The Heart of the Demon
Chapter 19
The Long Awaited Return
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters
Izumo and Kotetsu sat at their post by the main gate passing the time with idle chatter. It had been a slow day with almost no one entering or exiting the village. The soft clicking of heels faintly came into earshot as a woman approached the gate.
Izumo tapped Kotetsu on the shoulder and pointed to the approaching figure, she wore a short black top with some mesh armor underneath along with a black skirt that went half way down her thighs. She had on a pair of black boots with small heels the covered her calves and pair of ominous clawed gauntlets that gave her a dangerous look. Over the outfit she wore a long black coat that flowed behind her as she walked. She had black eye shadow that augmented her ocean blue eyes on and long bright blond hair.
The two gate guards shared a look and prepared for a possible confrontation with the suspicious looking woman. She walked through the gate and past their post without so much as a glance.
Izumo spoke up, what was a gate guard for it they just let anyone stroll into the village? "Hey! You have to check in with us before you can enter the village." He stood and started at the back of the woman's head seriously, ready to spring into action if she resisted.
She stopped and slowly turned to look Izumo in the eye "I have important business with the Hokage, now be a good little man and fuck off." Her eyes flashed red and Izumo's face went black for a second before he complied and sat back down.
Kotetsu didn't understand what had just happened "What the hell Izumo?" he questioned quietly but Izumo didn't respond just sat there and looked over some documents sitting in front of him. "Stop!" he called after the woman jumping from his post and pulling out his weapon "Who are you and what are you doing in our village."
She sighed and stopped again turning to face Kotetsu "What am I doing in the village? I live here."
"Liar, I know everyone who lives in this village and you're not one of them!"
"Still don't remember me? I haven't been gone that long, Kotetsu, that is your name right?"
Kotetsu's eyes widened as he took in her appearance once again noticing the whisker marks on her face he finally recognized her "Naruto Uzumaki?"
"The one and only." She turned around boredly and started making her way toward the Hokage tower.
"Wait! Where is Tsunade? And what did you do to Izumo?"
"Nothing lasting." She called over her shoulder not giving an answer to the first question. Kotetsu sighed and resumed his post, well there went his excitement for the day.
Naruto made her way through the village receiving questioning looks from the various civilians and shinobi. She quickly reached the tower made her way up the stairs and entered the Hokage's office without even knocking startling the secretary and closing the door before she could say anything.
The occupants of the room looked to the sudden arrival, Sakura stood in front of the desk presumably reporting on something and behind the desk sat the Godaime Hokage, Jariya. Naruto leaned against the door and silently stared at the two. Sakura carefully studied the intruder, she looked familiar but she couldn't quite place it, soon it clicked into place. "Naruto?"
"Sakura" she stated with a bored look.
Sakura stammered at her nonchalant attitude "When did you get back?"
"About five minutes ago."
"Sakura, You're dismissed, Naruto and I have important business to discuss. You two can catch up later." Jariya interrupted. Sakura looked to him and opened her mouth to object before thinking better of it, she bowed and left glancing at Naruto as she stepped away from the door.
After Sakura was gone Jariya looked to Naruto and gave a small smile that wasn't reciprocated. "How did it go?"
"It went well" she took out a scroll and tossed it to him "The hidden Cloud has agreed to the terms and signed the treaty."
"Very good." They sat in awkward silence for a minute before Jariya broke it "How have you been?"
"Peachy."
He sighed after it was clear she wasn't going to elaborate "How is Tsunade? Did she come back with you?"
"She's great, was delighted that she didn't have to come back here."
Jariya sighed again this wasn't going anywhere "Alright, if there is nothing else you can go."
Naruto stood there for a moment before speaking up "I want to join ANBU."
Jariya raised his eyebrows "Naruto you just got back to the village, why don't you take some time to get reacquainted."
"Is that a no?"
He sighed "No it isn't I'm just saying you shouldn't jump into something like ANBU so soon after getting back."
"I don't need time."
"Naruto I don't think ANBU will be good for you, being in ANBU is a dark and depressing life, after all the time you just spent recovering don't you think…"
"My mental capability is none of your business, I am more than capable of living the ANBU life."
"Your health is my concern I'm you godfather."
"That never mattered before, don't let it start now."
"Naruto…"
"Yes or no?"
