Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Reading Totems ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Enter the Aburame!

 

Title: Reading Totems

By: GrizzlyTeddyBear

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and this makes me sad. I do own Paige Stone, my OC!

Main Pairings: Eventual ShinoxOC, NaruxHina, SasuxSaku

Rating: M for mentioned adult themes

Warning: AU, Post-series start time. Rookie 9 is 23-24 years old. Fic mentions pagan religions, if you can't handle it, don't read! Also is OC-centric. Hold your pants, all will be revealed as the story progresses. I like to take my time.

 

Chapter Summary: Paige and Team Kakashi conspire to give her some alone time and she meets a mysterious man in the spot she has chosen to practice her meditation in.

 

***Chapter 8***

 

The Sun. She couldn't decide if she liked it, or hated it. It had woken her up at sunrise when it peeked through her curtains, so she was guaranteed to have an abundance of time available for wheel walking today. And she was definitely grateful she would have all of that time for preparations for the council meeting. Paige was still hoping to get some more information about what all of those bug totems were about. She hadn't mentioned it at dinner last night with all of Team Kakashi. She wanted to wait until she had more information. She was still contemplating these new mysteries in her life in the shower when she heard banging on her front door. Sighing, she wrapped a towel around herself and trudged out through the living space. “Who is it?”

 

“It's just me.” Buffalo. Sakura. It was safe to open the door in a towel then.

 

“Come on in, I'm just about ready. Just need to throw on some clothes and tame the hair,” Paige said as she let the medic in. She was careful to stay behind the door when she opened it too. It wouldn't be nice to scandalize the neighbors. Paige walked back to the bedroom to change and left Sakura to wait around and make herself comfortable for the few minutes she needed.

 

“Have you eaten breakfast yet?” Sakura yelled.

 

“Yeah, I ate before my shower. So what are we doing today?”

 

“Thinking of creative ways of losing you to do your thing in peace,” the medic replied with a smirk as Paige reemerged from the bedroom with another tank top and skirt outfit with a handkerchief for a headscarf.

 

“Sounds like fun. Did you hear about how Kakashi `lost' me yesterday in the adult section of a bookstore?”

 

Sakura laughed, “No, but that sounds like him. It won't be a bookstore today. We're going to the training grounds where we'll lose you in the surrounding woods after a few hours.”

 

“I thought Kakashi gave you guys a few days off from training?” Paige questioned.

 

“He did, but Sasuke and Naruto spar every day anyway. And now Kakashi's claiming he's getting too old and needs me to help him with his training,” was the explanation.

 

She giggled, “I must have given him ideas with that comment I made yesterday about his hair and mask…right before we ran into Maito Guy.” She shuddered at that memory. He definitely wasn't a bad person, but he seemed so…off.

 

Sakura looked at Paige with sympathy. “If you thought meeting him was interesting, you should see Lee, his student. It's like a mini version of Gai. Putting the two of them together is an experience. They're both great shinobi, but kinda strange when they start posing and going on about the `springtime of youth'.”

 

“I think I'll just deal with that when the time comes. Come on; let's go to these training grounds. I have my bag. I'm ready to go.” The kunoichi and the empathic totem reader walked out the door.

 

***

 

“Kakashi, you're on time?” Paige was guessing when he told her yesterday he was bad with time that he wasn't kidding if Sasuke's, Naruto's, and Sakura's reactions were anything to judge by.

 

“I think you hurt my feelings, Naruto,” was Kakashi's comeback. It was 8:00AM.

 

The team had met up on a little red bridge which overlooked a small stream of water which Paige was currently staring at. She hadn't noticed the team walking off until Naruto came back and tapped her on the shoulder. “We're going now.”

 

“Sorry, sometimes the elements kinda make me space out and meditate even when I don't want to.”

 

“You look like you have a lot on your mind,” he offered.

 

She smiled, “I think that's the understatement of the year. But yeah, I have lots of questions and maybe I'll get a few answers today.”

 

***

 

Watching Team Kakashi train was definitely a treat for Paige. She didn't know human beings could move that fast! She almost couldn't follow their movements with her eyes! Naruto and Sasuke seemed to relish the spar too. Every time they would momentarily stop to catching their breaths, she could swear she saw them smile. They were out in a clearing, but sometimes took to the tree line. She was sitting underneath a tree away from the sparring action with Kakashi and Sakura. Well, Paige was sitting and so was Sakura, but Sakura was sitting on Kakashi while he did one finger push-ups. Looking back at the sparing of Naruto and Sasuke, a few questions occurred to her, “Do all of you have that level of skill?”

