Naruko giggled as she watched the two newcomers be amazed at the sight of ninja walking on water while making spheres, walls and all other sorts of constructs. This one happened to be more of a showoff than the other ones as the two ninja who were 'training' were actually going full out in having a water duel. The turn out was much higher, as well, as they happened to be a pair of attractive kunoichi wearing revealing clothing.
Really, sometimes…
"Is there something on your mind?" she asked, tilting her head as soon as she noticed that the two civilians were looking at her oddly.
"Could… Could I talk with you alone for a second?" Fate asked.
"Sure," Naruko replied, smiling widely at her. "Lead the way!"
Fate nodded and gestured towards a little open space that was between the crowd and the wall that separated the training field from the commercial district proper. The two walked off while Nanoha and Sakura were engaged in conversations. Once they were there, Fate took a deep breath and turned to face Naruko.
"You're a mage, aren't you?" Fate asked, bluntly.
"Sort of, yes," Naruko said. "…What about it?" she asked, somewhat confused. "Aren't you a mage, as well?"
"So you knew..?" Fate asked, sounding somewhat guarded and wary.
"Knew what?" Naruko asked, tilting her head. What was she talking about?
"But you just…" Fate began, before shaking her head. "Nevermind. Then… You don't think we're your enemy?"
"Why would I think that? Are you?" Naruko asked, still pretty confused. "'Cuz if you are, I'm supposed to scream for help."
"No, we're not," Fate said. "We… actually want to be friends."
"Friends? Sure!" Naruko said. "Say… we really do look alike, huh?"
"…We're very similar, it's eerie," Fate admitted.
"Hey, you two!" Nanoha shouted from where Naruko and Fate had left her and Sakura. "Come here!"
When Fate and Naruko turned to address them, though, they weren't alone. Two boys were with them. Inuzuka Kiba and Uchiha Sasuke. "Oh, hey, you guys! What's up?"
"I thought you were in the hospital..?" Kiba asked, somewhat confused.
"You were seriously hurt…" Sasuke muttered.
"I was?" Naruko asked, perplexed. "Maybe you saw something that didn't happen. Anyway, what's up, you guys? I don't usually see you when you've got free time outside of missions!"
"That's because 'free time' is a foreign concept to my team, girly!" said a voluptuous woman who dropped from what had to be one of the rooftops. "I sent these two ahead, but I've gotta gather the team. Hokage-sama is mobilizing the troops for some reason, probably a drill or something, given we were caught flatfooted by the invasion and all."
"Yo, Anko-chan, I haven't seen you in like, forever!" Naruko said, blinking.
"I've been busier than ever, lately. Konoha needs all the jounin it can to take high ranking missions and make solid cash," she said, waving her hand. "Anyway, I've gotta take Sakura with me. Sorry to ruin your double date," Anko continued, "but we've gotta go by yesterday."
Hearing that, Sakura frowned, but nodded. "Sorry, guys, but life's really busy right now. I promise I'll make it up to you and show you the night life in Konoha one of these days! I'll see you later!"
"Oh, no, it's no problem, we understand it's your job," Nanoha said, smiling kindly at her. "Right, Fate-chan?"
"Right," Fate agreed. "We don't mind!"
"I'm still sorry. Anyway, I'm always ready for a mission, Sensei," Sakura said.
"Good. 'cuz we need to report about ten minutes ago," Anko said, flippantly. "See ya, kiddies!"
Sasuke and Kiba gave similar greetings, and Sakura gave an apologetic one, but soon, all of the ninja team had left.
"I guess that's a downside of being a ninja. You can get called into action at the worst times," Nanoha said, "that's too bad. I was looking forward to seeing more of the village."
"Well, I can't show you around the village, since I haven't seen it all that much myself… but would you like to drop by my house?" Naruko asked, turning towards Fate and Nanoha. "We're not too far…"
"I wouldn't want to impose…" Fate began.
"But I insist," Naruko said, smiling. "It gets really lonely and boring during the afternoon, since nobody ever comes home then…" she said, though her smile became a pout midway through.
"When you put it that way, we can't say no," Nanoha admitted, shaking her head.
"Eheh, I know, that's why I say it that way," Naruko said, once more cheerful as ever. "It always gets the Old Man to do whatever I want!" she declared. "Come on, my house is not too far!"
***
And it wasn't, really. It was just a ten minute walk. "Well, here we go, home sweet home! I… uh. I just forgot I don't have keys. Then again, I woke up naked, so I don't have anything on me," Naruko admitted, putting a fist to her own temple as if to gesture at her own need to be smacked. "But we can fly right over the outer walls! Everything inside should be unlocked!"
"Ah… fly?" Nanoha asked.
"Yep! You can't?" Naruko asked, tilting her head. "Aren't you mages?"
"I… I see," Fate said. "You knew, then?"
"That you're mages? Well, you do have Linker Cores. But I guessed," Naruko replied. "Can you fly or not? 'cuz if you can't, I think I can carry you, but we'd have to do it one at a time."
"Flying without a device is really hard, and requires a lot of focus," Nanoha said, frowning.
"…What's a device?" Naruko asked. "I just do it like this. Sleipnir," Naruko muttered, closing her eyes and forming the magic within her mind. Six wings in black sprouted behind her back. She lifted a few centimeters off the ground, her wings fluttering slightly as she did. "Isn't that how you usually do it, too?"
"I… no, we have our devices carry over most of the calculations so that we can pay more attention to the environment around us," Fate said.
