A Touch of Destiny
"I wanna story."
"Ok." Tucking a leg underneath her, she sat on edge of her son's bed. When he was finally settled under the covers he smiled at her.
"I want one about Flash an' Little Fox."
"Hmm… How about the story of how they met?" Her son sighed dramatically.
"I know that one mummy. I wanna new one!" She thought for a moment and grinned. Why not that story?
"All right."
"Once there was a village. It was strong and powerful with many great warriors living there. These warriors had a special name. They were called Ninja. The strongest warrior of them all was their leader. But he was getting old. So he gathered all of his strongest warriors and from them chose who would lead the village when he was gone. The warrior he chose was a man named…"
"FLASH!" cried out her son. "An' he was called Flash 'cause he was really really fast!" She laughed and pushed him back down on to the bed.
"Yes smarty pants. Now are you going to listen? Flash was in love with a beautiful woman called Little Fox. She was pregnant with his baby and they were going to marry."
"This sounds boring" her son winged as he pulled his covers tighter around his chin.
"Years ago, when the village was still young, a man named Red Eyes lived there. He was a cruel and evil man. He had a great fight with the leader of the village. Then he disappeared. Nearly a hundred years later, he returned. He had a power that allowed him to control Demons. And with this power he controlled a powerful, evil Demon!"
"But Demons aren't bad!" cried her son again. "I know lots and lots." She smiled sadly.
"Yes. But this Demon is different to the ones in our city. He can't hold a human form. And he has so much anger in him. A Demon like him would destroy a city like this with out a thought. It's Demons like him that make people outside the city afraid of us. Because they believe we're all evil." He frowned for a moment, a little wrinkle appearing on his five year old brow.
"That's sad. You're not evil mummy. I love you."
She looked into his honest blue eyes. Children were so sincere with what they said. "I love you too. Now, this Demon took the form of a giant red fox with nine tails. All the warriors in the village gathered to fight this beast. But they were no match. It tore through their home like it was made of rice paper. It ignored their attacks like they were nothing more than ants. You see, it's impossible to kill a Demon like this one. You can only seal it away. During the attack, Little Fox had been killed."
"No!"
She stroked a soothing hand through his blond hair. It was getting a little long and he would need a trim soon. "But not before she had given birth to her baby. Flash, seeing no other way to fight this Demon, took his new born baby up to the top of the tallest building in the village. Using a very special seal he summoned the Great Shinigami. The Shinigami took the soul of the beast and sealed it away inside the new born baby. By doing this Flash had saved the village, but it had cost him his life. All the villagers and the warriors saw Flash as their hero. He had a huge funeral where everyone sung songs and cheered his memory."
"Was it bigger than Nina-sama's funeral?"
"Yes, much bigger."
"What happened to the baby?"
"Well, Little Fox and Flash were friends with a Demon, like the ones in our city. She knew that the villagers would probably not understand that the baby wasn't the evil beast; the beast was just locked up inside him. She didn't want her best friend's baby growing up in the village, where people would be angry and mean to him for something that wasn't his fault!"
"So what did she do mummy?"
A sad look crossed her face. "She helped deliver the baby as her best friend, Little Fox, died. She went with Flash up to the top of the building and watched as he summoned the Great Shinigami. And when the Shinigami was finished, and Flash fell to the floor dead, she grabbed the baby and ran. She took him back to her home and raised him as her own son. Time passed and he became a beautiful and strong warrior and did many great deeds and saved many people."
"What was his name?"
"Well, what do you want to call him?" A big grin split his face.
"Give him my name!" Nikki laughed.
"All right then. His name was Naruto."
Ten years later.
Twelve desks lay on their sides. Soggy textbooks were huddled in a pile. Lose papers were scattered about the floor. Water seeped slowly across the stone tiles.
The five culprits stood to attention in a line at the front of the outside classroom.
Gorou Tanaka paced slowly before his students. They were soaked from head to foot. He came to a stop before the shortest (and only girl) of the five. She raised her gaze to his and but dropped it quickly. He made an imposing form. Black skin, shaved head and red eyes. Slowly he turned his gaze on the other four.
"So, who wants to go first?" They all started at once.
"Well it wasn't really my fault..."
"...an' it was really hot! So we..."
"So if Akila hadn't been here..."
"Shut up Vega!"
