Chapter I: Packing Up

Uzumaki Naruto's bright blue eyes trailed around her room helplessly. The once lively, cluttered bedroom was now reduced to blank orange walls and a mass of cardboard boxes. That was her life, she thought, and it had managed to be compacted into flimsy cubes. Even the walls, which were the brightest fiery orange you could find (unless you actually set the walls on fire), seemed lifeless and dull without the posters and photographs that had speckled it.

An overwhelming emotion took over her entire mind. Lost, she thought, I am lost. Though she knew exactly where she was, she felt as if she was in some foreign land. Her life was being stripped from her, and replaced with a stranger's. Naruto's life was filled with fights and city lights and her parents, the only people who understood and accepted her.

Now they were all gone.

Her parents, Kushina and Minato, had passed away. Her throat clogged up at the thought and her eyes stung violently. Roughly, she yanked her sunset-coloured hoodie sleeve and rubbed her eyes. The Uzumaki couple had died, a suicide according to the authorities, in the lounge of the very apartment Naruto was sitting in. Adding to the choking sounds emitting from her cracked lips and the struggling battle of holding in her tears, there was an inner war.

Her gut screamed that it was most certainly not a suicide. Yes, her parents had been found hanging from the beam (a guttural sound clawed its way through her throat) in the living room. Naruto's instincts seemed to know better. For instance, it was completely and utterly out of character. Her mother, Kushina, though she was a loud, confident person with extremely 'colourful' language, she was also happy and loving. Minato was more refined, but was completely devoted to his family. They both adored Naruto, as they reminded her every morning and night before their deaths, and were as hopelessly in love as they were the day they met.

They hadn't even left a note.

Yet her mind tried to reason with her, say that it couldn't have been anything else. The FBI had scanned the entire building for anything suspicious. They were unsuccessful. Not even an unusual fingerprint in the house. It must have been suicide.

And while this battle went on, her heart ached with every beat and hopelessness took over her mind. The doorbell's chime rang through the empty, packed up apartment. That must've been Jiraiya. He was her new carer. She had met him before, and she was fond of him when she was younger, but she could barely remember him now. Not even remember the rumbles of his voice. Dizzily, she got to her feet and walked out of her bedroom.

The crime scene tape was long gone, the case pushed aside to deal with more 'serious' crimes. The only reason it was not completely dropped as a suicide was because of Naruto's insistence. Almost as if she was floating through the hallway, trying to avoid the living room, she reached the red door that welcomed people into their home. Or should she say, the apartment? Because, as of today, the apartment was for sale and it stopped being a home the moment her parents breathed their last breaths here.

Naruto's tanned hand trembled as she fumbled with the keys that she'd have to return today. Eventually, the door swung open to reveal a bear of a man. His hair was almost unnaturally white, incredibly wild and spiky, and very long. Held back by a rubber band, large eyes looked down to her from a face painted with stripes. His clothes were odd, tunic and sandals, but as soon as her sapphire orbs met his eyes, recognition and love, even, hit her like a ton of bricks.

Of course she remembered him! How could she forget? Tears broke through the barrier and she sobbed into his chest as warm arms wordlessly wrapped around her in a comforting, protective and wonderfully familiar embrace. In the numbness and pain of the recent events, and with the business of her small family's life before then, Naruto had stopped visiting her godfather – her grandfather – and even stopped writing to him. She was so busy with school, work… everything.

But that would change now.

Now that he was the only thing she had.

"I'm so sorry," she hicced into his warm chest. The dull thumping of his heart soothed her like a calming lullaby.

A rumbling laugh shook his chest gently as Naruto snuggled against it for comfort. The tears ceased, but she kept hiccuping. "What have ya got to be sorry about, squirt?" He ruffled her blonde hair under his wrinkled hand. "Come on, I'll help you with the boxes and then we can go to Konoha." Naruto nodded mutely.

