#It is a necklace that has the front cover of The Accidental Apprentice on it

[averyreaderofmanybooks]

I got this for Christmas!

[magicianapprenticelyra]

Day IX & X: Memory & Familiar

Featuring Apprentice!Lyra Nguyen, the Aster-Nguyen family, Asra, Faust, and Nook the Book Mimic.

Timeline: Five years ago [takes place a few months before Accidental Sprain]

It started off as a night that was slightly off kilter.

Walterine went home a touch early to look after her family. Neha had caught the flu first, which now has James and Bảo in a strangle-hold. This leaves Walterine and Lyra as the only ones left standing within the Aster-Nguyen household.

Asra decided to stay far, far away from them all in the meantime. Walterine completely understood, though was confused when he offered to get her some of the rarer items of The Shop’s inventory while he waited it out.

“Asra, the places where these things are from . . . you’re going to be looking down, down almost to the very borders of the South,” Walt reminded him. James was the one that took on that endeavor, having been a former resident himself. “You sure you wanna do this?”

Asra confirmed as such, and Walt helped him to prepare for the journey. The task was estimated to take about a month, going both ways. This, of course, worried everyone but Asra.

Before he left, with Faust cleverly wrapped around is scarf-covered shoulders, Lyra gifted him a new necklace. The pendant’s a bright blue, teardrop-shaped thing on a decently sized cord.

“For luck and protection,” Lyra said.

When Asra accepted the gift, his hands decided to start shaking. As he fumbled with putting it on, Walt struggled to not laugh.

In the end, Lyra assisted her friend to put it on, but not before she gave him an eye-roll. As she did, Faust decided to be extra cheeky: the blue-lavender morph looped around both of their shoulders.

While this meant Faust wouldn’t be completely in the way, this drew the two young adults very close to each other.

Asra swears in a language Lyra doesn’t know, almost breaking away from her in a sprint once she had the necklace properly clasped. Walt caught him before he was out the door, handing him his pack for the journey. With that and friendly farewells to the women, he left.

That was two days ago now, leaving Lyra to guard The Shop.

The light of lamp above the front door is out, and she already performed the ‘Cross-Me-Not’ spell over the wood grains. Despite there being a bedroom up the stairs, Lyra opted to sleep downstairs. There is a precious amount of merchandise on the shelf behind the counter, after all.

To her reasoning, so long as she was within reach of a broom or the empty bottle on the counter, whatever intruder that wanted to rob the shop was in for a bruised head.

She’s setting up her sleeping arrangements on the floor when she hears a racket outside. It’s coming from the back alley.

For the past week, the alley cats had been arguing with one another more heatedly. According to Faust, she said they weren’t always fighting each other. Whatever that meant, they couldn’t figure it out.

Asra himself didn’t see much of note when he checked around, but he placed more protection spells into the walls of The Shop.

Nonetheless, Lyra herself needed to see what’s going on . . .

. . . and damn it she was terrified.

Why didn’t Walt leave Bruno with me? Lyra thinks to herself. The faerie dragon, Walt’s familiar, is a pint-sized deterrent to mosquitoes and thieves alike. He and the Stove Salamander are the best of friends, often on the brink of making a bonfire of The Shop if they laughed too much.

She grabs a hefty broom. Armed with it, Lyra reaches for the door. Her hand’s unsteady, but manages to set her hand on the handle. Pressing down on it, the door lets out a gods-awful creaking noise. The woman peers out of the doorway, squinting into the dark night.

Thanks to some lit lamps from the neighbors, Lyra can make out the silhouettes of several alley cats, digging into rubbish piles. For a few minutes, she keeps watch. After a longer while, she resolves to scoot back into The Shop. Before she could close the door however, all of the alley cats started to yowl and hiss, spitting at something from the other end of the alley.

Lyra presses herself against the door, squinting as the cats start to attack whatever’s intruding on their territory.

The sounds coming from the cats’ target however, made all her hairs stand up on end. It sounded like another animal, fighting for its life!

Lyra doesn’t know why, but she rushes from the safety of The Shop, shouting at the cats to leave whatever they’re mauling, alone! She used the brush side of the broom to sweep away the cats. When the cats round on her, Lyra summons a ball of light. Shutting her eyes, the magician turns the sphere into a starburst, effectively stunning and/or scaring away the alley cats.

Lyra opens her eyes, picking up whatever the cats left behind. In her hand, it felt like a carapace of sorts. The texture of this creature’s topside was not unlike the shell of a crab, though from what she could tell, it was very flexible.

Quickly closing the door behind her, Lyra swears under her breath, unable to see in the darkness of The Shop. The draft from the doorway must have blown out the candles . . . great.

“Hang on little buddy,” Lyra soothes as she sets down the creature on a low stool. The animal let out a wheezing, gurgling sound.

Lyra hadn’t felt blood on her hands, nor smelt it, so she hopes the poor thing will survive . . .

Upon finding a candle and lighting it, she exhales, relieved.

“Alright little one,” Lyra addresses the creature, turning around to face it. “Let's get a look at—” Lyra stops in place, unsure of what she was seeing was right. To her utter confusion, the space where she left the creature is now occupied by . . . a book?

Lyra gapes at the space. She’s soon turning around and round, searching for the creature. The magician racks her brain, trying to figure out whether or not she did place the critter on the table in the first place.

As she’s looking around on the floor, Lyra can hear movement on the table she had taken her eyes off of. Slowly, still acting as if she’s searching the floor, Lyra peers around the corner of a chair.

On the table, right where the book was, she witnesses it sprout four eyes . . . and ten spindly legs. Lyra bites her lower lip, preventing herself from screaming in terror as the . . . the thing wobbles on its appendages.

It’s then that she notices that several of said legs are severely mangled. The poor creature barely stands, almost immediately flopping back onto the table. The sound of impact is a heavy thud, and the creature, as far as Lyra can tell, has no energy to hide themself any longer.

Slowly, carefully, Lyra stands up, looking on at the pitiful thing. She summons a few orbs of light, sending them to various parts of the room to illuminate the area. With the added radiance, she can see how badly hurt the creature was.

