WISHES
CHAPTER I
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. On the other hand, I do own the plot.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please enjoy the story and please leave your comments on grammar, style and, of course, the plot. Lot's of thanks to you! :]
Rough scribbles of pen against paper echoed through the halls of her room.
"Words ran fast, so fast I couldn't even understand what these phrases mean..."
For moments and more moments, the pen continued to scratch and mark the paper. The pen continued to bleed and bleed more words into the battered piece of parchment. Until it stopped; replaced by a crumpling sound. The next second, said paper could only be found in the trash bin along with other doodled-on pieces of paper.
"Crap! Crap! Crap! All I ever write is nothing but a piece of trash - rubbish!" Keiko said as hot tears rolled from her eyes. She furiously brushed the tears dry and violently jerked her head back so as to stop the tears from cascading down her prominent cheeks.
She was reasonably good in writing but every single time she started writing something connected to her innermost thoughts. That's where she gets derailed, so to speak. Somehow, she couldn't write a single thing.
Caged. That was how she felt. Even though she has nothing she to wish for anymore, she felt utterly caged and incomplete and helpless. She couldn't do anything about it and this knowledge made it even worse.
She has a wonderful family – loving parents and adorable siblings. She had nothing else to long for, or so that was what people thought.
True. All of these are true. She knew she had to be thankful with the knowledge that she had everything laid out in front of her, and she was, but she can never deny the pit of emptiness in her stomach that threatened to swallow her body and soul. Despite everything, she felt hollow. Too hollow, she could not even cry hard enough to unburden her of her desperation to fill in the quintessential-looking void that was her self and her life.
She didn't know why she felt hollow, though. She just felt she didn't belong here. Something just felt wrong. There was something; something that made her feel this perfect life was just a lie. That behind this wonderful mural seemingly made by the great Masters, her graffitied life exists. She wanted to believe that out there, a world that was hers exists. Keiko only wished that her musings were true and that her world would wait for her.
A knock so gentle interrupted her musings.
"Dinner is ready, Keiko. Come down now," her mother's voice rang.
She looked at her mother and flashed her a small smile, "I'll follow mom, I'll just arrange these things. Dad wouldn't be very happy to see my cluttered desk," she added lightly.
Keiko always joked around her family. Her light and witty remarks were the only things that kept her from totally revealing her wants when she's at the confines of her home - the four corners of her room.
Good thing mom bought that one… Keiko thought as her mother silently laughed and nodded but left the door ajar as a reminder that she had to go down to dinner soon.
"Dad, can I go to the mall tomorrow?" a ten-year old male's voice asked.
"Me too! Me too!" A younger one chirped in as their father massaged his temples. He knew, these two wouldn't leave him alone so he conceded after a few negotiations.
"Thank you Dad!" The boys said as they left the table to go play.
This is so monotonous. I crave for more. I thirst for adventure… Keiko thought as she played with her food. But quickly stopped as she realized her parents knew well enough she was not one to space out.
They can't find out. I don't know why. Never mind why. They just can't! She screamed into her mind as she racked her brain for something to do other than space out in front of her meal. Her meal… that's it! It was dinnertime so all she had to do was eat dinner and everyone else would think that she's alright.
Quickly finishing her meal, she stood up and excused herself from the table politely.
"I'll go to my room now, Mom, Dad. Thanks for dinner!" She smiled as she said these words. She smiled not because she enjoyed dinner but because she was itching to go to her room and dream about whatever she wanted to happen in her life just to break the monotony of it all.
She quickly left the dining hall.
I want to break it. I want to tarnish this monotonous painting!
The monotony of my life…
But come to think of it, there is none to break, after all, for I have no life. This simple routine is not life. There's more, out there, I know. Something tells me, there's more out there, somewhere, however…
"I don't know what's 'there'. I don't even know if 'there' exists," she said to herself as she plopped on her cushioned seat near the bay window. She loved this spot especially at this time of day, err…, night. It was just so perfect. The dark sky veiled by millions and millions of stars. It seemed to drown her into more and more dreams.
"And more heartbreaks. Come on, Keiko. Stop dreaming! Dreams don't come true. Fantasy is rubbish. You should know better than believe in absurdities fed to toddlers!" She screamed at herself while childishly pulling her black hair.
Dreams don't come true. That's what they always told her before, back when she still told a few people of her secret yearnings. And so, when she left her middle school and entered high school, she only told one person of her longings and that person was her best friend, Ai.
But as a golden wishing star halved the sky, the girl found herself wishing for something she wasn't even sure of. She just knew she just wished for something with all of her heart.
Ai stood at the balcony of her room as she held the framed picture she had been looking at for the last ten minutes. The picture revealed the faces of the people closest to her; Kumi, Miyo, Miko, Manami, Ayu. But her eyes lingered on the faces of her best pals; Michi, Kaori, and Keiko.
