Well the lack of reviews was a bit down heartening… But then I realized that you probably said whatever you wanted to say and had nothing to say for the second chapter besides how much they liked it.
JUDGMENT DAY! THIS IS LAST CHAPTER FOR EXPERIMENTAL RUN! WHAT YOU SAY FOR THIS CHAPTER DECIDES WHETHER IT IS THIS ONE, OR MY ORIGINAL! I WANT YOUR FULLEST TO HONEST OPINIONS! LET IT ALL OUT!
Thank you.
"No… Not this again…" Naruto thought as he tossed and turned on the futon Sakura had laid down for him in the closet. His mind was in turmoil as the horrifying scene played through his mind.
Naruto was watching his home be destroyed as the bodies of the ones he cared for burned in the fires scattered throughout the remains of the towns, only this time Naruto was watching from the sky as a look-a-like of him laughed manically on top of a twisted fusion of the Hokage Mountain and Tokyo Tower. Naruto couldn't help but sigh as he watched the look-a-like, sporting claws, fox ears, a tail, enlarged fangs, and crimson slited eyes, "How many times does it make this week… Three?" He asked himself, not able to keep full count in his dream like state.
The nightmare always had the same effect on Naruto. It made him hate himself for not being able to stop it, saddened him to be forced to watch himself slaughter his friends, and also despise the burden he was forced to carry who he knew was the cause for the nightmares. What made it worse was that he couldn't even predict when he would have a nightmare or a normal dream. Naruto blinked in his dream and suddenly found himself in a graveyard with all the tombstones of his friends. Just seeing them started to make him shake in rage before he howled furiously at the heavens as he started to destroy his surroundings. He only wanted the nightmares to stop, so sleep with peace of mind that everything would be standing in the morning. The next thing Naruto knew, the dream started to fade.
He awoke with a startle while trying to sit up as he felt a hand over his mouth and a shadow loaming over him. A second later his vision cleared to show Sakura looking down at him with concerned eyes as she removed her hand and asked, "Was it the nightmare again?" Naruto only started to breathe deeply as he started to feel the cold sweat on his body. He laid back down trying to regain his composer as Sakura said, "Maybe… you should see a doctor Naruto-kun… This is the fourth time this week I woke up to you thrashing about in here and had to stop you from screaming. It's not normal!"
"I'm anything but normal Sakura-chan…" Naruto said as he placed the back of his hand to his forehead to whip the sweat off, "It will only make things worse if I go. I'll deal with my nightmares some how." He said before looking over to her, "How early did I wake you this time?"
"Only twenty minutes thankfully. It shouldn't be to suspicious with my Big brother if I just wait for him to call me down." She said as she stood up and grabbed handle to her closet door, "Do you want a moment alone?" She asked used to Naruto's habits after a nightmare. He tended to want and sit alone for a minute, to try and make sense of it all Sakura guessed. Just as she thought, Naruto nodded as he sat up while staring at his hand.
Sakura respected his wishes and closed the closet door to where it was cracked open so as Naruto wouldn't be sitting in complete darkness. She then proceeded to get changed into her school uniform as her mind worried about Naruto, "Naruto-kun only sleeps, eats, and trains… I don't think I've seen him have any fun. He works so hard and with those nightmares…" She thought before reaching into her bag for her social studies group project worksheet, "I should do something fun with him and try to get his mind off of those nightmares. But what…?" She asked herself with a huff before looking down at her worksheet she had pulled out. Then it clicked on what to do, "That's it!"
Sakura quickly walked back to the closet and opened the door to see Naruto sitting in the same position as she had left him, "Naruto-kun!" Naruto only blinked as he looked up at her as she smiled cheerfully, "What do you have planned for today?"
"Training, you know that. Not much else I can do, plus I have to get my chakra under control." Naruto responded with a slightly hollow voice.
Sakura only smiled brighter as she said, "Not today your not!" Naruto only blinked in confusion as Sakura continued, "You need to have some fun! So I'm taking you to the aquarium with my classmates today!" Naruto went from blinking in confusion to blinking in surprise before he was pulled to his feet by Sakura as she said, "We're meeting an hour after classes start at school! Don't worry, Tomoyo-chan is in my group and can help cover for you! We made up lots of stories during all the study halls we had when the teachers were chasing you after you raided the lunch room." She said while tossing him his clothes since he was wearing a pair of her brother pajamas that she had snuck out of the laundry room. She then pushed him out the window and pulled it shut. The lock clicked, showing he wasn't going to be allowed back in, leaving no room for argument.
Naruto only blinked as he held his clothes before he realized everything that had just happened, "I guess I'm not training today." Naruto said before he hopped to the nearby tree and proceeded to change. Without making a sound besides a light knock on the window, he left the pajamas folded on the window before taking off to the aquarium. He stopped at the park as he suddenly asked himself, "Wait… what is an aquarium?"
Naruto thought about it for a minute with a hum before his stomach interrupted his train of thought. Naruto rubbed his stomach as he smiled, "Time to raid the cafeteria!" He said before forming a basic hand sign, "Henge!" Naruto shouted before he was enshrouded in smoke for a moment. The smoke cleared to show Naruto in his bandaged torso and torn pants. He smiled as he made sure he got it right, "Never thought being a ghost would have perks." Naruto said before heading off to the school.
Thirty minutes later Sakura skated up to the school gate only to hear rumors of the school ghost striking again. She stopped at the locker room and sighed, seeing no one around, "Not again… I guess I should have gotten Naruto-kun breakfast before pushing him out…" She thought to herself as she took off her skates and pads.
"Sakura-chan!" A voice called out called out as a group of footsteps could be heard approaching. Sakura turned around to see Tomoyo, Naoko, Chiharu, and Rika all approaching her. Naoko was the one that called and was clearly the happiest of the group as she asked, "Have you heard? Someone saw the school ghost!"
Sakura tensed up at hearing this, but not out of fear, "Y-You don't say?" She asked slightly nervous while thinking, "Please say he wasn't caught!"
"Yeah! He didn't see his face but face but he saw a large patch of blonde hair in the cafeteria before it disappeared!" Naoko said excitedly, missing Sakura's sigh of relief as she put her hand to her chin, "But… why would a ghost steal food?"
As Naoko pondered on the strange behavior of the super-natural, Chiharu and Rika noticed Sakura's lack of reaction to the ghost story. Rika was the first one of the two to speak, "Sakura-chan, are you alright?"
"Hoe?" Sakura asked with a tilt of her head, "I'm fine. Why?" She asked, still thanking kami in her mind that Naruto wasn't caught.
"It's just… you seemed preoccupied." Chiharu said while watching Naoko day dream, "You usually can never stand any type of ghost story, but you didn't even try to change the subject like you normally do when Naoko starts on a story."
"Oh…" Sakura said before smiling cheerfully, "I'm just happy to be visiting the aquarium today!" Sakura then remembered her plan from that morning, "Oh yeah, do you mind if a friend of mine joins us today?"
Everyone stopped and looked at Sakura confused before Tomoyo asked, "Who?"
"You know who he is Tomoyo-chan." Sakura answered her, "He's being home schooled and his Mother agreed to let him come with us for his social studies if everyone was alright with it."
Tomoyo smiled instantly when she caught Sakura's hint when she used one of their many cover stories they had made, "Ah! He will be joining us today? Wonderful! He could use the break." Tomoyo said as she remembered the many nightmares Sakura had told her about.
"Um… Who is "he"?" Chiharu asked as she and the two others were confused on Sakura's and Tomoyo's interaction.
Rika thought for a moment to herself before she asked, "It wouldn't be that mysterious boy you have been meeting with would it?"
Sakura nodded excitedly at the thought of Naruto having fun for a change, "Yeah. I hope you'll let him come! He really needs a day to relax."
Naoko, Chiharu, and Rika all looked at each other while muttering things like, "Curious… chance to meet him…. Could be fun…" The group nodded to each other before smiling at Sakura and Tomoyo as Naoko said, "Why not? It'll be fun to make a new friend!"
Sakura cheered after her friends agreed to allow Naruto to attend with them, "Then let's hurry to homeroom so we can meet up with him soon!" She said, momentarily forgetting that they had an hour of homeroom before they could leave school.
Of course that hour of homeroom had been converted to study hall pending an investigation of the morning cafeteria raid. Sakura couldn't help but say, "I'm going to have a serious conversation with him about this…" Her friends looked at her, slightly confused on what she had mumbled to herself. The class soon found themselves simply chatting about the event of the morning instead of studying over the course of the hour.
The classes were soon dismissed to do their social studies project. As the group walked out of the classroom Tomoyo asked, "So where are we meeting with Naruto-san?"
"In front of…" Sakura started as they exited the building only to stop as she saw Naruto waving at her from the school gate, "The aquarium… What's he doing here?" She said out loud as they walked over to him, "Naruto-kun, I told you to meet us at the aquarium. Why are you here?"
"I didn't know how to get to the aquarium." Naruto said as he looked from Sakura to everyone else before leaning in and whispering, "Plus I don't know what an aquarium is…"
This got a yell of surprise from Sakura as she asked, "Are you serious?" She received a nod from Naruto which left her speechless for a moment.
Tomoyo couldn't help but giggle at the two's interaction while Chiharu, Rika, and Naoko all had a confused expression before one of them asked, "So this is the mystery boy?"
This brought Sakura out of her stunned state and smiled nervously with a sweat drop, "Gomen! This is Uzumaki Naruto-kun!" She said with her hand held out in front of Naruto. She then turned around to Naruto while holding her hand out to each of her friends, moving after each name as she said, "This is Sasaki Rika-chan, Mihara Chiharu-chan, and Yanagisawa Naoko-chan, my friends and classmates I'm working with on our social studies project."
Naruto looked at the three before giving a wave of his hand, "Yo." Sakura only sweat dropped at Naruto's lack of a formal greeting considering it was his first time meeting the three.
The three all stared at Naruto's form of greeting for a moment before smiling and giggling, "He's much more relaxed then he looks… I thought he was going to just shrug us off… I wonder if those marks on his cheeks are real…" They said to each other quietly.
Naruto only sweat dropped as he raised a finger, "I can hear you, you know. And yes the marks on my cheeks are real. They're birth marks." He told them answering all their questions while embarrassing them without meaning to at the same time. He then thought about part of their conversation before asking Sakura, "Do I look that odd?"
"Not so much odd then different." Sakura said before the clock tower of the school rang, "Ah, we're falling behind schedule! We better get going!" She said as she took Naruto's hand and started to lead everyone away from the school. Naruto stumbled along when he was suddenly pull along with the group following after the two, laughing to themselves as they made quiet comments, this time making sure Naruto didn't hear them.
It wasn't long before everyone arrived at the aquarium. The second they walked into the building, Naruto stopped and looked around in awe at the building, "Whoa… So this is an aquarium?"
"Yeah! They have all kinds of fish here!" Sakura said as she pulled him along.
"Uzumaki-san hasn't been to an aquarium before?" Chiharu asked as they followed Naruto and Sakura into the building.
Tomoyo smiled as she pulled out her camcorder, "Naruto-san's family moved here from deep in the country. He's only been here for a week and a half. With being home schooled, he hasn't had the time to see everything in the city."