Their injured legs are beginning to leak a strange, blue-colored blood. One of them is bent in a very painful way, which makes her heart go out to them. Lyra carefully approaches the creature, murmuring, “Hi . . . may I take a look at you?”

The creature looks up at her, eyes big and scared.

“Okay . . . do you want to eat?” Lyra asks, looking around for any possible snacks for this one. The creature has a massive set of teeth. It seems to be more teeth than anything else, to be honest. “Do you just eat meat? Well, I have some scrap vegetables and . . .” she rushes up to the kitchenette, bringing down a small metal bowl of berries.

Lyra places an orange rind, a wrinkly raisin, and a speckled, beige shell of a longan in front of the creature. They sniff the provided offerings. Lyra cannot help but note they did that without any obvious nose.

Seeing that they aren’t moving with her so close, Lyra decides to clean up a bit. As she retrieves some towels to wipe up the blood on the table, she wonders what the creature is. A sort of shapeshifter for sure, but it makes her wonder: where did they come from?

For now at least, Lyra would have a fun story to tell Walt, Asra, and the others when they got back.

[shadowsflame-ffxiv]

Reward

Zane felt a warm fuzzy feeling as he left the Vangard early in the morning, creeping out just as the sun began to crest and mounting Azrael, heading for where they could begin their few hour trek to Limsa. His ribs no longer ached, the apothecary and her remedies helping take away the bite of broken bone and bruising. He had also just...enjoyed himself. Speaking to the others, saying whatever sarcastic thing popped into his head. Even his pleasant conversation with Olin left him feeling warm, though he felt he had insulted the lalafell earlier by backhandedly insulting Ul’dah. Still, they had arrived back together, laughing and eating sugary small doughnuts, and that had been a wonderful way to end the evening. 

The sensation usually stopped as he arrived in Limsa, the cool air that welcomed him like a mother’s hug also spoke of the danger he would be in if he was not prompt. This time, however, he was still riding his high. He had defeated an Eikon. Well, not him in specific, but his team, which he had joined, had defeated Ravana! He had protected, and been wounded in battle, he’d climbed an Eikon and stabbed at it’s back, and he had survived. It was like a new fire had been lit inside him, and he had to be careful not to show it. 

“Report.” Was the first word out of his Master’s mouth three hours later as he rested on his knees, head down, waiting for the man to appear. 

Not too much. Zane thought to himself, opening his mouth...and everything poured before he could stop it. The members of the Vanguard, the interactions with them, the tentative trust he had been given by those he had fought beside. He even told him of meeting the dragon, of trying to attack the dragon accidentally. He explained Ravana, how the Eikon had been challenged and how they had won. When he finally ended he kept his head down, but he flicked his eyes up, peering through long lashes, worried he had done too much outside the parameters of his mission. 

Melachi had listened passively, but as the boy finished, he stepped forward. He could see him looking at him, so the hyur carefully schooled his features as he stopped right in front of his apprentice. Only when he reached out and squeezed Zane’s shoulder did he feel the boy relax, and he smirked, knowing what would cement this. 

“You have done well.” he praised, and true to form Zane looked right at him in shock, the words might as well have been a proclamation of undying love for the way the youth drank them in. Melachi removed his hand, motioning for the boy to follow him. 

“The Hrothgar joining the Vanguard is surprising, but not unexpected. With their rebellious actions against Garlemald it was only a matter of time before a smattering of refugees arrived on our shores, begging for aid much like the Domans had. Do not underestimate them, they are strong savages.” He lectured as he moved to his desk, opening a drawer and fishing through it. 

“Yes sir. They both were on the front lines of fire against Ravana, and against the Vath to protect us while we fought back. The one I have befriended...he is utilizing me to teach him more of how Eorzeans speak and operate. I have access to him easily in case I need to do anything.” Zane replied, careful to keep his tone respectful and vague, not at all about to admit he would move against his new snowy colored ally as much as he would move against the Admiral herself. 

“Good, continue to watch them, train with them if you can.” Melachi found what he was looking for finally, slowly pulling out a silver chain, holding it up for the boy to see.  On the end of the chain was a thick claw, cream on top with a darkened grain on the bottom. It was sharp, fully intact, the fattest part of the claw carefully covered in a melted silver metal, an odd engraving on the center of the claw top helping show which side was to be facing outward. 

Whatever Melachi said next was completely lost as Zane reached out in wonder, taking the claw gently in one hand. However it wasn’t just the gift, a thing his Master very rarely did. As his fingers brushed over the engraving, there was a sudden shift, as if his world slid backwards and he fell into darkness, sharp pounding his mind all he could feel. 

The fire was burning, the creatures of the forest were shrieking and his people...they were running. But not away, no, the fierce roar of battle erupted and they were going...going to protect...he felt the burning pain, fire had seared him, lacerations dripped staining his snowy fur, but still he fought on. It wasn’t until he heard the scream...the scream that sliced into his very soul, a voice who should never had sounded so pained, so afraid...a fatal cut off choked cry from the scream and he looked. He looked and he did not want to believe. The smoke cascaded around him but he could see the blood, he could see it...she had fallen. The figure behind her...a shadow...a familiar shadow...

MY QUEEN

Zane came back to himself just as his fist collided with Melachi’s face, sending the hyur actually sprawling across the floor. Of all the things he had expected, the youth punching him had apparently not been one of them, and for once in his life Zane had caught him off guard. There was a split second of triumph before the burning dread of reality crashed into him, and he softly whimpered as Melachi rose and smoothly went to him, towering over him and making the Miqo’te shrink and tremble. 

“What did you see?” The hyur asked very softly. 

“I...I don’t...there was fire...I-I’m sorry Master I didn’t...” Zane stammered. “I saw something burning...someone had died, been killed.” he quickly added as he knew from the smallest twitch in the other man’s jaw his first explanation hadn’t been good enough. 

Melachi waited, letting his jaw throb as he stared down his apprentice, taking delight in the cowering mess the youth was turning into. Finally though he reached for the necklace, simply moving to clip it around Zane’s neck and then turning. 

