A/N: The promised day.

Enjoy!

Chapter 12

Charlie scowled.

The girl in front of her, the crazy ass girl in front of her, waved her kunai tauntingly at her. That same Cheshire smile graced her thin lips as she said, "Why don't we go outside?"

"Why don't you put your kunai away before you make both of us look like idiots," Charlie retorted. Hazel eyes flashed to the corner of the room, where Haruna was ducking behind a purse display.

That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because Akiko's pale face flushed with her anger and she stomped forward until she could rest the knife against Charlie's throat. "I don't think you get it!" she hissed. "Nobody helps that little hellspawn! Do you know why?" She leaned closer, until Charlie could see the ice in her blue eyes, and said, "Because he killed people."

She reeled back and laughed. "Nobody wanted to tell us, but I don't know why. My parents didn't care, they told me straight out. Don't you feel stupid now? Don't you feel dumb, for helping him?!"

Charlie opened her mouth, but closed it again as the knife reappeared under her chin. "You should. You should feel really stupid, miss top-of-the-class." Then, Akiko shrugged, and holstered her kunai. "But hey, I'm a nice girl. I can let it slide. You are new, after all. You just have to do what I say, and climb right back down the ranks." Her smile turned ugly as she added, "And bring that demon down with you. I don't care how you do it."

'Their hatred runs deeper than I thought,' Charlie thought, lips turning down. It was sad. The only thing she was grateful for in this situation was the fact that she wasn't confronting Naruto about this.

"What's that look on your face? Huh?" Akiko blurted, drawing the redhead out of her own mind. She was scowling nastily again. "What's that look!"

Unbidden, Charlie's fingers felt her own face. She hadn't realized she'd been making a look, but..."It's pity. I pity you."

Akiko's mouth dropped open in shock, and as quick as lightning she pulled her knife again. "You pity me? Me?" she screeched, launching herself in her direction.

Charlie sidestepped, and grabbed the girl by her arm before she landed against the shelving of the wall behind her. A crash sounded as the two girls fell into a lock and tumbled to the ground. Charlie gritted her teeth as she wrestled the girl face-down below her. She squeezed her wrist until the knife dropped, and Akiko gasped in pain. "Yes, I pity you. Please stop," she added, holding the back of the girl's neck so she wouldn't be able to get up. With a fair bit of struggle, she restrained one arm behind her back. "I'm sorry your parents forced their hatred into you. It's sad."

"I'll- I'll kill you!" Akiko ground out, bucking with resumed fury.

"Cut it out!" Charlie shouted, digging her knees into the girl's sides. "I'm not letting you up until you calm down."

"Calm down! You just insulted my parents!"

"It's not an insult, it's the truth. I haven't met your parents yet, anyway. Maybe they're nice people. But they were selfish for telling you what they did, not to mention misguided. So I'm sorry you feel the way you do. But Naruto is my closest friend and I will never betray him, especially for a girl so reckless that she would pull a knife out in the middle of a store." Charlie glanced over her shoulder, where Haruna was cautiously rising to her feet. She cocked her head questioningly, but Charlie shook hers. She didn't need help.

Akiko was breathing heavily underneath her, but she had stopped trying to kick or punch her, so she called that a victory. "There's a reason he's always alone. You can't make me think like you. In fact, I pity you for being so stupid." Her laugh was a bit hollow. "Top of the class, hanging out with the dead last murderer."

That one made Charlie dig her nails in. Ignorance really tested her patience. "He's not dead last. In fact, he's managed to get higher up than you. Maybe if you talked to him instead of about him, you'd learn that he's actually a pretty smart guy, and sweet too." Akiko jerked under her, and she sighed. "You're... really not going to win this one, so you should probably chill. I already knocked your kunai away." The knife had slid halfway across the store and under some shelves, forgotten.

"I can't believe you think you can talk down to me, like you're some adult. Just because you're top of the class doesn't mean you're better than everyone else!" Akiko hissed. Charlie laughed a little- if only she knew how spot on she was.

