Just having fun with a new story. This is not a one-shot! This is just chapter one of an awesome story I've had in mind. Enjoy!

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Minako Uzumaki is the daughter of the fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze and the previous Nine-tails Jinchuriki Kushina Uzumaki. She is now thirteen years old and has gone through a lot as a kunoichi of the Leaf Village.

Thirteen years ago the Nine-tails demon fox was sealed within her the day she was born by her father. Her parents wanted her to be known as a hero of the Leaf Village but things don't always go as planned. The Third Hokage tried his best to take care of Minako until she was old enough to live on her own but many villagers who knew what was inside of her hated her.

When she had turned five years old the Third Hokage gave her an apartment of her own to live alone in. That was also around the time that she started at the academy to become a ninja.

Of course, though, many villagers detested this and hated the fact that the girl that contained the demon fox would learn their ninja's ways and jutsu. The villagers would taunt her, beat her and a few have even tried to kill her but Minako would never be beaten down.

She kept that same smile on her face all the time and forgave everyone who hated her. That was her way after all and when she became the Hokage, that is when the villagers would finally respect and look up to her as a person and not a demon.

The first person to see her as an innocent child was Iruka Umino, an older brother-like figure to her.

Then after she graduated from the academy and became a Genin, she found more friends like Kakashi Hatake, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. Although they were more like teammates than friends she realized but that was enough for her. Kakashi quickly became like a father to her, always scolding her, looking out for her and telling her to eat properly. Sakura hated Minako and showed it clearly every day, though.

Minako just figured though that it was just jealousy because Sakura thought she'd 'steal' Sasuke from her. Sakura was deeply and madly in love with Sasuke and flirted with him constantly receiving only glares and rejections. Sakura always kept trying though.

Minako, however, was shown even less friendliness if that was possible. Sasuke Uchiha would always call her names that insulted her like Loser, idiot and moron but that didn't mean that she didn't have her own names for him. She'd always call him Bastard, jackass, and pretty boy on a daily basis.

Minako supposed she could say they were like siblings in a way because she couldn't say she didn't enjoy the training time they had together. Those were the times that Sakura would get jealous was when Sasuke wanted to train only with Minako and no one else.

A lot has happened since they first became a team though. Their first real mission together was in the Land of Waves and when they fought Zabuza and Haku. That was when Minako and Sasuke started to bond and Sasuke gave her a pet name: Mina.

Minako could fondly remember that day.

(flashback)

"Augh! This is going to take forever!" Minako whined.

"Shut up loser" Sasuke was not too far away concentrating his chakra to his own feet. Minako watched as Sasuke ran up the tree but when he lost his footing, he scratched the bark of the tree with the kunai and landed on the ground again.

"You shut up jackass! You're not doing any better!" Minako grinned as Sasuke sent a glare her way but the glare slightly softened when he saw her smile.

"Why are you smiling like that idiot?"

Minako's grin never faltered, "I don't know. I guess because this is kinda fun. Almost."

"Almost, huh?" Sasuke lightly smirked and walked over to Minako's tree with her sitting in front of it with her legs crossed staring up at him.

"You're catching up to me pretty quickly." He stated, twirling his kunai on a finger, "What did Sakura say to you?"

Minako suddenly growled, "I'll never tell! It's a secret!" With that, the red-haired kunoichi grinned maniacally and ran up the tree again only to quickly fall down getting up only an inch from her previous record.

"Not bad." Sasuke commented.

"Oooooh! Sakura would kill me if she heard those words not directed to her!" Minako giggled jokingly.

Sasuke only frowned, "Hn. Whatever, Mina."

Minako suddenly stopped all movement and stared at Sasuke suspiciously, "What?!"

The black-haired Genin almost rolled his eyes, "I just said 'Whatever', moron"

"No! That nickname! What the hell bastard?!" she was getting a bit nervous and she didn't know why.

"Mina?"

"Yeah! Why?"

Sasuke shrugged, "I guess just saying your full name gets tiring. So I shortened it."

"Oh." Minako couldn't help but to feel strange. Like Sasuke was giving her a window of hope. That they could be friends. Minako grinned again, "Okay!"

Sasuke closed his eyes and walked back over to his own tree and they resumed training.

'Dork' he thought of her.

(end of flashback)

Minako sighed and got off her bed to get ready to join her teammates at the bridge just like every day they met to train. She slowly got dressed and ate an instant bowl of ramen for breakfast before opening the door of her apartment.