“Come. Your training has been lax.” He said sharply, not even stopping, assured he would hear footsteps behind him immediately. 

Zane took quick gulping breaths, green and grey eyes watching the other male as he headed away, quickly falling in step behind him. He grabbed the claw, digging it sharply into his palm. The terror he had felt was amplified by his nerves for his Master, but there was one small thing...one tiny thing that even though this was going to hurt, and he was going to be going back to the Vanguard with more bruises than he left, kept that little fire burning deep. 

He had caught him off guard. 

[lazymilkshakecolor]

New leaves

.

.

.

Prologue

Naruto groaned as he struggled to open his eyes, he could have sworn he felt the whole building shake.

He stared at the ceiling for a minute recalling what happened, facing the Kara leader with Sasuke and  Sakura who was planning on destroying the leaf, defeating him but getting sealed along with his teammates in a scroll that locked them in another dimension by a person they didn't recognize, the dimension they trapped in was the snow dimension, he remembers saying they were lucky it wasn't the acid dimension.

They stayed there for about three months, judging by Sasuke's rather complicated calculations, and it wasn't until one sunny morning, well as sunny as it could get, that Sasuke startled awake, accidentally rolling Sakura, who was sleeping against him, into the snow, much to her anger.

But that anger faded when he informed them that he could access dimensions again, something he wasn't able to do during their stay in the snow dimension.

'Hmm, so someone must have unsealed us… who might it be?’ Naruto thought as he was trying to get up.

''Sarada!'' A voice that sounded like Sakura's screamed from outside, so he got up quickly, running outside of the hospital room, where Sasuke was still resting on the bed next to his.

Naruto froze upon the sight in front of him, too stunned to move.

His apprentice was being carried by two ninja  , as Sakura was rolling a stretcher towards them, behind them was a crowd of villagers that were looking worriedly at the girl in Sakura's arms.

But that wasn't the only thing that stunned him.

It was the wreck outside that took his attention, the place that used to be the village capital, was now a pile of wood and cement on the ground.

'What the hell happened?' he thought as his eyes caught the familiar figure in the crowd.

.

.

.

The seventh hokage is known as the hero of the world, as the strongest man alive and as the most unpredictable ninja of all time.

But to her, he was always uncle Naruto, she might not call him that, but he is and will always be the person that was like a second father to her, but as the years passed, they saw each other less and less because of his hokage duty, and because of her training and missions.

So as the years passed she saw him less and less until one morning after a mission has gone wrong.

‘‘Lord seventh,’‘ she said as she got into his office, posture straight as a board and eyes staring ahead.

‘‘Hey Sarada-chan.’‘ he cheerfully greeted, but the grin on his face quickly disappeared as he took in her appearance.

She was standing with the help of crutches, face covered in bandages, and breathes shaky, no doubt the trip from the hospital to the hokage tower tired her.

Naruto closed the report that Konohamaru submitted yesterday and gestured with his head to the chair in front of his desk.

''Lord seventh I can't…''

''Sarada, this is going to take a while and your foot is beginning to shake, so don't make me order you to sit.''

The girl thought for a second before taking a seat, putting her crutches by her side.

'It's like Sasuke's and Sakura's stubbornness has been added and multiplied by ten,' Naruto thought, but if she wasn't as stubborn as she is, she wouldn't be here right now.

''Konohamaru filed me in on what happened,'' Naruto started, the girl raised her head,  her gaze on him.

'' You and konohamaru were tasked with delivering a scroll from the kazekage to me, on your way from Suna, you got ambushed, Konohamaru got immobilized after beating the leader of the criminal group, and you stayed with your sensei instead of running to get the scroll to safety, care to explain why?''

He knew why, he just wanted, no needed, to hear her say it, cause it's been so long since he's heard someone from the younger generation say the words that he and his teammates have taken as a lifetime rule.

Sarada gulped as her head lowered, she knew she'd be in trouble when risking the mission like that, but she didn't regret it, cause Kakashi's motto has been taught to her from a young age by her mother, a motto that her father's influence helped drill into her mind.

“Those who break the rules are scum… but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.” Sarada declared proudly, head raised and eye to eye with the hokage.

''You still say that after the beating you took?'' he said, pointing with his eyes at the bandages covering the entirety of the girl's body.

Judging by Sakura's report, the girl didn't have an uninjured spot on her body.

Sarada didn't speak for a couple of seconds and Naruto thought that she had nothing to retort back, but not a beat later she spoke.

''When it comes to my family, I swore I would never let someone hurt them,…''

''And who exactly is your family?''

Sarada smirked, recalling the baker that offered her fresh pastries this morning, the florist that gives flowers away every evening, the kid that bid goodbye to his parents on his way to the academy, smile wide on his face, a smile that filed her heart with warmth, and a second later she responded with the answer Naruto only hoped he would hear somebody say it so confidently.

'' My family… are the villagers lord seventh, I would never let somebody hurt my family, I don't care if it was a lowely criminal or a god, I would face them head on, and would do everything to stop them, cause I swore I would, and…''

'SAY IT, SAY IT, SAY IT…'' he chanted in his head, excited at the prospect of someone other than him saying it.

''I never go back on my word shanaroo!''

He would have got up and hugged her if he wasn't sure she'd be uncomfortable as hell and that Sakura-chan would kill him if he causes any of her wounds to reopen, so instead he just smiled, much to Sarada's confusion.

Naruto got up from his chair and went towards the girl and stood in front of her, she looked up at him in confusion, wondering what he's planning on doing since he's not called the most unpredictable shinobi for nothing.

To her surprise, his hand patted her head in a fatherly gesture, as a wide smile showed on his face.

'Is this what Tsunade saw in him back when they first met?' he thought as a memory of Tsunade kissing his forehead and entrusting him with her grandfather's necklace surfaced in his mind.

''Seventh?''

''I'm proud of you Sarada.''

Not many genin would stay behind and protect their sensei, who was much stronger than them and would probably be fine in the situation they were in, but Sarada stayed, took a beating but protected both the scroll and her comrade.

