Kitsune of Innocence

Chapter 2: The Past is Catching Up

A/N is located at the end of the chapter.

Disclaimer: If I own Naruto I would have at least one female character that isn't as annoying as the original casts. No offense. Oh and I don't own D. Gray-Man, though I wish I could own Allen. He's such a cutie.

oOoOoOoOoOo

A small blonde hummed happily as she doodled on a piece of paper. Using a green crayon, she sketched her fifth drawing of the day intently while lying down on her tummy, legs swinging back and forth. After a few minutes, she was done; she put down the colouring tool and grinned at her drawing before scurrying to the living room where a man was lying on the dark red couch.

"Daddy!" The tiny ball of energy that was dressed in a light blue sleeveless shirt with a pair of short pants of darker shade jumped onto said man without reserve and landed straight onto his stomach.

"Oomph!" The man groaned as he looked down to find his little attacker. He chuckled before grabbing the little bundle of liveliness and raised her up in the air, watching her squealed from the sudden movement against the gravity. Nataniele pulled her close to him and kissed his daughter on her forehead. "Yes sweetheart?"

"Daddy daddy daddy! Lookie here! Look what I've draw!" She pulled out the slightly crumpled paper that was crushed beneath her and shoved it in his face. The blue-eyed man pulled the paper away from his face so that he could see the drawing clearly and blinked at the doodle. "What's this dear?"

"It's a leaf! I coloured it green 'cause... daddy said leaves are green!" she beamed and looked at her father excitedly, expecting a praise of sort.

Nataniele blinked again and returned his attention to the drawing. It wasn't really a drawing of a leaf, it was more like a doodle of a weird symbol for him; it shaped like a spiral, and at the end of the spiral, a short straight line was drawn perpendicularly to the spiral. At the other end of the spiral across the line were two lines that were drawn to be connected to the other AND the spiral, closing the gap as a triangle. Overall, the symbol looked like a spiral that had been shot through by an arrow which had gotten stuck half-way.

It was odd. His daughter had been drawing the same symbol for the past few weeks. In fact, that was the fifth drawing of the symbol for the day, and she gave the same answer every time he asked. That what she drew; the symbol was simply a leaf. This doesn't make any sense, since he had took it upon himself to teach his only child how to draw leaves that are really leaves. You know, the typical -round-shaped with a pointy kind of end- kind of leaf. He wasn't much of an art people.

Normally he wouldn't really care about this odd behaviour since she was still young and was still in the phase where creativities are developing, but it was getting past the normal line and he was getting worried for his daughter. She and her leaf drawings were starting to seem more like an obsession. Putting aside the fact that children –more often than not- had their own stuff for obsessions. He just couldn't put up with a weird 'leaf' symbol as her obsession. It's way too abnormal for his liking. Even obsessing over dresses and makeup sounded better to him. Of course, he hadn't had a child before Naru, so he had no idea what he was thinking about. If only he knew the horror of girls' shopping...

"It's lovely sweetheart. Now let's go and show it to mommy," he smiled sweetly and scooped her up, walking into the kitchen where his wife was.

"Mommy mommy! Look! I draw a leaf!" the little blonde grinned as she showed her mother the drawing, her pigtailed hair bobbing up and down as her father strode into the kitchen with her in his arms. Narcisa turned around and faced her beloved angel as she dried her hands with the kitchen towel.

"Let me see my angel's doodle," she cooed as her eyes travelled from the smiling child to the piece of paper. The happiness in her eyes died as she gazed at the symbol that was staring back innocently at her. She gave her husband a quick wary glance before changing her attitude one hundred eighty degrees, smiling jovially at her daughter, though the smile didn't reach her eyes. Of course, with Naru being a young four year-old, this went unnoticed by her.

Narcisa pecked on her cheeks and took the mini blonde into her arms as Naru giggled and started to chant, "Pin it up! Pin it up!"

Both blondes soon disappeared from the kitchen, leaving the man of the house alone in the brightly-colored kitchen. Said man could only sigh as he thought of the look his wife gave him. They would definitely have to discuss this issue; it was getting out of hand. Maybe they should prohibit her from drawing? But that might stunt her growth, and do more harm than good to their only child. Shaking out the thoughts, the blue-eyed man strutted out of the kitchen into the green room next to it; the room of fame. Well, at least it's a room of fame for Naru.

Most of her memorable moments and achievements in her short four years of life were posted on the wall; pictures of her a few hours old, her first steps, her first teeth, her first smile, up to her first drawings and poems that she made together with her parents. However, lately the wall was getting full of her symbol drawings. This new drawing marked exactly the fiftieth leaf symbol drawing in the room.

