"A new student within our midst"

chpt. 1

I look out my window and see a dark figure walk into the village. It's pouring rain and fairly late at night. Once I examine the figure more closely I realize that it's the new kid. And from that moment on I knew my life would never be the same.

I walk into the village in the pouring rain. I'm drenched but I don't care. I've started not caring about a lot of things lately. My name is Ai Hibikino. I used to live right off of the Leaf village. My aunt and uncle trained me so I am already at Genin level. Although, the other day I woke up and they were no longer there. They left a note saying that I would probably never see them again. On the counter I found some money and directions to my new home. It's and apartment in Konoha. I'm supposed to find a guy named Iruka Umino who would set me up with a team and a teacher. When I finally reach my apartment I fall down in exhaustion on the couch and fall asleep.

The next morning I wake up to a loud banging at my door. I try to ignore it but it just keeps getting louder. When I finally open the door there's this goofy looking kid with blonde hair and an orange outfit.

"HI! So I guess you're my new neighbor? My name's Naruto Uzumaki,"

"Um…hi," I answer shaking his hand.

"Did you want me to show you around, I could introduce you to Iruka sensei, Kakashi, Sakura…"

"Did you just say Iruka?"

"Yeah,"

"Well, I'm supposed to meet him so…"

"Well come on then!" Naruto said as he dragged me out of my apartment. When we got to the academy and I was introduced to Iruka when he gave me a funny look. I had almost forgotten that I was in my pj's still. My hair wasn't brushed, I was in a tank top and lounge pants and probably looked disheveled.

"Well, I can at least explain why I look this way. It's because Naruto got so excited he dragged me away forgetting to let me get ready,"

"Oh…I see what's going on now. Naruto, could you get this nice young lady breakfast?" "Awww, but sensei," Iruka must've given him a nasty look because Naruto left without saying another word. Iruka then handed me a hairbrush and showed me where the bathroom was. When I got there I realized that Iruka doesn't even know my name yet. Oh, well…I'll just tell him later. I then began brushing my amber colored hair. It reaches all the way down to my waist. My makeup is black eyeliner with black eye shadow. When I finished Naruto was back with breakfast and there were some other students and another Sensei. The girl had pink hair and the guy looked like he was emo. When I sat down Naruto handed me breakfast and everyone was just looking at me. It felt extremely awkward, but I was hungry so I started to eat my breakfast. "Well, how about we start with the introductions. How about the young lady over there. Why don't you tell us your name, age, favorite color, likes and dislikes." Said the other teacher. I thought that it was weird he had a mask covering most of his face.

"Well, um, my name is Ai Hibikino. I'm 15 and my favorite color is purple. I don't really have many likes and I don't like it when people stand in my way,"

"Very good Ai," Iruka said. What am I, a dog? What's with the "very good"? I'm just like everyone else in here.

"Okay, so Ai, this is your team. Your Sensei is Kakashi, this is Sakura, and over there is Sasuke. You already know Naruto but he's on the team to. For today you can go and explore the town, and tomorrow morning you can come here to start your training," After Iruka finished talking my new teammates all walked over and said hi. But at the first chance I got I ran out of there and back to my apartment. Something was wrong. They all treated me different and when they first saw me it seemed like they were afraid of me. When I got to my apartment I found a package on my kitchen table addressed to me. It didn't have a return address and I though that was strange. The box was filled with letters. I started to read the first letter I saw. It said:

Dear mom,

I am writing this to tell you about my daughter. When she was born her darling mother was killed. Since then I have never been able to love my daughter like a father should. To make it worse, I fear that I have made a terrible mistake. Since my daughter was born of Konoha and Sunagakure I was able to use forbidden jutsu. Inside my daughter is a demon with a killer instinct. No one else knows about this except our family. I have started to notice that I may not be able to control Ai, so I may have to kill her. I have already attempted this feat once but she just thought that we were training. I think that I may send an assassin. I will write back to you soon on my progress. You may think it doesn't seem right, but my daughter is a monster and precautions need to be taken,

Your loving son,

Sasori Hibikino

Of the sand

I was confused. I sat down and read and re-read it. I-is this my father? If it is, then do I have this demon inside of me? The only way to find out was to read another letter. This one seemed to have been sent back to my father, maybe from his parents. It said:

Dear son,

Your father and I do agree with you on this. When we visited you and your daughter I did notice how strange she was. She didn't have any friends in school and it never seemed as though she was looking at you. Her mind always seemed to be somewhere else. Our Kazekage agrees with this since his son, Gaara, is basically the same. He plans to assassinate his son as well. I only hope that Ai and Gaara haven't met because being almost one in the same, it may cause some havoc. I'm sure that your being in the Akatski may only effect her more. If you are going to do it, do it soon before your life gets taken away. When you get this letter, please try to write back.

