July - Day Five

When I dream of the past, a memory, I am a ghost of an image. I have no control over the situation. When I enter someone's fantasy dream I can interact and speak with other characters. It's the dreams when no one can see me, but I can move objects that I worry. That means it's not the past or the future. My true powers are most prevalent when I travel in the present.

"Konan." A voice called. Shadows hung on the walls and the sound of a heavy rain beat at the roof of the building. A shadow, a mere silhouette, stood at the base of what looked to be an alter shrouded in a misty substance. The silhouette, a man, was accompanied by that of a female. Her features were less hidden than the man beside her. Even in my ghost like state I had a hard time traveling to gain a closer look of the pair.

"Yes, mi'lord?" The female responded. I could make out her dark colored hair. The lighting made it impossible to distinguish colors. There appeared to be flower of sorts in her hair.

"The Kyuubi is approaching. Deal with him." He said strictly. I tried to get closer, but the mist like fog was thicker the closer I approached. I backed away in confusion. Why was there resistance? I forced my hand through the mist and felt the electrical current of the man's chakra. I gasped aloud as I felt the sting and withdrew my hand. Immediately, the man snapped his head in my direction. My eyes widened. It was impossible. He couldn't see me. This was a dream. The past... or... My eyes widened. This was not the past.

His eyes squinted as if searching for something. I stayed absolutely still. Where was I? I could hear the rumble of thunder outside the window. This must have been Amegakure. This has to be important.

"Pein-sama?" Konan questioned. She hadn't noticed my presence, but it seemed the man was merely skeptical. His eyes narrowed and he turned back to the girl.

"Find out as much as you can about the Kyuubi. Don't be seen." He ordered. She nodded and suddenly disappeared with a wave of light. In her place was a single flower. The man bent over and picked up the rose. It was origami. He held the paper close to his heart as the dream washed away.

I woke up abruptly to the sound of rushing footsteps outside our door. Thoughts fluttered to the surface. Abnormal dreams meant something important and the most resent signified something bad was going to happen. I was sure of it.

Naruto was no where to be seen and Sai was sitting on the bed staring at me. I blushed. Why was he staring at me? I tried to look away and act nonchalant but in the corner of my eye I still saw his staring eyes. Finally I couldn't take it anymore.

"Sai, why are you staring at me?" I asked a tiny bit annoyed. His expression didn't change as I asked my question and it didn't change as he contemplated his response.

"You were squirming all night. It woke Naruto." He answered stoically. My eyes widened. I was? I never move in my sleep... It was weird.

"Where is Naruto?" I asked him again. He didn't hesitate to answer.

"Listening on the other side of the door." He replied. I turned to looked at the door as Naruto opened it with a sheepish grin. I gave him a disapproving glance. He had a tray of food in his hands.

"Sai! You don't tell her stuff like that!" Naruto exclaimed. Sai sent him a puzzled looked.

"Why not?" He asked seemingly genuinely curious.

"You just don't!" Naruto yelled for sitting down with a huff. I stifled a giggle at the two. They were ridiculous. Naruto bit into a muffin he had brought in and handed one to me. I thanked him and bit into the meal. He tried to give one to Sai, but he only refused. What did that boy eat? Sai grabbed a nap-sac from floor and pulled out a neatly packaged bento. Oh... I saw a lady selling those before we left.

"We need to keep our abilities a secret." Sai told us. I guess he assumed we didn't know. Silly Sai, we are ninjas. We know this stuff.

"Really?" Naruto asked, "Why?" Okay. Some of us were ninjas.

"There are a lot of people who will want to remove us from possible conflicts. Some will try to use our abilities against us. We are not to talk about our own or other's abilities." He said. I felt a frown. Everyone knew what I could do, but I had no idea about Sai or Naruto. Both were a mystery. Sai carried two swords, but any enemy could see that. This isn't fair.

