Summary: Soulmate. the word itself doesn't do justice for the bond shared between an Animia and their Elit. However the cost of having strong bond is to have that very bond that bind them together be used against them.

Warning: some made up stuff

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto at all...I just borrow the char for the story :P

Beta by blugirlami21 :D

Chapter 1

After dumping his suitcases along with everyone else, Naruto glanced at the map of Konoha Academy once more. Everyone was supposed to be heading towards the assembly right about now. He bid his guardian farewell and followed the general direction that everyone else was heading in. After having gotten rid of his stuff, the blond could now take his sweet time admiring the gleaming marble floor and arched shiny wooden doors. This whole place just reminded him so much of those mediaeval castles. The assembly was just up ahead of the corridor leading away from his common room. He noted the nurse office to his right as he walked passed, 'good thing the nurse office is near, god knows I'll need it.'

The assembly consisted of three distinct groups of chairs. Being a freshman, his group was located to the very left from where he entered; it was also next to the other entrance from the main hall where he noticed other students with coloured ties were entering. Naruto also noticed that each group had different colour ties.

Looking at his map, the group towards the windows on his right were the third years. All of them were wearing the same uniform as Naruto, (white button up shirt and plain black pants or skirt) the only difference if that their ties where blue. Some were plain blue; some had white stripes on the otherwise plain blue tie. The second years where located in the middle. They were wearing the same thing except their ties were red. Again, some striped, some plain. Several teachers in the front were urging the students to take their seats.

"Blondie, want to stand there or you want to get a seat?" Naruto turned around and saw a brunette grinning at him with sharp canine teeth. The blond noticed his plain white tie, much like himself.

He smiled back at the brunette, "I was about to." Naruto replied cheerfully.

"Cool dude, let's sit here." The brunette motioned to the two empty chairs next to the guy with sunglasses.

"Name's Kiba. Yours?" the brunette turned his head to look at Naruto.

"Naruto." Their conversation consisted of admiration of the buildings and comments on the vast number of students. Naruto concluded that Kiba was an easy person to talk to, much like himself. Apparently he liked dogs, a lot, and had wanted to bring his beloved Akamaru here with him. His family owned a veterinarian clinic about a 2 hours drive away from the academy. Naruto also found out that Kiba's sister, Tsume, had graduated from the academy just 2 years ago and she was an Animia also.

The blond looked slightly startled so Kiba resumed his explanation, "You know what this academy is famous for right?"

"I guess so." He answered, slightly unsure.

Kiba nodded knowingly. "Don't worry, I didn't get it at first either. Well to make this simple, apparently there are two groups of people. The Elits and the Animia." Naruto looked even more confused. "Well first off, the Animia are those who turn into some sort of creature when they are stimulated by a medium. The stimulus for each Animia is different you see. For example, the light of the full moon can stimulate the person to turn into a werewolf." Naruto nodded knowingly as Kiba continued his explanation. "And while in their bestial state, they lose their sense of self and that's where the Elits come in." Kiba almost seemed to be lost in his own world as he continued talking. "The Elits are also known as purebloods and each one has a special power that is able to help the Animia bring back their sense of self. At the same time I heard that the Animia are also helping the Elits in return, although I'm not so sure how."

The blond digested this new information then asked, "So how do we know who are the Elits and who are the Animia?"

Kiba's grin was back and he said, "Well when Tsume was here, she said that the acad – "

"SILENCE!" Naruto and Kiba cringed and both immediately sat upright as though they were being scolded. The busty woman on the stage then yelled at some random second years to shut up, which they quick to do.

Once the assembly had settled down and became dead silent, the woman proceeded in a much softer tone. "Welcome all, I am Tsunade, the principal of Konoha Academy. I would also like to give a special welcome to our first years." A small amount of applause resounded. "We hope that you will enjoy your time here, make new friends and..." Naruto and Kiba both decided that the assembly was nothing but a waste of time. It had been an hour already and they were still doing welcome speeches and staff introduction, if Naruto had to sit through these for the next 3 years, he might as well kill himself now . And from the look on the brunette's face, he was thinking the same. Then when one of the students, a third year, with a plain blue tie and black school suit made his speech, Naruto and Kiba could not help but stare.

"I welcome all of you to Konoha Academy. As our vice principal Jiraiya said, I am the student council president of this academy..." Naruto looked at Kiba with wide comic eyes, only to have them reflected back at him.

"Dude he's got like more piercing than my mother, is that even allowed?" Kiba whispered.

"I don't know man, but that's a lot of piercings, and since he's the pres, then I guess it's allowed." Naruto paused, and then said, "but then again you're not really the one to talk, you've got red triangle tattoos on either side of your face."

Kiba grinned. "Can say the same thing about your whiskers there, blondie."

Naruto huffed. "Shut up doggy boy, I was born with it."

"Ha, so it's not Maybelline?"

The two teens could not stop themselves from laughing out loud from Kiba's comment. They were too engrossed in their little humour that they did not notice a teacher walking up to them.

Only to whack their heads with the hard cover of his book. Naruto and Kiba did not make a sound after that.

Once the assembly was over you could hear a sigh of relief from all the year groups. The second years got up from their seats and left first, followed by the third years.

"Newbies stay seated." Several students who stood up moved back to their seats. The doors were shut again by the other teachers before the vice principal continued. "Now some of you might or might not know about Elits and Animia, so allow me to explain..." Naruto listened to Jiraiya's explanation which practically mirrored everything that Kiba had told him during the assembly. "Now, everyone, this is not just any academy...You see this is room is magical." He said it in such a serious voice that it caused some students to fidget in their seats nervously. "And if you look down to your ties, you will notice they are no longer white." There were sounds of surprise from the students and their voices were getting louder with each passing second. Jiraiya allowed the 'newbies' to settle down once more before he continued. "You will also notice that some of your ties are plain yellow and some are striped."

More noise.

"Dude, your tie has stripes!" the brunette picked up his tie and observed it, "So does mine!" He commented excitedly.

"Nice!" They high fived each other as the vice principal continued.

"Those with striped ties, you guys are Animia. Those with plain ties, you are Elits."

The chatter got even louder than before.

A girl with long blond hair tied in a pony tail shouted from somewhere near the front. "How do you know what we are! This is NOT fair! I don't think I turned even once...EVER!" there were murmurs of agreement from some of the other students.

"I told you before right. This room is magical." The vice principal continued calmly, "This room will reveal who you really are regardless of whether you knew it or not."

He cleared his throat and waited for the students to calm down before continuing. "Animia, before you is a contract." And just like that a thin brown leather bound folder appeared in thin air in front of Naruto, Kiba and others with striped ties. "This folder can only be open under two conditions. One, both the Animia and Elit must be present and willing to open and complete the contents together. Two, a blood sacrifice from each willing party is required in order for the folder to unlock and letters to appear." There were looks of puzzlement from the students, as each Animia examined the harmless folder.

"Anymore questions?"

"Yeah." A girl with pink hair sitting somewhere near the front spoke. "What if we don't find our um...partner?"

Jiraiya smirked knowingly, like he had expected the question to pop up. "This is why this school, if I can say school, is so unique. We screen each and every one of you, and I can assure that everyone here has a match. It is your job to find him or her yourselves. After all both your lives depend on it." There was a pause as he allowed the information to sink in. "We will give you a week to find your partner, if not there will be consequences."

"But there are over 400 people in our year, how are we supposed to find our match in such short amount of time?"

"Then I suggest you all start looking."