Tarot Ninja
The definition of destiny is choice. Choice controls everyone's destiny; some people, though, think that no matter what we do our destiny stays the same. Of course, they could be wrong or I could be wrong; every answer we ever wanted in this life will be answered in death.
"Well Naruto, I see a good future for you and a certain girl," I say glancing at Hinata. Sadly, Naruto doesn't see my hint and starts asking me who the girl is. I sigh and look at the banana head, "Naruto," I say, "I can't tell you certain details."
"Aww, but why can't you do that Mira?" he asks in a pout.
"Because, my friend, if I told you every detail it would ruin the mystery of it all. Now who else want a reading hm?" I look around the campfire to see if I had any volunteers. There is five of us including me; Naruto, who I already read, Hinata, Kiba, and my secret crush Neji. I know what your thinking, 'Why him? He is stubborn and thinks he's better than everyone else.' Well that's when I say your wrong, Neji, in his own way, is a big sweet heart and cares for others. And every time that I look at him, I am reminded of a time back in the academy…
I'm sitting on the swings during recess while the other kids play ninja or other games. Naruto, my only friend at the time, is not here today, so I sit alone, wondering why I am so different from the other kids. I act so much older than them and I always knew when something was going to happen a day before it happens. Of course, I didn't see what happens all the time, only when something major was about to happen. Its frustrating when no one believes you until it happens, then they label you as the freak of the academy.
"Hey freak!" yells a girl and her friends, coming my way. I act as if I didn't hear them, but it doesn't work. When they get to me, the girl pushes me off the swings into the dirt. I look at them, not showing that I am afraid of what they might do to me. "Didn't you hear us freak? Are you deaf too?" the girl sneers. Her friends laugh and they start to gather around me so I couldn't run away. I'm trapped in the circle with the leader of this group of kids; I do the only thing I could think of, I stand up and face her.
"Why do you do this?' I ask hoping I could buy sometime before the beating starts, she laughs.
"Because its fun to mess with you. Didn't you see this happening in your dreams?" the girl punches me in the stomach; I fall to my knees, clutching my stomach and trying not to cry. Then she starts kicking me and that's when the others join in on the kicking.
I beg them to stop, but they don't listen; soon they have me flat on the ground with my hands covering my head. The tears, the ones that I try to keep from falling, are streaming down my face as they bruise me with each kick.
"You know you can get expelled for bulling," says a cool voice. The others stop kicking me and I look up to see a boy with long, brown hair and creamy white eyes looking at my bullies in disgust.
"Go away Neji, this is none of your business," scowls the ring leader. That's when Iruka-sensei walks up behind the Neji guy.
"No but its mine. You all should be ashamed of yourselves! Bulling Mira like this, all of you come with me now!" demands Iruka-sensei.
"But we were just playing sensei," says the girl, "right Mira, we were just playing." They all look at me and I look down. I didn't know what to do; if I agree with her they will go unpunished, but if I tell the truth they will come after me again.
"They," I start to say but hesitate when I look up and see Neji staring at me. I gulp and try again, "They…They are lying. They weren't playing, they were being mean to me," I manage to say through another wave of tears.
"Well that settles it," says Iruka-sensei, "You all are going to come with me and we are going to have a little talk. Neji could you take Mira to the nurse?" Neji nods and Iruka and my bullies leave. I look at Neji as he walks to me, I wipe my eyes with my hands and notice cuts on my hands.
"Can you stand Mira?" asks Neji with a hand out stretch to me. I nod and take his hand…
"Hey Mira are you ok?" asks Kiba, snapping me out of my memories. I look at him and the others to see that they all are looking at me with concern; all except Neji.
"Yeah," I assure them, "I'm fine. I was just, remembering something that's all." they sigh with relief and Neji puts out the fire.
"We should go to bed, tomorrow we will be back in the Leaf Village," announces Neji. We all agree and start heading to our tents. "Except you Mira," Neji puts a hand on my shoulder, "I need to talk to you."
