The Raven, The Fox, and the Mysterious Room

I don't own Naruto or The story in which this is based off of everyone's ooc.

One

Salem,Massachusetts

A circle of three sat in a sunbeam on a quilt-bright bed beneath the eaves. Naruto Cartwright opened a small silver jewelry casket, removed an ancient brass key, and read its brittle parchment tag for the first time. "Unlock the door with the magic inside you and meet your destiny."

"Magic?" Hinata asked. "Are you coming out of the broom closet, Naru?"

Naruto wrinkled his nose, distracted by the key tingling in his palm. He changed hands. It tingled there,too. He pressed it to his cheek, and the result was the same.

"So open the door, already," Sakura said.

Naruto put the key back in the jewelry casket. "What say I just leave it for the next Cartwright? My father's probably still alive. He could be screwing up another kid right now."

"But you always wanted to know what was in the room," Hina said.

"Sure, I was a curious kid, but I got over it. I mean, it's been locked up all my life, like a big old security ...room ."

The wide-load construction afterthought jutted from a corner of her attic bedroom, and during one of their imaginary childhood-sleepover scenarios, they had placed a mahogany spike-scaled dragon who would come to their aid whenever they called.

"You didn't know about Tsunade's bequest?" Sakura asked.

"The key, yes. The destiny, no." Lifting the key by its tag, Naruto rested it on Saku's ankle then Hina's hand, but they looked as if he were being no weirder then usual.

Naruto lay on his side, head in hand, and held the key in his hand. "I never told because it's nuts. Victoria Cartwright, a grandmother on my father's side, a demon-witch by all accounts,-a freaking demon!- left this key to her descendants a century ago."

"Retro!" Sakura said.

"Decidedly, except that it's never worked.'

"Bummer. That's like a taunting instead of a haunting."

"No, because only the descendant who inherited Victoria's magic can open the door and complete her spell."

"You mean,you might be a witch or warlock, too!" Sakura raised her fan like a champagne flute. "To the demonicateers!"

Hinata swatted her with a pillow. "Will you pay attention? Complete what spell, Naru?"

"Family legend talks about the key spell"- Naruto held up his key-"and a preservation spell on the contents. But the spell that needs to be completed has always been a mystery, which creeps the alakazam out of me."

"Let me reassure you," Sakura said, "A spell can let a figurative dragon out of a figurative room, but you get to decide whether to befriend or vanquish the beast."

"That's supposed to reassure me? A drive-by spooking?"

Hina hugged her knees. "Remember how we always wanted to see inside the room, and your grandmother always said that someday we would?"

"Hina's right, Naru. Nana Tsunade was psychic. Look at her card-a-day-tarot readings. She was brilliant. She knew you had magic. She knew you'd open the door."

"This key is not going to work." Naru closed his fist around it and suddenly found its tingling warmth alluring. "I'm not a witch." He rose with a shiver and turned back to them. "Doesn't the note sound like my destiny's alive or something? Not that I believe any of it, but what if the dragon's not as friendly as we suppose?"

Sakura slipped into her flats. "The dragon you believe in?"

"It's a metaphorical dragon," Naruto said.

"Right," Hinata said, "which is why you waited to open your inheritance until we could be with you."

"I wanted my best friends beside me, so shoot me."

"You wanted backup," Hinata said.

Naruto opened his palm to reveal the key. "I wanted to authenticate my findings."

Hinata grinned. "I know that tone. I interviewed for a cooking show when I couldn't cook, remember?"

"Forget about her," Sakura said, "I'm into the potential, here. Your dead old granny might have chosen your soulmate for you more than a century ago. Talk about retro to the max."

"Talk about hocus bogus," Naruto said. "Fair warning; if a hundred-year-old guy or gal steps out'a that wardrobe, I'm history."

Sakura grinned. "Uh-huh, for sure."

"I'm for real, if that happens all you'll see is little fairy dust!"

Hinata looked more closely at the key tag and lifted the corner to peel it open and reveal a second note. "Make the journey with joy. Yours, Victoria Cartwright, 1906." Hina's eyes twinkled. "Maybe you're supposed to take a trip to the past."

"Thanks," Naru grumbled, "cause I wasn't freaked enough."

"Mega cool," Saku said.

"Mega flaky," Naru corrected. "I am so not a witch or,a warlock or, a demon. My life sucks. If I had magic, I'd fix it, wouldn't I?"

"What are you saying, hon?" Hinata touched his arm. "I know you miss Nana Tsunade, but is anything else wrong?"

"Tell us," Saku said. "We'll help any way we can."

Which is why they'd never know about Nana Tsunade's medical and funeral bills or her unexpected mortgage. "It's everything and nothing. Of course I miss Nana Tsunade, but-" Naruto read his friends' looks. "I do not need a man or woman. Talk about the dense and the useless. Oh stop grinning. I'm glad you both found soul-mates, but I don't have the stamina to sort through the users, losers, and the deserters I tend to attract."

"Every man is not your father, Naru."

"Can't prove that by me."

"Of course, if you used that key," Saku said, "you'd have to take a chance for once."

"I take chances."

"Good, open the door."

"Yeah," Hina said. "You might find, like ... a blueprint of the House of Seven Gables with a treasure-map hidden in the design."

"Covered in tarantulas," Sakura added, as she set out yarrow and rosemary, and directed the smoke from her smudge stick to surround them. With a flourish of her fan, she began her chant:

"Protect we three,
From man or dragon,
What will be.
Plus those dear,
Far and near,
Harm it none.
So mote it be."

Sakura shrugged. "In case it's a mummy case with Victoria's 'preserved' walking dead inside."

"A claustrophobic dragon is starting to sound charming," Naru said, as he wished for a sword or stake. "How do I defend myself against a dragon?"

"A fire extinguisher?" Hinata suggested.

"Here goes." Naruto slipped the key in the lock and looked back at them. "When this doesn't work, we go down and play with the baby, right?"

"Right," Hinata said, with a maternal grin.

Naruto turned the key and turned away, dismissing the faint click, but the creaking sound behind him superglued him to the spot ... until something hit him in the ass.

By the way

Please review. Thanx 4 reading!!