Consanguineous Animalia

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Summary:

Life can get to be really boring at times. We've all been there and hated it, all the while waiting for that one event to pull our lives in the right direction of fun and excitement. Naruto just never expected said event to come in the form of an injured girl, that he decides to secretly take care of. Hey, at least she beautiful...right?

Chapter 1.

Strange Faces and Unfamiliar Places

A thirteen-year-old Naruto looked inquisitively at the spot of earth in front of him. Now, some might think that the red head was curious about the ground itself. Maybe something odd in the dirt or grass which lay upon it. But no, he was looking just little higher than that, at the prone form of the blonde girl lying in the middle of the forest unconscious. When he had asked for something interesting to happen to distract him from his boring as crap training session that day, this wasn't exactly what he had in mind. See, Naruto's life ever since he had become a genin was, for lack of a better term, as boring as watching the Nara clan play shogi on a cloudy day. In other words, it was dull as hell.

Of course, that wasn't to say his life itself was lacking the interesting conflict one would generally find inside novels to keep the reader interested, but it wasn't particularly exciting either. At least not since the academy days, when every day was some new way to blow off Iruka-sensei with Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba. Oh, those were the days... But now, with his genin team consisting of his buddy Sasuke and the fake emo's fan girl, Sakura, things had slowed down considerably, almost to a halt in fact. Nothing but D-Rank missions for as far as the eye could see made interesting only by Naruto and Sasuke seeing how they could spice up the ever present Tora mission they got every other week. And wouldn't you know it, whenever the heavens seemed like they were shining down on the red head, and Team 7 got a C-Rank mission from his father, it was a lousy ass escort job that made them want to blow their brains out. They had even tried once, only to be stopped short by a very frantic Kakashi, who had a talk with Naruto's father afterward. Needless to say, the whole team had made a trip to see Inoichi a couple of times after that incident. Some people just couldn't take a joke these days.

This of course, had led him to train in his free time, in the hopes that he didn't go bat shit insane. After all, the chunin exams were only three months away, and he was determined to be ready for them. But we all see where that had led him. So now here he was, in the middle of training ground 7, all alone with the exception of an unconscious girl laying in the woods right in front of his feet.

He hadn't even meant to find her, it just sort of happened. There he was beating away at the training post with the taijutsu he had been working alongside his father with, and then suddenly it snapped and went flying into the woods. When he went to go find it, he found this girl instead, all beaten up with some blood on her clothes.

Letting out a calming breath while trying to decide the best way to handle his current, – and probably life threatening (at least for the girl) situation – he ultimately landed on the notion that he should probably help. Genius,

he knew, but it wasn't exactly the first thing on the boys mind. First came to panic, then to get Kakashi-sensei, then to get his dad, then to get his mom, then to help by himself. Fifth, in hindsight, was probably quite bad from a moral standpoint, but for him, he supposed it was really good. It sure as heck made all those days with his mom drilling values into his very being worth it – not that he needed them. He had always been a good person by nature but was just never really good at being decisive when it came to situations like this. At least when he had decided upon doing something, that was the only thing he could think about and made whatever it was first priority; which in this case, was getting this stranger to his house so he could heal her.

Going slowly to make sure he didn't hurt her or wake her up (not like she would anyways), Naruto hefted the unconscious blonde into his arms bridal style. And without a second thought, took off out of the training grounds and towards his house, determined not to stop for anything.

Naruto landed on the front step of his family's complex with a soft thud and a huff. Seriously, avoided detection in the village on his own time was hard enough with all the Anbu going around, but when you have an unconscious girl laying in your arms weighing you down, things only get harder.

Not wanting to waste any more time then he already had on the detours he had been forced to take to prevent being held even further by curious Anbu agents or heaven forbid any of his graduating class and their sensei, Naruto entered the large building's top floor, his floor. Once inside and confident he wouldn't be interrupted thanks to the privacy and intruder seals lining his level of the complex, the blonde took the injured girl to his bedroom to lie her down, before leaving only to come back a minute later with a body sized scroll in hand.

