It took a week. That's how long Naruto's patience at the small worthless D ranked missions held, and most of that was because he spent so much time exploring his new home, spending a few nights eating dinner with the sisters and Keiichi, or sometimes just him and Urd watching a few shows on TV before bed that had kept him from blowing up at the injustice of D ranks. It had been a week since Hild had left, yet despite the casual conversations and usual close interactions, a uneasy silence had filled the Uzumaki homestead at times. Urd's face had gained a wooden expression, showing only that painful smile the last time Naruto had brought it up, leaving the boy feeling guilty and saddened by his friend's problems.
Urd herself wasn't certain what to make of her feelings either. As the days flew past her mind remained locked onto the words a certain blonde haired teammate of her's had said.
"You should know Urd loves you, despite everything she wishes to say otherwise! Don't you realize your hurting her more by making her choose?" How could a mortal, a young boy even, know that? That as long as she remained negative, rejecting Hild, she could be who she wanted to be and still have her mother in her life. And at the same time knowing that every desire in her body said she wanted to love her mother as well, even her own goddess side said she was to love her. Even if it would only hurt her further to do so.
"I won't let you hurt her, even if I die." Urd's body twitched as his words rolled over her once more, filling her with both warmth and fear. He meant that, whole heartily. Not even Troubadour could match the honesty and sincerity Naruto had when he faced the second most powerful being in all the universes.
"NO!" Urd snapped back into focus as Naruto's hands crossed before him. "NO NO NO, THANK YOU!" Sarutobi and Iruka looked less than thrilled with this outburst and Kakashi seemed rather perturbed yet resigned. He probably felt, like she had, it was a long time coming. "I WANT, SAY, A REALLY AWESOME MISSION!" Urd turned out the following squabble as Kakashi and Iruka got onto Naruto for his outbursts and Sarutobi began explaining the mission ranks. Though she, and very secretly Sakura, ended up giggling as he ignored the Hokage to think about lunch. She masked her laugh when Kakashi caught her and turned away as if cleaning her ear of wax. She eyed the two men most prevalent in her mark's life as they realized Naruto was trying to make an effort, their smiles proving their contentment at such. So it was no surprise to her, in fact the only ones more surprised the Hokage allowed team seven the C-rank, was their boyish pink haired teammate and their scarecrow sensei.
And it was then they met Tazuna, and began Team seven's most influential mission of their younger years.
A Jinchuriki's Goddess
Chapter Eight: Ah! A C-Ranked Mission!
By
Hibiki
Ah Megami-sama and Naruto are not my creations. Characters and Places used here are not my own. All rights to their owners Fujishima Kosuke and Kishimoto Masashi.
"Speaking"
'Thinking'
Flashback
"KYUUBI or DEMONIC VOICE"
"Aria / Spellcasting / Jutsu"
"English or English based words (I.E. Holy Bell, Noble Scarlet, World Of Elegance, Switchu On! Enginru STARTO!)" (Mostly the Keiichi bunch, or gods and demons will use these.)
Walking didn't really suit her but she did so as not to bring more trouble to Naruto and her by trying to explain her powers. Not to mention Peorth had some choice words to her when she and Naruto had visited the Temple a few days back that kept her from hovering past everyone.
"Okay! We'll be back soon!" Keiichi called out over the rumble of his faithful BMW, sitting in the sidecar was not Belldandy but a slightly nervous Naruto, clutching the side of the sidecar for dear life. "Ready?" Despite his nerves Naruto was at once nodding and looking ahead with a nervous smile. The throttle was brought up slow and the motor rumble changed pitch taking the two men and the motorcycle off from the curb before the temple and down the eastern slope of the mountainside, leaving the three sisters and two robots waving. Once the boys were out of sight the five turned to head back inside when they found a familiar and scantily clad figure.
"Bonjour, tout le monde~! C'est Moi."
"So you're saying the more I use my powers the higher the risk of Yggdrasil becoming corrupted will be because power isn't being diverted to to many locations?"
