Name: Kimiko Maionakka

Age: 13

Personality: Short Tempered, Smart, Sarcastic at times, Protective of friends, Loves animals

Abilities: Kimiko is strong, extremely fast, and has a high tolorance for pain. Her family's keke-genkai is that she can make her own jutsus without any hand signs. Even though the jutsus she creates aren't the actual keke-gankai, the sharingan can't copy them. She also has some medical abilities. She can tell where and how badly a person is hurt, though she's not skilled in the actual healing yet. She is skilled in taijutsu and can talk to animals. Telepathy runs in her family as well, so she can read minds and talk to someone in their head.

History: Kimiko was born in the middle of a big war. The Village Hidden In The Waterfall-the village she lived in-was in alliance with the Village Hidden In The Leaves against the Stone and Grass Villages. Her parents were both ninja fighting in the war.

Her mother never should have been fighting. She was highly pregnant and was due any day. But she was too proud and strong willed to listen to the doctors' orders on staying safe in the village. She and her husband-Kimiko's father-were killed shortly after her birth.

Kimiko grew up with a hard life. Most people hated her because when she was born, a three tailed fox demon named Shingai was sealed insided of her by an enemy ninja after he killed her mom in hopes that the child would be trusted as a war orphan, and then break down the village from the inside. Unfortunately for him, somebody found out, and the news was quickly spread through the village.

Kimiko was allowed to live and was fostered by her uncle to be a possible weapon of the village someday. He frowned upon it and wanted her to have as normal a childhood as possible. She never knew her parents though, because nobody ever bothered to tell her about them. Not even her uncle.

His wish for her to be normal was never realized however, when paranoid soldiers of the war broke in the night of her fifth birthday and attempted to assassinate her. Her uncle was killed trying to protect her.

Because of her advanced mind, she was already slightly skilled in using her keke-genkai, which had bloomed two years prior unlike most. She went into a fit of dispair and rage, killing the men without realizing it until they were unmoving on the bloodstained floor. Anyone that didn't already hate her, shunned her from that day on.

At age seven she had become sick of the hatred and was slowly falling into a depression. She didn't want to go on a rampage again and kill innocent people so for her health and that of the village, she gathered her things, all the food she could carry, and a tent to sleep in and left.

From there she traveled for her whole life until she was thirteen. She came upon the Leaf Village one day in her travels and remembered stories her uncle had told her about the war and how kind his friends were. She decided to live there and start anew. She bought a small house with the money she had earned doing various jobs in other villages over the years and by selling some of her things.

Naruto met her within her first week in the village and the two became quick friends. She had even become friends with Gaara when she had visited the Hidden Sand. He became tolerable of her due to her unfrightened nature dispite what she had been told. She kept mostly to herself though, and was an unkown to everyone else around her.

Looks: Kimiko has sun-kissed skin and brown eyes. Her chocolate hair is usually held up in a high ponytail that goes down to her mid back. She wears a navy blue cutoff spaghetti strap shirt and short sleeved fishnet shirt over top. She uses two blue strips of cloth around her shoulders to hold a pair of kunai on her back. Her capris are also navy with a clear strip up the side to her mid thigh. She has a gray belt and she keeps her shuriken holster around her right thigh. Her outfit also has fingerless, fishnet gloves and navy sweatbands. She also wears navy shinobi sandals.

Kimiko was walking through the forest one bright and sunny day, berry picking when she heard a whimper. She looked around and found nothing, though she knew better. Something had made the sound and she just had to find it. There was a slight rustle and another whine. She looked under the bush she had been ransacking when she noticed a fox kit.

It looked up at her with sad, frightened little eyes and she noticed that it was covered in thorns from them bush. "Oh my goodness!" she said, picking up the kit by the scruff of his neck. "Are you okay little guy?" she asked him gently. It seemed shocked to understand the human, but responed. "No," he wimpered. "Why? What's wrong?" Kimiko asked, starting to work the thorns from his fur. "My mommy died. I've been alone for two weeks," he said, starting to cry the only way that a baby canine can.

