A/N: I don't own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden… Duh~ This chapter is shorter than the first one, although maybe it should have been the other way around. I'm sorry but I actually forced myself to write the prologue so long. So here is the first chapter of the first part of my story! Hope you like it :D
Part 1: The Thorny Path of Becoming a Ninja
Chapter 1: Place to Stay Issues!
"The catch is… in the time that the prophecy takes to be fulfilled." Explained the Hokage. "Now you have 1826 days not a day more and not one less. There's only one use of the time given to you – preparation. You can't face S-ranked criminals without being prepared for it."
My eyes grew wider with each word of his as my mind raced putting the pieces together. We had about 5 years. That was a lot of time and I didn't know how Will would take it. Another thing that bothered me was that the old man said there were 10 of us. I was afraid that my friends might have gotten here, too. Killing S-ranked criminals almost made me insane, because after watching the show I knew they were hard to deal with. Preparing for the encounter was another thing – at least we had enough time at our hands. Or so I thought…
"Uhm, what do you mean by 'preparing'?" asked Will unsure of the whole situation. "I mean, can't we just go there – wherever that is – and kill them? What's so complicated?"
"I'll tell you later, Will! But first to clear things up, Hokage-sama, I have a few questions." I decided to take things seriously and business-like.
"Do tell, young lady, do tell." Said the old leader. He seemed relaxed, now that we finally stopped panicking.
"Ok, Hokage-sama, I was firstly wondering if you have that prophecy thing somewhere written?" the pieces of the puzzle were still scattered in my head but the picture was getting clearer.
"I'm afraid that is impossible, because it was lost centuries ago. But there is a story, it tells that the saviors of our world will come some day from another world. They would get rid of the evil inn our world." Answered the old man as he seemed to try to remember more.
"Thank you, I get it, you don't have to tell us more." Will stared at me as I said this. "Another thing I want to know is about this 'preparation' we have to go through. Can you give some instructions."
"It's all up to you, dear. You can do whatever you think is necessary." The Hokage said blowing out a cloud of smoke from his ever present pipe.
"And… will we have a place to stay, while we're here?" almost snapped Will.
"Of course, though I'm not sure it will be that easy to arrange." Stated the old man calmly. "I asked around and one of the young ninjas at the academy said she had something in mind. Izumo, the little lady is waiting outside, tell her to come in."
Izumo went outside for a second and then came in again followed by a 12-years-old girl with pink hair that reached her waist and green eyes. She smiled at me and then her green eyes wandered to Will. I nearly hissed... Will was MINE! Mine, you hear me! After a second, though, I was able to regain my composure.
"Hello, I'm Haruno Sakura!" the pinkete bowed to us and smiled. "There's a small apartment just next door to ours, that's the only empty place I know. It's furnished, though, which is a great thing considering that you may not have money right now for shopping."
"Haruno-san, please be more polite to our guests. These are Gabriella-san and her friend William-san." Snapped the old man, then he turned to us with a smile on his face. "What do you think about the offer?"
"It's great! Thank you very much, Lord Hokage-sama." Smiled Will, seemingly relieved that this problem was solved.
"Sakura-san will show us to the place, right?" I asked. I was afraid of wandering the streets of Konoha for now. Seriously, although I have watched the episodes countless of times, there was never a map of Konoha there.
"Yes, I would be happy to do that." Sakura smiled again. "I'll be very happy to have you two as neighbors."
"Thank you, Sakura-san." Said Will and the girl squeaked. "Thank you, Hokage-sama. We'll be going now."
When did Will get so decisive? I was the one who knew this world, and he was acting as if he had been living here for his whole life. He even used titles after the names of the people. I envied him. Damn it – a fast learner! Actually, I was happy about this, now I didn't have to waste my time explaining everything to him. Will was going to get it eventually. I sighed relieved – one thing less to do. Our lives were going to be one hell of busy!
