Naruto couldn't believe his ears… this guy's family owned a shrine that was dedicated to him? He had to think back on the past, think back on someone that he could have saved that would have felt this dedicated to give stories to his descendants in order for it to have lasted this long… but who could it have been in the first place? It just seemed rather odd that he would have a blood relative of the man that would have both survived to this time and also believe in him when all others see him as nothing more than a villain and nothing more.
Though the young demon knew that he just couldn't ignore this… right…? He had to find out if what this guy said was true, after all there was just no way that someone that he had saved all those years ago could have had his loyalty be so strong that it made it all the way to this day and age. Yet, it never did hurt to try at the very least.
Taking a deep breath, the young demon thought that maybe he could avoid all of this. After all, he wanted to leave his past behind and only clinging onto them would bring his fall such as his darker part of his past. Closing his eyes in deep thought for a brief moment, the young man took yet another deep breath hoping that it would get him to calm down, all of this was starting to overwhelm him and it would only get worse if this kept going. He had to think of a way to escape from this but how? It wasn't like he could just up and leave, at least not in the middle of class… It seemed that he just couldn't win with this could he…?
'This is going to drive me insane, I just know it…' thought the young demon as he ran his hand through his spiky locks. This was going to drive him insane, and he didn't think that was even possible at the moment. Breathing deeply, the young man looked up and saw that the red haired teen was staring at him from his place at the front of the class… still explaining the history of his family and the shrine dedicated to the 'Crimson Fox'.
Though it seemed that everyone in the class didn't believe him, for they all started to object to the idea of the Crimson Fox being a bad guy instead of what Gaara was trying to prove. This was only starting to piss him off though to no end. People didn't know how he truly lived, they didn't know of the nightmares and horrors that he had lived through but he couldn't say that. If he did, then it could blow up in his face in the end result of people finding out that he's the Crimson Fox and that was the last thing that he needed. Breathing deeply, the young man tried to get himself to calm himself and relax before he lost his cool…
"But he killed a little girl in the Sacred Village!" shouted someone.
As soon as those words escaped a student's lips, Naruto's mind went blank. It felt like someone had punched him in the stomach, felt like someone had grabbed his heart and ripped it from his chest and threw it into the ground and stomped on it. His demonic aura started to flare, he tried to keep it contained but knew that he couldn't keep this up at this rate, it would reveal too much. Pushing himself up, Naruto rushed out of the room and ran as fast as he could. He didn't know where he was going and he didn't care, his body was moving all on its own but it still felt the desire to protect itself from harm, or to protect Hinata from himself…
His demonic aura flared a bit more, his concealment almost fading completely away until he found himself on the roof. Breathing heavily, Naruto knew that he had to get his emotions in check that he had to stop himself from feeling that guilt… In some sense, he did kill Hana… he killed her just by bringing her to the village… Falling to his knees, Naruto punched the ground, not hard enough to dent the stone, but enough to leave a tiny mark. "I should have just kept her with me… if I did, she'd still be alive and… and I would be back in my own time…" he whispered.
Tears started to stream down his face as he felt the pain starting to consume him. He could feel the pain in his heart at the thought of Hana's death at the hands of hunters, because she believed there were good demons like him around. "Hana… if only you knew the truth, I wasn't always good like your innocent child eyes saw… I wasn't always kind and gentle like you saw me that day… I was a monster once…" Covering his face, Naruto tried to keep his tears back, hating the thought of crying, even if there was no one around him, he hated to cry, it brought him nothing, it never served any purpose to him and it never would.
Shaking his head, Naruto wiped his face of his tears before pushing himself up onto his feet… He figured that he had calmed down enough for his concealing charm to be put back in place…
"Where do you think you're going demon?" said a voice, a voice that he remembered from somewhere… Turning around, Naruto saw the hunter from the other day and narrowed his eyes at him. Letting out a soft growl, the young man placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, getting ready for battle only for his eyes to widen when he saw a certain talisman in the hunter's hand… he wouldn't…
"Let's have a little fun before I kill you shall we?"
