Yeah, I know, It took me a while, huh? I'm sorry! Oh well, I 'm back and here's the third chapter! Please enjoy!

Chapter 3: Why should I trust You

"Hey, isn't he awake yet!?"
"Naruto, stop shouting! He got in the middle of a brawl and you expect him to be awake with his wounds!?"

"I thought that 3 days were enough for a ninja!" BAM! "Ow! Why'd you do that Sakura?"

"HE'S NOT A NINJA, BAKA! NOW LET HIM REST!"

"….I don't think I could rest even if I tried at the moment….Wait, I've been out for 3 days? Where am I?" Kiyoshi didn't move an inch from where ever he was laying on but he couldn't really go back to sleep either; it seemed like Naruto and Sakura were in the room he was in too. And they sure were making a fuss about it. "Why am I in a room with noisy, noisy people," Kiyoshi groaned silently in his head.

"You should actually be grateful. If it hadn't for these 'noisy people' you probably would be dead by now."

"…Akari?…Is that you? Where are you," Kiyoshi asked through his thoughts as he was about to open his eyes; he was happy to at least hear ONE familiar voice at the moment.

"Don't move yet. It'll be better if you can understand the situation you're in from them," Akari hissed urgently.

Kiyoshi did as he was told and kept his eyes closed. But that didn't mean he was going to stop asking some questions. "So…this isn't a dream, is it?"

"What makes you think this is all a dream? The wounds seem real enough as it is." Kiyoshi couldn't see Akari but her voice was really heavy with sarcasm.

"I guess you're right." Kiyoshi laughed inwardly along with his tiger friend at the joke. But there was something that surprised him. "Hey Akari…how can I hear you?"

"Remember when I called you 'Young Master'? Well I meant it; my original owner had died…but you ended up summoning me from my long slumber. The moment you did this, I felt something, what's the right word…unique that separated you from normal people. It's sort of 'otherworldly' in a way. The moment I felt that strong connection with you, I knew that you were my newest Lord."

Kiyoshi slightly cocked an eyebrow for the tiger. "How could you be so sure it's me? There are better fighters out there than me. Heck, I don't even have a single clue about being a ninja. So…Why?"

Akari gave him a simple, casual answer. "We summon beast know who are owners are from the moment we lay eyes on them. You could say it's an imprint on our hearts that bond us to humans with great potential. Even now, this simple talking is proof enough that we are destined partners; only certain people can hear us…and for the record, you are quite an impressive fighter even though you aren't a ninja," She added with a gentle chuckle.

Kiyoshi wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. Being with in the Naruto world was bad enough; but having a tiger follow your every move and obey your every request...well, at least it would probably help to have a familiar in the Konoha. "Akari…can I ask for a favor then?"

"Anything you want Lord Kiyoshi; I will do all in my power to fulfill your wish," Akari said in reply.

Kiyoshi slightly scowled in disapproval. "Don't call me Lord; I'm no different than you are. That's my first order."

Akari chuckled softly to herself; she had a feeling he was going to say that. "As you wish, Kiyoshi. What is your other request?"

"Well, what happened when I was unconscious?"

Akari was silent for a while when he had asked her this. "…To be honest, it looked nearly impossible that you were going to recover at all. The poison…was finally taking affect." Kiyoshi felt the tiger hang her head in shame. "I would be lying if I said I didn't feel responsible for the condition you were in…"

"…It's not your fault; I was the one who wanted to fight them with you in the first place. We did win though, right?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm happy," Kiyoshi told her a little cheerfully.

Akari laughed a little half-heartedly from his slightly smug remark. "As I was saying, the two ramen shop owners had ran out of the shop and tried to clean your wounds; I also helped as much as I could. But we couldn't get the poison completely out and that's where most of the danger was. A few moments later, Lady Tsunade and some chunins had come when they had heard you were injured badly." Akari growled lowly as she continued. "In my opinion, they came a little too soon for people who had just heard about the fight. But, with the condition you were in, it wasn't a time to argue about it; we had to take our chances with those ninjas. That's pretty much it; you've been out for three moons and Tsunade had been taking care of you once in a while."

