Prologue
"Hey Glen!" my mom, Arabella, yelled from the boat.
Glen was coming down the hill and is the caretaker of this island. He has bright blue eyes, tan, smiles a lot, and is very fun to be around. He waved at us and was smiling from ear to ear. His son Damon was with him. Gavin looked almost like his dad except for having blue eyes he had greenish blue eyes and they sparkled every time he laughed.
I smiled when I saw Gavin. We docked and Glen tied the boat to the dock and helped me and my mom out of the boat.
"It's really good to see you guys again!" said Glen, in his loud voice and laughing and pulling us into a hug.
"It's good to see you too Glen!" My mom said, also laughing.
Glen backed away from us, still smiling from ear to ear, and said, "Well let's not just stand around and look at each other. Let's go to the house and have some supper!"
We all nodded and headed towards the house. While my mom and Glen were talking, Gavin and I hung back a little holding hands and talking, like we always do every time my mom and I visit.
"So Ayuki. How has your family been?"Damon asked, still smiling and his greenish bluish eyes being playful.
"Good. My father is on a mission right now and sometime next month or maybe earlier my mom is also going on a mission and I have no idea how long either of them will be gone so we decided that I would stay here while they are gone." I said, also smiling from ear to ear.
"That's great! Now we can play and visit Navorog more! I'm pretty sure he has missed you a lot and I bet he misses your famous meat." He said playfully.
"I'm sure he misses me and the meat too but sadly I couldn't bring him any since my mom came along. And I know someone who has a secret crush on you but I'm not telling you who!" I said, grinning and skipping away from him, and blushing wildly.
"Tell me or I'll tickle you!" he said laughing and started to tickle me.
"No! Never! You will never get me to tell you!" I half squealed half laughed in between fits of laughter.
"Alright you two! That's enough." Said Gavin's dad.
Gavin scowled but his eyes were still playful. We reached the house and Gavin and I went straight up to his room. You could see for miles and miles of trees and mountains, because the house was on a tall hill. Gavin's room had posters of all kinds of different dragons and his headboard had two dragons carved into it, facing each other. His walls were a light brown color and his floors were a dark blue carpet. We played outside for a little bit when Gavin's dad suddenly came bursting out the door, yelling, "Kids! Get in the house! Now!"
Damon looked confused and I just stood there looking at him like he was crazy. Glen reached us and started herding us towards the house. He kept looking back and I looked back too and saw something coming. It was definitely a dragon because it was flying and it was huge. When we reached the front door I heard a voice in my head. It was calm and soothing.
'Hey little one! I told you I would come over when you came back!' said the voice, playfully.
'Navarog! I missed you!' I thought, smiling from ear to ear. Then I said, "Wait!" and turning around to face Glen "It's Navarog! He wouldn't hurt us! I promise!"
My mom had met us at the door and now they were all looking at me in confusion, except Damon. Glen looked me straight in the eyes and had a stern look on his face.
"Ayuki. How do you know this dragon? And didn't I say not to make friends with a dragon!" He said, his face turning red.
"I know but I couldn't help it! I couldn't sleep when we went camping a few months ago and I went walking, not far from the camp, and I saw him drinking from the lake and I didn't want to approach him but he was pretty standing there in the moonlight and I was mesmerized so I couldn't move and he turned around and instead of being mean and hostile, he was calm and gentle. He spoke in my mind, telling me that he wasn't going to hurt me and asked me what I was doing here and who I was with." By this time Navarog had landed and was waiting patiently. I continued talking. "And I told him that I was with you and most dragon's that I told that to went mad but didn't do anything to me and flew off, but Navarog just laid there and didn't get mad or anything and then I asked him for his name and he told me, then I told him mine, and I sat across from him and we talked for a while. Then I think sometime while we were talking I fell asleep because he was nudging me awake and told me to be heading back to camp because it was almost dawn and I asked if I would see him again and he said that next time I visited he would come over." I was now standing beside Navarog and petting his head, smiling. Then I looked back at my mom, Glen, and Damon. Damon's dad looked like he was going to blow a cork. His face was blood red and he was trembling. I walked a few paces towards them. "Look I'm sorry that I didn't tell you then. I guess you would have been mad, like you are now, and wouldn't want me going anywhere alone after I told you."
