Important info:
This story is set in a semi-fantasy world of my creation. Because of this, the Byakugan and Sharingan are altered to fit with the story.
The Byakugan can see through lies and things invisible to normal eyes. It can be used in bargaining, or in special cases, rays of light that are otherwise unseen.
The Sharingan can activate to allow the user to breath flames. It can also give the user a photogenic memory, so things can be quickly remembered and copied.
"To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and call whatever you hit the target"
"My performance was flawless? That is an understatement" the brown-haired boy dismissively replied.
"EHH??" the wide-eyed blonde pointed, "who is that??"
"The new member of our circus." The attractive boy replied simply.
"Ohayo!" the viridian-eyed girl called out, entering the main tent. Trailing behind her were three cats on leashes.
"Hey forehead-girl!"
The pinkette was about to retort back with an equally offending nickname, until she noticed the newcomer.
"Ah...the circus hasn't opened yet." She politely informed him; her voice completely reverted from its brash loudness to a quiet lure. The new member was startled by her one-eighty turn in attitude.
"Thanks, however, I'm here to train…"he replied smoothly, "as the new troupe performer."
Silence crept into the tent. The wind flew. Tumbleweed bounced past them.
It was so awkwardly silent that nobody noticed their lethargic member slip into the tent; his eyes half closed.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on the way you see it, an obliviously loud voice obliterated the quiet atmosphere.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO..."The boy started, then realised that there was an unfamiliar face."EH?? What are you doing here?"
He pointed at the 'incriminating intruder'.
"Ahem. New member, meet out 'Leader'." The stoic boy introduced calmly, eyes averted to the side for shame of his 'leader'.
"WELL, YES! I am THE LEADER! Welcome to our wondrous, friendly, close-knit troupe. We're like a family! " he cried out with gusto. "So how should you call you, 'bro'?"
Everyone in the room twitched, as they distanced themselves away from each other awkwardly; the perfect picture of the perfect happy , the new 'family member' smoothly replied:
"You may call me Hoshi, and I specialize in weapon throwing. And what shall I deem you?
Oh, I know!" he cheekily countered, "The annoying little brother I never had."
~*-*~
The blue-eyed boy's eyes brimmed with tears of happiness, completely oblivious to the mockery just paid to him.
"I've always wanted a brother!" he sniffed, wiping away glistening tears. The moment was shattered as he suddenly reverted back to his loud self.
"OKAY!" the boy recovered quickly, "Let's have a stage name roll check!"
"FIREBREATHER!"
'Hn..."
"CAT-WOMAN!"
"I protest! I hate that name!! It sounds like I belong to some mutated females species!"
"MIND—
"Here"
"—Reader..." He sweat-dropped, then resumed his Voice of Authority.
"TRAPEZE ARTIST!"
"Hai! Present and beauuuutiful!"
"AND LASTLY, our new member, the WEAPONS MASTER!"
"Here."
"ALL PRESENT!!"And with that, he closed his non-existent role book.
~*-*~
Hinata smiled a devious yet innocent smile. She had predicted that her cousin would leave her behind, knowing that she always woke up late.
That was the reason why at midnight the night before, she had crept into the stables. There, she had applied a special tracking lotion she made onto the lenient mare's hooves. Neji's ebony horse, named Shadow, had silently looked Hinata in the eyes, and then allowed her to lift up her hooves to apply the creamy lotion.
Hinata had created this lotion as part of her family business studies, where she had to invent a new item that would be useful in the market.
The lotion did not have a smell, and quickly turns invisible when it is applied. Only Hyuga's could use this invention as the Byakugan was needed to locate the tracks invisible to the naked eye.
The marks could only be spotted by Hinata, because she hadn't yet introduced this lotion to the Hyuga clan yet. She had thought that it was an insignificant invention and was afraid that her father would criticize it.
She kept it in her drawers, and was glad that she found a reason to actually put the lotion to use.
Marks would appear wherever the lotion touched, in this case the hooves. They could only be seen with the Byakugan because only these types of eyes are able to receive and interpret the 'invisible' rays.
These rays would be something like ultraviolet or infrared rays on the electromagnetic spectrum scale, thus, wouldn't be visible light to normal eyes.
Hinata left a letter on her desk, explaining that she had gone after Neji and will return in 18 days.
Walking into the stables, she smiled at a white stallion. This was her horse called Hikari, or Light, who was strong yet shy. She stroked his mane and fed him a carrot before leading him out.
Brushing his gleaming unblemished coat, she murmured to him, informing him of her plans. She swung herself onto Hikari, and activated her Byakugan.
She saw slightly glowing hoof-prints heading south, and followed them on her loyal stallion.
~*-*~
Neji rode swiftly and silently, admiring the scenic views that passed by. The day was nearly ending, so he knew a village was near. There was no need to guide the horse, for he himself didn't know where he was heading.
