Charmed Kitsune
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NarutoxPhoebex Prue x Piper x ?
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''Normal Speech''
Inner Thoughts, Dialogue, or reading passages from books and scrolls
(Quick Notes and Messages or Echoes.)
(Dark over lapping echoes)
''Boss Summons, Demons, Dark beings speaking, Demonic/Angry characters Speaking as well as extremely Dark spells and Magic.''
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Story Start
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"What else don't I know?" Prue questioned from where she sat next to Piper at the bar. Prue was leaning casually against the counter while Piper was working on the books in front of her.
Piper sighed softly before looking up at Prue. "Prue, don't take this personally, but sometimes you can be a bit judgmental." She explained, glancing back down at her work.
At the thought Prue laughed a little. "Oh, that is so not true." Prue denied while Piper dropped her pen and raised her eyebrows in disbelief. Prue frowned thoughtfully and shrugged.
"Alright, so maybe it's sometimes true…" She allowed. "I just don't understand why Phoebe never even told me about this guy."
"People don't like to dwell on things that end badly." Piper replied.
Prue looked at Piper in disbelief. "Yeah, well I wish my past relationships ended that badly. Did you hear them last night? There was music, there was wine, there was…"
"…Talking." Piper interrupted Prue's list. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her older sister.
''What did I miss?'' Naruto asked as he took a seat next to Piper. ''Besides Prue being a snoop about the wine part.''
Prue scoffed at Naruto's statement. ''Oh and I suppose you using your nose to smell it doesn't count as snooping.''
''Don't listen to her Piper!'' Naruto started dramatically as he grabbed Piper by the shoulders and pulled her to his side. ''You know that black magic she do.'' he added humorously, purposely using incorrect grammar. (1) ''She has ways of making you talk...very, very sexy ways. Maybe in the future they would involve leather?'' Piper burst out laughing as Prue let out a growl and picked up a pink sugar package and hurled it at their direction as it just missed hitting the both of them. ''Though really, you seemed concerned about who Phoebe dates.''
''If you knew about Phoebe's dating history you would be to.'' Prue responded to his question, but paused and thought about it. ''Do you know about Phoebe's dating history?''
''No not really.'' he honestly answered. ''I had other things going on in my life you know.'' he teased as he took a gulp from his ice-tea.
''Anyway can you blame me for peeping? If I'm not told I get worried and when I get worried I have to be creative.''
"Stop worrying about her, Prue. She'll be fine." Piper soothed. There was a clinking of glass that alerted Piper of one of the bartenders dropping his tray of glasses and without casting a glance toward him, she threw her hand out freezing the room. "She knows what she's doing." Piper added while Prue stared at her in surprise. "Watch that entrance. Make sure nobody comes in." She ordered, pointing to the front entrance before walking around the bar toward the bartender.
Prue's mouth had dropped at Piper's uncharacteristic use of magic. She followed the bartender's frozen gaze to a blonde waitress that was passing by.
Piper grabbed the glasses out of midair, placed them on the bar, and straightened the bartender's tray. She quickly sat the glasses back on the level tray and the room unfroze. The bartender stumbled slightly, but Piper was there to steady him. "Whoa Doug take it easy."
Doug looked at Piper gratefully, his gaze flickering from her to the waitress. "Thanks, Piper. I hope Shelley didn't see that." He murmured, watching as the waitress disappeared into an adjoining room of the restaurant.
Before Piper could say anything, Prue spoke up, still staring in disbelief at Piper. "What was that?" She demanded.
"What?" Piper asked, a little surprised by the demand in Prue's voice.
Prue made a motion with her hands that imitated Piper's freezing motion. "That. You know, the guy, the glass. Do you do that often…" There was pause for dramatic effect. "...Freeze time in front of, ooh, I don't know, let's say everybody?" She clarified with narrowed eyes.
''Oh lighten up.'' Naruto came to Piper's offense. ''I'm just glad all that training is paying off. Though yeah, that poor Doug keeps dropping things and the alternative of freezing instead of repeatedly ordering glasses is much more cost effective.''
"Well, then maybe you should just fire him." Prue pointed out.
"Mmm… The owner wants me to actually threaten to fire me if I don't, but Doug's just going through a hard time right now. Shelley, the waitress, just dumped him after six years of dating." Piper replied, sounding sympathetic.
Prue sighed. "So what you're playing cupid at the risk of your own job?" She prompted.
"Well, yeah, I mean, Doug loves her. He even bought an engagement ring and everything, he just waited too long to ask. So now he's a wreck." Piper elaborated.