"That makes sense and it explains why he doesn't bow. He's use to already knowing everybody." Rika said as she watched the two move between the fish displays.
Sakura, unaware that she and Naruto were being observed by her friends, continued to pull the still awe struck Naruto along, "Hey, these fish here are really cute aren't they Naruto-kun!" She said as she put her hands onto the glass.
"I don't know about cute but I can say I've never seen fish like this before." Naruto said as he stopped next to her while looking at the tank as the fish went by with a curious stare.
Sakura smiled at Naruto, seeing his mind was the furthest it could be from his nightmares or training before she grabbed onto his arm again and pulled him over to a tank with a puffer fish. The two watched as the fish swam over to them, only to blink in surprise as it puffed itself up. "What kind of fish is that?"
"It's a puffer fish!" Sakura pointing down to the small display plate at the bottom of the tank before she tried out puff the puffer fish. Naruto only watched her with an amused smile before joining Sakura in her game.
Tomoyo, Rika, and Naoko all watched the two as Tomoyo filmed their behavior, "They look so happy."
"They do." Rika commented as she moved a hand to her chin, "Say… are they together?" She asked as she put the tip of her fingers together.
"No, but I'm hoping they develop feelings for each other." Tomoyo said quietly to her friends, "Sakura-chan and Naruto-san are very similar."
"Hmm… Maybe we should try to set them up?" Naoko asked while she folded her hands together, "It could be fun for us and they'll get together!"
Tomoyo lowered her camera while thinking on the subject, "Possibly… But we'll have to proceed very carefully. Naruto-san is more observant then Sakura-chan. Also, we don't want to ruin their friendship, so if things start to turn sour, we'll have to confess to our actions." Tomoyo said, pointing out ever possibility that could happen.
Rika and Naoko both nodded in agreement just as Chiharu walked through the door, "The penguin show is about to begin!"
Before anyone could say anything else, Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm and somehow managed drag him with her at amazing speed for a girl her age as the people she ran by all stopped at the sudden gust of wind blowing their clothes. Sakura stopped at the door on a dime as Naruto stumbled to catch his balance after being dragged, "Come on guys, Hurry!"
"S-She's so quick… and she managed to pull Uzumaki-san with her so easily…" Naoko said quietly as she and Rika both stared at Sakura in shock before they, along with Tomoyo and Chiharu, followed Sakura to the penguin show.
As Sakura chanted as they rode the elevator, Naruto was trying to recall what a penguin was, "Penguin… penguin… It's… a type of bird right?" Naruto asked Sakura quietly while they were on the escalator.
Sakura turned to him looking like he had just grown a second head for a moment before remembering Naruto's statement at the school, "Oh yeah, this is the first aquarium he's been too. So this would be the first time Naruto-kun would be seeing a lot of this. Plus…" She thought as she started to remember her dream of Naruto's battle at the valley, "If that was just with his friend then I can't image on what else he's had to deal with…" Sakura then smiled as she suddenly took Naruto by the hand, "Today is about making Naruto-kun feel better, so I won't ask about his home and make sure he has a good time." She finished as they reached the top of the escalator. The second they were off she pulled Naruto along again, "This way! You'll get to see a penguin up close!"
Naruto was surprised when Sakura took his hand without warning and was barely able to keep his balance when she pulled him along. As he was pulled Naruto could swear he heard giggling from behind him as he tried to keep his footing. That didn't last long in his mind as Sakura suddenly stopped while he didn't, slamming head first into the tank Sakura had stopped in front of, "Ow…" Naruto groaned as he rubbed the spot where his head had made contact with the glass.
Sakura gasped as she realized what she had caused, "Oh Naruto-kun! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have been pulling you while running like that!" She told him while helping him back to his feet.
"It's okay… But it makes me miss my hitai-ate." Naruto said as he rubbed his forehead as he stood back up.
"Hitai-ate…?" Sakura asked as the rest of the group approached, all with concerned faces for Naruto, having seen his accident.
Naruto winced at the sting of the small bump forming, "The metal plate with Konoha's symbol I wore around my forehead. Very useful for things like this. Although it might have cracked the tank…" He trailed off as he started to remember the day he got his Hitai-ate.
Sakura watched him for a moment before seeing him get that far off look in his eye, "He's thinking about Konoha again. Today is suppose to be about not thinking about that for him." Sakura thought to herself before she nudged Naruto back to reality, "Naruto-kun the show is about to start! This isn't the time to be day dreaming."
Naruto blinked in response as the memory faded from his mind, "Oh sorry. Just remembering one of my favorite memories." He said with a small smile as he looked up to the penguin tank as the trainer walked into the habitat.
Sakura's attention was quickly pulled away from the show hearing Naruto, "Favorite? What was it about?" She asked, now curious seeing as the memory wasn't upsetting Naruto like his dreams.
"Well… It was the day I realized that there were people out there that acknowledged me." Naruto said before retelling the tail of what had happened between him, Iruka, Mizuki, and the forbidden scroll, only leaving out the parts with Kyuubi in it.
Sakura couldn't believe what she had heard from Naruto, "So… no one would acknowledge you before that happened? Why?"
Naruto grimaced at Sakura's question, "I was hoping she wouldn't ask that…" Naruto sighed as he looked away from Sakura, "It's… personal."
Sakura nodded reluctantly before she turned back to the penguin show, "I understand. But I hope you can feel like you can tell me someday." She said with a small smile to Naruto as the people applauded the show.
"Maybe… someday." Naruto said quietly as he and Sakura started to pay more attention to the show, watching the penguins do a variety of tricks with the trainer.
Tomoyo had noticed Sakura's lack of attention to the show which she had enthusiastically pulled Naruto too, but stayed silent as she over heard their conversation. She slowly smiled as the two clapped to the show seeing their cheerful disposition return.
Naruto's mood didn't last long as he noticed something move at the bottom of the tank. He looked down to see a small bit of water moving on its own, looking like a worm in the water, "What can cause that…?" He wondered just before said water snake wrapped itself around the trainer's ankle, quickly pulling her under the water. Everyone looked on in wonder and worry as the trainer struggled to surface. She managed to pull herself about the water using the habitat set, but was unable to pull her leg free. The water formed into a whirlpool from the force holding the trainers leg.
By now Naruto was looking around for a way to help the trainer, "Why is it there is always never someone who works in the place that has the disaster happening!" Naruto thought as he turned back just in time to see a penguin get caught by the whirling waters. Only in a way that made Naruto suspicious, "Did… the water just grab the penguin?" He thought as Sakura started to pound on the tank.
Naruto swore as he saw the penguin being spun around in the water being prevented from surfacing to breath. He looked around again and spotted another way to help, "Sakura-chan wait here!" He said before he pushed through the crowd. Sakura turned to Naruto just in time to see him slam through a door with the sign "employees only".
Naruto stopped after passing through the door, looking around at the many hallways before following the wall as well as the sound of whirling water.
Toya sighed as he picked up the two bucket of small fish in the freezer, "Why do they have to keep these fish so far back of the freezer?" He asked himself as he started for the freezer exit just in time to see Naruto run by. Toya blinked in surprise before hurrying after Naruto, "Hey, you're not suppose to be back here!"
"No time to explain! Have to get to the Penguin tank!" Naruto shouted as he slid to a stop on the polished floor and bolted down another hallway with Toya right behind him.
"What on Earth is this kid doing?" Toya thought to himself as he turned the corner to see Naruto pull the door to the penguin tank open.
Sakura gasped as she saw Naruto open the door to the tank and rushed into the water. Toya ran into the room moments later just as Naruto plunged into the water, "What in the world is going on?"
The trainer looked up from where Naruto jumped in the water to Toya, "The penguin got caught in the whirlpool but I can't go save it! I think that boy went in to the water to free it!" Toya quickly followed suit of Naruto as he jumped into the water. As he opened his eyes in the water, he saw Naruto struggling to pull the stream of water holding the trainer and penguin apart.
Air escaped from Naruto's mouth as he failed to free the penguin and trainer, "Damn it! It's too hard to pull apart by myself!" He thought just before he felt someone tap his shoulder. Naruto looked over his shoulder to see Toya behind him. Toya pointed to himself then the stream holding the penguin, then Naruto and the stream holding the trainer. Naruto caught the message and nodded, swimming to the other side. He grabbed the water around the trainer's ankle as Toya grabbed the ring of water around the penguin. The two nodded to each other before they started to pull at the water. The water strained to keep itself together, but failed as the two were blown back by the force of their pulling when water's hold gave way.
Naruto and Toya surfaced seconds later, gasping for air before for a moment before relaxing. Naruto took a deep breath as the crowd showed their relief, "Man… that was close."
The next thing Naruto knew he was being pulled out of the water by the back of his shirt. He looked up to see Toya pulling him out with both hands, "So this is why you were running through the back." Naruto only chuckled nervously as Toya carry to drag him back to lobby.
Sakura and Tomoyo saw Toya carry Naruto out and hurried to the door Naruto had used to get into the back. Minutes later Toya appeared with Naruto in hand, "Next time find someone to tell about the problem."
"I tried to, but for some odd reason whenever something goes wrong every one that works here disappears." Naruto said with a shrug as he was let go before he sneezed.
Sakura looked at Naruto concerned before realizing the situation was worse then it seemed, "Naruto-kun doesn't have anything else to wear… He's going to get sick unless…" Sakura thought before she looked up to Toya, "Big brother!" Toya only blinked at Sakura, a little surprised by her sudden call as asked, "Naruto-kun's house is on the other side of town and he needs a change of clothes! Can he… borrow some of yours since our house is closer?"
Toya's expression turned into a slight glare before he closed his eyes, "Father keeps our old clothes in a chest in an attic. There should be something that will fit him in there and they should be clean unless something managed to get into the chest. Now get going. I have to get back to work." Toya said before waving as he walked back into the employee's only section.
Naruto waited until the door shut completely before looking back to Sakura, "I'm perfectly fine you know. It'll take more then some water to make me… Acho!" Naruto sneezed before rubbing under his nose slightly embarrassed.
Tomoyo only smiled at the two before she tapped Sakura on the shoulder and whispered, "Go ahead and take Naruto-san to get changed. I'll cover for you on the project." Sakura smiled at her friend before taking Naruto's hand and forcefully pulled him to her house.
Back at Sakura's house: A few hours later
Sakura left Naruto alone at her house with a change of closes while she went back to school to talk with her friends on what had happened at the aquarium. She returned hours later with no new information from her friends, since the aquarium had closed shortly after Sakura and Naruto left. Seeing as their was nothing new to discuss, Sakura decided to go cook a snack for herself, Naruto, and Kero, while Naruto went to take a bath since Sakura pointed out he didn't smell too pleasant after jumping into the penguin tank. As she started to cook, Sakura told Kero a replay of what had happened only to have Kero ask, "Someone almost drowned? You, Sakura?"
"No Kero-chan." Sakura said slightly annoyed, "You weren't really listening to me, were you?" She asked while giving Kero a quick glare.
Kero smiled awkwardly at the glare, "I'm sorry. It's been a while since the last time everyone was gone and I could leave your room, so I'm a little restless." He said before pausing for a moment, then resuming his train of thought as he crossed his arms, "Come to think, you're right. There's no way you would drown, Sakura. You don't have much beyond your athletic abilities."
