Inside her palace, Aphrodite looked at herself in the mirror and...She saw nothing but herself.
Not like that of course.
Unknown to most, even the goddess of beauty herself was affected by her own power. Aphrodite looked at herself in the mirror, a few moments ago she had dark hair and dark brown eyes, now her hair had become bright blonde with sky blue eyes, her features became much toner and her face became much more beautiful, almost to the impossible level.
This was her true appearance.
Yes, Aphrodite's ideal of beauty was herself.
Taking the hairbrush on her makeup table, Aphrodite put it on her golden blonde hair and slowly moved the object along the incredible smooth surface of her long and curly hair, tilting her head to the side.
Blonde and sky blue eyes...it was just like him.
It had been two years since the prince of Olympus left them, two years since Aphrodite saw Naruto jumped from that cliff down to the mortal world below. At first she thought he was crazy and had become mad because of what she told him to read, but after hearing from Hades that the boy was still alive, Aphrodite realized how little she thought about him.
His disappearance brought huge chaos to Olympus, every single god and goddess was sent all around the world to find him by his parents. However no matter how they tried and how many days, weeks, months and years had passed, they couldn't find the Prince of Olympus. Even two of the best trackers, Artemis and Athena weren't able to find him or even come close to his mysterious location.
Zeus and Hera were shocked when they found out about Naruto's reason for leaving from Athena, when the goddess of wisdom gave them the Greek Mythology book Naruto borrowed from her library that night. Aphrodite decided to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the night, because she didn't know what they would do to her if they found out she was the one who told him to read that book to find out the reason she cheated on his brother.
Ares was nearly blasted out of the throne room by Zeus' master bolt because he couldn't keep himself from laughing. Hera was really distracted and she spent most of her time these past two years around the world looking for her son.
The numbers of divorce marriage couples rose dramatically the last two years because of this, to the point Aphrodite felt sick most of the time and barely had the energy to do anything because of the lack of love from the mortal world. If not for Hestia who quickly stepped up and comforted Hera, Aphrodite and the goddess of the Hearth would have faded away by now.
Everything had become quite the past two months, at least until the sudden accident happened after the Winter Solstice. The Olympian Gods were barely around Olympus at this time, they had their duty of taking care of their domains and also at the same time continue their searching, and Naruto wasn't the only thing that was being looked for.
A mischievous smile appeared on her face at the mention of him, Naruto wasn't only incredibly attractive and she was talking about a seventeen years old teenager boy, but he was also incredibly powerful, showing enough skills alone to fight on par with the God of war, and enough power to fight on par with an individual whose power rivaled the Primordial beings. He was also very caring, warm and even though they only just spent a little more than a few minutes together, he was kind of fun to hang around to say the least.
But the thing about him that aroused...yes, aroused her the most was the enormous amount of love within his body.
She was the goddess of love; she could feel the 'love' within a person's heart. She couldn't explain it in word, but she could feel the 'love' in a more...'physical' way and she could tell the 'size' of these 'loves' within different people, which represent the feeling they would have for their partner when one appear.
The bigger it is, the more feeling they will hold for their partner, the more they will love, the more they will stay loyal to their partner. This 'love' could increase or reduce in 'size' depending on the situation but normally, it would stay the way it was.
The girl Naruto falls in love with, no doubt would be the luckiest girl in the world because in all her immortal life of being the goddess of love, she had never felt such a powerful and enormous amount of 'love' from someone like him before. He completely surpassed every loyal married couple in history, even his mother who was the goddess of marriage and faithfully loyal to her cheating husband.
The luckiest girl in the world...Aphrodite, the luckiest goddess...she couldn't help but giggle at the sound of that, it did have a nice ring with her name.
Aphrodite was snapped out from her thought when a blinding flash of red light appeared in the middle of her palace. Her expression didn't change in the slightest when her lover the god of war appeared.
However the second after that, her eyes widened in shock when he pulled out his sword and slashed violently around the place, kicking and punching, destroying everything that was in his sight.
"HEY!" Aphrodite shouted, standing up "What are you doing to my palace?" she asked angrily.
"That fucking punk!" with a hatred filled mind, Ares was completely oblivious of Aphrodite's cry "someday, I will fucking kill you!" he roared and kicked over Aphrodite's wardrobe, making it fall down to the ground.
The goddess of love's eyes widened in shock at what he just said. The only time she had seen the god of war this angry was when he was beaten and humiliated by Naruto so it didn't take long for her to put two and two together.
"What? Ares" She ran to him and grabbed his jacket "you found Naruto?"
"What about it?" Ares asked with a grunt, his eye sockets flared with red fire.
