I do not own "Naruto" nor "Oban star racers"

Normal

-Talk

-SHOUTING/EXCLAIMING

-Thoughts

-Beast/Screaming

Chapter 2

Naru woke up to a clear sky and the sounds of chirping birds the next day. She was feeling somewhat "groggy" after her forced sleep, but as the minutes passed by her memories of what had happened the day before came back to her.

Naru started to become depressed again as she thought about her loved ones back home and worried about what would happen to them now. Wondering if they were ok, or if they had been hurt by the shockwaves from her and Sasuke's fight before they had been transported to Oban.

As Naru was deep in her thoughts she didn't notice that Sasuke came into the room.

-Finally up I see.

Naru jumped in place as she suddenly heard him behind her.

-What the hell Sasuke! You scared me!

-Well I'm sorry but you were taking your sweet time there. And I even brought you breakfast.

When he had finished his comment she looked down and saw him carrying a tray with some food on it. Naru immediately jumped up and almost tackled her companion to the ground. (He was carrying five bowls of something that looked an awful lot like ramen.)

-Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!

She was almost crying in happiness as she hugged him tightly before he had enough and just shoved the tray in her hands so that she would leave him alone. (But somewhere in the back of his mind he was smiling like a loon and feeling like he had accomplished a great deal. After all he did have a pretty big crush on her since they were small. He just didn't know how to either handle or express it.)

As Naru went to sit down and eat her food she noticed that Sasuke was just standing there with a frown looking out into space. She, of course, being her became curious of what was going through his head at the moment as she could almost see the corner of his lips quirk up in a tiny smile. Naru tried to open her connection with him but was interrupted by Satis appearing out of nowhere.

-EEEEEP!

Naru exclaimed in shock at suddenly seeing him there in front of her. Sasuke being deep in thought and not at all prepared for the sudden exclamation jumped in place and turned to Naru to see what was wrong. Looking at her he noticed her starring and pointing at something next to him so he turned his head to where she was pointing and jumped again seeing Satis.

-WHAT THE HELL!

It was his turn to scream in shock.

-Now, now. Is that any way to greet someone? I just heard that young Naru had woken up and wanted to see how she was doing.

Nobody answered him.

-Hmmm? What's wrong with you two?

He looked at them in confusion as they continued to stay quiet while looking at him.

-Aaah, I get it. You haven't noticed the portals yet, have you?

He answered his own question while he did the "aha!" gesture (fist on palm).

At his comment they both turned towards a glowing circle of light that had appeared on the wall where there used to be a circular stone with some kind of strange symbol above it. The symbol looked like some kind of crossbreed between a hawk and a fox.

As always, Naru was the one to run straight towards the glowing circle to have a look (Sasuke and Satis sweat dropping at this). She started off with touching it and her hand just passed through the circle. Since nothing bad seemed to happen she decided to have a peak at what was on the other side of the strange portal.

Just as she was about to put her head through the portal her stomach decided to make itself reminded that she hadn't eaten yet. Turning around towards her fellow occupants she chuckled a bit shyly while scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment.

Sasuke just sighed while gesturing towards the tray of food that she had left on a table in the room earlier. Naru immediately ran towards it and started eating her noodle concoction. Satis being completely new to seeing Naru inhale ramen like it was air just stood there gaping in shock at her as she had eaten all five bowls in a matter of seconds.

When she was done she put down the last bowl in a neat stack that she had built of the empty bowls. With a newly satisfied stomach she returned to the portal and decided to grab Sasuke on the way over. When they reached the portal she just went straight thru it while dragging Sasuke with her. On the other side however she stopped dead in her tracks and just stared at her surroundings. They had come to some kind of temple-like stone structure in the middle of a beautiful forest (inside the forest level of the floating thingy where the pilots had their meetings between every race in the finals).

