The Fox Mask
"It's time to celebrate!" Ino shouts in the club room, raising her fist up.
It's been a week since the festival ended. Things needed to be put away and organized so the club room didn't have the chance to properly celebrate their victory also celebrate the return of a member.
Two tables were next to each other with a white cloth over it. Plates and snacks were on the tables. The snacks were hand selected by Choji. Sara and Sakura helped with decoration. Sasuke was helping all over the place. Naruto was just sitting watching it all happen before his eyes.
They all were seated around the table with Ino sitting at the far end near the window. Ino let out a breath about to say her speech.
"Thank you all for everything you have done. Making this club stand out from the rest. I couldn't have done it without all of you" Ino states smiling then looking to Naruto. "As for you..you've been gone to long. There's been changes in how we do things around here...for one. Our activities are more, competitive..Choji can you"
Choji pulled out a white board with scores on it. Naruto notice Sasuke had the highest wins while Ino comes in second. Sakura and Sara were tied. Choji is last until Naruto's name was placed on it with a fat zero on it.
"We've been playing multiple card games both involving skill, memory and luck" Ino exclaims. "As well making our own card games"
That peeked Naruto's interest from how his ear twitched.
"We create games and test them out when we show and tell...there were some games that fail and others were great to play...the reason why we started this was for the end goal"
"End goal?" Naruto asked confused.
Ino grabbed the bottom of the board and flipped it. Naruto's eyes widen noticing the card games each person created. There was the game names and if it failed or succeeded. At the center of it all was a circle with the title, The City festival.
Naruto slowly begins to understand what Ino was trying to do. Creating their own card game would make them unique and interest others. Though, this game has to be both entertaining and competitive so the players in the game can express themselves within it. Naruto is impressed how they thought so far ahead even though they had two festivals to win in before even thinking about the City Festival. They planned ahead. Naruto couldn't stop himself from smiling at this.
"Ah...look" Sara states looking at Naruto.
"I know" Sakura replies with a light blush.
"He can smile" Ino said.
"What does that suppose to mean!?" Naruto shouts irritated.
Everyone started laughing in the room except for Sasuke who just smiled at him. It felt like things were back in the way that it should be. Though, Sasuke still had someone in his thoughts that can take it away. Kabuto's influence can bring Naruto back to who he was. Sasuke had no doubt that he will be in the City festival. This club needs to be ready for when that happens.
Cards slam on the table.
"Alright! Time to begin our first game of the day!" Ino said.
"First? How many games will we be playing?" Naruto asked.
"Until the sunsets" Ino answers.
"WHAT!?"
OOO
Time goes by. The club room was lively, filled with competitive spirits and laughter. Everyone was enjoying the games that each club member brought forward. Multiple of the games involved all of them but they also had speed. They couldn't leave that game out.
The score board kept changing. Everyone was able to win a game or come close to winning. Skills were being revealed like Sakura's memory that could match Ino's memory. Sasuke's speed increased to where Naruto could hardly notice. Sara's skill slowly unveiled to Naruto. It was strategy based. Choji's counter with his cards also was impressive.
Though besides the games, everyone was enjoying the food and started chatting about the upcoming festival. Things were beginning to die down when it started getting dark out.
Everyone started cleaning up the club room. Once everything was put in the garbage bags, everyone pulled straws to see who will be the one to go all the way to the back of the school to drop the bags in the dumpster.
Sadly, it was the two blondes that had bad luck. Everyone sighed glad that it wasn't them then again, the two girls felt sad they weren't partnered up with Naruto.
Naruto held two bags while Ino carried one. Naruto glared at her for picking the lightest bag. She just smiled.
When everyone left, Naruto and Ino started making their way to the back. It was quiet among the two. Naruto was in the front while Ino was behind. She felt nervous and scared walking in the dark. The lights in school were off. It reminded her of the last time she and Naruto was in school this late.
Still, the silence was making this even creepier. She needed to break it. Question is, how. She had her eyes staring at the ground wondering what to talk about but she didn't notice, Naruto wasn't in front of her anymore. She stopped walking and looked up.
"Naruto?" She said looking down the dark hallway.
Ino could hardly see anything through the darkness. She must have been to focus on her thoughts.
She could hear something, from afar. Sounding like small footprints running across the floor. Her heart was beating fast, fearing that she wasn't alone. The anxiety inside her was increasing. She started walking again hoping to find the nearest exit.
More sounds started to echo through the vents and the halls. Ino's speed quicken and her breath got heavy. She felt like the hallways were unstable. She trips over something causing the garbage bag to hit the ground.
"Ow" Ino said rubbing her ankle and looked at what she tripped over. It was tough to see so she pulled out her cell phone and turned on the flashlight.
"Aahh!?" Ino yells seeing a face of a fox on the ground.
She jumped and ran then hitting up against something soft.
