The Ninja Dress Sphere

Chap 3: The Freak Show of Friendship

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX-2 or Naruto…

A/N: Hopes you likes this and NO IT IS NOT THE RAMEN so MEHHH! Lot's of OOC-ness, don't be alarmed, but just read and enjoy.

The large crowd of kids ran across the village to the Icharaku place. "I wonder what's wrong. Does Rikku not like ramen?" Yuna thought aloud. "Probably saw a spider." Payne smirked. They looked at the Icharaku booth. "No wonder she was running…" Sasuke observed. "What?" Yuna said, "All I see is some guy with long white hair walking out of there…" "And Rikku running like a gazelle, wait now she's hiding behind a tree. Naruto is shouting at the old guy." Payne continued with deadpan observations.

"Ewww, look at him, he's totally eye fucking her! EWWW what a perv!" Yuna said sneeringly. "That's Jirayia. AKA: The pervy hermit. To think he's one of the three great sages we all love and adore so…" said the pink haired girl known as Sakura. "Yuck, she's probably hiding from him." The group finally closed in on the situation to see exactly what they had predicted.

"Sensei, stop it! You're making her uncomfortable!" Naruto shouted at the white haired man who seemed to be quite drunk. "I jus' told her tha' she look good!" he said in an intoxicated manner. Payne looked from one to the other, from blonde to white. What a freak show she thought to herself. After a bit more slurred argument the white haired man paid and left in a small cloud of smoke. "Phew…" Rikku said, coming out of her hiding spot.

"Sorry about him, people around here aren't usually that weir-" Naruto wanted to calm down the awkwardness of the situation, but was cut off by a shrill scream this time belonging to Yuna. "HELLO FRIENDS IT IS I! ROCK LEE! THE HIDDEN VILLAGES HANDSOME DEVIL! And may I ask the name of the beautiful brunette in front of me?" Yuna was just frozen and one couldn't blame her. "Is… Are those even NATURAL?!" Payne said squinting and rubbing her eyes to see if she was seeing things correctly.

"Yeah, that's the casual reaction of most people when they first meet Lee…" Sasuke told her. Once again… FREAK to the SHOW Payne thought. Yuna finally came to her senses and an instinctive politeness that she hadn't fully retained since her days as a summoner immedietly came out. "Hello. My name is Yuna. It's very nice to meet you." She said with a small bow. Rikku's mouth hung open at the fake manners she hadn't seen Yuna use since meeting Seymour (who perhaps could be matched in creepiness by this guy). To Payne this was a side that she hadn't seen of Yuna which shocked her more.

"Oh, uhm, Hi! I'm Rikku!" the blonde girl chimed in. "Payne." Payne grunted. "It is very nice to meet you all. I see you have met all of my friends." Lee said happily, "Hello Sakura…" he said more dreamily. The pink haired girl rolled her eyes. "So now what?" Rikku said impatiently. "How about we finish with that tour!" Naruto said. The rest of the group agreed as the large mob of kids moved forward.

The group went saw all kinds of places, restaurants, towers, ramen shops, the ninja academy, and lots more. "It's so nice here…" Yuna told Payne. "Everyone seems so happy, and as far as we've seen everyone is so fortunate. There aren't a lot of fights or anything. It's not like at home." Payne nodded, "It's a different mindset. A different universe for that. Perhaps it's this place alone, I'm sure it's not always like this." She said. Yuna nodded.

"For example they may all seem friendly towards each other, but notice how people act towards Naruto." Payne told Yuna. At the moment Sakura was shouting at Naruto for something that she wasn't sure the reason. Yuna had noticed that Sakura always shouted at Naruto, she didn't seem to like him very much, though he's never done anything to her. Sasuke acted the same way towards Naruto, but it was different, he seemed too deep down like Naruto. Like Payne and Rikku… Yuna smiled to herself.

Besides she hadn't noticed much hate for Naruto… Then again. Was that person giving him a dirty look? What was she whispering to her friend?! Yuna thought about all of these things. She then shrugged it off, still it lingered in her mind maybe this place isn't as nice as I thought… Perhaps I could read Rikku's book to figure out more.