It was breaking Kimiko's heart. "Don't cry, don't cry. I know what it feels like," she said sympathetically as she pulled the last thorn out. "I haven't had parents or someone to look after me since I was five and I'm thirteen now." The kit stared up at her with sorrowful eyes, seeming to silently beg her not to leave. She kissed his head and propped him on her shoulder. "How would you like to come home with me?" she asked, smiling up at him. He managed a small smile and nodded. She bent down and grabbed her full basket. Then she headed in the direction of the village.

On the way back to her house Kimiko fed the kit berries and made small conversation with him, so as to cheer him up. "So, do you have a name?" she asked. "Yeah! I'm Houka!" he smiled. "Doesn't that mean fire?" she asked, wondering at the name. "Yeah. My mom named me that because I'm more orange than any other fox she'd ever seen," he explained.

It made sense. He was a startling bright orange the color of the setting sun.

The two walked in silence the rest of the way to the village, though it was only a few minutes. Kimiko walked down the main street of the village when she was stopped by a loud voice. "Hey, Kimiko!" it yelled from behind her.

"Naruto..." she sighed, knowing her friend couldn't ever be calm. "Who?" Houka asked. "Naruto. He's one of my friends," she explained.

"Hey Kimiko!" Naruto ran up to the brunette, panting. "Hey Naruto! Look who I found in the forest!" she smiled, holding Houka in Naruto's face. Naruto put on a big grin and patted the kit on the head. "He's cute. What's his name?" he asked. "His name's Houka. It fits don't ya think?" she said. "Cool," Naruto replied, looking the young fox over. "It does fit him."

"Hey, you want to come with me to my house? I'm gonna bake a pie," she offered, knowing the boy wouldn't pass up free food. He diliberated for a moment, taking longer than expected. She gazed into his mind and at the forefront was his favorite food in the world. "I'll make ramen," she smirked, knowing exactly which button to push.

"Okay!" he yelled. Naruto ran off in the opposite direction. She laughed to herself. "Naruto, my house is this way," she said, pointing in the other direction. Naruto stopped and walked back. "Right...I was just..uhhh...I got nothing," he said, a slight blush dusting his cheeks.

Kimiko laughed and put Houka back on her shoulder. Naruto grinned and playfully punched her. Then they walked off in the right direction, chatting about this and that. When they got back to Kimiko's house she put Houka down to explore. Naruto sat at the table and she walked around the counter to the kitchen. She bent over, glancing around the corner to make sure that the blonde wasn't watching. Thankfully he was preoccupied with the fox kit.

She quickly pulled out some ramen from a secret compartment filled with the stuff. It was there so she would have some whenever Naruto came by, but so he couldn't find it and wipe her out. She then put some water on the stove and turned it on. "So what kind do you want?" she asked, not really caring due to the fact that she already had it out.

"Pork?" he answered in a questioning tone. "Yeah, I can do that," she said, glad that she had the right flavor for him. She let the soup cook while she prepared a pie with the berries she had picked earlier. The ramen was done in a few minutes and she poured her friend a bowl and handed it to him. He took it while she set the pot on the table. He gawked at it. The pot was bigger than his head! "I know you Naruto. That pot won't last long with you around," she smirked knowingly. Naruto smiled and put his hands behind his head, rubbing at it nervously before digging in.

Houka was curled up in a corner by the time the pie was done. Kimiko brought it out of the oven and set it on the window sill to cool, Naruto watching her and drooling at it the whole time. "Keep your paws off Naruto. Try anything and you die," she warned. "I'm inviting Gaara to come over later so we can all have dinner and then you can eat some for dessert."

Naruto wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "So what do we do until Gaara gets here?" he asked, scanning the room. He was looking for anything interesting to do. Games, trinkets, books-though reading was never his strong point. "Do you want to exchange stories about our pasts again?" Kimiko asked, trying to save her living room. "Sure," he said, sufficiently distracted.

