Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: I've been working on this one for awhile. Feedback would be much appreciated.

Ninja of the Eternal Spiral

Chapter One

The Storm

She was terrified.

Sakura struggled against the strong almost gale like winds that were pushing her back, trying not to cry as sticks and small rocks struck her. Her blood was warm as it ran down her face and neck from where a sharp rock had hit her earlier.

The sky let out a deafening roar followed almost instantly by a bolt of lightning so bright it lit up the streets.

Sakura gave a loud wail and dropped to her knees with her hands held over her head protectively. She was terrified of lightning and thunder. She couldn't stop the tears any longer. Her tiny shoulders shook with sobs as she huddled in on herself. The rain continued to pelt down on her like a never ending hail of needles.

The academy had let out hours ago, and Sakura had been so sure that she could walk home on her own. She was a big girl, a ninja in training, which meant she had to be stronger than she knew. Maybe.

The rain was cold and stung as it hit her exposed skin. She hugged her arms around herself and forced her shaky legs to hold her weight. She looked both ways, but she had gotten so turned around that she had no idea where she was. There were no buildings, just endless streets surrounded in fences far too high for her to climb.

Then suddenly a blond whirlwind was in front of her. She recognized him as Naruto, the boy her mommy had told her she wasn't allowed to play with. He grasped her hand tightly and started pulling her with him as he ran. His hair was plastered to his head from the rain, and his threadbare clothing was soaked all the way through.

He was fast. It took all of Sakura's concentration not to trip over her own feet as she followed him. He kept sending scared looks up towards the sky, but Sakura was too scared to look. She held his hand even tighter and continued to run. The ground was slippery from the rain and mud, and Naruto stopped her from falling more times than she could count.

Sakura panted as they finally stopped. They hid under a broken fence; it was tilted in such a way that it blocked most of the rain and wind. Though it did nothing to stop the cold. Sakura shivered violently and looked beside her to the small blond who had saved her; he was shivering too.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked when he noticed her staring at him. She flinched because she remembered her parent's orders so clearly. She wasn't allowed to talk to him. Sakura shook her head slightly up and down.

Sakura realized that he was still holding her hand, but she couldn't get herself to let go. He had saved her. She stubbornly raised her head to look at him again. "Thank you." She whispered.

Naruto beamed at her in such a way that made his face light up. Sakura couldn't help but let a smile of her own cross her face. She opened her mouth to ask him what they were going to do, when the fence was ripped away leaving them lying on the ground with no cover. The wind was suddenly deafening in their ears to the point that they couldn't hear anything else.

Sakura screamed. The wind was so strong it was pulling her away from the ground. Naruto wrapped his legs around a large rock and grabbed her hands tightly with his own smaller hands. She screamed again as her legs were lifted into the air.

Why wasn't anyone helping them? Where were the ninja? Where was the Hokage?

Sakura was so scared that she was biting her lip hard enough to draw blood. Her hands felt slippery in Naruto's and she screamed again. No one was going to save her. She had to be brave. Brave, and get them out of this somehow.

Naruto's legs gave out and they were both pulled into the air. This time his terrified screams joined hers as gravity failed and sent them sky-bound into the black tornado.

They screamed and screamed and screamed as they were spun about. Sakura met Naruto's eyes and saw that he was crying just as hard as she was. She had never been so terrified in her life, but even with her fear blinding her, she could still tell that there was something wrong about the storm.

She wasn't sure if it was her or him who let go, but suddenly their hands weren't connected anymore and the last thing she saw was him hurtling higher into the tornado, and then with a flash of light, perhaps lightning, he was gone. Sakura continued to spin in the air, hundreds of feet above the village, and suddenly, everything stopped and she knew no more.

Sakura wasn't sure how long it had been since she hit the ground. Her body was shaking violently from the cold, and her heart was hammering in her chest so loudly from the remembered flight that she was paralyzed with fear.

The ground was cold, colder than the wind and the rain that she had been caught in earlier. She opened one eye and then the other. She couldn't get her body to cooperate fully, but she managed to force herself into a sitting position. Was she dead?

Was this heaven?

