Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own FFXIII. But I'll let you know when I do :)

AN: Okay from what I've read and saw I have agreed to upload a new chapter. Now I will be making minor tweaks to my characters. Some more than others. If I don't change one a whole lot its probably because I feel comfortable with their current personality. Another thing, this story will be totally different and unique that you will notice the differences right away. Its because I want to make this story unique and original. Lastly, this chapter is more of a serious toned filler then the last chapter, but I feel it was necessary to sustain the longevity of the story and to help create more connection with the two main characters. Again, I hope you like this chapter so enjoy! ;)

Chapter 2 : A Heroines Dream

The two shinobi's stood facing one another. One of the shinobi's was wearing an orange jumpsuit with an orange swirl on the back of it, and had well defined whiskers on his face. The other one was wearing a blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and the Uchiha crest on the back. The most prominent feature about the boy was his eyes which were red with three tomoe around his central pupil. The boy was smirking at his opponent in front of him, while the other boy looked distraught.

"Sasuke, why won't you listen to reason? Don't you understand what your doing?" The blonde haired boy cried out. But the other boy just kept staring intently back at him with his eyes never blinking. No, these eyes could see everything now, and they were showing him that the boy in front of him was far inferior to himself.

Still smirking he replied with a calm voice,"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to get stronger and Orchimaru is going to help me attain that power. No matter what it takes I will kill my brother, even if it means selling my soul to him in order to do so." The blonde haired shinobi took a slight step back from the seriousness of his friends tone.

"What then all of what we've done so far together has been for nothing? Or has it just been used for acquiring power for your revenge?" He glared back at the calm figure in front of him."I promised both myself and Sakura that I would bring you back no matter what, even if it meant breaking every bone in your stubborn body!" Barely containing his emotions from just pouring out, he pointed to the figure with demanding confidence,"These bond's we have are worth more then your stupid revenge, and I'll prove it to you, even if I have to knock the reason into your skull!

"Then I'll have to sever whatever bond's we may have and get stronger in the process, but enough talk, we fight now!" He got into a fighting stance and awaited his opponents next move.

Shaking his head in annoyance at the young Uchiha's stubbornness, he began to stride in a zigzag pattern towards him and raised his fist preparing to make contact with the Uchiha's face. The last thing the blonde kid saw before attacking was a tear forming in the flawless red eyes of the young boy's pupil.

"Sasuke!" Naruto sprang up from his resting position. Naruto was sweating profusely and was shaking uncontrollably from the vivid memory. He couldn't see anything since it was pitch black, but when he looked around a bit he noticed a shadowy figure sleeping across the room from him. It was only because of the duck ass shaped hair that Naruto figured out that it was Sasuke's sleeping form. Sighing softly, Naruto began taking in his surroundings. He then felt a warm, soft material pressed against his body. Looking down he noticed that it was a blue colored blanket with an abnormally large yellow bird pictured in it. He then looked at where he was sleeping and saw the balled up t-shirt of the Uchiha's and his orange jumpsuit sprawled beneath him. Naruto couldn't help but smile a bit at his friends caring act but was short lived when he remembered the nightmare. "The person I was fighting was not the Sasuke I knew. This person was the pure form of Sasuke's hate and anger, but it was not Sasuke. The Sasuke I know is a cocky, spoiled brat, and not some avenger hell bent on destroying everything in his path just to kill one person. No, he's smarter than that. But most importantly he's my friend!" Naruto moved his hand across his chest clutching the area of his chest where his heart lay beneath. "I will save you from yourself Sasuke! With this new world, and possibly, a new beginning there's no way I can possibly fail this mission!" Putting down his clutching arm that was beginning to rip at his white t-shirt, Naruto looked back slowly at Sasuke. Sasuke rolled over to his other side mumbling something in his sleep about damn fan girls. Giggling a little at the boy's unusual sleeping behavior, Naruto decided to go upstairs and look for something to eat since he knew now that it was hopeless for him try to go back to sleep. His stomach suddenly growled in agreement as he began walking up the stairwell.

