Disclaimer: I do not own any of the anime/manga characters I may use.

It wasn't all that unusual for me to dream of fictional characters. In fact it was more of a regular occurrence, it was where I got inspiration to write fanfiction, so I didn't find it all that strange when I found myself learning practical skills from certain characters. The only unusual thing about it was that rather than watching some OC from a third person point of view, I was actually learning from my own perspective, not that I cared. The vivid dreams and close interaction with some of my favorite characters made my dreams so much better for me...or at least sometimes.

I had no idea that the beginning of these dreams were preparing me for such a thing...

My dreams had been much more vivid recently. Last month I had dreamed of learning how to clean from Brock. I figured I dreamed of him because I had recently been re-watching Pokemon. Then last week I had dreamed of learning more cleaning from Frankenstein. This one I thought was rather random as I hadn't read Noblesse in quite a while, but I was rather ecstatic to meet the man and he seemed pleased to have a fan. Today I was in a vaguely familiar Japanese living room and I struggled to identify it. It seems I didn't need to put in the effort as my answer came in through the door.

"Hello! I'm here to finish teaching you how to clean, I hope that's alright," the sweet girl greeted. I blinked as I stared at Tohru Honda, the younger version, from the looks of it, still in her high school uniform and all.

"A-ah. Yeah, thanks for the trouble," I responded, bowing, always nice to the characters I loved to read about.

"Ah! No trouble at all. I love cleaning so I'd be happy to teach someone else. C'mon, let's get started, after all I'm gonna be your last cleaning teacher so I'm determined to teach you all the best tricks and tips!" Tohru claimed in that innocent determination of hers. I smiled and laughed, glad that I'd be learning from someone so patient and kind.

"To be teaching such a beautiful young woman the value and art of fashion design! I find myself absolutely stunned that I was chosen for such an honor! Nonetheless I accepted this proposal gracefully and with much enthusiasm! To be apart of the force that spurs on a new generation of creators, of artists is a secret desire of mine that I've had buried in the deepest heart of my hearts!" Ayame rambled as I sat on his couch, staring at him in awe as reading his rants in Fruits Basket was entirely different from experiencing it. Now I understood why Yuki disliked being around him so much. Just watching him was exhausting.

"I'm bored! That snake fellow has obviously drilled enough of the basics in you to be passable! Why was I necessary in the completion of your studies? That's right! Even the vast universe knows that my artisan skills and talents are unparalleled! By the time I'm through with you, you'll be able to sew together a gorgeous maid outfit in your sleep!" Kyouji declared, pointing dramatically at me. I stared at him warily. I only had vague memories of the bespectacled man from Vampire Doll, but they were of an eccentric, selfish, but amazingly genius man that moved on his whims and occasionally serious matters. I didn't realize how similar he and Ayame were until I met them back to back myself. I wasn't sure if I approved of how I discovered their similarities.

"I'm back!" Tohru said cheerfully as she entered the kitchen I was looking around. "This time I get to teach you cooking!" Tohru stated excitedly before she suddenly looked downtrodden, a sad smile on her face. "But this is the last time I'll see you." I only smiled at the kind hearted girl and grabbed her hand, surprising her.

"Let's make some good memories ok?" I said with a warm smile. Her responding smile was dazzling.

"Ok!" After a month of my dream lessons with her it was finally time to say good bye. Tohru, of course, already had tears in her eyes.

"It's silly, isn't it. To cry over saying goodbye to someone you met in a dream," she said, surprising me as it sounded like she was the one dreaming of me... I felt unshed tears stinging in our my own eyes as we shared a hug.

"It's alright Tohru, even though we may never see each other again, we'll always remember each other and I'll always be your friend," I told her reassuringly, my voice soft and shaking a little. I felt warm tears seeping into my shoulder as she nodded. I stroked her hair and decided to make sure she left my memories in a better mood. "Good luck with Kyo," I whispered mischievously into her ear as I pulled away, the dream already fading. I grinned when I saw Tohru had effectively stopped crying to flush and spaz at my statement. I cried silently when I woke up that morning. It was the last time I saw Tohru in my dreams.

The next person I learned to cook from was Seira and we were much more detached than Tohru and I were, but we still became friends. "I mentioned this dream to Frankenstein," Seira said suddenly during a lesson. I was surprised as in the previous dream I had told her of my short cleaning tutelage under him.

"Oh? What did he say?" Seira seemed to contemplate this.

"He was amazed that the same person he thought he had created in his subconscious had come to me in mine. He's begun doing research on any vampires known to have dream walking abilities or if there's a possibility of dreams being shared from across dimensions. He's...very enthusiastic." Seira murmured. "He placed a device on my head to monitor my brain activity while I slept," she confessed with a small blush on her cheeks. I couldn't help but laugh at my friend's predicament as I completely expected that kind of behavior from Frankenstein.

The third person I learned cooking from was rather strange, but not unwelcome. It was the father of Chouji from Naruto. Akimichi Chouja. I found it odd how the first Naruto character I dreamed of in these strange lessons was him, but I wasn't unhappy about it. Chouja was kind and very patient with me and persistent as he drilled his knowledge into my brain. He was a very good teacher.

