Chapter 11: Another chapter in which nothing happens, but in this case, it's part of the story.

Disclaimer: Naruto and all related characters are copyright Masashi Kishimoto. Quidam is copyright me.

Quidam slowly opened her eyes and blinked to clear them. The first thing she noticed was that there was a spot on the ceiling. The second thing she noticed was the intense hunger gnawing at her belly. Finally, she noticed it was very easy to breathe.

Wait. She stopped in mid-groan. Her hands flew to her face. Well of course it was easy to breathe if her mask wasn't on!

Oh, crap.

She looked around to get her bearings. She was lying on a futon covered by a blanket with a shuriken motif. The room she was in had been cleaned hurriedly, it seemed. A pile of clothes had been shoved into a precarious pile in one corner. Beside her was a small table home to a bonsai tree apparently named "Mr. Ukki". The tree was accompanied by two photos, one of which had Kakashi and younger versions of Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke.

"You're awake!" Kakashi exclaimed, poking his head in through the door. "Naruto was convinced you were dead!" he said, coming into the room. He placed a black bundle beside her pack at the foot of the futon. It was clothing, her mask visible on top.

"Sorry about your mask," he apologized, noticing what she had been looking at, "But I had to give you water. Didn't want you to wake up dehydrated."

"It's all right," Quidam replied, sitting up stiffly. She stared at her torso as the blanket fell off. Her body was tightly bound with white linen bandages. Her arms were wrapped in some places as well. She looked at Kakashi, panicking slightly.

"You didn't ..." She trailed off, pointing at the bandages.

"No! No " he laughed, "Sakura did."

Quidam sighed in relief, "How long was I out?" she asked, rubbing her neck.

"A week."

"Are you serious?"

Kakashi nodded, "You didn't know you would pass out?"

"I've never done the spell on that level before,"

"You're probably hungry," he said after a while, "Get dressed, I'll make you some raman." He left the room and closed the door quietly."

Quidam stood up and cracked her back. Oh man was she stiff! She found she was wearing a pair of shorts, most likely Sakura's, and her legs were bound up as well. As she stripped off the bandages and pulled on her shirt, she felt someone watching her. She looked up with a start to see herself in a mirror. The girl looking back at her had a small, thin, slightly off-center nose, and lips that hardly ever smiled. The streaks of make-up were absent from pale cheeks. She was a total stranger.

Kakashi looked up from a pot of raman cooking on the stove as Quidam entered the kitchen. She sat down uncertainly at the table and looked around.

"Why are you so shy all of a sudden?" he asked, dumping the noodles into a bowl.

"It's just — I haven't been in a house in such a long time."

"So it has nothing to do with your mask being off?" he pressed as he pulled a cup out of a cupboard.

"Maybe ... a little to do with that, yeah. I ... I always wear it, so I feel ... unprotected without it."

"Why do you wear it?" he asked, placing the raman and a glass of something orange in front of her.

"To protect my identity, to keep people from finding out who I am. I learned quickly that Mamba has spies everywhere. The mask keeps people from knowing what I look like, and people who do know unawares that it's me."

"I noticed that the marks on your cheeks came off, but not around your eyes." Kakashi observed.

"The black around my eyes is natural, I was born with it. The tear 'stains', if anything, they're to hide the shadows under my eyes," she laughed softly.

"You know," Kakashi said a few minutes later, "You're very pretty."

Quidam stared at him a chopstickfull of raman halfway to hr mouth, "Oh! Um ... th-thank you?"

"What? No one's ever told you that before?" he asked, laughing.

"Never," she shook her head and ate a mouthful of ramen so as not to say anything else.

"Seems a shame to cover such a pretty face with a mask,"

Quidam stared at him, weirded out and embarrassed at the same time. She thought about asking him why he wore his mask, but decided against it. Instead, she took a sip from the cup he had given her. Right away, she began coughing and choking.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I-it's so sweet!" She spluttered between coughs.

"It's orange juice!" he told her, laughing.

She didn't answer, but coughed a few more times before clearing her throat, her face redder than ever. To occupy herself, she tucked her hair behind her ears. Pointed ears, that had silver rings running all the way up to the tips.

"So you really are a half-demon," Kakashi said, changing the subject.

"... Yeah,"

"I can't believe I couldn't take your hints!" He said, shaking his head.

"How do you know, if you didn't guess yourself?"

"Sasuke and Naruto told me, while Sakura attended to your wounds. After you passed out, I wanted to take you to the hospital, but Sakura said she didn't think you would appreciate strange people poking and prodding you."

