Okay! Back to Namine! It seems like I am only writing these chapters on trips! Currently writing in the car on my way to a water park... And watching 'Nim's Island'. Good inspiration.
...0o0o0o0...
Namine didn't understand. They were supposed to be safe weren't they? The cops would handle this. That's what they were there for. To protect people. Right? So why were they running from this person when the cops had expressed that they were handling it?
Still, Minato had acted pretty upset when he saw the picture she had drawn... had he seen the man before?
These thoughts ran through here head over and over as Namine got out her suitcases, duffel bags, backpacks and anything else that would hold her belongings out of the closet. Doing this, she went to her dresser and, as her dad told her, she only packed the clothes she didn't want to leave behind. She still edged a bit on the practical side, packing only one dress just because it was her favorite and mainly packing clothes she would take on camping trips- shorts, t-shirts, tanktops, and simple, sturdy clothing.
'Okay... what am I forgetting clothes-wise?...'
Snapping her fingers upon remembering, Namine went out in the hall and headed towards the garage where she kept her hiking boots.
On her way there, she walked past her dad's room. The door was slightly ajar so she was able to get a glance at what her father was doing... She stopped.
Stepping towards the door, she pushed it open a little more so she could get a better look at the scene.
Her dad wasn't packing. He was pulling stuff out of hidden compartment that she had no idea was under his bed. And it wasn't clothing, or supplies, or anything she expected; It was... scrolls. Lots of them. Of all different sizes.
"Daddy?"
Minato whipped around.
"Uhhhh..." Minato didn't quite know how to explain sealing to his daughter who thought chakra only existed in the stories he used to tell her when she was little. "I'll explain later, honey. Could you do me a favor?"
"... okay..." Namine replied, unsure as to how to respond to this kind of situation.
"Go into the garage and get all that rock-climbing supplies I got for our trip to Colorado. And get some lanterns, flashlights, the cooler, and all the batteries you can find..." he paused for a moment. "Oh! And I know this is a high order, but do you think you could get the solar panels down from the roof?"
Namine blinked in surprize. The solar panels? What did her dad want with the solar panels? She was starting to think that her dad was going a little crazy.
"Dad?... Are you feeling okay?" she asked, putting her hand on his forehead, checking for a fever.
Reading her mind, Minato replied, "I'm fine, sweetheart. Listen, I know I'm acting a little crazy right now, but you have to understand..." he thought for a moment, trying to think of something his daughter would believe. "It's about where me and your mother came from."
Namine snapped to attention. Her father had never said anything about where they came from. Never. Never about why she didn't know who her grandparents were, never about why Minato had a slight accent that she could never identify, anything.
Deciding to believe her father for the mean-time, Namine walked out of the room to finish packing a do as her father asked.
Minato turned back to his work, sighing in relief. 'At least she's cooperating... I'm glad she didn't notice the kunai, though- That would have been impossible to explain.'
...0o0...
Namine just simply didn't know what to think. Plain and simple.
She had done as her father asked and gotten all of the rock-climbing equipment into the living room and then gotten all of the flashlights, lanterns and batteries she could find. She was now on the roof unplugging the solar panels from the wiring on the roof.
'But what does he want with these? They won't do us any good on a trip, they'll just slow us down.'
Unplugging the last cable, she crawled carefully down to the ladder with one panel under her arm. She was trying to be careful, but it was still dark at 4 am. And she was dog tired.
'Daddy, what are you thinking?'
...0o0...
Namine came back inside after taking the solar panels down from the roof. She walked down the hallway into her bedroom... and found her dad unrolling one of the larger scrolls on the floor.
"Daddy, what are you doing?" she asked. This was just getting too weird. And she dealt with a lot of weirdness from her dad on a daily basis.
"Is this all you have packed?" he asked, not answering Namine's question. "I know I told you not to pack a lot of clothes, but that's not a lot of stuff." he said, gesturing to Namine's small pile of bags and suitcases by her bed.
"I figured since you said not to pack those things, I should pack light. Besides, the van isn't big enough to fit everything."
Minato, who was kneeling next to the large scroll that he had rolled out, turned back to the scroll which had an intricate design on it in a diamond pattern. Namine had no idea what it was for.