"What do you mean, not much else?" Sakura yelled as raised the whisk she was using threateningly only to suddenly have an apple slam into Kero, squishing him against the wall. Sakura turned to the direction from where the apple game from and smiled as she saw Naruto standing at the table in average clothes for a change, "Thank you Naruto-kun." (Let your imagination go to work on the average clothes. They're average so… no point in making something up.)
"Anytime." He said as he pulled a chair out and took a seat while Sakura went back to cooking. Minutes later she set down to plates of hotcakes with syrup and butter down for herself and Naruto. Naruto cut a piece of awkwardly, having never used a knife or fork before. After managing to cut a piece he starred at it for a second, "Never seen food like this before…" He eating the piece of hotcake, only to have his eyes widen in surprise, "It's sweet!"
During those minutes, Kero floated over to table grumbling about homicidal ninjas before going back to the topic at hand. As Sakura set down the plates and drinks for the two, Kero simply floated up and down above the table, "But it's even stranger to hear that the one who almost drowned was a penguin."
"Yeah." Sakura agreed as she took a seat next to Naruto, "I went to school while Naruto-kun as in the bath and asked Tomoyo-chan what the adults had said about the incident. She said that they were wondering if it was because the plug for the pool got accidentally pulled out. But I don't think that's quite it." She said as she started to cut into her hotcakes.
"It wasn't." Naruto responded after taking a swallow of his drink, "I went into the tank remember? There wasn't any pull downward. Just around. The water level wasn't going down either. Plus I was able to grab and pull the water holding the trainers leg with Sakura-chan's brother. You can't do that if the water is draining." Naruto said before taking a bite out of his hotcakes.
"You think it could be that too?" Sakura asked while giving a piece of her hotcakes to Kero, who happily took it.
Naruto only nodded before saying, "A Clow card. But the question is what card can make a whirlpool?"
"Well…" Kero started only to jump along with everyone else as door shut while a voice called, "I'm home!"
"Oh no!" Sakura whispered, looking to the hallway only for a moment as Kero started to shovel pieces of hotcake into his mouth. Sakura grabbed him a second later and rushed to the hallway, "Hurry to my room!" She said in a hushed voice as she threw Kero up the stair well. Naruto calmly walked out of the dining room as Sakura whirled around on the stair case, leaning on the hand rail, "W-Welcome home!"
"Yeah." Was all Toya said as he walked by Sakura. He stopped for a moment as he passed Naruto, staring at him before walking into the dinning room.
Sakura only laughed nervously as Toya walked. She stopped after he walked by, turning to him while waving one of her arms, "Hey, hey, Big brother! You were at the aquarium today, right?"
The sound of Toya tapping on the marker board they used to write down what they were doing for the day could be heard as he set down the duffle bag he was caring, "I wrote it down here." Toya then turned back to Naruto, his expression asking a silent question.
Naruto pointed up at the ceiling, "Outside drying." After answering Toya's question, Naruto toned out the rest of the conversation looking around the house curiously, seeing as this was the first time he was allowed to freely roam the house. That is until he noticed Toya's hand reaching for Sakura's fork, which had a piece of hotcake on it. Naruto smirked as he silently moved closer to Toya. Toya glanced down at the plate with the hotcakes, making sure he had a hold of the fork with the piece of food on it.
Naruto only smirked as Toya started to lift the fork off the plate. With a quick slight of hand, Naruto reached up at the same time as Toya with his own fork, only it didn't have any food on it. The next thing Toya knew, he was biting down on only a fork. He looked down at the fork before catching a moment in the corner of his eye. There he saw Naruto spinning the fork between his fingers, "How did he get that? I know I was holding it when it was on the plate…" Toya thought to himself before glaring at Naruto, who was munching on the piece of hotcake he had taken, "There is something not normal about that kid."
"Sorry for taking so long." A voice suddenly called, causing Sakura to freeze in place, "I was taking my shoes off, and it took longer than I thought. Good afternoon, Sakura-chan, Naruto-san." The voice said as he walked in.
Sakura's expression instantly changed at the sight of Yukito as she started acting nervous, "Y-Yukito-san! G-good afternoon."
Naruto couldn't help but notice Sakura's sudden change in mood, "I wonder what's up with Sakura-chan." He thought as she said something quietly while looking down in an attempt to hide her blush. Naruto's train of thought continued on the lines currently laid until Toya's teasing comment, which ended with Sakura stomping on his foot rather painfully as Toya started to shake in pain. Naruto sweat dropped at the sight as his thoughts derailed, "On second thought… She's not acting all that different at all."
Naruto then caught the last bit of the conversation as Sakura held her face with a massive blush. Toya and Yuki left the room soon left the room, going up to Toya's room to study. After watching the two leave, Naruto turned back to Sakura as she came out of her dreamy daze, "I'll help make the hotcakes Sakura-chan. I mean I don't know how to cook all that well and… I'll need to know when I manage to scrape up enough money for my own place." He offered, remembering Sakura's reaction to learning of Naruto's ramen habit.
Flashback:
"Eh? You've eaten nothing but ramen all your life?" Sakura yelled as she and Naruto walked home together.
Naruto shrugged nonchalantly as he said, "Well one of the first people to be nice to me was Teuchi-ojii-chan and Ayame-nee-chan, and they ran a ramen stand. After they fed me one day, I just feel in love with the stuff." Naruto told her before looking away sadly thinking, "It didn't help that they gave me one of my first meals that wasn't scraps or had to be caught…"
Sakura didn't notice Naruto's look of sadness as she started to rant, "Well that won't do at all! I'm going to make sure you try a little of everything!" She said, going on for the rest of the day.
As she did, Naruto couldn't help but think, "The more I learn about her and this world, the more I find myself wanting to protect her and it… Aside from the Clow cards, it's so peaceful here." Naruto thought before looking up as a pair of birds flew by, "I wonder… would me staying here really be all that bad? I mean if I'm here, Akatsuki can't get Kyuubi, and Ero-sennin and Obaa-chan can handle that snake teme." Naruto thought to himself before hearing Sakura call out to him.
"Naruto-kun! Hurry up! You're falling behind!" She said as she stopped a bit down the road. Naruto blinked, a bit confused before realizing he had stopped walking while he was in thought. Naruto quickly smiled and waved, catching up to Sakura while apologizing repeatedly.
End of flashback:
Sakura turn to Naruto a bit surprised by his offer before smiling, "Okay! I'll cook some more while you make some more batter alright?"
Naruto nodded while following Sakura into the kitchen where he gained a small lesson in making hotcakes. This resulted in an accident with the flour sending the powder all over the two, Naruto getting scolded for taking a small bit of batter on his finger and eating it, and Naruto learning that you can't turn the heat up past the instructed settings.
Sakura sighed at the trouble that came with teaching Naruto, "Now you know why you follow the directions."
"I thought turning the heat up would make it cook faster." Naruto said with a shrug while looking at the semi-burnt hotcake on his plate which was already missing pieces of it. Naruto was still covered in patches of white while Sakura had seen fit to clean herself up.
Sakura only shook her head as the two approached the door to Toya's room, "You could have at least cleaned yourself…"
"Didn't have the time." Naruto said with another shrug as he continued to eat his hotcake. When they reached Toya's room, Naruto reached out and knocked for Sakura, seeing as her hands were full with the tray.
Sakura smiled and nodded thanks to Naruto as they both heard, "Thank you for your trouble, Sakura-chan." A voice said before the door opened to show Yukito behind it. He then noticed Naruto standing next to her, "Seems like you helped." He said with an amused laugh.
Naruto chuckled a bit as he rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah I had an accident with the floor… acho!" Naruto suddenly sneezed at the end of his sentence, causing all the remaining floor fly of his body and clothing and form a cloud flour around him.
After exchanging thanks the two went back into Sakura's room. Naruto, having gone in first, turned around to Sakura when he heard her slide down the door to the floor. Thinking something was wrong, Naruto quickly knelt down by Sakura's side, "Sakura-chan! Are you alright?" He asked as he put his forehead down to hers.
The suddenly contact made Sakura come back to reality to see Naruto right there. This made her blush deeply, mainly from how close Naruto was to her, but a small amount from seeing Naruto's eyes close up for the first time, "They're really pretty… It's like looking at sapphires…" Sakura thought before remembering just how close Naruto was, "N-No I'm fine! I was thinking of something rather embarrassing." She said before laughing nervously.
Naruto moved back from Sakura and watched as she moved over to Kero, who was sitting on her bed thinking vigorously on the incident at the aquarium, "This one might be a little tricky this time…" Kero muttered before looking up only to see Sakura and Naruto staring down at him. This caused Kero to jump into the air before patting his chest as he tried to catch his breath. When he did, he turned around pointing at the two, "Don't do that! You're going to give me a heart attack sneaking up on me!"
"What are you, an old man?" Naruto asked tapping Kero in the head, only to have Kero try and swat his hand away.
"Quit that!" Kero yelled before looking up at the two, "With what happened at the aquarium, I assume that both the trainer and the penguin nearly drowned in the water." Kero paused, getting a nod from Naruto and Sakura before continuing, "And when it was happening, did either of you see who was trying to drown them?"
Sakura shook her head before answering Kero, "No, I saw nothing… just water swirling about."
"But when I made it to the tank and jumped it, I was able to grab onto the water." Naruto added while scratching his cheek, "If I know my elements right, you can't grab water like I did by normal means."
"That confirms it for me. It's the water card, WATERY." Kero said with what seemed to be a rather upset sigh.
Sakura didn't take notice to the sigh as she clapped her hands together, "Just as I thought! So all we have to do is capture it and turn it back into a card!"
Kero just shook his head, "It won't be that easy. Water inside water… You can't see WATERY with your eyes."
Naruto simply shrugged as he said, "So we just lure it out of the water."
Kero shook his head again, raising one paw, "Even if you could pull it out of the water… If it disperses into tiny pieces, we can't really control it. It's hard to capture things with no solid shapes, like water… WATERY is also one of the higher magic spells in the Clow cards too. Furthermore, WATERY is an offensive card, so it's got quiet a temper." Naruto at this point had started to rub his chin in thought as Kero turned his side to the two, waving his arm as he counted the cards, "The cards you have now are WINDY, FLY, and SHADOW." He then turned away from them with his arms crossed, "They're no match for what we're facing…"
Sakura crossed her arms with an annoyed stare before Naruto snapped his fingers as he hatched an idea. Sakura watched Naruto move to the other side of the room and begin to meditate as Kero continued his explanation, "For instance, even if you used WINDY, another high-level magic, you can't win against WATERY. That's because WINDY is too kind…"
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" A shout came from Naruto before half the room was filled with smoke. Sakura and Kero both covered their mouth to stop themselves from breathing in the smoke, only to have the smoke suddenly vanish.
There in the middle of where the cloud came from was a rather large toad in their opinion. They were shocked even more when the toad waved to Naruto, "Yo Naruto! Watch ya need?"
"HOE? A TALKING TOAD?" Sakura yelled out in complete surprise before she covered her mouth. The voice of Toya and Yukito could be heard muttering something about Sakura watching TV.