Naru beamed as her eyes wondered around the room, noting the assorted leaves of different colours and sizes, the only constant being the shape. She turned around and faced her parents, hugging them in a tight embrace before dashing out of the room. Nataniele looked to his wife and mouthed the words, "We'll talk about this later," The older blonde could only sigh and nodded as she followed the little girl.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Good night sweetie," Narcisa kissed her daughter on the forehead after she managed to tuck in the hyperactive blonde that couldn't stop jumping around on the bed moments ago. She turned around and started picking up dirty laundries while clearing up the mess in her child's blue bedroom.

"Night mommy..."the child yawned as she shifted into a more comfortable position, hugging her huge brown Mr. Teddy as her earlier tiredness started to take a toll on her. The older blonde managed a soft smile as she went to the door, switching off the lights. Just before she exit the room, Naru's voice called out to her.

"Mommy... I want noodles... breakfast..." she drawled as sleep consumed her. Narcisa giggled as she closed the door, pondering on the flavour of the noodle for the following morning as she walked down the hallway to put the laundries in the laundry basket by the stairs before making her way to the master bedroom.

Narcisa sauntered into the room, her purple night gown fluttered with every step she made. Her eyes fell upon her husband who sat at the coffee table across their bedroom, his hands holding a book while adorning a pair of reading glasses that he was so fond of for it was a gift from his late mother.

She playfully hugged him from behind as he placed a bookmark into the book so that the page he was reading would not be lost before putting the book away on the table. They both shared a full kiss on the lip as he tugged on her hair.

"Where's Naru? Has she gone to sleep?" Nataniele asked, his eyes twinkling with mischief as he pulled her onto his lap, earning himself a surprised yelp from the blonde. She blushed; as red as tomato, while his fingers twirled around her bright hair as his left hand caressed her soft unblemished pale skin. Only this man could make her blush like a teenager even after being married for 5 years.

The blonde squirmed as he pecked on her neck mercilessly, all the while nipping and sucking on her pale skin with a chuckle. "Quit it dear! We have much more important matters to discuss!" His wife moaned as he pulled his head back, arguing childishly, "Aww... but we haven't had any time to ourselves for so long!"

Narcisa gathered herself quickly and stood up from the comfort of his warmth and sniped back as childishly, "Well, if you hadn't buried your nose in those books for ages then perhaps we would have gotten some time for ourselves."

"None tonight?"

"Nope. None of it tonight." The blonde climbed onto the king-size mattress and snuggled in the blue comforter. Nataniele sighed longingly as he pulled the comforters hard, snatching it away from his wife before hurriedly climbing onto the bed and used the comforters for himself.

"Hey!" she shouted indignantly and pulled back the comforters on her side. The blue-eyed man turned around to face his angel with a pout.

Said women stuck out her tongue in response and snuggled closer to her beloved, who in turn grinned and buried his face at the nape of her neck. Comfortable silence filled the room, both of them enjoying each other's presence.

Several minutes passed before Narcisa finally brought up her topic of discussion.

"Honey... what are we going to do about Naru?"

Her husband pulled his head back to look at her straight in the eyes, and sighed tiredly.

"Honestly? I have no idea."

"Do you think there's something wrong with her? Is it some kind of disease?" she asked anxiously, worried that their only child had suffered an unknown ailment.

He brought his arm up and massaged his temples, "As far as I know, there's no such disease. She doesn't have any symptom that shows any infection of a disease. Plus, what she had? It wasn't a delusion. She doesn't have any imaginary friends, so to speak. She just has this... unusual way of perceiving things. It'll just mean that she's more unique than others."

Narcisa sighed and rest her head against his chest. "She's unique, there's no doubt about that. She's our child after all. But her love with that... symbol... I think it's getting out of hand. I'm worried that other kids would treat her differently for that, or even worse, scorn her. I don't want that for our precious daughter."

"Neither do I..."

Silence rolled over to settle over the couple. Nataniele had almost fallen asleep when her voice woke him.

"Do you think... maybe... if we put her away from any paper or writing tool, that this would stop?"

Nataniele turned his head toward his wife sharply at that, almost hissing at her, "And then what? That would do more harm than good to her! For all we know, that might make her even more obsessive!"

"It's just a suggestion. I really don't know what to do anymore."

He calmed himself down and thought over his wife's idea again. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad...

"What if we introduce a new hobby to her? Maybe we should let her out to play more often, to put her interest away from drawing."

