Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Returning ❯ Gypsy ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter Four

 

Kougasmate- Finally! Another chapter! This one goes out to spiritwolf, for being my (technically) second reviewer! Well, this chapter leaves a few questions, and could be viewed as confusing, but the questions from this chapter get answered in the next. I hope you enjoy it! Review please!

 

 

 

 

Gypsy

 

 

Sakura glarred at Kakashi, "Where were you yesterday? We waited here for hours!" Kakashi looked over at Sakura with little expression as usual. "I was called in to escort some one into town."

Inner-Sakura growled, 'suuuure buddy! I bet you were just reading your pervy novels!'

Naruto blinked, "Really Kakashi-sensei? Who were you escorting!? An important person I bet! That sounds so cool! Tell me tell me tell me!"

Kakashi glanced at Naruto, and as he did, something flickered in his eye, disrupting the carefully placed mask of emotionless ness. "I cannot tell you Naruto. In due time, however, you will know."

Naruto arched an eyebrow, “What are you talking about?”

Kakashi sighed, “Nothing Naruto…It's time to train.”

 

As the sun dulled and the evening sky set in, allowing the moon to replace the sun in the sky, Sakura asked, “Kakashi-sensei, are we done training for the day?”

Kakashi, looking to his right with a quizzical look, turned suddenly to answer Sakura, “yes Sakura, we are.”

Naruto huffed, pointing accusingly at Sasuke, “But I almost had him beat!” Sasuke snorted, rolling his eyes ignorantly. “Don't you roll your eyes at me! I will beat you one day, and I will become hokage!” Naruto yelled, a vein throbbing in his forehead.

As Naruto indulged himself in a one sided argument with Sasuke, Sakura looked around, “Hey, guys, where did Kakashi-sensei go?”

Naruto stopped ranting, and glanced around the clearing.

Just as Sakura had noticed, there was no Kakashi. “He must've left already.” Naruto offered, shrugging a bruised shoulder.

Sakura mumbled, “You're probably right….but…” as Sakura trailed off, they heard a woman talking, then they heard Kakashi's voice. They seemed to be arguing heatedly, judging by the woman's voice.

All at once, they heard her command him to leave, and then there was silence. Naruto blinked, “Should we check it out?” Sasuke was about to object, when Sakura answered, “Yeah, let's go.”

Within a few seconds, the team reached the origin of the sound, looking around to find the woman. They found her sitting on the forest floor, knees drawn up, with her face burryed in her knees. Her shoulders shook, and the team heard her mournful sobs, “Why did I come back?” She demanded, “after so many years….why?” Looking up, she glanced at the moon, and picked up a stone laying near her foot. Throwing it at the waning crescent moon, she screamed, “Answer me! I know you're up there! Answer me Toku!” Her face dissolved into tears, and her lips quivered.

Sakura drew her eyebrows together in confusion. “She… she seems so sad.” “Yeah…” Naruto agreed.

Sakura looked back at the woman, who was lying on her back, tears falling into her black hair. “She's so pretty…” She whispered breathlessly, almost enviously.

Inner-Sakura pumped her fist, `yeah, but we're prettier!' Inner-Sakura looked down at her flat chest and scrawny legs, `huh, never mind.'

Sakura wasn't afraid to admit it though, that she envied the crying woman before her. She envied her long, thick black hair, and her smooth, tanned skin. She envied her busty chest and slim waist, and her delicate, rightly sized forehead.

Growling, Sakura tried to find a flaw in the weeping being before her. She couldn't find the flaw in her round, red lips, or her dark lashes, which masked even more perfect slanted emerald eyes. She couldn't find it in the woman's intricate clothing, which so much reminded her of a gypsy, or the golden anklets that bathed in the silver glow of the moon, or in the delicacy of her thing hand, one of which was draped into the pond beside her.

No, she found the imperfections in that which was perfect. Her skin was tan, yes, but it was also black and dark under her eyes, which seemed weary and lifeless as she starred silently into the heavens. Her long hair, Sakura could see, was streaked slightly with gray, and her thin waist and delicate arms and legs were perhaps to thin to be healthy, and her clothes were tattered at the end.

Sighing, Sakura looked at Naruto, who, for reasons beyond the pink haired kunoichi, seemed deeply troubled at the woman, his eyebrows drawn together in what appeared to be weary apprehension. Sasuke was, like always, emotionless, watching the woman through half-lidded and bored eyes.

Seeing that her team-mates would do nothing, she stepped into the clearing shyly, coughing. “A-Are you okay?”

The woman looked over at Sakura tiredly, breathing out slowly, “Oh yes, I'm fine…” By the sound of her voice, Sakura could tell the woman was young, perhaps thirty or less. So what had caused the young woman to age physically more than she was?

“B-But, you were crying…” Sakura mumbled, sitting down next to the woman, who laughed softly.

“Was I? Sometimes, sometimes I don't realize it…I'm sorry.”

Sakura gasped, “No! You don't have to apologize! I was just…” thinking of something else to say, Sakura blurted out, “I noticed your clothes are like a gypsies! Are you a gypsy, miss?”

The woman smiled dully, “Yes, I am…”

Before she could stop herself, Sakura had blurted out, “I'd like to see you dance!” Clamping a hand over her mouth, she blushed. She could hear Sasuke sighed at her ignorance, and Naruto stifling a laugh.

“Call me Aza…” The woman said as she stood, dusting grass and dirt off her ruffling skirt and half shirt, which dipped low in the front and stopped just under her breasts.

Sakura gaped as the woman stood, “y-you're going to dance?”

Turning slightly mischievous eyes on Sakura, she asked, “Have you got any money?” Numbly, Sakura pulled out a few coins and dropped them on the ground near Aza's feet. “O-only a little.”

Aaza smiled, “A little goes a long way, but does not cover it. Tell you what. If you can promise me something, I will dance for you.” Sakura nodded, “Yes! Anything, I'll promise anything.”

“Promise me, that you'll never abandon some one who needs you.”

“Yes Miss Aza, I promise.”

Nodding in satisfaction, Aza held her hands above her head, which was thrown back to peer at the heavens, and brought one foot up to her ankle.

What happened next brought a tear to Sakura's eye, and a painful wretching to her heart as she watched the woman dance, her motions fluid and graceful, her song sad and regretful….

 

 

Kougasmate: nyah! Another chapter! REVIEW PLEASE! And yes, Aza is like a gypsy. Didn't see that coming, did ya?