A/N: Hey folks! This is a little idea I thought up. Please be nice, and just a warning, its gonna be a bit intense. I promise there will be happiness, butterflies, and unicorns that poop rainbows so don't go emo on my ass. Read at your own discretion! There are hints of abuse in this (just a little). ALSO! any flames will be met by sarcasm and laughter from me so XD tough luck kiddies! Critics are welcome however. ENJOY!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! so sad...Enough said.
Chapter 1: Angel
It was quiet. A little too quiet. The Forest just outside of Konoha held many mysteries and wonders in its leaves. It was slightly dark under the leafy canopy and the leaves rustled gently with the wind and the shinobi who traveled its branches.
This forest, the creation of the First Hokage, was perfect for shinobi and housed one of the strongest shinobi villages in the world—Konohagakure no sato. The Village Hidden in the Leaves had had a rough and tumultuous few years however. Seven years ago the village was attacked by a great Nine-Tailed Demon Fox one fall night, which resulted in stifling losses and pain to every villager and ninja in the village.
The leader of the village, the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, fought valiantly but knew he could not win against the beast. So he sealed it, sealed it into his own son, and gave the little blond haired baby his mother's name to hide him. No one in the village knew this baby was their hero's son, but they did know about the demon sealed in his belly—and they hated him for it. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, tried his best to protect his young successor's child, but even after making the knowledge of the sealing taboo, he could not fully protect the child from his aggressors, much to his pain and grief.
The villagers and most shinobi would scorn the child and try to kill him. They would deny him service or sell overpriced or spoilt products and food. He was even kicked out of the orphanage at the tender age of four and made to live on the streets until the Hokage finally found him two months later.
The general consensus was he was stupid, a demon, useless, no good, and wouldn't amount to anything. He was everything but these things. Naruto Uzumaki, the unfortunate blond babe from that fateful night, was kind, smart, observant, funny, strong, and independent. Despite having no one but the busy Hokage to guide him, young Naruto was growing to be a good and strong boy. Not that any of the villagers saw it mind you, they were too blinded by hate, too entrenched in grief to see a child for what he is. Naruto knew this and didn't hate the villagers for it, but he did use it to his advantage. He hid behind a carefully constructed mask of naivety, innocence, and pranking to hide the hurt the all-knowing and experienced eyes a child his age should never have.
He had no one to confide in or call his friend so he often walked in the forest to pass the time and be himself. He had already lost the carefully placed ANBU team assigned to guarding him back in the village proper so he had no problem dropping his cheerful visage to adopt a more calm and worn expression. He breathed the clean air around him and started making his way through the forest. Hopping over protruding branches and rocks, he explored the wonder and mystery surrounding Konoha forest and relaxed without losing any alertness that could allow anyone to jump him.
'I'm seven today. Happy Birthday to me I guess.' Naruto snorted to himself in sarcasm but still kept the quiet smile on his face.
'Good thing I'm here and not in the village. No telling what they'd do to me there today.' He shuddered slightly at the thought and kept wandering.
He froze, and any sound he had been making previously with his movements silenced. He stopped his breathing and tried to pinpoint the small noise that alerted him to some anomaly in the usually quiet forest expanse.
He waited for more…anything! He knows he heard something.
Sob… Crying? His eyebrows slanted downwards over his bright baby blue eyes, and as quietly as he could, he began to follow the small sound deeper into the forest.
Sob…sniffle…sob…He came upon a small clearing and his heart wrenched painfully in his chest. It was a little girl about his age, who was crumbled in a little ball crying her eyes out. She was pretty too, he noticed. Petite with bubble gum pink hair that fell down in dirty knots down her back and over a slightly large forehead, her hair looked soft to the touch despite its current disarray. Her legs were pulled to her chest in the fetal position and noticed she was barefoot and he couldn't really see her clothes. He wondered what had happened to her to make her eyes squeeze shut in pain and despair. Naruto felt more pain creep into his chest and slowly, as if the pretty girl was a wounded animal, he moved towards her.
Naruto looked around the clearing quickly for any traps or people. Seeing or sensing no one he let out his breathe from his chest before freezing again. He smelt…blood?!
Looking down at the girl he was now no more than a few inches away from, he was finally able to see her clothes behind her scraped knees. A splash of crimson red was across her what once a pretty light green dress was. His eyes grew wide. Someone had hurt this little Tenshi. The pain in his chest made room for anger and compassion, and he threw caution to the wind and crouched by her side and placed his hands on her shoulders. The little angel cringed in pain and shock and her light green eyes flew open instantly, but she didn't try to move away.
She stared at him a bit, as more sobs and quick breathes heaved from her chest in rapid succession. Naruto kept eye contact with her. "I'm trying to help. Can I see where you're hurt?" He didn't try to touch her again and instead waited for her to move to him.