Darkness soon fell upon the group as they were going through the most well lit part of the city. The lamps shone brightly on the sides of the streets as the villagers and merchants busily chatted and made profit. It was a great feel that all three girls could feel. "This is so nice, what a place…" Rikku said as their group stopped and sat down with small meals they bought (Naruto paid for YRP's meals). Yuna sported a small platter of onigiri (rice balls) with soy sauce. Rikku keenly ate a large bowl of spicy ramen slurping away next to Naruto. Payne had spicy red curry with a side of rice.

"So what do you think of our village so far?" Sakura asked the girls. The rest of the kids looked at the three intently wanting to know their answer. "Well… It's so nice, all of you guys have been really super nice and I love the village! I think we all do, even Payne smiled today!" Rikku said triumphantly as she saw the grave face of Payne. "I really like it here too! You guys are so nice, and this place is beautiful during night!" Yuna said. "At first I was kind of doubtful, but I like it here. It's super surprising and full of…. Interesting people. Though I can't say anything here's been able to surprise me much, knowing Rikku and all…" Payne said, smirking at the last part.

RikkuPayne

01

The group laughed at the comment and continued eating with little conversations going everywhere. Rikku anxiously chattered with Naruto wanting to know his whole life story or something like that. Yuna and Sakura were both assaulted with questions by Lee, "How's life?", "If you wanted a pet what would you have?" and "What is your favorite type of jutsu" and stuff like that. Payne and Sasuke seemed to be comparing their misery or something, "My brother wants to kill me" he'd say "I have to live with Rikku" she'd tell him.

Finally the group parted, going their separate ways. YuRiPa headed towards where the ship crash landed as the others headed towards wherever. Suddenly a loud beeping took the three by surprise, Yuna rushed to get the sphere radar out of her pocket. "Sphere at two o' clock!" She said as she started towards the location of the sphere. "It's moving!" she told the other two as they ran by her side.

They ran towards the position as the small dot steadily moved. The part of the village they had run into had much less lights and was deserted as far as the trio could see. "The dot is still moving, but I can't see a thing…" Rikku said. Suddenly they were in what seemed to be pitch black. Each girl stood still until her eye's adjusted. A small "whoosh" sound could be heard in front of them.

"Who's there?" Yuna asked, trying to sound as calm as possible. Another sound was heard. "Payne, Yunie, I'm scared…" Rikku said shakily. "Reveal yourself or else!" Payne said sharply. Another sound was heard, suddenly a bright light was ignited. It was an eerie lone flame. The three girls observed their surroundings. They had been led into a dark alley.

The flame burnt brightly, hurting the girls' eyes and just behind the flame was a hooded figure. One couldn't be sure of whether it was a boy or a girl, once could only see a small gleam of light from within the hood and in his covered hand a small circular object. The sphere they had sought after.

"Um. Excuse me, but do you know what you're holding in your hands? That's something that you probably have never seen and should not tamper or mess with. It's very important to us and we would appreciate it if you would give us back what rightfully belongs to us." Yuna told the figure. No response came. "Yunie, I think its eyes are glowing…" Rikku whispered. "It could be glowing eyes.", Payne said, "Or it could be glasses lens glare…"

"Hnn. You've got me." The figure said, it was a masculine voice. He put his hood down revealing a boy's face indeed wearing glasses. He had long silver hair pulled into a ponytail and a forehead protector on as well. "So you want this… This thing?" He said. "Yes. But something tells me you're not going to be a good boy and hand it over like you should." Yuna said craftily. "Once again, you've got me." He said. "Who is this guy? Is he in your book?" Yuna whispered to Rikku. "I've only read volume one! And there's like fifty books okay!" Rikku whispered back.