"Still, you can't just keep, you know…" Prue trailed off, making another hand movement that mimicked Piper's freezing. "… freezing in order to protect him." She pointed out, nodding in Doug's direction.
"I know." Piper responded before changing the subject again. "So are you still going back to Bucklands?"
Prue looked confused but nodded slightly. "Yeah. That's where I work." She reminded Piper as if she had forgotten.
Naruto looked up curiously. "Hmmm… I just figured after everything that happened with Rex and Hannah that you would be hitting the classifieds.''
"Well, if we don't save the auction house I might have to. Rex…" Prue began to reply, but trailed off as she was side-tracked by Piper throwing another hand out freezing the room as Doug had tripped while carrying a bunch of plates past Shelley. "…bankrupt." Prue finished with a roll of her eyes.
"What were you saying?" Piper asked, currently ignoring Doug for the moment to turn back to Prue curiously while Naruto shook his head.
Prue glanced thoughtfully from Piper to Doug and just smiled. "Never mind I gotta go." She announced, grabbing her stuff together. She turned to Naruto with a pleading look in her ice blue eyes. "I need your help.'' she stated as Naruto gave her a questioning look.
''Let me guess...you want me to go and shadow your new boss to make sure he or she isn't a demon or something.''
''Thanks...'' she said as she kissed his cheek and grabbed his hand.
''Or is that a cover for office quickie?'' Naruto decided to ask as he couldn't help him.
''NARUTO!''
Phoebe and Clay were walking through the park as Clay divulged some of what he had been doing. "I wish you could've been there, Phoebe. You would've loved Egypt. Pyramids, giant sphinx, Nile River, camel taxis. It was amazing."
Phoebe glanced at him in disbelief as soon as he mentioned camel taxis. "You rode a camel?" She asked with a slight shake of her head.
"Hey, they're friendlier than some of the cab drivers I met, believe me." Clay countered lightly.
"Can't imagine they're faster." Phoebe shrugged, looking back over at Clay.
Clay smiled in silent agreement and a silence fell over them."You were right to leave me." He suddenly stated as the silence was broken.
"Ooh and the conversation turns." Phoebe joked to hide her nervousness about breaching this subject.
"No, I'm serious. You were the best thing that ever happened to me and I blew it. I know that." Clay continued.
"Clay…" Phoebe interrupted, looking straight ahead instead of at the guy beside her.
Clay held back a chuckle. "What? Too much, too soon?" He guessed.
Phoebe smiled and nodded. "Yep." She laughed and he quickly joined her. Phoebe glanced
down at the ground for a moment before looking back up at Clay. "Look, I hope you don't take this the wrong way but why are you here with me now?" She finally asked.
"Why, can't a guy visit?" Clay wondered with mock innocence.
"Yeah, but you're not just a guy…" Phoebe pointed out, playfully hitting him with her purse.
"…You're Clay and Clay comes with strings attached." She finished.
"I never could hide anything from you." Clay admitted with a chuckle.
Phoebe rolled her eyes in a good nature manner and turned on him. "Actually, you could. That was one of our problems, remember?" She reminded him.
There was a moment of silence before Clay confessed his presence. "I picked up this urn at an overseas market thought it might be worth something."
"So you want me to get Prue to help you because of the auction house." Phoebe stated as much as asked.
"Guilty." Clay conceded, glancing hopefully toward Phoebe.
Phoebe sighed in relief. "Phew. For a minute there I thought you were here to win me back."
"No, Phoebe. I think too much for you to believe you're still interested." Clay assured her, halting the walk so he could face her. "Look, it's no secret. I've been in some trouble, gotten in too deep. I just thought if I could sell this urn, make some money, pay off a little debt, I can make a fresh start." He explained while Phoebe watched him thoughtfully. "Hey, think about it. Please, Phoebe."
Meanwhile at the Bucklands Auction House Prue walked into her office only to stop upon seeing another woman looking through Prue's filing cabinets.
"Hi." Prue greeted politely though her eyes were narrowed slightly in suspicion.
The woman glanced up from the files to look at Prue before looking back down at the files. "Oh, hi, you must be Prue." She stated, not bothering to introduce herself.
With no other response being offered Prue prompted. "And you must be…?"
"Claire. Claire Pryce." The woman answered finally stepping away from Prue's files to shake hands with Prue. "The bank assigned me to see if the business is worth salvaging or not. I'm looking for inventory records. The files in my predecessor's office were empty." She explained, waving her hand in the direction of Prue's filing cabinet.
