Chapter Title: 'VI. Pretty Porcelain Doll'
Belonging To: 'MiKADo'
Author: Miss.Yamapi.Kara
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Humour
Warnings: Swearing; injuring by book; introduction of Emery's psyche; bad (unintended) puns (can you spot them?)
Rating: T
Base: 'Naruto' by Masashi Kishimoto
Chapter Summary: The fellowship begin to talk, Sasuke makes a friend, and Aldehyde makes his dynamic entrance.
Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership over the manga, anime or other variations of what I know as 'Naruto'. I am gaining no profit from this piece.
All material other than the characters, setting and root storyline of 'Naruto' is claimed as the sole property of myself.
Heads Up: If necessary, action will be taken to protect my own writing. It would be greatly appreciated if fellow avid-writers, all readers or general persons would respect the content of this document and not copy it. If it is desired by anyone to use any part of the text on the page, I would bid him or her to contact me and it shall be discussed.
Miss.Yamapi.Kara
Author's Note: I've been trying to change my style a little to make things go, perhaps, a little faster, or, to make it a bit simpler to read... I've discovered that that is the only truly impossible thing to do in this world -.-'. It's just not working for me to alter anything, so I'm going to let it be as it comes. I'm not unhappy with the fact, I'm just a little puzzled. shrugs Maybe I have less control over this one than I thought ;P. Oh, I've been asked about yaoi in this story – there will be shounen-ai but nothing very graphic or serious (first time chapter-fic NarutoxSasuke – I'm too much of a shy prude to go very far). So, yeah! Any questions, feel free to ask. Otherwise, please enjoy chapter 6 of 'MiKADo'. :D
Proceeding...
MiKADo
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VI. Pretty Porcelain Doll
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It wasn't as though Naruto had seen few strange things in his life – he had had his fair share of queer – but this was something new entirely.
Naruto had just introduced himself to four people he did not know. All right, not so strange. These four people were from a foreign world that he didn't know the name of. A little unusual, but he'd travelled to places where no man had set foot before – he wasn't too worried about unfamiliar territory. He was sitting in a room formed of the interior of a monstrous tree, drinking water poured from a non-existent jug into a non-existent glass, by a Goddess whom he deemed both extremely dangerous and infallibly benevolent. That, he found unsettling.
He was tempted to laugh at his situation, but as he spied the gruff looking man across the table from him, Naruto decided it better just to grin.
Weith, Naruto recalled the name, looked back at him with boredom in his dark brown eyes. Taking a closer look when the man shifted his gaze back to his glass and wrapped a meaty hand around it, Naruto noticed that Weith's skin was indeed a tanned colour, and that it wasn't just the lighting of the room that made it seem so. He also had deeper frown lines than apparent at first glance, complete with wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. His hair was dark brown, shaggy with neglect and shot through with lone grey strands, a sign of his age. There was a shadow of black and white-grey stubble on his chin; Naruto unconsciously rubbed his own chin, wondering whether or not it would feel itchy at all. A large coffee-coloured shirt hung from Weith's muscular shoulders and the dirty sleeves were fitted to his wrists. His long brown pants were equally dirty, though slightly darker, looking almost as if scorched in places. A grey woven vest rested over his shirt and the sash-like loom of his culture was tied to his waist, also grey.
Naruto scrunched his nose a little. Although the man looked dirty and reeked of alcohol, it was his pose and indeed entire aura that had Naruto concerned; everything Naruto saw told him that Weith was in pain. A list of scenarios of tragic pasts raced through the ninja's mind, and as they did he attempted to see which belonged to Weith.
Emotionally, this man was as thoroughly drained as a dry desert well.
Naruto decided it would be better not to dwell on this, lest he make the man aware of his thoughts. He wasn't the sort to pity, but he was prone to compassion.
Forcing his eyes away, he now came to look at the eldest female at the table. Carmine was not in the least dirty, nor did she smell of cheap liquor. Her caramel tresses were let loose to spill over her back, all except two pieces that were pulled tightly from behind her ears to come together with a white tie at the level of the nape of her neck. Naruto wondered at the length of her hair – easily reaching the seat of her chair, even having to curl up on itself there – and was curious as to how she kept it so neat. Her head was turned towards the boy seated beside her, and so Naruto could only see half of her face, yet he saw enough to become entranced by the shine of her eyes. They were a bright topaz hue, gleaming with guardedness.
