A/N)
Note: Sometimes I'll end up doing a flash back without saying it in the blunt and crass form of ' -+-+-+- Flashback -+-+-+- '. I'm trying to subtly weave my flashbacks into my writing. Although I don't deny that they help to set a setting from another very very clearly.
Disclaimer: I hereby claim that I the author of the fanfic below do not in any shape or form own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, Rosario + Vampire and Rosario + Vampire capu2. However the ideas and storyline are mine.
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Chapter 4: True Bonds
"A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you."
― Elbert Hubbard
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"Baka baka baka." Repeated Naruto as he scolded himself in a familiar corridor. He was feeling rather dumb as he wandered around aimlessly, he didn't know where Mizore's room was.
As he passed by a door that was the same as every other one a cold chill ran down his spine. 'Cold - Is it coming from that room? Mizore did say she liked the cold.'
Naruto, being Naruto decided to walk straight through the door.
"Ow…" Naruto rubbed his head as he sat on the ground nursing the sore spot on his head. As he was getting back up he felt like the heat had somehow been drained from the surrounding area.
Gulping, he was unsure if he even wanted to look up. Eventually though the tension got to him and his eyes went up.
'IT'S MIZORE's CRAZY MOTHER!' that single thought caught him off guard despite him more or less already knowing who would be there.
"May I help you?" The way she said that didn't help matters either as his heart sped up to dangerous speeds. Her unflinching and emotionless face made things worse seemed to dig into him.
Gripping his pants as his hands fidgeted. Wetting his suddenly dry mouth with his tongue he replied.
"Is…is Mizore alright?" He didn't know why he asked that. Hadn't Tsurara already assure him earlier on? Maybe he just had to be sure.
Tsurara hitched a single eyebrow, but disbelief was running rampant in her mind. 'Ridiculous. Years at home and she doesn't make any friends. Just a few days here and she already makes a friend.'
"It's not polite to simply ask someone for something without first introducing yourself." She lifted and moved her foot in front of her, a single solid smack echoed as it landed.
"I…err…I'm Na..Naruto Uzumaki. I want to see Mizore." Naruto pushed a foot behind him. He couldn't take it. Her eyes were, the way her haze bore into him scared the boy.
"I see. I'm Tsurara Shirayuki, Mizore's mother. However what is my daughter's condition of any business of yours?" Tsurara's neutral tone had been replaced with one of warning and hidden danger. She took another step forward.
"Err…er" Naruto took another step backwards. His hands were shaking by his sides and pulling on his shirt. He felt like he had been driven into corner, there was no way out.
"Well?" Tsurara's tone carried a very clear message, one that even Naruto couldn't fail to pick up. 'If I don't like your answer, you're dead.' Naruto's face drained of blood as he screamed in his mind.
Tsurara took another step forward. Her hair had frozen over and ice claws had taken the place of her hands. This time though, Naruto didn't take a step back. Tsurara looked straight into Naruto's eyes, or she would have had Naruto's head not been bowed and his eyes shadowed by his blonde locks. He was getting too deeply in his mind to notice her anymore.
'Mizore… why do I care? What is this …unbearable feeling…?' Emotions that had never before flooded Naruto bubbled up. He's hand's formed tight fists as he dug deeper within himself.
'She, she's my friend. Mizore is my first true friend!'
Tsurara watched as the previously timid and scared boy straightened. His hands by his sides steady and strong.
"Mizore, Mizore is my friend! So that's why, what happens to her is my business!" His voice was laced with determination. Confidence and determination re-coloured his face. Then she was met by the boy's unwavering gaze.
The warm smile that had formed on Tusrara's face caused Naruto to stumble in his thoughts for a moment.
"Well then Naruto, since you said so, come in." His mouth opened in disbelief. Yet he watched as Tsurara's digging gaze let up and she motioned for him to enter.
The first thing Naruto noticed when he stepped into the room was simply ludicrous.
'Is that…real snow?' thought Naruto in disbelief as he stood rooted to the spot. There was some white powder at the corners of the room and some of it sparsely littered around the room. A few moments later his mind finally caught up with his body.
A shiver wrecked his body as Naruto looked on in shock as every breath he took produced a fine mist. It wasn't unbearable by any means though. In fact unknown to him his body unconsciously adjusted its temperature to match that of the room. Soon the cold to Naruto was just that, a simple chill. Tsurara noticed how his body seemed to give off more heat all of a sudden, but compared to the air-conditioning the room had it didn't make much of a difference.
"Mizore…" Naruto mumbled as he plopped himself down on a chair beside Mizore's bed.
'She looks so peaceful…' his hand reached out to touch her almost subconsciously, but remembering how the past two times went he snatched his hand back. Tsurara didn't miss this.
"What happened?" Naruto asked as he looked at Mizore. His back slumped forward. He looked at Mizore, he felt funny. He couldn't describe it properly. He had closed himself off behind a fake persona for most of his life. The mere thought that someone could worm their way through his barriers in under a night was incomprehensible to him. Yet here he was.