"En plein dans le mille! I really must say I am shocked an incompétent like yourself could understand this, non?"
[Fsh-ck!]
Belldandy pulled her sister's arm down, sweating slightly at the proximity of Urd's bolt crackling in her hand, while simultaneously lowering the rose whip Peorth wielded.
"No fighting." It was terse, sharp, completely un-Belldandy-like that it had them both freeze before relaxing somewhat and sitting opposite of one another again. Only then did Belldandy's signature smile return.
'She's grown too attached to the home as it is to let anyone mess it up anymore.' Urd thought with a smile. 'My little sis finally has grown up.'
"Ahem." Peorth 'cleared' her throat then turned to look at Urd again, all humor lost on her face. "The more energy being pulled to different locations means the less there is to power Yggdrasil's systems, already three minor systems have been thrown temporarily offline due to interruptions in power distribution. Simply put, when you URD used your powers against the Jounin ninja. Almightly has already allowed small provisions if you are required to fight, but for everything else either do it the mortal way, or you'll have your license suspended again." Belldandy went into thought before she rose and stepped out of the room.
"I'm living in a world where fighting is the norm. That's going to cause a massive drain on the system, We're still not trying to rebuild the seal* are we?"
"No, but to keep the demons from starting something, Father began equalizing our reserves to the same as theirs, no one side has an advantage over the other. Frankly I find it to be troublesome..." Peorth smirked. "But I suppose it's better than some fool who would blow through all our energy reserves in a single action being administrator." Urd bristled at the insinuation but was cutoff from once again trying to make the French spouting Goddess into ash by Belldandy's return.
"Would these suffice to keep Urd being able to use her powers?" Two small rings, dark grey and somewhat dull were put before the goddesses from Belldandy's apron pocket as she sat down.
"Ah!" Urd's mind sparked as she remembered them. "Keiichi's moon rocks!"
"Qu'avez-vous dire?"Peorth picked up the ring and flushed slightly as the ring's hidden power flushed through her. "Mon Dieu!"Soon however the rush was gone and the ring's energy was tapped.
"Peorth don't waste them! Those are hard to recharge!" Urd snatched the other full one putting it on and making sure not to take from it. Still fanning herself from the rush, Peorth sat back in thought.
"Those would suffice but as you said hard to recharge. As long as you have these then I believe it would be alright, but you must find a way to replenish these in the little boy's world."
[Shish-tack!] The sliding door popped open revealing a glowing Naruto and a cautious and slightly embarrassed Keiichi.
"Belldandy-neechan!" Naruto bounced in and landed next to Urd and Belldandy.
"Ah Naruto-kun, did you enjoy the ride?"
"U-HUH! It was scary at first, I've never gone so fast except for this one time, but that's not important! I got so excited I forgot how to keep from glowing like you mentioned before!"
"Ara ara..." Belldandy replied before once again cheerfully explaining. Peorth pointed at the ninja.
"He's g-glowing! A mortal is glowing!" She stage whispered to Urd.
"He's got a ninth dimensional being in his belly, in this world he's like us." Urd whispered back and that's when they noticed him picking up the ring. At once his glow vanished.
"Whoa! The ring just sucked up the extra chakra!"
"Ano... What's going on?" Keiichi remarked as the sister's and their friend looked to each other.
(* As in the seal on the demon gate as per the Anime, otherwise the quantum String in the manga)
Urd gave a small sigh as she once again looked to the ring on her finger, then to the matching one on Naruto's hand. Sakura noticed this almost at once, given her rather studious and for once observant nature.
"You really are engaged to him!" The group blinked and watched as Naruto spluttered at the insinuation from his crush about him and Urd. Urd however shrugged, she was tired of trying to explain things to the girl. "Well, I guess I could see why you'd not want to talk about it, it IS Naruto after all." The Jab brought about two things.
"Jeez Sakura-chan, that's mean." Naruto grumbled out, his fox smile 'mask' up to keep how the words tore into him for one.