Hinata was growing more and more worried over Naruto. He hadn't come back from… wherever it was he went off to. Though knowing him he had gone off to cool down but why would he be gone even now? Class, heck, school was over for the day now and he still has yet to return. Maybe something came up and he had to go home? No, he had told her time and again that he would stay with her to protect her so what could it be?
Shaking her head, the young woman figured that maybe the silver affect didn't ware itself off yet, and he had made his way to the nurse's office? That was the only thing that she could think of… there had to be more to this whole thing…
She knew that something had to be wrong with him, but what that is, well that was something that she had to find out now didn't she… Breathing deeply, Hinata pushed herself up from her seat and grabbed her things, looking over at Naruto's desk, the young woman noticed that Naruto didn't grab his things either, he must have been in some kind of rush if that was the case… Breathing deeply the young woman started to make her way out of the classroom, at least until someone's voice had stopped her from leaving.
"Wait…"
Turning around, Hinata stared at the new student Gaara, the one that claimed that Naruto had saved his ancestor. She wondered what it was that he wanted, she prayed that it wouldn't take too long since she still had to see Naruto and make sure that he was okay. Gaara just stared at her with a serious look on his face before he walked over to her saying "follow me; I'll help you look for him… I bet you also have a lot of questions for me like your friend." How did he know that she was going to look for Naruto? Had it been because she kept on looking toward the door or at Naruto's desk or was it something else?
Nodding, Hinata didn't think that he would pose any kind of threat to her, he seemed very human to her and, plus she didn't really sense anything from him since she had started to get a little better at sensing demonic energy aside from Naruto's since she knew how Naruto's energy felt… his was warm, safe… so many things that made her so happy…
As they walked, Gaara started to explain what he could about his family's shrine in much better detail than he did to the class. "My ancestor was a monk I guess you could say. He had heard stories of a legendary nine tailed fox demon that lived in the mountains, one named Kurama and had wanted to learn more about the demon world. Though when he had arrived to see Kurama, the fox demon village was destroyed, and it had looked like it had been many years ago." Hinata frowned at that, she didn't remember anything about a village… did Naruto hide that from her or did she even remember Naruto even telling her that before? It would be hard to say for sure…
"He searched high and low for any signs of any fox demons, but had failed to do so… He assumed that they had been wiped out and had gone to search for another demon village, praying that maybe there had been one left." Gaara said with a soft yet sad sigh before crossing his arms over his chest as if he was in deep thought. Was there more to this story than what meets the eye or was this all Gaara could tell her?
Shaking his head, Gaara looked over at Hinata as he said "though before my ancestor could leave the village, there had been some kind of rucks and he went to check it out and that was when he found one fox demon…"
"Was that the Crimson Fox?" asked Hinata, wanting to play dumb a little.
"It was your friend yes…"
"What makes you say that it's my friend? The Crimson Fox was sealed six hundred years ago."
"True, but I sensed his demonic aura days ago and came to look for it. He may be able to hide it, but I can still easily sense it."
Okay, so he wasn't stupid, he had figured it out but… why? Shaking her head, she asked "what happened? It didn't seem like your ancestor was in any danger, Naruto is a good demon." Gaara let out a soft yet sad sigh as he ran a hand through his red hair as if he was just as confused about something, or it could be about this part of the story… Just what could be so confusing about this part of the story in the first place?
Gaara stared at Hinata as he said "this is where it gets confusing… The Crimson Fox did attack my ancestor, for no reason what so ever. From what he could tell, your friend had dark eyes, filled with a great evil that seemed impossible to even possess. He fought the Crimson Fox as hard as he could without killing him and it was a difficult battle as well."
"But what doesn't make sense! Naruto's so nice!" shouted Hinata, almost causing students to stare at her but said nothing about it.
