Chapter 3
Sitting on the rooftops of their old apartments, Irma couldn't help, but glance at Hay Lin and felt a pang of sympathy. The poor girl still looked shaken from her encounter with Naruto. The water guardian sighed. She'd had a feeling something like this would happen. Out of all of the guardians and the shinobi, Hay Lin and Naruto were the only ones that said they loved each other and Irma knew that her best friend still had feelings for the blonde hokage no matter how much she denied it.
"Are you sure you're okay," she asked again for what must have been the third time.
Hay Lin let out a frustrated breath. "Yes Irma I'm fine."
The spunky brunette snickered. "You really should have seen your face when Naruto fell on you. You looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car!"
"This is so not funny," The air guardian grumbled, placing her chin on her knees.
"Yeah I know," Irma replied. "Sorry. How's Will doing?"
"She doing as fine as any girl can after seeing her long lost twin brother after five years of not even talking about him," Hay Lin replied.
"Yeah well that's exactly why I'm going to try and avoid going to the sand village even if it kills me," the blue eyed girl said. "Because there is no freaking way that I am going to face Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro."
It was quiet for a few more moments as Hay Lin thought the situation over. She couldn't help but think back to the moment in Naruto's office. The guardian couldn't help, but feel a sense of pride for Naruto for achieving his dream and becoming Hokage. She had also, despite her panic over the situation, noticed that the renowned knuckle head had become a very handsome man. His hair had gotten a little longer and he had gotten even taller than Hay Lin remembered. His eyes though were still the same warm, deep, blue they had been five years ago.
"It was nice of Naruto to let us stay here in the apartments again," the water guardian said, snapping Hay Lin's attention back to their current conversation.
"Yeah it was," she replied absentmindedly.
Irma raised an eyebrow at Hay Lin for several seconds before letting out a sigh. "You're going to have to face him sometime you know. You can't hide from Naruto forever."
"I can certainly try," the black haired girl said standing up. "I'm going to fly around for a while, clear my head. Wanna come?"
"Nah," her friend said waving her hand. "I think I'll stay grounded for a while. Besides I think you could use some thinking time."
"Yeah right," Hay Lin mumbled before taking off into the air.
As soon as she was sure the air guardian was a good distance away, Irma hopped off the roof, once again putting on her cloak. 'I know I'm so going to regret this later,' she thought as she walked back into the village.
In the Hokage's office, Neji, Sasuke, Lee, Kiba, and Shikamaru all looked at Naruto's curiously. Their friend had a look on his face that spoke of upcoming mischief and they weren't so optimistic about having been called to see him when he was like this.
"Why exactly did you send for us Naruto," Neji asked. The hokage had made it clear that his friends were to never call him 'Lord Hokage' because it just sounded weird to him.
Naruto snickered. "You guys are not going to believe what I'm about tell you. Let's start with this," he said holding up the treaty scroll.
"What's that?" Sasuke asked, rather bored with this whole thing.
"Oh just a treaty from the Oracle of Candracar," the blonde replied casually.
Instantly all his friends froze and his smirk grew even wider, if that was even possible considering it was already wide enough as it was.
"Okay hold up," Kiba said, putting his hands in front of him. "When you say Oracle, do you mean the Oracle as in the one the…guardians work for?"
"That's the one believe it!" Naruto cried. "And speaking of the guardians, guess who dropped it off."
The looks on his friends' faces made it very difficult for the former knuckle head to not burst out laughing. Lee and Kiba's jaws had dropped and Shikamaru, Neji, and Sasuke's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their heads.
Shikamaru was the first to regain his composure and he glared at his friend. "Naruto if this is some kind of sick joke then-"
"It's not a joke!" Naruto yelled. "The guardians are back in the leaf village. And the awesome thing is, that's not the best part. They can't leave until I sign this treaty!"
The hokage smiled widely at all his friends, waiting for them to get over their surprise and actually be happy for once. His smile disappeared when Neji spoke up.
"Sign the treaty now Naruto," the prodigy said.
The blonde's jaw dropped. "Are you nuts Neji! The girls are back and you want me to give them the only way out!"
"I agree with him," the Uchiha said. "They're here for a mission, not because they wanted to be here. They'll only cause trouble for everyone. Sign the stupid scroll and get them out."
Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. Were these two really suggesting that they weren't going to fight to have Will and Cornelia stay? He quickly glanced at his friends to see what they thought.
