A month had passed since Naruto had been found in that fateful morning by Hikari, and all the villagers were really happy to have someone like him. Though he was a young man, his happiness, innocence and joy were the ones of a kid, so he made the life of the village even more enjoyable. The young women and girls that weren´t married, all had a very BIG crush on him, save for the very girl that knew him the most, Hikari. He was handsome, cute, funny, intelligent and really nice to everyone, so he made a lot of friends in no time. Besides, he protected the village as well as Hikari so everything seemed to be perfect.

Yet, sometimes he wondered about his past. Where was he born, who were his parents, if he had had friends, and what had happened to him. But he didn´t like to dwell in the past. He loved the present and that was all that mattered to him. He really liked Hikari, since she was always gentle and nice, and since she had met him, she was more cheerful. But, there was something nagging him. Her family. Yet, he didn´t dare to ask.

One hot spring day, they were resting outside the village, under some trees. They were in silence, just enjoying the moment, and sitting side by side, with their shoulders touching. Hikari had noticed that something was bothering her dear Sora, so she asked:

"Sora? Is there something you would like to tell me or ask me?"

"Uhm? Well, yeah, there´s something, but... if you don´t want to tell me, it´s fine."

"Shoot."

"Well, what happened to your family?" Naruto asked, and she shifted, a bit uncomfortable, and answered:

"A dark subject for such a nice day. But, as I once said, if you ask, I´ll answer. Well, it´s a long story, actually. The story of my life, indeed. I have never tell anyone about this, so I ask you to keep it as a secret. And, I´m warning you, is a rather bad story."

"I won´t tell a soul." Naruto said, and moved a little to be able to see her face, as she began to talk:

"My family was a ninja clan, in the Land of Water, we weren´t the most powerful shinobi, but the clan´s techniques were to use all kinds of canine as our fellowships. You know, dogs, wolves, foxes, etc. Like the Inuzuka Clan in Konoha, but we used all kind of canines, not just dogs. Anyway, that´s not important. The point is that we were the protectors of our village, just the way you and me are now. It wasn´t as easy, though, because in our village most of the weapons were produced, so, many thieves and ninjas attacked the village to get those weapons. So, one night, when I was six, a really big, and I mean big group of bandits attacked the village."

She paused, to try to relax, and Naruto took her hand in his, to give her confidence. She sighed and continued:

"One of them killed my mother, my father and sisters in front of me. My sisters were covering me when he killed them, I have never forgotten his face, nor his wicked smile as he cut their throats. I was so shocked, it had been so terrible for me, a little girl of six. It scared me so much, that my once brown hair turned as white as snow and it remains like that until now. But... then something happened I´ll never forget, and that is that... that..." She was having big problems in saying it, and Naruto said:

"If you want to, don´t tell me."

"No, I should really get it off my chest, even if it hurts so much, but I have to say this, so that I can leave that burden... the point is... the fact is... that... that... he... he... he raped me. Don´t make me say that again, it´s so horrible to remember." Naruto´s mouth was hanging. Hikari now was really crying, but wiping off the tears of the terrible memory, struggled to continue.

"At the time I didn´t understand what had happened. But I still felt, well, filthy and... and it was disgusting. Yet, when I could move and saw all my family dead, I made myself a promise. I would never rest, until I found that man and killed him. After the burial of my family, in which everyone cried and I couldn´t, I left, to Kirigakure. I turned into a full shinobi, and spent 8 years of my life there, until I was sure I was strong enough to find him and kill him."

Sora was really surprised, but wanted to know more, so he nodded her to continue.

"I hated him, loathed him, he occupied my every thought. I was obsessed with revenge and when I thought I was ready, I went in search of that man, whose name I didn´t even know. It took me one year to find his band, one hour to learn who he was and two minutes to kill him. As I saw the light leaving his eyes, I felt relieved. I had my revenge, so now I could live happily, right? So, I went back to Kirigakure; I simply made my way to the Mizukage, and asked for permission to leave. It was granted, and I never came back. So, that´s how I ended up here, in this small and peaceful village of Masanori, after getting my revenge."

With that word, something stirred in Sora´s heart. Something, something that he once knew had to do with revenge, but what? What memory buried deep inside woke up with that word?

Suddendly, a sudden flash of black eyes appeared before Naruto, and he was surprised. Hikari looked at him and asked:

"Sora? Did you remember something?"