"I still don't know what a device is. Well, grab on, then! I'll carry you over!" Naruko said, extending her arms.
Nanoha and Fate looked at each other, but eventually agreed to be carried past the barrier. It took a little work, but eventually, Naruko carried them both through.
"You're heavier than you look! You might need to cut down on the ramen," Naruko said, frowning at the two of them.
"It's muscle," Fate said, blushing slightly.
"Fate-chan, you don't have muscles…" Nanoha muttered, frowning a little. "You're getting fat, but it's all going to your breasts," Nanoha muttered with a pout of her own, poking Fate's chest. "Why do you have them, already..?"
Naruko giggled. "Anyway, please, make yourselves at home, I'll bring you something to drink shortly," she said, opening the paper doors that led to the main hall of the manor house and showing them the couches set up for the precise eventuality of tea at home, all around a short table.
The two sat down, while Naruko moved out of the room, presumably towards the kitchen.
"Fate-chan, do you think this might be a trap?" Nanoha muttered.
"…I don't think so," Fate said. "She seems to be genuine… in that regard, at least."
"Her grasp of magic is… weird. It's like she's not even aware of how it actually works. Could it possibly be so instinctive for her?" Nanoha asked. "It doesn't make any sense. You can't use magic if you can't make all those calculations in your head, and flight, especially with passengers, isn't something you can just do…"
"The Book of Darkness probably serves as her device, even without her knowing it, but… she doesn't seem to have it with her right now," Fate mentioned. At least, Naruko hadn't seemed to have the Book of Darkness. They didn't know if it could take an alternate form to hide. "Still, she could detect we had Linker Cores so easily…"
Naruko came back in before they could comlete the conversation, carrying a tray with three teacups, a steaming kettle and a small plate with a few biscuits on it. "I had a little something to eat, too," Naruko said. "Though these aren't home made, I'm sorry," she added.
"It's okay," Nanoha said, shaking her head.
Naruko set the platter on the table and quickly, but precisely, poured each of them their tea. It was actually kind of impressive, since she could do it in really abrupt and quick movements that would've had most people spilling tea all over the place. Lots of experience, she explained, pouring tea for a lot of people.
"Anyway… So you're mages? That's really cool. I've never met a mage, myself!" Naruko said. "And I can only do basic stuff, which I'm not very good at!"
"But… flying is really hard. Much more so to do without a device," Nanoha admitted. "That's really impressive. Where did you learn?"
"… I… don't know?" Naruko said, tilting her head. "Where did I learn to fly…? How do I fly?" she asked, tilting her head. "I'm… not sure I know how to, actually. I just sort of… do it," she said. "The spell just forms in my head when I think about it."
"Really? That's very strange. We can't do magic accidentally like that," Nanoha said. "That's some talent, right there," she added.
"You think?" Naruko asked.
"Have you thought of something else?" Fate asked. "Other ways to use your magic?"
"Well, when I woke up naked, I thought I needed clothes, and then another spell just suddenly came up, and I just knew it would give me a barrier jacket… and… What is a barrier jacket, anyway?" she asked.
"…There's something very weird going on," Nanoha muttered. "Naruko-chan… I have to ask you flat out. Are you the Master of the Book of Darkness?"
"Yep!" Naruko said. "Are you guys friends of the Knights, then? It'd be just like Signum, sending someone to look after me while they're out training. I'm a big girl, I can look after myself," Naruko said, pouting.
"Er… no, we're not quite… friends with the Wolkenritter," Nanoha admitted. "We'd like to be, though."
"They're pretty cool, aren't they? I guess I can understand why you'd want to be their friend! Well, if you want to wait, I'm sure they'll come home, eventually. Meanwhile, do you want to do something fun? It gets really boring around here, with nothing to do, but we do have a dojo. Maybe you two could show me some spells?"
"That sounds great! Maybe with you here we can have a civilized talk and solve our problems peacefully!" Nanoha said, grinning happily. "And sure, I'd be happy to show you a few spells! I'm a bit limited without my device, but…"
"We can do a few of our spells," Fate added.
***
"It's so pretty!" Naruko muttered, mostly to herself, as she watched Fate and Nanoha play what amounted to table tennis without a table, using a glowing sphere that shifted between pink and yellow as they bathed it back and forth with their hands. The sphere seemed to randomly ricochet off thin air, and so it kept them on their toes, even though the distance they were at would make the speed it was traveling at too slow to present a challenge.
When it was pink, it made softer, but more pronounced curves, while when it was yellow, it made sharper, but less significant, turns. It was really an interesting display, as the two put their expertise to the test in both attacking and blocking. The fact that they were batting two spheres back and forth only added to the impressiveness of the situation, and the lines that the spheres left as they trailed through the air were incredibly pretty.
Ultimately, though, Fate slipped up and failed to bat away a pink sphere that crashed against her forearm, as she had accidentally overextended, and Nanoha knocked the second pink sphere, the one that had just been yellow, all the way back, though it sailed just above Fate's forehead.
With a chuckle, Nanoha held up a victory sign, cheering at her victory.
"I'm not used to doing this without Bardiche to help," Fate said. "It's really hard to keep up with the calculations I have to make at the same time I move around…"
"But it's good training," Nanoha said. "This way we can relieve our devices from some of the burden and they can focus on more complicated things," she explained.
Meanwhile, in a nearby rooftop, Shamal grimaced as she faced her fellow knights. "I've found the mistress, she's back home…" she announced. "And I also found two other mages with her."