Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Over The Garden Wall.

AN: This is just something I wanted to try, so let me know what you think.

The Truth of the Unknown

-Chapter one-

Cold...

Terribly cold...

Shivering as he walked down a dirt path carved through an odd forest of dead trees, Naruto couldn't help but to wish he knew where the hell he was. He knew he'd never seen a forest like this before in the seven short years he'd been alive. The dead trees surrounding either side of the path he was on were enveloped in a shroud of darkness, giving off an eerie feeling and acting as a good deterrent keeping him from straying from the path.

Looking around, he couldn't see where the path lead, as both ahead and behind him the path curved, blocking his vision of anything other than the wall of trees and darkness. Deciding just to keep walking forwards, in hopes of finding somewhere to warm up, he wished he had warmer clothing, as the worn white short-sleeved shirt and dirty black shorts he currently had on were doing little to keep his small body warm in the cold night air.

As he walked trying to ignore the nipping of cold wind, biting away at his exposed arms and legs, he tried to think about how he ended up here. The last thing he remembered was running from the small group of villagers that had been chasing him, shouting things he didn't understand at him, calling him names like 'Demon' and 'Murderer', when he'd turned a corner into an opening in a stone wall and had found himself in grassy field filled with white lilies.

As he kept running, constantly casting his gaze behind him, he never noticed the mossy stone wall ahead of him until he had already reached it. His eyes widened when he noticed that the rather tall wall stretched across the field a good ways before wrapping around and boxing him in. The archway he had entered through acting as both the only entry and exit, making turning back impossible unless he could fight off the mob that had chased him.

Frantically looking around for a way to escape, Naruto noted the only things occupying the enclosed field were the white lilies and the occasional sakura tree. Not knowing what else to do, Naruto ran alongside the far edge of the wall, before he quickly came upon a single sakura tree growing next to the tall wall.

Acting quickly, as he could hear the angry voices arriving at the entrance to the field, Naruto ducked behind the tree, hoping it'd prove a well enough hiding place to not be seen by his pursuers.

"Where'd he go?"

"Isn't this the way he turned?"

"Yeah, I seen him turn into here! He's gotta be around somewhere, there's nowhere to hide, spread out and find that little bastard!"

As the various voices of the villagers started fanning out, Naruto's fear grew stronger, causing his heart to pound in his chest. Why? Why did they start chasing him all of a sudden? What did he do to deserve their hatred? For as long as he could remember the worst he'd ever had to deal with had been the constant glares and significantly raised prices on his food and clothing, but for some reason today seemed to be set their anger off rather violently.

Before he could spend anymore time pondering the cause to his current predicament, a shout from one of the villagers snapped him out of his musings.

"There he is! He's hiding behind that tree!"

Hearing those words shattered any hope Naruto held of waiting it out. Peaking out from behind the tree he had hidden behind, he found that the small group of villagers had fanned out in a semi-circle and had surrounded the tree. With them still being a distance away, Naruto had time gather a look at his pursuers. He counted six different adults, each male and rather large compared to his seven year old body.

Heart beating a mile a minute he looked around for a way to escape his current entrapment. He doubted he'd be able to squeeze through the gaps between the villagers, and he definitely couldn't fight them, but before he could begin to panic any more, it hit him. Looking up he did what came natural to any young boy his age, he began climbing the tree.

"That's not gonna save you, you little shit!" shouted one of the men.

"Heh, yeah, we came prepared you dumb fuck!" said the apparent leader of the ragtag group, stepping forward, before reaching into his pocket and removing a small foot long hollow tube. He then removed what appeared to be a simple needle from a case no larger than a pack of cigarettes and inserted it in the tube. "As hard as it was to get my hands on this, I was assured that the poison won't be traceable."

Fearful of what might happen if he didn't do anything, Naruto didn't the only thing he could think of at that moment...

He jumped.

'I made it.' was the only thought he had time to contemplate before his small body struck earth and his world was met with eternal darkness.

The next thing he could remember was waking up on this path, shivering from the biting wind. So, he just kept walking, hoping he'd find somewhere warm soon.

As he continued his journey through the ever darkening woods, Naruto's mind grew ever more frantic, conjuring up frightening images as he grew more and more fearful of being lost amongst the never ending trees. He could swear he'd seen faces, twisted in horror in some of the trees hiding within the veiling darkness.

As he prepared to run in fright, as any young child would do, he froze dead in his tracks. Looking into the woods ahead of him, Naruto was frozen solid with fear by the glowing red, slit eyes, staring back at him. His young fearful mind already weaving an image of a evil snarling beast, ready to rip him limb from limb. That's why he was completely and utterly unprepared for the small orange fox that slunk its way out of the tree-line and laid down on the path ahead of him.