"Holy Zeus, you did find our prince" Aphrodite gasped in shock before her lips spread out in a smile "I need to go and tell..." but when she was about to turn around, Aphrodite's throat was grabbed roughly by the goddess of war and he used it to pull her toward him, glaring into her blue orbs angrily.
"Don't you fucking dare tell them woman" he said, gritting his teeth, his hand tightened around Aphrodite's throat, choking her "Yes, I did find him, but his location is mine only, and the fact that I found that fucking blonde will be our little secret, got that?" he asked
"B-B...ut...He...ra...Z... ...love..." Aphrodite tried to form some words, but she wasn't able to no matter how hard she tried. Ares was too strong, his strength was far greater than hers "the...Prince..."
The god of war raised his hand and backhanded the goddess of love hard across her face. Aphrodite fell down to the ground hard, with golden Ichor running down the corner of her lips, tears falling down from her eyes as she held her bruise cheek.
"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE CALL HIM THE PRINCE OF OLYMPUS." Ares roared, his body flared with power, covering the entire area in red light "that title belonged to me, I'm the rightful Prince of Olympus, not your crippled husband and especially not that fucking mortal" he ignored her cry "If you spill a word to them Aphrodite, I will make sure every single one of your children will be seriously hurt, both mentally and physically. My sons after all, love to have fun with pretty girls" and he walked out of the palace, grunting mostly to himself.
Aphrodite just sat there and sobbed, her hand holding her cheek with Ichor dripping down to the ground from her lips, tears couldn't stop dropping from her eyes.
Line Break
Listening to the music while doing his every day morning exercise was something Naruto greatly enjoyed. The iPod must be one of the best invention that he came across in this world, he could store thousands or even millions of songs within such a small place and listen to the beats any time he wants, and anywhere he wants.
Normally, he would prefer the strong and fast kind of music like rock or heavy metal but lately, he had come to like Caitlyn's pop songs and downloaded some of her best albums onto his iPod. He couldn't help but admit how good her voice was and how well she could sing.
Kind of made him reconsider about his decision about calling Daniel a 'fan-maniac' of Caitlyn, not to mention that she was not only good on stage but also the best in a movie studio.
Currently Naruto was doing his daily one hundred mile run around Harvard Campus. Wearing long black plant, orange T-shirt and black jacket with hood over his head, headphones in his ear, his usual combo, Naruto woke up around three in the morning and had been running for two hours since then, he didn't stop for a second to rest, just kept on challenging the limit of his stamina which by far was nowhere near his limit yet.
Then, he felt someone approaching him.
"Ohayo gozaimasu"(Good Morning) Naruto turned to his right and widen his eyes slightly when he saw Caitlyn running right next to him, with her blond hair tied into a pony tail behind her head. She was wearing a dark color sports bra that spoke volume of her amazing ample bust and tone figure, exposing her tone stomach and small waist. Same color fitness pants that reached pass her knees and clung to her lower body like a second skin, once again showing the world why she was the new icon of the entertainment world and lastly white sport shoes used for running.
"Good morning, Caitlyn" Naruto greeted her with a grin, removing the headphone in his left ear "no need for Japanese" the two kept on running, smiling at each other.
"But I wanted to surprise you" she giggled "you do this every day?"
"Yeah, it is a part of my morning workout routine" Naruto nodded his head "what about you? I hope you're doing fine" it was clear for Caitlyn the blond didn't ask her about her health or her morning exercise schedule.
"I'm fine, don't worry Naruto" She smiled at him "Once again, thank you, I don't want to know what would have happened without you there"
"Don't mention it Caitlyn" he then turned to her "you took it better than I thought , not the first time?"
"Yes, believe it or not, it was not the first time a fan got over-excited like that" Caitlyn sighed, looking away from Naruto "I guess that is the reason why my father allowed John to carry guns within him, to protect me in case anything bad happen."
'I doubt Ares is a fan of your songs and movies' Naruto could only nod his head 'and I doubt John could handle a god of war, even with a tank' he added in his head.
"Say, Naruto, Are you up for the trip to New York today?" She asked, changing the topic quickly.
"Of course" Naruto grinned. The trip to New York was going to take place today and they were going to various places before stopping at New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. He hoped that with this visit he could learn more about the godly realm and find out more what could be possibly happening to it "you?"
"Yes, it's one of my most favorite cities." she said brightly "my first music night was there"
"Really?" Naruto asked "Wow, that's cool...kind of like home coming for you right?"
"Of course" Caitlyn smiled before smiling mischievously at him, tilting her head to the side she quickly grab the unused headphone before Naruto could stop her "Hey what are you listening to?" she put it on her ear.
"Oh hey!"
A massive smile spread out on her face when she heard the song.
"I thought you said you're not a fan of mine" she told him "want my signature now?"
