Sorry for the late update. I just started college and I'm still adjusting to it. The classes are killing me, especially Biology. I need a break.
It only took me about half an hour to reach the old lady's store. It was almost on the other side of the town and normally it would take about an hour to drive there but it's a Sunday and I've been told once or twice that I drive a little bit fast, which is totally better than having Allen drive because he's like an 80-year old grandma on wheels.
I first learned about Madame Lola's (that's what they call the old woman) place from an old maid of ours. She said that Madame Lola can foresee your future using her magical crystal ball, she told me to come here once when I was in high school but I don't really believe in hocus pocus. I bet the crystal ball was bought at some nearby craft store.
I parked my car and gave the establishment a good look. It kind of looks like an antique shop at first glance with all the weird things displayed on the window. There's like a few clocks hanging, some old books with worn spines, and a - is that a decapitated doll?
It says on the sign that they're open 24 hours but it so dark inside that had me believing otherwise. This place is no convenience store so why is it open around the clock. I doubt anyone would come here, except maybe desperate freaks like me.
"Um hello? Is there anybody home? Did I just say home? I meant if anybody was here." I said aloud as I entered the store. It smells like something died in here or maybe it's just the smell of the old books.
"I know what you meant, young lady. I've been expecting you." A voice whispered behind me.
I turned around so quickly that I almost lost my balance. There, standing before me was a lady, nowhere near as old as I first had thought.
She was maybe forty at most but her hair has turned almost all grey. She has a tattoo of what I think is some kind of writing on her forehead and she also has tattoos on both of her arms. I'm willing to bet that she has more but that's all that's exposed. She's dresses like a gypsy, with her long skirt and tons of bracelets on each arm that jingles as she moves, how did she sneak up on me?
"Are you Madame Lola?"
"Madame Lola was originally my grandmother but she has long since passed. I now inherited the shop, my name is Maya but I never bothered to change the shop's name. Too much of a hassle."
"So I suppose I should call you Madame Maya? You're younger than what I expected." I went in here expecting a really really old woman and here I end up with someone well, I ended up with Maya. Does she even know what's she's doing?
"Just Maya would suffice. Now Aria, I expected you to have company when you come here."
"That's creepy. How did you know my name?"
Maya gave me a knowing smile before answering my question.
"I told you, I've been expecting you. I have a faint feeling that you want to ask me about different worlds?" All this time she's been speaking in a voice that's barely above a whisper. And that made it just creepy and hair-rising.
"Spot on Maya. I'm not the first one to come here with the same problem right?"
"You're a smart young woman Aria, smarter than what you intend to show other people. Everybody comes here looking for some answer, everybody has what you would call an aura. There are different kinds of auras, some harder to come by than others. Are you still listening?"
"Yes of course." I was actually trying to find a comfortable chair to sit in but I settled on the one that's closest to Maya. I wouldn't hear her voice otherwise.
"Then stop moving, you're making me dizzy. Now, my grandmother taught me how to read auras from when I was very young. Auras are basically a reflection of the person, their personality, weakness, desires and many more. There can never be two the same auras, auras tend to be very similar to each other but never exactly the same."
"That's all great Maya, but what has that got to do with me?" I was getting really curious right now. I'm hearing some interesting stuff but nothing that would really help me.
"Your kind of aura is very rare, I only once saw something similar to yours when I was barely a teen. My grandmother was still the one managing the shop but I would never forget that kind of aura. It was a first for me and when I looked at my grandmother, I know that she too, knows that the lady that day was special."
She looked at me and for a moment I swear I thought I was seeing a memory. I could see a much older lady, possibly Maya's grandmother, talking with a woman wearing strange clothes with a band tied to her forehead. That looks just like…
The vision vanished in an instant, too fast for me to observe everything.
"That was my memory Aria, the lady stayed with us for a while and then the next time I saw her was a few years later when I was in my twenties and then never again. My grandmother never talked to me in detail about her but I learned a thing or two. She never belonged here in the first place."
"What do you mean?" I swear if she's pulling on my leg here I'm gonna have dad sue her.
"It's too early to make assumption but I've seen you in my crystal ball, together with six men. I have yet to see them clearly so I'm not entirely sure-"
"I have a picture of them; well it's in my phone. Do you think it'll do?"
"Of course."
I fumbled through the zippers in my bag and quickly took out my phone, cursing as I got the password incorrect twice. I don't even know why my hands are shaking this much.
"Here Maya, one of them has a dog. But Maya, you might think I'm crazy but these guys are from a story, they're like fictional characters."
I watch her observe the picture and she took out another crystal ball. Unlike the one displayed which was crystal clear, this one has the tiniest hint of red in it. So is the other one a decoy?
"Aria, has anyone ever said to you that books are just worlds waiting to be discovered? Somewhere, a story about you is being written, will be written or was already written. Everybody has their own story waiting to be told. Your friends are definitely like the lady I told you about but we have a bigger problem."
"What's that?" Bigger, what could be bigger that this?
"If you're from here, why do you have the same aura as that lady?"
Shikamaru's POV
We were left alone in this apartment; well it's big enough to make me wonder if this place is still considered an apartment. This must've cost a fortune, there are no apartments as big as this back in Konoha and from what I've heard rents there aren't actually the cheapest.
"So Gaara, you've been here for a couple of days?" Kiba exclaimed and was followed by Akamaru's bark.
