Chapter Three: The Legend
"What?" Rox started, looking at her dragon with wide eyes. "How? Why?"
"EEK!" Ronnie yelped, jumping up as her dragon rolled of her stomach into her lap. It let out a confused yelp. "I'm sorry," she breathed quickly, reaching down to situate the baby lizard correctly. "I just wasn't expecting you."
They watched in silent amazement as four of the baby dragons hopped into the center of the circle. Lynne's stayed behind as he wrapped himself around her hands. The other four started playing and tugging at each other before the purple one beat his wings twice, and blasted the other three with a small gust of wind. The red one recovered first, jumping on him. The purple one kicked her off, then jumped into the sky, his beating wings keeping him afloat. The girls gawked, seeing the other dragons figure out their wings and start zipping through the air.
"We have to tell someone," Fred said first, watching the lizards fly around.
"What are we going to tell them?" Rox challenged, shooting her oldest friend a deranged look. "That while we were walking through the forest, these stones tried to kill us, but they weren't actually stones, they just happened to be dragon eggs? So now we own dragons?! No!"
"Well, what are we going to do?" Fred asked. She added, a little at a loss, "I don't even know how to care for a dragon."
"Do we know that they are dragons?" Lynn asked, holding hers in her hands as he wrapped himself around her wrist.
"Really Lynne?" Ronnie balked. "They're flying lizards. That's the definition of dragon." Just as she said that, the red one hiccupped, and a small flame shot out. Ronnie pointed to it, saying, "And that one breaths fire."
"Shut up!" Cordi yelled, not able to listen to all the bickering anymore. Everyone turned to look at her, even the dragons, who seemed to be flying around playing tag. She took a deep, calming breath, then suggested, "We can just keep them hidden. When they grow too big, we simply hide them in a local forest. Considering this place is surrounded by forests, it won't be that difficult. We just need to make sure it's a forest that no one goes into."
Everyone nodded in agreement, except for the dragons, who continued their game, Ronnie's, though, was starting to tire and landed. "So, while we're hiding them in our rooms, keep eyes and ears open for forests no one goes into," Lynne offered with a shrug. It seemed like a stupid plan, but not entirely implausible. Then Lynne looked at Ronnie's dragon and stated, "You might want to put that one in water. It looks like a beached whale." It did, too. It looked like it was about to pass out or something.
Ronnie nodded and quickly left with her dragon.
"Well, we should leave too. I need to hide my dragon before Gaara and the rest of the Sand siblings return," Cordi replied. She whistled for the dragons to look at her and started walking away. Her dragon quickly hurried beside her.
The rest of the group also decided to return to their homes.
Ronnie quickly went to the bathtub and lifted her hands to turn the taps on. But before her hand reached the knobs, the faucet started to run. Confused by this, she immediately cocked her head. She may be a little moronic at times, but she was pretty sure this was not normal, but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. She quickly ran to grab her dragon and placed it in the water. Suddenly, it looked alive again. Its big blue eyes gleamed up at her. Cutely, it began to swim happily in the small tub.
Ronnie smiled at it. "Now, what should we call you? Well first I need to know if you are a girl or a boy," she contemplated. Suddenly the color pink flashed through her mind. That confused her, because she wasn't even thinking of colors.
Suddenly she heard it growling, which worried her, until she saw its face. Its eyes were screwed up in a concentrated look. "Gggggrrrrrrrr – rrrrrllll. Grl, gur – rill," it seemed to growl.
"Girl?" Ronnie asked. It nodded in return. Ronnie smiled, leaning her cheek on her fist as she beamed down at the dragon, "Well, in that case, how about Nessie? You look kind of like a water dragon, and the only water dragon … thing … I can think of is the Lochness Monster. What do you think?" It seemed to give a polite smile, which was kind of scary, and nodded its approval. "Alright then. Nessie."
Suddenly, Ronnie noticed how wet the front of her legs felt. She looked down and saw she was in a huge puddle of water. "SHIT!" she gasped as she tried to turn the faucet off. But they wouldn't turn. Then she remembered that she hadn't turned them on. The faucet had turned on by itself. Now was the time to panic, she realized while more water spilled onto the floor, flooding the apartment. Nessie jumped out of the tub and used the apartment floor as a slip n' slide. Nessie loved the flooding.