That, in addition to what she said earlier and her fighting prowess, is what prompted him to make a decision he's been trying to make for a year now, ever since seeing Sarada's powers in the chunin exams, but he needed to see her standing towards the village and whether she's strong enough to handle the burdens of ruling the village, and today, he got the answers he was searching for.

''And I was hoping you'd accept me as your master.'' He said as his hand left Sarada's head, so he could get a clear view of her face.

Sarada stared at him for a second too shocked to say anything.

'He wants to be my master?' she thought, it was almost unbelievable, the hokage wanted to be her master…

Sarada stood up hurriedly and bowed her head, '' It would be an honor lord seventh!''

''Great! From now on you will call me shishou, now come on, we're going to have our first master apprentice activity Dattebayo!''

''Yes shishou!''

.

.

.

Ten minutes later, Sarada's excitement of the secret activity the seventh planned for them has vanished as she saw what it was.

''Ramen?''

''Ichiraku ramen! The best ramen in town dattebayo!''

Sarada sweatdropped.

'Mama did mention that Uncle Naruto is a ramen addict.' The girl deadpanned.

.

.

.

''Sarada.'' He said sternly, standing up to face his student of three years.

She can do so much more, so much better things…

''You need your parent's permission first.''

''I'm jonin, and by law, a jonin can apply to any sector of Konoha's forces without parental consent regardless of age.''

Of course she took that into consideration, cause there is no way Sasuke and Sakura would let her do this, he doubted they even knew.

Naruto sighted before signing the anbu admission forum that Sarada handed him earlier, he was forced to look at this objectively, but he had a bad feeling about this, especially since sarada has been rather odd these past few months.

''Here, '' he muttered as he handed the paper to his newest anbu recruit,'' I don't know what's your true motive behind this Sarada but I will find out sooner or later.''

Sarada didn't even flinch, she just turned around and walked out of the door.

''What happened?'' Naruto asked himself as he looked at his student's retreating back, she was acting normally until these past couple of months, when she's been constantly at edge and angry, angry at who, he doesn't know, but she's taking it out on everybody, even Boruto, who has been the girl's crutch during hard times, so she was to him.

Naruto took a deep breath as he decided to just wait, because judging from experience all will come clear sooner or later.

A beat after that thought Naruto smirked.

''Kakashi was right, I am starting to sound like old man third.

.

.

.

''What the hell is wrong with you?!'' he bellowed.

He couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe that his student, the same student that said that the whole village is her family, injured almost a dozen civilians when she was supposed to guard a truck that was full of missing-nin.

The girl didn't answer, she just kept her gaze on the ground.

'At least she feels ashamed.' He thought, he was actually worried that she wouldn't be affected  by what she had done.

''You prioritized a mission in front of the safety of the civilians.''

''I…'' she started but she didn't have anything to say, anything to justify what she did.

''You are suspended from ninja duty for three months, and you are to turn in your headband by tomorrow morning or you will be declared missing nin.'' He ordered.

Stripping a shinobi of their headband is considered  one of the harshest punishements applicable on a ninja, since it meant stripping them of their honor and their status as a village protector.

Sarada tore her eyes from the floor towards him, eyes wide and posture tense.

''You can't do that! If you do that I won't be a Konoha shinobi!''

Naruto felt a pang of guilt upon hearing the girl's voice, but he won't go back on what he said, she needs to be punished for her actions, and maybe this will knock some sense into her.

''Well a Konoha shinobi would never endanger the lives of civilians for the sake of a stupide mission, no matter the stakes!'' he retorted angerly.

Sarada who normally had a strong personality, was now cowering in frot of her master as she took a couple of steps away from him.

''I'm sorry, shishou I just don't know why I did that…''

''Sorry doesn't return the lives of the fallen Sarada.''

Sarada tightened her jaw as she took a deep breath, before reaching inside her pouch and grabbing her headband, them setting it on his desk.

''You'll get it back when I see that you deserve it back.''

''And when is that exactly?'' she lashed out, three tomoes spinning in her eyes as her fists clenched, anger surfacing instead of sadness.

''You were more deserving when you were thirteen! What happened to the girl that said that the whole village is her family?! That said that she would do anything to protect them?!'' he bellowed.

Sarada didn't say anything back, she just looked at the floor, anger fading to be replaced by sadness as she realized that he didn't just take away her headband, he took away her status, her status as someone who the villagers could depend on, someone who they could turn to for protection.

She would do anything to protect them, but that's not what previous hokages did, Sarada contemplated telling him that, but that would just complicate the situation, and he wasn't the hokage that she's referencing, other than that, she just wanted to get out of here, to get out of his analyzing gaze, partly because she was tired but mostly because what he said stung deep.

After a minute Naruto excused her, and Sarada turned around and marched towards the doors, but just as she opened the door she spoke in a cracked voice,

''But family don't lie to each other, do they Uncle?''

She saw the hokage's eyes widen and posture stiffen before she closed the door behind her, then she ran out of the hokage building after hearing him call out her name.

''Sarada wait…!'' He called out, but it was too late, she was  already out.

'Could it be that she knows?' he wondered silently, thinking about the she could have known, since everything about the Uchiha clans relation with the village is restricted..

.

.

.

Sarada leaned her head on the tree behind her, removing her glasses and wiping her tear stricken face.

Mama, papa, shishou…

They all disappeared about a day ago in an explosion that wiped half of the village.

They're probably dead…, whispered a voice in the back of her head.

But they weren't, they couldn't be, could they?

Her father could have transported them into another dimension, or coated them with susanoo with Naruto's nine tails chakra and Sakura's healing seal on it to keep it from getting damaged.

They had a big chance of survival, but they also have a big chance of death…

Sarada sniffled as she remembered their last words, it was like they almost knew what was going to happen when they headed to face off against Kara's leader.

Naruto grabbed her shoulders, pulling her close to him as he leaned down to speak, voice almost a whisper.

''Never give up on what you believe in.''

The problem was that she didn't know what she believed in…

Another bang erupted which tore Naruto's attention away from her.

He gave her one last look before sprinting towards the source of the noise.

''Catch up guys!''