"Um… ok," I sit back down unsurely. I am not sure what Neji wanted to talk about but I know I'm about to find out. Neji sits across from me and we stare at each other for awhile. "So," I say, "what is it you wanted to talk about?" Neji looks down and mumbles something I couldn't hear. "What did you say Neji?"
"I was wondering if you could give me a reading from your tarot cards. You are the Tarot Ninja after all; you could kill a rouge with those cards and tell the future of a person at the same time."
My mouth hangs open with shock. Neji never wanted a reading before, he always believed that you couldn't see the future in cards with pictures on them; I look at him with surprise. After a few minutes, Neji starts to look a bit uncomfortable.
"Perhaps some other time," he says; he starts to get up.
"No, wait!" I shout. Neji looks at me with an eyebrow raised. "I'll give you a reading." I say quickly while taking my tarot cards out of my pocket. My tarot deck is hand made by me and I could feel the chakra humming off of them.
Neji sits back down, but not before activating his byackugan. I smile and shake my head, 'Typical Neji' I think to myself. I begin to shuffle the deck and concentrate on Neji's and the cards' chakra. I don't look at Neji when I do this, instead I look at the side of the cards as I shuffle them. I can feel Neji's chakra as I continue to shuffle the deck; then I start to see a swirl of colors. I start to see faint images of Neji's past, all the pain and hatred he had or use to have. I couldn't believe what I am seeing, it is amazing!
Slowly, the images and colors start to fade. When it all vanishes I notice that I have put the four cards down already. I look at what I have laid down: A blind-folded man
A wall
A dagger of gold
The two hearts morphing into one heart
I look at Neji and see that he is looking at me curiously.
"Well," he says, "what does the cards say?"
I point at the blind-folded man card, "This card says that something in your past is blinding you from your true path. And this card, the wall, says that something in the future will block your way; something big. And the golden dagger represent that you will have to fight with honor in order to over come the wall in your path. Now the last card…" I touch the Morphing Hearts card and I see me and Neji kissing on a bridge at night in the rain.
"What's the last card Mira?" Neji asks franticly. I blink a couple of times and look at him.
"It says that at the end of you true path, there will be a start of a new path of love and peace," I tell him. He deactivates his byackugan and stares at me. We stare at each other for what seems like forever, until Neji gets up and heads towards his tent. I sit there for a minute looking at the cards, still trying to wrap my head around the vision I had just seen. I never in my wildest dreams have thought that me and Neji would ever be a couple, but what I saw in the vision might change my mind. I mean I already have a crush on him, perhaps the cards told, not only Neji's future, but mine as well. I smile at that thought and put my cards away then go into my tent that I am sharing with Hinata. The next day I am woken up by Hinata shaking me by my shoulders.
" M…M…Mira the boys' tent is…is…is on fire!" she stutters out. I sit up and look out of our tent to see that she is right, the boys' tent is on fire; luckily the boys are not in the tent, instead they were trying to snuff in out with their packs. I roll my eyes, 'they act so smart but when their own tent is on fire they act like idiots,' I thought to myself as I grab my canteen and walk over to the boys' tent. Then I pour the water from my canteen on to the burning tent, dousing out the fire quickly.
"What are you idiots doing, are you trying to destroy your packs?" I ask them as I walk back to my tent to change out of my pjs.
"We knew what we were doing Mira," Kiba says defensibly. I look over my shoulder at him and notice that Neji isn't here.
"Hey where is Neji?" I ask scanning the camp to see if he is anywhere near. Naruto and Kiba shrugs.
"He was here a moment ago, he probably ran off at the site of the tent on fire," mumbles Naruto.
"Actually," says Neji coming out of the trees with three canteens in his hands, "I was getting water for the fire, but I see that Mira has done it before I could. Thank you." I smile and go into Hinata and my tent and change into actual clothes. Shortly after we pack up and ditch the burnt tent in the trees, we head out, hoping that we get back to the Leaf before night fall.
