Episode 4
Rain pounded on the roof, creating a soothing and relaxing tone that was mixed with the occasional thunder rumbling through the night.
Sora lay wide awake in his makeshift bed, his arms folded across his mid section as he gazed silently at the ceiling.
He couldn't sleep, no matter how hard he tried. His mind was racing with what had happened in just the last twenty-four hours, and every time he tried to clear his mind, something else snuck into his conscious.
He felt lonely without Donald and Goofy at his side through his new journey. He had always been with them, and they always came through for him.
He felt worried as he wondered about Riku and Kairi. Just where were they? Somewhere in that castle, but where they alright?
And then he felt anger as he thought of the cloaked figure who had started all of this. Why him? It was always him that people seemed to be after, and it was because of this that the people he cared about were always put in danger.
Sora
sighed sadly, wishing his exhaustion would finally pull him into the
world of dreams, where he could find refuge, but still his mind
churned over what he had learned today. He glanced over at the bed
against the wall as Naruto stirred, mumbling something in his sleep
as he slept soundly.
Sora felt a smile come to his face. Naruto
had definitely made this whole experience abit easier, if not more
enjoyable. The energetic blonde had already promised to teach him
some basic jutsu in the morning, and to introduce him to some of the
other genin in the village. Naruto had accepted Sora with little
resistance, even though he knew little if nothing of whom he was or
where he had come from.
Sora shifted and winced as an uncomfortable pain made itself known as it spread through his back. His short training had given him quite a few bruises to remember, especially falling from the tree and onto his back.
He laughed; sure it had hurt, but it was pretty funny too.
Sora closed his eyes after a while, and slowly drifted off into a troubled sleep.
"Hey, Sora! Rise and shine, we gotta get goin'!"
Sora grumbled, pulling the covers over his head. Naruto crossed his arms, a mischievous smile crossing his face.
Sora shouted as he felt Naruto jump on him,
"Up, up, up!"
Naruto laughed, pulling the covers off of Sora. He promptly balled them up and tossed them at Sora playfully. Sora groaned, sitting up and letting the blankets fall to the ground beside him and narrowing his eyes at Naruto.
He was already dressed, his headband tied around his head and his hair as blonde as ever. He blue eyes showed no signs of sleepiness, but instead were brimming with energy. Naruto leapt to his feet, running as Sora threw his pillow at him before standing and stretching. Naruto smiled, picking the pillow up and tossing it onto his bed.
Sora slipped his jacket on, bringing his fingers through his hair to smooth out some of the spikes.
Naruto handed him his headband as he began to explain what he had planned.
"Alright, since you seemed to have a little trouble with the tree jutsu stuff, but you were also getting the hang of it. We can try that again if you want, or I can just go over basic jutsu with you."
Sora tightened the headband around his head, pulling some of the spikes that usually hung in his face over the symbol. He nodded, smiling.
"Yeah, sounds good to me. I just want to learn some cool stuff. How about that shadow cloned jutsu?"
He asked. Naruto laughed,
"Before you can try that you have to learn how to make a single clone Sora."
He said. Sora caught something in Naruto's tone and raised a brow,
"Wait a sec…is it hard to create a clone?"
He asked. Naruto shrugged,
"It was the last jutsu I was able to learn before I could become a genin. It was never my specialty."
He admitted.
"You'll be able to teach me all of this stuff?"
Sora asked, a little skeptic. Naruto nodded, grinning,
"Sure! How hard can it be! I mean if Kakashi was able to teach me this stuff, I'm sure I can teach you Sora!"
The morning was chilly, the ground soaked from last nights storm. Puddles littered the streets of the village, and dew hung heavily on the plants.
Sora shivered slightly, rubbing his arms with his gloved hands in an attempt to rid himself of the goose pimples.
He looked up as a couple birds chirped softly, flying off into the sky.
Naruto didn't seem bothered by the chill of the air however, and Sora guessed it was mainly because he was wearing a long sleeved jacket.
The streets were empty, with only the occasional villager stirring within their shop.
Sora sidestepped around a rather large puddle, seeing the gates that marked the edge of the village up ahead.
Suddenly, a shiver ran through Sora, stopping him dead in his tracks. His eyes widened, and he literally felt as though ice was running through him veins. He whipped around, eyes narrowed and his hand already lighting up with energy as he readied to summon the keyblade. But as he turned, the feeling disappeared as quickly as it had come. Sora scanned the buildings, expecting to see someone staring at him, but no one was around.