Gamakichi turned to the source of the yell and waved, "Hiya! I'm Gamakichi! You two must be friends of Naruto here or I doubt he would have summoned me."
"Yeah. She's Kinomoto Sakura and that's Kero." Naruto answered pointed from one to the other.
Sakura only blinked for a second , completely missing the introduction, before reaching out and poking Gamakichi on the head before pulling back, "You're real! I thought Naruto-kun might be pulling a trick…" Sakura said rubbing the back of her head halfway through the sentence.
"That's mean Sakura-chan! When have I ever pranked you?" Naruto pouted before turning away with his arms crossed.
Sakura giggled a bit before smiling at Naruto, "He's starting to be happy again. I'm glad."
"Anyway, what did you call me for Naruto?" Gamakichi asked after he finished laughing at the scene in front of him.
Naruto paused for a moment before pounding his fist into his palm lightly, "Oh yeah! I needed to ask you something. How do you catch water that's inside water?"
Gamakichi stared at Naruto before only saying, "What?"
"I guess that didn't make much sense…" Naruto said scratching his head before trying to explain again, "Okay, basic run down is we're trying to catch a magical being that is made of water. However it is hiding in aquarium, a place that has hundreds of types of fish there in tanks of water. The thing we are trying to catch is hiding there in the water. We need to know how to separate water from water, then contain it."
Gamakichi hummed to himself as he started to rub his chin. After a minute of silence Gamakichi shook his head slowly, "I'm sorry Naruto. I can't think of anyway to make the two separate." This made Sakura and Naruto hang there heads in before they perked back up as Gamakichi said, "However, I do know how to contain it." He said smiling before pointing at himself, "Summon a bigger toad! We can easily hold gallons of water inside us!"
Naruto smiled at the idea instantly, "That could work!" This caused Sakura's mood to brighten as well until she heard, "But… I can only summon you and the boss Gama…"
"Don't worry. I have an idea for that too." Gamakichi said as he held out a webbed hand above the ground, "Say it takes you this much chakra in your world to summon me… and this much here." Gamakichi said as he doubled the height of his hand off the floor, "Normally your amount of chakra makes it really hard for you to control how much you use to summon for a specific toad. But in this world…" Gamakichi smiled as he raised his hand more too where it was about half of the previous height higher, "It can make it much simpler. Just add about half of what you already use to summon me and you should get a decent sized toad to hold the water in!"
"That won't work." Kero suddenly interjected as he walked up to Gamakichi, "Yes the water can be held, but Sakura can't seal it while it's in the toad. The toad would have to spit the water out and the second it did, WATERY would disperse itself to avoid being captured."
Sakura started to deflate at the rejection of the idea before she heard Naruto say, "Well let's not toss this idea out the window. Now at least we have a way to transport WATERY into a more secure area. Now all we have to do is figure out a way to make it where it can't get away from us. Maybe I can find a room in the aquarium with no way out other then the door… and if the door is water proof the card won't have anywhere else to go!"
Kero opened his mouth to rebuttal only to have Gamakichi cheer, "There you go! You'll never know until you try! And if you need help you can summon me in this aquarium place."
Naruto nodded as Sakura smiled softly. However in the back of her mind she felt a little depressed, "Naruto-kun is being so helpful and I… I haven't done anything to help on how to catch WATERY… I feel like a burden on him... He would make a much better card captor then me."
Naruto nodded to Gamakichi and Kero, who with a little convincing, moved on board for the idea, all pumped their arms into the air with a cheer. He never noticed Sakura's smile slowly move to a frown. Gamakichi then waved at the three, "Well I better go before someone walks in on us. Let me know how the capture goes! Also Naruto, Ero-sennin said he'll have the scroll ready by next week." Naruto nodded to Gamakichi before he poofed away to his home.
Kero chuckled a bit as Gamakichi disappeared, "I like him. You should summon him more often."
"I'll see what I can do about that later." Naruto said before he stood up, "I'd better start scouting the Aquarium while they still have it closed off." Naruto headed for the window, only to stop halfway out with a sweat drop, "That's right… I'd better leave through the door." He said as he closed the window then headed for the door. As he passed Sakura, he noticed the intense stare she was giving the ground and frown, "Sakura-chan… Is something wrong?"
Sakura snapped back to reality when she heard her name and laughed nervously for the second time that day, "E-Everything is fine, Naruto-kun. I'm just… trying to think of how to capture WATERY."
Naruto only smiled and patted his chest with his fist, "Just leave that to me! I'll be at your window by nightfall." Naruto told her before walking out of the door. He stealthy made his way out of the house and took off towards the aquarium. When he arrived, he smiled, seeing it was still empty of people seeing as no one was walking in or out of the building.
Sneaking into the building was a snap for Naruto as he used a henge to look like he had when he first arrived in Sakura's world. He crept around the back rooms silently, clinging onto pipes running along the ceiling whenever someone would walk by or duck down into or behind various objects. He soon made his way to the very aware where the trouble had started, the penguin tank. However Naruto was severely disappointed by what he saw, "Damn it they drained the tank!" He whispered as he walked over to the edge of the terrarium and knelt down, "Checking the water is out… I guess looking for a room to hold WATERY in is next." He said as he stood back up and headed for the hallway.
However the second he exited the room he over heard two employees walk by talking, "Yeah we're locking up in ten minutes. No one is getting in or out tonight."
"Great…" Naruto sighed before taking off down the hall, "No point in getting locked in now." (Yeah I know short investigation. Well you can only put so much detail and this actually serves another purpose.)
Naruto made it out of the aquarium without a problem. He hid in the nearby trees to drop the henge before walking out onto the street. But the moment he did, a person put their feminine hand on his shoulder, "Hey…"
Naruto tensed up at the hand as he started to sweat bullets, "Oh shit… Please don't say she saw me! Please don't say she saw me! Please don't say she saw me!" Naruto thought to himself in a slight panic as he slowly looked over his shoulder to see a woman dressed in business clothes.
"I saw you today." The woman said as she used her other hand to pull off her sunglasses as Naruto paled completely, "You are the boy on our security cameras that helped our penguin and trainer." The woman said before she smiled, lifting her hand off Naruto as he let out the breath he had been holding, "I'd like to thank you for that. If there is something you wish to have from the aquarium, please let me know."
Naruto watched the lady cautiously before an idea popped in his head, "Actually there is something I can use… Can I have a job?"
The lady looked a bit surprise by the odd request from the boy standing in front of her. Unfortunately, as Naruto took it, he saw her frown, "I am sorry… but our positions are filled." She said as she watched Naruto frown at her. Seeing the boy become downhearted made her think for a moment before smiling, "However, I do have this." The woman said before pulling out a pair of tickets, "All access passes for a day."
Naruto sighed at the passes, but decided to not be rude and accepted the gift, "Thank you! I think I know who I'll take with me!" He said before running off.
The lady could only watch him bewildered by Naruto's behavior as he ran off, "What kind of kid asks for a job as a reward…?"
Within minutes Naruto had reached the Penguin Park, laughing to his hearts content. He didn't notice a familiar face turn around to stare at him as he approached until he heard, "Naruto-san?"
Naruto skid to a stop as he turned to the source of the voice to see Tomoyo as he slid by. Tomoyo watched as Naruto slid by before wincing at the sound of Naruto crashing into a trash can, then moved to help him. Naruto however, was already standing again by the time she made it near him, "This is why people should stick to dirt roads… You don't slide around as much."
"I don't think many other people would agree with you Naruto-san." Tomoyo said with a slight giggle, "So what brings you out so late in the afternoon?"
"I was scouting out the aquarium since we have to catch the card their." Naruto answered while dusting himself off before pulling the empty cup off his head, "But they drained the tank and since they're locking the building up tonight, I had to leave before I could find anything."
"That's too bad. I'm waiting for my body guards to arrive." Tomoyo responded with her usual smile.
Naruto nodded as he kicked the trash can back up, watching as it landed perfectly in place before saying, "I'll stick around until they do if you want."
"Sakura-chan may need your assistance more then I do though." Tomoyo told Naruto while grabbing her chin in a thoughtful manner.
"Sakura-chan will be fine. Toya and Yukito are there." Naruto said with a shrug before looking away while rubbing his head, "She'd probably scold me for leaving you here anyway."
Tomoyo watched Naruto turn away with an irritated look at the thought of being scolded before giggling, "Maybe so. Although I have the feeling you're the only person she would scold."
"Is that suppose to make me laugh or something?" Naruto asked as his eye brow twitched in annoyance as he looked back at Tomoyo.
Tomoyo giggled a bit more before calming down, "It simply means Sakura-chan sees you as a close friend after all you've done in the past week."
Naruto's eyes widened a bit from this bit of information, "Really? I kinda feel like a burden to her… I mean she's risking a lot just to give me a place to sleep, sneaks me food at night, and even lies to her family to cover for me."
"Oh that isn't the case at all." Tomoyo said cheerfully as the two started to walk over to the swing set in the park, "I'm sure Sakura-chan helps you because she values your friendship and appreciates all the help you give her."
Naruto didn't answer for a minute before he let out a half hearted chuckle, "I never noticed… Everyone back home always said I was the number one unpredictable knuckle headed ninja. I guess that applies to noticing other people's feelings."
"To a point perhaps. But you do always notice when someone is troubled." Tomoyo countered as she took a seat on one of the swings, "Also, you put others before yourself even in dire situations without hesitation. It's quiet heroic."
Naruto by now was blushing slightly at the praise as he rubbed the back of his head with a large grin, "You think so? I just react to what I see really." He said before looking up to the sky as it started to turn a slight orange, "Sakura-chan is lucky. I always dreamed of having an adventure like she is."
"That is rather surprising coming from a ninja." Tomoyo said as she rocked back and forth on the swing, "I would think, as a ninja, you would be having a different adventure all the time?"
Naruto's response was a shaking of his head as he leaned onto the swing set stand, "It's not the same. Sakura-chan is saving the world from a catastrophe! If everyone found out about that they would see her as a hero! That's the kind of adventure I wanted so everyone in my village would finally respect me!" Naruto said loudly as he held his fist up.
"I see… Though a rather odd achievement to strive for. Why would you want everyone in your village to respect you?" Tomoyo asked with a curious look.
Naruto deflated instantly as he recalled the reason for his dream. His sudden silence took Tomoyo by surprise as the sound of the wind filled the air for a moment before Naruto said, "It's…. personal…" He said as he looked away from Tomoyo. Tomoyo watched Naruto even more curious then before as he looked back up to the sky, "Anyway, I guess it's a good thing Sakura-chan became the Card Captor instead of me. She's very good at adapting to situations. I would just rush in and wing it like I always do." Naruto said as his grin slowly returned.
Tomoyo smiled as Naruto's mood returned, but a part of her mind couldn't help but think to herself, "His mood changed when I asked about his reason for being respected… I wonder what could cause such an instant change to such a courageous person." Tomoyo of course didn't say a word of her thoughts, being respectful of Naruto's privacy.
"Miss, it is time to go." The voice of Tomoyo's body guard was heard from across the park.
