Chapter One:
 Unexpected

Leaves crunched beneath his feet as he retraced his steps through the forest towards the Valley of the End. He followed their path past the crumbled earth dome and the destruction that Choji left behind, past all the webs from the spider dude.

No one knew where he was, everyone still thinking he was recovering or staying out of the way.

Naruto sighed, still feeling tired and exhausted from his wounds he sat down to recover his breath. He for the thousandth time wondered why Sasuke had done it, why he did it. Naruto scratched at his chest, the still healing hole Sasuke had punched in him was itching terribly, and the bandages constrained his breathing.

It had been a week since his fight with Sasuke, it had been five days since he woke up. Five agonizing days. The moment he had been released by Granny Tsunade, after being threatened with pain of death if he did anything more than walk, eat, talk, or sleep, he had run off.

He really did not know why, but the memories of those days he spent chasing after Sasuke, they were burning him up from the inside. He was curious and he had questions, questions he hope could be answered by retracing every moment of the mission. So he had left to do just that. No one had seen him wander off, and no one probably knew he was gone yet. He would not be surprised if so.

After a minute of playing with a sticky string of yucky man-spider web he set off again. He had been wandering for the past three days, his injuries slowing his travel to a speedy trod as he tracked his way through the heavy brush of the giant Fire land woods. Stopping often to breathe and drink a mouthful of water.

It took most of the day to reach where he, Kiba and Shikamaru had actually managed to steal back the barrel Sasuke had been in. Then they got separated, Kiba being blown off a cliff with the two headed guy, and Shikamaru and he to deal with the girl. He rubbed the spot where she had decked him in the face. She had not hit like a girl that was for sure.

He was brought to a stop when he stared over the huge wall of tree pieces barring his way. He knew that Gaara's sister Temari had helped Shikamaru defeat the foul mouthed sound ninja. But he never imagined the amount of destruction she had levied against the area. Thousandths of pieces of cut up trees laid crisscross between the incredibly huge tree trunks of the giant fire land woods. It even stacked up far above the tree crowns… or what now must be the tree's crowns

"Woah," summed up his awe.

Had she been that strong that it had justified this destruction? She had not looked to be.

With his awe fuelling this new curiosity he started to climb up over the heap, until he managed to climb up and over the canopy, where all he could see was a field of cut off tree stumps sticking out here and there. He could smell the pungent tree sap that was hanging over the area.

He sat down on a cut off branch just to stare for a moment at the sight.

Sitting there listening to the rustling leaves and birds singing he heard an odd sound. A distant and weak: Thuck.

Thuck, thuck.

Again he heard it. It was like a woodpecker, if that wood pecker was ten times larger than any woodpecker Naruto had ever heard of.

Following the sound he could hear it more clearly, and between the pauses a scraping sound, together with a crack of wood giving way. Fully convinced this was no bird Naruto approached cautiously. Climbing he slowly peered over the last obstacle and froze in shock when a far to recognizable voice growled:

"Fucker! Bitch! Slut! Whore! Damn shit bug ridden tree bastard!"

It was her, the pink haired sound ninja, Tayuya. She was alive!? But Shikamaru said… she was crushed… Naruto looked at the Kunai in her hand and the sizable gouge she had dug through the large trunk laying across her waist. The way it pressed into her instilled a pronounced sense of wrongness in him. How was she still alive it had been weeks?

Her voice was weak, but it still carried the same vulgar and harsh tone, as she all but screamed at the tree, jamming her blade into the thick wood with strength Naruto wondered how she still had. With each stab she gauged, tore, and ripped away at the wood, splinter by splinter. Her clothes was cut and blooded, covered in fine sawdust and splinters, her hair tangled in dead leaves, splinters, bark, and lichen. Her hands were red with blood, fresh and crusted. Her blade looked as bad as her, the tip broken off, and mangled over the harsh treatment it had suffered digging into the wood. It sent chills down his back as he noted both fresh and dried blood on the blade and wood, and signs that she had at times slipped and cut her hands.

It was a macabre sight. One that did not sit well with Naruto at all, despite knowing who she was and who she worked for.

He had to help her if only for his own conscience sake.