Naruto silently agreed and we all made our way to the deck of the ship. The rain fell in large heaps layering the entire ships in sheets of water. There were sailors left and right carrying cargo on and off the ship. We pushed past them until we noticed a dark city shrouded in rain and mist. We were in Amegakure.

The streets were bare and devoid of people. As we walked through the rain I couldn't help but feel like we were being watched by hundreds of eyes. How many people were hiding in the shadows watching? I noticed childlike eyes through a crack of a door. I smiled at him, but his eyes widened and the door shut abruptly. What was wrong with these people? Naruto was looking around widely with the same concerned eyes I held.

I listened for any sign of shinobi near by. All I could hear was the rain. It pounded on the streets chaotically. I didn't even know where we were going. Sai was leading us on. By the time we made it to a dreary little pub, we were all soaked from head to toe.

A small lady greeted us at the door. She looked tired and worn out. Dark shadows had formed under her eyes from probable stress. Sai said something to her. I wasn't really paying much attention. The entire place was darkly lit and I could feel the raw power from each and every person in the place. This was no fisherman's village.

We were led to a table in the corner of the place where there was a man staring off into space. His hair was gray from age and his eyes were light blue as they gazed off with no real purpose. He didn't even notice us until we sat down in the seats in front of him. So this was Saroyan's father. His eyes lit with hope as he reach out to shake hands with each of us.

In a rush of words he told us, "I'm Saroyan's dad, my name is Taro. Please help me find my daughter." He uttered. We all introduced ourselves quickly before Taro began his story. His mood fell and his eyes grew grim.

"It happened right here. We were eating like we usually do most Saturdays." He began. My head hung low in empathy. "Some guys came in claiming that Saroyan intruded on their leader. I knew she had traveled to them the night before. She had this guilty look. The men demanded she come with them. I said I wouldn't allow it. But they took her." He rolled up his sleeve to review a massive burn across his right shoulder. "I didn't go down without a fight. This won't be easy." I lowered my gaze worriedly. Whoever this was, Sai and I might not be enough.

"You can count on us!" Naruto says wildly. A fire shown in his eyes as his determination burned brightly. That boy always held an inspirational look. The father raised his eyes brows as if urging him on. "We can accomplish anything thrown at us!" he exclaimed loudly. I looked around embarrassed. People were surely annoyed by him. "I will protect the bond you and your daughter have with my life!" A person in the back stared at us with a smile. I looked around. People didn't appear too annoyed. Maybe these people were used to seeing Saroyan and Taro.

"Thank you," Taro said with a cast out expression. Naruto...

A familiar sensation pulled me from the scene. Suddenly, I couldn't pay attention to what Naruto was saying as a feeling of recollection rose from me. What was this? It felt as though an electrical current passed through me for a split second and then held in place. It was hardly noticeable. But I had felt it before. That last time it was several times stronger. This time, however, it felt tissue thin, almost imperceivable. My dream?

"We need to split into groups for searching." Sai stated passively. I tried to pay attention to what he was saying, but I was addicting to the feeling. It's origin consumed my mind. I had to know where it was coming from. I looked around with a surreptitious glance. She and her leader were looking for something. The Kyuubi? That's what the man had said.

Taro's sudden expression pulled me from my thoughts. He stared out longingly at the front passage of the tavern. He looked so lost and broken, I felt so sorry for him. If only I had a parent who would look longingly for me.

"Um, I probably shouldn't travel with Taro since I..." Naruto paused and looked around as if formulating an excuse. "Um... I am a Genin. The weakest team member shouldn't go with him. We should send... Sai! Sai should travel with Taro." I realized what Naruto was doing. I suddenly heavily agreed. I didn't want to group with a depressing father and Sai wouldn't probably be affected by it all! I nodded in acknowledgement.

"I don't understand the difference it would make," Sai muttered before Naruto and I quickly silence him and Taro seemed to just then tune into our conversation. He nodded to us as though he had heard us. It was quite obvious he hadn't. His thoughts very likely lied with his daughter.