"She forgot to bring a sucker with her and overheated." Seeing Naruto's confused look she continued. "We are yuki-onna. We have to keep our body temperatures cool. That's why we eat these lollipops" Tsurara pointed at the sucker in her mouth "they help to keep our body temperature cool."
The blonde nodded his understanding, amazingly getting on the first attempt, since it concerned his first friend. For a few moments he just looked at her. Was it pain that was slowly building up in him? Why?
Then what an idea struck him. It would have been crazy to anyone else, stupid even, but he was never one to care what other's thought.
"Tsurara-san, when I touched Mizore before she said that I was too warm." He was stated rather clearly.
Tsurara nodded once, though she had to suppress a twitch at the potential double meaning of his choice of words.
"So I was wondering, what if I could lower my own temperature?" it seemed more like a question that he had to let out.
Yet when Tsurara saw what Naruto had his eyes on she herself had to rethink her thoughts. 'He couldn't be, he might even die.' Yet it seemed her skills at reading people had, sadly in this case, had not dropped.
"Could I have one of those suckers?" She looked at the blonde dumbfounded. Yet to her own amazement she was actually considering the idea, albeit hesitantly.
"I'm not sure, if you get too cold you could die. Especially since your normal temperature seems to be quite warm. You're not a being of ice." She did not want to have to explain if the boy died.
Tsurara was met with a rather irresistible and pleading look from the blonde. The large sorrow filled blue eyes and whisker like scars only made the already hard to resist plea even more powerful. She gave in with an incredulous sigh. 'Besides everything that happened recently I'm pretty sure he isn't a human. Hopefully whatever monster he is it's resistant.'
"I'll let you try it, but if I see any problems I'm stopping it immediately." She let go a sigh as she reached into the sleeves of her kimono to pull out a familiar sucker and hand it to the blonde.
Wasting no time he unwrapped the sucker and put it into his mouth. A shudder went through his body as he felt his body temperature lower significantly. In fact his body temperature almost qualified as sub-zero. There was an initial shock which made Naruto shiver but other than that nothing's wrong. At least that was what he convinced himself.
He couldn't help but feel something was wrong though. It gnawed at him at the back of his mind. He choose to dismiss it as a figment of his imagination.
"I'm fine!" Naruto announced before a hand, neither cold nor warm, touched his cheek.
"Yes it appears it did." While Tsurara didn't react she was a bit concerned. Making a mental note to ask Kazeshi or Miyuki about this later she continued observing Naruto.
Naruto tenderly brushed a few of Mizore's purple locks back as he mumbled a few words of hope under his breath. He was oblivious of Tsurara's analytical gaze.
Tsurara couldn't help but smile at what went on, once again yuki-onna proved themselves as Tsurara caught every single word Naruto mumbled. It felt like the perfect family scene.
Though moments later a loud 'growl' was heard. Naruto blushed.
"Naruto-san, how about we go and get some food?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head with his hand before getting up, his face sheepish as he smiled his answer.
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After several gruelling attempts at navigation, the two finally managed to find their way to the kitchen. Tsurara was trying to keep her annoyance to herself. It was made easier though as her mood was lifted every time she saw how Naruto would look at everything around him in awe.
Naruto with his obsession over a certain kind of food had pretty much set out on a quest for it.
'Ramen, Ramen, Ramen.' Whistling a happy tune he searched everywhere. Finally he came across a red cabinet. That had a chibi version of a woman with long red hair holding a peace sign. Opening the cabinet, he felt like he had died and moved on to ramen heaven.
'Beef curry special ramen, pork and seafood ramen, special spiced dark ramen, …' Naruto's eyes were glazed over as he stared at the hundred, no thousands different flavoured ramen. In fact, while there was cup ramen everywhere he noticed something at the side. A book, at least as thick as a special edition dictionary.
Reaching over, Naruto grabbed it and as he opened it an imaginary bright white light shone upon him. Naruto's mouth watered and his eyes widened at shock then glee at what was in the book.
The book was actually Kushina's ramen recipe book. Full of recipes she had collected or made herself. There were at least a thousand different recipes.
Naruto was in the middle of a very weird dance which involved bowing down and thanking the creation that was ramen. Then the two local phoenixes walked in. Their palms met their faces at the sight.
'He is definitely Kushina's son alright.'
Miyuki then noticed something that caused a slight twinge in her heart. Tusrara was, currently entranced by her lollipop drawer…
Meanwhile Kazeshi had taken a seat. His eyebrow twitched as he watched the rather comedic scene in front of him. Naruto had prostrated himself towards the cabinet while muttering prayers. His eyebrow twitched even more as she saw Tsurara pleading Miyuki to let her have some lollipops.
"Oi", his quiet attempt at gathering their attention was met with more shenanigans. Naruto had started to embrace the ramen recipe book like his life depended on it. Miyuki was dangling some of her lollipops in front of Tsurara.
"OI!" Miyuki and Tsurara seemed to notice and they both recollected themselves. Smoothening out their clothes they had both blushed from embrarssment.