Narcisa gave a pointed look to him and almost snorted, "Play outside? You were the one who was so against that idea and decided to introduce art to her. Well, it came out brilliant, Mr. Vortice."

"I just can't stand the thought of how boys would look at her! Young boys, I can still tolerate it, but teenage boys! Teenaged for God's sake! Why can't they find somebody their own age? I know that our angel's extraordinarily beautiful-"

"Just like me." Narcisa cut in.

"-beautiful beautiful, just like you, yes, but she's only four years old! What kind of man would go after a young child?"

"Urm... paedophiles kind? The crazy ones, that maybe look feminine enough that people would thought he's a girl? The ones that would kidnap young boys and girls for their own personal entertainment?"

Nataniele had a sweat drop as he watched Narcisa pondered on other answers for the question cutely. The only thing that misfit into the whole thing was... that she was answering a weird and 'shouldn't be answered' kind of question.

"Honey..." he called in an amused tone to snap her back from her own world.

"Oops. Kind of got carried away there. But yeah, there you go. Paedophiles do exist out there. And you know what? She's only going to grow even more beautiful from now on..."

He groaned and slammed his face into the pillow. He could imagine how it would be like in the future. He would have to constantly put a check on her every five second just to make sure no one had done his angel wrong. And he could see that his daughter would have hundreds of suitors asking for her hand in marriage, and he would have to put a gun to their heads to actually get them to give up and leave him and his daughter alone. 'Oh the nightmare...' he groaned pitifully and moaned into the pillow. His words were muffled, but she was near enough to hear him.

"Oh GOD, why me?" Narcisa stifled her laugh with her hands and cleared her throat.

"Well, look at it this way; you would grow old knowing that you have a lovely and beautiful daughter to take care of you."

Silence reigned, and the doctor pulled away from the pillow, eyes full of mirth.

"Yeah, I guess my old wife isn't cut out for that anymore. She would grow wrinkles all over her face, and I can't imagine-"

"Hey!" she pinched him on his arms playfully and roared out in laughter when her husband decided to level the playing field by attacking her ticklish spots. "Stop! St- Oh God, stop!" she gasped out in between breaths, trying to pull away from the man with futile.

She was starting to strike back at him when a loud scream pierced through the air.

Their eyes widened, both of them were frozen in their place. Only one word goes through their mind.

"Naru!"

oOoOoOoOoOo

Naru was having a sweet dream. She was in a colourful and refreshing flower field, surrounded by hundreds of flowers and plants of different species and colours, with the occasional soft breeze slipping in between her hair. Her light green skirt blended in well with the scenery, while her white top shone bright in the sun, glowing with innocence.

She giggled as she twirled around the grass, whirling her brown Mr. Teddy along. Soon she came to a stop, and kneeled down on the ground, her left hand clutching her beloved toy as she picked her favourite sunflowers from the ground. She hummed a tune that was unfamiliar to her, but felt just right. The tune itself sounded sad, as if the song was filled with grief and sorrow, but somehow, she felt that the tune fits her, and that made her four year-old mind puzzled.

Why would she feel sad, and felt that such tune would fit her? She was happy with her life so far, her parents were loving, everyone was kind to her, so why? Isn't that normal for every children? So why would she feel so content and... different? And why was it that her tears came rolling down her cheeks?

Naru sniffed and wiped her teary eyes with her hand, and gave her Mr. Teddy a squeeze. A small smile graced her lips, as she continued humming the sad tune.

However, something unexpected happened when the tune came to an end. Her happiness and content were immediately replaced by clutching hands of fear that gripped her beating heart.

Drops of liquid blotched onto her face, signifying her that something was wrong. She slowly placed a finger on her face, and wiped the substance off. She stared at her finger and trembled. She had seen this stuff before, when her father had done his job helping wounded people. It was... she recalled, 'the substance of life', as her father had told her. She returned staring at her finger. It was red. It was the 'substance of life'. It was...

Blood.

Naru freaked out and immediately wiped off the blood with her skirt. She stood up and looked around frantically, eyes panicked and lips trembling, as she searched around her for any odd or bizarre changes to the scenery.

There was none.

Then another few drops of blood fell onto her skin, smearing her white top and pale skin with the red liquid. Slowly she looked up to the sky, and felt her fear heighten.

The sky was dark and covered with colossal raining clouds, erasing any sense of peaceful blue from sight. She stared as the sinister clouds began spewing out its contents onto the Earth.

And the contents were red.

Dark red.

