A/N: This user name is for the combined effort of a fan fiction between whisperingwhip and shatteredximagination. Enjoy! shattered
Disclaimer: Ugh, lawyers, you get way to much money for what you do. We do not own the Naruto cast, or the plot of Phantom of the Opera. We only own our characters and the changed parts of the plot. So don't sue us and leave us alone, before I (whisper) hurt you.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Prologue: The Cage
October 31st, 1861
It was one of those days when Konohagakure was at its busiest. It was Halloween, one of the most celebrated holidays the citizens celebrated. Traveling fairs from all over came to town sending the people into frenzy to see all that they could. They would get into costumes or their best outfits and run out of the house. All around the city one could see people wearing masks of grotesque beasts; some people had fake wings on to make themselves look like angels or fairies.
"Machi, come now it's getting very late," a woman spoke up. She was correct in her saying to. It was definitely a time when mothers would attempt to coax their children home. The sky was nearly black and the sun was gone. Only a faint glow remained as a reminder that the sun was once there. Night was not safe, even in Konohagakure, one of the safest cities.
A small brunette girl looked up at her mother with mischievous gray eyes. "I saw Hinata-chan, can I spend the night at her house?" she asked with a small hint in her voice that told her mother she was in for a screaming fit if she said no.
"Fine," she said when she saw Hinata and her father in the distance. "Don't stay to long tomorrow, you have a dance lesson," she called after her daughter's retreating back.
"You, yes you! Come see the devil of sand! Come now! Come one Come all!" a man called from a stand in front of a tent. He called to no one in particular, yet he managed to pull in the auburn haired woman. Mika, Suzu had always been a curious person.
The woman followed the crowd into the small plain beige tent. Inside was dark, lit by a few candles scattered around on the ground. The smell was unbearable as well. It was as if something had died, come back to life, and died again. Suzu looked over the heads of the crowd and saw that in the center of the tent was a cage. It was the type of cage a lion would be held in, only it was run down. The bars were a nasty reddish brown from rust and the floor was covered in hay in a sad attempt to hide the rotting floor. It looked revolting.
What worried her most was in the cage a boy was being tormented by his master. His worn clothing bore witness to the beatings the poor boy most likely got daily and the people were laughing. They were laughing at him as he made sand in the palm of his hand made a flower that was crushed by the gruff old man in the cage with him and then at the fact that the old man hit the boy to the ground. Suzu saw her own daughter in the redheaded boy's place. Being beaten that way, she could see her daughter's face in place of his own as he crawled away from a kick directed at him.
"All right folks, shows over," the man spoke from the cage. He gave a toothless grin at the floor as he listened to the coins drop to the ground. Everyone exited the tent but Suzu lagged behind. She bit her lip as she tried to pull herself away. He wasn't her child, but her heart had gone out to him. He needed rescuing. There was nothing she could do though. She turned her head and began to walk out.
"Gah! Help!" Suzu rushed back into the tent when she heard the cry. There was the red haired boy strangling his master. His tool was a rope made of the sand he preformed with. Her eyes widened as the sound of a dead man hitting the ground echoed in her ears. He had committed a crime, a murder none the less, but she could help now.
Her lavish gown was no walk in the park to run in, but she made it seem easy as she ran up to the cage and grabbed the boy's hand. "Come with me." She ran out into the streets, already she could hear the sound of people in search of him. "I'll take you to my opera house, you'll be safe there. Do you understand?" she asked in a rushed voice.
Suzu looked down at the boy, he couldn't have been much older then her daughter judging by his looks. He was short, but his defined chin told her he was older then his size. If anything he was twelve, her daughter was ten and the same height as him. What else caught her eye was the love kanji tattooed on the left side of his forehead.
The boy noticed her gaze and covered the red sign with his free hand as the other was still being held in her hand. Suzu looked away. "He gave that to you didn't he?" she sighed. She wouldn't get an answer, she already knew it though.
The Konohagakure Opera House loomed in front of them as the raced through the streets. The auburn haired woman didn't take him to the doors though. She ran to a small window that led to the basement. "Go through here, find a place to hide. Konohagakure doesn't take murder lightly." The redhead looked to the ground ashamed. "Don't fret, that man deserved it. Be safe." With that she opened the window and helped him slide down in. "Be safe."
A/N: Yep, not sure if I'm happy with the prologue (shattered). You can see some changes in the plot. We didn't want Gaara to be old so we made it so that one of the main characters has already been born (Machi). I hope you enjoyed this, the first chapter should be up in a week or so. ) (P.S.- Don't Trust shattered when she says stuff like that whisper)