I ran through the crowds, shoving every passerby aside that was in my way, which sadly was most of them. You'd think that a 5'8 guy, charging, no that was an understatement, practically mowing people over, down the street would be noticed; but apparently not.

Naruko, what the hell were you thinking?

Not even five minutes ago, Iruka knocks on my door, asks me where Naruko while explaining that she had stolen the Forbidden Scroll. I pointed him slightly off the mark because I had to talk to Naruko first. I smirked, it pays to be a skilled sensory ninja, you always find out about things so much faster.

Suddenly the crowds ended as I ran into a side street that opens up to the forest.

She's got to be at that old shack out here, I can't think of anything else out here to mark your position by, after all, there is no way she would take that scroll of her own free will, someone is definitely behind this... Please be safe Naruko!

A female's terrified scream split the air before it was abruptly cut off.

Shit!

I kept running, praying that I would get there in time to save Naruko. I finally got to the clearing to see Naruko, stripped, gagged with a foreign cloth, and tied up to a tree with some rope, and Mizuki's hands roaming her body.

"You damned Bastard!" I cried out, he turned to face me, a look of shock on painting every feature for the flash of the nanosecond I saw it.

Then I barreled into him. I don't care who you are, being hit by 180 pounds of muscle by a person running at a full tilt is going to hurt! That and the fact that I ducked my shoulder to hit him right in the center of his sternum… We hit the ground and skidded for a bit, Mizuki trying to get air into his lungs and I trying to put the kunai I had pulled out into his heart, seeing as how he'd managed to smash his elbow into the side of my face, effectively knocking me off him. I rolled away and snapped back to my feet, shaking my head to get rid of the dizziness that the blow had created.

"Really now, why do you get involved, you can't possibly want to save that demon now, do you?"

He got up to his feet and rubbed his chest, flinching as he did so. All the while spitting out the phrase 'that demon" like the foulest taste in the world he's ever known.

"Demon? Don't you mean jinchuuriki? There is a huge difference you know."

I ducked under a punch and returned a harder one to his sternum, causing him to stumble away, a look of pain on his face.

"After all, sealing a kunai into a scroll doesn't turn the scroll into a kunai, now does it, or are you to idiotic to realize that hmm?"

He glared at me, watching my movements. I wasn't too concerned with him at the moment, I was hoping that Naruko had listened to me, and understood what I was trying to say.

"The Kyuubi attacked us and the fourth died sealing the demon away into Naruko-chan. Every day she lives she is holding the demon back, protecting us. And yet you idiots act as if you are trying to get her to release the demon. The wounded will go to those who act like they are healing their wounds."

I flinched at that last bit, as it didn't come out like I had wanted it to, but I didn't have time to think much about it, as Mizuki attacked me again, this time wielding a giant fuuma shuriken. Again I ducked under his blow, this time throwing my kunai at the ropes holding Naruko's hands. I was rewarded with a blow to my back, and her free hands. Grunting I slammed into the dirt, rolling away as the shuriken pierced the ground where I had fallen. Rising to my feet I saw the shuriken flying towards me and I put up my arms to block the attack, barely biting back a scream as the steel bit deep into my flesh of my forearms.

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

I close my eyes as hundreds of nude Naruko's fill my vision. I kneel down, holding my arms to my side, feeling the warm stickiness of blood run down to my hands as the sounds of fists hitting flesh fill my ears. After about a minute or so the sounds of fighting die down as a pair of soft hands lift up my left arm and wrap the bandages around the wounds on my arms and hands.

"Thank you, really." She spoke so softly that I barely heard her over the softest sounds of the forest around us.

"Like I could let you get into trouble without me by your side!" I hissed from pain as she tied off the bandage unexpectedly tight causing my voice to raise slightly. "Was that necessary?"

"I'm the one getting you out of trouble all the time…" she commented dryly assessing and reassessing her work.

"Exactly, I can't let you get into trouble because I owe you one; or more."

She sighed with a flash of a smile as she finished wrapping up my wounds.

