Chuunin Exam
Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, Asuma, Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, Gai, Neji, Dosu, Orochimaru-in-disguise, Kurenai, Temari, Kankuro, Baki, Hayate, Anko, and Hokage-san watched from the floor above as Rock Lee struggled to avoid the grasping sand of Subaku no Gaara after unleashing the Reverse Lotus. Unfortunately, the exam seemed to be enjoying interruptions, with Orochimaru appearing in the second exam, and now these two strangely garbed people who dispersed the sand with faint sparkles and semi transparent feathers of pale blue and gold. The taller, although not by much, had uneven metallic silver hair that went a little beyond shoulders, while the other had messy auburn hair that covered the left eye. Their clothes were strange, at least, what they could see of them. The silver haired wore a concealing cloak that reached the floor and a high collar that concealed a thin neck below a pale angular face with a crescent moon mark over the left hand side. The slightly shorter was pale too, though it was the shade of pale skin associated with red hair, not death as the Ginpatsu (1/ Japanese for Silver Hair/ed) skin was. Auburn wore a strange set of clothes, shaded deep purple, with a large collar on a cloak/cape that covered shoulders, coming down to points on either side, but did not cover any chest, twin swallow tail capes on back from underneath the shoulder-capes. A pair of belts around the waist and above the boots, dark pants and shirt of a strangely thin material, high fingerless gloves concealing arms, and the thin shirt also had a high collar. Naruto bent over, hands grasping his shirt above his seal as pain shot through it as soon as the feathers had vanished.
"What's the matter? Upset stomach from all of the blood?" Kankuro asked, noting the blonde's discomfort.
"Nah, just a future Hokage's ninja intuition!" he replied with that big goofy grin of his. When Kankuro turned back to watch his brother, grumbling about annoying blonde idiots, Naruto curled as a new wave, and five simultaneous stabs of pain hit. This pain felt like all of his nerves were burning, not just those in the general vicinity of his seal.
That’s not good...
What?! Naruto wondered briefly why the Fox suddenly chose to speak again, after not doing any such thing after that creepy man-woman with the snake had attacked. (Orochimaru sneezes.)
They aren't supposed to be here... they are supposed to stay in THAT world... not go visiting ours...
Huh?!
Defiantly not good, for any of us...
What the hell are you talking about, stupid fox!
Hey, kit! Keep away from them! I don't want to die with you! With that, Kyuubi shut up, just as one set of eyes roamed past Naruto.
When they both looked around, no emotions on the visible part of either's faces, Gaara twitched, getting annoyed that any would stand between him and his pre- opponent... hehehe..., at the shifting of his demon, and gathered his sand to attack at the taller figure in black.
Auburn haired proved himself to be male, at least by voice as he shouted something in another language, pushing his companion out of the way as he pulled the sword on his left hip free from its plain scabbard, and slashed at the advancing sand. The sand attempted to move around the broad blade, but shivered, and a large amount fell to the ground with a crash as flames burned brighter over the faintly blue steel blade shaped like a broad flame of sorts, faintly resembling a triangular head with blue fire eyes. The man moved and allowed the sand to pass him, before spinning and dealing the same fate to the sand that returned. The other managed to stay standing, even though the shove left her several feet away from her original position, cape swirling out then falling back to the floor quickly. When the man turned to face Gaara completely, red eyes narrowing into a scowl and raising his flaming blade into what might have been a defensive stance, the Procurer decided this was enough, and body flickered down to main floor between Gaara of the Sand, and this mysterious stranger with red eyes.
"Enough! -cough!- Who are you? -cough, cough!- Why did you interrupting -cough, cough- the exams?" Hayate asked. Again in a strange language, the man asked the woman something, who replied in kind. Sensing movement behind him, Hayate moved to the side to see Gaara standing, a slightly more crazed look on his face.
"He attacked my companion without warning, or cause." The man's voice was cold, and accented in a way none knew, his eyes on the sand ninja. "And thus I will protect her from another attack." When the sand ninja suddenly moved his sand to strike at Lee, the man jumped slightly, watching the sand, and striking at it as it passed, but did not go after it. Ginpatsu was suddenly by the genin in green and then gone, placing him at the top of the stairs, before reappearing to be back to back with the man, cloak concealing her form.