 

Kakashi paused for a moment and replied, “More or less.”

 

Sakura gave a snort and explained, “Kakashi more…Me less.”

 

She considered this. “Somehow I think you're less is still way more than average.” She paused before she voiced the other question that bothered her. “So then why did four ninja of your level get sent on a mission for those bandits? One of you probably would have been overkill.”

 

The medic explained again, “Vacation. It was supposed to be an easy mission we could end early, but instead of returning right away, we enjoy ourselves in a little town away from everything.”

 

Paige scratched her head, “But why didn't Naruto get to bring Hinata?”

 

“Basically because he's married to her.” At Paige's confused look, Sakura continued, “Team Kakashi doesn't get to see much of each other anymore. Sasuke and Naruto belong to a top secret division of shinobi but are on different teams, I'm at the hospital, and Kakashi often gets paired with jounin from his own age group. Naruto went up to Tsunade-shishou and demanded something be done about not seeing his friends and according to her sense of humor, a mission is a vacation between friends.” She then went back to counting Kakashi's push-ups.

 

Paige winced at the idea of building up to one finger push-ups.

 

Sakura noticed her wince and winked at her, “We used to do this all the time, before Sasuke came back to Konoha.” The sentence started off with a smile, and ended with a far away look. Paige recognized it as similar to the one when Sakura was talking about the Uchiha clan in the hospital. She wondered at what happened to make the happy woman so sad.

 

“I don't know if it's any of my business, but since I declared you my friend, that means you can come and talk to me about anything if you want to. And it also means you can tell me to shut up if I ask or say the wrong things.”

 

A sad smile was the response Paige received. “Thank you.”

 

After signaling Sakura to let him up, Kakashi stopped his push-ups and walked out to talk about something with Sasuke and Naruto. He was getting sneaky in his perceptiveness.

 

Sakura settled down next to Paige and told her a little bit more, “That story you told about the thunder bird is very telling of Sasuke. I just get sad sometimes when I think about who he became before he rose from his ashes.” After a few moments she glanced around, “Kakashi's lead the boys to the far end of the clearing, and I'm going to go check on their injuries. Don't go anywhere.” The pink haired woman got up, winked again, and then left.

 

Paige got up and left also. That had been her exit cue.

 

***

 

She decided to walk the path which leads back to the center of the village for a little while before turning off into the woods in search of the spot she had found yesterday. The slight detour was to avoid any stray kunai or shuriken from Naruto, Sasuke, or anyone else throwing sharp and pointing things near the trainings grounds. Thoughts of yesterday's meditation came to mind and she got out her notebook to go over what she wrote to see if anything became clearer over time. Paige was lost in her thoughts, content to wander the beautiful forest to think out some of what her message of bugs may have meant when she noticed she ended up in her clearing.

 

Setting down her bag, she set up her blanket in the middle of the clearing again. Instead of setting up her medicine wheel immediately, she decided to lie down and enjoy nature for a few moments first. While lying in the clearing she again noticed the absence of any animals except for some insects. Sitting up, she reached for her notebook and pen and made a note of this. It might come in handy later. Deciding her lounging had come to an end Paige set up her medicine wheel as she had done yesterday—cleansing, smudging, and offering to the six directions. However this time she did not have to recleanse all of her materials, only herself. Sinking into her mind, she imagined herself sitting by a much larger medicine wheel, one that she could literally walk around and through. She imagined herself sitting amongst all of the items which made up the medicine wheel and asked the spirits for any messages they wished to give her. Visualizing in this manner sometimes brought her stronger insights and greater clarity than just sitting beside the wheel. Love. Warmth. Comfort. Along with these emotions the images of insects came again to her, but stronger. Strongest of all was the presence of the beetle symbol of resurrection, protection, but it can also be a sign someone is very closed off to others. Coming back out of the meditation, Paige took the time to thank the spirits for their guidance as well as make sure she was fully back in the correct level of consciousness. Abrupt awakenings were not fun.

 

While she was recording her meditation, she felt the emotions of a presence near the clearing. Annoyance. Intrigue. Patience. It was an interesting combination. Deciding to take a chance, she spoke up, “I know someone is watching me.”

 

Surprise. Intrigue.