Kazeshi head throbbed, he could feel the vein popping. Naruto, was oblivious to everything but his little ramen world. A very sturdy hand on Naruto's shoulder though woke him up.
Naruto looked up at Kazeshi and just froze as he broke out in cold sweat. 'Gulp' Naruto swallowed his saliva as he could practically see Kazeshi's 'malicious' aura. Kazeshi's blank face and wide empty made almost made Naruto rethink his obsession over ramen, almost.
After what felt like an eternity, Kazeshi spoke. "We need to talk." Naruto didn't even notice when Miyuki and Tsurara appeared by their sides. Before he knew it Miyuki had brought him to the room he had slept in while Kazeshi and Tsurara stayed behind.
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"Naruto-Kun." Naruto looked at Miyuki, she appeared to have joy in her orbs.
"Let me tell you a story. In the past..." the next hour was spent by Naruto occasionally oozing glee at certain parts of the story. Miyuki actually seemed glad, to finally tell someone else her – no their history after so long. It made her place in the world that much more secure.
At the end of the story however it seemed that Naruto had failed to form any connections with it and his current situation. Evident by his bouncing body as he asked for more stories.
Miyuki had to consciously repress her urge to whack the blonde. "Kazeshi and I are actually thousands of years old, in fact we're not even human." Naruto shifted his body a bit as his face conveyed disbelief. His disbelief was easily picked up my Miyuki who just as easily ignore it.
"Together Kazeshi and I had 3 beautiful daughters. We were very happy for a time." Naruto could see the joy as it flashed through her eyes.
However one by one we lost them. One of our daughters, became too injured. Two others were lost. One of these two was Kushina Uzumaki." Naruto gasped as he heard the woman's family name. Missing the passing emotions that subtly showed themselves in the woman's demeanour.
"Uzumaki…" Naruto whispered… The sucker in his mouth fell.
"We had lost her many decades ago. However we always hoped she could come home. This morning, we saw her name registered in our logs when the main door was opened." Disappointment was leaking of her face as her gaze was fixed on the ceiling above them.
"Kazeshi and I were shocked when you managed to open the main doors, because it was locked and only registered people could unlock it." He could feel it too. 'We never found her.' But despite that he couldn't help but notice that Miyuki had a pained smile on her face.
Worry could been seen etched on the boy as he contemplated the possibilities. They were too shocking.
"There were only a few other possibilities left. Hence we checked your blood and DNA."
It was becoming clearer to the blonde, but his mind refused it. Too many had tried in his past - Never again.
"It appears our daughter had a child." Miyuki kneeled down to Naruto's level and with welcoming eyes looked at the blonde in his eyes. "Looks like you're part of the family Naruto Uzumaki." That was it.
"No..no..no..no! This is a trick. It has to be. Old man-jiji told me that Uzumaki was randomly given to me because I was an orphan." Naruto shouted as he backed away from the two. His arms waving in disbelief in front of him. Shaking his head trying to block out everything, to get away from reality – what is real actually?
"My fa…family!? I won't fall for it again!" Naruto trembled where he stood, as tears trailed their way down his cheeks. Naruto backed against a wall and hugged his knees as he looked at Miyuki with a desperately hardening face. He wouldn't fall for it again – it was too painful. Too many times he had believed it, just as many times he had his heart torn out.
The thoughts of his jiji[1] betraying overwhelmed him. His jiji was always there for him when no one else was, his jiji always took care of him. Yet now that he thought off it started to smell fishy. 'He always showed up at the last minute – he said he was busy. He always told me people even his ninja had emotions and he couldn't stop them – wasn't he Hokage, the leader of the village?'
'Naruto, what happened to you?' Miyuki was rather shocked, but she hid it well, it wouldn't do to scare off her grandson after all. She hugged the blonde as she whispered calming words into his ear.
"Believe me, you are an Uzumaki, one of us." She patted the boy's hair with one hand. The other secured around his torso.
"No…no" Naruto mumbled weakly.
"Let go, let me and your sofu[2] help." His eyes began to water. His mask wasn't working. He wanted to believe her, especially since with the way he had been treated recently by them had not warranted this reaction.
"Stay with us, we can help you Naruto-kun." It broke. For the first time since he was three or four he let it out.
It was too much for the boy, the joy and shock from finding his family, the pain from his jiji's betrayal. It was too much. Despite having to grow up faster to survive he was still just a child. Naruto fainted from shock. Miyuki gently put the stressed out blonde to bed. Wiping away the tears on the boy's cheeks. She couldn't help but think just what had happened to him.
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"Tsurara, I need to know firstly, how long are you two planning on staying here? On a side note I'm can send a letter to your village if you wished." Tsurara nodded as handed him a letter she had written earlier. Before she would answer him though she realised this was also the perfect opportunity to ask.
"Kazeshi, do you know what kind of ayashi Naruto is?" A nod from Kazeshi and she continued. "What would happen if his body temperature were to be lowered drastically?"
Kazeshi narrowed his eyes, the atmosphere in the room suddenly tense. "For starters our powers would be limited as our powers are limited to how hot our body is."