"Answer the good man, would you?" Kakashi said from over his book. He, Gai, and Asuma appeared and created a square around the strangers along with Hayate. The woman tilted her head to look the cover of his bright book, and her uneven hair parted, showing her eyes covered by white that quickly stained crimson.
"We are who we are, and we appeared because we did." Her voice too had an accent, one that seemed to shift constantly. "It is not our choosing as to the place." More ninjas appeared around them, circling the pair. Even the battle weary rookies and the two who had yet to fight were there, except for Lee.
"Enough word games!" Anko shouted, appearing next to the woman and grabbing her cloaked shoulder.
"Aurian..." there was warning in the man's voice as the woman stiffened. Aurian muttered something that sounded unflattering.
"I don't appreciate being touched." She snapped, jerking out of Anko's grip, cape swirling to momentarily show her thin from in all black, shirt, belts, boots, and high gloves.
Notice how everyone seemed to forget Gaara?
Well, he didn't like that.
"What's... bothering you..?" Gaara muttered, holding his head with one hand. "You don't like them... fine... let's get rid of them..." Again Aurian was pushed out of the way as sand flew towards her, this time she did not keep on two feet and fell to all four, before surprising the ninjas by being faster on all four that on two.
"That’s it, brat! Last time!" she snarled while her companion shook his head.
"Aurian, now is not the best time to pick fights... you know that the cost will catch up to you soon." There was worry, ever so slight in his voice, but it was genuine.
"Kratos, he's pushed me too far! If I am to be attacked, I at least like to know why!" She replied. Kratos muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'liar. You just like to fight' before she jumped at the sand ninja. Her hand grasped something invisible, before she swung, bringing out a flaming sword of her own at in time to bring it down on a column of sand sent her way. Her sword flared with enough fire to cover the entire outside of the sand column, trapping the remainder inside inch thick uneven glass. She landed next to Gaara, the flames on her sword going out as she spun to back hand him, only for glass shards to pepper her as Gaara’s sand broke free and caught her fist and hilt. Small cuts showed on her too-pale skin, along with small rips in the cloth of her strange clothes and cloak as she swung the now flaming sword into that stream of sand.
Gaara snarled as more of his sand was reduced coarse glass, and missed Aurian's foot connecting to his side through the sand, skidding back. Kratos watched her with one eye; the other eye watching the other ninjas that had not changed from the gathering around him, more intent at the potential enemies. He allowed his sword to loose its flame; the flaming head winking at him as it vanished, giving him, and some of those close to him, a slight shiver. He still didn't believe Aurian when she said it wasn't alive, or nothing alive had been bound to it. Kratos barely blinked before he found a kunai, held in the gloved hand of the grey haired Kakashi, at his throat and promptly glared at the shorter man's single visible eye. Annoyingly enough, Kakashi was reading Icha Icha Paradise again, although he had seen those dark red eyes glaring at him. Those eyes... they aren't like ours... they call us Shinobi Tools, but even though we are used to kill time and time again, we still show emotion in our eyes. Check that, our Genin still show emotion, most Jounin and Chuunin don't. This man... has seen so much blood and death that his eyes don't show anything at all. Kakashi thought, idly flicking to the next page in his porn-o, holding the kunai steady at Kratos' throat. And of course Gai had to step in.
"You are too young to have your flame of youth put out by the amount of blood and death you have seen." Gai said, looking into Kratos' face. The taller man made a slight sound like he was choking something down, before a small smirk pulled at the corner of his lips and he transferred his glare the man in green spandex.
"That is what you think." Kratos said and fell silent as a large crash sounded. The Jounin jumped away as Gaara went flying for Kratos, who neatly sidestepped. Aurian had managed to hit him again, this time a sweeping blow of her left arm to his side, and though the tall, frail-looking woman didn't look it, she had surprising strength. Her arm went through his sand, and knocked him for the far wall. Back up on the second level, Orochimaru blinked.
