I do not own Naruto…sigh. Or the Phantom Of The Opera….sigh. But I do own this story.
"Its Cold!" the blonde boy said as he followed the shadowy figure down the
passageway. "Yeah, well you better get used to it.", the apathetic voice of his guide
muttered. "There's only heating in the performance areas and the main dressing rooms."
"Oh", Naruto said as he felt the walls with his hands; trying to keep his footing.
"Now, these passageways connect all through the Opera house, and even
underneath. There will rarely be any light, so you'll have to memorize how to get to
where you need to go." Naruto felt the walls with his hands while trying to keep the pace
his guide was setting. Then he suddenly halted. "Shield your eyes.", he commanded.
There was suddenly a blinding light that flooded the tunnel and slammed Naruto full in
the face. He cringed against the light, but was soon able to see where he was.
"This is the backstage area. It is especially important that no light be used in the
tunnels leading to the stage. The 'hand of god' could ruin the atmosphere of any
performance, and inevitably get you thrown back into the work house." Naruto
shuddered at that. He had finally escaped that hell, and would not let himself be put
back.
"Uh…Mr…" "Call me Kakashi", his silver haired guide said with what Naruto
could only guess was a smile. The bottom part of his face was completely covered with a
mask. "Mr. Kakashi, exactly what is it that I'll be doing?"
"Oh, a little bit of everything." Tonight you'll be helping the dancers with their
props." He turned to leave, but Naruto caught his arm. "Wait!", he said. Something had
been tugging at his curiosity from the moment Mr. Kakashi had arrived at the work
house.
The silver haired young man stopped. "What's with the mask?" Naruto blurted.
The young man leaned down to Naruto's height curiously. "What do you think it's for?"
"Herpes!", the young boy yelled a bit louder than he had intended. Some nearby dancers
roared with laughter as the top half of Kakashi's face turned bright red. "I've seen them
on people before. They break out around the mouth, and chin, and the-", The silver
haired guide quickly covered the boys mouth. He turned to the laughing dancers and
laughed. "Kids", he said. "They say such strange things…he he he."
"Get those ropes tied off kid!", the young man who said his name was Iruka
yelled. "Yes sir!", Naruto yelled back as he secured the legs. He wiped his forehead.
This was hard work, but not nearly as hard as the jobs he did at the workhouse. "Good
job kid.", Iruka said. "I think we'll call it a day. Why don't you go down to the dorms
and get cleaned up for dinner." "Yes Sir!", the sunny haired boy replied enthusiastically.
Now which way was it to the dorms? Naruto thought to himself. He had reached
the fork that Kakashi had taken him to the night before, but he couldn't remember if he
had taken the left or the right one. I'll just try the right, and double back if I'm wrong.
He felt his way along the walls carefully. The tunnel began to rapidly incline, and a
small sliver of light was visible at the end of the tunnel. Naruto sped up. This had
happened when Kakashi had led him to the dorms the night before. He was running at
full speed now, and tripped twice over his own feet. Panting for air he reached the heavy
door and pushed it open with one shoulder. Once again blinded he was blinded by light,
but quickly adjusted.
The room was empty, but something didn't seem quite right. The carpet was a
different color, and there were different chairs around the tiny fire place. And then from
behind the door across the room he heard a voice. A girl's voice! He was in the
women's dorms! "There's no such thing Sakura." The door knob was turning. Naruto
looked around desperately for a place to hide. He spotted a large oak chest and squished
himself inside.
"But what about the notes, and the accidents?" "The accidents are just accidents,
and the notes are just pranks." "But Ino What about the deaths?" There was a silence,
and Naruto realized that he had been holding his breath. He exhaled slowly. "Working
in the rafters of an Opera House is dangerous work. Mr. Jenet just fell." "With a noose
around his neck?", came the first girl's, Sakura's, voice. "With a rope around his neck.
He was probably draping ropes all over his body, and carrying them to their places when
he tripped.", The second girl, Ino, responded. "Maybe, but it still gives me chills. When
I'm walking alone I can sometimes feel eyes on me." "Its just your imagination….or
peepers.", she said slyly. "Did you hear about the peeper Tsunade found yesterday?"
"Oh, was that who was on that stretcher? There was so much blood!"
Naruto stiffened. If the girls had waked in on him earlier it would have been
much easier to explain that he was lost, but if they found him hiding in a trunk…."Let's
go down to dinner.", Ino said after a while. After the he heard the door close he pulled
himself out of the trunk and out into the tunnels. He made it to the boy's dormitories
with enough time to wash his face and hands, and then ran through the tunnels to the
dinning hall. The entire time he was alone he could feel a pair of eyes burning into the
back of his head. What Ino and Sakura had been talking about had made him paranoid.