Thinking quickly, Ronnie unplugged the drain of the bathtub, letting some water flow away, but it was still over flowing. Scared at what might happen if the apartment kept flooding, she started to cry. "I want this to stop! Please stop! Just STOP!" she screamed.
She felt Nessie nudging her leg, and she turned her teary blue eyes toward her little dragon. Then she heard the bathtub empty and noticed the faucet was no longer running. She looked at Nessie and asked, "Did you do that?" It shook its head innocently and pointed a webbed claw towards her. "I did this?" she asked. Nessie nodded. Ronnie laughed and said, "That's not possible." Suddenly a picture of a faucet running flashed through her mind, and she took a hint.
Ronnie looked at the bathtub faucet and thought of water running from it, and it happened. "Stop," she commanded and the water stopped. Surprised by this turn of events she laughed and breathed, "You have got to be kidding me."
As soon as Cordi got to the Sand Siblings' suite, she went to find a place for her dragon to hide. Quickly she placed it on her bed and held up both hands toward it and said, "Stay here!" It nodded in reply and curled up on the bed. Cordi chewed the inside of her cheek as she tried to think. She was sharing a room with Temari while they were here for the tournament. This wouldn't work. Temari was bound to notice a strange flying lizard chilling in their room. Cordi rubbed her fingers over her jaw, trying to think quickly. The sand siblings would be back anytime now. What did they say they were doing?
"What the hell is that?" she heard ask. Cordi spun, seeing Temari walking from the bathroom, her body wrapped in a towel, and her blonde hair wet and dripping on her shoulders. Temari's green eyes were trained on the small dragon, curled up on their bed.
"Uh…" Cordi couldn't form words, staring at the eldest Sand sibling blankly. "What are you doing here?"
"I asked my question first," Temari said coolly.
"Right," Cordi chirped, looking at the red dragon. "That is a baby dragon." She said each word slowly, and clipped, clearly not sure how else to explain it. Temari frowned, eyeing Cordi carefully, her expression demanding more information. Cordi shrugged, "I was out hanging with my friends, when these weird stones fell out of the sky, which turned out to be dragon eggs, so now we have dragons. Which was supposed to be a secret."
Temari raised a quizzical brow at her explanation then looked at the dragon. She leaned down and poked at it, and it looked up, then hissed, spreading its wings to appear big.
Cordi jumped in, her hands up, "No, no. It's ok. She's ok." She picked up the lizard, saying, "Sh. It's ok." The dragon refused to remove its gaze from Temari, occasionally flicking its black tongue out toward her. They were silent for a moment before Cordi looked at Temari and begged, "Please don't tell Gaara."
Temari shot her an incredulous look. "He's going to find out eventually."
"I know," Cordi huffed. "Just, until I know more about what raising a dragon entails, I don't want him to know." She looked down at the dragon in her hand that nuzzled at her wrist. She gave it a small, bleak smile, stating, "I feel like it chose me." She rolled her eyes, realizing how stupid that sounded. "Or something."
Temari breathed. "Fine."
Cordi let out a sigh of relief. "Ok. Do you mind watching her for a bit? I figured I needed to get started on dinner before Gaara and Kankuro get back."
Temari frowned. "You know none of us expect you to cook or anything, right?"
Cordi sighed, "I have to earn my keep somehow. I know last night was a little rocky with my outburst …"
"But my brothers can be jerks," Temari stated. "I heard what they were saying too."
Cordi forced a smile, "I'm over it. It was just really disappointing." Temari quirked her head, and Cordi explained, "I've been reading about you all since I was eleven. Maybe that means I've built you all up in my head. Made expectations of you that I shouldn't have."
"Maybe," Temari sighed. She smiled a little as she added, "To be fair, I think you scared Kankuro."
"Not Gaara?" Cordi replied with a smirk.
Temari gave a tight smile as she said, "I think that's impossible. Nothing scares him."
"Not that you've seen," Cordi replied.
Temari gave her a curious look then said with a shrug. "Look, just make us some tea, and we'll discuss how to keep this," she gestured to the dragon snuggled in the girl's arms, "under wraps."
Cordi nodded, putting the dragon back on the bed, and going out to the kitchen in the suite. It wasn't a large kitchen, but it had a kettle for tea, and a small gas stove with two eyes. She filled the kettle, then set it on the eye. She turned the switch for the gas on, and it clicked a few times when Cordi growled, "Come on, light!"
