Chapter 2
Sakura jumped quickly through the trees, staying ahead of the search party. She just had to find Naruto. Without him, she didn't think she would be able to go on. He was her light. She sped up.
Ino watched her, noticing that she was pushing herself far more than she should. She could tell, even if Sakura couldn't, that the pinkette had feeling for the blonde knucklehead she'd come to see as a brother. Ino smiled. The entire rookie 9 were a family. And Naruto was the annoying little brother they all liked, but she could tell.
Sakura loved him.
Kiba sniffed. "Hey guys! Hold up!" The entire group stopped at his call.
"Kiba! We don't have time for this!" growled Sakura, jumping back to the group. "We have to find Naruto!"
"I know that Sakura," said Kiba. "But-"
"But nothing!"
"Sakura-"
"Shut up Kiba! We have to go!"
"SAKURA!"
"WHAT!" she yelled.
"I've picked up his scent."
Sakura stared at him, frowning. "Well then…lead the way!"
Kiba rolled his eyes and jumped off with Akamaru in another direction. He sniffed the air. "It's vague but I can smell him!"
Sakura grew hopeful. They may have found him!
"Hurry Kiba!" she cried.
The entire group followed after Kiba and Akamaru at top speed. They landed in a clearing in a ravine. The river in front of them sped by rapidly, white-capping waves crashing against the bank.
"He should be here!" cried Kiba. "This is where his scent ends!"
Sakura looked around frantically. Left, Right, Behind, In front of her. She looked up. Hanging on a branch in the tree, was a torn and burned Konoha headband. His headband.
"No…"she muttered. She climed the tree and grabbed the headband, tearing up as she held it.
"Sakura!" She looked down.
Neji was holding a standard issue flak vest. The only thing wrong was that it was torn and the entire back of the vest was charred black.
Kiba and Akamaru sniffed at it, then looked up at her, hurt in their eyes.
"It's his Sakura…"
Sakura stared at the vest. Then everything went black.
Naruto opened his eyes, staring at the small fox kit that lay curled by the fire. The kit pawed at the bandage around its head that covered his missing right eye.
I'll die.
The Kyuubi…he was absorbing the Kyuubi. The world's most strongest tailed beast. Someone he'd come to see as a friend to him.
Naruto sighed. He didn't want the Kyuubi to die. The fox had been helpful to him since they'd become friends, answering his questions, loaning him chakra.
The kit squeaked, bring Naruto out of his thoughts. The kit was what caused his mission to fail so terribly. But they were performing freaky experiments on the poor thing. He couldn't just leave the poor thing there.
He could remember it better now…
Naruto snuck around, pressing his body against the walls and holding a kunai in his mouth. He just needed to scope the pace out, get a kind of layout of the base. Then he would go home and report back to Tsunade.
He used a mirror to peak around the corner of the hallway then ran down the hall. He heard a terrible animalistic cry as he passed a door. He went back. The door's sign showed that whoever was in there was in the middle of testing. Deciding to check it out, he eased open the door and slipped through. He crawled behind some equipment and watched.
One of the men in lab coats moved and Naruto saw what was making the piercing cry.
It was a baby fox.
Anger bubbled inside him. They had the kit strapped to a table, its little legs spread wide while it lay on its back. One of the men was cleaning medical tools. Some of them looked grim, making Naruto's stomach churn at the thought of those being used on the kit. He decided he was going to save the kit. He didn't care about the mission anymore.
He pulled out some smoke bombs and tossed them, running into the smoke and using his sense of smell to locate the scared little animal. He found it and removed it from the table, breaking the straps. The kit bit his hand out of reflex. Naruto hissed, pulling his hand away and dropping the kit. Shaking his hand, he picked the kit back up, running as the smoke bombs began to dissipate.
"Intruder! Intruder!" yelled one of the scientist, slamming his hand down on a giant red lever.
Naruto growled. Why couldn't they just let him go? All he took was a fox kit. He ran out, tossing a handful of throwing stars and paper bombs into the room. He ran faster as a black cloud of smoke followed him from the bombs, and he looked back, grinning.
"HALT!"
Naruto ran slam into a giant something. He cursed and looked up into the mask of a samurai.
"Oh hi!" he said, smiling and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"INTRUDER! INTRUDER!" Naruto turned the corner to find a large number of even bigger samurai running down the hallway, carrying swords. Well damn it.
He took off in the other direction, pulling his blanket out of his pack and wrapping the kit up in it.
"AKUNABI NO JUTSU!"
And that was when the fire jutsu started. And now here he was, forced to lie on his stomach by a chubby woman and all he gained from his mission was third degree burns and a fox kit. Oh, and the ears and tail of a damn fox.
Mission failure.
Tsunade was going to have his ass for breakfast when he got home.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Sakura sat with her head buried in her knees, gripping Naruto's headband in her fist. There was no way he was dead. He couldn't die. He was unbeatable. He had to become Hokage.
She loved him.