Sakura sighed, '' as reckless as always…''

Sarada would have laughed at them, but the situation was too grave.

''Hey, come here.'' The older women said as she gestured for her to come, and she immediately obliged as she ran to stand infront of her mother and father.

Sakura put her hand on Sarada 's head, starring right into her eyes.

''Hey kiddo…'' she muttered.

At that day, it would have been almost a month since she spoke to her mother, partly because of her mission to Suna, but mostly because she was mad at her, mad that she kept secrets, mad cause she lied, and mad because she thought she couldn't handle the truth, that she wouldn't understand her father's situation.

''You know that what we did was what we thought was the best right?''

Sarada nodded, she did know, but that didn't help sooth her anger.

But, Sarada wouldn't be herself if she held that against her parents, cause they loved her with all their being, and she felt the same towards them.

So she reached towards her mother's hand and held it, but she was still frowning, to show that this wasn't over yet.

But Sakura was more than happy with what she got as she pulled Sarada's head towards her and hugged her, Sarada didn't hug her back, she just settled with leaning her head on her mother's shoulder.

''You'll always be my brave little girl.'' She said before she pulled away, she then looked at her husband who was staring at his daughter.

Sarada met his stare, and all that was needed was exchanged, his regret over what he had done, his apologies, her forgivness…

''Whatever you do, I will always love you.''

A second later, two fingers pocked her forehead, one finger was her father's, and the other her mother's.

And that was the last thing they did before the dashed towards the battleground.

''I love you too…'' she muttered to herself, as the tears came back to her  eyes and she buried her head between her knees.

.

.

.

''Hey Bo…'' she muttered.

She was waiting outside the Konoha meeting room, when she was going to meet the elders to discuss that future of the village.

Apparently the hokage has told his advisor before his disappearance that he wanted Sarada and Boruto to approve of any thing that comes from the elders before it would be applicable.

''Hey.''

It was the first time they saw each other after their parent's disappearances.

''You holdin'up?'' he asked, cause it would be idiotic to ask her if she was okay, cause she was clearly not.

''Yeah, you?'' he didn't look well, he looked like he's been running all night.

''Yeah.''

She sat beside him on the chair in the waiting room and they sat in silence.

But as always, Boruto was always the one that broke the silence.

''You know I'm here for you right?''

Sarada looked at the floor for a second before looking at him.

''You know I'm there for you too right?''

Boruto smiled a little, something he hadn't done in a while, as he put his hand on Sarada's hand, who was resting it on the arm rest, in a gesture of comfort, but he didn't expect Sarada to grab onto his hand, as if afraid to let go.

In the end, she lost her parents and uncle, and he lost his father and his aunt and uncle, but they both lost the people that made them them, but they still had each other, and their was no way they would let the other go.

So Boruto interlocked his fingers with hers, and they stayed like that until Shizune came into the room and called for them.

Before they entered, Boruto spoke.

''I need to talk to you about something after this.''

Sarada nodded, before he opened the door.

.

.

.

''I will not let you do this!''

''Do you propose we just sit and wait till one of the villages attack us? '' the elder answered.

'' None of the villages would attack us, they won't endanger the alliance they worked so hard to accomplish.'' Sarada retorted, but the elder was not convinced.

''Some of the villages now are ruled by shinobi that have not felt the sting of war, much like yourself, so I see no reason why they wouldn't, that's why we should attack first, we'll start with Suna which is the closest to us.''

He wanted to attack the village that had the strongest alliance with Konoha…

''We can't do that! Do you think the hokage would have agreed to that if he was here?!''

''But he isn't! he's dead, that's why Konoha would be targeted.''

''He isn't dead!'' she hollered as the elders stepped back, as if afraid.

''Sarada.'' The sixth said harshly, which made her look at him, and it wasn’t until then that she noticed that her vision was red.

''Turn that thing off!'' the elder ordered, and as much as she wanted to defy him, she had too.

''Alright, this meeting was set to discuss the division of power now that the seventh is missing, so the later conversation will be had on a later date, this meeting is closed.'' Shikamaru declared.

Sarada took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but the elder's glare didn't help.

But Boruto's hand on her shoulder directed her towards the exit.

''Come on, let's go somewhere and talk.''

So he took her to their old training grounds, which was empty, probably because it destroyed during the attack.

''God…'' she said as she leaned against a tree.

''I think our parents are stuck in another dimension.'' he said suddenly, which made sarada startle.

''Explain.'' She ordered.

''In the place where the explosion appeared, there was a seal on the ground, I recognize the seal from one of the Uzumaki special sealing scrolls, the ones designed to lock someone up in a dimension, and even in abnormal cases, like uncle Sasuke's case where he can travel dimensions, it will seal his ability to do so.'' He said as he drew the seal he saw on the ground using a stick.

''So the only way to get them back is to open the scroll?''

''Yeah, but I don't know where the scroll is.''

''Hmm.''

Silence  befell on them again, but this time, it was Sarada that broke it.

''I think Kashin Koji is the one who has it.''

Boruto looked at her, as if asking her to clarify.

''Back in our last mission regarding Kara, one of the outers we captured told me that Kara had a sealing master, and that master was Kashin Koji, and since the seal we're talking about is space time sealing, the most complex form of sealing, I think it's highly likely it's him.''

''So what do we do now?''

''We have to find him.''

''How?''

''I don't know, we just have too.''

Boruto nodded in agreement.

''Now, about the meeting we just had, do you have any proposition to propose in the next meeting? I think it's better if we coordinate beforehand.''

He's right it is better but there is a problem, she's got nothing.

''I got nothing.''

''You got nothing?'' Boruto was surprised that Sarada hadn't already formulated a plan like she always did.

''no, I'm just confused.''

''Confused? About what?''

Sarada raised an eyebrow, politically confused, sexually confused, hell, she's been suffering from confusion about her clan for about three years now.

''Trust me, you don't wanna know.''

''Why are you keeping secrets from me?'' he blurted out suddenly.

