Disclaimer: I own nothing recognised as belonging to someone else.
Fist off, the Rin in this story is modelled off of Sohma Rin from Fruits Basket manga (sadly, she never made it to the anime. bummer). I had honestly forgotten about the Rin on Kakashi's Team until graypheonix brought it up.
Rin's just so...ninja-ish when used as an Uchiha and/or Itachi's significant other (which is not happening in this fic.).
Why Sasuke was still alive will be explained later.
Hope you enjoy.
Rin's real name turned out to be Uchiha Isuzu; Rin chosen for its translation into 'bell', while Isuzu meant 'little bell' when written in kanji. She was eighteen years old when she was designated his guard.
Rin was very beautiful with dark ivory skin, big brown eyes and the most beautiful black hair. Belying her beautiful face, Rin's tongue was sharp and she never hesitated to use it, even on Naruto, though, he noticed, she never used words to defend herself, only others.
Her face, while beautiful, had a pinched, bitter quality to it. She was also prone to stomach ulcers when stressed, and tended to neglect her own well-being, causing Naruto to watch out for any sign of weakness in his sensei.
She was, Naruto found, nearly impossible to catch when she got her legs under her, earning her the name 'Rin of the Horse' amongst the ANBU. Her Taijutsu style revolved mostly around kicks and wind-based attacks, and her Ninjutsu were mostly distance wind attacks, support or defence. She held a summoning contract for, surprise, surprise, horses.
While they weren't exactly affectionate, Rin and Naruto had an understanding and cared about each other in a distant, student-teacher sort of way. If he started screaming in the night from painful memories, she woke him up, gave him some warm milk laced with chamomile, and sent him back to bed; if she showed any sign of thinking too deeply, Naruto distracted her and took the sharp words she sent his way.
Naruto seldom trained with her after the first few months at the isolated little shack, after which he wandered off everyday to train what he had learnt in the Future Past.
By the time Naruto was nine, he was as much on Rin's level as a nine-year-old could be and they began to spar regularly.
Rin never asked where he learnt his skills and he never volunteered the information.
(SPACE)
It was roughly around his tenth birthday that Naruto spontaneously decided to return to Konoha.
He knew he would mostly be forgotten by the rest of his year mates and the tragedy that befell him would have long since been forgotten by the villagers, not to mention Rin had had no contact with the village and, as such, would have no idea that her clan had been slaughtered less than a month after she left with him, so the two set off, not really in a hurry but not dawdling.
It was late at night when they arrived, by-passing the gates via a small side-entrance the Hokage had told Rin to bring Naruto back through. Naruto's last memory of the small door had been of when the civilians, old, young and invalid, had been evacuated through it, only to be ambushed on the other side by Oto-nin and slaughtered. Neji had died that day, his corpse propped against the wall, a kunai through his throat and eyes gouged out.
Naruto's eyes deliberately avoided looking at the place where he had found his friend as he followed the closest thing he had to an aunt or cousin.
Once through, the two took to the roofs and made it to the Hokage Tower with little hassle until they tried to get in to see the Sandaime.
The secretary had stuttered and asked them to wait a moment after they had introduced themselves before scurrying off to interrupt a council meeting.
Rin had been confused and a little agitated, but Naruto knew what was happening.
It must have been several minutes later that a pair of ANBU appeared.
The man, from whom Naruto got a vague impression of recognition, bowed and 'asked' them to follow, while the woman with longish purple hair and a cat mask moved past the trio and out the window.
Naruto was asked to remain outside, so the boy settled into the chair across the hall from the Council room. Rin placed her backpack at his feet and carded a hand through the fringe of his long sunny hair; a sign of nervousness on her part.
"Wait here. I will be back soon." She murmured softly before following the male ANBU through the large double doors.
(SPACE)
It was about a half hour/forty-five minutes that Naruto spent staring almost unblinkingly at the door, ignoring the now unnerved ANBU guarding the Council room, when the female ANBU returned with Uchiha Sasuke, who appeared to have been roused from his bed, but was dressed in the blue and white outfit Naruto vaguely recalled from the raven's early genin years.
When he cause sight of the seated blonde, whose head was tilted only enough to be able to see the approaching the duo, he paused.
Sasuke slowed a little, finding the feral boy familiar, but unable to recall where he had seen the blonde before. For some reason, pity well up in his chest when he met the blue eyes.
The two boys' regard of one another was cut short by a sudden scream of pain and anguish.
In an instant, Naruto was on his feet and slamming the door open fast enough to make an ANBU Captain proud.