Naruto packed the last remnants away, sealed the boxes and scribbled in her unjoined handwriting where the contents belonged. Then it was up to Jiraiya to do the heavy lifting and take it down to the huge Jeep that awaited them. As Jiraiya took the box of kitchen supplies, Naruto studied herself in her reflection.

She was a wreck.

Her bright azure eyes were rimmed by deep red marks, her blond-ish eyelashes still dotted with crystal clear droplets, not to mention deep lilac shadows under her eyes. Her blonde hair was up in her usual two ponytails, but they were havoc. Frizzy, messy and out of control. Her tanned baby face looked gaunt from lack of food, her cheekbones hollow and her lips cracked and dry. Not to mention the fox whiskers. They were ingrained into her skin, several lines for each dash across her cheeks. Birthmarks.

She stroked them idly, a memory appearing from nowhere.

Naruto pushed through the crimson red door miserably, her eyes still burning and gushing tears; her cheeks were still the ashamed and embarrassed pink. The cold autumn outside had added to the flush. Her school uniform clung to her as she clutched her rucksack to her chest.

She was eleven years old and it was her first day at her school.

Barging through the house, quietly crying without making a peep, she heard her mother's lovely voice call out: "Naruto? Is that you? Welcome home! How was your day?" but as Naruto was too distressed to answer, and on normal days Naruto came crashing into the kitchen and blabbing about every detail of the day, her mother must've known something was off.

A gentle knocking rapped at the soft wood of Naruto's door. Posters of several KPop bands and Japanese singers Naruto had found out about covered the door from head-to-foot on her side of the door.

"Naruto? Are you okay?" Kushina's voice was soft now, gentle.

"Go away!" Naruto yelled, her voice catching on the 'away' and she sniffled.

Naruto almost drowned in the motherly concerned aura that poured out of Kushina. Not to mention the sudden anger. Though Kushina was rarely angry with Naruto, she still thought it was directed at her for yelling.

"Naruto, please let me in." Naruto hesitated.

"The door's open," she replied quietly, still clutching onto the bright orange rucksack.

Kushina's dark blue eyes flashed when she saw her young daughter's state. Her flaming red hair splayed out behind her as she sped towards Naruto, wrapping her in a warm hug. "Honey! Tell me what's wrong?" It was a command and a gentle push at the same time.

Only her mother could do that.

Naruto rubbed her nose and nodded. "A-At school I was r-really happy, I felt so grown up," the young blonde gave a nervous laugh. She wasn't one to giggle – unlike her peers. "And I was put into my class… but e-everyone started t-to call me names."

"Why? What kind of names?" Kushina pressed, stroking a spiky lock out of Naruto's round, fox-like face. The tanned button nose wrinkled as she sniffed again. Kushina seemed to be almost glowing with rage. Naruto knew how protective her mother was – especially about her only child.

"Making fun of my whiskers," Naruto whispered. As she said this, Kushina stroked the offending details gently and kissed her on the forehead. "They called me Fox Freak and Whisker Girl, and laughed and pointed and asked if I ate the rubbish like real foxes do." Naruto whimpered.

One dark blue eye twitched as a door opened. Minato's voice came echoing through the small apartment. "Hello, I'm home!" His voice was cheery and he opened the ajar door to peer inside curiously. He saw Kushina and Naruto in an embrace and smiled brightly, until he saw his wife's murderously enraged expression and his daughter's tears.

"Oh no," was all he had time to say before Kushina bombarded him.

"Naruto's been bullied! Because of her whiskers! I'm going to march down to their houses and I'm gonna shatter their doors into splinters, then I'm gonna wring the little bastards' necks!" She roared, clenching her fists. Naruto watched in shock, her eyes widening.

Minato attempted to calm down Kushina. "Language, Kush!" He scolded, shooting a glance at Naruto, who quirked her head. "The best way to solve this is-"

"Let Naruto hear all the 'colourful' language she wants! I hope she repeats it to those sons of bitches." She turned to Naruto and crouched down, an eerily cheery smile stretching her entire face upwards, her eyes shut happily. "Now Naruto, next time they call you a mean name, punch them in the face," she said sweetly.

