Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Final Fantasy IX. Only the new characters that were not in either the show or the game is mine. And if you don't like don't read but I would like some constructive criticism.

Prologue

The morning sun rose and with it a new day in Alexandria. Mothers work in kitchens cooking breakfast while shopkeepers are setting out their wares. Children are waking up to the smells of breakfast and they start their chores before school. While the town wakes up and starts the new day, in the castle, things are very different. It seems that the castle knows something that the town has yet to hear of. Soldiers are running frantically, searching for their charge while a healer does her best to save the life of her dying king.

The healer is almost out of her magic to completely heal the king. Tears start streaming down her face as she checks his vital spots with the last of her magic. She stood up and turned to the general near the door to the queens' chambers.

"My magic is drained," she explained. "I don't have as much as the queen, but I healed most of the king's major wounds. The main problem is that his main artery has been severed. I couldn't heal that. He has minutes left."

The general nodded while the healer moved to the back of the small bedroom near the window. The general kneeled down next to her king and sighed.

"Hardly a year has passed since this peace began," the general said looking down on her king. "And already tragedy has stuck us once again."

"I don't think this attack was random," the healer said looking at the sunrise out of the window.

"Why do you think that Lady Eiko?" the general asked looking at her.

Because the town went by unscathed," Lady Eiko explained. "The only person who was injured was the king. But most importantly, the only person missing, who is the symbol of this country's peace, is the queen. And no one knew of the attack until it was too late."

The general nodded and looked back down at the king. Tears started falling down her face as she watched her queen's beloved husband slowly drew nearer to death while she watched. But then the king's head slowly moved from side to side and a moan escaped his lips. The general stood up and bowed as the king opened his eyes and looked up at her. When he nodded o her, the general kneeled back down next to him.

"My king, I am glad to see you awake," the general said.

"General Beatrix, you know I am not your king," he rebuked.

General Beatrix shook her head and smiled. "Once a thief always a thief," she said. "You still haven't changed a bit even after you married my queen."

"Where is she?" the king asked.

General Beatrix looked away as more tears fell. She tried and failed to keep her voice from cracking as she told him, "She was already gone when we found you unconscious. I don't know where she is."

The king looked away toward the opposite wall trying to hide the pain and fear from the women. "She's done for," he whispered.

"What happened?" General Beatrix asked. When the king didn't reply, she spoke in a firmer voice, like a mother scolding her child. "Zidane Tribal, you may be the king by marriage only, but I am this country's general. It is my job to protect the royal family. One of them is missing. I need all the information you have on who took her and where."

The king looked back at General Beatrix and sighed. "It's too late to find her," he told her. "He came out of nowhere and struck fast. He had long black hair, ivory white skin, a slithery voice, and a sword that looked like a katana. But if he could beat me, she's a goner. I'll see her soon on the other side with our child."

"What?" Lady Eiko and General Beatrix said together.

"Yes. She's pregnant," King Zidane told them. "Three months in if I remember right."

King Zidane turned his head over to the wall again and winced in pain. General Beatrix and Lady Eiko looked at each other with shock and confusion. When their shock had dissipated, Lady Eiko took the General's place next to King Zidane and tried to get him to sleep.

"I don't need healing anymore, Eiko," King Zidane snapped.

"I'm not healing you," Lady Eiko explained. "I'm making you go to sleep."

"And then you're gonna heal me," King Zidane accused her.

"No I'm not," Lady Eiko replied softly. "I'm going to ease your passage."

"That's murder!" General Beatrix cried.

"Not if he's going to die anyway," Lady Eiko argued. "His blood has already started crushing his organs. He'll die slowly and painfully unless I help him. All I'm doing is putting him to sleep and then I'll going to ease his spirit into the next world."

While Lady Eiko was explaining, the king was slowly slipping into the world of sleep. With a little more concentration on Lady Eiko's part, King Zidane's breathing stopped. Lady Eiko checked his pulse and sighed.

"He's gone," Lady Eiko told General Beatrix.

"And so is the future of Alexandria."