Angel's Touch

Artemis: Heh…the last chapter was my favorite so far. It was a lot of fun to write. ^^ I believe that Naruto has his blonde moments, and since he’s an angel there are a lot of things he doesn’t know or understand about the human world. But this has got a lot to do with Naruto’s past as well, for all angels except the archangels were human once. But that’s enough about that

Well, this is it. The third part to the cooking arch! I’m praying I don’t screw anything up here. I mean…I’ve watched plenty of Iron Chef…XD Just kiddng. Actually, this may take a different route then what you all probably thought it would… Anyways, this was going to be only one chapter. But turns out its spanning into two chapters. So here's part 1 of the cooking arch finale (but not the story, so no fears).

And last thing. Grains of Paradise is a real and a rare spice. I didn’t make it up in case anyone was wondering. ^^

Worries: Heh…well…I hope this chapter goes over well. ^^

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Chapter 5: Confrontation at the Stadium Pt. 1


“HOLY WOW!!!” Naruto exclaimed, drawing the gaze of a few passing people as Sasuke, Hinata, and he entered the contest stage floor of Tokyo’s great stadium.

They’d woken early that morning, mostly thanks to Naruto since Sasuke wasn’t the early morning type person, and had gotten a ride with Hinata’s father to Tokyo and the stadium the contest was being held at. Naruto had reacted a little fearfully of the car at first, but with Sasuke’s counseling had managed to ride in it without much trouble.

Once at the stadium, the oddly silent blonde had returned to his loud, excited self, trying to see everything at once and having to be dragged by the hand by Sasuke or else get left behind in the crowd of people. And as it currently stood, Sasuke was starting to wonder if there was a stand nearby that sold leashes.

“SASUKE! Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke!” Naruto chanted, suddenly taking off to the left pointing at something and jerking Sasuke in the direction with him with little warning. “LOOK!”

Sasuke looked and didn’t see anything out of the normal. But apparently something had Naruto excited.

“RAMEN!!!!”

Oh no…he’d overlooked that. Sasuke grabbed Naruto around the waste before the blonde could drag him to the ramen stand and made their way to the stage area, finding Hinata by the stove and counter set assigned to her.

Hinata looked a little pale, overwhelmed by all the people gathered around, but colored up a bit and giggled softly when Sasuke arrived with Naruto struggling in his arms whining about being hungry.

“That’s enough, dobe. We’re here for Hinata. Remember?” Sasuke softly scolded, letting Naruto back onto his own feet.

Naruto sighed and pouted. Sasuke was right. The ramen would have to wait.

“There’s so many people,” Hinata sighed and looked around again, chewing her bottom lip.

Naruto noticed her getting nervous and grinned, trying to restore her courage. “Don’t let it get to you, Hinata-chan! More people means a lot more cheers when you win!”

Sasuke chuckled softly at Naruto’s enthusiasm and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Don’t worry. Just ignore them.”

Hinata took a deep breath and willed herself to calm down, smiling shyly at Sasuke and Naruto, “Sasuke-kun…Naruto-kun…thank you…”

“Neji-baka better be here,” Naruto sighed, turning and looking over all the people’s faces. He was so full of energy at the moment. He’d never been among so many people before, at least not since graduation at the Angel academy. It made him excited.

After a while, Naruto frowned. He couldn’t find Neji-baka among the people in the stands. Maybe the other hadn’t arrived? He’d better show up for this. Huffing, Naruto turned back to Hinata and Sasuke, pausing as a soft hissing in his ear made his heart jump. Naruto turned his head quickly and looked around, but he didn’t see anyone or anything.

Naruto frowned and pushed the sudden uneasy feeling to the back of his mind, watching Sasuke help Hinata get everything set up. Must have been a bug or one of the stoves being turned on.

“Eh…oh no!!!” Hinata let out a startled cry.

Naruto quickly rushed over to her, panicking more then usual, “WHAT! What’s wrong!?”

Hinata clutched her shirt and stared down at her bag, “I…I forgot Shino’s spice. I must have left it in the locker at school.”

Sasuke frowned at this. “When did you go to school between yesterday and today?”

Hinata bowed her head shamefully and blushed, “Y-Yesterday. I forgot something in my locker, so when I went home Saturday I stopped by and got it. B-But I must have left the bottle in my locker.”

