Chapter 6
Rain. He remembered the rain. It was almost cliche. Hands soaked in blood. His body moved on its own, holding her side and whispering encouraging words that were left almost unintelligible over the roaring of his heartbeat. He was just a passenger- a witness to his own memories. They haunted his sleep.
"Na... Naruto?"
"Shhh..." he said, touching a hand to the girl's lips. "Don't speak... Please don't talk... Save your strength, please!"
Blood flowed freely from around the hilt of a Kunai, lodged deeply in his love's chest. Naruto held a hand to the wound, afraid to pull the blade out and spill even more of her precious blood.
"Naru... Naruto... I can't-"
"You'll make it! I promise you! I don't go back on my promises-"
"Sakura!"
Red eyes shot open as his a dagger appeared in his hand in a defensive position. He scanned the room, taking in his surroundings. He was in a bed, in a room of some kind of building. Faintly so, he could hear music. An inn? His ears twitched. There was a closer sound. Breathing. Frightened breathing? He turned quickly to a darkened corner of the room, able to see just a small figure in what seemed like a sitting position. The blonde cursed the fact that his eyes hadn't adjusted yet.
"Who's there?" he gruffly called out, aiming the dagger to throw in case he was attacked. The shadow shuddered with movement as a young woman with reddish-brown hair was revealed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!" she said, placatingly holding her hands in the universal gesture of surrender. Naruto blinked in confusion as he slid the dagger back up his sleeve.
"Erm..." he started, "It's uhh... It's my fault... Old habits die hard, I guess." he said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. After a moment of silence, he awkwardly presented a hand to shake.
"Sorry 'bout that... I'm Naruto Uzumaki." he said, giving her an embarrassed grin. The brunnette returned the nervousness with a laugh as she took his hand and flashed him a shy smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Naruto. My name is Ysolda." she said as her hand dropped to the hem of her dress and held it tightly. They locked eyes for a moment, before she turned away and blushed lightly.
A nervous habit, most likely, Naruto mused as he sat up to a sitting position.
"Would you mind telling me how long I was out? I haven't collapsed like that in years..." Naruto said with a chuckle. Ysolda seemed to find that funny.
"Years? But you're so young!" Ysolda said, holding in a chuckle. "And it's only been a few hours at the most. Tell me, is it true? Do you know the Dragonborn?" she asked. Naruto stared at her in confusion...
"Oh! Yes, Arius and I are... Friends, I guess." he said. The guy was decent and could definitely hold himself in a fight... And he would have to be close to the dragonborn if he didn't want the Daedra on his tail.
"Wow! That's so interesting! What's he like?" She asked. Naruto groaned... Was she? No... It wasn't possible.
"He's handsome..." Ysolda said with a strange look. Naruto shuddered...
There... There are fangirls here? Why the hell did you send me here, Nocturnal?
"Well, I will let you rest, Naruto... It was a pleasure meeting you! And if you see your friend, Arius... Tell him to see Ysolda at the Bannered Mare." she said the last part with a wink. Naruto shuddered again, fearing for his friend's sanity.
He couldn't help it. Sitting at the bar of The Bannered Mare, Naruto stole another glance at his confused, and most likely overwhelmed companion, before letting out a small chuckle. The Dragonborn. The blonde snickered as he pulled a metal tankard to his lips and dunked it back. The burning liquid felt pleasant as it slid down his parched throat.
"You've been doing that all night..." The scarred man grumbled. Arius was doomed. Absolutely doomed. Naruto shook his head and snickered again. There was a reason he avoided fame... It made him easy to track. And for someone like him, that was something he didn't want.
"Yeah... Arius? I think you have a few fans." Naruto said, pointing a thumb behind them. Arius turned around on his stool to find a few young heads ducking behind a doorway. Arius flashed a smile.
"Nah, they're just kids. Kids always admire adventurers." the imperial said. Naruto shrugged.
"Whatever you say, mate. Just don't come running to me when you're swarmed by women and children." he said, chuckling at his own joke. Arius rolled his eyes and shoved the blonde.
"Don't be like that, Naruto." Arius said with a good natured smile. "Hey, Naruto... I believe I owe you a weapon, right?"
Naruto seemed to brighten up in a moment's notice. He'd always enjoyed finding new ways to destroy things... Weapons were just another one of those ways. The fox-eared youth watched as Arius pulled an ancient looking sword from his bag. The rusted blade itself seemed to be overly embellished with runic carvings and seemed more decorative than really effective in a fight.
"Here... I found it while getting that dragonstone out of some ruin. I lost the bet, so it's yours." he said, handing him the sword.
"I thought the deal was, 'Loser buys the winner a new weapon' not, 'Loser gives the winner a weapon they found in some dungeon." Naruto said with a grimace as he picked up the weapon and looked at it with barely restrained disdain. Was the imperial trying to get out of the bet?
"Ah," Arius said, his grin widening as he drew a finger across the sharp end of the blade. As his finger trailed the edge, a small flutter of frost fell from the blade. "But this blade is enchanted. Even if you don't want the blade, an enchantment can be learned from it and can be used to enchant another weapon."