"That is true, but that was what had happened… It almost seemed like he was not himself, compared to the one that saved my ancestor and the one that you know now. The only thing I can think of is if there are two of them, but that cannot be unless there was a special chant that could do that and only a dark being would know what that would be and there hasn't been one for many decades now." Gaara calmly explained before turning his head upward, his eyes narrowed into slits as if he felt something was off about the ceiling… "Something's wrong… let's go!" Gaara then grabbed a hold of Hinata's wrist and started to drag her to the stairs that lead them to the roof. Was there something wrong? She didn't know and had a bad feeling in the center of her stomach…
Hinata didn't know what was going to happen but what she did see had only confused her for Naruto was only standing there, his back turned toward Gaara and Hinata. Why was he just standing there? Was there something wrong, Hinata reached out and tried to speak but Gaara held out his arm in front of her to stop her from moving closer or from saying anything... It seemed that Gaara had sensed something that she herself can't, or there was something that blocked her from sensing anything from Naruto other than the warmth and safety she always feel from him…
"Is something the matter Gaara?" asked Hinata softly, not sure what is going on. It seemed rather odd that he was so into the stories of Naruto in the past but now he seemed worried about something that was going on.
"Something is wrong, I sense something covering Naruto like a wet blanket…" whispered Gaara, his eyes narrowed into slits.
Naruto's body turned slightly, though his face still hidden from view. Hinata frowned a little as she stared at the demon that she had come to know as her friend. There had to be something wrong with him though just couldn't be a hundred percent sure as to what it was that could cause this kind of behaviour in him. Soon, there was a dark growl coming from the blonde and red haired demon, his hands clenched into tight fists then he started to flex his hands as if getting ready to rip someone to shreds.
"Something's wrong with him… this isn't the same Naruto, be careful Hinata…" whispered Gaara.
As soon as that was said, Naruto had turned around and staring at the two teens was a pair of blood red eyes surrounded by black with black slits for pupils. His fangs were longer, the whisker marks on his face were thicker and the markings that marred his skin started to glow green and red. "What's wrong with him?" asked Hinata with fear in her eyes.
"I don't know, but from what I can gather, he's under a spell, possibly one done by an object for I can sense the spell coming from a part of his body somewhere but I can't figure out where… yet." calmly said Gaara. Hinata was scared out of her mind, thinking that Naruto would be gone to her forever, but why was this happening to someone like him? He was so kind and gentle and he made her feel so safe. "Hinata, from what this is doing, I believe that it is bringing something up, shadowing Naruto's mind and eyes to his greatest fears…"
"How can you tell?" asked Hinata with confusion.
"It was part of my training, I had to sense many spells growing up and I had learned what each spell is just by sensing it…" Gaara said calmly, it seemed that he wasn't going to let anything happen to Naruto or let anyone hurt him or allow Naruto to hurt anyone… Though she just hoped that they could help him soon before it was too late…
"So, you have arrived at long last… I have brought forth the real Crimson Fox at long last. This is the real Crimson Fox, a demon that only knows to kill humans and want to only spill the blood of the innocent. This is what my ancestor had tried to prove all those years ago and this is what I shall prove once and for all!" shouted the hunter, who Hinata remembered from the other day. Though, she couldn't see the hunter at all, it was as if he was trying to remain in hiding… Wait, what did it mean by that?
"What are you talking about?! Naruto is a good guy!" shouted Hinata, her eyes filling up with angry tears, just the idea of this guy accusing Naruto of being evil pissed her off and it made her want to stop this from happening to him but how can she save him in the first place?
"Are you an idiot?! The spell you used just brings people's worst fears to light putting them in a trance to protect themselves and can have terrible risks to both the person the spell is affecting and those around that person." shouted Gaara.
The hunter just laughed before that soon had faded into nothing… Hinata narrowed her eyes for a moment before she felt someone shove her out of the way just as Naruto had lept at her, swiping his claws just inches where her face had been. She couldn't believe that Naruto had tried to claw at her, but then again, the red haired teen that had shoved her, had said that the spell had a terrible effect on the person and those around them… but, what was Naruto seeing in his mind?