"I see." Kiyoshi wasn't sure about the limits of Akari's abilities, but he decided to test them out now. "Akari…can you kind of sight share with me?"

Akari seemed a little confused about this question. "Sight share? I never hear of that before."

It looked like he was going to have to find another way to explain. "I mean, can you show me what you are seeing through your eyes; I know you're somewhere nearby."

Akari scoffed a little when Kiyoshi had explained what he meant. "You should've just said Inner Knowing; it would've been easier to understand."

"Inner Knowing?"

Akari sighed in exasperation. "Inner Knowing is pretty much me sharing my sight with you. Thing is, you 'see' what I do without opening your eyes. I would've thought you knew that already.

Kiyoshi glared a little in his mind. "Just show me already."

Akari was very alarmed. "In order for it to happen, you have to transfer some of your chakra to me. You're in no condition to do that!"
"I can handle it," Kiyoshi answered quickly.

"You were in the middle of a fight; you were lucky you are alive now," She snarled menacingly.

"I've been through worse," He countered back.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed!? Who knows what will happen if you perform Inner Knowing!"

"I'm fine! Just do it already." Kiyoshi growled a little in irritation.

"You're just going to hurt yourself," Akari roared furiously.

Kiyoshi sighed; he didn't want to do this, but he had no choice. "You said that you have to obey my every request; now I request that we perform Inner Knowing!"

There was a very long pause after that remark he made; Akari obviously wasn't expecting him to use that to his advantage. But if he was really that determined to perform it… "Fine then; I hope you are truly are ready for this." Kiyoshi wasn't the least bit fazed by her low words; he knew Akari was just trying to get him to change his mind. Once again there was an awkward pause between Kiyoshi and Akari, neither of them backing down from their opinions…

20 minutes later

Akari was really getting irritated by now; Kiyoshi hadn't cracked one bit as he waited patiently for her to start. It was actually a little annoying for the white tiger. "Kiyoshi," Akari finally said in boredom after a while of silence.

"You know I'm not changing my mind," Kiyoshi simply answered firmly.

Akari sighed tiredly. "Trust me; I have first hand experience now. Let's just get this over with; you, amazingly, managed to make me tried."

Kiyoshi silently laughed at Akari. "You have no patience at all, do you?" He only heard her grumble a few 'colorful words' under her breath as she began to do some signs with her tail. At first Kiyoshi didn't really feel that different from before. That was, until a sudden sharp pain began to crossing his whole body. He gritted his teeth a little from the pain but didn't let a single sound come out; Akari would surely stop if she knew it was hurting him more than she had expected. It took a while for the pain to leave but it soon subdued a little bit and gave him what he wanted; seeing through Akari's eyes. It was actually a little strange; Akari was watching from a tree high up and, while there were a lot of people walking on the ground, none of them noticed the white tiger at all. Akari seemed to sense his confusion. "I can't always be the big, bad tiger you saw three moons ago; it would be very difficult to move around the village without being noticed. So I turned into a tiger cub; most people confuse me for a cat so I don't get caught."

"So you have a fighting form and a compact form," Kiyoshi said with pleased realization.

Akari, however, wasn't very amused. "What do I look like to you; a toy?" Kiyoshi simply gave her a not-so-innocent smile. Akari leapt a little closer for Kiyoshi to see who was around him now in the white, hospital-like room. Apparently, while the two were arguing, they hadn't sensed that more people had entered the room and were now talking to each other like it was some kind of hang out. Out of amusement, Kiyoshi decide to play a guessing game to see if he knew each character.

A boy with wild blonde spiky hair and whisker-like marks on his face; he had an orange outfit of some sort: Naruto Uzumaki.

A girl about a year younger than him with pink hair that reminded him about the cherry blossoms back home; Pink must be her favorite because that was the color of her shirt; Sakura Haruno

Another boy, taller than Naruto and in a forest green coat, was staring at his body through pitch black sunglasses; although he couldn't really see his face, Kiyoshi knew who it was: Shino Aburame.

Another boy with wild, dark brown spiky hair, was next to Shino and sniffing Kiyoshi for some reason; he was letting his dog put it's big, white head on Kiyoshi's stomach as it whined occasionally and licked Kiyoshi's face: Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru.

