Boom! I'm on a roll!

Incredibly jumpy chapter, but bare with me!

xo

"Tomoko?"

I could hear someone calling me in the distance, but I didn't pay much attention to them. I was lazing in a field of long golden grass, the plants tickled my skin. Laying flat on my back, I watched the bright, blue skies above me.

"Tomoko? where are you?"

I frowned as the voice continued to disturb my peace. Slowly I sat up and stretched my arms, yawning along the way. I looked around the area, all I could see was endless fields, sparkling in the sun. "I'm here!" I yelled back, rather annoyed.

I gazed at my lap, where my hands where resting. Blinking a couple of times, it was only now, I noticed that they were a lot smaller than I remember. I looked down at my body, to see I was now wearing a white, hand-made dress and no shoes. I was no longer thirteen, I was now four years of age.

Lifting my left hand up, I stared at it quizzically. Another thing I noticed, I was no longer wearing my vambrace, too be honest everything was a little strange. How did I even get here? I'd figured that I would remember.

"Tomoko!?" A voice called again, but it just seemed to echo through my ears and fade away. Then, out of no where. A beautiful, white Pieridae butterfly landed on my left hand. It's snow-white wings flexed up and down, as if it was waving hello at me. I could feel its long, thin antennae's brush against me skin.

"Hello there" I greeted softly. The Butterfly seemed to react to my voice, as it turned itself around to look up at me, its antennae moving up and down. "Is this your home?" I asked it, "it's very pretty?"

The butterfly took flight, and gently landed on my nose, causing me to giggle. "Hey! That tickles!"

The butterfly flapped its wings again and remained hovering in front of me. Used my hands to push myself up to stand, the butterfly still in my company.

"Do.. you want to show me something?" I asked.

The butterfly circled around my head, I assumed it meant yes.

"Sasuke-kun!"

I paused my actions and looked around again, that voice… it wasn't the same from before. It was a young girl, maybe about thirteen years old, it was incredibly annoying.

"No! They got Tomoko to!"

How did this person know my name? And why did this… Sasuke sound so familiar?

"I… I can't tell whether she's alive or not. There's so much blood."

Now it was a voice of an elderly man, what is going on?

"She… she's not moving… and Sasuke-Kun…"

There was a long pause, till I heard slight sobbing.

"You don't have to hold back just because I'm here, you should just cry at a time like this."

"Hello?" I called, "is anyone there?"

The butterfly appeared in front of me again, and then fluttered off into another direction. not wanting to lose it, I hastily ran after it.

"Hey!" I shouted "don't leave me alone here!"

As I ran after it, images appeared around me. Some were of my family, others were of three people. Like scenes from a movie, they played out different moments of my life, and the people I met.

"Mother… Haruo" they smiling faces appeared before me.

"SASUKE-KUN!" the annoying girl's voice cried out. An image of a girl with pink hair flashed before me…

"Sak..ura…?"

Then another deep voice came into the mix, a young male's.

"Sakura… that hurts."

Now this voice was very familiar, but I could quite place it.

"Don't move!" the girl ordered. But it seemed this male… ignored her. "Where's Naruto? and Tomoko? What happened to that masked guy?" he asked.

"Naruto is safe" she replied, "But… Tomoko..."

Naruto… I know Naruto! But this wasn't his voice, his was high-pitched.

"What about her? where is she Sakura?!" The boy was now yelling.

I could hear the girl begin to sob again, and there was silence. Until the boy cried out in such misery, it broke my heart.

The butterfly suddenly stopped, making me do the same. It was then it showed me a scene of three people, one elderly man standing, a young pink haired girl crying into her hands, and a young, hansom boy, with raven black hair… cradling something in his arms.

I couldn't see at first, but soon I could see brown hair, and an limp arm hanging to the floor, wearing a metal vambrace.

"Wait… that's… me!"

"I'm sorry…Tomoko" the boy sobbed, "I'm sorry for everything I said that hurt you, It was never my intention!"

