NITL
Volume One
Arc One: Beginning of a New Story
Chapter Eleven: Night Watch
"It's a big SLEEP OVER!" Yang cheered, flopping onto her sleeping bag. Tsuna chuckled as he dumped his own bag next to hers, head first. Booing at the brunette's attempts to keep his modesty by wearing a used pair of jeans and a t-shirt with a hoodie attached to it, Yang turned to Ruby who appeared to be writing in a piece of paper.
"What'cha doin' there, Rubes?"
"Nothing!" Ruby immediately went to the defensive, hiding her paper underneath her chest. She paled when Yang gave her a cheshire grin.
Tsuna sweat-dropped, watching the two siblings fight over a piece of paper. Reaching over, he grabbed onto the paper than flew out of Ruby's hands. The brunette cleared his throat to get into the mood before reading,
"'Hey Guys!'" He read, "'First day at Beacon! It was just like we imagined! It's huge and awesome and so big! Of course, Yang's here, and so is Tsuna! OMG! I can't believe it!..." Tsuna trailed off as he continued to read on, trying, but failing, to hide his smile. Yang grew a shrewd grin while Ruby's face turned into a rosy red color.
"Oh my DUST! TSUNA! Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet, be quiet, BE QUIET!" Ruby screamed as Tsuna and Yang both roared in laughter.
"I wonder what they're yellin' about?" Naruto asked himself, flapping his sleeping bag so that it would lay comfortably on the floor. Dropping his duffle next to his sleeping arrangement, the blonde quickly grabbed his sleeping garments, his hygiene products, and left for the bathroom.
At the same time, an orange head walked in carrying his own clothing and hygiene.
There was a sudden scream of terror from within the bathroom. Everyone within the vicinity immediately stopped what they were doing to look and wonder at what could have caused the screams. The only answer given was the eerie silence from the bathing area.
Several minutes later, a large number of boys exited the bathing area, all were grumbling to themselves, looking angry, shamed and even confused for a select few. In fact, the whole scenery appeared to be somewhat similar to the boys running away from something.
Whatever that something was, remained a mystery.
"I wonder what happened?" Ruby asked, having finally gotten her letter to her friends back. Yang rolled her tongue, her eyes drooping a bit.
"I dunno, but I can tell that whatever it was, it was fun," Yang said, inwardly pouting for having showered the minute they finished dinner. Dammit, she wanted to see what got all the boys flustered! Tsuna wasn't sure, but he knew that whatever Yang was thinking about, it wasn't appropriate for Ruby to listen to.
Naruto sighed as he walked out of the showers, reaching over for his boxers as he dried himself off. Simply jumping into the heart patterned garment, the blonde whistled as he walked out of the bathroom, not caring about any decency as he did so.
Soon after, Ichigo walked out, drying his hair as he reached for his sleeping wear. Slipping through them, the orange head then walked out, having done his hygiene while showering. Ignoring the looks he was getting from the girls – one girl wolf whistled in the background – Ichigo straightened out his old "15" t-shirt and sat on his sleeping bag, grabbing a box of pocky.
"PANCAKES!"
Ichigo jumped a bit as another girl with orange hair rushed pass him and into the females' showers. Afterwards, a black haired boy his age with a pink streak on the left side of his bangs walked after the hyperactive girl, apologizing left and right to the people she bothered.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience," He said, "NORA!"
"Wow…" Ichigo breathed out.
"Is this spot taken?"
Ichigo blinked at the familiar voice. Looking up, Ichigo found Pyrrha, wearing a black shirt with a red tank top that did nothing to hide her amazing figure. Wearing a pair of black shorts, Pyrrha was holding her own duffle, having discarded her armor. Ichigo shrugged, offering her space next to his.
"Thank you," The redhead thanked, her towel underneath her hair helping to dry it. After kneeling down, the girl began drying her hair. Looking at Ichigo, Pyrrha asks, "So how do you think the Initiation will be like?"
Biting onto a pocky stick – which was not flavored in strawberries, he might add – Ichigo hummed. "Not sure. All I know from what the Old Man says is that the selection of teams is random. I don't know anything else apart from that."
"Well, whatever may happens tomorrow," Pyrrha began, reaching out with her hand, "I hope to be in the same team as you, Ichigo."
Ichigo blinked. Despite what the girl said about wanting to be in the same team, Ichigo would be honest if he would rather be in separate teams, if only to continue the rivalry friendship between them. But in all honesty, the swordsman wouldn't mind being paired up with the girl as partners. He smiles as he takes Pyrrha's hand to shake. "Yeah, I don't see why not."
(Night Time)
Naruto blinked.
Amber-colored eyes blinked back.
Naruto's eyes began to waver.
The eyes staring at him refused to budge.
Naruto's eyes are now involuntarily shaking before he screamed in frustration and pain. "Alright! Alright, I'll stop! I'll stop, just please, let go of my balls!"
Blake, the raven head girl Naruto stumbled upon, narrowed her eyes further. Her gaze looked up to see Naruto's hand nearly, just nearly, touching her bow that rested neatly on the top of her head. While it was adorable, it was also horribly contrasting with Blake's stoic look and it looked as if it was hiding something, if Naruto's observation skills were anything to brag about.
Turns out, she is hiding something, since she went as far as to even grab the front of Naruto's pants and squeeze, threatening to break them off if Naruto continued to attempt to reach for her bow.
Nine times in a row…
Weakly, Naruto lowered his arm. At the same time, the sufferable pressure on his nether regions lessoned, before disappearing completely when Naruto's arm was at his side. As soon as Blake let go, Naruto immediately placed his hands around his junior self, "Holy crap, lady, you got a grip!"