Tsurara felt too open, despite all her shields she felt too open. Kazeshi's gaze seemed to be seeing right through her, searching for even the slightest sign of malicious intent. "Similar to you yuki-onna actually, however the proportions are different."
"Depending on how powerful your kind are the scale would range from 1:1 to 10:1. For us though how high it is, is not limited. We could literally be at normal body temperature but still create flames as hot as the sun." Tsurara's eyes widened in shock and slight fear. Kazeshi seemed to press on as he picked up on the woman's fear.
He could read people, after all being alive for so long one would pick up many things. Kazeshi was now checking if Tsurara would be a potential threat. It would have come off as harsh, but he had to be sure. Too many had tried.
"However the cold after a certain point can bring us pain, slow us down and make us tired." Kazeshi stopped there. After all, there is no point in telling others your weaknesses. Tsurara didn't react further as she suppressed a flinch – she knew what Kazeshi was doing. But to the eyes of someone who has lived millenniums much could still be seen. Kazeshi weighed her reaction and noted it for later.
Thought Kazeshi couldn't be more off in his conclusions. Tsurara was instead thinking of a young blonde boy. 'Maybe I shouldn't have given him a dozen of my suckers.' Somewhere else a blonde unwrapping a sucker sneezed.
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Elsewhere a being of power grew frustrated over his failed attempts at peaceful coexistence between monsters and humans. Then another being of similar standing threw a profile of a boy onto his desk. Then a smirk grows on his face as they schemed. The very atmosphere in the room would make grown man waste their pants.
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-+-+-+- 6 Months Later -+-+-+-+-
He and Mizore had formed a rather strong bond during the six months. It was though rather unclear on what kind of bond it was. It wasn't love that much they knew, besides they were still young. Yet it was more than just a simple friendship. Naruto couldn't tell. He had mostly been alone in the past. He had connected to Mizore very quickly, even possibly desperately quickly. Mizore had only even been met with taunts and jeers but other children around her age.
How would they know if what they had was just a simple but strong friendship? They had never known what a friendship was, they only had pain to compare to.
However there were still young. Neither thought too much about it either, possibly due to fear – at what they would discover, possibly for many other reasons.
Naruto had learnt early on about looking a gift horse in the mouth. The number of times it had saved his life already lost to him. The number of time he been treated nicely only to be stabbed in the back later - he didn't know.
His rational mind had screamed at him, that at any moment it was going to turn back to how it always was. He had believed it too for a while. He had been observing the four around him for days, if he had found even one speck of malicious intent he would not have hesitated to leave the island – even if it meant jumping off the island, it would be less painful compared to what could happen.
Yet they had never given him even a single hint that they were lying. He eventually stopped and accepted them, but only partly because they had not warranted his suspicion.
It was mostly because of Mizore. They had known what he was doing. The adults knew, and to his shock so did Mizore. However she had her mother, he had no one – at least, that was what he told himself. She had went beyond what he had always imagined a friend would be. But he almost destroyed it then.
His paranoia was killing him. For three days he had went and hid in the forest surrounding the mansion. Like how he had used to run into the forest of death back in the village, before that snake woman found out.
He never understood why he always felt best at dusk and dawn. They always seemed to give him new energy. He had been sitting on top of a tree staring out at the horizon.
He barely noticed another presence appear beside him. Sparing a quick glance he could easily identify her by her elegant purple hair.
The atmosphere grew tense, the silence was getting to them both. He didn't understand why they wouldn't just leave him alone. He had been foolish that first night in the forest.
She couldn't stand it either. She couldn't subdue her raging emotions as they rose again. Four days ago they had become friends. He had been so open and happy than. Yet the past three days he had distanced himself. She could feel that vile feeling seeping into her.
Three days of being constantly on guard, jumping at even the slightest noise. Naruto was tired. Without turning to look at her he started.
"Hi Mizore." It was simple but it spoke volumes to Mizore. She could feel the tiredness in it. His voice was rough and dry, it didn't reach into her at all.
"Hello Naruto." She couldn't bear to put that endearing 'kun' either. Naruto seemed to realise it as well. It brought a pang to both their hearts.
He needed more time, he didn't know what to do. He was too lost. But he knew that she wouldn't leave him alone. That much was obvious from the way she had been looking for him the past days. He wanted to, but he couldn't keep running. "Why Mizore?"
It was just two words, but it spoke volumes. She couldn't really figure it out herself either. Compared to Naruto though, she at least had had her mother help her in the past. The answer very simply. "Because we're friends."
That statement was not often used in such a strong sense. Tonight he wasn't feeling anxious or panic though. He was simply tired. His soul was weary. The sun had just disappeared behind the horizon. Darkness had started to shroud the place.
Shifting his body so he could lean on the tree's trunk he wasn't sure what to do. Beside him on another limb Mizore seemed to shift herself too, to lean against the tree's trunk. She had given up on staring Naruto down and into giving her answers.
"Friends…" Naruto had whispered softly. As if testing the word. In all honesty though it was to gain more time to think. How was he supposed to know what to do, what to say? He was just an eight year old boy.