Naruto was walking very clumsily from both grogginess, and loss of direction, since it was still dark, and he was in a house that he never been in before last his heightened senses from the fox's power he could roughly pick up the smell of Chocolate hanging in the air coming from the North direction. He followed the aroma into a small kitchen while trying diligently to avoid any obstacles that crossed his path. When he walked into the kitchen he was surprised at the sight before him. There was Lightning in her night clothes eating into a Chocolate Cake. She was eating very cleanly as Naruto could tell since she would occasionally grab for the napkin. However, he could hear from the way she was gouging into the cake, that eating properly was the last thing on her mind. Wondering if he should leave or face the wrath of the pink haired devil he accidentally tripped over a leg of a chair while slowly creeping away subconsciously.

"Damn it!" Naruto cried in both pain and embarrassment from falling and hitting his head on the floor. Rubbing his head thoughtfully, he quickly froze when he felt a massive wave of killer intent coming from in front of him. Slowly raising his head up to look at whatever it was that could be so evil. His eyes soon locked on to some beautiful, aqua-colored eyes. But these eyes were now conveying utter resent at the young boy's direction. Gulping a little, Naruto was all too familiar with this scene and closed his eyes to await for his excruciating pain. But when none came, he opened his eyes slowly and saw Lightning motioning him towards a pulled out chair facing him. Slowly, but cautiously, he got up and began tip-toeing towards the chair. A loud cough coming from Lightning displaying her impatience quickly made Naruto jump up a little and hurry his steps so that it took less then 5 steps for him to make it to his destination, all while under Lightning's hard glare.

"Explain yourself now." She glared intently at the blond.

"Wel...well you see I couldn't sleep because I was so hungry, so I thought maybe I could find something to eat in the kitchen and that's when I saw you..." Naruto's voiced trailed off.

"Saw me what?" Tapping her feet in annoyance.

Knowing that any answer that he gave would most likely have him ending up hurt, and beaten up badly, he decided to go with the lesser of two evil's, and have a little fun in the process.

"Well I pretty much caught you stuffing cake into your mouth like a fat pig." There was absolute silence once Naruto spoke those last words. Lightning, sustaining an emotionless face, slowly pulled open a drawer and flung a sharp, shiny object at the boy with deadly speeds. Out of pure instinct, Naruto quickly dove off his chair, avoiding the knife, and flopped onto the hard, wooden floor face first.

"What the hell was that for?" Naruto yelled out while rubbing his chin from hitting the hard floor.

Ignoring his question, Lightning asked, "Tell me who the hell are you guys?" while crossing her arms and leaning back into her chair crossed legged.

But Naruto couldn't tell her the truth, not yet anyways. Besides, she would probably never believe it in the first place. So he just simply stared back at the young girl and gave her silence as his response.

When she was answered with silence she glanced to the side of the table at a portrait of her sister Serah. Sighing a little, she asked now a little more friendlier,"Okay, at least tell me the name of the person who saved my sister.""That will also be the last time I fail to protect my sister from anything else." Lightning thought in her head.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto replied plainly.

"And your emo friend's name?"

"The teme's name is Sasuke Uchiha." Again in the same tone. Naruto began to have a slight feeling about where this conversation was leading to but he thought nothing of it.

"Where did you come from?" She asked getting impatient at the boy's reluctance to divulge anything meaningful.

"It doesn't matter where we came from. We're here right now and that's all that is important right now."

"Then tell me at least a little about your outfit. I've noticed your headband has unique symbol on it." Lightning asked while leaning on her crossed arms that were now resting on the table.

Scratching his whiskers slightly in thought, Naruto decided it wouldn't do any harm in revealing a little information about he and Sasuke.

"From where I'm from this symbol on my headband symbolizes a leaf, which represents my home, which is the Hidden Leaf Village." he answered while tracing his thumb across the leaf symbol. "This headband also totally means that I'm a citizen of my village!" Thinking that calling himself a citizen rather than a ninja would be less conspicuous.

"Hmph. Your lying." Lightning snorted in skepticism. "There is no Hidden Leaf Village that I am aware of because if there was I would know about it. Is that the type of person you are Naruto Uzumaki? A lying little brat?"

Clenching his fist at being accused a liar, Naruto gave his most serious look at Lightning. This sudden look of seriousness caught the young pink haired girl off guard a bit.

