The Survivor

Summary: Jiraiya has given Naruto another pointless task to do while he does 'research'. While observing, he feels something like rain hit his shoulder. Confused, he looks up and is met with a heart stopping sight. A girl in a tree, but not just any girl. What's she doing there? What's her relation to a certain stoic prodigy? Kinda AU in some ways No pairing for now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Koiemi - loved smile

"How...?" speaking

'How...?' thoughts

'How...?' Inner Sakura

This takes place during the month between the prelims and the finals of the chuunin exam.

With Jiraiya

"Oh jeez Naruto, just...go over there and summon a frog again. You gotta keep up with those skills!" Jiraiya groaned as Naruto began pestering him again about his training. Naruto huffed and crossed his arms.

"Oh please, you just want me to leave so you can spy on girls!!" Naruto yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Jiraiya, who sweat dropped.

"Just go." Naruto huffed again and stocked off to a clear patch of rock to practice summoning. Jiraiya smiled perversely and turned back to his 'research'. He began observing and giggled every once in a while. This went on for a good 10 minutes, until something like rain dropped onto Jiraiya's shoulder. The Sannin grunted and looked at it, hoping it wasn't a storm, until he noticed the deep red color of fresh blood. Slightly startled and confused, he looked up and froze. There, directly above him, lying against the trunk of a tree on a fairly thick branch, slumped a girl. She was sitting in a relaxed position like she was asleep, both arms dangling next to her. One of her legs was also dangling, and the other was propped up as to keep her pressed against the trunk. The only thing breaking the relaxed scene was the dark blood staining her skin. It ran like rain down her skin in seemingly never-ending rivulets of crimson. After sitting frozen for a minute, Jiraiya snapped into action. He called Naruto over and told him that his training was done for the day.

"Um...ok?" Naruto said in a questioning voice but didn't say anything else as he headed home. Jiraiya then grabbed the girl gently down from the tree and ran with chakra enhanced speed to the Konoha Hospital. Upon arriving, he showed them the dying girl and they immediately took her to the emergency room. Along the way, Sasuke had to press himself against the wall to make sure he didn't get run over by the stretcher. He caught a slight glimpse of the bleeding girl and felt a slight pity towards her while feeling a pang of a sealed away memory, one that he couldn't quite remember. He shrugged and continued walking in a calm fashion towards the door. While his hands were in his pockets, his thumb slightly brushed the corner of an old picture he took everywhere with him. Out of the hospital, he took it out and looked at it through sad eyes. It was a very old picture, with spots and rips and folds everywhere, but he cherished it. It was of him, his mother, father, Itachi, and his little sister before she had disappeared. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he looked at his brother, and then softened as he looked at his sister. She and him had been very close, closer than most siblings. She had meant everything to him, and then, she had just suddenly disappeared and no one knew how, or where to. Soon after that, Itachi had murdered the clan. Sasuke gritted his teeth before jamming the picture into his pocket and setting off at a brisk pace. That night, he had found some evidence to link Itachi to the disappearance of his sister. Sasuke sighed and looked at the ground.

'That was years ago, and it's still all I can think about.' Sasuke thought solemnly. He walked silently, thinking deeply about different things until the voice of his pink haired team mate interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey Sasuke!" Sakura yelled, waving her arm as she ran to catch up with him, Sasuke looked back at her and sighed, annoyed, walking slightly faster. Still, being who she is, Sakura caught up anyways. "Hey Sasuke," she repeated, slightly out of breath, "I was wondering if you wanted to get something to eat with me." she asked, hope lightening her voice. Sasuke sighed (again) and glared at her over his shoulder.

"How many times do I have to tell you? No. I have better things to do than waste my time with you." he said in a cold monotone before facing forward and continuing walking. Sakura stopped and gazed down at the dirt road sadly, before turning around and trudging home.

With Jiraiya

The white haired man waited in the guest room until the girl's condition was stable. He was getting annoyed at how long it was taking but calmed himself down by telling himself that she was in emergency care. Leaning back on the chair, he closed his eyes, ready to take a nap when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He opened one eye to gaze at the nurse standing there, holding a clip board. Jiraiya sighed and sat up.

"Well?" he asked. The nurse sighed.

"You have to give us some time with this sort of thing Jiraiya-sama. She was badly wounded. She's lucky she didn't die! By all logical reasoning she should be. Anyways, we did find out one of the things you asked of us. Her heritage." Jiraiya frowned.

"Well, which clan is she from? Who's her family?" the nurse seemed hesitant to answer, stuttering out the first part.

