Chapter 10:

"Naruto," a voice whispered to him.

He stopped and looked around the corner. Sayo was calling him but his legs didn't budge. She waved him over and he still didn't move. Finally, she grabbed him and pulled him into a closet. She closed the door, plunging them into darkness.

"What the hell?" Naruto snapped. Landing on a broom did nothing to improve his mood.

Sayo reached up and pulled the beaded cord above them, turning on the light.

Naruto just asked again, "What the hell?" He gave her an angry look, forgetting who her family was. He didn't care, anyway. So what if she was from the Arashi clan? He was going to speak to her however he felt like.

"Shh," she hissed, pressing a finger to her lips. "I wanted to talk to you in private."

"Well, I don't feel like talking." Naruto tried to get up but a collection of towels prevented it. He had to unbury himself first before getting up.

As Naruto dug his way out, Sayo kept him from leaving by saying, "It's about your friend."

"Sai?" Naruto stopped trying to leave and sat where he was. "What about him?"

Sayo pressed her ear to the door. Once certain no one was going to hear them, she crouched in front of him. "I know what they're going to do to him. How my family will treat his illness."

"You're supposed to have some kind of cure back at your village, right? That's what Granny told me."

"Because that's what we told her. That's not true. We don't have a cure for them."

Naruto leaned forward, almost headbutting her. "If you don't have a cure, how are you going to treat him?"

Sayo was blunt with her reply, but her eyes held sadness for the answer she was about to give him. "Your friend and all those people… My clan plans to get rid of the illness… by eradicating them."

Naruto knew what that word meant. His heart fell into his stomach. "Y- you mean..?"

She nodded. "They plan to kill them. All of them. Including Sai."

He knew something was wrong. He knew it all along. Somehow, Naruto already knew the Arashi clan planned to kill Sai.

"But why?" he asked, close to yelling. "Why would they..?"

"We don't know a cure. No one does. We've asked. My clan feels the best way to get rid of an illness is to destroy it. No more sick people, no more problem. Once the carriers are gone, there will be no one left to spread the disease."

"But that's crazy!"

"It's what Mother decided. Our duty as the noble family is to protect the people of our land. If this illness is threatening people, we must get rid of it. If we don't have a cure, this is the only other solution," Sayo explained. "We never told your leader this truth because we knew she would never agree to hand him over. We told her we could treat him at our village."

"And by treat you mean kill."

Sayo shrugged. "It's a method of treatment, so I suppose it's not really a lie."

"I'm not going to let you guys kill Sai!"

"I know that," said Sayo. "Why do you think I told you what we were planning? I expect you'll try to stop it."

She was warning him. She couldn't speak the truth in front of her brothers so she waited until they were gone. She also overheard Naruto in the Hokage's office and knew he was desperate and wished for his friend's safety. He was the one to tell. Especially if he was willing to go by himself to rescue him. The Hokage would send an army which would be difficult to hide.

"I have to help him. Where are they keeping him?"

Sayo did not know. "All I know is that the sick people are being kept somewhere in my village. Probably not my house. But I'm not sure where. It must be big enough to hold all those people, though."

It was a start. It was better than searching the globe.

"I've got to get there before anything happens to him." Naruto put his hand on the doorknob then stopped. He looked down at Sayo. "Why are you telling me all this?" he asked.

She was a member of the Arashi clan; she had a hand in the attack on the village. Sure, she was a little different from the rest of her family, but, black sheep or not, she was giving out secret information. If they lied once, how could Naruto be certain this wasn't a lie, too?

Why in the world would she help him? What was her motivation?

"I want you to help your friend," she told him. "I can tell you care about him. If you want to help him, now's your chance. It's up to you if you go or not."

"But why?" he asked her. "Why are you telling me? Why tell me about this secret plan of your family's? I don't get why you'd tell me."

Sayo's answer didn't come as quick as her other ones. "Well," she said slowly. "I like you."

"You like me?" Naruto asked, taken aback. "Why?"

"I suppose it's because you're different."

"Different? Different how?"

"You're bold. Bold and blunt."

Her simple explanation did little to diminish Naruto's confusion. He was still scratching his head. "You like that I'm bold? But why?"