"We should get going." Sai stated stoically. Everyone rose from their seats. The plan was to start looking about the streets for clues. I personally didn't think it would get us very far. I think Sarutobi sent me along hoping I would give us an advantage with my ability to find out important information. Too bad he doesn't know how unreliable that method was.

The streets were layered in huge expanses of water. The sky seemed to open on the village as all the water in the world fell on us.

"My socks are wet." Naruto complained. I chose not to respond. It was hard to hear anything in the pouring rain. I made a turn into an alley way and Naruto followed closely behind. The brief coverage from the edge of a rooftop gave us some relief to the relentless rain.

"Why did we stop?" Naruto asked as I leaned against the wall with aggravation.

"Have you found anything?" I asked annoyed. He looked disappointed in my words, but he hesitantly nodded nonetheless. "We need to do this a little smarter." I told him. His expression never changed. "I mean, we can't walk around blindly hoping to stumble upon a lead." There was a long pause from Naruto as he appeared to be thinking. My attention went back to the falling rain. I gasped for a second when I felt the electrical charge once more.

Alarmed, I asked Naruto quickly, "Do you feel that?"

His eye brows furrowed, "Feel what?" He questioned. Almost immediately the feeling went away. Did she... Did she hear me?

I felt sickened by the idea of this woman watching us and a feeling of worry embedded itself in my abdomen as I thought of the reasons why.

My thoughts were interrupted as a scream rippled through the air. Naruto and I jumped from our spot onto the roof and chased the source of the sound with out hesitation. Yeah, we're so ninja.

"Now scram before I beat you for stealing!" A woman yelled. I almost slapped myself in the forehead for being so jumpy until I saw the perpetrators face. A child.

It was a small boy. He was no older than 10, yet he was sickly thin as his skin hung on his bones loosely. Naruto stepped forward and pulled out some money. The woman, an owner of a food stand, accepted Naruto's money disapprovingly and handed Naruto a bento. Naruto dropped it in the young boy's hands while the kid stared up at him with wide eyes. I smiled through the rain. Naruto led that boy back under the cover of the alley way. He quickly ate and soon he left us much happier than before.

"That was really nice, Naruto." I told him. He nodded. I could see the compassion in his eyes as he gazed over the villagers.

"How could a village be so torn apart?" He finally asked. I paused sadly.

"Amegakure is the center of many great nations. It is often used as a battleground." I told him. The rain continued to pour down on us.

I was suddenly consciously aware of our surroundings. I felt around for the familiar electricity but felt nothing. It seemed safe enough.

"Naruto, do you know what the kyuubi is?" I asked him. His reaction was immediate as his shoulders tensed and his vision narrowed in front of him.

"How do you know about that?" He asked me coldly. I had never seen Naruto so coarse. I shifted uncomfortably. It was an obvious mistake to bring up the topic. What was it?

"I had a dream last night and the word was mentioned." I started. I furthered my explanation quickly in efforts to ease my conscience. "I know the dream was really important and I feel like I need to know what the kyuubi is to figure out what it means." I apparently didn't chose the right words as he turned to look at me abruptly with anger on his face.

He said harshly, "You shouldn't know about those types of things. Just forget about it." He quickly turned forward and glared at the wall in front of us. Guilt welled up from my gut as I knew his anger was directed at me. I was so confused, instantly hating my ability to capture dreams.

I decided to put off finding out about the kyuubi until the mission is over. When this is all said and done, I will go to Sarutobi and tell him everything I've witnessed. Suddenly, I remembered Sarutobi's cryptic message with Naruto. What was that about? The Kyuubi?

A voice withdrew me from my thoughts. Sai and Taro were staring at us from the end of the alley way. Sai was devoid of emotion, but Taro stared dejected with the loss of his daughter. Neither of us were able to find anything.

We needed to speak to some people if we are to find any new leads. Maybe tomorrow we will be more fortunate.

Please review! Is my story boring? Is it cliche? Review so I know. ^~^