He promptly unfurled it to a little past the length he assumed the girl to be based on what he could tell from holding her, and placed it on the ground in front of his bed, making sure to reveal the full matrix that was inscribed on it. With a hop he landed on the other side of the scroll, landing next to the injured blonde's prone form on his twin bed. Muttering an unheard apology for having to move her, Naruto hefted her up once again only to turn and set her down on the scroll.

"Man, I hope this works, for both our sakes." He muttered.

Truthfully, Naruto had never attempted to heal anyone else before. Sure, that had always been the end goal when he had developed this technique back a year ago, but until now it had only ever been street cats and the occasional dog that had been injured for some reason or another. All the past cases had turned out just fine, but he wasn't entirely sure how his healing factor he had inscribed onto the scroll would affect another person. He was also largely unsure if there was even a sufficient amount of chakra stored inside it. Due to him having to store Yang chakra into the seal over time (albeit less than most people on the planet with how quickly his reserve refilled), there was no telling how much was currently contained inside it, and if it would be adequate in healing any particular injury. Thankfully, the ones he was currently facing didn't seem too serious, but he was no medic, nor would he ever be. It was a miracle he even had the control to separate and store his Yang chakra like he did, but he digressed.

With a quick check over to make for certain that the blonde's entire body was atop the scroll, Naruto channeled his chakra and began the healing process. The seal glowed in response as Naruto shifted his hands into an array of a dozen signs. Ending on dragon he said, "Uzumaki Sealing Art: Healing Rebirth." The glow from the seal intensified, giving the whole room a green hue and shining out the uncovered window, before suddenly condensing itself around the girl's body, coating it with the rejuvenating chakra. Moments later it subsided, leaving the previously beaten and bloodied girl with nothing more than a few blood stains from where her body had been cut open.

Taking a second to do a once over, Naruto let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding when he found it had worked. A smile donned his face, it worked! He couldn't believe he actually pulled it off flawlessly! Naruto suddenly felt like doing a small victory dance in celebration but halted himself when he remembered that there was an unconscious person laying right next to him...on the hard floor...that he had placed her on. Deciding it would be horribly rude to just leave her there whilst he celebrated his victory, the red head once again picked her up (hopefully for the last time). However, as soon as she had safely landed in the ever useful bridal position, something became very present at the forefront of Naruto's mind. His young, adolescent, male mind. Namely, the blonde's very noticeable and feminine body pressing itself against his chest.

A blush made itself known on Naruto's face, turning him a brilliant shade of red most thought only Hinata could reach when she was around said red head. Suddenly the young Namikaze felt really embarrassed, highly stupid, and – for some unknown reason – highly vulnerable. How could he have not noticed before? Seriously, this was his second time holding her, and he just now decided to take note of the fact that she was horribly attractive and – despite being unconscious – imposing against his torso. Hindsight would dictate that the surprise of finding a person, lying unconscious in the forest with potentially life-threatening wounds should they be left untreated, and then the sense of urgency to heal them would squelch any hormonal desires or responses, but the tatters that he now noticed her clothes had become due to whatever had happened, was making all hindsight null and void at the current time.

With a new passion, Naruto all but rushed the bed, and as gently as he could with the speed, he was going, placed the blonde on his bed, before dashing off to find her some clothes to put on when she awoke, again, for both their sakes.

"Kakashi, report."

The masked jonin stood laxly in the center of the room as he gave his usual lazy stare to his sensei and Hokage. It had been just as uneventful for the silver-haired sensei as it had for his students, and while the man normally didn't mind having nothing to do, having a genin team doing nothing but D-Ranks, and having to accompany them every day was getting tedious beyond reason, even for a man of his normally stoic patience. All in all, he was going crazy.