"Why are your eyes closed?" I felt her hands come up to my face and brush against my paling eyelids. "Did your eyes get hurt during your fight?"

"Do you have anything on?" I asked, shaking my head.

"N-No." I could see her embarrassed and worried face in my mind's eye.

I reached up and attempted to grab my shirt, only to realize that something in my hands had been cut and my grabbing ability was severely hindered. My thumbs, however, worked just fine though so I hooked one under the back of my collar and pulled off my shirt, offering, it to her.

"Take it."

I heard the rustling of cloth as the garment was lifted from my hand and I presume she put it on seeing what she said next.

"You can open your eyes now."

I looked at her, seeing the scared look on her face, the bruise on her left cheek and several on her legs, rope burn on her hands from trying to free herself no doubt after all; no one would sit there and just take that kind of torture. Because Naruko was so much smaller than me, the shirt fell almost to her knees, looking like a really cheap dress on her and covering any other signs of abuse.

"Come on, let's get you home."

I rocketed onto the balls of my feet and stood, only to get extremely dizzy as the world got dark around me. I faintly heard Naruko screaming as I fell unconscious.

I woke up an hour later I was told, the doctor had already patched me up and were ready to discharge me after I woke up and got a final screening. Naruko was right there beside me the entire time, a sheet wrapped around her giving her more cover, not that she took off my shirt from what I could see of her at least throughout the screenings.

We left shortly; I was fine and had some fresh bandages around my arms and my hands back at full use. Silence reigned as we walked through the deserted city streets, practically everyone else already in bed, with only a few, brief words spoken to tell me what had happened with Iruka-sensei and the scroll. We were just a little ways away from her home when she spoke, her voice breaking the heavy silence that had fallen between us.

"Are you alright?"

She sounded truly concerned but an underlying fear hid in the very depth of her voice… not surprising me after what I saw almost happen to her. I stopped and looked at her.

"I'm the one supposed to be asking you that, you're the one who almost got raped."

Slight humor in my voice to take the edge off the memory she is having, after all no one's eyes glaze over when thinking otherwise.

"But I didn't, thanks to you, and you got hurt saving me."

"It's the least I could do for you."

There was the barest of a pause before I said 'you' and she noticed it. Looking at me, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"What were you going to say?"

I blushed and looked away while mentally stumbling for an answer.

"N-Nothing."

"If you don't tell me, my mind will tell me things that aren't true. I'll start thinking that you are just like them!" A note of hurt and slight fear crept into her voice and instantly I wrapped her up in a hug without even thinking of the things she had experienced prior this day.

"It's the least I could do for the girl I love." I whispered into her hair, my arms pulling her to my chest.

She took a half step back, looking up into my eyes, hers wide with shock and a tint of disappearing fear remembering who she is with. Flushing a dark shade of red, she looked down and brushed a bit of hair out of her face tucking it behind her ear.

"You love me?"

I leaned close to her and whispered into her ear gently letting my lips brush her ear.

"I do with all of my heart."

I then kissed her hair as I held her in my arms she trembled slightly. I was rather startled when she pushed me away. I saw her face, darkened by a blush and a small smile gracing her lips; it was shaky but still a smile.

"Not here, okay."

I merely took her hand in mine and continued walking her home.

I was fine until we hit the stairs, and then my body reminded me I'd lost a lot of blood and I nearly blacked out again. I barely registered Naruko freaking out and pushing, no more like dragging, me into a chair in the kitchen area of her small apartment. There I sat for a while before the blood finally made it back to my head. I came to with Naruko's face about an inch in front of mine, worry etched with pristine detail in her expression.

"What happened?"

I put my hand to my face and exhaled slowly, "I lost more blood than I thought."

She put her arms around me and didn't let go even when I sat back in the chair, dragging her onto my lap unintentionally. It felt rather awkward looking down at her, her legs on either side of mine, her face buried in my chest and her arms around my torso. I put an arm around her and gently rubbed her back, almost jerking my arm away when she tensed up, before she let out a shuddering sigh, forcing herself to relax. Naruko hadn't been on my lap for a minute before she started to cry, her shoulders heaving as she breathed through the tears.