The ground was frozen and she was sitting in knee deep snow. Was there snow in heaven?

Her eyes adjusted to the dark slowly, and she could see a large dark shadow looming overhead. She wasn't sure, but she thought she might be on a mountain, or at least by one. A mountain was the only thing she could think of that would have a shadow so big. Even Hokage mountain wasn't that big.

Sakura tried to shake off the rapidly approaching panic. There weren't any mountains that big back home. Where was she?

The wind was cold and loud in her ears, and it was snowing so hard she could barely see four feet in front of herself. "Na-Naruto?" She whispered into the darkness. It hurt her throat to speak and her voice was scratchy and raw from screaming. She stood shakily and cried out as her body screamed in pain from the movement. She tried to focus on her surroundings like she had been taught at the Academy, but she was too scared. "Naruto? Are—are you there?"

There was no answer, and no movement. Sakura closed her eyes for a second and then opened them. Tears ran down her face, freezing before they even had the chance to drip off her cheeks. She picked a direction and started walking.

She hurt. Her head stung from where the flying rock had cut her earlier, and her back hurt from the force of her collision with the icy ground. Her bare arms ached from the cold, and the snow hurt her sandaled feet as she walked. The only sounds as she walked were her numb feet crunching against the hard snow, and her harsh sobbing.

Sakura walked for what felt like hours before dizziness overtook her and she fell to the ground. She had stopped shivering a while ago, and now her body just felt numb. I'm dying, she realized. Her breathing sped up as hysteria rose within her. She didn't want to die.

Low growly voices ghosted over the area a while later. Sakura tried to open her mouth to cry out for help, but her body betrayed her and her mouth stayed stubbornly closed. I'm here! She thought hysterically. I'm right here! Please, help me! Naruto!

Tears ran down her face as she cried out in her mind, again and again.

"Who there?"

The voice was harsh and loud and Sakura was almost afraid to answer. She couldn't form words or even open her mouth, but she managed to let out a small whimpering noise. The sound of the snow crunching as the speaker came closer was almost deafening to her ears.

Sakura opened her eyes when she felt a soft warm hand touch her arm. When she saw the large blue furred lion in a skirt bent over her, it was too much for her seven year old mind to handle and she finally passed out.

Sakura felt awareness creeping back into her slowly. Her eyes felt heavy, and her body was wrapped so tightly in something thick and scratchy that she couldn't move. She was still cold and shivering, but she was much warmer than she was the last time she had been awake. She also seemed to be dry, and there was something extremely warm beside her.

Everything hurt way more than the last time she was awake. Sakura whimpered and tried to open her eyes again. She managed a little this time, and could vaguely make out her surroundings. There was a brightly lit fire beside her, it crackled merrily, and she was wrapped in a rough, thick woolen blanket. She was on a straw mat, and the room she was in was actually a small cave. There were small tapestries along the walls giving the cold cave a warm feeling.

Sakura struggled to sit up, and found herself lightheaded and dizzy when she actually managed the feat. Her head was a whirl of questions as she looked around the fire-lit cave. She wondered where she was, and who had saved her. She wondered why she hurt more now than she had when was hurt in the first place, and she wondered if Naruto had survived the storm.

She pulled the scratchy blanket tighter around her tiny shoulders and realized that she wasn't wearing any clothing. Her red high collared sun dress, pink underwear, and navy blue ninja sandals were set up on racks on the other side of the fire. She wasn't sure how long she had been sleeping, but if felt like it had been a long time.

Sakura crawled to her feet and whimpered again when her bare feet touched the cool stone of the cave floor, they hurt! She sniffled noisily and grasped the blanket tightly around herself with one hand, she rubbed her scratchy, watering eyes with the other. She shuffled over to her clothing and snatched her dress and underwear. It took her very little time to don the dry clothing and when she did, she moved back over to her mat.

Sakura sat down on her mat and pulled the blanket around herself again. The fire was warm and the crackling sound it made was oddly soothing. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands and sniffled. She was still cold, but her shivering had almost stopped, and now she just felt tired. Exhausted, both physically and mentally. It seemed as if the storm had been weeks ago, instead of earlier that day.