My next teacher was somewhat surprising as he wasn't technically from an anime and he was very intimidating at first because I knew of his temper. Chase from Harvest Moon AP. At first I was afraid he would snap at me like he did with Miya, but he was surprisingly calm and patient and when I asked him about it he said that Miya was a frustrating walking disaster in the kitchen with cooking skills in the double negatives. He also rambled about how she could even burn butter and water and similar things and I decided that Miya was the main source of his anger issues since she seemed to be the opposite of him in regards to cooking skills. He seemed relieved that I was actually learning steadily from him and even confessed to me that he thought I was just some dream girl he made up to ease his frustration with Miya's utter lack of progress in her cooking skills. I didn't mind. If I was helping him as much as he was helping me then I felt more glad for it. Chase was my last cooking teacher and I was surprised when I found I missed him.

The next people I met, I was the one to walk into a door this time and as soon as I saw who was inside, I tried vainly to turn right back a round and run, held back by the only girl in the group.

"Wait, wait! Why are you already running?!" Ichigo questioned as she held me back from trying to escape.

"Dear god no! I don't want to learn baking from the Sweets Princes! Especially not those three! Kashino's a sadist, Hanabusa's really cruel and Andou is so persistent it isn't even funny! I'd rather learn from Johny!" I cried as I tried to claw my way out as she dragged me to the table, nervously laughing.

"Oi! We're ten times better than that idiot Johny!" Kashino shouted. I just groaned and slammed my head on the table Ichigo dragged me to.

"This is going to be a long couple of weeks...possibly months," I muttered. Despite all my complaints and attempted escape in the beginning, learning with them was fun, especially since Ichigo was there to make sure they didn't push her as hard as they did her. She was the mediator and I was glad for it as I didn't do well under a lot of stress and pressure. When their tutelage finally finished I decided to give one of them a message.

"What?" Kashino questioned when I stared at him. I looked at him seriously and clasped my hands on his shoulder, freaking him out since I still had on a serious expression.

"Kashino..." I started. "I have a message for your future self. Remember this when you finally open up a shop," I didn't say 'your own shop' as I knew he would be opening one with Ichigo. I gave him a knowing smirk and a thumbs up. "Good job, Kashino. You stopped being an idiot and made the right decisions!" I told him bluntly, making him glare at me as Andou and the others suddenly had to hold him back.

"What did you just say?!" He barked at me, but I only grinned before letting it fade to a genuine smile when the dream began to fade.

"Thanks for everything, guys, I had a lot of fun," I said in goodbye. I had thought that they would be the only ones I learned baking from, but I was wrong.

Su from Shugo Chara and Haruhi from OHSHC followed after Team Ichigo in my dreams, but their tutelage wasn't so much tutelage as it was just helping me gain experience in baking the various sweets and using the various methods they taught me through my two new teachers. I didn't mind as learning with Su and Haruhi was a welcome break from the usual knowledge packed lessons my dreams seemed to provide me.

My next three teachers were among the shortest lasting teachers I had, but I decided that was because I already had experience in the field they were teaching. Art. Sai from Naruto was a strange teacher as he wasn't the kind of teacher I expected him to be but he was still the Sai I knew. Issun from the video game Okami was just as strange a teacher and a vast difference as he was boisterous compared to Sai. Miki from Shugo Chara was the one I got along with the most as we were the most similar. She had always been my favorite chara of Amu's.

I noticed that I seemed to be meeting more Shugo Chara characters than anything so far, but I never questioned why. They were just dreams after all even if I realized by now that they were as real to me as they were to the characters I was meeting. To them, they were just dreaming of teaching a girl their talents for some reason, not that any of them seemed to mind. They didn't question the dreams anymore than I did. My next subject was apparently music as Utau was the first to show up to beat singing lessons into me. I was happy to learn as I'd always wanted to be able to sing well, but Utau's harsh teaching methods were rather frightening. Next was Nagehiko who taught me all manners of dance that he knew. He was a much more patient and kind teacher than Utau, but he was still strict to ensure I would remember them. I was surprised when after that, Hachi from Blood + showed up to teach me how to play the cello. He seemed surprised that I was not afraid or disgusted by his kiropteran arm, but pleased despite the fact that he thought this was a dream. His quiet, insistent teachings varied greatly from Gokudera's when he taught me the piano. He constantly babbled about his life, not that I minded. It was fun hearing him complain about the 'baseball idiot' spout praises about 'the tenth' and curse out his sister Bianchi and her horrible poison food. The last I person I learned from was mildly surprising as it was Sai from Hikaru no Go and he taught me to play the flute. It was surprising because he then proceeded to teach me go. I didn't think much of it when our lessons were over as Sai as a character would always lead back to go, but I later realized he was a gateway into a group of people that would teach me non-categorized skills.

Wizard, or Gale, followed shortly after Sai and taught me everything he could about the stars; constellations, maps, charts, and how to navigate by them. He also taught me how to identify and predict weather patterns to an extent and a few basic potions, offering substitutes for some of the ingredients he used as our worlds didn't share some of the same plants and ingredients necessary. My tutelage under him was one of the most calming and I enjoyed his company greatly. I was elated when I learned Wizard considered me his friend by the end of it, despite knowing I was a person from a different world. I wasn't surprised he knew, he was a wizard after all, but I was surprised when he visit my dreams even after he finished teaching me, not very often, but enough for me to realize he was sincere in his sentiment of viewing me as someone close to him. I was also happy because he was the first of my dream teachers to become a constant and I appreciated that as the constant goodbyes were starting to wear on my emotions. I always felt very deeply so I was always careful with who I got attached to and became completely apathetic to everything else. If I was as compassionate to everything as I was to my friends I would have killed myself a long time ago because of how empathic I am towards my friends' suffering. Wizard's constant presence became a balm to the constant goodbyes I gave to characters I befriended and got attached to, unable to help myself as I knew their stories and came to care for them deeply. I was always happy when they considered me a friend as well and deeply sad when it was time to say goodbye. The years that encompassed all my dream lessons were easily the years that I've cried the most in my life ever, but I couldn't bring myself to regret them despite the pain of the constant goodbyes.