Love,

Your mother

Gaara, the name rang through my head. It sounded familiar but I couldn't recall meeting him. Actually, the farthest memory I can recall is being around the age of 6 and living with my aunt and uncle. Have I ever lived in Sunagakure? Another thing that was bothering me is that she said that Gaara and I were one in the same. What part of my childhood am I missing? I'm now sure that my dad was from Sunagakure. But I'm living in the Konoha, so which village am I really from? And did my aunt and uncle know this, all along? While I was asking myself these questions I heard a knock at my door. It was mid-day, about lunchtime. As I answered the door I realized that it was Naruto again. "What do you want now?" I asked a little impatiently.

"Um, did…did you want to go get some Ramen for lunch? If you want to, I'll treat you." He was actually being nice to me, and it was free ramen. "Okay," I said with a smile. Naruto seemed genuinely pleased. But the questions were still running through my head while we walked to the ramen stand. I figured that I could quiet my thoughts while I enjoyed a bowl of ramen. After we ordered Naruto just started to talk, and talk, and talk. About the town, school, some of the pranks he's pulled. Stuff like that that. I just sat there and listened. I was surprised at how energetic he was, he also seemed really determined in everything that he has done.

"Are you okay?"

"Hm?" I commented as Naruto's voice took me from my thoughts.

"You just seem really quiet, sort of, out of it if you know what I mean,"

"Oh," I said.

"It's just that, well, I'm a little confused on some things,"

"Like what?"

I didn't know if I should tell him or not. He seemed like a nice person though, and it would feel good to get this off my chest.

"Well, when I went back to my apartment there was this package full of letters. I read two of them but they weren't to me. I think that one was from my dad and that other was a letter sent back to him from his mom,"

"What's so weird about that? But I thought that you lived alone,"

"I do. I don't even remember my parents. But my dad wrote to his mom about how I was a monster, and that I have a demon inside of me. He was writing to tell her about how he was going to kill me. And his mom wrote back agreeing and that the Kazekage's son, Gaara, was just like me and that he was going to kill Gaara to. The strangest part is that they're both from the sand village," Naruto seemed to wince a little when I was done. I couldn't exactly describe the look on his face.

"Th-there's something I have to tell you. Especially since you just told me all of that," Naruto said. "I-I have the nine tailed fox demon inside of me. The demon almost destroyed our village. It was sealed inside of me when I was a baby. And just to let you know, Gaara wasn't killed. He's here, just like other ninja for the Chunin exam."

"So doesn't that mean it's possible that I to, could have a demon inside of me?"

"Oh, Ai, it's more than true. It's cold, hard reality,"

"What do you mean?"

"When your aunt and uncle talked to Iruka, I overheard them talking. They told him to be wary because of your demon. They said that it's a mix of the nine tailed fox and the Shikaku. It's a demon named Yura. They didn't explain how or why but just left,"

After hearing this it felt as though I couldn't breathe. All this time, there has been a demon inside of me.

"I-is that what it is. Every now and then I get this feeling, inside, I can't really explain it…"

"Hey! Naruto!" Kakashi shouted from the other side of the street.

"Are you eating ramen again?! What did I tell you about eating your vegetables?!"

"I know, I know! I was just treating Ai to lunch,"

"Oh, hello Ai. I didn't see you there," I didn't give him a reply. I sort of stared at him blankly. He didn't see me, so does that mean that I'm not noticeable? I didn't care, I felt sick. It seemed as if all of my emotions were against me. Almost as if that pang of realization had caused something to stir in me. Whatever it is I don't like it. I almost feel like, I'm bloodthirsty.