Light it did. A pillar of fire shot up from the stove. Wide-eyed, Cordi turned the eye off, but the flame didn't go away. "TEMARI!" Cordi yelped, starting to rummage around for a fire extinguisher, only to see her hand was on fire. But she didn't feel like she was burning.
This made Cordi scream. She quickly turned on the sink, running her hand under the water, but the flames still licked at the air. "Shit SHIT!" she squealed. Suddenly she heard the smoke alarms go off, and she let out a groan. All she was trying to do was turn the stove on. Today was just not her day.
Suddenly she saw Gaara bust through the door, his eyes wide as he saw the burning pillar of fire. Thinking quickly, she ordered, "USE YOUR SAND!"
"What?" he asked. He couldn't understand half of what she said due to the roar of the fire.
"YOUR SAND! SMOTHER IT WITH YOUR SAND!" she yelled. He understood this time, and threw up a hand spraying sand all over the stove and counter top. The pillar of flame was gone, but the ceiling was nicely singed.
"What the hell happened?" he asked her confused.
She held up both her hands in a shrug and said, "I don't know." Then she noticed in the hand that had been on fire under the faucet, she held a fireball. Her eyes got really wide, and she started screaming again. "PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!" She was about to try and shake them off her hands when Gaara grabbed her wrists and dragged her over to the sink, turned it on and ran her hands under it. The fire still raged on her hand.
"Are you controlling this?" Gaara growled.
"I don't know," Cordi wept, the stress of the situation getting to her. Suddenly, Temari jumped out of their room, a fire extinguisher aimed at both of them, and sprayed. The kitchen was smoky again, and now both Gaara and Cordi were covered in white foam from head to toe.
Temari dropped the extinguisher, her shoulders drooping.
Cordi breathed raggedly, feeling Gaara's hand still around her wrist. It was warm, but rough. She realized he was likely using his sand armor to keep from being burned. "I'm sorry," she sniffled. She pulled her wrist back, looking at Gaara, and resisted the urge to suddenly smile as he stared at her, half of his face and body covered in foam.
"Are you alright," he asked, his face serious.
She couldn't do it. The absurdity of the whole moment got to her, and she began to laugh. Even Temari began to laugh, carefully shutting the door to their room as she did it. Gaara frowned, as Cordi reached up. He didn't move, but was clearly tense as she pulled some extinguishing foam from a spike of his hair. Cordi let out a small snort at his expression, and she stated, "You look ridiculous."
He scowled, stepping away from her, shaking the foam off his hands, and brushing his shoulders. Cordi lifted a hand to help him, and he shot her a cold look. "You were controlling that fire, I have no doubt. So until you learn to control that power properly, it might be best to keep your hands at their side." She gave a small nod, and he made a move toward his room. "I'm going to clean up, and then we will be going to dinner." He shot Temari a look, who nodded sheepishly. Cordi looked at her and noticed the eldest sand sibling was still in her towel.
Temari shot her an arched look, and all Cordi could do was shrug.
Roxanne got back to her apartment and shut the door right behind her. Today had been a very trying day. She let out a sigh, but as soon as she let it out, a huge gust of wind erupted from somewhere and wrecked her apartment. Chairs were tossed and papers flew. She looked around confused as she held her breath and everything fell in chaotic places. She sucked in her breath in a gasp and everything flew back at her. She squealed and dodged as best as she could.
Meanwhile her dragon was making a weird sound. When she looked at it, she saw it clutching its stomach with its fore legs and pointing a wing at her, rolling around in the air. Rox got the distinct impression that he was laughing at her. Not just chuckling, but guffawing, wheezing and all. Her eyes narrowed at the little dragon and she growled, "Shut up."
She walked back to her bedroom to relax a bit. Once the dragon calmed down a bit, it joined her, giving her one of the most innocent looks she had ever seen. "I have to give you a name," she stated. The dragon nodded. "Well what are you a boy or a girl?"
"Boy," it said in a high-pitched rough voice. Roxanne's eyes went wide.
"You can talk?" she asked in a surprised voice. He nodded.
"Name?" he reminded.
"Oh, yeah, right. Well, lemme look at you," she said. He flew around, showing off a little in his modeling. "Ah-HA! I got it. I will call you Gryffin." The dragon smiled a toothy smile at the name, which was sort of scary.