"I'm sure you would be very willing to give us our… thing. For a price, right?" Payne said matter of factly. The silver haired guy smiled, "Aren't you just the nicest little psychics." "Hey I am NOBODY'S psychi- Hey! You're kind of cute!" Rikku said. Payne had to use every ounce of self control she had to not slap Rikku a hundred times while Yuna slapped her forehead. The silver haired kid was caught off guard and one could just barely make out a small bit of blush on the guy's cheeks. "I'm sorry, you're not my…" he started. "I'm not your type. I'm not your type?! I'm EVERYBODY'S type! How dare you-" Rikku started fuming but was interrupted by somebody's elbow in her ribs.

"Even if I was interested in a child such as you I wouldn't be able to. I already belong to someone…" He said. "Aww, that's so cute! But what do you mean by BELONG?!" Rikku said. "I belong to my master and only him!" He said. Rikku suddenly puked a little in her mouth as Payne snorted while Yuna just seemed… frozen. "Sorry I didn't know you rolled that way! Not that I have a problem with that. Once I find out who your master is maybe I'll make something and put it on when I get ho-Oof!" Another elbow to the rib halted Rikku in mid sentence as she rubbed her now soft spot.

"DO YOU WANT YOUR OBJECT OR NOT!" The hooded guy said. The girls all three once again realized the situation at hand. "So, about the price." Payne said, "What do you want money. Or you can take Rikku if you want. Maybe you can eat her…"

RikkuPayne

2

"No, what I want is a person, but not her. Do you know of the Uchiha boy? Sasuke Uchiha." The guy asked. The three nodded. "I want him, I need his body." Rikku's eyes widened as she looked at Yuna and Payne, her finger making a loop in the air around her ear. "The silent type, eh. Look, I know you roll that way, but how about you take Payne instead! You won't notice the difference!" Rikku said cheekily.

RikkuPayne

2

"No I need the Uchiha. I will be back in a week; you will know when I am here and how you will give me the Uchiha at the time." He said. "Uhm… Okay. Bye!" Rikku said waving to the figure, but he soon disappeared into a cloud of smoke along with the sphere. "Sasuke… Isn't he one of Naruto's friends?" Yuna asked Rikku. She nodded, they kissed each other, remember I showed you Payne!" she said.

Payne scowled at Rikku remembering the fated night. "What does this guy want with him?" Yuna asked. Payne snorted, "Well he said quite clearly he needs Sasuke's body. That's pretty clear to me!" she said. Rikku laughed along. "But, seriously, if he needed Sasuke so much why didn't he go up and ask Sasuke himself?" Yuna said. "True. Perhaps he is bad news… What do you suppose he'd do with Sasuke?" Rikku asked. Payne started, "Well once again he needed-""HE IS NOT GOING TO RAPE SASUKE!" Yuna shouted at Payne.

"Fine. But still, I mean Sasuke, is our… acquaintance. And we can't just hand him over to anyone." Rikku said. "Yes, but still as sphere hunters it is our DUTY to gather spheres and… Well looking at past experiences: of all the things we've had to do to get spheres this is the easiest. We usually have to go through some labyrinth of a dungeon and battle tons of monsters just to get close to a sphere, but all we have to do is give him his guy and poof, we have our sphere." Yuna said.

"Yes, but is this sphere even worth it? I seriously doubt he got stuck in a wormhole, ended up here, and then just dropped a sphere. For all we know it could be one of ours that may have fallen out of our ship since we, you know, crash landed!" Payne argued. "But we ARE sphere hunters! It's our job to get spheres and Yunie is right! We should seize the chance for an easy sphere. Anyway, even if this wouldn't help us get to him. A sphere from a different universe! Come on! That HAS to be worth a fortune! And even if it was something we dropped, we would need to retrieve it anyway." Rikku said.

The three argued for another ten minutes as they walked back to the crash site. They went out just the way the came in. Through the village, out the gate, a long hunt into the woods. There was the ship, still looking horrid, but much better than it had looked that morning. Though the girls weren't sure what time it is, they figured it was late and went into the ship. There inside wasn't horribly damaged, despite some broken glass which had been cleaned up.

The girls said their good nights to the rest of the crew, and then settled into their beds. Each thought about the sphere, the guys, and the people of Konoha. Their first DAY had been so interesting; something told them the rest of their week was just going to be even more interesting.

A/N: Well there it is! Chapter 3!