Complex

Multi-chaptered

By Understandable Enigma

Summary: AU. "Shinobi" is a term used to describe the exceedingly rare, endangered hybrids. The hybrids have been hunted nearly to extinction, so much so that they must hide among humans. They face poachers, enemy shinobi, and more...Pairings: NaruHina NejiTen InoShikaTem GaaraOC

Chapter 1: Trespasser

The high school was crowded, loud, and smelled terrible. The food was disgusting and the people in it were even worse. There wasn't a single thing Naruto would like more than to never go there ever again, but that would blow his cover. So he continues to go to this godforsaken dump each weekday, from 8:00am until 2:30pm. The only thing that made this miserable existence worthwhile were his friends: Naruto had a small, select group of friends. He had to be exceedingly cautious when selecting his friends because of his position...it would not do for anyone to dredge up any of the skeletons in his closet, so he chose to associate with people who had similar skeletons. Birds of a feather flock together, after all.

This is why Naruto dragged himself out of bed on the Monday morning that this tale begins. He slammed a fist down on the irritatingly high pitched blaring of the infernal alarm clock before stumbling sleepily into the shower. When he was clean and dressed, he ate a meager breakfast of an apple before bidding farewell to his foster mother and sister, and leaving for the damned high school with his foster brother, Kiba. See, Naruto was orphaned at an early age, and Kiba's family had taken him in most graciously.

The two loud boys trudged on towards the school, mumbling, grumbling and complaining the whole way. Things like, "I hate Mondays," and "Why in God's name do we have to be there so early?" were heard for several blocks as they finally came in view of the school. They quickly spotted their friends and sat together with them underneath the huge willow until school started. As usual, Naruto and Kiba were the last two of the group to make it to school, but then they were the ones with the least reason to come to school.

"You idiots should really get here sooner," scolded a blonde girl with eccentric horsetails. "What if there was something important going on and you two got here too late to hear about it?"

"Nothing important happens around here, Tem," Kiba said wistfully. "Don't get my hopes up." Kiba sat on the ground gloomily and began drawing in the dirt with a stick.

"Anyway, did anything important happen?" asked Naruto skeptically. "Because if there wasn't anything important, you have no reason to yell at us, Temari." He lay down in the grass and stared at the swaying, frail branches of the tree.

"As a matter of fact, baka, something important DID happen," snapped Temari.

Naruto and Kiba both perked up, their interest piqued. "What?" asked the loud blonde.

"New kid," came a bored voice from a branch high above their heads.

Naruto looked up at the redhead, annoyed and disappointed. "That's it?" he asked incredulously. "A new kid is the important happening?"

"Hn," Gaara's voice was painfully bored.

"It's not a normal new kid," Sasuke's cold voice clarified. "She smells odd."

Kiba was once again interested. "Odd? Odd how?"

Sasuke shrugged and yawned, closing his eyes. This, of course, pissed Naruto off.

"Stop acting all smooth, annoying bastard!!!" the blond shouted.

Said annoying bastard cracked one eye and said calmly, "I'm not acting, dobe."

"GAAAHH!" Naruto screamed, tugging on his hair. "Go get stuck in a tree, scaredy-cat!"

This struck a nerve with the calm boy. "Say that again, dumb fox, I dare you," Sasuke growled venomously.

"G-guys, c-c-come on, s-stop fighting, pl-pl-ease?" stuttered a skittish Hinata, not wanting this to turn violent, as it so often did.

Naruto's eyes narrowed at the pale-eyed girl. She embarrassedly averted her eyes as he neared her. He said gently, "Where's that stutter coming from?" He ran a hand through her hair soothingly, saying, "I thought we got rid of it. What happened? It was your father, wasn't it?" It wasn't so much of a question than a statement. Hinata remained silent, so Naruto sighed and swept her up into a protective hug, cooing to her in her ear.

Kiba rolled his eyes at the (in his mind) sickeningly sweet display of affection and asked, "So where is this odd-smelling new girl?"

Sasuke shrugged, once again calm, if a little irritated on the inside. "She went into the building a while ago, she's probably getting a tour of the school and getting her schedule and bull like that. You know, typical first day of school stuff," Sasuke closed his eyes once more.

Kiba sighed. He'd wanted a chance to smell the new girl...oh well, he'd smell her before the day was over.

The bell rang, and the fifteen friends dragged themselves up and meandered towards the school, gloom settling down upon them as they looked forward to another day of monotony and disgust.

Naruto and Hinata had their first class together, so they walked together, hand-in-hand, Naruto still attempting to find out what had happened to her over the weekend. He sighed, figuring he'd find out from Neji later...come to think of it, Neji had been uncharacteristically quite that morning, too. He and Tenten hadn't been fighting or anything...That was a sure sign that something was wrong: the couple ALWAYS had something to butt heads about. Naruto became increasingly concerned as he entered his History class and took a seat in the back. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice the person at the front of the class until Hinata nudged him and gestured toward said person.