After leaving her dragon at her apartment, Lynne went out for some sushi at the place Kakashi had taken them to the previous day. She'd really enjoyed the veggie rice roll, and was eager to have some again. Her dragon had fallen asleep right as its head hit the bed. Once she arrived at the restaurant, she found the Sand Siblings and Cordi sitting at a table in the front of the establishment.
"Hey, what's up guys?" Lynne asked the group as she passed their table.
Cordi turned around faster than anyone else in the group and said, "Lynne! What are you doing here?"
"Well, I was going to get some sushi," she replied, pointing over to the sushi bar, where they prepared the rolls in front of seated guests. Seeing the Sand siblings' empty stares, she trailed off in a mumble, "Or maybe a bento box to go."
"No, stay," Cordi offered, almost panicky. "It's ok if she joins us, right?" She turned towards the Sand Siblings who looked like they didn't care. Kankuro wasn't even looking at them, Temari looked skeptical, and Gaara just stared boredly. Cordi scooted over, making space between her and Kankuro. "There, you can sit next to me." Lynne saw the tense expression Gaara shot Cordi when her knee brushed his. She mumbled a small, "Sorry," with a small blush.
But Gaara's expression was clearly trying to read Cordi's intention in the accidental brush. As Lynne watched him, his voice rang out, "Either she's doing that on purpose to illicit a response, or – no, there's no way that was an accident." He sucked on his teeth in annoyance before adjusting his seat to move his legs away, and looked up to see Lynne eyeing him very closely. He gave her a strange look when his voice rang out, "Why is she staring at me?"
"No reason," Lynne answered, only earning strange stares from everyone at the table. "Thank you for letting me sit with you," she added quickly, looking at the table as she sat down. She put her hand over her mouth, and leaned over to Cordi and whispered so no one else at the table could hear, "Gaara was just talking, right?"
Cordi pursed her lips in a frown, tilting her head before shaking her answer.
"Ok then," Lynne let out an awkward laugh, settling in just before the waiter came by.
Lynne looked at the waitress, a young woman who looked on tiredly. "Of course they added another person to their party. Now, I'll have to move them to a larger table, then I don't get my tip. Assholes." The girl fixed a smile to her face and asked, "Is there anything I can do to help you? Would you like a larger table?"
Lynne looked at her wide-eyed. Having worked in the service industry one Summer, she understood the drawbacks that came with it. But she also would never had said anything like that in front of a customer. "No, no. It's fine," Lynne answered quickly. "Wouldn't want you to lose your tip on my account."
The waitress looked at Lynne with horror. "Did I … I didn't say that out loud, did I?!"
When no one else gave an affirmative answer, Lynne pursed her lips, before ordering, "Actually, I'll just get an order of veggie rolls and some steamed rice, and a water, please. Thank you." The horrified waitress gave a stiff nod, then sped off back to the kitchen to place Lynne's order.
Then the table became awkwardly silent again. As soon as the order was delivered, they started eating in an odd reticence. Lynne looked around curiously, finding it strange Cordi was remaining so quiet during dinner. She was usually a chatterbox. She looked at her longtime friend, and suddenly heard her saying excitedly, "I'm touching Gaara's knee. I'm touching Gaara's knee. That is a very nice knee." Cordi blushed, inwardly rolling her eyes. "Quit fangirling, it's just dinner." Cordi looked up at Gaara sheepishly. "Why does he have a girlfriend?"
Lynne looked over at Gaara, whose expression remained stoic as he looked at the back wall. But she heard his voice clearly, "She's still touching my knee. … She's still touching my knee. … Why is she still touching my knee?"
Lynne did her best to suppress the smile coming to her face by chewing on her tongue. She shifted her gaze to Temari. Temari's voice rang out, "Who uses a baby to negotiate peace treaties. Not even a real baby. A hypothetical baby. Fucking Suna Council. That's who. This wouldn't be an issue if my brothers weren't both so … No. Gaara's responsible, but even asking him to settle down with his history is ludicrous. But Kankuro is just being selfish." She shot a terse smile at her eldest younger brother as she took a sip of her tea. "I could be married, if it wasn't for you, prick." She rolled her eyes, shaking her head, "No, it's not his fault either. Kankuro would make a horrible husband. Fucking Suna Council with their hypothetical baby peace treaties."