By the time he had found a plate of food, however, he had pushed it from his mind.
It had been one month since Naruto had come to live at the Opera House. Today
he was working in the stables with a lazy boy named Shikamaru. He wasn't very
enthusiastic about his work, but he always did his share. They finished cleaning and
grooming the horses, and Shikamaru decided to take a nap in a pile of hay in one corner.
Naruto was giving some serious thought to joining him when the pink haired girl named
Sakura walked in. "Lady Tsunade wants me to run her errands this morning so I need a
horse."
Naruto hopped off of the trough he had been sitting on. "Why do you need a
horse to get supplies? We're in the middle of the city." "The things she wants are in the
next town over." Sakura said in annoyance. For some reason Naruto always seemed to
annoy her. He really couldn't figure it out. She showed him the lengthy list.
"You won't be able to carry all of this back on one horse, I better go with you."
She stared at him for a minute. "Fine.", she said. "The Akatsuki have been abducting
people in this area lately. So I'd rather not go alone anyway." "Oh…right."
Naruto saddled up two horses and led them out of the stables. Sakura climbed
into her saddle with all the grace that a dancer possessed, and began to adjust the reins.
Naruto nervously approached his mare. The truth was, he had only been in a saddle
maybe twice in his life. He had just wanted the chance to get on Sakura's good side.
Luckily she was facing away from him when he crawled into his saddle, and nearly fell
out.
They rode at a slow trot down the street. He wondered if the people on the streets
would think that they were lovers. Probably not. She rode a little ways in front of him
with a look that said she was all business. Not to mention that he was dressed in a dirty
white smock and loose black pants tucked into old boots. She was wearing a clean white
blouse, and deep blue skirts that accented her light pink hair. He looked like her servant,
he determined.
She turned and caught him staring at her. "You've never ridden a horse.", she
said bringing her horse even with his. "No.", he confessed pulling his arms behind his
head. "You can't just sit in the saddle. You have to move with the horse while squeezing
the saddle with your knees." She instructed him as they rode, and by the time they had
reached the town of Summerset he was getting the hang of it.
They made several stops at dress shops to pick up Lady Tsunade's orders, and
even bought several bottles of liquor from a man in an alley. After Naruto had strapped
everything to the back of their horses; Sakura decided that Lady Tsunade was buying
them dinner. "I'd really like go to a nice restaurant to pay her back for making me do all
of her errands.", she said sheepishly. "But we need to eat somewhere where we can
watch the horses. Oh, I know! Ramen!"
"Do you like ramen?", she asked him. "I'm not sure, I've never had it.", he said a
little embarrassed. They tied their horses in front of a ramen stand and sat down at some
stools. Sakura ordered them both miso pork flavored. It was easily the best thing that he
had ever tasted. He was so enthusiastic that he at three bowls. Sakura had two.
As they rode home she began to talk enthusiastically about the Opera's season.
"We're starting 'La Dame Blanche' on next week on the 15th. It has lovely vocal pieces."
Something suddenly occurred to Naruto. "Sakura, what's today?" "October 10th, why.",
she asked seeing the look on his face. He began to laugh. "What's so funny?", she asked
getting annoyed. "Its just that I've been 14 for almost a full day without realizing it."
"You forgot your own birthday?", she asked incredulously. She turned her horse
around. "Come on. I want to get something." "But its almost dark, already. Won't you
get in trouble with Lady Tsunade?", he called after her, but she was too far away. He
caught up with her, and followed her though the tangle of shops and shoppers. He
watched the horses as she pursued the small shops. By the time they were back on the
main road it was fully dark out. "Here", she said holding out her hand. Naruto examined
the small object she had dropped into his hand in the moonlight. It was a small clear
crystal with two smaller stones strung on a leather cord. "I thought it would make a nice
good luck charm.", she said happily.
"T-Thank You Sakura." He had never been given a birthday present before…or
any kind of gift for that matter. He tied it around his neck and tucked it under his shirt.
"Really I—", but he was cut off as something crashed into him knocking him from his
horse. He heard Sakura scream from her mount. And tried to scramble to his feet but
was met with a sharp blow to the back of his head. His eyes flashed as he crashed to the
ground, and was pulled into unconsciousness.
Thank you for reading! Please tell me what you think. No Flames Please! They burn….