Naruto and Tomoyo both turned to see Tomoyo's body guards approaching. Tomoyo smiled as she stood up off the swing before turning to Naruto. She gave a polite bow as she said, "It's time for me to go. Thank you for the company Naruto-san."
"Anytime Tomoyo." Naruto said with a wave as Tomoyo walked away with her guards. When they were out of sight, Naruto took off into the sky heading back to Sakura's house before the night set in.
Time skip: next day at school
The night and half of the day had gone by rather fast for Sakura as she continued to think about the night before. Naruto was off surveying the aquarium again, mainly due to boredom, as he had told Sakura by a note during her first period. This didn't help Sakura's mood as her thoughts continued down their path, "Naruto-kun is strong, fast, and can deal with anything! All I am is a normal school girl… He would make a much better Card Captor then me. But Kero-chan is so stubborn…"
Flashback:
"Kero-chan… Maybe you should make Naruto-kun the Card Captor instead of me…" Sakura suddenly said shortly after Naruto had left.
Kero turned around to Sakura surprised by the comment, "What? Why? He's no different from you besides being a ninja!"
Sakura looked down at the floor dejected as she said, "That's exactly why. He would be better suited to handle this then me. Naruto-kun was trained for things like this… I think." Sakura added as she grabbed her chin as she wondered about Naruto's training.
Kero shook his head at Sakura, "Sakura, if I did that, then I would be taking Naruto's right to return home away from him for one. And two, he's too head strong to be the Card Captor. He would rush right into things without thinking where you would see how to handle it."
End of flashback:
The argument had gone back and forth like that until Naruto had returned, where it died completely so as he wouldn't hear it. However the thoughts lingered in Sakura's mind through out the night. Tomoyo took notice of her closest friend's depressed mood as time ticked by.
The recess bell soon rang, allowing the students to freely roam the school yard. Sakura mindless walked throughout the school yard with Tomoyo following her. After minutes of silence, Tomoyo finally decided to act, "You don't look to cheerful right now, Sakura-chan."
Sakura stopped in both walk and thought as Tomoyo's words rang in her ears. She quickly turned around, waving her hands, "N-No, I'm fine…"
Tomoyo didn't believe a word of it as she walked up Sakura and gently took her hands, "It looks like a great challenge, so typical for upholders of justice, has fallen on your shoulders."
Despite the strange behavior, Tomoyo's words brought a small smile to Sakura's face for a moment. The two went to an isolated area of the school yard, where Sakura told what was weighing on her mind, "I feel like… I'm being a burden to Naruto-kun and Kero-chan…"
"How so?" Tomoyo asked Sakura as the two took a seat on the grass, "It seemed to me that you three were getting along wonderfully."
"We're not fighting or anything…" Sakura answered as she looked down at the ground, "But… when we were talking about how to catch the WATERY card at the aquarium, I didn't help at all. Naruto-kun and Gamakichi came up with the idea to use another toad to safely move WATERY around…"
"Gama… kichi?" Tomoyo asked puzzled when Sakura paused.
Sakura blinked before she realized she hadn't explained everything, causing her to blush slightly in embarrassment, "Oh I'm sorry. I should start from the beginning." Sakura then retold the entire event of the day to Tomoyo. When she finished, Sakura sighed as she looked to the sky, "He and Gamakichi came up with the plan in no time… And all I did was sit there."
"I see. But you know Naruto-san doesn't think that you're a burden. In fact, he sees it as the other way around." Tomoyo said with a sly smile as she continued, "Because you're risking so much to help him, Naruto-san feels the need to do his best to repay your kindness. He also thinks you are better suited for being the Card Captor then he is."
It was Sakura's turn to be surprised as she heard these words, "But… he's so much stronger then I am. How can he think I would be better?"
"We had a conversation yesterday while I was waiting for my body guards to pick me up. He said that he would be to head strong where as you look at the situation before solving it." Tomoyo answered while holding up her finger, "Naruto-san may be stronger, but only because he is more accustomed to acting under pressure as well as training physically daily."
Sakura stared at Tomoyo, shocked by what she had heard before she turned to the sky, "But still… He's still being a big help to me and I don't know how to help him…"
Tomoyo agreed with Sakura silently on this before she thought of an idea, "What if you showed Naruto-san the rest of the aquarium?" Sakura turned back to Tomoyo with a puzzled look as she explained, "I have noticed Naruto-san seemed a bit stressed over the past week and he seemed to be having fun while we were there. Since we had to leave early, Naruto-san didn't get a chance to see all the aquarium has to offer. It might not be much, but it will no doubt mean a lot to him."
Sakura thought about it for a minute before smiling brightly, "That's a great idea! To be honest, I was trying to cheer him up the first time we went, but then the Clow Card acted up."
Tomoyo returned the smile, glad to have been able to help. However behind that smile were thoughts for friendly deception, "It may not be a real date for them, but it's a start. And I'll be there to film everything!"
The school day went by quickly as Sakura was now cheerful again. As the two were on their way home, they stayed together part of the way. Sakura was silent most of the way before she skated ahead and stopped, turning to Tomoyo, "Tomoyo-chan, thanks for listening to my story." She said suddenly with her normal cheerful smile.
"That smile is best on you, Sakura-chan." Tomoyo replied before seeming to remember something as she reached into her bag, "Oh yes, this is for you." She said as she pulled out a pink cell phone and raised its antenna, "It's a new product from my mother's company. This is yours Sakura-chan." Tomoyo then handed Sakura the phone before pulling out two more, only one was black and the other the same pink color, "The black one is for Naruto-san and the other for Kero. I changed the color for Naruto-san since he may be sneaking around when we contact him and pink is a little too noticeable for a stealthy ninja."
Sakura couldn't help but sweat drop as her brow twitched, "Well… Naruto-kun was wearing a full orange jumpsuit before… So not being noticed doesn't seem to be the thing Naruto-kun worried about…" She thought to herself before looking over the three cell phones she was holding, "Are you sure…" She started as she looked back up to Tomoyo, "… that we can borrow these?"
"Of course. My Okaa-sama wants to know if they're easy to use, as well." Tomoyo answered as she closed her bag.
Sakura smiled and held the phones to her chest, "Thanks for worrying about me." Tomoyo only giggled in response before the two resumed on their way home. After they went their separate ways, Sakura started to think about the card again, "Kero-chan said that WATERY wouldn't be active unless someone went into the tank like with the trainer… That gives us some time but if we don't figure out how to catch it soon someone may get hurt… It's frustrating…" She thought as she turned the corner to her street, "I'll wait for Naruto-kun to return and see if we can figure out something."
Meanwhile: hours before
Naruto had no luck getting into the aquarium, mainly do to it being under lock and key with the maintenance crew trying to make sure everything was working. So now he wandered around town in more of Toya's old clothing, seeing as Sakura felt the need to clean Naruto's clothing. He mainly looked between buildings for any form of "help wanted" signs. He wasn't having much luck so far and was now heading to a place a random passerby had told him about when he over heard Naruto muttering about finding a job.
"It should be right… here." Naruto said as he turned to the building as he stopped. He looked up at the sign on top of the building that simply said "Metal works". "Not much imagination when it comes to the name…" Naruto said with a sweat drop before shrugging, "But if I can get a job here, I won't complain." He said as he walked in.
Back at Sakura's house: (Ha! You'll see if Naruto got the job or not next chapter X3 I have reason for this.)
Naruto sighed as he landed outside Sakura's window, "What a day… I can't believe that all happened…" He said as he knocked on Sakura's window. The locked clicked, allowing Naruto entry. He hopped into the room quietly before sitting down on the floor, "I've had one heck of a day…"
"What happened?" Sakura asked as she walked in, having opened the door just in time to hear Naruto. Kero floated over to him, seeing as he was the one that unlocked the window, and took a seat on Naruto's head awaiting an answer.
Naruto glanced at Sakura before looking around at the floor, "I'll show you." He said as he grabbed the television remote and hit the power button, turning it on. The screen came to life before Naruto flipped through the channels until he came to a news report.
The anchorwoman was standing in the middle of town with her finger to her ear piece, "Today at the shopping district was a scene that could only be describe as beyond supernatural. During our investigation of the mysterious vandalism of the elementary school last week, we watched and taped a scene so amazing, it makes you wonder if it was done by a regular human being. A robbery attempt was thwarted a strange boy wrapped in bandages. Here is direct footage from the scene." The woman said, signaling her cameraman to do the playback.
The screen went to static for a moment before it came back to life, only the clock showed it was a few hours earlier. The anchorwoman was talking with people about the destruction of the school when the sound of tires screeching along with sirens caught everyone's attention. The entire crowd turned to the street as the news reporter and cameraman rushed to the edge of the sidewalk. There they saw a car speeding towards them with police hot on their tail. The reporter, being professional, did her job, "It seems there is a high-speed chase in progress heading right for us! The driver is leading… wait what' that?"
Sakura watched the screen with full attention as the cameraman zoomed into to the criminal's car in astonishment. Out of nowhere, a familiar looking, bandage and torn pants wearing, figure appeared on the hood of the car with a blue sphere in his hand. Sakura gasped as she realized what was going on, "That's Naruto-kun! He looks like he did when I first met him!" Sakura thought before realizing he had wrapped gauze bandages around his head.
As the film rolled, Naruto slammed his Rasengan into the hood and engine of the car. Said engine went from being a part of the car to part of the street as it shot down into the asphalt. The sudden force also caused the car to stop as it flipped up, standing on the remains of the front end of the car. The groans of the two criminals could be heard as the police caught up to the wrecked vehicle. Naruto looked up at the police vehicles before simply disappearing from view.
"As you can see, the boy simply disappears from sight. However if we slow down the tape…" The voice of the news reporter said before the video of Naruto jumping off the car started again, only going much slower. Slow enough to show Naruto leaping off of the car out of sight. The video cut off and showed the anchorwoman again, "We are currently looking for information on the strange boy."
After that, Naruto cut off the television, "After that I had to stop a group of bullies, helped push one of those giant mechanical monsters that pulls the big box on wheels up a hill, and wound up helping a bunch of people look for a lost dog, which we found." He said before falling back onto the floor, "All of that just from looking for a job… Ero-sennin was right, I am a trouble magnet."
Sakura sweat dropped, deciding not to chew out Naruto for what he did only because he was helping people. She took a deep breath before smiling again, "Well… It was nice you helped out all of those people. By the way, what are you doing tomorrow?"
"Nothing, why?" Naruto asked as he looked over to Sakura while sitting up.
Sakura smiled slightly nervous as she said, "I figured with everything that's happened the last few days, you and me could go see the rest of the aquarium. Since we couldn't see everything the first time, I figured I would show you the rest of the aquarium! I know catching the card is important and you're looking for a job but… a day of fun couldn't hurt could it?"
Naruto seemed to think about this before muttering, "Well I did want to see the sharks and not risk being eaten by them…"
Sakura's smile softened as she watched the boy from another world start to wonder curiously again, "Okay then, we're going to the aquarium tomorrow!"
Naruto nodded before yawning, "Man what a day… Using so many clones and a Rasengan in one day. I'm going to turn in early." He said before walking over to the closet. Although it was a small space seeing as Sakura's dresser was in one side of the closet, Naruto couldn't complain seeing as it was inside, warm, and no one saw him in it.