(2 hours later)
We finally see the entrance to the Leaf village, after 3 days of helping a small village repair their water system we are finally back home. I smile and try to keep a steady pace with the others but I couldn't; I am so happy to be home that I didn't realize how far ahead I am until I got to the gate and the others are behind me still. I turn and look at them with a grin on my face, "Come on you slow pokes! I'll treat you all to ramen if you hurry, I'll pay the bill!" I holler to them. I see Naruto perk up to the sound of free ramen and runs as fast as he can while the others still walk. Naruto passes me shouting for the others to hurry so he can get his free ramen; I shake my head and wait for the others to catch up before we go to Ichiaku's ramen bar.
When we get to the ramen bar we see that Naruto is already on his third bowl and I instantly regret saying that I would pay. We all sit down at the bar and order a bowl of ramen.
"Man you guys are slow," says Naruto with a mouth full of noodles.
"For god sake Naruto don't eat with your mouth full," groans Kiba as he starts on his bowl. Naruto swallows what he has in his mouth.
"Sorry Kiba, I'm just glad to be eating ramen. Especially since someone else is paying." I sigh and look at the slow forming pile of bowls that Naruto is creating.
After about 20 bowls of ramen I finally tell Naruto that he is cut off from ramen; he pouts but doesn't order another bowl of ramen. Instead he starts talking to Neji.
"So Neji, what did you want to talk to Mira about huh?" Naruto asks Neji, looking at him slyly. The others look at him as well, now curious as to what Neji has to say.
"We just talked about…some things that is none of your business Naruto," he says coolly.
"Did you ask her out? I bet you have a crush on her huh? She has a crush on you Neji."
I could feel my face turn red as soon as Naruto blurts out that little secret of mine. I keep my head down and ignore the surprised looks that I know that I'm getting from the others. The atmosphere around us became thick with tension and awkward silence; I finally look at Neji and the others, and since Neji is sitting next to me, it is his eyes that I meet first. The surprise look fades in Neji's eyes quickly; Kiba and Hinata still are looking at me, I guess they are waiting for me to deny what Naruto just said, but I don't. Instead I pay for the bill and leave, I ignore the sound of foot steps behind me.
"Mira wait," Neji says, walking behind me. I turn and look at him, my heart pounding away in my chest, I have always hoped that Neji would confess to me rather than him finding out from Naruto that I like him. "Is what Naruto said true?" he asks, his facial expression never changes from his neutral one. I nod my head, once again my cheeks show how embarrassed and nervous I am. Neji doesn't say anything, he just stands there smirking, my face gets even more red.
"What's with the smirk Neji?" I ask, stressing his name sarcastically.
"Nothing, just the fact that you are going to be my girl now," he replies matter of fact like, then he walks past me. "See ya around Mira," is the last thing he says to me before turning a corner to go home. I stand there dumb found at what just happened. Me? Being Neji's girl? I couldn't believe it, but it is real and that is what I like about it; I smile and head home as well.
I hear a knock at my apartment door, I sit up and look at my clock that looks like a crescent moon. It is 6 O'clock in the morning. I groan as I hear another knock at my door. I get out off my couch where I fell asleep at last night and sluggishly walk over to the door. I open the door to see that it is Neji.
"What are you doing here Neji? It's six in the morning and I haven't had breakfast yet, so this better be good." I say grumpily, Neji smirks at me.
"Well that's why I am here. Of course, I may have to wait for you to change before we go get breakfast." He says motioning towards what I'm wearing. I look down at myself and my face gets red. Out on missions my pjs consist of sweat pants and a T-shirt, when I am at home, it's booty shorts and a tank top.
"Oh," I say, "um… Let me go get changed, you can come in." I move out of the way so Neji can come into my apartment. My apartment isn't that big; it has four rooms, the living room, my bed room, the kitchen, and a small bathroom. The kitchen is conjoined to the living room with a counter separating the two rooms; it is a small kitchen but I like it. My living room is a cute little room, the walls are a pale green with purple carpeting. The couch that I was previously sleeping on is leather; I had a bookshelf built on to the wall next to the couch and a flat screen facing the couch. Now my bedroom, on the other hand, is bolder than the living room; the walls are a dark, almost purple, blue and a crazy designed rug placed in the center of my wooden floor. I have different typed of plants all over my room and another bookshelf filled with informational books and jars filled with herbs. My bed is small and as colorful as my plants. When I walk into my room I smile, my room always made me feel peaceful, it makes me feel one with mother nature.