Naruto's look of disappointment was soon replaced by intrigue. He'd gone against a bandit with an enchanted weapon... And he'd almost gotten taken out by him, too.. With a grin, Naruto took the sword and strapped it to his back.
"I think it'll suffice... This time." Naruto said with a lash of his tail. After a few moments, the grin lessened... "So... How do I enchant it, anyways?" he asked.
"Oh... I can't really explain it... You should go see the Court Mage up in Dragonsreach, he should be able to tell you." Arius said as he stood up from the bar, paid for his drink, and grabbed his pack from the ground beside his stool. "I should start my journey... I need to see the 'Greybeards' about being the Dragonborn..." the imperial said.
Naruto gave the man a halfhearted wave as he studied the blade it into the light, he could see the blue glow of magic reflecting from the surface of the blade. Even if the blade itself was trash, he'd bet the enchantment would be worth using. The blonde grinned as he put the blade back in its temporary place on his back, hanging limply from the improvised sheathe. And maybe after getting the enchantment... He could learn something about the magic here... As he stood up, Naruto looked back at the bartender.
"Hey... Do you know where I could learn some magic?"
50 gold lighter and much more on edge, Naruto found himself in the back of a carriage a few miles away from Winterhold. A loud crack sounded from the trees, pushing the already on edge Naruto over the cliff.
"Whatwasthat?" he all but shouted as he sank lower into the carriage. "It wasn't a ghost... Was it?"
One might assume that living as a spirit for a few millenia would desensitize him from his childhood fear of ghosts... Yeah, that never happened.
"What kind of adventurer is frightened by loud noises?" the driver, a heavyset man in dark clothes asked with a chuckle. Naruto petulantly stuck his tongue out at the back of the man's head when he turned around.
"An adventurer who's still alive." Nauto replied, before ducking back down as another loud noise echoed across the clearing.
"It's just the trees kid... The cold freezes the water inside the trees, slowly building the pressure until the wood cracks. That's the sound yer hearin'. Now get your ass on the seat, lad. You're driving me crazy."
Naruto has faced down nine bijuu simultaneously, slain a dragon, and killed people on a regular basis... But the very thought of ghosts still made him run elicited the same reaction it did when he was 12.
"Yeah," Naruto said, sitting back down on the seat. "You're right... Just the trees.
Ten minutes later, Naruto was dropped off at the edge of Winterhold, watching as the driver retreated back to Whiterun, muttering about stupid Khajiits...
"Not a khajiit..." he muttered as he turned towards the town. He shivered slightly as he walked through the rundown town. There where multiple buildings that showed signs of having burned down, or at least blown up. Other buildings were well maintained but showed their age. As he passed one of the ruins and turned a corner, he came face to face with the reason he was there.
The college of Winterhold proudly pierced the clouds (Low hanging though they were, the image was still impressive) with its three towers, one of which ended in a taller spire. It stood tall on its island of stone, connected to Whiterun by only its bridge. The bridge itself was almost as impressive as the college, with its large gateway and twisting walkway lit by magically powered beams of light. Stopping briefly to admire the view, Naruto studied the archway's carvings closer.
"I didn't expect anything like this..." he muttered.
"Whether it was expected matters not. You can't gain entry to the college."
Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned around to find himself nose-to-neck with a female High Elf with a smirk that screamed SELF ENTITLED! Naruto stared blankly at the woman before giving her a confused look.
"Umm... Why? It's a place of learning, isn't it? You mind repeating that, I could have sworn you just said-" the elf cut him off.
"That is indeed what I said." she said, smirking at his annoyance. Naruto glared at the yellow skinned woman.
"And why ever not?" he asked, his voice reverberating as he let out a small growl to get his point across. She remained unfazed.
"What is it you seek to gain from the college?" she asked with a teasing tone. It wasn't a flirtatious teasing, but the kind of teasing you get from someone who thinks themselves above everyone else.
"I want to learn about magic, why else would I want to go inside?" he asked, clearly aggravated by the woman's annoying behavior.
"Oh really? Why would you want to do that?" she asked, feigning interest.
"Because I need to use magic!" Naruto shouted. His ears flattened against his hair and his tail lashed angrily, brushing snow in every which way.
"That's a lousy reason..." she said, smirking in victory. Naruto had to resist the urge to punch the woman in the mouth and erase that stupid smirk.
"It's so I can protect my comrades, ok? Is that good enough?" he asked, breathing deeply to calm himself. The woman seemed satisfied with that answer.
"Then the school of alteration may have what you are looking for. But to gain entry, you need to pass a small test."
"What kind of test?" Naruto asked.
"The fury spell has saved the life of many a mage. Cast that spell at this here rune." she pointed to a carving of an eye on the floor. "And you may pass. If you do not have the spell, you may try a court mage or I can teach it to you... For a price."
Naruto sighed angrily as he dug out his coin purse and counted the coins. He had about 4... 500 coins give or take a few... He could probably afford it. But he just knew the irritating woman had been leading to this since the begining...
"Fine... How much?" he asked.