Ino knelt down in front of her. "Are you hungry?" Sakura shook her head. Ino sighed. "We're going to keep looking Sakura. Just because he lost his vest doesn't mean he's dead."
"I know," mumbled the pink haired kunoichi.
"Hey…we'll find him..ok?"
Sakura just nodded, gripping the headband tighter. How could she have been so stupid? She should have told the blonde her feelings for him sooner. Her true feelings. Now that the war was over and Sasuke was dead, he might believer her this time. She would never forget the way he looked when he was carried back by Killer Bee. She thought he was dead then, and if not for the Kyuubi, or Kurama as Naruto told her was the demon's true name, he would have. She looked up. Akamaru was sniffing around near her. He barked.
"What is it Akamaru?" she asked. "Kiba! Come here!" Said young man ran over.
"What is it Sakura?" he asked. Sakura pointed to Akamaru.
"He's sniffing over around that direction," she answered. Kiba raised an eyebrow.
"He's probably looking for a place to piss, Sakura," he said. "Dogs do that you know."
"Could you at least go see?"
Kiba sighed and walked over to Akamaru, who was still sniffing the ground. "What're you up to boy?"
Akamaru barked loudly, whining a bit.
"You found something? What boy?" Kiba followed his friend a little ways and noticed some tracks. "Hey guys! Come here!" Kiba knelt down as the entire rookie eight came up behind him. He pointed out the tracks.
"It looks like someone was dragged," piped Neji. "Then there's another set of foot prints close to it."
Akamaru sniffed the ground then barked.
"Are you sure?" asked Kiba, eyes wide.
"What! What is it!" cried Sakura, anxious.
Kiba petted Akamaru's head. "He said…it smells like Naruto."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Miho watched as the tailed boy slept. She had never seen anyone like him before in her life. The ears and tail of a fox but the rest of him was human. But he reminded her very much of her grandson, she thought, looking at a picture on the mantle of a little dark haired boy with spiky hair. She thought that he would look similar to the young man in the bed if he'd gotten to live long enough to reach that age. If it hadn't been for that fire…
No. She needn't think of such things. They were over and done with. A bad memory.
She noticed the young man start to roll over, and fearing that he would hurt his back, she held him down. He had quite serious burns on the entire length of the back of his body. She wondered why he was even still alive. Most men would have died. He must be something real special.
All she had gone out to do was pick some herbs and fruits for her own benefit. She lived alone, being the only one left from her clan. When she reached the ravine she found the boy, sprawled out on his stomach and soaking wet, his clothes nearly melted into his skin. She'd dropped her basket and ran to him, then began cutting the vest and shirt that he wore, thankful that he was unconscious. The otherwise painful procedure may have been the death of him had he'd been awake.
Once she made sure the young man would stay in place for a while, Miho tended to the little kit. The poor little thing had lost its eye. She guessed the same way that the boy had been burned so bad. But other than that, the little animal was unharmed. She guessed that the boy had covered the kit with his body, which would prove how his back got the worst of the burns. The kit yipped at her sleepily before laying its head down and going back to sleep like its master.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
"Byakugan!" called out Hinata, as her cousin did the same. The team had followed the tracks, becoming more hopeful as the scent got stronger. She looked around with her chakra enhanced eyes then cried out.
"What! What is it!" called Sakura, jumping over to the shy girl.
"Th-there's a small hut! Just over there!" she pointed out. "The tracks lead that way! Whoa!" she cried as Sakura zoomed past her, running to the hut.
"Sakura wait!" cried Kiba! But it was too late. Sakura slammed into the door, breaking it open with her chakra enhanced strength. She looked around. The hut had only two rooms. No one was in the first one.
"What the hell is going on here!" cried a portly old woman who had just come running through a door to the next room, closing it behind her. "A knock would have sufficed just as well my dear! You've woke him up!"
Sakura blinked. Him?
"Now if you would kindly leave so that I may try to get the poor boy back to sleep," growled the woman, pushing Sakura towards the door. "He's in enough pain without strangers barging their way into my house.
"Wait! I'm a medic! Maybe I can help!" she cried out. There was a chance that who she was talking about could be her favorite blonde.
"A medic huh?" asked the woman, ceasing her pushing. "You might just be exactly what the poor dear needs. He has the most awful burns on his back."
Burns! Naruto's flak vest and headband were burned! It had to be him! He was alive!
"I can heal burns!" she nearly yelled. "Please let me see him!"
"I wonder….," muttered the woman. "You must be that pink haired girl he mumbles about in his sleep."
Sakura grinned from ear to ear. It was him! Naruto was alive! She was going to have him back! She was nearly bouncing.
"Yes! That's me! It's Naruto! Please I need to see him!" she cried. The woman shook her head, smiling.
"I've heard a lot about you, Sakura-san," said Miho.
"Miho-baachan?" came a weak voice from the other room. It was scratchy and low, but Sakura would recognize it anywhere.
"Coming Naruto-kun!" called Miho, smiling and stepping aside. Sakura ran into the room, coming to a halt when she saw him.
He looked terrible.