The other had Sakura's hair standing on end when Urd got into her face, a frown and purple eyes flashing. The air was charged and the men stood uneasily as they waited.
"I'm really disliking your constant belittling of him, Sakura." Urd's voice had lost it's warmth. "Just what is you're problem anyway?"
"H-He's annoying, he's oblivious, he's always asking for dates, he's stupid!" Sakura quickly gained momentum as her anger outweighed her fear of Urd. "He's a total waste as a shinobi!" Naruto's head was down by now, hair shadowing his eyes but the frown on his face was very apparent. Sakura paused as she realized her words had such an impact on the boy. "N-Naruto..." The boy re-shouldered his bag then brushed past them, moving down the path. Urd's eyes at that moment could only be topped by her mother, as the saying goes, Her look could kill.
"He's not as oblivious as you may think. So watch your tongue. You don't know him... And you're not worth my time." Urd pulled away, her temper fading as she watched the retreating back of her mark. Grabbing her pack she moved after him but Sasuke's words stopped her momentarily when he called out.
"You don't know him either, Urd. He's a dobe. Always was, always will be. Just because you're with him now won't change that." Urd turned back, her eyes flashing again.
"I would rather spend the rest of days with a dobe, than a person like you, Sasuke." She looked at Kakashi. "We'll scout ahead, meet up with you at dusk." Kakashi nodded and watched as the platinum haired girl raced to the figure of their teammate in the distance.
'Minato-sensei, how do I fix this?' He thought, trying to find someway to end the hostilities his team had for one another. Sadly for all of them, nothing was coming to mind.
Through all this Tazuna remained silent, watching the team with some worry. After all, if the killed each other before he made it home how was he suppose to survive the month left needed to complete his super bridge?
"Naruto!" Urd called out to the boy, making him pause almost poignantly half in the shadow of a tree. He didn't turn to face her so she moved before him, seeing his mask was gone, leaving only the tired face of a Jinchuriki.
"I dunno why I try, it's never going to change, Sakura, Sasuke, the village. They all hate me."
"Not everyone in the village hates you. What about Ayame and Teuchi, Iruka, or that old fart Hokage who knows too much of Gods and Goddesses. What about me. I don't hate you Naruto. Not one bit." He lifted his head, uncertainty filtering through his cobalt eyes.
"How can you not?" She looked startled and before she could explain he continued. "I took you away from your home, your family, your friends. I did it. I'm no better than the Kyuubi. How can you be happy when I selfishly took you away from that... I wish I could take back what I said that night." She slapped him, such a raw, hurt, yet something indescribable feeling filled her. He blinked, then grew more morose until she pulled him into her arms kissing the very spot she had slapped. "U-Urd?"
"You may have taken me from my home, but you gave me a new one. You may have moved me from my family, but they aren't gone. My friends are always there for me, as I will be for you. You did nothing but ask for an honest wish, and I do not regret anything for being able to grant that wish. You are not Kurama. You are Uzumaki Naruto, a boy who would give up his happiness if it made me happy. A boy I am very happy to have gotten to meet." She relaxed when his hands came around her holding him close.
"I'm happy I got to meet you too Urd-chan."
"Kukuku, well this will be an easy kill, huh Brother?" Urd and Naruto jumped as two new voices broke the silence.
"How wonderful to kill these lovebirds before the real prize shows up!" Two figures jumped into the air, a nasty looking chain arcing dangerously between them.
Evil I know. But I realized the flashback that dominated this chapter took up so much time that I got really nowhere in the actual storyline other than allowing for some potential misinterpretations later on.
I still haven't gotten to the part I thought up so long ago about Sasuke and Zabuza, but thankfully that is all next when A Jinchuriki's Goddess returns. As usual Please red and review, as your words to me allow me better access to the words I want to write.
Next Chapter: Ah! Ambush at Wave!
Until next time: See ya!
PS: No OMAKE this time around, but I'll see about a double dose next chapter, we'll see how my muse goes.