Soon the whole flower field was pretty much red from all the rain of blood. And wherever the blood touches, the flower would wilt and melt as if the blood were hot lava. Naru hugged Mr. Teddy and herself tightly, her eyes scrunched up tight to avoid looking from the whole disturbing sight. Her whole being was soaked red from the liquid, from her bright blonde hair to her light green skirt, nothing was left untouched.

She whimpered in fear, trying to calm down and convinced herself that she was in a dream, which technically, she was, but the whole setting was too realistic for her mind to believe otherwise. She remained frozen at the same spot for quite awhile, until she heard a weird sound of something wet slapping on the ground.

She wearily opened her eyes to look at the source of the sound, and immediately wished she hadn't.

A human boy, or what used to be a human boy; since his fleshes were rotten and one of his red eyes were popped out, dangling out his face by a vein, was heading towards her. His raven hair was smeared with blood like she was, though his tend to stuck up more than hers did. He wore a metal headband with a very familiar symbol etched on it. Before she could mull over it, her eyes fell onto his right hand that reached out to her as if he was trying to grasp her as he voiced out her name with a hoarse, unused voice, "Na...ru..."

'How does he know my name?' she wondered, and before she could stop herself, she unconsciously whispered out a name as an involuntary response to his calling.

"Sa-Sasuke?"

'Who's Sasuke?' she questioned herself inwardly, wondering just how did the name came to her mind. Before she could contemplate it further, more figures rose from the ground like the zombies they were, all of them had rotten fleshes, bathed in the same blood that covered the whole place. And it was then that she noticed that every single one of them had the same symbol of Leaf somewhere on their body.

One of the figures had bright silver hair, with a similar metal headband covering one of his eyes and a mask covering the lower part of his face. The other one was a girl with cheery pink hair and emerald eyes, just like her mother's. And there were two other figures that stood out to her. It was a woman with red hair and a pair of sky blue eyes similar to her own. She stood beside a man, who if she hadn't known better, would have thought to be her own father, for he bore a striking resemblance to her; the same shade of blonde hair and facial features. His darker blue eyes bored deep into her, and she wondered if her real father had blonde hair instead of black, that they could have been brothers.

"Come back to us... Naru..." the pink haired girl that was dressed in tattered red clothes stepped forward towards her.

"Back... to the Leaf..." this time the masked guy moved forward.

"Come... child..." the woman with red hair commanded with such coldness, that Naru involuntarily shivered as a reaction.

"...To be with us... your parents... your friends... your comrades... your beloved Leaf... isn't that what you want... Naru...?" the blonde man mocked her and walked towards her, as did every other figure in that area.

Naru wanted to run. She wanted to escape from all this nightmare and surreal dream. She wanted to scream for help and to be covered in comfort and warmth of her parents, to be told that everything was all right, and that this was just a dream, a realistic dream.

But her body wouldn't move. She was stuck there as if she had her feet glued to the ground. Then she felt something shifted inside. All of a sudden, she felt as if she wasn't in control of her body any longer. It was as if a different mind had taken over her body, and that she was merely a spectator.

'She' looked up to the approaching figures that could easily tower over 'her', and whispered out a few words to them, "I'm sorry... everyone..."

Then Naru felt as if she had been slammed back into her own body, for she felt her control returned. She stepped back from the figures, ready to run if her life depended on it, when she heard a malevolent chuckle from somewhere near her. Her eyes slowly shifted down, and found her Mr. Teddy moved, slowly turning its head around to face her, his black button eyes were replaced with red eyes swirling with malice, an evil grin adorned its thread lips.

"Saa... what are you going to do now... Naru...?" her bear said to her in a singsong tune, before cackling insanely in her face. Naru shrieked and let go of her toy, stumbling on her feet to get herself running, only to find that several hands had shot up from the ground to hold her there.

The possessed bear strolled forward, as did the other zombie figures, as they quickly gained on her. Naru swatted her arms around her blindly, in attempt to prevent them from getting closer to her, but it was futile. The rotten figures began grabbing her everywhere they could, and pulled her toward them. She tried fighting against them, but it was proven useless as did her previous efforts.

"Come back with us..."

"Where are you going...?"

"Come back to the Leaf..."

"Are you going to betray the Leaf?"

"Why did you leave us?"

"Why won't you die!"

"Didn't you promise to die with us?"

"You said we would be together for eternity... Naru..." 'Sasuke' said as his emotionless voice turned to rage.

