He wasn't always the demon to them.

They were curious, sure, as to why the adults hated him so,

but not hateful. To them he was just a child with sad eyes and no friends.

They didn't care about him; he was just a loser to them.

They never knew about… it… and how it was sealed in him.

Not until that day.

Was it fated for him to be alone?

He thought maybe things would go right for once when he finally made a friend…

Oh Naruto… how wrong you were…

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"Ha ha ha, stop it, that tickles!!" Naruto was playing by the dumpster, behind the ramen stand. A young cat was rubbing against his face, tickling him with his whiskers.

He had found the poor thing starving the other day and he had fed him some leftover ramen. At first it had been wary, but after it had some food, evidently it deemed Naruto friend-worthy.

Naruto had thought it was so cute, so he wanted to keep him, but, when he thought about it, he realized that he couldn't take him home. If the housemaids that cleaned his small, welfare funded apartment found him, they'd probably put him in a shelter or something. He didn't want him put down or anything, so he just bought him food and stuff and played with him behind the ramen stand.

He named him tiger, 'cause he looked like a mini of those big cats he heard roamed about deep in the forests of fire country.

He was orange and black with a cute white belly, a pink nose, and golden eyes.

So far it was working out, as long as they didn't find him with…

"Hey, watcha got there freak loser boy?"

"I think it's a cat!"

"Yeah, a little kitty!"

Too late.

The biggest bullies in Konoha, Jira, Niraru, and Kiro, thought it was their duty to "judge" the up-and-coming genin. Naruto, though, was a favorite. They made it a point to seek him out and make his life miserable. They bullied him constantly, even though they had to be at least three years or so older than him. Rocks, kunai, fists, you name it, they throw it.

'today's theme is rocks' He mused, looking at said weapons bouncing up and down in their fists.

"You really think you can escape our judgment brat!?"

"You think so!?"

"Yeah!? You think?!"

The biggest, Jira stepped forward, juggling the rock in one fist.

"Well, just for that we'll throw extra hard today, and hey, you're little friend can get a piece of it too! Just to be fair."

Naruto scooped Tiger up, and hugged him extra close, causing a mew of discomfort from his small form.

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Thus they began their beating, pelting him with jagged pieces of rock as he did his best to shield Tiger from the majority of the 'beating'.

Suddenly, tiger squirmed from his grasp, leaping out of safety and into the danger zone. A well-aimed rock and Naruto heard a yowl, followed closely by a loud thud. He watched as tiger hit the ground, his head bleeding from a major head wound, for a kitten at least.

Naruto scrambled over to his fallen form, the rocks pelting his flesh nothing in the numbness that his mind was in as he picked up the kitten.

He held him close to his chest, Tigers blood mixing with his tears as they fell freely from his face.

"Hey brat, what's wrong!? Did we hurt your pwecious widdle kitty!!?? HA!!!!"

They started laughing as he sobbed holding his friend's broken body, the kitten's breath coming in jagged gasps.

'They killed him, you should make them pay' a voice broke into his thoughts.

'Who said that!?'

'You should bathe them in their own blood, make them feel this pain… They KILLED him…' His tears stopped flooding as anger flooded his body.

'Yeah… I should…'

Naruto set him down tenderly, being careful of the wound. The three stopped laughing and stared with wide eyes as red chakra swirled around this little boy, forming into the ominous shape of a fox. His teeth and nails lengthened and sharpened, and the whisker marks on his cheeks grew jagged and more prominent.

They nearly wet their pants though, when he looked at them. Red, hate filled eyes, slitted like some…

"DEMON!!!!!!!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!!!"

No faster had the words passed his lips than he was upon them slicing their faces, backs, and necks with his claws. People who ran to help met the same fate, his chakra swirling angrily at them.

They DESERVED it. Every scar every wound. He hadn't killed them of course; he hadn't killed anyone, really. But as he staggered back towards his friend, covered in blood, it's safe to say that the hospitals would be pretty full that night.

The chakra dissipated , and Naruto's eyes turned blue again. He was distressed that he couldn't have stopped them, but the damage was done. He stumbled toward Tiger, falling to his knees and scooping him into his arms. Tiger looked up at Naruto with pain filled eyes, and after one last pitiful mew…

He died in his arms.

That makes me cry... i hope you like it! it was done about a week ago but the compter wouldn't let me upload it so... yeah.

review?