Disclaimer: I don't own a damn thing except my life, and I may even be close to losing that by choice.
Rating: R
Mage: Well it took me long enough to write this damn thing. I thought I'd never get through chapter ten, but here it is. They finally make it to the land of mystics, and it's much better than they thought.
Chapter 10: Introductions
Just before sunrise, Kagayoku slept soundly in her bed with Amadare curled up in a ball, snuggled agaisn't her. Kagayoku streched in her sleep and prepared to turn around when the sound of a horn sounded througout the entire ship, making everyone who slept jump up and either scream or fall out of bed. In a room down the hall Naruto did both. The sound continued, scaring a still slightly asleep Naruto, and he jumped back into bed, where he grabbed onto Sasuke.
"What the hell is that!" Naruto asked, not knowing whether to prepare for an attack or hide under his bed. His question was answered when Amadare burst into the room through the door, carrying her clothes in one hand, her shoes in the other, still wearing her sleepwear and looking utterly flustered.
"Get up you two!" She said to them, turning on the lights in the room. "Thats the arrival horn! We have only twenty minutes to shower, get dressed and eat before we make it to the land. Now get up!"
She ran out the room and headed to the nearest bathroom. The now overjoyed Naruto jumped out of bed and did as he was told. Within minutes, everyone was awake, running around the boat trying to get ready at the same time. While he ran down the staris to find his shoes, Nartuo crossed paths with Kakashi and burst into laughter.
"Whats so funny!" He asked the blond. Naruto pointed to his chest and Kakashi cursed himself. Instead of having on his vest, like he thought he did, he was actually wearing one of Amadare's bra's, which he mistakenly grabbed in the rush. "Crap! I thought this was my - Where is that girl!"
Luckily Amadare dashed down the hall and up the stairs, and couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Kakashi, and they laughed at her. She wore Kakashi's vest instead of the bra.
"How did this happen?" She wondered.
Kakashi shook his head, "If only I knew." She began to remove the vest, "Wait a minute! Please tell us you're wearing something under that!"
"Nope. It dosen't matter, you two are queers anyway. It'll have no effect on you."
"You should talk about queer."
"Oh, shut up," She said casually, stripping off the vest and handing it to Kakashi, who in return, removed the black, lacey bra. "Thank you." She dashed off into the nearest room.
Meanwhile, Iruka wasn't much better off. His hair was a mess and he couldn't seem to find his backpack to retrieve a fresh pair of clothes. "Where is it!" He was fresh out of the shower, and all he had on was a towel wrapped around his waist. He didn't want to walk around in that all day. "Arghhh! Why can't I find it!"
"Looking for this?"
He turned and saw Kakashi standing in front of the doorway to his room, with his backpack. Kakashi looked at the near naked Chunin and smiled. His hair was an appealing mess, his skin was damp, his cheeks were flushed, and he looked adorable.
"Where did you get that!" Iruka yelled.
"I found it in the bathroom upstairs. Someone must have thought it was theirs and taken it. Everyone is in such a rush."
He grabbed the bag from Kakashi and smiled, "Tell me about it. Why exactly are we in a rush?"
"Daiya said something about the villagers meeting us at the drop off point. I guess she wants us all to make a great impression."
"Well then, I guess thats another reason for me to get my bird's nest of hair done." He grabbed for his his brush, and then began the search for his comb, "Ain't this some shit! Now I can't find my - Oh, I found it."
"I like your hair like that. It suits you. Makes you stand out a bit more."
Iruka smiled, "Thank you. I'm glade to see you're not wearing that hidious mask." Kakashi hadn't put in his mask yet, but his headband was still over his sharingan eye.
"Is the mask that horrible?"
"...Well...I mean..It's not...that bad."
"Now, be honest."
"You should rip it to shreds and burn it to ashes."
"Hmm...Maybe thats not a bad idea. I should finish getting ready so, see you in a bit."
"Okay."
In Hane's room, things were a bit more complicated.
"Young lady!" Daiya scolded Hane. "You put some clothes on right this minute!" Hane ran around her room au natural, while her mother tried to get her clothes on.
"But mama," Hane whined. "I don't want to wear any clothes."
"Sweetie, you know the rules. No running around naked until we get home. The villagers will be waiting for us, and I'd like them to see you wearing one of your new kimono's. How about the lavender one?"
Hane relented, "Okay. I'll wear it."
"Good girl. Now come here and let me get you dressed and ready. Goodness, your hair is a mess."
Amadare ran into the room, holding a pancake in one hand, a sasusage in her mouth, a cupcake in her other hand, and a tube of syrup balanced in between her breast, "Where ish Kakashoku?" She asked, trying to talk with the sausage in her mouth.
"She's in the bathroom helping Hato," Daiya answered. "I take it breakfast is ready?"
"Yesh. Have yoush sheen my shoes?"
"I believe they are in your bathroom sweet heart."
She swalloed the sausage whole, then the cupcake, pankcake and then drunk the syrup, "Thank you!" She said running out of the room. Luckliy her shoes were there and she tried to slip them on while going down the stairs, to the kitchen. Suddnely she lost her balance and headed head - long to the floor. Kagayoku appeared just in time, and caught her before she hit the ground. "Thanks a lot," Amadare said.
"You have to be more careful, koi," She put Amadare down. "You could really hurt yourself one day."
The young woman pouted, "I know, I'm sorry. Have you seen Naruto?"
"He's in the dining area eating with Sasuke, and Sakura."
"Oh great, she's there," She said sarcasticly.
"Be nice tenshi. It isn't the proper way for a mystic to act."