Mizore was thinking too. Eventually a memory resurfaced. "I didn't have friends back home. I never really knew what friends were." Naruto understood. It had always been from a third person's point of view.
"haha once told me that a friend was a person you trusted that also trusted you back, someone that knew your stories. Yet she also said that some friends were closer than others - that the closest one was the one that was there with you when your story was being written." Naruto absorbed this. He had longed many times, what a friend was supposed to be without finding an answer. Having one was better than none.
Naruto still did not answer, even after ten minutes. He held on to the hope that Mizore would leave if he didn't. He wasn't sure how he was going to react if she kept this up.
Mizore couldn't bear it. The anticipation was driving her insane. In a messy struggle she was in front of Naruto. Her legs on either side of the tree's limb. Her hands in front of her for support.
Naruto slowly took in her appearance. Her hair was messy, her kimono was out of place but what really struck him was her face – more specifically her eyes.
He didn't realise how selfish he had been. He didn't realise how much he had been hurting Mizore. There were tear tracks on her cheeks, which were still being used.
Her eyes were what really struck him. He remembered from the first night they met. He had blocked off everyone for the past three days, but he never noticed how much of a stress he was placing on the girl's barriers.
Now she had finally reached her limit. Her shields were slowly cracking. Her eyes were unguarded, her very soul was naked to him. Even then he couldn't help but notice how the moon light made her look like an angel, despite her current state.
That vulnerability he saw in her had struck something within him. She was too much like him. He had looked into the eyes of his reflection before. Her eyes were too similar. It was like his heart had just found another key capable of unlocking it. Just like that his own defences fell.
In an instant he had engulfed Mizore in a hug. His head had buried into her shoulder much like how hers had buried into his. His arms had encircled her, afraid to let go lest she disappear – just like Mizore had done.
"We'll always be friends right?" she had to confirm it, to put her heart to rest.
"We'll always be friends, no matter what. It's a promise." He had spoken for them both. At that moment their hearts had wanted the same thing.
What had happened wasn't intended but much appreciated. They knew what had happened, they had found someone else who could truly understand.
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Naruto was brought out of his reminiscing as he a stringing pain shot through him again.
"Ow ow ow" Mizore giggled as she applied some healing ointment on Naruto. Apparently there were some attacks that even Naruto's extreme healing couldn't help with and some fire attacks so strong that he couldn't absorb fully.
Truthfully he had endured much worst without uttering a single sound, but the sound of her laughter was something he wanted to hear as much as possible.
Naruto currently had a sucker in his mouth which only made things worse for him by weakening his healing abilities. However to him it was worth it as he refused to harm Mizore.
He could still remember Kazeshi's reaction at finding out he was sucking a yuki-onna's sucker though. It had went much better than he had expected. Kazeshi seemed to be quite understanding despite his bluntness.
-+-+-+- Flashback -+-+-+-
Naruto and Kazeshi stood facing each other in one of the training rooms in the mansion. They were sparring with wooden swords and Naruto's back was re-introduced to the ground every few seconds. Naruto had a familiar sucker in his mouth and the sparring match did nothing to help the mild discomfort, weakening and pain caused by it.
Then a sudden heavy blow to his cheek forced the sucker out of his mouth. All at once Naruto felt power course through him as his power jumped through the roof. His sudden increase in speed, which was at least 5 times, caught Kazeshi off guard for a moment.
"Stop." Kazeshi's eyes narrowed and a single outstretch palm face Naruto. Bending down he picked up the sucker.
"Naruto you idiot! You're a phoenix, a being of fire. Why were you sucking a yuki-onna's sucker?!"
"Why? What's wrong with it?" Naruto asked as he looked away.
"You can feel it right? The pain and the lack of power like something is missing." Kazeshi added like salt to a wound as Naruto refused to answer back. "Answer me Naruto."
"I …I didn't want to hurt Mizore." Naruto mumbled.
Kazeshi's eyes softened a bit as he quickly connected the reasons.
Placing a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder he looked into Naruto's eyes.
"Look, while it's nice that you don't want to hurt your girlfriend." Naruto blushed before vehemently denying the fact that he and Mizore were more than friends, Kazeshi simply continued on. Unknown to them there was another listening in, she too had blushed at Naruto's denials though she could feel a small twinge in her heart.
"When you're training don't eat the sucker. In fact don't hurt yourself when she's not around. Mizore wouldn't want you to hurt yourself would you?" Naruto went from denial, to annoyance then to acceptance. The third listener was shocked, that someone who was a being of fire could take their suckers and not die. Then she felt a feeling of warmth spread throughout her as she heard what the blonde boy was doing for her. Though she wasn't as unknown as she thought.
"Mizore I know you're there, come over here." Kazeshi was looking at the yuki-onna's hiding place, Naruto was looking around frantically for the yuki-onna and said yuki-onna was startled.
When Naruto saw Mizore the first thing he did was snatch the sucker out of Kazeshi's hand. A cold hand stopped him putting it in his mouth.