She ran down the streets and past the markets only to see something else familiar.

It was a family.

Minako's smile faded quickly as she saw the father give his daughter a popsicle.

Minako could feel her throat lump at the sight, 'Just walk away Minako.' She told herself.

In fact, today was a hard day for Minako. It was her thirteenth birthday today but not only that.

It was also the day of the Nine-tail's defeat festival for the fourth Hokage who died in the battle. People were gathering around in the streets fixing up their stands already for the big night ahead.

Minako gulped as she remembered her birthday last year. Some villagers had gotten drunk and tried to break into her apartment. Luckily though, they gave up and sundered away back to the bars to drink more. She had been so terrified though. What if they had gotten in? What would they have done to her?

Minako then saw the mother of the family hug her daughter lovingly and the father pat her head.

'You'll never have anything like that'

But she often wondered what it would be like. She remembered what Sasuke was like before his parents and the rest of his clan were murdered. Sasuke had been so happy and smiled a lot.

Since his clan was destroyed, though after he was seven, he was a completely different person. He thrived on training, getting stronger and being an utter ass to everyone.

But Minako remembered their fight with Haku.

(flashback)

"My brother . . .He's still out there. . . I promised myself that I . . . would kill him and avenge my clan. . ."

Sasuke shed tears as he bled, the many needles in his body had pierced too far into him. But Sasuke looked into Minako's eyes full of determination, "But you . . .You want to become Hokage. . . Don't you dare give up on your dream. . . Don't you dare die. . . Mina."

Minako felt her tears pour down her cheeks as Sasuke got colder and closed his eyes, "Sasuke" she whimpered and lost control of all of her emotions.

(end of flashback)

Minako sighed again, 'Then there was the fight with Gaara. What were his words again?'

She smiled as she remembered his words, 'Ah that's right. 'I won't let my precious comrades die in front of me again'.'

Minako walked on the street and grinned happily as she arrived at the bridge where Sasuke and Sakura were already waiting.

"Hey guys! What's up?!" she shouted.

Sasuke glared at her while Sakura shouted back, "Will you shut up you moron?! Do you have to be so loud in the mornings too?!"

Minako laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head, "Sorry Sakura. I'm just so happy today!"

"Why's that?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, curious of her teammate's behavior.

Sasuke was also curious but didn't say anything.

Minako coughed, "Well . . ." she was considering telling them that it was her birthday but what would they say? She would be hurt if she told them and they didn't care. She decided against it, "Well . . .It's the day of the festival of course!"

She gave a fake smile and immediately Sasuke could tell that something was wrong. He knew that that smile was fake, 'What's wrong with her?'

Sakura lit up, "Oh yeah! I almost forgot! I bought a special dress for tonight too! It's going to be so much fun! Don't you think Sasuke?"

Minako's eye twitched, 'If you almost forgot then how could already have a dress for it?'

Sasuke growled, "Hn. Whatever. I'm not going."

"What?! Why?!" Sakura was almost in tears. She was planning on asking Sasuke to go with her to the festival in fact.

"I just don't want to." Sasuke leaned on the bridge and placed his hands in his pockets, "I'd rather train."

"Shocker" Minako mumbled but her two teammates heard her.

Sakura hissed at her, "You got a problem with Sasuke training?! There's nothing wrong with that! He'll just get stronger and even more stronger than you, you nobody!"

Sakura couldn't see it but Minako was truly hurt by what the pink haired girl had said. Sasuke, however, could see the change of emotion in her eyes.

'Something's definitely wrong with her today.'

But before he could say anything, Kakashi poofed out of nowhere on the railing of the bridge, "Hey kids! How are you three today?"

The three looked at their sensei in awe, "You're on time?!"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, "Of course! Why wouldn't I be? After all, it's a special day." He smiled at Minako but she quickly shook her head.

Kakashi seemed to have grasped the idea pretty quickly and nodded, "It's the day of the festival!"

"You're going too Master Kakashi?" Sakura asked and the gray haired man smiled.

"Why wouldn't I?"

Sakura blushed, "Oh nothing. Never mind!"

Sasuke huffed, "So what are we doing today exactly?"

Kakashi hummed, "Well there are no missions available today so how about we just train until about lunch time?"

"Cool!" Sakura pumped a fist.

Minako sighed, "Yay" she almost sounded sarcastic.