This boy… was crying over me. I knew this person… he was my friend… my best friend!

"Sasuke…?"

"Please... just come back! You have to come back!"

Sasuke was now lost for words, and conitined to embrace my body tightly, as if it were about to disappear.

Now, I had no desire to be here any longer… I wanted to stay with my friend. I was surprised that the butterfly was still around. "Please…" I begged at it "can I go back? I'll do anything please?"

But the insect began to fly away… fading out into the distance.

"Death, will not claim you this day, Mori Tomoko"

A bright light blinded my sight, then darkness.

The first thing I felt was warmth of another, then something cold landing on my face.

'Snow?'

"Kakashi-sensei? She… She…"

"Hush Sakura..." my sensei told her. I was still in the person's embrace, but I now felt two new fingertips pressed against my wrist.

There was a long pause, "She's alive…"

I felt the person jolt, "what?!"

So it was Sasuke still holding me, would it sound incredibly bitchy to say that I was surprised?

Probably.

"There's still a pulse, I don't know how or why. She's lost a ridiculous amount of blood, she really is one hell of a fighter." Kakashi commented.

"Sasuke… quit squeezing so hard!"

I managed to find my voice, which caused everyone to gasp around me. Slowly, my eyes began to flutter open. The sudden light stinging my eyes, then I was met with a pair of tear-filled caracole black.

"Tomoko-chan!" I heard Naruto yell gleefully, "I knew you'd be alright, I just knew it!"

I noticed there were a lot more people here now, maybe the whole village? Crowding around me. Watching me with relief… Sakura had now happy tears in her eyes, and Kakashi gave me a soft smile.

Tazuna looked like he'd been crying, but was now grinning, along with Inari.

"Wha… happened?" I managed to ask.

"Haku and Zabuza are dead, as well as Gatoh, our battle is over" Kakashi explained.

I let out a sigh of relief "Good, now I can…. I can…"

"Tomoko?" my sensei asked cautiously.

Sasuke, who had yet to say a word, stared down at me in a panic. "What's happening?! Kakashi!?"

Immediately Kakashi took me from him, things were becoming blurry again. My body became numb and my breathing harsh.

"She's going into some kind of septic shock" I heard him confirmed.

"W-what's that?" Sakura spluttered.

I felt my body being lifted up into a strong pair of arms, "Tazuna-san, we need antibiotics and a drip, if we treat her now, she might be able to make it."

"Might!?" Sasuke bellowed "What do you mean might!?"

"Sasuke, now isn't the time for anger" Kakashi told him, "focus on your own wounds, I'll look after her."

"This way" Tazuna told him, and immediately I felt Kakashi's fast paced foot steps.

"Hang on there Tomoko" he whispered.

The gentle rocking of Kakashi's body, lulled me into a sleep… and made me close my eyes again, my battle was over… now I could rest.

"It was a close call, but she's going to be alright" I heard an unfamiliar voice explain, "I also pulled the needles out of her stomach, thankfully there wasn't too much internal damage, but I suggest she goes straight to the hospital, as soon as you get back."

I heard the door close, sun rays hit my face, bringing comforting heat to my face.

After a couple of hours, I began to stir.

"What day is it?" I asked, slowly opening my eyes. I glanced to the left, seeing my sensei sitting on a chair, his book held open firmly in his hand.

"Oh, you're awake?" Kakashi mused, closing his book, "and its a Saturday."

I blinked a couple of times "Saturday?"

He placed his book on the side table, "you were in treatment for two days, none of us were aloud to see you."

I slowly began to push my upper body agains the headboard, "two days treatment for septic shock?"

"No" he answered simply. "There were more needles imbedded into your body than we thought, so we had to carefully take out what we can."

I cradled my forehead in my hand, which was heavily bandaged "What… happened?"

"What do you remember?"

"I remember Sasuke… Sasuke!?"