Damon's dad was furious as he came stomping towards me. As he neared me he raised his hand, like he was going to strike me, but I stood my ground and didn't flinch then Navarog was beside me in an instant and put a wing in-between me and Glen and snarled at him. Glen backed away, scared.
"You wouldn't hurt me!" he yelled at Navarog.
'Not unless you hurt her!' Navarog said snarling again.
"Well she should have told me back then!" Glen said taking a step towards me.
'She didn't tell you then because of how you're acting now is how you would have acted then!' Navarog said, matching his step.
"Well—" Glen started to say but I cut him off.
"Enough!" I yelled, stepping in-between Glen and Navarog. "You two need to cool it. What happened has happened and we can't undo it. Me and Navarog are going to stay friends whether you like it or not," I said, looking at George, "And we can try and come to an agreement or we can stand here fighting 'til kingdom come not getting anywhere!"
Glen still looked mad and Navarog was shifting from foot to foot and snarling just a bit. They stood like that for a few minutes and then Navarog sighed and said, 'Fine. I'll agree with a truce or whatever.'
Glen also sighed and said, "Sure. Whatever."
"Ok. Now that that's settled we can get down to business." I said, letting out a breath that I hadn't realized I was holding. "From now on every time I come over Navarog can come over as well and only when you're here or around. That way Navarog and I can still hang out and you can watch us." I said, pointing to Glen.
Glen didn't look too happy about a dragon being close to his house and son, but he agreed and went inside. My mom looked scared as Glen passed by, but when she looked at me her face turned from scared to relieved, then she started walking towards me a smile planted on her face. Gavin shrank away from his father as he walked passed and still looked scared as he followed my mom, which I couldn't blame him. It's probably the first time he has seen his dad so angry.
My mom came over and hugged me, saying, "I thought he was going to hit you! Are you ok?"
I laughed and said, "Yes mom. I'm fine. Not a scratch," Spreading my arms out to show her, "And I'm just glad they came to an agreement."
My mom just smiled. "I knew you were smart for your age. I just didn't think you would be able to handle anything like that with such calmness. I mean you didn't even flinch when Glen was going to hit you."
"Actually I was shocked that he would hit me but I stood my ground and dared him to. I think he actually would have if Navarog hadn't of stepped in and I don't know what I would have done if he did hit me." I said, chuckling and looking at Navarog with thanks. He looked back at me with a smile…
Ch. 1
Well I was 7 years old then and it's been 10 years since last I was there and am now 17. My parents both died shortly after they got home. The village was attacked and they were in the first squadron which got hit hard. I now live in my parents' house with my best friends Sakura, Ino, Ten-Ten, and Hinata. They are all on the ANBU team and go on lots of missions together, but I'm the Hokage or leader of village. Hinata has long black hair with a blue tint to it, white eyes which runs in the Huuga family, and is very very shy. She likes Naruto but hasn't been able to tell him since every time she gets near him she turns bright red and faints. It's so funny, but tonight we are all going out and she will tell him then. Onto Ino. Ino has long bleach blond hair and very light blue eyes and always wears something purple. She also likes Shikamaru and Shikamaru likes her but neither one will ask the other one out. So tonight that will change as well. Sakura has short pink hair and emerald colored eyes. She always wears anything with red and likes Sasuke but he left the village a few years back but we will get into that later on. Right now we have a night to get ready for. Oh! And by the way my name is Ayuki Esperenza. I have short strawberry-blond hair with forest green eyes. And I like a guy but he is too far away for us to be in an actual relationship, but we write to each other and try and see each other as much as we can but it's not enough for now. I'll tell you guys more later but for now I need to get ready.
"Ayuki! I need you!" yelled Ino from down the hall.
"I'm still getting ready! Can't Sakura or Hinata help you!?" I yelled back just as Sakura went past my room. She stopped and laughed and said, "I'll go help her," As she came over to zip up the rest of my dark blue dress.
