Naruto's favourite story growing up had been the legend of Avesta: The City of Rebirth. Every time he heard the tragic tale, it would bring a tear to his bright blue eyes, and his heart would ache at the suffering and the longing of the story's main character. However, it was the end of the tale that captivated him as a boy, and had stayed with him all his life. The city would follow its namesake and be reborn in a new era. When he was a boy, Naruto had firmly believed it. Now... well, he knew better. The childish naivety had been stripped from him, and even though he no longer believed in the story of Avesta, he still loved to hear it. And, secretly, he hoped, with every fibre of his being, that an Angel from Avesta would come to him... one day.
"Hey! Ero-Sennin! Where do you want these crates?"
"Brat! Just through them somewhere out back... somewhere out the way!"
"Sure sure old man"
Naruto worked for his 'grandfather' his book store. He wasn’t his real grandfather, but they sort of adopted each other when Naruto was a boy, and the relationship had stuck over the years. Naruto lived with his guardian Iruka, who taught at the local elementary school. Naruto had finished high school, and was saving up his money over the summer break before he went to college. While he wasn’t leaving the city, he was going to have to quit one of his jobs, so he wanted as much money as possible before that happened. Naruto sighed as he bought the heavy crates into the storage area out back. He drew his arm across his slightly sweaty forehead and took a deep pull from the drink bottle on the desk.
'Damn this is hot work...'
"Hey Jiraiya! When's the air con getting fixed?!" Naruto called as he walked into the front of the store. It was only the beginning of the break, and summer was already boiling hot.
"Tomorrow, hopefully. Now get out front and serve some customers!"
Jiraiya's bookstore was your typical bookstore; quaint a quiet, filled with various genres; from fantasy to classics. Naruto had also noticed, with a grimace, that the store had a disturbingly large amount of what Jiraiya referred to as 'adult literature'. Naruto referred to it as porn, which, to be frank, was probably closer to the truth. It was also in this store that Naruto had first read the tale of Avesta. The store's customers was made up generally of women; the main reason for Naruto's employment. This was Jiraiya's idea; Naruto didn’t particularly care who was in the shop... he wasn’t interested in them anyway. The women, on the other hand, were very interested in him. While he'd been short when he was young, Naruto had shot up in the last couple of years, reaching 6'1... or there about. Golden blonde hair, sun kissed skin, startlingly bright blue eyes, Naruto was a rare find in this part of the world, and he won Jiraiya a lot of business. While Jiraiya was glad you the money Naruto bought in, he was really more interested in perving on the young ladies that entered to admire the blonde.
"Hey how you going today?" Naruto asked the customer, a cheerful grin on his handsome face. The young teenage girl blushed and muttered that she was good under her breath. The bell on the door rang and Naruto looked up to see his good friends Kiba and Hinata enter the store. Hurrying, he finished the transaction and leapt over the counter.
"Hey guys! How’s it going?"
"Good thanks Naruto." Hinata said politely. Naruto was so proud of her. Recently, she managed to rid herself of the stutter that plagued her for her entire life. Naruto took it as a sign that the girl was finally getting more confident in herself.
"Hey fox face. What cha been up to?"
Kiba was Naruto's best friend, and more recently Hinata's boyfriend. Kiba was a lot like Naruto, except he had this obsession with his dog.
"Yeah you know just work and stuff. What are you guys doing?"
"Well we thought we'd find out when you finished. You wanna hang out after work?"
Naruto sighed.
'Yes! Yes I do!'
"God, Id love to. But when I finish here I’ve gotta go to the restaurant. I’m working there tonight til late... sorry guys."
"Oh, it’s ok Naruto... maybe another time." Naruto grinned at Hinata, who blushed slightly. She may have gotten control of the stutter, but the blush was nowhere near cured yet.
"Damn, that sucks. Well... we'll let you get back to it then. Catch ya soon then."
"Yeah, see you guys."
Naruto sighed as his friends left. He didn’t get to see them much. He was working two jobs at the moment; one at the book store and another as a waiter in his friend's family restaurant. He didn’t mind the work, but he did miss his friends. He hardly saw them anymore. But they were all going to the same college, so he'd be able to catch up with them then.
"Naruto! Serve please!"
"Yeah yeah Ero-Sennin... I’m coming."