I change into pants and a grey V-neck shirt and my boots, I look in my mirror hanging on my closet door to see if anything on me is messed up. Luckily nothing is so I walk out of my room and see Neji looking through my books on my bookshelf.
"Do you see any books you want to borrow Neji?" I ask, startling him slightly as he puts a book back on the shelf.
"You can say that," says Neji coolly, trying to regain his composer.
"Well you can borrow any of these books if you want, I don't mind," I say smiling. The corner of Neji's mouth turn up a little that I guess is his version of smiling.
"Shall we go now?" he asks walking to the door. I follow him and together we walk the streets of our wonderful Leaf village looking for a place to get breakfast. We walk around for awhile, secretly enjoying being alone with each other; neither of us has spoken that little secret, but we knew it in our hearts. Soon I spot my favorite little tea and dumpling shop, and I steer Neji towards the restaurant. He doesn't argue so I know that I have picked well; we sit at a table near the door and order our tea and dumplings.
While we eat we sit in an awkward silence, when we were walking here it was a peaceful silence but not it's no longer peaceful. I try to think of something to say, anything to say but nothing comes to mind as my mind stumbles over its self with the realization of the fact that me and Neji are on our first date. Luckily Neji thinks of something for me.
"So when exactly did you start to… like me?" he asks taking a sip of his tea.
"Since the day that you saved me from those kids back in the academy." I answer looking at the contents of my cup. Even though that looking at him always remind me of that day, it hurts to talk about because it was my weakest time and I'm ashamed of it,
"I see… you shouldn't feel ashamed about that day Mira."
"How did you know that I was?" I asks in surprise.
"You get a darkness in your eyes. You shouldn't feel ashamed, it ruins your blue eyes when you do." he says matter of fact like. My heart starts to race, he notices a change in my eyes when I think of that day, how long has he been noticing things about me? Now it is my turn to ask a personal question.
"How long have you liked me Neji?" I ask sheepishly, afraid that he would not answer the question.
"Since I first laid my eyes on you."
"Which was when?
"The first day you started the academy."
So that's when he started to like me huh? I remember that day very well, my mother and I moved to the leaf after my dad died. We came here to live with my Uncle, who was a ninja at the time, but now he is dead. Before my dad died, my Uncle would come by every month and teach me a few things about being a ninja. I have always wanted to be a ninja, so when my mother and me got settled in she enrolled me into the academy. I was happy when she did that, but I was also scared, I didn't know anyone and even though it was the first year for everyone they must have already knew each other from living in the same village. But I didn't know anyone, so during the class I never talked to anyone, I would sit there and listen to Iruka-sensei while creating my tarot cards. And then one day, Naruto came up to me and started talking to me. That's how me and him became friends, and I always felt like I was being watched by someone, but I didn't pay any attention to it; now I know it was Neji who was always watching me.
I smile at Neji and we finish our breakfast. The rest of the morning we walk around the village and talk, trying to get to know each other a little bit better. It is nice to just be with Neji the whole morning, talking and laughing; I never thought that I would see this side of Neji, laughing and smiling openly. I guess being with the person you like changes you somewhat. And I hope it never changes, I hope that me and Neji stay together for along time.
(3 years later)
Me and Neji has been dating for three years and things couldn't be better. Naruto, my best buddy would be coming home soon from training with this guy he called Pervy Sage; I have met this Pervy Sage once and Naruto was right, he was pervy. Neji is a Jounin and I am still a Chunin but I'm working my way up. We live together now in my apartment, sure we are just 16 but we are more mature than other couples our age so we are not looked down upon. And I have fallen deeply in love with Neji Hyuuga. Today is our anniversary and I'm going to tell him that I love him.
I wake up early to see that Neji has already left for the day. I sigh and get up to take a shower. He always left early to finish what he has to do so the rest of the day he can spend with me. I take a quick shower and then hang our the house planning how this anniversary would go. After I plan it out I leave the apartment and go shop for the things I would need.
