Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter Thirty Five: Friendship Watercolor
Beta:
It was a surprisingly good day as Naru crossed back into Academy City, something that just pissed her off. It should have been storming with sleet, hail and all that jazz! Then maybe it would have matched with the gravity of what had happened to her. Unfortunately for the blonde, the world did not revolve around her and the weather continued being perfectly pleasant as MEMBER's transport slowly but steadily cleared the City's customs checks.
Her foot tapped impatiently as the customs was a slog as per usual which was especially galling since it had utterly failed to stop her from being smuggled out of the City in the first place.
Kouzaku was sitting next to her, texting away on her phone as a little liquid metal doll hung on her shoulder. While its controller was the perfect picture of a professional, her doll was anything but. It danced and cavorted like a excited little girl on a field trip. Or maybe it was just celebrating that they were still alive.
"Is that feeding off your emotions?" Naru couldn't help but ask. The silence of the ride - They didn't even use the radio! - was unbearable.
"Kouzaku-kun does like to emote using her puppet at times," The team's leader known only as the Professor said with a chuckle. "It is quite amusing."
"Huh." The blonde hummed as she held up a finger and a chakra smiley face appeared around it. "Interesting to know."
The little doll blew a raspberry at her in response while its master shot the Professor a glare. Apparently Kouzaku didn't like that fact spread around.
"Don't blame the Professor," [Kill Point] said with a smirk. "It's not like it isn't obvious."
"Shut up, Saraku." The sole female member of MEMBER hissed at her teammate. "Nobody asked you."
"Must we always fight like this?" Baba chimed in. "In front of a client no less? Can't you be professional for once, Kouzaku-chan?"
Client huh? The blonde wrinkled her nose. She glanced at the nurse themed girl.
Kouzaku meanwhile looked outright murderous as she glared at her teammates one after another. However, seemingly thanks to familiarity with her attitude they just shrugged it off. Annoyed that she was getting nowhere, she just hissed in annoyance and returned to fiddling with her phone. Her little doll shrugging and turning to the phone as well, where it proceeded to point at things every so often.
Wonder what that's about. Naru thought idly. Is the doll reacting to things she likes or what?
That's what you're talking about? Kurama asked incredulously. I'd have thought you'd be more concerned with the clear tension within your rescuers' team.
Not my business to be honest. Besides we're almost home already.
True, besides your team is already here to pick you up.
Huh? What are you talking ab-
"Namikaze-sama," the driver of MEMBER's transport said suddenly as they drove out of the customs facility at last. "Your friends are outside. They look like they're waiting for you."
Naru blinked in confusion for a moment before looking out the windscreen of the heavily modified camper van to find the rest of the Trinity gang standing on the curb waiting for her.
The sight caused a burst of happiness to blossom in her chest as she hurriedly exited the vehicle with a hasty wave goodbye to MEMBER over her shoulder as she jumped off.
"How did you guys know I was here?" The blonde asked as she walked the short distance over to her friends, ignoring how MEMBER drove off behind her.
Everyone looked to Saten-chan to explain but the girl in question was a little too busy glaring at MEMBER's now distant vehicle.
Oh, right. She has bad blood with them.
She has a gripe with practically every Dark Side organization in this City. They did go do stupid things to try to recruit her when she went solo. Remember all the work we had to do to settle things down after she massacred half of them?
Well, [Meltdowner] knew better than to kidnap her Kaa-san. Naru shot back in defense of her friend. That was bound to awaken the [Army Slayer].
Thankfully a gentle nudge from Uiharu-chan brought Saten-chan back to the present and she explained things.
"You went missing. So we got together and did our best to find you." The Number Three said succinctly. A little too much so if the looks of incredulity from the others were any indication.
"Stockpiling weapons is just doing our best to find you now? You Dark Siders." Mikoto-Sempai said with a resigned sigh, before turning to Naru and shooting her a stern look. "What the hell happened?"
As she did, she stalked forward and gently grabbed hold of Naru's chin, checking her face with a worried frown.
"Just some trouble at work, nothing much." Naru hastily answered, taking a step back so as not to be scrutinized by her overly worried Sempai.
"Enough trouble that you've lost your uniform?" Shirai-chan asked gesturing at the simple tee shirt and shorts that MEMBER had scrounged up for her to wear in lieu of her rags.
"Shirai-san! Don't you think the scars are more important?"