Kukuku... they smell like they have bathed in blood, many times over. These two are no regular killers, especially to have the strength to knock that sand-demon boy that far though his sand... Orochimaru thought. All of the ninjas tensed as Aurian straitened, her teethed bared in a fanged grin as she turned back to face the group of ninjas around Kratos, her cloak once again settling around her. Gai tightened his fists as several others pulled out weapons, Asuma his chakra blades, sensing the battle-lust coming off the silver haired woman. Kratos tensed as they did, tightening his grip on his sword, the blade eagerly spitting tendrils of red fire. The hilt shifted, startling him, forming the familiar hand guard of the original Flameberg that he had worn, in silvery steel instead of gold metal of Elven origin. All he knew was that it wasn't Aurian's, or his doing. Kratos really needed to talk to Aurian about her Malystrix, now his Dragonflame. Aurian's sword flickered with fire as well; hers in more orange shades along the strange twin bladed katana as she turned her face to blindly look at the group, her skin starting to look a little ashen.
"Enough!" Sarutobi, the third Hokage of Kohona, forgotten by the authoress, said, his voice carrying to all in the room, causing many to jump. Immediately all ninja in the room relaxed slightly, not completely dropping their guard. The kunai that Kakashi held at Kratos' throat moved away, and disappeared as the Copy Ninja closed his book with his finger holding the place. Kratos felt the mental nudge from Aurian, and closed his eyes while opening that bond. When he opened his eyes again, there was gold in the red, and Aurian's head mirrored his own movements. Gaara stood again, his face contorting as he snarled and charged for the pair of warriors again. A slight motion from the Hokage, and the ninja left off watching Aurian and Kratos, and went to hold Gaara back, his siblings among the first to get to him. Kratos looked on, although his eyes would occasionally flick back to the elderly man with the big hat as slightly confused thoughts ran through his head. Aurian shifted, lowering her sword and letting the flames die a little, a slight pout forming on her pale face as she watched the struggle to hold Gaara still through Kratos.
Authoress reminds all that Aurian has a bandage wrapped around her eyes, stained by blood- she is blind.
Kratos too let the flames of his sword die, though he was still confused by the old man's actions. Were all of these strange warriors and children not part of the same group? He and Aurian had attacked one of them, and now the apparent leader told his men, and women, he noted a pink haired girl among them, not to attack them. What the hell was wrong with these people?!
The authoress would like you to know that that last sentence was from Aurian, not Kratos.
It was obvious to the sand siblings that Gaara would not calm down in the same room as the strangers. Baki informed the Hokage of the situation, and then teleported all three away. Kratos and Aurian watched the dust spiraling in place of the four ninjas with slight shock on their faces, neither had felt even the slightest bit of Mana, magic, or angel powers in use. But Aurian still wanted to fight, was actually itching to do so. Just because she couldn't tell what they hell they were using, and she couldn't see them doesn't mean she can't kick their butts, right?
"Aurian..." Kratos ground out, shoving that last thought from his mind. "Cut. It. Out." This time the silver haired woman actually did pout, a slight playfulness in the expression as she put out the flames on her sword and sheathed it over her shoulder. Kratos did the same, though he kept the blade an inch out of the sheath, just in case they were jumped, watching the ninjas.
"Kakashi, Gai." Sarutobi broke the silence again, nodding to the two he named, before turning to look at Aurian and Kratos. "Would you two mind coming with me? I think we need to have a little chat. Hayate, continue the exams. Subaku no Gaara won because of outside interference."
Again, the Authoress forgot about a character, but that's ok. Rock Lee is still unconscious. :-)
The strange pair 'looked' at each other, really just Kratos looking at Aurian while she turned her head to face him, before they both nodded, Kratos pushing his sword completely into its sheath, and joined the Hokage by leaping to the second level, the pair of Jounin appearing not to long after. Kakashi thought he saw something different about Aurian's ears as her hair moved as she landed, but couldn't tell the way anything with the way her hair settled, her cloak once again swirling around her. The four followed Sarutobi out of the building, before Sarutobi teleported them all into his office. Then they appeared, Aurian camped her hand over her mouth, her skin looking even more ashen.