"Changed my mind after realizing your voice wasn't half bad" Naruto joked and got a light punch on his right arm.
His morning jogging ended like that.
Line Break
"THE FUCK!" Daniel cried out in shock, horror and jealousy before slamming the newspaper down on Naruto's table, surprising him because he was in the state of nearly falling asleep.
"What now?" he asked while yawning, looking at the black haired boy lazily. Liked it or not he might have picked up some of Shikamaru's bad habits of falling asleep anytime he wants.
"Read the front page" Daniel pointed out, glaring at Naruto "that guy is clearly you!"
Naruto grabbed the newspaper and gave it a glance, his eyes widened slightly at the article and the front picture.
Mysterious man seen with Caitlyn Sharpe this morning
And the front picture was unmistakably the scene of him and Caitlyn doing jogging with each other this morning. This must be a picture taken by an unprofessional photographer, because they couldn't capture his face hidden under the hood of his jacket, plus he was looking at Caitlyn, away from the camera.
Below was various lines written about Caitlyn and the possibility of her love-life...
Even though his face was trying to remain as calm as possible, he couldn't help but feel a little worry about this.
Not because of the picture or the articles, or what was written but about the possibility of being found out by the godly world. There was a chance that Ares wouldn't tell anyone about his wherever about, he was too hateful to do that but if this newspaper got into the hands of someone like Athena or Artemis, they would feel suspicious about it and come to this place.
Not to mention the fact that Ares could figure out his friendship with Caitlyn. He had seen that warmonger wasn't very hesitating when trying to attack him with his axe even though his lover was right there in the attack range. What would stop this war god from using Caitlyn to get to him?
Or maybe he was just thinking too far ahead, maybe spending too much time around Shikamaru made him think too much and become paranoid.
Or maybe he was slowly turning into a mini version of his father, he heard from Hera that Zeus was very paranoid.
"And?" Naruto asked, giving Daniel back his newspaper.
"And?! Freaking and! This guy is clearly you" Daniel pointed out. There were not many students in their class and each of them were also minding their own business, so Naruto wasn't too worried about it "you're the only guy I know around here would wear orange in the morning. This hoodie is clearly yours"
"And?"
"You said you're not interested in her" he cried, with two lines of tears running down his cheeks "and only interested in UFC fighters"
"Firstly, I never said I'm not interested in her." Naruto said blankly but it was enough to make Daniel widen his eyes in shock "Secondly, why are you so sure this guy is me? There must be a lot of guys out there wearing orange, hell maybe there is a whole summer camp with orange uniforms" Naruto shrugged his shoulder, tugging the newspaper from his hand, reading it quickly before saying "Other than spying on her life, why don't they put the match between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir last night on the front page and tell us how dominated Lesnar was"
Naruto stood up and checked the clock on the wall, it was about time.
"Gather your things, the bus will leave in twenty minutes" Naruto threw his bag on his shoulder and walked to the door.
"Hey!, we're not done yet Naruto!" Daniel shouted, quickly gathering his belongings "Fishcake wait!"
Line Break
Unfortunately for Daniel and oh so lucky for Naruto, he was sorted to bus ninety nine while his self-proclaimed friend was sorted into bus ninety four, which meant Naruto could relax, have his own space and be freed from Daniel's annoying stories for about five hours of traveling.
Naruto chose a seat at the middle of the bus, beside the window so he could look at the world outside. While there were some differences between Earth and Elemental Nations, Naruto couldn't help but see so many similar things between the two worlds.
Pulling out his IPod Naruto put the headphones in his ears and chose the songs, going through various kinds of music, he stopped at the folder where he stored all of Caitlyn's songs.
When he was going through the list chose the song he hadn't heard yet, he heard a voice.
"You should give Love Story a chance, it was my best last year" Naruto turned his head to the side and saw Caitlyn standing there smiling at him, her hands put on the chair to support her body "hey" she greeted him softly, with her head tilting to the side.
"Hey" Naruto grinned "You are bus ninety nine too?" he asked, looking at the student card lying on her generous bust.
"Yes, cool huh" she held it in her hand and smiled at him "Mind if I sit here" she motioned her head to the seat next to him.
"Sure, go ahead" Naruto nodded. Caitlyn put her bag into the cargo hold cabin above them and sat down beside Naruto, raising her hand to adjust the air-conditioner above them she asked "where is your friend?"
"You mean Daniel? He is in a different bus, saving me some headache anyway" Naruto nodded his head while Caitlyn giggled "Where is your bodyguard, I thought someone like you will have him around twenty four seven?"