If the way Saten-chan was eying the 'whisker marks' on her face was any indication, she agreed with her best friend. Not that Naru was surprised. Out of everyone there, her classmate was the most familiar with the extent of her regeneration and thus probably had a good idea of what it took to give her scars at all.
"Uiharu's right. What happened to your face!?" Mikoto-Sempai asked worriedly, moving her face around gently to get a good look at her new scars. "Where's your regeneration?"
"Uh, um," Naru gulped as she struggled to formulate an answer for that. "Things got a little rough?"
"Alright you, hospital. Now." Sempai said in a no nonsense tone. "We're getting you checked out."
"You're not the boss of me," Naru said petulantly, crossing her arms which were thankfully no longer bruised.
Her resistance crumbled though when Saten-chan leaned down to whisper into her ear, "It's either go with her or she calls Konori-sempai and/or Sequenzia-san to guilt you into it. Better to play along."
"And where did she get Shutaura's number?" Naru shot back accusingly, which with her eyes squinted and her new whiskers gave her a fox-like look.
Saten-chan just smiled coyly. "Someone had to ask your girlfriend where you were. It was decided by majority vote that I'm not personable enough, so we had Sempai do it."
"...Shit."
"Come on." Her overbearing Sempai said impatiently.
A hour or so later found Naru in an examination room in Heaven Canceller's hospital. She was getting dressed -wincing here or there- behind a screen after finishing an examination by the good doctor and he was keeping her company as she made herself presentable.
"I am glad to find that the shinobi, deplorable though they are, did not touch you in, ahem, the wrong way." The elderly doctor said from the opposite side of the privacy screen.
"I'm a big girl, you can say it. They didn't sexually assault me."
"Yes that," the divinely skilled physician said with an awkward cough.
"Well, they apparently had plans for me that required I be 'pure', so thank that." Naru confessed dismissively. Feigning nonchalance at her close shave, she'd found, was the best way to cope with it.
"Magic comes in many forms. 'Purity' is one of them..." Heaven Canceller said, his frown practically radiating through his voice.
"Yeah," The blonde agreed noncommittally as she finished tucking in her uniform's undershirt into her skirt.
"Besides that," the man said in a transparent bid to change the topic. "I am genuinely surprised that you're in such good health considering you were cut off from your chakra for so long."
"It was only a few days," Naru told him with a shrug. "That's what my friends told me at least."
"Yes, it was." He confirmed. "Which is surprising, since based on simulations we'd hypothesized that being cut off for more than a couple hours would have already had detrimental effects on your health."
"My regen already took care of most of the issues that came up," The Level 5 informed him clinically.
Stepping out from behind the screen, a fully dressed Naru pointed to the scars on her cheeks. "Though not all of them. Fuck that asshole."
"I could help you clear them up if you'd like," the doctor offered. "Not just those on your face but the others too."
Naru beamed a relieved smile at him.
"Do you want them removed now? Or perhaps later?"
Naru mused on the suggestion for a bit before making her decision.
"Now please," the blonde said in an uncharacteristically small voice. "Just walking around with them… It reminds me of what they did to me."
"I understand," the doctor nodded. "And if you want to talk about what happened-"
"I'll get Saten-chan to hook me up with a therapist. No offense but I trust her vetting over even yours."
"I would too," Heaven Canceller admitted with mirth before becoming serious, "By the way, have you spoken to Aleister at all yet?"
"Not yet. Why?"
"Nothing. Just when you do see him, be prepared. You should know what he'll be likely to say."
"Yeah, I know. Thanks Doc," Naru said, offering him a small smile. "You're one of the few people I can really put my trust into here."
"That's quite the compliment," the doctor returned the smile in kind. "Now let's get you set up for that scar removal."
At this he tossed her a fresh hospital gown, "Sorry to ask you to change again, but you'll need to be wearing that for the surgery."
"And I just got into these too," Naru sighed as she lugged the gown back behind the screen to change out of her school uniform.
A day later, Naru walked out of the hospital with her hair down. She just doesn't feel like wearing her usual pigtails today. It was just too much effort and after all she'd been through, she couldn't bring herself to expend any energy she didn't have to.
"You sure you're ready to head back to the dorms?" Mikoto-Sempai asked insistently as she and the rest of her concerned friends walked her out of the building.
"I was discharged with a clean bill of health." The chakra manipulator reminded her mothering Sempai. "You should know. You were there!"
