Chapter 6- Nighty-night!
By Nyteness
Ino's Point of View
I quietly padded out of my room, trying not to wake the other girls. We had returned home pretty safely but really uneasily. We pretended we had been hiding in on of the exits till the coast was clear, then had the guys escort us back through the empty plaza to our scooters. As we left the mall, all the girls were subdued, more than normal. We barely said anything, all the way through dinner and we went to sleep early. Even I barely even said anything; me, the crowned loud mouth of the group. (Though Forehead girl came close)
The whole event had been shell shocking. We'd never before actually encountered one of the original sins, but to know it was so close it, it could send one of it's larger minions to cause havoc, it was disturbing. We'd been fighting all our lives for this, but now. . . I was beginning to have second thoughts. . . I guess my worry was so much that I actually was in my goddess form.
"You can't sleep either, Ino?" I was startled out of my thoughts by Tenten's voice. She was sweaty and in her demi-goddess form.
"Yeah. . . What happened today was shell-shocking," I responded.
"I've been trying to figure it out as well," Tenten sighed. She and I plopped down on beanbags in our family room. It was where my wandering had led me.
"By beating all the fluff out of our brand new punch bags?" I teased her.
"That's how I think!" She shot back, "Besides, isn't that what punch bags are for?"
"Tenten got a point there," A new voice came to the conversation. Sakura was standing on the little step that led to the living room. She was wearing her pink pajamas but she didn't look sleepy at all.She was alos worried enough and in her demi-goddess form. "I couldn't sleep either, today was disturbing."
"Y-Yes it was," Hinata appeared just behind Sakura, wearing a blue night gown and looking like Naiad.
"To think, what we've worked all our lives for has come. . ." I sighed.
"And don't forget all the lives before that, all those. . . millions of years," Sakura laughed, referring to our past lives that none of us but her remembered.
"I wonder what'll happen after that?" Tenten wondered.
"Let's not d-dwell on it, ok?" Hinata smiled weakly. She hugged her legs tightly, trying to get comfortable.
"Hinata's got a point, this is big. We need to plan our next move," Sakura said seriously.
"That dog today was w-weak, but it's a definite sign that Envy's n-near," Hinata confirmed.
"How do you know?" Hinata and Sakura are the only ones that actually remember these kinds of things.
"Ino, did you forget what all those scrolls told us?" Tenten sighed.
"Uh. . ." At my clueless look, Hinata recited what we learned, or should have learned, years ago.
"E-Every sin is connected with an animal and a color if you see an animal with that color that can do damage, IT MUST BE DESTROYED.A green dog is a envy minion, a violet horse is a pride minion, a red bear is an anger minion, a l-light blue goat is a sloth minion, a yellow frog is a greed minion, an orange pig is a gluttony minion, and a Blue cow is a lust minion. If this minion is corporeal, can cause some damage, you know that the master is near," Hinata finished.
I blinked. "Ok, Now what?"
"Keep fighting these monsters until we get to the poor person that envy possessed," Tenten responded.
"Tenten! That's so primitive!' Sakura exclaimed.
"Well what else do you say we do?" She shot back.
"Tenten has a p-point," Hinata interjected.
"But. . . fine," Sakura sighed.
"Anyways, we don't have too much to do until Envy shows him/herself," I yawned.
"Yes we do, we need to train more!" Sakura exclaimed, "It took all of our combined strengths to get rid of that stupid minion, when we should have been able to destroy it with just one blast."
"Alright, but not tonight. Tenten's the only one who'd train so obsessively like that," I grinned as a ducked a pillow thrown by her.
"Shaddup Ino!" She stuck her tongue out at me.
"H-Hey guys, Do you remember a union between the Greek gods and the Egyptian gods?" Hinata asked all of a sudden.
"Yeah there was one. . . An illegitimate child, between Alcyone and Geb I think," I replied thoughtfully.
"You'd you mind checking it out, Ino?' Hinata asked me.
I shrugged, "Sure, why not?" Concentrating my energy on Aeolus' cave, I left the room in a blur.
"Aeolus!" I cried, "Where are you?"
"Ah, Halcyon!" I turned around and hugged a red bearded man that came out.
"Aeolus, There you are!"
"It's nice to see you again, m'dear."
"Do you have a few minutes?"
"Always, for my favorite guardian."
He led me to his receiving place and pored me a cup of ambrosia, "So, what brings you here?"
"Just wondering about a few things," I took a sip of ambrosia. It was heavenly! "I love this drink, they don't have anything like it on earth"
"You know it's too strong to give to humans," Aeolus laughed at my pouty expression.
