Ch. 4

The Wood Between The Worlds

Naruto just stared at him for a minute. Negi was really incredible. He had amazing magical powers, taught languages at a school, and he was a nice guy. And he was only ten, younger than Naruto. But the most amazing thing was how responsible he was. He had risked his life to seal the cracks between worlds, protect his comrades, and protect his students.

"Well," said Yuuko, "Let's get him to bed, and then we can discuss the next mission."

They followed her back to the shop.

"Good job, you guys!" said Tenten. She and Koui greeted them at the door. "We were really worried when Negi-kun passed out!"

"Huh? How did you know what was going on?" asked Naruto.

"We watched you. Yuuko-san has some bowls that, when filled with water, let us watch how your mission went." explained Koui.

"Ooh, that's amazing!"

"Yeah, but I bet she charges you for its use." muttered Watanuki

"Of course!" said Yuuko, "you wouldn't want me to go out of character, now would you?"

"What did you have her pay you, her firstborn?" Watanuki grumbled.

"Don't be silly. I decided that since Koui-san is a dancer, she could dance for us. All work and no play makes life very dull after all."

"Don't worry, Watanuki-kun," said Koui, smiling, "I'm happy to do it; I haven't danced in front of people for a while."

"Besides," interjected Yuuko, "This is a great chance…"

"…to drink saké?" Watanuki guessed.

"Of course! How ever did you know?"

"Yuuko-san, to you everything is a chance to drink. Sigh… I'll get the rest of you some tea. Where were you doing to dance, Koui-san?"

"The front courtyard will do nicely, if it won't interfere with anything. Yuuko-san?"

"That's fine! I'll have Maru and Moro play the music."

"Who?"

That was Chouji.

Yuuko explained as all of the others came out of the shop. Sakura had finished putting Negi to bed.

"Maru and Moro are the two assistants I already had before Watanuki came along. They can't leave the shop, and they're a bit mischievous, but they do help out."

"Oh."

"Dang, I wanted in on that action!" said Ed, meaning the fight in KuFei.

"It wasn't as fun as you think." replied Watanuki

"Whatever, I just hope I'm in the next one."

"I hope I'm not. I don't want to do that ever again!"

"Wuss."

"I am not! I just have a thing for personal safety, unlike some warmongering midget!"

"DON'T CALL ME A MIDGET! OR A DWARF! OR SHORT! OR A LITTLE PERSON! I'LL KILL YOU! RAAAGH!"

Ed began chasing Watanuki madly around the yard, while Al tried to stop him, saying "Big brother! You're not supposed to kill him! Stop it!"

Koui began setting up for her performance, making a clear space so she could move freely. The others moved back, giving her room. Tenten and Lee sat down to watch eagerly, they had only seen Koui dance twice before, and it was a special treat. Neji sat as well, but remained a bit more aloof, although he did enjoy her dancing. As the rest of them sat down, Ed finally stopped chasing Watanuki and joined them. "I've never seen a professional dancer before, this should be neat."

"Watanuki, go get the saké and tea. Then fetch Maru and Moro, they'll have instruments with them." ordered Yuuko

He did so, passing the tea out and giving Yuuko a bottle of saké and a small glass. Maru and Moro, small girls with cute outfits, set up their instruments; Maru had a sitar, and Moro had a hand-drum. As everyone settled in and became quiet, they began to play. The drum beat out a lively tempo, and the sitar played a tune that made them think of silver fish, leaping and flashing in the sea.

Then Koui began to dance. She leaped into the cleared space and began a light, catchy jig of sorts. She moved as though dancing on the squares of a net, her toes flicking to the corners of each 'square' before she leapt lightly to the next. She was so good that they could practically see the imaginary net that she danced on, never touching the 'ropes', never missing a step, always perfectly balanced and on the beat. She clasped her hands behind her and kept going, around the 'outside edge' and working her way inward, until with a leap and a flourish, she landed, light as a wisp, precisely in the center of the 'middle square' as the last note sounded.

There was a pause, and then everyone burst into applause.

"That was amazing, Koui-san!"

"Amazing! Amazing!"

"Bark!"

"How did you learn to do that?"

"How did you know what went with that tune?"

"Wow!"

"Could you teach me to do that?"

"What was that called?"

"How cool!"

Yuuko stopped all of the pestering by saying, "Thank you, Koui-san. That certainly fulfilled the payment needed. In fact, I'll let you use the mére basin any time you want now."

"Really? Thank you Yuuko-san! I'll dance again for you sometime. It's nice to have a small, appreciative audience every now and then."

"Well, we should go to bed for now, I'll have Watanuki wake you when it's time to prepare for the next mission."

"Where are we sleeping? This shop looks far too small to contain sufficient bedrooms." said Shikamaru.

"Ah, but you see Shikamaru-kun, the inside is bigger than the outside."

"Huh?"

"That's one of the benefits of magic. It doesn't have to make complete sense. But the effort involved makes this type of thing an uncommon occurrence. Now off to bed. Until tomorrow!"

They all followed Watanuki as he showed them where to stay. "And Negi-kun is sleeping in this room, which leaves one more… who's supposed to sleep there?"

"You are." Watanuki nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Yikes! Don't do that to me, Yuuko-san! And what do you mean, I'm staying there?"

"You certainly can't go back to our world while you're doing this; time can't pass for you there remember?"

"But, but, but…"

"No buts. Now go to bed."