"Travel to another village where your steed will take you on her free will..."
That was what the Oracle had said. So that was what he did.
He had ridden past a vast plain, yet had seen no village. Through a forest, over steep hills and finally, his mare had found a cobbled path.
A yellow cobbled path.
At first, it stretched on from both ways, seemingly never-ending. So he let his horse gallop wherever she wished.
As the sun was starting to set, Neji could start to see the silhouettes of a village. However, as he neared the village, it became foggier.
The road stopped and he met an obstruction.
A wall.
Neji proceeded along, whilst glaring at the wall, and approached a guard. He explained that he would be visiting the village for a brief time, around 16 days (AN: the other 2 days were for travelling).
The guard nodded, and promptly allowed him to pass.
A bustling village greeted him, and he nearly ran down many villagers who were rushing about. Neji reluctantly got off his steed and decided to look for visitor information.
However, the busyness of the village made it impossible for him to do so efficiently. This was proved by his current walking pace, which had not yet exceeded 1km/h.
It was rather pitiful, really.
Thus, he decided to change his plan of action to asking for directions from a local. Being Neji, he thought that it best to assess the villagers to find the optimum person to ask, as he did not want to deflate his ego any further.
Asking a complete stranger for help was shameful enough. There was no need to pour more salt on the wound.
After analysing the passing villagers, he decided to approach a friendly looking girl around his age.
It was her sensible hairstyle of two buns that attracted his attention. It also showed that she was a practical person, this fact accentuated by the lack of any trace of makeup, and her modest, tomboy clothing.
And she was least likely to turn into a fangirl.
Neji shivered at the thought of those nearly inhuman...wait, scratch that, horrifically inhuman pests. And that was only putting it nicely.
He strode purposefully over to her, leading Shadow by a rope. Being ever the social person, he introduced himself eloquently with a grunt.
She turned around to face him, a smile on her face when she realised that he was a visitor.
"Hello, it seems like you're new here...so that means you're lost?" the brunette smiled at him with fake innocence.
Neji twitched. Darn. And the whole point of asking this girl was to avoid deflating his ego any further.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am new to this village." He sniffed. "Where may I find visitor information?"
The girl seemed to notice the significance of his sniff and pompous tone.
"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you!" she explained herself, scratching the back of her head sheepishly,
"It's just that I assumed that you were lost because visitors generally get lost in this busy village...
"And, uh, I guess I should say something along the lines of 'Welcome to the Mist Village! I hope you enjoy your stay!' But that's just lame! So instead, I'll just take you directly to the information centre."
Neji closed his eyes, breathed in slowly, reopened his white orbs, and replied calmly.
"Hn. " He replied vaguely.
"So, what do I call you?" she asked politely.
"Neji. Hyuuga Neji."
Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second, however, her lips curled into a knowing smile. "Oh. A Huuga. No wonder you're such a pompous, inarticulate, tight-lipped, unfeeling..."
Her smile grew as she watched him fuming from the corner of her eye. "Stoic, arrogant, stick-up-your-arse…"
"That last comment was uncalled for, not to mention, crude." he growled, his previously calm eyes flaming.
"Now aren't you ever the articulate one?" the girl replied, chuckling, completely unaffected by his sharp glare.
Neji could not believe a stranger could so easily ruffle his feathers, metaphorically, of course.
"Truce?" she offered, looking uncharacteristically grave. After calming down, he held out his hand as a peace offering, and they shook on it.
"Lead the way" he smirked down at her. She harrumphed and skipped ahead, and he followed.
They made brief and somewhat mundane conversation on the way to the info centre. Neji informed the girl of why he was here, and she replied, supplying him with the recent news in the village.
"Oh! And just yesterday, the much anticipated 'mystic circus troupe' arrived!" she announced ecstatically, slightly jumping on the balls of her feet.
Neji raised an eyebrow. This was interesting.
"Find a circus..." the Oracle had told him.
"Oh! We're here." She suddenly cried out, and pointed to a flashy building, with a big sign reading: WELCOME TO THE MIST VILLAGE We hope you enjoy your stay!
Neji visibly twitched. Those words seemed awfully familiar, and indeed, lame.
"Well, here you are. If you need any more help, just ask the reception for a girl called Tenten. They all know who I am." she called out to him as she hopped away, waving her hand nonchalantly.
Neji raised a hand as a sign of acknowledgement, finally took his eyes off the interesting tomboy, and strolled into the building.
~*-*~
"Well, then...ah...welcome to the troupe, Hoshi-kun!" the pink haired girl cried out.
"Let me introduce you to everyone.
"This is Ino, whom I called Ino pig—"
"Hey! Watch it Forehead!" the offended girl retorted.
"This is Naruto, the self appointed leader of our circus—"
"YEAH! THAT'S ME!"