"Training today went as usual. Sasuke has shown massive improvement with his apprenticeship under Itachi, and Naruto is still working on perfecting the Rasengan, though with limited results so far. After training, Sasuke went off with to keep working for a bit, while Naruto decided to stay behind on the training ground to work a bit more and kill his boredom." The man said stoically.

"And Sakura?"

The masked sensei gave a weary sigh. He didn't enjoy having to report his subordinates, but the girl left him no choice. To be perfectly honest, the issue had continued on far longer than was already acceptable in his opinion, but he had felt pity for the kid and decided to let it be in the hopes that something would be made of her. Stupid. Even Rin hadn't been able to do a thing about it!

"Honestly sensei, she is a complete weakness to the team and a liability not only to us, but the entire village, and will continue to be so long as she stays in the ninja program. Her laziness on missions and constant complaining serve to only impede the work of me, Naruto, and Sasuke. And her hyper fan-girlish/stalker tendencies are not only highly unbecoming for a someone her age, but also a disgrace to the kunoichi name."

Hmm, perhaps that wasn't so hard after all...

The blonde kage couldn't help but inwardly cringe at the rap sheet that his student was giving the girl, and from what he had heard from Naruto about his son's teammate than Kakashi was being nice. Well, might as well get it over with, he knew exactly what was about to done, and it was never pretty. "Are you sure want to do this Kakashi? She is your student. To openly discharge a pupil when they have to commit an offense worthy of forced dismissal shows just as badly on you."

Of course, he knew the answer, but reaffirmation on this sort of thing was mandatory protocol.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. I Kakashi Hatake, sensei of Team 7, consisting of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno hereby officially petition that Sakura Haruno be not only removed from my team but the entirety of the ninja program as well."

With closed eyes, Minato let out a strained sigh. "Very well, your petition has been heard and accepted. Upon further review by the council a decision shall be made within due process."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Minato nodded in his hands which were poised just under his chin in a thinking pose. "Thank you Kakashi, you're dismissed... Say Kakashi."

The masked jonin halted in his shunshin exit and raised a questioning brow to his sensei. "Yes, sensei?"

The blonde Kage gave a knowing chuckle that reminded Kakashi of when the man was spending time with family and friends off work hours. It seemed that the tension in the room just moments ago had completely vanished. This just caused Kakashi's curiosity to rise at what his long time teacher could possibly be thinking at the moment. He had a guess, but shook off the thought, there was no way that anyone could know about that, not yet. He had just found out about it!

Minato gave a coy smile that sent a shiver down his student's spine. "So... excited about being a father?"

Kakashi blanched at this, his skin going pale in shock, alongside all of the Anbu in the room, much to Minato amusement. "H-how..." He pointed weakly to the blonde in front of him.

"Did I know?" Minato finished. "It's been a whole two weeks since I saw you without your books Kakashi. I knew something was up the second you came in without it. Besides..." He drawled on at the end, choosing not to finish the sentence, much to the now recovered Kakashi's own suspicion.

He narrowed his single visible eye at his sensei. "Besides?"

"Rin told me and Kushina last night."

Kakashi sighed. Of course, Rin had told them, they had been like her surrogate parents due to her being an orphan since the age of four. It was only natural that they would know anyway, especially with their connection to him and Rin. The Hokage and his wife had been integral parts of the two's lives. Even before they had started dating shortly after Rin woke up from her coma twelve years ago, Minato and Kushina were always there for him and Rin, giving them support whenever and however they needed it, at least to the best of their abilities. So, for as shocked as Kakashi was to know Rin had told them behind his back, he was happy that it was them who knew.

Kakashi eye smiled. "Yes, yes I am. Truthfully I never thought this would ever happen, not to someone like me. But now that it is, I can say that I have never been happier sensei." Then, without turning and in a sickly sweet smile, he said. "And to those of you who heard this whole conversation, one word of this to anyone, and you shall never get to share in my experience...ever."

