Author's note: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I simply borrow them to use in my own sick, twisted fantasies. ^^ –Nira

Chapter Six

((Yoruko's P.o.V.))

I followed Neiji into the forest, slightly clinging to him as I cautiously looked around, straining my senses to pick out anything unusual. I felt Neiji's eyes set on me, feeling my tension and anxiety and he sighed.

"Do you trust me?" he asked so I blushed, being slightly taken aback.

"Yes, I do… why would you ask me something like that?"

"You look frightened as if I'm taking you out here to slaughter you."

"You're not really, are you?" I joked, pulling back slightly and looking him in the eye, but he took it seriously, his expression turning to one of being appalled. "I'm joking. I know you're not. Yes, I trust you."

"Then why are you so nervous?"

"I have a feeling that we're being watched," I half lied.

After a quick scan of the area with his Byakugan, he assured me that no one was there and we continued through the forest to a small lake where we stopped. I grinned and sighed in content before taking my shoes off and rolling my capris up as far as they'd go. I waded into the water and I wanted so badly to dive in and go for a swim to clear my mind. After a quick debate of whether or not I should, I gave up and decided to go for it. I walked back to shore, dropped my shoes at the base of the boulder that Neiji was sitting on, and took off my capris and accessories so I was only in my boy shorts and tank top. I noticed Neiji's blush and averted eyes, grinned to myself, and waded back into the water up to my waist before diving in. When I resurfaced I floated on my back, staring up at the canopy above, my thoughts still running rampant. I felt a pair of hands supporting my back and legs and gasped in shock, almost screaming until I saw that it was only Neiji and relaxed again.

"You've been really withdrawn and jumpy today. What's wrong?" he inquired.

"There's a lot on my mind… but I don't want to talk about it. I want to know about you. What's your family like? What do you like to do in your free time? What are your dreams and goals and aspirations for life? What are your favorite and least favorite things? I want to know everything there is to know about you," I smiled, treading water and facing him.

We swam to shore and sat on the boulder and he explained about the two branches of his family and how he had hated Hinata-san once. She was in the main branch and had no talent with their kekkei genkai while Neiji was considered a genius but was still in the second branch. His hobbies were training and listening to music and his dream was to become a great shinobi. He seemed like another Sasuke-kun except a couple years older and not consumed with revenge. I couldn't help but to compare the two of them and Neiji asked why I was staring at him.

"You remind me of Sasuke-kun, both striving to beat someone who was recognized more, both trying to reach a supreme level of perfection and power unrivaled by anyone, both considered to be geniuses and praised and admired by everyone but not really understood by anyone… It's amazing how differently the two of you turned out," I explained, looking at my distorted image in the water.

"I tried to kill Hinata-sama once… It was during the Chuunin Exam. I was adamant that she, Lee, and Naruto were losers from the start and would always be losers. None of them had any talents or skills that I thought were worth anything. To me, they were destined to fail in everything… but when Naruto defeated me in the final rounds he'd knocked some sense into me. I knew from then on that he'd do great things and I looked up to him. He was the ultimate underdog and came out on top against all odds. If it hadn't been for Naruto, I'd still be in the darkness like Sasuke…"

I smiled in melancholy and looked out at nothing. I wished I'd known everyone for longer. They were all such great people and had done so many amazing things, especially Naruto-kun. It was a shame that I'd only just met them all and I was already going to be snatched away from them by Akatsuki. I felt Neiji's arms wrap around me and was startled from my thoughts, looking back at him with a blush spread across my cheeks.

"What do you keep pondering about that's upsetting you so much? You haven't been yourself today… You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I just wish I'd known you all sooner. It's sad that the only memories that I have with you and the others are of the party and fight last night…" I chuckled; "…and most of the memories I have of you are in a hospital room and I'm not entirely sure if they happened or not."

"We have time to make more memories," he smiled. "And I'm sure most of your memories of me from the hospital are real. I was there almost every day."

"Why?"

"I was drawn to you for some reason… just being around you made my heart race, especially when you would open your eyes and look at me… It was like you were looking directly into my soul… It's kind of hard to explain…"

I smiled and pulled his arms around me tighter, blushing. "I feel the same way…"

He kissed the top of my head and it was quiet again for a while before Neiji spoke up. "I told you about my life… Now it's your turn."

"Well, I was born in Sunagakure into one of the poorest clans in the nation. Despite us being poor, none of us lived horribly. We were comfortable with our status and we were a peaceful but small clan. We were such a poor and small clan because our bloodline trait can be deadly to anyone who comes into contact with it, including clan members as the hosts.

"Our chakra and blood are deadly and incurable poisons so people born into our clan don't have a very long life expectancy and our infant mortality rate is ridiculously high. Because of it, there were never enough children being born and surviving to replace the adults that were dying, so the clan's numbers have slowly been dwindling for ages. And, depending on how the chakra is manipulated, it can have different effects on an opponent. It doesn't work against animals or inanimate objects, though. Maybe it's some kind of mutation, parasite, or virus that attacks human cells. Nobody knows and nobody's had the time to find out since everyone is constantly in and out of the hospitals and doctors' offices," I explained.