When he managed to get down to her he saw her freeze and glance towards him. Her eyes wide in fear, but only for a moment before she recognized him and her fear turned into a twisted rage as she threw what remained of her knife at him. While it did little but bounce at his feet, Naruto cursed and skipped a step backwards. Her throw had been bad, her weakened state and the odd awkward angle made it impossible to make it decent.

"Fuck," she winced as she realised she had thrown away her last weapon.

"What, here to gloat, homo bastard?" she bit out through gritted teeth resigning herself to whatever Naruto would do. Her last act of defiance seemingly draining the last of her energy and will.

"No, why would I do that!?" Naruto angered shouted back. What did she think he was?

"Then why is a deadbeat like you doing here then, idiot," Tayuya spit back turning away to stare at the darkening clear sky above.

"Shut up, bastard, I am here to help you out, you ungrateful bitch," sniffed with a smug grin on his face sure that that would put her in her place. When he got no response he started to creep forward, and around Tayuya, cautious still watching for any tricks she might pull. He glanced at her face and she looked away from him with a sneer.

Somewhere deep down she did not want to be stuck any more than Naruto thought she would.

Naruto took a moment to look at the tree trunk, wondering how to best remove it. He knew a rasengan would remove it no problem, but the idea was to help Tayuya not hurt her even more. Looking down at how it pressed into her made him feel uneasy. Tayuya had done a good job, if minimal, digging herself out. But it would have probably taken her another week to make enough room to crawl out.

Maybe he could lift it off? He looked down the tree trunks length, no, it was too big to even try. At best he would nudge it but he did not intend to crush the sound ninja any more than she already was.

Digging? He extracted a kunai, weighed it in his hands, but a final look at what little the pink haired girl had managed so far made him discard the thought.

Gama probably could lift it off, he thought, cupping his chin in his hands he nodded, that would do it.

Backing away to get room to summon the large toad Tayuya glanced over at him.

"Fucking knew you wouldn't do it."

"Shut up," Naruto bit back, why was he helping her again? He bit his thumb hard enough to draw a token amount of blood.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Slamming his palm down he was engulfed in a cloud of smoke. When it finally drifted away It revealed the orange man sized toad, Gama.

Gama blinked a few times before looking left and right. To his mild curiosity Jiraya were nowhere to be seen. Only his orange clad little student stood there, which made him the summoner curiously enough. He guessed he could make an exception for the boy, it was his first time being summoned by him.

"Hey, Gama could you lift this out of the way," Naruto clapped the offending tree trunk to hammer his point in.

Looking from the hand to the tree and to the girl beneath it Gama accepted the simple order. Naruto earning a point from not wasting his time with something nonsensical.

Gama shot his tongue out and wrapped it around the trunk and with an athletic flex flicked it away. With a quick look it determined his task done and unsummoned himself.

Naruto however did not notice as he stared in shocked horror. When Gama threw away the tree trunk Tayuya had been taken by surprise and unable to prepare for it, groaned as pain flooded through her. The weight that had pressed down upon her after a long bloody week had finally lifted and while she felt relief it was nothing compared to all the pain that resurfaced.

Hidden beneath the tree had been her mangled lower body. Her right leg laid bent the opposite way it was intended to bend, the bone pressing against her skin at odd angles, and her foot twisted a hundred and twenty degrees the wrong way. Her left leg was also broken and pointed the wrong way at the knee. And what skin Naruto could see was a dark purple or blotchy yellow. And that was only what he could see.

Gritting her teeth against the pain Tayuya leaned up on her elbows to inspect her own injuries, careful not to move more than she had to. She had known it was bad but seeing it just made it easier to place the pain, it was suddenly a lot harder to ignore it.

"Fucking shit," she stated.

Tearing his eyes away from her injuries he noticed for the first time just how pale Tayuya was. Except for rosy sunburnt cheeks she was pale as chalk.

Concerned he edged closer. Kneeling down he gripped her shoulder, he noticed it shaking.

"Oy, you alright?" He asked.

Tayuya slowly turned her ashen face towards Naruto, and grabbed his collar with such speed and strength that belied her state she growled.

"Get, me, down from here!"

