Wonders and Miracles
Disclaimer: I still have yet to find the legal papers necessary for me to own Naruto. Darn.
Author's Note: I'm so glad everyone's enjoying the story so far and thank you so so much for all the reviews. I'm gonna try to update this story at least twice a week.
Warning: Religious stuff is gonna be all over this story, so if you're gonna get offended, don't tell me about it or don't read it. And if you do tell me about it, don't yell at me.
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"How little you understand. There's another world outside of the one you live in-a shadow world. Things go down here you people in the light would never believe. Nothing is impossible."-Greed (Full Metal Alchemist)
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There were hundreds of poems and legends of how water was like looking beyond a mirror. You could see what was really there in the water, or so the stories said. Sasuke wasn't finding anything but his own reflection looking back at him as he stared into the canal. It was nearing twilight, one of his favorite times of day. The world was thrust into shadows and yet the light was still there. The setting sun would paint the world in hundreds of colors, lavenders fading into indigos and midnight and oranges would blend with crimsons and golds with softest pink lining the edges.
"Why is it that you always have to automatically assume things?"
It had been nearly a month since Sasuke had last seen Naruto and he had yet to be able to get his words from his mind. Naruto didn't seem like the type that would understand politics and the tiny workings of the world, but he understood things that nearly everyone didn't. Sasuke was trying, he honestly was. He was trying to see how gypsies could have their own lives and their own families; how they couldn't be the thieves and witches that his father had always said they were.
"Hey, Kiba! Get Akamaru and Shika! The fishing looks good today!"
The voice was loud and familiar and Sasuke looked up and saw Naruto standing on the edge of the canal, waving to someone down the street. Two other teenagers joined him, both with dark brown hair. One of them kept it back in a ponytail and had sharper features with a casualness to his movements and the other had mussed spikes with two red tattoos on his cheeks-the announcer for the show. Standing beside him was a large dog, muddy and with brown splotches across the white fur.
"You serious?" The one with the tattoos asked, peering over the edge.
Naruto rolled his eyes, jumping down backwards, landing lightly. "No. I made you run over here so I could show you the pretty water." He replied sarcastically.
"You didn't think that gypsies were without friends, did you? We laugh and joke around with each other just like you do. Probably more."
"Sakura'll kill us if we don't bring food. And we're running low on money." The one with the ponytail told them, rolling up his pant hems.
"Nice one, capitane Obvious." The one with the dog said, a teasing smirk on his face.
Sasuke couldn't quite understand one of the words-he wasn't fluent in any languages other than English and Latin. His father was trying to teach him Spanish, which was easier than most languages thanks to his knowledge of Latin, but the word that the young man had said wasn't in any of those three languages. His mind kicked in and told him that of course gypsies would know different languages-they came from everywhere in the world.
"I've never seen any of your servants, or God or any of the hundreds of things in those books of yours; Does that mean they don't exist?"
The three jumped into the canal, pant hems rolled up to their knees and they stood there trying to fish. Water splashed around their calves and the boy with the dog who'd followed them in-his fur was honestly white underneath the mud-had to grab at Naruto's arm when he slipped and was soaked up to his shoulders. Naruto laughed it off and they shook their heads. Naruto grinned mischievously and held up a fish the size of his forearm.
"It was all part of an ingenious plot." The blonde told them.
"Ingenious my ass." The ponytail one snorted. "That was pure luck."
"Shut up, Shika!"
Shika laughed and Naruto playfully got him in a headlock. The other one, which Sasuke assumed must be Kiba, and Akamaru grinned and joined in the dog pile. (no pun intended) All four were shoved underwater by each other. Naruto came up last, being the shortest with Akamaru on his head. The crystal blue eyes found him and Naruto smiled wider, and waved. Kiba and Shika followed his gaze. There was no disgust on their face-curiosity and recognition for sure along with some wariness.
Naruto climbed out of the canal, offering his friends a hand up and waved Sasuke over. The Uchiha did it partially reluctantly, but also slight curiously. He wanted to know what Naruto's friends would act like around him.