My hair was in curls, I had black eye-shadow on, with light pink lip-stick, and my dress was about ankle length with sparkles and I had on dark blue heels and sapphire earrings to match. I finished slipping on my shoes then went and grabbed my camera and dark blue purse and headed down-stairs. Hinata was sitting on the couch with her hair pulled up, one shoulder ankle length light blue dress with ruffles on the boobs and a split up the side ending just before her hip, and light blue earrings to match. She didn't have a purse so I put her stuff in mine.
"You ready for tonight?" I asked her while going and sitting beside her on the couch.
"Not really. I mean I'm excited about the party and all, just really nervous about what I'm going to say to Naruto." She said fiddling with her hands and looking really nervous.
I grabbed her hand, smiling, and said, "All will be ok. Just take him somewhere private or in a corner and tell him. That's all you can do. You will have to just see if he likes you back and if he doesn't well then it wasn't meant to be, but I'm very confident he does feel the same. In fact, I know he does!"
"You do! Oh that's just fantastic!" she said squealing and hugging me.
I just laughed and hugged her back. Sakura and Ino came downstairs. Ino had on a long purple dress that had the straps coming across her chest which showed off a little bit of her cleavage and around her mid-section there was a white band which tied in the back and flowed down the length of the dress, which had sparkles in it like mine but hers went sideways all the way down the dress and she had her hair up and purple earrings and purse to match. Sakura had on a dress that was one shouldered and started red at the top and turned pink at the bottom, along with ruby earrings to match. I looked at my watch and the time was six-o'clock.
"Everyone ready?" I asked grinning and excited.
They all nodded their heads and were smiling from ear to ear. I got up from the couch and headed out the door with Hinata, Sakura, and Ino behind me.
We reached Naruto's house at around six-thirty. I knocked on the door and Shikamaru answered it. Shikamaru was in a tux, with his usual hair style, hair up in a ponytail. (Just imagine a ballroom theme.)
"Well hello ladies. Why don't you come in and have fun?" He said smirking and blushing while looking at Ino. Ino blushed and grinned also.
"You mean unlike you Shikamaru?" Sakura said, laughing and going in.
Shikamaru just grinned and closed the door behind us. Sakura immediately went off on her own, while Ino stuck with Shikamaru, and Hinata stuck with me, to afraid or nervous to go off on her own. I walked around for a bit and then saw Naruto who was also wearing a tux and walked up to him. I heard Hinata squeak when she saw that I was heading towards him and half hid behind me. I laughed and continued walking.
"Hi Naruto!" I said smiling and hugging him.
"Oh! Hi Ayuki and Hinata! Ya'll having fun yet?" He asked hugging me then Hinata.
Hinata kind of froze and turned red and started to walk away, but I pulled her back and wrapped my arm around hers so she couldn't get away.
"Naruto." He looked at me with a smile. "I think Hinata would like to talk in private for a minute."
I smiled and looked at Hinata and she looked like she was going to jump out of her skin and she was blushing wildly. I just smiled and waved at her.
I turned back around and was surprised at who was standing in front of me. It was Gavin!
Ch. 2
"Hi Gavin!" Ayuki said, her face blushing.
"Hi to you too!" I said smiling. I love seeing her blush. I think it's so cute! "So I bet your wandering why I'm here?"
"Uh just a little!" she said laughing.
"Well why don't we take a walk and I will explain." I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and leading her into the hallway.
"Ok." She said smiling and blushing. Her heels clanking all the way.
We were walking towards the balcony and he was telling me about why he was here and I was laughing and having a great time. Let me pause right there and let me tell you how Gavin looks. He has green-bluish eyes, nice smile, tan, blond hair, and is 5 foot 9 inches, which is a whole foot taller than me, and yes I know I'm short, but I can't help genetics. Now back to the story.
"So Kiba called me and asked if I wanted to come to this party and at first I protested because who would take care of the dragons and Navarog was there listening and he told me that he would take care of the dragons while I went and had fun." He said laughing, "Navarog said that because all the dragons respect him now and won't cause any trouble for him, so I said ok and came here yesterday and rented this tux and came to the party and here we are."
"Cool." I said laughing, "So how old is Navarog now?"
"Uhmmm….. I think he is about 15 in our years, but 100 and something in dragon years." He said, taking a sip of my drink.
"Wow. Last time I was there he was only 8! He has definitely grown I bet." I said taking a sip of my drink.
"Yea. He has." He said.
