Disclaimer: I claim neither Avatar: The last airbender or Naruto. I claim none of the characters in said stories as my own. I do claim the some of the story line and at least some of the dialogue.

If you don't like this story too bad... it was boring a hole in the back of my mind.

Chapter 1 – Release and redemption…

Azula knew that things had gone bad. After working with several of the fire sages and that annoying girl, Katara, even Aang put in some time to try to bring back her sanity. Surprisingly it had worked. She still felt anger, but she had learned to control it better. She also knew what was coming and actually longed for it, the removal of her bending ability. Aang had told her that it was for her safety and for the safety of others.

She had nothing to lose anyways. Her life was basically over. She was to be held for the rest of her life, unless she could prove that she had reformed, while she was on the way to no longer being a 'monster', as her mother had put it, she had a long ways to go to become an acceptable human. After a session with Aang, she felt very calmed and almost at peace, she welcomed the ending of what she was before.

A couple days later several maidens came in and got her ready, so that they could adorn her with her royal garb. She allowed the women to dress, bathe and clothe her. She then with a regal air about herself, accompanied the guards to the main compound. She was struck that there was a pedestal with chains on the sides. She thought that she might have to go through a beheading, but she saw the Avatar there with a sad smile. This is what they had agreed upon. She would lose her bending for a lesser sentence, a few years in prison.

She knelt and allowed the guards to shackle her. 'At least they gave me a pillow to kneel on,' she thought to herself.

Aang looked at her and asked, "Do you have any questions?" She shook her head and he continued, "It would be easiest for everyone if you don't fight me when I do this. Okay?"

She nodded and gave him a tired smile. The guards opened her robe a little, but not enough to expose her, just enough to allow Aang to touch her on the chest. He then touched her chest with one hand and her head with the other. Then the agony began. She began to scream, but wasn't even sure if she could be heard. Then all she saw was red.

A beam of red light came from Azula's eyes and moved down her body until she was encompassed in the crimson light, while Aang was bathed in blue light. Suddenly the red light then moved up Aang and started to cover his body. It made it as far as his neck before reversing direction. It then moved to Azula's body, but it was slightly tinged purple, but still in the blue spectrum. It finally covered her, but as the light faded, so did Azula. All that was left were her clothes, no body or hair. All that was left were the empty shackles. Aang looked at the empty clothes in horror. He didn't know what to do, but suddenly blackness took him…

Konoha forest near the academy…

Naruto woke up from just having saved a young girl from something or other. As expected both the girl and the boys he had protected her from were gone. He slowly got to his feet and leaned against the tree for a minute to catch his breath. He hated it when people picked on others. He then noticed a hand sticking out of the bushes and became fearful that the boys had killed the girl. He quickly moved and found a girl lying on the ground without any clothes. He quickly pulled off his dirty shirt and put it on the girl. He then positioned the girl, so that he could carry the girl on his back. He quickly made his way towards the Hokage tower. He ran up the steps and past several chuunin. He also saw several civilians and just ignored them.

The chuunin at the door saw him carrying someone on his back and was straining at the effort. He quickly opened the door and allowed the boy entry. The boy smiled at the chuunin who just seemed to ignore the boy. "Thanks," he exclaimed, as he passed into the Hokage's office. He stopped at the side of the Hokage's desk and said while still trying to catch his breath, "Hey, Jiijii. I found her after some kids were trying to beat up some pale eyed girl. I stopped them, but they got the best of me, but I found her… can I keep her?"

The Hokage laughed at the question, but then looked at the girl on the boy's back. "Naruto-kun, where did you find her? And what was she wearing?" he asked.

"She wasn't wearing anything, so I put my shirt on her. Can you take her? She's getting kind of heavy," Naruto explained.

The Hokage stood and grabbed the girl from his arms and saw the boy sigh in relief. "Let's get her to the hospital and have her checked out," he said the enthusiastic boy. He placed his hand on the boy and both disappeared from the room.

"That was neat," Naruto exclaimed and asked, "Can we do it again?"

The Hokage chuckled and then took both children over to the desk. "I would like both of these children checked out, now," he exclaimed to the nurse at the station.

She nodded and replied, "At once Hokage-sama." She then pulled a gurney over and had the Hokage place the girl on the gurney and Naruto jumped up with her. The nurse glared at the boy, but said nothing. She then wheeled the gurney into the emergency exam room. "Now stay here, de… boy and someone will come to check you both out," the nurse explained in a bittersweet voice.

Naruto got bored quickly and began to look around. He saw the girl moan in what seemed to be pain. He got worried and moved up beside her and yelled, "She's in pain, someone come and help her." He then turned to the girl and said kindly, "Someone is coming, so just hold on."

"It hurts so much. Please stop. It isn't working…" the girl mumbled under her breath. She then grabbed her head and began to cry out in pain.

Naruto began to worry about the girl and put her head on his lap. He began to move her hair gently to the side and moving his fingers in circles on her forehead. This seemed to relax the girl. The Hokage looked on and smiled warmly at the scene. It took about ten minutes for a doctor to come and he quickly looked at Naruto and said, "You need to step outside the curtain while I check on the girl. Please, Naruto," the doctor asked kindly.