"Was that... necessary?" Kratos asked, supporting Aurian as she coughed into her hand, before wiping her mouth on her glove.
"Yes. It would be rather odd for the civilians to see their leader walk down the street with two Jounin and two strangers." Sarutobi said, walking to take his seat behind the desk.
"Ah." Aurian said, before clamping her mouth firmly shut.
"How did you get to Konoha?" Sarutobi asked, serious. Kratos glanced at Kakashi and Gai, then Aurian, before looking back at the Hokage.
"We were trying to get to my home, but we showed up here instead." Kratos said.
"And just where is your home?"
"Derris-Kharlan."
"Where?"
"Derris-Kharlan, former home of the Elves, now home to the remainder Cruxis. As well as us." Aurian said, before coughing again, unable to hide the blood this time as she sat heavily. Kratos glanced at the Hokage again, before sitting next to her, supporting her as she coughed again.
"Get two medics." Hokage said, and a slight noise from outside the door told the pair that someone had heard, and left. Not very long after, though blood began to leak from between Aurian's fingers, the two medics arrived, and a noise out side the door signaled that the guard had as well. They immediately noticed the blood seeping between her gloved fingers and went to her side, Kratos lifting his arm from her while watching the medics. The medics fussed over the woman, until her harsh chuckle reached all ears.
"You cannot heal me. If you could, I'd be surprised." Aurian whispered, wiping blood from her face. One of the medics gasped, reeling backwards.
"She... isn't breathing... wait." she whispered, before laying a hand on Aurian's back. She reeled back again, shook crossing her face.
"You're not breathing!" She gasped out. Reanimation no Jutsu? She put two and two together; the way the auburn haired man's eyes looked when he glanced at the silver haired woman, and sent him a look with traces of pity. Kratos noticed said look and raised a single eyebrow. The woman stood, and then looked at Kakashi.
"Kakashi-sensei, may I speak to you outside, real quick?" she asked. Kakashi tilted his head on its side, before nodding to Sarutobi and following the medic.
"Can you see if that woman is alive? With the Sharingan?" she asked, turning around.
"Alive? What do you mean? She was walking, fighting and talking like anyone else." Kakashi asked.
"She doesn't breathe." The medic said, with emphasis on that word. "Her heart beat is so slow that I could barely feel it!" Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "Now can you PLEASE tell me if she's alive? That guy is strange too... couldn't you check him at the same time?" Kakashi sighed, and slipped the cloth of his forehead protector up over his left eye, opening the permanent Sharingan. Returning to the door, he opened it, walked in, and looked at the pair with the red and black eye, ignoring Kratos' strange look.
The two humans where transparent now, giving him a view of a swirling mass of colors in Aurian, and shades of deep and light blue from Kratos. While Kratos was rather full, perhaps two thirds, Aurian was drained, less than half full of bright, fiery colors, around two fifths at most. That is when they stopped being 'normal', never mind the fact that he had never seen such colors as chakra, though one of the blue shades reminded him of lightening, one once in a while a red would remind him of Kyuubi. Behind each, softly fanning, were wings, even more transparent than their bodies. Kratos's were light blue, feathery, sparkly, yet not like any other wings he had ever seen, not at all like a birds, soft blue feathers falling occasionally from them, a red hazy shadow over his form. Aurian's were diamonds, all colored like fire, faintly bat-style, with a small hand at top, also glittering softly, a hazy blue in another shape behind them. And there was something else about her, a strange hazy grey-silver shadow behind her that seemed to be watching him, filling him with some strange emotion, before he caught a strange picture of scales and large teeth. He nodded to Sarutobi, and then walked back out, covering his Sharingan as he closed the door behind him.
"They're both alive... but it's odd." Kakashi said, thinking. Scales and large teeth ...what has scales and large teeth?
"How so?" the medic asked.
"Well... their chakra is oddly colored, and the woman has less than the man but..." his single visible eye widened as his mind clicked. A snake! Orochimaru! "They have wings." Kakashi turned and walked back in, signaling to Sarutobi that he needed to talk to him as the male medic stood, and left.