 

“You don't feel threatening, so I don't mind you watching. But I'd rather talk to you in person than to the trees you're hiding in.”

 

Amusement. Curiosity.

 

“My name is Paige Stone.” She really hoped she was guessing the intentions behind the emotions correctly. She was used to relying on body language cues. “I'm using this clearing for meditation. It felt peaceful. I'm going to do another meditation now. You can come closer and ask me questions if you wish, but don't do anything to suddenly jar my attention please.”

 

Curiosity.

 

Paige sighed. It looked like this one didn't want to come out of hiding just yet. The presence wasn't overbearing. She should still be able to use her medicine wheel.

 

Paige returned to that place in her mind with the larger version of her wheel and again asked for more guidance. She was met with a stronger impression of the beetle totem. Wishing for answers and feeling like she hadn't received any, Paige did something she probably shouldn't have. She let the stress of the past few days catch up with her—she got frustrated. Paige dove deeper and faster into that box of her mind which held her abilities than she had originally planned for. She vaguely recalled feelings of Amusement and Patience from the medicine wheel spirits and Alarm from the unknown presence watching her from the trees before everything went black. Paige had passed out and toppled over onto her side.

 

***

 

`Tap-dancing Tatonka,' was her first thought when awareness began to creep over Paige. She hadn't realized she had spoken aloud until she felt Confusion coming from that presence that was in the forest. But Paige noticed the presence had moved closer, and he was now carefully sitting next to her. “Buffalo. Tatonka means buffalo. And they're tap-dancing right between my eyes,” she said while turning her head to get a better look at him.

 

Amusement. Curiosity.

 

Paige took a moment to study the strange man now sharing her blanket and carefully avoiding any of her arranged items. He was being very respectful. He was dressed in a pair of black pants with a matching black dress shirt which extended to his mid-thigh. The shirt looked to be cut into tails in the front and back for ease of movement. The shirt also had a very high collar which covered up the lower half of his face completely. His hair was a dark brown, almost black and held up in a fashion which drew her attention to his forehead. He was shinobi. Paige recognized the Konoha hite-ate. It was holding his hair up, but she couldn't tell much else because of the hooded jacket he was wearing with the hood up! What intrigued her most were his dark almost goggle-like sunglasses. She was staring into those glasses when beetle was made known to her as his totem.

 

`Well, that explains the beetles at least,' she surmised to herself. `And he is definitely closed off to others if his clothes are anything to judge by. Isn't he hot in all of those dark clothes?' The second thought which came into her mind was wondering if he was hot under all of those clothes. Rolling her eyes at herself, Paige struggled trying to sit back up from her sprawled position only to find her movement restricted by the man's hand on her arm.

 

Concern.

 

It looked and felt like he didn't want her moving, but Paige at least wanted to be comfortable. She was currently putting all of her weight on her right leg rather uncomfortably. She continued to struggle to sit back up.

 

The grip on her arm tightened slightly. Vexation. Concern. Intrigue.

 

“Ok, ok. I promise not to do any back flips, but my leg is cramping really badly right now. I want to shift my weight.” The grip lessened. Paige moved around on her blanket in a rather ungraceful manner to lie on her right side, facing the man. She didn't quite know what to make of him. He had been concerned for her when she had fainted, but he had made no effort to help other than move closer…although, she had asked him not to jar her attention. Paige figured startling her awake would be jarring. “I'm going to ground myself. I'll be with you in a minute.”

 

Confusion. Patience.

 

“I promise not to any more stupid things…today at least.” After a moment she added, “The bonus to this is that I got you to come out of hiding.”

 

Amusement.

 

Paige closed her eyes and concentrated on deep, calming relaxing breaths…trying to feel her connection with the Earth she was lying on. She had no other words to describe it other than feeling the Earth hold her. When she reopened her eyes, she noted her new arrival was still sitting on the edge of her blanket. She also noted her headache had retreated once more to a dull roar. “I feel better. I'm going to sit up now.” She was hoping he would let her this time. Once more she struggled to sit up when his hand gripped her arm.

 

Before she could protest that she was capable of sitting up on her own, he spoke. “Slow.”