"I don't care if you believe me or not." Naruto slowly put his head down so that Lightning couldn't read his face. "I don't care if you call me names or hell even hit me! But no one, and I mean no one, calls me a liar!" Naruto shot his head up after that last statement with fierce determination in his eyes. "And one of these days, I will be Hokage!" He cried out not noticing his slip up. Lightning was now completely dumbfounded by the brats unexpected outburst. She swore she could see a glimpse of fiery passion burning in those sharp cerulean eyes. She quickly recovered however, and brought back her mask onto her face again.

"So what? Is that your worthless dream you just told me I'm guessing?" Smirking a little from one corner of her lips. "Didn't this boy know that dreams were just that, dreams?" Lightning asked herself while watching the young blond boy stir up in intense anger.

"What did you say lady?" Naruto was now struggling to keep himself in control of his emotions, and his voice ended up sounding brittle.

"Knowing you for such a short amount of time you'll probably be dead before you even hit puberty, and have a chance at that pointless dream anyways. Heck, I bet being called Hokage is similar to something along the lines of being called trash-" In a flurry of orange and yellow colored streaks, a young boy was now standing dangerously close to the pink haired girl, closed fist inches away from her face.

"Your not even worth my time, you mind as well not even be alive if that's what you believe in. Your humanity is gone if you keep living without a dream." He closed his eyes while lowering his fist slowly, and turning his back to her to hide his now forming tears from her.

Lightning stood there completely trapped by an enormous wave of emotions now rushing through her body. She was utterly numb and completely paralyzed by the blond boy's words. Never was she spoken to like that. His words stabbed through her heart like a sharp spear. Lightning let her head fall onto her chest and began to recollect her thoughts. "Am I just that, a lifeless corpse carrying the act of living? Is this what Serah sees in me everyday I'm with her? Serah..." Lightning glanced up to the now leaving figure.

"Your...your wrong." She took a step towards the now listening figure in front of her. "I do have a dream, and that is to make my sister the happiest person on Cocoon!" She cried out letting a tear drop down her now flushed cheeks from the extreme emotions of her confession that she was conveying. Her hands were now shaking uncontrolably and her feet twitched in uncomfortability. Grasping her lightning bolt pendent for comfort, she slowly lifted her head up to look at the young boys reaction.

"Finally, I was truly starting to get worried that you had truly lost yourself." Lightning wide eyed at the boy's accurate accusation of herself. Ever since their parents had died, she had taken the full responsibility of raising her younger sister Serah. She had decided to give up her childhood long ago and let herself be consumed in despair and pain. She had to be strong for her sister. No, there was more to it then that. She needed to be strong for herself in order to be able to take care of sister. She was willing to give her life up to protect what she believed was precious to her, and that was Serah.

"Ho..how did you kn-"

"Know?" Naruto finished her sentence. "You may not know this but I too know that pain. I even know someone else who would give up his life, his soul, and be consumed in hate and despair in order to achieve his dream." quietly hinting at Sasuke. "But did it ever cross your mind that maybe your sister's dream is for you to be happy for once?

He struck a very personal nerve when he said that to her. She couldn't deny the logic behind his words. All her life she had been too focused on protecting her sister she completely ignored herself. She never thought about it hard until he brought it up.

"This boy..." She couldn't distinguish how she felt about him. Was she mad, happy, or maybe... thankful? She didn't know. But she did know that her life was changing in front of her eyes. The young blond haired boy was strong, maybe not physically, but there was something about him that made her want to believe him. Maybe she should be less cold to the people around her and be a little more... open, exposed, and possibly... caring? Well she knew she wasn't a total stone cold person. Her previous action was proof of that.