"No, you're right, it doesn't. At least I embrace what I don't understand, which is more than I can say for you."

Akiko stiffened underneath her. "Just shut up and let me go."

Quirking her lips, Charlie loosened her grip. "I'm not going to try to change your views on him, because it's really not my place. But maybe your way of thinking is wrong, if it's led you to here. Besides," she said, letting go of the girl's arm and standing. Akiko quickly got her feet, glaring still. "If you want to be the top ranked kunoichi, all you have to do is work harder than I do. So that's on you."

Akiko's jaw popped a few times, but finally, she threw her hands up and stomped out of the store the same way she'd entered. The encounter had lasted only a few minutes, but it was emotionally exhausting.

"I'm sorry, Haruna-san. I didn't know that would happen," Charlie said, turning to bow to the employee.

The girl gave her a nervous chuckle. "Oh, i-it's okay, you didn't start it. Did... you still want that dress?"

Charlie blinked disbelievingly at her before the both of them dissolved into laughter.

In the end, Charlie bought the dress, and used the incredibly meager funds she had left on a pair of fancy shoes that she would never be caught dead in in public, as well as a small gift for Naruto. Overall, it was a successful outing... hopefully.

Charlie grimaced as she clenched the paper bag closer to her chest. 'I wonder how Akiko's gonna act tomorrow,' she thought worriedly. She hoped the girl wouldn't change her target to Naruto. She, a full fledged adult (mostly), was way more willing to take the brunt of her anger.

Her lower lip jutted out childishly. And just when she thought she was making friends...

"It's not like you to be that dry," Minato said, though there was humor in his voice.

Charlie's gaze scanned the (now busy) shopping center, looking for a way around the mob of people as she said, 'It's just a glimpse into my true nature.' The way opened up for her, and she sped through hurriedly, ducking under elbows and thankful, for once, for her short height. 'I'm the biggest jerk of all,' she added.

"The day I believe that is the day you stop attracting trouble," he mumbled.

It must've been a bit prophetic, because once she'd reached the end of the street and turned onto a lesser, empty street, her eyes landed on the one person she wanted to avoid for the day. Or the week. Her eyebrows unwittingly pulled together. 'You jinxed us. I take it back, you're the biggest jerk.'

Kakashi gave her an eye smile as he stowed his book under his arm, a feat seldom witnessed by just anyone. He approached her casually, waving a hand. "Hey, Charlie-chan," he greeted.

'He's gonna realize my chakra feels different, Minato,' she thought, panicking just a little as she grinned up at him. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei! Sorry for missing our meeting yesterday, I was ill."

"Play it off for now. He won't bring it up to you," Minato suggested, though she could feel his anxiety rising along with hers.

The silver-haired jounin shrugged it off. "No worries, Naruto-kun told me. We can meet more often now that my mission's complete, by the way. Naruto and I were talking about perhaps this Friday?"

While it warmed her heart that he was talking to Naruto enough that they'd been able to make plans, it also set a very close deadline. "Oh, um, maybe. What did you guys go over while I was gone?"

"Tree walking, is all. We'll probably be continuing that on Friday, as Naruto couldn't really get it last time. Up for the challenge?"

She managed a smile. "Perhaps. I may want to focus on nailing the Academy taijutsu style, though- I want to be able to move on to further styles afterwards."

Kakashi looked dubious, and she couldn't exactly blame him. What kid didn't want to learn how to use ninjutsu?

They said their goodbyes and continued on their way, moving in opposite directions. As soon as he was out of sight, Charlie blanched. 'Minato, I need to be able to use your chakra by Friday,' she said worriedly.

"We'll have to skip out on the training grounds tonight. We can focus on that instead. There's a chance you'll be able to use mine, after all," Minato said, also sounding a bit concerned.