"Aww. . ." I pouted, "Anyways, I came here to ask about Alcyone's illegitimate child with Geb."
"Ahhh. . ." Aeolus contemplated what I had asked. "Well, I had sent Alcyone as an envoy awhile ago to discuss the problems of wind treaties; where Shu could blow his winds and where I could blow mine. When she got back; well, we found she was pregnant with a child, thanks to Artemis. It was a mix between religions, so we couldn't keep it with us in the pantheon. She was sent to a place where her powers could be passed off as normal."
"Where?" I asked, intrigued.
"Japan, with the Ninjas." He responded. "The god blood continued in her descendants, so they called it a blood line limit, or a Kekkai Genkai."
"Ah. . . I see," I brooded over the cup of ambrosia.
"As a matter of fact, all the cross religions were dumped in Japan at that time. I do believe Horus and a Dryad had a child dumped there as well; and Aphrodite and Seth." Aeolus added.
"Ok. . . So is it possible that one of her descendants still lives?"
"Oh yeah, we never keep tabs on the "crosses". It's very possible that she has descendants living but the "Magic" from Old Japan have habits of lying low, so we wouldn't know." Aeolus shrugged.
"So you don't know the family name?"
"Nope. Sorry, Halcyon; all I know is that her name was Tsuchi."
"Earth. . . Well it's been fun, but I have to go. Bye!" I picked up my cup and vanished with a wave.
"OW!" Tenten roared from underneath me. I had teleported right on top of her!
"What did y-you find out?" Hinata asked as I got off of Tenten.
"Yes there was a illegitimate child. Her Name was Tsuchi and apparently, she was dumped off her in Japan, because the child was illegal; a cross. Aeolus couldn't tell me anything else." I sighed. "Why'd you want to know, Hinata?"
"Because I have a hunch that the Sabukano family is very old. They could very possibly be of god decent." She replied thoughtfully. "Gaara seemed to radiate power so. . ."
"It doesn't even have to be Tsuchi's line, it could very well be one of the others. There was Horus and a Dryad, and Seth and Aphrodite. . ." I trailed off, not sure what to make of this.
"Let's worry about that some other time. Right now, I want to know what Naruto did to you." Tenten, Sakura and I focused on Hinata, who squirmed.
"It wasn't anything serious. . . Alright, alright, alright!" Hinata waved her hands in submission. "We were out of your sight when Naruto's stomach rumbled-"
"You're lying Hinata-chan," Tenten cut in with a sing song voice. Hinata sighed
"Well, actually, he thought I just wanted to set you guys up, but seeing, when I found that out, I looked disappointed, he took me to a ramen stand to cheer me up." Hinata smiled a bit but her smile vanished as she continued. "When Naruto and I made it to the stand, which actually has pretty good ramen, he started flirting with the Ramen girl, Ayame-chan, who was really nice. I couldn't take anymore; he'd made it quite obvious that he disliked me, so she handed me a map when I asked for one and I left. I bumped into Kiba-kun, Shino-kun and Gaara-kun and they took me shopping. That's where you guys came in."
"Why that- I'm going to KILL Naruto!" Sakura raged.
"Not before I get to him!" I growled. NO WAY was that bozo going to get away with hurting Hinata.
"Just save enough life so I can stick him like a pin cushion," Tenten growled.
"GUYS!" Hinata exclaimed. "Don't hurt N-Naruto-kun!"
"Because you looooooove him?" I asked slyly.
"Um. . . Well. . . Yeah, I-I do, sort of," Hinata looked down at her fingers.
"Awwwwwwww! Alrighty, we won't kill him, but he had better have apologized," Tenten grinned.
"He did," Hinata smiled.
"OK! Now, Sakura, what'd you do with Sasuke-kun in the Ferris Wheel?" I grinned mischievously.
"We didn't do anything!" Sakura protested. "The ride broke down and I was thrown on top of him and then Lee came to save us and we were climbing down that shaft for hours and Sasuke was nice enough to flick away one of the bugs that freaked me out! I swear, nothing happened!" She was blushing bright red after this.
"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight," I snickered at her obvious discomfort.
"What happened between you and Shikamaru-san?" She retorted.
"Nothing. Temari and I just dragged him into the Zipper, which is totally awesome! He was looking pretty bad after the 25th turn," I snickered again when I remembered the expression on his face.
"You stuck to your limit, didn't you?" Tenten asked.
"Yep. You?" I grinned. Knowing Tenten, she probably didn't.
"Uh huh. I do think I would have dragged Neji-kun once more, but those stupid fangirls just had to interrupt," She pouted slightly. I sighed. Tenten's a really down to earth girl . . . until you mention a rollercoaster. THEN. . . get out of her way.