Lynne turned to Kankuro now who watched Gaara carefully. "Can Gaara get more fucking dense? The girl likes you! Just tell her you don't like to be touched. For someone he claims he's not using to get the council to back off Temari, the girl seems rather eager."
"Sooo," Lynne drawled, tacking her chopsticks together awkwardly, turning to the Kazekage. None of these comments she heard were said with any sort of mouthal movement. So either everyone one here was a ventriloquist, or Lynne could suddenly read minds. Eager to test out her theory, she smiled at Gaara, her icy blue eyes leveling with his, "Cordi tells me you have a girlfriend?"
Gaara looked at her carefully. "They had a bet on me too, didn't they," he thought.
Lynne shrugged, "It's difficult to imagine you doing something so normal." She was enjoying this too much. She lifted a hand to her face in a thinking pose as she watched Gaara squirm under the topic. "I have to say, the thought is fascinating."
He cleared his throat, his gaze piercing hers. "And why is that?" he asked carefully.
Lynne gave another nonchalant shrug. "I just take you for a man who doesn't like to be touched," she answered, giving Cordi kick to her shins.
"Ow!" Cordi glared at her friend.
"I'm sorry," Lynne replied, her smile totally not apologetic. Cordi shot a curious look at her friend, and Lynne gestured with her eyes to where her knee was touching Gaara's under the table.
Cordi blushed, adjusting her seat and muttering, "It's a small table."
"Liar," Kankuro thought.
"Anyway," Lynne continued cheerfully. "Who is it? Is it anyone that we would know?"
Before Gaara could respond, Temari set a sour gaze on Lynne, asking, "He's just going to say she's anonymous. So why don't you tell us who you think it is?" Lynne only looked away from Gaara for a second. "I seem to recall yesterday several of you saying you had money on certain couples."
Cordi cleared her throat, and Lynne looked at her briefly. "Ixnay on the Ikamarushay," Cordi whispered through clenched teeth.
Lynne let out a knowing chuckle, realizing that was the "hypothetical baby," Temari had been referring to. Hers and Shikamaru's. "Well, I can guarantee no one had money on Gaara being with anyone," Lynne stated. She added humorously, "Nor Kankuro to be honest."
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Kankuro thought. But it didn't take a mind reader to see that on his expression.
"But that was more for the opposite reason," Lynne continued. The Sand siblings narrowed their eyes at her as if to try and interpret her meaning. Lynne rolled her eyes point at Gaara, stating, "Too serious." Then pointing to Kankuro, adding, "Not remotely serious enough." Kankuro glowered at the description, but Gaara and Temari gave agreeing nods. Lynne put a finger to her lips, shifting her gaze back to Gaara, who was now looking half nervous, half daring. "But if I had to guess –"
"Don't say Matsuri," Cordi breathed.
Gaara flicked his seafoam gaze to Cordi. "What's wrong with Matsuri?" he thought, frowning for a second at the dirty blonde next to him, only to look disinterestedly at his food.
Lynne decided to ask for him. "Why not Matsuri? Honestly, she's kind of the only candidate."
Kankuro let out a choking cough at her explanation. Lynne flicked her gaze to him for a second and heard, "Shame she's fucking me." Lynne's eyes flew wide, and she slapped Kankuro on the back helpfully.
Cordi made a face, then let out a huff. "I don't know. She's not on his level." Gaara was watching Cordi intently, and she wasn't even noticing.
"What could she mean, 'not on my level'?"
Cordi turned to Lynne, letting out another sigh. "It's like in Friends when Rachel started dating Joey. Separately they're great. Together, they're weird." Cordi shot Gaara a weird look, then added, "Can we change the subject? It was different talking about it when you weren't … people."
Lynne frowned at Cordi. Leave it to Cordi to leave things on an awkward note, rather than let Lynne have her fun. Things were just getting juicy. Kankuro was screwing Matsuri, and Gaara has a secret girlfriend. She couldn't help herself. "So, is it Matsuri or not?"
"They are rather adept. Better lie." Gaara schooled his features well. "No."
Lynne's eyes flew wide, looking away from the Kazekage. "Shit," she breathed. She swallowed back her shock, turning to Cordi. "Cordi, I need to go to the bathroom." The sentence came out in a rush, and before Cordi could answer, Lynne grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the back of the restaurant.