Shikamaru was my next teacher and it was absolutely no surprise that he taught me shogi. That was a complete given and tutelage under him was as laid back and relaxing as I expected. Our friendship was passive and our lessons were simple and easy to understand, as expected of a genius. Throughout our lessons, I gave him hints of the future as he was still twelve in my dreams and encouraged him to never give up like a certain orange wearing ninja. Our goodbye was not a difficult one, but still moved me all the same as Shikamaru confessed that he would miss our peaceful games together now that events were starting to move forward in his world, Naruto having left on his training trip already. I was sad that I couldn't be there for him, but knew that his other friends would be his support.

Following the loose theme of board games that my dreams seemed to follow, save Wizard so far, came Lelouch Lamperouge to teach me chess. I have to admit, it was rather awe inspiring to meet him in person as it seemed to be after he 'died' and I wasn't sure whether the conspiracies were true and he had become immortal through his geass or if this was some strange place in the after life. I never really bothered finding out though and couldn't help but express how much I respected and felt for him in regards to his brilliant, borderline celestial plan to bring all the hatred of the world upon himself and die with it, all of it carefully planned and orchestrated by himself. I was awed to be learning chess under such a master strategist.

Byakuya Kuchiki was the first character from Bleach that I learned from. I was ecstatic to have my utmost favorite character of Bleach hands down teach me anything so I wasn't at all disappointed when I found out he was teaching me how to write properly in Japanese(my writing was atrocious according to my Japanese friend) and calligraphy after I had sufficiently mastered neat enough handwriting. I was very proud of myself after he had finished teaching me as my handwriting could now be considered art in and of itself and I thanked Byakuya profusely, elated when he confessed that teaching me had been a pleasure. Having never expected any such sentiment from the noble, I felt duly honored.

Sana from Kodocha had been a completely shocking change to the noble, subdued Byakuya as she taught me the ins and outs of acting with that hyper babble of hers. I was only glad that I was used to such rapid speak because of myself and my own hyper friends.

Tao's reaction to seeing me for the first time had been the most humorous I'd seen out of any of my dream teachers, I had to say. "Urck! You're that dream chick that Frankenstein and Seira dreamed about!" Tao announced, pointing at me in shock. I couldn't help but burst out in laughter at that. "It's not funny! Now Frankenstein will strap me to that ridiculous brain wave device and make me sleep on a hard table!" Tao complained, but that only made me laugh harder. After we got to know each other, Tao started to teach me his hacking skills, my previously acquired skills helping as I needed deft, swift fingers for his lessons. I was rather sad to see the lessons go despite my lack of enthusiasm for the subject. Tao was a very fun person.

"Seira misses you, you know," Tao informed me when it was time for me to go. I grew silent at that, having missed her, along with all my other teachers.

"I miss her too. She's one of my closest friends. A lot of the teachers I meet become close to me, but that only makes the goodbyes that much harder," I murmured in reply.

"Can't you just visit them again?" Tao asked, feeling sorry for me. I shook my head.

"I don't control them anymore than you do. The dreams just started up suddenly. I've only met one person so far capable of visiting my dreams of his own accord even after our lessons ended, but that's because he's a long lived wizard," I replied sadly.

"I see-eh what?! Like a real wizard?! As in magic?!" Tao shouted. I laughed.

"Yeah. He's from a different world obviously, maybe a different dimension. It's a pretty peaceful place. He taught me about the stars and weather and taught me a few potions, most of them practical rather than having any really powerful magical qualities," I told him.

"T-that's so cool, getting to see so many different worlds and learn things from the people there," Tao said in amazement.

"Yeah, that's why I'm grateful. Even if the goodbyes are sad and often times forever, the connections I made with them are still there. Never seeing them again doesn't mean that they stopped being my friends," I said somberly, turning to Tao sadly. "That's why you, Seira and Frankenstein will always be my friends even though I'll probably never meet any of you again." Tao sniffed and rubbed at his suspiciously glassy eyes.

"You sure know how to give an emotional speech don't you? I see why Seira likes you so much," Tao murmured. I only smiled.

"I'll miss you Tao..."

"I've never taught an inter-dimensional being how to meditate in my dreams before," Raven told me bluntly. I stared at the gothic floating girl in mild surprise.

"Well, I've never been called an inter-dimensional being before. As far as I know I'm a pretty average human being," I replied.

"A regular human being who has the capability to enter the dreams of people across time and space," she responded blandly. I raised my hands in defense.

"Hey, I didn't do it on purpose. I doubt I did it at all. These dreams started on their own a while ago," I told her and she looked at me thoughtfully.

"Hmm, then someone or something has decided that you need to learn the things the people you visit are willing to teach you," Raven answered.

"Why?" I questioned as this was the closest since Wizard that I had come to finding out the purpose behind my dreams. She shrugged and I deflated.

"I don't know, but it's obvious that you're being prepared for something," she replied. I felt a chill go down my spine at her words.

"That sounds horribly ominous," I muttered. Raven only gave me a small smile.

"Not necessarily. You never know if it'll be a good fate or not so don't be too worried," Raven reassured me. I smiled warmly back in return.