“Great…” Sasuke sighed, running his hand through his hair. The competition was going to start in an hour and that was at least a two to two in-a-half hour drive back to Konoha. They were screwed.

Naruto frowned and looked between his two unhappy friends. He could get the spice if he flew back, but Father had told him not to fly unless it was an emergency. But…wasn’t this an emergency? To save Neji-baka, Hinata-chan needed that spice! Naruto debated over it for a bit, before deciding he’d just be careful and not get seen.

“Hinata-chan! Don’t worry, I’ll get the spice and be back in plenty of time,” Naruto smiled encouragingly at her.

“How?” Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes at the angel suspiciously.

Naruto pouted at him, “Please Sasuke? This is an emergency, so it’s ok.”

Hinata frowned, watching as Sasuke obviously fought an inner battle here. Truthfully, Sasuke didn’t like the idea of Naruto flying off alone. Sure, Naruto could probably handle himself…but the blonde did tend to get easily distracted. That and…he didn’t want Naruto to get hurt…

“Please Sasuke!” Naruto begged, tugging on Sasuke’s arm. “I promise I’ll be super fast and super careful! This is for Hinata-chan.”

Sasuke sighed, giving up. What else could he do but trust Naruto? “Fine…but be careful! Don’t stop for anything, don’t talk to anybody, and please…keep an eye out for planes!”

Hinata blinked at that, wondering what airplanes had to do with this.

“KIYAAAA!!!! Thank you Sasuke! You’re the best!” Naruto cheered, glomping the other happily. “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. I’ll be right back ok! You two just get everything set up and ready!”

Sasuke had only a brief moment in the other’s excitement to enjoy the hug, before Naruto had detached from him and already taken off towards one of the stadium entrances. Sighing, Sasuke placed his hands back into his pockets and watched Naruto disappear in the crowd.

Once Naruto was outside, he found a spot behind a trash can where other people couldn’t see him, making a few movements with his hands. He finished with them clasped together with four fingers pointed straight up, a gust of wind bursting around him in a circular fashion. Two feathery white wings exploded out from his shirt in the back and spread out, stretching slightly after being contained for so long a time.

Naruto grinned and undid his hands, stretching along with his wings and taking in a deep breath of air. He hadn’t flown in a while, so this would be a great break! Readying himself, Naruto jumped off the ground with a strong beat of his wings, gaining height and momentum in the sunny air and twisting around, heading off in the direction of Konoha and Sasuke’s school.

He had only an hour of the invisibility spell he’d cast, so he had to be quick to make sure he wasn’t seen. But boy was it great to fly again! He really wished he could do this more often. Then he could take Sasuke for a ride and share the feeling of soaring through the air with him.

Naruto smiled and hummed happily, bobbing up and down with the air currents as he enjoyed his flight. By the time he could see the school ahead, however, the sunny day has taken on a grim looking cloudy appearance. Naruto landed outside the school doors and looked up with a frown. He hoped it wasn’t going to storm, and if it did he hoped it at least waited till he was back at the stadium. It was hard to fly in stormy weather.

Naruto turned his attention back to what he was doing and used a bit of his chakra, unlocking the school door and entering the dark silent halls.

“Oh man…” Naruto whined, closing the door behind him and making his way to Hinata’s locker. He didn’t like this. He was used to the school being noisy and crowded. He’d never been there during after hours. But it was silly for him to get scared like this. Sasuke would have laughed at him and told him to not be such a dobe.

Feeling a little better and remembering that he’d be back with Sasuke soon, Naruto stopped at Hinata’s locker and used the same trick he’d used at the school door, unlocking it. As soon as the door opened, Naruto found the bottle sitting right there on the shelf just above where you’d hang your jacket. Naruto smiled and grabbed the bottle, tucking it into his pocket and closing the locker door, turning to leave. He paused though, noticing a locker not far down the hallway with its door hanging open. Naruto tried to ignore it, reminding himself that he was on a tight schedule, but curiosity finally got the better of him.

Naruto wondered over, looking around carefully before peering into the locker. It was Neji-baka’s locker. He must have left it open sometime Friday. Naruto examined the pictures of what must have been a young version of Neji and his father and a few of Hinata and him on the open door. After a moment, he reminded himself with a soft scowl that the others were waiting at the stadium. He moved to close the door but froze, eyes falling on something odd in Neji’s locker. Swallowing thickly, Naruto reached in and carefully pulled out what looked and felt like dead skin. Examining it, Naruto furled his eyebrows. It wasn’t human skin…did Neji get this from the science room? Naruto recalled that there had been several types of reptile skins in the science lab, none of which Sasuke would let him touch. He’d said it was unhygienic.