Sora felt a hand on his shoulder and whipped around, ready to fight only to see Naruto. Naruto blinked, abit surprised by Sora's aggressiveness.
"You ok?"
Naruto asked. Sora paused, glancing back one more time at the village, then looked back at Naruto with a nod.
"Yeah…its nothing, I'm fine."
He said. Naruto nodded slightly before turning and walking onward through the gates. Sora was about to look back again, but stopped himself. He shook it off and followed Naruto.
"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed, awe struck as Naruto stood near the very top of the tree. He was standing with his feet against the bark, his body horizontal. He turned, looking down at Sora.
"Its really not to hard, you just have to focus on getting to the top. If you focus on falling, then you'll probably fall."
Naruto explained as he walked out onto a branch – hanging upside down. Sora smiled, already excited.
"So, do I just run up?" he asked, walking up to the tree and placing a hand on it.
"Climb it without using your hands."
Naruto said. Sora narrowed his eyes, looking up the trunk of the tree. He stepped back a few feet, keeping his eyes on the tree. He concentrated for a moment, clenched his fist, and then gave a slight shout as he ran forward. He focused, feeling the strange energy pulse through him as he gained speed. He threw his foot forward, a thud sounding faintly as it made contact with the bark. He thrusted his other foot up, now having both feet planted on the trunk now.
He knew he couldn't stay like this though, or he would fall flat on his back like yesterday. Sora quickly put on another burst of speed, running straight up the side of the tree. But he soon felt his speed decreasing, and his grip on the tree slipping. He slowed, sliding slightly, then flipped backwards off the surface of the tree. He landed back down on the ground a little unsteadily, but felt a smile cross his face.
Naruto cheered, clapping his hands from his upside down position on the tree branch.
"Way to go Sora! You got a lot higher this time!"
He said. Sora looked up, slightly out of breath.
"I keep feeling this weird energy build up when I focus…is that what chakra is?"
Naruto
nodded, crossing his arms.
"Yep! That's what keeping your feet
on the tree is your chakra!"
Sora let this process for a moment, nodding.
Naruto suddenly landed right in front of Sora, making him jump slightly.
"Alright, lets call that a warm-up! Now lets practice some basic jutsu, then we can head in for lunch."
Sora put his hands together, creating the hand signs Naruto had showed him as Naruto threw a small stone at him. Sora was hit dead on by the stone in the head, but with a poof of smoke he was gone, a log in his place. Naruto grinned, thrusting a fist into the air,
"Way to go! Perfect replacement jutsu!"
He shouted, giving a thumbs up. Sora smiled, jumping down from the branches of a large tree behind Naruto.
"That wasn't too hard, only took me a couple hours."
He said, rubbing his head from where previous stones had made their mark. Naruto turned and nodded,
"Yeah, but still pretty good. Now we can try the clone jutsu."
He walked towards Sora, putting his hands together,
"It goes like this."
He said, making three hand signs before he poofed, and two Naruto stood in front of Sora. Sora grinned,
"Whoa, that's awesome!"
He said, already excited. Naruto nodded,
"Yep, and its pretty useful too. Just try it, then will head in to the village for a break."
Sora stepped back, trying to remember exactly what hand signs Naruto had used. There were twelve hand signs, one for each of the zodiac animals, and they seemed to be a main key in any kind of jutsu here in Konoha. Sora made the hand signs, focusing on his chakra,
"Clone Jutsu!"
He shouted. There was a poof of smoke that blurred Sora's vision for a moment, but he quickly turned his attention to his right to see his clone. His smile vanished as it was replaced with a look of surprise and embarrassment. He had made a clone alright, but it was slumped over on the ground, its eyes round and its tongue hanging out of its mouth. It looked kind of like him, except for the lack of color…and the face.
Sora felt himself turn red, and he shook his head. Naruto shrugged, his clone poofing away,
"Eh, first time. Don't worry; you just need to practice abit more."
Sora watched his clone disappear as well,
"Yeah…a lot of practice…" he muttered. He had been so happy when he had finally nailed the replacement jutsu, but now this jutsu seemed even harder than that one.
Naruto walked up to Sora, placing a hand on his shoulder,
"Aw, don't worry about it Spikes! Lets head in and grab some ramen, and then we can come back and practice more, alright?"
Sora
nodded, rubbing the back of his neck as he continued to remember how
bad his clone had been,
"Yeah, ramen sounds good."
