Maya - a Naruto Fanfic

39. Not a Dream (Not Cool)

According to Tsunami, my mildly disturbing dream was not, in fact, a dream.

After I'd eaten my fill, she returned with Kakashi and ushered Naruto and Sakura out of the room. When they sat down facing me, their faces were sombre, and the infectious good mood Sakura and Naruto had left me with vanished.

"I'll just get right to it. Maya, I told Kakashi about your dream, and he doesn't think it was really a dream either." She said. Which brings us to now, the three of us sitting in silence, me looking confusedly between the two of them.

"Huh?" I squeak. If it wasn't a dream, then what was it?

"In the most basic sense, you died. Just for a little while, but your heart most definitely stopped." Kakashi tells me. Why did no one tell me this sooner?!

"I what?"

"Died. For over a minute."

"And no one thought to tell me this?!"

"Only Tasuna, Tsunami and I know."

"You need to stay calm, Maya, getting upset now won't do anything." Tsunami tries to soothe me, but I am well past that point now.

"How can I not be upset?!" I hiss, "you tell me I died and you expect me to just not be upset?!"

"I understand this must he very upsetting, but we need to talk about your... Experience." Kakashi tries to phrase it delicately, and fails completely.

"I've had many experiences since I've come here, you're going to have to be more specific." I say, wanting to let him suffer.

"The dream you had." He says finally.

"You mean the one you're both insisting wasn't a dream?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"No, that was definitely a dream." I refuse to believe that was anything more than a dream.

"It wasn't. It happened, Maya." Kakashi presses, insistent.

"I don't understand." No, I refuse to understand. I don't want to know.

"When you died, however briefly, your soul became detached from your body. Had you waited at the gates, it would have reattached when your heart started again, but you didn't. Instead, you followed a shinigami." Like from Bleach?

"I'm sorry, but how am I supposed to know what to do when you die?!" I snap. Why does everyone here expect so damn much from me?

"Don't get defensive, we're not blaming you for this. Just listen. Tsunami?" Kakashi turns to the older woman.

"You couldn't cross the river because at that time you were a child, and children cannot cross. Instead, they are cursed to pile stones by the river for all eternity-" she tries to explain.

"What?!" I yelp. You mean I really would have been doing that forever?!

"I know you understand," she frowns, then continues, "if you're here, that must mean someone helped you leave. Spirits can't leave on their own."

"Yeah, some monk called Jīzo. Really weird."

"He saved your life." Kakashi reminds me.

"Still weird. He hid me under his robe, and then that didn't even work." I crinkle my nose at the memory. So, so strange.

"I imagine you're somewhat larger than the children he usually hides. What else happened? What did he do?" Tsunami asks.

"Um, he... He recited some kind of mantra. Sounded Buddhist," wait, do they have Buddhism here? "It's this religion where I'm from. Big in East Asia."

"Right." Kakashi drawls, staring at me.

"What?"

"Sometimes I forget you're not from here." He shrugs and breaks eye contact. What is it with him and staring at me?

"What mantra was it?" Tsunami glances between us, looking more than a little confused.

"I don't really remember. I think it started with rin? Rin, pyō... Tō, sha, kai... Um... Jin? Retsu, zai, zen. I think it was something like that." Note to self: unfamiliar sounds are very hard to remember. I should probably start putting some study time in.

"That sounds like a basic protective mantra. Those 9 syllables can be combined in various forms for various purposes, but the form Ojizō-sama-"

"Who?"

"You know him as Jīzo." Kakashi supplies, giving me a tired look.

"Oh. Right." Should probably have realised that.

"As I was saying, the form Ojizō-sama used was the most common."

"What's with this Ojizō-sama stuff? Is he that important?" I ask, cocking my head to the side

"Yes. Of course, you've been mostly ignoring this since you arrived." Kakashi gives me a droll look, as if I had been doing something particularly strange.

"Huh?" Wait, does he mean-

"You should really call me Kakashi-sensei, like the others." Yes, yes he does.

"But you're not my teacher." It's a poor excuse, but it's the only one I've got. By Japan's standards, I've been incredibly disrespectful, not only to him but to pretty much everyone.

"Then Kakashi-san."

"... I'm not gonna do that." Screw excuses, why should I show deference to someone who reads porno's out in public?

"Didn't think so. You should get some more rest-"

"I slept for 4 days-"

"-we start training tomorrow."

A/N: Another chapter done! Yay! I would also like to add that if anyone wants to see that mantra thing in motion, go watch the anime Ghost Hunt. It's in the last set of episodes. You should totally just watch the whole series because it's amazing and only like 20-something episodes long and Naru is HOT but yeah, go watch it, it's great.
Ta-ta~