As soon as Naruto saw her, he knew that she was the new kid that they'd been discussing this morning. She had long, reddish-brown hair that was so straight it looked like it was flattened under a steam roller. Her eyes blue, but not like Naruto's own—they were much lighter, almost gray, and outlined in black eyeliner. She wore a black hooded jacket, and jeans with red paint splattered all over it. However, none of that was what interested Naruto. He was most intrigued by her scent. She didn't smell like his friends, but she definitely didn't smell normal.

The teacher called the class to attention. "Everyone, we have a new student joining us today," he announced. Naruto had noticed that this particular teacher reveled in stating the obvious. He turned to the girl and said, "Why don't you tell the class your name and a bit about yourself?"

The girl looked bored, and annoyed at being made the center of attention. "Your name and a bit about yourself," she announced sarcastically. This earned a couple chuckles from the class and a reprimanding look from the teacher. The girl rolled her eyes and said, "My name is Kira. I don't enjoy talking about myself. I'm antisocial and don't get along with anyone, and this is probably the most you'll ever hear me say at once." She smiled brightly and took a seat in the back next to Hinata, in the corner and proceeded to stare out the window for the remainder of the class.

The teacher was, needless to say, irritated at Kira's insolent remarks. However, he proceeded to begin his lesson. "Well class, today is a very exciting day," he began, "because we're going to begin our study of the history of the Hybrids, better known as Shinobi." The class broke out into whispers and small conversations, while Naruto and Hinata looked at each other grimly…If they were studying Shinobi, it was from human perspective, and humans knew nothing about their kind.

In case you hadn't already figured it out, Naruto and all his friends were shinobi. If it were back in the old days, the glory days, they wouldn't have to hide amongst these human scumbags…They'd be living it large amidst their own people. But, the old days were gone, and this was how they now had to live. It was a shame, really.

"Now," the teacher began, regaining his students' attention, "the first thing you have to realize about hybrids is that they aren't as intelligent as humans. They are ruled by their primal instinct due to their animal blood, and as such they are monsters who cannot control their actions. Now that you understand all that, let's begin with the battles…"

Naruto was furiously grinding his teeth and clenching and unclenching his fists under his desk, doing everything in his power to keep his rage in check and not let the others in the class know that anything was out of place. Hinata was trying to soothe him, inconspicuously stroking his arm calmingly and whispering so low only he could hear her. The class dragged on, and Naruto and Hinata had to sit through each agonizingly inaccurate description of their ancestors. When class finally ended, they hurried out of the class and into the hall where Naruto promptly calmed his nerves by punching a locker.

"Whoa, what's eating you?" came a voice from behind him. Naruto turned to see Ino, clinging to an annoyed-looking Shikamaru. Naruto sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"You guys headed to History?" he asked tiredly. When they nodded he sighed and said, "Today we started Shinobi studies…"

Shikamaru winced and Ino bit her lip. Naruto growled and cracked his knuckles as he remembered the lesson, causing his friends to try and distract him with nonsensical chatter such as parties and who was going out with who and whatnot. When that didn't work, Shika sighed and asked, "That bad?"

Naruto nodded. Then he sighed and said, "I'd better head off to my next class…see you, Ino, Shikamaru." He turned to Hinata and pecked her on the cheek. "See you, Hinata-chan." With that he headed off to his next class.

The rest of the school day passed without much incident, and the group met once more underneath the willow once school was over. The main thing that they discussed was the insanely disgusting crap from their History class, except of course for Neji, Tenten, Lee, Kankuro and Temari, all of whom had already taken the class in previous years. They were keeping their voices down so they wouldn't be overheard, but still they were all seething with rage. They were ranting and snarling, and the new girl was completely knocked from their minds until they spotted her once more.

Actually, it was Gaara who'd spotted her as she was leaving the school. "Guys," he'd called his friends' attention. "Look." Their eyes all followed Gaara's pointing finger and they saw a man greeting Kira. They recognized him as Iruka, the man who ran one of the local foster homes.

"So, she's a foster kid, eh?" said Kankuro. "Well, that's nothing new." This was true: Sasuke, Temari, Gaara, Kankuro, Lee and Tenten were all foster children in addition to Naruto. In the recent war between humans and hybrids, the one in which the hybrids had finally surrendered and gone into hiding, many children had been orphaned and now there was an average of 3 foster houses or orphanages per town. It was one of the most destructive battles in history, so it wasn't unusual that the new girl was a foster child.

However, after Kira got into the car, they noticed something strange: as they were driving away, Kira leaned her head slightly out the window. That was the tell-tale sign of a …canine?

That's when it hit Kiba. "I recognize it now!" he shouted victoriously. When he got questioning looks from his companions, he explained, "Her scent, I recognize it! It's wolf."

A/N: This was a random story idea that I got, and I told my friend and she absolutely craved it and threatened me with bodily harm if I did not write it. I don't care if you don't like the pairings: get over it. My story, my pairings, so XP.

However, I would like feedback. The InoShikaTem triangle is something I've always wanted to write, but I don't know who will win…Who do you think should get Shika-kun? Ino, Temari, ooooorrr…maybe a twist?

Reviews get cookies, constructive criticism is acknowledged then most likely ignored, and flames are kept in a jar until the next time I go camping, then added to my bonfire.