Damn it...why is Justin so protective of Fern?!

It's her fate that he wishes to save her from...Her past is clouded with judgement yet she doesn't know what to do in life so she stays with Justin. He has always been there for her.

Her eyes screamed at me today...she was begging me to help her. I should apologize about her injury though...

Naruto's steps gained confidence as he continued walking on and made his way to Fern's door. When he knocked on the door, to his disappointment, meanie ol' Justin answered. He glared daggers at Naruto, who grinned sheepishly.

"Auh...Is Fern in?" He rubbed the back of his head.

"No." He moved to close the door, and turned around, expecting to hear the same slam but only came with an 'oof'. He turned back around to see Naruto's body squished in between the door and the door frame. His body sank to the floor, one half of his body inside and the other on the outside.

"Are you always like this with people? You should work on your people's skills! You're even worse than Sasuke!" He got out of the way of the door.

"Fuck off Naruto. She doesn't want to see you. Get it into your thick head!" Justin then slammed the door in Naruto's face.

"How do you know?!" He shouted against the door. "You're the one who's always making her decisions without even bothering to consider what she wants!" In a huff, he turned and marched away.

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"That's because she doesn't know what she wants." He muttered.

Justin's fists clenched as he heard Naruto's last comment. How dare he! Out of all of the things anyone could accuse him of, that was the one that ticked him off. He stormed upstairs to Fern's room and then opened the door quietly before entering and shutting it behind him. He sat down next to Fern's sleeping form and played with her hair.

If anything, he was protecting her from everyone. Without him, she would be nothing. That was what he promised. He made sure that he would bring her a better future than what was planned for her.

Fern stirred and looked into his brown eyes. He gazed deeply into her eyes, noticing the pained emotion, yet again, and growing angry, pulled her up, yanked her out of bed and pulled her in front of the grand mirror, holding her cheeks with his hand to keep her looking at the mirror.

"You see this? In your eyes! I hate that! You see that emotion?!" Fern's blank stare wandered from the angry reflection of Justin next to her to her eyes.

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God, Justin is such a teme! He's worse than Sasuke! Thinking he can rule over her life like that. I bet that she would be better off on her own! I feel bad about her injury though. Sasuke should apologize too... He's the one who tripped me in the first place...I haven't found out anything about her at all...let's see...someone that was with them on the journey here...someone who knew them...GAARA!

Naruto turned around and ran the other way to the Hokage's office. If Gaara was the one who brought them here, he would need to hurry because it is likely that he would have left after...But he lives so far away in the Country of Sand that maybe he would have wanted rest before leaving.

"You see this? In your eyes! I hate that! You see that emotion?!" Naruto stopped in mid step and looked to where the voice was coming from. He recognised that voice, Justin's. He looked up and saw the balcony doors open, and Justin holding Fern to the mirror. She gazed into her own lonely eyes as Justin continued to shout at her. She didn't even look up at him.

"There is a reason why you have no heart! There is a reason why you cannot feel!" Naruto was now listening cautiously. "There is a reason why you are staying with me!" He lowered his voice so that Naruto could barely hear it. He had to walk closer so that he was right underneath the balcony. "Because you are reborn into a woman's form, I must protect you from people. You are weak in this life. That's why you cannot trust anyone except me."

"...Yes Justin..."

"Don't look at me like that!" His voice rose again. "It is better this way! It is better not to feel! You have a life! You have freedom! You are not missing out on anything!" He turned her to face him. "It's better when you cannot feel. It's better. Just you and me together. No one else. Feelings only hold you back from what you can accomplish."

So that's it! He wants them to always be together! But...that doesn't explain why she doesn't feel. Wait...It makes sense! She doesn't have a heart, therefore she doesn't know what she feels. Maybe that's what the voice was saying...find her heart? How am I supposed to do that?!

Naruto was so into his thoughts that he didn't realise Sasuke next to him, listening too. He only noticed when Sasuke left, seeing a smirk on his lips.

"...Justin... I don't remember anything though... You never tell me things about my past... But I don't remember...it...hurts... to remember..." Justin took her into a loving embrace.

"I know it hurts." His voice was soft. So unlike him."It hurts me to see you in pain, that's why I am protecting you from the world so that you won't have to feel. Don't try to remember, that way you can have a different future. Remember you only listen to me."

"...Yes Justin..." She whispered again, seeing right through the room as her head rested on his shoulder.

Naruto stepped back a bit and looked through the window. Her gaze was on the ground as Justin let go of her and then made his way out of the room. Her head was in the direction of him as she leaned her back against the mirror, then she moved her gaze upwards to meet his crystal blue eyes. Why didn't he move away?

Please...help me... Her eyes screamed at him. He tore his eyes away and ran away.



GAARA!? Why do I ALWAYS forget things like this?!

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The Hokage's crystal ball turned cloudy yet again.

"This is troubling...If she is what I think she is...it could bring danger to this whole town..." The Hokage sighed and took a breath from his pipe before slowly letting it out.

"Hokage-sama!" Naruto burst through the door, ignoring the ANBU holding onto him. Naruto did a quick bow. "Where is Gaara?!" The Hokage looked lazily up from his crystal ball.

"Ah, Naruto. Leave him." The ANBU immediately let go of him.

"Where is Gaara? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease don't tell me he's left!"

"No. He hasn't." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "Gaara decided to rest before leaving. He's staying just down on the road from here and-"

"Thank you Hokage-sama!" With that he ran out of the Hokage's office, the ANBU not even bothering to tell him to give the Hokage a proper goodbye.

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"GGGGAAAAAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAA!!" Gaara looked up after hearing his name, and was disappointed to see Naruto bang down his door. When he agreed to stay in Kohona, he hoped that he wouldn't have to deal with the blonde brat.

"What is it?" He kept monotone and was very annoyed.

"I need your help!"

"If it's something to do with a fight, consider me out."

"No! No! It's about Fern and Justin. Those people that you escorted here!" Gaara closed his eyes and leaned back on his chair. Signalling he was regrettably listening. But heck, he just woke up and he was bored. "I need some information on them. And you're the only one who actually knows them. You're the only one that I can trust."

Naruto explained about her pain filled eyes, all of his ideas about her and what he had been hearing between Justin and Fern ever since they came here. "And you're the only one that really knows them." He finished and plopped down on a chair.

"It isn't really any of my business, but I was curious as well. I did my own research and I managed to find something that I think is connected to Fern. But Justin is just a regular, walking, breathing human from a normal clan. Nothing strange about him. Then there's Fern. I found out something-"

"What?! What is it?!"

"Calm down." He growled.



"But I want to help!"

"That's the thing that I found out."

"What?!"

"That you're the only one who can help her."