"Fine" he finally conceded before pulling out a scroll and quickly filling it out "Here" he tossed her the scroll and in one fluid motion she caught it and slipped out the door. Jariya sighed angrily and rubbed his temples.
Naruto wasted no time before making her way to the ANBU office, she approached the man sitting behind the desk at the front of ANBU headquarters and handed him the scroll. The man looked at her questioningly before taking the scroll and looking it over. He finished reading through the scroll and tossed it back to her "Follow the hallway and take the third door on your right" She nodded and proceeded down the hall.
A skinny man with glasses and spiky brown hair looked up from the many papers on his desk as she entered "Hello, what can I do for you?"
She handed him the scroll "The guy up front told me to come give this to you."
He looked over the scroll and raised his eyebrows at her "You're joining ANBU? Well you are dressed for it" He stood and placed the scroll in a filing cabinet behind his desk before walking out the door motioning for her to follow. "We'll get you your equipment and introduce you to your squad captain and then you can go."
Naruto nodded and followed him into a room full of uniforms and masks "What size are you?"
"Size six" He nodded and grabbed an appropriately sized uniform and handed it to her.
"You have a preference on what animal your mask is?"
"A fox" He nodded slowly and looked through the masks they had before pulling out one of a fox and handing it to her.
"There you go, now we'll get you your ANBU tattoo." He walked out of the room with her close behind. It didn't take long to get to where they were going. They entered a small white room with an examining table and a small counter with numerous drawers. "Set your equipment on the counter and remove you coat." She complied and took her seat on the examination table.
He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a tattooing needle and some ink before proceeded to her side and drawing the ANBU tattoo onto her left shoulder, she sat quietly throughout the process. Once finished he placed the needle and ink back in their proper places while she adorned her coat and grabbed her equipment. "Alright now I'll show you your locker and introduce you to your captain, he should be in today."
Naruto followed the man through the complex and into the locker room where he pointed out her locker and handed her a small key "That one is yours, wait here and I'll be back with your captain."
Naruto opened the plain locker and placed her equipment inside; she waited patiently for the man to get back with her captain and was pleasantly surprised when he showed up after only a few minutes with another man. "Tenzo this is your new subordinate Naruto, Naruto this is your captain Tenzo."
Naruto gave a sweet smile and held her hand out "A pleasure to meet you"
Tenzo gave his own smile to her and shook her hand "The pleasure is all mine." After the pleasantries Tenzo got down to business "The Hokage ordered for you to start next week, so meet me here at 7 a.m. in one week."
Naruto nodded, Jariya that sneaky bastard, having her wait a week, well she was in and that was what mattered and as she predicted he had placed her on the same squad as the wood style user. She walked out of ANBU headquarters and decided it had been far too long since she had eaten at Ichiraku's.
"You worked quick kit, our plans are already starting to progress"
Naruto smiled at the inner voice 'Everything has gone exceedingly well so far'
"Don't let yourself get cocky, there is much more to do before we are ready"
'I know Kurama, I'm not going to screw this up'
She was brought out of her conversation as a large dog jumped at her, she let it tackle her to the ground and lick her face recognizing the overgrown mutt as Akamaru. "Down boy" she said playfully and lightly pushed him off of her.
"Akamaru why did you just run off like that?" Kiba shouted as he ran down an alley way chasing after Akamaru. He got to where Akamaru stood over Naruto furiously licking her face as she squirmed underneath, it didn't take long for him recognize her and his eyes lit up "Naruto? Is that you?"
He pulled Akamaru off of her and offered his hand to help her up "Hey Kiba, long time no see."
Kiba pulled her off the ground and into a brief hug "When did you get back?"
Naruto returned the hug "This morning"
"Kiba where did you go?" Hinata questioned as she turned the corner, Immediately her eyes fell on Naruto and widened. Naruto looked over to Hinata and gave a huge smile "Naruto…" Hinata stammered out before they both ran to each other and tightly embraced each other. "I've missed you so much, why didn't tell me you were getting back?" Hinata asked shaking with excitement at seeing her best friend.
"I wanted it to be a surprise, and I didn't know when exactly I would be back."
"Did you just get back right now?"
"I got back this morning but had to report to the Hokage and stuff, I just finished with that."