A very bright light halved the sky. A golden streak lighted up the vast night skies and interrupted her so abruptly, she almost lost grip of the framed photograph. With a twinkle in her eyes (and after recovering from her initial shock, of course!), her green eyes followed the shooting star and she thought of Keiko.
Surely, if Keiko had seen the star, she would have made a wish. That girl's a dreamer. It's good, at times but sometimes, I just wished she would stay with us here in reality, Ai thought.
Wishing. Ai had never tried wishing before but now, a tug inside her heart urged her to make a silent wish, to take a moment to listen to the desires of her heart. However, her pessimistic side wouldn't let her venture into the world of rainbows and unicorns. Wishing only wound the heart, it bellowed inside her head.
This was her biggest problem; she couldn't control her pessimistic side. And more often than not, she usually ended up being control by her pessimistic side. True, people around her tried to help her cure her of this err… condition but every single thing the people around her tried to do wasn't of much help...
Ai knew she had to do this and help herself. And so she took the first step.
And, for the first time in her life, Ai gave in to what her heart really wanted. And at that exact moment, she wished and put her whole heart in it.
A smile crept to her lips and, finally, made its way to her eyes.
The cold November breeze blew and caused her bright red hair to fly so beautifully, so gracefully in the cold wind. The wind blew again, but this time, it was colder and this caused her to shiver.
"The wind only blows this cold, deep into the night," Ai said as she stuck her head inside her room, she saw her clock and could make out a blurred image. And what the blurred image confirmed her idea; it was already eleven in the evening.
Panic ran through her veins as she immediately snuck back to her room and closed her eyes. She would be toast if her (cough*overprotective*cough) parents found her still awake at this hour!
"Tsunade-sama, Yamato-san wishes to speak to you," Shizune said as she carefully placed the bottle of sake in front of the Hokage.
"Let him in," the blonde said without looking up.
"Yes, Tsunuade-sama," Shizune sighed as she thought of how tired the Lady must have been since she had been working from sun up to sun down these past months. The Godaime had never been this … workaholic before. Before, she preferred gambling, drinking, and even idling than doing paper works but now, she seemed to have had developed some kind of infatuation with her documents and all her Kage-work.
Shizune let the masked ANBU enter the room and closed the door after him sighing as she mulled over how to help her mistress relieve stress and regain a life.
"What is it?"
"The barrier, Hokage-sama. It seems that the barrier is weakening. Many other ANBU mission reports state that for some days, Akatsuki can be found in the area, at the edge of the barrier and its weakest point at the same time. But other times, Orochimaru can be found there as well. I believe they are the reasons why the barrier is wea-"
Yamato came to an abrupt stop when the Hokage's head suddenly slumped into the pile of documents in front of her, with fists balled tightly; long, red nails dug into skin.
"Those bastards! Do you think they know?" She asked, or more like snarled, not lifting her head from its previous position.
"There is no other reason for Akatsuki or Orochimaru to break the barrier, Hokage-sama."
Right fist connected to the table with such great impact enough to break it and send splinters of wood everywhere in the room and outside it, for that matter. The sake bottle had shattered and the contents soaked the documents that were once orderly put on top of the now non-existent table.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" She growled. Lately, Tsunade had had a lot of things to worry about and now, these bastards are out to do more and, may it be added, serious trouble. The burden of the work she have had been weighing down on her that she thought of resigning and giving the kage position to the demon vessel but now, she couldn't do that anymore.
Naruto didn't know this new problem that had appeared. And, of course, he wouldn't be able to solve something he would find very difficult to understand in the first place.
"I just figured it, Hokage-sama. I am sorry." Yamato spoke the truth quietly. When Tsunade is this angry, it was best to spill nothing but what was true. And Yamato learned this from experience. Scratch that. Hard experience.
Tsunade walked over to her window and massaged her temples as she contemplated on what must be done. She saw the whole of Konoha, the land she swore to protect and govern. However, aside from Naruto, there is only one person living today whom she wanted to protect. And she was nowhere near Konoha. This was the problem Tsunade didn't know how to tell Naruto. She was the problem, but no matter how hard Tsunade tried to loathe this person, the Godaime Hokage found out she never could.
After a few moments, a defeated sigh escaped her lips.
"Alright. Send him to her in order to give her protection. He will know what to do even if Akatsuki or," she choked on her former teammate's name (not to mention, but I'll mention it anyway, the source of her problem), "the other goes after her."
Yamato was confused not because he didn't know who "him" refers to but is confused as to why the Hokage would want to send this man after the girl. Truth be told, Yamato isn't all comfortable with this man; he couldn't bring himself to trust someone whom he deemed before as a traitor. He never even thought that this certain person knew of the Godaime's secret, nevertheless he answered.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
But before leaving, he quickly did a few hand signs and in a puff of smoke, a new wooden table appeared in front of Tsunade.
"Thank you, Yamato."
The ANBU nodded and left the room. He knew he had some urgent businesses to attend to and very important business too.