"Hand me one of your suitcases, will you?" Minato asked, holding out his hand.
Namine did so and Minato set the suit case down so that it was centered on one particular design in the large diamond pattern. "Another one, please."
They did this until there was a bag or suitcase on every design on the scroll (Minato had run into the other room to get some of his baggage so that he could fill the places where there wasn't a piece of luggage). Then Minato stood up straight and brought his hands together so that it looked like he was praying, then leaned foreward and bent his knees and slammed his hands, palms down, on the scroll.
POP! And a cloud of smoke.
Namine jumped in surprise. And started waving the smoke away with her hand. "What the- Dad?"
The smoke dissipated quickly and Minato stood up, looking quite proud of himself.
The luggage was gone.
Namine blinked. Then rubbed her eyes. Then pinched herself. To no effect. They had dissapeared.
"Haha, very funny, dad. How'd you do that?" she asked, thinking this was some sort of magic trick.
"I only activated the seal. Ingenious thing your mother came up with- you don't need chakra to seal things inside it; the chakra's already there. You just need to flip the 'on' switch." he said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
Except that that was one of the most rediculous things Namine had heard come out of his mouth yet.
"Chakra? Dad, that's that magic stuff that you used to tell me about when I was little. It's not real!"
"Actually, it's very real." her dad replied, rolling up the scroll. "All that I told you about was true."
You can kind of imagine what must have been going through the teen's head.
"... Dad..."
Immediately noticing his daughter's change in tone, Minato stood up, walked over to Namine, put both of his large, calloused hands on her shoulders and said, "Get the rest of your stuff. Your computer, your books, your... your folders with the drawings in them. Especially those. I'll bring up some boxes from the garage."
'That's it. My dad is going too far! Is this some sort of twisted joke? Has he finally up and lost it?' Namine wondered as her dad stepped out of the room to prepare more storage scrolls. Namine brought her loose braid around in front of her and started pawing at it while biting her right thumb, which was something she only did in situations where she had no idea what was going on.
'Okay, he's gotta be having some sort of mental break-down or something. I mean, I know that he kinda just made a bunch of stuff dissapear... but that had to be some kind of trick to get me to go along with him in this... this... I-don't-know-what!'
Pacing the floor, Namine contemplated what she was going to do to get her father to see reason. Should she talk to him? No... he was too busy with whatever it is that he's doing to listen to her. Should she call somebody? The police? A shrink? The mental hospital? No, that would bring hell to their door what with people already being suspicious of Minato due to his knowledge (or rather, lack there-of) of normal American society, strange habits, weird accent, and no background for anyone to know of.
She stopped pacing. 'What if I hit him over the head with something, knocking him out, and tie him to a chair and interogate him until he tells me what's wrong, why is he doing this, and how the HELL did he make those bags dissapear?'
She thought about it for a split-second. 'No way. I couldn't hurt him like that! Besides, he's so strung-up and tense right now, I wouldn't be able to sneak up on him if I tried-'
She felt a pinch on her neck and she was out like a light.
Minato caught his daughter before she hit the ground and carried her to their mini-van park outside.
As he laid her down on the back seat, he made sure she wasn't going to fall off, then brushed a few strands of hair from her face and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I looked at you pacing in your room and knew what you were thinking. I know everything sounds crazy to you right now, but I promise I'm going to make everything okay."
Then, after making sure that she was settled, he closed the door to the car, locked it (just in case) and went back inside to finish packing.
...0o0o0o0...
Another chapter DONE. And none too soon... Sorry about the several months long delay, guys... ^^;
Anywho, I have decided to write a prequel to this story: I figured there was way too many things that never got said. Like how did Minato find out about earth? How did he get here? How was he able to learn english, get an education and a job, a house, and everything? Where was Namine during all this time? I figured it would be perfect for another story.
Although, I'm having a few gaps in the time-line, so if any of you have any suggestions as to what Minato would do upon his arrival on Earth, be my guest to REVIEW and tell me your ideas. Specifically, I need the exact LOCATION of his arrival (New York City, middle of Arizona, Mexico? I need ideas!)
Also
Should I leave the story here for a while and write the prequel as the next few chapters, or should I write it as a whole new story and expand on it more? Answer in your REVIEW!