"I know, I just-"
"We're just worried for you," Shirai-chan finished for her roommate.
"I know, I know, it's just-"
"Smothering?" Saten-chan offered with a grin. "Too much? Causing an overload?"
Naru sent her classmate a glare. "You're having too much fun with this, you know that?"
"Someone has to fill in for your humorous take on things," the Number Three said with a shrug. "It helps reduce the tension."
"And also because for once you're not the one in trouble, in any way, just makes it nice for you right?"
"That too." Saten-chan admitted with a grin.
Unfortunately for her that earned her a smack on the arm from Uiharu-chan which had the other Level 5 subsiding with a pout. This had Naru along with Mikoto-Sempai and Shirai-chan giggling at the byplay between the two best friends.
"Ok, enough with the teasing and chit chat," the [Railgun] said as they all calmed down. "Let's go before the Chibi somehow gets into more trouble."
Looking at her feet, Naru grumbled, "I don't need an armed escort though."
"I beg to differ." Mikoto-Sempai crossed her arms stubbornly, making the blonde glare at her balefully.
Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, it looked like Sempai was correct because they'd no sooner stepped out of the hospital's doors then she spotted Tsuchimikado, one of her boss' agents, waiting for her outside the main entrance in all his Hawaiian shirt loving glory.
That idiot has horrible fashion sense. Kurama complained, even as his voice hid the trace of an angry growl.
Naru didn't need to be a genius to realize he was angry on her behalf. That he was annoyed that it seemed her superior wasn't even going to give her a chance to settle down before he summoned her.
It's okay Kurama. I can handle this.
The fox's only reply was an irritated growl as it sunk deeper into her mind.
"The boss wants to see me?" Naru asked even as the high schooler opened his mouth.
"You've got it," the double agent informed her with a nod. "So let's go shall we?"
Her Sempai looked like she wanted to blast the guy with her namesake and looked ready to deliver a scathing remark as well. Naru quickly butted in however.
"Yeah, I'm sure the boss is floating from how antsy he is." The remark earned an amused snort from the faux blond boy.
It seemed though that Naru was focusing on the wrong Level 5.
"Tsuchimikado," Saten-chan said in a monotone that sent a shiver down Naru's spine as she stalked right up to the older boy. "If any harm comes to my friend, I will level this City or die trying. You understand?"
If the magician/Esper hybrid was intimidated, he didn't show it. Instead he just nodded.
"Mah, no need to be like that, Saten-san. I wouldn't let a single blonde hair on her head be touched. Swearies."
Saten-chan's response was to plunge her arm straight through his abdomen.
"You better not," the Number Three told him with maliciously gleaming eyes as she ripped her arm back out. "Or Auto-Rebirth won't save you."
The high school boy hardly flinched save for the widening of his feet to maintain his balance and wiping futilely at the blood dripping down his stomach.
"I liked these pants." He grunted down as he examined his blood stained trousers, ignoring the by now healing wound. "And must you always stab me when we meet?"
"Yes," Saten-chan told him with a dark glare. "You tried to burn me alive the first time we met."
"Oh come on! You were trying to kill a bunch of pe-"
"Kidnappers," Saten-chan corrected him. "Kidnappers who had taken my Kaa-san."
"The hell?!" Mikoto-Sempai nearly shrieked as the surreal scene finally registered.
"He has regeneration," Naru explained as she walked over to the idiot whose wound was already closing. "It's where Saten-chan got hers. Mostly. Right?"
Saten-chan just nodded.
"Not as good as yours, Usagi-chin." The hybrid winced as his wound continued to grow smaller. "Or Miss Murderous Robot either. She cheats and uses other abilities to amplify hers."
"Suck it up." Saten-chan wrinkled her nose.
"Better get going, people to talk to and such. I'll call you guys later. Promise?" Naru asked them, hoping they'd lay off her for a bit to get this done.
The group of girls looked reluctant but nodded one by one, and promptly turned to interrogate Saten-chan about what she'd done instead.
That girl… She did all that on purpose. Kurama informed Naru as she followed the Hawaiian shirt loving teen into the carpark.
Wait! What? How do you know that?
You should know she has better control of herself than to just lash out at someone she dislikes when she sees them. No, she did all that just to give your friends a distraction to allow you to slip by with less of a fuss.
Science! You're right!
Yeah, so be nice to your best friend and treat her to something nice when you get the chance.
