Naruto gasped in pain. He'd been running for three days straight without food, sleep, or water. He couldn't stop yet, he wasn't far enough yet to stop, they'd catch him, they'd make him go back, he didn't want to go back!
He stumbled. Weak, he couldn't stay upright and fell heavily. He forced himself to stand on weak, trembling legs, forced himself to keep running, keep moving, to get farther away from the village.
,",",",",
When he fell next, half an hour later, he did not get back up, and lay as still as the dead. A fox approached, almost reverently, and covered the suffering boy with a large leaf from one of the Giant Trees, before leaving.
As the first fox left, another took his place, and gave Naruto a drink, before leaving and being replaced by another.
,",",",",
This went on for almost an hour, before they realized that there was nothing else they could do to help the young Jinchūriki, and departed with great reluctance.
The sky darkened, and then brightened, and then darkened, and then brightened again before Naruto was found.
,",",",",
Yoichiro walked slowly down the road. He was going home, and wished to truly see the world around him. He was enjoying himself immensely, before he saw something that didn't fit. Hair. Human hair. Hair that was attached to a child. A boy, wearing a bright orange jumpsuit, almost covered by a Giant leaf. A boy that was obviously suffering, although Yoichiro did not know why or from what.
He stooped down and gently lifted the child into his arms. The child did not stir. It was as if he was dead. Yoichiro felt traces of alarm. Nobody slept that deeply naturally, and espesially not children.
He sighed softly and began to run, carefully cradling the boy in his protecting arms. He would have to be fast. He could feel the boy's life slipping away as the seconds passed.
,",",",",
Naruto's eyes opened slowly. He jerked as he realized he was in a hospital. They must have found him. He stood up, only to collapse as his entire being protested his movement. Shaking his head, he stood up again. He was surprised that there were no restraints. He'd always been restrained in hospitals.
He whipped his head around as he heard voices and footsteps. Thinking quickly, he hid under the bed, ready to run. The door opened. A gasp sounded. "He's gone." The two of them started talking, but Naruto wasn't listening. He was focused on the window, ready to flee.
The people got closer. Naruto panicked. He ran out from under the bed and jumped out the window, stumbling slightly as he hit the ground running. He heard footsteps behind him, and doubled his efforts.
,",",",",
The chase went on for hours. Naruto always eluded everyone until he turned a corner and ran straight into a man. This man grabbed Naruto's wrist tightly. Naruto flinched and tried to pull away, but the man, whose name was Touma, held on tight and didn't let go. Naruto didn't stop struggling, even as Touma called out "I have him, I repeat, I have him!"
,",",",",
By the time Reo, Himari, and Yoichiro arrived, barely thirty seconds later, Naruto was pulling like crazy, trying to escape. Blood was dripping down his arm from where he'd attemped to gnaw his hand off to get away. It also stained his face, and the collar of his jumpsuit. He was sobbing, pulling, trying to get free, and whispering softly between the sobs of terror, frustration, misery, and rage. It was a very disturbing sight.
"Don't sedate him! If we do, he won't trust us!" Yoichiro shouted. Naruto began to cry harder. "Let me go! I haven't done anything! I don't wanna go back! Just, please, please let me go. . ." He begged. "I just couldn't stay anymore. . . Just let me go! You won't see me again, I promise! Just let me go. . ." His words dissolved into tears, and he fell to the ground. Touma dropped with him, so that the child wouldn't dangle, as he was small, maybe seven, and Touma was a very large man. "Please. . . just let me go." He begged.
Touma picked Naruto up easily. Naruto's crying intensified. "The hospital scared him. Let's find somewhere else where we can heal him. And put a guard on him. I don't think he's mentally stable."
,",",",",
Naruto was given a room in Yoichiro's house, one without windows. The door was locked from the outside. Only the ones who had been directly involved were allowed to see him.
He slept for almost a week before waking up.