She was beginning to regret her quest to befriend that too-perceptive scarecrow. But there was nothing she could do now.

The rest of her walk home was spent in pensive silence. She didn't want Kakashi to get any more suspicious than he already was if it turned out she couldn't use chakra- but at the same time, she was scared to try it. She didn't want to be stuck in her own head again. That time she'd spent in there had been all but tortuous on her mental health, she couldn't imagine going through it again.

Naruto was home by the time she arrived, as the Academy had let out about a half hour prior.

Well, when she said home...

"Naru-chan, isn't breaking and entering a crime?" Charlie asked conversationally as she slid her shoes off in the genkan. The paper bag was dropped unceremoniously by her feet.

The blond boy was polite enough to give her a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I wanted to see you. And the door was unlocked..." he said.

Charlie grimaced; that wasn't really an excuse. She didn't really mind it if the kid walked in, but if he tried it on someone else they probably wouldn't be as kind. Despite her circumstances, she had very little to hide- in fact, the only things she was in possession of were clothes, toiletries, and food. No knick-knacks, toys, pictures, jewelry- nothing of value. Though it did concern her that he'd said the door was un-

"The door was unlocked?" Charlie asked, brow furrowing. She'd locked it this morning, and though their locks were admittedly shitty, they did the job. The door wouldn't have just... unlocked itself.

Naruto gave her a weird look. "Yeah?"

"...When did you get here?"

"Five minutes ago, why?"

Charlie swallowed a little as she joined him on the couch, sitting cross-legged. Who had been in her apartment, then? 'Minato, you don't... sense anyone, do you?'

"No. You two are alone."

Well, that at least was a relief. Hazel eyes focused on the kid beside her. "Naruto, why don't you make yourself a snack? I'm gonna go to the bathroom," she said, and abruptly leaped from the couch to rush behind a closed door. She sat on the closed toilet seat and ran an anxious hand through her hair.

'Who the hell was in here? Did they take anything? Did they see-'

"I got rid of everything after I read it, Charlie, you know that. There's nothing they could've found that would be strange. I'm more concerned about who."

Who, yes. That was a valid concern. They had a span of about eight hours where they could've broken in and got out, and nobody would've known. 'Well, there are two big options here,' she thought. 'One is Kakashi. Obviously he's suspicious of me, and he was heading kind of away from my apartment on our way to. If Naruto only got here five minutes ago, there's a chance he would've missed him.'

"I would believe that, if I thought that Kakashi was negligent enough to leave the front door unlocked."

She pressed her lips together. He had a point. Kakashi would've never looked over something so trivial.

'The other option is probably worse,' she continued.

"Danzou?"

'One of his cronies in ROOT, more likely. I don't think they would've cared if the door was locked or not when they left. They don't answer to the Hokage, and there's no way they'd be found out even if they did.' Charlie didn't like to think about how much danger she was in from the village itself, but when she did, it made her stomach churn. What could she do? ROOT wasn't even supposed to exist anymore, how could Danzou be held accountable?

She sighed. Perhaps it was one of the situations that she would just have to grin and bear. Being stalked, broken into, watched at night- she hoped it would all abate soon. Eventually, hopefully, Danzou would grow tired of watching her do nothing but exist, and move on. Hopefully.

With a harsh swallow, Charlie stood and left the restroom a bit more weary than she'd been entering it. Naruto was sitting behind the coffee table with an uneaten pear in his hands, and he perked up upon her entrance. "Hey, Charlie, did you want to go training later?"

She gave a barely-there smile, unable to completely mask her worry as she said, "Sorry, Naru-chan. I have something important I have to do tonight. Tomorrow, okay?"

He pouted a little, but nodded. A good kid, he was.

To get rid of his sullen demeanor, she reached into the bag and pulled out his gift, hiding it behind her back surreptitiously. "Ne, Naruto, you're 11 now," she brought up, approaching him casually.

He took a bite of his pear and nodded nonchalantly.