"Hinata, you have to keep focus, Naruto has no sense of self right now. His real self is frozen within his mind, sealed away to live in his nightmares, his worst fears that will forever haunt him until the seal had been removed, or until he had fought those fears." Gaara calmly said, knowing that he was right; she had to be careful while Naruto was in this state. He wasn't in the right state of mind, and could easily kill them without even knowing it if at all…
Looking over at the red and blonde haired demon, she saw that his eyes were still as dark as when he first turned to stare at them. Though there was something there, a speck of something that did not match the evil that she was seeing… That didn't make any kind of sense to her, so what was going on? Was he really seeing a nightmare or was it something else? There had to be something she just knew it, Naruto was still in there and all she had to do was save him, to bring out the good that was within him and save him… somehow…
Naruto felt so cold, it felt like he was in an area where no heat had ever been to before. He never knew that he could even feel this cold before in his entire life, thanks to his control over fire. Yet, here he was, feeling such an icy chill that it felt like it would consume him, and likely kill him in the progress. Slowly turning his head to the side, the young looking demon saw that his arm was encased within ice, attached to the wall, when he turned his head to the other side; he saw the same thing with his other arm.
He wondered where all of this ice was coming from… where it would be coming from to be honest… Shivering a bit, the young man looked down, and saw that from his knees and below, there was ice surrounding his legs. Why was this happening? The last thing he remembered, was the hunter and… some kind of talisman that was… wait… that talisman?
He faintly remembered someone using that on him before… it was after his village was destroyed by humans, killing his family in the progress. The day brought back such terrible memories for him, he had gone off into the forest when it had happened, his parents telling him that they would come back for him… but they never did. When he had returned to the village, everyone was either gone, or dead… Yet, one human had remained, and wanted him to suffer… after that, nothing… it was as if he had blacked out and gone into some kind of dream like this but he doesn't remember it very well…
Shaking his head, Naruto knew that he was only lying to himself… the thing he hated the most, were humans. Humans killed his family, destroyed his home and he wanted to kill them all for what they had done to his home… but then, he had felt remorse, guilt and fear at his own thoughts. All his life, his parents had taught him to respect humans, to protect them from any and all harm… To have those thoughts, it had scared him, made him want to stop those fears from ever resurfacing and from coming true… but, when that talisman had been placed upon him, that fear became a reality.
It was all so real, he still felt that joy when he slaughtered humans, killed them, ripped their flesh, their limbs, their organs from their body and had shredded them into nothing but ribbons of flesh and blood. He knew, that was his greatest fear… to be seen as nothing but a monster that enjoyed nothing but the thought of killing humans no matter if they were innocent or not. To him, it meant nothing for they had taken away a village that had never meant any harm to humans but had wanted nothing more than to protect them from all harm…
That talisman had brought out the darkness in Naruto that day, and it had controlled him for so long that it had felt like a nightmare to him. The only time he had been able to snap out of it for a second, had been when he saw a monk in the village when he had gone to visit his home… The sight of a monk, a human no less, had brought on the desire to kill had bubbled up within him at that moment forcing him to kill. Yet, the good within Naruto, the part of him that still wanted to protect humans had fought hard enough to try to get away from the monk and that he did… Yet, it was only for a short time for after he had gotten far away enough; the darkness had consumed him once more and left him powerless to stop the bloodshed that would continue on.
As the years had gone by, his reputation as an evil demon had spread far and wide, no one knew him as a kind and gentle demon like he had been, he had lost track of time of how long he had been within that state… In fact, the good within Naruto had given up all hope of being free of this eternal nightmare that he found himself living in. He knew that this had to be some kind of hell that he could never escape from…
Yet, that was also when a light of hope had managed to come to him…
The monk that he had spared had shown himself to Naruto once again. This time, it seemed that he held another talisman in his hand. What it would do, he didn't know and he feared for the monk's life. Naruto growled at him but in his mind, was screaming at the monk to get away before it was too late. Though the monk did not listen to the fear that resided within any human's hearts. The battle went on, Naruto trying to kill the monk, while the man had tried to get some kind of opening to place the talisman onto Naruto's body.
"You must stay still" the monk had said, though it seemed it had fallen onto deaf ears for Naruto did not hold still and he did not have the strength to do so. Suddenly, the monk had lost his footing, giving Naruto the chance he wanted, or at least the evil in him did. Once the monk was down, Naruto stood over him and grinned a sinister smile as he looked ready to kill him.