"So... this Derris-Kharlan of yours is home to... Cruxis?" Sarutobi asked.
"You make it sound like Cruxis is a person." Aurian said, a smile starting. She wiped the remainder of blood from her face.
"Then please clarify." Sarutobi said.
"Short or long version?" Aurian asked a smile present on her face.
"Which is true?"
"They both are, one is just longer." Kratos sweat-dropped, but said nothing.
"Let's go with short."
"They say short when we have all of the time in the world." Aurian said, turning her head towards Kratos, faint amusement in her voice, with hidden weariness. He elbowed her.
"Let's see..." Aurian crossed her legs, turning her head up, the smile vanishing. "Cruxis is, or rather was, an organization created by five people to halt a war between two countries that had spanned five thousand of years. While said group had indeed managed to halt the war, the cost was one of their companions, one very dear to their leader. He... went more than a little off the deep end, twisting the last wish for a world free of discrimination into a wish for all to become the same. His name was Yggdrasill, and he used the sword he had gotten from the King of the Spirits to split the world in two, keeping once country on one world, and both vying for the same small supply of Mana, the source of all life.
He created the Church of Martel as a cover story, then created the Desians," Aurian's face twists into a snarl as she spat the word, "a group of half-breeds and evil humans who worked in Human Ranches, forcing the Human's there to work, pushing the limits of their bodies to force crystals called Exspheres to grow, ultimately taking the lives of their hosts. He created a little game with them, using a teen that would be called the Chosen, making the mortals below believe said child was that of an angel, and forcing them to go through a journey fraught with peril to lose their humanity in attempts to resurrect that companion. For four thousand years he did this, even though he lost one companion, she had fled so he could not drain her life to resurrect his sister's, and then nearly another, he had found out the truth of his Age of lifeless beings, the fact that he wanted to kill half the population to change the other into soulless creatures." The anger Aurian felt, and radiated, choked her, her words dieing before they left her mouth. Kratos laid a hand on her arm, and continued for her.
"That fourth companion left for a while, before he lost all hope at the apparent death of two loved ones, and returned, devoid of emotion." His voice was just that; empty, as if he was just reading some piece of paper, telling a story that didn't affect him, or his life, his face matching. "Then the next chosen, a young girl whose Mana signature was nearly identical to that of the fallen companion, reached her 16th birthday, the day she was to receive the oracle, and have her Cruxis Crystal placed. That fourth companion received the job of guarding her, steering her on the correct path, as a mercenary. The journey went... fairly smoothly, though they faced assassination attacks, and killed two of the five Desian Grand Cardinals, destroying their Ranches as well as another one, and gained two companions, one summoner, one former mercenary, victim of Desians.
When they came to the final Temple, the Tower of Salvation, they learned the truth about the Journey, the Angel Transformation, and their Mercenary Companion, along with the fact that the former mercenary knew the Leader. In a series of battles, first with the Angel Remiel, then with the mercenary, and then the Leader of Cruxis and the Desians, they were almost killed, but were rescued in time by the Renegades, whose leader was the third companion. The group left the impoverished world, heading for the flourishing world, the home of the summoner. There they learned the truth about the teacher and her brother, met the chosen of that world, gained two new companions, and learned the truth about the former mercenary, who was the fifth companion.
They then formed pacts with all of the spirits, loosing the great seed from its bonds, only to have that plan backfire, and use the help of the mercenary to destroy the last ranch, and send the seed back with a blast of Mana. (OMFG! Kratos is talking a lot, ain't he?) It was revealed there that the Chosen was ill, slowly becoming one of the same crystals the party used, and so they set out, without the mercenary, to collect the ingredients for the cure. On their way for the final ingredient, the mercenary appeared again; revealing that he was one of the original companions from four thousand years ago, and fought them.
They were captured and brought to the city of angels, Welgaia, gathered the last ingredient, and fled back to land, for Welgaia rests among the stars. Yggdrasill waited at the entrance, again they fought, this time defeating the angel. They retired to a friends house to prepare the cure and heal their companion. It was revealed to them by the third companion that the fourth was the father of the Chosen's best friend, and the half-elf they had found in the burning village was in fact the enemy they had fought so many times, Yggdrasill, though he had indeed told them his first name, Mithos." Aurian seemed to have gotten control of her emotions, and took over the narrative, both ignoring the others in the room.