"So they told you everything?" she asked.

"I your heritage, why you're after Mamba, and why he's after you is everything, then — yes!"

Quidam nodded, "I guess one more person knowing can't hurt. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure why I told them in the first place. I just felt like I could trust them ..."

Suddenly, there was someone banging at the door.

"Hey Master Kakashi!" Naruto yelled as he continued to pound

"Crap!" Quidam hissed, jumping up from the table and running back into the bedroom. One door flew open as the other slammed shut.

"Good afternoon, everyone," Kakashi sighed, picking up the dishes.

"Has she woken up yet?" Sakura asked worriedly, following Naruto and Sasuke into the small apartment.

"Is she ever gonna wake up? You're sure she's not dead?"

"Naruto, she was breathing the last time we checked!" Sasuke reminded his teammate.

"Yeah, well —" But whatever Naruto was about to say will remain a mystery, because Quidam re-emerged from the bedroom fully-masked and adjusting her headband.

She wasn't sure what happened next. All she noticed was a large, pink projectile flying her way, and the next minute Sakura was hugging her tightly, pinning her arms to her sides.

"Quidam! Thank god you're awake! We didn't think you'd ever wake up! After the snake disappeared — what was that, anyway? — you collapsed and you were bleeding and it wouldn't stop and it got all over the place and all over Master Kakashi and it took forever to clean your clothes and the Hockage keeps asking where you are and we're not sure whether to give him a straight answer ..."

While Sakura rattled on, Quidam awkwardly patted her back as best she could.

"How about," she cut in, "we all sit down, and you can ask me questions one at a time, instead of throwing them all into one big one."

"Oh! Right," Sakura let go of her and plopped down at the table.

"What was that thing?" Sasuke blurted, unable to contain his curiosity any longer.

"He," Quidam corrected, perching on the kitchen counter, "He is a wind serpent,"

"Wind serpent?"

"An elemental spirit. The elements are alive, you know, most people are oblivious to that fact."

"Before you collapsed," Sasuke pressed, "you spoke to it ... him,"

"I requested that he watch over the village when I'm gone,"

"Why?"

"In case more come,"

There was a silence before Kakashi asked why she had started bleeding.

"The spell summons the nearest wind spirit, and if the spirit agrees, I enter his mind and through him, complete the task I couldn't otherwise do. The price of possessing him is to take on any injuries inflicted during the possession."

"But why didn't you heal right away, like before?" Naruto asked.

"I had exhausted my chakra controlling the Serpent. Controlling spirits is difficult at the best of times; a spirit of that magnitude, well ..." She trailed off, gazing at the tilde floor.

"So what was in the spell?"

"Fish scales,"

He glared at her. She laughed.

"If I told you what was in the vials, I'd have to kill you."

"It's that important that Mamba doesn't get the spell?"

"Unless you want a tyrannical bastard ruling you, yeah," Quidam replied darkly, "Besides, once you learn the spell, you're branded," She added, her fingers trailing along the tattoos around her arms. The dragons, they realized, were actually wind serpents.

"So when you learn the spell, those appear?" Sasuke guessed.

"Yeah, and it hurts like hell,"

"So what were those black things?" Kakashi asked.

"Terrible machines capable of killing instantly, or to mutilate until you wish you were dead." It was the only answer she offered, "What happened to the bodies?" she asked instead.

"We buried them,"

"And their weapons?" She seemed worried as she said this.

"Buried along with them."

Quidam let out the breath she had been holding. One less thing to worry about if the village never discovered firearms.

Author's Note: Thank you to WildKat25 for the whole "You're very pretty" scenario. (See? I told you I'd do it! ) Another thing: the wind serpent was my idea. Once again, I must point out that my Naruto knowledge isn't exactly the most impressive!

Manatheron I had to read your review several times to work out what you said, (I'm kinda slow...) I'm still not sure weather I get it or not, but no, Naruto would not have to do that to calm her down. It's a great idea, though! I hope the rest of your questions were answered in this chapter!

Nadyell Well wow, what can I say? You pointed out some things I didn't even think about! If you recall, I said the only, I repeat, the only reason kyuubi is a middle-class demon is because he can't take on a humanoid form. He could probably overpower most high-class demons, as most high-class demons aren't really all that powerful, compared to Kyuubi's standards, that is. (You'll find out about that later...) If you remember, I said it took several demons to kick Kyuubi out of death. Thanks again!

Blackcrimson Thanks for the review!