"I hope you enjoyed your life human… for it shall end here and now." Naruto's darkness said as he raised his claws and prepared to kill the human man that lay on the ground in front of him.
Though it would seem that another miracle had happened, for Naruto's claws had stopped mere inches from the monk's face, his eyes faded to a dark blue as he said "help… me… please…" The monk nodded and slapped the talisman onto Naruto's forehead, freezing him in place while the magic started to course through Naruto's body. He could feel something ripping out of him, like a part of him was being ripped out of his very heart, his soul. He didn't know what this was doing nor did he really care at the moment.
Just as soon as it had started, it had ended for laying on the ground were two paper talismans, one black, the one the strange hunter had used on him and the next one, was pure white that the monk had used. Naruto stared at the monk, breathing heavily before falling over…
He thought that this whole thing would have been over now, that he could do a new fresh start… The monk had saved his life, and Naruto, of course had saved his in return when a demon had tried to kill his family when they both returned to the temple for Naruto to rest. Even weakened, he had the strength to kill the demon, which of course was weak in the first place.
Now though… it seemed that he had returned to the situation that he had feared for a very long time. Why? Why did this have to happen? He was happy and carefree now… He had nothing to worry about right?
"You kill me…" whispered a voice.
Lifting his head, Naruto stared with wide eyes at the small figure of a little girl… A little girl, covered in fresh dripping blood. His blue eyes stared in horror at the little girl, tears streaming down his face as the little girl slowly lifted her head and stared at Naruto with lifeless, no, soulless eyes. Her once innocent eyes that had been so pure and filled with life, joy, happiness and innocents were dead, cold, and soulless to all that would see her. "You killed me… you killed me… you killed me…" she kept on repeating over and over again.
Tears started to stream down Naruto's face all the more, shaking his head feeling his heart aching over and over again. Why?! He had thought that he could get over this! He wanted this pain to stop and now this had to happen?! Shaking his head, Naruto let out a loud scream of torment and suffering… and heartache from guilt that he allowed an innocent to die at such a young age.
Hinata watched as Gaara tried to fight off Naruto, watching as her friend was controlled by his own fears, whatever they could be. It almost seemed unnatural for this to be happening, Naruto fighting someone who isn't an enemy but their friend… or close enough to be their friend. Naruto growled and swung his claws at Gaara, it almost seemed like he refused to use his sword for any reason, as if it wasn't a part of his demonic abilities.
Just staring at Naruto as he fought almost broke her heart, he wasn't himself and she knew it… What could she do though? Unlike Gaara, Hinata has had no formal training to fight demons and therefore, couldn't fight back or defend herself…
Suddenly, Naruto turned to stare at Hinata; his cold eyes seemed to have held a hint of sadness as he started to walk toward her. Gaara though stood in front of Hinata, his eyes narrowed into slits as he said "you won't go near her! I won't allow it!" When those words were said, Naruto just growled and shoved Gaara aside, his eyes turning back to Hinata and almost seemed to have grown darker and darker the longer he stared at her. As if something was going on in his brain that would give him thoughts on how he can kill her.
Hinata backed away, fear in her lavender coloured eyes as she tried to think on how to get away from Naruto. She had to think of something, get away from him or he would kill her… "Get away from me please…" Hinata whispered with fear in her voice.
Naruto made some kind of growling sound, it wasn't of hate or anger, more like he was trying to say something… "Hana… alive…" He whispered softly, which of course confused her. Wasn't Hana the name of the little girl that he saved before being sealed and the hunter's killed? Did he think she was Hana? Shaking her head, Hinata took another step back only to scream when her foot slipped off the edge of the building. "Hana!" shouted Naruto as he jumped off of the building and flew downward trying to reach out for Hinata.
"Hinata!" shouted Gaara.