"Thanks, Raven." Raven, after she had finished teaching me to meditate and all about chakras, was the second person I met in my dreams capable of visiting me of her own accord. Surprisingly, she and Wizard met in one of my dreams and became good friends, talking of magic and interchanging spells and such. It was rather funny and cute to watch them have subdued, yet somehow enthusiastic conversations about books and tea and coffee and magic. Raven's addition to my regular dreams became additional, stronger, balm to the constant goodbyes and with her and Wizard's combined efforts, they were able to discover a way for me to reconnect with teachers I had already met, but only the more magically inclined ones which limited my options greatly. The only people I'd been able to revisit so far have been Ayame(because of the Sohma curse), Kyouji, Team Ichigo(because of the Sweets Spirits), Su, and Miki. I wondered if it was only coincidence that those were the group of people that I didn't really mind saying a true goodbye to as I didn't really become as attached to them as with the others.

It turns out I didn't need to make special trips with Team Ichigo as I started dreaming of Hanabusa of my own accord, this time so he could teach me flower arrangement. I was pretty happy, rather extremely happy, that the one who taught me this was a man rather than a woman. It just felt more comfortable for me that my dreams didn't follow gender roles and had both sexes teach me things that generally were depicted being done by either a man or woman.

I was admittedly worried when I found myself in the company of Kyoya from OHSHC as I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to learn from him, but I grew relieved when I found he was only going to teach me of the medical knowledge of his family. I learned quickly I shouldn't have relaxed so soon. Kyoya turned out to be just as sadistic as I expected and pounded all of his medical knowledge into me with harsh but effective teaching methods, but always rewarded my good work with amazing rewards, generally delicious food or desserts and being the sucker I was for delicious treats, it was generally worth it.

Hatori from Fruits Basket was next in tutoring me in the medical arts, seeming almost saintly in his patient, stern teaching despite his serious, off-putting demeanor. I generally tended to get along with the quiet ones anyways because they were quiet and preferred silence. He seemed pleased at my knowledge of the basics and other skills that Kyoya pounded into me and helped me build my experience. After Hatori followed Jin from Animal Parade and it was interesting to see the similarities in their characters, though Jin was generally more capable of showing emotion than Hatori, but other than that the two were pretty similar.

Tsunade was the fourth Naruto character to teach me, Chouja, Sai, and Shikamaru being the first three. She taught me more old fashioned or unorthodox medical methods compared to my first three teachers; acupuncture, hot stones, energy massages, etc. She also taught me how to make medicines and poisons( along with their antidotes) out of various plants and animal parts. I also learned how to make some delicious and healthy teas and foods from her. I liked Tsunade's medical lessons the most by far because I preferred natural remedies to modern medicines and shots, but that didn't mean that I didn't appreciate my previous three medical lessons. No, that would have been an insult to my previous teachers.

I was surprised when Zuko showed up in my dreams to teach me tracking. Spending time with the hot headed young fire lord wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be and he made a pretty decent teacher when he didn't lose his patience over repetitive mistakes I sometimes made. Overall, I did enjoy our lessons even though I knew most of the animals he taught me to track would be kind of useless in my world. The people tracking seemed much more useful. My gap in knowledge ceased to matter anyways when Kiba and Shino taught me how to track anything from the largest mammal to the smallest bug on any environment. It seemed like Zuko was meant to place in me the basics while Kiba and Shino gave advanced lessons.

I honestly had no idea what Cloud Strife was supposed to teach me as the only skills I thought of him as having were his sword skills. Clearly his driving skills on a motorcycle totally slipped my mind. Motorcycle lessons with Cloud was the single most terrifying lessons I had gotten from any of my teachers as he really did go all out teaching me how until I could freaking drive one while sitting backwards, with no hands, blindfolded, standing, and even drive the two wheeled metal death-bringer across walls and jumping over roofs and up ramps and so on. While it was cool meeting Cloud and I would miss him as a person. I was ridiculously relieved when our driving lessons were over.

I should have guessed that Cloud's life threatening lessons were a precursor to more dangerous and trying lessons, but I hadn't, much too used to the mild practical lessons I'd been receiving until then. I was only grateful that my realizing this had not come too painfully. It had started with chi fighting lessons from Tai Lee. She paced me through rigorous training regimens that left me as flexible and limber as she and just as athletic and light on my feet as I learned fantastical gymnastic moves from her to add to her chi style. While she and I got along well, Tai Lee got along well with anybody, I was relieved when we parted because being with the cheerful girl was rather exhausting.

Yuki was another surprising addition as the young Sohma taught me his martial arts, the same fighting style that overwhelmed Kyo again and again. He was a kind and patient teacher, but persistent. By the time we finished our lessons, the basics were hardwired into my muscles. Ran from Case Closed followed shortly after Yuki, teaching me karate which was easy to pick up because of Yuki's lessons. Ryohei came after and taught me boxing(to the EXTREME!), Miu from KTMD and Honey from OHSHC coming next to teach me various new martial arts and tying them together into a cohesive form. My experience was compounded upon in hand to hand combat with the additions of lessons from a lucario, Shinwoo from Noblesse, Suzaku and Xing-Ke from Code Geass, and lastly Yoruichi from Bleach. All of their training was difficult, rigorous, and exhausting, but by the end of it I felt more familiar, at home, and comfortable with my body than I ever had before and felt a confidence when alone that I never thought I could feel at all.

It wasn't difficult to guess the next logical step in lessons. I wasn't surprised at all when Vincent Valentine appeared to teach me how to shoot and aim with guns. Weapons was the only logical step up from hand to hand fighting. Following Vincent closely after was Death the Kid from Soul Eater who also pounded into me his close combat fighting style and acrobatics, then Takeo from Noblesse. His was a rather interesting meeting as he didn't really greet me, rather converse with me as if he already knew me.

