--The second chapter of my first Naruto Fanfic. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Chapter 2They entered the village to see the streets thronged with people. Hikaru stopped walking as soon as they set foot inside the gates.
"This village sure fills up with people fast." She sighed. "When I left, the streets were almost completely empty." She mulled something over in her mind for a moment, then turned to Kagemaru. "Come on. We'll go this way." She turned right, heading into a narrow alley.
"Why are we going this way?" Kagemaru asked quietly.
Hikaru shrugged. "It's quieter," she said, not turning around.
They moved through the back streets, twisting and turning, in silence. They only saw the occasional person and stayed out of the main streets.
"Almost there," Hikaru muttered after a while. They walked on in silence for a few minutes, when a voice interrupted.
"Karu-chan!"
They froze, Kagemaru's face covered with disinterest; Hikaru's with exasperation. "Wonderful," she murmured.
"Hikaru! I've been looking for you everywhere!"
A flash of blue rushed toward them. It skidded to a stop about three feet from Hikaru's face, then began to bounce up and down rapidly.
"Hi, Hikaru! Hi, Hikaru! Hi, Hikaru!"
"Good afternoon. You really must switch to decaf," Hikaru greeted quietly.
Kagemaru could see now that it was a girl that was bouncing up and down. Now she stopped, scorn in her ice blue eyes.
"I told you already," she retorted, scowling. She swung her long, dark blue hair over her shoulder, then she grinned at them from under her bangs. "Only when you stop drinking sake behind my back."
Kagemaru's gaze flicked to Hikaru's expression. She had raised one dark eyebrow, but other than that, her face was blank.
"You always walk around like you're in some sort of daze," the blue-haired girl continued. She turned to Kagemaru. "Sure, she's alert enough now, but any other day she's stumbling around like a drunk."
Hikaru remained silent, an "I-don't-care-now-go-away" expression on her face. Finally, she asked, "Are you finished?"
The girl opened her mouth to speak, taking a deep breath, but closed it. "No," she answered shortly.
Hikaru raised her eyebrows expectantly.
"I forgot what I wanted to say," the girl murmured sheepishly.
The red-eyed girl rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers. "Well, I have to go take him to the Hokage. Later." She nodded to Kagemaru and they began walking. To her ultimate exasperation, though, the blue-haired girl walked right beside them.
"Yeah, who are you anyway?" she asked Kagemaru bluntly. "I haven't seen you before. I'm Ishikawa Amaya, Hikaru's friend. Are you Karu-chan's friend, too? Where do you live? Do you have any-?"
"Please, shut up," Hikaru interrupted. "You're making my ears bleed." She glared at the girl. "And we're not exactly friends." Only Kagemaru noticed her barely visible hesitation and wince as she said that final word.
Amaya, however, didn't seem to notice. "Of course we're friends, Karu-chan! Why-"
"Just shut up, Amaya," Hikaru snapped. "And stop calling me Karu-chan!"
Amaya stared at her, silent for once. She lagged back to walk beside Kagemaru as Hikaru stalked ahead. She continued staring wordlessly at the girl's back.
"Fujiwara Kagemaru," a voice muttered quietly.
Taken by surprise, Amaya looked to her right, at where Kagemaru was walking.
"My name is Fujiwara Kagemaru," he murmured again, his violet gaze flickering to her face, then back to the alley ahead of him.
A small smile came to Amaya's lips. "Oh, okay." She followed his expressionless gaze to Hikaru's back. "She gets like this sometimes," she explained quietly, frowning. "I don't know why. I've asked her about it, but then she just gets even more moody and anti-social." She sighed.
"If she's so disagreeable, why do you still try to associate with her?" Kagemaru asked softly, now staring at the ground so Amaya couldn't see his expression.
"I don't really know myself," she admitted. "It's just…I feel like I'm drawn to her somehow. Like some otherworldly force is telling me not to give up hope for her." She glanced at Kagemaru, and was about to say more, but the way that he started steadily in front of him, as Hikaru did so often, told her that he was deep in thought and it was best not to disturb him.
Not paying attention to her surroundings, Amaya was surprised when Hikaru said, "This is it." She stopped walking and looked up. Sure enough, the large building that housed the Hokage's office loomed in front of them.
Hikaru glanced back at them. "Come on," she said, and began up the steps.
Amaya and Kagemaru followed.
"If this Hokage is so important, don't we need to make an appointment?" Kagemaru queried.
Amaya grinned. "For as long as I've known her, Hikaru has just come into the Hokage's office whenever she pleased, appointment or not." She shrugged. "The Hokage is okay with it, I guess."
They reached the door to the Hokage's office to find it filled. A woman with short, dark hair was trying to force a large-bosomed, blonde woman into the office. A pig with a pearl necklace watched on worriedly.
"I'm going out, Shizune, whether you like it or not," the blonde woman retorted.
"No! Lady Tsunade you must get back to work!" the dark-haired woman cried.
As Hikaru, Kagemaru, and Amaya walked over, the blonde woman glanced up, clearly thankful for the distraction.
"Hey, Hikaru," she greeted. The dark-haired woman turned around.
"Hello, Hokage-sama. Lady Shizune." She nodded to each of them.
"What's up?" Tsunade – the blonde woman – asked.
"Hikaru!" Shizune interrupted. "Tell Lady Tsunade that she must go back to work! A Hokage can't spend all her time in bars! It's not respectable!"
Tsunade stared at Hikaru, waiting.
Hikaru sighed. "Lady Tsunade…Hokage-sama. I do not mean any disrespect, but you must go back to your office and hear what I have to say." Shizune grinned triumphantly. "Then you can go wherever you please."
"WHAT?!" Shizune roared.
Tsunade grinned. "It's a deal. Come on in."
00000
When everyone was comfortably situated in the office, Hikaru said to Tsunade, "This is Fujiwara Kagemaru. He was wandering around outside the village, so I thought I'd bring him in."
Tsunade nodded. "I'm Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage," she said to Kagemaru, "and this is Shizune."
Shizune smiled. "Hello."
"It's a pleasure meeting you," Kagemaru answered politely.
Tsunade looked at him oddly for a moment, then said, "Welcome to Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
At that moment, the door burst open and a spiky, blue-haired man ran in. "Hokage-sama!"
Tsunade stared at him, surprised. "Kotetsu? What is it?"
"Hokage-sama," Kotetsu gasped, panting. "The village is being attacked!"
End of Chapter 2--And that's chapter 2. Review and tell me if you want me to make character profiles for Amaya and Kagemaru. I didn't really describe them very well.