"Don't." He could see the sadness and concern in Mizore's eyes. "I'm happy that you would harm yourself to avoid hurting me, but like Kazeshi said, how can I be happy knowing you're hurting yourself for me?" Sadness built up in both parties while Kazeshi respectfully took a few steps back.
Naruto remembering how much his heat bothered her removed her hand as the two looked into each other's eyes. With a resigning sigh he spoke. "Fine, but when I'm with you and not training or fighting I'll still eat the suckers."
"Thank you."
The two gazed at each other's eyes for a few moments. An awkward silence descended upon the two.
"Now then, mind telling me why you were spying on us Mizore." Kazeshi inserted himself into their conversation rather abruptly.
Mizore blushed before she mumbled. "haha told me to practice my stalki - stealth skills."
"That's fine, now run along now." Kazeshi said with an awfully innocent face. When Mizore was fully out of sight Kazeshi gained an evil and malicious look and turned on Naruto.
"Here I thought you had no talent." Kazeshi comically cracked his knuckles together while Naruto gulped. "Let's up the ante." Naruto responded with a very pale face.
The screams of a blonde male would have been heard throughout the island for the rest of the day if not for the silencing seals in the training room.
-+-+-+- Flash back end -+-+-+-
"Maybe you shouldn't have done that Naruto-kun." Mizore said with humour and a hint of concern. As she put away the ointment Naruto replied. "It was worth it though. He was a pervert, he and those icha icha books." Naruto chuckled as he remembered how he managed to burn at least one of the books before being thrashed by Kazeshi. Though his face quickly became flooded with shock as betrayal gripped his heart.
"Mi…Mizore, why DO YOU HAVE that per…'mmph'…ver…'mmmm'…ted boo…'mmPH!'…k?!" Mizore placed a hand over Naruto's mouth in an attempt to muffle his voice. Mizore looked around to make sure the coast was clear. When Naruto finally stopped she replied as she held in her hand a very familiar orange book.
"It's a nice book Naruto-kun. Besides in my village we're introduced to things like this early on due to out short fertile periods, and stuff like this isn't taboo to talk about. In fact haha was the one that gave me this book a few days ago." With every passing second into Mizore's reasoning Naruto's face became paler and paler.
"But…but it's perverted and perverts are bad! Sakura-chan would kill me if she found me with that book!" Naruto shook his head as he refused to accept the reality around him.
His personal purple-haired stalker suddenly froze. "Who's Sakura-chan? The emphasised 'chan' went unnoticed to Naruto. The temperature suddenly dropped as Mizore's eyes suddenly snapped up to met Naruto's.' Her…HER EYES …their glowing!' Wetting his suddenly dry lips he decided to come clean.
Mizore was not amused in the least. "Sounds like she's nothing but a bitch who won't be able to notice a perfect man even if one smacked into her face." Naruto could faintly make out her words and would have quickly defended the pink girl if not for two things. Mizore's glowing eyes bore deep holes into his own, almost daring him to say something. Then there was a sudden thought from the back of his head that resonated with Mizore's words.
Though Mizore had continued on, but not before mentally marking 'this pink haired bitch' in her mental 'To-maim list'.
"It's only bad if you're perverted with the wrong people or at the wrong times or places." Naruto had covered both his ears with his hands by this point furiously shaking his head while vehemently denying everything.
Unfortunately for the two Tsurara and Miyuki walked over to the two bickering and amusing kids bearing bad news. They did not want to break up such an amusing scene but they had put the issue off long enough.
"Naruto, Mizore." Mizore's mother and Naruto's sobo[3] bore rather hesitant faces.
"Mizore, tomorrow we have to go back to the village to further your training." Both of the children looked on in shock.
"Why? -" the question was ignored and cut off by Miyuki.
"Besides Mizore's presence on our island prevents us from fully training you Naruto."
The children looked at each other, then to the adults. Before they could even open their mouths they were shot down once more.
"No buts, we already stayed longer than I planned because of you musume. Although before we leave you two have the rest of the day to yourselves." Tsurara's 'matchmaking instincts' were rather adamant on the last part. She really didn't want her musume being married off to some random stranger. Miyuki shot her a suspicious look but didn't say anything.
The two kids merely resigned to their fate and went off.
Kazeshi walked towards the two adults a few moments later.
"I can't believe it, all of you actually forgot." Tsurara and Miyuki looked at Kazeshi with slightly confused faces before both of them had looks of realisation.
"I guess we might as well make it a surprise then."
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Naruto was walking around aimlessly. Mizore had been taken away by her mother half an hour ago for unknown reasons. He couldn't help but feel something was missing though. Thinking of his purple haired friend he was quickly becoming unfocused as a memory hit him.
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Naruto was unconscious on his bed after a tiring training session from Kazeshi. He would have sworn that Kazeshi still held a grudge at him for almost landing him into trouble with Miyuki even though he had said it was fine. Unsurprisingly he never noticed a purple-haired girl sneaking into the room. A cold but comforting hand touched his cheek and when they glided over his whisker marks he purred. The girl jumped slightly at this. Then a playful glint appeared in her eyes as he stroked the whisker marks again.