"You know, Frankenstein is trying to discover a way to communicate with you again," he stated when he saw me, surprising me. "He took what you told Tao in his dream and is trying to discover or create a power source equivalent to what can be considered magic. Alchemy's the closest he's gotten but I don't think that's quite it," he commented and I hummed in agreement.

"I had thought that Seira's inherent vampire abilities would have been enough of an equivalent or attuned to magic for me to see her, but it wasn't. It seems that those abilities are not so much magical as natural abilities that they are born with and train up. Magic is similar but more often times the body is only a conduit for magic which comes from all around. When one has a lot of magical talent it only means that their body was born with a higher carrying capacity than normal," I surmised, giving my own theory of magic in general. "That's when I thought that maybe Frankenstein would have a closer connection to magic than Seira since he studied methods and used his own body as a medium to gain power, but his methods were scientific not supernatural though some would consider it such, but it's only science too advanced for the present to understand yet," I finished somberly, still sad that I couldn't visit Seira or Frankenstein. "I actually wish I could meet Rai, the Noblesse, but I know that I won't be able to, I have nothing to learn from him," I added more cheerily to lighten up the mood.

"I already knew why Seira and Tao liked you but now I can see why Frankenstein gained an interest in you as well. I'll be sure to tell him your theories when we awake next. Maybe Frankenstein will find a method to contact you soon," he encouraged, making me smile as he tried to give me hope.

"Yeah."

My next teacher was the cause of my second attempt to run, this one much more desperate than the first as a familiar fedora wearing baby came into view. "NOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed as I felt a rope tie across my ankles and drop me to the ground, dragging me back as I vainly tried to claw at the ground. "ANYTHING BUT REBORN! DEAR GOD NOT HIS SPARTAN TRAINING!" I cried, but it did me little good as I was dragged to Reborn's feet, a cute smirk on that baby face of his.

"I'll make you the greatest hitman besides myself, you weakling," Reborn stated in that high pitched, cute arcobelano tone. I could only cry tears of fear and shock as he dragged me off to wherever to train me.

I cried tears of blissful relief when my lessons with Reborn had ended, my heart warmed when the baby gave me a genuine smile and told me 'good job' before leaving without another word. My new lessons with Haku from Naruto were much more relaxed and calming and only involved precision with senbon needles. My previous lessons in anatomy with the doctors and my aim with the gun wielders helped greatly and had them pass by quickly. Longshot from ATLA followed after him and was THE quietest teacher I had so far. Considering he had only spoken in one episode in the entire series, that was a given. I was more than happy to learn archery from him as he was arguably an archer on par with the Yu-Yan archers of the fire nation, if not better. His lessons were mostly by example as he did things and expected me to copy, correcting my stances with his hands or feet, never speaking, not that I minded. The quiet was a nice reprieve from the usual chaos that went on during other lessons. Longshot also departed from my dreams with the two words 'good job' and they meant just as much to me as Reborn's words for different reasons.

Suki was the next to appear, showing me how to fight with fans, or tessen. I found that every lesson got easier in its own way after all the hand to hand fight training I got, but it's not like I wasn't grateful. More like extremely glad that I could learn things more quickly without my physical limitations stopping me anymore. After Suki, Zuko gave a repeat performance to teach me how to do his dual dao blades style. He was impressed with my progress in physical strength and that just made my day..er night. Unexpectedly, Yarai from Eden no Ori, appeared in my dreams after Zuko and taught me how to fight with pocket change and keys which thanks to my new-found strength I was able to employ properly. I was also happy when Seira returned to my dreams, this time to teach me how to wield a scythe. She as well was impressed with my new strength.

"I see that you have learned much since we last met," Seira complimented softly. I felt my cheeks heat as I rubbed my arm nervously.

"Yeah. It was really surprising when I suddenly started getting intense fighting lessons rather than everyday things like cooking and cleaning," I admitted honestly. Seira smiled a little at that.

"Then I'm happy for the opportunity to be among those who makes you stronger still. I will be glad to show you how to properly brandish a scythe," Seira declared as she materialized her soul weapon. I only smiled in return as a scythe of my own appeared, as my weapons usually did in dreams.

"I look forward to it, Seira-sensei," my smile widened when I saw her flush lightly at the honorific, obviously pleased.

After Seira followed Temari who taught me how to wield a large fan like hers then Robin from Teen Titans teaching me how to fight with a staff. Benawi from Utawarerumono came after to teach me how to wield a vouge pole arm. I was ecstatic to meet my favorite character from the series and eager to learn from him, something he seemed to appreciate. Next followed Kirito and Asuna from SAO where they taught me their dual blade and single blade fighting styles respectively. Following the sword styles was Sora's dual wielding and single blade fighting style along with Riku's single hand single blade fighting style. I got a bad feeling when Dino from KHR showed up to teach me how to use a whip and had my bad feeling proven correct when my next teacher was the notorious Kyoya Hibari. He was the third teacher I would have tried to run from if I wasn't so afraid he'd 'bite me to death' for it. His first words to me would have also been amusing if I weren't so terrified.

"Hn, herbivore. I will make you a carnivore worthy of bearing my fangs," he stated as he lifted his tonfa and I had the strange urge to make the exact same 'hie' noise as Tsuna usually did in these situations. After two months of torturous training sessions with Hibari, he suddenly stopped during a spar one day, standing in a relaxed pose as he usually did when inactive.

"Hn, acceptable, carnivore," he declared before turning on his heel and walking off. That was the last time I saw Hibari in my dreams.