"Okay, I won't be mean or anything."
"Thank you, koi." She kissed her cheek and walked off to find Hato. She didn't notice that Amadare had her fingers crossed behind her back.
They were all able to eat a small breakfast just before the ships horn sounded once again. Amadare jumped up and grabbed Naruto, "We're here!" She said with glee. "We're finally here!" Naruto shared in her excitement and Sasuke smirked at the two.
"Amadare dear," Daiya said picking up Hane, "You must compose yourself." They followed her to the top deck, and Naruto immediatly ran to the railings, to get a look at the country, "Hey!" He yelled. "There's nothing there! There's nothing but water out there! I thought you said we make it by sunrise! In case you didn't notice, the freakin sun is shinning bright!"
Kagayoku laughed at him, "There's a reason you can't see anything. There is an illusion on our country. It's another way we keep our existence a secret." Kakashi raised his headband off his eye and looked. "Don't waste your time," She told him. "Not even the power of a sharingan eye can penetrate the spell."
He covered his eye once again, "I should have known. So how exactly do you lift the illusion?"
"Easily. Amadare, you know what to do."
She nodded, "You go it!" She made a few symbols with her hands, before making the symbol of the chameleon (Mage: I haven't seen that symbol, so I don't know if it's used in the manga, but then again, some of this stuff, I made up. I want most of it to be original.). Oddly enough, her entire body began to glow faintly and she chanted:
Goddess of the flames
And goddess of the deep
Reveal to us the secret, that it is we seek
Unlock the illusion here and now
What was once lost, now must be found
Like a mirage, the illusion before them began to fade, until finally, all was revealed.
"WHOA!" Naruto and Iruka said, as the the country came into complete sight. In the center of the land, they could clearly make out the very top of what appered to be a palace or a temple. The entire country seemed to be made of gold, as it shinned and sparkled in the sunlight. They could just make out the shapes of beautifly built houses, and landmarks. When the ship began to pull up into the villages dock, they could see crowds of people clapping loudly at the sight of the ship. The closer the ship sailed, the more amazing the land looked. Never would they have believed a place like that existed.
It was a type of town that looked so incredable, you would only believe it existed in stories or myths. Nothing that could ever be reality. 'But it is reality,' Naruto thought happily. 'And I'm apart of it.' He looked at the excited smiles on everyone's face and he himself smiled. He new the trials and tribulations that lie ahead of him, but he also knew he'd have his friends and his new friends, and of course Sasuke, by his side. And no matter what type of weird, insane or freakishly ugly people he had to overcome, he knew they would be there with him. And that was the thought that always kept him going in his village, and that was the thought that would always keep him going. The ship finally pulled completely up to the dock, and the cheers of the people was deafening, but Naruto and the others were to busy noticing the beautiful land they were stepping into, that they paid little attention to the noise.
"I hope you prepared your speech," Kagayoku whispered to him as they walked down the platform that lead off the boat.
Naruto looked at her, "Speech?...what?...what are you talkin about?"
Kagayoku grinned, "Surely you don't believe all these people are here to greet just me?"
"Actually I do."
Her grin turned into a smile, "Well you're wrong. They're here for you."
"What! No way."
"Yes way. Don't you understand? You are the only hope for the earths survival. Within you lives the most powerful of the spirit protecters. Even if we found the others, without you, the it would be useless. You are the main piece to the puzzle."
Naruto understood her completly. He had understood from the beggining, but he still didn't like the fact that he had to talk in front of so many people. When they reached the bottom of the platform, and they're feet finally touched solid earth, Kagayoku allowed the crowd a few more moments to hoot and holler, before she raised her hand. Almost immediatly the crowd silenced. Kagayoku said a few words about how happy she was to be back home, elicting another long cheer from the crowd. Once she introuduced Naruto, they were eerily quiet once again.
She pushed Naruto forward and he stood there quietly for some time, letting his eye's scan the crowd. He had no idea what to say, so he tried his best. He cleared his throat, "Hi...I..well you already know my name and all...but...Look, I know you are probably looking for a long and well thought speech, but I'm sorry to say, that's not what you're getting. All I can say is that I know why I'm here, and I know what I have to do. I can't guarentee a victory of any kind, but I can say that I'll do my best to make sure the earth is around for a few more billion years. I'm not going to lie to you. I have no idea how we're going to do it, but we will. And I can't promise you no one will be hurt, or worst yet, killed." He turned around and looked at Sasuke and the others. "I can't even be sure that the one's I love will make it out of this with their lives, but I do now that I'm going to give this mission my all...or die in the process. And...that's all I have to say."
For a moment the crowd was silent, and then, all at once, they cheered even louder than they had before. He smiled and sighed in relief, taking there clapping as a sign he did a good job. Kakashi patted him on the back, "That as great!" He said, screaming over the noise. "The Hokage couldn't have done a better job!"
Sasuke smiled at him, "He's right. You were amazing."
Kagayoku nodded, "See? You didn't need time to prepare anything. Now, lets get to the palace and move onto step two."
"And that is?" Naruto asked.
"Don't worry. Nothing to important."
"Do we get to eat when we get there?"
Kagayoku laughed, "Sure. Why not?"
Mage: Ughh! I'm so sleepy! It's past midnight, and I have to wake up at six in the morning for school, but I just needed to get this chapter out of the way. Hope you like it. I would get chapter 11 out of the way, but I'm exaushted! And my butt and legs have already fallen asleep so now I have to figure out a way to get from my coumputer to my bed. Maybe I'll just sleep on the floor...