Suddenly the blonde boy opened his eyes as he once more found himself on a recently familiar bed with a something soft gliding over his face. He heard a faint gasp and whatever had been touching his face quickly disappeared.
It was rather comfortable for him, and any other person would have gladly went back to sleep. However years of abuse and months of living on the streets had engraved into him numerous survival instincts that had saved his life more times that he could count. He jumped upright and his hand glided over the bottom of his feet.
Naruto quickly pulled a kunai out from under his pillow and almost instantaneously had it right below the chin and up against the neck of his possible attacker. He would have gone on and immobilise his 'attacker' further had a familiar gasp not broken him out of his trance.
"Na..Naruto.." he was met with the sight of his first and only friend. Her eyes seemed to waver slightly and he could see fear within her beautiful orbs. Her neck was slightly higher like how a person's head was when a knife was held under their chins. Yet even then the moon light that had streamed in from his windows still served to make her look like an angel.
He snatched his hand back as fast as he could and hurled the kunai away like it had stung him. Stumbling onto his feet he quickly faced Mizore. "Sor..Sorry… !" His sputtering was silenced as Mizore put a shaky finger on Naruto's lips. Naruto took in a large breath before he started this time. "Sorry Mizore. Old habits die hard."
From what she had already learnt of the boy's past Mizore understood. Seeing the sadness flooding his beautiful azure orbs, she knew that she had to help.
"Tell me." Naruto's eyes had widened for a second, he had understood her question clearly. Had it been anyone else he would probably have tried to stop himself, but he felt the connection he had to Mizore – especially when their eyes met. Gently pulling her to sit down beside him he started.
"I used to live alone and isolated, but I knew they wouldn't ever leave me alone. I was always so constantly afraid that someone would stab me in the back that I just sort of developed these tendencies and reactions." His voice became quieter near the end as he looked out the window at the moon.
Mizore had not spoken, and she did not need to as he could feel it. Mizore wasn't going to leave him to deal with this alone, especially not after the past few nights that had shared.
Leaning backwards so that he was supported by the wall he slowly lowered his eyes to Mizore's.
But like he had said, old habits die hard. He was still half-expecting her to meet him with scornful eyes. He held his breath.
He relaxed the instant their eyes had connected again. She understood. She shifted herself slightly, nearer to Naruto.
She knew what he had been thinking. "We promised right? I won't leave you, especially not for something as trivial as this." He couldn't help it, his emotions got the better of him. His shields and barriers that had served him for years never worked when Mizore was with him. She always seemed to see him for him. Subconsciously popping a sucker into his mouth his hands found their way around her. Her head on top of her shoulder. She willingly returned the hug.
"Sorry Mizore-chan, it's jus..- Thank you." Releasing her from his embrace he reached up to wipe his forming tear away.
Mizore beat him to it. Her hand was soft, it as pleasant against his skin. Even though it was brief he had to stop himself from sinking in too far into her touch.
"Besides, you're not afraid of me." Mizore whispered that, and although it was laced with confidence Naruto could still feel a slight hint of fear in her words. It seemed he wasn't the only one that was still unsure.
Mizore transformed in front of him, her hair froze over and her hands were coated over with ice claws. His room chilled suddenly and there was some snow swirling around her. Naruto found that slight hint of worry in her eyes hard to bear.
Naruto gave her another hug that stunned her. "I'll always be your friend Mizore. Besides you're pretty no matter what form you take." Her fear had been utterly driven out to be replaced by warmth as her eyes quavered. "Besides, you shouldn't be worried about me hating you. I'm already happy that you haven't started to hate me. So don't ever think I will."
The corners of her mouth tugged upwards to form a smile.
"You're the first person that's not an adult I've shown my true form to and not freak out and run away. Haha always told me that for some reason my powers developed much earlier than the other children." Naruto understood her pain. He reached up to brush a few strands of her hair that had fallen out of place when she transformed back.
"Even then some of the adults seemed rather scared and fearful seeing a young child already being able to transform." Naruto could understand that himself, he gently squeezed her hand.
They both looked at each other's faces. They felt complete.
"It doesn't matter what you are or what you've done, I'll always be your friend Mizore/Naruto." Both children whispered so low that the other only barely caught the words.
Their bond were secured a little more that night.
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Naruto was thrown out of his daydream as something cold hit the back of his head. Turning around he was met with the sight of Mizore holding snowballs in her hands. Before he could ask what happened a snowball impacted with his face.
"HEY!" He furiously wiped the snow off his face to see Mizore running down the hallway while her nervous and playful expression. He ran straight after her. After running up and down some stairs, winding around some corridors Mizore disappeared into a room. Still caught up in the 'game' Naruto approached the door and opened it only to be blinded by darkness. Then a sudden flash and the single shout of "Happy Birthday Naruto!" reached his ears.
He looked frozen, in front of him were Tsurara, Mizore, Kazeshi and Miyuki all with cone shaped party hats. There was a simple cake on a table in front of him with nine candles on it.
