Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Leaf and Dream ❯ Chapter 4

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto. Ari and the Dream Nins are mine though. I’d much rather have Kakashi.


Arianna left the Yumekage’s room and walked down the corridor to her room. One of the other Dream Ninjas brought her things into the small sleeping room and she reminded herself to thank whomever it was. Sliding out of her vest and the brown and blue skintight suit that she had worn on the journey, Ari made her way to the shower in the adjourning bathroom. Letting the hot water flow down her naked body, she closed her eyes, leaning against the wall of the small shower stall. The stall, and eventually, the room, steamed up as mist hung heavily in the air. Raising her arms, the girl ran her hands through her long black hair, humming a nameless tune to herself.

The door to the bathroom opened and Ari spun, just barely managing to keep her balance on the wet tile. Through the steam and the curtain to the stall, she saw a brown and blue uniform, identical to the one that she left on the floor in her room, and vividly blond hair. “Yuriko?” She asked, easing herself out of the defensive stance that her body had put her in instinctively.

“Who else?” The blonde ninja tossed a bottle of Ari’s favorite sweet-smelling shampoo over the top of the curtain, and Ari caught it in one hand. Smiling, the woman set it on the shelf that was intended for this purpose. She didn’t even bother covering herself up behind the curtain. Yuriko and her have been lovers in the past, and even now, after they had decided (mutually) to break it off, there was still comfort in each other’s presence. “Thanks. I forgot that.”

“Bet you forgot the soap too.” Yuriko grinned and waved up a lavender colored bar of soap over the top of the curtain. As Ari jumped up to grab it, he rubbed it in her hair, letting go of the flowery smelling bar.
”’EY!” Rubbing her head, Ari grabbed the soap and quickly washed her body and hair, trying her best to ignore the blond haired man who had made himself comfortable by sitting on the counter with the sink.

“Arianna...?” Yuriko was bothered by something. When Ari didn’t answer, he continued, “Do you think Marisu’s really gathering up people for another war?”

Ari shut off the water and reached over the top of the curtain, groping for a towel, which Yuriko put into her hands. Drying off her body and wringing her hair, the ninja answered, “Wouldn’t surprise me.”

“Aren’t you worried?” It seemed that her nonchalant response confused him. Ari could hear the faint hints of worry and even fear in his voice.

“Nah.” She wrapped the large towel over her body and stepped out of the shower stall, moving past the male ninja and into the bedroom, shutting the door between them so she could get dressed. “Even if she is, there’s nothing that we can do about it, short of a preemptive attack, and Yumekage would never allow that. As much as we all would hate to admit it, we’re powerless. All we can do is hope that coming here solves our problems and that Chiko and the others kick some ass during the exams.” As she was talking, she had finished dressing. When she threw open the bathroom door, Ari was wearing a pair of tight black pants and a shirt that seemed to be nothing more than a bunch of strips of cloth in all shades of blue, draped around her body and connected with strategically placed pins. What appeared to be silver thread lined each strip of cloth, making the whole shirt sparkle.

Yuriko took one look at the shirt and laughed, dodging out of the way as Ari moved to hit him with her brush. “All those tough words, and yet you wear that shirt.”

“I feel more comfortable like this.” Ari had long ago developed the talent of cloth manipulation. It was one of the more obscure bloodline talents and jutsus that had come out of the Dream Country and it allowed the ninja to control cloth as though it was an extension of her own body with nothing but her thoughts and a bit of chakra. The silver “threads” were actually thin, razor sharp blades that were sown into the edges of each of the cloth strips, making them into deadly weapons. “Besides, at least then I don’t have to worry about being taken by surprise.” Pulling her hair back from her face, the ninja tied on her forehead protector. Rubbing a mark off the crescent horns on the face plate, Ari turned towards Yuriko. “Well, how do I look?”

“Absolutely stunning. Going to paint the town red?” ”Something like that.”

She left the blond haired ninja in her room. He would find his own way out, eventually. Their relationship was always something for everyone in the villages to talk about. She had known Yuriko for all of her life, and she had loved him for that long. It took a stranger’s arrival for her to realize that her love for Yuriko was more of that for a brother. Luckily he had felt the same. They were closer than ever before, and if the smiling ninja had regret the way things have turned out, he had never mentioned it.