Prue nodded in understanding. "Yes, well, Rex and Hannah weren't exactly qualified."
"Obviously that is why Bucklands is in such dire straits." Claire moved around Prue's desk, allowing Prue and Change Name to move back behind it. "To be honest with you, Prue, I don't know anything about auction houses and I know even less about art, but what I do know is the bottom line. If we don't move $1.2 million dollars' worth of inventory at the auction tomorrow, I'm shutting the place down." Claire announced, while Prue exchanged a look of confusion with Change Name.
"Excuse me, did you say tomorrow?" Prue asked, startled by the amount and the dead line.
"Did I stutter?" Claire replied in a snappish manner.
Surprised by her boss's attitude Prue was silent for a moment. "With all due respect, you don't just decide to throw an auction, okay. You need advance notice, a catalog, buyers." Prue pointed out as politely as she could.
Claire nodded, smirking slightly. "Then it looks like you've got a lot of work ahead of you, doesn't it?"
Prue stared after her in disbelief as Claire turned and left Prue's office. After a moment Prue turned to where Naruto who ended his invisibility. ''So anything?''
''You mean besides being a bit of bitch? No...nothing. No demonic aura and she has the scent of a human.'' he said as he walked over to her and placed his hands on her hips. ''Now about that office quickie.''
''Will you stop that,'' she playfully smacked his shoulder. ''In case you weren't paying attention I have a full day of work and...'' Prue let out a cry as Naruto picked her up and placed her on her desk as he moved between her legs. He began laying kisses on her neck and began pulling down her neck. ''I said no okay.'' she added as Naruto stopped which surprised her.
''Well...you said stop didn't you?'' he asked as he was slightly confused. ''Did you want me to or not? Damnit woman you can't send a guy mixed signals you know that messes us up.'' he said as he randomly rest her head on Prue's chest. ''I need to be rocked to sleep.''
''What will I ever do with you?'' she asked with an amused look.
Naruto opened his mouth but then changed his mind with a shake of his head. ''Too easy.''
''We're not interrupting something are we?'' Phoebe's voice drew their attention as they hopped apart. Phoebe, followed by Clay, came into Prue's office. Phoebe glanced back at the doorway before turning back to Prue with a wide smile. "Who was that?" She asked pointing back toward where she and Clay had ran into Claire.
"The new sheriff." Prue answered, assuming they were talking about Claire.
Clay stepped forward, bringing the urn forward as well. "Hey, Prue, and...I don't believe we met." He greeted.
''Naruto...Uzumaki Naruto.'' he introduced, forgetting to say his first name first.
''Oh...nice to meet you Nay-ruh-toh!'' Clay said extended his hand as Naruto took it and shook, all the while Naruto was having murderous thoughts. He really hated when people butchered his name like that. For heaven's sake it wasn't that damn hard to pronounce.
''Naruto, Clay...'' Phoebe introduced.
"Hey Clay. What's up?" Prue wondered as she discreetly tried to fix herself up. She was going to have a talk with Phoebe later about dropping by without calling, especially with guests.
"Uh, favor…" Phoebe began, reaching out and taking the urn from Clay. "… Clay was hoping that maybe you could sell this for him." She explained, placing the urn on the desk just in front of Prue.
Clay nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I picked it up at a market overseas."
Prue narrowed her eyes at his choice of words. "Picked it up? Does that mean you bought it?" She questioned, a little disbelieving. Her eyes flickered to look at Clay for a hint of a lie, but a grunt from Naruto distracted her. Quickly glancing at his face she could tell she wasn't the only one that was suspicious and was glad Naruto was on her side.
''So Phoebe what sort of topic were you guys talking about resulted in artifacts?'' If he recalled Phoebe said she hadn't talked to Clay since she left New York, and when Phoebe arrived Prue was working at the museum so Clay shouldn't have known about this.
''Well Clay brought up the Urn I mentioned Prue worked here so here we are.'' Phoebe immediately countered, as Prue's suspicion was bad enough and adding Naruto's on top of it was not something she felt like dealing with.
'How did he know to bring up selling the urn when he was with Phoebe? I don't know what's going on but this guy is lying to Phoebe. Why on earth would he get it appraised here instead of New York where it would be cheaper instead of paying for a trip to San Francisco?'
Naruto and Prue's eyes met for a moment. With a slight nudge, urging her to work her magic she decided to drop it for the time being.
"Well, it's really beautiful. Gold inlay, 24-carat, a lot of lapis looks to be from Egypt." She began.