An instance's glance showed the Sandaime on his feet and shouting at a woman to his left, indignant outrage on behalf of Rin on the faces of others he vaguely recognised as clan heads, joyous scheming was written all over the faces of several civilians and quite a few others were watching with blank faces.
But Rin was collapsed on her knees in a puddle of black and white in the centre of the room, keening softly and her nails digging into the upper arms.
Ignoring everyone else in the room for the time being, Naruto darted forward, lifted Rin in an awkward bridal-style, and dashed from the room and down the hall to a smaller room he had passed earlier.
It turned out to be a smaller meeting room, most likely for ANBU.
Settling in a corner, on the ground and mostly hidden from view by a table and a heavy red curtain, Naruto curled up with Rin-san, petting her hair and crooning wordlessly, not bothering to ask what was wrong.
Her keening stopped after a few minutes, but she was still trembling and pale, her nails digging into her arms deep enough to draw blood, when one of the two ANBU guarding the council chamber doors came into the room, followed by a medic.
It took a few moments for the ANBU to locate the pair, drawn to the bright gold of Naruto's fine shaggy mane as the boy shifted in front of the now obviously catatonic Kunoichi.
As the two moved towards them, Naruto shifted again onto the balls of his feet, stance wider for balance, splayed fingertips resting lightly on the ground to support his upper body and his chest hovering over the floor like a predator in a its fight or flight response.
Some kind of cat, maybe?
Either way, the ANBU got more than he bargained for when the feral-looking and kinda disturbing kid in shorts and a loose tank-top threw himself at the black and white clad ninja (something most Shinobi had enough sense NOT to do) and proceeded to push both the ANBU and the medic-nin back to the middle of the room with a series of fluidic punches, kicks and flips before retreating back to his position in front of Rin.
The medic-nin sighed.
"I will inform the Hokage."
The ANBU nodded, reluctant for a second clash as he rubbed several scratches left along his upper arms where Naruto had scored a hit with his now decently lengthened red-varnished nails.
Naruto, still crouched back in front of Rin, watched the ANBU cautiously. He knew it was iffy at best that they wanted to harm either himself or Rin, after all, she was an Uchiha female, but he didn't want to be treated like a useless kid and he was a traumatized child who had spent last three years in isolation with only Rin for company, so he figured that was enough reason to be a little aggressive and possessive.
A few minutes later, the medic-nin returned with Sarutobi and two of the elders, including the woman whom the old man had been yelling at.
Naruto may have been a particularly dense child the first time around, but he was more than capable of logic this time; the council members to show anger directed that anger towards the old woman, so she must have been to one to give Rin a mental and emotional breakdown.
The blonde immediately went back into his ready stance/crouch and growled.
Glaring, Naruto felt the minute fluctuations in his eyes that said they had turned red and slit-pupiled when she gave him a look of absolute hate and revulsion.
Naruto crouched down lower in preparation to jump at the horrible old woman, but Rin beat him to the punch. Literally.
Naruto backed down and stared in surprise when Rin dashed past him, crash-tackled the old woman and began punching and kicking the woman, screaming incoherent words at her.
It took the confused blonde a moment to realise what she was screeching almost indistinguishably at the woman.
"--HOW DARE YOU LOOK AT HIM LIKE THAT YOU (#)!& & COW!--"
Naruto blinked and cocked his head to the side, curious and thoroughly baffled, as Rin was dragged off the councilwoman, shrieking, kicking and biting, by no less than five ANBU and Sarutobi himself.
The blonde caught sight of a needle heading for the dark-haired woman and lunged across the flailing bodies to tackle the medic-nin. The two crashed to the ground and the needle went flying.
Naruto, his adrenaline now pumping and endorphins flooding his system, fought tooth and nail against the growing number of ANBU with a grin on his face, slipping like an eel from the grasps of anyone who got a hold on him. Now on the other side of the room, Rin-san was beating the crap out of the councilwoman whilst four ANBU tried to pull her off said woman.
The Sandaime, by this point, was standing by the wall with several Clan Heads, a long-suffering look on his face. The Clan Heads were looking thoroughly amused.
Sasuke was standing by the door, gobsmacked, as Naruto sent a particularly unlucky ANBU flying past the boy with a double-kick to the chest.
Momentarily distracted by a Captain crash tackling him, Naruto noticed, too late, the cloud of blue gas obscuring the room.
There was a moment of drowsiness, then nothing.
Kinda short but the ball will start rolling again next chapter when he goes in fo the exam.
Pleez reviw.
