Turning of Time (Naruto Fanfic) [hiatus]

Turning of Time: Chapter 46

"La-Lavonia!" The man called out. My hopeful master flew from inside, heading to the man. She looked him over before sweeping off into the house with him following close at her heels.

Near 10 minutes later Lavonia exited the house with her cloak around her shoulders and bow in hand. Her quiver was slung over her shoulder and she held another cloak in her arms. "Sara, put this on and gather your arrows into your quiver. We're leaving now."

I did I was told, and as soon as I was ready I saw Lavonia striding down the path to exit the clearing. I jogged a little to catch up, trotting along to match her hurried pace. "Where are we going Lavonia?"

She looked down at me briefly before returning her gaze to the path, "We're going to the castle just north of here. Though there hasn't been war since the last resistance was snuffed out in the west, it seems that there has been threat of an uprising in the east."

"Why do we have to go to check it out?" I still hadn't been told what Lavonia did for a living.

"Because we do. We're like scouts to the king, though he doesn't know that. We take care of uprisings before they become so."

"Why doesn't the king know about us?" I looked at her curiously.

"Because it's just us two. If we're needed, people from every major town know how to contact me, but unless it's urgent then I cannot be found under normal circumstances. The same is now true for you."

"So I'm your apprentice?" I looked at her hopefully.

"Yes, can you run?" At my nod she turned, "Then let's go."

_-_

When we arrived at the end of the path it was nowhere near where we had entered the year previously. It was a completely different location. When I asked Lavonia her only response was that she would explain later.

We ran into a village and headed straight for the largest building, the mayor's house. Lavonia didn't knock, but just burst through the door. The servants were surprised to say the least, but after seeing it was her shrunk back into the shadows or kitchen from whence they came. She briskly went up the stairs and turned left. As if she knew the way around the house, we ended up in the mayor's study where the man sat. Seeing us enter he set down a paper he had been reading.

"Lavonia, glad you could come. Word has spread of an uprising at the baron's fortress in three days time. I thought you ought to know." The man bowed slightly to her as he said this.

"Glad you did. Thank you, and we'll be on our way now."

We left as quickly as we had come, walking down the main street. We came to a stable and after a conversation with the man aquired two horses. Though I grew up on a farm, my riding skills were minimal. Knowing this, Lavonia gave me the calmest of the two and we were off. We headed to the baron's fortress for a reason I knew not of.

When we got there a day later Lavonia pulled the same trick she had at the mayors house. She charged in and went directly to his study. The man sat there puffing on a pipe. He was overweight and richly dressed. Above all else, he was the kind of royalty that disgusted me.

"To what do I owe this unexpected visit Lavonia?" The man regarderd her with a cold glare that would have caused most to bow down and worship him, but not her. She reached under her cloak and quickly pulled a dagger from underneath it. It was soon pressed against the man's throat.

"Why would there be the whisperings of an uprising to happen here in two days time? Is it perhaps because of poor treatment?" Lavonia's eyes were no longer pools of shifting green like a forest, they had hardened to an emerald, and were stone cold. "Have you been taxing them too much? Perchance indulging in one feast too many?" She poked he stomach, which admittedly spilled over his belt quite a bit. "Maybe you've killed them off? Didn't listen to any pleas?" The man was sweating buckets by now.

I stood to the side taking in the scene. This was the first time I had seen Lavonia look so... deadly. It was almost terrifying, but in my heart I knew this man deserved a good scare.

"I believe I've been to visit before, yes? I think it was to give a warning to the new baron. He told me he had listened, but I see the arrogance of the royals has finally gotten to him." She tapped the knife on his collar bone. "Maybe now might be a good chance for change though, hmm? Perhaps the baron might like to make a speech to his people? Maybe give them free food for a month? I think a baron as generous as yourself would do so happily. After all, there's always your son to take over, and he may be more compliant then a cotten headed ninny muggin."

The man gulped audibly before nodding. Lavonia sheathed her knife with a practiced ease. The man hurriedly went to a servant and ordered the people of the fortress to gather for an announcement. Then he went to his desk and began to write letters that would be sent to the nearby villages and towns. Soon his kitchens were open to any and all. The money he had overtaxed the people was also being evenly distributed to the same places the letters had been sent. Once four days had passed with no sign of an uprising, Lavonia and I melted once more into the trees, back to our cabin in the woods.

_-_

"I learned much of our ways to stop uprisings in the following days after returning to the cabin. I got a pair of daggers myself, and Lavonia began to train me in combat with them. I was officially her apprentice, just as my sister wanted to have been."

"So she just threatened the man?" Shika looked a little awed. The tea, which had previously steamed in his face had grown cold.

I stood to make a new pot of tea. "Yes, but you must not understand. How should I relate this... It would be like your mother after you stayed out 2 hours too late, only worse. She is a very threatening figure when she wants to be. When I was training with those daggers, I learned just how much skill she possessed."

He gulped at the comparison to his mom. "Did you ever find out how the cabin moved?"

I returned from the kitchen and set the teapot down. "I did indeed, and once I came here my shock only increased." He shot a questioning look at me. "She knew of chakra, as well as jutsu. The cabin was a seperate dimension itself. Walk down the path thinking of where you want to end up, and you'll be there. Getting to the cabin is the hard part of course. It has to be either Lavonia or I thinking of it, or a messanger with dire need of our help."

Shika thought on this. "So when I heard you needed no training to climb the tree?"

"Ha! No training! I had plenty of training, both before and after Lavonia. She began my initial training with chakra and the control of it, but we never got far with it, we were interrupted almost as soon as we had started."