Three other girls were looking at him a little curiously as well. One girl seemed to be examining him, as though trying to figure out if he was friend or foe; her bun style hairdo and the scrolls in her arm instantly told him who she was; Ten-Ten.

A blonde girl was also staring at him, but it looked more like interest than distrust; she was wearing a purple outfit and kind of looked a little stuck-up. But he wasn't one to judge by appearance alone: Ino Yamanaka.

The last girl among them was probably the most timid out of all of them; her violet hair went pasted her shoulders and she looked quietly from a distance, as though making sure she wouldn't get hurt by him: Hinata Hyuga.

Akari turned her head a little more so he could see the rest of the people in the room. To his surprise, he had one other girl he missed; she had long brown hair, a white outfit, and, like Hinata, she kind of looked like she was blind. "Wait a sec…oops." Kiyoshi grinned a little sheepishly to himself. "That is NOT a girl: It's Neji Hyuga."

"So you swing THAT way, do you," Akari butted into his thoughts in laughter.

"Just finish showing me everyone," Kiyoshi grumbled to her; it wasn't his fault that he had a slow moment.

Akari let it drop and showed him the last three boys. One was like a giant, stuffing his face with chips, another one seemed to be drawing him, and the last one was lying lazily in a nearby chair, probably relaxing or deep in thought: Choji Akimichi, Sai, and Shikamaru Nara. "Why are they all here," Kiyoshi asked in confusion

"If you want to listen that will mean I need some more of your chakra," Akari warned him.

Kiyoshi thought deeply about this; it kind of hurt when he did Inner Knowing and, to be honest, he could was in the same room so listening to them wasn't very hard. But then again, no pain, no game; besides, he had a feeling that he was going to have to get use to using Akari's abilities while he was here. It might come in handy. "Don't worry about; let me hear from you."
There was a slight pause. "I hope your body can take all of this." The tiger sighed softly and did a few more tail signs. Again, Kiyoshi's body was in pain, this time it took longer for the pain to go away. "Normally, Inner Knowing lets you have stronger senses, like the animal that is with you. But because of your condition, and the fact you obviously never used your chakra before, I'm only increasing one sense at a time. So you can get a feel of it," Akari explained while Kiyoshi's chakra entered her body.

"So, this is only a small taste of what Inner Knowing can really do." Kiyoshi added it all up; if Akari had used the full power of the ability on him, his condition would've been worse. A LOT worse.

"You are really intelligent for a 16-year old. Are you sure you aren't an ANBU from your village," Akari purred, impressed by the younger male.

"…How do you know so much about me anyway? We pretty much just met three moons- er, I mean, three days ago."

Akari chuckled a bit. "Once you have me as a partner, I have to know as much about you as I can. You lived somewhere in the mountains filled with cherry blossom trees, you are only 16 winters old; that makes you one of the youngest lord I ever had. You are well known by many people, but not in a good way; they seemed to fear you for some reason. Animals, on the other hand, are extremely fascinated by you and like you a lot from the moment they meet you; you're practically an animal magnet."

"No wonder you came to me," Kiyoshi said sarcastically.

Akari growled. "AS I was saying, you never really knew you're parents because they both seemed to have died when you were too young to really remember them. You lived with two other orphans, one boy a few winters older than you and a girl, who is a few months younger than you. You also…" Akari paused in uncomfortable silence. "…You also lived with your Grandfather, who had died recently." Kiyoshi and Akari didn't really talk again after that; it wasn't that Kiyoshi hated that Akari had said what she did. But they both sensed someone else coming into the room.

A young woman with two green dots on her head, holding a Hokage hat in one hand, came into the room and silenced everyone; she looked like a young blonde woman but in this case, appearance was DEFINITELY deceiving; Lady Tsunade.