"I thought I did, but I just can´t. Just a pair of black eyes. I dunno what it means." Naruto answered. Hikari seemed to be a bit disappointed by this, but just a little. She knew that Naruto wanted to know who he was, where did he come from, but he just couldn´t remember. But then, looking at Hikari´s still wet eyes, he hugged her and said:

"I´m sorry... I wished I could change the past. But I´m here for you."

"Thanks. But, you know something? If that hadn´t happened, I would have never met you. So I´m glad, because you are my best friend."

"Uhm..."

They stayed like that a for a while, just comforting each other, sharing a moment of peace as real friends. But, it wouldn´t be long before it turned into something else.


All Naruto´s friends were full of sorrow. A month had passed and there were no news from the blond shinobi. The village was kind of silent, and all of them, felt that something really important was missing. The thing that sticked them together was gone, and they didn´t know where could he be.

After all, he was like a Sun in everyone that knew him. When the news reached Suna, the sand siblings were more than willing to help in the search, but they didn´t found anything at all.

Everyone missed everything about Naruto, his laughter, his energy, his way of making everyone smile, his warm smiles and funny grins. His strange adoration for ramen, even his pranks. He was everyone´s friend, and they knew that they could trust him any time and he would do the same.

And, he had helped everyone to reach their dreams, in one or another way, so they felt like they could never repay him.

Iruka was one of the most depressed, since Naruto was like his son, and if every time he went on a mission he would worry, now he was completely depressed. For Tsunade and Jiraiya, he was like their grandchild, one that they looked after all the time, and loved him; so they missed him terribly.

But, of course, the most affected one, was Sasuke. He wanted to see him, to hold him close and never let go again. Yet, he couldn´t find him, and he had no idea of where to look, he didn´t even know if the blond was alive or dead.

Everytime he went on a mission, he would search for him, ask any information, but there were no clues, no signs. He wondered, again and again, "where are you, my kitsune?

It was turning into an obsession, very much like the one Naruto had when Sasuke had left and he wanted to find him. Sasuke wouldn´t give up until he could find he blond man and to know if he was ok. And then, he would punch the daylights out of his teamate for leaving, but that would be after declaring his love to him. For now, he just needed to know that Naruto was safe and he could have him back.


The summer came, and with it, a wave of heat, and there was nothing that everyone in the village enjoyed the most than bathing in the river near the village and there was even a lake not far from the house where Naruto and Hikari lived in. All the windows in the house were open all the day and night, but it was still really hot, and the Sun burned.

It wasn´t long before Hikari got a pretty new skin color, that made her look beautiful, and the already sun-kissed skin from Naruto turned a bit darker, enhancing his blond hair and blue eyes.

The two of them had work to do, since the village kids would hurt themselves more often and the bugs would bite more people. Now, Naruto was the one to cure the men, while Hikari did the same with the women, so they got separated rooms for their patients.

As the summer advanced, they began to sleep outdoors, because inside the house was so hot that they just couldn´t sleep. There hadn´t been any rains, and if it hadn´t been because of the river that ran near, the villagers would have lost all their crops.

----------

One night, Sora couldn´t sleep because of the heat, and was turning and tossing in the floor, with a blanket beneath him. He stayed there for a while, until he was sweating completely and decided that he needed to take a bath in the river. It was full moon and no clouds, so it was really easy to see, even in the forest. He was just carrying other clothes to wear after bathing, he knew that he would dry soon enough just with the night´s heat.

He got to the lake, and after stripping, he jumped into the cool water, feeling a lot better immediately. He swam and relaxed, gazing to the stars and the moon. He decided to sit in a group of rocks, that hid him from the rest of the lake, in a small lagoon he and Hikari discovered not long ago. At his back, there was the rest of the lake, and if he just turned, he would see it; but if someone looked from the lake towards the hidden lagoon, they wouldn´t be able to see him.

As he rested there, with the cool water covering up to his navel, his mind went blank and forgot about his surroundings, just relaxing. He was about to fall asleep, when a sweet voice reached his ears. It was a really nice voice, and was singing a lullaby, softly. But, then, he heard something entering the water, and he slowly turned around.

