Hey guys! Please don’t kill me for not updating in, like, forever. Just remember that you are fabulous and I seriously appreciate your support. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or complaints about my fanfiction, please tell me because I want to be a writer someday and I can’t do that if my readers don’t know what the h*ll I’m talking about. I know that I can’t make every single person happy but I’m crazy enough to try. Some people hate when others criticize their work but I am not one of those people. I get offended if people don’t make suggestions, correct me, or just plain say that they just don’t get it. I feel like a total idiot when everyone says nothing. Thank you to the people that are not afraid to say what they think because this chapter is for you.
Ino: This fashion failure does not own Naruto
Me: Well neither do you cuz that would require you to have a brain.
Sakura: Yeah! You tell that pig, Kate!
Melody: Ugh! Do you bimbo's mind? I'm trying to take a nap here...
Me: You just woke up... (-.-)"
Melody: You do the same thing, llama.
Me: I wanna be a pokemon! not a llama! *runs to sulk next to Gaara and Sasu-gay in the emo corner*
Gaara + Sasuke: There, there...
On with the show! ^^
Chapter 9: Contract
Even though regulations required the ANBU to take Melody to the Information Holding Cells, they were instructed to bring her to the Hokage instead. Melody heard them talking amongst themselves about how the new threat to the village was going to destroy the Leaf with the nine tails and how the hokage should have them both executed. Melody thought that this action wouldn’t be out of the question, considering her history, but Naruto? ‘So that’s the chakra that I sensed inside of him… we are the same, except that he is a jinchuuriki and I’m a guardian… I don’t know what a jinchuuriki is but there are 5 guardians and we still have to find the fifth…’
Several knocks on the heavy wooden door resounded throughout the hallway but it sounded like iron bells to Melody. She couldn’t explain such a feeling if she tried. When Hiruzen said “enter” her bowed head sank even lower. With a heavy heart, she was forced through the door by the chains all over her body and held by 5 ANBU out of the 8 that “escorted” her there. She didn’t resist and hated the possibility of disappointing the man before her. In the middle of the room, she stood shaking with shame.
“Please unchain her.” Commanded the Third Hokage. Melody’s head snapped up with wide eyes and a tense jaw, watching, waiting, daring to hope.
“But, sir!” Several masked men objected. Her eyes sank to the floor.
“Don’t you understand?” Melody asked barely above a whisper, “I let myself get caught. I mean no harm to you, Hokage-sama, or the village that has accepted me and all of my faults.”
The ANBU looked at the old man who nodded in conformation. They glanced at each other with wary eyes, then proceeded taking off the chains in swift motions.
“You better not try anything, kid.” A male bass voice threatened in her ear.
“Keep your face away from mine, your breath stinks.” Melody retorted, lowly at the man who said the worst things about Naruto.
“You little!” He gripped the chain tightly, pulling on her arm. She didn’t budge, she -barely felt it.
“What are you trying to accomplish?” She turned her mildly confused expression with an uncaring demeanor to face him directly. He wore an owl mask, which seemed ironic to Melody. He was getting more and more frustrated by her jeering and let out a low growl and he could attack her any second. Melody raised an eyebrow. ‘Seriously? Is this guy that stupid?’ She thought, incredulously.
“Enough, Udo.” Pleaded a gentle soprano voice wearing a tiger mask. Melody did a double take.
“Your masks aren’t given to you based on your personality, are they?” She sweat dropped.
“No, they aren’t” Sighed the woman. Melody nodded sympathetically. The chains were almost completely off when Melody sensed the presence of several persons on the other side of the door, one drew a knife and melody gasped. A knock was heard.
“Enter.”
Everything felt like it was in slow motion. Melody broke the rest of the chains herself, and the door knob turned.
Buh-bump……..buh-bump.
Melody spun around, tensed, and ready to protect the Hokage.
Buh-bump…buh-bump…buh-bump… buh-bump… buh-bump.
The door opened with the stealth of a ninja.
Buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump……..