Naruto smiled and nodded to the doctor. He got up and moved outside the curtain. The doctor then closed the curtain and began her exam. Naruto saw a light green glow through the curtain. After a few minutes the doctor opened the curtains and then smiled warmly at Naruto and said, "You did good to bring her to the Hokage and then here, Naruto-kun."

"So what is your prognosis, Kikiyo-sensei?" Sarutobi asked the doctor.

"She is suffering from exhaustion and straining of her chakra coils. There were also no signs of abuse of any type," Kikiyo explained.

Sarutobi nodded and saw that Naruto was confused. He smiled and patted the boy on the head. "She is okay. We just had to make sure. So you were telling me about another girl, Naruto-kun?" he asked, in an attempt to change the subject.

"Well… some boys were picking on her. She was in a black outfit and had these weird eyes, they seemed either white or gray," Naruto explained.

"Ah, she must have been a Hyuuga. You saved one of the Hyuuga clan's girls before you found this girl. You're quite the hero today, Naruto-kun," Sarutobi said in praise for the boy. He then continued, "I will need you take an ANBU to the site where you found her."

"That is fine, Hokage-sama, but I need to check out Naruto-kun first," Kikiyo said authoritatively. She turned to Naruto and said, "Now get up on the gurney, so I can get you checked out." After a couple minutes of examining him, she ruffled his hair and said, "Other than the normal scrapes and bruises you get when you tangle with the other children, you're fine. I recommend a night here and then you can go home."

Naruto smiled sadly and then said, "But what about her? I'm worried that she doesn't have anybody."

Kikiyo smiled warmly at the boy, but then replied, "We will find out who the girl is and then let you know, but for tonight… you two can share a room and you can keep an eye on her. Would you like that?"

Naruto nodded emphatically. Naruto turned away when the doctor began to dress the girl in some hospital clothing. Kikiyo smiled at how the boy reacted and was quite proud of him, she then had them transferred to his room and had them in separate beds. She would check on him every so often and also delivered a few books to try to keep him busy until he fell asleep. Later that evening, she found him sleeping with a book draped over his chest and smiled warmly at the scene.

She checked in about twenty minutes later and found the girl standing next to Naruto's bed looking at him intently. The quickly whirled and got into a taijutsu stance that Kikiyo didn't recognize, so she put her hands up defensively and said, "I'm glad to see that you're awake. What is so interesting about Naruto-kun?"

The girl looked quizzically up at Kikiyo and replied, "What did you say? I can't understand you."

Kikiyo was confused, in that she and the girl weren't speaking the same language and neither would be able to understand the other until they could get some mutual understanding. "I know this is all confusing, but we will figure out what is going on. My name is Kikiyo," she said, as she placed her hand on her chest and moved towards the chair, since she figured this would be a long night.

"My name is Azula, and why am I in this room with this boy?" she replied angrily.

"You're Azula? He is Naruto…" Kikiyo explained, while she motioned towards Naruto.

Azula glanced at the boy sleeping on the bed and turned back to the woman in the room to make sure that she didn't pull anything. Azula slipped her hand onto the boy, only to see the woman gasp, but Azula only grabbed the book and looked at it. The characters were similar to what she was used too, but if she read it correctly. 'This makes no sense. The characters must mean something else,' she thought to herself, while keeping an eye on the woman in the chair. Azula put the book beside the boy, who she guessed was named Naruto. 'What a weird name.'

Kikiyo raised a hand to let the ANBU member to know that the girl was not to be harmed, at least for now. The girl noticed this and looked around. Azula moved her hand in a circle and a blue flame appeared to illuminate the room. Both Kikiyo and the ANBU were surprised to see a girl around Naruto's age able to manipulate fire so easily. Kikiyo put up her hands and began to plead with the girl, "He isn't a threat to you and neither are we… wait, you can't understand me, but I hope my message is getting through to you."

Azula saw the woman who, in her opinion identified herself as Kikiyo become very defensive and worried when she began to bend fire. She looked at the boy sleeping and thought that the woman was trying to protect the boy. Azula wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew that she wasn't home, but also neither the woman before her nor the person in the mask had made any move to harm her, so she doused the fire in her palm. "Please explain to me, what is going on…" Azula turned to see two worried blue eyes, from the boy who 'was' asleep, but she felt him grab on to her arm, just after she became dizzy. He pulled her to the side of the bed. "Why did you do that?" she asked, but not thinking he would answer.

"Because I will always save you," he answered, but she could tell it from his eyes that he wouldn't leave her and right now she needed something to grasp on to. He pulled her into a hug, but she noticed that he became rigid when she returned the simple gesture. She vowed then that this boy would be the one that she would use to help her understand this world.

A/N: Yes the relationship will be Azula and Naruto, but there will be some twist and turns along the way. Constructive critisism is accepted, flames will be disregarded. :)