Hinata smiled broadly and jumped slightly in place, she had been eagerly awaiting Naruto's return for almost 4 years and suddenly she was back. "We were just going to train, let me tell Kuranai sensei that I'm going to spend the day with you and we can go to Ichiraku's!" Hinata excitedly exclaimed before turning around and running back down the alley and around the corner.
Naruto chuckled at her friends antics, she had missed the girl dearly in her years away from the village. Akamaru nuzzled her arm and she started playing with the now man sized dog "Akamaru sure has gotten big Kiba, what have you been feeding him?"
Kiba raised an eyebrow and looked to his canine partner "huh, I guess he is pretty big, being around him all the time I hardly noticed."
Naruto gawked "He's bigger than you! How did you not notice, he used to ride around on your head!"
Kiba shrugged and laughed lightly "I guess it was pretty sudden for you, he was still a puppy last time you saw him." Naruto nodded slightly and scratched Akamaru behind the ears, Kiba watched her with affection he too had missed Naruto greatly. "So now that your back, how about a date?" he smiled handsomely at her.
She looked to him with a questioning look before laughing "good one Kiba, your so cute." She then went back to playing with Akamaru.
Kiba deadpanned, cute? He wasn't cute he was manly damn it. "Uh, it wasn't a joke."
Naruto's face went pale as she looked back to him "Oh, um, sorry"
Just then Hinata came back around the corner saving her from the awkward moment "Alright Naruto let's go"
Naruto smile at her and let her drag her away by the hand, she waved to Kiba "See you later Kiba"
Kiba watched them leave with a sad expression "yeah, see you later Naruto." He said quietly to himself before walking back down the alley. Akamaru barked happily at him and nuzzled his hand getting him to smile softly at his canine companion.
After they were away from Kiba Naruto let out a breath of relief and let Hinata happily lead the rest of the way to Ichiraku's. It didn't take long for them to get there and Hinata bounded into the little restaurant that they had upgraded to a few years after Naruto had left.
"They moved?" Naruto questioned as she looked around the restaurant
"Yeah, they upgraded about a year ago, they're the most popular ramen place in Konaha."
Naruto smiled and followed Hinata to the bar in front of the kitchen, Ayame was quick to come take their orders and after a second she smiled brightly "Naruto!" she quickly wrapped her arms around the blond girl "It's been too long, does this mean you're back for good?"
Naruto giggled at the affection "Yep I'm here to stay."
Ayame called back into the kitchen for Teuchi "Dad get out here you'll never guess who's here."
Teuchi came out of the kitchen a few seconds later wiping his hands on a white cloth his eyes brightened and a large smile spread across his aging face "Well I'll be Naruto you're back! It's good to see you!" He came forward and gave the girl a quick hug.
"It's good to see you guys too, I've missed this place more than life itself, no one makes ramen like you!"
Teuchi laughed "Well then let's get you a bowl, on the house."
Naruto smiled even more brightly "Thanks!"
Teuchi went back into the kitchen to make the ramen "It's great to see you Naruto, we'll have to catch up when we're not so busy." Naruto nodded and they gave their orders to the women who bid them farewell and got back to work.
"So how have you been? What did you do while you away? Where did you go?" Hinata asked excitedly
"Slow down Hinata, one question at a time" Naruto chuckled at her friend; it was odd to see Hinata so energized.
"Alright let's start with how you've been."
Naruto thought briefly over the many things that had happened over the past few years "Good, I've been good. It took a while but I've finally moved passed what happened." Hinata gave a sad smile and Naruto quickly moved away from the subject "What about you? how have you been? Are you seeing anyone?"
Hinata went red and immediately quieted causing Naruto to smile mischievously "who is he?" Hinata looked away and started pushing her fingers together. Naruto grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes "oh come on Hinata if you can't talk about it with me then who can you talk to it with?"
Hinata took a deep breath and tried to fight down her blush "Um, its…" she said the name so quietly Naruto couldn't hear it in the busy restaurant.
"You're going to have to talk louder than that." Naruto said with an amused expression.
"It's Shikamaru." She said slightly louder.
Naruto's eyes widened a bit and face nearly split in two from her smile "Shikamaru? I wouldn't have guessed that"
"Why not?" Hinata questioned
"Well, you're shy and he's incredibly lazy. It's not that I don't think you two go well together it's just hard to imagine how it got started, who made the first move?"