Kakashi had a sad look in his eye, 'Oh Minako why don't you just tell them? They'll understand'

They left for the training grounds in silence but a lot was on each other's minds. Particularly Sasuke's.

'Damn festival getting in the way of my training. Why aren't there any missions?! Too many ninja want to stuff their faces and forget about their jobs! I need to become stronger!'

In fact it was only two weeks ago that Minako had returned to Konoha with the new Fifth Hokage Lady Tsunade. Sasuke had heard that she had taken on Kabuto and faced Orochimaru with Jiraiya and the fifth Hokage herself.

'Even Minako's become stronger than me. I have to become stronger than him though! Stronger than Itachi!'

Sasuke growled in the silence causing Minako to glance at him questioningly.

'Already she's getting on my nerves. Just by looking at me with concern! It's such a weakness!'

"What are you looking at loser?!" he shouted at her making Minako jump slightly and move away from him a few more feet.

"Nothing" she had never seen him lash out like that before.

'Scary' she thought and felt the lump in her throat again, 'Is he mad at me?'

Sakura had a sly smirk on her face, 'Ha! Stupid red head! Sasuke doesn't like you!'

Finally they reached the training grounds, though and Kakashi assigned them partners to spar with. Kakashi would spar with Sakura and Sasuke would spar with Minako.

Sakura began to whine, "But Kakashi Sensei! You always put her with Sasuke! Why can't I spar with Sasuke?"

Kakashi sighed, "Because then it wouldn't be sparing. I'm going to help you with your skills but Minako and Sasuke are really going to be sparring because they're matched in strength. Unlike you, Minako can hold her own against Sasuke."

Minako blushed, surprised that her sensei was praising her so much. Sakura grumbled, "Whatever."

Sasuke all the while was smirking, 'Finally I can test my abilities with her and not get interrupted. This is going to be fun.'

Minako, however, was less enthusiastic. She was a bit unnerved by the way Sasuke had yelled at her just a few minutes ago but she breathed calmly, 'It's just sparring.'

"Ready Mina?" Sasuke asked her while stretching to ready himself for the fight.

Minako swallowed thickly, "You bet bastard!"

Kakashi laughed at them, "Well while you two are sparring, Sakura and I will be about a hundred meters away practicing her ninjutsu, okay? Don't hurt yourselves."

With that, Kakashi just left the two rival Genin alone in the Training grounds staring each other down.

"Ready loser?" Sasuke was eager to kick her ass.

Minako just nodded but wasn't prepared when Sasuke bolted in front of her and punched her in the gut, "Augh!" she fell backwards and held her stomach.

"Heh" Sasuke smirked, "This is all you got? I'm disappointed."

Minako stood up with a glare on her face and conjured some clones. The battle was getting rougher and more intense with each passing second and after only twenty minutes, both of them were breathing hard and their limbs ached from all the chakra they used.

"Heh. . .Not bad Mina. .hufff. . . But not good enough!" Sasuke was getting impatient and finally brought out his ultimate weapon.

He made the appropriate hand signs and summoned his Chidori, "Chidori!" he screamed and Minako knew she had no choice. She concentrated on the swirling of her chakra into her palm, a shadow clone helping her and summoned the Rasengan, "Rasengan!"

They ran towards each other, their battle cries loud and collided their jutsu together. The powers of both the Chidori and Rasengan were not strong enough to be too damaging but it was strong enough to send them both flying away from each other, leaving a small crater in the earth.

They were both on their backs but somehow with Minako's famous energy, she managed to get up quicker than Sasuke.

'That's it! I've had enough of this! She thinks she's better than me?!'

Sasuke bolted up and before Minako could do anything, he appeared in front of her and slapped her cleanly on the face, the noise of the clap against her cheek sounding throughout the grounds.

Minako fell backwards in shock and landed on her butt holding her now bright red cheek with her palm. Tears started forming in her eyes but she willed them back. She lifted her frightened eyes to face Sasuke's whilst biting her lip.

"W-why did you do that?" she whimpered.

Sasuke growled menacingly, "Why not?! We're still sparring! I don't see a problem with it!"

Minako's lip quivered, "But slapping isn't a ninja move, Sasuke"

"Oh shut up!" He pulled her up and pushed her away from him, "You don't have any right telling me what I can and can't do!"

Minako was very confused at this point and was hugging herself protectively, 'Did I do something wrong?'