"So I thought you would appreciate this. Since you're so close to graduating, and all." Charlie pulled out the paper-wrapped present from behind her back. She had asked the shopowner hurriedly if he'd wrap it, because she'd doubted Naruto had ever had the experience of unwrapping a present, and the man had done so with a raised eyebrow. It was just plain brown paper with some twine, but it still made her smile.

A slow grin spread across Naruto's face. "You got me something?!" he exclaimed, getting to his feet excitedly.

She rolled her eyes. "What friend would I be?" she chuckled, and handed it to him. He tore through the paper with exuberance, and hefted his new kunai in the air with relish. Far from being standard issue, this one had cost a pretty penny, and Minato had been saving as much as he could to buy it over the past month. It was made with damascus steel, the rippling appearance glinting in the light, and its grip was surrounded by thickly-bound ivory leather. The kanji for 'Will of Fire' were burned down the side.

Charlie smiled a bit nervously as she saw him examine it, but she slumped a little in relief as he all but launched himself at her. "Thank you! Thank you!" he cried, careful to hold the knife far from the both of them. She squeezed him tight, and rubbed his back a little as she felt him shake.

"You're welcome, Naruto," she replied cheerfully. She loved making this kid happy.

"Are you ready?" Minato asked cautiously.

Charlie leaned her head back until it clunked against the table behind her. It was night now, and Naruto had long been sent away to train on his own that night (indoors, as he didn't need to be out and about on October 10th). The blinds were drawn, and she had triple checked the door and windows, as well as turning off all the lights. It looked like she was getting ready to perform a seance rather than to attempt to use chakra again.

Truthfully, she wasn't ready. The notion of things going wrong again scared the hell out of her, and if that new seal didn't succeed in holding Minato back, they would have to embark on another long journey to get her back to normal.

Or as normal as she could qualify as, given the circumstances.

Charlie rubbed her forehead anxiously. 'I guess I don't have the luxury of being 'ready',' she mumbled. The sheet of chakra paper was sat in front of her knees, looking about as innocent as a cat would right before slashing your eye out. Wincing, she picked it up between her thumb and forefinger as though it would do just that.

"You don't have to do it if you're scared, Charlie," Minato said, though she knew he didn't really mean it. She did have to, and the sooner she did the closer she'd be to changing the future. Refusing to because of fear of the unknown was not within her rights.

Hadn't she just told Akiko that she embraced what she didn't understand?

Gulping, she closed her eyes, forehead crinkling as she tried to concentrate. Many times in the past, before she'd lost her seat as driver, Minato had told her what to look for- something like heat, something like energy. She imagined his would feel like a breeze in your hair, or the rippling of a wave approaching the shore.

"You know what to do," her friend encouraged. He meant meditation, which she had done a lot over the course of her two months here. It was familiar, to descend into that slow, steady breathing pattern, to gently wish away all of her thoughts and focus on balancing herself.

That didn't make it easy, of course. It took her longer than she liked to admit to bring herself to that state- it was still unnatural for a brain so used to chugging along to suddenly apply the brakes. Then again, it usually did.

When she focused, really focused, she could sometimes sense more about herself than she usually could. She could feel the hard wood of the floor beneath her, the way it dug into her ankles. She could taste the air she breathed in, could feel the chill it brought to her lungs. She could feel her heart beating ceaselessly in her chest, and the thrumming of the blood that flowed through her, bringing warmth to her fingers and toes.

It was easy to forget where she was, or what she was doing, when she was so preoccupied with existing. Nothing really mattered, not even time. She could hear the clock ticking on the wall above her, and yet it meant nothing to her but noise. She could feel the vent above her blowing air onto the crown of her head, and yet as it buffeted her hair against her face, she didn't feel the urge to brush it away. What did she care if it tickled her skin? She wasn't her body anyway, she was more.

All meaning was lost, and as she found herself standing in the middle of her mental labyrinth again, she couldn't find it in herself to care.