He said finally.
"Riku?"
Riku looked up from his bed, quickly getting to his feet. A hand was visible at his gate, and he walked forward, putting his face against the cold steel.
"Kairi, did you see anything?"
He asked through the bars. Kairi shook her head, though Riku couldn't see this with the stone wall in between them,
"No, and I don't think there's anyone else down here Riku. I almost got my entire body through the bars, but I could see was darkness towards the ends of this hallway."
Riku sighed, shaking his head.
"Damn…we need to get out of here…."
He said, gripping the bars that imprisoned him tightly.
"But how did we get here in the first place? All I remember was the storm, and then I woke up lying on the cold floor...and what happened to Sora? Why isn't he down here?"
She asked, her questions voicing Riku's own.
"Sora was taken by the darkness, that's the last I saw of him. Then, everything around me grew dark, and I only remember hearing a few strange voices before waking up in this damn cell."
Riku said. He closed his eyes, and their was a silence between the two. Kairi finally gave a sad sigh that caught Riku's attention,
"I just hope he's ok."
She said. Riku let his eyes fall to the floor,
"I do to Kairi."
He replied sadly.
Sora and Naruto both slowed as they heard shouts from ahead. They stepped through the gates, only to see the village was awake and thriving, people flooding the streets. But many had troubled looks on their faces, and their were several groups of woman bunched together, fear in their eyes. Naruto raised a brow, his curiosity already pulling at him.
"Naruto,
what's going on?"
Sora asked, confused. Naruto shrugged,
"I don't know…come on, we might get some info at the ramen stop."
He said, walking ahead.
Sora once again felt the burn of stares as people narrowed theirs eyes at them. But he noticed that most of the glares went from Naruto to him, and people would shake their heads. But why? Why did people look at Naruto like that?
He didn't understand it, and it just made him angry as they continued along through the village until finally making it to the ramen stop. But Naruto halted, Sora almost running into him from lack of attention. Naruto smiled,
"Hey, Kakashi sensei!"
He called, waving a hand in the air. Sora looked ahead, and saw a gray haired man walking. The man was obviously Kakashi, as he stopped and looked up as Naruto called him. Though the bottom half of his face was covered by a mask, Sora could tell he smiled as he walked towards them,
"Oh, there you are Naruto. I was wondering if you would come to the ramen stop for lunch today, and I guess I was right."
Sora could tell this man had to be higher rank, for he wore what resembled a uniform. But he noticed that Kakashi had his headband pulled down so that it covered his left eye.
"Yep! Sora and I were out training, but we came in to grab some lunch!"
He said, grinning. Kakashi turned his gaze to Sora, who smiled and waved slightly.
"Sora? I don't think we've met before."
He said, giving him the same smile. Naruto nodded,
"Nope, Sora's here visiting, Kakashi sensei! He's from another village, but don't tell anyone. They seem to stare at him a lot when his headbands visible, but I fixed that by covering it with his spiky hair."
Naruto explained. Kakashi put a hand forward, gently moving Sora's hair out of the way to see the village symbol engraved on his headband. He blinked, obviously confused.
"Another village you say? Strange, I've never seen this symbol before."
Kakashi
admitted as he pulled his hand back, letting Sora's bangs cover the
symbol once again. He seemed ready to begin asking questions, but
Naruto jumped in.
"Hey, sensei, what's with all the freaked
out people today? Did something happen?"
He asked, his smile fading slightly. Kakashi looked back at Naruto,
"Oh, yes that. There were several kidnappings reported dismorning, all of them being young women."
Both
Naruto and Sora's eyes widened faintly,
"What?! Kidnapped!
You've got to be kidding, who would do that?!"
Naruto asked. Kakashi shrugged slightly,
"We don't know yet, but we're already searching for them. Its nothing to worry about, we'll get it sorted out in no time."
He stated. Sora paused, remembering the strange feeling he had had dismorning when they had come to the gates. Was that what he had felt? But did that mean the kidnappings had something to do with him?
"Anyway, I've got some business to attend to. You two enjoy your lunch."
Kakashi said with a nod before walking past them. Sora and Naruto exchanged looks, watching Kakashi leave before Naruto shook his head.
"I cant believe that…I hope the creep who kidnapped those girls gets one heck of a pounding!"
He said, slamming his fist into his hand to emphasize. Sora nodded, though he still had a strange feeling as he and Naruto walked towards the ramen stop.