"NO! Leave me alone! Go away! Go away! GO AWAY!" Naru screamed her heart out to the crimson sky.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Narcisa and Nataniele rushed into Naru's bedroom, only to find their beloved daughter thrashing about her bed. Her small body writhed in pain, as she gasped out in pain. Nataniele turned the lights on while Narcisa headed straight for the bed and cradled Naru in her arms.

"Shh sweetie. It's all right. It's all right. Everything is going to be all right..." she hummed a soft tune that she always played for her daughter, caressing her hair as did Nataniele. Naru started to relax and her breath began to stabilize. After awhile, Naru squirmed and opened her bleary eyes.

"Mommy...? Daddy...?"

"Everything is fine now sweetheart... Everything is fine..." Nataniele kissed her cheek in assurance.

"There were these... people... and they wouldn't leave me alone... they wanted me to go with them... to the Leaf... I told them to go away, but they wouldn't... and I'm scared. I'm scared, Mommy, Daddy..." Naru whimpered against her mother's chest. Narcisa patted her head softly and whispered to her, "It was just a dream, dear... just a dream... a bad dream..."

Naru nodded and snivelled, relishing in the comfort of her two parents. Soon she fell asleep again, this time without the company of any dream.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"It was the Leaf again..." Narcisa shoved the laundry into the washing machine angrily, and pressed the buttons tiredly. Nataniele sighed as he turned a page of the newspaper that had just arrived to their doorstep a moment ago.

Narcisa headed over to the table and served the breakfast, noodle soup. Nataniele raised an eyebrow at the sight of the day's breakfast, and asked his wife amusedly, "Noodles? In the morning?"

Narcisa chuckled and plopped down on a seat across him, "Naru wanted noodles for breakfast. Can you really refuse her request when she gave you her cutesy pie face?"

"Aah..." Nataniele agreed knowingly. No one could resist her charm, not him, not his wife, and certainly not every other adult in the village, and Naru, knowing that fact, had taken great advantage of it. That sly, sneaky angel of his-

"So what now?" his wife asked as she spread the butter on her bread using the bread knife.

"What what?"

"The Leaf. She mentioned it in her nightmare last night. I can't believe that it had gone that far, for it to haunt Naru in dreams even."

"That's true. I don't think we can delay our decision any longer. Her drawing obsession must be stopped immediately," the blue-eyed man swallowed a spoonful of his wife's noodle soup.

"Which means...?" she folded the bread gently and took a small bite of it. "She's going out to play. No more drawing in the house, for at least a week."

Just then the sound of small steps resounds throughout the house, as Naru stomped down the stairs energetically. "Good morning Mommy! Good morning Daddy!" she rushed to hug both of them and quickly plopped down onto her chair, squealing with delight when she saw the breakfast of the day, "Yay! Noodles! Thank you Mommy! Love you!" she grinned before wolfing down her entire proportion of food.

"Manners, Naru. Manners." Her mother warned amusedly, while her father laughed heartily at her cute antics.

Soon enough she was done, and as always, she had finished ahead of her parents, despite having a smaller mouth and stomach. How she had managed for that feat to happen, no one would ever know.

Naru fidgeted on her seat as her eyes wandered around the house, thinking and planning her activities today. Deciding that there weren't anything better to do, she settled on doing the same thing she always did. "Daddy, can I have some papers please? I want to draw." She grinned as she jumped out of her seat, ready to go to her father's private office to snatch some papers, not noticing the quick exchange between her parents.

Nataniele cleared his throat, quickly gaining the whole attention from Naru. Naru wondered quizzically; usually her father would just give a quick approval and she would begin her daily drawing activities. So why would today be any different?

"Naru sweetheart, today we're going out to play." Nataniele smiled at her.

Simultaneously the two blondes gave a questioning glance at him.

"Outside?" Naru wondered excitedly.

"We?" Narcisa raised an eyebrow at her husband's choice of word.

Nataniele chuckled nervously as he cowers under Narcisa's deathly gaze, "Yeah... I'm going with her..."

The elder blonde narrowed her eyes at that answer, "Oh? And why would that be?"

Meanwhile, Naru was asking both of her parents; who sadly, seemed to ignore her, of whether they were really giving her permission to go outside. She had always wanted to play outside with children her age, but her father would always refuse, saying that she was too young to understand the dangers of the real world. She was often confused by her father's words, for she only wanted to play outside with the other kids. So what kind of danger was out there?

Her father seemed to think that the boys are the danger, apparently. Though Naru didn't know that.

"Mommy! Daddy! Can I really go out and play? Can I? Can I?"

"Well I can't just leave her alone with those savages! Who knows what they might do to her!" Nataniele cried out in response to his wife's question, ignoring her daughter's question in favour to winning this debate against his wife.