Taking note of its golden orange fur, and single bushy tail, Naruto deemed the critter to most definitely not be a horrendous monster, bent on consuming his flesh. Regardless, Naruto still carefully maneuvered his way around the small fox, before beginning to walk along the path once more. A moment passed in silence as he continued walking, before he glanced behind him, only to notice that the small fox had decided to follow him, it's small paws making the bare minimum of noise to signify it was even behind him.

Numbed by the cold, he didn't do anything to prevent the fox from trailing behind him, simply not caring whether it followed him or not. If he was honest with himself, Naruto had to admit that the little bit of company was appreciated, as it helped him ignore a bit of his fear. Keeping a good pace, the duo traveled together in silence, before trying to keep his mind off the bitter cold, Naruto began speaking to himself.

"This sucks... This really sucks," he spoke quietly, "I don't know where the heck I am!" Naruto yelled angrily at the path that just wouldn't end. Really, thinking about it now, he was most likely carried away by those angry guys when he lost consciousness and was now lost in some place unknown to him, no doubt somewhere outside of his village!

"Well, at least it's not all bad, I at least made a friend." here he gave a short mirthless chuckle. His first friend ever is a fox of all things! "Though, I wish I wasn't so hungry..." he spoke dejectedly, and as if to prove a point, his stomach gave a loud grumble. "I hope we find somewhere soon, maybe somewhere with a nice lady to call our very own mommy... Heh, yeah right, like that'd ever happen. Guess its just you and me, Foxy-chan!" He said, turning to give the fox his own foxy grin, only to see the fox was gone.

Even though Naruto was use to disappointment, it still hurt to see the fox no longer following him. 'Well, what else was I expecting, that a fox of all things would actually wanna be my friend?' he thought to himself sadly before turning to continue walking, only to be alerted to rustling in the bushes. Fear beginning to grip him once more, Naruto prepared to run from any potential dangers hiding within the dark woods. That was why, he was yet again unprepared for the same fox from before to trot out from the bushes with a dead squirrel in its maw.

Trotting up to him, the fox set the small dead animal down in front of the confused boy.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Naruto asked, nudging the dead squirrel with his foot. The only response he received in return was a small yip, as the fox nudged the squirrel closer towards him with its snout. As if trying to communicate through the action, the small fox gave a few bites to the squirrels tail.

"What? You want me to eat this?" receiving a yip from the small fox, Naruto released a sigh, "Look, it's a nice gesture and all, but I can't eat this... It's not cooked, I'd get sick." he said, mentally shaking his head at the fact he was now talking to the small animal that had decided to follow him. "Why don't you eat it, okay?"

Naruto could've sworn that the fox rolled its eyes, before it snatched up the squirrel in its maw once more as he turned and began walking down the rough path, the small fox following just behind him. "I'll just tough it out until we find shelter okay? I'm sure it can't be too far to some kind of civilization, after all we are on a path created by someone right?" and with that they continued their journey.

It was a long hour later when the duo of one small, tired child, and his fox companion came across a large clearing with a creak running through it. The most notable thing about the clearing was the large, broken mill, that stood in the center of said clearing. The mill itself looked completely destroyed, yet the house attached to it seemed to be in a much better condition, if only a bit old and run down. Even though the mill looked rather spooky being in its current state and surrounded by darkness, that didn't stop the boy from sprinting towards it, a giant smile on his face.

"Oh thank Kami!" he shouted in relief, "It doesn't look like much, but it's something. Come on Foxy-chan!" keeping pace with the running child, the orange furred fox let out a quiet growl, not loud enough to be heard by the child it followed.

Upon reaching the broken door frame, the duo slowly stepped inside. The inside appeared a lot better than Naruto had been expecting, it was virtually untouched apart from the busted doorway they had entered through, and a bigger hole in the wall just to the left of the doorway where it appeared something large had broken through and into the attached mill. Straight ahead of the entrance to the house was a staircase heading up to a second floor.

As they both entered into the house, Naruto took note of the still burning fireplace. With a sigh of relief he quickly walked over to it to warm up.

"I guess someone must be be around here somewhere huh?" he spoke to his new foxy companion. "Maybe they'll know how to get back home." Naruto stated hopefully, earning a yip in return.

An hour passed as the duo sat in front of the fireplace, before a yawn came from the young boy. "I guess I won't be going home today..." Naruto said dejectedly, "Anyways, I'm really tired, I'm gonna get some sleep Foxy-chan. I know you can't understand me, but I really hope you're still here when I wake up." with that Naruto crawled onto the couch off to the side of the fireplace, before he curled up into a ball to sleep. With a yawn, he was out like a light, as the small fox jumped up onto the couch before curling up next to him. Staring out the hole where the door should be, the fox glared out into the woods, releasing a quiet growl, as a pair of haunting white eyes that had been gazing back disappeared.

Waiting a moment, the fox kept its gaze upon the woods for awhile longer before nodding slightly. With a yawn of its own, the fox lowered its head onto its paws in order to get some rest of its own.

It had been a long day of travel.

Alright, well... There's the first chapter... So yeah... Review?