The Dragon Queen // (Under Revision)

Rockhead

"You want to know how to settle this?" Tsuyoi shouted in Naruto's face, slamming her hand on the table in the study. "We should have an eating contest!"

"Ooooh!" Naruto grinned at the idea.

The foursome had came inside once it got dark at Kakashi's request. The older man had been spending the past two days exploring the monastery it seemed. When they saw him last, he was heading to the library with Fukuo, which Sakura had teased him endlessly about.

At the time, Tsuyoi couldn't look Fukuo in the eye. Usually she would have forgotten about an episode, the ones she got sometimes...but the last one was still as prominent as a flesh wound. And she felt guilty about it.

"You might not want to do that, Tsuyoi," Sakura's voice tore her from her remembery. "Naruto can eat quite a lot when he wants to."

"Well, he hasn't seen me eat yet. Come, lesser being, let us decide what dinner will be today," Tsuyoi said, gesturing for him to follow her. "I have to give Tomoe my request, since it appears Fukuo has run off with your teacher."

Sai and Sakura snickered at that.

Naruto and Tsuyoi entered the hallway and turned right. The entire thing was dark.

They must not have lit the lanterns yet...is it an electric-lights night?

"Uh, Tsuyoi?"

"I got it." A second later, her dairokkan tattoos crackled to life. They stayed at their normal glow, barely pressing past her skin. With a grunt, she pushed them to their maximum brightness.

"Tsuyoi! I can't see!" Naruto cried out, covering his eyes with his hands.

Her face flushed and she brought it down a couple notches, but green still bathed the walls. They traveled down the hallways with little conversation. Tsuyoi preferred the silence between them sometimes. It wasn't awkward or stifling at all. It was comfortable. It made her feel like all they needed at the moment was each other. And since they did have each other, they were content. It reminded her of something...or rather, another person that had made her feel like this...but she couldn't remember a face, or a name.

"Tsuyoi?"

"Hmm?" She also liked talking. Talking was good, too.

"How many floors does the monastery have?" Naruto had has hands crossed behind his head. For once, the airhead seemed to be seriously thinking about something.

"Three floors. The first floor has the dining hall, the kitchen, indoor training facilities, storage rooms, and the temple rooms on the first floor. Bathrooms and guest rooms on the second. More guest rooms on the third. Chizu, Tomoe, and Fukuo all stay on the third floor, and I'm on the second. The stairway I showed you that leads to the roof is on the second floor as well. That study Sai and Sakura is in is on the second floor, so we're just heading downstairs to the dining hall. Any more questions?"

"No."

"Why were you asking?"

Naruto looked at her, a strange look in his eye. It was a mix of sadness...and there was a fidgety tendency in them, too. "I don't like not knowing where I am."

Tsuyoi looked back at him. She hadn't really thought about how Naruto and the others felt about being locked up here with her. She hated it, but she hadn't really known anything else since she'd been a kid. For the outsiders to be used to being able to go where they wanted to go and do what they wanted to do, this must be torturous. And with the maps...they had an agenda when they came through here. And we stopped them.

Tsuyoi looked away. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault," Naruto shrugged.

Tsuyoi took in a breath. Time to bare her soul again. "You know, I get lost in here sometimes."