"This is an extremely delicate situation, and this information is top secret and cannot be passed out to anyone except those directly involved/related until they are ready to tell anyone, do you understand this?" she asked quietly in all seriousness. Jiraiya nodded. The nurse beckoned him down so she could whisper it in his ear. Jiraiya sighed but did so anyways. When the nurse whispered the family into his ear, he froze. Coming to his senses, he thanked the nurse and left the hospital so that she could continue on gathering the other information she needed. Outside, Jiraiya summoned a frog to fetch Naruto, which didn't take long. The boy glared at the man.

"What do you want now pervy-sage? I was in the middle of ramen!!" he shouted, pointing at the hermit, who sighed.

"Now's not the time brat! I have something very serious and important I need you to do and it's of the utmost urgency." Jiraiya told him in a serious tone. Naruto immediately stood straight and waited for the toad sage to tell him. "I need you to go a get Sasuke as soon as possible and bring him here. It's very urgent." Naruto nodded and sped off, creating shadow clones to help him search.

With Sasuke

Sasuke was still wandering the beaten streets when he heard the annoying voice of his other teammate. Sighing, this time he stopped to turn and glare at Naruto as he skidded to a stop in front of the Uchiha, leaning on his knees to catch his breath.

"What is it now dobe?" Sasuke monotoned. Naruto gritted his teeth and glared at Sasuke but didn't fight. Instead, he sighed and took on a serious expression, which made Sasuke turn to face him completely, for he felt the seriousness of the matter at hand.

"Sasuke, pervy-sage told me to get you to the hospital as soon as possible. It's really urgent and you need to be there." he reported. Sasuke nodded and they sped off towards the looming white building. Arriving, Jiraiya thanked Naruto and sent him off to eat ramen. Alone with Sasuke, he looked at the boy who glared up at him.

"So, why did you want me here?" he said, irritation invading his voice. Jiraiya just looked at him then sighed, before turning and walking inside.

"Follow me, there's something you need to see." he said quietly. Sasuke followed him down the bleached hallways of the hospital, wondering where they were going. They continued until they turned down another hallway and stopped before a glass window (lets pretend they have these types of rooms for those who want to become medic-nins. Jiraiya asked for the girl to be put in one for Sasuke's viewing purposes). Inside, the doctors and nurses bustled around someone, working on keeping them alive. Sasuke just glanced quickly before turning back to Jiraiya, who motioned with his head to look through the window. Sasuke glared at him but complied. The doctors and nurses continued bustling, this one checking the heart monitor, another recording breathing status, that one adjusting the wires on the persons left arm. Eventually, a small space opened up and Sasuke caught a glimpse of matted, shoulder length hair that was such a dark brown it was almost black. The sight triggered a partial memory and he pulled out the picture in his pocket, momentarily forgetting Jiraiya was there. He glanced and the picture before looking back at the girl. His eyes widened slightly. "I found this girl while I was training Naruto. She was propped up in a tree, and dying. I brought her here, and asked one of the nurses to collect information about her for me. You know, her persona if she could, her heritage, bloodline if she had one, who she was. Only one piece has come back, her heritage. I think you've made the connection. She's-"

"-My sister." Sasuke finished in such a quiet voice it was almost inaudible. He stared wide-eyed at his sister, who was possibly on her death bed. "Koiemi..." he whispered, pressing his forehead against the glass of the window as if trying to get a better view of his sister. His eyes were wide as he stared at her bandaged face, pale as a ghost. Then, as if surfacing from an icy lake, Sasuke took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He straightened up and, clutching the picture in his fist, strode quickly out of the hospital. Jiraiya sighed and took one last look in the slightly less busy room before following Sasuke out then taking his own route.

With Sasuke (again)

Sasuke looked at the ground through overly hard eyes as he tried to disguise the emotions that flooded him; anger, relief, happiness, sadness. Leaning against the outside of the hospital, he looked at the blue sky and sighed before pushing himself off and started walking. Along the way, he passed Naruto and his ramen stand. Naruto looked up and waved him over, curious as to why his trainer had wanted Sasuke.

"Hey Sasuke. So why did the pervy-sage want you?" Naruto asked as Sasuke sat down on the stool next to him. Upon hearing the question, he sighed.

"Just something that doesn't concern you. It's about..." he started, looking away before finishing, "my family." he mumbled. Naruto looked at him before looking down at his half finished ramen.

"Oh. Sorry about asking. I know it's a touchy subject." Sasuke sighed and nodded. He got back off the stool and waved good bye to Naruto, heading in the direction of the hospital.