Flashback

There she was staring at the blond hair boy sleeping uncomfortably on the ground. His chest heaving up and down, massive droplets of sweat forming on his face, and his breathing staggered told her that he was having a nightmare and that he was in pain. The pain she could understand because it was she that caused it. The nightmare worried her though. This boy in front of her was the probably the most hyperactive, impulsive, happiest, idiot that she had ever met. If he was having a nightmare then something was seriously wrong. She went downstairs to check on the two boys to make sure they were not up to anything funny. She let them stay but that didn't mean she trusted them, far from it. Lightning then heard a shudder coming from the restless boy, who she was observing with curious thoughts. She knew her incomplete basement could get very cold, but ignored bothering to give the two boys any warm clothes or blankets. But when she saw the innocent blond whiskered hair boy tossing and turning from all the discomfort, her heart felt a sharp, slight pain of sympathy for him. Unable to resist her guilt, she went upstairs to fetch a blanket for him. She could care less about the other boy because he both pissed her off, and had far better sleeping conditions with the futon then his fellow friend. She couldn't understand why they were even considered best friends in the first place. They were polar opposites to one another, and yet, they were able to attract, and become friends. "Small world." Lightning thought out loud. When she returned back downstairs, she overheard some words that were mumbled out from Naruto which surprised her. "Lightning who are you?" She never remembered actually telling the blonde hair boy her name. He must have been somewhat conscious when her sister cried out her name after slugging him. "Yeah, who am I?" Lightning thought to herself silently. Lightning wasn't her real name, and the only reason she adopted it was because lightning was fast, and powerful. But importantly it let her shine bright, even if it was for a short amount of time. She needed to be bright, to repel the darkness, in order to protect her most important piece of herself. Without her sister, she would have given up living a long time ago. Although, her sister would occasionally call her by her real name, she felt no attachment to it. To her it was a weak name and she couldn't afford to be weak for her family's sake. "But maybe someday my name will have meaning, possibly a stronger ideal then Lightning." Until she found that reason, that hope, she would never be able to live with her real name tied to her. Being interrupted in her thoughts by a snoring Naruto, she gently placed her sister's old blanket on top of the young boy. Almost immediately his sleeping went back to normal and a slight grin formed on the blond teen. She couldn't help but think about how his face eerily resembled a fox's, with his whiskers and foxy grin. Her stomach groaned loudly breaking the silence that was in the room. Turning slightly red from possible embarrassment from the 2 boys hearing it, she raced back upstairs towards the kitchen to enjoy her favorite cake in peace.

End of Flashback

She knew that she didn't need to answer that question right now. Now she needed to say the two hardest words that she had ever said to someone other than her sister.

"Naruto... Thank you." Lightning whispered so quietly a normal human being would've never heard it.

Naruto barely hearing it, eyes widened in shock at what he had just heard from the pink haired girl. "Wha...what did you say?" he asked in disbelief.

"No-nothing. It wasn't important." Lightning quickly looked away towards a wall that she suddenly stared at like it was the most incredible thing she would ever see.

"Well I guess your welcome. But it was my duty to help anyways. I couldn't watch an innocent person get hurt and not do anything about it." Naruto replied gazing softly at Lightning's perfect face.

Lightning turned her head around and couldn't help but notice the cute whiskers on the boy's face. Shaking her thoughts of it out, she looked Naruto in the eyes and was back to being Lightning. "So now what are you going to do?"

Getting hit with such a blunt question, Naruto just sat there dazed for a couple of moments before speaking up,"Well we don't exactly know what we wanna do or even what we can do at this moment. I guess you could say we're lost on the road of life." Naruto grinned a little from his sensei's lame excuse. Lightning frowned at the answer but couldn't help but think that Naruto was a little off. Nonetheless, she needed to do something about these boys as quickly as possible before things got more complicated.

"The road of life eh? That's funny, wanna know what else I find funny? Being killed by a person whose name you don't know, wouldn't you agree Naruto?" she said with heavy emphasis on his name.

*Gulp* "yeah, totally, whatever you say lady.

"Tch my name is Lightning." She stated.

"Oh, that's a nice name." Naruto sweat dropped from the unusual name.

"Well I've noticed that Serah has a certain liking to you boys, especially you." Lightning stated emotionless.

Naruto's head turned slightly, in confusion, at the emphasis of him being the center of attention from the younger girl's sudden interest in him.