Sakura watched as Naruto walked into the closet and pulled the door shut from the inside. She sighed shortly after the door shut before reaching over for the television and turning it back on, "Adjusting to a new world must be hard. He could have probably done that back home with no effort at all. Here it's so taxing on him." She said quietly while watching the news go on about Naruto.
"He'll pull through." Kero suddenly spoke as he floated over to her, "Naruto doesn't seem like the type to let something like a little effort bother him." The two remained silent after that, not having much else to say.
The next day:
"So… you hit these numbers then this weird button and you can talk to anyone?" Naruto asked as he stared at the cell phone Sakura had given him that morning.
Sakura smiled as she watched Naruto try to figure out the contraption in his hand, "Yeah, but it has to be a specific number. I made sure to write the ones down that you need." She said while pulling out folded piece of paper and handing it to Naruto.
Naruto simply took the paper and tucked it away in his pocket. He was still staring at the phone as the two approached the aquarium. As they got in line for the entrance, Sakura opened her bag to get out the money to pay when Naruto suddenly held out a ticket to her, "The boss lady saw me walking past here and gave me two all access passes for a day. I really didn't know what I was going to do with them until now."
"That's convenient." Sakura said in slight awe as they both started into the aquarium. However the second they reached the door, Naruto stopped and started to look around. Sakura noticed Naruto's sudden uneasiness, "What's wrong?"
"I don't know…" Naruto answered before slowly turning back to Sakura, "I just have this weird feeling we're being followed."
Sakura blinked in confusion before a thought occurred to her, causing her to laugh lightly before saying, "Are you nervous?"
"I don't know… maybe." Naruto answered honestly as he looked around one last time, "I've never been too happy with large amounts of people because of the way people would treat me… When I was with Sakura-chan and her friends it wasn't so bad since there were so many of us in a group. But it's only Sakura-chan and me… There's no telling what can happen."
"You need to relax!" Sakura said to Naruto with a giggle as she grabbed his hand, "Come on, we need to hurry if we want to see everything!" Sakura then pulled Naruto along into the aquarium.
Unknown to the two they were actually being followed by a familiar looking girl with a camera and plush toy, "That was close. It seems Naruto-san can tell when people are watching him."
"He's a ninja, what did you expect?" The plush toy responded as it peered over the girl's shoulder, "We'll just have to proceed carefully. This will give me a chance to see if a Clow Card is here as well."
"And I can film Sakura-chan's first date on video!" Tomoyo added as she turned to Kero. The two smiled at each other before high fiving, then running after Sakura and Naruto.
Meanwhile Sakura and Naruto were both staring at a rather large, flat fish as it slowly swam by, "… Is that a fish?"
"A really big one!" Sakura answered in a small amazement.
Naruto cocked his eyebrow at the fish, "I've never seen one that looked flat before. I wonder what it would taste like."
"Wouldn't it be too big for one person?"
"Sakura-chan, I've taken almost all of your school's left over food on a daily basis." This made Sakura sweat drop a bit as she agreed.
Hiding behind a nearby tank were Tomoyo and Kero, "Naruto-san is starting to relax."
"That or he's good at hiding the tension." Kero said just before a kid reached over and patted his head rather hard, much to Kero's annoyance. He only turned to said child with an attempt to act cool, "Young one. You'll get hurt if you mess with me." The kid slowly backed away from Kero, grabbing onto the pants of his mother while staring at Kero afraid.
At that moment, Sakura and Naruto decided to move on. The two mainly followed the map until they came up to an enormous fish tank, "Sugoi! Sugoi! Sugoi!" Sakura shouted as she stared into the tank, "We couldn't see this room the last time we were here!" (Sugoi means amazing for those that don't know. I figured it would sound better then "amazing" three times over.)
"Because of WATERY." Naruto said quietly, making sure no one over heard. His train of thought was interrupted by the scent of food. Sakura looked at Naruto inquisitively as he started to sniff the air, "Something smells good!" He said before looking over the railing to the nearby tearoom. As he looked over the railing he noticed a familiar face walking by, "Is that Toya?"
This made Sakura look over the railing as Toya looked up at them, having heard his name, "Big brother!" She and Naruto quickly made their way down too the area, taking a seat at a table. Sakura looked up at her big brother as they sat in the chairs, "Did you change jobs from where the penguins were?"
"They drained all the water from the tanks and are doing an inspection." Toya answered before glaring at Naruto, "Why are you here with him?"
Sakura started to answer, however all words fell on deaf ears for Naruto as he turned away from Toya, staring down at the table, "Why is he glaring at me…? What did I do?"
This went unnoticed by Sakura, but not Toya, "What's with that reaction? Just because I glared at him?" Toya thought as he stared at Naruto's eyes. They seemed almost empty, lacking any emotion but deep sadness. Toya only became more concerned, "I must have struck a painful nerve by glaring at him…" This made Toya give an unhappy sigh, "Guess I'll make it up to him."
"Big brother?" Sakura asked, confused on why Toya had suddenly gone silent.
"Don't worry about it. I'll get you two some snow-cones, my treat." Toya told them then walked off before either Sakura or Naruto could ask why.
Sakura only blinked at her brother as he walked away, "That… was strange. My Big brother is never that nice." That's when Sakura took a second thought to Toya's sentence, "Snow-cones… why does that make me think of WATERY?"
Naruto stayed silent, even more confused then Sakura, "First he glared at me… then is treating us to snow-cones…?" As Naruto tried to make sense of Toya's actions, he soon found himself sighing and hanging his head, "I'll never understand some of the people in this world."
"Naruto-kun?" Naruto looked up to see Sakura staring at him with concerned eyes, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah…" That was Naruto's one worded answer. To Sakura, it sounded unsure.
She hummed to herself for a moment before realizing what she thought was bothering Naruto, "Don't worry Naruto-kun! Big brother treats any guy that meets me like that for some reason."
Naruto nodded at Sakura before he felt a pressure in his abdomen. He hopped out of his chair rather quickly, "I gotta use the bathroom." Naruto told Sakura quietly before walking over to the bar rather quickly where Toya was standing, "Hey, where is the bathroom!"
"Up the stairs and on the left. Just follow the railing up there." Toya answered while he prepared the snow-cones. He glanced over at Naruto for a second before deciding to say, "I'm sorry for the glare. I'm just looking out for my little sister. I'm sure you know the feeling."
"I don't actually." Naruto said solemnly as his sadness from earlier returned with even more force.
Toya nodded as he grabbed the glass filled with flavoring juice, "Oh no siblings?"
Naruto didn't directly answer Toya. This made Toya wonder before he barely heard Naruto say, "No family…" With that Naruto walked off, completely unaware Toya had heard what he said.
Toya could only stare at Naruto in shock as he set the glass he had just grabbed back down, "No family? But Sakura said he was home schooled by his mother. So either she knows and lied about him for him… or he lied to her as well. But the question is why…?" Toya watched as Naruto went up the stairs before finishing the two snow-cones. As he did he glanced over his shoulder at Sakura, who was sitting patiently for Naruto's return, "I'll see what Sakura has to say about this." Toya placed the two snow-cones into a holding stand then carried them over to Sakura. He placed them on the table and simply watched as Sakura gasped in happiness before taking a snow-cone. However before she could even lick it, Toya suddenly asked, "Say Sakura… I was talking with Naruto a second ago and heard something concerning. Why would he say he doesn't have any family?"
Sakura nearly bite her tongue is surprise and was barely able to stop herself from dropping her snow cone, "Naruto-kun doesn't have any…!" She started to think before the last word registered in her mind, "Family…" This lead Sakura to only stare at her snow-cone. She couldn't think of anything to say. What could she say? She had just discovered a person who had become a close friend to her in a matter of days had supposedly no one to go back home too.
"Sakura?" Toya called out, bring Sakura back to reality.
Sakura blinked a few times before staring at the snow-cone in her hands sadly, saying in almost a whisper, "I… don't know…"
Toya could see his sister was troubled by what he had said, but still wouldn't say why, "I'll just have to keep an on him until I find out why he said that myself." "I have to get back to work." With that Toya walked off, leaving Sakura to her thoughts.
Coincidently, Naruto had happened to bump into two familiar faces. Well more like sneak up on as he silently stopped behind the disguised Tomoyo and Kero, "So you two were the ones following us." Tomoyo and Kero jumped at Naruto's voice and quickly whipped around to see Naruto staring at them, "My question right now is why?"
"Uh… I wanted to see if there really was a card here and didn't want to interrupt you two! So I asked Tomoyo for help!" Kero partially lied, sweating nervously as he hoped Naruto would by it.
Naruto stared at Kero for a minute before shrugging, "Makes sense. Oh by the way…" Naruto said as he pulled out his cell phone and the list of numbers, "How do I put the numbers into this thing?"
Tomoyo only smiled at not being exposed as Kero went limp after having his nerves so worked up. However the moment didn't last for long as the sound of glass cracking filled the room. The three turned to the direction of the sound just in time to see part of the tank rupture, allowing gallons of water to pour down on the floor below. Everyone rushed to the railing just in time to see Sakura be engulfed by water. "Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo called out before turning to Naruto, only to have to suddenly have his phone and paper of numbers stuck in her free hand. She then heard a splash as she looked at the phone before looking back to were Naruto was standing, only to see no one there.
The second Sakura felt the water pour down onto her, she took in as much air as she could and held her breath out of reaction. It took her a minute to regain her bearings before she noticed something wrong. She wasn't floating to the surface and something was around her ankle. She sat up in the water to see nothing but spiraling water holding her into place, "WATERY!" Sakura thought before grabbing her throat as her lungs started to feel strained for oxygen. She closed one eye and looked back at WATERY holding her ankle, "If I don't do something… I'll drown!"
Sakura closed her eye as she tried to figure out how to escape when she felt the water start to flow, which shouldn't have been possible. She looked up just in time to see a blue sphere slam into the whirling waters around her ankle. The water strained to keep itself held together, but the sphere was far too strong. The current faded out of sensible existence as did the sphere attacking it. Sakura turned to the hand holding the sphere and smiled for a moment before the lack of air made it known to her again.
Sakura quickly swam to the surface, gasping for air. Naruto smiled to himself when he saw Sakura was safe before trying to head to the swim to the surface himself, only to feel something grab his leg. He looked down to see the same swirling water around his leg, only this time it seemed much more angry. Naruto grabbed the water as he did before and tried to pull the water apart only to suddenly see an extremely angry face. This made Naruto grimace with only one thought, "This… is going to hurt…"
Sakura gasped for fresh air the second her head appeared above water, not realizing Naruto wasn't behind her. "Sakura!" Toya called out when he spotted her surface. He quickly dove swam over to her and gently wrapped an arm around her chest, pulling her over to the spiral stair case. There he gently picked her up and carried her up to the top of the stairs where Tomoyo and Kero were waiting.
"Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo yelled as she crouched down next to her friend.
"I thought I was going to die! If it wasn't for Naruto-kun…" Sakura started to say before pausing, looking back down to the water, "Wait where's Naruto-kun!"