Hinata again blushed before quietly answering "Ino"
Naruto laughed "Now that explains it."
Ayame placed the first bowls of ramen in front of them with a smile "Enjoy you two."
They thanked Ayame and went back to their conversation between bites of ramen "So Ino set you guys up, how long have you been dating?"
"Six months in two weeks."
Naruto grinned "That long huh" she suddenly perked up as if she had heard something "Oh are those wedding bells I hear?"
Hinata went bright red and hit her friend on the shoulder "Don't even joke about that! Shikamaru will know and you'll scare him off!"
Naruto chuckled and rose her hands in surrendering manner "Alright, alright"
After a few moments of silence Hinata moved on to her next question "Alright then what did you do on your grand adventure around the elemental nations?"
Naruto shrugged "Too much to get into right now." At Hinata's disapproving expression she added to her answer "I trained a lot."
Hinata raised an eyebrow clearly not satisfied with the answer "You were gone four years and that's all you did? What could have possibly taken so much training?"
Naruto rolled her eyes "Training wasn't all I did, though I did learn some awesome new jutsu."
"You'll have to show me later" Hinata smiled more satisfied now "I learned some pretty cool new jutsu as well"
"We should meet up tomorrow and show off our new moves."
"Sounds great! Now about the other stuff you did."
Naruto chuckled "There really is too much to go into right now."
"Come on you have to give me something I've been Naruto starved for way too long."
"Fine fine" she thought over the past four years for a story to tell "Alright so for the last year or so we've been in Kumo on a diplomatic mission, that's classified until the treaty goes through by the way so don't tell anyone. Anyway so I was apprehensive about going to Kumo when Jariya first sent us there, I'd heard some stories about the Raikage from Tsunade that were worrisome."
"Wait, Lady Tsunade knew the Raikage?"
"Yeah, not super well but more than anyone else in the village, I guess that's why the old perv sent us on the mission. So I was wary about going to a foreign and possibly hostile village with an aggressive and dangerous Kage but we couldn't really refuse the mission so it didn't matter how I felt about it we were going. I was so on edge when we got there I nearly killed the gate guard when he reached under his desk to get some paperwork, if I hadn't been holding Rai… Tonton I probably would have, that would have been bad."
Hinata looked at Naruto with a quizzical look why was she trying to hide something from her? well she was sure whatever it was Naruto would share eventually.
"Anyway after I almost got us all killed we were led to where we would be living and given a few hours to settle in before we met with the Raikage, it was a pretty apartment if a little small. The meeting with the Raikage got tediously boring, I wasn't needed there and was really just along for the ride, it got boring fast but luckily for me the Raikage's brother Killer Bee was there and just as bored as I was."
"His name is Killer Bee?"
"Yeah it's something they do over there, the Raikage's name is A and his brother's is B, I don't know if it's some sort of tradition or whatever but I do know B isn't A's biological brother so I would guess it's something like that. Anyway Bee was way more entertaining than A and after a while we stopped even going to the meetings we never contributed and A got sick of us distracting them. Bee is a bit eccentric, has this thing where he talks in rhymes, but it was fun hanging out with him, even though he is like almost 40."
"He talks in rhymes?"
"Yeah, always wanting to throw concerts and shit too, it was a bit weird but funny and not so bad once you got used to it."
They chatted more while the bowls stacked up in front of Naruto "How's Sasuke?" Naruto eventually asked.
"He's been good, he's on a mission right now, I bet he'll freak out when he gets back and finds out he missed your return."
Naruto chuckled "Well I'll just have to punish him for missing me."
Hinata giggled at the thought "You're going to have to think fast, he should be back tomorrow."
"Oh I already have a plan in the works."
"Lady Hinata!" Neji suddenly called from the doorway of the restaurant causing both women to look to him as he marched over "It is time for your evening training, Lord Hiashi is not pleased with your tardiness."
Hinata frowned "But Naruto just got back, one night without training should be fine."
"Lord Hiashi tasked me with finding and retrieving you and that is what I'm going to do, now come before we are any later than we already are." Neji gave Naruto a cold glare as he drug Hinata away which she reciprocated, his arm was tightly bandaged, an everlasting reminder of her superiority over him.
Hinata waved to Naruto "Sorry Naruto, I'll see you tomorrow."