"Is perfectly fine" Kakashi cut in, "you clearly don't remember him when you woke up the first time."

"I remember… Naruto and Haku facing each other" I breathed, massaging my temple. "Naruto was… different…."

"Pain can play many tricks on the mind" Kakashi told me.

"I know what I saw!" I snapped, "At least I think I do..."

Kakashi leaned forward slightly "calm down, you are in no position to do anything drastic."

I relaxed slightly, Kakashi was intentionally dodging this particular matter.

"Do you remember me telling you about Haku and Zabuza?" he asked.

I nodded "yeah they died, how?"

"Haku sacrificed himself to save his master, I… ended up killing him."

My eyes widened "What? then how did Zabuza die!?"

Kakashi gazed downwards "Gatoh turned against him, and had his samurai attacked him. But Zabuza got to him first and killed first… Zabuza then died from his injuries, but he passed in peace."

I was silent for a moment, what more could be said? This was the life of a ninja. Hell… it nearly happened to me! Death is just another path, that is what Mistuko teaches us, but it is a path we can never come back from.

Suddenly, the door to my room swung open, "Tomoko-chan?"

There in the door, was the unmistakable orange wearing, blonde haired ninja.

"Tomoko-chan's awake!" Naruto exclaimed happily. He then ran towards my bed and jumped on it, sitting on the edge.

"Naruto careful!" Kakashi scold, but naruto paid no attention. Because he pulled me into a tight embrace, he was however, wary not to hold on to me too tight.

I smiled as I too began to wrap my arms around him, "I'm sorry Naruto, I was careless before. I worried you..."

He shook his head "don't be silly, I was the one that was suppose to protect you ya know?"

As we pulled away from our hug, Sakura came to the door way with eyes the size of saucers.

"Tomoko! I thought it was Naruto pulling a sick prank!" she stated running in as well, she was now standing next to Kakashi.

Naruto pulled a horrified expression "Sakura-chan! I could you think something like that?!"

"How couldn't she?" I joked.

By this time Naruto had mock tears in his eyes "not you to…"

Sakura couldn't help but laugh, but soon turned her attention back to me "I'm happy you're alright, you had us really worried."

Things became a little awkward, I wasn't really sure what to make of it at first. So to ease the tension, I shot her a smile and a nod, letting her know that I appreciated it.

I searched around the room for my finale team member, only he was no where to be seen.

'Where is he?'

"Sasuke will come in his own time" Kakashi whispered to me, Naruto and Sakura were too busy having a conversation to hear him.

I pulled a puzzled expression "what do you mean?"

"You both went through a lot, and both sustained a lot of damage" he explained. "He nearly lost his life, and then his teammate in a matter of minutes, give him time to mend."

I'll admit, I was a little upset that he wasn't here to see me, especially after everything we went through. But I did understand, a lot was on the line for us, and Naruto… speak of the devil.

"Naruto what happened to you're injuries?"

Everyone became silent, Kakashi threw me a disapproving look. Sakura just looked very confused, I'm not surprised, she didn't see what happened… but I did.

"Oh er… well… you've been out for a couple of days Tomoko-chan!" he told me with a nervous smile, "you know how fast I heal."

I gave him a suspicious stare, which made him very uncomfortable. He was a terrible liar, because he was never good at hiding his emotions.

"Alright! We should really let Tomoko rest" Kakashi cut in, standing up. He managed scurry Sakura out of the room, and Naruto followed behind… as least that's what I thought he was doing. But it seemed he changed his mind and remained standing in the doorway, his back facing me.

"Naruto?" I called "is everything alright?"

He didn't say anything, instead, looked down the corridor, and gently closed the door. He remained there for a while, as if he was trying to convince himself about something.

"Naruto…" I began "what happened with Haku? After Sasuke… er… got hurt."

No words from him. So I kept going.

"I saw… your chakra changed, and it took the form of a fox. Why did it do that?"

Once again, no response, so I tried a different approach.