Not far from him, a woman was giving him her back. He could tell it was a woman because of the shape of her body, of course, that was beautiful, but then, he noticed the hair color and his jaw fell. It was the purest kind of white, and it shined under the moonlight. Only Hikari had that hair color, but now he could see how long it was, almost reaching her hip. Usually, she had it all tied up, so he had never seen how long it was.

She hadn´t notice him, or at least it seemed like if she hadn´t, because she went under water and began to swim, in elegant movements, almost making no sound. Then, she sat, looking at the moon, and as she hummed to herself, she began to comb her wet hair, and revealing her back to him. Naruto couldn´t help but stare at the beautiful sight before him. She was really beautiful, and her voice sounded like if she had been a singer all her life. Just above her left shoulder, she had little flower tattoo, but it looked really nice against her skin. In her shoulders, the ANBU mark was placed. It was the most enhancing scene he had ever witnessed, and it seemed like an illusion.

After while, she decided she had had enough, and got up, walking towards the shore. As she walked towards it, the water revealed more and more skin, of course, and Sora had his sight fixed on her. She had soft, nicely curved hips, and long, slender legs. She got dressed and left, still singing happily to herself, ignorant of her accidental stalker.

When she was far enough, Naruto let out a sigh, and still couldn´t believe what he had seen just a moments ago. She was more beautiful than any of the other village girls, and her voice seemed to entrance him.Sora knew that he shouldn´t had watched her, but he couldn´t help it. He felt the desire growing in his heart and mind, to touch the soft skin, to run his hand through that hair. But somehow, he felt that it wasn´t just lust, but maybe something deeper. He tried to relax again and then went back to the house, to get some more sleep, just a few hours.


Sasuke was looking at the very same moon that illuminated Naruto, in the roof of his house. He hadn´t been able to sleep since he had a horrible nightmare about Naruto being killed. He had been really scared, and now, in the hot night, was trying to relax and to forget about the nightmare.

He didn´t want one in that moment, the next day he had a mission, so he needed some sleep. Suddenly, a shiver ran through his back, and he didn´t know what caused it, but somehow he knew that it was something he wouldn´t like at all. He shook the feeling off, and went back to sleep. The time would show him what was it.


The next day, Naruto couldn´t bring himself to look a Hikari without thinking about last night and blushing slightly, but he couldn´t stop looking at her either. Though now it seemed more like a dream, the simple yukata hidding all the curves in her body and her hair tied up.

But he was wondering, as he watched the woman read a book in the garden:

"Is this just lust after her body? If it´s just that, it better stops right now. But then again, it isn´t just lust, if I want to hold her close to my heart, right? Is not just that I want to touch her skin, I need to. This is confusing, but... what should I do? Let me think... no, it isn´t just lust, I can tell. Is.. is... is love? Maybe.. no, maybe not. It is love. Oh, hell. Self-control, Sora, self-control."

Yet, Hikari wasn´t making it any easier for him, since she was so hot, that she loosened her hair and opened her yukata just a little bit, to let her skin breath; though she was too focused in reading to notice the looks her friend was sending her way.

Naruto was still struggling against himself, thinking:

"I want to touch her, but I shouldn´t. I want to know if that hair is as silky as it looks, I want to feel that skin against my own, but... but... nice skin... oh, shut up. Get a grip, Sora. You aren´t just some kind of horny teenager, you´re a man, for god´s sake."

He was interrupted by the very object of his growing desire:

"Man, is too hot here. Do you wanna go swimming? I feel all sticky."

"Uhm? What did you say?" He answered.

"That if you want to go bathing. The heat is making me dizzy." Hikary answered, as she got up. Naruto said:

"Ehh? Well, sure. It feels like if rocks could melt."

"Yeah. Well, I´ll get my swimming suit." Hikari said.

Sora followed to the house, and changed into his swimming trunks, that were orange. He really liked that color, while Hikari´s favorite was lilac. Then, they met up and walked to the lake, where the village kids were also refreshing. They went to their secret lagoon and as soon as they were in the cool water and in the shadowed part, they felt a lot better. But it seemed like fate wasn´t on Naruto´s part that day, since Hikari liked to float in the water, letting her long and beautiful legs show; and that was driving him a bit mad. Naruto tried to think about something else, but he just couldn´t. He wanted to touch her, to kiss her.