"It appears you will know what's going on now," Akari finally commented in his head. Kiyoshi didn't answer her and began to listen and watch what was happening. As soon as everyone settled down Tsunade walked over to Kiyoshi and placed one of her hands on his forehead, moving away a few stray pieces of hair that were slightly scattered across his face. "He doesn't seem to be in pain. It looks like the poison is completely out now." Tsunade smiled slightly at Kiyoshi for some reason and turned to the group of chunin with a slight frown. "I'm surprised that he's getting rest at all; you all are being pretty loud for people who are 'trying to help him rest'."

Naruto smiled sheepishly and scratched his cheek. "Sorry Granny, but everyone wanted to see him for themselves. What's so wrong with that?"

Sakura looked like she was about to shout and hit Naruto but she took one look at Kiyoshi and controlled herself the best she could. "Maybe, it because he isn't a display to show off, baka," She said through gritted teeth and a clenched fist; she looked like she was trying REALLY hard to control the urge to hit him. She paused for a moment and added, "Besides, we don't really know if he's friend or an enemy; wasn't he the guy who leapt over the gate with a tiger?" Kiyoshi flinched; he didn't expect to be caught so soon. Akari seemed just as alarmed as he was. "I didn't expect you to be caught so soon; I thought they would notice me and completely ignore you…then again THOSE did give you away. Anyone would've seen you as long as they were out."

"Those," Kiyoshi asked questioningly. But Akari didn't respond and they both just continued to watch the group. He saw, much to his surprise Naruto a little angry and was surprised to hear what he had to say. "There's no way he's an enemy! He fought against of rogues just to protect the ramen shop! And you should've heard what he was saying! 'Every life has a purpose in this world'; 'I don't care if I get kicked out of here just for fighting for what I believe in'! There's no way he's a bad guy!"

Neji butted in to Naruto's how-can-he-be-so-evil speech with points to the obvious facts. "He could've just done that to get people to trust him. He could be a ninja spy from another village," He had commented coolly.

"He actually has a point," Kiyoshi said to Akari. He hadn't really thought of it that way.

While he was thinking about that, the tiger did an anime fall out of the branch; he was really asking to get sent out of here, wasn't he? She wanted to shout at him 'If you end up getting kicked out, then you're in deep trouble' but didn't. Instead the both continued to listen to the conversation. Now Tsunade was gently stroking the palm of his hand. "What the heck is she up to?" After a while, Tsunade let his hand drop and turned to Neji with a slight grin. "Neji is right; although he doesn't look it, he's quite a capable fighter." Naruto hung his head sadly. "But Naruto is just as you are; he isn't a ninja of any kind."

"HAH! IN YOUR FACE, NEJI," Naruto yelled in triumph. But then he stopped and looked at Tsunade in confusion. "How can you tell he isn't a ninja?"

"Two reasons. First of all he doesn't have a headband of any sort; that means either he hasn't taken the Chunin Exams or he doesn't live in any village. Secondly," Tsunade added as she looked back at Kiyoshi "it looks like he has never used his chakra for any jutsus before….until now, that is." She slightly glared at a nearby tree and looked back at Kiyoshi with a wry smile. "I know you're using your tiger to watch us. You don't need to use the jutsu if you're just going to hurt yourself. You might as well tell us who you are." Kiyoshi felt himself freeze slightly; although he was impressed with Neji's insight, he knew all too well the dangers of being a trespasser in a ninja village.

Akari sensed him freeze and, without much warning, did some tail signs; the moment she did this, Kiyoshi's body seemed to relax. It was obvious she had undid the jutsu. "I should've known she would sense the jutsu." Kiyoshi felt her eyes rest on him as Akari gave him a small, reassuring smile. "Do as she tells you; it doesn't seem like they while harm you in the condition you're in."
"So you want me to take my chances." Kiyoshi had said this more like a statement than a question.