Sayo looked at the floor in sadness. "I found in refreshing," she explained. "You see, I don't have any friends back home. It's just me and my brothers. They're all older than me, but they're the only ones close to my age I spend time with. Everyone else is too afraid."

Realizing how lonely Sayo was, Naruto felt an instant connection to her. He understood such loneliness. She had a family so their childhoods weren't the same, but they were similar in that they didn't have any friends to play with.

He felt sorry for her.

"Most people try to avoid me," she went on. "I started hanging out with some local kids, but I realized they were only my friends because they were scared of me. They were nice to me because of who my family was. I even heard their parents prepping them once, telling them all the things to make sure they do when they're around me so my family won't kill theirs."

She suspected that their friendships weren't real to begin with. The children only laughed when she laughed and always looked to her for approval before they did anything. Their conversations were extremely limited, using minimal words and getting right to the point. They never debated, too frightened by the consequences of disagree with her. They never had an opinion of their own and sided with her on everything.

"It's boring," she told him, anguish in her voice. "If I like green, they have to like green. If I think something is stupid, then they all think it's stupid. I saw one girl throw her bag away when I said I didn't like poka-dots. They never did anything to offend me. They were too scared. I was sick of it, so I stopped hanging out with them. I knew they resented me. I wanted a real friendship."

Due to her family's reputation, she would never have it.

"Do you know what it's like to have people tremble at the sight of you? To force themselves to laugh when you laugh because they are too afraid to be different? To disagree? To have another opinion? People shake when we walk down the street. Mothers dash inside when their babies start crying, terrified the noise would annoy us and we'll try to silence the child ourselves. It's horrible. People are too scared to do anything! They're too scared to be my friend. Those kids were only my friends because then they would have protection. If I like them, then my family won't try to hurt them. But if they displease me in any way, they're scared that will be enough to make my family seek revenge. I hate it."

Then she looked at Naruto.

"But you… You're different. The first time you met me, even knowing who I was, you were bold and did not shake. You weren't afraid. You treated me like a real person. It was a nice change."

Naruto was touched that he managed to bring some joy to this young girl's life. He bent down and put a hand on her knee. "What about the zookeeper? He doesn't shake when you're around. I saw him talk to you."

Sayo shook her head. "He lets me get away with so much. No one is allowed near those animals accept the workers. He lets me come into the cages with him which no one is allowed to do. He never does it for anyone else. People have to pay a fee to get in but the noble family doesn't. We were allowed in for free. I can show up any time I like and he doesn't throw me out. I know I annoy him but he keeps me around anyway because of who I am. I know it. I know it's because he's sacred of what would happen otherwise."

He had to admit the zookeeper did let her get away with a lot without a single threat. He never punished her. Most children would be banned after trying to get inside an animal enclosure but Sayo was still able to come back and do as she pleased. It annoyed the zookeeper and he clearly did not approve, but she certainly did seem to be an exception to the rule.

"I can tell you're different from other people, Naruto, and I like you. And I can see how much you care about your friend. That's why I told you this. If you want to save him, you have the opportunity to do so with this information. Whatever you do now is up to you."

"I'm going to save him, of course," he said with a clenched fist. "Count on it."

She smiled. "See? That's the kind of friendship I would like. Not ones ruled by fear and status. I can tell you care about him a lot. I wish I had a friendship like that."

Sayo reached passed Naruto and opened the door. Light shined into the small closet and, without the door supporting his back, Naruto pitched backwards.

"At least, you have a real friendship." Sayo smiled again. "Since I don't have that, I know how important it is to protect."

Naruto stepped outside the closet but did not leave. He knelt in front of Sayo and held out his hand. "That's not true, actually."

"What is?"

"You not having any real friends. That's not true. Not anymore." Naruto took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

Sayo didn't understand what Naruto was saying until she saw his toothy grin. She returned it ten-fold. "You really want to be my friend?"

"Sure," he told her. "You just did the first step to creating a real friendship and that's helping someone. That shows me you're capable."

"Really?"

"Sure. You're helping me. Why wouldn't I want to be your friend?"

Sayo bounced up and down gripping his hand tightly. Grinning from ear to ear, she gave a high-pitched squeal of pour joy.

"Thanks." Naruto squeezed her hand back. "Now I have to go and help my other friend."

Naruto pulled his hand free and ran down the hall.

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