 

It was good advice. Paige nodded dumbly while thinking to herself, `Tall, dark, and mysterious with a voice like sex. The spirits are laughing at me. Shawnodese is laughing at me.' She felt outside feelings of Amusement and Love after her thoughts. Shawnodese was the coyote Spirit Keeper of the South—Guardian of emotions, love…spiritual teacher and trickster. Her messages yesterday of insects along with encouragement and love were starting to make some sense. Paige just hoped the spirits knew what they were doing, because she wasn't too sure about herself right now. “Thank you.”

 

She only received a nod in response. He withdrew his hand from her arm.

 

Deciding on another approach, she ventured, “Before I took my nap, I noticed you were annoyed with finding me here. I apologize if I am intruding. I only found this spot yesterday, and felt so peaceful that I wished to come back.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I'm meeting with the council in six more days. I would like to come here to practice my meditation for that meeting.”

 

Confusion.

 

Paige sighed. She kept telling everyone that she wasn't used to sharing her secrets, but it seemed that's all she was doing in the past few days. This guy didn't feel threatening, but she was feeling exposed from sharing her abilities with so many people. Deciding that Shawnodese wouldn't have put her in this situation if she was truly in danger from this guy, she decided to tell him everything…or almost everything. Paige told of how she ran in to Team Kakashi, her meeting with the Hokage, and her abilities. Throughout the entire explanation the guy just sat and listened. He didn't seem to sit in judgment but with an open mind.

 

The silence afterwards would usually make her nervous, but with him it just seemed natural. What could he say in reply to the telling of her story of how she came to Konoha anyway? They sat quietly enjoying the clearing together.

 

Curiosity. He was looking at her medicine wheel.

 

“I could explain it to you if you want.”

 

Patience and a nod was her reply.

 

Paige figured he wasn't much for words, but that was ok. She had come to this clearing for its peacefulness. “Alright. I'll try to give you the short version. I tend to get excited and ramble about this, because it's so special to me. So just find a way to redirect my attention if I do that.”

 

Amusement and a nod.

 

She first explained the need for cleansing, smudging, and making an offering to the six directions before launching in to some light theory. “This is called a medicine wheel. It's a tool of spiritual meditation, and for me, it allows me to communicate better with animal spirits. It's my way of honoring and communicating with nature and the creative force in all things that I call Wakan Tanka. As a whole it's a symbol of the cycles of all things: life, time, and other natural cycles. We have two circles, one inside the other, being connected by four spokes of the four cardinal directions which is why it's called a wheel. I'll point to the object and tell you the totem and if there are other significances I'll tell you those too.” At another nod, she began, “In the center you have the object for Wakan Tanka, that's kind of self explanatory though, he can be any animal since he is all things. The inner circle, going clockwise and starting just below East, has objects representing Father Sun-lizard, Earth Mother-tortoise, Grandmother Moon-loon, Earth or Turtle Clan, Water or Frog Clan, Fire or Thunderbird Clan, Air or Butterfly Clan. These can be tricky to read because you have to take the totem and what they represent into account.” Paige paused and decided to see if her visitor was following so far.

 

Interest. He motioned with his hand for her to continue.

 

“Next we have the Spirit Keeper stones of the four cardinal directions: Waboose of the North-buffalo, Wabun of the East-golden eagle, Shawnodese of the South-coyote, and Mudjekeewis of the West-grizzly bear. These objects you also have to take into account both the totem and the element of direction—North is Earth and has physical energy, East is Air and has energy of the mind, South is Water and had energy of emotions, and West is Fire and has energy of the spirit. Mudjekeewis tends to visit me often because my gifts give me knowledge of the spirits and that's his department.”

 

Amusement.

 

“Now we get a little complicated. The next 12 stones correspond with a cardinal direction. The three stones clockwise of the Spirit Keeper stone are influenced by that particular Spirit Keeper. For the North we have Snow Goose, Otter, and Cougar. For the East we have Red Hawk, Beaver, and Deer. For the South we have Woodpecker, Sturgeon, and Brown Bear. For the West we have Raven, Snake and Elk. Reading them requires taking into account the personal and cultural meanings of the particular animal as well as the influence of the Spirit Keeper.”

 

Interest.

 

“Still with me?”

 

The man nodded.