Gokudera returned to my dreams, teaching me about various methods and ways to blow things up besides with dynamite, teaching me how to mix my own explosives and such and soon enough I was saying goodbye to him again. It was when I met my next teacher that I sensed an air of finality and my chest tightened as I laid eyes on what I realized would be my last true dream teacher. My throat clogged up with emotion, my eyes stinging as I stared up at the tall figure in samurai like armor. He only smiled at me warmly and pat my head in comfort.

"I see you already know that I will be your last teacher," Hashirama said to me. He smiled at me in comfort and gave me a bow. "It would be my honor to finish the task started by all your previous teachers and friends." I nodded shakily as he began my lessons on the general shinobi arts, sans any jutsu that involved chakra as I lacked the ability to use it. I felt reluctant to end my lessons with him as he would be the last, but did not let it deter me from learning so sooner than I wished, we had finished. He smiled at me again, like he did the first night, and pat my head like the first night as well.

"Don't feel so down, young one. You may never meet many of your previous teachers and new friends again, but you can have confidence in the fact that you have left an impression among their hearts. As long as they hold memories of you, your bonds with them will never break. You will be friends with us until the end and we will always consider you one of our precious people," Hashirama told me softly, the tears that had been stinging at my eyes now falling from my eyes freely. "From now on you will make stronger bonds and travel with those people you bond with. Don't be afraid of how strongly you feel. Embrace it and use the strength of your feelings to protect those close to you, to continue on your path. I believe that you hold the will of fire and I'm confident that it will never fade from you," he murmured as he wiped away my tears and stepped back. "Now go and enjoy the start of your own journey. It is time for an old relic like me to return to the pages of history." Those were the last words I heard before I woke up.

I didn't want to wake up. I really didn't. I kept my eyes tightly shut as my chest heaved with quiet sobs, tears streaming down the side of my face as I resisted the urge to curl up in a ball. It was over. After years of meeting and bonding with characters from various anime and manga. It was over. The only people I would continue to see without difficulty in dreams is Wizard and Raven, but I would never see most of them ever again...and would never have the opportunity to befriend or learn from more. It was more painful than I had thought to have the unexpected gift taken away from me. It hurt that the bonds I created would only have my memories as confirmation that they were formed, that I could never again affirm them, talk to them, spend time with them. The only thing that heartened me is that most of them were alive or at peace.

As I employed Raven's meditation methods and Tsunade's breathing exercises, I discovered something extremely unusual. The material beneath me felt different. Oh for sure I was still laying on a bed...just not my bed. My bed had a bunch of pillows and stuffed animals on it with a few folded bunched up blankets at the foot of the bed and my blankets were usually fake fur and super soft polyester. First of all, I felt only one soft feather pillow under my head and a single thick cotton blanket on me. The largest difference however was the size. My bed was twin sized but this bed easily seemed to dwarf my body as I sank into it.

"Oh, you're awake," someone said from what sounded like the doorway as I heard the distinct sound of a door opening and closing. I snapped my eyes open and sat up rapidly, making my head spin as I tried to get a grasp of the situation. First of all, this wasn't my room. This was what looked like a log cabin room with two windows on two adjoining walls. They had no curtains but showed a narrow alleyway in one and a dirt road in the other, more buildings of similar style across the road. Second of all, the state in which things existed was entirely different. They were not 'real' in my sense of thinking, they were 'animated' and not just any kind of 'animated', they were in the distinct anime style of One Piece. I paled at this. While I loved the manga and anime dearly, as I loved most anything I read or watched through choice, I did not want to be in it. My excuse before had always been that I would never survive in any of the worlds I had fantasized I was going to, but in actuality it had just been that I didn't believe I had the emotional strength to personally experience any of the things the fictional characters I respected had gone through. I could barely talk myself out of committing suicide while living a normal life, how much worse would one like a protagonist's be? I never wanted to find out, but it seemed I had no choice in the matter.

Suddenly, Raven's words came back to me. Is this what she meant by preparing? Was whatever had decided to bring me here, preparing me for my eventual entrance to this world? I didn't even want to question what. I'd rather decidedly not be angry or piss off whatever force had enough power to give me trans-dimensional dreams and transport me to an entirely different reality. Besides, I didn't really have anything to complain about. They had more than sufficiently prepared me for anything that would cross my path and deep down I really did want to escape my own world and have a real adventure. While Bleach was cool, it was too serious, and while Naruto was great, I didn't really consider being a registered ninja the kind of adventure I wanted. One Piece was definitely my choice if I had to pick because I would be able to live how I want, even become a pirate and still be welcome in most places. I only needed to be careful around marines if I chose that profession.

"Child, are you alright?" The middle aged man that took me in asked and when I looked at him, I paled again, much more than before. The fuzzy memory of Zoro's childhood from when I'd read it had me recognize the long faced man with glasses instantly. This was Kuina's father...and he still looked relatively young. I looked down at myself when I realized he had called me a child and had to use all of my training to keep calm and not scream in horror at the sight of my tiny body.Now I felt the first real vestiges of anger towards whatever force brought me here. Out of all the things they could have done to change me, they make me younger?! And they didn't even change my gender! Did they not freaking know how difficult it is to be a woman?! Going through puberty once sucked enough, especially after discovering I would bleed out of my vagina every freaking month until I get super old and that's not even mentioning the fact that each one is like a mini contraction and any other possible shit symptoms mother nature decides to drop on us! My anger was interrupted when Kuina's father shook my shoulder slightly in worry. The motion startled me badly as I generally didn't like to be touched to begin with and only tolerated it and possibly even instigated it with friends, but other than that, touching made me nervous and I reacted on the years of training I had honed in my dreams in the past years...I slapped his hand away fiercely. What?! I was trained to hold back also... He seemed surprised at my action as I had gotten into a defensive crouch on the bed with the motion. I relaxed from it slightly, but didn't get any closer to him and didn't lose it completely.

