Chapter 3: The Titians (1)
After Raven had left, Naruto locked the door and, after one last check to make sure everything was in its right place, moved to the back of the store and through a door behind the counter. On the other side of the door was a small corridor with light blue paint on the walls and two doors on either side leading to a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and living room of the house part of his store. Ignoring the rooms, Naruto walked straight to the end of the corridor and after biting his thumb smeared his blood across the wall in a small circle.
Taking a step back, he watched as a sealing matrix spread across the wall before a flash of blue light blinded him for a moment. When his eyes recovered, the wall was gone and in front of him was a staircase leading down underground. Walking forward, he paused to smear more blood on another seal on the wall to his right. After the wall flashed back into place behind him, he continued on his way.
Fifteen minutes later, he came to the bottom of the stairs only for them to end at another wall that vanished like the one at the top when he smeared some blood on it. Again sealing the wall behind him, Naruto turned to look around at the large cave like room that had been carved into a circle with eleven doors lining the walls, each leading to different places.
This was where he lived, having had his clones dig it out and shape it with Earth Jutsu shortly after buying the store. The rooms upstairs where a dummy home, a proxy to use if he ever had anyone visit, which hadn't happened so far, or in case someone broke in to the shop.
It was actually because of the space under it that Naruto had brought the particular building to use as his books store. Most of the space under the city was occupied by sewers. All except this single lot. The stairs that lead down to this room were in a thin, straight line leading down between the sewer tunnels. The room he was in right now was approximately two hundred feet below the lowest of the sewer pipes.
The door to his immediate right was his first library, which contained most of the rarest books he had acquired from this world, many of which he had found could be quite dangerous if left in the wrong hands. One of the things he found out about this world was that, even though they didn't have Jutsu or chakra, they did have was magic. The books he had gathered in this room were almost all spell books that, if history was right, were dangerous and had a rather bloody history to go with them. Even if he was trying to stay neutral in this world for as long as he could, Naruto couldn't help but interfere a little, even if all he did was keep the books locked up so others couldn't use them.
Next to that, was another library with all the scrolls he had brought with him from the Elemental Nations, retrieved from the scroll his father had left him. Third in the line-up of rooms was his seal library/study, where he made and stored all his seals. Then he had a corridor that led to ten different bedrooms, including his own, with a small bathroom for each. None of them but his room had ever been used and probably never would be, but he liked to be prepared anyway. The next two rooms after that were his kitchen and pantry/store room, respectively, and the three rooms after that were training rooms, each with a different terrain set up for practice in and each the size of a small village back in his world, where he would have thousands of clones training each day in different Jutsu and combat styles. The last two rooms were his gym and living room, both filled with the best equipment that money could buy.
After his clones had spent two years gathering money from all the jobs they had done, he had saved up quite a lot of money. A sum which had only increased after he stared dealing in rare books. Even if he kept most of them sealed in his library for safe keeping so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands, the ones he did sell and rent always made a good profit.
God bless Shadow Clones.
Deciding to skip his evening workout for once, Naruto went straight to his living room, sat on the couch and turned on his 52 inch plasma flat screen TV. Letting out a sigh, he leaned back and watched the news, thinking about the grey skinned girl he had just met.
He had to admit, he wasn't expecting one of the Teen Titans to walk into his shop. The blonde may not have said anything to her about it, and even acted like he didn't know, but he knew who she was the moment she had stepped into the store. He also knew that she was one of the people he was keeping his true collection away from.
It was true Raven was a 'good guy', using her powers to fight crime and all that, but the fact was that power could corrupt the purest souls. The most innocent child in the world could be drawn into darkness if given too much power and Naruto didn't want to risk that happening.
Not to say he wouldn't flirt with her, even if it was mostly because Lust promised to give him wet dreams for the next month if he didn't, something he had found was actually within the voices power to do after the first time he had refused to flirt with a girl he had met at a club.
He hadn't lied when he said she was cute, and the blush that crossed her face when he had said it made her all the more so. Even if she didn't realize he had seen the redness on her cheeks, the blonde had to admit it made her seem even more beautiful. The tight black leotard didn't hurt either.
Coming out of his thoughts just in time to see a video clip of the Titans fighting what look like a large stone statue on the news, Naruto let out another sigh, turned the TV off and went to bed.
XXX
Raven was on her way to Naruto's book store. It had been two days since she had first stepped through the door. Her delay had been caused by having to help her friends deal with several criminals, with this being the only free time she'd had since her first visit. The grey skinned girl had been a bit disappointed when she read the sign on the door saying it wouldn't open for another hour, but decided to go and get a cup of tea while he waited.
When she arrived at her usual place, Raven was surprised to see the blonde that had been on her mind for the past two days drinking tea in the corner of the room farthest from the door with a book in his hand.
Deciding to go and sit with him, she ordered her usual and moved to take the seat across from him.
XXX
Naruto was sitting at a table in a small tea shop down the street from his own store. It was the only place he could find that sold Japanese style tea, which he had found held the most similarities between his world and this one.
He was sitting on his own at a table near the back of the store in the corner of the room, a book in one hand and a cup of green tea in the other. This was where Naruto always sat when he came here. When a shop waitress had asked him why he always asked for that table, he just said he liked having a wall to his back and then asked for his tea. Even on a world as peaceful as this, at least when compared his, some habits were just too hard to give up.
Without looking up from his book, Naruto let a small smile form on his face as he felt a person he recognized take the chair across from him and sit down with their own tea in hand.
"A pleasure, Raven-san. To what do I owe the pleasure of such beautiful company?"
Blushing at the compliment, Raven took a sip of her tea to calm herself before answering.
"I was on my way to your shop when I saw the closed sign and decided to come in here for a drink before you opened the store. I was surprised to see you here, through. I come here regularly and this is the first time I've seen you."
Nodding his head absently, still not looking up from his book, Naruto took another sip.
"I usually come here in the mornings for a cup of green tea; I find it helps calm the nerves for the day ahead. Maybe we just always missed each other, or it could be something as simple as you weren't looking for me."
Nodding her head at the explanation, the grey skinned teen sat back in her chair and drank her tea, eyes straying back to the blonde sat across from her every few minutes before quickly looking somewhere else.
They had been sat there for another ten minutes, before Naruto put his book down and smiled at her as he finished his tea.
"So I take it that you wanted to see another of my books, seeing as you said that you were at my store."
It wasn't a question but Raven still answered.
"Yes, I remembered you saying you normally charge, so I brought money this time. I remember seeing several books that caught my eye in your collection."
Chuckling quietly, Naruto put his empty cup on the table.
"I don't want your money Raven-san. You can look at them anytime you want, and all you have to do is ask."
"I can't do that, it wouldn't be right."
"Then think of it as my way of saying thank you for all you do for the city. Plus, if people see a pretty girl like you in my shop, I might get more customers."
After giving the girl a wink, enjoying the small blush that the simple action brought to her cheeks, they left the tea shop and made their way down the street to his store.