She and Naruto had always told each other stories about their lives and pasts. Suprisingly though, neither of them knew about the other's demon. They both had a seal on their stomachs, but neither ever questioned it.

Since the oven was on for a few hours to bake the pie the house had gotten pretty heated. Naruto-being the whine baby he sometimes was-said it was getting pretty hot and asked if Kimiko would mind him taking his shirt off. She rolled her eyes but told him that she didn't really care. He unzipped his jacket and took his shirt off and she just looked at him. The black had caught her eye and now she was preoccupied with looking at the markings. They made her wonder at the theory that had been building in her head for the past half year.

"What?" Naruto asked, feeling self concious. "Nothing..." she said. "I was just thinking...why do you have that seal?" Naruto looked at her, unsure if he should answer. "I'd rather not tell you...you might not like me anymore," he said, coming to a decision. She snorted. He was insane! "Naruto, that's ridiculous. You're my friend and I would like you no matter what," she said.

"But most people hate me because of it," he protested. "Naruto...Gaara's been killing his whole life and I still like him. What makes you think that I would hate you?" she reasoned. Naruto sighed and finally agreed. He told Kimiko about the Nine Tailed Fox and how he was hated by most people for his whole life. The other kids their age didn't know anything about the demon, but the fear and hatred of their parents was enough to make them treat Naruto like a parasite. She was shocked.

"You too?" she whispered. "What?" Naruto asked in disbelief. "I have a demon inside me too. She was put in me by an enemy ninja trying to destroy my village. The war that your parents died in was the same war that my parents did," she explained. Naruto's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

Kimiko continued to tell the blonde all about her past and how everyone in her home village hated her for being alive, though she had never harmed anyone until the incident. Naruto's story was pretty much the same aside from having family and one killing. The two continued sharing stories of their lives and pasts until Gaara was there.

There was a knock on the door and Kimiko and Naruto dropped the subject. Gaara was let inside and the three talked while Kimiko cooked. The red-head stared blankly at the kit as that story was explained to him, but he attempted to pet it none the less.

The trio ate dinner in silece. It was a comfortable silece that was also a bit surprising due to Naruto's usually loud nature. When Kimiko gazed into his mind she saw that he was too preoccupied thinking of their earlier conversation to say much of anything. She didn't blame him. It was all she could think about too.

When dinner was finished Naruto dove directly into the pie. Thankfully, Gaara had snagged a few pieces for himself and the girl before it was gone. He was secretly a nice kind of guy-though he didn't like to show it at all-and there was one quirk that he loved to use against his friend. He had this habbit of teasing Kimiko to make her blush. He wasn't good with emotion, but he probably found it amusing, so when he and Naruto were leaving he leaned over and pecked her on the cheeck.

She felt the heat rush to her face and she stared down at the floor. Naruto laughed at her discomfort, snapping her out of it. She and Gaara both smirked as she pushed the pair out the door-Naruto a little rougher than neccessary. "Very funny Gaara," she said sarcastically. "Night guys!" "Goodnight Kimiko," they said as the walked off, Gaara lingering a bit longer as she shut the door.

As she turned around Houka sat at her feet staring up at her. "Do you like him?" he asked. "Yes. Why?" she asked. "He kissed you and you got red," he said in a questioning tone. "Oh!" she said, coming to the kit's conclusion. "Yes, I like him but not like that. He just does that to be funny," she said, trying to explain it like she would to a child.

"Oh, okay," he said. "That wasn't very funny." Kimiko laughed. "No, you're right. He's a boring person, so he doesn't know how to be funny right." The fox smiled and laughed with her.

Then she went up the stairs to her bedroom with Houka on her tail. He went straight to her bed and curled up at the foot to fall asleep. She stayed up for another half hour, thinking about how she and Naruto were the same. Before she knew it, the time had drifted into the early A.M. and she fell asleep watching the stars.