 

“Now traveling from the center of each Spirit Keeper object towards Wakan Tanka in the center are Spirit Path objects...three for each Spirit Keeper. You can either actively seek them as paths to getting closer to Wakan Tanka, or sometimes you just find yourself there. Again they are influenced by their respective Spirit Keeper Stones. North you have Cleansing-raccoon, Renewal-Earthworm, and Purity-Dolphin. East you have Clarity-Hummingbird, Wisdom-Owl, and Illumination-firefly. South you have Growth-rabbit, Trust-salmon, and Love-wolf. West you have Experience-whale, Introspection-mouse, and Strength-ant. Reading these objects requires knowledge of the animal in the natural world and also its cultural meanings.” Paige paused. “Ready for the tricky part?”

 

A raised eyebrow was the response this time. He seemed to be branching out in his reactions at least.

 

“In total we have 36 objects but the medicine wheel is not limited to strictly 36 individual meanings. Sometimes I'll get a reading that is the opposite of its intended meaning. Sometimes I'll read totems not on the wheel at all. Learning the 36 positions is a beginning, but not the end. If it becomes truly spiritual it lets you communicate beyond the symbolism. I use it to help in reading the totem animals of people as well as to seek knowledge of whatever totems are willing to give me lessons.” Paige felt the spirits respond once more with feelings of Accomplishment and Love. They appeared to agree with her explanations.

 

“Are you ok?” he asked.

 

She must have gasped again. Paige would need to work on not letting it show physically when the spirits and totems communicated with her. It might be a sign of weakness to the council. She smiled, “I think the spirits liked my explanations.”

 

He nodded, accepting this as if it was something he heard everyday.

 

Paige liked that he was so calm and collected. It was refreshing to not be scrutinized when she said something like that. Team Kakashi had a tendency to look at her strangely for a few seconds before they continued with what they were doing. If she hadn't sensed his emotions before she would have sworn he was completely unemotional, but he just appeared to be a guarded person. He was shinobi after all. It probably wasn't good policy to have over emotional ninjas on the battlefield. She giggled to herself when a mental image of what she called `Battle of the Emo Ninja' entered her mind.

 

He raised another eyebrow at her.

 

“Sorry, I just had a funny thought enter my mind.” Paige returned to enjoying her surroundings with her visitor. After a while she noticed sunset was not far away. She began to pack away all of her items with care and thanks to each totem and energy. She felt curious eyes on her once more and again explained her actions, “It's polite to say thank you when you pack everything up. And just to let you know, it was good that you didn't disturb anything while I was unconscious. It can upset spiritual energies if someone touches medicine wheel objects without the proper permission from the owner and respect to the energies.”

 

He nodded.

 

“I would like to be able to come back tomorrow. I know I intruded on your spot. Is it alright with you?”

 

He nodded again.

 

Paige blushed slightly when she decided to voice something else, “I wouldn't mind if you continued to come too. I don't want to chase you away.” She paused and bit her lip. “You're a calming person, a good listener, and good company.”

 

“I find I learn from listening to what is said and listening to what is not said.”

 

Paige wondered what he meant by that, but decided to take it at face value. Had he noticed her blushing and knew she kinda liked him? “Very true,” she eventually replied.

 

“You have the advantage of listening to more than most people with the gifts you possess.” And with that, he vanished from her sight.

 

She blinked. That was very…insightful of him. `Was it a compliment?' Sighing Paige turned to her notebook to record everything that happened that day in the fading light before she finally collected her blanket and left the clearing.

 

***

 

It was rapidly becoming darker. She had stayed a little too long. Paige hoped she would be able to find her way back in the growing darkness when she felt two totems make themselves known. She felt the beetle of her visitor from the clearing behind her and the thunder bird of a shadow moving straight towards her. Looking back, she wondered why her beetle visitor was following her. And then, suddenly, he was gone from her ability to feel his totem. Paige turned to the thunder bird, Sasuke. “I'm over here! I got a little carried away and lost track of time.”

 

Sasuke then appeared next to Paige. “This way.” They headed back towards the training grounds Team Kakashi had been using.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“How did your meditation go?”

 

She didn't know how to respond to that. She hadn't done much meditation at all. “Well, I got frustrated at first, but afterwards it was good. I'm gathering information. Still many more questions than answers, but its something.” She wasn't sure why she didn't tell Sasuke about her beetle totem visitor. Paige liked having a secret friend for now. If he came back, then she would tell everyone after she found out more about her mysterious new acquaintance. Right now, she just wanted dinner. She hadn't eaten since breakfast.

 

***

 

Author's notes: Please review and let me know what you think. If you reviewed this story once, Thank You!! (otakutron, TheForsakenOne, DragonTamer94) And review it again! Please?!