Silver Tears

By: Simara

Disclaimer: I've said it before and I'll say it again... Naruto isn't mine. I don't have a dead plant named Ukki-kun.

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Scroll One: Distress

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(3rd Hokage's POV)

I saw the poor thing, whimpering on the cold wood table. She had those same stripes on her face that Naruto has, only thicker. Three fox tails twitched silently behind her, hanging limply off the table. No one knew how she got into a human form, but my guess is her father taught her some Youko Magic.

She had bright red hair. Blood Red, some people would say. Her eyes were large and were a faded grey. On the back of her nude neck were a few smears of blood and an angel seal. By the looks of it, she was about four years old, in human years. She was about two in fox years (1). When she noticed me, she started to growl.

"Shh, be calm, child. Who did this to you? What happened?" I asked her softly. She was still just in her youth.

She shrunk back into the shadows, grey eyes gleaming silver.

Then, I noticed that the silver was dripping down her face. Her face contorted with pain.

"Mama... Papa... Sister... your blood... it burns! Get it off, please!" the young fox stuttered, writhing on the table in agony.

I approached her, grasping her chin firmly so she would look at me. Silver tears dripped onto my Hokage robes.

"What happened, young kit?"

She whimpered a bit as she choked down some heart wrenching sobs.

"They c-came right when we were going t-to meet with the rest of the p-p-pack... Sister didn't know the transformation spell yet, so they didn't care about getting her, they only cared about capturing me..." She paused to take a shuddering breath.

"I heard them say their own names... the Aka-k... Akatsu..."

"Akatsuki. Go on," I finished for her.

"T-they killed my dad, then my sister... then they tried to capture me, but my mom got in the way and a large man... he... he..."

She let the tears drip silently.

"He killed my mom just by looking at her."

I frowned. That wasn't any jutsu that I could recognize right away. Unless...

"Did the man have any physical features, any at all, that stood out? Tell me, kit," I pressed.

She looked as if she wanted to tell me, but didn't know how to put it in words.

"Would it help if you drew it?" I asked.

She nodded, closing her big, grey eyes.

As I got her the paper and medium, I looked back at her. She seemed to be recollecting her thoughts. Once I gave her the supplies, I studied her closely. She started to draw.

Emotionless facial expression. Hmm, she's quite an artist.

Black hair... very straight, down to the neck... this is starting to look very familiar...

Then she put the last touch on it. The eyes.

Red, mirror-wheel eyes. Sharingan.

Itachi.

The picture looked EXACTLY like the missing-nin. She must have photographic memory.

She seemed to shudder at the sight of her own artwork.

After a pause that lasted about 7 minutes, she turned her grey eyes to me.

"Who will take care of me now?" the fox girl asked, hiding her obvious fear of living by herself.

"Well, I suppose you can meet up with Naruto. If you like him, you can live with him," I answered as thoughtfully as possible.



Suddenly, she leapt on me and grasped me around the middle with her sharp nails... er, claws. The girl started to sob uncontrollably in my robes. That lasted for about... oh, let's say... 20 minutes? Sounds about right...

Something struck me. "I do suppose you have a name, right?" I asked the little ball that clung to me.

She looked up at me and nodded. "Yami."

I frowned yet again. What an odd name.

"Well, little Yami, are we going to stay here all day or are we going to find you a home?"

For an answer, she just gazed up at me and smiled.

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End Scroll One

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