There was a comfortable silence between us and he wrapped his arm around me and leaned into his shoulder and I think we stayed like that for at least a few minutes, before Shikamaru came storming out, his face all red.
I turned around real quick and said, "Is anything wrong Shikamaru?"
He caught his breath, before saying, "Yes. The Akastuki have been spotted not far from the village."
My face got stern, and I said, "Do you know if they are actually heading towards the village or just passing through?"
"It looks like they were just passing through, but then again they could turn around and attack us." Shikamaru said a worried look on his face.
"Ok. Just tell everyone to be on guard and I think it best if we end this party early, even though it sucks, but I don't want everyone distracted in case we do have an attack." I said looking at Gavin then back at Shikamaru, with a small smile and sad eyes.
"Yes ma'am." Shikamaru said, and going back inside.
I turned to Gavin and sighed and said, "I'm sorry this night has to end. Hopefully we can have another one like it soon."
"I know." Gavin said, kissing my forehead, "At least I got to spend a little bit of time with you."
I leaned into his kiss and hugged him, and then turned to go back into the room, but Gavin grabbed my arm, turned me toward him, and kissed me squarely on the lips! I was so shocked that I couldn't do anything but kiss him back. Everything just faded and it was only me and him. Finally after what seemed like forever, we broke away to catch our breath, both of us smiling and blushing wildly. We stood there just enjoying each others company, when Gavin asked, "Will you be mine?"
I stood there for a minute letting what he just asked sink in and without hesitation I said, "Yes. Now and Forever!" And hugged and kissed him again.
"Well I have to go home and get changed in case they do come this way." I said, pulling away from him.
"Ok. I'll walk you home." He said, wrapping his coat over my shoulders and we walked inside.
Gavin walked me home, both of us just walking in comfortable silence, when there was a huge explosion near the eastern gate. I gasped in shock and started running towards the gate, when Gavin grabbed my arm and turned me to face him.
"What are you doing?" I yelled at him.
"You need to get changed and gather your weapons! I'm not letting you go fighting defenseless!" he yelled back.
"I don't have time to get changed, but I guess we can go and get my weapons." I said, wrenching from his grip and running towards my house.
He just nodded and followed me. I ran inside, got my weapons, and ran back outside. Kiba and Akamaru were running up the road and I met them about halfway.
"What's going on?" I asked as soon as we got close enough to hear each other.
"I don't know. Some group is attacking the village, but its not the Akatski." He said.
"Well lets get a move on. We can talk on the way." I said, running past him.
He just nodded and followed.
"So what do they look like?" I asked, a million questions going through my mind.
"They are dressed in all black. They don't have a headband with a country's symbol on it and they have this weird smell about them, like they smell like rotting meat or something and their chakra is black, almost evil like, and is outrageous, but their chakra is not their own." He said, making a disgusted face.
"You mean like they got their chakra from someone else? Almost like they are absorbing it or something?" I said, confused.
"I guess." Kiba said shrugging.
We heard a loud boom from across the village. We continued onto the eastern gate, hoping that the other shinobi had it covered, when Kakashi met us and said, "They are backing off but they keep saying something about a girl with special powers."
"What? What girl with special powers? There are a lot of girls with powers in the village!" I said, bewildered.
"I don't know." He said shaking his head.
I sighed and shook my head. "We will figure this out later. Right now we need to tend to the injured and start building again."
They just nodded and went separate ways. I went to the gate and saw a humongous hole in the wall and houses and stores shredded like toothpicks and a few dead shinobi's and people hurt. I cried a little bit, but wiped the tears away and started helping where I could.
It was going on about 4 in the morning and the village was doing a lot better and I was dead on my feet, when Gavin came and put his hand on my shoulder and said softly, "Go and get some rest. We can continue later. You still have other duties to do."
I just nodded, too tired to speak, and looked around one last time then headed towards my house, with Gavin following.
Ch.3
I awoke to the smell of pancakes. Gavin had stayed the night and the rest of the girls had stayed somewhere else. I got up, got dressed, and headed downstairs. I went into the kitchen and Gavin was over the stove flipping a perfectly golden brown pancake. My mouth watered and I was smiling from ear to ear and I went and hugged him from behind.