Standing there holding the skin, Naruto suddenly felt a shudder run up his spine and he turned, looking up and down the hallways fearfully. Now he was just scaring himself! Shaking his head, Naruto dropped the skin and closed the locker door, quickly running out of the school building and back outside into the graying day. He checked to make sure he still had the bottle of spice secure in his pocket, before spreading his wings again and taking off back towards Tokyo. Despite the fact that he knew he was letting his imagination run off, Naruto couldn’t help but hurry in his flight back to Sasuke.

By the time Naruto managed to land in front of the stadium, his spell had worn off and it had started to rain lightly. He took a moment to shake off his wings and pull them back inside, wanting to glare at the sky but knowing that rain was a blessing…even if it had bad timing.

Staring at the rain, Naruto pushed open the door and walked into the building. He immediately forgot about the weather as the door closed and darkness surrounded him. Why…why was it so dark? Shouldn’t the lights be on so people didn’t bump into things? Naruto quickly checked a clock, just to make sure his internal clock hadn’t lost its edge. It was still ten minutes till the competition. So he wasn’t late. The lights should be on then.

The second thing Naruto quickly noticed was that it was eerily quiet. When he’d left, there had been loads of people going here, there, and everywhere. It had been difficult just to hear himself speak! But now it was dead silent, and Naruto was starting to get that uneasy panicking feeling.

Naruto wrapped his arms around himself, looking up and down the hall before quickly heading towards the double doors that led to the contest stage. He shoved those open and stepped inside, the room just as silent and dark as the rest of the building. Naruto continued to walk towards the stage, looking around in an attempt to find at least one person. Stepping up on the slightly raised wooden floor, he stopped and turned, eyes scanning the stands. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness, and he could just begin to make out a mass of lumps scattered about the stands.

Naruto’s eyes widened in horror as he finally realized those lumps were people. Thousands of people, sprawled out on the stands and the floor as if they’d all suddenly collapsed into sleep. Naruto stood there shocked at the sight, before panic took over his mind and he quickly took off towards where he’d left Sasuke and Hinata. Not finding them there, he gave a chocked squeak and looked around franticly, before running out of the room.

“SASUKE!! HINATA-CHAN!!” Naruto shouted out into the empty halls, tears forming in his eyes as fear clenched his heart. Where were they? Where was his charge?! WHERE WAS SASUKE?!!

Naruto began to run along the hallways, panting heavily and looking around doing his best not to cry. He couldn’t find them! He couldn’t sense Sasuke’s presence at all! “SASUKE! PLEASE!!! SAY SOMETHING, ANYTHING!! WHERE ARE YOU!? OH GOD, PLEASE BE OK!!!!!”

Naruto turned a corner, tripping over his own feet in his hurry and with a yell fell flat on his face against the tiled floor. He lay there for a moment, shaking badly and swallowing a sob, trying to get a hold of himself. Something was going on, and he had to clear his mind so he could handle the situation. Panic was the first no-no in a crisis, as Kakashi-sensei had always told them during training. An angel had to keep a level head and a calm composure, or risk putting everyone in danger as well.

But he couldn’t feel Sasuke’s life force…

Naruto bit his lip, tightening his hands into fists and trying his best to stop his body from shaking and tell himself that it didn’t mean Sasuke was dead. It just meant that Sasuke wasn’t close by. He was just letting the fear get to him, and he couldn’t do that. For himself, for all those people, but especially for Sasuke. He had to calm down!

Naruto bit down hard on his hand, recalling how Kiba had done that during class sparing. The pain had helped him calm down, so maybe it would help Naruto. Naruto focused his mind on the stinging in his hand where his teeth had cut through skin, the pain proving wonders in helping Naruto to clear his mind of the foggy fear that it had become incased in.