Sakura's question was answered as a small area started to bubble before seeming to erupt with the force of volcano. The pillar of water slammed into the ceiling in the blink of an eye. But that wasn't the only thing that caught everyone's attention. The second thing was the pain filled yell as the ceiling cracked from the impact of the water. A very familiar yell to a select few people.
Naruto coughed after being slammed into the ceiling, blood escaping from his mouth do to the force of blow being more then enough to cause bleeding, internally and externally. The water continued to erupt, keeping him pinned to the ceiling. But Naruto wasn't going to simply roll over and let a liquid get the best of him as he slowly managed to move his hands out in front of him and push against the water.
WATERY didn't seem to appreciate the attempt however as the water suddenly stopped gushing and wrapped around his wrists. The people watching went from fear into shock as they suddenly saw a blonde haired boy be flung around room before crashing through the large tank, making a second hole. WATERY wasn't done yet, seeing as it still had a hold of Naruto as he hung halfway into the tank. The water sprang to life again as it tore through the glass of the tank, taking Naruto with it.
Most of the people started to look away from the horror, but one person stared in absolute despair, "This… this is my fault! If I had already captured the card then this wouldn't… This wouldn't be happening to Naruto-kun! I… I have to help him!" Sakura thought to herself before digging into her shirt for her key.
That is until a certain plush toy appeared from under Tomoyo's hat and yelled in a hushed tone, "No Sakura! If you use your magic everyone will see it and it will only make WATERY more angry! It will go from only attacking Naruto to attacking everyone!"
Sakura turned to Kero with a glare that managed to terrify him, something he didn't know Sakura could muster. She leaned over to him to make sure no one heard as she said, "What do you expect me to do? If I don't do something Naruto-kun will die at this rate!"
"Remember that scar he has?" Kero countered, reminding both girls of the large scar on chest and back, "A wound that big and that went through a person would surely kill them! But Naruto is still alive! He won't go down that easy!"
Sakura opened her mouth to argue, but slowly went to biting her lip as she couldn't think of a response to counter Kero's words. Her words were not needed as out of no where the building shook. Everyone turned back to the water to see it draining down a large hole in the middle of the floor, leaving many to wonder what happened to Naruto. Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero weren't concerned about the water at the moment. It was the small red streaks in the water they saw that made them worry.
Naruto bit his tongue to stop the yells of pain as he was torn out of the glass and back into the water. Though that gave him the opportunity he needed, seeing as no one could see into the water. He managed to form his signature hand sign "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" With that two more clones appeared in the water just before the original was pulled around in the water, being hit with tables, chairs, and other floating objects.
While this was happening, the clones made a Rasengan while WATERY was distracted and slammed it into the ground. The Rasengan tore through the ground with ease before exploding, forming a large hole to the basement. The water started to rapidly drain away as the clones dispelled themselves, seeing as their work was done.
WATERY lost the strength to continue to pull Naruto as the water drained away. Naruto mentally gave a sigh of relief before seeing he had, luckily, stopped near an entry way. Seeing as the water would soon drain away, Naruto swam into the entry before he could no longer swim, and had to painfully walk out with large pieces of glass sticking out of his back, "I need to get away from here… before anyone finds me."
The second they were allowed to, Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero all started to search for Naruto. Having known he wouldn't stick around in the aquarium after the incident, they stared their search outside. They didn't have to search for long before finding a trail of blood leading from an emergency exit at the side of the building to the nearby trees.
The three easily followed the trail into a concealed part of the forest where they started to hear painful grunts. Within seconds they came up to a small clearing with Naruto sitting in the middle with his hand holding a piece of glass that came from his back according to the only empty holes in his shirt. The second he reached for the last one however, all three made themselves known by shouting, "Stop that!"
Naruto jumped at the sudden voices before yelling in pain at the movement in his back, "Don't startle me! These already hurt!"
"Why are you trying to pull them out yourself? Are you crazy?" Kero shouted as he flew over and smacked Naruto on the head.
Naruto winced at the hit before growling at Kero, "Well I won't heal if I don't take them out!" He shouted before yanking out the last piece out, causing a small amount of blood to fall to the ground.
Sakura and Tomoyo looked away when Naruto pulled the last piece of glass out before rushing over to him with Sakura yelling, "Naruto-kun you need to go see… a…" She said, slowing down at the end as she suddenly stopped in place and stared at his back, "Doctor…" With that last word she stopped and only stared in what seemed to me amazement and confusion.
"Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked before looking over to Naruto's back, then mimicked Sakura's look.
Kero only tilted his head at the two before flying over, "What's so interesting?" He asked before seeing the show the two were seeing.
Naruto already knew what they were looking at. They were watching the last cut on his back heal. He only closed his eyes and awaited the questions that would eventually come. Only that isn't what happened. Instead, Naruto suddenly felt his shirt be lifted over his head then a hand running up and down his back, "They're gone… It's like they never existed."
"It's always been that way with me." Naruto responded as he moved the shirt of the way of his eyes, "Even some of the most lethal wounds would heal in a matter of seconds at times. Although there are times when my body decides to take its time to heal…"
"I see…" Sakura stated as she continued to feel Naruto's back. Her gaze saddened as her hand moved to the scar, "But then… why did the hole caused by Naruto's friend scar?"
As if sensing Sakura's question, Naruto suddenly said, "Injuries caused by chakra are much harder for the body to heal since chakra can completely disrupt the body's systems. I don't quiet understand it all myself, but that's what the book from my class said."
"You had school in Konoha?" Sakura asked before realizing how absurd her question sounded.
"Of course. We were trained to be ninjas at the academy." Naruto answered as he put his shirt back down after Sakura pulled her hand away.
Tomoyo found the subject of the conversation rather interesting as she asked, "When did you start going to this academy?"
"Let's see… I was six if I remember right, possibly seven." Naruto said as he pulled his shirt off and started to ring out the water.
This made both girls gasp and have the same train of thought, "They taught kids… to fight?"
Again sensing the question as well as surprising the three behind him, Naruto simply said, "It's the way my world works. I'm not proud of it, but if there weren't shinobi around, no doubt someone would try to take it all over." Naruto told them as he flapped his shirt into the air in an attempt to dry it out, "Actually… someone already is… But they don't need to know about that snake."
Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero couldn't help but give Naruto a sad gaze after learning of the condition of his world.
"A world of constant battles where kids are trained to fight… This kid has an even harder life then I thought."
"Naruto-san's world seems rather unsafe. I can't help but wonder… why would he need the respect of his entire village if that's the state of things?"
Sakura's thoughts however were more directed to what she had learned in the aquarium, "Naruto-kun… He had to grow up in such a place… and with no family to be there for him!"
This time, Naruto wasn't able to tell what the three were thinking, although he could feel the uneasiness in the air. This lead to a quick change of subject, "Anyway, we need to figure out what we're going to do about that card. We can't just leave it alone after today."
The three snapped out of their depressing thoughts and started to think on the matter as Kero said, "But we still need to figure out how to hold it. After what happened, I don't want to risk someone getting hurt."
"And if we don't do something then someone will get hurt. Like it or not we have to come back tonight." Naruto responded as he looked over his shirt, "Go figure WATERY would act up the day I get to try a snow cone."
"Snow-cones…" Sakura thought before a light-bulb went off in her head, "Ice!" "That's it!" Sakura screamed out of the blue, causing Naruto and Kero to fall over from the sudden noise as Sakura excitedly said, "We can freeze WATERY!"
Tomoyo put a finger to her chin in her usual manner as she pondered on the idea, "That may work, but how would we freeze WATERY if it's moving?"
"That's easy!" Sakura answered as she held up her index finger, "We use one of Naruto's summons to trap it in the freezer! If they have food for penguins, then they have to have a place to keep it!"
"Yeah… A freezer would have to be air tight to keep the cold in. But there is how long it would take to freeze and the vents. Moving water takes a long time to just ice over plus if WATERY finds a vent to escape out of, our plan will be a bust because I doubt it will work twice." Naruto pointed out before sneezing.
The sneeze stopped Sakura's thoughts of the plan to catch WATERY as she quickly appeared beside Naruto. She looked over Naruto, then his wet clothes, "We should get you changed before you catch a cold! We can discuss the plan at my house!" Sakura said, not leaving room for argument as she pulled Naruto to his feet, then proceeded to drag him to their home.
Sakura's room: An hour later
Naruto stretched as he sat down in Sakura's desk chair in another pair of Toya's old clothing. Sakura was resting on her bed humming to herself as with Kero floating over her head as Tomoyo sat on Sakura's window seat, patching the holes in Naruto's shirt, having had the clothes dried. After more minutes of silence, Naruto finally said, "So no idea on how to freeze WATERY?"
"Not yet…" Sakura muttered before she pulled out her three cards, "WINDY, FLY, and SHADOW… None of these can freeze WATERY…"
"Wait a second!" Kero shouted as he saw the cards, "WINDY! That's it! We can use WINDY to make a blizzard in the freezer!"
Tomoyo looked up from Naruto's shirt with a small smile, "The wind does lower the temperature greatly. A large gust could make a room built to freeze items much colder."
Naruto tilted back in Sakura's chair, showing surprisingly could balance considering he was sitting in a chair with wheels, "Turn water into ice then catch it! So then we're hitting the aquarium tonight?"
"Tonight?" Sakura asked as she sat up and tilted her head, "Wouldn't it be better to wait until things settle down a bit?"
"Normally yes, but after everything that happened and all the damage caused by me and WATERY, the building will be practically empty until tomorrow since they have to survey everything that happened. At the most there will be patrol guards outside." Naruto answered just before he lost his balance, causing the chair to fall out from under him.
This made the other three laugh as Naruto only grinned and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Tomoyo then stood up after folding Naruto's shirt in her lap, "If this is the case, then I should head home and prepare everyone's costumes! See you tonight!" Tomoyo said before quickly leaving the room.
"Geez she doesn't even leave us time to argue…" Naruto muttered before he picked up chair, putting it back to its proper place.
Kero only shrugged before floating over to the door, "No point in getting worked up over it. I'm going to go get some snacks before Sakura's family gets home. Lucky for me that her brother decided to go visit that friend of his." Kero said before flying out the door.
Sakura watched as Kero left the room, leaving only her and Naruto left. The two being alone allowed Sakura the perfect opportunity to ask a question that had been silently nagging at her mind, "Naruto-kun?" Naruto turned to her with curious gaze as Sakura looked away. Sakura was extremely nervous as she wondered on how to ask the question on her mind, "How do you ask someone you care about if he has family? Will he be mad? Upset? I just don't know how to say it!" Sakura thought as she grabbed her hair in frustration.
"Sakura-chan, if you have something to say, you can say it." Naruto suddenly told her as he saw her actions.
Sakura looked up to Naruto rather surprised before smiling, "Thank you. Naruto-kun… Big brother over heard you today… when you said that… you didn't have a family." She said while watching Naruto carefully, pausing between each sentence.
"He did?" Naruto responded surprisingly calm, even though the pain in his voice was clear as he turned away from her.
Sakura felt a nervous pull in her gut as her heart started to beat harder from the increasing tension, "Is it true?"
Naruto didn't answer, choosing to remain silent. The ticking of Sakura's alarm clock was the only noise to be heard for seconds before Naruto's voice gave a cracked, "Yeah."