"Hmm. . . You know how Tsunade-shishou said we should train our magic?" Sakura was looking thoughtful.
"Uh huh. . ." We waited for her answer.
"How about we reveal ourselves to 4 mortals and we have to help them," Sakura explained.
"No offense Sakura, that's lame," Tenten sighed.
"What your genius idea?" Sakura shot back.
"Good old fashioned way," Tenten snorted, as if it was obvious.
"But this'll be fun!" I interjected.
"We are demi-goddesses, aren't we? We are supposed to be helping man-kind," Hinata pointed out.
"Fine. . . But if only Hinata's target is Naruto!" Tenten grinned.
"Um. . . ok, so long as Sakura gets Sasuke!" Hinata grinned.
"If Ino-pig does Shikamaru, fine," Sakura shot me a devious look.
"Alright, alright, but Tenten has to do Neji-san!" If we all had the others decide our people for us, I might as well have some fun.
"Alright, Alright! I give up!" Tenten laughed. We all focused our energy and teleported towards our targets.
Change scene: Nara family roof top
I materialized on a cloud calmly, looking for my target. "A hah!" I whispered. There, lying on the roof top was Shikamaru; just zoning out and looking at the clouds. He looked peaceful for a second. . . and kinda cute.
Lazily, I started playing with clouds. Twirl them here, Twist them there, there! You have a flower! Hm. . . Now what did a Dragon look like? Hm-
"You, up there! Who are you?" Heavens to Artemis, He managed to sound lazy even when he was demanding something!
"The name's Halcyon." I responded in a drawl. Two can play at that game.
"What's your bloodline?" He asked.
"Nadda," I called back.
"You don't have one?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Let's just say I'm special." I smirked. I gently alighted right beside him on the roof tops. "Who are you and what's your bloodline?" I asked him.
"Feh; troublesome. The name's Shikamaru Nara and no bloodline either," He yawned.
"Liar!" I sung happily while still drawing shapes in the clouds. "L-I-A-R!"
"Actually, my family are shadow manipulators and deer herders. My dad's into business though," He looked around the surrounding pastures fondly. They were rolling green and dotted with brown deer. It looked just like a scene from those Christianity posters I saw with the Stars hanging over the pastures and sheep scattered over it; only there were deer instead.
"You're right, it's pretty." I smiled softly. I guess the lazy bum I knew had a soft side too. That was all we did, just laid there and watched the stars. It was comfortable but I knew I had to leave soon or Eos and Helios would never let me hear the end of it if they saw me here.
"Where are you going?" Shikamaru asked as I got up.
"I've gotta go now, sorry," I smiled at him. This guy was actually genuinely concerned; I could see it in his eyes. I leaned over and pecked him on the cheek and left, feeling oddly light and my head full a certain lazy but caring bum.
Change point of view to Sakura
As I vanished away from the girls, the comfortable feel of magic surrounded me once more. Fire was my element, but I was gonna go help someone as cold as Ice. Ironic, eh?
I'll say
Oh shove off.
Jeez, the one time you do something nice and I'm not allowed to watch? I'm insulted.
It's not that I've never done a kind thing in my life but doing one of the "good deeds" are something you are not allowed to deal with. So there.
Yes, but you're not allowed to advise in anything personal.
Fine, haw about this: If it comes to anything personal, you can take over the body, but if not, you SHUT UP!
Yeesh, alright, alright.
I sighed in relief as I felt her back out of my head. Then I realized I had already arrived at my destination. My quarry, Sasuke Uchiha was lying on the bed and sleeping quite fitfully. He was tangled in the sheets and breathing erratically. Every once in a while he'd moan something like "mother…NO!" or "no… why? FATHER!" This was getting kind of scary so I drifted over to him and I slapped him. He still wouldn't wake up so I kept slapping him to no avail.
Not helping. Just call Hypnos!
Fine. HYPNOS!
Yes miss?
Which one of your dream brood is haunting him?
Hmm. . . It's not one of my dream brood that caused this, but they certainly are Ares. I'll take a wild guess. FEAR!
To my astonishment, one of Ares' horses came out of his body.
What! Don't look at me that way, the boy reeks of fear and I was hungry! Ah Mistress Phoenix! Please don't tell Ares!
I frown but I wasn't the type to hold a grudge. Who'd know what Aphrodite'd do if she found out? Fine, Fear, just STAY AWAY! Ok?
Yes , right away MIstress! I could see the horse fade away and Hypnos redraw from my mind.
