This chapter was pretty rough to write, but I think it's necessary for the character growth that I'm looking for.

Thanks for reading!

Chapter Ten - Birthdays and Darkness

The academy days go about as I expect. Mizuki still attempted to sabotage Naruto and me at every chance he got. Most of these attempts were caught by myself or Naruto, with Iruka noticing a few. Somehow, even after all the repeated issues that only occurred with us, he still hasn't been fired. I don't understand how, when he is blatantly sabotaging the village's jinchuriki and top academy student. It seems strange that it can be misconstrued as continual accidents, but I'm almost positive that Iruka has caught on by now.

Naruto and I are celebrating our eleventh birthday with the Hokage after classes are over today.

As we start to head out, Kayana runs up and calls to us as she does almost every day after classes, "Ayo, Naruto, do you want to spar today before we leave?" She seems almost pleading as she asks. A recurring theme that I've noticed over the years.

Naruto is the one to respond. "Ehhhh. Sorry Kayana, we're going out to celebrate our birthday today. We can spar tomorrow though!"

She deflates almost immediately, shoulders sagging. "O-ok. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

'This feels wrong, something's up. We've stayed after with her almost every day since we met, but I always thought she was just working harder because she's civilian born. Today is the first time we've told her no. It almost seems like she doesn't want to go home and is looking for an excuse not to.'

I reach out and place a hand on her shoulder as she walks by. "Why don't you join us? You're our only friend here and we'd love for you to come out to eat with us."

She turns around to look at me, almost seeming hopeful. "I would love to… But I don't have any money, and I didn't know it was your birthday, so I didn't get you guys any presents."

Showing a warm smile, I reply, "That's fine, you being there is gift enough and the person taking us out won't mind if you come along. C'mon, we're meeting them by the Hokage's office." I grab her hand and pull her along before she can reject.

As we finish the short walk to the office, Naruto glances at me, looking for confirmation that the Hokage is the only one present. Checking with my senses, I nod. Naruto then proceeds to kick the door open with his full strength and yells, "WE'RE HERE OLD MAN. LET'S GO! TIME FOR RAMEN!"

Completely ignoring Naruto, Hiruzen looks at me as I walk in, almost dragging a stunned Kayana trying to hide behind me, and sighs in exasperation while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why do you let him do this?"

Shrugging, I reply. "It's better you than me… Besides, I make sure he doesn't do anything when you have guests."

Naruto butts in pouting, "Yea! Ayo doesn't let me do half the pranks I want to anyway. Like how he always stops me from gluing people's shoes to the floor!"

After a lengthy, flat stare at Naruto, Hiruzen turns back to me and asks, "Who's this hiding behind you?"

My face looking as unimpressed as possible at him pretending to not know one of our classmates, I pull Kayana forward and gesture between the Hokage and her, "Gramps, this is Kayana, our friend from class. Kayana, this is the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, The God of Shinobi." I finish with a smile, "you can just call him Old Man or Geezer."

Chuckling, but not refuting my choice of names for him he asks, "Well, shall we get going before Naruto destroys my office with his impatience?"

Naruto stops halfway through using a vase for target practice and jumps towards the door. "YEAAAA! LET'S GO!"

As he crosses the doorway Kayana squeaks out, "L-Lord Hokage… Is it really ok for me to come? I-I don't have any money to pay for my food."

Donning his trademarked grandfatherly smile, he replies. "Of course it is my dear. A friend of these two trouble makers is always welcomed."

As soon as he finishes, Naruto's voice echoes from outside the tower. "C'MON YOU GUYS, HURRY UP!"

Shaking his head, the Hokage gestures to the door. "Let's go before he causes an even bigger commotion."

Dinner was at Ichiraku's of course. There's no way it could ever be anywhere else if Naruto was involved.

Upon arriving, we were greeted by an excited Ayame and Teuchi, who cheered and hit us with confetti as we entered. They had hung a banner from the ceiling with our names on it.

Naruto jumps up to a seat and exclaims, "Old Man Teuchi! The Geezer is paying today, so I'm going all out! Triple the usual order!"

Teuchi chuckles before responding. "Of course! Coming right up!" Ayame takes the rest of our orders and starts to help with the cooking.

We ate and laughed until late at night. I should say everyone other than Kayana. As the night wore on she became more and more subdued. Looking increasingly worried and frightened.

She wouldn't tell me what was wrong and refused whenever I asked if she had a curfew, or needed to go home.

Eventually, the celebration came to an end, a little before midnight. As we started to leave, I turned to the Hokage and asked, "Would you mind making sure Naruto gets home ok? I'm going to walk Kayana to her house."

Glancing between Kayana and me, he nods and smiles, before following Naruto. "Of course. And again, Happy Birthday."

Smiling in return, "Thanks Gramps!"