"30 Septims." she said, holding out a palm. Naruto gave her the coins and she smiled appreciatively. Fucking bitch.
"Alright... This will sting a bit." she said, before shoving her finger into his eye. Naruto instantly let out a scream of pain.
"Oh, stop whining... It's only pain, kid."
"You shoved your finger in my fucking eye! I should show you how it feels, bitch!"
"Shut up and cast the spell already." she commanded. Naruto, covering a bruised eye with one hand, and with the other, calling the spell out. It was an odd feeling to bear witness to for the first time, he mused. The first spell was easy to deal with, as all he did was call forth the only spell that was imprinted into his mind and push with his magicka. Now with multiple spells, there was a sort of... Fork in the road, so to speak. If he pushed the magicka left, he would use the lightning spell that he'd learned (And still didn't bother to learn the name of...) and if he pushed right, he'd cast the fury spell he'd just learned. It was an odd change from molding chakra... And a lot more complicated to explain, which was why people just accepted it.
Naruto fired the spell at the center of the eye and watched it glow for a brief moment before the high elf approached him.
"That wasn't so bad, was it? Well done! Now I will lead you to- Hey! Where you going?"
"Away from you..."
"Oh... Well Mirabelle will be waiting for you..." she said dejectedly. Was she just dense, or did she not know why he was freaked out?
At one point in Naruto's life it had been well known to many, friends and strangers alike, that anything of the academic variety would be hard pressed to stick in the young shinobi's head. This was a fact of life for the blonde, one that was quite easily accepted- as anyone who had difficulty comprehending the more complicated processes of life tended not to care for them.
On the other hand, when it came to the more abstract ideas, there were few who could compete with him. Naruto was a master of thinking up brilliant and unconventional plans while under pressure, a trait that was particularly invaluable in his former profession.
Yet, as he stood in the large auditorium-like room of the college, dressed in a ridiculously designed robe and hood, listening to a woman give a passionate speech about the "Validity of the School of Restoration", he couldn't help but feel his mind wander to more exciting things... Like the recreation of his chakra pools!
It wasn't as if he thought restoration magic was useless, as it seemed the few students who even chose to show up to the lecture seemed to believe, judging by their snickers and eye-rolling... But he'd long ago accepted his inability to perform any kind of healing technique, be it magic or jutsu.
So he continued to ponder, scratching his chin as he did so. Naruto pondered on the makeup of Magicka, wondering if it resembled the mental energies of chakra. He pondered on possible substitutes for physical energy- assuming Magicka resembled its counterpart. He pondered-
"You, New Student!"
Naruto ceased his pondering in bewilderment as he was rocketed back to the real world. His ears twitched as he pointed to himself.
"Uhh... Me?" he asked. The manic woman nodded gravely.
"Yes, Khajiit. You." she said, her eyes seemingly boring into his very soul. "I can see that for some reason, my lecture is boring you. Would you care to explain?"
At once, the blonde found himself at a loss for words.
"Well... You... Erm... I don't actually care all that much for Restoration magic..."
Perhaps that was the wrong thing to say...
"Restoration is a perfectly valid school of magic!" she all but yelled. The dozen or so students who stood around began to echo snickered whispers.
"I never said it wasn't!" Naruto petulantly shouted back. "Just that it wasn't for me!"
"Oh yeah? I'll prove how useful it is!" she said, before suddenly turning on her heels and leaving with a huff.
"I knew Colette was close to cracking, but this takes the sweet roll!" a young mage commented loudly, as they all left the auditorium. Naruto sighed in confusion... 30 minutes of attending the college, and he was already confused... Which he silently admitted was a new record for any scholarly pursuits.
XxXxX
"That your first lecture?"
Naruto spun around to find a young, red-headed Breton woman standing nearby. Naruto grinned.
"Yep! I hope others aren't that boring!"
"No, the other professors tend to be more..." she paused to think of a word. "More hands on, I suppose."
"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked.
"well, for example... Yesterday Tolfdir took myself and a few other students to a dig site to lend a hand..." she said. Naruto blinked... It wasn't what she said that made him curious, but how she said it. He felt there was a lot more to this "Field Trip" than what was mentioned.
"Is that all you did?" he asked, attempting to dig for info. The Breton hesitated.
"Y-yeah." she said, before changing the subject. "Anyways, my name is Mariette Lataille." she said, holding out a hand. Naruto took it.
"I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki..." he said as he shook her hand. "And I'm not a khajiit." he added with a twitch of his tail. She laughed.
"I never thought you were." Mariette said with a soft laugh. That was the very moment Naruto decided he liked her.
Okay, nonexistent members of my nonexistent cult, it is time to announce the winner of my poll!
…
…
It's Vampire Lord.
Tell me what you think in a review and I shall respond with post-haste!
This chapter, the 100th reviewer gets the special privilege of being mentioned in the next chapter, so… Review like you've never reviewed before!
Finally, I would like to apologize for the short length of this chapter, but I couldn't seem to fit much else into it. Next chapter will be out much sooner than this late update- although it was not the latest it had ever been- I assure you. Once again, rate me, review me, and hopefully love me.
-Kuromaru-kun