"So that's why Tenten's in the hospital. You can't turn your kekkei genkai off. It's always active, even if you don't want it to be," Neiji concluded.

"Exactly," I smiled. "Everything in the clan was fine and everyone was content with their miserable fates… but then I was born. I've never been sick or had to be rushed to the hospital because of my kekkei genkai unlike everyone else in the clan. Someone with an immunity to the bloodline trait is beyond a rarity. It's almost an anomaly and it bred a lot of resentment from the rest of the clan when they found out that I was immune. When I was twelve, I was shunned by the clan and exiled by my own parents. I'd become a rebellious monster to them, and it just added to the reasons for them to hate me until they finally cracked and kicked me out.

"I laughed at them as I left, cursing every last one of them to die slow, painful deaths before me for what they'd done to me. I was so happy that I was finally free from their disapproving eyes and snide remarks about me. I traveled the world and came here to Konoha about two years later. Tsunade-sama had taken over as Hokage and I pretty much did whatever I wanted, training myself to master my bloodline trait and I became Konoha's youngest jounin since Uchiha Itachi and I was ecstatic. There was no one to look down on me or tell me that I was unwanted, unimportant, or worthless… I was finally free to be myself..." I grinned, remembering how much fun I had in those two short years that I traveled and the time when I first came to Konoha.

"You sound proud to be comparable to Uchiha Itachi despite all the damage he's done."

"Because I am. He's my idol. His accomplishments were amazing! He graduated from the Academy at the age of six, he'd unlocked and was proficient with his kekkei genkai at the age of eight, he was an ANBU captain by the age of fourteen, he wiped out the entire Uchiha clan at fifteen, and he became an S-ranked renegade ninja and joined a powerful organization called Akatsuki all by the time he was only sixteen years old! It's incredible!" I beamed in excitement, turning to face him. "I mean, just realizing that I'm almost as strong as he was at my age gives me the courage and confidence to keep going and become even stronger."

My face fell again as my negative side reminded me of one small detail; "almost." I wasn't quite on Itachi-dono's level yet, and even if I was, he was much older than me and had surpassed me and his old self by leaps and bounds. He wouldn't have remained stagnant and stayed at the same level of power for that long.

"You idolize someone who tried to kill you?" Neiji inquired, confused.

"He didn't, really. He was trying to capture me… Akatsuki is after me for my bloodline trait for some reason, so they need me alive…" I explained, looking away from him and off into space again.

"So that's what's been making you so gloomy and paranoid lately…" he sighed, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me closer to him. "Relax and don't worry… I'll protect you… I promise."

I sighed and closed my eyes, melting into his warm embrace, a slight tinge of pink dusting my cheeks. I felt safe with him despite him being a lower rank than me and it was strange. I'd never felt completely safe and at ease with anyone before. I'd always had to fend for and take care of myself and I'd never been able to trust my own clan members, let alone strangers. It was an odd sense of comfort that I had being with Neiji that I'd never had with anyone else before.

We stayed like that, soaking up the sun's warmth and each others' presence for a while until we'd dried off and he asked if I was ready to go back yet. When we'd gotten back to Konoha, we went out for ice cream and a walk in the park. As we were walking, I heard someone yelling my name, so I paused and looked around, trying to figure out who it was and where they were. They sounded desperate to find me and all of a sudden, Shigure-nii ran into view, looking around in a panic.

"Yoruko! Yoru-chan, where are you?! Yoruko!"

I grabbed Neiji's hand and started toward Shigure-nii. "Nii-san!" I called and when he heard and saw me, he quickly closed the distance between us and scooped me up in a tight embrace.

"Thank goodness you're alright," he sighed in relief.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's going on?"

"Your house caught fire. Toshia and I thought that you were either still inside or that it was too late so when the fire department put the fire out and didn't find any remains, we started looking for you. We've been looking everywhere. Where have you been?"

"I was on a date. I wasn't even in the city until about fifteen minutes ago. How did my house catch fire?"

"Who cares? What matters is that you're safe… Since when have you had a boyfriend?"

"None of your business," I remarked, sticking my tongue out at him. "Where's Toshia-kun?"

"He went out to search the forest."

"Idiot!" I yelled and started running toward the city gate again, dropping my ice cream. "Sorry, Neiji! I'll make it up to you later!"

"I'm going with you," he said, running beside me with Shigure-nii on my other side.

"Please don't. If anything happens to you, I won't be able to forgive myself."

"I told you earlier that I'll protect you. No matter what you say, I'm going with you."

I growled in frustration despite the flattered blush rising to my cheeks and we continued our frantic search to find Toshia-kun. When we got into the forest we heard a yell up ahead and saw a group of birds take flight, so Neiji activated his Byakugan. I recognized the voice as Toshia-kun's, but Neiji said that he saw two people up ahead so we ran faster. I pulled out a few kunai from my pouch, along with some smoke bombs and we ran into a clearing and came face-to-face with my idol. Toshia-kun was standing across the clearing from Itachi-dono, glued to the spot with his eyes widened in fear and agony.