Was it even the same day?

Sakura heard a slight crunching noise over the sound of the fire and realized that someone was coming into the cave. She pulled the blanket over her head and pretended to be asleep. She started to shake again though this time it was in fear.

She listened intently, but all she heard was the person sit down, a slight tang noise of something metal being placed on the floor, and then some shuffling sounds. A few minutes later she could smell something. It was sweet and tangy smelling. It made Sakura's mouth water, and she carefully peaked over the top of the blanket.

The man wasn't a man at all; it was tall, blue, and lion-like with a broken horn on its forehead. It had long white hair and a matching white beard. It was also wearing a strange loincloth that was floor length, and a strange blue stomach binding connected to overalls that went over its shoulders to form some sort of armor. It also wore strange forearm armor on both arms and a red rope tied around its waist.

It was watching her as curiously as she was watching it. Sakura sat up again, and lowered the blanket so that it was wrapped around her again, but not hiding her face. She watched him cook a strange purple jelly looking meat, and shifted a bit closer to the fire to see it better. The meat was like nothing she had seen before, but it smelled so good and she realized that she hadn't eaten since lunch-time, and she had shared her bento with her bestest friend Ino, so she hadn't eaten much then. How long ago was lunch-time?

"Hungry?" The voice was growly, like how Sakura assumed a dog would sound if it could speak. Not counting Akamaru, because he didn't speak in their language, Kiba spoke in his.

Sakura was hit with a bout of shyness. She hugged her knees to her chest and looked at him through her long pink bangs. Sometime during the storm her special red ribbon had blown away, and her hair was tangled and dirty. She wanted her mommy and daddy, and Ino, and Naruto, because he wasn't bad like everyone told her. He had helped her!

Sakura nodded slightly after a moment when she realized that it was still waiting for an answer.

"Kimahri." The lion-thing said. He thumped his chest lightly and Sakura realized that he was telling her his name.

"Sakura." She replied shyly. She pointed to herself much like he had done. Sakura assumed that it was a he, because its voice sounded male.

"Kimahri found you on sacred mountain."

Sakura's eyes went wide as her head spun with too many thoughts for her to grasp. Sacred Mountain? Had she broken the law by being there? Was she in trouble? Was he going to execute her? Was she gonna die? Where was Sacred Mountain? She had never heard of it before.

Her tummy rumbled as the meat continued to cook. She wondered if any of the meat was for her. She hoped so, because she was so hungry. She realized that she was shaking again and she closed her eyes with a whimper. She didn't want to die.

"Where little Sakura from?" Kimahri asked.

Sakura looked at him with wide eyes, why was he asking? Did he want to get her in trouble with her parents? Could he help her get back to her parents? She didn't know what to do. Mommy had always told her not to talk to strangers, but she didn't know where her mommy had gone. Where had her home gone?

"I'm from Konoha. They're going ta be lookin for me too!" She tacked on that last bit with her best warning tone. Kimahri looked at her solemnly and then nodded.

Her tummy growled noisily and she looked down at her knees. She wasn't gonna cry, she wasn't gonna cry. Not gonna cry! Her internal mantra ended and she burst into tears. She wanted to go home!

Did home even exist anymore? When she had looked down at the village from her aerial view, the tornado had been tearing everything apart.

Kimahri stood and she realized that he was the tallest person she had ever seen. She was terrified, and she was in pain, and she was tired, and hungry, and thirsty, and she didn't know what to do. Her entire body shook with the force of her tears.

Sakura whimpered and flinched away as the red cloth doorway to the cave was pushed aside. "Please don't kill me!" She cried out through her tears. She pulled her blanket tighter around herself and wished that she had put her shoes on so that she could run. Her eyes were closed tightly in fear.

So much was happening but her mind was moving too slow for her to keep up and she was overwhelmed. She was in pain, and she was scared, and there were strange creatures that could talk, and—and… Why hadn't the Hokage saved her? Was she not important enough? Did he not care? Did her Mommy and Daddy not want her anymore?

"Who's killing who?"