"Sasuke? Is something wrong?" she asked but regretted it when he slapped her again, not as hard, on her other cheek.

"Just shut up! Everything's wrong! Why would anything be right with you in this fucking world anyway?!"

Minako swallowed and shivered a bit as he continued. She considered running to Kakashi but her pride wouldn't allow it.

"Gah! You're so fucking stupid Minako!" Sasuke pushed her back to the ground and got in her face, "How you ever became a ninja in the first place is beyond me! I mean look at you! A kunoichi wearing bright orange and is too loud and obnoxious for her own good?! What was Iruka thinking?! You're worse than Sakura with camouflage and stealth! "

Minako never liked it when someone yelled at her. It always brought back memories of when the villagers yelled at her and beat her when she was little. Minako began to tear up more when Kakashi and Sakura heard Sasuke's loud yelling. They started running towards the sounds.

Sasuke continued his violent ranting his curse mark activating and the weird tattoos spreading around his skin everywhere, "You shouldn't even be alive, you're so irrelevant to the world! There's no reason for you to exist!"

Minako tried to crawl away but Sasuke grabbed the collar of her shirt to prevent her from escaping, "And another thing wrong is that you are so strong it's inconceivable! You can't be stronger than me you just can't! You're a nobody! I have to be stronger than you! I have to and I will! I will do whatever it takes to be able to kill him! You hear me?!"

Minako allowed the tears to fall down her cheeks. She was getting too frightened by her teammate to hold it in any longer and Sasuke's nose wrinkled in disgust, the black curse mark oozing purple chakra out like pure evil.

"Look at you. You disgust me! You are so pathetic! You have no one and nothing! No friends, no family, not even a stray mutt would want you as a companion! You are nothing!"

Kakashi and Sakura arrived to the scene to find Sasuke standing over Minako with her shirt collar in his grasp screaming at her with terrible insults. Even Sakura found it terrible.

"No one has ever loved you and no one ever will!"

Minako was sobbing at this point her eyes filled with terror and sadness. Sasuke finally let her go when he noticed Kakashi and Sakura watching them in shock. Minako crawled away slowly in fear as Sasuke looked shocked himself, the curse mark receding back to the original tattoo on his neck.

'Did . . . Did I really just say all of that?'

He looked at Minako who was crying miserably on the ground, two bright red slap marks clearly visible on her cheeks.

'Shit' Sasuke slowly tried to lean down to her only for her to jump away in fright and run over to Kakashi.

"K-Kakashi Sensei!" she sobbed erratically against his chest.

Kakashi placed a hand on her head and another hand over her back to soothe her, "Shhhh. It's okay now. I'm here." He glared at Sasuke, "Sasuke, what in the hell did you do to her?"

Sasuke stood back up cautiously, "I . . .I-I don't know."

Even Sakura looked disturbed and shouted, "How can you not know?! We just come back over here after hearing screaming from you to see Minako on the ground with her cheeks red and tears down her face! What did she do to deserve that!?"

Sasuke gulped, 'She didn't do anything.' He glanced at Minako who was still pressed against Kakashi's chest for safety and comfort, "I just snapped I guess"

"You just snapped?!" Kakashi hugged Minako tighter, "How dare you Sasuke? I know you are feeling angrier since Itachi returned three weeks ago to kidnap Minako but to snap on her like that? Doesn't she deal with enough without you making her life even more miserable?"

Minako stopped crying at this point but the tears still streaked her face as she listened to her sensei scold Sasuke.

Kakashi sighed, "Sakura, would you please take Minako to her apartment please? Training today is over. Oh and Minako. . . "

The girl lifted her gaze and Kakashi gently pushed her off his chest to take out a small wrapped gift from his kunai holder, "Here, take this. Happy Birthday."

Sakura and Sasuke gasped and looked in complete shock as Minako wiped her eyes and took the gift gratefully, "Thanks Master Kakashi."

"It . . . . It's your birthday?!" Sakura asked her and Minako nodded her head sadly, not looking at her so called 'friend'.

Sasuke looked even guiltier if that was possible. He dropped down to the ground and bowed his head in shame at what he had done.

Minako still didn't look at him though as she quickly unwrapped the present and opened the small box to reveal a beautiful small charm bracelet with one charm on it. The charm was the face of a fox.