"Mommy! Daddy! Can I really really really really really go and play outside? That would be cool! Can I really play outside? Ca- What are savages?" Naru questioned, turning her head to the side slightly.

"Nothing dear. Daddy is just spouting nonsense. And yes you can play outside, just wait for a minute until mommy is done with daddy here. All right sweetie?"

Naru nodded enthusiastically and sprinted off elsewhere, leaving her parents alone as requested by her mother.

"Now... you. What were you thinking, shouting off words like savages in front of Naru?" Narcisa asked murderously, hint of reds were swirling around at the back of the precious emerald eyes.

"Erm... That was an accident! I didn't mean to say it out loud..." he grinned nervously.

"Which means that you really think of the boys as savages deep inside," Narcisa sighed at her husband's over protectiveness, "For God's sake, Nataniele, they're just children! They're still young, pure and innocent, just like our little Naru!" she sighed exasperatedly.

"Well that's what you think. I've seen and known better... I know that boys would-"

"And what were you going to do about your work, if I may ask? Your mountains of paperwork?" she cut in, promptly stopping Nataniele's speech of 'Boys are Savages in the making!'. Nataniele began to sweat profusely at the thought of his papers and records waiting to be updated. Even though he was just a doctor of a small village that opened up a family clinic, he had mountains of paperwork concerning the health record of every single resident of the village which needs to be constantly updated, giving him terrible headaches as of late.

Narcisa continued without waiting for him to reply, "And not to mention that today you have appointments to do checkups on two whole families of Grosso and Tariano..."

Nataniele began to pale considerably. It wasn't that he hated the two families; it was just that they had proven themselves to be difficult when doing checkups. He usually had to spend the whole evening to finish doing checkups on a whole family, but now, two of them? He was doomed, and he knew it. He really should start writing his will now.

"Therefore... You. Are. Not. Going. Anywhere...!" Narcisa finished with a murderous glint in her eyes, holding a lash in her hands.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Noooooo!"

Naru's ears perked at the faint shout that suspiciously sound like her father. But that couldn't be it, could it? Her father was strong, proud and manly in her eyes. He wouldn't actually shriek like a girl, would he?

Naru promptly ignored that line of thought and returned to stare at her most favourite toy, Mr. Teddy. It was weird. The night before, she would hug the bear tight as if he was her only friend in the whole world, but now? She felt fear when looking at the bear and the weird thing was that she couldn't for her life remember exactly why that would be. What could have happened that would make her feel scared of her favourite toy?

She had tried to focus and concentrate to the best of a four year olds' ability to find out or remember the reason for the change, but it was as if there was a barrier around her mind, protecting her from said memories. But that shouldn't be possible, right? Unless magic exist... although her mother had said that there's no such thing as magic. But it would have been really cool if she indeed wields some magic, 'Totally...' she mused.

She heard footsteps heading towards her room, and judging from the lighter and quicker footwork she knew that it was her mother. Quickly she stuffed her former favourite bear into the old toy box and waited excitedly for her mother's approval to go outside.

Sure enough, moments later her mother had entered the blue room.

"Mommy Mommy! Can I go and play outside please?" she asked anxiously, her brilliant blue eyes shone with hope for approval.

"Of course sweetie. Now let's get you all cleaned up and you're ready to go!" Narcisa laughed as she watched Naru jumped around the room excitedly.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Aww you look so cute and absolutely adorable sweetie!" Narcisa squealed as finished her touch on her daughter. She had Naru wear her blue knee-length skirt with a white blouse, while her soft blonde hair was tied up into a pair of high ponytails. Narcisa had no doubt that she would have attracted many boys later on, even more so when she grew up older. She can't wait to see how beautiful her daughter would be; perhaps people would even consider her angel as her little sister?

"Thank you mommy! Can i go now?" her eyes shone with excitement as she squealed with delight. Narcisa giggled at her cute little girl's antics, "Just be patient for a little longer sweetie. He should be here any moment now."

Just then the doorbell rang, echoing throughout the house, "There he is!" Narcisa smiled wide and lead Naru to the door. The door opened to reveal a young boy only a few years older than Naru at the doorstep. He wore a gray shirt with short sleeves, as well as a pair of black trousers. He had messy black hair that gave him a bed hair look while his eyes were hazel with a light tint of red.