"Well hello beautiful!" he said, smiling and turning around to kiss me real quick.
"Hi. Smells great!" I said, kissing him back and going to the fridge and fixed me a glass of orange juice.
He put the last pancake on a plate and handed it to me, smiling real big, and then sitting down with his own plate. We just sat and ate for awhile and then I just went back up to my room to change. I was changing into my jeans and only had my pink lace bra on, when Gavin came bursting in. I shrieked and tried to cover myself up, but the only thing I had around was my night shirt, so I grabbed it and put it over my chest.
"I am so sorry!" Gavin said, blushing wildly, and turning to face the door.
"It's a thing called knocking!" I said, huffing and putting on my dark pink shirt with black roses all over the front. "Ok. You can turn around now."
He turned around still blushing wildly and a grin on his face. "Nice rack." he said, laughing.
I huffed again and through my night shirt at him. He caught it and laughed even harder.
"So you came in here to tell me something. What is it?" I said, sitting on my bed, putting my tennis shoes on.
"I just came to tell you that the girls are home." He said, still blushing and grinning.
"And that couldn't have waited until I came downstairs?" I asked, walking towards him. My arms crossed over my chest.
"Well they said that they were going to pack their gear and head out." He said. He had stopped blushing, but was still grinning.
"What! Why?" I said, shocked.
"I don't know. It's what they told me." He said, shrugging.
I headed out of my bedroom and almost crashed into Hinata, who was dressed in her green shinobi vest.
"I'm sorry." I said, backing up to allow her to pass. "Why are you guys putting on your vests?"
"Because Iruka sent out a search party and they need fresh eyes." She said, putting her hair up.
"Search party for whom?" I said, my curiosity peaked.
"For Akira Ikeda. She went missing after the battle and we haven't found a body anywhere." She said, heading down the stairs.
"Who organized all of this?" I asked, kinda irritated that I wasn't contacted for this and following her down the stairs.
"Iruka. He said not to bother you because you were so exhausted from helping with repairs." She said, throwing her hair in a pony tail and heading towards the door.
"What? I'm the head of the village and I'm supposed to be notified about this stuff and organize it!" I said, shocked.
"Well it's what he said so you are going to have to talk to him about that." She said, opening the door and steeping out.
I just huffed and yelled up to Gavin, "Gavin! If you want to come with me then come on!" Grabbing my dark blue jacket off the back of the couch.
He came bolting down the stairs and kissed me on the cheek and opened the front door. We left the house with Gavin locking it and headed towards the Hokage tower. We went up to my office and saw Iruka sitting at the desk.
"Hi Ayuki!" Iruka said all cheerful and smiling and then he really looked at my face and his smile faded. "Ayuki what's the matter?"
"Oh I think you know what the matter is! How dare you organize something without my permission first or even just picking up the phone and calling me about this!?" I asked my voice rising and going and standing in front of my desk with my arms crossed.
Iruka looked scared then calm and said, "I didn't want you to be awakened because of how exhausted you were from last night. You need your rest just as much as anyone else in this village."
I just stood there tapping my foot and huffing, then I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down. When I calmed myself down I opened my eyes and looked Iruka in the eyes and asked, "So who have you sent out already?"
"I have sent out both of the Hiyuuga's, Kakashi's team, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, and Guy's team towards the eastern part of the forest and Kiba and Akamaru, Asuma, Kurenai, and Ino's dad towards the western woods." Iruka said.
"Ok. Nice choices but why not send one of the Hyuuga's in with the other parties?" I asked, still standing in front of my desk with Damon standing a little bit behind me and to my right.
"I don't know. I wasn't thinking about that I guess." Iruka said smirking a bit.
I just stood there thinking for a few minutes and then asked, "When are they scheduled back?"
"They are all scheduled to report back here at dusk." Iruka said, leaning forward and putting his hands together.
"Ok. Well I was thinking that me, Kakashi, Kiba and Akamaru, Shikamaru, and if he wants to Gavin can go, whenever they get back." I said going and sitting down on the couch with Gavin joining me and holding my hand.
Iruka just nodded his head. So we just sat and waited for them to come back. They came back around dusk and reported that they had found nothing, so my group left right away towards the northern part of the woods.