"He's Shikamaru, who is supposed to have an IQ over 200…"
The 'genius' greeted him with a soft snore.
"Uh…well, this is Sasuke-kun, who will be my future husband!" Sakura ended with a blush and giggle combination.
"Hn. No I won't—" Sasuke corrected, but was interrupted by a red-faced Ino.
"No! He won't be!" She interjected.
Sasuke was about to silently agree with her until Ino carried on.
"He's going to be MY husband!"
Sasuke walked off feeling violated; slightly spasmodically shaking and twitching.
~*-*~
"Hey, where is Sasuke? And Hoshi?" Sakura asked, looking around wildly.
"They left." Shikamaru yawned, stretched out on the floor.
"Oh…I'm sure they were here a minute ago!" she looked bewildered.
"Nah, both left when you and Ino had another argument…
"Hoshi had already slipped away, quickly collecting his kunai that were embedded in the walls when the argument had become extremely heated."with that, the lazy genius plopped back down to sleep.
"Oh…" the rosette was clearly embarrassed.
"He told me that he would be here in the Main tent for tonight's performance." Shikamaru suddenly woke back up again to tell the troupe.
"WHAT? So He's gonna do an impromptu?" Naruto cried out, flustered by not having the chance to plan out Hoshi's act.
"Yeah, he said he's got it sorted. He'll come an hour before the show."
"NO NO NO! I must see his act! I don't even know how long it lasts!!"Naruto cried out in hysteria, violently stabbing at his yet-to-be-used planner.
His only reply from Shikamaru were a few lazy Zzz's drifting about.
~*-*~
The group was to disperse to individually practice, until they rejoin in the Main Tent for the last mock rehearsal, right before the night's performance.
With Sakura in an outside training ground…
"There's one more hour till dress rehearsal…" Sakura said to her cats, petting them with a large smile one her face.
"And at 6 tonight I will be able to whisk away Sasuke-kun's heart with my wonderful performance!" she carried on daydreaming with hearts in her eyes.
The cats stared blankly at her.
~*-*~
Meanwhile with Ino and Sasuke in the main tent…
"Sasuke-kun! What do you think of my performance? Do you like how I incorporated flowers in my act? What about my hair? Do you like how it's done up so that it can sway when I jump and balance on the trapeze…"
Ino rambled on without stop, and she failed to notice that Sasuke was silently creeping out of the tent.
The Uchiha shivered. What was it with the female circus members? Correction. What was it with the whole female population?
Although he quietly admitted to himself, his two co-workers were certainly the worst out of all the females he had met.
Oh, how wrong was he.
Because they were always on the move, he had not stayed in one place long enough for a fan base to fully develop. This meant that although he knew that the female population wanted him, he did not know of the dangers of revisiting the same village.
How was that dangerous, you may ask? Sasuke did not know that since the circus had last performed in the village of mist, a fan base had formed, and now, matured.
Poor boy. He was oblivious to it all.
~*-*~
Meanwhile with Shikamaru on a grassy paddock…
'Now that I have finished designing my "mind reading" plan based on logical strategies, I can finally relax…" the genius lay down underneath a tree with his hands behind his head.
'Ah…today's a good day… white, fluffy cumulus clouds…and hey…there are wispy cirrus clouds too…' Shikaramu gazed up at the clouds.
'…and they remind me of Ino's hair…' He frowned.
Suddenly he didn't seem that fond of cirrus clouds anymore.
~*-*~
Meanwhile with Naruto in the forest near their tents…
"Ladies and gentlemen! It is my pleashure to present to you...The Mystic Circus Troupe!" Naruto frowned. He pronounced a word wrong. And now it sounded like he had tongue problems.
Ladies and gentlemen! It is my pleasssure to present to you...The Mystic Circus Troupe!" Now it seemed like he was accentuating his the 's' too much. Overkill…
"Ladies and gentlemen! It is my pleasure to resent to you...The Mystic Circus Troupe!" Oh dear. One word problem solved and another arrives. It sounded like he had an anger management problem
'resent…psh…' he thought bitterly. He never had this much trouble with his lines before.
"Ladies and gentlemen! It is my pleasure to present to you...The Mystic Circus Troupe!"
"YES I DID IT!!!" he cried out ecstatically, pumping his hand in the air. He then proceeded with his Naruto Victory Dance TM. Naruto decided to try one more time, just to see if he could move on to the next line.
""Ladies and gentlemen! It is my pleashure to present to you...The Mystic Circus Troupe!"
"AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" Naruto cried out in dismay.
Back to square one. But we're dealing with Naruto who has too much perseverance for his own good sometimes.
"BELIEVE IT! I WILL DO THIS!!!"
For the next 20 minutes, determined echoes of a certain line resonated throughout the forest.
My external exams are coming up ''
Wish me luck~!