What if things were different?
Summary: What if Naruto and Gaara had been taken away from the Leaf and Sand before Gaara turned cold and Naruto was too hated? What if the woman who took them away, was the greatest ninja in the world and she trained them? What if they returned to Kohana to help in its time of need? What if they fell in love?
Disclaimer: I no own Naruto
Chapter one: Cry No More
Naruto Uzumaki wiped his tears away as he watched the citizens of Kohana turn their backs and leave him alone at the park. 'What did I do? I'm just Naruto…just Naruto. I couldn't have done anything to the people. Why do they hate me?' He thought to himself sadly. Being just a child, he couldn't comprehend why. So he put it on the person they did, himself. Tears fell from his sapphire eyes as he rubbed them away, closing his eyes.
How the poor boy longed for someone to wrap their arms around him. Someone to tell him it would be alright. He could almost feel a warm body against his back, firm and yet gentle arms wrapping about his stomach. The comforting curve of a woman's body as she held him close to her protectively…reassuringly. Naruto's eyes snapped open. There was someone hugging him. He looked down and saw tanned caramel skinned arms wrapped around him from behind, he did feel the curve of a woman's chest against his back [- Please don't get perverted people -, a soft voice talking comfortingly to him. He went quiet so he could listen to her talk…no, she wasn't talking. She was singing. Naruto strained his ears to listen to her quiet song:
Cry no more, sweet child
Cry no more today
I'll be here forever
I'll be here to stay
Cry no more, poor child
It will okay
I'll protect you, child
No harm will come your way
You're not my child
But my life shall be your shield
I'll be here, poor child
To scare away your fear
So much tears, kind child
Tears you should not spill
Weep no more, kind child
No sadness will come near
All alone, sad child
Kind hearted soul
Not alone poor child
Cruel people leave today
Cry no more, sweet child
Cry no more today
I'll be here forever
I'll be here to stay…'
Naruto stopped crying a while ago but her song surprised him. She not only touched him, a feat no one would do, and now she was singing to him. He squirmed around in her arms trying to look at this mysterious person. The woman noted what she was doing and backed off slightly.
She had tanned caramel colored skin, almond shaped and gentle, yet fierce, golden eyes. Her ridiculously long black hair was in a high ponytail, framing her teardrop shaped face nicely. She had on a solid red dress that went to her knees and formed her curved body nicely, with black leggings, both of which matching beautifully with her skin color. The woman couldn't have been older than 17. She had the normal looks of a kunochi: a weapons pouch, ninja sandals, and a ninja head band wrapped around her waist. Two actually: one had the leaf of Kohana; the other had a snowflake, though the Kohana headband was almost completely covering the snowflake one.
Like any good boy and girl, Naruto immediately pulled away from the woman, slightly afraid, as she kneeled down to his height. She smiled gently and said "Hello Naruto-kun. My name is Luxuria Ivra. I know that hard to pronounce so you can call me Lust. That's what my name means. This village…they treat you wrong here don't that Naruto-kun?" Naruto was surprised at being called 'Naruto-kun' for the first time but shook his head. "No Lust-sama. I did something wrong. They're just punishing me" he said sheepishly. Suddenly Luxuria's eyes flashed a dangerous white before going gold again, when she saw the life getting scared out of Naruto. She sighed and said gently "Oh Naruto-kun. You've done nothing wrong. They have. You have…uniqueness to you that they fear. They think you're a threat, so they avoid you, shun you, ignore you. It's not your fault."
Naruto looked deeply into Luxuria's golden eyes, searching for a lie, hoping against hope she was lying. They couldn't have been so mean to him because they found an eight year old dangerous? He could tell she usually had closed features, but she was open to him and then he felt something for the first time. Rage: How dare they shun him? It wasn't him fault he was different! He didn't know it but the whiskers on his face where getting darker when Luxuria took his hand, scaring him again. "You want to come with me? To a nicer place, where they accept you?" she said, stroking his sunny hair. Naruto's sapphire blue eyes met Luxuria's golden ones. "Yes, Lust-sama, I would like that very much." Luxuria smiled and squatted down in front of him, her back to the curious boy. "Good. Get on my back. We have one more stop to make before I can take you to your new home. I'm going to get us another…outcast, like you were. But first, you don't have to call me Lust-sama. You can just call me Lust, Lust-neechan, or Lust-sensei" she said with a smirk. "Lust-sensei…?" Naruto asked, even more surprised as he crawled onto her back. Luxuria didn't answer but ran at full speed out of the village, as the sun went down, heading for a large village…hidden in the desert.
Tears poured from a small red head's greenish eyes as another wall of sand protected him from an explosion. His only family, besides his damned father, was now dead. Because he chose to kill him, the boy's only family was now dead. The boy's small form shook as the sand disappeared again. "Why me?" he sobbed. "What did I do? I just want to help! To protect! What did I do?! I'm only 8 and half years old!" Suddenly a sound of someone jumping behind him forced the boy to whip around, waiting for the sand to spring up…but it didn't. If fact, it slid away and disappeared. 'Great. Now the sand is leaving me. Who are they?' the boy thought with slight curiosity as he strained to see the two people through the gloom. One was obviously a child. He was wearing a baggy shirt with a Kohana leaf on it, and baggy shorts. His spiky blond hair and shining blue eyes glinted in thinning sunlight as he got off the other person's back. Next to him was a beautiful, exotic looking, kunochi. What she had on really didn't interest him but the two headbands around her waist did. They were a Kohana headband and a strange, snowflake one that he had never seen before.
The boy immediately tensed but then the woman's golden eyes caught his. There was gentleness in them that he had never seen before. A type of sympathetic understanding that he had never been shown before.
The blond boy tugged at the kunochi's dress. "Hey Lust-neechan, is this the other outcast you told me about?" he asked, motioning toward the red headed boy. The kunochi nodded and kneeled down to the red head. "Yes, Naruto-kun, this is Gaara-kun of the Sand. Hello, Gaara-kun. My name is Luxuria Ivra…" she said but was cut off by the boy, Naruto, yelling. "Yeah, but that's hard to pronounce. You can call her Lust-neechan like me!" Luxuria laughed but turned back to Gaara. "They treat you bad here. Come with us Gaara-kun. Naruto and I will take care of you. We'll be your siblings" she said kindly. Gaara shook his head but took one step forward, her eyes looking so comforting to him. "N-no, miss. I already have siblings: Temari-neesan and Kankurou-niisan…" Luxuria's eyes softened even more. "Oh Gaara-kun…You know they fear you and only get close to you if they have to. But Naruto-kun can your brother, he understands how you feel, and I can be you big sister, I'll be your guy's guardian. Come with us. You'll be loved. I promise you" she said, surprised. For at the world 'loved' Gaara was standing next to Naruto, looking up at Luxuria curiously. "So where are we going?" Gaara asked. Luxuria laughed and squatted down again so Gaara and Naruto could squeeze onto her back. As she ran out of the Sand, she started singing.
'Cry no more, sweet child
Cry no more today
I'll be here forever
I'll be here to stay….'
End of Chapter one