Once again, sorry for the long wait. It's been a long time since I've updated, hasn't it? And icyprincess1: thanks again for the review. It makes me happy to know someone's reading this. And I feel totally awful about the last couple of chapters because I've recently gone back to look at them and saw tons of errors. I'm so sorry, people! I'll try to do better with this. I'll double check and edit before posting. I'll do everything I possibly can to make this story better; I promise.

Black Cat

By: Noel14

Disclaimer: Wow, I just realized that I haven't done one of these for this fic yet. Hmm... well, I better do it now. I don't own anything in this fic. Only Yuki.

Chapter 3

It seems, to most people, as if there's absolutely nothing left in the darkness. It's a completely empty void, a thick blanket surrounding a tightly compressed space of air. It's cold. It's suffocating. It's death. Nobody likes the darkness because they fear it; they loath it. They like the light, which there seems to be none of in the darkness. You like people that are 'all light' and ignore or hate those engulfed in the dark. You don't bother with dark people; they're darkness themselves.

I'm not most people. People just can't see what's in the darkness. It's a nice blanket, giving me a sense of safety and security. It's warm. I can actually breathe in the dark. My life is in the dark. I feel safe in it; I love it. I like darkness because it is absent of light. I like being emerged in the dark, hiding in the shadows.

I am darkness itself.

I clutch my stomach and stumble forward, out of the light and back into the shadows of the trees, comforted by the dark they gave me. I slowly limp away from the clearing full of dead bodies and make my way to a nice place to rest and recover; a good place to get rid of the poison I'd been exposed to.

I collapse onto the trunk of a tree and sit there for a long while, breathing deeply and panting. My tail lay next to me limply, not moving, my ears stuck to my head, and the bell around my neck remained silent. The dark forest makes no noise, if you don't count the rain falling from the sky. Blood leaks from my stomach wound slowly, but that's not the thing I'm concerned about. It's the poison that covered the sword that pierced me there that worried me.

I poke the wound carefully and flinch back in pain, hissing. It stings and makes me want to leave it as it is, not even touch it, even though I'll need to if I want to heal it and get rid of this poison draining my energy.

If only I'd had medical training from Mesu!

I take my shaking hand and clutch my stomach again. If I'd learned anything from Mesu, it was that I always needed to keep pressure on a wound. I stagger to my feet and look around, searching for a stream to clean it in. I hear water running and walk towards the sound as my vision starts to blur. When I reach the stream, I find that I've been drained of all energy and fall face-first into the water. The last thing I remembered seeing before passing out was scarlet mixing into the pure, clean water, tainting it with a symbol of death.


(3rd Person POV)

"I can't wait to get back to the Leaf Village!" A blonde boy dressed in orange yelled happily, jumping around a white haired man in joy. "I mean, it's been about two years since I saw everyone! I wonder how much has changed." He went off in happy thought before snapping back to the real world. "What do you think, Pervy Sage?"

"Stop calling me that," The white haired man complained. "It's rude and disrespectful, no matter how well I get along with the ladies."

"Yeah," the blonde boy rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Pervy Sage."

The man just glared at him and they ran in silence for a while before he stopped the hyper boy at a stream. "We still got another three hours before we get to the village, and this could be the last chance to get some water. You should stop and drink."

"Alright!" The blonde boy bent down in front of the stream and cuffed some of the water in his hands, bringing it up to his lips. Once sipping it up, he smiles and reaches for more, closing his eyes in pleasure. "This water's really good!" He took a few more sips something hit his mouth. It tasted salty and slightly like rust. He spit it out immediately. "Yuck!" He yelled, wiping his tongue off with his hands. "What was that?"

"Um… Naruto."

The boy looked up to the man with his blue eyes. "Yeah?"

He pointed to the stream and the boy named Naruto's eyes widened when he spotted the crimson liquid flowing in through the water. "Someone must be dying!" He shouted, starting to run up the river, following the source of the blood.

"Wait! Naruto!" The white haired man chased after him.


The rain continued to pound down on the ground and the limp figure lying in the middle of a steam, half of the body in, the other half out. The face was tilted to the side so that you were able to see a face that still had a bit of childish roundness to it. The girl's mouth was parted, slightly open and the blood dribbling out of her mouth was clearly visible. Her midnight black hair was scattered about, all around her, and just as soaked as her clothes, which were dripping wet.

Two people stopped running once they reached her body, and the blonde boy picked her up, placing his head against her back and listening. Finally, he nodded. "She's alive!" Naruto immediately put the girl in his arms, carrying her bridal style, and ran out in another direction, the white haired man following behind him.

"So what are you going to do with her?" The man asked him.

"I'm taking her back to the Leaf Village with me," He told him in a tone that clearly said an unspoken 'duh' at the end. "She's going to die if we leave her out here."

"I'm not sure if that's too good of an idea," The man said, only to be ignored and his blonde companion to speed up. He sighed and ran faster.

And there it is! The beginning of the real plot for Black Cat! Sorry that it's a little short, but I felt as if it just needed to end right there. And updating is probably going to be slow because I was stupid and put up a third story that I'll most likely have to update as well. *Sigh* Anyways, please review and tell me if you think I'm improving, tell me what you thought, give me constructed criticism, other, or all of the above. Bye!

~Noel14