'Maybe all the women in this place have beautiful eyes like that...' Naruto couldn't help but remember the way Mikado's eyes had glinted like precious stones, not dissimilar to Carmine's. She was also relatively pale with fiery red lips, which suggested her to be an assertive type of a person, as far as appearance was concerned.
In the privacy of his mind, Naruto hoped he wouldn't have to deal with another Sakura.
Carmine wore a white dress much like a robe, with sleeves that tapered and clung to her hands, ending in a point at each of her middle fingers. All in all, this woman looked the part of the mistress of high society, particularly when considering the rigidity of her movements and hard stare sweeping down her nose.
However, Naruto saw kindness in her. A firm nature – no room for games – but there was also a suppressed joy in her eyes that seemed to beg to be released. Naruto almost smiled at the way Carmine was focussed on the young boy next to her.
Hatsu was a sight to behold. His blond hair shone like a halo with its almost-white shade of yellow and his pale complexion emphasized his dark eyelashes. Slight in build, with small hands and impossibly round eyes, the boy could have easily been mistaken for a girl. Like Carmine, Hatsu seemed to exude conflicting emotions. Naruto considered that Hatsu was not very confident and that would explain the way he kept glancing from person to person like a cornered rat. He did, however, panic rather gracefully: he didn't shrink back, his posture didn't allow for one wrinkle to develop in his immaculate clothing – every article the same purple – while his thin fingers curled delicately around the arms of the chair he sat in and his even nails digging into the wood grain without a sound.
He was experienced in hiding his discomfort.
The thing about the boy that intrigued Naruto most, was his eyes.
One was a spherical white canvas, painted with a round black centre and radiating strings of silver spider web. Like the veins around a healing bruise. The other was a void of limitlessly deep, dark violet.
Naruto became anxious from the way it seemed to draw him in, even though Hatsu wasn't looking at him directly, 'Maybe it's something like a bloodline limit.'
Naruto turned to his right to ask Sasuke whether or not he had noticed, only to find his friend almost sitting in his lap. From the looks of things, Sasuke was trying his best to be discreet about getting as far away from the girl who was currently drinking him in with her eyes. Naruto stifled his laugh and twisted his head away in a flash when Sasuke turned to snarl at him.
It must have been uncomfortable for Sasuke, to be scrutinised so shamelessly by those stone grey eyes. Naruto felt Sasuke shift slightly closer and almost jumped as his hip grazed the other's, 'When did he move his chair so close?'
His head whipped back of its own accord and Naruto saw Emery close up for the first time. Though her eyes were grey, they were animated and lively, dancing with a mischievous sparkle that made Naruto want to grin. For the sake of the parts of him that he knew Sasuke was already considering to confiscate, he kept his face straight.
Emery's hair was a shadowy grey, almost black, and nearly as long as Carmine's. It was tied up into a messy, high tail with bits and pieces sticking out in various directions with individual hairs spun around the tie so that it would be painful to pull out. Like Weith, Emery looked unclean: the pattern on her dress was indistinguishable underneath the grime that had collected over time, and the hem was torn into a slant, one side reaching past her knee while the other rested on her upper thigh. She wore a tattered coat, far too large for her lithe body, and torn stockings probably meant to keep her legs warm. She wore no shoes.
Despite the mud caked under her rough nails and the scabs that refused to heal on her elbow and knuckles, Emery was a fairly pretty girl with what Naruto deemed to be an amiable nature. She was obviously drawn to his best friend, but Naruto shrugged in his mind and asked himself, 'What girl isn't?'
Speaking of Sasuke, Naruto was about to let him fall flat on his rump.
He whispered harshly, "Bastard, get off me!"
"I'm not going anywhere." Came the sharp reply.
Naruto hissed, "You're practically in my lap!!"
"Get used to it." Sasuke did not like that girl so close to him, let alone reaching bit by bit towards his kunai.
"Excuse me," a gentle yet unyielding voice asked for Emery's attention, "I have some boiled weeble cones with me, if you would like some." It was Hatsu who had spoken, holding out a small cloth bag towards Sasuke's newest bane. Sasuke glanced at Hatsu and nodded faintly in thanks to the boy for the diversion. Hatsu's cheeks became lightly dusted in pink.
"Et..." Emery made a small sound of curiosity, choosing to stare at the offered bag while still leaning precariously over Sasuke's side. She began to reach forward, hesitant and wide-eyed, before she looked up and then shot backwards into the seat of her chair.