"…said 'I wish I had a drink' and…"
This continued for a few more moments as he looked them over. Akila was the youngest. Her body was thin and she wore her long blue hair in the three customary braids of the Ra clan. Faint green patterns were beginning to emerge on her blue skin indicating she would be hitting full maturity soon. She was bearing her fangs at Vega, who was ignoring her.
Pale hands shoved deep into his jean pockets. Black eye-liner, black nail polish, spiked black hair. He was the oldest in the class. His purple clan seals were tattooed down his right arm. Next to him stood the twins, Josh and Levi Al-Fassi. They had matching brown hair and green eyes. Josh wore a dark blue Jinbei while Levi's was grey. Neither had their family marks yet.
They all quieted until the only sound that could be heard was the laughter at the end of the line. Apparently human at first glance, the blond boy was the shortest of his group. His blue eyes were crinkled with mirth as he lent on the pillar beside him for support. To a demon like Gorou, the three demonic whisker marks that decorated each cheek looked out of place.
"Care to share your thoughts with the rest of us, Naruto?
Naruto took a few composing breaths as he wiped his eyes with one hand, grin still plastered on his face. "It was me Tanaka-sensei. I flooded the class."
Gorou glared impassively. It wasn't uncommon for these five to be found at the root of any trouble that arose in the school. But it was unusual for Naruto to take all the blame.
"Just you, hmm?"
"Yes Tanaka-sensei. Me an' Vega."
"Oi!"
Ah, there it was. Naruto and Vega were thick as thieves. One would rarely be found without the other. Aside from that they were always trying to get each other in trouble.
"Well there's only one way to settle this, isn't there? You'll all have to stay until it's cleaned up." The chorus of moans were music to his ears. Gorou allowed himself a small smile as he strode away.
As soon as their sensei had rounded the corner, Vega was on Naruto. He forced the smaller boy into a head-lock and growled down at him. "The hell was that about?
Dropping me in with you! You…you…Skunk head!"
"Ooh big words Vega. What you gonna call him next? Butt-brain?" Akila grinned at them. "You two started it. Like, it's not even our fault!" She gestured to herself and the twins, who were doing their very best to not be involved in the argument. Everyone knew to stay clear of Akila and Vega when they started going at it.
Vega was about to retort when Naruto took his moment to escape by throwing them both sideways into a pillar. Naruto jumped back into a half crouch with fists raised, his trademark grin stretched across his face.
"Don't take your eyes off me Vega, you can't hold me down for long!" Vega stood, the fingers of his right hand slowly growing into claws.
"Oh, wanna bet?"
"Ahem?"
Everyone looked over to the twins. Levi stood nervously, worrying the edge of his Jinbei. Josh just looked annoyed. "Perhaps we could get on with the cleaning? Some of us would like to get out of here today." Naruto straightened up and brushed off some imaginary dust from his soaked sleeve.
"Of course Josh. Akila, would you mind?" He gestured to the water on the floor. Akila was of the Ra clan. And everybody knew that the Ra clan had an unusual affiliation to water. It was said that they were descendants of the original water sprites. It was rumored that the oldest and strongest of the clan could even control the water inside a person's body. Akila was only young, but she already had a strong grasp of her power. She had skipped a year up to Naruto's class. He'd liked her instantly. Who wouldn't want a friend who could make Ice lollies? Unfortunately Vega didn't think she was so great. But Naruto suspected it was more because she was a girl than anything else.
Akila stood in the center of the class. Her hands were outstretched in front and a frown creased her brow in concentration. She'd tried explaining what it was like to move water once. How it was annoying because it never stayed in one place. It always wanted to dart this way and that. Always wanting to change its shape. It wasn't like she could command it, more… encourage it. Ooh look at that! She would think. Wouldn't it be fun to go that way? Wouldn't it be different to be this shape? Or exciting to be over there? Slowly, the water started to slip out of the books and their clothes. It ran, drop by drop, over the stone floor till it was in the grass by the side of the class.
When Akila had finished the boys set about righting the desks and picking up the books. A leg had come off one of the desks, which they tried reattaching with gum.
Eventually they agreed to leave it and hope no one noticed.
A/N
So this is my first story! I've had it rattling around in my mind for a while now and feedback would be much appreciated. So please, let me know what you think! X
-SapphireCourt