Naruto was still frozen with shock as he remembered what he was missing the whole day. Suddenly emotions flooded him and he had to wipe tears that had built up.
"Th..thank you." Engulfed in a hug from all four directions. While the adults had been told why he would react like this Mizore wasn't. Confused yes, but since Naruto managed to recollect himself within seconds she filed it away for later.
That night Naruto experienced a birthday party for the first time in his life. Ate a birthday cake that wasn't made of trash and rotten food for the first time. For the first time got birthday gifts that wasn't bought by himself. He had been given a battle outfit that was reinforced by seals by Miyuki and Kazeshi that could turn into a casual set of clothes with a small application of his energy. A year's supply of suckers from Tsurara, apparently she always had a few years' worth on her. Mizore had promised a surprise later.
That night he truly found a place in a family, a place where he belonged.
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-+-+-+- Later at night -+-+-+-
Naruto and Mizore walked side by side walking around the perimeter of the island. Both of them had similar suckers in their mouth.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" Mizore asked as they both laid down looking up at the night sky.
"Yeah…" the two were beside a lake, near the edge of the floating island. Turns out the island was very big, big enough to fit more than a few dozen 'Konoha'.
It was a content silence. Rare for Naruto who often had a hectic and noisy life. Rare for Mizore who often had quiet periods alone where something was always amiss. Rare for both of them whom often had lonely nights where they would simply stare into nothing and ask 'why?'.
Mizore had thoughts about her village's traditions. She really wanted to confirm something tonight.
Sitting up sideways with her head slightly crooked she got Naruto's attention. She was mulling over her words, unsure of how to phrase it.
Naruto had other ideas. "You look cute with you head crooked like that Mizore-chan." That simply comment had thrown whatever she had been currently thinking out the window. A slight blush adorned her cheeks.
"Naruto, could you promise me something?" Unease had seeped its way into her, slowly twisting her gut.
Naruto was listening, especially at the promise part. Nodding he let her continue.
"Promise me.. promise me pr.." She couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. Naruto didn't seem to mind.
"You don't have to ask me for something Mizore. I'll promise you anything." Naruto had replied, not because he was just being Naruto this time, but rather because it was Mizore, his friend.
"No, I have to ask you, I have to." She mumbled the last part. "Would…would you…accompany me to pick snowwhites when I turn seventeen."
"Yes Mizore-chan. I promise." It had never occurred to Mizore that her choice of words would have left Naruto clueless. It had never occurred to Naruto just what he had agreed to. In fact she herself wasn't too clear on what the ceremony entailed either.
Her mother was rather vague when she had asked a few month ago. 'When you finally find the one, you'll know. Your heart will know. The one person that is and will always be your most precious.' Despite their rather more accepting ways when it came to more mature subjects with yuki-onna, a girl that was still as young as Mizore would never have realised just what her mother had actually meant.
He was slightly confused at the odd request but he didn't mind. Everything they did together was always enjoyable.
Mizore put her hands together and focused. A small white snowflake the size of the breadth of a normal drink can appeared after minutes of intense concentration. It was a single pure crystal, only able to be formed when a snow maiden was truly sincere and had no malicious thoughts. Taking on a slip of paper from her kimono sleeve she put it onto the snowflake. Moments later the seal transferred onto the snow flake became invisible.
"The past few months I trained to get this shape down, then I got Kazeshi-san to make a seal for me. The seal can store enough of my energy to last it a few centuries under normal temperatures and I can refill it easily as it takes only miniscule amounts of my youki. Like this the snow flake will never melt as long as there is my youki inside it."
She presented it to him with both her hands as she looked into Naruto's eyes. "This is our promise."
She wasn't expecting a hug from the blonde. "Tha…thank you Mizore-chan" It was beautiful.
Within the snowflake were small designs of the snowwhite fields back in Mizore's village.
It was beyond beautiful, as Naruto looked into the gift, he could make out an endless field of snowwhites.
That night their bond was deepened once more. The two once again slept beside each other in the open under the night sky. This time though their hands were interlinked.
~_}{_~_}{_~_}{_~_}{_~_}{_~_}{_~_}{_~_}{_~_}{_~_}{_~_}{_~_}{_~_}{_~
A/N)
Quick science fact for those who do not know how heat works.
1.) We measure heat and call it heat energy instead of cold as heat is something we can actually measure. We can't measure cold. It's the same as light and dark.
2.) You feel cold when you lose heat. You feel warm when you gain heat. So if your skin and internal body temperature was as cold as ice then ice would feel normal to you room temperature during winter would feel warm, that is if you are still alive. Same thing for if your body is as hot as the sun, the sun would feel normal while room temperature would feel cold.
3.) If you don't believe 2, here's a simple experiment to prove it. Put one hand in cold water and the other in very warm water for a minute. Now put both hands in water at normal room temperature and the hand that was cold would feel warm while the hand that was warm would feel cold.
[1]: 'jiji' : grandfather/old man
[2]: sofu : grandfather
[3]: sobo : grandmother