WHOOSH.
By some miracle, Melody caught the kunai by sliding her finger into the loop at the end or the horribly aimed knife. And in a flash, she was behind the short person with the caught projectile at his neck. Then she noticed something.
.
.
.
.
.
“… NARUTO?!” Melody shrieked.
“YUKARI?!” Naruto yelled louder.
“SERIOUSLY?! What the hell! Of all the pranks, you just have to attack the Hokage?!”
“I DID IT BECAUSE HE KIDNAPPED YOU!” He pointed. At this, Melody was taken aback. Her new purple eyes softened and she hugged her little ball of orange energy.
“You’re so kind Naruto… you really are a great friend.” She whispered, “But don’t ever do that again. He is a great man that is kind enough to let me, an outsider, stay in the village.” She chided like a loving mother.
Naruto hugged her back like she would disappear any second. After a moment, she pulled away and turned to look at the people behind them. One had a cane and bandages over his right eye and the others looked like ANBU.
“Naruto-” Melody was cut off.
“Who are you and why are you in my way?” Glared the man with the cane.
“A simple ‘Excuse me’ would have been enough, thank you. And if you were paying attention, you would have noticed that my name is Yukari.” Replied an annoyed Melody.
“Naruto, wait outside please. This should only take a moment.” Sarutobi told Naruto.
“BUT-!”
“Listen to him Naruto,” Melody smiled gently and put a tender hand on his shoulder, “Do you trust me?”
“Yeah, of course I do, but-”
“No ‘buts’ Naruto… Just trust me.” She squeezed his shoulder gently.
“Fine…” He pouted.
“Thank you.” Melody walked back into the room and she was followed by the strange man and the new ANBU. Naruto noticed the atmosphere was tense enough to be cut with a knife as someone shut the door in Naruto’s face. There were now 12 ANBU, Hiruzen, the strange man, and Melody.
“Danzo. To what do I owe the pleasure my old friend?” The Hokage smiled warmly at the stoic man.
“The girl.” He nearly growled.
“Yukari?” Sarutobi seemed genuinely surprised.
“Our contract says that I get the girl if something happens.”
“Yukari, did you hurt anyone?” She thought about the day’s events carefully before answering truthfully.
“Yes. I squeezed Sasuke Uchiha’s wrist for trying to touch me because it made me uncomfortable and I slammed two girls onto the desk top who were trying to attack me for doing so. I even gave them advice and told them that they need to train more if they want to beat me because I’m not going to die by cosmetics… well… I could, but I don’t think they know how to turn beauty products into weapons. They can’t protect themselves or the people that they care about if they don’t start taking their training seriously. And as for Sasuke… He got what he deserved. No pain no gain. I think that they all learned a valuable lesson today, but no one was hospitalized.”
“No one was injured enough to go to the hospital, correct?” The Hokage asked with a twinkle in his eye.
“Correct.” She nodded.
“And you didn’t lose control, correct?” he grinned widely
“Correct.” She nodded again.
“Well, it seems that she isn’t going anywhere today, Danzo, but how about you join me for a cup of tea?” The Hokage casually lit his pipe.
“I’d rather not, thank you.” His face was stone. He seemed to have the “I will not show you how much this affects me” mentality. But Melody was confused as she looked between the two elderly men.
“What contract?” The tension flared up again.
“The contract that says that you are to become my subornment should you step a toe out of line.” Danzo informed her, smugly.
“You mean if you find out that I stepped a toe out of line.” Melody smirked.
“Yukari, this is not the best time for you to be difficult.” Chided the Third, Melody pursed her lips, “If you do something, we will find out eventually. And I’m not keeping secrets from Danzo. I am a man of my word and when I sign a contract I obey it.”
“So what if he forces me to use him?” She asked angrily, “Did you think about that?”
“Why would Danzo do such a thing?”
“He wouldn’t have signed a contract with you if he wasn’t at least interested in me and my abilities. With people like him, every precaution must be taken.” Melody tried to calm down.