Hinata had tears in her eyes as she fell from the roof. She had always thought that she would die of old age, not falling off a building with a demon flying right after her that may very well kill her with his mind under a spell's control. That was just something that didn't really happen in real life and yet she was living it. Hinata screamed in fear and for help as she tried to pray to any god or goddess to save her. She still had so much to live for…
"Hana!" shouted a voice above her, causing Hinata to turn her head and stare at Naruto as he was reaching out for her. In his eyes was a small speck of his old self, or was this more of the spell at work? Was this another part of his fear, of his nightmarish illusion? She didn't know and at the moment she didn't really think she would ever want to know what was going on through his mind right now. The only thing that she wanted to live and to save Naruto from this fate… for this was no real way to live life.
"I'm not Hana!" shouted Hinata; her fear was increasing the closer she got to the ground. Her scream grew not only the closer the ground became, but also the closer Naruto came to be even though, she did want him to save her.
Suddenly, Hinata felt someone grabbed her, and she knew that Naruto had grabbed a hold of her. Hinata wanted to cry but knew that Naruto was… well, in a sense he was saving her but thought he was saving Hana. Wrapping her arms around him, Hinata felt something on Naruto's back and frowned a little wondering what this could be. Tilting her head, Hinata tried to tug at the object that, she assumed to be some kind of paper but it wouldn't budge. This had to be something, there had to be something wrong with this.
Shaking her head a little, Hinata wrapped her fingers around the paper and tried to tug at the paper a little harder, her fingers glowing a soft pink and it slowly started to grow stronger and stronger. Hinata had no idea what was wrong with this paper but she knew that it didn't belong on Naruto's back let alone his robes. Taking a deep breath, the young woman tightened her grip on the paper before she was able to rip it right off of Naruto's back.
As soon as that had happened though, Naruto let out a loud scream, his eyes widened in shock and torment, and he had let go of Hinata. Though thankfully, they didn't have far to fall at that point for they only fell a foot at the least. Hinata winced from the landing and Naruto was thrashing about holding his head as he let out another scream of pain.
"Hinata! What happened to Naruto!?" shouted Gaara as he ran out of the school doors. Hinata frowned a little and showed him the paper talisman in her hand and that was when Gaara had grown pale. "Hinata, that was risky! Just forcefully removing that could damage Naruto's soul. You haven't had any real training like your ancestors and now Naruto could be lost to us!" shouted Gaara.
Hinata stared at Gaara with fear in her eyes, she never meant for that to happen. The only thing she meant to do was remove something that she knew didn't belong there. Looking toward the screaming demon, the young woman rushed forward toward Naruto and wrapped her arms around him. "Hinata! Don't go near him he'll still kill you!" shouted Gaara with fear.
"He won't!" shouted Hinata, her body glowing a bright pale lavender colour as it started to wash over Naruto. His screams had slowly started to die down, his thrashing slowed before he just seemed to have stood still. Hinata could feel his chest falling up and down to show that he was still breathing. Did this mean that it was too late to save him or did she save him?
Slowly, the young woman lifted her head and blinked slowly as she tried to think if Naruto was okay… What she saw was Naruto's blue eyes surrounded by black, he seemed calm and that darkness that had been within his eyes was gone… The spell though was still slowly fading from him… "H… H…" Great, he was going to call her Hana again… did he still really think that she was Hana…? It made her heart ache just to think about that. "Hinata… you're… safe…" He whispered before closing his eyes and his body slumping over Hinata, causing her to fall over.
"He… he's normal? But how?" said Gaara in surprise before shaking his head and rushed over to help Hinata get Naruto off of her. Grabbing another seal from his pocket, he mumbled a spell and slapped it onto Naruto's back. "He'll appear like a human to others for now. We have to get him to my temple right away. He may need some kind of healing…"
Hinata nodded, though she was happy that Naruto was going to be okay and that he said her name, and not Hana's… Though, it almost seemed like he was afraid to speak Hana's name, like he had to stop himself from saying it not because he sensed it would hurt her… but because he was afraid… Just what did Naruto see that could cause that kind of fear within him?
Shaking her head, the young woman knew that she would have to figure something out but right now, she had to help Gaara get Naruto to the temple and tend to his… injuries or whatever it was that needed healing since to her, Naruto seemed fine. Unless it was a wound on his heart that had needed to be healed.