Chapter Six: Contemplations

As soon as Tora's eyes fluttered open, she was out of her bed. She rushed through her series of morning rituals and hurried out of her room, but only to bump into a rock-hard chest.

"Ow!" Tora cried with her hands over her throbbing nose.

"Oopsie! Sorry." Tatsu pushed her back into her room and the doors closed behind him. "So what's with the balcony dilemma lest night?"

"None of you business!" Tora muttered, trying to push him out of her way; he was just too heavy and persistent. "How did you get to know about it anyway?"

"Rikiya."

Urgh! Stupid all-listening dragons! Tora was losing her temper, as always. She usually controlled her explosive bad temper, but as of lately, she'd slowly lost control of her temper.

I heard that! Saphira chuckled.

"Fine. If you don't wanna tell anything, I'll be on my way." Tatsu was halfway through the doorway when Tora interjected.

"Ride with me."

The morning sunlight shined on the lake beside the village. The tall spires of the castle reflected perfectly on the still surface of the lake. The lake was like a flawless mirror, the surface much like glass.

At least it was until two dragons flew over the surface, their claws barely touching the watery surface. Foam marked their trails and then disappeared. The two magnificent dragons were like dragonflies soaring over a pond.

Saphira and Rikiya whirled and twisted midair, their grace and flexibility a huge wonder to the ninjas who were watching them below.

Naruto was staring with his mouth agape. "Th – those are dragons? They are huge!"

"Well, what did you expect them to be?" Sakura grumbled, watching her sister and her dragon parade across the sky.

"Well, I expected them to be big, but not huge." Naruto's eyes stayed glued to the sky.

Sasuke was watching the dragons, too. His face was as impassive as ever but his eyes showed how impressed he was.

Suddenly, there was a 'poof' of smoke, sending the ninjas into defensive mode immediately.

"Hey there!" Kakashi appeared through the smoke. He had one hand in his pocket and the other giving them a slight wave of greeting.

"Kakashi sensei! Will you stop doing that already?" Naruto wailed, his voice much like a banshee's.

The ninjas had been super-jumpy since they arrived in Alagaësia. Visiting a totally different world when your own world is in chaos can do that to a person sometimes.

"You'll get used to here in time." Kakashi looked up at the azure sky. To be more specific, he was watching the dragons dancing above. "Beautiful way to start a morning, isn't it?"

"Yeah…" Sakura sighed, her eyes following the blue- and red-scaled lizards, wistful.

"You ever seen one of those up close?" Sasuke questioned, his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling them both against a tree trunk.

"I've seen the blue one before." Sakura rested her head back against his chest. "Her name's Saphira. The elves call her Brightscales. She's centuries old and Tora's dragon.

"What about the red one?" Sasuke went on, content to hear her voice talking to him.

"Well, that is Rikiya, Tatsu's dragon. I didn't see much of him 'cause… I don't know. Tatsu is eight years older than me, so he was training in Ellesméra when I was born. Maybe that's the reason. But he is always good with me."

"Hm… Ellesméra is the elven city, right?" Sasuke's eyes were on the dragons, but his ears only heard Sakura's voice – and Naruto's bickering, too. He was shouting at Kakashi; something about dragons and ramen.

"Yeah." Sakura looked up at him. "How did you know that?"

"Itachi. He knows a lot," Sasuke hesitated, his eyes darting towards Naruto and Kakashi who were still debating about dragons and ramen. "Maybe a little too much."

Sakura stared at him, confusion colouring her face. "What do you mean?"

"Last night."

"Oh that! Do you think they know each other?"

"There's no other explanation, is there?"

"Well…"

Sasuke gave her a pointed look and Sakura couldn't help coinciding. What else could explain it better? She'd heard Tora yell at him. Tora was pretty formal with people she didn't know, but Itachi must be some 'ghost from the past' for her.

That sounds creepy, what with the fact he already died once. Sakura inwardly shuddered. It was still hard to accept that Itachi had returned from the dead. Come to think of it, Sasuke must feel like this all the time.

Sakura looked up at Sasuke. He was watching the dragons. Under all that wonder directed at the dragons, Sakura could distinguish pain in his eyes. A pain he was concealing, as always.

Sakura sighed. Troubles never seem to leave them be.