"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto greeted, still smiling widely like the fool Sasuke had thought him to be, "These are some of my best friends-Kiba, Akamaru and Shikamaru."
Shikamaru nodded to him, dark eyes analyzing, but not unfriendly. Kiba grinned, stretching the tattoos and Akamaru barked. Sasuke nodded in return and remembered how Naruto had always used plurals when talking about Itachi. Had his older brother known these two as well?
"Why were you just standin' there starin' at the water?" Kiba asked, chocolate eyes inquisitive.
"Probably wondering about the mysteries of life." Shikamaru smirked.
Sasuke began to open his mouth to retort but Naruto beat him to it. "And you've never done that, Shika? You just stare at the clouds instead of into the canal."
"Technicalities." Shikamaru replied easily and then to Sasuke he said, "Sorry if I offended you. I'm naturally sarcastic."
"Capitane Obvious strikes again!" Kiba muttered.
There was that word again. Sasuke wanted to know what language it was from. The word was smooth and silky sounding, the word flowing easily.
"With his loyal sidekick Dog Boy." The accent in Shikamaru's voice wasn't as pronounced as in Naruto and Kiba's. Sasuke had heard Shikamaru roll his r's slightly, so Sasuke was going to guess that Shikamaru had some Spanish heritage to him.
"Hey!" Kiba objected.
Naruto laughed again and Sasuke wondered if their lives were always this carefree. He doubted it, from how thin they were and what Shikamaru had said earlier about money, but they seemed to have fun no matter what. That seemed so much better than the lives that Sasuke had observed in his seventeen years of life.
"Guys! Jeez, I thought you got lost or arrested or something. How long does it take to get fish?" A voice called from down the street.
All four young men turned to see the pink-haired dancer running towards them, and when she stopped, her breathing was perfectly even. Her emerald eyes looked at Sasuke questioningly.
"Who's this?"
"This is Sasuke." Naruto didn't need to elaborate much more than that for her. If he was right, she'd been crushing on the Uchiha for a while now. "Sasuke, this is Sakura."
Sakura smiled at him and Sasuke noticed the flirtatious bit of it before she looked back at her fellow gypsies. "Tsunade wants everyone back at the hideout. Guards are making their rounds and they apparently got some new reinforcements from Paris. A lot of reinforcements and a new captain. She says it's too dangerous to stay out here too long. Ino's looking for Kankurou and Gaara and Tenten's gone to warn Iruka."
Sasuke noticed how when she mentioned the reinforcements, all three boys' eyes widened and fear dripped in. Whoever this Tsunade woman was, it seemed that if she was worried enough to call people back to wherever the hideout was, that it was pretty bad news. Akamaru yipped a little worriedly and Kiba's hand went to the furry head automatically. Naruto glanced nervously down the streets, like spiked walls were closing in on him and Shikamaru seemed to understand and put a hand on the blonde's shoulder. Silently, with no signal whatsoever, all the gypsies, save for Naruto, turned and began sprinting down the road.
Naruto turned to him with an apologetic look on the whiskered face and said, "Sorry." Before joining the others in a few strides.
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Sasuke stood at the stairs, watching Fugaku greet the new captain. The captain was tall, with skin far too white and eyes an icy gold. Black hair fell long around his face and his voice was far too smooth, sounding slippery as a snake's. The man was called Orochimaru, or so Sasuke heard from his position at the stairs. Orochimaru had spent two decades in Paris, also as a captain, and had been hunting gypsies. Sasuke felt a shiver go up his spine when he heard that Fugaku had asked for Orochimaru specifically because of his record with gypsies. He'd exterminated them in other cities and Fugaku hoped that he would do the same in this one.
Sasuke had to warn Naruto and the others. He might not trust them very much, and he wasn't sure of a lot of things about them, but he did know one thing. They weren't evil and didn't deserve what Orochimaru was planning. Creeping silently back up the stairs, a skill that both he and Itachi had developed when they were kids, he quietly shut his bedroom door and turned, not expecting the achingly familiar face to be staring right back at him as if through water.