Her eyes opened slowly, and she glanced around. It was strange, really- quite empty. Her mind palace was usually full to bursting of TVs playing old cartoons, books, pets she'd had, friends she'd played with. Old trinkets that held the stories she so often relived during her time here. Here, though, was empty of everything but her and the dank walls around her. It was dimmer than usual, and looked more like the Parisan Catacombs this time. The air was stale, yet moist and cold, just like the stone under her bare feet.

If she yelled, she'd probably hear an echo.

She walked forward, towards the darkness that lied beyond her vision. Charlie was always the curious one, the one who needed to know, and rather than feeling a bit perturbed by the dark recesses of her mind that she'd never stepped into, she felt intrigued.

Charlie held a hand over her heart, feeling it beat in her chest. It was beating faster now, and her mind supplied that it was usually a sign of stress or fear. She wasn't afraid though. She still wasn't afraid. She would walk into the darkest parts of her mind, the parts she'd never explored yet, and she would cast light into every corner.

The darkness surrounded her as she walked past the edge of light that old passage had left. Now, all that was left was her, the wall she used to guide her way, and the chill that settled over her. Questions piled onto each other as she continued her dark descent. Where was this? How had she never been here before? Why was it so cold?

The air got thicker around her, and she opened her mouth to catch more of it. It was closer to being underwater than being underground, now. She wasn't in the Catacombs, she was in the Mission Impossible movie, where Tom Cruise had to complete his mission underwater while running out of oxygen.

Still, the strange feeling that was coming over her wouldn't allow fear to prickle at her mind. Something was nudging her on, whispering, 'go deeper, go further, just a little more'. She could sense something at the end of this long, long hallway. Its presence grew stronger as she grew closer, overwhelming everything, overwhelming the need to breath or to think.

It felt like the breaking of day, like ozone and spring.

It felt like falling over a cliff, knowing you'll somehow catch yourself before the ground does.

It felt like waves buffeting you when you stray too far from the shore, and the panic that ensues trying to return.

It felt like the stillness of a pond, the buzzing of crickets and the croaking of toads.

It felt like running through a forest barefoot, ignoring the pain of stepping on loose bark and stones and sticks in favor of running, running, running.

She was running, she realized, because she couldn't breathe. The passageway felt so empty, so unlike her, so dark. She wasn't scared, no, but she wanted- she wanted-

It was a door she came to, or more like a gate. The gate to a fortress. It stood tall, much taller than her, and she could barely make it out. The gold of the handle gleamed back at her, and without a second thought, she flung it open, hoping it would finally grant her air.

It didn't just give her air. It gave her light, too. The sudden assault of light, of breath, flung her onto her back, and she gazed above her in wonder as it clung to every last corner of the dark tunnel. It bathed everything in its golden hued light, the brightest thing she'd ever seen. Just like the sun, she couldn't bear to look at it longer than a moment.

Her eyes closed.

A challenger: Thank you for your kind words and review! I hope you liked the chapter.

pigs103: I'm sorry if you were disappointed with the way the poll turned out :( I'm glad you've decided to stick with it :D I promise I'm not going to let anything get creepy that's the opposite of my intentions. I hope you will enjoy this fic regardless my friend!

Lyrigami: You're very right. I have a feeling this is going to be a monster fic just bc I'm following relatively closely to the plotline, but it'll be really interesting moving forward. As for whether she'll be chakraless, I think there's a good potential for that to happen- it would be an interesting plot point. I always imagined that she was his tether to the world, and should they separate, that half of him that's still with the Shinigami would become part of him again (along with Kurama). We shall see! Thank you for your reviews and support, hope you enjoyed this update!

The Magus Killer: Ah our Obito :( I hope you don't mind, and that I do him justice later on. And Kushina as well, she's adorable and also my favorite anime mom even though she doesn't get much screen time. Thank you for your continued support!