But he got a grip of himself, and continued to enjoy the day, even if he knew that he would enjoy it a lot more if he could do what he wanted to do with the not so innocent Hikari.

He was scared of hurting her, after all, though she seemed like a strong woman, he knew that she had never been with a man in that way, save with the rapist, because she was still scared from the time the bandit raped her, and it was understandable.
After all, anyone would need years and years of teraphy to stop being scared, and she had had none, so it was still possible she was still afraid.

But it wasn´t being easy to restrain himself, because she looked very tempting.

---------------

This went on for the rest of the day, so when the night came, Naruto was having a headache. Hikari didn´t seem to notice anything, until they were having dinner and asked:

"Sora-kun? Are you alright? You´ve been quiet all day, and you have a frown on your face. Is there something wrong?"

"No, I just got a headache. It´s ok, it will go in a while." Sora answered, and looked at his friend, whose face was showing concern and also, as she was bending a little, more chest skin than usual was showing. Naruto thought:

"She isn´t making this any easier for me. Does she really doesn´t notice or she´s annoying me? Neh, she doesn´t know. She would never do that, she´s far too serious."

Yet, in that moment, she went to the fridge and taking out two bowls of ice-cream, she gave one to him and took the other one for herself. Naruto asked:

"Where did you get this?"

"Kimiko and Shigeo sent it. It´s your favorite, chocolate." She answered, as she used her spoon to take a bit.

"Uhm... yummy." He said, before starting eating it.

He was enjoying himself a lot, he really liked chocolate ice-cream, and this one was delicious. Yet, when he opened one eye to look at his friend, his jaw dropped.

She was almost moaning, and had her eyes closed, enjoying her strawberry ice-cream the most. She licked the spoon in the most erotic way anyone could think of, but she didn´t seem to notice, she was too occupied eating the ice-cream.

Naruto was thinking:

"Self-control, self-control. Damn, she´s looking way too hot there. If she goes on, I won´t be able to hold myself any longer."

But, she didn´t stop, and continued enjoying the ice-cream, that was delicious in that hot weather. A drop stained her cheek, and Sora had enough. Letting desire taking over him, he got up, and licked her cheek, gently, as he placed his hands on his shoulders.

Hikari was about to take another delicious spoon, when suddenly she felt two hands taking her shoulders and something wet on her cheek. She looked at Sora with eyes wide open, and as he was enjoying himself, she managed to ask:

"What are you doing???!"

"You... were... teasing... me... all... day... I had... enough." He answered, between butterfly kisses that he placed all over her face.

Hikari was frozen in her place, with her mouth open in complete surprise, so Sora took the opportunity and kissed her deeply and passionately. As he rubbed his tongue against her own, she let out a slight moan, and began to respond to the kiss, caught in the moment. But, then, something made click in her head, and pushed Sora away, saying:

"Stop it. Stop it right now. What´s going on with you?"

"I want you."

"You just want me or it is something more?" Hikari asked, locking her eyes with Sora´s. Sora stopped for a moment, and answered:

"I need you, too."

"So not only lust... look, I can´t say I need you too. But I can´t say that I don´t need you either. I´m still not sure, so I can´t truly say I love you. Could you live with that?"

Sora stopped to think. Hikari did felt something for him besides friendship, but it wasn´t love either. And he wanted her to love him. There was a chance of that happening, so he would take it. He said, after some minutes that seemed ages for the both of them:

"I can. So, you want me?"

The only answer he got, was a kiss, and he quickly answered pulling her close.


When a year had passed since Naruto´s disappearance and not even Jiraiya had been able to find him, and that is saying a lot, since he was able to find almost anyone, several friends of him had begun to lost hope. They couldn´t find him, and if he hadn´t return by his own feet, it was most likely that he wouldn´t return ever. They didn´t classify him as a missing nin or an S-class criminal, since he wasn´t that. He had been pushed away by the villagers, so it wasn´t his fault.

Sasuke kept looking and looking for him, but it was like he had disappeared into thin air, and nobody had seen him. But he wouldn´t break his promise, and would find him, even if it was the last thing he ever did.
Maiko, the young girl that had helped them, was seven now, and would enter the academy the next year.


Don´t kill me yet! Is just to complicate things, hehehe. Can I ask for 4 reviews? And, how do you think Sasuke would react if he found his dear kitsune with Hikari? That is, if he ever finds him.