"Do you remember when I told you about my village?" I asked.

Finally he turned to face me, and gave me a nod. "Well, not a lot of people know about that" I carefully explained. "I mean, its not like its a kept secret among the village. But… I'm not singing to the winds about it you know?"

Naruto began pacing slow lying, scratching the back of his head.

"Only two people my age know the details of why I'm here, because I don't particularly like talking about it. But I trusted you enough to tell you, even though its really hard for my to open up about."

I couldn't help but laugh slightly "I guess what I'm trying to say is, I trust you enough to tell you my secret. If something is troubling you, you can tell me, you know that right?"

"It's not that simple" he finally spoke.

I raised an eyebrow "it's not that simple, or are you not making it that simple?"

He nervously glanced out the window, "I can't talk about it… at least not here!"

I turned my head to the door, then at the window "then lets get out of here!"

"Wha?" Was all he could say, as I threw over my bed covers and swung my legs to the side. "Whoah hang on a second! You can't do that!" He cried.

I shot him an amused look, "are you seriously gonna lecture me on this?" A smile crept upon his face, "You? The number one prankster in the village!?"

He was laughing now, clearly realising that he held no argument, in stopping me from leaving this room. Being wary of my stomach, I slowly walked across the room, towards the window. Pushing it opened, I poked my head put to check if the coast was clear.

"We can sit on the pier" I stated and went to climb out, but a sharp pain shot up into my stomach, halting my movement.

"Er… maybe I should go first?" Naruto suggested. I nodded agreeing, and stepped back to let him through. Effortlessly he jumped out and turned back to me, holding his hand out.

Grasping it, he helped me out and proceeded to help me walk to the pier. We sat on the edge, staring into the blue lake. We remained quiet for a short while, taking the time to enjoy the scenery.

Finally, Naruto began to talk.

"There's a reason why all the grown ups treat me so badly" he told me, "but I only found out why just recently."

And that's what began Naruto to spill his heart out. First, it was him telling me how a nine tailed demon fox, the Kyuubi, attacked the village twelve years ago. I of course knew about this, even though I wasn't living in the village at the time. But you had to be living under a rock, if you never heard about this tragedy of the Fourth Hokage sacrificing himself, the protect his people.

"So… what's that got to do with you?" I quizzed.

He took a breath, "when I.. failed the Genin exam, Mizuki-sensei told me about this forbidden scroll, and inside it was a technique that if I could learn it, I would be able to graduate."

I scratched my temple "and you stole it" I stated, more than asked.

Naruto smiled slightly "it wasn't one of my greatest moments."

I shook my head back and forth in a jokey manner, "no but, mistakes happen. So what happened after that?"

"I was able to learn one technique, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?"

I raised my eyebrow "the clone jutsu you always use?"

'That's forbidden?'

Naruto nodded, "Suddenly, Mizuki-sensei turned up and demanded me to hand over the scroll. Then Iruka-sensei showed up and told me that Mizuki was using me to get the scroll for himself." His eyes suddenly started shifting all over the area, and becoming very nervous, "When I wouldn't hand over the scroll, Mizuki-sensei then told me there was a law, that the Hokage made after the nine tails' attack. It was a law everyone knew, but me."

'A law?'

Naruto took a breath, as if he was ready to give me the final blow. "The law was, that no one could me tell that the Kyuubi, the nine tails fox, that had nearly destroyed our whole village… is sealed inside of me."

I couldn't help but gasp, and cover my mouth with my hand. I always thought that the Fourth died after defeated the Kyuubi, but passing away after sealing it inside someone? And the container, was Naruto. The same boy struggled so much in the academy, yet always had a smile on his face, despite the isolation and the teasing. How could this gentle person, carry a demon inside of him.

The graduation was two months ago, so he's not long known about it himself, yet he's continued to be the same goofy knucklehead. How someone could deal with all that, was amazing to me. He must have gone through so much pain, learning that dreadful truth. Yhe thought of me and Sasuke dying, was too much for him, and that's what caused him to snap, losing control of the Kyuubi.