He chanted mentally as it cleared, ‘I have to find out what’s happened. I’ll find Sasuke and Hinata-chan. It’ll be fine. I’ve been trained to handle this. I just need to remember my training. Everything is going to be ok…’

Naruto slowly relaxed, his heart rate dieing down as he finally calmed down. He made a mental note that when he saw Kiba again, he’d thank the other angel for this helpful little technique. Removing his hand from his mouth, Naruto pushed himself to his feet and took in a less shaky breath, tightening his fists with determination.

All right. Time for him to get serious!

Naruto looked up with a determined expression, but it quickly melted away to relief and surprise when his eyes fell on a figure just a few feet away. Someone was there! Naruto focused his eyes and relaxed, smiling gratefully as he recognized the person to be Neji-baka.

“Heh…Neji! Man, am I glad to see you!” Naruto smiled, taking a few steps towards the brunette but immediately stopping.

Wait…something wasn’t right here. Neji was barely visible among the shadows, but Naruto could see that he was hunched over and leaning heavily against the support beam in the middle of the hall. The other seemed to be panting heavily, as if he’d just finished running for his life. But that wasn’t what made Naruto stop his advancement towards the other. It was Neji’s eyes. The eyes looking up past his fallen bangs towards Naruto. They weren’t the odd white that the Hyuuga’s seemed to all have in common.

This Neji’s eyes…were like a snakes…


***momentary parody***

Cause I'm sadistic that way at times...

Naruto: *crying* where is everybody!?
Hinata, Sasuke, Neji: *sneak up behind Naruto* BOOO!!!!
Naruto: AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! X__x
Neji: Uh oh...I think we killed him.
Sasuke: Nah...couldn't have. He's already dead technically.
Naruto: *snaps out of shock and proceeds to strangle all three of them* THAT WASN'T FUNNY!!!!!!!!


***Reviewer Responses***


Nomme de Plume - Awe, the 'evil thing of death'. Tis my title for many things that fall in that category. Crow bars, quizes, uncheesed broccoli... And yes, the ramen-ramen bowl thing was my favorite. ^^

ss - Sorry, I didn't mean to guilt trip people or anything into reviewing. ^^'

Suki - heh...^^ Naruto does fit the qualifications of an angel, and Sasuke fits the bill on being the one in need of said angel. ^^

Yuri-san - Truth is, they are OC because unless Kishimoto goes through with it, these pairing will never trully be. *cries* Anywhos, yes...jealous Sasuke is so cute. I love it. ^^

mirandler43 - that whole ramen bowl analogy and Sasuke trying to explain was slightly brought about and inspired by your Sasuke scene in The Top Floor when Sasuke was trying to explain sex to Kiba using tree analogies. Which I still love to think on. XD

Anna - hee hee...Naruto does manage to get things every where. At least he does his best to make the best mess he can if anything. ^^

Laura - Sorry you thought Naruto seemed stupid. My explaination stands though... Naruto is an angel and he died rather young. So things that seem normal and everyday to us are lost on Naruto's part, and thus he's very ignorant there. But come time for angel/demon stuff, and Naruto will show a slightly better, though still young wisdom.

Miko hanyou - Hee hee. You've got me still thinking of Naruto in fox pajamas pita-ten style. XD

donedin - Getting the nookie in...geez, I can't wait to see how I manage that myself. XD I'm working on it. I already have it planned out how Sasuke and Naruto's first kiss together will work out. ^^ It'll be cute, I promise.

alia den - Now I'm hungry. O-o lol. As for the smut...heh...that will take a while. This is turning out to be a long story. ^^

innerchild - Sasuke jealous is my most favorite. I love jealous Sasuke. It's utterly cute. =3 Expect plenty of that, especially with Neji coming into the scene *won't say anymore there* ^^.

JaklynToki - I actually don't like fluff if its overly mushy. I like cute things that are soft and funny. Sometimes people put to much sugar in their nugget, yea get my drift? ^_^

koyote - Heh...I fixed that. Thank you for pointing out that grammar thing. I have a sort of grammar checker now. but I realize Microsoft grammar and spell scks. XD Otherwise, my grammar naturally scks to you'll just have to bare with me. ^^

eepmonster - Here's something for you. I suck at cooking. XD I burnt maceroni once while it was in the water. My dad burnt water. Mom says I get my cooking skills from him. ^^ So I changed the yeast thing to baking powder. Thank you for sharing your cooking knowledge. ^_^

Kira - Yep. It's going to go far. I haven't even introduced the bad guys yet. XD