1It was terribly hot and sticky, making his confounded clothing even more tight and uncomfortable. If only they had MEN'S clothes! Naruto sighed and paid more attention to the trail. Days, weeks, months? Time was impossible to tell when lost in the thick overlaying canopy of trees. Branches swept down from high above nearly hiding the only path he had in this intangible jungle: a weathered cement staircase that led up and up with no hint if it would ever end. On his first morning out he knew he would have to trail up Konoha's mountain to leave his old village behind, but he never thought it would take this long. Naruto sighed again and nearly lost his footing before righting himself again. 'Perhaps if I had actually left the village once in a while I wouldn't be misjudging the distance it takes to trek up Hokage's mountain.' "No point fretting over that now kit," the kyuubi answered, "there's nothing you can do about it."
Naruto grumbled under his breath and froze when the kyuubi reprimanded him over his childish behavior. He grumbled a little more before shifting his backpack, but he still couldn't help but smile. Since the night he left the village he and the kyuubi had been keeping in contact. The demon's rough growl was soothing to his tired mind and was company in this never-ending forest. As the kyuubi fell silent once again, naruto trudged up another crowded part of the path, pushing aside a part of large fern leaves so as to get past. Animals scurried out of his way as he disturbed a family of squirrels, guilty that he had frightened the small things.
Lunch came around soon after, or what he could only figure was lunch by the growling of his stomach, and he decided to stop for lunch. He sat down on the cool stone of the path, placing his pack in his lap. He opened the satchel and peered inside, unsure of what he still had left to eat. He pulled out a bottle of water and a couple onigiris wrapped in a single bamboo leaf. His stomach growled again in annoyance at his slow pace, and he quickly set to eating the food. His bottle crackled as he drank the last bit of water in it, wiping his mouth dry. He sighed again and soon after huffed. Was it just him or was the day getting warmer? He packed his garbage back into the pack, frowning when he realized he was running out of food and water. He was going to have to start rationing soon.
'Kyuubi...what's going to happen if I run out of food and water while still in the forest?' Naruto had been walking for a bit, his mind still on the problem of food. If he ran out then he would have nothing to eat. Already he was dreading his lack of concentration in his nature classes."Don't fret over it kit," the demon fox said,"I won't allow you to starve, or else I will starve with you. If that time comes, where you are without needs, then I shall help you search for your own food. Just listen to me when I talk to you or you might eat the wrong thing." Naruto scowled when the fox chuckled, clearly enjoying tormenting his skills or lack of. "Just remember kit, as of now it is only you and me. It would be best if we were in good relations. It will make things easier if you can trust in me." For a few moments it was silent, where as Naruto could only hear his own footsteps and shallow breathing. 'Kyuubi...why was I the one that had to have been born with you? What's different about me that I was born with you and not someone else?' He felt the demon fox shift in his mind, the tension creating a small burden on his soul. "I don't have an answer to that kit...but I can assure you. You are not separate from other people. You are as equally equal to them, not more and not less. Noone deserves to tell you otherwise, because to decide such things not left for human minds would mean you are boisterous and unworthy of such a gift you have. Life is not a thing man made, it is what I and the others made. We know none are better and that none are lesser, because all power is afleeting thing. No you are not any different than other people. You are the same but sometimes fate will make things that we can not change. In the end though, that is only to show us the meaning of life and of living." Naruto stared up at the trees, swaying high above. Already specks of blue could be seen between the gaps in the leaves, a gentle breeze blowing down to cool his warm skin. He mulled over the demon's words as he continued to walk, amazed at what the fox had to say. Slowly he realized that things would be okay, and he couldn't help but to grin broadly at that. "Thanks kyuubi..." he whispered to the trees. "You're welcome kit..."came the reply.
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The sky was lit with fire as the sun began its descent down into the earth's waiting mouth, bringing a close on a village's day. People packed up their stalls and goods, mothers calling their children home for supper. The very top of the sky was already tinged black as a teen stepped out from his own house, walking down the street with a glare. He cast small glances at the people who passed by, who in turn hurried to get out of his line of sight. It was a norm for him; to have people run past, giving him shifty glances, their faces etched with fear. He had grown up with it and had already learned to deal with it. Still it bugged him so much that noone, not even the girls that crooned over his looks, would even bother to speak to him. After all he was a demon right? Why would they want to dirty their conscience by sharing a single word with someone such as himself? He snarled slightly as his thoughts returned to those of that night so long ago, not bothering to spare a look to an old man that had frozen in place with fear, worried that he had somehow done something to receive that snarl.