'What a night...' Naruto thought to himself as he finally left the restaurant. It had been a ridiculously busy night, especially for a Wednesday, and the night just seemed to drag on and on and on. Not to mention one of the junior waiters walked out half way through the shift, leaving them understaffed for the night. They already were short handed for a night like tonight. One less meant tables more for the others to deal with. It had been a long, long day. Naruto sighed.
'Great... now just the walk home...'
Luckily it wasn’t far. The small house that Iruka and Naruto shared was a 15 minute walk away from the restaurant. He was about half way there, and whistling a little tune when he noticed a bright flash from the alley he was walking past, and then the sound of trash cans falling over. Naruto raised an eyebrow and was about to continue on when he heard a low groan from the alley, and it wasn’t a groan of a drunken bum, it sounded like someone was in pain... Naruto poked his head into the alley, looking around. There, on the ground, was a body.
"Shit." Naruto said as he hurried over. Putting a hand on the shoulder of the person, he shook them slightly
"Hey man, are you ok?"
When all he got was another pain filled groan, Naruto rolled the person over, and gasped when he saw his face. The person, who turned out to be a guy of about Naruto's age, had the most perfect face Naruto had ever seen. Pale, creamy skin shone in the moon light, eyes framed in heavy dark lashes, and dark midnight hair stuck up from his head.
'What a hottie...' Naruto thought as he looked at the boy's face.
'I wonder what’s wrong with him...'
Naruto tried to wake the other boy again, but he wouldn’t respond at all.
'Shit... what do I do? I can’t just leave him here... what if he's hurt?'
Realising he didn’t know what was wrong, Naruto gave the mystery boy a quick once over, and didn’t like what he found.
'Shit... ok... you're coming with me. Iruka will know what to do...'
So Naruto lifted the boy on to his back as gently as he could.
"Wow, you're light. You need to eat more... And your back's a little on the lumpy side... how weird..." Naruto said to the unconscious boy in his arms. Glad that carrying another person wasn’t straining him too much, Naruto headed for home.
"Hey! Iruka! Get the door for me! I’m going to need a hand!" Naruto called as he approached the house. Iruka always waited up for Naruto after work. Always. It didn’t matter how late it was, Iruka wanted to make sure Naruto got home ok. Naruto could hear the man moving around inside. As he pulled the door open, he asked
"What do you mean, need a hand?"
Naruto grinned as Iruka's eye's widened in shock.
"Well I have this unconscious kid on my back... sorry I couldn’t get it myself. Help me find out what’s wrong with him?"
"Come in hurry up! Where did you find him?"
Iruka always was a little motherish...
"He appeared in an alley after this flash of light. I think he's hurt somewhere, but I didn’t really get a good look. Help me get his shirt off... I think he's bleeding."
They laid the boy down on the couch, and Iruka pulled his back up into a sitting position so Naruto could remove his shirt. As soon as he did his mouth fell open and he dropped the shirt.
"What the fuck..."
"Naruto! Language plea-"
The rest of the sentence fell off Iruka's tongue as he saw what Naruto was staring at. The boy's body was covered in cuts; some long and quite deep. But it was the words that had been carved into the boy's back that had caught the two's attention.
"Shit... what is this?"
"I... I don't know..." Answered Iruka in a disturbed voice.
"Well... it doesn't matter. We have to get him to a hospital."
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Fin
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Story notes: Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. Only this plot line.
Anyway: Avesta happens to be a town in Sweden... or so Wiki tells me. It also is a collection of sacred texts relating to Zoroastrianism. I don’t know what that is though. I just like the name. So basically, the legend is made up entirely by me. And I will be including it at a later date.
Chapter notes: Anyway, this is a prologue, a taster. Tell me what you think. Ok, I’m starting another story. I’m a bad girl I know. I really shouldn’t until I finish my others, but you know, when you have an idea you just can’t ignore... well... you have to get it down. But don’t worry! I’m not stopping any of my other stories! Well, except Dark Angel. I don’t like it. Too cliché. This is going to replace it.
Chapter end notes: so what do you think? Keeper or a miss? Really would like to know guys. While I write these because I enjoy it, I also write them for the people who read, and I want to make you happy! You being happy means me being happy, well... as happy as I get anyway, so please! Let me know what you think! If you liked it tell me! If you hated it tell me! Preferably not in a flame... they are just stupid. Constructive criticism is what I want, not mindless hate bullshit. Anyway, thanks for reading!
LittleCrane