"Sorry, I don't like people touching me so casually," I murmured, only slightly apologetic for hurting him as I saw the red mark on his skin that I left. He only gave me a reassuring smile as he rubbed the area.

"Not at all, I apologize for startling you. You have a strong hand there for a girl as young as yourself," he replied kindly. I glanced sharply at him, knowingly.

"You've obviously never been to the Grand Line before, sir," I replied before darting around him and out the window. I didn't stop running until I was well into the forestry of the island. I gasped for breath and took a break on a nearby boulder. I needed to find out when it is in the One Piece timeline. Judging by how young Kuina's father is it's still relatively early and the Strawhat crew are mostly still children. The worst I could find out is that Kuina is still a baby or something. I didn't want to be that much older than the Strawhats since it seems I was going to be so closely tied to the story if I ended up in the place where Zoro would make his promise to become the world's greatest swordsman. I broke out of my thoughts when my stomach rumbled. First I should find some food and shelter. I'll decide later if I want to become part of the village.

Two years had passed since I arrived in the One Piece world and already I was nicknamed the 'Forest Spirit' or the 'Forest Child' and other similar nicknames. The villagers, unlike what I had expected, welcomed me warmly whenever I ventured into the village for things I couldn't get in the forest like milk, bread, and cheese and other similar products. I traded them things I hunted or gathered in the forest, or made from said things. Since I didn't have any beli, I traded herbs, nuts, berries, meats and furs, or even made medicines, spices, jams, and leathers to trade for better stuff. Eventually the villagers started to seek me out for various items and purchased them from me whenever I came into the village, ending my need to trade and haggle for things though the village tended to lower the prices for me because I was such a young girl. The fabric and grocery store in particular loved me because of the meats and furs and leathers I traded for their goods. My things were always high quality, after all I was taught by the best.

The blacksmith as well held a particular love for me as I always went to him for services when I saved up enough to make my own weapons. He, at first, seemed concerned when I commissioned from him weapons that were beyond my ability to wield at the moment, but was always happy to help me make a wagon to carry the large weapon(i.e. twin dao blades, six custom blades, one short blade, a scythe, a large battle fan, bow and quiver, and a vouge pole arm) when I then commissioned him to make a practice weapon suitable for my height. I did the same with the staff, whip, tessen, and tonfa, but because of their easier handle, the man seemed decidedly less worried about my possession of them. He also found it interesting how I commissioned him for things like senbon, kunai, shuriken, and other ninja gear, calling me little kunoichi whenever I went by his shop after that.

I was comfortable with my collection of items and my lofty status in the village, but felt concerned at Zoro's lack of appearance. While Kuina's appropriate age, from what I saw of her in the village, heartened me, I was also concerned with what I would do with all the things I collected once Zoro decided to move on as I had decided fairly early that I would accompany him. That issue was solved when I met an unexpected and warmly welcomed friend in the forest. I had been hunting when I found an abandoned red elk runt. He seemed to have eaten a devil fruit that allowed him to change his size and the size of anything he wished, but his new talent had gotten him kicked out of his herd. I took him in and raised him, trained him to control his ability and further trained him until he could dodge any of my projectiles. and even learned to use his devil fruit ability to his advantage, shrinking or growing in size to defend or attack. My reputation as a 'Forest Spirit' only grew when I went into town with the powerful little elk baby to get a proper saddle and harness done. At first the maker was reluctant to make such a high quality, long lasting one as I had asked for but his worries were put to rest when I showed him my elk friend's ability. The saddle would fit him no matter how much he grew naturally.

I had named my new animal friend Yakul as he had reminded me of the red elk from Princess Mononoke despite their different coats and horns, their natures were too similar for me to dismiss. Yakul's extraordinary intelligence and devil fruit ability solved my problem of where I would store all my large weapons. After I had added my bow and quiver to his harness, I had him trained to shrink my weapons for easy storage and expand them on a silent command in which I only had to hold out the shrunken weapon of choice and I expected him to enlarge it to its proper size. He had recently started doing so without a command as we synchronized with each others' natural ques and needs.

It was on a completely normal day that I had gone into the village for the usual materials that I heard the rumor mill acting up to talk about a new addition to Kuina's family dojo, something about a ridiculously skilled green haired youth joining and constantly training to beat the teacher's daughter. I all but flew to the blacksmith after gathering my materials and slapped down a stack of paper with the designs of five different guns on the table, four of them in sets. They were modeled after Reborn's, Kid's, Takeo's and Vincent's hand guns as well as Vincent's sniper. The blacksmith looked at them curiously as he was always interested in the weapons I commissioned, his eyes widening as he looked through the detailed schematics of the different guns. He should be surprised. As far as I knew the strongest guns they had were hand pistols and rifles. Any larger artillery were cannons and weapons of mass destruction.

"How in the world did you think of these? Not even the weaponry in the Grand Line is this advanced," he said in amazement.

"Can you make them?" was my only reply. He huffed in disbelief.

"Of course I can make them, with all the detail on the paper I could make them easily! If I didn't know your handwriting by now I would have accused you of having stolen these from someone important!" He exclaimed, not unkindly. I only smirked.

