Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

Fear of death had never been something Ophis had felt.

In her long existence, she had known her life would go on forever, but this was the first time that she had ever come face to face with death. Through many life times of observing humans and travelling among them in their form, this was the first form that she had taken that had almost experienced the finality of death.

'... I couldn't fight back...'

Ophis went over the battle in her head.

Whenever she had tried to attack one of them, the others would attack her first. No matter what, she wasn't able to dodge their attacks without them planning for it. When she thought she dodged, she got hit by invisible attacks, and when she didn't get hit by invisible attacks, their teamwork overwhelmed her. Then there was the man that kept fusing with her shadow to paralyze her for periods of time, and when she finally was able to move and throw an attack of her own, they just sealed her attacks away like they didn't exist. She had been forced into a physical fight, and she had no experience with that.

She was not a hand to hand fighter.

She had amazing strength, speed, and durability, but those men had greater speed and strength than she had, their strength exceeded what her durability was, and their hand to hand abilities so vastly outclassed her. She had never once learned hand to hand in her life, and finally meeting enemies who had better physical abilities showed her how flawed she was. With her magical power useless in battle, and her opponent on level with her or stronger in the physical department, her lack of combat skills had left her helpless.

Then there was the young one.

"Say aaaaah."

Ophis didn't open her mouth as she looked at the blond boy that was trying to feed her, Naruto Uzumaki, who looked startling like the young energy man that had put her into critical condition. The strongest of the 4, the one who had immeasurable raw energy in his body, two sources of it, and physical stats that blew her out of the water. The second he had joined the fight truly, she had stood no chance at all of even trying to escape the combat.

'... Great Red is dead, but I can't go home.' Ophis wasn't used to feeling her feelings.

She knew what happiness was, it was the feeling that she felt when she could enjoy the silence of her home, or when she could eat something sweet. It was the feeling that came when she thought about killing Great Red before. She knew what annoyance was as well, it was the feeling of Red being in her home and causing so much noise, and how her people were taking so long to get strong enough to kill Great Red for her, or at least help her due it.

This was a different feeling.

She just felt like all of the life had been sucked out of her, that there wasn't even a point in trying to go back home. As long as those 4 men were there, the second she went back she was going to end up dead. She doubted her forces would be able to do much against them, they killed Great Red without mercy, and they would have killed her.

"Fine, you're not hungry, lets change your bandages then."

For three days this boy had been taking care of her and helping her recovery, and she hadn't said a single word to him. She had not told the boy her name no matter how much she talked, and she had not told him what had happened. She didn't shake her head yes or no to any of his questions, and other than looking at him, she tried not to give him the satisfaction of noticing his efforts to help her at all.

"Naruto, stop stripping the loli and get ready to train."

"I'm not stripping... well... it's for medical reasons!" Naruto argued against Jiraiya.

Ophis looked at the large man, the one who matched the physical body type of those 3 energy men perfectly. His energy was a perfect match, but unlike the emotionless energy men, he was expressive and kind, but perverted. She didn't care for him too much, and she didn't talk to him either. She allowed Naruto to strip the bandages off of her body and show her wounds, the wounds that were taking almost all of her power to heal properly. Whatever evil corrosive power the Energy Boy had used against her was so foul that not even her strong powers could completely fight the corrosive properties of it.

This boy had that same power inside of him.

That man gave off the same energy as those 3 men.

She watched them, and it wasn't like she could do anything against them even if she wanted to. She was weakened, she was hardely a threat to even the blond girl at the moment. The one that looked after her while Naruto was at school. She glanced at Naruto as he took a rag and started to wash her body, cleaning her wounds as he did so. He smiled a big dumb grin at her, and she just looked at her limp arms.

It was not like she was capable of moving her arms very much to clean herself.

Her bones weren't fully healed yet, and her torn muscles had not been repaired either. She couldn't shapeshift, her body was in such an unstable state that trying to use any of the powers she had caused her untold amounts of pain. Pain that before recently, she had never once felt through out her life.

Pain was new.

She didn't like it.

"She's a lost cause Naruto, quickly change her bandages and lets go." Jiraiya stated as he loaded up his scroll onto his back. "If the loli wants to sulk in depression, let her." Jiraiya was sick of seeing this sulking dragon pity itself.

He knew exactly who this was.

The genderless shapeshifting dragon Ophis, he had never met the dragon personally before, but he knew that it existed. He had no time or pity for something that was throwing itself a pity party, refusing to tell anyone what had happened to it.

Screw it.

Ophis raised her hand, and she gathered what little energy she had. She sent a blast of her power towards the table across the room, and she destroyed the book she had seen the large man writing when Naruto was not home. She destroyed it right there, knowing that it was something he cared greatly for. She took satisfaction in the way that Jiraiya glared at her, before he took a deep breath and just smiled, as if he were forgiving her.

Annoyance was what that caused her.

She had destroyed his book purely for the sake of pissing him off, because he said she was throwing a pity party for herself, but he just accepted the loss of his work like it was nothing important.