"Finally, he's gone," I got a shock when the very boy I was watching awoke. "Who's there!" He called suddenly. I frown. Sasuke wasn't suppose to know I was here, he wasn't able to know that fear was. . . real.
"Calm down," I got a bit of a shock when he looked at me directly. His eyes were blood red and two black comma's were whirling around in them. It's must be a bloodline; a Kekkai Genkai that Ino was talking about.
"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu (Flame Type: Dragon Fire Technique)!" He let forth a huge explosion of fire from his mouth. Even I, Mistress of the Flames, could barely extinguish it.
"Give up, it's not going to work," I told him.
He didn't listen. He kept firing Fireballs at me and just kept extinguishing him so I slapped him; again, but instead of retailaiting. . .
He fell over in exhaustion. I sighed; stupid mortals, never knowing what their limits are. Even in sleep he was trying to fight; mumbling "No Itachi!. . . over and over again. He wasn't going to sleep properly anytime soon. Alrighty, this called for some special measures.
Can you see the clouds over the rainbow?
Do you know where they go?
You are plagued by dreams,
Where are they from?
What is beyond the rainbow
Where mortals cannot drift?
Is it where I belong. . .?
I finished singing when I saw, finally, he had gone to sleep. Blowing him a little kiss, I left quietly.
Change Point of view to Hinata.
I left the Living room quite calmly but inside, I felt like a typhoon of emotions. For goodness sakes, this was my newest crush I was going to go help! I envy Sakura-chan, she's got inner Sakura to take over.
Splosh I looked down and saw that I had arrived, on top of a cup of ramen no less. Annoyed I floated to the bedroom of the small apartment. Inside, I would have expected to see Naruto-kun sleeping peacefully but instead I saw him curled up in a ball and glaring at me with red catlike eyes.
"Who are you?" He growled. His hands had grown into claws and the whisker marks on his cheeks had grown. He looked like a beast; he even had a tail of pure energy to prove it. He had been possessed by what looked to be a fox.
"Calm down, I'm not here to kill you," I cooed to him. Cautiously, I floated closer.
"Let me do a mind scan on you," Again he demanded.
"Alright," closing my eyes, I allowed him to get into my mind and find out all he could on Naiad. When he finally came out, he looked annoyed.
"She's all yours squirt," Naruto's face started changing and he reverted beck to the one I knew, minus the claw and everything.
"Who are you?" he asked me
"My name is Naiad," I responded. Down butterflies!
"Oh. What's your bloodline?"
"Well. . . I can manipulate water." To show him, I brought a stream of water from the sink and turned into various shapes; a flower, a sphere and a fox.
"Oh… pretty!" Naruto said in awe. He then yawned, rather loudly. "I wanna go to sleep now," He curled up on the bed and lay there for a few minutes but it didn't look like he could sleep. I float over to him and sat on the edge of the bed looking down on him and running my fingers through his messy blond hair. He was so cute! He- eek!
Naruto had rolled over and, somehow, flung his arm around me in a rather firm embrace, leaving me trapped. As I tried to wiggle out, he only tightened his grip.
"Stay," He mumbled, "You smell like Hinata-chan," I sighed, who could argue with that? With a sigh I cuddled into him, determined to enjoy myself just once.
Change Point of view to Tenten
Where, oh where, was that stupid Hyuuga! I growled in frustration as I scanned the estate again, looking for the mute iceblock. I bet all the others girls have it a lot easier than me. The Hyuuga estate was a fortress, and a magical one at that. I had tried just focusing on him and teleporting to him but I was stopped halfway by a strong ward and thrown in the other direction. It was only my years of training that helped me land on my feet in a tree. I growled. Damn wards, I'm just going to call a nymph.
Mistress?
Sweet! Acantha would be able to help me, even is she was prickly. Acantha, look for a boy with white eyes and long black hair.
There are a lot of boys like that. Be more specific.
Uh. . . he's got the oddest magical pattern on his forehead, it looks something like this. I sent her a magical pattern which I had seen on Neji's forehead earlier, something I hadn't bothered to mention to the other girls. It was probably his birthmark or something.
Oh. . . Him. Alright, I'll be back in a second. Since Acantha was technically a plant, she could enter the wards without them affecting her. Me on the other hand . . . I'd have to go through a plant or something or actually remove the wards.
Back. He's out in the back where the wards are the weakest. You owe me big time, boss woman.
Fine, fine, I sighed. Some times I wonder if Acantha would be better off dating Apollo. I stalked to the edge of the ward where I could see Neji training just through the trees. With a sigh, I blasted my way through the wards and then immediately repaired it so that no one would notice. Almost immediately, I had to catch a kunai flying at me.