"John will follow behind us in his car" Caitlyn smiled and raised her head when the bus roared to life "Oh, here we go"
They didn't talk much the first hour of the journey, mainly because Naruto was watching the recording of the match between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir he missed last night while Caitlyn was reading a guide book about New York. Many students who happened to travel on the same bus as them came and asked the blonde for her signature, asking Caitlyn about her plan for her next movies and songs or just to take a picture and selfie with their idol. Most male students came and looked at Naruto in jealousy, which he ignored. Some of them even asked Caitlyn to come and sit with them but she politely refused.
"Damn!" Naruto grinned and put his phone back into his pocket, the fight was awesome and it was too bad that he couldn't have watched it live last night.
"You like UFC a lot, don't you?" Caitlyn asked.
"Well yeah, the only thing I find entertaining" Naruto nodded his head with a smile.
"What about my music?"
"Well you can say that it was added to my list" Caitlyn giggled
"My brother likes it too" Caitlyn said "to meet up with his partners in business actually, you know the higher-class people"
"Yeah I know" Naruto nodded his head "you have a brother? What is he like?"
"He's really nice and a very hard worker, he is the CEO for my father's company" Naruto wolf-whistled while Caitlyn was wondering where Naruto was coming from, clearly everyone knew about the Sharpes, everyone but the blond in front of her "unlike him I don't have this...leader's attitude and a mind for business, so I can't be a part of this bigger picture, like my father said"
"And so..."
"I decided to create a bigger picture of myself, become Caitlyn Sharpe, not the daughter of Sharpe" She looked at him and said with a small smile "I stepped into the world of entertainment when I was eight years old. With my performance on stages and in movies around the world, I fulfilled my own dream faster than I thought, I finally stepped out of my family's shadow" she smiled "what about you Mr. Japanese but not Japanese?"
"I lived on my own since the day I was born" Caitlyn gasped and was about to say something but Naruto quickly added "Not like that, there was an accident and my parents thought I was dead, so they returned to their home and didn't know that they left me there on my own" Naruto said "I grew up with the dream of becoming the leader of the village I lived in. It was really hard at first, but slowly I think that the villagers finally recognized me and accepted my existence among them"
"Then two years ago, my parents found out I was still alive and brought me to their homeland." Naruto continued "but then I suddenly realized that they weren't the people I thought they were, doing a lot of bad things in the past that I can't accept. So I decided to move out and stay on my own. After all, I had always been alone most of my life so I'm kind of used to it by now" he chuckled bitterly.
"Nobody likes to be alone Naruto" Caitlyn said softly as she took his hand into her hands "no matter what they did Naruto, the past is the past, whats important is that they love you, you're their son Naruto"
"Caitlyn" Naruto looked at her and smiled "Thank you" his hands tightened around her smaller ones.
"My pleasure" she smiled at him and leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes but the smile never left her face.
Line Break
The buses arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York City at twelve o'clock noon after five hours of traveling. If not for Caitlyn who sat next to him and got a lot of amusement tricks to entertain him, Naruto would have been bored to death because sitting in the same place for five hours straight.
Caitlyn was a little sore but she quickly got out of the book and stood next to Naruto, holding the guide book in her hand she read.
"Did you know that this museum is the largest art museum in the United States and among the most visited art museums in the world." She read excitedly "Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments"
"You're slowly turning into Athena you know" Caitlyn looked at him questionably "I mean, the smart kind of girl, which says everything can be found in a book"
"Oh, you do compare things around you a lot with the Gods in Greek Mythology, don't you?" she smiled mischievously "And I do remember that you said 'she's Caitlyn Sharpe not Aphrodite'" Naruto chuckled while scratching the back of his head.
Luckily for him, Daniel came to the rescue.
"Konbanwa (good evening) my friend" He said happily at Naruto looking around the blonde's shoulder. "Who's your...OH MY GOD, CAITLYN SHARPE!" he cried out and tripped over himself, nearly falling to the ground if not for Naruto who quickly caught him.
"First idiot keep your damn voice down" Naruto said before letting go of his arm, making the boy fall down to the ground "and Konbanwa is 'good evening'" Caitlyn giggled, using the guide book to cover her mouth.
"Let's go guys, the others are already coming in" the singer/actress said, motioning her hand for the boys to follow her, which the black one did faster than Naruto could even blink.
Shaking his head, the Prince of Olympus quickly followed them but when he was midway up the steps that led up to the museum, Naruto stopped when he suddenly felt a slight tingle at the back of his head. Turning his head back Naruto's eyes were met with a bus with the world 'Yancy Academy' on top of it.
The students inside began to move out of the bus and he could see that most of them weren't the best kind of teenagers you could find, most of them around the age of fifteen and sixteen.
But two of them caught his attention the most.
One smelt like goat while the other smelt like the sea.
And there was one explanation for this.
One was Satyr and the other was a Demigod.
Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12