Best friend!? What are you on about?
Oh, figure it out on your own. You'll see what I mean.
It was thus as Naru was puzzling over the nature of her relationship with Saten-chan that she found herself before a waiting unmarked black van that had been parked near the hospital entrance.
Yeah, not ominous at all. The blonde thought as she shook her head even as she stepped into the shady looking vehicle.
Not long afterward, Naru found herself speaking to her boss: Aleister Crowley, General Superintendent of Academy City in his sanctum within the mysterious Windowless Building.
Before Aleister could say a word however, the Level 5 spoke her piece. "I know you won't care, but I want you to know that it hurt to be called an 'afterthought'. After everything I've done for you, that's what you call me? I've always respected you and this shakes that respect."
She was given silence in response.
"Oddly enough, you are the closest thing I have to a parent, which again, I know you don't care about. A tiny part of me wanted to think maybe I could have been the exception with you, but as MEMBER said, my abduction was just a slight...nothing more."
"I don't need your respect," the magician floating in his test tube told her bluntly. "Only your obedience."
Naru flinches at this unvarnished reminder of what the Superintendent truly thought of her.
"Did you honestly expect anything more from me? Besides it was not like I abandoned you, after all I did arrange for your rescue. You were just not a priority."
"I see," Naru hissed angrily, before teleporting away with her eyes prickling with tears.
Aleister Crowley waited until his pawn had departed before he allowed a smirk to cross his face. "That's it Namikaze, hate me! Find solace in your friends! Create a true Trinity for my new world!"
A few minutes later, Naru was walking towards the light rail station to take a train back to her dorms.
She could have called for a lift from her subordinate organizations or just a plain ol' cab, but she was feeling restless. She needed a walk to reflect on what happened to her. Her time of reflection was cut short however as when she was about halfway to the station, a limousine pulled up next to her and a door popped open.
"Good evening Namikaze-san," Oyafune Monaka greeted from within the luxury vehicle. "Fancy a lift?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Of course," the old lady said with a smile. "But please assuage this old woman's worries and join me for a ride won't you? I promise it won't take long."
"Only 'cause you actually have a soul." Naru grunted and entered the car.
"So what do you want to talk about?" Naru asked as she took a seat across from the elderly Director of the City.
"I just wanted to check that you're alright, young lady." The older woman said as the car drove off. "I was informed of your situation by Saten-chan and was most concerned."
"Well, as you can see I'm fine."
"Are you really now?" Oyafune asked curiously. "Or are you fine in the same way Saten-chan is fine?"
Naru winced at that. "I'm… functional."
"What a diplomatic answer," Oyafune noted with a frown. "I'm not getting a better answer from you, am I?"
"No offense, like I said, you've gotta a soul but you're still on the Board. I don't have the best time with you guys."
"Fair enough," the Director said with a resigned sigh. "Just don't keep everything bottled up alright, dear. Or I might just have to push for another purge of the shinobi just to prove my intentions."
"You would do that anyway."
"You've caught me," Oyafune said with a chuckle, a small smile coming to her wrinkled face. "Though they are like cockroaches aren't they? We've purged them a dozen times it seems and they always seem to scurry out of some hole a few weeks later, right as rain."
"We just need to cut off the head. Then they're nothing." Naru said darkly as she gripped her skirt.
"A tall order if our previous attempts were any indication. Though any input you have would be invaluable for our counterattack."
Naru saw the olive branch, and she honestly appreciated it but... "Again, no offense but I'm kinda worn out for shinobi right now. Sorry."
"Totally understandable," Oyafune accepted easily, like Naru hadn't just rejected her generous offer.
"You know," The blonde said with a small chuckle. "You're probably the only Director who wouldn't want to have me shot for telling them 'no'."
"I know I am," Oyafune said with a frown. "Which is just wrong."
"But it is what it is." Naru pointed out. "You're the only good Director. Someone who's amazing enough to care for an anomaly like me."
"None of that, young lady," the grandmotherly old woman chided. "You're not an anomaly. You're just a little girl."
The Level 5 raised an eyebrow at that.
"One with exceptional talents but still just a little girl."
Naru chuckled. "And thinking like that is what makes you so special, Oyafune-sama."
Before the Director could reply, the car came to a stop and the driver rang the intercom.
"What is it?" Oyafune asked.
"We've arrived at the School Garden, Oyafune-sama." The driver informed them.