It takes me about the whole day to find and buy every thing to make this day remember able for the both of us. I look up at the sky to see that the sun is setting and that Neji would be home soon, so I head home to prepare things. I am walking home when I hear giggling from an alley way, I stop at the edge of the building to hear more.
"Oh Neji your such a tease," says a woman's voice from the alley way. My heart stops a moment, I couldn't believe what I am hearing, is Neji with another girl? I wait to listen more to see if the guy is actually Neji.
"I'm not trying to be a tease… this is my first time and you know it," says the guy and sure enough it is Neji's voice. Tears build up in my eyes at the fact that Neji is cheating on me. I set the bags down and peer into the alley way to see Neji fumbling with a girls shirt.
"I know its your first time Neji," says the girl, "But I'm glad that you chose me to be your first rather than that freak of a girlfriend that you have." Neji glares at her, "She's not a freak Juliana, she's gifted"
"Gifted huh?" I say walking into the entrance so they both could see me. They look at me and freeze in the position I caught them in. The Juliana chick has one leg hitched up on Neji's hip and a hand around his neck; Neji had one hand around her waist and the other hand lifting up her shirt. The tears run down my face at the sight of them together.
"How could you Neji? How could you do this to me?" I ask him while the tears flow from my eyes. He lets go of Juliana and walks towards me, I back away then turn and run away; I hear him calling my name as I run away from them both, crying. I don't stop running until I reach the park, then I stop and try to catch my breath from crying and running.
Once I'm able to calm down a little, I realize that I am standing on a bridge looking over a pond. I walk to the railing and look down into the water and see my reflection; my face is slightly red from crying, but I don't care. The love of my life has broken my heart and I feel like my world is falling apart around me and I'm helpless to stop it. I look up at the orange and pink sky and watch the sun set.
"Oh Neji," I say to myself, "why did you have to go and break my heart like this? Why?" I close my eyes and let more tears cascade down my face. The sun goes down and the stars come out and I stay there looking into the pond. I feel sad and broken all over, I couldn't move, couldn't think about anything but what I just saw. I see clouds cover the stars in the reflection of the pond and it begins to rain. I sigh and allow the rain to wash over me, hoping that it will wash my heart ache away.
"Mira," I hear someone say from my left. I turn to see Neji standing there, my throat closes and I feel my heart break some more. I look away from him.
"How long have you been with her?" I manage to ask even though it hurts to talk.
"A year," he answers, I feel the boards of the bridge move as Neji walks closer to me; I don't dare look at him, for fear that I might cry again.
"You were about to have sex with her when I caught you together weren't you?" I ask, I knew the answer already but I wanted, needed him to say it.
"Yes…" he says with a twinge of guilt in his voice. I look at him then and see that his creamy white eyes are watery with tears. "I'm sorry Mira. I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't. I didn't want to hurt you… I was stuck in between you and her. But I knew that my heart was and still is for you and only you Mira. I love you." My eyes widen when he says that he loves me.
"You love me?" I ask not believe what I just heard.
"Yes, with every ounce of my being. I know what I did was wrong and that I should have told you. But the reason I was going to have sex with her was so that tonight when we were together, I would be ready." he confesses with a single tear escaping his eyes. My heart begins to race, he was thinking the same thing as me. I walk over to him and hug him; he hugs me back tightly as if I would disappear if he didn't. We are both soaked but we didn't care, we hold each other in the rain.
I look up at him and he looks at me, I feel myself falling into his eyes as I look him in the eyes. When our lips are only inches away I realized that we were moving closer in to each other. I close my eyes while closing those few inches left and kiss him. He kisses me back and a sense of deja vu come over me, then I remember that vision I had three years ago where me and Neji were kissing in the rain at night on a bridge. I smile into the kiss and wrap my arms around his neck; we part from the kiss.
"Lets go spend the night together at home hm," he says smiling. I nod my head in agreement and we head back to the apartment to make the night remember able like we had planned.