"The boy was protected by his father, who was then brought back to Welgaia as Mithos fled. They then worked to undo the wrongs done on the world, but had to head to the Land of Ice, Flanoir, to collect a Doctor to help the friend, who might not survive if they did not hurry. That night the boy was restless, and headed outside for a breath of fresh air. His father appeared, and told him of the night his wife, the boys mother, had died, by his hands. He then told him that he would not rejoin the party until he could pass on the Eternal Sword to the boy, and left, leaving behind a locket, with a picture or a woman, himself, and a small child, all three happy, inside. The next morning they headed for the tower, and were betrayed by a member of their party, the Chosen whisked away by the remaining Desian Grand Cardinal.
They fought, and killed the traitor, before heading through the back ways to enter the tower, slowly loosing member after member, until only the boy remained. He made it to the door, only to have a trap fire. The Locket saved his life, the poisoned dart didn't so much as graze his skin, and so he went to challenge Mithos alone. Only he was not, the mercenary, who then appeared, and set the Chosen free from Martel, the fallen companion's spirit who had been part of the Great Seed, had rescued the friends he thought he had lost. They defeated the last Desian Grand Cardinal, and then the fifth companion, who had been sitting this out, moved. For her appearance was nearly full Elven, she was in fact only a quarter Human, and a quarter Elf.
The rest of her was a Summon Spirit, one of the lesser ones that no one really likes to talk about, the spirit who went by the name Kaerash, the Herald of Destruction. Mithos unleashed this being, and the companions fought, and managed to save the life, and their own lives, from the Spirit, who retreated into the fifth's mind. They defeated and killed Mithos Yggdrasill, his body disappearing in motes of lights, before the mercenary told them that they must find him in the forest of the Treant, behind Heimdall, the village of the Elves, to allow the boy to wield the Eternal Sword, and that they must fight him. So they headed for the village of the Elves, and the boy fought the mercenary, won, but did not kill his father. The mercenary turned and released the seal, which had been made on his life. The third companions saved him, giving the man a bit of his own Mana to keep him alive.
They then fought and formed a pact with Origin, the king of the spirits, and then Mithos' Cruxis Crystal appeared, and attempted to control the boy. The Chosen intercepted it, and Yggdrasill gained control of her body instead. When he tried to leave, the fifth attempted to rescue the girl, and was brought along. So they headed back to the declining world, to the home where the boy had lived most of his 17 years with his adopted dwarf father. There he gained Flameberg, the sword of fire from his father, and Vorpal Blade, the sword of ice from his dwarf parent, forming the Material Blades. The mercenary rejoined them, in time to gain the information of where the fifth companion was being held, and Mithos plans. He was attempting to steal her life and magical power to revive his dead sister. The companions headed for the castle, and at the gate a spell fell over them, leaving only the mercenary untouched, who followed strangely armored figures into the castle, defeating both and rescuing the fifth companion.
She was unable to keep a solid form; part of her life drained, and bonded her spirit to a small trinket, which was then kept in the pocket of the boy. They traveled the destroyed Tower of Salvation, used the Eternal Sword to send them to Derris-Kharlan, and fought through the maze inside to reach the point where the Chosen and her unwelcome companion waited. But before they could reach her, the other companions were caught in a trap, one that sent them to different parts of Welgaia, while the boy and the transparent fifth companion had remained safe. He went on to find the Chosen, and Mithos attempted to trap the boy within his memories, but the fifth fought back with her own memories, scenes both violent and peaceful, showing the boy and the Chosen more of the life during the war. They won, forcing Mithos back into his
Crystal, and went on to save the rest of the companions from the darkness in their own hearts, Doubt, Revenge, and Hate.