"Okay," Naruto obeyed immediately. Mother knew best, after all. She nodded and wiped her nose again.

"No wait!" Minato's expression was shock and he laughed nervously. "Naruto, your mother was only joking. You can't solve anything with violence," he smiled. "Just go to the head teacher, and they'll sort it out, okay?"

"Okay," Naruto nodded once more.

"Are you insane?" Kushina demanded. "Since when has that genius idea ever worked in the past? I remember when I was younger, when I got called Tomato and other stuff, I went to the head teacher, who stood up in front of my whole class and told them to start treating me nicely because I was 'very affected by the situation'." The redheaded woman frowned. "So, of course, as soon as the woman's back was turned, the bullying got worse. Until I gave someone a black eye that is," the face shifted to bright once more. "Then they all left me alone."

"But times have changed, Kush!" The blonde male protested. Naruto's head followed their conversation like a tennis match.

"Not things like that, Minato," her mother sighed. "I just want Naruto to not get hurt like this. It's her first day and she comes back crying!" Minato looked at Naruto, who finally stopped crying, and let out a deep sigh.

"Okay, Naruto, next time anyone threatens you, hurts you or calls you anything really nasty, please-"

"Hit them." Kushina finished, grinning broadly.

"Tell an adult first," Minato compromised. "If it doesn't get any better, do what you must," he sighed, rubbing the space between his eyes as if he was getting a migraine and came down to hug her. "I don't want you getting hurt, emotionally or otherwise," he murmured into her ear.

"For the record, I think your whiskers are really cool," beamed Kushina. Naruto perked up as Minato pulled away.

"Really?"

"Yep! Makes you look like a cool Neko or fox. Which reminds me of a fairytale I once heard about a nine-tailed fox demon," the redheaded woman shot a knowing look to Minato, who grinned in response.

"The character was remarkably like you, Kush. Kinda terrifying. Thought I was married to a demon."

"You are."

Naruto smiled weakly at her reflection. The banter had continued until Naruto had felt brilliant and since then, Naruto beat up any kid who even thought about calling her a bin-raider or a freak. She was a loner with no friends, but at least she never got bullied anymore. A few days after Naruto's first day, her mother and father bought her a present: a bright orange nine-tailed fox plush. Naruto adored it as soon as she laid eyes on it – orange was her favourite colour, after all! – and named it Kyuubi. Kyuubi was her fluffy companion till she was thirteen, when she left it down in Konoha one summer. She was so sad afterwards, she actually cried.

A lot.

More than she cared to admit, really.

Naruto was laughing softly now, though it wasn't really a happy laugh. It was a remininiscent, get-more-happy laugh.

She scanned her clothes, which didn't really help her whole messy look. An oversized pull-over orange (she really liked orange) hoodie with the letters NU in deep navy was crinkled from sleep and underneath the worn thing was a white t-shirt with bold black letters stating one word: FOXY. Faded blue jeans were ripped in strategic places and black converse covered orange fluffy socks.

She snapped out of her self-examination as she was called down to Jiraiya's jeep.

She ran, still clutching the bronze keys (after heavy depersonalisation) and one box. It was scrawled with MEMORIES. She dropped the keys into a ceramic bowl by the landowner's desk and rushed to the door.

The Jeep was dark grey, with chipped paint and thick wheels. It was ancient, huge and very much Naruto's thing. She grinned easily when she saw it, though her face was stiff from lack of smiling (that actually did happen, can you believe it?) and stuffed the box into the back seat of the car.

She snuggled into the beige seats, inhaling the scent of tobacco, peppermint and the natural musky scent of her grandfather. The old radio had one channel, which was a bunch of oldie songs. Jiraiya eased in beside her, after slamming the boot shut, and closed the doors. After asking if the radio's channel bothered her, she shook her head, and they began the journey to her new home.

With the window cracked open, Elvie Presley blaring and the air becoming clearer and clearer as they left the city behind, Naruto started wondering if maybe this move wouldn't be quite as bad as she thought it would be.