"O-okay," Naruto's wilted under the shear desperate fire in her eyes. Naruto bent down and inched his arm in under her knees, and tried his damnedest to ignore the horribly scraping sound when her broken bones rubbed against each other. When he snaked his arm around her back Tayuya gripped the back of Naruto's jacket with a death grip and braced.

Taking a steadying breath Naruto strained against her weight for a moment then, when he was sure he would not trip, lifted her up. Her legs hung limply. Her right thigh bent at her own legs weight, and shifted his grip to support the break as best he could. Tayuya's grip tightened even more and it pinched him. Her other hand found the hem of her tunic and she wove her hand into it. The cloth strained as she pulled and flexed at it. It was a desperate attempt at keeping herself calm through the pain.

Naruto was worried that she had stopped breathing when she finally hissed another gasp and glared at him through her bangs.

"What are you, waiting for idiot, hurry up and get me down!" she hissed through gritted teeth. He face reddened as she strained against the pain.

"Right, right," Naruto cleared his head. One step at a time, first get down from the canopy and to the ground.

Being as careful as he could he started the very slow and long decent. It was a task made all the harder holding the damaged girl. Every jostle and turn brought out a harsh gasp from the pink haired girl. When he finally got down to the forest floor Nothing of the aggressive girl remained as she practically clung to him. Tears running down her face, Naruto was unsure if they were from pain or relief.

Unsure of what to do next Naruto just stared at Tayuya for a moment.

"Put me down," she finally whispered and Naruto sat her down against a tree. "Splints, splint, get something to splint my legs up fool."

Numbed by a new exhaustion Naruto could only nod and stumbled away into the forest to look for something to use as splints. A few minutes later he returned with an armful of sturdy sticks, and was brought to a halt at the sight in front of him.

Tayuya had not been idle while he had been away. The thick rope she and the other sound ninja used laid cut open and thrown to the side, her tan tunic was now little more than a pile of ribbons. Her tunic had done a lot in hiding her shape. The shirt she wore underneath was cut and revealed pale and scarred skin, the left shoulder hung only by a thread. A large cut in her side revealed a pink and ugly scar. She was inspecting her stomach and had pulled up her shirt to study the large purple bruise that covered her lower abdomen.

"Hurry up you damn onion," she swore towards him brandishing a fresh sharp kunai. Where had she gotten that? He quickly felt for his belt bag and felt it was opened. Now a lot more weary he inched closer and placed the sticks down, not taking his eyes of her and the knife.

She grinned and waved it teasingly his way before handing it over handle first.

"Could have asked," Naruto grumbled and returned his knife to where it belonged.

"As if," she sneered and grabbed for one of the sticks and started to bind it to her broken thigh. "You just going to watch like a fool or are you going to help me?"

Naruto grumbled some more but helped tie the stick securely to her thigh, receiving a satisfying grunt in reply when he tugged the last ribbon tight. It fell to him though to finish the job as Tayuya could not reach without discomfort, and Naruto did not want her to injure herself more than she already was.

Looking at her lower right leg he was stymied, how did someone splint so many breaks without doing more harm? More so how was he supposed to remove the legwarmer? Tugging them off did not seem like a smart move.

"Um," he glanced up at Tayuya in askance.

"Ugh, cut them off or get done with it already dimwit!"

Taking out his Kunai and did as told, he took the edge to the bandages and sheared them of all the way down to her sandals. With her lower leg now bared it was much more obvious how bad her leg was. He could see on the surface how the shinbone was broken. About three inches below the knee the skin was bulged and uneven, swollen and a complete maze of discoloured bruising. Half way down the bone the other break were, a jagged edge showed that the bone was completely shifted to the side lying parallel with the rest.

It took Naruto some time to figure out how to place the braces, much to Tayuya's chagrin as his trial and error approach moved her leg time and time again, each time sending pain through the limb. But Naruto managed in the end to support the breaks enough that he felt secure they would not move.

After the right leg was done the left was in comparison a piece of cake, but not any less upsetting. The damage, to his eyes, were only the knee. So securing the leg straight with long sticks was a quick and mostly painless endeavour as he only needed to… straighten the leg before tying it tight to the splints immobilizing the limb. It was a shoddy patchwork he knew, but at least it would be better than not having them.