"This is my stop," Naru said with a smile as she bounced off her seat. "See you around."
Oyafune looked reluctant to let her leave but ultimately nodded. "Take care, young lady."
With a lazy wave over the shoulder, Naru hopped out of the limousine and onto the cobbled street.
[Mani-Force] stood there for a moment watching the car leave. Only when she saw it disappear around a bend did she let loose the chuckle she'd been holding in, "Wily old hag. I can see why Saten-chan likes her."
Turning to walk through the checkpoint guarding entry into the School Garden, the Number Two was surprised yet again that day when she found Shutaura running up to her.
"Shutaura?" Naru asked, blinking incredulously at the sight of her girlfriend.
She was dressed in her usual bodysuit, which made her look very out of place, but she didn't seemed to care as she made a beeline towards where the Level 5 stood.
"Naru!" The older girl shouted as she came to a stop and immediately pulled the blonde into a hug. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!"
"You were?" Naru asked, confused even as she returned the hug.
"Yes!" The brunette insisted. "Haven't you checked your phone? I've been texting and calling you repeatedly since I heard you got back to the City."
"R-Really?" Naru breathed, floored by the concern. "I, uh, lost my phone."
"I guessed as much," Shutaura said tightening the hug even more. "Why didn't you call me then?"
Naru didn't have a good answer. She had considered it of course, but everytime she did she found herself chickening out. She just…
"I didn't want you to see me weak," the blonde confessed in a whisper.
"Silly girl," Shutaura said as she pulled back from the hug a little. "I'm your girlfriend aren't I?"
Naru nodded.
"Then why would I care if you're feeling under the weather? Isn't it precisely my job as your girlfriend to be there when you are? To help you get through it? I may know next to nothing about being a girlfriend, but I know this much."
Trying and failing to form words, Naru just tightened her arms around Shutaura and nestled her head against the other girl's warm bosom. It felt good to be encircled by the taller girl's protective arms. Arms that filled her with a strange sense of relief that in turn triggered warm tears to pour down her face.
Interlude: A shattered world left behind
In a world not too distant from that of Academy City, a group of knights in mechanical armor that had a medieval aesthetic but was equipped with all kinds of clockwork and steam powered mechanisms explored a set of ruins being overlooked by a quintet of massive stone faces carved out of a rockface. All around them and hanging from withered vines were strange pods, each filled with a single mummified corpse.
"This looks like it must have been one of the mutants' biggest cities," a lead knight judging by the comparatively elaborate heraldry painted all over his armor said as he examined the extent of the ruins. "It's one of the largest we've found at least."
"I must agree, Knight Leader." A man dressed in crimson robes and holding a long staff topped with a complex clockwork mechanism said, while pointing his staff in the distance towards a massive rotting tree the size of a large mountain. "Though perhaps not the biggest. If our hypothesis is correct and they worshipped that demon tree then the largest city is likely at its base."
"Thank Lord Mechonis that it's dead, Archbishop." The Knight Leader said as he shuddered after just glancing at the dead tree. "And thank whoever killed it. That thing gives me the creeps."
"Perhaps someone fulfilled the prophecy we found written down in that weird village of toadmen." One of the other knights quipped.
As one the other knights and their entourage burst out into laughter at the absurdity of that happening.
Done and done! Thanks to the team of Nameless as always!
Home sweet home, am I right? Lots of talks, with mild violence.
Nameless: And overprotective friends. Can't forget those. Speaking of friends…
Nameless and I just realized how Saten was essentially Naru's BF. I mean, it just hit us. Of course, expect some cute and hilarious responses to this newly discovered information.
Nameless: Yup. Can't expect anything less from Naru after all. Though she'll need to get over her troubles from this arc first. Once she does though… Time to explore what having a best friend means. It'll be glorious!
And yes, totes spoofed Mechonis from Xenoblade. All hail the Mechonis!
Nameless: At least it's not the Machine God of 40K or as he's more properly suspected to be, the Void Dragon. Imagine if the Narutoverse took place in that grimdark universe. The poor Naruto world would have a high chance of being Exterminatused the second an Inquisitor discovered it on account of its mutant population and its heresy. I mean, they don't even worship anything that could be said to be an aspect or manifestation of the God Emperor. Thus to avoid any assumptions of such despite borrowing a lot of the 40K universe's aesthetic in the Interlude, we decided to use another Machine God.
You know what to do, smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!