Naruto's answer made Sakura shoot to her feet, "Then why didn't you tell us! If you had, we wouldn't have made so many cover stories that involved your parent and caused you pain!"
Another uneasy silence filled the air before Naruto spoke, "Because… I'm use to it. I know I don't have any living family members and that no one wanted me growing up." Sakura slowly covered her mouth as she heard Naruto tell his story, tears slowly starting to form, "I grew up alone. It's how it's always been for me… Nothing can or will change that. No one cared then; I thought why anyone would care now."
Naruto was then surprised as he felt Sakura's arms wrap around him softly, "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry you had to go through that…" Sakura said between sniffles while she rested her on his back.
Sakura smiled softly as she felt Naruto gently give her arm a small squeeze with his hand "Thank you." Was all he said, although he was thinking another topic entirely, "Sakura-chan has no idea what they did to me, and I plan to keep it that way. I guess I actually owe that damn fur ball one for being able to make almost all my wounds not scar." Naruto thought as he turned and stared at the orange tinted sky. (This plays a role in a later chapter.)
One hour later: Outside the Aquarium (Costume links are posted on profile)
Sakura pulled at her white and blue jester outfit as she exited the van, which was parked a good bit away from the aquarium, making sure everything was in place, "Are these bells?" She asked while pulling at one of the yellow balls on the outfit.
Tomoyo shook her head as she continued to film Sakura, "No. Since we're sneaking in, I thought small yellow balls would be better for the situation."
"So then why does mine have chain and straps?" Naruto asked as he hopped out of the tree he was waiting in. He had a similar outfit to that of Sakura, only with the Konoha symbol on it and a black undershirt and blue overcoat, a gold color collar and odd bracelets on his wrist. The hat and shoes on the two were nearly identical.
Tomoyo only smiled as she said, "I needed something to add some weight to the outfit incase you are attacked by the card again."
Naruto thought about it for a second before nodding, "Alright then. We need to get going." He said as he lead everyone to the aquarium building
True to Naruto's words, the entire aquarium nearly deserted, the only people being their being security personal patrolling the outside. Seeing as Naruto was with them, a simple henged clone made a very good distraction, allowing the four to make their way into the building without a problem.
As the four made their way through the hallways of the aquarium, going over the plan one last time. "Okay, Kero-chan and I will lead WATERY over to Naruto-kun!" Sakura started as they approached a split in the hallway.
"I'll trap WATERY with a toad by surprise." Naruto added as they slowed to a stop.
Tomoyo lowered her camera from her eye with a smile, "And I'll locate the freezer!"
The group nodded before splitting off into different directs, Tomoyo heading off alone. As Sakura, Kero and Naruto made their way to the stairs they all slowed to a stop. Sakura and Kero turned to Naruto who nodded, "This is my stop. Here goes everything." Naruto said before biting his thumb hard enough to draw blood, then ran thought the hand signs, "Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram!" "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he channeled more chakra then usual, hoping for the best.
A large plume of smoke appeared out of nowhere, even larger then normal as it engulfed Naruto as well. Sakura and Kero both waited the smoke to clear to see the result of Naruto's attempt, only to be met by a giant toad staring at them when the smoke cleared. The toad only blinked before croaking loudly at the two, leaving Sakura to ask, "Naruto…kun?"
"Up here." Naruto called from on top of the toads back before hopping off to see the toad, "I can't believe I did it on my first try! I guess Gamakichi was right about this world. So who are…?" Naruto started to ask as he turned to the toad, recognizing him instantly, "I remember you! You're that told that knocked out the closet-pervert!" The toad croaked again, as if agreeing with Naruto. This made Naruto sweat drop as he said, "You don't speak Japanese do you?" The toad shook its head before tilting its head. This made everyone remember why they were there, "Oh right! Sakura-chan, go on ahead! I'll explain everything to him."
Sakura blinked for a second before nodding, her and Kero taking off up the stairs. As they ran to the back room, Kero couldn't help but say, "You know I doubted that he could actually summon a toad the size of a mountain but after seeing that one… I'm not so sure anymore."
"I'm just surprised it didn't talk." Sakura said as the two made their way into the tank control room rooms.
Kero shrugged at this before flying over to a specific tank, "Sakura over here! This is where the magic is the strongest."
Sakura nodded as she tucked her staff between her arm and side while using her other hand to pull out her cell phone. She punched in the numbers to call Naruto and Tomoyo. The phone rang only twice before two answers were heard.
"Naruto here."
"Yes, Daidouji here."
"Tomoyo-chan, did you find the freezer?" Sakura asked while watching the tank of water for any unusual movement.
"Bingo, first floor basement."
"All right! Then hide somewhere!" Sakura said while giving Kero the okay signal for Tomoyo before looking back to the phone, "Naruto-kun, are you two ready?"
"All set here Sakura-chan! Gama agreed to the plan and we're out of sight!"
Sakura smiled and gave the second okay signal to Kero as she said, "Okay, stay ready! We're about to start!"
"Will do! Good luck!" Naruto said to her before the line went dead, showing he had hung up the phone.
Sakura put the phone away before hopping onto the walkway of the container, twirling her staff, "WATERY!" She shouted before holding her staff battle ready, "Come get me if you can!"
WATERY took the bait as it came out of the water, taking a partial shape. Sakura smiled as she took out the FLY card, "Kero-chan stand back!" Sakura said before throwing down the card, "FLY!" The second the wings appeared on the staff, Sakura took off on the staff. WATERY quickly pursued, following Sakura's every movement as she lead the card out of the room.
Sakura looked over her shoulder to make sure the card was following, only to see it right behind her. She yelled in surprise before speeding up to keep out of the cards reach. She turned when she saw the door leading down the main lobby where Naruto was waiting.
Naruto and Gama were staying hidden on the second floor next to the escalator, waiting for Sakura to go by. The sound of rushing water caught Naruto's ears, causing him to stand up, "Here they come Gama! You ready?" The large toad stood up and croaked loudly, showing he was ready.
Naruto hopped onto the railing and watched as Sakura flew by. Sakura gave a wink and thumbs up as she flew down the escalator. Naruto nodded and waved to Gama, "Let's go!" He and Gama leaped from the second floor right into the path of WATERY. Gama opened his mouth wide for the water, letting it fly right in. His cheeks swelled at the amount of water before it finished pouring, allowing Gama to snap its mouth shut, effectively trapping WATERY inside. His cheeks would occasionally seem to bubble as WATERY tried to escape, only to fail. Naruto cheered with a pump of his fist, "Alright! We caught it!"
"Way to go Naruto-kun! Gama-san!" Sakura cheered as well as she landed near the two, "Now we just need to get to the freezer!"
Gama only picked the two up, placed them on his back, then proceeded to hop in the same direction Sakura was heading without any warning. Naruto was barely able to put his arm around Sakura's waist to stop her from falling as Gama hopped.
"This is nauseating!" Sakura yelled as she got dizzy from all the hops.
This simply made Naruto laugh, "If you think this is bad then you should ride big boss Bunta! He'll take you for a real ride!"
Sakura only paled at the thought at Naruto's idea of a real ride as she looked up over Gama's head along with Naruto. There they saw Tomoyo point to a doorway before heading down the opposite hall, filming the entire time. As Gama turned down the stair case, Naruto looked over his shoulder at Tomoyo, "I know it's her hobby but… does she ever stop filming?"
Sakura sweat dropped while she gave an embarrassed giggle at her friend's behavior as Gama made hopped down the last stair case and headed towards the freezer. At the door he stopped, seeing as it was the only exit there. Sakura and Naruto hopped off of Gama when he stopped. Naruto ran over to freezer door and started to pull the heavy door open where as Sakura stopped for a minute to stroke Gama's head, "Thank you for the ride Gama-san."
Gama only croaked as Naruto grunted, the door slowly being pulled open by him, "This door is heavy!" He shouted as the door hinges creaked. When the door was open enough, Naruto let go of the handle, "Alright Gama! Spite it right in here!"
Gama nodded as Sakura moved out of the way, reeling his head back then spitting WATERY into the freezer with amazing force. As WATERY recovered from being a large spite wad, Sakura ran in front of the doorway with WINDY in hand. She throw the card out in front of her, no spell or chant as she raised her staff above her head, then brought it back down, "WINDY!"
WINDY came to life and quickly flew into the freezer as WATERY was reforming. WATERY had reformed just enough to snarl at Sakura before the door was slammed shut by Naruto, who simply opted for body slamming the door instead of pushing it shut.
Gama croaked at the success before simply dispelling himself, seeing he was no longer needed. Sakura and Naruto simply sighed before sitting down against the door to rest. Naruto was clearly a more exhausted then Sakura as he panted heavily, "Too… much… jutsu in… one day!" Naruto wheezed out between breaths as he rested.
"I'm sorry Naruto-kun. If we had another idea…" Sakura said calmly even though she sweat dropped slightly.
Naruto shrugged as he pulled off his hat, "I'm not complaining about the plan. I just need to step up my training!"
"A truly marvelous performance." Tomoyo's voice was heard saying as she approached, camera still in hand, "A perfect plan that came together flawlessly." She added before looking down at her wrist watch, "It should be done about now."
"Time to pull the door open again…" Naruto groaned as he put the hat back on while standing up. Everyone moved away from the door as Naruto pulled it back open. After the door was opened, the three peered inside to see a completely frozen WATERY, or as Naruto put it, "A Clow card ice sculpture."
While Kero and Tomoyo giggled, Sakura only sighed before backing away from the door while channeling her magic, causing the Clow Reed circle to appear. The magic circle appearing clued everyone in on what was going on as they all cleared the way for Sakura as she raised her staff, "Return to the guise you were meant to be in!" She chanted before jumping into the air while swinging her staff, "Clow card!"
Everyone watched as all the ice was shattered into pieces by a vacuum whirlwind, drawing all the pieces into the card before returning to normal. Kero decided to ask the question on his mind, "But how did you ever come up it?"
"I thought of when Naruto-kun reminded me of the snow-cones we were going to get!" Sakura said happily before turning to Naruto, "It's all thanks to you we captured WATERY, Naruto-kun!"
Naruto only waved his hand in front of his face before saying, "It was a team effort. It's just as much thanks to you and Tomoyo-chan!" He said before rubbing his shoulder, "Let's get out of here and get some sleep. I'm dog tired." Seeing no reason to disagree, everyone nodded, leaving the aquarium along with all its damages behind.
Links to pics for Gama and clothes are on profile.
Alright, last chapter for experiment. You're word becomes law. Answer honestly.
Also, I feel the need to say that I will NOT be doing every episode in a chapter. It's too much to do and a lot of it isn't needed. I'm going over the list of which ones to not do as you read.
Also, Naruto will be getting his message from Ero-sennin soon ^^
Reviewer's response:
Neguam-tenshi: Of course on the first one. However the other two may change if my ideas go over well.
Vandenbz: Thank you. I do have a lot of twists for everyone further down the road XD
DarkSyde24: One, dense, and two, Its not so much limited as a lot more tiring.
That about does it. I don't see any others that need addressing and won't spoil XD
PLEASE READ, ENJOY, AND REVIEW
