep, this was going to hurt.

2/2

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

The Pulsian girl went flying into the water creating a pretty big splash. If this was a dream, she could will the monsters that lived there not to be waiting on the shores once they breached the surface, right?

As Vanille swam her way up to the top, she envisioned the area completely devoid of nasty fish creatures and the like.

The surface! She took in a deep breath of fresh air and looked around for her new buddy.

[shallendurehate.livejournal.com]

Naruto surfaced not too long afterwards, gasping for breath. He looked around quickly--the concerned look on his face wiped away as soon as he spotted Vanille.

"Vanille!" Naruto waved over to her. He was close to one of the patches of land.

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

Vanille swam towards him, glad he was all right. She watched as the two frogs just casually swam by. She knew they would enjoy this kind of environment, but a sore spot on her leg cursed him for caring more about snacks than anything else.

She treaded the water when she was right next to him.

"Are you all right?" she asked looking him over.

[shallendurehate.livejournal.com]

Naruto rolled onto the patch of land, before pulling her up with him. He shred his forehead protector and jacket, which was heavy weight now that it was saturated in water. His fishnet undershirt was exposed, along with a glimmering green crystal necklace that hung around his collarbone, collecting a drop of water at the tip. Two ruby orbs flanked the crystal. In his waking world, this piece of jewelry had long since gone.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You okay'ttebayo?" He swept his hands through his wet hair, slicking it out of his face.

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

Vanille shook out her pigtails that hung in heavy curls around her shoulders. Her Oerban bead jewelry that were strung along her body dripped and her wrist bangles made sad, wet, clinking noises. The pelt that was on her backside laid heavily there and she opted to take it off, leaving just her brightly coloured short skirt left.

She also striped away her wet, soggy pouch that was strapped to her waist and sat it aside as well as her weapon and holster belt.

"I'm fine, too" she said once she removed all of the heavy materials off of her dripping wet persons.

She giggled. "They're having a good time"

[shallendurehate.livejournal.com]

"YOU LOVE YOUR STUPID CHIPS MORE THAN ME!" Naruto shouted in Gamatatsu's direction, but he looked back towards Vanille and grinned. The sun was beaming down on them as they both sat on the rock.

"They're having a good time! I haven't had this much fun in ages!" The blond exclaimed, lifting his hands into the air. His voice echoed a bit around them, bouncing off the walls. "This place here kinda looks like Shimagame! Well, at least a part of it, anyway."

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

"Me too! I'm having loooads of fun!" Vanille giggled, watching Naruto's animated gestures. She looked around Sulya Springs.

"This place has monsters, too, normally. Ugly fishy looking toads with horned tails." she lifted up her hands in a clawed gesture and scrunched up her nose like she was some sort of beast.

"But since you mentioned that we could do anything, I made them go away!" she said, sitting on her knees.

"So this place looks more like your home? I guess it's less mechanical then, right? More naturey?"

[shallendurehate.livejournal.com]

"Shimagame's not my home," Naruto stated. "I'm training there." He looked out towards the water. "But yeah, my home is mostly trees and wildlife. We have...um... radios? And I know the civilian cities in the world have movies, huge screens, and things like that! Maybe they have robots too. I dunno.

"We're really far away from civilians so maybe they have all of this stuff." Maybe. Naruto's world was a rather strange mesh of things.

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

"Training there? For what?" Vanille asked as she got more settled on the ground, reaching over and letting her finger graze over a flower petal.

[shallendurehate.livejournal.com]

"There's a lot of bad stuff going on back home," Naruto stated, and he flopped back, sprawling out in the grass. He kicked his legs upwards, spreading them out a bit before letting them hit the ground as well. "And I'm there for research! Animal research dattebayo. Animals are important for summons, kinda like how I can summon frogs."

Naruto looked up at the sky.

"...Its pretty lonely there, but...

"...Its for all the people I care about. I can stand t' be lonely for a little while."

[pulsingrainbow.livejournal.com]

Vanille looked down at Naruto. She could imagine him being constantly surrounded by plenty of people, especially since he was the strongest in his village.

The way he spoke was noble. It reminded her of people like Fang and Snow who wanted to protect the ones close to them. Even she wanted to protect the people she grew to call family.

She nodded. "I know what you mean. That's why I'm here now" she said looking out into the water. Sacrificing herself to save all of Cocoon and being forever crystallized.

"But you're here, too! And we're having a wonderful time!" She swung her arms into the air and flopped onto her back with the blond boy.