The whole room shivered at the cold, harshness of his last word with the exception of Minato who was just smiling at his student's behavior, getting the familiar sense of deja vu at the scene unfolding before him. "Don't worry Kakashi, I shall make sure they behave for you. Now, I do believe Rin's shift at the hospital ends soon, you have the rest of the day off so how about you two spend some personal time before your team's next C-Rank mission in a couple of days."

A brow was raised at this. No words were needed, as Minato got the message immediately. He sighed. "I know what happened last time Kakashi. But we nothing serious happened and the mission did end successfully, despite what you went through to get there. Besides, I want them to have more experience before the Chunin exams in three months, so you better get used to it. And I figured it would keep Naruto from complaining about being bored all the time at home, seriously, it's getting to be too much, even Himiko is going crazy from it. I'll give you your mission details then, so don't worry about yet."

The soon to father gave a ragged and aged sigh. With a nod, he disappeared, off to pick up his pregnant girlfriend from work.

Minato let a reminiscent smile don his face, as thoughts of younger days flooded his mind. He knew what his students were feeling at the moment, he and Kushina had gone through the same thing back when she discovered her pregnancy with Naruto. It had been an emotional roller coaster, and his overprotective reaction only seemed to make things worse now that he looked back on the situation. As ninja, their lives were never expected to last very long. Time was fleeting, and the option to procreate doesn't usually appeal to many that wish to continue on with their career after childbirth, due to the high death rate. No one wanted to die and leave their child alone in the world to defend themselves. A fact which was largely prominent already, and being ninja just made this worse. For those who did decide the reward was worth the risk, they generally started young, many times conceiving before the age of twenty so they could spend as much time as possible with their family before facing the inevitable end. So for Kakashi and Rin who were nearing thirty already, it seemed like they were pressing their luck now more than ever.

"Oh, and for those of you who aren't scared enough of Kakashi. Know that if word gets out before he's ready, I shall deal with your punishment myself."

The shudder that proceeded from the room hidden occupants could almost be heard. Minato smiled ominously.

Naruto was panicking...badly.

It was bad enough that he had the brilliant idea to help a girl by bringing her to his house and healing her wounds himself instead of going to the hospital, but now it turned out that she was a foreign shinobi! He had taken notice of the girl's headband when he came back from retrieving some of his sister's spare clothes that he thought might be big enough to fit the stranger. The cloth bound strip of metal was resting loosely on the girl's upper thigh. When he had taken a closer look to see what it was, he saw the symbol for Kumogakure carved into it! And she was so pretty too!

Maybe he should have just taken her to the hospital to be treated and reported, sure she would probably be interrogated then thrown in prison to await either death or negotiations depending on how important she was discovered to be, but at least then he wouldn't be stuck with an unconscious enemy in his room! No, he couldn't do that, what if she wasn't an enemy? Then he would have condemned someone to death just because he was being indignant at the moment, and that was something he didn't think his conscience could handle. It was the reason she wasn't already dead by his hands. Well that, and the fact that protocol states you report things of this nature before acting – not like he was following protocol anyway. Oh, and you can't forget the part where he didn't like killing things; that was probably important.

Naruto sat on the floor against his bedroom wall, gazing dejectedly at the blonde girl sleeping soundly on his bed. Why did this have to happen to him? Now he would have to keep her hidden from his parents and sister for who knows how long, cause there was no way he would let her be put through the rounds of the dark side of the ninja world – unless of course she tried to kill him, but that bridge would be crossed later. Sometimes he cursed his own humanity. Everyone called him too kind for his own good, not being able to kill people when it was necessary, and to a point he knew they were right, he was weak willed in that sense. But in other ways he saw himself as having just as strong a will as the best of killers, after all, it took someone strong to keep to their morals, right?

Well no matter, this was going to be a pain one way or another. He just couldn't help but wonder how long he would be able to keep up whatever facade he was going to be pulling over people's heads for this girl's sake. That is if she even wants help. First things first was to put a chakra suppression seal on her so that no one could sense her, unfortunately, that would require her waking up first so the lack of chakra wouldn't interfere with her body breaking out of its temporary stasis, and then there was the whole business of actually getting her to cooperate with him.