After we pasted the village wall we saw some blood drops on a tree and we assumed that it was Akira's. We walked about five miles and saw a dark figure leaning up against a tree. When we got there we saw that it was just a puppet and it had kunai all in it and was almost torn to shreds. The puppet looked like one of Kankuro's puppets. Then Damon pointed out a blood trail and we followed it until we ran into two more puppets. One was actually shredded into teeny tiny pieces and the other one was still twitching holding a kunai and lashed out.
Ch. 4
Out of nowhere a black figure blasted out of the bushes and hit the puppet up against the tree. It was Cotan. He is the leader of the Dark Shiners and the leader of the Kashhyks.
He yelled, "Don't leave your puppets lying around Kankuro or stuff like this will happen. Oh! Hey Ayuki! Sorry about this."
"Hey. It's ok. As long as no one was hurt." I said. "Has your group seen a girl with long black, curly hair, tan, brown eyes, wandering around lately?"
He said "Yea. We met a girl fitting that description about a day or so ago. Come to our little village. She's in the infirmary. She was badly hurt when Kankuro found her. He had to fight of some guys that had strange chakra. That's why you seen the puppets."
"Ok. Did the guys wear all black and smelled like rotting meat?" I said, sounding very concerned and worried.
"They were wearing all black, but I was too far away to smell anything." Kankuro said, coming to stand beside Cotan.
I just nodded and my group followed them to their village. The Dark Shiners got their name because of the dark shiny weapons they use. Their village is situated between the Leaf village and sand villages and they are just starting out, but they are a strong group so don't go thinking they are weak just because their small. We arrived at their village in just a few short minutes. It was about eight or nine at night when we arrived. Cotan showed us to the infirmary and lead us to Akira's bed. She was still asleep, so I left Kiba and Akamaru and Gavin with her and told them to come and get me when she wakes up, they nodded and the rest of us left the infirmary and headed towards Cotan's headquarters.
Cotan was sitting at his desk and Kankuro was to his left looking out the window. So I asked Kankuro after sitting on the little couch, "So why are you here and not in the Sand Village?"
He sighed, turned around, and didn't speak for a few minutes then said, "Things aren't going well in the Sand Village. People are starting to doubt making Gaara Hokage and we are getting threats from smaller villages and even the senior ninjas are getting antsy. So I came here asking for Cotan's help."
I was a little shocked at the people at thinking this after what he has done with putting his own life at risk time and time again. "So after all that he has done, even sacrificing himself and getting captured and almost dying they still are unsure of him being Kazakage?"
Kankuro just shook his head. I was furious and started pacing. I had paced for a few minutes when Gavin came bursting in. He took a few deep breaths and looked at me then said, "She's awake." I just nodded and we followed him to where Akira was laying.
She opened her eyes and looked straight at me. I could see it in her eyes that she needed to talk but not with everyone here. "Will everyone please clear out? Akira wants to talk to me alone." I said, a little sternly.
Everyone looked a little confused but did as I said. Gavin gave me a hug a kiss on the cheek which I cherished and left.
I went and sat on the bed and as soon as I did Akira pretty much tackled me saying with tears in her eyes, "Oh Ayuki! It was horrible!" I just hugged her back and said, "It's ok. Your safe now."
I just sat there hugging her for what seemed like forever until she stopped crying. Then she sat back and wiped the tears from her eyes. She stayed silent not looking at me for awhile. I reached for her hand and asked, "What happened?"
She squeezed my hand and said in a low voice, "They aren't human. I don't know if they were humans and now someone has brought them back to life or what but they certainly didn't seem to have anything about them that was human. They had no eyes they were completely made of bone and their chakra was black well im guessing what was there chakra. One time we stopped and they tied me up with their chakra which seemed to burn my skin and they just stood around as if waiting on a command or something. While they waited one of them who looked more human than the rest came over and started touching me in bad spots and before he could do anything else that's when Kankuro came and fought them off. I stayed awake long enough to get his name but their fumes had gotten to me and I passed out then I woke up here." She had squeezed my hand so hard that it was falling asleep but I didn't dare yank it away. I then stood up still holding her hand and hugged her again and said, "We'll get them! I promise we will!"