"Seems your recovering a little, I'll wash your hair when I get back. See you later."

Naruto and Jiraiya left her alone with Asia.

-12 Hours Later-

Ophis didn't resist as Naruto washed her hair, giving her a real bath. It felt nice to soak in the water, but she didn't enjoy it or allow herself to enjoy herself.

She had lost her home.

She had assembled an army to kill Great Red, she had selected most of them after considering how their abilities would work against the dragon. Now she had no idea how their abilities would work against these opponents, and there were 4 of them. She gave up, she had no reason to even try to go back home when her home was well beyond her reach forever.

"Don't worry, we'll get you healed up in no time!"

'This boy is the one who sealed that crack going through the Gap... his energy had been used to seal up the crack between the worlds.' Ophis realized who this boy really was now. She had sensed several people using her home to travel between the worlds, and she knew a crack had formed in her home. Each time a person came through the crack, the crack healed a little, and a copy of that person was formed inside of her home. Usually they were just super weak normal humans, but she guessed these were the warriors from that world, instead of the regular folks.

She guessed he understood how she felt.

With the crack in the gap filled up, there was no way for him to return to his home either. He was in the exact same position that she was in, lost without any real place to call a home. Her home was out of her reach due to the powerful beings in it, and his home was out of his reach, sealed away somewhere else.

Her picked her up and took her out of the bath, before dying them both off, getting dressed, and putting new bandages on her body.

"Kill yourself."

"... That's a mean thing to say." Naruto deadpanned at her, the very first thing she told him to do was to kill himself. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and helped get her back into the futon she was using, the one that he had originally been sleeping in since Asia was in his bedroom. Naruto just shrugged off her comment and got onto the couch, laying down like her words had no effect on him.

"You'll never go back home, I, think you should kill yourself."

Ophis looked directly at Naruto, even as he looked away from her.

'Ah, she's trying to talk herself into killing herself... she must have lost her home.' Naruto turned around and made eye contact with her. He scooted closer to her, before he put his hands on his knees and just grinned.

She stared him down with lifeless eyes.

She saw him grin even wider.

"What are you talking about, home isn't just some place you go. Home is a place you belong, where there are people who care about you. If you lose your home, you can always find a new one." Naruto grinned, he showed all of his teeth. He put his hand on over her heart and just kept grinning like a fool.

"You're a fool."

"I would rather be a fool than give up hope. Don't worry, if you lost your home, I'll be your new home. I'll care about you, so no matter what, you can always call the place I'm at your home." Naruto told Ophis.

She just stared at him.

"I, am Ophis... you are a fool... but you're interesting. I, am hungry. Bring me a snack-" Ophis was smacked on the side of the head for her words.

"Ask nicely."

"I, did."

"You say "Can you please get me something to eat" you don't just demand good... now try again!" Naruto smacked her head again just to drive the point across.

Ophis was confused.

He reacted with smiles and grins when she gave him the advice to kill himself, but her being rude to him about wanting something sweet was where he drew the line? She had no idea what kind of logic that was, but she didn't like to be hit for it.

"I, do not wish to be hit."

"Then ask nicely.

"... Please feed me." Ophis relented, since she didn't see this stubborn young man backing down on this. Her went to the kitchen and brought her the lunch that she had refused to eat earlier, and she stared at him. "I, do not want this. I, want sweets."

Naruto raised his hand.

She stared at him, before she opened her mouth and prepared to eat whatever he fed her. She was injured and did not want to keep getting hit. When he was done feeding her, he went to go sleep on the couch, but she grabbed his ankle.

"What's up Ophis?"

"... You are my home now... correct?" Ophis asked for clarification.

He just grinned.

"Of course, and once you want to tell me what happened-"

"I, do not ever want to speak of it." Ophis had no plans on ever reliving what had happened to her again. Still, this boy had crossed through the Gap, and the scent of the Gap never left. He smelled like her home, and he was claiming he would be willing to be what she could call home. He was not silent, but he had a pleasant aura about him. She stared at Naruto with a critical eye for several minutes as he smiled at her.

He got into the futon with her.

No, he didn't smell like her home, or rather he did smell like it, but not because he had crossed through it. He gave off the same lonely aura that her home had to it, and she liked that. Deep in his very soul was the concept of a person who gave off the feeling of being alone. It was in his aura and his scent, and she liked it.

"Here, I know I snore, so some earplugs."

Ophis actually smiled when she put earplugs in and closed her eyes, experiencing total silence with the smell of her home right next to her. She just laid down next to Naruto and went to sleep without a second thought.

-The Next Day-

Ophis did not leave Naruto's side.

She didn't talk to Naruto or anyone else that day, but she didn't leave Naruto's side either. She used her strength to get up on her own two feet and follow after Naruto, staying within 3 feet of his body. When Naruto realized she was not going to stop following him, he just returned to the apartment.

It would look weird to have a bandaged up loli following him everywhere.

Chapter End!
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