"Lynne? Lynne! What the Hell?" Cordi fought, struggling against her strong grasp. Lynne shut and locked the bathroom door, pacing as she rubbed her hands over her jaw. Cordi stepped back, eyeing her friend worriedly before saying, "Lynne. What's wrong. You're scaring me."
Lynne paused, looking at her friend carefully, her tongue running over her teeth as she thought how best to phrase what just happened. She took a deep breath, then said, "I think I can read minds. And I was having some fun with it until I realized Matsuri is two-timing Gaara and Kankuro."
Cordi gave her a weird look, then laughed. "What?"
"I'm serious," Lynne started. When Cordi looked at her incredulously, Lynne realized the best course of action was to explain how she tested it. "At the table, you were freaking out about your knee touching Gaara's. Gaara was freaking out about your knee touching his, but more in a 'Please get off me' sort of way." Cordi pouted, slightly taken aback. "I'm sorry," Lynne said quickly, but she continued, "Temari was thinking about Suna council using hers and Shikamaru's hypothetical baby to renegotiate peace treaties, which is probably why they broke up. And Kankuro thought Gaara should speak up about his discomfort with your knees touching."
Cordi frowned. "You could be making that up."
Lynne put her hands on her hips and scoffed, "Why would I lie?" When Cordi's only answer was a shrug, Lynne let out a sigh. "Alright, don't believe me. Pick a number. Any number. Be oddly specific."
Cordi narrowed her gaze at one of her closest friends. "5,683,492.7516239485."
"5,683,492.7516239485," Lynne repeated, giving a mirthful smile as Cordi's eyes flew wide.
"Holy shit," Cordi breathed.
"Yeah," Lynne said with a nod, back to pacing.
Cordi pursed her lips into a small "O," making a small bracing sigh. "S-so you think Gaara's secret girlfriend is Matsuri?"
"No, I know," Lynne stated, still pacing. She pointed to her head, adding "He admitted it." She turned in pacing, as she added, "So did Kankuro."
Cordi's brow furrowed, her dark eyes gaining a strange focus as she clarified, "Matsuri's two timing them?"
Lynne gave a violent nod. "I brought you in here to tell you because you know how I can't sit on that shit, especially sitting through dinner with them." Yes, Cordi knew. Cordi's first, and only, boyfriend, Max. Ex-boyfriend really. They dated for half of eleventh grade school year. Lynne had found out he was cheating two months in, though, and immediately told Rox and Fred. Both told Lynne to keep quiet about it, to let Cordi find out on her own. Lynne sat another month and a half on it, until he stood her up for a date, and Lynne told her. Lynne had empathized with Cordi, because she too had been cheated on before. But Lynne's parents had been the ones to inform her, and she didn't believe her parents over her boyfriend at the time. That regret was the only reason she agreed with Rox and Fred's decision to keep quiet. But during that time, Lynne did her best to avoid Max, and any conversation about Max with Cordi present, and it had become obvious she was hiding something.
Cordi's shoulders sank. Now she was in that position. "You know I have to live with them. And I suck at lying. It's going to come out!"
Lynne nodded. "It always comes out." Cordi scowled at her. "I'm sorry. I just can't hold a secret like that."
Cordi shook her head. "Yeah, I'm not much better," she sighed. She shook her head before stating, "We're eating out here because I caught the hotel suite's kitchen on fire." Lynne frowned at the confession, and Cordi added, "Like a pillar of fire, and a fireball. Not normal fire."
Lynne chewed the inside of her cheek, her eyebrows furrowing together in thought. "I see what you're talking about –"
"Don't read my mind," Cordi ordered, scowling at her friend.
Lynne lifted her hands in a mea culpa, and mumbled a small, "Sorry. Do you think something similar is going on with the others?"
Cordi shrugged. "Beats me. But we need to go back to dinner, or the Sand siblings are going to think something's up." Cordi moved to the door, unlocking it and swinging it open. She paused for a moment before adding, "Also, Temari knows about the dragons."
"What!?" Lynne snapped.
"I had to tell her. She and I are bunking in a room. There's nowhere I could have hidden it," Cordi replied, walking back to the table.