Lee looked like he was torn between wanting to have the girls stay or letting them leave. Shikamaru had a look on his face that said he was thinking about every possible outcome of either option. Kiba on the other hand spoke his mind.
"I'm with Neji and Sasuke on this," he said.
"I can't believe you guys!" The Hokage said jumping to his feet. "We all spend five years wanting to see them again and when the moment finally comes three of you suddenly decide that you don't care about them anymore?"
"I'm out of here," Sasuke said turning his back on Naruto and walking out. The others soon followed after him leaving a shell shocked Hokage staring after them in disbelief.
Will, Taranee, Cornelia, and Elyon were quiet as they sat in their apartments. They hadn't spoken for several minutes and it was becoming awkward.
"So what are we gonna do, just hide out here until the idiot signs the dumb scroll?" Elyon asked.
"Honestly Elyon, I have no idea," Will said putting her hand over her eyes. "I guess I should have thought this through more carefully instead of diving in headfirst like that."
"Speaking of diving in head first," Cornelia said, just realizing this. "Where's Irma?"
The keeper narrowed her eyes. "I have no idea. Last I saw she was with Hay Lin on the roof."
The queen shook her head. "I was just there looking for them. Neither of them was there."
Taranee's eyes widened. "They've gotta be in the village then!"
"Aw crap!" Will cried jumping to her feet and grabbing her cloak. "Cornelia you go and find Irma. I'll look for Hay Lin. Taranee, Elyon, you guys just chill here in case they come back before we do."
"Come on!" Elyon cried. "Why do we always have to be the ones that just sit back and do nothing?"
Her words fell on deaf ears, as Will and Cornelia were already out the door. Angrily, the young queen punched the wall, but all that did was give her a sore fist and make her even angrier.
"Way to go O' Smooth one," the Fire guardian mumbled.
"Shut up," the blonde replied through gritted teeth. A few seconds later she turned to the door.
"Where are you going?" Taranee asked.
"To look for Irma and Hay Lin. I'm sick of getting left behind all the time!" The queen said before slamming the door shut.
The dark skinned girl sighed. "We'll all be lucky if we still have some sanity after this whole ordeal."
Irma paused a few feet away from her destination and looked up at the familiar sign. 'I remember when Ino gave me a job here,' she thought with a small smile.
The water guardian knew that if any of the other guardians found out they would skin her alive, but she just wanted to see how Ino was doing. Taking a deep breath Irma walked into the Yamanaka flower shop, preparing herself for the questioning she knew was coming.
Ino looked up when she heard the bell ring and raised an eyebrow as a person wearing a cloak walked in. "Hello how may I help you?"
"I just wanted to look around," Irma replied, musing about how similar this was to when she had first met Ino. As she looked at all the flowers, her eyes fell on a very familiar bouquet. As she reached for it, Ino's voice stopped her.
"I'm afraid that isn't for sale."
"Why not?" the brunette asked.
"A friend of mine arranged that bouquet before she left the village. I keep it there to remember her," the blonde woman replied.
A smirk played on Irma's face. "Aw Ino I can't believe you kept my bouquet after so long!"
The ninja whipped around so fast, the guardian was afraid her spine would snap. "What do you mean 'your' bouquet?"
With another deep breath, the blue eyed girl took off her hood and raised her face to her friend's. "Hey Ino."
Ino stood frozen for several seconds, mouth agape, as she stared at Irma. Any other person would think she was just stunned speechless, but Irma knew better than that. She knew the purple wearing girl was building up for an explosion. Sure enough Ino lost it.
"IRMA! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! WHEN DID YOU GET BACK AND WHY DID YOU LEAVE IN THE FIRST PLACE! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MAD I WAS WHEN YOU LEFT! GAH, I DON'T KNOW WHETHER TO HUG YOU OR STRANGLE YOU RIGHT NOW!"
The water guardian stood silent as Ino continued to yell at her. She deserved it, she knew that much. After few more shouts the blonde stopped and glared at Irma panting. With a smile on her face Irma looked at her.
"So are you gonna hug me or what?" She asked.
The guardian watched in complete relief as a large smile formed on Ino's face before the two girls hugged each other.
"You're insanely lucky that I didn't strangle you just now," the blonde said with a small laugh.
"I'm surprised you didn't," the brunette grinned. "How have you been?"
"I've been fine. Nothing's really happened around here except for Naruto becoming Hokage and my wedding," the girl said smirking slightly and holding up her hand so Irma could see the diamond ring on her finger.