"Exactly, that's where I was traveling." Clay admitted with a nod.
"These etchings are quite interesting, very unusual." Prue added, tilting the urn around for a better look.
"You think it's worth something?" Clay asked curiously.
Prue sat the urn back down on her desk, looking thoughtful. "Oh, well, I would have to determine the urn's origins, its previous owners…"
"Oh, can't you just skip a step or two?" Phoebe interrupted in a pleading tone.
''Your sister could lose her job,'' Naruto spoke up. ''After the whole Rex and Hannah debacle this auction house has already taken a hit in its reputation.''
''He's right...I really can't risk losing my job considering our...situation so I'm going to have to check on the object.'' Prue continued sounding at least a little apologetic.
Phoebe turned large, pleading brown eyes on her eldest sister. "Come on, come on, come on. I will, uh, what will I do...?" Phoebe looked away thoughtfully before jumping back around with an idea. "...I will cook you dinner!" She offered enthusiastically.
Prue laughed, giving into her little sister's pleading. "Oh, don't threaten me. Fine, I'll see what I can do." She promised
"Hey, thanks. Thanks a lot." Clay appreciated.
"Is she the best or what?" Phoebe asked rhetorically, pulling Prue into a hug.
Prue watched as Phoebe and Clay linked arms and left. Prue and Naruto exchanged a glance and both spoke as one, ''I don't trust him.''
''I knew it!'' Prue spoke up, feeling anything but triumph. ''So what don't you trust about him?''
''It seems like he knew about your job change before he should have known. You were working at the Museum when Phoebe arrived and if she hadn't talked to Clay since then, that could only mean he purposely searched for someone in the field and someone came across your name and realizing you were Phoebe's older sister saw an opportunity. That and he took the more expensive route of getting the Urn appraised here than in New York.''
Prue reached for her phone to call Phoebe when Naruto stopped her.
''What are you doing?''
''If this Clay guy was a danger to Phoebe then her premonition power would have kicked in.'' he clarified.
''So we just let her get hurt?'' she asked him with a pointed glance.
''That's not what I'm necessarily, but after last night Phoebe is going through some issues and maybe it's for the best we let her live her life for now and make her own mistakes. If I thought Phoebe was in any serious danger I would have been out that door the moment they left.''
''I hope you're right.'' Prue admitted with a sigh.
''Now...let's get to work on you selling some artifacts!"'
''NARUTO!'' Prue cried out on instinct before she realized that for once Naruto wasn't being lecherous.
''What? I didn't do anything...'' he said feigning a look of innocence.
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Meanwhile with Clay and Phoebe.
Clay reached out and pushed the door of the main entrance open, holding it open as Phoebe walked through. "Thanks for doing that, Phoebe."
Phoebe smiled, glancing back at him as he let the door go and followed. "No problem. Prue can get you a great price for it too. She's really good at her job." Phoebe replied pleasantly.
"Well, it would be nice if she just liked me a little bit." Clay sighed, as she had picked up the negatives vibes the eldest Halliwell and her companion were sending him.
Phoebe laughed softly. "She likes you. She's just real protective of me, that's all." She reassured him, following him as he led her down the steps of the auction house entrance. ''And Naruto is sweetheart once you get to know him.''
"I remember when that was my job." Clay reminisced, wrapping his arm around Phoebe's shoulder as her arm wrapped around his waist.
"Yeah, and then I quit you." Phoebe laughed and Clay quickly joined in.
Both Phoebe and Clay turned around upon hearing a voice call out to Clay behind them. "Hey, Clay." Palmer greeted, stopping just in front of them.
Clay narrowed his eyes slightly, not particularly keen to have to explain this guy to Phoebe. "Palmer." He greeted the man with a slight nod, surprise evident in his voice. "What are you doing here?" He asked while Phoebe's eyes flickered from Clay to Palmer.
"I'm bumping into you." Palmer answered pointedly. His gaze flickered to Phoebe. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" Palmer prompted, looking back at Clay.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry. Phoebe, this is Palmer. I met him in Cairo." Clay introduced them, waving his hand toward Palmer.
Phoebe reached out and politely shook Palmer's hand. "Hi. Oh, wow, small world, huh?"
"Yeah, yeah. Hey, what's going on with that urn?" Palmer immediately questioned, ignoring Phoebe's comment.
Phoebe frowned in confusion. "Wait, you know about the urn too?" She asked curiously.
Clay hesitated a moment before speaking up as Phoebe began to get suspicious.
"Well, actually, that's where we met. The market place where I bought it." He lied, hoping Phoebe wouldn't question him more.