The teen continued on, amazed at how quickly the villagers closed their shutters, in the hopes to pretend for a night that he didn't exist. Oh if only their feeble efforts actually had any effect. He walked all around the village, tearing some fruit from a nearby garden, knowing that noone would come to reprimand him on his theft. His whole walk-about eventually led him back to his own home. A small apartment standing beside the ruins of his clan's mansion. The last place he had ever lived as a normal human being...before everyone knew of what he was.
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"YEA!! I'm finally FREE!!!" Naruto tore out from the forest, grinning like a maniac, so happy that he could finally see the sky again. He tromped along happily stopping to do cart wheels in his excitement. He ran about in circles still yelling out joyfully, before he plopped down on his butt, exhausted. He laid back until his head was resting on a soft patch of grass, cerulean eyes gazing up at the cloudless blue sky. He sighed with content, shutting his eyes for a well deserved rest. Warm wind blew across his cheek, shoots of grass tickling his exposed sides. Then he fell away.
He woke up to a navy sky, groggily getting to his feet. He studied his surroundings, unsure of what to do next. In all truth, he was still half asleep. He walked around for a bit before his growling stomach decided his next destination. Where ever food was. He wiped the last bit of sleep from his eyes, yawning as he trudged off in the opposite direction of the tangled jungle. He thought to talk to the kyuubi again, because he felt awfully lonely out here in the open, but the demon was asleep. Accepting the situation, he continued on, his nose picking up a delicious smell.
His mind noted that it was familiar, probably from the days of his childhood, but his stomach purred at the thought of that delicious scent filling it. He sighed at the thought of eating what he deemed as normal food, compared to the leaves and berries he had been forced to eat the past few days. The grass began to wear away to rock, the rocks neatly piled up into a small hill, which he had to climb over. He stopped, panting slightly at all the walking he had been doing, looking down on the village below. He saw all the happy families, all the merchants standing by with their wares ready to sell. He saw a man selling fish, the animals skewered and roasting on an open fire the man had prepared. The sight of sizzling food brought naruto's mouth to a water. He got to his feet, and thought of the best possible route down the rocky slope. As he placed his foot forward to move on, a knife was held to his neck.
"Don't even bother moving boy. Or your neck'll be without a head." Naruto swallowed hard, the kyuubi awakening at the present danger. The hand on his shoulder tightened its grip before steering him off in an opposite direction, and away from the village. He felt his heart race, and his forehead break out in sweat as he began to panic. What was going to happen to him?
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A fist connected with his gut, making him spit up bile. He tried to stare up at the men assaulting him, but his vision was too blurry with tears. His cheek was swollen and seemed to pulse madly, demanding attention as well aside from his aching stomach. The circle of men drew in closer and he was showered in a rainfall of fists and feet, covering his whole body in bruises and more cuts. He cried pointlessly, his whole body on fire with pain. He could hear the kyuubi growling in anger, asking for release, to punish the offenders who would dare attack a teen, but he refused to abide. He would not take human lives for the sake of his own survival. Blackness circled his vision, slipping dangerously close to unconsciousness before someone grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled. He was wide awake again as his scalp burned with the sensation. "Come, let's go. It's time to show the others what we've caught." He spat up more blood before being shoved off in the direction of the other men.
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The teen came out of his house and began his routine walk around the village, eyes closed to the outside world before he was aware of something. He opened his eyes in surprise to find the villagers still out and about. He looked toward the sky, to make sure he wasn't mistaken what time it was, and sure enough the sun was nearly gone from the sky but the street was still as packed as during the afternoon. The teen watched all the people hurrying past, not even noticing him for the first time in years. They were excited and yet afraid...but of what he did not know. He thought to turn around and walk back to his house and wait for people to go home, but curiosity got the better of him.
He slipped into a nearby alley, walking a route he had become quite accustomed to, heading off in the direction of town square. If there was something really interesting that would keep the villagers out after dark, then it would be put out in the village square for all to see. He could already hear murmurs as he approached, catching snippets of conversations. "Didjya hear..." "A demon..." "Another one!..." "Was caught by ryoko..." "Brave man to catch the beast..." "Was snarling and clawing for their faces!..." He couldn't help but snort when he heard these. Noone in this whole village had caught a demon before. Hell they were too afraid of him to even get close with some arrows. He couldn't see much through the thick crowd but now he was disinterested. He turned around to go home when the crowd began to gasp with surprise and hatred. That sound was very familiar to his ears.
He took one glance at the crowd and saw through a gap between the villagers. His jaw dropped in surprise and his head began to spin with confusion. He saw a boy out there -not one from the village, but a boy all the same- so how could he be a demon? The crowd filled in the gap making it impossible for him to see anymore , and he was tempted to just blow them all out of his line of sight. Seeing how much they were pumped up he decided against it, and scaled the closest wall instead, perching on the roof of the building. From here he got a wonderful view of the boy that he could only describe as beautiful.
