Chapter Two: Pasts
Nightflower glanced at Naruto as she ate her soup in silence. Yue coughed, interrupting the silence. "Mother, have you decided where everyone is going to stay?" she asked Aarayan.
"Oh, that's what I forgot," Aarayan said with a laugh. "There aren't many rooms we can spare. I can give four of you two rooms, but one will have to stay with Nightflower." Nightflower began choking on her food.
"I never agreed with that!" Nightflower said, coughing slightly as she downed the soup she just about choked on.
"Naruto could stay with Nightflower," Sakura decided, glancing at the others. They agreed easily.
"Sakura and Lee, you can have one room and Tenten and I can have the other," Neji decided.
"Great!" Tenten agreed. Nightflower snorted.
"Oh, we have been looking for someone," Naruto said, pulling a picture out.
"Who is it you're looking for?" Aarayan asked.
"We'll tell you the story behind it," Neji sighed. "Basically, it was eleven years ago. We had a child from the Leaf Village stolen and we were told that the ninja who took the child might be from the Mist Village."
"Our village?" Nightflower questioned with a frown.
"Well, I'll ask around," Aarayan said after a moment, getting up to clean the table. Nightflower went to do so. "Nightflower, show them the spare rooms and show Naruto to your room."
Nightflower grumbled, but told them to follow her all the same. "Sakura, Lee, this will be your room," she said opening a door. "Neji, Tenten, the bedroom right across the hall one door up is the room. Naruto, I'll show you to my room." Nightflower said nothing to Naruto after that, almost trying to put him out of her mind as she grabbed hold of her bedroom door.
"Who was it... that lost their child?" she whispered, finally glancing at the blonde haired ninja.
"He's my Sensei. We have no idea how he had a child, but he did for three years," Naruto said, looking away from Nightflower. "You do look a lot like him," he said after a moment.
"I'm not related to any sort of ninja!" she growled, opening her door and walking in. "You can sleep there. I'll get a Sleeping Mat for you later." Naruto looked around the room, an amused expression on his face when he saw something on her dresser. He picked up the locket to examine it, but Nightflower snatched it back before he could.
"Is that a locket from your father?"
"It doesn't matter," Nightflower said, her voice shaking. "Get out!" Naruto did so, glancing at her as he left. Nightflower sat down on the ground, tears falling out of her eyes and onto her face, but she didn't wipe them away. She didn't know how long she sat there. Soon after, Nightflower tried to open the locket, but it wouldn't budge, just like before.
She got a knock on her door. "Yes?" she asked, already wiping at her face.
"It's me again. Neji said I need to go to bed. It's getting late." It was dark out already.
"That's fine. I'll get your bed." Nightflower got up and left the room, ducking her head as she passed the blonde ninja. Nightflower put the bed down and gave Naruto some blankets before crawling into her own hammock, staring up at the ceiling as Naruto got settled in. He soon was snoring, letting Nightflower finally let out her feelings, crying as she tucked into herself, holding the locket in hand.
Naruto listened as the girl cried, wanting to tell her it would be all right, but she would just push him away. He knew it. So all he did was lay there, pretending to sleep while she cried. He waited until she calmed down and went to sleep, which took a long time, before he got up to use the bathroom again. Aarayan walked out a moment later, looking over at Naruto who waved tiredly. "Hey, have you noticed how upset Nightflower is when she's trying to sleep?" he asked.
"Is she crying?" Aarayan asked softly, Naruto nodding.
"Yeah, she is."
"Nightflower always has cried when she was falling asleep. It's the time when she goes over what happened in her life in her old village." Aarayan sighed. "She doesn't enjoy telling people how she feels. Nightflower keeps everything to herself."
"Well, I can promise you I'll fix that!" Naruto proclaimed, a goofy grin on his face.
Aarayan only sighed. "I should tell you... that photo you showed me... it looks much like Nightflower when she was younger."
"Do you think-"
"It might be," she admitted. "I should probably tell you the last of the story of Nightflower. Would you like some tea?"
"Sure," Naruto agreed, following Aarayan. She got the water ready while Naruto settled down in a seat.
"The story... you've heard of the legend of a child born to a family without a mother, right?" Aarayan wondered after a moment.
"No, I haven't," he said, looking at her. "What is the legend?"
"There was a child born into one of the Five Great Village. The man would not explain who the mother had been. She had apparently betrayed her true lover for someone else. The child was a girl and... a prophetess told of a legend. The child would bring destruction to all Five Great Villages. Those men... They wanted to rape Nightflower to death so she could not do such a thing. It was told that Nightflower's father had no wife and would not explain who the mother was. I don't even know who the father is. Nighflower doesn't remember him; only from a picture can she tell who it is."
"Can you get me the picture?" Naruto asked.
"No, it's in her room and I don't know where it is. She usually keeps it close to the locket she has."
"Well, there was a Sensei from my village, he had a child. I faintly remember who it was, but nothing more. It's too blurry. I was like five when I saw her. And yes, Nightflower does look like him," Naruto added as he saw the question on Aarayan's face.
Aarayan suddenly stood up, taking Naruto's empty cup with her. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. We have an early start so you'll want to get to bed." With a nod, he stood up and left to fall asleep on the floor matt as soon as he touched the ground.
~Author's Note~
Grr... I hate my parent's laptop! Now I have to work from a really crappy computer with a stupid document that won't check spelling! Good thing Mozilla checks online. ^^ I hope you enjoyed! REVIEW!
P.S. Leave a list of songs to dance to please! XxXMorganXxXLEAHXxX needs it really bad and she isn't getting it from her readers! Some people have been kind enough to me to send a list, but we need more music!
Thanks for reading!
Manami Kurururgi