Naruto waved back and sighed when they were gone looking at the pile of bowls. "Ayame" she called and the girl showed up shortly after with a smile.
"Yes Naruto?"
"I'm ready for the check, I'm paying for Hinata's as well." She didn't really mind, money wasn't something she tended to worry about.
"Of course" she handed Naruto a slip of paper with her total on it. Naruto pulled out the required amount and handed it to Ayame who smiled "Have a great evening Naruto, see you soon."
"You too Ayame" she said with a wave as she left the small building. She looked at the sky; the sun was low on the horizon sending beautiful shades of orange and red all across the sky. She smiled and watched the sun set for a few minutes before turning and walking determined to her destination.
It was dark by the time she got to the Uchiha district and Naruto smiled excitedly, she had sincerely missed the Uchiha brothers. She walked up the steps to the clan head's house and knocked loudly waiting for the elder Uchiha to answer the door.
Itachi looked at the clock wondering who would be at the door this late before taking off his light yellow apron and leaving the kitchen. He got to the door and slid it open to see young blonde women in black clothes. Naruto quickly slipped under Itachi's arm into the house and plopped down onto the couch placing her feet on the coffee table smiling widely at him "How've you been Itachi, feels like forever since I last saw you."
Itachi slid the door closed and gave her a stoic smile "I didn't know you were back in town"
"Just got back this morning, spent the day with Hinata."
"You went to Hinata first then, Sasuke is going to be disappointed."
Naruto scoffed "as if he would expect anything else. She actually ran into me on my way out from meeting with Jariya, told me Sasuke was off on a mission."
"So you came by just to say hi to me? I'm flattered"
"Well that and I was kind of hoping I could stay here."
Itachi let out a small laugh and shook his head "What's wrong with your apartment?"
She took on a more solemn look and looked away from him "I just don't want to go back there, at least not yet."
Itachi nodded understandingly "Of course you can stay here."
"Thanks Itachi"
"I was just making dinner; it will be ready soon if you would like some."
"I would but I just left Ichiraku's, I might have had too much ramen."
Itachi chuckled "alright, you know where the guest room is. Do want me to get your bags?"
"No need" Naruto pulled out a couple of scrolls "Sealing scrolls are how all the girls are carrying their stuff around nowadays, don't you know anything?" She smiled jokingly at him and he chuckled. "Thanks again." She called as she walked around the corner to the guest bedroom.
She walked into the room and tossed the scrolls onto the side table before flopping down on the bed and sighing. 'Today went well, you made more progress than I could have hoped.'
'Jariya is a bastard but he wants me to forgive him so desperately it wasn't hard to get what I wanted.'
'Yes you didn't even have to use the Ayatsuru'
'There is more to manipulation than jutsu, why risk Jariya noticing something the Ayatsuru when I can easily get him to do what I want without it? I didn't even have to push him hard and as expected he put me in the wood style user's squad, just in case I 'lose control' again, it really is pathetic how easy it was Konaha could have chosen a much better Hokage. I suppose that would have just made it more difficult though and it won't matter anyway.'
Kurama chuckled inside her head 'You're getting ahead of yourself Naruto, we're not ready yet but soon it will be time to put the plan into motion.'
'I know Kurama, I've spent years preparing this, nothing is going to stop me.'
She sat up and began stripping off her gauntlets, undoing the straps that held them in place before sliding them off and placing them caringly on the bedside table. She unwrapped one of the scrolls and unsealed some sleeping clothes and a bathroom bag before removing her current clothes stripping down to her underwear. She grabbed the bathroom bag and clothes and headed out of the bedroom calling to Itachi "Hey Itachi I'm going to take a shower."
She walked into the bathroom and set the bag on the counter taking out some makeup remover and using it to get off her eye shadow before removing her underwear and getting into the shower.
Sasuke slid the door open and walked into the house slipping off his jacket and placing it on a hook near the door; he heard the shower turn off in the other room. "Hey Itachi the mission went faster than expected so I'm back early" he walked into the hall and noticed bathroom door was slightly open and some steam rolled out from the crack.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, why wouldn't Itachi be using the master bathroom? Curious he peeked into the crack seeing a naked women with a large tattoo of a multicolored bird with flaming wings on her back, she was slightly bent over drying off her hair and Sasuke walked away with a sly smile. He walked into the kitchen and found Itachi putting food onto a plate, he looked at Itachi and his smile only grew.