Naruto saw Sasuke blink in confusion and did the same, 'What just happened?' He looked to Hatsu and saw a small frown on his face.
Hatsu had left his hand stretched towards the frightened girl, "Please, Emery-esteel, they are good. You would enjoy one?" He opened the bag with his free hand and proceeded to take out a small object. It was oddly formed and glassy in texture, like a misshapen marble that had been compressed into a roughly cone-like shape. It was also just as colourful as a marble; orange spliced with neon yellow and powdered with specks of lime green covered the surface of the foreign candy. Naruto found himself with an open mouth again.
This time, Sasuke was kind enough to just click his jaw shut with his left hand, "It's rude to stare, even more so to gape."
Naruto grappled for a successful retort, "I wasn't gaping, bastard!" And failed.
Emery had not lifted her eyes. She trained them on the floor and clutched her knees up to her chest, where she was perched on her chair. Her toes curled around the front edge of the seat and she began to comb through her hair with her fingers, "I- um..."
Hatsu smiled widely, "Come, you must like them. They are the best treats I've ever tasted!" And to prove his opinion, he put the edible marble into his mouth.
Emery looked over her knees like a captivated child, but never once met Hatsu's eyes with her own.
Hatsu offered the bag to Carmine. She reached inside and picked up a piece, this time a dusty pink with a powder pattern of aqua. She too put it in her mouth without hesitation. As she sucked on it, she looked to Emery and smiled encouragingly, "They are very sweet."
A prod at his foot caused Sasuke to lean back and look under the table, diverting his attention from the strange conversation.
Sitting in between his feet was a black cat. It pawed at his sandal, apparently not noticing that it was being watched.
Sasuke stared at it. He looked back up to Naruto, wondering what he was supposed to do about it. Unfortunately for him, the blond boy seemed engrossed in the semi-exchange between Emery and Hatsu. Not knowing what else to do, Sasuke moved his foot slightly. The cat paused. A moment later, Sasuke moved again. The cat jumped back and followed with its moon-yellow eyes. Sasuke pulled his foot along the floor, away from his audience. The cat stood up and padded after it, seemingly interested in the journey its source of entertainment was taking. Sasuke quickly swiped his foot to the side and lifted it over the feline – feline stopped, looked around, looked up, saw its toy and mewled.
Sasuke let out a quiet amused chuckle.
Unknown to him, Emery had finally accepted the offered candy with a shy, "Thankyou.. Mikado Hatsu... I appreciate... um..." she seemed entirely lost for words.
'Hold on.. Mikado Hatsu?' Sasuke was jerked from his distraction immediately.
"Mikado Hatsu?" Naruto announced his puzzlement to the room.
Everyone stopped and looked at the pair.
"Is something wrong, Naruto-esteel?" Hatsu inquired with a tilt of his head, deciding that it was time the unspoken barrier between realm-travellers was broken.
"Wah? 'Esteel'?" He shook his head to get back on topic and pointed a finger at Hatsu dramatically, "Why did she call you Mikado?"
Carmine stood from her chair and squared her shoulders to Naruto, "Do not show such disrespect. Lower your hand." Her firm voice washed over the occupants of the room, carrying with it a hidden threat.
"Disrespect? What else is the kid goin' to show?" Weith had joined with a sarcastic shrug of his shoulders and sardonic sneer.
All of a sudden, Emery pounced onto the table with inhuman agility, "Don't talk to them like that! He gave me candy!" Her voice squeaked and wavered with a tumult of emotion.
"Weeble cones shouldn't buy your allegiance." Weith said, not even looking in her direction, paying as little attention to the rabid girl as possible.
Naruto watched in surprise, hand still hovering over the table, not having anticipated that a simple question might instigate a brawl.
Emery bared her teeth and tested the spring in her feet, "He was nice to me! You can't be mean to him!" She shot forward and landed directly in front of the man's face, breathing hot breath that made his fringe flutter.
Weith's voice boomed as he turned to the girl now an inch away from him. It unnerved him.
"I can do, what I like!" His hands were up in the blink of an eye and he shoved Emery back by the shoulders.
He hadn't pushed hard enough to injure her, but Emery still rolled over backwards once and landed upright in her chair with a thunk. She blinked and twitched her nose, somehow seeming to have acquired an entirely different attitude in the last three seconds of her life.
"Hey, hey! Hold on! I didn't mean to start a fight!" Naruto waved his palms in front of him in a placating manner, hoping that this wouldn't escalate, "Let's not get violent, yeah?"