Palmer nodded, going along with the lie. "Yeah, right, the market place. Right, I thought you were gonna sell it." He pressed pointedly.
"Well, actually, Phoebe's sister works at that auction house. She's looking for buyers as we speak." Clay explained calmly.
"That's good, that's good. The sooner the better I guess, huh?" Palmer responded, stuttering a bit and shifting around nervously.
Phoebe narrowed her eyes at Palmer. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked, biting her lip slightly.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine, thank you. It's just, uh, I'm a little tired, jet lag, you know." Palmer replied a little too enthusiastically as he stammered over his words a bit. Phoebe nodded in understanding, but didn't appear convinced by his declaration. Palmer seemed to notice because he spoke up before she could question him further. "Hey, are you staying at the Ashcroft like I suggested?" He questioned, turning back to Clay.
"Oh, yeah, sure." Clay agreed, giving him a slight nod.
"Me too. Uh, maybe we'll hook up later?" Palmer suggested as his anxious stammer was stood there.
"Mmmhmm…" Clay answered him.
Palmer looked away from Clay and back to Phoebe. "It's nice to meet you." Palmer offered, shaking hands with Phoebe again.
Phoebe smiled politely in agreement. "Oh, yeah, you too." Her eyes followed Palmer as he disappeared in the crowd surrounding the busy auction house. "Eww… creepy guy." She commented with a frown.
Clay also watched Palmer leave before glancing around at his surroundings. "Yeah." He agreed, his eyes focusing on the small café nearby. "You hungry?" He asked, taking Phoebe's hand and pulling her toward it.
Later that night at the airport Palmer walked up to a Custom's officer who was checking over a large wooden box. The officer looked up from his clipboard to meet Palmer. "Can I help you?" He asked professionally.
"I was a friend of Wesley's. His family wanted me to make sure he got home alright." Palmer explained, stopping next to the large wooden box that the Custom's officer was leaning against.
The officer looked away from Palmer and back down at his clipboard where he jotted something down. "Sorry. How'd he die?" The officer questioned though he didn't sound all that interested in the answer.
Palmer shrugged, appearing dazed as if he couldn't believe it. "I don't know. Spider bite, I think." He answered. He shook his head trying to focus on the more important topics. "He's off to JFK airport, right?"
"First flight in the morning." The officer assured him after shuffling through some of the papers. The Custom's officer turned and left, leaving Palmer next to the wooden box.
Palmer's hand reached out to touch the box. "Sorry, Wes." He breathed with a sigh before he turned to leave.
The Egyptian picture previously seen on the urn was now on the side of the box closest to the wall of the building. As Palmer left the picture began to glow golden before it turned to golden dust. The dust swirled until the Guardian of the Urn had materialized. Her eyes followed as Palmer disappeared from view.
Meanwhile Naruto and Prue were still at Bucklands, with Prue on the phone with Piper conveying what they learned.
"The whole thing is suspicion Piper. And after listening to Naruto I can't help but agree.''
Piper was leaning against the bar at Quake on the other end of the phone. "He also suggested that Phoebe isn't in danger. It's suspicious I give you that but Phoebe is a big girl and she can take care of herself.''
''You too? Look, I just don't want to see her get hurt. After the other night I don't want her to think that we don't care.''
''Phoebe knows we love her and wouldn't intentionally hurt her.''
''I guess you're right. It's just I want her to find a kind, loving, dependable guy that is trustworthy and who upon having not seen her for months already starts lying to her. You know with all the reality shows that are on TV nowadays I'm surprised we don't have something called the match maker. Speaking of playing matchmaker how's Doug?" She wondered curiously.
Piper bit her lip and narrowed her eyes in the direction where Doug was supposed to be working currently. "The same, unfortunately. Except I'm getting a little freeze-frazzled. It's draining."
"Don't you think you need to find a better way to deal before you get fired?" Prue pressed though she did sound sympathetic to Piper's plight.
Piper nodded in agreement. "I know." She agreed before her eyes caught sight of Doug about to pass Shelley. "Oops, I gotta go, I gotta go." Piper muttered into the phone, hanging up on Prue without waiting for a response. She took off in Doug's direction as he turned to watch as Shelley walked past him. His arms that were holding a tray of cutlery knocked a vase off its perch and it smashed into the ground. The cutlery fell from his arms and clattered to the floor. Piper sighed as she didn't quite get her hands up in time to freeze him. "Sorry, Doug… too pooped to pop." She turned back away from him and dropped into her seat at the bar.