Disclaimer: We don't own Naruto or the plot of Phantom of the Opera, just what we made up. She makes these disclaimers so boring... :-P (whisper was here)

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Chapter 1: The New Girl

September 6th, 1870- nine years later

The driver was clearly not one to make friends. He sneered at anything and everything. He was just a shady old man with a wrinkled up frown. Matching his aura was the inside of his stage. Black curtains blocked out much of the light, dark red seats looked black in the dim light. Hiromi Aya did not mind though, in fact she was rather pleased with the décor. The dark hues matched her forlorn mood. The weather even matched her mood as the gray skies let out a light drizzle.

The side of Aya's face rested on the small widow next to her. Her brown eyes watched lazily as green scenery whisked by. Konohagakure got a fair amount of ran and enough sun to make it one of the greenest cities in Fire country. Everything was a green blur as the driver pushed the horses to go at an even faster pace. Every now and then she would see a marker that she recognized from when she had traveled down this road before. Only then her father was sitting in front of her making some joke. Never again would he sit there.

In her father's place was a young lad only a few years older then her. He gazed out his own small window with a frown gracing his face like her own. His blonde hair was falling in his bright blue eyes. He also had three black tattoos in the shape of whiskers on both cheeks. He had probably been some sort of rebel that his parents wanted shipped off.

He was the first to break the depressing silence. "So you're being shoved off to the Opera House too?" he asked innocently. He clearly had no clue about what had just recently happened to her.

"Not shoved off like you. I'm moving there with my friend," she snapped. It was her attempt to get it across that she didn't want to talk.

He didn't get it. Instead he looked at her with a toothy grin. "My foster parent got tired of me getting into trouble, his name is Kakashi. Anyway, it was only neighborhood trouble; I don't see what his problem was. He told be that if I could sing half as good as I do at five in the morning on stage then I would do fine in the Opera House. So, here I am, being shipped off to be student there."

"I didn't ask for an explanation."

"My, my, who, or what stuffed a bee up your rear?"

"Excuse me?! I'm not having this conversation with a male! It's none of your business any way!"

"Ohhhhhhh, so something did stuff a bee up your rear. Poor thing… drowning herself in misery."

"Will you kindly shut your mouth?" Aya didn't want to come out with her problems, especially to someone like him.

Naruto rolled his large childish blue eyes. "So now you're going to act all proper on me?" he asked sarcastically ignoring the glare the brunette flashed at him. "What's your name anyway? Izanami?" (A/N: he's using this as sarcasm. Izanami (who is part of a Japanese myth) means 'female who invites'. He's making fun of the fact that she's not inviting.)

Aya shot him a dirty enough look to make him flinch slightly. "NO! My name is Hiromi Aya if you had to know," she snapped. She looked back out the window biting her lip.

Naruto suddenly changed from teasing to sorry when he heard not so much her name but her family name. The death of the famed Hiromi Saburo was news alright. It was known that he had left behind his only child. Kakashi had taken his death personally; he was a great fan of the violinist. "Listen, I didn't know I wouldn't have…" he was cut off by the young woman.

"It's fine, you didn't know." Aye didn't move her eyes from the window. Her brown eyes remained trained on the outside.

Naruto laughed at himself for putting himself in this awkward position. "Think we can try again?" He held out his hand and grabbed Aya's and shook it slightly. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"

Aya almost laughed at the blonde's strange ways but played his game any way. "And I am Hiromi Aya. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Ah, the pleasure is all mine," Naruto said trying to sound smooth as he brought up her hand and kissed the back of it gently. Aya laughed this time. It was a small laugh but it didn't go unnoticed. "Ah, my dear you have a lovely laugh," he kept on with the corny lines, knowing they were corny but they would make her laugh.

Aya smiled slightly thinking to herself, 'Maybe this won't all be bad.'

They had gotten silent again as their scenes told them they were arriving at the Opera House. Of course, Aya who had been to the Opera House many times before, helped by looking out the window more and more often as she recognized more of the scenery. The silence was an uncomfortable one though. Neither knew what to expect when they got there. Aya was to be adopted into the Opera House's owner's family, who knew how well that would work out. And then Naruto would work as stage crew, he had told her he had no clue what his job was and he was afraid of heights after falling out of a tree when he was twelve.

The wheels came to a slow rolling halt before jerking slightly and stopping completely. The two occupants looked out the window, Naruto gasped. The Opera House was probably the most lavish place he had ever seen. It was one of those buildings that seemed to scream, "You can't come near unless you can afford it." It was made completely of marble. There was a board set of stairs that led to the three sets of double doors.

"Wow," he muttered getting out of the coach. He paused at the door to help Aya out. He really didn't see how women could move at all in the dressed they wore. Once she was safely on the ground with both feet he reached in again and pulled out their luggage.

"I can take my own," Aya said softly.

"No, I got it."

"AYA!" An angry voice came from the Opera House as one of the doors burst open. "YOU. ARE. LATE." A brunette woman stormed down the marble steps. As soon as she reached Aya though she pulled a look of pity and wrapped her arms around her.

"Machi, you had me thinking you were going to kill me there…" Aya's voice trailed off as she started to sniffle. She buried her face in Machi's shoulder and began to cry. "He's gone Machi…"

"Sh…" Machi tried her best to comfort her friend.

A/N: sort of a morbid chapter but hey, her dad just died… I hope you enjoy, and I did get it up sooner then I thought. Please review, we have yet to get any. Thank you to the two who added this story to their favorites or their alerts. ) shattered

P.S.- I am sorry, but shattered just cracks me up. She does not care to mention the names of the two people, like i would have, and she tells you to "enjoy" the morbid chapter. I am sorry, but it cracks me up.

Well excuse me but there were some funny things… I think… just shut up . shattered