"Then maybe next time, you'll respect other people's personal space," Blake shot back.
"Yeah yeah…" Naruto groaned, nodding his head to let the girl know that he heard what she said. The face, however, showed just how grateful he was for the, oh so, useful information. "Dust, I'm gonna be limping for hours…!"
Huffing to herself, Blake simply walked away, a certain book in mind that she wanted to read.
Luffy looked up into the skies and into the stars, munching on a stick of meat he found cooking in the oven. Not thinking clearly and more with his stomach, the straw hat wearing boy simply took it, the meat replacing his eyes as he did so. Chewing on the juicy tender meat, Luffy swallowed.
As the winds rustled the leaves and the skies, Luffy closed his eyes.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And nothing.
"Dammit, I thought it would work for sure this time…" Luffy grumbled, remembering his brother's boasts of being able to hear everything within the skies and the lands. Despite everything thinking the firehead as crazy, Luffy knew that it was due to some special power he had that helped him hear the voices. Wanting to hear the same as his brother, Luffy tried as hard as he could to hear the voices of nature. But no matter how he tried, he couldn't do it.
Over time, and as he grew older, Luffy began to feel depressed and skeptical about his brother's power to hear voices. Soon after his brother left for Beacon and suddenly be reported as KIA a year after, the ritual of Luffy trying to hear the voices grew less and less, until Luffy began to try and listen to the voices on the day his brother disappeared.
Oh great, now his mood's down after thinking about his brother.
His appetite gone, Luffy took another bite from the meat he was holding and jumped down from the roof he was sitting on. Almost immediately, Luffy was greeted by the face of an orange head. Shorter than he was, the girl stood on her tippy toes before she poked him on the nose. "Boop!"
Challenged, Luffy grinned before "booping" the girl back.
There was a moment of pause before the two glared at each other. The girl widened one eye, glaring with all her might, while Luffy glared back. It looked as if they were gonna start fight, with their faces so close their noses were touching. Sparks began to fly from Nora's hands while steam began to emit around Luffy.
"NORA!"
Immediately, the girl, now named Nora, changed her face into a happy one. "Ren!" She called, waving towards a raven haired boy. Luffy looked around Nora and saw the same boy. Ren stopped just before the two, leaning forward with his hands on his knees, wheezing and gasping for breath.
"Wiiiiiimp…" Luffy thought to himself, finding it funny that the boy would want to be a Hunter when it looks like he can't even run far distances.
"Nora, please don't do that again," Ren said after catching his breath. Nora blinked in confusion when she asked,
"Do what, Ren?"
"Don't go running around screaming for pancakes," Ren dusted himself off, continuing, "You don't want to disturb other people now, do you?"
"Hmm, I guess not…" Nora admitted. Her eyes then twinkled, "Ooh ooh! Ren, make some pancakes, will'ya!?"
"Nora."
"Yes Ren?"
"It's nearly 10 o'clock in the evening."
"And?"
Ren sighed, a small smile on his face. "Nothing. C'mon, let's get you some pancakes."
"YAY!" Nora then gasped, turning to Luffy, "Hey want some pancakes!?"
Luffy blinked, pointing at himself. Nora nodded, "Ren makes these awesome pancakes that are to die for!"
"Will there be meat?" Luffy said, his appetite now returning. Ren was about to shake his head when he saw something familiar. It was the sight of drool falling down from Luffy's mouth as his eyes began to sparkle in anticipation. Sighing at the similarities he was seeing between both Nora and Luffy, the oriental man smiled.
"Sure, come on."
"YEESSS!" Luffy cheered, following the two childhood friends into the kitchen.
Naruto yawned as he reached his sleeping set. Leaping and crossing his legs, the blonde landed cross-legged. Looking at his duffle, Naruto reached in and brought out a photo. It was an old photo, over 70 years at most. On the picture was a particular group photo of four teenagers.
In front of what seems to be the predecessor of the Beacon Tower, stood the four teenagers, all smiling and group hugging each other as they faced the camera. On the left was a rough looking pink head with a pink scarf that looked like scales. He had black eyes and wore red garments. On the right was an impassive, yet smiling, white head with her hair clipped to the back of the head. She had crystal blue eyes and wore a white hakama.
In the center, though, brought Naruto's attention. The first was a girl with black hair, grinning and wearing a sailor uniform with a skirt and biking shorts. She has silver eyes and wears a black hooded cloak around her. Above her, smiling, was a blonde man with spiky hair with bangs that framed his face. He also has blue eyes and wore a dark-ish yellow turtle-neck shirt with a tan-colored high-neck vest and an orange scarf.
Looking at the picture with a look that appeared to be high melancholy and nostalgia, Naruto looked behind the picture to see the words,
Together Forever
Two simple words, and it almost brought the blonde to tears.
Looking back at the photo, more particularly at the blonde figure, Naruto whispered, "Who are you…?"
Then the lights shut off, transforming the scene to black.
A/N:
So I thought to myself, what can I do to keep the readers interested and hooked in?
That's the purpose of the picture. Which, by the way, IS over 70 years old, so it cannot be Minato (if that's what most of you are thinking), but it still can be Minato (if you think of him as a grandpa)
Oooh, so many question, and so little answers. I LOVE IT, cause, of course, only I have the answers. Huehuehuehuehuehue.
On the other hand, several more characters introduced. Interactions of Tsuna with Yang and Ruby. Ichigo and Pyrrha's discussions. Luffy meeting Ren and Nora. An annoyed Blake with Naruto. Oooh, I just wanna keep going! But alas, cause of school, it's gonna be complicated. Again.
Either way, please continue to read NITL and we'll see what'll happen during the Initiation, eh?
Toodles!