,",",",",
As soon as Naruto opened his eyes, he knew that he was in trouble. There were restraints holding him down, the door was locked, and there weren't any windows. He sighed. "Guess I don't have a choice. "
,",",",",
After a while, Yoichiro came in. Seeing that Naruto was awake, he smiled and introduced himself. "Hello. My name is Yoichiro. What's yours?" Naruto looked warily and fearfully at him. "I'm Naruto." Yoichiro came closer, only to back away as Naruto shrank back, pressing against the frame in an attemp to get farther away from him. "Naruto, I found you lying on the side of the road out of town. Care to explain why?" Naruto shook his head. Yoichiro sat down in a chair at the side of the bed, ignoring Naruto's flinch. "Naruto, if you don't tell me, then I'll have to keep you here. Wouldn't you like to go home, or go free?" Naruto looked away. "I ran away from home. I passed out due to exhaustion, and then you found me. End of story." He looked back at Yoichiro, who raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Then why did you run away?" Naruto looked away, and stayed silent. "Naruto, I can't let you go unless you have a guardian that I can release you to. So unless you tell me who your guardian is, you aren't leaving." Naruto whipped around. "If I tell you, then you'll make me go back to him, and he'll make me go back! I'm not going back!" Yoichiro shrugged. "Then I guess you're staying here." He got up and walked to the door. Without turning back, he asked, "Are you sure that you won't tell? I'm sure that your guardian's very worried about you. And I'm also sure that you don't want to stay here. Do you really want to stay in this village forever, never being able to leave for even a moment, never to see your home or family again?" And then he left without waiting for an answer.
,",",",",
The next morning, a DNA coded collar was made for Naruto. It would prevent him from attacking anyone without good reason, and it would prevent him from leaving. Since Naruto was not an adult, he could only be released into the hands of an adult. And since Naruto refused to tell them any adults he knew, he would have to stay with them until someone came to pick him up or everyone in the village voted to let him go, and neither of those were very likely.
After the collar was applied, Naruto was allowed out of the room that he'd been imprisoned in.
He didn't play with the other children, even when they invited him. He seemed afraid of them. He seemed afraid of everyone. He refused to go into restaurants, stores, or any other kind of building. And he almost never ate. He always sat on a certain swing, and watched the people. Children mostly, but many adults as well. He slept out in the streets more often than not.
,",",",",
Then one day, something changed. Naruto tripped on a brick in the street, right in front of an old woman. He seemed petrified by her, and cringed like he expected to be hit. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?" the woman, Sana, asked, helping him up. He fazed at her with childish wonder. "You don't. . . hate me?" The entire street stopped, dumbfounded. Sana was shocked. "Of course not! I don't have any reason to hate you!" Naruto looked her in the eyes. "Then do you fear me?" Sana shook her head. A genuine look of bewilderment crept over his face, and he asked one word that shocked everyone to the core.
"Why?"
That one word froze everyone in their tracks. "Everybody either hates or fears me. So why don't you? The few who didn't either hate or fear me were the ones that I destroyed. Two of them ran a restaurant. I ruined their buisness. One was a teacher. He nearly died several times. One was a ruler. I made life in general difficult for him. These were all good people. Too good to be around me. So, if I were you, I'd hate me. Hate me and fear me with all your heart, or you'll get hurt too. And I might be a demon, but I'm tired of hurting people and having to deal with lies. You're going to hate me anyways. All of you will. Hate and fear.
"You should let me go."
He tried to leave then, but Sana grabbed his arm. "Why do you believe this? I've watched you, and I see no reason to either hate or fear you. And you definitely are not a demon. Demons don't care about others." Naruto smiled softly. "I appreciate that, but you're just one person who happens to be seeing things. Just forget about me, hate me, fear me, I really don't care. But don't think of me as anything other that a monster, a demon, a creature. " Naruto left then, leaving a street full of stunned people, many of them with tears in their eyes.
,",",",",
The next day, the children surrounded Naruto at his swing. "Naruto-kun, come play with us. You never play with us, and we want to play with you!" A girl, named Kokalo, said pleadingly. Naruto sighed. "Kokalo-chan, I appreciate the gesture, but you really don't want me to play with you." A boy, named Arashi, grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him forwards. "Oh, we do, actually, Naruto-kun." He said, teasing slightly. Kokalo spoke up again. "Naruto-kun, we're playing Ninja. You're gonna be on Sora-kun's team." Sora, a shy boy, waved from the back. "You'll be against Hana-chan's team." Hana waved boldly from what was kinda the middle. "Do you know how to play?" At Naruto's nod, she grinned. "Then let's go!"
,",",",",
It had been a year since Kitashiobara had accepted Naruto as one of them when Naruto was called to a meeting of all adults in the village, concerning whether one Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze was to be freed or continued to be kept prisoner. Of course, the children would watch.
"Naruto, would you please come up here." It was finally time. Time to see if he would be freed or not. He smiled serenely as he stepped up and sat down right in the center of the square of adults. "Are we ready, Himari-sama?" She nodded. "Yes. Let's begin, shall we?" She took a deep breath. 'This meeting shall decide your fate, Naruto. I hope it works out in your favor. We all care for you, Sunshine.' She thought wistfully.
Sunshine was Naruto's nickname.