''I'm not.'' She is, there's a lot of stuff she hasn't told him, but that's only cause he probably already knows, like the truth of the Uchiha clan massacre, probably he learned about it from all those scrolls he read from his dad's office,  or because she felt that I wasn't time to tell him, like her brief relationship with her former anbu teammate Takira.

''What about your eyes?''

''What about my eyes?''

''You didn't tell me you awakened a new form of the sharingan.''

Sarada's eyes widened, as she activated her eyes and headed towards the lake to look at her reflection.

She found herself staring at six tomoes in her red eyes.

Add ability confused.

.

.

.

''I'm 19 grandma tsunade.'' Sarada muttered as she declined the older lady's sake offer.

''Old enough to kill, old enough to drink kid.'' She said as she pushed the full glass towards the girl, '' and do you really expect me to believe that you've never drunk before?''

Sarada's lips turned into a sheepish smile, she was right, she's been drinking since last year, but only on occasions like the completion of her first anbu mission and such.

Sarada's smile faded as she remembered the nights she had with her anbu team, it was a common misconception that anbu teams aren't close, but the opposite the true, she was really close to her teammates, especially Takira and Kubo, who saved her life on numerous occasions.

''Yeah, thought so , now drink I want to have a talk.''

Sarada raised the glass towards her lips, as she drunk its contents.

She really needed that.

''How's the hospital lately?'' Sarada asked, she has heard rumors of the hospital's budget crises and short staff and they're effects.

''Shit, your mother was a patient lady Sarada.''

''Well, she raised me didn't she?''

Tsunade leaned back in her chair as she let out a laugh.

''You were no easy kid, I still remember the time you accidently broke your arm trying to punch the brick wall.''

''That was just the beginning too.''

''Yeah, your mother told me about the time you thought she wasn't your mother and left the village to look for your dad, you were a real idiot.''

Sarada smiled, it was truly absurd that she would think that.

A moment of silence passed before Sarada broke it.

''Why did you call me here grandma?'' she said.

Tsunade's smile faded as she spoke, '' there has been talks of the alliance disinbanding.''

''why?'' she asked calmly, she knew it would happen sooner or later after Suna's kazekage died.

''Suna and Kiri came out of the alliance cause they are not able to support other villages as per the alliance agreement says they should, but don't worry about them attacking us, I doubt the both have the military power to do so.''

Sarada let out a bitter grin, '' what happened to keeping with the spirit of the alliance and keeping peace?''

Tsunade stared at her for a second before speaking.

''You're a good kid Sarada, but maybe that's the problem…''

''Huh?'' Sarada startled as Tsunade stood up, filled her cup with sake and started to walk away, but sarada still heard what she said.

''You're just a kid.''

.

.

.

She was tired, so gut wrenchingly tired, both mentally and physically, but there was no way in hell she would let the sword that she just blocked fall on kid's head.

''Sarada Uchiha.'' Muttered the mysterious figure, who had just attacked Konoha's ninja academy.

''You should behave your children.'' He said, glaring at the kid who stood up to him and shot a kunai at him in a desperate act of defense.

''Who are you?'' she asked, not bothering with idle chat.

The stranger smirked, before putting his hand on his waist and bowing.

''Kashin Koji, pleasure to meet one of the village's strongest ninja and the last Uchiha heir.''

Sarada's magekyou sharingan blazed to life, partialy because she knew that the holder of that name was a high ranking Kara member but mostly because of the scroll she spotter tied to his waist.

It had the same seal Boruto showed her drawn on it.

''What do you want?''

The man grinned before answering and pointing behind her, towards the kids that were cowering behind the instructors.

Of course, Kara would want kids they could groom and conduct experiments on, especially Konoha's kids who had the most clans between the ninja villages.

The sound of an explosive kunai tore her from her thoughts as she unleashed susanoo, which caught the kunai that was headed towards the kids, and it exploded in its hand.

''Run! And order everyone, ninja and civilian to hide in the special bunkers!'' she shouted as she unsheathed her twin swords and charged at her enemy.

After exchanging blows, Sarada finally managed to knock his sword out of his hand, but he only smiled when she did that.

''I underestimated you girl, but what else to expect from the daughter of two sanin and the apprentice of  the third?''

''What do you guys want from all of this?'' she asked because of curiousty and to stall time in order to formulate a strategy.

But he didn't wait, he just unleached a barrage of  water and lighning style attacks at her.

''We want peace.'' He answered simply.

''Peace?! It was because of you the alliance that kept the peace was disbanded!''

''What you had was just the image of peace, an image that could break at any hit, peace can only be achieved when there are no ninja to threaten it, especially kekkei genkai users.''

A dangerous glim appeared in his eyes as he said those last words, Sarada thought he meant her at first, but then she remembered what he was doing here in the first place.

Konoha has the highest percentage of kekkei genkai users, a quarter of every graduating class has special abilities unique to their clans.

So he wanted to…

Sarada's teeth clenched, as she realized what his true intention in the village were.

The girl took a deep breath before she charged at him again, this time more determined than ever to protect the people that she considers family.

.

.

.

Sarada almost laughed, but she couldn't because of the pain in her lungs, when the academy building tumbled to the ground, for the third time in her lifetime.

There goes the childhood memories, she thought bitterly as she tried to get up, again, but another kick to the gut sent her flying to crash into the nearby building.

''You're not going to stop until I kill you right?'' Kashin said, but instead of the teasing grin he had at the start of battle,  he was frowning, anger clearly showed on his face, probably of the challenge Sarada proved to be.

''I should have got rid of you sooner, but I didn't expect you'd be this powerful.''

she tried to get up again, using her unbroken arm to lift herself up, but Kashin puts his foot on her back and pushes down.

She lets out a grunt of pain as she spites out blood.

''I will never give up…'' she breathed out, not able to continue her sentence as the world blurred.

''On?'' he taunted.

''My oath.'' She spit out.

She heard him laugh as he got his foot off her and picked her up by the neck and bashed her head against the wall.

''We'll see about that!'' he roared as he tightened his grip on her neck.

Sarada resigned to the fact that she would probably die, but she won't leave Konoha without a protector, that's why when her clone burst from the ground underneath Kashin's feet and grabbed the scroll on his waist, then quickly threw it in the air where a hawk she previously summoned was told to take it to Boruto.