Sakura led us out of the office, back in the round the hallway, down the damned stairs and out the door. The sky was darkening over us. I hadn't realized that it had become evening. Will seemed surprised by it, too. At least I was happy that we were getting a place to stay.
After crossing a few streets, going into a couple of shops, so that the pink haired girl could run her errands, and getting a few odd stares from people, we finally reached Sakura's home. We went up another couple of steps and faced a plain bluish-gray door.
"This is it. Hope you like it." The young girl fished out a key from her pocket and opened the door.
Back then, in the Hokage's office, when she said the apartment is small, I didn't imagine it like this! It had a narrow corridor which led to a kitchen, which couldn't be described as big or small – just decent. It had a long and narrow sink, like in the old houses; a fridge; a cooker and a small table for maximum 3 people. The kitchen had a big window [not cleaned for centuries] with a view to a courtyard. From the kitchen a sliding door led to the only bedroom. The bedroom had a double bed [oh hell] with two nightstands on each side. There was also a wardrobe and a desk. The bedroom had [oh joy] a small balcony with – again – a view to the courtyard. The bathroom was attached to the bedroom and maybe because of greedy people [an image of Kakuzu flashed through my mind] contained only a toilet, a sink, a mirror [large enough, though] and a shower. No bath tub, no anything more.
It was just a plain apartment, obviously enough for two people. Two people who were a couple. Not for me and Will. I should voice out that we are NOT a couple – although I admire him and had fallen in love with him since last Christmas; he seemed interested in me, too. But again we never told each other these feeling and we were NOT a couple. All of the people at school considered it the other way around. Well, damn them.
My current problem were the sleep arrangements. Surely, I wouldn't dare to sleep in one bed with Will. It would be too embarrassing.
"Fate, one day I will confront you in a mortal battle [although the Fate is not mortal] and that day will be your end." I whispered softly with my back to Will and Sakura. Then I raised my voice an octave higher. "That will be my revenge for putting me into this goddamn mess!"
Sakura turned to me surprised and yelped. Will was probably used to this already – he shrugged it off.
"Thank you very much, Sakura-san." Mood-swings much, I know. It's normal for girls. "It seems like a nice apartment, although a little dusty, and we appreciate your help."
The girl bowed at us, excused herself and skipped out of the door.
"We should get this place cleaned up." Suggested Will.
"Do I get a say in this?"
He shook his head 'no'. There go all my hopes for a good vacation in Konoha.
~4 Hours Later Cleaning~
The hallway was clean. The kitchen, too. The bedroom and bathroom as good as new. I was tired. I had cleaned every visible place of this apartment, with a little help from Will, of course. There were no more spider webs hanging from the ceiling, the wooden floor was almost glistening from all the soap and water, no more dust covered everything, the bed had new sheets that I got from Sakura's mother, who even gave us cookies… Now I was only dirty being in this house! I was sweating like a pig~
I was gasping for breath as I had officially sneezed a dozen of times. And Will? He still had the strength to go in the bedroom and start practicing another concert on his violin. How did he have that strength after cleaning the whole house, you ask? Easy, I did almost all of the work. I glared evilly at the almost closed door of the bedroom and God, if I had Itachi's eyes, I swear I would've have already burned a hole through it.
I stood up, my legs almost giving up under me, and walked up to the bedroom. I slid the door open and walked in. Will immediately stopped playing and shot me a smile. Damn him, always doing that!
"I will sleep on the bed." I announced.
"No, I will sleep on it." Will smirked at me.
"That's fine by me, I wasn't intending to do it anyway."
"Okay, so I won't either."
I was frustrated. Was the life with him going to be like this?
That night after taking a shower, we slept on the kitchen chairs, resting heads on the table.
Life officially sucks for me…
Okay.. so, I hope you like and you review, add to favorites, alerts… I would be very happy if you do so. And if you don't I will send Madara in the darkest hour of the night to torture you! Mwahahahahaha! [no offense!]