"Who are you and how did you get in?" Neji growled menacingly.
"I blasted through, then had to repair it," I twirled the kunai in my palm absentmindedly. "As for my name. . .Hi-mi-tsu!" I winked at him.
"You are an intruder and you're in my field of divination," He said calmly. He appeared almost beside me. I blanched. Shoot, Field of Divination? I hate that style of fighting! The Gentle Fist's Hakkeshou Kaiten is one of the most taxing defenses of all time to beat. I've only come face to face with it once, and that was in our old days in the Chinese Underground. I've still got the scars. Shoot, I've gotta move before he can strike! Quickly, I flitted away from him and directed some leaves at him; don't laugh, the leaves are sharp.
"Yeesh, I'm not here to hurt anyone!" I snapped at him. I bet the other girls weren't attacked on sight. He didn't respond but he had to block my leaves with his Kaiten, so I guess he really couldn't say much.
"Of course," He said mockingly, again he advanced towards me, trying to hit me. I flew away and led him in a merry chase. Again and again, I'd stop and he'd get so close and almost hit me. Don't get me wrong I didn't want to hurt this guy, but it wasn't easy since he practically reeked of killer intent. Finally when we reached a clearing in the dense training grounds, I stopped in the clearing trying to get him to attack me.
"That trick is old," I could here his voice in the trees. You couldn't of found him though, the voice wasn't coming from any direction specifically. It was a good trick, but he was on my playground. All I had to do was concentrate and I could predict where he was going to land and when.
"And. . . NOW!" sure enough, he attacked me from the right and landed in the clearing. I teleported away from him and instantly trapped him down with my vines. What? It may be a dirty trick, but I was getting tired! It's been a while since I've fought like this; I've sparred with the girls a lot over the years.
"I told you, I mean no harm!" Jeez. I glared at the murderous looking guy, ticked off.
"Fate ordained nobody was to enter." He responded.
"The fates are dead old hags, FYI," I snapped at him.
"Then why did they allow me to be cursed!" He snapped. I was rather taken aback. This couldn't be Neji, Mister I-am-the-worlds-muted-prodigy! He wasn't this pissed at the world. . . I think. . .
"It's not the Fate's fault, our futures are in our own hands, and I know that for a fact." I snapped back.
"It wasn't my decision to be labeled with this god damned seal." He muttered darkly, "They were afraid of my power so they decide to give me the strongest seal ever known to man-kind and kill my father to boot!"
"You're talkative," I couldn't help but respond.
"Don't get used to it," He snorted.
"What ever you say," I meandered off. An Idea struck me, "Wanna spar for a bit? I won't use magic, just my weapons and you can do whatever. It'll help you and I need practice.
"Hmph, Fine," I snapped my fingers and let him go. Almost immediately, he easily rubbed his wrists and got himself into the ready position. I readied myself in the forest and made the first move, firing a single kunai at him. From then on we exchanged no words, it was only a dance of weaponry and blood, a dance of death.
As we both had trained for a while, I realized I should go. With a simple nod, I teleported out of the wards and back into our house.
"Hey," Ino waved at me slightly, while Sakura just smiled.
"I have a feeling Hinata's not coming back this evening, and I'm pooped. See ya," With a flop of my hand, I left the room, completely tired out. The words Neji had said before we had sparred, though, they were nagging me. Worry about them tomorrow, I advised myself. I could feel the other girls decide the same thing and slipped into my covers, my bed more welcomed than ever.
To be continued
A/N: Done! Yay! I know it was a relatively short chapter; forgive me please? I'm complete pooped and between our history exam and the other tests we've had, It's been a night mare!
Sorry if the chapter didn't really live up to your expectations, but I'm tired; please give me a break. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
In this chapter, the long awaited fight scene between Neji and Tenten appears; I hope it lived up to every one's expectations! There were a bunch of Greek names mentioned and they are:
Hypnos: Greek god of Sleep
Fear: One of Ares horses that attended his Chariot.
Eos: Goddess of the dawn
Helios: The sun charioteer, he drove the sun over the sky every day.
Acantha: A nymph who distained Apollo so she was turned into a scratchy plant
Fates: 3 women who decided the lives of men
Aeolus: King of the winds
Alcyone: I made a bit of mistake, this is the actual name of the princess of the winds. Halcyon is a calm period of time.
From Egyptian Myths:
Horus: God of the Gods and the funky eye.
Seth: God of the Underworld
Geb: God of the earth
Forgive my patchyness, I hope I haven't forgotten something! By the way, I'm going to have a new story: Sibling dearest. Look for it!
Until then: Toodles!