During the scene, the black cat had remained calm and found its way onto Sasuke's lap, now enjoying the young man's ministration to its ears. Likewise, Sasuke looked on with a blank expression, also calm in the face of chaos.
Naruto tried again, this time making sure to keep his hands under the table and out of sight, "I just wanted to know why Emery," he nodded to the girl and she grinned at him, obviously happy with the way he'd acknowledged her name, "called you Mikado; I thought that was the woman's name who brought us here." He lifted an eyebrow to punctuate his confusion.
With a motion of his head, Hatsu signalled to Carmine softly that she should reclaim her seat. Carmine did so without protest. Next he chanced a look at Weith and sighed when he saw the man had crossed his arms and was glaring in another direction. He made sure to catch Emery's eyes again, before she ducked her head in a gesture of obeisance.
"It is correct that Her name is Mikado." Hatsu spoke evenly, his voice somehow a note too low to match his appearance, "It is also correct that my title is Mikado."
Naruto looked utterly lost. Sasuke sympathised. His hand had stilled on the cat's back, as the feline purred in blissful slumber, long black whiskers twitching every so often.
"Is there a connection between the two?" Sasuke spoke as politely as he might, careful of his selection of words; it seemed obvious to him that there was something very important that he and Naruto didn't yet understand.
Hatsu smiled apologetically and relaxed his posture a little, "I suppose Mikado would not have explained very many details. Would it suit you for me to inform you of our world?"
"Please." Sasuke nodded.
Naruto sat back in his chair, ready for an interesting story.
"Before I begin, let me thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for agreeing to aid us in this time. You do not know how much this means to us." Hatsu bowed his head, which made Emery gasp in awe.
Sasuke looked on curiously, 'It's strange for him to bow to someone else? Mikado must be a high title..'
Weith snorted somewhere in the background, and Sasuke watched as Carmine shot him a dangerous glare, 'She must be some sort of guard. Who exactly is this kid?'
Hatsu cleared his throat and began, now looking again at Naruto, "My title and name is Mikado Hatsu Esteon. I am Mikado of the world Mikado, in a realm not like yours or the one we are currently in." He paused to let the information sink in and then gestured to Carmine, "Carmine Leucas is First Advisor and Personal Attendant to myself. She resides, together with me, in Esteon Palace on Sukai Mound at the centre of the Land Mikado."
He stopped again and looked to Weith. It seemed to disappoint Hatsu that the man would not look to him, "We are all from the Land Mikado. A decade and a half has passed since the first war in our country. Emery was born at the end of the war, while Weith served in the King's Army for All States, an army constructed with the sole purpose to dissolve that conflict."
Sasuke nodded unconsciously, now aware that it was probably a dislike for nobles that made Weith act coldly towards Hatsu and Carmine.
Naruto screwed his eyes shut and tried to clarify for himself, "Wait, so.. this place is Mikado..."
Hatsu shook his head, "Not this place."
"...and she's Mikado..." Naruto pointed out the door in the direction Mikado the Goddess had left.
"That she is."
"...and you're Mikado..."
"I am."
"But, wait, I... wha- Sasuke, help me!!" Naruto had given up trying to discern 'Mikado's and turned to his genius friend for help.
"Perhaps I spoke too broadly." Hatsu blushed once again, "The one that brought us all here is our land's namesake. She is the sole God of Mikado; therefore, our ancestors named the world in her honour."
"Oh.. It's ok, Sasuke, I'm getting it now." Naruto smiled cheerily at Sasuke, who only raised an eyebrow and went back to attending to the cat on his lap. Naruto noticed it for the first time.
He shrugged, deciding to address that unusual image later, and looked back to Hatsu, "So, Mikado's the Goddess that you worship in your world. But why are you Mikado Hatsu?"
Hatsu's eyes hardened, "'Mikado' is a title akin to Emperor in our world."
Naruto's eyes widened, "Emperor?"
"I understand that you have a leader named Hokage in your village. Mikado would be the one person who allied and presided over every such leader in your world."
Naruto would admit that, this time, he was indeed gaping.
Sasuke was at once attentive, "You seem rather collected for someone in the home of his people's God."
A breath escaped Hatsu's lips that Sasuke was sure no one else would have caught. His eyes were not hard anymore, but slightly tired, "We have always known that Mikado's existence was true. We were visited by a messenger of Hers twice in the history of the Land. Indeed, it was this Representative that I was scheduled to meet at the time Mikado summoned both Carmine and I from the palace. I now understand the reason for the meeting."