Getting exited again she let go of Sasuke and ran out of the building and into the forest so that she could explore. Sasuke just sighed before he decided to follow her so that she didn't do anything stupid. When he came outside of the stone-structure he absentmindedly started to flap his wings to fly before he realized that he hadn't really taken any time to take in all of their changes yet. Deciding that it might be a good idea to remind Naru of that he called out to her.

-Hey Naru. Can we find somewhere we can have a look at these changes before you run of exploring everything in this place? Maybe a pond or a lake of some sort?

Stopping and turning towards him she finally took in how much he actually had changed. Deciding that he had a point she started sniffing the air. Finding the smell that she was looking for she started to make her way towards it, Sasuke flying not far behind her.

(Break line)

Reaching a small lake with some form of pillars in it (the lake where they could see who was in the lead with the most points during the finals) Naru and Sasuke approached the shoreline and could finally take in the complete picture of their changes that they had absently noted during their fight before coming here.

Sasuke was somewhat shocked but also expecting the strange appearance he had gained. Naru on the other hand was almost devastated at her changes as they represented something that she had hoped wouldn't become of her. She had become the new juubi.

Noticing that it had become strangely silent Sasuke turned towards Naru when he started hearing her shaking. Seeing her terrified expression he quickly understood the problem and went to comfort his fellow companion in this strange world.

-Hey, hey. Shhh. It's okay. It's okay, you're just fine. Nothing's going to happen. It's all going to be fine Naru. It's all going to be fine.

He continued hushing her and telling her that it was going to be okay while hugging her close as she started crying into his shoulder.

While all of this was going on Satis watched them from over by the tree line with a sad expression on his face. He had looked into their memories when they had first arrived and he could therefore understand what was happening to them. He had hoped that they would have been more "open" to their new changes, but as it seemed the female was having a hard time accepting her new status after what she had been through. He probably would have reacted the same way if he had been in her shoes at that age.

Sighing, Satis turned around to leave so that he could give the two some privacy. As he was turning around thou, he suddenly felt Canaletto's powers shifting in something almost resembling a kind of happy glee in the base of the floating structure and froze in place. In his peripheral he saw the two teens stiffen as well at the malicious power shifting.

-What was that?

He heard the female, Naru, ask in a low voice.

-That, my child, I am afraid is something that no one would like to really find out. It was Canaletto that you just felt. He seems to have found something interesting with your suffering I'm afraid.

Not really understanding it all but also getting a bad feeling Sasuke decided to ask.

-Who is Canaletto?

Satis went to the small lake and touched his staff to the surface. As he did this images started to appear in the water as he explained to the two youngsters.

-Canaletto or also known as "The Timeless One" was the Avatar before the current one who took over the position almost 10,000 years ago. In the beginning Canaletto had been a good ruler who cared for life. That was before he went mad. No one really knows what drove him to it but he became full of his lust for power and started thinking that life as a whole was a mistake, a weakness. He decided to go on a crusade throughout the different galaxies to eradicate all life. When his rule had ended he refused to abdicate and tried to escape. The creators were forced to act and imprisoned Canaletto, robbing him of his powers. The creators then appointed the new Avatar to watch over their creation and keep the balance of the worlds. All thou, lately he seems to have become stronger once more. I'm afraid that it might be best to look for a new avatar soon to be able to hold him back once more as the current one is starting to grow weak.

As Naru and Sasuke listened to the story and watched it play out in the water they noticed something that didn't make sense. How did Satis know all of this in such great detail? And how come the race actually seemed to coincide with the timing to choose the new Avatar?

-You are both smarter than I would have hoped. Yes, the race is linked to the choosing of the new Avatar.

Sasuke turned to Naru and looked into her eyes. As he looked he saw that spark of life and meaning come back and start a small fire inside of her once more. It was nowhere close to what it had been before, but it was there. Turning back to Satis he asked him.

-If there is a chance that we could help with anything by participating in this race, how do we sign up? And is there anything that we can do now?

Not expecting this, Satis just stood there staring at the two teenagers as the determination shined in their eyes. Finally he just smiled and said.

-You just had to ask.

And he gestured for them to follow him.

TBC