Pushing these thoughts out of her head, she stepped out onto the streets of Konoha. It was raining, the slightest drizzle of mist, just enough moisture to kiss her skin and to make it glow. Unabashedly, the Dream ninja stared as she made her way down the street. Such wealth... there were lights in every window, and lanterns that let up the streets. A bunch of laughter caught her attention and she found herself watching as a loud blond haired ninja treat his quiet girlfriend to dinner at a ramen shop. His voice could be heard over the quiet street, and the sound of his laughter brought a smile to her face. Forcing her feet to move again, Ari continued down the cobbled stone streets.

Arianna walked the streets aimlessly for nearly an hour, just allowing herself to absorb the complexity of having her waking dreams come true. She was finally seeing the world, finally doing something that she wanted to do, finally just... being. Laughter and light called to her again and she found herself standing in front of the town’s bar. Even standing outside, she could hear the patrons as they laughed, talked, and flirted. Without a second thought, the ninja pushed open the door and stepped in.

As the Dream ninja stepped into the bar she was met with a sudden silence. Looking around the common room of the bar, she saw that the customers were nearly exclusively ninja. Fighting the urge to step back away from all the curious eyes, Arianna lifted her chin slightly and walked into the bar, all too aware of the stares at the crescent moon on her headband. She was ready to try to find an empty table in this packed space when she heard a familiar voice call out her name. “Yo, Ari.”

Turning towards the bar, she saw Kakashi. He lifted his beer to her in a motion for her to come and join the group of people at his table. Weaving her way through the tables she smiled gratefully to the silver haired ninja, inwardly relieved at how the chatter began to pick up again. Sliding into the only empty chair at the table, she muttered a word of thanks to the masked ninja before glancing around to see who his companions were.

Some of them she could recognize from their descriptions in the various bingo books that she had collected through the years. The man in green spandex with the large eyebrows could be no other than Maito Gai, a ninja who’s Taijutsu skills were nearly legendary. Sipping on a beer was Uchiha Sasuke, age 15, last remaining survivor of the Uchiha Clan and a member of Leaf’s ANBU. Sitting next to him was the blond haired boy from the ramen shop. After stopping to think for a moment, Ari recalled a name for the smiling, whiskered face... Uzumaki Naruto, also 15. The girl at his side was the same one whom he had been with earlier. She was a pretty girl, obviously in love with Naruto. Arianna couldn’t place her face, even after mentally running through all of Leaf’s most well known ninjas. The girl had the white eyes of the Hyuga Clan, but the only Hyuga that she had ran into in the books was a male, age 17, Hyuga Neji, who didn’t seem to be at the table.

There were others seated that she recognized from the bingo books as they introduced themselves; Genma, Anko, and Izumo. And still others that she hadn’t run across yet; Sakura, who was obviously trying to get Sasuke’s attention and arguing loudly with a blonde whom she called “Ino-Pig.”

It was a little overwhelming, being around so many new people at once and only the fact that a hurried escape would be a negative impact on the impending negotiations kept the girl sitting where she was.

“So...” Genma smiled at the new comer as he caught her eye, “Arianna, you know our Kakashi?”

Ari nodded, “Yes. I met him while he was on a mission, about ten years ago.”

“A mission, eh?” The ninja smirked at Kakashi, the toothpick in his mouth jumping at his words, “Could this kunoichi be the reason why you were missing for four months? I don’t blame you one bit.”

Kakashi just shook his head at his friend’s teasing. The waitress came by with another round and Ari took a beer gratefully, sipping at the ice cold alcohol, content with just watching everyone talk and relax, all the while too aware of the ninja sitting next to her.

Time passed and the drinks kept flowing. Genma had long since stopped trying to entice the Dream ninja and had moved on to some other conquest. Somewhere between the third round and the fourth, he had slipped out with a pretty Chuunin on his arm. Naruto and Hinata left soon after, Hinata quite a bit more sober than her blond lover. Last call was called and finally the party seemed to be breaking up. Standing up, Arianna left some money on the table to pay for her drinks. There had been five rounds, and yet, she had drank only perhaps two of the beers she was given. It seemed that nursing the beer wasn’t allowed in Leaf Village, not with this group. Still mostly sober, she said good night to Gai, who was arguing with Anko and Sasuke about something which she had lost track of twenty minutes ago, and walked out with Kakashi.

Kakashi had also left more than half of his drinks untouched, and instead of saying good night right there in front of the bar, like he really should have, the ninja turned to his companion and asked, “Want to go for a walk?”