"We don't have much of a choice either way; they know you are watching them now; you might as well just do it," Akari calmly replied. Kiyoshi paused for a moment; if he showed that he had been awake, what would they see him as? But at the same time, if he continued to pretend that he's unconscious, they would probably think he was up to something. "Well, might as well get this over with," Kiyoshi mused to himself as he prepared for the worst. He firmly grabbed a bed railing and brought himself up slowly, though he found it odd that he wasn't much pain at all as he did this. Gradually, Kiyoshi opened his eyes and looked at the group of through his own view, though it was any different from looking through Akari. He looked at the group wonderingly; the group stared back at him. He looked at his body; it looked like someone took his shirt off, since the only thing covering his chest were long strips of cloth that were over his wounds and the black muscle shirt that went over it. Kiyoshi notice the blood on it was kind of fading; it seemed he was out for a few days. Kiyoshi lifted his head again and looked at the group; they still hadn't budged from the wall. This caused him to slightly scowl at them; honestly, if they weren't going to say anything, they should've just let him go back to sleep. He waited a few more minutes for them to do something, but nothing happened. Kiyoshi gave them a bored stare, took the sheet from the bed, and put it over himself as he got ready to go back to bed. Just as he was starting to doze off, someone grabbed the sheet and shouted right in his ear, "Hey, don't go back to sleep; we want to ask you some things!" Kiyoshi looked opened one eye at Naruto and slightly smirked, causing Naruto to look at him puzzled. "Why is he smirking?"

Shikamaru, who hadn't moved one inch from the chair, lazily answered, "He did it to get someone to actually say some." He peeked at Kiyoshi through one of his eyes and gave him a laid-back smile. "You don't like being kept waiting if they don't do anything, do you?"

Kiyoshi opened his mouth and…not a single word came out. Kiyoshi grabbed his throat in confusion and tried to talk again, but the only sound that escaped was a tiny 'ah'. "Hey, Granny Tsunade, what's wrong with him? Why isn't he talking," Naruto had asked in bewilderment; he watched as Kiyoshi was trying to say something.

Tsunade walked toward Kiyoshi and lifted her hand; it was surrounded by green light. This caused him to step back uncertainly; he knew that she had the ability to heal. But then there was the fact she could also break a couple of bones in his body with that exact hand at the moment. She was a little surprise by his action and looked at her hand; was he scared of the chakra flow? Tsunade looked at Kiyoshi again, her eyes softening a little bit; she let the chakra stop flowing to her hands and watched him relax. "I'm not trying to hurt you, but I do need to know what's wrong with you." Kiyoshi looked at her with a bit of distrust. "I promise I won't hurt you," Tsunade told him soothingly, almost as though she was talking to a frightened child.

Kiyoshi still looked a little unsure about going toward her. He looked around until he found a nearby pencil and paper. Once he had grabbed the two, Kiyoshi quickly scribbled a couple of words on it and held it up for Tsunade to read.

'Why should I trust you?'

Tsunade looked at the piece of paper for a moment. Then she closed her eyes and smiled in triumph, much to Kiyoshi's surprise. "If I wanted to hurt you so badly, I would've done it while you still had the poison in your body." Kiyoshi was a bit surprised but he laughed silently at her answer; he had heard that one before! He walked toward Tsunade and allowed her hand to once again fill with chakra as she began to touch his throat. Kiyoshi was a bit surprised; he didn't expect Konoha's Hokage to be so gentle with him. After examining it for a while, Tsunade pulled back her hand. "I was afraid of that."

"What do you mean, Lady Tsunade," Sakura asked in confusion. It was actually a little funny; Kiyoshi almost forgot about them

She looked at the group with a frown. "The best time to get a child used to using chakra is when they turn five years old. You guys started training on chakra when you were 5, right?" Everyone nodded. "Well, apparently, no one had taught him the slightest thing about it because his body was straining to release the chakra. Not only that, but because he was using it to enhance his senses, he lost his voice in the process."

"Why?" Kiba looked just as lost as Kiyoshi was.

Tsunade sighed. "In order for someone to increase their senses, they have to combine it all together. But if it's your first time, you have to give up one thing; in his case, he gave up his voice without realizing it." She noticed Kiyoshi's startled expression as she had said this. "It doesn't mean you won't be able to talk ever again; it just means that it'll take a while for your voice to return."

Kiyoshi sighed in silent relief. "Well, I guess its okay then…hey, wait a minute." Kiyoshi quickly a paper and wrote again. He held the sentence up for Tsunade to read again.

'How long will it take?'

"Probably about a week or three, considering that this was your time."