"Don't make eye contact with him!" I yelled to the others, throwing kunai at Itachi, making sure not to meet eyes with him, myself.

With Itachi-dono's attention diverted to me, I yelled for Neiji and Shigure-nii to take Toshia-kun and run as I threw the smoke bombs at Itachi-dono's feet and made a few clones of myself. They continued the kunai barrage while I made my hand signs and blew a puff of air in Itach-donoi's direction, praying that it hit him and he was paralyzed long enough for us to escape. In the fray, Shigure-nii had picked Toshia-kun up and before the smoke cleared, we'd all made a run for it. When we got back into the city's limits, we ran directly to Tsunade-sama's office. I knew she would be the only one knowledgeable and experienced enough to know what to do. When we burst through her doors and she saw Toshia-kun, she immediately stood up and hurried us to an empty room without even questioning anything. When she'd finally gotten Toshia-kun stabilized we returned to her office to give a report on what had happened.

"So they're after two people from Konoha but at the moment, they're only focused on you… I wonder why that is…" Tsunade-sama thought aloud. "As far as your house goes, the fire department concluded that it was a case of arson but the person responsible is still unknown. There weren't any witnesses but with your current situation, the chance that it was someone from Akatsuki is very high."

"I don't know much about the organization's members, but there's one that instantly comes to mind as a suspect and it's Uchiha Itachi. Their family crest is 'the fan that makes and controls fire' and all of their specialty jutsu are fire based," I explained and then chuckled. "If it was him, I'm kind of flattered. He's going through quite a bit of trouble to get me since he's the only one I've actually come into conflict with so far."

"Are you sick?" Shigure-nii asked as he placed his hand on my forehead.

"I'm fine, nii-san," I grumbled, pushing him away.

"Are you sure? For a moment there, I thought I heard you say that you were flattered to be hunted down by Konoha's most dangerous renegade."

"Hey!" Tsunade-sama hollered so Shigure-nii shut up and left me alone. "Seeing as you no longer have a house, I'm appointing Shigure as your guardian and you'll be living with him."

"What?!" I screeched in disbelief. "Do you have any idea how wrong that is, Tsunade-sama? And besides, even if I was living with him, I'd never be home. I'm telling you that now."

"It's true. She'd much rather avoid me than be around me any longer than she has to be. You also have to remember our age and gender differences, Tsunade-sama. How would it look to others if we were to live together? Why not let her stay with a friend of hers or one of the jounin or chuunin kunoishi?"

"Who would you suggest?"

"Well, there's Anko or Kurenai."

"No, Anko has special recon missions into Akatsuki territory. It would only put Yoruko in more danger and Kurenai is pregnant."

"What about Inuzuka Tsume?"

"Please no. She scares me," I blushed and Neiji and Shigure-nii chuckled.

"Why don't you come live with Hinata-sama and me?" Neiji suggested and my already red face deepened in color.

Hinata-san worked most of the day at the hospital so I would spend most of my time alone with Neiji. My mind registered that bit of information and started playing naughty scenarios and I caught myself chewing on my lip nervously.

"Yeah, Neiji-kun would be a very good host. He was determined to stay by her side and protect her today and having two Byakugan and Gentle Fist users could prove to be beneficial for her. And she'd be around people closer to her age who she actually enjoys spending time with so it wouldn't be so awkward for her," Shigure-nii advocated with a smile.

"Then it's settled. And to ensure your safety, Yoruko, you are never to travel alone. Understood?"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama…"

"You're dismissed."

Shigure-nii, Neiji, and I bowed before leaving and when we were out of sight and earshot of her office, I threw a fit.

"She's treating me like a little kid! It's not fair! I don't wanna bug everyone to take me if I wanna go somewhere! I just wanna go and not have to worry about it! Gah, this sucks!" I pouted.

"Yes, because you're not being childish at all right now," Shigure-nii chuckled.

"So spending time with me sucks?" Neiji smirked.

"You have to train more if you're going to be strong enough to take on Akatsuki," I grinned, taking hold of his hands and walking backward in front of him. "I'm a most wanted shinobi, you know. Do you think you could handle the pressure?"

He stopped and pulled me into his arms and traced my jaw line to my chin, gently tipping my head up and stared into my eyes. My face reddened and my breath caught in my throat as butterflies fluttered restlessly in my stomach.

"I will protect you… I swear it…" he said and I sighed, melting into him.

Shigure-nii cleared his throat and broke the trance between Neiji and me so we blushed and pulled away, averting our eyes from each other. He laughed and wrapped his arms around our shoulders.

"Neiji-kun, I trust that you'll protect my little sister with your life if that's what it takes. She's special so be good to her," he smiled.

"Nii-san, you're embarrassing me…" I blushed, not looking at either of them. "You don't have to act like I'm ten."