"Those are the weapon choices of another four of my teachers," I told him, making him look at me in surprise. Every time I had commissioned a weapon from him I told him that I was taught by a teacher to wield them then proved it by displaying my prowess with the smaller practice versions he made for me. He never questioned me after the first few times, but he still asked for a demonstration each time.

"I think I'll pass on the demonstration with these when I'm done with them," the blacksmith said with a nervous laugh. "Now that Yakul there can shrink them to suit your size, I can see just how scary a kid you are, little kunoichi." He shuffled them together neatly again and put them in a strong box, making sure the two fat locks hanging off closed with a click. "I'll be sure to burn the papers as soon as I'm done with them just like the rest, I promise," he assured.

"I need these on express," I told him, surprising him yet again as I'd never given him a time limit before, letting him do it at his leisure as I never had an immediate need for them and I was sure he had other work.

"What's the rush?" He asked.

"The one I've been waiting for has finally arrived," I answered cryptically and while he was surprised at the statement itself, he wasn't surprised at my 'knowing' tone. I already had a reputation for being a spirit, a witch, a fortune teller, whichever. The villagers would come to me sometimes, paying to have something about themselves told and charms or potions to help them. I didn't really have fortune telling abilities though Wizard had taught me a little. It was mostly through the observation taught to me by many of my teachers that I give the villagers advice and sometimes give them medicine for any ailments or potions to help with small problems like nightmares, keeping illness away from a home, and truth serums for wives to give to lying husbands. The blacksmith had even done one of her more expensive commissions free when I gave him the strongest protection charm I could make to his newborn daughter. It apparently was stronger than I had anticipated as the crawling baby had escaped her crib and wandered into her father's workshop and almost been crushed by a heavy hammer that fell over, but the hammer just hovered over the crying startled baby, my charm glowing and tinkling like a bell like crazy. The blacksmith who hadn't really believed any of the supernatural and therefore the witch child rumors around me was converted, but saw me as more of a protector spirit or Wicca than a dark soul.

"I see, how long do you think I have before you need to go?" I shrugged, uncertain. In the anime, Zoro doesn't leave until he's older, at least fifteen, but in the manga it's unclear whether he leaves after Kuina's death to train as he travels or if he stays like portrayed in the manga.

"The time is unclear and I may even be rushing since even if the one I'm waiting for is here, he may not leave for years, but the path will be set once the shadow of death looming over the dojo disappears," I replied. The blacksmith seemed concerned about the 'shadow of death' part as the kendo dojo were regular patrons of his as they asked him to make sure their swords are well kept and they needed constant repairs or new bokken. He knew better than to ask, however. I had made it clear that some deaths couldn't be stopped. Only those with great and terrible destinies could defy death and only they could keep it at bay for so long.

"Hmm, that's troubling. I should make sure to prepare some proper condolences," the blacksmith murmured.

"Something worthy of a noble. That dojo will lose someone very precious," I suggested before bowing and walking off, Yakul following behind me. I looked around warily as I hurriedly made my way back to the forest. While I did indeed plan to accompany Zoro, I didn't intend to befriend him or even meet him until after he has made his promise with Kuina and as I was uncertain of how close to her death the promise was made I would wait to befriend and support him until after Kuina's death. It seemed kind of heartless, but I couldn't change it by saving Kuina. It felt wrong as if the very idea made me nauseous and weak at the knees. Whatever forces brought me here obviously didn't intend for me to mess with events in their pasts that made them who they were in the future and I didn't see a problem with that. I stiffened but didn't stop when I heard a young voice trying to address me. I sped when I heard their footsteps getting closer. I was almost jogging by the time the footsteps caught up to me and did the most unexpected thing...they pulled my hair. I yelped and stumbled back before growling and turning on my heel to berate whoever dared do that, but froze when I saw that it was Zoro. He was the same age as me judging by our near equal heights, he was a tad bit taller than me. It didn't stop me long as I was still angry.

"Why the hell did you pull my hair?!" I growled at him. He only scowled in return.

"Well you wouldn't stop when I called you and you looked about ready to run when I caught up to you. What else was I supposed to do?" He answered.

"You don't pull on someone's hair like a horse's reigns to stop them!" I all but shrieked at him before smacking him on the head and making him fall to the dirt, leaving a small indentation of his body on the ground. I huffed and stormed off, not wanting to be near him much longer. That was enough of a first impression until after the promise is made.

"Hey wait!" He called and I started to run. "Oi! Stop running!" He shouted.

"Stop following me then!" I shouted back, sticking my tongue out at him and making him angrier as he sped which only caused me to do the same.

I panted as I leaned heavily against a tree, Yakul nudging me in concern. I gave him a reassuring pat as I straightened again. "I'm fine. I think I finally lost him...well I probably lost him at the entrance to the forest because of his bad sense of direction but still. I needed to make sure," I told him as I took deep breaths and made my way back to the cave I had made my den. It was cozy and had a gentle waterfall that didn't roar and trickled down into a clear pond, a stream connecting it to the river a few miles away. It ensured that the water stayed clean no matter if I bathed in it and washed things in it and the waterfall ensured I always had something clean to drink.

I thought back to the first impression I made with Zoro carefully. My reaction was natural, but I didn't linger so the impression I made shouldn't have been too strong. His attention will remain on his rivalry with Kuina and his training will keep him from actively seeking me out so there was no real harm done. I only hoped I wouldn't run into him again. I'd have to be more careful when I go into the village.

AN: Yet another story clogging my doc manager. I've actually already started the second chapter with this one, halfway through, but like with the rest of my stories, updates will be sporadic at best. Still, thank you for reading and reviews are very much appreciated.(=v=)