Blonde locks fell into a gorgeous face, adorned with three whisker-like scars on each cheek. The clothes the other teen had on were quite peculiar, considering they were women clothes such as the ones farther south. His eyes feasted on the tanned skin exposed to the public, tender pink lips that were slightly parted as the boy fought to breathe. That's when he noticed all the other things. The teen realized that the other boy was tied to a post, the ropes cutting close to his skin, the post secured firmly into the ground. Bruises were starting to form all over the other kid's skin, dried blood hiding on his forehead and in his sun-kissed locks. This boy had surely taken a beating and was, miraculously, still conscious. The teen gritted his teeth in anger, boiling beneath his skin. He knew the villagers were cruel but to do this to an innocent traveler...it was unforgivable.
He stood up straight preparing to jump down among the others' midst, but a strong growl made him pause. "Wait...do not approach." The teen hesitated before turning his concentration to the voice whispering in his head. 'Why not Draco...he is but an innocent foreigner. Does he deserve to be beaten so?' "He is not a normal human. He is one of us." The teen froze in place at the thought of it. That boy...just like him...but he wasn't to be fooled so easily. After the incident he had been connected to the demon beneath his skin, the dragon, and he knew how much of a liar the beast was. 'Stop lying to me Draco. I do not intend to be tricked so easily.' "I lie not boy. Just watch and you shall see, or can you not sense it. His demon his already straining against its bonds. Why he doesn't release the thing, I know not..." The teen tried to focus in on the battered boy, tried to use his dragon eyes -also known as the sharigan- but was too distracted to harness the great power. He bit his knuckle, drawing blood, pissed that his emotions were getting in the way. He heard his companion chuckle softly before talking. "Just watch and you shall see. Just watch Sasuke..."
Naruto's head was pounding, the kyuubi's ferocious roars not helping it much at all. He wriggled slightly against his bonds but moved no more than that. He could hear people murmuring all around him, a lot more people than before and he figured he must have been taken to the village. He wished he could have opened his eyes but he doubted he would have wanted to see them. All those faces staring down at him, hate and fear and disgust showing in their eyes. He leaned back against his post trying to block out the fox's voice but the demon would not relent. "Kit! Let me out!! They will kill you if you do not let me take your place!! Please you must do this!!" He shook his head, not even bothering to speak within his mind. "No...I can't. I won't let you kyuubi...You'll hurt all these innocent people, and I don't want that. Even if they do hurt me, I won't be like them..." The fox fell silent, ashamed that he had been the one to tell the kit about using what powers he had for good. The kit had taken it the wrong way and was now willing to sacrifice his own live as long as it meant not harming the ones intent on killing him. The kyuubi pawed the ground before a snarl returned to its lips. No he wasn't about to let his charge die like this. No filthy human would get the better of this boy as long as he was around.
Naruto felt the kyuubi turn away and sighed with relief. He didn't think he could continue to fight with the demon anymore. But when he had thought his counterpart had finally laid off, the demon had returned full force. He bucked against his ties, shocking the villagers around him, as the fox fought for dominance. His eyes snapped open then rolled backwards until only the whites showed. His whole body was breaking out into a sweat as the kyuubi's power washed over him. And then everything was fading. He was pulled away from reality and down into the dark infinity that he had first met the kyuubi in. Shadows wrapped around his legs holding him to the ground as the fox sprang up toward the small dot of light of which he had come from. "I'm sorry kit but this is for your own good. We all have a role to play in our lifetime." He watched as the fox disappeared into a swirl of bright orange flames, leaving him the endless night. Numb he reached out, as if to summon the kyuubi back, but when the demon did not re-appear he knew that it was already on the other side. "Kyuubi!!! Please, don't hurt them!!!!!", he yelled to the impending darkness.
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Growls erupted from the blonde's pink lips, growing louder in volume with each passing second. Sasuke watched as the villagers began to shirk away frightened by those ominous sounds. The men that had brought the teen were stepping forward cautiously, unsure if they should approach their enraged captive. The leader, the man Ryoko, snickered as he stood infront of the boy, placing a hand on the boy's head. He grabbed a fistful of those golden locks, yanking the teen's head up until it was facing his. He let out a gurgled gasp, releasing the boy before stepping away. Sasuke watched in scared fascination as the boy looked over the crowd, lips held back in a snarl. Ruby red eyes searched all the faces, the whisker marks on the boy's face much more wider and deeper than before. For a minute sasuke actually felt scared. He had never before seen anyone else that had a demon within them, and to witness the carrier's demon wrath...it was something entirely magnificent yet terrifying.