Minako didn't know what to say or do. Even though the Nine-tailed fox demon lived inside of her it didn't stop her from loving her favorite animal the red fox. Minako smiled lightly and hugged Kakashi again, "Thank you Kakashi sensei" her voice was muffled against his vest but he understood it anyway.

He chuckled and pat her head, "Welcome kid. Now you get on home. Sakura will take you. You rest okay? And keep your door and windows locked and covered."

Minako nodded, "Yes sir"

She glanced at Sasuke before letting Sakura leave the grounds with her.

Sasuke was still on the ground with his head bowed in shame and his elbows resting on his knees.

'Why did I do that? She didn't deserve that. Mina never deserved that.'

Kakashi sighed, "Sasuke. Why did you hit Minako like that and say such things to her?"

Sasuke really didn't know and instead of answering, he merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Sasuke" Kakashi warned him, "Is this because of the curse mark?"

"I don't know" Sasuke finally spoke, "I just got so angry and I don't know why."

The jounin leaned down next to him and pat his shoulder, "Maybe you should apologize later. Like tomorrow morning or something. She'll appreciate that."

Sasuke nodded his head, "I will. But sensei?"

"Hm?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Why didn't she tell anyone that it was her birthday?" Sasuke really wanted to know. Wouldn't she be even happier about that than the stupid festival today?

The silver haired man was silent for a few moments before speaking, "Well. . . It's complicated, Sasuke. It's an S-ranked secret only to be kept by the older generation like me. Like all of those who were present during the Nine-tails attack exactly thirteen years ago."

"What do you mean?" The Genin stood up looking genuinely confused for once, "An S-ranked secret? Nine-tails?"

"Figure out the rest for yourself, Sasuke. You're a smart boy. I'm sure you'll figure it out and hopefully you won't think any less of Minako for it. I'll see you tomorrow. Enjoy the festival!"

With that, the man poofed away somewhere and left Sasuke alone on the training grounds

'Something to do with Nine-tails huh?'

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Sakura arrived to Minako's apartment with her finally. The whole way, both of them were silent as stone until Sakura finally wanted to just end the quietness. They stood in front of Minako's apartment door.

'This isn't like Minako. She might be loud and overly annoying but that's just the way she is. This quiet and sad Minako is just creeping me out! And what was with Sasuke?! That was terrible! I never thought he would be capable of doing such a thing! And I've never seen Minako cry before . . . or even frown for so long!'

"Minako? Are you going to be okay?" she asked her red-haired teammate.

Minako merely traced her charm bracelet that Kakashi gave her and nodded her head in affirmation.

"Right." Sakura found this very awkward, "Well if you need anything, don't be afraid to come by my house, okay? We could have a sleepover sometime!"

She was trying to cheer her up but when she found that it had no effect, Sakura just sighed, "Listen Minako, I'm sorry about all the things I've said to you."

Minako snapped her head up to look at Sakura, completely shocked by her teammate's apology.

"What?"

Sakura reddened, "Well yeah. . . I guess I've always just been jealous of you."

'What?! Jealous?!' Minako was surprised, "But why would you be jealous of me? I'm a nobody."

Sakura fiddled with her thumbs, "Well I suppose it's because Sasuke has always had a thing for you, god knows why. You're not like other girls. You don't dress like one, you don't act like one, heaven knows you don't look like one! Hahahah!"

"This is a terrible apology Sakura"

Sakura fake grinned, "I know. Sorry. It's just that you've got something about you that Sasuke likes and it's always irked me I guess. I mean he has always looked at you, when you're not around, he talks about you and he only wants to train with you! It bothers me, you know, and I'm sorry I let my jealousy of you get in the way of our teamwork so many times. Do you forgive me?"

Minako blushed and she felt sweat drop, 'She truly is horrible at giving apologies but I guess it was her best'

"Sure Sakura. Oh! And have fun at the festival."

The pink-haired girl smiled back at her struggling friend, "Thanks! Have a good day too Minako!"

With that, Sakura left without another word, leaving Minako alone.

She shut the door and walked in her apartment, starting to lock and block all of the windows and any other entrances.

'You can never be too careful'

A few hours ticked on by and Minako could hear the crowd of people cheering and laughing in the streets, enjoying the festival.

'Stupid villagers.' Minako thought, 'They don't know why they're so happy. What reason do they have to be so happy for? What's the point?'

She remembered Sasuke's anger at her earlier and she whispered out loud to herself, "What's the point anymore?"

Tears ran down her face as she clung to her new fox charm.

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R&R