Capítulo 9: Chapter 9 :The Screaming Statue(4)
Exactly ten minutes later, Naruto knocked on the door and stood waiting for someone to come and let him in. Within 5 minutes, the door was opened by a serious faced Robin. After a nod to each other, they made their way to the common room in silence.
When they entered the room, the blonde ex-ninja was met with happy faces, which threw him a little. His eyes were drawn to the blonde girl sitting on the couch, who he could see was staring at him with her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide. He had to admit, she was pretty in a little sister kind of way, and her eyes seemed so innocent she reminded him of a baby rabbit. The thing that worried him was that, despite the baggy hospital gown she was wearing, he could easily see she was severely malnourished and her skin was a little too pale to be considered healthy. He could hear Gluttony in the back of his mind, telling him to give her something to eat before she collapsed, but did his best to ignore it.
Turning his attention to Raven as she made her way over to stand next to him, the blonde gave her a charming smile and tipped his hat to her. It was while he did this that the grey skinned girl punched him in the stomach.
Letting out an 'oof' noise, Naruto quickly recovered and sent a pouting look towards the girl, who just raised her eyebrow at him before turning away and walking away to sit on the armchair.
"What did I do this time, Raven-chan?"
"You ran off the night we went to free Terra!"
"I just thought I'd give you all your space. After all, she's your friend."
Seeing that she was refusing to meet his eye, Naruto let out a sigh before turning to the blonde girl that was still starring at him.
"It's nice to meet you, Terra-san. I hope you aren't having too many problems with re-adjusting"
For a moment, the only response he got was the girl blinking at him with her large doe like eyes before she seemed to pull herself together.
"Wha... oh yeah, I'm great. So, you're the Naruto I've been hearing so much about?"
"Whatever you heard was a malicious lie spread by a group of break-dancing bunnies, that were pissed I won all their carrots in a poker game."
At his words, everyone in the room blinked at him for a moment, not sure if he was being serious or not, before the silence was broken by Beast Boy falling off his chair in laughter. Cyborg looked close to joining him but just managed to keep his balance.
"Hahaha, dude that was great, hahaha"
Grinning at the green teen, Naruto sent a nod in his direction before turning back to Terra, who had started starring at him again. Before he could ask why, she spoke, almost shouting as she did.
"What happened to you!? Whatare you!?"
At her question, the room went completely quite. Even Beast Boy had stopped laughing and looked towards him with a serious face that looked ridiculous from his position on the floor.
Losing the grin from his face, Naruto bent his head down slightly so the top of his face was shadowed but they could still see his eyes, which stayed locked on his fellow blonde that, despite obviously being a little shy, was staring back at him with an unflinching gaze.
"I'm not sure I know what you mean..."
Still not looking away, though she did shiver a bit at his flat tone when he spoke, Terra steeled her resolve.
"You're the one that I felt, the light I saw when I was trapped. I can still feel you, you know? Why are you so sad?"
It was several minutes before Naruto answered and, in that time, all he did was stare at the girl with a blank expression.
"Some things are better left in the past. As for what I am, that's easy. I'm just a simple store owner, who happens to collect rare books in his spare time. Nothing more, nothing less. You would do well to remember that, Terra-san. All of you would."
The air in the room stared to get thicker and thicker as Naruto spoke, leaving all a little short of breath. Then, as if a switch had been flicked, everything was back to normal. A small smile was back on the blondes' face as he reached over his shoulder and pulled a book out of his bag.
"I almost forgot. I made this for you as a get well present. I hope you like it."
Taking the book offered to her by her fellow blonde, Terra looked confused at the sudden change of emotions.
Looking at the book in her hands, knowing that the others were all learning over her shoulder to see it too, Terra ran her fingers over the soft earthy brown leather it was bound in. It was a decent sized book, about four inches thick and thirty inches long. It didn't have a title on the cover but, when she opened it, they could see that it was made with high quality paper and the words were in red.
But it was what she read on the first page that left them all speechless. In big bold writing on the first page were the words 'Earth Elementals', with an odd symbol under it that looked like one big circle with a second smaller circle inside it and a vertical line running through the middle of both circles. Underneath that was Naruto's name, declaring him as the author. She started flipping through the pages, stopping on random pages for a moment before moving on to another. They all had the same red writing and on a few of the pages were what looked like charcoal sketches of people in different poses, surrounded by floating pieces of earth. All of the book looked like it had all been drawn and written by a professional.
Looking up at the whiskered teen that was grinning at her with teary eyes, it took Terra a moment to remember how to talk. Even then, all she could do was say one word.
"How?"
"Like I said, I'm a collector. You'd be surprised what you can find in books, especially old ones. I simply took what I found and put it into one book. If you turn to the next page, there's an index."