"Naru, this is Alexis. He is four years older than you, and mommy had asked him to take care of you and bring you around the village. Now be a good girl and listen to him, all right?" Narcisa patted the little blonde's head, before addressing said boy, "It's good to see you Alexis,"

"Good day to you, Ms. Vortice," he replied politely. Naru stared at the new boy with wonder, and he couldn't help but blush at her stare even though she was four years younger than him.

"Alexis, I'm sorry to bother you, but I can't really see anyone else helping my dear girl here, and I believe the two of you would get along just fine. Isn't that right Naru?" Narcisa continued on, not noticing the light blush that graced the boy's face.

Alexis had come to help Nataniele every so often, though it was the first time for him to meet Naru directly. Usually Naru was sleeping, or was in her room playing when he had come over to help. It doesn't help that he was often working in Nataniele's office which Narcisa had warned her daughter to not enter unless it was important, for fear of disturbing her husband's work.

"It's all right Ms. Vortice, I don't have any plans for today, and I was thinking of getting some fresh air as well, so this works in my favour." They boy smiled gently, avoiding the gaze from the little blonde.

"That's great then. I'll leave you two to get to know each other, and then you're free to go. Take care of her Alexis." Narcisa bid them goodbye and headed into the house, intending on finishing up her chores.

Once her mother had gone inside, Naru immediately turned to Alexis and gave him a cheerful greeting, "Hi! My name's Naru, and I'm four years old!"

The boy chuckled at her enthusiasm, and decided to greet her back just as enthusiastic, "Hey there! I'm Alexis, currently eight years old, and I stay near your house!" Naru grinned and nodded, deciding that that was a good introduction enough and that they should be moving on, "Let's go!" she shouted excitedly and pulled the surprised boy along.

oOoOoOoOoOo

It was getting late now, and they should be getting back soon. Alexis was walking her home, though Naru was a bit reluctant to go back. She had wanted to stay outside and play a little bit longer; she hadn't had as much fun before, and dare she said that it was one of the best day in her lives. She had made her first friend; Alexis, and found him to be companionable. He had played along with her most of the time, put up with her whim, and the most important thing was that he loved noodles as much as she does!

And then there were the other kids. All of them had befriended her well, and accepted her into their circle even though she was the youngest among them. The youngest member next to her was a six year old girl, who she had befriended easily. They had played many games that she had never known existed, and simply put, she had a blast.

She had also visited the villages' shops and houses with Alexis, and it was a refreshing sight for her to see the other villagers in their houses instead of when they came to her place for checkups and appointments with her father. It wasn't that her parents had never brought her out to walk around the village before, but going out with friends instead of parents certainly felt refreshing and different. Her day couldn't have gotten any better, for sure.

They were only a few houses away from their destination, when Naru felt something tugged at her heart. She stopped walking and turned around to face the direction where the wind seemed to guide her. Alexis who had noticed her stopping and approached her, trying to ask her what was wrong when she suddenly whipped her head around to face him, shouted, "Be right back!" and dashed off towards the direction of the forest.

Alexis was stunned for awhile, before he swore and rushed off to follow her.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Naru stepped into the bushes and started looking around as she panted for air; she had never felt so anxious before, her heart was beating real fast and she had no idea why that would be so. She peered around the trees, searching for anything that could have made her apprehensive. She took a few steps around the forest, and stopped dead in her tracks when she found a sight that made her heart wrenched.

It was a red fox kit. It was lying down on a clearing, too weak to move about as its body was bleeding, and its white and reddish fur was smeared with its blood. The small fox yipped softly at her, trying to get away from the stranger.

Naru knelt down near the fox as an image of a giant red fox with nine tails flashed through her mind. All of a sudden she felt tears rolling down her cheek, and she blinked in surprise when she noticed that the tears were her own. She wiped off the tears with her sleeve with a puzzled thought, before shrugging it off and reached out for the wounded animal and petted it softly, trying to assure the animal that she wouldn't hurt it.

The baby fox was soon charmed by her and accepted her gestures with a nod to her hand. Naru smiled and gathered the fox kit in her arms, wincing slightly at the extent of the fox's injury.

She heard the bushes rustled from the direction she had came in, and waited for Alexis to come. Sure enough, moments later the boy busted through the bushes with a loud pant, relief could be clearly seen on his face when he found the blonde girl. He turned on a stern face to lecture her for her recklessness but faltered when he saw the sight of blood on her blouse which had come from the animal that was in her arms.

"Naru, w-what..?" he stuttered at the sight, trying to comprehend the whole situation.