"I've been waiting for the rest of you with Aria. I've step foot a couple of times outside and it's a very strange place." Gaara answered Kiba while opening the pizza boxes that was delivered just minutes ago.
"How strange Gaara-san?" Sai asked.
"They have these things called cars to make transportation easier, then when we went to place called a mall I've seen Aria pay for things only using a small card. Then there's the cellphone…"
I zoned out the rest of the things that Gaara said and focused on looking out the window. Even the sky and air here is different, not as blue, not as refreshing. Hundreds of cart-like things pass by the roads, making unpleasant noises every now and then. How could somebody live here? There's practically nowhere to lie down!
Aria, that is the strangest girl I've met so far. Girls sure are scary, you never know what's happening in their pretty little heads.
"Hey Gaara, what do you know about Aria?" I joined their conversation and sat on the chair closest to the television.
"She owns the apartment, she still goes to school and I think she's rich. I've seen some people bow to her so maybe she's influential. I've said this to Neji and Sasuke but she's not a threat."
"What about her background? Basic information and things like that. I still don't know her surname." I added, as ninjas we can never be too sure about a person unless we know every little bit of information about them.
.
.
.
I don't think Gaara's going to answer anytime soon. Everybody's looking at him now eager to know about the girl.
"She has a strange friend, if that helps." He finally said after a while.
"So basically we know almost next to nothing about Aria." Neji stated while opening a bunch of drawers.
"What are you dong Neji-san?"
"Looking for some pictures or documents or anything that would contain some information, I would go to Aria's room first but I respect her privacy."
"Well I don't. I'm going into that hag's room." Sasuke suddenly said, already on his way to Aria's room. Hag?
"Neji, what's wrong with Sasuke?" I can't help but be curious as to what Aria did to get Sasuke all riled up, at least enough for him to call her hag. I already know that Sasuke isn't the most sociable, but Gaara is just the same and he's not calling Aria a hag.
"Aria called him a princess for about an hour."
I saw Kiba and Sai snicker around the corner with a box of pizza in between them. I had to admit it is pretty funny.
Sasuke's POV
I entered Aria's room and it was surprisingly clean, or I guess bare was the word. Other than a bed, a TV, some chairs and a desk, it's completely empty. There were two other doors inside the room, one I would guess leads to the bathroom and the other one for the closet.
I've never been in another girl's room but I think it shouldn't look like this. I mean where's all the pink, girls like pink and frilly stuff right?. I've only ever know kunoichis but if they weren't on mission I could hear them take about boys and clothes and makeup and more boys. My room has more clutter than this.
"Hey Shikamaru come in here." I called out to him to help me search the room. He's the most tolerable person out of the bunch.
I walked to the desk and saw Shikamaru enter the room at the corner of my eye. The desk contained a strange black rectangular thing that could flap open, a few books and pens. I opened one book and was horrified at what I saw.
"Hey Shikamaru come here."
"What's that Sasuke?"
I gave him the book and saw his eyes widen just a little bit and he continued to flip through the pages. Shikamaru's a genius, he should know that stuff.
"So what is it?" I asked him as he set the book down and picked another one.
"It says that it's a Math textbook and the other ones a Chemistry book. But I'll tell you, nothing that was taught to us were ever in this caliber. It's all much more complicated than the math and science that we know."
Ninjas never stopped learning. Each day discoveries were being made, experimentations were being done. For Shikamaru to say something like that is almost unbelievable.
I think I suddenly know why Aria's head is so messed up. It's filled with a bunch of information from these gibberish books.
"If Aria understands all of these, we might have to be a little bit more careful about her head. If we suddenly knocked her out by accidentally hitting her, there's a chance that she'd figure out how to use these crazy knowledge to make something even crazier.."
I looked at Shikamaru because I noticed that he isn't done talking.
"Or she might turn up to be the smartest person we'll ever know."
I think I just found some new-found respect for Aria but I would never say that out loud.
"You just did Sasuke."
The talk with Maya took all morning and since then I've been more unsure than ever. I slowly trudged the stairs up to my apartment since I'm not overly fond of elevators. I'm still replaying the warning she told me when I heard a scream.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"OUCH!"
Okay, I heard a lot of screams. Different voices, different pitches but no doubt it came from my floor. I fastened my pace and almost had a heart attack when I saw my door open. What if something happened to them. I'm aware that they're a bunch of ninjas but still, they're unfamiliar to this world.
I rushed inside and was surprised to see Sai hiding at the back of the curtains. I almost didn't notice him but I tripped and saw his foot.
"Sai, what are you doing there?"
"Aria-san, I'm glad you're back. Please help the others."
"The others?"
"Gaara-san, Sasuke-san and Shikamaru-san. They're in your room with a strange man. Neji-san and Kiba-san already found places to hide but the others were unfortunate."
I didn't waste another second and rushed to my room.
What I saw was very comical. I'd never thought that I'd see three ninjas huddled together in battle stance against the strange man.
"Aria darling, you're back! I was confused to why you suddenly needed a lot of tuxedos so I went here earlier than the appointed time. It was a surprise for me when I was greeted by tons of hot men. So, can I at least have one of them? You wouldn't mind, would you?"
I saw the three ninjas visibly shiver and forced myself not to laugh out loud. I apologized to them in my head for having traumatized them, Gaara already experienced this twice.
Unfortunately it's not my fault that Frankie arrived earlier than me.