'However I don't like either of you very much, but at this point in time my opinions of you mean little compared to my sister's who, like it or not, usually always gets what she wants. And what she wants right now is you both." Lightning cringed at the thought of two snot nosed boys living with she and her sister. "I'm regretting this already, but since you boys don't seem to have a home, and Serah would be forever mad at me if I kicked you guys out, I am offering if you boys would want to live with us." Lightning couldn't believe what she was asking. But this was all for the well being of her sister and she was the only thing preventing her from kicking the two boys straight out of the house, and into the large trash bins located several yards away from the house outside.

Before Naruto could explode in joy and happiness she cut him off. "But you won't be living here doing nothing. I expect you guys to lift your share of the work in maintaining this household, by getting a job in two days or less. If you fail to do so don't even think about returning to this house. Not even the innocence of my sister could persuade me to let you guys back in. Do we understand one another?" Lightning narrowed her eyes menacingly at the young boy.

Seeing the boy nodding his head rapidly in understanding, she stood up from the table and began to walk out of the kitchen before halting in between the doorway. "And don't even think about getting a job at the library. If you do, I will lose my job, and it will not be because I quit. No, it will be because they found a bloody corpse with whiskers on top of my desk with several knives protruding from all its major organs." Lightning then began to casually walk out as Naruto turned a deathly pale at the not so subtle death threat. Realizing that he had lost his appetite from the recent conversation he had with Lightning, he solemnly left the kitchen with wide ranging emotions. He decided that it would be best to go back downstairs and check up on Sasuke. He slowly trudged across the room until he made it to the stairwell. He knew he had to tell Sasuke about getting a job and living with them when he woke up, but he had more pressing issues that he needed to solve with Sasuke first before either of them moved on with their new life. Shivering slightly from the cool air, Naruto began to walk downstairs and check on Sasuke.

When he got downstairs he noticed something was off. The cement flooring was the same, however it was flooded slightly with murky water. Naruto began to look side to side and noticed that he was in a large area and that Sasuke had vanished. But what was really off about the scene was the large iron cage in front of him that was being closed by a paper note that simply read "Seal". "I feel like I've been here before," Naruto thought,"this place gives me the chills and the feeling of absolute dread." Naruto quickly looked up when he spotted two large red orbs illuminating the dark cage. He then heard the familiar voice that was the cause of all his pain and suffering.

"Come closer boy so that I may get a better look at you." A dark voice commanded.

"You're not fooling me this time again fox! And they call foxes clever, ha!' Naruto pointed at the sudden appearance of the Nine-Tailed Fox.

"I guess your not as thick headed as I thought your were," Earning the fox a painful glare from Naruto that he simply grinned towards,"but I want to ask you, why haven't you used my powers yet? From what I've experienced through you, this world is weak compared to ours, and we could crush it oh so easily." The fox chuckled a little at the thought of annihilating an entire planet.

"Ooh no I won't. And besides you're wrong about this planet. This place is not weak, it's you that is weak." Naruto retorted. The fox simply laughed at the accusation.

"Oh and why would that be puny boy?" The fox smirked showing his large, razor-sharp teeth.

"Because you lack human will you stupid fox!" Naruto crossed his arms while meeting his savage eyes.

"Ha, and why the hell is human will stronger then pure hatred?" The fox asked while breathing out a large fume of dark demonic Chakra.

"Hmph, look at what we "puny" humans did to you. We trapped your foxy sorry ass in my stomach!" The fox was taken aback by this clever rebuttal. And for once the fox was lost in words.

"Now if that's all you wanted to talk about I will take my leave." Naruto said while turning his back towards the Nine-Tail.

"You will release me soon. Oh yes, there will be a time when you will be consumed by pure hatred and you will be begging for more power. That is when I will be released and in doing so shall grant you all my power!" "Of course his consciousness will also be consumed by me." The fox thought sinisterly to himself.

"Whatever, I'll see you around fox." And then Naruto severed the connection with the fox. Naruto then became alarmed when he noticed Sasuke staring at him intently with an eyebrow raised, and his Sharingan fully activated.

"So that's what you have in you." Sasuke thought out loud to the suddenly frozen Jinchuuriki.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to review because the more there are, the more likely I'll write more chapters. I love your positive and, to a point, your negative suggestions. And I promise things will pick up soon and I will be soon introducing more characters into this story. Until next time ciao!