He sighed, this was going to be a lot of work. But, on the bright side, at least it wasn't boring anymore. A shifting from his bed coupled with a soft intake of breath broke him from his thoughts.

If Yugito had to describe herself in one word at the moment, it would be awful. Everything seemed to hurt, and she had no idea why. It really didn't help that she couldn't see either. Why was it black? Was she in a dark room or something, or maybe she had a cloth bound over her eyes, with her body being so sore it wasn't as if she could feel a piece of fabric on her face, she couldn't even feel her clothes that she knew was on her body, or where they? No, she couldn't think like that. It would only cause her to worry. She needed to focus on how she got to this point, what the last thing she remembered was.

Flashes of memories appeared before her. Her time in Kumo, with the Raikage and Killer Bee, her brother figures. So she was dreaming...

Yugito attempted to pull the memory of what had happened that had caused her to become unconscious through the endless darkness. In a flash, images appeared before her consciousness, revealing to her their secrets. The blonde watched as a scene of trees rushed past her vision, some almost hitting her, but most just passed by harmlessly. This, she realized, was her. Yes, that much was clear, but something wasn't right. She seemed to be running, but why? This scene was missing something. Then the vision shifted like she was turning her head.

A second later something else came into view besides the forest surrounding her. People, all of them running through the trees just like her. Running after her, chasing her like an escaped dog. Yes, that's right. She was fleeing for her life from those people, all four of them, her captures. Evil people wanting nothing more than to use her body for their own gain. She was running from them despite her injuries, running so she wouldn't have to go back to that damned place again, with that damned man in it. She couldn't go back, she wouldn't.

Yugito remembered now. Everything, from the moment her village council and all the bastards on it, sent her on a mission outside lightning country. All the memories flooded back suddenly as if they were freshly lived. A simple reconnaissance gone wrong and captured by the very person she was meant to be spying on. Tortured for information and then experimented on. So many experiments had been conducted by those demons. Operation after operation she was sent through, not knowing if she would come out the other side the same, or even alive for that matter. Time was a menial concept within those dank walls of gray slabs. Of course, things had changed about her, many things had been done to her body that warped her being to the favor of that sick bastard of a snake.

A tear fell...

The vision concluded with her somehow escaping her pursuers, whether they decided to ditch the chase or if she had managed to actually outrun them somehow escaped her, but didn't really matter, she had escaped. Once again everything went to black, but this time was different. It seemed her world was coming back to her, the real one this time. Yugito could feel her consciousness reaching out to wake up. Sensations started coming back to her, slowly. Briefly, she wondered where she would be when she opened her eyes. Had she been rescued, captured, or was her beaten body still lying half dead in the forest? No matter, she would be ready for it.

Naruto watched on in half anticipation half apprehension as the blonde female on his bed stirred from her trauma-induced slumber. He was glad she was finally up, but one the flip side he had no idea what she would do, either to him or just in general. It could be bad, and he would have to be ready for it. The Kumo ninja continued to stir for a moment longer before suddenly stopping. Naruto stiffened. He waited to see if she had indeed woken up like he thought, or if she had just been shifting in her sleep. However, never being a patient person by nature, Naruto scrapped the idea of just sitting there and waiting for the blonde to do something worthwhile. With a bit of conscious effort, Naruto's vision changed mid gaze to reveal a rich, dark blue aura surrounding the blonde on his bed.