Lynne set her jaw in frustration. A part of her wanted to ream her friend's blasé tone, but at the same time that would let more people in on their groups' little lizard secret. She let out a huff, and shook her head before stomping back to the table, eating in silence. And by some miracle, they were able to get through the meal without slipping up about Matsuri.
The next day the group met again in the same field as the day before, dragons in tow. But joining Cordi this time was Temari. After helping Cordi sneak Aleera, her baby dragon out of their old hotel room and into their new suite, Temari demanded to meet the other dragons. And boy, was she chatty. Aleera, not Temari. Somehow, the dragons had learned to speak over-night and would not shut up.
When Cordi showed up with Temari, all of her friends were livid. "We weren't supposed to tell anyone!" Rox hissed, seeing the blonde kunoichi sauntering in the field behind Cordi.
"Well, I kind of couldn't not tell Temari," Cordi stated. Her friends crossed their arms at the excuse, and Cordi continued, "The hotel suite only has two bedrooms and a couch. Meaning, I'm bunking with Temari, which also means there was nowhere I could hide Aleera that Temari wouldn't see."
"I promise I won't say anything," Temari added quickly. She gave Cordi a look, then added, "At least not until you're ready."
Ronnie was the first one to step forward, scratching Aleera's head, as she said, "Aleera suits her." She looked at Temari with a frown before turning back to the group, "Maybe having one ninja know about the dragons won't hurt." She pursed her lips awkwardly before stating, "I don't know about you, but when I got back last night, something weird happened." Everyone looked at Ronnie carefully. She just let out a laugh, then said, "It's probably just something stupid … but…"
"It's not stupid," Lynne spoke up, looking at all of them. "Something weird happened to me and Cordi last night too. And from what I'm reading, Rox too."
The friends all looked at each other with trepidation. "I flooded my apartment," Ronnie blurted. She pointed to the bucket she brought with her, where her dragon swam. "I was just trying to get Nessie some water, and the faucet just exploded with water, and would not shut off."
"I…" Rox started, stopping as soon as she opened her mouth. They turned to Rox, their gazes expectant. "I threw my furniture across my apartment by sighing."
Temari raised an eyebrow at that, as Lynne added, "Cordi set their suite on fire, and it wasn't a normal fire. And I can suddenly read minds." Temari's eyebrows rose immediately to the last tidbit. That explained the odd conversation and stares from her last night.
Fred frowned. "Bullshit."
"Think of something I wouldn't know," Lynne suggested. "I'll repeat it." There was silence between them as the group watched with trepidation, before Lynne started, "Your coworker, John, doesn't know you know he has a crush on you. Last week, you picked up a pamphlet to join the army. Really? Why?" Fred blushed, then looked away. "We are not leaving you behind."
"Yes, you were," Fred stated. "You all were."
"Fred," Rox asked, her voice full of worry. "What are you talking about? Why would you join the army?"
"You were all leaving," Fred said, her fists clenched at her side. "Ya'll were all going off to college." She gestured to each of them as she continued, "Ya'll were going to Georgia. Ronnie was going to Florida. And Lynne was going back to Pennsylvania. And I …" She paused, licking her lips as she looked at the ground. "And I was stuck in Virginia, serving coffee. That's why I suggested we do something before all of you left." The somber feeling of her sentiment quieted the girls and the dragons. Fred let out a scoff, doing her best to shove down the tears that were threatening to spill, "Go figure we'd get stuck in a world where I didn't read the comics or watch the show."
Ronnie stepped forward first, pulling her older sister in a hug, "Well, you'd never truly be able to get rid of me." Fred let out a small laugh.
Rox too pulled her into a hug, "Me either."
"But did you get a power?" Temari asked, breaking the sentimental moment. They frowned at the blonde kunoichi, but she was utterly serious. "Sorry, we side-tracked. But you were the only one who didn't say if a strange power manifested or not."
Fred sniffled, "Actually yeah. I did notice something. Wherever I go, flowers seem to sprout. For example, look at what I'm standing on," Fred gestured to the ground beneath her. Everyone looked and saw she was standing on a flowerbed of thick purple clovers that wasn't there when they arrived. She let out a sharp scoff, "It makes me feel like one of those stupid happy-go-lucky wood nymphs."
"So, Fire," Temari started, pointing to Cordelia. "Water," to Ronnie, "Wind," to Roxanne, "Earth," to Fred, "and Mind I'm guessing," to Lynne.