I then turn to Kayana and ask, "You live in the civilian sector?"

Looking at her feet she responds meekly, "Y-yes."

Frowning, I place my hands on her shoulders and ask, "Are you ok? You've been acting strangely all evening."

"I'm fine," she responds and begins to walk towards her house, still without raising her head.

I fall in step beside her.

The silence between us terrifies me. Kayana wouldn't tell me what was wrong and I don't want to push her.

Eventually, we reach a house with no distinguishing features and Kayana comes to a stop. She continues staring down at her feet, not saying a word.

Sighing, I pull her into a hug, shocking her. "If you need anything, all you need to do is ask. Naruto and I will always be there for you."

After a moment she shakily returns the hug and I feel her nod into my shoulder before she breaks off the hug and enters the house, closing the door behind her.

I stand there for several minutes, mentally arguing with myself, trying to decide if I did the right thing by not pushing her. Something had very clearly upset her.

Shaking my head I decide to head home and try to talk to her tomorrow. As I round the side of the house I suddenly get a sinking feeling deep in my gut.

As if on instinct I review the memories from the point Kayana closed the door. This time, however, I bypass the mental filter I built, which prevents me from invading the privacy of everyone in the village.

Warning: The following scene contains child abuse, including attempted sexual abuse. If you wish to skip this, there will be another notice after the scenes where you can continue reading.

After closing the door Kayana begins to sneak up a staircase towards what I presume to be her room. Before taking the final step a man carrying a mostly empty liquor bottle, who I can only believe is her father, rounds the corner and grabs her by the throat, lifting her off her feet.

Heavily intoxicated, swaying as he slurs out, "Where the fuck have you been? Off with the friends that you claim to have huh?" Seeming to contemplate to himself before continuing, "It doesn't matter anyway. You know you're supposed to be home before nightfall."

Crying and gasping for air, Kayana tries to respond but is unable before he drops her and throws the bottle at her, smashing it across her head, an act that would have likely killed her if not for her moving at the last minute and minimizing the damage.

He doesn't stop there, however. Grabbing ahold of her hair, he pulls her up. "All those years training to be a ninja, and this is all you have to show for it?" He smacks her across the face before continuing. "It's about time we get you started on the advanced lessons that they teach all the female ninja." His disgusting face somehow becomes even worse as he drops his pants.

Still crying, Kayana only mumbles one word. "A-ayo."

Scene End

A half-second passes while I review my memories.

Mid-step my world turns red. All I can see is what's happening only a few feet away. Something that I could have prevented.

My chakra boils beneath my skin, itching to be let free. For the first time, I cut loose and use the full extent of my power. No longer bound. No longer withheld and hidden.

The next instant I draw two kunai, activate my super-strength technique, and take a single step. With that step, I move in a straight line, crashing directly through the walls separating me from my mistake, as if they were paper.

In a flash, I stand with Kayana in my arms next to a freshly made, one-armed eunuch. Fortunately for him, he blacked out immediately from the shock before he could even process the pain.

As I take a step towards the soon-to-be corpse the Hokage appears next to me, takes one look at the scene, and places a hand upon my shoulder, speaking softly, "Ayo, you did well. Let me take it from here."

Gritting my teeth, I take several deep breaths in an attempt to control my fury. Finally, a tenuous grasp on myself, I respond at a volume bordering on yelling. "He deserves to die! You can see what he did!"

Squeezing my shoulder, he responds gently. "He'll endure a life worse than death in prison. You did your part. You protected Kayana. Killing him will not do anything more for her. Take her to your house and I'll come to see you both when I'm done here."

Before I can respond, I feel Kayana's arms wrap around my neck and her head press into my chest, followed by muffled words. "Thank you, Ayo. I didn't think you would actually come."

Smiling I respond, "Of course, I did say you only needed to ask… Let's get you away from here while the geezer takes care of things." My smile falters when I notice the blood running down the side of her head. "We'll stop by the hospital and get you checked out before heading home," I say before walking off.

After a quick trip to the hospital, with a medic quickly healing Kayana's injuries, and placing her sleeping figure in a guest room, I find myself standing next to an unusually silent Naruto.

Finally breaking the silence, he growls out, "Bro… What's going on? I knew something was up, but never expected you to come back with her with freshly healed injuries."

Clenching my fists, I explain the situation. By the time I finish, Naruto is shaking in rage, to the point that I'm worried he might start leaking Nine-Tails chakra.

In an attempt to diffuse the situation I ask, "Are you ok if she moves in with us? I don't think she has anyone else to rely on. I don't want her to have to live in the orphanage if I can help it."

Blinking, Naruto responds, "That's a great idea!"

As soon as he says that the compound's seals alert me that the Hokage has arrived. "Well, let's head down and get it sorted out with the old man then."