The Mind's Eye of Kagura. He smiled to himself at the successful execution of the clan-specific technique. Now to see what was going on with the girl. What he saw mystified him. The first thing he immediately noticed, was that she was indeed awake. The way it circulated and fluctuated so violently and harshly was a distinct sign of emotional conflict on the conscious level. But her being awake was no longer his main concern. Naruto couldn't help but feel pained as he sensed her life force fluctuate. To a certain extent he knew that was just an effect of the technique, but more than that, he felt for this girl. Her chakra flared and rushed through her coils in a brash and violent manner as if it was always on guard and ready for the worst. But that wasn't the bad part. He could tell, down deeper that she hadn't always been that way, unlike some people who just naturally lived on edge for no reason. The farther down he went into her energy, the more docile it became, almost like the insecure mind of a wounded animal, who had been punished beyond reason. Whoever she was, she had gone through a torment far greater than he cared to imagine.

Despite the major conflicts that he knew her to be experiencing, he could tell that she was a good person at heart, kind and gentle. Even the harsh reality she had been privy to – while causing her to be externally colder and more distrustful – could not corrupt her core nature.

But then he moved on to the other part of her chakra, it characteristics. While the dark blue hue had caught him off guard at first, it wasn't the strangest thing in the world. Many people had different colored chakra depending on their kekkei genkai or even a foreign chakra being in their system, like him. However, something else was off about this girl's particular energy; part of it was still rich sky blue as any other normal individual. But that wasn't what was disconcerting. No, the troubling aspect was that the normal, blue chakra and the dark-blue chakra were in now way interacting. Each one doing its job, but neither willing to do it with the other. It was, in a word, odd.

His discovery was further cemented when he decided to do something that his cousin Karin had once done on him – and then subsequently swore never to do again – when she first read his chakra, go into the depths of her spirit. He immediately found what he was looking for, the malevolent chakra only a tailed beast was capable of producing. This girl, she was just like him...a jinchuuriki.

Well, that certainly explained the different colored chakra as well as the second set of reserves even bigger than his own. Unfortunately, that still left the questions of why the beast's chakra was acting so oddly, and why it was so heavily present in her system anyway, but he figured that was for the actual conversation they were bound to have at some point. Besides, he could hardly believe it, she was a jinchuuriki just like him, – the oddity of such an occurrence aside – this was awesome! Finally, someone that would truly understand him!

With a sigh he deactivated the technique, allowing his vision to return to normal. That was enough prying into someone else's personality behind their back for one day – or until he got bored again, whichever decided to come first.

Both, fortunately, and unfortunately, the blonde had yet to move the entire time he was prying and had even seemed to be getting resigned to staying as she was if his last feeling of her chakra was any indication. So it would seem that if they were to ever move on, then it was up to him to cause them to do so. In the words of a wise man, how troublesome.

Without moving from his position on the floor, as he was sure she could sense him in the room and would know the second he moved (it was the only logical reason he could find for her not turning around), he let out another sigh and said in the softest, most disarming voice he was capable of, one simple word. "Hey."

No response came. Instead, a sharp intake of breath could be heard from the bed. Naruto didn't even need his chakra sensing to know that she had tensed at his words. That was to be expected, though. Anyone normal in her position would be hesitant to respond, and while it was evident that she wasn't normal, it was clear enough that she was no battle hardened shinobi, able to withstand anything without blinking an eye. But Naruto was determined to at least get a name out of her, even if that was the only thing. "So, what's your name?"

Again, silence permeated the room, signifying her decision to ignore his words. It seemed he would have a bit of a harder time than he thought, which sucked. As much as this girl interested him and as strong as his desire to help her was, he was no Ibiki and he never would be. Information wasn't his specialty, and while he could probably conjure up a seal or two to force her to talk, the idea of doing that to someone – especially a girl in her assumed situation – did not appeal to him in any sense of the word. He tried again, this time taking a different approach."I won't hurt you, I promise you that. You're safe here, but you have to talk to me if I'm going to help."

Naruto gave a dejected sigh at the lack of reply that once again greeted him, the irritated grumble he was tempting to let out pushed at the bottom of his throat. He suppressed it, becoming frustrated with the blonde would do no good and would – in all reality – probably just make matters worse. He couldn't have that, not when he hadn't even made progress yet. There was no telling how far back she would recede into herself if he showed a lack of restraint at the moment. He ultimately decided that she probably wouldn't talk to him at the moment no matter how much he prodded.