Itachi looked to Sasuke "Hey Sasuke, the mission ended early?"
Sasuke didn't comment but smiled wider "I could come back later, give you some alone time with your lady friend."
Itachi looked at Sasuke confused "My lady friend?"
"The blond ANBU in the bathroom, no need to hide it, I was supposed to be gone tonight." Itachi cracked a smile idly wondering why he said she was ANBU.
"Wow Sasuke, sneaking a peek I didn't know you had turned into such a pervert."
Sasuke's face immediately went from amused to mortified; he slowly turned to see Naruto standing in the hallway with wet hair in a black tank top and black underwear with her arms crossed in front of her chest. He opened his mouth but nothing came out as he tried to process what was happening, Naruto was back! And the first thing he had done was peek on her in the bathroom "I… I…"
Naruto shrugged and turned around "It's alright it was bound to happen eventually." She called over her shoulder as she walked back to her bedroom.
Sasuke stood still staring at the spot she had been standing in with is mouth hanging open. "Smooth" Itachi said stifling back laughter.
Sasuke turned to Itachi with a bright red face "Why didn't you tell me Naruto was here!"
Itachi shrugged "I didn't have a chance" he grabbed the plates and handed one to Sasuke as he went to sit at the table to eat.
Sasuke looked back down the hallway before taking a seat "Is Naruto not eating?"
"She ate Ichiraku's not long ago."
They ate in silence for a while before Sasuke broke it "Why does she have an ANBU tattoo?"
Itachi shrugged "I don't know."
"When did she get back?"
"This morning."
"Hn" Sasuke finished up the food and placed the plate in the sink before going to Naruto's room and knocking on the door.
"Come in"
Sasuke pushed open the door and smiled at her hoping she wouldn't mention the awkward peeking incident. "Hey"
Naruto looked over a book she was reading and smiled at him "Hey perv"
Sasuke deadpanned "I didn't know it was you."
"Yeah because it's only pervy to peek on me." Sasuke put his head down and let off an air of depression causing Naruto to laugh "It's fine Sasuke, it's only natural to want to see naked women."
Sasuke's head snapped up and his face was bright red "That's not it! I was just curious as to who was taking a shower in the guest bathroom."
"Sure, wouldn't want to intrude on Itachi's lady friend's privacy." Sasuke's face turned red as a tomato causing Naruto to laugh historically. "Seriously Sasuke it's no big deal" she said after finally catching her breath.
Sasuke fought the blush down and took a seat in the desk chair across from the bed "So, you got tattoos"
"Yeah, what of them?"
"They're cool do they mean anything?"
"Of course."
"What do they mean?" Sasuke prodded
"Well this is the kanji for love" she pointed to the tattoo on her right shoulder "and this is a Konaha ANBU tattoo" she pointed to the tattoo on her left shoulder.
After she didn't continue Sasuke raised an eyebrow "What about the bird on your back?"
"What about it?"
"What does it mean?" Sasuke was starting to get frustrated with her games
"It's personal"
Sasuke sighed and gave up asking about the bird "Why did you get a Konaha ANBU tattoo?"
"Because I joined ANBU obviously."
Sasuke's jaw dropped and his eyes widened "What?! When?!"
"This morning."
"But you just got back this morning!"
"Yeah and then I joined ANBU"
"Wh- why?"
"I wanted to."
"Would you give me a straight answer already!"
"Sasuke I just got back, we haven't seen each other in four years and I'm tired could we please not fight right now."
Sasuke started like he was going to argue but decided she was right "You're right, we can talk about it later."
Naruto smiled softly at him, he was as overprotective of her as he always was "Hey, me and Hinata are going to hang out tomorrow and show each other all the cool jutsu and shit we learned over the past four years, you should come too."
Sasuke returned the smile "That sounds fun, anyway I guess I should get to bed"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow Sasuke, Good night."
"Good night" he walked out of the room and Naruto turned out the light and went to sleep.
Sasuke went to his room and followed her lead, he didn't even question why Naruto was staying with them he was just happy she was.
Authors Note: The tattoo on Naruto's back is the new story cover image if you wanted to know what it looked like. The picture is by Exileden on Deviant art so all credit goes to her, you should check her out she does some amazing fantasy art.