Naru moved past him and into the bushes, trying to head back home to treat the wounded fox, "The fox is not well. I need to go home now," she said briskly and was gone from the clearing as soon as she had said that. Alexis nodded numbly and followed her quietly, too dumbfounded to say anything.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Narcisa had just finished drinking her evening tea while relaxing on the chair, treasuring the quiet evening that she could scarcely take pleasure in once she had Naru. That little angel of hers could never sit still and be quiet, so she hardly has a chance to enjoy her evening peacefully. Though she would definitely choose her daughter above all else; she was already missing her darling girl.

The doorbell rang and she quickly got up to open the door. She knew that it had to be Naru and she could barely wait to ask her and Alexis if they had fun and see how far they had gotten along. What she didn't expect was for Naru to be smeared and covered in blood, while carrying what seemed to be a dead animal.

"Naru? What happened sweetie?" she knelt down to her level and grabbed her shoulders, and turned to face Alexis next, "What happened Alexis?"

However it was Naru who answered her, since the boy was still stunned from the recent event.

"I found a wounded fox, mommy. I think Daddy could treat it..." she whispered softly to her mother, her eyes cast downward.

"Is the poor animal even alive right now?" Narcisa asked her daughter carefully, worried for how her daughter would react if the fox was indeed dead.

"It's alive, but barely. We need to be quick if we want to heal it," Alexis answered for the little blonde.

Narcisa sighed and stood up before asking amusedly, "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's be quick then," Naru looked up to her with relief and nodded quickly before swiftly heading inside, with the injured fox safely clutched in her arms.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Nataniele stretched and popped his bones, and yawned tiredly as he walked out from his operation room. He was immediately tackled by the mini blonde, who had taken it upon herself to be the owner of the fox.

"How was it? Is the fox okay now?" she asked anxiously. Nataniele grinned and ruffled her hair fondly before nodding his head as an affirmative. The blonde whooped in joy and ran to the kitchen to tell Alexis and her mother of the news. Nataniele chuckled and made his way there as well.

When he reached there, he could hear Naru's loud voice echoing throughout the kitchen, "-said it's okay! Daddy said it's okay now!"

Narcisa laughed at the the girl's antic and decided to calm her down, just as Nataniele entered the kitchen. Narcisa glanced at her husband as she managed to hold Naru down to sit on her chair, "How is the fox? Was the injury that bad?"

"No, it wasn't that deep. It's just that the fox had lost a lot of blood, which was the reason why it's so weak right now. We need to take better care of it to make sure it is healed properly." He moved over to the sink and washed his hands before grabbing a mug and proceeded to making a cup of black coffee.

Then the inevitable question came, "Erm... Mommy? Daddy? Can I make the fox my pet, please...?"

The married couple glanced at each other discretely; both of them knew that this was their best bet to get Naru over her Leaf obsession. Once she had something else to focus on, like playing and taking care of a pet, she wouldn't stay indoor as much would certainly not drawing as often. And so it was decided that the fox would be welcomed into their family.

"Sure sweetheart. Of course you can," Nataniele chuckled as Naru hugged her parents tightly, and proceeded to talk animatedly to Alexis. Narcisa decided to leave the kids alone and pulled her husband, who cringed at the sight of his little angel getting closer with another male, out of the kitchen.

Soon the two kids were left alone, and Alexis decided to ask the blonde a question, "Have you decided the name of your new pet?"

Naru grinned at him and nodded enthusiastically, "Yup! Kyuubi!"

oOoOoOoOoOo

And that's the end of Chapter 2. Sorry if this chapter seemed rushed. I kind of wanted to get this chapter over with since I still have my final exams this Friday.

I've decided to write the story in Naru's perspective from her childhood until the beginning of the -Man story, since the rest is pretty much canon, until after she met Allen and certain others. It wouldn't be practical for me to give her flashbacks often, since some of the plot is tightly bounded to her childhood. I might as well tell her childhood story, with time skips here and there. And she wouldn't meet Allen until at least another 2 chapters. At least.

I'm actually torn between pairing her with Allen or Lavi. At first I wanted to pair her with Allen, no question. Then suddenly Lavi seemed like a good pairing too, and I seriously can't decide between the two. I might ended up with AllenxFemNaruxLavi, I guess.

And the song that she hummed in her nightmare was "Grief and Sorrow", a Naruto OST, if you hadn't guessed.

Alexis is just some random OC that I created on the spot. He wouldn't be that important later on.

Again, sorry if the chapter seemed rushed. I hadn't really want to write it this long, I was planning on a shorter chapter, but in the end it still got kind of long. Meh. This'll do.

Well if you guys would kindly review...

See you guys around then. Peace out. (^_^)