They gained the Derris-emblem, deactivating the trap, and headed for Mithos' Castle on Derris-Kharlan, to finish the fight. They defeated the Dark Dragon Gatekeeper, and confronted the Leader of Cruxis. In a long battle, they won, defeating him twice, before only his crystal was left. He told the boy, his shadow, he called him, the shadow that stood at the end of the path he was afraid to take, to destroy the crystal while he was still himself, and that those choices, the ones that had caused the pain and suffering of thousands upon thousands of people, would be made again, had he the chance. The boy did so, and then told the Eternal Sword to return the true form of the two worlds, and it did. However, once they reached the surface, the spirits informed them that the world was dying, that there wasn't enough Mana. The boy attempted to use the sword to revive the seed, but it failed, and he himself went up to attempt to help the seed, the Chosen following shortly behind.
Together they awoke the seed, giving life back to the Kharlan Tree, becoming its protectors, while it housed the Spirit Martel, who held all of the souls had been sacrificed to the tree, including that of the original Martel. The tree required a new name, the Kharlan tree was the name of the elves tree, and this tree was to watch over Dwarves, Elves, Humans, and those caught in-between, Half-elves. They named it after Yggdrasill, and then went their separate ways, the chosen and the boy going on a journey to destroy all Exspheres, the half-elf teacher and her brother traveling to make life easier for all half-elves, the summoner to take up the position as chief of her village, and to introduce their style to the rest of the world, the ax-girl and the President of a company to help rebuild the world. The third companion disappeared, as did the fifth, and the fourth left on the comet Derris-Kharlan, promising to throw all of Cruxis' Exspheres into space." Aurian suddenly stopped, before she rubbed her arm. "You only wanted the story of Cruxis didn't you...? Damn... I rambled again..." Silence from the ninja.
"Well…that was…interesting..." Kakashi said, breaking the silence. Everyone sweat dropped and Sarutobi sighed.
"Understatement of a lifetime…" Sarutobi muttered. A slight smirk returned to Aurian's lips, before it vanished again.
Notice how I forgot about Gai? That's because he passed out from standing still for too long and not ranting on about Youth. :-D no one else knows that knows that though… and so, after a long bit of silence, and not helpful answers from Aurian and Kratos, we now find them standing at an apartment complex.
"Is this the place?" Aurian pretends to look at the slightly beat up apartments, then at the paper slip.
"Second floor." Kratos said, heading for the stairs, then down to the door first door in sight, pulling out the key ring Sarutobi had given them. Aurian caught up to him in no time at all, muttering about stairs in Angelic, and watched through his eyes as he struggled to get the key into the slit.
"My turn." She elbowed Kratos aside, catching the keys and turning one over, and still it wouldn't go in. She frowned, and picked the other key, and tried both sides of that one, running a slim finger over the sides to determine top from bottom (she's still wearing gloves. they just be thinner than they look). After a little longer of struggling, Kratos caught her wrist.
"That is obviously the wrong door." He said. Aurian looked at him, then the keys, and returned her blind face in a 'glare' at him.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" She asked. Kratos shrugged, some amusement in his eyes before he took the keys from her hand, heading for the next door. Kratos frowned at the keys, and then tried the handle, before attempting to unlock it. The door opened as Aurian peered over his shoulder, looking through his eyes. An old woman opened the door as Kratos dropped his hand. She took one look at Kratos' eyes and hair, and Aurian's wrap around her eyes, though it looked like she was seeing.
"More freaks? Can't they just leave me be!!" she slammed the door. Kratos blinked, while some slight confusion crossed Aurian's face.
"Wrong door." Aurian said, straitening.
After hours of work, they had finally found the right door.
"YES!" Aurian cheered when the key fit with a click. Of course now she had to figure out which way to turn it. "How... the hell?!" Aurian grumbled as she struggled to turn the key. "SCREW IT!" Aurian pulled her hand back, taking the knob with the key, and kicked the door in. Which of course made a large crashing noise, and drew the neighbor boy out.
"You turn the knob…" He went back inside when Aurian turned her face to him. Kratos sighed, retrieving the key and knob from Aurian's hand as he entered the house. Aurian grumbled something about knowing that all along as she followed him, picking the broken door up and setting it across the frame rather crookedly.