The voice was female and bubbly. It was high and girlish, not growly at all. Sakura opened her eyes cautiously. The person who had spoken was crouched down directly in front of her, and Sakura hadn't even heard her move. Sakura flinched back and cried even louder. She didn't want to die!

Warm hands settled on her shoulders and she looked up at the blond with wide eyes, "Please don't kill me!" She pleaded.

The blond was really very pretty. She had long blond hair in a high ponytail with lots of braids and beads throughout it, mint green eyes the same color as Sakura's own eyes, and her clothing was very pretty. She wore a yellow bikini, a short green skirt with a yellow belt and yellow pouches attached, a long red and yellow scarf, and white bowed sleeves.

"Oh, sweetie…" The woman whispered. She pulled Sakura into a tight hug that chased away the sheer panic that had invaded her body upon waking in a strange new place. "No one is gonna kill you. Kimahri, thanks for calling, I came as fast as I could. Yunie's still helping rid the temple of fiends, or else she would have come too."

"Kimahri happy to help little Sakura." Kimahri replied solemnly.

Sakura sniffled and clung tighter to the woman hugging her. The woman was holding her far too tightly, but it made Sakura feel safe in a way she hadn't felt since the last time she saw her parents. The blond started to rock her and Sakura found herself drifting in and out of consciousness.

She heard bits of their conversation, but between the gentle rocking motion, the soothing sound of the campfire, and the sweet smell in the air, most of it was a blur.

"…The storm. Garik said somethi…."

"…as her? Sakura?"

"…ahri found her last night."

"…she hurt?"

"..thing …na can… eal."

The voices blurred together and her eyes closed.

"Hey, honey? Sakura?"

Sakura blinked open her eyes tiredly. The blond was peering down at her with pretty green swirly eyes. Sakura had read about different bloodlines that changed how the eyes looked, like the Sharingan and the Byakugan, but she'd never heard of one that caused peoples eyes to look swirly. "M'sleepy." She admitted quietly.

"I know you are, I'm gonna take you somewhere safe and warm, is that okay?"

Sakura's struggled against the fatigue that was drawing her down and shook her head slightly in fear. If she left the place that she had been found in, how would the Ninja find her? What if she left and they couldn't find her, and they left without her thinking she had died? "Can I go home?" she pleaded.

"We'll try. We have to find your home first."

"It's in fire country." Sakura added helpfully.

" We'll try." The woman repeated again. She and Kimarhi shared a look and Sakura idly wondered if all grown-ups knew a mind-talking jutsu, because it was clear even to her young mind that there was a lot said through that look.

Sakura felt her hold on consciousness slipping, and worried that if she fell asleep, she'd never wake up again. "I'm scared." She confessed in a whisper.

"Oh, sweetie, everything'll be okay. I promise. I'm gonna find someone to take care of you. My cousin's a healer, and she's gonna make you feel all better!"

"Okay." Sakura said softly. "Please don't kill me. I didn't mean to do anything wrong."

"You didn't do anything wrong kiddo. No one will kill you. I promise." The woman stood and shifted Sakura in her arms into a more comfortable position. "We're going to go on a ship ride, okay? And then I'll get you to a healer super fast, kay?"

"Kay." Sakura agreed shyly. She buried her face into the crook of the blonde's neck. The blond smelled like sunshine and flowers in the wind with a hint of something that smelled like metal and grease. She looked at Kimahri over her shoulder and smiled at the lion man, even though she was scared of him, "Thank you Mr. Kimahri, for not eatin me."

Kimahri nodded solemnly.

The woman moved the blanket that was wrapped around Sakura so that it was covering her head, "It's gonna get really cold for a couple minutes, okay? I've got ya though."

"Okay." Sakura replied around a big yawn.

"Kimahri, it was really good to see you. I'll probably be back near the end of the week to look for clues as to how the little one found her way to your mountain. Maybe by then the fiends'll have stopped pouring outta the temples, cause then Yunie and Dr. P can come too."

"Kimahri looks forward to seeing Rikku again."

"They say that you never know what you have until it's gone. They're right. Though, sometimes, even when you lose something precious, what you gain in return makes it worth it."