Tayuya breathed out the breath she'd been holding during the ordeal, glad that it was finally over.

Making the splints had eaten up the rest of the afternoon, and the woods were quickly darkening with the oncoming night.

"You have anything to eat?" Tayuya asked.

"Uuh, some instant ramen." Naruto dug through his belt bag extracting his treasured ramen scroll. His skill with Fuinjutsu was meagre, but when he learned from Jiraya how to he could transport a lot more ramen, or food in general, with him in these scrolls. He had been sold on the idea from that moment, and made it.

With practiced ease he had a fire going, and water cooking in a pot within minutes.

"What flavour do you want?" Naruto asked showing her a cup or two from the literal pile he had unsealed.

"Just give me one," Tayuya said, not caring. She was hungry and tired, it mattered little to her.

"Okay," Naruto rooted around in his pile, if she was going to be like that she might as well get one he did not like as much as the other flavours. He liked them all, but even amongst his most favoured food he had his favourites. He set a vegetable cup to the side as he settled to start with a beef one himself.

When the pot started to boil he quickly filled the cups and handed Tayuya hers.

"Let it soak for a few minutes," Naruto instructed. Tayuya cradled the warm cup to her getting a very far off look in her eyes.

Naruto felt awkward while the silence grew. What was he supposed to do now? Why did he help her, wasn't she the enemy? Orochimaru's trusted elite guard. It was her fault Sasuke was tricked into abandoning them. But why was he not angry at her? Why did he not feel like taking revenge?

Ah, ramen is done. Naruto put his musings on hold and started to dig in. In moments his cup was empty and he prepared his second cup. Waiting on his seconds he threw a quick look towards Tayuya who had still to start eating.

"Hey, hurry and eat before your noodles get soggy."

Tayuya jerked and looked between Naruto and her food:

"Oh, yeah, yeah," Tayuya said dragging her words and started to eat mechanically.

Naruto watched her for a moment before shrugging off her oddness. For all he knew that was normal for her. When she was not being a bitch, he added bitterly. He had yet to be thanked for helping her, it was irritating, but he was sure she was grateful even though she was not saying so.

Adding more fuel to the fire and water to the pot he continued to fill his belly with ramen, deciding after that day's event he deserved a treat. Darkness was slowly creeping up them and soon all he had was weak moonlight and the fire to light up the surroundings.

After an hour Naruto noticed how quiet it was. Looking up from the embers he let his eyes adjust to the darkness to look at Tayuya. His heart jumped when he saw her slumped to her side, her cup of noodles tipped and emptied on the ground. Rushing to his feet he kneeled beside her.

"Hey, Tayuya, Tayuya!" he shook her shoulder and noticed how cold she was when his fingers brushed against her bared shoulder. "Oy!"

Being as careful as his shaking hands could he sat her up again. He cupped her head in his hands and lifted her chin up to look her in the face. By sheer luck he felt her breath on his hands, and it calmed him down considerably. She was sleeping he confirmed, but found he could not let her go. He stared mesmerized at her face. She was pretty when she did not sneer or grimace like she had done so far. Her relaxed features, and slightly parted lips transfixed him.

Then a chill breeze passed him by and he shivered. She was going to catch a cold with only her shirt between herself and the weather.

Reluctantly he let her head go, gently leaning it against the tree he had her propped up against. His heavy weather cloak would probably do the trick. Unsealing his cloak from his bag he tucked it around Tayuya as best he could. Feeling satisfied with it he went back to the fire.

It seemed his plan to revisit the Valley of the End had been waylaid.

A/N: Thank you all for reading. I have a penchant for reading Naruto/Tayuya fics for it has a special touch (preferably) that I like. Mainly Tayuya being crippled, a thing many have used but done away with in a cheap "Tsunade fixes her back to full health" outcome mid story. Which cheapens the relationship somewhat. I like that brash tit getting some humble pie while still providing a deadly sweet dependence on Naruto.

If anyone knows of these kinds of fics please PM me and tell me which ones.

And as always, review or PM me if you have questions or just want to tell me how good/bad I am, what I could have done better or worse, etc. etc.

See you next instalment.