Kashin let her go out of shock as he starred at the direction the hawk was headed, he was probably thinking of pursuing it, but her clone engaged him in a taijutsu brawl which didn't let him take one step towards the direction the scroll is heading.

Sarada stood up, using the wall for support, then she took a deep breath and directed the last of her chakra towards her hands.

She crouched down and charged her chidori, weary of her enemy that was trying to reach her, but the clone, was blocking him and his injured state wasn't helping either.

He would have been dead from her earlier attacks if not for the barrier that was surrounding him, a barrier that could be broken by brute force, as shown when it cracked from her susanoo's punch.

She charged at him, and he directed his barrier to the front where she aiming, but she was actually aiming to a couple of centimeters beside him.

Kashin breathed a sigh of relief when she passed him, thinking that she missed, but his relief vanished when he turned around to see her jumping from the top of the building she just ran up too towards him.

Mama, papa, this is the power you gave me… she thought as she directed her super strenght enhanced chidori punch towards Kashin.

''Shanaro-da!! '' she roared as her punch connected with the enemy , and then everything turned to white.

I will never give up, and that's my ninja way!

.

.

.

Pink was the first thing she saw when she woke up.

''Mama….?'' Her vision was extremely blurry, but she could still make out the green of her mother's eyes and pink of her hair.

Am I not dead?

''Sarada, Sarada.'' A soft voice called out to her as a gentle hand brushed her cheek.

Sarada's eyes widened and body stiffened as she woke up fully.

''Mama?!'' she screamed as she rose up.

She was going to look around to see where she was when she was pulled into her mother's embrace.

''I'm here, my brave little girl.'' She whispered in her ear.

The girl grabbed onto her mother's coat fiercely, as she burrowed her head between her neck and shoulder.

''You're here.'' She muttered to herself in relief.

Sakura didn't respond, she just tightened her embrace around her daughter.

If she's here that mean papa and shishou are too…

She could already feel it, the weight lifting off her shoulders as her mother's embrace and comforting words engulfed her.

A couple of days later, Sarada was allowed out of the hospital, coincidentaly, it was the day the hokage requested her presence in his office.

''If it isn't the new hero of the leaf.'' He said as he stood up when she entered through the door.

He headed towards her and helped her into a seat.

''You never show up in my office without injuries do you?.'' He remarked jokingly.

''Yeah, I just can't manage to walk through those doors undamaged.''

''You got that right.''

''So how was the snow dimension?''

''The weather was kinda nice, I spent four months on a fiche diet and I'm pretty sure I lost half my weight, and your parents kept cuddling all night and it's disgusting, how about you?''

''Where do I start?'' she said after laughing, she laughed and smiled these past two days more than she did in the last year.

''How about the part you put a kunai to an elders neck after he wanted to assault Suna?''

''How did you know about that?''

''Shikamaru filled me in on everything.''

''Ahh.''

Naruto stood up from his seat and went towards Sarada, when he got close, he patted the girl's head in a gesture similar to the one he made about six years ago.

''Good job hero.'' He said as the girl blushed and smiled back at him.

A day ago, after Shikamaru filled him in on everything, he decided on two things, first was to fire the current elders, second, he decided to resign in about five years.

Five years is what it took for Kakashi to teach him everything that has to do with the hokage business, and five years is what it will take to teach Sarada.

''A wise man once told me that to be hokage you have to be acknowledged by the villagers first.''

Sarada's head fell instead of rising, which surprised Naruto.

''What?''

''But the villagers…''

''You don't know who pulled you out of that rubble you were stuck beneath? And who carried you to the hospital, and who was waiting at the gates eagerly for their hero?''

Sarada's lower lip quivered, as she also remembered the academy students she saved in her hospital room yesterday.

''You're not the only that protects their family Sarada, they protect and care for you too, practically half the village was waiting outside the hospital doors as your mother was healing you.''

Naruto headed towards his desk and grabbed something from his drawer and handed it to her.

It was her headband.

My family, Sarada thought as she traced the leaf symbol engraved on the metal plate.

She reached with shaky hands and tied it on her forehead.

A second later the meaning of his previous words came to her.

''The villagers acknowledged me that that means that…'' she stuttered as she looked at Naruto who just smiled and nodded.

Sarada stood, not even wincing because of her injured leg and jumped on her master, wrapping her arms around him and letting out happy tears.

''I did it, I did it I did it shanaroo!''

''You still have a long way ahead young lady.''

Sarada jumped away from him and stood up straight.

''Of course sir, may I be excused?''

''Yeah sure, take this week off.''

''Thank you sir.'' She said as she headed to the door.

''And say hi to Boruto for me.''

Sarada stopped in her tracks as her neck reddened, but she didn't turn around and  just continued on.

Naruto walked towards the window, where the whole village could be seen.

Construction workers were working hard on rebuilding the village, shinobi were going on missions non stop to get funding for the village, the police force were staying up all night to assure that the villagers are safe,  the medical corps are still searching in the rubble for any injured people, kids and housewives making homemade bento's to give to the people who couldn't afford it after the damages they suffered, and of course he noticed the person that just ran out of his office, joyesly greeting the villagers and patting kids on the head as she ran towards what seems to be the hospital, where his son was resting.

Naruto smiled as he looked up, towards the hokage faces,  his gaze settled on the third's, then the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, himself, and then on the empty space beside him.

‘’Our family will be in good hands.’‘ he muttered as he thought of all the sacrifices the previous hokages have made to protect the village people, and about all the sacrifices the future hokages will make.

‘‘So is it final?’‘ Shikamaru, who just entered his office asked.

‘‘Yeah, I told you didn’t I?’‘

‘‘Told me what?’‘ Shikamaru asked, a confused expression on his face.

‘‘That their will be always new leaves.’‘

[nemossubmarine]

Knights of the Night Sky 13

An abandoned temple awaits us with all of its adventures. It’s time for some fresh air, as our heroes head to the Wilds in the north!