“People like me? How insulting.”
“Your presence insults me, you snake.”
“What makes you say such a thing, Yukari? You don’t even know Lord Danzo.” Asked Sarutobi.
“You poked and prodded at my mind, did you not? It’s not that hard to figure out.” She dead panned. ‘And he’s a lord, great. If he is anything like my mother’s husband, then he has a wealth of knowledge that even the Hokage doesn’t know about from the “underworld” of the village…’ “Not to mention that it is written all over his damn smug face.” She finished bitterly.
“Heh, don’t be so arrogant, kid. The world doesn’t revolve around you.” Danzo strutted towards the door. Melody ignored him.
“Or will you use my mental disability instead? Hokage-sama, please sign a new contract with him.” Pleaded Melody. Sarutobi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Yukari, it’s not that simple-” He cut himself off. Melody was bowing before him on the ground.
“Please… Hokage-sama… I just want to be safe…” She spoke quietly, giving up her pride in front of an enemy. Sarutobi sighed once more as he dug through his desk drawer.
“Danzo, how about we make a second contract to tack to the first, hm?” He asked pleasantly. As Danzo touched the door knob, he paused seeing an advantage to this new contract.
“What is your relationship to the nine tailed fox, Yukari?” He turned to her with both hands on his walking stick.
“I don’t have a relationship with the Kuubi, I am best friends with his host, Naruto.” She replied, annoyed.
“Same difference.” He shrugged.
“There is an extreme difference between ‘what’ and ‘who’, Lord Danzo.” Melody shot back with venom.
“Are you planning to run away with the Kuubi back to your old village?”
“I don’t think I can take the Kuubi back without killing Naruto-kun, and I don’t want him to die anytime soon, thanks.” She patronized, not liking that he wasn’t listening to her.
“Are you going to take the brat Naruto back to Tani-Aka?” He spat. (Valley-Red)
“It’s called Burūforesuto (The Blue Forest), Tani Aka was the name of the maximum security prison. It was originally called Uragiri no Sarubēji, (Salvage of Betrayal) because the forest is so tricky it was like people were running from the government betraying them to the woods that they unwittingly thought was a safe haven only to be “betrayed” again. It didn’t start being called Burūforesuto until the revolution – that’s not important right now! Why the hell would I want to go back and why would I take such an innocent child back to such a horrible place?”
“You are a heartless monster-”
“Heartless monsters don’t make friends and Naruto and I are best friends. But you keep telling yourself that, let’s see where it gets you in life.” Melody mocked.
“Would you use the water dragon to defend or protect Naruto?” His eyes narrowed.
“If the situation demanded it, then yes. And if he was going to hurt himself using Kuubi or found himself out of control then I would help him by using Suro. Are you suggesting that we should add Naruto to the contract? That can be arranged.” Melody spoke honestly.
“You ‘Guardians’ should stay out of business that doesn’t concern you.” He growled.
“We protect our own, be them civilians, soldiers, or hosts of any kind.” She spoke proud and strong, daring him to object. Danzo decided to switch tactics.
“If you were forced to choose between the Leaf and Burūforesuto, which would you choose?” He hadn’t moved during the entire conversation until he suddenly decided to walk toward Hiruzen.
“Such a decision would never have to be made.” She scoffed.
“But if you had to-” Realizing he was trying to trap her into doubting her allegiances, she shifted her train of thought.
“The Hidden Leaf Village and Burūforesuto are not in an alliance, agreement, or even familiar with each other. The military power of the Hidden Leaf is much too great for little Burūforesuto, so a war wouldn’t happen. If anything, it would be much more likely that Burūforesuto makes an alliance with the Leaf. There is no need to decide because I have lived there all of my life therefore I know them, I am the Guardian of Water, I am the granddaughter of one great sensei, motivator and important leader which makes me important as well. People look up to me there and listen to my suggestions and opinions. Your argument is invalid.”
