Chapter Two

Girl Meets Boy

Ah! Rivival, gasping for air. Sweet air, fresh and pure as if the trees surrounding me were releasing it only for me. Trees? Fresh air? I reached for my throat as the purity entered my system, but quickly retracted my hands in fear of clawing myself. My eyes widened as a brought my hands to the front of my unbelieving eyes. My claws were gone. The only thing left were dull nails. I sat up quickly and looked down at my bare feet. Not a single sharpened claw lay ready to attack. Helpless, I sat there. Where the hell was I? My eyes swiftly scanned everything but... My vision was lesser now. My hearing as well. I didn't hear the footsteps until they were so close that I could see that I was not alone. Startled I gasped and looked deeper into the trees.

"The next Hokage! The next Hokage! That's me all right!" I crept closer and peered beyond a freshly renewed bush that was blooming in the new spring air. Spring. I had forgotten its joys and freshness. Lost in a mixture of new and old ways, my city had claimed that the new of Spring was no longer necessary to the Fox's survival. I forgot its beauty. "I'll be the strongest! The best!" The voice distracted me away from my exploration of something that had been taken away in my lifetime. I looked forward and saw a boy walking through the forest. He was young, though I couldn't tell his age. Blond hair, matter and tosstled, untouched. But that was normal in our society. I was still home, wasn't I? I watched his movements, they were clumsy and not really fox-like at all. He wasn't even on all fours! His eyes were different, as well. Blue as the sky that hung overhead. Just like back home. The sky was the same. That meant something, right? I leaned a little towards him only to crack a twig beneath me. Startled by my own sound, I fell backwards yelping and banged my head against a rock.

When I came to, I opened my eyes to a shadow above. Fear sent shivers through my body as I screamed and kicked the shadow. "Ow!" He called falling to the ground. "Hey, hey, hey! What did I do?" The boy shouted, gripping the upper part of his leg. I watched the color run to his cheeks and rubbed the wound and looked at me. "Besides try to cover you up AND stop the bleeding..." He growled. I blinked at him, confused as to my current position. I felt warm fabric touch me and looked down to see a bright orange jacket has been put on me. I scratched the back of my head only to feel a moist bandage. "It's minor." The kid said. He tilted his head at me, still blushing. "Where did your clothes go?" He asked me.

With my legs tightly closed together I sat before him and looked around. We were sitting on a dirt pathway cutting through the lush forest that was currenly flourishing with new life. A gulped and realized now that it truly was mating time for the demons. A chore in her eyes that every year she dreaded roaming the streets. Lined against most every wall were men taking any woman they pleased, not caring that the woman was crying out for a different mate instead of one so rough. Crying as they were forced to recieve the seed of an unwanted attacker. Unlike the men who had developed with the changing times, Fox women still believed that the mating season was in January as it had been when we truly were cubs without the thumbs and reasoning we had now. That's the time that our evolved minds had been set on. Was it any wonder why I wasn't expecting to be dominated on the day I was ready to conceive?

"Hellllllllooooooo?" The boy pressed on, waving his hand in front of my face to bring me back to Earth. I replied with a blank stare. I wasn't sure how to reply to him. Not in the way he was expecting. "Miss, are you OK?" I scratched my head and smiled sheepishly. "Can you talk?" He asked. I nodded without saying a word. He stared at me as though he was getting annoyed. "Will you at least tell me your name?"

"It's, uh, Kira..." My words trailed off as the cursed name escaped my lips. From my name this child would learn of who and what I was. And like all of the others, he would get disgusted.

"Akira?" The boy laughed. "That's a boy's name, isn't it?" He covered his mouth and quickly apologized for laughing. Akira? He had heard me wrong. My words had blended together. From "killer" to "intelligent" with one letter. And with that one letter, I'm saved from being feared. "I'm sorry, but I've never met a girl with a boy's name. I've met girls who were boyish. But never a girl with a boy's name." I looked down and contemplated telling him the truth or not. Instead I asked him his own name. "That's easy! It's Naruto Uzumaki! Also known as the next Hokage!" His expression became determined as he grinned at me. I looked at him directly in his fiery eyes.

"Hokage?" I asked.

"Yeah! Don't laugh! Because I really am next in line! I can feel it!" He shouted standing up. Then falling back down to his knees as he rubbed the mark I had left on him.

"Hokage?" I asked again, trying to show that it was the definition I was unaware of. Not mockery of him becoming one. If it was something you could become. Finally getting my confusion (at least part of it anway) he realized that I truly was clueless of what he was speaking of.

"Ya know, the leader of the village!" Naruto adjusted the headband that was placed perfectly on his head. I looked at the symbol that looked like a leaf with a swirl in the center of it and looked at him. "See this? I got this a little while back. This is one step closer to becoming the leader of the village." Still watching my expression, he continued on. "I learned all I could about them! Because a Hokage needs to be smart! I'd be happy to tell you about them!" And then his smile faded. He looked away. "If you want..."

Not sure what brought on his sudden change in moods I asked what was wrong. He simply sighed and stood up, despite the bruise. "You know my name. You probably don't want to see me anymore."

"Why wouldn't I want to see you anymore, Naruto?" I asked curious about this. I felt almost connected to him instantly. I didn't want him to go now. There was something about his naive nature that struck a chord on me. He acted the way I wanted to act as a cub. Full of spirit and incredibly ambitious (But that wasn't allowed because the Elders said that those things are what lead to sin). So what had caused his sudden sadness?

"People don't like to be near me. One person told me why but... Not in a very nice way... I'm a monster in everyone's eyes except for Iruka Sensei's..." He smiled at me sadly. "So if you don't want to talk to me anymore you don't have to. I'll understand."

He began to turn away and quickly I reached out for him. "Wait. Don't go. I'm all alone here..." I looked down at his jacket which fit me comfortably, surprisingly. "And I don't know this place. I don't even know how I got here. Please don't leave yet..." I begged.

He stared for a minute and then looked down. "I don't know if you'd want to stay with me..."

"I do." I told him nodding repeatedly. "You're the first person who's talked to me without laughing at every word I say." I didn't want to bring up his mockery of my "name." I grabbed onto his arm and pleaded at him the way I was taught by the other children to plea when they wanted something: work up some tears and try to pout.

He blushed and looked at me with an unsure look on his face. "O-OK... But you're going to have to wear more than that if you're going to stay with me." He tried to look away but I saw his eyes continuously go back to just below where the jacket ends. I pulled it down a little more which broke his trance. "S-Sorry..."

"I don't exactly have any clothes..."

"I've noticed. Let's get you back to my place and you can where my clothes until we find a way to get you better ones." He said grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet. "I don't have any underwear for you though."

"Underwear?" I tilted my head.

His face turned bright red and he turned away covering his nose. Under his breath, I heard him mutter as he pulled me along without looking at me. "I wanna go where you live if the women there don't have underwear..."