The little girl nodded her head a little before letting out another heart wrenching sob, and more tears fell down her face and onto the green grass. As gently as he could, Naruto slowly moved her out of the fetal position so that she was lying on her back completely. The instant her legs moved away from her chest. Blood began to escape what looked like a stab wound on her lower left side. Naruto tried to move away her skirts so that he could get to her injury better, but the instead he made to do so, the pink angel started to flail and scream hoarsely. Naruto flinched back in shock; he had never seen such a response before. He quickly tucked her skirts around her legs firmly, and she stopped moving and returned to crying again. Naruto catalogued her actions for later documentation. Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed the old kunai he had swiped from one of his ANBU escorts and cut the material around the wound away. Tearing his own shirt, he made a makeshift field bandage and applied pressure. Without saying anything this time, he picked the girl up into his arms and began to hurry back to the village.
When he reached the walls though, he stopped in his tracks. He couldn't take her to the hospital. The staff there hated seeing him and they only give him medical attention when the Hokage was there to force them. Plus if any of the villagers saw him around town with a bloody little girl in his arms, he'd be hunted like a wild animal. Maybe he could leave her at the guard entrance by the front gates. They would be able to take her to the hospital quickly and no one would see him too. Making up his mind, he changed his direction and hopped into the trees and jumped from branch to branch like a seasoned ninja. The sobs stopped, and Naruto looked down at the girl to see her looking right at him with a look of awe.
Not knowing what to say at first, he thought it best to tell her his plans; "Hey, I'm going to take you to the guards at the front gate. They're going to take you to the hospital. Ok?"
She shook her head without taking her eyes off him. Naruto stopped jumping, his brows once again slanted downwards over his eyes. "Why not?! You're hurt. You need a Doctor!" She just shook her head faster at him.
Naruto scrambled his brain for another idea. Looking at her again, he made a choice that would unknowingly change his life and the world's forever. "Ok. I'll take you to my place then."
It was hard, but somehow he managed to sneak them both into the village and into his rundown apartment without being seen. He placed her gently on the small couch and grabbed his emergency kit and hot water and towels. Kneeling on the floor by her hip he began moving away his shirt strip, the girl's eyes never leaving his face. Once the makeshift bandage was gone, he sighed in relief that the injury was only slightly oozing blood instead of steadily streaming like before. With the water and towels he cleaned the wound and saw that it wasn't a stab wound but someone sick psycho had carved kanji into her skin. His mouth opened a little in horror and his eyes got teary. Looking at her quickly and then back down at her injury. His eyes were now fiery in his anger. Seeing his eyes suddenly change and his face grow tight in anger, the little girl whimpered. Naruto looked at her again and schooled his features to a gentler look, though the fire in his eyes didn't dim. Taking out some needle and thread, Naruto sterilized and after warning her of the upcoming pain he was about to cause (for which he had no painkillers and she just nodded her head in acceptance at the fact), he began to stitch up her wound as quickly and efficiently as someone with no medical history but a lot of firsthand experience could do. Throughout it all, the little girl cried quietly but didn't try to stop his actions and stayed moderately still through it all—an impressive action for a child being stitched without anesthetic.
Within minutes, Naruto was finished and put a white bandage over the stitches. He smiled at her before leaving to get her some clothes to change into. She smiled slightly back and curled up on the couch to wait. He hadn't said anything to her since they entered the village again. She didn't know him. She had seen him maybe once in the park before but her mom had quickly taken her home after that. She didn't know why, maybe it was because he had helped her, but she felt safe with him. Safe, in the run down and dark apartment with a boy she didn't even know the name of. The thought was ridiculous, but she couldn't deny it. She felt safer here than in her own home where mom and…he…were. Her eyes suddenly felt heavy, and as she closed them, one last thought crossed her mind as she began to dream of a blond haired, blue eyed boy with whisker marks, and a kind face. 'Tenshi (Angel).'
When Naruto came back to the room with clothes for the girl, he saw she was fast asleep on his couch. His eyes filled with compassion again just looking at her. He placed the clothes on the table in front of the couch and draped a blanket over her. Grabbing the bowl of bloody water and towel with him to the kitchen, he grabbed the sink and counter forcefully with white knuckles as the pink liquid went down the drain. The little tenshi with pink hair was stuck with that wound for life, his mind whispered. The scars will fade but it will always be there, haunting her whenever she looks in the mirror at it. How could anyone do such a thing to a little girl, especially one as pretty as her? He clenched his teeth and vowed that if he ever found the bastard he would make him pay tenfold. As he went to his bedroom and fell on the bed, he thought of the little girl sleeping like an angel on his couch with the kanji permanently etched into her left side. 'Whore.'
A/N: whatcha think? any good? Sasuke will be in the next chapter!