He did so, muttering, "…dammit Yuuko-san, tell me these things beforehand…"

The Next Day

Negi yawned and stretched, feeling much better. He had really been worn out; Evangeline would kill him if she knew he was over-extending himself with magic like that. Especially since magical barriers were one of her specialties. That and Destructive Magic. And manipulating people. And mental torture. And laughing maniacally.

"Sigh…" He got up, and then started to undress before realizing that he was already in his clothes, and that he had never been in his pajamas in the first place. Oh, that's right, I don't have any other clothes. he thought. He smoothed out the wrinkles as best he could; then left the room.

As he entered the sitting-room he noticed two things. First, everyone else was already awake and eating, and second… Yuuko was missing. "Good morning Negi-kun!" cried Tenten perkily.

"Oh! Good morning Tenten-san."

"You're looking a lot better this morning; we were all so worried about you!"

"I'm sorry to worry you. What's for breakfast?"

"Eggs and fruit salad" said Watanuki, passing by with his hands full. "How do you want your eggs?"

"Sunny side up?"

"Got it!"

Soon Negi had a plate of hot eggs and cool fruit. "This is really good Watanuki-san!"

"Heheh. Thanks!"

"Watanuki-kun?" asked Koui.

"Yes?"

"Where's Yuuko-san?"

"She said she was going out to get more food supplies. With this many people, we'll need them. She also said she was going to visit a customer while she was out. She'll be gone all day."

"Oh. Do you know what the next mission is? She said she'd tell us this morning."

"No idea, but maybe Mokona does."

Just then Maru and Moro came skipping in, singing "A note! A note! The Mistress left a note! A note for Watanuki-kun to read!"

"Eh? A note? Let me see that."

As Watanuki took the letter, the others stopped what they were doing to listen, wanting to know the next mission.

"Dear Watanuki-kun and guests, I can't be there in person right now, so I'll tell you your next mission in this letter. You need to fulfill a prophecy." Watanuki paused.

"A prophecy? What kind of prophecy?" he shook his head and went back to reading.

"In the Copper Isles, the god Kyprioth's head priestess had a dream in which the god gave her a prophecy. The prophecy is as follows. 'In a time that is not yet, the one whom I promised will come. She will be a Queen with two crowns, beautiful and beloved. She will restore her god to his temple and her people to his right hand. She will be attended by the Wild One, the Strong One, the Clever One, the White-eyed Ones, and the Fox. She will bring new alliances to the land, and the Kudurung will fly in her honor.' The Queen with two crowns has appeared, but the others who were to attend her did not. The problem with this reality is that those six don't exist in it. Thus, you will have to fulfill this prophecy by replacing those missing six. The descriptions should allow you to know who is going, but just in case, I'll tell you at the end if you can't guess. Good Luck! Ichihara Yuuko."

"I guess we're supposed to figure out who goes before we read the post-script." sighed Watanuki. "Does anyone know who she means?"

"Actually, it's kind of obvious." said Sakura. "The Wild One is Kiba-kun, with Akamaru of course."

"Of course! Like I'd leave my buddy behind!" said Kiba with a grin.

"The Strong One is Lee-san."

Sakura-san just called me strong! Oh heaven! thought Lee blissfully.

"The Clever One is Shikamaru-san."

"Feh, how troublesome." Shikamaru said, though he was secretly pleased at being called the Clever One in a prophecy.

"The White-Eyed Ones are Neji-kun and Hinata-chan, with their Byakugan."

Neji smirked. Hinata nodded timidly.

"And that leaves the Fox, which is obviously Naruto, since he has the Kyuubi in him."

"Yosha! I'm famous in a world I haven't even been to yet!" (crazy grin)

"So we know who's supposed to go. But let's just read the post-script to make sure." said Watanuki. "PS: In this order they are… Kiba and Akamaru, Lee, Shikamaru, Neji and Hinata, and Naruto."

"Looks like we were right!" said Sakura, trying not to smirk.

"What? I wanted to go on this one! Why can't I go?" sulked Ed.

"Wait, there's another PS." interjected Watanuki. "PPS: I would have sent Edward-kun too, but the prophecy didn't call for a 'Short One.'"

Dead silence.

"WHAT THE HELL! I'LL KILL THAT DAMN WITCH! HOW DARE SHE CALL ME SHORT!"

"Big brother! Big brother! Calm down; she's not here right now! You can't kill her!"

Al managed to get Ed outside where he went on a rampage through the trees, causing only slightly less damage than he would have inside.

Back inside, the ninja who were going started getting ready. "Do you know which pool goes to the Copper Isles Watanuki-san?" asked Hinata.

"No."

"Feh, then how are we supposed to go?" asked Shikamaru.

"Mokona knows!" the little black puffball bounced up onto Shikamaru's head.

"Huh?"

"Mokona knows which pool! Yuuko showed Mokona!"

"Great! Let's go!" exclaimed Naruto.

They went outside, and Mokona led them to the pool, hopping up and down on Shikamaru's head when they got there.

He sighed, "…stop jumping on my head and send us there, okay?"

"Okay!" The puffball jumped over into Watanuki's arms, then turned to face the pool. Its eyes glowed, and they stepped forward into the water.

Notes: The world they are going to in the next few chapters comes from Tamora Pierce's Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen. The prophecy is slightly changed, as are the characters they will meet in the Copper Isles. The basic idea is the same though. I don't own any of this, so don't sue me! If anyone wants to comment on the discrepancies, be my guest, I'd love to know how I could fix it. I may not take your advice, but I will read it, and I'll probably reply.