"Well, since your not going to tell me your name, I guess I might as well tell you mine." He said in a somewhat cheery voice in an attempt to sound carefree and give her a better sense of security around him. He had no idea if that kind of thing really worked or not, but in his few lessons that his father had made him take with Ibiki, the man had told him that when working with trauma victims it was important to make them feel like they were among friends, and acting like one was one way to do that in certain cases. Of course, the method wasn't meant to make them come out of their shell immediately, but instead to plant long-term trust and security in the person of choice.

"The name's Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki, nice to meet you." He said with a smile that he knew she couldn't see. The response was immediate. His bloodline sensed her chakra react roughly to his words, almost as if it was shocked, before settling into an even more defensive flow then before. Interesting...

"Well," He got up from his sitting position against the wall. "I am going to go for a little bit. I'll be back in a while to check on you, so don't think about running off and causing me to worry about you. If you decide that you want to talk or are in need of something just say so, I'm in the next room over so I'll hear you." And with a smile and one last look over the silent blonde, he was gone, the door closing shut behind him with a soft thud.

Yugtio looked through the open window of her rescuer's bedroom in shock. She couldn't believe her eyes or ears. Both senses seemed like they were betraying her at the moment, and for good reason. Through the clean glass pane, was a perfect view of an entire village, and at the very back of it, adorning part of a mountain range, was a carved structure known around the Great Nations, the Hokage monument. That meant that she was currently in Konoha. But that proved nothing, the image on the window could merely be falsified to fool her. Then there what the man who she assumed to be the one that rescued her called himself. He said Namikaze. The was the name of Fourth Hokage, but the boy was definitely not him. He said his name was Naruto. The Hokage's son?

The blonde simply laid there, limp on the bed as her thoughts consumed her – though never enough to distract her focus from her surroundings. This was without a doubt almost assuredly Konoha. But how did she get here? Last her memories could trace, the Oto nin had been on her tail and gaining before she passed out. There was no way they would simply give up like that, especially because of the value she presented their master. Did that mean she was safe? Or was this just another place to get tortured and experimented on like some rat! This was after all the very village that raised the damned demon of a snake who did this to her! Sure they had thrown him out, threatened to kill him, and even placed a bounty on his head, but all of the other villages had had their doubts about the man. It was a known fact that he had almost become Hokage at one point before being beaten to it by the current Yondaime, and any village that can elect such a thing is bound to be shady, at least in some form or another.

But that man – no, boy. Whoever it was that saved her, was still young, her age by the sound of his voice. That was one of the only skills Yugtio had been thankful to learn in that hell hole, voice recognition of a masterful level. It came in handy sometimes, like now. But she digressed. That boy, his words had seemed so sincere and welcoming, as if they were silently telling her to trust them no matter what. Yugito felt warm listening to him talk, even for as briefly as it was. NO! What was she thinking?! This was ridiculous, there was no way she could be feeling anything towards that stranger! Not after what she had been through, and especially not after just hearing his voice! She hadn't even seen his face yet... but she didn't need to, she knew. Her very being was already telling her to trust him, trust that voice which calmed her so, she needed it more, yearned to listen to its calming sound which seemed to reach into her very soul. An inner desire, driven by pure instinct to latch onto the source of it, emanated from the core of her being, but she tried to squash it, refusing to believe her tragedy could be washed away so effortlessly.

The conflict raged within Yugito. Should she trust this boy, and let him help her, or treat him like the enemy he might be and run? And in either case, what would happen to her...?

A/N: REVIEW! Please?

Well, that's all I can think of for first chapter author notes, besides the traditional YAHOO! for actually getting it out and done to you folks. So without further ado, have a wonderful week,

~Haki King

Next Chapter: Tomorrow at Sundown