Things were coming together for Sasuke now, and it seemed that Naruto was also following. At a glance, Sasuke thought he saw anger on his friend's face, but Hatsu's next statement erased it.
"Mikado is giving us the opportunity to fight against the force that threatens us. She is not creating martyrs, she is giving us hope."
Naruto laughed lightly, "Heh, for a minute there I didn't really get why she'd make you part of this group. You're important in your world right? Well, I guess that is the reason for it: you need to lead your people through this."
Hatsu nodded hesitantly.
This made Naruto smile, encouragement infused his voice with energy, "No problem! We're here to help you!"
"Indeed, it was what Mikado told us, the both of you have fought this before." The young king was becoming infected with Naruto's positivity.
Naruto momentarily struggled in his mind for the appropriate way to explain what had happened before, in simple terms, "We got it out of our world before. That seems to be what made it move on to somewhere else. But we'll do all we can to stop it once and for all! Right, Sasuke?"
A grunt was sounded and Naruto flashed a thumbs-up to Hatsu.
"Thankyou, Naruto-esteel, Sasuke-esteel." Hatsu bowed again, even lower this time.
"Oh, yeah, what does that mean?" Naruto questioned.
Hatsu seemed at once relieved and surprised by the question, "'Esteel' is a term used when addressing someone whom one is not very familiar with, in our world. It is a term of respect."
"Gotcha. Respect. We use similar things." At this, Naruto was struck with inspiration, "Hey, Emery, you should call Sasuke, 'Sasuke-chan' from now on!"
Sasuke blanched and turned on Naruto with a horrified expression.
"Sasuke...chan..." Emery tried the word.
"Yeah, yeah. It's what we use for people we really like." Naruto grinned with zealous deviousness, canines clipping over his bottom lip.
Emery giggled and bounced on her seat, humming a wordless tune, speaking the suffix '-chan' every now and then.
Murderous intent pervaded the space between two long-time friends, "Naruto.. I am going to make you feel pain."
"Sure ya are, bastard." Naruto knew Sasuke would be too busy keeping his eye on the unpredictable girl to lay a hand on him.
Deciding that Mikado would not appreciate bloody décor, Sasuke did his best to cleanse his mind of destructive thoughts. Instead, he looked back in the direction of the young emperor and saw Carmine smile. He wondered what kind of a person she was, to be First Advisor to a child of his position, 'That boy is so young but seems to understand everything that's going on. He must be a tough kid.'
Echoes of running footsteps suddenly flooded down the hallway leading to where the six were waiting.
"Aldehyde, you pathetic moron, get back here!" A childish shriek exploded into the room.
"Now, now; children shouldn't say such things." A cocky retort if there ever was one.
Two obscured bodies raced out of one door and into another.
Naruto slowly looked to Sasuke and blinked, "Eh... Sasuke-teme, who was th-?" And before he could finish his question, he was silenced by an airborne book.
Thrown to the wooden floor by the impact, and almost being trodden on as the bodies rushed back in and out through another different set of doors, Naruto marvelled at how his head seemed to become accustomed to such treatment. Even though he hadn't been the target this time, it hurt just as much.
Groaning as he pushed himself onto his knees, from where he had landed on his stomach, he yelled, "Why do people keep throwing books at me?!"
"You seem to be more annoyed by the fact that it's books that are hitting you, rather than actually being hit." Sasuke observed, having stood up from his chair to help Naruto from the floor.
From his slanted view-point, Naruto saw the black cat saunter away after being roused from its dozing.
"Ow, ow, ow..." standing after a split-second descent was becoming painful, too. Sasuke held on to Naruto's elbows tightly until Naruto was completely upright.
Naruto whirled around, almost smacking Sasuke in the jaw with his arm, "Ok, who did that?!"
'Ungrateful...' Sasuke scowled to himself.
Looking around the room now, Naruto couldn't see anyone other than those people that had already been there, but the two voices he had heard definitely didn't belong to any one of them. It was as he inspected the room for newcomers that he noticed it was circular. He found he couldn't remember if it had always been like that.
When he counted the doors that lead out of the room, he had to ask Sasuke whether or not he was going crazy, "Sasuke, were there always five doors on the walls- I mean, wall?"