"What, are we like Elementals?" Roxanne asked.
Temari shrugged. "Here, everyone is born with an elemental chakra. Although, I've never heard of anyone being able to read peoples' minds like Lynne seems to be able to. Not to mention, Mind isn't really a chakra element."
Lynn shook her head. "I had a friend from my old high school who was into wicca and witchcraft. The elements in wicca are Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Spirit." She shrugged.
"Well, we know it's not chakra, so maybe, Lynne," Cordi added. "Not to split hairs, but we'd have to learn how to access our chakra, if we have it, which Hinata says we don't, before it could run amok, like it did last night."
Temari sighed. "Well, you are from a different world. Maybe it's a different type of power. Remember what Hinata said. She said she saw a strange power in you. Maybe it just had to be awakened."
"But even magic like this doesn't exist in our world at all," Rox argued.
Temari frowned, "And yesterday was the first sign of any of these powers?" They all nodded. "Well then what happened right before the powers started manifesting."
"We got the dragons," Lynne stated, watching their dragons play together.
"So maybe it is like Cordi said," Temari offered. "The dragons chose you, and gave you their power."
"No," the white one answered, landing on Lynne's head, settling on her flame red hair like a perfect white halo.
"You were born with them," Nessie replied in a sweet voice.
"I think we would have noticed that by now," Cordi laughed.
"No, we had to awaken them," Aleera replied in a smart voice, zipping around Cordi's head. The other dragons nodded in agreement.
"You've always had them," the white one added. "Your energy when you entered this realm was what attracted us to you. It shone like a beacon, and brought us to you. And when we did, we hatched and awakened your powers."
"Sorry, Saryu. But let me get this straight. You're saying that we had a specific energy that you have been searching for?" Lynne asked, looking up at her dragon as best she could. The other dragons nodded. "How long have you been searching?"
"Oh, I don't think one of us knows how long it's been. Centuries. Millenia?" Gryffin explained. "We were the last eggs lain and the only survivors of our species. We've been searching ever since then."
"This is fascinating," Temari breathed, watching the interaction of the group.
"Why us?" Ronnie asked.
"Well, we needed to find beings whose power resonated with our own. And they had to be very strong," the green dragon answered. "Stronger than our own. To become our mothers."
"Another fine example of 'with great power comes great responsibility,'" Cordi scoffed.
"So, how did we get this strength?" Fred asked. All the dragons seemed to shrug their replies. "Huh, so you guys have no idea."
"We were kind of hoping you could tell us," Aleera answered. "I mean, you aren't even of our species, yet you have our strength. And humans, from what I've heard through my shell, are a pretty fragile race."
"Hey!" Roxanne snapped indignantly.
"They have a point," Lynne stated. "Average humans are significantly weaker than dragons. I guess this is a mystery we'll all have to figure out ourselves." The group frowned.
Temari stepped into the center of the group with a frown. "Well, I think the next important step is figuring out how to use your powers. If they are as strong as these dragons say, you'll need to learn how to control them quickly to keep from hurting or possibly killing anyone." She looked at each girl carefully, then announced. "So, everyday until we leave, I'll start training you."
Ronnie and Lynne looked up hopefully. "To be ninjas?"
Temari paused. "I don't think I could teach you that. But I can teach you how to control your powers, so they don't run amok." The girls nodded their agreement. It was the only logical next step.
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Thomas Drovin: Yes, it's been a long time, but I'm glad to see you are just as excited by this new version as before. The old story will remain up for posterity's sake. But a lot of the plot has changed, since I originally wanted the story to be as close to what actually happened in Naruto as possible. But when I first published in 2009, the baddies were Madara and the Akatsuki. Now we know it's really the Otsutsuki clan, their powers, goals, etc. I'm sorry, but this means most of my new Akatsuki members will no longer be valid. However, I am going to work to keep a few of them. So, while the first couple chapters remained rather similar to the previous version, it will drastically change from chapter 4 on. Almost none of what happened in the original will happen again like it did. There will no longer be a Part 1 or Part 2. In the original, I had planned Part 1 to be a couple months, 2 year time skip, then Part 2 was to span over three years to the final battle. Now, we're going straight through. There will be new storylines, and new character introductions, some of which I had planned in the original, but hadn't yet gotten to.