"Why? Why do you try and take my burden onto yourself? What have I done to deserve this from you?"

I could only pull her closer to me as I pondered that question myself, not really knowing why I did the things I did for her. I couldn't help but smirk as a memory of one fool who insulted Naruko in my presence.

Sasuke was being an asshole to everyone that day, when his eyes wondered over to Naruko he tried to make a joke about how she was so poor that she probably sold her body to pay for food. I bided my time until the dumbass tried to insult me and I instantly challenged him when he did, not that the insult to me was worth it. Most of the class got the fact that I wasn't fighting him to save my name. That was the only time I beat Sasuke, it was the only time I gave my entire being and every ounce of power I could manage to give without the consequences of murder in a fight against anyone, and it showed. Sasuke never insulted either of us again.

I finally gave up looking for a reason and merely said what was once told to me, a vague memory from my earliest years.

"Love isn't something that is deserved, it merely is. Love is given; it cannot be demanded or taken."

That only made her cry harder as I felt useless as I ran my hand through her hair in an effort to comfort, and I whispered in her ear that everything will be alright. It took her a few minutes for her to cry herself out and when she was done she leaned back and wiped her eyes on my shirt. She realized what she did and blushed.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

I shushed her and pulled her into a hug.

"It's fine, I don't care, really."

She pulled back and shook her head.

"But I care! Do you want to take a shower or something?"

The instant the words left her mouth her eyes widened and she blushed a deep crimson. I had to laugh. She scowled slightly at me, her good nature returning at rapid pace.

"I'm too tired to want anything more than sleep. I'm up way later than normal."

I was shocked when she blushed deeper. I hear her as she clears her throat while I brush some strands of her hair behind her ear.

"Do you want to sleep with me?"

Saying I was shocked was like saying the homage's of the past had a small enough ego to place their faces on a mountain.

I put my hand on her cheek and guided her gaze up so that our eyes met. Leaning forward I let our lips brush against each other for an instant before pulling back and meeting her eyes again. She blushes only slightly finally grasping the concept that I will never be like him.

"It's not what I want, it's what you want."

She stood up and took my hand, gently pulling, as if requesting me to follow her to her bedroom. She flipped off the lights for the main room as we entered her room. She let go of my hand and wrapped her arms around me in an awkward sort of hug.

"I'm not ready for sex, but I want to lie by your side. You don't mind, do you?"

I hugged her back and whispered back to her.

"I already told you, it's not what I want, it's what you want."

My eyes had adjusted to the moonlight streaming in the window enough that I could see her blushing face staring back up at me. I could see her chewing on her lip as she thought over something. I merely held her in my arms as she held me in hers. Finally her face darkened as her blush deepened darker than I thought possible with the situation.

"It gets too hot if you wear anything, so go ahead and take everything off."

She let go of me and turned around, and as if to set an example she lifted my shirt off her, no damage to her skin save the rope burns from struggling against their vicious hold mar her small frame and even those looked better than the last time I saw them, showing off her back, devoid of any piece of cloth to hinder my view . She walked over to the bed and slipped under the cover. There she turned over to look at me, silently asking me why I hadn't already followed her example. I walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down on it, and reached down to take off my boots, tossing them aside. My pants and boxers followed and I slid under the covers, sliding my right arm under the pillow, under her head, as I slid up next to her, my left arm draped over her, not touching her anywhere except her side; I felt her navel and the bare skin around but that was entirely all, I am a man of my word after all. We lay like that, no words spoken, as we both drifted off to sleep.

AN; the guy doesn't have a name at the moment, that is why he is never named in the story, I will have chosen a name by the second chapter, you are welcome to suggest a name by review or PM if you wish. Note, just because you suggest a name, doesn't mean I will use it.

New story, please tell me your thoughts... that means review people.

Special thanks to Girl-in-the-tiger-kimono for Betaing this chapter.