Straightening himself from his crouched position on the floor, Sasuke held out the book he had retrieved to Naruto: 'Medicinal Herbs of the Onitsumo Valley: Volume VII'.
Sasuke seemed thoroughly amused, smirking at the look of disbelief on Naruto's face, "What a coincidence."
"Coincidence, my ass!" Naruto squawked and threw the book in a random direction.
"Hey, this wasn't cheap, you know!" All heads spun around at the sound of a new voice, sharp and tinted with exasperation.
Standing in the doorway directly behind the seat so far unoccupied, arms akimbo and face flushed with annoyance, stood a girl, holding up the manual Naruto had carelessly tossed aside. It began to disappear from sight, as if dissolving into thin air. She flicked her wrist and it was gone.
Eye-catching to say the least, her vesture consisted of a baby blue dress, cut to her knees and adorned with a mass of white lace around the hem, sleeves short and hanging just off of her shoulders; a white shirt underneath supplied long sleeves seemingly pieced together from lace cut-offs. She wore a white ribbon tied around her neck in a bow, which contrasted strikingly with her jet black hair, hoisted up by more white ribbons in pigtails, one either side of her head. Her legs carried a second skin of brilliant red that disappeared into black laced boots with pointed toes. Her pale pink lips, fair complexion and dazzling green eyes made her look like a pretty porcelain doll.
Sasuke blinked, 'Green eyes...'
From the doorway behind Naruto and Sasuke, came a darting blur of black. It shot between the two and raced straight up to the little girl, letting frantic meows fill the silence.
"Ah! Magic!" Her voice lost its edge and became a light tone, tinkling almost like small bells with its happiness, "Did you miss me, lovely?"
Reaching down to the black cat, she picked it up from the floor and clicked her tongue. She cradled it to her chest and began to stroke behind its ear lovingly. A moment later, she stopped. Her eyes narrowed and she looked at the centre of the round table.
Slowly, she held her hand out to the wall beside the doorway she stood in. The girl said, with a vacant expression and lowered eyelids, "Excuse me for my solecism." And she banged on the wall with her closed fist.
Without warning, another black blur fell from the infinite darkness above, descending like a missile but landing with the grace of a cat.
It was considerably larger than the first.
"Good evening, guests," the blur, that was in fact a man dressed entirely in black, bowed to the six with the bearing of prince, "and most detestable host." He leaned lower to present his behind in clear view to the girl in the doorway.
"Pig." She deadpanned, tempted to thrust a kick in his direction.
"Ah, excuse me?" Naruto considered the bewildered faces of his new comrades and took it upon himself to voice their thoughts, "Who are you?"
The man in black looked up. As he stood to his full height, Naruto was awed by how tall he was – almost a full head taller than Sasuke and therefore a head and a bit taller than himself. His black hair was long enough to touch his shoulders while pulled into a single tail high on his head. Sleek and thick, it was as straight as straight could be. His smooth bangs framed his face and tickled his chin of skin paler still than the girls'.
If his hair was ink, his skin was the parchment yet to be inscribed.
Sasuke was not able to hold the gasp that came with seeing this man's eyes: a rainbow of hues of blue. Dark, light, sky, ocean, azure, sapphire, cerulean. They stormed like thunder clouds and one glance would entrance the soul, leading it closer like a flame would a moth, before consuming it.
He couldn't look away.
The man smiled before a velvet voice drifted over his red carpet tongue and between pearl white teeth, "I am Aldehyde."
Naruto gulped, "Oh."
"You're scaring him. Stop being so forthright." The girl broke the spell that Aldehyde seemed to have woven.
"Forthright?" He turned on his heel and spoke with a pouting pretense of innocence.
"Aura. Down. Now." She threatened icily.
In that moment it became easier to breathe. Sasuke stepped back and made sure to take Naruto with him. He eyed the girl cautiously and stole Naruto's next question, "And you?"
Releasing the cat, she took a step forward and let her arms sweep through the air before her. Placing one foot daintily in front of the other, she grinned and replied, "My dear, I am Mikado."
Teaser for Chapter 7: Since Time Immemorial:
"I have chosen you because of the hardships you have faced and the bonds you have strengthened. I would entrust this to no others."
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She shook out the sheet and let it glide down to the mattress, "I'm afraid you two will have to share a bed. But that shouldn't be a problem, should it?"
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The slow drip of ice cold water echoed throughout the cavern, "I am glad that you are well... Sasuke-kun."
Please, read and review! Have I done any better in this chapter?