"Well, I guess it could be worse," Kiyoshi thought to himself, even though he wasn't too pleased with the news. He looked back at everyone and saw that Tsunade wasn't among them anymore; now she was behind him and was getting ready to take off his shirt. Kiyoshi quickly jumped away from her; she had gotten a little too far across his comfort zone.

Tsunade sighed in exasperation as she talked to him as calmly as she could. "Now that we solved your voice problems, I have to take one last look at your wounds." Kiyoshi looked a little anxiously at the chunins and back at Tsunade; he gripped a little tightly on the bandages on his arm. She stared a little wonderingly at him but then she understood why he was uncomfortable. She smiled slightly at him and then slowly turned to the chunins. "Everyone, you need to get out."

1.5 nano seconds later

"AAAHHH!" Before anyone had time to take in what Tsunade had told them, Naruto and the rest of the chunins were thrown out into the hallway. "Hey, how come we can't stay in? It's not like he's a girl," Naruto shouted angrily, walking toward the door and placing his ear on it. A fox-like grin spread across his face when no one came and he began to reach for the doorknob.

"DON'T YOU DARE, NARUTO." Right at those words, Tsunade's fist came through the door and sent Naruto flying into a wall. Ever single one of the chunins had some sweatdrops slowly falling down; maybe they should wait until she said it was okay.

Back in the room

Kiyoshi watched as Tsunade patched up the wall and turn back to him, smiling coaxingly. "Now, then let me see your wounds," Tsunade said simply as she helped Kiyoshi take off his shirt. Both sat on the bed as she put some kind of ointment over his pervious injures, probably the same one that had been used on him. It was silent as the process repeated; Tsunade would apply more ointment to Kiyoshi and rewrap the bandages over the deep cut and Kiyoshi would sit meekly still as she did this. "You didn't want them to see your scars did you," Tsunade had asked after a while. Tsunade had noticed them while she had to treat his wounds during the time he had been unconscious; it seemed as though they had been on him for a while. Kiyoshi, of course, didn't know how he could respond to her question. "Nod if it's a 'yes'; shake your head if it's a 'no'," she advised him, though it also managed to sound like an order.

Kiyoshi just nodded; it's not like he had anything to hide. Well, except for the fact that he came from another world.

"I see…" Tsunade paused for a moment but soon continued. "Did you get it in an accident?"

Kiyoshi shook his head.

"Did you hurt yourself on purpose?"

Kiyoshi looked at her like she was crazy and shook his head again.

"Did a family member hurt you?"

Kiyoshi looked alarmed and shook his head vigorously; the only family member he had ever really known was his grandfather, and he was a gentle, caring man. There was his mother…but… he looked sadly at the ground and shook his head again.

Tsunade noticed the sudden sadness that came from that nodded, but decided not to pry into that matter. "Do you know how you got those wounds at all?"

Kiyoshi shook his head for the fourth time.

Tsunade looked wonderingly at him as she finished tying all the bandages. "Do you have any family we can find?" Kiyoshi's tormented face was enough to tell her his answer. "Hmm…Normally, I would have to cast you of here; you did come in without permission, after all." Tsunade smiled a little when she saw him become tense. "…But you're in no condition to be out on your own at the moment. I let you stay here for the time being; you don't seem to harmful anyway." She gave him a warning glare as she continued. "Don't think that this means you're off the hook; you'll have to prove that you are someone that can be trusted. If you do, I'll let you stay; if you cause trouble, like getting into fights, then I'll have to kick you out, wound or no wound." Kiyoshi looked straight at her eyes and nodded in agreement; this reaction pleased Tsunade. "Well, now that we have an agreement, why don't you meet the people who will be keeping an eye on you…"

FINALLY! Sheesh, you all don't know how tried I am from writing all of this! So all I got to say is Hop you read, please review, and thank the people who had the time to review! Bye!

Kiyoshi: Stop being lazy! At least let me introduce the next chapter!

ID sighs: Okay, go ahead, I guess.

Kiyoshi: Please read again for the next chapter, "A Broken Heart that Heals".

ID: SNORE.

Kiyoshi covers ID with Blanket: Wow, she really is tried. Well, just come back when she's awake and writing another chapter.