"So…"

His voice brought me out of my thoughts, even though it was a whisper, it seemed to echo in my ears.

"Do… you hate me now, Tomoko?" He held his gaze firmly on the water, as if he was bracing himself for something negative, that was going to be thrown at him.

I blinked at him a couple of times, he thought I hated him?

"Where'd you get that impression?" I asked giggling slightly.

Naruto looked up at me in surprised, "what do you mean?"

I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing, so much it shot pains into my stomach, but I didn't care. Nothing could dampen my amusement.

"What?!" he demanded, thinking I was laughing at him.

But I only got worse, which became infectious, as he soon joined in.

Finally we calmed down, and I placed a hand on his shoulder. "The Kyuubi is a very dark part of the village's history, and I'll admit, you did scare me."

Naruto once again looked down, so I gave his shoulder a soft shake, to make I'm look at me again.

"But I know that you didn't choose this to happen, and that you would neverintentionally let the demon out." I paused so I could take a small breath, "you thought me and Sasuke had died, your mind wasn't in the right state. Naruto, I could never hate you for having the Kyuubi inside of you, because I know that there's more to you than just some kid carrying a very cranky fox."

Naruto chuckled and stared back out to the water with a smile on his face, "You know? I never planned on telling anyone."

I removed my hand from his shoulder and to, stared into the lake "its a heavy burden to bare, you would've have gone mad."

"Thank you…" he said in an honestly tone, "I've never had someone in my life as understanding as you."

I grinned, I couldn't resist leaning forward, and placing a quick peck on his cheek. I retreated just as fast, and I had never seen Naruto turn so red.

"Come on" I said "we better get back before we get caught."

"Too late…"

Me and Naruto jumped in surprise at the new presence behind us.

"Ahhh Sasuke!" Naruto shrieked and stood up suddenl,y with his hands held in a defence notion. "It's… not what it looks like!"

"What are you talking about dope?" Sasuke asked in an irritated tone.

"Ah… nothing!" The other boy replied anxiously.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, then turned his attention to me "you're suppose to be resting."

I shrugged "I wanted some fresh air, and I asked Naruto to keep me company, no harm done."

Sasuke stared upwards "yes, excepted that doctors have ordered you to remain in bed, and that moving around can reopen your wounds, because this place doesn't have the medical care to fully treat you."

I shot a quick look at Naruto, then back at mister grumpy, "Alright I'm sorry, I'll go back to bed!"

But Sasuke didn't believe me, as he stormed over, and pulled me by my to stand up.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing!?"

But I didn't get a verbal answer. iIstead, he picked me up bridle style, and started walking back to the house.

I didn't make it easy though.

"Put me down! Right now!" I exclaimed, throwing a few punches on his chest. Sasuke did well not to drop me, since I was hitting him pretty hard! In any right human mind, this is a terrible idea, considering my stomach was barely keeping itself together, and I was suppose to be in bed.

So I didn't really think this through, but I was pissed off god damn it! Who the hell does he think he is!? storming in and just snatching me away.

I'm injured! not dying!

"What's going on out here?!" Kakashi demanded stepping out of the house, Sakura in tow, only to be completely taken back, at the sight of Sasuke carrying me back in down the hallway, with me kicking and screaming all the way.

"Sasuke-kun?!" she gasped.

"SASUKE! IF YOU DON'T PUT ME DOWN! I'M GONNA SHOVE YOU IN A MEAT GRINDER AND FEED YOUR BODY PARTS TO KAKASHI'S DOGS!"

Not the most charming thing to come out of my mouth, but like I said... I was pissed off!

"Naruto what's going on?" I heard Sakura ask.

"Sasuke just picked her up" was all he replied.

Soon followed a hard slam from my bedroom door, leaving me and him, completely alone.