Quickly doing as she was told, Terra turned to the page with a shaky hand. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she looked at the names of the chapters.
Chapter 1- What is an Elemental?
Chapter 2- What is an Earth Elemental?
Chapter 3- History of Earth Elementals
Chapter 4- Understanding the Earth Element
Chapter 5- How to Channel Your Energy
Chapter 6- How You're Emotional State Can Affect Your Control
Chapter 7- What Are the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Earth Element
Chapter 8- Introduction into Earth Manipulation
Chapter 9- Level 1 Earth Manipulation
Chapter 10- Level 2 Earth Manipulation
Chapter 11- Level 3 Earth Manipulation
Chapter 12- Advanced Earth Manipulation
Chapter 13- How to fight with the Earth Element
Chapter 14- How to defend with the Earth Element
Chapter 15- Creative Uses for the Earth Element
Chapter 16- Other Useful Facts That You Will Need to Know
With tears now falling freely down her face, Terra sent Naruto a large shaky smile as she hugged the book to her chest. Walking over a placing a hand on her should, he gave it a gentle squeeze.
"I only wish I could have given it to you sooner."
"...Thank you"
After that, Starfire and Beast Boy took Terra back to the bed she had been using in the sickbay, still hugging the book to her chest. When they left the room, the atmosphere seemed to shift drastically. Motioning for Naruto to take a seat, Robin leaned forward and laced his fingers together in front of him as he stared at the blonde. Cyborg and Raven stood on either side of him. Naruto took note of the fact they both looked uncomfortable, even though they were trying to hide it, and that brought a small smirk to his lips. Locking eyes with the masked boy sitting across from him, the whiskered teen nodded his head for him to begin, knowing exactly what this was about.
"Where did you get all that information? The spell to help Terra, the book, all of it. Raven's been looking for this stuff for months and couldn't find anything. You did it in two weeks."
Giving the three another one of his charming smiles, Naruto leaned back in his seat, completely at ease.
"Maybe she just wasn't looking in the right places"
Frowning at the answer, Robin let out a small growl of frustration.
"This isn't a game"
"Then stop acting like it is and think. You're a smart guy Robin-san. Use that brain of your andthink."
Just like the last time it happened, the three were left completely stunned by the way the blonde's moods seemed to change in an instant. Not giving them a chance to talk, Naruto pressed on.
"As I'm sure you know, knowledge is power and books are nothing more than knowledge written down on paper, for all to see. But what if, in some cases, a book can literally hold power. Imagine being able to reshape the very world around you with nothing more than a few words, written down in a book. I've spent the last three years of my life collecting those very books. and hiding them away from the world."
"Then why did you give the spell to Raven? It's not exactly a secret what happened in that cave with Terra. You could have found it without too much trouble. So, why come to us?"
Shaking his head at the question, Naruto just laughed.
"Do you know what makes me the best person to have all those books? All that power? Power corrupts; it's a fact of life. So what would make someone the perfect candidate? To have all that power, yet not be corrupted by it?"
Getting a confused expression on his face from the odd question, Robin's thoughts were interrupted by Raven.
"You can't use magic."
Smiling at the girl, Naruto nodded his head.
"Exactly! I'm the perfect candidate because I can't use any of that knowledge. I can't be corrupted by power that is unavailable to me."
"Then why risk giving us that spell, or Terra that book? There was nothing in it for you and you risked a lot by giving it to us."
"My reasons for helping that girl are my own. As for the book, she had a right to that knowledge. She should have been given it at an early age and, because she didn't, Terra had to go through a lot of hardships. Giving her that book is my way of helping her."
Stepping forward, Cyborg asked something that had been bothering him.
"If these books are as dangerous as you say, why not destroy them?"
"I can't."
Seeing the confused looks on their faces, the blonde smiled.
"Books as old and powerful as the ones I'm talking about are different from normal books. They've existed for so long, and hold so much power, that they need to exist. If I were to destroy any of them, they would simple reform somewhere else in the world, as good as new. Then, there are some that have developed self awareness. They can get into your head and force you to use them. In the end, it's better to just keep them locked away, far from the rest of the world, where they can't be found."
Staring at the blonde sitting across from him for a long moment, Robin had one last question for him.
"Just who are you?"
The only response he got was an almost predatory grin spreading across the Naruto's whiskered face, showing his fang like canines.
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Just a few things I want to get straight now before people start asking. Naruto will only be paired with Raven; Terra will be nothing more than a sister to him. Also, though it may seem like it at the moment, Terra and Beast Boy will also not be a pairing but I will go more into the details of that in later chapters.
I've got something special for you in the next chapter, some surprise guests that I know none of you will guess so keep reading to find out who they are. XD
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