Villagers screamed in horror as the boy turned demon break the ropes that bond him, leaping forward and landing on all fours. The boy looked them over with blood-red eyes, the same ones that belonged to the demon boy of their own village. The teen clawed the ground, his eyes picking out a mother and child, seemingly interested in them. The boy smiled showing off his perfect white fangs, leaning closer to the frozen two as his claws turned up the soil. A demon lust filled the air and the villagers were running for their lives, screaming for mercy, forgiveness. A child darted into an alleyway catching the demon's eye as he rushed forward to begin a log awaited chase. Sasuke watched it all amazed before his own conscious kicked in and he found himself following the demon boy. His sharigan twirled as his mind finally cleared, allowing him to see what the boy was. He spotted the chakra tail that sprouted from the boy's ass and the chakra ears that stuck out of his head. All of these he wouldn't have seen with normal human eyes.
He pushed his sharigan harder, making it peer into the boy's very soul, reaching down into a dark chasm. His eyes widen as he saw the same boy, not in demon form sitting in the darkness, silently crying with his hands crossed. He murmured over and over again the same words, 'don't hurt them, don't hurt them...' then the boy was silent, as if he had just heard a noise in those shadows, and remarkably turned and ...looked at him! Sasuke withdrew the sharigan, shocked that the boy had actually turned to stare at him. Noone had ever done that before, the never felt the sharigan's presence as he peered into their souls. But yet that boy had- the one who was now a demon chasing after villagers- teary blue eyes gazing at him in silent plea. His heart wrenched at the memory of those eyes, shattering at the thing that was certain to happen. Eyes that had never been soaked in the blood taken by the boy's own hands. Sasuke chased after the boy, putting all his strength into getting closer. He knew he had to stop the boy's demon before blood was shed...he didn't want to see the teen's innocence lost.
"You are a fool- hearty boy...caring about strangers..." 'Listen you can either help or shut the hell up. You're choice draco.' Sasuke wasn't in the mood to fight with his counter-part, the moment at hand was too important. The dragon fell silent as if he was thinking before he put his strength into sasuke's tiring legs, hoisting the dark-haired teen up into the sky. Sasuke clamped his jaw, swallowing the strange feeling that had his stomach doing black flips. He centered himself out, until he was steady in the sky, then flew forwards toward the boy. With what distance he lost trying to catch the blonde, he made up with in little time as he soared through the black night. The other teen had finally come to a stop, staring down at its prey, arched as if ready to pounce. Sasuke shot down from the sky, landing as softly but more quickly than a feather, stopping right in front of the demon.
When he landed the demon hesitated, as if surprised to see another of its kind. Sasuke watched, unblinking, into red eyes. The demon's breathe was hot on his skin, those pink lips dangerously close to his own. Finally the boy smirked, catching Sasuke off guard, the demon giggling slightly. The whiskers shrank and the eyes began to turn back to crystalline blue, but not before the demon stared him straight in the eye, whispering, "I'll leave him in your trust..." Sasuke got the teen as he fainted, the demon returning back to its domain within the boy's soul. He picked the boy up, until he was gathered in his arms, unconscious after all this time. "Then back home we go I guess. Is that right? Do you intend to care for him until he wakes?" Draco was talking again, slowly grating on his nerves. 'What do you think?', he answered back, striding off in the direction of his home. He knew villagers were watching his retreating back, wondering if it was such a good thing that he had stopped the rampaging demon. But for once he didn't care. All of his attention was directed at the boy sleeping in his arms.
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C.M.D:Yeah!! I finished another chapter!!!Naru-chan is here to celebrate with me!!!
Naruto: Yippee!! Another story about me!! But...how come I was the one beat up?...
C.M.D: sorry about writing that, it was just supposed to be...Anyways, this one took me longer than last time, but I was hoping to make it much more detailed than last time too...
I really wasn't so happy with my last chapter...
Naruto: was it that bad?...
C.M.D: well no, but ...I just didn't like it that much...
So, yeah...
I know some of you are waiting for me to go more indepth with naruto's past and I will, soon...
I just don't know how soon...
Naruto: you better! I don't want to be without a past...that's too emo (no references to sasuke at all...)
C.M.D: I will do a background bit on sasuke, cuz I feel that it's important too. I think I'm going to do that with all 3 characters...I don't know really
At the moment I just make the story up as I go, I have no plan as of what to do next.
Naruto: that's not good in an author...
C.M.D: I know but I can't help it...my artistic ability also makes me extremely lazy and unorganized...
Oh for those that don't know, Draco actually means dragon in latin and I couldn't think of what dragon was in japanese...(even tho I have all these asian friends)...so, I just put down draco as the dragon's name. Just incase you thought I was stealing from harry potter.
Please review and I guess we'll see you guys next chap. Until then...Ja Ne!!!!!!!!
Naruto: bye, bye everyone!!!