At Hospital

Hesitating only for a second, Sasuke put on a determined face and walked into the hospital and up to his sister's room. Knocking lightly on the door, he opened and closed it gently, sitting down next to his sister's bed. The nurses and doctors had all left the room, so it was silence except for the slow beeping of the heart monitor. Sighing, Sasuke grabbed a stool and dragged it up next to the bed, staring at his sister's bandaged face, hair less matted now but still clumps could be seen. Unconsciously, Sasuke reached up with both hands and untangled her hair. Sighing, he set his hands back down in his lap, gazing at the pale face.

"Koiemi..." he whispered, hoping the sound of her name would cause her to open her eyes, but nothing happened. Taking a deep breath, he took her hand in his and squeezed it tightly before letting go. He stayed there for the next two hours, hoping for some sign that she was alive besides the constant beeping of the machine next to him. In this time, Sasuke had fallen asleep, head resting on his arm which was propped on the bed. Groaning, Koiemi opened her eyes a slit, letting them get used to the gradual light of the hospital room. Opening them all the way, she gazed around, noticing them sleeping figure leaning on her mattress. Smiling, she ruffled Sasuke's hair to wake him up. Opening his eyes groggily, Sasuke sat up and yawned, stretching so several vertebras cracked in his back. Looking back at the mattress through half lidded eyes, he brought them up to look at Koiemi's face and now open obsidian eyes. Sasuke's eyes snapped fully open as he smiled like never before, hugging his sister tightly against his chest until she winced and let out a whimpering noise. Hearing his, Sasuke immediately released her and smiled at her.

"Sasuke..." she whispered, voice hoarse from not using it. Sasuke smiled at her.

"So you do remember me." Koiemi chuckled lightly.

"How could I not remember my older brother?" she said, eyes half lidded. Sasuke smiled at her, then remembering something, frowned deeply, making Koiemi frown as well. "What's wrong?"

"Koiemi...who did this to you? It was Itachi, wasn't it? He captured you, then tortured you, didn't he?" Sasuke growled, bangs covering his eyes, hands clenched together. Koiemi sighed and reached a weak hand to cover his, making him look up.

"No. It wasn't Itachi who did this. In fact, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have lived this long." she said sadly. Sasuke looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you see, daddy never wanted a daughter, so when I was born, he was so completely against it, he wanted to kill me. I lived till I was a little girl because he never voiced these thoughts, but the older I got, the more he hated me. I avoided him at all costs, and one night, Itachi heard him talking to mother about how I was a mistake. He never told anyone of his true thoughts though, except the men who were going to help him kill me. Itachi overheard that conversation too. He realized how much danger I was in, so he 'kidnapped' me to get me away from the house. I wasn't scared, I barely knew what was going on, but I did miss you. The only reason I didn't go back was because of how frantic Itachi seemed. A few days later, daddy discovered me while I was changing hiding places, so he went to get his buddies. That was the night Itachi killed the clan, except you. That's not the only reason I'm sure, but I have Itachi to thank for my life. He took me to Akatsuki, saying I would only stay a few days before he cast me out. I was only allowed to stay if I did all the chores, so I agreed. I've been staying there for the past 5 years. Only then did things start to go bad. Everyone got mad at me for no reason, like I did something I wasn't supposed to. One night, Itachi came to me and told me to run, for I was in great danger. He left without another word and I immediately began packing, afraid of what would happen. I wasn't fast enough though. Loud knocks sounded at my door, shaking it on it's hinges. I opened my window and jumped out, hitting the ground. I had trained with Itachi so I could defend myself adequately. Anyways, I started running as fast as I could. I could hear them catching up, but I never stopped, never looked behind me. One night, they caught me while I was resting against a tree. The one in the middle told the others to leave, said he could handle me himself. The others laughed and vanished. I commenced in battle. He shredded me with his sword till I was so mangled I could barely move. He left me for dead. With him gone, I managed to drag myself along the ground a short ways before hoisting myself into a tree and falling asleep, never expecting to wake up." she finished, looking at Sasuke, surprised to see his body engulfed in the curse seal.

"Who...who did this? Tell me." he growled. Koiemi swallowed, a lump forming in her throat as she looked at her brother, stuttering her answer.

"I-It was...Itachi's partner...Kisame."

Wow, 2 new stories and 2 updates in a day. New record! woot! anyways, this should keep you occupied for a little bit before I update again. Hope for more rainy Sundays if you want updates!