First though we have to find out what our heroes have been up to in the several days they spent at Summer’s Pass.

Knights of Pholtus offer their reward to our heroes for the solving of the princess’ murder: Kendrick gets promoted to a lieutenant, and the other three receive Favors of Pholtus, silver disks that upon breaking will grant some kind of assistance from the god.

Kendrick is rarely seen during their stay at Summer’s Pass, as he has plenty of friends and neighbors to visit. He makes sure to spend time with his brother too.

Jeff and Queen-Consort Fidela talk about Goldbottom cuisine, and Jeff even makes some hamburgers to the royal family.

Lutharin spends his time meditating about a divination he received from the Queen. And also being bothered by young Princess Lacey, who is curious about the stranger.

Based on their time together Princess Lacey apparently decides to become a monk.

Dophina in turn spends her time with Prince Floyd, who shows her around town.

Before leaving the four of them meet up with Gabriel of Violet Hill, Joan’s son and Jass’ father, who is curious about why they had asked Jass about his family.

Dophina and Jeff awkwardly excuse themselves from the conversation and Kendrick throws the ball to poor Lutharin, who asks him a bit about his family roots.

Kendrick also agrees to take Jass as his apprentice once he’s done with his quest, which Gabriel is very happy to hear.

Our folks stack up on some warm clothes and potions and are on their way.

There’s some time to organize the knights while on the sea. There are several people who’d like to join (3 of Joan’s agents and 2 Mairin’s friends). All are accepted.

Some promoting also takes place, as the only proper knights were Lir (lieutenant), Mairin (a knight) and Joan (apprentice).

Lir is promoted to Senior Commander, bc he’s the most experienced. He’ll be staying at the HQ and training new recruits.

Mairin is promoted to Field Commander, bc she can go along with parties into the world, and deal with things on the field.

Joan is just a commander, and she is working with her agents in recruiting new people.

The three new people a human rogue “Tic”, a forest gnome druid Pumpern and a forest elf barbarian Kadar are sent to Fall Creek to look for a wolpertinger Dophina learned was there.

Dophina wants some companions to Rupert, but also they have reason to suspect that the wild magic in Bard’s necklace created the wolpertingers.

The group arrives to the WIlds and meet up with one of their agents, an orc shepherd named Wilda who herds jumping goats.

She takes them to the mountain where the temple is, and waits below as the group checks it out.

Dophina goes first of the group, since she is an experienced traveler. She notices that some bipedal beings seem to have been moving in the road to the temple, but can’t be sure when this happened.

They get to the temple, and upon searching the first room, Dophina spots more feet marks and a ring that turns invisible when she puts it on.

They continue deeper into the temple, and Dophina trips upon a tripwire in a hallway.

The hallway leads to the main room of the temple, and upon getting there, our heroes find a camp with hairy creatures doing their best (but mostly failing) to hide.

Lutharin recognizes the creatures as bugbears, which are a type of goblinoid.

Our heroes are approached by the leader of the group, who communicates with broken common that this is his family’s home and that he doesn’t want our heroes to hurt them.

Our heroes leave their weapons behind and move on; Lutharin going first, because he is apparently allergic to bugbears.

They cross a bridge over the main room and go deeper in.

The next room of notice is a room with the walls covered in pictures. There’s definitely some text and some humanoid figures, but large chunks of the paintings have just disappeared as if by magic, leaving behind nothing but white walls.

This room leads outside to another climb up.

When they start climbing up, Dophina suddenly collapses, and she complains about feeling heavy and something pulling her down.

Lutharin catches her, and there’s something very wrong with Lutharin too, as he is feeling very very lively.

Kendrick who is detecting magic can see a golden aura around him, and also the Void necklace pulling Dophina.

Dophina’s symptoms ease as Lutharin touches her and cease as soon as they get to the first platform along the climb.

The first platform has a tree on it, and on the tree is the symbol of Fharlanghn, Jeff’s god.

They climb towards the second platform and now it’s Kendrick’s turn. He can see some cairns up on the next platform and he can feel the bones below the rocks calling up on him.

On the platform Dophina examines the stones and concludes that these must be the graves of the four knights that came with Bard on this expedition.

There is one more climb, which ends on a room in a platform.

Kendrick can’t take the pull of the skeletons and falls to his knees. Lutharin, very excited and energetic still, helps him up.

The room, the inner sanctum of the temple is a simple room, with an empty stone pool in the floor in the middle and a glass ceiling.

Lutharin starts straight for the pool, his fingers finding the necklace.

The others stop him, but as there doesn’t seem to anything magical in the room, they let him do what he thinks he should.

Lutharin raises the necklace towards the sun, and before their very eyes one of the holes in the sun fixes itself. There’s also an audible crack from Lutharin’s necklace.

It hasn’t broken, but the magic in it feels more concentrated.

Our heroes decide to use the Diviner’s Stone that they got from the Queen on the graves.

They witness Bard burying the knights and then he suddenly addresses the empty air in front of him.

A cloaked figure, one of those maggot people appears and they have a conversation, in which the figure asks Bard to give up and Bard replies that there is still hope, and that the figure hasn’t completed their job.

The figure replies that there’s no hope for Bard, because “it burns you”.

Bard says that he will “call the sun by name and burn”.

The figure says that Bard’s actions will bring chaos to world, and Bard replies that he’ll bring truth.

There’s a lot to mull over, and as they do, they return to the bugbears. Kendrick entertains them with a lovely folksong. Dophina plays something they hate accidentally (or maybe they just hate ukuleles?) and so she and Lutharin go search the collapsed rooms they hadn’t checked before.

Lutharin finds a potion with Fharlanghn’s symbol on it, but Jeff can’t figure what it is.

Oh yeah, and they recruit the bugbears to the knights. Whole family. 6 adults, 4 kids and one elder. They’ll get Wilda to bring them to an Underdark entrance and Lir will pick them up.

Can’t wait for Ser Aaaaaaarrgh and others.

That’s all for now. Next time our heroes will try to find orcs that can tell them a bit more about the binding spells on the necklaces, which is especially important now that Lutharin has cracked his.