Irma's jaw dropped. "No freaking way! Okay you gotta tell me who the lucky man is like now!"
"I'll give you hint; he prefers to be called chubby."
"You married Chouji!" the guardian said with a huge smile. "Ino that is fantastic! You guys are perfect for each other!"
Ino smiled back. "Thanks we think so too," her smile faded and she became somber. "Seriously though Irma, I have to ask. Why are you back?"
Irma sighed. "Long story short, the Oracle, my boss so to speak, had me and the other guardians come here to give Naruto a treaty and we can't leave till the brat signs it. All in all we're stuck here."
Ino nodded slowly a sad look appearing in her eyes. "You want to leave that badly?"
The water queen smiled softly and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "It's mostly because I don't want to face Shikamaru. Speaking of him, please, please don't tell him that I came to see you today."
"I promise I won't tell him and…thanks for coming by."
"I'm not leaving just yet," Irma smirked. "We still have some catching up to do."
A huge smile came over Ino's face and for the next few minutes, after five long years, two friends began to reconnect.
As Elyon ran through the village she tried not to draw too much attention to herself as she looked for Irma. She knew the water guardian probably wasn't stupid enough to go talk to anyone who might recognize her, but she had no idea where to look. Realizing other people were beginning to look at her strangely she decided to head toward the training grounds.
"Irma I hope you haven't done something incredibly stupid," she thought. The queen leapt through the trees of the training grounds in order to keep herself hidden. A smile made its way across her face. Elyon had forgotten how much fun using her ninja skills could be. Just as she was about to give up, the blonde heard the noise of kunai hitting a target and decided to check it out.
'Irma that better be you,' the girl thought going closer to the noise. Unfortunately for her it wasn't Irma, but someone worse; Kiba
Quickly Elyon masked her chakra so her ex-boyfriend wouldn't know she was there and instead of leaving she remained where she was. Her head was screaming at her to run for the hills before the dog ninja saw her, but her body for some reason did not want to obey so the queen settled for hiding and watching.
The Inuzuka, she observed with slight disdain, was just as handsome as ever. He was 22 years old now and he hadn't changed much. As Elyon watched him train she remembered when they used to train in this exact spot when they were couple. She tensed drastically when she saw Shino and Hinata enter the training grounds
"Kiba what are you doing here?" Hinata asked. The blonde noted, rather proudly, that the Hyuuga girl had lost her stutter.
"Training what's it look like?" Kiba growled.
"You look angry about something," Shino noted. "Does it have something to do with what Naruto had to tell you and the others earlier?"
Elyon froze. 'Naruto spoke with them today? Oh no. He wouldn't!'
The dog ninja sighed let out a sigh."Elyon and the guardians are back in the village."
'Naruto, you little punk!' The queen thought, clenching her fists. 'I'm gonna freaking kill you!'
Hinata's eyes widened. "Elyon's back? What are you going to do Kiba?"
"Why should I do anything?" Kiba asked. "She's only here out of duty not because she cares about anyone in the village. I say let the little wench do whatever the freak she wants. I couldn't care less."
Elyon's jaw dropped. How dare he say something like that! He was one to talk considering he had chosen duty over her five years ago. As far as she was concerned Kiba was the one who didn't care about her. And did he really just call her a wench?
Behind his glasses, Shino narrowed his eyes. "You can say whatever nonsense you want Kiba, but Hinata and I both know that you care more about Elyon then you're willing to admit, even to yourself."
Kiba barked out a laugh. "Why should I care? Ever since I met Elyon all she did was cause trouble. I just want her out of the village before she creates even more."
With that last sentence, Elyon lost it. Without thinking she launched out of the tree right in front of her former partner and slapped him across the face.
The Hyuuga and bug user stared at the scene in front of them in total shock, though it was more apparent on Hinata's face. 'I can't believe this is happening!' She thought in slight panic, looking between the two people in front of her.
When the Inuzuka turned his head to see who had slapped him all the color drained from his face when he saw the small blonde girl glaring up at him, a fire blazing in those all too familiar blue eyes.
Kiba then realized that he was so screwed it wasn't even funny.
END OF CHAPTER
W.I.T.C.H. fan: Well this was actually longer then I intended it to be, but I doubt you guys are complaining about it. I like to make my readers happy, which is why I'm still open to suggestions. Anything you want to be put in just tell me and I'll see what I can do. R AND R MY FRIENDS!