The ANBU were impressed by this eleven-year old and despite their previous qualms regarding her, they couldn’t help but respect little Melody for her logic, reasoning, and advanced speech. Several of the Hokage’s eight ANBU even went as far as to silently cheer her on for winning an argument against Danzo. Hiruzen smoked his pipe with a hawk’s eye on them all. He knew very well that he wouldn’t be able to relax and smile until this exchange was over. The Root members, however, were close glaring at her through their masks. They didn’t want their leader to lose to a child, but the consequence of their training on staying emotionless, disabled the quartet to show their distain properly.
“What about your brothers?” Danzo smirked.
‘Damn it!’ She thought and tried not to show her frustration. “What about them?” Melody raised an eyebrow.
“Would you betray the village to save one of your brothers?” He asked smugly.
“Define ‘betray’.” She tilted her head to the side and her new chestnut hair fell off her shoulder.
“If one of your brothers happened to be convicted of murdering someone in the Hidden Leaf Village would you help him escape his inevitable execution?” He walked toward her and she marched up to meet his intimidating chakra.
“I wouldn’t have to ‘help’ him. He could escape by himself with or without chakra cuffs.”
“How?”
“Brute strength and tai jutsu?” She stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Oh? You should consider that there are guards everywhere around the prison and metal bars on each cage and window.”
“Uh, does the phrase ‘We escaped from a maximum security prison called Tank-Aka’ ring a bell in that shocking thick head of yours? And when they did escape (let’s face it, there is no ‘if’) I would, hopefully, recapture them. Unless there are more than one, then I’m not getting anywhere.” She laughed exasperatedly at the thought.
“Danzo, the contract?” Hiruzen regained his attention. Danzo nodded and read over the freshly drawn up contract. Satisfied that it had all of the points they discussed he picked up a paint brush.
“Wait! When does this thing expire?” An irritated Melody asked.
“When you become a chunin we will discuss and rewrite both contracts with you and your guardian involved.” Hiruzen stated with no room for argument, not that Melody was going to object such reasonable terms. Danzo signed and thumb printed the page and the Hokage handed him a copy. Danzo and his men promptly teleported away with a “poof.”
***Melody’s POV***
“I knew that you were smart, but I’m still impressed that you were able to see through him so easily.” Chuckled Hokage-sama. I pressed my back against the office wall and slid down it, my eyes drooping.
“That’s it,” I slurred, “I’m done for the day.” I yawned and stretched, cracking my neck.
“Tired already?” Teased the old man.
“Shikamaru snores.” I replied bluntly. Sarutobi-sensei laughed heartily.
“I think I’m going to take you out of school for now. I’ll put Ibiki in charge of you instead.” He wrote something down on a document and I grimaced.
“I don’t think he’ll be too happy about that…” I muttered.
“Nonsense!” Hokage-sama exclaimed, merrily.
“You’ll see….” I slurred.
“Oki, take this and give it to Ibiki, please. He should be around the academy right now.”
“Hai.” The tiger masked woman took the document and hopped out the window.
“Naruto!” I groaned, remembering that he was still outside and I sooo did not want to get up. Hokage-sama gestured to the door and someone opened it. With bleary eyes I watched an orange blob fall through the door back first, and sound asleep. I laughed weakly at the sight.
“Silly…” My eyes softened and a gentle smile came to my face. He started to stir and I was sure that he was going to awaken, but all he did was toss and turn as if he was having a nightmare. I crawled sluggishly to my “little brother” and his arm flailed in my direction. I reached for his outstretched hand and grasped it tenderly.
‘I’m here for you, my friend…’ I thought as I drifted to sleep, physically and emotionally exhausted from the day’s events.
The next chapter goes to the first person that can tell me the symbolism of “Iron Bells.” Once again, thank you for reading, voting and commenting/messaging me. :)
(I just found out that there are people from 31 countries reading my story! HELLO MY INTERNATIONAL FANS! Thank you for reading! :D)
KELSEY, MESSAGE ME! I MISS YOU! :(
~Stay Fabulous!