"Uff" Naruto said feeling her whole body slammed into him like a soccer ball. "The hell!?-"
Before Naruto could get mad, he could feel Ino shake. Her arms wrapped tightly around him. He breathed out and grabbed a hold of her arms. Gently trying to remove them from him.
"It's ok... I'm here" he said gently.
Ino quickly came to her senses after hearing that and turned red. She jumped back a space away from him and hugged herself.
"Y-ya...what took you so long" Ino said with an angry tone.
"What!? I wasn't the one that got lost!" Naruto states.
"Hmph" Ino said looking away and reaches for the phone she dropped.
Luckily, the screen was safe. She smiled and looked back at the fox mask lying on the ground. It had black eye lids and the mask was pure white. There were three red whiskers on each cheek. It had grey ears. Naruto reaches for the mask and is thought it was cool. He covers his face with the mask.
"Boo" Naruto said plainly to Ino.
"Knock it off!" She shouts punching his shoulder.
"Ouch" Naruto said rubbing his shoulder and saw more mask on the ground. "There's more?"
"Someone must have accidentally dropped them" Ino exclaims and started picking them up.
"Hmm looks like it's a trail" Naruto said seeing a door room opened.
The two pick up all the mask and walked into the room. Ino knocked while Naruto switched on the lights.
"Hello anyone here?" Ino asked.
The room had no one but there are signs that people were here. There is a table at the center of the room with a game board on it. Naruto was amazed at the game board.
"It can't be….3D chess" Naruto said looking closely at the boards.
"I'm guessing this is the chess club?" Ino states noticing some chess pieces on the table. "I never knew this club existed"
"I never knew the card club existed-" Naruto replies getting a smack in the head. "Ow!"
"Hmm I don't even think this club even participated in the festival" Ino said placing the mask on the table against the wall.
Naruto gaze at the top chess piece. It was on the first level of the board. It was the pawn chess piece which was at the center. Below that level was the kings and queens. The last level were the rest of the pieces.
"Why is this pawn piece different from the rest" Ino said staring at the same piece as Naruto.
This pawn was made of see through glass the colour of red. The rest were black and white. The two pairs of eyes couldn't move away from the piece.
"It's Yusei" Ino said softly.
"Uh?" Naruto said shifting his attention to Ino who looks back at him.
"Well he does describe himself as a pawn in a chess game in one episode" Ino replies.
"I can't believe you remembered it" Naruto states.
"Well it's difficult to forget...Yusei is a strange character...he doesn't call himself a hero but does heroic acts and also does bad things….an anti hero but he protects his friends and not the people who are innocent...though...he is slowly bet corrupt because he can't let go of power-" Ino exclaims.
"Wow…" Naruto said stunned by her knowledge. "You didn't stop"
Ino blushed lightly. It's true, the anime caught her attention so she continues it. The growth of the characters is what she was into also the relationship between the two main characters have with each other along with the other couples within the group. She never imagined four couples being in a team. Though, some are confirmed and others are shipped but the evidence is there.
"N-No" Ino replies in a soft tone not wanting to admit it.
Naruto continues to look at her while Ino tried avoiding his eyes. She didn't feel comfortable with him staring at her like that. She glances a few times but tries looking at a different direction.
Suddenly, a loud noise came from out of the classroom. The two jumped from the noise and looked at the door.
"We need to get out of here" Ino said getting goosebumps.
"Your right...don't forget your bag" Naruto states.
"What bag?" Ino asked.
"You know" Naruto states narrowing his eyes at her who was about to leave him with the bag.
"Oh...the garbage bag" Ino said with a frown.
"Let's go" Naruto said poking his head out hoping it isn't the club members.
"Ya, I'm coming" Ino said dragging the bag.
The two started walking out of the room and heading toward the backdoor. Naruto quickly glances at the window facing the back of the school. He noticed someone out there. He stopped but then the person disappeared in the shadows.
"Hi, why did you stop?" Ino asked confused.
"Oh nothing" Naruto answers and continued walking.
OOO
Speeding through the calendar. Everyone in the school were anxiously waiting for the final festival that will lead into the biggest one in the city. The club's that made it were already planning what to do but not just in one school.
Schools across the city were waiting for their star club to appear. Classes were cut short for students participating in these clubs. Their focus was winning the last festival, happening at the end of April.
Within the card club it was quiet. They all were focused on what they were doing. Ino already assigned their task with a little help from Naruto who read over her plan.
Naruto and Sasuke had two decks of cards on the table. The cards were in a strange layouts the two were staring intensely at them. Sara and Sakura were looking at images from different sources online. Choji was writing a script. Ino was highlighting a few things on her page.
She was tapping her finger on the desk. She was nervous but not about the festival. She's completely confident that they will win but there is still something she has to do or say. The answer to that person. She can't leave it alone. "After this festival" she thought.